Day of Relaxation

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL : ) I cannot believe you are already 19. Wow! Party hard in Provo ;).

Today was a wonderful day. It started off a little earlier than I would’ve hoped for (there are some extremely loud and early birds right outside our window!), but that meant I had a nice, long morning to relax, and just take some time to enjoy my new life here in New Zealand. We were told that someone would be calling us to pick us up and take us to church, but as it got closer and closer to 11, we were still waiting. Dr. Jacobs said he would reimburse us if we needed to call a cab to take us, but Sheryl offered her services graciously. As we were getting into her car, however, another pulled up; it was Bro. and Sis. Nato from Brazil ready to take us to church. It was a neat experience to go to the Massey Ward today. It actually reminded me a lot of the time I went to the Polynesian Ward with my friend, Brock Bolen (we thought about you all during church today Brock!). The bishopric spoke today it was fun to hear from them—although it’s a lot harder to understand them than I thought it would be. I find that I really have to concentrate if I want to understand what they’re saying. I guess that’s a good thing though because I really do have to focus on what they’re saying!

After church Anna and I took advantage of some free time to take some pictures of our house :)

This is the Lord Family's house in Massey, Waitakere, Auckland, New Zealand. You can see their boat up near the house :) We live on the right side of the house with the family, and Sheryl's mother, Raewyn, lives on the left side.

Kitchen! I don't know if you can really tell here, but I feel like the fridge is so skinny!

This is our lovely room. I have the blue sheets and Anna has the white. When we first came, my bed was on the ground, but soon the bed frame came and we helped Sheryl put it all together! Looks pretty good for putting it together with no directions and with Kodie rearranging all the parts and taking out all the screws every two second huh? :)

I know you're all dying to hear about the bathroom haha. The toilet is similar, except there are 2 buttons on top--one 1/2 flush and one huge, full flush. The sink is kinda interesting: one spout on the right for cold water, and one spout on the left for hot water.

They have a washing machine...but this is where we dry our clothes!

This is the incredible view from the backyard...love it!

These funny looking trees are called Northic Pines. They are everywhere! I think they look like our pine trees all stretched out.

Here are the beehives! We asked Kerry how many bees lived there, and he nonchalantly answered, "Ah, probably at least half a million. But don't worry, they're friendly bees." ha we will see!

The family swimming pool, trampoline (back left), and many fruit trees (peach, apple, pear, apricot, plum, and fig).

I LOVE all the beautiful flowers found all around their house, and all over the city! (Mom, I always think how you would love seeing all these flowers everywhere you go!)

We told the Lord family that we learned about pavlova in one of our classes, and they thought today would be a good time for us to try and make it. The first step is to beat 3 egg whites until they’re stiff. I’ve separated eggs before, but I struggled today—I cracked the very first egg wrong and the yolk went straight into the bowl with the whites. Not wanting to waste any more eggs, Sheryl kindly got out one of those plastic egg separaters for me to use. Somehow I still managed to get a tiny drop of yolk in with the last egg…whoops! Luckily we easily fished it out with a spoon and everything else turned out well. :) The best way to describe it, is that it’s like meringue on the outside, but soft and fluffy on the inside. You top it with whip cream and any fruit you have. Traditionally they top it with kiwifruits, but today we did strawberries and blueberries (we thought about designing an American flag, but decided it would be better to spread them out so you could get some of each berry). We were a little nervous about it tasting like other pavlova they’ve tried, but Sheryl, Kerry, Raewyn, and even little Alexis loved it and congratulated our success. For all of you back in the states, get ready to try some of my authentic New Zealand pavlova when I get back!

The highlight of my day was skyping my family! It was SO fun to see and talk to them—I LOVED it! After hearing updates and answering questions, 6-yr-old Alexis came into my room and got to “meet” my family! She was a little shy at first, but she warmed up and even sang them a song when my mom asked her to…it was adorable. I am so grateful that I have to technology and means to still see and talk to my family, even when I am halfway around the world. It is quite amazing :)