Collette's Column

Honeymoon

2012-02-10T11:58:00.015+11:00

After our wonderful wedding day we headed to Fiji for our honeymoon :) It was the wet season in Fiji which meant it would rain most days for a short period, be overcast most of the time, but still nice and warm! When we arrived we were immediately serenaded by three Fijian men (we would soon come to find this quite common). They also gave us some shell necklaces to wear.
We got our transfer into Port Denaru to wait for our boat to Matamanoa Island...Whilst we waited we tasted the first of many honeymoon mocktails...

The day we arrived the weather wasn't the best, it was raining and windy, the sea was very rough. This made the boat ride fun, but petrifying at the same time! I was holding on to the handle thinking how many people die on the first day of their honeymoon? Yeah i'm a bit of a drama queen
It was all good though, we made it safely to our island, all be it a little queezy. Once again we were welcomed with a song, and a mocktail, then taken to our room...

(We were allowed to take the wooden sign home with us but I forgot it :( )

It was very peaceful on the island, at full capacity it takes 30 couples, but there were only 16 or so there. A small distance from our front door were the steps to the beach...

There was hardly anyone ever on the beach, which was great! In the next pic you can see castaway island which was only a little bit over from matamanoa, it's not really castaway island but they call it that because that's where they filmed the movie 'Castaway'.

This is the roof of our room...

Everyday they would make our bed for us and place beautiful flowers on it...

The pool wasn't huge, but it was big enough, it was one of those ones that opens up to the sea, an eternity pool? anyway, it was great!

Hayden is such a water baby, he spent a lot of time IN the pool, whilst I spent a lot of time next to it:)

Right next to the pool was the main area where all the meals were served...

You could dine alfresco and they would light the fire torches everynight with a firedance...

It was very romantic and peaceful, especially looking into these handsome eyes :)

Like I said before Hayden = IN the pool, Collette = Beside the pool....

Don't get me wrong I was also IN the pool a lot, but nothing compared to Hayden.

Each day at around 10:30am they would load the people that were leaving onto a boat, and sing them a farewell song from the beach, they would then wait for the boat to come back with the new people and sing them the welcome song.

There were lots of things to do on the island (if you wanted) everyday they would update the activities board. This is me collecting palm leaves to do basket weaving...

This guy wasn't on the island for our first couple of days, (He'd had three days off) but when he returned we immediately nicknamed him 'Party Guy' . He was the loud personality in charge of activities and making sure everyone felt welcome and had a good time on the island...check out his cheeky fijian smile...

His real name was Sieko (like the watch) .... He helped me weave my first ever basket...

It turned out to be pretty cool, and we got to decorate it with flowers...

This is Tania, she and her husband Greame arrived on the island the same day as us, they are from New Zealand and were also married the same day as us, we enjoyed getting to know them:)

I have to admit my basket was actually pretty awesome...

Apart from Basket making, they also had snorkeling trips....

(Thanks Mary for lending us your underwater camera!)

Come on we spend an hour in the water, I was bound to have a snorkel mark...

The water baby in action...

We also went on a fishing trip with our New Zealand besties, the deal was if you caught a big one then the kitchen would cook it up for your lunch the next day free of charge...

Unfortunately we didn't catch any big ones, but plenty of small ones.

Ok ok, Hayden caught some small ones, I caught other people's lines, and eventually a rock which rendered my line useless.

Another favourite activity was Kiaking around the island, we did this a couple of times...

On our last night we thought we'd get some shots to remember the island....

Every night these three would serenade whilst you were dining, if it was your last night they would come to your table and sing a request just for you. We couldn't pick so they did Brian Adams summer of '69 for us, it was great!That night I also got an award to recognise my awesome basket making skills, yep, pretty proud of myself!

After dinner they held an 'international crab race' you had to bid for a crab and then if it won you took everything that everyone had bid for their crabs.

Our crab lost (Let there be a lesson in that kids!)...and I mean not lose come second, I mean our crab came DEAD LAST!

The day we left the island was one of those days where the sun was shining brightly, it was beautiful...

We loved being on the island, it was the perfect amount of time for it to feel like home and get to know lots of people, but not too long that we got bored....

It was great having our New Zealand besties and party guy on the beach to sing goodbye to us as we enjoyed a much calmer boat ride back to the main island.

We would spend the last three nights of our honeymoon on the main island, in the main tourist section port denaru....we stayed in luxury at the Radison...

This is where we spent Christmas day...

They had beautiful Fijian Carolers on Christmas eve, and Christmas day a fijian santa turned up at the beach on a jetski...

We really splashed out on Christmas lunch, going for the expensive hotel Christmas Buffet, but hey, we had to celebrate, it's CHRISTMAS!

We would often try to capture a sunset with our cameras but the weather would always turn, and the clouds would come in just before the sun hit the water....it was still spectacular though!
On our last full day in Fiji, we decided we wanted to catch a glimpse of 'real' Fiji, away from the confines of Port Denaru, we headed off on the Sigatoka River Safari...

It certainly wasn't cheap, but it was an experience worth having...
You take a jetboat up the biggest river in Fiji, this was our captain, he called himself, captain black jack....
I'd never been on a jetboat before, it was extremely fast, and extremely loud! Hayden loves this picture as it shows the two tone greys in his hair..

There were so many locals that access the water as their life line, they often float down the river to visit other villages, I was amazed we didn't bump into any of them!

Captain Black Jack would slow the boat down and give us stories and information about the real Fiji, then we got to stop and spend some time in a Fijian Village.

The village was very simple, it looks a lot nicer in this pic then it felt, on the left is the community centre where they all meet for every meal...

Before we could hang out in the village we were taken to the Chiefs house so he could welcome us with a Kava ceremony, and accept us into his village.
Kava is the national drink, it tastes like muddy water, and acts like an anesthetic on your mouth...

They put flowers around your neck and Talcome powder on your cheeks (Traditionally it would be soot) So that other villagers knew the chief had welcomed you...and not to eat you, basically.

They are very modest in Fiji, the girls had to have covered shoulders and wear a sarong to enter the village.

The Fijian kids are really cute...

After the Kava ceremony they took us to the community hall for some lunch...

It started pouring while were were there, and the children loved playing in the rain...

After lunch we got to do some dancing...

Which Hayden LOVED....

Did Imention in was raining? well we tried to wait until it stopped, but we needed to get back, so not only did I experience my first Jetboat ride this day, it was also my first jetboat ride in the rain....and going at those speeds means the rain feels like bullets! Everone in the boat covered their eyes the whole way back down the river, how captain black Jack could see and get us back safely i'll never know! It was crazy!

All in all it was an excellent honeymoon, I would recommend Fiji, particularly going out to a smaller island!

A wonderful day...

2012-01-23T15:29:00.010+11:00

So to top off our big week, on Saturday the 17th of December 2011 Hayden and I were married for time and all eternity in the Melbourne Australia Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The following pictures are taken by Julia Turner of POP Photography

Jessica helped alot with the wedding planning, including organising food and drinks for after the sealing, my hair and make-up and the reception decorations and tid bits...pretty much she did everything, Hayden and I just showed up....and it was AMAZING!

Here we come... (I've tried to only post pictures that have not yet been seen!)

Everyone waiting with anticipation...

Hayden's Family...

The proud parents...

My Family....

All the guests (Except a few that had to rush off)

I love this pic!

After lots of smiling and posing, what else does a girl want to do but eat? Ok Ok not one of my finest moments...

It was so great being able to pig out before the real photoshoot began!

Did I mention it was hot? Yup like 30 deg. + thank goodness Jessica had also provided little drinks and fans! (She also did the flowers...did I mention that?)

I'll let you browse the photo shoot in peace...

....except I just wanna say.... How handsome is my husband!!

Julia is an awesome photographer! There are millions of beautiful photos for us to choose from, i've only shown a selected few. She really captured our day!

After the shoot it was Reception time at Quaff in Toorak...it was nice to get out of the heat!

It was such a nice atmosphere, we loved having all our friends and family around to share a nice meal and chat with on our special day!

Rob gave a speech with baby Olive in hand...

Mum gave a speece and quoted more poetry at us....

She proposed a toast...

Then it was Hayden's turn, he totally suprised me with an amazing poem that he'd composed himself...

As you can see everone loved it....

I'm so grateful that I could marry my Best Friend, I love him very much! I'm also grateful that we could share our wonderful day with so many family and friends:)

Doctor Bell

2012-01-23T14:57:00.004+11:00

So did I mention we had a MASSIVE week? After my Grad on the Monday, Hayden finished his long slog with a graduation on Wednesday... The proud parents...

So happy to be done!...

The town and gown...

The big moment...

That evening we headed to the Grand Chancellor for a celebrationary ball...

Congratulations Hayden!

Master Gibson!

2011-12-13T09:21:00.006+11:00

Yesterday marked the official end of two years of postgraduate study! Here I am preparing.... The guy that declares us graduates, declaring us graduates...

Us standing to be declared graduates...

Waiting in line for my big moment...

Listening to my name being read....

Dip of the hat for the important guy...

Shake of the hand.. (He said "Congratulations Collette" he remembered my name!!)

Grabbing the certificate...

Yay!

My excited face...

Walking back to my seat...

All done...finding a good storage place....

Maybe i'll keep it:)

Hayden graduates from his Medical degree tomorrow...Big week for us both!

The proud mumsy...

and my support crew bestie....

It was a really valuable thing to do, but a lot of hard work! I'm glad the study/reading/assignments are finished!

My gripe for the day is that I have a Masters in Education, a two year post graduate degree on top of the four year Bachelor in Education degree I've already completed, this is SIX years of SPECIFIC study around education, being an educator and the best education for students.

My whine is that those that do an arts degree or engineering degree or business or science or whatever then two years of teaching on top of it now graduate as 'Masters in Teaching' they wore the same coloured hood as me, were in the same ceremony, and are often placed in the same category by those that don't remember that these students used to graduate as 'Bachelor of Teaching' students.

Maybe it's a pride thing and i'm wrong, but being confused with those that have not completed the same amount of study around education is frustrating.

It's really no reflection on the students, the difference in a 'masters of teaching' & 'master of education' is huge, yet the perception is that it's not. boohoo

anyone got any cheese for my whine?

Anyway I know what I've achieved, and i'm glad I did it... i'm also looking forward to NOT having to write assignments in my spare time next year. Perfect timing as I concentrate on married life and being the perfect wife...haha.

end.

tHe pArTy!

2011-12-07T10:17:00.010+11:00

Photo's care of ELLEN CARMICHAEL!! Thanks heaps!

So on Saturday 26th of November we had our engagement party! We had planned to have a garden party afternoon tea in the courtyard at the Rosny Chapel, unfortunately the Hobart weather decided otherwise, so we brought the outside inside...and it was AMAZING!

Here is the man of the moment, my handsome beau ...

...and his lovely fiance...
Our MC....

Our delicious cake!!

Thanks Carmen for doing such an amazing job! It was a caramel mud cake with white chocolate ganache and it was divine! She also decorated it beautifully!

We had lots of delicious food, thanks to our family and friends for providing!

...and delicious drink!...With cool cups and straws that you could write your name on! (What a great idea!)

Esther was our party planner/creator...she is amazing!

We recieved some classic words of advice in our guest book!

Hayden loves balloons and these were his addition to the party 10 white helium balloons that said "HB & CG 4 EVA"

Here is my cheeky bestie Esther and her hubby Minol...

More besties...

The Grandmas checking what time it will all finish...(Or synchronising watches?)

More guests...

Jackson...

Mac...Olive...Time for speeches...Mum first...Obviously VERY entertaining...

Next Robbie...also very entertaining...

...and Hayden...who was very nervous but did an excellent job!

Time to cut the cake...final instructions from Rob....very serious instructions!

...but I think we managed ok...

All done! What a great afternoon!

Preparations...

2011-11-29T18:55:00.003+11:00

On Saturday we had our Engagement Party of course a party of that magnitude takes a lot of preparation...including hours of pom pom making, with a little help from my friends... Also lots of bunting making...

Thanks Camilla, Bek, Fiona and Rhi for coming to help!

...and although I didn't get a picture of Es, she did the MOST work,

Thanks Pesta! You're the BEST!

The proposal...

2011-11-29T18:49:00.002+11:00

Photos care of Hallie...
Once upon a time Hayden and I headed to Bridport to watch General Conference with Mum and the Triffitts, It was like any other weekend in Bridport, amazing weather, great company, relaxing and listening to the GC messages.

Sunday evening 9/10/11 Hayden and I headed to the beach for a 'walk' before we went home. Well it turned out to be just 'a stand' and a very long stand at that, I was thinking 'Why are we just standing around chatting should we not be heading home?'

It was a beautiful sunset, very romantic and all of a sudden Hayden is on one knee popping the question, HOORAY!

I said yes.

The end.

My life as of today...

2011-11-27T20:51:00.003+11:00

hmm i've been pretty slack with blogging, guess nothing much is happening atm that I have to talk about.

um well once upon a time I ate an oyster...

Yep probably the most disgusting thing I've ever done! Hayden made me. YUK! seriously who would!

the end.

hmm actually...I feel as though there's something i'm forgetting, something big that I should be telling my blog stalkers...

nope... I got nothing...

oh yeah... btw... i'm getting married. IN LIKE TWO AND A BIT WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the real end.

Zoo who?

2011-09-08T16:42:00.003+10:00

Zoo Doo!!
Hey ladies, you impressed by this??

Well what about this??

Yeah that's what i'm talkin' 'bout!

This duck, like everyone, loved my shoes!... apparently they are very tasty!

What a little devil!

Check out this predator!! I was scared...

This one wasn't even interested in a tiny square of meat, let alone me...

...yeah, you know, i'm pretty fearless...want proof?

ok ok this was my real reaction....

Seriously I thought I was going to die!...pretty sure it was trying to strangle me!

Mum wouldn't go near it!

Pretty exciting morning!

Wanna see something gross??

2011-08-04T11:38:00.003+10:00

This time last week I went into St Johns Calvery for a Knee Reconstruction.
Last October I ruptured my ACL playing baskeball against the students at school.
I was so nervous! I've never had a hospital stay, or been given a GA before. Hayden and Mum were my support crew. (Whether they liked it or not. haha)
This is me a couple of hours after the op. I was lucky cause I was first in at 8:30am, this meant I wasn't waiting around for long feeling nervous. (Shout out to Hayden for the pics)

...and here it is..well you can't see much. I was expecting to be in a world of pain, but the injury itself was much worse than the surgery. I'm hoping my recovery doesn't take too long and I can get back to my old fav. activities ... (Baskeball, Tennis, Squash, General Running about etc.)

I had to go to Target and buy a nightie which was the recommended hospital wear, but I didn't own one...So I decided to go the whole hog with the granny theme...

Hayden walked back into the room after I got changed into it and said "You look like your dying in that nightie"

... I promise that my leg is swollen... not usually this HUGE...

But that's all it was, Four small incisions. The scar on top of the knee cap wasn't from the operation, but from where I fell over a few weeks back. SO..they inserted a camera and fished around for my hamstring tendons, harvested them, wound them around to make a new ligament, then insterted it, screwing it into place. Took about an hour and a half.

I'm amazed that Dr's can do this! ...or should I say Mr's??

And I would like to give a big shout out to painkillers and ice!

I'm hobbling around up at Bridport atm. Hence all the blog posts.
End.

Time out for what?

2011-08-03T12:44:00.003+10:00

Time out for WOMEN! yeah! That's what i'm talking about! A Huge Hormonal Hug fest with Tears and Tote bags!
This is us waiting at the airport...3 billion hour delay or something, which meant we didn't really do anything 'sydney-like' in Sydney... (*Sydney-Like an adjective - to go do stuff you can only do in Sydney, such as cruise on the Harbour past the Opera House etc.) ...and that's it. Didn't really get any other pics. But everyone that is reading this was probably there, and if not you're a bloke and it's weird that you're reading my blog, unless your Hayden, (Hi Honey) then of course there are those of you that ARE women, but didn't go, but have already read about it on someone elses blog.
Now for some scary shots of Fatty Flynn and I Chillin' in the serviced apartment....

umm yeah.

Happy Birthdays with Harry

2011-08-02T11:40:00.002+10:00

On Saturday the 16th we celebrated Mum's 63rd -eek- with some lunch at Tranquility Gardens.

The whole family came along, some Japanese guy made the gardens, the tea house is part of the original home. The water features weren't running when we were there but you could imagine how spectacular it would look!

Every year, about this time, we venture out to see the new Harry Potter film, we've been doing this for every movie for the past 7 years. So this day was an end of an era. We were SO excited we got our tickets the week before, and were the FIRST people in the line at the cinema, it actually wasn't that busy, I guess cause we took the 2D version, but hey, who wants to sit in the cinema with their sunnies on!

Simone has an awesome pick of us all at the front of the line, but she hasn't posted about it :(

You would think it wasn't important to her or something.

Anyway, all that was missing was our crazy Harry Potter Costumes (Jokes, we don't do that... just secretly wish we did)

I really enjoyed the final movie! So much so, I saw it again the next Thursday night with Hayden.

Voldermort was my fav. in this one, he did such a good job:)

Well it's been fun Harry. Not really sure what to do with my life now.

hmm

Mountain View

2011-08-02T11:37:00.002+10:00

I suppose Hobart does have its good points

2011 SNOW!!

2011-07-12T19:50:00.004+10:00

I know I post about this every year but it's just SO exciting when it snows!! Because I'd borrowed Simone's Yaris as a loan car whilst the Jazz was having blues I had to do a day trip up on sunday to return it. We left Hobart at about 10:40...and hit this...

We were late to church because we HAD to stop and play in the snow:)... then on the way home...

Warp speed...

It was crazy and amazing...and then the next morning I got to see the results on the way to work...

Such Fun!

Red carpet event...

2011-07-12T19:47:00.001+10:00

Pretty sure we were made for the 50's...

Lemon...she wore lemon...

2011-07-12T19:44:00.002+10:00

Ta daaaa...
One of my favourites but I'd never made my OWN lemon meringue pie before... Behold the Beauty....

...and it was delicious!

A Jazz and Blues festival

2011-06-22T21:05:00.002+10:00

Here is my Jazz experiencing a few blues:) :(

Binalongtime

2011-06-22T20:56:00.003+10:00

I've never been to Binalong before...beautiful view with breakfast... Delish food from Courtney and Jimmy's workplace...'The Cafe' in the bay...

...and amazing scenery along the east coast...

...check out this view Elle!

...clear sky's and sunshine the whole time:)

Queen's Birfdee Hike

2011-06-22T20:41:00.003+10:00

What better way to spend the long weekend holiday then with a hike through Hobarts monumental Mount...Wellington...

Over frosty rocks

Lots of them...

...and to a waterfall...

...for hot chocolates...

...and I did it... a million ks, a million hours...crippled knee...didn't REALLY slow Rob and Hayden down (except when Hayden had to piggy back me over the bog part)...right up until the last 20metres...the car was in sight..and bam... fell over...hmm

Shopping Bonanza

2011-06-22T20:11:00.005+10:00

Top gun sunnies? Extra cash for the vertically challenged...

a great day!

...with Aunty Sandra...Mumsy...

...and lunch!

But Dale wasn't happy until he made the ultimate purchase...yep you guessed it..

...a pokemon game...ok maybe you didn't guess it...no-one could be THAT dawky...could they?

...a visit with Baby Basitan... "Who me?"

Pity he lives in the Geelong area and is therefore obligated to barrack for a dud team...even if he does look super cute in his Jersey!

Thanks for the good times melb, including the temple and the 80 year all time low in temperature! Good to be home, and even better that it was on the last flight before the ash cloud came down!

I've always had impeccable timing.

Saturdee

2011-05-23T20:37:00.002+10:00

Saturday I ran a ysa activity in Hobart... a photo rally...to give you an idea of the quality of the competition...the following did NOT win the best car category...
However this DID win the 'red' category...

May have had something to do with the 'danger...hot' boxers Hayden was sporting:)

It was such a nice day a couple of us headed to Cliffo to visit FIONA!!!!

We went for a MASSIVE long walk into the sunset...

the end.

meh

Massive Mothers Day Weekend!

2011-05-10T20:09:00.005+10:00

Phew!! What a weekend! Started out with a saturday morning car crash...and no i'm not talking about my looks...check this out!! Look closely!

How crazy is that?!! You couldn't do that if you tried!!

Later that morning....

A trip down Thailand memory lane...with a mother's day (for mum)/Birthday (for me) pedicure from Sim1...

SO relaxing....Which I needed before the BIG B EXTRAVAGANZA

Bastian loves opening presents in his Banana outfit!

Check out the cute drinks we had...

...and the BANE of my Friday afternoon...Trying to make perfect cupcakes...

Bastian LOVED the cake...so much so he got his little fist stuck into it before we'd finished singing!

He didn't care about the candle he just wanted to EAT THE CAKE!

Sunday was another big day...yes yes it was mothers day but it was ALSO Baby Flynns blessing day AND Hallie's Baptism day...

What a handsome family!

Easter...

2011-04-28T21:39:00.005+10:00

My dessert..c/o Lipscombe Larder...A Jaffa Cheesecake...actually NOT what I ordered but yummy none the less.. Lizzy enjoying family dinner with us...

Da boyz taking care of each other...(That's Flynns little head under the blanket, and Rohan and Oliver looking on)

Whats Jayme doing?.... meh.

mmmm chocolate...

More?

Collette I have something to show you!!!.... Behold my Manga collection...(Thanks Jayme)

and JUST FOR FIONA...

"It's the 2nd most wonderful time of the year" Tunefully sung by Rohan Wheeler...hmm.

Flynn

2011-04-20T21:06:00.004+10:00

Introducing my newest baby nephew Flynn...

Even if I did have to wait the longest for cuddles (apart from Jess -sucker!) It was worth it! What a cutie! Welcome to the world baby!

Moving

2011-04-11T17:35:00.004+10:00

The end of an Era...

Once upon a time there was a villa, on Madison av...

then some meanie decided to sell it leaving the tenant homeless, luckily just at that moment, a friend of the tenant offered his place closer to town and much cheaper, but it DID mean that the tenant would have to move everything into storage for a while.

She was an amazingly stunningly beautiful, intelligent (and modest) woman, however, she wasn't THAT strong, and needed help from some friends to shift her belongings...

Especially her prized possession .... the PIANO... (Check out how shiney it is, you can see me in the reflection)

Shout out to Steve, Campbell and Nicholas, Robbie, Tristan and Carmen, Owen, David and Jacob...

A job well done...

That's it!

Powerplant!!

2011-04-11T17:26:00.002+10:00

Saturday before last Hayden and I braved the cold Hobart air/misty rain, and headed to the Botanical Gardens for the light show... We had to do a lot of lining up, but not as much as the people who paid for tickets online, their 'collection' line was HUGE whereas we just walked right up to the 'Purchase' line... Suckers! ok granted we had to wait a bit to get in, but still... When we did there were lots of amazing sights and sounds...these were my favourite, spinning wheels of light...

They had trumpets blowing fire in the duck pond, don't know where the ducks were but the fire was cool!

It was an amazing array of different lights that took up about a 1/3 of the garden...took us an hour to walk around, well worth a look!

Except now it's finished...hmm

pAcKaGe!

2011-03-30T17:55:00.005+11:00

I got a parcel today! Guess what it was... Did you guess??

My aMaZiNg survival kit ... with... Handy Hygiene pack...

Rope and glow stick light...

First aid kit...

cards and ponchos and knife and stuff...

..and gloves...

Some food...

...and the heavy bit...

Water and tent etc.

So i'm ready to flee...

Its actually got two of all that stuff, pretty cool!

I'm gonna put some more food in... I don't think I could survive without chocolate!

Check out the website

Will-I-Am

2011-03-30T17:53:00.003+11:00

Yesterday I had a visit at the Oatlands Bakery with my good friend Mel and her new baby Will...

It was hard to get a good shot cause he was too busy checking everything out! He's so adorable and loves to smile!!

Fiona's 25th!!!!

2011-03-29T19:53:00.003+11:00

Fiona turned 25 on Sunday, so on her birthday eve a few of us got together to celebrate...there was present opening... Pina Colada drinking... (Minus the rum mum...calm down!)

..dropping Fraz off at the bus stop so he could go to HIS party for the night... (We had to drop him off a tad early for the bus, hence the sad destitute look)

...There were sheep...

...and a bike ride...

...involving the toughest bikey gang to hit cliffton..EVER!

...concerts on the mandolin...

...and a beautiful, scrumptious dinner by candlelight (Because of earth hour, not cause it was romantic or anything)

Happy Birthday Fiona!!! Looking forward to your puurrrrfect body after using my AMAZING present! ;)

Fashion Parade

2011-03-22T22:35:00.003+11:00

Just like Jess
Here are MY new dresses from shabby apple
Unfortunately, unlike Jess, I don't have photobooth on my computer, nor do I have a good camera, so these photos are a bit dodgey, but you get the idea...

yes it sais snapstrip on my pics, I had to download some free photobooth like program so I could get some pics with my laptop:)
Also that's my after work hair, like? haha

Post Fluro BBQ

2011-03-22T22:29:00.002+11:00

Friday night we had an amazing fluro YSA dance, a few of us stayed up to enjoy the launny sunshine on sat...we chilled at the gorge for a BBQ and then headed to seaport for some gelato...here's cob trying to eat a steak with a spoon... ...and Elly having the time of her life...

...well Jade and Milla were having fun!

Dave also trying to manage his MASSIVE steak with a spoon...

...and Danny's amazing shorts!

Birthday Boy!

2011-03-20T21:01:00.004+11:00

So Thursday Hayden had a Birthday! He thought he was just going out for Indian with the Rattray Family, but turns out that a few surprise guests were there as well!
We invaded Aaj India in Charles st... I was impressed with our sharing of the different curries...Here's my partitioned plate with all my favs! ok ok so back to the bday boy... here are the guests...(Nice eating shot Rach!)

...and the man himself, with his lovely flowers from Bobby!

...all the guests, with all their hats...

We headed back to the Rattrays for cake...and WOW what a cake it was!

SEVEN chocolate ripple rolls, built up in to this spectacle!

Happy Birthday Hayden...Hope you enjoyed it!

Tap Tap Tappety

2011-03-20T20:56:00.003+11:00

So I started Tap lessons last week...these are my tap shoes...$30 second hand...Bargain! Fiona is my tap buddy, and our first lesson was tough! I mean we're not unco... but everyone else is pretty good... we have to go early next week for some extra beginners tuition! It's pretty amazing!

Bruny Island

2011-03-20T20:13:00.006+11:00

Last weekend was a LONG weekend! It was also probably the best weather I've seen in Hobart town all summer! SO me and a few YSA hit up Bruny Island for the day on Monday...Cob took us in his car, with these amazing hats!

Excitedness on the ferry!

The southern tip of Bruny...

So the boys did the typical boy thing, and jumped the fence to explore for like A MILLION HOURS...so Fiona and I entertained ourselves with the lighthouse...

...and a few other random arty shots...

It was spectacular scenery!

...We enjoyed lunch at the pub...

...and met a spikey friend on the road!

Then we headed round to adventure bay, it's SO pretty!...We did a spot of fishing/sun baking off the jetty!

The boyz in their element!

Yep there were definitely fish down there! But something else as well!

The UGLIEST thing EVER~!...looked like the spider of the sea!

Dave let me have a turn of his rod...

I thought I caught something....But I got it snagged...ooops! (Dave doesn't look too impressed about trying to unsnag it!)

The boys took the squid home and cooked up a feast!

Twas a great day!

Flolivers Fun...

2011-03-08T19:33:00.004+11:00

Seeing as Simone is like a BILLION months behind on her blog posts, thought I better give you a sneak peak of Oliver's bday party before she brings out the late edition in June or something.

There was bouncing...

...and excited present opening...

Yay little fluff ball things from club penguin...what are they called? hufflepuffs or something I dunno. ...Wrestling...

...and a club penguin cake! We got to light the candles twice cause Jonty couldn't hold out till the end of the song before he blew them all out on Oli...oops.

...and a nurf gun show down...

It's always fun hanging out with all the kidlets...Beautiful Emily...

Crazy Jayme...

...and waking up to discoveries of new worlds in super mario brothers three...

...Happy Birthday Oliver!

Hemp Happiness

2011-03-07T17:48:00.003+11:00

A few weeks ago Hayden and I went to play with the YSA and Hayden decided to don his Mustard / Stripy Hemp shirt for the occasion. Luke and Dave were quite impressed and even tried it on for size.

Long story short these two arrived at institute on Thursday night, proudly wearing their versions of the Hayden trend.

"Nice shirts" I say, "Thanks, we wore them just for you" was the reply.

Jacob sais " I like the pockets"... I laugh.

I tell ya there seems to be more hemp going around tassie ysa fellas then a hippy demonstration at parliament house.

All things girly...

2011-02-28T17:29:00.002+11:00

I'm with Camilla, i'm a buyer, not a maker...see these cute earrings... Care of Aimee and Greentree...Best bit is I won them at Beks Kitchen Pantry Party... Another example of my buying not making - I purchased a 72 hour kit... Who does that? It's prolly gotta rank up there with all time laziness, but I figure, If I don't have the time...and I DO have the money, then better the easy option! So my camo survival kit should be arriving soon!

I have come to realise that it is quite difficult to be sporty spice and posh spice all at the same time, sure all girls need balance, but how the heck to you keep pristine hair at the gym? How do you maintain long well kept nails and play basketball? I was so proud of my nails after four months with no sport, however, it's time to get back into it TONIGHT infact, so it's bye bye to these babies!

I quite like the sound of my nails clicking on the keyboard, almost soothing enough to quit teaching and become a secretary or something.

hmm

p.s Mum I Love you and I KNOW you are reading this right now so I think because I NEVER get to see you and live SO far away that you should COMMENT on MY blog everyonce in a while...just cause I don't have a grandkid to bribe you with doesn't mean I should be disadvantaged in the blog comment race!! end.

Happy Birfdee Sim1

2011-02-24T17:04:00.003+11:00

and wasn't she having a good time!!.... Sorry Sim Like Nan like Grandson? .... and i'm on a roll with the eating pics!

Dig in!

The clapping!

Check out this cool dude!

Too cool for school!!

Regatta day weekend...

2011-02-17T20:41:00.003+11:00

Wind in the willows starring NICHOLAS as Ratty... Performed for 30min at the wooden boat festival, a shorter version of the one they did in the gardens but still heaps of fun! Regatta day night...with a navy display...

Rescue the man

the helicopter and the ship...

Dump the man back in the water...

Keeping warm...

Ness and Luke...

and...BABY YOU'RE A FIREWORK!!.........

They went for ages and were brilliant! I love fireworks!

Beautiful flowers from my Valentine:)

end.

Chess anyone?

2011-02-17T20:38:00.001+11:00

Man V Wild

2011-02-07T11:53:00.003+11:00

Last night the YSA were chillin with the Parsons, trying to help Dave come up with cool games for the Stake sport night on Friday night... The boys got to be Guinea Pigs as he tested out different ideas...here's why it was the BOYS that got to be guinea pigs...
We decided this one may be slightly inappropriate...although it looked like ALOT of fun!...It's called the human centipede...

The more the merrier! you have to try and support each other and race along the ground!

Here is my second Man V Wild tale... Today I arose early on a mission to clean the house and do the gardens...I decided to start the day by mowing the lawns before breakfast...

I had noticed previously a metal rod thingy hanging off the back of the mower...but didn't pay much attention...

I was pushing the mower and it started making a noise like it had a stick stuck in it or something...

yeah...I ignored it...

Next thing I know the rod flung out the back of the mower and smashed into my foot!

Needless to say IT REALLY HURT!

I hopped around the garden for a bit, sat down, breathed deeply etc. thought, well I need to get this lawn mowed before the rain comes so I better suck it up... As I walked towards the mower I felt blood pooling in my croc...yeah NOT good!

I started cleaning the croc but took a pic of it for you...

ew!.... and here is the mowers weapon of choice...

Pretty lucky that it hit my shoe, and not anywhere else!

I don't think my rudimentary bandaid effort is cutting it...ah well.... I would have taken a pic of the two holes in the side of my foot but I was feeling faint and needed to get it covered up quickly!

...and yes I did finish the lawns before the rain came!

Visit to Great Grand Nan in Jan

2011-02-07T11:46:00.002+11:00

Jess came down for a spontaneous visit... so we went and saw Nan...She kept calling Sebastian an adorable little girl (she got he was a boy last time). She really enjoyed interacting with the baby!

ROAD TRIP!!!!

2011-01-29T15:42:00.012+11:00

Once upon a time we had a hair brained idea to squeeze four adults and a baby into the jazz for a nine day trip along the great ocean road into Adelaide. Despite the critics and taunts of 'as if you'll fit' ...we pushed past the opposition and made the trek...this is our story... It began with the boring trip over seas on the spirit...well someone had to get the jazz to melbourne eh!

the most exciting part....yep at 1pm we passed the other ship!

Finally in Melbourne it was time to pack the car...Morning 30th December:

We drove out of Geelong and through Torquay heading towards the coast...

After coasting the coast for a time, Mothers hankering for Raspberries kicked in and we headed inland for lunch...Not far from Gentle Annies berry farm, is ...um..well a different Raspberry farm..and that's the one we went to...

The baby LOVED the Raspberries! Whilst inland we explored the Otoway ranges...Mother and I did the tree top walk (A bit like Tahoon) They also do flying foxes through the trees (a bit like Hollybank) but we stuck with the walk...

After spending the night in Peterborough we headed back towards the apostles for a Helicoptor ride

Friday 31st Dec:

It was extremely hot (38deg.) and very windy, perfect conditions for my first heli ride... it was beautiful but scary at times as the chopper ducked and swayed in the wind. Felt like you were sitting on a pocket of air that could give way at any second!

We found Gibson's beach and headed down the Gibson steps to get there...

It was SO hot that when we finally got to the apostles it was a quick duck out of the a/coned car...run to the look out...take a happy snap, and get BACK to the a/c car...didn't really want to spend time enjoying the view...even though it was spectacular...

Loch ard Gorge was next, apparently a couple of very lucky sailors washed up in here and were the only survivors from their ship...of course back then the stair case wasn't inserted for tourism purposes so we are still puzzled as to how they got themselves out of the gorge!

That night we spent in a hostel in port campbell...it also happened to be New Years eve...needless to say we didn't get much sleep!

New years day, Saturday 1st January: 1st stop...London Bridge...

I should of put up more photo's but really couldn't be bothered...We were lucky that a cold change came through on New year's day and we were able to enjoy the trip from Port Campbell to Mt Gambier a lot more...Many people do the great ocean road and stop at port campbell, but we found the coast line just beyond VERY picturesque, the bay of islands was amazing!

It was a fair drive to Mt Gambier, and we didn't know what to expect but it is WELL worth a visit with heaps of cool stuff to look at, we only got to view a couple of things but they were great! This blue lake was amazing!

..and this sink hole was beautiful!

Sunday 2nd January: On our way to Miningie...we spotted mums FAVOURITE THING! She'd being going on and on about cray fish and lobster, so we found a giant one!

On the way to Miningie we went through the Coorong, this is where the Murray meets the sea, it is a beautiful national park...to be honest we weren't expecting to see much on our way to Miningie but were pleasantly surprised at the beauty of the Coorong... an impromtu safari began with some wild Emu on a great lake of salt!

We also saw millions of pelicans and pink salt lakes!

Monday 3rd Jan: We headed into Adelaide through a plague of locust...we collected our first road kill...

...and enjoyed the city and Glenelg with some Copenhagen icecream!

Tuesday 4th Jan: We left Adelaide and expored the hills on the way out. A stop at Hahndorf being a must!....

We saw Bro & Sis Lee (formerly pres. lee) and Bro and Sis Challis (formerly pres. challis) What are the odds! They had also been enjoying a trip around SA.

We went to Melba's chocolate factory, which I found a bit lame...just saying...

But even lamer was the GIANT rocking horse jess made us drive 5 billion hours to see...

Sebastian got to see a llama though, so it was probably worth it. (although I think this is actually an alpaca) hmm

We stopped at a road side apple shed, (don't see many of them in tassie) and grabbed some delicious juice!

and spent the night in Pinaroo, in the WORST accomodation ever, this photo doesn't do it justice, i'm talking cobwebs, dust, cracks, smell, mould...

Wednesday Jan 5th: Wanna know what I did on my birthday? Drove through 3 different states that's what!

...had a swim at swan hill

Took a picture of a GIANT fig tree (yes the biggest fig in the southern hemisphere, planted by Burke and Wills, right out the front of our motel!)

...and attended the most AMAZING sound and light show, along with a million mosquitoes, a crazy tour guide, some jolly music, and a possum.

Thursday 6th Jan: Another one to add to the list of GIANT things...here's a Cod...

....this is the jazz in NSW...we did cross the boarder on my birthday but didn't take a pic then.

We spent some time in Bendigo...Which I didn't like...but here is a statue of THE Sydney Myer, The man who is responsible for having the most confusing place named after him in Melbourne...the Sydney Myer music bowl, and YES every year when carols is on I say "Mum how come it's the SYDNEY Myer music bowl (thinking of the place and the company) and it's in MELBOURNE?" and every year comes mum's reply "Collette Sydney Myer was a person and it's named after him." blah blah blah

We made a commitment to go the whole road trip without eating fast food which we did!... and to celebrate our near successful completion we went out and got a family dinner box from maccas!

Friday 7th Jan: Jessica woke up with a severe case of whinginitchyican'thandlebitesedness...so Kyle and Jess left us in Ballarat that day, so mother and I went and explored Sovereign Hill for ourselves... Here is the Gold fields medical room, according to the guide, this guy had one year of training and this entitled him to be the GP, the surgeon, the vet and the dentist, needless to say Hayden liked this idea very much, although I wouldn't be happy to go to him! Note the saw...just saying!

Mother decided to try her luck at discovering her fortune...

We saw some redcoats march into town...

...and spent some time doing proper handwriting!

My page includes many ink splodges...

but hey! at least I finished!....

The lady gave us BOTH an A+ what's with that? Clearly mine is better! and here we see the problem with a rating scale... just saying!

So we did it! 9 days together without killing each other! $200 petrol in the jazz...that's it!

I'd just like to plug Tassie, cause pretty much there was nothing apart from the extremely blue and pink lakes, that we saw that you couldn't see down here. Our east coast is just as beautiful... just saying! But it was a good experience and good to see some different stuff!

p.s if anyone actually read all that GREAT effort! A+ for you too!

Update...

2011-01-27T16:27:00.003+11:00

FYI we went on an AMAZING road trip (Jess, Kyle, Sebastian, Mother and I)...We all squeezed into the jazz and took off for 9 days along the great ocean road, limestone coast into Adelaide! When I have a million hours to upoload the trillion photos and explain them all I will blog about it....but in the interum...
HAYDEN CAME HOME!! ...and we just got back from Melb for Alex's wedding...i'm pretty sure Hayden won't want to see another plane for a while! But whilst we were there we managed to go to the Australian open..
It's been on my to do list for a while...and it was the perfect opportunity to go! We watched a men's quarter final between Djokovic? (Spelling) and some Berdych guy...Tommy? haha...anyway..
Here is what we saw...

We were nearly at the back of the stadium but still could see EVERYTHING!

Then when everyone left and the doubles game started we decided to live it up a bit and move down to the corporate seats...

Although it was fun and a good game! I don't know if i'd go again...It was just sureal sitting at a sporting event in silence! You couldn't really get into it! But it was a good experience, and I can now cross it off my to do list! woo! - I'll look forward to watching matches at home where I can scream at the telly!

p.s simone...note the teeth!!

Lavender Farm

2010-12-27T20:39:00.003+11:00

...you know what I decided...I don't actually like lavender!

Boxing day bash...

2010-12-27T20:26:00.002+11:00

Does anyone actually know what boxing day is for? well in our family it's for Sarra's Birthday! the big 10!

See the amazing fruit layout on the cake?...yeah I did that!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARRA!!!

Christmas day...2010

2010-12-27T19:52:00.004+11:00

In preparation for our upcoming 'GREATEST ROADTRIP ON EARTH' we roadtripped to Christmas from Bridport to Westbury...(I would just like to mention how white my teeth are in this photo sim1!) just chillin...

the younglings...

the staple Christmas table shots... (sorry everyone but HEY at least you ALL look bad!)

...presenting the Jonsta...on his bike... walk it up the ramp...

...and ride it down the other side...

Jess' fav. present...

...and a happy snap to top it off...

lots of food, gift giving and family...good times!

Butter wouldn't melt...

2010-12-27T19:19:00.003+11:00

Naw...Look what I woke up to the other day... Someone trying to nick my drinkbottle!

Who me?

best day of my life...

2010-12-14T22:09:00.003+11:00

See this!...this is a WOOOHOOO moment... this is me driving on the NEW road between the Big round about and Brighton! Yes folks no more 5 hour treks around the transport hub!! i'm telling you, this may not be exciting for you...but this was seriously the best moment of my life!
2nd best moment...being served by a pirate the other night when Ess and I went out for Calzone...check it out!

end.

Look Mum i'm a ROCKSTAR!

2010-12-06T22:04:00.003+11:00

So on the weekend I discovered i'm actually a brilliant drummer!

Ladies and Gentlemen introducing...52-pick up...staring...C. Fabulous (That's my glam rock alias) on the drums!

Check it out mum! The song goes for like a billion minutes so I just pasted together the best bits...aka me.

Don't laugh at my serious concentration face, or the fact that every drum roll cracks me up,

I'm pretty sure a talent scout is going to be on the phone any minute, i'll probably be whisked away to a life of fame and fortune with my Hot as, Swahili speaking, Glam Rock BF - Mikey Silvers.

Rock on.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-03T13:26:00.002+11:00

On Wednedsay the 1st of December...I couldn't find my normal Chrissy CD...So decided to listen to the 8hour epic that is Handels Messiah, it didn't even take me the first 5 tracks to get this baby up!

I love Christmas!

Temper Trap

2010-12-03T10:20:00.003+11:00

I love a good Whinge so here's one for you! Note the happy anticipation...

Note Fiona and her new Boyfriend!

A close up... (He was part of the support act, Metronomy)

They played for ages... then we waited....and waited...and waited...

50min later....

...a 20 min instrumental...

...and here he is...the lead singer of Temper Trap....

They were great! Their music was amazing! Pity we missed alot of it trying to deal with the two sleezy drunk guys!

These guys were off the show!...Totally off their face, after trying to push past us, me saying ease off there's no where to go, and them producing a barrage of swear words including along the way "lighten up we're just trying to have some fun"

We tried to ignore them and watch the band... The issue was we were three rows from the front, and squished in really tight...even if we wanted to let them through we couldn't there was nowhere for us to go...we were packed in tight!

They decided that we were just being difficult so the solution in their minds was to sleeze all over us until we moved...

So with no sight of security, beer splattered clothes... and no choice, we spent two of my fav songs trying to get out of the crowd....

I did ring the casino, they did apologise and tried to explain why they no longer post security across the front of the stage,

Whatever.

Ysa Trip!

2010-11-20T22:55:00.005+11:00

Travel Besties... Roomie!...

The group...

...AND SEEING BASTIAN!!!!....

..oh and Jess...

...Shopping and Chadstone...This is Fiona and I with our Bored faces on (Waiting for Jess to stop shopping in some bogan shop)

...so whilst waiting it was photoshoot time...

Bastian didn't want to play...

no smiles...so it was time to mock the sad look...

Hahahaha

He's just SO squidgy and cute!!

Of course there's ALWAYS time for a Krusty Kreme on the way home:)

Happy Holiday Hayden!

2010-11-20T22:48:00.003+11:00

Okay so it's not really ALL a Holiday...but mostly... 1 month 29 days to go!

Fantastic Friday

2010-11-20T22:05:00.002+11:00

Old news...but anyho... a few weeks ago I hurt my knee... so I had to have an x-ray and an ultra sound..hmm that's another story...but anyway I was in town Friday arvo early because of my Radiology appointments... it was a nice day so Campbell and I decided to hit the driving range...

See my pro glove...

...so out of 75 balls...i'd say 10 of mine made it over the fence....to at least the 150 mark... the rest were better used for decorating...

Next up we gathered the troups for some classic sling shot wars...

...and cartwheels...

...and Fantastic Fiona made us boost! What a talent!

mmm yummo! Passion Mango my fav!

Random Picture, but traveling back from Alex's engagement party and Camilla and I thought this was pretty funny...

end.

Cob Dip

2010-11-03T21:04:00.002+11:00

Just like the little red hen, if you want anything done whilst living by yourself you've got to do it "All by yourself!"...My fav thing to do atm is find new recipes and try them out...so tonight... Some onion and bacon

Spinach

Other stuff...to make the dip

One Cob loaf (Which they only make on Saturdays in Brighton if you were wondering! Don't go asking for Cob's during the week!...So here's one from Woollies!)

Few min. in the oven to crisp it up...

In goes the dip...and...

Voila! Deliciousness!

mmm it was so good! Only problem is I can't be like the little red hen and eat it ALL by myself...i'll end up fat and depressed...so into the fridge it goes...anyone want any?

The Elle Scare take 2!

2010-10-22T15:08:00.002+11:00

So apparently these are your two most feared things Elle?

That's my mums dog pepper...fear no. 2 and yes thats a spider around her neck...fear no. 1...BOO!

Check this out... I have an inspection next week so thought I'd better tidy the garden up a bit...you know the annual mow...the weed pull etc. I was concentrating very hard on pulling that green weed, bottom right of shot, looked up and RIGHT infront of my face was that MASSIVE spider!...Needless to say I exclaimed "AAAGH....and i'm done!" and that weed never got pulled!

I should actually be nicer to Elle, I may need to get some bag flood advice off her, I was walking through northgate today and I thought to myself "hmm whats that dripping down my leg?...no, haven't wet myself...no, noone is following me with a hose...must be coming from my bag" So I bring my bag around and find that my water bottle lid wasn't on properly and there is water dripping everywhere from my bag, I fix the lid, and with bag still dripping continue on my way to the ice cream shop (yes that's right folks there's a baskin robbins in northgate) and it was like a BILLION degrees...So ANYHO i'm at the ice cream shop and the lady said "Excuse me love, you realise your bags dripping?"...i'm like "Yeah, thanks, it's my water bottle, all fixed now" Awkward smile...then drip drip drip off I go down the escalator with my ice cream.

Did I mention i'm a squillionaire?

2010-10-05T17:53:00.003+11:00

For those of you who have, in the past, doubted my french heritage, and tried to pass it off as 'just a name' ...this ones for you!
Check this out!...ok so it may be a little small to read so i'll paraphrase for you Dear Collette blah blah blah...firstly this is utterly confidential...blah blah blah....pls don't post on your blog...blah blah blah i'm a Barrister ...blah blah to the late Mr David Collette (yep peeps if you missed it there's the connection! Apparenlty I have some link with a random dead guy just cause my first name and his last name are the same! WHO KNEW)...blah blah blah...he was rich blah blah blah...and happened to leave you FIVE MILLION & FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS...

Yep that's right! For all the uneducated..that translates to a cool 8Mil...so yeah...i'm loaded!
It's totally legit! I mean who hasn't heard of Salazar Solicitors/Abogados, they are totally the BIGGEST international firm ever!

So peeps i'm off to email this guy all my bank details...I'll be on some tropical island with my hot as BF sipping Pina Colada's if anyone wants me ...okay okay i'm only joking...i'll be drinking Lemon Squash!

Peace out poorpers!

Let it snow..let it snow..let it snow...

2010-09-29T21:36:00.004+10:00

Sorry to harp on but I LOVE this stuff!! Check it out... It's not even been that cold....but it's snow EVERYWHERE!...

Coming over spring hill...none on the road...means no snow day for me:(

...and yet this is down at kempton near the 'mexican' house on the hwy...yep thats snow in them there hills!

...and at school...(The roof is usually red!)

Lots of snow ball fights!

Yipee!!

Powderfinger!

2010-09-15T15:30:00.002+10:00

My Rock Bestie (Camilla) and I...Waiting for the gig to start, checking out the view from our AMAZING seats;) ...all the people...

...the cool lights...

...Bernard....

...and my pass out...

Was nice knowing you powderfinger! Can't wait for your come back tour!!

Lets go fly a kite...

2010-09-15T14:50:00.006+10:00

A few fav. moments from Melbourne trip 2010...
Mum directing traffic... My seat on the plane...

Simon sitting in Aunty Sandra's seat...

Jonty meeting Baby Bastian...

Oliver meeting baby bastian...(Check out his face in this one!)

HELP!!

Sleeping with Jonty...

The pancake parlour with the funny mirrors...

Family Dinner...

with MASSIVE meals...

Dike Van Dyke and Julie Andrews...

Tash Baines...aka...Mary Poppins!

Did I mention Sleeping with Jonty?

The football...(This was before it started...it was a LAME game)

...so the best bits were ... Simone's reaction to seeing the MCG for the FIRST time! ... And Catching up with...

CAMILLA!!

There were heaps of other favourite bits...but I didn't take photos! One in particular was spending the WHOLE week at the temple, with familiar faces, and family file:)

Angus and Julia

2010-09-15T14:38:00.004+10:00

And i'm not talking beef or a Fuglsang...i'm talking Julia... ...and Angus...

...and Julia...

...and Angus and Julia Stone....

The besties...

The girls...

On one of the rare opportunities we had to hang with Bek in the last month! CONGRATS! btw:)

Really stoked they played my fav. song 'wasted' !

52 Pick-up

2010-08-23T13:31:00.003+10:00

Boredom + A Brilliant Idea + A Band Manager = 52 Pick up
Here we are rehearsing...This was previous to our first big gig...the Hobart Stake Music Festival!Fiona Cluff = Keys
Campbell King = Guitar
Jacob Zeisel= Guitar
Ness Watson = Vocals
Dave Bender = Percussion
Camilla Mitchell = Back up Vocals/Percussion
Chris Mahina = Bass
Asher ReAd= DrumsWe are 52 pick-up! Thanks for the pics Elle...And the Rockin' times...Including the amazing car park!

"Oi...there's a speed limit in 'ere!"

Snow Plough Tracks...

2010-08-17T11:04:00.002+10:00

Late last night... ...and this morning!

Magical Snow!! But not enough to shut the school:( It looked so magnificent!

Happy Birthday Nan

2010-08-09T15:10:00.003+10:00

97 today!

On my usual Sunday visit Yesterday I took her some flowers, but she was sleeping, so I dozed in the chair beside her bed. Lucky I didn't wake her because I may have passed on this cold that seems to have hit me from no-where!

When I was little i'd go and stay with Nan ALL the time, i'd sleep in the same bed as her cause her house was big and scary, she used to make funny noises with her mouth when she slept, she was doing that yesterday and it made me smile. She has no idea who I am, and probably wouldn't even notice if I never came to visit, but hopefully soon she'll be able to appreciate that she wasn't a 'mother forgotten' and left alone in the nursing home. It's a really intense place to be sometimes! It smells funny and old people make crazy noises when they are distressed! Nan is still very independant the only thing missing is her memory, and her sight and hearing aren't the best.

Things I remember about nan:

She was an amazing cook- Brandy Snaps, Four layered chocolate birthday cakes, peanut biscuits.

She loved a cup of tea (and still does)

Eating porridge and listening to abc news on the wireless

The smell of her art shed, where she created amazing water colours and bark pictures

Going for bike rides where she refused to let go of the seat and made me stop at EVERY drive way incase a car was coming.

Walking up to the cake shop or the newsagent

Her long nails which she always made sure were clean

Trying to teach me how to make a pav. or how to peel carrots properly etc.

Her beautiful garden, and picking raspberries off the bush that ran up her driveway.

The way she'd fuss over Jessica (Careful you'll break her little arms)

I only wish i'd listened more and learnt some of her skills before she forgot them.

I love my nan.

The wonders of make-up...

2010-07-04T15:05:00.002+10:00

Okay...so it's been a while...I guess not much as being going on...so nothing really to report...Just kidding...nah but seriously...never find the time to blog atm... So I headed north this weekend and a few of the YSA had a get together on Saturday...we decided...(after much deliberation in hj's) to head to the bouncy pillow at Grinderwald...it's SO much fun! Danny, Sam, Hayden and I had a great time bouncing around all the little kids!...Anyho...we decided to play the 'crack the egg' game...a trampoline favourite...Danny was brave and went first....I was next...I curled my self up into a ball...on my back....they bounced....I flipped over backward...kneeing myself in the face in the process...it REALLY hurt....
Check out the shiner.... would have been HEAPS cooler had I been in a punch up or something....but no...this was self inflicted...pretty funny...and a little embarrasing...so time to try and cover it up for church...

...not to bad...but general FAIL...as I still had to explain a million times..."What happened to your eye?"

Tasmanian Lolly

2010-07-04T15:04:00.001+10:00

Yes..it's a two headed snake!

Pancakes...

2010-07-04T15:01:00.002+10:00

Fiona and I headed out for late night pancakes...somewhere in Melbs...with an amazing train...yum...not a good post for fast sunday,
end.

Heaven on earth...

2010-06-12T20:14:00.003+10:00

At the place I love...With the people I love...

My Newest Nephew

2010-05-20T17:03:00.002+10:00

Naw!! His very first pouting photo! Wait till I get there and we can have one together Baby Bastian!

oooh he's GORGEOUS!

Mother's Day

2010-05-20T17:01:00.001+10:00

I don't actually have any pics from mothers day...except for this one...a fitting tribute I feel!... Happy Mother's day Mumsy!

Wii Dance!

2010-05-20T16:57:00.002+10:00

Okay...really blurry photos from the iphone..but his game is amazing! It's called wii Dance and all participants follow the dancer on the screen to do some sweet as moves... If everyone was doing it right, then everyone should be doing the same action...at the same time...

Clearly we're not very good!

I think this was a spice girls song?

Thanks Rattrays! We love wii dance!

Awesome AGFEST...

2010-05-20T16:38:00.004+10:00

AGFEST...place of wonder and amazement...first essential stop! Free straw hats at mitsubishi...and what a bonus...Nick Diagan and Andrew Hart are signing them... YES! Next stop...find the BIG tractors...and take pics!

I love how you find stuff at AGFEST that you would NEVER find (or want to find) anywhere else...take these jackets for example...

I wasn't keen for a hawker pic...neither was he after I said "say...Hawks Suck" instead of 'cheese'...look at his face...clearly he's not impressed!

The best moment of my life....I got to meet Keiran Perkins! What are the odds! We were just at the coles picnic grounds for cheap egg and bacon rolls...who knew we'd meet a superstar!

Jack and Taylor made me feel REALLY old when neither of them knew who he was....but Jack was happy to grab an autograph and free milk regardless...

Sarra tagged along for the day...and ended up scoring the most free stuff (just cause she's a cute blonde kid!) Take this picasso cow for example....so cool!

Hmm waiting around outside the craft sheds....

The best hat stall in the world!...

...and yes....Dave actually purchased the one with the tail!

Final must do...well if you've got kids to entertain...check out the wildlife...

Just don't touch them!

The MASSIVE apple..

2010-05-20T16:36:00.002+10:00

From the local Veggie shed...it's called an 'eve' apple...That's all I could eat of it! It was HUGE!

Once upon a time...

2010-05-12T20:34:00.004+10:00

Once upon a time...around 3 weeks ago...a young HOT single beautiful stunning girl travelled to Melbourne to visit her fat pregnant sister... When she arrived she did lots of cool things like visit her amazingly talented, cool, can make cous cous salad and carrot and leek soup, Aunty Sandra...

She also got to spend time with her awesome cousin and family...

She enjoyed having photo shoots with her pregnant sister, where she was obviously cracking REALLY funny jokes that resulted in many double chin pictures...

The sun was shining and the birds were singing...

This sweet young talented girl also got to attend the temple with her sister...which was, of course, amazing...

Unfortunately the pregnant younger sister was too lazy to blog about their amazing experiences together and so held her beautiful older sister at gun point until she did it...which is why this story is well past it's time...

Luckily all is not lost, and now FACEBOOK HATER mumsy...and the blog stalking community can rest easy knowing that this story will live on forever in blog world.

The End.

(Can you get the NAPLAN marking onto that one ma?)

p.s

I NEARLY DIED TODAY! well not really but my villa nearly burnt down...I arrived home to find my place full of smoke and my microwave running...heating up nothing...by itself...it had obviously been going for AGES because the door had melted with the heat! ...How it wasn't a light i DONT know....anyway I unplugged it from the wall JUST in the nick of time...and have sent it in for inspection...THANKS LG for nearly ruining my life! It just turned itself on! it must have been going for hours! What if that had happened at night time!!! DODGEY!!

The real End.

WTBD 2010

2010-04-28T21:07:00.005+10:00

Easter Wednesday 2010...I arrived home VERY LATE from an intense UYC carnival dance to find some mystery guests...

Yep....the BASHFORDS!!!

This is an exact replica of the picture taken just before they abandoned us way back in 2008

...Anyho...back to that late night...I also arrived home to this...

A COMPLETELY glad wrapped house!!

It's taken me SO long to post about this because I ONLY just finished unwrapping...they wrapped EVERYTHING!...I took photos of the growing glad wrap pile as I gradually unwrapped stuff I needed to use...Observe...

...and finally...

So, not one to be wasteful, I decided to make use of my new glad wrap ball...

Here are some ideas...

A handy foot stool...

A lighting feature...

Your regular cushion...

A bean bag for teddy...

The BIGGEST stable table in the world...

A pillow...

My new friend the Glad Wrap ball (or Gladdy as it's affectionately known) is still residing on my kitchen bench...until I find a NEW and exciting use for it...

Any suggestions?

P.S Everything in my pantry and Drawers is STILL wrapped...So Gladdy can continue to grow into a mega gladwrap ball!!

Can I get some C...Y....U?

2010-04-13T17:22:00.004+10:00

rrrrrr ....REWIND!!
So I can finally post about this stuff cause it's not a secret anymore...infact it's all over:(....The last few months have been FULL on UYC....flat out...here is our tower... Lots of eating take-away....

Painting...

Eating AND painting....

Creating White Stone Bracelets...

Spending HEAPS of time with the YSA...we got pretty tight, it's almost weird not spending 24/7 with them...but space is always good:)

The youth were amazing... i'll nick some pics of facebook and fill you in on my side of the story when I get a chance....especially for those of you that are missing all the action on FB atm!

Eating Spot...

2010-04-13T17:18:00.002+10:00

Naw even though it was WAY full on I miss my little buddy Jonty!... I don't have a high chair so for our first dinner we sat on the floor together....then Every Meal time after that i'd say, "you ready for some food Jonsta?" and he'd go plonk himself in the 'eating spot' on the floor...SO CUTE....he didn't run off or play games or anything, just sat their feeding his face! What an angel!

Had to get a picture of our 'eating spot':)

Easter Bunny Arrives

2010-04-04T22:06:00.002+10:00

Look what the Easter bunny bought JONTY!!....Don't worry he didn't make it through the WHOLE thing:)

(And Yes Simone he got chocolate ALL over his churchies....whoops!)

Camping with Triffitts

2010-04-04T21:46:00.004+10:00

Camping time! 7am...Good Friday morning...after three days of school camp I was PUMPED! 5hour road trip to....Southport!...hmm What to do?....
Hallie= Climb Trees...
Behold the tree...

Could you see her? here she is....

Yep she's WAY high up!

...the concerned mother...

Jonty LOVED camping...playing in tents...

Running around outside....

Giving his Favouritist Aunty strange looks...

That's better...

Hanging out in cool camp chairs....

it was EXTREMELY cold...WHY would you go to southport?!!

Oliver: "Hmm I love my fizz!!"

Singing for their supper...

At southport beach...

What bogans!

On the way back to camp we saw an interesting Street sign... I wonder if Simone will be brave enough to blog about it!!

It was pretty much FREEZING the whole time...so I was REALLY looking forward to our 'hot springs' experience at hastings...I had been before...and liked it...but this time it was BARELY luke warm....and we spent longer under the hot shower trying to warm back up then in the 'hot spring'...wouldn't recommend it that's for sure!

Saturday arvo I bought Jonty back with me for a weekend of baby sitting...

He is currently sleeping:) We've had HEAPS of fun!!

New Beginning...

2010-03-24T21:55:00.002+11:00

These are my amazing young women (except Kelcey who couldn't make it) and my fellow leaders at our New Beginnings night last night! Don't think i've ever blogged about the Glenorchy ward Young Women....but they are FABULOUS...and it is an honour to serve them!