Hand Me Down's!!!

A lady in my ward just gave me some hand-me-down's for the boys. They are such nice clothes and I LOVE hand me down's, so thanks! I have put some of the clothes on Lavea'i here and there, but this past Sunday all the boys had a nice pair of church pants on from the clothes. They looked so handsome with all their ties and dress shirts. But, this outfit looked so cute on Lavea'i I had to get a picture of him. Now, can anyone tell me how can I get mad at such a handsome little fella?

Congrats Pfifer's!

My youngest sister and her husband are having a little girl in August. She should arrive around the same time as my two boys. Anyway, I gave her a choice of what she wanted me to make her...a car seat cover or a breast feeding cover. She chose the breast feeding cover. I did a little extra work so that it was reversible. So here is how it turned out.





Excuse the model! I woke up and got to work. Now, it is time to take the kiddos to a parade.

Congrats Wallworks!

After many years of wanting another child and not being able to have any more of their own, the time has come that they will be blessed with another child within a couple of weeks. I am really excited to have another nephew in the family. He will be coming to their family in the beginning of July. Anyway, she doesn't know that I have made her a car seat cover that are really popular down here. I am jealous because I have had this material for a while and am just now using it. I wish I had one when my boys were babies. But here is the way it turned out.

Father's Weekend!

Just a bit of monkeying around with Lavea'i. Cliff is such an amazing father. I couldn't have asked for someone better. He absolutely loves to play with the kids and the kids in turn absorb all they can.



Cliff had told me a few years back that all he wanted every year for Father's Day was to head out to the mountains and camp. So, this is exactly what I planned this year with some of our friends in the neighborhood, the Graybill's. They have 2 girls that always tell Maika hi. Here are their girlies.





We went up early Friday morning to Silver Lake Flat to get our spot, but the road was closed off because of erosion from the creek. Unfortunately, we headed back down out of American Fork Canyon so that we could get a hold of the Graybill's before they paid the fee to come into the canyon. But, we ended up back in AF Canyon in a different camp spot that had a little creek right behind our tents.

We couldn't have asked for better weather, shorts during the day and pants at night. It was fun not to have to worry about dirt being dragged into the house after they played in it ALL day. The kids LOVED being able to play in the dirt and not get hollered at for getting messy. The only time I wiped their hands off was right before dinner and bed. Other than that, more power to them. They were all troopers playing baseball on their own, sitting in a chair, swinging in the hammock, or playing in the dirt. You would think our children were on the commercials for charity to donate money.

We bought a kids bat and wiffle balls to let the kids hit a few. Both Kalena and Maika are getting pretty good.







When Tula'i makes contact with the ball, he hits it pretty hard too. After letting the kids hit a few, we adults played a very short game...one inning short. Erin and I against Cliff and Riki. We won, at least that is what the ladies decided.

After playing SO hard, Tula'i acted like he was going to die of thirst. So I had to get a picture of him drinking his cup of water because of the look on his face, OR should I say it was the puckering of the lips.



Time for dinner...tinfoil dinners were the easiest route to take, but not the best tasting route. In fact the kids wouldn't eat it so we ended up giving them the hot dogs we were supposed to eat for lunch, but didn't. After dinner, it was time for smores. My kids LOVE those things. I opened the chocolate bar and it was just melted enough to easily spread it on the graham cracker with my fingers...I don't think anyone minded the germs cause they were eaten up.

After smores, it was bed time for the kids while the adults stayed up and talked for a few more hours. It is always nice to sit in front of the camp fire and just relax while the kids sleep.

I wasn't anxious to go to sleep because I never sleep good while I am camping. We even purchased cots for this trip and I still failed to sleep good due to my feet freezing and Lavea'i not sleeping much. So, needless to say, it took me 3 days to recover from that one night of camping. I always tell myself I will never do it again, but off I go ready to conquer the camping each time and never coming off conqueror. One of these days I will be the winner.

Just some cute pictures that I was able to get:





The drive back home was not a peaceful one where the kids will usually fall asleep. Yes, it was one full of laughter and talking.





This was the end of the camp trip, but not the end of Father's weekend. I ended up going to the store with Erin and bought steaks for his Father's Day dinner, which were so YUMMY!! I also made a dozen cinnamon rolls for the father's in our ward, which Cliff got his fair share when they were nice and hot out of the oven. And for his gift I bought him a card for his Xbox 360 which we found out cannot purchase much. And you can't return the card after the number has been scratched off, so he ended up purchasing a race car game for the kids. SO, I do need to get him something that he can really enjoy for himself.

But, I want all of you to know that Cliff is so amazing that even on Father's Day morning he got up and did all the dishes from the mess I had made from making the cinnamon rolls and continued to help out the whole day!! Not once did he pull the Father's Day card. Thanks Cliff for the wonderful father and husband that you are to the kids and myself. You are indeed a GREAT Dad and I know that when you have to go back to work every day, both the kids and myself will miss you being able to hang out with us.

Party ALL Day Long!

It started yesterday morning with the kids re-watching Pocahontas from their movie night on Saturday. After their movie and some more yummy waffles, we decided to take the kids to the middle school just down the road so we could go ride our bikes around the track. Cliff and I were going to play some tennis, but I couldn't find the tennis rackets before walking out the door because the kids took off with them and I didn't know where they ended up. So bike riding it was!

Afterwords, we took the kids to a shady park to have a picnic. On the way there Lavea'i fell asleep, but I got some cute pictures of the kids with yogurt on the boys faces and Kalena eating a cheese puff.







While we were wrapping it up at the park, Cliff's brother called and wanted us to go fishing with him around 5p.m. Cliff had a church meeting to go to so he couldn't go. It was free fishing day for the state of Utah. So, the kids and I ventured off with Jethro, Traci and their 2 kids to Salem Park to fish. Cliff left for home to hit the meeting. We ate pizza and enjoyed a playful, peaceful evening at the park/pond. Jethro and I would do the casting and then we would let the kids hold the poles. Kalena and Ana came close to catching a good size fish, but he got away last second. Maika was patient enough to catch his first tiny fish. He was so excited, but he didn't want to touch it.



We finally left the park at 9p.m. The kids were so tired they were mad at me for giving them baths. But, it was a fun day and worth the tired kids!

The Power

Kalena had learned in Primary about the priesthood power. For those of you who aren't LDS, it is the authority to act in God's name. She has learned that someone is baptized, gets blessings, and receives the Holy Ghost by a man that has been given this power. She also knows that Jesus had this power and often reminds us.

But lately she has been telling Cliff and myself that she wants her hair cut short like a boy. I have asked her why, although I know that she cries every time I brush it because she either would have a rats nest in it from sleeping or syrup in it from eating pancakes or waffles. Even if I pulled her hair back to eat, she still managed to get syrup in her hair. But her answer to me was "So I can be a boy." Me: "Why do you want to be a boy?" Kalena proceeds to say, "So I can have the power."

What a smart cookie! So she knows that men hold the priesthood power, but her thought process is also very impressive on what she thinks it take to be a boy.

Needless to say, yesterday she had it with her long hair and I told her I would cut it. I DIDN'T! I decided to have her get a REAL haircut. She looks so different, but she loves it and it makes me want to go and cut my hair. She keeps looking at herself in the mirror and earlier today she came up and said, "Mama, I won't get syrup in my hair anymore." I am glad she LOVES it (even though she tells me she still wants it like a boy). I think I was more nervous than her. I really do like it though. You can decide for yourself.

1 Loaf Gone!!!

I can't believe how fast a loaf of bread can disappear in our home. Whenever Cliff makes toast, he puts peanut butter on it 95% of the time. It is so yummy because the peanute butter melts on the toast. Yesterday, Cliff bought a couple loaves of bread and decided to make some toast when he got home. Well, after him making toast for everyone, the whole loaf of bread was gone, done for like we hadn't eaten for days! Maika wanted more after the first piece of toast, so it was time for him to learn how to make his own. He did a rather good job at it for his first time. Man, I think I need to let my kids do more in the kitchen and not worry too much about the mess they make. At least they would be able to make their own food.

Top 10 Summer

You know it's Summer if:

1. You're kids ask you every 5 minutes if they can have another popsicle.

2. None of your kids want to wear shoes outside.

3. All of your kids are dirty at the beginning of every morning from playing in the dirt outside.

4. You are giving baths every night before the kiddos go to bed.

5. You're husband is mopping the floor before the week is up because of the drip drops from the popsicles onto the kitchen floor leaving it covered in sticky spots. (Thanks Cliff for mopping...I do appreciate it TONS!)

6. Your kids won't go to bed because "Mom, it isn't night time yet. It is still bright outside."

7. The kiddo says, "I don't want to go outside. It's too hot."

8. You're 18 month old is taking every chance to sneak outside as soon as he hears the door open.

9. You can smell all the good BBQ outside around dinner time.

10. You can smell the nicely, fresh, cut grass.

I love all these things about summer and then some. I like to sit outside on the porch while the kids play in the water...still yet to happen. I love 4th of July and getting together with the family having yummy dinner, homemade icecream and watching fireworks. I love going on family vacations and now I can enjoy camping this summer without being pregnant or having a newborn baby. So, bring it on!!!

In Remebrance!

Memorial Day is always one where I am brought to tears. The reason is because this is the one day that I allow myself to take the kids, get some flowers, and go to my father's grave site. It is nice because my dad is buried right up the road from here at Camp Williams. Every year there are more and more grave sites of people who have passed on that have served our country honorably. My father was one of those people. Although he never served in a war, he still served. I am thankful for those that have served our country and continue to serve this country. Every year Camp Williams has someone playing the bagpipes at the site. This year the soldier that was playing the bagpipes came down to where we were standing and played right in front of us. The song was "Amazing Grace."It brought tears to my eyes and also got my boys to cover there ears because they thought it was too loud (that put a smile on my face).

Before this we had everyone over for waffles with the yummy recipe in the previous post. I ended up making a lot more than needed. I could have eaten more, but I have to make myself stop. Well, while all the kids were outside playing, Kalena ended up hitting her teeth on Lavea'i's head and knocked out her first one. Don't worry, it was a little loose. She was so excited to get a new toothbrush from the tooth fairy, but the tooth fairy ran out of toothbrushes and ended up just giving her a dollar. She was still excited about it.

After all of this, we went and watched "The Tooth Fairy" for very cheap with my sis-in-law, Andrea and her kids. Can't beat $3.75 for the 6 of us to get in. It was a decent movie, but it lost the kids attention towards the end.

When the movie was over we still weren't done for the day. We ventured off to Cliff's brother's house and had good BBQ chicken, spinach salad, watermelon, shrimp, rice, and macaroni salad. I felt like I had been eating all day long. After the dinner, we took the kids over to some friends house and played in there back yard. Not only were the kids exhausted, but so was Mama. I was too tired to even give them a bath when we got home. Cliff washed their feet and legs off and I ended up falling asleep with Lavea'i.

It was a very busy day, but one that was a ton of run.