Surprise Visitors

 Rinar surprised me with a date night yesterday. He took me and his parents to the "Donny and Marie Show" at the Flamingo. It was a lot of fun. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did. But I did. I didn't even look at my watch one time.


They came out and did several songs together. Then Marie did a bunch of songs. She is a hilarious lady. It is funny, but as they were both singing at the beginning, they both had big smiles on their faces and looked like they were having the time of their lives up there on the stage, doing the same show they have been doing for 3 years now. I  thought to myself as the they were singing their first number that it must be tough to be happy up there and to be on your game, even if you have had a bad day with your kids or whatever. 

Ironically, I was really on to something. Because at the end of Marie's set, she shared the fact that is was the one-year anniversary of her son Michael's death.  He committed suicide last year.  She got upset and started to cry a little bit, but then she pulled it back together and managed to get through a very moving rendition of "Pie Jesu".  It was quite amazing.


After Donny's set, they were supposed to come back on together. But Donny came out by himself and apologized to the crowd. Marie wasn't able to come back on. She just couldn't do it. He sang a few more songs and then wrapped up the show. It was a very touching moment.


We all enjoyed the show and spending time together, regardless.

Retirement Party

Rinar's mom Linda had her retirement party last week. She is now officially retired. So we went up to St. George to celebrate.

Lyf, Lynn, and Nordel

Angie, Me, Julia, and Brooke

There was a lot of food and the kids had a lot of fun eating it...especially the grapes. They were a hit.

The Grandma Rounds

We made the rounds this weekend in St. George. I will call them the grandma rounds. I think this many grandmas is making my kids' heads turn round!

Let's see, I have two grandmothers in St. George and now Rinar's grandmother, who has long been a fixture in Laie, Hawaii is currently residing in St. George. I never thought we would be able to see her before she passed on, but I was wrong. I mean, we can't just gas up the car and make a quick trip to Laie. At least, I don't know of any car that can do that yet. Maybe Steve Jobs is working on that as we speak.

Anyways, we went to St. George because Aislinn's daughter Jayde got baptized! Isn't that wonderful? She is now 8 and the room was packed with all of her extended family. Jayde's father has a lot of siblings with their spouses' and kids and there are five kids in Rinar's family. Everyone has young children, so let's just say it was a bit rowdy for her big day. But it was love-filled rowdiness. Isn't that the best kind?

Since we were all dressed up, we headed over to Kolob Rehab Center where Grandma Lillian is staying. She just went in, as she cannot live by herself anymore. She is practically blind and is suffering from Alzheimer's. I believe that a lot of the residents have this disease. We brought the kids to play a little concert for her with Rinar accompanying them on the piano.

They each played a couple of things they have been working on lately. When Zach was playing I heard Grandma tell her daughter Linda (Raef and Zach's grandma), "Does he know that he is really good?"

Grandma Linda confirmed that he knew he was really good. She said this a couple of times when he played.

Then Raef played the viola and again Grandma Lillian said to Linda, "Does he know that he is really good?"

Lillian asked many times who they were and everything and you knew that she wouldn't remember. However, she was thrilled that they came and played for her. She had a big smile on her face. She still seems pretty spry for her age.

When they were playing, there was also a lovely lady who parked herself in a wheelchair behind me and kept asking me the same questions repeatedly and by the way, she really likes Lillian! She told me that about 5 times.

When we finished at Kolob we headed to my Grandma Nell's assisted living facility to play for her. On the way, we picked up Grandma Wilma, my other grandmother. The kids played the same songs and Eli ran circles around them while they were playing, while Harry crawled everywhere. It was an entertaining show!

Of course we would put on an entertaining show, we are from Vegas you know.

Five Is Very Real Now

This has been a nice week for me. Rinar's mom came and stayed while Rinar took a business trip to Boston. It was great. She cooked and cleaned and helped me out a lot. It was fun to hang out with her and get to know her better. Grandma also had fun playing games with Raef and Zach and also accompanying them on the piano when they practiced the violin. I was able to enjoy this week without the stress. But now it is time for my reality check...tomorrow is my first real day as a mother of FIVE children.

Holy cow, I can't believe I have 5 kids. At the beginning of last year I had 2 kids and one on the way. Now I have five. This just goes to show you that things can change quickly. It becomes very real when I load up my car and all of the seats are taken. This mothering thing is for real now. There is no turning back.

I am very blessed that Raef and Zach are such a big help for me. For example, a few days ago I asked them if one of them would like to give Eli a bath. Zach exuberantly volunteered. He took him up there and was gone for at least 30 minutes. I have not taught Zach how to put a diaper on a baby, and especially a 20 month-old baby. But sure enough, Zach and Eli came downstairs and Eli was fully dressed, diaper and all. I was amazed at what Zach did all by himself. He was beaming with pride. Then after a few minutes I looked closer at how Zach had dressed Eli. He had put both of Eli's legs in one of the shorts sides. Hence two legs in one hole. It was hilarious. Eli looked like he was wearing a mini-skirt. I was laughing hysterically. Plus, the diaper was loosely wrapped around his belly so when he would squat down, you could see major butt-crackage. I was loving it.

You see...my oldest boys are very helpful. I am very blessed.

I also caught Eli giving Harry a couple of kisses. He decided to do this all on his own. Isn't it so precious?

Rinar's birthday was yesterday so he treated himself and all of us to some Krispie Kreme donuts. All of the kids walked through the door with hats on their heads. Eli kept his on the longest.

I went to church today and so it was the babies first day of church also. Julia was all decked out in her cute stuff from Corinne, the baby-bling specialist. Corinne makes head bands and removable flowers for the head bands. In addition, she made me a binkie holder that says "Julia" on it. The binkie is also specialized with her name on it as well. The original headband had a hot pink bow to go with it but it was so huge for her little head that I switched it out for the smaller red flower. The proportions were a lot more manageable.

She is just so little that the dress kind of swallows her up a bit. But she really looked adorable in this outfit.