The Giles

Mt. Pleasant for the 4th

2011-07-18T19:14:00.003-06:00

Its a month late, I know. But we went to Mt. Pleasant for the 4th, and it was pretty sweet.

The town does this massive breakfast, and a huge parade, it was awesome!

Life In Lehi

2011-07-01T23:20:00.002-06:00

Oh geez, its been almost a year since I've updated our family blog, but I think its about time.

Stephen still works for the same company, as do I.
We still work and work and work, but we try to make alot of time for our little family.

Since I started a new blog where I post random ridiculousness, I figured it would be a good idea if I started updating this blog with our weekly what nots.

I'll begin after this weekend..

Hawaii

2010-08-03T19:46:00.002-06:00

We've pretty busy lately, I think I'll try and catch up on those things later, but at the moment, we are in Hawaii on vacation.

We were meant to fly out Sunday August 1st, but the flight was cancelled from Phoenix to Hawaii, and we wouldnt be able to get to Hawaii til Monday.
We decided to head to Phoenix, since OJ and Liz were out there and we could visit with them.
Turned out to be a great idea, we had dinner with them, US Airways put us up in a hotel for the night, and we were able to extend our trip in Hawaii so we could fly back on Monday instead of the Sunday.

We were upgraded to first class from Phoenix, a bonus for the leg room and food, and arrived Monday night.

We got to our beautiful little beachside cottage, and had an awful night full of crying with Koa.

Tuesday morning we arose nice and early to watch the sunrise from inside the cottage, so pretty and peaceful.
Headed over to the Hukilau cafe for breakfast, and Matsumoto for some shave ice, and spent a few hours at Sunset Beach.
Picked up some delicious poke from the Kahuku Superette under the recommendation of both Harris and Jay Tyau, and took the kids back to the cottage for a nap.

Its easy to see how people love it here.
We're relaxed, taking our time to enjoy our time with our little family, so nice ..

WOW Challenge

2010-07-19T20:44:00.002-06:00

So, our company is having a Weight Off and Win challenge, we did the weigh in today.
The week before I ate TONS, and gained like 14 pounds, what a pig, hahaha.
But I really want to win.
So, today, it begins.
8 weeks of dieting and exercise, not too long at all, but the chance for a lifestyle change.
Hmmm .. to post before pictures or not to post them .....

Swimming signals the beginning of OUR summer!

2010-07-04T11:54:00.011-06:00

The Travelling Husband

2010-06-21T18:13:00.006-06:00

So the morning of my birthday, Stephen flew out to Japan ..and began his 9 countries in two weeks, whirl wind training trip.

He began in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China.
He was able to come back into Utah on Sunday, and flew out to Europe on Monday.
In Europe he went to Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Hungary and flew back through France.

Sushi in Japan

Over Nightless ?

Doing what he had to do ..

Boat ride in Hong Kong

The big building in Hong Kong, this is in Batman

Another random pic

Some random building, it is pretty beautiful though

The Lourve

Mona Lisa

Venus de Milo

not sure .. from Egypt apparently

Arc de Triomphe

Wandering around

Notre Dame de Paris

Eiffel Tower

When Stephen finally got home Sunday, it was Fathers Day.

The perfect day to come home!

Early Birthday Celebrations ...

2010-06-05T22:14:00.004-06:00

Since Stephen is heading to Hong Kong tomorrow morning (early, and he will be gone for a couple of weeks, but thats another story for another time) we decided to go out and have a nice quiet little family birthday celebration at Tucanos .. and use the FREE MEAL birthday coupon we all know we signed up for.

Our boys are pretty good eaters, I'm pretty sure Koa ate bout 20 cheese balls.

We decided we would go and take a look at some rings.
When I opened the car door to put Koa in, a sparkle caught my eye.
Stephen saw my face and asked me what was wrong, I reached down onto the passengers side seat in the car and lifted my hand .. the missing diamond from my engagement ring was sitting there!

I think I was more surprised because Miranda has been riding to work with me all week since they are staying with us, and she had'nt seen it.
The only emotion I think I could even fathom was pure delight!

We went and took at look at some rings, and I fell in love with one.
After taking a look at a few other, crappier, places, we went back to the place with the ring I loved, and made the purchase.

My old ring was a 3 ring set.
I decided to take the two rings from my previous bridal set, and they are getting soldered together to become a ring for my right hand.

My new ring will be ready Tuesday and I'm so excited.
My husband is amazing, and I had the best early birthday I'm sure I will ever have.

New York

2010-05-30T09:31:00.017-06:00

This post is purely for me, so I can remember the awesome "vacation" Stephen and I had.

Originally I was supposed to go to New York not long after we got back from New Zealand, for work.
It just didn't end up working out, as we had a new hire class start, and a number of other pressing matters occurring in the office, so I was informed the trip would have to be postponed.

Its crazy how it all just worked out.
Stephen had to attend a training class in New York during the last week of April.
He asked if I wanted to come, and just hang out with him.
He was lucky enough to get a room at the Waldorf Astoria, and we figured it might be the best time, since he would already have his days tied up, for me to go out to my companies NY office.

The Waldorf Astoria main entrance

I checked with my office, and my boss, and it ended up working out perfectly.
Stephen asked his mother to come in to Utah to watch the boys for the week. (Thank goodness for those flight benefits!)

We knew our days would be filled with work/training, so we wanted to try and pack the nights with food and fun.

We arrive early in the afternoon, and had to grab a taxi to take us to the hotel.
I don't know what I thought going into NY, but I was POSITIVE I was going to die.
Those taxi drivers are insane, they don't signal, they are pushy, and it was intense!

Stephen in our room

After checking into our hotel, we decided to check with the concierge about where we should eat.
It was raining, we wanted to get a good nights rest, and it was all really a little overwhelming.

We ended up going to a little Italian restaurant called Cellini, which I loved!
I had this melt in your mouth gnocchi, it was amazing, I never knew food could taste so divine (yeah, I said divine).

After that, we took a walk over to Serendipity, a very famous dessert/coffee shop place.
It truly wasn't as good as I thought it would be, the portions they gave out were enormous, but it just didn't taste as good as it looked.

They did have the most ridiculously priced dessert I'm sure I will ever see, $1000.00.

The next day (Tuesday) Stephen had to get up early and get to his training.
I thought it would be a pretty quick ride from the city out to our office, so I took my time getting ready, boy was I wrong.

I was still a bit nervous about being in NY and travelling around on my own, so I thought I might take a taxi all the way to the office.
The concierge mentioned it was only about a 30 minute ride, and it might be an idea to get a car and a driver to take me there, at a cost of $135 an hour .. no.

I called the office I was heading to, to find the cheapest way to get there.

After taking a taxi, L-Train, and another taxi, I made it to the office an hour and a half later.

I knew I would have to try and get out earlier so I could get back to the city and get in some shopping and sight seeing with Stephen.

We decided to go to Juniors for dinner, again HUGE portions, but really tasty food.

Stephen had also planned on us taking one of those double decker bus night tours around the city.
It was so pretty seeing the city, and listening to history behind the different areas.

It was FREEZING!!

And I just wanted to be touristy and buy an I heart NY something ...
So I got this cheesy hoodie.

Part way through, like I think for maybe the last quarter of the trip, we had to go inside the bus, it was just WAY too cold.

One of the things I had really wanted to do while in NY, was go and see a Broadway musical, namely WICKED.

Stephen didn't care to go, or not go, but knew that it was something I was really looking forward to, so Wednesday night, he got us tickets.

We ended up eating at the highly rated Plataforma Churrasco Rodizio, a Brazilian style eatery, and saw Kelsey Grammar while we had dinner.

The Gerswhin theatre where WICKED was playing was not far from the restaurant, and I was so excited to get there.

WICKED did not disappoint, I absolutely LOVED it!

I'm sure Stephen got sick of me talking about it, and listening to the music, but it was awesome!

One of our favourite channels to watch, is the Food Network.

We watched a show about NY pizza, and who REALLY brought pizza from Italy to the US.

Since Lombardi's is listed as Americas first Pizzeria, we decided we would go and eat there.

Now, I'm not a fan of pizza at all, in fact, when we get pizza, I get something else.

Too much dough, too much grease, uhh.

To my surprise, and Stephens, I'm in LOVE with NY style pizza.

The thin crust is awesome, so tasty, it was delicious.

After dinner at Lombardi's, we made the journey to Magnolia Bakery.

For all you Sex and the City fans, Magnolia Bakery has been made famous by that show.

We got a dozen assorted cupcakes, and I made sure to get a vanilla frosting yellow cake cupcake, what this bakery is famous for.

It was one of the best cupcakes I've ever had, and we all know how much I LOVE cake!

Friday night was Stephens night.

He wanted to go to a Yankees game, and I wasn't particularly excited about it, but I was looking forward to doing something Stephen really wanted to do.

We caught the subway to Yankees stadium, where I got a Yankees hat, because I'm a cheese like that and I like to support whatever it is we are going to.

It ended up being so much fun, I really enjoyed it, and would be more than happy to go back again.

We had a decent view, it was pretty good, we could see everything.

I love how they displayed the caloric content of each food item, next to the price.

I also really enjoyed how they had tons of crowd participation games throughout the game, and how everyone got up and sang take me out to the ball game.
I did ask Stephen to buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks, he just laughed at me.

Saturday was our one and only full day out in NY.

We had already decided to go and see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island, and luckily we had pre-purchased our tickets.

We caught the subway towards Wall St.
When we came up from the subway, we found a Romanian festival going on, so we took some photos with the bull, grabbed some food, and headed over to the ferry.

The ferry ride was SO nice.

It was 80 + degrees, and the breeze of the water was so refreshing.
It was pretty cool to see Lady Liberty, and Ellis Island, but in the interest of time, we didn't get off the ferry.

After getting off the ferry, we headed over to do some shopping.

I desperately wanted to go to Tiffany's, which we did, and I was able to make a small purchase.

We took a walk down Wall Street, saw the paved streets, the NY stock exchange, the buildings are amazing.

We went over to a shoe store Ariel raved about, Michael K's, and were fortunate enough to catch a protest.

There were thousands and thousands of people protesting the Arizona law change, which singles out minorities.

We went over to ground zero.

They were building it up quite a bit, but it was humbling to see where it was, and truly amazing that there wasn't more damage, or residual damage.
It must've been crazy that day.

After the busy day shopping, and taking in the sights, we headed back to spend Saturday Night in Times Square.

We went to the biggest Toys R Us in the nation, wanted to go there because I missed our kids.

We decided to eat dinner at Bubba Gumps in times square, and sat to eat some tasty food.

We heard allot of commotion outside, but didn't really pay attention, because we were too busy enjoying our delicious meal.
It wasn't til the whirring sirens and flashing lights were right outside the restaurant, that we began to pay attention.

Some other restaurant patrons started talking about a vehicle that was smoking, and how they had evacuated times square.

We took a look out the window to see that they had evacuated all the buildings, business, hotels, etc, in Times Square and had put barricades around the perimeter.

There were thousands of people outside just standing watching.

After Stephen and I finished eating, we went outside, snapped a couple of pictures and asked what was going on.

We got a brief description of what they thought might be a bomb scare, which we later found out was a legitimate bomb scare.

After finding out what it might be, we took off.

We weren't taking a chance to find out if there was or was not a real bomb.

SIDE NOTE: If it had've gone off, so many people would have died, because people just stood there, watching, laughing, joking about how it might be real.

Sunday we were on our way home.

I can now honestly say I LOVE NEW YORK!

It was such and awesome break from Utah, but as always, it was so nice to be home and stay with our babies.

I love going away when its just Stephen and I, we always have such a good time together.

Thomas

2010-05-29T18:09:00.006-06:00

Tickets to ride the train

Thomas

Thomas is coming

Our big boy and his big smile

Mana in the hay maze
Koa wouldnt go in and join Mana
Koa cried .. alot

Our Boys

Best Friends

Giving his dad attitude .. this kid has alot of it

With Stephens work trips to Asia and Europe quickly sneaking up on us, we decided it was important for us to take the boys out for a day of fun.

Turned out to be a long few hours.

Koa was tired, so he whined and cried pretty much the entire time.

Mana is our good little boy, he enjoyed all of it, and was so good lloking and listening.

While on the train, I looked down at my hand, and found that my ring was missing its diamond.

Very sad about that.

Our Beautiful niece Adelaide Juel Metekingi

2010-05-28T20:54:00.004-06:00

Ariel and Angela were blessed this past week with the birth of there beautiful baby girl, Adelaide Juel Metekingi.

A whopping 10 pounds 4 oz, 21 inches long, she is so beautiful, we love her so much!

Time to begin again

2010-05-28T20:29:00.003-06:00

Mana
Koa

I am recommitting to blogging.
The past year has been a busy one, but we are having a great time living life.
We finally got a new computer, so its time to get of facebook for a little bit, and get back to describing life!
Since its Memorial Day on Monday, we have decided to take the boys to see Thomas the Tank Engine tomorrow, so tomorrow, I think I'll begin posting again .. stay tuned FAN!

So ... June

2009-06-20T12:57:00.009-06:00

Yep, my blogging sucks.

But here is a summarized May/June 2009.

We were lucky enough to have a surprise visit from Stephen's mom, so we got some pictures of her with the boys as her mothers day present.

It was a very brief visit, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sanae took the pictures and did and amazing job, check her out http://www.sanaejamesphoto.com/, she is AWESOME !!

Early June, Mana started having trouble breathing one day, it was like he was sucking in air.

After watching him get progressively worse.

We took him to the ER about midnight, they checked his breathing, gave him a couple of breathing treatments, and decided to keep him in overnight for observation.

We found out Mana had an asthma attack and because his asthma attack came on so quickly, we have to be cautious.

We havent had any repeat episodes, which is a relief, and he seems to be fine now.

Koa is getting bigger and darker.

He is a sweet little boy, not like Mana at all.

He is always smiling, and he's a shy, little guy.

Vanz moved back to New Zealand,

She stayed with us for a few weeks before she left, and we miss her.

Life is alot quieter. HAHA Vanz.

Us at Stan and Lee Moleni's

Mana at Wingers for the farewell dinner

Travis Uale got married, and the Uales came to town.

Stephen took some much needed time off to kick it with his boys.

George, Crichton and Stephen at the wedding dance

Koa at the wedding dance

mana and carlos at the dance

all of us at the dance

In other news, my dad is in Australia and Koa misses him .. alot.

Koa has been looking for him at the house, so I'm wondering if he wont like my dad when he comes back ... hahaha sorry dad.

Well, would love to say my blogging will get better, but it probably won't.

Going Private

2009-05-08T14:44:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I'm slow on this thing, but I'm about to get better.
And if you want to read our juicy life stories, send an email to gileswhanau@gmail.com because we are going private !

HCG Week 3

2009-04-06T13:15:00.002-06:00

Well, yesterday was my last day actually taking the HCG, but I still have to do the 500 calorie no fat, carbs or sugar thing for 3 days just til all the HCG is out of my system.

So I lost a total of 25 pounds .. a bunch of inches everywhere.

I am by no means skinny, but I feel a TON (literally) better.

I've had more energy, and enjoyed watching the scales go down each morning.

For the next 3 weeks I am on Atkins, and supposedly I am going to learn how to be able to eat whatever I want, without gaining weight, but we will test that theory I'm sure.

For now though, I'm excited to use lotion, my skin is disgustingly dry and cracked.
Definitely worth it though ..23 days, 25 pounds down ... sweet.

Week 2 HCG

2009-03-30T10:15:00.002-06:00

Down 19.5 pounds .. I think most of it is the baby weight coz its pretty hard to lose some of that stomach weight after a C-Section ..

Feeling good, any-one who decides to do it, do it.
Its well worth it!

One more week to go

Week 1 on HCG

2009-03-21T09:47:00.002-06:00

Only 1 week has passed and this diet is alot easier than I thought it would be.
I can eat 3.5 oz of chicken or steak twice a day, load up on greens and I can have strawberries, apples, grapefruit.
I've noticed that sometimes when I think I'm hungry, I'll have a hot drink and then I'm not hungry.
I wonder how many times I've thought I was hungry and a hot drink would have been enough .. curious.
I'm down 13 pounds, and lost a bunch of inches, only 50 pounds to go !
2 more weeks to go, hopefully it will go the same.

HCG and me

2009-03-15T13:22:00.002-06:00

Okay, so after much deliberation, I started the HCG diet.
For those of you who dont know what it is .. google it.

I am doing a 23 day diet, and I'm not doing the shots, I'm doing it sublingually .. which means I take .5 mls under my tongue in the morning and at night.

Today is day number two and its the day I have to eat as much as physically possible.
I have to say, it is one of the hardest things to do, and I feel sick !
The diet says to eat as much as you can, carbs, sugars, high fat content, you name it.
Its hard though, to eat that much.

Starting Monday, I am on a pretty strict 500 calorie diet for the next 21 days.

So I am going to try and blog about it.

Yesterday I ate pretty much everything in sight, today, I'm trying .. we will see how it goes.

Koa Bear

2009-03-15T12:29:00.005-06:00

Koa is our sweet smiley little boy.

He has a bit of a sensitive stomach and throws up quite a bit, Uncle Harris likes to call him PUKE-KANA ...

He is always smiling, mostly happy, and Mana loves him.

We havent had any issues with Mana being jealous of Koa .. yet.

Koa can't sit up yet, but he rolls like a maniac.

He falls asleep when hes tired, hes a big sleeper.

Koa is a Metekingi .. he sleeps with his eyes slightly open .. Stephen thinks its creepy, I'm used to it and I think its hilarious.

He eats a ton and hes a solid round little boy.

He is a big thumb sucker.

I love my baby boy.

Nasty Ear Infection

2009-03-15T12:18:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Mana got a pretty nasty ear infection.

It looked alot worse than it was, but it was pretty ugly looking.

He didnt complain, he just got really quiet, thats how we can tell when hes not feeling well.

All he wanted to do was watch Madagascar 2, so he did.

February

2009-02-22T07:49:00.005-07:00

This month has been another busy one so one post a month might be the go for the next little while.

Last weekend we were able to go to San Diego, and it was really nice to get out of Utah for a bit.

We went to go play in a mixed Touch Rugby tournament, and it defineately made us realize how unfit we are.

Mana ended up staying here with my mum and the kids and we took Koa with us.

He loved being with his Grandma and didnt want to come with us when we picked him up to go home.

We were able to catch up with Liz, OJ and the girls, and eat some meat pies.

Stephen and I left Koa with my dad Valentines Day and decided to go to the Sevens Tournament, New Zealand didnt do so good, so that sucked.

In other news, I have weaned Koa off me and he is on the bottle, and he loves it !!

He's all about drinking his bottles now, 8 oz four times a day, if he would just go back to sleeping all night I would be solid.

Mana and Koa have started Day Care.

Its an in home day care and they love it !

I was so worried about finding someone I could trust with my babies, but Lesia is lovely and the boys love her, so its a huge relief.

My blogging sucks, I know .. sorry fans, all 3 of you

2009-01-20T22:11:00.004-07:00

Cheesy Mana ... Koa and his pukana eyes

Mana loves to hongi his brother ..and everyone else

We have a thumb sucker !!

So it feels like I've been super busy lately.

We get up, go to work, come home, work some more, then go to sleep.

Saturday and Sunday we're hammered and we end up sleeping a ton.

The reason we are killing ourselves at the moment is in preparation for our trip to New Zealand at the end of this year.

Mana is a really good big brother, he loves Koa so much, and he's always watching out for him.

Koa is a good baby. He LOVES to sleep and loves to cuddle, and he hates to be left out.

He jabbers as much as Mana does, but he is always smiling and laughing, he is such a pleasure to be around.

And also, to add the the exhaustion, Koa is teething, and yes he is only 4 months.

His two bottom teeth are trying to break through the skin so he's drooling a ton and hungry all the time.

He barely cries and other than the drool you probably couldnt tell he's teeting, but for me, he wakes up at night now, where as he usually sleeps all through the night, hence the exhaustion.

Koa's First Christmas ..

2008-12-25T23:25:00.010-07:00

This year we celebrated our first christmas at our house.
Usually we got to my parents house, but this year we decided to do it with everyone at our house.

We got up early to try to get everything ready before everyone got to our house, but when we took a look out the window there was like a foot of snow, so Stephen had to go out and shovel the drive way while I got the kids ready.
The snowfall from the night before pushed everything back, so everyone showed up a little bit later than we had planned, but they all arrived safely.
We took Mana and Koa downstairs to start opening there presents.
Koa feel asleep the minute he lay down on my dad, his favourite person.

For the first couple of presents Mana was giving the COOL and OH YEAH responses, but he got sick of opening presents pretty quickly and wanted to go and play.

Stephen got these little MP3 players for my little brothers, sister and Mana, so the kids were jamming to there music while the guys cooked up breakfast.

Everyone opened there presents and I thought we were finished, but Stephen had a little surprise for us.
So I've wanted Rock Band for like a year, but Stephen said no because he doesnt particularly like it, so I dropped the idea ages ago.
Stephen kept telling me to open the last present under the tree, and I wasnt that keen on it since Mana wasnt interested in sitting with me to open it, but Stephen insisted, so I sat down and opened it.
When I opened it I found it was Guitar Hero, which I was more than happy with, but my little brothers were like, theres only one guitar and Stephen went to the closet and pulled out Rock Band 2, I was stoked !

So after playing Rock Band for a few hours, I thought we were done, but no, Stephen had hidden in his car a little surprise for me.

I saw these Breaking Dawn bookends at Barnes & Noble, thought they were pretty nifty, but a bit pricey, so I didnt say to much about it.

Stephen told me to go look in the boot (TRUNK) of his car and have a look.

I lifted up his jacket and this is what I saw.

The box set of the Twilight Saga and the bookends.

I already had the books, but lent them out to people and also gave one away, so I didnt have them anymore, so Stephen decided to surprise me, so cute.

Also we were able to talk to my brother Luke on his mission and my brother Phillip who lives with his wife and son in Australia.

And if Stephen had've heard his phone, we would have been able to talk to Crystal and her family in New Zealand.

We watched Mamma Mia, well some of us did and some of us didnt, and stayed inside, and I can honestly say I had a great christmas, I loved it !

Stephen, you are the sweetest husband, and so cute and thoughtful, I love you and thanks for a great christmas!

Snowboarding

2008-12-15T23:25:00.002-07:00

On Saturday a bunch of us went to Brighton for the Ski for Gold day.

The weather was pretty crazy, there was a snow storm, and on the way up the canyon, we saw a ton of cars sliding, some cars had veered off the road, and people were parked in the most random places.

It was the first run of the season, get excited people, we're hoping for many more !

Technology SUCKS sometimes ..or is it me ?

2008-12-02T22:19:00.003-07:00

I havent posted in awhile, and over Thanksgiving we had Stephens mother visit.
I took a bunch of pictures at that and at my sisters birthday party and a bunch of other pics, I went to upload them onto the computer and then clear the memory card.
For some reason they didnt save and I wiped all the pictures.
PAINFUL

Twilight .. The Movie ..

2008-11-23T11:56:00.002-07:00

So Thursday Night I went out with some of the girls to watch the midnight showing of Twilight.
I thought it was pretty bad after watching it, one of the worst movies I had seen since Max Payne.
But then on Saturday Night, I went with Stephen to watch the movie, he thought it was ok, since I had given it the worst review ever he expected alot less than they delivered.
I can honestly say after watching it a second time, that I really liked the movie, I actually thought it was good.
This has never happened to me before. I usually hate watching movies a second time, and I've never actually liked a movie after pretty much hating it.
So people who hated it the first time, maybe try and watch it again, its not as bad as you think the second time around.

My brothers and football

2008-11-16T19:49:00.003-07:00

Last week my little brothers had there football finals.

Both Tapua and Josiahs teams made the finals.

Josiahs team won and Tapuas lost.

Both my brothers love playing football.

They trained two hours a night every night for the first couple of months, then a few nights a week for a couple of hours, football is a BIG commitment, and I'm glad it was something they enjoyed.

A couple of random thoughts on football in Utah since I'm sure we are going to put Mana into it.

I STRONGLY dislike that they put a big X on the helmets of the kids who are "overweight" and the make them play on the line.

I know that right before everyone gets weighed at the beginning of the season, there are little boys sitting in steam rooms trying to lose weight, taking laxatives, running in trash bags etc.

For little boys to be doing this I think its ridiculous.

Mana is a solid chunk of a kid, and if he has an X on his helmet, I'm wondering how that will affect him, I know thats like 5 or so years away but still ... makes me think.

Koa Baby Pics

2008-11-10T19:28:00.002-07:00

We got some new born pics done of our little dark boy Koa Koa as Mana likes to call him.

We were lucky enough that Sanae took the pics, they look good Sanae, THANKS

Friday Night Lights

2008-10-31T22:56:00.006-06:00

We like to watch Friday Night Lights, and anyone who has Direct TV may have seen the ads that come on for the show.
Everytime the ad comes on Mana does his Tim Riggins impression and lifts his arms and head to the sky .. such an actor !
If you click on the picture you can see Friday Night Lights on the TV and what Riggins is doing.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T22:21:00.008-06:00

This year was pretty good for Halloween, we actually got our monies worth out of the costumes we bought.

Last week we went to two Halloween parties, one at George and Jenny's club house and one at Jess and Faleni's house, it was fun to get out and take the kids out.
Mana enjoyed it this year, since he was a bit older, but he was terrified of so many peoples costumes.

Thursday we went to my parents Trunk or Treat.

It was cute, people decorated their boots and all the kids got heaps of lollies.

Then they went inside and there was a mini carnival set up with games and prizes.

Then today for Halloween we went to Nu Skins Halloween party to watch Stephen and Syndee do there skits for the costume finals.

Stephen was Hancock.

Syndee was Jessie from Toy Story 2.

Then we went to the Fredricksens for Trick or Treating for Mana and some good chilli !

Happy Halloween !!

Lately ...

2008-10-20T17:51:00.007-06:00

Thought I would post a few pics of the boys lately ..
cross eyed Koa

Mana loves to eat popcorn, and he thinks he can throw it up and catch it in his mouth.

We went to Moni's 30th on Saturday.

We went to Ruby River for dinner and the to My Noah's after and kicked it with everyone, it was fun.

Mana "playing" Halo at Noah's

First Snow

2008-10-14T12:08:00.002-06:00

We woke up Sunday morning and there was snow on the ground.

Great.

Husband Tag

2008-10-06T18:49:00.003-06:00

Just because ... I didnt post for Stephens Birthday because I was HAMMERED .. so this is my mini tribute to him

1. WHERE DID YOU MEET YOUR HUSBAND? Playing Halo at some guys house, not long after I got to Utah, well thats where he saw me, I saw him a few months later at a Potluck at a park, actually talked to each other at my brothers wedding
2. HOW LONG DID YOU DATE BEFORE YOU WERE MARRIED? 11 months
3. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED? 4 years
4. WHAT DOES HE DO THAT SURPRISES YOU? Lots of things. Too many to name, but Stephen is FULL of surprises, hes sweet !
5. WHAT IS HIS FAVORITE FEATURE? Everything !
6. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUALITY OF HIS? That he always puts us before everything else
7. DOES HE HAVE A NICKNAME FOR YOU? Baby, Babe and Dayn
8. WHAT IS HIS FAVORITE FOOD? He loves to eat most things.
10. WHEN & WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST KISS? September 22nd 2003, on the back of Beka's truck .. hahahaha.
11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO AS A COUPLE? Talk and joke with each other, we can talk for hours about everything !
12. DO YOU HAVE ANY CHILDREN? Mana and Koa, our two beautiful boys !
13. DOES HE HAVE ANY HIDDEN TALENTS? Yeah, hes a great cook, thats not hidden since he cooks most of the time, but hes thoughtful
14. HOW OLD IS HE? 29, one more year til your 30 buddy !
15. WHO SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST? He did
16. WHAT IS HIS FAVORITE MUSIC? Hes a fan of alot of different types of music.
17. WHAT DO YOU ADMIRE MOST ABOUT HIM? How hard he works, how he takes care of us, and many many more things
18. WHAT IS HIS FAVORITE COLOR? Blue
19. WILL HE READ THIS? yeah coz I texted him and told him I wrote this

TAG

2008-10-06T18:28:00.004-06:00

Tagged- One Word
Tagged by Nimo.
Fill in your answer, using only one word. Tag 7 others.
1. Where is your cell phone? COUCH
2. Where is your significant other? WORK
3. Your hair color? BLACK BROWN
4. Your mother? AMAZING
5. Your father? CLOWN
6. Your favorite thing? LIFE
7. Your dream last night? CRAZY
8. Your dream/goal? NOT TO WORRY ABOUT MONEY ( one word doesnt work for this question and a bunch of the others)
9. The room you're in? LIVING ROOM
10. Your hobby? SURFING THE NET FOR INTERESTING FINDS
11. Your fear? LONELINESS
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? ANYWHERE
13. Where were you last night? HOME
14. What you're not? A MODEL
15. One of your wish-list items? HAVE MY OWN BUSINESS
16. Where you grew up? HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND
17. The last thing you did? WASHING
18. What are you wearing? WHITE
19. Your TV? ON WATCHING LAW & ORDER RE-RUNS
20. Your pet? NOT KEEN ON CLEANING ANIMALS HENCE NO PETS
21. Your computer? FROM WORK IS A PIECE !!
22. Your mood? CHILL
23. Missing someone? YES, STEPHEN, ANYTIME HES NOT WITH ME
24. Your car? SUFFICIENT
25. Something you're not wearing? HAT
26. Favorite store? COSTCO
27. Your summer? HOT AS HELL
28. Love someone? YES, MANY SOMEONES
29. Your favorite color? GREEN and GRAY
30. When is the last time you laughed? EVERYDAY I LAUGH
31. Last time you cried? YESTERDAY BECAUSE I'M SOFT .. NAH, MAYBE WHEN I HAD KOA AND THEY WOULDNT LET ME SEE HIM.

I love being a Mum

2008-10-06T18:13:00.006-06:00

Usually I'm a blog-a-holic, I like to write down everything we do, but lately I've been so tired and busy with our two sons that I haven't even remembered to get on here and write anything.

Over the last 2 weeks I've truly enjoyed being at home with our boys.

Mana is a little monster. He is a typical rough boy who loves to tackle, punch, kick, jump and just basically abuse us. All the while he is smiling and laughing. But when its time to quiet down, he loves to kiss and cuddle, he is a little sweet heart. He and I have been "talking" alot lately. He doesnt really say so many words but he is copying alot, and he likes to pull my face and make me talk to him.

Koa is a beautiful baby, he is such a good boy. I love looking at him, it seems like is face changes every day. At first we thought he looked like Mana, and now I think he looks nothing like Mana.

He is alot darker than Mana ever was, his eyes are alot bigger, at the moment he is our skinny little baby, but he is gaining weight quickly.

He eats more than Mana did at this age, but he sleeps longer, if its possible.

He is sleeping 7 - 8 hours a night, so I am pretty lucky.

Koa is sleeping with us at the moment, since I'm nursing .. and lazy, its easier for me.

I would be luckier if Mana didn't creep into our room every night and hop in the bed with us.

He's a bit vicious when he sleeps, kicks and rolls all the time.

I'm truly enjoying being at home, I'm sure I will cry when I have to go back to work, but I know I have to do what I have to do.

Busy Weekend

2008-09-29T09:52:00.005-06:00

We had a bit of a busy weekend this past weekend, Koa's first weekend out.

Friday Night we went to Tucanos with George, Jenny, Carlos and Sia to celebrate Stephen and Jenny's birthday month.

Then we decided to drop by Faleni and Jess' house to meet there beautiful baby boy.

Mana and Carlos at Tucanos

Then on Saturday we went to watch my little brothers play football and Stephen and I went to the movies to see Eagle Eye.

Tapua
Josiah

And on Sunday, my little brother was ordained a Deacon. So we went to my parents for dinner and to Tapuas setting apart. His actual birthday was the day after Koa was born, and it was a bit of stink birthday for him, we had cake at the hospital for him.

Cant believe your 12 Tapua.

Tapua, Mana and Josiah

Brotherly Love

2008-09-26T22:33:00.003-06:00

So we were a little worried about how Mana would take having to share all the love and attention he is showered with.
Surprisingly he's been really good about trying to kiss and cuddle Koa.
Every morning he tries to hold Koa, and when hes finished kissing and cuddling his little brother, he tries to push him off his lap.
Mana is a bit rough, but we know he's only trying to play with his brother and we TRY not to growl him too much.
Its been so nice to be home and just start to get into a routine and just really enjoy being together.
Koa is a good baby, cries like a little bird when hes hungry and when he needs to be changed.

kisses for Koa
Nice yawn buddy
gummy
bung eye ..
They were very tired !

Introducing KOA METEKINGI GILES

2008-09-20T22:06:00.010-06:00

The clot at the base of the umbilical cord

This morning Koa Metekingi Giles was born, at 4:24 am.

He had a bit of a rough start.

I had dialated to a 6 by the time we got to the hospital, and it only took an hour and a half to get to an 8, by the time I was at a 9 the doctor came over and was all ready to deliver, but our poor babies heart rate kept dropping, it was supposed to be between 110 and 160, it was over 160 during the contractions and dropped to 60 once the contractions were over.

I expected to go natural as I did with Mana but there were a ton of complications with this baby.

He was face up, or sunny side up as the nurse kept saying, and the doctor couldnt turn him.

Then with his heart rate so low they were worried he wasnt getting enough oxygen, and then he had already had a bowel movement, so the decided to give me a c-section.

Once he was out they could see his umbilical cord had a clot at the base, so they figured that was the reason his heart rate was dropping so low.

He spent his first few hours being monitored in the nursery, and he was brought into our room at 11 am.

He is alot smaller than Mana, he was 7 pounds 6 ounces, 18 1/2 inches long and he has ALOT of hair on his head, face, back pretty much his whole body .

He is a beautiful little boy!

Atleast I went early this time and didnt go two weeks over due.

Slippery ..

2008-09-12T08:31:00.005-06:00

So usually I try not to carry Mana, hes too heavy and I'm too far along in my pregnancy and its just really not a good idea.
But yesterday I was carrying Mana into Smiths, I couldnt be bothered putting his shoes on and we parked really close so I figured we'd be fine.
I walked into Smiths carrying Mana and went to grab a cart, as I stepped off the mat there was a small puddle of water, which I slipped on.
I dropped Mana, he hit his head on the floor, and I somehow managed to avoid landing on my stomach, and landed straight on my knee and twisted one of my ankles.
My poor son is so tough when it comes to getting hurt, he had tears coming out of his eyes, didnt really cry, and he was trying to pick me up.
There was an older guy there who was freaking out, he was in the middle of cleaning the floor.
The Manager came running down to see if I was ok, they were nice and very apologetic, and trying to check the floor to see if there was any water.
They didnt see any water on the floor, I was like, look at my jeans, the knees on my jeans were soaked!
I guess they were worried I was going to try to sue them, but since I was fine and Mana was fine, we got our food and left.
They said to come back if I had any problems or residual effects of slipping, but I'm sure we will be fine.
I think I was more embarrassed than anything really, I must've looked like a whale sitting there on the floor.

This picture has nothing to do with anything, this is from the pics Sanae took, but I like for my blog to have pics with everything .. like a picture book.

Frustrated ...

2008-09-07T21:27:00.002-06:00

So since Thursday of last week I have been having contractions, I'm not due for a few weeks, so I was a bit surprised at the intensity of the contractions but they haven't been consistent and they are just annoying me at the moment because I'm not dialating any and its pointless pain !!
So, at the moment I am frustrated, tomorrow I wont be, but I was up all night last night with my contractions, I really shouldn't complain because my mum was here and I had this electronic acupressure machine that has a really light vibration, and anytime I had a contraction I turned it on and I didn't feel anything, so its not like I was really in pain, also, my mum knows some pressure points to rub so she would rub the points during strong contracts and it was easy to get through them.
But as any pregnant woman is during the last few weeks, I'm tired of being pregnant and just ready for this little boy to join our family.

Labor Weekend

2008-09-01T19:38:00.003-06:00

This weekend we were lucky enough to finally enjoy a long weekend.

Its been ages since we had a 3 day weekend, the last few there was Stephen or I had to work, so since we dont have to much longer to go til we have our next baby, we decided to stay home, and start getting things ready.

On Saturday my sister and brother in law came to watch football and George, Jenny and Carlos stopped by for a few hours.

It was good for Mana, he loves playing with Carlos, he gets all excited, and they play really well together.

Mana got a motorized four wheeler for Christmas and the two of them rode around the living room on it, it was very cute!

Saturday Night it got super windy and stormy.

The wind was blowing like crazy, and for some reason, it seems to come through our area nice and hard, we heard a loud smash and went outside to see the glass on our out door table had smashed and the umbrella had blown all the way to the far left corner of our yard.

All the chairs were scattered everywhere, it was a mess, but eventually we cleaned it up.

The other thing I managed to do on Saturday and Monday was read Twilight and New Moon.

I know I'm behind everyone on reading them, but its hard to read working full time and spending what little time I have after that with Mana, so I spent a few hours reading those books.

I liked the second book better than the first.

Stephen was able to watch a ton of movies while I read.

We cleaned a ton, and I'm still not completely prepared for our baby, well not as prepared as I would like to be, but I feel alot better.

Boyz II Men

2008-08-29T18:16:00.004-06:00

Boyz II Men was playing at the Scera Ampitheatre Thursday Night and a bunch of us decided to go because the tickets were only $15.

The weather has cooled down a ton, so it was a nice night.

We went to Wingers on State St for dinner while Miranda and Harris saved us all seats (thanks guys).

Dad came with us too and loved it !

There was some random talent show that was on as the opening act, and there was this one little girl who could sing, and a bunch of crappy other singers.

It was kind of random, but once Boyz II Men came on, it was good, they sang a bunch of the old favourites and some Motown songs, it was a good concert !

Dad, Vanz and Ariel

With everyone

Jack Johnson

2008-08-19T18:21:00.003-06:00

Monday Night was Jack Johsons concert at Usana Ampitheatre.
Stephen and I bought tickets a few months ago, all day I wasn't really feeling up to going, being 50 months pregnant and all, but I have to say, I'm glad we went.
We were able to get pretty good seats, so we could stretch out, and sit the entire time.
The security guard by us was good at making people sit down, so we could see pretty much the whole time.
He played for a solid two hours and his encore was 5 songs, just him and his guitar singing the crowd favourites.
The traffic leaving Usana was awful, but with Ano's super secret directions we were able to get out of there pretty quickly once we got on the road.

Goodbye Grandpa and Uncle Will

2008-08-16T22:30:00.003-06:00

We were lucky enough to have Stephens Dad and brother come up for the weekend for Mana's birthday.

We loved having them visit, its been about 9 months since Mana has seen his Grandpa.

A big thank you to Grandpa for cooking the food for the birthday, and cleaning the kitchen and really making the day extra special, we appreciate everything you do .

Good luck with everything to come for the rest of the year Uncle Will !

Thank you both for coming, we love you , please come again soon !

Mana's Birthday Party

2008-08-16T01:11:00.007-06:00

The snack boxes I made for the kids

Uncle Will and Grandpa came to visit
We couldnt find the candle, so Mana blew out a tealight on a napkin .. ghetto
Opening gifts

Hello Tau

Mana and Carlos chillin outside
Crazy Logan !! Kailee is wondering what hes up to
Watching Kung Fu Panda
Mana

Friday Night we had Manas birthday party at our house.

Stephen and his Dad cooked all the food for the party, I had to work, so Mana was lucky enough to play with Uncle Will while everything was getting organized.

We decided to just have the kids watch a movie since I am too lazy and big to play games or anything, so they watched Kung Fu panda.

Mana was fortunate enough to enjoy his day with alot of his family and friends, and he was especially lucky to have his Grandpa and Uncle Will here for it.

Happy 2nd Birthday My Baby !!

2008-08-14T00:08:00.006-06:00

Today my Mana is TWO.

Some of Mana's favourite things are .....

Cuddles .. he loves to cuddle see previous post.
Food .. This kid can EAT ! He loves to walk around to different people and "share" their food and every day when we get home, he climbs into his high chair to eat, even if hes already eaten
Wrestling, punching, kicking, headbutting basically anything rough and manly .. Stephen will say "Mana Smash" and he will try to headbutt you as hard as he can, it hurts, but he cracks up laughing, he thinks its the best game ever !
TV .. this kid loves to watch Spongebob, Curious George, and Little Einsteins
Sports .. Mana doesnt say much, but he can say Ball, he has about 30 of them and he doesnt like to share them. He has a baseball bat, and if you pitch the ball to him, he can hit the ball, we're pretty proud of that. He can watch basketball or football, and he will clap and cheer when something good happens, it actually looks like hes following the game.
People .. Mana HATES being alone. This is one of the only times he will cry. If I go to walk up stairs, he is right behind me, Stephen calls him my shadow. He is also pretty friendly and will go to most people, but he has his favourites who he runs to anytime he sees them
Pulling Faces .. for some reason if your sitting there with him doing nothing, he will pull these funny faces to see if you will laugh at him, he'll squint and screw up his mouth then open his eyes wide to see what reaction he got, I always laugh at him, its so funny.

We LOVE you Mana !!

4 YEARS MARRIED TODAY !!

2008-08-13T23:56:00.007-06:00

Us on our Anniversary this year.

It was our 4th anniversary Wednesday night.
We went to Carrabbas in Orem for dinner, and that was pretty much the extent of our celebration as we both had to go home and work.

So I decided to post pictures of us over the last few years.

Stephen you are my best friend, your my everything and I love you !

Parasailing in Hawaii '05

My sisters farewell '06

A pic from our wedding '04

Our sealing '05

Our first home

Crystals wedding 07

'05 sometime

I love you THIS BIG !!

2008-08-10T08:06:00.005-06:00

a very intense little boy

cuddles for daddy

One of Manas favorite things to do is to cuddle. He LOVES to lie on the couch and cuddle, or climb on me or his Ama and cuddle.
He will throw his arms as wide as he can, strain his face, looking extremely intense, ready for a cuddle.
Then he will sit on us, rest his head on our shoulders and hold on for dear life.
He also likes to run at us, with his arms wide open, and it can be pretty sore.
He will start at the other end of the room, or wherever he sees someone hes excited to see, open his arms nice and big, and run as hard and fast as he can, and right before he gets to you, he will throw himself at you, hes hurt himself so many times doing that, and I have to watch him because if I'm standing, he will put his head down right before he gets to me and hit me in the stomach .. such a crazy kid !

Phil is a Dad !!

2008-08-09T23:05:00.002-06:00

My younger brother Phil and his wife Priscilla had there son in Brisbane, Australia this morning, well yesterday, which is today.
So stoked for you Phil and Priscilla.

Caden Metekingi
They had complications, but there baby is doing good !

Manas New Bed

2008-08-09T22:50:00.004-06:00

Mana has been sleeping on a full bed with bed rails for the longest time.
I liked having the full size bed because Stephen or I could sleep with him when he needed us too. I saw this bed on craigslist for a good price, so we decided to get it and Mana was stoked about it. When we put it in the car, he put his hand on like he was taking ownership of it and had the biggest grin on his face.
He slept on it last night which surprised me, I thought he would fall off since hes used to having such a big bed to roll around on but he was fine.

Mana chilling on his bed
His hair needed to be buzzed, again, he was getting way too sweaty ALL the time

Max and Cheese

2008-08-05T07:32:00.003-06:00

There is this kids restaurant in North Orem called Max and Cheese, we read about it awhile ago and have been wanting to take Mana for ages but have been too slack.

So Monday Night we took Mana there, he seemed to like it.

Right in the middle of the restaurant was a play area, Stephen had to drag him out so we could leave.

I didnt like the food, neither did Stephen, but Mana was happy so I guess that was all that mattered !

Mana Working

2008-08-04T09:03:00.004-06:00

Stephen and I had to work this weekend from home, and any time we sit there on our laptops, Mana tries to touch the keys and "help".
This weekend when I had a break, I went to disney.com and opened some games and things for him to watch, I put the computer on his lap, and he LOVED it.

Happy Birthday Vanz

2008-08-04T08:46:00.005-06:00

On Friday we went to The Cheesecake Factory for Vanya's birthday.
She had decided she wanted 12 people to come so Stephen and I went up at 6:30 to put our name down since they dont take reservations.
After and hour and a half walking around Fashion Place mall and a bit of stress on Stephens part everyone arrived.
We were there til just after 11, we ate a ton then everyone headed over to Boondocks.
The funniest thing I've seen in ages happened to Ano at The Cheescake Factory, won't put him on blast, but it was pretty stinkin hilarious !

The Birthday Cake
Me and Vanya
Half of the people there

(Vanya, me, Stephen, Ano, Ariel, Quinn, Darlene and Angela got cut off by the photo taker, sorry Angela)

Stephen and I decided to go and pick Mana up from my parents, and since he was still awake we decided to take him to Boondocks. Terrible parents, we know, taking our son when he was tired to play some games, but Boondocks closed at 12 and it wasnt that long.

When we got there he was all excited, so he played a few games, and everyone gave us their tickets to get him a prize.

He ended up with a sweet foam bow and arrow and one of those helicopters that flies when you pull the string, too bad Stephen broke the helicopter trying to show Mana how it worked.

Mana playing the basketball game Whack - a -mole
Hitting the colors

Well Vanz, Happy Birthday, hope you enjoyed it !

Happy Birthday Bronte

2008-07-29T22:03:00.003-06:00

The stuff we bought for Bronte to decorate her room
Tapua and Bronte

Today Bronte turned 7.
Since everyone is so busy, she didnt get to have much of a celebration because her brothers had football til 9pm, so we decided to get her somethings to re-decorate (decorate) her room.
She barely sleeps in there, so hopefully since its fun colours she might like it.
We love you Bayay, and hope you have a great year this year.

Goodbye Jess and Kelly

2008-07-29T22:01:00.002-06:00

On Sunday we had a dinner for my cousin Jess who was headed back to NZ and my cousin Kelly, he's moving to London.
It was good to see you both, hopefully we will see you next year at Nans 80th in Porirua !

Samoan Flag Day

2008-07-29T21:52:00.003-06:00

On Friday Night we went to Samoan Flag day.
It was at Wheeler Farm and it was nice because there was a ton of shade.
We wanted to go to listen to Jamoa Jam and 3 Houses down, and since it was free that was an even better deal.
My parents went to Park City with some friends so we took my little brothers and sister for the night.
There were so many acts that Jamoa Jam only ended up singing one or two songs and 3 Houses down did the same thing.
It was a long night, we got there around 8 and left at 11:30, but the food was good and Stephen was able to see some of his cousins so I guess it was a good night.

Mana had this annoying light up music thing that he loved

Katchafire

2008-07-24T20:47:00.004-06:00

We went to the Sandy Ampitheatre on Wednesday to watch Katchafire, there was a bunch of other people playing but we mainly went for them.
It was so HOT, there wasnt much shade and when the sun finally went down it was STILL hot.
Dad and the boys all had to get up and do the haka on stage since they are haka monsters, it was really good, Ariel led it.
I was pretty sore after standing up for so long to watch them, we have a couple more concerts before this next baby, should be interesting.

us with Vanz
Ka mate
Logan

Goodbye Sammy

2008-07-24T20:41:00.002-06:00

Sammy left on Wednesday, he has gone to Australia to work before his mission and get out of Utah for awhile.
He is going to stay with Phil, whose wife is due on Sunday with their first baby, so I'm sure Phil will be excited to see Sammy.

We will miss you and we love you !!

Sam and his helper
Sam and the little kids
With mum and Dad and the kids
With the Mata'afa's
With us

Markie got married

2008-07-19T09:32:00.005-06:00

My cousin Mark got married on Wednesday, July 17th.
It was a beautiful hot day, the looked stoked, she is a really sweet girl and we are so happy.
Arawa, Kelly and Arawa's girlfriend came over from Australia and Jess came from New Zealand for the occassion, its been good to see them.

Kelly, Arawa, Jackson and Ariel
Aunty Judith and Mark
Me and Mana
The Metekingi Boys laughing at their dad
Mana and Uncle Arawa
Mana and Aunty Jess
Mana and Lolo Mark
Siah, Tapua, Dad and Uncle Mark

Cheese before Mana got ready to go
At the ring ceremony
My parents
Mark and his blushing bride
Arawa and his speech to the queen

Sams Eagle Scout

2008-07-13T22:19:00.003-06:00

On Wednesday night Sam had his Court of Honor for his Eagle Scout award, I think that was his last big accomplishment before he heads out to Australia.

Way to go Sam, I dont actually know what the Eagle Scout award entails or what its for, but good on ya !Sam, Dad and Sams scout master ? I dont know what its called
Nice lunge Ham
Pinning his Eagle thing on
Sam and parents

My Selfless little Sister

2008-07-07T23:03:00.004-06:00

So my 6 year old sister has had very LONG hair for a very LONG time.

Shes not a girly girl at all, she is the youngest of 9 children, and the 4 people in our family older than her are boys, so shes quite the rough little girl.
I'm mean sometimes, and I've told her that if she doesnt take care of her hair, its going to get chopped off and she will look like a boy.
Inspite of my teasing, and her worry that she might look like a boy, today she got a haircut.
She donated 10 inches of her hair to LOCKS OF LOVE, and I'm very proud of her.
She looks abit older, and shes standing a little taller today.

Bronte after her haircut today

This was how long her hair was, this pic was taken July 4th 2008

Waterguns are CRAZY !

2008-07-07T22:45:00.003-06:00

We went to Edens birthday party on Saturday and it was so cute. Jes always does a really cute job with her decorations and original ideas. Mana was so into the Watergun he got in the treat bag, he was playing with it for ages.

July 4th

2008-07-05T09:34:00.004-06:00

Since Mana wasnt feeling the greatest, we decided to stay home with him, and just let him sleep the day away.

It was good because we can see his mouth is finally clearing up and he was eating today, so after sleeping the day away, around 6pm we decided to go to my parents house for a BBQ, so we would have some kind of celebration for the day.

It was just my family, very simple and very nice.

We went to the Park down the road for a little bit.

The boys decided to play some football, and Bronte and Mana played on the playground, until Mana decided he wanted to play football as well.

We watched my little brothers and sister light there fireworks, and went home.

All in all it was a good, day, nothing to crazy going on so,

Scabby lips..

2008-07-05T09:11:00.005-06:00

He falls asleep in the oddest positions

Our poor son has been sick this week.

It started with a fever, then he got one cold sore on the inside of his lip followed by coldsores on his tongue, the inside of his lip and the roof of his mouth.

Friday I think was the worst day for him, his gums were inflammed and one of his coldsores split and started bleeding, poor kid.

I had looked up the symptoms on the net and had been giving him childrens tylenol and using orajel, just to easy the pain in his mouth and try to help him eat.

We decided to go to Instacare on Friday night, and the doctor told us Mana had herpes angina, which is coldsores, and alot of pain, and that the only thing we could give him was exactly what I was giving him.

He also said Mana wasnt contagious, and that it just had to run its course.

Our poor scabby lipped son

just like Dad

2008-06-29T10:56:00.003-06:00

Anytime Stephen sits down to play the X-box 360, Mana expects to get his controller and "play" too.

The other night Mana was exhausted, but once he saw the screen change to Halo 3 he jumped up, grabbed his controller climbed up on our bed and promptly went to sleep holding his controller.

A surprise visit

2008-06-29T10:15:00.004-06:00

On the swing ride, this thing was only 25c

Get excited Mana and Ari

Mana on the Pony ride, he didnt like it

Ari on the pony ride

Mana trying to pet the Llama from far away, he was a little apprehensive

Crystal and Ari petting the LLAMA

Mana, Tutu and Ari

We had some surprise visitors this weekend, Stephens mum, sister Crystal and her son Ari came for a quick weekend visit.
Mana was in heaven with all the attention and it was really nice to see them.
We took the kids to a park in Lehi which had a free petting zoo and a bunch of little things to do, it was so cheap.
The pony rides were $1 and the other little things Mana could do, like the swing ride, and bouncy castles, were 25c.
The kids had a great time, Ari has grown so much.

It was good for Mana to see Ari and be around him, he was trying so hard to play with him and he was giving him lots of cuddles, and he tried quite hard to comfort his cousin when he was crying.

I love Summer.

2008-06-22T18:56:00.005-06:00

This weekend was a nice weekend, it FINALLY feels like summer for me.

On Friday it was Carlos Birthday party, so Mana and I headed down to Provo after I finished work and Stephen met us there.

There were a ton of kids and Mana was having a blast, too bad I was SO HOT, so we went to have a swim to cool down, it was so nice.

Mana was a little nervous at first with Stephen, but once I got in he started getting adventurous, well as adventurous as he could get with me holding him

On Saturday we decided to go to Seven Peaks and meet the Uyemas there.

It was a HOT HOT day so it was a great day to swim.

Mana had the biggest grin on his face the whole day, it was great to see him so happy !

My Protector

2008-06-17T20:32:00.003-06:00

I had a doctors appointment today and I decided to take Mana with me.
Usually I leave him at his Grandmas house but today I decided since gas is out of control expensive, it would be cheaper and easier to take Mana with me.
It was just a quick appointment, check the heartbeat and answer any questions.
Mana was really good until I lay down on the exam table so they could listen to the heartbeat.
I hoped on the table and he walked over and held my hand.
When my doctor lifted my shirt and put the gel on my stomach to listen with the doppler, Mana went crazy, he kept trying to push the doctor away and pull down my shirt, the whole time holding my hand. He kept telling the doctor "No, No".
At first I was wondering what was wrong with him, why was he going so crazy, but after telling Stephen about it I realized he was just trying to watch out for me.
Hopefully his protective instinct will extend to his new brother !

Happy Fathers Day

2008-06-16T18:30:00.006-06:00

Outside the Teppanyaki Place
eating ..

Since I have been soon run down with everything my poor husband didnt have the most exciting fathers day ever.
I had to go to Draper early in the morning to drop some pics off for my Aunty who was travelling back to Australia and drop my Dads Fathers Day present off so I left Stephen and Mana to sleep in.
When I got home around 9am, I made Stephen breakfast and then lay down and had a sleep, for about 3 hours !!
I woke up and made us lunch, then lay down again for another 2 hour nap.
My poor husband watched movies and our son and made sure I was ok.
Once I woke up from my second nap we went to a little TEPPANYAKI resturant in Lehi, it was nice, the food was good. Mana was a little scared when the cook made a huge flame on the grill but otherwise he was cheering and clapping.
When the cook cut the shrimp and was throwing it in everyones mouth, Mana was watching, absolutely enthralled. When it got to Mana he tried to open his mouth to catch the shrimp like everyone else, he didnt quite get his mouth wide enough and he wouldnt put his head back BUT he tried, it was so cute !
Since I'm 6 1/2 months pregnant Stephen, I hope you can forgive me for your very boring day.
You are the best father and husband and we love you !

Manas first swim of the season ..

2008-06-16T18:12:00.004-06:00

A little scared with Aunty Bronte
and Uncle Tapua

Mana and his Uncle Siah

Mana was lucky enough for his Grandma and Koro to pick him up and take him out for the day on Saturday, where he got to go swim.

He LOVES the water and as you can see. he loved the slides too !!

My sister is MARRIED !!!

2008-06-13T00:16:00.007-06:00

Bronte and Josiah
Spiderman, Sam, Mana and Tapua
Suga and Ariel
Hello
You look stoked
Siah big eyes
Oh YEAH !!!

Their head table
ma Mana monkey
Mims and Dad dancing
Parents and Monies
Sole loves to dance and give the dollar bills

Trying to get away from us
Twins .. Uncle Mark and Dad
Bridesmaids
Mum and her girls
Tapua and Siah .. dreamers

Ariel and Angela

Parents, sis and Harris
Mum and Aunty ElaineOur little Family

Dad, Sam and Ariel
Miranda and Harris
Our side of the family
Mum, Harris, Miranda and Dad

So my sister FINALLY got married. I spent the last few weeks staying up late to make dresses, I made 4 dresses for her bridesmaids and our sister who was the flower girl.

I made table runners in her colours and I made a table cover for her cake table.

I did her decorations for her wedding, and set up the venue and just basically tried to take that off her hands so it wouldnt be something she or my mum had to worry about, plus my Aunty came all the way from Australia to hang out with my mum and come to the wedding, so I wanted mum to be able to enjoy being with her sister.

So after the last few weeks of stressing like crazy and being way to busy to do anything around my house, here is the result.

I posted a ton of pics so that my family in other countries can see what happened.

On the actual morning of the wedding, Miranda got up around 6am and Tara and Cassie came over to get her hair and makeup started as she had to be at the Salt Lake Temple before 11am.

Miranda was fortunate enough to know a women who sewed for Maggie Sottero, a wedding dress designer, and she got her dress for a STEAL of a price !

Antoinette (Mirandas friend) and I headed out at 7:00am to the reception venue to set up.

Amy, my good and kind helpful friend, and Vanz , who finally made it back from the motherland, meet us over there and we set up as much decorations as we could.

We left to head to Salt Lake to get to the Temple just in time for Miranda and Harris to come out, she looked BEAUTIFUL !!

As soon as we finished taking pics, and gave the keys to the groomsmen for the Hummer, Dad, Vanya, Antoinette and I headed back to the reception place to finish setting up and organizing things.

At 5pm the reception was to start and at 4:45pm the guests started arriving.

The caterer that Miranda and Harris had paid brought a TON of food, there was an appetizers table, and Main Buffet table and a dessert table, the food was delicious !

Miranda and Harris were also fortunate enough the we have a good friend, Lisa Gunderson, who made a 6 tier cake for them for FREE, with all different flavours, it was SO good, I took a piece home that was the size of my plate, I LOVE CAKE !!

The reception was great, there was some singing, Harris' friends and then the Moleni's sang.

Some dancing by Harris' nieces, and Harris and his friends .. that was the most hilarious thing I've seen in a long time, Harris' Michael Jackson .. too funny !!

Being the good girl she is, Miranda learned the Tauluga (sp? anyone ?) so she did that and the night ended a little after 8.

Overall it was a beautiful night, now if only someone hadnt walked off with my sister in laws two tall nice vases, we would have been happy.

All in all, it was a great wedding, so proud of my sister and happy she married Harris, hes a good guy !

Friday 6th and Saturday 7th ..

2008-06-09T11:42:00.003-06:00

Mana and his Uncles, he LOVES these two
Mana, Tapua and Bronte

Aunty Elaine and Mana

Us sitting outside
Mana and Grandma
Miranda and Harris

On Friday it was my Birthday, and I decided to work from home and spend the day with Mana.
It wasnt too hard to do my work, Mana sat in the room with me playing with his toys and watching cartoons, so long as he could see me he was happy.

We werent sure if we were going to be able to do anything with Stephen as the beginning of the month is the time he cant take any days off, but lucky for us he finished at 5 and we invited Robbie, Sanae and the girls to go and see Kung Fu Panda with us.

The movie was pretty cute, I liked it and we're sure Mana liked it.
I dont think we really thought about getting Mana a ticket because it seems like a waste of money when hes only 1, and we didnt think the movie would be so packed..
Since it opened on Friday, the theatre was packed with people so Mana had to sit on us, what a pain (still love you son) !
He was getting so into the movie, he was trying to kick and punch and do all the Kung Fu he was seeing on the movie, he wouldnt sit still for very long, he kept wanting to get up and jump around, so next time we go to a movie we will have to buy him a ticket, as well as go when its not the opening weekend.

Then Stephen and I went home, put Mana to be and watched Battlestar Galatica ... So, overall, it was a good day !

Saturday was a crazy day !

Stephen had to go to work at 9am and I was having a Birthday Brunch with the ladies, so I had to take Mana to my parents before heading over to IHOP .

My parents live in Draper, so I took Mana up there and headed back to American Fork for breakfast at 10am.
We had a nice brunch, thanks for organizing Jess, and thanks for coming Nimo, Syndee, Amy, Nau and Lasi, it was a nice break from all the wedding stuff I've been doing for my sister.

I drove to my house after brunch, picked up all the center pieces and some clothes Mana and I needed for my sisters Pre Wedding dinner, and headed back to Draper.

Got to the chapel we were all going to be at around 2:00pm and we set up everything up.
The Pre Wedding Reception didnt start til 7pm, and Shane and Brit we're having Tau's 1st birthday at 3pm, so I got Mana changed and we headed down to Orem to go to the Birthday party.

We were at the Party for a little over an hour, Brittany had made Tau a little basketball cake, it was so cute, we ate, dropped off our present and then Mana and I headed back to Draper to get ready for my sisters Pre Wedding celebration.

Got to Draper around 5:45pm and I stayed at the chapel while my mum, sister and sisters friends went home to shower and get ready, I asked my mum to take Mana back to their house so he could play, and I would wait for people to show up.

The reception was supposed to start around 7pm, it started a little after, and it was good.
Harris had some family band playing, they were good, and his little nieces danced a few numbers, they were cute !

We left at 10pm, and got a message to head to Faleni and Jess' house, so we drove back to Provo til just after 12, when we finally headed home to Lehi.

The only nap Mana had was in the car on the way to Tau's birthday, so for being very tired, he was really good all day for me. He's a little trooper !

Saturday was a LONG day!

Mana and his haircuts

2008-06-05T23:26:00.005-06:00

Mana's hair grows pretty fast. Every couple of months he has to get a haircut because it gets too long AND hes a sweaty little beast so its to help cool him down.

I've given the poor kid a couple of disasterous haircuts, so the last two times he has had his haircut, his Uncle Ariel cut it.

He's really good every time he gets his hair cut, I always put him in his high chair, I guess its not the most hygienic thing to do, and he sits there pretty patiently.

Anytime he sees the camera, he tries to smile, such a poser .

This time, he was lucky to get a SWEET haircut !!

Its nice and short on the top and the front, and we left the back long ... HAHAHAAHA.

For some reason he has this long rats tail at the back, his hair is HILARIOUS !

He might hate me when hes older, but for now, he cant do anything about it .. love you SON.

Mana and his side view of his hair, not too bad in this pic, for some reason he likes to wear this lei, random ..

Sammy's Graduations

2008-06-03T21:10:00.003-06:00

So Sunday was my younger brother Samuels seminary graduation.

It was a pretty last minute thing, they only finalized it the week before, so we all went to Draper to see Sam.
It wasnt too long and they had light refreshments after, which was good !

Us with Sam at his Seminary Graduation

Then on Tuesday Sam graduated from High School. The graduation itself was held at UVSC, and there were 3 other schools graduating in the same building on the same day, so it took forever to get in to see him graduate.

There was about 800 kids in his graduating class and it took about an hour to read all the names. After the graduation Sam wanted to go to Chuckarama to eat, so we indulged him and went there.
Its hard to believe he has grown up so fast, I rememeber when he was 6, I think in my mind he is still 6, a little boy sucking his thumb with his sponge.
He is the 6th child in our family of 9 children and he is a big baby ... hahahaha Sam you know you are.

But seriously Sammy, you are a hard worker, and we are sure you will go far in life and achieve all your goals, we are proud of you AND we love you !!

Us with Sam right after they walked up from their seats

Phone SCAM !!

2008-06-02T08:08:00.004-06:00

My sister signed up for every competition and prize drawing at the Bridal Fair we attended at the Grand America at the beginning of the year.
The funny thing was she actually won a few things, so when she got the phone call from the "Resort Stay" competition telling her she had won 2 round trip tickets and 2 nights 3 days for any place in the continental US she thought it was legit.
She had won other things that were legitimate so why would this be any different ?
The only catch to this was she had to be between 25 and 75, so since she is 21 she asked if I could get her trip.
The guys said yes, and she gave him my number.
So Friday I got a phone call from some guy telling me my sister had given her AMAZING trip to me, free flights and free lodging and I would get that in the mail.
BUT if I agreed to go to a presentation I would get a free weeks lodging in Hawaii and a free week in Vegas.
It sounded good to me, I wasn't really paying much attention to what he was saying because I was getting dinner for my younger siblings and son, so my lie discerning skills weren't up to par at this particular time.
Anyway, I gave the guy my email address, where he said he would send me a confirmation email with all the details of my BIG WIN.
I barely read the email, just kind of skimmed over and briefly told Stephen about it, from the beginning it didn't sound right to him.
He read the confirmation email and he the things I was promised over the phone, weren't even mentioned on the email, so he was VERY skeptical.
They told us Sunday was the only day we could go, so we scheduled it for Noon on Sunday in Park City.

Every month from about the 5th to the 14th is Stephens busy time, he can't plan anything because he HAS to be at work, and since June 6th is my birthday, and I'm pretty big on celebrating myself,we decided to go to Zooms in Park City, a restaurant we love, and do some shopping. I'm pretty sure the only reason Stephen even agreed to go was because he knows how much of a pain I would be if I didn't get something good for my birthday, I'm spoilt and a little pathetic, I know and I don't care, I LOVE PRESENTS !!!

So we checked online and found out Zooms is only open from 10:30am to 2:30pm for there lunch block, so we figured we could go to this presentation, which was supposed to be 90 mins, and then get some lunch before heading to the outlets.

We got to the place they were having the presentation at about 10 mins to 12, they had told us to be a little early so we could fill out the paper work.
The email had also said we need to have 2 forms of id so they could make sure we were who we said we were, freak, we should have asked them for some id.
So we walk to the front desk, where a women and a man are sitting.
They give us some paper work to fill out, nothing too personal, so we sit on this couch and start filling the paperwork out.
This girl, who we will call LIG (little informative girl) who looks about 12 or 13 kind of stands by the couch while Stephen is filling the paper work out, and as he finishes Stephen asks me if we should go over to them and ask about all the things we were promised.
So he goes to stand up and take the clipboard with the papers to the desk, and the LIG is like, I can take that for you, so she takes it into this room and she goes back to the desk to sit by the lady who gave us the paper work in the first place.
Stephen and I get up to go and ask the lady about all the things we were promised.
So we're sitting there telling the lady what I was told over the phone, and she is staring at us blankly, while we're explaining everything, the LIG pipes up in her professional voice, " Unfortunately. this has happened to a number of people, in order to get your flights you have to attend the 90 min presentation. The week in Hawaii is an upgrade, but you will receive your week in Las Vegas in the mail. "
After the LIG explains all this, I'm looking at Stephen like, are you kidding me ? This LIG is explaining this stuff to me and the woman sitting there has no idea what is going on.
What the crap ?

20 mins goes by and we are still sitting there, I'm getting anxious because I want to make sure we get to Zooms to eat and they are running late, Stephen gets up to tell the woman behind the desk that we need to leave by 1:30pm and he inquires what time this thing is getting started, and she has no idea, the LIG tells him that it takes 20 mins for them to set everything up so it wont be starting for a little bit longer. Then she walks in the back, I'm sure to tell them that we are needing to leave in a little while.

They come out and the get us and the 3 other couples who are waiting and they take us into this conference room, where we listen to this salesman do his pitch on Time Shares.
Since I have no idea what Time Shares really cost I'm not thinking much of what they are saying, hell the only reason we are there is to see if we get a free trip !
So this man is explaining how Geo Holiday, the name of the Time Share company, has been around for 20 years and I'm looking at the posters and everything set up thinking, I'm sure you've been around for 20 years, your posters are from the 80's.
They put on a 12 min dvd which confirms they are an 80's company, the presenter has an open shirt with a gold chain and a ton of chest hair, and as we're watching it, I'm cracking up laughing, so rude, I know.

After the 12 min video they send each couple off to a sales rep to go over all of the packages.
I think the little girl told them we had to leave because the guy we get acts like hes super busy, and give us some questionnaire to fill out, and tells us he has other customers to attend to and then walks in the back.
I'm thinking hes acting, that its his sales pitch to act like hes super busy so if we're not interested we can just fill out the questions and then leave.
So we fill out the questions, and he walks back and asks if we have any questions, I shrug my shoulders because all I'm thinking about is eating, and Stephen asks to see what the packages are, he just wants to have a look at some prices.
So he shows us a plan that is $30,000.00 and then tells us hes going to get the basic price list.
When I see the $30,000.00 I'm pretty bewildered, I don't know what I thought Time Shares cost but there is no way we are going to pay for that, we barely take holidays, and when we do, we usually get hook ups on where we stay, whether its hotels, vacation rental properties or if we stay with someone.
The guys walks out with his numbers, I think the cheapest one was $28,000.00 and I just busted up laughing in his face.
I'm thinking our cars aren't even worth that much, we've taken like 2 actual vacations in the 5 years we've been together ( I don't count going somewhere for a wedding or a funeral as a vacation, since its not really relaxing OR for me) so why would we pay $300 a month or whatever it is to get something like this ?
At this time we can tell the sales guy is getting a pretty pissed at us.
Stephens asking questions like hes interested and I'm just thinking to myself forget this place, you want my credit card details for $300 + a month, you have a LIG as a customer service person, and your 80's dvd's are just killing me. So unless I want my identity stolen or credit card fraud or something, forget it.
So Stephen and the sales guy are talking, and Stephen starts letting him down, telling him how we barely go anywhere and when we do we look for deals, and sometimes we are lucky enough to get a hook up.
The sales guy, who is pretty annoyed starts asking Stephen when hes going to man up and take care of things himself, after he says that, I'm so over it I say to Stephen lets go, and Stephen tells the guy we're not interested.
He tells us to go get our free gift at the front desk and he walks off, so we go to the reception desk and the LIG gives us the mail in form, she explains how we redeem the flights and lodging and then we leave.
As we are walking out, at 1:20pm, we see this other young couple and there faces just drop when they see we have left, we can tell they just want to get out of there, but they weren't as rude as we were.

We're laughing as we are leaving, just at how random and ridiculous the whole thing was, and now I'm stoked to go to Zooms.
We get to Zooms just to find out, its booked out for a business function and it will be open for dinner for the public at 5pm.

I was pretty bummed out about this, so we went to the outlets, got some clothes for Mana and our new baby, a couple of things to cover my ever expanding belly/body, and then we went to The Cheesecake Factory, where we ate a ton and loved it !

Such a random day.

Happy Birthday Ama !

2008-05-22T21:39:00.002-06:00

Us at Bucca Di Bepo, way to push Daddy Mana.

Us with most of my family

Mana and Ama
My little sister Bronte, and my brother Sam

So my mum is pretty much the greatest there is. And today was her birthday, so we all went out to Buca Di Bepo, and ate a crap load of food, it was so tasty.

Mana spends every day with his grandma, he loves her so much.

Every day when I finish work and go to take Mana home, he will pull on of the little tricks hes learnt.

Sometimes he tries to hide, sometimes he will just fight, it just depends on the day.

Any time we go over to my parents house, Mana will run inside and wave goodbye to us, or if he is sad he will always go to my mum before either of us.

So, Happy Birthday Mum, we love you !

Baby #2

2008-05-20T17:13:00.001-06:00

So, when I was pregnant with Mana I was hoping for a girl.
I have six brothers and two sisters, and I really just hopped we would have a girl.
All up until the ultrasound, Stephen kept saying he didn't care either way, as long as it was a healthy baby.
When we finally went in for the scan to find out what we were having, I was lying on the table and the technician was showing us everything, she tapped my stomach slightly to open the babies legs, and when she did that I asked her if it was a boy, and she said yes.
I was pretty overwhelmed, and was pretty teary eyed, I mean I was excited that everything went well and that it was a healthy baby. But I had been hoping for a girl.
Stephen who had pretty much remained quiet the whole time, and had told me he didn't care as long as it was healthy, was stoked it was a boy.
He jumped up and was like, "Yeah, its a boy. I lied and said I didn't care, I wanted a boy, in your face !"
Sensitive isn't he ?
It was pretty funny though.

Fast forward to this pregnancy, even though this time we were both hoping for a girl, Stephen said he thought it was a boy, I wasn't sure, but I had a feeling it might be a boy.
And today at the scan, when the little legs opened, I saw the same thing I saw last time ...
WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER BOY !!

Also found out we are a week earlier than previously thought, so Happy Birthday Stephen, our baby is due September 24th, your birthday.
If hes lucky we will have our baby the day after, just like we had Mana the day after our anniversary.

Two Dates in Two Days with my Two Loves !!

2008-05-15T19:22:00.000-06:00

So Stephen and I have been super busy lately.

Stephen hasnt had a day off in the last two weeks and I've been working a ton of overtime lately, I know I previously blogged about this, so I wont bore anyone with the details, but because of my guilt about the busyness, I decided it was time to take my husband and my son out on dates !

Wednesday Night Stephen and I went to South Jordan to run some errands and go to the movies.

We always go to the movies at The District in South Jordan, we go there because they have huge theatres, they have lots of different places to eat so you can take your chinese food, or whatever it is you decide to eat AND there seats are memory foam, so its really comfortable !

We saw Forbidden Kingdom, which I thought was lame, but it was nice that it was just the two of us.

I dont remember the last time it was just the two of us, we always seem to take my younger siblings, or go out with people, we never just take the time for us, so it was a nice night.

Thursday was a day for Mana and I.

I decided to take off from work and spend some time with Mana.

We meet Jenny and Carlos at Kangaroo Zoo, which is a playarea place that has about 10 different blow up bouncy castle things, and it was alot of fun !

Mana was a little apprehensive at first, and it didnt take him long to start jumping around and sliding.

It was cute, he had the best time !!

Mana had the HUGEST grin on his face the whole time, I loved seeing my son enjoying himself so much.

A big thank you to Jenny for taking Mana on the big slide and pretty much everything, it was a little hard to manuoever on those things with my big belly.

We spent a couple of hours there, with the boys running and playing and just having a blast.

Then Mana and I went over to Maggie Moos for ice-cream.

It was empty so it was just the two of us, which made it that much nicer for me.

For me, a mum who works full time, this was the BEST way to spend the day.

I very rarely get to take our son out to do things just for him.

Usually on weekends we run errands, visit with friends or family, or clean the house.

So for me to spend time with Mana, doing something he loved, was I think a more special day for me than it was for him.

Mothers Day 2008

2008-05-12T17:22:00.000-06:00

Mothers Day was a nice day.

Stephen and I went to the breakfast buffet at Little America with my parents, my brother and his wife and my sister and her fiance.

It was nice, the hour long wait wasnt nice, but the food was good, then we came home and I had a sleep.

Having a sleep in the middle of the day is probably the best present I could get, since I've been crazy busy at work.

I got a cute maternity top from Stephen and Mana which is a big thing for me since I wouldnt wear maternity clothes last time I was pregnant, why ? I dont know, I'm lame like that.

But as usual I sent Stephen a list of things I wanted, about 10 things, or maybe more, and he picked out something good, so I got something I wanted either way.

And we got some out door furniture, so pretty soon it will be time to have a barbeque in our yard. YAY !

Stephen and I witk my sis and fiance, parents and bro and sis in law.

Mana and I and my sweet 5 month pregnant pot, looking more like 9 months

Sick Mana

2008-05-06T19:32:00.000-06:00

Lately Mana has been sick.

It snows, he gets sick, we spend the next 3-4 days taking care of him, he starts to get better, it snows again, and he is sick again.

For the last 3-4 weeks its been this way, our poor son tries to hard to sleep with us when he is sick.

Anyways, we woke up a couple of days ago to Mana calling out to his Father.

All we could hear over and over again was "Dada, Dada" for a couple of minutes.

So, Stephen went into Mana's room to lie down with him and Mana climbed on top of his father and went back to sleep.

Our son is a little heavy for me at the moment, so its nice that more and more all he wants is his Dad.

Something Simple

2008-05-03T23:50:00.000-06:00

So, the past couple of weeks have been crazy busy !!

Today was a nice day, we slept, went to Park City, and Mana played outside.

Sometimes the more simple the day is the better !

My Sunshine

2008-04-30T21:04:00.001-06:00

Every morning when Mana wakes up, I always say to him Good Morning Sunshine ! He always has a smile for me and a big cuddle.

Sometimes at night, he will try to pretend he is sleeping, he will close his eyes and try to lie as still as possible, so his dad doesnt take him to bed. Another of his little tricks is to put his arm underneath my neck and pretend that I am leaning on him so that his father will see that he can't actually move so really there is no way he can go to his own bed, such a character !

So lately I have been trying to teach Mana how to say I love you.
I point to my eye and say "I", he points to his nose and says "I".
I point to my heart and say "LOVE" he points to his stomach and says "LUB".
I point to him and say "YOU", and he gets so excited and starts clapping and saying "YEAH, YEAH !".
I love my son, he is the sweetest little boy ever !!

Lately when we get home for the day, me from work and Mana from hanging out with his Grandma all day, I will lie down on the couch to rest.
If a blanket is on the floor in front of me, Mana will pick it up and try to put it on me, or if the blanket is on the couch and I am already under it, he will sit beside me and rest his head on my shoulder, he is such a sweetheart.

So I guess the point of this blog really is for our son.

We have been trying to teach him about the new "BUBBA", we will point to my ever expanding stomach and say bubbba. He shakes his head No and will point to himself. So I'm feeling a little sorry for my son, he won't be the baby anymore pretty soon. And I'm nervous about how he will adjust, I know he will adjust, he has no choice, but sometimes I feel sorry for him that I'm not at home all day with him and now the little time we share, has to be shared with someone else.

Oh well, we will see soon how things are going to be.

So we cut his hair about 3 months ago, well, I shaved it all off. I was trimming it, and he wouldnt keep still, so after butchering his hair, I decided to shave it off. Thought I better put some pics on of the mess I made because, our poor soon had no hair and it was winter !

Also, he got a little adventurous and tried to climb a rock wall on a playground in his footsie pyjamas, he slipped and grazed his head, its actually healed really well, but thought I would put a pic of his first battle wound !

Mana when is hair was shaved off.

Mana a couple of months later, and his graze on his head.

You are a little monkey Mana, and we love you !

Snowing again ... BOO

2008-04-24T13:37:00.001-06:00

I dont really care if I sound like a complainer because, I am SO SICK of the snow !!
It is April 24th, and I am at work at the moment and it is white out outside, and I'm not looking forward to driving home tonight.
And thats all I have to say about that.

Well, thought I would write a few things about our life at the moment.

Stephen and I are both working full time. He's still enjoying his job working as a commissions analyst and I'm still working hard at an industry leading dms provider, although its getting harder for me to work all the overtime I've been working, its a job I enjoy so I'm blessed.

Mana is getting bigger. He's hitting the Terrible Two's and he is definitely keeping us on our toes. He's just like me in that he is stubborn, and he wants to do what he wants to do.
His favorite words are WHAT, YEAH and YAY.
He likes to sit at the top of the stairs if I'm downstairs, (or the bottom of the stairs if I'm upstairs) and I will call out to him, his reply is either "WHAT?" or "YEAH?".
He loves to watch sports, hes a little ESPN fanatic, and every time something good happens in a sport, like if someone scores a touch down, he will yell "YAY. YAY!" .
Ever day when Stephen gets home from work, Mana will jump up from the couch or drop whatever he is doing, to run and give his father a hug, he gets so excited when his Dad is home.
Another funny little thing Mana does is he is very territorial, he doesn't like anyone to share his blanket, if you try to get under it when he is under it he will pull it away, or scream at you.
And if he is sitting on me and Stephen sits next to me, or tries to hug me, Mana will push him away, or grab my face, its funny at the moment, but we are interested to see how he will be once we have another baby.

In other news, we are expecting another baby in September.
I am hoping for a girl, but we won't be sad if its a boy.

I'm pretty stoked, my job is letting me work from home full time after I have our next baby, I'm sure it won't be as easy as I expect, but its a good opportunity and I'm thankful for it.

So my parents are going to the Jazz game tonight, Stephen's a little jealous since the games have been sold out and its playoffs, maybe when he comes up with that million dollar business idea he can buy season tickets and go to the playoff games .. we can only dream ...