Party in the USA!!

November 2023, my parents have been married for 25 years! Can't believe it. To celebrate, mum wanted all her kids around and we got to all be together. 

To celebrate their anniversary, us kids surprised them with family photos. We hadn't gotten any since before Shel left for her mission so we were due for some updated ones, especially because we have two new additions to the family hehe!

Here's a few of the pictures from that shoot! We were super stoked with our photographer, she had picked out this location and it was unlike anything we had all ever seen haha. Especially for us Arizonians, we had never seen this part of AZ so it was really cool. It was giving radiator springs vibes from cars and honestly the photos just don't do it justice with how pretty it was! 

Pukana.

Me and my parents.

Laitin and I. 

My sissys.

The siblings hehe.

The OG 5.

The girls!

Dad and his daughters.

Dad and the boys haha!

So grateful to my parents for making it happen that both Laits and I got to be here in the states. This was Laitin's first time in AZ so it was pretty exciting and was so pumped to show him around one of my favorite places!

We went to the Gilbert temple! We got to do a session as entire family so that was pretty neat! 

We also hit up the Mesa temple lights! It hadn't been open for a while due to reconstructions for the last few years so it was nice that it was back up and running. This was a big part of our childhood so it was nice to be back. 

AZ sunsets are my fave.

Laitin funnily enough has an uncle who lives in AZ too, so we made sure to see him and his family and that was really nice! I hadn't met them before and he also hadn't seen them in ages so it was nice we got to fit some time in with while he was visiting. 

Riding around their neighborhood on their golf cart hehe.

Laitin's brother had lived in AZ for a bit for rugby so he had a list of favorites, one including bosa donuts (that I also think has the yummiest donuts!) and so that was a must do, to say he had tried it hehe.

My family loves ice cream, we love Handles, so we did a wee cousins/sibling holdout and went to get a treat from there! Seriously the yummiest and best. This night was so fun driving together like we did growing up and singing along to songs, catching up. It was a really good night. 

Laitin got to do a little bit of driving on the right side of the road haha. He wasn't scared at all... hahahaha. 

A visit to AZ isn't complete without a visit and hangs with the Pickett boys!! They're the funniest and I love getting to see them when I do. We went and got a sweet treat at Andys and Laitin got to try frozen custard for the first time hehe. We're big fans of this stuff. 

Twins hehe.

My dad got tickets to a LeeAnn Rimes concert for Laitin and I. She was doing a Christmas special so it was really cool we got to go to that. It was at the casino so it was funny for Laitin to see what American casinos looked like and then we got dinner there. That dinner freaking slapped, it was so good! We got mozzarella stickts, fried steak with a white gravy, and sweet potato fries. Freaking delicious. 

We went to a hockey game! Freaking love hockey so that was cool that I could go to one with Laitin. He really enjoyed it and we had a good time. I forget how much spirit Americans have, especially with sports and it's always funny going to games live, it's a really cool energy. So we enjoyed that. 

After the game Laitin and I went to Chipotle because I wanted him to try the queso cos I freaking love that stuff!! After we went there, we parked up at sonic and got some drinks and we already had heaps of food but I needed Laitin to try their corn dogs and mozzarella sticks cos their a fave of mine so we did a wee mukbang HA. Laitin got to try Big red (soda) and loved it. I forget that parts of the world have different drinks so he had never heard of it but it's a fave in our household so it was cool he got to try all sorts of new things hehe. 

Us 5 had SO much fun together. We spent as much time as we possibly could together. We played cards and games, did a lot of QT runs hehehe (went almost every single night for a taquito and a drink LOL), we were all given matching PJs from mum hehe, and it was so so nice being back with my sisters. Grateful Shel and I have additions to the family that get along well and get along well with our family. Here are a couple snapshots from my Bereal of little moments from here and there hehe. 

Kel 3rd wheeling heaps HAHA. We made her, she loved it lol.

The Crezee's shouted us kids to dinner hehe. They got to meet and get to know Laitin better and have one last hang before Kellyn was off on her mission. They took us to their fave place haha, Burrito Company. That place was delicious and we also love their company. It was really special introducing Laitin to two people that I really love and adore. 

Sweet treat run! We were really trying our best to tick off as many places as we could because what's a visit to the states without over eating haha. This night we had tried to hit up as many sweet treat places as we could and share amongst us three so it didn't seem too much. From what I could remember, we had gone to Bahama bucks and DQ! Our sister in law loved Bahama bucks from her mission so we had to say we went there, we're also big shaved ice fans so it was a must. Then my family loves DQ but Laitin also had to try one of their iconic blizzards haha. It was a fun night trying to fit in as much things as we could before we had to leave. 

Okay the sappy bit to this blog post lol. One of the big reasons we wanted to come back was to also send off Kellyn before she becomes Hermana Hawea and leaves for her mission to Argentina. It was so special we got to spend a good chunk of time with her before she's off. We got to go to her farewell at church, and got to see her as she prepared and it was so crazy thinking that she was old enough to go on one! Ahhh, but so grateful for her example and so proud of her for wanting to go out and teach others of Christ. Love her so so much.

Have to post this in here HAHAHHAHA. This is one of my most favorite videos ever. We went to this trampoline place for our cousins birthday and it was so dang cool. It had a lot of parkour bits, tramps, a skate ramp, obstacle course like bits and so this was one area we wanted to try hard to get across before we left. I made it through, and then it was Kellyns turn and one of our cousins, cousins (who we know but not really LOL), did this to Kellyn and I am so happy I caught it for me to watch and keep forever hahahahha. Enjoy.

It was time to go back to NZ, but before heading back we stopped in to Hawaii for a night! It was cool cos Shel and Lance came up to see us and we hung out and had the funnest day with them. The weather here is so dang muggy so I rinsed off at the hotel and then we got to partying. Laitin and I were so hungry so we got some food at Ala Moana. Laitin got Canes and I got panda express, yum yum! After, we all decided we'd go do an escape room together and it was so cool. It was a robbing an art museum theme and it was so interactive and cool. Different from anyone we had done before hehe. So we had to listen out for a security guard doing their rounds and hide when they did so and it was just so cool haha. It was nice we got to do that while we were all together. We ended up doing cheesecake factory for dinner and then we all had a sleepover at the hotel and then we were finally off back to NZ. 

Cookie corner, had to haha.

Being home is always so good for the soul. I was happy to be around my favorite people and in one of my all time favorite places. It was just what I needed. Will always be so grateful for the memories we made on this trip.