going private?

so i'm thinking about joining those who have gone private, somewhat influenced by the family who found a pic on craigslist of their baby up for sale, the pic was taken off a public blog (that's the general jest of the story, details may not be spot on), so, make sure i have your email, i'll probably be doing this in the next week

May recap

I'm lousy at keeping this up today so before July slips away from me too I'm going to throw in May, which as previously mentioned included birthdays, a major haircut for me and the end of kindergarten for Mason meaning some tears for me,
wow 30 already!!
the school had a walk a thon
and of course kady had to participate
mason and some of his girlfriends


Mas and his teacher Mrs. Giles
so proud

i love my boys!



the 4 kindergarten classes

Kennedy is 5!!

So once again I've been bad at blogging, but this has been a busy month, kady turned 5, sipa turned 40...i mean 36, and i turned 30...all within 6 days of each other...Mason finished kindergarten and britt came out to visit. so enjoy the pics, this is just kady, i need to upload some more pics of mas before i can post more, maybe i'll get to that tomorrow :)

Kevin's Mission!

So I was doing really good for awhile and then we had crazy happen. My mom and dad came out with my brother Kevin (and my aunt Karen), who entered the MTC Wed, April 22. He will be serving in the Montana Billings Mission. For those of you who had seen my sister's blog & my aunt's, yes, some of these are duplicates because I copied them, but I didn't have some of them, and others I was just to lazy to go find because I really wanted to post this so I can post BIRTHDAY WEEK! Anyway, we had a really neat couple of days running around getting last minute things together, spending time together. We had some yummy dinners, and lots of laughs! The night before he went in Mom, Dad, Kevin, and I went out to dinner just the 4 of us to Ruby River, and I don't remember laughing so hard in quite some time!


It was really neat taking him to the MTC, Sipa never went to the MTC, it took so long to get his visa and other paperwork that he left straight from Tonga to Guam/Micronesia, but then again, I guess that was back in the day! We saw a guy I worked with at Target walking around with his little group, I said hello, but I struggled, trying to remember his last name, hello elder ummm, Harrison! And then the family sitting behind us was Tongan, and Sipa used to play rugby with the dad yrs ago back in Cali! I'm really so very proud of the decision he has made to serve the Lord, and the people of Montana.

He's the first of the siblings, although he's #5 of the kids, he's the first boy, and us girls didn't/haven't gone. He is so perfect for that mission and I am so excited to hear how he learns and grows. It's crazy to think that when he gets back Mason will have already been baptised! Good Luck Kevin!! We love you!!

More Hawaii!

Here are some more pics of our trip. Really we did have a good time, and I am almost overwhelmed when I reflect back on our trip of the amazing sights, smells and sounds we experienced, along with all of the love we felt from the majority of people we encountered (with the exception of waikiki, pretty beach, amazing shopping, nasty rude people)- Enjoy the pics!

Polynesian Cultural Center

So after the funeral was over we got to do some "touristy" things Friday night we went to PCC with my sis in law Manu, Sipa, the kids and Sipa's cousins Jr and Hano. We saw the dance show and it was really amazing.

For those who have been before, we were there on the first night of a new program, so you'll have to go back and see it again, I was told by Sipa's family who have all been many times that it is really so much better now! We went back the following day with Sipa's other sisters and their families. We had so much fun walking around seeing the villages and listening to them compare what they remember from the islands compared to what's there. I loved Samoa's and Tonga's shows the best, but perhaps I'm slightly biased. We(Sipa) made smoke at the fire making station in Samoa. We all got faux tattoos in Fiji, and while waiting for the rest of us,
my bro in law Litoni, sat down at a fake fruit stand and starting yelling "coconuts, 5 dolla, 2 for 10" some asian ladies went up to him to "inspect" his wares not sure if he was serious or not, we were all on the floor laughing! It's definitely a place I'd like to go back to and spend more time looking around, and I really wish we'd planned ahead and gone to one of the buffets to eat, they looked soo yummy!

Funeral

So my goal of post more regularly hasn't been met so far, but once again I'm going to try to do better. For those who don't have facebook to see my status updates about my brother-in-law. Sipa's oldest brother, Kotoni, died in his sleep March 25, very unexpectedly, at the age of 42. We don't know the cause because they didn't do an autopsy, but Sipa, the kids and I flew out to Hawaii (which was an adventure in itself) to be with Uini (Winnie, my sister in law) and their 4 kids, Manu, Leni, Moli, and KJ ages 17, 16, 14, and 12. It was a great time to be there with family, to support each other and share stories. We didn't get to do a lot of sight seeing/ touristy stuff, but the things we did do I'll post those pics in another post. All of Sipa's siblings who aren't locked up (there are 2) and the one who's been deported, and of course Viu who passed away 2 yrs ago, were there along with my father in law, and his wife. I realize through times like these how grateful I am to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the plan of salvation, and for the knowledge that I have that we will be together again someday. I love my in-laws. I know so many people who don't, or merely tolerate them, but I love mine and thought it was the greatest thing to be in Hawaii, one of most beautiful places with most of my nieces and nephews, and brothers and sisters in law. Sorry for the occasion but so neat to be there as a family.

Ema

So I had to post a couple pics of Baby Ema (my niece)! Isn't she so stinkin' cute?! The little boy is her big brother William posing with the decorations we put up to welcome them home, and of course, Kennedy, loving her new baby cousin!

it's been a while

no pics, it's just been a while since i've been on here so i thought i'd update, the last month has been fun. My brother got his mission call to billings, montana, and he leaves april 22. My sister Cortney has been out here visiting for the last week, and we've had fun, I would like her to move out here but we'll see. The two biggest events that have happened are, we got a dog, Buddy, he's a 6 1/2 yr old boxer who really is the greatest little addition to our family, and my sister in law adopted a little girl, Ema, whom I am already in love with, she's beautiful and I'm so excited to have her apart of our family too!

Happy 7th Anniversary

Wow, so it's really hard to believe we've been married 7 years already! We really have had so much fun over the years and I can't imagine my life with anyone else! SO since we've been married 7 years, I thought I'd put the top 7 reasons(in no particular order) I love him and am grateful to be married to him.

1. He has an amazing sense of adventure and drive to be active. Every year he gets involved with as many sports and activities that he can whether it be racquetball, paintball, basketball, softball, snowboarding, jet skiing, rugby, football, surfing, he's going to be adding 5ks to this list soon!

2. He is amazingly talented and handy. Since we've been married he's remodeled both of our bathrooms, gutted and remodeled our kitchen, leveled out a dirt driveway and poured and stamped concrete, put in ceiling fans and recessed lights in several rooms, helped me paint and repaint every room in our house at least 2xs, re roofed the house, etc, with very little outside help!

3. His faith in me never waivers. He has supported me in my many different adventures 150%. He has watched the kids while I have gone back to work and back to school and always encourages me to keep going when I want to quit, which is often!

4. He is a terrific father. He has helped with the kids since day 1, changing diapers, making bottles, watching them so I could have "me" time, helping them learn to read and write, learn manners, teaching them Tongan customs, and about the gospel and our Savior.

5. He loves the gospel. He is always striving to be a better man, to honor his priesthood and to serve in any capacity he can. He has a strong testimony and I love that he shares that with us.

6. He works so hard. He works easily 50-60+ hrs/week to support our family and allow us to do all of the many fun things we do. He's very good at his job, and I personally can attest to this, because I've witnessed this, it's how we met, at Stouffers, I worked part time in his dept (he was the supervisor) so I married him so I could be the boss- lol!

7. He loves me. I haven't always made the wisest choices in whom I dated, I had a lot of self doubt, but he saw past that, and loves me unconditionally! He tells me I'm beautiful and sexy the way I am (even though I know my face is breaking out, my hair needs to be recolored cause I can see some grays and I really need to lose another 40+ lbs), but more than just telling me, he makes me feel that way and I love him, and can't wait to get a stupid address so we can FINALLY get sealed together for time & eternity!

Ballet Class

Kennedy has been longing to take dance classes for the longest time, but since she's related to me, I have been worried that we would sign her up for something, and then she would change her mind, and I'd be stuck with fighting her every week to go, well so far this is not the case. I signed her up for this insanely fun, fairy tale ballet. It's a eight week class with 4 weeks dedicated to a story, this first story was The Wizard of Oz, and next week they start The Little Mermaid. They spend the first 10 min of the hour long class reading out of the most amazing pop-up book I've ever seen,





then they get dressed, she's been a munchkin, a witch, and last week Dorothy. They had so much fun and she loves to practice all week, and she can't wait to go to Oakdale so her Aunt Kelly can teach her more ballet!