Hema's Baptism

 Hemaloto Laione Katoa

I'll just go ahead and say it right up front - THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG POST!!! But Hema's baptism was one of the most important dates so far in his sweet little life, so I'm going to document it!!

Hemaloto Laione Katoa was baptized and confirmed by his father on Saturday September 28th. It was such a wonderful day!! We had so many of our family members and friends come out to support Hema. After the baptism we had a brunch at a church in Lehi. It was so nice to visit and relax together.

  Some of the most special people who came were his sweet birth mom Katie and her mom who drove up from Arizona for the baptism. It is always wonderful to see Katie!!

Hema, Becky, Katie and Hema before the baptism.

Katie, Hema and Nancy (Katie's mom)

Katie's dad, stepmom and 2 sisters also came. They gave Hema his first real set of scriptures with his name on them. He was so excited to get them.

Hema, Brian and MaryAnn.

Katie's sisters Julia and Nicole.

Of course Hema's grandparents were there. 

Hema with Grandma Katoa

Hema with Grandpa and Grandma Hawkins

Lots of other loved ones were there too! 

Coco, Angie, Kaili, Hema, Shalet and Sam

Baby Harlow, Halle, Jason, Hema and Hunter

Tilesa and Ituala

Joe, Hema and Misi

It was a great day to celebrate with Hema. Hema also received some great presents: his scriptures, a nice scripture case with a bookmark form Katie, a book on the priesthood and future missionary tag from Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins, a neat blue CTR ring from his primary teacher Sister Rigamoto, a scripture marker and CTR tie from the Jobracks and money to put towards his mission from Sam and Angie. He was so excited. It was wonderful to have so many loved ones there. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of those who came to the baptism, but didn't make it out to the brunch afterwards. 

I have attended a lot of baptisms over the past 4 years since I am the Primary president in our ward, but this was by far my favorite! 

Information to remember:

Our Stake - Provo Utah Wasatch Tongan Stake

Our Ward - Lehi 41st

Location - Provo Wasatch Stake Center

Date - Saturday, September 28, 2013

Our Bishop - Richard Paongo

Baptism Performed by - Hemaloto Katoa

Witnesses - David Hawkins and Sam Katoa

Confirmation performed by - Hemaloto Katoa

Participating in the Confirmation - David Hawkins, Jason Hawkins, Joseph Hawkins, Joe Katoa, Sam Katoa, Brian Strong, Bishop Richard Paongo and Brother Mao Tua. 

Cub Scout Day Camp!!

Hema will turn 8 this August and has been counting down the days until he gets to get baptized and also start cub scouts. Even though he isn't quite 8, he got to attend cub scout day camp today. I took him and his cousin Joey up to Camp Jeremiah Johnson and we had such a great time. 

 The boys both borrowed scout shirts, since neither of them are 8 yet and don't have their own uniforms yet. They were a bit hesitant at the flag ceremony and not sure if the camp was going to be fun or not. 

 By the time they got to the BB gun range, they were all smiles. Hema was such a good shot with the BB gun. He has a Bb gun and all his practicing down at the farm has paid off! 

 The rafts looked like so much fun, they had to paddle around and scoop up all the colored balls floating in the water.  On the drive home the boys told me it wasn't as fun as it looked because the rafts went so slowly when they paddled. 

 Both boys loved the archery, but it ended up being a lot harder than it looked. 

 Hema was thrilled that his last arrow made it into the target and stuck! 

 The highlight of the day was making, launching and running around trying to catch these little rockets. 

 They shot really far and most of the boys would gather across the field and try and catch the rockets that were launched. They each go to launch their rockets 10-15 times and thought is was awesome!!

The boys with their rockets and also the little wooden model airplanes they made.

It was so much fun to be at day camp with Hema and Joey. They whole way home they talked about how fun it was and asked when they got to go again! I look forward to Hema starting scouts and the many skills he will learn as he continues through the program. I recently completed my own Wood Badge training and really believe that the scouting program can help Hema become a great citizen, become a hard worker, learn to set and complete goals and also help him to better live the gospel. 

Cub Scouts here we come! 

Cora is 3!!!

I can't believe that my baby is 3 years old! 

Cora is growing up way too fast! If I could freeze time right now and keep my kids young I would. This is seriously the best time of my life and I am enjoying every single minute of being their mom. Cora loves her older siblings and freaks out if she doesn't get to do everything that Vela does. The two of them are becoming such good buddies and it makes my heart happy. 

Cora has really grown up food preferences. She LOVES chips and salsa and sometimes even just eats salsa with a spoon. She is part Mexican!! 

Cora loves her birth mom Krychele and her family. She is so blessed to have an open relationship with them. Here she is delivering some Mother's Day love to Krychele.

Pretty girls!!

Cora recently got her first haircut. Her cute cousin Kaili cut it for her and she loved going into the salon and getting pampered!

Cora has been so excited for her birthday. She wanted to have a farm party. Little Hema and Vela tried to talk her in to 7 Peaks, but in the end she stuck with the farm. She had a great time playing with her cousins and family and was completely spoiled with lots of great presents!
Cora's sweet birth dad Uziel and his brother Ernie came. Uziel gave Cora the cutest aqua sparkle TOMS. She loves them!

Kisses from Uziel! Cora is blessed to have so many people that love her so much!

Cora got so many presents! She got lots of adorable outfits, 5 pair of darling shoes and lots of toys! She also got the present she's been asking us for for months now - a new car seat. Thanks so much to all those who came out including Grandma Kim (how did we not get a picture of you?), cousins, uncles and aunts!

 Cora has a special bond with my brother Jason and his family! She stayed with them while Hema and I went on pioneer trek and she can't get enough of them!

The cousins singing Happy Birthday and getting ready for cake.

One of the toys we got Cora was this adorable baby alive doll. It has a little bottle and you can feed her water and them she wets in her diaper. She was so excited to go home and try it out!

After the party we went home and Cora changed right in to her darling new kitty jammies from Grandma Kim!

We went inside and she tried out baby alive. She thought it was so awesome... until while changing the diaper she picked the doll up and it peed on her new jammies. There was no convincing her that it was just water. She was so sad and it was pretty funny!

She can laugh about it now.  Cora is such a sweet girl. She is a total mommy's girl. It is so nice especially since she is our last baby. The other 2 kids were definitely more of daddy'd kids. She loves to go everywhere with me and is the best little helper around. Cora could go to preschool this fall and really wants to, but I can;t stand the thought f her leaving the house so I am going to do my own little mommy school for her here! She is such an angel and we are grateful every single day that she is part of our family! 

Vela

My girl Vela is getting so big. It is hard to believe that she is already 5 years old and will be heading off to Kindergarten this fall. 

 She is such a good little reader and loves to do math too. Vela is such a little snuggler. She loves one on one time with her mom or dad. She also loves to do anything that Hema does and is a great big sister to Cora. She really is such a special little part of our family! I can't get enough of her big brown eyes, sweet smile and full on belly laugh! 

Vela is a little mermaid! She would swim all day every day if she could. Even if the water is freezing Vela will swim until we make her get out of the water.

Vela recently finished her first year of Let's Play Music. She loves music and is always playing the piano or singing a song.

Vela has such long pretty hair and she loves to brush it and have me do it. She is so good to sit still for what sometimes is too long while I do fun things with her hair. Recently she got a trim from her cousin Kaili and she thought it was so much fun! Vela loves all things girly.

Vela tells me nearly every day that she wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up. "A real cowgirl, not just the kind that wears boots!" She used to want to be a mermaid, but her big brother has burst her bubble and convinced her that mermaids are not real - so she moved on to a cowgirl. We go over to the farm at Thanksgiving Point at least 3 times a week to ride the horses and play. Vela knows most of the horses names and loves to pet them and talk to them.

This week Vela decided she wanted to learn to ride her bike without the training wheels. She is often very shy and doesn't like to try new things, but once she sets her mind to something, she is very determined! She went right out and with very little help from us, taught herself to ride. She kept saying "this is so much fun!" She loves to ride and I hear her giggle and laugh as she rides up and down the street in front of our house all day long. Here is a cli from her the first night she started to ride. 

I am so proud of the sweet, independent girl that Vela is becoming and can't wait to see how she will continue to grow over the next few years! What a blessing it is to be her mother! 

Brigham City

Hema is back in school full time. He started in January at Utah State University working towards his Administrative Endorsement. To say he has been busy would be a total understatement. Between work, school and church - he has been crazy! But the upside is he is really loving his classes, learning a lot and will be done by next May! This summer he is doing classes at the USU extension in Brigham City. Each of the sessions runs 2 weeks and he is taking classes for 3 sessions. His first 2 week session ended on Friday and we decided to take advantage of 2 days off and celebrate!! We packed the car on Thursday night and got up with Hema and headed up to Brigham City at 6:30 am. We got there just in time to drop Hema off for his final at 8 and then the kids and I headed over to the McDonalds where they played in the play center for about 3 hours. At 11 we picked up dad and were ready to party!!! Our first stop was the Brigham City Museum. They had a small area with all kinds of tools and household items from the pioneer times that the kids could try out. They kids loved it and thought it was really fun for about 10 minutes. They also had a display of old photos of homes and building taken in the pioneer times with current pictures of the houses or buildings next to them. I thought it was really interesting, but everyone else was ready to do something "fun." 

We headed over to the KOA there in Brigham City where we had reserved a camping spot. It was our first time ever camping at a KOA. It has a decent pool and was nice and grassy with lots of big trees. The kids were so excited to camp and play in the water. We set up out tent and headed to the pool. The water was a little chilly, but it didn't slow down our water babies! 

After swimming we ate dinner and headed over to a big park to play and do a little fishing. The kids were exhausted and ready for bed by 7! The campground was so quiet and we all slept great. 

Saturday we got up, cleaned up and headed over towards home. Our first stop was Smith and Edwards. What a store full of everything. I swear I've seen an old picture of Smith Edwards and Hawkins. Do any of my Hawkins relatives remember seeing that picture? I believe that my Grandfather was at one time in business with them. He might have served in the military with them?

We also stopped at the Hill Aerospace Museum. We all loved it! There are so many planes there and the kids thought they were amazing. The kids were sporting there 99 cent Smith and Edwards glasses in all the museum pictures. Such goof balls! 

Kids showing their muscles in front of the atomic bomb. 

We had a great weekend and loved spending every single minute with our sweet Hema! He is the absolute best dad ever!! We miss him while he is so busy at school, but are so grateful that he is willing to work so hard for our family.