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!

More Visitors

We always love having family come for a visit. This time it was my sister Gese and her daughter Annie. Their visit was short. I felt we kept it kind of low key and just enjoyed spending time together. I'm glad they made time to come out.



First stop Pizza Pie Cafe!

Sissy's

Annie and Iosua all dressed up for church.

Ezias may be getting too heavy to sit on people's laps.

Iosua all worn out from entertaining everyone.

The kids also went swimming, we found Annie some cool new basketball shoes, and there were a couple nights we made dinner. Didn't get pictures of everything but it was all fun.

Last summer of Freedom

It's officially summer and it seems it's going to be a hot one. Yesterday it was 99 degrees! This is Ezias' last summer as a free child. He will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. We are all very excited. One of the items on the check list is to get caught up on his immunization shots. So I scheduled an appointment with the pediatrcian. Since Josh has successfully taken Iosua to his last couple of appointments without me there I decdided to not take time off work to go with Ezias to his appointment. It was an hour or so after his scheduled appointment and I had yet to get an update on how it went. So I texted Josh for an update. He called a few minutes later and starts off by telling me not to panic, everything is alright....which of course I immediately start panicking. He then tells me that Ezias fainted twice and threw up while they were at his appointment and they weren't able to get his shots. OMG, right? So he starts from the beginning and tells me on the drive to the dr office Ezias kept saying he was nervous and that his stomach hurts and that he felt like throwing up. When they got there they called his name to go back and they start taking his mearsurements. He kept telling Josh he didn't feel good and he start to walk to him and collapses. Good thing Josh was there to catch him. They take him to a room and lay him down. He starts to come to and says "I want mommy" (which is the part where I start tearing up at work and feel guilty for not being there). He throws up. Then they try to take his blood pressure but he started freaking out and tensing up which causes him to faint again! At that point they decide not to do the shots and to try again in a couple of days. So we had two days to talk to Ezias and try and prepare him for his next visit. I tell Ezias I will be there when he goes back to hold his hand. We talk to him several times to reassure him that it will be fast and he will only feel a tiny pinch. Josh asks him, Son, you gonna be ok?, and he responds, "yeah cause mommy will be there". So we go back and the nursing staff have a giant coloring book and crayons for him and a coupon for a free ice cream from Artic Circle. They are great there. He seems fine up until they bring out the numbing lotion and needles. He starts freaking out but we are able to keep him calm. I had him sit on my lap and covered his eyes while they gave him the shots. It went a lot better the second time around and I was very relieved. That same day Ezias called me and told me that he got his kindergarten packet. He is so excited to start school.
So this incident has taught us and helped me realize a few things: 1.) Don't tell the kids when they have doctor appointments. This will only give them time to freak themselves out 2) I hope in the near future I can be a stay-at-home mom or just be able to work part-time. With Ezias starting school I want to be able to drop him off in the mornings and be waiting at home when he gets off to hear all about his day. I don't want to have to drop Iosua off everyday at a babysitters. I would rather be the one to take care of him. After this incident this is probably the first time I felt like I am really needed at home.
I feel changes will be happening in our near future. Changes for all in our little family. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. And here are a couple of pics to kick off the summer batch of photos.

Spiritual Glasses - I could use some of those!

Iosua's first time in the pool and he loved it!

Just wanted to post some of these random pics so we can remember some important events.

The weekend after Josh graduated his best friend graduated from the University of Utah. Keith is part of our family. In fact, I think he may spoil Josh more than I do. It will be weird if he ever decides to move away. I'm excited to see where their career paths will take them....hopefully not too far from each other.

Ezias' friend Porter got baptized. There are three years between them but they get along so well. I love how Ezias makes friends with people of all ages. He is so social and probably has more friends around Utah then I do. I know as he sees his cousins and friends get baptized he gets more excited for his day to come. I'm grateful he has such good examples around him and as you can see they also like to be goofy.

Iosua has discovered clapping and loves to cheer!

As Mother's Day has just passed I just wanted to post a couple pictures of my beautiful mother. I'm so grateful for this lady! She has unconditional love for us kids. We have broken her heart at times with the choices we make but she forgives and serves us all the time. She has raised 6 kids and she plays a big role in raising her 16 grand kids (and counting). Our family would fall apart without her. I hope that one day I will be able to cook like her, sing like her, sew like her and love like her. 

I think my parents coordinated their outfits this day!

And these are the two reasons I get to celebrate Mother's Day! Love my boys....

and love my husband too.