New Zealand to Utah

No I didn't go to New Zealand, but my niece Raven and her friend Erana came from New Zealand to America on Holiday. I had never met Raven before and she is actually the first of her family that I have met. Her mother is Clark's oldest sister Keaka...and I still can't wait to meet her. I was so excited for them to come, but little did I know how much fun I would have with them and how closely I would bond with them. They are truly amazing women and I'm starting to think I'd like to raise my family in New Zealand because they sure know how to do something right.

I don't want to forget a second of our time together, so this might get a little lengthy. They first arrived in California, but eventually made it up to Utah. They got here on Friday April 1st, and I kept telling Clark that we had to see them right away. I had cleaned the house and got all ready because I was so excited. We didn't get to see them immediately, but eventually we went up to Clark's brother Marcus' house to see them. They were with Clark's mom and sister Mattie. Raven opened the door looking beautiful as ever. Then they introduced me to Erana...it's a Maori name and you roll the R so after they told me her name I was like "what?" But I soon got it. I would go to bed at night saying her name because I wanted to make sure that I was saying it right...I didn't want to be one of those white Americans who can't say cool Maori names.

Raven gave Clark and I a package full of New Zealand Lollies and loot. I still love to look at the stuff and we now have cool Kiwi magnets on our fridge that Macy loves to point and squeal at. All of their candy is so yummy and it's funny how they have different stuff there than we do. I always just pictured it like Hawaii, but I've come to learn that it is quite different.

The girls stayed with Marcus and Tami for the weekend. On Saturday night we went up to have kind of a girls night while Marcus and Clark went to priesthood session. I painted Tami, Mattie, and Ravens nails in French manicure while we watched Night and Day. It was quite fun to hear the girls laughing all throughout the movie.

The next morning the girls got up bright and early to go to Conference at the conference center in Salt Lake. Because they are from another country, they just had to show their passports to get in. Raven had a little bit of a hard time because she is an American citizen, but when she told them her stake and stake president in New Zealand, they let her in. I'm so happy the girls got to experience Conference in person. It is such a spiritual experience like none other to be in the same room as the prophet and apostles.

That Sunday night we had a family meeting with Clark's family. There was an abundance of food as usual. After hearing a plethora of stories about Clark's grandparents and family we decided to hit the road. This night the girls were coming home with us. Mattie and Sina also came just for a couple hours. We talked a bunch about boys, conference, and spiritual experiences. We got to bed really late, but that was just the beginning of some very late nights.

My pictures are backwards of the things that we did together, so I will just go backwards. Raven said that she would like to go ice skating, so I took them to Seven Peaks Ice Arena in Provo. The girls were really good and didn't fall once. Erana's ankles started hurting, so she stopped after a little while and helped me watch Macy (she was always doing this and I dont know what I am going to do with out her now...she will be the greatest mom). Raven went around and around getting a good work out. After ice skating, we went a picked up Clark for a break from school and went to also pick up Rebecca Tuala. I took the girls to the Provo temple to do baptisms for the dead. Macy and I got a much needed nap. After the temple, we went to Pleasant Grove and played volleyball with a cousin Michael. I just watched as the girls showed off their mad athletic skills...I was highly impressed. Macy just kept saying ball over and over again. After volleyball they threw around the rugby ball. This was my first experience with a rugby ball and man did those girls show me how it is done. They know their rugby.



On another day, I took the girls up to Park City. The Alpine Slide wasnt open yet, but the Alpine Coaster was. I loved the Alpine Coaster when I went on so I kinda encouraged the girls to go on...they needed little convincing and went. They had a blast, but they really have a blast doing anything. Then we went to the olympic park and walked around. After the olympic park we went to the outlets for a short time. I was impressed by the girls abilities to shop...they shop til they drop. After shopping, I took them to the famous Cafe Rio...yum and yum.

On the way back from Park City, we stopped by temple square. We put a few quarters in a meter and started walking. We went in the Joseph Smith Building and saw that a showing of the Joseph Smith movie was just about to start so we ran on in. Macy does not like to sit still, so most of the movie I was chasing her around the theater. Even with a moving baby, I still managed to cry. On the way out, Raven reminded me that our meter had run out. I had totally forgotten...so I booked it to the car. Luckily there was no ticket...we must have been blessed because we were doing a good thing.





I took the girls to BYU. We walked around looking at buildings and shopping in the bookstore. We got ice cream from the cougareat and a taco bell burrito. It got really fun though when we met up with Vernon Heperi. Marcus knew that he had known Raven's dad Jamie when they were growing up, so he told us to meet up with him. Then Erana told me that her mom had dated him. What a small world. Well we met up with him around noon and he took us to the skyroom to eat. It is not cheap and the food was wonderful...we were stuffed. Come to find out, Vernon knew a bunch of Erana's uncles and had roomed with Raven's uncle at the Church college of New Zealand. He told us all sorts of stories. Then he took us around some of Provo to get a good look of the whole valley and to see the football stadium. The doors were open to the stadium, so we got to go in and take pictures. Then he took and bought the girls BYU hats and gave them shirts and shirts for their parents and a shirt for Clark and myself. Man did we get lucky meeting up with him.



We also saw the latest Narnia movie at the dollar theater. At nights we would rent a movie to relax and watch. I will always think of Raven and Erana when I watch "You Again." It was such a hysterical movie, with out anything bad in it.
I will never forget all our drives together. First, the girls knew more American songs that I did, and Erana knew pretty much every word to every song. Second, Erana would sit in the back with Macy and they would dance their little hearts out. Erana taught Macy how to use her hands when she is dancing and now Macy always uses her hands.
I constantly had a blast with these girls. I don't know how anyone could not like them.
On Thursday I took the girls to Tami's school because she wanted them to help her with a science lesson. It was so hard for me, but I let them go. The next day, they were gonna be at Marcus and Tami's with no place to go, so I bugged Clark all day to go up their with me so that they wouldn't have to be alone and bored. He finally agreed and we went. I was soooo happy to see the girls again. I took them to Betos where we got nachos (we didn't wait and we ate them there even though we were supposed to bring them back) and to Walmart. The girls LOVED Walmart. I was so impressed by their lack of superficiality. They aren't all about couture and name brands...as long as something was cute or sporty...they liked it. I learned a great lesson from them (well I learned a lot, but that was one of them). Finally, after staying longer than I told Clark, we headed home. I was supposed to see them again while in Utah, but Julie's friend Marissa's dad went into the hospital, so we started for California early.

I wanted so badly to see the girls again, and I was trying to find a way to get them into Disneyland for free. I could not imagine if I didn't get to see them longer...they became two of my very best friends and they always will be!