writings of Malia

Malia has always been a very creative writer. She asked me to pick one of my favorite pieces from 7 of her recent writings for her final in Creative Writing. I couldn't choose but I wanted to share a couple.....

My Little Angel

I held the doll there in my arms, I sat on her tiny bed. I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes, trying to fight the tears. The pictures and memories flooded in. I saw her chunky Indian face. Her chubby cheeks, her chocolate colored skin and those big brown eyes. I couldn't hold it in any longer. The tears slowly began to roll down my face and before I knew it they were racing down. I couldn't stop.
I remembered when my parents told me what happened. When they broke the news. I remembered how the best day of my life rapidly turned to the worst. I remembered the pewter clouds and the thought that she was gone. Forever. I remember it all. The disbelief, the punch in my gut, the burn in my throat and the pierce in my heart. But the worst part was watching them lower my three-year old sister into the ground. It was all too much for me to handle.
But I had to stay. I wanted to remember. I wanted her to stay alive. Alive in me. I wanted to remember how she would laugh and how she would run around, making the biggest messes. I remember how only two weeks ago she was saying everything, copying all my words, good and bad. Now I missed that. Now I missed how she would climb into my bed in the middle of the night, crying that she was scared. Now I am climbing into her bed, but she is not here. Someone took her life. Now all I ask is......Why?
Why her? Why my little sister? She was just a little girl. She didn't deserve that. She didn't do anything wrong. I know that.
"I love you", I whispered as I squeezed the doll taking a deep breath inhaling her scent. "I will always love you."
A warm feeling curled inside my heart and I knew that she was with me. Forever.


Our Castle

In a dreary-knighted December
You, I'll always remember
It was you where I found love
You are my moon
You are my sun
You are the stars that shine so bright
You are day and you are night
You are dawn
You are the colors to my sunrise
The music to my song
You are my other half
Together we stand strong
Our love cannot be broken
We fly together
Our heart as one

But separate we are weak
With others we are wrong
There is no moon
No sun
No stars
There is no day or night
Our sunrise in colorless
No music to our song
I am only a half
Now that you are gone
Us I'll always remember
In a dreary-knighted December

But the spark is still there
The light is still on
The fire is still burning
The lyrics to our song
Shall never be lost
Our castle still stands tall

With others we are wrong
Together we belong
Our love is true
Forever my love shall be with you
In a dreary-knighted December
WE ARE ONE.


Darfur

Look at our world today
It's just so crazy
They're falling down
They're fading

Mothers are raped
Thier father dies
Homes burn
In the children's eyes

Its happening again
A Genocide
It shows
In the children's eyes

They live in fear
Huddling inside
From the men in camouflage
In the children's eyes

Thier government
How it lies
Killing the innocent
In the children's eyes

The world just watches
They all stand by
As tears fall
From the children's eyes

They topple down
To their goodbye
They fade
The children die

Passing gas?

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Originally uploaded by kihei7

I think I sneaked (or is that snuck, or should it be stunk??) one over on my fellow shipmates!? Either that, or I am attempting to hit a very high note in a song!!!??? Or maybe I am attempting to emulate the sound of a Humback Whale!?!? All I know is, I had a head of hair back then!!!

Lilt John

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Originally uploaded by kihei7

Look how young we all look!!! Whoa!!!

Side Burns

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Originally uploaded by kihei7

Check out those sideburns!!! Yikes!!! Barb's facial expression says it all!!! Yuck!!!!

A young Sachs family

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Originally uploaded by kihei7

This is when I had hair and Barb didn't have high blood pressure!! Look how young Little John and Erin look in this photo!

Cousins

My kids are so excited that the cousins are closer. I am glad that Carly FINALLY moved closer to me. It is nice to let the cousins play together. I know we will be moving further away but at least she is in Rio Rancho and I can see her more often than when she was living in Santa Fe. Once I move I will still have to come to town and Joe's office won't move so I think we will still see eachother. It was nice to have Devin visit with his cousins. It was also nice to have Mom and Dad here. I like the fact that they have their summers off as well. We get the chance to spend more time with them.

YW Camp - 2009

Me and mom accompanied the YW of our ward to camp this year. The camp was held at Tenney Ranch, just northwest of Heber off of 277. It was a great time. Mom spent some time in the pond when one of the girls decided to swamp the canoe. I was a cook. Mom went as the Laurel's advisor. I had to teach the four basic knots, the square knot, the bowline knot, the sheet bend knot, and the half hitch and double half hitch. I also learned how to tie more knots for bracelets. I taught the girls how to tie the cobra weave bracelet. It was a lot of fun. I would go again, especially if it was back at Tenney Ranch.

Summer Vacation!!

Me and mom are on summer break from school. I love this job!!! We celebrated with a party at several of mom's friend's homes. We don't have much planned other than to spend quality time with our children and their children. Devin will be coming again this summer, so we will plan a road trip with him to NM to see his cousins. I plan to make my annual bike ride out to Monterey for the races again. I may take a trip through Devil's Highway, the old route 666, which is now AZ191. I want to rack up some miles on my bike this summer so I can help AZ accumulate mileage for the BMW mileage contest. School went well for both of us. We were reminded that the nice thing about teaching is, it has a beginning and an end!! Knowing that, it is easy to work only 9 months of the year!!! We hope all are well and think of Keith Spaulding every day as we offer prayers in his behalf!!

Family update

I posted this on my family blog, but not sure all of you read my family blog so I will post it here also.

Our house is almost ready to put up for SALE, and I am scared to death that it won't sell and we will be stuck. Our goal is to be out in Edgewood by the time school starts next year. I will have an 8th grader, a 4th grader, a 2nd grader and a kindergartener. YIKES!!! Speaking of 8th grader, Parker will be 13 in 2 weeks....I am feeling old. I am grateful for Parker. He is such a great kid. He is starting to get attitude but he still helps me with all the kids. It is nice to have him around to watch the kids so I can have time to myself to go grocery shopping. I hate taking the kids with me to the store. They are the worst. I hate to grocery shop anyway.

We had a very busy Saturday, like usual. I had to work in the concession for baseball from 7am until 10:30am. Caleb had a baseball game from 8am to 10am so it was nice to watch him. He actually got to pitch for his first time and he struck out 3 people. He has a very fast pitch but a little out of control at times. Joe is going to work with him on pitching. We then went to Kailei's gymnastics practice from 11:30-1:15pm. Then we drove to Corrales to take Kailei and Payton to a friends birthday party. Caleb, Presley and I went to the park while the girls were at the party. It was a nice day and it was fun to watch Caleb play with Presley. After the party we went home and cleaned up the house for about 40 minutes. I then went, by myself, to pick Sandi up at the airport and she dropped me off at UNM for my 3 volleyball games. I played from 6:40pm until 11:30pm. So, to say the least I was exhausted by the time I got home.

Yes, we made it to church at 9am, well 9:05am, they were singing when we walked in. Before church I cut both boys hair and fixed all my girls hair. I even had time for my hair, I didn't have to wear it up. I am thankful for my family and for the support of my husband with all the activities that I am in as well as the kids.

I think this is our first time writing on this "blog." So here is an update on our crazy,sometimes ordinary but never boring life...

Chase had celebrated his fifth birthday a few weekends ago. The Edwards were in town and were able to come celebrate. There were about 70 people at the party! Chase wanted a "Super Hero Party" and I did my best to give him one. I know he is only five but sometimes I feel like he is 15. He takes care of me just as much as I take care of him. In fact, I have probably learned more from Chase than he has from me...but maybe that's how it should be. I have decided that I want to be just like Chase when I grow up :) Anyways, Chase had a great party. He is almost done with preschool. So I am looking into summer school but most of them are to expensive. I enrolled him into a week long program at the zoo so he is excited about that. Chase loves animals and is really going to enjoy working with them. The program is for 5 to 7 year old kids. They will work with tortoises and other small animals. But that program is only 1 week long so we will have to see what to do for the rest of the summer. We will probably end up spending the majority of the summer building forts, running through the sprinklers and eating Popsicle's. That is my ideal summer vacation :)

Ty is beginning to leave work on time a few days a week, which is so nice. We try to meet up every Tuesday and Thursday at the gym and work out together. I have been trying to get to the gym 4 days a week, so far so good. I also started a local non partisan group called East Valley Patriots. We meet every two weeks to discuss local politics and make a plan of action. I started the group with a older gentleman named , Don. He is a true patriot and I am learning a lot from him. He has been an inspiration to me . I love politics and enjoy being an involved citizen . Ty is supportive of this and is starting to get involved . He goes to the meetings and always has great ideas. Hopefully, together we can do some good within our city and state.

So here's the big news...Colton just received 6 stitches on his little, (sometimes) sweet baby chin. Saturday morning around 4am, Colton fell out of bed and landed right on his chin. Splitting it open, and also biting his lip and tongue. We cleaned it up and he fell back asleep. Around 6:30am, (while Colt was still sleeping ) Ty went to the store and bought butterfly bandages and other first aid things. When Colton woke up we cleaned the wound and tried to bandage it. Now I have to say that Colton must have a high pain tolerance because he barely cried during this whole ordeal. And because he doesn't cry, its hard to tell how bad he is hurt...so around noon we decided to take him to the Phoenix Children's Hospital Urgent Care that is close to our house. The doctor said that Colton would need to have the wound cleaned, 6 stitches and a tetanus shot. When the nurse cleaned the wound, Chaser got super upset. He was so upset that he was on the verge of tears. When the nurse left the room, Chase said he was going to "fire" her. I guess he is like me and thinks he is the boss of everyone :) Ha! Tyler had to take Colton back to get the stitches while Chase and I waited outside the room. It was terrible. We could hear him screaming. I had to take Chase to the bathroom, so he wouldn't hear Colton scream. When we finally got into the car, we all broke down crying. I don't know if it was from lack of sleep, stress, or from seeing our baby Colton in pain but we all sat in the parking lot crying like big babies...well, all of us except Colton. He was fine! So today Colton receive his first set of stitches. I have a feeling it wont be his last.

It was so nice to spend time with Carly, Malia and Tahi a few weeks ago. Malia is such a good older sister and cousin. Chaser loved spending time with her and tried to get her attention whenever he could.I miss everyone. Especially all of my sister in laws! I wish you all lived closer or I had more frequent flyer miles...I hope everyone is doing well and maybe we will be able to spend time together this summer.

Peace and Love!

More mud

And the work continues on the taping and mudding. We are almost done with the first coat. Then we will sand and work on the second coat. Buster and Bob have done 2 coats on the ceiling in the kitchen because it is so high and the scaffolding is still up.

Edwards family update

We had a great time yesterday! We first went out to the house and taped and mudded Bob and Sandi's house. Joe, Sandi and I worked on their bedroom. We got the first layer done. We are trying to get all the house done with one layer and then we can sand it and put another layer on. We are hoping that by the time we get to our house, whenever that might be, that we will be pro's at drywall or hopefully we might have enough money to pay to have it done. We are at the point that we are trying to get our house ready to put on the market. We have figured out the only way we are going to get out of debt and finish our house is by selling. It would be a better investment if we could rent it, but that would be a PAIN in the butt....So, I have sold a dresser and a changing table on craiglist this last week. I trashed all the DVD cases and many scratched DVD's along with many VHS tapes. What do to with those? I have a lot of church ones. I wonder if I can give them back to the church, they probably don't want them because who uses VHS anymore.....Those are from the dinasour ages.
Anyway, last night we were invited to the Shrine Circus by some good friends of ours, and the kids really liked it. Presley loved the elephants. I think we all liked the acrobatic stuff, I think Caleb should join the circus and do all his gymnastics stuff.
We love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week. Happy Birthday to Chase!

Blogging Challenge

Ok, so I think I am the only one who regularly blogs so I am going to challenge everyone else to blog at least once a week. Everyone is so busy, I understand, but it is alwasy nice to see what everyone is up to, whether it be a challenge that you are facing or something that is wonderful that is happening in your life. If you can't think of anything to blog about during the week, then blog about what you are thankful for. That is something we all can do, I hope.....So, I hope everyone will take on the challenge!!!!

New Closet

Since I don't get enough of building our house, I have to do things at my current house. I have been tired of my closet for a while. We had a long shelf and a really long dowl to hang clothes on. Both of them were looking pretty sad and I really didn't ever use the hanging clothes spot. So, I tore it all out, by myself, and put up the new shelves. We got the shelves for our new house but we have a whole bunch so I used 2 to make the shelving unit in my closet now. We got the shelves from Linens and things when they went out of business. I need to get some more baskets so it will look better but it works for now.

Drywall

Here are a few pictures of the drywall we are putting up in Bob and Sandi's house. It is actually a lot of fun. I think because Sandi and I are working together and the guys are working somewhere else. I am the dremel queen, I like using it around the doors and window. Sandi and I are almost done with the upstairs. What an accomplishment.

3rd Overall

Caleb had a meet tonight and he took 3rd overall for his age group 9-10 year olds. He had a pretty good meet. He needs to work on a few events though, but we don't have any more room in our house for rings and parallel bars....HA HA HA.

It had to be BOTH of them....

So today was interesting....I spent 3 hours in the ER with Darien and he broke BOTH of his wrists. Poor guy. Last night he was at basketball practice and was messing around at the end. He was jumping off of the bleachers and dunking the ball in a lowered basket. On the last one, he grabbed the rim and then fell right on his hands and fell hard enough to get a good goose egg on his forehead. So all night he was wimpering and whining that his wrists hurt. This morning I took him in and sure enough....2 broken wrists. Right now he has soft casts on until we get into see the orthopedic doctor next week and then they will put on hard casts. You can imagine ALL of the things that he can't do. Which includes EVERYTHING! You would think that with as many children are in our family that we would have had more broken bones. NOPE, this is the first broken limb, or anything for our family!! I am sure that Uncle Ryan can especially sympathize with Bugz right now.

Lost her first tooth FINALLY!

Marisol was so happy that she finally lost her first tooth!! She was so excited the next morning that she had $5.00 under her pillow from the tooth fairy. She told me she has a dream that night that the tooth fairy left her $100.00! ya right.....

USS New Mexico SSN779

WASHINGTON - The US Navy christened its newest attack submarine,New Mexico on Dec. 13 during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va.

U.S. Rep. Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico delivered the ceremony’s principal address.

Designated SSN 779, New Mexico is named in recognition of the people of the ‘Land of Enchantment’. The submarine began construction under a unique teaming arrangement between Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding and General Dynamics Electric Boat in 2004. The battleship New Mexico (BB-40)(1918-1946), the only other ship named after the 47th state, earned six battle stars for World War II service, which included providing shore bombardment support for landings in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, and at Guam, Tinian, Saipan, the Philippines and Okinawa.