Do you skip still?

I had a little aha moment this morning as I was watching my children get ready for church. We start at 11am, so I wake them up at 9am, in hopes that we'll make it on time. As each of them awoke they all started complaining how tired they were and then began dragging their feet to get ready. (The usual) Well all but one of them was not happy. My daughter Ebony came skipping into my bedroom to get the brush and then skipped out. She came skipping back into the room to get something else and then back out. She did this the whole time she was getting ready. I finally said to her, "Ebony why are you skipping?" And she says, "I'm happy to go to church!" Wow. I thought to myself, 'Cia, you need to put a lil skip in your step from now on.' I turned to my husband and said to him, "did you skip when you were younger." He said, "yeah, you only do that when you're young." I said, "Skipping is something so simple and yet brings immediate happiness." I challenge you all to try it if you haven't skipped in awhile. You cannot do it without a smile on your face. Let's all put a lil skip in our steps this holiday season!! Merry Christmas bloggers!

First Black Friday without my dad.

Ever since I had my first child I have gone to Black Friday with my dad and some of my other siblings. My dad loved being part of the mayhem and madness that Black Friday brings. So it just became a tradition. We all loved going with him because he became our wallet...LOL! He would see things and say just get it for your kids I'll pay for it. We would always say, "okay dad." haha j/k My dad would get in arguments, push people out of our way, and we would get my dads back when people would cuss him out. He seriously thought he was the Walmart Black Friday police...LOL! My mom hated our funny stories of dads drama sessions...haha Slowly our family members stopped coming because the craziness wasn't worth it, but my dad and I who are die hards went by ourselves last year. It was so cute. He didn't buy one thing, but just wanted to be in the mix of the event. I loved that experience with him, because I never spend one on one time with him. He also bought me breakfast and we just talked, just me and my dad. That is one memory I will never forget. (tears)
Anywayz, this year my dad didn't go. I know he wanted to because he kept asking who was going, but he had to work. He's really gotten to old to be doing Black Friday though. So I was just gonna go alone. And then my two saving graces (Anna and Klarah) came to my rescue. We had fun. Well maybe me and Anna more than Klarah, because we have girls and girls are more fun to shop for. I was so grateful to have them with me. This is what we did:

10pm-1:30am -Toys R Us ( We will never do that again. Toys r Us sucks and they are so unorganized. Do NOT go to their Black Friday)
1:30-3:30 -Walmart (loved it)
3:30- Del Taco (for a quick bite to eat)
4am-5:00- JCPenny (loved it)
5am-6:30 - Target (loved it)
6:30am- Walmart (again to look for DS lite)
7am - Home

I never shopped like that on a Black Friday. It was so much fun being with the girls and shopping til we dropped. I came home and slept til 1pm. My dad called me and asked who I went with and for how long. So cute. I then went and did some more shopping with my hubby from 3pm-7pm. We ended the night at California Pizza Kitchen and then I came home and knocked out til 9:30 am this morning. I am totally shopped out and grateful that my Christmas shopping is DONE!! Thank you Klarah and Anna for hanging in there while I dragged you all over SLC. Love ya and Black Friday!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I have started a new tradition with my family. We will give gifts of thanks to all our/their teachers and friends at Thanksgiving and during Christmas we will give gifts of love to our family. This way I am not so overwhelmed with giving so many people gifts. I can break it up in two months and feel the love throughout the holiday season.
So last night we delivered our gifts. Everyone was so touched and surprised at receiving gifts of thanks, that it gave us all a warm feeling of happiness and satisfaction that our tradition is appreciated. I was grateful to have my children part of this process in buying, wrapping, making cards of thanks, and giving. I feel that it has taught them to love and appreciate their teachers and friends.
I am truly grateful for all the trials and tribulations that 2010 has brought to my life. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be so grateful to be where I am right now. I am so thankful to all the people who I have crossed paths with and for their examples that they have bestowed upon me. I am thankful for my calling and for the great presidency that I work with. They are such an inspiration to me. I have learned something great from each and every one of them. I am grateful to be an instrument to God in working with 30 beautiful young women. They try me at times, but I have learned to love and know each one of them individually. I am most grateful for my children and my husband. They are my life! They are what has kept me going and continue to make me want to strive to be a mother/wife of Zion. I love my family, friends and the wonderful religion that I have been blessed to be raised in.
Happy Thanksgiving!! Now eat, drink plenty or water and get ready for Black Friday...LOL! Love you all!

We are the Champions, We are the Champions...

Today was my sons East little league's CHAMPIONSHIP banquet! My son plays for East and my husband coached their defense. I was a little reluctant to even have my son play this year, because last year East was totally unorganized. But you know my hubby is a die hard football fan, so he won. Well it was such a fun year! My son ran the ball and made touchdowns, tackled people so hard, I wondered if he himself wasn't hurt and made some lasting friendships with his teammates. Junior is the only boy in our family. So you'd understand why he loved going to football and hanging out with the boys for 4 hours a day! He didn't know what to do with himself last week, because football was over...LOL! But his Gremlin team won their CHAMPIONSHIP and it was the most AWESOME game ever. It was one of those can't sit down want to jump in the game and play type of games for me...hahaha. I know crazy huh! My voice was gone at the end of that game and I had a huge rush of energy when they WON!
I am so proud of my husband for being there for my son as well as his team throughout the season. He only missed one game, our anniversary weekend, which was a huge sacrifice for him. Solomon took his coaching "job" very seriously and hated when anyone would score on his defense. Even when East won, if someone scored on his defense that was all he could think about til the next game. My brother Lame said to him, "Dang boy, your defense only allowed 58 points TOTAL for the season. That's a lil over one touchdown a game." Sol was all proud, grinning from ear to ear! They played 11 games, lost 1 game and shut out 5 teams. I would have to say CONGRATULATIONS to my defense coach....hahaha!
Today at the banquet which was held at Rocky Mountain Pizza, they had the championship game playing while we were eating and then after the award ceremony, we watched a slide show. My daughter Jasmine turned and said to me, "I'm gonna miss football season." Awww, we had such a good year and I hope this team stays together for many years to come! "WHO ARE, WHO ARE, WHO ARE WE?? WE ARE, WE ARE, WE ARE EAST!

Just Me!

I was invited to a blogging G.N.O. and in order to enter the party, you had to bring a blog written about you without stating if you were married or had children. It was a guessing game so that we could get to know one another. This was my blog:


How do I describe myself without stating my marital status or whether I have children or not? This is a tough one for me. My whole identity is family. This post is taking me out of my comfort zone and enabling me to realize that I am more than that…

~I am a daughter of goodly parents who I love and who love me dearly.

~I am blessed to have been born into the covenant of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

~I am of ethnic background and my life stems from the culture that was planted in me at such an early age. (Whether I want to admit it or not…hahaha)

~I come from a very humorous bunch of siblings, who brighten my day through talk, text and Face book!

~I have not always stayed on the straight and narrow, but quickly learned that repentance is truly a gift that I should not take for granted, but to be grateful for.

~I love to be home. It is my safe haven and a great comfort to me. It is slowly but surely becoming my Heaven on earth.

~I have always had an imagination and I lose myself in books. Some say I’m a bookworm, I say I’m just having fun…LOL!

~I was blessed with the gift of listening, but I seldom listen to myself. (A goal that I’m trying to self-master)

~I am a shy girl around everyone, even my family. I’m weird like that.

~I enjoy life, whether I am sitting at home or relaxing with family and friends. But nothing beats a GirlsNightOut.!

My Gabriella!

I cannot believe my baby is 2 years old today. She is absolutely adorable. Gabby brightens every ones day when she's around. She is just so dang cute. Gabby loves to dance. She recently started mimicking us or anyone who dances around her. It's so funny to watch her try to do a Polynesian dance, hip hop dance, even the cha cha cha. I'm going to have to video tape her. Like I said she's so dang cute. Gabby has all of us in our household wrapped around her little fingers. She gets what she wants when she wants. She tries to get her way with her cousins who are her age and they won't stand for it. She becomes so undercover and "pretends" that she didn't hit them, but is always so quick to say, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She's so dang cute...LOL. But really those are her favorite words, 'I'm sorry.' She is very loving and caring towards everyone. She is always wanting to take care of you if you're hurt or if you look like you've had a hard day. I love this about her. I am so grateful to have her in my life. She is my little curly girl. I love you Gabby!! Love mommy.

My Ebony!!

6 years ago today my Ebony was born. She came into this world weighing a whopping 9lbs 2oz. Crazy, I know. As you can imagine, the labor was painful. But the only painful thing about Ebony is the volume she uses to speak. OMG, she wasn't only my biggest baby, but she also has the biggest mouth! You would've never thought this was so when she was younger, because she was so quiet. She was raised by the TV, and so she has quite the imagination. Seriously, I love that she can just entertain herself, without a cell phone, radio, TV, or even toys. She has imaginary friends and its so funny to watch her feed, talk and play with them. Everybody loves Ebony. She is so entertaining and so fun to be around. She is the life of the party without even knowing it! She makes friends wherever we go. From the post office to the park, Ebony tends to make friends with anyone and everyone. I love this girl and feel that she is everything that I'm not, but wish to be. She is so sure of herself in everything she does. She doesn't like to play sports, clean, or sit still. All Ebony likes to do is PLAY and annoy her siblings....LOL! I'm so grateful to have her in my life. She is my lil white girl and I love her soooooooo very much. I LOVE YOU EBONY!! Happy 6th Birthday! Love Mommy.

My Jas....

Today Jasmine turns 10! She is my lil spunky monkey. I love this girl to death. Every year we have made it a tradition to come to Hawaii for Jasmines birthday which is on the 4th of July. We tell her that the fireworks off the beach are just for her. She absolutely loves it and so do the rest of my kids. We camp on the beach the night before and then spend the whole day at the beach swimming and bbq-ing. The night ends with a movie played on this huge screen and then fireworks. Jasmine loves it all! We are out here in Hawaii right now. Jasmine was put into a basketball camp for the weekend. She is very competitive and LOVES sports. No matter if we are in Utah or here in Hawaii, everyone who knows her, knows she loves to play ball and will do whatever they can to get her involved where they are at. What makes it even better, is that she loves it and never lets them down.
Jasmine doesn't only love sports, but she loves her family. She is very protective. If anyone does anything to hurt them, she is always the first one there to protect them. Aunt, uncle, mom, dad, cousins, siblings, grandma, grandpa....she will fight for any one of them. At the same time, she is also very sensitive. She does not like to be brought down. She'll fight her tears til the bitter end, and when she does break down...she breaks down!
I love you Jasmine and I'm grateful that you chose me, to be your mother. It's an honor for me and I adore you. I hope you have a wonderful 10th birthday.!! Ummma from Gabby!!

Happy 9th birthday Junior!

9 years ago today I gave birth to my only son Junior. I remember his birth more than any of my other kids, because he came within 45 mins from the time I started contractions at home. When I drove up to the hospital and got into my room, I was ready to push. My best friend Angie and my mom were taking their sweet little time coming into my room, because they thought I would just be getting all my monitors set up, but instead I was pushing my sweet lil Junior out...LOL! Before Junior was born, Solomon didn't want to have him named after him. He said that he wasn't named after his dad, so it wouldn't matter. So I chose the name Casanova. Funny I know, but I loved that name. And I was going to nickname him Nova. When Junior came out, Solomon started crying and asked me if he could name him Solomon Sima Lealao Jr. And what a perfect name for him! They are exactly alike. Junior has the same size head as Sol and the same hot temper. He looks just like me though, thank goodness..hahha j/k.

I love this boy sooooo much. He does little loving things for me that touches me more than he knows. He'll put a blanket on me when I fall asleep on the couch, when we get home late at night, he makes sure all the girls are in first, he ALWAYS says goodnight and I love you mommy, he thinks he's my defender from all the guys who he thinks are looking at me (so cute), he tells me I'm beautiful on a daily basis, and he likes to sit and conversate with me. He is also a tester of my nerves, because he lives in a house full of girls and is always fighting for his space. I'm trying to better that. My hope for Junior is that he grows to be a man of God. That he honors his priesthood and serves a full time mission. My hope is that he never stops doing the little loving things he does for me. I LOVE YOU JUNIOR! HAPPY 9TH BIRTHDAY.

Success!

My Young Women carnival was a complete success. We made more than anyone that I know has ever heard of. This was our first year and the first time a carnival has been done in our stake, and I feel we did pretty well. There are obviously some things that we could've done better. But it's a live and learn process. Next year will be even better and I pray we make even more. I'm grateful to the Lord for His hand in our work. He lead us in the right direction and even blessed us with His spirit throughout the whole process. My presidency all came together that day and we worked exceptionally well as a team. I am honored to work with these women and hope to one day take a lil piece of them and work it into my life.
The day of the carnival began with chaos and ended with pure exhaustion and joy! We had no tables in our ward, our Young Women were extremely tired (it was 6:30am) and we had more people there than we anticipated, so we needed to call for some support. All in all we grossed $3330. It was such a successful fundraiser and I'm so happy that it is finally over!

Doing nothing.

So I've been pretty busy with my Young Women carnival fundraiser and haven't had time for my normal life. The carnival is officially 9 days away and I'm freakin nervous...to say the least. My young women, all 30 of them, came over to my house last night for mutual to finish up their booths. I was so excited about the turnout because I can feel and see the support from our girls. They are very dedicated to this fundraiser and I need it to go smooth for them. They've put a lot of time and effort into this and I just don't want to disappoint them. I have been working out daily, because it's what wakes me up in the morning. I've eaten pretty good, because I don't really have an appetite. Our family has started reading our scriptures nightly, because I seriously need the Lord right now. And I've broken out really bad all over my face! What the crap is that all about?! I know I'm stressing, but when I was eating chocolate everyday and stressing, I had the clearest skin. Now I'm going through the opposite. I don't care what all the "professionals" say about chocolate, it's good for ME!! lol Anywayz, that's my life in a nutshell. I miss doing nothing. I mean I did mom stuff, but this is craziness! I miss couponing also. The last time I had a major coupon trip was last month. It really gets me on a high that takes me a couple of days to come down from. And that is why I can't do it right now with all the madness. Wow I needed to release some of my feelings. Enjoy doing nothing...ahhaha!

Do you get nervous when you're in charge of something?

Is your life crazy right now?

What do you think about chocolate?

Sushi Yah!

On Saturday we went out for my friend/cousin Mele Tausinga's 31st birthday to Zushi Yah. Me, Mele, Lyni, and Isa along with Mele's sister Fane and cousin ( I forgot her name, but i'll write it in later). Lyni and Isa had been to Zushi Yah before, but the rest of us hadn't. It's an all you can eat sushi restaurant. I have never really eaten sushi before. I just tasted it about 2 months ago and liked it, but since eating at this restaurant I LOVE Sushi! Our first roll was a crispy roll with shrimp, cream cheese and something else. It was fried and delicious. We also had a tuna roll, nigiri sushi with eel, salmon and octopus (which we didn't order) and some other rolls. I tried every type of sushi that was ordered, besides the octopus, and it was sooooooo good! We stayed there for about 3 hours trying to finish just our first order. The deal at Zushi Yah is that it is an all you can eat restaurant and if you have any food left on your plate, you have to pay for it. So we kind of had to visit the restroom a couple of times to get rid of the evidence. We were so loud at our table, and I swear everyone thought we were a bunch of lesbians who were drunk...LOL! We had so much fun and our conversation was hilarious!! Mele is such a sweet and very honest person. She is very blunt and sometimes doesn't know how blunt she is. She is so funny without trying to be. She is such an incredible mother. She has so much patience with her children and with life itself. She married to a great man who spoils her unconditionally. I love this girl and her cute lil/big familia!! Happy Birthday Mary!

Worn out!

I have finally "allowed" myself to realize that I am literally worn out. I have been on such an emotional roller coaster this week. Today I was able to sit and be still in my thoughts and I couldn't even stay awake. My body wanted, well needed to rest, but my mind was still running at a hundred miles an hour. I didn't listen to my body, so now I have a headache. Even while writing this post! I'm relaxed and ready for bed, but my mind is still running. I need to listen to my body for once and just breath. I'm on an anxiety high with my carnival, my daughters 5th grade graduation (hello it's only elementary LOL) and just life period. I'm going to "allow" myself right now, to not do a dang thing for the rest of the evening. I will be doing a 5k tomorrow with our stake, called the Cannonball Run, so I need to be well rested. Til next time...listen to your body, it knows best!

Tonight made it all real...

Tonight our Young Women along with the help of our Young Men went out and began pre-selling our Carnival fundraiser tickets. OMGoodnes, I have been waiting for this day since February, and it finally has arrived. We need to raise at least $1300 for our 30 girls to get to girls camp. All of our girls showed up to go out and raise their money. They were all motivated and put their game faces on. It was such a thrill. I brought along Jasmine and Serena to help. We separated the girls into 12 groups. We combine our activities with the 9th ward, so we had to cover 600 houses. My group consisted of Serena, Jas, me and Vida. It was so much fun. Vida is our stake Young Women's counselor and Solomons aunt. So we were told to go to 50 houses and we ended up going to all the homes of Vida's friends and about 10 of our assigned houses. We raised $187 after 2 hours of selling. Jasmine was my little sales lady. She was so confident in her sales pitch. Serena was the ticket holder and had a shy confidence, but she did her part. It was fun. So after 2 hours of selling, we all came back together at the ward and counted the money. We made an awesome $897.00. Isn't that crazy? All the groups were not able to get to every home in 2 hours, but could you imagine if we did. We would've made our goal in one night. I am soooooo excited now. Tonight made everything I've been working for for the past 4 months, REAL! I'm so proud of my Young Women and especially proud of my lil group. If you want information about our carnival let me know. I will be posting more information later!!

Service is...

Yesterday my sister Anna asked me to help her with her Primary activity that she was in charge of. If you don't already know, she has also been called as the new Primary president of her ward, but has not been officially called in her ward yet. Well just from yesterdays experience and watching her with the kids, I know that she will be an excellent president. She has such a fun personality that draws the kids in. At the activity she had 4 stations. A decorate a cookie station (my favorite because the cookies were sooooo delicious) a Fathers day origami making card station, a Fathers day decorate a frame station and a sock game station. Each of the old presidency were there manning their stations. The were very supportive. My mom, sister Eta, sis in law Klarah and myself were helping them with each of the stations. It was so cute. I hope she post pictures of what they did, if not I'll take pictures and try to post them. It was so much fun being able to serve my sister along with her primary. I will never forget the saying, "When you are in the service of your fellow being, you are only in the service of your God." My dad constantly taught us this principle. I love the feeling of service. I have taught my kids another saying that I learned in seminary, "Service is like peeing your pants, everyone sees it, but only you feel the warmth inside." LOL My kids don't really like that one, but hey it gets the meaning across. Good job Anna.

Part II

Like I said in my previous post, I'm going to write about the answer that came to me through my prayers. So as I was praying, really praying, I could see clearly what the Lord was wanting me to see. I was asking Him what it was that I could do better as a mother and what it was that has brought about this change in Serena. Then in my mind, I could see her walking into our home and feeling automatic tension. Sol and I have been going through some difficult times and I could see while I was praying that this is affecting Serena in a negative way. Obviously. The answer I got was that I needed to make my home a place of PEACE and REVERENCE! The truth hit me so hard that I began hysterically crying. I immediately asked for forgiveness for creating such an environment for my children. Another image came to me and that was of myself sitting on my laptop when the kids came home from school and Serena was sitting across from me trying to talk to me. It was the exact scene that if I had just paid more attention and given her more of my time, this whole thing could have been dealt with sooner. Again I asked for forgiveness. And then another scene of Serena came into my mind of her sleeping peacefully. What I got from this was that that was the only time in her day that she was able to experience PEACE. I immediately felt at peace. I felt that I was forgiven and that I needed to forgive her also. I know that her mistake was a cry for help and that I needed to answer with LOVE and give her PEACE! I ended my prayer with so much gratitude towards the Lord for helping me to see my life clearly and for communicating instantly with me. I have such a strong testimony of prayer and I'm grateful that the Lord trusts me to raise His heavenly children here on earth and also to be there for me when I myself make mistakes. This experience has taught me so much and from that day I have strived to become a better mother and daughter of God. I know that my trials don't end here, they are merely beginning, but I also know that the Lord will be there to help me every step of the way, if I just ask. I'm a whole new mommy now!!

Trials as a mother.

So yesterday I was looking through my purse to see how much money I had left so that I could grab some things from the store. Well I noticed that $5 was missing. I immediately thought that Sol took it for his lunch, but then a feeling came over me that it wasn't him, it was Serena. I knew why. She came into the living room and had a $5 bill in her hand. I asked her where she got it and she said from her friend. They made a bet and she won. I was too consumed with what I was doing and let it go. That's where I went wrong. I should've probed into it more, but I didn't. Well I confronted her in the kitchen that same day. First I asked Sol to make sure, and then I asked Serena. She flat out lied to my face. When I told her that I would call the school tomorrow and ask the girl if she gave her money, she still stood her ground. I said "Serena are you being honest with me?" She said, "yes mommy I promise." That nearly killed me. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was lying. I then said, "don't make promises you can't keep." She broke down and said, "what is my punishment if I did take it?" Wow, she really wanted to know her punishment before she told the truth. Hello, does she not know that stealing and lying are wrong. I said there is no punishment if you didn't do it, but if you did, you will have to pay the money back. She then admitted that she took it. She said she took it because she couldn't find her money and just thought we shared. I said to her, "did you ask me where your money was, so that I could remind you that we moved it?" She just nodded her head no. I called my husband into the room and had all the kids go downstairs so that we could deal with this. I was shocked that she had no remorse in her eyes, or even tears. She just sat there cold and lost. I became worried that she didn't UNDERSTAND that what she did was wrong. I mean we teach our kids to Choose The Right, but are we really teaching them what that means. My husband said just slap her and she'll learn her lesson and that's when she started crying. I said no, that is too easy, I need her to understand and learn from her mistakes. In the end I told her that she was committing criminal acts and so her punishment will be that in a way. She will pay back restitution for what she did and she will not be able to go anywhere or talk to anyone before and after school. So she had to clean the windows and the blinds in the whole house and was grounded for a day. I needed her punishment to reflect her mistake in a way. I then became numb for the rest of the day. I am so worried about her. I prayed right after that ordeal and then basically cried myself to sleep as I was praying for her again. I can see now, why the Lord chose to put me into Young Women's. He is preparing me for what's yet to come. I pray that Serena learns from her mistakes now, rather than later. I love her so much and it just hurts to know that she is crying out for my attention in a negative way. I asked the Lord to help me be a better mother to her and the rest of my children. I need them to know that I LOVE them.

Part two of this post will come later. I had an answer to my prayers and I'll write about it when I have more time.

Speechless.

When I was scrolling through some of the blogs that I follow. I came upon this picture followed by a poem about Mothers. I was speechless. This picture does not need words to describe it. I was almost drawn to tears. It reminds me of myself with my baby Gabby. I love this picture. I think I will print this picture and hang it in my home.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

My Mothers Day gifts.

Today my husband surprised me with an appointment to get my van detailed. I was so excited, but a little upset at the same time. Yes I know that at least he thought about doing something special for me, but he didn't consider what I had planned for the day. Oh and did I write that we only have one car. Well luckily for him, lol, I mean us my sister wasn't using her car so we were able to borrow hers for 5 hours. Yes that is how long it took this man to detail just the inside of our van...5 hours. At first he said to my husband over the phone, "oh it will only take about 2 hours." But after he seen it in person, it changed to 5. He called my husband and said, "your van is very, very dirty, I will need it for 4 to 5 hours!" LOL No, we are not filthy people, it's just after having our van for 6 years and having 5 children, and never professionally cleaning it, it obviously was DIRTY!!
When we went to pick it up, OMG, our van looked brand new!! I was totally shocked. From the filthy ceiling to the floor, from the door panels, to the ash tray, it was immaculately clean. I ABSOLUTELY love it. This definitely be on my top 10 greatest Mothers Day gifts. It's not a normal gift. It's one I've wanted for a while, but my husband always got me the same ol thing. I am grateful that he thought outside of the box and did something "thoughtful" for me. I would post pictures, but I didn't take any before ones, so it will just look like a clean car. But just imagine it...hahaha!
Another gift I got for myself was made by my sister in law, Tala. She has a blog called Motuliki Create. She sells her creative concoctions and you can purchase them from her etsy shop. Her button is on my page. But it is so cute. She lives in St. George, so her mom was coming up here this weekend and brought it to me. I love it. I'm going to surround it with pictures of my kids that Kayleen took. I will post the final product when I'm done.
If you know my family, we like to give our gifts early. I love the gifts I have received and just want to tell all you mothers out there. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!

Called to the principals office.

When someone attacks a bears cubs, mama bear reacts!! That is exactly what got me into the principals office today. Hilarious thinking back on my mama bear moment, but I don't regret defending my child.
Yesterday after school, my kids were all running to my van. Well Serena is on honor patrol, which are a group of students who patrol the halls and get the kids across the street safely, so she stays after until most of the kids are picked up. There were about 15 or so kids left just hanging out. Anyways, as my kids were running to my van I heard a boy yell, "Serena's a b*&$#!" I turned to where this lil boy was yelling from and I thought did I hear that right. And he looks at me and says, "Serena is a B*&^%!"
Mama bear came out instantly. The gospel left my mind at that moment and I went off on this lil boy. I leaned out my window and said something along the lines of "What did you just say to my daughter. I know you're not talking about my daughter. Do you even know what that word means. Don't you ever, ever, ever disrespect my daughter in your life. If I ever hear that you call her that disgusting name I will hunt you down and beat you! Did you hear me. I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND BEAT YOU! This lil boy at first looked at me in shock and then because I was freaking out for a while starts to become brave again. All of his friends as well as some other kids were standing there with mouths wide open, not believing that this is happening. If you know me, you know that this is not my normal. But the fact that he used that word on my child and so loosely, set me off.
He looked at me as if he were all cool and said, "So what you can't find me." I started shaking because I was so angry, but I wouldn't let myself get out of my van. I knew that if I got our I would've slapped this boy into tomorrow and then be locked up...lol . I said, "boy trust me. Do you know what hood you're in. This is Glendale and I own this. I can find you just like that and I will beat you down if you dare say that to my daughter again. Remember that "B" word BEAT because that's what I'll do to you if you disrespect my daughter again! And I drove off. As I did I could hear all the kids laughing hysterically at this boy. I knew immediately that that scenario could have been handled better, but it was too late. I called Gina (Larsen) Blake at the school and told her what had happened. She said she'll take care of it and call me later.
Well that brings me to the principals office moment. Gina called me today and asked to come and talk with the principal about what happened. I wasn't worried or afraid. I knew that since this happened on school grounds they needed to make a report. So I went and talked with the principal. She was very understanding and just asked me questions as if I were a child, because hello that's exactly how I acted...lol, but she was very professional about it. We continued our talk about how we as mothers act on impulse when someone hurts our child. I told her that this is a "I can't believe I did that moment for me." Her main concern which I appreciated was Serena. She didn't want her to internalize what had happened as okay or be embarrassed. But she was not being judgemental at all about any of it. She also apologized that there was no one out there to protect my child from any of this even happening. Usually there is a teacher out there, but not yesterday. She apologized over and over for that and said that from now til the end of the school year, all outside staff will be on patrol, no excuses. She as well as the vice principal shared stories with me about their "I can't believe I did that moments." All in all this was a lesson well learned on all sides. I didn't have to go to the principals office, but I wanted to let her know that I wasn't going to hunt this lil boy down or hurt him in any way. It was a mama bear reaction. I think the boy would have rather that had happened because he got suspended for a day, no recess for the rest of the year and he cannot leave the school until all students have left the school grounds. I told the principal, I think what I did was enough, but she informed me that as she was talking to the students, a lot of girls told her what a jerk he had been to them and all the mean and degrading things he was saying to them as well. So I hope he learns his lesson. Hey maybe it was meant to be. Maybe I needed to bring this lil boy down a couple notches. I'd like to think I changed his life for the better...lol.
I have to go repent now...seriously!

Let the games begin!!

I've joined a biggest loser competition and I AM GOING TO WIN!!! Look at my before picture, so not cute. It was taken in Hawaii last year. Well we're going to Hawaii again this year on July 4th. I will be at least 20+ pounds lighter. I am ready and it's time to get my act together.

Well the competition was put together by Inga Tukuafu. It was $25 to join and the pot is at $950.00. Wow huh? Well my sister Anna, my mom and I have all joined. We just might become secret enemies for the next 2 months..ahhaha. But I'll give them back their $25 when I win, I mean why not reward them for their effort...ahahaha! I'm so excited to become slim. I'll save the becoming trim part for after the competition. All I'm thinking about is losing pounds and winning mula! Two days down, 60 more to go!! I got this yaayyyyeahhh.

B-day party/ Best of EFY

I wasn't able to write yesterday due to it being Serena's birthday party, and it sure was a party! She wanted a music party and that's what she had. At the same time as the party, I had the missionaries over for dinner. Hey why not kill two birds with one stone. So the missionaries were able to be fed and we along with our b-day guests were able to be spiritually fed. After the missionaries shared their message and were sent off with food for a week...lol, we started the music party. We played name that tune, had a lip syncing contest, played name that animal sound, and to top off the party had a talent show and then a dance. The girls had soooo much fun. I loved watching them sing, dance and just be the little girls they are. Serena invited 11 girls: Family consisted of Cia Sii, Ilaise, Jasmine, Ariana, Ebony and Nessa. Friends were: Sose (Mele), Amelia, Jared, Marleni, Kaylee who also brought Leticia. One thing I learned from this birthday party was that I should never mix friends with family. Some of Serena's friends were feeling left out and began to complain, which was soooo irritating. So lesson learned, never again, unless it's Sose...she was so sweet. All in all the party was simple and so fun!

Today I was able to attend the Best of EFY with my Young Woman up at the U of U institute building. It literally was 3 hours of pure spiritual joy! There were 3 speakers, Bro. Robley,who spoke about Mapping your way on the straight and narrow path, Sis Shupe, she spoke about Which way your tent is facing and Bro. Hilton who is the co-author of the book WHY. He spoke on Why? Principles behind the practices. Each one of these speakers were soooo good. The youth of today are so blessed to have such great leaders who care so much for them. My favorite saying taught was, "When you break the rules, the rules break you!" It's so simple yet so strong. I challenged my girls to bear their testimonies about what they learned and how it made them feel. I'm so grateful for my calling and love my Young Woman!

What are your thoughts about b-day parties?

Have you attended EFY?

What are some sayings that you love?

11 yrs today!

Eleven years ago today I had my first child Serena Angelaite Lealao. Her first name comes from Solomon's only sister, her middle name comes from my best friend Angela and my oldest niece who passed away at birth Atelaite. Their names were combined to make Angelaite. She was not supposed to have a middle name, because I don't have one, so I thought she should be like me. Well one night when I was about 8 months pregnant, I had a dream. And in that dream a birth certificate was floating in the air, but the room was dark and all I could see was the birth certificate. It eventually froze in place and all I could read was Serena Angelaite Lealao. The middle name was in bold. This dream reoccurred a couple of times through the night. I got up and grabbed a piece of paper and wrote the name down. I didn't understand at the time what I was writing, til I read it to myself and realized that it was a mix of my best friend and my niece. So there you have it, the story of Serena's name. I love all the woman that she is named after. They are strong, independent and they are all the oldest children of their families. Just like my Serena. I don't know my niece, but I feel that if she were here today, that is exactly what she'd be like. Hey, maybe her and Serena were best cousins in Heaven. Imagine that reunion!

Okay enough memories and tears. I want to name 11 wonderful traits about my daughter on her 11th wonderful birthday:

1. She's absolutely gorgeous.
2. She is my mini me. (can get annoying at times..lol)
3. She is a total nerd, from her schooling to her dancing! (it's totally hilarious)
4. She was sent here to humble me.
5. She is a mini mom to her siblings as well as her cousins. (ask them...lol)
6. She is very responsible.
7. She is such a girly girl, but isn't afraid to play sports. (she may not be the best, but she tries)
8. She is learning to become independent. (this scares me, because she's leaving my side)
9. She is very modest. (I'll take credit for that one..haha)
10. She is a very good student at school and at church.
11. She loves me unconditionally!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERENA!! Mommy loves you.

Do you have any memorable dreams?
What do you love about Serena?
Where did your childrens names come from?

My Son.

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. But I wanna focus this post on my only son Junior. Right now he is in an AAU basketball tournament and he is playing flag football. I was dreading him turning 8 years old because I knew my husband would put him into football. He is my only son and I didn't want him in a contact sport. I don't want him to get hurt. I'm such a paranoid mom...hahaha. Well sad to say Junior is naturally talented in football. I've tried everything to get him to LOVE basketball, but he doesn't. He is talented in basketball also, but football is his sport.
Well yesterday he played his first game in flag football. He's never played it and he was so nervous because he didn't really know what to do. But his memory of tackle football came back to him by the second half and he ran the ball all the way down to the 5 yard line and he also made an interception for a touchdown!! Woowhoo that's my boy. I always say that Junior is silent but deadly. And he is. He lets his talent and skill speak for him, but he doesn't ever like to speak of it. I love this boy and I pray that he eventually grows to hate football...LOL j/k I love you Boo!!

Luisa Iongi

Today me, Anna, Lyni and Mele drove out to our good friend Isa's house to celebrate her birthday by having lunch with her. We all live here in SLC and she lives out in the boonies, Tooele. I've known Isa for over 10 years. She is the only close friend I have who I didn't grow up with. That is a huge accomplishment for me because I do not trust easily, but when I met Isa after high school, I just knew we'd remain good friends. Isa is a woman of many talents. She is a great cook, house keeper, mother, friend, sister, wife and she's very creative, has held many high callings in our Church and is loved by all. She is one of those people who impact lives in a very positive way. Everyone wants to be around her and she knows everyone, seriously, Isa knows everyone..hahaha! While we were at her house having lunch, Mele was telling us about a time that she and Isa met up at rugby to have a lil picnic and talk. Well they couldn't even hold a conversation because either people kept coming up to Isa or she was wanting to say hi to them. Needless to say she is Miss Popular! It's funny because he husband is so not a social butterfly. He literally locks himself in the room when we come over or he leaves..ahahaha Like today he left to play golf when we got there..sad! Well who can blame him? He's in a house full of crazy woman with crazy kids...lol! Anyways, it was a great lunch date and I missed all the girls so much. We don't get together as often as I'd like, but when we do it's like we've never been apart. I'm so grateful to have Isa in my life as well as the rest of my very good friends. Love you Isa and Happy Birthday.

Journaling.

Today our Young Woman president, Lashell Johnson taught us a lesson on keeping a journal. There was a quote from Kimball, I think, that said something along the lines of 'if you're not keeping a journal, repent and start today!' Wow huh? That instantly woke me up. I intended my blog to be my journal, but have slacked a lot. So now my goal is to write on my blog daily. Even if it's just talking about my day, I'll do that. I learned and have known that a journal is a history of my life and that I need to keep one for my future generation.

So today is my niece Cia Si'i's 13th birthday. She is officially a teenager. I can't believe how time has flown by. I remember the day she was born. We were all in Reno, Nv. for her special day. When they brought her in the room she didn't have a name yet. My sister Eta said that she wanted to name her after all her sisters. This was hard for her husband Peli's side of the family because Eta's oldest daughter Atelaite Kavapalu passed away soon after she was born. Peli's family wanted Cia to be named Atelaite. How ridiculous is that, to have two daughters with the same name, as if the first one was never born. Eta stood her ground and said no, my oldest child came to this earth and received her body. She was called back home because she had fulfilled her mission. My baby's name is Marcia AnnaLina Kavapalu. I am honored that she is named after me as well as my other sisters. She is absolutely beautiful, like me..lol! She is like me in some ways. She is shy, but bossy. Brave when she needs to be. Gains confidence when she is around her family. Loves to be Polynesian. Doesn't know her beauty. And has very beautiful hair. I love this girl so much. She is the oldest living grandchild and unfortunately has to deal with ALL of her aunties and uncles strict ways. We all feel that we raised her or were raised with her because Eta had her when she was only 18. She is a blessing in all our lives. I pray that she carries my name well or else..j/k and that she grows up to be a strong Latter Day Saint woman. I love you sis!! Happy 13th Birthday.

What are your thoughts on journaling?

Do you have a name sake?

What do you love about Sis?

TRIALS...

Why do we go through trials? Can't life just be free from problems? NO

This past week has been really tough for me. My toilet leaked downstairs to my other bathroom, my furnace stopped working and the alternator in our van went out. We were told that our toilet isn't covered by our insurance and neither are pipes. So what are we paying for??? Insurance is such a rip off. So Solomon had to DIY our furnace and toilet this week, so that we great. But last night our toilet started leaking again. OMG what a nightmare!! On the bright side of things, the Lord answered my prayers and blessed us with someone who fixed our van for free! My cousin called me to remind me of something and we just started talking. I told her about all the drama with our house and van. He husband had changed an alternator in a van like ours before and offered to come and help Solomon change ours. He basically did it alone. Solomon was there to pass him the tools, lol! So 2 problems down and 1 to go. One major problem! I just keep saying to myself, "this too shall pass." This is when I miss renting...lol.

What do you think about trials?

How is your insurance?

What gets you through your hard times?

Gabby in nursery.

My baby Gabby is finally 18 months. I say finally because with my husband being a high councilman, me as the YW councelor and my kids all in primary, no one is able to watch my Gabby. So now that she is 18 months, she is allowed to go to nursery. I prepped her all morning and even taught her to nod yes when I said, "mommy's going byebye." But I should know, all the learning goes out the window once you're in the situation...hahaha Gabby did good when I took her into nursery. Primary music was playing, all the toys were out, the teachers were very welcoming and Gabby went straight to they toys and started playing. I walked out with no problem. But as soon as another child, which was the bishops son, walked in and started screaming his head off, all that changed. Gabby started screaming her head off, nose running, dramatically tossing her head back, and calling my name, they brought her to me. She instantly covered her eyes like a drama queen and acted like it was the teachers fault. She is so Serena...hahaha I took her back because I didn't want her to think that nursery was a bad place. I sat in there with her and as soon as she was comfortable with the other kids, I got up to walk out. I don't know what it is, but kids have a "mommy radar" on them. She knew as soon as I turned the knob that I was at the door. She started her screaming again. So I had her walk to me so that we could both leave. I had to go to my class. She walked towards me with her mean mug face, took my hand and turned towards all the other kids, pointed her finger at them and yelled something baby talkish to them. The teachers all laughed as did I. Lets just say it was a memorable experience, and we'll try again next week.

How were your children's first day of nursery?

Discipline.

I learned something so simple yet very impacting. My husband and I have never agreed on how to discipline our children. I was relating this to a friend who is a very visual learner/teacher.

Discipline

(comes from the word)

Disciple

(which means)

Follower

(and who is the greatest example to follow, Christ)

Lead by example

Mirror that!

I hope that that makes sense. It is a very profound way to look at, not only with discipline, but with life itself.

Something to think about!

My nephew is too honest sometimes...lol!

On Sunday my husband spoke at my sisters ward. So I went there to listen to him and then to help my sister Anna with her primary sharing time. The ward she goes to was my first family ward as a married woman, so I have so much love for this ward. Well one of the primary teachers, Ofa, had to attend a baby blessing, so my sister volunteered me to teach her class (isn't that the best way to welcome your visitors and to make sure they never visit again...lol) Anyways, I was happy to find out that I had the privilege to teach the 4 and 5 yr olds. Which included my daughter Ebony and my much too honest nephew K.J.

So I had about 10 mins to read through my lesson before class. We went to class and I held up this picture of baptism. I said to my class, while holding up my picture, " what is this a picture of." K.J. enthusiastically yelled out, "The dad is gonna hit his son!" I started laughing so hard. I said, "K.J. does daddy do this to you?" And his honest reply, "yes, he always does this to me." And he showed me how his dad, just like the picture, puts his hand in the air and threatens to hit him. It was so funny!


The moral of my story is be careful what you say and do to your children, they will put you on blast! LOL
Love my nephew.


What funny/honest things have your kids said or have you heard?

WHY?

The co-author of the book "why?" was our guest speaker tonight during our Young Women's New Beginnings. He is an excellent speaker. He spoke right at our Young Women's level. He has been a seminary teacher for the past 12 years, so he knows exactly what he is talking about. He based his talk around his book why? and talked mainly about modesty and dating. I loved all his analogies. He said that youth never ask the what question, but they always ask the why question.
Why shouldn't I steady date in high school? Brother Sweat used the concept of drinking orange juice first and then rinsing your mouth out with Listerine. He asked what would happen if you rinsed your mouth out with Listerine first and then drank the orange juice? We answered it would be nasty and sour. He said isn't it interesting that the contents are exactly the same, all that's changed is the order! Just as steady dating in high school. If we DO NOT steady date in high school our life would be so much better. But if we do steady date in high school first we could end up in a nasty and sour relationship!
Isn't that such a cool analogy. All the while he had scripture references and graphs to back all his facts up.
Why should I dress modestly? He then gave an analogy on modesty. He based it on piranha's. He told a story of fishing for piranha's on his mission. All he was told to do was put some meat on a hook and toss the line over the boat. Within seconds the piranhas attacked his meat. Later on in his life he took his young men out fishing for rainbow trout. They had to hook their power bait, cast the line and wait for a while before there was even a little nudge. He compared this to modesty. "If a young woman is constantly revealing her skin, who will she attract? She will attract "piranha" boys who are primarily interested in her flesh. On the other hand, if a young woman casts out righteousness, intelligence, spirituality, humor and confidence (the power bait) this is exactly who she will attract: young men who appreciate righteousness, intelligence, spiritually , humor and confidence."
So true huh? If you ever have the honor of hearing Brother Sweat speak, don't pass it up. He is an excellent speaker and you will not regret it. Especially if you have youth age children. Tonight was a beautiful night and I am thankful for the gospel that I have. And for the simple teachings that we are taught to live by. The way is prepared if we just follow. It's that simple. Chews to be why's!! (that was my handout with gum and candy)

He is bound!

"I am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say ye have no promise."

I don't know if those are the exact words, but I do know that it was a scripture mastery when I was in school. I have been a witness of this promise from the Lord these past couple weeks. Things have just come into my life very unexpectantly but at a time when it was very much needed. We as a family have been scripture reading and started due to a challenge given to us by our Stake presidency. So since January we have been reading and studying the scriptures. We don't read every single day, but we read as much as we can. Our Stake president promised us blessings if we would follow through with this challenge, and believe me we have been blessed so much. The first blessing I've felt was that we could only afford to put my oldest daughter in polynesian dance, I really wanted my other girls to dance, but when you have no mula, sorry. So last week I took all of my girls to watch my oldest, and the owner said to me, "why aren't your other girls dancing?" I told him because I couldn't afford it. He said, "don't worry about it, bring them next week with thier lavalava's." I was so happy. Then my brake, ABS and battery lights all came on at the same time. My car has been making a really bad noise for a while now, but no mechanic can find the problem. So my sister and I were shopping at Walmart and I was telling her my car problems, and this guy who is a mechanic, overheard me and told me to bring my car and he'd check it out for half the price of most mechanics. I took it the next day and sure enough he couldn't find anything either when he checked the diagnotics. But he took it a step further, he manually checked my van, and too our surprise the suspension was broke and was very very dangerous to drive. Needless to say, I fixed it immediately for half the price. And then on late Saturday night I realized I was running low on diapers. So I thought, I'll just ask my sister for a couple of diapers til Monday, because I didn't want to shop on Sunday. After church on Sunday a friend of mine who has grand children stopped me and asked me if I could use a pack of diapers that she no longer needs. I could've cried. Another blessing! I am so grateful to the Lord for all that he has given me.

I have been struggling with life these past couple months and the Lord has given me the strength to endure the pain and has surrounded me with people who love and support me. I know that if I continue to put my trust in Him that He will bless me with the joy that I have been striving for. I am thankful everyday for the life I have and the blessings I recieve.

What blessings have you recieved?

Carnival ideas.

I have been put in charge of our Young Women's fundraiser this year. We are going to be doing a carnival on June 5th from 9am-2pm. Along with our carnival we will be having breakfast from 9am to 11am. So since the day I was officially put in charge of this activity I've been super excited and nervous. This is a huge responsibility because this fundraiser needs to raise enough money to take 30 girls to girls camp. We have the largest group of Young Woman in our stake and it is very overwhelming at times. So you understand why I'm nervous? 30 YW are counting on me to get things put together so that this fundraiser will be a hit!
We come from a financially difficult area. Money definitely does not grow on trees here, so I'm looking for donations. I want to teach our YW that hard work pays off and if we work hard to put on a good fundraiser, we can definitely get them ALL to girls camp!
I am looking for creative carnival games that can be built with little or no money. We've found a couple of games and ideas, but the building of them is what is stopping us from moving forward. I've also found a DJ who will be playing music for us throughout the day. We've found a guy who has a fire engine that he will take the kids on for rides. We found a guy who will donate a large moonwalk bouncer and the woman in our ward are willing to donate bake goods for our concessions stand.
We will also have a raffle. We've found a couple of people who are willing to donate to our raffle, things like a free hair cut, free customized t-shirt and goodie bags. I'm reaching out to the blogging world to see if any of you can donate anything to our raffle or give me ideas on how to promote our carnival, give me ideas on prices I should charge or how to build our booths. If you know of anything or have any great ideas please let me know. Thank you!!
Wish me luck!

Zumba!!

Last week my sister Anna introduced me into the wonderful world of Zumba. It seriously is my new found love. The music, combined with the booty poppin/salsa moves, taught by a "bomb" instructor and the friendly woman in our class, equals FUN!! This is the kind of work out that makes you want to come back. I've heard about it from a lot of people and since I'm not a dancer, never wanted to try it out. But I finally caved in and went for it. I absolutely love it!! Did I say that already? hahaha It doesn't matter if you have two left feet, big/small, or are as stiff as a nail, ANYONE can do Zumba. You just have to enjoy music basically and just move your body any way you feel. The instructor is there to guide you, but if you can't keep up or get lost, just keep moving. It has been an awesome workout for me and my sister and family to go to. I'm excited for the change that will come to my body as I continue taking these classes. My goal is to be as fit as my instructor...hahaha hey it might take me 5 years, but at least I'm striving for it!! Thanks Anna for introducing me to my new found

LOVE Zumba!!!

Happy Birthday Deary!!

SOLOMON LEALAO

S-sweetest gift giver

O-only lover of my life

L-loves to love me

O-overly protective

M-muscular hottie

O-oakland Raiders die hard fan

N-neat freak

L-laid back Hawaiian

E-enjoys sports

A-awesome dad

L-laborer

A-always wants the best for his family

O-optimistic

Happy 31st Birthday dear, I love you!!!