My husband, Eti, and I have five children, Susi, David, Eric, Emilee and Ta'ei. We have four darling granddaughters and one amazing grandson. We are both school teachers and have had many wonderful and interesting experiences. We have taught for 25 years and loved and learned almost every minute of the time spent with our students. Our family (immediate and extended)is our life. We love them so much!
A little about myself, I was born in Payson,Utah, and actually grew up in Springlake, a small farming community outside of Payson. I had an idyllic childhood. We swam in the summer and ice skated in the winter. We could ride our bikes wherever we wanted with no worry of danger. It seemed to be perfect. After graduation from high school, I went to one year at BYU. After working full time on a grave yard shift and going to school, I decided to just work. I had many wonderful experiences and gained valuable knowledge while working. However, there was something missing from my life. My mother suggested I go to Hawaii for a summer session of school, so nine years after high school graduation, I headed to Hawaii. The first day there, I met a wonderful girl from Idaho who was a school teacher. I believe it was through her influence that I went back to school to become a school teacher. We became fast friends.
After the summer I went back to my job working for Utah County, but to make a long story short the next summer I took off for Hawaii.
It was here that I met my husband. After a year and a half of school and at the advise of several people, we felt that a interracial marriage might not work, so I left Hawaii and came home. I worked at a law school and then a law firm. During this time, Eti came over and we got married.
We lived in Salt Lake City and enjoyed our first year there. While living there we had our oldest child, Susi. I have such fond memories of Salt Lake in the fall.
That winter, however, we moved to Springlake to take care of my mom's home while she went away for the winter. We enjoyed our time there and a year and a couple of months later we had David.
It was not long after that, that Eti wanted to go back to school, so we packed up everything we owned and hadn't sold to move back to Hawaii. While there it was decided that I too, would go back to school. We did whatever we needed to to juggle our schedules so that we could take classes and be with the kids. Every weekend we would take off and go sight seeing or go to the beach. We had a wonderful time. It was hard being in school, but so worth it.
A couple of years later and half way through our degree, we had Eric. He was born at Kaiser Hospital in Honolulu. My room overlooked the Honolulu Yacht Club.
It was beautiful to look out at the sea and dream of far away places. we continued working and going to school. The following year, Eti took David and Eric to Samoa right after Christmas. That left Susi and I in Hawaii. We enjoyed our time together, and so did they. It was a wonderful experience for everyone involved even though none of the luggage made it to Samoa. They improvised and all was well. At this time I was pregnant with Emilee and worked for the Security on campus. Many interesting stories I could tell.
In April I had completed my credits for graduation, and I quit my job. The day after I quit, I went into labor with Emilee. She was born at the Kapiolani Women's and Children's Hospital down in Honolulu. She was such a beautiful baby. She did spend the week in intensive care, and we worried and prayed for her. Eti finished up his classes and in June we graduated from BYU-Hawaii in education.
Moving back to the mainland was challenging. Mom had sold her home and we really had no place to stay and no jobs. We worried until one day Eti got a call from a friend of a friend. He wanted us to come to Chinle to interview for a job. So we did. Chinle is on the eastern side of the Navajo Indian Reservation. Eti got a job at Tsaile, Elementary so once again we were moving. That first year, Eti taught fourth grade, and I taught part time sixth grade. We made many good friends and enjoyed the cultural experiences we were having. The second year, I taught fourth grade at Lukachukai Boarding School. Many interesting experiences there. It was at this point that I got pregnant with Ta'ei. He was a high risk baby, and so we moved.
The only job openings we could find close to a hospital were in Tuba City. So we moved to the western side of the Navajo Reservation. Tuba City borders on the Hopi Reservation. Once again we made friends and enjoyed many fun activities there.
After teaching there for seven years, we moved to St. George. We have been here 15 years and will die here. I'm going to continue to write about the good, bad, happy, sad, fun and exhilarating times we have had and are continuing to have. We are now grandparents and I'm not sure there is anything better.
