A "Niu" Reunion

We've talked about it for a while and Alvina finally made it happen. The wife of my cousin Shawn got all the cousins on the island together for a mini family reunion. For our family, this is a tiny gathering. My dad's family is HUGE! The unique thing about this reunion is that is was all cousins. There's usually an uncle or aunt that's in town that brings us together, but to my knowledge, there aren't any on the island. It's just all us cousins. After we all arrived at David and Lice's (the "c" is a "th" sound) house we introduced ourselves. There were a couple of cousins that hadn't ever met. As everyone was introducing themselves, I realized that I had lived near and known every single cousin in that room. I have known all these cousins ever since they were little. A couple of them are older than me, and one I remember when he was born. It was such a fun gathering. We were there from 5pm to 10pm. Thank you David and Lice for hosting.

This picture was so fun to take. All the spouses were shooting their cameras and flashes were going off left and right. I felt like a celebrity. It was so fun! From L to R: Shawn (Sione's son), Kathy, Diana, Sam (Teuila's children), David (Sione's oldest son), Me (Howard's daughter), Leland and Maikeli (Paul's sons).

This is one of my favorite pictures of the night. This is Reagan, David and Lice's girl.

Leland and Audrey. Yes, he is as much Tongan as I am. I knew Leland growing up in Hawaii.

The girls hanging in the hallway.

The good food provided by all.

The kids messing around.

Boys arm-wrestling.

The women setting everything up.

Kathy and Diana hanging out. Diana is the same age as me and she and I grew up in Tonga together. I remember when Kathy was born. Oh man, and now she's in college. Sheesh I'm old.


Maikeli and Brynn. Maikeli is another one I remember when he was born. I got to know Brynn well at the get-together. She and I have a lot in common. Gonna have to call her to go running. Maikeli is going to school here at BYUH.



All the girls.
All the boys.
The three posers.

David and Lice's family. David is the oldest cousin of this group. I remember him as being the older teenage cousin.

Shawn and Alvina. Shawn's was younger than me but we would still play together when we were little in Hawaii, with his sister Chantelle who was my age.

Diana's family, with Kathy.

There's us.

Leland and Whitney's family. Whitney is great. Loved getting to know her as well. It's too bad she lives on the other side of the island. Leland is in the military and stationed here.

Sam and his son. He has 5 children, but he just came with one for the night. Sam was another older teenage cousin, but in Tonga.

It was so fun getting to know everyone, and reaquainted with everyone else.