The Great Scott Adventures

Lights at Temple Square

2012-01-24T03:28:00.000-08:00

So it's been four years since we were in Utah for Christmas. Four years people!!! And to say that I have missed the cold snowy Christmases of my youth, is an understatement. So you can imagine how excited I was to be spending the month of December in cold snowy Utah. Not to mention spending the month with my family. Well imagine our surprise (not really - we had a feeling this would happen) when it only snowed twice and melted just as quickly as it fell while we were there. We did hear that it was the hottest and driest December in Utah in 100 years. But even though there was no snow, it was colder than the 90 + degree temperatures of an Australian Christmas.

Christmas in Utah wouldn't be complete without a trip to Temple Square to see the lights. And boy they did not disappoint!

I miss good Christmas lights, so it was fun to be on temple square and enjoy the thousands of lights .

The reflection pool outside the temple grounds holds wonderful memories of taking wedding photos, which I might add were very very bad, but oh so funny.

I loved walking around the temple grounds, not only on this night but on another visit. So blessed to have married my hubby in this scared building!

We had a great time going with my brother Jeff & his wife Jodi and the kids. It's always a party when we are together! Don't you love Chooch's face! :)

Awwww pretty.

We ducked into the Tabernacle to get out of the cold for a bit. The organ never ceases to amaze me.

Then it was off to the North Visitors Center, where we stood in line to go up to the Christus, which was a new experience for me. Sure do love these guys!

It was wonderful to fight the crowds and get to see the Nativity, and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

As you can see Chooch was loving having Darran around. Actually, I don't know if there is anyone that doesn't like having the darling Aussie around. I know I sure love it!

A visit to Temple Square to see the lights wouldn't be complete without walking by the red tree. The last time we were here, was when we got married. When we took Darran's parents to see the lights. There are always great memories to be made when you're out seeing the lights! So glad we were able to do this while we were in Utah!

Hoover Dam

2012-01-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

One of the things that Darran wanted to do on this trip was go to the Hoover Dam, so since it was so close to Vegas, we got up and headed out to Hoover Dam. Darran, as you know loves movies and he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the "all spark" from Transformers which was housed in the Hoover Dam.

The dam is amazing! It hasn't changed since the last time I was there as a little girl, but it never ceases to amaze me! It really is incredible!

Standing on the top looking down. Yes those are cars parked at the bottom of the dam.

They have built a new bridge to bypass the dam on your way to Arizona. It's pretty cool, and ties in well with the scenery around the dam. Here's my superman posing at one of the look outs.

View of new bridge

Darran getting brave enough to look over the edge

Looking straight down

The water was quite low, so no need to let water out. See those cement rectangles with the circles on them? That's where the water comes out when they need to let some water out. Who knew?

A view of the dam from the visitor center side. See that tower in the middle? There are bathrooms there...promise!

Leaving Hoover dam going under the new bridge

Good buy Nevada, Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. Hello Utah!!! It's so good to be home!!!

California & Las Vegas

2012-01-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

The weeks leading up to our holiday were so hectic that we were really looking forward to some down time and being able to relax on our trip to America. We had a lovely time spending the first week of our trip in Newport Beach California. It was lovely, relaxed and we did a heck of a lot of shopping. It was just the therapy we needed. While we were there Darran met with a guy that is going to do the movie for the film. It was fun to meet him and see his studio.

I loved these big snowflake lights that they had hanging from the pier. Gotta love snowflakes! It was getting me excited about the snow we were going to play in when we got to Utah.

It was also lovely to head down to the pier and eat at Ruby's Diner. Their pumpkin shake was to die for! It was especially delicious because I didn't do a pumpkin pie this year, since I would be the only one at my house that would eat it. Hello I can still taste that divine treat!

I didn't take many pictures while we were in California. Mainly because I was just enjoying spending time with my parents, relaxing and catching up on all the Food Network and Home Improvement Shows that I don't get to see in Australia. We each found a new favorite show. Mine was Say yes to the Dress, a show about wedding dress shopping of all things. And Darran's was a show called Sons of Guns. I was able to pull myself away to capture the setting sun. Love the gum trees and the water. This was the view from our condo. Yep, pretty relaxing that's for sure!

After California, is was on to Vegas baby. We had a blast shopping at the Primm Outlets. Oh how I love the William Sanoma Outlet Store. We also hit the Fashion Outlets on the other side of Vegas. With the Aussie dollar so high, how could we not shop? :) We stayed the night with a childhood friend of my mom's, which was fun to be in her home again. While my mom caught up with her friend, and my dad caught up on the football. We headed to the strip, because every trip to Vegas deserves a trip to the strip!

Boy there has been a lot of building going on since the last time I was there! So many new hotels have cropped up! The last time we were on the strip together was before our wedding 5 years ago. We took pictures out in front of the Bellagio then, but they were super dark. This time I was thrilled to be able to catch the fountain out front as it danced to a Christmas song.

It's always fun to be on the strip. The people never seem to disappoint. Vegas is one of the best places to people watch, that is for sure. We made our way around the strip, visited the M&M store, the lions in the MGM (too bad they had just gone to bed), watched some football at ESPN, strolled down the plaza at Little Ceasars and saw the Christmas display at the Bellagio. It was a fun night on the strip, and after all that walking we were ready to sleep!

The Surprise Continues

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Just because we started celebrating Pam's birthday a day early with the barbecue, didn't mean that the party stopped! The next day was her real birthday and Russ pulled out yet another surprise and brought her down to Archies on the Creek (a five star restaurant just down the road from our house). Pam had been wanting to go there since it opened, so it was the perfect place for a 70th luncheon. Little did she know that we had another surprise for her.

Over thirty years ago a little boy named Michael came into Russ and Pam's life. He quickly became a grandson to them. When things didn't work out with his mom and their son, they continued to keep in contact with Michael and his mom. So Russ thought it wouldn't be a family luncheon without Michael and his family there too. There were more tears when Pam walked in and saw Michael and his family there.

As we were waiting for our food we had the chance to chat and catch up, chase Christian and Mason (Michael's son) around and snap some photos. This is one of my favorites!

Russ Christian and Pam

The little boys were getting restless, so we decided to take them outside to see the water and fish while we waited for lunch to be served.

Mason Russ and Christian

Mason Pam and Christian

The last time these three were together was for Terry's wedding in Perth over 5 years ago, so Pam wanted to get a picture of her three boys.

Here's Pam with her grandchildren. Jeremy, Danny, Michael and Kylie

Make a wish Pam! We already know that it came true!!!

Family photo outside of Archies on the Creek. We had a lovely lady who works at Archies volunteer to take our photo. Michael's wife Kerrie, is a professional photographer and had an idea of how she wanted to set us all up. But the nice lady at Archies thought she knew best. Kerrie kindly suggested that we gather around the fountain (which is in the background over Darran's shoulder) so at least the lighting would be right. And the nice lady took this, our family photo. In the end all that really mattered was that we were all there to celebrate the birthday of an incredible lady, whom I'm so lucky to have as my mother in law!!!

A 70th Birthday Surprise!

2012-01-15T22:28:00.000-08:00

The weekend before we left for America was full of fun and excitement!!! Our 5th anniversary, Darran's birthday and a surprise party for my darling mother in law who turned 70. Russ (my father in law) approached me in June and asked if I could help him plan a surprise party for the big 70th birthday. Russ wanted to invite all the kids and the grand kids to come to Melbourne and surprise Pam for the weekend. With one son's family in Perth and the other son's family in Queensland and enough time, the boys and kids were able to make it over and we gave Pam the surprise of her life! She had no idea!

Darran and I met Pam and Russ at their house on their anniversary to have a barbecue and catch up before Darran and I headed overseas. Little did she know that the rest of the family was eagerly awaiting to surprise her as they were all hiding in the garage. Pam and I were in the kitchen chatting away like we do, then one by one her kids and grand kids started trickling into the kitchen. As they came in the tears began to fall, she was so excited!

This is her reaction to seeing her great grandson Christian, who just celebrated his first birthday in Perth a few weeks earlier. Pam was feeling so disappointed that they weren't able to get over for his birthday, so his showing up at her 70th sure made up for it!

Here she is with Kylie her granddaughter and mother to Christian. They have always had such a close and tender relationship ever since Kylie was a little girl.

The barbecue quickly grew from five people to 12. While Pam was out relishing in her family all being there to celebrate her birthday. I was in the kitchen quickly making additional salads to feed everyone. A couple of trips to the local shop and we got the party started!

Adam, Kylie Christian, Jeremy and Pam

Pam and her boys Darran, Dean and Terry

Loving having the little man there to cuddle

Russ made a quick phone call once all the crying and hugging was over and told Auntie Shirley that she needed to come over to see what Pam got for her birthday. Wasn't she surprised when she came in and saw a house full! Auntie Shirl and Pam have a wonderful relationship that goes back to the time that Pam was a little girl and living in the family house with her mom's sisters as all the husbands were off at war. It's wonderful to see these two together and hear of all the stories and memories.

Here's everyone. The first family photo in about 10 years and the first time they were all together in about that long as well.

Pam just thought she was going to have a small birthday party. Back in March she and Russ were at Costco (yes we've got them hooked too!) and she saw their cakes. She asked Russ then and there if she could have a Costco cake for her birthday with red roses. He filed that away, and made sure that I ordered that special cake for her to celebrate her special day. It was so fun helping Russ with this surprise! Pam's joy and tears were well worth it! Here's hoping that we don't have to wait another 10 years to be all together again!

Chicks at 4 weeks

2012-01-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

I know that I have taken the month of December off...and for good reason! We were able to go to America for Christmas and spend the holiday with my family...the first one in four years. It was wonderful...but we'll get to that, promise! But before we do, there are a few things that I have to post about and catch up on. These pictures of the "babies" were taken three days before we left for America, and since I have documented their growth each week since they were born, I had to include these too.

This is Lou Lou. Have you ever seen the Mel Gibson movie Mad Max? Their feathers at this stage totally remind me of the wild clothes that were worn in Mad Max. Bits of feathers poking out here and there.

This is Number 1 and Number 3. Sorry that you can't really see the detail really well, but I was trying to capture them and get everything else done before we headed overseas. Number 1 (on right) had these wing feathers (up around her shoulders) that stuck out about a 1/2 inch. She was rocking some major shoulder pads!

Even though their feathers are starting to come in and they look like teenagers going through that "awkward stage" They are still really cute, right? Wait until you see what they look like now!!!

Birthday Boy

2011-11-29T12:25:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARRAN!!!

May this year be your best year yet!

And may all your birthday wishes come true!

Sure do love you!!!

Views from my garden

2011-11-26T03:41:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year here in Australia. The weather is starting to warm up, but not getting too hot. (Think Autumn in America). And everything in the garden starts to grow.

While outside checking on the chicks, I walked by our lemon tree and smelled the fragrant blossoms of the lemon tree. So glad I had my camera in my hand, I wanted to take a picture to help me capture that moment of smelling the beautifully perfumed flowers.

Next I passed by our veggie boxes. And things are starting to come to life there. Like these raspberries. A friend at work gave me a few raspberry canes she had pulled from her raspberry patch in June. We never expected to have raspberries this year...so this was a great surprise. Can't believe that they are turning pink already. My friend says she usually starts harvesting from her patch on Christmas day.

Look what I found on our mandarin orange tree. Isn't this a fun addition to the garden?!?!?!?

And see this!?!?!?!? We have two and a half veggie boxes full of tomato plants...that we didn't plant. These have all been self seeding plants. We have given at least 30 plants away and it still hasn't put a dent in them!

The lavender is in bloom and oh so fragrant. I love lavender.

And our chives are in bloom.

It's a beautiful time of year...but sometimes you just have to take time to stop and smell the flowers.

A fun little catch up

2011-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

The day after we wrapped with the filming, the ladies from my old ward had scheduled a picnic lunch with the ladies in my branch. This was the first time that we were getting together since after the ward was split and the branch was made in July. This was also the first time that any of the sisters from the ward were coming down for an activity in the country. As you can see here, it wasn't a huge turn out, there were 7 from our branch and 4 from the ward. We all had such a great time that we have decided to get together again in February, when the weather is warmer, and hopefully more sisters from both the branch and ward will attend.

A funny little story about the picnic. Like I said is was the day after filming. Everyone was asked to bring their own lunch to the picnic, and everyone did, except for me. You see, I had woken up that morning and for the first time in over 4 weeks didn't have to cook or make anything for anyone, including me, so all I went to the picnic with was a bottle of water. Well, these darling ladies wouldn't hear of it, and offered me everything from sandwiches to fruit to brownies. I explained to them several times that I was okay and that I really couldn't eat anything as I was "fooded out". But they still wouldn't hear of it. It was like having 10 grandmothers trying to feed me. Bless their hearts! I'm happy to say that I didn't have anything, but was sent home with a tangelo because it was just too hard at the end to reason with them.

What a wonderful bunch of dear sweet ladies that I am so blessed to know and call friends.

I'm grateful for...

2011-11-24T02:40:00.000-08:00

Sorry this post doesn't have a picture of our Thanksgiving table.

We took some, but I just wasn't happy with the way they turned out.

So, pretend that there is a beautiful photo of a lovely Thanksgiving table and with a beautiful turkey, home made rolls, and all the trimmings of a traditional Thanksgiving. Including the pumpkin pie!

Then...wipe that image from your mind, because our Thanksgiving didn't have any of those things...except turkey...it the form of Subway sandwiches. Yep, we kept our Aussie Thanksgiving tradition and got a turkey sub from subway and then headed to the beach for our Thanksgiving dinner. And since Darran doesn't like pumpkin pie, and I do and would feel I had to eat the whole thing... I didn't make one.

We have so so so much to be grateful for this year, and the one tradition that we have kept going on Thanksgiving is taking time to share what we are grateful for - only this year we didn't have the candy corns, but that's okay...you don't need candy corn to count your blessings.

Things that we are grateful for this year, in no particular order.

1. New baby chicks

2. Each other

3. The gospel

4. Darran was able to accomplish his dream of making his movie.

5. The movie making process and the people who we have met through making the movie.

6. Supportive In Laws (both sides)

7. The peace calm and sweet assurance that we are not alone as we go through hard things.

8. Great family and friends

9. Our little branch

10. Horses, fish and bunnies.

There are seriously so many more things that we could list, but these are the things that we shared in the wee hours of the early morning as we were drifting off to sleep...and then the giggles came. One more thing to add

11. Midnight laughter

Hope you all had a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING and didn't eat yourselves into a turkey coma. For those of you braving the Black Friday Sales...good luck, wear good shoes and know that I am jealous!

**Footnote: For those of you that don't know the reason we started our subway turkey sandwich Thanksgiving tradition here, is that on our first Thanksgiving in Australia I went to pick up a turkey and wouldn't pay $40 for a small (we're talking like maybe would feed 4 people if you are lucky) turkey. So we did the next best thing...subway at the beach...that that my friends is how the tradition started.

chick update

2011-11-22T11:22:00.001-08:00

We've moved the baby chicks out of the chicken coop this week and outside into a contained area for their first outside world experience. It's been fun watching the chicks adjust to the grass for the first time. They have taken up scratching the ground for bugs in no time. It's really been amazing to watch. Not to mention therapeutic.

Here is Ellen showing them how to look for bugs in the grass.

Fluffy checking out the new babies from a safe distance. We've read that keeping them separated like this while they are young helps the other chooks get used to them and helps the other birds acclimate to the new ones. We'll see if it works. Both Fluffy and Snowy have been very curious that's for sure!

The chicks checking out the big new outside world

Number 3 and Number 2

Number 1 - check out those beautiful wing feathers. You can actually see their combs developing too. It's fun to see the different changes and grow every day!

Number 2 - or should I say LuLu. Yes, my mother-in-law was down on the weekend and decided that this was the chick she was going to name. After throwing out 5 different names, she settled on LuLu. As you can see LuLu's wings are a lot lighter and different colors than Number 1. Lulu has personality plus! She has just found her wings and will start at one end of the enclosure and run while flapping her wings. Trying to catch air, which she has. After she's done it she'll look around to see if anyone noticed. Then will strut to the end of the enclosure and start it all over again.

Number 3 - the chick that was born 2 days after Number 1 & LuLu. Her wing feathers aren't as long as Number 1 or LuLu, but she is catching up fast.

I couldn't resist posting this one. The afternoon was drawing to a close, and it was getting a bit chilly so Ellen gathered up her chicks to keep them warm. They all disappeared under her, then all the sudden Number 3 (left) and LuLu popped out from under her bum feathers. I took these photos 2 days ago, and already they have changed. I noticed tail feathers starting to grow on Number 3 last night. I think she could be our rooster. But until I know for sure, we are calling them all girls! They have been a fun addition to our daily adventures, that's for sure!

Cast and crew

2011-11-20T12:03:00.000-08:00

The cast outside our house on the last day after we finished filming and wrapped the film. Back row: Rudy (camera assistant), Ryan (Darran's assistant and our friend from Vegas), Harry (Played Cody), Mick (Lead actor, played Steven), Issac (assistant), Glen (steady camera operator), Joél (sound). Front Row: Damien (cinematographer), Darran, Kath (lead actress, played Bonnie), Ali (makeup), Felicity (continuity), Paddy (sound assistant).

Darran with Kath and Mick our lead actress and actor.

Playbook photos part 1

2011-11-20T01:13:00.000-08:00

It's been about a month since we wrapped on the filming of the Playbook. I can't believe that it has been that long, because in all honesty it seems like it was just yesterday. Where has the time gone? It seems to be flying these days. Like I said in previous posts, I have a ton of photos from the movie to wade through, but it will take weeks and I wanted to post a snap shot of what our life has been like during the filming. So here are a few pictures shot throughout the filming, with more to come.

On location at the foreshore in Inverloch. Filming the basketball training on the beach,

The basketball team doing training on the beach. Wouldn't you like to do a beach run for part of your basketball training? I remember those outdoor runs for basketball practice. The running we did wasn't nearly as scenic as this one.

These cute girls are daughters of my friends, who all happen to be friends as well. They were so excited when Darran asked if they would like to be in the movie. Shannen, Courtney and Angel were a hit with thel boys in the film. This was at the park during the party scene.

Party scene at the Glade in Inverloch. All the kids had a great time participating and their parents had a better time watching and giggling from behind the camera.

The Red camera that was used to film the movie.

Every movie needs a dog in it, right? Well this is Lloyd (who plays Garret) and Ella the dog. Everyone on set fell in love with Ella, and not to mention Lloyd.

Harry (who plays Cody) and Damien Bebe, our fabulous cinematographer, going over a few things in a scene they were filming on location in Archies Creek.

The last day of filming at the basketball stadium and before Hernando and Danny flew back to America and Queensland. See that darling blond referee? She got a call from her dad (the manager of the basketball stadium) on the first day of filming asking her to come down and help be a referee for the first day. She was such a good sport, she spent the rest of the week (which was the first week of school holidays) playing one of the main refs.

One of the locations used in the film. Who wouldn't love to have this as their office?

Meet Jack, who played Jack in the movie. He's 5 and FULL of life. Every time there was someone new on set he would make sure that they knew that his name was Jack, with a "hi I'm Jack." On the second day he was on set, he came running in and jumped in my arms and said, "It's cuddle time." He gives great hugs! And does a great T Rex impersonation.

This is Keely, who plays Quinn. This is on set at our house, in the room which is becoming my craft room (finally-more on that later). See that head board? It's from my childhood bedroom. That's Darran in the shot too, taking a mark, before they yelled "action".

This photo was actually taken from the actual film footage. Darran and his two "sons" saying their prayers. Jack and Will (who played Max).

As I continue to go through the photos I'll post a few more. Darran is continuing to put all the raw footage together, to see what bits and pieces we are missing and will have to shoot. He has also signed on two famous Aussie basketball players to make cameo appearance in the film. He's been meeting with distributors who believe in him and in the project, which is very exciting. We'll be filming a few more days, but most likely that won't happen until January when the kids are on summer holidays here and when the Aussie basketballers are available. The movie has to be released by July 2012, we have a ton of work to do between now and then, but we'll get it done. More exciting things to come!!!

New additions

2011-11-14T00:39:00.001-08:00

I know that I haven't posted in a while and that I still need to post about the movie. But I couldn't resist posting about our newest additions here on our little Aussie farm. But don't worry, I will posting more about the filming of the movie soon, we were able to recover the photos on the laptop that crashed and now have a new laptop, so pictures and movie posts will be coming soon. I just need to go through the thousand or so photos.

Now on to our additions...toward the end of the film, I mentioned to a friend (the one that gave us our chickens) at work that one of our chickens was "clucky". She told me that she too had a clucky chicken. The next week she brought me in a dozen eggs to sit under our clucky girl to see if we could get some chicks to hatch. Well, 21 days later... look what we found in the nesting box on Thursday.

Baby Number 1 born Thursday morning

Darran holding baby number 1

We were thrilled to find out that baby number 2 hatched late Thursday afternoon. (Number 2 is the one with the wet bottom feathers.) Ellen (our chicken) was still sitting on 8 eggs. Being a newbie at this whole chick hatching thing, I asked my friend how long we should keep the unhatched eggs under our chicken. She said she usually leaves them for 24 hours after the first one hatches. Well we decided to leave them and see what happened. And lucky we did...because number 3 and 4 hatched on Sunday, however number 4 didn't make it. So we are happy to say that we have 3 new chicks. Number three has yet to be photographed, as number 3 is still hiding under mamas feathers and won't come out and play with it's siblings. Once number 3 does...don't worry, there will be more pictures. I know...you're excited!!! We sure are!

Alive and well

2011-10-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I posted. If you haven't heard the past month has been a bit hectic with the movie that we've been filming. We finished filming the 4 weeks on Friday. We're taking the next couple weeks off to put all the footage together to see what bits and pieces we are missing. We then will film another week of those things we are missing in about 3 weeks.

The week before we started filming, I got a new laptop. The theory was to use the laptop to keep everyone updated on the progress of the film, and to have a place to store all the hundreds and thousands of photos that we would be taking during the filming. And to keep people out of Darran's office and off his computer. The theory was good, and it was working well...until a week and a half ago, when someone borrowed my laptop. Don't worry they asked to borrow it, but when I went to use it the next day, the laptop was DEAD, with an error message stating that I needed to contact the manufacture. I couldn't access any programs, I couldn't even get it to turn over from a lovely black screen. I was so distressed, to think that I had lost all those photos from the movie. They were the only copies we had as we all had to empty our memory cards to fill them up again with more photos.

Darran took my laptop to our dear friend, who is a computer guru yesterday. Explained the situation and told him that he didn't want him to fix our laptop,(it's still under warranty), but just to see if he could get the photos off the laptop. Our friend told Darran that he would have no problem getting the photos and we should have them back by the weekend. And that it isn't uncommon in laptops to get this sort of an error message. He said it usually happens when a foreign USB gets inserted to the computer, or it could be that the disk drive malfunctioned. But not to worry, because he could recover the photos. BLESS HIS HEART!

So, I just wanted to let you all know that we are alive and well, and that as soon as we get the photos back, and a new laptop, I'll post photos and stories about the making of The Playbook. Because boy, do I have stories! Oh and not to mention thousands of photos!

Filming take one

2011-10-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a little snap shot of what has been going around our neck of the woods. We are two weeks into the movie and things are going great! I have many stories to tell. People say I should write a book. Some have been awe inspiring, others... full of prima-donna actors. Don't worry I'll fill you in when I get a chance to sit down and breathe.

This is Hernando Planells, the incredibly awesome sports coordinator that flew in from the States to work on the basketball sequences for the movie. He stayed at our home, has become part of the family and left last week to go back to LA to meet with Adam Sandler who he is working on another movie with. We so miss his humor and personality.

The first week of filming was basketball, basketball, basketball...and a lot of cooking for me. Catering for up to 80 people at lunch was a big feat, and I couldn't have done it all without my in-laws and a couple of wonderful friends who lived just around the corner from the basketball stadium. After early mornings, lunches, working full time, I then came home to feed the 10 extra boys that were staying at our house. Just to give you an idea of what 10 teen age boys can eat...I went through 2.5 pounds of hamburger meat and pasta and 6 loaves of garlic bread in one day. The next night 2.5 pounds of hamburger meat while they inhaled 35 tacos. Yep, teen aged boys sure know how to eat!!

The second week has been about major dramatic scenes, both in the movie and in our house with the prima-donna actor. We have had a great week with wonderful Aussie actors on set. More cooking for me, but most of the filming was happening just up the road from our house, so breakfast and lunch were served at our home, which allowed me an extra 30 minutes of sleep. We did a major night shoot on the beach last night, where we were rain delayed for about an hour, so we didn't get home until about 2am. Its been another great week, and we continue to be blessed! We have enjoyed having a quiet day at home, with the knowledge that we won't be having any one staying at our home (except our friend Ryan) for the rest of the film shoot. Looking to another fun filled two weeks of filming to go, can't believe we are half way through! More stories soon!

Answer to prayer

2011-09-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

It's 10:45 pm on the first day of the film shoot. We've been up since 5:30. It has been a fantastic day and Darran is so happy with the way things are going. It's truly amazing! How blessed we have been! We are being watched over and guided so far with the movie.

Four days ago, Darran got a call from the camera guy who said that he needed to confirm the dates of the shoot as he might have a conflict. He and Darran chose the days of the film shoot 6 months ago because it would work in with every one's schedule. However just four days ago, the camera guy told Darran that he wouldn't be available for the first two weeks and asked if they could push it back. Yeah, right.

After a bit of stress and venting, Darran let the camera guy go and prayed that he would find another DOP (camera guy) at the last minute. He felt impressed to ring a guy that he worked on a film with a couple of years ago, who happens to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Darran didn't know if he was available or if he would accept the budgeted amount of money for pay, but felt he needed to ring him. He caught the guy (Damien) during a break he had on a film set he was working on. Darran quickly told him what was going on and asked if he was available. Damien said that he was filming up until the 27 of September but was free after that and he would love to work on another movie with Darran and that he would be happy with the allotted wage that was budgeted. What an answer to prayer! With Damien not available until the 28th, and filming beginning on the 25 Darran then went to work to find an equally good camera guy to fill in for the first three days. Two days ago, he signed Gus, who was happy and available to work for the first three days and then he had another film job starting. So another pray answered.

We have had our set backs and each time it seems that something is pulling us back and preventing us from making this movie, there is a greater force pushing us forward, carrying us and listening to us and answering our prayers. We could not be doing this movie without the help of a loving and caring Heavenly Father. We have been so so blessed, and have so many more stories and experience (along with photos) to share...but for now, this will have to do as Darran needs the computer to finalize the schedule for tomorrow.

Looking forward to sharing those with you soon!

T - 24 Hours

2011-09-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

Wowie, what a whirlwind week this has been. Can't believe that we are actually less than two days away from starting the filming of Darran's movie The Playbook. It has been crazy busy around our house, and it's only going to get busier, so I wanted to sit down while I could and capture these moments before the bedlam begins.

Last week, we (I say we, because I am the number one cheerleader and support crew, the chef, the caterer, the listener when venting needs to be done, and the a number one wife) actually filmed some of the movie at the Melbourne Tigers (Australia's NBA) basketball game. I was there to take stills (photos) of the night. Which Darran has downloaded, and I can't seem to find...so once found...I'll add pictures.

There are a couple of things that I want to remember about that night. The first is that we have incredible friends and are so truly blessed to have Tim and Sharon in our lives. Let me explain. The camera guy was notified a week in advance that we would be shooting this extra scene at the basketball game on the night, he was in charge of organizing the camera and getting it from the hub to the stadium at a specific time. The cast was all told to meet at 6pm as the game started at 7:00.
We were planning on leaving our house at 3:45, as the stadium was a little over two hours away and Darran wanted to be there early and have everything set up and ready to go by start time. At 3:30 the camera guy called to say that he couldn't go pick up the camera because something happened at home and his mom wouldn't let him go until the fix it man came to fix what ever happened. He knew about this since 9:30 that morning, but didn't call Darran until 3:45. To say that Darran was stressed was an understatement.

We quickly jumped in the car and thought that the only solution we had was to drive to the hub (an additional hour out of our way) to pick up the camera and then make it to the stadium. Which would put us an hour or more behind schedule. As we drove we kept trying to think who we knew that lived nearer to the hub than we did. I suggested Tim and Sharon. So, Darran rang and spoke to Sharon to see if they were busy and if they would mind helping us out of this massive stressful situation. It was Tim and Sharon's date night so Sharon said she would speak to Tim and get back to us. Not 10 minutes later, Sharon rang back to say that they were leaving to go pick up the camera and that they would get to the stadium as soon as they could.

They got to the stadium about 30 minutes after we got there and saved us over an hours delay in starting. Words can not express the gratitude we have for these dear friends. They ended up staying and watching the game and seeing part of the filming for their date. They assured me that they didn't mind and it was a fun change of pace from their regular date night activities. What would we ever do with out these dear friends?!?!?!

Another thing I want to remember is Sharon's face when Darran told her that the camera equipment that she had picked up and transported for us was worth over $250,000. It was priceless. She said she was so glad she didn't know about the value until after she finished transporting it or she would have stressed out the entire way there.

A third thing I want to remember is that my husband is totally in his element on a film shoot. It was so fun to watch him work and direct the camera guy and then the actors. He is amazing and I can not wait to see what these next four weeks bring and what the final product looks like. I have no doubts that it will be incredible!

A forth thing I want to remember is that I am so much more comfortable taking photos and doing my thing behind a little camera. I had so much fun taking photos of the game, the actors, Darran at work with the camera. I feel I got some cool pictures too (at least I think so), but again, you'll have to trust me until I can find where Darran downloaded them.

On Friday I picked up Darran's PA from the airport. Our friend Ryan flew in from Vegas to help Darran out and gain experience. You see, he is an inspiring actor who has hopes of making films one day. He had a horrendous experience coming out of customs, the poor guy, and at one point when we were waiting for over an hour for him to clear customs I thought they might actually send him home. I'm happy to report that they didn't send him home and that he has put the experience behind him and has been enjoying himself since. He has been a tremendous help for Darran this past week, and he says he has learned a lot already, so it's a win win!

Yesterday we had two more people fly in that will be apart of the movie. So my house is filling up. But...it's going to be really full come tomorrow when the 10 kids (plus a parent) who are on the basketball teams will be staying with us for a week. It's going to be crazy busy, and I don't know how I'll cope with a house of 10 teen age boys, but I'm excited and looking forward to all that the week has to offer.

chockers (really) full of good food, and I am ever so grateful that Costco is in Melbourne!!! Wish I didn't have to work, I'd much rather hang out on the film set and shoot photos. Don't worry I'll make sure I get some photos and make time to sit down and post when I can. It might be 3am, but there are things that I just don't want to forget!

I am so excited for my husband and know that it will be AMAZING!!! I'm off to go entertain those who are here. Chat later! Promise!

Retreat

2011-09-12T23:35:00.000-07:00

When our little LDS Branch was formed in late July and the RS presidency was called, at one of our first meetings we decided that we wanted to do an RS retreat. So we planned one for four weeks later. The theme: Oil In My Lamp. Well last weekend was the weekend we chose for the retreat, and can I just say we had a marvellous time and everyone loved it so much they want to do it again, and would like to extend it to 3 days. The presidency was thrilled with the way it turned out and the fun that was had by all, but we may need a bit of a break before we go planning a 3 day retreat, because we all went home exhausted after the little weekend retreat we had. Below are just some of the photos that I took of the weekend.

Our fearless leader aka: President and her husband Rob cooking the bbq on Friday night.

The campfire, that would eventually keep me warm during my sleep out with a new friend. This was a great gathering place for the sisters, including the two full time missionaries (in shorts) who came for the evening entertainment and then came back for Saturdays full activities.

Getting ready for dinner Friday night.

Good food, good friends and great laughs

Sisters in real life Joan and Marje getting ready for a restful night.

Toni (in red) is 80 and was our oldest participant, with Marje after a good nights sleep. They were the first to come out and check on the two of us who slept out under the stars by the fire. They were both so worried about us. But we were fine and slept so well. I love sleeping out under the stars! It reminded me of when I was little and my brother, sister and I would sleep out on the deck under the stars...such fun memories! The only difference between the time that I was little and last weekend, was that we were awoken by 15 kookaburras signing at 5:45am. Loved it!!

The venue for our little retreat was the Spencily St. School House. This little one room school house was once the school house for the Glen Forbes area. They have long since built a newer, bigger more modern school, but they keep this for the school camps that they do each school holiday. The first counsellor in the presidency was the old principle of the school and we were able to get it because of her connections. Seriously such a fun place to have a retreat. It's about 20 minutes from our house, even though it was only 20 minutes away we all felt that we were hours away from home. I guess that is what a retreat is supposed to be like, right?

Saturday was a beautiful day, we couldn't have asked for better weather! Remember we are just coming out of winter here, so the 70 degree spring day felt a lot like a Utah Autumn. Beautiful! This is Wendy, our president and her dog Cassie. I love the picture, because it shows a lot about who Wendy is as a person, down to earth, kind, loving and just a really good fun loving person.

After breakfast we had a morning devotional given by Marg, the 1st counsellor. Her devotional was based off a talk that Sister Holland gave at BYU Women's Conference entitled: "Many things...one thing." If you have a chance to read it, do...you won't be disappointed!

After the devotional we played some games to get our minds working.

Sitting outside during the mini classes and being fed by the spirit, good food, the RS Sisterhood and of course the sunshine.

June, our Branch President's wife gave a mini class on spending less and nourishing more. Her daughters have a blog http://www.spendlessnourshimore.wordpress.com/ where they share recipes and ways to nourish your family by using what is in your pantry. June's focus during the mini class was chick peas (aka garbanzo beans) and all you could do with them, from making hummus, felafel's, and chick pea curry. It was fabulous not to mention delicious! I'm so excited to use the recipes!

We also took time to get to know each other by writing something we admired about each person.

And what is a retreat without food? We should have called it an eat-a-thon because seriously, it seemed like all we did was eat. We have so many good cooks in our branch, all so willing to share their talents. See the cake on the bench with the cream center? That is a brown sponge (cake), which was heavenly! We decided that we need to put a branch cook book together show casing every sisters talent. Hopefully the brown sponge recipe makes it in the book! I have a friend who is not in our branch who heard we were going to be doing a cook book. This friend asked me if I would make sure to get her a copy, "because you have some of the best cooks in the Stake in your Branch." It's so true! We have fabulous cooks in our branch! So excited to see what the cook book is like...it'll be a while, we just started gathering the recipes.

And of course we had left time for the sisters to chat and socialize during the mini classes.

We also had a craft and service project to do. These sisters are embroidering their names on what will be our RS table cloth that we will use each Sunday. You know that RS wouldn't be RS without a tablecloth. See the sister in the white top standing up watching? That is our Stake RS president. We invited her down to be our closing speaker. She gave a wonderful talk about the Ten Virgins and being prepared with oil in our lamps. It was a great way to end the day.

We also have a darling sister who is due with her first baby any second, and so for our service project we tied a quilt for her new son. The sisters had a great time laughing, talking and being silly. Everyone had so much fun, we were asked several times if we could do this again. We were thrilled with the feed back and look forward to putting the next one together. Overall the retreat was a wonderful success!! Sure am loving being in our branch!

Movie Prep

2011-09-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Exciting things are happening around our place! The movie is getting closer to being filmed.

The movie props are beginning to pop up around the house. Our house is becoming a movie store room, including the green screen that has been set up in our dining room for the past month to let the wrinkles fall out of it. It's a lovely green attraction that many people comment on when they come over to visit.

A couple of weeks ago, Darran called a cast read with a bunch of the boys that will be playing on the main basketball team. It was a good time for them to get together, do a read through and meet. This was also my first catering job for the movie. It was great fun and good practice, seeing that I will be doing all the catering during the 4 week movie shoot.

We have also been gathering the wardrobe.

And props are being gathered. (aka Red Dog banner). This is in our cinema room at home. See the banner, the film lights in the corner, and some of the wardrobe (the blue police shirt in the lower right hand corner of the photo). We are getting closer to filming...which means I better start buying the food and start working on the menu. The menu is actually done, I just need to do some food shopping and prepping and then hold on for dear life because it is going to be one full and exciting ride!

Red Dog

2011-09-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

As you know we are a movie family. How can we not be with my hubby the film maker, right? We also are dog people...so when we hear about this movie , we knew we had to go!

It's an Aussie movie, based on a true story and if you ever see it at the video store, pick it up, you won't be disappointed, especially if you love dogs. The dog who played the lead was trained by the guy we had booked our dog Diesel in to be trained with, before he was killed by that snake. Watching the movie reminded me a bit of our lovable pooch. The movie is just coming to our local one screen cinema this week....I think we may need to go see it again, if we can fit it in with all the pre-movie prep that is going on around here. Filming starts in 2 weeks! Yikes!

Bathroom Reno

2011-09-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Having a blog is a great thing to help you with your memory! I was looking back through some of the blog from last year and realized that we started the bathroom renovation in September of last year. As we don't use this bathroom much we really haven't worried or taken notice that it has been a year since we started the project.

Well I am happy to report that our bathroom will be done by the end of the week. That is if the tiler and the plumber come and finish it all off when they say they are coming.

The electrician has been and gone and has installed not only the lights over the sink (or where the sink and mirror will be).

But he has also installed the down lights and the fan. What is a bathroom without a fan? Stinky!!! hehehe

About two months ago we picked out tile for the bathroom. I think we were both dreading it a little bit because we both like different things and we were both wondering if we would ever find something that we would both like. Well...happy to report that within 15 minutes we had our floor tiles picked out (we liked the same one) and our wall tile in the next 15 minutes. We were only in the tile shop for 30 minutes and came out with what we think is going to be a great look!

The next big hurdle was getting our 1960's floor level enough to lay the tiles. Bless Darran's heart he worked at it for weeks. Getting so close so many times, but so frustrated that we finally decided for his sanity and mine that we would hire a tiler to come and do the whole thing.

Which was the next tiling hurdle. We were told about a guy who was supposed to be fabulous and contacted him and had to wait a few weeks for him to finish a couple of jobs he was working on. The week before he was to come and start our bathroom, he rang to say that he wouldn't be able to get to it until he got back from holiday in Bali, which would have been another 3 or so weeks away. So Darran called around, to several tilers and all were booked up and Darran was beginning to think that he was going to have to do the tiles as we need to have the bathroom done before the filming of his movie starts (in 3 weeks), as we have people staying with us during the filming. Luckily on the last call he made, he found a tiler who could start the following week.

The tiler has been doing a great job and we are so excited about the look of the bathroom! Our plumber is coming on Thursday to install the toilet and hardware. The tiler called in sick yesterday and I am hoping he is there as I type this finishing off the walls so all will be ready for the plumber to come. It is so exciting to finally see that the end is near! We are going to live in this bathroom (with the fan on of course) when it's complete because it's going to be so pretty!

Back yard beauties

2011-09-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

The other day I found a list on one of the blogs that I was reading. The list was the top ten things to do to keep your blog interesting and fun. The number one thing listed was to not blog about the same thing twice. Well, I guess my blog isn't a lot of fun or interesting because I seem to blog about the same kind of things. And today's post is about something that I seem to blog about often.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I love my chickens. I know I know...some of you out there are thinking get a life, but seriously if you met my chickens...you would love them too. They each have their own unique personality. And you can't help but smile when you see them.

This is Ellen. She is a lot like this photo. Aloof, stand offish and a deep thinker. She is rarely near the other two and you can often find her standing tall and observing what is going on around her.

This is Fluffy Feet (aka Fluffy) if you look closely you can see the feathers on her legs. I had to add this picture. It isn't very good, but each time Darran or I come out of the back door, no matter where they are, Fluffy and Snowy will run across the yard to come get a pat from us. Have you ever seen a chicken run??? Hilarious! Fluffy is running in this photo...I need to shoot some video for you to truly appreciate the funny run, waddle they have.

The other thing that I love about our chickens is that finally after 3 months (winter time) they are back laying again and we are getting 2-3 fresh eggs a day. I love having fresh eggs.

Another picture of our plum tree in bloom, check out the blue sky behind it! It's great that the winter months are coming to a close and that the blue sky and sunshine are starting to appear. It reminds me a lot of the wonderful autumn weather in Utah. Still a little crispness in the air, but blue skies and sunshine. The only thing missing is the BYU Football!!!

While out in the back yard with the camera the other day. I heard a new bird call. It wasn't like any of the other birds we have in the back yard. So upon further investigation I found this little guy. It is a Gala, native to Australia. They have a pink body and gray wings. They usually stay in a flock and often times can be found feeding on the ground. We have gala's fly over head at times, but none have ever stopped in the yard for a look around. It was fun to have this fellow stop in for a visit. Hopefully he'll tell his friends that it's a nice place and more will be back to visit. Gotta love my back yard and country living!

For life...I'll take eternity

2011-08-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

So I was driving home from work yesterday listening to the radio. The song ends and then one of the dj's comes on and starts telling a story about how she was at lunch with one of her girl friends and how they hadn't seen each other for a while, so they were having a good catch up. When suddenly the friend asked what had happened to the dj and this guy that she had been dating. The dj says that the relationship got to the "pointy" stage where they had to decide if they were going to get married or move on. The friend said, "well what happened?" To which the dj replied, "well, the guy said if we get married it's for life. And who wants to be married for life? So we decided to end the relationship."

I sat their totally in shock that the dj was going on about being married for life, and how could anyone commit to that. The other dj who is male, and married then jumped in on the conversation and said, "When I married my wife that's all I could think of, that we would be married for life, and how excited I was to grow old with my best friend and the woman I love." They then decided to open up the phone lines to anyone who decided to not get married or get out of a marriage because it was for life. Wow...that is when I became totally gobsmacked!!!

One caller rang in and said that she was sitting in the bridal suite about an hour before the wedding started and had the thought that this was for life and didn't know if she could go through with it. She finally decided minutes before the wedding that she had to go through with it because everyone was there and it was paid for....and there was always divorce if it got to be too much. They ended up divorced six months later.

The next caller rang in and said she had been married two years and before they got married they agreed that if it wasn't working they would call it quits because being married for life was a HUGE commitment.

By this time I had pulled into my driveway and I was intrigued with the stupid things people were saying.

Then another lady who had been married for seven years after living together for seven years before that rang in. She said that when they finally decided to get married they decided to write up a contract that they would sit down and review every three years. And if either she or her husband weren't happy and felt they needed to terminate the contract they would. They had just reviewed the contract for a second time and decided to extend it for another three years, with provisions that each had to make some changes in order for the contract to be signed again in three years.

I was sitting in the car listening to all this when Darran came out of the house to see what was going on. I then started telling him about all these people who were calling in because they couldn't imagine being married for life. I was totally shocked. I know I shouldn't be shocked, because people here think very differently from what I do, but still, I couldn't believe that people were calling in saying that they ended relationships because the next step was being married for life.

Could you even imagine those people if they were told they had the option to be married for eternity? One thing is certain, I would take eternity over life any day. I am so grateful for my sweet husband who always keeps me laughing and is so supportive and loving. Eternity is a way better option than life!

Signs of Spring

2011-08-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

Just a few signs in our yard that spring is on it's way!

The first blossoms on our plum tree

The Wattle is starting to burst

And our tulips are starting to emerge!

I love the signs of Spring!

Serenity

2011-08-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Living in the country has it's advantages....like the sleepy fields behind our house at sunset. I love this view! I could go out and sit and look at it for hours, or until it got too dark to see anything. I especially love it when the cows that are in the field come up to our back fence. Nothing like having the locals come for a visit. Country living, you've got to love the peace and calm!

A winter sunrise

2011-08-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of mornings ago. I woke up to this. Isn't it beautiful? Since we have one wall in our bedroom that is completely windows we have a great view of the sunrises in the morning. And this one did not disappoint! Upon seeing it I jumped up, grabbed my robe and the camera and headed outside to get a better unobstructed view.

By now, my neighbors (although few) are used to seeing the weird American running up our road in my bathrobe! But hey, hopefully they were looking more at the spectacular sky then the spectacle in the blue bathrobe! I love the beauty of mother nature! (and my new blue robe!) :)

Sheri Dew

2011-08-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

The last speaker for the event was Sheri Dew. What an example she is! She was so kind and generous when people started asking for her photo the minute she stepped into the venue. Since we were only sitting a couple of rows behind the speakers we were able to go up and talk to her before the event started. As we approached there was one sister there from Alice Springs (the middle of the Australian Outback) who was the only one from Alice Springs. This sister was thrilled to meet Sister Dew and get her photo with her. As soon as the photo was taken, Sister Dew pulled out her camera and said, that she needed a picture of the only sister from Alice Springs. The sister was so touched that Sister Dew would want a photo of her. All the presenters were so gracious giving of their time and talents, which added to the specialness of the day.

Sister Dew has always been someone I have admired. She served in the General Relief Society President when I was still single so I felt a connection with her because of that. But I just loved how she taught and spoke. So I was thrilled to be sitting listening to her. In all my years of listening to her she has always remained composed. But on this day, I saw a new side of her. She started her remarks and was visibly moved by being with us here in Australia. It was very touching as she expressed her love and gratitude to us who had made the sacrifices to be there and what a great strength the 2000 women in attendance had. She said,

"There is no limit of the influence

of a Latter Day Saint woman

who knows she is a daughter of God."

She asked us then to think about who we are influencing? And who is influencing you? She wanted to know if we were getting our information from the world or if we were seeking out that information from the prophets, apostles and scriptures. She wanted us to really think about that for a few minutes and encouraged us that if we were focusing more on the worldly stuff, that we work on changing that influence. She said that she had attended a Young Single Adult Temple Fireside a few weeks before her trip to Australia. At that fireside the Bountiful Temple President made a comment that has stuck with her as a great reminder to be in the world but not of the world.

"When we enter the temple

we leave the world of make believe"

She shared many insightful things during her talk, but ended with a story which was a great reminder that everyone goes through tests and trails, but just because they may be different for each person, doesn't mean that they are more difficult. We are each given tests and trials that we can personally handle. What a great weekend it was! All the friends that I went with agreed, and we can't wait for TOFW to come down under again! If TOFW is coming to a town near you...don't hesitate, get tickets and go, you won't be disappointed!

The importance of We

2011-08-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Okay I really need to get back to the blogging world and get these last two posts done from TOFW. I realize that I have now dragged these posts from my TOFW weekend out over three weeks, so without further delay here are the things I learn from the last two presenters.

This is Brad Wilcox with my darling friend Llyly. They have known each other for years and had a special reunion at TOFW.

Brad is hilarious and as you can see has a mega watt smile. He was so in his element in a room full of 2,000 women! He started out his talk sharing an experience he had with one of his students from BYU who "just didn't get grace." He asked her what she didn't understand and she replied, "I know I need to do my best and then Jesus does the rest, but I can't even do my best." She continued, "I know that I have to do my part and then Jesus makes up the difference and fills the gap that stands between my part and perfection. But who fills the gap that stands between where I am now and my part?" Finally after listening to this student Brad replied,

"Jesus doesn't make up the difference. Jesus makes all the difference. Grace is not about filling gaps, it's about filling us."

He then tied it all together and based the rest of his talk on the scripture found in 2 Nephi 25:2. "After all we can do".

"There is no He or me, there is only WE"

It was a great reminder and lesson on the Atonement and how it works in each of our lives.

After his talk I went up with my friend Llyly to take her picture with Brad. As we stood waiting for her turn, a darling girl with Down Syndrome came up and stormed her way into the crowd to see Brad. What happened next truly touched me. As she reached him, he bent down, turned his attention to her and gave her the biggest hug ever and told her something that made her smile just as large and bright as his own smile. It didn't matter to him or the rest of the crowd waiting that she had stormed through the crowd. All that mattered in that moment was her. It was such a lovely experience to witness. That darling girl spent the rest of the event sitting next to Brad and Sister Pearce and loving every second of it! I'm sure that darling girl has not been able to keep the smile off her face for weeks because of his kindness and love. What a great reminder to all that everyone is special in Heavenly Father's eyes.

The influence of Mothers

2011-08-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Virginia Pearce is wonderful. She is humble, she is smart, she is thought provoking. I was so happy to be able to sit and listen and learn from her! Her talk was centered on Mothers, and how we as women are mothers regardless if we have children or not. She asked us to think about the women in our lives and who and how they influenced us. She then spoke about four women in her life that were motherly influences to her.

The first woman she spoke about was her own mother Marjorie Pay Hinckley. She shared several funny stories and several touchy memories of her mother. She said that each time she looks in the mirror she can hear her mother's voice telling her to put on some lip stick. Some of the things that her mother taught her were:

"Be yourself and enjoy it"

"Make it the best life, live it, accept it and do all you can to live it to the fullest."

Sister Pearce then spoke about a neighbor of hers that has been a motherly influence on her. This neighbor is 10 years younger than Sister Pearce and she said she has learned so much from watching this neighbor go through challenging times in her life. Sisters Pearce's point was that no matter the age or relation, all women are born with motherly tendencies and characteristics.

She then stated that the third "mother" in her life was Eliza R. Snow. She shared bit about Eliza's life and all the things that she went through when the church was first being established. She taught us just what a stalwart lady Eliza was. After hearing Sister Pearce talk about Eliza it made me want to go home and learn more about her. There were several things that I found so inspiring about Eliza from Sister Pearce's talk, but one that really stuck with me was that Eliza was a author who wrote under a different name. When asked about it Eliza simply said,

" I don't need to be famous,

I don't need to be noticed,

I just need to be useful."

The fourth "mother" Sister Pearce spoke about was Sister Julie B Beck, the Relief Society General President. She said that many people don't know that Sister Beck had health problems for several years prior to being called as the General RS President. She said that instead of Sister Beck laying around feeling sorry for herself, she used that experience as a chance for growth and had regular meetings with herself to see where she was in her life. At these meetings Sister Beck would see where her life was taking her by asking herself these questions.

What is essential?

What is necessary?

What is not important?

From these meetings with herself she learned there were things that she wanted and needed to change. Things she wanted and needed to learn and things that were distracting her and her growth. Through her health situation she learned things Sister Pearce stated that Sister Beck is now sharing with the women of the world through her talks and actions. Sister Pearce encouraged all of us to enlarge our context of how we view ourselves and our lives and encouraged us to have regular meetings with ourselves to review just where we are going and who we are becoming.

At the end she challenged us to think about the women in our world that have been "mothers" to us and what we have learned from them. To be honest I've been thinking about this since the TOFW weekend and am compiling a list. Maybe one day I'll share it. All I know is that I wouldn't be who I am today without the women in my world. How grateful I am for them and the influence they are on me!

Not only is she musically talented

2011-07-30T01:20:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the TOFW event Sheri Dew CEO of Deseret Book stood up and told us that when they decided to do TOFW Sydney that they knew they wanted to bring their "A TEAM" with them. And we are so glad and so blessed that they did!

Hilary Weeks is an incredible singer/song writer and who knew speaker. She is hilarious! She entertained us not only with her music and speaking through out the day, but also with her charm and whit.

At the beginning of the event each presenter introduced themselves and told a little about what they were going to be focusing on. As Hilary stood up she told of how people on average have 300 negative thoughts each day. She said she read that some where and wanted to test the theory, so she bought herself a clicker and every time she had a negative thought, she clicked. As she drove her kids to school and they fought her thoughts weren't so pleasant so she clicked. When she was cut off in the parking lot of the school she clicked. On that first day as her children were getting out of the car, one of her kids grabbed the clicker and looked at the number and exclaimed, "Eight, wow mom you must be having a bad day!"

It was at that point that she decided to cover the counter with masking tape and only check the clicker at the end of the day. She said at the end of the first day she had clicked 130+ times. She said that she kept it up for a week and at the end of the week she found that the number of negative thoughts didn't decrease, but that she felt depressed, she felt low, she felt terrible. Now, Hilary isn't a depressed person, she loves life and she is one of those people, I think that is constantly peppy. So, she said that she had a huge mind shift and decided she was done counting the negative thoughts and wondered what would happen if she only clicked the positive thoughts.

Again she taped up the counter so she couldn't see it, and then she started counting all the positive things that were going on in her life. And she said that instantly the depression and low feelings faded and she began to look at all the things in her life that were positive that she never really thought of before. At the end of that first day as she checked the clicker the count was over 1,000. As soon as she saw that she knew that she had made the right choice and was now focusing and clicking on the right thing.

"Don't dwell on the doubts and fears focus on the positive, visualize, pray and keep a positive perspective."

What a great reminder to always look for and focus on the positive, even when things may get tough, or the laundry pile is out of control, or the husband is sick, or the kids have spilled red finger nail polish all over the bathroom. Go forward each day focused and looking for the positive! Besides the message she spoke the music she sang and shared with us had us laughing and crying. I love how good music makes you feel a range of different emotions! Click. Click. Click.

Kindred Spirit

2011-07-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Meet Laurel Christensen. She has the great job of organizing and planning TOFW. Besides doing that, which is a lot of work she also is an incredible speaker and hilarious to boot! As she started her talk she said that she had tried to learn a little bit about Australia before she came. She learned the names of the States and Territory, but got flustered as she was reciting them, which made us all love her even more. As she was getting flustered she kept referring to herself as the "weird American". Instantly I knew we were kindred spirits. Because you see, that is how I have been referring to myself ever since I've moved to Australia.

Her talk was inspiring she had us laughing one minute and crying the next. She spoke of faith and that optimism equals faith. She told us how she had set a goal to run a half marathon and about her journey to reach and achieve that goal. One thing that she said that really stuck with me was,

"Don't be the one thing standing in your way."

Are there things that you want to do? Goals that you want to accomplish? A person you want to BECOME? If so, are you the one thing standing in your way? There are things that all of us want to do. We all want to become a better version of ourselves, but how often are we the ones that shoot that idea down by the self doubt, the negative thoughts, or the thought of "I'll start that tomorrow"? Don't be the one thing standing in your way, if you want to do something , start today and do it.

If you would like to read Laurel's experience that started her on the journey to run the half marathon, head over to the TOFW blog at www.tofw.com/story/206-dont-be-the-one-thing-standing-in-your-way She is super funny, and very inspiring!

After she finished her talk the friends that I was with just looked at me through their tear streaked faces and said, "Jen we totally thought we were listening to you when she was speaking." "She totally reminded us of you, you could be sisters." What a great compliment from such wonderful friends. After her talk, we knew we were in for one heck of a great and emotional day!

A girls weekend

2011-07-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

Back in January I got an email from Deseret Book's Time Out For Women announcing that they were holding their first International event in July in Sydney Australia. Well, as soon as I got the email I knew I was going!!! I quickly sent the email to all my friends telling them we must go and it would be the perfect girls weekend away. Within hours all my friends had responded and we had tickets purchased. We would worry about asking our husbands after we secured tickets! :) We are all so very blessed with wonderful husbands who were more than happy for us to be attending this special weekend.

Fast forward to this past weekend... the day had finally arrived and the event was here! We flew into Sydney Friday afternoon and met up with the rest of our friends for a big buffet dinner and a whole lot of laughter. After stuffing ourselves silly and a shopping trip (I mean we were on a girls weekend) we headed back to the place we were staying and stayed up until early hours of the morning laughing and planning for the big event. We were so excited and so giddy, we were finally going to TOFW!

Some of the local Sydney ladies we were staying with, had heard that there were people that were going to line up at six in the morning to ensure they got a good seat. Well, in true fashion my friends didn't want to be left out so at 1:30 in the morning it was decided that we would head out by 5:30 to get to Sydney Olympic Park by 6:00am. Then came the discussion of what time to get up and which of the six of us was going to get in the shower first. All I can say is 4:30 came way too early!!!

Here we all are ready to walk out the door at 5:45am. Yep, we're all going on about 3 hours of sleep, but isn't that the fun of girls weekends?

We arrived at Sydney Olympic Park found our parking spot and headed over to the venue. Imagine our surprise (yeah right) when there were only about 10 other people in front of us. Several of our group thought that we would be waiting outside in the cold behind several hundred ladies. There were only two of us that weren't surprised that there wasn't a bigger crowd at that time of the morning.

We had a couple of hours to kill before the event opened so what do girls who have cameras do? We take photos!!! Here we are with the Welcome sign! We were all so excited, and a little more awake than the first picture of the morning. We were eager to BECOME.

We were in line with a bunch of ladies, who happened to figure out that they were related to some of the ladies in our group. There was laughing, singing and a whole lot of fun going on. You can just tell by their faces we were having too much fun...and it was only 7:30am!

Once the doors finally opened we headed in to find a seat. We all agreed we wanted to be on the floor and get as close to the stage as we could. We ended up with perfect seats. Four rows from the stage and three rows behind the presenters. We couldn't have asked for anything better. After securing our seats a few of us went to the bookstore (can I tell you it was manna from heaven!) I have missed living close to Deseret Book!! We had been told that there would be a bookstore at the event, so I saved my birthday money so I could have a little shopping spree at the bookstore. So glad we went early, because by lunch everything was sold out. I'm really happy with my purchases, but still didn't get all that I wanted, so when I got home I placed an order on Deseret Book.com and have a package coming in a few weeks with other fun things. So exciting!!

This isn't the greatest of pictures, but I took it because there were 2000 sisters from all over Australia who had come to the event. Actually there was a mother and daughter from Farmington Utah (no I didn't know them) that had decided to fly over just for the event. There were sisters from every state and territory in Australia. It was incredible to see, and to be there and be surrounded by that number of wonderful Latter Day Saint Women. Little did we know at the beginning of the event just how incredible the day was going to be!

** I was going to just do one post about the whole weekend, but as I have been writing this I have decided that I need to dedicate a post to each of the presenters and list a few things that I learned and wanted to take away with me. I'm sure this will not be the only time I say this on our blog, but for those of you who haven't been to a TOFW, sign up and go. You will not be disappointed and I promise you will love it and gain so much from it!

New Branch

2011-07-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the day of our first meting as the new Wonthaggi Branch. I have never been in a Branch before, always a ward, so this was a new experience for me. We meet in a college, and our numbers are small (45 people to be exact). Well, there were 45 branch members there and another 30 Stake and Mission visitors. Since it was our first meeting, the Stake Presidency decided to hold a Branch Conference. What an incredible spirit was there! It was truly special to be apart of such a historic day!

The Melbourne Mission President and his wife drove down to be apart of the day. It was very special as they are family friends from Centerville, where I grew up. It's been so fun to have the Lifferth's serving their mission here. Every time I see them it's like I get a hug from home. These are the sister missionaries that have been assigned to our branch. Sister Miri is from Papa New Guinea, Sister Takari is from Canada and Sister Harkness is from Australia. They moved in on Friday and we have had the privilege of helping them get settled. It's great to have missionaries again so close!

Another fun thing about the Branch is now we only have to drive less than 10 minutes to church. What a blessing that is! Due to the long drive to attend Cranbourne Ward, these sisters are excited the Branch is close so they can start attending again and regularly.

These are my friends Marje and Joan and their mum Emily. Emily hasn't been well the past couple of years and hasn't been able to attend church. This was the first time in several years that they have been able to attend church together. It was a very emotional day for sure!

This is our one and only young man with his parents. He had the choice to stay in Cranbourne Ward with the other youth or come to the Branch. He told me Sunday that he was coming to the branch because there was more opportunities for him to help and serve.

This is the new Branch Relief Society along with our Branch President. Wendy (in the stripes) is the President, Marg (in red) 1st counselor and little old me 2nd counselor. These ladies are fantastic and I am so excited to serve with them!

Our Branch even has a primary. These are four of the five kids that make up the primary. All siblings, all adorable. All that is missing is their little sister who is the one and only nursery aged child. We wondered if there was even going to be any kids for a primary, and were happy to find out that their family was staying in the area and not moving to Perth.

My friends Manuel and Llyly Valdez and the Mission President's wife Sister Lifferth. Love these people!

The Stake President had asked the Branch to prepare a meal after the meeting. So true to the country, the sisters of the branch stepped forward and prepared a great meal with soups, sandwiches and lots of treats. One thing for sure...country sisters know how to cook!

There was so much food that we were able to send several containers home with the sister missionaries, which they were very happy about.

Here is Darran and our adopted son Timmy along with Tim's dad (who happens to be the High Councilor over our Branch). It was great to have Tim and Phil there on such a special day.

The first meeting of the Branch was wonderful, the change is going to be good. We're excited to serve and help the Branch grow! It'll be interesting to see how many regular members we will have turn up each week. We were told that we need at least 60 on a consistent basis for a year to get a church building in the area. Wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to see happen!!

Change

2011-07-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

Growing up I was a girl who didn't do well with change. I actually didn't like change much. But, as I have grown and become more mature (ha - that's funny) I have learned that change is good. But change can also be hard.

Since I moved to Australia (4 1/2 years ago, can you believe it?) I have been blessed to call the Cranbourne Ward my home. For Darran this is the only ward he has known since he became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Although we have had to travel an hour to and from church each Sunday and often twice a week for meetings and activities, we have been so blessed to be apart of such a wonderful ward. We have both grown in so many different ways being apart of the Cranbourne Ward. We both feel that the members of the ward are family.

So you can only imagine when we were told that our ward was being divided (again) and this time, we would be part of the group leaving the ward. How hard this was for us. If I'm honest, when I was first told about the split, it was hard. I may have even cried. (which I did). I found out about the split (about nine months ago) while I was still the Relief Society President. What was I going to do? This ward housed most of my dear close girl friends. The Branch that we would be apart of creating is full of wonderful sisters too, but they are all 10-40 years older than I am. My core group of good friends here in Australia are from the Cranbourne ward. This change was going to be HARD!

Well our new Branch - The Wonthaggi Branch was officially announced about a month ago. About a week before the Branch was announced, Darran got a call from the Stake Secretary asking if he could meet with the Stake President. At that meeting with the Stake President, Darran was called to serve as the Second Counselor in the new Branch Presidency. This was going to be a good change.

On the Sunday that they announced the Branch and Branch Presidency, they also announced that the first meeting would be a Branch Conference and be held on July 17, 2011. So those of us who would be attending the new Branch had a few weeks to say our good byes and get used to the fact that we would no longer be attending the Cranbourne Ward.

Up until this point Darran & I had been serving as the nursery leaders in the ward, and we were loving every minute of it! We were having the best time with the kids and Darran was right in his element! I loved watching him on the floor with the kids playing or reading at the end of nursery. He's a born dad! We were going to be sad to leave the kids that's for sure!

It was good to have those few weeks to get used to the idea of not being apart of a ward we have totally loved and to get ready to say our goodbyes. The few days before our final Sunday in the ward I got a phone call asking me to speak on my last Sunday. Wow! I thought for sure that they were sick of hearing from me as I spoke nine times as the Relief Society President. So speaking for a 10th time in two years, was a great way to say a final goodbye to a ward that has been my security blanket here in Australia. Darran laughed when I got the call, as he hasn't had to speak for the past three years. Well, late Friday night he got a call asking him to speak because one of the other speakers pulled out at the last minute. It was great to be able to sit together on the stand and speak in the same meeting as my husband. It will be the last time I get to sit with him in a sacrament meeting for a few years.

Although leaving our friends and that ward will be difficult, we are both looking forward with faith and excitement to the experience and growth we will have as members of the new Wonthaggi Branch.

Sewing Lessons

2011-07-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

Several months ago I was asked to help teach the young women of our church how to sew. They have an "Iron Chef" activity planned for September and the girls wanted to make their own aprons to wear at that activity. So a few weeks ago (could actually be months) the girls and their leaders ventured down to the country to our house for a morning of sewing, laughing and great fun! Only one of the five girls had ever used a sewing machine and only one of the three leaders had used one twenty years ago when she was a young woman. So there was lots to learn and lots to teach. Having only one sewing machine to share between eight people was my biggest stress, but it actually turned out okay as I had the girls each doing different phases of the aprons so there was never more than a ten minute wait to use the machine. And as everyone knows, ten minutes for girls can be easily filled with lots and lots of giggling.

Each of the girls brought their own fabric. Some brought fabric, others brought old table cloths, and some even brought old curtains.

Besides sewing lessons there were opportunities to learn how to iron.

And pin and measure correctly

And even hand stitch

Everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoyed their final project. They didn't even mind the hour drive to the county to do the activity. That's probably because they were promised McDonalds lunch on the way home. It was wonderful being able to work with the young women again and to teach them how to sew! A big thank you goes out to my mom, who helped me talk through what the easiest way would be to teach the girls how to make their aprons! Couldn't have done it without her!!!

Mutton Honey

2011-06-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

My hubby got a role on a TV show here in Australia. It's a period piece about the Eureka Stockade (a rebellion by the gold miners against colonial forces). He thought it would be fun to get into character, so he has been growing mutton chops for the show. The wardrobe department is THRILLED that he would do it and with the way they are coming in! So I thought it would be fun to document the progress of the growth. He films tomorrow!!! Can't wait!!!

Week 1

Week 3

The wardrobe people also loved his hair and didn't want him to cut it, so it's getting a bit long and curly too! I love that most of his mutton chops are coming in reddish except for the whiskers around his chin. He reminds me of Captain Jack's trusty hand in Pirates of the Caribbean. So cute!!!

Twelve Apostles

2011-06-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

After getting off the ferry in Queenscliff we headed down the Great Ocean Road toward the Twelve Apostles. The ride is always gorgeous and we always stop for fish and chips along the way. We couldn't break with tradition, but didn't stop at our usual fish and chip shop, instead we tried a new one, which was good, but the service was less then great. Nothing turns me off more then bad customer service, and this guy at the fish and chip shop was not nice by any means. Since we were running a little late and we wanted to make sure we got to the Twelve Apostles before dark we decided to eat in the car as we went. Not a bad idea as it saved us time, but a bad idea to combine winding roads with food. Put the two together and what do you get? A very car sick Jen! After a quick stop, some fresh air and an empty stomach we were back on the road and pulled up to the Twelve Apostles with about 30 minutes before sunset. Perfect timing!!!

We came around the corner and this was the first view we saw. Nat actually gasped when she saw it and right then I knew that the little car sick adventure had been worth it.

Within minutes several other tourists were clamoring for my spot so they could take photos, so I stepped back and had to take a photo of them. I couldn't believe actually how rude some of the tourists were. There is enough space for everyone, and just because I have the best photo spot, you don't have to shove and push your way through. Geez!

A new sign that I don't remember seeing on my other trips to the Twelve Apostles. A great reminder that if you fall you may DIE. Makes perfect sense seeing that the cliffs are high above the ocean!

We were so lucky with the weather, as it had rained on and off during our drive to see these beauties, but when we got there it was clear, just a bit windy and chilly, but the view was SO worth the cold!

There are viewing stations along the different walkways that give you great views of the remaining Twelve Apostles. I say remaining because the delicate sandstone structures are slowly eroding and I think there are only about 8 of the Twelve Apostles still standing.

If you look closely at this photo you can see that there are people standing up at the top near the green bushes. This is one of the viewing stations. (a close up of that same area is the above photo of Nat).

It's a long way down to the ocean waves below. The water was a bit angry when we were there.

The sun starting to set.

I think the sand stone cliffs are just as beautiful as the Twelve Apostles, especially in the light of the setting sun!

You can't tell very well from this photo but as the sun set the clouds started to turn a beautiful pink, matched with the beautiful turquoise water it was a breath taking scene.

What a great way to spend Nat's last day in Australia! We had such a wonderful time together and it was so fun to have her here! Just hope it's not another 2 years before she comes back and plays again. There's a lot more of Australia we have to show her! We are so grateful for the time she was here and hope she had as much fun with us as we did with her!!!

Sorrento Ferry

2011-06-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

A couple of days before Nat headed back to America we headed down the coast of Australia on the way to the Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles. This is a trip that we take people on who are visiting from overseas, because well, it's beautiful and it takes your breath away. So, this was something we wanted to do before Nat left. As we headed down the coast we decided to take a small detour and catch the Sorretno Ferry as part of our adventure. You know how we love adventures!

This is a view of Sorrento as we were pulling out on the Ferry. It's a lovely little beach town, which is a ritzy holiday destination for many visitors. They have darling shops, but they all come with a big price tag!

We got on the ferry, and headed up stairs for the ride across the bay. The clouds were coming in and it was a bit cold, but we enjoyed the sunshine when it peeked through the clouds.

Here's my very photogenic friend enjoying her first ever ferry ride. She was so excited to be there and we were so excited we had decided to take the detour and go on the boat!

Out in the middle of the bay were little platforms built like this for all the sea lions and otters to use to take a rest. If you look closely you can see some of them hanging out there.

In Port Phillip Bay you will also see The Pope's Eye. It was built in the 1880's and intended to become a fortress to guard the entrance of Port Phillip Bay during war times.

It was constructed by dumping blue stone boulders on a submerged sand bank until it formed a horseshoe shaped reef. It now is used as a diving site and many people learn how to scuba dive there because of the protection and shelter it gives to big waves.

As the ride was coming to the end we made our way back to our cars to get ready to disembark. I totally crack up each time I see this sign, for some reason it just tickles my funny bone.

The ferry arrives in Queenscliff a beautiful old town with amazing architecture, as you can see the weather wasn't looking real good, but the rain held off which we were grateful for. The town of Queenscliff was built in the 1850's and was a defence post during the war as it is located by water on three sides of the town. It is a town of great maritime history and one that I hope we can explore more!

Wildlife at the Prom

2011-06-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of the other fun things about the "prom" besides the beautiful scenery is the open areas full of Aussie wildlife. We spotted a lot while we were there and I was so glad as we saw a couple of different Aussie animals that Nat didn't see on her last trip out.

Kangaroo and Emu sign (love it!)

Hello little brown snake. We saw this guy on our way up the trail. Another hiker had set up his tripod and camera inches from the snake to get some photos. Inches....wow...really...don't you know that they can kill you? At the time the snake was curled up in the middle of the trail. I made a mental note of where the snake was so that we would keep a look out for him when we were coming back down the trail.

I was actually surprised to see this guy out this time of year. I was under the understanding that they hibernate around this time of year because of the cold. But was told that they are still out this time of year but they aren't as active. Which makes total sense, as this guy was very sluggish when I stopped to snap his photo.

Once we got back to the car we started down the road to see just how far we could get in the park. We didn't have to go very far when we came across these cuties. So we quickly pulled into the clearing to snap some photos.

Can you tell it had been raining?

As we were snapping pictures of the kangaroos imagine my delight when this guy came waddling out. He didn't seem to notice us at first so we crept along and tried to get closer and he got skittish and ran back into the bush.

But after a few minutes little Mr. Wombat was back out in the paddock grazing with the roos. I was so excited that Nat got to see a wombat in the wild! Tick another thing off her list! We jumped back in the car and headed down the road again hoping to see more wildlife, and we were not disappointed. Because as we came around the bend we saw these guys.

I was beside myself with glee (yes glee) that we ran into the emu's! I had seen emu's in the wild before, but never had my camera with me so we quickly parked the car and jumped out with cameras in hand and headed toward the emu's. (Did you notice the kangaroos in the background? I didn't when I took the photo, and only noticed them as I was downloading them to the computer).

Anyone like to know a little about the Emu? Well, they are native to Australia. They are the second largest bird in the world (height) after their cousin the ostrich. They grow to be 6 feet 6 inches tall, and they don't fly. They can run up to 30 miles an hour and their stride can be up to 9 feet long. They are very curious and have been known to follow other animals and humans around, just to see what they do. They like water and can swim. Who knew?

Why did the emu cross the road?

To get to the other side! :)

What a day down at the prom we had! A good hike, spending time with a dear friend, having a great chat, seeing beautiful views and fun Aussie animals. Doesn't get much better than that!

Hiking in Wilson's Prom

2011-06-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

We have a beautiful National Park about an hour drive from us called Wilson's Promontory. We have had many camping trips there and always love to go and explore the area when we can. In April over Easter there were massive floods that damaged part of the park, but we still wanted to show Nat this beautiful part of the country. So, she and I headed down to do some exploring. When we got to the toll booth the ranger said that only 14 Kilometres of the park were open and highlighted the "bush walks" in the area that we could do. So we set off to see what we could in the limited space that was open. And can I say I am so glad we did!

The trail that we started hiking on was in a part of the National Park that had been affected by bush fires three years ago. I remember Darran heading down to film the fires late one night for one of the news stations when it happened. It was great to see the growth that had happened since the fire. The trail was beautiful and well taken care of.

There were so many photo opts!

As we walked along all the sudden we went from forest and trees to this area with huge boulders. The landscape was amazing!

To one side of the trail were the big boulders and to the other, views of the ocean and bay.

And storm clouds closing in and making everything really dark.

We kept commenting about how beautiful the area was. It was great to be out hiking again with Nat as it had been such a long time since we had gone hiking together. I loved the scenery, but the highlight was the talk we had and just being with my dear friend!

Just as quickly as the dark skies and rain came, the sunshine and blue skies appeared.

These are one of my favorite plants here. They are known as black boys or grass trees. They are hundreds of years old and only grow an inch a year. There were hundreds of them along the trail. See that brown stick at the top of the grass? That is the flowering part of the plant and they only usually flower after a bush fire. They are a native plant of Australia, and very expensive to buy. If you buy them you are given a certificate of ownership due to some of the plants being well over 600 years old and verification that you purchased the plant.

Hanging out at the rocks.

A view from almost the top. I say almost as it started to down pour and we decided that we would rather be dry and enjoy the hour ride home then be wet and make it to the top. We didn't care that we didn't make it to the top because the views we saw, the conversation we had and just spending time together in this beautiful place were enough to satisfy us!

Rod Laver Arena

2011-06-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

Before Nat came for her visit I asked her to think about all the places and things that she wanted to do and see while she was here. We emailed back and forth for weeks about different ideas and different places to go and explore. One of the things that she really wanted to do was go to Rod Laver Arena and do the behind the scenes tour. Road Laver Arena is where the Australian Open Tennis tournament is held every year. It's blistering hot here in the summer when the tournament is on and it's the perfect place for a tournament for those players living in the northern hemisphere. Upon doing research Nat found that tours were held everyday at three different times. So we planned one of our days in Melbourne around our trip and tour of Rod Laver.

These are the practice courts outside of Rod Laver. You can see Rod Laver in the back ground.

The courts were beautiful and immaculately groomed. Not to mention that there were a ton of them. This was also very fun for me to see, as this is one thing that I haven't seen either. I really want to go to an Australian Open match while I live here. Hopefully next year...but Darran isn't much of a tennis fan so I'll have to find someone to go with me!

There is Rod Laver Arena- the excitement was starting to build as we walked through the parking lot and this came into view!

How nice that they have a street directory to help get you from Rod Laver (Australian Open) to Roland Garros (French Open) to Flushing Meadows (US Open). Wimbledon is there too (it's just hard to see) For you tennis people...you know how exciting this is! :)

We walked into the basement of Rod Laver to buy our tour tickets only to find out that Circ De Sole was there and no tours were being given as the venue was full with all the Circ De Sole people/propts etc. To say we were disappointed was an understatement!!! Not to mention how bad I felt as this was one of the things that Nat had her heart set on doing. The guy that usually runs the tour said that he could still take our money and show us the two places that were open that is part of the tour, or we could just walk around and see things for ourselves. So we decided to walk around and see what we could see.

Meet Mr. Rod Laver whom the stadium was named after. Just a bit of history about Rod Laver. He was an Australian tennis player who was the world number 1 for seven consecutive years and is the only person to ever win the grand slam (all four major tournaments) twice.

Yep, those are the real Australian Open Tournament Trophies. Remember that nice guy that usually does the tours? He told us that if we followed a hallway that we would be able to see the trophies, which was one of the two places on the tour that we could see without having to pay. They were so pretty and shiny! It was so fun to see them!! The other place that we could go that was a part of the tour but that he told us we could see for free was in the opposite direction of the trophies down the same hallway. It was a reception area where there were two gigantic white boards where all the players had written little messages and signed by all the players. It was actually pretty cool to see, but I didn't end up taking a photo, because a lot of employees were around the area at the time and I didn't want to feel like a tourist. :)

After we looked around we headed back to the gift shop and had a bit of fun shopping!!! We could have gone crazy with all the fun things to buy! While we were shopping there was a guy restringing rackets...holy cow was it fascinating to watch! He was so fast!!! It was such an art! Who knew? Not this non tennis playing girl! After our shopping spree we headed back out side to look around and head back into the city. All the major tennis courts were locked up so we couldn't see them. However...being tall does have it's advantages!!! This was taken while standing on a ledge on my tip toes over the locked gate.

And a trip to Rod Laver Arena wouldn't be complete without a visit from the 2011 Australian Open Tournament winners! Here Nat is posing with Kim Clijsters. Can you feel the intensity?

And here she is celebrating the joy of Novak Djokovic.

Even though we didn't get to go on the grand tour and see all the behind the scenes, like the players locker room and the main court, we still had a great time and made our own fun! It almost makes me want to take up tennis...almost...but not quite. For now, I'll happily watch!

Melbourne

2011-06-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

As I said we spent a few days in Melbourne while Nat was here and covered a lot of ground! I have to say Melbourne is a great city and has a ton to do and see! One of the best things about Melbourne is their information centre and the friendly volunteers you can find through out the city to help you and point you in the right direction. One of the fun things that we loved and used a lot while we were in the city was the Circle Line Tram. The Circle Line is a free tram that travels in a circle through parts of the city. You can get on and off where you would through out the city at no charge. It was a great way to get around and see the city!

This is the Docklands area of the city. It's fairly new. They started building it up about the same time I moved to Australia (can you believe it's almost been 5 years?). This photo is taken looking back toward the city. As you can tell by the cranes in the left of the picture, there is still a lot of building going on. The Docklands is also home of Australia's first Costco.

This is the Bolte Bridge one of the main bridges that you travel over to get out of the city. A sad thing happened on this bridge last year. A father threw his 3 year old daughter off this bridge to get back at his ex wife. He has just recently been charged with life in prison.

See that stadium in the middle of the photo? That is Eithiad Stadium where we went to watch the footy game. Eithiad is just one of the many sports stadiums here in Melbourne.

We promised Darran he could go look at the boats and the yachts for being such a good sport and letting us drag him around after the aquarium. Darran has a dream to buy a yacht and sail around the pacific islands. Hopefully one day his dream will come true, and they will make extra strong motion sickness pills for me so I can enjoy the dream with him.

Melbourne has a lot of cool art and architecture around the city. And well, you all know my love of signage so I just had to snap this to remind us of where we were!

Here is part of the Melbourne sky line. See that pointy spire just left off center of the photo. That's the Melbourne arts centre. The tall building to the right of that with the gold is the Eureka Tower. About four floors from the top, the Eureka Sky Deck is located. The sky deck is a room that actually moves out over the city and then the floor and walls all become clear glass and you feel like you are literally on top of the city. You are suspended in the glass box 300 metres above the city. We had so many places to go and things to see we didn't make it up to the Sky Deck, but maybe next time.

This is Federation Square. You know where Oprah had her big meeting with about 10,000 screaming fans from Melbourne. Nat was telling me that she had see on Behind the Scenes with Oprah that this was the only place in Australia that Oprah ever felt scared. Federation Square is the meeting spot for food, culture and fun. They just opened a huge Lego exhibit that I'm hoping we can get to while it's in town!

This is the mighty MCG. Melbourne Cricket Ground. Another one of the sporting stadiums here in Melbourne.

Cricket is a sport that is kind of like baseball, without the bases. It usually is played over a five day period, where they stop for lunch breaks and tea breaks. I know it's huge in parts of the world, but for the life of me, I don't see how people can get excited about a game that goes on for five days. This is the sport that I lovingly refer to as "a good excuse to take a nap", because each time the cricket is on, Darran is notorious for falling asleep. But I mean if the game is five days long, falling asleep and taking a cat nap every day, you really don't miss much of the action, right? :)

The MCG was also home to the Melbourne Olympics in 1956. Did you know that Melbourne hosted the summer Olympics? You just learned something new, didn't you? On the side of the building are all the records and winners of the events held in the 1956 games. It was pretty fun to show Nat as she has such a history with the Olympics!

One of my favorite buildings in all of Melbourne is Flinder Street Station. The iconic yellow train station in the heart of the city. It is the hub, literally of Melbourne. The original building was made of weatherboard sheds and opened in 1854. As the need for more trains grew a competition was made to see who could come up with a new building design. Construction on the new building started in 1901 and was completed in 1910.

If you look closely at the arch way entrance you can see the clocks which tell travellers when the next train is coming. This was part of the original design that has lasted since 1910. They are now operated by computer and tell when the suburban train lines run. At one point they attempted to update the clocks with digital signs but there was such an outcry about changing them that they have remained as part of the iconic building. I'm glad that they stayed as this building is truly a Melbourne icon!

Melborne Aquarium Part 3

2011-06-19T05:18:00.000-07:00

For the final post about the aquarium we dedicate this to the emperor penguins. We actually missed these guys on our first time through so had to double back to see them before we left, and I am so glad we did!

This guy was a crack up! He really hammed it up for the camera. He stood taller, waved and even looked me in the eye as I was taking pictures.

See there he is again on the left waving as all his friends are being anti social and turning their backs on him.

We got there just in time for feeding, and boy was that cool. The aquarium had this huge tank next to the penguin enclosure where the snow was. There was an employee that sat on this platform over looking the pool of water who would throw all these fish into the pool, the penguins then would dive in and go after the fish for dinner.

See how they catch the fish under water?

Skimming the bottom looking for fallen fishes

After a great dinner of fish it's time to dry off and get warm in well...the snow.

Here's our friend again, see I told you he looked me in the eye and dared me to take his picture. Here are just a few fun facts about emperor penguins. Emperors are the largest penguins. They are only found on Antarctica. They eat fish and crustaceans such as crabs and shrimp. They have a black head, chin and throat. They have yellow patches on their throat and near their ears. They have short wings to help them dive. They have brown eyes. They weigh about 60 to 90 pounds. They are about 36 to 44 inches tall. They live for about 20 years.

On the way out of the penguins toward the entry of the aquarium was this hammer head shark. Yes it is real, and yes it is dead. They were doing an exhibit on them because they are becoming extinct. This guy is touring the Asia Pacific Countries to help with educating people about these massive sea creatures. Hammerheads are one of the most recognisable sharks in the world. Their most famous feature – their uniquely hammer-shaped head – give these amazing aquatic animals some very special abilities. Like an in-built GPS, hammerhead sharks can detect the magnetic fields of the earth, using this ability to cross large stretches of ocean and return to exactly the same reef it started from! Although formidable hunters, these animals are endangered, making the need to educate about conservation extremely important, ensuring that Great hammerheads will continue to roam the ocean forever.

Check out their teeth, they may not be as big as the Great White's but still rows and rows of teeth still make me go all funny. This guy was 4.5 metres long and he was huge. It was fun to see him up close, and not meet him in the waters around Australia! What a fun day we had at the aquarium, we saw and learned lots! Hope you enjoyed it as well!!

Melbourne Aquarium Part 2

2011-06-18T01:19:00.000-07:00

As we continued through the aquarium, we walked through the different climates and areas we came to the shark tank which held not only sharks but all sorts of under water creatures.

This big shark swam over our heads moments after we we walked through the sharks. It was pretty intimidating! One of the many things that the aquarium offers is a swim with the sharks adventure. We all passed on that option.

It was amazing to see all the different kind of sea life that were in the tanks with the sharks. From these massive sting rays.

To the tune, snapper, and coral trout, just to name a few.

Darran loves to fish, and could have stayed there for hours watching them all!

Did you know that this is what a sting ray looks like on the bottom side? This guy floated over the top of us and I was thrilled to get a picture of his little happy face, doesn't he look like he's smiling?

The big tanks that these guys were in had coral reefs and looked like something you'd find at the bottom of the ocean.

Da na, Da na, Da na (could you hear the theme from Jaws in your head?)

I don't know why but I was really taken by these sting rays, I know that they can kill (after all one of these killed the crocodile hunter, but the way they floated through the water was almost magical). I could have watched these guys for hours, if it wasn't for the screaming child in the main room of the shark exhibit.

Melbourne Aquarium part 1

2011-06-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

On more than one day while Nat was here we ventured into the big city....aka Melbourne. And boy did we have fun! The first day we headed into the city and went to the Melbourne Aquarium, as we had never been there before and wanted to check out all they had to offer. They had so much to offer that I have decided to break my posts into three parts, just because there were so many cool fish and animals to see, plus I took a lot of pictures!

Here is a view of the city as we were walking over the Yarra River, which winds it's way through and around Melbourne and empties out in the ocean.

On the other side of the bridge and Yarra River was the Melbourne Aquarium. The aquarium was broken up into sections - different climates and fresh water vs. salt water etc. We had a great time exploring and finding out about the many different species of fish and habitats.

Ribbon Fish (I think that's what they were called)

Sorry the picture is a bit blurry, but I had to include a picture of the Cuttle Fish. We have their backbones wash up on the beaches around our house all of the time (the backbone looks like a white shoe insole). It was actually fun to see what they actually looked like in the "flesh".

Zebra Lion Fish

Fresh Water fish with really big lips!

Baby Sting Rays

Tree Frog

They had this cool little place in the aquarium that was built like a tide pool and you could touch and play with the critters in the tide pools. Check out the "feelers" on this star fish...they were going nuts moving all over when we picked the star fish up out of the water. Each "feeler" had a little circle on the end of them which was the star fishes suction cup.

They had all these cool things for kids to climb into and look out of. So, being big kids ourselves, we had to give them all a try!

You can't see them very well, but my head is surrounded by a tank of eels. Yuck!

Mr. Octopus

And this guy...he is a Japanese crab who's legs can grow up to 9 feet long. I know I have long legs, but seriously, 9 feet???

Penguin Parade

2011-06-16T23:56:00.000-07:00

On Phillip Island, an island that is about 20 minutes from where we live there lives a colony of tiny penguins. The penguins are known as little penguins or fairy penguins, as they literally are only about 12 inches tall.

picture courtesy of www.penguins.org.au

Phillip Island has made these little guys one of their major tourist attractions, and so with Natalie here, we went and spent one evening at the Penguin Parade. Pictures aren't permitted at the Penguin Parade, as they try to keep the penguins habitat as natural as possible. How natural is it to see hundreds of tourists on their walk to their burrows? At any rate, it is truly an incredible sight to see!!! The penguins get no bigger than 13 inches tall and weigh about 3 1/2 pounds. They are also known as blue penguins, because their feathers are blue. This helps keep them camouflaged from predators in the sky, and their white little tummies help with their camouflage while they are in the water. Seeing these little guys make their way back to their homes made us giddy! They are so fun to watch and so full of personality!

photo courtesy of http://www.penguins.org.au/

Fairy penguins spend their days out at sea hunting for food in the shallow waters close to the shore, but have also been tracked to travel over 50 miles per day. They can often be seen congregating in groups, referred to as 'rafts', this usually happens when they are getting ready to come to shore after being out at sea all day. At dusk they return to their burrows or rock crevice colonies, which can be quite noisy. I had been to the penguins about 5 years ago, and had forgotten how noisy they are! Most of their food is caught on shallow dives to depths less than 30 feet. They eat small fish such as anchovies, squid, plankton, krill, small octopi and pilchards. From the seafloor they may eat crab larvae, sea horses and crustaceans. Like most penguins, they swallow their food whole. The life expectancy of a little penguin is about 7 years.

We had a fantastic time at the penguin parade and if you ever make it to Melbourne the 2 hour drive to see the penguins is definitely worth it! But if you come and stay with us, it's only a 30 minute drive out to the penguins!

Footy

2011-06-15T00:12:00.000-07:00

One of the things that Nat wanted to do while she was here was attend an Aussie Rules Football Game. So we were in luck that Darran's (oops, I mean our) favourite team happened to be playing in Melbourne while Nat was here. So we happily took her to the footy.

She got to see the Hawks in action and that meant beautiful Buddy! Here he is after taking his "mark" and getting ready to kick his first of many goals.

We sat near the Hawks cheer section and boy did they have a fun night with their flags...every time we scored. They'd be up waving and cheering with their flags.

Here's another picture of Buddy getting ready to kick yet another goal. We had great seats and Nat quickly caught on to how the game was played...and when she had questions, I was able to answer about 80% of them, which means I'm finally learning the game myself. Go me! :)

Another great player on the team and boy is he quick and speedy, I know they mean the same thing, but hopefully that just helps you understand just how fast he really is!

This is another of my favorite players Barry who plays for the Western Bull Dogs. When we first saw him I leaned over to Darran and said, "I thought he would be bigger." As he ran down the field toward our goal posts he suddenly became bigger, he is huge! One of the things that I love about Australian Footy is the contact, and when they hit, they hit hard...and that also includes the fights that spring up every once in a while between the teams. All I can say is if I was ever in a fight I'd want Barry on my side!

When there is a "dead ball" the umpire will bounce the ball high in the air and the teams then go after it to put the ball back in play. This action shot is one of those bounces...except the umpire is off to the right of the shot.

Another thing the umpires do if the ball goes out of bounds is they turn around with their backs to the playing field and throw the ball back into play high over their head like this.

And lastly the goal umpires I think have the best jobs as each time a goal is kicked they get to take out their white flags and signal to the other goal umpire at the opposite end of the field that there has been a score. This is at the end of the "routine" of a 6 point goal. I use the word routine because I dare say that they must have to practice with the flags on non game days...seriously it's pretty much like a color guard routine.

It was a great game to take Nat to as the Hawks won and it was in one of the stadiums that the roof closes so we weren't in the cold or out in the elements. Nat seemed to have a great time and even went back to the states with her own footy!

Company

2011-06-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks we have had company from Utah. My darling friend Natalie came over to play for a couple of weeks and boy did we play and have so much fun! The time went by so fast we couldn't believe it, guess that was because we had a ton of things planned and a lot to do and check out while she was here.

Nat and I first met at BYU 19 years ago, yep I've known Nat more than half my life. We became quick friends and roommates at the Y and our friendship has been one to last well, more than half our life time. This two weeks was the longest that we had been together since I got married almost 5 years ago. How I cherished our time together! Darran and I are both so grateful that she came over to play and spend time with us. So, for the next several days, I am going to be reliving our adventures here on the blog, and when I mean days - it will be days as we did so much that I have had to break her trip down into several different posts. So sit back and enjoy the adventures we had together during Nat's visit. I know we sure did! Thanks Nat for coming, sure do love ya friend!!!

veggie patch

2011-06-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I have had these photos sitting on my computer for weeks and haven't posted them yet. We have had a fantastic summer and veggie crop in our garden this year, and now that it is turning cold (horray Southern Hemisphere) we are surely going to miss all the fresh summer veggies that we have been pulling out of the garden!

We planted celery for the first time this year...yep that's it (the dark green leaves) in the back of the picture. I've never grown celery before and can I just say I was so giddy when we picked the first batch!! We also had lovely lettuce that seemes to just keep growing.

We also planted several pumpkin (aka squash in the US) plants and have enjoyed harvesting several pumpkins from the garden.

And our tomatoes have gone crazy we had 15 tomato plants this year and five different varieties. I didn't bottle any this year, instead I was making homemade fresh salsa every few days. YUM-O! We still have a few plants that have tomatoes on them, they just seem to keep coming!

And last but not least, another first for us was growing cauliflower. Couldn't believe that it actually worked but it did and it tasted delicious! Now we are preparing our garden beds for our winter crop. How we love having a garden!!! If you don't have one...you should try it, I know you'll totally love going out and picking your own produce!!! Give it a try!

TMI

2011-06-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

How much is too much information? I have thought a lot about this over the past several months as I have read things and seen things posted in blogs, on facebook and shared on the news. I have seen things that made me wonder why the person would even post things like that in such public forums. I am amazed at how little people take into consideration what is appropriate to share. For instance.........

A few months ago I was driving to Philip Island for work listening to the radio, and it really got me thinking about the information we share. I know that dj's jobs are to pull in the ratings and get people to listen to their show, but how far is too far? On the radio the dj was talking about a fight that she had gotten into with her husband the night before. She didn't want to say what they were fighting about (which was the only positive about the whole dialogue), just that they fought and she ended up going to bed, for the first time in their marriage without resolving it.

As her shift was ending, she was getting more nervous to go home because she didn't know how to act, if her hubby had gotten over the fight or if they were still in fight mode. So she opened it up to her callers to get their feed back. One caller told her she should call him on air and she would be able to tell by his interaction if they were still fighting. Her two male co-hosts thought that it was a great idea and called him, telling her that they would be there for support and tell her to abort the conversation if the hubby was still in fight mode.

It probably shouldn't have surprised me, but it did, the dj called the hubby, and within seconds you could tell he wasn't happy. She kept egging him on and asked if they were still fighting and his response was classic that yes they still were fighting and he couldn't believe that she had called to see if they were. The phone call ended there. The dj, then made some flippant comment about where she could go for the day so she wouldn't have to face her hubby because it was going to be really bad when she got home. I don't know if she went home and resolved things because I haven't listened to that station since.

So how much is too much information to share? I know people who have aired their dirty laundry on facebook, including fights with their family members. How embarrassing for the person and their family! I know others who post about their spouses and the things they do in their private life, that should stay private. This happens in my office at work all the time. Every morning tea break the girls in the office get together and this is a time for them to whine about their hubbies, talk about the intimate details of their relationships and bag on their kids and hubbies. At first when this started becoming the norm I sat there fascinated at the stuff they were saying...shocked that they would speak about their husbands that way. But after a few days I stopped going in - I don't need or want to hear that kind of stuff. One of the girls asked me why I never said anything about Darran. Truth is, I respect him and our relationship too much to talk about that kind of stuff in the office. It's not their business, and frankly, I have a great relationship with my hubby, because it is our relationship.

I have a friend who will not join facebook or start a blog, because too much personal information is shared. I understand and respect her decision. I'm just grateful for the old fashioned emails and phone calls that we share that keep us connected.

I was reading a blog the other day and the person stated she feels like a totally different person when she blogs because she is usually shy until she really gets to know a person, but in blog world, that shyness is non- existent. I keep a blog to keep my family and friends in America up to date on what is going on with us here in Oz. It is true that I pick and choose what I share and don't share here, because I know that it is open for anyone to see. There are things that are going on in our world that are private, so they have not been blogged about, but family here in Oz and in America know, because we communicate over the phone, in emails and on Skype - through private communications.

Social networking has it's positives but also has it's negatives, the biggest negative is there seems to be nothing that people think is off limits to share. Call me an old fashioned gal, but somethings should not be shared.

Fishing Fun

2011-06-11T04:38:00.000-07:00

Over Easter, yes, I know that Easter was back in April...and I'm a little behind in blogging...but please continue reading. Darran and I went on a little fishing trip, by trip I mean we ventured out into the one of the local ports that lead out to the ocean and we tried out hand at fishing. Now, last time I went out in a boat fishing with Darran the engine died and we had to paddle back into shore. He assured me that this time we wouldn't be paddling - and he was right! :)

Once we got to the "secret spot" we got our fishing lines ready and then sat and waited for all the fish to take our line and jump in our boat.

We made sure we had the fish finder on and that the ipod was playing some good tunes. But no fish were jumping in the boat.

It was a beautiful early evening and I was so grateful I had brought the camera to capture this shot and to be ready to capture all the fish we were going to catch.

Fishing is always a great time to quietly reflect on life.

And take more pictures of the setting sun, whilst waiting for said fish.

And spend good alone time with your husband, and take more pictures of the water and setting sun.

Darran, of course caught the only fish of the evening. Here he is with his flat head. This fish had MAJOR spikes and put up a good fight!

So while Darran caught the fish, I caught the sunset. I think it was a productive day for both of us!

Looking forward to our next fishing adventures!

Chickens

2011-06-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I have posted about our chickens, and I know you are so excited! Some of you are probably thinking, "we're so glad to not have to read another post about those birds." Well, for those of you who may have those feelings...stop reading. :)

I can't help that these silly birds make me smile. I mean who wouldn't smile when as soon as they hear your voice they run from where ever they are in the yard just to see you? Who wouldn't feel the love? :) I love when I get home from work and they come running to greet me and then follow me all over the yard and into their chook shed.

Each of them has their own personality. I know that sounds weird, but look at your dogs and cats, they have their own personalities so why can't chickens? Ellen (pictured below) thinks she is the boss, and is the most stand offish. She is stubborn and likes to do her own thing (sounds a little like moi!) Fluffy feet (aka Fluffy) pictured above is a follower, if Ellen is being a bit stand offish, then Fluffy will be, but if she is around Snowy she'll do what Snowy does.

Then there is Snowy (no picture - because I haven't been able to get a good one lately). Snowy is the most social and out going of the three. Each time I go out to hang the laundry, Snowy is right there to greet me, then she starts to peck at my shoes or my pant legs to see if I have anything good to eat, which makes us laugh. I do have to say I feel a bit sorry for Snowy though as Ellen and Fluffy kind of shun her. Each night in the coop they climb up to one side of the perch and snuggle in together and leave Snowy on the opposite end of the perch by herself. For this reason we are thinking about getting a few more chooks so Snowy will have some friends.

The thing that I especially love their beautiful bright yellow golden eggs that they produce every day and the fact that I don't have to go to the store to buy eggs. Except now that we are coming on to winter and it is getting colder, the egg production is starting to cease...which is not good! One of the girls here at work who also has chickens told me the other day, that people who have chickens are happy people. I would have to agree. There is something really special about chickens!

A visitor from Layton Utah

2011-06-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

In April we had a fun visitor come to Australia to see the sights and have an adventure. My nephew Gman sent Flat Stanley to visit us and see what Australia had to offer. Here is the letter and pictures Flat Stanley sent back to Gman and his 1st grade class.

Dear Garrett and Mrs. Brickey’s Class,

G’day from Australia!

I have had a wonderful time visiting Australia. There are so many fun things to see and do here. It is such a long way away from Utah! I thought I would send this letter to Mrs. Brickey on the day I left Australia because this letter would get there before I would. But, don’t worry, I’m on my way back and will see you all soon!

I wanted to tell you about the adventures I had in Australia and send some photo’s too. I went and spent time with Garrett’s aunt Jen and uncle Darran, who live in a little place called Archies Creek Australia.

They have a little farm and I was able to help out by feeding the chooks (that’s the Australian word for chicken).

I even played with their goat Rosie. Boy does she like to run and play!

Garrett’s uncle Darran loves to surf, so one day he took me to the beach and taught me how to surf. First he taught me about beach and ocean safety. Did you know that the ocean has Rip Tides that are very dangerous? One thing about going to the beach is that you have to follow the safety signs!

After he taught me about Rip’s and beach safety it was time for surfing!

Aunt Jen and Uncle Darran live only five minutes from the beach, and boy is it beautiful! I didn’t see any sharks but sure did have fun learning to surf! Do you like my cool surf board?

Another day Garrett’s aunt Jen took me to visit the local Kangaroo’s. Did you know that they live in groups called mobs? Well there are two different kangaroo mobs that live less than 5 minutes from their house.

I knew we were getting close when we saw this sign. I was so excited and couldn’t wait to see a kangaroo in the wild!

First we came across some Kangaroo foot prints.

Then some Roo poo.

And then we found them! Sorry this picture is blurry of me, but if you look over my shoulder you can see a kangaroo eating some tall grass. I tried to get closer to take a picture with me, but they all hopped away before I could. See how they hop?

We had a great time looking for kangaroos!

And the kangaroo’s had fun looking at us, until we got to close then they hopped away.

On my last day in Australia we went on a bush walk (Australian for hike). First we started out in the rain forest.

Which quickly turned into the bush.

This is called a Banksia tree, or bottle brush tree, because its flowers (like the yellow one) look like a brush you do dishes with. There are lots of neat trees in Australia that you can’t find in Utah.

At the end of our bush walk we found another Aussie animal, which was so fun! We came across a wombat’s den.

This is a wombat. It’s a baby one. They aren’t mean, and like to eat carrots, and roots. They are nocturnal (means they sleep during the day and come out to eat and play at night). They have big claws on their front paws so they can dig their dens in sides of hills, like the one we found.

I had a great time visiting Garrett’s aunt and uncle in Australia, the only thing better would have been if Garrett could have come with me! Thanks Garrett for sending me to Australia, where I learned to surf, saw really cool Australian animals and had the time of my life.

See you all soon! Love,

Flat Stanley

2011-06-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

To all those friends and family who have supported our efforts to raise funding for Darran's movie The Playbook.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for your generous support, donations, blogs and sharing the links with others via Facebook. We have reached our target goal and could not have done it without you all! Thank you for believing in the project! We are so humbled and so so so blessed!!!

If you would still like to donate please go to this link.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1785047108/inspirational-australian-feature-film-the-playbook

My Hubby The Filmmaker!

2011-04-21T01:32:00.000-07:00

Many of you know my dear husband Darran is a passionate and experienced filmmaker. He is at his best and most happiest when his mind and eye coordinate to capture images and visual sequences that take our breath away. Well his new project is a beautiful and inspirational feature film called 'The Playbook'.

It's a beautifully written script that was recently a finalist in the LDS Film Festival, (they still haven't chosen a winner, so it could well yet win). The story is an emotional and uplifting tale of how a loving father, Bishop and basketball coach struggles to find forgiveness towards the inactive church friend who accidently took the life of his teenage son. All of those who have read the script, (yes including me) have been reduced to sobs and tears. Although it's an emotional and sad story, it is also a very inspirational and uplifting story, with an exciting and wonderful finale.

The film is set to be released to Cinemas in early 2012 and DVD thereafter. And many well known Australian actors have been contacting Darran about trying to get a part in it.

This is a still from the 'teaser' they filmed in December. It shows the main character (the Coach, father, Bishop) trying to inpsire one of his under achieving players.

If you saw 'The Blind Side' and loved it, then you will definately love this film too. Darran is trying to hard to raise some funds to go towards the production budget so they can shoot the rest of the film. It's a low budget film and to him, this film is as much about spreading and sharing the Gospel as it is creating something amazing. He's put his heart and soul into it for the past few years and it's incredible to see how committed he is to this project. I know it will be a big success just by the energy and determination he is putting into it.

Kickstarter

Darran is seeking support from as many people as we can get this out to. He has the project listed on the Kickstarter website, which is a crowd funding website where you can pledge an amount to support the film and receive some very cool incentives for doing so. The minimum pledge is $1 as every dollar helps.

We would both be extremely grateful if everyone could check out the site at

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1785047108/inspirational-australian-feature-film-the-playbook

and if you feel inspired, please make a pledge and support him. There is a 'teaser' video on the site that you can view and get a feel for the movie.

Even if you aren't in a position to pledge anything, we ask if you could please cut and paste the above link and send to all of your facebook and email contacts and friends and tell as many people as you can. This film has the potential to change peoples lives and bring them towards the Gospel in an entertaining way.

The website for the film is http://www.theplaybookmovie.com/

All of the cast and crew are donating their time, so the film production has to provide catering, accomodation and travel expenses, so if anyone is able to support Darran in making this wonderful film, you will be supporting a magnificent and worthy cause. We look forward to seeing the end result and if I know my husband, it will be an amazing film.

Euca

2011-04-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

In high school my basketball team was invited to come to Australia and play. It was a fabulous trip, and where I first fell in love with Australia. I have so many memories of that trip both good and even some not so good. One of the best things about the trip was I was able to go with several of my closest friends.

Upon our return and first week back at school, some of the friends that went on the trip were walking down the hallway on the way to a class when these two girls at opposite ends of the hallway yelled some nickname at one another to get each others attention. Well not only did it get their attention, but the rest of the students in the hallway as well. These girls were so excited to see that everyone stopped to take notice of them. One of my friends made a comment to those of us who were walking together that they were just doing that, looking to get attention. We all agreed and headed off to our respective classes, knowing that we would all meet up again later that afternoon for volleyball practice.

As I walked into the locker room to get changed for practice I saw one of the friends that was walking in the hallway with me earlier and yell, "NEARTS". She looked at me from across the locker room and yelled "EUCA", another friend that was with us in the hallway walked in just after this interaction and both Nearts and I yelled, "PINKS". And thus began our nicknames - all because of two random girls yelling at each other in the hallway at high school. When I asked Nearts why she picked EUCA for me, she said that it was short for eucalyptus, and since we had been in Australia together she wanted to pick a name that would remind her of our trip.

I think of Nearts often as I look out our windows at the beautiful gum (eucalyptus) trees in our yard.

Or every time I pass one of the 200+ varieties of eucalyptus trees

I'm grateful for the nickname from such a cherished friend, as I have come to admire and look at the eucalyptus trees for their strength, beauty and stability. I hope that I too have those same qualities.

Technical Difficulties

2011-04-06T23:55:00.000-07:00

My computer at home is having MAJOR problems...

I have been babying it along,

and ever so slowly over the past few weeks

It has gotten worse and worse,

Which is the cause of my lack of posts.

Gotta love modern technology!

Now it is like

DEAD

Know that we are still alive,

Enjoying the unusually warm Autumn weather here in Oz.

And trying to adjust to it getting dark at 5:30.

I hope to be able to post some new things along with pictures soon.

Our garden is growing out of control - with lots of tomatoes.

I am making fresh salsa like it's going out of style!!!

Yummy!!!

Hope to have my computer back and running soon.

I'll keep you posted!

Man from Snowy River

2011-03-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

As I have said in posts before that I love the movie The Man From Snowy River. I've loved it since I was a kid, I have fond memories of watching it with my friend Christy and dreaming that we would be so lucky to fall in love with him. So imagine my excitement when we drove through a town (Corryong) on our way home which boasted to be home of THE man from Snowy River! Every year this town has the Man from Snowy River festival, which we missed by a few weeks, but that was okay, because we found his grave! I know...it's exciting.

The Man from Snowy River aka: Jack Riley was born in Ireland and immigrated to Australia when he was 13 years old. He worked as a tailor before he found his true love - being a stockman. He spent most of his life living in a bush hut in the Snowy Mountains and doing what he loved. He died in 1914 and is buried in the Corryong cemetery.

Now legend has it that Jack Riley is the man whom Banjo Paterson wrote his famous poem about and where the movie stemmed from. Here is Paterson's poem about his friend, Jack Riley.

THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses - he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,
And the stock horse snuffs the battle with delight.

There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup,
The old man with his hair as white as snow;
But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up -
He would go wherever horse and man could go.
And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand,
No better horseman ever held the reins;
For never horse could throw him while the saddle girths would stand,
He learnt to ride while droving on the plains.

And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,
He was something like a racehorse undersized,
With a touch of Timor pony - three parts thoroughbred at least -
And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.
He was hard and tough and wiry - just the sort that won't say die -
There was courage in his quick impatient tread;
And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,
And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.

But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay,
And the old man said, "That horse will never do
For a long a tiring gallop - lad, you'd better stop away,
Those hills are far too rough for such as you."
So he waited sad and wistful - only Clancy stood his friend -
"I think we ought to let him come," he said;
"I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end,
For both his horse and he are mountain bred.

"He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side,
Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough,
Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride,
The man that holds his own is good enough.
And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,
Where the river runs those giant hills between;
I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,
But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen."

So he went - they found the horses by the big mimosa clump -
They raced away towards the mountain's brow,
And the old man gave his orders, "Boys, go at them from the jump,
No use to try for fancy riding now.
And, Clancy, you must wheel them, try and wheel them to the right.
Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills,
For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight,
If once they gain the shelter of those hills."

So Clancy rode to wheel them - he was racing on the wing
Where the best and boldest riders take their place,
And he raced his stock horse past them, and he made the ranges ring
With the stockwhip, as he met them face to face.
Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash,
But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view,
And they charged beneath the stockwhip with a sharp and sudden dash,
And off into the mountain scrub they flew.

Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black
Resounded to the thunder of their tread,
And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back
From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead.
And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way,
Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide;
And the old man muttered fiercely, "We may bid the mob good day,
No man can hold them down the other side."

When they reached the mountain's summit, even Clancy took a pull,
It well might make the boldest hold their breath,
The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full
Of wombat holes, and any slip was death.
But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head,
And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer,
And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed,
While the others stood and watched in very fear.

He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet,
He cleared the fallen timber in his stride,
And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat -
It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride.
Through the stringy barks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground,
Down the hillside at a racing pace he went;
And he never drew the bridle till he landed safe and sound,
At the bottom of that terrible descent.

He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill,
And the watchers on the mountain standing mute,
Saw him ply the stockwhip fiercely, he was right among them still,
As he raced across the clearing in pursuit.
Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met
In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals
On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet,
With the man from Snowy River at their heels.

And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam.
He followed like a bloodhound on their track,
Till they halted cowed and beaten, then he turned their heads for home,
And alone and unassisted brought them back.
But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot,
He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur;
But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot,
For never yet was mountain horse a cur.

And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise
Their torn and rugged battlements on high,
Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze
At midnight in the cold and frosty sky,
And where around The Overflow the reed beds sweep and sway
To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide,
The man from Snowy River is a household word today,
And the stockmen tell the story of his ride.

Published in: The Bulletin, 26 April 1890.

Coming Home

2011-03-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Our fun long weekend quickly came to an end, and we had to pack up and start for home. We decided to take the Alpine road home and we were not disappointed at all! As we passed Thredbo for the last time and headed up into the tops of the snowy mountains we passed a sign (which sadly I didn't get a photo of) stating that wild brumby (horses) were in the area. We literally must have missed them by minutes as we saw a lot of their poo, but didn't see any of them. Bummer! Next time we are up there, we are going to be searching for them, promise! Anyway, like I said in earlier posts this area is home to many bush huts, and we decided to go off the beaten path a little bit and find a few of them. Which was an adventure in itself!

The bush huts in the area date back to the 1800's. Most were built by skiers, grazers and the water & irrigation commission. But the few we saw were built in 1945 and 1960. The bush huts are now a place of refuge for walkers, skiers and campers.

This is the Old Geehi hut, built in 1945 for the New South Wales water and irrigation commission. It was used by a couple of families whose husbands worked for the commission.

This is view out the front door of the hut. What a beautiful river! You can camp outside the hut, but not inside. From my understanding these huts are there in case you need emergency shelter.

We next found Major Clews hut. Major Clews worked with the water and irrigation commission and would walk over 100 kilometers a week through the snowy mountains as part of his job. When he retired from the commission, he couldn't bare to leave the snowy mountains, so he built this hut at the age of 67 and retired here and lived here for years. It is reported that he had a massive flower garden surrounding the home when he lived here. The house is unique to the snowy mountain huts as it is made of mud brick. It has an incredible rock fireplace inside, along with a blue tongue lizard who is living in the wall next to the fire place.

As we were exploring the huts and the many fantastic camp grounds around we ran into another kangaroo mob, and had to stop and get this shot. A momma with her joey's legs sticking out of her pouch. I've decided kangaroo mommas are very dedicated to their little ones...and not so little ones.

As we continued out of the snowy mountains we passed this. The Snowy Mountain Hydro Authority. The Snowy Mountains Scheme is undoubtedly one of the civil engineering wonders of the modern world. Built over a 25 year period from 1949 to 1974, it diverts water for irrigation west to the Murray and Murrumbidgee river systems and produces clean, renewable, hydro electricity through a complex integrated infrastructure which includes sixteen major dams, seven major power stations, 145km (90 miles) of interconnected tunnels and 80km (49 miles) of aqueducts. But the really impressive thing was that these tunnels and aqueducts go up and over many many mountain ranges.

Our drive home also included a little drama in the form of bush fires.

We saw a couple as we were heading home.

And drove through places where the smoke was thick and clouded a clear day.

It was so thick that you could taste it. But don't worry we made it home safely.

It was a great weekend and always nice to get home. Looking forward to our next adventure! Can't wait!

Kangaroos

2011-03-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

After a day of hiking and accomplishing a thing off of Darran's bucket list. We came back to our little cabin and decided to have a camp fire and cook our dinner outside. It was a beautiful evening, not to cold and it was fun sitting around the fire. Oh how I love a good camp fire! But as the evening grew darker, and the temperature started to drop, we retired to the cabin. Not 10 minutes after we went inside I looked out the window to check on the fire and what did I see?

The kangaroos had come to check out the picnic table and camp fire. There were four of them snooping around out looking for some food.

This guy went over to the fire a couple times to check out what the warm glowing thing was.

The next morning we woke up and Darran went out to take some trash out and quickly called me to grab the camera and come outside. This momma and joey were hanging out in front of our cabin. In the Mountain Retreats information packet it says that you can feed the roos, but just fruit, and that they are wild animals so you needed to proceed with caution because roos can be fierce. So, I quickly grabbed an apple and sliced it up to see if this momma and joey would let us feed them.

And feed them we did!

This joey was so cute, inquisitive and shy

This isn't just a face a momma can love. How cute is he?

Enjoying an apple and hanging out with us, his new best friends.

Darran's bucket list

2011-03-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons we chose to go to the Snowy Mountains was largely due to Darran wanting to accomplish something on his "bucket list". That something? Hiking the highest peak on the Australian Continent. That peak: Mt. Kosciusko. So Saturday morning after the kangaroo in the mist photo shoot, we headed up to Thredo to see if the clouds would clear so we could hike it. There are two ways to get to the top. A trail called Charlotte's Pass (which is basically a firebreak road) or catching the ski lift at Thredbo and hiking from there.

Here we are at the Thredbo resort getting ready to catch the ski lift. We thought it would be more fun to experience as much as we could of the area. And let's be honest, who doesn't love to ride the the ski lift?

See those white lines on the map behind me? That is the ski lift, and the purple is the track we decided to take to get to the top of Australia.

I have been on my fair share of ski lifts. Most of them have been during non winter months (meaning no snow). But never have I been on a ski lift that is surrounded by eucalyptus trees and not pine trees. Yep, there is always a first time for new adventures!

On the way up the lift, there were several signs on the poles, and you know me and my love of signage. I loved this sign. A great reminder that we all need to get out and enjoy the great outdoors!

As we continued up the ski lift, the clouds got thicker.

And we were glad that we got off the couch and were on this bucket list adventure.

Rising higher into the clouds. At this point we got cold and wondered if we were actually going to be able to see anything and if we had picked the wrong day to hike Mt. Kozi

Once off the ski lift, it was time to follow the "gray brick road". Did you just want to break into song from the Wizard of Oz? Following the brick path, still kept us in the clouds.

Darran crossing the bridge over the snowy river. Mom, he wore his BYU hat and shirt just for you!

The snowy river

Starting on the track to the top

The hike was 13 kilometers round trip (for those of you used to miles...it was 8 round trip)

The majority of the hike was on this metal grating platform, which was built up from the mountain floor. It was cool and springy and aided in the jarring on your knees and hips. Not to mention that it was great for the flora and fauna. Australia really is environmentally conscious.

The higher we got the more the clouds cleared.

A photo opt with the first blue sky we had seen that day.

Another part of the trail was these rock steps. Which went from pretty spaced out, to very close and narrow toward the top of the hill

Rams Head.

As you can see from these photos, there aren't a lot of trees on this mountain. Which to be honest was a bit strange, but because it is so "high" it's too cold for trees to grow. But they do grow good granite rocks!

Clouds moving in from another valley

Alright, see the rounded grassy knoll on the left? That is Mt. Kosciusko. This was taken from the look out, and it is deceiving as it looks like the more jagged peak on the right is taller, but actually, it's not.

The beginning of the Snowy River

And if you look closely, you can see the little fish that live in the river.

Just over Darran's left shoulder is the glacial lake that you pass on the way up. I didn't end up getting a picture of it because it was gross, not like the beautiful clear alpine lakes that I am used to.

See that stick on the right, I meant to take this picture with it in it. That is how they marked the old hiking trail up to Mt. Kozi. The snowy mountains have hundreds of walking tracks taking you all over the mountains and this still was alerting you that there was another track going off to the right.

A view from the top of Australia. Don't you love all the valleys below with all the clouds?

Darran on top of the world (at least here in Oz)

On top of Mt. Kozi which is 2,228 meters above sea level or 7,310 feet.

After having lunch on top of Australia and Darran making a few phone calls (yep there was reception) we headed back down to catch the ski lift before the last run.

The day couldn't have been better. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. And we actually got some sun and color too! The trail was fairly easy and we passed several families with young (3-5 year old) children attempting the hike.

Overlooking the valley where the other ski resorts are located.

Getting ready to get on the ski lift for the ride down.

On the ride down. Had to take the photo of the mountain biker. What great memories I have of biking at Snowbird. Here though you have to sign up to take their class, and get certified before you can bike at the resorts. Lots of hoops to jump through, including lots of protective gear that is required to be worn.

Darran had a mild panic as we started heading down on the ski lift. This was the first time he had ever ridden down the ski lift, and it was a bit freaky for him. It was a great day, and we were both so excited that we were able to complete something off his bucket list. We loved the area so much we want to come back up and hike to the top from Charlotte's Pass and see what that's like. Oh how I loved being in the mountains!

Thredbo River and surrounds

2011-03-16T01:25:00.000-07:00

Thredbo is a ski town that is nestled in the Kosciusko National Park. A fun town that is probably a lot like Park City was 20+ years ago. Can't tell you how excited I was to be at an actual ski town again! But remember it's still summer, start of Autumn here, so there is no snow yet. Bummer! Anyway. The Thredbo river also runs through the Snowy Mountains and one of the things that Darran and I both were looking forward to doing while we were away was fly fishing! But before we could get to the river, I had to stop and get another sign for my sign collection.

Yep, not everyday you see an Emu crossing sign on your travels in the mountains. Three cheers for Darran, who knows I have a fascination with Aussie road signs and actually backed the car up on the road so I could snap this picture. We actually did see a few emu's too, but of course we zoomed by too fast for me to take a photo. Each time we traveled that stretch of road, after that first sighting I had my camera ready, but never was able to get a photo of the ostrich look a like.

Bush huts are scattered through out the snowy mountains, left there from years gone by. This one was near the side of the road on the way up to the ski resort. I quickly starting falling in love with these old bush huts.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day to be fly fishing! The Thredbo river is incredible! Lots of fish (we saw them, but didn't catch them), beautiful scenery and oh so nice to be back fly fishing again! This was the first time since since I moved to Oz that I've fly fished here. The only thing that was missing on this trip, was my brother, who is an avid fly fisher. Darran and I both commented several times throughout the day that he would love fishing the Thredbo river.

This was taken by me as I was standing waist deep in the river. I couldn't cast and take a photo of me at the same time, and Darran was too far away to hand the camera to, so instead I wanted to show you what the river looked like. The worst part of the day was the guy who started fishing between Darran and I and casting into Darran's water. He had no idea about river etiquette and was trying to show off to his young son. But it wasn't cool. If you are going to fish, make sure you are not casting into another person's water.

One of the many things that I love about Darran is that he reminds me of Indiana Jones. Both are sexy, both are adventurous, both are very knowledgeable, and both are extremely scared of snakes. So imagine what would have happened if Darran had gone back to the sand bar to retrieve the camera bag and saw this.

He would have screamed like a girl if he saw this baby brown snake. And yes, they are one of the 6 most poisonous snakes in the world, even when they are babies. I kept my distance, but had to snap a photo because I have nieces and nephews who totally love this kind of thing and are always asking for more Aussie wildlife photos.

I kept my distance and let baby brown snake slither under the camera bag before I picked up the bag. I may be brave, but I'm not dumb!

But baby brown snake was just as smart as I was and wanted to get away as soon as he could so he continued to slither into the river and sped off as fast as a baby brown snake can go.

All the while Darran was none the wiser that his brave wife had had an encounter with a baby brown until she showed him the photos to prove how tough she really is!

Soon after the snake we left the Thredbo where we were fishing and found a nice barbecue spot on another part of the river where we decided to stop for lunch and have a barbecue. The day was perfect, even though we didn't catch any fish, it was just nice to be out on a river again and work on my cast.

After lunch we headed into town to the visitors center to see what the local area had going on. Not only was this place a fly fishing heaven, it was also home to some great mountain bike tracks too. But we didn't have our bikes, so we'll have to give them a try next time. In the visitors center I found a cool brochure for a bush hut that you could rent out and stay in, so we decided to go check it out. On the way we ran into these guys.

They didn't like it much that we were invading their pasture, and found it really annoying when Darran had to honk to get them to move along. I was extremely jealous of their eyelashes. Why do cows have such long eyelashes? Someone please explain.

We finally reached the bush hut, and were surprised when we found it nestled between a big barn and a home that was being renovated. Kinda dimmed the dream a bit. But we met Brent the owner who was super nice and allowed us to go check out the hut. Which we happily did.

As we came out of the hut, and stood on the little dock overlooking the pond, THE biggest trout jumped out of the water and caught a bug mid air. It was the coolest thing ever! We both just stood there and watched hoping to spot another one rise to the surface and jump out and on our hooks. But they didn't so we settled in on walking around the pond back to the owner to have a chat.

Come to find out, Brent built this hut about 7 years ago. Kinda killed the cool dream I had of staying in an authentic hut. But obviously people love to stay here as Brent said that the year is already 85% booked, and it's only March. If you stay here you have access to the pond, but it's catch and release only. There is also a private access to the upper Thredbo river where Brent says the fishing is fabulous. Maybe I could overlook the newness and closeness to neighbors if the fishing is really that great!

Snowy Mountain Retreat

2011-03-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

We stayed at the Kosciusko Mountain Retreat in the Kosciusko National Park. It was beautiful! I felt like I was back in the actual mountains! I was so excited and was in mountain heaven. Except these mountains weren't like the one's I'm used to being from Utah. Instead of having bear, moose, mountain lions in the mountains...these had kangaroos, emu, and deadly poisonous snakes. It was incredible!!!

The first morning we were there I woke up early and looked out the window (as our cabin overlooked the "kangaroo feeding grounds") there was a cool low cloud cover hanging about and there were several roo's out on the feeding ground, so I jumped up and quickly dressed and headed out to capture the beautiful morning.

A group of 5 roo's enjoying an early morning feed.

The low lying cloud cover and beautiful Aussie bush.

Hello friends, it's just me coming to take your photo

Kangaroo's are funny, they will eat peacefully but the sound of anything moving alerts them and they are up looking around to make sure there is no danger present. Then if they don't feel threatened, they'll go back to grazing, but always will have an ear up listening for danger.

This is a momma and joey. Yep, joey's are still joey's when they are this big. Joey looks like he is nibbling on some grass by his momma's feet, but in fact, he has his head in her pouch having a little drink.

Hello sweet faced joey, thank you for stopping to say hello

These aren't exactly the pine trees I am used to while camping in the mountains, but I have to say that eucalyptus trees smell almost as good as pine trees after a rainstorm in the mountains. Almost, but not quiet. But the eucalyptus trees are beautiful and oh so Australian!

A weekend road trip

2011-03-15T23:52:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I was released from my calling as the Relief Society President in my ward. What a marvelous opportunity I have had to serve, love and care for the sisters in my ward, I will miss it and miss serving the sisters. But understand that there is a time and season for everything, and look forward to this new time and season and can't wait to embrace what ever it holds for us! After being released, Darran had the super idea of going away for the weekend. We needed this! I was happy to go, just as long as it meant that we went some place I had never been and since the weather was lovely, anywhere where we could go camping (since we haven't done a lot of camping this year).

So Darran planned it all and we took off on our much needed weekend road trip. It was so fun being in the car, laughing, singing and talking with my hubby. For those who haven't met him, he's fabulous. There is never a dull moment with Darran around. So the 7 hour road trip went by quickly with him along for entertainment.

We decided to head up toward the Snowy Mountains (as in the Man from Snowy River - yeah, those mountains). On the way we passed several really cool things, including this old rail way station, out in the middle of nowhere.

Close up of the Jincumbilly Railroad station in the middle of the Aussie bush.

We also went through a cool old town and stopped to check out this 1800's jail, which has now been renovated into a home. The actual jail cells are where the windows are right as the veranda stops and the red brick addition on the back of the building, This town literally had maybe a population of 130. Small, but oh so cool!

The night before we were heading off, I gathered several of the supplies that I wanted Darran to pack in the car before we left, which included a roll of toilet paper. I'm a firm believer that you need to travel with a roll of TP. You just never know where you might be and the if the situation you'll be in requires TP. Darran joked about bringing the TP along, because instead of camping we decided to rent a little cabin, and he assured me that the cabin would have TP. But being the good hubby that he is, threw the roll in "just in case". Well, I am happy to say that the roll did come in handy, on our little road trip, and I was told, "that was the best idea you ever had" after an emergency stop. See, it pays to be prepared!

Hey it's hay bale time

2011-03-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite times of the year here in Australia is hay baling season, which happened about 6 weeks ago. I love how all the lush hay fields around the countryside get haircuts and then rolled into hay bales.

Maybe one of the reason's I love to see the change is how cool the hay bales are. I love to drive pass a field of newly rolled hay bales. There is just something so fun about seeing these massive hay bales all rolled up. Maybe another reason I love it is I know that the seasons are changing and the cooler weather will be upon us soon.

All these photos were taken just by walking up my street. They are from three different farms. I love this one as you can see the farmer busy at work cutting his hay in the back ground of the photo. But the front of the photo tells you he has already been a busy guy and has not only baled the hay weeks earlier, but has wrapped them up to keep them away from the elements. There is never a dull day in the life of a farmer.

Due to the wet weather we have had this summer, some of the farmers have been able to cut a second crop of hay, which has been a blessing for them. These bales of hay will be used to feed their milk and beef cows through the winter. And for some, will bring in $75-$90 per bale when they sell them to those farmers who may not have enough to feed their cows. However they get used it's just been fun to see the action throughout the countryside!

Privacy

2011-03-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

We have been working on many projects around our home. We live on a little country street, which is quickly becoming a busy place for cyclists, bikers, tractors, and occasionally really big trucks. We have some beautiful native trees in our front yard, which we love because they bring the birds, but also provide a little shelter from the road. However, during the winter months, when the trees have no leaves it leaves us a bit exposed to the passing world. And since I'm a girl who likes my modesty and privacy...we decided we needed to do something to help shield us from the outside world.

So Darran came up with this great plan and we've built three cool privacy screens. They have been awesome! They have protected our privacy and we have gotten several great comments from our neighbors about them! We feel very accomplished since finishing this project, but still have several home projects in the works. It's been fun working on this project with Darran and we realize that we make a great team when it comes to building projects! Bring on the bathroom!!!

Dinner at the Melbourne Mission Home

2011-03-12T13:55:00.000-08:00

I grew up in a great little town just north of Salt Lake City. I have fond memories of my childhood and childhood friends. It was a great time to be a kid and be out playing street games with all the neighborhood kids and building forts in the sage brush and trees in the fields behind our home. Our back yard connected to our neighbors back yard which gave us easy access to the street behind ours and to those friends that lived there. My brothers best friend was Rick and they were inseparable. My sisters best friend was Rick's little sister Shauna who lived on the street behind us. Kristine their sister was a year younger than me, and we all got a long and had fun playing together. When Jeff was 11 or 12 the Lifferths moved to California for their dad's work. Jeff and Rick stayed in contact and on family vacations to Cali to visit my grandparents, we would stop in and visit the Lifferths. After several years the Lifferths moved back to our great little town and friendships continued.

Fifteen years ago, I had the opportunity to live and serve in the Washington DC South LDS Mission Home. My cousin was the mission president. So he & his wife and family of four small children lived in the mission home. I had just graduated from BYU and finished my final internship on a pediatric psych ward and seriously was questioning myself and if I had gone into the right field. So when I got a call from Jim asking me if I could come out and help his family it was the perfect opportunity for me. A few weeks after I got there, Joyce found out she was expecting twins, so their family of six was going to become eight.

I learned and experienced many wonderful things that year living in the mission home. I met many wonderful people, went on splits with the sister missionaries, made lasting friendships, travelled to several fun and beautiful places and fell in love with the National Monuments. It was also the first time I made a guy cry when after dating him for a few months, knew he wasn't the one for me and had to tell him so. I was as told by that same guy that he had received personal revelation for me (and you wonder why said guy wasn't for me), got to help make and eat dinner with our churches president and one of the general authorities, went grocery shopping with a 3 year old who would love to sing "I am A Child of God" at the top of her lungs as we cruised through Price club. That year I also learned that I did love my chosen field of study, but I just couldn't work with pediatric psych kids, and I fell in love with my cousins family.

Two years ago this same cousin that I helped with his family in DC, was called to the Quorum of the Seventy in our church and was assigned as an Area Authority over the Pacific Area (my area). So I was excited to find out that they were moving to New Zealand to serve in the Area Presidency. Also imagine my delight when last year I found out that the Lifferths had been called to be the new Melbourne Mission President. It was like old home week!

Well fast forward to the end of January. I got a call from Marge, my friend and wife to the Melbourne Mission President inviting Darran and I to come for dinner at the mission home, because Jim was coming on assignment to the Melbourne mission. I was excited! Excited to see and catch up with Jim and see the Lifferths again.

So on a very humid (remember that is odd for our part of Australia) and balmy February evening we left to make the 2 hour drive to the Melbourne mission home for dinner. We had been invited to a dinner that Marge had organized for the senior couples in the mission. As I walked into the mission home, wonderful memories started flooding into my mind about my time at the DC South mission home. As we met some of the senior couples and assisted with finding the birthday candles I felt like 15 years hadn't passed.

Imagine my delight and surprise when Joyce (my cousins wife) walked in with Jim a few minutes after we arrived. We squealed like little girls jumping up and down hugging each other. I had not been told that Joyce was going to be there and it was a wonderful reunion with both Joyce and Jim. Marge had to explain to the senior couples that we were cousins and that we hadn't seen each other for a couple of years, as several heads turned to watch the joyous reunion.

It was a wonderful evening spending time with Jim and Joyce, the Lifferths, the senior missionaries and being in the mission home. Joyce and I reminisced about who would have thought that 15 years earlier in the DC South mission home that we would be eating dinner together half way around the world in the Melbourne mission home. Never would we have guessed that. Fifteen years later and the twins who were born while I was in DC are now 15, the 3 year old singer is now at BYU-Idaho, they have a daughter on a mission in Canada, their oldest son is in the Army and their oldest daughter has graduated from college and embarking on a new career. What a fun and enjoyable night we had together. How grateful I am for the few hours we had to visit! When you live half way around the world from your family, visits from family and friends here in Australia are always welcomed! (hint hint) It was wonderful to feel the spirit of the mission home again and visit with family and friends! Just hope it's not another 2 years before they come visit again!!!