Happy Birthday Zeland!!

(Taken early morning 8/30/10) This is what I wake up to everyday! Zee's smily face! I can't believe it's already been a year! I wish we didn't have to move at this time or else we would of thrown a big birthday party just like how we did with Drey's 1st birthday. I told my husband that I don't want the boys to grow up and look at their baby pictures and see that Drey got a big party and Zee didn't so we decided that we'll throw him a big 2nd birthday! So it looks like it'll be cake and ice cream tonight with the family. I love my boys so much and would do anything for them! I love you Zeland! Happy Birthday Love.

Update

We are finally here in Washington and it feels like I'm on vacation, just visiting my in laws. It still hasn't hit me yet that we are here for good! Anyway, We are doing well, haven't done much yet but I am hoping to find an extern site this week. Last week I called a couple places but they weren't accepting MA extern's at this time so hopefully career services at Everest are doing their job and looking for a site for me as well.

I'm missing my family like crazy. I'm sure I'll get over it but it's not the same without my parents and siblings around. I called my dad the other day so Dreysen can talk to him and he was just crying over the phone telling Dre he misses him and that he'll take him to Mc Donalds soon. It doesn't make it any easier for me hearing my dad like that.

Anyway, I won't be online for a while. There is no internet at home but I'm going to bug Lance to call Comcast asap so they can come hook it up by next week! Bye Bloggers:)

Nephews and Nieces

*Sini Girl* My only Niece! We just said goodbye to them and I can't help but think of how sad I will be to not be there for her & her little brother, watch them grow:( Missing them already.

"Little Ladies' Man" hehe my handsome nephew Teiko! He's only 5 months and the doctor says he's in the 99th percentile for his weight! haha You just wanna squeeze his chubby cheeks right? Love you baby boy!

*Brayden* My oldest nephew! I haven't seen him in two years. He lives in California with his mom but my brother says he should be with us for the next holiday! Hopefully! Well, of course I'll be in WA but I'll fly down any day to see my nephew, who is now 5 yrs old! We love and miss you Brayden!

Good Times

As much as I am excited to move out of state and experience something new, there are, of course, some things I will miss about Utah and being with my family.

When my family gets together, usually at my sister Nita's house, we like to play games. Lately it's been these four games: Monopoly on Cards, butt man, castle, modern warefare online and scattergories!  Scattergories is my favorite. Sometimes we get the most random, weird, funny answers and can't forget about the "fob" answers. haha Lance is the winner at that. For example: The question was -  name something that you can find in an arena that starts with the letter "G." Lances answer was "a GAGE, you know where they have wrestling matches in?" haha I'm sure he meant to say Cage! lol I recommend this game to all families and friends. You'll get a good laugh out of it for sure.  The second game, Monopoly, just like the board game but with cards. Very fun game as well. I'm sure going to miss having everyone together, staying up till 4 or 5 in the morning, being loud and obnoxious haha and playing games such as these 4. I'll have to introduce my in-laws to it. It may be fun and games, but it has brought us all closer together.

Oh Grandma Sycamore bread! My favorite! When we were in Washington a couple months ago, my husband and I went to Safeway to do some food shopping. As I went to the bread isle, I stood there with my eyes gazing at all the different kinds of bread looking for grandma sycamore! Then my husband says that they don't sell it in Washington! So correct me if I'm wrong! hehe

What I'll miss about Salt Lake City is that you don't have to travel to far to get to where you want to go. Everything seems to be just around the corner! hehe Walmart, Target, the mall, salons, gas stations etc; everything is close by! Can't forget about our LDS chapels! One on every street! haha Although one thing i for sure wont miss, is Utah's crazy bipoloar weather! Bring on the rainy days & cloudy skies! Just like how it is in Twilight! haha Im sure I can hang with the weather up there. We will be back for sure though! Utah will always be home to me:)

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Our Family Team *Team JA-WARD* We actually came up with this name from Twilight! half of our team was for Team Edward, the other half for Jacob...so we put it together and then came up with JA-WARD! lol I'm going to miss my volleyball crew, my family team! Junior, Pearl, Tini, Me, Tulu, Shane, Lance, Nita, Swaps. (Tulu isn't blood related but this tourney we needed another guy. Plus he was a big asset to our team hehe.) Usually when there is a co-ed tourney, we put in our family team and so far have taken championship 3 times. Minus one where Lance and I didn't play due to when he had to have surgery on his hand. The best thing about playing with eachother is we can yell at whoever...whenever! haha It's family so none of us really get offended. At the end of the day, we still love eachother! hehe The picture above was taken from Drews birthday tourney where we took 1st. It was fun though cuz My little brother had his own team "High Schoolers," we went 3 games with them, and then my sister Nita played with her inlaws team including my cousin Nini and her bf who is a Fonua as well. It was a fun tourney. Afterwards, we all celebrated at Chili's (Thanks to the great $15 dollar chili's gift card!) Maybe one day they'll all come visit in WA and play in a tourney! That'd be awesome!

Pursuit of Happyness

Everything seems to be falling into place and so much is lifted off my shoulders.
Unexpectedly, Lance got called to come in for an interview at the Target Distribution center in Lacey, WA and we were not prepared for it! We just paid our flight tickets for Monday and paid bills so we were tight on money and had no idea how we were going to get Lance to Washington by Thursday afternoon. Wednesday we were hoping to hear back from his boss at his current job to see if they can approve an advance and just have them take it out of his next pay check but unfortunately they were unable to.
When Lance called me around 11:30 a.m. saying that he couldn't get an advance, my last option was to ask my family for help. I decided to check ksl.com (My favorite website for classifields), and bam! The most recent post was a guy selling his bus ticket to Washington State for $50! I mean, how often does that happen? lol So I called Lance and told him about it and he left work right away. It's about 5 min til 12pm, Lance works all the way in Rose Park, he had to drive down to Midvale to get the ticket and here I am thinking, "Ok, we need to check the bus schedule first before we buy the ticket." I call Greyhound and ask when the next departure is to Washington and he says at 12:45 pm! Are you kidding me? So here I am, calling Lances phone teling him to hurry up and he still hasn't picked up the ticket yet. And then...The representative guy from greyhound tells me that we cannot use the ticket because it doesn't have Lances name on it and if they end up asking for ID he'll get charged for fraud and kick him off the bus! Like seriously! Can this situation get any worse? haha
By the time Lance picked me up, we had 15 minutes to get there. The greyhound station is in Downtown SL so at this point we are just crossing our fingers!
We get there about 2 min after 12:45, thinking its already to late! Ran inside and yay! the bus was still there and everyone was already inside of it.

We couldn't change the name on the ticket because the gates were closed so they said it is up to the bus driver if he wants to let Lance in or not. We waited and waited and finally the driver comes up to us, looks at the ticket and says, "Alright! you can get on." phewww!!! I was so happy but at the same time...so sad that my poor honey had to take a BUS! In my opinion, a lot worse than driving on your own.

In other words, if it wasn't for that $50 Ticket, Lance would not have been able to get that job! Yes bloggers - he got hired!

I'm so happy for all that he does for us from the smallest things to taking a 22 hour bus ride to Washington for an interview. I told Lance in a joking way that this is his "pursuit of happiness" story hehe A story that i sure will never forget. I love you Lance Tali Afuvai! Also, I forgot to mention Thanks! To our sister Kalani Tolenoa for buying Lances one way ticket back home. Everyone is struggling these days with money and bills and yet, they still wanted to help out. Love ya sis!! Thanks for all you do for us:)

"Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow"

Martin Frohm: "What would you say if man walked in here with no shirt, and I hired him? What would you say?"
Christopher Gardner: "He must have had on some really nice pants."

Never Goodbye, but "See Ya Later!"

My family and I are packing up and moving to Tacoma, Washington where my husbands family resides. Moving out of state seems like a fairly simple process...at least the actual moving part is. It's leaving behind family, friends and a life that you're comfortable with...that's the tough part!
I was born in Artesia, CA then we moved to Salt Lake when I was only a couple months old so I have lived in Utah basically my whole life. I don't know whether or not to feel excited, scared, or nervous but I can't change anything now. Flights are booked and everything is set to go!

So many people are asking us why we are moving, so here it is:
Lance and I have been talking about moving to Washington for a while now. Now that I am done with school (tomorrow! yay!) I will have to start my extern which means...I will need to find a baby sitter for my 2 boys. My dad is working, Mom will be in Samoa for half the year doing her business, sisters work full time and that leaves me with...Daycare! Which means, more money (keep in mind that I have 2 boys) to spend on bills and leaving us in debt! haha Not only that but I was never one to let my boys go to daycare. Not that I don't trust them or anything, but knowing that my kids are with family...I don't have to worry so much!

Other reasons? Simply because we want to! I guess I shouldn't be complaining about being away from my family because my husband has been away from his for the past 2 years!

Everything I do, I do it for my kids and my husband and lately I've been having this gut feeling that we should move to Washington so my in-laws could help us out. I've fasted and prayed daily asking the Lord if we are making the right decision...to lead us in the right path. We no longer have any doubts about moving away from Utah thanks to our answered prayers!

If worst comes to worst....we can always move back ;)

I love my family!! Thanks for everything that you guys have done for my boys and I! We truly are grateful to have such amazing people in our lives!

Things on my mind...

Earlier today I was browsing the internet doing research for a school project on parenting and one paragraph stood out to me: Those who delay parenthood – to build a career, to save money, to travel and enjoy their twenties and early thirties without being tied down by a family – were much more unhappy once they finally became parents, because they knew exactly what they were giving up by having children.

Hmmm never thought of it from that angle.

But you know what? I still know what I gave up by having kids, just not as concretely.

I had my first child at 17 yrs old! Yes I know! Very young age right? I had many opportunities in line for me. I wanted to go to college and play basketball or volleyball, experience the "young college life" but instead, I was buying diapers and wipes to prepare for our son.

Brighton Volleyball 2006

I feel as if I have been a mother my entire life but my children and my husband are something that I wouldn’t give up for anything in the entire world.

Our wedding Day 11/17/07

I can bet I would be getting more sleep, I’d be buying more clothes, I’d be tasting my dinners instead of inhaling it between requests from the kids, I could watch rated R movies without having to leap for the remote when my three-year-old toddles into the room, I would run the dishwasher less often. I could leave my package of Oreos on the counter instead of hiding them in the cabinet. I could of had the perfect body and not have to worry about my "war marks" lol In fact, I could be saving the $1,200 to who knows how much we spend, each month on diapers, formula, clothes etc;

I would be more energetic. I might even be exercising more. I’d be writing more and reading more and sitting down with my feet up more.

I could keep going forever and ever. This post could be a mile long. But you get the point.

For a lot of moms, thinking about what their lives could have been like is pointless, or worse, makes them feel like they don’t really love their kids.

I love my kids to pieces but I do realize how vastly different my life would be if they weren’t here. And that’s OKAY. I’ve made plenty of sacrifices in order to be a better mom. Is anything more important than my kids? Nope. So I’m good.

BUT, with all that said, even though we all know what we are giving up in order to raise our children, we don’t dwell on those facts. At least, I don’t. And I know many friends of mine who don’t dwell on those things either. Sure, there are those days of defeat and exhaustion and desperation and you just want to clean the bathroom without any interruptions, but most days are wonderful days, full of laughter, sticky kisses, and playtime. And with so much extra love in your life, those other things just don’t matter.

For me, its about all the wonderful changes that have come into my life since my 2 boys were born. They are my incredible little miracle baby’s and have filled my life with so much love and joy, the other things just can’t even compare. They are wonderful and I couldn’t imagine my life without them – life without them just simply wouldn’t be worth living. I’m not saying every single day is all roses and sunshine. Cause its not. Being a young mom has its own set of unique challenges and moments of I-want-to-rip-my-hair-out LOL

Being a mom has been my most important and most rewarding job that I’ve ever had, and I’m so grateful for the chance to experience this, even if I have had to give up some experiences. It is all worth it, and I couldn’t imagine my life being anything other than what it is.