2022 Family Quotes

A big year for New Zealand-to-USA contrasts, as we transitioned (in August of 2022) to living in the US again after 9 years in NZ.

Joyce, age 11

“It seems like things are going pretty much perfect so far.”

-Joy’s optimistic assessment of Boulder, Colorado, two days after moving into our home.

“We have to ‘pledge the allegiance’, or something like that. It’s so funny! We even put our hands on our hearts.”

- Joyce

“I put my pencil in it, and it started shaking all over, and I almost *screamed* in the middle of class.”

-What happened the first time Joyce sharpened a pencil in her new US school

“We got homework. And it’s soooo important! The teacher even grades it.”

-American-style homework lives up to its NZ reputation. On another occasion: “You can take and RETAKE an exam - it’s THAT IMPORTANT!”

“I asked the safety lady about earthquakes, and she said she didn’t know!”

-Joyce, amazed that a safety teacher could have such a serious gap in her knowledge. In her US school, they talk about tornadoes instead of earthquakes.

“I came out of school and around the corner and nearly burst out laughing because there was a yellow school bus and people were just getting on it!”

-Some bits of our US experience are just like in the movies.

“This would take AGES to clean.”

-not the typical American 11-yo response to a big cultural hall in the LDS stake center, but it makes sense after living in New Plymouth, where we cleaned the church regularly, along with most everyone else in the branch.

“It seems like everyone’s so well-trained here. No one’s naughty!”

- One thing Joyce likes about her new school. Intermediate school in NZ seems like it's more about trying new things than academics.

“I’ve never done anything like that at school before! Because it’s just so SILENT and the teacher doesn’t even have to DO anything. She reads her own book!”

-Joyce, re silent reading 30 minutes at school.

“‘Our’ sounds like ‘are’.”

-Joyce, deciphering the American accent.

“The substitute teachers know exactly what they’re meant to do. It’s crazy! It’s not like that in New Zealand.”

“So American! Pass-the-Parcel, but with Gladwrap!!!”

-Joyce’s initial reaction to an American party. Pass-the-Parcel was a favorite New Zealand party game, but played with paper wrapping instead of plastic.

“I won that wrestle!”

-Joyce, coming out from the bedroom while “getting ready for bed” with Sage

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Sage, age 14

Starting with quotes from early 2022, when we lived in New Zealand:

“After I did the Timber Trail the first time, my bum was the SOREST THING in the HiSTORY of BUMS.”

- Sage, re biking the Timber Trail, April 2022

“I learned about PARABOLAS in math today. I was sitting in class, and I could UNDERSTAND it. My mind was being BLOWN. And my teacher wasn’t even talking in an excited voice.”

-Sage, May 2022

“I had the WISEST thought last night, and now I can’t even remember it.”

- Sage is definitely more of a night person than a morning person. Sage: “I remember thinking, wow, that’s the wisest thought I’ve ever thought.” May 2022

“Whoa, the French really took over here.”

-A-ha travel moment. Tahiti seemed so much more colonized than New Zealand … but only because the colonizers speak a language that is foreign to us.

“I just want to go home.”

Sage, after the first couple weeks in CO.

“Our whole branch could fit on the stand.”

-Sage, re the Boulder LDS ward

“Mom! Can we steal a baby squirrel!”

-to whom do squirrels belong? Squirrels are as exciting to us as wild monkeys.

"It's really different not being known as the person who's read the most, and I'm in the second lowest math class. Everyone else I know is taking all pre-IB classes"

Joyce: "I know! I'm in the lowest math class!

-Sage and Joyce commiserate about not feeling as cool per square inch in the US as they felt in NZ.

“There was a bear outside of our school twice. They had to lock down the school.”

- so exciting!

“Wait, Mom, I don’t know what a nickel is.”

- Sage, studying for a math test and getting tripped up by American monetary terms.

“One friend was running in Jordans. And another friend was wearing slip-on shoes. And they thought *I* was weird!”

-Sage, about doing the ‘beep test’ in bare feet. “Even the teacher came over to ask me about it.” In NZ, most of the class would have been running in bare feet. Sage liked the nice ringing noise instead of a beep and the pump music instead of silence.

“We have! We have EVOLVED!”

- Sage, after exiting the orthodontist’s office door, after hearing that neither she nor Joyce have unneeded wisdom teeth.

“MOM! I have SEVENTEEN contacts now”

New Gabb phones deliver. I wish I would have videoed their faces when they opened them.

“More kids here like hiking than in NZ.”

- Sage and Joyce both agree about this, which contradicts most people’s perception of Kiwi kids. Is this an attribute of most American kids or just Boulder? Sage: “In NZ I was the only one [rode my bike to school], or there was just a few of us, so everyone thought I was crazy but a little cool. Here, everyone rides their bikes to school! And I’m probably one of the least skilled bike riders in my whole school, but in NZ I was one of the most comfortable.”

“I kept calling them ‘tries,’ but I don’t think that’s what people call them here.”

- Sage’s intuition serves her well. They are called “touchdowns.” - after the Fairview vs Boulder high school football game.

“Mom, what will I do if I have kids someday, and they are normal kids? Picky eaters and fight with their siblings?”

-Sage’s unique set of fears about the future.

“I never thought it would be like that - it’s almost like a factory.”

- Sage, re youth temple trip

“Mom, this is so great, this just tastes like home. Wheatbix are the best comfort food ever.”

- Sage. Thanks to Oak filling his suitcase with Wheatbix at Christmastime, the girls are still having Wheatbix most mornings in May of 2023.

“I would do HUNDREDS of math assignments instead of one English assignment. I would stay up all night doing math.”

- Sage, frustrated about an English essay, Nov 2022.

“I’m a size 0 on top with size 10 feet.”

-This is not an exaggeration; however, Sage's 14-yo body proportions look better than they sound.

Mercy, age 17

“Mercy’s on my compulsory list.”

-Nina, age 11, re the Taranaka 6-hour race that she did with Joyce and Mercy.

“I was awake for 20 hrs and running for 17 of them.”

-Mercy, re the 5-Peaks run with Marco and Nicholas

“I’ve had enough of Mercy’s adventures …. until next week.”

- Marco, tired after 16.5 hours on the trail, going up the last hill before Paritutu rock in the last km of 5-Peaks run. The next weekend they ended up running Waikaramoana.

“I’m very glad I don’t have an ant in my ear anymore.”

-Mercy, Nebo backpacking trip. Tramping always reminds me to feel grateful for things that I take for granted, but this was taking things to a new level.

“I’m in a big situation of great yikes and horrors.”

- Mercy, playing Hearts post ginger bomb.

“Sage should be the oldest, and then I could just get her hand-me-downs.”

-Mercy, frustrated while shopping for school clothes. Leaving school uniforms behind was a big adjustment for all three girls this year.

“Adventuring is more of a mindset than a place.”

- Mercy. About exploring the mountain behind Grandma’s house.

“So many other Third-Culture kids! I love it.”

-Mercy, re Duke and Robertson community in particular

“Is it “just your thing” to sit by random people at meals and have conversations with them?”

-A male international student from China, after observing Mercy in the freshman dining hall.

“I miss the mountains more than I thought.”

- Mercy, about moving to North Carolina.

“I got very much educated on the way home- West Virginia is a state! And Chick-fil-A!”

-Mercy, re her drive home from a ward rafting trip in West Virginia.

“I loved it. It felt like myself.”

- Mercy after a long run. 64K

“It was fun! The ball went back and forth quite a bit.”

- Mercy, making a valiant attempt to say something insightful after watching the Duke-UNC basketball game.

“I just miss Mercy so much when you play that song.”

-Sage, a moment of nostalgia and sadness one night when I played Tribute on the piano. On another night: “I just want things to be the way they used to be in NZ, when Mercy still lived with us.” We have all missed seeing Mercy every day.

Oak

Mercy - “You have coke and electrolyte on your bike. Do you need any water?”

Oak - “That will be good. Wait, what have I come to?”

-Godzone pushes everyone to unexpected and new places, even Oak.

“Keen for sleep. Cold. Coming up to the transition point, I thought, ‘Who are all these weird people out in the middle of a paddock?’ ‘What day is it?’ I go back and forth from thinking this is such a cool sport to wanting to get back to normal life.”

-Oak, commenting on Godzone in the middle of the experience

“I ate ten wheat bix and a bowl of porridge for breakfast.”

-Oak, a week after GODZone, when I asked if he was still eating and sleeping more than usual.

“Who am I?”

-When Oak pulled his fleece out of his backpack in a busy supermarket and two dirty socks fell out. This may have also been part of the Godzone recovery period.

“I did 20k in an hour seventeen. It’s the fastest 20k I’ve ever run. It was such a fun run for me- I thought, ‘Wow, I’m healthy.’”

“I think everyone wishes they were me.”

-Oak, ever guileless

Ranger’s Apprentice on the Milford Bioteam

- Oak’s summer job title

“I must be contrary in all things.”

-Oak, appropriating the opposition-in-all-things scripture from 2 Nephi.

Danny

Joyce: “You haven’t had many greens the last three days.”

Danny: “What do you mean? I ate a whole thing of kumara this morning.”

“I don’t know what to do with it, though.”

Danny, after casually mentioning that his start-up got $5000 from BYU after pitching their project. Turns out, this was just the tip of the iceberg, with more fundraising than any of us imagined just around the corner.

Noah and Ariann

"Noah is soooo good at this game. He bluffs *every* single time."

-Brayden, younger cousin, about playing Coup with Noah.

Noah’s intense game nights with college roommates during the pandemic paid off at the Miller Family reunion with younger cuzzies.

“This is one of my Noah-doctrines, or the way things make sense to me: Faith is basically about being sendy and trusting God will stop me if it’s not right.”

Holly and Mike

“Mom, everyone said that your organ playing was awesome, but I didn’t even notice, to be honest.”

-Sage, keeping it real. Easy to impress our new ward, which seems to have a long-time tradition of singing hymns on the slow side.

“You. Keep asking these questions.”

-Laurel Thatcher Ulrich to me after my presentation after the Mormon History Association Conference.

“I thought chili was just you.”

-Sage and Joyce see me with new eyes after our first ward Halloween party, where they saw long tables covered with pots of chili and cornbread.

“It’s the heart of a son of a fish, or…. the heart of a son of a cow.”

-Sincere man at the roadside stand in Tahiti, explaining what we had bought for lunch.

We never actually figured out what we were eating.

Things that are different about living in the US:

Yummy capsicum and berries, cheap food. We love the Ice cream here, but we thought the same thing when we first moved to NZ! Sometimes having something new or different draws attention to how good it is.
using Amazon.com
So many answering machines! It seems like everywhere is automated.
TV screens at gas stations - what? So nice to pay at the pump, though
So many notes to sign from the schools! Much more info from the schools, in general - it feels hard to keep up.
Junk mail - sigh. Green enchilada sauce - yay! Commercialized holidays - sigh. Thanksgiving - yay!

“My roommate bought an automatic machine gun last weekend” - aahhhh. Danny mentioned this.

“Superman, saving the known universe”

-Oak, re Mike. Mike brought three bikes on a trip from NZ, even recruiting a friendly bystander to drive all the bike boxes from the airport to Boulder. Mike packed up all of our belongings in NZ all by himself, and he worked both his NZ job and his US job for several busy months during the transition.