California Ganirs

Adriann's 9th Birthday Party

2012-01-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

I am having to back blog because I am way behind on my blogs. We had Adriann's 9th Birthday Party a few weeks ago since I knew I would not be able to handle a bunch a girls and do a decent party while on crutches.

Adriann helped me make her cake. Her theme was "SPA", so her cake was a nail polish bottle. She wanted tie dye fondant. I think it turned out pretty good. I haven't done fondant in a while, and I have never done tie dye, but she loved it, so that's really all that matters.

Adriann chose Purple plates and cups and picked out her own balloons.

I love that she is still into Barbies!

Anything American Girl is a BIG Hit!!

All the girls! It's fun to finally put faces to the girls she talks about at school. They are such a fun bunch of girls.

They played pin the eye mask on the girl, opened presents, had cake and then everyone got a mini pedicure! It was such a fun party!

All 6 of us got sick......

2011-12-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

Friday was probably the worst day/night of our entire lives. I got super sick in the afternoon and could not stop throwing up. At first we thought that I had gotten a little over zealous with my pain medication, but then Kamden started throwing up. So I was basically done for and crawled into bed, because I was so weak and couldn't use my crutches. Then Kenyon woke up screaming in the middle of the night because he had puked all over Kamden and their whole bed. So Akoni had to bathe the kids, did about 4 loads of laundry and didn't get to bed till 4am! Then Saturday comes and Adriann starts throwing up, Akoni gets sick and Monica keeps blowing out her diapers every hour! What a mess. Then last night Akoni had to stay up and put together some presents for the kids. The poor guy, I feel so bad for him. He feels aweful and I am unable to carry anything, so he has to keep getting me things and taking care of all the puking kids.

I am finding it hard to get in the Christmas Spirit with all of this going on. Such bad timing to get surgery, but who knew that we would all be sick at the same time?

We were very lucky to have my good friend Lisa run to the store for us and get us Apple Juice, Apple sauce, crackers, chicken noodle soup, and Gatorade. Such a life savor. At lease everyone was able to keep that down yesterday. And we had some friends drop off cookies so we had to use those for our Santa cookies. None of us felt well enough to bake cookies for Santa. How sad is that?

I am hoping that today, Christmas, will go a lot smoother and that no one will be sick.

Like my Mom and Mother-in-Law said, this will definitely be a Christmas that we will remember forever!

My foot surgery

2011-12-23T07:57:00.000-08:00

I have been having foot problems for years. I have Plantar Fasciitis and a bone spur in both feet. A few years ago I walked down some stairs and ripped the Plantar Fascia ligament in my left foot. Luckily it was if I had surgery without the surgery and I have never had a problem with that foot since. Well over then past 3 years, my right foot has gotten worse and worse. I have basically exhausted all my options for trying to fix it without surgery. Multiple cortisone shots, a night splint, and shoe inserts. It was so bad that I would walk the kids to school and the next few days I could hardly walk on my foot. So since we had maxed out our insurance this year having Monica, it seemed like the perfect time to go ahead and get the surgery. The kids have 3 weeks off for Christmas Break, so it's good that we can all just relax and home and not have to worry about having to take them to school and whatnot for a while.

Here is my before X-Ray.

And here is my foot after. I had the surgery on the 21st and I have to be on crutches for the next 6 weeks. Let's just say that the past 3 days have been a huge eye opener as to how much I am not going to be able to do. I am kind of a control freak in my own home, so it's going to take a lot to let other people help and hope that the kids don't destroy the house. But I have faith and the house is still standing today! Already I have had some great help from friends. I must brag that I have the best friends ever. I could seriously not ask for better friends. You would think that with this being my second surgery this year they would be sick of helping me, but I am so lucky to have these amazing women in my life. And I have to give major props to Akoni. He has been the greatest Dad and Husband. I could not have done this without his support. The kids and I have had a few minor breakdowns while we are figuring this all out, but I think we are going to make it thru!!

So wish me luck for the next few weeks and if anyone wants to come and vacuum, do laundry or just talk, my door is open!

Seeing Santa

2011-12-14T09:54:00.000-08:00

After Thanksgiving we always take the kids to see Santa at the mall. Well Kamden would have nothing to do with Santa. He wouldn't even go into the house that he was in. So I got a quick photo of the other kids.

Then I tried to get a picture of them together outside at the mall. This was the best I could get.

Thanksgiving!!

2011-12-14T09:31:00.000-08:00

We started a new tradition this year. It's an "I am Thankful for" jar. We set it on the counter with little pieces of paper and all month long whenever you were thankful for something you wrote it down and put it in the jar. At dinner on Thanksgiving we read all the papers. It was so much fun.

These are two of Kenyon's, Gumballs and a DS. At least he was giving thanks for them!

This was our little gift that we gave to our friends for Thanksgiving. It is attached to a bag of microwave popcorn. "Corny", but it was fun!

I must say that I redeemed myself with the Turkey this year. Last year was a disaster because the Turkey hadn't thawed out all the way, so the whole middle of the turkey wasn't cooked. So this year I made sure to thaw it out good and it turned out amazing!

I finally got to use my gravy boat that I got for Christmas last year. Had to wait a whole year to use it.

I decided to use my China for dinner this year. We have never used all of it, so after 10 years I thought it might be time to start using it. I only have 5 place settings, and we had 3 friends come over, so it was perfect.

The kids table. Sorry no china for them...

Delicious Costco Pumpkin pie! Thanksgiving was amazing. I cooked all day, everyone got a nap, and Turkey sandwiches for days!

This Thanksgiving was great. I am so thankful to be blessed with such an amazing family. I have the best husband who I love to pieces and that works so hard to support us and give us all that we have. I have the best kids and even though I want to pull my hair out sometimes, they are truly gifts that I am so thankful to have. I couldn't ask for a better life.

Lost Teeth!

2011-12-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

Kenyon's tooth had been hanging on by practically nothing, so at church a few weeks ago, I pulled it out! He was so excited, now we just have to get the other one out before Christmas! "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"

The next day at school Adriann pulled her tooth out! Breaking the tooth fairy's bank kids!

Random happenings

2011-12-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Movie night with our favorite neighbor boys!

The kids lemonade stand box. I love how they have a sponser!

The boys and their mustaches.....

End of Soccer - Adriann

2011-12-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

Adriann had such a fun season on the All Girls soccer team. It's only the second year of an all girls team and they had such a high interest from all the other girls in the league that they are hoping to have more teams next year. I hope so because they had to play different leagues all girls teams and so we had to travel for their games. But they had a blast and Adriann made some really good friends and learned a lot.

Her whole team. Guess I should have been in the picture since I was team mom, but I wanted to get a picture. Our coach was actually gone. He coaches a college basketball team and they had a game the same day.

Adriann with her two new best friends on the team. Both happen to live really close to us, and one goes to our school!!

End of Soccer - Kenyon

2011-12-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

We had another successful Soccer season! Kenyon ended up scoring 5 goals this year. He is loving soccer. He played in the U8 league this year and will play on it again next year, so he did very well for being the youngest.

They had the CSUMB Soccer players come and give all the kids their medals this year.

His whole team. They were a pretty good bunch of kids. They were undefeated! But they don't keep score, so whatever! Their team rocked!

Everyone gets a medal and a trophy for playing. Lots of people think that they shouldn't all get medals and trophies. I think it is fun. These are the years they are learning to play and see which sport they love to play. If getting trophies even if they are horrible gets them to keep playing then give them trophies! Get the kids out playing sports instead of inside not getting exercise. I see nothing wrong with everyone at these ages getting rewarded for playing. My kids love their medals and trophies and can't wait to play next year so they can get another one!

Kenyon's buddies. We are gonna keep an eye out for the kid on the left, he is amazing! He's going to the U10 league next year, he's actually in Adriann's grade, but has a late birthday. Sad that he won't be on Kenyon's team next year, they played really well together and actually made Kenyon play better.

Halloween

2011-12-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

Halloween was fun this year. Akoni got into the spirit again, and we were bakers while Monica was our Cupcake we created!! And I made those hats! So fun and so easy!

I forgot to get a picture of Adriann at our Ward's Trunk-or-Treat, she was so busy I hardly saw her. I can't even remember what she was! So I got a picture of her dressed up for school. She liked our costume so much that she wanted to be a baker for school.

Kamden decided to be a Pirate. This costume has paid for itself beyond what I could have imagined. Kenyon wore it two years and now Kamden is wearing it! Old Navy costumes are the best, inexpensive and great quality!!

This is another costume that Kenyon has worn twice, maybe three times? It's a wrestling costume. There is a padded muscle body piece that he is too tall for now, but he just wore the robe and had Akoni's boxing gloves and the black eye! Perfect!

This Halloween was full of too much candy, tons of Hair spray and Hair color, plenty of face makeup and smiles and laughter galore. I couldn't have asked for a better Halloween!

New Favorite Website

2011-11-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

I am now hooked on this new website thanks to a friend. It's called www.woot.com. It has daily deals and they are only there for one day. You have to check it out. We actually did buy something on it a few days ago for Kamden for Christmas. Can't wait!! It was one of those ride on powered trains. Originally $99 at Walmart, but it was listed for $39! And there is only $5 shipping on everything!

Ganir Family Reunion in Disneyland!

2011-11-02T01:20:00.000-07:00

BEWARE: LOTS OF PICTURES!

For our Fall Break we met up with all of Akoni's siblings and their families for a Family Reunion. There was a total of 32 people. Akoni's parents were the only ones missing because they are on a mission for our church in the Philippines right now.

We went to the park for 3 days and each day we had a theme. Our first day was Family Colors, so we obviously picked Beaver Orange! Here we are outside our hotel before heading to Disneyland. It ended up being 105 degrees this day! REDICULOUS!

Kamden got this Woody Hat and wore it EVERYDAY! It was sooo cute!

The boys favorite thing to do was play the boardwalk games at California Adventure Land. Can you believe that they won all these? And this was only the first day. They won a ton more on the last day.

The Second days theme was FREE DAY. I got my kids these cute Minnie and Mickey shirts.

The last days theme was: Black shirts with the last name and number of when you entered the Ganir family on the back. I made all the shirts for everyone and had a blast doing it. We got a picture of everyone but we had a Disneyland employee take it and I still have to buy it, so when I get it I will post that.

Here is Kenyon on the Storybook ride. He was dying to go on this ride the whole time, not sure why, but we finally went on it the last day.

Anywhere we go where there is face painting Adriann always wants to get it done, and we never do it. But we broke down and let her and Kenyon get it done. They were both so excited.

Sound asleep!!

Akoni's brother got a ton of more pictures, so I will post more of those when we get them. Overall it was a crazy, insane, hot, fun, amazing trip. We are so glad we did it and have tons of fun memories!

Look what I did!!

2011-10-22T22:15:00.001-07:00

I always do this and it was about time!! It seems like every time after I had a baby I cut my hair. Well I held off for 5 months this time! But everyone was getting sick of finding my long hairs all over the house and yesterday I finally got fed up with it too. I called a friend at 8 this morning and asked if she would cut my hair today. She came over at 5 and it was done. I love it. It is so nice to not have the long hair. I do miss it, but it was waaaay too long. It's going to take a while to get back into the groove of styling short hair, but it's kind of fun.

GANIR MADNESS 2011

2011-10-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

MORE TO COME, STAY TUNED.......

I love the Dump!

2011-09-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Let me just start off by saying that I love our dump. There is a store next to the dump called Last Chance Mercantile. You can donate pretty much anything there. So they sell pretty much everything you can think of. Yes, a lot of it is junk, but every once in a while you find a steal!

I was dropping off a box of some old shoes and clothes and randoms, when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a big, beautiful mirror. I asked if it was for sale, because it was off to the side in a big pile of plastic bins. I was told to ask the manager who told me that he just hadn't put it out in the store yet. So he went to get it for me and the whole time I was thinking, hmmmm, I wonder what price it will be? Hopefull under $20, that would be awesome. Well when he brought the mirror over he showed me that the glass had a crack. Nooooo! So I contemplated over that, picture texted it to Akoni and he said get it if I have to have it (which I did) and if it doesn't work, we're only out $4! Awesome, I love him!

So here is my $4 amazing find. People don't believe me when I tell them how much I get things for at this store, so here is a picture of the price tag. And see the crack isn't too bad. I'm just going to vinyl over it and hopefully no one will know!

And I will post pictures once it's cleaned up and on my wall, I can't wait!

Gotta love Crazy Hair day at school!

2011-09-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Today is crazy hair and sock day at school. I love that it's close to halloween because then I just had to pull out the hair dye spray from last year and voila! Crazy hair! Kenyon wanted to shave his head into a mohawk, but pictures are on tuesday, so I vetoed that idea! Sorry kid...

Really Really Tired!!

2011-09-16T21:59:00.000-07:00

First Soccer Games

2011-08-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

The kids had their first soccer games this weekend. Adriann's team didn't have their banner finished so we had to meet early and get it done. 13 girls and lots of glitter, it was quite a mess, but they had so much fun doing it. I'm glad we didn't do it for them.

A dad of one of the girls drew the mustang on the poster and then each girl decorated their own horseshoe to go around it. I think it turned out pretty good.

Kenyon getting all warmed up for his game.

Running around on the field. He showed lots of improvement from last year.

Since Adriann is on an all girls team, they play the other all girls teams in the district. The only problem was that the other teams just started a few days ago, so we didn't have a team to play. So a bunch a girls from the co-ed teams played against our team. They had so much fun and Adriann did really good. I think this is going to be such a great season.

San Fran!

2011-08-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

We went up to San Fran for the day last week. We went to Golden Gate Park and they have this really cool slide that you sit on cardboard and slide down. It was a huge hit with the boys. By the end Kamden didn't even need any help. He would pick up his piece of cardboard and hike up the stairs and slide down all by himself. Adriann did it a few times, but she was wearing white pants and didn't want to get them all dirty!

Here we are with 3 of Akoni's cousins that we visited while we were there. It was fun to meet them and hang out for a few hours. We went to dinner at a yummy chinese place and had ice cream at a create your own type of place. Huge hit with the kids!

Soccer Opening Day Ceremonies!

2011-08-29T04:09:00.000-07:00

Soccer time is upon us once again. This year we have two kids in the league and it's gonna be a CRAZY season! Kenyon is in the U8 division this year and so he is one of the youngest on his team. Adriann decided that she wanted to play this year. They made a U10 all girls team and she is loving it! Since she hasn't played for 2 years we were kind of worried that she would be really shy on the field, but with it being all girls she is having a blast. Her coach is amazing also. He is the CSUMB girls Basketball coach and so he has them running drills and running around the field during practice. She comes home from practice exhausted! It's going to be a great season!

First Day of School!!

2011-08-11T15:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was the kids first day of school!! Yes, I know we start early, but honestly I could not have done another month of summer......and the kids were sooooo ready to go back. Adriann had her backpack packed about 3 weeks ago and the day before school she woke up super early and started packing her lunch. I had to tell her that she had to wait or her sandwich would be soggy!

We put both kids in our local elementary this year and it's only 1 mile away, so we are walking everyday that we can. Which means as long as it's not raining, we will walk! It's been nice for 2 days so far. We have a friend that we meet on the corner and walk with her and her two kids. There are a few more moms that live around us that we are trying to convince to walk with us, but it's not looking too promising. I even got new shoes since my podiatrist said that my shoes were horrible and not helping my foot problems. So after my 3rd cortisone shot today I got some new shoes and 4 miles later my foot is numb and feeling good!!

Here are the annual first day of school by the door with the backpack pictures.

Fun thing for the Kids!

2011-08-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

WELCOME FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

*Receive a presidential congratulations card addressed to your new infant with official signature from the President!

Send your baby's name, address, and birthdate to:

White House Greetings Office

Room 39

Washington, DC 20500

This is tons of fun, we have done this for all of our kids!

Never a "dull" moment!

2011-07-26T22:14:00.000-07:00

This is what I did to Adriann's hand by total accident on Saturday night. I was cutting up some potatoes and she was unloading the dishwasher. I turned to the left and she turned to the right and we bumped into eachother. She grabbed her hand and started freaking out. I had no clue what happened. Then I looked at her hand saw a bit of blood and said "Did I just cut you?" I felt so bad because I didn't even know it had happened.

And of course it happened when Akoni was gone with Kamden. I had Kenyon and the baby at home. I also had dinner and dessert both in the oven. I thought Adriann would need stitches, so I needed to somehow get over to the Dr.s on Duty by our house. I called two people that didn't have little kids at home to see if they could come and stay with Kenyon and Monica and get my dinner out of the oven when it was done, and they weren't home. So as a last resort I called my friend Kelly who was moving into her new house, but it is right up the road from us. She said she would be there in 5 minutes. 3 minutes later my other friend Heather showed up. She had just gotten to Kelly's house after I called and said she would come over. I was so greatful. So I got Adriann into the car and drove to the doctor office. They were closed! So Akoni met me there and took Adriann to the Emergency Room. They ended up just gluing it shut and telling her to not use her hand for 5 days! Yeah right! They said if that didn't work then she would need to get stitches. I wish they had just stitched her up because try telling Adriann to not use her hand for 5 days! It will probably have to get stitched up. We keep wrapping it up so she won't use it, but I think that because it doesn't hurt she forgets. Well we will just have to see what happens in the next few days.....

Fun Crayon Project

2011-07-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

I love when school is about to start. All the art supplies are super cheap and I stock up. I usually just throw away all my old crayons and start fresh, I love a fresh box of crayons! But I found this fun thing to do with all your old crayons and so I put the kids to work and it was a lot of fun!

The tedious part is peeling all the crayons. I ended up taking a razor blade and slicing along the crayon and then the kids could easily remove the paper. It was a lot faster then peeling the crayons and trying to rip the paper. And you got less crayon under your finger nails!

We then put them in my car cupcake pan. This is what the lady did and that's why I wanted to do it because I happened to have the same pan! It kind of ruined my pan, but I hated cleaning it when I made cupcakes, so I think it has now become a crafting pan! You have to make sure that you spray your pans really good, otherwise you will have a tough time getting the crayons out. Then you bake them at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes. I just kept watching them to see if they were done melting. Also, the crayons as they melt shrink down in the pan, so it would have been nice to add more crayons as they melted, but we didn't have anymore and I didn't think about it till after.

And this is what they came out looking like! Aren't they cute? I don't know if you can tell, but we didn't really get any wheels on the cars because of when the crayons melted they ended up not filling the whole mold. I did however make the mistake of letting the kids take them to church and Kamden thought they were cars and was rubbing them all over the backs of the benches! Yikes, had to put them away after that, we kind of got crayon all over. And then he did the same thing on our wall. So they are not allowed to be used when he is around! One of them looks like Mater, so he loves that one. I thought these would be a cute present to give, or even a party favor if we ever did a car themed birthday.

Awesome!

2011-07-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

Can't believe it!

2011-07-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

THIS IS WHAT HE GOT, BECAUSE...........

HE'S POTTY TRAINED!!!

It still blows my mind that he is potty trained. He will be 2 1/2 next month and we started this at the beginning of the month. Of course it was a few days after I bought a costco box of diapers for him and had barely used part of one pack. So I now have 5 packs of diapers sitting in my closet, I guess being saved for Monica? Oh well, I am still putting them on him at night, but he has woken up every morning dry! Compared to the other two, he was a breeze training. He had 2 days of tons of accidents, but I refused to put a diaper back on him and on day 3, no more accidents. Well except for a few times when he couldn't get his pants off in time, but now he pulls them down in the hall and runs to the bathroom! It's hilarious!

My Bone Spur

2011-07-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

This is why my foot hurts sooooo bad! Under the spur is a huge bursa sack that gets poked every time I step on my heel. I have to do three rounds of cortisone shots, very painful, and see what happens from there.

Fun walk with the kids

2011-07-10T18:48:00.000-07:00

Our kids are going to go to the local elementary school this next year, and it's only 1 mile away so I wanted to walk up there with the kids to see how long it would take us to walk so I could figure out when to leave in the mornings. Well it only took us 21 minutes! So I am really excited about walking them to school. It will be 4 miles every day for me and 2 for the kids, great exercise for everyone!!

Just a cute picture of Monica! She's starting to show lots of happy expressions, I love it!

At the elementary school they have this cool map of the United States. So I had the kids sit on their state that they were born in. It was really bright and windy out, so that's why none of them are really smiling!

Then I had them all sit on California, where we are now!

I was Featured!!

2011-07-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

Check out www.spearmintbaby.com I was featured on Friday July 8th!

Happy 4th of July!!!

2011-07-04T22:22:00.001-07:00

We had a really fun 4th this year. We waited until today to buy any fireworks for the kids and it was the best idea every! They had to work real hard all week and all morning today to get money to buy them. Definitely doing this next year again!

So we started the day cleaning and getting all our fun food ready for a BBQ we were going to. I made these cute cupcakes for all the kids, there were 11 so it was really smart to make these because they all loved them! I also made a yummy jello poke cake and forgot to take a picture, but it was delicious.

After the BBQ we went home and had dinner and waited for it to get dark so we could do our fireworks. Our neighbor usually does a ton, but not this year (bummer), so we just did the few that we bought and I felt like it was plenty. Kamden was freaked out and hid behind the bench almost the whole time. But it was still fun and really cold, so I'm glad we weren't out there long.

It looks like Kamden is sleeping, but he's not. He was behind the bench and Akoni lit a firework that scared him and he hit his head on the bench and had been crying, so I think he is pouting in this picture. And Kenyon took the picture, so that's why my head is cut off.

These were the fireworks that scared Kamden. We didn't know what they did and Akoni lit 4 of them together and they make a really loud pop and spark, so he lit one at a time after that!

Our supply of fireworks. It was a fun cold night, but we are thankful for the freedoms that we have and to be able to live in such an awesome country.

Hiking in Big Sur

2011-06-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

Akoni had the day off and so we went hiking out at Big Sur. We had never been there and it was a really foggy day so we decided to head south and hope it was sunnier. Well it was, it was BEAUTIFUL!

We did a small hike to a little waterfall. The kids had so much fun, but there was Poison Oak all over the place. Thank goodness that Akoni was with us because he kept pointing it out to us. Luckily no one got it on themselves!

Kamden got a new bed!

2011-06-16T02:13:00.001-07:00

Kamden finally started to climb out of his crib, so I got worried that he was going to fall and hurt himself so we took the side off the crib. After about a week or so of that it was silly that he was basically sleeping in a bed with a twin bed right next to the crib, so I took the crib apart and moved it into Adriann's room, and now Kamden has his own big boy bed!

We let him pick out a new comforter and he is "Obsessed" with Toy Story, so he picked this one out. Akoni had bought the stickers earlier for him, so he is now surrounded by Toy Story and loving it! He says goodnight to all the characters and knows all their names.

I thought it would be really hard to have him in a bed, but he is doing awesome. He has a routine that has to be followed at night: prayers, books, songs and he has to have his puppy, lumpy and bag of legos (that's a whole different post that I will have to do) or he will not stay in his bed. So sometimes at night there is a scramble to find everything but eventually we do and he goes to bed!

Ice Cream fun with friends!

2011-06-16T02:03:00.000-07:00

These are Adriann's 2 best friends. The one on the far right is moving this next week and the other one is moving in December. They are both in military families, so that's why they are moving. We had them over for one last play date and they put on a fashion show and dance show for me! IT was priceless! I totally forgot to get pictures, but I did get this of them after they made homemade ice cream.

That big green ball in the front of the picture is this really fun ice cream maker that you have to roll around to make the ice cream. So the kids got to work and had it made in about 20 minutes! Then they got to decorate the ice cream with sprinkles! They had a blast!

Kenyon even helped with the rolling so the girls let him have some ice cream also.

I think Kamden's bowl had more sprinkles than ice cream. The lid fell off of the sprinkles he was pouring and all the sprinkles fell into his bowl! Oh well, he actually only took about 3 bites.

Last Day Of School!!

2011-06-16T01:46:00.000-07:00

The kids both had their last day of school last week. I got to go to Adriann's end of the year class party and got this picture of her class minus one boy. Adriann wanted me to go really bad so that she could show off the baby. It was a fun little party and she has made some really good friends being at this school. We are putting the kids both back as the Elementary School by our house instead of at the Dual Language Program that they are at right now. It was a tough decision, but we feel really good about it. Adriann was starting to fall behind in her English! Even though she was doing really well in Spanish, we figured that since English is her main language, it's probably better that she not be falling behind in it! But she had a good 2 years and Kenyon had a great time in Kindergarten and we are sure that when they have to take a language again in school, they will pick it back up quickly.

Adriann with her friends that she is going to miss the most.

Kenyon got to have his best buddy come over and play video games. He has been bugging me to have him come over and they are going to be gone for most of the summer, so they got a good vid session in before he left.

This is what they did pretty much the entire time! He loves to have someone play video games with him. Well at least someone that knows how to play the game, because apparently Adriann and I don't know what we are doing when we play with him!

Grandpa and Grandma Ekman's visit

2011-06-04T03:33:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit over Memorial Weekend so it was the perfect chance to bless Monica at church. It was so fun having them come and cook and play with the kids and let me take lots of naps, very helpful!

Grandpa with Monica. This is where he held her pretty much the whole time they were here...it was great!!

Here's Grandma and Grandpa outside of church after the blessing.

Monica cried during the whole blessing and then passed out and slept through the rest of church!

Mom made Grandma Ekman's lasagna to leave with us so we could have a dinner after they left. Adriann loved being able to help cook with Grandma.

Akoni with the kids. Luckily it was great weather!

Grandpa with the kids and their Shel Silverstein books that he got for them! They have been reading them at school and wanted to borrow them, so Grandpa was nice and got us our own copies of two of his books.

2 weeks old.....

2011-05-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

She doesn't look like a baby anymore!! It's amazing how fast babies grow up. But it's nice to see her awake more and actually see her eyes!

Here's one plus to having to supplement with formula, other people can feed her and they all want to! So I get some free time from not holding her all day and can get other stuff done! Plus it's a great way for the kids to be able to bond with her and have some one on one time. Adriann can't wait for her to hurry and grow up so she can play dress up with her. Her first words when she saw her at the hospital were "Mom, she doesn't have any eyelashes for Mascara!" Do you think she's excited to finally have a sister?

Monica with the boys. Kenyon can not get enough of her! The minute he gets home from school his first words are "Can I hold her?" He could literally sit on the couch and hold her all day, it's great!! And Kamden is so gentle and cute with her. He loves to pat her head and when she cries he gets all worried and runs to her to see what's wrong!

This little girl is so lucky to have these three older siblings that love her to pieces!

Welcome Monica Leilani Ganir

2011-05-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

*oops, I forgot to put where we got her name, Monica is Akoni's Dad's mom's name and we have loved it and have been waiting for another girl so we could use the name!*

Our baby decided that she didn't want to turn around so we scheduled my c-section for Thursday the 12th at 12:30. It turned out to be a good thing because she ended up having the cord wrapped around her neck 2 times, so there's no way that I was going to be able to deliver this baby naturally. I got there and was all checked in and hooked up to the iv and an emergency c-section came in so I was bumped till 3, bummer. So we had to just sit and wait for 2 hours, very boring.

Akoni all suited up and ready to go into the room!

Once I got wheeled into the delivery room everything happened pretty fast. It was interesting getting my epidural and not being in labor! Usually I'm in so much pain and I can't wait for it to kick in, but this time I was in no pain and felt the whole thing. It didn't hurt, but it was weird and then I felt as pretty much my whole lower body became numb! Then I was draped up the Dr. just started getting the baby out. She ended up being born at 3:29pm and weighed 8lbs and was 20in long.

Akoni with baby Monica for the first time.

I had to sit in recovery for about an hour and then got wheeled into my room. A little bit later all the kids came. They were sooooo excited!! Kamden kept yelling: Mommy Mommy look baby baby! And yes Adriann is ecstatic to finally have a sister!

Yeah I look absolutely horrible, but I hadn't had a good night sleep in like a week and then had gotten sick twice that day with all the anesthesia, stress and anticipation of the whole thing, so it's okay that I look like I do, it's pretty much what I felt like!!

Akoni was able to stay with me the first night because a couple in our ward stayed over night with the kids and then he had to leave in the morning to get the kids to school. That was a rocky first night just trying to figure everything out and it's a totally different recovery for me. I don't think I got out of that bed for 2 days!

I had some wonderful visitors while I was in the hospital. So thanks to all that stopped by! I was especially lucky one night to have a friend call and say she was coming to spend the night with me and literally stayed up the whole night rocking the baby and just handing her to me when she needed to eat! I actually got some sleep that night and it was wonderful!

Baby girl! Isn't she beautiful? I didn't realize that c-section babies aren't all puffy when they are born.

Now we are all just trying to get adjusted to life with a newborn again. So far she is the 50th Great Grand child on my side of the family, the 7th grand child on my side, and the 22nd grand child on Akoni's side of the family!

Baby #4 is coming today!!

2011-05-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Wish me luck, I'm having a c-section today at 12:30!! Baby did not want to turn, oh well. We'll see if it's baby girl or baby boy in a few hours!

Cool Pancake!

2011-05-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

Akoni got creative with the pancakes! It's fun to have a cool dad, mom's pancakes are boring!!

Fun with Root Beer Floats!

2011-05-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Having some fun with Root Beer Floats!

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T09:55:00.001-07:00

I had such the best Mother's Day!! It's funny to me how on the one day that is there to celebrate Mothers all I want to do is NOTHING that has to do with being a Mother!! Well I take that back, I still loved on my kids and husband, but they did all the cooking and cleaning, it was Awesome! I even got to take a nap after church. What a life, it was a great day. The kids made me jewelry which I will cherish forever, cute cards and I got a new phone! None of the buttons were working on mine which was getting really frustrating, so Akoni took me to the store on Saturday and I got to pick out a new phone! I have been putting it off forever, I love my old phone. It's been thru a lot, even the toilet and the thing has held on! Now I have a new gadget to play with and it's kind of fun.

I hope all of you Mother's had an awesome day!!

Here are the kids in their Easter outfits, but I had them wear them for Mother's day. Don't they look nice....

and my real kids....

Quick Baby update

2011-05-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

My due date is in 5 days technically. But when I went into my appointment on Wednesday the baby had flipped and is now breech. That means that the feet are down and if the baby doesn't flip then I will have to have a c-section. So my days are now consisting of laying with my bum and feet up on an ironing board that is tilted against the couch to try and get pressure on the baby's head so that it will want to flip, or sitting with a frozen bag of veggies on the top of my tummy as to chill the baby's head so that it will want to flip! Yeah strange things, but they are supposed to work, so we'll see. Wish me luck!

Easter

2011-04-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

Easter this year was super fun. My favorite part is dying the eggs. I usually buy each kid an 18 pack of eggs, but I somehow did not think ahead and they each got only 10 eggs. Well Kamden got 5, but that was enough for him! I backed off this year and just let the kids do it all by themselves and they did a fabulous job!

Kamden with his eggs that he dyed all by himself. I only had to help him get them out of the dye because his little plastic tool kept bending and he couldn't get the egg out.

Adriann getting creative with the colors.

Kenyon all finished. This is the only serious picture I could get out of him.

Easter morning the kids woke up and found their baskets. Adriann was so excited to get Tangled!! We had a blast watching it after church.

Kamden got a frog toy for the bath.

Kenyon got a new Skating game for the PS3. See what I mean about him not being serious for pictures? Oh well.

Overall it was a very fun Easter. The egg hunt went quick in the morning and then lots of candy was eaten all day!! I totally forgot to get a picture of them all dressed up nice for church. With our church at 9am, we were totally rushed because of the egg hunt and baskets. So next sunday I'll get a picture of them all looking nice!

Girls night out!

2011-04-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I took my camera and didn't get any pictures! Anyway, last night I got to use my gift card to go and get my pedicure. 2 other friends came along and it was so much fun! I really think that I could get used to doing that more often.......Anyway, then we met some other friends at LaLla Grill for dinner and went to frozen yogurt after. It was such a fun night and much needed. I feel today like I got a recharge. I've been having a tough time with the kids lately and feeling so uncomfortable being so pregnant. It was great to be able to just unwind for a few hours and not have to worry about anyone or anything. And apparently the kids put themselves all to bed!! I asked Akoni how it went and he said that Adriann came to tell him goodnight and when he went back to tuck her in Kenyon and Kamden were already asleep! How awesome was that?

37 Weeks!!

2011-04-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

I had an appointment today and was told that the baby hasn't even dropped yet! What? How much lower can this baby get? I sit down and my legs go numb! Oh well, I still technically have 3 weeks left and I want to go 1 week longer than that, I know I'm crazy, but I need the baby born closer to the end of school. Soooo I guess it's good that the baby still has a ways to go.

(Edited) I need the baby to come closer to the end of school because of the time Akoni can get off for work and then I will have to run the carpool after he goes back to working!! So the less days I have to do it, the better!!

How cute is this?!

2011-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

My 32nd Birthday!!

2011-04-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

My birthday was a few days ago and I had such a relaxing day. Akoni got me this purse while he was away working at the Master's in Augusta. I love it!

The kids made me this candy gram and got me a gift card to get a pedicure and manicure! I am so excited to use it.

There is this Paris Bakery in Monterey that makes these To Die For Angel Food Cakes!! Angel Food Cake is my favorite kind of cake and this is the second year that Akoni has gotten me one from this bakery. He is the best!! And so is the cake!

Akoni also made some really good steak fajitas for dinner. It was a fun birthday and I loved it!

Adorable gift my Sister-in-law made!

2011-04-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

How cute is this car seat cover that my sis-in-law made?! I just had to share it because I think it is so dang adorable. I can't wait to use it!

She also made this baby wipe case. Well she covered a baby wipe case, but it's so cute too!!

Family Pictures

2011-04-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some more of the pictures we had taken of our family.

Trip to the Aquarium

2011-04-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

I am not sure how I had the energy to do this, but I took the kids to the Aquarium on Saturday. Yeah, Saturday, all by myself! What was I thinking? Anyway, it turned out to be really fun! The kids had a blast and I got to see a new exhibit that I didn't know was there. We got Pink Flamingos and if you continue to walk thru their exhibit you come out to another area that has all these turtles! They are so adorable! The octopus was also out and swimming around which was the coolest thing I have ever seen. You aren't supposed to use a flash if you take their picture, so none of mine turned out. But it was amazing!

The signature aquarium picture in the clam shell. Kamden had just finished playing in the splash zone and was soaked.

At the seahorse exhibit.

At the penguin exhibit.

Notice Kenyon's toy animal in this picture? It's a mini Penguin that he has not stopped carrying around! He brought his money with him and wanted to buy something, and that's what he picked out! It's actually really cute, and now he wants to save his money to buy it a big mom penguin.

This was the sucker that Kamden got. He was such a mess, but it kept him in the stroller.

Prego pictures

2011-04-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

My friend's husband took some family pictures for us, (kcknoopphotography.com) notice my new heading picture, and then did a quick pregnant session after. I have never done one before and it was a ton of fun. It feels weird to post these pictures of just me, but I really liked how they turned out and since this is my last (it better be!) baby, I wanted to remember this time. You know when I actually wasn't sick or sore or anything like that. I felt really good this day and it was nice to have it be all about me, well and the baby, for 30 minutes!

Spring Break part 3 - Family came to visit

2011-04-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

Our final fun of Spring Break was when we got back from Palm Springs and Akoni's brother Aries, wife Liz and their 7 kids came to stay with us for the week! It was such a blast and I couldn't have asked for better house guests. They were awesome! I am so sad that I didn't even get a picture of all the cousins together, but we did go to Carmel beach one of the days and so I got 8 out of the 10 kids playing in the ocean and the sand.

These two were so cute together. Can't wait for them to get older.

I think Kenyon was the only one that didn't get sunburned at all, and that was only because he didn't take off his sweatshirt that he lives in!

Spring Break part 2 - Palm Springs

2011-04-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of our Spring Break took us over to Palm Springs for our Annual get together with my side of the family. My parents get a house there every year and my sisters and brother and I all meet there and have a fun week of swimming, golfing and relaxing.

We were able to go to church while we were there and this is the kids in the parking lot after.

Akoni celebrated his 32nd Birthday and we had some yummy Chocolate cake by the pool!

Kenyon hanging out in the Hot Tub! It was so nice, even though I could only sit in it for 5 minutes at a time, it was still very enjoyable!

Adriann and her cousin paige in the Hot Tub. The big pool was freezing and the kids would jump back and forth between it and the hot tub. I don't know how they did it. I would have died if I had gotten in the big pool.

Another fun amenity of the house, the Jacuzzi!! The bubbles would literally overflow if you turned on the jets! The kids had a blast and I loved to be able to lay in it and have my entire stomach covered! I wish I had one of these at home.....

Kamden had fun for about 3 minutes till he slipped under the bubbles and we couldn't see him! I had to fish around for him and then he wouldn't get in the tub anymore after that without me. It was a pretty deep tub and he hated the jets, so it wasn't his favorite.

My parents treated us married kids to dinner at Cheesecake factory and watched the 6 grandkids so we could enjoy a night out!! It was so much fun and I had the best cheesecake every, The Red Velvet one!! I ate it for like 3 days, it only lasted that long because it was so rich and I thought I would go into sugar shock if I ate more than a few bites at a time!

More fun by the pool. I barely saw Adriann the whole week, she lived in the pool.

My sister made these cute little Easter nests to go with the BYU blue Peeps my mom bought hopefully for celebration, but ended up being eaten in sadness to their loss.

Akoni eating my killer banana split that I made him.

We went to one of the other pools in the community we were staying in because the other pools were heated. The kids had a blast with Akoni, but I had gotten so sun burned the day before and sat in the shade and took pictures.

It was such a fun Spring Break, we look forward to going to Palm Springs every year. We were also able to see our good friends the Tangs, Akoni got to go golfing a few times, and I went shopping one day with my sister. It was perfect weather, I thought, in the 70's or 80's something like that. We can't wait to go next year.

Spring Break part 1 - San Diego

2011-03-31T11:01:00.000-07:00

Our spring break started out this year by going down to San Diego to visit some good friends the Oconers that used to live in our ward and moved there a little bit ago. We had to take advantage of Ember while we were there and get our hair done! Adriann has been wanting to get her hair cut and there was no way I was going to cut it short, so Ember did it and it turned out super cute!

She wanted an A-line and bangs, so she got exactly what she wanted!

I got my hair cut and colored also, but you'll just have to see it in the rest of the pictures. I forgot to get a before and after picture.

Next we went to Lego Land with the Oconers also. It was fun, but Disneyland is WAY better!! But we have been promising the kids that we would take them there for about a year, so this was our chance. The kids had a blast and the weather was perfect, so we all had a good time!

In front of the Bionicle ride. It's like teacups and turned out to be the kids favorite ride. Good thing Matt was a good sport to go on it with the kids, because I would have puked.

Adriann and Kenyon with Elvis' head of Legos.

Kamden in the shark head.

On our way out of the park with the Lego Police officer.

Where all my Flour is going....

2011-03-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

I have been making a lot of bread. And I am sooooo bad at it. I can't get my bread to rise. I can get it to wonderfully rise in the bowl, but then I punch it down, put it in the loafs and then it could sit there all day, seriously, and not rise above the edge of the pans. I have tried sitting them under lights, in my front room by the window, in the oven with a pan of hot water and even putting them in the pans before I punch them down and they won't even rise then! The bread turns out tasting great, but it's short and no good for sandwiches which is what I wanted it for. Oh well, at least it looks pretty and tastes good!!

And slap some homemade strawberry jam on it.....DELICIOUS!!!

I also got a recipe from a girl at church from the Pioneer Woman's blog, and it is to die for!! These cinnamon rolls are the most delicious thing I have ever made and they are SO EASY! It's basically a one pot wonder recipe. And it made 8 pans of rolls! It was perfect to put some in the freezer for later. I did however have to use a different recipe for the icing. She uses brewed coffee and since I don't have any of that, I found a delicious cinnamon roll icing recipe and used it instead. Just so all my local friends know, you will be getting these rolls next year for Christmas, and you will love me for it!

32 weeks

2011-03-15T15:33:00.001-07:00

Had to get a belly picture on here before I explode! Well the baby dropped a few weeks ago, so here is the bump. It feels a lot bigger than it looks...... I'm due May 11th and we aren't finding out what we're having. It's been an interesting pregnancy. I am at the end (hopefully) of my second bought with the flu. Well who knows what it is this time. I keep getting fevers and chills and my head feels like it's gonna pop. I also can't taste anything so eating has been a challenge for a few days. But luckily the kids are surviving and Akoni's been great to let me rest and sleep with 6 pillows propping myself up at night so I can breath! I guess my body is just getting ready for all the sleep that it's not gonna be getting in a few short weeks......

Jam and other things...

2011-03-02T14:04:00.000-08:00

The price on strawberries finally went down and no one will eat the jar of store bought jam that has been in the cupboard for a while, so I happily have been making jam!! This is batch #6 in about 2 weeks. I can't stop, it's so good that I don't want to run out.

And this is my other project that I have sitting on my table to make. What could it be for? You'll have to wait and see! (BTW, those huge bags of flour are only $2.99 at Grocery outlet right now!)

We actually got some snow!!

2011-02-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is what we woke up to on Saturday morning! We were supposed to have snow and we did get a little. This is actually at 8am when the kids finally looked outside and started screaming that it snowed! I wonder what they would do if they saw actual snow? But they have never seen any type of snow, so this was amazing to them. I know it's sad that they have never seen snow, but some people have never seen the ocean, so I like what we have better!! And when we left for their basketball game at 10 it was all melted. Very sad....

Valentines Day Stuff

2011-02-18T18:36:00.000-08:00

So I thought that I would be creative and make cookies for the kids to hand out at school instead of candy. Honestly I didn't want to go to the store and buy anything, but it took me 2 days to make these and ice them. I realized after I made 50 sugar cookies (2 kids=lots of cookies) that I couldn't just ice them normally or the icing would stick to the plastic bags they were going in. So I found an icing that hardens, but I had to let them sit over night so that the icing was totally dry. Then I had to wake up extra early so I could put them all in bags. So not fun and I think next year I will spend the few dollars that it costs and just get candy. That's what the dollar store is for right? Oh, and the kids wanted to make their own valentines. That started out as a great idea, but turned into me quickly writing out all of Kenyon's because he got tired of writing his. Next year, store bought valentines also!

This year has just been so busy and being pregnant and tired and all of that I told Akoni that we were not doing Valentines Day. I just didn't feel like we needed all the extra stress of the day to show each other how much we love each other. I will add that Akoni has been doing A LOT of dishes lately, so I know that he loves me! He knows exactly how to get to my heart. We also thought that it would be more fun to give the kids each $5 and one box of candy. They get enough junk at school and they have both been saving their money to buy things, so we gave them the money and took them to the mall.

Kenyon has been saving for a new Lego PS3 game and Adriann bought some Real Earings since she could finally change her earrings on Valentines Day! They were both sooooo excited!! Way better than just getting a bunch of candy!

Well Akoni did go against what I said and I got some beautiful roses! And I did get him some Tennis Balls, he and some friends have started playing so I figured they would definitely get used. Then we had a good dinner as a family and I made this yummy trifle. We had some friends over to share it with us and that was a perfect ending to our Valentines Day!!

Adriann's Dresser

2011-02-18T12:12:00.000-08:00

I bought this dresser for a steal on Craigslist a few years ago and have been wanting to paint it ever since, but have never had the urge to actually get it done. The lady I bought it from had put one coat of stain on it and called it good, so luckily I didn't have to do much prep work.

Here is the finished dresser! I love it and it finally looks like it matches her room.

Kamden is 2!!

2011-02-11T13:33:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that Kamden is already 2! We just had a quick celebration at home with cake and presents and he had a blast. He decorated his own cake, so it looks awesome! It ended up breaking, so it is just a chocolate ball, not real creative.

Opening his present from his cousins, a tape measure! He immediately went and started measuring the wall!

His Buzz from Grandma and Grandpa Ekman! He loves this toy!!

Overall it was a great day. He knows how to say that he is 2 and it's so cute!

Quick closet fix!

2011-02-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

Embarassing photo of our closet, but it's a before picture so I don't mind as much. The floor of our closet has always been a disaster. But it has always seemed like shoe racks or organizational things are so expensive. So I have been putting off doing anything about it and just kept shoving shoes and 72 hour backpacks and who knows what into the closet.

Well I needed a new project, so after our Relief Society class on Organization I decided to tackle the closet.

Here is the After picture of the floor of our closet now. All I did was buy a $10 piece of wood, painted it with some paint we had in the garage, and set it on some food storage cans, and voila!! Don't mind the bag in the middle, those are Kamden's birthday presents that are not there now, so there is actually way more room. Everything is much more organized. I know it's not much, but it works!

Kenyon's 6th Birthday

2011-02-02T14:14:00.001-08:00

Yes January is a birthday month for us. Kenyon had his 6th and got a new bike. He's been riding Adriann's old barbie bike and wouldn't even let us spray paint it black for him, so we figured he really needed a new one!!

Opening up some Nerf guns, can't go wrong with those!!

The Grandparents got him Lego ninja guys and they are so much fun to play with. The boy was in heaven when he opened these!

He had to have an Orange cake, and we put trick candles on it. Hilarious!!

Bench and Shelf together at last!

2011-01-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

I FINALLY finished the Shelf to go along with my Bench that I made forever ago. I would put a link in here for it, but I don't know how to do that. But it's in the bottom picture, so just look there. So here in the shelf before I painted it.

And the finished shelf hanging on the way, thanks to my wonderful husband that hung it up for me after going to Home Depot and buying hooks and putting those on also. Without him, it would be sitting my garage forever because I had no idea how to get it up on the wall once it was finished!!

These side hooks were also Akoni's idea. It's so nice to have the keys up there because then we aren't losing them on the desk, except that I keep forgetting they are up there and run around the house trying to find them until I remember where they are!

And the finished project, Bench and Shelf together at last!!

Adriann and Kenyon's Birthday Parties

2011-01-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

Since Adriann and Kenyon's birthdays are a few weeks apart, we usually do their parties together. Well we decided to go ahead and do one swim party for them both this year. There is an indoor swim center here and you can do your parties during their free swim time. It was so nice to have them together and have it all done with!

I love to make their cakes that they have at their parties. This year Kenyon wanted a LEGO cake and Adriann wanted an ipod cake. I actually made fondant to do them and it turned out to be pretty easy, I was very surprised! Fondant used to totally scare me, but it wasn't very hard to make, and it tasted pretty good too, so I might be using it more often in the future!

Before the swim party enjoying the beautiful weather.

I tried to get a picture of Adriann swimming, but she wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get one, oh well. She was having too much fun.

Fun at the park with Grandma

2011-01-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

I love that in January we have such beautiful weather that we can go and hang out at the park! While my parents were here my mom and I walked down to the park with the kids and let them play for a while. It was a perfect park day and the kids had so much fun!

You wonder why my house if filled with so much sand!

Adriann's Baptism

2011-01-24T12:19:00.000-08:00

The Big Day finally came for Adriann. She was Baptised! I still can't believe that she is 8 already. It was such a busy and fun day. My parents were in town and it was so great to have them here. Akoni baptised her and my dad got to confirm her, so that was super special. It's how she wanted it, and it will be something that she won't forget and can cherish forever.

We got a towel from one of our Grandmas when we each got baptised, so my mom continued that tradition and gave Adriann her towel. It was perfect for her! It was Hawaiian print and had her name embroidered. She loved it!

This was the table outside the room where everyone could write in her book that came. She and Grandma picked out the flowers and put her picture in a new frame she got to keep! Grandma's sure know how to spoil a girl on her special day!!

Picture of our family before the Baptism.

Adriann with Grandma and Grandpa Ekman.

Adriann and Dad before being Baptised.

After the Baptism with our Bishop.

It was such a special day. We wish that Akoni's parents could have been there too, but they are in the Philippines serving a mission for our church, so we'll let them off the hook this time!!

First Basketball Game

2011-01-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

The kids are doing Basketball thru the Porter Youth Center since their school is at the Military School. It's so nice because it's way cheaper than thru the city. And they got to be on the same team since it's Adriann's first year playing and doesn't really know how to play yet. So they had their first game this past week and it was sooooooo much fun to watch. After the first quarter they actually started to get what was going on and really got into it. It's going to be a fun season!

My parents were visiting and got to be at the game. Here is my dad with Kamden.

Here we are in the stands. My mom is a huge picture taker, so I am actually in pictures.

Here is my mom with Kenyon.

After the game. Adriann had such a good time.

Kenyon with his snack. Look how big the jerseys are?! You should have seen his shorts, they were down to his socks, he had to wear a different pair that we had!

Overall it was a great experience and the kids are loving playing together.

Adriann's 8th Birthday

2011-01-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

Adriann's 8th Birthday was last week and I came down with the flu the night before! It was awful! I literally layed in my bed the entire day. Akoni was awesome and took control and made it such a great day for her. She got to open up a few gifts in the morning and then spent the rest of the day with Dad and Kenyon. They went to the gym, lunch and the mall. She got to go and get her ears pierced FINALLY! She has been counting down the days till she turned 8 so she could get it done. Apparently she didn't even flinch. I was so sad that I couldn't go, but how fun it was for her to do it with her dad. He probably handled it better than I would have. She picked out some flower earings that has different colored diamonds all over. She is so funny too because she is constantly wanting to wash them so that they don't get infected! That is why we waited till she was 8, she is actually concered and is taking care of her ears! She is also wanting to wear pony tails now so that everyone can see her ears, she's so funny!

Since she was gone the whole day our friend Monica made her birthday cake! What a lifesaver and good friend. I did come out of the bedroom to help sing and watch her blow out her candles. Afterwards she told me she had the best day ever, so I'm glad that I didn't ruin anything for her by being so sick.

Her big gift was a new bike that she desperately needed! She is on it everyday. Even if she is just riding it around in circles in the garage, she loves it! It has pegs on the back and I made the mistake of putting Kamden on them, so now all he wants to do is stand on them, with me right next to him of course!

Happy New Years!!

2011-01-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

Our New Years was full of eating and sleeping. We had our friends the Barnes come over and we were all so determined to stay up till midnight. One kid went to bed at 8, the next at 9, then 10, Akoni at 11, and Sam and the two girls at 11:15ish! Monica and I actually stayed up to watch the ball drop on TV, but then fell asleep and we both woke up at 12:45 so she packed up her family and they went home. Luckily they live up the street so it wasn't far. But it was a fun night and I know the kids had a blast.

These pictures are taken before all the fun, but they were already having fun!

Christmas Day and Post #300!!

2011-01-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

So now that Christmas is a thing of the past, I actually have time to write this post. It's mostly pictures, but it's fun to look back and remember how much fun this day was.

The kids actually slept in until I think 7:30? So it was a good start to the day. We always grew up getting the morning "stair" picture, but since we don't have stairs this is what we got!

Here are the kids in their new PJ's left by Santa with their Pillow Pets that he brought them also. Who knew that a pillow, or is it a pet?, would be such a big hit! But the kids love love love them! And wouldn't you know, this was the second picture I took and you can tell the boys are already sick of pictures.....

Well it didn't take long for the kids to be excited in the pictures once they started opening presents. Kenyon wanted Lego's this year and was super thrilled to get this!

He also really wanted a Ben 10 watch, so he thought he was pretty cool.

We got Bop It for the kids and Kamden loves to hold it and get all upset when he loses. I think he has only gotten up to a score of 2 which is actually amazing for him! I held the record of 77 for a few hours, but them Akoni dominated it!

This was the Highlight of Kenyon's Christmas. He is obsessed with Lego's and so Akoni got him the Lego Indiana Jones PS3 game and I will just say that his homework is quickly completed after school each day and his room is immaculately clean! Bribery is awesome! He also got a new Oregon State Jersey. Go Beavers!

Kamden got some new Zhu Zhu pets since ours don't roll any more. He loves them!

Adriann got a few barbies. I'm so glad she is still into them!

Kenyon picked out these boots all by himself for Adriann. He did a great job, he knows his sister well!

Kenyon got some remote control cars. One is already broken. We thought they would be a big hit, but they were fun while they lasted!

Adriann got a real (cheap) digital camera! She thinks she is the bomb and loves to take pictures of EVERYTHING!!

Kamden with his car toy.

Kamden's big gift that I found for a steal on Craigslist. He loves to jump on the trampoline, but I don't like him to jump on the big one by himself during the day, so he now has this one to jump on all day inside!

Kenyon playing with his Legos, and notice all his silly bands. He never takes them off!

Adriann relaxing with all her toys.

We had such a fun Christmas. It was a relaxing and crazy day. Akoni and I got stuff too, but of course I have no pictures since I am always behind the camera . I did get a Cricut and can't wait to vinyl up my house! Now it's on to New Years and Birthdays and Babies. 2011 is gonna be a crazy year!

Santa Came!! The calm before the storm......

2010-12-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

Santa made a mess at our house this year!! See his ashy boot prints from the fireplace?

The kids wanted Pillow Pets and how lucky that Santa knew! They also got their new pajamas and book that he leaves for them every year.

The stockings are all ready!

More Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

After we had Christmas Eve Dinner we opened our gifts from Grandparents and cousins.

Adriann wanted an American Girl doll and was so excited to get Lanie!! Great pick from Grandma and Grandpa Ekman! Auntie Rachel got her a gift card for the American Girl store so she could pick out an outfit for her.

Kenyon got a Star Wars Laptop and both boys have so much fun on it!

Kamden got a Cars garage. He loves cars!

Cousin Paige knew exactly what to get Adriann. She loves to draw.

This is one of Kamden's favorite toys this year. It's a car with buttons on the top that make it move and he follows it all around the house.

Can't go wrong with a Nerf gun!

I think this is the only picture of me the entire Christmas! This book is awesome!

Grandma and Grandpa Ekman gave us Toy Story 3 and we had a Marathon and watched all 3 movies (a few time) since Akoni had never seen them.

Christmas Eve was a blast. We had so much fun and got some really fun presents. Akoni got a really great ladder, so when he takes our lights down, he doesn't have to climb on the fence and jump off the roof onto the trampoline to get down! And I got a gift card to Home Depot so I can finally make the shelf to go above my bench in the hall!! Thanks Rachel, I can't wait to get working on it! Thanks everyone, we love you all!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

So on Christmas Eve we open all of our gifts from Friends, and extended Family. That way Christmas Day is all about just our Family and Santa. We have found it's a great way to break up all the gifts and it's a lot of fun.

Here are the kids opening some gifts from their friends. I could not get Kamden to smile here. He wasn't too sure about all this opening of gifts and was kind of confused and cranky.

Adriann got a make up set and loves it!!

Kenyon with Silly Bands. I don't know what it is about these things, but he is Obsessed with them!! He never takes them off and knows exactly how many he has on each wrist!

Kamden with his "cool car"! Another obsession!

Kenyon being crazy with his silly bands.

Sharks Game and sick kid!

2010-12-23T10:54:00.000-08:00

So the first week of Christmas Break Adriann was super sick for about 2 days. I was hoping no one else would get it. Well Akoni took Adriann and Kenyon to a Sharks game a few days later. They stopped at In-n-out for dinner and made their way up to San Jose. Kenyon started to complain that his stomach was hurting. As they were waiting in line at the game, Akoni turned around and Kenyon was barfing in his hands! They had just gotten to the game, so they tried to stay for a little bit, but he ended up throwing up 2 more times, so they had to call it quits and come home!

They did have fun while they were there. They had really good seats and got to go to the replay booth and see all the tv's. Hopefully next time will be better!

The Beach in December!

2010-12-21T08:15:00.001-08:00

Last week we had some beautiful days and with all the rain, you have to take advantage of a day that isn't rainy. So some new friends of our hadn't been out to 17mile, so we packed up the kids and went for a drive. It was nice and sunny and the kids had a fun time running around.

There is this one beach that has all these rocks on it and people will stack them up and write their names and dates of when they were there on the rocks. I have always wanted to do it, so luckily I had a sharpie in my purse and was able to do it this time.

Gingerbread Houses!

2010-12-21T08:08:00.001-08:00

Here's our annual Gingerbread House decorating activity. I bought a kit last year that is a mini village and so there are 5 different houses to decorate. It's perfect because each kids gets their own house, so there's no fighting! I'm glad that I bought the kit last year because I didn't see them this year. It was a fun time and the houses turned out pretty cute.

Adriann putting on her icing.

Kamden being a goof, his house didn't really turn out. He just ate all his candy instead!

Kenyon getting his house all decorated.

Kenyon's final product.

Adriann's completed house.

Christmas Lights

2010-12-20T16:46:00.000-08:00

After multiple day on the roof, trips to the store and pulling of hair, Akoni got the lights up! He made an arrow at work and wrapped it in lights and it points to the chimney. It's so fun to drive up and see.

Thanksgiving!!

2010-12-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving my parents and my sister Rachel came to our house. It was so much fun and luckily we had gorgeous weather!! It wasn't warm, but the sun was out and there was no rain, so no complaining!

When my parents got here we were able to take them to the Aquarium, thanks to the free tickets from the Library that I waited in line for 2 hours for, yeah 2 hours. It's crazy, but they get the tickets on the first day of the month and there are people lined up for hours waiting and then the tickets are gone in about 15 minutes.

We had a fun time at the Aquarium and got to see the new Flamingos, they are so pink! I loved them. The next day was Thanksgiving and Rachel flew into town. It was a fun day and good food and lots of napping done by all. And our Turkey was good even though only 1/2 of it cooked. It was a 21 lb. Turkey and I don't think it got thawed out all the way and so it wasn't fully cooked. We had to cut off what was cooked and throw the rest of the turkey back in to finish cooking. And Akoni was awesome and cleaned up the kitchen while I fell asleep on the couch, what a great guy! I didn't do one dish!!

My parents left the next day and Rachel and I took the kids to Cannery Row and walked around and it was a beautiful day and we had lots of fun together. Sadly I got very few pictures, I blame it on being pregnant. But here's the pictures I got and they are not in the right order. Sorry!

Adriann and Kenyon outside the Aquarium.

Our Family walking to the Aquarium from the free parking down the street.

Adriann and Kenyon with Grandma dishing up food and getting ready to eat.

Grandma basting the turkey.

The big kids table all set up. We actually got out our wine goblets that we got for our wedding and have never used. My mom spent probably an hour getting all the price tag stickers off of them. It was fun to use them finally. And she got me this nice table cloth so we didn't have to use plastic like I had planned before anyone said they were coming to visit.

Kenyon and Kamden in their Turkey hats.

Adriann and Kenyon at the Aquarium.

Kamden in the oyster. I tried to get all the kids, but no one wanted to get in.

Kenyon with Grandpa watching the water fall. Kamden was so scared and screamed and ran out when we took him in here.

Kenyon's outfit he made at school.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we did!!

Classic - Sent to me from my husband!! At least he's thinking ahead!!

2010-11-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

The room was full of pregnant women with their partners. The class was in full swing. The instructor was teaching the women how to breathe and was telling the men how to give the necessary assurance to their partners at this stage of the pregnancy.

She said “Ladies, remember that exercise is good for you. Walking is especially beneficial. It strengthens the pelvic muscles and will make delivery that much easier. Just take several stops and stay on a soft surface like grass or a path.”

She looked at the men in the room, "Gentlemen, remember, you're in this together. It wouldn't hurt you to go walking with her.”

The room suddenly got very quiet as the men absorbed this information.

Then a man at the back of the room slowly raised his hand.

“Yes?”, answered the Instructor.

“I was just wondering if it would be all right if she carries a golf bag while we walk?”

This kind of sensitivity just can't be taught.

My finished wall

2010-11-11T19:17:00.001-08:00

Well here is my painted wall. We have lived here for almost 2 years and our front room bugs me. It's so boring. So I finally decided to paint. After talking to two friends that know way more about interior design than I do, and consulting a huge thick paint book, I trusted my friend and we picked out a color.

Well this is the final product. The color of course changes all during the day depending on the light, but at least you get some idea of what it looks like. I love it and it adds tons of character to the room.

Don't you love how little kids smile?!

2010-11-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

Trip to the Fire Station

2010-11-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

Adriann's class had a field trip the other day to the Fire Station and I got to go since it was a walking trip so I could bring Kamden in the stroller!! Yeah, we walked from the school all the way down to the station with 50 kids!! But we ended up having a really fun time. Here are a few pics.

Here's the group I walked around with.

Kamden and Adriann on one of the Trucks.

Adriann inside of a Truck.

Kamden with his hat that all the kids got!

Adriann trying on one of the Real Hats!!

Halloween - Ward Trunk or Treat

2010-10-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we finally carved the kids pumpkins. Akoni cut the tops off, the kids scooped them out and tried to do the faces, but eventually Akoni saved the day and finished them!

Here is the finished product. I think they turned out pretty good!!

Friday night was our Ward Trunk or Treat. Kamden loved being this lion!! It was a super steal on Ebay a few years ago for Kenyon, so I'm glad that this guy got to use it. He loved having his face painted and would growl, it was soo cute!

The boys. I got this costume for Kenyon 2 Halloweens ago, but he refused to wear it. This year he actually wanted to, so I was glad to have him wear it. He also loved having his face painted.

All 3 of them. Adriann was a Rockstar!

I went as a whoopie cushion again. It's a really easy costume to wear being pregnant!

Akoni went as "Windy Guy"! He ended up winning first place for the costume contest at our ward Trunk or Treat!!

Doesn't it look great?

Adriann invited her friend Alondra from school to the party and Ally from our ward was there also. These girls had such a blast! They are all in the same class at school.

Kenyon with his friends at the party.

After Trunk or Treating. The kids had such a fun time. The party was soooo much fun!!

Earthbound Farms in Carmel Valley

2010-10-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we wanted to go to a Pumpkin Patch and decided to try a different one than we normally go to. Well we decided to try out Earthbound Farms in Carmel Valley. Not really a Pumpkin Patch. It was cute, but they just had piles of pumpkins to pick from, so we just kind of walked around the place and left empty handed. Not really what we were looking for.

There was a fun little teepee for the kids to play in.

This was a rock labyrinth, but he sprinkler was on, so the kids were trying to run around it without getting wet, yeah right!

They also had a cute little corn maze. I hate corn mazes, so Akoni took the kids in and I waited for them to hopfully return!

Yes!! They made it thru!

Even Kamden didn't get lost!!

Guess we'll have to try a different place to get Pumpkins, so go back to our same place we go every year! They don't have U-pick places here, unless anyone knows of one?

Can you believe I did this?

2010-10-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Adriann has been bugging me forever to cut her hair. I do not know how to cut hair. My boys heads get shaved and that's as good as it gets. But since all my friends have moved that cut hair, I am on my own, or I can go to someone that I don't know and hope they don't screw her hair up. So the other night after she washed her hair, I figured I might as well try. Well.....I did it! I just did a straight cut, but I think it turned out pretty good! At least it's even, and that's all that matters!!

This is a before picture to show how long her hair was getting!!

And here is the after picture!!

And she loves it, so really that's all the matters!

News!

2010-10-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share that Baby #4 is on it's way, Due May 11th!

School Pictures today.

2010-09-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

The kids have school pictures today, so I just got a quick shot of them before school.

Kamden playing dress up!

2010-09-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Kamden loves to wear girl shoes and carry around purses!! This is what he does while the kids are at school and I forget to shut Adriann's door! I don't know if you can tell, but he's actually carrying 2 purses!!

Fun Babysitting!

2010-09-14T15:42:00.001-07:00

We do a babysitting swap with some friends in our ward and this was a few weeks ago. You don't know how hard I tried to get a serious picture out of these guys. This is honestly the best I could get.......At least Bridger looks good, 1 out of 5 isn't bad!

Soccer Season - Go Alligators!!

2010-09-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Kenyon is playing Soccer again this year and Akoni is the coach, and I'm the team Mom!! I get a shirt!! Anyway, we have the SAME ugly colors that we had last year! Oh well, the kids chose to be the Alligators. This is opening day and their first game. We have 10 kids on the team, and two of them are 5, the rest are barely 4 and they are the cutest littlest kids ever! It's definitely going to be a season of just FUN play, but it is really fun to watch. And Kenyon has gotten better and is really loving it. I can't wait for this season to get going!

A new family moved into our ward and they have a boy that is Kenyon's age!! Yahoo!! His name is Carson. He is in his class at school and we got him on the soccer team too! They have become quick friends and they are going to be here for at least 2 years, so it's good he'll have a constant friend for the next 2 years at church and school. (one of the down sides of living by so many military families, they come and go quickly and it's hard on all the kids to lose their friends)

My little girl got her first Stitches!!

2010-09-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

I can deal with blood....on other people. When I was working in the Dental field, I wanted so badly to assist with all the extractions and surgeries. Don't ask me why, but I loved loved loved it! It never made me sick to see it, but when it's my own kids that are bleeding, I kind of want to throw up. So when Adriann came into the house screaming and freaking out with blood running down her leg, I handed her a wet paper towel and told her to hold it there. I couldn't even look at it or touch it. So sad I know, but I just can't take that my child is in pain. Anyway, I eventually did look at it and it was bad and deep, so she had to go and get 3 stitches! Again, I couldn't take her, Akoni had to, but he said she was brave and didn't cry at all! So here's a blurry picture, but that's better since it's kind of gross!

Finished my bench!!

2010-09-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

I made this!

2010-08-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, I probably should wait till it's painted and completely finished, but I am just so excited that I made this!! It's for our front hall. Bins will go in the cubbies and then that's where we will hide our shoes! I can't wait till it's done and in the hall!! I'll post pictures of it when it's done.

Boys Day Out!

2010-08-11T16:50:00.000-07:00

Adriann went to a friend's house the other day to play and so Akoni asked Kenyon what he wanted to for the day. He said he wanted to go golfing.....so we took him to Poppy Hills driving range and he had a BLAST!!

Getting some tips from Dad.

He was actually really getting the hang of it.

This was a close one! And I love how he's not even using a putter!

Kamden even got into it and was hittin' the ball around a bit.

First Day of School!!

2010-08-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that School is already here! The kids have been so excited to go and I have been excited for them to go too! I now have 2 of them gone! Except that now it's really quiet around the house and I'm kind of bored.....I'm SURE I will find something to occupy my time!

The kids outside before leaving for school. Kamden had to get in a picture!

Adriann with her new shirt, fleece and shoes that Grandma got her, and she had shorts, but it was cold today, so she wore her......Hannah Montana Jeans (Yikes, I actually bought her some!), that she has been dying to wear!

Kenyon with his new shirt and "Skater shoes" that he picked out.

I can't believe that they are already in Kindergarten and the 2nd grade. Kenyon ended up having 3 friends that he knew in his class! And they would all ride the shuttle together after school to the main campus to meet older siblings, so that will be nice for all of them. Adriann ended up having lots of her friends from last year also in her class and thankfully the girl we carpool with, so she should have a great year.

*UPDATE*

Here's the after school picture as I was picking them up from school. Kenyon got off the bus and yelled "Mom, School was so fun! When do I get to go again!" Hopefully he will still have that energy for the next 13+ years!!

Summer Vacation - Enchanted Forest

2010-08-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

*We went on a 3 week Family vacation this summer. Long story short, my camera broke and I had to exchange it and had to give them the card that had all my pictures on it. I luckily downloaded all the pictures onto my mom's computer, and so I am waiting for those pictures from the first half of our vacation. We went to Nevada (just slept overnight),Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Washington (just for church, it was my Aunt and Uncle's mission farewell) and Oregon. Here is from the last week of our trip, the rest will come later. Akoni was only with us for the first week, so it's not that we just didn't take any pictures of him the rest of the trip. He had to go back to work and I stayed to go the the Oregon Coast with my family and then hang out the next week. The trip actually got cut short because Kenyon got really sick and so Akoni flew out early to drive home with us.*

Week 3

Growing up, we used to go to this place. It is like a mini Disneyland for Fairy Tales. It's Awesome! So we decided to take all the kids to it one day. We had so much fun.

Right outside the entrance.

In the castle you walk thru to get to the rest of the park.

Hansel and Grettle's House.

Going thru the Rabbit Hole for Alice and Wonderland......

.......Coming out thru the Door on the other end!

This house was cool, it was built on a huge slant and you walked thru the whole house and had to try not to fall!!

Old Mother Hubbard's shoe slide!

Abraham Lincoln was there to take pictures with. Kind of random, but fun. He gave Kenyon a sword and he was loving it!

Learning to Rope a Steer, well we didn't, but Adriann liked the hat! This was in Western Town.

Shootin' guns also in Western Town.

You had to pay to ride any of the rides, so we let the kids pick one. This one was kind of like the Matterhorn, but much smaller.

Eating Ice cream at the end. It was so much fun and perfect weather, and REALLY good ice cream!!

Summer Vacation - The End

2010-07-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

This was at the end of the Vacation. Kenyon was sooo sick that we decided to just get home.

Here is Kamden with his beat up face! He had a book dropped on him from a top bunk and it landed right under his eye. He was also tripped over and fell right on his forehead at Enchanted Forrest and got a huge Raspberry on his forehead. He was also teething and we think he might be allergic to my parents Dog! He was such a trooper this trip.

The day before we left a whole bunch of my cousins got together at my Grandparent's pool to swim together and then have a BBQ at their house. It was so fun to get all of our kids together.

Adriann with my adorable Grandparents!

I broke down and opened her up!

2010-07-06T14:36:00.001-07:00

When I graduated from High School, my mom bought me the 1997 Graduation Barbie! I put it away in my box of all my stuff from growing up and didn't think about it again. Until......Adriann remembered that I told her I had the barbie and now she has been bugging me and bugging me to let her play with it. I finally decided that honestly when am I going to ever play with it, and so we opened her up and she is being played with a few years after graduating!

Fireworks

2010-07-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Pictures of our fireworks. Our neighbors had their family in town and brought out a HUGE box of fireworks, so we sat at the end of our driveway and watched their show. The kids each got $5 to buy their own, which means they each got 2 fireworks, and then shared sparklers with all the other kids in the neighborhood. It was a fun night and we all ended up safe and with no lost appendages, so it was a good time had by all!!