Last Day of 2011

It's after 2 p.m. (Utah time) this day, and we finally made it to LAX.  We've been trying since yesterday to get on a flight just out of Salt Lake, and now we're waiting to see if we get on a flight to Honolulu.  I've had this whole week off to be able to go to Hawaii but flights out of Salt Lake have been bad, well actually I've (we've) also been lazy to try so that's what we get lol.

Anyhow,  I'm actually kind of glad this year is (almost) over, and I'm so ready to welcome a new one. This past year has been, well, a lot of things. I entered the year 2011 probably 20 pounds lighter than I'm leaving the year lol.  In May we were able to go to Hawaii for my Uncle's wedding (when I gained most of my weight lol) and soon after that I started at Delta.  All summer long I worked, worked, and worked.  Then school started, and I was still working full-time, while trying to handle a full-time school schedule.  We moved into our own place in June of this year, which was probably the happiest day for us.  Finally we got to experience being out on our own, being able to budget more wisely and what not. Shortly after we moved into our own house, we found out we were expecting our third child.  I had a mix of emotions, nevertheless I/we were happy.  That was short lived when a week or so later we had a miscarriage. If there's any one trial that was hard on our little family, that would have to be it. However, for whatever reasoning, the time wasn't right but the Lord has blessed us again with another one on the way, and I'm super grateful for that.

With that said, I'm looking forward to new experiences, to setting and achieving new goals, but especially to growing even closer to our Father in Heaven.  I can't wait to bring in another soul into this world, and I'm excited to watch the crazy and wild, but fun things my kids will do this year lol.  I just know 2012 is gonna be a good year :) ...


Happy New Years Everyone!!! :)

CHRISTmas Weekend

Christmas has come and gone, and I'm a bit relieved.  Usually christmas is my favorite time of the year, but for some reason this year was alright.  It's probably because we've been busily working, and going to school, but it just hasn't felt like I thought it would this year. However, it has been a good year, and we have had such wonderful blessings.

This year,  I really really wanted to keep christmas about Christ, and not concentrate on the "material" things like most people do. To keep things simple, I'm just grateful and happy for my family, that we're alive, that we're breathing, that we're eternal.  This weekend was actually really nice, and relaxing for us.  On Christmas Eve we watched a few movies on netflix.  I tried staying up to make sure the kids slept before I wrapped their presents, but they didn't sleep and it was already 2 a.m. so I just wrapped their presents in front of them. lol.  My sister had sent some candy for them, so I wrapped each one up for them.  We had also went to D.I. the day before, and I got them some clothes from there and a few new clothes (pajamas, shirts..) from walmart so I wrapped those also. We also got them coloring books with markers that only can be used on that paper, which is my favorite thing cause now I don't have to worry about Moe drawing all over our walls. LOL.

This year we didn't have much for the kids, actually we never have much, but I think it's totally fine. Sometimes I think parents get caught up in how much of the material things they get, that their kids (as well as them) lose the real meaning of christmas. So I was glad with what we had, and I was glad that we got to spend time as a family, and I hope that as my kids get older, we continue to show them that christmas is about the birth of Christ, and to have presents is a bonus.  It's not about having lots of presents under the tree, that's not what defines a "good christmas."  Here are pictures from our Christmas morning:

The kids presents under the tree, looks like a lot, but we literally wrapped up
each things in one box lol.  We figured they didn't actually care about what was inside
rather they wanted to "rip" the paper hahaha

Kids ready to open their first present.  Before we opened presents we said a prayer as a family,
grateful for our family and the blessing we receive, those daily presents from Heavenly Father
are priceless :)

Firs present they opened was new pajamas!
Moe had Toy Story Pajamas, and Kesaia got Minnie Mouse ones.

Daddy and the kids in their new pajamas :)

Mommy's turn :)

Now onto the next present.. 

Bubbles from Aunty Mele (Moe's favorite, he always plays bubbles with Mele)

Kesaia with her candy from Aunty Mele

Moe's new coloring set, yayy no more marking the walls anymore LOL

Kesaia with her coloring book :)

On Friday, we had a Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with a few of our friends at my house.  It was so much fun, and I went to bed tired and full. lol.  We had lots of yummy food, and we played games as well. At the end of the party we had our gift exchange, and it was hilarious.  Whitney had a real white elephant gift (whereas the rest of us bought something under $5) and it was a head with nice pretty hair lol. Here are some pictures from our night.

The first game we played was to dress someone up like Santa..
and as you can tell this group won
The only material they had was tape, white tissue paper, a gold garland and a red plastic tablecloth 

Here's all 3 "santa's" lol

We also played the face the cookie game or whatever you call it
where you have a cookie on your forehead and you only use your facial
muscles to move the cookie down to your mouth
trick with it though was the cookie was chocolate covered so if you took long
you had a melted chocolate trail on your face lol

Did I mention all the yummy food?!?!?
This is a sausage dip and it was DELICIOUS! (thanks whit!)

We also honey walnut shrimp, chowmein, lasagna, cheesy garlic bread, salad, rolls,
and what's not pictured is rice, sweet 'n sour meatballs, shoyu chicken, and banana cream pie
:)

Mone loved his white elephant gift lol... He named it "Dave"

Hoku had a little thing that made all kinds of noises lol
farts, claps, etc... hahaha

It was a spongebob shaving kit thing, and whitney showed me and told me
maybe I should take it for my legs lol, I told them I hadn't shaved since like
summertime so that's why she's laughing lol

And then I braided Dave's hair and mustache lol

It was so much fun with our friends, and we even did some karaoke-ing. We will definitely have another party next year, and hopefully have much more games and what not. Overall everything from the food to the gifts, but especially their presence was wonderful.

And that's how our Christmas weekend was spent. :)

P.S. All is going well so far with my pregnancy.  I'm about 12 weeks along (3 months) and nausea has subsided (thank goodness).  I'm in the "fat stage" so I'm feeling pretty hefty right now. LOL. I show really quick, or maybe it's that I can't suck it in anymore (lol) so I'm sporting a gut, not a pregnancy belly right now. lol. I still haven't found a new doctor, well midwife, so I haven't even had an ultrasound yet.  I haven't quite made the FB announcement, maybe I'll do that when we find out what we're having... :)

Christmas quickly approaching :/

With Christmas a few days away, I've been contemplating a lot about how I want my kids to be raised concerning the holidays and "presents". This year we'll be lucky to get a present or two under the tree for them because well like they say "times are hard" but I'm ok with that. I've also been thinking about these charities that give christmas presents to their kids "in need" but it bothers me to know that some people use and abuse these programs even at a time like this. I could see someone maybe considering our family to be "of need" for Christmas gifts but I don't, I'm just grateful that this christmas season my family is alive and well, and I don't and will not base the success of our Christmas on how much presents are under the tree. To have presents to open on Christmas day is a bonus but this Christmas season I want to focus more on the blessings we already receive and what heavenly father and our savior has given us. :)

Good news is that a few days after Christmas my family will be flying to Hawaii for new years :) I'm so excited to get out of this cold weather and most importantly eat! Lol. It'll be my first new years in Hawaii since 2007 so I can't wait for that either, a real firework show! :) It'll be a nice break, and we'll hopefully be there for a week.

And as far as any new news with our family... There's nothing much but the kids know about "mama's baby" and they'll rub and kiss my tummy too. It's cute for me, but not so cute when they say "daddy's baby" and rub daddy's tummy lol. I'm a few days away from the last week of my first trimester, and still haven't found a new doctor. I want a midwife this time, so hopefully I can find one and she's available soon! It's crazy to think how quickly this first trimester has passed, probably in a month and a half or two we'll find out what we're having.. Yayy! :)

Blessings, Beautiful Blessings...

Today as I got up the first thing that popped up in my mind was to get up and take the trash out.  I thought Fehi had forgotten (like he did last week lol) and so I went out and saw the trash cans already out on the curb thanks to my husband.  He would've been upset with himself and me if he had forgotten and I took the trash out because that's one thing I'm not allowed to touch.  Neither am I allowed to carry any of the shopping in the house, and sometimes, I'm not even allowed to carry baby moe. And it's because of one special reason.  I must say that I have kept this to myself (and family and friends) for about 4-5 weeks now, and I'm almost feeling like I'm over the first hurdle so I can share my news, but on my blog only for now.  A little over a month ago I wrote this post (BTW, I just actually "published" it... so it hasn't been up until now). And you'll probably have to read it first to get what I'm going to continue talking about...

My heart is still so full of gratitude to Heavenly Father and his blessings he pours over our family.  Having a miscarriage, and wanting to get pregnant again was a hard trial for us.  I remember the day I found out I was pregnant again and I cried to my husband, I told him about how I just felt at peace.  I also told him that I thought having a miscarriage actually hurt me more than I thought, and he agreed.  I wasn't horrible, or mean, I just wasn't 100% if you know what I mean.  I questioned at times about my choice of putting in birth control in the first place, and started to regret that.  I frequently wondered why I even did it, why I thought it was my place to decide when to not have kids, and when to have them, when in fact it's a great blessing to be able to bring a life to this world.  I know a lot of people who wish they could have kids, and can't, or aren't able to yet, and there I was able to, but I chose to put it on halt for selfish reasons.  And I that's what occupied my mind ever since the miscarriage, and that's why I found peace when I got pregnant again.  I'm 10 weeks along, and have a due date of July 9, 2012 and as mentioned before I'm announcing this in my blog because I feel like I'm getting over my first hurdle.  In a few weeks I'll be in my second trimester, and will go to my first appointment to see this little angle of ours.

I can't express enough gratitude I have for our Father in Heaven, and all that he has blessed our family with.  He continues to help guide us, and protect us and our little one growing inside of me, each day. He's given me such beautiful beautiful blessings. :)

Lusipi & Homework

I know the two sound weird, and your probably trying to figure out a connection and the connection is that those are the two I've had the most of this weekend. LOL. My mom and step dad flew in last week Wednesday and Thursday for a missionary farewell.  As always they brought lots of treats (chocolates, dried mango and mocha crunch) as well as a big bag of Lu (luau leaves).  So all weekend long we've been making lusipi, or more like all weekend long my mom has been making us lusipi.  She seriously has spoiled us too much this weekend, and it makes me very grateful for her.

This weekend and week I've also been trying to catch up on a lot of online homework.  I basically have until tomorrow night to do a 4 page paper for one class, and also take notes on a reading assignment g I will have a final on tomorrow at 5 pm.  So it's 2 big assignments that I need to get done, and I'm glad to say that hey I'm almost there, and I know I can do it. It's been a very long, at times stressful semester but after tomorrow I'll be free! woohoo!

My mom has talked to me about the possibility of having my brother come up and live with us to help us out with the kids while we go to school.  And let me tell you, I REALLY hope he does decide to come lived with us.  I know, or at least my mom says he doesn't mind, so I told her to talk to him and hopefully by the time the new semester starts he'll be here.  I would hate to take him away from his life in Kahuku, but frankly his friends are well...uh... he could have better influencing ones, and I want him to come out here and go to school and maybe we can send him off on his mission. Who knows, maybe I'm kind of jumping ahead of myself, but I just hope that he considers really coming down here.

Anyhow, so much to do in little time, but I just wanted to update my blog real quick since it's been a while.  Oh and we finally finished decorating the tree last week Friday.

Have a great week everyone! :)

Our Christmas Tree @ Night

Christmas Decor by the entry (from the Dollar Tree)

Dollar Tree sticker I found when we moved in and have kept this on our Door...
You'll always see this when you exit.. :)

He looks real innocent in this pic, but he is horrible.. lol
he loves to pull all the ornaments

Moe took this picture of me.. good photographer I say (for a 2 yr old)

The kids on Sunday afternoon

My princess with her mohawk looking hair cause she took her rubber band off her hair lol

My tree :)

The Holidays and Holiday Cheer :)

My Babies out with all the leaves :) Raking them up...

As sad as this sounds, I forgot I had a blog. :/ Ooops! LOL. I have just been so busy (and tired) since Thanksgiving, that now I'm finally forcing myself to sit and blog, because I still don't have free time with school finishing next week and all these assignments I have to turn in by then (curse you online courses with no deadlines and "just turn in everything by Dec. 8th" rules ugh! lol) So this is my 2 minute break to blog, then I'm going to take another 2 minutes to walk upstairs and grab me a drink then get back to business (school work).

Thanksgiving was such a busy, but fun day for our family.  I woke up in the morning and prepped most of the food, then we headed over to Fehi's family's potluck for the afternoon.  I had told myself I wouldn't eat too much knowing that we would still eat our meal at home, but I couldn't help it. They had yummy lusipi, manioke, feke (octopus), and desserts.  It was a small simple, yet heavy tongan meal. But it satisfied every Tongan craving I've been having for a long time. lol.

After the potluck we headed home and finished up our Thanksgiving cooking.  I had asked my husband to help me, but somehow he got out of it and ended up with the kids, but that was ok.  I had/made cooked turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, stuffing, beef stew, rice and cheesecake.  The best part of our meal (for me) was the cheesecake. Oh man, homemade is so much more better, that's all I gotta say.  It may take a long time (with baking and cooling) but it was so worth it. We invited Fehi's sister and her husband (Maopa and Amoni) over for dinner, it was their anniversary but they still came and ate then headed off to a movie.

I didn't take much pictures, let alone nice ones lol, I'm sure you understand.. Thanksgving, i'm the only cook, no time for pictures lol.  Here are the ones I took:

The turkey and stuffing :)

My beef stew

Homemade cheesecake, imagine strawberry topping on it :)

On Sunday night we went as a family to Temple Square to see the lights. Fehi's cousin was visiting and has never been to Utah, so we figure we'd show him one thing Utah is famous for.. the temple!

So the thanksgiving weekend was full of fun and food.  Now it's back to school and finishing it off.  :)

Happy Holidays! 

Giving Thanks: Day of Thanksgiving

So obviously I missed how many days since my last "giving thanks" post and now it's Thanksgiving day, but it's ok.. cause I am truly grateful! Grateful for everything that Heavenly Father has blessed me personally with.

Well my day started at about 7 am this morning.  I decided to get up early and make the cheesecake and get that out of the way because I knew the oven would be occupied with the turkey and what not. So I got up, got the christmas music playing, and off I went to starting our Thanksgiving meal.  The cheesecake took about an hour to bake, and now it has to sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Next I made a really simple breakfast of eggs, rice, and sausage. After doing that I started on the beef strew, browning all the meat then getting everything in the pot and now that's in the oven slowly cooking.  I'm really, Really, REALLY debating going to Walmart right now and getting that $40 slow cooker (crock pot).  The only thing stopping me right now is laziness.  I'm ALREADY tired! LOL, and I haven't even started on the Turkey or the stuffing, or the Mash Potatoes and Gravy! (It's gonna be a loooonnng day! lol)

You're probably wondering why I'm starting all my cooking so early and that's because Fehi's family wants to get together at 2 o'clock for a little potluck.  So I'm trying to time everything so that we have most of the food ready about an hour or 2 after we come back from the potluck.  Almost makes me wish there were 2 of me, 1 to go to the potluck, and the other to stay home and cook. But since that's not possible, it's gonna take some good planning so that we'll be able to go enjoy time with his family, yet have our own Thanksgiving dinner on our own.

Nevertheless, I'm very grateful to be able to celebrate today with family.  I know I'll be done of cooking and super tired at the end of the day, but it'll all be worth it! Love my family for eternity!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

1 Year Mark: R.I.P. DeeDee

I can't believe it's been a year today since my little cousin DeeDee passed away.  As I sit here blogging about it, I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.  I remember him when we were little and they use to live down the road from us.  I remember him as "little DeeDee" and that's what makes things so sad for me. I picture his 5/6 year old self, and it makes me sad.

A year ago I remember cleaning the kitchen when I got a phone call from my sister Mele.  I answered the phone, and all I could hear was her crying. She then said "Lani, DeeDee died." There was no need to ask "which DeeDee?" or question who she was talking about, because there's only one DeeDee.  Immediately, I yelled "What?? What do you mean?!?!" and I started to cry.  She cried and told me what happened, and I just went back downstairs into my room and cried to my husband. He hugged me and told me how sorry he was.

There was so much controversy and talk as to how or why he chose to go the way he did, but beneath it all I believe everyone just wishes they could understand.  However, his death has made a great impact not only his family but also his friends and the community.  His death came right after the Laie temple was dedicated, and before thanksgiving.  He'll always be remembered, and I know he was a loving spirit.  He has touched the lives of so many people, I don't think he knew what impact his death has actually made on the community.

Today marks a year, and though it's sad to know he's gone I'm comforted in knowing what lies ahead for him.  Because of him, I see one of my best friends, who's married to his older brother (my cousin), I see them prepare to enter the temple and do temple work for DeeDee.  I can't wait, and I'm excited for that day. I love you my dear little cousin Keoni Phellman "DeeDee" Tafuna, continue to watch over your family and friends as they find strength through you this day. :)

ZAGG!!!!

Okay, so how AWESOME would it be to win an IPAD2?!?!? Zagg is doing a contest giving away an Ipad2 every hour for 24 hours on Black Friday! Woo-hoo!!! Hope I'll be one of the lucky 24! :)


**Thanks Monica Fangupo. I just copied the directions from your blog! :)


Here's how the contest will work:
(Directions taken straight off the ZAGG website)

On Black Friday, November 25, 2011, starting at midnight (MST), we’ll be giving away an iPad 2 every hour. 24 iPad 2s over 24 hours. Each hour is a new opportunity to enter the giveaway. So yes, you need to go to the giveaway page each hour and enter.

Entering the giveaway will be simple. To enter, just submit your email address. For additional entries, you can share on Facebook and Twitter. A Facebook share is worth two additional entries and a Twitter share is worth one additional entry.

Bonus: To get an additional 24 entries, one additional entry per hour, you can blog about the iPad-an-hour giveaway. To qualify for this, you must write a blog post explaining the giveaway to your readers and include a clickable link to the giveaway page (Here is the giveaway page’s URL:http://www.zagg.com/community/contest.php). Once you have published your post, send a text message to 801-477-7178 with your blog URL, the email address that you will use to enter the giveaway (standard messaging rates apply), and your first and last name. Once your blog post is approved, we will text you back verifying that you will get a bonus entry each hour over the 24 hours. Please do not call this number as it will not be monitored and will only be used to receive text messages about the giveaway. You have until November 21st to submit your blog post.

"Joy through Affliction..."

So in Sunday School we had a lesson, and we looked at a scripture in James that talked about finding joy through afflictions.  Our teacher asked us what we do when we find ourselves in an obstacle, and he brought up an example of his kids.  He explained how he has 6 kids, and raising them brought some "afflictions" but it's how you respond to it, your attitude towards the affliction that counts, having patience also.  He explained how if his kids spilled milk on the couch, bed, floor, whatever, he would remember that it's ok just grab something, help them clean it up and it's like brand new... "joy through affliction."

So after this lesson, we've been trying to take a new look on things, especially when dealing with our children; trying to be more patient with them.  This morning as my husband dropped me off at work, he was talking about how tired he was (he hadn't slept at all Sunday, then he worked his grave shift and now he had to watch the kids till I get home around noon) so he was debating whether he would just park the car at home, leave the heater on and sleep in the car, since the kids were already asleep in their carseats.  I mentioned to him, to just go home and put them in the room with him, and lock it.  So on to work I go, I call him around 10:45a.m. to let him know to be on his way to pick me up, and he tells me he just woke up not too long ago and the kids made a mess.  I had to question him, and I said.. "you mean, you've been sleeping this whole time since I've been at work??" and he just laughed and said "Yeah babe.. and the kids made a mess.. but babe remember joy through affliction." LOL. I  couldn't help but laugh, so I just said "Ok, just be on your way, and I'll look at it when I get home."

When he pulls up to pick me up, I had to fix Kesaia's belt on her carseat, so I grab her and he tells me she's wet. I feel her clothes and it's damp, and she has black marks on her face and hands, as well as toilet paper pieces in her hair. LOL. I look across to baby moe, he's only in his diaper and has black marks on his body, as well as blue smeared marks. I just start to laugh and I tell Fehi, ok you could've put some warms clothes on him (it's cold hello) and he says well, I wanted you to see what is on him. OH and he had pieces of toilet paper in his hair as well. LOL.

So we're practicing "joy through affliction" and we're just really laughing about it all the way home.  As soon as we get home, I notice there's blue marks all over our dark brown couches, I guess they got into my drawer with my makeup and such (they played with the blue eyeshadow).  And then I see a tube of mascara open on the floor, which explains the black marks on them. Then the bathroom... oh the bathroom.. why does it have to be their favorite place to play in??  Correction: why does the TOILET have to be their favorite place to play in??  They had thrown the whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet (our last one too lol), as well as one of those big sponges, our brush, comb, and I think our toothbrush (which is now in the trash).  Then I notice baby moe's pajamas in the tub, he took it off after wetting it by playing with the toilet. LOL.

My kids crack me up, there's NEVER a dull moment with them. Though they may do some crazy things, we LOVE them and appreciate their fun loving little bodies.  :)

I think I need one of these hanging on the door of my house before people walk in LOL

Taking It One Day At A Time

You know when things seem to get so hectic, and it seems like the long list of "to-do's" just keep growing, I have to pause for a second and be thankful for all I have. This week we got news that we would be re-bidding our shifts at Delta.  It kind of sucks, ok, I lie, it really sucks.  I've gotten really comfortable in my schedule, working up at the C concourse in the morning, and I've gotten to know my team and I don't want it to change.  But for whatever reason, they decided to make all 98 of us re-bid so we could add in 12 more people.  Doesn't make much sense to me, but it's whatever.  Oh and btw, I'm number 106 of 110. LOL. Yeah my seniority sucks, but I'm just grateful to still have a job, a wonderful job that allows me to have the benefits that I have.  I'm hoping that I'll still be able to get my same shift, as long as I don't have to end up at ticket counter, especially with all these winter bags (skis, snowboards, etc.) I definitely don't want to be lifting all of that.  Also, we have our school schedule for next semester almost set.  We were trying to take all our classes on Tuesday-Thursday, because let's face it, with my seniority I highly doubt I'll get any other days off but Tuesday-Thursday.

And since I'm on the topic, it's a little hectic figuring out our school schedule.  I just realized that it's actually really hard to get into an evening class.  It seems like most of the evening classes go first before morning classes, and that's probably because the students are like us, we have jobs and other things to take care of in the morning.  So we were suppose to take our Biology class this semester, but now it seems we'll have to drop that and take a math class.  At SLCC, if you don't take a math class every year, until you are done with your math classes, you'll have to take a test and pass it to see which math class you'll go in (kind of like the placement test).  So we have to drop the biology class, and now we're taking math, psychology (yes again lol) and english.  Lately I've been thinking about how long it'll take us to get this nursing degree.  There's a few classes you have to take before you can even apply to the program.  And we've been taking prereqs this whole time, so that we can take those classes.  Now, only next semester will we start on 1 of those 5 classes.  It just seems like it'll take us forever, I even told my husband last night that I was rethinking doing nursing.  I just told him about how long I feel it's gonna take, and it only gets harder each semester as we juggle work schedules, class schedules, and especially figuring out who will watch our children.  We could take classes separately, but we don't want to, we want to do it together.  I did apply for childcare assistance, but we found out that they only give assistance for times when your work schedule overlaps.  Well that doesn't do me much good. LOL.  They are looking into it, and hopefully we'll get something for when we go to school. My husband did reassure me that we are making the right choice.  Thought it'll get tough, and we may have some extra planning to do, we are doing what's right, especially with the field we've decided to go into.

No matter the circumstances, I keep thinking about the Lord and my faith in him.  He's helped us out this far, and I need to continue to have faith that things will work out.  They always have.  It's all about taking it one day at a time, it seems that if I do that, things don't seem as stressful or hectic and we seem to work things out fairly well.  I know something will work out for us, the Lord knows how important it is for our kids to be safe and cared for properly, and also how important it is for us to finish our schooling.  With changes comes growth, and I know we will continue to be strengthened through all this. :)

Giving Thanks: Day 15 & 16

Day 15:  Day 15 (Tuesday) was a bad day for me, so I'm ESPECIALLY grateful AGAIN (yes 3x times this month!) for my Husband. Remember how I was talking about those headaches, and how they make me sick? Well, yesterday was really REALLY bad.  It felt as if there were like 4 spots in my head that were throbbing, and on top of that, it was making me really sick.  I tried to eat something (fries on our way to school) but that only made it worse.  We have an evening class on Tuesday and Thursdays, and I just laid there.  Our teacher knew I wasn't feeling well at all, so she let me put my head down.  As soon as we were done with school Fehi dropped me off at home so I could try to get some rest while he went and picked up some Tylenol for me and also pick up the kids.   It took him about an hour to do all of that, and when he finally got home I was so relieved and happy to finally take some tylenol.  30 minutes later, I was up and feeling SOOOOO much more better.  I actually was able to eat some toast with butter and jam and then stay up and play with the kids.  Once again, I appreciate my husband so much.  I'm blessed to have him as my eternal companion.  He has definitely helped life my burdens (big and small) and I appreciate it sooo much.

Day 16:  Today I'm grateful to live in Utah.  Believe or not, I am grateful to be starting and raising my family here.  As much as I wish we were in Hawaii with my family, I'm happy to be able to have the ability to raise our children on our own.  I know there are experiences that we would not be able to have if we were home with my family.  Then again, I know there are experiences that we won't be able to have while living in Utah.  Fehi and I know that there's no place like Kahuku.  He wishes that we could move there also, and every time we go home we want to just pack our things and move.  But as soon as come back to Utah, where we have our own house, our own car, jobs that we like, and much cheaper prices, we get a reality check that as far as our little family, Utah is where we need to be.  However, I hope to one day find ourself back home (you know, when the economy is better, and I know we will get stable jobs that will one day afford us a home in Hawaii). Either that, or hopefully my WHOLE family decides they want to move to Utah. For real, that's the real reason. I MISS my family! :)

GIVING THANKS: Day 12 - 14

Okay, so obviously I SUPERLY suck at updating this everyday. But hey, mother of two, full-time student, part-time employee... that excuses me right? LoL.

Day 12: I'm grateful, again, for my HUSBAND. Yes I'm cheating and writing his name down again, because seriously, he deserves the whole month.  It's the little things that make me so appreciative of him. Today at work I was starving, came home ate a sandwich, and I started to get a headache.  Well for me, headaches make me sick, especially after I eat, so then I wanted to vomit.  Instead of going down that road I thought I would take a nap, in hopes that it would make me feel better.  What I thought was 20 minutes, was actually a 2 hour nap.  My loving husband let his wife sleep for 2 hours, while he stayed up with the kids, even though he had worked his grave shift and had already been up with them while I was at work in the morning (isn't he awesome).  Well even after the nap I had, I still wasn't feeling better, and ended up throwing up, which helped my headache just a little, but I was still feeling sick.  I was going to go to walmart to get some things to help me, but he insisted he would go and so he went to walmart, grabbed some sprite and pineapple soda (yumm) and a bottle of tylenol for me.  He even cleaned while I was cooking, and then he ate dinner, and at 4:30pm he finally went to sleep.  I appreciate the little things he does for me, because those little things through out the day, add up to be a lot.  He's always helping around the house, he always helps with the kids, watching and feeding, but most importantly playing with them.  He rarely gets upset or angry about anything, which helps keep the spirit so strong in our home.  He always inspires me to do better, and he's always, always, ALWAYS, thinking of others before himself.  That's why I LOVE and appreciate him sooo much. :)

Day 13: I'm grateful for blessings that come about when you pay tithing! Let me tell you! Between Fehi's job and mines, we don't make a lot, but we make enough.  We aren't able to save as much as we like, between rent and bills, but we are able to make ends meet.  Last week friday Fehi got paid, I had figured that we could possibly have a little extra out of his check, but we still were budgeting pretty tightly.  Come to find out with all our bills we would have to use his WHOLE check (sucks!).  But we figured, it would be ok cause I knew I was getting paid today (Monday), however, I thought my check would be maybe only $200 or so, cause I only work 16 hours a week.  Well to my surprise I got pay way more than I thought, including a $100 bonus, which means we have extra cash for those just in case moments, and to carry us into thanksgiving as well as until next pay day.  I know with out a doubt it's because the Lord is helping us through our faith in paying tithing.  Seriously, I've seen what happens when you don't and do pay tithing, and let's just say I NEVER want to be on the side of not paying tithing.

Day 14:  Today I'm grateful for friends.  Not just any friends, but real true friends.  The kind of friends that you can still call up, even if it's been weeks or months, and you just pick off right where you left off.  The type of friends, that you can count on, no matter what.  I've made new friends, lost some old ones, but there's always been a group of girls that have always been there.  I'm grateful for my "wolfpack" girls.  They know who they are, and I'm grateful to know that after 25 years, most of us are still great friends! LOVE you girls!!!