Is it really here already???

It's that time of year again. The time that I wait for all year long. Then just as soon as it approaches, I wish I had another month or two to prepare. It's "The Holidays" for 2010.

I have a true passion for baking and cooking. I absolutely LOVE the idea of taking a few things that look like this -

And turning them into something that looks like this -

Yes, I'm the dork who takes pics of the food I made. Heck, I put all that effort into it and it only lasts a couple hours!


All of the baking that comes with this season is one of the things that I look forward to. It ranks pretty high on my "What I love most about the holidays" list. While I enjoy doing it all year round, there's something about the holidays that makes it extra special. People don't think twice about being given special treats. I'm a big fan of random acts of service. This season is the ONLY TIME that those acts aren't questioned by the person on the receiving end. In short, I.LOVE.IT.

This year I'm doing something a little bit different. Instead of just selling my holiday pies (something I started doing last year after people told me that they felt bad about asking me to make them a pie or two) this year I'm helping my little brother Marky Bo and my cousin George with their mission prep. I'm going to be 100% honest, I'm sure they could get all of the necessities without the help of my pies. I also know that because of the choice they made to go on a mission, they are going to have to sacrifice a lot of the things they WANT. I think that they deserve to do what they want too! After all, they made the choice to give up two years of their life in service of the lord. What better reason than that to reward someone? So this years pie profits go to assist those two in making the best of the few months they have here at home. If that means splurging on the comfy church shoes instead of buying the pair on sale, so be it. Whatever the case, I'm happy to help!

Below you'll find the details for this years pie sale. I've posted them on FB but in an effort to chronicle the most accurate information on this online journal of mine, I'm going to post them here too.

Pies are $12 each and if you buy 3 I'll throw in one free banana or coconut cream!

Here is the list you can choose from-

Pumpkin
Turtle Banana Cream
Chocolate Cream
Pecan
Peach Cobbler
Caramel Apple

HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone! Wishing you all the very best always. Let us not forget the real reason for the season. We're off to a good start, let the good times roll!

"Real" Family

Last Thursday was my sissy Salome's 25th birthday! Talk about feeling old!!! Try being the oldest of a huge group of kids and having a YOUNGER sibling turn 25. Brutal. LOL But aside from that, I couldn't have been more happy to have a celebration in honor of one of my FAVORITE people. Salomaayy (I have a nickname for EVERYONE!) is my "older sissy", sissy. We're both the oldest child of our groups of siblings and because of that we share a bond in the desire to provide the BEST we can for our younger brothers and sisters.

After enjoying dinner with my sisters, I began to think about how truly amazing all of my siblings are. Each one of them has such a huge impact on what I do and how I choose to live my life. It is because of them that I strive to be a good example. Over the years I've come to know each one individually and because of that I love them each genuinely. Half/step/whole it doesn't mean a thing to me. The feeling may not be mutual, that doesn't even matter to me. I have 14 siblings total and I can honestly say that I hold them all in the same high regard. They are my brothers and sisters and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Yes, I am aware

"Do you really spend all of that time writing on your blog even though no one really reads it?"

I've been asked that a few times since I "unveiled" this blog. I like the idea of "writing" my own personal thoughts in a place that is easily accessible both now and in the future. What I like even more is the fact that I can treat this like my very own journal. Since a lot of Facebook "friends" are sometimes people I haven't seen in years, I like the fact that I can express myself freely without having to worry about "flooding" anyone's home page or offending people unintentionally because they don't understand my humor.

So the answer is YES! I'm 100% aware of the fact that I have just a few followers (Hi guys!). I can genuinely say that I have love and admiration for each and every one of them. You can't say that about all your FB friends can you? ;-)

Gratitude

I've blogged about my little brother Marky Bo and how he is going to leave for the MTC in February. What I haven't mentioned is that my cousin Osi Tupou'ata (George) is also going to leave for the MTC just a week after Mark. He has been called to serve in Brazil. For the past month Osi and Mark have been prepping together while also helping each other to stay on the "straight and narrow" until February. I imagine it's a pretty hard thing for a 19 or 20 year old guy to do. Thank goodness they have each other!

Since they've been riding around and taking care of their daily "errands" they also have the exciting task of dropping me off and picking me up from work every day. It's during these sometimes 40-50 minute rides that we have the chance to talk about all of the things they are dealing with while preparing to leave home for two years. Often times they are making mental lists of things they need to buy or do. Yesterday they decided to create a "bucket list" of things they want to experience before they leave home. When I can, I try to help them cross things off of those lists. Every once in a while it's a serious conversation about what is going to be expected of them and how much hard work it's going to be.

It was a Facebook wall post from Osi yesterday that made me start to think about gratitude. He left a simple message that spoke volumes to me. His post read -

"Just wanted to take time out of my busy schedule to thank you big mama for everything that you've been doing for me I really appreciate it and I know I don't say thank you all the time so here's me sayin' it for all the ones I missed! THANKS ANE! Love ya thanks again."

While it was SUPER nice, it wasn't the actual message that struck a cord with me. It was the fact that I really didn't think I had done anything extraordinary for him. After thinking about it I realized that not only was he thanking me for all the little random things that I did for him over the past couple of weeks, he was thanking me because he knows that I would do anything I can to help him. It's easy to thank someone for small things. Actually, It's easy to thank ANYONE for small things! But you've reached a new level of gratitude for someone when you feel as if you are deeply grateful for having him/her in your life for more than just the tangible things they have to offer.

There are so many people who I am truly grateful for. And like Osi mentioned, I don't thank any of them enough. I've learned that I need to make a more conscious effort to try and show my gratitude to those who I have been blessed to know and love. So THANK YOU Osi for your positive spirit and unwavering dedication to what you know is right. I couldn't be more grateful for the sacrifice from you and all of my brothers who are working in the mission field or preparing to go. I'm even more grateful for the example you are all setting for my boys and our younger cousins.

3 more months to knock out the Pre-mission bucket list!!! Let's see if y'all can make it happen! Just don't forget # 3. ;-)

Busy Sunday!

I should title this "Busy Weekend" instead! I had such a busy Halloween weekend! First off, you'll notice in the post before this one that Luvie and I attended the Youth Dance on Friday. What I didn't mention was that it was on the same night as our ward primary party. I was so torn and a little bummed when I realized I wouldn't be taking my kids to their party this year. It was the first time ever! Thank goodness for FAMILY cause my boys were able to go to the party with my mom while Luvie and I went to the dance. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked of my boys in their costumes this year, but I'm sure I'll track at least one down soon.

Saturday I spent the day prepping for Sunday's primary program, helping Salomay bake cupcakes for her team party, making leis, doing makeup for the YSA dance (luckily I only ended up doing Tate's after SIX people asked, whew!) and getting everything together for trick or treating. I knew Sunday was going to be hectic and I wanted to eliminate any unnecessary stress.

THANK GOODNESS Siua and I took care of getting things ready the night before. Sunday morning wasn't as hard as it could've been. We did manage to forget the boys ties but that was a minor detail and I just had to let it go. All of the boys did such a good job! Everyone said their little line perfectly with no tears or hesitation. Papa and Joshy sang their song together too! Joshy actually sang louder than I thought since he's my shy one. It couldn't have been any cuter. The entire primary did such an amazing job. Siua's brother Ivan came to watch along with my cousins Isi, Osi and Pesi. So nice of them!

Here are a ton of pictures from Sunday


















Right after church Mark took Osi to Oakland to turn in his acceptance letter for his LDS mission to Brazil. They drove right back to San Mateo afterward and came with Ini and Laura too. Pesi and I had been trying to take a nap since we got home from church but once they walked in we knew that wasn't gonna happen. LOL We ended up heading out to Target to look for ideas for Ini and Laura. They wanted to dress up but didn't want to buy anything too pricey. They found some cute boys underwear and decided they would be super heroes. It turned out kinda cute!

By the time we got back from Target it was time to get ready to head out. Nia's family came along with some of her siblings and they dressed as the whole Yo Gabba Gabba crew. She made all of the costumes herself and they were so cute!!! They were definitely a big hit while trick or treating. I didn't expect to be that DEEP but we had a good time! The kids always like going in a huge group with friends and family so it was perfect for them. We went to the Beresford area in San Mateo and it was cool! We probably should have gone earlier to avoid the huge crowd but it was still a ton of fun. I'd heard they went all out around there but I wasn't expecting the haunted houses to be so scary! I'm a wuss and always ilifia tevolo so I wasn't surprised at how scared I was. At one point Papa even told me that I made him more scared. Maybe I'll just wait for them to come out of the haunted houses next year. LOL

Young Women

In January of this year I was called to work as an advisor with the Young Women in our ward, Pen 2nd. It sounds silly but I didn't realize my calling would be the source of so much inspiration and eye opening, life changing experiences. It seems like a lot I know. But in order to try and understand, you should know that in the same month I was called to work with the YW, Siua and I also decided that THIS year was the year we would put serious effort into making decisions about church. I'm using the word "decisions" loosely because in all honesty I didn't have to decide. More than anything, I had to convince Siua to give "my" church a try. He grew up Methodist and his dad was a pastor. His mom is completely against any of her children being baptized into the Mormon church. Pretty hard stuff to conquer. But thankfully, he was willing to attend.

He didn't want to meet with Elders, he wasn't going to entertain the idea of being baptized. It was for him, simply going to church with his family. I was fine with that. I still am. I decided I wasn't going to push anything and I would let the spirit do all the work. So when I was asked about working with the youth, I had to approach him with the information before I could make a real decision. After a discussion about what it would entail, he agreed that it would be good for me and more importantly it would work for our little family.

Needless to say, I LOVE IT! It's a lot of work to try and keep a bunch of teenage girls focused on something that they sometimes find little interest in. It's even harder to try and find a balance between being too nice and too mean. LOL Luckily for me, we have an AMAZING group of girls. They are all so willing to learn and grow. Each one of them holds a desire to be GOOD women. They have helped me and my family in ways that they probably can't even imagine yet. I know in some way it's all meant to be, but I want to put my THANK YOU out there for everyone to see.

Here are a few snapshots from the Halloween dance that Luvie and I attended with the "pink ladies" on Friday. They were all so cute!!!

Miss Dorothy and I before heading out-

Now with Tangi (YW Pres.) and Peau (Counselor)

Now the lovely ladies

PINAKAMAKAPANGYARIHAN!!!

It's my first official "new word" in Tagalog and it means "Almighty". Crazy right? Why Tagalog? Cause Marky Bo is being sent to the Philippines!!!!! He's leaving on February 9Th, 2011 and he's excited. He did end up going out of the states AND it was one of the places I guessed. He opened his letter last night at the house with family including Gma, Aunty Nia, Osi (Sione) and Isi. Mo skyped in and Nia Si'i was on speaker phone. LOVED IT! I couldn't be more excited, proud, or happy for him!!!!