Ke'ala turns 7

The weekend of Ke'ala's birthday was one of the busiest we've had in a long time. It was the weekend of Leva's baptism and Latu's ordination and on her birthday (Saturday the 10th) the boys had back to back football games. We had our cousins in from Az, Nv and Ut so the whole week was filled with back to back birthdays on top of that. We celebrated with them with cake and ice cream and again when everyone left since we didn't "celebrate" on her actual day of birth.

We love our princess. From her preemie 5 lbs days to her plumpy 2 months stage and beyond, we are so grateful to have this girl bless our family full of testosterone. She is full of life, when she has fun she let's herself go and enjoys the moment. She is still pretty shy but when she is comfortable enough she has the gift of gab. We love you, 'Ala Bear!

My Buddy and Me

They scream with excitement at the sight of each other. It makes Sacrament challenging, yet entertaining. They tail one another to no end and speak their own language. They laugh and play and look out for each other when they're getting in and out of trouble. They're one month apart but twins at heart. We love these boys so much!

Fresh and so Clean

This picture would look familiar to you if you recall that scene in 'Home Alone' when Kevin is out of the shower , in front of the mirror and puts on after shave and combs his hair back. That's been his routine for a while, minus the after shave. I caught it just as he was on his way out of the bathroom. He's pretty efficient when it comes to getting himself cleaned and ready to go, even if we're getting ready for bed. ;)

Halloween 3

It seems I'm only able to post 5 pics at a time via email. Sorry for the extra posts!

Halloween continued

More pics that didn't get posted with the latest Halloween update.

Leva turns 8

Happy birthday Leva. He's the best big brother anyone could ask for. He is Always willing to help and is very independent. He likes to get things done and has a knack for making people laugh. He has a silly bone and a funny bone. We love him more than words can say.

Halloween 2015

Another fun year of making costumes. The kids finally made their decisions and I was surprised at what they all chose to be.

Salesi was determined to be a bag of jelly beans. He never strayed with his choice. Simple enough. He was happy about it after putting it on, saying, "I'm not Salesi, I'm a jelly bean!" His costume also only lasted until we reached our trick or treating destination. By then he had yanked and pulled on the bag that it opened on the bottom and all the balloons came out. Bye bye jelly beans.

Jeremy was Baby Eggs from the movie , 'The Boxtrolls'. His costume didn't even make it onto his body. He wouldn't keep it on with all the business around us. Easy fix, we put it on Salesi.

Ke'ala was the character Shoes from the Boxtrolls movie , Sesi- Michael Jackson and Leva was Jack Frost.

I couldn't find a printout for Shoes anywhere online so Jesse drew it for me. Thank goodness for his artistic capabilities.

A couple of RS sisters from our ward told us about a trick or treating spot near their neighborhood on the Island and we decided to check it out. It was definitely the place to be on Halloween. There were Halloween go-carts galore, houses were passing out water and juice with candies for the kids. One house had Italian ice instead of candy. Sweet! Some even offered alcoholic "treats" for the parents but of course I declined. If they had a Dr Pepper I woulda got crunk. Great weather, good company, happy kids made for another successful Halloween.

Kid Says

While driving this weekend we told Sesi to buckle up. He said it was too hard. Ke'ala's reply to that was, "Sesi, buckling up is easy as eating cake. It's not hard as tying your shoe." I enjoy kid metaphor's.

Sent from my iPhone

Vegas Bonus!

While we were in Vegas last week, last week?.. 2 wks ago?.. I've lost track of time. 

We got to see Kelly and the kids for a hot minute.  I wish we had more time.  The boy's (all of them, actually) hit it off right from the start like they were old pals.  So nice to see and so comforting. Yet another reminder that family time is precious!  We need more of it.

 The last time we saw Kelly and Dustin, Grady was an only child.  On the flip side, Sesi was our baby, then.  Times have changed with 2 more (sisterly) additions to their family, most recently lil' Molly Valentine at just a few weeks old, and it was a pleasure to see their family growing happily.

 Don't these 2 look alike?   The first thing Kelly and I noticed was the HAIR.  Khaleesi and Salesi are a yr apart, I think.  He'll be 3 in April and I think she just turned 2?... or has been 2 for a few..several months.. oh heck, we'll call them the same age.

 Khaleesi was so adorable, showing her skills as a new big sis, patting baby J on the head saying, "I love you", pretty much the whole time we were there.

 I give so much credit to family/kid photographers who can actually get decent pictures of kids in one sitting.

One of 2 videos I have of the boy's playing Superhero/Bad GUy but the other won't load... PS- Grady shook it off and they continued rough housing for a while and that was the video. :)

So Much in So Little Time

 So much to see, so much to do, so little time....

Starting from Texas, Sunday night, go!
         Monday night touchdown in Az. Rest up
                                                        and arise the next day --> to Vegas!

Wednesday and Thursday we tour old Sin city.

Friday we say our goodbyes and farewells,

We push on to take in the beauty of the Canyon.

                                           

Friday night hastens, we're headed back To Mesa city.

Saturday has come, oh , what a pity! 

Packing and prepping it's time to part ways,

Thru tears and bear hugs we set out on our journey

Back to reality, back on the road...

Back thru New Mexico and then good ol' Texas.

The Sunday sun greets us as we creep closer to home, 

chugging along nearing faces we've missed 

The little people we'll hug and soon get to kiss!