Welcome Baby Chloë!

Today was such a wonderful day!! At 12:17pm my sister Seli gave birth to her first baby...a beautiful girl!! Even though we were here in Utah and the rest of our family in Ca...we were still so excited from the minute they told us they were on their way to the hospital! I'm so thankful for my sister Chrystel for keeping us updated almost every 20 minutes on what was going on....it was like we were actually there!! Ü My sister Seli did a great job as a first time mom and she had the best coaches (my mom & sister Chrystel) and of course, her hubby, Peter, there for support! Chloë Veralyn Maliekaleinani Manuma was born at Long Beach Memorial Hospital weighing in at 7 pounds 9 ounces and 21 inches long! When my sister sent me the first photo...I just about cried! I haven't met her in person and I already love this little niece of ours so much! We can't wait to make a trip back home to Ca so we can all see this cutie-pie for ourselves! Happy Birthday Chloë...we LOVE you!

Happy 4th Birthday Madysen!

9 months of being carried, 5 hours of labor and 4 years of fun, giggles, hugs, kisses, love, tutus, wands, hair bows, "pink eyes" & fairy wings...so thankful for every one of them! Today is our youngest daughter, Madysen's, 4th birthday! It's hard to believe how fast this little girl of ours has grown! It seems like only last year we were bringing her home from the hospital in her little purple sleeper, with her purple blanket, snuggled in her brand new carseat. Madysen has been such a wonderful & special part of our family of four. For many of you who know her, she is very much a girly-girl. She loves to dance (and she'll dance in front of anyone lol), she loves to sing, color, play with her toys and she especially loves to do anything her older sister, Sariah, is doing. Mady has such a gentle and loving spirit. Her daddy often calls her an "emotional wreck" LOL because anything sad (even her dolls pretending to be sick) will bring tears to her little eyes. I have honestly never met a little girl who is as happy as Madysen is...all the time! She'll make 5 friends in the first 15 minutes of visiting the park or playground and she'll love them as her 'new best friend' by the time we leave. She loves to attend primary and to sing primary songs. Madysen is very much like her mommy and loves chocolate and sweets! Lol She has the sweetest personality and you'll find her at any hour of the day laughing & smiling. Ü We love you Mady and hope you enjoy your special week!

Tonsillitis :0(

The week after my sister and her family left...I got sick! I really hate being sick and I actually don't get sick often. The last time I was really really sick was last year in June after our trip to Utah. Well last week, it started off with a scratchy throat and led to body aches, chills and fevers. It was such a bummer being sick. I finally got enough strength to get out of bed to go to urgent care and was told by the doctor that I had tonsillitis. Tonsillitis?! Tonsillitis just sounds like a major sore throat but let me tell you...it isn't! I had body aches, fevers and chills back and forth for more than a week!! My body was sooo drained from being sick and it wasn't fun having to take big antibiotics and other medication. One night, I was so ill I had to go to the emergency room and we're so thankful to our family (the Lupeamanu's) who live in the building next to us, for taking care of our girls in the middle of the night. We stayed in the ER for about 6 hours and I was given antibiotics and 2 IV rounds (I was mostly dehydrated). What made it even worse was that I got pink...not in one eye-but both!! I'm finally better now and my pink eyes are just about gone. I loathe being sick but I'm so thankful to my husband for taking care of me while I was down-and-out. He waited on me hand and foot and was always by my side. Every time I called him for something, he came. When I was sleeping, he would take our girls to the park to get them out of the house and he made several attempts at making home cooked meals for them. LOL But I think for the most part...he was taking them out to eat. :) He clean the house and did the laundry and more importantly, he was able to lay his hands upon my head and give me a blessing. Thanks hon for taking such good care of myself, the girls and everything else while I was sick. Of course, I can't leave out my girls. They were so understanding of me while I was sick too. They were on their best behavior so as not to disturb me and whenever Fred had to leave...one of them always stayed with me. I remember Fred having to go to the grocery store and Sariah wanted to go with him. Fred turned to Mady and said "Mady, you stay home with mommy okay?" I heard Mady say "Okay". After I heard the front door shut, Mady came to my room and said "Don't worry mommy...I'll take care of you" and she said it with a little "cry" in her voice that made my heart flutter. :) I know Mady really wanted to go, but it was so sweet of her to sacrifice a trip to the store to stay with me. Our oldest, Sariah, was so helpful when I was sick as well. When Fred was busy with work and appointments I was always able to depend on her. I barely had enough energy to call out her name and she would keep the volume on the TV low so she could hear me. At times I thought I called out her name so low that she couldn't hear me, but within a few seconds, she would be at my door asking if I needed something. :) I love my girls. Thank you family for taking care of me and for all of the well wishes from my family and friends...I love you guys!!

Visiting with the Magalei's

My sister and her family came into town this past week for a visit and we had so much fun having them here! Since moving here to Utah, I've missed my family in Ca so much and I bask in the moments when I get see them here or when we get to visit them there. Having my sister and her family here made for a week of laughing, having fun, visiting with family and friends, playing cards all night, eating yummy food, laughing again, eating again lol and so much more!! We all made the most of their trip and had a wonderful time doing so. It was fun having my nephew Hadyn around his cousins Sariah & Madysen again. It never fails...when Sariah & Hadyn are together for more than a day they fight like brother & sister. But, the moment they're apart...they tell each other how much they love and miss one another. LOL Thanks for visiting us sis...we love you guys tons!! Ü

Hogle Zoo

We got the chance this past weekend to take our girls to the Hogle Zoo with our family, The Magalei's, who were visiting from Ca. It was such great fun! The zoo is a lot smaller than the ones in Ca, but the kids enjoyed themselves nonetheless. It was actually Mady's first time at an actual zoo and she got a kick out of seeing all of the different animals. What's even better is that we met up surprisingly with our Hunt family, who were taking their kids there as well! After the zoo we visited our grandparents and had dinner at GC. It was the last night that my sister Chrystel and her family were going to be in town so we made the most of the last 30 minutes of daylight after dinner and took the kids to the park for a little bit. It was a great day and the weather was wonderful!

And so....I start again!

Okay...I've been putting this off for too long! If any of you have been keeping up on my blog, you know that I was doing pretty good last year on my goal to lose weight. I was going to the gym consistently, eating better, cutting down on my sweets...chocolate to be specific lol, and I even went down almost 2 clothing sizes! Unfortunately I've slowly been going down hill...ugh! I've gained back some of the weight but luckily I haven't gone back up a size yet....and I don't want to get there! So, I'm writing this post to help motivate myself. We moved into our new apartment a month ago and I haven't visited the fitness center in the clubhouse until today!! I only worked out for about 20 minutes...but HEY, it's a start! lol My goal is to continue working out, start eating better, cut down on my carbs (which is what I did on my last diet) and sweets! Wish me luck...because I sure need it! Ü

I love you...Yogurtland!

I'm sure everyone knows how much of a foodie I am by now. Ü I love trying new restaurants. I love eating out with family & friends. I love Italian cuisine. I love trying out new dessert places. I love cooking and making new recipes. I love baking...but one thing I most certainly LOVE is Yogurtland! Since moving to Utah...I've made a list of all of my favorite restaurants and so far Utah has only ONE of them! You can only imagine how bummed I was to find that there is NO...I repeat NO Yogurtland anywhere in the state of Utah! >:0( I miss you Yogurtland! The yogurt there isn't what you think yogurt is...it's more like ice cream, but better! It's creamy and delicious and all of the flavors are on point! When you walk in...there are two sizes of cups-Big and Bigger! lol You fill your cup up with however many different flavors you want...my favorite is chocolate and toasted coconut with a little bit of pineapple or mango. They even have taro flavor (you'll be surprised that it's sweet and actually tastes good!) When you're done over-filling your cup with all of that yummy yogurt you have an array of toppings that you can pile on top...fresh fruits, candies, cookies and even cereal! (Fruity pebbles is delicious on yogurt!!) They weigh your cup when you check out at the register and it's only $0.30 an ounce! (How can you beat that?!) I went back home to Long Beach last month for my nephews baptism (blog post for this is in the works lol) and we went there every single day we were in town! LOL There isn't any place like Yogurtland and I'm hoping that one day...someone will have some sense to open a franchise here in Utah (if I had the moola...trust me, I would!) :) I love LOVE you
Yogurtland!! :)