I have been the worst blogger ever this year. In an attempt to maybe redeem myself a little, I’ve put together a “year in review” post for 2011… Enjoy!!

January

• Livie turned 5 and had a “Tangled” party

• I went back to school after a 10 year hiatus… being a mom. I took 13 hours at Texas Woman’s University- majoring in Family Studies.

February

• Seiuli was awarded OFFICER OF THE YEAR at his PD for 2010.
  

  He's mine.

  March

• Seiuli was in a major accident at work when he was t-boned by an unobservant driver. He was off work for 6 weeks…
  

  Wrapped around a pole

  

  He's alive!!

• Isabel’s basketball (coached by my dad) won 1st place for the season!! Isabel led her team in steals, points and assists.
  

  Winning!

  April

• Tristan turned 16 and got his driving permit…
  

  Driving on the road... gulp

• Isabel turned 12 and had a “Photo Scavenger Hunt” Party! So much fun!!
  

  Take a pic of entire group at a STOP sign

• Our family formed a team for the “WALK LIKE MADD” fundraiser. We earned over $1000 in honor of Kandi and Autumn, a mom and daughter killed by a drunk driver on Easter weekend 2010. Seiuli was a police officer on the scene and also testified in the murder trial.
  

  Our Walk Like MADD team minus Brad and Larissa...

  May

• I got my CHL (concealed handgun license) and a new Ruger LC9 mm. I named my gun “JET” after Jason Terry because it’s black and can shoot.
  

  JET

• The semester ended and I made straight As!!

• Tristan was in and out of the ER for over a week. The doctors finally decided he was fighting a virus. He eventually got completely better, but it was scary at the time.
  

  ER visit #2

• My Mavs WON THE NBA CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!! They swept the Lakers and killed the Heat!
  

  Dirk- MVP

  June

• I went to Houston with Nancy and Stacy to see NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK and BACKSTREET BOYS in concert!! It was so so so much fun!!!
  

  Well, hello Donnie...

• My siblings and I managed to plan and throw my parents a surprise 40th anniversary party! It went awesomely and they were so grateful.We even had relatives that came from Louisiana.
  

  My parents and the "candy bar."

  July

• We took a family vacation to Destin, Florida and had an amazing time!!
  

  My beautiful family

  August

• School started for the kids and me!!! I took 13 hours again.
• Tristan is a junior in high school.
• Alec is a freshman.
• Isabel is in 7th grade.
• Taj is in 2nd.
• LIV STARTED KINDERGARTEN!! I have NO kids at home during the day!! HUGE MILESTONE!!
  

  My big girl!!

September

• Taj turned 8 and was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
  

  8 years old!! Baptism day

• Seiuli and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on Sept. 14. We are planning a trip to Hawaii in June to celebrate.   Sooo excited!! Sooo blessed!!!!

October

• Took Isabel, my sister Ali and her friend, Maddy, to the Taylor Swift concert at Dallas Cowboys Stadium. We had a blast!!!
  

  Taylor Swift, here we come!!!

• Had a great Halloween!!!! I went as Flo from Progressive. Liv was Rapunzel, Taj as Capt. America, Isabel as a dark fairy, Ali as a psych patient, my dad was a “spider man”, my mom Minnie Mouse and Idk wth Sei is… The older boys went out with friends… wearing white masks and dark hoodies.
  

  Trunk or Treat

  November

• Alec turned 15!!! He also made the freshman A-team in basketball. SO PROUD!!!
  

  Go Wildcats!!!

• Isabel made A team for 7th grade!!!!
   
  

  #00

• Tristan played with varsity in the playoffs at Cowboy stadium!!!
  

  They lost But doesn't he look cute???

• Me, Taj and Livie went to Kansas with my parents and Ali to spend Thanksgiving with my sister’s family. Sei had to work so he stayed behind and the 3 oldest were at the ex’s house…
• Taj started pre-team gymnastics and is doing great!!

December

• Finished the semester with 4 As and a B. My Earth Science class was ridiculously hard so I was thrilled with the B!
• Tristan got his drivers license. We had to wait until after football so he had time to go take the test. He did great!!
  
• Loving being a psycho sports spectator at my kiddos games!! We have 2-4 games a week!
  
• Seiuli has Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off for the 1st time in 3 years. YAY!!

I am soooo looking forward to 2012! How was your 2011??

 

It’s funny that this is the challenge to day because I was just thinking about this. At church we talked about letting our talents shine and not burying them.  Obviously we are all blessed with some sort of talent. Some of us have “talent show” talents that can be displayed. And others have talents that are part of our personality or a characteristic trait. My husband is abundantly blessed in both areas. He plays the piano BEA.U.TI.FULLY by EAR. Seriously- it’s ridiculous. Check him out HERE. If he’s heard the song, he can play it. It’s awesome and disgusting at the same time. haha  Plus he’s naturally a great police officer (Officer of the Year 2010 suckas!), smart, giving, great conversationalist…

I don’t have any “talent show” talents. In fact, I hated talent shows growing up. I don’t sing. I don’t dance. I don’t recite poetry. lol I played sports growing up and was a natural athlete, so sports were fun. I’m witty and use my humor to lighten the mood and be a peacemaker. Those are things that come naturally. I’ve had interests in different things, but never had the patience to stick with them long enough to become good at it. But about 8 years ago I found myself watching a “Signing Time” video that my sister gave me to use with my kiddos. I watched it and fell in love with American Sign Language. I bought tons of the videos and worked with Isabel and Taj who were my 2 youngest. I started with Taj when he was over year and he picked up signs quickly. With Livie I started at just a few months old. I’ve talked about ASL a lot on my blog and Rachel Coleman (Creator of “Signing Time”) even commented on this post!! I was stoked!!) Anyway, I’m rambling… My point is that I fell in love with ASL and over the years I have studied it on my own, renting videos and books from the library, and FINALLY took a REAL ASL class in college in the Spring. I love it. I’m NOT fluent- not even close. But I have that desire to be fluent some day. So, for now ASL is a hobby, not a talent. But I feel that it could be a talent and I am taking the time to develop it. Not only that, my oldest sons are both taking ASL in high school so we are able to learn together.

Here’s my video story from my ASL 1 class. I made an A+. Make sure you turn on the annotations so you know what I’m saying…

 

 

Wow. How many posts can I start with “It’s hard for me to choose just one…” I like so many different types of music. I’m not sure if I have an absolute favorite band. I’ll name a few I really love…

Obviously New Kids on the Block… I realize their music is kinda boy-bandish corny, but they bring back memories and make me feel nostalgic. And how can you NOT love them when one of the guys looks like this NOW?? Woot woot!

I really like No Doubt.  I have all their cds including their old school stuff that probably never sold. I love Gwen Stefani and the whole band is just FUN. I saw them in concert maybe back in 2002?? I went with my sister– so fun!!! One of my fave songs by them is Simple Kind of Life.

I heart hairbands because I’m rad like that. My fave is probably Def Leppard. I’ve seen them in concert a few times and loved it every time.  My fave songs by them? Probably Animal, Hysteria… and Love Bites.

And last but not least… 2 more… haha

WEEZER is amazing and so is The All American Rejects!!!! Fave songs by Weezer: Holiday and Only in Dreams. And by The AAR, I love Gives You Hell, Swing Swing and Stab My Back. Did you know the lead singer, Tyson Ritter, was born at a Van Halen concert and wrapped in a Van Halen tshirt? Yeah… pretty cool. They are both awesome bands. I am hoping to see Weezer in October. *fingers crossed*

 

What’s your favorite band or artist?

If you’ve read my blog for long then you know that I am a longtime fan of New Kids on the Block. Yes, I know that most think they sing cheesy, boy band music. But I like how their music brings me back to a time in life when things were easy. My walls were wallpapered with their pics, I’d jam to their music with my walkman and just chill. I miss those days sometimes. I also really like a lot of their new music. 2 in the Morning is my fave.

I don’t believe in attending concerts on Sunday as part of my trying to keep the sabbath day holy- you know… that commandment in the bible? Yeah, so starting when I was 13 NKOTB have come on tour to Dallas on Sundays. Seriously guys? So, my 1st concert I traveled to Oklahoma City with family friends, Patti, Nancy and Sharon along with my mom and sister,. I actually met Donnie while there. You can read about that story HERE.  Amazing.

Fast forward about 20 years and I went to Kansas City, Missouri thanks to some wonderful friends, to once again see them in concert. You can read about that HERE. And now 3 years later NKOTB was touring with the Backstreet Boys (minus Kevin) and I, of course, wanted to go. But… they were coming on a Sunday, again. So, my husband talked to Nancy’s husband and my bff, Stacy’s, husband. And together they purchased tickets to the NKOTBSB show in Houston– on a Saturday night!! Woot woot!!

The day finally came after an almost 7 month wait! June 25!!! Nancy drove because she lived in Houston and knows people and places. We stayed with her friends, dined at Hard Rock Cafe, parked in the scariest parking garage ever, screamed, cried, LUSTED and sang along, stopped at cool places like Buc-ees. I even got to see Tristan, Alec and Isabel at a chance encounter (somewhat NOT chance) at a gas station as they drove with the ex to Houston and we headed home. It was SO much fun!! It was fun to act silly and feel like a 14 year old again. It was a great show– even if you aren’t a fan. All the guys seemed to ENJOY performing. They did cheesy moves knowing full well all those old ladies were gonna eat it up. And they all LOOKED incredible! Yum. It was just FUN. I needed that quick weekend trip.

Thanks Nancy and Stacy for making it so fun!!! Thanks Seiuli, Nathan and Micah for letting your women leave town to clearly lust after other men and relive a little part of our adolescence. haha <3 Oh and on a sidenote– In Houston the NKOTB wore Boston Celtics jerseys for their encore. In Dallas, they wore Mavs jerseys in honor of the Mavs winning the championships. Donnie wore a DIRK jersey. I’m pretty sure that was a shout out to me who couldn’t attend.

Aack! I almost forgot the video!!!!!! I have several, but this one pretty much sums it up for me. Btw, you’d be surprised how many “NKOTB Pelvic Thrust” videos there are on youtube…

Today I received a Christmas card from none other than… NKOTB. Yes, Danny, Donnie, Jon, Jordan and Joe love me. It’s appropriate they sent me this since I am getting concert tickets from my man for their NKOTB + Backstreet Boys tour (NKOTBSB). I am takin’ a road trip (Holla Stacy and Nancy!) to Houston to see them since, once again, they are coming to Dallas on a Sunday. I don’t do concerts (or much of anything else) on Sunday. Every time I have seen them I have traveled to do so because they have come here on a Sunday (Oklahoma City and Kansas City– shout out Sara!!). So, yeah… I’m famous.

Isabel did a powerpoint presentation for a class about herself. One the part about “THE PEOPLE I ADMIRE” she wrote:

The people I admire the most are my parents! They do EVERYTHING for me. They are the best. My parents have 5 and sometimes 7 kids. The reason I said 5 to 7 is because my 2 step sisters live in Canada, and they visit sometimes. My parents treat us all equally they love us all equally! Even though we can be a handful sometimes, but they can handle us! They are the people I admire most.

Awwwwww!!! And she had pics of me and her and her and Sei.

The other part I loved was from MY FAMILY:

My family is AMAZING!!!!!! My family has 9 people in it and that is a lot. My family from youngest to oldest and age is……. Livie or Liv is 4 almost 5, Taj is 7, Isabel aka MEEE is 11, Karlea is 12, Kelsea is 12, Alec is 14, Tristan is 15, Tori aka MOM, and then Seiuli aka DAD! My family is the best in the whole entire world! I LOVE THEM ALL!!!

It made me feel awesome. I thought it was cute she put Karlea as younger than Kelsea. They are 18 minutes apart. haha

Seiuli is nominated for the 2nd quarter in a row for OFFICER OF THE QUARTER.  In the letter the chief wrote to him these are of few of the things that supervisors and/or peers made the following comments about him:

• “He has been an outstanding influence on our shift.”
• “He comes to work every day with a great attitude, and his reports and investigations are accurate and detailed.”
• “His ability to translate Spanish has proven invaluable.”
• “He also has made tremendous impact on our DWI enforcement. Again he will either take the lead on these investigations or assist in providing translation.”
• “He has a true passion for his job, and is a leader among our people.”

There was more, but you get the jist… He is awesome. I am proud of him. And I sleep with him. Just sayin’…

• So I arrive at this parent meeting the other nite at the high school for basketball and as I’m about to enter the lecture hall this coach walks up to me to shake my hand. OMG y’all- I seriously thought he was this guy I met in Vegas back when I was 14. They were both tall, dark, and basketball players. It was weird. He sat at the front of the lecture hall during the meeting and I just kept looking at him thinking, “This may be kinda awkward if that IS him…” It wasn’t. lol
• I used to think Christian Slater was so gorgeous- especially in “Gleaming the Cube.” Yeah, he’s really not, atleast he wasn’t after “Gleaming the Cube”… But I was all about Christian Slater when he was a cool thrasher. I always loved me some skater bad boys!!
• Another person I thought was so hot: The lead singer of EMF. Idk why. He leaned on the microphone all hot… lol You can see the video here. He “leans” around 1:37. haha
• Last nite I downloaded some music for my iPod. 2 words: JOHNNY GILL. My sister and I were all about this non-dancing hottie. lol You can see one of my fave songs by him here – he really CANNOT DANCE.

Who were you crushin’ on 20 years ago???

**Please don’t forget to vote for me in the  Dottie Awards for the John Lennon Award (nicest blogger.) Just click next to swampbrat.net. It only takes a second.  THANKS!

* What are y’alls plans for Easter weekend? Kelsea and Karlea arrive on Friday, April 10th! YAY!! So far we are planning a trip not too far from here where there’s natural waterfalls, caves, hiking trails, etc… I’m hoping for great weather. We will also do our 2nd annual night time egg hunt. They loved it last year, so I think it will be a new tradition. Isabel’s birthday is April 9 and Tristan’s is the 6th (They’ll be 10 and 14!!CRAZY!) so the daytrip will be their “party” this year.
——————————

* Suzanne, my awesome friend, asked:
What is your favorite restaurant?
I don’t have a “favorite” but I really like Chili’s, Joe’s Crabshack and On The Border

What is the last funny thing you’ve put on Sei’s facebook?
I wrote something along the lines of “Speaking of HOT, how are you Babe?” It’s not as fun because he deletes all of them. Party pooper.

When are you coming to Utah to visit me?
Sei and I were planning a trip to Utah during the winter if we have enough money after hiring lawyers… If we come, I will let you know our travel plans!!

Millie asked:
What season is your favorite and why?
I love Spring when it’s warm and Summer when it’s HOT. I don’t like cold. I don’t like wind. I don’t like wearing coats. Texas doesn’t really have a “spring” per se. It’s more like a mild summer and then SUMMER. I love it though. I just like the heat!!

My Twin, No Cool Story asked:
When are you doing another dance video?
I am choreographing (ok, that’s an exagerration) a NKOTB dance video using all NKOTB moves and music with the kids. It will be released soon…. Promise. I worry it will not be as cool as the original dance video.

Can I be in the video?
You will have to come to Texas. Are you willing to do that??

Ok, that’s it for today. I will start with Beckie’s question next time!!!

So… the concert was wonderful. We got home late. When I went to bed I thought I’d be up so early since that’s what I was used to. Um, ok, NOT. I slept until 9:50am!! I haven’t done that in FOR.EV.ER. It was wonderful, refreshing, yay! I almost felt guilty because I knew Sei was up early with the kids. But that feeling passed quickly.

Tuesday my sweet husband put me on a plane and I headed to Kansas. My awesome sister picked me up and we headed to lunch to meet…. S!!! Her blog is private right now, but this is her in the middle:
S is totally cool. She was funny and warm and sneaky!! She paid for my lunch and my sister’s lunch without us knowing. NOT cool S! I told you I was paying for you!! She also got to watch me eat my weight in cream puffs. (They were deluctible!!) I had so much fun hanging with her, so we planned to meet again the next day. I had never been to Independence and it wasn’t far from my sister’s home, so we decided to meet at this cool angel store the next day.That nite was the concert. I was so excited. My sister and I got ready. (Ok, I just changed shirts & my sister pulled her hair up but whatever…) Then we g00gled directions to head to the concert. Then we got totally lost. Stupid g00gle. Thanks to my BIL we made it and wow- it was so funny to see the crowd. It was all 30-something year old women and like 12 guys. There were a few women dressed in totally 80′s clothes- like leg warmers and Flashdance shirts. That would have been more appropriate for Madonna’s Like a Virgin tour considering NKOTB were hot in the late 80s early 90s- NOT 1984. Before the concert you could text to a certain number and your text might show up on a screen above the crowd. I can’t tell ya how many posers spelt “Donnie” wrong. Hello- it’s IE not Y. We weren’t there to see Donny Osmond. Anyway… Natasha Bedingfield opened for NKOTB and I really liked her. I’m gonna download some of her songs later for my iPod. Then… it was time. The moment I had been waiting 18 years for…
Here’s me seconds before NKOTB hit the stage. Yes, my eyes are teary. I was ready to bawl.
And… that’s all you get today. I shall post more tomorrow.