Shoe Kicking Contest

This past Sunday Ashton and I went to the local park after church for a little shoe kicking contest. We put on our best shoes (the heavier the sole the better). We found a set of swings with a good clearing, which is hard to do in Pennsylvania. We got some momentum and let out a yell as our shoes flew through the air. I have to say that I won, but I think it is because of my distraction tactic.

Happy Father's Day

I have been waiting for months for Fathers Day. I had this great gift idea back while we were living in New Zealand. A few days before Fathers Day I told Ashton that I was so excited to give him his gift. He started trying to guess what it was so I started giving him some clues...it is something that will last forever; it is something that I made.

We went down to the DC temple on Saturday and stayed with my grandparents on Sunday. I was telling my Pop-pop the clues I gave and he asked, "What? Are you pregnant?" No, I'm not. But those things did fit the clues. A child would last forever and I would have to be some part of the making.

Father's Day morning I woke up and snuggled up to Ashton and woke him up and told him happy Father's Day. He said, "Thanks, but I'm not even a dad yet." Then I responded, "Well, remember how I told you how I made you something that would last forever? Well, WE made something that would last forever." His eyes lit up and he got so excited. He grabbed me and held me so tight and started kissing me and kept asking, "Really? Really?" And I kept reaffirming. I finally started to feel bad and had to tell him that we aren't having any children yet.

I got him so good. He deserves some of his own medicine. Last April fools he gathered his whole family together to tell them that we were having a baby. They were elated. It was time he understood how it felt.

So the real gift is something that I made. The Maori people in New Zealand have a special way of keeping their family history. They used to carve it on their faces. One side would be for their mother's side and the other for their father's. I am in love with the symbol of the fern and it is found all over New Zealand. It represents a new beginning, new growth. (It simply reminds me of what the atonement can do.) It is the perfect symbol for a new family. They would use a similar pattern when they carved the history on their face. In New Zealand they also have sacred family meeting homes called a marae. On the posts of the marae they pain their genealogy with a symbol much like the one of the fern. It is absolutely beautiful. They use the colors red, white and black. (Interesting how they use red on the door post just as the Jews put the red blood of the lamb during the passover on their door posts.)

In our painting, one is for the boys and one is for the girls. Each time we have a child we will add to the painting, keeping our own family record. So far there is only Ashton and I to show for.

So, here is to you Ashton! The world's best dad who is not even a dad yet.

Extracted

Way back in January, right after we got to New Zealand, my gums started hurting. I thought this was strange. I've never had a cavity (knock on wood) and so I was hoping it wasn't that. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was my wisdom teeth coming in. I have a super small mouth and so for the past 5 and a half months or so these things have been slightly bothersome.

The day after I returned from Connecticut, I finally got them out. The pain wasn't that bad. What I hated and still and suffering from, is lack of real food. Jello, pudding and applesauce is not sustainable. But it is so hard to eat. It takes me nearly an hour to eat half a sandwich. I can't really open my mouth that wide and food always gets stuck in my stitches. It's killing me! I was lucky to not really have any major swelling or bruises. I just have a poor lisp from slightly swollen cheeks and a major appetite.

This was my life for 3 days. The pain killers totally knocked me out after like 10 minutes of taking them. I would start reading and then get all dizzy, close my eyes, and be out for the next 3 hours. I would set my alarm every 30 minutes to change my ice pack to the other side. That is the only thing I would get up for.

I stopped taking my pain killers yesterday so I would be awake enough to go running. And I haven't really needed them since. It hurts after I attempt eating real food, but I just tough it out. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be back to normalcy.

Girls Weekend

My friends are really like family. Just a few weekends ago I had the great privilege of tagging along a trip to New England with 2 of my great friends. I have known Bethany since I moved to Arizona in the 5th grade and we all became good friends with Becky in college. And even better, we were all roommates our senior year at BYU.

Becky is attending Yale University in New Haven, CT so Beth and I flew into Hartford and stayed with Beckster in New Haven. We spent one day in Boston. It was beautiful...and a little rainy. We tired ourselves out by walking the freedom trail. That pretty much takes you around all the major sites in Boston. My favorite area is the North End. I imagine that is what Italy is like. It is so romantic--blossoming courtyards, balcony flowers. All the Italian restaurants are on that end of town.

On our way home we stopped in Mystic, CT. My aunt grew up close to there and I remember going there as a small child. Mysitc is one of the first sea ports in America. It's small town feel is charming, and I simply love the New England feel. It is the home of the inspiration for the movie Mystic Pizza. We naturally had to stop and get some pizza. To be honest, I had never heard of that movie, but apparently it is some joke with Bethany's sister. It was quite yummy none the less.

We spent Sunday in New Haven exploring Yale and it's fine old buildings. We saw what Mark Twain considered the most beautiful street in America. It was beautiful, but I don't know about the most beautiful.

The next two days were spent in the bustling city of New York. I love New York. I love the lights, the energy, the diversity. I have been to New York many times before and I have never seen the Statue of Liberty, so we took some time to see that. As well as the statue of Balto beautifully displayed among Central Park's many statues. We peeked around the fences to ground zero, checked out times square, all down 5th ave, the met, macy's, the empire state building, the temple.

It was great just to be with my friends. It is good talking on the phone, but there is nothing like hanging out in real life, the late night pillow talks, all the good stuff of life. Thanks to my wonderful husband, who lets me visit my friends!

So I took pictures while on the trip, but not that many because I figured I could just get them from my friends, which I did. Besides, Ashton is our picture taker...without him, I'm hopeless. And since he wasn't there, I was hopeless.