Merry Christmas!

Vegas??? Really???

Last Friday at about 10:00 a.m., Seuao calls me from work:

"Rach, how do you feel about going to Vegas..... today?"

We had talked about going down after Christmas to meet up with his Auntie Tolofulu who was visiting from Samoa. She wasn't feeling well, so her departure for home got bumped up, and this was going to be the last chance we would get to see her. This is Seuao's REAL Auntie (in the Samoan culture, titles like Auntie, Uncle and Cousin really don't mean a whole lot - it's a generational-respect kind of thing). She is his mom's closest sister, and lives about 50 yards away from his mom on the island. Seuao is very close with her kids, who mostly now live in Vegas, so it was a good chance to get to see everyone all at once. His cousin from Barstow was coming up as well.

Seuao with his cousin Manu and Eti, Manu's wife

So, we hustled to pack everything up and get out of town before the big storm came through. We had awesome weather driving, and the kids actually did really good. That Tessa can sleep! The minute the car starts moving, that girl is OUT! It's WONDERFUL! Lily did all right, but I'll admit, I wished a couple of times we had earplugs!

Once we got there, it actually was a fairly relaxing weekend. I didn't stress about all of the Christmas stuff I WASN'T getting done until the ride home! (Taking away one of the THREE Christmas shopping/wrapping/baking/errand-running weekends is a HUGE sacrifice!)

Lily had so much fun hanging out with all of her cousins. She didn't take long to warm up to them, and quickly discovered her rank among all of these bigger people! (She's pretty used to being the boss amongst her cousins on my side!)

Tessa was a little doll. All of her aunties, uncles and cousins couldn't get over her!



The weekend was full of Samoan drama, including the re-emergence of an AWOL baby-daddy, a midnight excursion to hunt down a priest and some holy water, and mommy taking away the computer key-board... oh wait.... that last one was just Lily, but the drama factor was definitely par.


We had a big feast for Auntie before we left on Sunday. I'm not a Samoan food fan, so I stuck with the rice. Seuao and Lily were loving it though!


The thing that trips me up the most whenever we get together is all the names... let's see, we have Mikaele (mih-kai-aa-lee) and Naivi, Lasa, Paki and Lena, their kids. Manu and Eti and their kids: Manu, Lani and Kyra. Andy (yay another white person!) and Ula with their kids Fulu and Mark (yeah - I didn't mess up Mark's name too often). Eve (ev-ay) and Solo with their daughter Dora. Lasa has a baby also named Naivi. Trust me - all these names were a little much sometimes... Lasa! No, Lena! No, Lani! No, Lily!!!!!!!! It hurts my brain sometimes!

Auntie Tolofulu saying good-bye to the girls

All in all, it was a good trip - looking back, I can see how although I didn't think I was prepared for it, things really lined up to make it possible for us to take off on such short notice. I know Auntie Tolofulu appreciated it, and I'm glad I could support my husband and his family. Heaven knows he deals with a LOT of mine!

This is what you get after 6 hours in a car with an over-tired Lily and only a bag of M&Ms to entertain her....

Dear Mr. Carpenter,

Dear Mr. Carpenter,

I know I have left 8,000 messages on your cell phone.

I know you have other jobs on your plate.

I know you're very very busy.

But what I don't know is WHY you don't return my calls? Why don't you communicate what's happening with my basement? WHY ISN'T THE JOB DONE YET????????

I am sorry that 4 closet rods to install, 3 doors to hang and 2 cupboards to finish isn't a priority to you, and I suppose that my desperation level isn't maxed out, or else I would figure it out myself, but really, this is getting ridiculous. This job has been strung out nearly 2 months. Isn't it time to just get it done?

Trust me, I want to quit bugging you as much as you want me to quit bugging you.

Please, call me back, let me know what's going on and finish the job, will you?

Today I am Grateful

It seems like every day I am hearing of more people, people that I know, people that have families, homes, lives like I do, people that are being laid off, downsized, benefits cut back, people who have a lot of question marks ahead of them.

I am so grateful for my job. Yeah, it's not where I want to be 100% of the time. Yeah, I miss my kids terribly each and every day. Yeah, there are days when I can think of 1,000 other things I would rather be doing, but today I am grateful for my job.

I work with wonderful people. They truly exemplify honesty and integrity. That is not easy to find in the business world. I work with the highest executives here, and can honestly say that in the 4 1/2 years I have worked here, I have never seen people align their personal values and goals so succinctly with their business. I know that's why they're so successful.

I work with real estate developers. Not the most profitable or popular field out there right now. We all know about the economic downturn. Real estate has taken one of the hardest hits. Thanks to my company's conservative management module and investing practices, they are not only NOT doing layoffs, they are offering raises and bonuses this year.

Today I am grateful I don't have those question marks ahead of me. Of course, who knows what tomorrow will bring, but today I am grateful.

So grateful.

Domesticity

For some reason I'm wanting to be domestic.

Maybe it's the holidays.....

My head is swirling with crafties I want to make with and for the girls, recipies I want to try, books I want to read, rooms in my house I want to clean (yes, even bathrooms)....

Maybe it's because I'm a mom....

And I miss my kids....

Phew!

This weekend was a whirlwind!!! We met up with friends of mine for dinner and the Festival of Trees on Friday night. It was so good to see these girls, it had been a LONG time! We had a great time, except the Festival was so crowded and my kids were melting down, big time!

Little Abby was a great helper with Lily though. These two got along great!

On Saturday we had family pictures taken and went to our friend Dan's surprise birthday party. We didn't stay too long because, again, kids were melting down!

I did manage to get the Christmas tree put up. I was seriously considering not doing it this year, but for the kids sake.... It's not the best it has ever looked, but it'll do! I'm bummed we don't have much time to enjoy it this year! (But knowing me, it'll be well into January before I get around to taking it down...)

(Do you notice something wrong with this picture??? I didn't even notice until I went to unplug later that only the bottom half of the lights are working!!!! GREAT!!!)

On top of all that, Lily has been sick. She has some tummy bug, and is NOT a happy camper. And right after our pictures on Saturday, she managed to run her face right into the corner of the kitchen cabinets. I'm glad it was AFTER pictures! It is pretty bad though. Poor kid!

Seuao and I did get to spend some time together though - it really was nice! Just random moments here and there, but I'll take them when I can get them!

I am marking things off of my lists of things to do, so that feels good. Unfortunately there's still so much left! But, now that the tree's up, and things are coming together, I am feeling a little more like I can breathe again. Phew!

Gratitude

I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is my most favorite holiday. None of the shopping, wrapping, parties and pressure that the Christmas brings, just a time to be simply grateful. With that in mind, I was REALLY looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. I was aching to spend time with my kids and family and to just relax.



Wait! Relax? I think that word is no longer in my vocabulary...

I got off work a little early on Wednesday, ran home and packed up. Lex and Noah were going to ride up to Logan with us because Dave had to leave early. Seuao was working and was going to join up with us in Logan on Thursday morning. First of all, packing for two babies for 4 days is tough enough. Trying to anticipate the amount of diapers, changes of clothing, etc. just wasn't coming together in my brain! To make matters worse, my mom had sent an email out to everyone that she had booked a photographer to take a big family picture during the weekend, and we needed to bring black, brown, khaki or green clothes for it. WHAT??? I have little girls! Everything they own is pink or purple! I decided I would just have to shop for new outfits for them in Logan. So, it took much longer to get everything together than I thought, and by the time I picked everyone up and hit the road, we landed smack in the middle of the get-me-out-of-town-rush-hour traffic. Good times.

The kids held up ok. Well, no, not really. Tessa held up great - that girl amazes me. Sometimes she is such a light sleeper, but other times she has a serious coping mechanism that lets her zone out the screams and howls that often surround her, which was the case that night (thank heavens). Lily and Noah completely lost it. Lex and I sang every Christmas and Primary song that we could think of, which sort-of kept them at bay, but it really was bad. I think these pictures prove my point...

Before:



After:




It was a long drive.

Thanksgiving day itself was awesome. Seuao got there around 10 or 11. We spent the day looking through ads, cooking, watching the Macy's parade, playing with the kids, playing Lex's new "Raving Rabbids" game on the Wii (so much fun!), and of course eating!



Lily spent most of the time searching for open Diet Coke cans ...



Helping Granny decorate (and mostly undecorate) the Christmas tree...



Drinking bottles of lotion, tormenting her smaller-than-her cousins,



And laughing with Ella...



She certainly kept busy!

Well, let's see.... Thanksgiving just isn't complete without the plotting, planning and budgeting for the big after-Thanksgiving sales! Seuao and Dave were set on getting ginormous plasma TVs at Walmart, so they took off at 3:30 a.m. on Friday. They got their TVs without any problem. The drama was at Kohls where we were! They opened at 4:00 a.m, and when we got there at 3:55, the line was around the building, across the parking lot and to the doors of K-Mart next door! Insanity!





So, there were a bunch of people just hanging out in the parking lot (us included) planning on just merging into the line and going in when the doors opened. Not very nice, I know. Well, the people in line were REALLY not happy about it. They were so upset, the police came and cleared everyone out of the parking lot who wasn't in line!



Rebecca, Mary and I headed back to our car and were just going to wait in there when the doors opened, and everyone just ran... The major thing I wanted was a video camera. We don't have one, and I feel like I'm losing my babies, and need to document them! Well, I ran right past the one I really wanted, picked up two others, not remembering which one I saw in the ad. After Mary told me I had the wrong ones I was bummed! Luckily I was able to find the one I really wanted even an hour after they had opened. I guess I really didn't need to be part of the stampede after all!

I think we all were pleased with our finds. We ventured over to ShopKo (who doesn't have a CLUE about how to organize lines for check-out). In fact, as soon as we walked in the door, Mom got in line, while we shopped and we met up with her when she got to the cashier. Such a great system! We hit Sams Club too, then were home by about 7:00 a.m. just in time for babies to wake up... good times!



After the shopping extravaganza, I spent most of the day watching Rebecca's kids while she packed. She and Lance are buying a little house, and were planning on moving on Saturday. Four kids under 4 in a house that's not your own, combined with two other babies (Noah and Benji) plus various mommies and daddies in and out is really a recipe for chaos! I really underestimated how exhausting it would be, especially considering Seuao left around 11 to head back to Salt Lake. He had a flight leaving at 3:00 for L.A. to go to his friend's wedding.

Friday and Saturday were pretty much a blur. I spent the entire time wrangling babies. Beck was moving on Saturday and recruited the guys to help. Allen had Jazz tickets, so he, dad and Dave went to Salt Lake for the game Saturday night.

Sunday was Mia's first birthday, so we had a make-shift birthday party for her that morning. Mary made her a little cake, which she thoroughly enjoyed!



Of course she had to have some help...



We did mom's family picture (even though Seuao wasn't in it), minus new outfits for the kids... oh well!



Lily had a rough day. She was screaming nearly all morning. I got her settled in nursery so I could hear mom's lesson in the combined 5th Sunday class, when I heard her screaming down the hallway again. The fam stepped in to help me with Tessa so I could deal with Lily. We survived church (barely), took nearly 2 hours to gather all of our gear, and made it home around 9:00 p.m. Sunday night. Right when Tessa decided it was time to get up and play! This single-mom thing is NOT for me!!! I finally collapsed into bed after 12:30 a.m., just to wake up again at 5:30 Monday morning to get ready for work!

The weekend was just so busy. I love spending time with my family, but I really missed having Seuao there to help out. While there was NOTHING relaxing about my weekend, I do just love Thanksgiving.

What I'm grateful for this year, in a word, is LOVE. The love I have for my own little family is something I never thought or dared to dream I would have. They consume every breath and thought I have. The love I have for my extended family motivates me to try to be a better person constantly. The love I have for my Savior is the core of my soul. I am grateful for love.