The French Connection

So Christmas/New Years Eve 2007 I spent in France and Switzerland. I went with my good friend Samantha and we had a blast. I loved the great food (especially the cheese and bread) the sights and of course her wonderful family. Her Dad is a wonderful chef and we ate like royalty everyday. I was always intrigued to see what it was we were going to eat. My favorite things on this trip was visiting Paris - louvre, eiffel tower, Switzerland - temple, Geneva city, and the food, I loved the food.






Well a year and 4 months later and several miles away, my friend Samantha got married here in Utah. Her whole family came for the wedding and her Dad did all the cooking for the reception. We had fine French cuisine all over again it was beautiful!!!. Samantha looked absolutely gorgeous and the gourmet food just topped it all off. Her husband is from Ecquador so you can imagine the meridian of languages going on. We had a variety of European dishes, French deserts and latin music. It was absolutely wonderful and wild. I LOVED IT!!!!! Samanthas dad even made little signs saying what the food was and where it was from and in 3 different languages. We were treated to so much good tasty food. Here are some pics of the great occasion. Viva Le France (except when they beat us in rugby!)








We danced and partied all night and that is my connection to France.

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

Welcome to my nieces blog (I have more to write about them than me). My niece Kotahi not only loves to dance but her first passion is singing. Her talents obviously come from our side of the family (ahem Aunty Nancy), and her height (which totally missed me) comes from her mums side of the family. Here is a little something she put together. Enjoy!!

My talented neices gettin their dance on!!!

So just having a moment of missing my nieces and nephews in NZ and Oz. But I love spending time with my 2 nieces here. I love spoiling them and just hanging out. They are both so busy with their dancing what with practicing everyday and then competitions. So like any proud Aunty just wanted to post the end result of all their practicing. This is Kotahi doing her ballroom number. Her proud mum is yelling while videoing. She is at the back, dancing with Chris and for those of you that know me YES my 14 yr old niece is taller than me (I mean, really, who isn't...)!!!



This is Kotahi and Kazz (my two nieces - sisters) dancing with their buddies Vince and Chris (who are brothers) and doing a hip hop number choreographed by dear Parris from New Zealand. They took 1st place here. And yes my 9 year old niece is nearly as tall as me!!! Again proud mum now screaming during videoing. Enjoy!!!



... And in case you are wondering AHHH YES AUNTY NANCY CAN ALSO GET HER FREAKIN DANCE ON!!!!!

Nothing like a whanau haka

So whenever I fly home I always get a little excited when the plane lands in Auckland. The last time I went home I flew with my brother Wayne and we were both getting excited making fun of what we would do, what we would eat and who we'd see. We were cracking up and being a little loud and obnoxious (mostly cos our flight was empty) and just to show the maori side of us coming out as we were about to hit the ground. We sat at the back of the plane (so Wayne could snore all the way home) and cracked up with the kiwi flight attendants who were telling us that it was a smoke free and snore free flight. I took a leisurely stroll through the airport not rushing at all checking out all the kiwis especially the maoris doing the "che bro, howzit bro, wassup bro" and happy that I didn't need to stand in a line for aliens (that's what they call you at US immigration). Wayne and I continued our kiaora-cations all the way to the immigration desk and making small talk with the bros at the desk, Wayne chatting like they're mates from waaayyyy back. It's such a good feeling to be greeted with friendly smiles, kia ora's, cheers mate, she'll be right, gidday all over the place. I always get a strong sense of nostalgia when arriving at the airport returning home. But nothing compares to the feeling of walking out to your brother and his 2 sons doing a mean as whanau (family) haka. Now kia ora to that!!

BYU Rugby 2009

(You can see the packed stadium in the background)

Well the BYU rugby team has been doing the damage. They had a game last Fri March 27 at the new soccer stadium seating venue against the U. It was a sell out crowd with standing room only and they had to send some people away because there was no more room. It was freezing but everyone still showed up. I was wrapped up with hat, scarf, coat and boots and I still felt the cold. There were tonnes of polys and it was just an awesome atmosphere. There was volleyball at the SFH at the same time and a softball game and we still got a great crowd. The game was a runaway with BYU doing most of the scoring. The final score was 66 - 20. The 2 little South African boys and Paul Lasike from NZ were doing the damage. It was awesome. The crowd was going off. They actually have a great chance this year to do well at the finals.

Go the Y!!!

ESPN was there that night and they taped the game and it is being played on ESPN delayed April 7th. The next night BYU played Utah State and utterly spanked them 111 - 3 and they played this game live on BYU cable. So watch out for the BYU Rugby team.

Lehi 41st branch

So I love my little branch for so many reasons:

• Everyone is so loving
• We have great parties
• There is such a special spirit
• We have great ping pong players
  
• We have great parties
  
• We have fun playing sports (even when we loose)
• We take the term refreshments to its limits
• an we have great parties!!!

So here are some photos of our fun little branch!

This is our Relief Society Celebration. It turned into a huge celebration (with costumes and all) where everyone danced numbers from the islands including the youth, YSA, RS and Priesthood. The only ones that didn't dance were the primary and then we had an awesome DJ and danced all night until we were hammered. Of course we had amazing food and a night enjoyed by all.
Relief Society sisters doing Tonga.
YSA doing our SIVA to Jamoan Jam
An impromptu Haka number which included Pres Paonga (his maori side) and my bro.
Me getting my poi on.

Youth danced a funky little upbeat Tahiti number!
My neice Kotahi shaking her groove thing in the Tahiti number.

Dancin it up afterwards with my home girl Rosie Afo!!!

FYI we find any excuse to party it up!!!!!!!!!!