Eeewww

Observation: If we'd come in the bathroom a half hour later, we would've never known and would've gone on merrily brushing our teeth.

Question: Do I want to know what other creepy things happen when I'm not looking?

Birthday Kids

This is parenthetical but I forgot to mention my kids' birthdays. Ella turned five May 30th. Isaac turned three July 5th. They're just gettin' bigger and bigger! I hear that happens.

And some silly siblings photos

Virginia in June

Ella, Owen, and I went to Virginia for a few days so we could hang out with more cousins. Shellie and Jason B. live just outside of DC and Marcie, and Jason F. drove out from Indiana. Since we had limited time, we really lived it up. We seized the day. We lived in the moment. We had joy in the journey. And we tried to sleep as little as possible.

I have to describe my first morning there. Remember my life in Samoa--wild dogs, bugs, geckos, guys in lavalavas strolling down the dirt road collecting coconuts, right? In my sister's community, identical townhouses lined the streets with neat driveways, sidewalks, and mailboxes. Within walking distance of her house there was an elementary school, great parks, a couple of swimming pools, and even a protected wetland! They had regulations on yard upkeep, pets, hanging laundry--even the swingsets had to be wood, not plastic. Everything was so CUTE! And CLEAN!

We spent the morning at a big, fun park, with woodchips and everything (no graffiti!), surrounded by a semicircle street (with crosswalks!) and adorable homes with porches, bushes, nice lawns, and American flags waving. Moms pulled up in minivans looking for their playgroup, kids zipped by on scooters, and others knocked on neighbors' doors looking for friends to play with. The best part was when a firetruck drove by and Fireman Joe honked and waved to us! It was so American! I almost shed a tear. Have I been in Samoa too long that I think this is extremely extraordinary?!

Later we went antique shopping in historic Leesburg (picture cobblestone alleys, brick store fronts, oak and maple trees). Great antiques--I felt like I was buying history. Shellie is hilarious. She tried on all sorts of wild and wonderful vintage dresses, hats, and gloves.

We went to the pool, had a Samoa night with my cousins Brent and Mali (hey guys!), practiced some yoga, roasted marshmellows, camped in tents in the backyard, ate a lot, played a lot, and went to Historic Bull Run to check out Stonewall Jackson and a musket demonstration.
Thank you Browns and Francis' for showing us a good time on the East coast.

Now the pictures.

Say Tasi, Lua, Tolu...

Show us how it's done, Annmarie.

She's a trained professional. Don't try this at home.

That's a fun party trick!

Kumbaya...

Shellie passes Bull Run National Park on her way to the craft store. I love the East!

Utah in June

Well here's a bit about our summer vacation in "The United States of America" as my children say. (They're really confused. They asked if grandma and grandpa have a pool on their island. And Isaac keeps talking about when he went hiking Mt. Timpanogos on the "Big Island".) We loved seeing family again. (And I loved going shopping again.)

It had been two years since I'd been back to the "Mainland", and I must admit it took me a little while to adjust. At first I smiled at strangers, but I got over that quick. We showed Isaac what a stop light is. And we drove really, really fast on "Threeways" (Isaac's word for "freeway"). Straight smooth roads, yay! Congested slow traffic, boo.

Shopping, big yay! I was like a kid in a candy store. I wanted to buy everything I saw. But I limited myself to what would fit in our luggage…and wouldn’t grow mold in Samoa.

At my parent's house I had so many moments when I thought, “This is so idyllic.” I mean, feeding grandma’s cat, picking strawberries and sugar snap peas in the garden, swinging on the tree swing, walking down the street to the park, going to the zoo, reading bedtime stories with grandpa. It was a grandchild’s dream come true!

It was my dream come true as well. We made strawberry-rhubarb pie from scratch. We saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert. We had tournaments of raquetball and ping pong. We had Uncle Barry's pulled pork and Aunt Jane's potato salad. We had Cousin Richard clean our wedding rings. We had clothing throwdowns and shopped at DI. We ate Gandolfos. We bought fresh spinach and blueberries. We left sweetrolls on the counter overnight with no fear of ants or cockroaches. We wore long pants and sweaters. We downloaded shows. We went to an Orem city parade with more white people than I had seen in years!

It all felt so familiar and refreshing for me. I felt very grateful—that my culture is one of opportunity, family, health, and faith. But I was also grateful that I have the chance to live away from home and experience life so differently for awhile.

So on with the pics...

Steph and her cute kids came all the way from Kentucky to see us.

My sisters look stunning in puletasi's.
Above is Jan from Idaho, Steph from KY.
Below is Katie from Las Vegas.

We got in the Samoan spirit at Samoan Family Home Evening. Here's with Jill's family.

Grandma's funky monkey plates.

Day at the zoo.

Ephraim and Isaac entertained themselves in the Uintas.
Hey, look, a caterpillar!

Kids these days...

We attended the lovely Oquirrh Mountain Temple Openhouse.

That's all for now.

Hawaii in June

We were gone for the month of June. We went to Hawaii and Utah mostly, with a side trip to Virginia. There's too much to even attempt catching up on, so I'll just post some of my favorite photos. First, our week at the Palmer Palace of Paradise.

We blessed baby Owen Fa'amaoni while we had our menfolk together.

And a preview of the next post...Utah.