alive & kickin

WE'RE BACK! and we're so glad. we had a fantastic thanksgiving week with mason's parents & family in st. george. we had a potentially major setback on the way there, but we're well and so is our van...YAY! we laughed, we cried(mostly me), we ate(boy, did we...and it was so good), we enjoyed spending time with loved ones and reflecting on our many blessings. thanks to mason's parents for always being so kind and super generous to our family. they are very gracious hosts and we always find it hard to leave them. the kids had a fun time with their cousins and grandma & grandpa. they too find it hard to leave them:) sila cried...i'm afraid she takes after me in that dept. we're thankful for the good time we had and looking forward to this next holiday when we celebrate christ's birth-i just love it! don't you?

on your mark...get set...GO!

today mese & sila participated in their school's turkey trot-a running race. each grade level runs a measured distance. for example, kindergarten ran 50 yards, 1st grade ran 100 yards and so forth. each grade level was grouped according to gender. so sila ran against all other kinder girls and mese ran against all 2nd grade boys. it started with kindergarten girls so sila was the first group to run. she was SO excited and could hardly contain herself-too cute;) but when they gave the signal to start running, running was exactly what she did. nia & i were yelling,"GO SILA!" and mason was cheering her on as well. we watched and cheered and before we knew it, there was sila off in the forefront ahead of all the girls! we kept cheering and screaming her name, she even turned once to look at us-oops. but we kept yelling at her to keep going to the end. there was one girl just behind her so we weren't real sure if sila had won, so we waited for the announcement. then it came,"in first place for kindergarten girls...SILA PATTERSON!". mason & i looked at each other and we were ecstatic! and yes, even a little teary eyed(me):) i was so proud of her. she came home with her trophy...a 20 lb. turkey. that's our sila girl.
mese's race was fun. he started out behind a large group of boys, then he even stopped a moment, so as not to fall onto the boys in front of him. he then proceeded to make his way around the outside and tried ever so hard to catch up with the boys ahead of him. he ran his heart out and made 6th place. we cheered him on all the way to the end and he was pretty happy with his outcome...what a good boy:) we are so proud of our children and glad that they had fun running the turkey trot. when i went to pick the kids up from school, mese was helping(basically all by himself)sila carry her 20lb. turkey-what a strong boy he is! he even asked me,"how much does that turkey weigh mom?" he gave a quite "satisfied & impressed" look as i answered "20lbs.". too funny. we celebrated with waffles for dinner & ice cream for dessert-what a way to end our fun day with the kids. GO PATTERSONS!!!

oh no!

mese & sila in school...luana in bed asleep...i asked nani, "hey, what do you want to do? you have my full attention nani, so what it is? what do YOU want to do?" i said it with much enthusiasm. she replied, with just as much enthusiasm, "EAT!".

what have i taught my daughter?

merci, danke, fa'afetai, gracias...

today i'm feeling especially grateful for so much in my life. looking at my wordly posessions, one would easily conclude that i'm lacking a lot. heck, according to the government, i'm down right poor! but as i sit here typing this post, i'm in my beautiful comfy home. i'm staring at the food on our dining room table. my girls are sleeping in their beds. they are warm. mese & sila are in school getting an education and developing their love for learning. i made them lunch that they took with them. they'll eat it and be satisfied. i woke up this morning and had a shower, a warm shower. i got in my van this morning and took the kids to school. mason took his car to work this morning. he went to work like he does every morning because he is our provider. he takes care of us. now, i'm thinking about what i should make for dinner...i love the fact that i even have that option. the sun is shining through the blinds from my window and i can feel its warmth. it feels good. and i am thankful. i remember the first time i wore glasses. it was 6th grade. i put the glasses on and something happened. i could SEE! i remember looking at a leaf on a tree and noticing all the lines on the leaf. i had never noticed before or even knew leaves had lines. but now i knew and i was grateful. here's what i'm thankful for:
friends,family,mason(he deserves a post all his own:), my 4 joys:mese,sila,nani, & luana, gospel,nature,food/water, health, 2 working vehicles, vaccum, dishwasher,stove,fridge, phone, house, music, reading, good books, mason's job, my kids' teachers, veterans and so much much much more. so, what are you epecially thankful for?

favorite

mese: dad? when are we going to grandma's house?
mason: uhhh...either sunday after church or monday.
mese: can we go sunday after church? then i can have 6 days of pancakes at grandma's!

this kid(and the girls)love them some grandma:) and her pancakes are supreme!

bon appetite

today i was super busy with getting things ready for our stake primary meeting tonight. i had to type up lists, print out pages off internet, make lots of copies, and to top it all off, make bread for refreshments. i got everything done in time but i neglected to make some grub for my family. so...they had bread for dinner...and they were THRILLED! i felt badly because i thought, "just bread?" so i told them to put some jam & peanut butter on it and call it good. they didn't complain. i'll do better tomorrow.

p.s. i was also dealing with a super baby(she hardly even cried) after getting 3 immunization shots, 1 oral immunization, 1 flu shot, & 1 H1N1 shot...she was such a trooper my luana girl:)

monday

mese:sila, do you know what stars are made of?
sila:no.
mese: they're made of gas...i think it's the gas you put in your car.
sila: no, i think it's the gas that comes out of your bottom.

birthday surprise!

tuesday was mason's birthday and we've been planning it for the last several months...we got the kids ready for school and the 2 youngest ready for nia(thanks nia). we dropped nani & luana off at nia's then mason & i took sila & mese to their "dr. appt. for te 2nd dose of swinr flu vaccination" ...in anaheim...to the happiest place on earth...yes...we surprised them and took them to DISNEYLAND! oh it was so fun to see their faces when they realized we weren't joking with them and we were really going to disneyland:) the first thing sila said was,"awwww...i wish nani was here". i felt sad for a second-but just a second. don't worry, the kids picked out the biggest lollipop with princesses on it for nani and a snow white w/7 dwarfs play set(which she absolutely loved). we went on every ride we could get on. we had so much fun and the kids had a blast just seeing everything and all the disney characters. i'm so glad we took them. and yes, i'm glad we went there to celebrate mason's 33rd birthday. we love you mason and happy happy happy birthday honey!

*sidenote: this was our first trip together to disneyland(mason & i) since 1994, yes 15 years ago when we went together on a date with mese&jenny,tiare & zeth. that was a most dreadful day! and i'm glad to say that this time was much more pleasant:) 15 years ago on that trip mason bought me a pair of mickey mouse earrings. tuesday i wore them and that's the first thing sila noticed:) i hoped she wouldn't figure out anything...so glad she didn't;)