Naki

This is Katie - Abby's little sister. I am just logging on to let those of you who don't yet know that Naki passed away early this morning. I'll let Abby post later with details or whatever she sees fit.
This is a terrible heartbreaking loss. Naki was a great loving man, brother, son, husband, and father. He will truly be missed and it's going to take some time to adjust to this horrible change. But for now, Abby and her girls are devastated and in shock. They are doing as good as could be expected. Here in Orem we are working on funeral arrangements and will post and let all of you know when and where. For those of you that want to help. . . The girls are really in shock and need some quiet loving attention from their mom and close family. Abby is amazing and strong and truly showing her strength.

We have set up a bank account for donotions for their little family - they are going to need them. For those of you who would like to help - this is truly what they need at this time.
You can call or go to Wells Fargo and donate to the account under the "Naki Maile Family.

Please please pray for this family.

Katie

I'm not torturing her, I promise.

Lose finally stepped over the threshold of the land of cute little adorable perfectly aligned baby teeth into the land of the Oh. My. Goodness. Are they going to stay like that forever?-land. She lost her very first tooth last month. She so badly wanted to pull it out all by herself, and it was more than ready for a very long time. I guess those little buggers can really hold on if no food or water ever touches them. She avoided letting anything get near that tooth, I think because of the fear of the pain that most associate with "losing a tooth". That poor little guy was barely hangin' on by the time I got to it. Yup. I yanked it out. Just couldn't stand it anymore. I knew she wanted it out, she knew she wanted it out, Dad knew she wanted it out, her sisters knew she wanted it out, we ALL knew that she wanted it out 'cuz that's all she talked about. And so it's out. I am not torturing her to death...it's just that the fear of the unknown pain got the best of her...

Mommy Time!

Well this week was a time for Mom to go visit her family and have some well deserved Mommy Time! So I took Thursday and Friday off from work to be Daddy! This was a busy weekend for us here, but we just made do and kept moving forward.

Thursday Morning I got to sing for A Charity event in Taylorsville. We had to be there at 6 am! But since it was for the Relief Effort for the Tsunami in the South Pacific it made it all worth it. It went well, but the best part of it was feeling like I was able to contribute in some small way!



Then it was off to Happy Valley to say goodbye to Abby before she left to catch her flight and to pick up Eli from Grandma's and Grandpa's house. Then off to make a quick pit stop and change of clothes, then on to school to pick up the three big girls. We were honored to be asked to sing as a family for our beloved friend Andrew Johnson who passed away on Monday. (We'll blog more about him on another post) So we went there and sang Love at Home and said our goodbyes. He was a great man and a great friend!

I'm not mom, so by this time I was a little overwhelmed at how action packed this day was so the big girls didn't go back to school after the funeral. We did a lot of hanging out at Grandpa's house then we had dance, dinner and bedtime. I realized I didn't really have a plan for while mom was gone. I think I just ignored it, pretending that it wasn't going to really happen... I had to make a plan for the rest of the weekend. I wanted to do something fun and rewarding but still be able to keep it as normal as possible.

Unfortunately, Friday didn't start normal because Line woke me up and said, "Dad should we wake up now?" It was 7:30 and usually we wake up at 6:30! So we got going in a hurry! We got everything done that we normally do and were off to school. Then the planning started. I told the girls that I had a plan for tonight if we could get everything done we needed while they did chores and got ready. The big girls did great! I told Line what the plans were...Slumber Party in Dad's room! Pizza, ice cream, and a movie...or two!
Eli was my big girl helper on Friday and she did AWESOME!! She did everything I asked. We went grocery shopping, to the bank, cleaned house and Eli was awesome! Then after the big girls came home from school we went to BYU to pick up a LARGE donation of clothing from the Athletic Department for the Tsunami Relief. They donated a full UHaul truck of clothes! Thanks Cougs! We got there and the Rugby and Track teams had everything loaded already, so Grandpa drove the truck to Tayorsville to the drop off. Then we were off to pick up pizza for dinner. After baths and pizza we loaded up and went back to Macey's because some very kind person anonymously left us a gift card for $50! Thank you greatly! Whew (I'm getting tired recounting it!) Then back for our party. We had a blast! We watched College Road Trip. This movie hit home for me. Any dad of daughters would appreciate it! Here's an after picture of the Slumber Party in Dad's room!




Saturday we woke up and did our morning schedule. Uncle Matt came over and fixed our floor boards that bowed from the flood. Big Thanks to Uncle Matt! It's great to have him here to help out with stuff like this. I know what to do, but I'm scared I'm gonna break something sometimes...Matt just does it! Thanks again Matt. It's always fun doing projects with my brothers. After lunch, mowing the lawn, and naps we got all the girls BYU hair-do's done




Then I realized that the girls had been watching too much TV today. We had some extra time before our birthday party we were going to, so I had the girls work on a project. Their dance teacher, Gina, had been out this week with the Swine Flu, so the girls made cards for her to drop off after the party.

The party was for Maile and Joni. It was a blast! They had a picture thing that you put your face in to take pictures.

Eva and Arie

Eli and Uncle Rex

Tee and Malia

Kyra and Line

Daddy and Ane...somehow I missed Lolo! Sorry Lose!

The girls loved that! After the party we dropped off the cards at Gina's house and home again. Since the BYU game was a late one I let the girls sleep in my room again and watch the game as they fell asleep. Go Cougars with the big win 59-21! Here's one more picture of the Cougar Girls!



Today is Sunday and ALL of us are anxiously awaiting Mom's return!


We hope that she had a GREAT time, but are SO READY to have her home! We love you Mom and appreciate all you do! Hopefully you missed us too! Hahaha! Thanks Cassie for taking care of Abby for us!

Optimism

In giving a nod to optimists, I find they can sometimes crowd out a bit of the pessimism that sometimes speaks too loudly in my mind. So, even though I have my own little golf course inside my house because everywhere the water went the boards have all buckled, and even though I can't chew on one side of my mouth because the other night part of my filling came out, and even though all the kids are sleeping in our room because of the flood so it was our bed that Eva accidentally peed in (she's really been doing fantastic with the whole potty-training thing), and even though the furnace upstairs isn't working and we've all been huddling and snuggling under our blankets, it occurred to me, probably when Naki pointed it out to me, that I could possibly turn on the heater downstairs, that heated most of the house instead of everyone walking around complaining about being cold. Oh. I guess he was right. So, I've really loved hearing everyone walking around this morning, sniffing and smelling and then oohing and ahhhing because they just love the first whiff of the heater. In Malia's words, "I love that smell! It smells just like your blow dryer, Mom." Thanks everyone, for being such troopers and taking all of this chaos in stride. All you optimists really help balance out the pessimist in me.


There really should be a picture of Naki in this post, too. Since he is and has always been my eternal optimist. Thanks, Babe. For all you've been doing to keep everyone around here feeling happy and loved. Here's to optimism!

The Bathroom Flood of '09

Apparently you're not supposed to ask one of your kids to turn on the bathtub during halftime of the BYU football game and then go outside and forget that it's running. It apparently results in Niagra Falls over your banister upstairs and swimming possibilities inside your house everywhere else. I'm just saying...apparently you're not supposed to do that.

Have you seen this?

You have to see this! All of our house wishes that we could have been there to participate. Be on the look out, we just might be starting our own flash mob, and you'll never know when or where it might happen...

Get your business done quick.

There should be some safety latch on the inside of public restroom doors in addition to the door lock already provided. Hypothetically speaking, it could be somewhat of an anxious feeling if say, you're at the mechanic getting your safety and emissions done plus an oil change, and it's just you and your 1 and 2 year old. You discover that you need to visit the ladies room, and have to figure out a way to take care of that without putting your baby on a germ-covered public restroom floor. So you cleverly maneuver all the pulling-clothes-down-business, hold the baby in one arm, and get started. Only to have your 2 year old decide that they want to see how the door latch works. They successfully figure it out, but can't seem to figure out how to relock the latch. Hypothetically speaking, this could be a somewhat awkward and embarrassing experience. Especially if it had happened more times that I care to admit. I mean, hypothetically speaking.