He is the way

photo credit: Simon Dewey

Alma 4:13
...and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper...

I shared this scripture during my lesson today and with it I shared my own experience which I had yesterday. I was so overwhelmed feeling like I had a million things I needed to get done and failing at all of them. Both of the kids were cranky and needing my attention, I was trying to get laundry done, the house put back together, my lesson finished up, etc. etc. Finally I stopped and announced, "I am done, I quit." Kali just looked up at me with her big blue eyes and said, "mommy, don't quit." I laid down next to her, I just had to laugh. It was then that I decided I needed to say a prayer. I couldn't do this on my own and I was a fool to think I could. I was humbled and realized more than I have ever realized in my life, I have to turn to my Heavenly Father in ALL things if I want to make it through this life, ALIVE and HAPPY:)

I have the most amazing neighbors who help me out ALL THE TIME, and for this reason I just didn't feel like asking someone on a Saturday to watch my kids when I was sure they had plans of their own. After I prayed, Heavenly Father immediately blessed me, I didn't have to ask any one, Chad Crosby asked me if he could take Kali to the beach with them, THANK YOU GUYS, once again, then Hillary asked if she could take Krew. I was able to get what I needed accomplished. Thank you Heavenly Father and thank you Crosby's and Williams for being the answer to my prayers:)

Another wonderful thing I have learned this week, was from Angie Wynes. Here Aunt sent her a letter and in it was amazing advice about raising children. One thing she said was that when you are having a hard time with a child and they are not listening to you or are out of control, stop the situation and pray with them. I have been doing that with Kali all week long. I love it, it calms us both down and then we are able to communicate to each other with out a bunch of whining or screaming. Kali loves it, in fact today when we got home she was starting to whine and I was getting upset so she just started praying, and it was such a beautiful prayer and of course it put a smile on my face:)

Aloha Friday @ Turtle Bay

On Friday we went to Turtle Bay and enjoyed some time at the beach. Kali enjoyed spending some time with her new girl friend Velzy. She needed to know where she was at all times. Addi, Kali, Velzy and Ruby spent a good amount of time devouring a bag of Doritos, and I know Kali was loving every minute of it. I am not a big chip person, so I NEVER buy chips. Velzy was being a good little model for me while I was trying to take pictures, which inspired Kali to model for me as well:) Usually Kali is telling me to stop taking pictures of her or to put the camera away. It is OK, it doesn't hurt my feelings, in fact it makes me chuckle to myself, because I know I use to say the SAME thing to my mom when I was little. You know what they say, "what goes around, comes around." Especially through your children:)

HOW STRESSED ARE YOU?

I am not sure exactly how it works, but this is amazingly accurate. Read the full description before looking at the picture.

The picture below has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a case study on stress levels at St. Mary's Hospital.

Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins. The more differences a person finds between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing.

Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may want to take a vacation.

No Need to Comment,
I'll be on Vacation.

BOYS, BOYS, BOYS

Pretty much if you live in E building you have a girl first followed by a boy. Since the girls are older and mobile, running around singing at the top of their lungs and dancing, they get most of the attention. The other day was a little different. The girls were playing in Kim's house and the boys had there moment of fame, outside playing around. I just can't wait until all of these boys are able to run around together and get into mischief:) Nate is the oldest, almost 18 months. He is able to run around and mostly tries to scare his parents by running off. Tyken is the second oldest, at 9 months, he is crawling around and tries to crawl after Nate and see where he is headed and what he is up too, until his mom comes outside, of course, then it is speed crawl right to mom. He does enjoy his time with Krew however, exploring his face and his head:) Last but not least his little Krewzer, he just lays there doing his super man, at 5 months he just laughs and smiles at the other boys, waiting for the day to crawl, then run around with them.

Krew @ 5 months

Stats

Height: 27 1/2 inches
Weight: 17 lbs. 9 oz.

Krew received his shots today and he didn't even cry, what a strong little man:) He just had this look on his face like he wanted to punch the nurse:0 JK!!
At 5 months Krew can scoot around just a little. He is really strong and likes to try and pull him self up on anything he can reach, ie. chairs, crib, stroller, etc. He has such a contagious laugh and is a very happy smiley boy. He really has been laughing and smiling since the day he was born. He has discovered his hands and his feet and you can find him with his feet in his mouth a lot lately. He loves to hear himself talk and makes so many cute sounds. It is music to my ears. He is very aware of when we leave the room and has decided he doesn't like to be left alone and makes sure we know it by his high pitched screaming and crying, (not music to my ears.) He is no longer content being left on the floor or in his swing with out some sort of stimulation, like a toy or a movie. We have started feeding him sweet potatoes, sweet peas, and today he tried carrots. He is very interested in food and if I have him on my lap while I try to eat he grabs at everything and won't stop until he gets it.

Here is a comparison picture of Krew and Kali both at 4 months old. I think Krew is now starting to look like his own little person. Up until this age they have looked pretty much the same.

Recipe Night/Stroller Brigade/Weight lifting

Kali woke me up this morning, then laid right next to me and asked, "How was your time at Sara Duffin's house." It made me laugh so hard. See, last night we had recipe night at Sara's house and Kali REALLY wanted to go, but I told her she needed to go to bed, but if she was good and didn't cry when I left, then she could stay up and hang out with daddy for a while. When I got home, they had fallen asleep together, it was so cute:)

Recipe night was so much fun, as always. Thank you Angie, for showing us how to make those divine mint truffles, they are just so yummy!! You can try them too, the recipe will be on the skinnyjeansrecipeblog soon.



Today Hillary, Kim, Angie and I got up and strapped our kids into the strollers and headed out on a two hour excursion around Laie. We went up the small parking lot hill to the right of the temple, then headed over to Food Land for some air-conditioning and drinks, then up the hill to the point. We stopped and enjoyed the view for a little bit, then it was back to TVA. It was a blast, it is nice to get out and get some exercise and have some good friends to talk to in the process.

The day ended with Hillary and I working out at the gym. It felt so good to actually lift weights again!!! Thank you Derek for watching the kids and thank you Hillary for coming with me!
I AM BACK! I am ready to get in shape:)

I love to see the Temple

I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday. To feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty. I'll prepare myself while I am young; this is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple. I'll go inside someday. I'll covenant with my Father; I'll promise to obey. For the temple is a holy place where we are sealed together. As a child of God, I've learned this truth: A family is forever.

I absolutely love the church hymns and children's songs. What beautiful words put to music.

We went for a walk to the temple on Sunday and Kali remembered how when Grandma was visiting, they would go on walks to the temple and talk about all the flowers and what colors they were, so I had Kali take some pictures smelling flowers for memories with Grandma:) Also while we were at the temple we ran into Auntie Crystal and her sister Paige. It was so much fun talking with them, I just love those girls!
This is definitely our new weekly Sunday activity. I just love the spirit on the temple grounds and Kali likes to go into the visitors center and see Jesus and push all of the buttons for the video's of the kids who answer questions about the gospel.

Thoughts of Gratitude

The secret of happiness consists not of having, but of being; not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is a warm glow of the heart at peace with itself.... It is the aroma of life, lived in harmony with high ideals. - David O. McKay

My Heavenly Father LOVES me! I am reminded each day by the blessings that I receive. This quote by David O. Mckay helped me remember to be happy and enjoy life. Thank you Ashley for posting this on your blog today, it was just what I needed to read. Another blog I read today that was so inspiring and just what I needed to read was thoughts by Angie, To all the mothers out there... I get it now! (before you read it, grab a box of Kleenex)

Aaron and I received a calling about a month and a half ago that has really blessed my life. We were called to be Gospel Doctrine teachers. We have had this calling before, so I was so excited to receive it again. It is so awesome to me to be able to learn more in depth about the scriptures and make them come to life and apply them to what we are doing day to day. It helps me really open my eyes and understand why Heavenly Father felt we needed this scripture on this earth at this time.

I absolutely love Sundays. When ever anyone has asked me what my favorite day of the week is, I have always said, "Sunday." Many people question, "why?" Knowing that I am LDS and that "restricts" me from doing a lot of things, such as shopping, sports, etc. I love this day because all of the clutter from the rest of the world is gone. I get to go to church for 3 hours and feel the spirit so strongly, and learn more about my Savior, Jesus Christ. Learn how he loves me unconditionally, and that he has atoned for my sins. No one is perfect, no one. Jesus knew this, so he made a way for us that we can return and live with him again.
I am especially grateful, that I am able to repent and to become clean. I know that the atonement works, and when I truly repent, I am made CLEAN again!

When I look at this picture of the Savior it brings tears to my eyes, knowing that he atoned for us willingly, even though it was extremely hard, he even cried to Heavenly Father, saying, "Abba." We know this was tough, but he still did it because he loves us.

A church Hymn keeps playing in my head while writing this.
I Stand All Amazed

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,
That he should extend his great love unto such as I,
Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!
Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?
No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat,
Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me
Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father and Jesus for their love and continual blessings. I am grateful for the gospel in my life that helps me know how I should live, I am so grateful for my eternal family who is always there for me NO MATTER WHAT. I am grateful for my friends who are always there to help and lift and support me. I am grateful for the ward I am a part of.

THANK YOU, I am eternally GRATEFUL.

Enjoy the moments...

This past month for me has been lots of in and out of eye doctor appointments. I finally got a second opinion on my eye, only to find out that the first doctor wasn't to far off on what he was doing he was just taking a long time to get done what needed too. And that was that steroid shot in my eye, that he spoke of like 2 1/2 weeks ago. Well, I finally got it, on Friday. I missed a fun day with friends at Waimea Beach to get a needle in my eye ball. I am supposed to go back in two weeks and things should be getting better and I get to wean myself off of these eye drops, YAY! I am glad I went to this second doctor because he explained EVERYTHING to me so that I didn't have to worry whether or not I was going to go blind or had swelling in the brain, or what ever scary thing I heard or thought of. I am going to live and I will have two good eyes:)

So why the Title, Enjoy the moments, you know I am not talking about the moment of when the needle was going into my eyeball because that was really freaky. Don't worry they numbed it, I couldn't feel a thing. What I am speaking of is my children. I am having such a hard time lately, Krew is not sleeping as much and is crankier, and too many times both of them are screaming at me for attention at the same time. I was thinking today about mothers and how as soon as you have your first child that is the job you have for the rest of your life. You may watch your husband go through a few different jobs while you are married but we don't have that option, we just persevere and are required to love what we do and be happy:) End of story. Well, since this is the job I chose, all the good and all the bad, I have decided I really do need to enjoy those moments...

Last night after trying to put the kids to bed and having them both screaming at the top of their lungs, I decided instead of running away, to get both of them out of bed and just hold them. I am so glad that I did. It ended up being on of those moments that I will have etched in my mind forever. I wanted so badly to get the camera, but knew if I did they would stop and it would not be the same, (my kids have a way of doing that), so instead, I just sat there and watched. I watched Kali acting silly and making Krew laugh, he laughed so hard, which inturn made Kali laugh really hard, and they both just entertained each other and could not stop laughing.

It happened again today while Krew was hanging out in his swing Kali ran up to him and he just started laughing, I have never seen him laugh so hard, I just love it! These are the moments I enjoy as a mother, these are the moments that make me grateful for this eternal calling:)

Nate's Visit and F.H.E.

Nate and BIG Steve came to visit us this week. They stayed two nights at Turtle Bay, and then the rest of their vacation was in Honolulu. I had to get a picture with Aaron and BIG Steve so you could see how BIG he really is. He played four years of college football at University of Washington and get this, he is a triplet. CRAZY! When they got in on Monday we took them for a tour of the campus and then got them checked into Turtle Bay. Later that night Aaron decided to surprise us with his idea of what to do for F.H.E. (family home evening) For those of you who are wondering what this is, every Monday night we get together as a family and spend time with one another. We start with a song and a prayer, then someone has a lesson. In the lesson we learn about Jesus and about his teachings, then we have an activity, (some sort of game or sport, a way to interact with each other and have fun) and then we end with a treat. This is one of the many ways the church helps families stay united. So for this Monday night, Aaron invited over the Williams, Derek, Hillary and baby Jocelyn to have a Book of Mormon reading sleep over. He wanted to see how far we could get through the Book of Mormon. Derek and Aaron ran to Foodland to stock up on provisions, and then the reading began. After five hours of reading, we had it down to a science, it took an hour to read roughly 20 pages. So after five hours, we hit page 100 and decided it was time to adjourn till the next reading. I must tell you, I was very impressed Derek, Hillary and Aaron read from 9:30 pm to 2:30 am with out stopping, sadly to say, I was unable to stay awake the whole time, I had a little nap in between. I think Aaron was inspired by the stories my Dad told while we were at the cabin of men who read the whole Book of Mormon cover to cover with out stopping. It took them like 36 hours, but they did it! I am so impressed with Aaron and that he really did want to read it cover to cover, I think he just wasn't factoring in for us that we have kids and work, etc. These other men whom my dad spoke of didn't have children at the time, personally I think that makes a big difference:) I do love reading the scriptures 20 pages at a time because then you get through stories and can learn so much. That is only an hour a day. I told Aaron maybe that is a good way to finish up with the rest of the Book of Mormon. Who knows maybe next Monday will be another surprise sleepover:)
Then on Tuesday Nate and Steve spent the day at the PCC and we spent the day at the Turtle Bay pool, thanks guys:) Derek, Hillary and baby Jocelyn met up with us and we had a nice relaxing day. Kali always loves the slide and the waterfalls. She showed us her amazing strength by holding on to the rocks on one of them, AMAZING! Krew also enjoyed the water and watching his sister play.

It has happened again:)

I am not quite sure if it has something to do with giving Kali cheerios at the 3:00 pm hour or what but it has happened again and this time I was sitting right next to her eating, I turned to tell Aaron something, and when I turned back to talk to Kali, this is what I found:) If you missed the first episode, you can check it out here.

Can I get a little help!

Kali crashed on the couch at 7:00 pm tonight exhausted from the day with out taking her usually afternoon nap. Around 9:00 pm I decide I should probably move her into her bed and pray that she is out for the night. At this point I am now wrestling in my mind with the idea of whether or not I should attempt to put on her diaper, knowing that in the past it has caused her to freak out and become fully awake, adrenaline pumping, which means that putting her back to bed could be a few hours away. I decide to try, seeing how the last few nights have not been dry ones, as I lay her on her freshly laundered sheets and attempt to put on her diaper, I feel a warm, wet sensation on my leg. I couldn't help but laugh, the irony of it all.

WHAT DO I DO???

So here it is, Kali is potty trained, however, during her naps and nights she is so random as to whether she stays dry or not. This past week she went four straight naps, and nights not wetting at all. I have paid attention to how much liquid she intakes and that doesn't seem to have any affect on whether she wets. On day, she didn't drink hardly anything, however she wet for nap and night time. The next day she drank so much I thought she was storing up for the winter. DRY, both nap and night time? We use to have her wear pull-ups because that was a big deal to her, then she prefered Krew's diapers, which, YES, she does fit into, a size 3 diaper:) Now, it is a fight to get her to put on a diaper or pull-up at all because she is a big girl and all she wants to wear is underwear. I would like that too. I am just tired of cleaning her sheets 3 times a week. I did get her one of those wet sheet things to put under her but she moves so much she always wets off of it. I guess the next step is to buy a fitted wet sheet and have her just sleep on top of that, but I would just like to know what to do to stop it all together?

ANY SUGGESTIONS? PLEASE HELP!!

These two pictures make me laugh, can you tell they are siblings? Kali and Krew both sleep so crazy, we always find them in those most awkward, weird positions.

I can't complain...

It has happened again, the house is really quite and I am not sure where Kali is, so I start looking around and what is she doing...

folding her clothes!
This has happened a couple of times now, I am terrible when it comes to laundry, I get them washed, dried, separated into piles then Kali and Krew's clothes usually end up in their room on the floor till I get to folding them and putting them away. Lately, Kali beats me to it and folds and puts them away herself. She is such a big helper!! Lately she likes to randomly through out the day say, "momma, I love you!" Sometimes it is accompanied by a huge hug. These are the moments I like to remember. Kali really is such a good girl, I always tell Aaron if she could just get over all the whining and screaming and crying she would be my perfect child, I really freak out inside when she does that. I don't want you to get the wrong impression, it is a daily struggle with these two kids, but it just melts me when Kali is such a big helper and good listener. I love you, Kali.

don't you just love curly hair

I am so jealous of these kids with curly hair. You know how it works, if your hair is straight you want curly and if it is curly you want straight. We all know that beautiful perfect curls is harder to duplicate on straight hair with a curling iron, then to duplicate straight hair with a straightener. So to all of you naturally curly haired people out there in the world, and you know who you are, (obviously:) wear your curls with pride and know that the rest of us are jeolous:) Thanks Aaron and Grandma Tami for the curly hair gene, because we all know it didn't come from my side of the family!

to the sisterhood

GIRLS NIGHT- Back to back:)
We watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants on Friday, (thanks Kim for letting us watch it at your house, they have surround sound much cooler than my place:) to prepare for Saturday night Sisterhood part 2. Let me just tell you GIRLS NIGHTS ROCK!! I love my girl friends here, EVERYONE is just so much fun. Rob joined us on Friday night, (I think he didn't want his wife to be away from him two nights in a row, so he thought he would join us) then he watched my kids on Saturday, he is like my perma-babysitter! Thanks Rob, I really do appreciate it:)
We wanted a pic of all of us girls together but we couldn't figure out how to set the timer so luckily I have long arms for our group photo, I think I did a pretty good job!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Addi!!!!

We celebrated Addi's birthday today at her home with lots of water play and food. I am not sure what my deal was today, I guess I felt the need to take head shots of all of the children and so I did. The cute pic of Angie was while we were having a photo war, just taking pictures of each other, I caught her taking a picture of me so I was like, "O yay", and snapped an adorable one of her, don't you think:) Men fight with swords, women with camera's:) The picture of Krew was actually taken by Aaron in our room at home, but I loved it so much and didn't want Krew to feel left out, so I had to include it. I love the pictures of Drew and Brody and can not wait until Krew can actually sit or stand, so I can take fun cute pictures of them. Not that I can't now but it will be easier when he is not so wobbly. And welcome back Lili Howard, they are back in town and just moved in right next door. Kali loves it!! It was cute when she first saw Lili again, she just stood there and stared at her, they were standing face to face like a foot apart and Kali was just staring, she couldn't believe it was really Lili, I wish I would have had my camera.