Out with the old, in with the new!

I have had my explorer for 6 years. I got her right before I met Jared. She, yes my explorer is a she, has over 180,000 miles of memories and fun. Unfortunately, my poor car died and right before we were supposed to drive down to San Diego for the boys' birthday. We only had about 3 days to find something. Jared has been wanting a truck for quite some time now and so with my explorer dying, it was the perfect excuse to finally get one... Here she is...

I love her already! I miss my explorer and the extra room I used to have inside, but its so nice to be able to load everything up in the bed of the truck and not worry about taking up space inside. I think our boys love it too..

To my Reefy Boy..

It's your BIRTHDAY! I cannot believe you are already 4.. How fast the time has come and gone. From the day you were born you have been sweet, calm, polite and loving. I will never forget the instant love I felt when I held you in my arms for the very first time. You just have this light that surrounds you, anyone who comes in contact with you can see it and feel it. You already try so hard to be like our Savior and it just makes me love you even more. You are so caring and sensitive towards others feelings. You never want to make someone upset or see them cry. You love to ask questions and have me read you books. You soak up every little thing, which is sometimes a good thing and a bad thing, people really have to watch what they say around you. You LOVE your Grandparents, there is nothing you love more than to cuddle with your Nama and Grandma or play outside with your Papa and Grandpa. You are incredibly talented. You can hit/ throw a ball so far, your Papa calls you "The Throwin' Samoan" and it is quite fitting. You are Momma's big helper, always offering to help clean or put the dishes away. You love to watch cartoons, you can watch something once and quote it word for word, it is pretty funny. Some of the things you come up with are just too cute. You are very good at making people laugh. You adore your baby brother and would do just about anything for him. I love to watch you two play, you have quite the imagination. You and your Daddy have a special relationship. You could spend all day, every day helping him in the garage, going to the park or playing sports with him. You always love to impress him and make him so proud of you. You love your cousins so much, you get along with each and every one of them, and hardly ever fight or argue. Mommy and Daddy are just so proud of you. We have no way of expressing our love for you... There aren't enough words or actions to show you. We love and adore you more than you will ever know. Happy Birthday my Reefy Boy!!

Life Size Characters!

I could quite possibly be married to the most talented man on this earth! He seriously can take any project I have brewing in my mind and make it come to life, better than I would anticipate. I had been working so hard on trying to get the boys' birthday party decorations ready and we came up with this great idea to do life size character cutouts of Jake and the Neverland Pirates. This is what my husband was able to create...

 He shot the image up on a projector

 He drew out the image

 Cut out each character

  Painted each one (with the help of Grandpa Ominae)

The finished product!

They were a huge hit at the party. Everyone was asking where we bought them, no one could believe that Jared actually made them. I'm so grateful for my husband. I don't think the party would be complete without these awesome cutouts!

Birthday party pictures coming soon!!

Redneck Weekend

My Dad is a HUGE fan of Nascar and NHRA. Growing up we used to play tricks on him and tell him who won the race before he could watch it. He would get so mad and we would laugh so hard! My siblings have kind of developed a love for racing after all of these years so when my mom asked me if I would like to go to the NHRA Nationals in Phoenix, I couldn't say no. We went Saturday morning and spent the day watching drag race after drag race. It is seriously INSANE! Some of those cars can go up to 300MPH. It is sooo loud, as you can imagine. The boys absolutely loved it. I think Hawk was actually more into it than Reef. He would perk up when he heard the engines rev. I loved watching his expressions as the cars raced by. At around Noon he started getting so tired, but he did not want to sleep, he wad way to excited... Finally, after a lot of crying and rocking, he fell asleep. There were a few breaks between races so my mom and I took that time to do some SERIOUS PEOPLE WATCHING! That was almost as much fun as watching the drags. I am so glad we went. It was fun to experience something that my Dad absolutely loves and to use that as a bonding moment. These are the times I will look back on and be grateful for the memories and I know my boys will do the same. Thanks Mom and Dad for taking us with you and for visiting us!!

Funny Cars (That is what they are actually called) racing down the drags. It's not the best quality, but you get the idea:)

Hawk and Papa watching the drags

 Papa was a trooper and held Hawk most of the time.

 Reef with his Nama Liz

Reef thought it was soo cool that he could fit in the tire of this Monster Truck!

Cows and Guns and Food and Fun!

Grandma Margie, Hayley and Tanner came for a little visit this past week. It was so much fun to spend some time with them and try out some new activities. We live in such a small town there really isn't much to do... OR so we thought! We ended up having a fun filled few days of guns, food, milk, food, cows, and more food. 

 Reef with his Grandma

 The girls

 My Reefy Boy

 Hawk-a-loogie

 Tanner got a bullseye

 GUNS!

 Hawk was too cute with these earmuffs

 All of us with our guns!

 Hayley and I had so much fun!

 One of the many meals we made and ate

So, the husband has quite an OBSESSION with milk. He swears by Shamrock Farms milk. He says it is thee very best he had ever had. We knew that there was a Shamrock Farm in Arizona, but we weren't sure where it was. We found out it was actually only 12 MILES away from our house! I did some digging and discovered they do public tours 2 days a week and it happened to fall on the day that everyone came. We went and had a blast. There is so much to do and see... we got to feed calves, see how they milk thousands of cows a day, watch a momma cow give birth (SO COOL!) play on a cow themed playground, and the best part... they gave each of us a free bottle of milk after your tour! We also "Liked" them on Facebook and so we got a free scoop of ice cream! 

 Reef got to help demonstrate how much a cow eats compared to his weight. 

(That bag is 100 lbs.) Reef went to the very top of the scale. 

 Hawk and Uncle Tanner

 The Family

 Reef feeding the Bull Calf

 Hawk's turn!

We had so much fun with the family! We love when they come to visit! 

Whhooopp! Whhoooppp!!

Do you remember this post? Where I said my mile time was... 13 minutes? Wow, that is still embarrassing to type. Well, in all honesty, it was actually 13:40, almost 14 minutes.. I have been working my butt off for the past week trying to run faster and it was actually getting worse?? what? It doesn't make sense to me either. I decided that my goal was to try and beat my time and I DID IT! Finally! Jared is such an awesome running partner. He really pushes me and although I hate him in that moment, I love him afterward for doing it. So, my new time to beat is..... 10:59! That is almost 3 minutes! I know you are probably laughing, thinking I am ridiculous for being so excited about such a LARGE number, but I really am so thrilled. It is a huge accomplishment in my eyes which is why I felt it needed to be shared! So, I am gleefully patting myself on the back for a job well done! :) 

Happy Valentines Day!

I have always looked forward to the day that I would have my own little family so that we would be able to celebrate each holiday together and the way we wanted to. I was so happy when Reef's teacher told me they were having a Valentines Day party and Reef would need to bring in a Valentine for each of his classmates. I immediately started brainstorming, trying to think of something different for Reef to do. I searched Pinterest and found a couple of cute ideas. I had Reef pick his favorite and took it to the husband to do what he does best... Create something using photoshop. This is what he came up with...
I am seriously so lucky to be married to such a talented man. He is good looking too, which of course is a plus! Reef told me that he also wanted to get something for his teacher he said a ring with chocolate kisses... Uumm... Hhmm..(i think my son may have a crush on his teacher haha... ) I wasn't sure about the ring so we settled with a cup filled with chocolates. He was soo excited to give it to her, it was actually quite cute.
 
He loves Mrs. Bernie so much, she is a great teacher! I can't wait to hear all about his day when I pick him up from school. I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines Day! I am so blessed to be spending my day with three of the sweetest, cutest guys I know!

To my Hawky Boy,

Happy Birthday! I cannot believe my little baby is already 2! It is so crazy how fast time flies. Mommy loves you more than you will ever know. You bring your Daddy and I so much joy. I will never forget the way I felt when I held you for the first time. You were such a good baby. You were so calm and quiet and loved to sleep, which meant Mommy got to sleep too! Some things have changed since then.. Now you prefer to be awake, so you don't miss out on anything. You are hilarious, smart, crazy, stubborn, quick, and extremely feisty! It is never a dull moment when you are around. You keep me on my toes and hardly ever let me rest. You love your big brother, you try to be just like him. There is nothing that brings me more joy than to see the two of you interacting. You are such a Daddy's Boy! You scream with excitement when your Daddy gets home from work and you cry when he has to leave. You LOVE being outside and always want to ride on your quad. We could be outside for hours and when it is time to come in, you usually have a melt down. You are soo smart, you are always able to figure out how to open anything you can get your hands on. You LOVE treats, especially candy... I think it may have even been one of your first words.. Luckily, you are also obsessed with brushing your teeth! Your Aunties, Uncles and cousins love you so much, they think you are hilarious (especially when you are doing something naughty). You are always the life of the party and you LOVE to show off in front of people. Your Grandparents have a soft spot for you. You can tell they love you so much. We are all so blessed to have you as apart of our family. I thank our Father in Heaven for allowing me to be your Mommy! I love you my Hawky!

We LOVE...

The Park! 

Our boys could spend hours at the park and sometimes we do!

We really enjoy Arizona winters because it is so nice outside. It gives us the opportunity to get out and enjoy the sun, without it being sooo hot!

Thursday Night...

at the Aiono Home went something like this...

Daddy: "Hey, Reef, wanna throw things at each other?"

Reef: "Yeah!"

Daddy: "Ok, go build a fort and collect things to throw at me."

Reef: "Ok Daddy! This gonna be so much fun!"

Reef's "artillery"

The front of his fort, which he was so proud of.

Daddy's Fort

Hawk thought he was on Daddy's team..

 Daddy taking Reef down...

 Reef got spun around on a pad, he thought it was hilarious.

 Hawk soon found out he was not on Daddy's team...

and spent the rest of the night hiding in the tent.. haha

I love having boys, they always come up with such creative ways to have fun.. It is never a dull moment at the Aiono Home!