Family Reunion

I got home on Saturday from girls camp just in time for my family reunion. I was so sore from tubing and boating but I had tons of fun with my cousins and brothers!! The wind was blowing mad and the water was choppy. Zel and Rich brought their boats and whipped us. All I can tell you is that Rich is a speed demon like Zel and it was so much fun (I even lost my shorts while tubing on Zel's boat). My mom went along for the ride and soaked up the sun! OH, girls camp this year was AMAZING!!

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Part 3:

Girls Camp

Tiani finally left for girls camp this morning. She was so excited and maybe it has to do with the fact she wouldn't have chores for the rest of the week. This would be her own mini-vacation. I miss her already, but I'm glad she's there surrounded by good friends and amazing YW leaders and advisers.

Dad's Day 2010

Happy Father's Day to my Daddy, Grandpa W and all of my many Uncles! I love you all!

Run, Rick! Run!

We recorded the video clips below while visiting our close friends, Dawn, Rick (who are like an aunt and uncle to my kiddies), and their family, in Kentucky. As usual, we had a blast and everytime my family and I see these clips, we start missing them and even the Bluegrass state itself... what the?!? Actually, I REALLY miss the California beaches, but my family is ready to go back to Kentucky and visit them again.

Hinckley and Hannah...table dancing in Kentucky! As you can see, Hinckley was still in diapers! lol ;)

This Should Have Been...

a post for the month of May. As usual, I've been extremely busy and given my track record, blogging has never been a priority, but I thought I should share this...

After 16 years of marriage [and nearly 17 years of being together], my hubby caved in and took me on a date to an OPERA!! Isn't he wonderful?

For those of you who know me well, knows that I have a deep love for operas and classical music. Yes, I do love reggae and other music genres, but I am one of those rare Polynesians that becomes giddy with excitement when I can discuss the libretto of an opera with someone, or feel the emotions and be moved by an aria and recitative.

When Scott and I were engaged, we had a deep discussion about music one night and the subject of opera and classical music came up. I was excited to share with him my first live opera experience when I was an elementary school age girl, to which he seem not the least bit interested. He thought it was odd that I would love operas and further stated that he didn't care for them (even though he had never been to one) and couldn't stand the vibratos of soprano opera singers. He asked me why I would love such music if I didn't understand it. I told him that I did understand because I would familiarize myself with the libretto of that particular opera and I suggested to him that he would need to experience an opera LIVE for himself before he passed such judgement and this would help him understand why I love it. I then told him that he would have to accompany me to another opera some day. Well, that some day happened last month. We went away to a Bed and Breakfast for the weekend to celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary and he surprised me with a homemade card (which I prefer over store bought cards), with 2 tickets to see the heartrending story of Suor Angelica and the comical Gianni Schicchi, operas 2 and 3 of Giacomo Puccini's trio of one-act operas, at the beautiful and historic Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City.

Before the opera, doesn't he look excited?

Suor Angelica was so well done that it was very moving. I found it hard to control my tears at the end of the act and Scott even got a little teary-eyed as well. The only other opera to ever bring me to tears was Madama Butterfly. The second opera that evening was Gianni Shicchi. It was hilarious and I really enjoyed 'O Mio Babbino Caro'. Overall, the Utah Opera cast and Symphony was phenomenal! Shouts of "bravo!" and applause echoed through the hall and standing ovations occurred after each acts . The performances were flawless and though the translation was provided by the supertitles above the stage, it did not take away from the acts at all. Scott has admitted that he really enjoyed himself and was very impressed with the entire production. He told me he was looking forward to taking me again, but he was quick to add that he would still prefer a game of baseball over opera. lol.

I'm excited and looking forward to seeing La Boheme, another opera by Giacomo Puccini, in the Fall. I've been trying to convince some of my friends and sister to do a girls night out at the opera. They will definitely love La Boheme, another tragic love story like Madama Butterfly. I'm simply anxious to hear some of my favorite songs like 'Quando m'en Vo' and 'O Suave Fanciulla' performed live!

Easter...

On Saturday, we enjoyed watching General Conference and doing some last minute Easter shopping. The kiddies had fun dying eggs for our annual Easter egg hunt and taking out the Spring china for dinner on Sunday.

But mother nature had other plans for our Easter egg hunt. We woke up to about 8" of snow. So, Scott and Deuce spent an hour clearing our driveway, sidewalk and helping a couple of our neighbors with theirs. Needless to say, we used the downstairs theater room for an egg hunt and all the children, including the Valavala/Ballard clan, had a good time.

Scott taking a break after "playing" with his snow blower.

Scott and I gathered our family together and had a discussion on the real meaning of Easter. We made vanishing rolls, taught by Tiani, as part of our lesson, which we ate for breakfast. We told the children that the marshmallow represented Jesus Christ and the dough represented the tomb. After the kids received their Easter baskets and played with their goodies, the rolls were ready. We opened up one of the rolls and showed all of them the inside, in which Hinckley questioned, "Hey! What happened to Jesus?" (lol) We then explained to them about Jesus' resurrection.

Norma, Mike and their family, Mom W and Quinn came over for dinner. We set up 3 tables this year... our family keeps growing! The food was delicious, but the company was even better! Tiani folded all the napkins at the adult table into bunny ears this year. Cute, aye?

This year for dessert, I made lemon cake (with yummy lemon glaze) and a very healthy pina colada cake.

This is our last Easter with Quinn until he returns home from his mission in two years and Mik's first Easter.

A momma and her babies

went for a swim and ended up...

DEAD!

My poor dog Max -- had these nasty, disgusting, repulsive rodents in his water dish this morning. This is the most he's had in his water. These vile vermin even left feces, probably from when they met their doom. I think Max's water dish makes for a great mouse trap, aye? Since our cat Lucky's been missing since Halloween '08, I might need to finally get a replacement for her to keep guard.

No more monkeys jumping on the bed...

One of my monkey's tripped right off his top bunk bed and got acquainted quickly with the ground, this past Saturday.

After eating an early dinner with Uncle Verl and Aunt Joyce here at home, the boys ran off to play in their bedroom. It had been several minutes when we heard a loud thump, which alarmed me so I told Scott to go see what it was. I heard Hinckley crying and Scott trying to calm him down. In a few seconds, Scott ran down the hallway carrying Hinckley in his arms and telling me that we needed to take him immediately to the ER. Hinckley was still crying and I noticed that his eyes were rolled back. Worry and fear set in and my heart began beating rapidly as I saw him struggle to find me as he turned to the direction of my voice. We kept asking Hinckley if he could see and he said that "everything is black" and continued crying. Scott picked him up and put him in my vehicle and took off to the ER, luckily the hospital is only a few blocks away. Panic-stricken, I ran around the house trying to find my purse which had Hinckley's insurance ID card. As soon as I found it, which took a couple of minutes, I rushed to the hospital to find that he was already in a room. I left my other 5 children in such a hurry with Uncle Verl and Aunt Joyce that I didn't say "goodbye" to any of them. Quinn came over when he heard the news and relieved Aunt Joyce and Uncle Verl of their daycare duties. Tessa was on on-call duty and Norma and Mike came by the ER to visit with Hinckley. Scott and I are very grateful to all of them for their help.

When I got into the ER, Hinckley had most of his sight back, but it wasn't clear and he had to use his peripheral vision to see. He had a hard time staying awake and he complained a lot about his head aching...

and he was whisked away to get a CAT scan. We were VERY pleased and relieved that it was normal and that he was only suffering from a bad concussion.

Norma and Mike rushed over in the middle of their date to visit with him. At this time, he was still in pain as we waited for the doctor's orders, to admit him for overnight observation. We were waiting to see if he would regain his sight completely.

Tiani sent a little present for Hinckley. A little car she has had for a few months that he had been eyeing. She was a bit emotional and I realized how sincere, compassionate and loving she really is to her brothers, even when they annoy her.

After spewing all that he ate that day and receiving a blessing from his dad, he regained all of his sight immediately and started feeling better. The power of the priesthood, I tell you, it's real! By this time, he was eager to leave and go home. A friend of mine, Trenya, was his CNA who assisted his nurse (I can't think of her name), and they took great care of him throughout the night. Hinckley loved his stuffed dog, which I aptly named Bunkie, and blankie he received from the hospital. Yesterday, he changed the toy's name from Bunkie to Fluffy. Hmmmm.

Hinckley spent most of the evening watching Trauma - Life in the ER on the Discovery Health channel with his dad. He loved it. He told me a month ago he wanted to be "a doctor that took the babies out of mommies tummies." lol. After saying goodnight to his dad, I convinced him to watch something else. We settled on E.T. ;)

And then he was out...

Sunday morning rolled around and we were both anxious to leave. Hinckley had completely regain his vision, he had no more headaches and he wasn't vomiting. He ate a bowl of cereal and drank a couple cartons of milk, but didn't touch the rest of his breakfast. He told me, "I'm too tired to eat anymore."

He was released with orders for brain rest and he's recovered wonderfully.

His smile says it all...

It's events like this that remind me how important it is to cherish your loved ones, especially your little ones AND how much I'm blessed to have the priesthood in my home.

I've lost it...

I never thought I'd get to this point... I've finally lost count of my nieces and nephews. At last count, I was in the 40's, but maybe I'm in the 50's now. I'm not sure and I can't remember off the top of my head. My sis-in-law, Kiki, and her hubs, Dan, just added another handsome little man to their beautiful family. Another bro-in-law, Doug and his wife, Lizzy, had a gorgeous baby boy a few months ago. My brother, Nick and his wife Ali, are adding another beautiful little future football player to their busy household. My sis-in-law, Beth and hubby, Jacob, are going to have another princess join there growing family, and my bro-in-law, John and his wife, Veronica, are expecting sweet darling #3 (who's due soon, I think). So there you have it... I can't keep up. This is what happens when my hubby has 16 brothers and sisters and I have 8 brothers and sisters on my side. So, can you honestly blame me for loosing count? :S

Called to Serve

My youngest brother, Quinn, just got his mission call!

Malianna's Groove

What can I say? She gets it from both sides of the family! ;)

It's Finally Over!

I received my last dose of Solu-Medrol last night. I was excited and relieved to finally have the needle out and to have complete use of my left hand. My poor sister, Norma, has spent more than 12 hours with me over the last 3 days to monitor my meds. God bless her!
Anyway, I felt pretty good even with the discomforts and the high blood sugar readings I've had over the last few days. Overall, I think the medication has had some effect in my recovery. My wonderful nurse, Karol, came to do what I call the "clean-up." She said that I looked better, more vibrant and my skin had more color compared to when she first met me a few days ago to start my medication. I am fortunate and blessed to have such a sweet and caring nurse, even my children adore her as you can see below, and I am also very blessed to have a wonderful sister who takes good care of me. Thank you Norma and Karol!!!

Malianna's Trip to Hawai'i

This past December, Malianna and I went to visit my younger sister, Sharlene, in Hawai'i who's been battling cancer for over a year now. At the time of our visit, Sharlene just had a double mastectomy, so we were there to spend some time with her. Malianna's favorite things to do while there was to be showered with attention from her many Aunties and she loved the beach (she takes after her parents). :)

We had a fabulous time visiting with Sharlene, Carol, Tammy, Anu and the rest of our family. I really
do miss them. Keep fighting sis and we love you!!!

The Ballard's

I wanted to post these beautiful photos that my sis-in-law, Melissa, took of Norma, Mike and their children taken in my front yard. It's the only family photo of all of them before Mike took off to basic training. Thanks again Melissa for taking these!

Day 2... Results Already?

Scott and I took Tiani, D-man and Malianna with Norma and her children to Vao and Lafo's (VOP/Pacific Generation) "Shake-Off" event at Tahitian Noni last night. The food and the company was great! If you've never been to Tahitian Noni Int. in Provo, then you should make it a date to go. Their gardens are gorgeous and the kids had a blast roaming the beautiful grounds. I wasn't too sure if I should go because my Solu-Medrol had to be administered at a certain time starting at 7 pm and finished by 10 - 11 pm, as my nurse required per my doctor's orders. Tonight, it has to be delivered by 6pm and finish before my nurse stops by to pull the needle out. Anyhow, I tried to cancel, but I felt bad for Vao and I told him that if I were to come, I would have to show up with my IV then. Everything seem alright at first as Norma flushed my line, but when the medicine took effect, the migraines crept in and I felt a tightness in my chest. I started to sweat while I sat there, but then it subsided, although the migraines remained. Towards the end of the event, I started to feel a little strange so I tried to get up when Norma came over to check on me and she freaked out when she saw that my blood had traveled more than 1/4 of the way into my IV line. Apparently, I had my foot on the line and was cutting the flow of the meds. I wasn't worried about it since I've had it happened to me several times while I was hospitalized several years ago with pancreatitis and a gall-bladder removal, while I was 7 months pregnant with D-man. It was definitely not a fun memory for me having to deal with a PICC line and be fed via a feeding tube. Anyway, by the time I got to my vehicle, most of the blood had drained back into my vein.

As for day 2's results, I've noticed an improvement from yesterday. Sure the metallic taste and heartburn was there, but as of this morning there is a noticeable improvement on the right-side of my body. I noticed my leg, especially my thigh and my middle and lower back are not tingling as much. The only sensation that are still apparent is a feeling of "heaviness" and the tingling in my head is not as bad, although it's still there. The pain in my neck and hip area are still annoying, but I'm hoping with time it will dwindle. Being that today is my last day of treatment which I'm ecsatatic about, I'm anticipating to get my entire right-side fully functional again. I'm not sure if getting results this quickly is even possible, but I do know that along with this medication and help from Heavenly Father, prayers and the Priesthood blessings that I've recieved have been and are instrumental in my healing. I still believe that my symptoms are not MS-related and I hope my doctor's will agree with me. I think the hardest part of this treatment is having to spend 3-4 hours of my time waiting for my medication to finish when I've got things that need to be done and dealing with insomnia, which I had another exasperating night of it. However, I finally got to bed a couple of hours ago and slept for about an hour or so only to be awaken by the sounds of someone rummaging through Scott's things in his nighstand. When I woke up, Malianna's sweet little smile greeted me. So, now I'm fully awake, though I feel like I'm ready to drop. I meant to call my doctor yesterday about getting some meds to treat my insomnia, but I got tied up with errands, one of them was visiting my chiro. I also visited my mother-in-law, Marla, who was in the emergency room for a couple of hours. She got into a 3-car accident which totalled her vehicle and Scott left his office early and rushed over with Quinn to give her a blessing . We were so grateful and relieved to know she didn't have any broken bones and seem to only suffer from a stiff neck and shoulders [whiplash]. She's the kind of person that will always put others first before herself and that was evident yesterday. She was so concerned about the other drivers and the children, who were passengers of the pick-up truck who caused the accident. I got a call from her a few hours ago and she's doing wonderfully this morning. What a relief!

Well, the day dawn broke hours ago and my kiddies and I are going with Norma and her children to a family day BBQ at the National Guard station, even though Mike is away at boot camp. GO GUARD!!! So, we'll have to finish our Saturday chores when we get back. Scott and Anson have decided to stay home and mow the lawn and work on two of our computers. Out of the 5 computers we normally use, we still have 3 that are operating at the moment, so what's two that don't work? Well, one of the computers that needs to be tended to is hooked to our flat screen and it acts as our "Tivo" and it's free and it also allows us to go online and my kids love to watch youtube, netflix and hulu. The other computer is for my little ones and my hubby built it just for them and they can't go on PBS kids without it (lol).