Brooke | The Tu'ifua Family

Brooke Tu’ifua a.k.a Brooke Barker is in the house! Joining the Moana Street crew back in 94 most of us know the Barker family. Her brother Brandon was in the 2000 crew. The Barkers were always seemed laid back and fit right in with the island styles.

Brooke lived on Moana Street from 1994 to 2001, except for a year (97-98) when her dad traded teaching spots with another BYU Provo professor. She spent her Freshman year in Utah. She graduated from Kahuku High School in 2001 and took off back to BYU Provo. In 2005 Brooke graduated from BYU with a degree in English.

Brooke was no match for resisting the ‘horse force’ and fell in love with Tongan stud and soldier Vakameilalo (Vaka) Tu’ifua. Vaka is from Mu’a. I grew up with the Tu’fuas and know Vaka and his family very well. I probably could'nt name all his siblings as I think he has like 40 of them hahaha. Tongan style :).

I asked Brooke how they met and she said “ I have to share how we met cause its a great story. :) I had just ended a long, bad relationship and a friend told me she had a friend I should email, that it was safe because I couldn't date him because he was deployed to Iraq. So I did. :) Long story short, he got injured and returned sooner than planned and we met for the first time in April 2006 in Hawaii... I was going back to visit after 5 long years away and he was going to visit his family. It just so happened that his oldest sister and brother-in-law, Annetta and Hopate Taufa had been in my ward growing up with Annetta as my YW leader for all 6 years. Small world. :) He moved back to Utah a few weeks after our vacation to finish school, we were engaged that October and married in Laie in June 2007.” Brooke and Vaka now live in Draper, Utah.


Just over a year of being married the Tu’ifuas are having their first baby due September 14th. “We are very excited, especially now that morning sickness is over.” They will be finding out about the sex of the baby in a little bit here. Brooke is cheering for a girl and Vaka is hoping for a boy. My guess Is a boy :). They got a lot of kids to make to reach the Tongan standard of 50 kids haha. Just playing, Kind of :) haha.

What kind of travels have you done? “Not much of a world traveler yet, but that should change. :) We did go down to Mexico for our Honeymoon, and we're planning a trip to Tonga in summer 2009 and hope to stop in both Australia and New Zealand on the way. I worked as an EFY counselor for 4 years during college and traveled all over the western US for that. We spent last Thanksgiving in San Fran/Oakland, and of course, we're always traveling back to Laie. :)”

Tell us some future plans? “Move to Hawaii as soon as Vaka graduates in 2010 (so far away!). We hope he'll be able to get a good electrician job so we can move right back to the island. School is the only thing keeping us in Utah :( . Once Vaka is done with school, I want to go back and get my Masters in Cultural Studies.”

What do you miss the most about the old days? "The simple, carefree life in Laie. The 'no worries' attitude. The good ole social days of high school, filled with football games, dances, etc."

Where was your peaceful place in Hawaii? same as everyone else, THE BEACH.

If you went back to Laie for one day what would you do? "We're going back in June and I am excited to go back and not have to plan a wedding!! I plan to eat lots and lots of L&L, Laie Chop Suey, breakfast at Hukilau Cafe, plate lunches on Saturday and maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have Food Fest while we're there. I'd love to go out to Goat Island and hike Laie Falls like old times, but since I'll be 7 months pregnant, I'll probably just spend lots of time layin on the beach!!"

Tell me something you've learnt in the last 10 years? "Take risks!! Don't wait for tomorrow to live your life."

THE LAST FIVE:
- all time favorite band: UB40- favorite local food: manapua, musubi, Laie Chop Suey's crispy gaugee and Ted's chocolate haupia pie (can you tell I'm pregnant and think about food all day?) :)
- favorite beach: Waimea
- Obama or Your mama (a.k.a Hillary): neither, we're moving to Tonga if either win. :)
- famous last words: Alohas!

Brooke can be found on Facebook, Myspace, and also her blog at tuifuamixedplate.blogspot.com

If you want to get a hold of Brooke and Vaka by email hit me up and I’ll connect you: cubworld@gmail.com or go to her blogs and post a comment there.