The beautiful Redwoods!!

These are the lovely people I went to Rotorua with! Tristan, Stephen, Keri, Pen and Me! :) 

The Redwoods were GORGEOUS!! I don't know if I have said this before but New Zealand is beautiful! Here are some pictures and video of the amazingly clear, blue and still water! It was so peaceful I loved it. Again...photos don't do justice. :) 

BEAUTIFUL!!!! :) 

Tamaki Village!!

This was a Maori village that we went to! I seriously LOVE the Moari culture. This was on of the coolest things I have ever been too. Here is how they welcomed us to their village. The "chiefs" had to accept their peace offering in order for us to enter the village. 

We got to learn a bunch of different moari games and saw how they weaved. Then they put on a show for all of us while they prepared out hungi which is the food they eat. It is a meal cooked underground. SOOO GOOD!! Best food! I can't even do justice what this experience was like, but it was a great way to end the trip!

Keri and I learning Poi

Zorbing!

So I got really lazy towards the end of  being in New Zealand and have had a few technical difficulties but I wanted to highlight some things even though I am home now! One thing we did was did a day roadie to Rotorua. These next few posts will be about that trip :)

Zorbing!! haha Funniest thing I have ever done! Pretty much just got thrown into this giant ball with water in it then got pushed down the hill. Here is the video!

The City of Auckland!

This was my first crosswalk experience. haha
And bythe way that is the theater
 that I am going to go
see Mary Poppins at!!! :) 

Keri and I have had a few adventures in the city. First off I would just like to tell you about the crosswalks here. When the little light of the man walking comes on you usually cross one way then wait to cross the other way right? Nope! Not here. People just take over the streets. I freaked out when it first happened I was pretty much thinking people were going to kill themselves! But we all survived. Our last city adventure Keri and I were driving down the street and then all of the sudden hear this music. We discovered that there was a fashion show going on in the middle of the streets and down the crosswalks with a red carpet and everything! It was a very exciting moment. Here are some videos of Keri and I struttin' our stuff and completely soakin up the moment. YOLO ;)

Then afterwards we had a lovely lunch at this incredible cafe that had the best name in the world. I didn't know I was such a big deal here until now....;) Not only is the name great but check out my french toast. haha

B-B-Bird, Bird, Bird...Bird is the Word!

Brookie and I decided to learn birds one day! She is just adorable in more ways than one. We first watched some videos of Birds making their nests and little birds hatching on YouTube. We learned what birds use to put in their nests and then decided to make our own bird's nest. We went on little bush walk and collected a bunch of rocks, sticks, leaves and twigs. During the walk Brookie and I had a deep deep discussion about trolls and fairies. It had just rained and so the rain on the leaves were just sparkling. I told her anytime she saw a sparkle in the bushes it was a fairy smiling.:)  Her imagination just went wild. It was quite the adventure. After we gathered our supplies she colored some very round rocks we found then assembled all of our findings together with string. Then...VOILA! We created our own little bird's nest and placed it in a tree. Brookie was SO proud of it and we learned a lot along the way as well. :)

New Zealand is Beautiful!

So I haven't said much about actual New Zealand! It is absolutely beautiful here and so green!! A lot different from the Rocky Mountain Desert back home. The birds are amazing...they are so tropical! I found these lovely love birds sitting outside my window yesterday....

Pretty cool aye? 

I have been really into running lately and have absolutely loved the scenery as I am shuffling along the roads of New Zealand. It was the first day of spring September 1st and Keri and I went and celebrated and ran a good fat 6.5 mile run at Cornwall park in Auckland. Here are some pictures...It was the ultimate New Zealand park with all of the Green rolling hills and the sheep and baby lambs walking along side of you. So adorable. :) 

Beautiful Daffodil Pathway!

Happy Spring :) 

 Please ignore the red-faced, hardly smiling, sweaty Kenzie ;) Look at those hills!

I'm loving it here! Just learning so much about myself and pretty much just everything!! :) Thanks everyone who has been keeping in touch and updating me on your lives. It means a lot! 

Detective Clueless Needs Your Help!!

This has been one of my favorite things we have done with the kids yet! They got so into it and it was a blast.    We read a book called The Mysterious Case of the Missing Honey. In the middle of the book I placed this letter inside and it fell out as I turned the page.

We got in our detective gear and found the three clues to solve this mysterious case of the missing honey! 

Clue #1: 

A big stuffed Bear...

Clue #2:

...A bed...

Clue #3

...Honey!

We went back with all of our clues and Anika came up with the solution that maybe the Bear was eating his own honey in his sleep. We talked about all the possibilities and then finished the book. These smart little cookies were right! ;) So much fun!

Cute little Detectives :) 

This Day Could be Special! :)

 I've developed a new motto in life: this day could be special! Here is a little excerpt from the talk it came from by President Monson that I thought I'd share cuz I loved it so much. :) the talk is called "In Search of Treasure". 

"I recently read the account of a man who, just after the passing of his wife, opened her dresser drawer and found there an item of clothing she had purchased when they visited the eastern part of the United States nine years earlier. She had not worn it but was saving it for a special occasion. Now, of course, that occasion would never come.

In relating the experience to a friend, the husband said, “Don’t save something only for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion.”

That friend later said those words changed her life. They helped her to cease putting off the things most important to her. Said she: “Now I spend more time with my family. I use crystal glasses every day. I’ll wear new clothes to go to the supermarket if I feel like it. The words ‘someday’ and ‘one day’ are fading from my vocabulary. Now I take the time to call my relatives and closest friends. I’ve called old friends to make peace over past quarrels. I tell my family members how much I love them. I try not to delay or postpone anything that could bring laughter and joy into our lives. And each morning, I say to myself that this could be a special day. Each day, each hour, each minute, is special.”

You can't help but have a good day when you think about it because after all...it's a special occasion! :) 

My First Date in New Zealand!

Yep you heard right everyone! I had my first date in New Zealand. It was so so good. I think there will definitely be a second maybe even a 100 more. It was so so sweet and I really didn't want it to end. *sigh* Here is a picture...
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Homemade Date scones are the best things ever! Yes...I mean the fruit. ;)

Pool Jump!

Just in case I haven't mentioned this to anyone but....IT IS SO COLD! I went to over 100 degree weather in Hurricane to really cold degrees Celsius here. Today was actually a decent day in weather. I wouldn't say it was warm but a good enough day that we went on an amazing run on Milford beach to Takapuna Beach. So wonderful!! After our run we are sitting in the kitchen and i look outside and say "Keri, I just had this huge urge to jump in that swimming pool." "Let's do it!" she says. So we just jumped right in with our running clothes and it was pretty dang cold you could say. Very memorable but definitely a once in a lifetime thing. Here is the video! And don't be fooled by the sunshiney blue skies! haha so fun. I love this girl!

Waterbuddies!

Water buddies! Every kids favorite drink here in good ol' NZ. These guys are one of the sponsors for the Polkadot National tour and so in return they will be doing some advertising for the Water buddies during the tour and Pamela, with her amazing sewing skills, made a costume of one of the water buddies' characters, Carter. They went to present the costume to the business and I was the lucky one who got to dress up as Carter. haha The character Carter was based off of the business owners' son and he was there and hid underneath the chair when he saw me. His Dad said that was his way of saying he loved it. haha I believe him. So here is my lovely Carter Costume experience...you never know what the day brings here at the Reid household.

Kiwi Wanna Be...

Enjoy this gem that Keri and I made. We definitely are Kiwi Wanna Be's while here in New Zealand...we are pretty gangsta you could say!

Toddler Olympics

Carly does this thing about every week or so where she gets a bunch of moms and their kids for a little get together. In honor of the Olympics they had a toddler Olympics. It was so cute. I think it would be fun to do something like this back home for parents and their kids and just do free fun and cheap activities at the church eh? We'll see! Until then...Enjoy the pictures

Swimming race!

Carly showing the kids how to do the hurdle race!

the kids jumping over the "hurdles" 

Receiving their medals!

Brookie!!

Yes! he was so happy to get a medal!

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Lost in New Zealand..

So I realize that my last post I talked about being lost but I don't technically count that as my fault. Well this time...it was definitely my fault. I decided to take Brookie, Charlotte and Ashton to the park by Carly's house while Keri and Carly got some work done for the tour. Carly explained to me how to get to the park and then said, "Just follow Ashton. He goes there heaps of times and knows where it is." So we are walking down the road and then Ashton runs up and pushes the button to cross the street. I had a conflicting moment because I was almost sure Carly didn't mention crossing the street but then she also said Ashton knows where he is going. We end up crossing the street with two toddlers on their little plastic bikes and the stroller. We walk down a gigantic hill and then make a turn...because Ashton made a turn. It led to a dead end. Anyways, we end up on this trail that looked promising. We are half way down the trail and Brookie turns to me and says..."Kenzay (accent) I think we are in the jungle. And there are lots of tigers in here." Which as you can see it did look like the jungle. She was so adorable with her little bike trying to figure out where we were going.

Yay! We found the park!

I ask Ashton one more time..."Ashton is this the right way?" "YEP!" says Ashton. Anyways, we turn around and finally find the park. Once we arrive we are there for about 20 mins and Ashton wets himself so we started the trek back home. The kids are exhausted by now and so I was super talented and carried the two plastic bikes and pushed the stroller. Brookie tried to carry Ashton because he was tired but that didn't work out so well. Once the adventure was over we were gone for a total of 2 hours and was at the park for twenty minutes of both of those hours. So the moral of the story is no matter what Carly says don't take directions from a 3 year old no matter how cute and confident he seems or you might end up in the jungle. :)

Charlotte on the slide! Such a good baby :) 

Earlier that day though Ashton and I were playing cars and a song came on and did some interpretive dancing for Ashton and he was just frozen and stared at me the whole time. When I was done he laughed and said "Again!". Yes, I am THAT good at interpretive dancing. So both of us really enjoyed listening to the Dinosaur train song and danced to it. I obviously got a lot more into it then he did. Adventurous day you could say!

Temple Day!

Man sometimes you take for granted that the temple is only 20mins away from where you are. It is at least a two hour drive to the temple here located in Hamilton, New Zealand. A bunch of girls and I decided to make a day's trip out of it. It was quite eventful you could say. These girls are so much fun and we all get along great. We are already making plans for them to come experience Hurricane,UT in the future.Brittany was our driver and although we were safe we spent a lot of the day making U-turns or missing our exits or even ending up in the same place twice. haha It made the trip very memorable and I know deep down she was just being a sweetheart and trying to show me more of New Zealand.;) Elise and I made sure and documented everything and here is one of our silly videos that we filmed.

we finally made it to Pocono (spelling?) and got some delicious ice cream!

The temple was beautiful though. It was very very small as well. I love that the church is the same wherever you go. We all are feeling the same spirit and believe and teach the same things.

One thing that I have felt while being here is just a huge sense of gratitude for my own life and the way I was raised. In Utah we don't realize how unique our situation is having members all around us. Of course there are still opportunities for missionary work but we have a strong support system in the church and a long history. I had an interview with the Bishop here last week to get a temple recommend and it was so good. He asked about my Dad being Bishop and the challenges and blessings it brings. (he was just put in about 6months ago). Then we started talking about my Grandpa randomly and how he was stake president. The Bishop was just amazed at the history of leadership in the church my family had. He asked if the membership began with my grandpa and we talked a little bit about my ancestors.When I told him I had ancestors that were pioneers his jaw just dropped and he said "Do you know how blessed you are?" Now what I am telling you is a pretty normal thing in Utah and with the people I know. The membership goes back to many many years ago. People here are either 1st or 2nd generation members of the church. It has just been a good experience to take a step back and realize the blessings I have that I may have been taking for granted. All in all...a good weekend. :)

So when New Zealand doesn't have a word for something they call it a  Doofer. So here are a bunch of doofs with their doofer. (it holds your hamburger...quite genius if you ask me)