August 2025

8/11/25

Talofa Sister Wihongi, 

Friday, August 1st, Dad, Erana and I did some family baptisms in the morning at the Taylorsville Temple. 

Monday, August 4th. Had an appointment with Erana’s school counselor to change one of her classes. She completed ‘Health’ for Summer School. And so we changed ‘Health’ to ‘Real Estate’. Her counselor was Ms.Evans, her great great great grandpa was Ephraim Magelby and he served 3 missions in New Zealand, he has a Wharekai named after him. 

In the afternoon Erana and I went to Maya’s play - Hadestown. Erana and I got front row middle seats. Mina, Tane, Tyrell and Alisa came too and they sat behind us. Moni, Jody and Serina were there too. Maya was an extra, she danced and sang with the other extras. The play was awesome, the main characters had amazing voices! Erana ended up sleeping over at Maya’s till Thursday. 

Thursday, August 7th. Erana got dropped off by Moni and Jody. And she had Tausala. 

Saturday, August 9th. I finished varnishing my Taiaha’s and Uncle will put the 2nd coat on them. Erana and I went to Jared’s home, to help set up for Talia’s Bridal Shower. Heather and I were hosting it. We had prepared Costco sandwiches, fruit, salad and desserts. We were there early because Heather bought a balloon arch. It takes a while to set it up. Talia’s Mother in law was making tons of food, chopsuey, potato salad and sausages. We didn’t get a good response on facebook to who and how many people were coming. I counted 5 people including us lol. Apart from Me, Erana, Mina, Heather, Camila, Maria (Talias MIL) her daughter and her 3 daughter in laws. 

8/21/25

Hi Sister Wihongi,

So Mum and I spent a week in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. We flew out early in the morning on Wed, 8/13 to Dallas, Texas airport. It was about a 2 hour flight. We caught our next flight about an hour later to Knoxville, TN which was also about a 2 hour flight. In the Dallas airport we had to take the Skylink tram to another terminal. They have about 6 terminals that the tram goes around in a circle to each one. At Knoxville we got our car rental in the parking garage. A nice lady that helped us check out the car gave us a $94 fee waiver for having an extra driver. That helped out, she was nice. The drive to Pigeon Forge was about an hour from the airport. We got a nice Hyundai Tucson suv. Tennessee is green with green hills and forests and is hot and humid. Reminds me of New Zealand without the flaxes and ferns trees. We checked into the Microtel Inn & suites, room 203. It had a king bed, a business desk and a sofa sleeper, fridge and microwave. We relaxed a little before going to eat at the Sunliner Diner, a 50’s themed place which was nice. I got a burger and fries and mum got a steak. Mum thought her steak was too dry. She’s a steak snob. We went to a grocery store to buy drinks for our fridge. Then we went and rode the Lost Mines mountain coaster which was fun. At 8pm we went to the Country Tonite show which was good I thought. They sang popular country songs through the decades. They also had a gospel music section and sang songs about Christ. I felt the spirit. They had a patriotic music section too.There were many I liked but now I can’t remember the names of them. After that we returned to the mountain coaster to ride it at night with the lights on. It was half off to get a return ticket. It was cool seeing it lit up and we could see the town lights coming down parts of the mountain. It was a long first day.

Thursday, 8/14 we went to Dollywood Splash Country, the water park. It opened at 10am. It was a nice hot day. We found a spot then went on most of the slides. It isn’t as big as Aquatica but it was fun. But if we had gone on a busy day it would seem over crowded I think because of not having a lot of wide open spaces like the sandy area of Aquatica. The lazy river is a slow type on tubes. I kinda like the fast paced ones at Aquatica and Volcano Bay. We left about 5pm and stopped at a shopping area with a thrift store Mum wanted to go to. She got an apron, lol. We also went into a Hulk Hogan store, a dollar store and a Trump store and had photos with the General Lee car from the Dukes of Hazard. We also went to another mountain coaster called RockyTop. It was fun and it sprinkled rain on us during it but it felt nice because it was hot. At 7pm we went to the Hatfield and McCoys dinner show. If you read about those 2 families, they were infamous for the feud they had. The show was a light hearted way of showing that feud but then had a good message at the end of reconciliation and forgiveness. The dinner was fried chicken, creamy soup, corn on the cob, bbq pulled pork, mashed potatoes, rolls, cole slaw and a small dessert. It was a lot. We couldn’t eat it all. After the show we went back to Rocky Top to ride it at night with the lights but it was too crowded and we didn’t want to wait that long.

Friday, 8/15 we went to Dollywood. It was exciting going to a new park for the first time. It’s a beautiful park with nice walkways and buildings and themes. We went to the Lightning Rod coaster first. A wood coaster that was really fast. That was a fun one. We went around the park going to the right from the entrance. We did the river raft ride then went and ate the cinnamon bread that Dollywood is famous for. It was delicious. We continued after and went on a log ride and got a bit wet and an indoor ride with a town being on fire theme. Then we got to the Tornado Twister coaster and waited for like an hour in a hot line. Fridays must be a busy day. The ride was fun but Mum did not want to wait in any other line longer than 30 minutes. Some rides we skipped until Monday because of long lines or being down. We watched some shows with more country music, ate a potato tornado and the twisted dog which is a potato tornado with a hot dog in it. Mum had told them the wrong thing but meant to say twisted dog but they made the potato tornado so she ended up with both and paid for only one. We also had a brisket cheesesteak sandwich that was yummy. We went on another coaster called the Big Bear Mountain. It’s fast and long. They also have another wooden roller coaster named Thunderhead, that one was crazy fast and fun too. The park closed at 7pm. Before closing we walked around the museum buildings in the Dolly Parton Experience area. It had a show of her life growing up nearby and her story of getting famous and a lot of the clothes she wore to award shows and stuff. We drove into town after and got an ice cream at Rita’s then stopped at a general store named Three Bears then went back to the hotel. This area is very christian and conservative. They play christian music in the stores and have christian themed t-shirts. They are much more open about Christ publicly here than in Utah.

Saturday, 8/16, we drove to the Sugarlands visitors center which is one of the visitors centers for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a couple miles past Gatlinburg which is a town a few miles from Pigeon Forge. We got a parking tag for the park for our drive on Sunday and had a walk in the nearby forest. Mum got a t-shirt and I got some pins. We went into Gatlinburg to go to the Skypark. It was a chairlift up onto the mountain side and they had a suspension bridge and food store and some walking trails. In the middle of the bridge it had a see-through glass part you walk over which was a little freaky. We took photos and walked a trail and got a slushy drink. It was hot. After that, we walked to Ripley's Aquarium. It was actually pretty big and had the longest shark tunnel I’ve been on. They also have the Ripley’s museum like the one we went to in Orlando but we didn’t go in it. Gatlinburg is full of fun activities to do like Pigeon Forge but the main street was more of an older feel to it like Jackson, WY. We got ice-cream after the aquarium. There was a pacific display where it showed clubs and spears that were labeled as maori but they weren’t even maori. The only thing they got right was the taiaha was Maori. We left Gatlinburg to be able to make another dinner show named Dolly’s Stampede at 5pm. It was an arena like the Excalibur show. The food was a whole chicken or cornish hen, creamy soup, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and pulled pork. And a dessert. I had a coconut chocolate cake and mum had an apple turnover that we saved to eat later. The show was horse riders competing in teams, the North vs the South and a few other items and contests involving the audience. We were on the South team. It was a fun show but the Excalibur show was better. Mum got allergy symptoms after which we think was the dust from the arena. After that show we went to the Racing mountain coaster where we can race each other. I think Mum won it. It was fun. You go up then race down then go up again at another spot and race down to the bottom. Another fun day done.

Sunday, 8/17 we woke up a little early and checked out of our hotel to start a drive through Cade’s Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National park. It’s a valley area clearing in the middle of the forest where a community of people used to live in the 1800’s and early 1900’s before the area became a park in 1934 or something. It was a driving tour that was an 11 mile loop that had stops where people used to live. Old homes, cabins, churches, etc. It was a really pretty area. We stopped at many of the places, old cabins and the visitors center. We saw the back of a black bear in the forest walking away from us. We could hardly see it through the trees. We were meant to take a different drive to Kuwohi visitors center which overlooks the Smoky mountains but the road there was closed because it got damaged during a rain storm. Maybe next time. We drove back home through Gatlinburg and stopped at the Ripleys mountain coaster because we have 2 activities to do that we paid for when buying the aquarium tickets. It was a fun coaster but more of the traditional way of one trip up and one trip all the way down. The others had more than one trip up. We went to Walmart in Pigeon Forge and got some laundry detergent and some fruit and yogurt for our cabin. We stayed in a cabin for the last 3 nights. It was a 30 minute drive out of Pigeon Forge into the country and up a hillside in the forest. It was a nice cozy cabin that had a hot tub on the deck and a big spa tub in the main bathroom. The address was 4120 Evans chapel road, for future reference. We got in the hot tub which was nice. The forest was so loud with insect noises. I had to also clear out some spider webs off the deck area where the orb weaving kind were making webs. Mum was a little freaked out in the outside area at night. We used the inside tub the next 2 nights, lol. The cabin had an upstairs area and a foosball table.

Monday, 8/18 we went back to Dollywood. We went right to the area where there were 3 coasters close by that we didn’t do on Friday. The first was Mystery Mine. That was pretty good. The next was Firechaser Express which was more for kids being a bit tame. Then we did Wild Eagle. That was fun. The coaster has 2 seats on the right side and 2 on the left which make wings of an eagle. We went on it twice in a row doing the right side then the left. There were no lines on these rides and it was pretty much like that the whole day. Monday was not crowded at all. After that we went on Twisted Tornado again, the ride where we waited for an hour on Friday but got straight on this time. We wanted a snack so we got some pulled pork fries. We did another ride named Dragon Flier where the seat hangs under the rails. It was ok. We went on Big Bear mountain coaster again. That is a fun ride. It’s long and fast but not as good as the Mako ride in Sea World I reckon because Mako has high ups and downs. We did a big swing ride named Barn Stormer. That’s a good one. We went on the Drop Line again so Mum could video from up high. It takes you up pretty high, rotates 360 then all of a sudden drops down. We did Thunderhead again too, the ride was wild. We stopped at many stores. Mum looked at shirts and I looked at pins. I got quite a few this trip. Mum got a cowboy hat for Erana in the hat store. We also stopped and got more cinnamon bread and ate it at the ice cream store at a table and mum got a peaches and cream ice cream. It was nice and cool there. It was another hot and humid day. We watched another show in a theater then rode the Lightning Rod coaster again. That one has made some bloggers’ top ten list in the US for coasters. Mum was very undecided every time she would look for a t-shirt. There were many good choices. We left about 7pm and drove to a buffet named Sakura in Sevierville. It was actually pretty good. It had sushis for Mum. It was about 8 when we drove back to the cabin. We wanted to get home before we had to drive in the dark. Oh that’s when we were talking to you on the phone.

Tuesday, 8/19 we slept in to catch up on some sleep. We went to the Island at Pigeon Forge. It's a shopping area with a big wheel and other fun things to do. It's like that area we walked to in Orlando that had the big wheel we went on. We looked in many of the stores and went on a Sky ride. It's like the Soaring ride at Disney but I think this one was better. We went on the big wheel which had awesome views from the top. We stopped at a key lime store and got a coconut chocolate key like pie slice on a stick which was yummy. I bought a cap that says faith, family, flag, freedom. We then stopped at another place called Rowdy Bear that has coaster rides. We did one where the seats hang under the rails and we shoot a laser gun at targets as we go around it. We did it twice. Next we went to Ripley's Old McDonald miniature golf. We had one more Ripley's activity to use with our aquarium tickets so we did that. It was pretty fun. I had about 3 or 4 holes in one. Mum had 2. It was shaded somewhat. It was a hot day. We went to the Sakura buffet after for dinner then went back to the cabin. 

Wednesday, 8/20 we checked out of the cabin around 10am and went to the main road in Pigeon Forge and stopped at several gift stores. We were looking for christian t-shirts. Mina wanted some. We got them at 3 bears gift store where we saw them the other day. The other gift stores didn't have them. Mum bought a bunch. We wanted to leave at least by 1230pm to get the rental car back by 2pm. While we were shopping we got notice that our flight had been delayed. Then they booked us on flights for the next day. I was a bit worried about that but said some prayers and everything worked out OK. We drove back to the airport about an hour away and stopped at Bojangles on the way. It's a southern fried chicken place. It was a little spicy for me. We got the car returned on time and went to the check in desk to find out if there were options for us to go back today. The lady (pango) said they booked us the next day because we would have missed the connecting flight in Dallas. We were a little bummed. We went and found a seat by the bag claim area. I felt we should go over there. We were going to finish eating our food. The lady came out of an office near there and asked if we wanted to get the next flight to Dallas on stand-by. The risk was we might have to still stay the night in Dallas or we could still try to get on the original flight we had. Many flights were canceled in the Dallas area because of weather. So we did that and she got us stand by passes. We did get on the flight no problem and sat together. We landed in Dallas about 2 hours before our next flight but the plane had to wait for ages getting a gate because everything was backed up. We prayed some more that we wouldn't miss the flight. We got off and went right to the gate. We told the lady there our situation and she put us on standby. After, we saw our names on the wait list had been cleared so we would get on and our prayers were answered. The flight was delayed and left a little after 10pm when it was supposed to leave at 9pm. We got into Salt Lake after midnight and it was after 1am when we got to bed. We had also prayed and added to our fast that we would have a safe trip with good weather. We saw the forecast showed some high chances of rain on some of our days but on the first few days we saw that clear up for our whole trip. It was sunny the whole time. Then the rain came back in the forecast the day we left. I know our prayers were answered with that too. That's our trip, love you so much, Dad and Mum.

Talofa Sis.Wihongi, 

While we were in Tennessee. Tyrell stayed with Erana sometimes. The Fergusons took her to the Ward Pool Party. Erana told me that she and others in the choir were given a one line song to sing, a solo. And her Choir Teacher Ms. Tarrant said “she hasn’t heard a voice like Erana’s in years”, and she’s going to teach Erana how to use her wide range and teach her how to sing high. 

Thursday 21st was my first day back at work. It was not bad, I told everyone about ‘Dollywood’. I wore my Dollywood t-shirt. I was told I can wait to have ‘lunch detentions’ tomorrow lol. All the kids seem happy, and the work on our new school is coming along nicely. I also let my boss know I won’t be here Sept 4th & 5th, going to Texas, to visit with relatives. 

Friday, we went and ate at Carls Jr in Jordan Landing, because our Carls jr closed, sad! Baby chose to go there for dinner. Afterwards I picked up and dropped off baby and her friends at the Taylorsville High Football game. When I picked them up the score was 12-26, to Murray.

Saturday, I went and did my carving at Uncles. He had already cut out both Tewhatewha’s and sanded down one. I started on sanding down the other one, which will be Jays, the other tewhatewha will be Jaxons. Afterwards I stayed home and did some cleaning, preparing for Sunday and going over my YW lesson. 

Sunday, I gave my lesson on ‘The Lord Gave me the Word of Wisdom to help me be healthy in Body and Spirit’. My lesson was the ‘bomb’, afterwards I had no regrets, said everything I wanted to say. My song was ‘I love to See the Temple’, from the Brown Hymn book. I made yummy charcuterie skewers for a treat. 

We had yummy hamburgers for Sunday dinner. Dad filmed us doing a ‘handing over the Taiahas that I made - ceremony’! Lol We had to do it twice because Dad thought he was filming but wasn’t. We looked at the photos and video from our Tennessee trip. Alisa and Tyrell made yummy mango sago for dessert. 

For work this year I quit doing the ‘Engagement Specialist’ job, and now just do ISS & attendance. And they’ve changed it to just having a lot of ‘lunch detention’ instead of ‘full day ISS’. So hopefully I can leave on time every day. We have 2 new ladies in our High School ‘car pool’. Sophia Bokovoy and Addison Hansen are the two extra girls, Addison only needs a ride home from school.  Anyways that’s what’s new with us. Love you Mum & Dad xxx

Hi Sis,

This past week has been so busy. Last Tuesday, Tane-Toa and I went straight to Julie's house and had a barbecue with Hiro and Yu. Yu is julies cousin and Hiro is her husband. We stayed at their place in Japan so they came over to visit America for the first time. Anyways, after the barbecue, we left to st. George with julie and Kristian. We stayed at our cousin Maddie's house in st. George. She just left to New Orleans because Nephi is starting football again, so we were allowed to stay in her empty house. It was nice. We went to st.george because the next day at 5am we woke up and went to the red rocks to take Yu's and Hiro's Wedding/bridal photos. (Julies family also came to st.george) Yu and Hiro got married during covid so they dont have any photos of each other so I took them. It was really pretty! Sunrise shoot. Then after that we got smoothies, took a small break and then left to vegas for the day to hang out with them there. Did lots of walking in malls and the strip and ate at a K BBQ place called Captain 6. Then said goodbye to yu and hiro because they fly out that night in las vegas. We went back to st george. The next day we ate at culvers, went to the di, went to the wildlife museum, ate at a healthy place for dinner, got ice cream at red barn, then went back to maddies house. I got a poke bowl at the healthy place for dinner and it was nasty lol had weird mushy brown rice instead of white rice. The next morning we woke up at 3am to head to Zions National Park and hiked Angel's Landing at 6am. It was perfect weather, cloudy and overcasted. The hike was beautiful and gets scary at some parts because we are holding on to chains on a cliff. It was 7.5 miles. Then we went home after and stopped and ate at The Creamery in Beaver. The next day we helped at Julies mom's place for the Japanese Matsuri. Tane and I were in charge of doing the shaved ice (Kakigori) and tyrell and Alisa did cotton candy. Sunday I woke up early for stake council at 6am and I had to lead the discussion. Then went to Hemi's farewell. He leaves today to Africa mtc. Ate dinner at mum and dads and had burgers. After dinner we went to Fisi's house to have a small get together with Fisi and his family and James and moanas family because Matiria and Angelo are here. I got to hold Becca's baby girl. She's so small and cute and looks just like Becca. Her name is Zion, but her nickname is Bug lol. On Monday after work I ate dinner at Texas roadhouse with Angelo and matiria and Angelo's family. And took his brothers engagement photos in the mountains right after. Sooo busy all the time and I need to edit galleries! Hope you have been doing well. Love you heaps, Mina and Tane-Toa xxx

8/26/2025

Hello Sister Wihongi, sorry we haven't written to you in a while, we've just been real busy with work mostly. Other than that nothing really new has happened in our lives. Alisa and I are doing good, we went camping with her family near bear lake for a few days. We took erana out to kpot for dinner one night. We slept over with her a few times while mom and dad were on their trip in Tennessee. Tonight we are going to go hang with Josh and louisa to have FHE. Mom finished carving my taiaha it's really cool. Anyways, we love and miss you. Hope you're doing well! 

Love Alisa and Tyrell