Kalani and I have been surviving without Matt around. She keeps me entertained to say the least. Here are some funny things that our little wannabe teenager has said lately!

“Mom are you trying to ruin my life?”

While watching Peter Pan, Kalani wanted to know why the crocodile was chasing Captain Hook. I told her that Peter Pan cut off his hand and the crocodile ate it and it tasted so good that he wanted to eat more of Captain Hook. Kalani replied with,
“So before was he called Captain Hand?”
That’s our girl. Thinking outside of the box.

At times I don’t think anything new has happened since I last posted, and then as I reflect back on this past month, MANY things have happened. I will try to remember all of them and not make this TOO boring!

First off, we are closing on our home on Monday, June 11th. We are very excited to be moving into our own home. After living in other people’s homes for half a year, it will be nice to spread out. We had our first walk through with our builder this past weekend. He told us that he boss said that she wishes they would have used our home for the model. So, that is a nice pat on the back for us. So far with purchasing our first home and it being a new home everything has been a smooth process. If all goes well, we will have our final walk through, sign papers and move in all on Monday. Once we get the keys we will move our things in. It should only take an hour or so since everything but our bed, computer, clothes and TVs are in the garage in boxes.

Other news…Matt went to London, England in May for training. He flew out Monday evening, had training on Wednesday and Thursday and then was a tourist for Friday and Saturday and came home Sunday evening. He was able to see a mission buddy who lives in England and actually stayed in his flat to save money when he was being a tourist. When he told me that he would be going to England for training, I told him that he needs to bring me back some chocolate! And that he did, I don’t even have to share this chocolate with him! We thought that he would be able to visit my cousin Jana since she is there in England, but she had to unexpectedly go into work for that weekend. He had a great time and took some pictures if anyone cares to view them, they have been placed in our photo albums.

In church, things have changed a bit for us. I was the Enrichment Leader for a couple of months, but I never had to be in charge of an enrichment night since our next activity is scheduled for July. Well, I have now been released from that calling and will now be serving as the 1st counselor in our ward Primary presidency with my aunt Anna as the president. Matt is still helping out in the nursery with Kalani, but will also be teaching Sunday School for an hour as well. Any good ideas for primary, send them this way. Being in the ward Primary presidency is a lot more work than Stake Primary presidency. I guess I will get to know the primary children very quickly!

And now onto our Kalani news. Right now she is playing with a castle and swords and dinosaurs. With 4 boys living here of course she would start to play with some boy toys. But, she is also incorporating her My Little Pony and Crepe Suzette doll into her playing. Yesterday she was telling us that she was the Pink and Purple Queen. If you ask her what her favorite colors are the response will always include Pink and Purple, so of course I will be painting her room pink and purple. She has a very active imagination and I love to just listen to her stories and her playing. She is still changing her clothes a couple of times a day, but what do you expect when you play pretend? One of her favorite pass times is to play “family” where she is normally the “teenage sister,” or the queen or princess. She is also a very fast learner if I can just brag for a moment: She would watch the TV show, “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” so I decided to teach her to spell her name by changing the letters of Mickey Mouse to Kalani Farley. Like they say, if you put it to music you will remember it faster. So, if you ask Kalani how to spell her name, she can tell you. Also, she knows how to type her name on the computer.

Well, thanks for letting me brag and fill you all in on our life here in Texas. We will hopefully see most of ya sometime this year. If you are ever in the Houston area, look us up. We are only about 25 minutes from the airport and we have an extra bedroom in our new house!

I hope that ya’ll enjoy these sporadic letters. I enjoy telling about the life that we are living here in Texas and all of the changes that are occurring. Matt will post my update letters here on our website, hopefully you will enjoy reading about our adventures.

Matt and I have both experienced fire ants since we have moved here. I have been bit twice, but that is two times too many. I was in the backyard pushing Kalani on the swing when I felt a sting on my foot. It started as a small bit, then it quickly became more painful. The pain subsided for a couple of days, but then I got a small blister on my foot that itched. Aren’t there enough ants in the world? Why do we need fire ants? Matt was standing on a small ant mound on Sunday, so I don’t know what his take on the experience is.

Since we drove from California to Texas, a 12 hour road trip doesn’t seem that bad. For spring break my aunt Anna and I took the kids to Manhattan, Kansas to visit my uncle Robert and aunt Annette and their 7 children. It was a really easy drive, going directly north, just kind of a boring scenery. We left on March 14 and came back on March 19. In Oklahoma we stopped at Braum’s. It is a hamburger/creamery/grocery store all together. The ice cream was really yummy and the food was decent. Kansas was very chilly while we were there. Especially since we were coming from Houston. We didn’t pack properly, but luckily Rob and Net have a child about the same age/size as all of the kids that we brought. The day after we arrived (Thursday) we went to the elementary school while Annette had a parent teacher conference. The kids played on the playground for a while, until it got too cold. There was a book fair going on inside the school so the kids had fun checking out all of the different books. Then Annette treated all of the children to a book. Kalani got a scratch and sniff Strawberry Shortcake book that she wants me to read to her daily. Later in the afternoon we went to a “ranch.” A lady in Annette’s church offered to have the kids come over and ride her horses and help with the chores. The kids loved it. They learned how to measure a horse and pony, brush them, and clean between the horses toes! The kids also were grossed out but laughed when the horse went pooh. I guess when you don’t grow up on a farm or in the country you are not use to seeing things like that. Kalani was scared of the horses of course since there was no fence between us. She wanted to sit in the car while the kids rode the animals. I did eventually get her out of the car and we watched the kids ride the pony by themselves.

On Friday Robert took everyone over to the church building to play some basketball, soccer and play with the nursery toys. It was fun to see all of the cousins/siblings play together. It reminded me of my youth and trying to play sports with the uncles. When we got back to the house the ladies got ready for an afternoon together. Anna, Annette, Kalli and myself went to lunch and then to Hobby Lobby (it is somewhat like a Michael’s or JoAnn’s but with more home decor). Later everyone got ready to go bowling, but I opted to stay home with the 3 little girls so we could have a “Princess Party.” I had Kalani and Hannah (both 3 and then I had baby Jadyn 1) watched Cinderella 3 while I combed their hair and curled it. Then I put some make-up on them and got them dressed in dresses they wanted to wear and took their pictures. I had a great time and I think they did as well.

Our plan for Saturday was to go to Independence, Missouri to see the church visitor’s center and other church historical sites. We had a late start and about an hour into the drive Robert pulled over and asked if we noticed his car shaking. Anna and I hadn’t noticed, but once he brought it to our attention I noticed that the wheel on the passenger side was shaking so bad it looked as if it would fall off. We pulled into a gas station and noticed the the tire was splitting a the seems in two seperate locations. The rear driver side tire was also splitting and the driver tire was not in that great of condition either. So, while we were stopped, I made peanut butter and honey sandwiches and the kids saw how to change a tire. The spare was flat, but it wasn’t a problem to put air into it since we were at a gas station. We made a detour to Walmart for some new tires. The first Walmart we went to had a horindous long wait, so we left for another Walmart that wasn’t very far. While new tires were put on the van and realigned I bought a variety pack of ice cream to entertain the kids. The only rule was that each person had to eat at least 2 ice cream sandwiches/cones/popsicles. All of the kids were up for the challenge. The kids also discovered a man made tunnel used for storms, or something like that. After our detour of a couple of hours, we headed to Independence. The visitor’s center is huge and a lot of fun. We watched the new Joseph Smith movie and it made me remember all of the hardships he went through in order to restore the gospel. It was very touching and some of the older children felt the spirit from the movie. Robert took the younger kids out to play in a small area designed for children. It was a small cabin that kids can play in as well as plastic toys and a wagon to ride on. I highly recommend everyone to visit that visitors center.

Daylight was quickly coming to an end so we started back towards Kansas. We took another small detour to Cabela’s (a hunting, backpacking store). There were many “stuffed” wild life on display along with some live coi fish and ducks. Kalani did pretty well looking at the animals until we got to the Africa section with a huge elephant and other Afican animals. What really freaked her out was when a hippo head and lion head started to talk electronically. From then on she only wanted me to hold her and was done at looking at the animals. We soon left for the house but the kids said that that day was, “the best day ever!” Just goes to show you that with good people, lots of food and a good attitude, any day can be the best day ever.

Sunday was spent going to church and hanging out at the house and Monday we woke up early to come back to Texas. One of the funniest things that I heard from the trip was said by Nick (10 years old). Nick is autistic, but has a good memory. When he saw me he said, “I’m scared of Big Black Jeff!” I just laughed since I knew he was refering to my dad. Nick would say this almost everytime that he saw me. Just an hour ago Kalani said to me, “Big Black Jeff is my grandpa.” So the saying has stuck. Dad you are now known as Big Black Jeff!

Since our Kansas trip not a whole lot has happened. I taught a lesson for our church enrichment on TIPS. Thank you to all that gave me helpful tip information. After the meeting I met with the Bishop and he extended the calling of Enrichment leader out to me. Of course I said yes, but I am very much out of my comfort zone. I enjoy enrichment meetings, but I have never planned one. I would much rather be a counselor in any organization than a president or leader. I don’t want all of the reponsibility! So, if you have any good ideas or things that you have done in the past that you enjoyed, PLEASE send the ideas my way. Matt still has not received a calling although he has expressed interest in being in the nursery with Kalani.

Last Sunday we drove to Austin, Texas for my college roommate, Angela DeLong, baby’s blessing. It was great to see her and her family again. Plus her parents and in-laws were also there. I haven’t seen them a few years so I had a blast talking with them and showing off Matt and Kalani. I know that if I ever go to Hawaii or Utah I have a place to stay with the Welling or DeLong family. While we were there I mentioned to Angela that was is going to California for a week and she quickly asked if I was going to stay with her. It is just so much fun to be in the same state as Angela again and to have her girls there to play with Kalani. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it isn’t a hard drive and really that is almost like driving from Sacramento to the bay. Not that big of a deal.

In a couple of days Matt leaves for California and will be gone for a week. He likes to bring up the fact that he gets to go to church in Antelope and eat Sunday dinner at the farm. He needs to be in California for work, but arranged his flight to leave a few days early so he could see friends and family. When he gets back there will be a lot of changes on our house. They just poured the foundation last Friday, March 30. Tomorrow they will start framing the house. Our builder still says that it will be done by the end of May. We will see how close to that date they come. If they get one bad storm that will push them back. And boy do they get some crazy thunder storms. Kalani was sitting at the window watching our first lightening and thunder storm here a few weeks back. She got pretty scared from the noise and how the whole sky lights up.

We hope that everyone is doing well this Easter Season. We love you and miss you.

Aloha from Texas-

Well, we are on our way to becoming true Texans. We spent the day getting Texas plates for our cars and drivers license. We had to get our car inspected first for the State Wide inspection. Everyone is suppose to get this done yearly. Then we had to go to the court house to get our license plates, register our cars and switch over the title from the California pink slip to a Texas pink slip. Next we drove back to the Department of Public Safety (we were there earlier, but didn’t have proof of our registration that we needed from the courthouse) where we waited for about an hour before we got in to get our picture taken and a new Texas Drivers license issued. I know that it wasn’t what Matt wanted to do on his day off, but it needed to be done and I was glad to have him and Kalani with me to keep me entertained. Plus everyone loves Kalani so they are all nice to us. My uncle Chris said that we won’t truly become Texans until we say ya’ll and howdy without thinking about it.

Our little girl is now 3. Where did the time go. At times it seems so long ago that I was pregnant, but then when I see a baby crying ALL THE TIME, it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago! For her birthday I took her to a jump house place. There were about 5 different jump houses inside this warehouse and also a toddler play area. So, my aunt Anna and her 1 year old son came, along with a little girl who is 2 months younger than Kalani that my aunt was babysitting. They had a really great time and Kalani got worn out. I took my car in later for that state inspection and Kalani fell asleep while we waited. Kalani also helped me make her birthday cake. She picked out her own cake, ice cream, plates, napkins, etc. We had basically everything PINK. A pink strawberry cake with pink and purple candy to put on top that says Happy Birthday. Then we had pink sprinkles to go on top of the Funfetti frosting. And pink plates, napkins and cups that had flowers on them. For her birthday she got Disney Princess presents and Dora presents.

This coming week is spring break for all of the kids around here. My aunt and I are driving out to Kansas to visit my other aunt and her family. There will be a whole lot of kids there and only 4 adults, 14:4 ratio. I don’t know what we will do there, but I am sure that Kalani will have a blast and I look forward to seeing more of my family that I haven’t seen for a few years. Matt and my uncle Chris will have the house to themselves for 5 days. I bet they eat mostly pizza! And actually Matt will be all by himself for a day or two while Chris is gone on business

Not much has happened with our house. We met with the builder a few weeks ago and they surveyed the land for our house. There is one house built on our court and it happens to be our next door neighbor. They haven’t moved in yet, but I hope they are nice.

Matt will be out to California in April for business. He already has plans to visit our old ward in Antelope and to have Sunday dinner at the farm and stay with his family for a couple of days. I am a bit jealous, but I plan on coming out to California for my high school reunion this summer, if we have one.

Well, that is the Farleys in a nutshell. We hope all is well with all of you.