Taking the long road

So today was my first day back at school and I'm actually pretty excited about it! I think I've taken the longest road possible to get my degree, but this time I'm ready, dedicated, and I'm gonna do it! After I graduated high school, I went to the UofU for a couple years, but to be completely honest, I was young & dumb and didn't really take it too seriously. I stopped school to serve my mission and when I came back, I enrolled again back up @ the U. Well I met Ova, we started dating, he was way more worthy of my time than school was so I ended up dropping all my classes to spend all my time with him...which was way worth it because we got married and started our little family! After Makai was born, I decided I should go back and finish. I decided to go to Everest College, because someone did a good job selling the "go to school at night and online and still have your life" I thought it would be perfect for me because I had a baby, and a full-time job so that would work good with my schedule. Well, I did end up graduating with my Associates degree in Accounting, but sadly it turned out to be a really expensive waste of time. Don't get me wrong, the education was good and it was a challenge, but what they didn't tell me was that its not a regionally accredited school so you can't transfer your credits to another school to go on for your Bachelors or Masters, and employers choose people with a degree from a regionally accredited school over those with a degree from a nationally accredited school, so finding a job would be difficult. I didn't realize that until now when I'm at a place in my life where I can finish school. To be honest, I got really discouraged and didn't know if I even wanted to finish anymore...but my husband is always supportive of me and my dreams and he helped push me to want to finish. I weighed my options and decided the best thing for me would be to transfer all my credits I earned when I went to the U right after high school to SLCC and start over again since none of my credits from Everest would transfer. When all is said and done, it actually won't be that bad. I had enough of my generals done from before that I just have to focus on the classes that are required for me to transfer back up to the U to finish my Bachelors and think about getting my CPA. I should be able to finish all the pre-req's by next fall so I can apply to the Business program at the U, majoring in accounting. Like the title of my post, I've taken the long road, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Something that will help give my family stability if we ever needed something to fall back on.

Well, today was the first day of my journey to return to school and it went really well! I'm taking 15 credits (5 classes) and I already have a 10 page paper due next Tuesday....they sure don't waste any time! :)

On that same note, my little brother-in-law Sau has decided to go back to school too! Sau got out of "school" (prison) about a year ago. He really is a good kid who just made some bad decisions when he was younger. I'm so happy and proud of him for his decision to turn his life around and strive for something better. The day he came over to our house to tell us he wanted to go to school, both Ova & I told him we supported his decision 100% and we would do anything to help him out. I spent the last few days running around with him trying to get everything situated for him to start this semester. It seemed like there was always something in the way, something that would try to discourage him & me from getting him registered. He lost his wallet a little while ago and it had all his important documents in it, like his ID, social security card, birth certificate...everything. This made it very difficult because he had no legal proof of his identity. You have to take a placement test before you can register for classes, but you have to have an ID to take the test. We tried to get a renewal of his state ID, but they have to have a birth certificate or a passport & a social security card or a w-2 from last year. Well he didn't have any of that. To get his social security card he needed a picture ID, even a school one would have worked, but he couldn't get a school ID without another ID. If was just one thing after another and I was trying really hard not to let him or myself get discouraged. We finally called his parole officer and asked if there was anything she could do. She printed a paper copy of his parollee ID and we went back to the school just praying it would work. Luckily it did! They let him take the placement test which let us register him which let him get his student ID, which now he can use to go get his social securiy card....and as soon as the copy of his birth certificate comes from Hawaii, we'll go get his state ID and he'll be good to go! I got his financial aid all set for him and everything seemed to be working out.... but of course nothing can go too smoothly, cause on the day he was supposed to start his classes, he was rushed to the hospital because of stomach pains, and he had to have surgery to get his appendix removed. Luckily we were able to contact his professors to let them know the situation so they don't drop him for not being there on the first day. Now he has all weekend to recover and he'll start Monday morning. Although its been stressful to start the process of going to school, I know it will be well worth it and I'm so happy and proud of Sau for having the motivation and will-power to take this step to change his life for the better! His Facebook status after all was said and done was "....its official y'all I'm starting school tomorrow, flippin off the system for doubting me...." I love it! You tell 'em Sau!

So there's the story, me and my little bro-in-law are going to SLCC!!! :)

Love of a Brother

Isn't this just the cutest thing? I think so!

Mone woke up early this morning, came into the room, woke Lautala up and pulled her out of her bed.  Carried her down the hall to the living room and when I went out to check on them this was them....sitting on the floor watching cartoons!  I just love that my boys LOVE their sister so much!!

My Favorites...

I've had like 3 different computers in the past few years.... they were all hand-me-downs and practically on their last leg....they all died in my care!  hahaha I've been lugging them around with me for the past 7 years (since Makai was born) because I have pictures saved onto them that I just don't want to lose.  Well, it was my project tonight to sit and download all the pictures from these 3 different hard-drives to my memory stick so I could transfer them to my new computer!!  Yay!  It was very tedious work, but I'm finally done and I'm so happy!  The transferring of all these pictures made me take a walk down memory lane.  I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE pictures.  It's amazing how you can totally forget about something, and by looking at just one picture, all the memories of the moment that was caught on camera comes flooding back, feelings, emotions and all!  Ova and I were looking through pictures of Makai's birth, and when he was our baby and the only child.... we were looking at pictures of when Filimone was born and Makai was 3 and such a caring older brother.... we reminissed of old family vacations we took, family camping trips, pictures with grandparents that have already passed on.  Lots and lots and lots of memories caught on film!! 
I love taking pictures, and pretty much have my camera everywhere I go.  I take pictures of my kids all the time and I have folders and folders of pictures of them from birth to childhood to all important events in between!  Even with all the pictures I've taken, I can still say I have an absolute favorite for all my kids.... are you the same way?  Do you have a favorite picture of your kids?  A picture that totally shows your child's personality, a picture you absolutely fall in love with?  I found my favorites in a folder on one of my old computers titled "My Beautiful Kids"....

I LOVE this picture of Makai...he's 1 year old in this picture and we were just sitting at home playing around and I snapped this shot.  I love this picture because you can totally see his little personality....his squinting his eyes and wrinkling his nose...he used to make this face every time I asked him to smile for a picture.  I just love it!  This is my all-time favorite picture of Filimone.  I took it when we were on our family vacation to San Diego back in 2007, he was 5 months old.  He was just starting to smile and I caught it on film....I love it!  This picture of Lautala was just taken today....she was ready for church and sitting on the bed waiting for her brothers and me to finish getting ready.  She was in such a good mood today and was so smiley!  I snapped this shot of her innocent little lifted-eyebrow smiling face pose.  I love it! 

Topsy Turvy

So I'm so proud of myself....I grew my first tomatoes this year!   I saw an info-mercial on tv about an upside-down planter that can grow tons and tons of tomatos, it's called the Topsty Turvy....

 We bought 2 from Wal-Mart, one for Tea and one for me!  Since I'm a huge fan of Roma tomatoes, I chose to plant some Romas....Tea decided to stick with the regular tomatoes.  I wish I would have taken before pictures...but I didn't.  The kit was $10 and it came with the planter....we bought the already seeded tomato plants, the soil and some fertilizer and planted our little tomato babies.... it's taken a couple months for them to actually spring forward some fruit, but they're finally blossoming!  I've got 10-15 little red Romas, and tons of green ones waiting to turn red!  We picked the red ones, cut them up and ate them on hoagie sandwiches....they were DELICIOUS!!  I'm so proud of my little tomato plant!  :)  Maybe next year I'll get brave and try a whole vegetable garden!  We'll see!  :)

Tea's plant started growing flowers way before mine ever did, and I was getting a little discouraged....but both of our plants have flourished with tomatoes!!  Tea's got a lot more on her plant that still need to turn red, but we'll be eating our own home-grown little tomatoes for the next little while! 

2nd Grade Already??!!

I can't believe the time has come for Makai to start 2nd grade already......but today was the day! 

I had a hard time on Makai's first day of Kindergarden....which was normal (I thought) cause my baby boy was all grown-up and going to school.  I STILL had a hard time when he started 1st grade.  I took him to school, walked him inside and met his teacher, went back out to the car and cried.  2nd grade should have been fine, because come on now....he's been in school for 2 years already....but NOPE!  I tried really hard to choke up the tears, but it didn't work.  Mone woke up bright and early with me and Makai cause he wanted to go with me to take Makai to school.....he was trying to comfort me, it was cute! 

I guess I just have to accept that I'm the biggest cry baby ever, especially when it comes to my kids.....and there's nothing wrong with that!  haha  And to think Mone is going to start Pre-school this year.....oh no....hahaha!

To be completely honest with you.....I LOVE having my kids at home with me.  I miss them when they're in school.  Summer-time and off track times are the best!  Makai's school just changed their time this year so they don't start until 9am and don't get off until 4pm....that just seems like a WAY LONG day at school.... Makai goes to Hayden Peak Elementary and they are year-round...I'm not a fan of year round school, especially because the track he's on makes his vacation times different from his brother and all his cousins.  Makai, on the other hand LOVES school and all his friends and is so excited when it's time for him to go to school.

Makai was all set for school this year thank to Gramma Tea.  Ova and I bought him some pants, but that was about it.  We woke up on Saturday morning and there was a HUGE pile of clothes on the living room floor.  Tea woke up bright and early and took Makai garage-saleing and to the DI.  She's the queen of bargain shopping and she pretty much always hits the jack-pot!  Majority of my kids clothes come from the DI, and you'd probably never be able to tell!!  :)  All his clothes for 2nd grade cost only $40!  Gotta love it! 

Last night before we went to bed, Ova gave Makai a father's blessing.  Blessed Makai to be smart and obedient, blessed the teacher to be patient and kind.... it was a very nice and special blessing and a great way to prepare him for this new adventure he's starting.....2nd grade!

Makai's Faith

Today in church, we talked about the Priesthood.  What it is, how important it is, why we have it, who it comes from and what can be done with it.  We are very blessed to have it!  I am very blessed to have so many people around me that have it, honor it and use it. 
The lesson today made me remember a situation that happened with Makai when Ova and I were in Tonga.  I cried when I first heard about it.  I cried again during the lesson today in church.  I want to share it.  Makai is a silent observer, he notices things and picks up on things that we don't even notice he is.  He's got a lot of faith for a little kid.  I'm grateful for that.  It always amazes me how whenever he is sick, he asks his dad for a father's blessing and almost immediately after the blessing, he feels better.  It used to annoy me because I thought he was faking his illness.  But, I learned a lesson while I was away.... Makai has great faith in God, in the priesthood, and in the fact that blessings can heal.

Ova and I were sitting in the LAX airport waiting for our flight to New Zealand.  Tea called us and said that Mone was complaining of an earache.  Mone has never had an ear infection before and at first I thought he was just being dramatic because he knew we were going to be gone for a little while.  I told Tea to give him some Motrin and let him sleep, hopefully that would help.  A few hours later she called back and said she thinks she saw blood coming out of his ear (she's a little dramatic herself when it comes to her grandkids)  I told her she probably should take him to the hospital to get checked, especially if there is blood.  We hung up the phone with her and were waiting for her to call back and keep us updated.  A few hours later she called us from the hospital, crying.  Mone was fine, that's not what she was crying about....she was crying about what happened before they left the house to go to the hospital. 

Mone was crying hysterically, he kept telling Tea his ear was on fire.  Tea was scrambling around trying to get everything situated to take Mone to the hospital.  Makai came to the living room and told Mone to sit on the couch.  He went into me and Ova's room, in Ova's dresser drawer and grabbed a vile of oil.  He went into the living room put some oil on Mone's head, put his hands on his head and said a prayer.  Tea told us his prayer was short, simple and to the point.  He said "Heavenly Father, my mom and dad are in Tonga and my brother is sick.  Please make him feel better"  he closed his prayer and told Mone that he prayed to Heavenly Father like daddy does when he's here.....so everything was going to be okay.  Makai helped Tea get Mone into the van and they went off to the hospital...the whole time Makai was telling Tea not to worry about Ma and Lautala, he would take care of them.  I couldn't stop crying when Tea called us from the hospital to tell us what Makai did.  My little 6 year old child has the faith of the prophets of old, the faith that can move mountains.

Mone did have an ear infection, he left the hospital with antibiotics.  He left the hospital feeling better.  He left the hospital knowing that the prayer Makai gave him made him feel better.

I can learn a lot from the faith of my son.

When Ova and I got back from Tonga we asked Makai what happened.  He very nonchalantly said 'I blessed Mone to feel better because Dad wasn't here'  I told him that I was very proud of him for taking care of his brother, and I explained to him about the priesthood.  Daddy has the priesthood and can give blessings.  What Makai did for Mone was a prayer, not a blessing, because you have to have the priesthood to give a blessing, and you don't get the priesthood until you're 12 years old.  Makai understood.  Our conversation ended with Makai knowing that Ova and I were so proud of him, but next time he doesn't need to get the oil.  His prayer is just as powerful.

Summertime Fun!!

Utah summers are HOT HOT HOT...... our favorite thing to do to cool off is to go swimming.... there's nothing more fun than spending a whole day at the pool with the fam-bam! 

My pretty-boy Filimone loves to pose for the camera......

Lautala's first time swimming....thank you Auntie Tina!

Thunder Thighs.....hahaha

KOPFC..... love this place!

Uncle Sau threatening to throw Mone into the deep end...

The favorite uncle!

Father-daughter moment.....awwwww

Tea & Po watching the food....hahaha

Family fun @ the pool!

The latest...

Just some things I've put together for my family's special functions....

7 Months....

Can't believe how fast the time flies right by.  Our little princess just turned 7 months old....

She's huge for her age, just like my other kids have been....here are her stats:

-weighed 19lbs15oz @ her 6 month check-up

-she's in the 97% for her height & weight, so at least she's evenly perportioned

-she smiles and laughs all the time, especially when she's playing with her brothers

-she's a mama's girl....and when she's mad I'm the only one that can console her (I love that!)

-She HATES all baby food except sweet potatos

-She screams to the top of her lungs, in a very high-pitched tone, when she's mad

-She can still sit on Ma's lap for hours without making a fuss

-She wears a size 4 diaper

-She is lazy....probably cause we always hold her, but she just started rolling over @ 7 months

-She LOVES to go anywhere and everywhere, and I love to take her with me!

She's getting so big, and growing up too fast.  We can see her little personality come out more and more everyday.  She loves her older brothers and can sit with me on the patio for hours just watching them play in the back yard.  We sure do LOVE our little princess!!

LIONS RUGBY

Ok, ok so I must admit....I LOVE when rugby season is here.  I'm a true blue Lion's fan!!  I'm a big fan of trucking all my kids to the park to watch the tournaments.  It's fun quality family-time together!  Ova helps me get all the snacks and treats for the kids (and the team) together and we head of to spend a whole day at the park!!  I love kickin-it with the other rugby wives, just talking, chasing our kids, cheering for our team and having a good time! 

My husband hasn't been able to play rugby for the past several years because of his illness, but he's just as involved as the players are as their 'coach' and sub-man.  I love the sport (even though I don't really fully understand the game) because my husband loves it.  Ova's little brothers Sau & Po play too, and I'm a huge fan of theirs...hahaha gotta support the brothers!!  :)

Well, this past weekend was the 1st annual APX Rugby Tournament put on by Minnesota Vikings Fullback Naufahu Tahi.  The tournament was held in Provo and it was so much fun.  It was only 2 days long, Friday and Saturday and the team that took 1st place took home $1500.00.  The Lions practiced every day preparing for the tournament....and oh my goodness it totally payed off!  They played 2 games on Friday, 1st game against the Bengals, which they won!!  Whoo-hoo and the 2nd game against Liahona and they lost... :(  The tournament was run with a point system and each game that was won earned points....at the end of the day, the team with the most points was the one in 1st place.  Well, I don't really think it's fair how it ended up working because all the teams got to play 3 games on Friday, except the Lions who only played 2 because it got too dark.  Since they didn't have the chance to play a 3rd game, they didn't have a chance for the points which put them in last place (really 2nd to last because the Bengals were out from losing all 3 of their games)  It was okay though because only 4 teams advanced to play on Saturday and this was the stats on Friday night:   

                         1st - Provo Steelers

                         2nd - Provo Liahona

                         3rd - Northside Tigers

                         4th - West Valley Lions

The 1st played the 4th, and the 2nd played the 3rd.... losers played for 3rd place and winners played for the championship.  Well, that meant the we got to play the Steelers..... the team that always takes it, and we were on their home court!  That didn't intimidate them....they were pumped up and ready to go and oh my goodness....they played freakin' amazing!  Steelers couldn't do anything.....the Lions defense was so strong, nobody could get past them.  The score was 3-0, Lions were up by a kick..... and then the stupid ref (Haloti...who hates the Lions because he got beat-up by one back in the day) made a stupid call, giving the ball to the Steelers so close to their endzone...and they scored a try right before the game was over.  Because of it the Lions lost.... 5-3.  Everyone was sad, disappointed and pissed off at Haloti for yet again doing this to them.... but they needed to focus on their next game against the Tigers for 3rd place.   It was time for their next game and once again, they played awesome!   Everybody on the Lions team brought their A game that day....they were amazing!!  They beat the Tigers and took 3rd place in the tournament..... happy that they placed, but disappointed that they would have been able to play in the championship game if Haloti didn't make that bogus call.  Next game was the Steelers against the Liahona team....keep in mind that the majority of the Liahona team split off from the Steelers and there were some players from the Barbarians as well.... so pretty much, it was Provo playing against Provo for the championship.  All I can say is they are poor sports.  Not too long into the game people started throwing punches...they all started fighting....people from the sidelines got involved....it looked like a mob out in the middle of the field.  The fight was broken up, then they would start fighting again, then it would get broken up, then they would fight again.....it went on for like a half hour before it finally was over.  Only in Provo were there are no cops around would people be able to fight that long....hahaha!  Anyways, the committee wanted to hurry and announce the winners, give the prizes and get everyone and all the drama out of there....so we all gathered around the main tent to hear the announcements!  Ladies rugby was announced first....

1st place & $1000.00 - Provo Lady Steelers

2nd place & 500.00 - Pink Panthers

3rd place & 300.00 - Majestics

Then it was time for the men's rugby.... the commentator (Fahu's dad) announced that due to the rules that were set before the tournament started....

3rd place & $300.00 - Bengals (who lost all their games)

2nd place & 600.00 - Tigers

AND

1st place &  $1500.00 & a new gym bag goes to............ WEST VALLEY LIONS!!!

Both the Provo teams were disqualified for poor sportsmanship and we got the title and the prize money!!  I was so happy because they deserved it... the team that everyone knows as the fighters didn't fight once....they played clean and hard and it all paid off in the end!!

So proud of them...... go LIONS!!  :)

Here are some pictures from the tournament compliments of Tina Tuakoi and her awesome camera!!  :)  Thanks Tina...you got some awesome shots!  :)

GNO

If you read my post back in November of last year, you'd know that it's become a tradition for us ladies to have a girls night out on the night of the release of the newest Twilight movie.... Well, on June 30th the 3rd movie came out.... Eclipse!  This time our group was a little bigger than with New Moon, and we all had so much fun.....the more the merrier!!  :)  It was awesome!  The story line and the acting seems to get better and better with each movie, I absolutely LOVED this movie....it was action-packed, intense and I was crackin' up at how much of a player Bella was being right in front of their faces.....hahaha now we can't wait until Breaking Dawn in November!   It's such  a fun tradition for the ladies to go together to watch the movie, even those who aren't really into the series love to come cause it's good, much needed girl time!  I absolutely love my girls, we always have a awesome time when we get together!!

We had awesome seats right in the middle of the theatre!!

Of course we had to get shots with Jacob & Edward....hahaha

(As you can see we're pretty much a group of Jacob fans!  hahaha)

We don't go to the midnight showing....our movie usually starts @ 7pm on the first day it comes out.... so we decided to eat after the movie instead of before it....so we would beat the rush!  The movie ended a little after 9pm and we headed to get our grub on at Leatherby's..... we ate, talked and laughed and laughed and laughed!  Love my girls!