fun in the sun in st. george

After our busy, busy week of events our office went on a short but much-needed work retreat to St. George for the weekend. We stayed with some of our generous friends and donors of AIS - the Howcrofts - their house is on the amazing Entrada Golf Course. Our whole family came down and we spent the weekend in the sun and having fun. I can't believe how HOT St. George is! My goodness. I mean, I'm all about warm weather so you can be outdoors, but St. George is so hot you end up staying indoors all day anyway. It was a little too hot for my liking. . . so I just stayed in the pool the entire time I was there. lol. Thanks AIS for a great mini vacation!


All the kids taking a break from swimming for a cold Popsicle. Don't you love Malia's swimming suit? I couldn't stop cracking up. Wayne found it at Walmart and it was perfect for our independent and overconfident swimmer. Check out the gorgeous reflection in the windows. Ah! Isn't Utah beautiful!

Kina - loved the warm weather and the water

Malia - a little scared of the cacti

Malia, Sina and Taiana - it looks like I interrupted something important by taking this picture. My bad, ladies.


Besides the pool, the other highlight for me was visiting the beautiful outdoor Tuacahn Theaters and watching the production, "Footloose". I love watching plays! It was a little long, but the company did a great job.

Me and Kina

Some of the gang with our cute host, Claetra. She was the bomb hostess - made everyone feel like we have another grandma in St. George!

We got a chance to visit the St. George temple with our little family. It was beautiful.

tali is ENGAGED!!

Yup! This is the lucky guy - Inoke Hafoka. I'm SOO happy for them. Congrats you two!!!

a banquet and golf tournament for AIS

Like many of you know, I work at American Indian Services. There, we raise money for Native American scholarships. I wouldn't say it's a cause I'm actually passionate about, but I enjoy my job and get to work with great people. Tuesday and Wednesday were our biggest fundraisers of the entire year - our Celebrity Banquet and Shootout Golf Tournament at Thanksgiving Point. It's always a LOT of planning and STRESS that goes into these events, but it's always worth it. This year, Allison Krauss and the Dan Tyminski band were our special musical guests. They were AWESOME! Our auction also went well and overall we were able to raise a lot of money for scholarships. Here is some pics from the night. . .

This is how I spent the majority of the banquet - behind a desk. ha ha. I was over the AUCTION sales - we did great.

This was my favorite item from the auction. It's a suped up golf cart. Cute, huh! (Thanks Doug and Dori for modeling it. )

President Uchtdorf. Love this man.

Ms. Allison Krauss. She didn't sing my favorite song of hers ("When you Say Nothing at All"), but still put on a great show.

Ireen, me and Tiare - It was a fun night, but I am SO glad it's all OVER!!! :)

***

The next day, bright and early, was our golf tournament. It's a lot more relaxing because there is no auction or program to complete. Wayne (a proud recipient of the AIS scholarship) came and volunteered. The weather was beautiful and the course was gorgeous AND we made a lot of money for scholarships. It was a very enjoyable day!


The only pic I took the whole day - Wayne, Ireen and Bonnie.

Ut-zah-ha-dez-bin!
(that's "Victory!" in Navajo) lol.

kahuku class of '99

I know. I can't believe it either. It's been 10 YEARS since I graduated high school. After 3 years at Timpview HS in Provo, I had my senior year and graduation at Kahuku HS in Hawaii. I really loved and appreciated being able to experience two very different schools and cultures. My Kahuku classmates gathered for a mini reunion in West Valley on Saturday. The REAL reunion will be in Hawaii in October. I don't think I'll make it to that one, so I was glad I got a chance to kick it a bit with my old (as in over a long period of time. . . not as in age lol) friends. We ate and talked and ate some more. Here's to the next 10 years!. . .

Some of our HS crew at a football game back in the day - Miki, Uila, me, Sarah and Keaka


. . . 10 years and 16 kids later . . . and we all look exactly the same, right?!? ha ha. (Betty, Collena, me, Marina, Uila and Sarah)

travis and mata's wedding

Yesterday was Travis Uale and Mata Pope's WEDDING!!! It was such a fun day! It started with their sealing at the Salt Lake Temple. It was such a peaceful, spiritual ceremony. Afterward, we gathered outside to take pictures with the new couple. It was a cold and blustery day (Yes, I used to watch Winnie the Pooh) - so weird for June, but it was better than the smoldering heat that one would expect. Wayne's sisters and cousins were in the line so we made sure we got a lot of fun pics. I left the temple feeling grateful for eternal families and sooo happy for Mata and Travis.

When they first exited the temple Travis jumped up on Mata's back and she ran around in circles with him. Then she dipped him, then he dipped her and so on. . . oh my goodness, they were so funny! It was fun to see them put their own craziness and silliness into the traditional exiting moment.

A slightly serious one. lol. Such a cute couple.

The resourceful bridesmaids put their bouquets to use against the rainy weather.

The bridesmaids. Don't you love their outfits?

The guys and girls in the line got along sooo well! lol

Kika, Sili, Mata, Nia, Tia and Keni

As Tyra would say, "FIERCE!"

This pic cracks me up! This is Crichton, Travis' brother - he and I used to work together at PCC back in the day. I think him and Sili make SUCH a good couple!!! he he.

Love this pic!

The bride and groom with the bride's side of the family. Wayne's mom and Mata's mom are sisters.

Sili, Nia, Wayne, Me and Kika

Later that day we gathered for their reception. It was in a chapel in Provo, but you never would have guessed. I have NEVER seen a more beautifully decorated cultural hall. My goodness, it was gorgeous!


This pic doesn't do the place justice, but the ceiling fixtures were incredible. It was so pretty.

There was a program where all the couples cultures were represented. It was fun to watch.

The Latus with the couple

. . . and again

Aunty Ireen, Tiare, Tali, Inoke, Uncle Harvey

Wayne throwing the bouquet to all the single ladies

CONGRATULATIONS MATA AND TRAVIS!
We're all JUMPING FOR JOY!!
(Corny, I know. . . just couldn't help it. lol!)

travis and mata's hula hula

Today was Travis and Mata's wedding dance!! They get married on Saturday. Mata comes from a family of decorators and Travis comes from a family of DJ's so you KNOW together they would put on a bomb dance. Mata had won free decorations at a wedding expo and they looked BEAUTIFUL! There was a packed dessert table full of cookies, cakes and puteni (yum!) Best of all, though, was celebrating an upcoming marriage of two wonderful people. Really, they are SUCH an awesome couple. We love you guys!!

The happy couple

Shake what your mama gave ya! lol. Nia, Tali, Sili and Kika dancing in the program.

the CONGO line! (I had to put this in because I can't believe my Dad is actually DANCING in a CONGO line!! There's a first for everything! ha ha)

the girls

Mom, Dad, Liu and Toalei - they're all laughing because my Dad wouldn't stop dancing to pose. Apparently, he thought I was taking a VIDEO instead of just a photograph. lol

The OTHER happy couple - Tali and her boyfriend, Inoke. We love him!!! Aren't they cute together?

a brain scan for Kina

On Thursday, we went in to take Kina's EEG, or brain scan. Our doctor wanted to follow up after her seizure just to make sure her brain activity was normal. The nurse had given me specific instructions to bring her in tired so she could sleep through the test, so I kept her up late the night before and woke her up early in the morning. I kept her up all morning, but of course, as soon as I got in the car to take her to the hospital she fell asleep! She slept right up until the test was supposed to start and then WOKE UP. . . so we had to put everything on hold until I put her back to sleep again. Aargh! I was a little stressed. After a good half hour or so she went back to sleep again and from there, everything went smoothly. The test took about an hour and she slept right through it. They've sent the results up to Primary Children's Hospital and hopefully, we'll get them back next month.

They had to scrub her little scalp just to make sure there was no oil or anything on it. It's the scrubbing that woke her up. After that they put a million of these little sensors everywhere with this sticky thick glue gel stuff. . . then to put her back to sleep. . .


Once she was asleep though, it was smooth sailing. Aww. Sweet Kina.


After it was all over. They scrubbed her head again to get all the goop out. It made for a very cute hair-do.

Love my sweet Kina. I'm so glad she's okay.

summerfest!

It's that time of year again!! Orem Summerfest!! It has become somewhat of a tradition to spend the day at the carnival. Last year was sweltering hot and this year it poured rain. Thankfully, though, the rain stopped and the sun came out. We watched sum show, ate sum food and went on sum rides. It was a great SUMmerfest. lol!

our family

I've said before that Malia hates rides that move. Apparently she doesn't mind them too much if someone rides them with her. Sweet Mata.


The merry-go-round. I wonder what Kina was thinking. . .

peekaboo

Kina was pooped.

Highlight of the day? Definitely the FERRIS WHEEL. We waited in line for like, 20 minutes, but it was well worth it. It was so fun.

Nia and Kika

Mata and Travis (with Kina). They're getting married in ONE WEEK!! WOOHOO!

Me, Wayne and Malia. We were all worried about Malia getting scared and crying, but I think I got more scared of the ride than she did. She loved it! The whole time she waved at people below and pointed at the dogs. It was the girls' first ferris wheel ride!

Sum good family fun!