A Bunch of random pictures

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!

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...

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

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!

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!

Our Month in a Nutshell- March 2011

• 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!