Tamasi'i Tonga

Today the kids had their primary program. They all did well with their parts. This is the first year that they all memorized their parts. Not bad, it only took me 7 years. The kids were asked to wear cultural attire if they had any. If you all remember my post about my friend from high school, well she happened to be passing through Hawaii and dropped off the tupenu. Tyler was sooooo excited to get it and wear it to church. I had one of the boys from church at our house at the time that Tyler got his tupenu. Tyler turned to the boy with his tupenu in hand and said, "See! Now do you believe me that I'm Tongan!" The boy laughed and said, "Now I do."
Of course, the Tongan side of our family is beaming with pride that that 3/16th Tongan in my children is shining through, at least in Tyler. The rest of them are proud of their heritage, it just isn't as visible, heck you can barely see it in me.
Malie Tyler! (trans: way to go Tyler)

High Priest Social

Tonight we went to a High Priest Social. It was a lot of good fun and a lot of good fun. Did I mention that it is hard to lose weight in Hawaii because of all the good food. We had BBQ meats and all kinds of other dishes including Tahitian Po'e (that's good stuff). It was fun getting to know people in our ward. People are always surprised to see us at that these kinds of events because of Randy being the younger-than-usual High Priest. I wished I had brought my camera. It was a lot fun. I think also what made it fun was talking with people that I knew from when I was a kid. I laughed because one of my high school teachers was there and she said, "I can't believe you're all grown up now." Me too.

Our Super Raider

Kahuku Elementary honors students who are overall great kids inside and outside the classroom. Leigh was given this honor for the month of September and bequethed the title of Super Raider! We are proud of you Leigh! Keep it up!








P.S. After this assembly, Micah was putting in his orders of leis. I told him to work on being chosen to be super raider first, then we'll talk leis. LOL.

The Big 4 - 0!!

Today we celebrated the big 4 - 0 for Randy! That's right, those of you disbelievers, my husband been alive for 4 decades now. We had a simple celebration (Randy style of course), just some cake and ice-cream. 




Happy Birthday Randy!!!

Another post

Ok, I just put another old one up. It's in June called "Temple Valley". There's also the Labor Day one for those of you who haven't seen it yet. It's called "If you have a happy family".

Cleaning Chickens!

Leigh asked to go play at a friend's house. I let her go. When she came home I asked her what she did there. She smiled big and said, "For fun, we cleaned chickens!" I said, "WHAT?!" "We cleaned chickens." was her matter-of-fact reply. Doesn't everyone? I had to laugh and then immediately asked if she washed her hands. Then I asked her the next burning question, "How do you clean chickens?" She said she and her friend put the birds in a coop and then turned on the hose and sprayed them with water. She said they just stood still. I'm still scratching my head at why you would even need to clean your chickens (if they're still alive). I guess the answer is that you don't. That's why you do it for fun.

*You know you live in the country when your kids clean chickens for fun.

Mystery Calling

Ok, so since I've moved here, I've been asked what my calling is. Back in June, I was called and set apart to be a primary instructor. However, my exact assignment was not given to me. I was told that they weren't ready to tell me what it is they called me for. Hmmmmm. I know, weird huh. So every time someone asked me what my calling is, I just replied with a laugh and say, "I don't know. I have one, but I don't know what it is yet." Well, we recently got a new bishopric called. The new 2nd counselor called to meet with me. I was extended the calling (that I already had, but didn't know), to be the new "Bear Den Leader". I was told that this was the calling the old primary presidency intended me to have. I was called --- yes, again, this time with the title of Bear Den Leader this time. So the question is, since I was called twice, do I get set apart twice. I know, I know, technicalities. Seeing as my husband has been in the bishopric twice, I posed this question to him. Needless to say, I stumped him. We'll have to see what the bishopric decides. As far as my new calling goes, I'm actually VERY excited about it. It is something that I have never done, but feel very ecstatic about the new challenge. Wish me luck!

"This is the life"

I wasn't going to post about today (just because I didn't feel the need), but at dinner my son (Tyler), was biting into his pizza, let out a big sigh and said, "Ah, this is the life." I laughed and said, "What, eating pizza for dinner?" and then he said, "Well, that's part of it. The whole day was great. I had so much fun. I got to go to my cousins house, watch football, play star wars with my cousins and draw. Play with a dog. Eat lots of good food. Then we came home, and went to the beach. I played in the sand and water. And now, we come home and get to eat pizza for dinner." That just put a big smile on my face. I had to write it down. You're right Tyler, this is the life.

AZ Trip (just the two of us)

Randy and I just returned from AZ. He and I flew up there from some business, but we made sure to throw in some fun. We went up to prep our house for potential renters. We arrived there in the wee hours of the morning of Sept. 4th (thank you Sara and Lowell for being more than willing to pick us up and take us back to the airport!).


For 3 days, we scrubbed, painted, mowed, wiped and scoured. And even though it was a lot of work, we had fun with it just being the two of us. I don't think we have ever been by ourselves for that long without kids (thank you to Randy's parents). It was great! It was like being on a long date. And I have to say that it was fun to be in a familiar place (I snuck out and jumped on the trampoline a few times). Before I forget, I have to say that we have the best neighbors up there. They've helped watch over our home for us. They even mowed our yard, checked on other things as well. Thank you again Smith's, Montgomery's, and Griffin's. We saw a few other friends while we were up there. I was even able to make it to a Breaking Dawn book discussion with my girls from the ward.
When we took our breaks, we made sure to hit the places that we missed: Chipotle, Applebees, Ritters, Arrowhead Mall. I didn't do much shopping but I did try to find a swimsuit. Alas, I was not successful, but it was fun looking. The house is ready for tenants. We were both sad to leave it (yes, I cried again). I think more so because we are not sure exactly when are next trip up will be. Despite our sadness to leave that chapter behind, we both know that Hawaii is where we need to be at this time.

Olympic Gold

Leigh called me in AZ today to tell me about a cool experience she had in school. Natasha Kai is a famous US soccer player. She was on the US Olympic Team this past Olympics in Beijing. And in case you weren't aware, the US team won gold this year. OK, what does this have to do with Leigh. Well, Natasha Kai's family is in our ward. Her mother also teaches 6th grade at Leigh's school. Sis. Kai had her daughter come and visit the 6th graders and show them her medal. Leigh was able to hold it. She said it was very heavy. It also had white jade in it. Very cool. I thought that that was a really neat experience worth blogging about.

If You Have a Happy Family (Labor Day)

  If you have a happy family . . . well, chances are, you're going to take them somewhere fun, like a carnival that the Mililani Stake has every Labor Day.

If you take them to the carnival, they will want cotton candy.

The cotton candy will make them thirsty, so they will ask for shave-ice.

When they are done with the shave ice, they will have enough red dye #2 in them  for those inflatable mazes.

Then they will get hungry from all that jumping around, so they'll ask real food.

The real food will give them more energy to go on more cool rides.

While the kids are on the rides, the parents will run into friends.

This often leads to smiles . . .

. . . because the kids can sneak onto more rides while their parents are distracted.

And after all these activities, at the end of the day . . . chances are, you'll have a happy family.