The Jungle Book

One of the few (and I mean few) perks to John's job as an assisstant principal is that we can occasionally catch an extra-curricular activity for free here and there. As we had just grounded the kids for being awnry, fighting all the time, complaining, and the list goes on...(this happened during scripture study, I might add-mom had had enough and went on the rampage-such a spiritual experience don't you think?) we decided to make the day a family one. After making the kids clean the house from top to bottom (that included wiping all the floor boards in our 2-story house)and a day at the park with family only, we took the kids to The Jungle Book that night.

Tealani and Nyah

Here we are patiently waiting for the play to start. Israel with his sideways hat-I just don't get it. He never wears a cap the right way.

The play was done rather well, but Nyah half way through, turns to me and says "mom, I think Mowgli's a girl." She thought that was a little weird because Mowgli is supposed to be a boy after all. Wyatt just wanted King Louis to come out (I kept telling him it wasn't the Disney version) and sing "I Wanna be Like You". Now that would have been awesome.

All in all, the kids loved it and had a great time being grounded and having to "hang out" with mom and dad. Even Wyatt stopped complaining that he was bored. We are the coolest anyway so I don't see why they woudn't want to hang out with us all the time.

They got to meet the characters afterwards and thought it was cool. This is one of John's seniors who played Baloo the bear. He was hilarious.

This is Mowgli. She's LDS and such a nice girl. She did a great job too. Wyatt would not get in the picture. I guess there are some things that just aren't "cool" enough when you are 12.

One Good Soccer Injury

One morning while lounging around in my PJ's I got a phone call from the school nurse telling me that Israel had fallen and hurt his wrist. They tried to send him to class but he said that it still was hurting so they gave me a call. I thought to myself "the kid just got to school what on earth could he possibly have done in such a short time?". Well, he had been playing soccer and stopped the ball with his foot, went off balance, and landed backward on his wrist trying to catch his fall. I hurried and changed from my comfortable PJ's (which I so wanted to spend at least half the day in) and reluctantly took him to the doctor (you know it costs $20 a pop plus all the other fees-couldn't he just grin and bear it?). Sure enough x-rays said he had fractured his wrist. It was a small fracture but a fracture nonetheless.

He was excited to pick out his cast color. I wasn't too excited about having to wrap that thing to give him a bath. Now his hand washing skills were going to be even worse than they already were, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. Out of all the kids, I'm not really surprised that he was the first one with a broken bone of some sort.

Funny thing is, when I took him back to school that day, he went straight out to recess a nd played soccer again. I guess boys will be boys and you gotta love 'em for that. You go Israel!

Crazy Mom on the Run!!!

So let me preface these pictures with a little background. About 7 1/2 years ago I decided it was time to lose the post baby fat and decided it was time to join a health club again. My first night back I was running on the treadmill (so boring, by the way) and felt a little tingling in my legs, but decided to perservere (I HAD to run 2 miles in 16 minutes!!). Well after about 15 minutes my heart started feeling funny and I made myself quit (I hate to admit it but it was nice to stop). The pain however, increased in my legs and became so severe I couldn't stand, sit, or lie down in any comfortable position. I had the lady come and help me stretch out and then finally call John because stretching wasn't helping out either. After my husband got there and I demanded that he give me a blessing, knowing it was the only thing that could help me out except a massive dose of drugs, I finally passed out unconscious.

Throughout the night, after having been dosed with my massive amount of drugs, I was in and out of awareness and only remember bits and pieces (unfortunately part of that was trying to strip off my clothes in front of the male doctor. John tried very hard to control that sudden urge-does that say something about me?) Anyway to make a long story short, I was finally diagnosed 20 hours later with blood clots. There was a huge one in my femoral artery which cut off all the blood to my leg for those hours and there were 3 others in my right leg that were a little smaller. Unfortunately we were in a small town in Wyoming and I needed to be life flighted to Casper, which unfortunately the helicopter couldn't fly in or out because the weather was so bad (It was in the middle of winter). As I left in the ambulance for Casper the doc told me that I would most likely not come back with my leg. I was so high I just smiled and said "sure, whatever you need to do!"

Anyway...the surgery went well, and because of many prayers and priesthood blessings, I only had one muscle removed in my right leg. It was a major muscle but I still had my leg. I had drop foot for months and had a nice huge brace that I had to buy a size and a half bigger shoe for, but man was I a happy girl! I had my leg! After 4 surgeries which included the removal of the muscle, a skin graft, and a tendon transfer (to lift my drop foot), I was a new woman.
Throughout the surgeries several of my doctors told me I would never run marathons and if you know me well, that is something you so not tell me- never tell me I won't do anything. I will try and prove you wrong. So, after years of training off and on (due to many side effects of the clots- hip pain, back pain, weight gain-exercising really hurts sometimes) I finally decided it was time to think about running races in smaller increments. I got my lovely sisters to join me in my quest. We decided that it would be fun to do a relay and that it would be the half marathon relay in Utah during spring break. We were all pretty excited and thought it would be great. In January the training really started. It was a loooong month. So was February, and March. I decided that before the relay I would try to run a 10k just to see how well I did so at the end of Feb. I signed up for the Tri-City Leprechaun dash.


3 of my kids and my hubby decided they would come and support me on this freezing cold windy day. With snacks in hand, Israel and I wait for the race to start. I was thinking that I would be a little slow and probably would be an hour and fifteen minutes so the kids came prepared.

The gun went off and I was so excited. The adrenalin was pumping like crazy and I knew I could do it. At about the 3rd mile I wanted to quit because we turned around and had to run against the wind. But I just started singing in my head ("Runnin' Against the Wind" of course) and kept plugging along. An hour later I headed up to the finish line. Tealani was the first at my side and started to run with me and cheer me on and then I saw Israel and Nyah running down to finish with me and I started crying-but then i couldn't breathe and started to hyper ventilate while still running (really bad combo) so I choked back the tears and crossed the finish line in 10 miutes less than I thought I would.

Without my cheering squad I would be nothing. It is because of them that I finished that race. There is nothing like crossing that finish line with kids and a husband to cheer you on and say that they are so proud of your accomplishment. They are the greatest!!! I love you guys!

Tealani, Nyah, and Israel (Wyatt was at a basketball tournament)

My Babe. How awesome he is!


2 weeks later (April 4th) Nezhone, Maile, Shara and I awaited our relay. Maile and I ran the first leg and Nez and Shara the last. Nezhone and I were on a team and Maile and Shara on another and our sister-in-law Andrea and her father were on another.

At half a mile, my back was killing and at about the 4th mile my hips were in severe pain but I ran the entire way and never gave up. That was the longest 6.55 miles I have ever run. It was cold, snowy, and windy, but the best feeling was handing the baton off to Nezhone and finishing. I have no idea what my time was and I think it was really slow but I don't care. I was so happy.

Watching Nezhone and Shara come across that finish line was even more exciting. We had so much fun. Andrea, I am so glad you ran with us. Nezhone and Shara you guys were amazing. Maile, when i lose weight and really can train again I am going to KICK YOUR BUTT!!!

Nyah turns 5!!

For Nyah's 5th birthday we had cake and ice cream-the usual. She got to invite one friend over (Cause that's how momma rolls) so she invited her new buddy Corissa. It was nothing too exciting. But she loved every minute of it. I think my daughter likes all the attention she gets as well as the presents. Now that she's 5 she thinks she starts school already. I keep telling her after the summer but... I think I'll be explaining that one for awhile- no concept of time. Sometimes I wish it were still the same with adults.

Clayton Whitby, Wyatt, and Tealani.


Nyah getting ready to blow out the candles. Don't look to closely at the ugly cake. It is heart shaped but it's german chocolate because I had no other frosting and didn't want to go to the store. I know what you're thinking... but it's your daughter's birthday!...yeah... that still couldn't rouse me to go. All I know is that it tasted AWESOME!

I think she was calling someone a loser...where in the world do these kids get that stuff? Disney channel?

Nyah's buddy Corissa. They are two peas in a pod.

Now doesn't that make you want to eat some of that cake!

Hives

One night while I was in the middle of coaching Israel's basketball team I noticed that Nyah had a fat lip, but at first glance I thought she had just been hit by a ball so I thought little of it until we got home. I took a closer look and noticed that not only was her lip fat but there were other parts of her body were swelling up.


Like her arm,

her belly,

her chin,

and her eyes. In less than 15 minutes (after giving her Benadryl) both her eyes were practically swollen shut. Luckily about 5 minutes after that, the Benadryl finally kicked in and no more hives appeared. The swelling didn't go completely away until two days later. We still have no idea what she had an allergic reaction to. Unfortunately I have a history of hives and still have no idea what I'm allergic to. Hopefully she won't get them again.

Tealani's Got Game

This was Tealani's first year in basketball and she did so great. Of course paying her a quarter a bucket might have helped a bit in the scoring department. I always love to watch her play her sports because she is so aggressive. She was a good little ball handler and had a pretty good shot. She and Kiana were the only two that were from a different elementary school but all the girls were awesome. They had a great little team and remained undefeated. Of course they did have a girl that towered over all of the other girls.

Taking a break-Each team was divided into teams of ten and each girl had to have equal playing time (unless someone was gone). There were four 8 minute quarters divided into two 4 minute increments and subs went in and out between each 4 minute increment. It was a great schedule.

Playing defense. She stole the ball a few times and even made a couple lay-ins on her fast breaks. I often walked out of the gym a little hoarse after cheering my girl on.

Like I said before, these two are attached at the hip. Tealani, mom and dad are your #1 FANS!!!

Israel's Basketball Season

This year we decided to put Israel and Tealani into basketball for the first time. When I signed them up (late of course) they hadn't found a coach for Israel's team yet, so crazy mom gets this brilliant idea that she would love to coach Israel-I mean she's been volunteering with her husband when he coached varsity for 4 years. It would be a piece of cake, right!? My other ulterior motive was that I'd bond with my son. Yeah, coaching 7 and 8 yr. old boys is not easier than coaching moody varsity girls. It's worse! They had no attention span (which I should have known, already having had 2 boys) and they could not grasp what I thought were simple concepts-like dribbling with one hand only and when you stop dribbling you can't dribble anymore. Well, I'm not sure if Israel and I bonded all that well (I think I was harder on him-I half expected him to have John's talent) but it sure was fun watching him play and improve. He was a little shier than I ever thought he would be and sooooo not aggressive (very unlike his mother).


But he did show improvement on his defensive skills,


his dribbling skills,


and overall, his teammate skills. He was the best passer ever! Way to go Israel!!! Although I will never coach that age again, I will always be his #1 fan and that's what counts!

The Cozy Toy Box

When mommy is cleaning or otherwise occupied, Nyah finds great ways to entertain herself. I got really sick of all the kids toys being all over the place so I got rid of quite few by throwing them in the trash or giving them to Goodwill. The toy box then became empty and Nyah decided to use it as her bed/coloring box. She grabbed her coloring stuff and blanket and sat there for a couple hours coloring. This lasted about a week. Now she's moved to other forms of entertainment like our Disney karaoke machine.

My Hula Honeys (except Israel of course)

I put Tealani, Israel, and Nyah in a hula Halau soon after we moved to Pasco. There are quite a few Hawaiians living around that area which is quite surprising. We had a party in January and the kids danced. This was Tealani's first time and she was basically thrown into the older class because she was too advanced for the beginning class. She absolutely loves it and the friends she's made. Although she's a little unsure of herself, she does a great job.


Israel doesn't love it but he's got some great friends as well. He hates learning the dances but likes doing the "manly" chants. He told Aunty at our last practice "I don't really like doing this dance". She laughed and said she hadn't had any of the kids tell her that before. I think he gets embarassed because he thinks his brother Wyatt will make fun of him. I threatened Wyatt and said if he ever made a negative remark about Israel dancing he'd come to the all girls classes. He's never said a word since. He knows Mama means business!!!



Half the time Nyah has no clue what is going on. She just likes wearing the pa'u (hula skirt) and doing what Tealani does. She's getting better though and loves to dance.





I asked Tealani which video she wanted me to post and she opted for this one. She gets a little mixed up but like I said before, she didn't get to start from square one, she learned by following the other girls. The polynesian girl next to her is her good friend Kiana Fa'aumausili. They are the only other Samoan family in our stake and these two are joined at the hip!!

Nyah and Israel are dancing in this one. This is one of the dances Israel prefers not to dance but he's a good sport.

It's another facial injury!

My darling Nyah seems to like getting injured on the face. It never seems to be anywhere else except the face. When she was almost a year she fell and had to have stitches on her nose. The scars are still there but barely noticeable to those who have no idea. Well, she decided she needed to sit on a chair and pull her arms underneath her shirt and then wrap the shirt over her knees. She fell, screamed, mom came running, and these were the results;

A fat BLOODY lip
a little cut above the eye

And blood on her clothes