My Mom

Today is exactly one year from the day my Mom passed away. Part of me wants to say it has gone quickly but another part of me screams no way, it's been a long hard year! I think of her daily still and miss her tremendously. I can say with all my heart that I am the person I am today because of her. She was such an incredible person and I will never be half the Person, Mom, Wife, Friend, Leader.... as she was. She taught me how to work, how to clean, how to do finances, how to be honest, how to play the piano, how to keep the commandments, how to be a Mom, how to cook, how to LOVE chocolate, it could go on and on. I never understood how incredible she really was until I became a Mom myself and then the selfish glasses came off and a whole new world was opened up. I married very young and I'm still amazed to this day that she trusted me, that she never got in the middle of Eric's and mine relationship, that she never had anything negative to say about what we were doing or the choices we made. She let us make our own decisions and learn and grow from them. She was a great Grandma. She was there to help with each child as they were born. She loved each one of them as much as she loved me. She was kind, gentle and extremely patient with them. She made each of them 2 quilts. Not just tied quilts but hand stitched. For each of them one of the quilts had their name beautifully stitched into it. Each baby only got to use this special quilt a couple of times because Eric insisted that it was too nice and each child needed something to remember Grandma later on in life. I'm so glad he did this and to have these treasures for each child to have and know how much she loved them. I'm grateful for her testimony. She was the ultimate example (along with my Dad) of how to live the gospel everyday. She was a spiritual giant. Her faith never faltered. Even as her life was coming to an end she was never bitter, never questioned why but instead said, "I have work to do, I need to go". When they first found the mass in her lungs, they said they would send part of it off to see if it was malignant. In her journal she said, "I'm sure it will be (malignant). I just need enough time to teach Stan how to take care of finances. I have no worries about the next life. I have a strong belief in the plan of salvation and know that I can be with my family again someday." I too am grateful for this wonderful plan and I too know that I will see her again. I'm so proud to of had her as My Mom, she was and is the best Mom in the world. I LOVE AND MISS YOU!!

BiRTHdAyS!!

Parker and Alani both just recently had Birthdays. I missed blogging about them last year with the chaos in my life. This year, well I have no excuse but laziness! I love them both with all my heart and glad they are my 2nd and 3rd child.

Parker was first. He began celebrating his birthday the day before. He came home with 5 friends, they hung out playing basketball, X box, and running around outside. They finished by having pizza.

This year was a special year for him. He turned 12. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he was able to receive the Priesthood. It just so happened that a Temple trip was planned for the youth on his birthday, a Saturday. In order for Parker to be able to go he first needed to be ordained into the office of a Deacon. He was presented to the Ward for their sustaining vote the Sunday before and then on Saturday, his birthday, at 6:30 in the morning he was ordained. He then left to go to the Mesa Temple at 6:45. This would be his first and last trip to the Mesa Temple because our Gila Valley Temple will be dedicated on May 23rd.

He had a fabulous time and loved it. He then got to come home to hang out with one of his favorite cousins that came for his Ordination that morning. I think that was his greatest gift!

Alani was 4 days later. On her birthday she got to hang out with us, open her presents, and go to Denny's (her choice). Then on Friday she had 10 friends come over for a party. They played games...loved popping balloons by sitting on them, ran around, got their nails painted, made a flower for their hair, and made homemade pizzas. They all had a great time and Alani LOVED every minute of it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY....

WE LOVE YOU TWO!!!!!!

November-December 2009

A couple of weeks ago I finally downloaded all 759 pictures that were on our camera from the last couple of months. I picked several to post that shows a little of what we have been up to.


My Dad has several pecan trees and my children got to experience falling leaves and raking leaves. They had fun with it. These pictures are from two different occasions.















Piano Recital!





For Young Women in Excellence Kalia and two of her friends decided to make dresses. One of the friends Mom was the lucky and very kind one that helped them make them. Here's her gorgeous dress! Great job.





One night for fun we had our children outside playing the game were you hold a bat with it touching the ground on one end and your forehead on the other. You then spin around several times then drop the bat and try to run in a straight line. It is the most hilarious thing you'll ever see. They were loving it and did it several times. Once they stopped and came in the house they were overcome with motion sickness. Parker and Alani were affected the most. They laid in misery on the floor and couch for awhile then went straight to bed.




On Thanksgiving day Pima had a 5k and a 1 mile fun run. My sisters did the 5k (I was on the sideline with my knee) and Kaleb and several of his cousins decided to do the fun run. Kaleb ran the whole mile and had energy to spare when he got back.








We had Thanksgiving at Kanani's house with Lehua, Kuliana, and one of Kanani's in-laws family. Kanani, Lehua, Kuliana and myself left at 5:00 that night to head to Mesa for Black Friday. Our first stop upon arrival was to watch "New Moon" which none of us had seen. It was definitely better then the first one.


We then stayed up until 12:30 and decided to head out at 2:30 to start the madness. Madness it was, Kuliana about got mauled at Wal-Mart trying to get the rest of us some Nintendo DS's, she wasn't even getting one for herself. She did give up and we headed to a much calmer Wal-Mart up the rode and still were able to get some. We shopped all day and then headed back home about 5:00. Not much sleep and traveling is never fun. We took my car and I ended up driving from the beginning to the end. The last leg of the trip we had the radio cranked and us singing at the top of our lungs to stay awake. Good times, great memories.



The first weekend in December Eric headed out with his buddies from Yuma for their annual Motorcycle run from Yuma to Las Vegas. This would be number 5. He decided to go with the biker look and grew some facial hair. For a week and half the beard was full then the night before the ride he shaved it to look like this. He does look pretty sexy, but I was glad when it went, I prefer kissing a clean shaven face!




Alani has been in dance since June of 2009. She LOVES it and is quite the little dance.





We had a Blair family Christmas party. There was food and of course the White Elephant game for the kids. We all had a great time and it was even better to see everyone.




I had every intention to send out Christmas cards for the first time ever. Before I knew it, it was almost Christmas, I had Eric snap these pictures the Sunday before Christmas and I was going to get New Year cards out. Well, that never happened either!!






Christmas Eve at the Natividad's. Tradition is to go to Pizza Hut, then Caroling, then act out the Nativity, then to bed to wait for Santa. We were saddened to not have my Mom since all these traditions were started by her. My Aunt Leora-Mom's best friend decided to stay in town (her family always joined in) so we were very excited to have her and some of her family. We had a great time as always!




Opening Pajama's on Christmas Eve.





Our Christmas Eve celebration started early this year at 3:00. Starting so early we were done with everything and home around 6:00. At almost 7:00 this was what Eric was doing.





Christmas Morning!

SpOrTs

Sports are never ending around our household. When one season ends another begins. Sometimes it's all 4 children involved and sometimes it's just one. Hayden's to young, thank goodness. Here's what sports we have been involved in since August.

Kalia is in school sports this year. She began the school year and the season with Volleyball. It was fun and frustrating to watch all at the same time. My inner competitiveness of playing so many years was trying to break out while I tried to suppress it. She did great and is coming along. The team did ok, they won some and lost some. I'm excited for next year and High School play, I know that she will get better and more instruction. I can see the volleyball star in her just trying to break out!

Volleyball ended in October. She had a couple of weeks off and then Basketball started. They have only played a couple of games and are getting better each time. She absolutely loves Volleyball but when basketball started she was excited to remember how fun it was. She had played in the city leagues for the 4th-6th graders in Yuma but had forgotten how much she enjoyed it. Eric has been teaching her a couple of moves and she does a great job. It's fun to see her progression and talent coming out.

Eric, Parker, Alani and Kaleb were involved in Soccer from September to November. Parker was a rock star and a great asset to his team. He even played goalie part time for the first time. His coach would put him in as goalie when they played a harder team. Hardly any balls would get past him. They won many games because of the amount of shots he stopped. He was chosen to play on the All-Star game at the end of the season. His team won!

Eric coached Alani & Kaleb's team. They did AWESOME! He got a team with the most amount of girls and more of the younger players and did an incredible job with them. They lost only 2 games and tied for first with the amount of losses. He had some talent on his team but his coaching made them all great. He would make up games and drills at practice that tailored to 7-9 year olds. All the kids LOVED practice and were always sad when it ended. At the end of the season they had an All Star game. The top 2 couches got to coach and Eric was one of them. They practiced for a week and then played. Eric's team won and he was thrilled.

Kaleb wasn't afraid of anything. He was one of the younger ones. He would get right in there and take charge. He made many goals and could hang with the 9 yr old boys.

Alani was fast and great on defense. She would chase the ball and opponent down the field and stop them with ease. She too made a couple of goals and loved every moment of it.

Our next adventure that is starting is Bantam Basketball for Parker and Eric. It's Basketball for the 5th & 6th graders. Eric was hired as the director and will run the whole thing. Parker will play. Our Saturdays are gone from now until March.

As for me I'm the cheerleader and biggest supporter for all my children and husband. I'm excited that Eric has been able to have so much involvement with our children the last several months. He's gone so many years without being able to be involved and barely making it to a game or two. He'll keep doing it as long as he can.

Knee Injury Part 2

On Oct 21 at 6:30am I checked into the Hospital to have my ACL fixed. ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament, it's in the knee. This was the result of my Skiing trip back in April when I was attempting to learn how to ski and biffed it hard went tumbling a couple of times and while tumbling tore my ACL. Because of my desire to continue being very active especially with playing sports such as volleyball and basketball I decided to have it fixed.

They promptly started to get me prepped for my 7:30am surgery. Before they would even consider doing the surgery they had to make sure that I wasn't pregnant. I told them there was no way but they still made me take the test. Much to my delight they said there was no number 6 on the way. There should there never be a number 6!

My surgery consisted of me having a spinal block and also a shot in my leg that would send electrical currents to my nerve endings and numb certain parts of my leg, mainly my knee. This would last anywhere from 12-18hrs. I would have 3 very small incisions and one larger 2 inch incision. To start me out they put something in my IV to make me relax and sort of go to sleep but not really go to sleep (so they told me). This was done to give me the spinal block. The anesthesiologist said I would be awake once we were in the surgery room. My Dr. had said earlier at my Pre-Op Appt. that if I wanted to I could watch the whole procedure on TV. The surgery is done Arthroscopic so I would be able to see what the camera was seeing. I told him no way but he said it was my choice, I could start to watch it then if I wanted I could take a nice nap until the recovery room. Well the only thing I remember from this point on is when they strapped my arms down and asked if I was ok. From talking to some of the nurses and the Dr. I was awake for more than I thought. I was answering questions and talking normal but I remember nothing. I asked if I said anything weird or strange but they said I was good. I am still just amazed that I didn't remember a thing. My Dr. said it's because I have "spring water blood".

My sad swollen knee.


I was also told in my Pre-Op that I would probably be able to go home around 11:00-11:30am depending on how I responded to the anesthesia. Needless to say...I was the first surgery of the day and was second to last to leave. I didn't get to leave until 2:30 or 3:00. I then fought nausea all the way home. Once I got home I started to feel a little better. My knee wasn't horrible because the shot they gave me was still in effect. What hurt was my hamstring. They took a tendon from it to create my new ACL and that area was not covered by the shot.

By night I was feeling worse instead of better. I began to feel lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseous all over again. This was how I felt all day Thursday and Friday morning. I would only get out of bed to use the bathroom and then would be so motion sick by the time I got back I would throw up. Lights hurt my head, moving hurt my head, the TV made me sick. I was miserable not because of my knee but because of the rest of this junk I was dealing with. Finally Friday morning I called the Dr. office to have my pain killers changed. They went ahead and changed them but also said it sounded like a Spinal Headache. To be honest I'll never know which one was causing all this because at this point I asked for a blessing. Eric and my Dad gave me one, I fell asleep for a couple of hours and then felt tons better when I woke up.

From this point on things began to look up. My knee hurt and ached all the time but it was bare able (most of the time). Five days after surgery I began Physical Therapy. I had no movement in my knee, I couldn't straighten or bend it. Simple exercises I had to do like bending my knee was exhausting and painful. I was however determined to press on. From the moment I left the hospital I was bound to either crutches or a brace. I had to use one or the other anytime I was standing. The brace drove me crazy and I believe caused more pain. I had to get my quad to set before I could get rid of them. The surgery causes your quad to go to mush and that's what helps you walk and stand up without falling down.





The following Monday, 12 days after surgery I was able to get rid of the crutches and brace. What a happy person I was!! I go to Physical Therapy twice a week and also have exercises I have to do at home twice a day. I'm still working on being able to bend my leg and get it straight. I still walk with a limp, which my family loves to make fun of. It aches and I feel it every single moment I'm awake including the middle of the night. I am however slowly progressing. I have strict orders to only walk for the next 3 months. I can once I have more movement swim and ride a bike but no jogging or anything else. I might just go crazy and get fat all at the same time!! Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, I am so in trouble!!!!!!!!




These are pictures my Dr. took during surgery. The top left picture is of my injured ACL. The pictues show where he cleared it out and then the last one is of my new ACL. Modern medicine and technology is just AMAZING!!

Fair Weekend

This past weekend was the Graham County Fair. It was from Thursday to Sunday. Thursday night is when all the teenagers go. They get a wrist band for $18 and ride as many rides as they like. I like to call it Test Night (they test all the rides on the children). Kalia of course went to this. Friday morning begins with a parade. Alani is in a dance class and so she was in it and danced her little heart out. At this point tradition says to go eat and then head to the fair. Well...we didn't do that this year. A couple of the small towns around here has the Swine Flu and Influenza A running wild. Now you know all those lovely people will be there touching everything, breathing on everything, and contaminating everything. So, we bribed our children. A toy from Wal-Mart and bowling. They were very excited about this and so that is what we did.

They were all very excited about bowling including Hayden. He was bouncing off the walls when we got there cause he could hardly wait. We got our shoes, balls, and names all put in. We began but Hayden was all of a sudden totally and completely unwilling to bowl. He wouldn't walk up to lane for anything. We finally figured out way he was so afraid.



This lovely skeleton was right over our lane. He was terrified of it. Eric finally talked him into walking up to the lane turning backwards and pushing the ball through his legs. It was so cute I couldn't resist snapping a picture and writing about it.

*Kalia was allowed to go to the fair with a bottle of Purell and a promise to use it after every ride,before eating anything, and no touching her nose, mouth, or face. She also had to take a shower the minute she walked in the door.
(I know, I'm a freak!)

Once in a lifetime...

This was probably a once in a life time experience for me. I, along with many Gila Valley residents, got to witness the Angel Moroni being raised and put on the top of the Gila Valley Temple.

This took place back on September 22 but because of my laziness I'm barely getting to it. We found out by word of mouth (as did everyone else) that it was taking place. Soon the highway was lined with many cars. Eric, my Dad, Hayden and myself found a spot right by the temple and stood and watched in amazement as it was done.

It was amazing to think that temples in the past were done without all the modern technology and machinery that we have today. All the work around the temple came to a stop as Moroni was being raised and yes there was a great feeling of peace and our Heavenly Fathers love was felt there.

I have LOVED being able to drive by everyday and see the progress that is made. Everytime I am in complete awe of it and am so excited to have a temple just a couple of miles from our

home.