Say thee farewell...

Goodbye old friend, you will be ... enjoyed by Cooper! Yes you are now his!

Yes, I washed my phone. I have a pair of pants that has one of those knife pockets on the side of the leg. Well, my phone fit nicely in there and didn't come out very easy either. I guess that led to its demise. I forgot to take it out and Stace said, "I checked your pockets but didn't see it." Of course she did (check that is) but that is not a normal pocket to have things in so it got missed. It was totally my bad!

I called her from work and she found the phone in my pants hanging on the line -- dripping wet!

So I had to buy a new replacement. The funniest thing was that when I called to get my "free credit" for up-grading my phone the person asked why I got a new phone. When I told him that it went through the wash he just started laughing and said, "That's a rare one!"

Here's to the Optus man that actually laughed while working! Good on ya' mate!

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! - Madi this is for you!

Madi guess who I saw today?! You would have been so excited and she was so sad that you aren't here. Brooklyn! She is cute as ever and misses you tons. I gave her all of the stuff you picked out and she put the bracelet on right away - as did her sisters. She will have to wait to see her Christmas present and birthday present though because I wrapped them. She has an amazing purple room that you would just love and don't you just love her glasses?

BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!

Today I went to see some of our old neighbors from West Jordan - Brooklyn's family. They moved shortly after we ventured off so I went to check out their new, amazing, house and catch up over lunch. Funny enough she moved into the ward of an old roommate of mine so she came along too. They decided to take me to the Cheesecake Factory - as you can imagine I was kicking and screaming the whole way, LOL! It was so much fun! Here are some pictures:

Cheescake Factory - yummo!!

Karla and her little boy Jared - my old BYU roomie!

Oaklee, me, Rylee, Brooklyn, Ireland, Azalea, and Rikke - old neighbors and great friends!

Rylee, Jared, and Azalea - these three were all born within a month of each other.

MAJESTIC MOUNTAINS

A big thing I have missed living in Sydney are the mountains. I still have no idea which direction I am going most of the time because there are no mountains to help me out. When flying into Utah I knew I was almost home when I could see the tops of my beloved mountains. I have always loved the mountains, the snow caps in the spring and fall, the colors changing for each season, hiking, camping, I could go on and on. I miss seeing them every time you walk out the door. It doesn't matter where you live in the Salt Lake Valley you can see the mountains from your home. So last night we went on a walk with Grandma Cooper and I took a few pictures. I needed the other lens on my camera - so I will go back down the nature trail to get some more pictures in a couple of days. (Hope you enjoy Kev - these are just for you!)

Look at all the snow on Timp - it's coming, winter is coming.

This last one is of the Oaker Mountains on the West side of the valley - couldn't leave them out either. All the others are the Wasatch Mountain range which goes along the east side.

AMBLING THROUGH THE GARDEN AND THE STORY OF THE LOST SCRAPBOOK.

Today we headed over to Grandma Susan's and Grandpa John's house in order to find the elusive scrapbook that is hiding somewhere in their basement. Before the hunt began it was so nice we played outside for a bit.


Let me go back and tell you a little story. A few months ago I asked Susan (my mother-in-law) to find an old scrapbook that I had done when Kev and I got married. This scrapbook was the one that I had done to sit on the guest sign in table at our wedding reception. I didn't think it would be a hard job - and I was sure wrong. You see Kevin and I have a bedroom in the basement of his parent's house full of some of our stuff that we didn't need in Australia. I thought that there was a box of scrapbooks in the closet of that room and since everything is clearly labeled it wouldn't be hard to find. Well she informed me that it was not in the closet and then they looked through the boxes in the room and found one that had scrapbooks written on it and that particular scrapbook was not in the box.

So I went on the hunt earlier today. My father-in-law had been nice enough to move out some of the boxes so that I could read all of the labels and I went to work. Because it wasn't where I had thought it was supposed to be I began to look through every box thinking that I might have just put it somewhere unusual. Finally after going through all of the boxes and restacking everything up I looked one more time in the closet. The closet which Susan, John, and I had already looked in at least once each. After taking everything out of the closet on the very last box I found it!!!

Now you may be wondering why I was looking for the elusive scrapbook. I started a project months and months ago. Since it was our 10 year anniversary in August and since I have done nothing in the past with our wedding pictures I have decided to make a book. I have made digital pages and will send them off to a company that will bind them together and turn them into a real book. I am so excited. Well in this scrapbook are pictures of when Kevin and I were engaged plus a poem that he wrote for me on that day. I felt that the wedding book would not be complete without it. Also there are pictures of Kev shoving cake up my nose and my bridal pictures were in a little book in the same box. I am so excited to finish up my project and see it all bound up in a book that will last forever.

Sunday dinners...

One thing I have missed terribly since moving to Australia is family dinners at my parent's house. I miss talking, eating, playing games, and laughing.

This time family dinner was special because not only were Rylee and I in town but so was my older sister Wendy and her family. I was so glad to see everyone. It was sad to me that Kev and the other two kiddos weren't there to see everyone though. My parents have actually moved since we left for Australia so this is the first time I have gotten to see their house as well. It has so much space for everyone. We were always so cramped in the old house. There is plenty of room in the kitchen and dining room, a playroom for the grandkids, and plenty of space for the adults to play games and just chit chat. I had forgotten just how loud and crazy dinner gets for a family get together - but I loved every minute of it and soaked it all in!! Here are a few pictures from Sunday dinner:

This is us watching the last session of General Conference - oh how I have missed watching it live in the comfort of my own home.
dinner time

Rylee coloring with the boys

Where did everyone go? She doesn't seem to mind that the boys left does she?

Rylee and Chelsea

SAFE AND SOUND....AND TIRED

Well as Kev said we are here in Utah safe and sound. Rylee fell asleep on the plane for an hour at the beginning and then something woke her up and she wouldn't go back to sleep for about five hours. Needless to say she only slept five hours on the 12 hour flight and was an exhausted baby when we landed. She was really good though and people next to us even commented to me about it on the plane. She slept on the short hour and a half flight from San Fran and it was all I could do to wake her up when we landed in SLC. When we got to SLC there was Grandma Susan and Grandpa John waiting for us - we were so excited to see familiar faces and even more excited to know that we had arrived finally. We spent a quiet evening at their house and tried to get a good night sleep. However Rylee keeps getting up between about 12:30 and 2:30 every night. She doesn't cry or anything just lays there and plays then I pick her up and let her lay by me it takes her a couple of hours to get to sleep. We are a little sleep deprived and I am hoping that she and I will adjust to the time change soon.

The day after our arrival I went to lunch with my mom and sisters - minus one who doesn't live here. It was fun to catch up and chat with the ladies!!! We also saw Sugar (our dog we gave to my nephew when we left)!!! Rylee didn't like her much right after she got licked the first time - she did like little Sadie (there other little poodle) though. We will have to go back so I can get some pictures - Rylee wouldn't let me leave her side so I didn't get any good ones.

Today we woke up and watched the first session of General Conference...love watching it on TV!!! Then we headed over to the Hutchinsons for dinner. There Rylee got to meet most of her cousins and play with her newest cousin (technically her 2nd cousin) who is only 2 months younger than her and was born only a few days after we moved to Australia. She did so well. I was worried about how she would react to all the new faces and people talking to her but she was fine and had a great time.

We have also met my little sisters baby for the first time. She is so precious! Got my new camera, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!!!!! Although I am still trying to figure it out.

Have a Party - Check

First full day where the boys outnumber the girl! (Of course Cooper recognized this fact and had to point it out.)

Well, it is still true that Cooper is going to have a hard time with me being home and working. He still thinks that if he asks me to play with him every 5 minutes the answer will change.

We did hear from Stace today! She made it home safe both her and Rylee are doing well, sleep deprived, but well.

So we took a break, packed a lunch, and went to the park. This is a lovely picture of Coop making a silly face and eating his usual peanut butter and nutella sandwich.



After work was over (the long long day - as Coop put it) we had our scheduled party. If you don't know "Have a party" was on the list of things that Madz and Coop wanted to do while mom was away. Here is the list of things we were to do at the party.

- "Eat at Mic donalds"
- "Play trans and petshops"
- "Dance"
- "Play Duck Duck Gooes"
- "Play Maryo Kart"
- "Have a Peloe Fite"
- "Sleep Over"
- "Tell Seckerets"

I tried to talk them out of Maccas, as we had gone there for lunch yesterday, but there would have none of that.

We completed the list and only had tears once (Duck duck goose) and it was my fault. I hope Madz forgives me for trying to help give Cooper a chance of getting away.

Other than that it went well. Here are some pictures from playing trains and petshops. They were excited to have the play room to themselves without fear of Rylee playing Godzilla on the newly built city.



Here is the dancing. (Sorry but Stace has the computer with photo shop on it and the easy red eye fix).


Here is the pillow fight. I didn't get one with Madz though.

Satan wants me to fall!

I just had the funniest conversation with Coop and I just have to share it.

(Kev) Ouch!
(Coop) Are you OK dad? What happened?
(K) I stepped on a dog.
(C) What dog?
(K) [Picking up a small toy dog so Coop could see it]
(C) Oh, that's Rylee's dog. She must have wanted you to step on it so she left it there before her and mommy left.
(K) Do you think that's why she did it?
(C) Yea, but I don't think she wanted you to fall. But Satan would have wanted you to fall. That would have made him really happy. Satan wants people to fall!
(K) [Picturing Satan and his little devils running around with banana peels in their hands - laughing] Why do you think that?
(C) I don't know I just thought it up in my brain.
(K) Did you hear it in primary?
(C) I don't remember.

Anyway, I went on to explain the two different meanings of the word fall, just for Cooper to look at me with a blank look on his face and say, "Oh." and walk away.