Cell Phone

So mason and I were on our way home when we passed someone who had been pulled over by a police man. Mason was going on about how he doesn't like policemen because they might shoot someone. I was trying to explain to him how if we obey the rules and laws policeman are good, and they help us, and if he's ever lost or someone tries to take him he should call the police for help, etc...His reply,

"umm, mom i think i need a cell phone because if i get lost and i don't have a cell phone how can i call the police?"

yikes how is a mom supposed to argue with that- i mean we don't even have a house phone we just use our cell phones! Oh dear looks like I'm going to be in trouble with this one!

Picture with Santa

The kids and I went down to the mall tonight to get their pics taken with Santa. Yesterday Mason and Kennedy dictated letters to me for Santa and Mason could hardly wait for us to go down there so he could put his letter in the bag for Santa. I must admit dictating letters is an excellent idea and very helpful! Lol!

New Kids on the Block

So it's a little late but last month I went with my friend Melissa to see the New Kids on the Block preform at the E-Center in WVC. It was so much fun! I don't know if it was just a great concert or really reminiscent of jr.high or what but it was a super fabulous time. They sang a lot of their old songs, some of their new ones and over all made me laugh and giggle nearly the whole time! On a fun side note, David Archuletta was there watching them perform too...I think it was because Natasha Bedingfield was one of their openers (and Lady Gaga who more made me was to gag-a) I didn't take my camera (because the ticket said no camera and i was a good girl and left it in the car)but these are some pics from people I know who also went to the concert.

Thanksgiving

So this has by far been the most unique Thanksgiving I have ever had. Sipa and the kids (plus my in-laws)went down to Los Angeles for a cousin's wedding (congrats again Kani and Kalo) and a funeral. I stayed home. By myself. This was mostly due to Black Friday and I had to work, (plus trips with me are undoubtedly more expensive because I am higher maintenance and hate crashing in on people. This has been so far an experience I'd rather not do again because I'm lonely and bored and I don't sleep very good without anyone else here, it is however a fantastic reminder of how truly blessed I am.
I got off work around 4am Thurs morning and tried to sleep. I had intentions of going over to my friend Melissa's but I was so tired and really just wanted to veg. Later that evening I went up to Brett and Autumn's to have dinner with FAMILY(Brett, Autumn, their 4 beautiful kids, her mom and sister, Joel, Rachel and their little Lily)! I had a lot of fun and realized again how really retarded I am. I am oddly shy around people I don't see or talk to on a regular basis. Even though I can know someone for years, it takes me a long time to warm up to people again and talk- stupid? yes, but I can't seem to shake it.
Anyway...I realize I don't really share my intimate feelings very often(read never, I hold my feelings very tightly. There are reasons but no need to get into that today. I am however so very thankful to my Heavenly Father for my family. I am married to the most talented, amazing man I have ever met, whom I love more than I could ever hope to express. The sacrifices he makes for our family are immeasurable and he does it all for us willingly. He stays home with the kids so I can work and go to school because he knows it makes me happy, he spends more time playing and teaching our children than most fathers I know. My children have blessed my life more than I could have ever dreamed. They are so smart, talented and so amazing in their capacity to love, I feel so unworthy to be the mother of these two wonderful children. I am so thankful to have them. While Sipa and I would love to be able to have more children, after years of trying, etc, it appears that these are going it, and I could not have dreamed of better children. I am so thankful for my parents, siblings and in-laws. I know that we are very loved and very blessed and that's a great feeling to have.
It's a long post but probably one of the only ones where I will share any of my closely guarded feelings.

Funny story

i have realized i need to get better about jotting down the funny things the kids say, i'm pretty good at calling my family to tell them, but then shortly afterwards i forget and the funniness gone. many of you know, but for those of you that don't, when i was growing up my dad raised turkeys, then a few years ago(probably more than a few, but i honestly can't remember) started raising chickens. so basically all of my life i have been the daughter of a poultry farmer, so you can imagine my feelings of failure as a mother and a daughter when last week kennedy and i went to go get some kfc for dinner and kennedy tells me, yummy mommy i love chicken it comes from COWS....what did you say...chicken comes from cows....oh dear chicken comes from chicken silly and hamburger and steak comes from cows...are you kidding me? i never knew...it was definately a call to dad, i knew he'd be proud of my parenting skills-lol

Halloween

So better late than never here are our Halloween photos. I'm a little upset because half of them are blurry, but I think it's on it's way out anyway.

family pictures 2008

The kids and went home to oakdale to visit last month, and like a ding-a-ling, I forgot my camera. Well, on Sunday after church we went down to orange blossom park and took family pictures. It was seriously so much fun! We really had a good time, and are definately going to have to do it again...especially since we didn't take a big family picture because Sipa wasn't there but so we'll take them again at christmas!

at least it's something...right?

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Field Trip

Mason got to go on his 1st field trip last week. His and the other kindergarden class went to Hee Haw farms to go through the corn maze, get their own pumpkin and PLAY! Needless to say he loved it! Sipa got to go too! I had to work, but since Kennedy had preschool Sipa volunteered to go and be a chaperone, I think he had a good time too, plus lucky for me, this way I got pictures!

Back to School

So there won't be a picture accompanying this blog mostly because it's 11:30, I should be sleeping but after being sick last weekend with a head cold, it's migrated to my throat/lungs and I keep coughing which is aggravating my sore throat, and keeping m awake, and I didn't take any pictures of me on my first day back to school :) But for those of you who didn't know I have decided to go back to school, again, 3rd times a charm right? I decided my last semester of school that I attended was I think fall '02, right before Mason was born, I registered to go after that but Kennedy got soo sick back in '05 that I just didn't go, so here I am again, 11 yrs after I started college back trying to finish. I am at least a junior so that's nice except for the fact that I feel like a junior in high school with stuff I'm trying to remember! Oh well. For the most part it's been really good. I'm enjoying my world civ 1 class, still need ideas for a term paper, basically on anything from the beginning of recorded time to about 1500 ad, so one would think this would be easy....too many choices. I'm also taking a pe class, fitness for life, which for some reason, (i think somebody somewhere hates me) there are 10 or so 16 yrs olds and a bunch of 18 &19 yr olds that make me feel like I'm 60! What do you mean you just did 100 push ups in 60 seconds, where did you learn to count?! I've nick named 2 so far, sit up boy, and stupid girl, for obvious reasons. SO yea, feels good and Kennedy started pre-school, she was hating being the only one who wanted to go to school not going (yes that means sipa was content not going back to school this semester) Life is good and we're learning!

2nd COUSINS

Soooo, my kids finally got to meet some of their cousins last weekend, they've met all of their 1st cousins and a vast majority of their 2nd cousins, but they got to meet 3 more at Lily's (joel & rachel's little girl)2nd birthday party this last saturday. now for most families meeting 2nd cousins is maybe not a big deal, but for me this one was borderline embarrassing, only because growing up joel & brett (&rob) were like the older brothers i never had (yes, brett is younger than me, but work with me here) and our kids should've meet a long time ago, but the thing that makes it embarrassing is that we've all lived in utah for several years and haven't bothered to meet up and hang out. anyway, it was fun to see them, sadly sipa was pouring concrete with kiti and couldn't make it over in time and autumn is on bedrest and had bridgette, so there is still another one i have to meet, but this is something we're going to have to do again, preferable before another 5 years pass. so here they are mas, kady, Kailey (who is 1 day YOUNGER than kady) nicolas and lily (apologies for misspelled names, how sad am i?)

a little bit late ward camp

so it's been 3 weeks since ward camp and since i finally found our camera, in a bag we don't remember opening, but glad to have found it none the less, i thought i'd better post some pics. it was a great little overnight trip, we got up there in the afternoon and set up out tents etc over across the path from the majority of the ward, it was a 2 night trip and we went up the 2nd night so it was pretty crowded when we got there, but we made a little "stouffer" group with most of the guys in the ward who work at stouffers. it was great weather and the kids enjoyed riding their bikes and playing with friends, the ward provided dinner and breakfast, and it was soo yummy! it may have slightly changed my impressions of camping to something of oh please can i just stay home to, OK, well maybe for 1 night-lol

1st Day of School

So this is a little out of order and i have lots of other posts to add, but today was a big day so it got bumped up to top priority. Today was Mason's first day of school! He was so excited, he was the only one who was excited, but overall I think we survived enough to do it again tomorrow.
Kennedy spent the 2 hrs moping around and being my shadow, Sipa and I both got a little teary eyed, but we were in good company as nearly everyone else was teary too. Mason doesn't remember much of what they did today besides going to the "park" playground, but he sure had a great day so that's good, my baby boy is growing up and loving it, sniff sniff

Sipa's trip to Boston

Sipa had the amazing opportunity to go to Boston last week to go to the Ravens v. Patriots game. Manu, flew him out (THANK YOU AGAIN) and then was his personal tour guide as they went to the game, sadly his cousin wasn't playing, injured leg, knee, something, afterwards they cruised around all night going by harvard, mit, fenway park, paul revere's statue, etc. Poor Sipa's camera batteries died, but Manu took lots of pics and shared. He has a great time, and continues to brag that he paid $50 and upgraded to a non-stop first class seat from Boston to SLC, ummm, spoiled? yes.

You Belong in 1983

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

so i was protesting my blog until people posted comments on my blog but apparently it didn't work but now it appears that our camera is no longer with us. we had it camping this weekend at ward camp, i used it at 4am to take a pic of sipa playing dominos with his buddies and at 8am it was no longer on the table where i'd set it down. so i'm hoping that someone took it home on accident, or put it in a bag that we didn't check before we put it in storage otherwise i have to buy a camera and i've forever lost all of those pictures. so here's crossing my fingers to finding it

4th of July Weekend

So the weekend was eventful to say the least and ,OK, maybe not so much eventful as now that's it's Sunday evening, I'm exhausted and I took naps everyday this weekend. It started off we got new phones- yea! For those of you who don't know my old phone would ring, and I could answer it, but no texting, no seeing my phonebook, etc, because the inside screen was broken, and i had to live like that for 2 months! whew...glad that is over! Then Friday morning Manu, Vika and I ran in the freedom run 5K in Provo. This was the most ridiculous thing I think I have ever done. OK, yes, we finished, at a terrible 48 something, 6 min slower that last month, but ohh are there excuses! It started off Thursday I was going to go get my race packet, but Sipa called me to tell me Danny picked it up, fabulous, saves me a trip, plus they were going to be working together so Sipa would just bring it home Friday morning, but for whatever reason when he got home he didn't have it..ok, no big deal I'll just get it there from Vika. Manu and I drive down to BYU and find where they are handing out packets so she can get hers. This is about 8 mins before the race starts and we find out, the 5K starts 4 blocks away! So we are trying to hurry down to the starting line while on the phone with Sipa trying to tell him where to go and find out where Danny and Vika are because I need my bib # so I can be in the race....oh did I mention my shin splints were acting up and Manu basically had two recovering sprained ankles? no? oh yea, add that to the fun. So we get to the starting line and realize ummm, where's vika, oh, she woke up late, the traffic was bad so she was also running to the starting line, luckily I found her about 1 min before it started, but I lost Manu, so the race starts, people take off, and then I find Manu, so we get started and realize maybe 2 blocks into this, that we should've gone to the bathroom...ahh...this isn't going to be comfortable, oh wait, what's that...a porta-potty on the corner for the parade route! Wohoo! Bladders saved, wait in line for 5 min, get back to the route to find we are ummm, yea, I think the very last runners---wheee!!! So here we are running down University Ave, just the 2 of us in the middle of the street with lots of people watching, waiting for the parade, oh don't worry they were cheering us on. Dead last carrying plastic bags, the race packets, oh yea, we are cool! Then in the last leg I think I can here my cell phone ringing, so I answer because I know my sister Kelly was probably going to have a baby, sure enough it's my mom telling me Kelly is at the hospital about to have a baby...fitting i thought, we were both very tired and physically exhausted, only she was going to get a cute little baby boy out of the deal, and I got a medal with a foot on it....so race was done, we had luckily passed a few 5kers on the way so we finished about 1500 out of 1600!
Then we went home, I didn't want to go camping but sipa and the kids wanted to so we compromised and slept in a tent in the backyard and the next day planted some flowers and shrubs in an attempt to make me like the house all the more so I will quit asking sipa should we stay or move, and if we move will it be around here or to oakdale, he will tell you i ask this question 18 times a day.Later that night we went to a birthday party at a park where they had set up a waterslide bouncer, ooh my, don't worry Mason has informed me that it's ok if we get one for our backyard and he even knows where it will fit. So it was a great weekend, too much fun and of course the highlight, Tyler Malin Allen, the 4th of July nephew of mine is cute and healthy and his mommy is good too

Jumping Jacks!

So since I have cut back my hours at Target I'm finding more and more I'm looking for fun things to do with the kids, besides things at the house (like places that have air conditioning). Sipa and the kids went here a couple months ago without me, so I decided I would go check it out with them. It's really cool! (yes, with air conditioning) but it's a warehouse type building with foam tile floors and 7 or so bouncers, that kids and adults can go on so the 3 of us went on most of these bouncers, 2 are for kids only, and 1 I went on only because Kennedy climbed up (granted it's like 25 ft tall, almost straight up) and decides she's too scared to go down, so I have to climb up, praying not to fall off backwards climbing these ridiculous pieces of foam they call a ladder up to the top to slide down with her, ummm, next time she can wait for Daddy!

Coming up

So this is mostly for Vika, but for anyone else who is interested feel free to read on.....so I officially signed up for the Freedom Run in Provo, anyone else want to join, you sign up on Active.com, and it's $28, I learned though, were I not to have been a procrastinator, I could've signed up back in May for $15, oh well. My 5K for August is one I'm really excited about! I had to look carefully, I work every other Saturday, so I wanted to try to make sure it was on a day I should have off, and I found one. It's called the No More Victims run.
No More Victims 5K benefiting the Children's Justice Center
Saturday, August 16, 2008, 08:00 AM Veteran's Memorial Park 1985 West 7800 South, West Jordan, UT 84088
It's $18, and you can sign up again on Active.com, or I think you can print off a paper and mail it in, but I think it's a really great cause, which is essentially the reason they have 5Ks, this one in particular is to help break the cycle of child abuse.

Nestle/Art City 5K

2 mile mark where Sipa and Danny were working the water station
the 3 runners
tough guys sipa and danny
ummm?

So a couple weeks ago I ran in another 5K, this time in Springville, in the rain, with my sister in law Manu, and Vika Filimoeatu, (she's married to one of Sipa's cousins Danny). Vika kicked our butts, but Manu and I beat our previous SLC Marathon time by a full minute finishing around 42:30. I was really excited especially since I'd been feeling some shin splints from running up and down the lane when we were in Oakdale. It was a lot of fun, and I'm getting ready to to the Freedom Run on the 4th of July in Provo. I think if I could just make myself a little more dedicated to this running business I might be amazing, but it's hard to dedicate a lot of time to it between working at Target, working in the back yard and all of the other things I do around the house, but at least it's something I really do enjoy and feel the greatest sense of accomplishment when I cross that finish line!

Manu, William, Malik, Vika, Mason Kennedy and Me, posing for pictures after the race!

G&G 60th Anniversary Party

During our most recent trip to Cali, there was a party for my grandparents 60th anniversary. It was so much fun, to be there with most of my cousins to visit and just have a good time. My Grandparents are such amazing examples to me, their love and dedication to each other and their family is simply awe-inspiring, I can only hope and pray that Sipa and I can have a life like theirs.

the cousins (minus Matt and Luke)
funny faces, these are always my favorites!
G&G, Don, Mom, Joy & Gayle
Sipa and Kennedy
4 generations, what pretty girls