Happy Birthday Mama!

This is a little something that the kids put together in their spare time between homework, hula, scouts, piano practice, etc ... For those of you who aren't Studio C fans, please watch this first (it'll help what you are about to watch make a whole lot more sense!).

Happy Birthday Mama. Enjoy!

mother's day surprise!

happy mother's day!!

i was ordered (yes, ordered!) to sleep in today, and was surprised with breakfast in bed and this accompanying video.  two disclaimers: first - please ignore the state of the house! we're still finding homes for all of our junk. :)  second disclaimer: i did not know i was being photographed while i was sleeping!  if i had known, i would have slept in a more adorable manner. :)  (p.s. the person responsible for photographing me while sleeping has already been informed that he is IN TROUBLE.)  :)

please enjoy this wonderful video from my crazy/lovable/creative children. :)!

p.p.s. the breakfast was delicious!

p.p.p.s. kalei would like to say that she knows the lyrics were misquoted, but thought that she had changed it before the final version.  i think it's hilarious and adorable. :)

Pure Aloha 2013

Kalei's hula performance on the BIG STAGE at the Pure Aloha Festival at the Rio.

(Hint: she's the tall one.)

8 is great!

this guy is 8!

(fyi, this is koa's impression of being sucked into the vortex of this rock formation.)  :)

we planned some fun surprise activities for his big day:  time at a bouncy house/trampoline fun land, and bowling!!

the kids had a lot of fun with the surprises, and kalei has even said she'd like for us to surprise her on her birthday - success!

happy birthday, koa!!  we love you, son!!

toto, we're not in kentucky any more.....

so, we bought a car today - woot!  however, while we're waiting at the dealership for all the paperwork and such to be prepared and processed, i look out the window and notice a car that's turned into the dealership, is smashed up on its front passenger-side panel, and is speeding toward the back of the dealership.  "wow," i think to myself, "that car is sure zipping through here.  i hope it doesn't hit our old or new cars."  then, i hear sirens.  three or four police cars with lights and sirens on blast thru the dealership lot following the car!  turns out, a man robbed a bank down the street, then tried to get away, but the police forced him to turn into the dealership, where he sped through to the back parking lot.  there's not an exit back there, so he left his car, jumped the fence, and forced his way into two homes before being shot (not killed) by police!  

kA-rAzY!!!  

kawelo quotes

since we've been getting over the flu and/or colds, i check on the kids' status every so often.

me to kawelo:  how are you feeling?

kawelo:  fine.

me:  how does your head feel?

kawelo:  good.  it's not too heavy!

me:  that's good news.  (said while snickering.)

i just love these kids and their senses of humor (sense of humors?) - especially when it's unintentional!

good eats

one of our first stops when we arrived in vegas was in 'n out burger!  don't the boys looked psyched to be there?  we've also hit krispy kreme (the glaze waterfall is fascinating and a little disgusting....) and we visited a local chocolate factory that has a cactus garden and.......  wait for it.......... free samples!

bowling green is supposed to have the most restaurants per capita, but vegas must be a close second.  there are eateries EVERYWHERE.  there's everything from german bakeries to taco trucks to ethiopian cafes.  we haven't been too adventurous, yet, since the kiddos are a tad cautious, but once we find a good sitter, james and i are going to be testing our palates - can't wait!

monster truck and windshield photos

moving was a whole bunch of no fun.

i never did get a shot of the moving truck completely full, but trust me when i say that we could not have fit one more thing into that 26 foot truck.  all i can say is that uhaul is a bunch of liars - the description of the truck says it's for a 4+ bedroom home - we had 3 bedrooms and still had to leave some things behind - so maybe they don't include garage/shed stuff?  the good news is, all the important things made it onto the truck, and we didn't have any broken items at the other end - woohoo!

we saw just about every type of landscape in this great nation - plains, mountains, desert.  unfortunately, we didn't get to see the ocean (why do we keep living in landlocked states?!), but we did drive thru a few severe thunderstorms, saw a fire on a mountain (see picture), and drove past a cattle ranch that made me not want to eat beef any more (when it comes to food processing/preparation - i prefer ignorance).

i'm so glad the hard part's over!

now, when we move into a house, i picture it being a leisurely, non-stressful event covering several weeks....  (please, leave me to my illusions - remember, i prefer ignorance.)  :)!

our old kentucky home

it was so hard to say goodbye to our fabulous friends in kentucky - especially after they threw us a fun going away party!  (kawelo really had a fascination for the goats - combined with a healthy dose of fear - i have several shots of him running away from them.)  :)

we're happy to have our house sold and the big part of the move behind us, but we sure miss our loved ones in kentucky.  can't wait to have a house here so they can visit!  :)!

words for today :)

‎"I come to you tonight with a plea that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. ... I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still our voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort. ... What I am suggesting is that you turn from the negativism that so permeates our modern society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom you associate, that we speak of one another's virtues more than we speak of one another's faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and was prone to speak critically, my wise father would say: 'Cynics do not contribute. Skeptics do not create. Doubters do not achieve.'"

~ Gordon B. Hinckley

house for sale!

we're officially on the market!  you can click here to see the listing.  :)  wish us luck!

(mini) marathon man

he did it again!

james ran a half-marathon on saturday and shaved 13 minutes off of his time!

way to go, james!

the kids and i tried to catch him along the route (the police had the roads blocked off), but missed him.

however, the people that were still running seemed to appreciate the kids' encouragement.

(don't worry - i made sure they were all showing "thumbs up" when people ran by - koa is our little mr. joker in this photo.) :)

p.s. kalei's school finally rescheduled the 'locks of love' event for may 4th.

her hair is ready!!!

Tiny Turbo

Koa's kickball team (the Smashers) in action. (Filmed, directed, and edited by James.)

kalei is a busy bee!

kalei has had an exciting couple of weeks!

she competed with her school's academic team - they won first place at their district competition!

kalei took the written assessment test for science and did her very best - we're so proud of her!

then, she participated in the science fair.

this was a variation of a project i did for a science fair in elementary school.

kalei did a much more thorough job than i did. :)

way to go, kalei!

kalei was supposed to have her hair cut for a "locks of love" event for her school on friday, but that was postponed due to tornadic activity in our area.

(thankfully, we were not hit, but we did get to spend some quality time in our interior closets with our 72 hour kits.) :)

so, she still has long hair.... for now!

we'll post pictures when she is styling a new 'do. :)

about a boy

well, koa turned 7.

i tried to tell him not to, but he did, anyway.

these kids! they just keep growing up!

he seemed pretty happy about it:

and, he went from this toothy/toothless grin:

to THIS one:

the tooth fairy is going to go broke!

p.s. yes, i know he needs a hair cut..... tomorrow, i promise!

p.p.s. he now has an adorable lisp - i just want to eat him up!

book review!

tonight is our local book group and we'll be discussing "the help." I just read it this week because i like the books to be fresh in my brain, and because procrastination is not only a choice but a way of life. :)

i can relate to skeeter - feeling like i want or should do something to change what's wrong in the big picture, but not being totally able to relate to those who are directly affected by what's wrong.

i can relate to minny - not wanting to care about certain things, but not being able to help it - being in your face about certain things, but backing off of other things if they hit too close to home.

aibileen is all that is inspirational to me: faithful despite personal trauma, loving in the face of hate and prejudice, hopeful that the babies she raises with loving hands will remember that love and question the hate they're taught to carry, quietly and enduringly courageous.

like "the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society," i have no doubt that the experiences of these maids is taken from true acts from their employers - the good, the ignorantly bigoted, and the downright hateful. i have a hard time fully grasping the underlying problem in both books: a group of people so intent on keeping power over another that they reduce the oppressed group to animal status - less-than-human.

because i like my stories finished up with neat little happy endings, the ending of "the help" was a little lacking. yes, the main characters are given opportunities for new starts, but how do they do with those? are they able to build a life they can be satisfied with? i like my happy endings spelled out. :)

i feel like too much was made out the pie incident. it kind of detracted from the overall inspiring-ness of the book. i see why it was necessary for the story - but it was in there a little too much for me.

overall, i enjoyed the book, even though i cried. :) (i really don't like to cry.) i don't know that i'll read it again, but i'm glad to have read it.

i marked lots of passages in the book that deal with ignorance and definitions and separations that we impose on ourselves and others, but the part that sticks with me the most is when aibileen looks at mae mobley (her young charge) and thinks "what would happen if i told her she something good, ever day?" what would happen if i even just pause in my day-to-day to look my children in the eye and remind them how loved they are - how much we wanted them to be a part of our family - make it a moment. would they get sick of it? maybe. would it become part of them? hopefully. and that inspiration alone was worth reading "the help."

nativity in february!

(it's always a good time to talk about the birth of the Savior, right?)

we kept our christmas eve tradition of acting out the story of Jesus' birth.

the cast:

kalei - angel

koa - joseph

kawelo - wise man (i know, i know, it's hard to tell. we need to get some bling for the part of the wise man.)

bess - mary (complete with a live birth - always a big hit)

james - narrator, shepherd

josie - herself

here are the stars of the show, pre-performance:

this was a touching scene where mary is bummed about contractions. joseph told her to get on with it.

ah, the happy conclusion!

the labor was short, the players happy and mostly paying attention to the narration, and the house cat approved. well done, budding thespians!

next year, i think we'll try giving them actual speaking parts, to help draw them into the wonder of the story a bit more.

overall, though, a very touching christmas eve. :)

after the performance, we told the kids they could open ALL of their christmas presents - BOTH of them.

it was hilarious to watch them chew over that sentence in their brain.

the initial elation soon became a "what?!" kind of expression.

priceless!

they got to open pajamas (another tradition).

we had a truly wonderful christmas together in our home this year!

(p.s. i have no idea what's going on with the text in this post - a quirk of blogger, i guess.)

february?!!

okay, seriously, where does the time go?!

so, it's, um..... february now, and someone around here has totally dropped the ball on this whole blog-thing. as i'm looking around, i realize that... it's..... me.

yep. me.

well, it's never too late for resolutions, right?

from now on, i'll try to do better with this blog, that i'm pretty sure no one reads any more. so i'll call it a journal, and make this a personal goal for our family's record-keeping.

since i'm speaking into the void, i'll add that i'm going to post more crafty finishes for me so i can look at pictures of my own creations and love them.

yay!

and maybe some book reviews?

writing out my thoughts will help me be coherent at book group. (trust me, the group will thank me for being coherent.)

anyhoo, i hope you are well, great void, and know that i think of you often, even if that thinking has not here-to-fore been represented with blog posts. :)

(that's right - since i'm writing to myself, i'm going to add all the cheesy smiley faces i want! woohoo!)

merry christmas!

my aunt asked the peeps in the family to put together holiday home tours, so here is the link to ours:

navalta holiday home tour 2011

(disclaimer: i made the font and spacing a WHOLE lot cuter, then skydrive somehow sucked it out!)

anyhoo, we've been so glad for the weeks building up to christmas. we've been reading a story a day that each have a hopeful, christmas-y message, and it's been nice to remind the kids (and ourselves) about why we're here - to learn and to serve.

we're thankful for Jesus Christ - for His birth, His life, and His Atonement.

with Him, all things are possible.

merry christmas!

rising star

well, giveaway day was certainly exciting, but we had another exciting time - kalei's christmas recital!

this is the more laid-back recital, where the kids can use their sheet music, if needed, and can dress "casual." (and the parents can, too - woohoo!)

here is kalei with her christmas piece:

what can i say - she's awesome!

we're so proud of you, kalei!