VISITORS!!!

It is so nice to have familiar faces from home here in Australia. We have visitors for the next month. It is fun to play tour guide, but exhausting too. Strange to think that I have lived here long enough to play tour guide.

Dera and Mark went up to Cairns this week so Mark could scuba the Great Barrier Reef.

Before they left we saw another icon of Australia.

Of course they had to try Vegemite. I don't like it much either - I think it is an acquired taste.

Went to Manly Beach. This little girl wasn't supposed to get wet - of course she did. This time I was well prepared and had extra clothes for all the kids.
We rode the ferry over to Circular Quay. This view never gets old.

We spent a day in the Botanical Gardens. The day was perfect not a cloud in the sky. We had a picnic and walked around.
We did something we have never done before - fed the cockatoos all our lunch scraps.
Had to show Mark the bats in the trees. We learned more about them as well. There are over 2200 bats living in Palm Gardens at the Royal Botanical Gardens. They are destroying the trees they roost in. They have been given permission to use non-lethal ways to discourage the bats from roosting there. I don't think it is working.

2 YEARS

Can you believe that we have now lived in Australia for two years?! I can't! It seems like time has flown by. There have been times when I have wondered why we did a crazy thing like move to another country, but most of the time it has been wonderful. We have experienced so much and enjoyed so many fun adventures.

Every year on our anniversary we head to the Botanical Gardens and take a picture across from the Opera House. We did this on day one of coming to Australia so we figure it is fun to go back to the "scene of the crime!" It is fun to see how the kids have grown each year. This year we are actually one day early, but I figure it's close enough.

our first day in Australia

one year later

two years later.

As you can see the weather was the best we have ever had and Rylee was not happy about getting her picture taken.

Cooper's Friend Party

OK, I don't know if I am ready for this or not as this is not going to be a short post. I can bet that Stace doesn't think this will be done anytime soon as she said, "You planned this so you have to post it on the blog." I will try to make this short, or in the in the words of Inigo Montoya, "Let me 'splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

To start off with I have to say that I added way to much stress to last weeks' stress levels when I told Cooper that he could have a party. Stace didn't think she could do it, with everything else going on, so I said I would take care of it. Sorry Stace, but I am glad to hear you laughing again! (Ha ha...).

Anyway, Cooper decided that he wanted a SUPER HERO party so we went with that theme. We sent out the invites that invited the friend to come to SUPER HERO TRAINING at the Coop Cave -- Super hero attire optional.

Cooper was Bat Man -- his fav! Dun na na na na na na na na Du na na na na... Coop Man! So of course the cake had to be the bat signal.

We put some basic black streamers up to make the Coop Cave in the TV room (gotta have a TV in a Coop Cave!). As you can see, and probably would have guessed, Coop occupied himself for well over 15 minutes just running through the streamers.

When each kid came they got a bag of things needed at any Super Hero training. It consisted of; a Super Hero plane, a Super Hero figure, a Super Hero car, and one score sheet to keep track of their points earned at each training activity.

Arrival time and occupy the kids while others are coming = decorating their Super Hero Planes.

Training Activity #1: Learn how to land your Super Hero plane. (There was a big orange target they were trying to land on.)

Training Activity #2: Learn how to swing your Super Hero in a bucket and knock over the "Bad Guys". (The problem was that I kept hearing words like "Strike" and "Spare" for some reason. I have never heard of any Super Hero call it a spare when they knock down the bad guys on the second chance!)

Training Activity #3: Learn how to drive your Super Hero car at lightening speeds. (It was a good thing that the kids didn't car that because of the bricks on our driveway the cars ended up rolling across the finish line more than driving across it.)

Training Activity #4: Learn how to jump your Super Hero car over the PERILOUS PIT OF DOOM (A.K.A. - The Pooh Bear Huggies box).

Training Activity #5: Learn how to have your Super Hero jump over tall buildings and land safely in the hidden Super Hero lair (A.K.A. - The Pooh Bear Huggies box).

Finally, after all the tiresome training our Super Heroes were ready to take on the bad guys and save the princess in distress.

We met in the Coop Cave to go over the dangerous mission. I showed them a print out of the bad guys (Army Men) surrounding the princess ($2 Barbie Doll that was 5x the size of one of the bad guys). Their mission was that they had to maneuver through the back yard, with out being injured, capture all the bad guys by putting them in prison, and find the princess. The catch was that they couldn't save the princess until all the bad guys had been caught.

Here is the opening of the gate! They were some excited Super Heroes. The funny thing is that you notice the first one out of the gate is the older sister (Super Hero Pinky -- complete with cape!) who is supposed to be taking it easy after her tonsils had just been ripped out.

Here is a nice shot of some of the bad guys grieving in prison.


Super Hero Pinky got to be keeper of the prison gate, and she loved the responsibility.

The princess was left dangling from the side of the house and no way to get down -- except for flying Super Heroes of course!

The victory celebration after the princess was back in her castle safe and sound. (Apparently Coop was tired of celebrating and just wanted to know what his next mission was!)

Of course we had to have the normal "Pass the 'Super' Parcel" at the end of all the strenuous activites. Much to Coop's disapointment he didn't get the ending prize (A Wolverine water gun).

We ended with the cake. Our Super Cooper needs to work on his Super lung capacity and blowing skills because it took him 3 tries to blow out the 6 candles. We were just glad he didn't spit on the cake. You know, it would have been 'Super' spit and no one wanted to see (or eat) that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUPER COOP / COOP MAN! WE LOVE YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN

My little man is turning six. I can't believe it.

Things about Cooper:

He still likes trains, but his love is waning a bit.

He doesn't like the Cartoons that all the boys his age seem to like (i.e. Ben 10 and Star Wars) they are too scary. That's ok by me. He can stay young and innocent as long as he wants.

The kid never stops moving. He makes me tired.

He never lets me take his picture. If he does I have to be fast to capture the moment.

Every night when Cooper goes to bed we hear him hitting the wall by his bed. He has to roll around a few times before he can fall asleep. Every night it is the same thing - bang, bang, bang, then silence.

He loves Nutella and would eat it for every meal if we let him. He loves it so much he has a few stuffed animals named Nutella.

He loves to build things.

He loves to make up his own games. He comes to me and makes me write down the rules on his rules sheet. Then he puts the game in a plastic ziploc and we get to play them occasionally. Maybe he will make us lots of money one day with a game idea.

He is really good at computer games.

The piano seems to comes naturally to him. Too bad I am not a better, more consistent, teacher.

He is such a good kid. Always trying to follow the rules.

He tells me that he hates nature.

He is really loud. I am trying to accept that about him, but also think I can change it if I remind him constantly to be quiet. I think I should lean more towards the accepting side of the spectrum.

He makes us laugh all the time. His laugh is contagious and he says the funniest things.

Cooper loves to give me hugs. They are super tight and I love them. He tells me I am the best mom ever all of the time. I love that!

We love him and are so happy to have him as part of our family. We would not be complete without the boy around to keep us grounded. We need someone to help us laugh and keep us guessing.

MOMMA BEAR

Mother bear wants to protect her cubs. She wants them to grow up healthy and strong. She wants them to grow up and remember all that she has taught them and be good little bears.

She doesn't want to see them lying in a hospital bed and realize that she caused this pain.

I decided to share my feeling of how I felt on the day that Madi got her tonsils out. This mother bear did pretty well. I was a bit nervous and didn't sleep much the night before. The unknown was killing me and my brain would not shut down for the night.

I was being strong for Madi. I didn't want her to see that I was nervous, because I could tell that she was nervous too and trying to be strong. I realized that she is a lot like me. Before we left we said a family prayer. Cooper prayed that Madi would be strong and brave for her surgery. I thought it was sweet and said a little prayer for myself as well.

It was interesting to see Madi get so antsy as we waited for our turn to go up to the theater (operating room). I was trying to read and kept reading the same sentences over and over again. I played go fish with Madi to keep our minds off of things and Kevin colored with her.

Finally our turn! She wanted me to go with her and come back and see her after she woke up. I was grateful for that. I am not sure I could have sat in that empty room by myself. I needed something to do. I needed to protect my little bear cub. Not that I could do much, but I needed to be there.

They took us upstairs. We waiting in a little space while they made sure all of Madi's information was correct. She was getting nervous. Her eyes were big and she was looking around at everything. I could tell she was unsure now. However, she didn't say anything just took it all in.

Then they had her walk into the theater. She and I both took in all the equipment in that big room with it's little skinny white bed. I watched her climb up onto the bed as I talked to the doctor. He is a kind man. She held on tight to Emily, her one special friend they said she could take with her. I stood by her side, and held her hand, as they put "stickers" on her heart and showed her the heart beat. Cool! She was fascinated I could tell. I like stuff like that as well. She looked so small on that little white bed with "stickers" under her shirt and wires sticking out.

Next they showed Madi the little mask she got to breath through. The anesthesiologist let Emily, her bear, have the first breath. She took deep breaths and they showed her the bag that went in and out. Soon her eyes got heavy and then she was asleep. It happened too soon. I didn't know what to think as I gave her a kiss and walked back down stairs.

When I got back to the empty room - the bed upstairs with Madi - and saw Kev I realized I was shaking a bit. We talked and ate some lunch. I was still a bit shaken having seen my little bear cub on that little white table slowly falling asleep.

All too soon it was time to go see her again. She was awake. She wanted me. I was a little nervous to see her. I remember the time Kev had his sinus surgery. He was so groggy in recovery and not my Kevy at all. It took him a long time to wake up and I was scared. How would Madi be? I walked around the corner and she smiled at me. She was eating an icy pole and couldn't talk. She mouthed words to me or shook her head yes or no. She started to cough and I was unsure if that was normal or not. The nurse told me that indeed it is normal. She will feel that she needs to cough and she does have some stuff to get out back there. Her throat is numb.

The doctor comes in to tell me that her adenoids were fine. She still has those. They will send off her tonsils to the lab to make sure they are okay. That brought a new worry to my mind. What if something is wrong with those tonsils and that is why they are so big. This worry soon vanished and I haven't thought much about it since those few seconds.

We head back downstairs. Madi being pushed on her bed like the princess she is. She is getting groggy again. Her eyes heavy. She doesn't last long after we get into the room before she is curled up into a ball with her Carebear blanket fast asleep.

It was hard for me to think that I did this to her. Kevin and I made this decision for her. She didn't know what she was getting into. We tried to prepare her, but ultimately we caused her this pain. She looked so helpless and I was a bit worried about how she would react. The little girl in the next room was moaning and crying - was it going to be like?

She woke up and wanted something to eat. Then she got sick and thought she would throw up. Good thing for medicine. She was fine in a few minutes and eating jelly (Jell-O) like a pro. She was so enthralled with Sponge Bob that she wasn't listening to anyone around her. I kept asking her questions - I could tell that she was getting sick of me, but I didn't know what else to do. She would try to talk and it would sound like a barking dog. She looked like she was doing well.

Leaving her on her own while we came home to get the other kids was hard as well. She is a strong brave little cub - I have tried to help her to become that way. Sometimes you have to let go a bit.

She wanted her daddy to stay in the hospital with her that night. Probably a good choice. He doesn't ask as many questions. We called her to tell her goodnight. She could talk. She had eated all the icy poles they had. I laughed with her. She sounded good. Tired, but good. I was comforted by this.

I wondered how she would be when she got home the next day. She was fine. A little weak, with a "small" sore throat, but fine.

She is one brave and tough little cookie. She amazes me. This momma bear still needs to protect, but maybe the little baby bear is tougher than I thought.

Worldly Things...

"Sorry this has taken me so long to post mum!!!"

For those of you who are not my mother, which should be most of you, I will explain what this is.

Since I have a job where I get a chance to meet people or talk to people from all over the world (or have travelled to various places in the world) I decided a while ago to start collecting worldly things from as many countries that I can.

My parents recently came to visit us and brought me some things that I bought from some of the countries that I had visited so that I could add them to my collection.

My collection sits at my desk at work. My mum asked if I could post pictures of all the little things I have collected so for. I will put the person's first name and last initial to give them credit for those that I received from other people (Thank you all!). And yes, I do offer to pay for every one of these things (even though most won't let me pay even though they are only a couple dollars). So if any of you ever visit a country that I do not have please pick me up something small (even better if it has the country name on it or is obvious what country it came from) and I will pay for it.

Shelf #1

• Dragon (Silvia - Salt Lake City): OK, this is probably the weirdest one in my collection because others wouldn't think of Salt Lake if they saw it. This was actually the first thing that kick started this collection. I received this as a gift from a coworker who was having problems with their computer. I helped her understand her issues and she gave me this with a card that said, "Thank you for helping me over come my dragon!"
• Black Drum Pencil Holder (Sridhar - India)
• Japan Flag (Me - Japan)
• Burg-al-arab Dubai Hotel (Gopi K. - U.A.E)
• Taj Mahal (Neel V. - India)
• Chinese Vest Phone Charm and chopsticks (Rebecca M. - Hong Kong)
• Elephant Wall Hanging (Aloma K. - Thailand)
• Chinese buddah necklace (Ching X. - China)
• Blue Jingle Hand Balls (Me - China)
• Big Ben & Tower Bridge Pencil Sharpeners (Me - England)
• Blue Plate (Jaime H. - Sweden)
• Eiffel Tower (Jeremy J. - France)
• "No Kangaroos in Austria" Magnet (Eric F. - Austria)

Shelf #2

• N.Y.P.D. Mug (David R. - New York, New York)
• Painted Mazatlan Candle (Terry M. - Mexico)
• Santorini Church Penci Sharpener (Eric F. - Greece)
• Wooden Turtle (Nick I. - Samoa)
• Bierstein (Eric F. - Croatia)
• "Castle Cup" (Krishna T. - Germany)
• Stone Elephant (Krishna T. - India)
• Kangaroo Clock (Me - Australia)

Shelf #3

• Small Wooden Box (Ching X. - China)
• Jeepney Truck (Melanie B. - Philippines)
• Wooden "Eternity" Spiral (Me - New Zealand)
• Status of Christ the Redeemer (Me - Brazil)
• Coke Bottle & Magnet (My Mom and Brother - Atlanta, Georgia)
• Surf Board Necklance (Aaron R. - Bali Indonesia)
• Cactus Sand Globe (Marcel L. - Phoenix, Arizona)
• Row of Three Elephants (Sandesh S. - India)
• Opera House (Me - Sydney)
• Fish and Coral Reef (Me - Cairns "Great Barrier Reef" Australia)
  
  
  

MADI'S SURGERY

We headed to the hospital early yesterday morning after dropping the younger kids at Lisha's house (thanks again Lisha!). They got us all checked in and waiting in the room and then we had to play the waiting game.

45 minutes before they came to give her pain meds before the operation.

Another 45 minutes to be taken up to the theater. SIDE NOTE: I love how they call the O.R. the theater - are they putting on a show? This 45 minutes turned into over an hour.

Madi was getting impatient and Kev told her that was why she was called a patient in the hospital because you have to be patient and wait a lot.

Finally it was time for Madi to be wheeled upstairs on her bed. She thought it was cool to get to ride around on her bed through the hospital. I went up with her and put on sock covers, a gown, and a lovely hat. Madi just had to wear the hat. Madi's friend Emily got to go with her and stay in the theater with her.

I stayed with Madi until they put her to sleep. It was strange to see her slowly fall asleep as they hooked her up to the heart monitor. Lucky for us they put the IV in after I left - not sure I would have handled that well.

After Madi was asleep I gave her a kiss on the cheek and headed back downstairs to wait with Kev until she was awake.

About an hour later I was on my way back upstairs. I have to admit that I was a bit afraid to see Madi in recovery. It wasn't so bad. She was still a little out of it and not quite herself, but she smiled at me and mouthed answers to my questions. She was coughing quite a bit but they told me that was normal and she was okay. After only about 10 minutes we headed back downstairs.

Madi was already falling back asleep in the elevator. Soon after we arrived back into her room she fell asleep for about an hour.

When she woke up she still couldn't talk well and wanted something to eat. However, when she looked at the jelly (Jell-O) they had given her she got really sick to her stomach. Nothing a little medicine couldn't help. Soon she was eating everything they gave her. They told her she could have as many icy poles (a type of popsicle) as she wanted. I am not sure they realized how many she would want. She ate all they had..LOL!!

After we were sure Madi was fine Kevin and I left her there to go get the other kids from Lisha's. We figured it would be easier for Kev to have the car at the hospital to come home in the morning. Madi was such a big girl and did well all by herself. She colored, watched sponge bob, and ate icy poles and jelly. Apparently she also went to the bathroom a few times as well - that's what happens when you eat lots of icy poles.

Kev headed back to the hospital to spend the night with Madi. Madi picked Kev to stay, and when I saw the bed that he was going to get to sleep on secretly I was happy about her decision. She told Kev that she was glad he was staying because I ask her too many questions - "Are you feeling okay?" "Do you want anything?" You know the normal mom questions.

Kev didn't get much sleep during the night. They came and checked on Madi every hour - not sure she got much sleep either.

In the morning she was ready to go home. They signed all the release forms and took out her IV. All of a sudden she went white as a ghost. Apparently seeing that needle come out of her arm was not a good thing for Madi. Now she knows she has to be like me - look away! Just look away!

She is home now. We have watched three movies, eaten many popsicles and cups of jelly. Had curly noodles (that's what Madi calls roman noodles) for lunch. Madi is bored she told me a little while ago. She is going to have a very long week I think - that means I will too.

Unfortunately for Kev he had to go to work today. He has to do a presentation to a VP and then go out to dinner. I think he is going to be very worn out when he gets home late tonight.

pre-surgery

post-surgery

THE GOLF BALLS WILL BE GONE!

On Monday the golf balls residing in the back of Madi's mouth will be gone. As the doctor told Madi, "they like Australia so much they want to stay here!"

Madi has always had huge tonsils.


When she was born they told me she would grow into them by the age of three - didn't happen. So they said we would play the watch and wait game.


When I knew we were moving to Australia for sure I took her to see a specialist back home to see if they would need to be taken out. He said that since she wasn't showing any major side effects we should hold off from doing surgery.

I guess snoring and them touching when she got sick weren't enough.

Now we have the side effects
the beginnings of sleep apnea
snoring
bad breath
pox marks that look horrible
one massive tonsil when she gets sick


Finally on Monday she will go in for surgery for the removal of these bad boys. They will stay in Australia and hopefully Madi will sleep better at night.

I have to admit I am getting nervous. Trying hard not to show it because Madi is nervous too.

The other kids have been sick this week - one with a cold and one with the flu and a fever. We are praying really hard that Madi doesn't get it. If she gets sick we have to reschedule and wait a few more months. She can't have the surgery if she is sick. Some extra prayers would be appreciated.

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2009

I am proud to be an American!

The world may not agree with my statement, but I don't care.

I was born in an amazing country.

A country where religious freedom made it possible for Joseph Smith to restore the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth.

A country where the possibilities are endless.

A country which tries to do good. Doesn't always make the right choices, at least we are trying.

I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

(credits for the layout above - ScrapMatters daily download freebie - Stars and Stripes forever.)

SCRIPTURE OLYMPICS

Wednesday night we had our quarterly Primary activity. This year the Primary is focused on families. The first quarter of the year we did a FHE for our quarterly activity to emphasize the importance of FHE in strengthening the family. For this activity we decided to focus on the scriptures as a tool to help strengthen families. I found an idea on-line for the scripture Olympics. After a bit of tweaking we were all ready to go. It was actually a relatively easy activity to plan and execute - this is exactly what we had in mind!! I am giving you all the details for the activities we did in case you need to plan your own Primary activity and need some ideas. Also for me to have in case I have to do a Primary activity like this again in the future.

For each one we told the story and read a key scripture then followed up with an activity. We divided the kids into two different teams and kept the same teams throughout.

Sword of Laban: (1 Nephi 4: 12-13, 18)
Divide into two teams and give each child a plastic knife. They have to balance a marshmallow on the end of it and do a relay.

Noah's Ark relay: (Genesis 7:9)
Two arks were made out of cardboard. One for team "a" and one for team "b". We brought all the stuffed animals we could and put them in piles around the hall. We divided the children into two teams and at the go they were to run and find one pair of animals and put them into their ark. The object was to get the most pairs. (Animals don't need to look alike, simply match animal types... i.e. bear with bear, rabbit with rabbit, etc.)

2000 Stripling Warriors: (Alma 53:20-21)
Make headbands. One group all of the same material and the other group out of another material. Place a rope in the middle of the space to divide the area into two section. One team on each side of the rope. Place a pile of socks balls(rolled up sock pairs) on each side. Throwing underhand the kids have to try and get all the socks off their side of the rope.

David & Goliath marshmallow shooting: (1 Samuel 17:45)
Make a large scale drawing of Goliath and place it on a wall. Give each child a marshmallow and a spoon to try and flip the marshmallows and hit Goliath in the forehead.

Tower of Babel: (Genesis 11:9)
Each team was given and IDENTICAL set of items. The points were given to the team who built (or stacked) the tallest tower. I gave the kids two packets of plastic drinking straws, a roll of tape, and sections of an egg carton I had cut up.

Samuel the Lamanite wall crawl: (Helaman 16:2)
Teach the children the verse of Book of Mormon Stories about Samuel the Lamanite. Then I stood on the stage and the children threw long balloons at me. I told them it was to get back at me for all the times I had told them to be quiet. I am not sure I knew what I was getting into. It was fun though.

Moses parting of the water tug of war: (Exodus 14:21-22)
Pretty self explanatory - do a tug of war.

At the end we gave them all a gold metal with a wagon wheel - in the States you would probably use a ding dong - wrapped in gold paper.

All in all I think it turned out good. It was fun for the kids and hopefully they will take something from it and remember more about the scripture stories we taught them.