"Yes we wear dresses, and yes we dance"

I bet you are wondering what the heck the name of my post comes from. There are lots of Rugby World Cup commercials on the tv right now. My favorite has a segment with 2 really tall guys in kilts, that would be the "yes we wear dresses" part. Then the next segment shows The All Blacks doing the Haka, the "and yes we dance" part. I love that commercial!!

Fortunately for us we were able to get tickets to the bronze final for the Rugby World Cup here in New Zealand. The game was this last Friday night in Auckland. It also happened to be the day before Scott's birthday so, for his birthday present we went to the game. The game was Wales vs Australia. We went and cheered for Wales because they really deserved to win. The game was awesome! The whole atmosphere was so cool!! We started out leaving Catherine in Huntly with the Rutenes around 5:30 p.m. We decided to take the train to the game because they were free. So we made it to the train around 6:30 p.m. The train left at 6:40 and it was around a 30 minute ride to the park. Scott had been hoping to walk the fan trail to the game, which was about a 50 minute walk. Unfortunately we got the stop to start the walk with about 50 minutes until kick-off so, we decided we wouldn't walk. It was still so cool. We saw so many people there. We saw a guy dressed up as "Where's Waldo" and some as Nelson Mandella. There were so many different costumes. There was also a Maori dance going on right outside the park. Scott was really sad we didn't walk the trail because of what we saw right outside the park. Oh well though. It was still awesome. So now our holiday officially starts!!
This was actually taken from our seats.

The Maori dance
Scrum

Us at the stadium

Us on the bus

“"Honey, you’re on the wrong side of the road again.”

There isn’t much to do around Gisborne but, there is Rere Falls and the Eastwoodhill Arboretum. One day Scott came back from work about an hour after he left and said John had given him the day off. We were hoping the sun would come back out. Scott had gotten the day off because the sun decided to come out for the first time in weeks but, by the time he got back to the apartment it was cloudy again. So we decided to chance the weather and try to do some sightseeing. So we left for Rere falls. It was about a 45 minute drive and by the time we got there I was incredibly car sick! Really the problem I have with New Zealand roads is, they are terribly twisty. The speed limit is 100 km (about 62 mph), but normally you can’t get up to that speed because the road curves too much. I decided the best thing for motion sickness is a waterfall. So, I left Scott to get Catherine out and I ran down to the falls. It was gorgeous. You can also get right up close to the waterfall. I guess sometimes you can even get right up behind the waterfall. Scott even has pictures of him standing behind the water of the falls. Unfortunately, the water was hitting right against the wall. So we decided not to try a fight with the falls. Anyway, it was gorgeous. We had a nice little picnic by the falls. Also, no one was around. There was absolutely no one around. We had the whole place to ourselves. When we decided to leave the falls I had had enough of the twisty roads and decided it was time to learn to drive in New Zealand. I did a pretty good job! I had a little bit of trouble with some one lane bridges. Mostly I would go across the bridge and automatically move to the right side of the road. Scott kept reminding me to get back over to my side of the road. Luckily we didn’t see many cars. So we drove on to a rock slide. It is on the same river as Rere falls just a little ways down the river. Basically it is just a decline in the river that has just the right amount of slope to be a slide. Apparently you take a mat and slide down this gentle slope in the water. It was a little intimidating to me, mostly because I’m a chicken, but Tran Burt told me that once you see all the kids going down it you realize it’s not that bad. Luckily, for me, it was too cold to get in the water, even though the sun did come out and it was moderately warm. I did stick Catherine’s feet in the water and, needless to say, she was NOT happy with me. After looking at the rock slide for a few minutes we decided to go to Eastwoodhill Arboretum. Everyone in Gisborne has been telling us to go see it so, we decided, “why not!?” We get there and talk to the lady at the office and she tells us what walk should take us about an hour and we set off. It was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful!! It was basically a forest. One thing I noticed as well, there are so many different colors of trees. They have white, pink, purple, red (I love all the red blossoms on the trees), dark red, green (of course), yellow, and orange. I think I even saw a blue tree once, it might have been purple but, it was pretty close to blue. I just love all the different colors here!! We made it about half-way when Catherine decided the ride was too bumpy in the stroller, and told us (very loudly) to get her out. It was also at this point we realize she has thrown her pacifier out of the stroller, which also happened to be the only one I brought. Also it was my favorite of her pacifiers. So, Scott heads back down the trail while Catherine and I wait on a bench we found. Scott comes back empty handed… so now we have a little girl who will not sit in her stroller and no binky to put in her mouth. She also happened to want her Mommy, who can’t hike and hold her so, she gets to scream in Daddy’s arms. It was still a great walk. At the end of the walk there was a fountain. Catherine didn’t like it but, I sure had fun! It was a large marble ball that sits on water. So I was playing around, rolling the ball and running my hands through the water. It was quite refreshing after our long walk. Unfortunately, we exhausted everything there is to do around Gisborne in one day. Looks like we are going to have to try harder to find things to do while we are still in Gisborne.

Hunting Again

So, Scott decided he needed to go hunting again, this time for deer and wild boar. So on a Saturday we went out to the Eketone’s house and Scott went with Karain and a friend of Karains. I stayed at the house with Susan and the kids. It wasn’t an extremely exciting day for me but, Scott had fun. He shot some kind of duck and they also shot some goats. They didn’t see any deer or boars. I think it would have been pretty cool if they had come home with a wild boar.

Lamb's tails and opossum hunting!

Our last week or so has been really eventful. I'll start with Scott's opossum hunting. Scott was invited to go hunting with his friend Karain Eketone. So to go opossum hunting you have to go at night because they are nocturnal. So we went over for dinner. When we get there Karain and his 4 kids are out in one of their paddocks with a fire. So we go in and I sit with Susan his wife. Scott goes out to see what Karain is up to. Little did we know, Karain planned a "suprise" for us... Somehow Karian got a hold of a bag of docked lamb's tails. yay... :( So I am just sitting inside with Susan talking. Pretty soon Scott comes in and says, "Are you hungry?" So he tells me that my dinner is waiting for me outside on the fire. At this point I'm pretty sure someone is trying to trick me into something. So I walk outside with Scott to find out that Karain has told him that all there was for dinner is lamb's tails. At this point I'm thinking I would rather starve. So we walk out there and they ask me if I want one. When Karain looks at my face he can tell I don't want one. So Scott says, "Just try one." So I do. It was awful, slimy, cold, and fatty. But, I can honestly say I tried it. So we go in and they start making dinner. WHEW!! So after dinner Karain takes his son and Scott opossum hunting. Basically it is their form of bunny bashing. They just take a light (cause you have to hunt them in the dark) and shoot them for fun. Of course they didn't even see any opossum. They did come back with 3 peacocks, 1 peahen, and 1 turkey. Although Scott said they shot more than they brought back.

Picture time

This was at the end of our walk. Catherine didn't care for it but, I sure had fun. It felt so good after our long walk.

Cool tree under another cool tree.

This is the pond they were on. So cool!

These are the coolest! These little flower things cover ponds around here. Sometimes they completely cover the water so they are all you see.

This is a pond on our walk at Eastwoodhill.

This is at Eastwoodhill arboratum. We believe it is a silver fern. Which is the national plant of New Zealand.

Yes, this is a lemon, and yes, it is as big as Scott's head.

Catherine in a swing by the falls

Daddy and Catherine in the tree

Daddy in the tree.

Daddy and Catherine by the falls.

My baby and me at the falls.

This is Rere Falls near Gisborne, New Zealand.

They went hunting again, this time for deer and boar (which they didn't see any of) Scott shot this bird. We aren't really sure what it is.

Catherine and I went for a walk around the shops in town. When we got tired we went down to one of the rivers in town and sat in a gazebo for a while.

Getting ready to watch the rugby game. We just had to get an "All Blacks" shirt for her.

My "All Blacks" baby!!

These are the 3 peacocks, 1 peahen, and 1 turkey they came home with.

This is Karain and the turkey he shot

Scott with the peacock he shot, while possum hunting.

Scott eating his lamb's tail. Gross?? I think so!!

My baby can stand!! She just pulled herself up and stood there for a while.

Our first Sunday here. Not sure if you can see it but, she also has her two front bottom teeth

I can honestly say I tried lamb's tails. It was weird!!

Wainui beach right across from our house.

Its a little blurry but, our first walk on the beach with Daddy.

This is at the Eketone's house. Catherine loves it there.

Us in our sweaters cause it is COLD!!

Catherine at the beach. She loves it!

This is Catherine on the plane, eating pretzels

This is the view out our front door

So I'm not very good with the pictures on here so they are in reverse order. We are having so much fun here. It is finally starting to warm up! I'm so excited. Our house is always cold but, it is a basement so, I guess that is normal.

New Zealand

Well, I finally have an internet connection and we also got Scott's computer working so, I can even post pictures. Yay!! Anyway, I am writing from Gisborne, New Zealand. We arrived here a week ago. We left Boise airport at 3:10 p.m. on September 17th. Our flight from Boise took us to Las Vegas, Nevada. Then from there we caught our connection to Los Angeles. From Los Angeles we caught our flight to Auckland, New Zealand. The flights to LAX took about an hour and a half each with a little downtime between them. Our flight to New Zealand left LAX at around midnight on the 17th. We arrived in Auckland at 8 a.m. their time. We then took a cab to the bus stop and left on a bus at 10 a.m. At last we arrived in Gisborne at 7 p.m. We had a lot of traveling and were so glad when it was over. Catherine did so well. She only had about 2 times on the whole trip when she was fussy, and they only lasted about 10 minutes.
We have since found an apartment. We haven't found a car yet but, the pharmacy Scott is working at has loaned us theirs until we find one. The place we are living in is pretty nice. It is right across the road from Wainui beach. Pretty much the only thing wrong with it is the cockroaches. I HATE cockroaches!!! Oh, and it is freezing! But all the houses here are. We also have a snail on the bathroom ceiling. It mostly stays in one spot.
I have met so many nice people here. People here are just so friendly. Everyone says hi, and everyone wants to know your names. For the first week here we didn't do much. On Saturday we went out to the Eketone's house, Susan and Karaine and their 4 children. I got to meet them for the first time. Scott knew them from when he was a missionary here. They were just the coolest people. So friendly and personable. Within 10 minutes of being there Karaine had taken Catherine from me to give her "snuggles" then their kids played on the floor with her for forever. Even the boy. We then had a dinner with people from the ward. (There was supposed to be a ward party/dinner thing but it got canceled. So the Eketone's decided to do it themselves.) Scott and I played some game, it is like tetherball but with a tennis ball and rackets. I am also happy to say that I won 2 out of 3 games!! Later that evening we watched the rugby game at the Eketone's. We had a great day!
The pictures aren't uploading so I'll try again sometime later.

Catch Up

I really need to get better at this blogging thing. So here is an update. Scott is in his 3rd rotation and is at St. Lukes doing his hospital rotation. Catherine is now 6 months old and growing like a weed, and I am just enjoying watching her grow.

Scott's second rotation was at Elks rehab. It wasn't a bad rotation. He never had homework, which was nice. He got to work directly with the patients. One day he told me he was playing scrabble with one of his patients for therapy. His 3rd rotation isn't bad either. He has done a lot of different things. I don't think he really likes it all that much but, it has been educational.

Catherine is adorable. She is dang near crawling and, I'm not sure I'm ready for that. She scoots a lot. She hasn't really realized she can move yet but, its just a matter of time. She knows how to do it. She can sit up all on her own. Not for a long time, she gets tired of not being able to reach her toys and lays back down. She also chews on everything she can get her hands on. She had her 6 month check up the other day and she now weighs 16 lbs 12 oz (50th percentile), is 26 inches tall (75th percentile), and her head is 17 3/4 inches around(97th percentile). Basically she is tall and has a big head. She is always laughing and talking. She loves to talk! She says Dada all the time. I doubt she is actually calling her father but, its still cute.

This last saturday my sister Elisa brought her family to see us and we all went to Roaring Springs water park. It was lots of fun. We all took turns with Catherine and Shayne so the others could go on some rides. I'm glad they came up, we had lots of fun.

Well, its time for our next big adventure. As most of you know we are leaving for New Zealand soon. We will be there for around 9 weeks. I'm starting to get really nervous. Scott will be working in a pharmacy in Gisborne for 6 weeks then we will travel around for just over 2 weeks after that, then spend 4 days in Brisbane, Australia. I am so excited but, very nervous too. It will be a very different experience. I will try to blog more often while I am there so I can share our trip with all of you.

Summertime!!

The entire Thomas family

Catherine 3 1/2 months

Our Family

Catherine with Kari

Scott playing volleyball

Catherine playing with her cousin Kalaya

Well it is finally summer!! I talked Mom and Dad into bringing my little sister Jennifer to Boise to babysit for a few days. It was great having Jennifer here. Catherine loves her! So my parents showed up on a Wednesday and we went to P.F Chang's. Then when they left Jennifer stayed behind to spend a few days with us. She looked after Catherine so that Scott and I could go to the Temple and Pirates 4. It was so nice to go to the Temple again. It has been too long since we last went before Catherine was born.

Scott has finished his first rotation!! We couldn't be more excited that it is over. Scott has pretty much been gone for the past 6 weeks. He would go to his rotation at 7 am and get home around 3 pm or so, and then he would be either going to work or doing homework until he went to bed. I pretty much never saw him. It will be nice to finally have him home. We were told that the Family Medicine rotation with Dr. Hefflinger would be the hardest, it was definitely hard. I guess we will just have to wait to see if it is actually the hardest. So he started his second rotation today at Elks Rehab. We at least know that he wont have any homework, and that is a relief regardless of whether or not the rotation itself is easeir.

My sister Elisa has also come to visit us up here in good ol' Boise. She came up on Sunday the 19th and stayed with her brother-in-law Tim and his girlfriend Christine. Then on Tuesday we met and took the kids to the zoo. Which was really pretty cool. Catherine really couldn't care less but, Shayne sure liked it. Then after the zoo Elisa and Shayne came over and spent the next 2 days with Catherine and me (Scott was at work most of the time). On Thursday Elisa took Catherine and me to Rupert and we all spent the night there. I tried to get the Computer Literacy tests for CSI done so I can graduate. I got all but one of them passed!!! Then Scott came through and picked Catherine and me up and we went to Grace for the Thomas family reuion.

On our way to Grace we stopped in Pocatello to see my sister Crystal and her family. We didn't get to see them for very long but it was good to see them. Also Carter apparently missed Scott a lot. When we went out to dinner Carter wanted to sit on Scott's lap the whole time. It was so cute.

It has been around 10 years since all of Scott's siblings were able to be in Idaho, so this last weekend was something to celebrate. We drove to Grace to be with them. We got there Friday night and spent some time with Scott's brother Dwight's wife Candice and their kids. Then on Saturday morning we all met at the Heritage Elementary in Nibbly where Scott's brother Gary is principal. We spent all day in the gym there and played volleyball, ate good food, talked, and played minute to win it. It was a lot of fun. On Sunday we all went to Grace for the blessing of Rylan (Dwight and Candice's baby boy). Then ate some more good food, played games, and talked. We also got to take some family pictures, and just after we ate Catherine decided to poop all over her dress and me.

Also some exciting news. Catherine rolled over for the first time on Saturday. Her and I were waiting for Scott to change the oil in the car and I was playing with her on the floor when all of a sudden she just rolled right over. I got her to do it a couple more times. Then later when I was trying to show Scott what she had done, she wouldn't do it. Nobody believes that she rolled over because she wont do it again. I'll just have to keep putting her on her tummy until she decides to keep doing it.

Catherine is getting so big. Last time I weighed her, about a week ago, she weighed 13 lbs and was 25 1/2 inches long. She is growing so fast. She likes to stand up and really wants to sit up. She is a strong, smart little girl. I also can't wait for her to start eating cereal. Then maybe she will sleep longer. At the moment she only sleeps for 3 to 4 hours at a time. I really can't wait until she starts going longer again. She is growing so fast and is such a sweetheart, we love her so much.

Wicked!!!

On May 12th my sister Crystal and I went to see the musical "Wicked". Crystal and her family drove up to Boise on Thursday and Scott and Danny watched the kids while we went to the show. It was absolutely amazing!!! I have liked the music for a while and I have read the book but, nothing prepared me for the musical. I loved it. It was definitely worth the money we paid for the tickets!

Moving

Hiding in her blankie 10 weeks
Sleeping while Mommy blogs
Pond at Julia Davis Park
Scott's first day
Hell's Canyon
7 Weeks old




Looks like I need to do some catch up. Scott is officially done with the semester and he only has one year left, and no more classrooms. Scott's rotations started today in Boise. We moved into our apartment in Boise last Saturday May 7th. It has been different living in Boise. I never thought I would be living in Boise. Especially not raising a child here. Fortunately we shouldn't be in Boise for longer than a year, so it should be ok. I knew when we found out we had to move to Boise that I was really going to miss being close to my family. Just a few days ago, I realized just how much I am going to miss them. On Thursday my sister Crystal and her family came and spent the night with us. When they left I realized just how much I enjoyed living next to them. I am truly going to miss them.
Moving was quite the adventure. I thought I had a lot of things packed before we got the moving truck but, when my brother-in-law Danny and Scott's father Wynn came to help pack the truck I realized how much I didn't have packed. We didn't leave Pocatello until 10 pm. I had hoped to be in Rupert by 5 pm. So we crashed at my parents house that night and drove to Boise in the morning. We had everything out of the U-Haul truck in just a couple of hours.
Despite missing my family everything is going really well in our new home. We are all settled in to our apartment and mostly everything is unpacked. Scott started rotations today and this current 6 week block will be hard but, everyone says it will be the most beneficial. Scott's job starts tomorrow and he can pretty much pick which days he works. The weather is beautiful here, at least for the most part. Right now the weather has turned a little cold but, Friday was amazing. We even went swimming. I think I am really going to enjoy having a swimming pool at our apartment complex.
Catherine is now 10 weeks old and getting cuter by the day. She laughs and smiles all the time. She slept in her own room for the first time on Saturday, she did really well. She actually did much better than me. She sleeps for about 7 hours every night. She is such a good little girl. She likes to watch her daddy as he walks around the room. She loves her daddy!!
We had to take the U-Haul truck to Ontario, Oregon, and on the way there we saw a sign for Hell's Canyon. So Scott decided that if it wasn't to far away we should go. So he looked it up on our GPS and it said Hell's Canyon was only 61 miles away. Well on our way there we found out it was more like 120 miles. So after 3 1/2 hour drive we finally make it to the information building. There was absolutely nobody there and very windy and cold. It was beautiful, just much more of a drive than I was expecting. Not sure it was worth it but, it was very pretty.