Ez's Birthday

Ezias turned 6. He told us early on that he wanted to celebrate at Chuck E Cheese so that's where we went. I think Olaea and Josh may have played as much as the kids. I had to work so didn't have a lot of time to make elaborate plans but we still had good fun. Here's some proof:

His very own personal football cupcake!

Some birthday toys.

Some of his prize winnings from Chuck E. Cheese

Trying to fit the kids in the photo booth....one didn't make it.

Probably his favorite birthday present from his Uncle Olaea. He wears this thing to bed every night....except for when I forget to wash it. We love this kid!

First Day of School!!!

Watch out kindergarten! Ezias has started school.....finally....like he is still in class as I type this! He has a late birthday and missed the school deadline by 16 days so he had to wait until almost 6 years of age to start. Needless to say we've all been anticipating this day. I took a long lunch to accompany him to school. He kept saying he knows where his classroom is...but I insisted on walking him into his classroom. I did not get emotional today as I dropped him off. I was just really excited for him. However, my heart strings were tugged on last night as Josh gave him a father's blessing. It was so sweet. I peeked at Ezias during the blessing and he was acutally closing his eyes and sitting reverntly. My little boy is growing up! I really hope he likes his teacher....because she didn't really impress me too much. She wasn't as animated as I would like. Isn't that a requirement for kindergarten teachers?
Ezias has been sporting a rat-tail all summer thanks to his dad. I told him he could not enter school with that thing. So it came off last night. I should have taken a picture. Ezias really wanted to keep it but I refuse to give bullies a reason to target my son. He also goes to school with his cousins so I know he will have people watching out for him. So here are just a few pics before we took him into the classroom.

Ezias was already waiting for me outside as I pulled up from work. He was so excited and all smiles!

This boys gonna be a leader one day!

My boys!

I'm very excited to talk to him after school to see how his day went. Stay tuned for kindergarten tales by Ezias Poli!

Bitter Sweet Trip Home

We made an unexpected trip home to Missouri. Josh's Auntie, Blanche Amato passed away. Josh and his brothers spent a lot of time at the Amato house growing up and I am good friends with the family so we really wanted to be there to pay our respects. We were not looking forward to the long drive with 2 kids, especially since Iosua hates his car seat. It wasn't the smoothest but we traveled to and fro safely so we can't complain. We spent a lot of time with Josh's family while we were there. It was nice to see faces we haven't seen in years but such a sad occasion to bring everyone together. I failed to take pictures but I was able to steal some from facebook postings. Thanks family! The funeral services were beautiful. We all laughed and cried and listened to some heart-warming music.

At the cemetary

Pallbearers

Mama and Papa Poli

Ezias and cousins

We spent a lot of our time here at the Amato house. The house was stuffy with all the bodies but it was nice to spend time together. There was always tons of food and visitors coming in and out.

Our last day there we spent celebrating my mom's birthday! We made monkey bread, bbq'd and of course had cake and ice cream.

This yuma-licious cake was made by my nieces. Almond Joy cake. Almond Joy is my mom's fav candy bar. They're so thoughtful!

Iosua trying out Papa's tire swing for the first time.

He liked it!

I really love going home to visit. There is never enough time. Hopefully we can make it out again soon.

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!