Pioneer Day

I love that Pioneer Day is a state holiday in the state of Utah. I also love that I work for the State of Utah and I get another paid day off in July.Some say that Pioneer Day is a bigger celebration then the 4th of July festivities around Utah. The only downside for me was that it fell on a Wednesday so I had to be at work bright and early the next morning....so no late firework show this year. But we kept busy most of the day celebrating our Pioneer Heritage during the day and Polynesian Heritage that evening.

That morning we went to the Pioneer Day Parade downtown. If felt good outdside since the sun was hiding behind clouds most of the time. Iosua was pretty excited at first and cheered along with the crowd.

Ezias enjoying his breakfast sandwich from McD's while watching the parade.

This is President Uchtdorf and his wife. I was so busy waving to him I almost forgot to take a picture. So here is his backside. If you squint and zoom in a few times you can totally tell it's him.

This is the PCC float. They were in Utah promoting their 50th year anniversary. In my opinion they had the best float and were the most entertaining. The float sprayed water from the whale's spout and their music was blasting as they had dancers on the float and on the street. Sigh....I would love to check them out in Hawaii.

Iosua got a little wrestless during the parade but he found yelling into the McD's cup very entertaining. He actually did this for a while too. Gotta love him!

Later that evening we went to the Polynesian Cultural Celebration. A few of my friends came so that made it even more fun. The evening was full of dances from the islands, music, laughter, and good island food. The kids might not look happy in the above photos....but they had fun!

Amanda and Iosua! I love how much my friends love my kids. Unfortunately I didn't get pics of Ashlee and Andrea who were also with us.

And this was just a random picture of Iosua that I thought deserved to make the blog. Pioneer Day was good to us this year. It was a fun-filled day for the Poli family.

Fox 13 News

On July 20th, Josh was on the Fox 13 morning news show. He volunteers as a trainer for the P.A.L.A. Speed Camp every summer. He is gaining great experience and knowledge from Pala who is the founder (and spouse of my cousin) of this non-profit organization. Josh went to school with a friend that landed her a job as a producer on the news. His friend thought the camp would make a great story so she asked if they would come on the show. Here is the link of their segment and a few pics of that day.

http://fox13now.com/2013/07/20/pala-speed-camp/

Looking around before they go on air. 

Brothers: Pala and Junior Vaitu'u

Guess Who Turned 1!!!!!

Baby Iosua turned the big ONE last week. We were excited to celebrate the event. We were originally planning a small party with just our little family, but one thing lead to another and before you know it we had about 20 people crammed into our dinky apartment. It was a tight squeeze but Iosua loved the company. Once again I failed to take pictures of all the action so here is just a few.

I'm throwing in this random picture because it's something I want to remember. He's been doing this down dog yoga position for months. We never taught him the move he just picked it up and does it all the time. He crawls around then strikes a pose.  Makes us laugh every time. The view must be better up-side-down.

This is the cake we threw together. The kids helped frost the cupcakes. Good thing Josh bought 2 cake mixes so we had enough to feed everyone. Our friend called before coming over and asked if she could bring anything. I told her we should be fine. She asked if we had enough ice cream and I said we got one of those big gallons so we should be good. She kind of laughed and said she would bring another bucket of ice cream. I was amazed at how fast the first bucket of ice cream went! I'm glad she came prepared because ice cream makes cake that much better.

We thought since baby can whistle he might be able to blow out his birthday candle. No such luck....he just wanted to grab the fire. Although, he had no problem taking care of his cupcake. I think he managed to shove most of it in his mouth within the first few bites. It's safe to say he enjoyed it. We love this little boy and enjoy his happy spirit in our home. Ezias helps out so much with him and I know Iosua looks up to him already. He loves to follow his older brother around the house. Little man is still not walking but he's starting to stand on his own more everyday. We love you Baby Iosua!

Happy 4th of July

My handsome boys! Couldn't really get them to stand still for a picture. This is as good as it gets.

Ezias enjoys being thrown into the air at the pool. It was quite entertaining to watch.

I snapped this picture half-way into our meal. Sausage and shrimp kabobs, terriyaki chicken and bratwurst! I could have sworn I had more pictures from the 4th...but I guess not. I will have to be better. Usually I like to watch the big firework show but I didn't know how Iosua would react to them. So we decided to hang out with my brother and his wife for a mini-firework show at their place. Iosua wasn't even phased by the fireworks. Ezias was scared of the giant sparklers at first but then worked up the courage to hold them. It was a good holiday weekend. I'm grateful to live in this wonderful county and to all those who serve or have served our country (and I'm grateful the holiday gave me a 4 day weekend).

GOD BLESS AMERICA!