Emma the miracle worker...

Last weekend we had some good friends come visit from Utah. We were nextdoor neighbors with Kyle and Julie. Kyle and I went to school together and Rich and Kyle worked together. When we were neighbors we only had Jeremy and Gage and they only had Nathan and Emma. We moved back to California when the kids were between 3 and 7. It was so nice to have them here, just like old times, only our families have grown both in size and quantity! I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the whole family, only pics of the kids swimming! Ooopps!The kids had so much fun at the pool. Gage and Nate made a raft out of themselves and tried to keep Jack from destroying it.

Ally, Louisa, and Jack (our new ones since we moved) had fun getting to know eachother.
Julia bonded with all of them but like always she would only sit on the top step of the pool, terrified of the water.
Gage tried to get her to go out into the water and relax but she held on so tight she about choked him.

Then along came Emma, miracle worker. Julia actually let go and had fun.

Eventually she completely let go and was happy on her own!

By the end of the day she was jumping to Emma. What a brave big girl!

Julia was so proud of herself, such a big girl...love the hair...amazing day! We were sad that they had to go home. Julia has asked for Emma everyday since they've been gone. Good friends are such blessings!

Diversity

One of the things I love about where I live is the diversity of cultures. I'm not saying that I appreciate those who make a home in this country and enjoy the benefits of being here without showing respect to our country by learning the language, thinking I should know their language instead and not assimilating what so ever...but that's another issue all together. I've had a few experiences this past week that have made me think about how cool it is to be able to experience other cultures with out traveling to do it.

Last Sunday was Fast Sunday...the first Sunday of the month where we fast for two meals. Every fast Sunday for the last several months we have had a Samoan Sacrament Meeting in the evening. This is in addition to the regular one at church in the morning and it's for the many Samoan members we have at church to be able to have Sacrament Meeting in their language. I went to the first one with Rich who has to go to all of them because he's the Bishop and therefore the presiding authority. Last Sunday was the first Tongan Sacrament Meeting, right after the Samoan Sacrament Meeting, because we also have so many members who are Tongan also. I went to this one last Sunday. I loved it. There was no piano player so they sang a capella. They didn't need accompaniment because they harmonized so beautifully, I felt like I was in the Islands. It was so neat to hear the familiar melody of songs we sing on Sundays sung in Tongan. Even in a language I didn't understand I still felt the message of what these songs are about. The talks were interesting...not that I understood those either...but I picked out some words or phrases that I heard repeated several times, I wondered what they meant. After the meeting we had wonderful food, which is not the ususal for us Palongis after regular Sacrement Meetings. They had papaya, guava, and watermelon all spinkled with coconut. There were fried pastries, kind of like big doughnut holes, called Kei Kei (I probably didn't spell it right), and a drink I don't remember the name of which was very yummy. It was watermelon juice with little chunks of melon, coconut, and I think some other fruit. Everyone is so kind and respectful, it was very cool.

Saturday we were invited to our neighbor's house for a celebration for her, Taiyo, who graduated with her Master Degree in Nursing from Loma Linda. They are from Nigeria and the nicest people. They told us that the party started at 5:00, so we got there about 5:15. No one else was there and they were still just getting ready. We thought we had gotten the time wrong so we asked and they kind of laughed and said they had forgotten to explain African culture to us. When someting is scheduled at 5:00, "African time" means that they don't think it really starts until an hour after that, then they don't want to be the first ones there so they wait another hour before they come. So, we took their little boy Fumbi, who is a year and a half, over to our house to play with the kids who love to play with him while they continued to get their house ready. A little after 6:00 we went back over and there were a few other people there. They had a lot of food and wanted to get started for the people who were there but their pastor wasn't there yet so Femi, the husband, knowing that Rich is a Bishop in our church, asked him to say a few words about why we were all there for the celebration and to say a blessing on the food. Rich did a great job and said the prayer. I think it's the first time I've heard people say, "amen', "that' right", and "uh huh" durring a prayer given by Rich. They were very respectful of Rich because of his calling as a Bishop. Femi explained that in their culture a man of God is highly respected, not because of the man but because of his position as a representative of God. I thought it was neat that even though they are not of our faith they still respected the calling. We got to try some African cuisine too. It's amazing how similar the basics of the food is to the Polynesian and even South American Cultures, it's just seasoned differently. They had a ton of rice which was spicy, kind of like Indian food. There was the beef and pork and most all the parts of the animal in a sauce, spicy again. There were fried Plantains which reminded me of Brazilian food. They also served something like pastells...seasoned meat wrapped in a pastery. Most everyone wore traditional African clothes which were very pretty. We were the only white people there. It was very cool. Sorry, I'm saying cool a lot in this entry! But it was!

May...swimming, the fair, family & old friends

May was hot! Good thing Grandma has a pool and lives close. All of the kids love to go swimming and do very well, except Julia. She's afraid of the pool and will only sit on the top step. She doesn't even like me to hold her in the shallow end. Maybe by the end of the summer we'll have her enjoying it more.

(My California girl)

She does love to wear her swimsuit and doesn't she look like such a California girl with her sunglasses and flip flops?

(What a sweet big brother Gage is!)

She is probably the safest one near the water. Everyone looks after her and makes sure she always has her water wings on. She will go in the "little pool"...the hot tub. She thinks it's just for her.

( Julia's do it yourself make up)

This month Julia has gone from angel child to wild child. I can not tell you how many times I have cleaned up messes she has made this month. She decided to draw on her face with Jack's markers, she dumped half a bottle of dish soap on the carpet and couch, she hid behind the couch in the front room and dumped a bottle of baby powder out, she dumped the cheese mix of the macaroni and cheese box in the same place, she got into my make up and lotion and rubbed it on my closet wall, and she opened a bottle of baby lotion which was part of a baby shower gift and tried to wash her hair with it. I'm tired.

(The "Toothless Wonder"... as my Dad would say)

Ally has lost 3 teeth on top and a couple on the bottom. I hope she doesn't loose anymore for a while, she's getting to look like an old lady and will have to start gumming her food!

(Brave little Ally)

Ally's class went to the county fair for a field trip. Her favorite part was the Rain Forest tent. She got to hold a scorpion, a tarantula, she pet a python, and got to see a lot of other cool animals.

(Rich and Luis...in jail!)

Rich and I also went to the fair to help out at the church's exibit. They had a whole town built that looked like the old west with history about the settling of San Bernardino, family history info, and a picture spot (as you can see above...Rich and Luis, his 2nd counselor in the Bishopric, dressed the part and went to jail).

(The honor of the Baby Grand)

We visited Grandpa and Grandma's several times. Usually it's just Rich, Julia, and I that go but the kids were out that day so we took all of them. Jeremy gets the honor of playing Grandma's Baby Grand since he can play. The rule is no one can touch it unless they play.

Grandma gave him pointers and showed him some original sheet music she still had from when she took lessons long, long ago. I think the music of Moonlight Sonata she had was from the 1920s or 30s.

(Kristin, Lani, Autumn, and me)
Last Saturday Rich and I went to Newport Beach to meet some old friends we hadn't seen in a very long time. The guys are all of Rich's friends from highschool and we've known the wives from our Institute group before we were all married, all except Autumn...Dal had to wait a while to find her but we're glad he finally did.

(Rich, Dal, Scott, and Mike)
It's always fun to get the guys together, although we hear the same stories they always tell, they are just like highschool boys all over again. It's cute to sit back and watch how much they enjoy eachother. I did notice that Rich is the only one with grey hair...maybe it's the five kids!