1 Trip - 5 States

Well we've had quite the Christmas break, which is still yet to be finished. We took a visit to the temple to see the lights. Saw the live nativity, and went inside the visitors center to enjoy the
Nativities from around the world. We also stopped in on a live performance from a local group singing in one of the theatres.

Our vacation really began as we started on our trip to the much raved POCONOS!!! We woke up early and sped our way into Pennsylvania in order to make it to the complimentary breakfast buffet. Over the course of two days we downed a combined 12 plates of "free" breakfast and dinner, maybe the best part of our stay. Of course we had to take our picture next to the giant champagne glass.

As we pulled up to our room it didn't look like much more than a local motel inn. The room was smaller than expected, but had the awesome heart shaped jacuzzi (Connie's favorite) w/ a red dimming light above. Just to the left was our round king size bed w/ a ten mirror headboard. Overall the place was super cheesy and in desperate need of some "hotel flipping."

We were most excited for the snow tubing and snowmobiling that was part of our "all inclusive" stay. Though there was sufficient snow, they had yet to set everything up so tubing was closed and snowmobiling consisted of a short lived circle. So we had to make due w/ the other plethora of activities. We enjoyed some minigolf, iceskating, a shuffleboard table (our favorite), bocce ball, pool tables, and archery. All in all a good trip for what we paid for. Had we paid full price it would have been a disappointing start to our first Christmas vacation.

With the Poconos in our rearview mirror we set our sites on The Big Apple, NYC. We passed through New Jersey where we had our gas pumped by the friendly attendant. Connie didn't believe me when I told her it was illegal to pump your own gas in NJ. We stopped to see the Statue of Liberty before hitting the city. As you can see we were pretty far away, but walked around the park to get a closer shot. (The close shot also has the Brooklyn Bridge, far shot has Ellis Island). We entered NYC crossing the state line in the Holland tunnel which Connie was flabbergasted over the 8 dollar toll.

Our hotel was nestled right smack in the downtown bustle, was just a half block from the Empire State Building. The city was packed w/ tourists, and we got right to it and set out to see the sites. Connie was most looking forward to the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It was freaking ginormous, but really cool. The whole city was decorated, and everywhere you turned there were lights, decorations, or something to catch your eye.

We stayed on the streets that night and saw numerous statues, cathedrals, radio city, the world's largest maceys, the Disney store and took another stop at Time Square.

The next day proved to be troublesome as it rained all day long. The umbrella vendors sure made bank that day as we too bought a large $10 umbrella from one of the street vendors. We rode the crazy NYC metro that day and made stops at Grand Central Station / Bryant Park, Central Park, and the Statin Island Ferry center at the lower tip of Manhattan. Even though our planned Central Park picnic was ruined, we did enjoy a small stroll through the park and had a fun time feeding the ducks. Connie was reluctant to use our Bugles, but as the ducks flocked around us she couldn't get enough.

We planned on getting a shot of the Statue of Liberty from the front, but as you can see Con was a bit upset w/ the hazy view. The statue was unfortunately barely visible through all the rain and fog. But lower Manhattan did offer a fantastic view of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge which brought back some jolly smiles.

The smiles didn't last long though as we left the city getting stuck in some of the worst traffic imaginable. We travelled less than one mile in an hour and a half. Intersections were jammed, horns were honking, people were yelling (Christmas cheer was nowhere near). The highlight was when I got cussed out by an angry New Yorker. He got out of his car cussing and flailing his arms all over the place. I wish I could have gotten a

picture of it. We did, however, get a picture of a bus inching diagonally across traffic just inches from numerous bumpers. I had to give the guy mad props for making it through there w/out hitting anyone. We passed through Delaware on our way home to Maryland completing our 5 state adventure.

Well, the fun never ends as we're off to Utah tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for all the gifts, and hope everyone's having as good of a Christmas as we are.

Our 7th 6th grade concert

Jordan invited us to his Christmas concert- our 7th Highlands 6th grade Christmas concert. As you can see (hear), they have improved a little since the days when you played Jolly old St. Nicholas 5 times in a row. I hope this clip works!

Christmas Elves

Since I still haven't decorated, I needed the help of some Christmas Elves. They graciously agreed- rather insisted- on putting up my tree and decorating it. Here they are fast at work.

The Pilgrims and the Indians

Because of the absence of family, we accepted an invitation from the Robinaughs to spend Thanksgiving with them. It proved to be a good choice as Sister Robinaugh is a far better cook than I am. I made some delicious cranberry orange rolls, mashed potatos and an apple pie. The rest of the feast was provided by the Pilgrims, and it was delicious.

Jazz it up Taddy!

Last night, Annette and I took some time out of our busy internet TV watching schedule to go to Tad's rockin' jazz concert. It rocked hard! They played the theme from Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers which were ok, but we liked the first and last songs the best! Tad had 2 solos planned and the first was kind of less than stellar, but then he rocked the second one. The movie clip is the second solo. Then, for the last number the director asked if anyone wanted to solo and I yelled from the seats- Tad!!! Following my promptings(good boy Taddy), he volunteered to solo and did it up!! His last solo was pure cause he was just feelin' the music! He rocked so hard that we took him out for ice cream at the BYU creamery after the concert. Yum!

A Wierdly Awesome Thanksgiving

Preston's in Las Vegas this month for a trauma surgery rotation, so I drove down there for Thanksgiving. It was a little wierd and a little awesome.

WIERD PARTS:

1. We had to stand in line for 45 minutes to get our thanksgiving meal(unfortunately we had starved ourselves all day so that we could cram in the turkey, so the line was not a happy moment)
2. There was no other family there - wierd.
3. NO PECAN PIE! For most of my life I have avoided this pie because it looked wierd, but about 5 years ago I discovered the deliciousness of it! Ever since then I've been trying to make up for the many years when I didn't eat it, by eating as much as possible every thanksgiving. so I guess next year I'll have to eat a whole pie :)
4. I had to go day after thanksgiving shopping by myself and stand in line at Kohls for 1.5 hours because my dad wasn't there to stand in line for me :)
5. My arm suddenly hurt after shopping and I thought for sure it was a blood clot - but it was actually just a sore bicep from holding all my stuff while in line for hours!
6. My anatomy lab final was the monday we got back from break, so the whole time I felt like I should be studying.


AWESOME PARTS:

1. We were staying in a REALLY nice house, basically nicer than any hotel we've ever stayed in, for FREE!
2. Thanksgiving dinner was everything it should be and more! WE went to a buffet at Golden Nugget, which had Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pies; but also prime rib, steak, ham, shrimp, bread pudding, sushi, sorbet, mac and cheese, salmon, and chicken! Naturally I didn't drink anything and crammed in as much meat as possible to get my moneys worth.
3. Preston won $1.50 gambling, but then made me gamble it until I lost it (which didn't take long) because he felt guilty leaving with a profit.
4. I got some SWEET deals at Kohls and JC Penny.
5. I didn't have a blood clot!
6. Instead of studying for my final, I spent most of my free time watching "Top Chef" on Bravo!

All in all, it was a wonderfully strange Thanksgiving break.

Check out the Tadster!

Not the greatest pic, but my camera was dying and it was dark and tad runs fast! But he's the white blurb in the picture. Unfortunately they lost their first tournament game, but at least I was there! They played a good team and they played well. It was really fun to watch! GOOOOOO Taddy!

Christmas Hints

So, after looking at the list for the gift exchange, I think it would be a good idea for people to make a hint list aka "here's what I want" list. I would suggest just posting it as a comment to this post or calling the person. If you really want to be sneaky you could call the person's spouse or sibling to get ideas. I'm mostly posting this because I have no idea what to get Taki and Tad has no idea what to get Tim. So post it up guys!

Luv Triangle Baby!

This was dinner date nite in Tonga. And it was wild! First, I didn't plan on going, but a friend of mine got asked and didn't want to go cause she didn't feel well. So, we went to ask him if it was ok that I go and by the time we found him, he said yes, but we are leaving in 15 minutes. So, I ran back home and showered as fast as one can with a bucket and was dressed by the family I am staying with in Fo'ui. I look pretty hot huh! When the car pulled up, the driver was a guy that I had dated the first time I was in Tonga and had never called on my future trips. Yeah, awkward.

Then my date hopped out, who I had never really met and opened the car door for me to get in. I was happy cause he was cute and a gentleman. Now you may ask, who else was in the car. Well, it was Mone lookin all hot in a burgondy shirt and yellow striped tie and olive green pants. We were both just sitting there looking each other over. My date just got back from his mission in Texas and didn't have a clue what was going on. The night picked up as we heard some speakers and then went and feasted on Lu, pig, chop suey, watermellon and ice cream at our individual little date tables. Then they had a dance. After the dance, Mone's date had to go home and a load of boys, me and two other gurls went to cruise town. Somehow I ended up in the back of the truck with Mone on one side and my date Akuila on the other side. I wish I had a picture of it!! It was fun to listen to the boys mock both of them and especially Mone. Oh, and on Sunday Akuila came for dinner and told me that he loved me. Yeah, after two days he loves me-classic!

You may ask, why this last foto, and all I can say is that this is part of the reason I luv Tonga, its so beautiful!!

TIM.... berrrrrrrrr.........

Mother's day was a little late this year as I finally got my last gift, the dropping of the middle pine tree in the back yard. Dad had a bad feeling about the whole thing and I was leary. Tim, however, threw the ladder up, scaled the tree, attached ropes, cut a notch in the direction he wanted the tree to fall, cut some of the back, and Voila, he and dad pulled it down right where he projected. sorry we doubted you Tim. Oh, I had a draft of Toshi's band competition but I couldn't get the video to post so I posted it without it, but it posted in order so you have to scroll back.

Work, Dances and fun in tonga but not in that order!

Hello from the friendly islands!!! these are my parents here in tonga. They are Sione and Vea. They are very nice and kind to me. I am excited to see everyone at christmas!!

The next one is the dance we had last weekend for the dedication of the church. These are some of the boys I live with and some from the village. They did a really good job with their dance. Check out some of the leaf skirts cause I made them!!!

last, This is a pic of me and my amazing white people co-workers and a few Tongans. We were invited to an event to dedicate a fountain. The catholic ministers gave lovely speeches and let two doves go. it was good

Family+Fun+Food=SWEETNESS

So we had the ultimate vacation last weekend, which included the 3 f's of awesomeness. First we drove down to Flagstaff to spend some time with Kim and Jeff. We met up with them and on saturday we drove over to the Grand Canyon.
I had my doubts about it, because I always just pictured a big hole, but it was AWESOME! The view was absolutely breathtaking and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day.Everything was perfect and we were so glad that Kimmy and Jeff could go with us. We spent the whole day there, but it really wasn't enough time, so we plan to head back after graduation and spend a few days hiking around and camping at the bottom. Clearly the timp hike prepared us well for the Grand Canyon because we totally kicked that hole's trash (even without cool camelbaks)!
Afterward Kim and Jeff treated us to a very nice meal (where I got carded for the first time! Awesome.) and then we hit the road for VEGAS! It was a long drive and we were both tired, but we did get to drive through the Hoover Dam, which was really cool and a bit creepy at night. Preston spent some time at a conference, but unfortunately neither of us was really in the mood for Vegas. We did, however, enjoy some delicious meals including In-n-Out, Chipotle, ihop, and YOGURTLAND! We discovered this amazing frozen yogurt place while we were shopping. It had 10 different flavors of frozen yogurt and a bunch of amazing toppings (ie. fresh fruit, cheesecake bites, granola, etc...) It was SO delicious, we had to go twice!
Then I dropped Preston off at the airport and I made the long, lonely trip back to provo :(
P.S. Isn't my husband totally the hottest???

Couch Adventures!

So when we decided to move out here I was too stingy and scared to drive a u-haul out, so we put most of our stuff in storage and drove out whatever would fit in our blazer. I thought that it wouldn't be a big deal to live without couches or a bed for 9 months (I can hear some of you chuckling now), but after a few weeks I realized that 9 months of sitting on the floor was not going to be pleasant. So, Lori and I began the hunt for some cheap couches. That's when Joseph told me about freecycle...and my life will never be the same :)
Within hours I had 6 couches offered to me for free! All we had to do was pick them up and get them into the apt. I ended up with this lovely gem and a loveseat that is dusty rose colored! What this picture doesn't show you is Lori and I trying a million different angles before getting to this point, or the screams from me as the couch came sliding down at me, or the moment when we thought that the couch would have to remain in the stairwell forever :)

I'm the BEST mom again!

Yeah, Remember when we went to the used furniture place and everyone loved that pink chair and said "you'll be the best mom if you let us get this chair"? Well, it has happened again. Thanks to the Rinvelts who put this chair out in their driveway with a "free" sign on it, we are the proud owners of a recliner that vibrates, heats, and has hidden storage spots and cup holders. Dad, of course, being the creature of habit, has not sat in it yet nor given it his seal of approval. It will take the place of the ugly but comfy green chair in the family room.

So we’ve had some pretty hilarious moments out here that definitely need highlighting. Our first episode came during Boscov’s store closing mega sale. In one of its last days open, we hit up the store amidst a ravenous “Black Friday” type chaos. With items strewn all over the place, no a/c, and patches of the store roped off w/ caution tape we flew around the store trying to find some final steals. Towards the end of our excursion, we hit up a gigantic table full of curtains, drapes, and tablecloths. Connie found one of the only shower curtains, but like most of the other items it didn’t have a price. So I took it over to get a price check only to find that it rung up at $0.00. There wasn’t another of its kind, so we decided to head to the checkout anyways. As the ladies rang up our items the curtain again came up at 0. One lady asked the other what to do, while the other said just to let it go. We ran out of the store high-fiving and jumping w/ joy over our latest bargins. When we got home we started opening up our super deals only to find that our awesome shower curtain wasn’t so awesome. From the picture you might be wondering what happened to the other half. Turns out it was a “demo” curtain used to showcase the full shower curtains. We keep it up though since it looks normal when the inside curtain is pulled back.

Next up on our hilarious moments came last week w/ the arrival of our new couches. One of our neighbors bought new couches and needed to get rid of their old ones. Who else would they turn to with an offer of “free” couches. So the only thing left to do was to get rid of our old nasty couch. Inheriting the independence gene from Dad, I didn’t want to bother anyone to help transport our couch to Goodwill so attempted to do it alone. Connie and I carried it down to the car and hoisted it up atop the Grand Prix. I thought for sure Con would drop it w/ all the laughter going on. As I tied it off, Connie went inside to avoid embarrassment. We drove it over to Goodwill passing car after car full of puzzled looks only to find that they don’t take upholstered items and had to drive back.

Lastly, I’ve always told Connie that my nose produces gigantic amounts of clogged pores. We put it to the test w/ a couple nose strips to see who came out w/ the bigger result. As you can see, I was the victor and I don’t think she’ll ever look at my nose the same way again.

The End of an Era

Here we are in the senior year of our last child. Who would have thought that this day would ever happen? Both Mrs. Weatherwax and I were feeling the closure of a large part of our lives at the last 2 local band competitions this year.

The show was about "the seasons" of the year. The grand finale was "Summertime" which is my favorite. I taped it but forgot that they were wearing their rain coats that night. I tried several times to download the video but am giving up. sorry.

The Great Outdoors

Nets has told me emphatically whenever I talk about how beautiful Utah is that she never did anything fun outdoors while she lived here. So, for the first time since we were married, we are both in Utah for more than a couple days and we decided to take advantage of a long weekend and do some hiking.

We started out with Stewart Falls. After getting Nettie mad at me for driving aimlessly throughout Provo Canyon to find the trailhead, we got lucky by finding Three Sisters road and a trail that appeared to head in the direction of a waterfall. It was a short, but beautiful hike. We got wet, ate lunch and took some pictures.
Annette was so inspired with the falls that when I mentioned the prospect of hiking Mt. Timpanogos, she decided we should do it, in spite the 8 hours it would take.

For those of you who don't recall, Nets and I had done a long hike before in Switzerland and it had gone terribly awry, so I was a bit nervous to try again. But encouraged by her optimism, we left for American Fork Canyon at 9:30am. I had gotten better directions this time as to not incur Annette's wrath.
It was a great hike, sunny day, even the foot of snow we came across about 2 hours into the hike couldn't dampen our spirits. At about four and a half hours and 6 miles in, we reached the first summit, where you can look down on the valley and Utah lake. Wow. Breath-taking.
We were about 45 minutes still from the peak and the way was much more difficult; steeper climbs, higher ledges and a slipperier path. Initially, Nets wanted to turn back, but of course, I goaded her on... bad idea. Within 20 mins I had her frustrated and scared to tears, so we appreciated the view from where we were and started the hike down.

Unfortunately, I did forget about was how well the sun reflects off snow and how white I am (how could I forget). Having worn a beanie all day, I ended up with a burn from the eyebrows down with a still shiny white forehead. Sweetness.

Tongan Life

Life in Tonga is all work, dances, running and earthquakes. Yeah, my first earthquake in Tonga was on Sunday and it was small, just rattled a few things. It was fun, I haven’t been in one since my mission. This week I am at another conference, but this one is in English-thank goodness. When they are in Tongan, I am so tired by the end of the day just to understand about 50% of the message. It is a lot of new vocab since it is health related. The foto is of me helping at the field day, I taught the kids aerobics and helped with the games. In true Tongan fashion, on Monday we got in one car to go to school and work and it was out of gas. So, they siphoned the gas out of the truck and put it in the other car cause it already had some gas in it. Then while we were driving, the tire was kind of flat so we pull over to fill it. Yeah, I was really late to work, but told my boss and he said, typical life in Tonga. The other funny thing was at our conference, there is a sign near the toilets which says, "Please keep the toilets clean for everyday use." What they are really saying is that they don't ever clean the toilets, so don't make them dirty. Scary huh! Well, That's Tonga!

Mom's 40 year High School Reunion

Last Saturday I went to the Union High 40th reunion. First we went to Tosh's band competition so we got to the reunion late. It was fun to see my old "Cronies" and to remember our crazy high school lives. The 2 girls on my right and left and I went to the Sweetheart swirl as freshmen together. We all asked guys we didn't know and we were all sorry by the end of the night. I ran into my biggest junior high crush, a fantastic jazz pianist who plays at Noto's every Friday night. He invited us to come hear him play. It was really funny when someone looked at their watch and said "my, it's after midnight". Someone else said "I'm always in bed by now" and someone else quipped "yeah, it's just about time for the first pee". Of course everyone laughed at this point because we are all stumbling to the bathroom one or two times a night at our age. I told this story at work and everyone over 50 broke into laughter and the rest just looked confused. They'll find out. Anyway, thanks to Annette for helping me to figure out how to post. Comments?

Yellow life or death?

Well, the fleabites are on their way out after 2 weeks and most of the major itching has subsided, Hallelujah!!! I still have many bumps, but I think that most went away pretty fast cause I didn’t itch them and Mom’s diligent prayers. It’s in times like this that I know why I wasn’t sent down during Pioneer times!!!

The fun new item in my life is my yellow burn cream from Pakistan. I’m pretty sure that it is helping and the iodine is probably keeping it clean. About half my clothing is covered in yellow! It may be hard to believe, but the burn is a lot better than it was!

Anyway, life is good, I started working at the ministry of health last Monday and spent the day helping make a TV broadcast about Rheumatic Fever. Basically I didn’t do much but I add in my two sense once and a while. Anyway, it will be good for my resume at least.This is for Taki-I also went to a primary school and taught the kids a song in Tongan about how to brush their teeth. Then we all brushed our teeth and did a fluoride rinse. I'd upload the video of the song, but it is long. I also played games with the kids-few adults play with kids and so they loved it!

Well, if you didn’t know that I went to see Mone, but I did. I just wanted to make sure. He still loves me, but not like before. Its been good to finally deal with it all and close this chapter of my life. I’m starting to see that I am better off, but it is taking time. Thanks for your prayers!

Funny story is that one of the cousins Kenny drove me and Nisi to the women’s broadcast and then the car died and so we had to try to jump it, but no one had cables, so someone took out their battery and we finally got it started. We drove about 30 ft and it died again. I think it was out of gas. I just laughed and said, “this is Tonga.” They were not too excited to walk the 4 miles home. Oh, and last Friday I went to a dance and it was fun to just get out there and let loose. That’s the news from the Island!

I'm in Kiwi Land!!

For those of you uncultured folks, which would be me and most of our family, New Zealand is home of the Kiwi bird. Anyway, here are some pictures of my time here. The first is Huana falls which was gorgeous and a very short hike. The next is the from the Hamilton flower gardens. It was cool, they had little sections for many countires in the world. The one in the foto is our heritage-Japan. The last is the man made lake at the top of Huana Regoinal park. The picture of the keep of the Dam sign was taken just before I hopped the fence and ran down the dam. I was a bit lost and not sure how to get back, so I took the sure way back which was down the dam!
The next picture is of me hiking a volcano called Rangitoto. It was a good hike and took about 3 hours but at the top you had a great view of Auckland and the harbor. It was gorgeous! The other crazy people are the mom and daughter that I stay with and my good friend Sungu from Tonga.

The last picture is the countryside that I drove through to get to the Temple in Hamilton. It doesn't even do it justice, it was amazing! I also went to some glow worm caves which rocked, but we couldn't take fotos so I will have to show you those later. We road a boat and looked up to see the worms which looked like a ceiling full of stars or little green christmas lights. Other than that, just museums, eats, lots of volleyball in the backyard and a ton of flea bites. Yeah, they got fleas, which I will be trying to kill tomorrow. I should take a foto of my body, I look like I have chicken pox! Anway, much love from the lovin' NZ but itchy girl Lori!!