Lehi Roundup

Living in Hawaii, every end of June I always ask everyone, "isn't there a holiday around this time before the 4th of July??!" And every year they always have to remind me, only in Utah. Well luckily this year, we ARE in Utah!! And even better, we are in Lehi!! Lehi has what they call the Lehi Roundup Days. They celebrate the whole week with different activities each day and the last day the have a parade. (Well they have more than one, but the last one is the BIG one!)

Anyways, our ward had the chance to be in the parade and my oldest was able to join and be a part of it! He was only in the mini parade Friday night but that seemed to be enough for him cuz he burned out a third of the way through and passed out on the float. (That is how you KNOW he is MY child.) I was panicking afterwards cuz I could not find him but finally a sister in the ward told me where he was. Poor ting was out like a light. But he did say he had tons of fun and enjoyed it!

Although the next day he wanted to watch the parade instead of being in it. I was babysitting my niece and they were all troopers. They were practically running to get there and when we did they were dancing and jumping up and down like it was not 98degrees outside and we were not in the sun. Oka I was getting hot just watching them! They just absolutely enjoyed themselves and I really hope we are here long enough to enjoy this many more times!!

                       The finish product with mommy :) He was so proud. Lol.

                       Here he is on the float. They were the "baby" butterflies!

  Yay!! Here's our ward in the float! Little man was on the other side tho. But he was so proud of himself for doing it. Even though he passed out a little after he passed us. Stayed up long enough to see mommy ;)

After they had a carnival like thing at the park. Like family activities with bouncy houses, animals, food and a stage with performances. The kids wanted to ride the horses/ponies so this is Na'a riding hers! They all just loved it. I wish I took more pictures but my camera is small kine blurry in the front so this was all I got. Thank you Lehi for a great Pioneer Day celebration! It was so much fun!!

What Do Mormon's Believe?

Well as a Mormon, or a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I can tell you what I believe, or share with you my testimony of Jesus Christ

First and foremost I believe that God lives. He is our Father in heaven, who loves and cares for us. He cares for us so much, that he sent is Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. I believe that Christ lived and died for us. Not just overcoming physical death, like on the cross, but spiritual death in Gethsename. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. He has saved my soul from hell, hence my Savior. And has redeemed my soul as well. I know that He loves me because I have felt it. I know He is there because I have seen the many miracles wrought by my faith in Him. I know that He loves all the children of  the world because I felt his love for them while serving them. I know this because I have asked, I have knocked, and I have received.

My faith in Him wasn't just a one day thing. It has taken time for me to learn. Not because He is slow to answer, merely because I am slow to hear. But what I find truly amazing is that regardless of all the mistakes I have made, regardless of my imperfections and sins, He loves me and is ALWAYS there for me. I just have to be willing to go to Him. And I know He will do the same for you. Just ask, and be willing to listen and learn. Learn more at mormon.org/what-do-mormons-believe. Or visit www.lds.org to read messages from our leaders and to find resources on what we live and believe. I am Heilala Garcia, and I am a Mormon.

The Emotion Code

I wanted to write about something that has really helped my little family and I. In Hawai'i, my husband text me one day and said we had a meeting with a girl from school. So I said okay, arranged for a babysitter and we went to a pavilion around the school area and met this girl. She was training to become a Emotion Code Practitioner. And when she first explained what she was doing, I couldn't help but think "My husband is crazy if he thinks I'm going to sit here and do this." Well I did it. And I am so glad I did.

The Emotion Code is a process of releasing trapped emotions within the body which are causing physical issues, mental issues or emotional issues. It is based on the belief that everything is energy. And when that energy comes out of balance and creates an ailment. Dr. Bradley Nelson is a chiropractor who came up with this idea through years of experience and experiment. He believes that when we go through an experience, traumatic or not, if we don't process an emotion it because trapped in our body. That trapped emotion is energy and creates the imbalance I referred to. If not taken care of, that imbalance will cause ailments or other issues in our body. This book helps you learn how to find and release those energies.

 Josh and I have worked with Suze,who is the girl I spoke about earlier, and she has really helped our little family. One example I like to give is when we first met her I had this weird thing in my head. It was on the top right area above my forehead. It was like a fog. It didn't hurt. It kind of tickled. I would pound my head in the spot or scratch it really hard. Certain times I'd just want to bang my head against the wall. I really had no idea what it was or what to do with it. I told her about it and she did her thing and by the next session it was gone. I did get it again after my car accident but I called her that day and she really helped me get passed it as well.

The great thing about the Emotion Code is that you can learn to do it yourself. Josh and I have done a lot of work ourselves and it has really helped us with our children. We have also worked with Shanie who has helped us a ton as well! It has been a blessing in our lives and we love the Body Code as well and both Suze and Shanie have helped us heal through this amazing breakthrough. I'm sharing this because it has really helped my husband and I. People think it's crazy talk, or feel uncomfortable talking about "energy work" but in reality it's amazing. Dr. Nelson incorporates a lot of different things like from Chinese medicine and things that people have been talking/thinking/working/using for thousands of years. It's amazing the experiences and results we have had with this and we tell every body about it. It has helped us and I hope you give it a try. It was totally worth it for us.

Father's day 2013

 Another Father's day comes again. Usually if I were with my parents we would BBQ. I love shoyu chicken and teri burgers! Talk about ONO! But since were in Utah with my in-laws, instead of the usual going out to eat or a movie, we went to the park. My FAVORITE PARK! We figured since it's nice and sunny, the dogs would appreciate joining us in an outing. Plus my kids have been begging to go to a park and we've been a little busy all week! (We did other fun things, but they still wanted to just play at a park.)

We went to Provo's Bicentennial Park . It's kind of hidden and a lot of people don't even know about it. I had tried to explain to my husband and his brothers where it was but they just kind of laughed at me and thought that I was weird because you can't see it from the main road. I'm so glad my step-mother-in-law knew what I was talking about. They absolutely loved it! It is a HUGE ultimate Frisbee field, with a cool kind of playground, a volleyball net and kind of a wetland swamp area for walking. 
My kids had a blast. My in-laws loved it. It was cheap, simple and was a great place for us to spend some good family fun together. Even though it was super hot and we all drank at least a gallon of water each, it was perfect for our Father's day activity together!

Oh and I made some AMAZING chocolate chip banana bread :) Or cake I guess because I didn't have a bread pan. It's for my step-mother-in-laws parents and a good friend of ours who is like another father figure to my husband. This banana bread was simple, easy and DELICIOUS! I just added some chocolate chips. I'm going to say a half a cup. I should have put more, I like TONS of chocolate chips but it was great the way it turned out.

All in all, we had great fun, spent some good time together and had a great excuse to make amazing banana bread!

We've moved. AGAIN.

This has been our 4th move in a 12 months time period. I hope this will be our last for a while. Growing up we moved quite a bit. I've moved about 14 (give or take 1 or 2) times in my life and well I think that's enough for the rest of my life. Will we stay here permanently? Actually I hope so. I'm not saying anything because I really don't know. We will go where the Lord sees fit. It has been a interesting year, since the last time I blogged. I am now back in school, my husband has a full time job (what???), we have no more babies :( and well life is amazing. It is so mind blowing that when you finally hand your life over to the Lord, take responsibility for past actions and look for the beauty in ALL things, how easy life can be. I'm not saying it is without trials, because I think I've had a lot more than I thought I could handle recently. But it has been easier to cope with, to work around and to deal with the daily struggles because of the values and principles I have been founded on. I read an article about the Dalai Lama and he stated that for a country to be successful it is determined upon the foundations and values, not the land which they dwell on. So for me, like my church leaders are always saying, it isn't where you raise your kids, but how. I admit, there are some places I'd rather NOT raise my kids, but I like where were at. It's safe, beautiful, full of kids and great activities. And all though we stick out like a sore thumb, I think we fit in rather well :) Here's to hoping we stay here longer than a year :)

A baby . . .

Just to clarify before I begin, NO, I am NOT pregnant. BUT, I would like to be :)

People probably think I'm crazy because I have 3 kids in the order of 1, 2 and a 3 year old. I admit, not the best idea. I wouldn't change it though. I've been told I needed more time between each child and I didn't spend enough time with this one and blah blah blah. To clarify again, I, Heilala Garcia, am the mother of these children. I've spent nearly every moment of their lives with them. I'm pretty sure I know my kids. Yes, I admit I'm a bit mean sometimes, but who, honestly, am I close with that I am NOT mean to?? Besides my dad. But that's different territory. Anyways, my point is, I think they're fine. For three reasons.

Reason 1: they were born when Joshua and I needed them. Joshua and I haven't had a smooth sailin relationship. It's been a bumpy road. Our children, all unique and special in their own way, came unexpectedly (sort of) but at the perfect time. Gabriel was Joshua's lifeline. We weren't exactly making the best choices but once Joshua saw a little boy that he would influence in a good way or a bad way, he wanted to be the best dad EVER. It was like his first time seeing the sun after years of darkness. Joshua needed him and so did his family. Gissela came when I just wanted to give up on the world. She was my breath of fresh air. I felt rejuvenated and whole again like I could actually get up again after nearly walking dead for almost 2 years. I needed her, and so did my family. Melena'a was just the sunshine we needed after our stormy weather. She made us ALL HAPPY. She completed us and oh I really don't know what I would have done without her at that time and even til now. So all of our children were given to us maybe not at the most convenient time, but at the time God knew would be best for us.

Reason 2: having them close together means they'll all leave my house around the same time. I'm a rip the band aid off as fast as you can kinda person. I don't do the whole slowly little by little. If one leaves they better all leave soon because I don't think I could handle it after a few 5 years.

Reason 3: they were unplanned. I didn't exactly ask for them, they just kinda happened. And with Sela we were trying NOT to have another one. It's not like I was just like Oh baby's! I wanted to wait, but God had other plans for me and because of reason 1, I am forever grateful.

With all that said, I want another baby. I know people keep saying, Oh wait til you have a steady job or Oh wait til you're done with school or Oh wait til this or that and blah blah blah blah blah. I asked Josh if we could wait a year. It has been a year and I have taken my IUD out. I'm not saying we're trying, cuz we aren't. If it happens it happens and I'm ok with that. Why wait when I have the Lord on my side? My life has changed since being sealed with my family. In the eternal perspective, why would I NOT keep having kids? I've felt such a strong obligation to have kids because pregnancy and having kids is a piece of cake. It's not easy but compared to the amazingly strong women I've met who have gone through miscarriages, C-section, complications, morning sickness, bed rest, ect, I'm just fat when I'm pregnant. And it takes me like a push to get them out. So I almost feel like if I could, I could have 10 kids easily. Will we??? idk. Maybe, maybe not. Hard to say. I just want to go with what the Lord wants me to do and right now I feel like if we wanted, we could have a baby. And I want a baby.

Jon

For the past few weeks we had the privilege of having Josh's younger brother Jon visit us! It was a long 2 weeks filled with constant tourism. LOL. Being from Hawaii I never really cared to do a lot of things I just kind of stayed home or hung out, I never actually wanted to go out and try things. Having him visit though, forced me to actually find stuff to do. Tourist kine. We went to PCC during the day, ate at gateway and at ambassador, and watched the night show. We went to Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor. We walked around swapmeet and Waikiki for free just checking out the stores and never got to actually go to the beach but we drove past it! Lol. Hiked up the Hau'ula loop trail and went to Turtle Bay for the fireworks. Pounders, Temple, Hukilau, Castle, Sunset and Waimea beaches are a few that he actually went too. Josh took him farming a lot, but idk how much he enjoyed that. Hahahaha jk Josh. Ted's, Giovanni's, Hukilau and Keneke's are some of the places we ate at. He got to go to the Laie temple before it closed down for the 2 week thing. We even got to go to the Dole Plantation which I have actually never been to. It was really fun.

My kids also LOVED having him here. I felt so bad because they would just follow him around the house like little puppies. Even if he was in the bathroom they would just bang on the door and yell at him to open it up. As soon as Gabriel would wake up he'd asking me where "tio Jon" is and that he missed him. Jon was also very helpful to me and very patient with the kids. If any of you know my kids, they're a LOT of work. But we enjoyed the short time that we had with Jon and hope that he or any of Josh's family will come visit soon :) Here are a FEW pictures of his visit (my camera sucks on my phone so I hate taking pictures on it)

Jon walking along a lookout point between makapu'u lookout and hanauma bay

Jon again

Gabriel watching tio Jon

hiking the Hau'ula loop trail

my Gissi chillin at Sunset beach

she was captivated by the sand

eating at Keneke's grill . ono grinds brah .

Ted's bakery . best freaking pies ever !