back in america!

After being in New Zealand for the last three and a half months, I am finally home!

The morning after I got home, I was already back at the airport flying to Utah!! 

My flight was practically empty, which kind of creeped me out. I was at the front, and there were only about 10 other people. The good news was I had a row to myself and got to lay down to sleep!

It was an exciting week to say the least. . . 

I met my new nephew William! 

I went to the temple for the first time at the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was a beautiful day and I loved having some of my family there with me :)

Wednesday I went skiing at Snowbird with my dad and Bryan. It was a little foggy, but the snow was great! I was happy to go since I missed ski season in New Zealand. 

On Thursday my cousin Allison got married! :) 

She made the most gorgeous bride. Congrats to Allison and Dan!

Temple Square

the next morning on Friday I flew back into Seattle just in time for my best friend Claire's wedding. So happy!!! :) I love her and Daniel together everything was absolutely perfect! 

I went to the ceremony and luncheon and then the reception that evening. Elias even came into town! 

to top it all off. . .Andrea got engaged on Saturday!! I was able to be there for the engagement (taking a video while hiding in the bushes) and I am so happy for her and Kevin! they are so perfect together and I love them both :) 

the happy couple! 

meanwhile back at the ranch. . . I still haven't unpacked from New Zealand and my room smells like a beach. But the good news is that I literally have three months to get organized hahah. oh goody :) 

i've been sittin, waitin, wishin

the week of waiting

our program is over and we've been waiting to take off for the Cook Islands!

 In the meantime we've been trying to keep ourselves busy. 

It started with our last drive home. It was sad. . . I'm so used to being with 20 girls all of the time. So used to being in a van! Back row, legs squished, and sitting straight up at a 90 degree angle.

Last car drive home to Auckland

Tiare wrote a contract making us promise to visit her at least twice in the next year

then we got home and packed to leave that night!

I was proud to be packed before Stacey. First time ever I wasn't the one to procrastinate

Stacey's still had a ways to go :) haha

First few days were spent at the Ahmu's.

 The grand kids were over for Easter and we made cupcakes that looked like bunnies

we also spent many hours watching Disney channel. 

I have now been introduced to Good Luck Charlie and Shake it Up. Quality stuff!

on the third day of rain we resorted to hanging out at the library. . . 

doing cat puzzles. . .

for two and a half hours

for Dutchess

story of our lives

we also went to a local rugby tournament! it was a little chilly, but we definitely had front row seats. people practically stand right on the field because there are no bleachers. 

change of scenery! we were then relocated to Eric's house. 

His family was kind enough to let us stay and we spent the whole day making food for the hangi. 

A hangi is Maori way of making a meal for a large number of people.

First the food is prepared 

I have become quite a proficient potato peeler

then you dig a hole in the ground and heat the stones at the bottom with a fire

once the stones are hot enough, put all the food right on top

cover the food with wet sacks and a tarp to trap the steam on the inside

leave for the food for about two hours, and then you can eat!! 

for dessert we had homemade Easter eggs. the day before they taught us how to make chocolate eggs with marshmallow in the inside. so good!

aaand tonight we reached the low of lows. worse than cat puzzles. 

we made music videos as featured below. 

the videos themselves are too horrible to even let anyone watch. . . so here is just a snapshot.

 Beyonce's "Halo" was probably our best one. can't go wrong with Beyonce!

t-minus four days til we leave for the Cook Islands. counting down the days! 

and Happy Easter weekend!! it's gonna be a good one :)

last hoorah - swimming with ze dolphins!

I have found my new calling in life. . . I want to be a dolphin tour guide. Doesn't that sound like a dream? Riding on a boat looking for dolphins and then hoppin out and swimming with them. every day. and becoming best friends. Who needs human friends when you have a pod of dolphins to hang out with!

 It would solve all my social problems.

this entire day was a miracle.

 A) we didn't die.
 B) we saw dolphins.
C) we swam with dolphins.
D) I didn't freeze to death.
E) I didn't get sea sick

for the entire week we spent in the Bay of Islands, it was monsoon-ing! The guides weren't even sure if we would find any dolphins since the weather was so bad. And once we found them we had to hope the ocean wasn't too dangerous to get in. But. . .because of all of our prayers we found em! And we even got to swim with them :)












Not the most ideal conditions.













The choppy water made things pretty difficult, That's for sure. It was more of  a dolphin chase than a swim. . . you hop of the boat and start goin! Those mammals keep movin right along and you hope you don't drown from muscle exhaustion as you try and keep up.

I was more excited than I look. . . 

off we go!

Seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life though - I was inches away from wild dolphins in the open sea!

hahah and this is some sort of joke

honestly. I don't know anybody who dislikes dolphins. If you do, you don't have a heart. 

although I admit that sometimes I got freaked out. 

when you are in the water it's hard to tell if it's a shark or a dolphin

at one point I had the Jaws theme song going through my head 

duh nah. . .duh nah.. . . duh nah duh nah duh nah AHHHH!!!

and then I had a flashback to Sting Ray City in Mexico with my family. They probably all remember the time I freaked out and started swimming frantically back to the boat. This time I kept myself together. 

and to top it off we saw penguins :) what a marine wild-life filled day!