Return to virtue...

That was our 2010 YW camp theme. We camped at bellows and it was a bitter sweet weekend for me. I was so excited to go and spend the night with the girls and just be with them and make sure they had fun. But it would be my last camp with them because I moved soon after that (wards that is). I hope they had as much as I did and gained something from it.

Some of the things we weren't able to do because of weather but I think the girls still had a blast. At least that's what I got from their wonderful and inspiring testimonies. The older girls anyway. The younger ones were still too shy to share what they felt during our testimony meeting but were able to express it throughout the camp. I love them and miss so much but they will always hold a special place in my heart.

We hiked the Koko Crater. At first I thought, okay it's just stairs I can make it I think. Well there were 1048 steps...I think? And I almost didn't make it. I wanted to give up but when the girls started coming back down I had to make it up. Hence the photo:

We actually made it. But most of the girls were down at the bottom waiting for us by now. At least I can say I did it, and I made it!

The view from the top was sooooo worth it!

Some of us stayed up late and played games. This one was a game where you couldn't show your teeth and everyone had funny, no..hilarious signals/signs that they made up. You did your own then someone else's and so on and so on. The first one to show their teeth through laughing got their face dotted with puff paint since no one had a lipstick.

We played games and had a relay on the beach then we watched from the shore as the girls swam and had fun in the ocean.

Activities included poi ball making, including a dance to learn and perform..

bracelet making

and

pillow case decorating.

I know the girls had fun and enjoyed camped and being with each other. It's neat to watch them and see how they treat each other when they think no one is looking. Our girls mesh really well and I hop they will keep it that way.

A two year old's conversation...

Preview to my conversation with Dezi....I have my monthly friend.

I just used the bathroom in the morning and he came in to do the same.

D: "Mommy...red shee shee?"

Me: "Yes."

D: "Oh. I want to make red shee shee!"

Me: "No, only mommies make red shee shee."

D: "Oh."

*I'm putting my stuff in.*

D: "Ouchie mommy! You got bite?"

Me: *laughing, and realizing I should have done what I was doing somewhere else.* "No it's not

a bite. It's a tampon."

D: "Oh. *I could tell he was thinking about something* Mommy I want a tan-pom."

"Pleeeeeease!"

Me: "NO Dezi only mommies get tampons. Your a boy not a mommy."

D: "I want a mommy!" *meaning he wants to be a mommy*

Me: "Your a boy and I am a mommy. Only mommies get this stuff and boys don't get it. Your lucky okay."

D: *sadly saying* "Okay."

Life...part 1...

This is seriously going to be a short little re-cap of what has happened before and during our move...

We celebrated Easter...I got to decorate my house, we had our first get together, the Easter bunny left Dezi a basket of all sorts of goodies and he got to dye and look for eggs.

On hot days we've been going to our pool to hang out and even celebrated Aleena's birthday at our pool!

*I cannot get this picture to turn*

We did get to relax a little while waiting for news of our home.

We walked the Great Aloha Run. Dezi was up at 4am then fell asleep as soon as we started walking and stayed asleep for the first 5 miles.

Daddy has been teaching him how to ride his bike.

We've cheered on my nephew Keoni at his first flag football game.

That's him handing off the ball.

Hung out with friends at their pool before they had twins!

Bought a new car for Gil to cruise around in. So now we have 4 cars. What? Yup! Gil's work van, my car, his car and his race car which is sitting in the garage until the track or super ferry opens up again.

Making use of his birthday gift from uncle Glen. He is spoiled rotten.

*not really*

A new beginning...

A new life look forward to in brand new house is a dream come true. After living with no space of my own for 4 years with my family this is to good to be true. I have been so blessed with everything and am truly grateful for what I have. I don't care if we have nothing now and are living pay check to pay check for now cause I'm loving my life!!

Before...

(I know I posted other of the before so here's just another look)

During...

We basically tore out all the carpet in the entire house and redid that, painted all the rooms (mine is cream, Dezi's is blue, guest is white along with the rest of the house except the dining and living room is brown), Gil redid all the lights, and laid laminate wood in the whole downstairs. Now it's just the decorating and putting up the little touches that make it a home.

the hole in the ground was so Gil could do the lighting in the kitchen.

After...
We are sooooo proud of the end result. It is our home and we love it. We are slowly getting all the little things to decorate but that will take time and money which is one thing we don't have at the moment. But I don't care....cause I have my own house. And I know it's only for a time.

Didn't quite know what to do with this little nook area so when we saw this shelf

it said...."put me in the nook."

I had to find something to put on this wall fast and found swirly things. If I didn't

Gil would have put donkey Kong stickers from top to bottom. It's in the garage now. I'll show you

a picture of it later. Feeeew!!

This was during Easter. Hence the eggs hanging from the window. It makes me smile just looking at it now! Aaaaahhhhh!!

I am proud to say...

That I am (and have been for a little bit now) a homeowner!! This journey has been the longest, most stressful time of my life but it is sweet, sweet music now. I am absolutely in love with my new home and can't wait to share it with you!

I am going to blog this in segments so it's not so overwhelming for you or me. Gil and I started looking for a place about Jan. of '09. We really weren't sure about the market and who to trust to help us buy our first place. I knew of some Realtors in our ward but things were iffy and I still just wasn't sure. Well things fell right into place once I seriously started praying and listened for those quiet whispers and snugly feelings. I love those feelings. It just confirms everything that I know to be true. Anyway...

Due to unforeseen secrets and and other things that happened I started to really pray hard and earnestly if moving was the right decision for Gil and I and to help us find someone trustworthy to help us through this daunting task. The answer came quick and so did everything else. My brother-in-law had got his license a long time ago but never used it. So one day as Gil and I were talking about finding a place my brother-in-law suggested that he help us. I knew I could trust him but wasn't sure still cause he just has so much on his plate, a family of 5 young girls, his calling in the church, his normal job in the military (which was sending him away soon), and an appraisal job on the side. Even though all these doubts entered my mind at first, I went ahead and said "Sure.....are you sure?" Well let me tell you he was great!! More than I could have asked for.

We went ahead and started looking seriously in Aug. '09. We saw homes in Ewa (4-5 bedrooms, yard, etc..) that we could afford at the top of our budget but needed work. We soon realized that we needed to find something that wouldn't take a lot of work to make it nice living. We started looking at homes and found a few that we bid on but obviously the bank lowered the asking price to start a bidding war which we lost 3 times. Feeling very frustrated we put an offer on a town home (with a vengeance) that looks exactly like the one we have now, but it had nice hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, nice paint, wouldn't really have to do much to the place. I fell in love with the inside (who wouldn't with all that stainless steel and granite counter tops?) but still wasn't sure. I was confused (it was super nice and I wanted it but something just wasn't right) and didn't really want to make a move even though we bid and won and the process was starting to go through. I prayed really hard again if this was the house we should raise our family in. Well, a week later our brilliant realtor was looking on line and found a diamond in the rough.

We looked at it the day after it went on the market, placed a bid, told the other house "Sorry but we found something better," then got accepted (people told us we were crazy for doing that). This place had ugly brown carpet complete with dog hair balls (I don't think they ever cleaned) and vinyl all over, a broken fan, hard liquor everywhere and missed matched everything but somehow it just felt right.

After waiting 5 months for this short sale to go through (another blessing) we finally had a place to call our own. I am sooooo happy to be here in this house. It was such a stressful adventure but one I would do all over again.

**if you want to read all about it I'm going to blog the whole process in detail pretty soon just so I can go back and relive the horror!! chuckle, chuckle!**

top....our kitchen before (standing in front of the front door I think.) The open door leads to the 2 car garage.

Our living room with broken fan.

a before picture......before it turned into Dezi's room.

stats: 3 bedrooms

2 1/2 baths

a little office area

2 car garage

a perfect little enclosed front yard.

P.S. stay tuned for the "after" blog.

I know, I know...

Okay sorry for yet another delay but we have been looking for our cord to attach to the computer so that I can download photos but of course we can not find it to save our life. So we'll either buy a new one or keep looking. Sorry!!

What's the scoops...

To all of those who actually read my blog... I know it's been a while and you are patiently awaiting photos and paragraphs and more photos of my new home and all that I have been up to. Well......your going to have to wait a little longer. I know I keep saying soon but things seem to just keep popping up and well, as you can see I haven't posted anything yet.

However...I can promise and yes I will say PROMISE, that before next week ends I will have a proper post of our new lives in Ewa Beach! Until then here is a little bit of what has been happening,

So far we have been living in our new home for about a month now. Since then we have been obviously moving in, ordering furniture, putting it together, keeping my house clean,cooking meals, running to goodwill and the dump, running to Target and Walmart and Ross (numerous times a day and week), and dealing with a fussy 2 year old by myself. You may ask...You have Gil right? Yes and no.

Gil has been very good about putting our house together and all our furniture and painting and the list goes on and on. But when he does these things he needs to be not bothered. So he goes to work, comes home late, eats dinner, starts working on the house then is tired and goes to sleep.....or he goes to work comes home to change then goes to his friends house to work on these costumes (totally different post) then comes home late and sleeps. All the while I have to keep our son away from his father. He has been very busy helping others as well. My sister's husband has been gone for about 5 months now and it seems like everything has happened to her. Her tire went flat, her sink flooded and broke along with the board under the sink, and her husband's car wasn't really working. Of course Gil was the 'go to' man that she called since he is really good with all that stuff and we're 5 min. away. I don't mind that he is helping her at all but between helping ourselves, and my sister, and his friends and his family (he still makes runs to his mother's house to fix things they need instead of asking the other 2 boys that live there.....WHAT?!)

it just seems like I haven't had anytime with him. And now he is on Maui working. He will be there for 2 months and will come home on weekends if they don't need to work. To top that off I'm potty training my two year old son which is super deeeeeeeduper harder than I thought (another post). I'm kind of really at the end of my rope but am trying to patiently wait it out.

So that's my life in a blog and there will be more posts to come.....I promise. I just need time to organize and do a little more. Stay tuned for more adventures of our crazy life.