CHANGE

 This was PART OF my study for my last ever exam for Uni. I was nervous and excited at the same time.

Nervous because I had failed this exam before..

Excited because I has just found out that I had been offered a job it St Helens as the manager of the Commonwealth Bank Branch. They called to let me know the second day in to my study. At that point my study went out the window.... WE MOVE IN 10 days... We were somewhat prepared and this is what the unplanned trip to the beach was all about.... (We had a strong feeling that I had got the job)

 Our room 2 days before we moved!

 The Chief Packer... amongst her kingdom of boxes and stuff.... Notice the YOGA mat in the background.... Still time for exercise.

This is the "help" that arrived to look after the kids...

 LOOK WHERE WE FOUND THEM AFTER THE MOVE!!

 Day 1.... and we were planting Putting un our corn, potatoes and parsnips... Carrots are on the way.. when I remember for buy some seed. Oh yeah and we have to put up a fence ASAP as we had someone up on the hill watching us and anticipating the luscious new growth!

 Then word got around... as it does in a small town like St Helens... and his mate turned up to see what was going on.

The kids have fallen in love with the new place. We have 3.5 acres of land with which they can cream to their hearts content and run and do what ever the like.. When ever they like.....

 NOTICE the PJ's on Milly... Yeah Milly is out early on her bike... and on the trampoline...

Both of them are loving their bikes at the moment.

This is our street.. it is flat, and never busy. Both love to go up and down the street while we walk behind, or sometimes follow on our bike. 

 TOO CUTE!

The first 3 days we were here it rained on and off.. so there were a lot of puddles to ride through. Wasn't there HANISI!

 Chester was not amused at all the mud up Hanisi's back.......

We told Chester that Prince Charles was coming to Hobart today...

 He cracked us up with his best impression of the visiting royal. .

 This was the ride we went on tonight after dinner. We went for an explore around the area.

We even found a nice bush track to go down.

 Milly Impressed us all with her "Look, NO HANDS!!" trick

We arrived home to see a BIG HAIRY spider sitting next to where we park our bikes..... AND YOU ALL KNOW WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE A BIG, UGLY, FURY SPIDER......

 You PAT IT?

Yep that's my girls... No fear... Straight in for a stroke and an investigation...

We are loving our new home and the new adventures that we are having. Change can bring about so many new and wonderful experiences. We are so blessed to be here.

Work is going good. I have a lot to learn.. but I have a great team to work with and they are being very supportive.

** I must say that we are so grateful for all the help that we received. For those that helped move our things, for those that came and cleaned our house! We are so thankful for their assistance. We would not have been able to do it without you! You are all wonderful. 

Unplanned Trip To The Beach.

Yesterday (SAT 20th Oct), we went on an adventure to St Helens. Mummy drove because she was feeling sick from turning around talking to Hanisi and Milly so much.

Most of our adventures without any planning.. and this was one of those.... they often turn out to be the best adventures... because we go where we feel like going and we are not disappointed if we don't get to see everything we had planned to see..

When we arrived we had some important things to do before we could play. That took a while!! Then we went to the play ground by the sea... It was lots of fun.

 Playing at the Park By the sea... 

WHAT IS THAT MILLY??

 HANISI... DID YOU DO ONE TOO!!

Showing Daddy How it is done!

Milly thought this was a slide. ... 

 After a long day we finally made it to the beach..... As the day cooled and the clouds rolled in!! :(

 But that didn't stop up us from annoying these two love birds that thought they had the beach to themselves. 

"We'd better take our trousers off!"

"we'd better take our tops off."

This gives an indication as to how the rest of us were feeling.

"We'd better take the lot off...." (I'll spare you the rest of the picks). 

An amazing photo... Do you think it is an imprint or raised? Daddy and Hanisi's foot print.

Playing in the waves with Daddy.

 Mummy found a rock pool that was nice and warm from the sun....

A star fish that Daddy notices in the waves.... We enjoyed it for a little while and then returned it to a nice rock-pool  that we found.

 

It was a fantastic day had by all... We ended up staying for dinner.....

DID YOU HAVE FUN MILLY?

 The trip home was just as fun as the rest of the day.. Mum told us stories while Daddy got us home safely.

There was movement at the lounge room, for the word had passed around,

There was movement at the lounge room, for the word had passed around,

Chester did something amazing wile we all looked away.

The challenge was a tremendous one – he lay there on the ground,

Looking so poised, his body began to sway.

His parent's faces glowed, they couldn’t believe there eyes.

He’s going, he’s going…… look there he goes.

Chester rolled over all by himself, what a surprise,

Isn’t it amazing how fast a child grows. 

This was the main reason for the blog today. BUT... while I was downloading the video from the camera, I
came across these pictures.... Poor Chester... I guess this is what happens when you have 2 older sisters.

I can see why he smiles so much when I get home!!!

Pre Holiday DRAMA!

Some time ago Mariah and I spoke about taking the girls on a trip to the Zoo. We visited the wildlife park in Mole Creek earlier in the year and thought that a trip to a zoo might be as exciting as the wildlife park was.

Every time we looked the flights were not within our budget, so the idea got put on the back burner for a while.

The longer we investigated the more the trip looked unlikely.

That was until we received a blessing beyond our comprehension. There is a verse in the bible that says  

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it". 

Malachi 3:10 

I have experienced this verse numerous times in my life, and semester our family enjoyed another pouring out of blessing that we had not expected, but gratefully received. 

We wanted to be sensible with the money that we received, but at the same time, we wanted to use a little of it to enjoy ourselves. 

Our desire to take the kids to the zoo, was one of the things that came to mind. We looked at Melbourne, as it was closer, and we assumed cheaper. BUT Melbourne during footy finals is not cheap. I checked the flights to Sydney. Going was not cheap, but coming back was better than coming back from Melbourne. Then it hit me.. What if we fly to Melbourne and drive to Sydney. What an adventure that would be. 

We had people that we wanted to see in Canberra, I love driving and exploring new things, so reluctantly Mariah agreed and we planned the trip... 

WE LEAVE in 10 days... 

We had prepared all week, getting things done around the house, organising someone to take care of our animals, I had assignments and things to complete before we went and to top that off, Milly and I were feeling a bit unwell. Sore throats and high temps. Our flights left 6:00am on the Monday. On Friday Milly and I were bad. We both had chesty coughs, runny nose and wanted to sleep all the time. Mariah called the Dr and handed me the phone, make an appointment for today!

We were lucky to get an appointment that day. I explained to the Dr that we were going away and that we would be traveling for a week. We both got a once over. I got a prescription, Milly didn't. Grrrrr. 

The weekend progressed, I was improving, Milly was ok, as long as she was taking paracetamol, or ibuprofen to keep her temp down. 

Sunday came and Milly had gotten worse by the afternoon. We gave her something to help her sleep kept her fluids up and checked on her regularly to make sure she was ok. By the evening, just as we were going to bed... (Mariah and I were pooped.. it had been a busy week) we checked Milly one last time... SHE WAS HOT.... The  paracetamol, & ibuprofen just didn't seem to work. We gave her a couple of icy-poles and made the decision to take her to the hospital at about 9:30. 

I put Chester in to bed with me and Mariah took Milly. I woke at 12 and called Mariah. The hospital was busy. Just what we needed. 

I fed Chester and went back to bed for a couple of hours. I called again... they are still in the waiting room. At this stage we started to talk about taking Milly as is and going streight to the hospital in Melbourne when we landed.  While I was on the phone, the Dr came and took them trough... What a relief.

At this stage, I was wide awake. I was worried about Milly and Mairah, because I know she was tired. I was also worried about the flight that we had to make. We were being picked up at 4:45. 

I called again at around 3. They had seen the Dr and told them that we were going away and needed something to make the trip more comfortable for Milly. Mariah said they were great. They gave us all the medicine that we needed and even organised security to walk Mariah and Milly back to the car. 

they got home at about 3:30am.... straight to bed for 40 mins sleep. 

BEEP BEEP BEEP..... BEEP BEEP BEEP..... BEEP BEEP BEEP..... BEEP BEEP BEEP........ 

The alarm went off... Poor Mariah and Milly... 

What a disappointing and concerning start to our holiday. 

We made it to the airport thanks to Joe Rogers... who is a champion for getting up that early to take us. 

We were UP UP and AWAY before we knew it... .. 

T.B.C

visitor

Saturday was a beautiful day... too nice to spend inside on a computer punching away on the keys in order to get an assignemnt done. Saturdays have always been sacred to me. Waking up on a Saturday morning is a great feeling, especially when you know you don't have any commitments and you can take the day as it comes.  I will always remember my first Saturday in Fiji. I was gutted that we had to dress up in shirt and tie and go to work. I can picture it in my head now..  I was walking out of my flat down the hill to the main road where we would catch the windowless bus to the next village. I was reminiscing of the Saturdays gone by and how relaxing and fun they were, I think I may have even closed my eyes and pictured myself washing my motorbike and then taking it for a ride.
  Needless to say Saturdays on my mission became more meaningful and productive. It wasn't long before I released that I had some important work to do and I needed every second of every day to ensure I got all my work done.

Back to the Saturday just gone, we had decided to catch up with Dan or stinky Dan as the girls call him, and his family. He is stinky Dan because he drives a diesel. We followed back from a camping trip once and the girls just associate Dan with the big stinky car.

As we were getting in to our own car on Saturday I noticed an echidna heading down the hill towards our place.

 I quickly go the girls out of the car to go and take a look. I am not sure if they had seen an Echinda before.

 

we got to have a poke and a prod. We convinced both girls to have a feel, although Milly took a lot more convincing than Hanisi. 

What a treat it was to have such and amazing creature come to our house to say hello. We sure are lucky to live in such a beautiful place, and we are lucky that we have weekends to enjoy it.

Our first little Son, Yay!

On the 9th of September Chester was blessed by his Daddy Sam. Assisted by John  (Grandad) Samuel  (Uncle), James  (Grandpa), Daniel  (Uncle) and Ben  (Uncle). 

This is everyone who came to share in Chesters special day. Going from left to right we have: Sam , Mariah, Milly, Uncle Sam, Aunty Miele,  Grandad, Tootsie, Hanisi, Aunty Jasmine, Uncle Josh, GNB, Aunty Alice with Chester, Uncle Ben with Luci, Aunty Belinda, Eli, Grandma, Grandpa, Ella, Uncle Daniel, Zoe.

We are grateful to everyone for coming and sharing in this special day with us. I love this photo of Alice she looks so happy to be holding Chester. Hanisi is taking photos with Aunty Jasmine's mobile, she cracks me up. Families are wonderful it is so nice to belong to such a big family unit (and this wasn't even all of us!)

Hanisi and Milly enjoyed running around outside after sacrament meeting. They are such gorgeous girls (yep I'm buy-est). Check out Milly's tongue. She must've been getting hot : )

Tootsie having cuddles with Milly and her first Grandson.

GNB having cuddles with Chester her 3rd great grandson.

Aunty Miele and Uncle Sam thought that the occasion required a special prayer : ) It was really nice having Sam and Miele with us as we hadn't been altogether since their wedding.

Here is the Bounds/Sullivan/Terry Clan. The only way we could get Hanisi to participate in the photo was by Sam placing her on his shoulders (She just wanted to keep on running around).

However we pushed our luck with a family photo and this is what we got. A good lucking bunch!

Our gorgeous son wearing a tux for his blessing (it is actually a bib)

Aunty Jasmine having cuddles with her first Nephew.

The four generations photo.

Milly took a break from running around and asked Grandpa to help her open her lunch box as she told him about our trip in Sydney (that blog is yet to come).

Jas, Chester and I. You sure can tell we are sisters :)

Having Chester in our home is such a blessing, he is a wonderful baby. I love how no matter how old or young someone is when ever they see a little baby they can't but help smile.

A couple of weeks ago the children and I went and visited our neighbour who is dying of cancer. She has her good days and bad days. The day we went over she was very frail and weak. However she asked to have a hold of Chester.

Watching her as she held Chester in her weak arms and spoke to him was gorgeous. I wish I had a camera. Our neighbour was smiling from ear to ear, her whole countenance lit up as she cuddled and spoke to him. You can't but help feel something so special when you see, cuddle or/and speak to a baby. They are so special.

I'm so grateful for family love and to know that as long as we live worthy our family can be eternal, what a wonderful blessing!

N.b this is my first time to use picasa to do the photo collages (not to bad eh?)