My eldest Son David is in the 9Th grade, he is currently attending Kennedy Jr High. I'm a little nervous about him entering High School next year but I know it's part of life and everyone (yes despite what my kids think even me) has done it, we have all moved on from Jr High to High School, or as the mom in me calls it now The BIG BOY school. A part of me wants David to stay young so he can believe me when I tell him everything is going to be OK, and I want him to believe that I can fix everything.. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm scared. High School is NOT the way it was before, things are different for our kids. I thought I had it tough, my parents not understanding, or them being to OLD FASHION. But I see the kids now a days and I WORRY.. The pressures are far greater for them now then it ever has been.
I see David struggling lately with the MOM trying to keep him little, and his want to be more of a MAN. With that said.. David has been thrown a dilemma that only he can get through and as much as I want to help him, I think I'm going to leave this one up to him. (note to self I said THINK). With so much going on at Kearns High School, the situation there has still not settled down, and the pressures of gangs and violence is still strong there. Our family is as K-TOWN proud as the next Kearns family. But sending my son there in these times.. I'm not so sure anymore. David now has the option of going to Cottonwood High School which has a great football program and a great academic program to help athletes get to the next level both with sports and academics or Kearns High School which has all that also and ALL his friends. He has been going and weight lifting with Cottonwood but still wears his Kearns High stuff everywhere else. All his friends are calling him SELL OUT, and he is always commenting to me that Kearns is in his heart, and that he thinks he should just stay there.
I pray the Lord helps David with his first BIG BOY decision, and that he makes the right one. I pray the Lord keeps him safe no matter where he ends up. I pray that the peer pressure and the want of being in with THE COOL crowd doesn't steer his mind into a decision.. I pray the Lord helps me help David with his transformation into Manhood.. I pray the Lord lets David know that I will always be here for him, even if I need to stand back and watch him learn some hard lessons..
We will see where he ends up, and hopefully if you have time you can come and watch a game of his.. GO DAVID.. Momma loves you..

Today was a day of all days (too busy)

I'm sure I'm just like all moms of the world, busy and busy and then busier.. Today was nothing different..
My health has been a real concern of mine for sometime, I have high blood pressure and it's not getting any better. So I have started going to the gym (again). I've been going for a week and a half doing the treadmill thing and working the abs and then on to some weights.. Today I thought I would try something different YES you guessed it I did a class.. ZUMBA.. All I have to say is WOW.. That is a workout.. I hurt in places I forgot I had. LOL.. Let me just explain something to make the picture that you have in your mind funnier.. I'm the girl out of all my brothers and sisters that can NOT dance.. I cant hold a beat to save my life.. I can do the whole TAUOLUNGA thing and the whole poly dancing thing, but as far as NIGHT CLUB dancing.. I SUCK.. So here I am trying my hand at ZUMBA which is some type of Latin dancing exercise needless to say I kept my own rhythm but not to bad for my first time. The instructor was probably wondering "there is NO way this lady is poly"... LOL..
Needless to say I survived and made it all the way to my couch, and there I laid and laid and laid and laid some more. After getting my knees to forgive me for all that moving around I got up did some laundry and then made some macaroni and cheese for the kiddies.. Then is was off to scouts my son Sione had a Blue and Gold tonight which is always nice.. And also always includes FOOD.. I admit it I ate, and I had some desserts.. (notice the plural). After that I rushed home to take my other son Amone to his basketball game it was at 9pm @ Bennion Jr High. (I know late for a school night, who put this schedule together).. They loss by A LOT.. And now I'm home to 2 coughing babies and a sick (just don't want to help with the babies) husband..
Now can I say "Colgon Take Me Away"....

DR FOB

My son Sione is my (how should I put it) rambunctious son. He is always ALL UP in your face. My two babies don't like when he comes near them I think it's the fact that they are scared of him because he is a busy body..
The point of that little insight is:
My husband took Sione to basketball practice one night and apparently after practice he was talking with the parents outside while the boys were having a snow ball fight. One of the boys went to throw a snowball at Sione and he took off running, hitting ice and sliding into a handicap sign it ended up cutting him and knocking a tooth out (hence the tooth fairy story below), when they got home my beloved husband tries to put a regular band aid on it and it fills with blood in an instant. He calls me and tell me the story and I tell him to take Sione into the ER so he can get it looked at. Wouldn't you know it the leg was cut was clear to the bone 8 stitches to close it. The Dr then tells my husband NO BASKETBALL for 12 days and to bring it back in to have the stitches removed.
13 days later
I remind my husband to take the boy to get them taken out because he has basketball practice that night my husband says ok in a minute so I wait, and wait, and wait next thing I know Sione comes out of the room with NO STITCHES, and a big GRIN and says lets go mom, I'm ready.. I look at his leg there is a big scar not only where the cut happened but also where the stitches were. My husband says only GIRLS go and get the stitches out so my son wants to be a man and allows his dad to cut the stitches off (oh just so you know my husband has so many scars on his legs that is a good thing he has dark skin). I laugh and say well whats done is done, I told my husband well we should just get rid of the insurance then since you can do all the Dr stuff yourself, and my boys yell heck ya he is DR FOB.. LOL

Jr Jazz Basketball

Another season of Jr Jazz has ended and I'm excited.. I love when seasons come to an end it means some FREE weekends for me.. LOL..
Amone loves the game of basketball and has really taken off with it, I love to watch him play and think "Why cant this kid move this fast at home while doing his chores?" But then again I guess the same question can be asked by everyone in almost every situation. Its fun to see how he has grown with this game, my brothers and sisters are always saying that he should live his whole life on the court because he never moves like that anywhere else.. LOL.. His team did well they loss only 2 games which is really good considering they played UP a grade this season. I've had a hard time finding a team for Amone to grow with but this season I think I finally found one for him, they plan on entering an AAU tournament next month, so we will see where things go from there..
Sione team is the funniest to watch.. Sione is all over the place (that's just how Sione is). He plays with his football team and so they connect real well, they all know each other strengths and weaknesses. I truly believe that a TEAM THAT PLAYS TOGETHER STAYS TOGETHER. Sione Jr Jazz basketball team did well they lost 3 I believe, Sione missed 2 games due to the whole stitches thing. Once Sione learns to control his need to be everywhere on the court and SLOW DOWN he will be a THREAT.. But when that is going to happen I'm not sure and I'm not holding my breathe until then either. He is fun to watch, because he thinks he can do everything this year he even stole the ball from his own teammate.. (what the ball hog?) He hasn't learned the whole TEAM thing and I keep trying to tell him to trust his teammates, but his answer is "Why mom they cant do it." LOL.. I guess one day he is going to play on a team with someone and they are either going to beat him up because he his a ball hog or the coach is going to bench him. Either way I think the only way to teach a kid TEAM play is for a TEAM to teach it to him.. Until then we will just watch and laugh at Sione running from one end of the court to the other..

Tooth Fairy

So my son Sione lost a tooth last Thursday.. And of course like a good mom I didn't notice.. Sione is at that age (well lets be honest he WAAAAAY past the age) of believing in the Tooth fairy, but I always tell my kids (as they roll their eyes and laugh) that if you dont believe in things ie Santa, Tooth fairy, Elves then they wont come and visit you.. So this morning Sione wakes up to get dressed for school and says..
"Mom I've left my tooth under my pillow for a week and I've got nothing, whats up with that?"
My response
"When did you loose a tooth?"
Sione "Last Thursday when I went to the hospital to get stitches when I feel into the sign, it cut me and knocked my tooth out."
Mom.. "Oh well just try again tonight, maybe the tooth fairy will come tonight."
Sione.. "Mom can you text the toothfairy and tell her that I need some money bad."
Mom.. "Do you know the tooth fairy number?"
Sione.. "Yes I have it memorized, it's the same as yours, remember MOM I believe.."
Then he laughs and walks away.. I couldnt stop laughinging..
So I think I am going to leave him something else tonight when he sleeps, something like a toothbrush or floss or maybe even a candy bar.. That should solve this little boy from cashing IN on the toothfairy when his teeth falls out..
Consider this a lesson learned, never give out MONEY as a prize for anything, because when they get older they will keep expecting MONEY for everything they do...

Funerals

I've been gone for a couple of days to SFO.. I went for a funeral for a very dear man Lepuha Kula. I've grown up with his kids, besides the whole related thing that we have in common, we also grew up together as neighbors. They use to live right next door for about 10 years, a lot of my childhood memories involve them in one way or another. I love these girls they have been here for my family through it all, they came for my mother funeral in '99, they made it out for my dads 70th birthday in '08 and they came without a question to both events.
When our family recieved the call about the passing of the their father, my dad was ready to go. He looked at me and said " What time do I leave?". Our fathers have been the best of friends for a long time, they share a bond with boxing that noone else can seem to figure out, they look like little kids when they would talk about it or teach it to someone. My father has always told stories about Lepuha being the ONLY one that believed in him and his dream for his son Samson to be the Champ.. It's a hard sport where you train with people but when it comes down to it, it's just YOU in the ring..
I remembered when I was little both our families would go to Kearns Rec to swim, back then there was only the one pool (in the old building), we went on Mondays because it was Family Night and it only cost .50 cents to go in (wow that price dates me).. Our parents use to sit from above to watch us and only Lepuha would get in the pool with all us kids, he use to throw us from the shallow end of the pool to the deep end of the pool, even if you didnt know how to swim (which I didnt at the time).. I literally learned how to swim, just so he could throw me into the deep end and I not be scared.. LOL.. Lepuha was a great man, who loved kids and always took the time to play with us, remember there were 2 families which meant 8 kids begging to play.. He taught us to have humility in everything we do, and to just play with your kids because when they grow up that is what they will remember..
My heart goes out to the Kula girls for their loss, I thank them for including his best friend my dad in their program and I thank them for sharing my childhood with me and for sharing their dad with us NEIGHBOR kids..

Happy New Year

I haven't been blogging that much lately, but I mean to start getting better.. So the New Year is upon us and our family had a great 2008.. We found out that by STICKING together we can accomplish anything. Our family has been through a lot but we have always been together, and that is how we managed to come out on top..
With the new year comes GOALS.. And of course I have set some for myself:
1. Become more active in church
2. Build a better relationship with my husband and my children
3. Become healthier
4. Slow down
5. CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN
The last one you may laugh at but with 6 kids and so many activities that we all do, cleaning gets lost in the shuffle, and my house on most days is turned upside down. My husband has informed me (in his ohh so nice husband way) that I need to stick to my guns when it comes to making the kids do their chores.. Sometimes I slack because I know how tired they are after coming home from school, then homework then practice, and then to the boxing gym with grandpa.. Heck I'm satisfied if they shower after all of that.. LOL.. But this year I think I'm going to SLOW DOWN and get back to the basics.. Do my kids need to be involved in so much that they cant do their chores at home? Probably not! That will probably get rid of the headache I always have and bring my BLOOD PRESSURE down.. LOL.. So I am going to have them pick 2 sports to play each year.. No more of the schedule of coming home from wrestling practice just to change and go to basketball practice just to come home and go the the boxing gym.. Something has to give, and it's going to be the sports they are joining. What ever happened to the days of school, home, homework, chores, sleep.. When I was younger I so wanted to get out of that routine and now I'm just trying to get back to it. I know if my mom was still alive she would have a BIG I told you so look.. LOL.. So wish me luck on informing the kids to pick 2 activities they can do this year..
So from our family to yours hope you had a great 2008 and may your 2009 be better, for you and your family. May you reach all the goals you have set for yourself, family, business and your children.. We love you all and thank you all for everything you have done for our family..