Milford Sound

While we were in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand for a few days, we took a day trip to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been: Milford Sound!  It is a fjord that runs fifteen kilometers inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise up to 1,200 meters with many dazzling waterfalls.  We took a cruise through the fjord and it was absolutely amazing (even better than the fjords in Norway, in my opinion).

 

The pictures do not do this place justice!  It is incredible and it is no wonder that Milford Sound is one of the top tourist destinations in the world!  It does take some effort to get there, five hours from Queenstown, but it was worth it!

Note:  We almost didn't get to see Milford Sound because it snowed over night and created an avalanche hazard.  We had to wait over an hour at a roadblock before we were cleared to continue on our way!  I am certainly glad we were able see this amazing place!  The South Island of New Zealand is breathtaking!

The Beautiful South Island of New Zealand

After a few days in Sydney we flew to Christchurch, New Zealand for one night and then spent a day driving to Queenstown.  We had a few spectacular stops on the way!  Our first stop was Lake Tekapo and the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Our next stop was Lake Pukaki and it was so beautiful!  This glacier-fed lake reminded me so much of the lakes in Western Canada.

Once we got to Queenstown we went up the Skyline Gondola for some spectacular views of the city, Lake Wakatipu, and the Remarkables mountain range.

 

Later that evening we took a vintage steamship called the TSS Earnshaw across the lake to a sheep station for dinner (which was delicious).  It was fascinating to see the engineers shoveling coal into the engine to power the ship!

I fell in love with the South Island in just one day!

The Magnificent Seven

I have a vague recollection of watching the original movie with my Dad.  I don't remember any details, I just remember that my Dad really liked it and they blew up a lot of things!  So, I can't really compare this new version of The Magnificent Seven with the original but I can tell you that I found it to be wildly entertaining!  When an unscrupulous owner of a mining company, Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard), threatens the town of Rose Creek and kills her husband, Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) turns to bounty hunter Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) for justice.  Chisolm begins recruiting men for the impossible task: gambler Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), notorious Mexican bandit Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), sharpshooter (and hero of the Battle of Antietam) Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), knife-wielding assassin Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), tracker Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Comanche warrior Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier).  They take the town of Rose Creek in a shoot-out (the first of many) and begin to fortify (and booby-trap) the town for an epic showdown with Bogue.  Just like the original, lots of things get blown up and it is certainly exciting.  Besides the amazing action scenes, I really liked the character development of each of the seven and I couldn't pick which one I liked more (although D'Onofrio is a hoot to watch as the eccentric Horne and Hawke does a great job portraying a man tormented by the Civil War).  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and I liked the almost sepia-toned photography.  I am not usually a big fan of Western films but this one is so much fun to watch and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of the genre.

Tashena's First Dance

Saturday night was the Homecoming Dance for Bountiful High School.  It was Tashena's first high school dance and I can hardly believe it!  Where has the time gone?  Where is the little girl who played with Barbies?  If she has to grow up, at least she is turning into a beautiful and talented young woman!  I think she looked so beautiful in her dress!

Tashena with her friend Leea.

Tashena, Leea, and Alex

Tashena, Michelle, and Leea

The whole group!

Rain or Shine!

Today we found out that the Bountiful Braves play rain or shine!  We have been having the craziest weather in Utah the past few days (even a tornado!) and it rained all day long on Friday.  When I woke up Saturday morning it was still raining so I wondered if Sean's game would be cancelled.  My sister told me they play no matter what the weather is!  Luckily, it stopped raining just before his game started and it was actually really nice because the air smelled so clean and it wasn't that cold.  The Bountiful Braves played the Brighton Bengals and it was a tough game.  It doesn't really matter to me who wins because I just like watching Sean!  He had another great tackle!  At first we weren't sure if it was Sean who got the tackle but then we looked over at my brother-in-law (who keeps stats on the players for the team) and he had a big smile on his face so we knew it was him!

He was a little bit bummed that they didn't win so he gave me the "perfunctory smile."

When I started talking to him about his tackle, he gave me a better smile (pictured above!).