Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas ~ December 2010

We had a great time this Christmas, just spent the whole day at home on Christmas day....since our kids are still little, we don't wake them up...we just sleep in and they wake us up when they get up.  We didn't wake up until about 10am this year!!  hahaha  I figure we better take advantage of getting to sleep in a little because once they're a little older, they're gonna be waking us up at like 5 in the morning...hahaha 

Makai woke up first and came straight into the room screaming "Mom, get up....Santa came, there are tons of presents under the tree!"  I told him to go wake up the rest of the house and slowly we got up and went to the living room! 

We all slept that late because we got home after midnight the night before....we went down and spent Christmas Eve with my family.  We had a great time there, ate dinner and watched the kids open their presents from Gramma & Grampa Makai....they always get the necessities from their Makai grandparents....like socks, underwear, etc.....we (the parents) always look forward to our kids getting those things for Christmas!!  :)  They got these really really cute fleece blanket pets from their Auntie Leslie....which they LOVE!!  I wish I took a picture of them to post on here because they really are so cute!!  Makai got a Lion, Mone a Monkey, and Lautala a Unicorn....so cute!  

Christmas picture of our 3 kids on Christmas morning

Lautala and her new Princess couch

Our three blessings on Christmas morning...

Daddy with the stockings

Our little Christmas devotional before we get to the presents.....

Ova always takes a few minutes in the morning to talk to our kids....let them know how much we love them and to remind them that even though they have presents and gifts, the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate and honor our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Baby Lautala's first Christmas....Mommy was so happy to FINALLY get all the princess stuff.....haha

Makai got a drum and Mone a guitar.....best gifts ever...they were jammin out all day long and we had a blast watching them get so into it.  We turned the radio on and they went crazy!!  haha

Lautala got a little car/bike thing from Gramma Tea

Punching bags.....

Princess pajamas

Later on that afternoon, all the Fangupo family came over and we had a HUGE feast at our house.....we had everything you could think of from puaka tunu, ota, kumala, paka lolo'i, korean style crab (Ova made it and it was DELICIOUS!!!), lots and lots of delicious food!

We can't have a Fangupo get-together without all the kids dancing like crazy...

Even Uncle Sau got up and danced with the kids

Auntie Siosiana....always thinks of the kids....she's the BEST Auntie ever!  She came over with stuff for all the kids to make Ginger bread houses from scratch....she brought every kind of candy you could think of to decorate with.....AND she brought every single kid their own stocking STUFFED full of candy and toys.....all the kids sure do LOVE their Auntie Siosi!!

Kids gettin' ready to build their houses...

Grandma Kesa even made one

And so did Grandpa Kina

Here were the finished products...

Lautala and Auntie Siosi

Wearing the headband Auntie Siosi gave her

Hope you all had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Tau Hele Ta

Ova has always been musically talented. That was one of the many things I've admired about him. He has the ability to listen to a song and pick up any instrument and play it as if he had been practicing forever. He's amazingly talented musically!! Back before we got married and he was attending college at Snow....him, his cousin David, and a bunch of their friends actually started a little band. In the little city of Ephriam, Utah...they were big. They sang reggae songs, and just whatever they wanted. They made it on their local radio station and even traveled and sang at different places. I was on my mission when he had his little snow college band...but I've heard recordings of them and they sounded pretty good! David (the lead singer) has an amazing voice and he can come up with lyrics off the top of his head! So talented! His wife Talia, is my best friend....we've always told them they should start up a band again....and I always say "come on guys Good Charlotte started out in their garage"... they've always just kinda laughed it off and never took us seriously. Every once in a while we'd meet up at each others house...Talia and I would talk or cook and the boys would have a jam session in the living room. I loved it!

Recently Ova came home and said he wanted to join this band. I was more than excited for him.... but the band he wanted to start wasn't exactly what I had in mind....he joined with a group of guys and they sang Tongan songs....they call themselves Tau Hele Ta...and they sound great!! It's so funny to see how much they really really get into it!! That's the fob in my husband coming out...hahaha

Even though it's not the kind of band I was talking about...I'm really glad he's doing this. He's using and sharing his talents, he's really enjoying himself and having lots of fun, and he's getting my kids into loving Tongan music. It's so cute because everytime Lautala hears Tongan music now she immediately claps and starts moving her hands like she's dancing the tau'olunga. Makai and Mone have memorized all the songs right along with their Dad, and Ma and Tea LOVE having our home filled with Tongan music! Check out the video below to see their little group....

Testimony Book

When I was on my mission in Chile, my mission president and his wife got a home-made gift from their kids back at home. They were so proud of it and cried quite a bit over it. Even though it was simple and very inexpensive, it was very sentimental and it touched their hearts. Ever since then I've always wanted to make one for my parents. They got a Testimony Book. A testimony book is exactly what it sounds like....it's a book of the testimonies of all their children, a tribute to them for teaching us while we were young to love the Lord and to know the difference between right and wrong.  Even though we're all grown up and have our free agency, we all have those strong values and teachings instilled deep in us, and now it is our turn to instill them in our children. We are a very emotional family...VERY emotional! I just knew the testimony book I was going to make was something that my parents would LOVE and cherish! I wanted to include everyone in the book....so back in September I started asking my brother and sisters and their spouses to write out their testimonies....I had the grandkids that can write, hand write theirs out as well. For all the grandkids that can't write, or speak their testimonies...we made prints of their hands and feet. I also included baptism dates of the recently baptized, marriage dates, and mission information. It turned out so nice! I had the book completed back in October, and I should have ordered it back then....but I didn't and my computer crashed and ERASED everything I had put together! I was just going to throw in the towel, but I remembered my mission President and how much he LOVED his children's testimony book. I had to make one for my parents. I went to my sister's house one day to try and put it back together....12 hours later I was done! I'm very glad I did it. The reaction my parents had when we gave it to them on Christmas Eve was priceless and now they have documented each of our testimonies and love for the gospel and for our Savior Jesus Christ.  I printed a hard copy of the book for them, and we have this link we can look at!

Click here to see Makai Family Testimony Book

Breakfast with Santa

At Incredible Pizza!

I got an email invite from Incredible Pizza to bring my kids to eat breakfast with Santa, so Ova and I decided to make a whole family day out of it.  We woke up bright and early and headed over to Incredible Pizza for some Christmas fun.  We were planning on being there for a few hours....but the time just flew right by and before we knew it 7 hours had passed....hahaha  we all had so much fun spending time together as a family!!  The deal for the breakfast with Santa was it included the buffet, crafts, entertainment and pictures with Santa for only $5 a kid...not to shabby.  It didn't mention that they were giving $ towards the games, but I knew once we were there the boys were going to want to play.  I get an email every once in a while from Incredible Pizza, usually with special deals or coupons....well luckily the last two emails I got were actually surveys on how they can improve and if you took the survey, you got a FREE $10 game card for one and a FREE $5 for the other.  The emails came to both Ova's and my email so I took the surveys twice and BAM....$30 in games for FREE!!  Score! 

We arrived there and the first thing we did was get settled and hit the buffet.  They had everything you could think of for the breakfast buffet....pancakes, french toast, biscuits & gravy, eggs, bacon, cinnamon rolls, fruit.....pretty much anything and everything you want for breakfast...

Mone & Daddy

Mommy & Makai

Baby Lautala

They had several different crafts there that the kids could make, so after we ate we headed over to the craft room.  I really wanted them to spend some time making the crafts, but their minds were totally in the game room and they really had no interest in doing the crafts.....Ova told me not to make them because that kind of stuff is for girls......whatever!!......they decided (not very happily) that they would do ONE craft, just to make me happy.....so they chose to do the cookie decorating one...

After their ONE craft they did (and don't ever....right after they walked out of the craft room Makai threw his cookie in the garbage....little punk)....it was time to go and see Santa Claus.  We waited in line for a while until we finally got to the front of the line....I was trying to snap a picture of the three of my kids, but I never seem to get a good one....again while we were in line, wasn't able to snap a great one....

Makai's hiding in one....Lautala's irritated in another....uugghh

We finally got up to Santa and the kids got to take pictures with him...

He had a little present for each of the kids after they sat on his lap and told them what they wanted for Christmas....they each got a little coloring book and a $5 game card.....hahaha we had $45 in games for FREE!!  Yay!!

They also had face painting there.....Makai wanted to be a white tiger and Mone a blue monkey....

We spent the rest of the time on the games.....the boys had TONS of fun (by boys I mean my kids and Ova...hahaha) and Lautala and I had fun watching them and taking pictures....they played almost every single game in that whole place, they rode the rides and played some of their favorite games again! 

Just goofing around...

We had a lot of fun!  After we were done with all the $ on our game cards....we went and cashed out our points and the boys got to take home like four little toys....we went back and ate lunch at the buffet....and then our fun-filled day at Incredible Pizza was done!!