LA Trip

Here are just a couple pictures from our trip to LA. We had a chance to go visit a family friend at the LA temple (miss you Brittany!) and got this fun family shot. This temple has significance to Kyle because it was where he was sealed to his family 12 years ago.


Literally the last 5 minutes of the trip before we headed home was getting these quick shots with Kyle's grandma. Great Grandma Rose to my boys. She is 89 years young : )
Isn't she so beautiful?
Yeah - for professing photography as my passion I should have taken a few more pictures. It's not like I have three busy boys to watch after or anything . . . I did do a photo shoot for my sister-in-law though. Noreen, those are coming soon : )

Oprf

Today before sacrament meeting started, Kekoa asked me for a pen to write something on a piece of paper he had. He said, "Mommy, can you give me a pen? Cause I am going to write something on this paper and make an airplane and I can throw it to someone and they can read what I wrote-ted."
After getting a pen from Daddy here is what he did:


I did not see what he wrote until a little later when he asked, "Mommy, what was it the O says?" I reminded him and he then sounded out the new word he wrote. OPRF (Ah-per-f). His first word written and read. Cute. Funny thing is I had no idea he could write letters.


This was a few days later, but I just wanted to have record of when he first wrote his name all by himself : )

Merry Christmas

We woke up Christmas morning at Kyle's sister's house in CA. It was a great Christmas with lots of food and family. Later that night we spent time at Kyle's parent's home with much of his extended family. It was so fun to watch the family interact and learn more of the life Kyle grew up with. But I only did pictures in the morning time. Here are a couple of my favorites.

This is one of my favorites. I love the catchlights in Ikaika's eyes. You see the reflection of the Christmas tree in his eyes. So sweet.

Kekoa got the present he spent weeks waiting for - a sword and saver (aka: sheild)

Not my favorite picture of myself, but I had to include something, and this one is so cute of Sepa.

This was Kyle's present to open Christmas morning, a Laker jersey. He was so excited and I am sure he counted their victory over the Celtics that day as a Christmas present itself.

Sunny California (At least Warmer)

We came to CA for Christmas with Kyle's family. Aside from family, the temperate weather has been my favorite. I do not miss the snow and freezing weather at all. But I do look forward to cheaper gas and grocery prices. Give and take I guess.
Christmas Eve - so exciting!

Sepa - 11 months

My baby is nearly a year old. I can't believe it. We were in LA on the day he turned 11 months so I couldn't do the teacup thing. I was suppose to take it before we left, but we left in such a mad rush to beat a snow storm I didn't get a chance to. So here is a shot I took in LA.

And here is the teacup picture from when we got back. As you can see he officially hates the thing. I just may have scarred him for life. I just decided to use this picture instead of torturing the poor child with another try. So I am only going to do one more picture with it when he turns one and then it is over (and I might just let him sit by the silly thing for that picture). Silly mom, with a silly idea. Love you Seps.

Winter's Finally Here (For Kekoa)

Yesterday was a happy day for Kekoa. He has been waiting for literally months for the snow to come. I can remember a number of times during summer when we were playing outside & he would see his snow shovel in the garage. He always longingly asked when the snow would come so he could help shovel. Well, yesterday it might as well have been Christmas with all the snow and the happy, excited faces.
Here are some pictures for me to remember :)







After we cleared the driveway, Ikaika brought out his bike to play. Best of two worlds I guess.

The Joy of Christmas

Tonight for Family Home Evening we joined together with our Joy School family for a Christmas party. This was the 4th day in a row of partying (work, ward and Kyle's dance group parties were the three nights before). Each have been wonderful with good friends and yummy food. But this one was so fun because we shared with the Daddy's the play of the Nativity. We had practiced in the final days of Joy School. (The party also included completing our service with the kids by having them help wrap the present we got together for the Giving Tree in out ward). Here are some cute pictures of the play. Being the only boy in Joy School, the casting of Kekoa being Joesph was an easy call. We had the siblings fill in the gaps of parts that were not filled. I love Christmas. And the Nativity play was so fun I might just be crazy enough to spend the year creating costumes for next Christmas. I found a fun pattern online by Simplicity.






This candid one makes me laugh. I am just glad it wasn't Kekoa finding treasures in his nose.

Christmas Traditons

I love Christmas time. Here are just some pictures with a few of the Reyes family Christmas traditions.

Kyle's fun project of the holiday is creating a Christmas village. This year he had a special addition. He found the Bethlehem village set on KSL for a great deal. It is now at the center of the display. We have about 20 houses so now he wants to add animated things. After Christmas sales, here we come.


I love doing Gingerbread houses each year. I remember always wanting to do this as a little girl (we managed it a few times). Kekoa and Ikaika were more than willing to help out - though it seemed more candy ended up in their mouths than on the house).


Our tradition is to set up the tree on Thanksgiving Day - it might seem crazy to some, but we love the spirit of Christmas a tree brings into our home. After setting it up Kekoa found the stockings and put them right where they belonged - on feet of course. Love it.



We get an ornament for each child for their first Christmas. We are so excited to have Sepa with us this year! He held that thing pretty good for me to take a picture : )



There are others, but I'll save that for another post. Of course above all we want our children to learn the true meaning of Christmas and just how special that night was the Savior came into the world.

I Want to be Like My Daddy

I have had this picture on my computer's desktop for months. I am sure you can tell by the type of clothes Kekoa is wearing. I must have taken it sometime during Summer. Kyle loves this picture so I thought it was blog-worthy.

I cannot even begin to explain how much Kekoa loves and wants to be like his Daddy. He talks about him all day long. He truly believes that Daddy can do anything. If I am ever not able to do something (like fix one of his toys) he says, "It's okay mom, Daddy can fix it when he comes home."

I know that Kyle is his idol because of the many times he pretends he is the Daddy when Kyle is gone to work. He tells me that he is going to call me Honey and I can call him Sweetheart. He will even call Ikaika "son." My favorite was when Ikaika did something and Kekoa said, "I'm so proud of you, Son."

He loves to team-up with Kyle when he tells stories. One story went like this: "Kaika, Daddy and me are big boys, so we are strong. You and Mommy are not strong, like babies."

Kyle deserves all the praise and admiration Kekoa gives him. He is a great Daddy. I think I may have said it before, everybody loves Daddy.

Retirement

I am changing the heading picture, but wanted record of this cute picture of the three boys in the hardcopy I'll be printing the beginning of next year. Looks like this picture was taken way back in August. Update overdue.

F-A-M-I-L-Y

Yesterday after church we made a mad dash home to change our clothes to do a quick family picture before it got too dark. It is one of our family traditions to do Christmas cards every year with a family picture. And my whole motivation for it is family history. This way we will at least have one family picture every year arond Christmas time. Celeste was our second-year-running photographer. She did a great job with fussy kids, little light and about 10 minutes. We will hopefully get these out the end of the week. If anyone is dying for a hard copy let me know : )
m

Growing

Today I received a new calling to be in the Relief Society Presidency - 2nd Counselor over Enrichment. Wow . . . I am a little scared - mainly for all the responsibility that is there and the time dedication it will take. But I am also willing. I know that I could use some growing and what better way to grow than through serving. I have really enjoyed being a part of this Native American Ward for the past year and a couple months and especially within the Relief Society. I attended that Visiting Teaching Conference a couple months ago and then the Christmas Dinner this past week and both times were great experiences for me. I got to know the sisters more as they shared their testimonies and grew in my love and compassion for them. I know there are so many with struggles and heartaches. I hope that I can be a servant to them.
Enrichment. I am so comfortable with the teaching side of RS, so this will help me to grow and develop. It'll be good. Of course I know the Lord will make me able and strengthen me.
~m

Are You Ready for an Ab Workout?

Celeste created this for the boys. I about fell on the floor from laughing. You gatta check out this link. . . like now.
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Like the Good Ol' Days

When we were first married Kyle was able to come home for lunch everyday. It was so nice to see him and break up the day. We knew it was a rare treat and wouldn't last forever. And a little over a year ago we lost that privilege. But every once in a while Kyle sneaks home to surprise us if he is in the area visiting a school or attending a meeting. Yesterday we got such a visit. Kyle spent the time reading to the boys. Can you not tell from the pictures just how much these boys adore Daddy? It was so cute to see them all on the couch I had to grab my camera. Whenever I think of Kyle and the boys I think of how much everybody loves Daddy (especially me).

Thanksgiving

We have had a wonderful time with Michele's family this Thanksgiving Holiday and I am looking forward to seeing my family in Los Angeles for the Christmas break. This past weekend, I had various opp0rtunities to reflect upon my many blessings. In the spirit of giving thanks this holiday season, I want to share the list of things I am most grateful for (in no particular order except for maybe the first four):

• The Atonement of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father's love.
• A patient and loving wife who sacrifices so much for our family. Michele is the most selfless person I know and happens to be the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is the spiritual pillar of our home. She is constantly supportive of my hectic schedule and constantly reminds me that she loves me. She has such a pure and clear understanding of the gospel and shares her testimony daily through her actions. I Love You Michele!!
• Three little super heroes who still get excited when daddy comes home. I know that won't be forever so I will enjoy it while it lasts. These boys are best friends who LOVE AND ADORE their mother. Batman, Superman and Hulk....Daddy loves you.
  
• Supportive family on both sides. I am so blessed to have such supportive parents and siblings who have always been good examples to me. I am equally blessed to have married into a family who love each other and sacrifice for one another all the time.
  
• A job I love. I cannot think of another job I rather have right now than working to help our youth go to college. I work specifically with our Multicultural youth and it is rewarding each day to see people make choices that improves their lives.
  
• A great ward. We attend the Franklin 2nd Ward (AKA the Native American Ward) and have enjoyed the family atmosphere from day one. I'm grateful to be serving with and learning from such great people.
  
• A home full of warmth. It is not a huge home but it keeps us warm in the winter and is filled with love. This is primarily due to Michele.
  
• A great education. I feel privileged to be studying at the University of Utah in the Education Leadership and Policy Program. The professors are brilliant, caring and inspiring to say the least.
  
• Culture. Whether we are participating in Polynesian dance or weaving a Navajo rug, it is important to Michele and I to preserve and appreciate culture. There are beautiful aspects of all cultures that should be embraced.
  
• Health. Aside from a cold here or there, our family has enjoyed a tremendous amount of good health (knock on wood). I am so grateful for the temporal blessings we have that lead to decent health (i.e. food, warmth, sleep, etc.).
  
• Good neighbors and friends. I love our neighborhood and the good people we have the fortune of associating with. Whether it's at church, work, school, through blogs or facebook, Michele and I are grateful to know such quality people.
  
• And finally....trials. Michele and I have faced our share of trials and looking back, I am amazed at the growth that has come from those difficult times. As a father, I see my children struggle with things only to grow from the experience.
  

There are many more things I could write but I'll stop for now. Thank you to all who have been a part of my life. I feel so blessed.

Look What I Did!

From the time he could focus his eyes on something, Kekoa was trying to put things out of order. He has just always loved knocking things down. I have to admit I wondered if he would ever get to a point that he liked creating better than destroying. Well tonight was a beautiful change. He took out these great blocks he got for his birthday and made a house. Very fun and very creative. I love the creative play of childhood.

Ready or Not . . .

. . . here we go.

Tonight we worked on setting up the loom for my rug. It was mainly my mother, Kyle and my twin brother, Uwe who put it together. Kyle did a lot to help and I just watched and took pictures. When I apologized for not being much help my mom reminded me that there was much more work yet to be done. Point taken. It was neat to go through the process. As you can tell from the pictures is it quite the project. I have decided that it is in giving attention to the details that the most beautiful creations occur.








I am excited to get working on it - though I must admit I am a little scared as well. I liked what my mom said to me. She told me not to worry too much about it, that the process is meant to be enjoyed. She also said that the rug will teach me how to weave as I go along. My whole purpose in doing this is to learn it enough to be able to teach my own daughters (or sons if they show interest) and to preserve my culture in this way. I never not think of my grandma whenever I look at that loom. In fact I am using a weaving tool that belonged to her. I love and miss her so much. And I have a feeling she is proud of me.

Giving Thanks

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving with delicious food and so many things to be grateful for. We hosted dinner at our house and made do with what space we had even with 11 adults and 9 kids. It makes me wonder where we'll be 5 years from now.
I love the Thanksgiving holiday. I love being with family and taking a break from everyday life. The boys love having Kyle home - I love it more. Along side having the gospel as a part of my life, Kyle and my dear boys are what I am most grateful for. Kyle is such a wonderful husband (note: no need for people to continue reading this if you are bothered by my sappiness). He takes such good care of me and the boys. He makes time for us no matter what his crazy schedule is like. He has such a good heart and is always thinking of others before himself. I honestly could spend all day everyday with him. He is my best friend.
I also love each of my three boys so much. I cannot imagine my life with out them. They very much little boys in the sense that they are rowdy, messy and at times mischievous, but the are such good boys who love each other and their mommy and daddy. Yes, I am still more than willing to have more children even with three boys ages 4 and younger. I love being a wife and mother more than I could ever express.
I am also so grateful for all the comforts of life we enjoy as a family. We have a love-filled home, a good job that Kyle enjoys very much, wonderful extended family, and dear friends. Kyle and I often find ourselves in awe of the blessed life we live. We without hesitation give thanks and credit to Heavenly Father for all we have and try to share what we've been given. How thankful we are for the life we've been blessed with. Happy Thanksgiving.

Here are some pics from an afternoon walk on the Provo River trail: