Christmas Pictures

Semisi had a photo shoot with his cousins Sela and Sinalei. He seemes to be the only one of the three who wanted to cooperate so we got some really good pictures of him. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Picking out a Tree

Hangin' with Uncle Duke

My niece Sinalei

Picking out a tree!

Mom and Son

My niece Princess Sela

With Grandma

Semisi playing with his cousin Sinalei

My family has a tradition of going to the tree farm the day after Thanksgiving. We pick out a tree and come back later to pick it up. While we were home we got to go to the tree farm with family. I guess they had picked out the tree earlier so we just went with them to pick it up. We cleaned it and decorated it. It was fun family time!

Family Photos

Grandpa Michael and Michael Semisi

hey...better late than never!! In my defense, all the pictures from the weekend are on my parents' computer in OC and I can't post a blog about family pictures without the family pictures! So obviously we went to my parents' place in Southern California for the holiday. It was good fun, Dad's home cooking is still my favorite! We took the long drive down there for the holiday and my mom had also scheduled our family portraits...which we were all completely depressed by, considering the CONSIDERABLE weight gain on the part of at least half the members of our family. Let's just say that our last family portrait was 3 grandkids, 2 spouses, 6 years, and ??? pounds ago! I think it's obvious that I personally preferred we airbrush the spouses and babies into the old "skinny" pictures. lol So here they are...and I WOULD post the last portrait...but then the difference would be even more obvious! no way jose....so here goes..don't be too cruel.

Our Little Family

My Rogers Family

Our Entire Family!

The Rogers' Girls

The Rogers' Guys

Grandparents and Grandbabies

My brother Jared, his wife Kristen, and Sela and Sinalei

So as usual, being home with my family was too short...and I miss them too much! I can't wait until we move back home..or until Jared and the girls move here to Utah in June. We're way too dependent on each other. hahaha Growing up, we were just a little sheltered. I have nothing but incredible memories with my brothers and sisters growing up. We're all super ridiculous homebodies but it's nice that we all have that in common, I guess. Growing up, the only friends we were allowed to play with at home were each other. I hated it then, but I love it now. We're all best friends and spend most of our time together sitting at home and laughing our tails off! I have more inside jokes with my siblings than all of my friends combined. Love 'em!

A letter from Manase

Mary gave an awesome lesson in Relief Society a couple weeks ago about how to strengthen our marriages as well as other relationships. It was about the letters that Joseph Smith would write to Emma while he was away on business. She read a cute little letter that Wayne had written her while they were dating...and then Ula posted a letter of her own...and then tagged me to do the same. I don't have very much evidence of Manase expressing his feelings on paper because my husband, like may others I'm sure, isn't the best at saying how he feels. So I tend to cherish the rare moments where he actually does try to express something. This card is from Valentine's Day of this year when I was still pregnant...


Get ready...it's a little lengthy...hahaha

The card says:

For my Wife, My Friend, My Love...
I want to thank you
for everything you are to me...
and let you know
the I love the life we share.

Happy Valentine's Day

Okay so the card was a little generic...but what he wrote is the cute part.

Happy Birthday!!
So here is what happened. I was in Biology and I couldn't stop thinking about you (as always) so this thought came into my mind..."What kind of man do I want to be?" After thousands of examples I came to this conclusion --->>

I want to be the man of your dreams,
So irresistible like crack to a fiend.
Your Brad Pitt, Your Edward Cullen, your manliest man,
The one who can melt in the palm of your hand.
The one that you elbow, punch, and bite,
Who will make your saimini in the middle of the night.
The one who will lay with you 'til you wake up,
Who frustrates you, fights with you just to make up.
I want to shout out "I LOVE YOU!" when on TV,
So I throw up the "L" after every TD.
I can't begin to express how much you mean to me,
You're the greatest blessing that I've ever received.
So I thank you and I love you for letting me
Be the kind of man I want to be.

I LOVE YOU!

Who would have thought?...Manase the poet! hahaha He's so cute..I have another little excerpt from when we were dating. It's one of my favorites so I just wanted to include it as well...

If my love for you was like a football,
I'd never let you go.
I'll hold you tightly in my arms
And to the endzone we will go.
If, God forbid, I lose you,
lets just hope that not how it ends,
I'll fight, I'll scream do all I can
To get you back into MY hands!

I thought that poem was adorable! He'll probably kill me when he finds out I posted these but oh well.

I am a big fan of writing letters and keeping journals. We live in an age with so much technology that no one ever really takes the time to sit down and write a note to someone...even if it's just to show appreciation. There's nothing I love more than a "just because" note or gift. It's a nice reminder that someone was thinking of you. I love the idea of expressing your love, gratitude, thoughts, etc not because it's a birthday or holiday...but just because you were thinking of them.

So...do you have a letter, note, experience, card you would like to share?? It can be regarding your Husband, child, anyone!

6 Random Facts (tagged by Kristen)

1. Link this post to the person who tagged you: My SIL Kristen!
2. Post the rules on your blog (SEE!)
3. List 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I can nearly quote, word-for-word, the entire length of the movies "Dumb and Dumber" and "Ace Ventura" and "The Little Mermaid"
2. I absolutely LOVE to sing and play piano...just not in public...or in front of people I don't know.
3. I played the Clarinet for two years in Middle School.
4. I, like kristen, have what she calls a "tender heart"...my family more lovingly termed me the "emotional wreck" of our family. lol I think I literally cry on cue, which was the source of much entertainment for my brother growing up(he got a kick out of teasing me) and grief and embarrassment for me. Whenever we would have "intense" conversations in my family, I would start crying and everyone would get mad at me for crying and I would get SO FRUSTRATED because I couldn't control it and my nose turns Rudolph red! Every emotion I experience seems to be expressed through tears. haha
5. My little brother and sisters grew up on Barney...and I would watch the show with them..so I know pretty much EVERY Barney song from 95-2000 by heart! And I often enjoy singing them too..hahaha
6. I worked backstage at the American Music Awards when I was 16-18. And I've met and rubbed elbows with pretty much every music celebrity you can name. (or atleast that was around in 2001, 2002, and 2003.)

And I tag: Ula, Mary, Line, Ipo, Vika, and Kassie

Anuanu's 20th birthday

Anuanu's birthday was yesterday but we had a couple days of celebration for her conclusion of her teen years and the dawn of her twenties! First off, my dad had a business trip to Idaho falls but he opted to fly into SLC to spend one night with us before driving up to Idaho. On Saturday night we all went out to Benihana's, and as usual the food was awesome!

Yesterday for her birthday, being the poor struggling college students that we are, we opted to just go eat at Beto's or Rancherito's I guess, followed by a round of pool(Anuanu, Manase, and my favorite past time these days). We ended up just talking story after we ate for a couple of hours so we never made it to the poolhall. When we got home, I baked Anuanu a cake and we had way more fun than anyone our age should have decorating a birthday cake. hahaha


For those of you who aren't familiar with Anuanu, she's my sister. I am 4 years her senior, believe it or not, but she's more like my best friend. I think she's a couple years mature for her age and I'm a couple years behind, so our minds meet somewhere in the middle. hahaha. She's been living with Manase and I since we were married, and I guess now we're more living with her than she is with us. I absolutely adore her! We're alike in so many ways, yet exact opposites in other ways. She truly is beautiful inside and out and I would do anything for her. it's so amazing to have a sister and a best friend in one! *Happy Birthday Anuanu! I love you to death! Here's to many more sleepless night full of talking story, tears, and laughter. :D

Halloween

As I had mentioned in the last post, we went to Salt Lake on Halloween to go Trick-or-treating with the Amasio's. It was so much fun! The kids had the CUTEST little costumes and we got plenty of candy. I really enjoyed getting a chance to walk around outside and the weather was BEAUTIFUL. It was about 75 degrees well after dark! Which is unheard of in Utah the last day of October. So it wasn't too cold for Semisi to tag along with the kids. We always enjoy some quality time with the Amasio's!

Solomone and Semisi

Milika(10 mos) and Semisi(3 mos)

Milika, Lolohea, Sina, Solomone, and Semisi

Photo shoots

So Anuanu just got around to uploading some of the pictures we had on camera along with a little photo shoot she had with Semisi last night. I though I would post some. I still haven't quite figured out how this site works...I guess I'll just have to explore it a little bit more. All smiles!!

Chunky legs

In his Pimp hat

Vogue

Semisi turned 3 months yesterday and although those months have seemed to have gone by so fast, it's hard to remember what life was like before we had him! He's growing so much everyday. Now he laughs and talks(or tries, rather) when you talk to him. Sometimes we'll be having a conversation and he'll try to talk over us. I think we may have a little chatter box on our hands here. My parents say he got that from me, I have no idea what they're talking about...anyone who knows me knows I'm EXTREMELY shy. ;) He's such a good little baby. He's just started sleeping through the night, which is about 12am-6am but some nights he'll sleep up to twelve hours! I LOVE him on those nights...hahaha. He eats A TON and it's getting a little costly keeping up with him, but I guess he's just a growing boy!

Manase works 7am-3:30pm while I'm at home with Semisi and then I work from 5pm-10pm so the boys can spend time together. Manase offered to get a second job but I feel it's really important for Manase to have time to bond with Semisi. Besides, I enjoy the time out of the house and the opportunity I get to interact with other adults. Every Satur day Semisi and Manase get comfy in front of the TV for the BYU games. It's so adorable. He actually sits through the entire game! It's going to be so much fun taking him to the games next year for Manase's senior season.

Halloween is tomorrow and Semisi is going to be a Monster. I'm thinking about taking him to Salt Lake to go trick or treating with Lloyd's kids. We'll see. I should probably call Kristi first...haha...

Like I mentioned, Semisi is growing like a weed! And everytime I have to pack clothes away t hat he's outgrown, there's a little part of me that gets really sad. I may sound like a crazy person, but I can't wait to have another one!! I WON'T, for obvious reasons, but I have a feeling I'm gonna end up having a HUGE family. But I have no issue waiting at least a year, I've seen what it can be like having them too close together (thanks to Jared and Kristen). But we're already planning out when we'll start trying for the next little chunker.

Other than that, we're just preparing for the winter ahead. Semisi is well prepared, thanks to Grandma!! She bought all the winter clothes he'll need so hopefully he doesn't grow TOO MUCH before the winter ends.

Other news, last Saturday Anuanu, Manase, and I went to a concert to support our good friends Pati and Junior Maile and the Qoro twins. They sang at a benefit concert. Semisi spent some time with Aunty Nia and Uncle Vili. It was so much fun! The guys sang some great songs and Vaea was such an AWESOME bass player! lol.

Pati and his FAVORITE back-up singers

An Oldie picture re-enacted

Welcome to Fiji!

Life is incredible with our little family!

New to this...

So I've known about this blogspot thing for a while but I never really felt like I knew enough people to really go through the trouble of making one for myself. I recently discovered that my sisters-in-law both have one so I thought that might be enough close contacts to at least try starting a page of my own...then I can add other people I know. And then last night I wa just browsing through a bunch of people's pages and found that I actually know quite a few people who have a blogspot page! So here we are. Let's see...I'll just skip the intros and start from now...


We had Semisi's blessing this past weekend and it went wonderfully! Manase's parents and sister managed to make it out, but his brothers got stuck in California, unable to catch a flight. We missed them, but I know it was killing them too that they couldn't be here for the get together. My whole family came down except for Kristen and Sinalei and we missed them SOOOO much! But it's okay, maybe next time. Lani, Sarah, and Chloe, along with Lilio and Sina made the LOOOONG trek from California for the occasion as well. We were so glad to see them.

We started out with a kai on Saturday which was so fun after quite a bit of stress that I won't even begin to go into. There was plenty of food and everyone had plenty to eat. I really enjoyed having both of our families there for Semisi. I'm so grateful to my family as well as Manase's for everything they have done for our son. We really do have the best of both worlds. Manase's family bought the little white tuxedo and brought the BEAUTIFUL hand-made kahoa for him to wear.

Manase did an awesome job blessing Semisi. After church we had another eating courtesy of my favorite chef in all the world...my dad!! He rules...he seriously cooked a five course meal all by himself! I swear, it was equivalent to how much we usually have for thanksgiving. I love my dad to death...and just cuz I'm so grateful to him...i might call Semisi by his first name "Michael" every once in a while. :)

After we finished eating, we all let our food sit for awhile before heading over to Salt Lake to catch Lilio and Tali's homecoming fireside. In true Amasio fashion, we showed up just as they were announcing the closing prayer...just in time to mingle and then leave...lol. But it was nice seeing all of our family.

The worst part about having big family get-togethers is seeing them all leave. Especially in our little condo. It gets so crowded and busy around here when my family comes into town, and then when they leave it feels like Ghosttown around here with just the three of us. Anyway, I'm already making plans for the next time I get to see the family again...Thanksgiving!! I had to stay here in Utah last year for Thanksgiving and being the first one I experienced away from my family and my Dad's cooking...to put it lightly...I was MISERABLE. But until then, I'll just have to spend hours perusing through pictures of them...especially my ADORABLE NIECES who I miss way too much.

a couple more memories from the weekend.All my family!Semisi with Grandma and PapaI love my sisters!!Lolohea si'i, Anuanu, Sarah, me
Wow....I have nothing to say...the picture says it all..lol