Backyard Camping

Jared and Reefy were supposed to go on a camping trip with our ward this past weekend.. Unfortunately, we were unprepared and so Jared thought it would be a great idea to have a backyard campout. We went to walmart and bought a tent, some wood and your usual camp fire food. Reef was so excited to "go camping." The two of them set up the tent and built a little fire in our homemade fire ring. I got all the food ready and we had a nice enjoyable evening under the stars. Reef roasted a hot dog for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed his s'more. By the time we were done eating is pretty late so I said good night to my little campers and went inside. Reef wasn't too sure about sleeping outside, but he went with his Daddy anyway. At about 1:30 in the morning I heard the sliding glass door open and there was Mr. Reefy asking if he could come lay down with me. I told him that was fine, but to make sure the tent was closed. He said with absolutely certainty that he already closed the tent. WELL... At about 3:30 in the morning I hear the sliding glass door open again and look up to see a very frantic husband wondering where Reef was. Apparently, Mr. Reefy didn't close the tent.. In fact, he left the tent wide open, which led to Jared thinking Reef got kidnapped.. Reef must be like his momma.. He enjoys the nice air conditioned house and a comfy couch to sleep on. It was a fun night none the less and we had a good time "Camping."

The love of Grand Parents

The othet day Jared and I went on a little date to dinner and a movie. We had some time to kill before our movie started so we took a walk around the mall. The husband had to use the restroom so I obviously waited outside for him. One of my favorite things to do at the mall is people watch and I couldn't help, but notice this sweet older lady and her grand daughter. The little girl couldn't have been more than 2, but you could tell they were the best of friends. The grandma just adored that little girl. Any little thing she did, the grandma just laughed and smiled. When someone would walk by she had to mention that, that was her grand daughter and you could hear the pride in her voice. When Jared was finished and we walked away I told him that as much as I love to watch a mommy or daddy with their babies, there is just nothing sweeter than a Grandma or Grandpa with their sweet Grand Babies. That instance made me think about my babies and the love of their Grand Parents. My parents and my in laws LOVE their Grand Children, they probably, no they definitely love them more than their own kids and I get it, I finally get it. Before I was married with my own children, my sister had her first baby Desea and I was hooked, obsessed, in love the minute I met her, but I at times, would get so jealous of her. (I know it sounds ridiculous even typing it, but its the truth..) I was used to being the youngest and getting everything I wanted. I couldn't understand why my parents loved her more than me.. I was their daughter and it was only right to love me more. Well, I grew up, got married, and had my own babies and that is when I got it. Now I obviously am not a Grandma and better not be for at least 22 more years or so, but I have NEVER loved anything (besides my hubby) more than I love my children. They are my world, they bring so much joy and happiness into my life. When they do grow up and get married and have their own children those sweet babies will not only be a part of my children and their spouses, but they will be a piece of this family that Jared and I created. I used to ask my mom, how shr can love them more than us? And she would tell me.. 1. They are adorable and sweet and never give her heartache 2. They love and adore her as much as she does them. 3. They are a part of what her chilrden created, and the love and bond is just indescribable. Now I appreciate that love.. I appreciate my parents and Jared's parents more than they know. My Reefy boy wants to call his Grandpa, Grandma, Nama, and Papa everyday just to say hi and tell them he loves them. I love to see them all play and laugh and make memories together, memories that will last forever. So this post is just to say Thank you! Thank you for all the calls, visits, smiles, hugs, kisses, memories, presents and love!

Sundays are.. not so fundays!!

Sundays seem to be extremely hard for our little family. Thank goodness we have church at 12:30 now because 9am just wasnt working for us! We always seem to have meltdowns, stains on our clothes before we even leave the house, and I tend to forget something that is instrumental in keeping my sweet babies occupied during sacrement. Well, today was one of those Sundays. I woke up to Hawk eatjng a huge oile of dumped out animal crackers and of course i had to pick them up and that resorted to a major meltdown. I sat the boys down and we enjoyed a nice little breakfast and then meltdown two kicked in.. right about... Now. Reef was trying to watch cartoons, but Daddy said no and well, Reef doesn't like that word very much. We bathed the boys and somehow managed to get them dressed without any major difficulties. We loaded the boys in the car and headed to church. 12:30 is a little hard because that is usually the time I put Hawk down for a nap, so Daddy and I shared turns taking Hawk out while the other stays and entertains/ kind of gets to listen to the speakers. I took Hawk the first half and while i was failing miserably at putting Hawk to sleep, I was thinking to myself, "Why do I even waste my time coming to church? I have to sit out in the foyer the entire time we are here and I feel like I learn nothing." (I KNOW... HARSH, but it was true..) I quickly gave up and took Hawk to Jared and sat down determined to listen. It was ward conference today so we had the priviledge of having our awesome stake president there and as soon as i sat down he thanked all of us mommys and daddys for coming to church even though our time here usually consists of chasing or holding our kids. And then he said this... " All of you mommys and daddys have been given an important calling, thee most important calling and greatest thing you will ever do, which is to raise your babies to be wonderful, uplifting, spiritual human beings." It hit me right there... why do I even come to church? Because that is where the Lord wants us, it is so important for our kids to know this. Its important for them to learn reverence and I think it definitely teaches us Mommys and Daddys patience. I am so grateful for our stake president's counsel, but I am especially grateful for my babies, even if they can be a little busy and mischievous at times!

From messy faced boys to sweet gentlemen

Lately I have been thinking about my boys and what they are going to be like when they get older. They are such sweet little boys and I never want that to change. They don't know the difference from black, white, yellow, purple, (literally, we think Reef might be color blind, but thats beside the point) they don't know skinny from fat, or beautiful from ugly. At least once a day a hear a sweet little voice say "Mommy you are beuiful (translation- beautiful) and I have to admit.. I love it, it makes my heart melt. My husband has jokingly asked Reef if so and so is ugly and he always responds "No, him is handsome" or "No, her is beuiful." I just never want that to change. The world we live in is so obsessed with outward appearances, I admit I get sucked into all the latest fashion and beauty trends, but who is to say what is "pretty" and "ugly." I want my boys to love everyone despite the way they look, sound, or dress. I want them to find the beauty in everything and everyone. So, starting today, (not saying I've taught them differently before this..) my goal as Mommy is to teach them to love everyone despite our differences in appearance and so on. I love my sweet little boys and I want them to grow up and be sweet gentlemen.

AZ here we come...

Jared and I have been waiting about 3 years for this amazing job opportunity to come.. and it FINALLY has! On February 13, Jared got a phone call offering him an agent position in CBP in Casa Grande, Arizona and he would have to report for duty February 28. When he got the call we didn't know what to do.. we had talked so much about what would happen when this moment came... We had 24 hours to give a response... We had said so many times that we were going to say no if it was out of state. We just couldn't take our kids away from cousins and aunties and uncles and especially grandparents. As soon as Jared got off we both said NO! How could we move? Not to mention I just had Hawk 2 days before that.. We realized pretty quickly that chances were we would NEVER get this opportunity again. We had to say yes. Jared called back and said yes. I knew he had to leave for 3 months and I had no idea how I was going to do it.. How could I be away from my husband for 3 months? How could I take care of my 2 sons all by myself? I was absolutely dreading Feb. 28 and hoping my last week with him would go by slowly.. I have to say I was way more tough than I gave myself credit. I definitely didn't do it all by myself though, my family and Jared's family were absolutely amazing. They all helped me so much. Whether it was just being there to talk to, watching Reefy for me, taking us out for some fun activities, or offering to have us over for dinner, they all were a tremendous help. I actually ended up moving into my sister Erika's house for 5 weeks and I am so grateful for that. It gave me the chance to spend more time with her and my nieces. The 3 months actually went by fairly quickly, which was a good and bad thing. Good because I got to see my husband again and bad because that meant we had 11 days to move to AZ. Our moms threw us a big party and we got to say bye to all of our friends and family! We moved on June 10 and have had so much fun decorating our new house. (Thank you Aiono parents and cousins for helping us move, paint, and unpack.) It definitely has not been easy being away from our family, but thankfully we have Aiono family here to keep us sane.. or at least keep me sane.. :) I LOVE being on our own, in our own house, with just the 4 of us. I get excited making dinner every night and take pride in my home being nice and tidy. We love when visitors come also! We have already had my mom, dad, nieces, and brother come for a visit and Jared's mom, dad, brother, and sister have also come. I am happy to say that we are surviving! Quite easily too, which I wasn't sure we would be able to do without our parents and siblings living close. I am just so proud of my husband and his work ethic he works so hard for our lives to be secure. He is such an amazing man and I am truly blessed to be married to him. He is enjoying his job so much and I am grateful for that too. I will post pics of the house as soon as we are done decorating!

Christmas! (I know its late)

Jared, Reefy and I had an amazing Christmas! It was INSANE, but so much fun. We have kind of made it a tradition to spend the night at Jared's parents house on Christmas Eve so that we can wake up and open presents with them. Jared has also made it a tradition to wake everyone up at 6AM by running around singing "Dominic- The Italian Christmas Donkey" at the top of his lungs! ITS WONDERFUL!! Reefy had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Aiono's house! It was really fun to see him excited to open each gift too!

Reef was very excited to get his "Melmo" slippers!

Reef riding his new scooter
Auntie was jammin' to... something..
Reefy as santa clause
Christmas morning picture... Please excuse the no makeup!!

Next up was our house with Nama, Papa, Uncle John, Auntie Sarah, Taije, Auntie Ash, Uncle Brad, and Avery. We had a great time opening presents! We got Zoo passes (which i am sooo excited about, Jared, not so much...) from my parents and Reef got some great toys as well. Jared and I opened our gifts from each other too. Somehow he knew EXACTLY what I got him, but I had no idea what I was getting, I like surprises, unlike him! : )

Reef with his Hot Wheels track

Nama, Papa, and Reef

Elmo Piano from nama and papa (If you couldn't tell Reef was very excited)

Jared got me a Coach diaper bag and a Wallet to match! I love it!

I got Jared a Uke, He has been wanting one for so long!

We headed to Grandpa's (PopPop is what Reef calls him) to open up some more presents! We always enjoy going over there on Christmas, Reefy loves his PopPop so much and its nice just to spend some time with him!

PopPop with his Reef's hat on

Reef with his new Guitar

Auntie Hayley and Reef

Uncle and Auntie with their new beanies

Next up... My Grandparent's house. My Grandparent's have been having Christmas at their house forever... I think it all started with my cousins Juj and Justin. The Liljestrom family always has such a blast when we are together! My grandma gets gifts for every single one of her children, grandchildren and now great grandchildren. It is very thoughtful and sweet. This year she really wanted to focus on the great grandchildren, so Reefy lucked out! He got a very cute church suit that mommy can't wait to put on him and some Elmo toys! Reef walked around with his stuffed elmo... pretty much the whole time... haha. We also did a white elephant gift exchange, which is always comical!

Reef's cute suit

Reef opening his presents

Reefy and Elmo

Reef, Taije, Danny and Finn

After my Grandparent's house, we headed over to the Aiono's for Christmas Dinner. Unfortunately, We didn't take any pictures, but the food was delicious and we had a great time with family. We were pretty tired at that point so we came home and guess what?? We ate dinner at our house too! We spent the rest of the night at our house and Reef had so much fun playing with all of his new toys with Daddy!

Even though our Christmas' are always hectic, we look forward to them every year! It definitely wears Reefy out!! Every time we got in the car Reef would fall asleep! Next year will be even better with 2 kids! We can't wait!

December Fun!

I love DECEMBER! There is so much that goes on during this month.. Shopping, baking, family time, eating, presents, parties, eating, oh and did I mention EATING?!? and since Jared/ Reefy got me a camera for my birthday I am able to document all of our fun family outings!

Last Thursday we were able to go Christmas shopping (it is so nice to almost be done!) and so we went and ate lunch with PopPop (Great Grandpa) and Grandma Margie and then shopped our little hearts out! It was so fun to pick out everyone's gifts, Jared and I get so giddy and anxious! Reefy was pretty good too, I can see how difficult it can be to sit in stroller and be driven around all day long... : )

Reefy eating a lemon..

Reefy and Grandma

Jared, me and Grandpa

Reef really liked these glasses! haha

We shopped till he dropped! : )

Saturday night was the Avocado Ward Christmas Party. We had yummy BBQ Pit and the cooking interest group (my mom, me, Chris and Merina) made all the rolls and potatoes! We had so much fun and Reef loved Santa... Until he had to sit on his lap!

"Funeral" Potatoes... Yumm!

Some of the 400 rolls made on Saturday

Ward members could sign up to decorate a table..

This one is my mom's!

All the kids with Santa

Reef with Santa!!

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with Lex, Erika, and the girls because they are leaving for Idaho on Friday. All the older grandkids got to make a gingerbread village with Nama and then they decorated cookies and ate them all up! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take my camera out until after the gingerbread village was decorated, but the kids did it all my themselves, we just put the houses together. Later on that night we read The Story of Christ's Birth and then Santa dropped off a bunch of presents for the girls! We all had so much fun!

The kids with their village!

Reef made the bakery

Reef enjoying his cookie while decorating it!