Fly time, fly!

Lately in our home Jr. and I have been obsessed with time. What I've been thinking about is what time was it when I lost track of time? I've been as sick as a dog all week and didn't even realize Halloween coming so quickly. Ray didn't have a costume so on Thursday we had to go out and buy one for him. Leka luckily wears Ray's old costumes so we just buy one a year. Those things are expensive. I wish I knew how to sew and create things but I don't. And knowing myself even if I had the skill I doubt I'd put it to good use.

Jr. on the other hand has been wanting time to go fast. He just wants it to speed up and literally fly by. It's all he's been talking about lately. He just misses Naki soooo much it's making him antsy. I'd love to ease his burden and find the perfect words to make him feel better but I don't have those words. I just hold him and wish time would speed up a little too.

Ray and Leka cant wait for Halloween to come. Those boys love them some candy. They get candy all the time so I wonder what's all the fuss for Halloween. But they are excited to see their cousins tonight and trick er treat together. I know they will have a great time.

Naki Maile

I don't have words to say how much I will miss my brother in law Naki. By now it seems the whole world knows that he passed away unexpectedly last Friday. Everyone knew him and loved him. I've been avoiding Facebook and blogs like the plague just wishing that it was a bad dream. But the harsh reality is that we lost one of the greatest people I've ever known last week. My heart goes out to Abby and my sweet nieces. I love them so much. They will have to endure this mortal life without him. Please help them if you can by going to http://www.nakifamily.com/ and donating whatever you can to help them out.

I love and miss you Big Nox!

A breakfast to remember

So it's been forever since my last entry. My family and I have been overwhelmed with softball, school, homework, luau's, band practice, etc. But I had to make time to blog about a great breakfast that Jr. and I had with our boys on Conference weekend.

The last couple of years Jr. and I have taken the boys up to Salt Lake to watch Conference in the Joseph Smith building, but this year we have literally been so busy that it sounded nice just to stay home. So that's what we did. We woke up and stayed in our P.J.'s which probably isn't the best idea if your planning on staying awake for ALL the speakers. As always it was great to hear from the leaders of our church and feel rejuvenated and recharged to live the gospel and serve others.

After the first session we started to make breakfast because we got up so late. Jr. and I have never been big on letting our boys help prepare meals. I always think it will be a bigger mess to clean up. But to my surprise I heard Jr. tell them "yes" when they asked if they could help. Look at these cute little chefs in the making.

They got these aprons from Naki and Abby's family for Christmas and this is the first time they've used them. They were so excited. Jr. let them mix the pancake batter and scramble the eggs. Jr. is the cook in our home. If it's not ramen noodles or mac and cheese I'm most likely not the one that made it. But the boys were in the best mood spending time with their Dad and cooking in Ray's words "the most delicious breakfast ever". They started getting creative and wanted to experiment with some unusual ingredients.

Cheedo's and Coco puffs. They ate every last bite of their creation also. I'm so blessed to have these cuties in my life. I'm so thankful that I had a weekend to just sit and relax and enjoy my family. Hope you all had a great Conference weekend too!

Goooooooooooooo COUGARS!!!!!!!!!!

The Lakes Trip

This past weekend Jr. and I were invited by Riley and Kristina to their yearly Grand Daddy Lakes trip. They have been going for years with their family and close friends and this year they invited us to go. You horse ride 7 miles to your camp area. I haven't spent much time with horses so I'd been having 2nd, 3rd, and 4th thoughts about going. But Jr. was so excited, I was excited but also a little worried to intrude on a traditional friends and family trip. All worrying aside everyone was so welcoming and very patient with us well with me.

We left Friday morning and drove for about 2 hours east and met Riley and his sister Ralaina at Grandview Trail Head (it's by Tabiona, Ut). They packed all our things on a "pack" horse and I got to ride Nelly and Jr. is riding Heber. He's humongous.

It was a smooth, beautiful 7 mile ride to our campsite. The view is gorgeous.

When we made it there everyone that brought horses let's them graze and hangout. I love this picture. I believe there were 19 horses total and 14 campers.

We had the best meals out there. Everyone really went all out. Mostly everything we ate was cooked in dutch ovens over the camp fire and we had the best Cobbler ever made. No joke it was delicious. That reminds me I need that recipe. I tried not to eat too much out there because there are no bathrooms......if you needed to go, you took a walk and handled your business. It's definitely rough camping.

We stayed up late Friday night singing songs by the camp fire. Kristina and I had been working on a Song book for the trip because usually it's just Riley and Jr. singing at our gatherings but this time we wanted to join in.

We slept with 6 other people in Riley's new tent and I was warned that it gets crazy cold at night but they had heaters going in the tent and it was so warm and cozy.

I really felt like I was starting to relax with the 7 mile ride out of the way, then Saturday morning came. I woke up and I was sore! Not saddle sore surprisingly (good thing I have a lot of cushion) but my back ached. But these cowboys know what their doing because everyone had medicine for us to take. Then wouldn't you know it was time to jump on the horses again and go on what they called an "adventure".

And an adventure it was! Below are 2 videos that Jr. took while on this adventure.

It was crazy! I was terrified the whole time. I don't have a lot of horse control and I think Nelly took me for a ride that day. She seemed so sweet and slow on Friday but she was well rested and ready roll come Saturday. I guess I looked petrified the whole time because everyone kept asking me how I was doing. I didn't want to say I was freaked out of my mind and about pee'd in my pants a million times.

It was such an amazing experience and I was thankful we got to go. It really made me appreciate all the beautiful land and animals that Heavenly Father created for us.

Sunday morning we packed up and took the 7 mile journey back to our cars. We had so much stuff and it took up two more horses so Kristina and Ralaina hiked out. When I say hike I mean HIKE. It was a rough trail for horses with 4 feet. I was so impressed with those two especially with the high elevation.

Well I made it out alive and my husband has now become obsessed with horse riding. Jr. loved every second on those horses and cant wait to go again. I on the other hand am more scared then before the trip. That Saturday ride got me all messed up. But I still had an awesome time. Thanks Kristina and Riley! We had a blast.

Maile Reunion 09

A couple of weeks ago we had our annual Maile reunion. It's just Jr.s parents and his siblings and their families that go. I love having a small family reunion because no one really gets lost in the crowd. We're already a tight knit family so we were very excited to go and have some fun. We started it last year so this was our 2nd year. The Michell's in our ward let us stay in their cabin located in Hobble Creek Canyon. It was a really nice cabin. It had flushing toilets and showers. The only down fall was that we had to use a generator for electricity and it didn't work the last day and a half that we were there.
It was so much fun to spend time together as a family and just relax and watch our kids enjoy themselves. We did a lot of eating as always, went on nature walks, played with water balloons, sang songs, played in the near by creek, etc. It was awesome.

Here are the kids playing water balloon games on the sand volleyball court. I love the Mountains in the background.
Tiera and Line enjoying the cold stream. Aunty Misty caught a lizard and let Ray hold it. Leka and Eli hanging out on the swing. Not positive whose feet these are besides Leka's but I love this picture. Jr. doing what he does best...Barbecuing. I could have done without the pose though. lol
Majority of the manual labor was done by Ikaika and Corey. Thanks boys!
Jr. and I have been blessed with the sweetest friends ever. Riley and Kristina were kind enough to bring up their horses and let our family enjoy riding them for a day. We had such a great time. They definitely made the reunion a memorable one. We'll always be thankful to have such great friends.

RayRay getting ready to ride Yankee.
Eva not sure if she wants to ride the horse anymore. Look at that face, so cute. Leka riding Sassy. Naki helping Grandma off the horse. She'd had enough and was making a run or should I say jump for it. Good thing Naki was there to catch her.
I love this picture of the two Maati's riding horses. Jr.s Dad had a horse in Tonga. He actually broke his arm when he was younger when he fell off his horse. Ray loves when Grandpa tells storys about his horse. He was a natural.Here's a picture of us Moms with the kids. Kristina brought her twins Joni and Maile with her. I'm holding Maile and she's holding Joni. They are the cutest twins. They are so gorgeous, good and easy going. They named Maile after Jr. and our last name. Inst that cool? Jr. was so honored. Go Abby and Misty!
Here's Ikaika riding Sassy. Rex, Mom and Riley returning from their ride. We ended the trip with dances and family skits. The girls did a special number for Grandpa and Grandma. I have the most beautiful and talented nieces. The kids came up with a skit all on their own, I was amazed that Ray actually participated and helped out. Sometimes he's too shy especially when he and Leka are the only younger boys on the Maile side and the rest are girls.
This particular skit involved only Michael Jackson songs. Yes! Our kids know what good, real music is. Sorry Britney your music doesn't get much play by these kids. Rex and his kids performing "Thriller" it was hilarious! I'm so thankful to be married into such a loving, eternal, funny, forgiving and amazing family. I cant wait till next year!

I cant believe.......

I have a 7 year old! Time flies. Ray turned 7 last week and he of course wanted to have a party with his cousins that involved his favorite foods, BBQ chicken and rice. His birthday partys always turn out bigger then we intend it to because, Jr. loves to make so much food it would be a waste not to invite more people. Ray had a blast celebrating with his cousins and friends. Happy Birthday RayRay we love you so much, thank you for being such a great example to your younger brother and being such a sweet guy.