Slugs, Bugs, and other UGS

I have been saving to put up this post for a long time. I wanted to make sure I could get all the pictures possible of my wonderful experience living in a basement apartment, with four girls, in New Zealand. It has had its ups and its downs, but I am loving every minute of it. 

To start:

We have a PROBLEM with SLUGS in our apartment. Because it has been so cold and rainy the whole time we have been here, slugs have loved to come inside for shelter. We find slugs all the time in our rooms and love finding their little trails all over the carpet, our bags, and even our shoes. Margo has managed to step on two slugs on accident, I have stepped on one, and Brooke has also stepped on one. Next up, Brittany. It is a real treat let. me. tell you. to find slug trails all along my backpack when I get ready for school. I also especially love taking out my shoes to find yummy slime inside :). 

Along with slugs we have fun spiders that sneak in every once in a while. Brooke is our bug killing machine. She always kills the spiders when they come and removes the slugs when they sneak out in the open. One day she smashed a spider only to have a million little baby spiders come pouring out of it. PRETTY GROSS. I ran away. Along with the spiders and slugs, we have also managed to get fun bites on our legs from mosquitos and other bugs. 

But the BEST thing about our apartment is the shower drain. I'm telling you....it has been pretty nice and clogged since we got here. Brooke has finally been able to get it all unclogged (after at least 3 attempts of pulling who-knows-what out), so now it finally drains when we turn on the water. It has been nice to not stand in ankle-deep water every time we shower. Way to go Brooke!

One slug found Margo's camera case

This one is hiding by my bed

I wonder what has been crawling around in my shoe...
we have these little slug trails all over our carpet

I'm pretty sure this is one of the slugs that Margo stepped on

I stepped on him as he was crawling near my bed

This one REALLY creeped me out. He had little white bugs crawling all
over him. He was found slimming around on our suitcases in the closet.

Wooohooo two at one time. It was raining a lot this day. 

Big momma spider right outside our door. It's blurry
cus the spider was moving fast!

I love bites. I love bites. Ohhhh how I love bites. 

First time Brooke tried to clean out our shower. Let me just tell you,
this was not even close to the end of what was inside!

Shout out to Brooke for always getting the slugs, bugs, and ugs!

We love Brooke oh yes we do....We love Brooke, how about you?!

Next up:

I wanted to dedicated a section of this post to the lovely girls I room with. This will help me to remember the good times we are having here together, and will also help whoever is reading this to get to know them better. I couldn't have asked for a better group of girls to be here in New Zealand with. :)

(side note: these sleeping pictures were all actually real, not posed in anyway!)

Brittany Babcock

Nickname: Oklahoma, "BRITT-any", or the small one

Hobbies: Cheer leading, sleeping, listening to music

Favorite music: All

Favorite foods: American, Mexican 

Favorite NZ word: "a bit"

Favorite color: Green

Misses the most about America: The food. . .and her family

Loves the most about NZ: Probably the scenery and the landscape, everything is so pretty here

Number of bug bites since being in NZ: 3

Amount of Milo consumption: Do you want it in grams?. . .I have about a cup a school day, oh and I have one during when we watch "Once Upon a Time".

Amount of Tim-Tam Slams: Oh I only did 2 for the science experiment in class

Interesting Fact: I sleep with a mask and ear plugs every night because my roommates always have the lights on and are loud. I also somehow manage to take my ear plugs out while I am sleeping.

Dream grade to teach: I really like the little ones, but lately I really want to teach high school. But I really do like the 5 year olds. . . .ok so it's UNSURE.

Dream job: I would love to be a talk show host, because then you get to meet everyone famous and you don't have to do anything yourself. When I was little I wanted to be a truck driver.

Most embarrassing moment in NZ: I almost kissed Victoria that first day we meet her at our YSA cottage evening (because they greet us by kissing cheeks). Oh also, during the hongi I hit the little boy's head really hard and he said "owww". 

Roommates comments: "She's little. She's only noisy when she talks in her sleep (on rare occasions)" --Brooke; "She's G-RRRRR-eat" --Margo. "Thanks for doing the dishes Brittany!" --Mandy

Number of books read: 3, going strong!
Home town: Oklahoma (and Colorado)

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Margo Pfeifer

Nickname: Where's Margo?, Hobbit, mountain man Margo, the sporty one, Whea Margo

Hobbies: running, eating, laughing, talking, SNORING, wheezing, grunting

Favorite music: sound of music, Disney, random church songs, Lizzy McGuire, what ever music I ask Mandy to play

Favorite foods: Anything edible --minus coconut....wait....actually it depends on the mood. Changes daily. Margo is currently still discovering. 

Favorite NZ word: "heaps". . .she's conformed; she says "jandels, mates, sweet as, porridge, and nappies"

Favorite color: blue

Misses the most about America: Nothing....I want to stay here forever. Margo's a Kiwi!

Loves the most about NZ: What is there not to love?

Number of bug bites since being in NZ: A billion; TOO many to count. They scar easy. Let me count....one, two, three....well do you mean this whole trip? I can't even guesstimate...humm 25? I don't know 15? Final answer: heaps

Amount of Milo consumption: not much. If it was Nutella that would be a different story. 

Amount of Tim-Tam Slams: I only had like 2 actually with the milk. But I've had like 7 or more packages of tim-tams. Ok wait, maybe like 10 or more packages.

Interesting Fact: That's a hard one....Her covers fall off of her bed and come all un-done, sheets/bedding gone, every night. Also, Margo has the shortest memory EVER!

Dream grade to teach: probably 2nd or 3rd

Dream job: TEACHING! (in NZ, no maybe not in NZ...just teaching with creativity....not with a strict school...just teaching!)

Most embarrassing moment in NZ: I never know the answer to these types of questions. In NZ. . .I've fallen about a million times this weekend. Ummm. . .I don't really get embarrassed, that's why I can never really answer this type of question. UNSURE. Come back later. Oh I guess I get embarrassed like, "ahhh stop it", when we talk about boys. But that's not really getting embarrassed....so ok.....still unsure. I don't know the definition of being embarrassed. 

Roommates comments: "For Narnia!!"; "WHERE'S MARGO???"; "Margo do you still have your retainer in?"; "Why is there peanut butter on the table, in the towel....umm everywhere? Why is there. . .oh Margo."; "oh David fell down again Margo" --Mandy, Brooke, Brittany

Number of books read: 2 and 1/2
Home town: Plainfield, Connecticut

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Brooke Cannon

Nickname: Brick (from Siah), party girl from Vegas, Whea Brooke

Hobbies: loving Evan, taking pictures of flowers, playing the piano

Favorite music: good music, that Jason Mraz song from Evan (that Mandy plays, "I won't give up"), I listen to the same kind of music that Mandy listens too

Favorite foods: EVERYTHING; I like it. I'm not picky so. . . .

Favorite NZ word: "sweet as"

Favorite color: blue

Misses the most about America: Evan. I really don't miss the foods

Loves the most about NZ: the high adventures; the thrill

Number of bug bites since being in NZ: I had WART bites....I really stopped counting after 100. Literally too high to count...her abilities aren't that high to count that high (says Margo)

Amount of Milo consumption: A cup a day. I have one each day at Morning Tea with Brittany. We discuss whether it will be hot or cold today.

Amount of Tim-Tam Slams: As much as I can get my hands on

Interesting Fact: Cracks every bone in her body LOUD AS. Right when Brooke wakes up she grabs her make-up bag to put her make-up on first....because she may not get a chance in the nice mirror if she doesn't right away.

Dream grade to teach: 2nd or 3rd

Dream job: being a mother...awww

Most embarrassing moment in NZ: I'm perfect and don't have any. JUST KIDDING. Re-telling the story of when I was riding a grocery cart and totally biffed it in the store. 

Roommates comments: "Brooke, there's a spider in the shower" --Brittany; "Will you stop matching everything I wear Brooke??!" --Mandy; "What do I say to you?" --Margo...... ok wait..."Brooke is like a star shining brightly in my life!" --Margo

Number of books read: 3 or 4 on my kindle, and I'm in the middle of one
Home town: Las Vegas, Nevada

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Mandy Welch (me!!)

Nickname: Irregular, hip-hip American, Miss Welch

Hobbies: dancing, TAKING PICTURES, blogging, talking about Andrew

Favorite music: Everything, good music, always playing it on my computer for all my roommates to hear

Favorite foods: nothing; hates everything; nothing here --especially Doritos; NOT high-fiber foods; banana cake; peanut butter and pretzels

Favorite NZ word: "have a go" or "give it a go"

Favorite color: yellow

Misses the most about America: Doritos and chips and queso; going to the bathroom; the way it makes me feel inside --Brittany; ANDRREEWW

Loves the most about NZ: the sweet NZ children

Number of bug bites since being in NZ: A lot, but not as much as Brooke....probably like 20. Or "Seven-ttteeenn"

Amount of Milo consumption: none; nada; oh wait I had a sip to make sure I didn't like it

Amount of Tim-Tam Slams: none; yuck

Interesting Fact: I don't like chocolate

Dream grade to teach: 2nd, kindergarten, or 3rd

Dream job: wedding photographer or dance teacher

Most embarrassing moment in NZ: Our whole family conversation, after scripture reading, talking about my BMs. 

Roommates comments: "Hey Mandy can you take a picture of me doing this. . ." --Margo; "You are me just 5 inches shorter" --Brooke, oh and "You're my marriage mentor" --Brooke; "Hey Mandy can you play your music.....Hey there missionary buddy. We are like two peas in a pod." --Margo; "You're going to go deaf if you listen to your music that loud"and "Just marry Andrew already" --Brittany "how do you spell. . ."

Number of books read: 3 and 1/2
Home town: Highland, Utah

Last of all:

The banana bread story. And food issue in general :)

One Sunday afternoon we were having dinner with our family, and the Cutris, and Phil bought us this amazing banana cake from Pak n' Save. Let me tell you, it was the most delicious banana cake I have ever had. YUMM. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Anyways. Before we went down to bed we put four left over pieces of the banana cake in a container so that we could each have one in the morning for breakfast. Well I woke up the next morning SOOOO excited to eat my banana cake piece and noticed that there was only one piece left. I was like, "did you guys already all eat your banana cake pieces?" Everyone said they hadn't and then Margo walked in and was like, "I didn't know that we were splitting that up between us all." haha oh man Margo Margo Margo!! We ended up sharing that little last piece between the three of us, so we pretty much each got a little sliver of a piece haha.

We then went to the Pak n' Save another time and went to find the banana cake. Well, we couldn't find it but found some banana bread that we thought could maybe be as good. Wrong, it still wasn't as good as the banana cake that Phil got. Just as we thought we'd never get a chance to have some more of that yummy cake, Phil proved us wrong by visually explaining where the cake is located in the store. We went there and sure enough, it was there! We took it home, ate it, and were in heaven. Margo has now been forgiven for eating our last pieces. haha I'm just kidding, she was forgiven a long time before that when she made the most amazing cinnamon rolls in the world. We love you Margo!

With the food issue. We keep having problems with each of us getting an even amount of food. So we have come up with a new wonderful plan. Now we each buy our own granola bars and our own side treat (either pretzels or chips). So far it has been working out really well and we all get a fair share of chips/pretzels in our lunch each day. Look at our good organization for each of our food in the cupboard.