yesterday, we drove from auckland to rotorua! we saw glow worms in a cave and hot springs 🙂

lovely companions 🙂

today we took a flight to christchurch and chris and i went on a mega walk and rode a gondola up a mountain. holy cow i was beat. i believe it was the most exercise these legs have had in awhile. 🙂 this is truly a lovely land.

view from the top– i believe there was some lord of the rings filming around these parts! 🙂 woohoo!

gosh i love this shot:

mom, you would have loved walking through the botanical gardens…made me think of you. i hope those rascals are being good to you! xoxox

and give her a hand.. jamie climbed a gigantic tree with chris to get these shots. 🙂

forgive the short descriptions.. it’s late and we’ve got a 5am train to catch to wellington… where chris and i are riding mopeds around town. yes, folks- she’s getting adventurous. 🙂

was a low key day.. we met up with the inlaws and visited the store im teaching at. sunset at snell’s beach from the night before
driving through to get back to auckland


chris and i were over the moooooon to see our favorite restaurant in town! we ate there many times when we were in sydney. oh how we wish they would open some by us! mmmm!

today is pretty full so we will be back with more pics later!
to our kids- enjoy your last weekend before school starts! xoxooxoxox

us in auckland!

then we headed down to visit chris’ friend in snell’s beach. i have to go outside to use the internet. this was much earlier in the day.

right now it’s 1am and i am sitting in the same spot but in the pitch black. yes. very scary. but i wanted the kids to have a post to wake up to! i miss you guys!!!! 🙂 while we’re near the beach, daddy went snorkling. mom watched and read. she’s so adventurous! 🙂

mom made you a message:


and she also gets a huge award for going in creepy scary barn to pose for daddy. 🙂

the trip has been lovely so far…even if mommy forgot her luggage of clothes at home. but she didn’t forget her supplies for class! priorities! haha! good thing grammies and grampies are delivering them tomorrow!
ok. that’s it. more tomorrow. i feel the mosquitos biting. big hugs and kisses!

i am so right here right now. we leave this afternoon.

the theme for the garden is travel so i got these 2 done too. another digital because i was short on time and 1 paper.

and i was a guest for scrap for a cure.

such a great kit and awesome idea– they give a portion of their sales to a selected charity. please check it out 🙂 i also made this book for the kids and added more to it since i took the pics.

chris and i will be trying to blog daily for the kids.. i’m excited to meet my students in NZ.. and as much as i will enjoy kidless meals and time with my hubby— i know little elsie’s world is about to be turned upside down. i hope that mama’s trips to the park and ice cream shop and cupcake shop will keep her happy!!

we’re getting ready to head off on a big adventure, and so is "little tudor," who will be heading into the california wilderness for six months with a dozen or so other students from college.  when we return, he’ll be "into the wild," we’ll miss you tuds!  have a great time, and for all of you out there, have a great 2008.  we’ll be blogging from the road!

p.s. this is one of a series of fun pics from a session we did with tuds and a friend yesterday, to see more visit {j a c } blog.

i wish i was on the other side of her to get her full expression but this is pretty good! 🙂 she was so excited to get new pink cowboy boots from cousin jaeden!!!! 🙂 i hardly took any pics on christmas.. which actually felt good! 🙂

today we are off to target to spend gift cards and see what’s left of the christmas clearance. our target gets cleared out pretty quick, which is actually a good thing.. i don’t need anymore stuff. 🙂

after many attempts, this is the photo we went with for our card. and this is the poem chris wrote for the inside.

and the back

hope you all have a wonderful christmas!!!

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!

she who insisted wearing her tinkerbell costume over her outfit and of course the pink rainboots to target this morning. she who kicks off the boots and runs down the aisles barefoot. she who sits in the cart and while mom is inspecting toys, she keeps adding things to the cart- like a barbie laptop, a jacket for a dog, stuffed animals and cookie mix. a woman even said to me, shopping must be fun for you. hmph- really, she’s actually not so bad. just funny…uh, funny when i am in a good mood, that is. 🙂

i’ve gotten emails about the wall.. so here’s one of the big painted wall. lots of colors all in one wall! ha!

and some people have emailed about my 28 lens– these are taken with it.. and you can see a little distortion on els’ face with the orange wall. but further away, less distortion.

we have our first little christmas celebration with my SIL tonight… then one on saturday with my family… the next week is going to FLY by!

and we have been running around like crazy. here’s one from this morning.. before we hit the mall for 2.5 hours! the only way she makes it through the mall these days is if i get one of those darn red car strollers. which i am sure makes my trip twice as long.. trying to maneuver that thing through the crowds gives me a workout!

the other night my lovely inlaws hosted a christmas caroling party.

we had good food, were surrounded by friends, sang carols to the neighbors and decorated another gingerbread house. my inlaws are so adorably cute. 🙂

for midmonth, at the garden there were sooo many cute packages and wrapping ideas that i am so excited to go through my stash and wrap presents! here are a few i did for the garden:

i’ll take pics and post! 🙂 and a layout that didn’t photograph well.

that’s all i got for now. tonight i am watching one of my all time favorite movies.

we were sooo addicted to the soundtrack when it came out.. all of our kids sing along to it.. even els hums it. 🙂 and the other week, i watched this about 5 nights in a row. i love this movie on so many levels.  

i think i might watch it again tomorrow. good thing i have all these favorites since my other shows aren’t going to be on for awhile. sigh.anyways.
how’s that for a totally completely random post?

i added a few links to the right to some classes i will be teaching next year. within a few weeks, chris and i leave for NZ-sans kids. we’ve left the big kids for a few weeks before.. and els overnight only once. i’ll be gone for 10 days. i’ve been telling her about my plane trip and how mama (my mom) will take her to the park and get ice cream and sleep in my bed. she looks at me with those big brown eyes and shakes her head no. as much as i am going to miss her, it’s always nice for chris and i to get away.
in may, we’ll be heading to ITALY!!! 

we’ve never been before and are soooo excited. one of the highlights of the trip will be that one of my BFF’s shannon  will be going too! how fun!

so anyways, in 2008, i am also planning on going to Portland to visit my sweet SIL and possibly my cousin in the Bay area (I got a store referral from someone before.. if you read this can you resend that info?). If anyone has a local store that would be interested in having me come and teach… get in touch with me! With jac’s weekends filling up.. I want to make sure I have time to do the other thing i LOOOOVE doing… scrapbooking. 🙂 be in touch. i’d love to work it out!