2014: Changes!

Apparently, I still suck at keeping up with my blog, but I'm here now.. so that should count for something right? ;)

Well since I last blogged (about Thanksgiving)  much has changed:

1. In December 2013 we MOVED!

2. January 2014: Went to Vegas for a girls trip (kind of)

3. End of January: My sister-cuz Mino got married :)

4. February: Fehi finished up training with UP, started his de-rail period.

5. March: We gave birth to our baby boy Heivaha.

6. April: Fehi finished up "de-rail" period and is now officially part of UP.

7. Registered Moe & Saia for school!!!

Here a few things that have happened, and I hope to address all these in the next few hours.. or days. ;)

I try.

Thanksgiving 2013

For Thanksgiving this year, we were so happy to have my sister here to spend it with us.  Mele flew up and spent almost 2 weeks with us, which seemed like a lot of time at first, but it flew by way too quickly!  I was glad she was there with us, because at the time Fehi was going back and forth from Salt Lake to Pocatello, so I was getting quite lonely.  While she was there we just pulled the futon mattress into the living room, grabbed the TV from downstairs and made our bedroom in the living room in front of the TV.  Every morning, day, and night if we weren't out and about we were just chilling and watching movies, eating junk.

A few days before thanksgiving I was looking online for some activities to do with the kids, and luckily I had found that Discovery Kids (at Gateway Mall) had a canned food drive even that you could get in free with 2 canned foods, or non-perishable foods.  We spent about $10 on canned foods at walmart, and then went over to Discovery Kids and got in free.  It's normally like $8 (I think) for normal admission, which I would NEVER pay for, so I was happy that we caught this deal.   The kids had lots of fun, but as you could imagine it was full of kids!

Thanksgiving day we spent with both sides of our family.  We had lunch with my mom's sister, my Aunt Paea (in Saratoga Springs).  There we got to eat basically a traditional thanksgiving meal.  It was so delish, I'm pretty sure I fell into a food-coma not too long after the first serving. :)

Later that evening we headed over to my dad's brother, my Uncle Feleti and his family's house in Orem, where we got our Tongan food! After eating we played games (heads up, dots, etc.) and it was so much fun.

Unfortunately Fehi wasn't home in time to spend thanksgiving with us, but he did get home later that night.  The next day we met up again with our Manu cousins for our little niece Ana's birthday.  They had a birthday party for her at Classic Skating in Orem, and it was super fun.  The kids got to go on the bouncers and also skate, or in Moe's case- ride the scooter.  They even got a few tokens to play games at the end.  It was lots of fun, for both the kids and adults (as we skated as well), but I was excited to have Fehi home and enjoying fun-time with the kids. 

A few days before Mele left back home to Hawaii, she was in for a surprise when it snowed! We let the kids go out and play, and she went out with her slippers and big korean blanket just for quick picture.  We had lots of fun having her visit us, and I know the kids and I were sad to see her go. We can never get enough of our family. :)

October 2013 - Halloween in Hawaii

I thought I'd blog specifically about our Halloween last year because for the first time we were able to spend Halloween at home in Hawaii with my family.  I've always wanted to take my kids home for Halloween because it's so much more different trick-or-treating in Hawaii than it is Utah, weather being the biggest factor.  Before going to Hawaii, we did plan some activities with Fehi, as we knew he wouldn't be able to come with us to Hawaii.  First we had to go shopping for their costumes.  We decided to hit up all the kid-to-kid stores first so we could buy them cheaper costumes.  And I'm so glad we did.  Moe wanted to be a batman, and we found a costume for him there for less than $10 (I don't remember the exact price), all we had to get was his batman mask.  Kesaia, of course, wanted to be a princess, and we found like 3 princess dresses for her, and because they were all so cheap we just got them all.  Bubba's costume, we scored because we got the whole pirate outfit and accessories for less than $10 as well.  We attended a trunk or treat with our in laws one night, and another night we met up with my cousins at Gardner Village (favorite place to go during Halloween) and we saw all the different witches, and watched the witch parade.  The kids loved it, even though it was so cold!!

A few days later my mom came and met us in SLC so she could fly back to Hawaii with Kesaia, which was a first for all of us, because I've never let any of my kids fly without me.  But I was glad to let her go because that was one less child to fly alone with.  Kesaia surprisingly was excited and was ready to go. She said bye to me like it was nothing, and she was definitely spoiled the whole time she was away from us.  We missed her, but also was happy she got to go earlier and spend time with my mom and them.  When it was time for me to fly with the boys, I thought it was going to be a breeze.  Boy was I wrong lol.  I'm pretty sure Bubba knew what he was doing because he would wine and cry when we sat down, cause he knew I'd get up and carry him.  Which is what we did almost all flight.  Thank goodness the flight from Honolulu to Salt Lake City are red eye flights, cause I didn't have the same problem again. :)

While in Hawaii we did the usual- eat, sleep, and play.  It was just nice to be home and having the extra help that I did. The kids got a bunch of candy for Halloween, and they got to go trick-or-treating with their Aunties Ila and Mele, and with cousin Liam and his mommy.  Overall, we had a blast, and I think we'll be doing this more often.

Quick Update!

Okay so I seriously suck at blogging. I can't believe I haven't updated anything since last September lol.  So I'll try my best to narrow down the last few months into a few paragraphs.  Nothing new really has happened.  Fehi is still with Union Pacific Railroad, which is awesome.  He's actually in his very last 2 weeks of training, then he'll officially be an employee of UP (granted he makes it through the probationary period).  The kids are doing awesome.  They are even more annoying and bratty lol.. Just kidding (kind of! lol) But they definitely have developed, as in I'm seeing more of their different personalities.  Moe is playful and active, and he loves to dance.  He's my little helper, always doing things I ask him to do, and never complaining about it either.  I love that about him, and hope that he continues to grow and develop that certain characteristic of helping, and serving without complaint.  His sister on the other hand, no comment lol.  She can be helpful, but she needs more bribing than Moe.   I'm not sure if she's going through a stage, but she's literally become a little princess.  She has to have things a certain way, and if she doesn't want to do something her favorite response is "I can't".  Other than that, she's playful, always happy, and always wanting to learn new things.   She's definitely a daddy's girl, always happy to be around him, and her attitude definitely changes once he's around.   "Bubba" (Hinckley) is very smart for his age.  He'll be 2 in June, and already he comprehends a lot, I attribute that to his older brother and sister.   He understands most questions you ask him (usually with a  Yes or No response) and he definitely knows what he wants.  He can be bossy at times, but most times he's very playful and happy.  He's quite the character, and I love seeing his personality blossom each day.

As for me, I'm now 33 weeks along, and am kind of patiently waiting for this baby to come. In my mind this baby will come in 5-6 weeks, as I never make it to my due date.  This pregnancy has been kind of a breeze… wait.. Did I forget to mention we're having a BOY?!?! Yes! Another baby boy to add to this family of ours.  Which is kind of funny cause we kind of take after the pattern of my grandparents (mom's parents).  They had a boy, then girl (my mom), then 3 boys after that.  So if baby #5 is a boy (years from now) then it was meant to be ;). Like I said before, this pregnancy has kind of been a breeze.  Aside from the headaches and nausea I had during my 2nd trimester, all has been well.  Baby boy definitely moves, wiggles, and kicks a lot.  I really can't imagine life with another baby, but I'm excited and ready.

Overall our family is doing awesome… biggest change we had was that moved back in December.  It was kind of a quick move, and it sucked just because we moved literally 10 days before christmas, but we're happy, and am now closer to work for the both of us, and closer to fehi's family as well.  With the move we transferred to the Liberty 3rd Tongan ward.  We LOVE the ward, and have felt like we were meant to be there since day 1.  I've been called to be a primary teacher, and am currently teaching Moe's class.

Life for us is going great, and we really can't complain right now. :)

I'm Getting Old!!!

Really though... I'm 3 years away from being 30! Ahhh! But why do I still feel (and look) 21? ;) heheheh jk.  Well, I celebrated my 27th birthday on September 15, 2013.  Because my birthday was on a Sunday this year, we (or maybe I) decided it was going to be celebrated throughout the entire weekend! ;) We started it off by going to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, which by the way is beautiful!!! I ate a whole lot (that's for sure) at some of my favorite places.... Einstein Bagels, Kneaders, Cheesecake Factory, Dee's, etc.  But the biggest thing we did was take our kids to Hogle Zoo.  The last time we took the kids there was 3 years ago on my 24th birthday! Back then we only had Moe and Kesaia, Moe was about 1 and a half, and Kesaia was only 5 months. We had so much fun then, and had even more fun this time around with Moe being 4, Kesaia being 3, and our bubba now in the picture at 1 years old.

My birthday weekend was everything I could've asked for and more.  I spent it with my family, and got to do things that we all love to do.  It wasn't all about it, but my husband still made me feel like it was.  Thanks love for spoiling me so much, and for loving me the way you do! Here's to many more birthdays together!

Here's some pictures from my Birthday Weekend: