well, well, well

Yea, not much has happened to me since I last wrote unless you consider the fact that...

We had baby Fatu at the end of August. Happens to be the same day my little brother was born, some years prior. He, Fatu, was the biggest baby I had at a wopping 8 lbs 13 oz. Ok, so maybe doesn't seem that big to some but to me he was already grown! haha The first day he was lifting his head, he's like a little man inside a baby's body. He is now over 16 lbs and only 3 months old. I tell ya, I see little newborns and I don't remember him being that small...oh, wait, he wasn't! My brother, the same who shares his birthday with Fatu, and his wife recently had a baby. She weighed in at 6 lbs something oz. Tiny, Tiny, especially by Fatu's standards! But, all is well...he is healthy and just as handsome as can be!

My Dad passed away recently...on Nov 17. It was difficult as imagined but I seem to be taking it a little better than I expected. He was diagnosed with Liver Cancer in June and had no symptoms. My mom was still in Texas and he was still in Atlanta so I went with him to his oncologist appointments to see what can be done. He decided to do radiation at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, where my oldest brother happens to work as the Head of the Cancer Center. He did the radiation the week before I had Fatu and everything seemed to be going ok. He was then released from his calling at church as a counselor in the Branch Presidency of a Vietnamese Branch at the end of Sept. In October, we found out that the cancer had grown into his lungs. It moved fast and he fought hard. He waited long enough for most of us kids to get to him to say our last goodbyes. He will be missed but I know that we will be together again and that is what gives me strength.

BOY OH BOY! It's a...

Ok, so we found out what we are having a while ago but things are so crazy that I haven't posted anything about it. We are going to have a BOY! Can you tell I'm excited!? We would have been happy with either a boy or a girl but this way William will have a brother! And with the new house, the girls will have their room and the boys in a room of their own! William is so happy to finally have a room where he doesn't have to share with the girls!!!

We are loving our new house! We moved in at the beginning of June and still in the phase of getting the house in order. Most of what we have is unpacked with the exception of some things that I just don't know what to do with right now. We are slowly meeting our neighbors...the ones we have met so far though are great...and there are kids to play with, which is fantastic! We shall see how the rest of the summer goes! We only have about 3 weeks since school starts on August 4! Early? Yea, it sure seems like that to me too!

long time no see!

Well, it has been a long time since I put anything on here. Not sure if anyone even wants to read it since it is so unpredictable as to when there will be a post...and what it might say.
There has been a couple of pretty big things that happened to us these last few months.

1. We found out in December that we are expecting another little one into our crazy little family! We are so happy and the kids are really excited to have a little brother or sister! We have yet to find out what we are going to have but will be happy with either a boy or a girl!

2. We just bought our first house! Yea, crazy I know, but we found a great house for a great price and are extremely happy to finally have a place that is ours! It's only been a few days since we closed on the house and have a little bit of work to do before we can move in...change out the carpet, paint, appliances, and put in some new pipes that someone decided to steal (good thing it was only the exposed pipes down in the basement)!! Plus we don't want to transfer Krisalyn with only a month and a half of school left. S0, even though it is ours...the reality probably won't set in until the end of May when we actually move in!

Yea, pretty exciting things happening! Hopefully I will start posting more regularly to update on everyone and everything for those who are interested.

First day of Kindergarten

Krisalyn started Kindergarten today! We were both extremely excited. I thought that maybe I would tear up a little but to my surprise there was not even the urge to do so! I was so excited for her that you would think it was my first day of school! I couldn't sleep last night and I seemed to wake up every hour to check the clock just to make sure I didn't miss the alarm and make her late! I had the alarm on for 6 am...Ioelu called around 5:30 and said he was on his way home (he got off early to go with us!) I went to ask Krisalyn if she was awake. When she realized what day it was, she jumped out of bed and ran to the shower! I hope this excitement for school lasts! Here are some pictures of Krisalyn's first day!

Ready to go to school!

Her Teacher, Mrs. Shaikh!!!

with mommy

with daddy

kiddos

Krisalyn lost her first tooth!
Since the picture, she has lost 3 more!

Oh, how they love each other!

Shaka!

Cheeky kids!

I have such cute kids! I know, I am biased!

Exciting weekend

I have been so terrible keeping up with this blog! It seems like every time I try to start a post, I get interrupted and then I just forget what it is I was going to put up! All well, I guess I'll just tell you what's been up lately. I can't find any pictures from the beginning of this year and now our camera is gone so can't put up any recent pictures!
So last weekend was our 7 year anniversary! We had been trying to plan to do something great since Ioelu works for Delta and had even gotten that week off! To make it easier on my parents we had reduced our week trip down to the weekend...hoping we can take a weekend trip to Hawaii and make it back for Fathers Day! Yea, that didn't happen...my mom wasn't able to make it down that weekend and so we decided to take the kids with us to Hawaii. They were so happy to see their cousins and the beach! It was good to see great friends and family! Our time in Hawaii was wonderful! It was getting back that wasn't much fun! We got to Hawaii on Wednesday night...being delayed in Atlanta for 4 hours because of a mechanical problem...who would have a problem with that though, because I would rather fly in a plane that is safe rather than one that has a problem no matter how small they say it is. We had fun Thursday and Friday visiting with family and friends...Saturday spent the morning at Swap meet and tried to get on the 4 oclock plane back to Georgia. Didn't make it...ok, that's part of the game you play flying standby. We made it on a flight to Portland...spent Sunday in the Portland airport...flew to New York that got in at 6:30 Monday morning and happened to get on a flight to Atlanta at 11:00 am...that's where things got even more crazy! Everyone was boarded on the plane and ready to go when we hear someone yelling, "NO don't do that...don't close it!" only to find out that one of the flight attendants locked the arm of the door before closing it and deflated the emergency slide! Yea, great fun! We were all de-boarded and told that the flight was delayed until 1 pm. OK, that's fine. Then we hear on the intercom that all those on that flight need to report to the gate...only to find out that the flight is now going out of La Guardia instead of JFK and those who are flying stand by have to find another fight home. To make matters worse..the agents at the gate were not willing to help us! Oh yea, I was not happy...two days in three different airports with three kids who didn't understand why we couldn't get home. So we finally made it on a flight and got seated when Ioelu asked if I had the camera! During the time at JFK airport I lost the camera and have no clue where it could have been. That was the icing on the cake! We had so many great memories on that camera with so many great friends! The last picture we had on there was one taken while we were boarding the flight from Portland to JFK...the pilots let the kids sit in the cock pit and take a picture with one of them. I thought it was awesome and was excited to post in on here but alas...it is gone and most likely we will not be getting it back but who knows, maybe it's just lost in the lost and found!!! It was a fun filled weekend in which we spent most of our anniversary and all of Fathers Day in airports! Oh, the joy! I cannot really complain about standby because it is a lot better than paying a full price ticket! It is now an experience we can look back on and say...all well, better luck next time...and at least we made it home in one piece!!!

gotcha some updates...

...FROM DECEMBER. These are some pictures I found so far. I have no clue where the pictures are from the beginning of the year! So you are stuck back in December with me at the moment.

Me and Ioelu at Stone Mountain

The kiddos on top of Stone Mountain.
When I told Krisalyn we were going to Stone Mountain she asked what it was. My response...a big rock! She wasn't too excited but once she got there it was alot more fun than just a big rock!

Krisalyn and Kyra getting ready for their movie debut! We recorded them for our Ward Christmas video. They wanted each family to make a video of them singing a Christmas song. Can you guess what song they are singing?

Mele Kalikimaka...is the thing to say!

Christmas Morning! YAY!

Well, that's all I have for you at the moment. Enjoy the short update from 5 months ago!