Christmas Luncheon at Abergine Restaurant - 2007

All of the senior missionaries couldn't fit around one table, but we were seated with some special friends. Jan Malloy, dressed in red on the right, is not a missionary. She is employed as the secretary to the Director of Temporal Affairs. She is a former nun and her conversion story is included in Hartman Rector's book, "No More Strangers." The older couple next to Jan is the Roeuche's. He is the Executive Secretary to the Area Presidency. He has been a stake president, mission president, and temple president. They are in their mid 80s and they've been told that this will be their last mission. They have served in Europe and Hong Kong. The Turpins next to MelRae are wonderful people from Centerville. We drove three hours up north to watch them run in the half marathon last month. Both finished!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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We walked the 150 - 200 yards from our apartment to Takapuna Beach and I removed my shoes for a run in the sand and water. You can see our Mon Desur apartment building in the background and the Pohutukawa trees in the foreground. The Pohutukawa tree is nicknamed "Christmas Tree" because of their beautiful bright red flower that blossoms in early December and then turns a rust color before falling to the ground in late December. There are many people enjoying the beach by walking, running, swimming, kayaking, boating and wind surfing on this Christmas day.

We will spend our Christmas afternoon and evening with Elder and Sister Hans Sorensen and their family. We were with Elder and Sister Condie for dinner three nights ago and will be with Elder and Sister Baxter on New Years Eve. These three members of our Area Presidency are great friends and are doing their best to help everyone feel the Christmas spirit. All of them have joined us in our fasting and prayers for Sheryl and they are rejoicing with us as we express our gratitude for all of the miracles that Sheryl and Lon have received during the past three months.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love David and MelRae

Hon Winnie Laban - Minister of Pacific Island Affairs

We drove to Wellington a week ago to meet with Winnie Laban. She has been a Member of Parliament for many years and was selected as a member of the Cabinet (Minister) about three months ago. We have met with her on four or five different occasions and she is a very good friend of ours, and most of all she is supportive of all of our activities. I scheduled the visit to get her perspective on the challenges facing the Polynesians in New Zealand and to get her support in promoting some of the family values programs that we will be taking to the various islands early next year. Her responsibility is limited to domestic issues, but the Polynesians in New Zealand have an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities of the their friends and relatives living in the Islands. She was most helpful and I may even invite her to join us on some of our travels to the islands.

John Key, Member of Parliament - National Party Leader

I'm pictured with Anthony Wilson (Public Affairs Director in New Zealand), Elder Condie, and John Key. We are in Hamilton where John was the VIP speaker who turned on the Christmas lights after a very nice Christmas program that was presented by local stake members. We visited with John and two other Members of Parliament for 45 minutes before the program. The National party (Conservative) is the heavy favorite to defeat the Labour party in next falls election and if so, John will become the Prime Minister. He is a very bright, capable and quality guy and could likely serve as the PM for multiple terms. He was an investment banker for Merrill Lynch in New Zealand, Sydney, London, and Singapore and has worked with the Federal Reserve Bank of NY and has completed management studies at Harvard. We are working to assure that he is a good friend of the Church in New Zealand.

Soccer Honors

Just thought we would add a quick note to let you know about some recognition that Crew received this week. As mentioned before, his high school soccer team did fairly well this year and as a result there was some recognition given out. Crew received Defensive Player of the Year for his team. He was also named to the 4A All Sunset League Team (which is the league they play in) and then he was named to the All Northwest Region Team. He was one of two players from his team to get this honor. We are very happy for him and what he has been able to accomplish this year.

Kick off to Christmas

This past weekend was our official kick off to Christmas! We had a great weekend and did alot of fun things to get us in the spirit of the season.

We started the weekend by waking up to find a foot of new snow. The boys spent hours sledding, snow boarding and playing in the snow. It was cold, but it didn't bother them at all.

We then went to Aunt Annabelle's for the Annual Cookie Party. Each boy made a pan full of personally decorated gingerbread cookies. We had a wonderful lunch and had a great time visiting with our Brown cousins.

After the cookie party, we went to the Festival of Trees at the South Towne Expo Center. The boys all agreed that their favorite tree on display was the Star Wars tree. The tree had 238 Star Wars action figures as ornements (see photo below). The tree was topped with a life size Darth Vader. We also saw a super hero tree, a transformer tree, BYU tree, and more. We also ate cinnamon rolls, watched Chirstmas perfromances and participated in several games/arts and crafts in the kid zone. We always love to go to the Festival of Trees.

Our cousin on the Harper side, Ethan, also spent the night and participated in these fun events with us.

Happy Birthday Sheryl!

One of the highlights of our Thanksgiving holiday was when all of us gathered in the Wardrop's den to talk to Sherly & Lon and to sing Happy Birthday to Sheryl! As Lon declared, November 22, 2007 is Sheryl's new birthday, since this is the day that the stem cells were implanted back into Sheryl. It was so wonderful to talk to both Sheryl and Lon. They are both so positive and full of faith. We are all truly grateful that everything is going so well in China. What a perfect day for Sheryl to have her 2nd birthday...on Thanksgiving day.

We love you Sheryl & Lon!!

Here's a note to Sheryl that Holland wrote all on his own while we were on the phone with them in China....

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Shayna and Jordan were our hosts and the guest list included the Naylors, Browns, G&G Wardrop, Kari, and of course Dallin, Brandon, Travis & Weston. Dinner was delicious and everyone contributed (either their time or yummy food). Glenn & Pauline are experts at making Turkey -- perhaps the juiciest one ever! Holly made rolls with the help of Dallin, Breck and Brandon. Kari made fabulous pies -- the Nestle Tollhouse was my favorite. Shayna made sweet potatoes. The boys did the mashed potatoes. Suzi was the head chef making sure everything coordinated beautifully. It was a great day!

The entire Thanksgiving weekend was alot of fun. The Browns and the Naylors camped out at the Wardrop's house and did lots of fun activities. We had a mystery dinner for all the kids on Wednesday night (see the menu below). Suzi planned a scavenger hunt for Friday that the kids LOVED. We all watched Christmas Vacation together. We also got most of the Christmas decorations up (inside and out). It was fun to be together, but we missed Jason, the Engles, G&G Brown, and of course Sheryl and Lon. But we were grateful to be able to all congregate at Sheryl & Lon's house. THANKS!

Mystery Café Menu

(these were the utensils, they got to select one for each course)
A Devils Staff
An Elephants Trunk
The Little Dipper
A Swiss Stick
A Jedi Weapon
King Arthur’s Plight

Drink selections...
Belching Bubbles
Crystal Ice
Dragons Blood
Dirty Lava

Hors d'oevres

Shark Teeth
Cheetah Toes
Idaho Fliers
Spring Surprise

Appetizers
Teacher’s Pet
Rabbit Vision
Monkey Brains
Johnny’s Delight

Main Dish
Road Kill Sliders
Cows Best Friend
Acne Overload
Undercover Rover

Dessert
Dirty Diaper
Turkish Delight
Winter Dream
Litter Box Surprise

Building Forts

We're not sure if it's because of the Home Depot workshops or if it's just their natural boy instincts, but the 5 boys have become little Huck Fins and Tom Sawyers. They spend every free moment outside building forts. They have built several from the ground up. They are quite creative in their building skills. As you can see from the pictures below, their forts have such amenities as a basketball hoop, picket fence, a birdhouse/mailbox, a slide for quick getaways, special shelving for toys, and even an outhouse a few yards away from the main structure (we've never visited the outhouse but have been told about it in great detail).

(CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE)

One Saturday afternoon, there were probably 15 boys from the neighborhood who came over to admire their handy work and to offer suggestions for new additions to the fort. Our boys allowed the neighborhood kids to help for a period of time, but made it perfectly clear that it was OUR FORT, and all final decisions would be made by the elect 5...

The fort pictured in this posting was the first fort the boys built (built 100% by themselves). While it is extremely cool and very creative, the inspector visited the fort and found it to be structurally unsound....Therefore the boys were denied the chance to sleep in this fort (even after hours of begging and pleading).

The following weekend, however, the boys built a new fort. This time they used real tools -- hammer, nails, drill, scrap wood, etc. This fort was approved by the building inspector and the boys were permitted to inhabit the fort for an overnight adventure. All five boys slept in the new fort and had a few added amenities. This one was draped with Christmas lights, had piles of blankets to keep the boys warm in the 42 F weather, and also had a laptop playing movies and connected to surround sound....pretty fancy fort.

We are sad to report that the 2nd fort was destroyed a week later by an awful windstorm. Fort #3 is now under construction with the help of Uncle Hollan and Grandma Harper. As a Christmas present to the boys, The Harpers bought real wood and materials to build a fort that will endure any kind of weather. It is firmly cemented into the ground and is built with 2x4 studs, real roofing tiles on the roof, and is completely enclosed. It is an impressive site -- we'll add pictures once it is complete. The boys are having the time of their lives!

High School Musical on Ice

The boys got a special treat, courtesy of Shayna. The 5 boys all got to go to see High School Musical on Ice. The boys had a blast. The show was at the Delta Center (Now called the Energy Solutions Arena). The first half was all HSM 1 and the second half was all of HSM 2 (all the songs from both movies were included). Shayna had requested the very best seats available -- and they were great. We were on the 9th row. Shayna was hoping to go with Brandon and take all the younger boys, but Brandon's surgery was the day before the big show and was ordered by his doctor to stay home. Shayna and Jordan ended up having alot of homework, so we got to go with the boys. It was alot of fun and were very grateful that Shayna included us on the fun day. The boys were mesmerized throughout the entire show!

Playing Dress Up

Cannon, Holland, Weston, Travis & Packer love to play the boy version of "Dress Up". Their idea of dress up is getting out the costume box and dressing up as Spider-man, Darth Vader, Power Rangers, Super Man, Batman, Rock Man, Lightning McQueen, Thomas the Train, Bobba Fet, Jenga Fet, Jedi Warriors, etc.

Their normal routine is that they put on parts from several different costumes (all at the same time) then they all parade throughout the house trying to get any willing participants to try and guess which of the 5 boys is beneath the assortment of costumes. This can go on for an entire afternoon...it entertains the boys for hours.

Recently, however, the boys have discovered a new game of dress up. The boys love to dress up Harper. The dress she is wearing in these pictures is their FAVORITE dress for Harper -- they think it is so cute since it is pink with so many ruffles and lace.

What you're not seeing in the pictures is when they dressed Harper up as a Football player -- helmet and all -- and then proceeded to shoot nerf darts at her. They have also dressed her up as the baby Jesus for their own version of the Nativity Scene (100% kid directed and performed...complete with Travis as Mary giving birth to a beautiful baby...fortunately Travis was strategically placed behind a sheet, but we got the birthing sound effects from exaggerated moans and groans made by Travis from behind the sheet).

Harper also starred in a play written and directed by the boys in which she was all wrapped up in a very special Christmas present. We had no idea she was wrapped up until out popped baby Harper.

So dress up has taken on a whole new meaning at the Brown house. We never know what the boys are cooking up. We always brace ourselves when one of the boys is sent in by the other 4 boys to ask "Can we borrow Harper for a minute?"

Rangitoto Island

This picture is of Mount Rangitoto that we see every morning from our patio as the sun rises. We took a half day P-Day this morning and drove to the Devonport Wharf and caught a ferry boat for the 15 minute ride to the island of Rangitoto. We took what was advertised as an easy one hour hike to the top of the volcano and looked down into the crater. It took us 1 1/2 hours up and another hour to return to the ferry boat. The volcano erupted about 600 years ago and was semi-active for 200 years before all activity ceased. The eruption created the island of Rangitoto that is connected by a causeway to an island to the east that had been occupied prior to the eruption by Maoris’. Rangitoto is currently uninhabited, though there were summer and longer term residents in the 1930’s but the City Council of Auckland succeeded in forcing recent residents to leave the island and they gave the longer term residents20 years to re-locate. The people had lived in Baches (small cottages) and about 100 baches still exist and some are being preserved as historic sites.

Muriwai Beach - Gannett Colony

This is a very popular spot for surfing, hang gliding, and playing on the black sand beaches. The birds on the large rock are Gannetts and they are members of the Tern family. They migrate from this nesting spot to Australia that is 2000 km (1200 miles) away across the Tasmanian Sea. This recreation site is less than one hour from our home onTakapuna Beach.

Auckland - The City of Sails

This photo was taken from Devonport near the wharf where ferry service is available to several points in and around the Auckland bay. We spent our Saturday with Elder and Sister McMullin from the Sydney office touring the Devonport peninsula and the Auckland harbor on the east coast of the North Island. Later in the afternoon, we drove 45 minutes to the Gannett Colony on the west coast of the North Island. This is one of the most scenic sites in the country. We plan to take the ferry to Rangitoto Island this next week. Rangitoto is the volcanic island that we can see from our balcony that overlooks Takapuna Bay. The island is uninhabited but is a very popular tourist destination with many walking and hiking trails.

Bay of Islands - Hole in the Rock

We joined Elder and Sister Trupin last weekend at the Bay of Islands. They both entered and finished the Kerikeri half-marathon whose finish line was about 15 miles north of the Bay of Islands. Following the race, we took a three hour cruise through the beautiful Bay and fortunately, the sea was calm enough that we were able to take the large boat that seats about 75 through the Hole in the Rock. We also spotted numerous dolphins while in route to the rock. We also visited the Waitangi Treaty House where the treaty between the British and the first 40 of the 512 tribes of Maories was signed in 1840. Most historians claim that this treaty was the beginning of modern civilization in New Zealand.