Visit with Santa

The mall was a mad house but Mom & Dad were willing to brave the traffic, parking, and lines so Hema and Vela could tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. This year little Hema was actually excited to talk to Santa and ran right up and jumped on his lap. He really wants a computer...hope Santa comes through for him! Vela was just as cute as can be and content as always. We are looking forward to a wonderful first Christmas for Vela and one where little Hema actually understands some of what is going on.

Sweet Little Vela is 2 Months Old!!!

We took Vela to her 2 month checkup today. She turned 2 months old yesterday. We found out that she is definitely NOT little Vela anymore. She weighed 12 lbs 7.5 oz and was over 24 inched long!!! That is the 97% for both height and weight! What a healthy little babe!!! Little Hema went with me and was very worried that he was going to get a shot. I explained that we were there for Vela and he started telling every person he saw to give all the shots to his baby.

I had forgotten how many shots they get at 2 months. I am not sure who cried harder, Vela or me! Little Hema was all smiles (I'd like to assume that he just wants his sister to be healthy!?!?) 6 immunizations later - yes, 4 shots (2 per leg) and one oral dose - we were all done. Wow!!

At least she got these cute little Strawberry Shortcake band aids to help her feel better!
By the time she was dressed she was fast asleep...who can blame her? I think I need a nap too!!

The Best Decade Ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is our 10th anniversary!! These past ten years have been the best! My sweet hubby is the best ever and I am so grateful to have eternity to look forward to with him!! We spent the last 4 days in Park City as a family and we are so grateful to have our 2 beautiful children. It took a lot longer to get them here than we thought it would, but we are so glad to have them!! We thought we knew what love was back then, but it just keeps getting better!!! We are looking forward to the next 10 and the next and next and next...........................

The Christmas Season is here!!!!!

We finally got the Christmas decorations up on November 30th!! I absolutely love this time of year and the music and decorations that go along with it. We don't have a fireplace, so this is where we hang our stocking!!

These are the stockings that I made last year. I am so happy that this year we get to use one more for sweet little Vela! The angel that I made fits her perfectly, she truly is an angel!

Little Hema decided that he wanted to put all of the ornaments on the tree. The only problem was that he has a very limited range of reach. I tried to move some of them and he was so sad. We haven't put all the ornaments up yet, because I was afraid the tree would tip over if we put more in that 12 inch spot! At least this year he isn't trying to eat the ornaments!!

Vela is so fascinated by the lights. She just sits and stares at them. It is so cute to watch. She is getting so big and is so alert now. Hema was so please that we got the first real snow on December 1st. We dresses him in his snow clothes and he ran around playing in the snow. He hasn't quite gotten the hang of making a snowball, but if his dad makes it for him, he will throw it!

Little Hema is nearly 28 months old and he has never had a haircut. His hair has such tight curls that you might not guess how long it really is. It has started to hang down in the back and look really untidy.

Today I decided that he needed to lose about 8 inches or so off of the top back part of his hair. I got brave and started cutting before I lost my nerve. I think that the haircut I did would even make Jess & Mar proud! Even Little Hema seemed happy with the end result!!

This is our birth announcement for sweet Vela. We truly cannot imagine life without her!

Go Utes!!

Well, it was a sad day for the Ute loving Katoa family! We got dressed in our Utah gear and headed up to Iggy's to watch the game. It was a great game and right before the 4th quarter we left to drive down to Lakeshore. Of course all of the action took place during the drive! It was a close game but Hema's beloved Utes were defeated in the end! We sure had a fun time as a family and little Hema was still cheering "GO UTES!!" I don't think he even knew they lost! Daddy Hema is already hoping for a better result next year!

Happy, Happy Hema!!

Hema is basically obsessed with tractors! If he sees anything that resembles one he wants to "ride on Grandpa's tractor." Today we went down to the farm to help stack bricks from the old house that was knocked down last week and Hema got to ride around with Grandpa on the tractor. He was having so much fun and cried when it was time to come home.

Thanksgiving Day!

We had such a great Thanksgiving! We slept over at the Hawkins farm on Wednesday night. Little Hema loves the farm and wishes he could sleep there every night. We got up and helped cook and set up for the meal. Mom made the most delicious turkey, stuffing and gravy! Brandi's rolls were soooooo good! Jake & Tyra and Josh & Laura made appetizers so tasty we almost didn't save room for the meal! Marilee made an amazing salad! Hema & I made awesome mashed potatoes! The food was awesome! Then when we were totally stuffed...........dessert! Some of the highlights were Jason's apple pie, Tyra's awesome pumpkin roll, Marilee's pumpkin cheesecake and mom's apricot Bavarian tart! Yummy! We cleaned up, visited and played Yahtzee! Thanks Mom & Dad Hawkins for hosting us!
After we finished at the Hawkins, we rushed up to the Katoas. There was tons of yummy food waiting there too! It is fun to get the Tongan version of Thanksgiving and we had a roasted pig on the menu. My Oreo Chocolate swirl Cheesecake was a hit! Vela was passed around all day and hugged and kissed very minute by both families and Little Hema ran himself into the ground playing with all of his cousins. We are so GRATEFUL for our families! What a blessing to be so close to so many and to get to spend every holiday with both families! We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday too! (By the way, being busy with all of the preparation for the day, we forgot to charge our camera. Our memory card was full and our battery died about 5 minutes into the festivities so you will have to use your imaginations to envision the rest!)

So Sweet!

We haven't posted for almost 2 weeks! Life get busy. We took this picture last week for our Christmas card - we actually took a bunch, but then decided to go with the awesome pictures Katie from Peek a Boo took of our family. So I thought I would show you our 2 cuties. I love being a mom! It is the best!

Vela is 1 month old!

Our little Vela Amelia Katoa is one month old today! We love her so much! She is such a sweet baby. Little Hema loves her so much and is such a great brother. We are so blessed and cannot imagine life without this little girl! We are so very grateful for adoption and for the amazing birth parents that have blessed our family! Isn't she beautiful?!?!?!

Vela 4 Weeks Old!

Sweet Vela was 4 weeks old on Friday. She is changing so much every day. This is a picture of her getting ready to take her bath. She is looking so grown up already. She is much more alert now and just starting to smile at us occasionally. We can't imagine life without her!!

Football Fun!!

Little Hema is basically obsessed with football. He even sleeps with his football at night. The first thing he wants to do when he wakes up is play football with his dad and it goes on all day until right before bed. He loves to go outside and tackle his dad. Daddy Hema is pleased with the obsession and always a willing tackle dummy.

Sleepy Little Angel

Sweet baby Vela is doing such a great job sleeping. Last night she slept 2 4 hour blocks! Yes, that was 8 hours with just a 20 minute feed and burp break! Vela and mommy both woke up VERY happy this morning!

The Video of Hunter!

Hunter Hawkins goes Hip Hop!!!!

Our niece Hunter had a dance performance at UVU (formerly UVSC). She did such a great job and had so much fun. She is the one with the long blond ponytails in the middle front row. I am seriously glad she got her dance moves from Brandi and not Jason!!! Grandma Nan, Grandpa and Grandma Hawkins, Jason, Brandi, Halle, Josh, Laura, Hema, Becky, Little Hema and Vela were all there to cheer her on. Great job Hunter!!!

After the dance, Willy the wolverine came up for photos. Little Hema was so freaked out by him and asked us 200+ times on the drive home if the "orine" was nice and if he was coming to our house! He was pretty freaky! YIKES!!!!

Family Shower

A Visit From JEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

My sister Jen came to visit this weekend from California! It was so wonderful to see her and for her to get to spend time with Little Hema and Vela! While she was in town my sisters had a baby shower brunch for us. It was so fun to get together with lots of my cousins and aunts. We certainly don't get together enough! Everyone was so sweet in welcoming Vela to the family! I am seriously praying for the Pixtons to move back to Utah soon! We love and miss them so much!!

Little Monkey

Little Hema absolutely loves to go to the park. He loves to swing and slide and climb anything he can! He is such a little monkey. We love him so much!

Halloween 2007

We had a great Halloween! I took the kids to Hema's work in their costumes this morning. (Little Hema wishes he could go to work with his daddy every day.) My little cowboy on his horse trotted all around today. He was so pleased that he could knock on a door and say "trick or treat" and get candy! I have a feeling he isn't going to understand why it won't work tomorrow! Little Vela was the sweetest, most snuggly teddy bear ever. It was too cold to take her out trick or treating, so she & I handed out the candy.What a wonderful day!!

The kids!!

This weekend was great! Here are a few pictures of the kids from this weekend. Little Hema loves Vela so much and is constantly trying to kiss and "nuggle" her. They are the best!!!!

Peek a Boo Vela!!

We took Vela to Peek a Boo Photos to get her pictures done on Tuesday. She looked so sweet! We absolutely can't wait to get her pictures back in about 2 weeks! We also had photos taken of Little Hema and our family. We love Katie Moss!!! She is the best photographer ever!!

Vela on Sunday!

This is what our sweet little Vela wore to church for her first full Sunday. She is such an angel and was just as sweet as she looks!!

The kids this week!

Here are some pictures of our kids this week. We had Vela's first bath, a trip to the store which proved tricky in fitting the kids and purchases in the cart and a visit from Grandpa Katoa who had the flu last week and finally got to meet Vela on Sunday!

Hawkins Cousins Halloween Party

Brandon, Marilee and their kids hosted a Halloween party for the Hawkins cousins. It was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up. They had a creepy mad science lab, bobbing for apples, games and lots of yummy treats! Thanks Clarke family for the fun family night!!

More of Vela!

Happy Days!

The sweetest brother!

Our sweet little Hema is such a great brother to Vela. He loves to kiss and hold her. He gets up in the morning and comes into our room and asks to "nuggle" his sister. He is surprisingly sweet and soft with her. We are so proud of him and know they will be such great friends!

Vela 3 Days Old

The Most Amazing People!

We want to express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the many tender mercies he has blessed our family with. We wish to express our deepest love and respect to our birth parents for their selfless and loving choices that have brought us this beautiful baby girl. We love you! You are amazing!

Welcome Home!

Baby Vela Amelia

Here she is!! She was born this morning at 12:30 a.m.

8 lbs 2 oz and 19.5 inches long

Isn't she beautiful!!!
She will be coming home tomorrow morning.

Where is that baby????

So as you know, we are hoping to adopt a little girl right away. She is actually due today and we are dying! It is so hard to be patient when you want something so much! Please pray hard for this baby and especially for her birth mother and birth father. We love them and are so grateful for them. The next few days will be so difficult for them. Thanks for your support and prayers!!!!

Football Fanatic!

Little Hema loves football! He hasn't missed any of his uncle Sione's high school football games and loves to cheer for him. Hema can throw the football very well and we are still working on the catching. Hema has a great football stance and waits for Dad to say "Down...Set...Hut" before he takes off running or charges for a tackle. Hema loves to tackle! He wants to play "football...tackle" from the moment Dad gets home until it is time for nite-nite. He has tackled several of his friends now and has to be reigned in from time to time. Hema even likes to watch games on TV. If he see's any football on while we are surfing channels he begs for us to turn it back. Dad doesn't mind at all and Mom has been a sport through it all. Hema also found some child size football pads and helmet at Big 5 sports store while we were looking for shoes last week, unfortunately the smallest sizes were still too big. Luck thing Mom was there or little Hema would be geared for some serious tackling.

Conference at the Farm

This past Sunday our Hawkins family met together for breakfast and Conference. As tradition goes it's all about Mom's "Griddle Cakes". Mmmmm! This is the first time at the new farm house and it was awesome. The house is huge but the family is growing so fast we fill it up pretty good already. We all enjoyed the messages and the food was wonderful too. During lunch Grandma took all the grandkids out to her garden to choose a pumpkin from the patch. Some were huge and others tiny. Grandma even had to settle a dispute over a large one with the promise of the pick of the crop next year. Little Hema staked his claim quickly and ended up with an orange monster that Dad could barely manage. It is huge...well over a hundred pounds by my estimation!

Hema at the beach in Mexico

In August we went to Mexico with our Hawkins Family. This is Hema's first time to the beach and in the ocean.