Afa's

Why I haven't been posting

2012-02-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone is even following this blog, but I thought that I would give an explanation just in case. I have not been posting because my computer got a bad virus. Somehow it has gotten over that enough to let me on line, but it is still very slow. Hopefully I will get if fixed soon, and I will be able to do some big catch up posts.
Of course a lot has happened since the last post. Gerry's birthday in November, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Grandpa Paul died on Christmas, so we had a funeral the following week. With Grandpa leaving us too soon, Grandma couldn't stay in the house by herself because she has gotten dementia, so she has moved into an assisted living home. Of course she is upset, and wants to go home and be with Grandpa. It doesn't look like she will be apart from him for too long. That is sad for those of us left behind, but good for them to be where they can be whole and happy.
The kids are doing great in school, and getting so big! At the new year Ariana moved up to Senior Primary, and Anela moved from nursery to Primary, and loves being a Sunbeam! With those two moving up at the beginning of the year, and Gerry getting ready to be baptized at the end of the year, it is a big year for our family in Primary! I am now teaching the CTR 7 class (Gerry's class) this is the class of kids who are 7 at the beginning of the year, which means that they will all turn 8 and be baptized by the end of the year. That is a big deal to me to be their teacher when they are getting ready to be baptized, and there are 12 kids in the class!! I love my calling though, and hope that the kids get something out of the lessons. I'm sure that I am getting more out of being their teacher than they are!
Well, hopefully I will be able to do a better post when my computer is feeling better. It is not the only one with a virus, our whole family have been taking turns being sick constantly since November.

A Bunch of random pictures

2011-11-15T11:33:00.001-08:00

Best friends. Kimberly Coon and Anela Afa

Cousins. Gerry Afa, Anela Afa, Lydia Curtis, Ariana Afa, Foster Curtis and Dallin Curtis.

Gerry took 4th place in the ribbon pull at the Rush Valley Rodeo! He had to run and pull the ribbon off of a sheep's tail as fast as he could. He won $25. Not bad for a kid who was not even expecting to compete, and was wearing sandals!

Cutie pie kid!

My daddy with his girls. :) This was the day that I was sealed to my husband and kids.

Anela trying to slurp up all the noodles while I was making Chicken-etti.

Cute little cow boy and cow girl. Stopped in Rush Valley and spent a few days on the way home from St. George in early August. Ariana was on her way to Sleepy Hollow Illinois where she spent almost 2 weeks.

Gerry playing Cowboy!

The kids on the first day of school. Anela can't wait to go to school with the big kids!

Gerry at his desk on his first day of first grade.

Ariana at her desk on her first day of second grade.

Now Anela and Mommy get to spend a lot of time together while the kids are at school.

Anela's first time on the horse. She loved the horses, until she was close to them! It took her a while, but she finally took a ride.

Gerry's first time without being led. He did really well, except that he wanted to run! Gerry is my fearless child.

Ariana's first time without being led. She also did really well.

We spent Ariana's birthday (September 4th) out at my mom's in Rush Valley (Above pictures, same time) She got a lot of art supplies and projects. The next day, she made herself an easel to work on one of her new projects. I love this picture of my little artist!

Kids being silly with daddy. (Anela was already in bed)

"scared" faces

Top view of Ariana's hair do for her baptism. It took a long time, so I did it the night before.

Back/side view. I am learning how to do the "fancy" hair do's because I loved it when my mom did my hair "fancy". I am not nearly as good as her, but learning.

Ariana getting ready for her baptism. My mom made the dress. Ariana picked out the pattern, fabric and ribbon.

Kids getting ready to leave for the stake center.

Ariana and Daddy after the dunk. Daddy was so nervous, he held her hand out of the water and had to dunk her twice. Ariana asked me why the mom of one of the other kids and I were crying. LOL!
Ariana just being silly making a face.

Ariana reading a story to two of her cousins. Bryndee and Brighton with their soon to be step-sister. Jessica, and Jason came out to my mom's house. We got to meet Jessica's fiance Anthony, and his daughter. We need to spend more time with Jessie and Jason and their families. My kids love that they actually have cousins who live less than a thousand miles away! A couple weeks later, Jessica's 4 kids spent the night at our house. Fun!! :)

Same day at my mom's. Gerry and Jordan playing with Jordan's video game.

Jessica's oldest, Brianna.

Anela loves to exercise!!
Saturday before Halloween. Getting ready for "trunk or treat" at the church. Darth Vader, Pirate and Vampire. (I had a hard time getting a good picture)
Ariana was "Star Student" of her class last week. This is the poster she made to show and tell about herself. She was so excited to be start student!

Ariana's hair on Wednesday of her star student week. Her teacher loved it so much that she took a picture so that she could try it out on her niece. However, I was not happy with how it turned out, so.......

I did a better star in her hair the next day. Miss Springer, took a picture of this one too. I like it when people appreciate my hard work! :) I love doing fun things with Ariana's hair!!

Really they do love each other most of the time!

Us in front of the Oquirr Mt. Temple on July 16 after our sealing.

July and August in a very big nutshell!

2011-08-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

One very long post, this would be a lot of nutshells! I will post pictures later.
A lot happened in July. The best thing was that we (Finally!!) went to the temple and were sealed as husband and wife, and then to the kids. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, which is absolutely beautiful, on July 16. We did make a big mistake and forget the camera! But we will go back and get family pictures taken at that temple.
My sister Colby and her husband Derek were able to go with us, because they were here visiting from Illinois. That is the other great thing about July, Colby, Derek and their 5 kids were here in Utah the whole month. Luckily Derek works on the computer, and most of the time he is able to work wherever he is, as long as he has a computer. So he brought his computer with him, and they drove all the way here, and were here for 7 weeks! Derek's family lives in Utah too, so they spent a lot of time with them also, but it was nice to be able to see them so much over the summer. They left August 5 and took Ariana with them. She stayed with them for 2 weeks! That is the longest I have ever been away from her, and the furthest she has ever been from me. We all missed her, and Anela kept asking where her sister was, but I knew that it would be really fun for her, and a good experience, so I really wanted her to go. On August 18 I took an early flight to Chicago and met Colby and Ariana at the airport. 4 hours after I landed in Chicago, Ariana and I took off on a flight back to SLC. It was a very long day for me! I am thankful for my flight benefits so that I could do that.
Back in January My mom's husband Bill got a job at the Kennecott Copper Mine. That meant that they had to move closer to me! Well, Bill got an apartment close to the mine so that he could start work right away, and they started looking for a place to move to, while my mom kept working in St. George. It took a looong time, but they finally found the perfect place for them. The sale was final and they moved in at the end of July. It is quite a commute for Bill, but it is worth it. It is out in Rush Valley, which I had never heard of before they found the house. The city is so small, they don't have any stores, or even a gas station. They are South of Tooele, so they have to drive 20 minutes into Tooele to do their grocery shopping ext. It is such a beautiful and peaceful area.
In July we spend a lot of time out there at my mom's new place. She has a two bedroom house, and a small one bedroom guest house, that also has an upstairs loft that fits two double beds with plenty of room to spare. Colby and her family stayed there for a few days, and the kids and I went out there at the same time, and stayed in the main house.
At the end of July, beginning of August, we went to St. George for about a week. We stayed in my mom's old house with my brothers who are renting it out. We went down there while Colby's family was down there staying in her in-laws condo. So we had more time just hanging out with them. When we left, Ariana stayed and left a day later with them all the way out to Illinois.
Not a lot was going on here while she was gone. After I went and brought her home, we got the kids ready for school, which started on August 22. They started at a brand new school (there is still no grass or playground, they are still working on finishing the outside. That's how new it is!!) Ariana is in second grade this year. She is absolutely loving her teacher and her class. Gerry is in first grade and he also loves his teacher and class. They are going to have SEP meetings and an open house next week. I am looking forward to taking a tour of the school, and hearing about what to expect this year.
I love that the school is right across the street! I get up in the morning and get the kids ready and they walk to school together, and they walk home when it's over. After having to drive to school three times a day last year, this is wonderful.
Anela stays home with me. Since she is the youngest, and this is the first year that the other kids are in all day school, this is the first time that we have a lot of time together, just the two of us. Sometimes it's hard to keep her entertained, when I would like to have some time to myself, but I know that I am going to miss this time when she goes to school and I am left alone.
I am still working at SkyWest, which is lucky for me, since a lot of my coworkers are losing their jobs. We had a huge furlough two years ago, of over 300 employees. Now it's happening again. In a couple weeks over 100 employees will be furloughed. I have 9 years seniority, so I am keeping my job (for now). Right now I am working one day a week, which I have been doing for the last three bids. But on the new bid which starts on September 23, I will be working 3 days. It will be nice, because I am only going to be working from 9am to 1:30pm, Thursday Friday and Saturday. That means that on Thursday and Friday, I will be able to get the kids ready for school before I leave, and on Thursday I will be home before them. Friday is their early out day, so I will be home about an hour after them. It kinda stinks that I will have to work on Saturdays, but at least it is only the morning, and Afa will be home to take care of the kids. My best friend Kirah will still be watching them (mostly just Anela) on Thursdays and Fridays. I am so glad that she has been helping out with them! They love her. The only other person they like to babysit is my mom, who now lives 50 minutes away, so she has been able to do it a few times.
OK. Looks like this post is long enough. I will do a post with a ton of pictures soon.

June in a nutshell...late I know...

2011-07-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot happened in June. One of the best things for me was that I got to go to Lagoon with my sister Genasee and her husband Rich, and my dad. I was very excited about this. I have not been to Lagoon for 4 years, and that was with my kids when they were little, so I didn't get to go on the fun rides. The last time I went when I got to go on all the fun rides was 9 years ago, so I was way past due to go on some scary fun rides. It was such a great day to be off of 'mommy duty' and spend a fun day with my sister, brother-in-law and my dad. My dad was so funny on the rides, he doesn't really like the scary ones, so he would scream his head off and yell out some very funny (not to be repeated) things. I was laughing my head off on most of the rides. The first ride of the day that we went on was Wicked. WOW! What a 'welcome back to Lagoon'! That is probably the scariest ride ever! I had tears running down my face from the speed and spinning, and laughing at my dad between screams!!

We went on Gen and Rich's 11th anniversary. They still act like newly weds.

This is the "little stream" on the way to Rattle Snake Rapids. It has been such a wet year, that it had turned into a big, fast running river. I had never seen it this big, or running so fast!

This is dad (still screaming) and Rich after getting soaked on Cliffhanger.

Gen and me after getting soaked on Cliffhanger.

In line for a ride, I saw this sign. I thought that it was so funny for a sign like that to be on a fence like that!!

Getting ready to go to the pool for the first time of the year.

The pool at our apartment opened the weekend of Memorial Day at the end of May. The weather had been so wet and cool, that it was not warm enough to go swimming til almost the end of June.

The kids last day of school was July 1. That week before they were done, each of their classes had end of year programs where they sang songs and showed the parents some of the things they learned during the year.

This one is Ariana's. I didn't get many pictures because I was trying to record hers, but the videos wont download.

Gerry singing 'Animal Crackers' with a zebra hat on. (zebra is his favorite animal)

It was hard to get good pictures. But those little kindergartners were so cute (especially my little kindergartner!!)

Again, kinda fuzzy. But that's my cute boy waving to me!

Princess Festival

2011-06-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

On June 18th we went to the Princess Festival at the children's garden at Thanksgiving Point. We had a fun group. All three of my kids, my mom, and Kirah and Kimberly. Ariana loved every bit of it, and could have stayed longer, I wouldn't have minded staying either, but after three hours, everyone else was more than ready to go. Gerry seemed to enjoy himself, he liked getting autographs in his book, but tired of it after a while. Anela had fun, but wanted to be free to run around where ever she wanted, and got sick of not being allowed to run off. Kimberly didn't really get the point and was sick of it really quick, so Kirah found a sand pit for her to play in, that she seemed to really like. As were were walking out, the kids decided that they wouldn't mind staying a little longer to play at the fountain where there is a big Noah's ark.
Ariana got her hair done in a 'princess hair do', and loved it. I need to learn how to do fun things with her hair. When I was her age, my mom used to do such fun fancy hair do's and I loved it. She also got her nails painted. It was nice for her to have her princess pampering!
All in all, we had a fun time, and they are already asking to go back. Ariana has asked if we will go again next year. Anela doesn't really understand the concept of yearly, and keeps asking to go back now. Hopefully we will be able to go again next year!

Princess Festival fun!

Playing in the fountain at the end of a fun day.

Ariana with her favorite princess, Sleeping Beauty.

On top of a huge pile of mattresses. (had to climb up on a latter)

I love the pretty flowers in the pond.

With Rapunzel

Ariana as Rapunzel

Ariana with Cinderella, after watching Cinderella's play.

Getting Autographs

Anela and Princess Mila.

Ariana's princess hair do

Ariana getting her hair done

Ariana with the little mermaid

Anela with the little mermaid

All the kids in the carriage.

Kimberly made me laugh when she was holding a sucker while sucking her thumb!

April and May in a nutshell, Looking forward to summer and warmer weather!

2011-05-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot has been going on lately. The kids were out of school for most of April, but the weather was pretty crappy, so we had to stay indoors which was not fun for any of us! We did get to go out to Discovery Gateway with Kirah and Kimberly one day, which was fun. We also took the kids out and got their pictures taken. I am pretty happy about how they turned out. It would have been nice to get some better smiles on some of them (especially Gerry!) And Anela started to get pretty cranky near the end. It's good to have some professional pictures of them though.

The main thing of note for me in May was that the Saturday before Mothers Day Kirah and I went out for a whole day with no kids or husbands. We got massages, went shopping and went out to my dads to sit in the hot tub (which was way too hot!) It was nice to have a day out without having to worry about getting home to the kids and our husbands. Afa even made my day start early by taking the kids on Friday night and sleeping over at his friends house. That way I was able to start my day off as soon as I went to bed that night, and I got to wake up to a nice quiet house. I love my husband and kids so much, but it was so wonderful to have a whole day off!

There are several things we are looking forward to this summer. My sister Colby, her husband Derek and their 5 kids are coming to visit for the whole summer! (they live near Chicago)

We are looking forward to using the pool a lot as soon as the weather warms up. It opened on Saturday, but it has been pretty cold and rainy, as soon as it reaches 80 degrees we will start going.

We also want to make at least one trip out to the zoo over the summer, they are having live sized animatronic dinosaurs this year!

And at least one trip out to Lagoon. Hopefully I will be going to Lagoon with Genasee and Rich once so that I can go on the big rides, then I want to take the kids at least once too.
I am really looking forward to going to the drive in. There are only two movies that are coming out this summer that I know I want to see, Cars 2, and the final Harry Potter. I hope there are some other good movies this summer too, cus I love the drive in!

2011-04-02T14:16:00.001-07:00

Our Month in a Nutshell- March 2011

2011-04-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

March 1-14- Well, we are two weeks into the month, and nothing of note has happened to make me think to come on and post. We are all just going about our daily business. Afa has been working out of town, but coming home every week on Thursday nights, and staying til Sunday night. This week he is working all week. He will probably come home after work on Saturday, so that he can go to church Sunday, but he might just stay in Delta. That depends on how they all feel on Saturday. It is nice when they come home, but a pain for them to have to travel and then only be home less than 24 hours.

The weather has been pretty nice lately, or maybe a little bi-polar! It actually snowed a week ago, and three days later it was in the 60s! It is nice that the kids have had a few opportunities to go out and play. It is great for them to get the fresh air, and get their energy out, and it is a good break for me too. I love to let them go play at the playground, and I can just sit on the bench and relax and read a book. Or I will let them play just outside our apartment and leave the back door open to keep an eye on them. That way I can get some cleaning done without them going stir crazy in the house, and driving me crazy too!

March 21- Anela went to the far side of the room and squatted down like she needed to poo, so I asked her if she needed to go, and she put her finger to her lips and told me to be quiet, so I knew that she was going to poo. I grabbed her and ran to the bathroom and hurried and took her pants and diaper off. I put her on the toilet and she sat there for a few minutes and then said that she was done. She hadn't done anything. She has been really good about sitting on the potty several times a day for months, but has never actually gone in it. I knew that she had to poo though, so I put her little potty in the family room and let her sit on that. A little while later when no one was looking she actually went over and pooed in it for the first time! Over the course of the next week her potty training has really taken off! She has only had two messy diapers in the last 8 days! And she is doing a lot better about peeing in the potty too. Today she actually told me that she had to poo, when she had a diaper on cus we had just gotten home from my dads. So we took it off and she pooed in the potty. A little while later she was standing there naked and she grabbed her bum and ran to the potty and peed! I am so proud of her, and she is proud of herself too. I am also very excited about her being potty trained because she is my last baby, so when she is done, I will be done with diapers for good!

March 25- Friday-My brother Kellen flew into SLC on a buddy pass from me. His wife Kathy and their son Shade had flown in the Friday before to visit her dad in the hospital. I worked all that day, but my mom had come in the day before so that she could spend time with them the day he got here. I was excited to see them all. I hadn't seen my brother for over two years, and only seen Kathy and Shade twice in that time.

March 26- My 3 brothers who live in St. George, Camron, Jamie and William, drove up to SLC and stayed the night at my house.

March 27- My 3 brothers, my kids and I went to my dad's house where Kellen Kathy and Shade were staying. We spent the day there visiting and the kids played together. It was a lot of fun. The kids love having a cousin to play with, and Shade loved it too. I wish they lived closer! The boys came back and slept at my house again that night.

March 28- We went back to my dad's, and my sister Genasee had the day off so she was able to join us. We just stayed at my dad's and visited again. I love spending time with my family, especially when there are so much of us. It was a lot of fun! I just wish that we had more time, since Kellen only had a few day here. Or even better, I wish they lived closer! The 3 boys left dad's around 5 to get their stuff from my house and hit the road to go home. Kellen Kathy and Shade left dad's around 8:30 to meet her family at the hospital where her dad still is, and pick up her brother. They got to my house around 11pm, and had to get up really early and leave by 5:40 to get Kellen to the airport, so we didn't really get to spend more time together. I was glad they came over though, at least I got to see them one last time before they had to leave.

March 29- SEP conference for Ariana. I got to go to parent teacher conference, but unfortunately Ariana's teacher's husband passed away recently, so she has been out. I did go in and meet with the sub, who has been in the class several times during the year, and every day for a little over a week now, so she knows Ariana. She had only praise for Ariana! The report card was already done by Ariana's teacher, and the sub did her assessment testing. She got 5 out of 5 in every subject on her report card, and she passed her assessments with flying colors. She is supposed to be at level 1.6 in reading, and she is at a 2.5! On her speed reading test she is supposed to be able to read 45 words in the allotted time, and she did 94! She also did really well on her addition. She's having a little harder time with subtraction, but still passed with 11 done when the minimum is 10. The teacher also said that Ariana has a lot of friends in the class and gets along with everyone. She said that she is very helpful to the teacher and other kids. (Of course this came as no surprise to me! & I did tell the teacher that she is the oldest so she is used to helping me and her younger brother and sister.) Needless to say, I was feeling like a very proud mama in that meeting and afterwards couldn't wait to tell everyone and show off her report card and tests!

Poo Poo in the Potay!!

2011-03-22T17:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I noticed that Anela went off by herself to poo, so I hurried and ran her to the bathroom before she did it. She sat on the potty for a couple of minutes and then said she was done. She hadn't done anything so I asked her to stay on the potty for a bit, but she didn't want to. I took her to the family room with her little potty and told her to sit on it. She did, and a few minutes later she had pooped in it! So we made a big deal about it and I let her take the bowl out and dump the poop in the potty and flush it.
This morning I took her clothes off and put her potty out so that she could use it if she needed to. She sat on it several times, but didn't do anything. Later, I decided that we would go to the store with Kirah, so I told Anela that if she wanted to see Kirah and Kimberly she had to go pee pee before we left. A couple of minutes later she said that she had gone. She brought the bowl to me and asked if she could dump it. I looked and she had peed in it, but only a few drops. We made a big deal anyway, and I let her dump and flush again. Then I had to put a diaper on her to go out.
After the store and picking up the kids, I left the diaper on while we had dinner, and then the kids played outside for a while. When they came in, I just took her pants and diaper off again. After a while she looked like she was going to go to the other room, and I thought that she was probably going to find a private place to poop, so I told her that she had to poo in the potty. A few minutes later she had done it again!
I am so glad that she is finally moving forward with the potty training. I hope that she will be fully potty trained by her birthday in May. Once she is completely out of diapers, I will be done with them for good. I am so ready for that!

Anela-isms

2011-03-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

I love the things that kids say when they are learning to talk. Anela has been talking for quite a while already, but is still learning how to pronounce things.

This morning she asked me "Mommy, can we go to the store and get some shubbles? Pleeeeeaaaassssee?" I asked her what was it that she wanted and she made a digging motion with her hand and said "Shubbles."

When I was getting her dressed, I said "You have to wear green today 'cus it's Saint Patrick's Day." She asked "What's Plastics Day Mommy? What's Plastics Day?"

Another thing that she did that made me laugh, wasn't that she said a word wrong, she was just being silly. I went to check on her the other night after I put her to bed and she was sitting on the bed naked. I asked her why she was naked and she threw her arms in the air and yelled "Surprise!"

She's at such a fun age right now, she makes me laugh so much. Sometimes I get a little sad that she's not a baby anymore, and I know I wont have anymore, but I love watching her grow and learn every day!

Our Month in a Nutshell- February 2011

2011-03-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

Feb 5- Worked all day as usual. Afa had to go out to Nevada to work one day, so his sister Fa’atonu watched the kids. They were not happy with her, and some things happened that made me realize that I have to find a new babysitter before I start my new shift on the 25th working all day Friday’s instead of Saturdays. I hate looking for a babysitter!

Feb 6- Afa left for AZ early in the morning, he will be coming home Friday. The kids and I had a nice lazy day watching LOTR with the cast commentary! J

Feb 7- Kids are back on track. It’s nice for me to have a few hours during the day with one child instead of three, but a pain in the butt to have to go back and forth to the school three times a day!

Feb 8- Fa’atonu’s birthday. I made lasagna for dinner, (which she loves) and a cake, and got her a little present. She didn’t show up (no big surprise there, although disappointing since she called the day before to make sure that we were still doing it!) so the kids and I got to eat the lasagna and cake which was all very yummy.

Feb 11- Afa got home from working in AZ, around 1pm. He spent the day running errands, and at about 6pm he left with his friend Tua (who also just got home from the same job in AZ) to go to the Sevens World Series Rugby tournament in Las Vegas. He loves rugby and has always wanted to go to this tournament, but has never gone, so this was his Valentines Day/ Anniversary gift from me.

Feb 11-I took the kids over to our friends Jerry and Kuini Souifua’s house. Then spent the night there so that they could stay there while I worked all day Saturday. The kids have been upset with Fa’atonu, and get really upset if I even mention having her watch them, when I asked them if they wanted to go to Aunty Kuini’s they all got sooo excited! It makes me feel a lot better knowing that the kids are happy and with someone that I know I can trust! It’s pretty sad that we can’t really trust Fa’atonu since she’s family, but I have tried so hard for too long, and I am done!

Feb 13- Kuini had called me while I was at work on Saturday and said that she was worried about me driving so far, so late at night, (they live in Sandy, we live in Magna, I work at the airport) so that if I wanted to, I could leave the kids over night again and get them on Sunday morning. So on Sunday I went to get them, and spent some time visiting with Jerry Kuini and their 2 boys for a bit. It’s nice to see them, because I don’t get to see them that much. And it was so nice to see how happy the kids were after spending the weekend with them. They were all so happy and said they had a really good time, though Anela said she was ready to go home.

Feb 14- <3> Afa and Tua drove through the night to be home for Valentines day, which is also our 7th anniversary. We have never been big on Holidays though, so we don’t really have plans for the day. He wanted to go out, but I didn’t want to have to ask someone to baby sit for us on Valentines day! So I went and ran some errands in the morning after I took Ariana to school, and when it was time for Gerry to go to school, Afa took him, and then he ran some errands! Other than that we just spent time together at home. Not what a lot of people would call the best Valentines Day/Anniversary, but it’s good for us!

Feb 16- I went to Costco with Kirah and I stocked up big time on some everyday items. A few of the things I got will last over a year! But I got enough of everything to last at least a few months each. I figured I would sock up while things were on the coupon sale, and while I had money from my tax return.

Feb 19- Mom flew into SLC to spend a few days while she was off work. She had an interview at Primary Children’s while she was here. It was really good to see her, and spend time with her, even if it wasn’t a lot of time.

Feb 21- Monday, President’s day, kids have no school. Spent a little time with mom before she has to go to the airport. Hoped she would get on a flight, they are all busy because of the Holliday. Luckily she gets on the 3:20 flight home with no problems.

Feb 21- Spend as much time with Afa as we can too, cus he is going out of town again. He will probably be out of town most of the time, at least during the week, for the next few months. Luckily this job, that will last about 2 months, is just in the little town of Delta Utah. It’s too far for them to commute every day, but it’s nice to know that he’s not too far away.

Feb23- Went out to Kaysville to help my dad move some of his stuff from his house into a storage unit under his new apartment in Bountiful. They have to wait til the 16 of March to get the apartment, but want to be ready to be in the apartment that day. We got to walk through the model apartment while we were there, and they are soooo nice!

Feb24- Went out with sisters Jessica and Genasee. I haven’t seen Jessica for about 6 years! She has 4 kids, who I had only met 2 of before now. We met at Valley Fair Mall and had dinner and went to the movie Mega Mind. It was so fun to see her and her kids. My kids were so glad to meet their cousins and find out that they have cousins who live close by. Hopefully now we will be able to keep in touch better and spend time together on a regular basis.
February was a good month.

We have a lot planned for March, hopefully it all goes good too!

Our Month in a Nutshell- on hold

2011-03-02T21:03:00.000-08:00

OK, just found out that my stupid computer wont let me copy and past from office works to blogger! I thought that would be a better way to do the "month in a nutshell" posts so that I would work on it all month instead of trying to remember everything and do it all at once, or when I save it on here and post it later, the post date is the day I start it, not the day that I actually post it. That messes it up if there were posts in between. Anyway, just so that anyone who cares knows, I will post the February post when I have a little more time since I will have to re-write the whole thing!

Proud Momma!

2011-02-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

First just a few random pictures.

Anela doing what she calls "Baulelei" meaning that she, Aulelei, is doing Ballet.

Anela asking Gerry to come do "Baulelei" with her.

Taking a bow after their dance.

Afa reading from his Samoan Book of Mormon to the kids during FHE.

Gerry reading Dick and Jane. The book that he is currently reading, and his favorite book to read by himself, because he is so proud that he can read all the words.

I have been working with Gerry on his reading after school. Sometimes I can see him getting frustrated when he gets to a word that he doesn't know, and I get worried that he is going to get so upset that he will want to quit. I am so proud of him because he works out the word, most of the time with little or no help from me, and then just continues on with the story. I love seeing the look on his face, when I tell him good job for doing it on his own! He is doing so well, and feeling so proud of himself, that he always wants to read now!

Ariana is also doing really well on her reading. Yesterday when I picked them up from school, she had a new book "Goldilicious". The top three readers in her class (she's number 2) each got a new book to keep for doing so well. Sometimes I am so surprised by the things that Ariana is able to read! I am glad that they are doing so well, and they are both developing a love for reading.

Our Month in a Nutshell January 2011

2011-01-14T08:49:00.000-08:00

Jan 1- I worked ALL day, which was good cus it was all holiday pay. Yay!

Jan 3- Kids went back to school after their holiday break.

Jan 4- First day of the vlcd (very low calorie diet) phase of my HCG diet.

Jan 1-12- Afa and Anela sick with a nasty cold that's going around.

January 10- My mom and Bill came up 'cus Bill is starting a new job at Kenecott. Yay! This means that they will move here someday soon! Monday I got to spend the day with Mom and Genasee before mom had to go home to SGU.

Jan 11- Take Anela to the Dr. about her cough, that morning she says her ear hurts too! Turns out she has an ear infection on top of the cold! Yuck! 2 prescriptions for her. Also take Gerry to the Dr. for a follow up on his ADHD. The medicine is working, but he needs something with extended release when he starts full day school next year.

Jan 13- First day that Anela seems better. She's smiling and playing, not coughing. Yay!

Jan 13-First day of flts at the new SGU airport. CRJ's Yay!!

Jan 14- Today is the first day of the month/ year that Afa works. Not good, but at least it didn't go on longer.

Jan 14- Kids last day of school. Off track for 3 weeks.

Jan 15- Mom and Bill drive up with things to fill their apartment that Bill is staying in while training at Kenecott. As soon as mom gets a transfer up here she will join him, and they will buy a farm. I am excited to have my mom close!

Jan 17- While I am looking a flts for mom to fly home to St. George she says that I should just go with her. What a fun idea! Since I don't work till Saturday and the kids are out of school, we go ahead and go with her. We fly down with her, and have a nice little mini vacation, then fly home on Thursday night.

Jan24- Last week I found Jessica and Jason Bailey on Facebook. They are my step sister and brother from mom's second husband. I was very glad to be able to see what they are up to, and see pictures of them and their families. I sent a message to Jessica that I would love to see her, and that we should go out and have a "sisters day out" with Genasee. She replied that she would like to go out with us. I am very excited to see her, it's been years! Now we just have to get a day coordinated that we can all get together.

Jan 26- Kirah watched the kids for me, and Genasee and I went to Jordan Landing and had a long day of shopping! It was really nice to spend the day with my sister, and not have to drag the kids around to all the different stores. We were able to take as much time as we wanted and go to several different stores just to look around and have fun. We also went to Wendy's out there for lunch. Later we picked up the kids and put them to bed and I helped Gen make a lasagna (I was surprised that she had never made one) Then while that was in the oven Gen stayed at my house while I went and picked up Bill from the airport (I took him there in the morning and he flew to SGU to see his son come home from his mission in Mexico) When I got back we visited for a little longer and then Gen took the lasagna home to Rich (who was sleeping by then) It was a fun day!

Jan 30- finally got Ariana and Anela's room cleaned up, thanks to Kirah. I have a hard time starting something that is going to be a big project, but Kirah got it started with us, and we were able to finish on Monday. We still need to put the bed together, then I can see how high it will be and get some bins that will fit under it for even better organization, but it is a lot better. It's hard to have 2 girls sharing a 10x10 room!!!

Jan 31- Monday was my mom's birthday, and I didn't even say "happy birthday" to her til the next day! I was thinking about her birthday a lot over the month, and Genasee and I got her a sweater that she really liked and gave it to her early. But once the day came, I totally forgot! I even called and talked to her that day. Sorry mom! I feel bad. :(
I went into work Monday to bid for the short bid that starts on Feb 25th. I was very surprised that I got my first choice! The shift is Wednesday-Friday 7-11:30am. I really cannot work that shift, but I bid it cus my friend is going to do trades with me so that I will only work 7am-10:30pm on Friday and have the rest of the week off! I have already only been working one long day a week, but it is Saturday which is not fun, cus that is a day that a lot goes on and I hate missing it. So now I am very excited to work only one day and have weekends off! :) I know that I am very spoiled!! :)

Off to a new month...................

Christmas (eve) Day

2010-12-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas, which we celebrated on the 24th since I work all day on Saturdays. First thing in the morning we did the presents at home with just us. Really it was just the kids having a ball, and Afa and I watching them have fun, because Afa and I don't do gifts for each other. It was a lot of fun watching their reactions to all the presents. I got some really good pictures of Ariana's facial expressions, but Gerry was just going "Oh! Awesome! Cool!" you can't really get that in a picture. Anela was just kind of in a daze most of the time. LOL!
This year I decided to save some money and have less waste and less mess by skipping the wrapping paper. It's kind of dumb to spend money on paper and 5 times as long wrapping as it takes to unwrap it all, and then you just throw it all away. So I just set up all their presents and put things together that required assembly. That way they just got to look over all their stuff and start playing with it right away. And they each had their HUGE stockings to empty out too. (We got the really nice huge stockings with all our names on them a couple of years ago from my mom)
After a couple of hours admiring their loot, we left for my dad's house. We had a fun time with Dad and Debbie and Genasee and Rich. My dad made some really good ham and funeral potatoes, and of course Genasee brought dessert, cookies, cupcakes and pie!! I didn't get many pictures there, but we had a great time. The kids got to open presents, but Anela only wanted to open 1. She liked the Cat in the Hat matching game so much, she refused to open any more! LOL! So we opened her other presents for her.
Gen and Rich made everyone Santa sleds out of wrapped candy and raisin boxes, way cute!

Gerry with his little "pet hamster" from gma and gpa. It makes noises and runs around on the ground.

Ariana with her "pet bunny"

Anela just wanted to relax and eat some chocolate, and watch the other kids have fun with their gifts. She's not a morning person, even when there are new toys!

What's gong on!?

Sharing her sucker with her new Dora doll from gma Bailey.

That's a good Christmas morning face!

Happy with her loot!

Happy boy

Showing Ariana his dinosaur book.

So excited about her box full of princesses. I was lucky to get the last one on the black friday sale at Target. 7 disney princess dolls.

Pajama Day

2010-12-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

I got all the kids pjs to give to them on Christmas Eve, which for us this year will be Thursday since I work all day Saturday. Last night I decided that I would give Ariana and Gerry theirs a couple of days early, because they have pajama day today at school, and I thought that it would be fun for them to wear their new jammies. They both really like their new pjs. As you can see, Gerry's have lots of spots balls, and Ariana's have princesses and crowns. They still have new slippers that they will get on Thursday, and Anela will get her jammies and slippers then. We will be doing our main Christmas present opening on Friday morning, and then we will go to my dad's house around noon or 1, and spend time with him and Debbie, and my sister Genasee and her husband Rich.
I work all day Saturday, which I am actually glad about. I could have easily gotten the day off, but then I would have had to pick up hours some other day so that I don't go under hours. I figure that if I have to get the hours sometime, I might as well get them on a day that I will be getting time and a half pay the whole day! I don't really care about doing everything on the exact day, as long as we get to spend time together and have our holiday fun, and the kids
certainly are not complaining about getting Christmas a day early! I will also be working on New Years day, which is another paid holiday. I was very happy when I worked out this trade with my friend so that I would only work Saturdays. (I am at work for 15 hours, but only 13 hours are paid, but at least I get to stay home with the kids all week.) I was extra happy when I found out that both Christmas and New Years are on Saturdays, 2 days at over $20 in 2 weeks! It will help us save up for Afa's slow time. I am actually surprised that he is working all this week, and they don't look like they are slowing down yet, but you never know with his job. There have been times where he will go from working over time to no work at all from one week to the next. Usually January is his slowest time of year, but we'll see...........

Decorating Trees

2010-12-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

Today I went and got 3 tiny trees for the kids to decorate for Christmas. I had decided that I didn't want to get a big tree because there really isn't room for one in our tiny apartment. I didn't even put up a tree last year, because the year before the kids had most of the decorations off the tree and lost before Christmas. I really wanted them to have the fun of decorating and having a tree this year though. I was going to go get a little 4 foot one that I had seen at Big Lots, but when I went back, they were gone. Then I saw these little 2foot trees, and decided that it would be fun for them each to have their own. And they are in really fun colors too! Anela's is purple, Ariana's is pink and Gerry's is red. They were really excited about it, and had a lot of fun with them. They aren't the prettiest Christmas trees ever, but they serve the purpose that I wanted them for perfectly. The kids love them, and are having a lot of fun admiring them with the lights off. It's nice to have something here to help us get into the holiday spirit.

Just a little update

2010-12-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to do a quick little post since I get annoyed at others for not posting when I want to see what's going on with them. Since the whole reason for this is to keep in touch with people we don't get to see much, here is what's going on in our part of the map.

I am going crazy!!

I have had problems with anxiety and depression most of my life, though I didn't realize exactly what it was til after Gerry was born. The doctor gave me some medication at that time, but I really didn't like it, so I have been working on controlling it without medication. Most of the time I do pretty good, but of course there are good days and bad days (or weeks). Lately I have been having major flare ups of both. I have been having a hard time with my car, it seems like everything is wrong with it. I had to get it registered in October, but it took til mid November to actually get it done, because so much needed to be fixed on it. Luckily Kirah's husband Jeremy did a lot of the work for me. I am so grateful for what he did for me. He spent 3 days of a 4 day weekend working on my car! After it was road worthy and registered, it decided that it just didn't want to start anymore! The battery kept dying for no apparent reason. I would drive it to the store, and when I got back to it, it would be dead. And no, I wasn't leaving the lights on or anything else stupid. I took it to the mechanic and he said that he can't find anything wrong with it! So I just have to drive it around and hope that it starts when I need it!
There has been a lot of sickness going around, and we have gotten most of them, so there hasn't been much time that there isn't at least one of us sick with something. The latest affliction is a stomach flu, so I have been spending a lot of time cleaning clothes, blankets, rugs and the floor of throw up from kids who don't get to the toilet fast enough. (or in one case throwing up on the rug while sitting on the toilet!)
I feel stressed out because I have been going through all of this feeling pretty much like a single mother. Afa is working a lot which is great, but he has not worked in town since September. He has only been home about 24 hours out of every week, and half of that is while I am at work! I am grateful for his job, because it pays the bills so that I don't have to work much, or worry about who is taking care of my kids, but it is hard to have him away so much.
OK, I better get back to my job, of getting the kids to sleep and cleaning the house.
Hopefully I will have something better worth posting about soon.

St. George and Halloween

2010-11-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

We just got home yesterday from St. George after staying there for 12 days. It was great to get away for a while while the kids are off track, but it is nice to be back now, and will be really nice when the kids go back to school next week! I am sure that mom and Bill are glad to have their house back too!
We had a good time in St. George, except that Anela had a major terrible two attack. She wasn't feeling well pretty much the whole time we were there, and she made sure that everyone knew how she felt! I got a couple pictures of her mean face that she makes. She crosses her eyes when she's really mad, I got one of that in Kirah's camera, I will have to get it from her and post it later.
We were there over Halloween, which was fun. My mom made Gerry's Harry Potter costume, I really like how it turned out. The kids had a lot of fun, but I was disappointed. It seems that if you want to do the traditional trick or treating from door to door, you are now in the minority, and hardly anyone is home. We do trunk or treat here with the ward, so I was excited to do the door to door down there, but it was kind of a bomb. Probably about 75% of the houses near my mom's were empty when we went out. The kids didn't seem to mind though, so I guess it was OK.
Aneal was very emotional while we were there, and would cry anytime anyone said "no" to her. My mom told her that if she acts like that she would have to go the the back room till she could be quite and play nice. One time when she was in the back, my mom when to get her and see if she was ready to come out. She was mad at my mom so she wouldn't come out of the room, so my mom just left the door open and left. Later we went to see what she was doing since she still hadn't come out, and she was asleep in the closet. I thought it was kinda funny, so I took a picture of her. The next day she got upset again and was about to cry, so she just ran off to the back room by herself!

A couple of examples of her mean face (with Ariana's sweet face in the back!)

Cute little back cat out trick or treating. She put her bag around her neck because it was easier for her to hold (even though it didn't get very heavy!)

At the mall trick or treating earlier in the day on Saturday.

I wish that I had gotten a picture of Anela at the store where the guy giving out candy was dressed as a gorilla. He was crouched down on the floor, and when Anela got to him and he reached over to put the candy in her bag, she jumped back. As we were walking away she kept looking over her shoulder giving him her mean look.

Ready to go!

Not so ready to go!!

Cute Disney fairy (love the Halloween socks!)

Harry Potter. Yes I am dumb and for got to give him the scar! It's OK though, he said that he wanted to be a wizard, and I was the one who said that he would be Harry Potter.

Before trick or treating on Saturday we went to watch Grandpa Bill do some roping with his buddys. When they took a little break he gave Ariana and Gerry rides on my mom's horse Jazzy.

Doesn't Ariana look thrilled to be on a horse?

Gerry did a lot better, he wanted to go faster, and loved it when they got up to a trot.

Of course while we were there we had to go to the burger place. I think the kids love it as much as I do. They kept asking to go there. We went twice while we were there. I got the turkey guacamole BLT, it is SOOO good!!

Must Read!

2010-10-15T08:49:00.001-07:00

For all of you Lord of the Rings fans out there who have not read the books, you HAVE to read them!! (Start with the Hobbit) Of course we all know that books are better than movies, and this is no exception. I have liked all the movies since they first came out, but it took me a long time to get around to reading the books. Most of the time I prefer to read a book before watching the movie made from the book, but if I had tried that with LOTR I don't think that I would have been able to get through them! J.R.R. Tolkien had an amazing imagination! Without the movies, I don't know if I would have understood a lot of the things that he described. At least not nearly as clear as they are depicted in the movies. I am not quite done with the books yet, I am almost done with The Two Towers, and then have The Return of the King. Even though I am not done yet, I am already planning on reading them again! I know that every time I read them I will get more out of it. Everyone I know who has read them, read them more than once. And I have never talked to anyone who said that they didn't like them, just a couple who said they were kind of hard to get through the first time.

I am a major book worm. I love to read, and hate it when I don't have a good book. Most of the time I will be reading a couple, or even several books at a time! I know that not everyone gets into books the way that I do, so you will have to forgive me for trying to push books on you if you feel this way! I am just really enjoying these and I could not keep it to myself.

Reading

2010-10-01T14:18:00.001-07:00

I am so glad that my kids have inherited my love for reading. It is especially good now that Ariana and Gerry have both been assigned by their teachers to read at least 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. They all love to read, and love being read to. They are all showing progress in reading as well. Anela is recognizing most of the letters, Gerry is getting better and better at figuring out how to sound words out, and Ariana is just amazing at how well she is reading. I am very proud of all my kids!
Here are some pictures of them enjoying their books. Whenever we go to D.I. I let them each pick out 3 of the 50cent books (because they are 3 for a dollar) they love picking out there own books.

Babies

2010-09-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize until after I did the post on Ariana's birthday that I left out the picture of the babies, and I wanted to put in the picture of Ariana's picture frame that she made, with the picture in it.

Ariana's frame and picture to always remember her 7th birthday. I should have gotten a picture of all the kids holding their frames, there were some very cute and clever ones, but I didn't think about it til it was all over. I should have gotten more pictures of the whole thing, but you stay pretty pre occupied with that many kids!

All the babies at the party. Anela, Dilyn (Lauren's youngest 1.5 years), and Kimberly

Birthday Party

2010-09-16T10:56:00.001-07:00

Sorry this has taken so long. Ariana had her birthday party on her birthday, Saturday the 4th. It was a lot of fun, but not many of her friends came. Luckily my good friend Lauren was able to come with her 3 kids, and Kirah came with Kimberly as well. Otherwise it would have been terribly small. Of all the kids we invited from her old school, and her new school, only 2 came. Maddy and Zac from her kindergarten class. With my 3, Laurens 3, Kimberly, and Maddy and Zac we had just the right amount of kids for a fun party. The kids all made picture frames out of card stock and we took their pictures with Ariana to put in their frames. We had pizza and cupcakes, and let the kids play at the park. I think they all had a lot of fun, and consider my first "kids party" a success. Of course now Gerry is expecting to get a party, so I have to figure out what to do with him!

This picture is from this morning, I just had to take a picture when she came out in all this pink. It reminds me of myself at that age. I even had pure pink keds!

Ariana's 'abstract' artwork. She has been having a great time with her birthday presents. She got art kits from both Zac and Maddy, and I had gotten her some paint too. Since she loves art so much, she is definitely getting much use out of them!!

Ariana with her friends at the party.
Gerry, Camden, A.J. Ariana, Maddy and Zac

Pictures with each friend

Camden (Lauren's oldest 1month younger than Gerry)

A.J. (Lauren's 2nd, 4 years old)

Zac (The one she says she is going to marry, because he asked her to!!)

Maddy

Birthday Girl

2010-09-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

On the morning of Ariana's birthday we let her open presents from us, and the one from my mom before we got ready for her party. She got some clothes and new pjs (that I bought on sale in February!) She got a lot of books. We have been buying books at DI, since most of the children's books are 50cents, and 50 cent books are 3 for a dollar. I got her 9 Barbie books for $3! She also got some other books that I just thought looked cute to read, also Peter Pan because she loved the Disney version so I thought it would be fun to read, and The Secret Garden because I loved that when I was little. I also got her a few "homework books" she loves the little work books, and I found 2 different ones about the U.S. that I knew that she would love because they have maps of the country, and of all the states, and she loves maps. She didn't have any Barbies but has wanted them for a while, I found a Barbie suitcase at DI that was full of Barbies and clothes, she LOVES it! I have wanted to find a nice kitchen set for her for a long time but have not found a nice one that I would afford. My favorite one that I have ever found was in a catalog, it was pink wood, and in 2 separate pieces, it was $99 for each piece! Well I found one almost identical to that one at DI for $8 a piece! It's used of course, but in pretty good shape. I got a some cups and bowls, mixing spoons, whisks, and hot pads at the dollar store to go with it for now. She really loves that too, that is another thing she has been wanting for a long time.

My mom was not able to come for her birthday, but she knew what she wanted to get for Ariana so she just gave me the money to get it here so that Ariana could have it on her birthday. It is a really nice Disney art kit. It has a projector with over 80 images of princesses and fairies to trace and color. It came with paints, markers, glitter glue and magnets to hang the pictures on the fridge.

Art projector set

tons of books

Kitchen set

Playing with the Barbies

First couple weeks of school

2010-09-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

I know that I said that I would get pictures up of Ariana's first week first, then of Gerry's, but I just slack when it comes to keeping up on posts! Ariana has been in first grade for 3 weeks now, and Gerry has been in kindergarten for 2! Wow, I can't believe how bad I have been slacking! Not much has gone on in school, mostly still just getting to know the school and routine. They haven't even gotten homework, except for that they are supposed to read every day. They both love their classes, there teachers and the school in general.
Ariana loves that she gets to stay for a full day now, and gets to have lunch at school. They have both made quite a few friends, I was surprised that Ariana has actually made a several friends who are in different classes too. She was worried that she wouldn't have friends since it's a new school, but she is such a friendly girl, she makes friends where ever she goes!
Gerry is doing really well in school, he has had so much fun! He is learning a lot already, and just having a ton of fun with all the work and his new friends. His class does show and tell every Friday, but they get assignments for it. The first week they had a theme of 'gingerbread man' the whole week. So for show and tell, the teacher sent home a full page outline of a gingerbread man that he had to decorate and bring back on Friday. This week, the show and tell assignment was that he had to bring something that starts with the same letter as his name. I asked him what he wants to take, and he immediately said "Genasee!" We have pointed out to him several times that not only does her name start with the same letter as his, but that it is a 'G' that says the 'J' sound. I thought that it was cute that he wanted to take her, but thought that a picture of her would probably be better. Genasee came over yesterday morning and brought us some cheese cakes and cup cakes for Ariana's birthday party (which is today) and she brought some pictures of her and her husband Rich playing with a baby lynx and some baby tigers. So he took the pictures to show and tell, he thought that was really cool.
Anela really wants to go to school with them, but has been really good about not getting mad that she can't go, and she hasn't been really clingy to me when they are gone. When Ariana went to preschool, Gerry was so clingy to me for months! And when she went to kindergarten he was upset that he didn't get to go too. So I am glad that I don't have to go through that with Anela. She just asks a few times a day where they are, but has gotten to were she doesn't ask as often, and when she does she answers the question herself.

Gerry posing in his new Buzz Light year shirt, new pats and new shoes

Another shirt from Toy Story 3 (they were on a good sale, what can I say)

Ariana showing off her new school clothes

She loves her Barbie lunch box!

Her very first day of first grade. She hated getting up early the first 2 weeks,

but this week she has been getting up before me. You can't really tell in this

picture, but she wore the same outfit to her first day of first grade that she

wore to her last day of kindergarten.

That's it for now. Today is Ariana' s 7th birthday. She is having her first 'friend party' this year, and is very excited. I am a bit nervous, we have always just spent her birthday with our extended family, now I have to entertain a bunch of kids. We will see how that goes! I will post in a couple of days to let you know if I survived, and pictures of the event.

First day of First grade!

2010-08-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

Ariana started first grade today. She goes to year round school, but is on D track, which starts the school year off. The first week of school kindergartners don't go every day. They each have a scheduled appointment with the teacher for a pre-school assessment, then start regular school the next week. So Gerry will start Kindergarten next week.
I think that I have been just as nervous for Ariana to start full day school, at a new school as she has been. I was kind of on edge all day not knowing what was going on with her. I felt a lot better after I picked her up and she told me about her day. There really wasn't a lot to tell. Of course with a grade so young, they don't really get to work right away. It was mostly learning about each other, and how full day school works, what the rules are etc.
It is funny that I get so annoyed with the kids since I am home most of the time with them. We spend so much time just the 4 of us that we really get on each others nerves. I am always glad for a little break from my job around the house as wife, mother and house keeper. But every time that I get away, or the kids are away, I hate that they are not with me where I can see them to make sure that everything is OK. Every time I have feelings like that, it amazes me. Motherhood is an amazing thing. It really makes you go crazy! You never know that you can feel like this until you have kids of your own.
Anyway, we are all excited for Gerry to start school (all except Anela who feels left out that she doesn't get to go too) and anxious to see how he handles it.
More to come next week about His first day, and Ariana's first week. And of course pictures!

WHAT!!

2010-08-04T16:14:00.001-07:00

I've been doing laundry all day, my least favorite chore. Mating socks is my least favorite part of my least favorite chore. There are a lot of things that I hate about doing laundry, they all have to do with after the clothes are clean. But I hate mating socks because there is always at least one without a mate. I just did the girls clothes and came out with 34 little girl socks (some Ariana's, some Anela's) with no mate!!! Where on earth are all the mates? I have no idea!

Not a single pair in the whole bunch!!

Kids stuff

2010-07-29T15:55:00.001-07:00

Princess Garden stuff from Aunty Genasee!

My dear sister Genasee got my girls some really cute Disney princess gardening things. They each got a hat, gloves, apron, bucket, flower pot, shovel and tool bag. They were on sale at Lowes where she works, and when she saw them she said that she just had to get them for the girls. They have really enjoyed playing with them in the sand box. Here is a picture of Anela modeling them and demonstrating how they work.

Bike

When we moved from the house to the apartment we got rid of a lot of stuff. We gave some away, some to DI, and threw some away. Afa (my husband who goes by our last name) gave/threw away a lot more than he should have. Including the kids bikes and art table which he gave to some guy we don't even know. I think that he thought that we wouldn't have room for them, so he got rid of them when I wasn't around to tell him otherwise. Anyway, I have been looking for replacement bikes at DI ever since. But it is hard to find bikes there in good condition, and the right size. Well last week I finally found a good one for $5. The only thing is, it is really tiny. But I figured it would be OK for Ariana and Gerry to share for now (I am still looking every week for bigger ones in good shape) and next year it will be perfect for Anela.

The back tire really needed some air, it held enough that I knew that it didn't need a new tube, but not enough for them to ride it. So I went to Chevron by my house were they have a free air pump. I tried to pump the tire, but the pump was broken, so I went across the street to 7eleven. Their air is 75 cents. I looked around, but I didn't have any quarters. So I went further down the street to another Chevron thinking that their air would be free too. Well theirs was $1.00. I went to the other 2 gas stations on the same intersection looking for free air, before remembering that I had a dollar in my wallet that I could go into the store and change for quarters. I got the quarters and payed the 75 cents that the last station charged and tried to pump up the tire. The stupid hose was shaped in a way that I couldn't fit it onto the tire!! So after fighting with it for 3 minutes the air turned off and we still had a flat! I was really mad about the wasted time and was ready to go home but decided to go to the Jiffy Lube across the street to see if they would do it. They weren't busy thank goodness, so I asked them. They were so nice. When I told them that I had gone to the gas station first one guy said "You didn't pay for air did you!? Air is free, you don't have to pay to breath it!" That is exactly how I felt. So he took the bike, filled up both tires, put a new cap on the back tire since it was missing the cap, and tightened up the training wheels. Then the other guy joked that I would need to bring it back for a tire rotation 'cus the back on was wearing unevenly, or else tell them to ease up on the breaks. They were so helpful and playful, and talking to the kids about their "cool bike", it really made me feel better. I had been in a bad mood after fighting with that air hose, it's good to meet good people who can make you feel better like that!

Ariana on the bike

Ariana and the downstairs neighbor Epeli

Anela

2010-07-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

Anela loves her big sister so much. She follows Ariana everywhere. Ariana usually is perfectly happy about this, but sometimes she gets annoyed and tries to hide from Anela. She hid in the closet only to be followed directly by Anela. I wanted to take a picture to illustrate and got a good one right as Ariana rolled her eyes at the situation.

Anela is at such a fun age. Every day I am amazed and amused by the things she does and says. It makes me sad to know that she will be grown out of this stage all too soon. I didn't feel so sad about the others because I knew I would have more. It's really sad to know that my last baby isn't a baby anymore!

Anela put a cup on a ball like a hat and sang "happy birthday" to the ball. I tried to take a picture of her while she was singing, but she ran away.

Kimberly getting ready for her ride.

Anela giving Kimberly a ride around the apartment in her baby doll stroller.

Sick Kids and Independence Day

2010-07-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot going on here. The kids were all sick from about the middle of last week and through the weekend. They seemed to be getting better, but I think the cold, wind and smoke from fireworks aggravated the situation a bit. Ariana did her usual thing and slept till she was better, but Gerry and Anela are still coughing a lot. Anela is having a hard time sleeping because of the coughing. She fell asleep just now, since she was up most of the night, hopefully her body can heal itself now.
For the 4th we went out to Genasee and Rich's house in Tooele. Gen made hot dogs on the bbq and mac and cheese. She also had a huge bowtie salad that was really good, but we didn't end up eating much of that. We went on a walk to the park (Anela stopped on the way to throw up, then just kept walking like nothing happened) (Gerry walked right into a drop off box as we passed the library, and Genasee laughed her head off at him) the kids had a lot of fun playing with some of the other kids who were there. Then we left when Anela fell down at the end of the slide and just laid there on the ground. She had been going down the slide continuously the whole time we were there, but I could tell that she was getting too tired. When we got back to Gen's we had pie that she made special for Ariana, because Ariana loves pie. By then it was getting dark so we went out for the fireworks. We started with the sparklers, then the fountains, then we moved across the street to join their neighbors and took the big ones that Gen and Rich got. It was cold and kind of windy, and after we went across the street the kids were running around with the other kids, which I didn't like because it was so dark that it was hard to keep track of them. So it wasn't quite as fun as I thought it would be, but I was glad that we got to go out there, because we don't go very often. It was nice to get to spend time with my sister anyway.
I took my camera out there, but I didn't end up taking any pictures. Sorry.
Afa is working out of town again this week. I guess the kids and I are just going to be staying in all week till they are all better. I hate having sick kids! Last night while Anela was trying to sleep and couldn't, she was kind of moaning and rolling around. I just wish that there was something to make her feel better!!!

They grow up so fast!!

2010-06-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

This week was Ariana's last week of kindergarten. She goes to a school that is year round so they go longer. The older grades are in for another week, but kindergartners are out this week so they can all do their assessment tests next week. Ariana goes in for hers on Tuesday, and I know that she will have no problems at all. She has done so well in school.

On Wednesday she wanted her hair in a braid so I did a french braid for her for school. When she took out the braid that night, she loved that her hair was all crimpy. She wanted me to do a braid Thursday night for her to sleep in, so that she would have cute crimpy hair on her last day of school. Well, we forgot to do the braid and she was all upset Friday morning, so we curled her hair in ringlets instead. She loved it, and so did I. It's not very fun standing there curling hair for as long as it took, but it was so cute!

I can't believe that my baby is out of kindergarten. In seven weeks she will be starting first grade and Gerry will be off to kindergarten!! It is so crazy. Anela is already asking me to let her go to school with Ariana, that got me to thinking, and I realized that next year she will be old enough to start pre-school at the same elementary that the others will be at! Next year all of my kids will be in school!

It was kind of windy, so it looks like her hair was sticking up a bit, but she looked so cute!

I couldn't help myself, I just kept taking pictures, she just wanted to run off to meet her friends.

Attack of the Laffy Taffy

2010-06-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today I got some Laffy Taffy for the kids to have after dinner.

While I was opening Anela's, Ariana suddenly said "Oh no! My tooth!"

She had bitten into her taffy and her loose tooth came out in the candy!

It's kinda gross, but I thought that it was funny, so I just had to take a picture and post it!

Tooth in the taffy

Ariana missing another tooth. Soon she wont be able to eat.

Why we haven't posted in a while.

2010-06-10T11:16:00.000-07:00

At the playground at the zoo during the field trip with Ariana's class.

ooops! I can't get rid of it.

Ariana with her "boyfriend" Zac. He said that he wants to marry her when they grow up, and she is already planning the wedding! She designed a dress for Grandma Bailey to make for her and has half of the guest list done. She has even told me what I am supposed to wear!!

Ariana and Zac wrestling a crocodile!

Baby elephant playing with her balls. She was so cute running, kicking and hitting the balls!!

The group that I was in charge of at the zoo for Ariana's class field trip last week.

Riley, Ariana, Zac, and Tyler

I always wanted a daughter with curly hair. Now that I have one, this is what our mornings look like!
On the way home from the zoo on Anela's 2nd birthday. May 15

At the zoo on Anela's birthday. Silly girl didn't want to put her head in the lions mouth for the picture!

I know it has been a while since I last posted, but I have a very good reason. We moved! We were not happy in the house we were in, and had been wanting to move for a while. Then some things happened that made it possible to move right away. It was all very sudden. We found the place and got approved and moved in all in less than a week! We are still in Magna, just further west, and we are in an apartment now. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be happy about the size since it is quite a bit smaller that the house, but I love it here! It is 3 bed 2 bath, and really nice. Yesterday we went to the pool for the first time, and had so much fun! I never thought that I would want to live in an apartment, but I really love it. We have a pool, a workout room, and really nice landscaping, and we don't have to pay for or take care of any of it! The kids have met some nice kids in the area and are adjusting really well. The only problem they are having is remembering to be quiet and not run since we have neighbors below us.

Anela turned 2 just over a week after we moved in, and we did get to go to the zoo for her birthday. It was fun, but there are several empty exhibits right now because they are renovating. We did get to see the baby elephant though, she is so cute!

Last week Friday I went to the zoo again with Ariana and her class as a chaperon for their field trip. That was really fun too. It was nice to spend some time with the class and get to know some of the friends that she is always talking about.

Waiting for the sun!

2010-04-27T15:09:00.000-07:00

My little cuties are just waiting for another sunny day when they can go outside to play. It was really nice for a while but today is REALLY WINDY! And the forecast said that we are going to be getting A LOT of rain in the next 10+ days, and maybe even a little SNOW!!

As you can see they are ready to have some fun in the sun. I am excited for the weather to get better too. I know that we really need the rain, and I am OK with it, as long as the sun follows. What I am really looking forward to is going to the zoo. I think we are going to try to go for Anela's 2nd birthday which is coming up in just a few weeks.

And hopefully we will get to go to Lagoon sometime this summer. I was really wishing that I could go to Lagoon today because I have been pretty stressed lately, and I think that some of the rides would wipe that out, at least for a while.

My sister Colby gave me Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights quite a few years ago, and I really like Jane Eyre. I just re-read it recently and wanted to re-read Wuthering Heights but I couldn't find my copy. Last week I was looking at books at DI and saw Pride and Prejudice. I hear references to this story in many places, but I have never read it or seen any of the movies that have been made from it. So I decided that I should read it. I really like it. It reminded me a lot of Jane Eyre, there are many similarities. If any of you have not read these books, they are highly recommended by me. Especially Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. Wuthering Heights is something that everyone should read because it is a "classic" but it is really quite crazy! The only reason that I want to read it again, is because it has been so long since I read it the first time, I don't remember all the details.

What a cute mess!

2010-04-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

My cuties after church today!

OK, so on one of the other posts there was a picture of Anela eating cereal and I commented on how she is really good at feeding herself. Well obviously that does not include a bowl of ice cream!!! When her ice cream started to melt she put her hands in it and was rubbing it all over her face and in her hair! I guess it was fun. Then when I put her in the bath, the water looked like hot chocolate!
Nothing will stop her from smiling for the camera!

From now on......only popsicles!

It's a good thing I love her so much!!

Dancing (kind of)

2010-04-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Anela wanted nothing to do with it when they tried to include her in the dancing.

She was happy to watch and eat her watermelon.

On Sunday I put on some music for the kids so they could dance. They love to turn the music up and dance all over the place and make up new moves. I wanted to get some pictures of them dancing, so I turned up the music and let them get started. Then I pulled out the camera. As soon as it came up they were more interested in doing tricks and jumping around than actually dancing. That's OK though, I think that I got some pretty good pictures. As you will see, they did a lot of jumping. I like the pictures of them in the air, and was surprised at how high they were able to get in some of them! Anela was having a bad day and didn't want to dance so she just sat with me looking at the pictures and cheering them on while eating watermelon.

He couldn't hold her up...

when he tried to give Ariana a piggy back.

They weigh the same, but she is a little taller. And apparently a little stronger.

Gerry tried to play guitar, using Ariana as the guitar...

but she is too ticklish!

Gerry made a good guitar for Ariana

Tuckered out after dancing and doing tricks all day!

He sure can get up there!

Look at that air!

Jumping Jumping Jumping

Gerry calls this the "funkadilly" it's from a Backyardigans episode about surfing.

surfing moves

More high jumps!!

I don't know where that came from that they can jump so high, I know it's not from me!

These last two pictures I thought were kind of funny with the couch in the background. It almost looks like a couple of giants sitting on the couch instead of them jumping.

Stuff, and Mom's new house

2010-04-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

Mom thinks that I am crazy for
putting this on, but I love the
laundry chute!

View of the front

Downstairs family room

Kitchen

Front room upstairs

Beautiful china hutch at the other end of the

kitchen.

Guest room downstairs, which I hear

is different now. Mom had A LOT of

company recently when her step-daughter

went on a mission to Chile. Before

everyone arrived, they fixed up their

house to accommodate all the people.

Play area in the downstairs

guest room. (Don't know if

this is even still there!)

Not a whole lot has been going on around here. We are just spending a lot of time home, which is not so fun. Afa is working in Nevada right now, so we don't see much of him. It is finally starting to warm up so we did go to the park twice this week. Hopefully soon we will be able to go on some bigger field trips, like to the zoo and the aquarium and Lagoon, Disney Land, Paris.........

Oh well, we are making the best of what we have here. The kids are good at keeping themselves entertained with coloring, reading, dancing and when the weather is nice they play in the back yard. Of course I have no trouble keeping busy as well with laundry, dishes vacuuming and trying to get/keep the house organized.

Yes, I do still have a job away from the house. I still work two days a week at the airport. I think that I have the best shift possible. I only work Thursday and Friday nights, and I get to work in the "cage" which means that instead of being outside throwing heavy bags, I am inside giving out equipment and logging it. Then I put everything away at the end of the night. It's pretty nice, but sometimes it gets lonely in there. But there are always willing people if I want to trade for a while to stretch my legs and visit with my friends. After a while in the cage it actually feels good to be outside and throw a few bags.

One thing of note that did happen this week is that my sister-in-law Fa'atonu, moved out. Again.

She came home on Wednesday and said "I think it would be better for our relationship if I didn't live here, so I am going to live with my friend." Fifteen minutes later she was gone with all of her stuff. Basically she was mad at me because I didn't want to become her personal driver. She decided that she didn't want to pay her car payments anymore and when her car got taken away while she was asleep she expected me to take her to work every night. Her shift starts at 2:30 or 3:30 in the morning, and as I said Afa is out of town. So she wanted me to take her to work wile my kids were sleeping! I told her that I couldn't leave them, and she said it was OK since they were all asleep! I told her before the car got taken that she would have to figure out a way to get to work when the car was gone, and she said that she would. But when it came to it, she was mad that I wouldn't do it. I told her that I wasn't going to be the one to pay the consequences for her actions and decisions, but that just made her mad. That's OK though, she is 31 years old and it is about time that she learns to take care of herself. I was actually glad when she said that she was leaving. It means that I had to get someone else to watch the kids, and I will have to take them there, which is not fun since I don't get home until 11pm. But now I wont worry about them while I work 'cus I know that they are with someone I trust. Kinda sad when you can't trust family, but I was never entirely comfortable with her, she didn't keep a good eye on them.

OK enough of that rant. I took a bunch of pictures of my mom's house while I was there because I love it. So anyone interested in seeing it you're in luck, I finally got my pictures in my computer and know how to use it (kind of). Make sure that you see all three posts that I did today!

OK I did the writing first, then put the pictures on and then did the writing of the pictures. Obviously I need to figure out how to get the writing next to the picture that I want it next to. When I did the preview it looks right. Then when I post it, it is wrong. So you will just have to figure out what caption goes with which picture. Sorry!

Park in St. George

2010-04-18T09:06:00.001-07:00

This is at the park next to my mom's house in St. George. No we didn't go down again yet, these are from February. As you can see the kids had a great time. Unfortunately this was the only day we were able to spend any time at the park, because it was cold and rainy most of the time we were there.

A Bunch of pictures of my cuties

2010-04-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Silly kids playing dress up.

Anela sleeping on the shelf with the movies.

Anela being cute!

Afa trying on his new harness for work.

Anela giving her best friend Kimmy a kiss.

Gerry getting a kiss from Daddy, and showing off his dimples.

Spring Break

2010-04-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ariana got out of school early yesterday and has spring break until Tuesday next week. It has not snowed for quite a while now, and it has been even longer since it has stuck to the ground. I thought that it was kind of funny that the first day of her spring break it snowed all day long, and as you can see quite a bit has stayed.
I didn't even realize that she was going to have spring break this weekend until I got a note about it on Tuesday. It would have been nice if I knew about it earlier cus I would have loved to take this time to go somewhere, but I guess that will have to wait. Hopefully we will be able to go back down to St. George next time she is off track which is only a couple of weeks away. Afa really wants to go to St. George too, so we're hoping that it will work out. The only thing is that we will probably have to make it a really short weekend trip if Afa comes, because he has to work. Even if that is the case, it will be nice for him to come with us, he hardly ever gets to go down because of work.
Bye for now, more to come soon..........

Poor Baby!

2010-03-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

Anela has been sick all week. It is nothing serious but she has been very uncomfortable and has not been able to sleep at night. Of course that means that I have not gotten more that a few hours sleep each night as well. Today she went down for a nap at about 1:00, around 3:00 I heard her get up and she was knocking on her bedroom door to be let out. When I opened the door she was sitting on the floor next to the door. I picked her up and took her into the family room and set her on the couch while I got her a drink of water. She hasn't been eating that well, but drinks a lot of water. I gave her the cup and she just set it down and leaned her head againt the couch. This picture is of her about 5 minutes AFTER she got up from her nap. I am glad that she if finally able to get some good sleep, I just wish that she would sleep at night so I could sleep too. I would love to lay down with her now while she is napping, but with Gerry and Ariana up I am afraid that I would wake up to the house burning down around me!
I know that I said I would post more pictures last week, but I have so many & I have not had a chance to go through everything. When I get them organized and onto my computer I am going to try to do at least one post every week.

FINALLY!

2010-03-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got a new computer about two weeks ago, and yesterday we got the internet hooked up. I am really happy about it because getting this was mostly for me, and I feel like I needed to finally do something nice for myself. When you get married and have kids you sometimes are so busy taking care of others that you don't take care of yourself. I don't remember the last time I got something nice for myself. So now anyone who is following our blog wont have to wait so long between posts and I will be able to put pictures up every time! Not much right now because of course I have laundry waiting and kids and a husband to feed! I will do more tomorrow.
The picture of Anela eating is the first time that she ate cold cerial with milk by herself, She feeds herself pretty well but I held off on the cerial because of the mess that she could make with it. But she gets mad if we try to feed her now, and of course she was doing so good and not making a mess so I had to take pictures. Then when the camera came out she was more intirested in it than the cerial. The other picture is from yesterday. She kept asking for cheese, and I didn't know why cus she never eats just cheese. I thought maybe she wanted macaroni and cheese cus that's one of her favorite things to eat. But then she went over and pulled my camera out and said "Cheese!" while handing it to me. So I took her picute, and she is saying cheese in it. If she had her way we would just constantly be taking her picture all day every day!

2010-02-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Not much going on out of the ordinary right now. I just wanted to do a quick post while I have access to a computer. The kids and I are down in Washington Utah visiting my mom for a little over a week. Afa is getting full time hours right now which is good because this is a slow time for them, but he has gotten pretty high up in seniority so they are working him a lot. It's nice that he stays busy so I don't have to work so much, and I can take time off the visit my family. It's just too bad that the only time I can take off is when he's busy so he never gets to come with us.
Ariana is off track from school right now, but goes back next week. Also next week we get to register Gerry for kindergarten. I am very excited for that! It will be nice when I have two kids in school, and even better the next year when they are both full time. I love my kids but I really go crazy being with them all the time. My new shift at work starting the 19th of February will have me only working Thursday and Saturday nights. It's kind of funny that I wanted the shift that would let me spend more time at home because whenever I am out of the house without them I worry about them the whole time (if they are being taken care of properly, if they got a good dinner at the right time, if they got a bath, if they are put to bed on time ect.) But when I am home with them ALL THE TIME I tend to go a little crazy. It's hard to take them out much because they get so exited about being out of the house that they drive me more crazy when we're somewhere else. It will be nice in the summer when they can finally play outside again and get some othe their extra energy out. Also I am making plans whith Kirah to take the kids to the park a lot and go to the zoo and other summertime activities invented to keep mothers sane!!
OK gotta go for now. I have some pictures of the kids here at my mom's new house and the park two houses down (the one day that was not raining or cloudy and cold) Hopefully I will be at a computer that takes my carera card soon to post them.

A bunch of new pictures!

2009-12-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

I realized after I did the last post that most of the pictures I put on were still kind of old. The pictures of Anela with frosting on her face and the huge cake were from her birthday on May 15th. And most of the others were from the summer. So here are a bunch of newer pictures for you all. You can see that they are getting so big. You can kind of see Anela's beautiful curls that I love! She is a little hard to get good pictures of though 'cus she just wants to see the pictures when she sees the camera. There is one picture of her sitting in the cupboard, that seems to be her new favorite place in the house, she always goes in there and tries to close the door all the way.

Been a long time!

2009-12-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated and even longer since I have posted pictures! As you know I don't have the internet at home, and it's been kind of hard to get to the library lately. The last couple of posts have been from my mom's and her computer wont take my picture card. Kirah asked me to come over to her house to watch her adorable baby Kimberly for a little while so I thought that I might as well do a quick blog while I'm here.
Ariana started kindergarten the end of August, and turned 6 in September. She loves school and is doing great. She is learning to read and write very well. She loves to draw, and since she mostly draws huge closets full of different styles of clothes, she has decided that she wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up.
Gerry just turned 5 a few weeks ago. He is his normal hyper self, and hates being stuck at home while Ariana gets to go to school. When she comes home she likes to teach him what they were learning that day, so he will be ready to start school next year. He and Ariana both got glasses last month. To my surprise they have both done very well at taking care of them and keeping them on. I got glasses when I was 5 and I never kept them on!
Anela is 18 1/2 months now and getting so big. She loves to follow her big brother and sister around. She just wants to be one of the big kids. Luckily the other two are very good with her, they don't get annoyed with her following them around. She loves to help me out with the house work, which usually means unloading the dishwasher as I load it, and unfolding the laundry. She also loves to sweep and mop the kitchen floor. Hopefully she will still want to help out when she is old enough to actually help.
For those of you that we don't see often, you may be surprised by the pictures. The kids have done some major growing since the last pictures that were posted!
There are pictures of our kids, and some of them with their cousins who came to Utah over the summer.
Enjoy!

Weekend in St. George

2009-03-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

The kids and I are at my mom's house in St. George UT. I came down a few weeks ago with my sister for my mom's birthday. That was the logest I have ever been away from all my kids at once! (we were here 2 days) Anyway, my mom's horse had a baby the day before her birthday, so I wanted to bring the kids back to see her. We were going to come back the very next weekend after I got back, but Afa's aunt was going to be in town for a wedding, so we stayed to visit with her. Then the next week I had picked up shifts over the weekend. So we had to wait a few weeks, and now there are two baby colts! The neigbor's horse also had a baby from my mom's stalion.
It's Monday now, and we've been here since Friday. On Saturday we got to see my aunt and uncle (my mom's brother) who were here to see my cousin who lives in my mom's ward. My sister Genasee and her husband Rich got here Saturday night on their way home from Yuma, AZ, where they were visiting Rich's parents. Saturday was Genasee's birthday, so we made a birthday dinner and cake. Mostly we've just been hanging around at my mom's house. A few times my two brothers who live two blocks away came by.
Genasee and Rich left today, and the kids and I are going to be leaving in a few hours. Afa is very nervous about me driving, but he couldn't come with us because he has to work. He is now working in Jackson Hole WY, so he wont be home all week. Sometimes it's hard when he works out of town, but I'm happy that he's working. It helps a lot that his sister Fa'atonu is living with us, so I don't have to worry about the kids while I work.
I promise that I am going to post some pictures on here soon. I don't have my camera wih me, I just wanted to take advantage of the internet while I'm here.

Why Havn't I Updated This Thing??

2009-02-19T14:36:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update to let you all know why I haven't updated in soo long. We got rid of our internet thinking we were going to change service. Well when I called to sign up with the company that I wanted, they said they don't have high speed in our area. My friend has the internet from that company, and she's only a couple miles away from us! Anyway, we decided to wait for a while. So when I have a chance I come to the library and check out everyone elses blogs, but these trips over here are so few and short that I haven't had time to let you know what's going on with us.
I have to go now, but I will try to post again soon, and include some pictures of the kids and my husbands new truck!

Anela, Anela and more Anela!!

2008-12-19T13:24:00.000-08:00

Can you tell that she loves her tongue?!

Past due pictures of her blessing dress that mom made.

What a high tech world we live in when a 7 month old uses a computer!

Cute little bear. Snuggly outfit that aunty Fa'atonu got her for Christmas.

Daddy's girl

2008-12-04T00:13:00.000-08:00

Anela loves her daddy. I just had to take pictures of her cuddling with him today. Every time she hears his voice she tries to go to him. It's so cute, except when I am holding her and she's trying to jump out of my arms to get to him!

Boys will be boys!

2008-11-24T12:25:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, while I was at work, Gerry ran out of the house while Fa'atonu was busy with the baby. She called for him to get back in the house, but the next thing she knows Ariana is screaming that Gerry is bleeding. He had fallen down and hit his eye on the cement. Of course when Afa got home he was freaking out, and he wanted me to come home from work. But I know him too well to miss work for this, he thinks the kids need to go to the hospital when they have a cough, and he can't stand the sight of blood. There was A LOT of blood, but that's to be expected from a cut on the head. Anyway, he's fine, just a nasty owy and black eye. What would a boy be without battle scars?

Twilight!

2008-11-21T11:15:00.000-08:00

Girls Night Out!

Yesterday my friend Kirah and I drove down to Provo to our friend Lauren's house. The three of us met in 7th grade when we were 12 years old, and still try to get together as often as possible. Lauren and her sister-in-law had gone on line and got a bunch of tickets to the November 20th midnight premier of Twilight, and she had invited us to go with her and a bunch of other friends. We went out to her house and hung out for a few hours while we waited for some of the others, then we all went out to dinner at Olive Garden. After dinner we went to the theater at Thanks Giving point to wait for the movie to start. The movie was very good, but not surprisingly it was very different from the book. They had to cut a lot out for time, and to my surprise they actually added in a few things that were not in the book. I know that sometimes they do that when converting a book to a movie because they have to take a lot out, so they add something in so it all still flows and makes sence. But there were a few things in there that just seemed completely random that didn't really need to be there. It didn't make the movie bad, just even more different from the book, and if they didn't add those things in, they wouldn't have had to take as much out. Over all I did enjoy the movie and I will see it again, but if I had not read the book I don't think I would have liked it. Of course like most book to movies, I like to book a lot better, but it is always fun to see the chatacters come to life. I will defenately be there to see the next three movies.
I had a lot of fun last night, not just because I was so excited to see the movie that I had been waiting so long for (I started the books over a year ago and have read them all several times) but also because it has been such a long time since I actally went out without the kids. I love my kids and have a lot of fun with them at home and taking them out, but it is so nice to have a whole night were I don't have to be a mommy or a wife, I was just one of the girls.

Sleeping In

The movie didn't start till midnight and was two hours and quite a ways from home, so by the time I got home it was 3:00am. I of course went straight to bed, but had to get right back up at 5:30am to take Afa to work since his truck isn't working and I need my car to get to work later today. So when I got home from taking him to work at about 6:30am, I of course went right back to bed. Then Ariana and Gerry got up at about 7:30 or so ( I was too tired to really notice the exact time). Being the good kids they are they let me stay in bed. Of course it wasn't really good sleep then knowing they were up, but I just couldn't drag myself out of bed yet. They knew that I was very tired so they said that they would just watch cartoons until I got up. When I did finally get up at about 10:00 am, I found Gerry cleaning the kitchen, of course it was a 4 year old's defenition of cleaning. He had gotten up to the sink and used the hose to spray A TON of water all over the floor, and was in the process of moping when I came in. He wanted to finish for me, but since he doesn't know how to rinse the water out of the mop, I told him thanks, but I would go ahaid and finish. So I spent about half an hour moping up the swimming pool that had been my kitchen. At least the floor is clean, but I have learned my leason not to try to sleep in when my 4 and 5 year olds are up! Usually they just try to make me breakfast and I get up to a ketchup and hunny butter sandwich, but I just stayed in bed way too long today! At least they are trying to be nice and help, I'm sure it could have been a lot worse.

Gerry's Birthday!

2008-11-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

Today Gerry is four years old! We celebrated his birthday yesterday because Afa works this morning and I work tonight, I didn't work last night. Yesterday morning I made German pancakes for breakfast. Then Ariana and I went shopping so she could get something for Gerry. While we were out we decided to pick up pizza for lunch, I had told Gerry that he gets to have whatever he wanted to eat that day, but he couldn't decide. He was very excited about the pizza. By the time we were done eating it was about 3:00pm, Ariana was very excited to see what Gerry was getting and kept asking if he could open his presents, Gerry didn't ask once! I told Ariana that we had to wait for daddy to come home, so she called him to see if he was comming, or if we could just go ahead without him. I couldn't believe that she was so much more excited than Gerry. Afa wasn't able anwer his phone though, and by the time he called back he was off, so of course we waited for him. Gerry got a lot of games, Hungry Hungry Hippos (which they had both been asking for) Guess Who, Go Fish and Backyardigans Memory. He also got a couple of winter outfits, church shoes, sport shoes, a spider man back pack, lots of play doh with activity mats and a V-tech lap top. We all had a lot of fun playing games last night, and foud out that Afa is very good at Hungy Hungry Hippos, though I did beat him once! We didn't have any games before that we could all play together, so this was a lot of fun. We just need to teach Gerry to stop picking up Hippo marbles with his hands, and Ariana to be a good sport when she loses. The first game of Hippos that she played she only got two marbles, so she cried! After that Gerry kept saying, "It's not about winning, it's just to have fun!" as he's using his hands to get more marbles!! I'll post more pictures of them soon, I just wanted to let you all know about his birthday.

Side note: This has nothing to do with the post but I just realized something yesterday. As I was holding Anela and loving how cuddly and small she is I realized that when Ariana was this age I was pregnant with Gerry! I didn't know it for a few more weeks of course, but just remembering that I thought that I would go crazy if I were pregnant again now!!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T20:44:00.001-07:00

This is our Halloween. We went to the church for "trunk or treat". It was a lot of fun. Of course Ariana was happy to see Jessa, who was exited to wear makeup with her Ariel bride costume, and they went around together a lot. Ariana was so exited to get her hair colored. She kept saying "Wow, I never had pink and purple hair before!" Gerry kept telling her how pretty she looked. And he was very happy with his super man costume and the simple mask face paint. The kids both have a lot of friends at church, there are so many little kids! Anela didn't really care about what was going on. With her laid back personality she was OK with people carrying her all around, or just hanging out with me by the car. Afa and Fa'atonu and a couple of our close friends took turns taking her around to see everyone. She hasn't been feeling well so she wasn't her smilly self, but she didn't fuss at all. She didn't keep her face paint on very well because she kept putting her fist in her mouth so the makeup came off on her sleeve!

Ariana and Gerry both took a few turns handing out candy when they needed a break from walking around. I think they had more fun passing out candy than they did going around to get it! After about an hour in the parking lot we went into the church and they had pizza for the kids. Then we left and stopped at Kirah's house on the way home. While we were there some trick or treaters came and the kids passed out her candy too! When we got home it was about 8:00pm, so the kids had to clean up and get ready for bed right away. Of course they didn't really want to calm down. But they at least got cleaned up and got in bed, even if they didn't actually sleep for a while! Now I have to go through all the candy and divide it all up, so they wont have it all for breakfast tomorrow! :)

socks

2008-10-30T12:39:00.000-07:00

Every holliday my mom sends socks to the kids. That's her grandma thing, socks. So anyway, we got the Halloween socks today. Anela got one Halloween, and one mini mouse pair. Ariana and Gerry each got two pair of Halloween socks. So here are both of Anela's, and one pair each of Ari and Gerry.

More Anela

2008-10-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

What can I say? She's just so cute, I can't stop taking pictures!! And I always have to get a picture of Daddy sleeping with the baby. I have tonz with the other two.

Anela

2008-10-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

Lately Anela has started reaching out and grabbing things, like the toys on her walker. This morning I sat her up and put her boppy around her so she wouldn't tip over, and she kept reaching out trying to grab the dots! I just thought that it was cute so I decided to take pictures and post it. Of course I couldn't get a good one of her grabbing dots, but you get the picture.

White Sunday

2008-10-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

In Samoa they have a thing called "White Sunday". It is a Sunday in October where all the children wear white and do a church program. Since we go to a Samoan ward, we have our version of white sunday every year. The primary kids memorize a line or phrase (depending on age) and they do their progam during sacrament meeting. This is all done in Samoan. I'm very proud of my kids for memorizing their lines in Samoan! These are the kids right after church in their new white clothes.

Cutie water babies

2008-10-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

Just some more pictures of the kids. The water slide is at mom's house. We went down for a visit about a month ago, we all had so much fun! Ariana said that we have to move to Washington so we don't have to "drive a long day" to see grandma! Anela didn't get in the water of course, so I just added this picture of her cus she's so cute!

Playing House

2008-10-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

Anela is Ariana's favorite "doll"!!

2008-10-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, here is the family! This is us a few minutes ago, just after church. Afa's sister Fa'atonu has moved in with us, and is a big help with the kids while I work. She has been going to church with us and seeing the missionaries a couple of times a week, and has decided to be babtized. She is going to contunue learning about the church and finish the Book of Mormon first, and be babtized in January.

For those of you living far away, today was our first snow of the season! We woke up with a couple of inches covering our yard and car! I would have taken a picture, but didn't think of it before church, and now most of it is gone. This was the first time Fa'atonu has ever seen snow!

oops!

2008-10-05T00:42:00.000-07:00

This should have been on Anela's post, not that picture of Ariana!

Anela

2008-10-05T00:05:00.003-07:00

Aulelei Anela was born on May 15 2008. She came three weeks before her due date which is not considered pre mature, or even pre term. Still she came in at only 3lbs 15oz and 18 inches! Since she was carried to term she was healthy besides having no fat, which made it hard to keep her temp up for a couple of weeks. Just like her brother and sister, she has made up for a low birth weight, and continues to grow like a weed. She is such a good baby, always happy. She always has a smile for her family who she loves.

Gerry

2008-10-04T23:39:00.003-07:00

Gerry Upolu was born only 14 months after Ariana, on November 12 2004. He was my biggest baby at a whopping 6lbs 1oz and 19 inches! Of course he is a very big boy now, sometimes I forget that he is only 3 years old. Like most little boys, he has a ton of energy and loves sports. He wants to play any sport that involves balls. He is a sweet boy and really loves his sisters!

Ariana

2008-10-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

Our oldest is Ariana Jade., she was born September 4th 2003. She was only 4lbs 12oz and 18 1/2 inches long! You would never know it now by looking at her. She loves to read, draw and dance. She just started a weekly ballet, jazz and tap class. She loves being a big sister and is very good at it. She is always looking out for her little brother and sister.

Our new blog!

2008-10-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello to all you friends and family out there. I thought that it would be a good idea to start a blog since I am so bad at keeping in touch. Of course it doesn't help that people keep moving away! So now you will be able to see my beautiful children as they grow like weeds. A lot of you have never seen our newest addition Aulelei Anela (means "Beautiful Angel" we just call her Anela), and you will be very surprised at how big Ariana and Gerry are getting. Some of you have never seen them either. That is the reason for this blog. Sorry in advance that this is so long in the making. I am still learning to use this wierd thing called a computer and internet! I will try to get some pictures on here very soon, but I'm trying to figure out how to get them on without saving them to my already too slow computer. Keep a lookout for updates as I learn more in this high tech world!

Welcome

2008-10-02T23:16:00.001-07:00

We finally made a blog!!!!