Someone gave their first talk, today.

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NZ

Some of you have asked about our recent trip down under, so I thought I'd write a little review.

P.S.  Don't expect any fancy photography.  I only had my canon powershot with me.

First off, I don't recommend leaving your children to go to the other side of the world for 3 weeks.

I am always jealous of Josh's business trips, especially his annual trip to Australia.

So when he offered me a chance to go with him, I fought & fought with myself.

I had to make a quick decision, as the invitation came only a few weeks before the actual trip, 

and tickets would need to be bought....

After much persuasion from Josh, I decided to go for it.

As a mother, my heart sank to my toes.  

I was excited to visit more countries and spend some time with Josh, but I was dreading leaving my children.

The dreaded thoughts of planes going down, getting swallowed by the Pacific, crashing on the crazy motorways....  My babies would be orphans, & the thought of that tore me up something fierce!

I know I'm crazy, go ahead and laugh at me...Josh does.

It was nice to know that my parents would be watching them while we were gone,

at least I didn't have to worry about that.

Kudos to my parents...3 weeks with 5 crazy kids!  

Not to mention that the kids were out of school for the whole first week 

because of snow days & Thanksgiving.

I think they deserve a medal of some kind!!

I sure love them!

Anyway, you can imagine how hard it was for me to say "bye" to my critters.

Of course, we had to leave on one of the worst traveling days of the year...blizzard conditions.

Now, I know you've heard of the Polar Express, but have you heard of The Salt Lake Express?

Yowzas!

Our driver was a nut job!  I didn't think that we were going to make it to the airport alive.

Between his smoke breaks, blaring ZZTop, some girls who asked when they'd be dropped off at the IF airport (when we've already passed it), a comedian (who didn't know when to be quiet) who needed to catch a flight to Chicago to do a show, cars sliding off the road...I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.

After that nightmare of a ride, our flights to SanFran & then to Auckland, New Zealand, were quite peaceful.

Hallelujah, I didn't "woof my cookies."

The last flight I had been on was way back in August, 2001, when T & C were little.  I'll never forget descending over Phoenix with a crying C on my lap, me "woofing my cookies" into T's coloring book bag.  Sweet memories.

Anyway, after getting through customs and all of that fun stuff we found our rental car.  Josh is a trooper for driving the motorways down there.  I really don't know how he did it?  Have you ever driven in a big unfamiliar city with funky signs, where everyone drives on the wrong side of the road, crazy roundabouts,

not to mention the cars are totally opposite,also?  

The steering wheel is on the right side, the blinkers to the right of the wheel, & the wipers on the left.

We made many turns while washing the windshield.

I had a great time laughing, I had the easy job of reading the map.

We won't go into any specifics about my abilities with map-reading.

We made it to our hotel.  Our room was up nice & high, so we had a great view of Auckland.

It took us a while to get used to the time-change...we were a day & a few hours ahead.  

After we got over our jetlag & dizziness from the long plane ride 

we spent most of our time at Takapuna Beach.  It was a short walk from our hotel.  

It was Spring in Auckland, so the weather was in the low 70s, high 60s.  The water was cold, so we spent most of our time walking the beach, people-watching, relaxing, listening to the sounds of the ocean.  

We were able to try a bunch of different eateries, definitely one of the best perks for a Mom!

I don't have to cook & listen to whining while I'm eating?  What a novel idea!

I accidentally ordered something too hot.  It burnt my lips something fierce, plus I was sunburned.  

Let's just say that I broke out in the worst patch of fever blisters known to man.

So here we are on vacation & Josh can't even kiss me.

hahaha  The irony.

It wasn't funny.

Most of the time we went sight-seeing.  

While you guys were eating turkey and pies, we were at the New Zealand Temple.  

There was a couple that had just been married...they drove off in a tractor, it was pretty cute.

I can see why Josh seriously wants to move to NZ. 

 It is beautiful.  The Kiwis (the people) are lovely.  I could listen to them talk all day & never get tired.  

But I am not packing my bags any time soon...it's still too far away!

Here's a little video for you to enjoy.

I am distracting Josh while he's driving & we end up going the wrong way.

I can't tell you how many times that happened...it's all part of the process of sight-seeing.

Stay tuned...

Next up is Australia.

(One of my favorite ornaments on our tree.)

Little t came home from school today, with a present.

All of the kids in his class were each supposed to bring a wrapped gift ($1.50 max).

They play a fun little game with the presents so that nobody gets to pick & choose...you get what you get.

He came home with a little tattered & taped (electrical tape) box of crayons.

The crayons were used, a few of them were slightly newer.

He didn't say much about his present, just that it came unwrapped.

He didn't think much about it, I don't think he really cared.  I love 5-yr-olds.

One of his brothers chimed in, "You got ripped-off!  You took a fun present & got that in return?"

I love random teaching moments.

We had a little discussion about the child who gave this gift.

Maybe it was the only thing he could give.

Maybe his family is really poor.

We should be thankful for all of our blessings & 

hope that this little boy received a neat gift from the exchange.

I could see the wheels turning in their heads & hearts.

I love random teaching moments.

T's concert

T has been having a great time playing his harmonica in band. 

When talking to his band teacher (who is outstanding) at parent-teacher conference, he said that he is planning on doing a piece where T will do a solo.  T is pumped & I'm pretty excited myself...should be fun.

I tried to put a video on here, but it didn't work.

The boy behind T in the above pic is one of his buddies.  They are preparing for the upcoming junior high talent show.  Beatboxing is their specialty.  I love it!

p.s.     T was the ONLY kid out of all of the junior high & high school band students wearing khaki pants.  

They were supposed to be in black, oops.  :)