Do It Now.

It seems that 2009 has been quite a year for the Oquists. Changes keep coming, as does learning and good byes. I really feel that we have had to say good bye ALOT this year, to some good friends and some that I didn't take the time to appreciate until it was too late. Take each day to love those around you, to enjoy thier company and what they bring to your relationship, even if it is not always good. I have also discovered that I am one that does not like change, or maybe just too much change. As we are looking for yet another house, the options are better in Prescott Valley, but that would mean leaving Chino and the ward that we have been in for the last 5 1/2 years, also the schools for Kody and Lolo. We love the schools and the ward, and as we come closer to needing to have a place, I feel myself dragging my feet at the prospect of possibly leaving the people that I have grown to love. Even though I do feel some excitement at moving to a new area and meeting new friends, since we all know that I love to know EVERYONE around me...I am still happy right here and don't want to change anything. My comfort is that I felt the exact same way with our move up north almost 6 years ago, and look how that turned out. I really drug my feet on that one and the Lord had to show me that it was time to go, I really don't want to relive some of those lessons again.

I have watched at least two families move out of state, that I just got to know well about the month before they moved. Where as I enjoyed being around both couples, I didn't get to know them too well and consider them "good friends" till it was too late. I am happy that they are finding happiness in their new areas and glad that I had them in my life even for a little while. Also this year one of our dear Kenyan friends went home. He had been struggling since he graduated with his Master's about a year and a half ago, and couldn't find a job. We have watched him become more withdrawn and a little lost here, as time went by. We really had kind of lost touch with him and got most of our info on him through Beth. He didn't want to answer questions about what was going on and how the job search was going. He made a few mistakes in trying to stay here legally and that is what finally prompted him to decide what would be best. It's funny the choice he made was one that we can all say we would never do, but so many of us forget that we live in a great country, even in bad times, like now it is still a desirable place to be for those that have it even worse in their homeland. He wanted to stay here, unable to find a job and getting depressed, than go home. Remember that, when you start to bad mouth America that there are plenty of others who would love the chance we have to live here and would gladly trade you spots. If you are unhappy here, than find a better country and then we can add an "illegal immigrant" who would gladly take your place and make society a better place. He finally decided to go home just a week or so ago, we didn't even get to say good bye in person, since we got the call 2 or 3 days prior to him leaving. We just called him on the phone and talked to him one by one. This year we had to say good bye to a house that we really liked, due to income problems. I lost my job and had to say good bye to the new friends I had made there. Also a very close childhood friend lost her father, who I can honestly say was like a dad to me. His funeral was so hard for me, Joe always looked out for my little sis and I. We spent almost everyday with this family growing up, either at my Grandma's house or thiers.

The hardest good bye is yet to come, our good friends Beth and Walter are moving to New York. Since that is where Walter is due to be stationed. They have had some of thier own problems these last two months and the good news out of that is, that Beth has finally found a relationship our Heavenly Father and Son, Jesus Christ. We have helped Beth out alot over the last few years with Walter being gone, in the military, and our relationship has gotten stronger. We all knew this one was coming eventually, but it is so much harder now that the time is here and there is an actual date involved. Beth started out as "just" a dance teacher that all 3 kids and I took classes with. She became our hair dresser and eventually became just like another sister to me. We normally make all our plans with, "Well I wonder what Beth and Walter are up to?" Before Walter joined the military he was probably Danny's best friend here. Since then he has made some decisions that are hard for us to understand, but we still love him and miss him everyday. Knowing that this will be his last Christmas home, in this area, is really hard for us to comprehend.

So, I didn't mean this to be a depressing blog post, although I am pretty close to tears at this time, I just want you to take this and turn around and call everyone that you consider family and tell them what they mean to you. People need to be told how much you love them and need them in your life, before you know it they may need to move, or pass on or who knows what. So as we try to decide where to live and keep in the back of my mind that we may need to leave this area I try to figure out how to say good bye to a wonderful ward who everyone feels like family and loves us despite of our quirks and short comings, a great bishop who I KNOW loves each one of us. I wonder if I have told all those who I have met in the Chino area what they mean to me and my family. This is just another lesson in being prepared, when a thought hits you to call someone, DO IT! Don't think I will do in an hour or tomorrow, stop and DO IT NOW! That is our Lord talking to us through the Holy Ghost, He wants you to call that person, who knows why, just DO IT! Make sure you tell your mom and dad and the rest of your family how much you love them. For tomorrow may never come. (Wow, that sounds like a country music song. lol) Try to include everyone and when someone new moves in or is at an event you are, introduce yourself and show them around! It might be you someday that is new somewhere and need a new friends to help you! Don't waste this time that you have with people! Cherish each moment.

Can You Spell Attic?

There is one problem with having a baby so many years after having 3 already, one problem with having teenagers when you have a baby...and here it is, they teach that baby all sorts of things that they shouldn't! Lately I have had to get Sammy to not kick people or hit them, Danny has been teaching him to say Butthole, luckily this is something he only says when someone asks him to. The kids think of Sammy as thier own little puppy they can teach new tricks, when Danielle was babysitting on Fridays, I would come home and she would exclaim, "Look what I taught him today!" Sometimes this was good and others it was bad. But lately, since he loves to repeat everything right now it is getting real annoying, especially since he is at the age where he may repeat or show his new trick in public.

So, currently I am trying to get the kids to not laugh when he says Butthole, and to quit telling him to tell everyone "NO!" And the other one is he goes around saying "Tap, tap, tap it" now if you are not up on your slang, then this wouldn't be so bad, however Lolo was also unaware what it meant to "Tap" something and was repeating it over and over again, now we are telling Sammy to stop it. Tonight at dinner he learned a new one, actually kinda cute. Kody, being a perfect example of a 7th grader looked at Danny and asked him to look down his shirt and spell attic. Now Danny and I, remebering this trick from grade school, say no. However, Lolo puts her head in the neck hole of her shirt and spells A T I C, since she forgot a T, she didn't get it. Kody starts laughing, and we inform her there are 2 T's in attic. She just looks at us, not sure what is going on. I inform her that if she spells it correctly she will end up saying, "A titty I see". So of course she tries it again, and sure enough gets it this time, as she is laughing, our little mimic is watching and since everyone is laughing, he shoves his head down his shirt and jabbers away. At least you can't understand what he is saying, but the rest of us all know what he is trying to do! So how do you stop these rotten older kids from teaching this poor innocent babe all these things???

Now fess up, how many of you looked down your shirt and spelled attic, when I first typed it??? And who remembers, go in the bathroom and spell "I cup"?

Silent Night

Today in sacrament, the Activity Day girls sang Silent Night. They did a wonderful job! Lolo got to sing the first verse as a solo. I loved it, and cried like I always do. She has such a wonderful voice and I am so proud of her! I then recieved at least 3 compliments on her and how poised she was and well she sounded and carried the tune. Like I have said before I am excited to have one singer in our house! Tonight she will sing along with a few other kids at the Annual Chino Valley Interfaith Social. This is where 3 of our local churchs, the Methodist, the Catholic and all 3 LDS wards get together and sing and have a night of Christmas Joy. It is so heart warming to see different faiths come together and celebrate together what is the most wonderful event of this life, the birth of our Savior. I can't wait to hear my beautiful Lauryn sing again!

Christmas Lights

Putting up Christmas lights is always a production at our house! (And yes I can guess that your thinking, isn't everything a production at the Oquist house?) We always put up lights the weekend after Thanksgiving, Danielle started pulling the lights out, after the kids tested to make sure they all work. How do you test them you ask?

Well, you stick them in Kody's nose and if his nostril glows red, then it works!

Clark Griswold, Danny, teaches his son how to put up lights the right way. It didn't take long until Kody was done. We usually go all out, as Danny is definately alot like Clark, but this year we are doing nice and simple with just a row of blue and white icicles. A little boring by normal Oquist standards, but pretty just the same.

Danielle is a little concerned that the lights will go up easy, but Kody is like, "Don't worry, it's all good!"

Lolo grabs the next strand and is ready for action. We think these worked before she tied them up in a knot! But she is excited to help, Lolo is always ready to get in the middle!

Next Danny needs to get on the roof to finish the high points of the house, since we don't have a ladder, and I am thinking, "Who doesn't have a ladder, really??" But Danny climbs up like the monkey he is and gets ready to finish.

I love how he just leans over the edge and makes it look so easy! He loves living on the edge. hahahaaa

Sammy then wakes up, when the fun is almost over, and since it is so cold out I put on his mittens for the first time this winter, He is not sure about them and before long they are off. Even though he is frozen he refuses to put them back on.

Now he is happy, although he never really left the front step, he was still sleepy and pretty cold.
Finally the help shows up, after we are done. This is Elder Hatch and Elder Beard, both from Idaho. We either get the ones from Utah or Idaho, but both of these guys are pretty cool and apparently we are the fun house to hang out at. They show up at random times or when their dinner appointments cancel and they need to eat. We have thoroughly enjoyed both of these missionaries and are pretty sad to see Elder Hatch go home on the 14th. But I know he is excited to see his family and celebrate Christmas with his family.

My Kids

As I was at Walgreens getting our Christmas cards loaded I discovered these beautiful shots of my kids on my camera. This first one of Lolo is my favorite! This is her outfit for the Rogers Thanksgiving open house and Mike's birthday party. She looks so grown up. It is so hard to believe that my little Lolo is almost 10! She is only one and a half years away from middle school. I can hardly believe that she is this big already!!!

Then of course we have Danielle, who is 15 and a half and getting prettier by the day. She has discovered make up and her hair finally and even notices hot boys and actors! Where has the time gone? I was just telling someone about a time when she was a baby or when it was just her and Kody, I feel like that was just yesterday.

These pics of Sammy were taken before church a few weeks ago, he had outgrown all his church clothes and with the change of weather had no slacks to wear, so he got to wear his new jeans instead. When he sees his hat, he likes to put it on, just like his dad and big bro. He was so cute, I had to stop getting ready and take these! He is changing so fast, and growing so much, everyday is a new adventure. He is trying to talk and when he is telling someone a story he gets so animated you can't understand any thing he says. But he does act everything out and is better at the sounds of what happened. When he sees an animal he actually makes the sound instead of telling you what it is. He moos when he sees a cow and barks when he sees a dog. It's alot like living with Flounder from the Little Mermaid,

Kody is 12 now and a Priesthood holder, this year he has been trying to revamp his friends and hang out with better kids. I am so proud of him for taking his Priesthood seriously and loves being the Deacon President. He still struggles with being the "cool kid" and is trying to merge the two people he wants to be in one. I know someday he will do it and be one of the strongest men I know.

This last pic of Lolo is a great one because it has her beautiful smile. Lolo struggles with having two older siblings with such strong personalities and the ability to conquer anything they try. But she just doesn't realize she is just as strong as they are. She is great at whatever she does, when she started softball, she practiced and worked hard, and ended up the pitcher for her team. Even though she was the youngest girl on the team. With soccer she ran her heart out and even scored once. With her school work she is in all the advanced classes and works hard to keep those good grades. One thing that Lolo does that none of us can is sing, Lolo is part of the tonechimes ensemble and the 4th grade choir at school. Our primary chorister even asked her to sing tonight at the Interfaith Social. Trust me no one else in the Oquist fam has ever been requested to sing ANYWHERE! They did ask us to sing once in sacrament. We were told to pick a pioneer song one July, and picked the one about Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked, needless to say even with singing a primary song they have never asked us to sing or join the choir again. I did say that if they ever want a dance done in sacrament we are the ones to ask, but I guess until dance numbers become a part of sacrament we will just be humble members of the congregation.

2009 has held alot of ups and downs for the Oquist family, I hope it only adds to the strength and faith of my children. I hope that Danny and I have shown faith in our decisions and been a good example of how to deal with adversity in your lives. I hope that instead of thinking God is picking on us, the kids are able to know that they are becoming better people with everything that has happened. I hope they are able to keep strong in thier faith and move forward, if nothing else I hope they learn to be prepared so they do not end up in some of the same situations that thier father and I have. I hope they continue to grow strong and that Lolo learns to love herself as much as I do and as much as Heavenly Father does. I hope 2010 is brighter and that we can be better examples in the new year.

I love you kiddos!

Finally the Turtle Pics Come!

Halloween! Woo hoo!!! I know that I am a little late, and I apologize mom if you thought that Sammy didn't wear the costume, he did! The ring of fire was only for the party. By the time I got around to locating green sweats for the turtle costume, I could only find a green turtle neck, and then camo pants. I debated running over to the other Walmart, but decided that what else would a Chino turtle wear, but Camo! So here is Sammy as the Chino Valley turtle! I didn't think he would wear it, all month he has loved playing with the costume and saying ,"Toottle" but when asked if he wanted to try it on would give a loud "NO!" We weren't sure what to expect, but when it came time to get dressed, he was excited and ready to go! He loved saying tootle and he must of just knew that something good would happen if he would wear it! He soon found out just what Trick or Treat meant!


Just because Kody is 12, does not mean he is too old for Halloween, I love this especially since I trick or treated all the way through high school. This year he went as "Random Man", a creation truely his own! He loved piecing together old costumes and sports equipment to come up with this truely random costume!

Before we left the kids decided to give Sammy a quick lesson in what to do. Although he didn't get it yet, he would before the night was over. The kids kept prepping him all night and before long he could say "Twick o tweet". Danielle went as something called Pajama Sam, this was in conjuction with one of her friends for thier Halloween dance at school. She wore red fishnets, smiley face boxers, and a shirt they created. Lolo went as "Grandma in her nightie". At least all my kids have an imagination and you never know what you will get from them!

After the lesson, and Sammy tried to play in his house instead, we loaded up to go get some 50 cent corn dogs and then CANDY!!!!!

And here is the haul! Kody was excited to get Milk Duds, and Danielle was excited for Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Sammy and Danielle shared a bag this year.

Lolo was just excited for anything candy! She struggled for a minute with Sammy just going pile to pile and getting whatever he wanted, but after I explained that it would all end up in the same bowl anyway, she was fine.

I think I should have taken a pic of the sugar coma all this induced, or the pockets on Sunday morning before church as the kids tried to sneak all thier candy out with them. (Your welcome Territorial Ward for not letting them take as much as they wanted!) It was a great Halloween, although had we known the Lowry's were giving away chili dogs and hot chocolate, we would have skipped the corndogs at Sonic. Oh well there is always next year!!!

Carving Pumpkins

So I guess I will finally get around to posting Halloween so that I can move on to the rest of the holidays! We had a great time carving pumpkins! Sammy wasn't really sure what was going on, and we just let him "help" his brother and sisters, maybe next year he will be old enough to carve his own.

Danielle and Kody were their normal, "fun" selves, while Lolo was serious about carving her own this year, Sammy just kinda played in the mess.

Lolo did let Sammy help her scrape out the insides of her pumpkin, she has really started enjoying being a big sis and playing more and more with Sammy. I enjoy watching her become older and start to understand why do some things.

Here is Danny concentrating hard on cleaning off Lolo's "already clean" top.

Ewwwwwwww, Sammy decides this mess is for the big kids and is tired of his hands being sticky.

He leaves the table and comes back with his new favorite toy, the best one dollar ever spent. A mini basketball that came with a small hoop. Sammy starts throwing the ball at everyone, but when we just hand it back and don't give him the response he is looking for he tries a new trick. Putting the ball in his mouth! What a goofball, this does get him what he is looking for, since we all laugh and look at him.

Here is Danielle's finished creation, on the back she later carved I C U! What a funny girl!

Lolo finishes hers and is soooooo proud of the work she did. She designed and mostly cleaned all by herself, and only needed a little help from dad to carve it!

Not sure what Kody's is supposed to be, I'm not sure he really knew. But here it is! We had a blast carving pumpkins this year. As the kids get older they definately become more fun, now that they can carve and color and make jokes. This was truely a fun event!

Mom's always win!

Kody tried to wrestle with me one day. I showed him what I do to little boys who try to beat up thier mamas!

First we pull thier shirts over thier head then pull thier pants up as far as they go. Next you beat on thier bellys a little and then let whoever wants to help you out. Maybe Kody will think twice about wrestling with me from now on!! Looks like I win!

Watching over Nana

The week after Labor Day, mom had surgery. Nothing horrible, just a much needed procedure. I actually stayed home, (I know hard to believe that I wouldn't rush down to be there) and let Walt be the husband and take care of her. Sometimes I feel that us 3 girls don't give him that chance too often and get in the way, but it's all because we love our mommy and are all very close. That is what happens when it is just the 4 of you for so long. While she was in her surgery, Walt wandered the hospital and ended up in the gift shop where he gave me a quick call. Walt had noticed all the cute stuffed animals in the shop and decided that Nana needed something that represented each of her grandkids, he wanted to know who each of my children would best be. He told me what they had and we discussed the other grandkids and what he had already picked out. We ended up with: Lolo, the kitty, because she loves to cuddle and always wants people to be happy, but also wants it when she wants it.(Like a cat) Kody the spooky cat, because the cat dances and sings when you push it's paw, Kody likes to entertain and like his dad uses humor to make you feel better. Danielle is the penguin, because she loves them and actually did a little skit as a penguin in her dance days. Lastly, Sammy the little orange ghost, orange to match his hair and a ghost because he all snuck up on all of us. All in all I think Walt did a great job, thanks Papa! When Nana was brought back to her room she found a window full of her grandkids keeping watch over her while she recovered.

Since mom is not a "stuffed animal person", when she saw each grandkid after she was home, she gave them thier animal and thanked them for keeping an eye on her and helping her recover.

Annual Mangum Halloween Party!

Every year the Mangum's throw a Halloween Party, we usually try to come up with a fun idea for all of us to dress up as, even if it means putting together a second costume for the kids for Halloween so they can be whatever they want. Past ideas have been In the Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight. Each kid was an animal and Sammy was the lion, Danny and I borrowed African clothes from Beth to be the Village. Another one was Danny and I went as Warren Jeffs and the first wife, I carried a baby doll as the second wife, also Disco Diva and Dude have been there. This year though it took us till the Friday before to figure out what we wanted, we had plenty of ideas but none that were good enough. Thanks to a conversation with Jennie, Dan and I decided to be Johnny and June Carter Cash. Then Danielle and I took off from there as far as the kids and decided that each kid could be a Cash song.

Of course with his firey red hair, Sammy was chosen to be the Ring of Fire. I bought him some red sweats and gelled his hair into a mohawk, then took an embroidery ring and put red, orange and yellow ribbon on it to look like fire. He wasn't too fond of wearing the ring but we still carried it around all night.

Danielle chose Folsum Prison Blues. In the movie the inmates wore blue shirts and demin pants, so that was pretty easy, then I took a sharpie and wrote Folsum Prison and her number on the shirt above the pocket. Kody was the easiest, A Boy Named Sue. He wore whatever clothes he wanted and we simply made him a name tag that states: Hi my name is Sue.

Lolo was one of the funnest costumes! I took a white long shirt and drew music notes all over it with different color sharpies, then added some blue leggings and crimped her hair, she was Get Rhythm! I printed C'mon get Rhythm on the collar of her shirt, she was adorable!!!

Of course then there was Johnny! Danny loves the movie Walk the Line and carried the Guitar Hero guitar, he had so much fun pretending to play and acting out Johnny's moves! I borrowed a black wig from a friend and wore a long black skirt. The party was so much fun and once we told them what we all were, everyone thought it was a fun idea. We look forward to next year and the next big idea!!!