..vAlEnTiNeS dAy..

 
Valentines Day....i think of the color red, hearts, chocolate candies, roses, cupid, & my significant other!! Ever since I was young, my mom used to ALWAYS make me & my siblings our own little valentines gift bags with all kinds of goodies, candies, & a stuffed bear!!! I would take my little valentines cards for all my classmates with me to school, and hand them out one by one...and wait to get all mines from everyone else. It was so fun to have valentines in school....and as I got older, my mom stopped making our little gift bags for us, and I no longer took any valentines day cards with me to school anymore....but being in HIGH SCHOOL, who would want to hand out lil' v-day cards anyways, right?!? haha...
 
Nowdays, Valentines Day is honestly.....JUST ANOTHER DAY!!! Except for the fact that I now have children of my own, I try & carry on my mother's tradition and give each of my own kids their little Valentines gift so they feel special on Valentines day. My 9yr old gets her own cards ready for her class at school by writing everyone's names on them....and this year we are making MUDDY BUDDIES and putting them in little Valentines chinese take-out boxes...too cute!

~MOMMA'z BOY~

Soooooooo, I have 2 "men" in MY life....the first would be my one & only ETERNAL COMPANION!! And the second, ofcourse, would also be my one & only BABY BOY, Ma'atoe Aveau Moe! I can't believe how fast time has gone by...he is going to be 9months on the 17th of this month! He is literally a MOMMA'z boy...he looks like me, has my skin-tone, and he always wants his MA MA...but he has his daddy's temper!! Don't let his cute lil' innocent smile FOOL YOU!! hahaha...j/k! He is really, really, REALLY calm compared to our 3yr old when she was his age, OMG. But, that could be blamed, ofcourse, ON HER DADDY...he was always trying to "ROUGH" her up so she could be TOUGH...i think he roughed her up a lil' TOO MUCH, thanks babe! Anyways, I wanted to write this blog to kinda help me & my son to remember some of the milestones, since I've been sooooo bad with keeping up with the baby book thing! Soooooo, here it goes:
                                     

**at 8 1/2 months**has been crying MA MA from day 1**love to eat**can eat 2 BIG jars of baby food in one sitting**loves his sisters**is daddy's lil' man**he does a lil' ARMY CRAWL when he is too lazy to actually crawl**he weighs about 30lbs, which is about how much his 3yr old sister weighs now, haha&**he loves music**loves to TALK STORY**always SMILES really big**will eat just about ANYTHING edible you put in his mouth, along with anything that is UN-edible, lol**such a SQUISHY, CUDDLE-BUG**has 4 teeth so far that cut through his gums**claps his hands**is just a CHILL baby**more to come!!

no more FAST FOOD for me!!

       


:( yup, thats right, I SAID NO MORE FAST FOOD!! before the year 2009 ended, we decided that our new year's resolution would be to see how long we can go without EATING OUT in 2010...that means NO McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Sonic, Arby's, Wendy's, and also no eating at any restaurants either!! So even on "special" occasions when everyone else in our house goes out to eat somewhere, we get to MAKE something to eat at home!! Not only are we trying to eat a little healthier, but we are also trying to see how much $$$ we can save too. We used to spend at least $30/week just eating out, but that also included feeding our kids too...but still, why eat out when you can make something that may taste even better at home?? Anyways, we've been doing good so far...it's actually not as HARD as I anticipated it to be. My husband fell in LOVE with the THIRD POUND burgers from McDonald's, but after watching the BIGGEST LOSER, he said he doesn't want to eat another one of those ever again, but we'll see huh?? HAHA...anyways, with that said, HERE WE GO!!! :)

aNoThEr YeAr GoNe By...

Wow, I am "officially" NO LONGER IN MY 20's!! aghhhhhhhhhh...lol! I mean, it doesn't feel any different from 29, but it's the fact that the number just went up one...i guess i'm just in DENIAL of being a 30yr old! I wish I was 20 again....SOMETIMES!! But I am very happy with where I am in life right now...i have the BEST ETERNAL COMPANION, (at least I think so), and we have 3 beautiful kids that bring sooooooo much JOY into our lives, what more could I ask for right? hahaha...

Anyway...my day started out with my 8month old son waking up at 6am in his crib saying "ba ba ba ba"....in baby language, for him that means he is ready for his BOTTLE, haha! If his dad wakes up and comes to get him outta his crib, he will tell his dad, "mama mama" meaning "i want you to give ME to my MOMMY....NOW" bahahahahaha!!! this kid is too hilarious, cracks me up everytime. After waking up to change his diaper then make his bottle, I laid him back down to eat, then I went back down to shut my eyes again....then my 9yr old comes in with her GIFT for me wanting me to open it RIGHT NOW, so I had to sit up again & open it, lol. She gave me a little Valentine puppy, a bag of combos, & a marshmallow lollipop sucker that her grandma helped her pick out. We then got ready to go to church at 12:30pm, then out the door we went. Being that my birthday was on a Sunday this year, we couldn't go out to eat anywhere, but even if it wasn't Sunday, we made a NEW YEAR's RESOLUTION that we will NOT EAT OUT for this year...or at least see how long we can go without doing so!! That means, NO FAST FOOD, NO RESTAURANTS, NO ANYTHING like that!! (i'll save that for ANOTHER entry, haha) Anyways, so after church we came home and my husband made meatloaf, corn, rice, & a green bean casserole, while my daughter Kacey made the birthday cake. It was a really good birthday meal, i'd say...YUMMY!! Besides all that, my parents sent us a box of stuff for the kids, and birthday stuff for me too!! No matter HOW OLD I get, my parents still send me stuff...or maybe it's just because i'm THE ONLY child that lives MILES & MILES away from them, LOL! Either way, they still spoil me on my birthdays, haha. All in all though, I'd say I had AN AWESOME 30th BIRTHDAY!!! Thanks to my family!! And that is why I love them soooooo much!!!

...pLaYiN' vOlLeYbAlL...

                                             

Playing volleyball has been a part of my life since I was VERY, VERY young!! I grew up going to all my mom's volleyball practices when she used to coach at KAHUKU HIGH SCHOOL!! I also started playing club ball at a young age as well, and had alot of fun doing so!! When I reached junior high, I played JV my freshman year, then my mom pulled me & a couple of other girls up to Varsity my sophomore year. It was a good experience to play with the older girls! We didn't really go very far in the 3 years that I played varsity ball, but we had fun as a team. After graduating, I really wanted to go to school somewhere to play volleyball, but was also caught up in some other STUPID stuff that just got me into more trouble. Sooooo instead of going on to play ANYWHERE, i ended up helping with a club that they had out in KAHUKU. I got pregnant with my first child and put on a bunch of weight that I never knew I could gain...LOL!! Since then, I just try to go and play whenever I have the chance. Nowdays, with 3 kids, no job, & alot of time on my hands, I have the opportunity to play in a league out here in Missouri with a friend of mines from here and we just have fun!! It's like my "ME" time that my husband lets me have...thanks my love!! ;) But you know what else is funny?? 3 kids & 100 pounds later, I think I play better now than I did in highschool, bahahaha!! I'm serious though!! I actually get UP & HIT the ball, no kidding!! If i had a camera I would put pics/videos up for proof, but I also don't think that would be APPROPRIATE...haha!!

I MISS UTAH!!

In the beginning of 2001, my dad received a call from one of his missionary companions who lives in Utah. He owns his own marble fabricating company, and they make vanities, tubs, & stuff like that. Anyways, he called to see if my dad wanted to fly out to Utah & work for him for a little while & see how he likes it out there. Soooooo, with work being slow back in Hawaii at the time for him, he figured, it wouldn't HURT to TRY it out...and that is exactly what he did! He left for Utah in March of 2001, and was working for his friend. About a month later, he calls home & says that he thinks it would be good if our family moved out to Utah! **aghhhhhhh**

Being that I was born & raised in Hawaii, I didn't even want to leave, AT ALL!! That is where my FAMILY & FRIENDS were at...that is the ONLY HOME that I knew! Buuuuuuuut, I guess Heavenly Father knew that we needed some kinda "change" in our lives! At the time, it was just me, mom, my sister, & my daughter living back home at the time cause my brother JR was serving his 2yr mission in San Francisco & Alika was in the army in Texas! So we moved all our stuff out of the house, and had to start fixing it up to either RENT or SELL....it was a very SAD process cause that is the home that I grew up in ever since I was a year old!! Anyway, once all that was done, we all got on the flight to move to Utah! When we got to Utah, is was pretty HOT...a much different kinda HOT than from Hawaii. Soon after we moved out there, that is when 9/11 happened! It was such a sad, sad day! I remember I was at the doctor's office for my daughter, and it was all over the news!! What a sad time for all those people who lost their lives in that tragedy, and for the families with lost loved ones! It's pretty crazy, because now, the love of my life's birthday just so happens to fall on 9/11....and ever since what happened, he doesn't really like to celebrate HIS day anymore!

Anyhow, back on subject, we've lived in Utah ever since 2001! I met my best friend, who would soon turn out to be my ETERNAL COMPANION in July 2004, after searching for 3 years...he just didn't know it yet!! hahaha...I had to ask him out on our first date, and lucky for me, he said YES! So went to watch "WHITE CHICKS"...with my daughter & my cousin Keamalu...lol! We dated for about 1 1/2 yrs, before we got married....we then got our own place right after! We lived there in our own apartment for a little over 2 yrs, before making the decision to move out here to MISSOURI, where my husband is from.

Some of things I miss about Utah, is how CLOSE everything is!! There were grocery stores right down the street...out here, we only have 1 that is close by, and because of that, we pay an "arm & a leg" sometimes. I miss the food...i miss the OREM 9th ward...i miss having MY family nearby...i miss alot of things in Utah!! But, we are stuck here, at least until my husband gets his Bachelor's degree! Sooooo, I'm gonna make the MOST of our time out here, and make sure my kids are HAPPY!! :)

the big "30" soon!!

OMG...I can't believe that I only have a week left of being in my 20's, then I will officially be a 30yr old, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! But AGE AIN'T NOTHING BUT A NUMBER anyway, right?? lol...and ofcourse, just because my husband is a little over 2 years younger than me, he WOULD BE the one counting the days until i'm, according to him, an "OLD LADY"!! hahaha, WHATEVER...without this OLD LADY, you wouldn't be the MAN you are today my love!! bahahahahaha...love you hun!! anyways, just thought i'd come & share some thoughts on how i feel about turning the big 3-0 in a week!!