The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home

Ok I finally finished my frame.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I was going to do black, but I can always change it up in the future.  I used fabric as the backing so I can switch it out whenever I want.

My frame I bought from the DI.  It was black so I had to sand it down.  Made it easier to spray paint.

I didn't like how the spray paint looked so I painted it.  I used brown fabric in the back.

 

Feels like HOME

I've wanted to decorate my home for a long time.  Come to find out, it is really expensive!  So it's going to take me a while to decorate even my little home.  In the mean time I'll be clipping coupons and waiting for sales.  Here's my latest project...that I'm so proud of...took a lot of nailing and figuring out what layout I liked best.  it makes me happy when I walk in the door because for some reason it feels a lot more "homier" now that there are pictures up.

There are so many other things I want to do with my living room...rug, picture of our savior, bigger mirror....yada yada.  Those things are out of my budget so my friends and I headed to the DI and I picked up a frame for 2 dollars.  I have an idea of what I want to do with it, but I know for sure it will go in my kitchen.  Here's a picture of it.  I'll post a pic when I'm done with it.

Mommy and Son bonding

My girl are in California spending time with their grandparents so that leaves time for Micah and I to spend a lot of bonding time together.  This past week Micah has grown through a big growth spurt..as far as his personality goes.  He is talking so much more and we can just see his personality really blossoming.  I love this kid, but I miss my girls so much.  Can't wait for us all to be reunited.

Thanksgiving

So all of November I would talk to my husband about how much I would love to spend Thanksgiving in California, but his reply would always be "we don't have enough money" or "we were just there for Micah's birthday party."  I was pretty bummed out.  So we made preparations to spend our first Thanksgiving on our own.  We have some pretty awesome friends in our ward so we made plans to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday and have a game night. 
   As each day went by I would get more and more depressed...missing my family...and to make things worse my husband is a huge TEASER.  He would think out loud and say things like "we should go to California (long pause) but it's too expensive."  Pure torture I tell you...playing with my emotions like that. 
   Anyway, to make a long story short, Jared surprised me Wednesday night and asked me if I wanted to go to California and surprise our families.  We left Thursday morning.  Made the 10 hour drive (our kids were angels the entire way!) and decided to stop at my families house since Jared's family was celebrating on Friday.
  We arrived around 5 and I had texted my brother to see what they were doing and told him to wish my parents a Happy Thanksgiving and wishwe could be there too...hehehe.  I had to make sure they were home.  I ran up to the door, knocked, and hid on the side with Micah.  Jeff opened the door and said "What the heck!  Kris is here!"  My entire family (uncles, aunts, cousins) were yelling and soooo happy.  It has to be the best surprise we've ever pulled off.  They were even happier when Jared and the girls came in after me.
  We ate tons of food and just enjoyed each others company.  Around 9 we headed to Jared's house.
  When we arrived at Jared's house we were not sure if anyone was home because the car was gone.  So I sent Jared and Sela to check.  Jared happened to have a key so he walked in and his mom and sister were home.  They were so surprised and happy.  Jared's dad flew in from Canada.  It was so nice to see everyone. 
   I wish we lived closer to each other.  I guess the nice thing about living far away is you really appreciate your family 1000 times more.  The time you spend together is treasured so much more.  I love the memories we create together as a family. 
  I love Jared's family so much.  Over the last couple years I've grown so close to them.  They are such giving people with big hearts. 

  I love my mom, dad, brothers and sisters so much.  I appreciate everything they do for me and am so thankful they are my family.
  This year my 3 biggest blessings

1. Friends...I don't know what I would do without them
2. Family...Thank you for your unconditional love
3. The Gospel...Thank goodness for the Atonement and the power it has to transform and for the opportunity it gives us to become like our Savior.  

I am thankful for all that Heavenly Father has blessed my family with this year and I look forward to setting goals and trying to become a better person.

Preschool

Sela really enjoys going to school.  She loves to make friends and learn new things.  I asked her if she has any friends in her class and she said yes.  His name is Jack and I think she has a little crush on him.  They do so many fun things in class.  They've gone on two field trips.  One to the Library and to the Museum.  There are 12 kids in her class and 3 teachers. 
This week was Sela's turn to teach her classmates about the letter V.  We printed pictures of a volcano, vanilla ice cream, a vacuum and vase.  She was shy, but she did an awesome job.  They also made a spider craft today...which I found a bit creepy.  It's a spider body with a huge picture of her face.  Sela also made a fun head piece.  I love that she is learning to make friends and socialize with other kids.  Sinalei cannot wait until she can start next year.  She has her back pack ready to go.

Halloween

This year was the first time we've celebrated a holiday on our own.  Through out the week I would get a little sad because I miss our families so much.  Last year Jared's whole family was down and it was nice to trick or treat together.  I'm guessing we'll probably be celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas alone as well...booo.  I guess what makes it easier is we've made great friends in our ward and Jared has cousins over here that we are close with.

My mother in law sewed all three of  their costumes.  Micah was the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.  Sinalei was Dorothy and Sela was the witch.  My daughter Sela is obsessed with Disneyland and the Princesses.  So when I told her she was going to be a witch she told me she didn't want to be a bad witch.  I reasoned with her and said she could be a good witch if she wanted to.  She was happy about that and said she looked like the Halloween Minnie Mouse at Disneyland. 
In Utah everyone celebrated Halloween on Saturday, the 30th.  Unfortunately it rained so our trunk or treat was held in our church building.  The adults lined up along the hallways and handed out candy.  The girls were so shy and were scared of this HUGE guy who decided to dress up as a clown.  There was also a chili cook off.  I'm not too much of a chili person so I did not enter anything.  Our ward also had a spook alley.  I love our ward activites.  At our last ward activity we played Minute to Win It...it was a blast!  My camera died so I wasn't able to take many pictures.  After our ward activity we decided to go trick or treating around our neighborhood.
The girls absolutely LOVED going door to door.  Especially since their best friend Kehau came along.  They would take turns ringing the door bell and then they would shout TRICK OR TREAT when the door opened.  It was freezing so we only went down two streets.  I love how as my kids get older they are able to enjoy the holidays more and more.  Sela told me that Halloween was her favorite holiday.  I cannot wait for Christmas!!  They are going to love it.

Micah Vakautapunga turns ONE

One year ago my baby boy was born.  We named him Micah Vakautapunga 'i Hakautapu.  He reminded me so much of my oldest daughter when he was born.  He weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces.  The way my tummy looked I thought I was going to have a 10 pounder!

Having a son is so much fun.  It's so funny to see him rough house with his sisters...and occasionally tease them.  He loves to dance and his favorite show is Diego.  He says "dada" but still doesn't say mama.  I think he purposely doesn't say it just to tease me.  He loves to walk super fast down our hallway and drag things behind him.  His favorite thing to drag is his daddy's alarm clock.  He started walking at 10 months and I definitely was not prepared for it.  He gets into everything!  He eats everything off of the floor....bugs, trash, coins...I have to vacuum my home at least 3 times a day.  He is a shy, but an affectionate little boy.  He loves to give kisses and hugs.  I always laugh when he pats my back during his hugs.  I just love this kid so much and am so happy that Heavenly Father chose me to be his mother.

Back in Business

Ok so I am the worst blogger ever.  I've been inspired by my SIL to start blogging again.  I've felt so behind on everything that I stopped blogging all together.  So much has happened in the last 6 months.  I'm not going to blog about all of them so here are some things that have happened in the Rogers' household

• Sela started Preschool
• Sinalei is so sad she doesn't get to go to preschool with her sister (she cries or gives the silent treatment each time we drop her off)
  
• Sela went to the Dentist for the first time (no cavities...thank goodness)
• Micah crawled and is practically running now
• Micah has 6 teeth...it's been that way for the last 3 months or so
• Micah had his big birthday bash in California last month (he actually turns one Oct. 22)
• While we had Micah's birthday party in California we were able to go to Disneyland A LOT
• My Sister left for College in Washington
• Greg only has 5 months left before he comes home from his mission
• Nikki won Homecoming Princess
• Jeff is seriously a giant..and still growing
• Sinalei and Sela love to sing the alphabet song, BOM stories and twinkle, twinkle little star
• I'm trying to make Micah's Halloween costume....
• Sinalei loves to hula...she is def our little dancer
• Sela played soccer this summer...she was a bit shy but when she wasn't she was pretty good
• I love the cricket!  I want to get one so bad
• Oh yea I love my friends...they make missing home a little bit easier  

here are some pictures...enjoy...I'm going to try and blog once every two weeks

Love You Forever

Every night my husband reads a bedtime story to my girls. My girls absolutely love story time. We have so many books scattered around our home. I think it's what Jared and I love to buy our girls the most.

Last night we were at Barnes and Noble, doing our usual thing..letting the girls play in the children's section while we enjoy a book of our own. My husband wondered off and I was looking at a couple of quilting books. A few minutes later I spot my husband sitting down reading a children's book. He seemed really into it. I shrugged it off. He comes up to me and tells me to read a book. I was like come on I'm busy reading something, stop disturbing me. I'm not going to put down my book to read some children's book, but I agree since he wouldn't stop insisting. So I start reading it and I have to say it is the sweetest, most touching children's book I've ever read. Jared starts to tell me that he got teary eyed reading it because it was a book his mom use to read to him. My husband doesn't tear up very often so I know that this book was so sentimental to him. We couldn't resist getting it for our kids. "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

I know it's kind of silly to be so emotional about a book. But I can't help imagining my husband as a little boy being read the same book. So now we start up this little tradition with our children and hope they hold it in such sentiment as my husband does.

Catching up

So it's been a while since my last post and I didn't even finish part 2...oh well. The holidays were so much fun spent with our families.
Life has been pretty busy. During the month of January we moved into our brand new condo. We feel so blessed that we were able to save up enough money to do this. My hubby worked all through the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) just to make the extra money for our down payment. I'm so grateful for a hard working husband. His job is so stressful, but he endures it all for us. Our new home is in the same place we were renting. We loved our community so much we decided to buy in the same neighborhood. Our chapel is walking distance and our ward is HUGE.
Decorating-is EXPENSIVE. We painted every single room except the bathrooms. It was so much work. My arms were sore for weeks. I'm still decorating the kids rooms. Once it is completely done I'll post pics of our place. I'll have to set up a decorating fund. My poor son is sleeping in pink bedding lol...in time.
Valentines weekend we went to Vegas and met up with Jared's family. Valentine's is actually my SIL's birthday so it was a double celebration. Unfortunately, I left my camera charger in Utah so I wasn't able to take any pictures. We had tons of fun going to the outlets, hanging out at the hotel, going bowling and eating out. Whenever we go to Vegas we stay at South Point. We love this place. It has a movie theater and bowling alley inside. During our stay, our daughter Sela, kept saying "I want to go with grandma." She would say it randomly throughout the day and during our last day, she would not leave her grandma's side....so Sela and Sinalei ended up going to California with grandma and grandpa Roger's.
I know the girls are being spoiled by both of their grandparents. They were able to spend some time with my family as well. She tells my brother jeff "you're a naughty brat go sleep." No I do not tell her that. I may say the words to her separately, but she pieced that phrase together all by herself. It's so funny the things kids say. I'm so grateful for the one on one time I've had with Jared and Micah. It's been very relaxing. I was able to make three blankets, finish The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan, BLOG and just cuddle with my little Micah boo...BUT I miss the noise, my daughter's laughs and even their crying and whining. It has been to quiet and I cannot wait for them to come home.

Oh yeah my good friend Kellie took pictures of my kids while I was in California. Here are some of my favorites. Her prices are unbelievable and she is great. We're going to have another session with her in June. Check out her website. Her link is on my page.

Micah is now 4 months. He is such an easy baby. Very happy, talks a lot, smiles all the time and a good little eater. He totally melts my heart with his huge smile. Having a son is greater that I ever could of imagined. My girls adore him and RARELY have any jealousy issues. I love that we are able to see more and more of his personality each day. I took him to his 4 month check up yesterday and the Doctor said he is one of the most social babies he's ever had in his office. He was flirting, smiling and laughing at all of the staff. He is currently 26 inches and 16.2 pounds which puts him in the 80th percentile for his height and 75th percentile for his weight. He's grown almost three inches in 6 weeks. THANK GOODNESS. I just keep telling myself "please son do not inherit your mother's short genes!" Yes I know that is pretty ridiculous, but my husband keeps teasing me about my son being short like me lol. My poor boy, I hope you are tall like your daddy and uncles...fingers crossed.