Sunday Lessons

Sunday's are often crazy days with a marathon of trying to get boys ready for church, getting there on time and then keeping the boys behaving throughout the meetings. So I often feel church is a success if we make it through it. When I take something away from it - especially in the form of resolving to do better, it is a golden day. Happily today was one of those days.
I attended Sunday School - Gospel Doctrine. We talked about the first chapters of Heleman and the tendency of man to be prideful. The teacher asked a question about how we might be able to see that pride is creeping into our lives. Almost without thinking I made a comment that really taught me and inspired me to be better. I said something along the lines of when I think of the definition of humility it is a dependence on the Lord, and a recognition that we are nothing without Him. So if pride is the opposite of humility, then an evidence that pride is creeping into our lives is when we stop doing the little things that show our dependence on the Lord - like prayer for guidance, scripture study and seeking daily personal revelation. We are in a real sense prideful when we forget the Lord and think we can make it on our own just fine. I have had my fair share of thinking - oh, I can skip my study for today, I've got so much to do or I am too tired. I almost feel like saying to myself - how dare I think I can do what I need to do, the best way I can without seeking that help through scripture study and prayer? So I am going to do better. Thank goodness Heavenly Father is patient with me and will give me time to improve.
m
PS. I am thinking out loud so to speak - I am not fishing for comments or anything - just recording for remembrance sake.

In the Middle of Happily Ever After . . .

Three kids, two houses, three graduations, and a million and one happy memories later we are celebrating our 5th anniversary. It has amazed us at how fast it has gone. Kyle and I often talk about how lucky we feel to be married to each other. He reminds me that we are in the middle of living our dreams. I wish I had time to post more - but right now I am just happy to get something added. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart - I love you.

Happy Birthday!

It was such a fun night celebrating Kyle's birthday. We enjoyed the screaming, singing and dancing as Boyz II Men jammed out bringing back memories from High School. We didn't bring a camera, but Kyle got a shot with his camera phone - at least it's documented. Fun night pretending like we were young and carefree.

Happy Birthday Kyle!

(So blogger is not on the same time zone. I wanted the Happy Birthday to be under August 28th - I am not staying up to 1:00am to re-post. Just pretend it says August 28th).

I realized I don't have many pictures of Kyle - I had to go back far to find one - gatta do better with that. Anyway, today is the day - the big 3-0. Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you!!! I'll post again for this special occasion : )

Bad Habits Die Hard

When am I going to learn to put a bib on my little one before I give him a snack?

(by the way - he was eating chocolate chip cookies and not the cracker -I just gave him that to keep him busy while I grabbed my camera)

Christmas in August

Though it looks like snow covering our entire living room, it is actually Styrofoam the boys pulled to pieces. They had a blast doing it. If I knew it was going to take 45 minutes to clean up, I might not have let them go on so. Oh, the things we do with a blog post in mind. . . There were other things that made it feel like Christmas. Along with the "snow" came four packages in the mail (a birthday present for Kyle, some petticoats for my studio and packaging for my new logo). I also got my hair done, took the boys to $2 Tuesdays at the dinosaur museum and picked up a new-to-me Ipod off of craigslist. It w as a crazy event-filled, but fun day.

Kekoa's Sayin'

Here are some funny things Kekoa's said the past couple months. Don't want to forget them...

• Kyle and I were cuddling on the couch while the boys were playing with their toys. When Kekoa saw us he said, "Hey Guys, we don't have time for this."

• I was disciplining Kekoa for something - he firmly said back to me, "You are not my Wonder Woman."

• Kekoa was using the toilet bowl. He informed me that when he gets big like Daddy, his butt will cover the pedals (AKA - toilet seat) and he won't have to hold on.

• Kekoa was bring especially whiny one day (two long days without naps really added up).
He had eaten breakfast already, but later on was whining for more. His attitude didn't make me want to drop what I was doing so I left him alone to give him a chance to ask nicer. Instead he continued to watch Super Why on TV. It was an episode with the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The grasshopper said, "Oh no, I have no food!" Without skipping a beat Kekoa said in the most pitiful, dramatic voice, "Just like me, I have no food." Hilarious - maybe you just had to be there.

• After a not-so-happy experience cleaning caught fish from the lake, Kyle took a bag of stinky skins to get rid of on his way to work. I said to him as he went out the door, "Good luck disposing of the fish." Kekoa added right after, "Thanks Dad, for getting me some fish." Ikaika wouldn't be left out and yelled, "Ah, wish." Our own little game of telephone going on.

• Kekoa and Ikaika were battling over who would be the one to ride the rocking horse. Ikaika tried to get Kekoa to ride on the back while he sat in front. I tried to encourage him to just sit behind Ikaika and bring some peace to the situation. He refused saying, "But mom, my bum is huge, but not huge like your bum..."

• I was vacuuming out the van at a car wash place. The boys were just having fun playing in the front. When I was putting the mats back inside Kekoa started pretending like he was driving. I asked him, "Kekoa, are you driving?" He replied, " Yeah, you better watch out!"

Birthday Party Pictures

Here are some pictures Kyle's co-worker sent us. I am so glad that someone thought to bring a camera. Pictures help so much in remembering the special times. Video is even better - how I wish I had brought our camcorder to capture the dance with Kyle. But at least we have these.
Kyle's official birthday is this Thursday. How are we celebrating it? A Boyz II Men concert at the Scera outdoor theatre. Fun stuff. It makes me laugh thinking it is like our last grab at the days when we were younger. Now my excitements are sleeping longer than 4 hours, Ikaika learning our family scripture, Sepa saying, "Mommy," and a new stand-up freezer (hurray!).

Mini-shoot

So here are some pictures from yesterday. It was near bedtime so it was a really short try. One of my favorite things about Sepa are his beautiful dark eyes. They sparkle and are so full of life. Now I need to post some pictures of the other boys (Sepa's been the center of attention for the last couple posts).

Going Bananas. . .

. . . for bananas. I just downloaded pictures tonight and found this funny picture from last week. I gave Sepa some bananas with a little baby feeder (a mesh thing that keeps them from getting big pieces of food). Anyway - he ate the entire banana and, as you can tell, thoroughly enjoyed it and was happy at the end of his little snack.

Sepa - 7 months

Here is the cutie in the teacup again. 7 months old. Love this little boy. More pictures of him to come : )

Joy School

So last week at Kyle's birthday party a friend asked me if I was still planning on doing Joy School with Kekoa. I said I wanted to do it this Fall. It wasn't until that moment that I realized summer was nearly over and I had absolutely no one to do it with. So this whole week I have been trying to pull it all together to start class on Sept 2nd (the recommended schedule). It has been all so exciting for me. I absolutely love the curriculum and the idea that I can be involved in my little one's growth and development. I know it will be a lot of work, but I told Kyle that it makes me feel like I am a better mom to actually do something proactive. Anyway - so excited for this new adventure!

Re-commit

I am really happy that I started this blog at the beginning of the year. It's amazing to me that over half the year is already over. And time just seems to be speeding up.
I feel bad that I have slowed down on my posting. There is just so much going on it seems and these entires get pushed back and then I forget what I was going to post about....
Anyway, I read this great quote on Maka and Jeane's blog that has re-committed me to do better. It was the reason I started all this in the first place.

"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experiences."

~President Hinckley

Par-ty!!!

It has been a crazy last 5 days or so - preparing, enjoying and then recovering from the birthday party we threw for Kyle. His parents came into town and stayed with us. It was so fun for Grandma to finally meet her youngest grandchild, Sepa. Kekoa loved having his grandparents around. Mom was a great in helping me prepare all the food. I could not have done it myself.
The party was a great success and it was so wonderful seeing so many good friends. I did forget my silly camera, but some attendees took some shots for me and I'll post them when I get them.
I was quite flattered that so many people liked the teri-chicken and the guava cake. There was hardly a crumb left from the cake when we cleaned up. Along with the yummy food we had great entertainment from the musicians who play for Kyle's dance group. They are talented guys with the amazing voice of Junior Maile. My favorite part of the whole evening was when Kyle dedicated a song, "Love Me," to me and we got to dance together. Kekoa held on to my leg the whole time, but it was perfect anyway. My hope with the whole thing was that Kyle would feel how much we all love him. I love him most of all.

Trick or Treat?

Kekoa and I were talking about Halloween and potential costume ideas the other day. I told him of the Cars outfits I bought after Halloween last year (70% off - thank you very much) and he wanted me to pull them out to try them on. I thought they looked so cute - though I have to figure out a way to un-smoosh the faces of Mater and McQueen from being packed away. Kekoa doesn't look too excited in this picture, but it was more because he didn't want me to take a picture than of the outfit. He actually traded his Batman stuff for a day to wear this thing. We'll see what he ends up being for Halloween- something tells me it is going to be black with a cape. Oh well, at least I got this cute, cute picture. It is exactly what I pictured last year when I bought them.

"Depa" - as Ikaika calls him...

Sepa is 6 1/2 months now... I just wanted to add these pictures to the blog for record keeping purposes. He has been a fun addition to our family and we all love him so much. Kekoa comes to see him first thing in the morning and always double checks that we haven't forgotten him whenever we go somewhere. Yesterday, before church I put the boys in the van while I went to "pack up" Sepa. With the van running, I pulled it half-way out of the garage so that the exhaust wouldn't fill the place. Kekoa about had a cow when he thought I was leaving Sepa. He is a good big brother. And Ikaika is always trying to share his food with Sepa. I have to remind him that Sepa doesn't have any teeth yet and can't have what we eat.
Sepa love all of us as well. A smile will spread across his face at even the sound of our voices coming in the room. And just for the record, he is yet another Reyes-mommas-boy...

Pride & Prejudice

Last night Kyle and I went on a well-needed date - thanks to my dear sister who watched the boys. We went to the Scera Shell outdoor theatre and watched one of my all-time favorites, Pride and Prejudice. It was such a fun atmosphere sitting on the grass on a blanket watching a play. We didn't mind one bit that it sprinkled a little. It was a beautiful night and I loved not worrying about my boys for a couple hours and enjoying Kyle's company. I reminded him that the last time we watched a play outside on the grass was our first date. That was up at Sundance. Sadly, they no longer have plays up there anymore. Last night was so fun and I am so thankful that this theatre is still running. I am happy to support functions like this that are wholesome recreation. I think we all should. The play runs to the 16th of August - go if you get a chance!

Sunday Shoes

Okay, final post for today. I finally got the boys some shoes for church. It seemed like for weeks I'd forget to shop for them and would only remember Sunday morning when it was time to head out the door to church. Both boys were excited about them. Especially Ikaika - he loves any shoes. In fact when they got out of the tub this morning the first thing Ikaika did was put his shoes on - very cute with a bare bum. Amidst the chaos of trying to get the boys ready and to church alone (Kyle left early for meetings) I snapped this quick shot. Not the greatest picture, but I love the candidness and emotion you can feel. Kekoa and Ikaika are really becoming good friends and playing together more. If Kekoa goes somewhere, Ikaika is always looking for him. "Mom, Koa go?" I have great hopes that they will be the best of friends.
m
PS. Thank you to Grandma Nette for funding the well needed shoes : ) - Kekoa hasn't had decent church shoes since he was one and Ikaika never! Sad, I know.

Bitter Biscuits

I have a first-picture of both Ikaika and Iosepa when I first gave them the little baby cookie to enjoy. (Sepa's was just this weekend). Ikaika definitely had more goo all over. Sepa's just got crusty right away- maybe because it was so hot outside. I like looking at the comparison of them - wish I had one of Kekoa.

Saturday Fun

Here are just some fun pictures from this weekend. We enjoyed a relaxing day at home with the boys playing outside for a while. Don't they just make you smile?

Seven Peaks

Yesterday Kyle took the afternoon off and we headed to Seven Peaks. It was the first time that I had been there (even with living in Provo for over 8 years...) and now I wonder why we never went before. It was a ton of fun and all the boys loved it. Even baby Sepa loved it, regardless of going through a couple days of fever (I have no idea what is going on with the poor thing). He loved to kick and splash the water with his hands. He didn't even mind when water splashed his face. It was so cute. Kekoa went down one of the flash flood slides and I decided if Kekoa could do it, so could I (I am not big into adventurous things at all). It was a great few hours. Thanks to Aunty Celeste and Keisha for helping us take care of the boys. The only thing that keeps me from getting a season pass is knowing how impossible it would be to do it by myself with the boys. Anyway, it was fun, fun, fun.

PS. I forgot to grab our camera so sadly we have no pictures - I guess we'll just have to go back again next week... : )