December

Saturday December 3rd, Mina and Tane slept over the night before to come to our Ward Christmas Breakfast Party.  Tyrell and Alisa couldn't come because they were working. We ate yummy breakfast casserole and were entertained by ward members singing and dancing. During a girls dance to Christmas music, my kids were being silly and dancing while sitting to the music, they were a crack up! I made sure we got photos with Santa (last year he left without us getting our photo) Santa was an old Neighbor from our Condo, the guy that had a Harley and he's very tall. He was a good Santa, Tane sat on his knee lol 

Our kids drew names for Secret Siblings gift. Which they'll get to open Christmas Eve.

5th - 9th at Riverview Jr High we had grazing week, where teachers and staff took turns bringing food to snack on. I brought meatballs, rice and a Butter Mochi cake. But my rice didn't cook all the way through lol. 

Wednesday 7th, for Young Womens the girls went to the Skinners and they had a White Elephant. I had gotten some stuff from TJ Max, mask and rudolph headband etc. Actually Erana was with me when we were going into TJ Max, some of my students (Diego, Toby, Jaylina & Sabrina) saw me and yelled out "Ms. Wihongi" and then I said oh Baby my students are coming. So we went into TJ Max and baby hid away cause she didn't want my students to see her. They came and chatted with me, they were buying PJ's for PJ day which was the next day, lucky they told me cause I didn't know. I wore Mina's 'Totoro' pjs lol. Anyways at the YW White Elephant, Leila got Daphne Fergusons gift and vice versa, Leila loved her gift from Daphne, home made hair scrunchies. And Erana got Brynlee Rudolphs gift a huge yellow ball and other nicknacks. From the leaders they got chapsticks and handcream, which was on their Santa list.

Christmas is coming up soon and I do not like going shopping when it's cold. This is what I dread about Christmas lol. Jay and I did most of our shopping online with Amazon. All the kids made themselves a wish list and shared it with everyone. But I still need to get Jays gifts and everyone stocking stuffers. I bought Holiday Paper Towels, for our neighbors and friends that stop by and give us something. Jay is also making his Candied Almonds. We did not take a Family Christmas Photo this year, sad. We do have family photo's when we had the weddings in May. 

Tuesday 13th Leila and I went to Erana's Choir Concert and Jay went to 'Forest Nielson's' Retirement Party. Leila and I got front row seats in the middle. Erana's choir was entertaining and Erana was awesome. It was a short program, but good. Afterwards I took the to get shakes at Arctic Circle. On the way home I was being funny and said to Erana that my Riverview Choir kids sound better than her whole school choir. She didn't think it was funny and took it seriously and cried. I was not very sympathetic and probably made it worse. When Jay found out he was mad at me and growled me and told me to say nice things. 

Friday 16th the girls went Ice Skating, it was the younger classes activity. Leila went along to have fun and chaperone, they got shakes afterwards.

Saturday 17th we had our Wihongi Family Christmas Party at Jared's house at 4pm. We got there around 5pm though. This morning Jared msgd on Siblings fb msgr for me to bring Mint sauce for his Pork Roast that Camilla was making. That past week Moni had commented that she was bringing Pork roast and dessert in our Barney and Barbara Wihongi Family FB page. In the post that Jared made and asked what people were bringing LOL!!! Anyways there was tons of yummy food, I made Mums Chop Suey and a yummy ham in the crock pot. My ham in the crock pot was way better than the one I made for Thanksgiving in the oven. Jareds basement was kinda finished and it looked awesome. The kids had their White Elephant in the basement. Leila's gift she brought was Grandmas wig and chocolates, Erana's were toys she doesn't play with anymore and chocolates. Jaxon's was his barely used Adidas shoes size 10 in a Nike Box.  At the end of the White Elephant Leila got a Smoosh Mello art kit that she eventually traded with Spencer's daughter Ivy, cause she got Grandma's wig and was little embarrassed lol. Erana had to chose again she got her first gift stolen, she then opened up a very suspect trash bag and yup got an large, old expired Bullet Proof Vest lol 

Our show 'Alchemy of Souls' started back up and Jay and I have been watching it each week, Saturday and Sundays. It's agonizing waiting each week for the new episodes to come out lol. With our girls we finished 'Business Proposal' with them and started 'Crash Landing on You'. 

Friday 23rd, we went downtown to look at the lights at Temple Square. We parked at City Creek Mall and then walked a little before we ate at the Food Court.  Girls had Poke Bowls, Jay and I got some Yakisoba and McDs lol Girls food was yummier lol. We then walked over to the Temple and looked at the lights. Temple is still being earthquake proofed. It was really cold, so when we were done we came home. 

Christmas Eve, everyone was over for Hot Pot night, including a in and out visit with Kesiah. She brought us a very expensive looking Dried Fruit Platter. We had 2 tables set up in the living room. We had 2 hotpots set up. In the beginning we had a problem with the power turning everything off, but we got it sorted out. We had lots of yummy meats, seafood, veges and toppings. I had gone to Costco and gotten some drinks too. Overall we ate lots of yummy food, it was delicious, but a lot of work lol. Afterwards the girls decorated Gingerbread Men, that I bought from Smiths. And then all the kids slept in the basement except for Tyrell and Alisa, they were at her home. Of course Dad and I were up late doing Santa stuff, and I put the brisket on. 

Christmas morning I wore my new Christmas pjs, from Ross. All the kids opened their stockings. I had put Coal in Jaxon's but Mina ruined it and put something else in his. Then we opened presents, I didn't get Jay a lot of gifts, just a new Pillow. My Christmas list that was in Keeps is below. I didn't really like how the Brisket turned out, I think I over cooked it and it was dry. Jay bought me some anti aging lotions and goodies. Tyrell & Alisa bought me an air fryer and I cooked the potatoes in it. Mina & Tane got us a gift card to The Cheese Cake Factory. When the food was done we had a nice dinner. Kesiah came again with a basket, blanket, chocolates, pineapple very fancy stuff. I just stayed in my pjs the whole day lol.

SECRET SIBLINGS:
Erana - Tyrell
Leila - Mina
Jaxon - Alisa
Mina - Erana
Alisa - Leila
Tane - Jaxon
Tyrell - Tane

LIST:
Tyrell - Alisa - Tane - Mina -
Eggcooker Puzzle Vest hairbrush straightener
Britain jug Apple cutter Burrito game crew neck sweaters
Lights Nail kit Bathroom set
Laptop cooler


Jaxon - Leila: Erana:
Webcam 2 booksSmosh Merch
monitor treasure second step: chapter 2 haikyu
Hoodie/pantsmini Pokémon card binder *Camera
-clothesTshirt long sleeve shirts pants that aren't skinny jeans Tshirt
- ps5
- gaming pc
- YouTube recording stuff
- cologne
- anime stuff


PARENTS GIFTS: EVE: DAY:
Tyrell - $50 Hot Pot Brisket
Alisa - $50 Gingerbread cookies/icing roasted potato
Mina - $50 beans/beets/asparagus
Tane - $50 chips/crackers
Jaxon - $50 Sparkly
Leila - $20 Steam pudding/custard/icecream
Erana -$20

Jared organized another dinner again with the TVBZ on Monday 26th at 5pm. We didn't want to go, we were all socialized out lol But we ended up going, brought our leftovers and made extra green beans. We were an hour late and when we got there, Jared was just peeling potatoes? Only Fisi was there. Later James Moleni and Romaine Marshall showed up, we ate when Romaine came. 

New Years Eve, tryin to keep it on the down low lol We just stayed home with our family, except for Jaxon ditched us. Scott, Heather, Jared and Ariki came too. Kage had to work he came later and stayed for a bit. Drayden was with a friend.  We had Shrimp rings, KFC, Curry Pizzas, Vege tray, Sausage dip, mini quiche, BBQ mini Sausages, Crab balls, Chips & dips, Cheese, salami & Crackers. We played 'Pop the Balloon', Smack your face with Tortilla, Snatch the Bottle. Watched some KPop dances and danced and did some Karaoke. Rang in the new Year watching the ball drop in New York on the tele, and a kiss from my Bean.

November

Thursday November 3rd, Jay went and picked up Lorna Paki from the airport and brought her home to hang out while she waited for Dion and her bro Harland. They were driving from San Fran. When they got here Dion was a crack up. Talking about how Seamus changed the venue to Harls & Juanita's 50th BDay and anniversary, but saying I was the one who actually changed it cause I brought it up to Seamus during Uncle Ra's funeral. Asking why it's in Orem, he told me Julius Skipps booked his chapel and then so I was ok with that cause Julius is in a wheelchair. And now they just making funny's about it....

Friday November 4th. I bought some Lucky's chicken and made Lupulu for Harlands's 50th etc... We were way early lol cause I made us leave early due to rush hour. Ben O'brien and his wife came, they were here from Texas visiting their daughter who was in a car crash, but she's ok. The chapel was freezing, cause the heat was set and couldn't be changed. Luckily I wore a CCNZ sweat shirt and jacket. Jay wore his CCNZ jacket too. Dion and Harland etc didn't show up till late, an hour late. Dion was the mc for the night. It was suppose to be dress up in 80's but only Jay and I wore our CCNZ stuff, and then Maria Chavez came and looked like TLC, no one else got the memo. There was lots of yummy food, Seamus made hangi, Lee's maori bread and lots of chicken kfc etc. Skipps family made huge german chocolate cakes, and there was Guava cake too. Harls family spoke, the way Harl says stuff is interesting lol All our family was there except for Jaxon. We had a nice time mingling, eating and dancing. Julius was the dj, he brought all his cool dj stuff. We helped clean up afterwards and it's amazing that the Skipps family sets and packs up all of Julius's stuff!

 It's like winter is here and there was a week of Autumn lol So now I'm in hibernation mode and don't want to go anywhere lol.  It rained a lot one weekend and our room window was leaking so bad we had to put buckets out. Now we are deciding on getting the windows done and the siding eh. 

Friday November 11th, Jay and I had date night with Tyrell and Alisa and went to eat at 'New Thai Cafe'. I ordered chow mein, Jay got pho, Tyrell red curry and Alisa egg noodle soup. My noodles were yummy, I tasted everyone's food lol and it was all yummy. Tyrell's curry was too spicy cause he chose the hottest one, but it was still good. Jay and I also got a boba drink, I got honeydew and Jay got coconut, they were delicious. I know will be going back there again.   Girls had 'Movie Night' with their 'Tausala Teens', they watched the new 'Top Gun' movie and had pizza.

Sunday November 13th, Our family wore our Poppies in remembrance of Veterans day. We finally had our Primary Program. It was awesome, only a couple of our kids were away. But all the kids were great and the songs too, except if I had to change something it would be to have Lydia Ferguson sing into the mic, cause she was too quiet for me. But I'm glad it's done. To celebrate doing an awesome job of our primary program we watched 'Mr.Kruegers Christmas' and ate caramel cornpops, popcorn and Kool aid. We practice some Christmas songs, cause the kids will be singing at our Ward Christmas Party. We handed out the treats we got from the Stake Primary Presidency and twix's. 

Dorothy from our Condo complex asked Leila to clean her home and she'll pay her. Leila went to talk with her about it and ended up agreeing to something ridiculous. So I had to go over with her and renegociate. She'll get paid $20 for 2hrs every Tuesday 3-5pm, vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms etc.

Thursday November 24th. We celebrated 'Thanksgiving Day' at Tania's in Grantsville. The men went a little earlier to shoot their guns off in the mountains. Jared's family, Scott's family and us including the newlyweds were the only ones that came. Jody and Moni were sick, flu and covid.  I made the ham, stuffing and a pumpkin bar. There was Turkey, lupulu, mashed potatoes, gravy, funeral potatoes, spinach salad, sweet potatoes, banana bread/cake, passionfruit mousse, pumpkin cake etc. I wore a mask so I won't get sick afterwards, it worked too! lol The men were late, we told them to hurry up us women are hungry. After stuffing ourselves we played pool, and Tania popped some popcorn in their popcorn machine. We came home a little after 7pm and then went to Scott's home to have a dip in his hot tub. Mina and Tane slept over. 

Jonah and Maya came Friday to sleepover till Sunday. Our internet was running out so Jay put restrictions on it. So the kids had to play board games they did with Mina and Tane. They played games on the ps4 but didn't log onto the internet, they watched movies on plex. 

Saturday Jay and I slept in and then snuck out to Tous Le Jour and Sagato Bakery. Tous Le Jour was busy had to seats so we decided to eat at home after we got some pies from Sagato's. My pie was eh, ok. Tous Le Jour is french but has korean and Japanese pastries. I get the curry roll, it's yummy.

Sunday we had Ward Conference. Jonah had left his church clothes in the car so he had to borrow Jaxon's lol. The Stake Primary Presidency took over our Primary and there was no Nursery. We had combined adults lesson, same with the youth.   For dinner I made spaghetti and pho. I only ate the pho though, it was yummy. The spaghetti tasted a little different because I made it from all the leftover tomatoes from our garden. Melia came and got Jonah and Maya and took them home. 

October - Leila's 17th Birthday

Mina and Tane stayed over for General Conference Weekend. I made breakfast for Saturday morning session, German Waffle, eggs & sausages, milo. I made Spaghetti for dinner, kids had a firepit, and Dad and I sat in the hot tub.  Sunday morning we had cinnamon wheels, horchata. I made a crock pot roast, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner.  General Conference talks were about Nourishing and bearing your testimony, Abuse is an abomination to God, revised For the Strength of Youth - A Guide for Making Choices, Let Doing Good be our Normal, why we don't use the Cross as a symbol,  Overcoming the world, Focus on the temple...

Monday October 2nd.The girls and I went to the Ashworth's annual Halloween Party. Last minute cause we forgot all about it, I was Tanjiro, Leila was a Wookee and Erana wore her Tiger head. We met Scott and Heather there, we ate yummy hotdogs, cookies etc. Kage came with his friend James and then they, Kage, friend, Ben Ferguson, Leila and Erana did Karaoke and sang 'The Girl Is Mine', Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney. They were a crack up, Leila was acting cringey lol

Wednesday October 5th. Jay and I went to Erana Concert Choir performance and Bennion Jr High. We sat up close cause I went an hour early with Erana. I was getting restless though in line, cause the line was all over the place. The performances were short, the guys choir was hilarious, Jay and I was cracking up. Erana was awesome, couldn't hear her though lol

My Jaybean and I went on a trip to Orlando, Florida. We left October Thursday 6th, flew on JetBlue. Before that when I checked in the day before they had moved Jay far away from me. And their customer service people wouldn't move us together, stupid! I moved him closer and on the day I asked this guy to swap his isle seat with Jays and he did! Yay! I watched 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon on the plane. We went straight to our hotel when we got there, the Hilton Grand, it was humungus and we were put in the farthest Hotel building, Smith. Our room was on the 3rd floor in the corner. We had a hot tub and an enclosed netted balcony.  Hurricane Ian didn't do that much damage just trees fell down, the coast had the most damage. We went and ate dinner at the Market Grill at the Main Lobby, we shared a BBQ Burger and Fries. And got a few things from the 7'll, which was close by our Hotel. 

Friday, 7th we took the shuttle bus to Aquatica, got the all you can eat deal. Bought a bottle of suntan Lotion. Jay and I walked around going on the rides, wasn't busy at all. We had a nice spot under an umbrella by the bathrooms and Cafe. I got food throughout the day, 1st Fried fish, fruit and drink. 2nd Chicken salad, brownie. 3rd Hotdog, Dave's cookie. 4th Burger and fries, Dave's cookies. The weather was perfect! We had groceries delivered.

Saturday and Sunday we stayed at the Hotel. Went to the Hotel pool, they have a big pool area, with 4 hot tubs. Got a nice tropical Pina colada and mango fizz drink, expensive though. We also have a pool closer to our Hotel went there on Sunday, has a hot tub too. Sleeping in was nice for those 2 days and staying in our Hotel enjoying our time together. Sitting in our room hot tub at night and watching our KDramas. We like this kind of vacation, relaxing!

Monday, 10th, we caught a bus at Sea World that took us to Busch Gardens. Jay and I sat apart next to strangers. I sat next to a Dad from Scotland traveling with his family, they had been to Busch Gardens 4x already. The ride was about 1 hour and 30 minutes.  After going on the newest ride there we paid for Quick Que passes so we wouldn't have to wait in the long lines. It was worth it! We saw an Ice Skating show which was fun. We walked around going on all the big roller coaster rides, they were all different, the last one was too old though made my head bang against the seat restraints, I was done lol. My Jaybean didn't get sick at all. Went on a train ride and looked at their animals, giraffes, Ostriches, zebra's etc. We were too far away from the BBQ place and I was already Hangry so we shared a Burger and fries. We tried some fried oreos, they were yummy. We missed the Ice-cream place that we wanted to eat at, cause the closed at 5pm an hour before the park closes, but they closed like at 4:54pm, was a little bummed. But Jay bought a chocolate soft serve waffle cone dessert it was a'ight. We sat together on the bus ride home in the front seats lol. So happy I got to sit next to my Honey.  I changed our Discovery day to Friday, it was suppose to be Wednesday, but the weather showed overcast and thunderstorms. 

Tuesday, 11th, walked over to Sea World, it was a nice day, I love the humidity and plants. Went on the newest roller coaster ride, 'Ice Breaker' it was fun. We watched the whale show again. Saw Big Bird in Sesame Street. They had a lot of fall Halloween decorations up. Since we missed the BBQ lunch at Busch Gardens we got it at Sea World. Got that and a brisket salad. It was a'ight, I don't have to get it again though, too expensive and it was just ok. We left early to go to our Hotel pool to relax. When I was at the pool closest to our room I had a summer short overalls over my togs and I went to take it off and accidently pulled down my swim bottoms too lol Only Jay saw and luckily no one else, but it was a crack up, hard case!

Wednesday, 12th caught the shuttle to Aquatica again, it was an over casted day. But we didn't do much there. Didn't get the all you can eat, cause we were eating too much food. And didn't go on much slides. We lay out a lot and snoozed, watched my cdramas on my phone. Went in the wave pool. Even though we didn't do as much like the first time the time went by so quickly. We waited for our bus at 430pm cause Aquatica closes at 5pm but it never came cause our bus was scheduled for 540pm. So we walked back to our Hotel, made our feet a bit tender. Luckily we saw Alfredo coming in the shuttle cart and waived him down to take us back to our Hotel building. Went to the Hotel pool to relax, went to bed early for Discovery cove.

Tyrell took the girls to their Piano Recital. He videod them and sent me the videos, they were awesome. Leila had a Michael Jackson Thriller TShirt on though but her piano piece was 'Oogway Ascends' from Kung Fu Panda and she could've worn a chinese dress. Erana's was            .Tyrell took them for a treat at Arctic Circle afterwards.

Thursday, 13th we stayed at our Hotel again and went to the Hotel pool. But in the afternoon we walked over Sea World again for the Halloween Night. There entrance was cool and they had people dressed up in scary stuff scaring people as they walked around, vampires, zombies, Homeless people lol They had 5 Halloween houses to go into, we only went into 4 of them. First one was the scariest cause we didn't know what to expect. I was holding Jay and closing my eyes too. The grapevine house was a bit scabby, inside the houses you just walk zig zag all the time and people jump out at you. We took a break and got some yummy cinnamon bites. We also went on a couple of roller coasters. One house can't remember, I tried to scare people and then security guy and me cracking up because of the tents and weird noises coming from them. Jay and I were done at 10pm came back to hotel to get into our hot tub.

Friday, 14th walked to Discovery Cove it was farther than Sea World but ok, it opens at 7am. After checking in, I got my prescription goggles. We got a yummy breakfast, scrambled eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, biscuit, chicken nuggets, yogurt parfait, applesauce, pastries, orange juice, chocolate milk. My eyes were too big and I got stuffed and couldn't finish lol Went and got our lockers, same place from last time we were there with kids. We got swim vests, but you don't need to wear them anymore if you don't want to. We got them anyways to keep us warm in the swim with the fish area. Lots more people than normal but it was ok, we didn't care it didn't affect us. Lots of tourists from the UK. After swimming with the fish and getting cold, we got in the lazy river to warm up and then got in the smaller one, which was even more warmer.  We laid out on our seats and sunned, and then repeated. We got snacks and slushies from the snack bars. We both got steak for lunch with a bit of pulled pork, the steak is so tender and yummy. Went to feed the birds in the Avery, they really liked Jay this time.  In the shallow entrance part of the lazy river, an english kid about 9 or 10yrs old attacked Jays leg with his plastic giant shark toy, and he also did the same to me, he was a crack up. Jay was going overboard with his acting with the kid, that when he came over to me to bite my leg I just went Ow and then he said your suppose to be in the water, cause Jay was falling in the water hahaa. Near the end of the day we stayed in the smaller lazy river cause it was the warmest. Then we got out a little earlier than normal, and I had a nice shower, didn't know that they provided shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Walked back to our hotel and ate had a hot tub Kdrama rest of the night. 

Saturday 15th woke up early and ate the rest of our groceries, then we took a Lyft to the airport. We sat together on the plane and we had an extra chair next to us as well. So it was a nice flight home the plane was colder than the flight coming, I wore my jacket though. I had a nap on Jays lap, and I snacked on my jalapeno chips too. Jaxon picked us up.

We celebrated Leila's 17th birthday and Alisa's 26th birthday on the 28th. We had a cake. On the 29th we went to Uncle Ra Puriri's funeral. It was nicely done. All the family spoke. He also had a simple casket with maori designs painted on by Clint. It was nice. We did Tika tonu and kamate. Seamus Fitzgerald also gave a korero in maori as they were bringing the casket and Cherise (Seamus' neice) did a karanga. It's always emotional to hear that done. Beautiful. He is buried in the same cemetery in Alpine as Uncle Moses and Auntie Pauline. We visited their grave after. 

Halloween was at Scott's again with the traditional soups like clam chowder, taco soup, boil up and another 1 or 2. Delicious. We walked around Scott's neighborhood with the kids for trick or treating.