Long Time No Talk To...

Ok, so a few things have been going on in the past month that we should update on...

First of all Daniel graduates Friday 24 April 2009! Horray! Yeah Daniel! Then he will be working at his research lab on campus for the next two weeks getting as much work in as possible before they kick him out for not being student. We still aren't sure when basic training for him will be but it's still looking like it'll be in July. Easter weekend he went on a wilderness survival trip, where he killed and gutted his first animal which happened to be a rooster, they took away his shoes and built his own shelter where he lived for 2 nights in the rain. He was thinking it was pretty sissy because they gave him a granola bar, but I tell you what, I couldn't have done it. I like my shoes! So here is a picture of his shelter

. 

I will be done with school 28 April 2009 and will finish with an associates in early childhood education. My last day of preschool was Thursday :-( It was so sad! I don't know how I feel about this whole 'summer' idea! I LOVED LOVED LOVED teaching 3 year-olds and hope I can do it in the future. 

I am heading out to Colorado where I have a few interviews at preschools next week so cross your fingers and say your prayers! While there I also hope to get lodging for us for the next four years. 

We still haven't decided weather or not we will rent or buy. We've put in an offer on a condo... so we'll see how that turns out. And I'll also be going to look at it, seein how we've never seen what we are bidding on:-) We still don't know exactly when we are moving to CO. It really depends on when I get a job and when they need me. 

So that's us in a nut shell. A basic update on our crazy lives! Finals month is terrible. I've gone grocery shopping once on the first and basically we have been living on what we have christened our 'finals diet'- which consists of Wendy's, Dell Taco, Mama Chus and eggs. This has been the hardest finals month by far. But with Daniel done and me tantalizingly close we see the light at the end of the tunnel! Yahoo! Thank you SO much for everyone who has helped us! 

Here are a few final pictures from preschool:

We had a work shop as one of our dramatic play areas. The kids loved using it! 

Poor little duck:-) But he was trying to be so careful! 

New Zealand: Part 1

Whew! We are back! It went by like a whirl wind. We packed in everything we could possibly pack in up until the hour we left. 

So it went something like this:

We left Provo Thursday night and drove to Primm,NV where we stayed at a hotel that Daniel found online for only $9.95 and we got a free ride on their HUGE roller coaster! It was so sweet! We got up, rode the roller coaster and headed for Los Angeles, CA. Thankfully we made it the the LA airport with only one turn around! Daniel was very patient with his passenger seat navigator and the traffic wasn't even too bad. 

Our flight to New Zealand left at 7:45 pm on Friday and we got into Auckland at 4:30 Sunday morning. It was a 13 hour flight that we really enjoyed. We flew Air New Zealand and given the circumstances it was pretty darn comfortable. There were over 77 movies to choose from, plus games, TV shows and music. The food was yummy and we actually slept most of the way. Which is quite an accomplishment for myself. 

After we made it through customs we were greeted by Daniels dad Jim. A familiar face was so comforting and we were so excited to see him! Let me back up. The whole reason we went to New Zealand is to visit Daniels parents, Jim and Linda because they were doing an elementary education study abroad there. Tickets were SUPER cheap so we jumped on it! 

So they drive on the other side of the road down there... I tell you what it was SO different and something that was really hard to get used to. Everything is opposite! Instead of right turns being the easy ones where you don't have to wait and stuff it s the left turn that is super easy.

 Totally wigged us out. 

When we got back to their house we took a little nap and went to church. Such wonderful, sweet people! And their accent! We can't mimic it for the life of us! Its just beautiful. After church we had the most wonderful dinner out on the back porch with the owners of Jim and Lindas house, their daughter and another friend. It was so relaxing. We laughed and talked into the night. Really that dinner was one of the highlights of the vacation. 

We went to Mt. Eaden, the tallest point in Auckland where we just got to look around. It was a clear beautiful day. 

It was a little windy!

There were cows on the side of this huge, steep mountain! Just eatin away

Daniel ran down to the bottom of the huge inactive volcano. 

Day 1: We went to Piha beach. It's on the west side of the island on the Tazman Sea. We had to get up early so we could go to Honeymoon cove. During high tide the water rises 9ft and we wouldn't have been able to walk to honeymoon cove. People have died because of the high tide sweeping them off the rocks. The pictures tell the story better than I can. 

This is at the over look.

 Daniel got star fish!

Us at honeymoon cove

There were green little mussels all over. I loved 'em!

Wow!

My honey was so tired

So I buried him. Just like in Venice, sorry Jessica- I just couldn't make him a bunny....

Afterwards...

At a waterfall just next to the beach.

There is so much! I'll continue in another post. 

New Zealand: Part 2

Day 2: Was our traveling day. We went down to where Peter Jackson shot the Shire in the movies Lord of the Rings. It was SO SO awesome! It was in this beautiful sheep farm where there was not a building in sight. Rolling hills and livestock everywhere. It was amazing and the other highlight of the trip. 

This is all that's left. Of the 37 original hobbit holes 17 weren't destroyed. 

Us hugging the 'Party Tree'

The actual Part Tree!

 Sam Wise's house

And this is Bilbo Baggins' house

The view from inside of the house

Daniel 'smoking' where Gandalf and Bilbo did

The Shire

Because it was a sheep farm where they filmed, after the tour they let us feed little sheep:-) 

That day we also went to the Glow Worm Caves and to the temple. These glow worm caves where huge limestone caverns are home to thousands of little glow worms. I've never seen anything like it. We couldn't take pictures though:-( But here is the temple. 

Day 3: This entire day was spent at the Pacific Ocean side of the island. Again it was breathtaking and something that won't be forgotten. 

These open clam things were ALL over! I loved them. So we lined them up:-) 

Daniel swimmin' He did this a lot!

Daniel said this was his "Mr. March" pose:-) 

After this day our camera decided that it didn't like the humidity. So it stopped working... Lame! So here are a few of the pictures from Daniels parents camera. 

We got to see them feed the skates in the fish tank

Look how HUGE these things are!!! They are cray fish! Ours don't get 1/2 this size!!

Our last night there we ate the Sky Tower, which over looked all of Auckland and rotated as your ate. Thanks again Jim and Linda! We had SO much fun with you and appreciate your 

wonderful hospitality. 

Black sand beach on our last day

Saying 'bye' to Piah

Welp, that about covers it. We had a good flight back (not as good as going but then again we were going home) and we stayed the night at Daniels friends house just outside of LA. Then we drove all the way back yesterday. It was rough. We are dead today! But we're back. On to the next adventure! Graduation then Duck beach in Virginia!!! 

Update

We are leaving for New Zealand tomorrow!! YAHOO! We are so excited to go see Daniels parents and take a little vacation before medical school. YIPPEE! We can't wait! We leave out of LAX Friday the 13th - eesh I just realized that date, not good. And we return on the 20th of March. More on that as we come back. 

But the news that I would like to post about is that Daniel has gotten in and has signed on with the Air Force! So that puts us moving to Colorado sometime in June. He goes to basic training in July and starts school at the end of July. We are really excited about this and can't wait to move to the next chapter in our life: Medical School. 

But I just want to let Amy know that I am SO sad to leave the family here in Utah. I will miss you guys TONS and TONS! And I will come to visit so our kids can play, when Daniel spends more time with his mistress RVU:-) 

Ok i just gotta...

I am teaching preschool this semester the 3 year-old class and it's the funnest thing I have ever done. I absolutely love it! So I just wanted to post a few pictures and stories that go along with it. 

SO MUCH FUN!!!

We were learning about going to the doctor

We learned about brushing our teeth. Scrub, scrub. 

Dr. Kevin was looking at my x-rays. I broke my knee. Ouch! He told me I had to get out of the office because I was a woman. Who does that?

He diagnosed me with a whale in my tummy. So... naturally I had to have surgery. 

At snack this little boy said, "Please pass the delectable oranges"- so cute!

Here we are in our Valentines Glasses

I made leaf hats when I was in school so I decided we'd make leave hats and pretend to be trees