Saturday, July 10, 2010

givin’ it a go, again

so, i know it has been a very, very long time since my last post, but i’ve been thinking a lot lately about this little ole’ blog. it has been sorely neglected since we had our fourth child and i think i am ready to give it a go again. i am not promising anything yet, but i am hoping to start posting more frequently, which won’t be very hard, since i haven’t posted in forever!

 

i have missed the connection i feel with you, my readers, every time you leave a comment. i have also missed all of the memories that i have not been recording. i so enjoy going back and reading my older posts and remembering things that i would have forgotten otherwise. our children are so young and still saying and doing the most entertaining, and sometimes frustrating things, that i like to look back on them. so, if for no other reason than to document them, i will resume writing our story……

 

since it has been such a long time i don’t think i will go back and update, but i will just start from right now, or at least in the past month.

 

we are coming off of a crazy few weeks of summer full of vacationing, visiting with old friends, and a horrible lack of sleep. however, yesterday, a day in pj’s and naps for everyone has helped immensely! i am hoping things will start to return to some sense of normalcy once again, now that we are home in our own surroundings and beds!

 

my dad, amazing as it may seem to those who know him, just celebrated his 70th birthday! this guy here…

 

beardless tutu

is 70! you’d never guess it!

 

so, my mom and sister-in-law planned a wonderful birthday bash last month in california. all of the kids were there, something that hasn’t happened for a long time and won’t happen again for a long time since malia and her husband up and moved to fiji last week!! it was such a great time to be together for one last time for who knows how long!

 

for his birthday malia, kawika, mom and i arranged a photo shoot of tutu man’s ohana:

 

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here are the siblings, kawika, gavan, me, and malia.

IMG_8371 i wish that we all lived closer! we had such a great time hanging out, talking story, eating, and playing games.  we never have enough time together!

 

our girls loved playing with their cousins, and, again, seeing them together made me long to live closer. nani and her cousin kele are a year apart and they are like two peas in a pod! they haven’t seen each other for 3 years and as soon as they got together it was like no time had passed!

 

here are the grandkids: kale’a, nani, kele, katrina. in front, mahealani (she was much happier without her dress on, i promise, i didn’t just dress her in a onsie!) and kawena:

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we were able to stay in califonia for 2 1/2 weeks! it was great, but i think we stayed about 1/2 a week too long because the girls and i were getting pretty grumpy and ornery! mitch was only able to stay 5 days and then he flew off to work while i stayed with the girls. i was exhausted, to say the least!

 

ohana is the best! it is so important to cherish those relationships we have with our family.  nani reminded everyone while we were there something that stitch said (or was it lilo??), “ohana means family. family means nobody gets left behind!”

 

i love my ohana so much and it was wonderful to all be together last month! wish it could happen more often, but i will take what i can get!

 

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love this shot!! can you tell who’s who??

14 comments:

paula said...

Awesome Mahina! I have missed you and your Blog,Your music and your creativity.
We just came off of our reunions also. OHANA is the best.
Look at Rich's blog it brings you all up to date for us.
WE are almost finished with the Inn in Vermont.
Trying to get finished with the farm house major remodeling.A few weddings babies.life in general.

Erika said...

Yay! Welcome back!!!
I too LOVE that last shot!!! How cool!
I'm so glad you posted these pictures because I really wanted to see how they turned out! Jill did a great job!
We enjoyed seeing you guys, too!

I post almost 2x week because my sister's mission president will let her look at my blog and that way I feel closer to her, and like she can see my kids.

Thanks for coming back!

Siouxsie said...

You're back!! I can't tell you how much I've missed reading your stories and seeing the pictures of your beautiful children. It's quite shocking to see your little tiny baby already getting so big. Those are such wonderful photos of an obviously special experience. Your dad really doesn't look anywhere near 70. Looking forward to future stories.

janine said...

yay!! so glad you're considering blogging again....i've missed you....and can't believe how much older your kids all are!! hope you stick around a while!

Rich Vial said...

Good to see a reunion type post. Let's see some more of the little cuties. Best to the whole family. Rich

Brewer Bunch said...

Yea - welcome back to the blogging world! I've missed your darling pictures and cute stories :). Have fun with re-entry - it's rough after every vacation! Take care!

Sara said...

Oh how I love the Tarayao Ohana! I miss hanging out with you all too (my second family growing up). Your dad looks unbelievably great! I see he did his traditional beard shaving. Ü Please tell him Happy Birthday for me. Keep bloggin'!!

Becca said...

love this last picture! So great!

Darilyn said...

It's great to hear from you. We are heading off soon for our family reunion and I am so excited. You and your family look so happy, I am happy for you.

Nana said...

I loved all the pictures, but the last one should be framed and hung over the fireplace.
Glad I got to see you and your family, the Tarayao clan are an inspiring bunch to be around.
Looking forward to future posts.

Allison said...

The Tarayaos makes everyone feel like they are part of the ohana.

I'm so glad that I got to see you and your sweet family while you were in California. Your girls are precious!

Thanks for starting up your blog agin. I'm excited to read about your family adventures. You just may inspire me to start blogging again.

Amanda said...

It's so good to hear from you again! Your girls are darling as always! I'm glad you're having such a fun summer! What a beautiful family.

Michal said...

These pictures are stunning, especially the last one. Welcome back! I've never recovered after my last baby, either-- I manage a few posts a month-- but I'm trying to do more.

Can't wait to read about your family's adventures and funny moments.

Amanda D said...

I'm so excited to see that you are back! Hooray! Congrats on the baby news too. Good luck! Twins, wow! Love the pictures from the family reunion. It looks like you had a great time.

I totally understand what you mean about the blog and missing it. I've only been away a month and I miss. I'm fairly certain that I'll come back to it. Probably once school starts. Even if not though, I'm still reading!