Update

Hello...

I don't know that anyone even checks in on my blog anymore, but here goes!:

I've been home in the States since the 1st of December! Huzzah! It's been great being home with friends and family again! I do, however miss my lovely New Zealand. :( And not JUST because the weather here in Utah is in the teens on average. :( Let's just say the greenest Utah gets is in the outfield of a softball/baseball field. Nothing like the Natural beauty that surrounded me constantly while living abroad!

The good news now is I'm finally registered for classes! Technically I got it taken care of a while ago, but now I've got everything all worked out and ready to go! I'm actually really excited for this new semester. I've got some excellent classes ahead of me, and I'm in 2 classes that I need to finish off my general ed stuff. (Not that I'm excited for the classes themselves, but to finally be rid of them after May!) Haha. But I AM looking forward to my fun, stress-reliever class of...BOWLING! I know, right? It's gonna be great! I've been working my tail off to get college credits for the last HOW many years, and I'm finally letting myself have a bit of fun! I'm also in a 3D art class, and a Drawing II class! I'm stoked for them both! I'm not the most accomplished artist, by any means, but I love learning and broadening my skills! Cross your fingers I can do better than stick figures after May! :)

Along with being back home in good 'ol Utah, I've been working quite a bit! About 4 or 5 days after I returned home, I started my job at the movie theaters here in town. Before I left for New Zealand, I was building sets for new movie Premiers. It was sooo fun! I got to use my handy-woman skills and make things fun! Well my job now is finally being on the actual movie theater staff. I work behind the counter with concessions, take tickets, and work in the box office. :) I know I know...sounds boring, but it's really not! I enjoy interacting with customers and making things fun for other people around me! Besides that, I work with 4 of my roommates and loads of other fun people.

Christmas was pretty good this year. :) Juli, Caitlin, Jason, the kids, and I all went out to Parowan on Christmas Eve and spent the evening there with Mom, Craig, and the girls. It was nice. Not to mention my mother is an AMAZING cook! Oh, how I've missed her food!!! We stuffed ourselves with homemade rolls, stuffed pork, wild apricot/cranberry rice, and some other good eats! Then we opened some presents from each other. :) It was definitely a good time! Juli and I ended up just sleeping at our house in town, then driving out to Caitlin's early Christmas morning after opening our presents from each other. Juli and Amy got me an AWESOME airsoft gun!!!! I know...it sounds nerdy, but it's the BOMB! It's a CO2 Gun, so it goes so fast and it's so powerful! Awesome! And then Juli gave me an AMAZING camera tripod! I've needed a good one soooo badly, and my best friend knew exactly what i needed! Huzzah! I'm stoked to use it! I'm banking on getting some good shots this summer and selling them at the Shakespearean Park sales thingy in June and July for some extra cash! If you're interested, talk to me! I've got some AMAZING shots from New Zealand that I want to print!

Okay, back to Christmas...We drove down to St. George to spend Christmas Day with my Dad, Cheryl, and the kids. We spent the day hanging around, having fun, watching some TV, and an early dinner. Man, those Jamaicans sure know how to cook meat! We had some lamb, goat, chicken, pork, and lots of side dishes! MmmmMM! I love it! Caitlin and Jason had to leave to California straight from there, so Juli and I caught a ride home at 5 ish from my Dad. Unfortunately, at the end of the night we didn't realize Juli had accidentally dropped her keys in Katy's van...so now she's stuck without a car until they return home tomorrow. :( Boo!

ANywho...today is New Year's Eve, and I don't work! Neither does Juli! We spent most of yesterday babysitting her niece and nephews while her sister Toni spent time with her husband who was having surgery. They stayed the night with us at our house, and man was it tiring!! Whew! And now that it's 2PM, we decided maybe we should get ready for the day! Haha! We are planning to hang out at the theater tonight with some friends. We deemed the party "Rock 'N Eve 2008" hahaha. AKA...we play rockband and singstar allllll night long on the big giant theater screens! It's gonna be great! We're dressing up as Rock Stars, so it'll make things even MORE interesting!

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Brenna

NEW NEPHEW!!!!

Hellllloooooo!!!!

Well, it's late...I'm bushed...and I want the pictures to look good. So I haven't posted any pictures of the new nephew this time, but I will soon! I have loaded them onto my facebook if you're just too impatient to wait, but I'll get the official story posted soon!

Kylie started having contractions early this morning at about 3 AM. Then she monitored them for the next several hours. By about 9:30 we were heading from the house to the hospital, with the contractions getting more and more intense as we drove down the motorway. By the time we arrived at the hospital, her contractions were already coming quickly. So her total time for the birth from the actual labour contractions to the birth was 2 and a half hours. 

She had Hazen Fuller Seth Morgan at 12:52 PM on the 3rd of November, 2008! He was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.5 inches long!

As I said...I'll post pictures soon, or you can look at them at this site if you just can't wait! ( http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60563&l=f8d20&id=596861471 ) :) Cheers, and love you all! Oh, I have 4 weeks left, P.S.!!!! :)

Sorry for the Delay...

After much anticipation...here's the next chapter to my book of life:

Well, sooooo much has happened in the last 4 weeks, but at the same time...nothing has really happened! Haha. I guess you could say the majority of our activities boil down to cleaning the house, finishing the bedroom, and getting everything ready for the baby! Although most of us that have seen Kylie would have thought she'd have popped by now, she's still roaming around with the belly of hers. And contrary to our bets that we placed for an early delivery....she still hasn't had Hazen! (And to be honest...he'll probably come right on schedule or even a day or so late!!!) This isn't the greatest news for those of us that only have a limited amount of time to play with him before being 8,000 miles away...ahem...ME! :( But, I guess I DO get to see him in person compared to looking at him via photos. :) That's always a great advantage. I guess I'll have to have patience.

Along with the dreaded cleaning and preparing for the baby, we got to have a bit of fun in between! For all of those that didn't think Christmas happened twice a year...try having a baby! Haha. A few weeks ago, after wearing our patience down to nonexistence, the baby stuff from the Aunties arrived! Hooooorrrraaaayyyy!!!! We we're ALL soooo excited! We loaded up the car and headed home to unwrap all of the gifts! Because of the excessive amounts of pictures, I resorted to loading the "Baby Gift" pictures into the slideshow below. :) Most of these are 'real' first reactions, including Kylie's excitement. She was so happy to have baby clothes! We also set up the "Jungle" baby equipment line that Rusty purchased overseas. All of it matches, and we now feel like the jungle has taken over the rest of the house scenery! Haha. So cute! Thanks Aunties and Katy for sending such cute stuff!!

I have a couple friends here that I frequently hang out with. Including the awesome McKay Turner. He's in our ward and is definitely fun to hang out with. The pictures here are from the NZ Breakers game we went to! It's the only professional Basketball team here in NZ and they play in the Australian BBall League. The game was pretty fun, even though it's COMPLETELY different from NBA style of play! Haha. The court is also shaped a little differently, if you look closely at the key. :) The other two in the picture are Deeana, McKay's sister, and her boyfriend Matt. :) We had a great time laughing and yelling. Not to mention playing with those annoying noise makers that you bang together???...let's just say they're EXTRA fun to play with when you're hyper! Hahaha.

McKay and I have taken to bowling against each other a few times, and let's just say he REALLY hates losing to me. On that note...I passed my highest bowling score last time we went!!!! Any guesses???...179!!! Hooray! I wont tell you what I scored after that, because I was ashamed. But the 3rd game I ended the night with a 130. Not bad. Apart from bowling, McKay and I went to the Golf Driving Range next to the Airport...it's a 24 hour one. Haha. In this instance, he is much better than I am. I recieved a new nickname, for it's the only golf skill I seem to possess: Chip. Haha. McKay, on the other hand can't use the irons as well, but he's definitely got the skill of Driving. :) It was fun! Afterwards, we went and drove around downtown Auckland City. I would have taken a picture of the Sky Tower at night, all lit up, but I didn't take my camera with me! :( We went on top of One Tree Hill and looked at all of Auckland and the surrounding areas. It's beautiful at night with all of the lights!

On Saturday, we made my first trip down to Hamilton! Yay! It was Stake Temple day, so the three of us drove down. Rusty went through a session, while Kylie decided she could only stand to sit through Initiatories. I spent the hour or 2 taking pictures of the temple and roaming through the visitor center. The Christus is so beautiful! And the murals are amazing as always! I went into a little theater to watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas when Kylie had just finished. We sat together and watched the old movie together while we waited for Rusty to finish! I love being at the temple...it always makes you feel so good! Awesome! The weather was interesting though. Typical NZ weather. When we first got there, it was really really rainy and dark. Then while I was in the Visitor's Centre it POURED, then after we were all done, it was incredibly sunny! I wanted to take a picture of Church College, as well as Mom's old house that they lived in when Grandma and Grandpa taught there, but I didn't get the chance. Church College is being all torn down within the next several months!!! It's a legacy! :( The picture of the lake is a sail race that was going on when we drove around Lake Rotoroa, just outside of Hamilton!

After Church Sunday, we drove down to Waihi Beach to spend some time at the beachouse. It was fairly good weather that night. We were enjoying being there just the 3 of us, until the cousins showed up. :( Kimberly tends to be ADHD and has an EXTREMELY high pitched voice, so having her + spanky = no quiet whatsoever. :( That night I resorted to trying to hide myself away and write in my journal. Haha. (If you look closely at the first picture below, that's an ocean storm out yonder. There's a rainbow too!!! :) Pretty...) We escaped Monday morning (which was a holiday here...) and headed down to Tauranga and Mt. Maunganui! It's on the Eastern NZ Shore of the North Island. It's actually one of the top vacation spots in the world, according to Rusty! It's so beautiful there! The beach was so nice! Pretty sand, craggy rocks, and warm weather! It's amazing how much warmer it was in Mt. Maunganui compared to Waihi! We didn't have much time there, but I roamed a short distance on the beach and collected quite a few shells! They're really quite neat! I'm going to do some Dremel work on them and turn them into nice rings and necklaces...

And here's Mt. Maunganui and the beach...really pretty points and the water was a GORGEOUS blue! I love it! :)

And there you go! I know it's not the most detailed, but it's better than nothing, right? :) I figure if I post things now about myself, I wont have to feel bad if all of the rest of my posts are about the baby...oh wait. That's why you'll be looking at my blog anyways, huh??? :'( I guess I don't mind being ignored...haha. :) Just remember...I'll get to be here holding the cute smushy and you guys wont!!! NEENER!!! :P But no worries, I'll post pictures as soon as he comes! Cheers! Love you all! Muah!

HI HI!! :)

So, everyone...I went to the Zoo again yesterday. :) It's so incredibly fun! The animals are so different everytime you go, it's crazy!! We didn't get to see the tiger cubs this time...they had a late night out the day before, and there's only so much "party" in 3 cubs before they get all popped out!! Haha. I made a slide of the good pictures that I took at the bottom of the page to save myself from posting ALL of them again...haha. Hope you enjoy. My favorites were the otters and the baby spider monkeys!! Soooo cute! (All that was missing was my nerdy, zoologist sister to explain all of their species and subspecies to me!!! Haha..Just kidding Katy! Love ya! )

Anywho...today I decided that I really love the song "Suo Gan"...it's a welsh lullaby. And it's from the movie Empire of the Sun, too, I guess. I dunno...I just sang it in Madrigals in High School! It's one of my favorite lullabies! The translation is really pretty into English, but the original version in Welsh is still beautiful! There's a King's Choir that does it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM9uyA0wVIA ...they're really good! :) I'm gettin back to my Welsh roots, baby! I want to learn the language someday...especially if we (meaning the roomies) go to the British Isles in a year or so!!! It'd be amazing to be able to speak it!! :)

Anywho...better get goin! Cheers!

Where Did the Time GO?!?

I'm a slacker, I know! :) It's just that last week was soooo crazy! :) I didn't really have much time to sit down at the computer, edit/delete pictures, and THEN post to my blog AND my facebook page! Ahhh!! So time consuming! But....alas...because I know certain of you are living vicariously through me, I'm here to fill you in!

So the beach at Waihi was amazing! :) It was nice to have a house all to ourselves, and a beach awaiting me! I have to say, I got quite an amazing collection of shells!!! And some Paua shells...it's the shiny greenish/greyish stuff. (Katy...you know what I'm talkin about don't you?? Haha.) But yeah! Good good pictures!

I wont be able to post all of my favorites, because there are JUST too many...but as a note, I woke up at 5:30 to catch the sunrise. I went out by myself and waited for the sun to peek over the ocean horizon. Sooo pretty!

Then later on in the week...it was craziness! We got things ready for the wedding! Renee was surprisingly calm the few days leading up to it! It was awesome! She was just so happy that it was finally here! The morning of rolled around and we had stayed out at Bruce and Michelle's for ease of transporting everyone together to the wedding site! The girls got up SUPER early to get their hair and make-up done. As for me?...yeah, I slept in and hung out! Haha. The boys and I got the cars ready and mosied around the house for a few hours or two, until the Photographers came! They were really cool! She just started her own separate business and it was nice talkin to someone doing what I want to do for a profession! She was excited to hear that I was majoring in Photography, so she let me follow her around with my camera and shadow her! I even got to go to the official wedding photo spots! Yay! My first Wedding gig! Haha...sort of! I got some great pictures! ( Just please don't save the pictures and spread them around! They're special! :) Thanks!)

Then...the next day...I went with Bruce on a roadtrip! (And sort of "air"-trip too...hehe) We flew to Gisbourne super early in the morning. (It's on the East Coast of the North Island...) We went to pick up the Transporter. It had a bunch of Heavy machinery on the back of it...the biggest truck I've ever ridden in, actually. Haha. The picture is of a 1-way bridge built on TOP of railroad tracks....yeah, it was BARELY wide enough for us to fit on, cause the transporter is HUGE!!! Ugh! AND...it was made of wood...even worse! But, I caught some awesome sunset pictures on the way back! :) The one with the sailboats and buildings is downtown Auckland and the big tower is call Sky Tower...it's got a revolving restaurant and cool stuff. :) Reminds me of Seattle, really. But yeah! Our trip back from Gisbourne took about 7 hours driving...ugh. :) And it was only about 315 miles long...that says something about the narrow roads and speed limit here! Yikes!

So...then Saturday morning Bruce and I got up early again and went North to deliver the equipment to the work site. It wasn't too far away. If you're looking at a map of NZ (...not that I expect any of you to have one handy...but...) we went to about Orewa. Close to North Shore.... :) Then when we got home, guess what we did?!?!?! We went to the ZOO!!!! YAYAY! :)

So...here's a collection of Zoo pictures! :) As a note, some of my favorites included...the meerkats, especially the baby ones (They whine like dogs...so cute), wallabies, Kookabura, and the baby tigers!!! They just barely released the cubs to the public a few weeks ago! Great timing to go visit the zoo! Enjoy! I took an incredible amount of pictures, but, of course, couldn't fit nearly even an eight of them on here, so my solution is the new hardrive I bought! It's a terabyte! (That's 1000 Gigabytes, in case you were wondering... :D ) So, when I get home, maybe we'll have a big party and I'll show everyone ALL of my pictures if you're interested! :) So if you're wanting more...you'll just have to wait a FEW more days! (It's 81 officially today!)

Now, I know you're all thinking to yourselves..."She took these photos from online somewhere!"..you're wrong! I took them all with my own camera! Not lying! :) Hope you enjoy! (And remember..don't knick any of the pictures! They aren't copyrighted, but they're my own work! Thanks! :) )

Toodles! And thanks for keepin up with my adventures! Love you all!

Shopping??

Hmmm...

So, most people that know me wouldn't think of me as a person with style or taste when it comes to clothes, but I hide a nice Ace up my sleeve! Last night Kylie and I went shopping. It wasn't necessarily on the day's agenda, but we squeezed it in at the end of the night... :) We drove to Manukau mall and first hit the food court. :) I hadn't eaten Chinese here in NZ yet, so that's what we had! It was definitely yummy! Sweet and sour pork, yum yum...

Afterwards, I was under the impression that we were looking for something in particular. Haha. Then I realized that we were shopping around for me...huh..weird..haha. :) So the first store we walked in to, I latched on to a few items of clothing. First, a sweet grey hoodie/long sleeved shirt. :) Kylie has officially banned me from buying any REAL hoodies from now until I die! Haha. :) It has a safety pin print all over it! Awesome! Then...I came upon one of the coolest shirts ever!!! Can you guess what it was??!?! ....Tada!!...it was a shirt that said "Dance your cares away....Down at Fraggle Rock!!!" (!#^$*!^#*$ <<<>

So, after that store, I didn't think we could buy any more clothes...(especially when we were using Rusty's money... Haha.) But, we went to a second store! I found some amazing slacks and a cute shirt! Black slacks and a pair of brownish/grey pinstripes. :) Awesome! Then I got a great black jacket (for reference, view my facebook page...). It goes with anything! Sweeet...Then...hmm...I got 3 plain colored shirts. Nice style, but not too flashy! Also, I got a pair of awesome black capris...they're cute!!

After we got a BUNCH of clothes, we went to the chemist and bought some make-up. :) I wear a bit...but Kylie decided I needed some extra bling to boost my wonderful face... (wah wah wah...). So, we got some eye shadow stuff...pretty sweet! Then, because we spent a certain amount, we got a free gift! Yay! :) Eye Shadow, some lip stuff, and some nail polish, plus a bag. Coolness! :)

So yeah! We.....spent a large portion of money.....very large. More than I've spent on clothes before. When we got home, Rusty wanted a fashion show, but I determined there was just too much content to try to show off...so I just made him come look at all of it spread out on my bed! Haha. :) When all was said and done, I made a HAUL for how cheap we got everything! Thank goodness for sales!!! YAY! :)

Today, I decided to go for the "Receptionist Brenna" look, and put on one of my new stylin' professional outfits. :) Black slacks, white undershirt with lace, and my new black coat! :) I like it...And one of the greatest things about styles here in New Zealand is....wait for it...black and white are the popular colors!!! (My mom always got after me about wearing black, but now I blend in better! Yay!) So, now I don't feel so bad about half of my wardrobe consisting of black, brown, and white... :) It's a good feeling!

Tonight and tomorrow will be busy, for the most part. I'm planning on attending a birthday party for a friend and his twin brother, who turn 22. Then in the morning, early, I'm going to go play some "touch" rugby at the park...I'm pretty stoked...but scared too! I've never played rugby for real!!! EEek! :) After I play some rugby, we're heading out to the "family beach house" for a nice weekend away from home and the office! Yay!! Hopefully the weather plays nice and stops raining before we get there, but we might have to settle for hanging out inside while we're there. Honestly, even hangin inside wouldn't be bad at all! It'd be nice to kick back and relax a bit. :) Maybe if it's warm enough, maybe I'd even be up for a swim in the ocean or messin around on a surf board! Who knows! :)

Until next time!!! :)

One important thing down...Whew!

Hey Hey!

(This is me in my PARTY dress...>>>>>)

So this weekend was interesting...The Bridal Shower finally arrived! It seemed like there was just so much to do and so little time! (Well...I guess that's how it is with most big events...but still!!) On Saturday, we ran around town getting supplies. I EVEN made my first trip to the liquor store. (Yes, here I am of age to consume alcohol....and NO I DIDN'T drink any alcohol. Haha.) We got our "Mocktails" supplies for later....Then off to the Holland's house to set up!

We were a little tight on time, but somehow we managed to get all of the cupcakes iced (thanks to my icing expertise...) and all of the food set up outside. Then we remembered to save 5 or 10 minutes to get dressed in our party dresses! Whew...When everyone started to arrive, I got out my trustee camera and put it to good use. :)

Rusty was the "Head Bartender" and Martin was the "Apprentice" bartender. Haha. I didn't realize that Rusty had bar tended AFTER he served his mission. Oh well...haha. Needless to say he is PROBABLY the BEST bartender ever. (Not that I have anyone else to compare it to....but that's what everyone else was saying. :) ) He put out a list of Virgin Drinks that he could make ready to order. It was fun! The house has a back patio, with sliding windows leading straight into the kitchen.

I, personally, had a yummy strawberry daiquiri and a mango pina colada! (Jealous, aren't you?...)

Everyone seemed to have a lovely time, even though it was a bit chilly outside. Some even showed up in hats and gloves! A true tea party, this was. My first ever!...Awesome!

Renee was decked out it a lovely pink sash and even stopped long enough to pose and "smile" for a picture! :) Renee, Renee...haha. We had a great day! And I finally got to wear my new dress! (the picture isn't the cutest, but it's the dress we were looking at anyway...) Afterwards, we were completely bushed! Not to mention the cleanup... Haha. Oh well, a party is a party! Up next....the actual Wedding!!! :)

After the party, I went to YSA (Young Single Adults) and we had a dinner cookoff! It was pretty fun! YSA is great because it's the single adults that live in the area. So I get to meet lots of cool people! Everyone here is so happy all the time! It's great!

What else is there to update on?? :( Hmm...Well. I'm still sick. :( We thought I might be able to stick it out and get over it, but it seems that my little cold has turned into a nasty bacterial infection. :( Boo...I'm supposed to go to the doctor today, so we'll see if I can get rid of my illness before next weekend!!! :) Kylie is a little sick as well, but she seems to be doing alright. We were scared at first that it might hit her pretty hard, being pregnant AND being sick, but she's tough! She's scheduled for her next doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see what he has to say!! Yay!

So, there you go! :) Enjoy everyone! (And Katy...you had better update YOUR blog, missy!!!) Cheers!