Sub For Santa

So our wonderful friend Karly Barker set up a Sub for Santa night. She invited all her friends to participate and there ended up being around 20 of us. Sub for Santa provides about 2,000 families in Utah county with Christmas. So Karly signed up for our group to sponsor a family.

We all met up at Walmart to collectively buy Christmas gifts for a needy family in Utah. We (Parkinsons and Pacadas) were assigned the 15 year old boy. We bought a big winter coat, jeans, a book, and a scooter. The boys (Nate and Michael) got a little frustrated with how long it took me and Veronica to pick out said items. But we wanted to get the best presents we could!

After everyone bought everything, we headed to campus for dinner and wrapping. Karly, the amazing homemaker/wife that she is got Cafe Rio catered for everyone. She also went ALL out making treats and decorating with amazing Christmas flair. So we ate, a lot.





Then we wrapped. We wrapped up all of the gifts, with name tags and bows. After everything was ready to go, the presents were stealthily left on the door step for the family.



It was such a great night. We had so much fun and were so happy to provide Christmas for a family. Thanks Karly! Here's her post on the night. (Much more detailed and more pictures)

Phantom of the Opera Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we drove up to Lava Hot Spring, Idaho to spend the holiday with Michael's grandparents and lots of other relatives on his Mom's side. This was my first trip to Idaho. We drove up Tuesday and stayed with Grandma Kay and Roger the first night.

We had a really fun time getting to know them better. The next day about 40 people showed up to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. I got to meet lots of Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. It was fun. And the food was great!

So here's the interesting part. Michael's Mom offered to treat us to a night at a bread and breakfast in Lava Hot Springs. We were really excited about a night out, but she wouldn't tell us where we were going...

She finally gave us the address right when we were walking out the door. So we drove just five minutes from Grandmas right up the mountain to this nice looking bed and breakfast called Lion's Gate Manor.

We very quickly found out we would be staying in the Phantom of the Opera room. We were absolutely not expecting that, but still very excited. The room turned out to be amazing and HUGE.

So you enter the room through a secret door behind the bookcase :) Then you walk down the spiraling staircase.




Super nice huge bath tub.


Big King Bed




The Phantom himself. Watching from behind the mirror (Creepy right??!?) I turned him off the second I saw him.



We had so much fun! We had our own theater room you can't see from the pictures. (Box 5 reserved) So of course we watched the movie. It was only appropriate. The next morning we woke up to a big delicious breakfast before heading back to Provo. Thanks Leslie for such a fun night out!

Boston

This year the Food, Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) was in Boston. Last year I went with my major to FNCE in Denver. But this year because it wasn't within driving distance, we didn't go as a class.

So I got to go with my Mom! We both hadn't been to Boston before and since we both love nutrition we thought it would be a fun trip. We met up in Boston Friday morning and stayed until Tuesday. Here's some of the fun stuff we did in Boston. (More to come on the actual conference)

We found this neat little Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar shop. And we went a little crazy. The olive oil was all pressed in Italy in June this year. So basically it was delicious. The store had all the flavors they sell in little drums so you could taste them all with some bread. I tried every one. They were all amazing.



Here are some of the flavors we bought:
Tuscan olive oil, white coconut balsamic, pomegranate balsamic, dark chocolate balsamic, and lime olive oil. There were so many to choose from, it was a tough choice. Here's the website if you want to order some. http://bostonoliveoilcompany.com/ We are going through our bottles fast!

Mom and I also went out to a lobster dinner. I've never had a WHOLE lobster before, I've always just gotten a tail. So we had to follow the instructions for taking it apart. It was yummy...



We went to the Parker House Hotel and ate Boston cream pie.




When we weren't at the conference we were shopping, taking the subway around Boston, and having a great time. Boston is a really cool city. More on the Conference coming soon.

Halloween Time

I love Halloween. Its such a great time of the year. The weather is cool but not freezing. And the leaves are changing colors. The past couple of weekends have been full of fun halloween festivities.

Watching scary movies and painting pumpkins.



We went to a haunted house with the Parkinsons in salt lake. I'll admit I kept my eyes closed for about half the time. Here's my theory. If I can't see the scary people and creepy stuff its not scary...right?!? But where's the fun in that, so I got braver by the end and kept my eyes open and screamed like crazy.



We also made dinner in a pumpkin and carmel apples. The carmel apples were my favorite! And super easy to make. Carmel layer, chocolate layer, and then covered in heath bar bits. Delicious!





Now I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

Can't forget Christchurch

I totally forget to tell you about going up to Christchurch with Mom and Dad. This was after Queenstown and before Auckland (the second time). We flew in to Christchurch and then drove from there a few hours to go see some penguins. We went to this little town where you can go watch the local penguins come in from the ocean when the sun is going down.



It was so cool! The penguins in New Zealand are these little blue penguins that are super cute. And you would just see about 15 at a time swim up and hop onto the rocks, then waddle their way over to their little holes in the ground. The penguins make these really loud funny noises, which was a little unexpected. As it was mating season we saw some penguin lovin' (which was so funny).



We also took this amazing scenic train ride up to Fron's Joseph.

Unfortunately we got rained out of going up to the glacier, but its still beautiful there. And we had lots of fun.

Auckland

Auckland began as a short visit with Mom and Dad. We spent two nights right in the city. Michael and Dad went golfing one morning while Mom and I shopped around the city.




After traveling to Australia and the south island, we said good bye to Mom and Dad. Then it was HELLO camper-van! We rented a GIANT campervan for 2 weeks of driving around New Zealand. It had a bathroom, shower, stovetop, fridge, sink, and bed. It was basically the size of a small bus or 16 passanger van.



It was a really fun surprise to find out that the van was manual. Michael had never driven stick, and I have driven it once. And don't forget in New Zealand you are driving on the opposite side of the street, and sitting on the other side of the car. So that means shifting with you left hand... Lets just say there were a lot of close calls and constant praying. But, by the end of the trip Michael was a pro.

We drove around New Zealand for 2 weeks. Driving from surf spot to surf spot. We had a blast. My favorite place in New Zealand is this little surf town called Piha. The town is surrounded by green mountains. The black sand beaches were soft and pretty. And there was this cool big rock you can hike up, right in the middle of the beach. Here's a picture from halfway up.


Overall traveling around New Zealand and Australia was amazing. Great way to end the summer. And now, back in school. Stressed out like crazy.

Queenstown

Queenstown is a really cool city. Its built around an inlet on Lake Wakatipu in the south island of New Zealand. Queenstown in a resort town known for its adventure tourism.


We began our first full day fishing on lake Wakatipu. Dad and I both caught a trout.

Then we went on the shotover jet. Its a speed boat that takes you on this tour through the Shotover River Canyons. It was insane. The boat goes about 60 mph through these narrow canyons. The driver does 360 degree spins that put the boat about 6 in from the rocks. I seriously thought we were going to smash into the canyon walls. Luckily we didn't!



Then we drove to the Kawarau bridge to the first commercial bungy spot in the world. Michael and I jumped together from about 150 feet high. It was sooooo scary, but thrilling.



The next day we went snowboarding. It was pretty fun snowboarding in the middle of August.

After a long day snowboarding we went to spend an hour at the onsen pools. Its this super fancy place where you schedule an hour in a hot tub. The hot tub room has a retractable door that opens up to this beautiful mountain view. It was so fun.

(I know my arms are really long. I have an arm span of 6' and I'm only 5'8'' tall. Michael calls me elasti-girl sometimes)

Queenstown was one of the best parts of the trip. We had a blast with Mom and Dad.

Australia

Unfortunately our time in Australia was very short. We flew in to Cairns and went straight to the zoo. Here we got to feed Kangaroos and take pictures with a Koala bear named Buster. I wanted to take Buster home with me, but the zoo people wouldn't allow it for some reason.





Pretty much the whole next day was spent diving the Great Barrier Reef. We did a 2 tank dive. It was unbelievable. We saw a shark and sea turtle. Pretty fish. But the coral was amazing. Tons of colorful sea anemones with clown fish living in them. Best dive ever.



Still to come: Queenstown, Christchurch, Auckland, and our camper-van.

Hamilton Part 2

Our second day in Hamilton we checked out of our hotel and drove an hour to Hobbiton. There we took a tour through the sets of Hobbiton from the Lord of the Rings movies. It was really neat to see all the places from the movie.


Hobbiton was built on a sheep farm. So at the end of the tour we watched a sheep shearing demonstration. It was great. But the best part was we got to bottle feed baby sheep! They were so cute. And I decided I want to have a baby sheep one day. Michael already said I could :)



After that we drove up to Auckland for the next 2 nights. More to come on Auckland.

Hamilton Part 1

Our first 2 days in New Zealand were spent down in Hamilton. We stayed at this beautiful hotel at the top of these green, rolling hills. The view was spectacular. You can see the hotel up on the hill in the background.


Our first day there we drove to Raglan. A famous surf town and watched Michael surf for a few hours. The waves were not great but it's still a beautiful spot.

Then we went in the afternoon to go on a tour in some caves that have glow worms. We all got put in some wet suits and were given tubes. Then our guide took us through these underground caves. You should know though, it's winter in New Zealand. So the water we were tubing in was 50 degrees F. It was soooooo cold! I tried peeing in my wet suit but it only helped for a few minutes :)

The caves were amazing. Some parts were pitch black and the ceiling was glowing with hundreds of glow worms. Other parts required us to jump backwards off little waterfalls with our inner tubes under our bums. It was crazy. After the tour they provided hot showers and soup. Just what we needed after an hour in the freezing water.

Goodbye Tonga

After living in Tonga for 90 days, it was a bitter sweet feeling saying goodbye. We will miss the Fonua family in Ha'apai, and going to sandy beach everyday. We'll miss having limited responsibilities and no plans. But we miss our family and friends. And the many luxuries we enjoy at home (like hot showers).

But before we left we were able to enjoy 4 days in Tonga with my parents! We stayed on the beach in a cute little hut.

We took them to the temple and I went with Mom to a seminary class at Liahona (the church high school in Tonga). The teacher did a great job.


We went kayaking and snorkeling at the beach. Michael surfed. We went whale watching in the rain. And shopped at the market.


We took Mom and Dad to church and then ate dinner at the Bishop's house after. It was a blast. Now we are off to Hamilton, New Zealand for 2 days and then Auckland for 2 days.

Ha'apai

So we've been living on the island group Ha'apai for the last 2 weeks. We LOVE it here. It's by far our favorite place in Tonga. The main island of Ha'apai is small. Its only about 6km long and anywhere from 1-3 km wide.

We live on the 2nd biggest island in the island group, Foa. Only about 1500 people live here. There is really only one road in Ha'apai. It runs the length of the main island then connects to Foa island via a makeshift causeway. Pangi is the capital city, but I wouldn't call it a city. Its made up of about 6 shops and a bank.

For some reason when the government built the airplane runway here, they made it diagonal across the main island. So whenever a plane is coming they have to close down the one road that goes to and from town. Its so funny. I don't know why they didn't put it length wise.

Here's a picture of us at the beach. We go everyday here. Its beautiful and there is never anyone around.


Tomorrow we are leaving Ha'apai to meet up with my parents in Tongatapu. I can't wait to see them. I've miss them a lot this summer. We will spend 4 days with them there, and then we'll be off to New Zealand.

Tapa cloth

As part of the field study program in Tonga we were all required to make Tapa cloth.

We had to go through the whole process of making the tapa which began with cutting down the trees. It took me a good 10 or 12 whacks before I chopped down one of the trees. Keep in mind these trees are very skinny, maybe only a 3'' circumference. Michael had a much easier time yielding the machete.

The next task was stripping the bark from the tree. We each had to do 2 trees. Then we peeled the bark, separating the soft yellow inside from the rough brown outside.

The next step was by far the hardest. After soaking the long yellow strips we had to pound them out. We were supposed to get them from 3'' wide to about 10''. We were not very good at it. The tongan woman helping had to constantly fix ours for us. After pounding for almost 2 hours we were done with the blisters to show for it.


Here's us pounding away.



After pounding it out you dry the tapa in the sun. Then using a wheat and kerosene paste you patch the holes and glue sheets together.

Then again to the sun to dry.

Next you need to make the dye they use to paint it.

First you have to scrape off the outer layer of the Tongan coca tree. Then you have to scrape out a bunch of the pink colored fleshy inside.

Next you take all the pink shavings, soak them in water and wring them out to get the dye. Sounds easy but again its not. You have to weave this special strainer also made from tree bark. And wrap the wet shavings in the strainer like a burrito. Then you hang it up and put a log between it. Then a couple people sit on the log and twist and twist to get out the liquid dye.

Here's Michael twisting. If you notice there are 2 guys on one side and only Michael on the other :)




The whole process of making Tapa and making the dye was grueling. I can't imagine how anyone came up with it. But its a huge part of the Tongan culture. People even say a Tongans worth can be measured by how much Tapa they own. They give it as gifts for weddings and funerals.

It was a good experience making it, but we're glad we don't have to do it again :)

Piglet

So here's a funny story for you. In Tonga there are pigs everywhere. The Tongans roast the pigs in the underground ovens for special occasions. It makes me sad because they really like the meat from the baby pigs, they say its sweeter :(

The piglets are so cute and I have been wanting to catch one for a while but they are surprisingly fast. But a couple days ago I snuck up on one and threw my lavalava over it and caught it. I was so excited it was so cute. It squealed a little but then seemed fine. But then I look down and saw that I literally "scarred the crap out of it." Right on my shirt and pants. Michael thought the whole thing was the funniest thing he'd ever seen and couldn't stop laughing. I just felt bad that I scarred the pig so much. And I guess I got what I deserved.

Vava'u

Vava'u is beautiful. We really love it here. The only downside so far is that we have to drive to get to town and there are a lot more mosquitoes here. The main town here is called Neiafu. Its really pretty and there are a ton of sailboats and yachts that come here. Most of the sailors we've talked to are from Australia/New Zealand. There is a small market here, but nothing compared to the one in Tongatapu. They do have a lot of cool woven baskets and carved masks etc. at the market though. I plan to buy most of my souvenirs here. All the restaurants in town are pretty expensive because of all the tourist sailors coming here. So we go to this little chinese place for lunch when we are hungry and buy bananas at the market. We do all of our emailing from town as well, so we come here maybe 3 times a week.





As you can see I gave in and got some Chacos. I have always said they are ugly. And I still stand by that statement. They are ugly shoes and they make my feet look even bigger and uglier than usual. BUT they are super comfortable and practical. So after my first 3 weeks of wearing flips flops everyday and my feet killing me, my wonderful Mom mailed me a pair of chacos. So now my arches are fully supported and feelin good :)

Goodbye Tongatapu

Our last Saturday in Tongatapu we rented some bikes to ride around the island. It was really fun! We rode around near the beach for a few hours and stopped to swim by the palace. The King doesn't live in the Palace anymore. Now he lives in his villa which is bigger and nicer. So the palace is going to be used for government offices.







Monday we left Tongatapu for Va'vau. We love it here. I'll post soon with some pictures of Va'vau. Its the most beautiful of the Tongan island groups. Its all green and hilly, with beautiful water. And now that we are living with a family we don't have to cook anymore :) More to come.