I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE!

Our lil' family went on the tour at Oquirrh Mountain Temple this past weekend. It was a part of our Father's Day outing! The kids weren't too excited at first, until they were told they could actually go inside the temple and realized the opportunity of doing so. My parents and most of my siblings were all in Frisco for a family reunion...but, my lil' bro, Pou and my sis, Toree stayed back so we took them along.

When we got to the parking lot, there were ushers at the gate. Justin rolled his window down and the usher said, "Hello, do you have reservations?" We told him we did...then he gave us instructions to follow the arrows and the ushers would lead us to the closest parking spot...it was a chilly evening! Justin thanked the usher and as he was rolling his window back up...the usher said, "Bien Venido!" (thinking J was a miko...haha!) We all started crackin' up! My sister Toree loves to tease J...so through the rest of that evening she kept saying "Bien Venido!" My husband gets mistaken for a miko so many times and we love to tease him, because he's so proud to be poly!

The tour was AMAZING! The spirit was so strong, the kids were in AWE, not only did they notice the different rooms, but the walls, pictures, the floors, light fixtures...all of it! Even lil' Drew (being in his temper tantrum stage) was so mellow throughout the tour. I like to think he sensed a familiar enviroment from where he used to be! The kids took much time where the baptistry font was. They know their Aunty Diana (my lil' sis who they are highly fond of) goes many Saturday mornings to do baptisms for the dead, and when I told them this was where she'd come...they thought it was the neatest thing! The tour ended in the sealing rooms and again our kids loved the mirror structures representing Eternity. I encourage you all to go if you haven't.

At the end of the tour is the reception hall where you can go and have refreshments. It's a cozy place with furniture so you can relax and socialize. The kids loved the self-playing piano there...especially Pou! It was then that we took some pics with J's Blackberry phone, (I need to fix my camera!) so the quality in these pics isn't all that...but here is what we got!

...A Sense of Personalities with these kids...

(Conversation after the Tour)

Me: Kids, what was your favorite part of the temple tour?

Bean: I loved the baptismal font and the mirrors that go on forever in the sealing room.

Me: Nice Bean! Wasn't that cool? What about you Pou-Pou?
Pou: I liked the piano that played by itself and...
Bean: (interrupting) Was the piano inside the temple or outside? My mom is talking about INSDIE the temple..DUH!
Me: Beanie, it doesn't matter where it was, I'm talking about the whole night...go ahead Pou.
Pou: (discouraged mumbles) Nevermind!
Me: Pou, I thought the self-playing piano was cool too...you tell me whatever it is you loved most!
Pou: (still discouraged mumbles quickly) I just liked the baptism thing and mirrors like Beanie said. (Pou wipes his tears)
Me: and the piano too huh Pou! (he nods) Ala, what did you like most?
Ala: THE REFRESHMENTS!
Justin: (giving Ala "the look" and Ala realizes he better give a better answer...LOL)
Ala: Oh, sorry...I liked seeing where you can do baptisms like Aunty Diana does. I can't wait to turn 12 so I can do them too. Oh and I have to really say that I loved THE REFRESHMENTS! Sorry dad! But, Mom said I could say what I really loved out of the WHOLE night right? I loved the cookies! I did...it was SOOOO GOOOOOOD! (rubbing his tummy)
(the whole family breaks out into laughter)

Pou, Beanie and Ala inside the reception hall at the end of the tour.

All of us who attended the tour

SHOWOFFS!

You've got to check out my cousin's blogspot on her bottlecap jewelery! Okay, she's my cousin, Siliva's wife, but I'm totally diggin' her new found passion! You can click here to check it out! My daughter LOVES BYU (okay, we all do) but Jen made her a BYU necklace and bracelet to sport! (pictured above) She does an amazing job and can make pretty much any pic you'd like into a bracelet, necklace or zipper pull. Here are just a few pics of the varieties...but check out her site and contact her by email to order. The prices are great...CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP! It's great for birthday gifts, especially lil' girls and boys!! CHECK IT OUT!

SHOWOFFS!

My nose isn't working!

So, I've spent much of my week with one of my most favorite people in the world...LES!! How I love her! She's been out here for the past few days and I do all I can to spend time with this girl 'cause we can talk and talk and TALK for DAYS! :D One of her girls (twins) got sick while we were in Cali last weekend for Ruby's wedding. (So much of our family has been sick...this crazy infulenza is just going around and hitting us all!) Flights were lookin' full as ever in Cali so she ended up flying here until her lil' one could get better...then they could take the longer flight home. Les had her girl at a clinic in town who incorrectly diagnosed her daughter with Rhoda Virus...advising to give her only Tylenol, no Ibuprofen and that was it!! UGH! Symptoms of this "Rhoda Virus" didn't match and her motherly instincts took her up to Primary Childrens for a 2nd oppinion. Thankfully, our instincts were confirmed and it wasn't this "Rhoda Virus" but the flu and the doctor gave us a Rx for Tamiflu (HOLY MAMAFA!), but it has worked and now we think the other twin is getting it too!

Today, I was over visiting and checking up on the twins. Les looked weary as ever...poor gal has had sleepless nights trying to tend to her lil' ones and in addition to that, her sister who caught the same thing as well. The kids were playing with Kerv & G's kids...Les and I chattin' away...then suddenly one of the twins came to Les with her stuffed nose and said, "Mom, my nose isn't working!" Les knew right away what her daughter meant and helped her blow and clear it up! It took me a second to understand what she meant...but I thought it was the cutest thing!! (my nose is broken = my nose is stuffed making it harder to breathe) Les told me they say that to her every time they have a stuffed nose! It was just one of those moment of kids saying the darndest things! I love those moments!

Anyway...the girls are getting better, as well as her lil' sis, so they should be heading home shortly. It's good for them, but a lil' sad for me 'cause I love having their company!! Still there's no place like home! I just had to share just a "wee" bit of my day with these guys...they just mean so much to me! This is a pic of the twins! Aren't they GORGEOUS!

Catchin' Up!

Okay, so I'm totally counting on this blog to be some type of memory book. So much has happened in the past couple weeks with my family...we've had birthdays, graduations and a wedding. Here is what has happened since the beginning of June..in addition to what I've already blogged on!! Here we go...

Ruby & Don Fonua

My lil' cousin Ruby got married this past weekend in California. It was a beautiful wedding! There was a wedding dance on Friday, they were married in the Redlands Temple Saturday morning and the reception was held later that day at the chapel. I didn't take my camera, but got this picture off another cousin's bebo page...Thanks MayRay! Hehehe!

My lil' sis, Brenda graduates!
Brenda graduated from Granger High School! She's #9 in our family. Totally a "homegirl"...she'd rather kick it at home with the fam then going out with friends. We're so proud of her! Not sure why this pic of Brenda with Toree and Uni is so small...I can't fix it! Oh well! This is Brenda posing with Baby Vee (left) and Bean (right) at her graduation dance we had for her.

Salesi Marley and Salote Maganda Tuaone's FIRST Bday!

Another event I wasn't able to attend. :( It was held in Houston which is where the mahangas (twins) are from. They are the beautiful kids of Bill and Brenda Tua'one. These cuties turned one on June 3rd, just a day before my lil' Drew's bday. Here the twins are posing with their namesakes, Uncle Chucc and Aunty Char!

2009 Graduates
These are more of the graduates from the 2A1 family. Moses and Lasini (left) graduated from McArthur High in Florida. Valencia aka Sally (right) graduated from West High School here in SLC. There is one other graduate, Sione Ika (My aunty Via Lahi's son) who also graduated in California. Congrats to you all!

So there you have it...a rundown of all that has happened in my family these past two weeks...it's been plenty crazy!! And to think we have another family reunion in Frisco this weekend and a couple baptism celebrations in the next couple weeks, counting my lil' girl, Bean who will be baptized in July. And summer is just beginning...Oh what FUN!!

PHOTO TAG!

Its photo tag, here are the rules:
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same now!!

I tag: Silia, Morena, Sinai and Anna (ya'll are my only followers...YEAH!)

Here's my photo...

This was the morning of Memorial Day. Beanie and her cousins Lika and Baby Vee got some $1 flipflops. They decorated them then had Baby Vee (4yrs old) take a picture of their proud completion. I think they did a great job with the flip flops AND lil' Vee takin' the picture! Here's a few more pics from that fun day!

Lika & Bean

Ata & AlaAta got bored waiting for everyone to get ready...look where I found him! LOL!

Finally time to go out!

DREW-BEE turns ONE!

"My Lil' Feti Love Bucket" turned one this past week!!

*crying happy tears sad tears*

I can't believe how quickly this year went. It wasn't much of a big birthday bash as a FIRST birthday usually is, because he got sick a couple days before and it wouldn't have been so fun to have tons of family/friends while he was so miserable. We had a simple lil' cake (thanks to my sister Brenda), my siblings and their kids gathered around and we sang to the bday boy at grandma and grandpa's house. Still, he enjoyed the attention as everyone sang and loved ripping open the gifts from everyone. It was a short lil' party and then we brought him home to rest. Above are just a couple pictures of Drew as we sang...he got so excited as we sang and started clapping right along with us, then when it came time to blow out the candles he got even more excited when Grandma lifted up the cake to him and tried to grab it...no worries though, although the picture looks like he might have burned himself...he didn't...the candles were blown by the kids standing near and then Drew got to dive into his lil' cake first!

Anyway, I wanted to blog a bit about my LIL' FETI LOVE BUCKET. That's what I call him, because my chunky Drew loves taking in all my hugs and kisses then pours them right back on me!! My sisters say it's cheesy...but that's what I'm all about being CHEESY! He has a few nicknames...his BFF, Baby Girl aka NOLA calls him DREWBY and has all the other lil' ones calling him that too. You'll also hear, "FETI" 'cause he was so chunky when he was first born (I like to think he has slimmed down, but others beg to differ!) and the young men from our ward call him "JACK JACK" after the baby off of Incredibles...let's just say their personalities match a bit as well as Drew's crazy hairdo! It's almost ALWAYS a Mohawk...not purposely done...we thought it was so cute when he was born...but now, we try to comb it other ways and STILL it ends up in a mohawk....go figure! My "FETI" loves to roam! He doesn't want to be held much and wants to crawl/walk all over the place, he isn't much into toys, but would rather play with a wooden spoon or empty watter bottle...which I certainly don't mind! He's loves to imitate others like when we laugh, he'll laugh or blowing kisses. The funniest thing I think he does is saying "Oooo" or "Ahhhhh" with a high pitched slur whenever he sees something that interests him...I'll have to record it and post for you to see so you know what I mean! I could go on and on about this kid...he continues to bring so much happiness into our family...I love his innocence, his curiosity, his determination to be independent, I learn so much from him!! Most of all, I love that was blessed to be his mother and I will do all I can to raise him the best I can!

Another Moment in Motherhood

Can you see it? No? Neither could I...LOL! This is a picture of a picture...scanner isn't cooperating right now...but we're anxious to post the pic! So I'm on my 22nd week with this pregnancy and we were so happy when we FINALLY got an ultrasound to find out whether the baby would be a boy or girl. Now, we already have the two boys and so Beanie was really hoping for a girl! Heck, Justin and I were certain that it was a girl. This morning, I took my kids and lil' Pou with me for the ultrasound. (Justin stayed back with Drew 'cause he's had a bit of a cold.) We were all so anxious to know the sex of the baby, but the nurse had to get the routine measurements and pictures before we could find out. The kids were anxiously up on their feet watching the screen. They loved seeing the heart beating, the spine, the head and a profile picture of the baby waving at us. Then the nurse got the legs/thighs which also revealed that we were having a baby BOY!! Ala and Pou shouted, "YES!" and high fived eachother, my attention went automatically to my lil' Bean who had her hopes for a baby sister...there was an immediate frown to her face as she sat back in her seat starting at the ground. I grabbed her hand to comfort her and my lil' brother Pou noticed her sadness and suddenly I heard him say to the nurse, "Can you please check again, because Beanie was really hoping for a sister?" The nurse was so sweet and although we could see in plain site that it was a boy, she played along and doubled even tripled checked for them. She then talked to Beanie about how being the only girl has it's benefits. She gets to be the Princess of the house, doesn't have to share a room or her clothes and that she'd be protected by all the brothers she has. The frown slowly changed to a smile and Beanie squeezed my hand and stood back up to look at the monitor...right away it showed the baby's profile with his hand up and the I said to her, "See, your lil' brother is waving at his big sister!" Beanie had a huge smile on her face and I knew we were going to be just fine. After the ultrasound, I went to drop off the kids to school and as the kids are getting out of the car, there's always a quick kiss to my cheek and a kiss to the baby in mommy's tummy...this time Beanie's kiss to the tummy was a few seconds longer and she rubbed it saying, "I love you little brother!" I automatically got teary eyed as I drove off heading for work...I just felt so much gratitude to my Heavenly Father for these lil' and amazing moments in motherhood! We're all so happy for this baby boy and look forward to October so meet the lil' guy!