(pre)School's Out!

Siope completed Preschool today! I can't believe the school year has come to an end. I am so grateful that the Morgan's allowed us the opportunity to enroll Siope in school as well as the chance to get to know and love their youngest son Cruz.

^Brianna, Siope, and Luke

One of Siope's classmates, Mia, just got back from Hawaii and brought each of the kids these cute shell necklaces. Siope has been wearing his ALL day.

^Brianna, Miss Marci, Siope & Luke
(Siope closed his eyes on purpose- that little clown!)

Hopefully he'll meet up with his preschool friends again in Kindergarten. I'm so thankful for both the mental and social preparation he has received that will aid him in succeeding next year in Kindergarten. This has been a wonderful experience.

Preschool Pool Party

Siope's last day of preschool is this Thursday - I can't believe it! Time has really flown by. Today they had their end of the year party. Since the Yellowstone pool doesn't open until next week Stacey offered her parent's pool for our little shin dig. Marci always delegates each of the students to bring food to their parties and Siope was assigned to bring a dessert this time. I wanted to do something fun and special since it was going to be their last party together, so I stayed up all night baking cupcakes. I knew that I had bitten off more than I could chew because I have never ever touched a frosting piper... is that even what it's called? Well whatever it is, I've never done any cake decorating in my life. It took me several trips to the grocery store and lots of text messaging and phone calls to Sila, but I finally got the cupcakes baked, iced, and decorated.

Voila! Cookie Monster and...

Elmo cupcakes

The finished SESAME TREATS

I went to bed at 4am, then woke back up at 5 to drop Ti Tonga off at work. After I dropped Mote off at school- me, Siope, and Nic headed over to Rhodes Ranch where the party was being held. Holy cow can I say that as soon as I had a view of Brianna's grandma's backyard my jaw dropped! It was the nicest/coolest pool I have EVER seen!!! It was great! The kids had an amazing time!!! The food was great, company was cool, and Siope's cupcakes were a hit.

The kids started off in this first hot tub. Once me and Marci saw that fire pit on the right we had to repeat "Thou shalt not covet" a couple times to ourselves.

Nici in the bigger pool. Behind him is a cave with a 2nd hot tub/jacuzzi. It had water that would fall from above splashing into the pool, but they turned it off so that we could see and hear the kids clearly.
There was so much detail put into their backyard! On one end of the cave there was a staircase leading to an outdoor shower and bathroom. On the other end was the entrance to the cave aka "Pirates Cove"

The kids in PIRATES COVE. They LOVED it!

Quick bite to eat

Me & my soon-to-be preschool graduate!
Of course he chose Elmo!

It was so gracious of Brianna's grandparents to allow us into their home. I don't ever remember any of my school parties being this cool... but I guess times have changed. Thursday is the big day for Siope then he will be off for summer vacation and come August he will be joining his brothers at the "big boy" school.

One Shrek of a Finale

Ti made it home from Texas Monday morning. I thought it would be fun to go watch a movie as a family since I had the day off of work. I have been eagerly waiting to watch the new Shrek movie. I may have been a little more excited than the kids to see it. Since watching a movie at the theaters here practically costs an arm and a leg we normally wait til they hit redbox, but Shrek is definitely an exception in our household! Shrek is almost like a bookmark of how long our family has existed. The first Shrek movie was the very first DVD that we bought for Mote. I still remember sitting down in our room (at my Mom's house) and watching Shrek with Ti Tonga and our (then) only child Timote. Soon Nici and Siope joined our family and they all shared a mutual love for Shrek. We cut back on purchasing DVD's but the Shrek sequels always seemed to find a way in to our home. The boys can recite Shrek 1 verbatim - ogre accent and all!
We went and watched Shrek The Final Chapter in 3D XD at South Point. The kids seemed to really enjoy it and I personally loved it! I was surprised that it had a lot of sad parts in it. The past ones for the most part have just been funny. The comedy was still there, but this time there were a lot more serious moments. I thought it was a perfect way to end Shrek and Fiona's story.

Big Texas

Ti left to Texas on Friday for a rugby tournament. It's only been 3 days, but we miss him so much! We were hoping to have him home today, but he didn't make any of the flights, so we will have to wait one more day before we see him. He called today and Siope asked him where he was and if he was going to come back. When Ti Tonga told him he was in Texas Siope asked him if he met Sandy out there.

You know you're a huge Spongebob fan if when you hear the word "Texas" the first thing that comes to your mind is Ms. Sandy Cheeks. Unfortunately Ti Tonga did not get the opportunity to meet Sandy, but they did win both of their games- not as cool I know, but still worth the trip (for Ti Tonga at least).

Siope's Teddy Bear Picnic

Siope's preschool class had a Teddy Bear Picnic at the beginning of May. He was so excited when he told me about it and asked if he could take his shark to the picnic instead of a teddy bear. I told him as long as his teacher said he could then it would be fine. He was so happy when he got approval from Mrs. Marci! Marci told me later that day that while they were discussing the picnic plans during class her son Luke was telling everyone how his teddy bear has a BYU sweater and Siope immediately stood up and said "What?! I HATE BYU!!" She thought it was hilarious. Fatu must have instilled that hatred in him on our last trip. Anyway the morning of the picnic we made Siope's sack lunch and hauled him and "Sharky" off to preschool. They walked to the Yellowstone clubhouse where they had lunch amongst each other and their guest stuffed animals. Siope came back and was so excited to tell me about everyone's teddy's and I was surprised that he knew each bear by name. I asked him if anyone else brought an animal beside a teddy and he said that one of the other kids brought a bunny.... that's not too far of a stretch from a teddy bear I thought. Leave it to my child to be the only one with a red shark. He said everyone loved Sharky and he had a great time.

Weekend With The Iloa's

This weekend Ame and Paul came out to celebrate their anniversary. It almost seems like it's tradition to see them out here this time of year. Ame is one of my best friends and also happens to be Ti Tonga's first cousin- small world ;) I love when they come out. Their family is one of the sweetest families I know... and this time was even better because they brought Taeao, Polu, and Siosi along to help babysit. We've lived here for over 3 years and this is Siosi's first trip out here despite all of our invitations we've extended. The boys were so excited to see their aunts, uncle, and cousins. We tried to stay out of their way for the most part, but Saturday I had to pick up their show tickets, so we all went to the Bellagio together. We showed them around the conservatory...




and it took a lot of convincing, but I finally went to Jean Phillipe Patisserie. We have one in Aria and EVERYONE always asks if we have a chocolate fountain at ours (we don't). I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Ti Tonga was so annoyed, but as soon as we got there he was amazed. It was nothing at all like I imagined.




We went out front and got there just in time to catch a fountain show before heading over to the Mirage.
The girls and kids slept over that night while Paul & Ame watched a show and stayed at the Stratosphere. We said goodbye to them this morning. It's always good times when family's in town. And the more I see everyone coming into town to celebrate their anniversary the more I think that me and Ti really oughta start celebrating ours!