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.

Tramping Back

So...America. We're back and ambivalent. We left New Zealand all ready for the adventure that lies ahead. It always seems like there is something good around the next corner in life. We spent a few eye opening days in Fiji on our way back to the States.

We flew into Nadi and took a 3 hour ride across the island to Pacific Harbour. The only real industries that Fiji has is tourism and sugar cane. Fiji consists of over 300 islands with two main islands. Nadi and Pacific Harbour are both in the main island of Fiji. Most of the nice resorts are out on the smaller islands. On our drive across the island we saw people wearing second hand clothing, living in tin homes, huts of bamboo; these people are just poverty stricken. I was embarrassed to be carrying 2 suitcases chock-full of clothes that I don't even really wear. ( I always seem to take more than I need.) I was slightly embarrassed to be American. I hope that doesn't hurt anyone's American Pride, but I must say it was true. How come I live in the land of opportunity and abundance. Here America is, in an economic downturn, a scarring political election, and for the most part self-consumed, thinking that we don't have anything. Our welfare line is far above the level of life that these people live. And yet they are happy, care-free almost. People may say that it's because they don't know any better. I don't think that is necessarily the case. Some of them have a television and they see Americans prancing around in their fancy clothing. They know there is more out there, yet they are satisfied with their lot in life. One might say they are more grateful for what they already do have.

And yet, that is one of the greatest strengths of America--not being satisfied. We are always striving to be better--to be the best. Pushing ourselves to the max. America holds great power through the world. I don't think one can really fully understand the influence our great country has until visited another country. It made me realize how important voting is.

There are many things that are great about America and so many things that are great about where ever you go in this world. Ashton and I learned a lot while we were overseas. One of the most important things that we learned was to constantly express true gratitude.

While we were in New Zealand, Ashton and I mostly worked with the Polynesian people. They are a beautiful people. They are so gentle. I love how they greet you with a kiss on the cheek. They all speak so softly and are so caring and willing to help everyone. Everyone is a brother. Their lives are filled with meaning passed down from their older generations. I could go into greater detail, but I will spare you now. One of the greatest things we learned from the Polynesian people was to be grateful. Ashton and I would go present and whether they were interested in the business or not, they would always express their gratitude for thinking about them enough to at least share what we had to say. They always told us how grateful they were for the help we offered. I never thought of myself as an ungrateful person, but I certainly don't express my gratitude like I should. I think that Christ-like quality really keeps a people humble and keeps them in the hallow of His hand. I am determined to be more grateful. For if these people who hardly have anything can be so grateful, oh how much more I have to be grateful for.

Needless to say Ashton and I had major culture shock when we landed in LA. (LA can be a culture shock even for people just visiting from another state). Aside from the normal adjustments like driving on the other side of the car and the other side of the road--which we still mess up sometimes, not calling people "mate" or using other NZ lingo, there were some major adjustments we needed to make. I didn't realize I could have culture shock coming back. But I have decided that it is because when you go to another country you expect it to be different, but when you come back you don't really expect it to be different. But the truth is that the country really isn't different--I am different. I am not around those gentle people. I am around the rough edged American. People here are abrupt and pushy and rough. I didn't realize it, but it was shocking when I first got back.

I told Ashton that I was excited to see Mexicans and that I really missed their culture. But when I saw the gangsta Mexicans of LA, I decided that I really just mixed Mexican food.

And then we made our flight from LA to Salt Lake--wow! That is a whole other world in itself. Almost more shocking than LA.

We spent one lovely day in Utah with Ashton's family. His brother Tyler graduated from the U of U law school and gave a very nice address to the graduating class. After attending that event we picked up some stuff out of storage, visited some friends briefly and then took off the next morning.

We drove one day from Ogden, UT to Manhattan, KS and spent the night with Ashton's best childhood friend, Dustin. It was lovely to spend time with him and his family. And boy that drive was beautiful. America is beautiful. Everyone says KS is so boring, but I love watching the grass dance in the wind over the rolling hills and feeling the cool wind blow your hair while the sun warms your skin. What a lovely feeling, what a beautiful place.

The next day we drove to Topeka, spent time there. Drove to Kansas City, spent more time there with friends. We didn't leave there until 3pm and then made the rest of the trek east to Pittsburgh, PA where we will be for the summer. That jet lag really came in handy driving all night long to make it. It was quite normal to be up at those odd hours.

It was a whirlwind trip and we each only got a few hours sleep each night. Adjusting has been really tough. We are finally getting used to it though.

The Burg is nice. It is green and hilly. We are still getting used to the people. We went to church the first time yesterday and everyone was really friendly. Many people came up and introduced themselves to us. We are grateful to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and have family all over the world. It will also be nice to live so close to my family as well.

We are most grateful for the experiences that we have had together traveling and meeting with people. There are things you can learn from people all over the world and even the ones you share the bathroom with. We are grateful to be back in America, where opportunity abounds and abundance truly prospers. We are truly blessed with much more than we ever dreamed and certainly much more than we truly need.

Closing the New Zealand chapter and opening the Pittsburgh chapter of life! Go Penguins!

ANZAC Day

Every year the Kiwis and Aussies celebrate AnzacDay. Anzacstands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps. During WWI men from these two countries went to Turkey to fight in the war and April 25th is set aside each year for those men who honorably served.

Our favorite part of the day were these yummy Anzac cookies. These cookies were made with love from the people on the home front and shipped to the men in the war.

Here is the delicious recipe:

     1 c  Flour
    1 c  Rolled oats
  3/4 c  Finely shredded coconut
    1 c  Sugar
  1/2 c  Butter
    1 tb Maple syrup
1 1/2 ts Baking soda
    2 tb Boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease cookie sheets; set
aside.

2. Combine flour, oats, coconut and sugar.

3. Melt butter with maple syrup over very low heat
to avoid scorching.

4. Combine baking soda and water. Add to butter
mixture; stir into flour, mixing well.

5. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls 2" apart on
sheets. Bake 20 mintues. Remove from sheets and
cool on racks.

"The Rest of New Zealand"

We recently ran into a man who wisely said, "There's Auckland and then there's the rest of New Zealand." Last week we visited 'the rest of New Zealand.' We get to see Auckland all the time, seeing as we live here. Our trip was fantastic. Neither Ashton or I had ever been to the South Island and what a treat it was. It is as vastly different from the North Island as the western coast of the United States to the eastern coast.

The South Island is flat in the middle with coastal mountain ranges that hold mystical waterfalls, massive glaciers, and tropical bush. The flat part is covered with green pastures and spotted with cattle and sheep....heaps of sheep.

We started out trip in Queenstown and then drove out to the Milford Sound which isn't really a sound; it's a fiord. Which means that the mountains were carved out by glaciers and then the sea came and filled up the valleys instead of the mountains being carved by the sea. We stayed the night right on the sound in our little camper van. Imagine waking up to massive mystical mountains filled with the still sea and warm sun popping up above the mountain tops. Amazing.

We kayaked around the sound/fiord all morning long. Many seals, which are actually sea lions...these New Zealanders just don't know how to name anything, swam all around us, under the kayak, and jumped on the rocks to bathe in the sun. It was amazing. We even saw a penguin swimming! We kayaked right to the bottom of a waterfall, one of two that run all year long at Milford.

After our kayaking adventure, we took some hikes. One was through the tropical bush to a waterfall that had carved out soft rock between hard rock and left chasms cascading the falls. Then the hike to the Key Summit. The views of tropical bushed mountains tops spotted with glaciers, pools and hidden lakes in upper valleys. It was breathtaking.

The next stop was at the most massive glaciers I have ever seen in my life. I have been to Glacier National Park and thought that was stunning....and it was, and still is. I love Montana, but the glaciers we saw this day in history were the most massive I have ever seen to this day. Franz Josef glacier is about 7.5 miles long! Both Fox and Franz Josef are spectacular in that they sit in the tropical mountains. Surrounding the glaciers are mossy waterfalls, ferns, and green trees and shrubs. The glaciers are an amazing icy blue color and are filled with ice caves and cliffs.

We then drove up to Pancake Rocks. These rocks were made by the sea millions of years ago. The look like stacks of pancakes. At high tide with a rough sea pressure builds up in these rocks creating blow holes...much like a geyser effect.

Then it was on our way to Christchurch to stay with some mates of ours. We had an exceptional time on the South Island. The beauty of this world is a constant reminder of all of God's love for each of us. Right after our trip to the South Island came to a close we ventured to the far north of the North Island among the rolling green hills and the Maori people. (Most people on the South Island are white people; it's too cold for those Polynesians down there.)

We were definitely excited to make it back to our own beds in Auckland after seeing the rest of NZ. It felt so good to shower too!

Easter--Bigger than Christmas?

I think this Easter comic is so funny. It cracks me up every year. Anyway...Ashton and I have just experienced, along with the rest of the Christian world, the divine holiday of Easter.

Here in New Zealand, this holiday is right up there with Christmas-just as it should be. The government has a mandatory declaration stating that all shops be closed on a few holidays-Christmas, Boxing Day, Good Friday and Easter. I also think they might be closed on ANZAC day or something. I'm not sure. (You can apply for a permit to be open, but it is extremely hard to get. You can only get one if you are the only shop around for 50 miles and you have essential life supplies.) It was incredible.

The day before Good Friday, all the shops were packed. And then Good Friday came around and all the world was dead. Nobody was out.

Saturday shops opened again and then Sunday they were closed. Some places are even closed Easter Monday. Schools are not in session from Good Friday to Easter Tuesday.

Many people go out of town for Easter. We stayed where we were and enjoyed pondering our Savior and the gift that he has given all men if they choose to come unto Him. We enjoyed a marvelous fireside where the spirit was strong. We had a great Easter and are grateful for the holiday as a reminder of what the Savior has done for us.

A Piha Picnic

Ashton and I love to go to the beach for an evening picnic, especially since we live to close to water all around us. Just last night we went to Piha beach, which is on the western coast, so we could watch a lovely sunset. Piha is known aournd here for its massive and dangerous waves. Just watching from the shore we could see waves that must have been around 10 feet high. They all came crashing down at once, row after row of waves. We thought it was neat because the light from the sun would beam through the waves and make them clear-ish, some might say opaque.

We even had a little adventure losing the key in the sand. I had put the key on the blanket and forgot to pick it up before we left. We scooped up the blanket and walked back to the car not realizing we had lost the key until the moment arrived to open the car door. This was not so bad except for the fact that when we left the beach it was pitch black, so looking for a key in the sand was not going to be that easy. We said a quick prayer, went back to where we were sitting and withing 5 minutes of hopeful searching, Ashton spotted a shiny spot that just happened to be our needle in a haystack. How grateful we were to have found our key, saying another prayer of gratitude all the way home!

Polyfest '08

This past weekend we had the privilege of attending Polyfest. It was spectacular! All of the colleges (high schools here) from the area compete through song and dance from their different cultures. There were 5 different stages--the Maori stage, the Tongan stage, the Samoan stage, the Niue stage and the Cook Island stage. The Maoris compete against Maoris, Tongans against Tongans, etc. We were mostly at the Maori stage. After each performance the Maoris in the crowd would get up and do the haka to those who had performed on stage as a way of cheering. It was incredible. All of a sudden 5 groups of people would stand up and start shouting the haka with so much passion. It was so awesome.
We saw a Tongan performance and they have incredible voices. I remember last year we went to a Tongan ward just to hear them sing. It is so lovely.
It was an incredible opportunity to be completely surrounded by the islanders. We were practically the only white people there. Seriously we probably saw about 5 other white people and half of them were cops.


Here are the real deal Maoris in the audience doing the haka. Too bad we can't see their faces. We did get a shot of some of the Maoris behind us, but there were definitely more in the front.

Accepted....Again

I found out today that I have officially been accepted into a masters degree program. This time to BYU in their Family Recreation Program. And Ashton is much happier this time than the time before. Last time I was accepted, Ashton and I were just dating and I was on the brink of graduating. I planned on moving back to the blessed state of Arizona where everything is brown and beautiful to do graduate school. We made a small trip to AZ so Ashton could meet my family. When we got there, a letter of acceptance was on my bed awaiting my arrival. When I opened it, I was so excited. Ashton on the other hand was not so excited. He was just like, "Oh, that's cool Lyd." I think he must have had other plans for me beyond my knowledge--like to get married or something. He did always say that we had a lot of potential for the "M word." A month or so later he made these intentions known to me and needless to say I married the man of my dreams still yearning to go to graduate school. From then until now I have filled my time with jobs I never thought I would ever have which left me still wishing I was back in school listening and learning. I hate working. I love school. I really liked school while I was in it, and love it now that I'm done. (But by the end of my senior year I was definitely ready to be done and do something else so these 2 years have been a nice little break.) And now, two years later, it is my turn to go back! BYU here I come! I hope this post will remind me of how much I liked school before I went back when I am in the grind.

Architectural Wonder

Ashton and I went to the Sky Tower for the first time last night. It was amazing. The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and at the top there is a restaurant that spins around giving an amazing view of the entire city and miles beyond over ocean and land. It was phenomenal. There was not a bad seat or view in there!

Sky Tower Facts:
--Sky Tower has three circular public observation levels - Sky Deck, Main Observation level and Sky Lounge - from each of which you can get a 360-degree view of Auckland.
--Three glass-fronted elevators can take 225 people to the observation levels every 15 minutes. The elevators travel at 18km per hour and the ride takes only 40 seconds.**There is a glass bottom in the elevator so you can see the ground getting smaller as you go up! It is crazy!
--There are 1,267 steps from the base of Sky Tower to Sky Deck. It would take someone 29 minutes to reach Sky Deck walking at 4km (2.5 mph)
--On a clear day you can see approximately 82 kilometres (51 miles) from Sky Tower.
--During one Sky Tower Vertical Challenge race a contestant ran up over 1000 steps in only five minutes and 17 seconds.
--At 328 metres tall Sky Tower stands above any other tower in the Southern Hemisphere and is the 12th tallest tower in the world (taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris or Sydney's AMP Tower). Sky Tower is about as tall as 37 buses end on end!
--Sky Tower weighs 21 million kilos (20,000 tonnes) which is equivalent to 6,000 elephants.
--It took two years and nine months to build Sky Tower.

Everyone and Their Dog

The other night...literally the other night, (So many times I always say "the other night" to start a story and then I correct myself, "Well, it was really a few weeks ago," or "Well, last month." But this time it really was the other day. Two days ago to be exact.) Ashton took me on a really nice date. We live about 10 minutes from the beach and we made a picnic dinner together and then drove down to the beach. We ate and watched all the people out. There were heaps of families out at the beach. It was low tide and so the beach was huge. And not only were the families out, but everyone had brought their dog(s). I swear there just may have been more dogs than people on the beach. It was so enjoyable to watch people spending good quality time together as families and friends and domestic animals.

After our nice dinner, we played a round of mini-beach-golf. We had a golf club and two balls and we would pick random spots on the beach and have to hit the ball to those spots. It was so much fun. A few times, we had some animal interference and had to retrieve our balls, but other than that the game was "smooth sailing".

G'Day Mate

Ashton and I recently returned from a lovely trip to Australia. We had a grand time! Our first stop was in Brisbane where we stayed with Ashton's Mission President and family, the Smiberts. What wonderful hosts they were.

Sis and Pres Smibert with Ashton and Me
This shot is overlooking from a bush walk next to Burleigh Beach
We saw this frilled neck lizard on our bush walk
Famous in Australia
Welcome to Surfers Paradise.
It really is paradise.
A shot of Surfers Paradise
We went and did some baptisms in the Brisbane temple
The Brisbane River runs all around the city.
Many people use the river as transportation.
We are about to jump on the River for a ride home
after our visit to Southbank where they
have a man-made beach in the city!
Before we left Brisbane we went to the worlds oldest
Koala (not bear) reserve and we each held a Koala.
We also got to hop with the Kangaroos and see many other
wildlife native to Australia such as dingoes, wombats,
emus, different birds, echidnas, etc.
Time to eat!
This is a laughing Kookaburra. "Kookaburra sits in the old
gum tree!"

Our next stop was Sydney. We stayed in a hotel and just traveled around the city. It was fantastic. We really fell in love with Australia.

We went to the aquarium in Darling Harbour. The Jellyfish were amazing!
We found Nemo
and Dory.
There were these tunnels that you could walk under and see sharks
and sting rays and sea turtles. It was incredible!
Look at all the sharks!
Darling Harbour at night time. It was beautiful.
While we were there they had a celebration for the Chinese New Year--
Year of the Rat. They had Chinese Dragon Boat Races.
It was pretty cool.
We had a great time at Manly Beach. Most of our day was spent at the wrong beach though.
But luckily we missed the ferry back to Sydney so we could venture and find Manly--where we were supposed to be hanging out that day.
We were able to go see Le Boheme in the opera house.
It was brilliant! What a great opportunity!
Sunday we found a meeting house in the city right by Hyde Park. Unfortunately we didn't know that it was Stake Conference and we didn't know how to get there. A few other visitors also turned up that had just arrived from England and we had our own special little discussion of the lesson. It was a touching experience for all of us. We are grateful for the examples of strong saints all around the world.
We walked around the Royal Bontanical Gardens
which was filled with fruit bats.
Here is a pond filled with life at the gardens.
On our last day in Sydney we met up with our mate Nelson. During the 2000 olympics in Sydney, a local radio station in AZ randomly called Nelson who runs a pancake shop in Sydney. Since then, he has been a favorite on the radio and has fallen in love with AZ. We emailed him and met up. He took us all around to the good local spots in Sydney. It was great to get to know him. And we enjoyed some delicious pancakes at no cost!
Here is a pic of Sydney heads where the Harbour meets the ocean.
The water is beautiful!
Here is Ashton at Bondi Beach. The color of the water is vibrant!
Our last day in Sydney was President's Day. They don't have President's Day of course, but it is a Buswell Family tradition to play 2 games of bowling on President's Day. So we had to keep to our traditions. I did terrible, but Ashton did great. It must have something to do with the water spinning the other way when you flush the toilet on this side of the world.

All in all, we had a great trip to Australia. We loved the people and their laid back attitude. We found their accent easier to understand than the Kiwi accent. The land was beautiful. A lot more creeping insects and spiders. More poisonous things too, especially considering there are none in NZ.

Ashton and I feel very blessed to be able to travel. We have loved seeing different parts of the world and getting to know people and how they live. There is something good we can take from everywhere that we have been to and we are grateful for the things we have learned.

'Otai

I have made a first attempt at recreating the Tongan drink, 'otai. I must say that I think it turned out rather "yum" as the kiwis say. I have asked so many people how to make it and there is no set recipe really. They always tell me to "throw it all in--fruit, ice cream, milk, whatever and then just mix it. Just mix, mix, mix." So that is what I did. Our 'otai had some coconut milk, ice cream, grated coconut, mangoes and peaches, mango nectar, and some other tropical-type juice. I think that most people put coconut and then some type of fruit. I've mostly seen mango and watermelon. Ashton and I are sure this drink will be in heaven. He also thinks buttered chicken will be, but I prefer Thai to Indian so we'll see.