cancer....you can suck it!!!

this post has been a long time coming now. the title pretty much sums it all up. cancer...you SUCK! you come uninvited and turn our world upside down! we're no exception to your wrath...yet you didn't expect we'd fight you til the end! so hiyeeeeYAH! take that roundhouse kick to the gut and never come back! please? lol

timeless pic

for those that know my family, you know that the core...(or in the words of nacho libre...the 'nucleus') of everything KEO is our father....david maluae. many know him as the happy hawaiian who takes his smile everywhere he goes, who's not afraid to wave to complete strangers (who he later befriends after finding ANYTHING they may have in common....ie "oh you visiting from utah??? my kids moved over there...you know anyone in saratoga springs??" hahaha). yup....dis guy...he can make a complete stranger his best friend in a matter of minutes. that just goes to show how big his heart is and many have been the recipients of his unconditional love.

for our family...he's been our rock. the calm through every storm we've had to endure. especially lately with mom being so sick, he has always been by her side. always cracking jokes with her and everyone else who would come to visit. just doing what he does best...make people smile.  but now it was her turn. our turn. to be the rock for him. to be the ones that he could lean on and depend on.

waiting for daddy to wake up

friday june 15 dad was admitted to the utah valley regional hospital in provo, utah. after complaining of headaches, and achy legs, he visited the doctor to find that there was some bleeding in his brain. a cat scan was later conducted to get a better idea of what was going on and that's where they found four masses (possible tumors). he was scheduled immediately for surgery the next day. long story short, surgery was a success. they were able to remove two of the tumors (yup we later found out they were tumors), and because the other two were in vital areas of his brain, they doctors opted not to remove them. so they decided to do radiation instead to shrink them. a total of 14 treatments were then scheduled over the next few weeks.

feeling better

the next few days post surgery were a little tough considering dad was sleeping the whole time. although the doctors were encouraged that he was making a great recovery, we couldn't tell because he was asleep. but thanks to the many phone calls/texts/facebook messages and of course prayers and visits...it made the wait that much more bearable.  when dad finally woke up (about three days later) he wasn't quite the same. aside from being weak and bed ridden for the next few weeks, he was QUIET and barely spoke. talk about full on 180....this podagee who always had something to say about anyone/anyplace/anytime/anyTHING....was speechless! lol. i laugh now but it was actually pretty scary...facing the realization that he may never be the same. *sigh*

well fortunately he's a fighter. the next week or so he stayed in the ICU so they could better monitor his recovery, and not too long after he was transferred to the physical therapy unit of the hospital. and talk about intensive therapy...his whole day was full of various sessions of speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. not to mention he still had to finish up his radiation regimen. doesn't that sound like a lot for someone who just got out of brain surgery two weeks ago? well...it is. good news...daddy's a SOULJAH and took it like a champ!  the nurses would always talk about how much progress he would be making each day. and soon enough dad was telling us all about his adventures in therapy himself.

"ho guess how far i walked today? 2000 yards!"

progress....talking for da

"ho guess how many stairs i went climb today? 25!"

"eh...waste time speech therapy! i know how fo' talk!"

hahaha...towards the end of his staycation at the hospital he was goin off saying all kine random things. talking about how he hates the hospital food. one time when i was trying to get him to eat his food he said, "the only way i goin eat this is if they give me pakalolo!" heeeeeellllooooo!!!! hahahaha. the nurse was looking at us funny and was like, "what's pakalolo?" so i told him "weed...u guys get?" hahahaha. too much this guy! and this is when we knew it was time for him to come home.

as i'm finishing up this post, i realize its been almost 2 months since daddy's been out of the hospital. he hasn't fully recovered....is weak at times, and takes a lot of naps. however, he's doing his best to keep busy. he writes everything...and i mean EVERYTHING down. from what he ate for lunch, to who bought it for him and from where! lol. it may seem a little OCD but this daily activity helps to keep his brain active. the one thing that is difficult for him though is his ability to hear. his hearing aid totally died on him, and after sending it in to get fixed he went to a hearing specialist and found out that he can go in for surgery to get his hearing fixed. kaloz. but other than that he's doing just fine.

eating dinner with naona

we want to thank everyone for everything you've down for us during this time. from stopping by just to say hi to whoever was there, to providing full on meals. also for all those who have continually kept dad in your prayers....we thank you. you have no idea what it all means to us, and we are forever grateful for everything. his health is slowly improving and he is out and about spending time with his family. he will be in utah for a little while...at least until he gets his strength back. until then feel free to give him a call, or post on his (or any of his kids) facebook. he's always happy to hear from his friends.

love life and nosy people

so life has been CRAZY busy the past month...and it continues to look like that the rest of the summer. but i came across this ecard (you know those hilarious little sayings put up on retro looking cards) and thought i'd blog about it because it was hilarious!

so i've been meeting a lot of new people through work lately and as soon as they find out i'm not married they start asking about my dating life. seriously? i JUST met you...anyhoo..this ecard pretty much sums up my response to each of these ni'ele (nosy) people. hahaha! i feel like i should turn this into a shirt and wear it to every new event we have at work. it would just make life so much easier. lol.

convos with mama

as the parentals get older...it seems their conversations or one liners get crazier and funnier. so i just had to document this short little tid bit between mi madre and the niece.

niece (while texting from her g-ma's phone): mama...do you have free texts?

*silence*

niece: mama!

madre: what?

niece: do you have free texts?

madre (grouchily): eh...i don't have ANY money on me!

niece: *giggles* what?!

madre: oh..what did you say?

me: eh...she asked if you have free texts

madre: OH! i though you asked if i had three cents!

me and the niece: BUAHAHAHAHA!!!

me: ummm...why would she ask you THAT?! what is she gonna do with THREE CENTS?!

hahahahahaha!!! kalofae that old lady. she just gets crazier and crazier! gotta luv her.

mini spring break with the saaga's

back in my younger years, i remember always looking forward to the different breaks we had in school. spring break being one of them. because usually it meant we got to spend everyday doing nothing but watch tv, play outside or at the beach, or just be a mall rat. back then spring break always fell around the last week of march...which was perfect because we usually had perfect weather. then i grew up. boo. and unless you're a teacher, sorry bout it but no spring break for you!

so....what's the next best alternative? living vicariously through nieces and nephews who still have a week off in the middle of spring. last year it was spent on the west coast at disneyland...this year...east coast to washington d.c. and new york city!!!! so of course being the cool awesome SINGLE aunt that i am...i HAD to tag along. lol. the next few days were all a blur...but there's nothing like experiencing new things with the people you love. since talking about everything would take too long, here's a quick summary:

*smithsonian museum of natural history*walking around the DC mall*picture taking at the capitol*driving for days looking for a restaurant*late night packing*early wake up call for breakfast*checking in 9 people and 12 bags*flying into NYC*picking up the rental car*upgrading car to fit all of us*driving for 2.5 hours in traffic to jersey*naptime*driving through tolls for days*TIMES SQUARE*seeing BFF on billboard in times square*toys 'r us*bubba gumps*red stairs*nighty night*sleeping in*driving through new tunnel back to city*walking 2 miles more than we needed to*missing our appt*lunchtime*sassy subway workers*9/11 memorial*empire state building*hailing a cab...FAIL*dirty subway stations*cruise mode back to jersey*ruby tuesdays for dinner*worst service EVER*jon ken po tourney with the little boys*packing*rest*flying back to bootah*

 

its all a blur...reflections on the metro

holy mammoth!

saaga's and aunty mahea

sisters at capitol hill

entering the concrete jungle

drive into jersey

toys 'r us in times square

TIMES SQUARE!!!

9/11 memorial

movin' on up...to the top of the empire state building

view from the top

tryna hail a cab..but they must've been intimidated by our party of 9! lol

the closest we got to lady liberty that weekend. hahahaha. kaloz to deeeeep sleepers

waiting for the subway after a looooooong day of walking

and that's all folks!

easter weekend

after being out of town every weekend for the whole month of march, it was nice to take a break from flying and stay home for the weekend. my saturday was spent sleeping in...organizing the room a lil bit and relaxing at the sisters house watching some tv...a luxury we don't get at home considering we cut off our cable last year. it was nice to watch everything on something other than a 13-inch computer screen.  a movie day/night wouldn't be complete without some pizza to go along with it. so we turned on the pizza sign and got the wet bar ready for din din. 

 

luv me some good pizza. the rest of the evening was spent catching up with a good friend at "smart cookie" a new fave dessert spot here in utah. their sugar cookies are divine.  

with it being easter sunday the next day it was vital that i make it to church. especially since i haven't been to my ward for a whole month. so of course...i slept in again and missed church. lol. it was a quiet easter this year. 2 of my 4 utah families were out of town, so we went to the oler household for easter lunch. it was hard to really get into the spirit of this holiday with everyone else out of town...but we made the most of it for our two little easter bunnies. its a good thing they're only one and didn't notice that we (the parents and the aunties) totally failed this easter. waiting at the very last minute we found out our easter bin in storage only had grass and no eggs. lol. so we had to improvise and ended up using the same 10 eggs our cousin ang had. its a good thing these kids are only one cause they didn't notice us recycling the eggs they would find. hahaha. ghetto i know...but we do what we can. they still had fun. at least they had super cute easter baskets this year, and not a plastic bag like our kids normally sport. hahaha.

 

twinkies ready for church in their easter attire

 

 

me and sister are so egg-cited bout easter...lol

  

maluae and deighton aka maluae's body guard lol

 

their first egg hunt

  

tita and her body guard

the rest of the evening was spent watching tv...again. lol. so needless to say it was a nice lazy weekend. which is just what i needed after a month of being on the go everyday. but i think i need to get out of this lazy mode because i've missed working out three days this week! no bueno. but i'm off to the east coast on friday to meet up with the sisters and chillenz to finish off their spring break in NYC!!! i love that city! "on-the-go" mode here i come!!!

THE wedding

this was probably the busiest i've ever been...preparing for a wedding. note to self...marry someone rich so i can hire people to do everything! but it all paid off because in the end everything came together beautifully!!! and after seeing my two besties at the happiest they've ever been...i'd do it all over again.

so since march was wedding month, i had spent the first two weekends flying to cali to help out with as much as i could. and then i flew out the weekend before the wedding and stayed until the big day. i brought my sister along with me the week of the wedding cause i knew there would be a lot to do. and boy was a right. as soon as we got there we went straight to work. here's a play by play of our schedule for that week:

friday:
- arrive in orange county and head out to coto de caza (where the real housewives of orange county live) to pick up the brides head piece and a few silver platters for the hors d'oeuvres
- head out to murrieta thinking we would get some shut eye. WRONG. programs had to be glued to cardstock, on both sides...so instead of waiting til the next day we started it up at midnight and finished by 4am.

saturday:
- BALL day! cutting out 1800 paper circles...then folding and gluing them together to make a total of 90 balls! this took us literally ALL day...from 10am-7am the next day

sunday:
- day of rest...oh wait...that is after ironing approximately 100 chair ties.

monday:
- ironing 30+ huge table cloths
- ironing 100 seat covers and figuring out how to store them

tuesday:
- salon day!!! getting our nails did with the bride
- continue ironing 200+ more seat covers

wednesday:
- visiting the venue to map out the ceremony
- chopping up veggies, baking cakes and making pudding for desserts, and skewering grapes for pupu's

thursday:
- rehearsal day! headed up to long beach early to get a few last minute items for the wedding
- arriving at the chapel on time...only to wait an hour since everyone else (who lived the closest) came late. hahaha.

friday:
- crunch time...chopping up the rest of the fruit for the hors d'oeuvres.
- practicing the taualuga with the bride
- loading up the cars with everything that needed to be transported to the venue the next morning

saturday:
- waking the bride up at 6am to start getting ready
- waking up the rest of the bridesmaids to get ready as well before heading over to the venue to help set up
- returning to the house to send the bride and groom off for the bridals while the rest of us get ready...
- head to the venue and then....GAME TIME!!!!

everything about that day was BEAUTIFUL!!! and i know i've said this before but i'm over the moon happy for these two...because of everything that they have both gone through to finally come together. and i'm just so happy to have met both of them and be part of that special day. here's some pix from that crazy week!

the besties

in a previous post i know i mentioned that two of my very best friends were getting hitched...to each other. this was definitely a first for me...the whole being close to both the bride and the groom. so naturally i was chosen to be the maid of honor. hahaha...nah..jk. well...the time has come for these two to get married. but before i get to that i have to share the story of how i've come to know these two beautiful people...and how it alllllll happened.

first meet the bride...ms ana eileen aiono
she and i met in the spring of 2006. she and her niece, morgan, just moved out to hawaii from arizona and started working with me at turtle bay. because they were new to the island, i took pity on them since they had no friends and introduced them to my friends. hahahaha...totally kidding bout the taking pity part...but i did befriend them and introduce them to the YSA scene in laie. they came at the right time too because me and my roommates were in the process of house hunting for a bigger place, and since ana and momo were so over paying for their overpriced apartment, we invited them to move in with us. and that began our bond as musicbox sistahs for life!



then there's the groom....gregory robert dowden
we first officially met the summer of 2007 at a ysa ward activity. i had always heard so much about him from my other friends who went to school with him at byuh his freshmen year. he left for a mission, went to school in utah for a couple years and returned to byuh to finish up. i would always hear stories about them and this white boy greg. so when i first met him...he was like..."hi..i'm greg." and instantly i knew...he was the white boy. it wasn't until later that year...after winter ball i think, where we became close. next thing i know is i was picking him up from the airport after his winter break and we hung out pretty much everyday after that.


 they both met each other in the ward the same year i met greg. ana's sister in law is from the same area greg's from and she actually worked at his high school. so when he first came back to hawai'i that's how he introduced himself to ana. but i don't think they started hanging out til later in 2008 when ana came back to visit and i was hanging out with greg...so naturally she started hanging with him as well. then when he went back to cali that year, they met up there and started hanging out there, and developed a lasting friendship. they've seen each other make it and break it with past relationship, yet always seemed to miss each other when it came to developing that "more than friends" relationship. but now finally after 4 years...they have turned a new page in each others lives, and are not stuck with each other..FOOORRRREEEEVVVEEERRRR!!! lol