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!

End of the School Year

Summer is here! Hooray!!!

It has been a busy last couple of weeks we are ready to kick back and relax. I have such mixed feelings about another school year ending. On one hand I get all my sweet kids here all day long! Love that! But on the other hand another year has passed and they are growing up too fast. 

Last week Hema's class had their Authors Party and did some cute skits about what they've learned this year and gave us a book of stories they wrote throughout the year. 

Hema's Authors Party skit

Hema wrote some fun stories.

Hema and Dad at the Authors Party

Hema and Mom at the Authors Party

Mom and Hema

I've made about a bazillion candy leis for the many graduations we've had lately. We have a graduation today that will be the 7th one we've attended this year. Yikes! People seem to like the candy leis a lot and the kids love to give them to people. 

A few of the many, many candy leis I've been making.

I also attempted my first money lei this year. I think it turned out pretty cool. And getting some cash plus lots of bubble gum is a good thing right? 

My first money lei. 

Vela's preschool ended last Friday. Her teacher, Mrs Sanborn, has been fabulous and Vela already misses her. 

Vela and her awesome teacher Mrs. Sanborn

Here's a picture of Vela's preschool class. 

We gave the kid's teachers candy leis for an end of the year thank you. I made these cute little cards to go with them and the kids wrote them a message inside. I think they turned out really cute!

Candy lei with cards I made for the kid's teachers.

I asked Hema what he wanted for breakfast on the last day of school and he said a buffet. So I made a big breakfast. He was a little disappointed that there wasn't any chicken.... crazy kid!

Cora and Hema ready for the last day of school breakfast.

Hema and Mrs. Johnson on the last day of school. She has been such a great teacher for Hema and has really built up his confidence. We have absolutely loved her!

Hema and his awesome teacher Mrs. Johnson.

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest and decided to do it for my kids. You have teachers sign the book and write a little note to your child every year up through their graduation. I hope they appreciate it some day!

Book and instructions I typed up. 

I wanted each teacher to use the same format when they signed it so I typed up some instructions to go with it. I did the same thing for Vela. I had Hema's past preschool and kindergarten teachers sign it too so I'd be caught up. Now if I can only remember to have the teachers sign them over the next decade it will be great!

It had my phone number and our last names but I took them out of the photo. 

It has been a great year and so fun to see how much the kids have progressed.

Vela has loved preschool and has started reading which is really exciting. She finished up her year of speech therapy and has improved so much this year. She has a few sounds that are still tough so we'll do speech again next year. Everyone thinks she should be going to kindergarten next year because she is so tall, but she won't be 5 until October so she is excited for another year of preschool next year.

Hema has really become a great reader this year. He is loving math and science and has decided he wants to be a scientist when he grows up. Actually he first wanted to be a full time dad, but we explained that he will need to work and support his family so he settled on scientist. He is such a happy and friendly kid. His teacher said he is nice to every single person in the class and can make everyone smile and feel important. I love that about him. He loves to learn and came home form the last day of school and sat down and did some reading first thing. He is excited to be a big 2nd grader next year.

I'm excited to soak up every minute of every day with these kiddos and enjoy summer! 

Primary Program 2011

We had our ward Primary Program in October. I love the Primary Program, but tend to get a little stressed out about it all running smoothly since I ma the Primary president. As always, it went well. The kids have such strong little spirits and you can't help but feel love when they talk and sing. It is such a blessing to get to spend every Sunday with these amazing kids who I love very much. I am also grateful for my amazing presidency, music ladies and teachers! I really love primary! 

The cute man kneeling down int he front is our awesome Stake President - President Makai. 

My parents with Hema and Vela. The program straight wore Vela out!
Thanks for coming out mom and dad! 

This is how Cora ends up every week at church. It is right during her nap time.

By the time the meetings were over I felt the same way and went right home for a nap myself! 

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! 

Goodbye Kindergarten!!!

Little Hema graduated from kindergarten today. He has been so excited for his graduation and also to be going into 1st grade next year. I have to be honest it is pretty sad for me. The thought of Hema being gone for full school days next year is enough to make me cry. Here are some shots of our day. Sorry that the pictures are a little grainy, they were taken out the video camera. 

 Mrs. Ellsworth and Hema. We are really going to miss her, she has been a fabulous teacher! 

Hema with Grandma and Grandpa Katoa.

Here is a little video clip of when Hema got his little certificate of completion.

The worst part of the day is that just now as I was blogging this a realized that I didn't get any pictures if Hema with his sisters or with us....yeah I have no idea how that happened. It was a really fun day. Hema was thrilled to get LOTS of candy leis from us and several friends in our ward. He also loved giving them to his buddies. We are so proud of our little Hema. He is growing up fast and is such a good boy. He keeps us on our toes and laughing all day long. Here is the conversation we had in the car with him a couple days ago:

Hema: When I grow up I'm going to be a dad.

Me: Yes, you will. But that is a long ways away.

Him: Yeah I know.

Me: There are some very important things you need to do before you are a father. Do you know what they are.

Him: Yeah I need to go on my mission first.

Me: That's true and there is one more really important thing. Do you know what it is?

Him: Yes, I have to be 50 years old.

Me: Uh, I hope not! I was going to say you need to get married first.

Hm: Oh yeah that's right in the temple!

Funny kid! I hope he isn't 50 before I get to be a grandma!!! 

Vela's First Hula Class

One of my favorite things about Polynesian culture is the dancing. It is so beautiful and I have looked forward to my daughters learning to dance since I was engaged...yeah it's been a long wait! Today, Vela start hula with my amazing counselor from my Primary presidency - Kaipo! She was a little shy at first, but warmed up and had fun. I am really hoping that she loves it and will stick with it! Here are a couple videos. It is so cute I can't stand it! (in case you can't tell - Vela is in the blue pants and shirt.) 

And some more sweet moves...

At the end the little girls watched the older girls dance. This is Nessa, Vela and Kaipo. 

 Cora loved the music and did her own little bounce and shake in the back of the room. Can't wait for her to be old enough to dance too! 

 Hema wasn't sure what to make of all these girls dancing. On the way home he said, "that was so boring!'

Get used to it Hema! If I have it my way we'll be sitting through years of dance practice!!! 

Valentines Day... and then some!

 Can I jut say that having kids really makes holidays so much more fun! 

Little Hema was supposed to bring a box to school for his Valentines. He wanted an alligator mouth one. Of course my sweet husband was sure we could easily make one - I wasn't so sure. So when I saw this pinata at the party store, I quickly asked Little Hema what he thought and he loved it. I think we saved ourselves a lot of time and frustration for $9! Here he is with his valentines box and some of the candy leis for his classmates. I made 33 of those leis for his class party! 

I had seen so many cute heart hair dos all over the Internet last year and thought I'd try one out on Vela. Somehow, I never got a picture of it yesterday so here are a couple of the hearts in her hair I took pictures of this morning. I can't wait until Cora has enough hair to do fun things with! 

 Looking a little fuzzy this morning! 

My parents came by to visit and Hema and I took them up on their offer to watch the kids while went went out to lunch. Thanks mom and dad!!! 

 Then later these two love birds stopped by for a Valentines visit! 

 Cora has been pretty sad since she is teething the past couple of days, but she put on her happy face and showed off all sorts of fun tricks for them. 

 She giggled, laughed, jumped, climbed, clapped, threw toys, played peek a boo, crawled, stood up and bounced around on her knees! She had no interest in holding still for pictures!

 Beautiful girl! 

Valentines is Vela's birth sister, Leiana's birthday. She turned 5 yesterday! We went to Incredible Pizza with them last week and had a lot of fun.  

 I had to post this picture of Leiana because how sweet is Vela's jumping dance move in the background!!

Vela loved Alysha, Chelise's new baby that is just 2 months younger than Cora. 

Honestly this is the best picture I got of Leiana and Vela together.

Vela with Chelise, her beautiful birth mother. 

And just for fun here are a couple of hats Hema made recently. In his reading class a Dr Seuss Hat

And for the 100th day of school this one

That ended up being a long post!