We Did It

After a great sunday school lesson

and a loving visit by our home teachers

we made the effort, yes a HUGE effort

to turn everything off (except the lights, of course)

and have scripture reading, followed by family prayer

maybe not a HUGE deal for others (good on you obedient families), but for us, it was a huge step that we've been putting off for quite a while, what with our crazy schedules & tired bodies.

and we plan to continue these two goals tomorrow morning & then on & on

hopefully soon our HUGE effort will become EFFORTLESS

{a family that prays together, stays together}

Nook & Cranny

Our home can breathe once again.

After a week of Fall transitioning with schedule changes, the weekend was more than welcomed. Especially since our little hale/fale/hogan has been neglected. SERIOUS neglect. It would be embarrassing to describe or for a picture to be posted, but hopefully things will stay somewhat tidy from now on. 

Today was everything WE ALL look for in a weekend.

Relaxation.

Mahie and I took our time getting out of bed, lounging around the house and taking naps whenever we wanted.

Fun.

We cuddled in our bed. Rolled around in the pillows and blankets. Sent 'i love you' text messages to James. Ate a million cookies. Became even more obsessed with Pinterest. Went for a walk to look at trees. Enjoyed a visit from Grandma.

Rewarding.

We CLEANED, high & low, every nook and cranny.

We ORGANIZED every book, paper, dish & clothing

I included Mahie in my morning scripture reading, it was nice to have a "free" day with her.

  We were blessed to have a day FULL of TIME. 

Time to enjoy each other's company and to turn our house back into our HOME. 

Exactly what James needed to come back to after a long day in the sun.

Our good friend LeeYen took the picture below. 

I love my little Mahiehie....we named her perfectly. Her personality, her demeanor is exactly what her name means. 

How wonderful it feels to know that you are loved by your child. To come home from work and see your little one light up, kick excitingly, wanting to be held...because they recognize your face and that's all they've been waiting for...is you.

"What I love most about my home, is who I share it with."

Elder Ka'ahanui

this little boy...

 

has been called to serve in the

Philippines, Angeles Mission

"And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God."
{D&C 42:6}

Cool Yo' Faucet

 Quick Story:

During my break at work today...

(this is ashlyn btw...duh)

I was washing my hands in the restroom, grabbed a paper towel, dried my hands on my way to the trash can outside, noticed the custodian girl giving me a weird look, ignored it, then continued to toss the crumpled ball into the trash. I went back into the restroom to fix my hair but saw the custodian girl sweeping the floor near the sink I had just left, so I took the first one nearest the door. As I got to my new sink, I looked up & saw the custodian girl glaring at me again in the mirror. 

Me (thinking to myself): umm...is she staring at me?

I continue to take down my hair, run my fingers through...STILL feeling a pair of eyes on my back

Me (again WTF-ing to myself): what the hell is her problem?

followed by GIVING her a "what-the-hell-is-your-problem" kind of look, hoping it would get rid of her

And it SURE did...

AFTER she gave me a final death stare & slammed down the faucet to turn the water off

Me: ...................OH, THATS why...

  1-I kept hearing the water run

2-the custodian girl kept giving me dirty looks & glares

Hello, this whole time I thought the faucet was an automatic, well a broken automatic faucet that wasn't turning off by ITSELF. I really didn't realize I was the one who flipped it on. I'm so used to hand & "butt" sensors in every public restroom...which in ALL the OTHER PCC restrooms they're automatic, eh...

bahahaha, so shame. the custodian girl probably thought i was a total SNOB, "what can't turn off your own faucet & waste all the water"...guarantee she thought that and more!

So that was my embarrassing story of the day. Which was a big (embarrassing) laugh that I needed after my 1st day of school. I'm exhausted & still have to do my Samoan hw. It's James day off tomorrow, so he's waiting to stay up as long as possible to help me get this stuff. I still can't believe I've made it to the 3rd semester of Samoan...it's my only class I fear this Fall, aaaaahhh....

btw james & i took a cute little ride by ourselves to get pizza tonight.

it's that yummy California one from Domino's, with like chicken, tomato, some kind of white cheese

we stayed in our car, ate a few slices, plugged in James' iphone, watched some rugby highlights of yesterday's Samoa game, laughed at some stand-up comedy by jamie fox, chugged some coke & raced back to pick up our daughter...who welcomed us with a LOADED diaper

i love my little trio

goodnight from the faucet girl

Painful Wisdom & Baby Cereal

So...we discovered what could have caused the fever & headaches...

tender gums right above my lower right 

WISDOM TOOTH

omg, can my body give me a break from pain...its been non-stop since I gave birth with at least SOMETHING coming along causing me discomfort. 

Anyways....I decided to introduce baby rice cereal to Mahie

she LOVED it

Although as you can see by the pictures, she's quite a messy eater. Her mouth and tongue are still trying to work together with swallowing, haha. As soon as she saw the spoon approaching for the first time, she started kicking and out of nowhere grabbed the spoon, leaning forward with a wide open mouth. She definitely knew what she was doing, lol. After a while she began to get frustrated with me having to take the spoon away to scoop up more cereal from the bowl. She would scream thinking I was done feeding her. She ate a whole serving & was still hungry for a bottle. 

I was so proud of her...but now that it's the end of the day, we've realized she hasn't "poo"-ed for a while....oh no, I forgot what introducing solids mean...potential CONSTIPATION. So for now, we're thinking of holding off a little longer on the baby rice cereal & banana's we've bought for her.

Tomorrow, oh tomorrow, begins another round of BACK-TO-SCHOOL crazy scheduling:

M-Sun drop james off at work

drop baby off with my dad

M-TH 7:30am Samoan 201

watch Mahie, do hw, errands

M,W,F 1:20-2:20 Comm 280

T, TH Anthro 322
M-Sat Pick up James from 1st job & we head to his 2nd job where we both work

What a JOY to know that at the end of this crazy semester is CHRISTMAS in SAMOA. Which reminds me, I have to start working on Mahie's passport asap. Oh & I got my 1st Term Grades back. I can't believe I got an A- in Physical Science, I thought I was failing it. Yay!

Its a little pass 9:30pm and this Momma is pooped out

Goals:
Family Prayer
Tithing
Temple whenever James gets a day off
Take more advantage of our Ensign subscription
ZERO shopping sprees until Black Friday :)
Home Teaching/Visiting Teaching
Limit internet usage on laptop & iphones
cleaner home
spend more time with Mahie outdoors
get hw & studying BEFORE Sundays
Go to Sleep Early
*Look Forward to General Conference

Feverish Monday

Today was a blur.

I had many things planned for today, an entire checklist I hoped to accomplish before Fall Semester starts Wednesday...and for me, a 7:30a.m. class (blah!)

 

James gave us our morning kisses & left to work

I fed Mahie...but after an hour of just lying on my bed, I realized she wasn't falling back into her usual morning slumber because of a runny/stuffy nose.

Oh Boy.

I could tell she was tired and wanted to be soothed by her pacifier, but she kept spitting it out in order to breath. I spent the entire morning sucking her little nose holes, Mahie screamed & kicked...then as it started to show that she was getting better, I started feeling VERY tired.

Tiredness turned into a headache & nauseousness.

Out of nowhere I threw up my morning snack, and started to get the chills. Which then erupted into body aches and a fever? I was so confused, lol, where did this fever come from?

Poor Mahie wasn't getting enough attention from me the entire day. All I did was feed & change her when she needed to be, then I'd place her in her crib while I curled up under all the blankets in my bed, counting down the hours, minutes & seconds until James got off of work. 

Today definitely sucked. 

James was able to call-in to his second job to take care of me, play with Mahie, clean the house, do the laundry & cook dinner. 

My fever wasn't even a bad case, just annoying chills & aches that left me too weak to do or eat anything. 

Luckily we found some medicine & James gave me a blessing, covered me in the thinnest sheet (which i hated), and after a ton of tossing & turning, I guess I knocked out shivering like crazy.

Finally around 8pm, I woke up in a sweat and knew it was gone. 

Soooo weird.

FAMILY 9/11

I'm sorry to say that we didn't do anything to honor 9/11.
We didn't wave flags on the side of the road like some, nor did we watch a million documentaries/re-caps of the attacks....or give a moment of silence?
However, we did spend "Family Day" together, and I guess by being thankful for having those that mean the most to us WITH US every day...spending time together, showing our love, making the most of our time...is an expression of how much we respect the love & struggles of a family...and for families everywhere.
And this weekend has definitely been a celebration of FAMILY love.

Yesterday (Saturday), we were invited to attend Javhan Smith's 1st Birthday Party. The theme was a "Safari Pool Party". Tons of water sprinklers, different sized pools, blowups, and water slides...scattered the lawn of the party.

My Mom & Hill came along with Mahie and I. I was surprised that Mahie REALLY enjoyed the cold pool water. Usually I fill her own little pool up & let the sun warm it up or Grandma spoils her with some warm water from inside the house....but not this time, as soon as she touched the surface, her legs went crazy, kicking water everywhere. Her arms splashed it all over her face, which would shock her & then make her smile.

Here's Mahie with the rascal birthday boy. You would never tell this boy is ONLY one, he was all over the place & even wrestling with the older kids. Lol, I was pretty overprotective of my baby & made sure she held her distance from the rough UN-supervised kids.

Here's another shot of the birthday boy trying to impress Mahie, haha jk.
I'm proud to say that I experienced my first "scolding". Well thinking about, I'm not really proud you could say since I'm still a little irritated, even though it wasn't something huge. Here it is:
So after I took the above shot, all the little kids vanished to other pools & activities. So we placed Mahie on the slide by herself for a quick photo. Then out of nowhere some little bratty kid, who is that boy in the background on Hill's shoulder, comes charging the slide (which freaks me out), and yells to the back of BABY Mahie's head, "Hey MOVE! GET OUT OF THE WAY"...and I swear was about to PUSH her, if Hill didn't wedge herself in between them...and YES YOU GUESSED IT...I SNAPPED at him, gave him a dirty "i don't give a rats how old you are/who's kid you are" look & we walked off with Mahie. So I was officially done with the water after that & we just hung out under the tent eating, laughing, talking with other friends.
Ugh, I'm getting irritated all over again....but, I know there will be many more encounters with bratty bullies....they BETTER WATCH IT!
 (lol & Mahie you better not be the bully either, or else, haha)

Animal Print Goodie Bag Surprises

I seriously LOVE my friend Chelly.
I met her through my SIL Crystal & she's known James and his siblings for a while, then I got engaged & sat next to her pregnant self in a Poli Sci Class and we just naturally clicked. We even got to be hotel roomies when we were selected to attend a school sponsored week long trip to Washington D.C. She hosted games at my Bridal Shower, did my hair for my Wedding & then I moved in across from her apartment in TVA. Shopping, Gossip, Babies...we hit it off & I have enjoyed every memory we've made & future ones to come. She is definitely one of my greatest examples of a WONDERFUL MOTHER. (oh, & my parents love her too)

For Today (Sunday), James has finally reached the last stages of his eye infection. He stayed home from work the other day, since it was giving him headaches. He rested, we played with our baby & went for a long drive to destination: "wherever".

love, the aspinalls

Go All Blacks!!

Our Thursday Night.....

You Already Know Who We're Going For!

(Thumbs up if you're the wife of a Kiwi...and your husband has stocked up on food/snacks for the game in a couple seconds!)