My Little Helpers

I am almost halfway done with my rug - I'll post a picture when I get to that point. I enjoy working on it in the middle of the day when the light pours in from our front window. But that also means the boys are up and round about me. Throughout the day we are always in the same room together. I sometimes feel like a mother hen who's chick are right beneath her at all times. So when I sit down to work on my rug, I am always sure to have my little helpers right there. It makes for slow progress, but I try to remember that the whole reason I decided to learn weaving is to pass this art and part of culture down to my children. I hope these early memories of mommy and her rug will inspire them to learn one day as well (FYI: it is quite alright for males to weave in the Navajo culture ). Anyway, I wish I could have gotten a picture of what these times really look like (me in the middle with the boys all around me), but there was no one else to take the picture. Don't they look so cute. Oh, and Sepa is not in the picture, but I dare say he tries to help me more than anyone : )

Sayin's

Enjoy : )


• We were coming back from visiting my mom in Arizona. We were meeting up with Kyle half way (from a recruiting trip) and were just parked on the side of the road waiting in the middle of nowhere. The boys said they were thirsty. I told them they would have to wait until we met up with Daddy again. Kekoa then announced his idea. He said, “ I know! We’ll go find a house. . . and ask them if they have Batman boots . . . and you’ll hold on to Sepa and I’ll hold on to Kaika and you . . . and we’ll fly to grandma’s house and get some water!”


• We have been working on memorizing scriptures as a family. One night I asked Kekoa can you do Alma 32:21?
He replied, “Mom, I don’t want to do the Elmo one.”


• We were looking at a picture of the temple hanging in our family room. A conversation started between Kekoa and I.
“Mom, is that the temple you got married in?”
“Yes.”
“Who is that guy?”
“What guy?”
“Is that the guy that blows the horn?”
“That's Moroni.”
“Moroni? You mean Joseph?”
“No, his name is Moroni.”
“What’s his last name?”


• We had to explain to Kekoa that we borrow movies from Blockbuster, that the movies are not ours to keep. For some reason it stuck with him and he now thinks that ‘borrow’ means to buy something from the store.
One day we were shopping at Target and Kekoa found some Batman slippers. He said, “Mom can I just borrow it? … Just for 20 minutes.”


• Kekoa’s words:
Granny Grahams = Teddy Grahams
Atackling = attacking/tackling
Scarecrows = Velcro (he wanted me to put scarecrows on his cape so he could take it on and off)
Stinkin’ = Thinking (cracks me up when he says, “Mom, I’m stinkin’ . . . ")


• One day I waited a little to long to go to the bathroom. I ran down stairs. Kekoa, trying to be helpful & sensing my earnestness, whispered, “Hold your dinky, Mom.”


• Ikaika loves his grandma. One day he said to me, "Hey mom, I’m going to marry my grandma and dance with her.” I thought it was a one time statement, but he now prays for it everyday, dancing and all.


• Koa got a hand-me-down superman toy from a friend. He was so excited and loved it dearly. Sadly, the arm broke off a few days later. Kyle told him we could go get some superglue from the store. Kekoa said in agreement, “Yeah, we need to use Super glue or else he will just be Clark.”


• While playing one day Kekoa said,“Mom, you could actually call me Tape-Box-Man
Because I like boxes and I like tape.” That is the understatement of the year. Tape disappears faster than candy in our house.


• We had laundry folded on the couch, including some of Kekoa’s underwear. Ikaika decided he wanted to try some on. Kekoa said, “That’s mine Kaika.” Kaika responded, Hmmm . . . fancy.”

Before I Forget . . .

I thought I'd give it a try . . .

Here's the info:
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For YOU! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations: 1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! 2. What I create will be just for you. 3. It'll be done this year. Hopefully sooner than later. 4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be sewn, painted, written, scrapbooky, or be something totally random that I come up with on a whim. I may even bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure! 5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. Let's spread some love! So, the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they are doing it too win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! (I know...that could either be cool or scary) Who knows! :) Be sure to post pictures of what you won when you receive it! :)
~m

I Love to See the Temple

Yesterday, we decided to take the boys to the Draper temple open-house. I had been wanting to take them since we missed the day our ward went together (Kyle was at class and there was no way I was going to take all three boys by myself). I felt strongly that it was a teaching opportunity I would regret passing up. So we got the boys ready and headed up. Kekoa and Ikaika were both excited when we told them we were going to go see the temple. I was especially excited for Kekoa, who has begun to understand a little about the significance of the temple. I taught him long ago that the temple is where we go to be married, that mommy and daddy were married in the temple. I soon had to extend that teaching when one day I told Kekoa I was going to the temple and he said, "Mom, are you going to get married!?" I told him no, that already married Daddy, but was going there to learn more about Jesus. This explanation has stuck with him. When we went to the Snowflake temple a week ago he told his cousins that their moms and dads were all going to the temple to learn more about Jesus. I am excited to continue teaching him more as he grows older.I thought that a visual of being in the temple would be powerful to him, and the open-house was a perfect opportunity.

It was quite the event with parking, waiting, and being bussed there, but it all worked out fine. Kekoa would say, "Mom, this is so amazing!" They especially loved the baptismal font, but what kid wouldn't like something that looked like a miniature pool : )
I loved being in the sealing room together. I loved looking at my sweet boys in the mirrors. I only wish I had thought to stand all together at once and look at each other as a family. Next open house I guess : ) I love the temple and am so thankful we had a chance to show our boys the beauty of the House of the Lord.
~m

(The only camera we had was Kyle's phone)

side note: today is 9 years since I entered the MTC. Crazy.

Adventures of the Everday Life

Disclaimer : If you might be offended by potty talk, no need to read on. This just made me laugh so much I had to write it down.

This morning Kekoa came into the bathroom where I was getting ready and told me he needed to go potty. So I helped him hop on the toilet and he started doing his business. He was having a little difficulty and complained to me. I told him I couldn't do anything and he just had to push it out himself. He then asked, "Mom, do you have a poop-grabber?" I laughed and said no. He struggled a little bit more, but was finally done. He told me he wasn't ever going to do that again and hopped off. As I helped him wipe his bum I told him he was just fine. Bending over he asked, "Mom, did I crack it?"
Kids say the darndest things . . .

Families are Forever

It was a crazy weekend and I feel like my head is still spinning from all the things going on. I've been juggling things with photography, my calling, and my family. But I am not going to write about it all. I am only going to post about the most important thing that happened. We did did temple work for my dear, sweet grandparents. It has been something we have been wanting to do for a while. My siblings and I traveled down to the Snowflake, AZ temple to do the work. It was very appropriate with the session being in Navajo. We also sealed them together. It was such a sweet experience and I was thankful to be be there to witness it. In my personal journal I will write of the miracles that made it all possible. How grateful I am to know families are forever.

I Believe I Can Fly . . .

. . . or at least skate before I can walk. Today the boys were playing together. Ikaika pulled out some skates Kekoa got as a reward for potty training. Sepa watched Ikaika for a while and as soon as he got a chance he grabbed a skate and decided it was his turn. It was so cute to see his excitment at even the thought of being able to do something with his new toy. It made me laugh and I teased him that he needed to learn to walk first. It was a nice little lesson for me as I thought about it. I wonder how many times I don't even try because I think I cannot do something. Maybe I'll try to be more like Sepa and just skate.
m

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

Kaika's favorite things that is. . .

I wrote in a previous post about Kekoa saying that Ikaika likes two things - milk and his grandma. I didn't add that Ikaika replied by saying, "Yeah, and I like my grandma again."
Going hand-in-hand with milk is Ikaika's belly button. For some reason he likes to hold it when he drinks his milk. So here's the shot of Ikaika in comfort heaven.
m

PS. You can see the nasty bruise from his bump the other day.

SURPRISE!!!

I have been wanting to throw Michele and her twin brother, Uwe, a surprise birthday party ever since I realized that this was going to be the big 3-0. I figured that if I invited all their friends, I might be feeding about 400 people so I decided to turn it down a notch. I decided that I wanted to surprise them with mostly family and a few friends. Well, I got what I wanted.

Before I go any further, you have to know that I am the worst at surprising Michele. Of the ten times I have tried to surprise her since we have met, she has found out about the surprise eight times. I knew this going into my planning but I thought I would be sneaky this time.

(Back to the story)
I decided to do an online evite of friends that I had emails for. I went to the evite website and clicked on a number of emails that were already loaded onto the website from a previous party we had planned. My first location fell through so luckily my neighbors (thanks Fischers) were able to secure a room for me by Tuesday (party was on Saturday, 28th). I sent the email out and within one day, I received a confirmation that 33 people were coming. I then opened the list and realized that there were a ton of people that still hadn't replied or opened their emails. I also noticed that there were a bunch of people that were close friends who were not on the email list (most of my ward) because I didn't have emails for them. Later, I realized that the log-in email for the evite account was our family email account. I quickly opened the account and noticed that someone else (Michele) had already opened it. There went the surprise.

As the day approached, I was bummed about Michele's discovery, but was excited nonetheless. I anticipated about 100 people from phone calls, facebook messages, and evite RSVPs. Michele really likes Lon's Cookin' Shack BBQ pulled pork so I ordered enough for 100 people. I cooked enough rice and macaroni salad for 100 people. Michele's mom, sister (Celeste) and friend (Keisha) helped me all of Saturday morning to get ready (cake, decorations, food, drinks, music, etc.). It was a team effort. The time had finally arrived for the party.

We were still preparing some food at 4:00 (the announced time of the party) and figured that most wouldn't come till later. Celeste, Keisha, and I were at the chapel while Jeremiah (Michele's younger brother) kept Michele and Uwe at the house. We waited.....and waited....and waited. 4:10......4:20......4:30......."Hey someone just pulled up!!" Two of our friends (the Garcias) came in and we sat and talked. Jeremiah sent the text, "We are all ready. What should we do?" I replied, "Go ahead and bring them" knowing that we couldn't wait too much longer. At 4:40, two cars pull up with Michele, Uwe, the kids and the whole family. by this time the sad situation had turned somewhat humorous and we hid inside the lobby of the church building (sort of). "SURPRISE!!" we yelled as they walked through. Michele looked around as if to say, "Where is everyone?" She confessed later that she was thinking, "Where did everyone park?" in anticipation of a real surprise party. A few more people showed including the: Charitons, Hanamaikais, Loebels, Blanchards, Chuns, and others but it was pretty slow to say the least.

I write this blog not to make anyone feel bad for not coming (seriously) or not being invited (my fault - I don't have many emails) but rather to laugh at the memory of this occasion. If any of you would like for me to plan your surprise party, let me know. I just have to laugh at my lame attempt to throw Michele and Uwe a party. By the way, the food was amazing.

Michele, I love you always. If it's any consolation, the party was great in my imagination as I was planning. Happy Birthday honey!!

Love, K