remember that song?

I just had a blast from the past moment with this SWV song - "love is so amazing". How is it that I've been out of high school for over 12 years??? It doesn't seem possible. I'm pushing 30 this year. It seems like yesterday when I was in 7th grade in Peau's Science class writing in my journal "what I want to be when I grow up".......

***Troop - all i do is think of you***
***Tony Terry - when i'm with you***
***Boyz II Men - end of the road***
***Mariah Carey - vision of love***

Then there was the blur of high school that seemed to come and go in a flash. I have random memories of homecoming and prom dances, honor society "rituals" and "pep rallies" the way only high schools in Samoa can do em' . . . more like . . . only the way Tafuna High School can do em'! There was JSA where I met Rowen and Sunny and Tenney and the rest of that crazy crew. And Close-Up of course . . . how can I forget Close-Up with Kevin, Hereme, and the rest of the ghetto gang from AS - sleeping on benches in Detroit waitin' to get to DC....good times!!

***SWV - love is so amazing***
***Jade - one woman***
***Soul 4 Real - candy rain***
***DRS - gangsta lean***
***Lighter Shade of Brown - ridin low*** (this one is for Kirt)
***Paper Boy - ditty***

And then all of a sudden it was June 1997. Me in my gold cap and gown (it was more yellow than gold) bidding farewell to all the guys and gals of WARRIORSVILLE. haha...we thought life had ceased for a second there, what were we going to do now? Well, I got over that real quick when I arrived in Utah in August of that same year. I still remember the day I waved goodbye to my mom as she drove off and left me standing in front of the Benson building on the BYU campus in Provo. I remember the tears starting to well up, but then I spotted Kelcey. I felt this calm rush through me after seeing a familiar face.

The next 4 years at BYU would go something like this - Praying for a C in Chemistry, taking Calculus I twice, barely passing Physical Science (never take that in a summer term), moving in with Tammy and Nola, meeting Lia and Josh and the whole Ricks Idaho crew, driving Alex's unregistered and uninsured Bronco into the hot pots of Spanish Fork, hiking Alpine trying to find the sliding rocks, watching international films at the Kimball Tower, playing pool every weekend at the OZ, party hopping on the weekend (that was mainly JR year), spending almost every week night in the library until midnight, dancing with the Samoan club, bbq'ing with Tia and Fotu and everyone for that matter, watching Tuesday devotionals especially when it was Pres Hinkley or a member of the 12 speakin, switching majors 3 times, cleaning bathrooms in the RB for 2 whole summers, taking Christmas trips home to Samoa, stuffing our faces at Tucano's, working out every day at Gold's Gym, playing basketball with Jackie, Tammy, and Nola at the DT courts, making pancakes for all the Samoans who missed the makeki pancakes, watching faleaikus at Beth and Tammy's pad, volunteering at Slat Canyon, sending all the boys off on missions - Sei, Talaga, Kelcey, Mosi, Walter and the rest of em', meeting the prime minister of Samoa and the Pres of BYU and having lunch with them, buying my very first car - my Isuzu Rodeo (we still have it), and then finally graduating. That was BYU in a very, very small nutshell.

***Dr Dre - the whole Chronic album***
***Voices of Theory - say it***
***TLC - no scrubs***
***Destiny's Child - brown eyes***
***D'Angelo - your my lady***
***NSync - bye, bye, bye***
***Britney Spears - hit me baby one more time***
***Jay-Z - big pimpin***
***Ludacris - fantasy***
***Outkast - so fresh and so clean***
***Uncle Sam - I don't ever wanna see you again*** (this one is for Fotu :) )


So I attached some of my fave songs from the 90's on a playlist because they are making me feel really happy right now.....

backing up . . .Memorial weekend

I've been MIA from this for a few weeks. Over Memorial day weekend we spent a half day at the Brigham Young Heritage Park in SLC (posting pics later). We didn't plan on going there, in fact Anthony had job he was doing up by the zoo and so we decided to meet him up there. Instead, we passed by the park and decided to stop there and look around. None of us had ever been there before and so it was an amazing first time experience for all of us. Actually, I think mom might have gone there when she visited several years ago.

Anyway, my favorite part about the park was reading the monuments dedicated to the pioneers. There was a lot I didn't know, for example, I didn't know that there were Catholic priests that traveled with the pioneers. I thought that was most interesting.

One of the monuments described the pioneer trek and the many lives that were lost and also of the joys that were experienced when they first entered the valley. The spirit was really strong there and we all got teary eyed as we read of all the hardships and sacrifices that were made for the gospel of Jesus Christ. My favorite monument was the one that stands the tallest that shows Brigham Young in the moment that he says "this is the place". Although I've heard that story several times, seeing the monument made it come to life and I have a greater testimony now of living prophets and continued revelation in our day.

Our spontaneous little field trip strengethed my testimony, especially since moving here to Utah. I'm not sure if it's because it's the headquarters of the church and that it is well known as the 'mormon' state, but I find that people are a lot more critical about the church here and it can be a little disheartening at times. There are a lot of other reasons that make Utah 'different' for me, but thats another blog all it's own.

Okay, fastforwarding to last Saturday. My friend Peggy from work called me up and asked if I wanted to go to the Oquirrh temple celebration at the conference center. I had never been to one of those in Utah. In fact, the only other one I've been to was the celebration for the rededication of the Samoa temple. My mom and I decided to go with Peggy that night.

I just have to say, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. There were nearly 7,000 youth from the temple's surrounding areas including South Jordan and Magna that performed dances from different eras. There were even some non-LDS youth that participated which I thought I was amazing. One of my favorite dances that they did was a section on Polynesia. There were about 350 youth that did poi balls, hula, and an amazing Maori haka. To see all of them be so enthusiastic about a dance and culture that is not their own made me proud to be polynesian. The girls wore cute red and blue ies tied up and around their necks. There were so many of them that they hardly fit on the conference center stage. They also performed dances from the 20's, 40's, and 50's eras. It was cute to see the poodle skirts and swing dances, especially cute to see the little beehives and deacons. We could not stop talking about it. The spirit was so strong throughout the performances.

They painted a huge backdrop of the mountains that stand behind the temple and a mountain path that lead to the top. At the very end they raised up a cardboard replica of the temple to stand at the top of the mountain. That was probably one of the most emotional moments. It was definitely a reminder of the prophecy of Isaiah that the Lord's house would be built in the tops of the mountains which went along with their theme which was "Come to the mountain of the Lord". I'm so glad that we had the opportunity to go to that. I don't know if I'll ever have another chance since those things are really hard to come by. But I know that my testimony was strengthened of eternal families and the importance of temples.

What happened last night?

Aside from my favorite FOX shows, there is little else I watch around this time of year than the NBA playoffs. My favorite team, the Sac Kings haven't seen the playoffs in like 3 years since the whole drama with Ron Artest and losing Chris Weber. He was really the only reason they climbed my favorite list. I am not quite as big a fun as I was since he left, but I don't want to be considered a fair-weather fan just because of that.

Needless to say, the Kings got jipped of their first round pick as they were predicted to get. They fell to the 5th pick with the Clippers (heaven help them) lucking out for first dibs.

Since the Kings haven't been much in the spotlight lately, I have had joy watching my other two favorite teams play in this season's playoffs: The San Antonio Spurs and the Cleveland Cavs. No, I've never lived in any of these towns or states for that matter, but the players are what determine my liking for a team. I've always had a secret love affair with Tim Duncan since he joined the league in 1997. 12 years later he is still going strong and never once left the Spurs, how bout that for loyalty. And then what can I say about Lebron James? Phenomenal. Dominant, yet a team player. Huge scorer, even bigger assistant. Can't find that in very many (hint . . . Kobe?)

With the Spurs out of the playoffs only after the first round, all my faith is now with the Cavs. So my big question is "WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?" Talk about an upset. Orlando coming back in the fourth quarter after being down the whole game to win by 1 point in the last 5 seconds. Stunning. One of the greatest come backs I've ever witnessed (Dwight Howard with the greatest shoulders I've ever seen). Total disappointment for the Cavs who managed to sweep through the first two rounds and rest 8 whole days. Too much rest? Well, they will be back on their toes I'm sure to come back and give Orlando a run for their money. I can already see this being one of the greatest playoff runs in history.

As for the Lakers...well, I'm not a huge Laker fan unless they are playing the Utah Jazz (Bottom of my least favorites list). They will no doubt make it to the finals. That is when I truly hope that the Cavs pull through and Lebron James can take his MVP trophy and shove it in Kobe's . . . well. . . his face! MVP trophy to go with an NBA championship? We can only be so hopeful . . .

new moon

New Moon is due out in theaters 11/20/09. Same weekend as last year. Cine and I will be at the first showing again - Yes, even with all the screaming, annoying little teeny boppers. I will buy my tickets a month in advance as I did last year and we will have a blast again. Sulu will probably join us this year and whoever else is interested. I found the new poster for the movie on http://www.twilightmoms.com

SURVIVOR SAMOA!

So I'm not a huge fan of this show, though I do like to watch it on occassion. It has been confirmed that the next season of SURVIVOR will be filmed this summer in SAMOA! I don't know if it's just me, but I find that dang exciting!!!

Like with anything else Samoan or Polynesian related I will definitely be watching this season just to get glimspes of "home".


Just thought I'd put that out there if you didn't already know!

rootin' for the underdog

We are pleasantly surprised that Kris is a finalist. He is definitely the underdog given the judges remarks and their whole worship of Adam, but we are hopeful that America will pull through. Me and mom voted for Kris 4 times Tuesday night and I think our votes might have made the difference (although there were more than a million votes separarting the top 2) we are still convinced! So for all you skeptics out there...don't think your vote doesn't count because it does!!! ( yes, i know this is lame, but come on...it's American Idol!!)

TO VOTE FOR KRIS CALL 1-866-LUV-KRIS

OR

TEXT YOUR VOTE TO 8675309

If you attempt to call or text to the above #'s you are seriously lamer than I am and have no idea that I made this whole thing up myself. Texting messaging rates and sevice charges may apply. Remember to dial 1-866 and not 1-800. Get a life. Tata for now.

Disclaimer: I am not hating on Adam by any means, I still think that his version of "tracks of my tears" is still the best performance of the season by anyone, but I really like Kris's performances in the past week and I think I would be more likely to buy a Kris album over an Adam album. Just me. (I'd still buy a Matt album if he ever made one)

Sick Mother's Day Weekend

I woke up early Friday morning with the intent to go to the temple with my friend Peggy from work. I was really disappointed when my alarm went off and I could barely swallow because my throat hurt so bad. I sadly had to cancel our temple trip. I slept until about 12:30 that afternoon. I thought my luck was starting to change when April passed without a sinus infection or my allergies acting up. It was too good to be true. With the weather changing it was inevitable that I would get my yearly sinus infection.

Despite all that, Anthony still took me out for dinner and a movie on Saturday. We finally checked out the Joy Luck Restaurant down the street from our house. I think it was okay. I couldn't taste any of it besides knowing what dishes were sweet and which ones were spicy. It was kind of sad actually because anyone that knows me knows that ...I LOVE FOOD!!

We watched "Wolverine" and it was okay. I think Fua's rating of a 4 out of 10 was about right. The action I would have rated a little higher, but It was a little different than what I expected. I thought it was good though. My favorite part was when he jumped in to the waterfall....uh huh!

I got some roses and a cute new purse from fashion bug. I took mom and Sulu shopping for shoes. After church, we ended the weekend with dinner at Sizzler. (Mani tried to give me a guilt trip by saying...dining out on Sunday?...really? are you trying to be agelu since you moved to Missouri....just "sdop it", as Sina would say)

Despite the grogginess, the weekend was "sick" in all definitions of the word.