I love Fall!!!

You know how you want to do stuff and visit places, but you never make the time to do it? I know my nieces and nephews aren't like that because I read their blogs and they are always doing fun things and going all over. I guess I have too much of my dad in me that thinks "we don't have time and we don't have money" so we don't do anything and life is passing us by. I am getting pretty sick of that! It's coming to my realization that my kids are growing up FAST! Anita will be in college in TWO years! Cody will be on his mission in a little over THREE years! I want to take time and make it stop for a little while so I can enjoy my family all being together because I know it will never be this way again. Things have been really hard the last few months and, if nothing else, I've learned that if you wait until the kids are older, you have extra money, you have extra time, you have more energy, etc. to live your life the way you want to....you'll be wasting your whole life!

I love fall colors. I love the crispness of the air (I HATE being hot!). I just love Fall (and Spring too!). Normally, I want to drive up through the mountains and look at all the fall colors, just for the fun of it. Of course, we never do. Well, yesterday we had to drive to South Summit (Oakley, east of Kamas) for Faha and Pasi's football games. I had been dreading the drive ever since I found out at the beginning of the season that the boys had games there. By the way, it's only an hour drive (or maybe a little less). We had to drive farther than that just to go from Ramah to Gallup for heaven's sake! Another reason I was dreading it was because Lincoln couldn't go with us because he had to finish up his Scout leader training with an overnight campout in Lehi. So it was just me and the boys. It turned out to be so much fun! The boys and I talked, listened to music, and enjoyed seeing all the gorgeous fall colors the whole drive up and back. They both won their games, so it wasn't even a wasted trip! I just wish I could have stopped and taken pictures of everything because it was so pretty. What a great day to spend time with my boys and listen to their thoughts and ideas and joke around with them. FUN! We made a memory.

So for all of you parents with young children or soon to be parents, ENJOY the journey! Enjoy when your kids are little, have fun with them. I am so proud of my kids and they way they are, but every once in awhile I wish I could turn back time and have a day with them when they were little again. I wish I could hear Anita say, "Sing happy songs." and watch Cody wear his little white construction hat that he NEVER took off (even for church) with his spatula sword shoved down the front of his pants, strutting around the house. Or see Faha's double dimple smile and him trying so hard to keep up with Anita and Cody. You think you will be forever changing diapers and never get an uninterupted night's sleep, but before you know it they are all grown up. And they have more grown up problems that you can't soothe away and solve for them. So, we are changing how we do things around here. We are going to have some fun and enjoy being together more. Just wish we had been doing it all along!

It's a Good Football Week!

We're home from the games today and after a little nap to recover from the early morning to afternoon day at football, I'm ready to report. Cody's team had their first win of the year against West 40-0. They finally decided to show up for the game! The JV and Varsity teams both won their games, too, which was nice because it was Homecoming this week. All the teams dressed out for the Varsity game last night. It was so cute because Cody was so excited. Even though he didn't get to play, he was still so happy and excited!

Today the little league teams played in Tooele (about 30 miles west). We left about 6:45 this morning and it was a little cold and windy. By the time Faha's game started at noon, it was hot and no wind. I think I got a sunburn. Anyway, Pasi's team won 40-6 and Faha's team won 33-0. Good games! Faha played most of the game, offense and defense. He is pretty tired. He's not used to playing that much. This is a much better week than last week. Last week all the teams lost. So we have much happier boys at this house this week!

Tomorrow is the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program. Siu says she has her part memorized...we'll see. She is supposed to play "I Wonder When He Comes Again" on the piano for prelude, but I don't think she's ready so I may not have her play it. Pasi is singing a solo of the third verse to "Baptism". He's also supposed to play a song for prelude, but he hasn't practiced anything. We've been too busy practicing for the song he's singing.

This next week is the last week Lincoln will be home before he starts his new job on the 28th. I have lots of things I would like him to do before he goes back to work. I don't know if they will all get done, but I can hope, can't I? Last Saturday he tore his achilles tendon so he has been in pain and limping around all week.

Time to go make some dinner and do the Saturday night prep for tomorrow.

Official Job Offer!

Well, Lincoln's job offer is official! He got the paperwork last week and we are waiting for the background checks and paperwork to go through. If all goes well, he will start on September 28th! We are pretty excited. He will be a Benefit Specialist for ADP (Advanced Data Processing). I'm still not really believing it's real. I probably won't breathe a sigh of relief until he is actually at work!

Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support! We really appreciate it!

Lincoln has a semi official job offer!!!!

Back to School Time!

Amazing that it's already time for the kids to go back to school. They start on Monday. They are all excited. It hasn't been such a fun summer around here, so I guess they figure school will be better. I'm missing the back to school shopping, that's always so fun. But we have to forgo that until Lincoln gets a job. The kids have been great about it, very understanding. My kids are awesome!

We are all going to fast tomorrow for Lincoln. He has a job interview Monday morning. Please say a prayer that he will get the job!

Lincoln and I and the three older kids went to the temple this morning. (6am, the kids think that's waaaaaaay to early!) The kids finished doing baptisms about 2 hours before we came out and they were pretty tired. It was good to go with the kids. We wanted to go this Saturday before football games start next week.

Hopefully when I post next I can report that Lincoln has a job!

It's cool today!

I'm sooooo excited! The weather is so nice and cool today. I love cloudy cool days. What does that say about me??

This morning we went to the Kearns Dayz Parade. It was fun. The kids got a ton of candy. Pasi and Faha were in the parade with their football teams. There were a lot of entries. Way more than last year.

I forgot that Siu is giving a talk in Primary tomorrow so now I must go and help her get her talk ready.

New Look!

How do you like my new look? I finally decided I needed to jazz up my blog. I will probably change this in a week or so. I'm just trying out different backgrounds. As usual, I had problems getting everything to work so I didn't get all the font colors I wanted and stuff, but it's a little bit cute don't you think??

My next project is trying to post my pictures. I have a lot to download and with my computer it could take awhile. Well, gotta run and get ready for the day. I've spent the last 2 hours playing on thecutestblogontheblock.com. Enough wasting time!

The Summer is Almost Over!

I can't believe the summer is almost over! Only three more weeks and the kids will be back in school. I know no one but me reads this blog, but I'm just posting for my own benefit!

Football has started. We have been going since last week. Daily practices from 5:30-7:30. It gets a little crazy. Pasi found out Monday that he made the A team! A big accomplishment and we are very proud of him. He also made the A team last year, but this year the competition was a lot more tough. Being on the A team is significant for me because Faha and Pasi's games will all be at the same place and will start at the same time every Saturday. Pasi's will probably start at 9:00am and Faha's at 12:00pm. Having kids on the B team means that games are all over the place and at different times. Games start on August 29th.

Siu finally passed Level 4 swimming!!! She has probably taken that level about 10 times. It's been a tough one for her, but she finally did it! We are so proud of her!

We had a good family vacation to New Mexico to visit my family and have Siu's baptism there. I will post more about that in a separate post (with pictures!).

Monday was free admission to the Utah Museum of Natural History so we took advantage of that opportunity. The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the frog exhibit.

I started with two new daycare kids last week and things are going well with that. It is a little hectic keeping up with 7 daycare kids plus my 5 kids, but so far I'm surviving. I am having a hard time finding things to do to keep them all occupied and fed. I tried having more structure today and they didn't like it very much! We had breakfast, went for a walk, came home and the daycare kids colored and did workbooks while I helped Pasi and Siu clean their extremely messy rooms. Then they played outside, we had lunch, storytime, nap and now they are running through the sprinklers. They should all be picked up in about half an hour! Then I fall into a heap of exhaustion! Yesterday was worse because I had 11 piano lessons in the afternoon/evening.

I just wanted to do a quick post (even though I know no one reads this because hardly anyone EVER comments on my posts!!!) so I better go now and get the kids ready to be picked up.

Another Week!

Well, another week has gone by and still no job. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but sometimes (especially in the middle of the night) I get panic attacks about it. Lincoln did have one interview with a recruiter last week, but he hasn't heard back from him yet. I have been thinking today about what we are supposed to learn from this experience. There's the obvious, that we need to learn to better manage our finances, get out of debt, and save. Could there be something else, as well? I'm trying to figure it out, so I can hurry up and learn it and move on to having a steady income again.

Lincoln and Faha are leaving in the morning for Scout camp at Bear Lake. They will be gone all week. Lincoln was going to take my van, but I was able to convince him that I NEED my van! I wouldn't be able to go anywhere during the day all week without it. So, finally, he told me today that he will be taking the car. Hurray!

Pasi is leaving in the morning for Mill Hollow. It's a school camp that Granite School District does for students that have finished 4th and 5th grades. He will be gone until Wed. He is sooooooooo excited! I hope he will be able to sleep tonight.

So for most of the week it will just be me and the girls and Cody. Where can we send Cody???? No, I want to keep Cody here to entertain the 4 day care boys. They think he is "awesome" as one of them said to me.

Pasi and Siu finished their first set of swimming lessons this year. Pasi passed Level 6 (first try) and now he is finished with swimming lessons. He is officially a swimmer. It's a good thing, because he HATES swimming lessons! Siu is still at Level 4 and will keep working on her swimming skills. Their last lesson was on Wed. and most of the classes had the kids jump off the diving board. Siu was going to do it, but she chickened out. She was very upset about it and had a big temper tantrum fit right there. I took a picture of her when she was walking out on the diving board before she started freaking out. So here it is:


I'm pretty excited because I have just found out I will be having another great niece or nephew. We are now up to three of my nieces and one niece in law that are pregnant. It's so exciting! For two of them this will be their first baby and the other two their second. So, for those of you who might know them: Brooke (Coleen's youngest daughter) is expecting their 2nd boy in October, Alysha (Coleen's 2nd daughter) is expecting their second child late February or early March (she just found out she is pregnant), Jenelle (Kevin's oldest daughter) is expecting their 1st in February, and Kelly (Sheryl's oldest son Brandon's wife) is expecting their first in February. I have to get busy making baby stuff. I love it!

A Bad Week!

The last week and a half have been really hard for us. On the 10th of June Lincoln was laid off from his job of almost thirteen years. He was given a decent severance package, but it won't last long. Unfortunately, we have not followed the counsel to not get into debt and to have an emergency fund, so we are definitely not prepared for this crisis. I ask all of you for your prayers that Lincoln can find a job soon so we can take care of our family and not lose our house. It's so hard to keep going and act normal when I am so worried, but I try. It took all of my effort to go to church today and play for Primary, teach my lesson, and go to sacrament meeting. I did feel better after though. I try to keep up my spirits for Lincoln's and the kids sake. It's pretty hard for me though!

We went to our ward camp out Thurs-Sat and we had a good time. It was a little cold the first night, so I came home and got us more blankets and warmer clothes and the second night was much more comfortable. We camped in the Spruces campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was beautiful! We have had so much rain so everything was really green and pretty. We saw a moose in our camp the morning we left. I forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures. I have to be better about taking pictures. I know I will regret not having taken pictures more as the kids get older.

I'm stressing this week because I have my follow-up surprise inspection for my daycare probably sometime this week. I have to have corrected the problems they found on the announced inspection last month. Most of the problems were with my swingset that we bought last summer. I hope we have everything fixed so that it will pass. I had my kitchen inspection almost two weeks ago and almost had a nervous breakdown before it. It turned out to be no big deal and I passed with no problems. I also will be having my food program inspection sometime in the next two weeks. Sometimes I wish we could just be normal in our own house, but it is good to have that income and be able to stay home. Trying to count my blessings!

I hope Lincoln has had a good Father's Day. I made him breakfast in bed. He doesn't want us to spend money on him ever, so I didn't, but I wanted him to have a good day.

Summer is here!

Well, summer has arrived and I love the weather so far! It's rainy and cloudy with a little sun each day, temperature is mid 70's. I love it!! Can it stay like this all summer??

Yesterday I had my kitchen inspection from the state health department for my daycare. STRESS!!! I was having panic attacks, but it turned out to be no big deal. The inspector lady was only here about 5 minutes and everything was up to her standards and she liked my floors. I only have 2 more (hopefully) unannounced inspections from child care licensing and then my quarterly inspection from my food program. Sometimes I get sick of it all and want to tell them all to kiss my grits, but I do love being home.

So the kids got out of school last Friday we are all still alive, so that's going well. Cody and Faha left Monday night for an orchestra trip to Disneyland. They will be gone until Friday. Monday night Anita spent the night at her friend's house, so we only had 2 kids home. Last night Siu and Pasi both spent the night at their friend's houses and Anita was the only kid at home! It was cool! Very quiet and when I got up this morning, the living room looked exactly like it did when I went to bed. Amazing!

Pasi and Siu have started swim lessons. Pasi only has one more level to pass and Siu has three. Pasi doesn't enjoy swim lessons so he is working hard to pass this time so he doesn't have to take lessons all summer. Faha is taking tennis lessons. He is missing the first week because of his Disney trip, but he will make them up the next lesson set. Cody has weight training for football Mon., Wed, and Fridays at 7:00am. So even though we are out of school, we still will keep busy. I'll post more later.

My Projects

Well, has it been long enough since I last posted?? I have waited partly because I wanted to post some pictures, but haven't been able to find my cable that connects my camera to the computer. It's so great to have sooooo many helpers to help me keep track of my things (translation, lose everything I own!). Anyway, I had a couple on my phone so I will post those, even though the picture quality is somewhat lacking. These are my projects I have been working on the last couple of months. I painted the playroom and Siu's room. For those of you who have seen my house, you know that the playroom was painted about 1/3 of the way up with chalkboard paint. That is all gone as you can see.

Siu and I had been wanting to paint her room for a long time and I finally got it done! We went with pink (sassy pink) with brown polka dots. I still need to get the vinyl lettering and more polka dots put up. It takes me awhile. Above her bed we will put "Sweet Dreams", above her closet "Butterfly Kisses", and some other place we haven't decided yet, "The Princess Sleeps Here". A friend of mine (Stacie) has a Cricket machine and offered to cut out the vinyl for me. It's great. We just haven't been able to get together to get everything finished. So here it is so far.... The big circle is a chalk board. I made it from a table round top that I was going to throw away. It's coming along, it's a work in progress. I found a cute comforter at Target, I just need to save up for it.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! We had a really nice day. It was just our family and it was so relaxing and unstressful. We slept in and I didn't even put the turkey in the oven until about 10:30. We ate about 5. We had a nice little vacation just relaxing and spending time together. It was refreshing. Our dinner turned out wonderful. It was our best one yet. Delicious!

We started our Christmas Box tonight. It has become our tradition. We put a clue in a special decorated box. The clue tells what we will be doing for the evening. It's something special like play a game, watch a movie, make a treat, or go someplace. We start on Dec. 1 and do something every evening until Christmas. I started it to help us remember to spend some time together each day during a time that can be very busy and stressful. Sometimes we just do something simple like have a candy, or it can be a big thing like going ice skating. We started a little late tonight so we didn't get to do everything I had planned, but that's okay. We can do it another night. But we did something, that's the important thing! It's something that we all look forward to doing and it's fun! It's also fun to think of the things to do and to come up with the clue for it.
What are some of your family Christmas traditions?

I'm so proud of myself! I got most of our Christmas cards mailed today! I'm trying to get things done early and not wait until the last minute and have to rush like a crazy person.

Well, it's getting late and time for bed!

New Project

I think I will have a new project. Well, it's not really a NEW project, but it's one that it's time to face for real. It's called saving as much money as possible. Right now I'm focusing on groceries. I read Brooke's blog and she's not totally convinced about coupons. I'm not sure whether I am or not either. I mostly buy store brand rather than name brand items, so I'm not sure if I would save any money. I'm reading a book called "Live You Life for Half the Price" by Mary Hunt. It's very good. The author says the best way to save on groceries is to use coupons together with store sales and double coupons if the store offers it. She also suggests shopping "in reserve" as she calls it rather than for "needs shopping". I'm still reading the book, but I'll post when I learn more about the program she recommends.

We are getting to the end of football season. (Yippee!) The last game is Saturday. Neither Pasi's, nor Cody's team will be going to the playoffs, so we are done! It's been a rough season. Both teams started off really well, but have had some hard games. About 3 1/2 weeks ago Cody got a grade 2 concussion in a game. He was out of all activities for 3 weeks. It was a little scary. He couldn't (and still can't) remember what happened and was disoriented and dizzy for several days after. The kid from the other team hit him helmet to helmet right in the forehead. He was really doing well before that happened. He had scored several touchdowns (He gets to run the ball this year. It's very exciting! I'm one proud mom.) and was the kicker for the team. He didn't have much opportunity to do either in their game last Saturday because they got smashed! Pasi's team still might go to the playoffs if they win on Saturday, but that's only if a couple of other teams lose their games. Football is fun, but it is so time consuming that it's nice when it's over.

We had an awesome opportunity last Saturday to go to a Stake fireside with Sister Elaine Dalton, the General Young Womens President. It was so neat. Our stake held the fireside and invited the other two Tongan stakes in the area to come. The chapel wasn't even full!! It was very sad that so many people missed out on that great experience. Anita and I got to meet her afterward and she was so nice. She talked to everyone that wanted to talk to her. It was just a wonderful experience.

My other project is motivating my kids to do their chores. This morning I decided I was sick of running late because Pasi and Siu wouldn't get out of bed. I had bought some charts a few months ago with stickers, but hadn't decided how to use them. I put them to use this morning. The charts have 20 squares for star stickers. My program will be when they fill a paper with stickers they will get a treat. If they want to save it and cash in 5 at a time, they can get a toy. I'm still working on the list of things they can get a sticker for doing. So far I have:
getting up out of bed the first time I call them
getting ready for school by 8:00am
homework done the night before
brushing and flossing their teeth (one sticker for am one for pm)
bonus sticker if they make their bed
if their room is clean when they leave for school
bonus sticker for Siu if she doesn't take her hair out before bed (she always takes out her ponytail, braid, whatever at school and then she looks like an orphan)

These are just the things we've really been struggling with. It worked wonderfully this morning. They were both ready and happy they got their stickers and I got some peace in the morning! Even if it only works for today, I'm happy! Now I just have to think of something for the older kids. Somehow I don't think sticker cards will give them the same motivation.

Well, It's almost time for everyone to get home so I better go! Love to all!

Wishing we were there

I'm sitting here thinking that everyone is at Jenelle's wedding reception. I hope it is beautiful and will be a lovely memory for her always.

I had an interesting day. It was nice and quiet, just John (almost 3) and Wyatt (2 1/2). Lincoln was home, so that was nice, too. Wyatt's mom picked him up and as she was walking out the door just happened to mention that she is taking him to her friend to be babysat until he's potty trained. She's not sure how long that will take, but I won't be watching him until he's potty trained. I told her that after her two weeks of vacation are gone, she will have to pay me whether she brings him or not. She did not seem concerned about that, so I'm guessing that she's not planning to bring him back. That leaves me in a bit of a spot. I was planning on that money. Now it's back almost to square one. At least I still have Davyn, my other new child I started watching this week. It's a little discouraging! I need to have 7 day care kids to be okay. Without Wyatt I have 5. Pray that I'll get some calls this weekend!

Tomorrow is Cody and Pasi's first official football game. It's a home game. I hope they do well and nobody gets hurt! Cody already has some bumps and bruises and the season hasn't even started yet. I'm worried about him now that he's running the ball. When he was on the line, he never got hurt! Those blockers better protect him!

I think I'll sleep early tonight. We have to be at Pasi's game at 7:45am. Love you all!

I'm Feeling Sorry for Myself Today

Today was the day we were supposed to leave for New Mexico. The trip has been cancelled due to finances. I'm very disappointed, but I know we honestly cannot afford to go. I even looked for a plane ticket online and the lowest I could find was $345! Maybe if I would have started looking into it earlier, I could have found something. I hope everyone has a great time and we will be thinking of you!

Well, school started on Monday. It was quite an event around this house because we had our first high school student (Anita) and Faha started Jr. High. Everyone is still in the "I love school" phase. Hopefully it will last. I only have to wake up Pasi and Siu. Anita, Cody, Faha, Lincoln, and I all have to get up about 5:00am to make it to work (Lincoln) and to the bus stop (everyone else). I am in a carpool. I take my kids and 2 other boys to the bus stop about 6:10 and the other 2 moms bring the kids home. It was going to work out great, except now Anita's bus gets back about 40 minutes before everyone else's. So, I will still have to pick up Anita. Luckily, Lincoln is on vacation until Sept. 8, so he can pick her up.

Football has also started and Pasi and Cody are doing well. Cody scored a touchdown at their pre-game last Saturday. It does take up a lot of time, but it is so fun to watch them play!

I'm also busy getting ready for the Primary Sacrament Meeting program. It is Sept. 14. Siu has her part memorized, but Pasi is still working on his. To be fair, Pasi's is much longer than Siu's. All the children's parts are in Tongan and we are singing one verse in Tongan of most of the songs. It is challenging. I finally got the seating chart finished. Last Sunday we practiced and it was crazy! Hopefully this week will run more smoothly.

I started watching two new day care kids this week. One is an 8 month old boy and the other is a 2 year old boy. That gives me 6 total: the 8 month old, a 19 month old, 2 two year olds, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old. The 5 year old will start kindergarten next week. We haven't found out if he will be in morning or afternoon kindergarten, so depending on that I will either take him to school or pick him up. It definitely has been busy, but so far they have taken good naps. That's the main thing that's saving me.

I'm down to 14 piano students so I give lessons Tues. and Wed. and I hope to be able to stick to those two days. Between my two paying jobs and Primary and family I'm spread pretty thin. It's only through many prayers during the day that I am able to keep it all together. If nothing else, I am gaining an even stronger testimony of prayer in our daily lives for our little "worldly" concerns and problems. I even prayed this week that we would be able to make it to the bus stop on time. And I suppose I would rather be busy than have nothing to do.

I am interested in expanding my economical meal ideas. If anyone has any great and cheap meal ideas, please share. It's time for me to go now and check on the little ones. Have a great day! I love you all!

Thanks for the input.

Thank you Coleen and Alysha for the input on the colors for my kitchen, especially the cabinets. I like a dark cherry wood look too. How can I get that when I don't have wood cabinets? They are some kind of particle board garbage. I also like the idea for cranberry and maybe a beige.

Well, again I have spent the entire morning not doing what I was supposed to be doing. I did important things (like pay bills), but I need to be doing my shopping for the Primary Quarterly Activity today. We are leaving this afternoon for our ward campout and the activity will be at the camp. We are going to Willard Bay. I hate it there. I wanted to go to Deer Lake, where we went last year, but no, we have to go to yucky Willard Bay. The bugs are horrible, it's ugly, and the freeway is right there. It's like camping on the side of the road. If I'm going camping (and you all know what a camper I am!), I at least want to go somewhere where it is pretty and in the mountains. I offered to just stay home and let Lincoln take the kids, but he didn't like that idea.

Well, enough procrastinating. I have to go do errands and shopping. Wish me luck at yucky camp!

I'm still getting the hang of this! Anyway, here are some pictures from our day at the museum.

Our big project today is to move Faha and Pasi into the same bedroom. They decided they want to share a room. I'm all for it because whenever we change bedrooms around, they get a thorough cleaning. The boys will share the room at the end of the hall upstairs. I would like to use Faha's old room as my storage room (again!) so I can get the garage set up as another play area. I have spent so much time trying to add my pictures that the morning is almost gone. I need to get busy before Anita leaves to go with her friends to Raging Waters. I need her help!

I am getting more and more tech savvy! I'm so excited because I was able to take pictures with my cell phone (my digital camera died) and email them to my email and save them and now I shall post them here! It doesn't take much to make me happy!

Monday we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History. It was fun and educational. I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted because the kids kept taking off to explore on their own and I couldn't find them! We went with my friend Kari and her kids (same ones we watched fireworks on the 4th). I felt like such a good mommy. Cody didn't go with us because he wanted to go to his friend's house. We also took one of Faha's friends with us. I only had one daycare child to take so it was a piece of cake. He was so good in his stroller the whole time.