The Last of the Baptisms: Tunoa

I am amazed at how beautiful this day turned out! Tunoa has not been excited to be baptized at all until he had his interview with the Bishop (Cliff) on Tuesday. I didn't know what happened to change his mind at the time of the interview, but Tunoa came down afterward and yelled with excitement, "I am getting baptized on Saturday!" I responded that was so cool and how happy I was to see him be ecstatic about it.

I asked Cliff about it and he told me the next day that he just tried to relate to him in his own 8 year old mind. Tunoa had written up on the dry erase board in our room that he gets to be niys (nice), mom gives him kanbe (candy) for being niys, can help uthrs (others), be like Jesus, and other reasons that I can't remember. Basically as soon as Tunoa realized it wasn't a scary thing, he was ready. It was like he understood!

We were able to hold it on Zoom, so all of Cliff's family was able to watch. Nezhone and Mom were able to join as well. We were originally going to have just the baptism and confirmation and be done. But, we had an opening song "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus" which was perfect for him because that is what he said he was trying to do. Adrik said the prayer because he is one that Tunoa LOVES to play with. The baptism came next with Lavea'i and Tula'i as the witnesses. and while Tunoa and Cliff were drying off I had Kalena and Leilani sing "Choose Him Again" to please my mom that there was something more than just the baptism. After the song, Cliff confirmed him. I wasn't able to hear much because I was watching Brother Hartman's, the 2nd Counselor who was conducting, little girl who was running up and down the hall. After the confirmation, the closing song was one of his favorites, "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man." Manatua gave the closing prayer and it was done. 

It was so simple and just focused on the ordinances that were being performed. I loved that there was nothing afterward and just family that normally wouldn't be able to be there was able to watch vis Zoom. What a special experience! 

It did occur to me that if we could have kept our flights to Samoa, he could have been baptized down there. That would have been an amazing experience, but I have realized that it doesn't matter where you are baptized, but that you are baptized and make those covenants with our Heavenly Father. 

Things I will hope to remember about this day: 1. the simplicity of it all 2. how excited Tunoa was to be baptized 3. All of my children have entered in on the straight and narrow path and what a joy that brings to my life .

When I say Tunoa was so ecstatic, I mean as soon as he knew Cliff and I were awake, he ran into our room all dressed to go to the chapel at 7. I had to let him down by saying that they all needed to have hair cuts. He was so disappointed and pouted because he just wanted to go to the church and get into the water. Oh, the beauty of little children!!!

After his baptism, we were able to enjoy Chic-Fil-A for lunch and play the rest of the day. What a blessed day to see everything that we have been doing in our home to help him prepare to take this step and make covenants. It is definitely not easy to keep going every day, but when these times come, it is so worth all of the challenges! Most of my heart wrapped into this picture and the reason I don't say all is because Cliff is that other part of my heart!

Tennis Season 2020 is Closing

I have enjoyed watching the girls tennis team this year once again. Kalena is actually playing in a match tomorrow with Tasha and I hope they work hard to win this one. Haley and Nicole are sitting this one out and leaving it up to the rest of the team to take home section champs. Kalena is starting to actually enjoy the sport now and didn't want to leave practice the other day. I always try to get her to hang out with her tennis team, but refuses. I have told her that she needs to socialize a little more, but refuses to do that as well. I push and she pushes back. 

I have at least been able to get her out on the court with me a couple of times to just hit and feed me balls. We end up playing and she has fun! I loved it just yesterday between conference sessions that we were hitting with each other and having fun together. She is so chill and fun to be with. 

Anyway, her team this year has grown and I hope that she does even better next year. I am trying to determine wether or not we should just get a membership to the Glen Creek Club for the year. I will have to look further into it though. 

Her team Left to Right: Top row: Coach Brian, Nicole, Ava, Jess, Haley, Kalena, Ariella. Coach Dawn, Bottom row: Larissa, Layla, Aly, Tasha, Monroe

It is fun to cheer all of these girls on and be able to talk with them. Coach Dawn actually had me go and practice with them for the last half hour one day and it was quite fun. Kalena and I were partners in a couple of the drills and did ok.

Tasha's mom came and talked to me on Blue and White practice day to celebrate the seniors. She told me that Tasha tells her that "Why can't you be like Kalena's mom? She is learning how to play tennis." I just responded to her that it isn't too difficult when I don't have a job outside of the home. Tasha's mom then said, "I don't work either. I just am teaching my 8 year old son for school all day and that is exhausting." I replied back, "That is a job in itself." The she proceeded to tell me that Tasha has also told her that "Kalena's mom comes to all of the away games." She replied, "You aren't an only child Tasha, I have 3 children that I am trying to take care of." She said that Tasha responded to her by saying, "Well, do you want to know how many siblings Kalena has?" She told her mom we had 6 kids and her mom just said, "Of course she does!" I just chuckled and we both laughed about it all. I love being there to support not only Kalena, but all of the girls whose parents can't make it. They are a good group of girls.

Tunoa Olaus Turns 8

Happy birthday buddy! He was so excited for his birthday to happen. He has always been excited for his day ever since he was a one year old. Tunoa has always understood what his birthday was all about. I will never forget when he was turned one and Kimo was there for training and celebrated with us. We put him in his high chair and oh the joy and excitement that was on his face. Kimo was blown away by how he understood to blow out his candle. The only one that was ever able to comprehend at that age. 

Since his birth, he has been a firecracker! He has so much energy that could keep going for eternity. He does fall asleep quickly at night because he is constantly moving during the day. He is getting better, but still has to move around at the dinner table whenever he is eating. He constantly is fidgeting when he reads. He doesn't like to be given any tasks because he just gets frustrated and is easily sidetracked that we have to tell him 10 times what to do. He LOVES to eat junk...starbursts, chocolate, almost any candy. He isn't fond of ice cream and cake put together. He will eat them when they are separate bowls. He is a kid that likes to have fun and not sit for too long of a period of time. Cliff has named him his "warmer-upper." He produces so much body heat. 

Anyway, the morning of his birthday, he ran into our room as soon as he woke up and asked if he could open the present that grandma had sent him. I couldn't hold him off and he ran down the stairs so ecstatic and in a flash was back up in our room trying to rip it open. Grandma Bandmann tapes her packages up so well that they are always hard to open. He sat on our bed getting the filling from the package all over it. Finally, Cliff opened it with scissors in our bathroom. Mom had sent him a view finder and a "gr8t to be 8" dog tag necklace for his baptism that is happening this coming weekend.

He played Xbox for 3 hours, did his homework, and then played the rest of the day. Tunoa asked to have chocolate chicken for dinner (really homemade Bbq chicken). Then he requested a captain America shield cake with a Captain America figure on it. He loved it so much that he didn't want to put the candle on it. I also allowed him to have it be his very own cake. I had to go and buy 6" round pans for it, but now this is the request of everyone on their birthdays. I have started something that I don't know if I can keep it up.

He played Xbox for 3 hours, did his homework, and then played the rest of the day. Tunoa asked to have chocolate chicken for dinner (really homemade Bbq chicken). Then he requested a captain America shield cake with a Captain America figure on it. He loved it so much that he didn't want to put the candle on it. I also allowed him to have it be his very own cake. I had to go and buy 6" round pans for it, but now this is the request of everyone on their birthdays. I have started something that I don't know if I can keep it up.

He loved also that he had his own cake to eat for the next 3 to 4 days by himself. He also got his money and has finally spent it all on starbursts, popsicles, chocolate bar, and who knows what else. He was so happy to buy all this junk food for himself though. 

I absolutely love this kid of mine and love that he is still small enough to hold in my arms on the couch. He is 43" tall and only weighs 57lbs. What a tiny lad! He knows how to push my buttons, but also how to melt my heart right away. Life would not be the same without him!

One more thing...BECAUSE he is 8 years old, he doesn't have to have a booster seat anymore. I never thought that day would come that we wouldn't have to have one of them in my car. This has been through 4 children. Tula'i was the very first one to use it. Now, 5 years later it was not hard to say goodbye! In the garbage it went.

Tula'i's BIG 13

Another normal day? NO WAY, it is a day of another teenager in the house now. He is a pretty good teenager at that so far. He wanted to play Xbox all day for his birthday as well, but in between Maika's and his there was a HUGE blow up about the Xbox and the kids being so lazy, that their privilege was taken away for indefinitely! Cliff was so mad at them, that he almost smashed them himself. I wouldn't let him though because I was thinking that is a lot of money wasted, at least sell them and get some money off of them. 

Anyway, went and played tennis with Erin and then I had to run to the store and make sure we had everything for his birthday as well. I had the kids come with me to the park while I played tennis with Erin. Afterward, we picked Kalena up from practice and went shopping for food. He wanted to have Chic-fil-A for his birthday dinner. I can't explain how much this kid LOVES chicken fingers and French fries. We were just going to eat out at Chic-Fil-A, but then I had the idea that we should just get the imitation sandwiches and nuggets from Sam's Club and then invite the Graybill's over. We did just that and he seemed pretty happy about it. It was cheaper and had more food. Everyone was satisfied with the meal. 

He requested the chocolate raspberry cake. I made 2 knowing that one wouldn't be enough and I also made homemade ice cream again for him. He was in heaven with all of the food. 

Like Maika, Tula'i got $70 for his birthday. I know that he won't save it because money burns a hole in this kids pocket. He is addicted to Dr Pepper and will spend all of his money on this if he it. 

Cliff and I did let him play for a couple of hours and the rest of the kids only got 1 hour of playing time on the Xbox. He seemed happy with that. We really have to not monitor the time on electronics for the kids. If they are given a little bit of time, they tend to be ok with it and not so lazy. Too much, not good!

Anyway, Tula'i had a Dr appointment as well. He is 5'8" and 120lbs. Maika has 57 lbs on him. It is so crazy how skinny Tula'i is, but he stops eating when he is satisfied, not full. He is always trying to steal people's water no matter what time of the day. He loves to read Big Nate and comic books. He and Kalena have this tickle my back thing whenever a movie is being watched, or reading scriptures, family council, etc. is going on. He eggs people on because he likes to get a reaction out of them. He is ALWAYS sneaking off oh so quietly to get out of doing chores! I often forget that he isn't there until I need him for something and he doesn't answer. Tula'i is always up for a game or two even if he loses. He just wants to have fun and enjoy life.

Him and his Dr Pepper. He is probably telling Lavea'i he can't hav it, HAHA!

I always try to get one picture of them actually blowing out the candles. This year, I only had one candle for him to blow out. My stash has slowly disappeared.

Already a couple of inches taller than me. I feel like a shrimp compared to my older kids. 

First Olympic Triathlon in the Books

I have wanted to try a Triathlon for a few years now and finally accomplished one virtually. Because of Covid, the race went from being in Atlantic City, NJ to being done virtually. Not the best one to do for the first time...virtually, I mean. There was some positives about it, but not having anyone there to cheer you on at the end was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The Hobble Creek 1/2 marathon was a cake walk in comparison to this. I just wanted to give up at the end of the run on this race. It didn't help that we ended up being an hour behind schedule because Ben forgot his shoes to run in. 

I talked my friend, Kami Adcock, to join in with me in doing this Olympic Triathlon. The distances were a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike ride, and a 6.2 mile run. I thought the swim and the bike was going to be brutal, but it ended up being the easiest portion of the race. The run was a killer. It was at the heat of the day 2:30pm. It was so hot and we were dehydrated because we hadn't carried any water on our run with us. I was weaving in and out of the shade and grass so try and lessen the heat. My legs were quads would start to cramp every time I would run. We ran the whole first 3 miles of the run and then walked most of the last 3 miles. Kami's calf was killing her because she got a charley horse after the swim. My mind was trying to keep me motivated to finish, but my legs were so done with all of it.

I didn't do too bad for a first time. I even got a winners metal in my age bracket! My times were as follows, swim was 47:41.33, bike 1:27:33, run 1:12:09. Brutal, but enjoyable and I would definitely do it again!

All of my swag because the race was done virtually. If it was in Atlantic City, we wouldn't have gotten all of this. There weren't very many people that participated virtually, I guess they all weren't happy about it all being virtual like myself.

Ocean City, NJ continued...

Monday morning came and Cliff and I went to go play tennis after he read his scriptures. Cliff likes to see how hard he can hit the ball over the net. We started to play a couple of games and he hit 4 balls over the fence. Two of them were on the street into traffic. I just laughed and enjoyed the time to be outside and hit a few balls. One ball bounced on the road and hit the front of the car. I am sure I had a look of shock while wearing a smile. After that game was over, he asked me how to hit the ball. I had to show him how to grip the racquet and then how to swing. From that point on, he did pretty good! He nailed some balls over the net that were so fast!

After tennis that morning, we had to run to Walmart to get some things that were forgotten home. A list of items consisted of food for lunches, more watermelon, boogie boards (just a couple of them), a canopy, beach chairs, snacks for the beach, bottles of water, and sand toys. In all the purchase was about $250 dollars. 

We made it home around noon and then ate lunch before heading out to the beach around 1:30pm. We all went along carrying our towels and things to play with with. The sand felt so warm underneath our feet. It was a perfect day for playing in the water. The kids didn't want to use the boogie boards, but then Cliff went in with one and came back with it. None of them wanted them until I went out and showed them how to catch the waves. They grasped the concept pretty quickly of having to catch the wave at the bottom after I pushed them a couple of times. From that point, Tula'i didn't want to share the boogie board. Him and Maika were literally wrestling over the board. Leilani wanted the other one and wouldn't really share it. After I told her she had to give it up to someone else, Kalena and Lavea'i were happy to use it. The boogie boards were a HIT!!!

The next morning we decided to try and get some more boogie boards after Cliff and I went and golfed on a par 3 course that was so laid back and funny! It was so foggy when we first teed off that we couldn't even see where our balls landed. All we knew was the general direction where they landed. It was fun! We ended up challenging each other on the last hole straight up, no mulligans, and I ended up hitting it over the fence and lost by one stroke. BUMMER!! Around hole 7 I was eaten alive by mosquitoes!!! I had so many bites all over my legs the next few days that itched like crazy!

After golf, we headed to a store in Ocean City that was right around the corner from where we were staying for boogie boards and got there just as the last 2 were being taken. We went to a Walmart that was closer to us, but they were out of them as well. So, off we drove another 45 minutes from that Walmart to the one we had been at just the day before and finally was able to round 5 more up. We also found a wagon to load everything up in for the beach. That was another $175. Everyone had their own and now we could all compete who would go the furthest. It became a war between Kalena, Tula'i and myself. But, wait for it, Tunoa amazed us all and was a pro on the board before long and was wasting on all of us. 

Kalena was the first one done on that first day. She was such a grouch about it and just wanted to go back to the rental and shower. 

But then this happened and she was just fine...BUT don't smile too much or you will get sand in your mouth!

The kids and all their boogie boards. The water, not as clear as the Pacific Ocean, but it is still the ocean and still just as fun!

Our view from the canopy every day!!! So enjoyable...

Leilani and I just getting another picture in on the sidewalk walking home from that Sunday of taking a walk. 

Kalena and Maika enjoying the boogie board the first day and finally getting a hang of it! I had to tell them when to switch with each other so a war wouldn't break out between all of them.

Leilani and I trying to get a good selfie with the selfie stick! After about 5 of them, it works out!

Tunoa getting a hang of it and beating all of us catching waves. PURE JOY!!!

In between waves...

We didn't leave the beach that night until about 6:30 or 7pm. Even at that, it was like pulling teeth to get them out of the water. Tula'i thought he was done, but then came back and rejoined the havoc after about 20 minutes of sitting. 

Our last day there, Wednesday, we got to the beach around the same time again and stayed again for about another 4 hours. That evening we took those who wanted for a walk on the boardwalk. We quickly realized that the same stores kept reoccurring. We got custard cones for those that came and they were about $6 bucks a piece. Lavea'i got a mint chocolate mix and I ended up switching my orange vanilla one because he didn't like his. AND YES, it SUCKED!!! The mint overpowered the chocolate that it was all that could be tasted.

What a wonderful trip! I would do it every year, but we are going to try Morraine Lake next year with the Adcock's in the cabin's for a whole week. It should be fun! We need a tandem kayak though. It should be a blast! If it is just as fun, we will be rotating each year with our week long trips. 

It is nice to start finally enjoying adventures out here instead of always wanting to go back to Utah. I hope the kids will begin to realize that Utah isn't everything and that there is much more to enjoy in the United States. Adventures await anywhere we go!!!

Ocean City, New Jersey

What an amazing place, Ocean City! The beach was phenomenal and so clean. The kids had a blast boogie boarding every day for hours on end. We drove out there on the 8th of August, which was a Saturday, and arrived there around 4pm. The weather was sunny and humid. The kids really wanted to go to the beach that day, but we had to buy beach tags first in order to swim and enjoy it. So, after we unpacked all of our stuff in the small vacation rental, Cliff and I rode our bikes to buy the beach tags so we wouldn't have to do it Monday morning. That was a fun little bike ride on the boardwalk...most of the way. Anyway, until we got stopped by a police officer telling us that there is no bike riding on the board walk after 12p.m. We still had a ways to go after jumping off, but didn't mind the walk the rest of the way. It was a good stroll looking at the stores and what was around. We got to the place to purchase the tags and was able to get mine for free because I am a Veteran. I only had to pay for the older 4 kids and Cliff. The money goes towards keeping the beaches clean, lifeguards and other things of that sort. We rode our bikes back the whole way on the road and enjoyed it. When we got back, we had dinner and just chilled out the rest of the evening. 

Sunday, the younger 3 really wanted to go for a walk on the beach and kept asking the whole day. I finally gave in around 2p.m. I was ready to get out as well and done sitting in the rental. I can only read so many chapters in the scriptures and play so many games before going insane. Cliff was taking a nap and after he woke up, we went down to the beach. It was nice to get out and walk in the really squishy, fine sand. The water was a bit chilly on the skin as we waded in it. Tunoa kept going further and further out each time, getting his shorts wet. I actually had to roll the waist over a couple of times so they wouldn't fall off of him. We walked about a mile down the shoreline and then turned around. Leilani, Kalena and I picked up shells that Leilani kept and now has them in a jar of water. Tunoa found a little crab that tickled as we held it in the palm of our hands. This was the only one we found. There were a bunch of clam shells, tiny ones, that when the waves came and moved the sand uncovering them, they would quickly bury themselves again as the water resided. This was something I had never seen before. 

You can see the pure peace and joy on the kids faces as we surround ourselves with one of God's beautiful creations.

I am enchanted with sand underneath my feet! This sand was so fine and "squishy" (as Dory would put it) in-between my toes. 

I love my children and the fun we were able to have with each other on this walk.

When we got back from the walk, we played "Catch Phrase." At first, it was everyone but Tunoa and Cliff. My team lost! So, we started another round and Cliff decided to join in the fun. It made the teams uneven, but what was funny was Lavea'i was the one he would pass the machine to for his turn, but would place it on the floor instead of handing it directly to him. This lead to the buzzer going off in Lavea'i's hand. From then on out, it was a game of not giving the buzzer to the person and making them go run for it across the room. Kalena did it to me and I climbed on her and sat on her instead of going to get the machine. Lavea'i at one point threw it into the room where he was sleeping and Tula'i had to hurry and run after it. 

After getting back from the walk and playing the game, we had steak for dinner. It wasn't the best, but it tasted good enough if it was dipped in the juice and had salt sprinkled on it. We also had baked potatoes and cantaloupe. 

After cleaning up and watching "God's Not Dead," we went to bed. Our vacation had begun on this day and was such a joy!!!