Hema's Baptism

 Hemaloto Laione Katoa

I'll just go ahead and say it right up front - THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG POST!!! But Hema's baptism was one of the most important dates so far in his sweet little life, so I'm going to document it!!

Hemaloto Laione Katoa was baptized and confirmed by his father on Saturday September 28th. It was such a wonderful day!! We had so many of our family members and friends come out to support Hema. After the baptism we had a brunch at a church in Lehi. It was so nice to visit and relax together.

  Some of the most special people who came were his sweet birth mom Katie and her mom who drove up from Arizona for the baptism. It is always wonderful to see Katie!!

Hema, Becky, Katie and Hema before the baptism.

Katie, Hema and Nancy (Katie's mom)

Katie's dad, stepmom and 2 sisters also came. They gave Hema his first real set of scriptures with his name on them. He was so excited to get them.

Hema, Brian and MaryAnn.

Katie's sisters Julia and Nicole.

Of course Hema's grandparents were there. 

Hema with Grandma Katoa

Hema with Grandpa and Grandma Hawkins

Lots of other loved ones were there too! 

Coco, Angie, Kaili, Hema, Shalet and Sam

Baby Harlow, Halle, Jason, Hema and Hunter

Tilesa and Ituala

Joe, Hema and Misi

It was a great day to celebrate with Hema. Hema also received some great presents: his scriptures, a nice scripture case with a bookmark form Katie, a book on the priesthood and future missionary tag from Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins, a neat blue CTR ring from his primary teacher Sister Rigamoto, a scripture marker and CTR tie from the Jobracks and money to put towards his mission from Sam and Angie. He was so excited. It was wonderful to have so many loved ones there. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of those who came to the baptism, but didn't make it out to the brunch afterwards. 

I have attended a lot of baptisms over the past 4 years since I am the Primary president in our ward, but this was by far my favorite! 

Information to remember:

Our Stake - Provo Utah Wasatch Tongan Stake

Our Ward - Lehi 41st

Location - Provo Wasatch Stake Center

Date - Saturday, September 28, 2013

Our Bishop - Richard Paongo

Baptism Performed by - Hemaloto Katoa

Witnesses - David Hawkins and Sam Katoa

Confirmation performed by - Hemaloto Katoa

Participating in the Confirmation - David Hawkins, Jason Hawkins, Joseph Hawkins, Joe Katoa, Sam Katoa, Brian Strong, Bishop Richard Paongo and Brother Mao Tua. 

General Conference Weekend

I absolutely love General Conference weekend. It is so great to enjoy a couple days with lots of family time, some great food and a huge spiritual lift! 

Our niece and nephew (Ava and Joey) slept over on Friday so we ran over to the Home Depot kids building project early Saturday morning.  Our kids love to go to them and although we usually forget they are the first Saturday of the month, my dad works at Home Depot and always calls to remind us! This month the project was bird feeders. All the kids had a great time making them. Home Depot even gave us bird seed to put in them. 

Don't mind the poor pictures quality my phone offers! :)

We came home and painted the bird feeders and hung them out in the yard.

Saturday we enjoyed the conference sessions at home as a family and then Hema usually takes his dad to the Priesthood session, but his dad wasn't feeling well so he just went to our local stake center. 

Sunday morning we always go to my parents house to have a yummy griddle cake breakfast and watch conference with the Hawkins family. The kids love to spend time with their cousins!  This year we didn't do the candy buckets, I felt like the kids were getting way too much candy which really ends up with hyper and crazy kids by the afternoon session!

Here is Hema's drawing of President Monson speaking.
It says, "To be good our parents go to the temple."

We did a lot of coloring and conference printable worksheets and they kids all sat pretty quietly and were well behaved. 

 Halle and Hema

 Vela loves to snuggle with Grandma and soon fell asleep and was snoring pretty loud. 

Hunter and Cora. Cora stole her headband for the picture. 

Hunter did a little easter egg hunt for the kids after conference and everyone had a great time! 

I love all the messages we heard at conference. I really needed to be reminded of what is really important and how vital my role is as mother to my three littles. I found a link on one of my favorite blogs to these free conference prints. (Here's the LINK)

I look forward to reading the talks again and again and continuing to learn.

Sleeping at the Farm

A couple of weeks ago my brother Josh and his family came to visit from California. They are getting ready to move to New Hampshire for Josh to get his MBA. We are excited for them, but sad that they are moving even farther away for a while. We went down and stayed over at my parents while they were there to spend more time with them. 

Josh making a big fire just for fun! 

Getting smokey and hanging out under the stars. 

Brynlee on Great Grandpa Hawkins saddle horse.
We all loved to sit on this and take pictures growing up. 

Dad and Josh both played the guitar and sang for us. 

Saturday Hema got up early to find something to shoot.
He hunted all over for something to blast with his BB gun.

Then finally settle for some plastic bottles Grandma had.

The kids love the swing.

Hema playing on the swing. 

Saturday morning conference breakfast.
Everyone digging in.

My mom's griddle cakes! The best ever!

Then we gathered and watched conference. 

Laura and Josh - it was so fun having them in town! 

We are so grateful for our family and love spending time with them! 

Carlettos

While I was serving my LDS mission in Brazil, I met and became great friends with an amazing family - the Carlettos. I love them so much! They helped me feel welcome in a very different country where I was dealing with a new language, food, culture, etc... Really they become my family in Brazil. I even stayed with them while I dealt with a terrible infection on my foot and sweet Ines drove me to and from the hospital twice a day, every day. When my dad came to pick me up, they drove us all around Brazil, over to the Iguacu falls, we did a little shopping in Paraguay, we had such a great time - they were amazing.

Then when I came home, their oldest daughter Paula came to live with my family for a year. We had a lot of fun together. She hung out with Hema and I all the time while we were dating. She named her sweet daughter after me. She is truly a sister!

After Hema and I were married their youngest daughter Natalia came and stayed with us for a year. It was so much fun having her stay with us! Now she is married and living nearby here in Utah. 

Naturally I was thrilled to know that Ines and Carletto were coming to Utah for Christmas. We had them over for dinner and had so much fun reminiscing about my mission and the wonderful country of Brazil. Man I really do hope I get a chance to go back someday. There will always be special place in my heart for Brazil. One thing for sure though, my Portuguese has really gotten rusty! I need to get practicing up! Luckily Natalia is just 20 minutes away!

Here are a few pictures from the Carlettos visit.

Eduardo, Natalia, Carletto, Ines and Me

The kids being showered with gifts from Brazil!

The kids showing off their goods!
I think we've watched Rio about 8 times in the last week!

Little Nativity inside a pine seed from Brazil.
It's about 1 1/2 inches long. Perfectly Adorable!

It was so wonderful to catch up with the Carletto family! I love them! One day I hope I get to post pictures on here of my trip to visit them in Brazil!! Until then, estou com muitas saudades!!!

Temple Square

Last week we ventured downtown to Temple Square. It was so freezing cold! We dressed the kids in tons of layers and then drove down to the free ride zone for TRAX and caught the train over to Temple Square.

Here we are waiting for the TRAX train.  

Vela and Cora warming up inside by the Christus.

Our family by the lights!

Love these two little crazies!!

Beautiful Salt Lake Temple

Hema and Vela on TRAX headed home.
I love that Hema is wearing Little Hema's hat! 

Hema, Cora and Mom on TRAX. 

The kids really enjoyed Temple Square this time. I think they are finally old enough to enjoy seeing the lights and all. We plan to head back up later this week during the day when it isn't too crowded and watch a movie or two.