Catching Up!

I decided I'd do one of my long posts rather than the mini ones I had thought of earlier. Might as well get caught up tonight. Here I go!

We had a great Christmas. One of the main reasons that I didn't post anything is because I hate to waste time on the computer when Hema is home. I usually post when Little Hema is at preschool and Vela is napping for when the kids are in bed and Hema is working late. I love that my hubby gets 2 weeks off for Christmas and with him home and most of my family in town, I didn't want to spend my free time on the computer.
Anyhow, here are some of the fun things we did over Christmas break.
The kids made build a bears for their birth families. Hema made a snow leopard for Katie and Vela made a cute black dog for Chelise and Leiana. The kids also made an animal for themselves. Hema chose a matching snow leopard to keep and Vela of course chose George - a monkey. She is pretty obsessed with all things monkey since she loves Curious George.
Hema got to see Katie and give her her Christmas gifts. It is always fun to be with Katie. We went to Iggy's and watched the end of the Utah bowl game. Katie is doing great and we just love her so much and are so grateful that she is willing to continue to share her life with us and more importantly with Little Hema! Vela's sweet birth momma Chelise is living in Vegas now so we just mailed the Christmas presents to her and Leiana (Vela's sister). We sure do love them too and are excited for her to move back in the next month or so so we can see them again.
We also had our Tongan branch Christmas party. It was really fun with dinner, Santa and a dance. Tina came and brought Joe and Ava and the Ahotaeiloas also came. We hadn't seen them for a while and it was really fun to catch up with them and see their cute kids. We keep trying to convince them to come out to our Tongan ward since they are in our boundaries. No luck so far!
We slept over at my parents on Christmas Eve like we usually do. Christmas Eve was so much fun. We had everyone there except Jessica and Marilee and their families. Jess couldn't come out because she is due to have another sweet baby boy in a about 10 days. Marilee and her family came a couple days after Christmas. It was fun to see the grand kids playing and having a great time. They really get along great and hardly fight at all. It was especially nice to see Porter and little Hema playing so well together. All of the grand kids love the new slippers they get from Grandma and Grandpa each Christmas. My mom also gave each of us a copy of the poetry she has written. She is so talented!
Here are the kids presents waiting to be opened. Little Hema loves his Leapster. This new boggle game has been such a hit. (No little pieces to lose!) Vela loved her presents, but pretty much wanted to mostly play with anything Hema had. They were really excited about the capes I made and have been wearing them around a lot. They also loved the new fishing poles they got from their dad. (Since Vela threw both her pole and Little Hema's in the lake last year). Why don't kids fishing poles float??Christmas Day we have a lot of fun at the Katoas. But honestly, we didn't take any pictures. Oh well. Hema's siblings who are single always spoil the kids rotten. I swear they got as many gifts from them as they did from us. They are too generous with our kids! Thanks guys!
We went swimming on a couple days after Christmas. This is Vela's new suit. Not a great picture, but how cute is the tutu on her?!?!
My niece Brynlee was in town for her 1st birthday and we got to go to her party. The kids loves the party hats.Our annual New Years Party was a lot more mellow than usual. My parents left early to check on grandpa. I took this picture around 10:00 - right before most everyone else went home. Which was fine because we were all pretty tired.On New Years Day we get together with the Katoa family. It is so much fun. I really couldn't have married into a nicer family. They are so loving and great. We sure do have fun together.Aunt Lote is always so great to play games with the kids and keep them busy.
I LOVE this picture of some of the little girls trying to be quiet and looking so bored listening to the grandpas talk.
Then my momma had a birthday on the 4th. We took her to eat a a Thai restaurant she loves. They food was good and we had a great time - even though Hema choked on a spring roll at the very end and vomited a ton. Sorry mom and sorry to the waiter who had to clean that up. Welcome to my life with a kid who is a serious barfer!
Here is a picture of Little Hema making pizza Hawkins style. The sauce goes on at the very end on top of all the rest of the toppings. Delicious!
Here's a group shot of my Primary kids the night of our stake dance.These are the couples that did the samba. Check out the ties and skirts we made.

Sort of blurry I know. The kids with my parents that night.Wow! I guess that pretty much covers it. I am now officially caught up on blogging. And to think that took less time than it is taking Hema to replace the garbage disposal. For some reason it broke last night. The garage door opener broke last week. I guess lot of things in houses last about 10 years since we moved in here 10 years ago in December.