February - Candi's 48th Birthday

 Feb 3rd. Jay and I went on a date. Went bowling, Jay won both times. Then we waited a very long time to get our yummy food at Red Robin. We were at the Valley Fair Mall. 

Feb 4th. Went to Ivy Harding's Baptism. I did her program, she drew a cute picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus for the cover. She also gave a talk. Her baptism dress was made out of her Mom (Nicole) wedding dress, it was beautiful. Love their cute family.

Feb 12th. Began our bathroom remodel with 5 Star Kitchen & Bathroom Remodel. It took them a week and 2 days to be completely finished. Then my Bob Builder aka Jay, painted and added trimmings, and put in floor to ceiling cupboards! He's the bomb. Our bathroom is so nice, I love it. Took me a week later to soak in my tub though, so busy. It was nice! 

Leila getting herself ready for Arizona, practicing every Thursday some Monday's at our chapel. Making her costumes and making food for girls to have while at practice. Love our Tausala Family!

During this New Zealand had a Cyclone - Gabrielle. And flooding every where. The river bank broke right by my grandma's house and destroyed it. My hometown was flooded, chapel, marae and my childhood house that I grew up in. Denzil and family and my Uncle Paris had to evacuate they were in my grandma's home.  My sister's family that were living in my childhood home had to as well. Alison started a GoFundMe for Denzil, I sent my Sister Tricia money, not a lot though. I wish it could be more. Denzil has to rebuild and Tricia has to do major construction on the inside of our home. It was very sad, grateful no one was hurt though. 

Feb 18th. Celebrated my 48th Birthday a day early with a Hot Pot, cause tomorrow will be Sunday and Jay and I will be leaving to stay at the Anniversary Inn in Logan straight after Church. Mina and Tyrell were taking care of dinner for girls. 

Feb 19th. After church Jay and I drove to Logan. Jay surprising me with a stay at Anniversary Inn, he can't keep a secret lol.  I think this was a present for him lol. He chose 'La Hacienda' a hispanic themed room. We ordered chicken strips, salsa & nacho's. We had a very enjoyable time together. Breakfast was a little different, since they didn't have our usual ham & cheese croissant sandwich. We got biscuit and gravy instead. 

Since our bathroom was being remodeled we slept in the basement. Kiko peed and pooped on the floor in the basement and Jay turned into the Hulk ran after Kiko grabbed him and shoved his face into the poop smudging it into the carpet. We had a huge argument about it. This was like the day after my Birthday where he was all nice and loving to me. I was so upset, I couldn't sleep, crying all the time - It was horrible!

Leila and I made up the actions to the Maori action/poi song the Tausala group was doing for Arizona. Feb 26th. Leila played a piano piece in Sacrament 'Now We Take the Sacrament'. She practiced the day before and I was singing to it. We decided I should never sing a solo in Sacrament ever lol She did awesome, seemed like she was slower though, but no worries. 

January 2023 - Jaxon's 20th Birthday

 

Jan 7th. Went to Lizzy Marcrum's Baptism at the Stake Center. It was in the Relief Society room. Her Brothers gave talks. Love them!

Had a long weekend, girls especially they had Jan 12-16th off, I just had Martin Luther King day off, which was the 16th. Thursday after work I took the girls to the Mall and we bought Jaxon a couple of T-Shirts from 'Hot Topic' for his Birthday. Then we got some sushi from Smiths and came home and ate it while watching our KDrama. Friday Dad took the girls to eat brunch at Tou les Jour, they got there around 10am and some of the baked goods had already gone. Mina and Tane stayed over the whole weekend. We had burgers and steak for Sunday dinner and played a fun game, I was the loser lol

Jan 17th Girls and I went to our Stake Womens Service activity at the Stake Center. We painted wooden boards, and made cards. Ate so snacks, talked with our new neighbor Felicity her daughter Alice is in Primary. 

Jan 19th. Jay and I went and ate out at 'Hwa Korean & Japanese' restaurant. We ordered pork bulgogi, Chapjae and Udon. In Jay's famous words 'It was wonderful, wonderful' lol.

Jan 21st. Tausala had their Recital at our Stake Center. I made a lot of unnecessary foods finger foods lol but they ended up getting eaten and they were yummy. I made vege, salami, cheese kabobs, fruit kabobs and vege cups. There was tons of yummy food. All the girls from our Tausala school were awesome. It was nice to see our Aunty Fina there with Oliver. 

I got me a couple of prescription glasses off of Zeelol. When they came in the mail, I was embarrassed to show them to Jay cause they were ridiculously huge. When I did we cracked up and showed the girls and cracked up again. But I wore them to Church and work, got some compliments lol

Jan 28th. My Sunshine aka Jaxon turned 20 years old. We took him and his girlfriend -Kesiah out to eat at the Cheese Factory. I got a korean dish it was yummy, Dad got a steak and chicken dish he enjoyed it. Kesiah got a pasta dish and my Sunshine got the most expensive dish on the menu lol Filet Mignon, which we all tasted and was delicious. We had cake and ice-cream at home. I bought a Tres Leches cake, not the same as the ones I always made, oh well. Tyrell and Alisa came. 

Jan 29th. Was our 5th Sunday at Church. We had Sharing Time and Teachers went to adult classes. Our Sharing Time was about 'Baptism and Confirmation'. I had asked Jesse Justet to be Jesus, David Harding to be John the Baptist and Lance Barham to be Heavenly Father. They came in the beginning and re-enacted the Baptism of Jesus. Lance was Heavenly Father, narrating. It was awesome, the kids loved it. We had Singing Time and Snacks. 

Erana's Health Essay January 2023

My grandma had cancer.  Since she was old and always stayed at home, her life wasn’t much different.  However, grandma would sometimes go to the hospital and she would drink from this cup she got from the hospital.  When cancer got serious for her, she would lay in bed most of the time and would be connected to this machine.  A risk to my grandma for getting cancer was her being exposed to other substances.  2 symptoms from getting cancer would be hoarseness in the throat that didn’t go away and bladder changes,  ACT scan, an MRI, and a biopsy.  My grandma always wrote in her journal about things, she would barely move but if she did she would have something supporting her because she didn’t need something before, she would always stay in her room most of the time,  she would mostly require someone to help her with something upstairs as she lived in the basement.  Radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and cancer drugs.

Leila's English Essay January 2023

I believe the video was trying to say that we shouldn't make assumptions or stick to stereotypes of people based on their race or ethnicity. There's more to people than what they look like. I agree with what the video says because I've witnessed many adults at this school make assumptions that every Polynesian student skips class and does terribly in school. That isn't true, as you can tell I'm a Polynesian but based on how people see Polynesians, I don't act my ethnicity. Skin color and ethnicity don't define who I am, my upbringing, values, beliefs, and God does. How I act shouldn't mean I'm not Polynesian as well, because that's the plain truth, it's in my DNA, and nothing can change that. But what's in my DNA doesn't control how I act and how I think. If we got rid of labels, our society would be a hundred times better. Kids would stop throwing the word racist around as a joke, and they'd be more respectful towards people who don't "act how they look". People might label me as "homophobic" for saying this, but this is what I believe. I believe labels for only two genders and one sexual orientation make things better in society, which are male, female, and heterosexuality. I believe anything extra causes confusion, instability, and abuse for the upcoming generations.

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.