This is what I made last night.

Mouth watering. It was AMAZING.

(ourbestbites.com)

Pork Tacos with Chili Verde

(unfortunately, the recipe was only in their cookbooks I think, and not on their website)

Job Description: Occasional Toilet Scooper

Jaiden dropped his LEGOS in the toilet today. A man, a few pieces and tires.....both him and Kai were STARING into it trying to decide what to do when I came in. "ready to go? did you go peepee?" I asked, hurriedly, wanting to get some errands run in the morning.

"Mama!!! You have to get the legos out of the toilet!!" Kai said. Jaiden looked up at me with TEARS in his eyes.

"MY LEGOSS!!!" he burst into tears.

You know me, I HAD to play with his emotions... JUST A LITTLE BIT!

"Well, that's it then. say goodbye to your legos!"

I carefully jiggled the toilet handle.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

a scream heard around the block from both boys.

I looked into the basin. I guess I should be thankful it was only YELLOW, not brown....

I chased the boys out of the bathroom (wouldn't want them to get any ideas!) and fished the pieces of legos out of there.

What I wouldn't do for these boys is amazing.

Chocolate Nutella Cookies

There were REALLY YUMMY!!! I didn't have the "hazelnut extract" so I just used vanilla as it instructs. I also just used just regular "toll house cocoa", not the fancy stuff this recipe calls for. I think my oven might be SUPER oven because my cookies also came out PERFECT after only 8 minutes, but at 10-12, it was BURNT. (I have dark cookie sheets)

they should be GOOEY when you take them out guys! They firm up quite nicely!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/08/chocolate-nutella-cookies/

Busy Activity 5

One last one for today.

Here's another activity I had the kids do.

Needed: Paper, pen and scissors

Age 3: I drew a straight line on paper and had Jaiden cut the black line with scissors (couldn't do it, but it's good practice)

Age 4: I drew "zig zag" and even a flower for Kai to cut out. (did the zig zag but not the flower)

All you need to do is draw on the paper (thicker line is better for kids I think, so use markers, wider crayons, etc.--in the end, I guess it might not matter that much) and have the child cut along the lines.

Busy Activity 4

Are you loving me for these posts yet, or what? lol

Here's something we did today that had the kids BUSTING UP LAUGHING. Ok, me too.

Need: paper, pen and scissors

Age: whenever they start to understand what is SILLY.

What to do: you draw silly face parts on paper, then cut out (doesn't have to be neatly cut or anything)

Objective: hand the child a round piece of paper, representing the FACE. Then, let them create SILLY FACES with the face parts you drew and cut out for them.

They will laugh.

You will laugh.

Laughter is medicine for the soul.

I'm no artist...but here are my "silly" face parts drawn and cut out, ready to assemble.
Jaiden's creation.
Kai's creation.

Kai's busily making his "so silly" face.

I take it back. For younger children who still don't understand "silly", just draw face/body parts and have the child place the cutouts to where it corresponds.

Busy Activity 3

Boy, I'm on a roll!

Here's what we've done several times.

Need: Beads and string or ribbon. Anything thin enough that the kids can thread beads through.

Objective: have the kids string the beads through yarn, thicker thread, ribbon, etc.

They can make necklaces, bracelets, or just string things to practice using their fingers.

Time engaged: at least 30 minutes.

It's great!

Such a simple, inexpensive activity, but it works every time! For older kids, I'd suggest challenging them a bit---"can you make a pattern?" "Can you rotate from blue, green, yellow and red all throughout it?" etc.

Fun Activity 1

Not so much a "busy activity," but it's REALLY FUN way to spend time with your kids, switch things up a bit from the mundane routine and heck, it's CHEAP (if you already have some face paint or finger paints around). If not, it's well worth the $5-7 to spend to get some kid friendly finger paints (is there even an "adult friendly" finger paints? lol)

What got me to do this crazy thing?

We like to explore the library often. We go once a week, or every two weeks if we can wait that long. We check out like 30 books at a time, no joke (a good tip here is to RESERVE books ONLINE folks! It makes life a LOT easier if you have no time and kids running in different directions :)

Anyway....I randomly picked up a "face painting" book from the kid's section and thought it'd be fun. The kids got to choose what they wanted on their face, and I have to admit....

I HAD SO MUCH FUN! LOL

The kids? Well, they were STOKED. They were SO GIDDY and SO happy and SO excited and SO amused! They had fun playing their accompanying roles and well, we had a great day.

So cheap.

So fun.

So together.

Success.

(ps. Kai's a vampire and Jaiden's a skeleton--I never said I painted well) :)

Busy Activity 2

it gets pretty intense around here, sitting on top of the table and all. lol

Kai: (age 4-5)

PUZZLES

Again, I found these awesome 100piece puzzles at Target's dollar section. Trust me, a buck for puzzles are a stinkin' catch of a deal. I snagged ALL of them.

It keeps the child busy.

That's all I care.

No but really, puzzles are GREAT for kids and their brains.

Heck, it's a GREAT way for parents to spend quality time with the kids too. Talk with them while you help them find pieces.

They love it! I will find Kai spend HOURS just sitting doing puzzles after puzzles. I literally have to tell him "that's enough, you crazy puzzle head!" but, it's bought me time to SLEEP IN in the mornings :)

for a younger child like Jaiden, I've found that less and bigger pieces are better. We have puzzles ranging anywhere from 10-25 pieces of which Jaiden LOVES to put together. I do have to help him with the 25 pieces, but again, this is a GREAT time to spend quality time with your kids. Jaiden loves to sit on my lap and be told what puzzle piece goes where, and I let him place it in the right spot. He absolutely loves it.

Busy activities 1

I've been into finding "busy bag" ideas or "busy activities" for kids.

Here's one I did the other day.

Jaiden: (3 years old)

needed: beads and bowls or something to separate them into

Objective:

separate beads into bowls according to different colors

Busy time:

more than 30 minutes

Mission accomplished?

YOU BET YOUR SWEET BUNS IT DID.

Halfway into it, I had to put up this awesome box that had sides to it to contain the little suckers, but it all worked just fine. Jaiden had a blast, learned about colors, and enabled me to do my things.

PS. I'd like to add that I found these beads at Target's dollar section...marked down 75% to a whopping .25 cents. Bowls=free from around the house. Score! You could also use diff. colored pastas or really, anything that's small and colorful!

You can also have them spoon them around to practice measuring and not spilling!

Dear Abby. Why are men and women so different?

Ok, so this is a bit more candid than I usually am--about marriage and relationships, but I felt like I needed to write, and I'm pretty sure a lot of you out there would be able to relate to me. I needed someone to understand me and say "that happens to me too," or "I totally understand!"

So here's the scenario. Your husband (in my case, since I'm a woman) comes home from work. You've been home all day with the little ones, and gosh darn it you love them to death, but as soon as that man of yours walks in, you just want to CLING to him and blabber at him about your whole day! You feel happy to see him and want to follow him around like a puppy. "So, what do you think about this?" "Isn't it so cute?" "How was your day?" "What should we do about this?!" It's not anything BAD that I'm reporting to him or that I'm asking, I simply just vomit on him about all the things that happened, the things I want to get done, and well, I am just so darn happy to see him and maybe even more so, I am just thrilled to talk to an ADULT.

On the other hand, your spouse smiles at you, gives you a hug and a kiss and then suddenly you realize....he's done it again. He's disappeared into the abyss. You can see it in his eyes that he's no longer roaming this planet earth. Your words don't reach his ears at all; the blank stare tells all. Maybe he's even a great actor that day in which case he smiles, nods, even grunts on occasion, but you realize; there's no body home! It's still just me and the kids!!

Ahh, you may say, the typicalness of it all. The universal struggle indeed. I see the challenge here, I really do. Men are out all day, bowing down to superiors and being around adults. When they come home, they want peace and quiet, go away and hideout from all human being. Women on the other hand? Especially for those stay at home mommies struggling to keep her sanity in tact, all she wants to do is cling on to dear life...I mean, cling to her dear husband and yack away to ease the pains of loneliness, or simply to stimulate her brain cells once more, reassuring herself that she's in fact NOT going crazy from listening to kid's wild absurd stories all day and talking with little people who require detailed instructions to EVERYTHING they undertake.

So what do you do? The common mistake I see women (okay, myself) making is that when the spouse goes into "shut down mode," I take it as he's "mad" at me, or "doesn't want to be with me," or I so wisely think; "he's in his cave"--I will be the good wife and leave him alone. But before you know it, HOURS have passed and they're still in their "cave"...I don't know when he'll come out. I've heard men say "that's not it; I'm not mad, I love you, and I'm not in my cave." I'm no doctor Laura and I'm not a gender expert. I simply want to know that I'm not crazy. I still find myself, after six years--wanting to be with my husband every second that he's home. Fine, call me crazy. I love that guy! But alas, I feel the magnitude of this universal controversy that have been known to men and women everywhere and feel like I need some answers. Do I leave him alone completely? (I've tried that) Does he succumb to my neediness? (he's tried that) Do we find a middle ground? (that'd be nice--although we thought we had found that-time and time again...) Is there even an answer?? Or do we get mad, get hurt, and try again and again?

Whatever the case, it's been nice to share my honest thoughts and feelings and would even be nicer to get some positive feedback. I'm not looking for lectures, I'm wanting to hear what you've done cuz I know I ain't the first and only one to have this challenge in a marriage!

Yours truly,

me

Moments that matter most

Is it just me, or do these make you cry too!??! So beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l70e1TfN34w&feature=relmfu

Hello, it's me and my testimony again.

Btw, an old friend of mine wrote me out of the blue today.

Long story short, she asked me if her husband could use an entry from my recent blabberings called "my testimony" (or something like that) in her husband's upcoming Sunday lesson at church.

1. I was super flattered that anyone would be reading my blog

(I know for sure you guys read it, Dayna, Norma and Dee :)

2. I thought. hmm, maybe I need to repent. lol

Repent wouldn't be quite the right word, but point was, that I was reminded that no matter how "simple and of no importance" people think their testimonies are of what they believe in, they--I-- should be sharing it wherever, whenever, with whomever.

I always think; my testimony's of no worth, I have nothing important to say, it's the same old, same old.

so what? I think sometimes we LIKE to feel that we're normal. I think we sometimes NEED to feel that we're okay--that our mediocre testimony--the non-flashy--not wordy--"I believe" testimony is what 99.9% of the people can relate to--but we don't hear it--almost never. Maybe that's why so many of us feel less important a lot of times? Because all we hear up at the podium at fast Sundays, while great, are how people came to know the gospel was true by means of powerfully answered prayers and okay, just plain amazing experiences of which, I'm so far from. (again, those are great stories, thanks for sharing, but I'm just talking about normal people like myself here--I've never experienced such hard core earth shattering witnesses for my testimony)

I just feel it's the right thing.

I just think I don't have anything to lose by believing.

I just...well, I know that I am a daughter of God and that He loves me because whenever I think about it, my heart quiets all other doubts and fears.

That is why I believe.

Thanks Mindee for waking me up. :)

(art by Greg Olsen)

Just me and the kids

I wished I was better at posting pictures along with my entries...'cuz I've got some cuute pics of the kids and what we've been up to these days...but alas, I'm not that person and I'm definitely not posting any pics tonight. {Too lazy.}

Anyway, I'm happy to announce that I've LOVED this week.

Odd, because Ronny's been gone.

Or is it odd?

LOL

Jk!!

No, but I really have been enjoying this week. Yes, I'm ready for Ronny to be home, and YES! I'm very excited to see him manana, but I've enjoyed almost every single second of the time I had alone with the boys.

...I've noticed how much Kai's grown up. He helps better and listens better. He's even been speaking NON-STOP Japanese to me. Which, to me is HUGE. It's what I grew up with, it's where my heart is-it's what I relate to, and so even if no one else speaks it around us and I'll admit that I really wonder what "good" it's doing to teach my kids this foreign language, it makes me immensely happy.

I've especially been enjoying watching Kai COLOR. He spent FOUR HOURS just coloring today! I couldn't believe it! Picture after picture, he just kept coloring!!

Maybe that's why, but I've also been more tolerant of little Jaiden. He also seems to have calmed down a bit more lately (can we say FINALLY?), becoming more willing, shall I say to be on my good side by being "good".

The other day, I saw something on TV (I think) that said there was a study done that showed that multitasking wasn't such a good idea anymore. The study further noted that those who were "in the moment" more, seemed to be "happier."

My dad once told me--"be 100% where you're at." or something like that (see dad? I don't always know what exactly you said, but I get the point and it sticks :) Point was, that I should always be not only physically, but mentally and emotionally where I was, all the time.

I was noticing that this week, somehow I was more laid back.

I didn't think about the next meal (well, I did but not as much as when Ronny's home :), or where I was going, or what I was going to do next.

As I spent countless hours of "floor time" with the kids and really delved into being with them during our "play" or "together" times, I noticed that the kids were different. I can't pin point exactly what it was, but it was sure different. They seemed more obedient, and I for sure felt more patience and LOVE.

Even super nanny said once; "give them 15 minutes of your time, and you'll be surprised that they'll leave you alone for a good while."

Anyway, my point was that I've been truly happy with my kids this week. I don't expect it to last forever, but I just wanted to record it so that I could remember it later on.

I enjoyed sitting with the kids and doing puzzles with them. I enjoyed seeing Kai's improvements and how he colored strictly in the lines. I enjoyed listening to him improve his vocabulary in Japanese. I enjoyed having Jaiden sitting on my lap and wanting me to tell him which puzzle pieces fit together, then putting them together himself.

I enjoyed cooking with them.

I enjoyed swimming at the local pool with them, going to the zoo and seeing the animals-teaching them what they were and talking about everything! Holding hands. Cuddling at night after reading them books. Eating with them and even watching "America's test kitchen" together while they repeated words that were new to them, like "transfer" and "150 degrees."

So maybe I've found the secret to it all, or maybe I've just finally understood what people have been telling me; "be where you're at" and "enjoy it while you can."

I've even been sad this week to think they'll soon be grown up and gone...

What is happening to me?! LOL

Just don't ask how my house looks. LOL

Hey, I've got one more day to clean before Ronny gets home! ;)

ps. I actually played tons with them, AND THEN asked them to help me clean a few times this week--they did A LOT BETTER when I did it this way--again, it could be the age that Kai's hitting (5) that he's growing up to be a big helper, but I want to believe that it's my attitude and how I changed to spending more quality time with them that's changed them too. Who really knows.

Check your Itinerary!

So Ronny left for Oakland, California for some training yesterday.

The kids and I took him to the airport and as we were pulling away, I got a call.

It was Ronny.

"Um, can you please come back? I'm at the wrong airport!"

So back we went and the kids were super confused!

"Is daddy going or not?"

Ronny called the military travel agent and in no time, got things figured out.

So back we went and he was off, again.

Several long hours later, I received a text from him.

"I'm in CA, going to find a cab and head to the hotel. I'll call you from the hotel."

Not more than five minutes later, I get another text from him.

"I'm an idiot...got off the plane...in San Diego...please don't tell anyone until I'm dead!"

Well, I'm happy to tell you that he's NOT dead, I just told him that I'd HAVE to blog about it, but I'd be nice enough to wait until today, a day later for him to recoup. Fair enough, he said, and well, I'm also happy to tell you that he got things figured out, and flew out to his real destination, Oakland, CA.

What happened was this:

he thought it was a straight flight from home to Oakland, CA. Didn't realize that there was a stop in San Diego, so when the plane landed in S.D., rather than sitting still, he got off. He walked out of the airport, called a cab and asked the driver "how much to my hotel in Oakland?" The Cabbie looked at him and said "well, it's about a 600mile drive, so...." that's when Ronny realized HUH!? and looked around only to see SAN DIEGO posted everywhere.

LOL.

A Present for Mama

9:05pm

I finally finish another long presidency meeting and tiredly walk upstairs.

I find Kai still up, just smiling at me.

As I go in to tuck him in for the night(once and for all), he whispers to me;

"mama, I have a present for you"

(all in Japanese)

me: "oh ya? How about I see it tomorrow?"

Kai: "ok, but it's on the couch :)" he said with a smile.

Curious to see what it was, and not wanting to let him down, I decided to go see what it could be. Usually, it's a drawing--or something made of legos, or...well, I was just thinking of the usuals--which are nice, of course, but I'm just letting you know what I was thinking.

When I turned the lights on in the loft and gazed over at the couch, I gasped. LITERALLY.

I had to think.

Did I do that?

no, did Ronny do that? No wait, he's in California...did I? No...

KAI!

I shouted.

but not in rage, but out of sheer shock.

I saw two neat piles of laundry....FOLDED.

I. C.O.U.L.D N.O.T B.E.L.I.E.V.E I.T.

Kai came shyly out of his room with a big smile on his face.

I don't even know why, but tears filled my eyes!

Shirts and pants were neatly and squarely folded, even the white socks were neatly folded and stacked on top of each other.

I just knelt right there on the floor and hugged the little man in my arms and thanked him.

He was so happy, that little proud face!

Boy.

What a neat little kid I have, huh?

Out of all the things he could have been doing tonight, or could have done for me, he must have thought; what would help my mom the most? I can only imagine that just then, he laid eyes on the mountain pile of clean laundry I quickly threw on the floor between meals, baths, bedtimes and Relief Society meetings, wondering when on earth I was ever going to find the time to get on my knees to fold them.

Oh, how I love this child! He just has the heart of an angel.

{picture to be posted later--too tired right now}

Road Trip to Utah July, 2011

Ronny and I decided to do a road trip this summer to Utah.

There was no reason for it, just wanted to go somewhere. So, Utah it was.

We drove through endless desert from Houston through, Fort worth, Amarillo, Albuquerque NM, Colorado, then Salem, Utah! We listened to kids songs by "They Might Be Giants" and audio books and read alongs for kids.

In Utah, we saw friends and family. My family lives in Salem: Lee (Jiji), Erika (Abby), Alana, Grace and Kaylee Richan.

Ronny's family had a nephew blessed; Johnny Sampert.

We saw the Jeppsens, Bob and Cathy, uncle Jared and Nana and Papa Sampert.

We celebrated Ronny's 29th Birthday at Provo Canyon doing a dutch oven dinner.

Ronny and I were able to go and meet up with our mission president Brad Wilcox and his family and listen to two of his speeches to the youth group up in Heber and to adults at BYU devotional.

We met up with Slater, my mission companion who I LOVE! and met up with an old high school friend and her now family, Jen Noble where we had a DELICIOUS breakfast by Jen. (Thanks!!) We were able to meet up with the Talbots just once and have some shaved ice, and even got to go back to the kid's favorite museum--the Dinosaur museum in Thanksgiving point where they enjoyed running around and learning new things, like how electricity is made.

On our way home, we stopped in Moab to see the arches National Park. We began the 3mile hike to see the delicate arch, only to realize about 1.5mile into it that not only was it HOT, it was near impossible to carry two boys on your back and hike (Ronny did the carrying, I just griped about it the whole way) and so turned around.

By night time, we had driven about 16 hours and so stopped at a little motel outside of Albuquerque for the night. Not more than 30min. into our stay there, Jaiden who was jumping on the bed fell, cracked his head open and well, we had to drive back the way we came from 30min. to the nearest ER room where he received 7 stitches.

We continued our trip the next day and arrived home safely. Although we go crazy during the trip, it's always fun to think back on the trip and remember the fun times we had, being stuck in the car together. The kids are still singing all the silly songs we learned in the car.

Voice of the Spirit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPbDZnrxBLM&feature=player_embedded

Sisters in Zion---Visiting Teaching

Speaking of testimonies and hear warming things, I just wanted to journal about the other day.

I was on my way to someplace when I passed a friend's house.

In front of her house was a parked gray car.

I thought;

When I realized who's car it was, I thought;

"Oh, Wendie's over there."

And then it dawned on me that Wendie was doing her visiting teaching.

For those of you who don't know what visiting teaching is, it's kind of a like a "buddy system" in the church where the women are paired into a companionship and they have a few sisters they go and visit each month. They share a spiritual message and become friends with those they are assigned to serve. It's a really great program and I've often found my best friends through it.

As I drove past the house realizing three women (a companionship visiting with her sister) were in that home, an overwhelming feeling came over me of...pride, of happiness, of gratitude. It's quite indescribable really, all the powerful feelings I felt.

I knew that Wendie had a little girl who had just turned one and that she had a life of her own. I knew that her companion also had a life of her own, a quite busy one actually. And yet, they were together, visiting this sister in her home to love and care for, and to share an uplifting message with her.

I was grateful to them.

Then, I received several other calls and comments about how happy a sister was because they had either gone to visit their sisters, or that they themselves had received a personal phone call or a visit. I actually was motivated by Wendie to do my own Visiting Teaching. As I called my sister and asked her when my companion and I could come and visit her, she squealed and laughed, "I'm actually going out right now to do MY visiting teaching!" We laughed together, knowing that we were both doing the Lord's work. It felt good.

The ones visiting others glowed with pride, and the ones being visited beamed with happiness. They knew they were loved and cared by someone.

Then I thought,

If I, really a no body could feel THIS happy and proud and THANKFUL for these sisters carrying about the Lord's work in this way, how happy and proud and grateful our Father in Heaven must feel...

I truly love our sisters. This calling to be their leaders has been a great challenge. And yet, it's times like these that I sit here, just in awe and overwhelmed by gratitude for what they do...and gratitude to my Heavenly Father for allowing such a person as I to be permitted to serve these sisters who are teaching me so much. The love I feel for them is immense, and I am grateful I am given this time to see each one of them through the Eyes of their Creator, as He would see them.

This is my testimony

I had a stranger write me an email the other day.

Oh no

I thought.

Here we go again, someone was offended by my blog.

I thought.

It began;

"Stumbled upon your blog"

Hey!! My name is D. and today I was searching in google for people who "talked to God" and I came onto your blog post that was written yesterday about your adorable boy. I have been having a really hard time lately struggling with anxiety and depression and I ask God in prayer to guide me. I am not LDS but I believe in a higher power and I am eager to go on the path that God has laid out for me. I'm sorry if this is out of the blue but I want to ask you how you stay so strong in your faith. I've been reading through your blog and you are such an inspiration! I truly look up to as a role model :)

Thank you and God bless,

D.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

It wasn't a hate email, quiet the contrary, it was heart warming!

I was excited and grateful this D. person would write such nice things.

So I wrote her back.

The next day, I received another email from D.

"Thank you so much for responding. I'm actually investigating the LDS church now because I absolutely love what they teach. I just hope that God can give me a testimony that would strengthen my faith. If you don't mind me asking, can you share your testimony?"

My testimony?

You want to hear MY testimony?

It's not everyday that someone asks me to share my testimony.

Although I walk around each day feeling like I've got my testimony in my heart, it was a rather tough thing to put it into words on paper.

Dear D.,

Where do I even begin? My testimony actually is quite simple...I've never had a loud and clear THIS IS IT!! kind of an answer...no trumpet sounding, no visitations of angels...it's always been a quiet and subtle, but undeniable feeling-like a burning in my heart. A feeling like..."what's there to lose anyway?" My parents were converts when they were teenagers (people who joined the church at some point in their life, rather than be born into it), which means that I was born into the church. They raised me and I always grew up close to the church and it's teachings. I went to school surrounded by many members and always felt that I knew that the church was true. In junior high though, my friends started to choose other paths and decided to do what seemed like everyone else was doing, you know. They didn't go to church anymore and even began to make fun of the things we had all grown up believing in. That hurt me, but I had to make a decision too. Do I stay or do I let go too? I decided to stick it out. Then when I turned 21, I turned in my paper work to serve a full time mission. That was an unforgettable experience in and of itself, but when I came home to the states, I found out that my family had fallen away from the church. I didn't understand. How could this be? Still, I decided to stay strong and hold on to what I had always believed in. I think it's evident in people's lives when they don't believe in something higher, like they've lost that spark in their eyes or glow around them. I've had to pray for myself from time to time to know for myself whether or not this church is true. The answer rarely ever comes fast or as strongly as I would like, but like I said before, it is always a quiet peaceful feeling I get, and the thought of "what is there to lose by following its teachings?" I know that I'm the happiest that I can be and the best person I can be by trying to live the gospel each day. It's never an easy thing to do, but it's sure worth it. As you can see, my testimony is a simple one, but one that has kept me anchored throughout my life.

I wrote it and realized how simple my testimony really was.

Nothing fantastic to brag about, nothing to rave about, I just always knew. That doesn't mean that I've never prayed...I have; many times.

Sometimes, the simple things are what we hold on to and many times, it's by simple things that the Lord moves mountains.

Really though, what is there to lose by living the gospel?

Thanks D. for this opportunity to share what I love most, this gospel of Jesus Christ.