Our Australian Adventure.....Day One

  Our trip to Australia was one of those things you only dream about. I never thought I would visit Australia, but we did!! What an adventure. Be patient with me as I try to recap the best vacation ever. Here is our letter home after the first day......
    "Hey Kiddos!  We made it! The plane ride was awesome. We were on the biggest passenger plane they make.  I fell asleep in the middle of eating my dinner and woke up with only three hours left. The seats were big and comfy. Each seat had it's own TV with lots of fun things to watch. It was so much easier and better than I expected....even kind of fun.

Here we are with some of our group waiting for the big flight. We love these guys. Best people ever.

We flew on the AIRBUS. A double decker plane with a spiral staircase. Biggest thing I have ever seen!

We flew all night and got here in Sydney just in time to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was a blast! What an amazing view of the city!

Our group on the bridge. An adventure of a lifetime!

The views of Sydney were breathtaking!

  "We just keep saying to each other, " I can't believe we are here in Australia!"  They took us to a pub after the bridge climb for pizza, salads and drinks. Our hotel is stunning and they clean our room twice a day.

Our amazing hotel

The view from our room. I wouldn't let Carter shut the curtains.

  Our room looks over the Opera House and the city. We walked along the harbor after dinner and took pictures of the Opera house in the dark."

 

Cody and Laura kept us entertained during our evening stroll.

      "Australia is beautiful! It is like a combination of San Francisco and an old European city. The people are so friendly and we love to hear them talk. The cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the car and they drive on the opposite side of of the road as we do. We have already learned that they call presents "prezzys", eating at McDonalds a "Mac Attack" or a "Macky", a car crash a "car smash" and a diaper a"nappy". Rugby is on every channel and the people are crazy for it.
      We miss you so much. Everyone wants to hear about how we have five kids. They think we are crazy, but we know we are the luckiest people around! Be good for grandma and grandpa and help with Gwennie. Email us or text us if you want to tell us anything or need anything. We love you!!!!"
     As you can see day one in Australia was a huge success. As I write, my heart yearns to be back. A mission someday perhaps?

Easter

Our Easter was low key and relaxing this year. We usually have company or we travel up north, but since our big trip is coming up this week we stayed home. The weather was beatiful and we spent lots of quality family time outside.

We always do our baskets and parties on Saturday, so that we can focus on the Savior on Easter Sunday. The Easter bunny was kind to us.

Here is our little bead head discovering her basket. She just couldn't belive that that much candy was actually hers. She ate and entire Cadburry Cream Egg all at once. She nearly drowned in the gooey goodness.

These kids make the holidays so much fun. I can't imagine life without them.

We made the traditional carrot sugar cookies which we shared with our friends.

The boys enjoyed lots of time outside playing baseball and basetball.

Little miss got a new little back pack which she toted around everywhere. She is looking like a little girl and not a baby in those piggies. On Saturday night one of great frines planned a glow in the dark Easter egg hunt. We had a blast at the park visiting, eating and hunting for eggs. We have THE BEST FRIENDS!

Courtney spent all of Easter Sunday in her bed with kidney stones. She even had a new cute dress to wear. There is always a void when one of our kids is not there.

I am so greatful for this time of year to reflect on the most important event in history. Jesus Christ is the very foundation of my life. Because of him, I can be forgiven of my sins and live with God again. This knowledge has sustained me and given me direction and purpose through the trials I have faced. What a beautiful gift. I know I cannot fully comprehend the magnitude of the Atonement, but I know that through Jesus Christ my most precious possessions, my husband and children, can be mine forever. There is no greater blessing.

Kansas City 2012

I happens every year in February. We fly to Kansas City with all of the awesome people Carter works with for a weekend of fun! Kansas City is where his company's home office is, so they have a yearly awards dinner and other fun activities.

Here we are looking so relaxed sans our 5 children.



Here are the DARLING ladies I am lucky to hang out with. Love. Every. Single. One.


Here is the Boss enjoying some Jack Stacks BBQ. Very famous in this neck of the woods.



Here we are at the fancy schmancy awards night. A fun excuse to buy a new dress and get all dolled up. Carter is sporting the famous 250 Club jacket. You have to work hard to get one of those. Way to go boss. PS we are not drinking those tipsy sort of drinks, although, by the way we acted you would never know. We Mormons like to have ourselves a good, clean time.



Here are all the ladies looking like they are about to walk the red carpet. Stunning. Dear Megan, next time tell me to stand up straight. Thank you. Love, the Hunchback of Notre dame.


They really go all out for these events. I felt like I was at one of those million dollar wedding receptions you only see on TV. They served an amazing dinner, several courses of food I didn't recognize. It was a good time.



Look at these too, so darling, so in love. Megs is my adopted little sister. We are really the ones in love.



Here is a very blurry picture of The Boss getting his award. He rocked it this year. I am proud of that boy.



When all the formalities are over, they turn us loose on the dance floor. The lighted, fog filled, club like dance floor. Every year I say I'm not going to dance, I'm going to keep it calm. Every year I go a little crazy and dance my little heart out. Embarrassing? Why yes it is. Oh well. It's fun!



Have I mentioned yet how much I love all the ladies. Well I do.




It was a fantastic weekend! We even got to take my nephew Flat Weston along with us. Thank you to the greatest parents on earth for tending our babies and making it easy for us to be away. They are the most unselfish people I know! And thank you Boss for working so hard and making it all possible.

He Is Old

Jackson turned 14 on February 24th. He is old. Which in turn makes me REALLY old. Sadly, Carter and I were in Kansas City getting our "dance on" and shirking our parental duties. We celebrated all week before we left, and all month when we got home, and fortunately for Jackson my mom and dad were here tending and he got triple spoiled! Yeah for grandparents and parents who feel sorry for you, let just say that he properly milked his day of birth!

In my defense, I made these delicious chocolate cupcakes before I left. My mom was so kind as to make the frosting....mmmmm, Jackson's favorite, German chocolate.


Also in my defense, I left these breakfast sandwiches for Jackson. Homemade are his favorite, but frozen will do in a pinch. Who doesn't like a good frozen egg every once in a while. I shudder at that thought.

More mom points? Why yes, I hung the traditional birthday banner before I left, and Carter and I blew up some Duke colored balloons. My mom and dad took over from there, taking Courtney, her friend-boy, and Jackson, and his friend for a VERY fancy dinner. My dad may have to come out of retirement to cover that bill. Funny side note...Courtney's friend-boy got deathly ill immediately after the dinner. Everyone suspected food poisoning, but alas, it was just the flu. The ungrateful kids throwing up that expensive dinner...teenagers.


For spring break Carter and I totally redeemed ourselves as parents, when we consented to take Jackson to the most fantastic Nike store on earth. I hate the Strip in Vegas and refuse to go there, but we found a back way in and went to Ceasers to check it out.


It was totally worth it. As everyone knows Jackson is totally enamored with all things Nike, and Duke. This was his Disneyland. His happiest place on earth. We spent a lot of time there. It was fun, really fun, even for me.


Jackson plans to be the President of Nike one day, read here if you don't know why. Here he is with the whole world in his hands.


Since it was March madness, there was some amazing Duke swag. Jackson spent every last drop of his birthday money. Let's just say it didn't got too far. All in all I think the boy had a great birthday month, even with neglectful parents.

Jack, my boy, I couldn't imagine life without you. You are MY boy. You watch out for me and take care of me when dad is out of town. You tell me you love me every time you go to bed or leave somewhere. You can talk me into just about anything. You make me belly laugh at least twice a day. You have more self control than any boy your age. I catch you studying your scriptures often, boy does that warm my heart. I will always kiss you. I will always hug you and make you hug me back. You will always make me proud and you will always be MY boy.

My Baby is TWO!

I just cannot believe how fast time is going! Our little Gwennie turned two on February 16th. Sometimes I watch her walk around the house in her little pigtails with her pudgy little feet slapping the tile, and wonder how our family ever existed without her. As most of you know she can be a stubborn little twit and she makes me second guess my parenting skills on a daily basis. But oh how we love that little bright eyed, curious, and chatty little girl!



For her birthday she and I got to spend the day alone. We explored the new toy store in town. She spent an hour riding, touching and sometime licking every single toy in the place. The ladies were so cute with her and even wrapped up a little gift for her when we left. We made a stop at Target for a few more gifts and party supplies and then met some friends at Brick Oven for lunch. She just kept saying over and over, "Mommy and Gennie on date!" She somehow know it was a special day just for her and enjoyed singing "Happy birthday deeeeer Geeeennniieee!" ALL DAY LONG!



Later that night when everyone was home we unwrapped gifts and had cake and ice cream.



I tried my hand a a little ruffle cake this year. It turned out okay, but not excellent. Here's to the first try though!



I don't think Gwen cared one bit what the cake looked like, just as soon as we were finished singing to her she stuck her face right in. The girl is NOT shy.



I think that everyone loved watching Gwen open presents. Every single thing she opened was the best thing ever!!


Just look at that reaction. If everyone reacted that way to every gift you gave them can you even imagine how much more fun it would be to give gifts! She got some Minnie Mouse toys, a singing Dora book and some Melissa and Doug toys.



She has played for hours with this fun little Velcro birthday cake.



The "Dora Book Dance" Cracked us all up! It is now a regular dance move in the kids repertoire.



This is the perfect picture of our Gwennie. Silly, creative, quirky, fun and a little mischievous. she had sure spiced up this household.









Being your mom is the absolute best. My days with you are filled with sticky kisses and tickle fights. By the end of most days one of us is in tears, but every minute is worth it. Every. Minute.
We love you to the moon and back Gwennie! Happy Birthday!