broken hearts

This story goes back to Valentine's Day.

Ame and Mommy made some cookies to share.

Funny tidbit behind the making of these.

I couldn't find my cookie cutters (among the many

other things packed away somewhere), so we

used the little heart cookie cutter from

Ame's easy bake oven set. We had fun

making these cookies and now they were cooling

on the stove. The kids were all downstairs playing,

so mom decided she better head outside

(quinn was gone teaching at UVU) to shovel

the snow. I came in about a 1/2 hour later to find

THIS...

Mom was SOOOO mad at Kaipo, and wasn't

feeling so much LOVE anymore!

Kaipo decided he needed to test almost every cookie.

Good thing for frosting!

The few that weren't sampled got decorated

and we gave them to our babysitter (who

watched the kids, while mommy & daddy

went out to dinner).

Doesn't this Betty look cute in the

handmade apron she got for Christmas,

from Grandma Sheri.

first THIS then THAT

THIS post is not picture worthy, so it is just a READ ONLY.

To end our day yesterday, Ash decided to drop a few (it was actually much more than a few, sorry for the detail) surprises in the bath, after I had gotten him all nice and clean. I had washed him and headed downstairs to give Ame and Kaipo a shower. Daddy was SUPPOSE to get him out of the bath and get him dressed, but thought he needed a bit more time to play in the bath. A few minutes later he is running Ash downstairs so I could put him in the shower (which he screamed bloody murder about). I really didn't plan to clean my bathtub last night, but I guess I didn't have a choice!

If THAT wasn't enough of a surprise, we woke up to(as any other Utah'n did) what was suppose to be just a small storm, but it is STILL snowing! We probably have a good 7-8 inches, and I can only imagine what is up at my parents house...sorry Karli & LeAnne :)

I know I should be grateful for the moisture, but I am just not feeling it right now! Is spring right around the corner????? PLEASE tell me it is, I will welcome it with open arms!!!

At least my kids are lovin' playing in it right now. I better go get a picture of the snowman they built all by themselves (because I am obviously a scrouge and NOT helping them), b4 it too is covered with snow :)

We had a fun Friday Night Every time I turned around this boy was

getting another donut.
This is Ame's best bud, Irelyn.
They are in the same kindergarten class.

They had so much fun dancing :)

Quinn & Ame enjoying a daddy/daughter dance.

Mommy & Kaipo also enjoying their dance together.

I LOVE my boys!

The Limbo...how low can you go??

go Ame

And Ame's favorite thing to do!

And there was a whole table set up,

just for card making.

Oh what a feeling...to love and to be loved!!

Matt & Brenna

I was so glad we got to be a part of their Special Day.

Quinn and I were able to attend the sealing @

the Salt Lake Temple.

We had a quick visit from Elder Uchtdorf, who came in and said

"Oops, wrong room." He was doing the sealing next door.

We were all in awe and sort of wishing it wasn't a mistake.

But the sealer we had did a fabulous job!

It was FREEZING outside for pictures
and the bride was even in short-sleeves, BBBRRR!!
Their wedding dinner was in American Fork,
at a really neat OLD chruch, that is now a reception hall.

It was so great to see old friends and have a chance

to catch up and visit. But we sure missed the

LIFE OF THE PARTY, Bob.

I took a lot of pictures for my parents who

couldn't be there. I guess the distance was

just a little too far?

We greatly missed you, and so did all of your friends!

Here's some shots of a few who wished you were there...

And I had to throw in a picture of this cute little guy,

Mark and Tina's boy, Wesley.

He was soo good for such a long day.

Oh those cheeks!

These two were way to sweet and polite

with the cutting & sharing of the cake.

No smearing at all!

It was such a fun evening (and so quiet

without all my crazy kids). Once again,

I was so glad to be a part of it all!

part 2

Remember I posted about going to a Quinceneria,

a few weeks ago, for one of the YW in my ward?

Well my friend was the photographer for the evening

and got some cute shots of Ame.

This girl can shake it, and sure looks cute doing it!!

What is a party, without Y-M-C-A.

Thank goodness she didn't send any pics with ME in them :)

WHAT???

We have been spoiled with 40 degree weather

for the past couple of weeks.

Quinn even got to golf a few times last week.

So when I saw THIS sight early this morning,

I can't say I was super excited.

All of our snow had pretty much melted,

so this is all new! We are suppose to have a

week full of this, so winter is not even close to over.

I know we need the moisture, so I will TRY to be grateful :)

a BIG thanks

Ame decided this was something important to include

in her tooth bag, for the tooth fairy.

Everyone feels more generous when

they are appreciated!!

THIS and THAT

Rather than do seperate posts for all of these

RANDOM things, it's coming all in one.

Ame pulled out tooth #7 today.

Funny conversation about that.

She had about $85 saved up at the end of the year,

and Quinn asked her today how much she had left.

So she counted it out and is now down to about $30.

She has had a couple of loose teeth for awhile,

and decided one of them needed to come out,

so she could add to her money stash.

She spent a few minutes in the bathroom

after church and...out it came!

She is one crazy girl!!

Gma &Gpa asked what she is going to do with her $$

and of course she said, PAY TITHING FIRST.

that's my girl

And yes, my little angel volunteered for yet another talk.

She came out of primary with her note and said

I forgot I was suppose to give someone else a turn :)

Kaipo missed preschool last Thursday because

he was sick, so he got to decorate his

Valentines Box at home.

I wish I could say I was as ambitious as Jamie

and made homemade cards with my kids,

but at least Ame did get hers all addressed

& ready yesterday. We still have to get all 8 of Kaipo's

ready b4 his party on Thursday.
And what may I ask do you do with ALL the left over

Valentines?? I tried to get my kids to share, but

they didn't want to do that. I mean Kaipo

only needs 8. Is there really a class with 34 kids?

And like they will want the same kind next year.

I guess if I DID do homemade cards

we would not have this dilema!

And I know a box of Valentines cost little to nothing,

but it still feels wasteful to just throw the extras away.

I tried to make our FHE treat a little healthier today.
This bundt cake is soo moist & yummy-
made with (fat free) sour cream and applesauce.
If it wasn't loaded with chocolate chips, it
could be not so bad for ya!

Had to throw this in here.
I bought this little KING chair on KSL yesterday,
for a steal of a deal.
I am trying to find some inexpensive things
here and there, so when we move into our new home,
we have a few new additions.

Speaking of new house,
the word is they will begin digging in about 4-5 weeks.
All the BIG decisions (from our end) are made.
So the ball is rolling and we are Excited!!

Double Wammy

This morning when Kaipo woke up (b4 the SUn, as usual) he seemed fine and just watched some cartoons. But then when it was time for breakfast and to start getting ready for church, he was complaining that he wasn't feeling well. I could tell he wasn't his usual self of bouncing off the walls, so I knew something was up. Sure enough, he pucked the only thing he'd had, some watered down juice. So I decided it would best to keep him home from church and see how he felted throught the day. He was fine, other than not eating anything and just laying around.

We had been invited to the Robinson's for a Superbowl/Ryan's Bday party later in the day and I thought if he didn't have any other issues that it was probably just his sensitive stomach. He had some toast and few crackers is all. But of course about a half an hour B4 it was time to leave he did it again. ALL OVER his blankets, clothes, pillow, and even some on the couch. I so love the clean up!! I told QUinn he should just take Ame and go, no sense it us all staying home. So I got all the disgusting stuff cleaned off and threw it all in the washer. Here's where the other WAMMY comes.

We have an OLD washer/dryer set, but they have lasted and lasted so why buy nwe ones?? To save you from occassions like today, is what I have learned. SO all the stuff that I listed above is what was in my washer. I go to put it all in the dryer and find it all soaking wet still. So I put it to spin and tried again and again, only to find that it will NOT spin, just hums. Oh wonderful! SO I tried my best to ring out the water from everything, remember this isn't just normal stuff. It is all the heaviest fabrics possible. Maybe THAT is what did the washer in. At least the dryer still works, right?!

SO tomorrow we get to go shop for the unplanned, but all so necessary NEW washer and dryer!!

At the end of this day though, my boy is sound asleep and seems to be doing better. We will see, for sure, in the morning (hopefully NOT in the middle of the night).

*An interesting side note: as I was praying last night, I was expressing gratitude that no had been sick this year, huh. I was just being grateful, NOT asking for anything! And of course Kaipo is the only one of the 3 kids who didn't get a flu shot.

Girls Night Out!

One of the cute Young Women in our ward

invited us to her special night.

Having grown up in central california you'd

think I would have attended a

Quinceneria Celebration at least once,

but this was my first.

Ame and Mommy had a date night tonight,

and Ame was so excited to go, even though she didn't really

even know what we were going to be doing.

She did say on the way home that this date was by far

her most favorite one. She is already requesting

to have one of these kind of celebrations

when SHE turns 15.

HHMMM, we'll have to see about that :)

Ame LOVED Lindsay's beautiful gown,

and admired all the BIG kids all dressed up.

I soo wish I would have had my camera,

Ame had a blast dancing with her friends,

doing the Hokey Pokey, YMCA, and lots of

other fun dances. Mom even joined her

a few times on the dance floor.

I don't feel too OLD very often, but I sure

did tonight! I think this is the time when

I start living through my kids, to TRY and

feel young again!!

Friday MOVIE night

Nothing beats HSM and carmel popcorn...

for these two anyway!

Friday nights (if we are home) are the night the kids

get to stay up and watch a movie, of their choice.

You'd think having watched these movies OVER

and OVER they wouldn't be soo enthralled,

but they still are!

5 P's

This week at Preschool, Kaipo class practiced the

# 5 and letter P.

So that meant today was the 5 P's Day...

Pj's, Peter Pan, Pizza Party

Ms Michelle is so fun and creative!

***************************

We (mom especially) were sad to miss this months field trip

to Jamba Juice. We removed Kaipo from this preschool,

at the end of December,when we THOUGHT

we were moving out of the area. Then (amidst our move-

which we are now actually only a block away from Ms Michelle's)

I heard his spot had been filled. Well come to find out, she

still had room for one more, so she graciously took Kaipo back.

Anways, in that 2 weeks he missed they had a fieldtrip to

Jamba Juice and got to make juice & smoothies,

got free coupons and the whole bit.

One I would have loved to have joined in on!!

(I'm sure Kaipo would have liked it too)

One last bit of celebration

For our Family Home Evening activity today, Ame made up a

Treasure Hunt

for Quinn

Here is her last clue, that sent him to his

Treasure
Ame made most of this cake, including the decorating.
She was pretty proud of herself, as were the rest of us!

We sure LOVE our daddy!!

Happy Birthday To You

This AMAZING man had a birthday yesterday. We celebrated at Tucano's Friday night,

with 16 of our family and friends.
We were very grateful for those who could join us
to celebrate, and missed those who couldn't be there!
The guy (Spencer) standing across from QUinn has a birthday next week,
and QUinn's sister (Kuulei) had a bday on the 11th, and his
dad's wife (Sheri) had a bday on the 5th, so...
we had A LOT to celebrate.
Of course the workers came around with a fun
song and dance to sing for all the birthday people.
Quinn with his bro, Kaleo and his sis, Kuulei.

Quinn is someone that no one ever forgets.

He is so full of ambition and has a passion for soo many

things (one in particular)! He is a person overflowing with knowledge

and is so willing to share all that he knows with those around him.

Quinn is continously thinking of others, and how HE can help them.

He does everything in his power and works SOO very hard

to provide for his family, and WE are so blessed to have him!

He is an amazing father and husband, and know exactly

what makes each of us happy!!

We love you QUinn and

hope you felt special on YOUR day!

couldn't forget this one!

I don't know how,but I actually forgot to post this after Christmas,

but it was too cute to leave out.

I had a post explaining the stress about my parents

getting their packages.

This is the incredibly AWESOME idea that

Quinn came up with.

One SNOWY day he took Ame and Kaipo on the

Frontrunner Train to the Gateway, in downtown SLC.

He was taking them to Build-A-Bear

to make a special gift for my parents.

Quinn constantly amazes me at HIS creativity! The excitment and anticipation on the kids faces,

explains how THEY felt about their experience.

Quinn also did an outstanding job of getting
video of their experience!!
(although it turned out a bit blurry)


I LOVE how serious Ame takes wish making.

The video doesn't show it very well, but she is

NO DOUBT making a true wish!

Where are we...some may wonder

I don't have any pics to go along with this one (wish I had taken some from the moving fiasco). I have been putting off, writing this post. One because I have been soo busy the past week-packing, cleaning, moving, cleaning, unpacking, and trying to make life seem somewhat normal in the process, for the kids sake. Two, because I knew this would take some time to write and may even make me a bit sad. So, just to back up a bit...some may not even know that we were even considering moving, others knew of the idea, but to where? Our plans have changed several times in the process, but we finally made the right choice for the situation we were in.
SO here goes:
Way back, last semester Quinn started teaching at UVU (almost full-time) and we thought there was a strong possiblity he could become a full-time professor soon and so we began to contemplate the idea of moving to Utah County. I was NOT keen on the idea. I LOVE , LOVE, LOVE where we live, my friends, my ward, how comfortable I feel here. QUinn was more into the idea because all his family is in Orem and he has so many ties there. So we looked at houses periodically and contemplated the idea casually, while also putting our house on the market. We showed our house several times, but not offers. As time went on, the idea took a place on the back-burner, UNTIL someone out of the blue called us to rent our house (which was the option QUinn was more into). This was the beginning of December, so....we now had people to move into our house and No Place for US to go.
We decided together that we loved the area we live in WAY too much to leave and the UVU idea was not amounting to full-time, so we really had no NEED to move down there, but the renters for our house put quite bit of money down and QUinn committed to them that they could move in (maybe he jumped the gun a bit). With the market the way it is Quinn decided if we were going to buy or build again, now would be the time. So we looked HARD for a couple of weeks, found some great homes but nothing we could agree on as THE ONE.
So, now we are renting a home, for the next 5 month in Riverdale, about 5 blocks from our house. Ame can now finish Kindergarten here, we are going to stay in our same ward and we can find the RIGHT home for us. The home we are in is older, but has LOTS of space and more than meets our needs for the next few months. In the mean time we are deciding whether we want to build again or just find a GREAT house. At least we don't feel rushed into finding something, just because we have to, that we aren't going to be completely happy with for a long time and now we have some time to make this HUGE decision.
We moved on MOnday and I am mostly unpacked now, feeling somewhat less frazzled. This side of moving is always way less stressful, and I can now do things in my own time. I am only unpacking the necessary things to live, since we will only be here a short time. But I am soo exhausted from the HUGE job it was to pack and clean my house. I am definitely going to use that massage gift certificate, I got for Christmas, VERY SOON!!


***I want to thank Frankie and Jeff for sacrificing their time to come up a couple of different time to help us pack and move. You are so generous and we seriously couldn't have done it without you!!!

Also, thank you Keaka and Raschel for coming up. Keaka was a tremendous help with getting things moved out of our house and into this one. Raschel you were a true angel, and just what I needed to help with the kids. Especially Ash, who was sooooooo hard to pack and clean with (constantly at my knees, wanting to be held). YOU are a much more entertaining mom than I am :)

I KNOW everyone is sick of helping us move, especially those who have helped numerous times, but I want you to know it has really meant A LOT to us, and we truly LOVE YOU for your sacrifices on our behalf. Hopefully we are nearing our moving days***