Hot Water Beach

Digging for some warm water :) My duty at that time was to hold up the boggy board so that the wall we made would not fall down when the tide came in

On the beach late one night ;)
Back row: Emily, Whitney, Jessica, Heidi, Nancy
Front row: Allie, Nicole, Christine

Rebecca, Hannah, Heidi, Jessica, Christine (in back), Katie, Allie, Diana (in back from Allie)
A strong and sturdy foundation-Katie (the girl smiling beautifully next to me) told us as we were digging and building up our fortress that it is a lot like the gospel: the waves of sin will come but we need the strong foundation of the gospel to keep us save from the waves, and when the waves do come to near to us, we need to keep rebuilding our foundation on Christ. Diana laughed and told Katie that she is going to be the one most likely to be the prophets wife. I totally agree, she is such a good person and always brings in gospel topics to any situation. That's why I love BYU!

Enjoying the warm water (luckily this one wasn't too hot)

Neeley, Diana, Christine (in front of Diana), Allie, Katie, Jessica, Heidi, Hannah, Rebecca

This is honestly what I found on the beach and picked up-and I am serious, I found those sunglasses lying in perfect condition on the beach, and being in desperate need of new non-scratched sunglasses I picked them up, washed them with soap, and now own them as my own. Also, Kara and I found some great rings: I love shell rings, they are just so cool, and that they would fit so perfectly is amazing! You can't see it, but I found a sand dollar and a star fish as well. It was a great treasure hunt!

Beautiful sunrise even though it was overcast

Kara and I in the dark before the sun really rose

Getting lighter :)

GORGEOUS!

This was taken at 6:40 am, so it was still pretty dark, but the view that Kara and I saw was amazing, the sky was dark, but the sun was trying to peek through the clouds, and the purple and yellow light were joining together. Of course, no camera can do justice to the majesty of nature.

Scenic cove-I got to this cove after walking very carefully through muddy paths and lots of help from the other girls, but of course, my shoes didn't take to well to the mud and boy were my feet smelly!

Stingray Cove view

Natalie Snow (one of our tour guides) and me-this woman is amazing-she was the one who told me at Orewa Beach that I need to work on just living and loving life and not being so stressed when life doesn't go as planned. Her motto is: No Worries, and Kara's theme song for me is Akuna Matata.

Yeah, it was rainy and cold, so Kara and I had to improvise about how to stay warm-lucky we brought our towels this weekend

View from the top of the hike to Cathedral Cove-unfortunately we couldn't go because it was really rainy and muddy, and even to Stingray bay was bad, and that wasn't closed off. However, we were really close to the spot where the children in Prince Caspian from the Chronicles of Narnia landed.

Dig, Dig, Dig

View of the beach-it looked just like this on my run too. Kara and I went together and even though the sand was hard to maneuver, my thighs and calves are going to be well toned by the time I get home. Also, we went through this really cool cave to get to the other side of the beach and continue on our run, so it was well worth getting up an hour earlier.

What a fun weekend! Got to travel to Coromandel and visit Hot Water Beach, so named because the beach has lots of volcanic activity underneath in the sand and in certain spots the water gets really warm, so we all digged a few holes to enjoy the spa. Of course, so we wouldn't die from the 64 degree Celsius heat we let cool sea water in. Also, we went swimming and boggy boarding, ate spaghetti, watched movies, enjoyed the crickets that kept creeping into our glass house, went running on the beach, and watched the beautiful sunrise. Some of us also had some silly adventures at the beach one night, and of course, playing games like truth and dare, charades, and catch phrase made for a fun 2 days. More pictures will be coming but right now they are on other girls' cameras, so it may be a few days until we post on Picasa. I just like to blog really quickly, and it makes my parents happier, and I find it strangely addictive. Blogging is so fun and I can't wait to do it as a mother and wife when I can show pictures of all my beautiful children, he he.

Now it's back to work and getting more experience in the schools. Only 3 more weeks which is crazy! I can't believe how the time has flied! It seems like just yesterday I was crying after being in New Zealand only for 3 days and begging my parents that they would send me on the next plane home, and now I don't really want to leave. It's not that I don't want to go home, I just love the people here, I feel so loved and accepted even with my imperfections and fears. Also, I love the natural beauty this land offers-there aren't many experiences to run along a beach and then collect 30 shells in Utah. Yet, home is home, and I love it there.