Lagoon, Disney's first cousin

As you know, I do things very spur of the moment. Ask anybody, especially my in-laws, poor things. I swear I change my mind like a girl changes clothes (oiiish, what song is that??). I'm HORRIBLE, sorry let me bold that, HORRIBLE, at planning anything. I try, I swear I do...but I like so many different things and I am so stinkin' bi-polar!! (In a good way of course lol). Anywho, we were lucky enough to come across some free Lagoon tickets (thanks J and b!). So off we went to Lagoon at around 1:30ish. At first the kids were like, "We don't want to go to Lagoon...we wanna go to Disneyland!! So like any good parent would, I told the kids that Lagoon is Disney's first cousin. HAHA All in unison, they were like, "Ohhhhhhh...".


Now, I'm a scaredy cat. But only since I've become a mommy have I turned in to a scaredy cat. So I was worried that my kids would be freaking out and not want to ride on any rides. Boy was I wrong. They wanted to go on EVERY ride (well Tui and Po wanted to go on every kid ride). Noa and I rode on "Wicked" together...wicked has over a 100 ft drop....INSANE!!!!!! He rode behind me, and I nearly cried RIGHT before we blasted off. Probably was still crying but you couldn't tell as the wind blasting in my face dried all my tears (thank u). When we got off, I grabbed my Bubba and hugged him tight...but I was shocked to find him laughing and so happy!! I could have sworn he'd be crying and afraid to go on any other rides even remotely as scary as "Wicked". But I was wrong, he rode Colossus right after hehe I'm so glad my kids are not scaredy cats like me, and I don't ever want to hold them back.

Anyway, we had a BLAST and I am so happy that we went. We not have a new tradition: Lagoon every Labor Day weekend----Hollah!! I gotta lose weight by next Labor Day for sure hehe

Love,
7

cont'd 4th of July with the Loosle's

July 2nd, 2009

10:00 ish AM - McGrumpy (that would be me) woke up to get to work...WTH? I'm on VACATION!! Still went to work...sheesh.
10:45 ish AM - The evil Queen and her sidekick brought back Cheddar Bagels with crack....I ate 5 too many.
Noonish - I clocked out. I'm so happy. Wait, scratch that, the Chief and his minions just arrived. Reached for the pain killers...and more bagels with crack.
1:00 ish PM - The evil Queen made evil Tuna sandwhiches with EEEEVIL light mayo. I knew she was trying to poison us. Light Mayo, psssh.
2:00 ish PM - Off to the park...
3:30 ish PM - McGrumpy, Mrs. Chief, evil Queen, Single Lady and Chief's girly offspring went to the store.
4:00 ish PM - Us ladies went to Cold Stone (we never told the boys hehe) and the Chief's girly offspring found out some "life changing" news about their mother...LOL!!
7:00 PM - Apartment "hood" BBQ...the evil King made us go :(
9:00 ish PM - Off we went to the King's humble ca mode, I mean abode (oops) when he was a little Prince. Finally we were able to hang out with funk master Eric and his wifey Miss Patty. Cue Angels Singing.
10:00 ish PM - The fireworks at the University started, I think...not too sure because I can't see them. But I can hear them...
I forgot, during this time we also lit sparklers (soon we would see the King's pathetic awesome firework show case). Our monsters loved the sparklers almost as much as I loved my bagels w/crack...almost.
Check out some of our cool sparkler art:

Ok let's try this again...check out our cool sparkler art:

 

It's a HEART!!

 

"lei"

 

(berta...look closely)

 

(rina in cursive, so I can't write my name backwords...go jump)

 

  

  

So after the fireworks the lame crew went back to the Loosle's and the COOL CREW stayed at the Loosle's :) And boy I had the BEST sleep I've ever had in all my stays in Logan. Thank you funky fresh Eric and his wifey Miss Patty---HOLLA!

Love,

7

4th of July with the Loosle's {EDITED}

Thursday July 2nd:
03:00 AM - 3LW arrived. I was tired.
10:30 AM - The head hancho of 3LW woke me up from my much needed slumber. "You've been sleeping too long." Said the evil witch with the cutest boomer in her arms.
12:00 PM - Had to work.Shoot.Me.Now.
7:30 PM - Started packing, due to leave in a half hour.
7:50 ish PM - On our way to Logan, UT but not before stopping at the new Maverick on 8th North, right before the freeway entrance. We stocked up on water (and the leader of 3LW got some donuts-shame shame shame, we know your name!)
10:00 PM - Ascending from the canyon in to Logan, UT. B texts the master of 3LW and says that her majesty and the King are not home. Wait 20 mins or die, and pee your pants. Note to self, steal the King's key and make a copy.
10:20 PM - We are at the Loosle's. But where are they? Text to bootylicious, "Where for art thou?". No response. I hate her.
10:20:52 PM - The King and his evil Queen return to their humble abode. I can finally pee.
11:00 ish PM - 1LW, the smartest one I think, realizes she lost the cap to her air bed. Sad story.
Midnightish, bed time for the Tonkytonk's (Toketa's)

Stay tuned for a break down of Friday July 3rd.

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{EDITED} Note to self: never again reveal plans involving The King, apparently he reads our blog. Another note to self: running out of room for notes to self....interesting.

Happy Happy New Year!

It's the first day of 2009 and I just feel different :) A good different, although there's been so many things running through my mind it's kinda driving me crazy! But nonetheless, a good GOOD first day of 2009.

Last night was F U N! We bought some junk food and played Candy Land and Dora Memory with the kids. The kids were so excited that we were actually playing with them-lol. I had fun too, it made me smile just seeing them so happy. And dang, they're freakin' good at memory!! lol

We also let them light one morning glory. It was FUHREEZING outside, so that's all we could handle :O) The kids went to bed a few minutes after midnight and then Mani and I stayed up to play Left for Dead. A really freaky game, especially playing it at night AND especially when playing it at night ALONE (stinky Mani fell asleep!).

It was a good way to end the old year and welcome the new year...

Love,
7

Fare thee well, '08!

I can't say I'm sad to see this last year be over. I will always remember the events of 2008, and I'm greatful for everything that has happened...after all we are never put through a trial that the Lord knows we can not pass. It's not like taking the driving test, the Lord does NOT set you up to fail :) And thank goodness for that!

When I think about it, the trials I have been through this past year were most definitely hard...and that's totally an understatement. However, I can't help but kinda be proud and pat myself on the back, knowing that it takes one strong person to get through the things I went through this past year. For the Lord to see me as that strong of a person and know that I can make it through, it's very humbling. Unfortunately, I haven't been fair to the Lord this year and I haven't put my absolute faith in him as he has in me. But, there's no sense in dwelling, right? You gotta push on and choose your attitude. This year that's pretty much going to be my motto, "YOU CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE" point blank.

I'm definitely going to do a lot of growing up this year. I'm blessed to have such an awesome husband and family. The love and support they all show me/us is overwhelming and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

SO...fare thee well, '08, you've been pretty brutal to me, but it's all out of love right? hehe

{rina}

My amateur photography :)

So here are some pictures from our Christmas party with the Deegan's (Aunty Lasi and Uncle Don). You like my amateur photography moments? Hehe I was snapping pics with Bert and Jon's camera, they bought themselves a Canon Rebel xti...pretty darn sweet! Now if only Teri would send me the charger for my camera...lol




Oh yeah, the above picture is of "THE present" hehe. Bert and Jon gave us a flat screen TV!! Yay! We are finally stepping in to the 20th century, good riddens tube television! I will so NOT miss you :) I used Pioneer Woman's "Seventies" action for this photo. I thought it'd be pretty funny to make the photo look like it was taken in the 70s, of a flat screen tv :)

Love,
Rina

A very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!! Today his been very relaxing...the best Christmas present ever :) We woke up before the kids--shocking, I know. But it didn't take much to get them out of their beds, just a nudge and a few words of "Santa came! Santa came!" and they were out of bed running to see what Santa had brought for them. The looks on their faces were priceless, unfortunately, I did not have my camera on me to take ANY pictures to document these memories :(

Anyway I am very thankful for everything. To all of you "Santa's" out there, thank you THANK YOU for allowing me to see the looks on my kids' face as they opened up many presents thanks to you all. I love you with all my heart.

Merry Christmas,
Rina

It's Christmas Eve...

well technically it is. Lately I have been suffering from insomnia, it really sucks! I also haven't blogged in the last couple of days because on Sunday I found out that my step cousin Stacey passed away. I've been thinking about her a lot these past couple days as well as her family. Stacey is my step mom's niece. (I hate hate the word "step" anything...especially if that's not what they are to you, I just sometimes use it so people don't get confused!). My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to the Brunson family. Stacey was a very extremely special girl...

Merry Christmas Eve everyone
{rina}

My cup runneth over...

I completely forgot to post yesterday! But then again, maybe I was too busy having so much fun with my family (never a bad thing!). Let's see, Friday night, my mom {Christine}, Elliot, Tia, Oli, Poli and Iuli came over for game night. We ordered the usual, PIZZA, for dinner. I made some Christmas Crunch, which was a H U G E hit! Thank you Amy for posting the recipe :) I also made some "Hello Dolly Bars" AKA "Seven Layer Bars"...which were off da chizzain as well!! I'm so glad I got to bake a couple of treats. I even have stuff for home made oreos from The Smitten Kitchen Blog. Which I will have to make shortly :) Oh yeah! The kids also got to ice some sugar cookies with Aunty Christine-Thanks mom! Anyway, poor mom was in pain because of her stupid contact/eye. It was hurting her way bad so she went home a little early that night.

Saturday was super busy. Mani's niece, Shanny, had her Sweet Sixteen party that day. So Mani and the kids (and Elliot-cheeky boy) went to the party, while I did some shopping for our annual Christmas party with the Deegan's. So Poli picked me up and we went to Target to get our White Elephant gifts. OH MY HECK, Target was N U T S!! 'Tis the season, I guess?! Anyhow, we put on our big girl undies, and charged in to Target! LOL Poli got the game...I can't remember the exact name but it's really fun and when I remember the name I'll post it-hehe. I actually got this family sized, Black & Decker, griddle. It had a pull out drawer to warm things up as well as a pull out drawer for grease drippings!! Best of all?? It was only $20!!! Oh man I was so excited, because our limit was $25 :) SCORE!

We, of course, were late to dinner (Sorry Uncle Don). But when we showed up I swear the food was glowing...it was DELISH!! We had, Turkey, Ham, Meat Balls (in da bomb sauce-one part BBQ sauce to TWO parts grape jelly-TRY IT!), mashed potatoes, yams, rolls, veggie platter, fresh pineapple with and with out li hing mui, stuffing...and I think that's all of it. Oh and let me tell you, Aunty Lasi made this punch that was TO DIE FOR!! I am still dreaming about that liquid goodness :) I can't even explain how amazing it was! Aunty, if you're reading this, PLEASE email the recipe :)

After we ate, we cleaned up and then played our White Elephant game! I ended up with a candle and a candle lighter :) Suzie sketched this portrait of my mom (as her white elephant gift) and when I saw Poli open that wrapping paper to unveil the portrait, I always cried when I saw that it was my mom...it is BEAUTIFUL and Suzie hit it right on the nose! Anyway, Poli didn't have it for very long because Berta stold it from him...I don't blame her! But I will be bugging Sue about getting a copy--hehe Love you Sue, thank you again for doing that, it means SO much to all of us :) Uncle Don stole my griddle (stinky!) hehe. Oh well I'll just have to go back and get one for myself!

After we opened White Elephant gifts, we practiced a few hymns/Christmas Carols and we went around Uncle and Aunty's ward and sang for mostly the elderly and our last stop was at the Bishop's! It was fun!

I love my family so much and this party was once again a huge success! But then again, you can't go wrong with great food and even better funny. Thank you Aunty and Uncle for always opening your home to us. I love you so much for everything!

Love,
Rina

P.S. I promise to post pics soon :)

Noa's First School Christmas Party!

 

Here are Tina, Noa and Iuli playing during recess

  

 Me and Noa patiently waiting for our table to be called to pick our treats to decorate Noa's Gingerbread house.

  

 The foundation :)

  

  

 So this is what we were working with

  

 Oh snap! Who's that hot lady right thurr...hehe

  

 My sis Meg and Iuli

  

 Noa, demonstrating how to stick candy corn on to your "house". Sure you would normally lay the candy corn flat...but you're probably just not cool like us to make them stick out...HAHAHA

  

 And here it is one side...

  

 And another one...

  

 Oh snap! Check the angle on that Candy Cane...the Lego's are "windows" per Noa.

  

 Great job son!

  

  

You go Tina!

  

 Iulers is too cute...great house!

As you can see, we had so much fun at Mrs. Rodas' Christmas Party. Noa had been bugging me all week about this party and making me promise every five minutes that I would be there. I would not have missed it for the world! I came really close to missing it though, due to the fact that I have been suffering from insomnia lately {for real}. BUT I am soooo glad that I got to go. Noa was excited that I was there and showing me around his classroom. Even better, I got to hang out with my nephew Iuli and niece Tina...HELLO, it couldn't get ANY better :) Ok I lie, it was even BETTER because I got to hang out with my girls, Meg and Nat. 

Merry Christmas y'all!

Rina

Christmas isn't all {red} & {green}...

Ok so this is Rachel and her family. Rachel didn't want anything to do with the typical "Red and Green" Christmas colors. Sooooo this is what I came up with :) I made the photo Black & White because their outfits are so not coordinated...(It's all good, this was an impromptu shoot looking at the Christmas lights on Temple Square). The snowflake paper is from Julie and Lauren at Little Dreamer Designs. The grey paper is from Shabby Princess. The swirls and paint splatters are from PSDTUTS Freebies. The fonts are Lainie Day SH ("Merry Christmas"), Texas Hero ("Love") and Print Clearly ("From our home to yours" and "Allie, Rachel and Greg"). Ok I think I've covered all the credits (dont' wanna get in trouble for not giving any props to the designers of the actual elements I used for these cards---YAWN!).

I looove this card, I think it's my fav!

Love,
me

Lisa and Shanny's Christmas Card

This is Lisa and her daughter Shanny Myrick. Lisa is another one of Mani's sisters. Lisa and Shanny are so much fun to be around and I miss them T O O much! I haven't seen these guys in forever :( Anyway, it was a pleasure putting this card together for them (minus Mani's 2 cents every 2 seconds! LOL Nah!). I hope they like it as much as I do. Credits:Paper & Holly (thing?) are from Shabby Princess. The font for "JOY" is Byington Regular and the other font is Lainie Day SH.

I hope you guys like it!

Love,
7

{Jen's} Christmas Cards

 

This is my SIL's, Jen, Christmas Card that I put together. It was kind of a challenge because the oldest 2 children are not in the family picture. So I had to come up with a way to incorporate them in to the card, but not make it look...weird?! This was harder than I thought! After many different changes, I finally decided on putting their cute little faces in ornaments. Everything (The digi paper, ornaments, snowflake stamps) are from Shabby Princess. As for the fonts, the script font is Lainie Day, and the other font is Pea Times New Camileon. 

Can't wait to see it on paper!

Love,

7

Thanksgiving Week 2008

Hang on to your seats, I will be recapping on the entire week!

Everyone except Loki and Poli, were supposed to arrive in SLC on Monday night (11/24). Unfortunately, the Pago to Honolulu flight was delayed 24 hrs. Anyway, the travel was nuts and lets just leave it at that. By Wednesday morning, everyone was here. We got to see dad at the mortuary, he looked good. Mmmmmm, maybe I should say he looked peaceful. Wednesday was busy, me and Teri ordered ALL of the flowers, we did the food shopping and ran a bunch of errands.

Thanksgiving day, we went out to eat at Golden Corral. We were lucky because they had a room open for all of us (including the entire Deegan clan). We didn't have to wait AT ALL!! The food was just OK but the rolls were off da chaaaaain! LOL After Turkey day, I took a nap while other people played games. Then we met up at Aunty Lasi's house that evening and played games. Which by the way, my cousin Rachel is addicted to Guitar Hero now. She was always such a hater before!!

Friday was busy getting things finalized for the funeral services as well as the family viewing that night. The family viewing went well, although we forgot some of the big pictures of our family. But other than that, it went well. My favorite part was when someone (and I feel really bad calling this person "someone" because it's not just someone, he's related to us. But being the baby of the family I never remember anyone! So sorry to "someone" if you ever come across this blog post!!) got up and spoke a little bit about my dad and then he called his "boys" up and he jumped on the piano while his boys sang the prettiest song EVER!! *Note to self* I need to find out what song that was. And last but not least, we watched a slide show that a family friend made of dad and his family. Of course we were all UGLY crying (no one cries pretty in this family! LOL). Hopefully one day I'll be able to post it on my blog because it was put together really well.

Saturday we had the final funeral service for dad. Everyone spoke except for my baby sis Tia, she played the piano...you know that song on "A Walk to Remember", that Mandy Moore sings in the play?? Yeah, that's the one!! I'll post the song on my blog...it's so prettyful. Oh yeah, Elliot and Oli didn't speak either...they're the 2 youngest of the kids. After the program, we went to the cemetery to bury dad. Putting him in the ground was the hardest. Just like it was for my mom. But we all made it through it, I'm so proud of everyone!



Sunday we just got together to eat and play games (go figure, do ever do anything else??? NO!).

Monday is when people started leaving.

Tuesday Lini and Ella left.

Wednesday...I slept over at Rachel's with Teri.

Thursday, my brother's slept over.

Friday, we had game night with mom and all us kids. We played Pit, Mystical (or something like that), First Hand, Blink, Clue, Monopoly, Chitty Chitty bang bang, animal, murder in the dark (a couple versions) and yahtzee (BOO). We're such a competative family, it's ALWAYS fun for us!

Anyway, in the end I'm W I P E D out for real! I'm definitely going to miss all the noise (although I'm sure my neighbors will beg to differ! Oh well go jump!) but I'm ready to get back to life...

Love,
Rina

Christmas Cards...

So, a few family members know that I am fully in to digital scrapbooking (Ok more so OBSESSED with it!). Last year during the Holidays, I so wanted to create some Christmas Cards. But with the horrible HORRIBLE news of both my parents' health declining, it just was not the right time.

This year I volunteered to create some of my family members' Christmas Cards just for fun! Anyway, I've been playing around with some ideas and wanted to share them with y'all!

This is Landon. He is my nephew on my hubby's side. He is FIVE years old now! LOL

This is my cousin Mariaha and her family. She HATES this picture-lol. I think it's cute. Anyway this is from last year and I like this LO...it just needs something more...and I'm not quite sure what it is!

This is my family, this photo was taken last year during Christmas time. I'm so glad we got to spend time together with pretty much everyone. We were just missing Poli and Loki but Loki flew in Christmas morning :) It was everything I could have asked for!


This is the latest and greatest (in my opinion)! First of all, I love this picture because it has ALL 10 of us kids (would be 11 but my brother Riki passed away in 95) in it. I love love LOVE my siblings so much and this is a RARE opportunity for us ALL to be together. Anyway, secondly, this totally captures us how we usually are...silly, goofy, fia sexy (TIA! LOL) and just all of the above...I don't know how my parents do it!


Ok that's about it...I'll probably be making more because I LOVE DOING IT. It's so therapeutic for me :)

Love,
7

BTW, if you're wanting the credits for everything I used for these cards...it's pretty much ALL Shabby Princess. But if I missed something...I'll let you know!

The Ninja, The Witch and The Rugby Player

So originally the plan was, that Mani would get off early, get the kids ready, and haul them off to West Jordan to trick-or-treat and his sister Jen's house. (It's a tradition, we do it every year!) I couldn't go because I had to work, so I kept stressing that Mani wouldn't know how to put Tui's eyelashes on, or he'd forget to spray her hair with the glitter crap! What I was MOST worried about was that Mani wouldn't take good pictures =) Anyway, I decided that I'd get them ready and take pictures before I went to work, that way I would be satisfied.

I got the kids all dressed up and we headed over to Grandma's to take pictures outside. The weather was so not cooperating. More than once, we felt a sprinkle of rain =( But...I got some really great pictures. Unfortunately, Luapo (the baby) was borrowing a costume from one of his cousins, so he didn't have his costume on yet. Hopefully someone took pics of him in his real costume!

Anyway, when the kids got home they were so super excited to tell me all about their night! They had so much fun trick-or-treating and can't wait until next year to do it all over again =)

Happy Halloween!

I promise to post pics, ASAP! I'm so super sad because I have to work tonight. So Mani will be taking them trick-or-treating =( I told him he better take TONS of pics! He swore he would.

Anyway, I hope everybody has a safe and FUN and most importantly-SWEET-Halloween!!

Love,
Rina

Costume Indecisiveness

Did I spell that right? LOL Oh well, it's my blog...I'll spell it however I want to =) So Halloween is a week from tomorrow, and my procrastinating butt still has not bought any costumes for the kids. This is mostly because we haven't had the mula lately, what with me quitting my last job and starting a new job. How cruel would it to be to just "skip" Halloween? Ok, ok, don't get your panties in a bunch, I'm only joking. I wanted Tui to be Beyonce, but she wasn't feelin' that. Go figure. Noa wanted to be a JABBAWOCKEE but once again, I'm a broke procrastinator...so it's too late to order him a mask and tee.

Anyway, I vowed to take the kids some time this week, but after reading Kiki's latest post here, I decided against it. Good lookin' out Keeks! So Mani and I will go tomorrow, I'm even thinking of just leaving the kids at home, and just picking out their costumes myself. Hmmm...not a bad idea!

Wish me luck!
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