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.