The Flying Kiwi’s – Epistle #7

Ok, ok.. it’s MY fault – ALL OF IT!!

This is a short explanation..  When Mum and I first arrived in NYC we’d go through the days on adrenalin because we were in NEW YORK you know?  However, while we were going on adrenalin our bodies were actually on 2am or 3am.  So, once we got back to our lodgings at the end of the day we’ll fall straight to sleep – exhausted!  But, then we’d wake up a couple of hours later all alert and everything!  WHY?  Because at 2am in NYC it’s like 6 or 7pm in Āotearoa! 

Mr Beckstead Jnr…  TOO CUTE!!!

What does that have to do with the BLOG – well, let me tell you – that meant I was awake blinking in my room with nothing to do – SOOOO, I’d write in my blog to you all about our day and our latest adventures.  BIG MISTAKE (and like I said, my fault) because now you’re all expecting a daily update, the other issue was that while we were in Utah – we had family around and just always had things to do.  So, I’d get home at the end of the day and be completely WASTED!!  So, didn’t quite get a daily update of our trip but a 3-in-1 update.

In any case, this will round up our UTAH leg of our vacation and start up VEGAS…

Thursday 10^th April, 2014

Packed up our stuff from Uncle Edwins – Camilla came and picked us up J

Lunch with QUINNY day… went to Layton to pick him up.. we weren’t that late – he was expecting us at 11am.. we turned up at 11.20am – I think that’s a record! J 

Wow… he looks so AMERICAN.. Apparently, it’s the UNIFORM.. LoL..

Me and the little TALL cuz… :) COOL! I’m ready for our one-on-one rematch..

The whānau at Cafe Rio..

Most of you will not know Quinny - he’s my mums younger brother Orlo’s son.  He’s just turned 18 and has been in Layton, Utah for about 2 years now on a sports scholarship.  Before he left and when we’d visit Uncle Orlos whare him and I would play one-on-one.. He’d have to play with one hand and not allowed to foul me.. whereas, I could do practically anything I wanted.. LoL.. such as hold him, hit him… etc.  Just to even out the playing field.. So, when he comes home I’ve said to him.. now, you’ll either have to play with one foot - hopping around the place OR blind-folded.. LoL.. I mean, his skill must have increased so, I must up the anti - OR LOOSE by a LOT.. LoL..

Aunty and nephew - CUTE!

Had lunch at Café Rio – I chose the wrong kai again and got something else… it was cool to spend time with Quinny in AMERICA!  Of course afterwards – UNCLE ROSS and managed to buy some much needed socks for Quinny.. rocking out the kahki’s and holey socks… LoL!!  TOO FUNNY!

Rushed back to Murray coz mum and Uncle Bowie were going for dinner with Uncle Tom Murray and whānau while I went to Camilla and co. to the concert YOUNG THE GIANTS.. must do… it was awesome!

 

Unlce, Aunty and Mum...

Take 2...

Young the Giant – AWESOME concert.. with pizza afterwards..

Young the Giants - watch this.. COOL group!! <--- click on link to watch one of their AWESOME songs!!

You can see my hand in this one… See if you can choose it.. ‘Where’s Dorty?'

And there I am… AWESOME concert!!

Friday 11^th April, 2014

Picking up Rental Car – later then planned

DAY IN PROVO – missed out on a session at the temple

Gairyn, Joseph, Caydi and Aurora – Kneaders

Provo temple – met up with Mark Peterson and went for lunch

Upper Hutt Stake, New Zealand whānau - Ruri’s, Matthews and Petersons.. 

Corrigan and I… LOVE :D

 Lunch - together at Zupa’s – Mum, me, Mark Peterson, Adam Ruri and his family, Mathew French, Beckstead and baby, and Corrigan.

Beckstead, Matthews & Corrigan - just missing Hawkins… sad face..

Matthew French - teacher from Korea and I...

TRI-Nations of sorts - USA, NZD, AUS - COOL..

Mum and the Ruri whānau - precious BABY... 

“Whānau, look what I picked up in UTAH”… bring them home soon.. LoL!

Mr Ruri Jnr.

New temple in Provo, Utah being built - renovating an old tabernacle.. AMAZING!!

BYU creamery - the closest to NZD ice cream we’ll get..

Shopping – with Camilla, Tori and babies; Gairyn and Donna Anderson (including visit to the creamery – YUM)

BYU Provo - Māori’s… RANDOM COOLNESS

Mr Koa Philips.. gotta love him he’s so cute!!

Final dinner – CHILLI’s with Uncle Bowie, Alyssa, Tori, Camilla, Koa & Calia, Mum and I – Sam came later… man, that blimin pudding they have is AMAZING..

Crooked picture - but YUMMO!!

Packing – the plan was to go to salsa… didn’t happen but at least I got packed and somewhat a good sleep.. LoL!

Saturday 12^th April, 2014

            Last day in UTAH – so sad!  It’s been such a freaken adventure!  Especially loved roaming around Provo and not being confined to the MTC – what a cool experience!  Surreal though, coz while I was in the MTC I didn’t mind not getting to see Provo, let alone AMERICA… but, while I’m here roaming freely around – COOL!!

            We woke early, Uncle Bowie left earlier to go to Tori and Sams – we packed the car and surprisingly not as late as we thought we’d be.  Said we’d leave for b/fast at 8am and left at 9am, which in our whānau is pretty good.  Going over to Tori and Sams for breakfast was awesome and our FIRST home-made dinner of our trip.  We get to the whare and what’s on tv? RUGBY – aw, did make me a little home-sick.. then again if I was at home, I wouldn’t be watching rugby – HAHA!! I guess it was just seeing home rugby really…

 

Moe time after a YUMMU kai…!!! Carter up on the wall.. #love #bless

Uncle Bowie - saying goodbye.. LOVE!

            It was nice spending our last moments together with the whānau – we did want to be on the road by 10am – but if I’m being honest, that was never gonna happen.. LoL!  Spending the last moments with the whānau was very important and beautiful!  Having our kai together, mihi and waiata – then we went as a whānau to visit beautiful Carter J  I’m glad that we got there – I had asked to visit him during the week and our last day and final thing we did in Utah before heading on to the next step of our holiday was a great way to spend some time in reverence with Sam and Tori’s precious baby boy!  I left a NZ style keyring at his side – it had AROHA on one side and an artistic expression of Āotearoa on the other side.  Just left a little of us with him, Uncle Bowie showed us his plot and his children’s plot too.  So, we really have to get back here to visit, coz he’s not going anywhere.

 

Alyssa and Lamar - with baby Carter

Camilla, their Nanny, Tori and Sam… next to baby Carter.. #aroha

What an attractive lot we are… :)

            After our visit with Carter mum and I got on the road to Vegas.  Lucky we bought our GPS coz that was GOLD getting to Vegas and also visiting with the lovely and wonderful Midgley’s while in St George.  What a drive!  So beautiful, in a rugged, dry, desert kind of way!  LoL!

 

Kolob Canyon..

            We were talking about going to the Grand Canyon as we passed a few canyons on the way – so we stopped at Kolob Canyon because we may not have made it to the Grand Canyon.  It was soooo beautiful – it was funny though coz as we got off the road, I managed to be on the wrong side of the road – lucky it wasn’t a busy road, but that could also be the reason why I was on the wrong side of the road because I didn’t have anyone to follow, and no barrier between us and on-coming traffic.  LoL!  So, we were on that side for about 50mts when I saw an on-coming car and someone behind me.. haha!  Went back on the right side of the road and we laughed about it coz neither of us noticed anything wrong!  Also, at one point I went to wind down my window and ended up patting mum on the knee coz everything is swapped around LoL! Interesting though coz even though I saw my door on my left side – I still instinctively went to the right side to wind down my window….

 

This was breathtakingly AMAZING!!! How beautiful.. man I love panoramic shots…!

At Kolob Canyon, Zions Park..

Mum and I with Kolob Canyon behind us..

            After a few hours – we arrived in St. George, and at the Midgley residence, talk about FLASH – what a cool home!  So, beautiful – I mean really, we went inside and they just have a beautiful view of the country-side.  We got time to chat and catch-up on each others lives!  I was saying ‘I don’t know if you’ve been reading our blog’ the reply ‘Oh we have!’ – that was just sooo funny!  (Even now I know they’ll be reading it!).. And Brother Midgley is like ‘If I’m correct you haven’t updated it in a few days’ – this was even funnier – coz the whānau back home flashed through my mind!  The funniest part is that although they’d never met mum before – their meeting this day was preceded by them reading about our blogs – so, it was like they’d already knew mum before meeting her!  PRECIOUS J J It was like being famous!  Haha!  They called her ‘a woman after their own hearts’ with all the adventures mum and I had been on and being able to read about it on our blog – they had helped me understand that I had created the monster of BLOG followers myself – it’s true!

 

With the lovely Midgleys outside their flash home..  BEAUTIFUL!!

3 Senorita’s…. COOL!

            So, after a brief visit they showed us the way to the ST GEORGE temple… what an amazing quickie.. LoL!  Although it was only for a few moments, getting to see the first temple in the west was awesome – man it’s beautiful!  Seeing where families can be sealed together forever in the temple that was built a looong time ago!  AMAZING!

 

It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other… Awesome!

Got to love selfies when no ones around to take a photo for us...

Mum and I - St. George temple behind..

AMAZING!!!

            We got back on the road and we were THAT close to Vegas and ran into road works that went on for about 10kms… Felt like pulling teeth – we were that close and to be stuck in traffic at night – crazy!  So, we finally came over the final hill and there it was VEGAS – lights flashing all over the place!   Then I started getting nervous driving in such a crazy city!  But, we got here safely to the MONTE CARLO – I parked mum up and went to check in… valet parking – FREE (yeah, yeah – as long as we give a tip – LOL! $1 it is…) We got an upgrade for an extra $40 per night – LOVE IT!!  

Panoramic shot… COOLIO!!!

Mum in our COOL as ROOM!!

The View from our room that I’m looking at as I’m writing this… COOL!

We did go from 2 double beds to 1 queen or king bed – that’s ok.. coz it’s just a really cool room with a view of the strip and as I’m writing this I’m looking out the window now and it’s amazing – the lights are calling me to go for a walk – so, I’m hōha now that I fell asleep coz I’m so behind on this BLOG – I hope you all appreciate that I’m doing this instead of discovering night-time STRIP.. LoL!  I’m also going backwards with this blog… Started at Sunday backwards to Thursday – so you can see that I still have a few days left to fill you in on… actually, I may just post up to here on the BLOG and do the other two days another time… OH PROCRASTINATION you temptation that I LOVE!!

Last time I saw this, it was on GOOGLE.. now, I see it with my own brown eyes..!!

AH - VEGAS… amazing!!

This is closer then the real one in NYC.. Good to see you again Aunty!

Of course as soon as we came to VEGAS we checked in and went straight to see Uncle Ross across the road - it’d been far too long - so we had to go see him.. it was pretty awesome!  After shopping for two hours, I got hungry coz I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.. the plan was to go to a relatively nice place for kai and then go to moe.. well, we go for a walk after shopping and hear some live music - only to see karaoke on the main STRIP.. of course we did.. ordered some food and I got 3 songs in ‘Midnight train’, ‘Umbrella’ and ‘You oughta know’… I sang on the STRIP whānau - COOL!!!

Ok, you’ll be able to tell now that I just quickly reviewed Friday and Thursday… DUMB, I know.. if I get to do it properly later I WILL.. PROMISE!!!

Sunday 13^th April, 2014

            Our room is SOOOO cool!  So comfortable and huge it makes our upgrade in NYC look small… LoL!

Time for a picture while waiting for our valet to bring the car up...

            Ok, so to cut a long story short we ‘would’ have been early to church this morning had I ONE, checked facebook first – the cuz Talbot Snow had PM’d me the address for the chapel, but because we were on the road all day and then wondering around the Strip I didn’t see it until we were already going to be late!  Otherwise, we still would’ve been on time to church if TWO, I followed the directions perfectly that Uncle James gave me.  When we arrived to the final turn right we were right in the middle of a residential area – if I had turned left like Uncle advised we would’ve been fine and at church on time… BUT NOOOooo!  Had to blimin panic didn’t I and turned right! 

            Thus proceeded our 20minute drive – following dumb Amanda (our GPS voice) to what was ‘MEANT’ to be a Stake Centre and that was STILL wrong!  LoL!!  We get to where she reckons a Stake Centre is – oh no!  This was REALLY a residential area and NO chapel anywhere!  FINALLY looked at my phone and WALLAH! There is a message from the cuz telling us where to go… (in a nice way of course!)  We got to church that started at 9am by 9.40am – we meet Victoria (Talbot’s wife) in the hallway and then snuck into church for the last few minutes.

            After sacrament, got to finally meet Talbot, his wife and daughter as well as Aunty Martina and Uncle Brian Snow.  We were all heading back to Talbots for lunch, but since there was another ward starting at 11am, Mum and I went to that ward for sacrament – well, as soon as we sit down I see someone walking in, turn to look and who else would it be??? Standford and Hinauri Webster with their 3 children!  Man, it was cool to see them.  I was suppose to meet up with them later tonight – but what happened?  That’s right!  You all know – I fell asleep!  It was probably what I needed but NOT what I wanted! I mean, I’m in VEGAS a city that never sleeps – and where am I? Crashed and burned – though I probably really did need it, haven’t been looking after that part of myself.  At the same time, the cruise is coming up and I could have slept then – that’s actually what I was waiting for the cruise to do.. my body be like ‘Kāore, e moe inaeanei’… In any case – we had a far too short conversation and we were fine with that because we were gonna meet up tonight – FAIL!!

In Talbot and Victoria’s whare… so beautiful and welcoming.. there’s our corn beef boil up whānau..

With Victoria in the shot...

            So, we’re having a kōrero with them when I get a text from Talbot asking us if we’re ok.. LoL!  I could totally understand his concern – I mean, I didn’t get his message the first time, so maybe we were lost again.  LoL!  We said goodbye to the Websters and went a short 5minutes over to the whānau home and had a MEAN kai!  It was flash cornbeef boil-up with roasted kumara, yams, riwai and salad! Our 2^nd home-made kai since being in America…. WHAAT?  Crazy huh…  Their home is LOVELY!  Really ART DECO with a recording studio in their home – LOVE that!  Talbot and I went into the studio where he showed me some of his music that he’s working on and it was pretty awesome aye.. then we ended up having a long kōrero – that was cool.. After a while, mum and Aunty Martina came in and we started singing some waiata with me on the guitar – I still think that when it’s me on the guitar it’s a sad day in my whānau.. LoL!  I mean even Manaia is the BOMB! :D

One of the moko’s, Mum and Aunty Martina

More whānau - one of the girls reminded us of Maioha - FRIENDLY as...

Snow whānau - AROHA’s...

            After lunch, mum and I came back to our NICE room with the intention of doing some mahi – BLOG and writing postcards!  Mum got all of her postcards done and I fell asleep on the bed – which is, like I said mostly what I needed then wanted!  So, now I’m awake doing this BLOG looking out of our window to the strip and I’m gonna go for a walk!

 

This is where I fell asleep instead of writing to you all.. IT IS YUMMY!! 

            Ok, I COULD update tomorrow.  Mum and I are going to a show – not sure which yet.  But, I may get home to do some BLOGGING.. otherwise will get onto it as soon as possible whānau.

Arohanui whānau, friends and bored readers…

Mama Kiwi and Parns

Xoxoxoxoxoxo