Christchurch, NZ.

My heart goes out to the residents of Christchurch, NZ today. They just had a 6.3 earthquake hit the center of their city. This is the second huge earthquake they've had in five months.  Christchurch is a beautiful city with a lot of heritage and hard working people. Please keep them in your prayers as they begin to rebuild for the second time.

I was in Christchurch this time last year.

Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Australia was awesome. I'm too lazy to write about it, but it was still awesome.

Check Facebook for some pics.

I'm home. In AMERICA.

In Texas, to be more specific.

Provo in t-5 days!

Northland.

April 1-5, 2010

We spent about 4 days up in Northland! I am honestly so tired of typing up day by day activities, so here is a photomentary for yous:

MACK ATTACK: A speedboat ride to "The Hole in the Rock," "Cathedral Cave," and past the EOS, a huge, beautiful yacht with boats and jet skis hanging off it.

Cape Reinga: The very tip top of New Zealand where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet. There is an awesome light house and sign there, and it was a good little walk.

Sand dune boogie boarding: Me and Ash were definitely matching (bungee pride). We drove to some sand dunes and had a blast! I definitely ate it a few times. I wanted to upload videos but they were taking FOREVER so I'll have to show yous later (sorry for the bad grammar, I'm a kiwi now).

Drive down 90 Mile Beach: Self explanatory.

PARASAILING: Pure awesomeness. Me and Jayna went flying together. The view was fantastic, gotta love those 144 islands. Oh, and Sam did my hair in a really rad french braid.

Dolphin watching: Was supposed to be dolphin swimming, but there were too many baby dolphins to allow it! But we saw about 60 dolphins in their natural, wild habitat. They were so fun and such show-offs!! I wanted to bring one home.

HAPPY EASTER! Went to church, had a picnic, and chilled in the hotel. Walked the beach at night.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds: Hit up some history sites. The Treaty of Waitangi was when the Maori and the white man made ammends to share the land of Aotearoa. It is where NZ started! We got to see the biggest waka (war canoe) on this earth, and I went to my last marae. I wasn't quite ready to be done with those.

Kerikeri: Stopped by Haruru falls, bought things at a wood shop, browsed the chocolate factory and a ceramic store. Drove home to Auckland.

What an amazing trip! It was a good last little holiday. Now I just have a few Auckland days before I leave my beautiful 2nd country. Maybe I will miss my flight this Friday...

Just can't get enough.

My students are still in school, so I took the opportunity during my day off (of vacations) to run back to my beloved Pomaria and surprise my kiddos. I snuck into the back of the classroom and looked around until I heard, "HI MISS STUZ!" and half the class swarmed me! It was enough to make me tear up instantly!

"I missed you!" "Are you back forever?" "Miss Stutz, I couldn't sleep the night you left." "I thought you were gone!" "Did you come all the way back from Texas?" "I missed you Miss. So much." My precious Room 4.

I told them all about Rotorua and apologized to Miss Snow for creating mass chaos in the classroom. I went to lunch with all of them and they were so excited to take more pictures! I had taught them all how to use my Nikon and they couldn't wait for another turn!

After lunch I go to read them one last book, promised I would skype with them, and snuck right back out that back door. My heart was full of love and attachment, and aching from goodbyes and distance. Oh, how I've fallen in love. I won't forget what I've learned from these sweet souls. I sure wish this place was closer to Texas.

Waitomo Caves.

This morning we slept in, packed up, and got back in our favorite vans. We drove to Waitomo and went Black Water Rafting!

We got into awesome, flattering wetsuits (not) and picked out a tubes. There was a special process to making sure your tube fit your rear, and apparently it involved taking this picture.

We practiced jumping into the river with our tubes. We basically had to do it backwards and blindly because we would be doing it inside a pitch black cave soon enough! It was so scary the first time but I learned to just do it without thinking.

We finally crawled into the caves, literally, and spend a lot of time finding our footing because the water was low. We crawled and shimmied through tiny crevices and gasp as we came out into huge spaces. Every once in a while we would turn out our lights and float with only the glow worms on the ceiling to guide us. The water was freezing cold but the experience was worth it. We had to jump backwards off a waterfall into the black water, hang on to each other as we were pushed by the current, and step carefully in water with eels. We were taught all about the larvae glowworms and their cycles. Heavenly Father has created so many amazing, intriguing things for us to discover and experience.

Our guide asked us to write comments and draw pictures for him in his notebook, and of course we had to make ours better than the others. So here you have it:

We spent the rest of the day driving home and finally got back to the Fitz around 9:30. It was so nice to come home and see this family of mine. I love them so much!

Happy Birthday to my little brother Braden! I can't believe he is 13! He has brought so much laughter and so many smiles to my family. He is such a blessing. I can't wait to tae-kwon-do him when I get home.

Zorbing, Shopping, and Stank.

ZORBING! is awesome. Basically, you get inside an enormous, inflated hamster ball and roll down a hill. You can choose to strap yourself in and go down dry, or fly around inside with some H2O. Either way, it is kind of ridiculous. And amazing.

Mekelle, Leah, and I went together in a ball with water in it. It was so much fun! Rolling down a hill, trying to sit up but hurting ourselves and cracking up! It was most definitely worth it.

Afterwards, we went to the shops and got a few more souvenirs for the fambam.

Yes, we are plugging our noses. Rotorua smells awful. Rotorua has a nickname Sulphur City, because of the hydrogen sulphide emissions, which gives the city a “rotten eggs” smell. Good old rotten-rua.

Jayna, me, and Mekelle in the waka of love.