Missing all my cousins...

From time to time i'll stop and think of so and so and wonder what they're doing that day or how they're doing. Everyone is off doing there own thing and starting their own families...which is good. But I still miss when we all use to live in fountain valley and see each others faces everyday. These pics were taken last April. Some are from our family's talent show night. There are more pics somewhere but i could only find the ones from the girl's and the boy's number. We had collected all the couches and some chairs in the church building and set them up in front of the stage in the cultural hall. The only rule that night was [ everyone had to perform something ] and participate in the show. It was a night I'm sure we'll all remember. Even though I don't get to see all [ my favorite people ] everyday, I'm grateful we all grew up together with a strong foundation and that we get to spend eternity with one another.

oh, and here's mine and my husband's spur of the moment talent. all his buffness bench pressed me. lol

this mama's genes are showing through

BOOM! 

there it is...a dimple!

finally some physical proof that he is my son, not just my husbands.

i'm so in love with my little Niko.

my birthday boy!

my son, safi boy, just had his 3rd birthday last week. i can't believe 3 years have already gone by since i had my almost 10 lber baby!

he woke up on his big day surrounded by birthday balloons. for breakfast i made him his favorite, pancakes and eggs.

him trying to understand the concept that he's "3" now. 

saf and i planned on taking him out but he refused. all he wanted to do was stay home and play with his new train that he got from his aunty layn. later on in the afternoon is cousins, baby nice and 'lil chris, came over and played with him. after they left he knocked out for a quick nap...right next to his train.

we went over to gigi's house that night for some cake and ice cream and more presents.

...with his great grama and grampa wihongi.

his aunty terewai made him a spiderman birthday cake and cake balls.

 him trying to kiss spiderman right before we devoured him.

him and i throwing up the spiderman sign before we sang happy birthday,

"ooooohhhhh" he was so excited! when we sang happy birthday to him he kept on blowing out the candles before we could finish the song.

only he would "pound" his birthday present to try and open it.

my christmas baby and i...only he's not so much a "baby" anymore.

oh, and i couldn't forget the highlight of the night. his cousin, nohea, got him a spiderman shirt and underwear. he couldn't wait to try them on so he literally threw off all his clothes and flexed for us after he got the underwear on (they were a little big but he didn't care). i swear this kid was born all muscle!

by the way, his 'tail' has been growing for exactly 2 years now. it was my husband's idea (of course) for him to have it. i use to hate it...but now don't mind it so much because it kind of goes with his personality. anyone who knows my son knows what i mean.

Niner gang

a couple weeks ago my husband got a break from work and went up to San Francisco to catch a

 [ 49ers ] game. it's usually my son and i who are going away on quick getaways but i'm glad my husband was finally able to go on one with the guys and see his favorite team play (thanks to my daddy).

did i mention they got pre-game passes onto the field too?

 "it's not what you know, it's who you know."

the boys.

my bro, spence and dad.

looking through the pics on Saf's phone after he got back and i came across this pic. he carved our names at a lookout point by the golden gate bridge. sappy, i know, but [ so sweet ].

family man

just something i didn't want to forget.

today safi boy and i walked to the park so i could get my workout in and daddy could sleep in peace at home. right when we got to the park i see his daddy pull up. this guy was suppose to be sleeping but he came to the park to play with his son. [ i love it! ] safi boy was so excited to see his daddy!

i love my family man! he sacrifices everything for us, even his sleep.

{ bitter-sweet }

 my cousins and i all grew up together. every summer we swam in grama's pool from sunrise til sunset...or later. we would line up around the edges inside the jacuzzi and chant "WE WANT FOOD! WE WANT FOOD!" and wait for grama to to bring us out some lunch or dinner. we would parade down Bushard making our way to the beach with our prosession of beach cruisers trailering our surf boards and bikes behind Dalton's bike. we went to school together. we went to church together. we did everything together. 

none of us ever really had to make too many friends because our cousins were our best friends.

two weekends ago we sadly lost one of our best friends, Aramis.

Aramis always had the sweetest spirit and was always happy.

he had the gift of being able to meet a person for the first time and make them feel like they had known each other forever. he was grampa's favorite...and everyone knew it! i remember when Aramis was younger (and he lived with our grandparents) grampa got him matching slippers. everynight before they'd go to bed they'd take off their slippers at the bedside and grampa would slip Aramis's slippers inside his and place them neatly next to the bed. whenever my son and i would stop by grama's house he'd always come give us both a hug and say hi. i'm going to miss those.

 it was a  [ bitter ] occasion for all the fam and cousins to gather for but [ sweet ] to be reunited once again. 

 it felt like old times. 

everyone was at grama's. swimming together. eating together. staying up late every night. late night Del Taco runs. telling stories for days. laughing together.

due to certain circumstances, it was decided by our parents that that the younger generation ( Aramis's siblings and all of us cousins) were to put together the program for Aramis's funeral. so we all sat together in grama's living room and put pictures together, made a slideshow, decided what hymns were to be sung, who was going to give the opening and closing prayer, which siblings/cousins were going to speak, and any other musical numbers.

Aramis's funeral turned out beautiful. those of his siblings and cousins who spoke did a great job and spoke of the simple truths of the Gospel, the Plan of Salvation, and the Atonement. his service was finished with a closing hymn "How Great Thou Art" (1st verse in English, 2nd Maori, and 3rd Tongan) sung by all of us cousins. the Spirit was definitely present in the room that day.

following the funeral service everyone walked out of the church building onto the front lawn where these stickers my Uncle Troy had made were passed out to all (members and non-members)...

...signifying the love of our family to yours and that "Families are Forever".

everyone also received a white balloon in remembrance of Aramis...

...after my uncle's direction we all let go at the same time.

quick pic of all of us cousins afterwards...still missing some though.

Heavenly Father really shows us how [ strong ] we are through our most difficult trials when we realize we can do something we thought we never could.

and through these great trials our testimony of the gospel is [ strengthened ] and our family bond becomes   [ undefeated ].

i'm grateful for my family. 

they're my [ heaven here on earth ] and i couldn't image [ eternity ] with anyone of them missing from it.

we're going to miss you Aramis.

...'til we meet again.

"whanau mo ake tonu"

{ Baby Seiseira }

YAAAAY for more babies in the fam! Last weekend we went to Vegas to see the newest addition to the Fonua family be blessed.

She's such a 'lil cutie and made me so baby-hungry for a girl! It was fun to see all our babies together....they could totally all pass as siblings! haha

{ Birthday Boy }

Whelp, our son no longer gets into the buffets or on the airplane for free! As of yesterday we "officially" have a two year old! It's crazy how fast these past two years have gone. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital with him and the doctor was placing him on my chest to hold for the first time. Even though he's already such a 'lil man and HUGE, at least he's still young enough to fall asleep in my arms. (I just put him down and now he's sleeping right next to me snoring away blissfully.) I was such a sappy-mama yesterday. I was smothering him with hugs and kisses all day. Even though he's only 2, I'm such a proud mommy! I'm proud that he laughs just like his daddy and has his bigger-than-life personality. I'm proud that he finally says "mama". I'm proud when I see him fold his arms and pray. I'm proud of him when he gives me hugs and kisses and then pats my face and smiles at me. I'm proud that he loves horses like his mommy (not like his daddy!) Sometimes I'm still blown away that we made this tiny person and that he's all mine....and will forever be mine!

We wanted to keep things simple this year so we just has a little get together with my husband's fam and my fam. I'm so grateful for all of them and the love they showed our son! We are so blessed!

On Saturday Grampa Naisa and Grama Siale had dinner and a cake for him. Afterward, he open all his gifts from them and his cousin, Baby Nice!

 Mama made him his favorite breakfast: scrambles eggs, grapes, and waffles with EXTRA EXTRA whipped cream (he loves his whipped cream -just like his mama!) I had to hide the can of whipped cream in the fridge because he kept on taking it out and crying for me to squirt it in his mouth.

Ice-cream cake......and mama forgot the candles! Oops! At least we had matches. (If you look closely you can see two matches stuck in the cake and lit. Ghetto!)

Opening presents with Aunty Terewai.

Son, I love you to the moon and back!

ps. I'm such a bad photographer. I wish I would have taken more photos but I guess I was too caught up in the moment.

{ Halloween Weekend }

C

At the pumpkin patch. This is the best pic I could get...he's ALWAYS on the go!

Still don't know what it is with him and goats?

Getting his hair eaten...and of coarse I'm just standing there taking pictures and laughing...

(these goats were pretty aggressive. one almost knocked me over-I was not laughing then.)

He played on this for 30 minutes...when we only paid for 5. suckers!

The sign in front of this said "KIDS ONLY" but when the workers weren't looking I snuck on a couple times with baby :)

IN-N-OUT after the pumpkin patch. If you've never tried fries with a shake...you don't know what your missing out on.

His enormous wing span made the whole costume ;)

Trunk-or-Treat with Buzz Lightyear! 

Fonua babies. Getting them to both look at the camera was impossible...we tried. haha

Camped out in front of our apartment carving our pumpkin. Safi boy could care less about the pumpkins -he just wanted to play with the cool knives.

The end result. Not as creative as I would have liked but I was too tired and busy to figure something else out. eh.

Yummy bread bowl soup with sweet potato fries for dinner at my momma's right before going trick-or-treating.

He's ready to get that candy! (I think his daddy and I were more excited than him to get a pillow case full of chocolate)

Highlights of this "first-time" trick-or-treater:

-seeing how excited he was to be "Buzz". he kept on pushing his buttons on his costume and thinking he could shoot his 'laser'

-he got so excited to run up and knock on all the doors (if you know my son than you know how loud his knocks are with those hands)

-when people opened their doors to give him candy he tried to walk inside-he was a little confused and didn't understand why you have to stay on the doorstep

-before someone would give him candy they'd say "what do you say?" (waiting for him to say "trick or treat") Then I'd say "trick or treat" for him. They'd ask him again -and I had to explain that he doesn't talk yet. (people are always thinking he's older than what he really is)

-watching him walk up to a scary house (with scary music, decor, and people w/masks) and not even flinch when he walked up to get his candy

Can't wait until next year!