New Zealand, Part I

I don't know how many parts there will be to New Zealand. I just know I really loved it there and have lots of pictures.

We landed in Auckland on Monday evening and headed to the house of strangers/friends. Thanks to Royce (PS-where the HECK are you?), who hooked us up with this amazing family. We had so much fun staying with them. We had a big Family Home Evening that night (which included Tim Tams as treats!). The girls started doing a native dance for us...then dragged my cousins and myself in to dance with them. I'm sure they regretted that since we (or at least I) looked very foolish. Anyway, I truly cannot say enough wonderful things about these people and I'm SO glad we got to meet them while we were there. Hopefully they come to Utah soon since my return plans to New Zealand are in the distant future.


The next morning we got into our rental car (more on that later) and headed down to Rotorua. On our way-ish we stopped in Hamilton to see the LDS temple there. It was beautiful! It is the same model as the Swiss temple, and one of the first temples built outside of the United States. I was not aware of that until this trip.


More of the three-headed beast.


Then we continued on to Rotorua which, quite frankly, smells awful. No joke---smells like rotten eggs. My cousin Becky was, for once, grateful for her allergies which prevented her from smelling it. Marie and I just tried to not inhale very deeply. The reason for the smell is the sulfur in the area. The nice thing about it, though, is the natural heat in creates. Here we are in our hostel that had heated floors which were awesome in the 55 degree weather! We laid our clothes out on them at night so they were toasty in the morning.


There was a naturally heated mineral pool in our hostel. It felt amazing, but you could only stay in it as long as you can stand smelling like rotten eggs. Hence the plugged nose.


We took a walk that evening (Tuesday) around Rotorua. The scenery (and the wind coming off the harbor) more than make up for the smell.


Before we left for New Zealand, another cousin told us about this thing called the Zorb and said we HAD to try it. I'm so glad we did! It was a blast. Basically, you get inside these large rubber balls and are then pushed/rolled down the hill. We did the water version, so our balls were filled with about a foot of warm (thanks heavens!) water that sloshed around while we rolled. It was amazing.


Here we are after---by the official "Zorbonauts" sign. The hill we cruised down is behind us. We're freezing here cuz we're back out in the cold. But it was fully worth it. I can't wait till the bring something like this to Utah!


And now, I have been wanting to tag-along on Motherboard's Friday tunes that she puts up, so I finally am! But I'm only doing 5 songs cuz it's already a long post.
1. Within You - Ray Lamontagne
2. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
3. Tune Out -The Format (great road-trip song)
4. Stella's Theme - William Joseph (this guy is fully LDS)
5. Write You a Song - Plain White T's

Now, I'm off to a party cuz it's Friday and I'm single so apparently that's what I should be doing!

Sydney, Australia

First stop on the crazy trip I took with my cousins was Sydney. We had a delayed flight, missed flight and lost luggage---but finally made it there and headed straight for a ferry to take us across the harbor to the Taronga Zoo.

Here are the three of us in front of the opera house. Me, Marie and Becky.

I wish I could kiss a penguin in real life...they're my favorite animal. But it looks like I'll still have to content myself with plastic ones for the time being.

This zoo was amazing and we were able to get really close to some animals. This kangaroo ate out of my hands!

This would be me eating kangaroo steak that night. Seems a little evil I suppose after I played with his cousin, but it tasted really good:)

We took a taxi to the Sydney, Australia temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that night. We just had a google map and pointed to where we wanted to go. The driver was definitely confused, but luckily when we got close it was there lit up like a beacon and we spent a few minutes taking pictures and wandering around.

'Member how I said luggage was lost? Yeah-this is the result. I borrowed a dress from my cousin for church, but when we were walking around afterwards, I had to use my tennis shoes cuz my feet were too small to keep wearing hers. Plus, it was kinda chilly outside, and so even though I'm morally opposed to leggings I had to wear some to keep me from freezing. Maybe my cousins were kind of embarrassed of how I looked and walked far ahead of me...

Here we are in Chinatown---we took a lot of these pictures that I think make us look like a three-headed beast. But how else were we all gonna fit in?

Then we headed on to Paddington market---crazy crowded and busy, but tons of fun! I found a boomerang there for my brother...now we just need to learn how to throw it.

And can you guess who I immediately thought of when I saw this at the convenient store?! My cousins and I bought TONS of these. Every day we bought some to take home...and that night they magically disappeared and we had to buy more!


That's the conclusion of Australia. Up next: New Zealand!

I Need a Vacation From My Vacation!

I'm back! And I'm exhausted. And maybe a little head cold-ish. And maybe I have bruises up and down my legs and a fat lip from volleyball, scrud and soccer. And a sun-burn. But it was so worth it! Traveling in far off lands was amazing, my family reunion was all kids of fun, and I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight!!

I came home to a google reader with about a million new posts! Gosh-you guys write A LOT! Sorry if I didn't read your posts...but I'll be back in the swing of things once I can remember what day it is. Seriously, is it the 5th or 6th?

Pictures coming soon.

Pants, MOS and Vacation

Do you have a pair of pants that you just love lots? Cuz they always fit, and you can wear them when you really can't wear anything else? If you do, don't wear them and then go on a big fatty rope swing cuz they'll rip. And you'll feel foolish. And you won't have your fit-anytime pants anymore. Stupid rope swing.

I going to have MOS this upcoming weekend. I'm gonna miss one of my most favorite celebrations of the year (24th of July) in one of my most favorite places in the world (Cokeville, WY) with some of my most favorite people on the planet (my family). We go to Wyoming every year to celebrate Pioneer Day (yes, it is slightly ironic that we celebrate a Utah holiday in Wyoming) and I'm missing it this year! But do you know why?

Because I'm going on a monster vacation. To Australia. And New Zealand. And Fiji. I leave tomorrow!!! I should probly be packing right now. So, while I'm definitely sad to be missing out on Cokeville, I will just have to try extra hard to make up for it by having lots on fun in the country where the toilets flush the wrong way. And where they drive on the wrong side of the road!

See you in a couple weeks.

I'm All Shopped Out

Who would've ever thought such thing was possible? I've never been much of a shopper to begin with...but that didn't mean I wasn't capable of spending money on occasion. And I have always found fun things at the Park City Outlet mall where my family goes every summer. Not so today.

My sister-in-law, Buffy, and I headed out this afternoon to see what we could find. Lucky for both of us, we have similar shopping styles. She's one of the few people I can shop with and still be friends with afterwards. I've learned that if I want to save friendships, as a general rule, I should just shop alone. But I think I even enjoy shopping more when Buffy is there. Plus, she's very familiar with what I wear/own so when I try things on that I really like, she responds with, "Yeah-it's cute Barb. I thought it was cute when you bought it last year, and I still think it's cute when I see you wear it." In other words, a large part of what I pick to try on, I already own. Bless her heart for saving me from double purchases.

Anyway, after about two hours and several stores today...I had bought a total of one shirt. One. It's white and short-sleeved. That's good, cuz right now I only have six other white, short-sleeved shirts in my closet...But, none of them have a square neck like this one. And really, can you ever have too many white shirts?

Life's Best Lessons Are Learned on the Bench

So, I actually had a t-shirt that said that when I was younger. I got it at a Piano Festival I attended at BYU. Could I have been a bigger nerd? Probly not. So, when I begged all of you for blogging ideas, Erin asked me about piano---specifically, how much I practiced as a little kid. She also asked me my dream calling in church...which totally involves piano.

When I was in my hard-core, playing lots of piano, preparing for competitions, tour, recitals or what have you mode, I probly averaged one to two hours per day. I'm sure if my teacher knew that at the time, he'd have freaked out and told me to tack AT LEAST two more on each day. I'm sure if I had done that, I'd have ended up abhorring the piano despite all the cool things I got to do as a result. Usually the week or so before something big I'd try and put in at least 3, maybe 4 hours, but otherwise I tried to keep it under 90 minutes. And, in keeping with my nerdiness, I spent a huge part of that time sightreading cuz it's what I love most. And it would keep me entertained to try and play different things when I was spending so much time on ONE piece and needed a break. I remember when I was younger my mom used to set the buzzer for how long we had to practice. So while I look like I'm diligently working away in the above picture...I was most likely playing very softly listening for the buzzer because there was no way I was gonna sit at that bench any longer than was required!

Now, I'm teaching this cute little girl and let's hope she doesn't rely on her sightreading skills when it comes time for lessons as much as I did...

My dream calling in church would probly be Relief Society pianist. That may make me sound like a total slacker, but I'm pretty happy being a behind-the-scenes girl. Accompanists are needed, but they're rarely acknowledged. I'm okay with living my life that way.

Patriotism and Shameless Exploitation

I come from a tremendously patriotic family and the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I love the music, and the atmosphere and the fireworks and everything. Except parades. I hate parades. I've been listening to patriotic music all week at work and marching around to the beat whenever I walked around. And yes, I looked awesome. My grandma was married to a Colonel in the Air Force and so many memories I have of her involve patriotism in some way or another whether it was her dress or how she would write letters to businesses informing them that their flag was tattered and they needed to replace it.

Last weekend my mama had a big fund-raiser of the patriotic variety. It was a no-kids event unless your child had memorized the Preamble to the Constitution. I had a REALLY cute video of my 5 year-old niece and 3 year-old nephew quoting it...but it won't upload! Can anyone help me with that?! You're really missing out by not seeing it. At least I can include some pictures of the kids being cute in patriotic clothes. The top is my niece, Mia, and in case you were wondering she REALLy likes me. The bottom is my mama with some of her grandkids. I personally think my nephew on the right has one of the cutest smiles I've ever seen.