Welcome to The Momma Tribe!

I love halloween! I love fall even more but Halloween is always more fun when you have someone to share it with! (And all other holidays) I'm not the greatest at decorating my house but being festive in other areas is so my thing! First I went and got my nails done and I'm completely obsessed!  Then of course we had to set up and dress up for the wards trunk or treat! So to prepare, I went and washed my husbands truck!  Then had to go pick up straw bales!  It was everywhere! Then of course the dressing up and candy part! My husband and I decided to go as Dorothy and the Scarecrow! It was so much fun! My husband made chili and decorated the truck!  I love Halloween! 

How many times have you heard someone talk about "the honeymoon stage"? What about "marriage is hard and takes work daily"? But are they ever talked about together? Well let me be the first to tell you that "honeymooning" does not mean "perfect life". In fact it's far from it. Don't let me confuse you, I LOVE being married more than anything in my entire life. And that's just the beauty of honeymooning. Getting through, working out, fixing, adjusting, compromising, learning and growing. If any of those words sound easy to you, you haven't experienced marriage. They're not easy and they're not suppossed to be. But that's what makes life beautiful. Realizing that all of those things are human and normal and HAVE to happen to improve a marriage. We fight quite often. The difference between "dating" fights and "married" fights is there is no option of "breaking up" there is only an option to w...

If you ask my husband what my favorite thing in the whole world is, he'd probably say (I hope) surprises! I LOVE LOVE LOVE surprises. Wether giving or receiving they are my favorite. So after my interview on Thursday I came home and told Nu'u to get ready cause we're going on a date! So he did. We drove to the strip but I still didn't tell him what we were doing. Walked in the Mandalay Bay and still didn't tell him. Finally walking to the ticketing counter for the Shark Reef he figured it out!  I haven't been to the shark reef at the Mandalay bay since like 6th grade for a field trip! So I was stoked! Haha and my husband of course had never been! It was so so so much fun! He absolutely loved it! Which is always really rewarding. Thursday was just all around a really good day! We left there and went to L&L for lunch! And that night we shared with the Gregory family who I love! We decided to go to the Scarlet and Grey opening event Thursday night and get the f...

My sister is a monster on the court and we love being creative! Last minute before her volleyball game against Gorman we decided to decorate shirts!  Unfortunately they lost their game but my husband put some sick tribal on the sleeves that I love!  More pictures to come!

We love when we get new married friends! It has been one of the hardest transitions for me to see less of my single friends and to see more of couple friends. Our favorite couple is our gf and bf Karyssa and Jeff! But now we get to add Brandon and Keri to the bunch and I'm so excited! And I think they are too. I always have a blast getting to share peoples wedding day with them! Especially after being married myself because now I get to kind of relive it every time I share that day with others! Keri is one of my favorite people that I grew up with and brandon and I used to be real close in high school before they started dating! So now I'm loving that they finally got married! It was a BEAUTIFUL and absolutely perfect day! Here's some moments captured on film :) 

So my Dad, have I told you how awesome he is? He started his own business when he was 32 years old and over the years has grown to be one of the most successful business man I've ever heard of. Is it smarts? Is it education? Is it luck? He always has and always will tell you it's The Lord and what he's been blessed with.  My dad sent me a text on Friday night last week and asked me to go shopping for the homeless. He also threw in there "I have cash for you to take shopping". So we headed over to his house and planned on shopping at wal mart. We walk in and he says there should be $1200 dollars there in cash. SPEND IT ALL. So we were off. We went to wal mart and bought 30+ sweatshirts of different sizes, different colors, some zip and some pullover. We got socks and underwear for both male and female in all sizes. We got bras of different sizes sports style. With what we had left we got a bunch of gloves. We didn't keep track of what we got to buy so when we w...

Sorry that it's been a while since I've posted, I've got to catch up on like 2 weeks! So to begin, I am looking for a job. I am a licensed Master Medical Aesthetician but my license is in Utah. Can I transfer it? Yes. But, it takes 6 months, and when I first moved back I wasn't planning on moving back for good or being here long at all. Now after so much has happened so fast we have decided to stay here and I can't do esthetics. Part of me is okay with that. Don't get me wrong I absolutely LOVE what I went to school for I just also love medical careers and medical settings. So I started to apply for reception positions or lower level jobs at places like dermatology offices, medical spas, and a few health/wellness spas. Then I thought pretty randomly to call my orthodontists office. I went to Dr. Griffiths for a little over 2 years for my braces but he has been a family friend for years, he attended our wedding and everything! Anyway I called them asking about a ...

Yesterday was just a good day!  So first I had breakfast with a dear friend who is getting married this weekend! I haven't seen her in forever and years ago we used to be INSEPERABLE! You know those friends you have that you don't see for a while, wether it's weeks months or years, but when you finally get back together, it's like you never missed a beat? That's kinda how it felt yesterday! It was so fun and we just talked and talked and talked.  So I brought my husband home some pancakes that he didn't eat..oh well! We headed out shortly after to go to target (we spend our lives there since we have a ton of gift cards) and I decided I'd let him so by himself and I'd go get my nails done.  While I was getting my nails done Nu'u did go to target and he let me know that he got me the "Best Gift Ever". So I came home to this... Nutella is my favorite thing in the world. My sister/maid of honor made me a "bridal survival kit" for my w...

How annoying would it be to have a high school diploma, apply for a collegiate level school, and basically be told your high school doesn't count? The struggles of being Tongan in America.  Nu'u wants to be a chef. So we went to Le Courdon Bleu to find some information. They gave us a tour of the school and sat us down to find out exactly what his goals are. Short and long term. So he decided he liked the school and wants to attend. We filled out an application. Got his high school diploma sent over from Tonga and turned that in. He was scheduled to start school October 30. Just 2 weeks ago we got a call from the school that something was wrong with his diploma and it got sent off for evaluation. The evaluation came back and said that following high school he was instructed to take a series of tests for continuing education (PCCS). He needed to pass 5 academic exams. He passed 3 academic and 1 non-academic. So in turn, it was not accepted as the equivalent to an American high s...

Let me tell you about me dear friend Kale........ My sister introduced me to an AMAZING wedding videographer over 2 1/2 years ago. She was watching some of his videos when I walked in her room and joined her. For the next 2 years I periodically got on Kale's website and followed his work. I fell totally and completely in love with the way he captured the love and affection between couples on arguably the best day of their whole lives. I decided very shortly after watching his first video that I would hire him for my wedding one day. Back in December when Nu'u and I finally got officially engaged I emailed him. Before I left to tonga I let him know it could be really soon. When buying plane tickets there I was under the impression that he would be returning from Tonga with me in a month. So we planned a wedding accordingly. February 9, 2013 the date was set. In my email I let kale know of the circumstance and that there were a lot of uncertainties still and I wasn't sure how...

You know you've been way to busy and invested in life when you don't even think to take your phone out and snap some pictures.  So Karyssa, member my friend from high school that got baptized then we had a temple date with our husbands? Well she text me after that temple date and said hey, you know teylor and kristie from volleyball? (Side note: my husband and I go play volleyball with some new friends and Nu'us cousin Sione at the church on Thursdays and Fridays, but also we hadn't missed a game of my sisters since her season started) so my mind instantly went to watching my sister play, so I replied, centennial? She said no from Thursdays and Fridays? I said OHHHHHH well I know Teylor? Because for 2 months I didn't know Kristie's name was Kristie because at volleyball she is known as "coach". We'll come to find out Kristie is Karyssa's mother-in-law and Teylor is her sister-in-law! Mind blown I know. So Kristie had already told me she was bri...

We drove from Buffalo, NY to Boston, MA on Sunday morning. Don't worry it's just 7 1/2 hours. My poor husband has never traveled like this except a couple times on his mission with the drive from Vegas to Reno that's 8 hours. To get from one side of Tonga to the other only takes an hour and a half! So it's pretty weird for him to drive that long. Anyway, we got to Boston late Sunday night. We drove past Fenway park as the Red Sox were just getting done with their game. We got to the hotel and of course my husband and I are hungry. We stayed just around the corner from Little Italy (heaven). So we walked down to one of the little resteraunts there, walked past one that smelled good and walked in. I had steak tips and Nu'u had some kind of lamb leg or something.  We only stayed in Boston for 2 days but on Monday we took a duck tour.  A truck that turned into a duck and just drove/splashed into the water. It was a really neat tour, unlike any I've ever been on and ...