September - Mina's 22nd, Jason's 50th Birthdays

On the 3rd, after we went on a walk at the Salt Lake, I was feeling generous and shouted everyone out to Yogurtland, then saw the price, $50 WTH? Jk. On the 4th Leila performed in a Tahitian comp during Polynesian days at Thanksgiving point. She had been practicing a lot with Julius Skipps as the teacher at the Veterans Memorial park in West Jordan. He went to Church College while I was there. She was in the amateur comp not the pros level. But she came 3rd so we were so proud of her. I'm very impressed that she wanted to do it and trained and performed in front of a large crowd about 3 times. Each time she was with 2 other girls dancing at the same time while the judges watched. The next day she and Erana performed again with the Tausala group. I didn't go watch, I was busy working on the deck. The 6th was Labor Day and I worked on the deck that day too.

Mina's 22nd birthday was the 7th. Candi made pavalova. She went and ate out with Tane's parents, James and Moana but they came over to eat dessert. James and I had a chat. I didn't realize he had come to CCNZ at the beginning of '88 from Tonga but didn't like it because of the cultural changes so he went back just like I did in '87 when I went to Utah then went back to CCNZ in '88 because I didn't like it. I missed my culture that James didn't like lol.

On the 8th Leila performed again and on the 11th we had a Stake Service day painting a fence at Winchester park. It rained later in the morning cutting our painting short but we had done most of it. But Leila had to go do another performance anyway. On the 12th I ordained Jaxon as an Elder and conferred the Melchizedek priesthood. Very proud that he was deemed worthy of that. Dustin Marcrum and Bishop Morgan were in the circle. Shaun came too. We found 2 black rabbits running around outside the garage. We caught them and gave them to the Fergusons who already have rabbits. 

On the 16th Candi and I went and stayed at the Wendover Golden Nugget for our 27th anniversary. We stopped at the slat flats but there were so many flies that you couldn't even go out and tons of them flew into the car when the doors opened. Wasn't like that last year. We went to the Smiths in Wendover to buy some snacks. Our room was ok but very dark. The lights aren't bright enough. The hot tub was nice. The next day we drove to Pineview and laid out for a bit and had a stroll. The water level was very low. Leila went to a school dance on the 18th and looked very pretty in her dress.

For my 50th birthday we ate at Chilis at South Towne mall and then went to Round 1 to do Karaoke. We had fun. The next day Candi and I ate at Tucanos and got the Mango buttercake dessert. We walked around the outdoor area and it's still pretty much deserted.

August

Erana got braces on the 2nd. She looks cute. Our ward swim party was on the 5th. Candi and the primary pres were in charge of the food. I had to go pick up a bunch of pizza. Claudia Cooper, a lady in the ward in her 50's maybe jumped in the shallow pool awkwardly and broke her ankle. It was bent at an unnatural angle. The EMT people came and took her away in the ambulance. Maya was with us and Tane and Alisa came too. 

The next day, Friday 6th, just Candi and I went to Pineview. We stopped at the old Jefferson Hunt camp and walked down the path to the bridge and walked around the old camp areas. It has been closed for years and it all over grown. The sky was really hazy with smoke from fires from California. We went to the picnic area at Cemetary point and setup our Umbrella tent on the grass ledge area that overlooks the lake. We just relaxed and stuff for several hours. Candi can't go into the water just yet. We did the same thing Aug 13 and 20 but setup our umbrella in different spots each time. We like going to the lake with just us. 

Aug 10 we went to Lagoon with Leila, Erana and Dray. I didn't go on the rollercoaster rides with them as I know I'd get sick. Candi didn't either as she's being cautious with her recovery. August 22 we went to Tama's homecoming, Vaughn and Kristy's boy. We ate after in Vaughn's backyard. I couldn't believe that the neighbor built a huge horse arena that blocked their view of the valley. They weren't happy about it. They are in a Samoan ward so there heaps of polys there. 

Leila and Erana started back at school on the 16th. Seems too early in the month. Candi went back to work at Riverview Jr High. She enjoyed her summer off and wished she could still be off, lol.

Aug 24th I started my endeavor to redo my deck by unscrewing the boards. The quotes we got were all from 4500 to 6000 and that didn't include it being waterproofed under it so I decided to do it myself. I bought all the stuff I needed for maybe close to $4000. I did it over a span of maybe 4 weekends or so with a day off work in there. I took the old deck off and laid down Trex rain troughs and rain gutters then put the new deck on and painted the rails and sides. 

Aug 25th we had our Condo BBQ with catered plates from R&R again. The 29th we went to Vuna's homecoming and ate at Olga's after. We had a good visit with lots of the whanau. Poor Auntie Louisa's short-term memory is fading. She shares the same story over and over again. I had to go rest in the car later on and wait to go. I get this bad pain in my back and abdomen now and then where I can't do anything but pray to make it go away. It usually goes away after about 5-10 minutes sometimes.