Where do I Begin???

It's been so long I think I've forgotten how any of this blogging stuff works!  It just took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to get a new background.  Anyway, I haven't posted anything on here mostly because our internet service has been TERRIBLE and it would take me 10 minutes just to download a picture.  So we have finally gotten a better internet service so I figured it was time to update.  I guess this is mostly for me - for journaling since I don't know if anyone even does this anymore.

I couldn't decide whether I go back & start from where I left off or just go from this point on....since I'm not feeling all that ambitious these days I will just go from now.  

Here's a very short recap of the past several months:
Maizi had a birthday in August - now she's 6 & in first grade.  She LOVES it!  I was a little nervous about her being gone all day, but it has worked out great & her teacher is awesome.  She just recently lost her first tooth & lost her second one a couple days ago....she's getting too old!

Soakai will be 5 in January, goes to preschool twice a week & is also becoming quite the "big" kid.  He is such a boy - likes to tease Maizi, play outside, ride his bike & loves anything related to superheroes.  He'd kill me if he could read this, but I'm afraid he's also quite obsessed with Justin Bieber.  He has Bieber Fever!!! :)

We just moved into a different house last weekend - finally! We'd been looking for something since July & just hadn't found anything we liked.  Our main focus being an extra room for our new baby boy coming in a short 5 weeks!!  We really like our new house & neighborhood & best of all, it's still very close to Sione's work and the school.

I think that's as brief as I could get the last 9 months - we are excited to be going home next week for Thanksgiving & of course we are SUPER excited for the baby to be here.  I still have TONS to do to get ready, but I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time. :)

Emili & Raylon's Wedding

Our first visit back home was for Emili and Raylon's wedding. I don't know why I don't have any more pictures than these ones - it was super cute & lots of fun!! They did a great job with the reception - well done girls! :)

Gettin' Down & Dirty

So this is what happens when the kids got bored one day & I couldn't handle them in our little house anymore. They decided to turn the hose on & it turned into a mud bath. Of course, at first I was a little annoyed, but there was no sense in getting mad....so I took pictures. :) The only problem here is that the dirt is red & it stains EVERYTHING including their skin. So needless to say these clothes are now the designated "play in the dirt" clothes.

Kids Adventures

These are just a few pictures of some of our little outings with the kids - we've been trying to find things to do together as a family since that's all we've got here....each other. :)

Maizi's school had a carnival earlier this year & the kids chose to get their faces painted & Maizi wanted her hair sprayed different colors.

Soakai's class did some face painting at school one day & he chose Spiderman.


There's a really cute carousel in a park in downtown St. George that's pretty fun.


We had a first here....our very first babysitter that was not related to us! We have been getting our babysitter, Brooke so we can go on some date nights. She's Soakai's pre-school teacher's daughter - it has been such a blessing to have a good babysitter here. She's great with the kids & always does lots of activities with them. This is the first time we got her & the kids made masks - when we got home I went to check on them and this is how I found Soakai sleeping. :) (They were glow in the dark too).

Hiking

Here are a few pictures of our hiking adventure. We took the kids on their first hike in St. George - this is just by our house. Pretty, huh? They had a lot of fun-- Maizi did say that it got a little long so it was making her heart hurt. :)

First Days of School

Figured I better post the kids first days of school before it's time for me to post the last day of school. :)

Maizi started Kindergarten this year....one day before her 5th birthday. I can't believe I have a kid in school already. That went by WAY too fast. I was so worried for her, starting school, moving away from her family & friends, but she did great! She was so excited to go & thankfully there were no tears (from her anyway). Maizi's teacher is Mrs. Cowley & we haven't had any problems there so that's good news. Maizi does really well in school & likes going most days - she occasionally complains about PE - sounds like me!! :)

I had some trouble finding a preschool for Soakai, but we were able to find one in September and we love it. Soakai's teachers are Teacher Brandy & Teacher Shelley. He goes on Mondays & Wednesdays for 2 1/2 hours at Shelley's house. She has a whole set-up in her basement & they do the cutest things with the kids. He also did great on his first day - walked right in, started playing with the toys & didn't even really care about saying bye to us. I was so relieved! His teachers have most recently told me that he's really started opening up & talking to them & the other kids. I was shocked when I heard that he didn't talk at school - that's all that kid does from the time he wakes up til he goes to sleep is TALK! :)

So the school year has been a success for us so far ~ hope we make it last for a few more months.

Prescott

Time for another attempt to update our blog....if I learned to do this more often I'd be better at remember the details. :/ Anyway, back in August Sione had an event in Prescott so we got to go with him & to make it even better we got to meet up with my family! Zachary, Teresa & my mom met us there - so did Sage & Dana. I was pretty homesick at this time so this was a much needed visit with some of my family. :) I am so mad now that I'm looking back at my pictures...WHY didn't I take more pictures??? While Sione was busy one of the days we drove to Jerome to check it out. It's a pretty cool little town with some neat stores, but I am warning you the drive up is TERRIBLE. It's this teeny, tiny, narrow, windy road up a mountain & we almost got hit head-on so, be careful. On our way back we saw all these antelope so we stopped to watch them for a bit. We had a lot of fun & the kids were so excited to see everyone again - probably too excited since we got a call from the front desk of our hotel asking us to please keep our kids quiet. SORRY!! :)

On our way home to St. George we stopped in this little town called Seligman. It was a fun, cute little place that has lots of old history as part of Route 66. There was this really cool little restaurant - they had a lot of old stuff to look at & old cars. It reminded me of stuff my dad would love.

St. George Temple

My mom came to visit us when we first got here. Cory & Jeri were going to a wedding in Salt Lake so they dropped her off on the way & picked up a couple days later on their way home. We LOVED having her here & unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of her for proof....I wonder why??? ;) One of our little stops while she was here was the temple. Isn't it pretty?! My pictures obviously don't do it justice. You can see it in the distance when you first drive in & it's really cool to see at night.

The Little Mermaid

The first weekend we were here in St. George we were able to take the kids to go see The Little Mermaid. They have this really cool outdoor stage/amphitheater called Tuacahn. It's so pretty & the backdrop is red mountains. Many of you may know Maizi is pretty much obsessed with Ariel so she was in heaven. It was a really cool production with the water & everything. Maizi was singing along to every song & when they sang a couple that weren't from the movie she very loudly said "Hey, this isn't the way it goes!" :) It was a little warm on this night, but the kids had a really good time & we did too. After the show we got to meet the actors - we've seen "Ariel" around a couple other places & she's been so nice to let the kids just sit & talk with her...Soakai mostly just stares at her. :)

Prince Eric & Ariel

Ursula

Flounder