The past week.

Thank you those who stopped by last week, read my "venting" post and commented. I appreciate your comments and words of comfort. I'm over it and truly wish the "so-called friend" the best in all she does. I'm moving on and doing the best I can to help where I can.

Back to the title of my post, it has been a hectic and crazy week. But I survived. Here's a run down of how my week went:

June 30: 5:30 am - EMZ (Early Morning Zumba). Full day of work. Filimoe'atu Family reunion - Day 1. It was talent night and the venue? My backyard. Everyone started arriving around 6 pm. We began at 7 pm and ended roughly at 9:30 pm. We all potluck'd and had a dj. Surprisingly, no complaints from the neighbors. But then again, I have great neighbors.

July 1: 5:30 am - EMZ. Another full day of work. Since my twins were not old enough to go on the reunion service project, I took them to the "Dream Big" camp sponsored by Sione Pouha. They came back home with my sister Lani who also took her boys there. It was Day 2 of our reunion. They began the day with service. They all met at the Bishop's Storehouse at 9 am. They cleaned, stocked, organized and helped out where ever they need help. Around noon they headed over to the Humanitarian Center for a tour. Afterwards, they headed to the park for a bbq that was prepared for them. Once I got off work, I stopped by the store to shop for my assignment for the reunion - items to make omelets Saturday morning. After shopping, I got home and we quickly got ready for our dance. Being that this year marked 10 years from the day us grandkids started organizing the reunion, we wanted everyone to dress up for the dance. I forgot to mention my mom and her sister Silia were the "host families" this year. We planned and organized the events for the reunion. During the dance, we had more "talent" performances.

July 2: A full day of work for me beginning at 4 am. After work, I stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up prizes for the little ones. By 1 pm, I was on my way to the park for our "day at the park". It was a day filled with games. There were games for the little ones as well as games for us older ones. We played a friend game of kickball - girls vs. boys. I have never seen kickball played like this -- talk about full contact, tackling the opponents, opponents getting hit in the head...all kinds of laughter. We ended the day with a meeting discussing plans for next year's reunion. It was the end of our reunion. It was a great reunion. Glad that everything turned out and went as planned.

July 3: Lazy mode. Did not go to church at all. My in-laws from Logan stopped by for a visit. Later in the evening, I went over to my sister Silia's house for a BBQ.

July 4: Independence Day. No EMZ. Instead we encouraged our members to sign up for the Bula 5K. I had plans to go, but did not wake up until 9:30 am. Several from our group were able to participate. They had a great time. I had to go into work for a couple hours. After work, I stopped by the park where my Filimoe'atu family were at for a holiday BBQ. We didn't stay there too long because we headed out to Liberty Park. We were participating in a Flash Mob during the Bula Fest. We went to the park around 4 pm. The Bula One Love Celebration began at 2 pm and ran until 10 pm followed by fireworks. The Flash Mob was set to happen around 5:30-5:45ish. It was a little tough because there was a crowd already there. We did our best and danced around them. Due to the crowd, there were groups scattered throughout the park. It was fun and glad we were able to participate. I wanted to stay for the rest of the festivities but I had made the mistake of telling my kids we were going to do fireworks. We left around 6 pm. Around 8 or 9ish, everyone (some of my siblings - their families & my cousins) came over to do fireworks at my house. It was lots of fun.

July 5th: It was my day off. We did have EMZ, but not very many people showed up. That was expected considering the night before was Independence Day. I spent the day doing housework.

July 6th: EMZ. It was our 80's/90's theme day. Everyone was encouraged to come decked out in their 80's/90's workout gear. We then selected music from the 80's/90's and did routines to them. It was a fun morning. We had yogurt, granola and water for our treats. Lots of laughs, a good workout, prizes and definitely a good time. We had a contest on the best costume. We had everyone on FB vote. Person with most 'likes' won a cash prize: 1st $30, 2nd $20 & 3rd $10. The contest began Wednesday late after and ended Thursday evening (07/07) at 10 pm. Winners: 1st - Besty Vakapuna, 2nd - Mafi Veatupu & 3rd Nicole Fiedler. I forgot to mention, the group surprised me with a birthday cake. They also had a pinata for the kids. I love the EMZ CREW!!! Thank you!

July 7th: EMZ. I decided to take the day off for my birthday. 37 years old. Wow, 3 more years and then it's 40. Not sure if I'm ready for that. Hehehe. On Tuesdays & Thursdays, Teuila Aagard (a member of our EMZ Crew) does a half hour class at the Sunday Senior Center for some of the polynesian senior citizens in our community. Being that I am off on Mondays only, I thought this would be a great opportunity to stop in. Rather than going by myself, I dragged my four boys with me. I told them we would be spending our morning with some "senior citizens". One of my twins asked, "mom, what's a senior citizen?". I explained to him they were elderly people. I also told my boys that we would be doing exercises with them and I didn't want them sitting there watching. I was running a little late, but when we arrived there, they had not started. Teuila began with a warm up/stretch and then went into her routines. It was so much fun. You could not help but smile as you watched them dance. We did dances like the "Macarena", "Electric Slide" and even Beyonce's "Move Your Body" routine we did for the Flash Mob. I watched my boys throughout and they were such good sports participating. I even caught one of the twins dancing like crazy in the corner he was at. I wanted my boys to experience "service" and feel what a difference they can make by simple acts. Teuila does a great job with them and I was grateful to be there to support. Later that day, we all went to lunch as a family. We invited my mom to come. I let one of the twins' pick where to go and he chose Chili's. We went there just so we can have a chocolate molten. It's Brydan's favorite restaurant. I wonder why. Lol. After lunch, Haloti went home since he had to sleep for work that evening. The kids, my mom and I went to the movies. The kids picked to watch "Transformers 2". Sadly, but nothing new, I fell asleep right after the previews before the movie even began. I didn't wake up until the last 5 mins of the movie. So fired. We came home and just chilled the rest of the evening. It was a great birthday, wouldn't have it any other way.

July 8: EMZ. Full day of work. Some of the EMZ ladies took me out for dinner (birthday). There was 8 of us. We met at Texas Road House. It was my first time there. I ordered the ribeye steak w/shrimp, loaded baked potato, house salad and a frozen peach lemonade. Yum!

Pictures from the Dream Big Camp, 5k & Bula One Love Celebration - HERE & a few HERE.
Pictures from 80's/90's Zumba & Sunday Senior Citizen Center - HERE.
Pictures from the Filimoe'atu Reunion - HERE.

I'll post the pictures from my birthday lunch and dinner shortly. I promise.

What a week!