Happy Birthday Daddy !

Today my father would have been 76 if he was still alive.  Like alot of lucky people out there in the world, we were blessed with a GREAT Dad (actually both parents were pretty awesome) !!  I think of him and miss him daily (probably because I am the only one of his kids smart enough to name one of my kids after him ).  I always tell people my father NEVER showed favorites to any of his kids or grandkids till I had my Fotu & boy did this kid LOVE his Papa !  Anyways,  I hope you & Mommy are having a BIG party celebrating with all the other family members.  I love you Daddy - kiss Mommy for my :) !!!

I'm back ....

Today will mark 2 years exactly since my last post. I can't believe how fast the years have gone by. Alot has been happening and the kids have GROWN ! In about a month I leave with my youngest Lulu to attend our firstborn's high school graduation. I am just blown away by the fact that he is already 18 years old. I can't decide whether I'm happy or sad. I am so loooking foward to seeing him, it's been 2 years and I miss having all my kids with me. My sisters are always teasing me that I need to "cut that cord".... I really want to - nah just kidding. The years are going by to fast and I just want to enjoy them ! I will try to visit daily and blog about my day - I really want to be better at keeping a journal and so maybe this will help me to be better at that ! Wish me luck !!

Happy Birhtday Daddy

Tomorrow will mark my Dad's 74th birthday ! It will be 3 years this May since my Daddy passed away and I am still missing him ! I know he is in a better place and is happier and I'm happy he's not here suffering but I still miss him ! I hope that he is looking down on us and is happy at what he sees ! He's was a great example to us and a great human being !

Till we meet again Daddy .... I love you !!!

9/29/2009

By now I am sure everyone has heard about the earthqake and tsunami that happened back home. I have not really been able to relax about what has happened since finding out. Although my immediate and extended family members are safe, I still can't stop the ache I feel for those who have lost their love ones.


I wanted to blog today about how this experience has strengthen my testimony of the gospel. This pass year in ALOT of my conversations with my sister Va (who is the only sibling still living on the island with her family) has been about how her ward leaders have been pushing the members about having their welfare, 72 hour kits and even an evacuation plan ready - where they have actually had mock excercise drills for their evacuation plan. We laughed when she said she got her call and her group leader said he called other members in their group and they weren't picking up or saying their ok and they'll just be at home (ok that defeats the purpose of the "excercise" - lol). I was born and raised in American Samoa and yeah, we were constantly told to make sure you have your welfare and make sure to keep it stocked but we have NEVER done what my sister said they have doing this past year. I was totally blown away when I heard about the tsunami actually hitting and after thinking I hope my family is safe I started thinking about how blessed our members back home are that they listen to their leaders who are recieving revelation from our heavenly father and were prepared for this disaster. I know my sister was prepared and has been very adamant about stocking up her welfare for her family. I'm sure she was grateful that she has been very obedient in "heeding" the counsel, because her house was one of the assigned evacuation spots and she played host to LOTS of people. I am thankful to my sister Va and her example she has been to us and for all she does for our family. I am especially thankful that they are safe.

I will continue to pray that our heavenly father comforts those who have lost love ones and pray that we have his spirit and be obedient to the counsels we recieve. I do with ALL my heart know that our Prophet, his counselors and other leaders are chosen by our heavenly father and they do recieve inspiration to lead us in these latter days and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ - Amen !

Kids are still home ....

OK, remember I posted earlier how much I was looking forward to bonding with the kids this summer ..... school was originally suppose to start last week Monday on the 31st of August but the teachers of our school district have gone on strike and so school has been postponed until further notice. It has been almost 2 weeks since the kids should have gone back to school and I am so ready for school to start like NOW ! I am in support of the teachers and their cause so till school finally starts for real I guess I will be trying to figure out how to keep these kids occupied before they drive me even more crazy - if you have any suggestions shoot them my way, and FYI there are 10 kids ages 15 - 2 that I am trying to entertain - but when they finally go back to school I'm thinking I will be needing a vacation !!

Meet the Davis's

This past saturday we finally had our get together with Dustin and Andra Davis. Our family met Dustin back in 2005 when we moved into this house and the ward we are now currently attending. Dustin was a fulltime missionary for our church (LDS) and serving in the ward. He had served in the samoan ward in burien and really liked samoan - so when he found out there was a samoan family in the ward he came over with his companion and that's when it all started.

Fast foward to 2008 ..... Dustin's wife Andra is from washington and believe it or not from our ward - so, when they decided to relocate to washington they ended up in the ward again because they are staying with Andra's parents. Since moving here we were always talking about getting together, we had them over for sunday toonai (lunch/dinner) before and then Dustin said he wanted to do something for us and so, this past saturday he arranged for a pig and the boys roasted it and we threw some other stuff on the grill and had another eating ..... it was good - now I don't know if it was because we haven't had a pig in such a loooonnnnggg time but that pig was ONO (delicious for all you non-hawaiian speaker - lol) - we ended up getting 2 pigs because Aso came over and our 1 wasn't enough ... hehehe !














Anyways, thanks Dustin and Andra ...... next time, let's do something else besides eating - Lulu really need to lose some weight ......LOL !!!!

My Sonny Fotu

I wanted to blog about my son Fotuopalaau Iafeta, he is 11 years old and is such a joy to me. Fotu LOVES playing basketball and recently we found out from one of his good friend's mother that one of the select teams in our area will be having tryouts. Tryouts will be held this saturday and sunday. Fotu and I were talking about him going to tryouts this weekend and he asked " Am I going on sunday too ?" I said yes and he said "but it's from 9-12 (same time as our ward) and I'm gonna miss church" I said that's right, your'e gonna miss church. He really shocked me when he said in the next second "I don't want to miss church - I'm not going on saunday" - I told him that was fine and he didn't have to go. I am so proud of my Fotu and his decision. He really made my night when he did it because lately I've been feeling as though I'm failing as a mother. I hope he continues on this path and continues to make wise choices in his life because it really will bring him nothing but joy !