About three weeks ago my family and I took a short trip down to Vegas for my cousin Rocky's wedding. This trip has been well planned for about a year now since they’ve been engaged.
(**Let me give you a bit of history why this was such a big thing for us to make sure that we attended. )
My family is from Southern California…. Los Angeles to be exact, which explains WHY we are die hard LAKER fans and PROUD!! We lived in Gardena and then Carson before moving up to Salt Lake. I was very young when we had moved from California so my memory is vivid of people that were around. The only families I honestly remember being around were the Maikos, because we lived together and also because our fathers played in the same band. The other family being the Afos; my cousin Rocky (whose wedding was held in Vegas) and his siblings and my Uncle Temas family. We’ve always been so close.
Shortly after moving to Utah, Rockys family made the move as well which was great because it kept our families close. Rocky and Josh (my brother) were always inseparable and my sisters and I have always been close to his sisters. We definitely got use to it growing up. My mother pretty much raised us all since she had a little daycare going on at home and their single mother worked so hard to support them, and that kept us real close…so close that all of us in the daycare just referred to each other as brothers and sisters…therefore making this wedding was very important for my family at least.
The wedding was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!! It was held at the Canyon Gate Country Club there in Vegas, I loved it. (if you’ve ever been to Turtle Bay in Hawaii it was a lot like it just without the beach). Being held in Vegas made it very intimate because those that attended had to make special efforts to come to Vegas, being that Rocky and Ena both reside in Salt Lake…so basically it was just close friends and family to the couple that attended. The ceremony was nice (so I heard since I was late). The couple and the line looked fantastic. The food was delish. The music was on point. And the company there was great. Priceless…. It almost made me want to get married. LOL
The thing I absolutely love about the boys in my families weddings are the After Parties!!! They’re the best….and being that we were in Vegas made it even more fun. Haha All our plans that night didn’t go all the way as planned as one of the boys were rushed to the hospital because he had food poisoning but I sure had a good time spending it with those closest to me. Did I mention that I love Vegas even though I can barely hang at night…. Haha
I had so much fun there…I mean seriously who doesn’t? If you don’t have fun in Vegas that is YOUR fault haha. My aunt that I am named after is incredible. She is truly my second mother, always taking extra care of me because I’m her namesake….I Love Her. She had text me the day I got in that she got us tickets to a show there in Vegas. I was stoked because with all the shows there in Vegas and all the times I’ve been to Vegas I have not yet seen one, so I was pretty excited. That lasted for a few hours until my cousin Kinga got there and told me that she hopes it wasn’t like the last show they went to because it was in some ghetto place and it sucked.... . really Kinga?? Thanks a lot!! haha. I lost a bit of interest going and had all these bad thoughts that I wouldn’t enjoy the show…. Man was I wrong. We went and saw the show
the Voices starring Lani Misalucha, held at the Hilton right there on the strip!!
After the first song I was speechless this lady was phenomenal. The way she sang gave me the chills each time. The whole time watching her made me question… why isn’t she in Hollywood making millions of dollars, being chased by the paparazzi, she is far better than the majority of female singers that are famous. Definitely could be the next Whitney Houston….if not BETTER. Yes, I said BETTER than Whitney! Haha After the show I felt like a little groupie waiting for her to come out to sign autographs and take pictures. Aunty Leta and Kinga were crackin up. What made it even more cool was that she was a member of the church and she was a Vegas show girl- I could totally see myself doing that LOL j/k She was very classy and humble which was awesome. I seriously want to sing like her ‘someday’. Thank you Aunty Leta for taking me!! =)
All that was just in 2 days. Our original plan for this trip was we’d attend Rocky and Enas wedding and then drive to Mesquite the following day to attend a family reunion on my moms side. Because Rockys wedding was planned for a while I planned to just stay in Vegas especially since the Aloha Fest was going on. I didn’t have any desire to attend the family reunion in Mesquite because of a recent ‘break up’ with an old boyfriend who happened to be really good friends with my cousins coming from California. I wanted to avoid the awkwardness and any tension that I thought would happen if I did go, my parents quickly understood and left with my two younger siblings to Mesquite early Saturday morning while I was sleeping ugly, tired from the after party the night prior.
About an hour after my parents left I got a text from my mom telling us (Me and my 2 older siblings that were still there in Vegas, who were planning on driving out later) that this reunion meant so much to her and dad and that they felt we really needed to be there. She asked if we could come to Mesquite and enjoy the weekend with the family. First thing I thought was
“Daaang mom why do you always give guilt trips!?” FREEEAK!
I couldn’t sleep anymore. I absolutely love this side of the family and to miss out on being there because of the Aloha Fest held every year and a stupid break up didn’t seem worth missing out on the reunion. So I got up and packed all my stuff and called my sister to see if she can pick me up to ride up with them to Mesquite. The drive wasn’t bad at all and we got to Mesquite just in time for all the activities set up.
We got to lay out the cement and put on Grandma Nainas head stone!! =)
Kickball.....
...Got very very intense....but it was all good because I got Anthony out and that's all that matters! hahaha
VoLLeYbALL in the sand felt soooooooo good!! =)
**how bout that jersey?? =)**
then we got to ride Uncle Pauls Harley Davidson.....and Madis head got stuck in the helmet LOL
Uncle Misi brought home his Fire Truck for us to take a joy ride....
....and these are the passengers that got left behind!! MODED! haha
Me and Beautiful Cassandra at Mesquites Fair!
JAM SESH!!!
Later that night after everyone left Cassandra and I were trying to find something to do in good ol' Mesquite. It would either be the CASINO OR.....some Karaoke bar lol. Both didn't sound that amusing so our crazy Uncle Paul
told us we'd be babysitting him that night. He was already "gone" when we left the house. When we finally got to the Eureka Casino where he pretty much punk'd every Pedro and Juan starring at us (haha) and then he gave us money and taught us how to play Keno....after an hour of boredom and after losing most of the money he gave us we gave up and told him we'd like to leave. Uncle Paul was not done doin' his thang so he gave us more money and told us to find something to do. Knowing he was not all there I ordered him to STAY PUT and DON'T MOVE from that spot because I knew if anything happened Cassandra and I would be at fault.We were on our way looking for something to do, well.... Cassandra and I found WHEEL OF FORTUNE....haha
After a few spins...we were hooked. hooked. hooked LOL. I now know why gambling is against the church and such a bad thing...If it weren't for Cassandra I would've kept going. haha We cashed out at $70 which was pretty good for my first time because we started out playing with $20. We ended up splitting the money!! =) Unfortunately we were interrupted in our game by Aunty Beckie asking us where we were and where was uncle Paul??She said that Uncle Paul had just called her and asked her to come pick him up because he had no idea where he was. LOL. Oh my gosh my heart dropped. All Cassandra and I had to do that night was watch Uncle Paul. We quickly ran over to the Keno machine that he was sitting at to find the seat that i told him to STAY PUT in and NOT TO MOVE....empty. =( the only thing running through my head was "AAAAAHHHHH CRRRAAP!!!"
Sandra and I took off looking for him everywhere in the casino and outside the casino. After about 10 different phone calls Aunty Beckie calls and tells us that Uncle Paul called and said he's at McDonalds (across the street from Eureka). We got in the car and took off to McDonalds....still we could NOT find him. Finally after driving around for a while Uncle Misi (Uncle Pauls brother) calls me and says that he's at the gas station across from McDonalds and that he was on his way to pick him up. I was now thinking [[ "GREAT....we are in so much trouble!" ]] LOL We ended up finding my poor intoxicated Uncle Paul sitting on the gas station curb...head tilted like he was ready to fall into a deep sleep. hahaha... Sandra and I put him in the car and waited for Uncle Misi. The whole time Uncle Paul was whispering that he was so sad and that he was driving back to Tucson TONIGHT on his motorcycle..... chhhhyeeeah right! hahahaha He had Cassandra and I laughing til our stomach was hurting. Soon after Uncle Misi got there and picked him up....totally making fun of us for being the sorriest babysitters. Who seriously loses a drunk guy?? LOL My gosh that was definitely an adventure of me and Cassandra. HAHAHA.... I was so relieved the next day when we got to the house and uncle Paul didn't remember a darn thing.... hahaha what a night to remember-
I’m so happy that I made the decision to go. I’m glad that my mom had given me the “guilt trip” into coming. I enjoyed my time with the family there, especially meeting Cassandra for the first time. I didn't even know she existed til i got to the reunion but I'm so glad that I got to meet her she's such a sweet spirit, I was again reminded that that’s what these reunions are for! I loved every moment being in Mesquite, being with the people that are always there for me regardless. It also got me thinking that my parents “guilt trips” that I am always complaining about are NOT guilt trips but they ask me and tell me to do things for my own good. One thing one of my sisters Melia told me was that if we do what our parents ask us to do OUR OWN life will be much easier, at the time we may not like it and we may hate doing it, but in the end it will all work out because our parents would never want anything less than good for us. They’d want the best for us therefore they’re not going to tell us to do something if they know it won’t benefit us. That’s so true. Many times I question my parents counsel like they don’t understand where I’m coming from or they don’t know….when deep inside I KNOW they really do know what they’re talking about I’m just being stubborn. I always try and remember that conversation between Melia and I when facing issues of being OBEDIENT to my parents. Yeah, some people make fun of me as to why I still listen to them, I’m old enough…and yes maybe I am old enough to make my decisions but I’m (and everyone else) NEVER old enough to seek counsel and advice from my parents. I love them so much and thankful for the roles they play in my life. I also compared this to my life spiritually… our Heavenly Father, like my parents don’t want anything less for me… or any of us in that matter. If we just humble ourselves and ‘listen’ and obey we will come out on top. Something to think about…
But overall this was a weekend I will never forget……family, isn’t it about…time!?!! Haha
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