Memorial Weekend Adventures!

Happy Memorial Weekend to all! I am indeed grateful for all those who have, are and will be serving our country. My father was one of those people. I am thankful for our freedoms we enjoy each day.

My sisters came into town from Denver for the weekend. They stayed the first couple of nights with our brother, Darren. The first night I went over and spent some time with them before I was wasted and needed to get home to get some sleep. The next day was my niece's graduation party/luau. As soon as I stepped foot into the party, Leilani was not in my hands for about an hour or more due to being passed around from person to person. Kasha is off to BYU-Hawaii and it makes me miss the beach and sunny weather whenever I talk to her about the fun she will have.

Sunday, I decided to head back to church for just sacrament meeting and the kids wanted to stay for primary, so Cliff decided to wait for church to be over so they could stay. Afterwards, we headed over to Darren and Brit's house for dinner. It was yummy burger's and hotdogs! Most of the night was just socializing and laughing. Thanks!

Monday, I woke up with Leilani and decided to get breakfast going. The BEST waffles ever with Maggleby's syrup recipe!!! I have decided I need another waffle maker to make the cooking go a lot quicker when relative's and friends are over. Shara, Nezhone and I had a dance off competition with the Xbox kinect's game of dance central. It was fun and Nezhone schooled everyone. Then we put on the sports game and did the track and field once. Let me just tell you, a sports bra is much needed to play that game. We finally decided to get ready and go visit my dad's grave that is right up the road. Darren and Brit went with us and onto shooting for most except Mom, myself and the kids.



Around 6p.m. we had Keola and his family join us for dinner, Navajo Tacos. Thanks to my mom for always making the fry bread. I realized I didn't have certain things and ended up running to the store to get last minute needed items for dinner. Keola made a delicious red velvet ice cream cake!!! It was gone within 10 minutes. Then the party began again of dance central and sports. I even got Mom on camera trying to dance. It was too dark so the video really didn't turn out too good. But it was classic to see her. Keola ended up being so sweaty from the track and field competition and for sure needed another shower upon returning home. Darren took the javelin competition with throw of 110+. That will probably be the record on the Xbox for a very long time. Anyway, everyone had a good time and we had a lot of laughs this weekend. My nieces and nephews are so sticking cute and am glad my kids had a fun filled weekend hanging out them. I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of them, but I did get one of Tahlia (Nezhone's daughter).

Dance Festival

Kalena's school had a dance festival last week Friday. It was a day when all the kindergartner's had to be to school in the morning. Doing this just a couple of days of the year has helped me like the afternoon schedule because we aren't in a hurry to get her out the door all the time. We have plenty of time to bathe, read scriptures, say prayers and even get some playing time in. But, she asked me if I was going. Not really wanting to load all of the kids up, especially Leilani, and go, my response to her was "If the boys are ready on time then we will come." I did accomplish the task of getting them ready and loaded, along with the camera, stroller that had been relocated down stairs, jackets (just in case), a camping chair and diaper bag. We got there just on time for the program to start. We were so far back that I had to stand up on one of the chairs to even get a distant picture of her dancing to "Splish, Splash, I was Taking a Bath."



When they got through each grade, the whole school did a couple of dances. While they were in the middle of doing one of the dances, Kalena spotted me up close taking a picture. She stopped the moves and waved to me for a picture. It put an immediate smile on her face to see me there watching her.



Even though it took quite a bit to just get out the door, we made it! I was glad I went to see her face light up when she saw me there. Sometimes it is the tiniest things we do to show them we care about what they do and make them feel important.

"She's so cute!"

At least, this is what the boys always tell me. I am a little biased because she is my own and I always think my own babies are cute. But, it is funny that Cliff will tell the boys that she is handsome and their immediate response is "She isn't handsome, she is CUTE!"



Kalena LOVES her baby sister! She is such a big help too. She is the one I can trust holding her, and not let her head droop all over the place, while I am busy completing a task that I have set out to do. All of them are more then willing to help with getting her diapers and wipes, blankets, and of course, taking turns to hold her. Lavea'i always wants to hold her right when she wakes up and is screaming to be fed. He doesn't quite understand that she is hungry and thus being unwilling to hold her later. So, I let him because he just wants his want satisfied for only a few short seconds.

I Want Bwead!

With Leilani now, it gets a little backwards in the mornings, not crazy, just backwards. Yesterday morning, I woke up a little later than the kids (they let me sleep until Leilani woke up) which was around 8 a.m. While I was feeding her, Lavea'i told me he was hungry. I, of course, told him I would get him food in a little bit as soon as Leilani was somewhat satisfied. Well, he didn't really want to wait and I didn't pay much attention to him afterwards. But, something about Lavea'i is that he will always go in the pantry and get something to eat that is within reach. Needless to say, he loves to eat bread and this is what he came out with after me putting him off and proceeds to tell me "I want bwead."



Yes, that is hamburger buns from the bakery almost a week old. Not to mention, after he passed it on to Tula'i to eat some, they put it down and I went to grab it and found spots of mold. Nothing yummier than eating moldy bread.

Drive-In-Movie

Today at school, Kalena's kindergarten class is eating in the school cafeteria and having a drive-in=movie. The kids were to make a car out of a card board box. Cliff bought some pink neon spray paint for the car color, but realized last night that we would need to spray about 3 coats if we didn't want the words showing through. So, I got the idea to just paint the box with the paint I used for her room and then I put the finishing touches on it this morning before she left for school and I had time to spare...AMAZING! I put a license plate on it and she wanted it to say "I'm pretty," so this is what it looked like "IMPRTY." I also decided to not let the neon pink spray paint go to waste and sprayed some butterflies on the truck. So, here was the end result and this is as far as my handy work goes.

The Arrival of Leilani Manea

I can't believe Leilani is almost a week old already. We named her Leilani because of her auntie that set Cliff and I up on a blind date and also because my mom's name comes from that as well. My grandpa had heard the song "Sweet Leilani" and liked the name, but messed around with it and came up with LaLauna.

Leilani is definitely loved by all her siblings who are constantly wanting to touch or hold her (especially at the most inconvenient times), but I let them be in on the action as much as possible. Labor was labor, need I say more. After the nurse started my pitocin, I waited as long as I could to get the epidural. What did I do while in labor with the epidural...read some of "The Hunger Games" and played "Words with Friends" with Cliff to entertain him in between his naps.



Not much excitement until the end when I could feel every contraction on the left side of my body and wonder why anyone would want to give birth naturally. This meant it was time for the Doc. Out she came with a few pushes and how perfect she came.





Dr. Bean was an AMAZING doctor. I met him once before he delivered her and because of him I have decided to stay with that group of doctors again. All of them in the practice are awesome, but he just made it that much more of a miracle. (If you watch the show, "Sister Wives", he was the doctor who delivered them)

Grandma with Leilani on the second day in the hospital. They did her hair so cute. And she loves to stick out her tongue. I think these are the best pictures of her.





And of course, we have a picture of Kalena. She took the flower off of the plate from my meal and decided to put it in her ear.


The last night there, Lavea'i fell asleep on the way over to the hospital and slept the whole time in my bed while we visited.