Our trip to America!

Despite the crazy lead up to leaving for America and the fact that we only booked our tickets 4 days before flying out, we managed to have a wonderful trip. I don't have a Christmas post because Christmas is a blur of booking hotels, cars and very little sleep! We left Sydney on Dec. 28th which was Bailey's birthday. He was pretty happy that he would get to celebrate his birthday twice as we would have Dec 28th again once we arrived in America.
 We flew into Los Angeles and planned to spend a few days there before driving accross to Las Vegas for Andrew's work part of the trip. We went to check out Hollywood on the first day and then went shopping and bowling on day 2.

It was interesting trying to fit 6 bags, a pair of skis and carry on luggage in the van with 6 people!

On the third day we went to Disneyland. I can't believe it has taken us about 10 trips to America to finally make it to Disneyland. Unfortunately it was so super busy because it was holiday time around the world, so the lines were super long, but we still managed to have fun!!

Bailey with a 'goofy' expression!

 Mitchell at Space Mountain



The Castle after dark



The Christmas tree lights at Disneyland



Christmas Day

I know this is very outdated, but I have wanted to share pictures of our Christmas morning. It was so fun to see the boys reaction to Sydney and it makes me smile evey time I look at these pictures. We had a great day and the boys were thrilled!

Amelia & Jared's wedding

Amelia (The eldest grandchild on the Wilson side of the family) was married yesterday, 14th Feb in the Melbourne, Australia temple. It was lovely and she looked beautiful.
We went to a lovely reception afterwards which was in a park on the Yarra River. Each couple were given a picnic blanket (made by Jenni) and their own packed picnic lunch. It was a really sweet and novel idea. We wish Jared & Amelia a very happy life together!

Nothing like a wedding to bring back that loving feeling!!

Lachlan & Bailey with the realisation that they will have to sit through many more of these with so many grandkids older than them!

Catch up

1. Jordan turned 16. Thanks to all of you for cards/gifts. He had a nice day. Tara, Greg, Emma, Josh and Maya came over for lunch and then he had a celebration with the youth after the Bishop's Youth Discussion that night. Jordan also went for his learner's permit which he passed and is now driving me around...on actual roads! I am counting down the days until he can drive places without me. I just hope he is as excited to drive his brothers around as I am for him to.

2. We have just finished 2 weeks of school holidays. We had a house full of friends and various rooms not intended for sleeping in, became sleep areas. Bailey and Isabelle opted for the 'cubby house with playstation access' bedroom. They were quite irritated if anyone disturbed them.

Mitchell spent as much time as he could riding trail bikes with his friend Ryan.

Joshua, was at the river with friends for a lot of the time, hence no picture.

Jordan, Emma and Eloise (cousins) hung out in the hot tub (a little embarrassed when I brought the camera out).

I enjoyed my birthday with family and the boys promised to be nice to each other for the whole day! Best birthday gift ever.

Andrew was away for part of the holidays in Queensland and then in Singapore. Since arriving back he has had business visitors from Canada, so he has been pretty busy. After a week of spending late nights in the city, he invited Brad, his guest to come and stay with us. We hosted an office BBQ in his honour last Sunday night and then Brad stayed with us until Thursday morning. Tara and Greg and Greg's parent's visiting from the US are coming to stay with us this coming Sunday for 3 nights.

Never an empty house!

Our other news is that we finally sold our house in Emu Plains. We put it to auction and after the brilliant work of a smooth talking auctioneer, we came away with nearly the price we had wanted. Very lucky to get what we did though considering the economy at the moment. There is no cooling off period for an auction so we can look forward to settlement on 24th Nov without the fear of it falling through again. I'm so glad that is over. Now we can furnish our new house and start on the gardens.

On the weight loss front.. I have lost 3kg or about 7lbs. since my last blog. Still a few to go, but I have been running and walking more, eating less. Nothing like Summer approaching to get you motivated. Still a way off from feeling good in swimmers (does that ever occur ??), but feeling more positive. Jordan gave me a Nike +ipod attachment as a gift so I can check how far I have run and how many calories burned and it is a real motivator too. http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/

Finally, reluctant to mention football AGAIN but the boys had their end of year presentation and Mitchell was awarded a trophy for'Best back' and Josh was awarded one for 'Best Forward'. Both of them were awarded Club jackets and a certificate for playing 100 club games (awarded after 7yrs) this year. Bailey will be awarded this next year. Both older boys also got a second trophy for being grand finalists. They were happy. I am happy to be enjoying the off-season.

Bailey now plays touch football on Monday afternoons at Hawkesbury Uni, Joshua is running with me 3 mornings a week during seminary time and I take Mitchell and a friend to Penrith on Wednesday nights to do a boxing/cardio class.

Jordan runs on his own. We can't keep up with him.

Cause for concern?

Isabelle is one of Bailey's favourite people on Earth. Fortunately they are cousins, live 5 minutes from us, go to the same school and share a primary class at church. This is still not enough time together for their liking. Isabelle came over to play the other day and they were playing 'spies.' It was funny to watch them playing around, but a little concerning to see them with their guns in such poses. Andrew captured the spy action on his 'not so covert' camera.

Happy Birthday Grandma and Pop Pop

Andrew's Mum and Dad share a birthday. We celebrated their day at our house on Sunday evening with a family dinner. Happy Birthday Granma and Pop Pop, we hope you have a great year ahead!

Sound Effects

Tonight Andrew did FHE and was talking to the boys about the battle of the 2000 strippling warriors. When he was finished explaining it in his words, he said he was going to play the actual thing, (meaning the recorded passage from the scriptures). Baileys eyes lit up and he asked, "Will we hear sound effects like 'Aaargh' and stuff?"
That's really bringing the scriptures to life!

Keeping the romance alive..barely.

I have just read Tania's blog and am amazed at her efforts. I had good intentions this Valentine's day to give a little expression of love to the 5 most important boys in my life. Andrew was away for 10 days leading up to Valentine's Day, so my romantic feelings for him had had time to accumulate. He was arriving home on Valentine's morning and I was picking him up from the airport.

The week before, I had bought little noodle boxes and wooden hearts with an idea of creating something out of them and filling them with some sort of treat. They remained in the shopping bag in my wardrobe for the next week.

The day before picking him up, I went to the party shop and got a helium filled heart shaped balloon. I thought I would meet him at the airport with it, but then chickened out and left it at home as I considered the reality of me greeting him with a helium filled heart and the embarrasment he would probably feel.

I was a bit disappointed in myself as I drove to the airport (early), that the boys didn't have a special something from their Mum and that I had not really created anything worthwhile for Andrew either. I decided that I would just have to be his gift and surely my loving smile was all he would want/need?? I figured if I said it with conviction he would believe I meant it rather than it being the back-up plan.

It made me feel worse as he pulled out a beautiful new bathrobe he had bought me back as a gift. Yikes.

I was hoping he may need a nap and I could quickly wrangle something up... Nope.

Fortunately for me, football always takes priority over a romantic Valentine's meal, so that night,when Andrew suggested he could take all the boys to training to give me a break, I seized the moment and set to work.

I had had the ingredients to make home made rocky road in my pantry for a few weeks and had not used it. Now was the perfect opportunity. I grabbed the bag of wooden hearts and noodle boxes from my wardrobe and began painting the hearts red.. with my fingers because I couldn't find the brushes and was short on time. I dried them with my hairdryer and stuck them to the boxes. The rocky road had set and just as I was cutting it up I heard them all arrive home. I hid them under some tea towels and then printed off some labels while they were all showering.

Ta Da!

Just in the nick of time. I don't think they knew that I hadn't planned it that way!

I love my boys.

A week at Hyams Beach

The day after Bailey's Baptism (29th Dec.) we left on our holiday for Hyams Beach. Hyams is a 3 hour drive south from our house and is one of our favourite places. The sand is so white and it is not as tourist covered as the north coast. This is the holiday we take at this time each year, at digfferent spots with Andrew's other brothers and sisters and their families and his Mum and Dad. The kids love hanging out with their cousins for a week, and Andrew loves the fishing. This year the houses we rented backed right on to the beach, so it was super convenient.

Bailey and Lachlan had a great time in the waves body surfing, and digging in the sand.

Josh and Isabelle building their sandcastle.I could get used to this... it was one of the few moments Andrew was not fishing!

Andrew had his biggest catch ever during the week. He pulled in 10 king fish with Jordan and Bailey one day and they came home with grins from ear to ear. We cooked some of them up for dinner for the family that night and still have a freezer full which we brought back home with us.

Bailey claims his was the biggest, telling me, "Dad had to hold the rod, while I used two hands to reel it in."
Jordan helped Andrew scale and clean them all. Yuk! A job I was glad not to have to do.

When the boys weren't at the beach, there was still plenty to do. Apparently Bailey was teaching Isabelle the finer points of chess. I am thinking that one lesson from Grandpa Otterson two years ago must have gone a long way!




This was the view from the boat of the light house at Jarvis Bay. Andrew braved the choppy seas for another day of fishing. This time he had no luck as a seal was trailing the boat and kept eating anything they attracted.

The local area we stayed in is a National Park. It really is beautiful.

In all it was a great week. We will definitely be back.