Timp Cave

I have been such a blog slacker! We've finally settled into our new place and it's starting to feel like home. We had to purchase a new camera since Leka broke our old one. There has been so much to blog about but again I've been a slacker. I will write about our recent Maile activity to Timp Cave. Rex and Misty planned it and invited us all to go. I didn't really know what to expect but all I heard was it's easier then hiking the Y. So I was all in. Here's a picture of the kids before the hike. You hike a mile and a half up the Mountain and then they give you the tour of the cave. Tiera's 1st grade teacher was our guide and she was hilarious!
I dont know who said it was easier then the Y but all I have to say is......they lied! Nothing like a good hike to motivate you to get back to the gym. Gosh dang it I was huffing and puffing up and down the hill. I refuse to post the picture of Me, Misty and Abby. Sorry girls, you guys look good in it though.
Uncle Naki had to work and couldn't make it so Abby had all 6 girls. She's such an awesome Mom! I love her, she's amazing! What makes her so great is she doesn't even know how great she is but she's such a wonderful example to me. I would have definitely said I couldn't make it if Jr. was working. No doubt about that.
Ray and Leka hiked all the way up and were surprisingly pleasant "most" of the day. There were so many places to take pictures and the view was beautiful. That's why I took so many breaks ;-)
Our boys favorite part was being inside the cave. It's actually 3 different caves combined and they were all discovered at different times. The history on the caves was so interesting.
There were places we had to walk through that were as low as 3 feet and it was approximately 40 degree's in there. All the kids brought sweaters and their flash lights. I think with our family in the cave we brought the temperature up to at least 70 degrees. We're a hot blooded group. It felt so good in there Jr. wanted to take a nap.
Here's a group picture minus Abby and Ane. I love how the kids are holding their flash lights under their faces.
I was so proud of Grandpa and Grandma Maile for making the trip. It wasn't easy but they made it.
So usually the hike down is really fast and a lot easier. It was a little easier but overall this felt like a 10 mile hike but I think it was just over 3 miles. Our boys had so much fun with their cousins it's all they could talk about this weekend. Thanks Rex and Misty for planning such a fun activity and for all the snacks and drinks, you guys are the best. I cant wait till our family camp out next month! We were so pooped afterwords but it was worth it. If you havent been to Timp Cave I highly recommend it.

Our New/Old home

We are currently renovating our new home in Orem. It's approximately 40 to 45 years old. It use to be a farm house and would look over hundreds of fruit orchards. We definately have the best view in Orem. It's on top of a hill and over looks Utah Lake. Jr. has big plans for this house. He's gone crazy with painting (he chose Fire orange for our bedroom). I'm not choosey about things which is weird b/c most women are. So basically Jr. has chosen all the paint, carpet, baseboards, etc. I trust him. He wanted the boys bedroom sponged green b/c he loved how Kristina and Riley's house looks. In thier play room he called in Uncle Rex to draw a tree. It's so sweet. Uncle Grady will be drawing a wall sized Y for BYU in the boys play room also. Again all Jr.s ideas.

We are installing new carpet this coming Monday. We are still sleeping at Jr.s parents house until it's ready for us to move in which should be the end of next week. We have so much work to do this is a really old home but it's been fun so far. Oh and our property has 30 fruit trees on it with 9 to 10 different kinds of fruit. Come and grab some cherries, apples, apricots, grapes ect. if you need some. There's enough for our whole neighborhood. Our cute cousins the Bradley's came to grab some this week and as K.J. would pick them Ngaire would eat them. LOL That's our Ngaire girl.

Happy Fathers Day Jr.

I have the sweetest husband in the whole world!!! He is everything to me. I do not feel myself when we are apart. He completes me in every way. Happy Fathers Day babe, thank you for being such a great Father and worhty Priesthood holder to your children and to me! You are the best!

Booooooooo!

I hate moving!!!! When will the madness end??? 

Wordless Wednesday

Race for the cure

Last Saturday our little family got to participate in a 5k to find a cure for Breast Cancer. My sister in law Celina invited us. Her Mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer this year. We love Ievise! She is a pillar of strength and hope to all of us especially to those with Cancer. Our team name was "Got Susu" it means got milk/breast in Samoan.

Ray and Leka were not very happy about being woken up at 5:30a.m. on a Saturday. But when they saw their cousins there they quickly changed their attitudes. We had a blast. It was a great way spend a Saturday morning!

New Orleans, LA

2 weeks ago Jr. and I went to New Orleans. We went for a conference my job was having. Kristina and Riley (Kristina's my boss) went also so it made our trip pretty sweet. Here we are visiting a memorial made out of aluminum for Hurricane Katrina. It is so creative.

New Orleans I realized very quickly is not my cup of tea. I would probably never chose to live there. It was a great experience to have though. The people the food the atmosphere was so different to what I'm used to. I'm pretty sheltered. Walking around Bourbon Street I kept thinking in my head "we're not in Utah anymore". We flew in Tuesday night and the city was a ghost town. It had a creepy eerie feeling about it. It was pretty empty up until the Friday night.

Kristina and I were busy from 8a.m. to 4p.m. everyday learning new things about our dialer system we use at work. The training was awesome. The conference was very well put together and very organized. 

Jr. and Riley had a bunch of free time while we were at the conference to see the city and eat. Which is what they did majority of the time we were there....EAT!They ate at the Harrah's buffet for lunch everyday. They raved about it all week. Oh they also got to take naps everyday.

At night we'd all go to dinner together. It was awesome. There was a restaurant there that served frog legs and we left shortly after we read over the menu. Everything in New Orleans is so expensive. I'm not sure what prices were like before Hurricane Katrina but some of prices were ridiculous.

We walked all over the city. Honestly we probably put in 10 miles everyday. We all had blisters on our feet because of all the walking. It was good for us though because of all the eating we were doing. The last day we were there we wanted to get out of the city and drive around so we rented a car for the day. We decided to go to Alabama. On our way there we stopped in Mississippi and we loved it there so much we never made it to Alabama. We found awesome outlet stores and a beach. Long Beach is what it was called. The boys even got to do a little surfing. lol One of my favorite things about the south is white sand beaches. 

Jr. and I do not care for California beaches. The sand is so pebbley it feels like tiny rocks not like sand. It made me wish I was in Florida.

We got back into New Orleans around 10p.m. and the party just got started on Bourbon street. No more creepy ghost town. We had a bad experience the night before on that street so we opted to just drive around it instead on walking it. It was basically the same thing because we had to drive so slow because of all people. What can I say......the people were insane. We saw both male and females urinating on the street, we saw topless girls, intoxicated people stumbling around everywhere and we saw a lot of young kids. People actually bring their children around all this madness. We figured the parents that brought their children to Bourbon street were probably brought by their parents when they were young so it wasn't anything shocking to them. 

Anyways, overall it was a great trip. I do feel thankful to live in Utah. I feel more comfortable living around people that for the most part have the same values and beliefs as I do. But it was also great to see what different parts of the U.S. are like.