Journal post

This post is mainly for the purpose of my journal so feel free to skip right over this one:)
Lately I have been reading some really good books that have me thinking a lot. I have laughed, cried, and felt angry at times. They have really made me look at my life and my family and where I am at right now. I also have a very close friend that I admire so much that inspires me often. Sometimes I feel like I am not good enough. I feel like I need to be doing so much more. Then I look at my adorable children and know that I need to be doing much more. I am responsible for these young kids. I am responsible for teaching them what is right and wrong. I am responsible for teaching my son how important it is to open a door for somebody and teaching my girls how to accept a compliment without letting it get to their heads or teaching them how to wash dishes and laundry and making their beds. I am responsible to teach them answers to tough questions. I am responsible for teaching them about the gospel. When I first met Tevita I thought I would never be good enough for him. He was so strong in the gospel. He would come to our house and read scriptures and have prayer with us. He would call me from Alaska and talk for hours on end. He taught me so much about the gospel and he had the strongest testimony. When he asked me to marry him I was in shock. I didn't know what to say. When I finally said yes I couldn't believe that I was going to marry this man! Over the last 11 years I have learned so much from him. I still look at him and wonder how I was so lucky to get him. There are times even now that I feel like he deserves somebody so much better than me. He works hard for our family. Our kids have grown up with the kids at our job. If Tevita can't make it to something that our kids are doing (basketball, wrestling, baseball, etc) then he makes it a point to do an activity at work so he can be there. While I have been reading these books, they have pointed out how life is so short and how we shouldn't take things for granted. They have made me miss my mom. They have made me look at where I am today and ask myself, "if I were to die tomorrow would I be happy with how things are now?" The answer is no. I haven't taught my kids all that I want to. I haven't been the best wife for Tevita. I haven't been the best sister to Jaquel and Justin, and I haven't been the best daughter to my dad. Have I prepared my family as much as I can? No. Is there more that I can do? Yes. Have I read the Book of Mormon as much as I should? No. Have I done enough good? No. All these things are going around in my head and I don't know where to start. So, I sat down and wrote this blog in hopes to try to get some things out. I want to do better. I want to teach my kids all that I can. I want to be the best wife ever. I want to study the scriptures more and I want to be more Christ Like. Satan is going to try to stand in the way and it is up to me to fight him. More than anything I want a journal for my kids to read when I die. I want them to know how much I love their dad. He is my best friend. I want them to know how much I love them and would do anything in the world for them. I want them to know that life is not easy and all we can do is our best, but we have to give it 110%. I want them to know that we have to try our hardest at everything we do. I want them to look at their dad and I and know that we love each other deeply. I want them to know that we can make it through anything if we stay close to our family. I want them to always stay close to the Church and never stray. I want them to know that they can talk to Tevita and I about anything. I want to take more time thanking people for the good and not dwelling on the past and negative. Basically what I am trying to say is that I need to work on being a more positive person and be more Christ Like. We never know when are lives are going to come to an end. We never know if today is our last so my goal is to live as though each day is my last. I hope this will help me become a better person, wife, mom, sister, and daughter. I love that song "If I only had today" and that is my motto for this year. I love you Vita and kids, without you I don't know where I would be.

Stake Conference

Today was stake conference. All of our family got to sing I Am A Child of God in Tongan. It sounded really nice and I always love to hear the kids sing! On the way there Lia was talking to grandma about something and she told grandma, maybe we will get to eat something good. Then she said, "Mom, do they serve us steaks at stake conference?" I laughed and explained to her that no, we wouldn't be getting any steaks today! Then when we got home we were talking about the giving heart and I told the kids it wasn't fair that they ate all the brownies that I made for their dad. Braxton went on to tell me, "but mom, you have to understand something. When you give of yourself, someone else is always blessed." I said , "what?" and he said, "well, you gave the giving heart to dad and made him brownies and that was so nice of you and because of that we are blessed and were able to eat the brownies!" What a little smartie! I told him that it was his dad that should have been blessed then because the brownies were for him but he insisted that it was the kids that were blessed! Anyways, I wrote down some really good points from conference today but I had Tevita put the paper in his pocket and I forgot to bring it to work with me so I will post them later. I just didn't want to forget about those cute little conversations today!

Home alone

Well we started a new little thing in our family called the giving heart. Whoever receives the heart then has to do something nice for somebody else. Well, I made Tevita some hamburgers, brownies, chips, and soda(Ok, I bought the chips and soda)and the kids and I headed to find him. We found out that he took the hike and was behind the cemetary. I asked one of the workers if he thought my car would make it and he said, "yes no problem." So off to the hills we went and we went so far and then I didn't feel comfortable anymore so I started to back down the hill. I found a little spot where I thought I could turn around and of course I got stuck. I called work and had the guy that told me I could make it come and help us. We kept hoping that Tevita wouldn't find us because how embarrassing would that be. Here we were trying to give the giving heart and do a good deed and ended up needing help ourselves. So we got unstuck and backed down the rest of the way. When we got here we found Fine walking and the kids wanted to go with him so Brax, Lia, and I came home and made some more brownies. Now all the kids are gone and Fine and Lita are also gone. They all went for a walk and ended up over to Pou's house so here I am home alone. I should be getting ready for work but I had to post this little incident and also put a picture of my in-laws on here. I know their daughter is missing them so much so here is a picture for her to see. Also, one of MJ because I know she is missing her little princess.

Sledding

I know these pictures are late but I still need to post them. Tonight I don't have to work so I am trying to get caught up on some stuff. My brother and Dad invited us to go sledding one Saturday. It was quite a shock because for some reason I had that Saturday off. That never happens but we took advantage of it! We started at the regular tubing hill that everybody goes to but it got too crowded. We ended up going to a different town and had a blast. We had some of our cousins with us and it was so nice for Karl to load all the kids up on the four wheeler and take them back to the top of the hill. There was a minor injury on Lia and Karl had a four wheeler mishap but other than that everything was great! I was so surprised that Mehi wanted to go but she won the record for going the farthest! Thanks Justin and Dad for the day!

Sunday

Today was ward conference. I know that Satan was really working on me because as the kids were getting ready for church I told them not to bother because I wasn't going to take them. Tevita told me that I should make the right decision and take them (he had to work) so I ended up going. I struggled with the kids...they didn't want to sit quietly, they didn't want to hold still, etc.etc. I told myself that I was going to have them go one by one out to the hallway so I could just take them all home. Then I decided I could either let Satan win or ask Heavenly Father for help. I ended up staying through the whole meeting and I am sure thankful I did. The song that my friend sang was so beautiful and the Spirit was so strong. During her song my kids just seemed to feel it and were good the rest of the meeting. I always love to hear President Monson(stake president) speak. He was my seminary teacher my senior year and I loved that man! He has such a special spirit and just has a way of making you feel good. He talked about the storm that this world is going through. He told us that if we would do four things with our families we would be able to weather the storm. The first thing was Family Home Evening. He said that it all starts with the family and how can we not do this. He said that even if it is not a structured thing that just being together with the family is how we are going to keep them all close. The second thing was family scripture study. He mentioned not just reading them, but also taking notes and discussing them with our families. The third thing was family prayer. He said that he can't imagine how parents could send their children out into the storm without asking Heavenly Father to be a part of their day. When he said that it really made me think. When our kids walk out the door every morning we are not there to protect them. What better person to take care of them than Heavenly Father? The fourth thing is to keep Christ the center of our lives. As long as He is first and foremost in our lives then we will reap the blessings. I loved President Monson's talk. I didn't want it to end. He really made me think and I even asked the Primary President why Sacrament went by so fast. We both felt like it ended so quickly because we were enjoying it so much. I am so thankful that I didn't let Satan win. I truly feel blessed. Without this gospel I don't know where I would be. I am so grateful for the husband I have. I am so grateful that I was able to marry him in the temple for time and all eternity. I am so thankful for him keeping us close to the church and for leading our family. I am so thankful for our children. What a wonderful blessing they are to us. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to attend church every Sunday and listen to such beautiful talks. I am so thankful for my friends and family that without them I wouldn't make it. I am so thankful to be a part of the true church and to be able to follow a Prophet. I am so thankful for the knowledge that I will be with my beautiful family for all time and eternity. I know this is a long post and I might have bored some of you but in times like this I really need to get my thoughts down. I love this church and I love being able to attend the temple. I love Tevita and my kids more than anything in this world. Thanks to them for putting up with me!

Heart full of joy

I tried to post a picture but there is something wrong with my computer (again) so I guess I will just post my thoughts. The beginning of this year Tevita and I sat down with our kids and talked about our goals for this coming year. I wrote them down in my journal for us and had each one of the kids write what they wanted for this year. It was really nice listening to the kids and help them with their goals. We made some really good spiritual goals and I am looking so forward to accomplishing them. Today Tevita and I went to the temple. We left this morning at 7:30am to get there. It was such a good feeling, getting up and going there. I left the temple with a heart full of joy. Both Tevita and I just sat there and didn't want to leave. We have so much to be grateful for. As we were walking I told him about what my friend Heather told me about the people of Haiti saving money for years in order to go to a temple once. Then Tevita told me about how the people of Tonga were so blessed when they got their temple. He said that people used to sale everything they had so they could go to New Zealand and get sealed and then come back and that was it because they had already sold everything they owned. What a blessing it is for us to be able to go to the temple so close. I love going there and always feel like I can take on the world after I have been. So look out world...here I come!:)

Primary

So today was Mehi's first day at primary. She is now a sunbeam! It is hard to believe that our baby is already a sunbeam! She was so excited getting ready for church this morning. I thought she would be so excited to go to her new class. She had Lia walk her to her class and by the time I made it into primary there was Lia sitting in Mehi's class. I told Lia to go to her own class and then Mehi started crying. I went to get Tevita because I had so much to do today that I couldn't take good care of Mehi. So, Tevita came and told Mehi to go to class. Mehi cried and said "Only if Lia can come to class with me." So Tevita let Lia take her to class and told her only this week. When the classes started Lia got bored because Mehi was being so good so Lia decided to go to her own class. Lia is such a great big sister to Mehi and I am so proud of her for helping her on her first day of primary!:) On a side note...I think I got voted off the "favorite island"! I used to be the only person Mehi cried for and now she is crying for Lia or Vita. What happened??? I thought I was the favorite but I guess not:( I'm happy for these two that she is liking them so much now but I don't think I was ready for this all at the same time!!! I can't believe how fast time goes by!