My little helper.

Nadia is growing, growing, and growing some more. She never ceases to amaze me with how fast she picks up new skills and how well she comprehends what you say to her. I love to hear her little babble voice in response to questions. She loves to bring things to you and she is ever closing doors. She practically slams the fridge door shut the second I open it. One new helpful thing that she does is turning out to not be so helpful after all. Nadia loves to put her dirty diapers in the trash after you change her. At first I was so thrilled and excited that she jumps right up and throws away the diaper; then I realized it isn't only the diapers she likes to put in the trash. Her brand new church shoes, a couple toys, a stuffed animal and other items were "recovered" yesterday. So it shouldn't really surprise me that this morning when we searched high and low for Inoke's iPhone and could only hear a distant vibration coming from the kitchen area that we would find it in the trash bin as well. I really need to buy a new type of trash can that doesn't have a tempting swinging lid.

I know I should be mad or stern and find some way to discipline her, but how can you stay mad at a little face like this???

And she looked so cute this morning I had to take a couple shots of my mad skills at hair dos... can't wait for those curls to grow!

New Mooon...ahhhh.

Last night was a "ladies night out" whoohoo. Inoke went to work, Nadia went to sleep, I found a babysitter to come make sure she stayed asleep, and Fetu and I went to the midnight release of New Moon. Yep I am one of those crazy ladies who have read the Twilight Saga multiple times and so what? Don't knock me... :) I just have to say that I LOVE that there is a movie theater just across the street from home. At first I thought it would be better to go to town and watch the movie in a "big" theater, but I am so glad we just stayed out her in the country. The theater owner was so great, he had raffles for movie posters, bookmarks, soundtracks, etc. and free Godiva chocolates to keep the ladies waiting in line from going Twilight Crazy... while we waited patiently for 11 o'clock to roll around so we could enter the theater. We even had a star appearance from Robert Pattinson himself... see below. I loved the movie. It was a zillion times better than the first movie and I am sooo excited to see Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Until then I guess I will just have to settle for preordering the dvd and reading the books a couple more times...

BYUH vs. Team Fiji

Hmm. Well I am trying to figure out this whole shutterfly thing. In the past I have been a loyal photobucket-er, so the new apps are taking a bit to get used to. We will see... So obviously this past weekend was one of basketball. The annual BYUH South Pacific and Asia Invitational was here, so we went to show our support to Team Fiji and both our Alma Matter BYUH. Inoke and I sported the Red & Gold while little Nadia dressed for Fiji. It was the first basketball game for Nadia and she L-O-V-E-D it. It was really cute watching her clap, cheer and dance around. She was so completely mesmerized by the cheerleaders dance moves and the action on the court. It was pretty entertaining for about a whole half hour, then she took to exploring the gym and working on her skills climbing up the bleachers. So I spent the next hour chasing after her while Inoke watched the game. By the fourth quarter she was plum wore out and crashed; I am constantly amazed at how much noise she can tune out when she is tired. All in all we had a nice little family outing and I think Nadia is going to be a very big sports fan when she gets a little older.

My Yaca...

One last exciting happening from our trip to Fiji. While we were there Inoke's sister Wati had a beautiful baby girl. The totally exciting part about it is they gave the honor to me of being her "Yaca." Often times in Fijian culture children are named after important family members like grandparents or special uncles or aunts. The baby is then called their "Yaca" or "Name." So Wati's baby girl is now named Karla Ann after me. She is a beauty! I love her dark curls and her big eyes and she waited for me to get there before she made her entrance into the world. (Seriously, we pulled into the driveway and Wati was waiting at the dinner table bags packed ready to go to the hospital, already in labor). She was 4.4 kg or about 9lbs 7oz., and another cool tidbit her birthday is 10/21 and my birthday is 01/12. How cool is that? So here are a couple pictures of my beautiful little Yaca.

Baby Karla Ann, 10/21/2009, 9lbs. 7oz.

Yaca's sister Juju (who is a Yaca to Inoke's Grandma Sulueti), Yaca, and Nolani.

Nolani, Me, and my Yaca or as Juju always says Baby Aunty Karla. :)

Nadia giving kisses to Yaca. She loved to give her kisses... but got a little jealous if I tried to hold Yaca too much. So I waited for Nadia's naps to spend time with Yaca. :)

Fiji 2009

So as I briefly mentioned in the post before, this trip to Fiji was a lesson on flexibility and going with the flow. Things just didn't exactly fall into place as planned. Like for example the intital plan was to land in Nadi and stay one week at the Sheraton Denarau... well never put too much faith in Fijian "hook-ups" (unless they are from Wes, because Wes is the bomb with Marriott hook-ups). When we got to Nadi the hotel didn't have any record of us and we ended up staying at at the Sandalwood Lodge for one night slightly less posh than the expected resort. So since the resort for a week fell through we extended our rental car agreement and headed off to Suva to meet Inoke's family. Lucky thing his sister Balavu was able to call a friend and get us a good rate for three nights at the Warwick Resort and Spa. Finally after eight years of marriage I got to experience the "tourist" version of Fiji for a few heavenly days. It was awesome. We had a wonderful time and I told Inoke next trip I am staying a full week at the Warwick again. The rest of our trip we stayed up at Balavu's home in Tamavua. I love that place, just hate the misquotes... but that is Fiji for you. It was so fun hanging out with the nieces and nephew, fixing Nolani and Yaca's hair for school each morning, and getting plenty of laughs from little Juju's attempts to communicate with her broken English (She goes is five and lives in the village on Gau so she is still learning English). Even with all the bumps in the road, the trip was a success and Nadia loved playing with her cousins and being carried around by her Ta Levu. In the end Inoke and I were able to look back at all the little Plans that fell through and laugh about it.

Nadia's First Birthday

So we are home from our little trip to Fiji. (I am going to break this down to two posts, one on the birthday and the other on the trip in general). Nadia's birthday was great. She looked so adorable in her Fijian Masi Costume, and she really enjoyed all the attention. It was quite comical watching her walk around and squeal with delight as the kids gathered around to sing happy birthday. Of course being an American Mommy my main concern was making and decorating the cake; Inoke's main concern was the REAL FOOD. In the end both of us worked it out so I ( I mean we) were happy. I got to bake my billion cupcakes and make home made butter cream frosting and decorate the princess cake... and Inoke got his chops, drumsticks, chop suey, curry, taro, cassava, and potato salad. It was a good deal in the end.

Fijian tradition is to take the mother and baby and dress them in the masi , present the tabua (whales tooth) then bring them back and present them to the family. I just have to say that I have never seen such a beautiful costume in my life. I absolutely adore Nadia's little salusalu and masi. They were perfect.

Here are some shots of the little festivity:

And here is the invitation that I designed but didn't get to the print shop before going to Fiji... Let me just say that while I was totally bummed that I hadn't gotten them printed up before our trip; in the end it was better. The time changed, the place changed, the everything changed. This trip was one of those trips where you need a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D... because things just don't ever go according to Plan A.