happy valentine's day from NZ!

Today is Valentine's Day in New Zealand! Happy Valentine's Day to everyone in the states tomorrow! I got a package from my mom last week and a lovely valentines card from my grandma. I love mail!

I love love! I love candy! I love making valentines! I love witty valentine cards!!

I saw these and laughed. courtesy of http://yenniper.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/harry-potter-valentines-part-i.html. Enjoy :) And love everyone today/tomorrow!

trip to the south island {christchurch}

The last 5 days of our trip to the south island we spent in Christchurch. Christchurch is a beautiful city, but is recovering from an earthquake that struck about a year ago. It was sad and humbling to see the city damaged and not yet rebuilt. I spoke with some native New Zealanders about it, and they explained that the city may remain that way for some time because they don't have the funds to rebuild it. Homes have been abandoned, the city center is now a ghost town, and roads are permanently blocked off. Yet the people there are wonderfully kind and parts of the town that remain standing are as gorgeous as ever.

DAY ONE: This day was spent entirely in the car. The drive from Queenstown to Christchurch was 8 hours and we were all stuffed into vans. I've gotten really, really good at sitting in cars. I weirdly love it. We had no radio and I didn't listen to my ipod. And I didn't sleep! (my family would be completely shocked to hear that). We just chatted. And when you're in New Zealand, you can look out the window for hours without getting bored. It's like looking at heaven.

When we got to our motel I was stoked because they were more like apartments! We had 7 girls altogether, 2 stories, and a kitchen. Which meant that we could get our own groceries. . .which meant that I could get ice cream :):)

some pictures taken from the car

DAY TWO: Sunday was fast Sunday and we went to the Christchurch ward. Everyone was so welcoming and I even met a couple that is from Seattle! They live in Seattle during the summer and come to New Zealand for the winter. Sounds like the life! To break our fast we had a massive spaghetti feast and tim tam slams. ohhh baby. I was in heaven. I ate so much I thought I would never eat anything again.

DAY THREE: Today was "trip to the museum" day!! Normally I'm not a huge fan of museums, but we spent over three hours looking around.

Afterwards we went to the church building to play volleyball. It was the missionary's P-day and they invited us to come play along with the YSA. And I guess the YSA inlcudes everyone ages 6 to 60, because everyone and their dog was there. No joke. And they are so good!! I love NZ volleyball :)

laughed so hard when I saw this picture - complete accident!

I think there's supposed to be an "s" in there. . .

World of Wearable Art

perfect! I've been looking for a cockroach bra

couldn't help myself

DAY FOUR: Visit to castle rock! It looks like a volcano spewed giant rocks that just landed in the middle of a field. And most importantly. . . it's part of Narnia! Afterwards we went hiking through a cave - so cool! We bought baby key chain flashlights at K Mart and thankfully they did the trick. The water was above our waists at some points and there was even waterfalls inside of the cave.

me compared to the rock

ready to hike the caves!

with Tiare (the director's daughter) and Kirsten

I was Tiare's personal cave guide and sweatshirt holder

DAY FIVE: Got on the plane and flew home :( Oh and here is the flight safety video for Air New Zealand. Slightly disturbing, but I crack up every single time (yes, it's real!!)

trip to the south island {queenstown}

On Wednesday I got back from my 10 day trip to the south island! It was nice to come home, but I was sad to leave. The 10 days went by amazingly fast and we were having the time of our lives. We spent 5 days in Queenstown and 5 days in Christchurch.

Here's to Queenstown - my favorite place I've been so far! Since the trip was so long, I will try to keep things condensed, although there are heaps of things to say. But I'll keep the words short and make up for it with pictures/videos. Because nobody wants to read a novel.

DAY ONE: Waited outside in the dark for our taxi to pick us up at 5am. I felt like Professor McGonagall waiting for Dumbledore. Then we went to the airport and through security. . .which really isn't security at all. I was so worried about getting all of my liquids into small bottles and spent a majority of the night before squishing toothpaste into a smaller tube. I didn't bring my razor and I even took the safety pins out of my backpack. Just to be safe. When we got there we just put our bags on the belt and walked straight through! Didn't ask for ID, boarding pass, removed shoes, belts, or jackets. or liquids! Heck the guy behind me sent four wine bottles through! Guess I could've brought my big toothpaste.

Straight from the airport we went to the shotover jet. I don't really know how to explain it. . .you will just have to watch this video.

Next was a visit to Arrowtown and a river featured in Lord of the Rings. If you don't care or don't like LOTR, then this will be pointless to you. But we saw the river from the Fellowship where Arwen takes Frodo across to save him from the Nazgul (wow that sounded nerdy). Mallory and I were actually quite excited and I admit that I collected a few rocks that I stashed in my pocket. We even staged a little part from the movie and filmed it, but it's embarrassingly horrible.

That night we went out for some Chinese, and I successfully ate a whole meal with chopsticks! And it wasn't the chopsticks I used when I was little - the ones that are connected at the top and all you had to do was pinch it together haha. Oh and I fell in love with a place called Fergberger :) I ate there 3 times in 5 days. yum as!

We stayed in a hostel and this was the biggest crack up of the whole trip. There was 8 in a room with rows of bunk beds, one shower that was timed for 5 seconds. So you repeatedly hit the button over and over. Quite an arm work out. Downstairs was the "Altitude Club" which is a bar and dance floor. I felt pretty cool showing my ID at the door just to walk in and get a soda.

Queenstown at night

DAY TWO: (hahah yeah right about me not using very many words)

Tuesday we went on a drive through Glenorchy and saw some LOTR sites (the real reason I came here). And then went for a hike!

Hobbit hole, which has now been dug out since the filming of the movie.

That's what the hole in the side of the hill is. At least what they claim.

Hahah we were probably getting excited over nothing.

Site from the Two Towers

Isengard

Lothlorien

Dead Marshes - I had gollum's voice in my head the whole ride!

"Come hobbitses. All dead. . .all rotten. Elves and men and orcses.

The Dead Marshes. . .yes, that is their name."

On the way back we stopped at a pier and a took this video. I couldn't help myself.

Hike to the top of the mountain.

and I forgot to put on bug spray. I counted over 180 bites!

DAY THREE: We went on a cruise through Milford Sound. Hahaha I just laughed out loud because this place didn't even seem real. It was all a joke and the whole thing was probably green screened. The sound connected with the Tasman Sea (which I had to look up on a map) which is in between Australia and New Zealand.

DAY FOUR: We drove to Wanaka to visit the lake and stopped at "Have a Shot" on the way to shoot some arrows. I've improved a lot since the bow and arrow unit in 8th grade PE. Definitely all over the place, but I didn't get a massive bruise on my arm and hit the bullseye once!

DAY FIVE: HIGHEST SWING IN THE WORLD!! We drove up to a canyon in the AJ Hackett Bungy van and dropped over the canyon on the swing. I have a difficult time explaining it to people, but really it's not that complicated. It's like swinging. Over a canyon. Really high up. And later that day I opened my mission call! For those of you who missed the memo, I'm going to Salvador Brazil, reporting July 18th. Can't wait :)

And there it is! I was talking to my mom on Skype and I told her that I had to sort through a thousand pictures. Then she said, "But what's the real number?" And I told her, "It really is a thousand!" There are so many pictures, and most of them have been posted on facebook. So check there. One of my faults is laziness, and I'm too lazy to post more pictures here. Blog post about Christchurch soon to be come! :)

i'm going to be a missionary!!

Last Friday was the craziest day. That morning I woke up to drop off into a canyon on the world's largest swing. After riding the swing, I was on the computers in the bungy internet cafe at the top of the canyon. I was skyping with my mom to let her know that I was safe and my mission call came in the mail to my house in Washington! I wasn't sure if I should open it since I was in a noisy cafe filled with people, but there was no way I was waiting a week until I got back from the south island. So my mom and I opened it right there! There were a couple of boys from Belgium sitting right next to me and I think they were a little confused and overwhelmed. My friends were cheering, I was crying, and someone was taking a video. We explained what a mission was and that I would be going to Brazil for the next 18 months. The boy from Belgium said, "you are so lucky!" And he's right. I am soo lucky and so blessed! I am still in shock but so so happy :)

I have been called to serve in the Brazil Salvador mission and report July 18th. Which is perfect because I can do a few weeks of EFY and also run the Ragnar with my family in June :) My brother is in Teresina, Brazil right now which will be really exciting to be in the same country and come home at the same time. It's crazy to think that we'll both be home two years from now speaking Portuguese. I have a hard time understanding people here in New Zealand with their accents!

Just like every day in New Zealand, life doesn't seem real. But that day especially! I freefell 229 feet off a ledge and got a mission call to Brazil. Life is a dream!