The Brubaker Bunch

More camping and fun!

2009-11-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

In July the Price family came to visit and we were so excited to have the come! Last year we had a few families move away and they were one of the. Most of our kids are the same age and got along great! We miss having them around the corner but had a great time visiting with them!

Towards the end of July we went camping(I'm beginning to see a pattern here-Dave would be proud :) with the Sell family and had a blast! It even included a tea party! The girls loved it! Elle was going to miss a princess birthday party so we had a party up there. Next time we go camping we'll have to see if the girls ask if we're having a tea party again!
We had a great time quading!

We spent a day at the lake fishing and relaxing.

The kids had fun catching crawdads.

We had such a fun time with the Sells! Thanks guys for going!

Fourth of July

2009-11-15T17:20:00.001-08:00

We had a great fourth of July. It has become our tradition to go up and celebrate the fourth with Dave's brother and we love it!! This year was a little bitter sweet, because Dave's mom's side of the family had their reunion over Fourth of July weekend and she wasn't going to be there. She was at the last one 2 years ago and my father in law really wanted to be there this year. They hold the reunion and Dave's grand uncles place in Show Low. It is one of the funnest places ever. There is a pond(it's not what I call a pond-it's the size of a football field) that you can go fishing in, canoes and kayaks to use, horses to ride, swings-even one that takes you out over the pond, and so much more. There is also a creek that runs through the property and the kids loved catching tad poles and crawdads. A kids paradise. My kids were never bored.

Another thing that made this reunion a little different was that 2 years ago Dave's grandad volunteered to do the next reunion. Which involves feeding about 200-300 people dinner and breakfast. So Dave and I had the opportunity to help out-it felt good to help and it gave us an opportunity to get to know his family better. We were down in the kitchen a lot so I have the thank my amazing sisters in law Anna and Melanie for watching my kids. And the rest of Dave's family for helping with all of the food and serving. It really was so fun and Dave has such a fun family!
The kids playing on the dock with Uncle Stephen

Having fun with the cousins!
Aunty Melanie doing all of the hard work.

After the reunion we packed up and headed out to Taylor for the rodeo!

The whole crew!
Jason and his family, Julie and her friend, Grandpa B, our family, Uncle Stephen, Aunty Amy, and Kylie.

We loved the fireworks. I got a fun new camera a while back and so the shutter would stay open for a bit. It made our firework pictures turn out fun!

As soon as we got back from Taylor Kawika left the next morning for Scout camp. He was gone for a week! Dave has always been on the camp outs with Kawika and this was the first time he would be without him for most of the time. I knew he was in good hands, I was just sad to let him go for that long! But he survived and had a blast!

More Summer Fun!

2009-11-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

I know, I know here we go again. Another update from the Brubaker clan who can never keep up(namely the mom) :). For Father's Day this year Dave wanted to go camping. So a camping we went. And I think this picture captured the essence of the fun we had. Don't those faces look like pure joy!? I love it. I think Kalei had just pitched the ball square between Kalani's eyes.

The name of the game this trip was total relaxation, good food and lots family fun!!
See I told you relaxation was in the plan. Hence the reason for all the pictures with kids in hammock. I think I got to use them once because there were always children in them. :)

We had fun playing horseshoes. Kawika beat his poor mom in this game!!

The girls had fun picking flowers.

We went and had a marshmallow war! It was great fun!

This was Kalei's face after she got me. She looks like she's enjoying getting her mom a little too much! :)

We had a fabulous time just getting away and playing!

Family Home Evening

2009-11-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

So I just have to document this. Last night Kaili and Kalei taught Family Home Evening. As they began to prepare I asked if I could help and was told "No, we can do it on our own." So I went in the kitchen to finish up dinner and soon heard some arguing coming from the computer. I went to check it out and Kalei was crying. I told the kids they needed to move away from the computer but Kalei said "But I'm doing Family Home Evening." I looked on the screen and she had opened up Microsoft word and was typing up her lesson plan. It looked something like this:

fldvhjlkarenjtaolk;uhalksdtnaldgkjsadlfkgjarlkjadfl;gjadflktajlrgkadlfafthywdnvbs,,jhrtlkhflakjgl
akjfdglka;ghjalkfjnlksafjlkadjflgkafjglajflsfjhalfjgoihjdlfhjlakdfjeloiyruodafihjaly

You get the idea. :) I couldn't help but laugh. Then I said "Kalei, why don't you let Kaili tell you what letters to type." Kaili helped her type a few words and just before FHE she said "Mom we need to print it out!" So I did.
We sat down on the couch for FHE and the girls welcomed us and the opening hymn and prayer were taken care of. Then the girls had us help them with a little puzzle in the Friend. The letters spelled TEMPLE. Okay, so tonight they are going to teach us about temples. Then we sat down and Kaili asked us to read a word she had written so big that it had to be on 2 pages. It read SAB one page and then on the back it read BATH. Okay so now we're learning about the Sabbath day(which is actually what she originally told me they were going to teach about). So I prompted Kaili to ask how we can keep the Sabbath day holy. So we began to discuss the things we should and shouldn't do, and why we need to make Sunday special(with a lot of prodding from me). After our discussion Kalei said "Mom, you talked a lot tonight without raising your hand!" Ooops! ;) Then they invited us to come to the table and draw pictures. I said "What are we supposed to draw?" "Oh anything you want." was the reply. "Well how bout we draw pictures of things we can do on the Sabbath?" "Okay" Then Kaili said "I'm going to read you a couple of stories while you draw." I can't recall what they were about but I don't think they were about keeping the Sabbath day holy. :)
It was a cute lesson and the girls loved being in charge. What a blessing Family Home Evening is!

Halloween

2009-11-09T08:48:00.001-08:00

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!! Halloween was a little different this year, at first I was a little worried but it turned out great. Our ward did not have the traditional Trunk or treat but we were encouraged be good neighbors. I was a little disappointed at first because I enjoyed the social part of being able to hang out with friends while my kids enjoyed running around with their friends. But like I said it turned out to be fun. Okay and here is a lame side note-I forgot to take a picture of Kawika before he ran off with his friends. Slacker mom! Here is Kalani-I think he makes a handsome pirate!

Kaili was a Southern Belle(thanks Mindy). She loved being dressed and was one cute little Southern Belle!

Kalei was a ballerina kitty. This girl changed her mind so many times it was driving my crazy! But I must say she is one cute kitty!

So in place of the Trunk or Treat we decided to decorate our yard and we brought the fire pit out in the front yard. We let people makes smores and have hot chocolate and handed out candy. It was a lot of fun. I took the girls around to a few neighbors houses while Dave stayed to pass out candy. After a couple of streets they were worn out :) That was fine with me! :) And the boys went Trick or Treating with their friend Kyle and spend the night going back and forth between each others houses.

Dave stirring our brew of root beer.

Are we rednecks or fobs? Maybe a little bit of both

2009-08-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

Red necks and fobs are one in the same. For those of you who don't know, fob stands for fresh off the boat. Basically, it's a Polynesian red neck. I think it was in the beginning of June Dave took the boys and a friend out to Saguaro Lake in our little 14 ft aluminum fishing boat along with the surfboard and towed the kids around the lake! They had so much fun! So later that month he took the rest of the family out to the lake. It took quite a bit to convince me to go. Some say it was pride or it could be the fact that I don't like being a fob/redneck on purpose. Okay, okay it was pride.

Anyway we took our little boat out with all 6 of us and a long 9 ft surfboard. So we putt...putt...putt our way out to the other side of the lake. Here is Kaili with our orange flag that we have to raise every time someone falls in the water. Kalani was the first one to go. He was pretty nervous to try and stand, but he did a great job.

Kalei looking cute as always

Unfortunately after Kalani had his ride on the board the motor started acting up. So that ended the towing session :( So we dropped the anchor and everyone jumped in.

We had some ducks come by and Kalani decided it would be fun to swim with them.

Is the water cold!!??

Kalani striking a pose-he's one buff dude :)

Kawika trying to stay up

What is that you say? Why weren't you and Kalei in any of the pictures of everyone swimming. Well that would be for a couple of reasons. First, Kalei is a smart girl-she got in for a whole 2 minutes and realized that the water is just WAY too cold(she must have her mom's blood) to enjoy. Second, I don't swim in lakes, call me prissy-hey, I grew up in Hawaii-what do you expect! I must admit I have been in lake water a couple of times and that was more than enough for me. It is cold, stinky, stagnant water and when you walk in it mud squishes through your toes-yuck! All in all we had a great time -just as long as I don't have to get in the water!

A Day at the Lake

2009-08-23T15:12:00.000-07:00

Back in May we decided to go to the lake one Saturday and had a blast! We went up north and the weather was absolutely perfect!! We went fishing and took along a picnic and just loved it.

In our family we have the "fishing hat". Each time we go fishing whoever catches the biggest or the most fish gets to wear the fishing hat till the next time we go fishing. Kalani won the fishing hat for this trip. He caught three. Every time he threw his line in he'd snag a fish in less than a minute. The fish were biting so much Dave spent the whole time re baiting hooks and never got a chance to get his pole in.

Kalei caught her first fish, which she was so excited about until we tried to get her to hold it for a picture! :)

Kawika caught a good one!

Kaili was brave enough to hold her catch! :)

The catches of the day!

Kaili has the right idea.

We went to the other side of the lake and had a picnic. While I was making lunch this is what Kawika found.

There are 2 bald eagles living at this lake and there were scientist there watching this nest. We watched one of them circle the lake and dive for a fish but it missed.

When we got home Dave had to run off to something so Kawika got the job of cleaning the fish. It was his first time can you tell how excited he was to do it. :)

We really did have a great time at the lake. We just need to not wait so long to do it again!!

Now it's time to catch up

2009-08-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

Dave and I celebrated our 13th year of being married at the end of April! I am so blessed to have him. He continues to amaze me each day! He is my best friend and inspires me to be better. Last year with it being 12 years he gave me a bunch of things in dozens-it was really cute! This year he said he was frustrated because he could not figure out what to do for 13. The picture above is what he came up with. It was a bouquet of 13 roses with the 13th high above the others. He said that was because this year would be our best despite it being an unlucky number. :) So far so good!

Kaili cooked up a meal to help us celebrate. Complete with plates that said "Happy Anavirsre", a bell pepper and a pickle! She is so cute!

Mothers Day I finally joined the 21st century and got an Ipod-hence my "i-cake". It was a great day!!

We had fun with an impromptu slip and slide session after family home evening one night.

Kalani took 3rd place in the 3rd Grade Spelling Bee. Way to go dude!

Kawika took 2nd place in his class at the Science Fair. He was trying to find out whether a metal or wooden bat hit a baseball farther. Any boys dream-to have to play baseball as part of their homework. :) He did a great job!

The boys finished out the baseball year coming in 2nd place for their division. My boys loved it and made some great friends!

Back to school

2009-08-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

I know, I know it's been forever. I don't know why-either I was to busy or when I had the time I just didn't feel like it(does anybody else ever feel like that?) The kids went back to school this week. They were all really excited, all of them were up at the crack of dawn and ready in no time. I was really excited to get back on a schedule. I just work better that way. We had a fun summer mixed with "Mom, I'm bored".

Kawika started Junior High this year! Yikes! I' m having a hard time with him growing up. I suppose all mothers do. I took him to the 7th grade kick off(an orientation) and tried to not be one of those moms that stayed and hovered over him. I told him I'd pick him up later and let him go in the auditorium and then I just had to go and peek in there to make sure he was okay. I know pitiful!! He is enjoying it and feeling oh so grown up-not too fast buddy! He reminded me the other day the he will be able to drive in 3 1/2 years!!!

Kalani started 4th grade and is now taking over the role of the big brother that takes care of Kaili. He was is excited to go back and loves being able to see his friends everyday.

Kaili is in 1st grade this year. It's been a little different now that she is gone at school all day. Kalei and I miss having lunch with her everyday and playing. Kalei especially miss her princess partner. :)

Kalei started Preschool and is enjoying learning new things and playing with her friends. She's growing up too fast.

He's how old!?!?!

2009-05-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it myself-Kawika is now 12!!!! Aaaaah! Where has the time gone! I don't know if I'm ready to have a kid in Junior High!! Despite mom having trauma, we are really proud of Kawika!! He is such a great kid! He has a great sense of humor, loves baseball, reading, video games, basketball, and being outdoors just like his dad! He also is such a great help to his dear old mom!!

He got laser tag, that he was so excited about!

His friend Kyle gave his this fun candy gram-what kid would not love to have that much candy all to himself!!(It was really cute-click on it to read it :)

With Kawika turning 12 there is a whole new realm of things -being ordained with the priesthood, passing the sacrament, graduating from Primary and moving up to Young Men's, Mutual, Scout Camps, Junior High. . .What in the world!!! All of that with just one birthday!!! I'm gonna need some help here! With all of this exciting stuff we were able to have a lot of family visit for the special occasion of Kawika being ordained a Deacon. My dad came from Hawaii, Dave's dad came from California, my 2 sisters Kahi and Nia from Utah with Kahi's oh so cute kids, and Jason and Anna from Taylor with their fun bunch that keep us laughing! Needless to say we had a full house for a couple of days which I loved!! I miss being close to family! It was so nice of everyone to take the time to be here with us-we really appreciated it!

Papa and the girls watching the boys at their baseball game-my dad was really getting into it! :)

Here are the priesthood holders that were able to be here
(Grandpa B, Jason, and Papa)

We had a fun camp fire in the back yard and roasted hot dogs and smores!

Nia with cute Chloe!

This is how the kids kept themselves entertained!

Kahi and her kids!

Sweet Abbi who did not like the long car ride either way-poor thing!

Grandpa B, Anna, and Jason

I was mad at myself for not taking a group picture-oh well! We had a wonderful time visiting and spending time together!! The weather was perfect and the company was even better!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T21:21:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! I had a wonderful day of being pampered by my family! I know I'm spoiled! :) (I'll post pictures tomorrow) I wanted to say how grateful I am for the moms I have been blessed with. My mom is amazing!! She is such an example of strength, kindness, and a willingness to help in anyway she can. My mom has the best sense of humor! She loves to laugh and it's quite contagious! One thing I have always admired about my mom is the complete trust she has in the power of prayer and in our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for my mom and her love!

My other mom(mother in law just doesn't sound right) is wonderful! I definitely miss her. Even though she is not physically here with us we still see her influence in our lives every day. She was faithful to our Heavenly Father and put everything into her family. She found true joy in living the gospel and loved sharing it with others.
I have been so blessed with these unbelievable moms and am so thankful for all that they have taught me and continue teach me. We love you!

Easter 2009

2009-04-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Brace yourselves, here comes another post with a lot of pictures. Each Easter helps strengthen my testimony and makes me more grateful for my Savior. Here we have the Easter Pageant, it is a huge production that shares the life of Christ and the reason we celebrate Easter. The spirit is so strong and I love being able to help remind my kids of the true meaning. This is a picture of the end where Christ appears(at the very top) triumphantly as our Savior. I am so grateful for my Savior and his willingness to suffer and atone for our sins. There is a primary song that is one of my favorites called "He Sent His Son" in it says "How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go? He sent His son to walk with men on earth that we may know." That says it simply we have it all laid before us and so many things to help us along the way given to us by a loving Father in Heaven. What a blessing!

Kaili was very cute during the performance. She kept saying "Oh I learned about that from my teacher in primary!" And then she would proceed to tell us all about it. Aren't primary teachers wonderful?!!! At one point it shows Christ being baptized and then you hear the voice of Heavenly Father saying that he is well pleased. Kaili leaned over to Dave with wide eyes and says-"Dad, that's just a speaker, right?" She wasn't sure if she was hearing the real deal. :)

The girls and I got to spend the Friday and Saturday before Easter with Dave's brother and his family while Dave, his dad who flew in from California and the boys went on the Father and Sons camp out for our ward. The Easter bunny comes on Saturday around these parts. :)

The girls with their cheesy smiles.

We love going up to Taylor and spending time with family! The boys enjoyed the camp out but were a little cold and wet. It snowed and rained, but they had a fun time anyway!!

Kalani and Grandpa shooting the air soft gun.

Kawika in the falling snow.

They stopped on their way to his brothers house at the Red Onion for some tasty burgers.

The Easter bunny left eggs for Kawika and Kalani to find when they got to Uncle Jason's house.

Before the boys got back from camping Anna took the girls and I out to lunch at a cute little place called Celebration. The girls dressed up in princess clothes and got to sip lemonade out of their tea cups. We had a great time, thanks Anna!!

After we ate our delicious lunch and sipped our lemonade with our pinkies out, the girls played dress up with the hats they had there. They had too much fun and it was cute to watch.

April Fool's Day

2009-04-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

So last year I went a little crazy with April Fool's day, I was playing tricks all day! Dave thought I had gone crazy. I froze the milk in the kids cereal bowls and gave them mashed potato ice cream just to name a few. I had a great time :) The kids were very leery of me all day-not really sure what mom was going to do next. This year I was going to be gone all day so I didn't do as much but we had fun anyway. Dave was able to be home that morning and made pancakes-and the kids got a little surprise when they tried to cut into their pancakes. :)

I put saran wrap across the boys door so they couldn't get out. I was hoping they would be sleepy and run into it but not this time. :)

We'll see what we come up with next year! :)

Spring Break in Califonia

2009-04-27T08:21:00.000-07:00

I know these next few entries are all old news-but better late than never. :) Get ready for a crazy amount of pictures. I tried only pick a few but that is impossible when we had so much fun! For part of Spring Break we went to southern Cali to visit family. Dave's grandparents live there in a little town called Ojai in a beautiful picturesque valley with lots of orchards. Ojai has a lot of memories for Dave and now it has become a place our kids love to go! Grandad and Grandma Owens have been so gracious to let us come and visit and invade their home. We love it!

Dave's sister Amy and her husband JR live in the next town over. His dad and sister Melanie and her kids came down from northern CA and his brother Stephen flew in from school at BYU Idaho to join us too!! We were so excited to get to spent time with family!

Grandad and Grandma Owens

They have the perfect grandparent backyard-lots of room to run and a very cool tree house.

Dave's family is a hunting family, hence the reason there is a stuffed grizzly in their living room. :) The kids think it is so cool and love to sleep out by the bear when we come to visit.

Stephen grew antlers while we were there

Melanie is a FABULOUS photographer and was nice enough to take our family pictures for us. She did and amazing job! We were excited to have them taken on the beach(we would have loved them on the beach in Hawaii but that will have to come another time). Thank you so much Melanie!! And thanks to the rest of the family who sat around waiting for us and making our kids smile!

One of the main reasons for this trip was for Dave and Stephen to go surfing. We also wanted Kawika to be able to try it out. So Grandpa surprised Kawika with an early birthday present-his very own surfboard! He was very excited!

We went fishing on Ventura pier.

Grandpa, Jacob, Lydia, and Kalani

Horse back riding with Amy

We went to Aunt Patti's farm and rode Amy's horses. The kids loved it and Amy was so nice to take each kid riding till their heart was content. Thanks Amy we had a great time!

Melanie with her daughters Lydia and Elise.

The girls and Jacob

A Day at the Beach

We got to spend a day at the beach while Dave and Stephen went surfing. Amy and Kaili had fun building a mama and baby sea turtle.

The kids loved playing in the surf. I still can't figure out how they weren't frozen popsicles-that water is soooo cold. I steered clear of the cold water.

We found 3 cute little mermaids on sunning themselves on the beach.

Kawika tried to catch a couple of waves and got up on his knees!! Wooohooo! He was freezing after this wave and promptly got out. He had fun but we'll have to try again in warmer water.

Dave and Stephen had a great time surfing. Dave loved being back out in the ocean-that is something we definitely miss being land locked in the desert.

Playing Ketchup

2009-03-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Playing catch up seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life, hmmm-not a good sign. This past month has been busy and fun. I'll post things we've been up to over the next couple days-namely Spring Break. First, our not so little Kalei turned 4! Here are four things we love about Kalei

1. She has the best sense of humor and keeps us constantly laughing!

2. She loves to take care of people and is always trying to do something nice-she also likes to tell the people she is taking care of what to do. :)

3.She loves to say the prayer and says some of the sweetest ones that remind us of why Christ tells us to be like a little child.

4. She loves animals but is allergic to some of them-namely cats and dogs. We always tell her to just look and not touch. When she sees them she'll try and sit her self in front of them and smile and talk to them, she tries so hard and you can tell it's killing her not to be able to hug them to death.

We love you Kalei! You are such a blessing to our family!

Dave's weekend recreation(a.k.a. hunting)

2009-03-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

Dave had a great time out with some friends coyote hunting this past weekend. He stays quite busy and so taking time out for some fun only comes around once in a while. He just loves anything involved with being outdoors-hunting, camping, hiking, fishing, rappelling off 1oo ft. cliffs, the list could go on forever.

One of the dangers of the outdoors here in Arizona is obviously cactus-and one you want to steer clear of is "jumping cactus". This one jumped onto Dave's leg.

Look at those lovely spines! OUCH

Pinewood Derby

2009-03-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

Kalani just had his second Pinewood Derby. He had a great time working with his dad deciding on his design and helping cut it out, sanding it, painting, and getting it ready.

Kalani had a great time racing and came in 1st place. Great job Kalani!

President's Day

2009-03-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

I realized I never posted pictures of what we did on President's Day. We made another trip up to the snow and met Dave's brother Jason and his family. We had a blast enjoying the snow with family! My kids love getting together with cousins. Anna made delicious chili and we had hot chocolate to warm us up after a fun time of sledding and snowball fights.

Kalani and Bryce with awesome hair do's after wearing playing in the snow.

Fun snowball fights!!

The kids built this cool fort!

Kawika having a great time sledding!

Picture Tag

2009-02-23T17:17:00.000-08:00

My friend Heather tagged me and you are supposed to go to your picture file and pick the fourth folder and the fourth picture and tell about it.

This is a picture of a trip I took with a bunch of friends to the Price is Right! It was a blast!!! Normally if you want to go to the show you have to arrive before the crack of dawn to stand in line. Fortunately we had a group of 20 so we only had to be there a few hours early. Once you get there you get a number and then you get to wait, and wait, and wait some more. Then they take you in groups of about 10 and you have to introduce yourselves to the producers(this is your one chance to impress them in hopes that they will call your name during the show). After the interview you go another waiting area and then they seat you in the studio. The studio is a lot smaller than it's made to look through the magic of television. Mary Jo's hilarious aunt(she's the one in the middle holding the card with her name that the cue card guy held up) got to "come on down" and she had the chance to win a mustang but sadly it didn't work out, but she won other fabulous prizes and our group had our 30 seconds of fame on TV!

Lots more to update

2009-02-15T20:43:00.001-08:00

So here goes another big update once again but first I had to share this picture of Kalei tonight. Apparently I am showing my age once again by saying really long prayers that put people to sleep. :)

Kaili turned 6 after Christmas and we had a great time celebrating it with Dave's family!! So in lieu of pictures I thought I would share 6 fun things about Kaili.
1. She has the most contagious laugh!! Once you hear it you can't help but join in!
2. She loves crafts especially scrapbooking and card making! Maybe I should have her start saving for this hobby!
3.She is an amazing organizer! If I give her a drawer full of junk I can rest assured that everything will be neatly sorted and categorized! It's amazing!
4.She loves to accessorize! Give her a belt, a cute purse and ribbons for her hair and she is one happy girl!
5.She loves to read and can often be found curled up with a large stack of books.
6. She is an awesome sister and great helper to her mom and we love her!

Happy Birthday Kiki!

We inherited some of Dave's moms canning supplies, which I was very excited for! So for FHE we bottled lemon and orange juice. The kids had a great time! (sorry for the blurry pictures-I know it's a problem)

A couple of weekends ago we had a free Saturday, which is rare around this house so we decided to take the kids up to the snow. We had a blast just spending time together! We went sledding and had fun building a snowman!

We brought a little camp stove and had soup and hot chocolate!

We had a fabulous time but I must admit that my favorite part about the snow was that we don't live in it! I hate being cold!

This past week we celebrated Kalani's 9th birthday!! Seriously! Where has the time gone?(Is that another phrase that is showing my age-yikes I need to be more careful!)

Here are 9 fun things about Kalani:

1. He has a great sense of humor and laugh! When Kalani thinks something is really funny it's not unusual to find him rolling on the floor!

2. He is very logical and systematic about things.

3.He love legos and can build for hours with his brother!

4.He loves to read!

5.He loves to play games-when he was little he asked Dave to play a game but he was busy at the moment and Kalani said "That's okay, I'll play for you." Dave said "well, okay(a little confused)" He came back a little while later and said "Dad you won!"

6.Kalani will only drink water and chocolate milk-he hates juice and soda!

7.He works really hard at school and is an excellent student!

8.Kalani loves to make people happy-when it comes down to it he would rather someone else be able to have what they want.

9. Kalani is such a fun kid-so helpful, kind, funny and an awesome brother!

Happy Birthday Kalani! We love you buddy!

Growing up too fast. . .

2009-02-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Kawika is growing up too fast. He's turning 12 this year(Aaaaah!) and will be starting Junior High this next school year. This morning Kawika and I were talking about what he wants to do when he grows up. We talked about a lot of things and these are a few things he thought would be great-

1)a professional baseball player

2)a video game creator(is that what you call them? maybe it's developer,anyway)

3)a gas station owner-preferably QT, so he could have all the treats and slurpees he could ever want.

He obviously has his priorities. :) Play all day and eat all the junk you could possibly consume. Sounds like a typical 11 year old boy to me. :)

Kawika really is a lot fun and makes us all laugh a lot. Like the time he tried to show us how easy it is to eat sour candy. It was pretty funny!

2009-02-02T20:52:00.001-08:00

So much has happened in the last little while, I don't even know where to begin. We've had a whirlwind couple of months. Some of these things are going to be hard to put down so bear with me at I try to make sense of everything in my head.

This year we were very excited to be able to spend Christmas with Dave's family. We had such a wonderful time and made memories that we will cherish forever. We were able to be there for 2 weeks and enjoyed every minute of it. My kids loved playing with cousins and getting to know their Aunts and Uncles. We had lots of fun going to the park, Old Sacramento, playing with nerf guns and laser tag. Sorry for the lack of picture-they are in California-I'll have to post them later.

As some of you know Dave's mom had been battling brain cancer for the past 4+ years and a week after we returned from Christmas she passed away. It is amazing how our loving Heavenly Father continues to bless you even amidst trials. His continual "tender mercies" and comfort through the spirit have carried us through this difficult time and I am so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel. We know we will be able to see mom again one day. My kids helped us put everything into perspective. Kalei kept saying "Mom, I'm not sad." She knows Grandma is with Jesus and in her eyes isn't that the best place to be? I must agree but we still miss her. She was an amazing women! She put her whole heart into her family and the gospel and showed us what really matters!

A sweet good night

2009-02-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know it's been forever since I posted and I will post the big catch up tomorrow-I promise. I just had to post this so I wouldn't forget. We were just putting our kids to bed and as I was kissing Kalei she says "Good night my favorite mom!" Oh, so sweet just melts your heart. Then she says "Mom, say good night my favorite daughter."(This is a bad habit of Kalei's, she likes to tell me what I should say-a lot) Wanting to be politically correct I say "Good night my favorite 3 year old daughter" Then she says "Good night my favorite OLD mom!" Kids know how to put you in your place don't they. :)

What we've been up to. . .

2008-12-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

So I haven't felt much like blogging lately and then when I did there was so much to write about. So I decided a condensed version was best since my to do list keeps growing each day.

On Nov. 21 was my dad's birthday. My dad is the strong silent type who has a heart bigger than his body. He will drop everything to help someone out. Growing up even though my dad worked long hours to provide for us he was always helping out in any way he could. I remember when there was a hurricane coming and where was dad-out in the neighborhood making sure everyone was okay.

A few things I love about my dad:

*he loves the gospel

*he taught us the value of hard work by example

*to hear him sing

*he adores my mom

*loves and knows his family history

*his laugh

The picture above was taken by a wonderful family friend. He does amazing work, check him out here.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was the perfect day-we slept in a little, cooked a boat load of yummy food, watch the parade and some football, ate, slept, and ate some more.

The next day Dave left for a couple of days to visit his parents in California. He had a wonderful time. He has the most amazing parents!!

This year Kawika was in the Geography Bee at school. He's been in the Spelling Bee the last few years but this was the first for the Geography Bee. The principal warned us at the beginning that the questions were really hard and that even she wouldn't know a lot of them. And she wasn't kidding. If you got two questions wrong you were eliminated, after the first 2 rounds 7 out of 10 were eliminated. Kawika was one of the 3 left. Then the person who came in 3rd was eliminated. That left Kawika and one other boy. In the final round they were each asked questions and if one answered wrong and the other right then that person won. They were asked probably 7 or 8 and finally the other boy answered correctly and won. We were so proud of Kawika he did awesome!!!! The funniest part was at the end when they were congratulating the other boy for winning and let him know that over Christmas break he would be studying to take a test to qualify for the state level. This boys jaw dropped to the floor-his expression said it all-Are you kidding me I just won and my prize is studying!! I looked over at Kawika and he had a smirk on his face that said Whew, I'm glad I got 2nd place!

That night we had a party to celebrate. I made a cake and we gave him a box of nerd candies. I thought I did pretty good at my little globe cake-but don't look to closely I'm sure it's not that geographically correct.

Yoga or something like that

2008-11-19T18:22:00.000-08:00

Often times when the kids play with Dave they get pretty rowdy. He is just too much fun! There's a lot of chasing, tickling, screaming, wrestling, and anything else that entails fun and laughter. So to get them to calm down he has them sit down and do I guess you could call the Brubaker version of Yoga or meditation. Now keep in mind that my husband is the instructor. . .

See he starts out with good intentions of calming them down. . . looking good girls-can you feel the calmness and peace washing over you?

Then it moves straight to silliness again.

Good thing all their silliness is gone. ;)