Pine Wood Derby Time

Jeremy and Kya worked pretty hard on making sure this year Kya would have a competitive car at the Pine Wood Derby. They learned certain teniques and gave extra attention to detail to get it just right. Kya had the fastest car about a month ago at the ward level competition. He received some ribbons and bag of gummies bears (which is always exciting for a kid). It also allowed him to go on to the district level races in Honolulu. It was intense....I think more so for the Dads! Jeremy was so tense and even a little upset that he was 2 grams under the weight mark. Ultimately Kya ended up at 6th place out of 40+ cars. He even had the over all fastest run time....but unfortunately the average of all his run times wasn't enough to give him a trophy.
At least not this year......"We will come back next year stronger". (Jeremy's words) Those of you who know Kya would expect as we did for a complete melt down, although he was the best sport and actually seemed pretty happy about where he placed. He was rewarded with a new video game....what little boy wouldn't love that!

Im not going to lie, especially in my own blog. It's so easy to always ask ourselves "Why me? Why now? and How can I change everything. These are horrible questions that literally drive me batty. I know for a fact we are never given more then we can handle. I look, listen and think about all those around me and the things that they endure. Im constantly in aww... and inspired to keep pushing on. My mother is in constant pain do to her diabetes, my sweet older sister is a struggling single mom trying to manage life being unemployed and provide her daughters with the best possible life, my twin sister who is running in five hundred directions with five kids and despite what she wants to do for herself she is always thinking about her family. I draw strength from my friends too.........I have one who spends alot of time alone because her husband is deployed and she is so selfless and giving and keeps trucking through each day. So where am I going with this......well it just makes me think what others see when they look at me. Are they things that I want others to see. I have battled depression and anxiety for a long time. I have gone through spurts of time when Im completely unaffected..........but unfortunately things never stay unaffected for me. My cup will empty and I feel good....then it will slowly feel up till it over flows. The over flow is not a fun place, one I wish I could just run away from everyone so know one sees me. But the truth is I need everyone, I would never beable to do this alone. Thank you to everyone who listens to me cry, doesn't judge me just loves me for me and most of all your examples of seeing the joy in life. Truely our purpose in life is to feel joy not to let our trials destroy our feeling of joy. Im thankful for my fighting spirit that I have been given and of course for my knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Okay now I need to go and kill a flying bug that has hit my computer twice while writing this post. love to all

Listen to ulibkos playlist

Skipper playing with Po

Our whole family decided to participate in the Give a Day, Get a Day from Disney. Its always nice to have an opportunity to teach our children the importance of giving service and in this case have a wonderful reward. We decided to do eight hours at our SPCA. At first it sounded dreadful because I had the fear our children wouldn't make it through the day. Although they pulled through and really jumped in and did what was expected of them. We had a fun time and really bonded together as we served. The kids don't believe that we are really going to Disneyland.....but Jeremy and I promise that we will get them there. I know that when they do, they will remember all the hard work they did to get there! Working at the shelter is always very touching, its hard to see so many animals that need homes. I hope each of us can remember giving just a little bit of our time to these critters really does make a difference in their lives too. Enjoy the slide show!

Make a Smilebox photo slideshow

A Sweet Day

Happy Valentines Day to everyone reading this. It was a nice day for us as a family. I often think about the things in our life that define who we are. For me its my religious beliefs and my eternal companion. Im not saying that I have no other influences that have helped define who Iam....because trust me there are many. It's just I look at my husband and I can't help but think where the heck I would be if it wasn't with him in a wonderful marriage. Ten years ago our whirlwind love story blossomed, as he proposed to me in my bedroom which was then our second date (techinally). Six weeks later he flew back to California for our third date.....which found us in the Oakland Temple being sealed together forever. Im grateful for his courage and all the faith he had to follow his heart. He doesn't read my blog but that is okay because I make it a point to kiss him and tell him I love him everyday.
Tonight Jeremy amazed the kids with his crazy fire starting skills. Im not kidding, Kya really thought his dad ruled the fire world. Anyways it was warm, smelled good, and the marshmellows were roasted.

Oh and a cute picture of Skipper to top off the blog for today.

Just a Little Note

Well I have no real reason to blog other then number Im completely laid up because of my pain in my lower back area, and two I have a puppy that I know quite a few people want to see. Jeremy bought me a really nice camera and I keep hoping that I have some crazy unknown talent. I just want to turn it on and take wonderful pictures like my sister can do. Although I went out in the yard the other night and I think the only really nice picture I took was of the teather ball. Then Lucy was so kind to model her new dress I just made for her for Valentines Day. It was a long time coming for her to get a new dress that actually fit nicely!
Ok then there is our little Panda.....because that is what I think he looks like. We even call him "Po" (kung fu panda). Enjoy the pictures he is three weeks old now.