Colorado weather

It's so amazing how it can be in the 70's one day and by the next we are in the middle of a blizzard. This past Thursday we got a good foot of snow. We woke up to no snow but I guess the school district was smart because they canceled school anyway. I should say I didn't know the schools were canceled until my wonderful sister called just after 6:00am to tell me they were closed I guess we know how happy she was. I was never able to go back to bed. Thanks Vycci. LOL
Well by 9:00am it was horrible outside. Marcus was able to finally make it home just after 3:00pm. It took him just over three hours to get home. His boss gave Friday off. YEAH!!!!! After Marcus got home we did take the kids sledding. I figured we might as well use the sleds they got for Christmas since they haven't got a chance since we haven't had any snow since then. The Laws, Eddie and the kids meet up with us to go sledding also. We had a blast. This was the first time we have taken the dogs with us. All they did was run up and down the hill chasing the sleds. It was good exercise for them.

St. Patty's Day 2009

I normally don't take pictures on St. Patrick's Day, but since I do have a blog I figured why not. I made the kids green pancakes in the morning. Which is a tradition. I always make different colored pancakes for different holidays. The kids love it. This year the girls not only wanted to wear green but wanted to wear green from head to toe. Luckily I talked them out of it, because it didn't match at all.

Tristan for the weekend

It just happen to work out that both Clayton and Nicole needed someone to watch Tristan this past weekend, so I was able to have him Friday to Sunday. We had a great time with him. On Friday they all built a fort(blankets were every where). Then after dinner they wanted to watch a movie in my room, so we let them. It was funny that I would check on them and the girls were sleeping and the boys were still try to mess around. Thank goodness they finally fell asleep. (not till after 11)
It wasn't until I was ready for bed that I realized all four kids were asleep in my bed and I would have to move all of them to go to sleep. Yea, wasn't going to do that, so Marcus and I slept in Lafai's room which at least he has a queen size bed. Not as good as my king but it worked. But believe me they slept in his room the next night.lol
On Saturday the kids had a primary activity to go to at 10:00am. I let Marcus get them ready because I had a garage sale to go to at 9:00am. It's a big one that is only twice a year. I had to be in line for it at 8:15am. Crazy I know that's how it sounds. But well worth it I promise. Anyway I picked the kids up and Tristan kept telling me how fun church is. He didn't realize church is for three hours the next day. haha
Saturday early evening we got to take the kids for a bike ride. Since we only have one small bike, Tristan and Lafai had to take turns. After a few turns they were both tired and didn't want to ride anymore. They just wanted to run. I don't know what was easier, running next to them as they rode the bike or pushing that little Tigger bike as they ran ahead of me.haha
After washing all of the dirt off them in the shower, they wanted me to take pictures of them in their underwear. So of course I did. Just so that I could post them on my blog.
They went to sleep by 9:00pm. It was so nice and quite.
Tristan did get to go to church with us. He has gone a couple of times and always has a good time. I gave him a fo-hawk(not sure how you spell that) using lots of gel and hair spray. He kept looking the mirror saying "I look good today" . Oh he makes me laugh. But he did look good. It's always nice to have him and I take him whenever I get the chance.

Grandma Mabel

We lost our dear grandma Mabel on December 20, 2008. She had made it to 99th years old. I knew that I wanted to write about her so that as my kids get older they can always look back and read about her and how much she has effected our lives. When Marcus and I were married she was able to come to the wedding. I didn't know her at that point in my life, but was so glad that she was there to share that beautiful day with us. We were able to go to her 95th birthday in Utah a few years ago. I was pregnant with Lafai and it was after that trip that we decided to let Gordon and grandma Mabel come up with a name for our baby. One day I had a list of names(which I could not pronounce any of them) that they had come up with. Lafai was one of them and it was a family name on her side. So we did choose that name. The story behind it is so funny, because Lafai's full name is Lafaitautele Ikaika Purcell. But when Lafai was less than a year old she had seen how we spelled it and she called and said it is the wrong name it was suppose to be LafaiSAOtele. From then on she has always called him by that name and told us we need to fix it. So we are finally starting the process of changing his name.
The last few years we have been able to have grandma in our lives so much more. She was able to attend Lilli,Kainoa,Leilani and Jaedyn's kindergarten graduation. Knowing grandma and how important education is I'm sure those days were just as special for her as it was for us. Last summer grandma got to spend the night at our house and even though the language barriar was a little rough which I did have to call Gordan a few times to help me out. It was so special for our family. Lafai wanted to sleep with her so they sleep together in the extra room all night. I thought for sure Lafai would wake up during the night but he didn't, Grandma rubbed his arm and head for most of the night. I went in at 7:00am to check on them and she waved her little arm at me to get out!! I guess she had everything under control.
Her 99th birthday was in Utah this past May and I know that most of the Purcell family was changed. Marcus and I both agree it was one of the best trips we have ever had. Relationships were formed and the family really became stronger. I have never seen Marcus so happy before than he was for that week we were in Utah and he was with his cousins. But most of all the spirit that was with us. When grandma left us she left behind her strength in the gospel. I still am amazed at how much faith she had and how one person could bring so much spirit into one room that it so over whelming. Even writing about it I get teary eyed and I can feel the spirit here with me. I know that is what makes her so special. I hope for all of us that we can keep these kinds of things close to us but most importantly stay close to our Heavenly Father. I know that is what grandma wants for all of us and I hope that I can raise my own children to hold to the iron rod and always keep them close to the Lord. This past Sunday I had to teach in Relief Society on Celestial marriages and as I prepared my lesson grandma kept coming into my mind. Grandma has now been reunited with her eternal companion, they have both waited a long to be with each other. She lived the gospel to the fullest and understood the true meaning of the temple and the blessings it brings through eternal families. I will strive to do the same cause she showed us what true happiness looks like here on this earth and here after.



Grandma kissing her Lafaisaotele

Lafai Wrestling

Marcus and I wanted Lafai to do a sport this winter. I wish he was old enough to play football but he's not. So instead he wrestled. I was unsure of it at first, but I got the hang of it real quick. He wrestled for Jefferson High School as a "little saint". His very first tournament he went out on the mat wrestled his first period and at the end started screaming as most of you know. But as time went on he got to be more comfortable and finally started wrestling all three periods. He had his first pin the second week in January. Marcus and I were so proud of him. Who would of thought mom and his sisters cheering him on for the side of the mat while coach dad coaches him through it. Wrestling tournaments are like gymnastics meets your kid only goes a few times and it's like once every hour. All it means is that we were there from 7:00am(which is what time the kids have to weight in) and then they don't start to wrestle till about 9:00am. We usually left after 1:00pm to go home, so it is a very long day. But well worth it.

A lot of catching up to do

It has been so long since I've gotten a chance to blog. Lilliana has gymnastics tonight and I don't coach for 30 more min, so I thought I should write. I won't have any pictures to put on this blog for I am not on my computer.
We had a great Halloween. Friends and Family came to our house for dinner and then the we drove other places to go trick-or-treating. Leilani was little bo peep, she won the cutest costume award at her school. Lilli was fairy, and Lafai was a tiger.
We celebrated Thanksgiving at my grandmothers house and of course at Mamo's. A couple of days before Thanksgiving Lilli ran into a pole at school and broke her nose. She was in alot of pain for few days but got through it.
Marcus finally finished his football season in December. We traveled to Las Vegas the first weekend in December for his final game. This was their first lost all season, which was a bummer but they did a good job. It was fun to be there with all the Magalei's. Yannick(marcus's sister) drove from Utah to spend the weekend with us. We had such a good time there. Lilli got to celebrate her 9th birthday in Vegas. She thinks she's so cool for that.
Lafai turned 4 on the 16th. The Laws went out to dinner with us for that special night.
Leilani turned 7 on the 23rd. We always do the wild lights at the zoo, but this year nothing seem to work out and besides it was really cold. So she chose Red Robin for dinner.(I've taught her well.)
The kids did get a swimming party for all three of their birthdays on the 20th of december. I love going swimming in the winter. I know some people might think I'm crazy.
I'm going to try and get caught upon all of my blogging.

Finally moved

I'm officially moved. This doesn't mean I'm setteled yet, but at least I am done with the truck loads of stuff. It has definetly been alot of work and time to move. We were able to refinish the hard wood floors. I thought tileing was bad that was nothing compared to sanding and cleaning up all of the dust before you can even lay the finishing stuff. But it looks so good. During this process I've realized how handy Marcus is. He can do so much more than I thought. I think he's been holding out on me because his honey-do list would be so much bigger and more intense. But really I am so glad to have such a wonderful husband who can do so much and take such good care of his family.
Well I guess I should write about our wonderful garage sale we had a few weeks ago. Holly, Steph Truijillo, and myself had all planned a garage sale. Zach and Stef were going to bring stuff and Liesl came to just hang out with us. Friday morning we were setting up and moving things around, pricing items doing all the fun stuff. The kids were all running around and playing, getting into things they weren't suppose to do. And of course it was my child (no not Leilani, this time it was Lafai). Tried to pick up one of his daddy's 45lb weight disk and dropped it on his left foot. I really am so used to it that Liesl ran and got to Lafai first and all I thought was I need my keys and the insurance card. I knew by the scream that we wee headed to the hospital. I will post pictures in a little bit after I figure out where my cords are to hook up the camera to the computer. I did leave everyone at my house around 10:30am to do the garage sale and I was off to the hospital. Lafai screamed for an hour and half straight. It was awful. He finaly fell asleep, thank goodness. We were there 5 hours and in the end he did not end up breaking his foot. Even though his foot was double the size, cut and bruised. He had trama to the bone,(bruising to the bone) which can effect the muscle and tendens. They put him in a soft cast but was not allowed to walk on it for three days. All that meant was I had to carry him around. By saturday night I was so tired. Lafai was in so much pain that Marcus and I took of the cast and found that his foot was so much more swollen. So we iced it for the next 24 hours. By the time tuesday came around he was walking on it but with no shoes. Our doctor was not convinced that it was broken so we had to go back in for more x-rays. Still it was not broken. His toes even bruised later. But now we're good. He can wear his shoes. Every once in a while it bothers him but we are so blessed that he healed so quickly. The doctor said he wouldn't feel better till the end of October. But I guess they were wrong. So another ER trip has come and gone. Marcus and I thought we were going to make it through 2008 without a ER trip, but I guess not!