One of the many albums in our Christmas playlist is the Sound of Music soundtrack. Here are some words of wisdom from Maria:
"...When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad."
Christmas is very different for us this year. No extended family, no winter, no Christmas lights, no snow... but like Maria, I want to remember my favorite thing about Christmas, and that is my family. So I went back through all our pictures of the year and pulled some of my favorite ones of our family:
Mercy's Baptism (Jan)
Hot-tubbing (Feb)
Spring Break in Mexico (Mar)
AHS Family Ball (Mar)
Hoover Dam (Mar)
Official Family Picture (May)
Danny's Concerto Concert (May)
Lake Powell with Sessions (Jun)
Random Sunset Hike (June)
Family Reunion in West Virginia (July)
Moving (Aug)
Hamilton Temple (August)
Paratutu Rock (Sep)
Halloween (Oct)
Backyard Sunset (Nov)
Christmas Caroling (Dec)
Merry Christmas! And may everyone remember their favorite things this season :D God bless you all.
Wow! The last three weeks have been some of the most adventurous and fun of my life! And I owe most of it to a new sport I've been training for: Adventure Racing. I'm pretty sure it's an almost uniquely New Zealand thing, so let me try to explain.
During the first team meeting back in September I got a paper with all the skills I would need to have... here's just a few.
Orienteering
Mountain biking
Climbing/rappelling
paddling/kayaking
running - with and without full pack
using a handheld GPS
using an avalanche transceiver
knowledge of NZ geography
basic Morse code and sign language
first aid
group problem solving
ability to memorize
mental arithmetic
fire lighting
knots and lashings
speed reading
But I'm not an Eagle Scout for nothing! So I went ahead and signed up, and by the next week trainings had started. Meeting at 6am, no matter the weather, to go running or mountain biking. What were we training for exactly?
Well the main event of the year is called the Hillary Challenge, a five day competition including a 2-day backpack, 2 days of team problem solving activities, and a triathlon-type race the last day. This is the video of my team winning it last year:
The competition is a big deal around here. My school is the defending
champion for a few years running now, and saying that I train with them
gets me tons more respect even than saying I play on the varsity
basketball team. I can even get discounts at biking and camping stores
:D
In the past month or so we've hiked all over the mountain by our house as well as the Tongariro Range (where Mordor was filmed). I've been more tired than I ever thought I could be, and done some of the most crazy fun things of my life.
Sunday night, we finally decided to get out and explore the area behind our house. Our landlord had told us there was a Maori pah back there (which according to Dictionary.com is "a Māori defensive position and settlement on a hilltop"), and it was promising to be an amazing sunset, so my parents, little sisters and I grabbed the cameras went out to see what we could see...
Mom was happy to be able to try on her new "gum boots"
That roof you can barely see on the right? Ya, that's our house :)
Me, helping Joycie take a picture...
My dad, taking a picture of me helping Joycie take a picture :)
We weren't really sure what we were looking for, but assumed these odd trenches are the remains of the pah.
My dad almost stepped on this pukeko bird nest, it was just a bunch of eggs hidden is some deep grass.
The mother bird itself took off way too fast for me to snap a picture, so this is a pukeko bird picture off the internet :)
Two of my favorite pictures of the whole night, both of walking down our driveway on the way home :)
We got home, and my parents went to put the girls to bed, but I grabbed Oak, and we ran back out to catch the rest of the sunset...
It was definitely an awesome way to end a Sunday afternoon.
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