Christmas Holidays

Christmas seemed early this year, but i  we were done shopping for christmas early thanks to the internet and i went shopping all day friday so I wouldn't have to go out during the weekend before Christmas day. All month we have been watching Christmas movies, Elf, Miracle on 34th street, Meet me in St.Louis, Polar Express and many more.

Christmas Day was on Wednesday. But the night before we had our special Christmas Eve family dinner.  We had 'Panda Express' with my coconut shrimp & pot stickers, sparkling grape juice & bundabergs.  After we had dinner we read the 'Nativity story' from the scriptures, Luke 2:1-20. Then we made gingerbread cookies, and the kids decorated them for Santa.  We put them on Santa's plate & left them on the table.  Kids went to bed early so they won't see Santa come put  presents in their stockings!

Christmas morning we heard Jaxon up & talking about 7am, Jason got up & told him to go back to bed lol.  Then we heard more kids up & walking talking around 7:30am.  So that's when we got up & opened presents. Dad got a toaster, Mum an exercise row machine, Tyrell got a blue guitar, Mina a long board, Jaxon got a crossbow, Leila a green Ukelele, Erana ninja turtle toy & pjs! We had a nice Christmas morning with no stress, because i had made all my foods on Christmas eve day.  Coconut Shrimp, LuPulu, Pretzel salad, Bayou brownies, they were all very yummy.

We had a nice Christmas dinner at Scotts, with ham, pork roast in crockpot, turkey, funeral potatoes etc. And we skyped with Wesley, or Elder Wihongi, he looked very well & happy. We had fun times with everyone's talent, especially liked Mina's & Leila's 'Vintriloquist act' they were hilarious! We opened gifts from each other, we had Scott & Heathers family & we got them gift cert to Cheese factory & the movies, along with Milo & cookies & angry birds gummies for the boys. We received presents from Shaun & Christine, gift card to Red Lobster & a necklace & the kids got gifts too, Jesus sandals, bob marley shirt & toys.

New Years Eve was at our house, we planned on having a breakfast buffet, which turned out really good, we had breakfast casseroles, bacon & egg pies, crepes, scones, cinnamon rolls, pancake corn dogs, fruit, smoothies, bacon & sausage etc... Jason was in charge of games, he also made a schedule for the night.  We played, 2013 trivia which i thought was too hard, animal pairing game & Just dance 2014 on xbox.  When it was time to ring in the new year, we counted down & kissed our loved ones & toasted with sparkly. We also sand 'Aud lange Syne' accompanied by Mariah Carey, and then we continued dancing until clean up time.

Added by Jason:
I was on-call the week of Christmas so I only had Christmas day off but my boss let us go home early on Christmas eve. I took the whole week of New Years off. I had some annual time I had to use or lose. I was over the 320 hour limit. It was nice to have a week off. Stayed up late and slept in a lot. Had time to play with kids, play games and stuff.

Some other December highlights:
On Thursday 12/12 the Welch's asked Candi and I take their spot at a Dinner/Bunco party at the Prigmores that they do annually with a bunch of neighbors. A lot of senior couples. We enjoyed the food and the game. I had the highest score at our table. We sat with the Morse's. Jaxon and I saw the Hobbit 2 the next day. Candi had her activity days. It was good. The 14th was the Ward Breakfast at the chapel. Breakfast casseroles and fried bread scones. It was yummy as. I took the 19th off to use 8 hrs admin leave the state gives us this time of year. I had to add on 2 hrs of annual to make the 10 hr day. I can't remember what I did that day. Probably not much.

Cute Erana Sayings

12/2013

• "Mina pick up your books, clean up Mummy's room"

• Jason drinking soda, "I need a drink Daddy, cause sharing is caring"

• Candi had sore tummy and was doubled over on bed. Erana said. "I get you medicine." She goes in the bathroom and comes back with some pepto bismol tablets. She was rubbing her tummy too.

• Candi got the avocados out of the fridge and Erana was watching her. She says, "Mama you making guacamole?" Candi hadn't heard her say that word before. Funny.

• Candi: Baby, what do you want for breakfast?
  Erana: Hot cocoa with ice cream in it, toast with peanut butter, cereal, guacamole with chips.
  Candi: Whaaat, that's too much
  Erana: Oh and cookies and chicken.

• Erana goes to toilet & I say, "Hey I need to go peepee." She says, "Go down stairs!

• Erana is on toilet and says, "I'm done." So I go wipe her bottom she forgets to hide & says, "I need to hide." I say, "No I need to go." Erana says, "Hold your no no". lol

12/27/13

• Erana : Alessandra that's my Dad (pointing at him). He's nice. Because she was crying at him before.

Thanksgiving and Stuff

We had Thanksgiving at Tania's on the 28th. We got there at 12pm. and ate soon after. It was early so Shaun could go to work at 2pm. It was a sunny day and a bit cool outside. The kids played football and Tyrell shot his bow for a bit. The food was good. I watched football. We left after the Dallas Cowboy game around 5pm I think. They beat the Raiders. Mina went to stay with Maddie for a few days. She came back Sunday. Jaxon stayed at Julia's for a night. He went to the movies with them, Frozen I think.

Not a whole lot of other stuff this month. Tyrell has a girlfriend named Brenna. He says she is his friend but no. I've told him to not have girlfriends so he can date different girls but he doesn't listen. They go on dates and stuff with Tyrell's other friends. He takes the car. We give him times he is supposed to be home and stuff and he pushes his limits all the time. I've told him about losing his privileges if rules aren't followed. He tries to follow them because I follow through with dealing out the consequences. She gave him a treasure chest full of gold chocolates one time with a note asking him to a dance.

On the 11th I had Veterans Day off. We saw Thor 2 for F.H.E. I worked most of that weekend doing server encryption. Had a lot of troubles with it so it took longer than it was supposed and even didn't finish before Tuesday 12th. I'll be getting a big over-time check which is a good thing about it.

We got Leila a new bike for her birthday. She hasn't learned to ride one yet. The first bike we got her was still too big and heavy so we returned it and got one just right. On Saturday the 9th we went out in front to teach her. It took a bit of time and patience with her. She would always get wobbly and lose balance. Candi and I both took turns trying. Leila was sad and about to give up at one point. We went to the office building parking lot next door for more space and she started getting it down after about 5 minutes. Then she got it good and loved it. I told her to not give up and that most of the good things in life take a lot of effort but are worth it.

Leila's Baptism

Saturday, November 2nd at 1:30pm was Leila's baptism. Candi gave the Baptism talk and Mina did the Holy Ghost talk. Tyrell did the interlude music while we dressed. They all did a good job. Leila's foot almost came up when I put her under but it was good. The service was short and nice. The families came over to eat after at our home.

Leila's 8th Birthday

Leila's birthday activities started friday, October 25th. We took her to the Witch Breakfast show at Gardner Village again. We picked her up from school early and surprised her. It started at 10:30am. It was just Leila, Erana, Candi, Mum and I. We ate a lot of eggs and bacon and pancakes. Leila went up on stage a couple times when they had kid volunteers. She even did the cup song with one of the witches at our table. We walked around the village after and she got a new tybeanie boo.

In the afternoon we went to the zoo. The kids had a good time. The weather was nice and not too cool. There was a new part of the zoo we hadn't seen before, the seal and polar bear section. It was nice. Erana loves to see the animal and was very excited.

On Tuesday the 29th we went to McDonalds for her birthday and Dray and Kage came. After she opened presents and had Ninja turtle cup cakes.

Thursday was Halloween. She had another birthday cheese cake. We went over to Jody and Monica's at 5:30pm. We ate clam chowder, boil up, and other yummy stuff. We went trick or treating around the newer neighborhood down the hill. Mina went with Malia and Malia's friend but said they didn't get enough lollies because those 2 were talking too much and walking slow. Mina was a tad bit upset about that. Mina was dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Jaxon was Slenderman from a scary game they play on the pc. Other kids knew who he was and liked his costume. Leila was also a Ninja turtle and Erana was a little skeleton.

October Stuff

Thursday October 24th Jaxon graduated from Webelos and got his Arrow of Light award. Candi went to it. She said Jaxon looked a little hori in his shorts and scout top.

Back on the 7th we went to the annual Halloween party at the Ashworth's home. Erana got her face painted. Kids had a good time.

On the 6th we took some family photos in our backyard. They are for our Christmas cards. We kept delaying it and so the good weather will be going away soon so we were desperate. So the backyard it is, spinarit. We also did some inside. Some turned out ok.

On Tuesday the 1st we had our FHE. We went to Gardner Village and did the Witch Hunt. We got a paper with all the location clues and we went off and found them and marked it off. When it was complete we could use the papers for a cookie coupon.

Funny Things Kids Say

• Erana was watching tv in the reading nook. I (Candi) went to check on her and I see her all happy and smiling and she says to me "fly's my friend". I say "Huh?" Then I see this fly sitting on her leg & flying around her legs. I say, "Ewww that's yuck, I'm gonna kill that fly."  Then her face went all sad and she yells out "NO!" Another day I was in the kitchen swatting flys with the fly swatter, and she hears me and runs to me and says "No Mama, fly's my friend". Another morning I killed a fly in my room, and Erana saw me do it, she burst into tears and wouldn't stop crying until I gave her a lollie.
• I fried up some onions for dinner and it was making everyone's eyes water. Well the next night I fried up some more onions and Leila says "Why did Jesus make onions hurt your eyes?"
• There was a crab on t.v. or something and Erana says, "I like crabs, they are so awesome!" Lol.
• Erana says out of the blue one time, "Jaxon is jealous Mummy." Not sure she knows what that means.
• Erana has a lot of little purses and boxes that she fills up with all sorts of random things like rocks, toys, flashlights, and anything that appeals to her. She's like Jaxon with her little rats nests. She sat on me (Jason) with one of her boxes while I was doing this and said, "Let's play puppet ninjas." She opened her box and gave me a plastic toy knight and she pulled out a little plastic toy ninja man for her. She's so cute.

Cynthia Healey's Visit

August 27th to September 25th 

Cynthia came at the end of August and stayed with us for a whole month.  At the airport, we were caught of guard when the flight was an hour late, so when she finally came out of the gates, Jaxon, Leila, Erana & I weren't paying attention and didn't notice her at all. When I did she had already seen me.  Darn it, we wanted to surprise her.  Leila thought Cynthia was a chinese girl, seeing that she looks asian & the people that were coming out of the gate were mostly asian.

Cynthia stayed in the basement.  While she was here she did a lot of shopping in her first week, & then slowed it down for the rest of her stay.  She also went golfing a lot too, she met new friends while golfing there were firemen & Bryant who ended up being more than a friend by the time she left.  Even though Cynthia was not our child & she is 27yrs old we did worry a lot about her when she went out at night with friends she had just met that day.

She went to the movies, a Halloween scare house, Utes game (I haven't even been to a college game yet), Silver lake and to a country nightclub.

Cynthia tried different things while she was here like, yogurt land (my first time too), In & out burgers, pumpkin pie, lobster bisque, smores with giant marshmallows, nachos, jalapeno bagels etc...

We had family prayer, scripture reading, family home evening & went to church with her.  She liked to hang with Mina and do things with her.  They had a girls night where they put beauty masks on their face & did their nails.  Mina ended up spilling her aqua colored nail polish all over her carpet in her bedroom.
We dyed Cynthia's hair at least 3 times while she was here. Christine did it the first time, turned out too light, so Cynthia & I did it again twice.  Now she has beautiful brown hair!

Cynthia put false eyelashes on me just before Jason & I went on our two night anniversary get away.

It was sad to see Cynthia go, but she said she was going to be back next year.  She went to Reno, & I skyped with her she was bored & didn't like it very much, she wanted to come back but couldn't. We then skyped with her while she was in San Francisco for the whole day & night. Then finally skyped again at the airport before her journey back home to New Zealand.

Our 19th Anniversary!

September 17th to 19th

On Tuesday the 17th of September, Jason took me out to the 'Cheesecake Factory' for our 19th wedding anniversary.  We had a very yummy appetizer 'fried zucchini, avocados & portabello mushrooms'. Then Jay got a 'caramel macadamia' cheesecake & I got the 'mango keylime' cheesecake. I like mine better it was tropical & had coconut in it too.

On Wednesday we drove to Wendover and stayed the night at Montego hotel for free. We ate at the buffet first, buy-one-get-one-free. Their choices were ok, meats were a bit over cooked for my tastes. Our room was big & nice, except no hot tub, but that's ok, we had an enjoyable night together.

Thursday we slept in, and then checked out & drove to downtown Salt Lake. We went & ate at Tucano's for lunch and stuffed ourselves so much we could barely move. So we went for a walk around and I got me some white skinny jeans from Old Navy & Jay got him a top.  Got sucked into buying some cookies, which we probably didn't need.

Then we headed to our hotel which was the 'Anniversary Inn' on South Temple.  I surprised Jason with the 'jungle Safari' room, which was a hoot, we had a wild time!

Time has gone by sooo fast we can't believe it has been 19 years together. I have lived here longer now than I did growing up in New Zealand. And I couldn't imagine spending it with no else but my Jaybean! xxx

Written 10/9/13

NEW FLOORS!!!

September 12th

Jason & I went to 'lumber liquidators, home depot & lowes' to check out the floors. In the beginning we were set on having real hardwood floors, but then we changed our minds, to Laminate because of the durability, price & ease of care.

To make things go smoothly and quicker I decided to pick my favorite one from Jason's two most favorite.  Mina and I liked the one from Lowes.  But Jason was being stubborn and wanted the one from Home Depot. Jason was going to have his way, but decided to make me happy instead.

We made the arrangements with 'Carrie' the lady in charge of flooring at lowes.  I didn't really like the way she helped us, which wasn't helpful at all. Like she just wanted us to hurry up & pick so she can do other things. We had to choose side boards to match our floors, but our floors didn't come with side boards so we had to pick from another floor choice.  All I wanted was that the color be darker than our floors! Was that too hard for her to figure out, I mean isn't it her job to know all the colors of the woods or flooring she's selling? NO, she kept on saying that the one we picked 'correlated' with our wood? What the heck, whatever that means?

So because the side boards were the wrong color & I took them back to get the right ones. Which Jason just found online? we were wondering why she couldn't she just show us them online?
It took longer, so when Paul & Dan came to put them in my niece Cynthia was here visiting with us from New Zealand.

Paul & Dan were to older pakeha guys, they were very professional & nice. Paul also covered our trunk we made out of the island that was in the living room, with carpet I had bought from the carpet guy.

Our floors look awesome, it is kinda loud in the house now. But I don't have to look at the ugly stained carpet anymore, until I go into our bedroom. lol

Photo taken 2/1/2014

Mina's 14th Birthday

Our beautiful oldest daughter is getting older. 14 years old now. Time is flying by. She gets A's in school and helps out a lot when asked. She still has spill powers though. She always seems to spill stuff all the time ever since she was a little girl. She had her friends Julia and Sophia sleep over for her birthday Friday night. We had cake Saturday night with Grandma, Camila, Talia and baby Alessandra visiting. She got clothes, money, a red ukulele and a red xbox controller.

Wednesday, Sept 4th Mina's mutual activity was a Stake Daddy-Daughter Prom at the chapel so I went with her. They had decorated the gym and had punch & cookies and music. We danced a little whenever they had a good song. Most weren't. Bro. Morgan kept doing his funny sprinkler dance to every song. He called it the sprinkler but looked more like a pistol.

Monday, Sept 2nd was a day off for me for Labor Day. I didn't do much but we had dinner at Scott's house.

Mina's Sacrament Talk

Mina did an awesome job talking about her Young Women camp in Sacrament. So proud of her.

Hi, my name is Wiramina Wihongi, and I'll be telling you about my girls camp experience this year. This years theme was “Oh, the places you'll stand!” It was a Dr.Suess theme and it was very cute. We decorated our camp with truffala trees and hung up signs and quotes with cat and the hat on them, our leaders did an awesome job.

On the 1^st day I got sick and threw up twice so I had to come home. I learned to never eat spicy noodles before going to girls camp. 

On the 2^nd day my mum woke me up and told me I had to go back to camp because there was only going to be three girls... of course I didn’t want too, but I came any way. That day I still had a choice to go back home but I chose not to. And Im soooo happy I stayed because we went zip lining and let me tell you something, sister Smith is the craziest, funniest, awesomest Young Women Leader ever! She was able to go upside down with no hands on the zip line! I am so glad I came that day instead of staying at home.

On the 3^rd day we went canoeing, it was tiring but fun at the same time. Then we had our testimony meeting, tears and all, and I really felt the spirit there.

On the 4^th day we woke up and packed up and left. I was sad and glad that morning.

What I learned at camp was mainly about trials. When I was sick Jami said something to me that hit me. She said “It sucks to be sick especially when you're alone”. That day I admit that I had many complaining thoughts like, “Why can't someone else be sick. Why am I sick, why does it have to be me?” and “I wish someone else can feel the pain I’m feeling so they would understand how much it hurts.” But hearing that from Jami, I knew that she has gone through the same things I have. Like she said, it does suck more when you are alone and sick but it has made me think if we are ever really alone? I have learned that I don't ever have to wonder if there would be someone who would understand my problems or trials because the Lord has gone through worse and has felt all our pains by going through the Atonement. I can always turn to him for strength and for peace. We learned a lot about this when we had a devotional, and it was about trials. We heard the story about Job who went through many, many hard, sad trials like illnesses and when he lost his riches and property, when his children died, and even when family and friends left him. During all those trials he had, he didn’t complain one bit. He didn’t blame God, or anyone. He was faithful the whole time. And in the end, he got double the blessings. In the May General Conference Ensign that I got at camp, thanks Jami. There's this quote by Elder Quentin L. Cook that says,

“Even with the trials of life, because of the Savior's Atonement and His grace, righteous living will be rewarded with personal peace”.

I had a feeling that that devotional was meant for me. It was also telling me that I should be more like Job and not complain when things aren't going my way like I was doing in my mind when I got sick. It was telling me that if I endure trials and turn to the Lord that I would feel peace. When I had returned to camp after being sick at home I was still feeling a little ill and I had the option of going home again but I'm glad that I endured it a little longer and stayed at the camp because I received so many blessings for doing so. I gotta say my best blessing was probably eating the roast and funeral potatoes and having a yummy feast at camp!

And now I would like to bear my testimony, that I know the church is true and that Jesus did die for us and gave us the atonement and Joseph Smith did translate the book of Mormon and that it is true. I love my family and ward especially the young women and in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Thursday, 15th was the Ward pool party at the Taylorsville Rec Center. Tyrell's friend Tyler came with us. They took Erana down the slide a few times.

Wednesday, 14th, Tyrell got his drivers license. Him and Candi didn't make an appt so they waited for an hour. He had done most of his testing and driving with the Drivers Ed class he had in high school. My boy is sure growing up fast.

Seadoo at Pineview

This week Maddy has been staying with us. On Friday the 8th we spent the day at Pineview. We rented a Seadoo Jetski from the place at the lake, Club Rec or something. We had it from 1pm to 5pm. It was the first time I had driven one but Tyrell had at Lake Powell. We had a blast. I would take 2 kids with me. Jaxon and Leila and Mina.

Tyrell drove it and took Erana one time. Mina drove it too and took Maddy. I would go all over the lake and try to go as fast as it could. It would get fast and scary almost so I would slow down a bit, especially when boats made waves.

It was a nice sunny day but about 4:30pm a wind storm hit and rain clouds moved over. The water got choppy when Mina, Maddy and Leila were out there and they got wet from the wind blowing the spray onto them and Leila was shivering.

The wind broke a pole on our half-tent shelter. It wouldn't stop so we had the kids take the stuff back to the van. I waited with the seadoo until Candi came back from the van. The waves were bumping it and filling it with water. When Candi came I was on the water riding it so I went to shore to get close so she could get on. I tried to get off in the water to guide it but it wasn't shallow when I thought it was and I fell in and it came up to my chest. We rode it around in the wind, bumpy waves and light rain for a bit until we had to turn it in. It was cold when we went fast. I realized later that my ring was missing. It must have came off when I was holding the Seadoo handle when it was bumpy and slippery. It was still a good day.

Saturday the 10th, Candi, Mina and Leila performed at Sreeve & Ryan's ward luau. Mina and Leila did a Tahitian and Samoan dance. They were awesome. I was very proud of them. I joined the Maori group just to sing a couple songs and do the haka.

Farewell FHE for Josh

Friday the 2nd, Tyrell and Mina went with the youth in the ward to see the Martin Harris pageant up in Clarkston, Utah, somewhere north of Logan. They had stopped in Brigham City to do baptism in the Temple and then ate dinner in Logan I think. The pageant didn't start until 9pm. They had a good time from what they said.

For Family Home Evening on the 5th we went up to Tanner Flat campground way up Little Cottonwood canyon with Jody's family and some of Monica's family and friends for a final FHE with Josh before went into the MTC Wednesday. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows then had a sort of farewell speech/testimony time for Josh. We said our good byes to him and gave a hug and stuff when we left.

Erana & the Baby Powder

Candy and I got home at 1am from seeing 'The Wolverine' movie and we see Erana on our bed still awake next to Mina who was sleeping and Erana had put baby powder all over them. Lol!