Our New Home!

We finally took some pictures of our new home! We love it and wanted to show it before it gets covered with snow. (We had snow on the ground 2 weekends ago...but it melted away and now the fall colors are BEAUTIFUL!) The family before us worked diligently on an amazing garden and we have been blessed to reap the rewards! We have had a bountiful harvest of potatoes, strawberries, apples, peaches, tomatoes, corn, beets, onions, peppers, squash, carrots and pumpkins. The boys even found a family of snakes living in the garden! The chickens are so great they almost make us feel like real farmers....almost!

Writer Unblocked

I had the opportunity of interviewing this 'kid' (Rey Maualuga - USC Trojan) for Spasifik Magazine (a Pacific Islander publication based out of New Zealand) a few weeks ago and finally blasted through my writers block. Its been bugging me (kinda) for the past year. Much of it was self-imposed after years of listening to the same 'ol, tired sports cliche's and quoting the compulsory laundry list of lawlessness that has become a prerequisite for college and professional athletes gone bad. But I've decided that its all part of the job and honestly, people just can't help being....people?

So I'm back in the game and it feels good to get the creative juices flowing again. What's next? A screenplay? Finishing that novel that I've been talking about for years? A film treatment? Who knows. What I do know is that I'm having a blast with the hate mail.

Cold days, long meetings and warm cocoa

Football is not just a past time, it is life. It is especially true when you're raising five sons. And its all fun and games until the temperatures fall below the 60's and you can't find the requisite gear for a Utah winter.

Kenyon played his very first game in the cold this past Saturday, his second week as a quarterback. He toughed it out but eventually broke down in the fourth quarter when the rest of his teammates ran back into the huddle with frozen tears and numb fingers. Misery loves company!

Mica recorded three sacks and three tackles-for-loss under the same gray, dismal skies. Father's on the sidelines are ordinarily a deterrent for young athletes but when you're dad is a bull-headed Samoan, deterrent is a kind word that he can hardly understand. Let's just say that when your father pull's the "no X-Box or Wii for a week" card on you, well... there are some things worse than tackling a guy twice your size with a face full of mud.

Score another one for deplorable parenting and despicable paternal ingenuity.

On the bright side, we had THREE priesthood holders attend yesterday's General Priesthood Session. Chase joined his dad and older brother Kingston in what is quickly becoming a Matua family tradition. We are so happy to have heard the prophet speak to us and even though Chase struggled through it (believe me when I say I know how hard it is for a twelve-year-old to sit still for two hours) we are certain that he learned a little something about honoring his priesthood and magnifying his callings.

Another week in the books and another on the horizon!