1st Rugby Match!

This week, one of my clients invited me to the opening home game for the Canterbury Crusaders, the super rugby team resident in Christchurch. I'm not really sure how I made it onto the invite list, but I was excited for the opportunity to see my first live Rugby match.

There were about 10 in our group, 4 from the client and 6 people they had invited. I was the only girl. Of course. However, with my love of all sports and basic knowledge of the game I was ready to rock and roll. We had a great dinner before the game and then had pretty good seats to watch the main event. Lucky for me it was a warm evening because I don't think it would have been as much fun in the rain.

Look at that gorgeous evening!

I tried to take a picture when they lift a player up in the air on a throw-in. Stupid phone.

Richie McCaw, captain of the Crusaders & All Blacks is just to the right of the guy with the ball (he's wearing a knee brace). It was cool to see one of, if not the best flankers of all time

I took a few pictures of the game, but here are my observations of the evening and of rugby.

• If you are going to participate in a sweepstakes by guessing the outcome of the game, you shouldn't bet against the home team if you aren't already an avid supporter of the opposing team. The other members of your group will hassle you all night. This is obviously what I did.
• Contrary to my first point, if you can take the ribbing (which I can), then you should pick the game emotion free. I think that's what I had over the men. I made my bet based on the numbers and facts I had available to me, which is probably why I won the jersey and they went home empty handed and a loss for their team.
• Pick a team. Now that I have a Crusaders jersey, I guess I'm obligated to support them. But that's okay, they have made it to the playoffs the past few years, have one of the best players of the NZ All Blacks playing for them and it's always fun to have a local team to support. Anything to take my mind off the Broncos...plus I don't think I could pick the opposing team based on principal because their mascot is the Chiefs.
• The game moves a lot, similar to soccer, but is very physical like American football. I found it very interesting, but I am going to have to watch some games on TV because I just couldn't tell what was going on in the scrums from up in the stands.
• I don't understand all the penalties that were called. When I mentioned that to my group, they laughed and just said it is a subjective call by the referee and most people won't know what the call is a lot of the time. That made me feel better.
• Small stadiums are cozy. AMI stadium seats 18,000 for sporting events, which means no one is really in a terrible seat no matter how far away you are. I quite liked that.

Here I am in my new jersey!

Super Rugby

Friday, 21 February, 7:35 pm

AMI Stadium, Christchurch

Crusaders

Chiefs

10 - 18

Final

	1	2		Total
Crusaders	0	10		10
Chiefs	8	10		18

Waitangi Day - February 6 2014

Well, it's official. We have just enjoyed our second Waitangi Day here in New Zealand, which means we have been here for more than a year! I can't believe so much time has already passed by.

What is Waitangi Day?
Every year on 6 February, New Zealand marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. In that year, representatives of the British Crown and over 500 Māori chiefs signed what is often considered to be New Zealand’s founding document. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934, and it has been a public holiday since 1974.

I find it so interesting that New Zealand celebrates its National Day when the British came into the country rather than when they left, like the US and Independence Day. Regardless, this is a lovely country with lovely people - even if they do have an unusually high affinity for the Brits. 

Our Celebration
Since I had the day off, I started off the morning with a nice little chat with my mom on Skype. Since it was her birthday in New Zealand, I got to wish her a happy birthday over video chat. Love you mom!  Then it was off to the beach!

Amazingly, it was a sunny, warm day so we went to the beach for the first time this summer. The best part of the day was when we forced Ike to swim in the ocean. When I picked him up to cuddle him, he just kept paddling away in my arms for several minutes. We love that little guy. The worst part of the day was later than night when we realized how sunburnt we both got. We forgot to take sunscreen because we really haven't needed it with the lackluster summer we've had. We were sure sorry the next couple days!

Brian took a little video of the beach on the ipad and we took a couple of pictures. Enjoy!

A boy and his dog

All set to enjoy the sun!

Look at that clear, blue sky. Also, have you ever seen dark brown sand? 

Trip with Mom & Dad: Day 15 - Goodbyes

January 10, 2014

Today is the last day of our trip.  When we get to the airport in Sydney, Mom & Dad will be heading back to Salt Lake City via Auckland and we are flying directly back to Christchurch. It has been a wonderful two weeks! We have seen many amazing natural and man-made wonders as well as had a great time with each other.

Thanks to all of you who have read my daily journals of our trip and suffered through my new found enjoyment of taking pictures. Here is a little highlight reel of our trip! It was so amazing - I love you Mom & Dad - thanks for joining us for a wonderful trip.

Trip with Mom & Dad: Day 14 - Sydney Day 2

January 9, 2014

We got up early today and went to the Sydney Temple. It was so fun to be there not only with my family but also with my good friend, Lisa. We had a really nice time. It was much sunnier today (hooray!) but that also meant the hay fever was more rampant. Poor Brian was about as drugged up on antihistamines as he possible could be and still could barely open his eyes at certain times during the day.

You shouldn't be too surprised to discover that my Mom & Dad met someone inside the temple who used to live in Draper and actually went to high school at Jordan High when my Grandpa Crump was either the principal or vice principal. So when we went outside to take pictures, of course we ended up waiting for them. In this first picture I took while Brian and Lisa were talking, you can see my folks in the background finally making their way outside haha.

After the temple, we got to go to Lisa's house to change. It was so fun to see her home! After that, we hopped on a ferry down the Parramatta River and into Sydney Harbour. It was quite windy as you'll see from some of the pictures, but we had a great time and got some wonderful pictures.

I love this picture of my Mom. She is so beautiful!

...trying not to blow away

Coming up to downtown Sydney via the ferry!

Me and Lisa in front of the bridge

As you may have guessed, Brian and Dad spent most of the ferry ride inside the ferry. Brian wanted to avoid the pollen in the air and I think Dad's stomach was still a little queasy. Luckily we got them outside for a couple of key pictures.

It was so amazing to get so close to the Sydney Opera House!

We hopped off the ferry at Circular Quay (I learned it's pronounced "key" not "kway") in Sydney and grabbed some lunch - we are starving by this time. After lunch, we got back on the ferry to go out to Manly, which is a suburb of Sydney with famous shopping and beaches. The wind picked up on the way over so we had to bundle up a bit!

We passed by some of the naval fleet as well.

This little island used to be either a fort or a prison, but it's slowly sinking so people aren't allowed out on it anymore

Once we arrived in Manly, Mom & Dad split off to do some shopping so Lisa and I took off on a little walk over to a smaller beach and see some water dragons.  We ended up seeing quite a few of the lizards. The pictures below show a baby water dragon and a full grown one.

One of the interesting things on the walk that we saw was these little sculptures that were attached to the rocks alongside the road of local animals, fish, plants and activities. I took a picture of one, so you could see. It made the walk really interesting!

On the return, we saw this really cool lighthouse. Lisa informed me that it's not the main lighthouse, but I thought the paint job was really different.

It was starting to get dark on the ferry ride back, so we took some additional pictures of the opera house and harbor bridge in the different light.

The last thing we did on our sight-seeing tour of Sydney was visit the Olympic Park from the 2000 Summer Olympic games that were held in Sydney. Brian wasn't completely excited about this part of the trip, but I was. I remember waking up early in the morning as a little girl to watch the olympics with my Dad as he got ready for work. So it was fun to see in person some of the venues I had watched on TV.

The best part of these pictures is Mom posing. She decided she would imitate the sport at some of the locations. It was hilarious! All in all, it was a great conclusion to a wonderful day.

I took this picture because they had a video running showing the opening ceremonies. The person in the picture is lighting the torch.

This is the main track stadium. I know you can't tell, but we are making the olympic rings with our hands lol.

This was one of the smaller track and field venues where they did shot put and discus.

I want to give a huge thank you to Lisa Pelayo, who made our brief stay in Sydney a great and memorable experience.  Thank you Lisa!!!