Photo Shoot

Our friends got some photos taken of their family and they were so nice! I wanted to get some of Finau to frame and have so we could send them to Tonga. We finally had them taken last Friday. It was so much fun...until the security came to kick us out! We were done anyway but it was a lot of fun. Finau loves being around people and he loved smiling for the camera. LeeYen took some great photos for us. It was really good even though Filipo was clashing with Finau and then he got really restless when we wanted to take some of the two of them wearing their taovala's. As soon as I get the rest of the pictures I'll post them up!

Spring Break Continued

Monday April 13

We were all kind of lazy and slept and worked around the house. It wasn't too cold and so Filipo worked with dad outside on the pond. Dad still hadn't finished it but it had been cold so he hadn't really had a chance and then they found a hole in it so it took longer than they expected. While Filipo & Dad worked outside Finau spent the day inside sleeping with grandma.


Filipo likes this one...

When mum & dad left Tonga Filipo's family gave them
mats, tapa, and other gifts. They hung one of the tapa mat up in
the family room and this is the only pic I got of it when we were home.
I LOVE IT [ I made them hang it up for our wedding reception party
HOURS BEFORE it started,
that's how much I love it ;) ]

working hard obviously

Finau spent most of the trip lounging with grandma
and SLEEPING

Tuesday April 14

I love going to the temple. It is such a blessing to be living in Laie and having the temple so close so I was so bummed when it closed for renovations. I would love to go to Kona but with no money it's difficult. The favorite part for me going home was being able to go to the temple but alas it was not going to happen. I was sure I had brought my recommend with me but I didn't so Filipo went by himself. I was really sad about not going but mum bought me clothes and we just had a good day spending time with just us and Finau. We did take some photos when we went to pick up Finau so I guess that made up for it. Afterwards we spent the day shopping with Filipo & picked dad up from work and went out to eat. It was a pretty good day.

Outside the Washington, D.C. Temple

Inside the Visitor's Center

Temipale

Inside with the Statue of Christ

Me & my little man
outside the D.C. Temple

Wednesday April 15

Filipo was knocked out and tired from the day before so mum and I spent all day shopping. I really wanted some nice dresses & skirts to take back with me. We found some along with a few goods for Finau. Filipo really missed out because they had some good guys clothes. We spent the afternoon watching movies and not doing much of anything else. That night we were all going to go to the movies but Finau wasn't really in the mood so Filipo and I went to watch "Race to witch mountain" with The Rock by ourselves. Before we watched the movie we went shopping for Filipo to try and use up all the giftcards we have from our wedding. It was nice to have some time away by ourselves, it definitely reminded me of last summer and living over here.

Thursday April 16

It was such a gorgeous day today! Mum and I woke up early while the guys all decided to get some sleep. While they slept we went out to do some more shopping :) and look for some things for Filipo Leka & Kalina's baby girl. I found all these awesome Disney movies but Filipo didn't want them so I left them there. I knew he would want them but it taught him a lesson because when we went back they were gone SURPRISE SURPRISE!! not really....

The whole family working hard all day

Finau was so happy to play with grandpa

Saipa'ia Boys

Finau & Lipo

A shot of the house and Finau with grandma

Filipo & dad working on the rock wall

Finau & mum on the porch swing
He loved it

When I woke up this is what I saw on the couch
Finau knocked out and chillin

Anyway when we came home the boys were outside working in the yard. They dragged Finau's bed outside so he could watch them work. He wasn't really happy about it or maybe it was because the sun was so dang hot. Mum spent time swinging with him on the porch while I took some photos. I've really come to love and appreciate Virginia so much more since I've been away from home. When I was there I didn't love the weather or living in the middle of nowhere and even church was rough when we moved but I am so grateful for it now. I miss the trees in the fall when the leaves all change colors and fall, the snowstorms/thunderstorms, the sunshine and the trees and flowers! I miss building bobsled runs in our driveway when it was way steep and sledding down after getting snowed in for two weeks. I miss going on trips to the mountains and being so close to family. I miss living in a house filled with windows and light and having a piano to play whenever I wanted. I miss having a clean bathroom and a house without tons of cockroaches/rats/ants/spiders/geckos/bed bugs and all the other nasty biting creatures that we have here in Hawaii. I miss the COLD! and the AIR CONDITIONING!! I miss piling on 10 blankets in the winter while having my ceiling fan go FULL BLAST ALL NIGHT! LOL...I miss turning on my ceiling fan and vacuuming and having all the photos on my magnetic wall fall down hahaha....I just miss it so much now and We were so lucky we were able to go back.

Friday April 17

We were planning on going around D.C. on Monday but it was so rainy we decided it wouldn't be fun to walk around and take pictures. We decided we would take pictures and walk around the sites on Friday. I grew up here so I've been to the mall tons and tons and tons. When we lived in Fairfax & Falls Church we use to come into D.C. EVERY WEEKEND. I loved going to all the different places. I can't even imagine what it would have been like if we had a digital camera then...Filipo mostly wanted to come so we could take photos of Finau since we came a lot last summer when we were here. We started off at the national cathedral. I like coming here to see all the stain glass windows which we learned are incorrectly labeled as stained glass but it's acutally hand blown glass...umm yeah...After going on the tour for that we ate some mexican food at the "best mexican restaurant in D.C." or so the Washington Post and all these food magazines say. Then we headed over to the mall. After only walking from FBI building where we parked to Einstein to Lincoln everyone else didn't have any steam so we stopped at the washington monument and waited while dad got the car. It was really funny because some tourists parked their car in a no parking zone and everyone kept having to get over but everyone once in a while someone didn't realize it was a parked car so they waited for five minutes honking and yelling until they finally realized no one was in the car!! LOL...

SATURDAY April 18
My dad decided we needed to have a party because so many people had wanted to see Finau while we were home. Saturday morning Filipo and I went to return some things and buy some things. When we got home we spent the day cleaning and moving the piano and furniture. The party was suppose to start at 4 but NO ONE CAME! haha...I know it's not really funny but it kidn of was. Then finally people started coming and we had a nice get together with everyone. It was so nice to see all of the people that I grew up around, our family friends. They LOVED Finau especially little baby Adam. Overall the visit was great but it was way too short! I can't wait until we can go back again.

As soon as I get home I'll post the pictures we took from the last two days but I figured I should get this post up for mom and dad so they can see some photos. Thanks for letting us come and visit, we had a blast! We miss you guys.

Happy Easter

[In his new EASTER outfit]

I got up early and everyone was still asleep. I got ready for church and then just waited for everyone else to get up. Mum got up and we cooked breakfast for everyone. We had waffles with homemade strawberry jam, fruit salad, and sausage/bacon Mmm!! The sister missionaries live in our basement apartment so they came up and joined us. It was such good food! Mum also made everyone easter baskets! She gave Filipo a spider man one that is actually for Finau to use at Halloween that came with a spider man outfit!

[All of his goodies for easter.
He thought the pictures in the
big book were him
and so he saw the faces
and laughed and laughed, too cute!]

After everyone was ready we went to church. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go to our home ward or our old ward but I ended up staying for all of our home ward. It was so taeoli so I wish I had gone to the other ward. Finau and I did have fun in Mum's class. I forgot how childish and dumb wanna-be cool highschoolers act, it was pretty entertaining.

[With Uncle Scott, the youngest of my dad's brothers]


After church Grandma Weber and Uncle Scott came up from Chester to have dinner with us. Aunt Heidi, her boys Robbie & Spence, and her husband Doug came over too. That meal was really good too especially all those yum cheesecake desserts!! It was a great easter and good to have so much family around especially that Grandma was able to see one of her great-grandchildren finally. He was almost as big as her but she loved holding him and spending time with Finau.

[Grandma Weber holding one of her great-grand sons
for the first time]]

Grandma with her boys

Cousin Spence holding Finau

Aloha 'Oe Hawaii!!

Filipo & I finished our finals and packed our bags and we were off. The flight was so packed and they moved our seats about four times which kind of made me mad because I picked the ones I did so that we would be in the two seat by the window but they said their excuse for moving us was "There's so many infants on our flight we're having trouble placing them." Okay so someone else's bad planning means that I have to be uncomfortable?? Thank goodness Finau was really good though and his first flight was great. Everyone was asking us if he was always so good and they said it must be a Hawaii baby thing.

[stuck in ATL]

So we got to Atlanta after a VERY long flight. There were AT LEAST FOUR flights to DCA before ours through Delta. So since I didn't want to wait for five hours I went up and asked if we could get on the next flight flying out. The guy looks us up and says "The FAA does not let anyone voluntarily leave their baggage" So we couldn't. I really wanted to say "Can I get your badge number and name because this has happened to me three other times. I have a six month old baby and I don't want to wait for five hours. If my luggage is already in DC when we get there I'm filing a complaint and report against you and I hope you get FIRED!" (Of Course it was there when we arrived)


So I asked the next two gate employees on the next two flights and they said similar things. At that point I was too tired and didn't care. We finally got on our original flight and made it to VA. Mum & Dad bought Finau this awesome car seat and we went home after a long day(s). They had so many toys and things for Finau and it was so good to sleep in a nice bed and shower in a shower that is clean and not all yucky and swarming with ants and cockroaches. I love being home!! It was also nice because mum and dad kept Finau in their room and he slept right through the night, he loves the cold!



*Isn't Finau's chair that mum got awesome. He lived in that thing all afternoon & it's his new favorite thing!

Kickin it in Haleiwa

I had a group meeting and spent five hours basically doing NOTHING. When I came home I decided Finau and I were gonna get away to eat out, just the two of us. Of course Filipo was jealous and wanted to come so we all hopped in the car and started driving to Haleiwa. It was a good idea because we were so stressed with all of the things we needed to get done and it was nice to get to spend some time together and just relax and get out of Laie.



We drove thru Haleiwa looking at all the different restaurants deciding where to eat. I grew up with my parents cooking all different kinds of foods especially thai food but I hated it! So it was pretty funny to me that I told Filipo we should eat at Haleiwa Eats (Thai Food). I heard everyone talk about it so we finally settled on eating there.




Filipo wanted to eat outside so we were right there in the mix of everything. I ordered Onion & Potato curry for Filipo and I got cashew chicken. If we go back again I am definitely getting what Filipo ordered, it was really good. We met up with Maafu's family and Tio and Suli. After that we came home.




Filipo went to work but Finau had a night out with the girls. We went with 'Isa and Keti to Mililani. We ate out, went shopping, and watched some of Duplicity. The girls had no idea what was going on so they left in the middle. It was pretty funny (them not the movie). We didn't finish so who knows if it's a good movie or not?



Anyway less than a week to Virginia!!!!!

SUPERSTAR

Finau was the star of Night Show last night. He was so good and he didn't cry at all. Everyone thought Laisani was gonna drop him though since he's almost as big as her LOL...It was really good, well FINAU was really good!!

Half a year

It's so amazing to think that little Finau has been with us for six months. That's half of a year! Wow, time is going by so fast. Sometimes I'm just so tired and I try so hard to get Finau to sleep. I'll feed him or put a movie on or rock him to sleep and then I look back and think how I'm letting the time slip by me and I'm gonna look back and wish I had spent more time playing with him. Then it makes me sad especially when I realize its been SIX MONTHS and it feels like just yesterday when we were finally taking him home from the hospital. He was so tiny and tall and such a cute bubba. Now he's getting taller and bigger and growing so much. I love him heaps. It's the best feeling being a mum and hoping that my son sees me as a good example for him like my mum was for me. I hope he knows how much we adore him and especially Filipo. He spends all his time playing with him and they laugh and laugh for hours. It's been a great six months and we're looking forward to all the great stuff he has in store for him.