Family Camp 2012

This year we held our Katoa family camp at Rockport Reservoir. Fun, fun, fun!!!

The kids always want to be the first ones there but then it is just torture 

waiting for all of their cousins to get there.

Camp is all set up and the kids are jumping for joy.

Vela and Nita enjoyed playing with the dirt in the shade.

Joe, Fau, Hema, Joey, & Gene watch a movie and stay cool in the shade.

Cora was spoiled by all her cousins. Here is Loseli, Joe, and Tiara fighting for her attention. I don't think she had to walk more than 5 feet before another family member swooped her up.

Vela and Daddy spent some quality time together fishing. Here she is showing off her prize catch.

 Uncle Pita spanked everyone in chess.

 Aunty Salote found a new way to store our plastic cups.
Uncle Misi and Pita were awesome BBQ chefs. Thanks.

 A grill full of yummy meat and corn. We had lots of good things to eat.

 Cora lounging by the fire eating a treat. So happy!

We have plenty of professional smore makers in the family 

and a bunch of professional smore eaters too!

Grandpa Katoa relaxing in the shade. He loves to just sit there and watch all the grandkids run around.

Nita, Hema, and Sioti chowing down on one of Hema's fish. These kids love fish!

We love spending time with our family. This is such an awesome time for our kids to associate and strengthen their family ties. Can't wait until next year!

Camping at Jordanelle

On Monday we didn't have anything going on so we decided to do a fast one night camping trip. It was so fun and relaxing! 

The fishing was awesome and the kids and their dad caught lots of fish. There were a couple big ones worth taking a picture of! We even brought one home to eat. Yumm! 

Vela loves to pose with and kiss every fish that is caught. If they ever throw
one back before she kisses it she is so sad!

Little Hema LOVES to fish and nothing could make daddy Hema happier! It is so fun to watch the two of them fishing and getting all serious and also laughing and playing. 

Hema posing with a good catch!

The kids love to play in the tent! Especially if there is an air mattress to jump on. I used to constantly be telling them don't jump it might pop, now I just enjoy the joyous laughs. It is a lot more fun for everyone. 

Sweetest little monkeys!

 Vela is a mermaid in training for sure! If there is water this girl will find it and play in it all day long even if it is freezing cold. It is definitely her happy place. She is such a cute little swimmer! 

A little posing for the camera!

 The kids couldn't wait for the sun to go down so that they could roast marshmallows. None of them like to eat them, but they are really fun to roast anyway. I love Cora's face in this picture, total concentration putting the marshmallows on. 

 Hema has become obsessed with roasting the PERFECT marshmallow. He is getting really good at it too! 

 Check out this awesome smore creation. Graham cracker, marshmallow, banana and peanut butter cup. 

AMAZING!!! I won't say who ate it to protect the guilty. 

 Ooops! I guess you know who now!!

 We picked up a pizza in Heber so we didn't even have to cook dinner. It was great. Here is Hema warming up a slice. Total lazy camper's meal. 

We had such a great time, we will for sure be doing a lot more camping this summer starting with the Katoa Family camp this coming week! Wooo Hooo for summer! 

Krychele Graduated!

Cora's sweet birth mother, Krychele, graduated from high school this week! We've attended a lot of graduations, but this was by far our favorite! We sure do love her!

There she is in the white getting her diploma.

 With her amazing parents!

Marty, Krychele and Kim

 I wanted to post this picture because it shows 3 generations of adoption love. On the left is Krychele's grandmother who is the adoptive mother to Kim (on the right) and in the middle Krychele, a birth mother. Three amazing women who have all been touched by adoption. 

 

 Our family with Krychele! Isn't she gorgeous!

 After graduation Kim's parents took us to Brick Oven. Yumm! 

Cora giving Krychele some post graduation advice....

....And some post graduation LOVE!!! 

Friday night we got to go over to their amazing house for a swimming party and barbeque.  It was great to play and eat and visit with Krychele's awesome family and friends. They are always so great with our family. We just love them all!

Cora LOVES the dogs and probably feed them a whole bag of Cheetos.
Can dogs eat Cheetos???

Hema enjoying the pool. 

Vela didn't even eat, she swam the whole time. She is a mermaid in training for sure! 

It was a very long but great week and by the end of it all we all felt a little like Cora - ready for a nap!!

Thanks Krychele and Marty and Kim for taking our whole family in as part of yours! We sure do love you all! Congrats again to Krychele! We know you are going to do great things! 

Recent Random Catchup Pictures

I have a ton of recent random pictures I seem not to have time to post lately....

So here is a quick catch up of some of them:

Everyone had dentist appointments and no one had any cavities! That is always good news!

Hema seems to actually enjoy the dentist now.

Last time Vela wouldn't even open her mouth. This time she did perfect! So proud of her! 

We also took the kids to get haircuts before school started up. We went to Cookie Cutters. The kids thought it was so much fun there and wished they  could have tried out every single fun chair. 

Hema was relieved that a boy was cutting his hair. Here is his before long fluffy hair!

Vela was please she didn't have to have the boy cut her hair. The girl tried to convince me how cute Vela would look with lots of layers in her hair. I said NO WAY! Just a trim please!

AFTER! This picture seriously cracks me up! Vela wanted to look like a princess so the girl did this "crown braid." It was so funny! Hema and I couldn't stop laughing at the fact that she looks like a polygamist child bride! Disclaimer: We may live in Lehi, Utah - but we are in NO WAY associated with any polygamists! That is just a princess crown okay! :)

When Hema's birth grandparents visited for his birthday the brought all the stuff to make a variation of this craft from the Friend magazine. We made them for FHE the following Monday and the kids thought it was so much fun! A lot of the stuff came right out of their garden! She also had us substitute chicken salad instead of the cottage cheese, cute and yummy!  

Hema with one of his bugs. 

He really likes olives more than tomatoes, so he invented this bug.

We recently went bowling as a family. The last time we went (several months ago) the kids thought it was boring and refused to even bowl the second game we had paid for. This time they loved it and begged for a second game!

Hema is really getting the hang of it. 

I love this picture of Vela mid air - cheering herself on! She would roll the ball and it would seriously take 20 seconds to get to the end of the lane. Hema and I would say, "It's not going to make it..." and finally it would slowly hit the pins and knock a surprising number down. It was so funny. They whole time as  we waited for the ball to hit the pins she was jumping and dancing! It was pretty cute! 

Cora just mostly cheered everyone on and looked adorable! 

Had to take a picture of this! Honestly the 1st time ever that I beat Hema! Whoo Hoo!

I think we were the only family left in Utah county that hadn't bought Tragalga/ Seven Peaks passes. They finally dropped the prices really low last weekend and we bought them. The Lehi Trafalga is about 5 minutes from our house so we've already been there lots! 

Hema and Vela love this ride. But right before we left some dorky kid that was about 17 with a mo hawk soaked them mercilessly. Really?!?! They were both in tears on the way tot he car. 

So fun!

Rides, rides, rides!

Vela rode this ride no less than 20 times in a row. She laughed hysterically every single time! 

We also went to Seven Peaks Salt Lake (the old Raging Waters) on Saturday after Hema's football game. I don't have a single picture because I only had my new camera and was too scared that it would get stolen to take it in.  The water parks are closed for the year but we hope to hit them up a lot all summer next year. 

Katoa Family Camp 2011

We always have so much fun at Katoa family camp. This year all of Hema's siblings and their families were there except his sister Milika, her husband and 2 of their kids. This year we camped at Deer Creek and the weather was perfect. 

 Hema and the kids after the tent got set up on Wednesday. 

 Gorgeous view from our tent.

And looking the other direction. Utah is so beautiful! 

 Thursday was all about the water! 

 Lots of swimming. 

 Fishing and playing in the sand.  

 We stayed and played in the water for hours. 

Here is Leilani as a mermaid.

 Aunt Salote and Uncle Semisi made lots of sand art.  

 Ilaisaane as a dolphin. 

 T Rex being attacked. 

 Fun games for the kids Thursday night.

More games. 

 Friday more swimming. 

Hema riding an alligator. 

 And of course more sand! 

 Salote buried Gene, Leilani, Joey, Hema and Loseli here. 

 Vela and Ava as a heart. It got pretty hot and they weren't sure they were having fun. 

Talo and None with Cora.

 Hema's mom cooked up all kinds of fabulous food for us every minute and we played and laughed and visited until the wee hours of the morning each night. All the kids played so well and never fought at all. Our kids were so sad when it was time to go home. I am so very grateful to have married into a family that I love so much! Can't wait for camp next year!