HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY...EARLY!

For those of you who know me well know that I love organization. I hate clutter and I think everything should have a home and should be put back where it belongs. I haven't quite ingrained that into my kids, or my husband's, brains yet - but I am working on it. So for Mother's Day this year Kev and the kids bought me shelves. I know funny gift, but I love it! We finally made it to IKEA today to get it and put it together this evening. The funny thing is that the shelves are for the play room and not for any of my stuff - but it will create order in an unorganized place so that is a big deal to me.

SO HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY EARLY FOR ME!!!

Before getting it all organized and set upright the kids had a little fun in the holes.

FUTURE MISSIONARY!

I HOPE THEY CALL ME ON A MISSION

WHEN I HAVE GROWN A FOOT OR TWO.

I HOPE BY THEN I WILL BE READY

TO TEACH AND PREACH AND WORK AS MISSIONARIES DO.

I HOPE THAT I CAN SHARE THE GOSPEL

WITH THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH.

I WANT TO BE A MISSIONARY

AND SERVE AND HELP THE LORD WHILE I AM IN MY YOUTH.

My sister, Wendy, did pictures of her boys as future missionaries and I have been dying to give it a try. Today was the day! Cooper was such a great sport. He really doesn't like getting his pictures taken - so I had to bribe him with some hot wheels he has been saving his money to buy. I don't have one of Kev's missionary tags, because they are back home in a box in storage, but luckily for us he got a tag from his teacher in Primary on Sunday so we just used that. I think he looks so handsome and can just imagine him as a "big boy missionary!"

LONG EASTER WEEKEND

Well our celebrations actually started Thursday for Madi when she got to celebrate Harmony Day at school. What is Harmony Day you may ask? Harmony Days is the 21st of March each year and is to celebrate cultural diversity. It only began in 1999 and the color for it is orange. Madi got to wear her uniform to school and anything orange. We put orange pony tail holders in her piggy tails and she wore a orange, green, and yellow hat that Kev and I had picked up for her in Japan in 2006. She told me that they had to write in their journals about Harmony Day. She wrote that they celebrate Harmony Day for people from other countries - like me! I thought that was cute!

Then we had a long weekend. We got to celebrate Good Friday and Easter Monday - even Kev got those days off of work. I actually had to look up what Good Friday means. It is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified. I had no idea exactly what the day was for.

We didn't have any big plans set and were going to play it by ear. Friday we got up and decided that we wanted to take a trip to IKEA to pick up a Mother's Day gift for me. So we packed up the kids and headed to IKEA. Little did we know that Good Friday is not a good day to go shopping. As we found out when we got to the shopping center where IKEA is located and there were very few cars in the parking lot. IKEA was closed - as was almost everything else. Luckily for us the movie theater was opened. We decided to take the kids to see Horton Hears a Who. After biting the bullet and paying the price for admission we had a great time and the kids loved the movie. It really was well done!

The other problem we had was that I had been waiting to do the grocery shopping when Kev was home. We literally had nothing to eat at the house. No milk, eggs, or bread. I thought for sure at least a grocery store would be opened - nope! Luckily we found a burger shop near the train station and got something for dinner.

Satruday was a very busy day. I had a baptism to go to in the morning. I love baptisms - there is such a Spirit there. After that I had to go to the grocery store - we really needed some food. I also had to get some presents for a b-day party that Cooper was going to in the afternoon. He has a good friend at school and his twin sister invited him to their party. He was worried that he wouldn't know anyone so he told me that I had to come with him and stay the whole time. Really he didn't need me there - he didn't even notice that I was there most of the time. Regardless I had some interesting conversations with adults there about the United States and the Church.

That night we colored our Easter eggs. Can't buy the little tablets here that you just add to water. So I got out the vinegar and food coloring and added them to water. The eggs turned out pretty good. They are a bit harder to color since they start out brown already.

The kids put out their Easter baskets and headed to bed. In the morning Kev came round the corner to wake up the kids and found Madi. She said can we go out and see what the Easter bunny brought? Kev looked at her and said, "Did you already go and look?" A big grin spread over her face and she said, "Yes!" He had to wake up Cooper. This picture makes me laugh. You can still see the sleepiness in her face, but the joy on his face as well.

Interestingly enough it seems that Australian Easter traditions are a bit different from those we always celebrated. The Easter bunny leaves a trail of eggs to your surprise. It is usually a stuffed animal or something small like that - not a basket full of treasures. They also don't get new Church clothes for Easter Sunday. Therefore it was hard to find Madi a dress. Luckily for me I bought Rylee's before we left on clearance and Cooper's shirt as well. So we got ready for Church and had a wonderful meeting learning more about the Savior and the reason for celebrating Easter.

After Church we called the Hutchinsons on the web cam and had a good chat with them. Then we had our egg hunt. Usually we have two Easter egg hunts back home with both families, and I don't have to do either of them. It was fun. After that we had some friends from the ward, the Perrymans, come over for afternoon tea and they also stayed for Easter dinner. I made my first ham, which was delicious, and we had yummy potatoes. It was a very nice day!

Monday we wanted to go to the beach. The day started out not too promising with fog and dark clouds. Kev headed out in the morning to play basketball and took the two kids with him so they could play (this is a weekly occurance, usually on Saturday). By the time they got home the sun had come out so we decided to try the beach. After talking to my parents on the web cam we packed up the car, had some lunch, and headed to Dee Why Beach. It wasn't as warm as it had been in the summer, but it was still a nice day. We really liked this beach - it is on our list for one of our favorites along with Palm Beach.

Cooper was so brave this time and decided to try the boogie board. He had sure come a long way from not even wanteding to put his feet in the ocean when we first got here. He even got up and tried again after crashing. He had so much fun and wanted to go again and again.

We came home after four hours at the beach happy, sleepy, and sandy. It was a great weekend!

The baby is having a baby!!

My little, baby sister is having a baby of her own!! I am so excited! She and her husband will make such wonderful parents. After all, she has had plenty of practice with all of our kids! Just wanted to say congrats to her and her hubby! Love you guys!

Sorry Jules - this is the only picture I could find of just the two of you - several years ago at Thanksgiving.

LITTLE FISH....

My kids have turned into little fish and tadpoles since coming to Australia. They just love the water. Cooper who used to cry and complain when the water even touched his face has found a love for it - usually only when his goggles are on, but that is progress. I think that swimming lessons have helped heaps.

Madi kept asking when we could go swimming just for fun so last Saturday we headed over to the Ryde Aquatic Center for some family fun. We haven't done anything together for a while and it had been a stressful couple of weeks for Kev at work so it was a much needed afternoon together. We had so much fun. There was a baby pool for Rylee to crawl around in, a lazy river which the kids couldn't get enough of, and a wave pool. There was also a water slide which they could go down by themselves. What fun! Rylee even got in on the action and Kev took her on his lap the last time down.

Whenever we got swimming Cooper spends so much time going to the bathroom. We keep telling him to stop drinking all of the pool. To which he always responds, "I don't drink all of the pool! My mouth is always closed!" Kev couldn't resist one time while he was going potty and took a picture of him. Of course my blogger sense tells me that putting it here wouldn't be wise, but it will be great to show future dates and girlfriends!

We spent four fun filled hours there and even had a snack of fries and Lift (a yummy lemony, bubble drink that we love) and watched a little water polo. Apparently the Ryde Aquatic Center was home for water polo for the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

Madi's assembly at school last week...

Madi had an assembly last week and her class was in charge. She had been so excited for weeks because they learned a new, fun song. She wouldn't even sing it for us because she didn't want to ruin the surprise. So the day arrived and Rylee, Cooper, and I headed to school to see her. Madi got to introduce the song and she did so well reading her part. Then we finally got the hear the entire song (I had heard bits and pieces of it because she would sing it around the house when she didn't think anyone was listening). I just had to find the lyrics for you to see how fun it was. Her teacher told me that when she played the song for the kids in class Madi was so serious and she thought "Oh no! She hates it and she is worried about singing it!" So she asked the kids what they thought and Madi said, "I LOVE IT!!!" Apparently she had just been listening really hard to all of the words.

You ought to see what they did to my mummy

Pulled his organs out of his tummy,

Wrapped him in spice, put 'em in a jar,

Painted him up in sticky tar.

Wrapped him in linen from his head to his toes

Pulled his brain out of his nose

That's not all the ambalmers did,

They buried my mummy in a pyramid.

CHORUS:

Ancient Egypt

Down by the Nile,

Mummy's gonna be in a tomb for awhile.

Far go, Pharoah

It's not funny,

Tell King Tut I want my mummy!

Buried in a coffin made out of gold,

Down in a tomb that's dark and cold.

Jewels adn treasures he'll never see,

Cayse he's half the mummy he used to be.

Dead as a doornail, blind as a bat,

With a mummified dog and a mummified cat.

Don't ask me what my Daddy thinks

Cause his chariots parked at the local spinnx

CHORUS:

Some fellow with tools and a torch to see,

Were doing some archaeology.

They saw a glimmer,

They dug some more.

Couldn't believe the treasures they saw.

Ancient paintings,

Priceless jewels.

They gave a shout and dropped their tools.

But the greatest treasure they found by far,

Was a wrinkled old mummy with it's guts in a jar.

CHORUS:

Tell King Tut I want my mummy!

Tell King Tut I want my mummy!

Sorry, the video isn't very good. I was trying to keep Rylee from crawling down the row of kids sitting quietly listening and trying to keep Cooper from pulling her by her dress to get her to come back. I had to record the performance because Kev couldn't be there and Madi said it was okay if we recorded it and then daddy could watch it later. There are times like this when I wish I had a video camera - but there aren't enough of them to make me spend the money.

Can you say... "1 hour and 45 minute commute?"

How lucky are you? You get to hear from me twice in one month (make that two days -- wow!)! Don't start to expect it.

Today was not a good day to commute to the city! I got to the train station at about 7:05 and got to the platform only to see this:

Come to find out that it had just happened minutes before I walked down on the platform. If you can't tell the front of the bus is still in the bushes and the back of the bus is over the tracks. Apparently the driver was just starting her day and had parked to get out and get a drink at the near by store and forgot to put the parking brake on!!!! Oh, I feel bad for her! And you thought you had a bad day at the office!

So the bus rolled backwards, over the edge, and onto the tracks. Keep in mind that trains come down this track every 5 minutes, so it was a miracle that it didn't hit a train and hurt anyone. The police were just able to stop the train that was coming before it got there. However, it still caused quite an issue for the commuters going into the city (yep, that's me).

Trains were still running from the city out, they just had to stop the ones going south to the city. So I had to go to the other platform to get on the train going north (I will explain in a minute). While on the other platform I was able to get a closer picture.

This is awful but the whole time (knowing that no one got hurt -- of course!) I kept thinking, "I wish I had one more day on the photo challenge for this week!" Even though I only had my cell phone with me this would have been a great photo for the subject this week. I would have submitted it even though it is grainy. The subject for this weeks photo challenge was transportation! Arrgh!

So here is a map to show you where I had to go. I had to head north to Hornsby (where the red line meets the yellow line), change trains, and go back south on the yellow line to the first station past the harbour (Wynyard). Besides being hot it wasn't actually that bad. I got to meet a very nice lady that was nice enough to talk with me on the journey. I also got to see parts of the norther Sydney suburbs that I had never seen before. It is a very green and beautiful place!

I did end up making it to work and it only took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. How was your commute today?

HAPPY GREEN DAY!!!

I was talking to my mom on the web cam yesterday and told her that it was already St. Patrick's Day here. She asked if I was going to make fun green things for dinner. I said that I hadn't planned on it and Cooper probably wouldn't eat it anyway. So on the way to Cooper's swimming lessons I asked Madi if we should have green food for dinner. She was so excited and started naming things that we could have. Since I was planning on making Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner I just used a little food coloring magic and we had our "green dinner"! Cooper didn't want any sauce for his rice - but he ate the green peas. It also took us nearly 10 minutes to even get him to taste his lemonade. When he finally did he wanted more - crazy kid, this is why we tell you to try everything first!

Cooper and Madi always get excited to wear green on St. Patrick's Day. They like to pinch people who aren't wearing green. Madi was a bit worried until she realized that her uniform is green so she was okay. Last year for a week after St. Patrick's Day we had a new color we had to wear every day. Madi made signs for it so we could remember what color to wear. It was very creative.

Not much of a work day today!

I know I don't add a lot to this blog (in comparison to what Stacy does), so tonight I thought I would try and add my two cents for the month! I will tell about two different things to this should actually carry me into May! Ha ha ...

Here are some pictures to show you what my new building looks like. I will miss the view from my old building (I took some pictures and will try and put them on later) as it was a look out over Hyde Park and I could see the Opera house as well. Now we just get a view of other buildings and a freeway. The first picture is the double decker freeway I walk under to get to the building. The second picture is the base of our new building. And the last picture is looking up the face of the new building.

After we set up our computers and made sure all of our connections worked today we took our boss out for a last get together before he leaves. Yes, my boss has got a new job in New York and will be leaving at the first of next month to move there. He has been really good to work for and I will miss him. But at the same time I wish him luck in his new role.

After lunch we went lawn bowling. Many of you may be asking what that is exactly so I am going to tell you. Lawn bowling is a lot like Bacci Ball but the balls are weighted on one side. This means that when you roll them and they start to slow down they will curve to one side. The object is to be the team with the ball closest to the white ball and then you score points from there. You go back and forth until one team gets to 11 points and then they win. It is actually a really fun game but it is also one that the older people around here love. You can always see them out there in their white outfits playing when you drive by the lawn bowling clubs.

Here are some pics:

This is my team (from left to right); Bill, Jaime, me, Eric, and Simon.



A picture of the bowling green and one of our games.

A close up of what the balls look like. They have a colored circle on one side and a colored dot on the other side. When you roll it the ball will curve towards the side with the dot on it.

Hope you all enjoyed this little tid bit from Kev!

SITTING AT THE FEET OF AN APOSTLE...

We had an unique opportunity to sit at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord last night. Elder David A. Bednar has been touring around Australia for the past 10 days and last night they had a fireside. The very unique thing was that they broadcast it all across Australia live, and it originated from our Stake Center. Because they were broadcasting it live they said we could bring kids but if we were in the chapel you could not leave to go to the bathroom or anything and you had to be reverent. They even made those sitting in the Chapel sign a release form so that their images could be used. It was truly a big deal around here. We decided to get a babysitter and enjoy the evening without them. We were glad that we went it alone. The doors opened an hour and a half before the fireside was the start, at 5:30, and we were there close to opening time. We still were in the gym. I overheard one girl in the bathroom telling a friend that she had gotten there at 4:30.

The very unique thing was that Elder Bednar opened up the evening to questions. Sounds crazy right? A live broadcast and he is allowing people to just get up and ask questions. Another cool thing was the the questions came from all over Australia. They would hand him slips of paper as he was talking with more questions on them. It was such a great experience to hear his answers.

I was not brave enough to go up to the microphone and ask an Apostle a question - but Kev was. He was going to ask him how to get the Elder's fired up to do their home teaching. He also wanted to hear his answer to a question that he gave as an example - what could he share from his experience of seeing a new prophet called. He went around to the Chapel and they had him sit on a pew in the back. He didn't get a chance to ask though - too bad. About 10 minutes before the fireside was the end someone came up to the four people who were waiting to ask questions and said, "You were supposed to raise your hand in between questions so he could call on you!" That would have been helpful information about an hour before.

The fireside was great. He gave some great advice. Here is some of what I learned.
1~ My favorite answer that he gave was to this questions, "What advice would you give to those who are less active?" He said simply, "come back!"
2~ He also talked about how if you are committed to the gospel 100% and it is part of who you are completely missionary work will not be scary. You will just do it.
3~ Also someone asked how can the Lord love me for who I am and yet want me to change? What a great question. I have wondered this at times in my life as well. He simply said because God sees who we can become.
4~ A almost 12-year-old boy in our stake got up and asked how he could prepare to receive the Priesthood and what he should do to become like Elder Bednar one day. It was really cute! Elder Bednar, who has a great sense of humor I learned last night, told this young man that he didn't want to be just like him and then proceeded to tell him how to honor the priesthood. He mentioned that people wonder how we can give such a responsibility to young boys and his response was because someday they are going to be Men of God. I also liked when he said that when you bless or pass the sacrament it isn't about you. The young men should do nothing that will distract those partaking of this sacred ordinance. They should dress appropriately and they should be very reverent. He said the priesthood is not done for selfish reasons it is for others.

There was so much more in this two hour conversation with an Apostle - but those are the things that really struck me.

BOYS AND KISSING?!

I seriously just had the funniest conversation with my six year old. I have to document this moment. As we were getting her clothes out before bed she was having a hard time deciding. Normally this isn't a big deal because she wears a uniform, but tomorrow is a mufti day. What is mufti you might ask - I didn't know the first time I heard it either - it is "normal" clothes. Every once in a while they get to donate a gold coin (this is either a $1 or a $2 coin) and wear mufti. So then we actually have to make a decision about what to wear to school. So anyway, we were choosing clothes. I gave her a few choices of shorts or a skirt to wear first and finally that decision was made. They we had to find a shirt to go with them. What an ordeal. Finally she said, "But, mom, Liam won't think I look cute in that one." What?! "Which Liam?" was my first question - there are three in her class. Luckily for me I have been going to school on Thursday morning to do home readers - the kids read books to me - so I at least know who he is. The next question I had, "Why do you care what Liam thinks?" "Because he likes me mom," she says with the cutest look on her face. "How do you know he likes you?" "Well, he cuddles with me and talks to me all of the time and kisses me!"

WHAT? HE KISSES YOU?

Cuddling, not as big of a deal - that is just a hug here. This is what is going on in my head. "Well, just on the cheek - well I really kissed him on the cheek mom, and only today." A little background: when we lived in West Jordan and she was in kindergarten there she liked a few of the boys and they would kiss on the lips sometimes, so Kev had her pinky promise that she would only kiss Cooper and him and no other boys until she was 25.

Finally deciding on an outfit for tomorrow, Madi chose a t-shirt that says "Science Rocks" (a hand me down from Kayla - thanks!). This was chosen because Liam likes outer space, and it has a picture of an atom ring on it so it looks like outer space. Good reasoning right?

I just had to tell Kev who was doing the dishes. She came out while I was telling him and said, "Dad, it isn't what you think!" Kev reminded her of his pinky promise last year and she said that she was still doing the pinky promise because it was for kissing on the lips, and she only kissed him on the cheek. We told her that no kissing was the best thing. Who's child is this?

I think we might be in trouble with this one!

KIDS - gotta love 'em!

Last night dinner was an eventful one. Cooper is such a chatterbox - he never seems to stop talking. They say that girls talk more than boys - they haven't met Cooper in his home environment. Finally I asked him if he could be quiet for just a few minutes - the rest of us had a few things we wanted to talk about. He couldn't even do that. I told him about a game we used to play when I was a kid called the "quiet game". We said "1,2,3...carrot" and then who ever talks first is out. He was okay to play the game until he lost within one minute. Then he looked at Kev and said, "Dad, we are not supposed to play games at the table remember. I don't want to play anymore." We had to laugh at that. We do spend an awful lot of time telling the kids to stop goofing off and just eat their dinner.

We had corn on the cob for dinner last night and I thought maybe Rylee would like to gnaw on one. She loved it and couldn't get enough. Pretty soon I looked over and she had two cobs to chew on. Apparently her dad had given her another one.

Madi loves to help me take the clothes down off of the line. Usually, when I go out to get the clothes she is following closely behind. She pulls up a chair and moves it around as she needs to. Last night I asked her if she would go and start taking down the clothes while I finished up something and got FHE ready. She told me not to worry about coming out and that she would do it all by herself. She is such a big girl and a great helper. It was nice because she had been getting into trouble all afternoon and had many things taken away as punishment.

While Madi was out taking down the laundry Cooper went out to play with his tennis racket (a council clean-up find!). I went to check on the kids and this is what I saw at the back door. She just loves to be outside with her brother and sister.