The voice of an angel!

Well, the one thing I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED about Christmas was having the chance to talk to our missionary!!! She sounds great and really sounded like an angel. She is so happy! She told us she is so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary at this time! We all (13 of us) talked to her and it brightened everyone's day and mood! After she spoke to everyone individually she asked me to get her dad and go to a quiet room and put the phone on speaker. We did, and then she started to testify to us of the importance of the gospel in her life and, the way in which her life has changed for the better. She expressed her gratitude to us for supporting her while she is serving the Lord! She absolutely loves her new companion and she was so spoiled by our family and ward family and friends with packages and cards! Thanks to all of you for thinking of our girl at this time! Our missionary is healthy, happy and in great spirits! She wants me to tell all of our family and friends that she sends her love and thank-you's to all of you for being so supportive, for the letters and especially for your prayers, she DEFINITELY feels them! I thank you too!!!

Going Private!

Hi all, I have decided after some crazy things have happened to some of my blogging friends that I will finally be going private! I have decided to do this on January 1, 2009. If you want to join me in the private blogging world just let me know!!!! Thanks!

"All I want for Christmas is"...

A million dollars!!! NBFR! My kids have given me their lists and let me just give you a sampling of what they want!

Wii
XBOX 360
Razor Cell Phones
Games for all their video game units
Nintendo DS
Trampoline
Really expensive shoes and clothes
Laptops
XBOX live cards? (I have no clue what this is)!
Taylor Swift and Jonas Brothers concert tickets!

and more...

Why don't they just ask for world peace...I think that is more do-able at this point! Whatever happened to Barbies and GI Joe's? I remember just dying for a Baby Alive and an Easy Bake Oven! Wow! Life was just so much simpler back in the day...simpler and cheaper! Whatever they end up getting I KNOW they'll appreciate but, I just wish I could give them everything on their lists because they really are great kids and deserve it all! But, they will make do with what they get and I am sure they'll survive! I did!

Sister Toni Kaonohi

Check this blog out! Get your tissues ready and hear about an amazing, strong and beatufiul young lady! My dear friend Snow sent this to me and I am glad she did. When you think your trials are too much to bear and feel like life is overwhelming you just see these stories and say thank-you to Heavenly Father for giving you trials you REALLY can handle!

http://sisterkaonohi.blogspot.com/

What was I thinking?

On Thanksgiving day after we ate way too much, we decided to go to a movie. Our son in law Brooks, brought the babies over and so with all the different ages and taste in movies we decided to seperate into 3 groups. Dan and Brooks would go watch Transporter. The teenagers would go to Four Christmases and I would take
John John (7) Donnie (4) and Lyla (2) to watch Bolt.

So, I get a large popcorn and drink and the movie starts. It is really cute by the way and I would suggest it to anyone.

About 1/2 way through the large bag of popcorn, Lyla is trying to take it away from Donnie and in the course of that it spills all over our row. She looks at me immediately and says, "Dorry" and hugs my neck. How do you get mad over that? John John and Donnie are not so amused and wanted more popcorn!

Ten minutes later John John is literally slurping the very last of the drink and was making too much noise. I tell him to stop that and open the lid to drink some more. He does and as he is making more noise with the ice, the VERY large cup is too big for his hands and slips and spills all over the row on top of our popcorn! He quickly looks at me and says, "Sorry Mom"! Donnie and Lyla were very upset as they were still thirsty!

By this time Lyla is tired of my lap and promises to be a good girl. So, I put her in the chair next to me. She sits for about 5 minutes and I think she is secretly watching me to know when I will not be paying any attention to her because, to my surprise she was up out of her seat and in the row in front of us. She is smiling at me and going to each seat and putting the seat down and then slamming them up! She proceeds to do this to 3 seats down the row, I am trying not to make a big scene to grab her but, how can you NOT, when you are climbing over a 7 and 4 year old, totally engrossed in the movie and yelling MOVE MOM, MOVE NANA! I am stepping all over popcorn and ice making loud crunchy noises and the whole time Lyla is just a giggling slamming seat cushions up and down! Meanwhile, the other movie goers are all taking turns looking at the crazy lady who can't control her crazy children.

I finally get Lyla in my control and put her back in my lap and tell her to NOT move nor make a sound! And, I meant it! About 10 minutes later I felt my leg get all warm, then I felt it get all wet! NO WAY!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe she just peed on me! But, she did! I take her out of the theatre and tell John John I'll be right back. I have to go to the theatre Dan and Brooks are in to find Brooks to get his keys, to go to his car to get a diaper! All the while Lyla is walking like a bow-legged cowboy! People in the lobby are just cracking up! We run to the car and I hit the wrong button and the alarm starts going off! Lyla is saying "Uh Oh Nana"! We finally get into the car, do our thing and luckily there were some spare pants in there for her. I am also panicking because I have visions of Donnie and John John screaming and crying because I am not in there and the whole theatre crowd trying to comfort them. Luckily, they were fine.

When we walked up to the door of our theatre, Lyla started to resist me a bit and was moving her head back as I opened the door and it hit her on the back of the head. Obviouly, she starts screaming and once again the movie goers all look at me. I am closing the door but notice John John coming towards me. I whisper to him to sit down as I am comforting Lyla. He tells me he has to go to the bathroom, and now! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I tell him to quickly go to the restroom and I will stand in the hall and wait and watch for him. **NOTE TO ALL** I have NEVER let him go to a public bathroom alone! So, now I am panicking! I shut the doors to watch John but, I know I am close to Donnie so he should be fine right? No, he sees us all leave and yells in the middle of the movie, "Nana wait"! and runs out!

Well, finally John John comes out and we sheepishly return to the theatre but take the back row and sit quietly for the remainder of the movie, which was about 20 minutes! Afterwards, the guys came out of their movie just smiling and having fun, the teenagers came out of theirs smiling and having fun! I, on the other hand, have a wet leg, a baby with boo boo on her head because of me! And, the babies are so mad at me because I will not let them go for anything! But, I survived and it made for a very memorable turkey day! i just have to ask..."What was I thinking"?!

Holidays are here!!!!!!!!

The Holidays are HERE!!!!!!!!

This is my favorite time of the year!

I love, love, love the holiday season!

People seem to be nicer!

Stores have the BEST sales!

I love the beautiful white snow!

My house is all lit up!

There is a party EVERY weekend!

I get presents!

I give presents!

My hubby doesn't moan about me shopping for silly things!

I usually get to see my mom!!!!!!!

I have all my kids in town!

And, it seems as if the Savior is on our minds more then normal!

There are just a few things different though...

First of all, my Loni Anne will NOT be home because she is on a mission...

I may not be able to attend all the parties and festivities because of the dreaded post office!

My mom will be here but only right before Christmas and then off she goes to Pa.

It rarely snows in warm North Carolina!

And, this year because of the crazy economy gifts will NOT be as plentiful (sad day)!

But, the most important thing of this season is remembering the birth of our Savior and remembering those less fortunate!





I love the Holidays!!!

PLEASE HELP!!!

PLEASE VOTE FOR BROOKE BURKE ON DANCING WITH THE STARS!! SHE IS MY NIECE AND WE REALLY WANT HER TO WIN!!!


SO PLEASE CALL 1-800-868-3405




YOU CAN CALL ABOUT 6 TIMES AND THEN IT WILL TELL YOU HAVE EXCEEDED THE TIMES ALLOWED TO VOTE ON THAT PHONE...PLEASE VOTE ON ALL YOUR CELLS AND HOME PHONE!! THIS IS THE LAST TIME TO VOTE FOR HER TO WIN IT ALL!!! AND SHE IS THE BEST DANCER LEFT SO PLEASE VOTE!!! THANKS!!!

YOU CAN VOTE TILL TOMORROW!!!

BUT, DO IT NOW DON'T WAIT OR YOU MAY FORGET!!

THANKS DIVAS!!!

"THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS"!

Hi All!

I am back from NYC and we had a BLAST!!! We shopped a little in Chinatown and ate tons of yummy Yankee food! The kids loved Times Square and walking on 5th Avenue and riding the dirty trains! YUCK! I could do without those and the rats that run on the tracks and the lack of hygiene in the city as a whole!

Some of the awesome things we saw and did...

Our amazing friends who treated us like royalty! They are the BEST! Jenn Cook's one-liners is reason enough to visit the Big Apple!

My nephew Reno flew in from Utah to help with the show and brought my daughter Sela to surprise me as well!!! THAT WAS BY FAR THE BEST SURPRISE!

Watching Sela dicker down the prices with all the foreigners, she is a PRO at that stuff! **Reminder** she is only 19 and was very intimidating and very successful at it!

Eating all of Andi Cooks amazing Hawaiian cooking!! Oh I am craving some huli huli chicken right now!

Eating pizza in New Jersey that tastes just like Motta's Pizzeria in Hartford, Conn.

The Statue of Liberty! In all its green glory...we saw it from the other side of the Hudson but it was even majestic from that far!

Ground Zero, Wall St. (the apts. we stayed at were right on Wall St.) The Bull, Trump Building, The Empire State Building, Gray Papaya's, Broadway, 5th Ave and we even drove through Greenwich Village!

The man on the subway selling pop-up books for Jesus!

The foreigners on the street whispering, "Gucci, Prada, Chanel and Coach"? then taking you to a van parked on the side of the street and pushing you in! (Not fun and I freaked them out when I said, "Get me out of here"!) and magically the price for Sela's Louis Vuitton went down another $20 bucks!

The show we went to do was great and the crowd was fun and young! They had a blast and the food and dancing afterwards was so fun too!

I especially loved seeing one of my dearest friends whom I consider family, my Andi Cook!! She has always been so wonderful to my family and I, it was good to just reconnect with her and to feel of her warm and beautiful spirit!

This was such a much needed shot in the arm for me prior to all the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holidays!

Thanks Jenn and Andi for having us and treating us so well!

Thanks to all my nieces and nephews and of course my own kids who came and helped in the show!

And, thanks to my sister Loni for driving us all the way there and back in the very comfy and BIG 15 passenger van!!!

PICTURES ARE ON THE WAY!!!!!!!!

NEW YORK NEW YORK!!!

Hi all, I am in NYC to do a show for a singles ward for one of my best friends daughters! My sister Loni and I along with Jaz and Andi and all of Loni's kids and our sweet Eva!! The show is tomorrow night and they are cookng up a storm here tonight! Smells so good! I will post pix. and updates as soon as I can! Thanks all!!! I feel like putting on a top hat and grabbing a cane and dancing to Frank SInatra's, NEW YORK, NEW YORK!!

PLAYING DRESS-UP!

So, I am way late on posting pix of the kiddos at Halloween but, hey...better late then never right???

We had an awesome ward trunk or treat party and the kids always love it! There was plenty of fun, food and games! And, of course tons of candy...the kids are just huge balls of sugar still!



STEELER FANS FOR LIFE!!!! SIAOSI, LYLA AND SPENCER!




JOHN JOHN IS THE TOP BANANA!




SPIDERMAN, PRINCESS LYLA AND THEIR MAMA!



PRETTY ROBOTS! ALEXIS AND EVA!




SISTER NOCK THE ROCK STAR AND HER MISSION PRESIDENT AND WIFE! I LOVE THIS ONE!




THE MOST BEAUTIFUL SPIDERMAN EVER!



SELA THE GOLD DIGGER (CLEVER HUH)? AND NIECE ENI AKA STORM!

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE PLAYING DRESS-UP???

3's Company, 4's a crowd but 8???

I almost said 8 is enough but did not want this post to come off the wrong way! Our oldest child/daughter has moved in with us and her 2 children. The move was actually made last July and then she went to work with my sister in Ohio for almost 2 months, while her children were with their dad here in NC. Now, she is back and they are separated...(sad, I know)! But, I have come to realize that in this life we are all individuals who make our own choices and we deal with the consequences (good or bad)ourselves.

So, why am I blogging about this? The one week with 8 back in our home has been noisy, fun, stressful, busy and more! Here are some one-liners you may have heard around here lately...

"Nana I want dink"
"John John won't let me play with his Huk (hulk) game"
"Do NOT touch the toilet again!!! UNDERSTAND"!
"MOM!!!!!! Was the baby in my room again"?!?!?!
"Just sneak out, before she sees you"
"Nana move over" (at 1 am)
"Papa you funny"
"Don't turn it, I'm watching Diego"!!!

And, the best line you could hear around here...

"Nana I love you"!

Oh the sweetness of the grand babies in this house! They are too funny and keep this place rockin'!

I know it won't last forever and honestly I don't think I would want it too. I mean that in a good way, they NEED their own space and time away from us, as we do them. But, it is so good to me right now hearing, smelling and kissing on these sweet babies while in our home!

8 is GREAT!!! For now that is!! hahahah!~

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

CHECK THIS GIVE-AWAY OUT!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS AMAZING!!! WOULDN'T MY BABY LYLA LOOK AMAZING IN THIS?!?!?! SHE WOULDN'T NEED A WIG THOUGH WITH ALL HER LONG CURLY LOCKS!!! OH EVERYONE PLEASE LOG ON TO THIS SITE AND TELL HER I NEED THIS FOR MY GRANDBABY!!!!!









Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

FREECYCLE

Have I been living in a cave??? I cannot believe I just found out about this from my sister Annie today!

It's called freecycle...have you heard of it?

You log on and sign up, pick a city, browse and get this...

If you see something you like you get it...FREE...NO CHARGE...NADA....ZILCH!!!

Here is the description taken right from their home page...



"Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,618 groups with 5,991,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun"!

So, I have been window shopping and saw so many things...some of the stranger items were...

feret and rat cages! (WHY)?
size 9 1/2 womens shoes (EWWW)!
rf modulators (WHAT)?
bibs (anyone heard of the DOLLAR TREE)?
Friendship Bread starter recipe (MMMM I WANT SOME)!


As you can see its anything goes on freecycle!

No money, No contracts, No finance charges, No late fees, No hassles!!!

I am going to give it a try, let me know if you do to!

My funny hubby!

My dear husband sent me this email and wrote, "This would be something you would do. LOL"! So, of course I read on...and I realized my hubby has quite the sense of humor!


One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into the river. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?' The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to help her husband in making a living for their family. The Lord dipped His hand into the water and pulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires.





'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked The seamstress replied, 'No.'
The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies.




'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.'
The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.

'Is this your thimble ?' the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, 'Yes.' The Lord was pleased with the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress went home happy.

Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and her husband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lord again appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?' 'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into the river!'
The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. 'Is this your husband?' the Lord asked.





'Yes,' cried the seamstress. The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!' The seamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said 'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt.




Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' you would have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to take care of all three husbands, so THAT'S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.
And so the Lord let her keep him.
The moral of this story is:

Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest of others. That's our story, and we're sticking to it.



So, you see my Danny does have a great sense of humor but surely NOT a great sense of reality! I think he is a lot sexier then Clooney and Pitt...ANYDAY!!!!!!!!! (and for all eternity)!

Scattergories and STEELERS

This is from an email but I thought it looked fun enough to share on my blog!!! I love this game and usually would win anytime I would play it!

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks!

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have
to be real places, names, things, nothing made up!






WHAT IS YOUR NAME? Lyla
4 LETTER WORD: Love

TV SHOW: Leave it to Beaver

BOY NAME: Lincoln

GIRL NAME: Lauren
OCCUPATION : Log Splitter

SOMETHING TO WEAR: Lingerie

BEVERAGE: Lemonade
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: Lysol
PLACE: Living Room
REASON FOR BEING LATE: Laid in bed too long....
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: LOOK OUT!!!!!!!

Wanna play along?? Go ahead, just let me know so I can check your answers out!


ALSO, JUST HAD TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO MY AWESOME PITTSBURGH STEELERS!!!!!! WE BEAT THE CINCINNATI "BUNGALS" TODAY SO YEAH!!!!!!!!!! SORRY TO ANY OF YOU CINNCI FANS....NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

POLITICS! SHMOLITICS!

Ok, time to vent...how many of you are sick and tired of all the negative and hateful campaigning?

It is so amazing how the people running to "RUN" the country are worse then a bunch of 8th grade girls fighting over a boy or fighting to be in the popular clique. The backstabbing, fighting and finger pointing is...

RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!

And, all of this just to prove they are somehow right, justified or whatever else they want to be!!!

Well, I not only get it from the TV, radio and all the billboard ads, and through my email but...

I GET IT AT WORK! YES. WORK.

I am a rural carrier and I have to case all the political mailings and treat them as 1st or 2nd class mail! Meaning they go out the day they come and there are 1000's

EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CAN YOU SCREAM WITH ME NOW???

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STOP WITH THE RIDICULOUS MAILINGS...

NO ONE READS THEM!

WE USE THEM AS COASTER FOR OUR GLASSES....

AS MAKE SHIFT DUST PANS WHEN WE SWEEP...

TO FAN OURSELVES...

AND TO AID IN PICKING UP DOGGIE MESS IN THE YARD!!!!!!!!!

I HATE ALL THE NEGATIVE POLITICS AND ALL THAT GOES WITH IT!!!!!!

POLITICS! SHMOLITICS!!!!!!!!!

The Name Game

Hi there everyone, I saw this on my sweet friend Dolly's blog and thought, yeah right this won't work...and then I put my name in and get these results...I think this is pretty accurate for me...what do you all think? Does this sound like the Lyla you know???


What Lyla Means

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.
You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.
You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic “Type A” personality.


Find out what your name means here...

http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/

General Conference

I wanted to say how much I loved conference today! Unfortunately, I did not get to see any sessions from yesterday but, todays were just so wonderful! The messages were like soothing water to my parched soul! I love how the messages are so simple and easy to understand yet, they seem hard to live at times for us! I love our prophet so much and especially enjoyed his talks today! You can just feel his love! Pres. Eyering's message of hope and unity were exactly what I needed to hear! ALL the talks were awesome! Some of my favorite quotes today were...


"Be slow to take offense, and quick to forgive"

"You be the one to stand for what is right, even if you stand alone"

"Return to virtue"

"We can't afford to be superficially righteous"

"Find someone who is having a hard time and, do something for them"

"Eternal life with God is the most precious prize"

"One way to be a peacemaker is to seek for anything we agree on, find that common ground"

There were so many more but they are the ones that stick out to me!

"The Rest of the Story"

My nephew saw my cute daughter yesterday and she wanted him to tell me, **In Paul Harvey's voice** "The Rest of the Story"!

Ok, back to the sighting of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

Loni was able to speak to President Monson and she told him how much she loved him and then she said to my nephew, "I started to bear my testimony to him, OF him"!! She got emotional as she told him she KNEW he was truly a prophet of God. He was so dear to Loni and he gave her a hug and said thank-you and then asked for her continued prayers! Then jokingly as they were leaving he said to the sisters, please pray for me because I speak 5 times at general conference and Pres. Uchtdorf ONLY speaks 4 times! I love that he has such a great sense of humor!

Awesome story huh?!?! Just had to share with ya'll!

A Sister Nock Sighting!

Loni Anne emailed us today and, then just a few minutes after she sent it, she sent this note!!! THIS WAS TOO EXCITING NOT TO SHARE!!!!!!!!!!



"Oh my goodness! It’s my pday and guess who I just saw! I saw the first presidency! I’m checking my email and then the sisters in the Joseph smith memorial building say that they were coming! Well, we move from the computers and stand where we can see them! Well, they stopped and talked to us! President Monson asked if we were ready for conference and we all said YES! And then I said to President Uchtdorf that I enjoyed his talk! So, yes…I saw and spoke with the first presidency! Briefly. But I did it! Yeah! What an amazing! Day! I love my mission! It’s the best in the world! No really. It is! Promise! Tell alexis to hurry up and come here! She’d be great here"!



President Monson, President Eyering and President Uchtdorf!

Is Change Good?

Not sure if it is but, I wanted a change and when that happens I just do it!

There are things I want to change right now like...

My body
My hair
My weight
My eating habits
My tires on my van
My van
My balance in my bank account
My job
My...whatever else..

I can change some and I can't change others so..I will start with what I can change....

MY BLOG!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoy my new look and blog!



This is one thing I wouldn't want to change!


What are 3 things you would change right now in your life if you could?