Beautiful blue eyes, Beautiful brown eyes

A lot of people ask us where Aleah gets her blue eyes because neither Matthew or I have blue eyes. Matthew's dad has blue eyes and my mom has hazel, so the gene is in the somewhere. Here's a little more explanation...from geneticists.

Simple explanation:

Brown, green and blue eye color comes from a pigment called melanin. Brown eyes have a lot of melanin in the iris, green eyes have less, and blue eyes have little or no pigment. Brown, green and blue eye color comes from a pigment called melanin. Brown eyes have a lot of melanin in the iris, green eyes have less, and blue eyes have little or no pigment.

A little more in depth explanation:

“Originally, we all had brown eyes”, said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. “But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a “switch”, which literally “turned off” the ability to produce brown eyes”. The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives colour to our hair, eyes and skin. The “switch”, which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris – effectively “diluting” brown eyes to blue. The switch’s effect on OCA2 is very specific therefore. If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin colour – a condition known as albinism.
Variation in the colour of the eyes from brown to green can all be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris, but blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes. “From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor,” says Professor Eiberg. “They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA.” Brown-eyed individuals, by contrast, have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production.

Either way, we love our girls' eyes! They're beautiful!!!

I can be anything......today, I'm a ballarina!

One of my favorite things as a mom is to look at my children and see their potential and see that they really can be anything they want. Sometimes children seem fearless when it comes to trying new things because they don't have that disappointment and fear of failure yet. Most little children don't have the pressure and fear of what happens if they don't succeed. So I love just watching my kids and thinking, they really can do ANYTHING! They have so much talent to develop. Today Aleah was a Ballarina.

Happy Easter!!

Just a couple of family Easter pictures.

We hope you all had a great Easter!! We are very grateful for Our Heavenly Father's Sacrifice and Christ's sacrifice. We know that we too will be reserrected and that we have the opportunity to be with our loved ones throughout eternity!

Aleah and Trey

In Honor of the Maddness...

We dressed Aleah in her B-ball outfit in honor of March Madness. Kanani, she's just cute, we don't have a basketball outfit for her, or she would be wearing it too. By the way, did anyone see that Villanova game? Like I said before, anything can happen!

MARCH MADNESS!!

The Madness has started, and I don't mean the beginning of my day! This is one of my favorite times of year. Spring is coming, things are turning green, SLOWLY starting to warm up, Easter is almost here....and the big dance has started!
If you have ever watched march madness you'll know that it's the most exciting sports event, at least in my opinion. If you're a dreamer and are always pulling for the underdog, then this is the time to live it up! These games really go to the last second and it's intense, way better than the NBA. These guys play with heart and hussle like no other! I mean I can barely even write this without getting all excited!
Every year, like a lot of people, our family fills out brackets. Yes, even our 7 month old has hers filled out. Matthew, Kanani, Dave, Emily and I all have UNC winning it all and Aleah has Texas. We'll see and we'll keep you updated on the scores of our brackets. I think last year Emily won.

To blog, or not to blog?

When I was deciding whether or not to do a blog, it came down to two things, if I do a blog Matthew's family can stay updated with pictures and all, (my family already has a website) and then we can have a family journal and eventually make a tactile journal of it. So here we are with a blog that doesn't really have any "journal entries". Whenever I think what am I going to post on our blog, I feel hesitant to share my experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc. because I don't really think people want to read them and I sort of like to keep them to myself. But all our blog is going to be is another photo album.
So, here goes my first journal entry:

March 15, 2008

Dear Blog..........just kidding
Lately when I think of journals, I think of the talk that Elder Eyring gave last conference about journals and seeing the hand of the Lord in his life or the lives of his family. Over and over throughout the day, I see the hand of the Lord in my life and this particular day was about 2 weeks ago. It was after the "I'm tired" post and it was the same thing almost every mom has gone through or will go through. The baby hadn't slept more than 3 hours at a time for 2 weeks and the 2 nights previous she hadn't slept more than 2 hours at a time and she slept in my arms. And you know if your baby is sleeping in 3 hour intervals your not actually getting 3 hours of sleep. Anyways, I had gotten sick and had a fever of 102 for 3 days and I couldn't even keep my eyes open. Yes, my husband had to save me and he took care of the kids while I slept for 3 days straight, oh and he was sick too. We were slowly getting better, but of course our girls got sick too and you know how that goes...still no sleep.
By the end of all this, Matthew and I were EXHAUSTED!! I had tried to put the baby down for bed for the third time and I went to bed and just laid down when the baby started crying again. Noooooo, please, no. I was about to break down into tears because it was just too much. I said Heavenly Father, please, please........and as soon as I had said that, the baby stopped crying, just like that. I was amazed Then I thanked Heavenly Father then passed out, not really, I just went to sleep.
I was so grateful and it is a lesson that I continue to learn. Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. In all our worries and trials, the Lord says, "Ask".
I know sometimes that we don't always remember the Lord, but he always remembers us and knows what we can handle and sometimes just needs us to ask.
Another thought that I had was that I know the Lord is supposed to be part of our marriage and that we are all his children. It had never occurred to me, in that sense, that he takes care of our children too, just like he's part of our marriage.
I'm grateful for all that the Lord blesses us with and His hand in my life and the lives of my family. We all know we couldn't be without Him.

Little Nani

Kanani just looking so cute.

Birds of a Feather

This last week Aunt Missy came to visit! (Missy is Matthew's sister) It was a quick visit, but it was fun! Missy is so good to us. She took care of our family and our house! Aleah absolutely loves her! She knew for 2 months that her Aunt Missy was coming to visit and would always get so excited when she got to tell someone.

She knows if Aunt Missy calls on the phone and she just chatters away to her. While she was here, Aleah got to stay up late and have slumber parties with her, play games, go shopping, and watch movies.

Their parents, Matthew and Missy's, are always saying how much Aleah reminds them of Missy when she was a little girl. That's okay with me because if Aleah turns out to be half as AMAZING as Missy then our little girl will almost be perfect.

So there you have it, "Birds of a Feather"

Just Helping Myself

This just cracks me up. Kanani crawls over to the toy drawers, stands herself up, opens the drawer and finds what she wants to play with. It's so cute and so funny!

We're back

Okay, so we were all sick this last week and now we're as good as can be. I felt like we were non-existant to the world, but we're back. Here are some pictures of my wonderful little Aleah taking care of her little sister while I wasn't feeling well. (Kanani is a very good sport)

Aleah is getting Kanani dressed.

Giving her something to drink.

And combing her hair.

Aleah is such a big helper and a great big sister!