Finding JOY in the JOURNEY...: January 2009

January 28, 2009

Missionary Memories...

Wow...talk about a FLASHBACK! My companion, Jae, emailed me these pics and as soon as I saw the picture I busted out laughing! We had gotten permission to have Thanksgiving dinner at Lisa's house (yes my sister lived in my Mission) and you ask how I got that permission? Well the AP's, Zone Leader and District Leader were also invited! LOL...Ahhhhh the good old days.

Top Row: Elders Stewart, Chabo, Lau, Low and Titz

Bottom Row: Me, Sister Howard and Elder Tomich

This was at Laura's house for my 25th Birthday party! We had the whole Zone over and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Note the Tiara??? My nickname was "Sister Princess"...can you guess why? LOL...yes even on a mission I was spoiled.

L-R: Sister's Stock, Me, Howard and Sherrow

I will NEVER forget all the amazing people I lived with, taught and learned from on my mission. To all of you I want to say THANK YOU...for changing my life and for giving me the best 18 month of my life!!! I love you all...

January 12, 2009

2008 Year in Review (January through June)

So I have seen a few people do a "Year in Review" on their blogs and thought it was a GREAT IDEA...until I started it and realized I couldn't just pick one picture for each month:-) So here is the first half of the Harp's Adventure's of 2008!

JANUARY

The last two months of 2007 were so BUSY that we didn't do much of anything but recooperate from it all. We had Kalani come for 8 days, our 3rd Anniversary, My 31st Brithday and of course the Holidays...Lee did a great job on the house and we had an AWESOME Christmas!

Mom and Dad came with us to the 8th Ward Christmas party which was FUN!

FEBRUARY

February was an AMAZING month...we started it off by going to the Chris Brown concert. We were surrounded by Tweens and felt pretty OLD but it was fun and we had a great time.

Then two weeks later we went to THE POLICE (Lee's Christmas present) concert and it was AWESOME. I had so much fun and there were so many old people htere that I felt WAY YOUNG. I was not a fan before the concert but I am SO a fan now!

I had ot work on Valentine's Day but when I got home at 9:30pm I was greeted with this gorgeous site. I am so blessed to have such a romantic husband!

MARCH

Savannah got her Easter pictures done early and they are ADORABLE. She is growing so quickly and we were getting excited for her upcoming visit (see May/June).

Lee also started his new hobbie...AIRSOFT...and made a bunch of new friends while getting to shoot people. What more could a guy ask for? LOL

I also got called to be the Beehive Advisor for the ward. I was overwhelmed and a little scared but I was SO lucky to have a great bunch of girls to teach.

APRIL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
I love this picture of us...its one of the few that we look like each other (usually I look like Dad).

Lee and I took Mom and Dad out to Chai's Island Bistro and had one of the best nights EVER with them. We had a great time and truly celebrated mom's special day!

We also spent a lot of time with our KAYLA...she really is my baby:-)

Hanging out in the yard with my GORGEOUS Husband and my little puppy...a perfect day!

MAY

Ivana had her second child in May and he is a DOLL. Ivana and I live only few minutes away from each other but we hardly see one another! But I was able to spend some tiem with her and Isaiah right after he was born.

I organizeed a Missionary Month with my Beehive girls (and the YW). We made dinner for the Sister Missionaries then had a fireside where we learned how to do missionary work and we concluded with a Mututal activity that put the girls into companionships and they had workshops and fun activities to learn about serving the Lord. It was so much fun and totally made me miss being a SISTER MISSIONARY:-)

The HIGHLIGHT of May was when Lee flew out to pick Savannah up for her very first visit to HAWAII. Here she is with her very first LEI.

It was a dream come true to finally have her here and we crammed those three weeks with every imaginable thing we would do with her if she lived here.

Lee was in heaven and so was I...we can't wait for her next visit this summer! We get a whole 6 weeks this year and I can't WAIT:-)

JUNE

Savannah's first time at the beach!

Savannah's 5th Birthday Princess Party.

We took Savannah home to Utah and got to be there for Jessica's Baptism!

This was the best summer EVER...to have my nieces and nephews together and have a family reunion was an amazing experience and I hope we can do it again soon!

My sweet angels...Iwish I could have all of them live with me!!!

Some of our best memories were running amuck at Jonny's house. Water ballon fights, wrestling, BETO'S and lots of LAUGHING.

Uncle Lee's FAMOUS relay races are another memory that none of us will forget!

Stay tuned for the SECOND half of my year in Review...

2008 Review: July through December

JULY

July and August were full of Wong family activities! It started off with Alema's Graduation party that had SO MUCH flowers to be made. I pooped out half way through but Lee and Alii stayed up utnil 8am to get it done!!!

Here they are with no sleep and still going strong at 9pm. It was a great party and we had a ton of fun and then slept for two days afterwards:-)

This was also the month that we lost Papa Wong...it was a difficult time for Alii but we pulled together and he made the most GORGEOUS flowers I have ever seen.

LOVE YOU ALII...MISS YOU PAPA WONG!!!

AUGUST

In August I ahd a Back to School party for my Beehives. We watched moveis, ate pizz and player Wii. It was SOOOOO fun!

We also sang Karaoke and they girls LOVED IT...they keep asking me when the next party is!

Nahinu got married and YES we did the flowers for that one too!

And I was the guest table receptionist:-) It was my first time and it was pretty fun!

SEPTEMBER

We celebrated Lee's 30th Birthday a few months late (with Savannah's trip and Utah we were pooped) by renting a motorcycle to drive around the island with.

He got to try two different bikes over the weekend and is now ITCHING for a bike...we'll see???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY

Savannah started KINDEGARTEN this year and she was so excited. We weren't able to be there but we sent her a new outfit and backpack to commemorate the event!

So Daddy was missin ghis little girl...so we ound a good fare and hopped ona plane to go and see Savannah in Utah. Here we are at the Mayan having dinner wit Sara and Bob!

She had so much fun with her cousins and I was in HEAVEN being able to spend time with my babies!!! Aren't these three sweethearts just PRECIOUS? It was a fun trip and we were glad that the weather held out becuase not a week after we left Utah got a ton of snow!

OCTOBER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM HARP!!!

We had a great dinner at Tanak of Tokyo with Lee's Mom, who truned 65! We love you Mom!

For the first time, we got Lee's nieces (Robyn, Rachel and Rebecca) to come and spend their fall break with us. We had so much fun with them and can't wait to have them back!

Halloween was fun and it didn't rain too much this year. Lee always decorates with laser lights, a fog machine and blacklights. Couldn't get a picture but everyone loved it! Here is Ivana's daghter Mercel...such a cutie pie!!!

Here is Isaiah...dont you just want to squeeze his cheeks? Thanks Ivana for always being there for me...I love you!!!

NOVEMBER

The highlight of November was Lisa and Jessica coming to Hawaii. It was so nice to have them here and it made me want to move closer to family...actually it made me want THEM to move home:-)

We had all four siblings together to celebrate Dad's 70th Birthday. It had been four years since we had all been together at my wedding!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD...YOU ARE THE GREATEST DAD IN THE WORLD!!!

I was sad to see Jessica go. She is the sweetest, kindest, most well behaved little girl and I want to steal her from her Mom:-) We love and miss you Jessi (and so does Kayla)!

November is also my Birthday/Anniversary and it was a treat to have my hubby decorate a cake for me!

We are on a Finance DIET so we kept it simple this year. Lee got me two cards and wrote the sweetest things in bot of themand even drew me a little picture. It's those simple things that he does for me that makes my heart flutter STILL when he walks into a room.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY!!!

DECEMBER

MELE KALIKIMAKA! This is the Sheraton Moana Surfrider. It has beautiful Christmas decorations and we went ot get in the Christmas spirit.

Our little Angel with Santa...I can't wait for the day when we can spend Christmas with her too!!!

2008 was a year full of family, firends and LOVE and I am praying that 2009 will be even better. Thank you to all of you who have made our year so special and may God bless all of you in 2009!

Once upon a time...

Mibi grew up in Laie and attended Kahuku High and Lee grew up in Haleiwa and Mililani and attended Mililani High. Mibi went to College at BYU-Hawaii and then served a mission in the Utah Ogden Mission before meeting the man of her dreams. After school, Lee jumped into the workforce looking for his career and eventually ended up working for Mibi's family flower shop at Turtle Bay while Mibi was serving her mission...and never thought that this job would lead him to his "Angel". We met in Septmeber of 2001 after I returned home from my mission. I came back to the flower shop to manage things for my Mom and Lee had left to pursue his education. Well a few months later, Lee's education path didn't take the direction he had hoped and instead life lead him back to Turtle Bay. The first thing he did was call Mom to get his job back and of course she said YES. So, I was Lee's boss and there was an instant friendship...it felt as if we had known each other our entire lives. We kept it strictly business for a few weeks and then one night I was gong to make a Wal-Mart run after work and called him to see if he wanted to come along. His phone was busy (the days before call waiting) and I almost gave up...but after a few more tries he picked up and from that night on we were inseperable. I think we told each other our life stories that night and we both knew then that our lives would never be the same! Over the next year, we formed a deep love and respect for each other which kept us connected through a few rough patches and across the ocean as Mibi moved back to Utah. Finally after a year of being best friends, we both realized that there is no one on earth we would rather be with than each other! We were a couple for about two years when Lee proposed to me and we tied the knot at the exact place we first met...the same hotel the flower shop was located when we worked there...TURTLE BAY. And to add to our JOY, we have a beautiful daughter Savannah (Lee's biological and Mibi's spiritual daughter ) who we just ADORE! She is so smart, funny, outgoing, a jabberbox like her Dad and just the cutest thing you have ever seen!!! We also are praying that we can give her a little brother or sister sometime in the next year or two!!! Until then we have a Doberman (Kayla) and a cat (Shadow) that we spoil rotten and of course all of our Nieces and Nephew's. It has been almost 8 years of wedded bliss and although we have had our ups and downs, each experience has made us grow more in love with each other and are still each others best friend!