Duckies

Today we did a simple thing that we haven't done in a long time.

We fed the ducks.

It seems I got a lot of duck-feeding out of my system when Makenzie was little and didn't realize my poor boys haven't had nearly as much duck feeding experience.

Jarom was probably realllllly little the last time we did it. 

He has been asking to go and since we had a nice, sunny afternoon, we grabbed some bread and headed over to the pond to feed them.

It was sweet and simple and probably only took half an hour and left me feeling like we should do it more often.

This is when I asked them to look at the camera... Jarom is painfully saying "cheeeeeese." He did not want to be bothered with pictures. Reminds me of someone I know... I'll give you a hint... it starts with a J and ends with an ustin.

Kyle was tickled pink. He loooooves all animals but especially ducks.

And that was it.

Short and simple and sweet.

Utah-ness

So we are kinda sorta Jazz season ticket holders. Our good friends Spencer and Brooke have had season tickets for years and this year we were able to split the tickets with them three ways- them, Spencer's brother, and us. It was not very expensive and I told them they better charge us our fair share, but knowing them, they didn't charge us enough. I found this picture on Justin's phone, kinda funny. He is a happy guy:

 On Monday, Spencer told Justin we could have the four tickets to the Jazz Family Night where you get to meet the players and get their autographs. It was a lot of line-waiting but really cool!

 Here's Jarom and Pooh Bear after meeting our new rookie, Enes Kanter (from Turkey) and I can't even tell who that is next to him... Derrick Favors? Sorry, our team is so new, I'm still learning who all the players are. I wasn't with them at this table because I was upstairs waiting in C.J. Miles' line so we could streamline the process.

(The deal with Pooh Bear: Jarom has been assigned to take care of Pooh Bear this week for preschool. He is taking this responsibility VERY seriously and does not let Pooh Bear out of his sight. He goes everywhere with us. Jarom feeds him. He brushes his teeth. He puts him down for naps. It's ridiculously cute and I love to see that side of Jarom.)

 

Here's Makenzie meeting C.J. Miles. Funny guy. 

 

And Devin Harris.

And I think this was after meeting Jeremy Evans (on the left... you can't see him). 

He actually recognized Justin. Without Justin even saying anything, I was impressed. They met last year when Justin was a high school admin and he and Gordon Hayward went to Justin's school for some video thing they were doing. 

(You may recognize this photo of them from Justin's Facebook last year.)

 And here's the man we know and love... Paul Milsap! That was a long line.

 And last but not least... here we all are with our cool new autographed Jazz poster that I can't wait to hang in my house. ;)

And because this post is dedicated to Utah, here is Makenzie her first time learning to ski!

 And here's a video from her second time. I'm so proud of her for not being scared. She's got the need for speed and it's kind of freaking Justin out because she doesn't really know how to turn or stop very well yet. You will hear his concern in the video as she speeds directly at him. ;) But I think she's doing a great job!

A little Bragging

Today I am a proud mama.

Makenzie was chosen to receive the Dragon Leader Award at her school. Students are chosen for this award for demonstrating excellence in character and/or academics. Her teacher wrote on her award that she received it for excellence in, "being a great friend and helping everyone who needs it willingly." Yes, that is Makenzie. She is extremely helpful and selfless, and is nice to everyone- no matter where she goes, she will make a friend. One other boy in her class received the award- I think it was 2 kids per class for the entire school- and we went to her school at 8 a.m. for breakfast and the award ceremony. Pretty cool, way to go, Makenzie!

 I also want to brag about my sister Tiffany. She's getting married Feb. 25th (coming so fast!) and she just sent me the link to her engagement photos. They are SO pretty! Here are a few of my favorites and you can click HERE to see them all!

A little something tropical for your January

So Justin went on the trip of a lifetime last April and visited his dad's native Samoa.

He has photos and videos galore from that amazing trip and it just feels like such a shame that it never made it to the blog. I think he started writing a post about it a while back, but it was a pretty daunting task and it went unfinished. So since the blog is kind of my baby, I thought I would go ahead and just post a bunch of pictures to share that amazing trip, even though it has been a long time. Better late than never, right? Plus, looking at these pictures in January feels like a virtual vacation. It is so, so beautiful there.

So.

It's a lot of pictures.

A lot.

So I will keep captions to a minimum, but I really wanted this on the blog for that someday that I turn this blog into our family album!

Justin's family is from Pago Pago in American Samoa, but they visited Western Samoa, too, so you will see pictures from both. 

Here's Justin and his cousin Samoana. Sam lost his hands in a power line accident just months before this trip. He is really amazing. He lives here in Utah. This was a reunion trip for Justin's dad's family. There are 14 brothers and sisters and a lot of them live in Utah. One of his aunts was extremely generous and paid everyone's way and planned this awesome week-long reunion trip. Some of the siblings or their spouses weren't able to make it on the trip so the oldest of their kids got to go in their place. Justin's mom was nice enough to let Justin go in her place. So Justin went with his dad, some of his aunts and uncles and some of his cousins.

 Samoan cuisine. Looks like breadfruit, ham, taro, rice, chop suey and palusami (which I believe is like corned beef wrapped up in banana leaves and soaked in coconut milk or something like that). 

Justin's Uncle Moronae teaching him how to weave a basket.

 Samoa's claim to fame- tatooing. This is where it all started.

Sam being awesome. I hear they drank a lot of Coke.

Uncle Mose (Justin's dad's bro) and Aunt Pauline. Pauline is also from Samoa but they live in Utah.

Justin's Uncle Galu (his dad's bro) and Aunt Rita. They live in Samoa.

 Justin and his dad, Heli.

Awesome.

A little cliff diving. I hear they were on a tight schedule and the rest of the group was not too happy about waiting for them, but seriously? How awesome is that?

Apia, Samoa temple.

 Be a tidy Samoan.

Turns out you can survive without electricity.

Okay, we've got Heli, Justin, Zion (another cousin that was raised in Samoa but lives here in Utah now) and cousin Rebekah who lives in Hawaii and is super cool.

Justin, Mia (another of Heli's brothers who lives in Samoa), Heli, Zion and Sam.

This night looked pretty fun. We have video of everybody gettin' their groove on later on.

They drank the coconut sprite a lot. Makenzie would have thought that was so cool.

Sleep tight!

Visiting the LDS church school.

Missionaries.

 So these awesome sunrise pictures are from when Justin went out for an early morning run since he was training for his first half-marathon. I think these are some of the best pictures from the whole trip (there are more I couldn't include). See how running just makes life awesome? haha (cue: Justin rolling his eyes)

Justin's cousin Samsoni. (He has a lot of cousins named Sam... I think that happens when you are Samoan)

The group. I will try my best:

Back: Heli, Pua, Samoana, Justin, Galu (behind Justin), Rita, Paolo, Pauline, Mose (in front of Pauline) and Zion.

Middle-ish: Tufi, Moronae, Kone, Tila, Konefesi, Eliu and Rebekah.

Front: Eletise (sweet Aunt who made this happen), Samsoni, Malepe, P.K. and Kevali