ThE TeSiMaLE's

In sickness and in health...

2011-12-30T00:36:00.001-10:00

Today is our anniversary. It went something like this. Wake up, feed Noa breakfast, feed Kalani breakfast, change, find out Greg was up all night puking. Put sick Greg to bed, beg neighbor girl to babysit when she can, drive to Turtle Bay, clean three, (yes three)condos before 4 pm, go to yet another condo, attempt to fix a drain and replace a broken toaster. Drive home. Feed kalani lunch, feed noa, feed Greg. Thank the neighbor for helping with the kids, listen to cars 2 for the eight billionth time in a week. Laundry. Lots of laundry. Dishes, lots of those too. Get tickets to Pcc for my sister who is visiting. Get a thermometer from the store. Realize we stole cars 2 bandaids from the store on accident. Decide they won't miss them for a night, we'll take em back tomorrow. Almost get a shower finally but instead rub greg's back and open our anniversary present from his wonderful grandma. Put Noa to bed. Finally I take a shower. Greg goes to bed. Start to put kalani to sleep on the couch but we both decide we're hungry. Both of us had been eating oranges, popcorn, and leftover Christmas candy for dinner so I decided we should both eat something. Make eggs (kalani chose because he loves cracking the eggs), sausage, and crescent rolls. Eat. Finally! (it's only 9:30 normal dinner time for a two year old). Sister comes home so we hang out a while longer. Kalani goes into crazy sleep deprived hyper mode. House settles down so I decide to put crazy boy to sleep. Swing between sweet, loving cuddling and crazy "IF YOU DONT LAY DOWN YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!" Finally get crazy two year old to sleep just in time for Noa to wake up for his midnight feed. Frantically swaddle Noa and trying to keep him from waking up the sickie mc sickerson. Feed Noa. Start blog post. Put Noa down. Finish post. Go to bed. Even though today has been completely insane, and we had to cancel our reservation at the fancy pants restaurant we were gonna go to, I've had a great anniversary. Somehow Greg managed to get me flowers in all of his sickness. Aside from the flowers, and the usual anniversary gushiness, I've really enjoyed being able to take care of my husband when he's sick. It has helped me remember what marriage. is all about. I'm so glad I can be with him in sickness and in health, and if I have anything to say about it, there won't be any of this 'til death do you part' stuff. Nope. We're stuck together for eternity. Just how I like it. I love him.

Happy Christmas to all and to all a goodnight.

2011-12-16T00:28:00.003-10:00

Today has been a long, fun, exhausting day. Most days are. This morning began as usual. Feet slap on the floor to my side of the bed. Cartoons and cereal for Kalani. Try to squeeze in a little more sleep. Say goodbye to Greg as he heads to work. Wake up with Noa, change, feed, and snuggle. Kalani joins us and we play around on the bed before we decide to face the day. I slept in too late so I opt out of my run. Up we get and start a whirlwind of laundry, breakfast, and the large pile of dirty dishes that I should have done yesterday.
After straightening up, Kalani points to the fridge and says he wants to roll it while rubbing his hands together. He saw me making peppermint sugar cookies for his school Christmas party yesterday. Out comes the left over dough, frosting, and sprinkles. I roll mine into balls; Kalani rolls his into hot dogs. Pop them into the oven, Dad walks in for lunch, and Noa wakes up from his nap. I make chicken nuggets for Kalani's lunch while simultaneously trying to feed, entertain, and keep Noa from opening our Christmas presents.
Kalani and I eat some chicken nuggets and decorate the cookies, then its off to bed for him. Noa's not quite ready for nap number two so I let him crawl around a while longer. I start cleaning up and decide to give the toy train that my mom gave us for Christmas another try. You see this isn't just any toy train. This train goes on the Christmas tree. You read right, I didn't say under I said ON. I've tried to set it up a few times before, but gave up because it was really hard. Noa is crying now so I put him to sleep, come back and decide to attempt one last location for the train. One massive head ache, a few fits of frustration, a mutilated tree, and two hours later I am triumphant! That stupid train is going around the tree. I think about how I will do anything for my kids, and am not really sure if Kalani will be happy that the train is on the tree or sad because it's not on the floor where he can play with it.
Kalani wakes up from his nap and loves that the train is on the tree! Victory is mine! Outside the neighbors are working on a fort. Kalani's best friend,Tama, comes over and I decide with his mom that Tama should spend the night so that his parents can have a night alone for their anniversary. The evening consists of cleaning up after the tree explosion that happened while I was installing the train, re-wrapping Christmas presents that Noa unwrapped, solving lighting problems for the fort, mending a head wound, eating pizza, feeding Noa, putting Noa to sleep, and and popping popcorn for the movie the kids are watching in the fort. It's time for bed, but we end the fort off right by putting glow-in the dark stars on the roof and reading The Night Before Christmas. Two more train rides, a shower, teeth-brushing, gummy vitamins, one movie, two stories, water, back rubbing, calling in re-enforcements (Greg), route singing of the ABC's, and lots of pretending I'm asleep when I'm really counting up and down to 100, and all three boys are asleep. Now I am blogging, because as exhausted as I am, I want to make sure I remember days like today. I have loved today. Almost every moment. Except for the really long time I spent putting the train on the Christmas tree. Definitely didn't love that. But I love that it's up, that our house feels Christmassy and that we've made some special memories. I love being a mom.

Unrefined poetry.

2011-08-23T00:52:00.001-10:00

Written 11/9/10

Though surrounded by it all my life,

I never knew this kind of love existed

until I had you.

Everyday you make me smile,

want to go the extra mile.

Wrapping each moment,

folding it away,

putting it in my pocket

thinking it will stay.

But how fast you change,

how fast you grow!

I seem to forget.
But this much I hope you know;
I love you each day
with all my heart and soul.
Not now, but one day you'll know.
What it's like to feel like this,
and why I cherish each and every little kiss.

Noa at two months

2011-08-18T16:04:00.000-10:00

Well, Mr. Noa is growing up great. We love to play with him and trying to coax that adorable dimpled smile out of him. Kalani has decided that he is a big kid now. Everytime I tell him, "Kalani you're so cute." Kalani informs me, "I not so cute! I too older." So there you have it. I have the cuest baby in the world, and a two year old who is much too old to be cute.

Cheese please.

2011-07-26T23:40:00.000-10:00

Last night on Kalani's way to bed he grabbed a Kraft singles cheese slice out of the fridge. Greg told him no because he had already brushed his teeth. About two in the morning Kalani wakes up bawling, "I want cheese. I want cheese." I thought it was pretty funny he woke up asking for cheese. We tried for about ten minutes to calm him down and get him to go back to sleep, but this kid was CRYING. Finally I told Greg to go get him a slice of cheese. Kalani devoured the cheese like it was the best thing he'd ever eaten, licking his fingers numerous times. He finished the cheese, licked his fingers one last time, layed his head on the pillow and was out. I thought it was hilarous. Guess the kid knows what he wants.

2011-07-15T22:45:00.004-10:00

My favorite boys before the Cars movie.

Best friends already.

Noa is an awesome beach baby. He loves the sound of the ocean.

Well, life after baby has been great so far. Noa is the best baby anyone could ask for. He just turned a month old and already has spent quite a bit of time at the beach working on his tan. Don't worry, he's fully protected by layers of sunscreen and an umbrella. He spends most of his time eating and sleeping. When he's not doing those two things he likes to be swaddled and bounced on one of our knees.
Kalani is a great big brother. He's very gentle with Noa, always giving him kisses and making sure Noa is taken care of when he cries. When they ride next to each other in the car Kalani will tell Noa things like "You're so cute Noa." Today he told him "Noa wake up! Play around, we gonna get candy, soda, Nana, Mama, Ryry," ect.. He doesn't want Noa to miss out on the fun.
As for me, I've recovered really quickly. This birth and recovery has been much quicker and easier than I remember with Kalani. I've been playing basketball a little, and I can't wait until I can get back in the water.
I am the most spoiled mom because Greg is not only home for the summer, he's also basically superman. While I set one small goal a day to get something done like do the dishes, he runs around like a tornado, doing all the cleanings for my job, organizing and cleaning our house, and doing an amazing job taking care of the kids. He's also an expert on putting Noa to sleep. He's been giving me lessons lately and I'm improving, but he's a hard man to keep up with.
My mom came out to meet Noa, and we did a lot of fun activities. Definitely the most anticipated was going to watch Cars 2. We have been planning on seeing that movie since Silver and Papa gave Kalani the first Cars movie for his birthday along with a ticket to see the second one in the theatre. We talked about going everyday for months. Kalani would tell me who was going to come (Mama, Dada, Nana, Jojo, Noa, and Scott) then would tell me we are going to get candy, soda, and popcorn. That is just what we did and it was even more fun that we anticipated (and we anticipated A LOT). We did that on my birthday, and then the next day my mom and I went shopping. I was planning on taking Noa with us, but at the last minute Greg said he was fine with both boys staying with him. So I nervously left my two and half week old baby for about seven hours with Greg and a few bottles. Not only was Greg perfectly fine while I was gone, he took both boys to get a Happy meal and bowling. Oh and when I got home Kalani was asleep and the house was perfectly clean. See, I told you he is superman. My mom and I had the best time playing, I just wished she could have stayed longer. Kalani is still asking where Nana is and when she's coming back. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful mom.

Greg's family got in last night, and we've already been playing hard with them. We are excited for Noa's blessing coming up this week. We are so happy that our families are able to come out and meet our latest addition!

Introducing...Noa Austin Tesimale!

2011-06-24T01:50:00.000-10:00

Noa Austin Tesimale was born June 12, 2011 at 11:48 am. Labor and delivery went well, and we are all doing great. Greg is home for the summer so he is able to be around a lot. Noa is the calmest best baby ever. Even his cry is soft and sweet. We are all getting ample amounts of sleep, which was something I was really worried about. Kalani is loving being a big brother and is a great helper. Kalani fetches me things while I feed Noa, and when Noa cries Kalani rushes to his side, pats Noa softly and tells him "I'm right here buddy buddy." It is precious, and so fun to see their relationship. I feel extremely blessed that everything has gone so smooth. I'm so grateful for our new little boy and the calming presence he has on our family.

A few uncommonly known facts about Kalani

2011-05-23T15:59:00.001-10:00

1. He loves doing cannonballs into the pool. Instead of yelling cannonball however, he yells "FUDDERBALL!" at the top of his lungs, makes an awkward attempt to grab one leg, and jumps in. It's awesome.

2. He has been working on diving lately. He can dive down to 8 ft on either mine or Greg's back. We can also throw him down to the bottom of the pool and he pushes off and swims to the top.

3. He has three types of runs. They are pretty much all equally awesome. The most common one lately has been to bend both arms up to his chest like the old ladies who do intense speed walking. Another equally awesome one is holding his left arm up high while his right arm flaps behind him hitting his butt. My favorite is when he flops his arms back and forth in front of him, hitting his little pop belly with each step.

Kalani’s 2nd Birthday Extravaganza

2011-04-26T14:30:00.000-10:00

Disclaimer: this was written at two in the morning, after a very long day. It misuses the word “so” about a billion times, probably has way too many commas and quotation marks, and I’m sure about a million other grammatical errors. Unless you are my family, more specifically my mom, you will probably be bored out of your mind while you read this. It is three single-spaced pages about my two year old’s birthday. Bored yet? That’s what I thought. I will leave it up here in all of it’s journalistic rawness because I want to, and it makes me feel good that someone will read my writing – thanks Mom. So here it is and if you spend your precious time reading it and at the end say, wow, that was a waste of time, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Kalani’s 2nd birthday was wonderful. We had so much fun and I want to remember every second. Hence why I am about to recount every moment of the day.

The night before Kalani’s birthday Greg and I blew up a bunch of balloons put them all in the front room so Kalani would see them when he woke up. The only problem was that the balloons kept popping randomly throughout the night. I kept waking up thinking someone just got shot. It was worth it in the morning to see Kalani excited about the “boons.” I also set out all of Kalani’s presents, some wrapped and some unwrapped, so that Greg could see Kalani open them, and Kalani could play with them throughout the day. I liked the balloons and the early present opening. I’m thinking those should be made into tradition. We’ll see.

I love Kalani’s age because I got all of his presents at garage sales and he had no idea, or if he did know, he didn’t care. Either way, I liked that a lot. We gave him a nerf gun, a bunch of books, and some learning toys. He really likes this fridge phonics thing that I gave him, but I hate it. The minute it first sang “J, J, J says ‘juh’” I regretted the purchase, but oh well. Kalani likes it, and the repetition will help him learn his letters and sounds. He did recognize one letter out of all 26. I know you are probably thinking that it was K, the letter that his amazing Kindergarten-teaching mamma has been trying to teach him for six months, but no. K was not the letter he recognized. It was M, for McDonalds. He saw that letter and immediately said “Happy!” (for Happy Meal). Awesome. A true testament to my parenting skills. He also saw the P and said “shoot gun” because if you turn the P sideways, it does in fact look like a gun. I know, great mom huh?

Aside from my tangent about the annoying fridge phonics, Kalani also got some dinosaur puppets and a baseball tee. I’m super excited about the tee because he’s been playing a lot of baseball lately, and I’m not very good at pitching so this should help. Silver Bell, Papa, Aunt Amy, and Laura’s family sent Kalani a great package with a Sponge Bob kickboard, magic drawing pad, two movies, and movie tickets to see Cars 2. He excitedly opened every present and wanted to play with each one right then and there, but eventually he finished and Greg went to work.

I told Kalani he could have whatever he wanted for breakfast to which he immediately replied “cereal!” He loves cereal, but after I gave him more options like waffles, French toast, and yogurt he was dead set on yogurt. (He doesn’t say his r’s correctly so when he says yogurt it melts my heart. It’s so cute.) Kalani and I trotted off to Foodland, picked up some yogurt, and watched Cars as we ate it. I checked my e-mail and my “your baby at 23 months and 3 weeks…” e-mail changed from that to “Your pre-schooler at 2 years…” Let me tell you I did not like that change in title one bit. He’s so much fun now, I can’t imagine it will keep getting better, but everyday of his life I have thought that and everyday I have been proven wrong. You would think that I would learn and not mind that he’s getting older because he really is more fun every single day, but I just want him to stay my baby forever, and I certainly don’t want him turning into a Pre-schooler!

After Kalani finished his yogurt, he hopped down from his booster seat knowing exactly what he wanted to do. He grabbed his new Sponge Bob kickboard, put it under his arm and told me “Bye Mom, going surfing!” I laughed because that’s the one thing Greg wants to do on his birthday as well, grabbed my suit, ripped Kalani’s diaper off from under his shorts and we headed to the beach. When we go to the beach across the street in the afternoon it’s not very sunny, kind of cold, and the waves are breaking right on shore so it’s kind of hard for Kalani to swim in. I forget that most mornings it’s a completely different story. The sun shines brightly on the beach, and the tide is low so the waves are a lot more forgiving. This morning couldn’t have been anymore perfect. The tide was out super far and there was a perfect little protected cove for Kalani to catch all the waves his little heart desired. We swam, Kalani caught waves, and went for a ride in his little blow up boat. I’m pretty impressed at his surfing skills. It’s funny but he actually gets what you’re supposed to do when you surf. I guess all those hours on the beach while Greg is surfing haven’t gone in vein. Kalani paddles out, turns around to catch a wave, then tries to stand on the board once he’s a little closer to the sand. It’s so cute to see how much he looks up to Greg. After he tired of surfing, Kalani got on his little boat and pretended to tow his surf board behind him like he’s seen Greg do with the kayak. I’m so glad that Greg is such a good example for Kalani to look up to. Greg is calm and patient and has a lot of good qualities that I know Kalani will emulate. The morning couldn’t have been more perfect. Kalani was so cute surfing, and I wished that I had a camera with me, but I know that pulling out the camera ruins the moment half the time anyway, so I promised myself that I would write it all down so that I could remember this day, even if I don’t have any pictures.

After a while Kalani’s lip began quivering, and he was ready to go home. He snuggled up to me the whole way home, which he often does when he’s soaking wet. I don’t mind though because I love those snuggles more than anything so I’ll take what I can get, soaking wet and sandy or not. We went home, took a shower, got ready for the day and tried to pick up some of the birthday-present-explosion that was our house.

We then headed to Wal-mart and Costco with Uncle Scott to pick up pizza and some other things for the party. At Wal-mart Scott told Kalani he could pick out any toy that he wanted. Thirty minutes later, they showed up with a box of Matchbox cars. Scott said Kalani was very picky and took forever to finally decide on the cars (I wonder where he gets that from – GREG). After purchasing the cars, Kalani didn’t put down the package until we got home. He even held them when he was falling asleep.

When we got home it was almost time for the party to begin. We had a little pre-party with the neighbors throwing balloons around and popping them in the grass then we headed over to the playground. We quickly set everything up, almost all of Kalani’s friends that we invited came, and we played hard. It was rough to decide what Kalani liked best, playing with all his friends or the root beer that you wouldn’t be able to pry from his cold dead hands if you tried. At times it was a bit over-whelming for the little tike, like when he was opening his presents surrounded by a million kids screaming “open mine” or “let me help!” He even tried to run away once and open his presents on his own, but we got the situation calmed down, and he loved all of his presents. We were grateful to have such supportive friends who love Kalani come and celebrate with us. The party was a lot of fun.

After the party we were saying goodbye to our last guests, Kalani’s ten month old friend Tucker and his mom, when Kalani looked at Tucker and asked “come over?” Well, who could resist that, so Tucker came for a little while. I love watching Kalani play with Tucker because Kalani senses that Tucker is smaller and more fragile than Kalani is and he plays with Tucker really well. Even when Tucker was just a few months old, Kalani loved playing with him but has always known to be gentle. It is definitely a relief to see that with the baby coming soon.

While Tucker was over Greg decided it was time for Kalani to break the piñata. This wasn’t just any piñata though, it deserves a little introduction. We bought Kalani an Elmo piñata a few days before his birthday. In those few days, Elmo became Kalani’s best friend. When it was time to go to the store, Elmo came. Elmo always buckled up, and we instructed him to sit down while we were in the store. Once, after we had just explained to Elmo to sit down until we came back, we walked in the store to see none other than Elmo flying high on a balloon at the ceiling of Foodland! The nerve. Kalani automatically yelled, “Sit down Elmo!” and, well, that put an end to that. Elmo also ate most of our meals with us and even said prayers at dinner with Kalani’s help. He was always ready for a high five and a good game of “raise your hand if you like…” (He was in a permanently fixed position.) As the days passed, I began to worry that it would traumatize Kalani if we beat Elmo to a pulp on his birthday. Well, when the time came, Kalani was perfectly fine beating Elmo with a bat to get the candy out of him. I, however, was not. Apparently Kalani wasn’t the one who was attached to Elmo, I was. After what seemed like hours of ruthless beating, Elmo wasn’t breaking so we chalked it up to fate and let him live with just a broken leg to show for his time up in the rafters. The entire situation definitely changed my perspective of the whole piñata tradition. Scott put it well when he said “we teach our kids that if you’re violent you get candy!” The fiasco did lead Greg to a wonderful business idea of “in-law piñatas.” The idea being that you can special order a pinata to look like anyone you want. Pretty genius if you ask me. Maybe we’ll make millions.

After beating Elmo we had a little partying left in us, and we headed over to the beach for a small bonfire. Greg, Scott, and Kalani built a cozy fire where we relaxed until the coals burned out. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day. We came home, ate a little pizza, and read one of Kalani’s new choo-choo books. I sang him a couple of songs, the most requested of the night being “happy sunshine” also known as You Are My Sunshine and he was out like a light. And that, my friends, is the end of the Kalani-turning-two saga. Good night.

If You Give Kalani a Horse

2011-04-20T00:18:00.003-10:00

This is my version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. True story.

If you give Kalani a horse, he will probably want some apple juice for it to drink.

Drinking the apple juice will remind him that the horse needs to go poo poo potty.

After the horse does its business it will need to wash his hands. Kalani knows he needs a chair to reach the sink so he will drag one in and shut the door.

When you go check on him he will ask you to help him brush his teeth.

As he’s brushing his teeth, he’ll see his reflection in the mirror and decide his hairdo could use a little upkeep so he will wet his hair down and give it a little flair.

With his hair looking so spiffy, it is only natural that he will need a new shirt on.

After Dad helps him put on a shirt, Kalani will go straight to the closet to pull out his shoes.

Wearing shoes can only mean one of two things – he is either going to work or church.

He will decide on work so he will ask for keys and a name badge.

Keys in hand, he will then head out the door to Dad’s work car.

When he finds out the keys don’t work for that car, he will change his mind about work and proceed with choice number two – church.

He will begin running down the street towards the church, only stopping to turn around and inform his dad that he is going to work, and that Dad should go home.

At the church he will need a little help opening the door so Kalani will change his mind about having Dad there and ask him to open the door.

Once inside the church he will play around for a while, only to reluctantly leave a few minutes later.

Back home, he will back inform you that he needs to go back to work. Chances are if he goes back to work, he’s going to want his horse to come with him.

Paradise

2011-04-15T16:23:00.001-10:00

Sometimes when you live in paradise, you take it for granted. Today was not one of those days.

We surfed,

wiped out,

did some whale watching,

rock climbing,

cliff jumping,

swimming,

acted really cute,

and relaxed a pregnant belly on the beach. Heaven.

Time, stop already!

2011-04-13T01:00:00.000-10:00

If time could freeze I have a feeling it would take me right back to today. Back to the beach where Kalani and I jumped in the waves and practiced surfing in the sand. It would take me to breakfast where Kalani kept insisting that everything is “so yummy.” To the frozen yogurt stand where he sat patiently waiting in the kiddie chair for me to join him. Yes, I’m quite certain it doesn’t get better than today. Kalani running around playing his new drum, showing off his soccer skills, or thanking Greg for the dinner he made. Doing the mmm dance because his food is just “so yummy” it can only be expressed through dance.

I don’t see how life could possibly get better than this. Every time he says “Bye, I’m going surfing!” with a different contraption by his side, it makes me so happy. It also makes me cringe. One day I know that will be true. He will go out on his own, not spend every waking moment with me. I love today. I am so blessed that I am able to spend all the time I do with my son. I can’t wait for his brother to come so we can have new adventures together. I just hope that tomorrow when Kalani comes to me with a book to read or a soccer ball to kick, I’m not too busy to notice. I hope I remember that I will long for these days and put everything else aside to spend this time the best way possible. Because today is the best day of my life if I let it be.

True Friends

2011-04-03T20:37:00.002-10:00

Kalani and Tama

I'm so grateful to be Kalani's mom. I know that is pretty much the theme of this blog, but it's true. I love that I am able to spend so much time with him, learning all that he has to teach me. A few days ago, we had Kalani's best friend Tama come to our house. We went for a bike ride to the temple where the boys played their little hearts out. They were jumping off of a curb, when Kalani fell on his bottom. He was sitting on the ground deciding how hurt he was when Tama plopped down beside him and said "owie!" They both laughed and continued jumping on their bums yelling owie. It was so cute and a great reminder that a good friend can turn a bad situation into a great one.

I had to add this too. They danced to a Santa doll singing Shout for about 30 minutes one day. My camera was almost out of memory but luckily I captured this gem. Good friends definitely dance together.

2011-03-29T13:16:00.000-10:00

Well we've been playing hard these last few weeks. Greg was off for a week for spring break and we had a lot of fun. Topping the list was the purchase of a kayak. We've been wanting one since we moved out here and so we found one that we liked and split it with Scott. It's been so much fun. Kalani loves going for rides on the "boat."
He's getting so big. You can see that he has a bad case of Bill Murray hair as Scott likes to say. It's totally true. He has these funny little curls next to his ears but it's so cute. The tips are the prettiest color of blond and I just can't get myself to cut it. His favorite thing to do is anything that involves sports. He is pretty much playing some sport from sun up to sun down. He doesn't discriminate, soccer, basketball, football, swimming, skateboarding, you name it he loves to do it. He's talking a lot now and it's so fun that we can actually have a full conversation with him. He can say a lot of words and forms sentences pretty well. One of our favorite things he says is turtle bay. He says it with such perfect pronunciation. Another is "no, no, no night, night! Revolution!" Scott taught him how to say that and it's hilarious.
I'm doing great as is the little man growing inside me. He's been moving around a lot lately and it's fun to watch my belly. Kalani loves to give the baby raspberries all the time. We are doing great and are excited for the warm(er) summer months ahead.

I DARE you...

2011-02-16T01:18:00.004-10:00

Disclaimer: this post is really long and and barely edited. If you would like the shortened version just skip to the last paragraph and you will be sufficed. Also I might regret posting this later. I am usually much too shy to post any of my writing on the internet, but it's late and I'm trying to stop being apathetic so here goes.

When I was in about fourth grade, I remember being part of the DARE program. It was a program that taught kids to “just say no to drugs and alcohol.” I bet half of the school was in that program. We were taught and had strong convictions that we would “just say no.” I’m sure most of the kids in the program had parents that drank alcohol, and yet they pledged they wouldn’t. I’m sure plenty of the children’s parents did drugs or smoked and yet we all pledged that we would not succumb to those vices. We made posters and had meetings, wore ribbons and buttons, reminders of our pledge and our belief that we should not ingest those inhibitors into our bodies. We were fighting against something that we believed was wrong. I don’t remember setting a time limit as to when those vices were okay to begin and yet the majority of the kids who pledged to “just say no” said yes. Some sooner than others, and I’m sure a select few even waited until the legal age to say yes to these vices, but unless there was some clause that I missed out on, I thought we were just supposed to just say no.

I’ve wondered as I’ve grown older and watched most of my DARE pals say yes, why? Why did we fight against those things just to eventually give in? We weren’t sitting on the fence. We had made up our minds to not use drugs and alcohol and I think, at least at the time, that many of us felt some type of passion for the cause, and if not passion, we didn’t question whether or not it was right. We just knew it was right to say “no.”

I use this as an example not about drugs and alcohol, but about passion. When did our passion die? We felt so strongly as children, volunteered, dreamt big, made up our minds about what was right and wrong and fought for it. We didn’t just think it in our heads, we joined DARE. We made posters. We wore ribbons and fought for what we thought was good. When does that stop? Why? Is the first time we are told to just say yes?

You can argue that as you become older, you understand things more. With more understanding comes less clarity: choices are no longer black and white. Being told to “just say no” doesn’t work as well as it used to. Or at least it shouldn’t, because if it does then you can just as easily be told to just say yes and do that. It’s natural and good to question, this is how we develop our own beliefs. These beliefs should be stronger than the ones that you were taught as a child. They are yours. You own them. You feel them.

However, I think it is not the new ambiguity of choices that douses our passion, instead our fire gets put out by something much more flame retardant: social acceptance. Think back to middle school and you won’t question what I’m saying. Instead of asking what the right choice in a situation is, we ask what the popular choice is. This way of thinking not only takes away our passions, but prevents them from ever returning because we are no longer asking ourselves what we feel, we are asking what everyone else feels, leaving no room for further flaming of our own personal fire.

I was brought up by two amazing parents who understood this principal, parents who have always stood out a little from the social norm. They showed me to not just make decisions but to stick by them and take action. I’ve seen my dad go on campaign trails and organize marches. And if you’ve ever met my mom, you have no doubt that she does and says exactly what she believes regardless of the circumstance. You can accuse them of being a lot of things, but one thing my parents are not is apathetic.

I’m so grateful for their example, but I know that as I’ve grown older, in many situations I’ve become much more concerned with saying or not saying what is socially acceptable, rather than with doing what I truly feel. I’ve taken the cop out that I just don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or I’m trying to be unselfish. I’ve realized lately however, that when I focus on my own thoughts and needs, though I might lose a little bit of the quantity of time I have to give to others, the quality is much greater. This for me means that instead of sitting on the couch watching TV with my son, I play. I act. I do. I’m focused, which is much more important than me being around for another episode of Mickey Mouse Club.

Greg and I watched Waiting for Superman tonight which is a documentary about the public education system. The subject is one that I feel very strongly about and want to help fix. In the beginning, that’s what this rant was going to be about: public education. But when my fingers hit the keyboard, these are the words that formed.

If you are sick of reading this, just go read Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go. He says exactly what I’m trying to except much better, “On and on you will hike, And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.” As long as we keep moving we will succeed “(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.) KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!”

Hawaiian boy

2010-12-13T14:15:00.003-10:00

There is no doubt of two things: 1. Kalani is definitely Greg's child 2. (maybe because of #1) Kalani loves living in Hawaii. Last time we went swimming, we took Kalani's floaties off and had him swim between me, Greg, and Scott. Today, Kalani decided he wanted to swim with his floaties off again and this was the result:

He got a little camera shy, but you get the gist. It was so crazy! He probably did this non-stop at least twenty times. He gets really focused and is such a hard worker when he puts his mind to something (sounds like some one I know).
Besides swimming he's picked up a few other local habits:
- he has the toughest feet and runs around barefoot
- he likes to eat Ahi poke with rice, which is cubed raw fish with onions, soy sauce, and rice. Seriously what child likes raw fish?
- he loves the beach and charges big waves
- he takes cold showers at the beach to wash off the sand and actually enjoys them
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention one thing. About a minute after making this video, I was putting the camera away when Kalani decided to jump into the deep end -no floaties. Thankfully, I saw him jump and quickly swam in and grabbed him. When we got up to the surface what did I see but a big fat grin from the little monster. Greg's kid for sure, but I guess he's probably got a little of me in him too.

Mr. Manners

2010-12-12T17:57:00.002-10:00

Scott took this beauty

Kalani is doing quite a bit of talking these days, and it's so much fun! Lately he's been saying Ho!Ho!Ho! when he sees Santa. (He is still, however, deathly afraid to get within 3 feet of the jolly old man.) When we pull up to the beach he exclaims, "beach!" He knows the word "football," and is constantly begging me to turn the tv to "bootball." Then while the play is going down he yells "Go! Go! Go!" He also says apple, apple pie, book (with perfect pronunciation), bye, hi, come, "see that?" and lots of other things I can't think of right now.
The other night I found that his vocabulary had expanded one more word. It was raining really hard that night and Kalani woke up and began to cry. When I went to check on him I found that the rain had blown in through the window and drenched him and his bed. I felt so bad and was frantically trying to dry the exhausted boy off when he whispered "wet."
Probably my favorite words he says are manners words. He says please, thank you, and excuse me (me-me). It is so funny. He's learned to do it without being asked, and with the exception of please actually started saying them without being taught. I LOVE when he asks me "more please" or "please more" or when I receive and unexpected "tank you". I also can't help but get out of his way when he asks me oh-so-politely to "me-me." He is so much fun.
I must add though, it's not all about good manners with this boy. He also has learned "no" and "stop (or should I say stooooooooop)." He's very good at saying those without being asked as well. Those words on the other hand, don't brighten my day quite as much. Haha. I'm so happy I get to be his mom. I think everyday how much happier my life is because I have Kalani. He makes everything seem magical and alive. I can't wait for him to see all of our family this Christmas! It's coming so soon!

Sharks Cove

2010-10-23T22:35:00.000-10:00

This is a video of a crazy cave at Sharks Cove. It super scary the first time. You can't see where you are going. You dive down about 6 feet and approach a small dark hole in the reef. You then have to pull your way through the narrow hole with your hands while flipping your body around since the hole turns as you go. The hole is pitch black and takes several seconds until you start to see a glimpse of light. The small hole opens to a large cave and then the light gets brighter and brighter as you swim out. It is dive of faith the first time! Video does not quite do justice to fear factor of this cave.

Pipeline

2010-10-23T22:15:00.000-10:00

Kalani's first prayer

2010-10-22T20:47:00.001-10:00

With his arms crossed he says it all. It's so cute!
Heavenly father.
Thank you
Love.
Mama Dada Jo Jo Scott ( then he asks where Jo Jo? Where scott?)
Nana Papa
Ball
Gacoomb
Jesus amen.

A real live gacoomb

2010-10-16T12:48:00.002-10:00

We had a wonderful time with Silver and Papa last week. Greg had the week off for fall break, and we took full advantage of it. We went to the beach, the zoo, ward camp, horseback riding, and all kinds of fun things. One of the main high lights of the week was going for a ride in a gacoomb (better known the rest of the world as a helicopter). Kalani loves "gacoombs" (no idea where he got that). Everytime we hear anything that sounds even remotely like a helicopter we have to find it. Kalani being the spoiled boy that he is, his Papa decided to take us all for a helicopter ride. It was so beautiful and a great way to see the island. Kalani loved it and so did we. We can't thank Silver and Papa enough for the effort they made to come play with us. We had a great week.

We went on a beautiful horseback ride at my former place of empolyment

The gacoomb ride

Mine and Kalani's favorite little cove

Kalani and Papa doing what they do best

2010-09-20T22:45:00.000-10:00

Kalani and I were at Turtle Bay watching Greg surf. Two people walked by with piña coladas.
Kalani: "ma ma" while pointing (which means more)
Me: "no kalani those drinks are yucky"
Kalani: "YUCKY!"
He then proceeds to lick the grass over and over while yelling yucky. Where did we get him?

Date Night

2010-08-16T21:01:00.001-10:00

I'm on the best date right now.
Kalani's sucking down a slurpie half the size of his body.
We also had pizza, Oreos, and milk.
They ended up ALL over the floor, as well as a shattered coffee mug.
We went to the playground and played and now we're snuggling down watching a dog movie and barking at the dogs.
It's been the best day.
Cleaning all day and now a little you-and-me-kid with my favorite boy.
I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Jumper

2010-08-10T18:25:00.001-10:00

Kalani's grandma, Silver Bell, taught Kalani how to jump when he was just a few months old. He loves it, and loves jumping from different places. We always count to three, and Kalani does too in his own baby talk way. He even can count on his fingers. The other day he counted down and to my surprise jumped onto the couch by himself. Thought I'd share.

2010-07-19T13:04:00.000-10:00

Greg just got back from his interview and.... HE GOT THE JOB!

In other news... isn't Kalani cute?

Aloha!

2010-07-18T22:32:00.001-10:00

Here's a short video of Kalani body sufing pounders. He was having so much fun. At first he was a little unsure about the ocean, but it seems like every time we go he loves it more and more. He's such a little fish. We are doing great out here in Hawaii. We are having tons of fun and getting everything done that we need to. Within a few days of getting here we found a great deal on an awesome Toyota Sienna (minivan). We love it. We're totally spoiled with leather seats and automatic doors. We love that we can fit boards in the back so easily too. The day after we bought our car we found a cute one bedroom apartment that we are going to rent at least until December. We will move in there at the end of the month.
The last thing, and most important though was Greg's job. We have been working at the job since February. Finally, Greg got called for an interview at the closest high school (Kahuku). They have a 7th and 8th grade math position open which is exactly what Greg taught last year and would love to teach again. His interview is tomorrow. I know he'll do great. He's an amazing teacher. So hopefully the job will work out and we can play at the beach until school starts!
Kalani and I have already started our job cleaning condos. We're excited about that too. So everything is working out well for us in this beautiful land. We are loving surfing, body surfing, and beach bumming. Greg's uncle, Scott, is out here right now working on restarting their vacation rental management company. Kalani has been having lots of fun playing with Scott and the new friends he has met out here.
Kalani has had a few little accidents since we've been here though. The first one he fell off the couch and got a bloody lip and nose. The next day, we were playing at the TVA playground and he got knocked down by a kid on the swings and hit his head hard. I held him until he stopped crying and was about to let him play again and then I realized he had blood on the back of his head. I about had a coronary until my good friend Erin called and saved the day. We went over to her house and cleaned off the blood and I saw that it was just a small little cut. He must have hit a piece of gravel. It was really scary for me though. Just the first of many I guess. Besides Kalani's little accidents, we are all doing wonderful. We miss our family, but we can't wait for everyone to come visit. We have a futon so come see us!

GoPro

2010-06-16T17:53:00.003-10:00

So I've been researching these underwater cameras for a little while. So far the Go Pro looks the best. I also like the Cannon D10. Anyone know anything about underwater cameras? I've been doing lots of research, but it's hard to know for sure.

The Day of Kalani

2010-05-12T17:01:00.007-10:00

I've been trying to post this forever now, but I really wanted to remember Kalani's actual birthday because is was so fun. Greg planned out the whole day and even took half a day off work so the day was completely fun-filled. He made a list on his I-phone of all of Kalani's favorite things. This is how it went:

Bike jumps
Swing

Throw in the air

Fudgecicle with Papa (Kalani LOVES his Papa)

Drive

Playground

Swim

Birthday candle (I love how big his eyes are)

Birthday dessert.

Choc chip cookie, brownie, ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate chunks.

Concocted by Greg of course.

Presents! He got a swimsuit from my mom and dad. Greg says he looks like a uni bomber. Makes me laugh every time Kalani has it on.

*** Not pictured:

Unrolling the toilet paper roll

Flushing the toilet

Taking off Papa's glasses

Being surrounded in balls and remotes

And my mom and Uncle Jacob's delicious dinner
Kalani's birthday was perfect. Greg is such a wonderful dad to have planned it all out for him. It was good that his birthday was so great because the week following was filled with shots, teething, weening, no sleep, and sniffles. Now he's really getting the hang of walking and he loves shaking his head no. Kalani has made our lives so much happier. We are infinitely grateful that we are his parents.

Kalani's Party

2010-05-05T07:31:00.000-10:00

He made a HUGE mess. Ha, he's such a Tesimale.
He decided to pose for a party picture.
The decor. Poor Laura, she had the whole house spotless and we tore it up two seconds after the kids got there.
Aside from the reason we had the party, my proudest moment. The reveal of my masterpiece.

Kalani's birthday party was so much fun! His cousins Benson, Brynn, Bella, Micah, and his friend Ava all came to party. The kids had a lot of fun popping bubbles, bubble wrap, and balloons. They kept sneaking off to Benson's room so they could be alone and play in peace without all of the noisy adults. It was so funny to watch them. They would fight and one of the boys would cry, but then the other two boys would bring the crier a toy and they would all start playing again. They partied hard. I made Kalani an alligator cake and he tore it apart in no time flat. We had a lot of fun.

Change of Venue (maybe)

2010-04-16T07:51:00.000-10:00

Just so you know, if it rains tomorrow, we will move the party to Laura's house. Let me know if you need directions:)

Kalani's Birthday Party

2010-04-12T10:30:00.000-10:00

This free invite made with Smilebox

Best day of my life.

2010-04-04T15:41:00.011-10:00

Today really felt like one of the best days of my life. I loved it. There were so many moments in it that were wonderful. We've had a great weekend; spending a lot of time together has been really nice. Out of all the moments on this day so near to perfection, there was one that reminded me why, exactly why, without a doubt why I married Greg and no. one. else.

You may think that this moment would have been waking up to find what the Easter Bunny left Kalani. Greg was so cute. He made Kalani an Easter basket, and we got Kalani a giant ball and Greg hid them for Kalani to find in the morning from the Easter Bunny. Though this was sweet, this wasn't THE moment.

If you know me really well, you know that I'm very affectionate. So maybe you would guess that the moment I was reminded of my everlasting devotion for this one man would have been when we snuggled on the couch and watched conference. Though it was total bliss, not exactly what I'm talking about.

The three hour Monopoly game we played where I came back from desperate poverty to win big (I mean BIG, I had every single $500 and $100 dollar bill) was really nice and I sure do love to win, but this wasn't it either.

The delicious Easter dinner that Greg fixed our little family for dinner? Mouth-watering, amazingly good but nope.

Almost everyone that knows me knows I love kids. So when we took Kalani to play at the playground and Greg had every kid there following him around doing obstacle courses, it was pretty cute. Even better was when he convinced the kids to dig until they could squeeze themselves under the roller that was like two inches from the ground. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe (hence the weird laughing in the background of the video), but that wasn't it either.

The moment when I was reminded of why I adore my husband so much, and why there couldn't be a more perfect man in the world was when he did it himself:

I accidentally chopped it up into two videos. The first one is only like a second long, but I couldn't leave it out. Watch both of them. Trust me, it's worth it.

Oh Greg, I'm SO GLAD I chose you.

Wild and crazy nights

2010-03-22T06:49:00.004-10:00

Last night I was out on a nice jog when I saw some teenagers drinking. Just before they were about to attack me, a police officer pulled up and I yelled out "UNDERAGE DRINKING!" He saved the day. Later on, I was strolling along in numerous public places when all the sudden someone would shatter the security camera and a psychopathic parent of one of the delinquents would come swinging from the rafters and drop kick me in the face. Thankfully I was saved from that by the sound of a screaming baby, BUT WAIT! After nurturing my child back to sleep, I returned to an even more intense situation. Rick David and his task force (who were strangely wearing the same uniforms that the ushers at the BYU-Hawaii basketball games wore) were heading an attack on some drug-trafficking terrorists I almost ran over in the street just moments before. They caught the terrorists and had them locked up in their armored vehicle, but all of the sudden the terrorist broke out and began unloading on us in a warehouse. I crouched to the side hoping I wouldn't be crushed by the giant pipes next to me, when yet again I was saved by the sounds of my child. And that's what happens when you play Call of Duty before you go to bed. Funny that when I woke up this morning I didn't want to move. Wonder why?

2010-03-21T16:07:00.006-10:00

I have the best parents ever. I'm so glad we can live close to them for now. They are such good grandparents. I love to see them with Kalani.

Our family tree. Greg's idea. I think it's genius.

We had so much fun last weekend with all of my family here. It came and went WAY too fast for me, but it was so much fun. We took family pictures since we were almost all together. We missed Katie and Leanne because Katie got sick the day they were leaving. We were lucky though because they came and surprised us at Jacob's party. We had the most wonderful lady take our pictures. Her blog is thestorytellerfox.blogspot.com. If you are ever in the area, I would totally recomend her. She was really laid back, and fun which is hard when you are dealing with gazillions of Bells. We had a lot of fun doing it.

Jacob's Coming Home!!

2010-03-03T05:02:00.002-10:00

My brother is coming home from his mission and I'm so excited! We're all getting together, and I can't wait. That is my favorite thing by far about living in Kermit. We get to see family more often than if we lived anywhere else. The week after he gets home is spring break so we should all get to spend quite a bit of time together! How fun!

PS I tried couponing and let's just say I'm not so obsessed anymore... It's harder than I thought.

New obession

2010-02-22T12:30:00.003-10:00

Laura showed me the blog hip2save.com. It shows you all these good deals and coupons and freebies. It's so fun. Getting a good deal gives me some kind of high. Check it out. I do. Like every five seconds.
Go to http://www.hotprints.com/ to make a free photobook! Mine's in the mail. I'm so excited! That was a little tip I got from the above mentioned website.

It's almost time...

2010-02-19T07:29:00.006-10:00

In high school you look forward to prom. In college you look forward to getting married and having a wedding. And then.... you look forward to your baby's first birthday! Haha I've been thinking about Kalani's first birthday an average of oh about every six hours for a month now. I can't wait for him to have a birthday party. I love holidays and birthdays because they give you a reason to stop and celebrate. I really want to make my kid's birthdays fun for them. I've thought of having a bubble-themed party at the park, or maybe something with cars since Kalani loves to pretend he's driving. We'll see... All I know is I CAN'T WAIT!

Seeing as he just turned ten monthes a few days ago, I think two months is plenty of time to plan. It's crazy how much he's changed in such a short time. He has such a fun sense of humor. He loves playing chase and laughs really hard when I go after him. He is so close to walking. He'll stand for a long time, but he just doesn't want to take a step yet. Soon enough though. He's getting really good at playing by himself and understands when we tell him not to do something. He's a really good boy. Being his mom gets better everyday.

Great Inventions #1

2010-02-16T11:24:00.004-10:00

My sister in law, Leanne got this amazing ice cream maker for my parents for Christmas. Because they let me use everything they own, it's kind of like I got one too. It is amazing! I've made chocolate, vanilla, and today I made strawberry-mango frozen yogurt. It is so much fun and way easy. It has this bowl that you freeze for six hours (I just put it in the freezer all the time). You just add your ingredients and 20-30 min later, you have amazing ice cream. No ice or rock salt required! Greg and I love the chocolate ice cream. I'm going to try and make lava flows in it soon. Tonight I'm taking the frozen yogurt and chocolate ice cream to book club. Better run, but if any one know of any good ice cream recipes, let me know.

La Dia de Amor...

2010-02-15T10:01:00.005-10:00

I love Valentine's Day. I even loved it when I was single. I think every holiday has it's pros and cons, but why focus on the bad when there is so much fun to be had? Just run with the good. When I was single on Valentine's Day, I made Valentines for my friends and roommates. It is so fun to have a day that reminds you to tell the people that you love, or like, that you like, or love them. That being said, I had a wonderful Valentine Weekend.
Starting Feb 1st I made an effort to do something nice for Greg everyday until Valentine's Day. (Glad that's finally over..jk) One day I made him a dozen chocolate covered roses and put green "stems" on them and arranged them in a vase. That was probably my favorite gift. The other days were simpler though, a foot massage, or a small treat. One day was so bad, all I gave him was a heart sticker. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. On Valentine's Day I wrote him a funny poem about our first Valentine's Day together and gave him a picture frame with pictures of our family. I also wrote Kalani a little poem and gave him a toy camera. I loved having two Valentines this year.
Saturday was our true celebration. Greg planned a fun date that Kalani could come on too. (Thoughtful since we didn't want to ask anyone to babysit that weekend.) We went to Red Lobster and on Greg's insistence, we ordered big: the king crab, lobster tail, and New York Steak. It was amazing. I got my favorite desert, Key Lime Pie. And we headed to the drive in to watch the movie Valentine's Day. We stopped on the way to get treats and had only one rule: we can get as much candy as fits in the car. For a person with a sweet tooth as bad as mine, that sounds like heaven! Greg usually helps me to limit the my consumption of sweets which I am grateful for. I'm convinced if I didn't marry him I'd be at least twenty pounds heavier. At the end of the night, he gave me a long stemmed rose with the stem was chopped in half. (A Greg tradition. He thinks the long stems on roses are inefficient or something like that) It was a lot of fun. I am a lucky girl, being spoiled by two handsome Valentines.

Here's a link to a blog that gives you ideas of fun ways to show your spouse that you love him. Erin talked about it on her blog and I thought it was way too good not to share.

Pop quiz

2010-02-09T11:39:00.003-10:00

Put the places that Kalani bathese at in order from most often to least:

a. His little tub that fits in our sink
b. Silver Bell's (his grandma) bathtub
c. The Fitness Center's shower after swimming
d. The shower in our house

Answers c, b, d, a

That's right Kalani barely ever showers at our house. We swim 3-4 times a week at the Wink pool and right after we swim I take him in for a little shower. It really works better than anything else. He used to bathe in our sink a lot, but somehow that naturally just got cut out. Just thought you (if there are in fact any you's who still come to this blog) would appreciate the little known fact.

Long time gone...

2010-01-06T16:49:00.005-10:00

Kalani had a wonderful holiday season that involved lots of snow and lots of family. What could be better for a boy's first Christmas!

Kalani at Six Months

2009-11-10T16:07:00.006-10:00

Kalani is a Steelers Fan

Monkey Kalani Loves Crawling

Bitsy at a Masquerade Ball

I loved Coaching sooo much! We had an awesome season. This was one of my favorite things I have ever done. We won our last game and ended up 6-2-1.

This just in

2009-10-29T15:37:00.004-10:00

Greg's team won their football game tonight! I'm so proud of him. They have done so well this year. Their record is 5-2-1. The win tonight was against one of the hardest team's in the district. Last year this group of boy's record was 3-7 so they've really made a lot of improvement. He's way busy with his coaching, but it's a lot of fun for him so I'm glad he's doing it. I love watching his games, and especially seeing him with the kids. He really has a gift.

Ft. Worth

2009-10-29T10:54:00.007-10:00

A few weeks ago my mom, Kalani, and I took Amy to Ft. Worth. We stayed for a few days and had such a fun time. We were able to eat lunch at Jack and Katie's school, which was really fun. Especially after being a teacher, I love to go to elementary schools to see what they are doing. This was by far the neatest school I've been to. I'm so impressed with the way it seems the school is run. I give kudos to Leanne for enrolling Jack and Katie there. They defintely seem to do things right. The last thing we did was meet up with Katie on her field trip to the zoo. It was so much fun. I don't know who had more fun at the zoo, Kalani or me. We both loved it. That is the neatest zoo ever. Leanne's cooking definitely needs to be mentioned as well! She can cook. I got the recipe for basically everything that she made. So yummy!

My boys first halloween

2009-10-29T09:45:00.005-10:00

Kalani got his first Hallween card from his "Ghoulma and Ghoulpa Reber" so fun
We went to the branch's Trunk or Treat last night. Kalani was a dancing monkey and I was an organ grinder ( I learned that what the guy is called who owns the monkey and says dance monkey dance) It was really fun and Kalani looked so cute.

On a scale from one to ten

2009-10-26T10:53:00.006-10:00

Argggh!Loves his toes

On a scale from one to ten, being a mom is definitely a 10 10 10 (a thirty then?) I don't know but I really love it. I was thinking today how lucky I am that I get to stay home and spend every waking moment with my boy. It is wonderful. I think a lot about how I just want him to be my baby forever, how much I like holding him, listening to him make raspberries, and talking to himself in the car seat. I love watching him discover new things, play with his toes, even his face when he cries is so cute. But then I remember how much I love kids when they get older too, when they can talk and say funny things and play games. I'm really excited. Being a mom and wife is the best thing ever. I love it.

Just so you know...

2009-10-08T12:15:00.006-10:00

Kalani reminds me of a dog. Don't judge. It's just that he is always on the ground crawling around, panting, and chewing on things. He follows me around when I'm walking. I mean he's at my heels all the time and I almost step on him. (which I absolutely LOVE because it makes me feel so special and loved) He also chews on things. Well, not his "chew toys" ...like a dog, he chews on things dogs chew on like shoes. He will actually come and stick my shoe in his mouth while it's still on my feet. When I try to get him to come to me I get down close to the ground and motion to him asking him to come here, but then I usually stop because it feels like I'm trying to get a dog to come to me. He works as a great paper shredder while I'm working in my dad's office, I just throw him a little paper and he's entertained for hours, errr well minutes. I think it's mainly the panting though... as I type he is by my side panting just like a little puppy dog. My little loyal companion. I love him so much. We have lots of fun together. Well, we're off to Dad's football game. They are now 2-1-1. Hopefully that 2 will change to a 3 tonight!

Funny boy...

2009-10-01T07:46:00.002-10:00

5:00 pm......Kalani ia crawling around on the floor playing with his toys. I hear a thump and look down to see if he's okay. He's dead asleep in the middle of the floor. He wakes up fifteen minutes later and starts playing around like nothing ever happened.

5:00 am.......Greg wakes up to Kalani hovering over him, breathing in his face. Kalani says dada rares back his fist and punches Greg square in the face.

I love this boy. He is so funny.

Memories

2009-09-16T07:36:00.008-10:00

Greg and I first became good friends when we went with a big group of people to the island of Kauai. It is the most beautiful place with friendly people and amazing sites. Besides Oahu, it is definitely my favorite island. We hiked the Na Pali coast trail which is a twenty-two mile round trip hike in two days. It was some of the most beautiful scenery that I have ever seen. Beautiful waterfalls, cliffs that drop off straight into the ocean, I can't even begin to describe the beauty in words. I loved it.
We also had a great time running around the island with Greg as our tour guide. (FYI: Greg is the funnest person ever to go on vacation with. He finds all the best places to go.) He took us to blow holes, fun beaches, and good restaurants to eat at. On my birthday he found this swimming hole that had two waterfalls and a tree swing to jump off of and I started to fall in love. It was so memorable.
Anyways, much to my delight, Greg's uncle, Scott, and Greg are starting a vacation rental company there. They are managing some absolutely beautiful homes. Even if your not planning a vacation there soon, go check out their website at http://www.kauaiislandrentals.us/. It is fun to see the pictures, and would be good for the site to get a few more visitors. If you are planning on vacationing there soon, I'm jealous, and make in inquiry about the homes. Happy looking!

Oh and by the way....

2009-09-12T07:52:00.002-10:00

Kalani is about two seconds from crawling. We went to a family party at Happy and Papa's and he pushed up on his hands and knees and scoots. Not a full crawl yet but so close. Exciting, but sad too! He getting to be so big. I'll put video up soon.

Go Daddy Go!

2009-09-12T07:33:00.006-10:00

Greg, hard at work.

Kalani is an avid supporter.

Football games have started and we are having fun going to support Greg's team. Kalani and I went to the first game of the junior high boy's season to watch Greg's team in action. They did very well. Greg is loving coaching. It is really fun to go and cheer on his team.

Adventures of a growing boy

2009-09-04T10:51:00.007-10:00

Kalani playing very seriously with Giraffe

Smilely boy. He loves peek-a-boo

Love.

Our new toy. Kalani and I LOVE it. Greg's not so sure.

Time is flying by as usual around our house. Greg is crazy busy with school, seminary, football, and being in the branch presidency. It's been a huge change from having the exact same schedules when I was working, then having him around all the time in the summer, to WORK WORK AND MORE WORK, but we take advantage of all the time that we do get to spend with him.
Meanwhile.... Kalani and I have been having all kinds of adventures. Last weekend, Greg had a football game in El Paso which is four hours away so Kalani and I hitched a ride with my mom to Lubbock where we went garage selling and to the Science Spectrum. We had so much fun. I found some wonderful gems garage selling; my favorite item is pictured above. A jogging stroller/bike trailer. Kalani and I both love it. We run all over town on either a jog or just running errands. Kalani stares at everything and I like that I can fit all kinds of things inside. It is wonderful. I also bought two bikes. The Science Spectrum was AMAZING. I love it with all my heart. I think that every child should have at least one chance to go. It was so much fun. Actually, a little too much fun for me. I got so excited and overwhelmed by all the fun that we were having that I got dizzy and had a headache. I guess we just don't get that kind of excitement in Kermit.
Kalani is just developing so quickly. He is now four and a half months. He smiles and laughs all the time, especially when someone comes around and he wants picked up. My mom calls him the master manipulator because we can never say no when he gets that grin on his face. He loves to stare at people, especially Greg. When Greg comes home for lunch, Kalani doesn't take his eyes off of him. It is so funny. The other day Kalani did a backbend over his Bumbo becuase Greg walked behind him. It is so cute. He sure does love his daddy.
Physically he is chaning so quickly. He is rolling over both ways like crazy. He has also started to crawl a bit. He's not up on his hands and knees yet, but between his kicking feet and pushy arms he somehow manages to move around fairly well. He is still loving swimming and has now started paddling with his arms as well as kicking his feet.
He is also having fun with his toys and lately has been having a bit of a serious tone when he starts to play. He really gets into moving things around and making it work. His best toy friend is Giraffe who hangs off of his car seat. They have been pals for a while now. Every once in a while they have a little tiff, but they are always friends in the end. Suffice it to say, we are having LOADS of fun with our little man.

South Padre Island Texas

2009-08-08T12:51:00.004-10:00

After visiting the Tesimales in Carolina and Virginia, we met up with the Bells at South Padre Island in Texas. We spent about a week there enjoying the family and the beach. Kalani LOVES the water! He has been swimming since he was one month old and has yet to cry in the water. We love that about him... he is a FEESH! At South Padre we took him for his first surf session. We had so much fun with him out there. Tons of beach goers came up to see the lil baby in the water.

Believe it or not... Texas has waves. The last two days of our visit at South Padre we were graced with a swell. The waves were about 3 to 5 feet with occasional lil barrels. We went out body surfing and even rented a board from a local shop. They only had longboards, so we rented the shortest board.. an 8'5" Timpone epoxy single fin. It was actually a decent board apart from the firey red floppy tourist fin attached. We found the local surf spot next to the jetty on the southside where we spent the entire last day. The surf was suprisingly good. So good that what seemed like every surfer in South Texas showed up (about 50). Luckily the wave was like Huntington and could be caught at about every block. It was a fun trip.

Kalani's Baby Blessing

2009-07-12T11:43:00.007-10:00

We had a lot of fun in the short amount of time that Becky, James, and Rylan were able to come out. We had a grand tour of Kermit, and then of course the main event: the baby blessing. Kalani recieved a beautiful blessing from Greg. He is lucky to have such a good daddy.

Our new BFF

2009-05-25T14:37:00.005-10:00

Kalani's dead frog pose. I love watching him sleep like this. He is so funny.

My favorite. Kalani's big stretches. He fights to get his arms out of the swaddle and it's fun to watch.

We have spent the last 5 weeks getting to know little Kalani. We are having so much fun. Greg loves to give him baths and my favorite thing is to watch his stretches. We love snuggling and laugh at all of his funny quirks. He likes to sleep with little frog legs and flexing his muscles. I can't believe how quickly the last five weeks have gone. He's already a month old!

He's Here!

2009-04-25T15:30:00.009-10:00

Kalani Talama Tesimale joined our family on Sunday, April 19 at 2:46 pm. The labor and delivery went very well. He came in weighing 7lbs 6oz and 20 in long.We've been having a lot of fun and learning even more. We are extremely grateful for this new treasure in our life.

A little longer than expected...

2009-03-08T18:19:00.004-10:00

Greg and I have been trying to decide where we were planning on going after the school year was over. When we moved out here, we planned to be here until about June, then head back hopefully to Hawaii, or wherever we felt we should be. Kermit wasn't really part of that plan. The Lord had other plans for us however. We started to throw around the idea of staying in Kermit for a little longer so that Greg could get his teaching certificate. He has found that he really loves teaching. It has been neat for me to see what a talent that Greg has for it. Anyways, amidst that consideration, Greg got called to be the second counselor in the branch presidency. We knew we had gotten the final answer to our prayers about where we were supposed to be, and we have decided to stay in Kermit for another year.
Greg is taking a little break from West Texas for the week however. It is spring break for us this week so he took off to Hawaii for some fun. Originally, he was going to try and look for jobs when he was out there, but now it's just a fun-filled vacation/birthday present. I'm so excited for him, but must admit I'm a little, (okay a LOT jealous). I miss Hawaii so much, butI'm gonna miss him even more.

It's getting closer!

2009-03-08T17:39:00.005-10:00

This was me at 23 weeks, I'm much larger now :)

Well seeing as we haven't posted in forever, no one has really been able to see how big I'm getting with this little guy growing inside me! I've gotten much larger since this picture, but this was the last time we loaded pictures on our computer. I'll try to post a more current one soon. We love him so much, and are excited for him to come, but we're also hoping he comes out when he's supposed to. I want the little man to be healthy for one thing, plus, being pregnant has not been this hard ordeal that I had thought it might be. I guess i didn't really know what to expect but I certainly didn't expect pregnancy to be as wonderful as it has been. I have been blessed in that the little man has been healthy, I didn't swell up like a balloon, just mainly my belly has gotten big, I haven't been sick very much at all, and I've pretty much been able to maintain the activities that I did before I was pregnant. We like to go swim laps at the pool that is close by and that has really helped a lot I think. I do get backaches and things sometimes, and the little kindergartners at school have given me every virus and bacteria possible, but overall, I don't have any complaints about pregnancy. I've liked it a lot. People are always so nice when you are pregnant too. Everyone keeps telling me that soon I'll be ready for him to come out, but for now, I'm just happy that he's with me hanging out, growing healthy and strong. I'm at 34 weeks right now, so if I change my mind, I'll keep you posted.

"I will NEVER live in WEST TEXAS!"

2008-11-20T19:29:00.003-10:00

The Kermit Texas water tower. The town was named after Kermit Roosevelt but celebrated for the FROG?

Correction... 5716 and a half.

I once told Bitsy that "I will NEVER live in WEST TEXAS!"... Yet here we are. After finishing the summer with Pinnacle Security, we decided to move to Kermit so that Bitsy could get her Teaching Certificate before the lil' baby comes. It is a good opportunity. So we are here for the school year- a.k.a. 10 months and counting down. We enjoy it here though... hanging with the Bells, watching Texas football (which shadows in comparison to Cali ball- maybe), working as teachers (Bitsy-kindergarten, Greg-7th grade Math), going to the gym, playing tennis, and watching lots and lots of movies. After the school year we plan to move back to the 'Rock'.

Sin City for a Weekend

2008-11-20T18:53:00.003-10:00

The Bellagio Fountains on the Strip

Kickin' it with the Big T's and the Keil's in a Hurricane

Keepin' it Real in Russian hats. A must for all Reber Visitors.

Atop the Stratosphere over Vegas.

Our Favorite!- Pineapple Trees at the Temple. Never have we seen pineapples grow so Huge!

How Beautiful... a sanctuary in the midst of sin.

Bitsy and Friends before the Cirque du Soleil- Beatles show at the Mirage.

A Keiki in the Oven!!

2008-09-06T13:29:00.002-10:00

We're pregnant and so so SOO excited. Greg didn't believe the first one, so that's why there are two of them. We have been planning out baby names for a while and feel like we have six solid ones (including middle names) so I guess we're prepared in that way, but as far as being ready for a child to act like a mixture of both of us, well heaven help us. Who could ever be ready for that?!

A-Land-O Joy

2008-06-13T11:43:00.009-10:00

Before we joined with the forces of evil

After we joined the forces of evil

When the forces of evil lost we were devastated.
Guess it's true, wickendess is never happiness, but it sure felt like it for a while.

The English kaa-nig-its ( sound it out like monty python)

Greg and I have really been itching to get to the temple but since we live three and a half hours away and Greg works all the time, it has been hard to get there. We had a much needed day together that really helped to recharge us.
We left at six thirty in the morning and got to the Orlando temple at about 10. We spent the morning there, went and got some lunch and then went back for a few more hours. It was so nice. I miss living in Laie so much for that reason. (and a lot of other reasons! ha) It was really really nice.
After that, Greg took me to Medieval Times for an early birthday celebration. We had the green knight who was EVIL, so Greg and I hooted and hollered for the forces of evil. After we had cheered so much we were hoarse, we headed back to Miami. It was such a perfect day. I haven't spent a whole day with Greg all to myself in a long time. It was such a wonderful day. I really like Orlando. I can't wait to go back for Disneyland!

CAUTION: Amatuer Photographers

2008-06-04T05:52:00.003-10:00

Aloha Oe Hawaii & Adios Amigo Jordan

2008-05-01T05:22:00.004-10:00

Greg's brother, Jordan, and his uncle, Scott (yes Greg has an uncle that is only a few years older than him and is white. Greg is half haole after all)

The month of April was a busy one. (Hence no posts AT ALL) oops. Greg's brother, Jordan, and his uncle, Scott, came out to visit us for about a week. We had a lot of fun surfing and running around the island. We capped the fun week off with the Kokua Festival, a benefit concert that Jack Johnson puts on annually with some help of some of his friends, like Mason Jennings and Dave Mathews. Its a really sweet concert not only because of the amazing musicians, but also because the feel of the concert is definitely different than that of most concerts. All of the proceeds go towards Jack Johnson's Kokua foundation that Jack and his wife, Kim, formed to educate Hawaii's youth about taking care of the environment. Even the vendors are chosen with organic-consciousness in mind. I walked the whole park looking for a churro or a funnel cake and the only thing I came back with was an organic smoothie sample. It was a really fun concert, and a fun way to end their vacation in Hawaii, but then all the sudden I realized it was the end of OUR three year vacation as well!
AHHH.... so sad. In between running around with Jordan and Scott, Greg and I would run down to Laie, me usually to throw away and pack as many things as possible and Greg to take his finals, work, AND help me try and get our stuff out of our house. We left our cozy little TVA apartment, said aloha to Hawaii, and headed off to DA MAINLAND. Thankfully we were able to spend our first five days on the mainland in Virginia with Greg's family which was CraZy as always... His brother, Jeremy, and his family came up from South Carolina to hang out for the weekend. They have four WiLd children who are tons of fun that we got to play with. Adding in Greg's sister, Cami's, two little girls in the mix and we had a rockin house. It was great. Then, sadly, we said our aloha's there as well, and headed for Florida.

gREeN BAgs!

2008-03-21T21:07:00.002-10:00

Has anyone used these Debbie Meyer Green Bags? I really wanna see if they work. They look so great because living where we do, COSTCO has the only affordable fruits and veggis but if we buy in bulk we always have too much. They just seem so great!

Las TOrTilLAs del DiablO!

2008-03-06T14:08:00.006-10:00

After I made the granola, I felt like doing some more cooking so i ventured on over to Heather's blog and clicked on her recipes. She has so many that look great! I decided to try her tortilla recipe because it looked really easy and we are constantly running out of tortillas. I made the dough which was super easy. Then since I don't have a rolling pin, I used Greg's smurf cup that his grandmother gave him to roll it out because it is the only truly round glass that we own. I heated up the frying pan early to make sure it was extra hot and set out the spatula to turn the tortillas with so I would be super prepared and they wouldn't burn. After rolling the dough into what I thought somewhat resembled a circle, I put it the pan. During this transportation the tortilla lost all of its shape so I quickly grabbed the spatula to try and fix it. Well I accidentally left the PLASTIC spatula touching the EXTRA HOT frying pan so when I picked it up, it burned my hand really bad. After a loud "yeoooooooowwwww" and a sprint to the sink to cool my hand down, I had burned the first tortilla.
Whimpering, I rolled out the next tortilla and put it in the frying pan. I then go to grab the spatula and see that I had left it in the way of the flames yet again. I threw that spatula in the sink, washed the other one that had cooled down by then and rolled up my sleeves for round three. I rolled out the next tortilla and heard some sizzling. I went over to the pan and saw that somehow I had again forgotten to take the spatula away from the pan! After two melted spatulas and a blistered hand, I finally finished my fourth, very misshapen tortilla. Despite their odd shapes, they do taste really good. I'm excited to give them a second go round, just hopefully I won't keep forgetting to take the spatula away from the pan!

GrAnNyOlla

2008-03-06T13:45:00.005-10:00

I made a granola recipe that I got from allrecipies.com about a week ago and I really liked it. We ate it all in just a few days, and I haven't stopped thinking about how I want to make more. The thing I really like about making granola is that you can change the recipe (A LOT) and since I never seem to have all the ingredients, that makes me very happy. So here is the recipe for granola that I used:

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup hot water
2/3 cup honey
6 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups golden raisins
1/2 cup dried cherries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, hot water and honey. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, almonds, pecans, and walnuts. Pour the honey mixture into the oat mixture and stir until the oats and nuts are evenly coated. Spread out the granola onto 2 baking sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes, stir, and bake 10 more minutes, or until toasted. Allow granola to cool completely before stirring in the raisins, golden raisins and dried cherries. Granola will harden as it cools. Break apart any large lumps, and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Changes I made because I have no ingredients and I'm not as health-conscious as I should be:
I didn't have walnuts, raisins or cherries so i just added more cranberries and pecans to substitute. I also substituted some maple syrup for honey to add a more flavor and also added in some cinnamon, coconut, and brown sugar. A lot of the other recipes call for wheat germ for health reasons, but I didn't have any, so I decided to add a little wheat bran instead. I think its supposed to be healthy right?? Hope you enjoy it!

HoneyMoon in OBX

2008-03-05T12:09:00.008-10:00

Since my family didn't get to see pictures of our honeymoon, I figured I would put some on the blog. We had such a fun, memorable, PERFECT honeymoon! Here's a quick summary of the what we did...

The first couple of days of our honeymoon we spent in Dallas. The highlight of that trip was SIX FLAGS! Since Hawaii doesn't have an amusement park, neither of us had been to one in a long time. It was freezing, but super fun. They had fires set up throughout the park warm up, which gave off a fun wintry feel.
After Six flags we headed out to Outer Banks, North Carolina. We accidentally missed our flight that was early on New Year's morning, but the airline was super nice and rolled our flight back. It turned out to be the funnest blessing because we got to fly from Dallas to Atalanta with Greg's brother, Jeremy, and his family who were headed back home from the wedding. It was great!

The Outer Banks were amazing. The land was so scenic. This is a picture of a wild horse!

Greg's brother, Jordan, has a cute girlfriend whose family owns a beach house in the Outer Banks. Not only did they let us stay there for the week, they decorated the house, and stocked it full of food! They also let us use their huge Bronco to drive on the beach. That was one of my favorite parts of our honeymoon. We had a lot of fun adventures in it.

One adventure was discovering this giant shark! Ahh! It was about 15 feet long. We first drove by it and thought it was a huge log, but we gave it a second look and saw it was an enormous shark! So scary to think that it was once swimming around in the sea!

Greg also tried a little fishing while we were there. (I stayed in the truck and stayed warm) It was so funny watching him try and cast in horrible wind. Needless to say, he didn't catch anything, but it was really fun watching Greg vs. the wind.

We had the chance to go to a number of scenic lighthouses out there. It was fun discovering all of the history around that area. Each lighthouse was unique, and we read stories about Red Beard the pirate and other Outer Banks' folklore as we drove from place to place.

The small town of Kitty Hawk where we stayed is the first place that the Orville brothers were successful in flight! We went around the museum dedicated to the Orville brothers and others who have changed the world of flying. I wished so bad my little brother could have been there because he loves flying and just one small step away from getting his pilot's license. Greg posed as a tiny astronaut, and had a rumble with Orville.

Farewell to Elder Jake

2008-03-05T11:49:00.005-10:00

My little brother, Jacob, went into the Missionary Training Center this morning to begin his two year mission with the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are so proud of him! I can't believe next time we see him, he will be a return missionary! He is really ready and super excited. Last time I was home I went into his room and saw all kinds of church books that he'd been reading next to his bed. We were also able to go through the temple for the first time together which made that even more special than it already was. He is such an awesome guy, and so mature for being just 19 years old. I remember so many times that he stood up for what he believed in even when it would have been really hard. He has been such a good example to me. His testimony of the church and the Savior is already so strong, and I know that after two years of dedicating his life solely to the Lord, it will be even stronger than it is now. He will be spending the next two years in the Keniwick, Washington mission.

Mom and Dad- looks like it's time for another trip to Hawaii!! There's no one at home anymore!!

Vanilla Ice to the MAX!

2008-03-03T17:31:00.004-10:00

So Greg's mom, Becky, is a cosmetologist, I'm sure she would be proud of the wonderful job I did on Greg's hair today. Not bad for my first lightning bolt eh? Well I guess my second, my first one is on the other side, but this one is a little better

Da Big Island 2

2008-03-03T12:26:00.006-10:00

Okay so I really wanna finish posting on our fun adventures on the Big Island. So here goes: day 2 and 3. Day two started off with a wonderful visit to the Kona temple. We then went up along the Kona coast to different beaches and did a little treasure hunting and body surfing, two of our favorite things. Then on day three we went to a church at a small, rural ward at the southern end of the island. It was the neatest ward ever! It kinda reminded me of my branch in West Texas. There were probably only about 50 people there. They were all SO friendly. We were greeted with hand stitched leis from one of the relief society sisters and sat behind a fun couple with two wild little boys. The speakers were a couple who had moved out there because the husband is a doctor and they were looking for a place in need for him to work so they moved out there. They told the ward in their talk that they would be moving to India soon because the husband is going to work in India with people who have leprosy and are considered "untouchable" by people in their country. Their talks were very inspiring. After sacrament meeting, a lot of people came to the back to talk to us and try to convince us to move there. Ha they were so cute. It was so fun to go to a ward that was so friendly and so ready to accept any new comers. After church we drove over to Volcano National Park where we walked through a lava tube and played in steam vents (maybe not the healthiest thing to do). That was a really neat place to visit. We then kept on driving up to Hilo where we went to a few breath-taking water falls and a fun place called boiling pots. At one of the waterfalls, Greg found a tree that had dozens of the biggest flower I have ever seen on them. They were so neat. Well that about wraps up our trip to the Big Island! It was soo much fun. Any of you who have been on a trip with Greg know that you'd better plan to have fun and not stop moving your feet which is exactly what we did.

Da Big Island

2008-02-28T11:56:00.012-10:00

For Valentine's Day, Greg decided that we should go to the Big Island. So he set up the whole trip, got us a rental car and a fun place to stay. We had the best time! We stayed in this tiny little studio about an hour south of Kona which put us in a perfect spot for exploring. The first day we were there we hiked over to a green sand beach. I had been there before, but it was even more fun than I remembered! The sand is made up of small crystal deposits from lava rock which makes the sand a sparklely olive green. Beautiful. We then went over to the southern most point of the island, which is also the most southern point in the United States. There were huge cliffs that drop off straight into the ocean and when you look down, you see straight down into the beautiful, blue, clear water. They have these tall ladders down into the water for the canoes to anchor on and the people to climb up. We got to jump off of the side of the cliffs. It was really fun and and had great sights. After that we went to the Punalu'u black sand beach where Greg decided to have a little fun with the sand. Needless to say day one of our trip was awesome!

New kids on the blog

2008-02-27T23:06:00.001-10:00

Well I'm not gonna lie... I've been a blog stalker for a while now. So many of you have such great blogs! I was just doing the dishes and decided it's high time I stop snooping and set up my own so I can finally say "Oh yeah I saw that on your blog!" without feeling creepy. Haha So here goes.... a little insight into the life of Bitsy and Greg!