For the Record

So I realized that it looked like I took credit for Brody's pictures in my Brown is Beautiful post. Just clarification. Noelle took some amazing pictures of Brody. I ruined a few of them with cropping to fit my purpose, but undid the cropping after making the collage. Only two of those Brody pictures were my hands at work. Okay, I'm a bit tired. Noelle, I love your perspective, angles, and artistic eye. Here is Brody ... being Brody.

Primary Activity Fun

The Primary activity was a great success. To fill in for those who don't know: Primary is the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for kids age 3 to 12. It is two hours long every Sunday with one hour being taught in a classroom setting with a small class and the second hour combined to learn through singing time and sharing time. This activity was so much fun. I think the Primary Presidency (old and new) did a fantastic job planning activities that all the ages could participate and enjoy themselves. It was so fun to see the kids interacting with each other and having a blast.

The activity started out right with a prayer and yummy snacks.

There was a lot of water balloon fun. Uncle Aaron had lots of water balloons being thrown at him and even hit up, but none of them popped. Those Tonga girls can throw! Thanks for being a good sport Uncle Aaron. I loved seeing the two anime girls running around. Sarah and Drew were collecting water balloons and running back to the tree in a relay race.

The kids ran through the sprinkler around the pole of the swings and back in a relay race. I love the pictures of Elijah and Drew tagging in to let the next person go. Seth was obsessed that all the grass was prickly so Auntie Ashley helped him run back in. Sarah makes that water look COLD! When all the water balloons were gone Auntie Elizabeth, Erin, and Ashley couldn't get enough. The picture in bottom left is William showing all the kids his grasshopper. Nice find!

This was so fun! The relay race that involved popping water balloons by sitting on them was so funny. Here are Seth, Elijah, Drew, and Brylie in action. The picture right before Brylie popped her thumb in her mouth she looked like she was trying so hard. Too bad I couldn't find room for it, because the sequence was soo funny.

Brown Is Beautiful

Here are two of the many reasons I LOVE brown eyes. Brody and Drew Reynolds. Seriously? Look at those brown eyes! I have a sister, two sisters in law, two nephews, and two nieces that were also blessed with those gorgeous brown eyes. Oh, and of course I can't forget those mommies in Hawaii that have amazing brown eyes Noelle, Angie, and Erin. I just want to beat you all up for being so beautiful. A few so obvious pros for having brown eyes: Brown eyes don't take away attention on the rest of the face like blue eyes do, but they compliment the rest of the features; and they are dreamy and exotic. I love them.

Brody having too much fun at the BYUH 14th ward primary party. So adorable.

Drew looking up at me at the birthday party for James. Anyone can get lost in those eyes.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Sunday Without Dad

The primary was so cute this Sunday. They all sang 'I'm so glad when daddy comes home'. It was so adorable. They all made ties for their dads and said happy father's day. After Primary I realized Elijah was having a rough time. I saw his face and I knew. I asked him if he was okay and he shook his head no. He wanted to give the tie he made to daddy and I told him that he could give it to daddy when daddy comes home. Elijah's eyes started welling up and he said, "I wanted to give it to him now. " he started crying and continued, "I miss him." I let him know it was okay and promised that we would take pictures and post it on the blog. Fathers really are important. I can see it more now that Shane is not here. The boys definitely take Shane for granted when he is here. I think this will be a difficult four more days, but no day will be as hard as today. I hope you feel peace and comfort in your heart Eli.

Adi and Eli in Primary after singing.
Dad, we love you!
Look at our ties for you. Eli made sure you could see the heart he drew for you Shane.
Another tie Eli colored.
Baby picture by Eli. He insisted on a close up.

The Boy's Video for you....

Your Family Appreciates You Daddy

Shane, I want you to know that I appreciate you. You are a wonderful husband. You always find a way to provide for us. You have made sure we had clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads, and food in our bellies. You always take care of us when we are sick, even if you are sick as well. You always try to keep life interesting with new games, spontaneity, and good humor. If we ever want to be entertained we can just watch your mad skills playing Guitar Hero, Rock Band, or Dance Dance Revolution. You are the biggest help even around the house even if I have no excuse for the way it looks. Thank you for the many times you have had 5 hours of sleep, 2 hours commute, and 9 hours of work but still came home to clean up, wash dishes, and clean the laundry. Thank you for being the best support with many of my endeavors that end with you being home with the children. Thank you for your support with finishing school here at BYU Hawaii, joining the concert choir, and encouraging me in any leisure activity. Thank you for always being willing to take on not only our children but sometimes 3, 5, or even 6 more children in addition to our own. Thank you for sending me to Washington to try and go to Dorthy's baby shower. Thank you for being a wonderful priesthood holder and example to our boys. I hope they will all take after daddy. Thank you for always being prepared to give blessings and to receive promptings from the spirit. Thank you for being a wonderful husband and father. We love playing games with you, going to the beach with you, and anything that involves spending time with you. We hope you have a wonderful day!

Our family.
Elijah says, "I love you. Thank you for playing games with me. Love, Eli"
Seth says, "Happy Father's Day. Thank you for the new movie games."
Jacob would say if he could, "Daddy, happy father's day. I hope you have a good time getting back to us."

We love you Daddy!

We're missing you this Father's Day. We just called...to say...we love you. We just called...to say how much we care. We just called to say....we love you. And we mean it from the bottom of our hearts. Elijah and Seth helped color this card for you, but baby Jay Jay just sat there and ate chalk. Elijah wrote I (heart) U DAD and drew a heart from memory.

Happy Father's Day

Elijah did such a great job didn't he? He wrote Happy Father's Day and drew a flower. We miss you soo much. We know that it's rough without you, but just think how excited we will be when we see you again.

We're Still Smiling!

It's felt like a long week. There have been so many things to do and I've felt the stress pile on. It's been hard emotionally for the kids because this is their first time daddy has been gone more than two days. I had a friend pass away. James was not a close friend, but he was close with a few friends of mine. God bless his family. I went on a buss adventure with the three kids to go to Jacob's well baby checkup appointment. He's healthy and in the 25th percentile for height and weight. The buss ride was easy and even fun for the kids. We went on another adventure to look for a junkyard to get a part for our Honda, then drop the Taurus off at the dealership in Pearl City. We didn't a part for our car, because that junkyard closed down and the Taurus barely made it to the dealership. We got a free shuttle ride home with a young fun driver. He was born and raised on Oahu and this was his first trip to the North Shore. He enjoyed the scenery. It still makes me laugh. We found out that the Taurus needs major repairs, so that means we don't need to worry about selling it anymore. Oh, well. All this and Shane is gone. I am pleased to announce that we are still smiling.

We had a nice walk to the Ice Cream Shop and Ohana video with the Stimmels yesterday. Today, we walked to foodland and brought Ella who was a doll the whole way.

Happy Happy Birthday James Dear!!

Happy happy birthday James dear. Happiness will come to you all year. If we had a wish, then it would be .... a happy happy birthday to you from me!

We all had so much fun celebrating your birthday at Castles today. It was so fun to celebrate your final birthday before fatherhood. Look at all the fun you have in store for you in the future.

We Miss You Daddy!

Shane is in Washington right now networking for jobs. He flew out Wednesday and he's not coming back until Thursday before my graduation.

Babe, I miss you and I am having the hardest time falling asleep. : (

Daddy, I miss you and love you. Seth wants to talk to you all the time on the phone and has been very emotional lately. Seth doesn't quite get that daddy is gone because of his age. He keeps asking when daddy will come home from work. I always say that daddy took an airplane ride, then he just gets jealous.

"Waa! I'm so sad I'm crying like a little baby." This was the exact thing Eli said when this picture was taken. We were at the Ford dealership dropping our car off. Too bad we need a new engine. Last stop for our car is the donation Kars 4 Kids. The boys were joking around crying for daddy. It's funny now because Eli was talking to Daddy on the phone tonight before bed and just burst into tears. He said he missed daddy. After I calmed him down, Shane said, "I miss you." and tears began to well up in Elijah's big blue eyes again.

Daddy!!!! I am sure deep down inside Jacob misses you too.

Elijah's hidden talent

Some of you may know Eli loves to take pictures. While he's a photographer, he takes tons of pictures. I love coming home to put the pictures on the computer with him because he is soo cute and opinionated. He gets frustrated if he didn't get certain pictures in focus, and is very proud of the pictures he likes. These are my four favorite pictures. Two were taken with my camera and two were taken with his camera. Enjoy!

Little Ella Bean peeking over the tree branch when I was holding her in the tree.

Big D and Uncle Mike. Eli took a couple pictures didn't like them, then asked the boys to pose again.

Noelle this is what you look like from a child's eyes.

Nice shot of Baby Jay Jay. The next few pictures were of Jacob in tears, but they were good too.

Ode to Big Brothers

Big brothers have such a tough job. Their younger siblings watch their every move. They have to be an example and they set the standard for the family when they are in school. They have to be strong to stand up for themselves, and even stronger to stand up for their siblings.

Soni and William. 'Nuff said. No, really they are wonderful kids. We have all had a taste of Soni being loud in the morning, but we always think of him as a very helpful big brother. Soni makes me laugh when he tells me something about a video game or cartoon, but he is serious about the topic as if it were real life. He tries to keep up with little sister Sarah, and almost always tries to include Sarah when the boys are playing. William has not given me a reason to complain. He always puts a smile on my face when I see him. He never fails to ask me if I am going to do the same thing he is on any given day. He asked if I was going to a 'Bible thing' he was going to. If they are headed to the beach, he always asks if I am going to the beach too. He is very responsible when watching over Sarah outside, to let mom get housework and schoolwork done. He even kept an eye on Jacob for ten minutes so I could get a few things done in my house.

Elijah is almost always willing to be helpful with baby Jacob. He has a love-punch relationship with Seth. He could use some anger management when interacting with three year olds, but he does really well being a protector of babies. Elijah was sitting with Jacob in the living room while I went to fix our car battery connection (thank you Rob Potts and Jess and Rose Bradfield). I told Elijah specifically, "Do not leave baby's side. I will be downstairs." I was quite surprised to see Elijah with Jacob in his arms walking towards me downstairs by the car five minutes later. He had a grin from ear to ear as I felt panic inside I told him great job and next time I would help him down the concrete stairs. He proudly said, "Okay. I didn't even leave Jay Jay's side." Great job Eli!

Seth, oh Seth. Where do I start? First of all, we all know Seth for his wonderful choices of words such as: I don't like you. I hate it. You idiot. You're so stupid. and any number of things that end with, 'punch you in the face.' My new favorite was towards Auntie Lela, "My mom will punch you in the face." Of course our recently remembered and implemented soap in the mouth has lowered the intensity of the problem, but unfortunately other children have caught on to Seth's potty mouth (sorry Ella). Seth loves his little brother. He actually love all little brother and sisters and random babies a little too much. You can never turn your back on Seth because any innocent small child will be squeezed in a hug, tackled in a hug, or smothered with kisses. He tries really hard to be helpful with Jacob, sometimes I just think he's trying to make Jay Jay cry.

Big Sister Tribute

Okay, so I know I was trying to make a tribute to the most wonderful big sisters I've seen around, but I also wanted to show what I can do. This shows signs of cropping and editing fun. I am pleased to announce that I have found a editing program that works well for me. I get really happy when I get a chance to play with picture editing, but I also get excited when I see these beautiful big sisters. I am a little sister and a big sister and trust me, the big sister part is much harder work than being a little sister.

Adilyn and Ella Stimmel have been almost nothing but helpful for new baby Paysen. I took Paysen to my house and jokingly told Ella that I stole him and I was taking her baby to my house. I heard Ella outside burst into tears as the door shut. When I rushed out and asked what was wrong, she told me, "You took MY baby Paysen!" I gave her a smile and invited her to come it too. She got up the stairs smiling, but I saw her face had tears welled up in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. Adi came up shortly after to say, "Mare! Paysen is not your baby! He came out of my mommy's tummy, so he's OURS! Sorry Adi and Ella for the confusion, I will never actually steal your baby.

Brylie is the proud big sister of Tyken. She is always proud to have a little talk with me about what her baby Tyken can or can't do. She likes to compare Tyken and Jacob. I look forward to the times when Brylie comes over to me just to talk. She really brightens my day, and Tyken gets a huge grin when he sees his sister. My favorite quote from Brylie is "You know ... my parents don't even like me." She just said it in a matter of fact way. Everyday I talk with her, I have new favorite things she says but that is the strongest in my memory. I know Seth isn't a very good example to Brylie about how to hold the baby brother, but thank goodness Tyken is such a tough guy.

Kali Jones is a new big sister to baby Krew. I almost never see them interact because Krew is always sleeping these days. Kali does such a good job with Krew when I do see them together. I love it so much to have Kali around especially when she is it what I like to call 'parrot mode.' For those of you who don't know, Kali is the funniest imitator ever. She will repeat words, phrases, and actions to the best of her ability. It is too much fun and hilarious.

Drew Reynolds is our veteran big sister. (Okay, so I know Adi knows big sisterhood well too.) She really knows how to take care of a baby brother. Drew cares for baby Brody, who loves having his sister around. It was funny when they came over for babysitting, Brody would only stay happy when he was playing with Drew. Drew always made sure to include Brody and bring him lots of toys. She gets so adorable when she starts talking to him all sweet right in his face. Brody loves it too!