~Kiara's First Day of Kindergarten~

We'd been waiting and waiting and the big day was finally here...Kiara woke up bright and early, ate her special breakfast in bed (Mom's bed...lol) and before you knew it, we were tying her new, much anticipated....and long-coveted Sporty Shorty's and were out the door, heading for the bus-stop around the corner. Kiara had been apprehensive about riding the bus, but I had encouraged her to try it just once...not aware of what we would face later on in the day...

Kiara's favorite, scrambled eggs with cheese melted on top, sausage, toast and fresh peaches...Yum!!

My little diva is so funny when it comes to clothes...she has to look "just so"...she always wants to look like a "ROCK STAR"! lol

Waiting for the bus to arrive.

k Mom, here I go....

Her first bus-ride ever!!



She got to the school all in one piece, yay!!

Now safely headed for her classroom, I could head out on my morning walk... Have fun Kiara!

So upon getting home from my walk I realized it was about time to head to the bus-stop around the corner from our house to pick up Kiara. I called the bus garage and they told me the bus would arrive at about 11:50..I headed there and was there at 11:45 just in case. There was one other lady there, waiting for her granddaughter. We waited...and waited...and waited...and then I started to worry a little bit. So, we called the bus garage...at this point, it was 12:30...they informed us that the bus had left, it was bus #72 and our girls were both on it and it would be there in 15 mins. Immediately after that, bus #72 flew past and there were no kids on it!! Well, 30 mins later, no bus...we finally got our girls, but by the time they arrived, they had been on the bus for 1 and a half hours!! It was sure an exhausting day for Kiara...and she isn't so sure she wants to ride the bus anymore. Hopefully, the bus drivers get used to their routes and I can get Kiara to ride again! All in all, Kiara had a great day and LOVES kindergarten!!

New House=Lots of Landscaping!

So we love our new home, but when we moved in, the backyard, enclosed by a wall, had 5 feet of tumbleweeds stacked  throughout just about the entire yard. In fact, when we would open the backdoor, we couldn't even get outside....the weeds were actually taller than me and I'm almost 6 feet tall!

I should have taken a picture, but I was so irritated by the sight of it, I could never bring myself to do it. I decided to have a "weed burning day"...so I literally burned weeds for almost 6 hours one day and took care of all the tumbleweeds at one time...What a huge job!! But as you can imagine, underneath the tumbleweeds was just about 100million weeds just waiting for the sunlight to hit them so that they could have their turn of taking over my yard!

So, for the rest of the 3 months that we've lived here, I have dug and dug and pulled and pulled weeds until I was about to go crazy! I had been trying to decide if I should put in a sprinkler system, but quickly decided that I could just wait until next year to do that...thanks to some wonderful friends, Kiko and Kelli Arvizu for letting me use their trailor, and Jason and Caitlin Robison for letting me use their tiller, I was able to prepare my ground for some much needed lawn.....So I bought over 500sq feet of sod and took a morning to lay it. It turned out pretty good...not perfect, but way better than the dirt and weeds that had been such an eyesore...what a difference a little bit of lawn can make!

We are enjoying our lawn...makes the yard feel so much larger...YIPEE!!

A New School Year....Lani 3rd Grade, Kiara Kindergarten...Where has the time gone?

So here we are starting the 2011-2012 school year and it's hard to believe my Lani is already in the 3rd grade!! Seems like just yesterday that she was getting on the school bus for the first time. I was lucky to be able to be with her this year for the first school day, because now we live in Cedar City again and I was able to buy a home literally down the road from where Gene and Lani live! So, I was lucky enough to be able to help her get her hair just right before driving both Lani and Kiara to their school...loved every minute of it! This is the reason I moved back here...to be with my little Lani more...

Kiara is also starting Kindergarten this year, so she went to school for her Kindergarten Welcome Day. I cannot believe my baby is starting school!! She has been ready for school since she was 2yrs old...she could say the Pledge of Allegiance and knew all her numbers and letters then, but I didn't realize just how fast the time would fly and I would be getting her ready to catch the bus for school! I'm so thankful we were able to move back to Cedar and find our home so that the girls could be closer to one another and attend the same school...

I am so thankful for my girls...I am truly the luckies Mom in the world to have the two best kids ever....I LOVE YOU LANI AND KIARA!

Seriously Huge Update

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been more than a year since I've

Mother's Day Fun!!

Kiara, age 4, Noelani, age 7 & Aryahna, 1 yr.

So this year for Mother's Day Week, we decided to head down to St.George to spend time with family, especially my Mom. We stayed two nights at Gene's house in Cedar City, so that Kiara could have some extra time with her Dad and I with Lani, and then went on down to spend the rest of the week at my Mom's house.

It turned out to be so much fun just having a few days to be there with Mom, Dad, Audrey, Charles and Aryahna! We were able to cook meals together, go enjoy the beautiful warm weather at parks...and my little neice Aryahna is so dang cute!!! She decided that she liked to do "Say Say You Play Me" with her Aunty Mainie and would come up to me and say "Ready? Ready?" while holding up her little hands, grinning and anticipating the fun game...! What a little sweetheart!

This trip was priceless to me...I know that my time with my Mom is limited these days...we all age and she is getting up there, and openly admits it. So, when I left, I had this awful feeling that our Mother's Days will change after this one. I realize I need to cherish the time I was able to spend with her...I love you Mom!

I also completely enjoyed spending this time with my sister, Audrey. See, if it wasn't for her, I would never have become a Mother! She is the most giving, unselfish sister anyone could ever have and I have always been close to her! I want you to know Audrey, that I love you very very much. I owe you everything for what you have given me...the most wonderful gift I could ever imagine getting from my sister....the gift of "Motherhood".

Just a little update.

Wow, so it's been a long time and a lot of stuff has happened in our lives. Where do I begin? Most of you know that Gene and I have split up, it actually happened about a year ago now. At first, things were very rocky and hard to face, so I decided to move up to Salt Lake, taking Kiara with me, where a friend of mine offered me a job doing customer service for a new mulit-level company called ZenVe. Turned out that the job didn't pan out for me and I ended up missing my little Lani too much and moved back down to Cedar City to be closer to her. I still had the desire to go to school to become a Medical Assistant and so I ended up moving back up to Salt Lake, to get going in school. Kiara and I currently live in Riverton and I am getting ready to start school. Yes, I still miss my little Lani, who is living in Cedar with her Dad, but we get to see each other often and are able to spend birthdays and holidays all together. I am hoping to post some photo's soon.

We have Season Passports to Lagoon and have already been there twice this year. This is really fun for our family since Gene and I took our girls to lagoon every year. So we're already making use of our passes. Kiara is a crazy woman there, man I thought Lani was our roller coaster fanatic, but at age 4, Kiara just doesn't stop!! I get in so much trouble with her if I ever want to leave, even after 5 hours of being there! She's such a great kid and has been wonderful to have here with me. I am so thankful for her. Lani still loves lagoon and all the rides and we love it when she comes up to go with us, her favorite is still the white roller coaster also. At 7 years old, she is so tall and beautiful! Lani is such a smart and sweet little girl. Gene just got her a puppy and she seems to be thrilled, well accept when she has to clean up after it. The other day she said to me, "Mom, it's a cute dog, but is stinks and no matter what I do, it still stinks!" I am so thankful for my wonderful kids. I truly am the luckiest Mom in the world to have them!

I wanted to say thankyou to all of our friends who have stayed close to both of us during this rough time in all of our lives...you know who you are. So many of you have been there to listen and offer a shoulder to cry on, for me and for my girls. It says a lot about a friend who can just be there to love you, no matter what happens. I love all of my friends and family, just want you all to know that.

We'll Miss You Grandma Hansen!

This week we lost our Beloved Grandma Hansen. Gene's mom was so sick and about 2 weeks ago, she asked her family to start praying and fasting for her release. So on Wednesday March 4, 2009, late at night, she finally was able to have those prayers answered and was able to go to the other side to be met by her husband of 60 years, mother, father, and brothers. While we will miss her greatly, we know that she is happy being there and out of pain.

Grandma Hansen was such a strong woman. Because of a long-time illness which her husband had, for the most part, she was the only provider and parent to 9 children. Rose would have to be at work at a bakery at 3:00am where she would work long, hard hours, making only 40cents per hour. After which she would head home to her 1 bedroom home equipt with out-house to wash clothes by hand and cook for her 9 beautiful children. She was challenged at every turn, yet she never complained. She decided to make something out of her life no matter how hard it seemed. She personally told me how she really never made enough money to get through, yet she was determined to save her money. Having lived through the Great Depression, she was the most frugal woman I have ever known. Her belief was, "If you want something, save up for it, don't buy it on credit." Though it was hard for her to do this, she always managed to save money, and soon was able to build a home that she paid cash for. Everything she bought was paid for in cash and she prided herself in that.

Another thing Rose was passionate about was her gardening. We will miss going to her house in the spring and summer, to see all the beautiful different types of flowers and plants. It was something that kept our grandma young and alive. She also grew the best ever sugar pod peas, broccoli, tomatoes, zuchinni and yellow squash and chard that I have ever tasted! We loved to go to her house and have her show us around her garden, while picking and eating all the delicious veggies.

There was never a year in all the years that Gene and I have been married (23, to be exact) that Grandma didn't give us a beautiful quilt, handmade by her, for Christmas. We have so many beautiful quilts, made with love by Grandma that we will forever cherish!

Nearing the end of her life we were able to go to be with her often. At these times, she would ask Lani and Kiara to sing songs for her. She would sit there just "Beaming" as they sang for her and she would call them "Little Angels". I will never forget the beautiful smile that she had on her face and the peace I could feel coming from her. As a result, Lani and Kiara were asked to sing "Teach Me To Walk" at her funeral yesterday. They got up and sang for her for the last time, doing a beautiful job. I know she heard them and was smiling once again that beautiful smile.

I'm so thankful to have known Rose and for all the wonderful things she did for me in the last 23 years. She was always very kind and loving and she taught me so much! Just wanted her to know that I love her and will miss her very much!