the low down

It's crazy how so many events have gone by and EVERY TIME I feel like blog-sharin' but come home too late or too tired, and then still recovering the morning after but then the morning-after-responsibilities remind me I gotta hurry up and run to class then work all day. And then when you know it, another exciting blog worthy event pops up and I'm BACK to putting it off. (Like now I'm tired) However, I'm pretty sure that the majority of my blog subscribers are also friends with me on Facebook, so you've seen my status updates (My most recent being I busted some random weirdo smoking & about to pee in my parent's front yard) and mobile uploads of Mahie. Well, as of right NOW, here's the low down:

Today we celebrated Mahie's first Easter Sunday, and as our family tradition, she woke up to a new pair of church clothes. I only knew of one other friend (Renny) who's family also practiced this growing up. I'm surprised she didn't scratch at her tights. She looked like a fluffy little polka-dot cupcake. As you can see above, eggs didn't interest her at all. With all the craziness we didn't get her an Easter basket, she wouldn't have appreciated anyways I guess, but Grandma got her a new toy and we let her munch on a mini kitkat.

We also celebrated my Mom's birthday. Hands down to Safeway bakery for making yummy moist cakes, pretty impressed. She also got a new bike for her morning exercise. She was totally surprised and excited when we sang to her after dinner. It was nice relaxing with my whole family home and laughing at Mahie pulling everything off the shelves. Happy 52 Mom!! (Her birthday was actually April 3rd)

Earlier in the week, before all the rain and clouds, Kiana was off from the airlines so we hit the beach. Mahie is darker than the both of us, and freaked us out by darting straight to the water. Not afraid at all! I'm enjoying the fact that she is becoming more interactive. I asked her to help me dig a hole and showed her what to do, and she understood and helped clear the sand. She is such a smart girl. Too smart at times that we can't trick her anymore with certain things. And can I just say it's been hard lately trying to enjoy my OWN plate of food, because she'll drop whatever she's doing to get a piece of what you got. lol. Mahie loves to eat. I say she's like her father because she'll keep eating if there's food in front of her.

 Friday morning I took Mahie to say "to fa soifua" to my FOURTH and LAST semester of Gagana Samoa. I can't believe I made it to the highest level (with TONS of studying and help). First semester: Interested, but didn't take it seriously. Second semester: slightly dreaded but sat myself down and fully studied/embraced the language and culture. Third semester: Half confident, half dreading class, glad there's only one more semester. Fourth semester: Walk in my first day totally unprepared for fluent Samoan, with a different teacher, smaller class of students FROM SAMOA. I was so nervous, I forgot how to introduce myself in Samoan. Well, it being my last and required class for graduation, I told James I was gonna push myself, and I did. Perfect attendance for a 7:30am class. Since I took tons of notes in class and studied my brains out for tests, I can brag and say I usually scored the highest on all the tests. I learned my Mother-in-law's entire fa'alupega for her village Vailoa in Aleipata....went a day early than everyone else's speeches and was the ONLY one who scored perfect in memorization, pronunciation, and knowledge of what I was saying. Shabooya!! All in all, I learned alot, but THANK GOODNESS I'm pau. FYI I'm proud to be Hawaiian :) He Hawaii au mau a mau!!!!

That Friday night James and I went to my Graduation dinner for ICS graduates. My hair was totally not the business since it was raining hard outside. A total waste of hot rollers. Hmmm....ICS needs to step up their game, lol. I could've gone without attending, seriously. As soon as we got there, we wanted to leave. I should've been in charge of planning that dinner. As always though, it's the thought that counts right!

We've been passing out invites for Mahie's 1st birthday, booking things to entertain the kiddies, gathering decorations, etc. I'm sad that some of my close friends won't be there to enjoy it. Hopefully it will be fun, lol. I'm still waiting for school to GET OUT OF THE WAY and then I'll fully wrap my head around the party.

And school....will be officially done this Saturday morning at graduation. We have a busy week of filing out important school, mail, health insurance, change of address, alumni papers. Deciding what to sell, throw and pack. Upcoming deadlines, appointments, papers. Our house is a cluttered mess. It's basically crunch time, but I'll save the crunching for tomorrow morning. Our move isn't that stressful since it's a temporary stay at my parents. I feel sorry for our TVA neighbors who have to get rid of everything and move to the mainland. I'll miss the friends we made here.

A reminder in our lives:

"As I think about your schedules and the pressures you face at this time in your lives, I can understand why scripture study can so easily be neglected. You have many demands pulling at you. In some cases, just maintaining your social life is a full-time occupation. But I plead with you to make time for immersing yourselves in the scriptures. Couple scripture study with your prayers. Half an hour each morning privately studying, pondering, and communicating with your Heavenly Father can make an amazing difference in your lives. It will give increased success in your daily activities. It will bring increased alertness to your minds. It will give you comfort and rock-steady assurance when the storms of life descend upon you." -Elder Ballard


Good night Easter bunny.