When Drew Prays

Drew LOVES to pray these days.  He expects daddy to choose him to say the prayer every time we kneel.  It was fine at first because his prayers were short and sweet as he'd thank Heavenly Father for blessing then bless each of us: Daddy, Momma, Ala, Beanie, Drew and Koloi.  Amen.  Done.  Sweet and simple. 

From that point, he would catch on to our prayers, where we are blessing others like Grandma and Grandpa, Sister Toree Tuaone serving her mission, Aunty Brenda, Uni and Deedee etc.  So, Drew started doing the same...he'd bless everyone he could think of. 

Lately, the prayers have gotten longer to where he will thank Heavenly Father for every little thing he sees around the house like shoes, the pictures on the wall, the piano, his toys, the scriptures, the books on the book shelf, sometimes he'll even name each book from the shelf that he knows of.  I'm sure many other families experience the same thing with their lil' ones.  Many times while Drew is praying, I have to whisper to him to finish up the prayer.  He then turns to me and says, "I'm almost done mommy."  Then he continues blessing every little thing for maybe another minute and then he's done.  My older two get a bit frustrated with it, especially on mornings when they are rushing to get to school.  Sometimes when we are at the dinner table, the kids mumble under their breath and roll their eyes when Drew is chosen to say the prayer because they know it's going to be about 5 minutes long. 

We are currently tryin' to teach Drew that he only needs to bless the food when he's at the table and not every single person we know, but he isn't understanding the difference and continues his normal routine. 

Tonight's dinner prayer was quite memorable and I had to jot it down to ensure it isn't forgotten.  =)

Daddy made his famous chicken alfredo, a family favorite!  We were all settled at the table, anxious and ready to eat.  Ala quickly offers to give the prayer, but gives into lil' Drew who gives the 'puppy dog eyes' because he wants to say it.  Drew starts off giving thanks, then the blessing of the food and then blesses every one of us in the house along with some of our belongings, he blesses some of his cousins, his aunties and some of their friends.  I whisper to Drew to end his prayer, yet his eyes continue to wander around the house and he blesses all the things in sight.  After another minute, I whisper to him again and he shushes me and says, "Mommy, I'm almost done!"  He prays...and prays...then FINALLY says, "Amen." We smile, tell Drew thankyou and quickly pick up our forks....just as we're about to dig in...Drew drops his fork and yells, "STOP!  I forgot to bless my Bampa (Grandpa)."  Before I can tell Drew that it's okay...he folds his arms, closes his eyes and starts up again, "Heavenly Father, please bless my Bampa. Amen."

We all got quite a laugh out of it, and mimicked Drew's actions as he stopped us all from eating because he forgot his Bampa...but as we laughed about it, I noticed lil' Drew who continued eating his food and didn't see anything funny about it at all.  It was pure innocense of a little child who sincerely forgot to bless his grandpa and wanted to be sure he blessed him.  I then kissed his forehead and told him he did a good job remembering his grandpa.

Tonight, I realized that this kid really cares about everything and everyone around him.  He realizes their worth and wants to be sure that Heavenly Father knows he thankful as well.  Mommy will no longer be asking Drew to end his prayers before he is ready to.   

FEBRUARY ROCKS!!

HONORED!

 My lil' Bean's got the HONOR of dancing with ATOP!!  ATOP = Ailine's Touch of Polynesia. They have always been my most favorite of all shows to watch and I love that Bean gets to learn from these pros!  My cousin, Banana is their teacher...she's got some natural teaching skills...I LOVE watching her work with these lil' girls.  They are learning so much!  ATOP has opened a dance studio and so these gals are practicing for the GRAND OPENING on March 25th.  It's going to be great...I can just FEEL it! 

On another note....my lil' Bean also received an Honorable Mention in the 4th grade Science Fair.  Her buddy, Charlie also received one.  I really wish my husband (photographer of this pic), would have noticed Charlie's award was upside down...lol!  These two work side by side and are such best buddies in school.  Beanie's doing great things!  We are certainly so proud of her and HONORED to be her parents!

FEBRUARY ROCKS!

Startin' off my most FAVORITE time of the year!

I LOVE FEBRUARY!  The WHOLE MONTH is just AMAZING to me!  Yes, my birthday is this month and Valentines Day is my most FAVORITE holiday...so that does have ALOT to do with it....BUT- there's just a different feel to it for me.  It's a positive vibe all around and I'm in the BEST MOOD ever!!  I believe I now know someone who has a birthday on everyday of this month...it's like a party each and everyday.  Work is finally back to a regular 8hr day.  More time with my family.  I can schedule my workout times in.  Weekends are finally something to look forward to....things just fall into place again.

My hubby is an AMAZING man!  He knows I love this time of year and sometimes I feel he's forced to make it special for me....but he shows nothing of it and always has surprises throughout the month to make it extra special for me.  Isn't he great?

The morning of February 1st- Justin surprises me with a two tickets to the Jazz game, court-side seats, free parking and dinner in their Sponsor Room - All You Can Eat!  The first of his random surprises.  I was STOKED!  The game was for the next day and we were playing the Houston Rockets.   I took my sweet cousin, Char w/ me...she's a Rockets Fan.  She and I have a history of watching NBA basketball games together...usually while we're out eating and we both get so into the game.  I love working magic for my Jazz to win. (winks to Char!)  It was a close game right up to the end.  Rockets win by ONE point in the last minute.  My magic just wasn't there tonight.  I'd like to blame it on the fact that we sat next to Justin's co-workers (something the hubby forgot to mention to me) so I had to behave myself a bit and keep my tone down.  LOL!  Still, we had a BLAST!!

It was the BEST way to start off the month...I'm so excited for the rest of what's in store!!

FEBRUARY ROCKS!!  =)



Good times w/ Makarena - Bad times w/ Koloi

Happy Birthday to my sister inlaw Maka!! 

Us girls had a luncheon at Olive Garden to celebrate! 

  ...From me down to baby Toree...

 Ready to order!

Boonz and Lomes- FAT MAMA STATUS!

After the fun meal....I came home to my baby Koloi who was running a sky high fever!  Justin and I rushed him straight to Primary Children's because he was wheezing a bit and Grandma demanded that we take him or she would.  The ER took him right in when they heard his wheezing too.  I felt like the WORST MOTHER not noticing these symptoms earlier.  Koloi was given some steroids and then the nebulizer to inhale some albuterol.  I am so familiar with these asthma medications due to Ala having asthma and I just wasn't settled on Koloi having asthma too.  My gut instinct just didn't accept that news from the doctor.

 Long story short...Koloi doesn't have asthma.  The albuterol and steroids sure cleared the wheezing, but in addtion made him quite hyper...hence, the smiley picture of him above.  He was giggling so much it got me doing the same. 

They did find an ear infection and sent us home with antibiotics.  I'm so glad my baby is going to be A-OK!

Garbage Day!

So, I enjoyed the holidays a bit TOO MUCH and gained FIFTEEN FAT pounds!! It should be depressing, but for some reason, I'm in some kind of mood that just doesn't care these days!! I thought that by joining a Biggest Loser contest, it would motivate me. It's been a whole week and what have I done to progress? Nothin...nada...zip...zilch!! Sad huh? I tell myself it's work...the stress of work...lack of time in the evenings to play with my babies...lack of time for zumba, running, weights or vball! Any free time I do have, I just wanna be with my babies, then once they are asleep...I find myself online and munching on snacks....not so good aye? Excuses!  Excuses!

Okay, I'm losing focus of my thoughts...FOCUS VEE! Haha!

I love Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser! I used to stalk her site all throughout the summer. I do get her daily tips emailed to me, just hardly time to read them. As I was catching up on her daily tip emails, I came across this one. IT HIT ME REAL GOOD!! I so needed this!

BE PREPARED, KID!


Now that you've decided to lose weight, make like a Boy Scout and think of yourself as being on a mission. The key to success is to have a game plan for every situation that might throw you off course. This stuff isn't brain surgery — it's common sense. If you take the time to think ahead, you can come up with ways to overcome every obstacle. Here are a couple of surefire strategies:

•Go through your kitchen and throw out all the junk food and processed garbage immediately. (You can't eat it if it's not there!) Don't buy these foods anymore — just eliminate them from your kitchen entirely. If your spouse or the kids start whining, you can tell them I said they're better off not eating that stuff either. Reacquaint yourself with your local supermarket. Shop in the healthy sections and stock up on as many organic fruits and veggies as you can afford — and steer clear of the aisles that contain your trigger foods.

•If food that's available in the workplace is your downfall, steer clear of it entirely. Take different routes to avoid the vending machines and the frighteningly fattening foods in the cafeteria. Bring healthy snacks and meals from home to stash in your desk. Do whatever you can to stay away from anything that might throw you off course and hamper your success.

Over the summer, I had this routine down! The fridge and pantry was stacked with whole wheats, white meats, fruits and veggies. Everything was fat free, organic or natural sugar and we were only drinking water. If there was juice, it was 100% juice mostly for the babies. But lately, somehow, I'm not exactly sure how, but SOMEHOW, other items like Oreo cookies, Grandma Sycamores white bread, sweet cereals, icecream, Ramen noodles, koolaid etc has made it through our door. Don't ask me how.

After my family went to sleep last night, I raided the fridge and pantry for the right reasons this time. All the bad stuff...GONE!!  This morning's breakfast was Honey Bunches of Oats cereal with fat free milk and bananas. My family didn't really notice much this morning because we were rushing. This afternoon, I did get a call from my son asking where the box of corndogs and bag of cheetos disappeared to. He automatically started accusing Aunty Deedee or Brenda of taking our food to their house. LOL! He said EVERYTHING was missing. What he really meant was, everything HE wanted to eat was missing. I ignored his accusations then told him to make himself a turkey sandwich and that there were some canned peaches in the pantry.  If he only knew all the junk food was sittin' out in the trash. 

Just packed myself a healthy lunch with some baby carrots and grapes to snack on at work tomorrow. 

Now if only I could wake up at 5am for Sinai's free Zumba class.  *sigh*

Here's to a healthier household!!  Wish me luck!

..No time..

There are days where the kids and I crank up the music and dance all through the house for hours!  Some nights, we'd have pillow fights full of laughter.  Dinner time chats and bubble baths for the babies... 

Not much of that happens in the house these days.  I miss it so much.  Lately, I come home so late from work to find this...

My babies tried to wait up for their momma.  :(  I find my corner and snuggle right in with them.  Some mornings, I'm leaving to work and it's the same scene.  I miss my kids.  I miss my time with my kids.  I'm hoping February will be a better month for TIME.

New Years Eve- Jazzin' It Up- 1920's

It's sad that this is the FIRST and only family picture we've taken in years....but this is as good as it gets!  The peeps behind the camera were tryin' to get my babies to smile by actin' silly...guess my babies didn't think it was funny!  LOL!

My lil' bro Marty w/ his beautiful wife Alice and gorgeous baby Toree!

Love that we have a family DJ!  My lil' bro Hyrum ROCKS!!  Kerv rocks to for keepin' him company too!

 

Love my honey J!!

 

Lil' sisters..Boonz...Niki...Lomes

 

Pops and the boys!! CLASSIC!!  Haha!

 

Judy, Tessie, Char, Bolee, Jazzie, MayRay

 

Mom n Dad

It was a POPPIN' party!

 

Me w/ my girls...Bean, Tyani and my baby Vee