overdue randomness!!

So I haven't posted in a while... as usual... It is summer here in the Manu home...so far we haven't done much of anything.... and that is because I am in school this summer... so I really can't go anywhere at this point... The kids are helping me out alot... and then after July 14th I will be able to enjoy summer with them. Tyler is also in summer school... taking P.E...really not much going on.... so I will just share some pics......
this here is a cake the Kala and I made on Sunday... it had banana pudding in the middle... yummo!!!
new outfit, new hair cut, wiped out after church.....this is what he does every Sunday when we come home... he gets worn out in nursery.. LOL
Brotherly love... watching Toy Story together... I love moments like these.....
I went to a wedding reception and this flew on to the center piece..... I had to take a pic...
We went to Tulure so my son could take his SAT's .. .because they had no openings in Bako... so while he was testing we went to the park and to the shopping outlets... loved the park beacause it was covered and gated....
Kala and her friend Cassidy at the park can you believe they are the same age... my daughter is always the tallest amongest her friends....
Kala recently bridged from a Junior in girl scouts to a cadette.. she has been in it since she was a Daisy.. this is something she loves... and is about to earn her bronze award....
This little boy right here has quite the lil personality... this is him telling us to leave him alone because he is listening to his daddy's Ipod.... funny kid
Tyler being a monkey at our local park..... yes I was nervous he was going to fall....
Kala at our newly remodeled park... we love it there... and was going like everyday... til it got hot....!!
OK this is so random... one day I was making some eggs... and I turned away after cracking them and putting them in the pan.. next thing I know I am going to check on the eggs .. and they are smiling back at me.....I didn't do anything to the eggs... promise... LOL...
um ya we are working on coloring on paper... not walls and self.....

Thinking ahead.....

" raising children is the easy part, it's letting them go that is the hardest" Author me... unless someone already said it...LOL

With the school year coming to an end we are surrounded by many happy children. Some are happy about having a summer vacation.. and many are excited about being done with this part of their life and about to graduate... either way we are surrounded by it all. Well for me all I have been thinking about is this means my kids are getting older. Jayden will be going in to the 5th grade.. which is not so bad... but then it gets harder... thinking about my daughter going in to the 6th grade, which means only one more year of elementary school... and also means she will be moving up to young women at church and not in primary anymore... and that is just really hard for me to except... my little girl is growing up... so now for the biggest thing that has been on my mind... is that exactly one year from now my son, my first born, my baby... will be graduating from high school... and that I just can't deal with... I can still remember the day I walked him to his first day of kindergarten with his rugrats backpack and all... and now I will be taking him to take his SAT's in a couple of weeks.. I just can't believe it.... so this brings me to my quote... " raising children is the easy part, it's letting them go that is the hardest" I have been thinking lately that raising them and have them under your wing.. is a piece of cake compared to letting go of them and entering them into the real world... you start thinking about what you could have done differently with them.. and how you could have been a better parent... and how are they going to be when they are finally out under your wing and flying for them selves... this has been very hard for me... we want to protect our children but we can't always do that especially when they are an adult... it just makes you think a lot.. about when they were little it is so much easier .. ya they cry and fus, act up.. don't listen... etc... but I would take that any day over the other rebellious possibilities that your child can get into as they get older and the other things they are faced with as a they get older.. it is a scary world out there... and I just want to protect them forever....So this next year is going to be tough from me as we prepare our first born for one of the biggest days of his life... graduation day...

the pink boxing glove....

Last weekend we went to the relay for life here in Bakersfield. We walked about 6 hours in honor of those suffering or lost their battle with cancer. As we walked there we saw lots of booths set up with things to buy and to wear that not only represented but raised money for cancer.. My kids got a bracelet and Kala got a bow for her hair. I didn't quite see anything that caught my eye. Then I cam across " the pink boxing glove" it is a little key chain that has a cute pink boxing glove hanging on it. I thought to my self PERFECT. I want that. the main reason is because growing up my initials were T.K.O. " which in boxing lingo that is "technical knock out". anyways we left and I found a perfect spot for it. on my rear view mirror!! I added it to a very special key chain that my aunt gave my who passed away that i refuse to take down. anyways I thought to myself is this silly to have this hanging here... ?? well I was having a bad day last week and I got in my car as I do everyday to face the world and the first thing I looked at at was that pink boxing glove!! and a thought came to me.. If all those men, women, and children can face and fight cancer well then I can face anything that comes my way!! what ever it may be that I am facing that particular day I can fight it and get through it!!! The boxing glove, or bracelet, or ribbon, t shirt etc. represents there fight for cancer and helps them get through it. Well what helps me get through things is my love and faith for the gospel. That glove I see everyday as I get in my car and face the world with what ever problems I may be having represents the gospel and my faith to help my get through the day.... now on with my story... as I stated in my last post we were expecting, well I had some complications and long story short I believe that Heavenly father had greater plans for our lil baby to be, and knowing that will help me to heal trough this sad moment in my life. There are so many obstacles and trials that we face each day some harder than others. But if you have faith and love for our Savior than you can fight through it!! I think that everyone should have " a pink boxing glove in their life......

Guess what???

We found out recently what one of our Christmas presents is going to be.... by far the best Christmas present ever........... its going to be a baby.... that's right.... he or she is due to arrive around December 21st...... we couldn't be more blessed for this newest addition to join our family..... =)

Last week wrapped up in one blog....

last week was quite eventful... or should I say the month has been ... with girl scout cookie time and all... here in town we have a and ice cream shop dewars.. well they teamed up with girl scouts and made and ice cream using samoas, and thin mints... can you say "yummy".. well they picked our troop to promote it... so one day we had to go to a photo shoot at dewars.. and the next morning they wanted us back at 530AM.... for new coverage... well I was the lucky one to take the girls that early..... it was so fun though.... the girls got there and right away the were put on camara... and after they they did 6 more new segmants til about 830am... eating ice cream and 6 am and all.. it was a lot of fun to watch these girls and the opportunity they got.... This week I also took Josiah to an animal museum out here... with a preschool group... he had alot of fun.. seeing all the animals... but I have to say his favorite part was the playground...go figure.... he touched the turtle but got freaked out by the texture of the turtle.... LO.. it was funny....and was great to just spend time with my lil one... =) on Saturday my dad cam down and joined us for the Cystic Fibrosis walk in memory of my dear friend Shannon.... we got to the park around 9:15 and started the walk at 10 I think it was a little under 3 miles... for the most part I tried not to let my emotions take over... but when I saw the picture of Shannon I lost it ... I was thinking just to short years ago.. Shannon was right here walking with us.... I miss that girl so much... and wish she was there with me ... to make me laugh... and to just hang out... but I know she was watching us.. all ... =) This last week was also my mid term week and had 3 big reports due... I got An A,B,and C. .on my mid terms so I am pretty happy about that =) all in all it was a great week... now I must prepare to go to Utah ... and see my mom... it has been 1 whole year... and I miss her like crazy.... hopefully we get conf. tickets too but I haven't heard anything yet.... so we shall in my next post if we have pics up in front of the conf. center... in SLC.... for now.. take care and I hope you call have a wonderful easter =)
Josiah hanging out in the shade at the museum
not digging the turtle
he wanted to drink Daddy's coconut... but then didn't like it
Starting our walk.... =)
I don't know what Josiah was thinking here.....LOL.
Shannon and her sister Lindy... there pic was posted along the walk.....
everyone who came out to support....ans walk for shannon and lindy (step4sisters)
Kala eating ice cream on the news at 6am... they kept having to give the girls more scoops because they kept eating it all.. even though they were told to save it for the news footage... it was funny.... the reporter kept saying " don't eat the ice cream" as the girls were scraping their bowls....LOL

no blogging just pics

This day Josiah decided to dress himself, he picked pajamas to wear and notice you can see his diaper, that's because he put both legs in one hole... the funny thing is he wore it like that all day... and didn't care ...he was just so proud he dressed himself....
O.K. notice how he is bending down in both pics... that is his new thing.... well this is his new sunday outfit that his auntie bought him ...so handsome =)
This boy loves him some jamba juice... he was so proud of his cup... he was walking around the mall.. saying I have a baby one....
I took Kala and 2 of her friends to the mall to get her ears pierced (picture below) and to get a Jamba juice... I love that Kala doesn't mind that her lil brother tags along... I am sure that will change in the next few years...
OUCH... LOL.. and this is Kala getting her ears pierced... this picture is classic...LOL...

Visiting Teaching

This past Sunday I had the privilege of speaking at our ward visiting teaching conference, and at first I will admit I was a bit overwhelmed and didn't know how I was going to find time to write a talk.. basically I had to talk about positive experiences I have had with visiting Teaching well as I started thinking and praying about what I wanted to say, so many things just popped into my head, and before I knew it I had finished... and it was so nice to think about fond memories of visiting teaching, I wanted to share what I wrote because it is so important to me, and I absolutely love visiting teaching.

Every month I look forward to both giving and receiving the monthly Visiting teaching message.
I feel like I learn something different from when I am being given the message and when I read it and prepare to give the lesson. I try to do my best to really take in the message and follow what it says. Back in July I had been contemplating going back to school, and thinking about if it was important to do so. Then came the Visiting teaching message in Aug of last year it was “Seek education and lifelong learning”. And in that message President Monson stated “ beyond our study of spiritual matters, secular learning is also essential... I urge you to pursue your education- if are not already doing so or have not done so- that you might be prepared to provide if circumstances necessitate such.” and because of my visiting teachers taking the time to come over and share this message with me I am a full time college student. I have learned the importance of visiting teachers is in not only to visit with the sisters, but to gain valuable information from the message that you might not hear in relief society. I love to visit the sisters, give them the message, and share with them my thoughts on the message and to also here there thoughts.. I also look forward each month to my visiting teachers coming over not only teach me the message, but to just sit and visit as sisters. I enjoy being given the opportunity to get to know new sisters and building a friendship with them. Over the past 3 years in the laurelglen ward I have met some sisters that I have became pretty close to due to visiting teaching. One in particular is Shannon Royer, when I first moved to this ward I became her visiting teacher and she became mine , and because of that we became close friends. The example she set as a visiting teacher will stay with me forever. I remember one particular time when I had questions about going to the temple as my husband and I prepared to do so I called my visiting teacher to ask questions, And Not even 24 hours later I had a knock and my door at it was Shannon delivering a book The Holy Temple by Boyd K. Packer” she said “ read this and it will help you prepare for the temple” and that is exactly what it did, it is things like that I find so valuable in visiting teaching. Sisters I urge you to visit with your sisters monthly be there for them and share the messages with them. As you don’t know what is going on in there life or struggles they may have that they may need you and that message to help them. Like Shannon helped me prepare for the Temple and for my current visiting teachers sharing the message about seeking education which helped me to ultimately make my decision about going back to school.