Memorial Day

Usually, we spend Memorial Day bowling, but this time, we trekked over to Makakilo to spend it with the rest of Randy's family. It was HOT, and I know the beach is everywhere, but so are people on this big holiday. We opted for our own wet-n-wild celebration.























It was really hard for Tyler to not get his cast wet. We finally broke down and duct-taped a plastic bag around his cast. Once that bag was on, Uncle Earl took that as fair game and let Tyler have it with the hose. Oh did I mention that Tyler had been shooting people with a water gun, but nobody could get him back. Well, we fixed that problem. I just love that picture of the boys on the bottom. (L to R) Jett, R.T., Tyler, and Micah.























The slip-n-slide was a hit there, especially for the older kids. The top left is R.T. (cousin), and Jett (another cousin). If you couldn't tell, by the unconventional method used to slide, the other two pictures are Micah.

Leigh and Tanith playing some volleyball. Taizo hanging out. Micah being cool. The big kids waiting their turn for the slip-n-slide.

Still Broken

Yesterday we visited our pediatrician here in Hawaii, Dr. Yee. He's an excellent doctor, almost too excellent. He was able to detect the slight heart murmur in Leigh, and discovered the hip click in Tyler. I jokingly said to Randy , "Well, maybe he can find something wrong with our other two kids." Nah, he's excellent and am glad that he's the kids' doctor. I took Tyler in to follow-up with his cast situation. We were referred to an orthopedic specialist. He looked at Tyler's x-rays and had the cast removed. I'm glad the doctor had a sense of humor because he was laughing at what we found under that cast. There was sand and dirt everywhere. The upper half of Tyler's foot was covered in dirt. I do wash him, but that part I can't get to. So the doctor handed him some wipes and had him clean his own leg. They re-xrayed his foot and found that it had not healed. (Big sigh). So, he needed another cast. As I watched the tech reapply a cast to Tyler, I knew his sisters were going to be upset. We've been in Hawaii for 1 week now and have not been to the beach. We are trying to be good and wait until Tyler's cast comes off. It would help if my son would quit running and jumping on it. Could that be why it's not healed yet? I mentioned this to the doctor and he's eyes became big when I was serious about Tyler running and jumping on his cast. He said, "Yeah (very sarcastically), no running or jumping on the cast Tyler." I must say, he has been taking it easy so far, granted it's only been one day. I explained to Tyler if he is not compliant, I'm going to have them put him in a body cast in order let his foot heal. Tyler picked a nice, can't-miss-it, fluorescent-green colored cast. His reasoning for the color was so that signings on his cast would be more visible. Sounds logical to me. 3 more weeks, in case you were wondering.

Family Reunion

Today we had the big get-together with the whole Sasaki gang. It was great to see everyone! The kids were happy to be catching up and getting aquainted with cousins they've never met. Micah seems to be bonding well with Raiden (they are the same age, and consequently have the same kind of hair). His mom and I are constantly getting the two mixed up. The two of them have become "partners in crime". If they are not outside playing in the mud, they are in our room jumping on two air mattresses that they layered on top of each other. Tyler and Jett have become good pals as well, with their non-stop talk of star wars, ben 10, golf, and bakugan (I guess I'm behind in trends because Tyler knew all about this when we got here). Kara has a cute connection with Taizo. He is a cutie, Kara especially thinks so. Leigh and Tanith are the same age and therefore have lots to talk about. Julie's kids are younger but are cute. It's fun to see and hold a baby again that is family (but not mine, hehe.) RT is the oldest of all the grandkids. He plays well with Tyler and Jett. I really enjoyed myself talking with my sisters-in-law. I've missed them and am so glad to be back. The kids, as well as Randy and I are glad to be with their grandparents again. It's good to be home.

We Made It!!!!

Sorry no pictures, but I had to write and let everyone know that we made it to Hawaii!!! The last days in AZ were crazy ones, but I couldn't have survived it without all of you there who helped me! You are all the best friends anyone could ever have!!! Our family will miss all of you, but we are ready to take on the adventure here in Hawaii. The plane ride over wasn't too bad (I'll post about that later). We were all so glad to see Randy and be a family again. We've been eating too much since we got here. I guess we have to make up for the last 6 years we were gone. We'll, I will try to post later. We love you all!!!

Adventures on a Plane

We all awoke at 5 am to leave me friend/sister's house Sara. 10 pieces of luggage (check), 4 carry-ons (check), 4 kids with emotions running wild (check), and 1 exhausted mom (check). We were ready to leave. We kind of dilly-dallied before leaving the house, which of course meant we were running late. As we tried to plow through morning rush-hour traffic in this huge white suburban, we did almost manage to run down a car. If weren't awake by then, we definitely were after hearing 7 screaming children alerting us of our near-miss. Right before pulling up to the curb, I realized that my bare-foot son was just that --- BAREFOOT! I had packed his shoes and weren't sure at all as to which bag they were in. We pulled up to the curb. With some assistance we got all the luggage out and to the check-in counter, while Sara took the kids. As I'm waiting to be checked in, I'm tearing down the mountain of bags, opening each one (that's right --- all 10), looking for my sons shoes. After going through the bags twice, and being unsuccessful, I grabbed a pair of socks and had him wear that. So, to answer the question that some of you asked me on Sunday ---- will Micah wear shoes on the plane ---- No, but his feet were covered. We were checked in. We said our good-byes to the Griffins. 

This just isn't easy! The Griffins have been our family from before we even came to AZ. They will always be part of our family and we will miss them terribly. (I'm going to keep going so the tears won't come). 

Next was security check. After removing shoes (and socks), and reassuring my children with orthodontic apparatus that they would be let through, we were ready to walk through the metal detector. I walked through and was notified that I was "randomly" selected to be searched. My children's eyes all got wide with fear wondering what was going on as their mother was being patted down and swiped for bomb residue. I reassured them that everything was ok. I received the okay and we were on our way to the terminal. As soon as we arrived there, we boarded the plane.

The plane ride was fairly uneventful. At the half-way mark, Micah was going stir-crazy. I'm sure people around thought my kid was nuts. We made 6 bathroom trips, half of which were just for the sake of something to do. (Big sigh). As we descended, the kids were all excited (as well as myself). The plane landed and we hurried quickly to the baggage claim area (which was FAR!). As we waited with our bags, my husband arrived. It was so good to see him again and hug him. We are so glad to be a family again. 

We're Leaving

I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and while many are screaming at me not to go towards the light, I must (my husband is at the end waiting). The movers are coming Tuesday (tomorrow) and we will be flying out to Hawaii on Thursday! This is a quickie post to let you know the status of our move.

Happy Mother's Day!!

I must say, with my husband gone, I wasn't sure what to expect on Mother's Day, but my kids showed me that they can hold their own. They woke up early, and with my oldest, Leigh taking charge, cooked me up breakfast and brought it to me to eat in bed, with their custom made made cards for me. 

It's these moments like these that make being a mom great. 

Sacrament was great, everyone was well-behaved and happy. After church, we went over to my great friend Jessica Cowand's and spent our Sunday playing games, talking, and taking pictures. Tyler and Kieran hang their heads in defeat, Jessica and Leigh revel in their victory in Uno Attacks, me being sassy, and the rest of the kids playing with the Liam's trains. Her husband, P.D., (when asked to smile for a picture did just that as he walked away before I could snap an image of our fine chef, thanks PD), cooked up a great steak dinner for us. It was "dee-lish"! I ate my whole 6oz of new york strip (is that right PD). My kids had a great time hanging out with her kids.  



Thank you Jessica and PD for a wonderful afternoon and great Mother's Day. We will miss them. Jessica has been such a great help to me since Randy's been gone. Thanks Jess for being such a great friend!

While the Boys were Away, the Girls did Play!!

Seeing as we had a house void of any males, the females decided to go out for dinner. Kara, Leigh and I decided to dine at TGIF, because first of all, it is Friday, and we were thankful that it was :) Leigh and I went the seafood route with our dishes while Kara stuck to the comfort food classic ----- Mac 'n Cheese. Each of our meals was delicious! We of course could not leave without dessert. They brought out the hot plate for the sizzling apple pie a la mode (yummilicious!). When I say hot plate, I wasn't kidding. This thing was cooking the sauce that was drizzled on the ice-cream, it looked hot enough to give us 3rd degree burns.  We then took our party back home and stayed up watching movies. While we aren't major party animals, we did have fun.

Awesome Birthday!

Today was Tyler's birthday, and I have to say, he had a pretty great 24 hrs leading up to the special occasion. Last night was the Father's-Son Camp-out. As you all know, Randy is not here at the moment, so Tyler's best friend Dalton's dad invited Micah and Tyler to go with them on the camp-out. Tyler LOVES to go camping. I got them all packed up and they left. With the past couple weeks of doctor office visits and ER trips, I was nervous about letting the boys go. I felt like now I was contributing to any accidents that were potentially awaiting my sons in those mountains. Needless to say, little prayers in my heart were being said for the next 24 hrs. That was Micah's first time away from home without mom or dad. At 12pm, they came home weary and tired, but in one piece (thanks Bro. Webb for watching them). It was hard to get details from the boys, but from what I could gather there were smores, bebe guns, archery, campfires, and cold temperatures ---- all in all, the camping trip was AWESOME! Although, they did share they do not want to ever go back up to that camp site again because it was at the top of a very high mountain. They went to Mingus Mountain in Prescott (Northern AZ). The boys vegged out for a bit, then we all got ready to go to Peter Piper Pizza for Tyler's birthday. We ordered pizza, friends came, we ate, they played all the games they could, got prizes, ate tooooo much candy, topped with cake, and sent them home with their parents (sorry about the sugar high you all had to deal with). Tyler's friends Kieran, Dalton, and TJ were the ones who came. They all had fun. On the way home, Tyler thanked me for the birthday party. When he talked to his dad before going to bed, I heard him say, "The birthday was fun!" That made me smile. HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY TYLER, we LOVE you!!!!!!!!!!

(TL) Kids helping divide up tokens before friends arrive. (TR) Tyler getting ready to blow out candles. (BL) Micah with his tickets he won. (BR) The kids enjoying their pizza. My camera battery died so there aren't very many good pictures.

I'm up to date

Here are the posts that I've been working on during my breaks. Enjoy. There's actually a new post that is before the "Our Pets" post (chronologically speaking), just keep scrolling down past  it and you'll see it.

Moving up in the Ranks

Tonight, Tyler has achieved the rank of Wolf, and just in the nick of time (his birthday's this Saturday). All the scouting stuff is fairly new to me. I'm just glad Randy knows all about it, because I'm a little clueless.  Seeing as this was Tyler's last pack meeting here in AZ, he was able to lead the flag ceremony. He was then presented with the Wolf Badge. I got to paint his face in honor of this achievement (that was fun for me). Tyler then put the mother's pin on me. We are proud of Tyler for accomplishing this and glad that he loves scouts. We are so thankful as well to the leaders who help our boys, thank you Bro. Ortiz and Bro. Westover.

Official Twilight Teaser Trailer

You know I couldn't resist putting this on my blog. I know I have an obsession, and I've decided to just embrace it. Here it is, the teaser trailer for the much anticipated "Twilight" movie (12/12/08). You know every twilighter viewing it was screaming with excitement (including myself), even after watching it for the 20th time. I'm amazed the sites with these trailers didn't crash, although they were choppy to watch. My sisters and I conference-called each other discussing all 16 scenes (MTV has a scene-by-scene breakdown) of the teaser. You'll have to watch it and see what you think. I warn you, you'll want more. The trailer does just what it's supposed to do ------- tease!

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

*Note the child with crutches and a broken leg on TOP of the bench. "Who's kid is that?!"

Sundays are hard sometimes. I start off the day with the attitude of no TV watching, church music playing in the background, while breakfast is being made. Prior to church is sometimes harried, especially when you're supervising 4 children getting ready for sabbath worship. You sit through sacrament, trying to keep them reverent with "shushes", coloring books, and snacks for the youngest. The rest of your meetings are great. You go home, have lunch, and then boom! ------It hits you. That desire to take a long Sunday afternoon nap. The desire is equal to that of a post-Thanksgiving Feast slumber. That's about the point in my day where I cave in and let the kids watch TV so I can satisfy the yearning for that Sunday afternoon siesta (you know what I'm talking about). Well, I decided with all my might that I was going to continue with keeping the sabbath day holy. I layed down for 20 mins, got up and announced we were going to visit the temple's visitor center. The closest temple for us is the Mesa Temple. It's kind of neat that the two places that we've lived, have temples that look the same. The Mesa Temple is bigger than the Hawaii one though.  ----Continuing.

It was a long drive (I only got lost once). We went in and my kids quickly went to all the interactive maps and video monitors, investigating what each could do. Their all-time favorite is that 3-D map of Jerusalem that lights up as it narrates the Savior's last days. After a few minutes of that, I gathered them and took them to see the Reflections of Christ photography display they had. That was amazing! My kids were enthralled with sights they saw and could identify the different scenes of Christ's life. I must say the reverence and spirit was very tangible in there and knew my kids could feel it. Later, my two older children viewed the new Joseph Smith movie. Both of them were amazed with it and wanted to see it again. We walked the grounds, took a few pictures and got in the car for the long haul home.  The trip made for a great Sunday. I better start thinking about next week. 

The kids sitting on the petrified tree trunk on the temple grounds.

Girls' Night

Seeing as our time here is drawing to a near close, I helped Leigh throw one last hurrah with her friends before our departure. With just two days notice, we invited the girls in her class from church over for some girly-fun. Of course we couldn't leave Kara without a friend. She invited Riley. At 6pm, one by one the girls arrived to cheers and screaming by their peers. By this point, I'm wondering what I got myself into. Thankfully, my great friend (and Twilight cohort) Jenny Taylor offered to help with tonight's festivities. Thank goodness, because I don't throw many parties (my children will tell you) and I wasn't quite sure what I was doing. We had pizza, strawberries, and that Mormon sherbet punch (you know you all love that stuff). I manned the cake decorating station, while Jenny took on the tie-dying (again, thank you Jenny), and in between all that, the girls occupied themselves with doing nails, jumping on the "jumpoline", and serenading us with some High School Musical 2 karaoke-ing. Lori Webb escaped her home full of boys (her boy was having a birthday party), for a break to hang out with the girls a little. She used to be all the girls' Activity Day Leader. The girls all love her. Of course the night wouldn't have been complete without an official TP - ing of the house. No we didn't, the party at Lori's house did. When we came out to survey the damage, 10 screaming boys came running out from the side of my house, darting down the street (mind you, it's 9pm by this point), which in turn caused the girls at my house to start screaming (there were 9 of them). I was just waiting for the cops to arrive because we were majorly disturbing the peace. Lori had the boys clean up the mess. The girls wanted to retaliate, but that's when I became the party-pooper. I denied them that satisfaction, telling them it was not on the agenda. With much disappointment, they went back into the house and decided it would be fun to TP Kara. Alrighty then. 10pm came and the girls left. Needless to say my girls were happy and I was exhausted! I'm glad though that the girls were able to have one last night with their friends.

The lovely hostesses Me and Jenny.

Our Pets

These are our pets. Some of you may be thinking "I didn't know the Sasaki's had pets". Allow me to explain these pets come and go as they please and we hold no legal responsibility to them. Our kids are always begging us for a pet. It's usually a request for a dog, other days it's been for a cat or a bunny or a snake even. I smile and tell my children that we have pets, the bunny that frequents our front yard for food, the birds that have taken refuge under our eaves, and the neighbor cat that finds "relief" in our backyard (that one I can do without). I explain that these pets are the best because they take care of themselves. My children are not amused by this response. For some reason, Randy and I are not ready for the responsibility of a real pet, although I do think that I would enjoy having a dog, until I hear my neighbors curse their dogs for existing. Maybe one day we will feel that urge to take in man's best friend. Until then, we will just enjoy what nature has been offering.

Jumpoline and Curtains

We finally have (what Micah calls) our jumpoline back. After ordering the wrong one, and waiting for an exchange that was forgotten, the top to our trampoline is here. The kids have been jumping on it since we've put it up. Of course by now, I have one kid in a cast and the other with a sprained ankle. Apparently, accidents of that nature do not stop children from having fun. They've been trying to do flips and other tricks (except Tyler). I've had enough trips to the doctor and ER, that I've told them to stop doing tricks, but I think my words were falling upon deaf ears. What are you gonna do?


We also finally have curtains up. We've only been in our house 3+ years. Now that they are up, we are moving out (big sigh). We picked a basic neutral (brown, very deserty, you like that word). Hopefully, it won't clash too much with the renter's furniture. I must say that they have given the house a much cozier feel. Maybe in Hawaii I'll get curtains up faster. Till we leave, we will just enjoy the home improvements we've made.

It Begins

Things are rolling with our move. This truck with a massive trailer came to our house on Thursday. It came right as the kids were coming home from school. It was quite a spectacle to watch. We all stood in the driveway watching the driver drive our van up this rickety ramp. To be honest, I was a little scared for our vehicle, but had to trust that this guy knew what he was doing. He got it up there and drove off to California to take it to the dock at Long Beach. Having done a lot of moving over the Pacific Ocean, getting things from here to there are not that big a deal. I guess everyone who have never left the continent of North America, this is a big mystery. Not that I've minded at all, but it actually surprises me when I get the question of "How do you get your stuff to Hawaii?" I laugh and explain that it gets put on a big boat.

Encore, encore!

Tonight, Canyon Ridge had their end of the year band concert. Leigh is one of 4 flute players in the band. When she came home that first day explaining that she was going to play the flute, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm a piano player myself, I have no idea how to play those wind instruments. I have to say that I've been very impressed with Leigh. From day 1, she has put in the effort needed to play the flute. At Christmas time, she auditioned to play a solo and was given the part. She did well that night. Tonight, she was able to play a solo piece as well. The kids pick a song for a solo that they have not covered in band yet, and learn it on their own. Leigh played the "Can-Can" song. She did well. Later I will post the video. Brava Leigh and encore!

Science and Mozart

That was Tyler's day yesterday. He went on a field trip to the Arizona Science Center with the 3rd grade class. I was unable to go (busy packing), but my good friend Jessica went and sent me a picture of Tyler in front of some skin (lovely, a giant follicle in the background). I was told by a couple of mom's that they felt sorry for Tyler, watching him clunk up and down stairs at the science center. Poor Tyler was bushed from the day, but had to dress up (not his favorite thing to do) for a concert that evening with the 3rd grade. The music teacher at Canyon Ridge, Mr. Winkler put on this concert entitled "POOR BRILLIANT MOZART". It was cute, funny and entertaining. Mr. Winkler did a great job with the kids. Tyler had a part in it. As soon as I'm settled, I will post the video. It is actually kind of funny. The microphone was on the top stair, but because of Tyler's cast, they had him stand all by himself with his own microphone waiting for his turn. I could see the embarrassment on his face of just having to stand there (some of my children despise the limelight). Then it was his turn. He said his part, and then clunked off to the side (the clunking was amplified 10x's by the mic in his hand).


Top Left: Tyler and Kieran Top Right: Our neighbor and great friend Kelly, her girls Cameron and Sidney with my kids