Family Reunion 2019

Since Grandma Lita and Grandpa Fine were here Pila wanted to organize a big family reunion for Grandma Lita's side of the family, We went to palisades the night before, stayed in the DIP then moved down by the lake to save our spots early the next morning. The picture below is when we camped the first night, Pila wanted to build a little fire while we waited for Sisi and Siaosi to join us.  He sent the kids to gather wood and when they come back with very much he went on the hunt, he found a bunch of wood and started the fire.  When the wood started to burn it had the worst smell....like stinky feet!! (It was sooo weird, and is now an inside joke) One more memory to add to our list of inside jokes!!) 

 The next day (Saturday) most of Grandma Lita's siblings showed up, along with their kids, it was lots of fun. We played in the lake all day, had great food, and great conversation. We rented a big cabin at Palisades and everybody who didn't need to come back to Richfield, stayed at the cabin.  That night there was a little program and the Pola and Sea's grandkids danced and we had a little program. The reunion continued the next day with Braxton's homecoming.

I've been terrible at taking pictures lately and these are the only 2 pictures I took of the whole weekend:( But don't worry, I'll include a post of everybody else's pictures so we ca always remember what a great time we had that weekend:)

Braxton's Homecoming

Our Nephew/Cousin Braxton came home from his mission June 22, we got to go up to the airport to welcome him home. For his homecoming he asked his siblings plus our kids if they could sing the song "How Can I Be" We were lucky enough to not only have Lita and Fine visiting from New Zealand, but MJ got to come for an extended stay also. Grandma made sure to prepare Tongan attire for all of the kids to wear to Braxton's homecoming. I thought it was really cool, and we are very grateful for her:)

 Osi wasn't feeling pictures that day, and we didn't get a picture with the returned missionary, but it was still a good day.

Girl's Camp & New Beds

 One of my church callings is Laurel Advisor, even thought I wasn't able to go to all of girl's camp this year, I got to go one of the days. We went on a hike, crossing a "creek" multiple times, it was a lot higher than we thought with no real trail. We weren't able to reach our final destination (a waterfall) due to a mud slide, but we sure had fun.  We also had a paint night, and got to eat a really yummy dutch oven dinner.  Maybe next year I'll get to go to all of camp:)

 a cute candid of our favorite baby

Pila and I got a new bed so Meilani's twin size bed got switched out for our old queen.  Prior to the kid's new bed, Meilani slept on her twin and Izzy and Osi slept on the floor.  They are now all sharing a bed and loving it. (we could probably fit at least one more kid on it:))

Palisades 2019

Our first Palisades/DIP trip of 2019!! We went with our good friends/family the Taufatofua's and had a great time:) Meilani was sick the whole time, during the night she was throwing up/coughing the whole time so we didn't get much sleep. So the next day we had "nap time"

 Pila rowed Izzy on the paddleboat so long that Izzy fell asleep, and had a nice nap out on the lake:)

Irrigating

 We have sorghum (feeder corn) planted in our field right now, along with Jaliz and Andy we get to irrigate it.  Our very first time ever was yesterday.  We have water for 2 days, and it is sooo hard. Pila had surgery so he couldn't help us and in my head I kept thinking to myself " this is why I married Pila, because he does all of the hard physical labor for me" (I'm very spoiled in that way) I've probably never dug with a shovel that much in my life!! (finger's crossed it gets easier!!)

Little Silver Wrapper

Dear Little Silver Wrapper,

Which garbage can do I throw you away in without the kids finding my "secret Klondike Bar stash?" 

Today's been one of those days....Osi has been sick since Monday, hopefully it's teething, and hopefully it ends soon (as I'm writing this he just threw up...again) Poor Kid!! Pila is sick too, he's got a cold/flu. Feeling so sick that he ended clinic at lunch time and had the rest of the afternoon rescheduled for Friday. That has never happened, he's never rescheduled clinic because of not feeling good, hopefully his sickness passes quickly too, especially since he has a full day of surgeries tomorrow. 

I've got one more load of laundry to put in the dryer before bed because Meilani refuses to wear jeans to school and all 3 of her sweat pants are dirty. 

I've been trying to be good at working out after the kids go to bed, does bouncing a 35ish pound 18 month old, count? You know, bouncing him, while sitting on the edge of the couch? Bouncing him until my legs BURNED? I'm counting it, especially since my legs still feel a bit jello-y

I'm going to try to do better at this blogging thing, my kids deserve it. I've been blogging since the beginning, around 11 years worth of posts, and I'm about a year behind so hopefully every night I can post 1 new one and 1 old one. 

Other than a sick, whiney/clingy baby we are doing good, really good. 

💗

Nice Day

Today was a beautiful day, you know those days where you walk out of the house and think to yourself "what a great day!!" 

While the big kids were at school I took these 2 out to play. Osi's getting old enough that he can wander around the yard as long as he has somebody watching him. Usually when the big kids go outside he'll notice and bring me his shoes and I'll carry him down the garage stairs, and yell to whoever's out there to "watch your brother" They don't mind and neither does he.

Ofeina has her first track meet today. She joined about a week ago, and is hoping to stay in shape for cheer, hang out with her friends more, and "get a good tan" We're proud of her that she's stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something new. Today she did the 100 m and long jump. When I asked her how she did, she said "ehh" Good Job Ofeina!!

While Izzy and Osi were outside we decided to go on our first bike ride of the year. I loaded them up in the Madsen, and we were off....for about a block and a half, and I was dying!! (we turned around and headed back home.  Plus it was getting a little windy and Osi has a bad runny nose...see the justification there?) Last night I ran for 2 miles on the tread mill and that block and a half bike ride was waaaayyyyy worse than the run. I'm definitely going to have to work on that one.

💛