Our Fun Ward Youth Fundraiser/Luau 2010

Both Gene and I have the privilege of working with the youth in our church.

He is the Young Men's President and I am a counsellor in the Young Women's leadership. It is so fun, and we really enjoy it. It takes up a lot of our free time but we have really grown to love these young kids as our own,

and we both cherish our time with them.

This first video is of the Young Men of our ward, doing a Samoan slap dance.

Some awesome Young Adult guys from Long Beach came over several times to teach our boys this dance. Then they came to our Luau to help out and support our effort.

I love my Samoan brothers and sisters, they are so generous and kind. Our wonderful MC that evening was Sepa/Lisa who grew up in our ward and graduated from Westminster High School, she was even the Homecoming Queen in 1993/94.

She, along with several others flew all the way from Utah to help us out with our Luau.

Our Samoan guests/helpers were also our wonderful entertainment for the evening aside from our youth who did their dances. A Polynesian custom that we've learned as a ward, is to throw money onto the stage to show appreciation for the dancers. The boys really raked in the money. At the end of the evening they called all of the Bishopric, Activities Committee and all of us youth leaders up on to the stage to do our impromptu dance . . . . All of our efforts raised just under 4 thousand dollars that evening and we had a lot of fun too!

The Westminster Ward has had many, many luaus through out the years but this one is the funnest one I can remember!!!

Yipee!

One of our favorite places to eat is Cafe Rio. Until reciently that meant that we needed to be in Utah to enjoy this cuisine. Earlier this year one Cafe Rio opened in Lake Forest which meant a serious time commitment, but now we have one closer in Costa Mesa, yea . . . it's really close to Gene's office.

We Stopped by tonight on our way home from work, yum, good as always!

Welcome to the World Parker Dane Boling

Parker with his Grandma Holly

So Peaceful, hope it lasts!

Could they look happier or more pleased?

I think Grandpa Gene approves

Our oldest and youngest grand children, Ema with Parker.

April 6th, What a Beautiful Day to Welcome Our Newest Grandson

Our beautiful Julie has waited a long time for this wonderful experience.

Today she became a mommy.

She had her weekly appointment with her OB doc. yesterday and she was told that she was very ready to have her baby, (she could have told the Dr. that!) But of course if nothing happened to go in on Friday if she wanted to get things started for real. So she went back to work and put in her full day, until 5 p.m.

As all first time mommies can attest, we really don't know what to expect and when things do start to happen we wonder if it's really labor. She felt some discomfort all afternoon which she passed off as resulting from her doctor's examination, but they had a normal evening. She called me at about 12:30 asking me some questions about how she was feeling. After her initial explanation and questions I said, "that sounds like real labor, you better go to the hospital!" She called her Dr. and she said, "Go to the hospital." She was so worried about it being false labor but they decide to err on the side of caution and got there by about 1 a.m.

She is so tough, she actually walked into the hospital, went up the elevator and got checked in to find she was indeed in labor and dilated to 8 centimeters. Her first question was, "can I still have my epidural?" Dustin called us to report in and tell us she was really in labor and we were on our way. By the time we got in to see them she had indeed received her epidural meds. was way more comfortable, and dilated to 10! By now it was only about 3 a.m.

We found her resting comfortably and we visited with them and took some pictures until about 4:15 when she was feeling the need to push. The nurse excused us to the hallway and instructed her on how to push. Then she came and told us we could wait in the waiting room but that it probably wouldn't be very long because she was a really good pusher!!! That proved to be the case because she said it only took four contractions more to give birth. What a champ!

Here's what all the fuss is about . . .

Parker Dane Boling

7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long

born at 4:55 a.m. on April 6, 2010

He shares his birthday with our Savior Jesus Christ, how wonderful is that?

She did such a wonderful job, only a few pushes and there he was.

What a difference a few hours makes, now they are a party of three!