Luv Triangle Baby!

This was dinner date nite in Tonga. And it was wild! First, I didn't plan on going, but a friend of mine got asked and didn't want to go cause she didn't feel well. So, we went to ask him if it was ok that I go and by the time we found him, he said yes, but we are leaving in 15 minutes. So, I ran back home and showered as fast as one can with a bucket and was dressed by the family I am staying with in Fo'ui. I look pretty hot huh! When the car pulled up, the driver was a guy that I had dated the first time I was in Tonga and had never called on my future trips. Yeah, awkward.

Then my date hopped out, who I had never really met and opened the car door for me to get in. I was happy cause he was cute and a gentleman. Now you may ask, who else was in the car. Well, it was Mone lookin all hot in a burgondy shirt and yellow striped tie and olive green pants. We were both just sitting there looking each other over. My date just got back from his mission in Texas and didn't have a clue what was going on. The night picked up as we heard some speakers and then went and feasted on Lu, pig, chop suey, watermellon and ice cream at our individual little date tables. Then they had a dance. After the dance, Mone's date had to go home and a load of boys, me and two other gurls went to cruise town. Somehow I ended up in the back of the truck with Mone on one side and my date Akuila on the other side. I wish I had a picture of it!! It was fun to listen to the boys mock both of them and especially Mone. Oh, and on Sunday Akuila came for dinner and told me that he loved me. Yeah, after two days he loves me-classic!

You may ask, why this last foto, and all I can say is that this is part of the reason I luv Tonga, its so beautiful!!

TIM.... berrrrrrrrr.........

Mother's day was a little late this year as I finally got my last gift, the dropping of the middle pine tree in the back yard. Dad had a bad feeling about the whole thing and I was leary. Tim, however, threw the ladder up, scaled the tree, attached ropes, cut a notch in the direction he wanted the tree to fall, cut some of the back, and Voila, he and dad pulled it down right where he projected. sorry we doubted you Tim. Oh, I had a draft of Toshi's band competition but I couldn't get the video to post so I posted it without it, but it posted in order so you have to scroll back.

Work, Dances and fun in tonga but not in that order!

Hello from the friendly islands!!! these are my parents here in tonga. They are Sione and Vea. They are very nice and kind to me. I am excited to see everyone at christmas!!

The next one is the dance we had last weekend for the dedication of the church. These are some of the boys I live with and some from the village. They did a really good job with their dance. Check out some of the leaf skirts cause I made them!!!

last, This is a pic of me and my amazing white people co-workers and a few Tongans. We were invited to an event to dedicate a fountain. The catholic ministers gave lovely speeches and let two doves go. it was good

Family+Fun+Food=SWEETNESS

So we had the ultimate vacation last weekend, which included the 3 f's of awesomeness. First we drove down to Flagstaff to spend some time with Kim and Jeff. We met up with them and on saturday we drove over to the Grand Canyon.
I had my doubts about it, because I always just pictured a big hole, but it was AWESOME! The view was absolutely breathtaking and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day.Everything was perfect and we were so glad that Kimmy and Jeff could go with us. We spent the whole day there, but it really wasn't enough time, so we plan to head back after graduation and spend a few days hiking around and camping at the bottom. Clearly the timp hike prepared us well for the Grand Canyon because we totally kicked that hole's trash (even without cool camelbaks)!
Afterward Kim and Jeff treated us to a very nice meal (where I got carded for the first time! Awesome.) and then we hit the road for VEGAS! It was a long drive and we were both tired, but we did get to drive through the Hoover Dam, which was really cool and a bit creepy at night. Preston spent some time at a conference, but unfortunately neither of us was really in the mood for Vegas. We did, however, enjoy some delicious meals including In-n-Out, Chipotle, ihop, and YOGURTLAND! We discovered this amazing frozen yogurt place while we were shopping. It had 10 different flavors of frozen yogurt and a bunch of amazing toppings (ie. fresh fruit, cheesecake bites, granola, etc...) It was SO delicious, we had to go twice!
Then I dropped Preston off at the airport and I made the long, lonely trip back to provo :(
P.S. Isn't my husband totally the hottest???

Couch Adventures!

So when we decided to move out here I was too stingy and scared to drive a u-haul out, so we put most of our stuff in storage and drove out whatever would fit in our blazer. I thought that it wouldn't be a big deal to live without couches or a bed for 9 months (I can hear some of you chuckling now), but after a few weeks I realized that 9 months of sitting on the floor was not going to be pleasant. So, Lori and I began the hunt for some cheap couches. That's when Joseph told me about freecycle...and my life will never be the same :)
Within hours I had 6 couches offered to me for free! All we had to do was pick them up and get them into the apt. I ended up with this lovely gem and a loveseat that is dusty rose colored! What this picture doesn't show you is Lori and I trying a million different angles before getting to this point, or the screams from me as the couch came sliding down at me, or the moment when we thought that the couch would have to remain in the stairwell forever :)

I'm the BEST mom again!

Yeah, Remember when we went to the used furniture place and everyone loved that pink chair and said "you'll be the best mom if you let us get this chair"? Well, it has happened again. Thanks to the Rinvelts who put this chair out in their driveway with a "free" sign on it, we are the proud owners of a recliner that vibrates, heats, and has hidden storage spots and cup holders. Dad, of course, being the creature of habit, has not sat in it yet nor given it his seal of approval. It will take the place of the ugly but comfy green chair in the family room.

So we’ve had some pretty hilarious moments out here that definitely need highlighting. Our first episode came during Boscov’s store closing mega sale. In one of its last days open, we hit up the store amidst a ravenous “Black Friday” type chaos. With items strewn all over the place, no a/c, and patches of the store roped off w/ caution tape we flew around the store trying to find some final steals. Towards the end of our excursion, we hit up a gigantic table full of curtains, drapes, and tablecloths. Connie found one of the only shower curtains, but like most of the other items it didn’t have a price. So I took it over to get a price check only to find that it rung up at $0.00. There wasn’t another of its kind, so we decided to head to the checkout anyways. As the ladies rang up our items the curtain again came up at 0. One lady asked the other what to do, while the other said just to let it go. We ran out of the store high-fiving and jumping w/ joy over our latest bargins. When we got home we started opening up our super deals only to find that our awesome shower curtain wasn’t so awesome. From the picture you might be wondering what happened to the other half. Turns out it was a “demo” curtain used to showcase the full shower curtains. We keep it up though since it looks normal when the inside curtain is pulled back.

Next up on our hilarious moments came last week w/ the arrival of our new couches. One of our neighbors bought new couches and needed to get rid of their old ones. Who else would they turn to with an offer of “free” couches. So the only thing left to do was to get rid of our old nasty couch. Inheriting the independence gene from Dad, I didn’t want to bother anyone to help transport our couch to Goodwill so attempted to do it alone. Connie and I carried it down to the car and hoisted it up atop the Grand Prix. I thought for sure Con would drop it w/ all the laughter going on. As I tied it off, Connie went inside to avoid embarrassment. We drove it over to Goodwill passing car after car full of puzzled looks only to find that they don’t take upholstered items and had to drive back.

Lastly, I’ve always told Connie that my nose produces gigantic amounts of clogged pores. We put it to the test w/ a couple nose strips to see who came out w/ the bigger result. As you can see, I was the victor and I don’t think she’ll ever look at my nose the same way again.