Remember when I blogged?

Yeah, me neither.

Lately every time I blog the subject matter is exactly the same: I used to blog and now I don't but I'm definitely going to restart.

And then I blog a time or two and forget about it for another two years. That will likely happen again.

But I was enjoying going back and rereading old posts so much, that I figured I should give it another try. Like when you go back and reread old diary entries? So much fun. I love the "what was I thinking?" aspect of those. My future self is always smarter than my past self.

Things that are new since the last time I blogged:

• I left and came back to Stampin' Up! A semester full-time at UVU was enough (i.e., too much). I thought I wanted to be a full-time college professor. I don't. #politics
• I'm now the Corporate Communications Manager. Wow! I love my department and coworkers. Unsure at this time how I feel about being a manager. Time will tell.
• Our Durango died, we drove the 2000 Infiniti into the ground, and we finally got a minivan, which I named Blue Steel. I miss Dirty D, but I'm learning to love Blue Steel. She's got some nice features, I'm not gonna lie.
• Loni is 2-1/2; Ami is 9-1/2. What?!?
• We have not had another baby. I guess that's technically not something that's new; that's something that's not new.
• We currently have no one living with us in our house. I mean, we have a room reserved for Sione's sister while she stays in Sacramento, but there is no one physically residing there at this moment. Now I need to go knock on wood.

Neptune Park and Soccer Game

We took Ami and Loni to Neptune Park on Monday night; Katie was taking dinner to the Tongis, so we decided to meet her over there. It was a really nice day, but as soon as the sun went down, it was COLD.

Loni loved the swing!

Need a mommy/Loni selfie!

It was getting dark, so this isn't a great pic, but I climbed halfway up the pyramid. If I had been wearing sneakers instead of ballet flats, I might have tried climbing higher. Next time!

On Wednesday, Jesse had a soccer game in Lehi, so Sione and I decided to go. Elizabeth's dad passed away Tuesday night, so I had taken dinner over to their family (KFC--so fancy, I know), and then met Sione, the kids, Dad, Garth, and Garth's parents at the soccer field. It was at this park in Lehi that I had no idea existed; it's just kind of tucked away and is next to a kind of grove/forest of trees. I imagine that it's gorgeous in the fall.

The sky was DARK and it was cold, so we knew rain was a comin'.

Dad discussing the finer points of the game with Garth

Loni enjoying the game

Ami and Leka enjoying the game

Garth's dad and poor mom who just looked like she was freezing

Oddly enough, I got no pictures of the soccer player herself. :)

As the sky darkened, Sione said "You better go with Loni right now." So I started sprinting to the car, pushing Loni in the stroller. I think he was enjoying the ride. Until it started raining. And it wasn't just a nice little rain--it was a cold, horizontal rain. So he was getting wet, and he was not enjoying that. I'll tell you what, by the time I got to the car, my lungs were burning. This girl is not in shape. Sigh. I got Loni in the car--he was mostly dry--got the heater on, and then I sat there and worried about my dad and about Garth (his leg is not working very well, so he can't walk very fast) and about Sione (because he hasn't been feeling well). But everyone got in their cars, and Melanie told me later that no one got too wet except Jesse, who got soaked and was FREEZING (it was a really, really cold rain).

Loni si'i

He's just funny and cute. And funny. And cute.

A Baby Shower

My cousin's wife is pregos and due any day now, so we had a little baby shower for her at my aunty's house in Murray. Funnily enough, Katie thought the shower started at 3:00 (it started at 1:00), so she was like an hour late. But she got there for the presents, which we all know is the most important part anyway.

Katie, my Aunt Nita, cousin Wendy, and cousin Debbie

Wendy's daughter Annie, cousin Michelle, Aunt Kay, Aunt Beth, Mom feeding Loni

Katie's aunties and my cousin Portia

Katie's mom and sister

How did my child get so big??

Melanie and Zoey

On a side note: I killed it on the shower games. Killed. It.

Sam and Katie are having a boy. I love boys!

Friday Night at JCWs

I've seen JCWs around Utah, but I'd never been. Last Friday, we decided to check it out. All in all, pretty yummy. Reminded me a lot of Apollo/Astro Burger, which is DELISH.

Loni had gotten a bump on his head at the photographer earlier that day, so Dad was not very happy with me (as you can see by his expression!).

Loni still loves me :)

Happy birthday, Tonga!

Tonga (Leka) turned 14 on March 11.

We celebrated how every true Tongan family celebrates by going to Golden Corral (I'm pretty sure Sione pushed her into it, but she says it was her choice).

That was the Monday before her birthday (Sione got off work early that day; can't remember why). Then on her actual birthday, I made a little cake:

Gift card to Target--woot!

Cash from the grandparents--cha ching!

Happy birthday, Tonga Leka!

I'm ba-ack!

I can't obsess about how much I've missed since my last post like 2+ years ago, so I'll just have to start from the here and now. Otherwise, I'll never get caught up and this will be completely out-of-date again.

We do have new family photos. I'm like 100+ pounds lighter in them. Oh, and we have a new baby. So that's kind of big. You've probably already seen them, but if you haven't, you can here. Of course, you can only see them if you're a Facebook friend. And if you're not a Facebook friend, I'm not sure why you're on my blog anyway.

Saturday Melanie threw a 40th birthday bash for Garth. It was fun. And sad. But mostly fun. His leg seems to have gotten worse, and so he really can't walk far without his walker. He just looked tired. He passed out these little cards that explained where his cancer is at this moment and what's going on with him. At the end he wrote that if he didn't make it, he counted on his friends and family to take care of his girls. Yeah, that kind of got me. Then when I said something to Melanie about it, we both started crying. I just can't accept that he's not going to be all right. So Heavenly Father, if you could take care of that, that'd be GREAT. Those girls need him.

I was a great party-goer and took no photos. Slacker.

Earlier that day I went to a baby shower for Piulea. That was fun too, and much less sad. She's having her third boy; I think she said she's due in five weeks. She's so cute. We had it at Katie's church in Spanish Fork; people brought yummy food to share, and I got to sit and chat with Mel and Katie, which was nice. Again, no pictures. If I find pictures that others have taken of either of these events, I'll post them. :)

While I was at the baby shower, Sione got Uha moved into Leka's room, so Loni has his own room again. Hallelujah. It was so hard having him in our room. I would wake up at every little sound he made, and when I'd go to bed at night, I was terrified that the creak of the bed was going to wake HIM up.

Even earlier on Saturday (I'm posting all of this backwards), Ami had a basketball game. He seems to be getting better; his whole team does. The coach really tries to teach them skills, which I appreciate (esp. since I have no basketball skills). The only pic I took of that is this one of Loni because I'm a super good mom:

Actually, this wasn't even from the game. (I'm even a better mom than I thought!) This was from going somewhere (can't recall where), and the poor kid was so tired. I love his little grumpy sleeping face. I have the same one.

Extreme Neglect

I used to be such a good blogger. Now I'm such a bad blogger. Bad blogger! I want to be better b/c this is about the only way I remember anything I do anymore. Sad, eh?

I think blogging will be one of my two New Year's resolutions. I don't like New Year's resolutions; I don't usually make them. But I'm making two this year--two that I believe are actually reachable. So here's hoping!

Today is the first day of my Christmas vaca. I've spent it in my pajamas, sitting around doing nothing. :) I did wash some dirty doors (speaking of doors, our doorknob got fixed--yea!). I sent Mahe over to spend time with his friend b/c he was driving me nuts. LOL. Ami spent some time over at his friend, Colton's, house. I feel bad for the kid; he's kind of bored. I can't think of anything fun to do with him! Too bad he doesn't already have his Christmas presents....I was going to take him to a movie, but then I realized my HUSBAND took my debit card with him to work, so I am penniless. Bad husband!