A Summer Day with my kids!!

Today we were going to have nothing but fun. We grabbed our gear and headed out to Shark's Cove. Snorkeling was a new adventure for the kids. The older ones really got into. The younger ones tried. The constant filling of their masks with salt water made Kara and Micah wonder why people would WANT to snorkel. Eventually, Kara got the hang of it and had fun seeing the fishes.


We went all over the place exploring.

Tyler and Leigh got really brave and tried out deeper waters. The needle fish on the bottom did freak them out a little. Leigh popped her head out of the water yelling, "Will it attack us?!" There were lots of hermit crabs, sea urchins galore, and fish everywhere. When we were done, we hopped in the car, grabbed a musubi and just talked about our favorite parts.
We went home and took a nap. We ordered some pizza at dinner time, took it over to BYUH and had a picnic with Randy. It was such a nice, relaxing setting. After dinner, we headed over to the auditorium to watch the movie for the week "Race to Witch Mountain". Great movie by the way. I love days like these!!

Babies, Babies Everywhere, but None for Me to Hold

I feel remissed for not putting this on my blog. We had two major additions to my family, the Niu's. Both my sisters had babies this year and while I am happy for them and their families, I'm sad that they don't live nearby for me to hold these cute babies!!!!

This is Martin Nicholas Sika. He was born in January in Orem, Utah. His first name is after my father and his middle name is from our maternal Grandfather. Isn't he cute. This was him on the day he was blessed.

This is my brother Joe (he's the youngest sibling), who shares the same middle name with this little guy. Yes, my brother is still single.

This is my sister Tiana (2nd oldest) and her husband Viliami and baby Martin. She actually has a 5 y.o. daughter Lupe, but I couldn't find a picture with all of them in it.

Next up, Isaac Howard Maire. This is him this past Sunday, the day he was blessed. This cutie was born May 14th in Auckland, New Zealand. My family lives all over the Pacific mostly. His first name is just a name that my sister and her husband liked. Micah's middle name is 'Aisake (Isaac in English). Isaac's middle name, Howard, is after my dad. My dad I'm sure feels very blessed to be a grandfather twice over again, but also honored to have these two named after him.

My sister Jennifer (3rd in line) and her husband Logan and their cute family. The oldest is Lauralei, then Adele, and then baby Isaac.

So cute!

Ward Camp

Camping! One of the mysteries of life I say. A mystery because for some reason, our family (with the exception of my husband), and the rest of our ward, find living outdoors just plain fun! I don't know what the appeal is of cooking over a campfire, showering in cold waters in front of people, sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag while your tent is blown by gale force winds at night and pelted with rain, with sand everywhere. My only explanation for this phenomenon again is that it's just plain FUN!!!!!
We had to get rid of our 10 man masoleum of a tent last year. Fear not. We did replace it with something bigger and better. Sam's Club came through and provided us with a spacious 12 man tent. I won't lie, it is awesome!
Here's some pictures of our week long run of camp!

Micah and his best bud chowing down on some hot dogs ---- a camp staple.

Me with my camp face (no make-up at all) and Leigh. Tuesday night our ward had a "Journey through time" Talent Show. Each auxillary performed a dance from different eras. The YW did the 80's, so they danced to Thriller. The RS did the 70's. It was a lot of fun!!

Kara enjoying watching the Talent Show. It was followed by Otai. A Tongan drink made from watermelon and coconut milk. It is good to drink on a hot summer night. The ward also put on movies "Nacho Libre" and "Nanny McPhee". In the main tent, they had a big screen set up to watch the movies. You just had to bring your own chair.

Micah and his friend at the Penny Carnival the primary put on the next day.

Tyler waiting his turn at the next game. There is a hill here and the primary even put up a slip-n-slide. Again ----- more fun!

This was our game for the Penny Carnival.

My Cub Scouts preparing their foil dinners for themselves and their parents. It turned out great! Some of the boys had only made dinners for their parents, then ran back and asked if they could make one for themselves because it tasted so good. We started making them at 4:30pm and didn't get through till about 8:30pm. Boys just kept coming by every hour asking to make one. They boys seemed to have enjoyed doing that.

The kids up playing in the main area of the camp in their PJ's still.

Tyler fishing at the river that was by the camp. Kara, Micah and Tyler did A LOT of this. If I couldn't find them at the beach, they were by the river fishing. There was never nothing to do at camp.

The last night of camp. Kara and her friends playing before the start of our potluck luau.

Here's Randy's plate. The funny thing is is that he didn't get everything they were serving. His plate was a mountain of food. Polynesians don't mess around when it comes to potluck, it's serious business.

This lovely lady was our neighbor. Her family just moved but she came and hung out with us at camp. She is Micah's favorite babysitter. I thought it was sweet that she held him on her lap and wrapped him and he fell asleep in her arms. Aaaaaah.


What more can I say ------ so much fun!!!

Last Day for Cub Scout Day Camp!

Ok, I am already exhausted by this point, but I hauled my okole (behind), over to Gunstock Ranch for one more day of fun. BTW, there is such a thing as having TOO much fun, and we are hitting that wall. The boys did a service project for the ranch for the first activity of the day.

I got there in time to go on the 2 mile hike to Hinckley Hill. It is named that because on one of Pres. Hinckley's visits, he trekked up this hill.

Tyler and the boys starting the hike.

Micah and Leigh came along with me on this day. This is us at the top of the hill.

Here's the beautiful view.

After we returned from the hike, we were given lunch and treated to a rodeo show there. Micah was enthralled with the whole show. He stayed there and watched the whole thing.

I thought this was a cool shot that I captured on our dying camera.


The kids getting to pet one of the horses.

It was a fun 3 days, but I was done. That evening Randy took the kids to Kakela for an "end of the year" party for Leigh's volleyball club. As much as I wanted to go, I was physically done! I couldn't go on any longer. Randy went, and I napped till they returned two hours later.

P.S. Leigh came home yesterday tired out from her week long YW's camp, but said she loved every minute of it. This has been quite a week. Next week ----- WARD CAMP!

Cub Scout Day Camp ---- Day 2

Back to Gunstock Ranch for more Cub Scouting.


First up ---- First Aid Station.

Learning to cook over an open fire. That's pillsbury dough wrapped on their stick. You cook it for about 10 mins. Then the boys put butter and a cinnamon sugar mix on it. It was really yummy.

Tyler getting ready to eat his.

Next up ---- water activities. This game was fun. The boys got a chance to put water balloons in this sling shot and shoot it to the rest of the boys.

More water fun.

The boys were able to take a dip in the pool they had there. When I arrived to watch the boys, one of them was drowning. I guess the life guards didn't see. I quickly let one of them know and then yelled at Tyler to grab the boy (Tyler was next to him). Tyler responded great. He saw him and grabbed him from under the water, getting his head high enough to breathe. The boy was ok, just traumatized and a little embarrassed.

All dry and ready to move on to the next stop.

Music. I wasn't here for this one, but I heard they were shown how to make instruments out of things you find at home.

After lunch the boys did a rain gutter regatta. Then it was home again to crash.

Cub Scout Day Camp ---- Day 1

Man am I exhausted!!! Today was the first day of day camp for my Cub Scouts. Through the wonderful support of my husband and friends who took care of my younger kids, I was able to go the whole day and be with my Bears. This year, day camp was held at the nearby ranch, Gunstock Ranch. It was awesome. The kids did so many things and I tried to take so many pictures.


The boys gathered up waiting for the program to start.

First activity for the day was a hike discussing "Leave No Trace" guidelines.

The hike led to this really awesome cave that the boys had to climb down into.

Den time was next where the boys had to come up with a flag, skit and song for our den to perform on the last day.

Tying knots.


Archery. The boys loved this one.

They also loved the BB Gun shooting.

Even us leaders got into it. That's me at the bottom.

Lunch Break!!! We were starving before our day began.

At the end, we were entertained with a Lion dance. I thought it was kind of random, but still fun to watch.


Tyler and another boy from our ward took the flag down for the closing ceremony at the end of our first day.

Folding the flag.

It was a fun day, but a tiring one. The boys were pretty well behaved. We did a lot of walking and I'm ready for bed. Gotta be up for the next day.

Cub Scout Day Camp

I'll be back. If you don't hear back from me in three days, send someone after me.

PCC Overnighter

I picked the kids up this morning and boy did they have a lot to say. Both of them had a blast. They were telling me both, at the same time, everything they did, from making coconut bread, to riding in a canoe and star gazing, making fires, and hearing polynesian folktales. They slept in the Maori village, in the Marai. In the morning they had panikeke and other things. They also had cousins and friends from school that were there as well, which made it all the more fun. Such neat opportunities my children are having. I'm so happy that they are really learning about their polynesian roots.

The Start of Camping Season

I looked at the calendar and realized that June is camping month for sure. Today I dropped Leigh off this morning at YW's Camp. She was very excited to go. I can't wait till Friday to hear all about her fun she had.
In the mean time, Tyler and Kara were invited to PCC for a pilot program they are trying to set up. They had kids their age come over at 5:30pm. The purpose of the overnight camp was to teach the kids about Polynesian life in the old days and let them actually do the things they learn. I'm excited for them. We dropped them off then headed to a family dinner with just Micah. It was a little odd to have only one child with us. We met up with my cousins and had a nice dinner with them. My uncle John was in town, which was the purpose of the get together. My cousin Shaun made some awesome food, as well as his wife Alvina. We brought some food as well. The rest of our cousins on the island weren't able to make it. I think one of them is having a baby! Nevertheless, it was fun to talk with my uncle and cousins and just relax. We had a fun evening with you guys. Thanks again Alvina for making it happen.

A break

Time for a break, summer is here! A break from homework, a break from school lunches, a break from projects, assignments, report cards, conferences, uniforms! We plan to have nothing but fun, fun, fun! I'm sure by the end of summer, I will need a break from the break.

It's official ----- We Now Have a Beehive

Today was Leigh's birthday --- her 12th birthday to be exact. Such a big milestone for her and our family. Now that she's 12, all kinds of things are happening. She is officially a Beehive. A day that she's been waiting for since turning 11 (LOL). She gets to participate in youth activities every week. To celebrate her special day, she and I had a girls' day out.

A malasada treat to start out the day.

In our family, when you turn 12, you get to have your ears pierced. She was excited for that! We shopped around for clothes for a little bit. Had some lunch together and grabbed a treat at Cold Stone before heading home.

A new haircut to end the day.

After a dinner at home and a movie, we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake (chocolate haupia to be exact from Ted's Bakery. So good!!).

We are so blessed to have this special girl in our lives. She's smart, she's good at volleyball, she can make friends with everyone, she has a sweet spirit. She's a great cook! She is a wonderful help to me! I don't know what I would do without her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEIGH!