Indeed a pleasant view...

10th Anniversary Cruise

2010-05-02T07:50:00.002-06:00

Kelli and I just returned from a 7-day cruise in the Carribean. We visited Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica ... along with a couple days at sea. Highlights were snorkeling with a plethora of colorful fish and stingrays, playing in the freshwater falls of Jamaica, visiting some Mayan ruins, and well, just plain relaxing :)

Savannah's Medals

2010-02-11T20:06:00.003-07:00

Savannah competed in her first tumbling meet January 23. She placed 7th in floor and...1st place on the trampoline!! Yea!! She is officially hooked on tumbling and was totally stoked. She called everyone she knows after the meet and clanked her medals together for them.

Here is a video of her competing on the trampoline...she did a great job, especially for her first meet, and we'll have to post more as she has several more meets this spring. (I apologize for the shaky video--Jessy was watching her, not the camera, since the first maneuver--the dreaded peanut roll--is tough and once you make a mistake, you are no longer scored.)

This video is of the first pass on the tumbling track. It was a roundoff and two back handsprings. The second pass was a running roundoff and four back handsprings, and since it was only her second time doing it, it wasn't perfect, but she did pull it off. She said we can upload a video of that from a different meet when she's more prepared.

We're so proud of her!!

Merry Christmas 2009!

2009-12-24T10:14:00.005-07:00

We are slightly belated in our Christmas cards this year ... but, we did manage to put together a slide show of our 2009. Trey has been growing in leaps and bounds ... now 'running', playing with his brothers and sister, and actually started to sign so we can communicate (not to mention this cute little head nod that he does to indicate his agreement for something he wants.) Hunter has started preschool and loves anything Star Wars. He loves his little cousin Mia (who you will see in the photos) and they have good times fighting the bad guys. Collin is still our sports extraordinare and loves soccer, football and baseball. He is playing on an indoor league right now. Oh, and did I mention he loves everything BYU as well (although I did get him to root for Utah against Cal last night :) Savannah turned 8 this year and was baptized. She is on a competition tumbling team and Jessy coached her soccer team. Kelli is holding the fort as Mom with 4 munchkins running around. She is the activity days leader for the ward girls. She also finished her first triathlon this year and did a 5K. Jessy started a new job at a communications defense company in Salt Lake, accomplished his goal of a 100-mile bike ride and started a Fit Butt Fun family fitness club. He also did a week-long fishing trip with the scouts up in the Wind Rivers. We also made a family vacation to Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Universal Studios. On a sad note, Grandma (Dorothy) Jones passed away in November this year and we miss her tons but look forward to seeing her again.

We are all happy and healthy and wishing you a Merry Christmas and prosperous upcoming 2010. Paste the link in your browser and enjoy the show.
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d544d324e54517a
4e544a384d5449334
e4463324f54453d0d0a&sb=1

December Update!

2009-12-13T18:31:00.009-07:00

We haven't been too good about keeping up the blog. I think Kelli mainly uses facebook and I just haven't been very good about getting things updated since returning back from Australia. I do miss documenting all the little things that happen, and now that we heaps of snow outside I have the only excuse I need not to work out in the yard! I'd like to say that life is settling down a bit, but that would reason for things to go crazy once again.

Since our last post quite a bit has happened. We took the kids down to southern California and did the Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios tour. Great times were had by all as we traveled with Kelli's sister Angie and her husband Robert and son Colton. We didn't go to the beach because the kids didn't want to get 'sand in their swimsuits' ... I guess that's what Savannah gets for rolling around in the surf the last few years down under.

The sad news from the past 2 months is that our Grandma Jones past away. Her and Grandpa Jones have been the lifeline of our family and it has been extremely hard to come to terms with the fact that she isn't with us in this life anymore. She always had a way of making people laugh and had a passion for her family. Things happened so fast as she struggled with gout and then a short month or two after being diagnosed with bone cancer she passed away. We all know she is free from her physical pains, but the hole she left in our lives will take a lot of time to heal; and even then something will always be missing. I guess, though, it just goes to show how much we all think of her.

I left my job at ATK over a month ago and started as a program manager at a different defense company local here to Salt Lake. We really like where we live so I don't see us moving any time soon, but the commute of ~50 minutes is a bear and a half. It's ok though - iPOD and talk shows are wonderful things :) Things are crazy at the new job, but it's a good crazy. I really like the people I work with and the technology is pretty darn amazing.

We just had our first big snow storm of the year last night and today. I finally got to break out my new snowblower, and it was a good thing we had it, too. The snow was about a foot and half deep and it was very, very wet. It took a long time with a snowblower and don't even want to think about how long it would have been without. Trey had his first opportunity to frolic the eskimo way and he didn't waste anytime. The kid is so darn stinkin' cute.

We ventured down to Provo for the Utah/BYU game. It was an awesome game, but unfortunately the Utes lost. I was somewhat torn because Collin stayed with his Uncle Chris the night before and met some of the BYU players in Chris' dorm. They said he could come down the locker room if things 'went well'. Since they won Collin got to go down on the field and mingle with the players. He was smiling from ear to ear :)

We also had some good friends over for a Christmas party. A shout out to our Aussie friends -- we introduced our friends to a bona fide Aussie quiz night. It was a good time and another huge benefit of being close to home is spending time with long-lost friends.

2009-10-11T19:29:00.001-06:00

I am going to murder

2009-08-24T15:20:00.004-06:00

my camera. And bury it. And then nibble on Trey because he is so

d e l i c i o u s
with his two new teeth, dirty knees, slobbery kisses and his newly-cut chicky fluff.
credit to Jenny for the photo as our camera is indisposed.

2009-08-23T18:26:00.003-06:00

Pictures that have been missing from the past few posts ...

Summer of Fun!!

2009-08-09T10:08:00.001-06:00

We've had plenty of fun this summer … unfortunately it looks like we've turned into once-a-month bloggers so our updates are few and far between. Nonetheless, let me bring you up to speed on what's been going on this past month. As Kelli mentioned, we were getting ready for 4^th of July festivities with the family. My brother and his family (Jacob, Robyn, Anna, Mia, Rya) came up and spent the weekend. We had tons of fun with water fights and the like. We spent the 4^th of July morning down in Kaysville where we watched a parade with the Jones family. The kids thoroughly enjoyed … the candy and free handouts … and it wasn't just laffy taffy either! Don't know what the world is coming to, but they were getting stuffed animals, necklaces … and Hunter even came away with a full-size basketball (granted WNBA, but who is complaining?) Then it was home to our house where we did a BBQ, set off some fireworks of our own and then watched the local fireworks from the backyard. It was a grand time and good opportunity to reflect on our freedoms and how much we have to be grateful for in this country of ours. It doesn't get much better than hamburgers, hot dogs, family and fireworks.

Going back a bit, we also had a party for Collin's soccer team. The local soccer league doesn't give out trophies, so we had the parents pitch in to get them some. After all, you can't have little boys going without trophies. Their faces say just how important it for them.

The kids also went to the Christmas Carol train (waited in line for 3 hours, but apparently it was worth it.) Savannah ran into her little friend from back in Albuquerque (Emma – who now lives in Morgan, about ½ hour away.)

We did a camping trip with the Whetstone family up at Monte Christo campground. Awesome area and very nice. The only downer occurred after we got back – we found out a couple weeks later that they are having bear problems around that same campground. Kelli is now determined to not go tent camping --- only if we get some sort of hard-wall trailer!

We also did the 1^st annual Jones family reunion at a campground resort near East Canyon reservoir. Robyn's family hooked us up and we had a good time doing dutch oven dinners, playing miniature golf, shuffleboard, tennis, and swimming. We also sneaked a little fishing and had some fun boating on the reservoir.

I spent a week up at scout camp with the scouts. We hiked them in about 7 miles up into the Wind Rivers. We had 11 boys and 4 leaders and it was a blast. The fishing was awesome (ever seen River Runs Through It – it was just about that.) We caught fish in about every way possible – of course fly fishing was the best.

Savannah can't wait for school to start again – she's very excited for her birthday in less than a week and can't wait to get baptized (which won't happen until October because of scheduling conflicts.) She's also excited to get her ears pierced which Mom said she could do once she turned 8. We'll see how that goes.

Collin plays as much as he can with Carson, his little neighborhood friend. Sports and Wii … 'nuff said. We've spent a couple summer nights at the local minor league ballpark. Pretty nice setting with the temple and mountains sitting just behind the centerfield fence.

Hunter is having a lot of fun just being Hunter. He is my little helper out in the yard pulling weeds, picking up worms to feed the frog and loves to ride in the play jeep and ride his bike. He likes it when Mom is his nursery teacher, but as soon as someone else comes in to teach --- watch out because it's not going to be pretty.

Trey is into everything and starting to teeth. He has skipped the entire mushy baby food phase and moved straight to steak and potatoes. Oh, and did I mention he loves ice cream (can blame Mom on that one.)

Kelli is keeping busy with the kids and teaching her 2 nights at the local community college. She's getting ready for a 5K race the middle of this month. I am busy with work, scouts and the kids. Excited to start coaching Savannah's soccer team this fall (Collin is playing with Carson's team and Carson's dad is going to coach them while I get neighborhood 8-year old girls …) Nathan (my brother) and I did our own triathlon at Pineview reservoir and he beat me by 30 seconds or so … that darn 4-minute lead on the swim was too much! There's also the 100-mile bike ride the beginning of September to look forward to.

So that wraps us up for the month of July. Hope everyone out there is doing well!

Our Second Vacuum aka Trey

2009-07-01T08:58:00.002-06:00

**No photos...yet. Our camera had a sleepover (actually 3 nights) on the basketball court. Guess it wanted to see what all the fuss was about over a new pad of cement. Luckily, I don't think it rained.

We have had lots going on lately--busy summers are the best because they go by so quickly!!
We took the kids on their first Lagoon trip--SO MUCH FUN!! We got there before the rides had opened, so the kids staked out what they wanted to do first (the boys were eyeing Kiddieland and Savannah wanted the Terroride). The boys warmed up after their first ride on Speedway Jr. and from then on were running from ride to ride and so excited. At the end of the Terroride, for those who haven't been, there is a flash of bright lights and a loud honk to scare you. Savannah got off and said, "I passed away!" I think she meant she almost passed out with the honk. Then we took the kids on the Tidal Wave (amazingly, they were all tall enough. Trey was at Grandma's house). We had to sit in the middle, so it wasn't like we were totally scaring them, but Collin hated that flip your stomach does when you get to the highest point. He told me it was "hurting his feelings." It was an overcast day, but that kept the crowds away for the morning and early afternoon and let us go twice on favorites like the Log Ride, Rattlesnake Rapids, and Colossus. It stopped raining just as it opened and didn't rain again until 7:30 or so. We saw the clouds roll in and Hunter began declaring, "Oh. My. Gosh. We're in trouble guys." He kept saying it over and over. And he was right. We packed up our stuff, threw away our dinner garbage, and headed to get the kids their promised treats. Just as we got them, we ducked under some eaves for protection and it began to POUR!! Then came the hail, lightning, and thunder. The temperature dropped as the rain continued. We were about done anyway, but that convinced the kids that they were, in fact, done for the day. They immediately began asking when we were going to Lagoon again.

On the homefront, Trey is growing in leaps and bounds. Not only is he getting bigger, but he has gained lots of skills. I knew it was time to move him to his crib (he'd been sleeping in the bassinet part of the playpen) when he wouldn't settle down for his nap and I went in to find he was standing up, holding onto the bars of his crib OVER the bassinet side. Hard to describe, but enough to scare me, knowing he could just climb over the side. At the beginning of June, he all at once started sitting up well (a little slow for that one), crawling (a little early on that one), and trying to pull himself up to standing on the couch, tables, etc. He's getting fast at crawling and is faster than we think most of the time. So fast, that he's had a fall off a bed already. :( He also sticks EVERYTHING in his mouth. Savannah was like that as well, but it was so much easier to control what was on the floor when there were no other kids around. Trey likes to hang out around the bar stools, where he knows Hunter will drop things like strawberries, chocolate toast, and half-eaten cherries with the pits and stems. I'm hoping he makes it out of this stage with no major choking catastrophes.

Hunter continues to be Mischief Man. I have cleaned (or tried to clean) pink nail polish (a whole bottle), smelly lotion, and ointment off the carpets. He flushes things down the toilet and learned that Barbie dolls are too big to flush, they just spin around naked in the toilet (which is apparently hilarious and worth pulling her out of the garbage can for a repeat performance). And he is the incessant tease--he takes away whatever anyone else is playing with at the moment, including Trey.

Collin started piano lessons right before he broke his arm, and has continued to play in his cast. He's actually getting pretty good, awkward as it is for him to hold up his cast to hit the keys. He is also beginning to read--which he's catching onto pretty quickly. I think it definitely helps to have older siblings with these things. He has gone to see two Ogden Raptors baseball games this past week and came home from the last one with a ball cap he loves. His best buddy has been on vacation for two days and I think will be gone for another week--I hope I survive.

Savannah is continuing with her tumbling this summer. She is getting awfully close to doing a back handspring unassisted. She can do about 10 in a row on the trampoline. She is reading--hoping to get the 1000 page superintendant's challenge award for the summer. She's also learning her times tables and division, which she is pretty good at. She likes having sales and runs quite the stands, selling everything from lettuce and strawberries to otter pops and sno cones.

We have lots coming up with the Fourth of July activities, camps (for mom and dad, ironically), family get-togethers, swimming lessons, and dentist appointments.

Drill Sargeant Collin

2009-06-08T13:16:00.003-06:00

The words are:
I don't know but I've been told
Kindergarten is the place to go.
I've learned my numbers and ABC's
Now I'm smart as I can be.
Sound off (one, two)
Sound off (three, four)
Bring it on down!
(one, two, three, four, one, two...three, four!)

Playing catch-up

2009-06-08T10:10:00.008-06:00

Well, Jessy wrote about Collin's arm, but here are a few other events we've neglected to post in the last 2+ months:

Collin graduated from preschool,
Savannah finished second grade,
Hunter registered for preschool,

Trey started crawling (yesterday!),

we got a giant cement pad in our backyard,
we got a cool firepit next to the giant cement pad,
the basketball pole is now installed,
we had a fun, candy-filled Easter,
our garden is mostly weeded (thanks to the extended Jones fam),
Trey loudly eats his feet,
Jessy did a 100 mile bike race (finished 70 or so miles of it--it should NOT be freezing cold and rainy in St. George in the spring),
I finished a triathlon and a 5k,
Trey has started kissing (he's very passionate),
we put mulch/bark in all our flower beds (not exciting for most, but I think our neighbors appreciate it),
Jessy and I had birthdays,
and, as of today, we have been married for 9 years.
That is our April/May/beginning of June in a nutshell.

Collin's Broken Arm :(

2009-06-07T21:08:00.005-06:00

We experienced a slight misfortune over the weekend when Collin broke his arm playing baseball in the backyard. He was rounding third heading for home when one of the neighborhood boys got in the way and Collin ended up face planting on the patio concrete pad. One could tell it wasn't your normal 'owie' from the get-go. Soon he was in the instacare getting x-rays taken. He saw this first one and turned to Mom and said, "I saw those pictures and my arm is broken in two!"

Of course it was a picture of the two normal arms in your forearm. Yet, the side profile was a little more revealing and indeed showed a fracture of one of those forearm bones.

He was then taken to Zippes where he received his good boy ice cream and came home doped up on pain killer which made him a little happier. He slept with Dad on the couch last night and was back at it again today trying to play basketball left handed and even stepped up to the plate with his single good left arm -- batting from the left side of the plate. After smacking a few of Dad's heaters into the 'outfield' he humbly exclaimed, 'even with one arm I'm still good!' I guess it didn't take any of his confidence away :) Tomorrow he gets his cast and I'm sure all the neighborhood teenage girls will be the first to sign in. His best friend across the street even showed some sympathy by digging into their storage and putting on a sling of his own to show his support ... the next 6 weeks are going to pretty tough on the poor kid ...

Birthdays all Around!!!

2009-03-22T21:25:00.009-06:00

Hunter has just turned 3 ... and Collin 5. It's been a whirlwind of non-stop birthday parties culminating in this weekend's extravaganza of a monster birthday get together for all spring birthdays on the Jones side. Aunt Angie made some very fancy cakes for the Whetstone party (Hunter had a Wall*E cake and Collin had a three-tiered BYU basketball cake!) We forgot our camera so we'll have to get some pix from Chris -- suffice it to say they were awesome and the boys were in birthday cake shock!

In like a lion ...

2009-03-08T20:28:00.006-06:00

Wow, I’m not sure what to do with myself right now. Savannah is at tumbling, Collin took Hunter to his friend Carson’s house, Trey is taking a snoozer and Kelli is teaching her math class – one of those moments when there is so much I could do I don’t know where to start! So, why not write a blog entry since those have become few and far between since our move from overseas.

Life is really good these days. I think we’re finally coming out of our winter snow dumping. I guess it wasn’t as bad as last year, but just 2 weeks ago we had a snow storm that dumped 18 – 24 inch by the time I got home from work. It was really the first time that I felt an 800 snowblower would be well worth the money. Lucky for us we have some great neighbors we helped get the really slushy stuff from the road plows so we could get into and out of our driveway --- after 2 hours of shoveling that wet stuff

myself it was just a little tiring. Excited for some spring weather and chance to work out in the yard and an excuse to kick to kids off the Wii!

Speaking of the Wii, Hunter is hilarious. He navigates through the menus like he’s 18 years old. He knows every little character, how many weapons they have, if they are good or bad, and all the various levels. We wish he had some little friends to play with in the area, but now that he’s potty trained he figures he’s earned the right to tag along with Collin.

Collin is doing really well. He enjoys preschool and loves to come home and color his ‘homework’. Last week we went to the

BYU-Utah basketball game. He first of all has a count down chain to his birthday … and somewhere on there was the a chain for this game he’s been counting to for about 10 days … uh, oh – Trey’s awake … free time over! ……. And here it is nearly a week later and I’ve found some more time to finish this e-mail. Collin was a rabid BYU fan at the game whipping the white-out towel right in my face as the cougars moved ahead towards the end of the game (and a good sport at that). We had to make BYU and Utah pancakes the day of the game. He loves to play b-ball on his little hoop in the basement and is always making ‘squishes’ as he calls them.

Trey is growing in leaps and bounds. He hates Dad babysitting him twice a week because that means 4 hours without Mom and his food source. It’s actually kind of funny. I’ll hold him so his back is against my chest and he’s facing outwards. When he’s hungry he wants nothing to do with me. If he ever sees me or hears my voice, he automatically starts to cry. And he’ll only take formula once in a while. One thing I’ve found that works without fail is to play basketball with Collin and hold Trey in one arm. That pacifies him every time …

Savannah is doing really well in school, tumbling and loves to play with friends. We just attended her parent teacher conference and her teacher, Mrs. Shaw, says that Savannah is a joy to have in class and is very respectful. Savannah says that she only likes school a ‘little’ and that’s because she likes her friends and recess, but doesn’t like doing all the work. Mrs. Shaw says that they’ve really been driving the kids hard this year … almost too hard. So, Savannah is feeling a little burnt out. We’re really wishing we had the Australian school year so the kids could get more of a break (2 weeks between terms) and spread things out a little more. She did have crazy dress up day at school which she found very entertaining.

Kelli and I are doing well. Kelli continues to train for her triathlon in May and is teaching twice a week at the community college. I am enjoying work at ATK, training for a 100-mile bike race and ‘playing’ with the scouts and kids. All quite crazy and yet entertaining. And thank goodness we can finally see the grass again ...

... and Kelli

2009-02-10T19:57:00.002-07:00

Kelli failed to mention that she has been doing a very diligent job of training for a triathlon this coming May. She originally started by doing some serious shopping - and I have to admit she looks pretty darn hot in her new biking and triathlon gear. I would post some pictures but first I'd have to be sneaky enough to take them and second I'd end up sleeping on the couch ... probably till may. The other night we went on a 'date' to the swimming pool and did some laps. She's doing great and is gradually building up to the 300 meter swim leg (then 12 mile bike and 3 mile run.) She's pretty determined and it will be fun to watch her and Jenny do it.

Our lives

2009-02-02T09:08:00.004-07:00

I admit I've been a blogging slacker. No reason. Here are our most recent happenings in a nutshell:

1. Hunter is officially potty trained. No special tricks, just made him earn his Wii time by going to the potty and like magic it happened.

2. All four kids are currently sick with colds/congestion. We're actually grateful they all got it at once and they're not puking (knock on wood).

3. I went shopping (to the mall--hasn't happened in a great while). On my last stop, my credit card was denied. Turns out someone got our credit card number and decided to go on a shopping spree of their own. (Our bank's fraud protection squad caught it so quick!)

4. Jessy has been chosen to give a lecture to grad students. Unfortunately, it's on a subject he knows very little about. On the up side, he has studied up on this particular subject for the past two weeks and feels like he can actually do it--go, Jessy!

5. Trey has started laughing. He's very ticklish.

6. I found a recipe for baked taco salad shells. One of our new favorites. Yum.

7. Savannah has another wiggly tooth. Do you think she could get some new ones before losing any more??

8. Collin has come up with plans to paint a BYU football field in our backyard when the snow melts. The drawings are all over the house. And he has given several away to friends and family.

9. Our garage door opener is now fixed. Yea! The repairman just fixed a broken wire (shame on the first repairman who tried to make Jessy buy a $500 motor!!).

10. The kids are learning the 13th Article of Faith--Savannah's got it down, and Collin is almost there (we overlook the pronunciation--"birtuous" and "ammunition of Paul" are close enough).

Ice Running?

2009-01-18T21:19:00.005-07:00

There was also a video of Hunter taking a few steps on his own with his itty, bitty skates, but honestly, something about Savannah's style cracks me up. I don't know if it's the oversized gloves or what, but something about her form makes me laugh. The best part is the last 10 seconds or so, sorry for the other 35 seconds of them standing around, deciding what to do next.
And here are the sideliners--Trey was very content (he'd just filled his diaper--of course he was happy!), and Collin quickly decided that ice skating wasn't for him. I guess hockey won't be one of his passions.

COULD IT BE TRUE???????

2009-01-13T16:37:00.003-07:00

Rumor has it that my sister-in-law Stacy saw a package of cookies at Target. It was labeled as "Tim Tams" and also had "Australia's favorite cookie." She said they looked like the Tim Tams we sent them. If they look like Tim Tams and they sound like Tim Tams... This could be a dream come true (especially since Jessy doesn't know that Savannah and I just ate half of our last package!!). Good bye, New Year's Resolutions. Hello, Tim Tam slam!!

Good times at home ...

2008-12-27T00:54:00.005-07:00

Thank goodness for Kelli and her willingness to keep up the blog in my extended ‘absence’. Actually, it’s been more like a confinement in the basement the past 3 months. Straight from work to downstairs – nailing wood, running wires (only got electrocuted once!), hanging insulation and the like. Thanks to the great generosity of many family members we were able to get the majority of the basement work done within the 3 months and before Thanksgiving. As such we were able to spread out a little more when the entire Jones clan came over for 4 days of family reunion bliss :) We had a great time enjoying one another’s company, playing games, doing activities and eating lots of scrumptious food

If you don’t mind a few moments of personal reflection – the last couple of months have been somewhat anxious and exciting all wrapped in one. With the economy in a downturn and a democratic president coming into office, one can only help wonder if moving from the government security to a private sector defense contractor was a smart move. My company seems solid and still moving steadily forward with our contracts. Our group of 10 people does a lot of preliminary design for new projects, so as long as the company is vibrant and trying to bring in new business, one can conclude that we should always have work to do. Right now we are doing the design on the replacement for the space shuttle. It’s a lot of fun and I’m really enjoying it. All the wondering and anxiety goes by the wayside though every time we have a family get together. I see the expression on our kids faces and those of grandmas/grandpas/cousins and the like and I get a feeling this is indeed where we need to be right now. We’ll just keep working hard and I’m sure things will work out.

The kids have been very good at their one line comments lately, but I haven’t been very good about writing them down. Collin just today during our tithing settlement had a pretty good one. The bishop turned to him and asked what we should pay. After some thoughtful contemplation he responded, “Uh, pay attention?” We all got a good chuckle out of that one.

We also had the opportunity to get some high school friends together. It’s been a long time since the old gang gathered in one place, so it was good to reminisce and have some laughs. We’ve really enjoyed the holiday season. We’ve been able to hang lights and decorate the Christmas tree along with all sorts of other decorations. We were even able to watch the first presidency’s Christmas devotional – live!

Trey is doing very well and growing by the day. All his brothers and sister are extremely helpful and good to one another. Savannah has actually mellowed out quite a bit since assuming the big sister role with the little one --- only to be replaced by Hunter who has had a harder time adjusting to having a new attention grabber on the scene. He’s become quite mischievous with everything – include peeing on the new carpet downstairs and hiding a video game under the plastic toy slide. Hopefully it’s just a phase :)

Well – till next time our thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

The Sit Up Challenge(d)

2008-12-08T15:12:00.004-07:00

Jessy issued a challenge to his family to do the most sit-ups in December. He's got it down to how many crunches equal a sit-up, etc. He never told the kids about it, but I think the boys have picked up on their father's actions on their own.

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-08T13:25:00.003-07:00

So, I was playing with the camera settings, trying to get a cool picture using a technique I saw on a local tv show, when I finally got a picture where the person wasn't blurred along with the background. Unfortunately, he was doing more than the walking I'd told him to.

I love Hunter.

Newborn Guess Who

2008-12-06T09:04:00.002-07:00

Can you guess which Jones baby is which??? The answers are at the bottom...I'll have to cheat to make sure I get them right.

The babies are, from top to bottom: Hunter, Trey, Savannah, and Collin

Baby Trey

2008-11-08T16:12:00.003-07:00

Here are the details of Trey's birth--it won't get too graphic, I promise. I went to the doctor November 4th to find I was dilated to 3 cm but nothing was happening (this was enough to get me excited--I've never dilated at all with the others, really). She did what is sometimes done to help things get started without meds (I told you I wouldn't get graphic). Nothing happened until we went to dinner that evening and I had regular contractions about 10 minutes apart for an hour or so. Then they stopped. I felt like labor was probably going to start either that night or the next day, so I talked to the kids about it and cleaned as much as I could--tried out the new Dyson and completely filled it up!-- before watching the results of the election and going to bed. At 1:45 I woke up with a major contraction, sat up and checked the time and then laid back down. Another one hit pretty quickly. When the third one came soon after that, I sat up to check the time again and saw it was only 1:50! I couldn't lay down any more, so I got up and went through a couple of more before waking up Jessy to time them and help me by pushing on my back. It took him several attempts at timing before he woke up enough to remember when the previous one started and to be able to figure out how long it was between them (let's just say I was in no mood to be amused with him at that point in time!!). The contractions weren't consistently spaced or the same lengths, so I was nervous I'd be sent home from the hospital, but they were pretty hard and not more than 3 minutes apart, so I gathered up my stuff and went out to the car. I'm not sure what Jessy was doing, but he eventually came out, too. (Okay, he was really tired from working on the basement and I was only out there a few minutes before he came out.) We left home at 2:30 am and Jessy only ran two red lights (they were dumb ones and nobody was around). About 10 minutes before we got to the hospital I really felt I had to push (we were on I-15). Jessy's face was a sight to see when I said that. He got very pale and started reassuring me that I did not have to push and would make it to the hospital because we were almost there. (I think he was reassuring himself.) As we were checking in to the labor and delivery unit, the nurses at the desk asked which baby it was for me--when I said my fourth and the contractions were really strong, they skipped triage and took me straight to a room. The nurse checked me right away and announced we were "at a 9"--suddenly there was a flurry of activity and the two nurses that had been casually setting things up somehow multiplied into at least 5 people all busily calling the doctor or trying to get an IV in or asking about my medical history or getting gloves on "just in case." Luckily the midwife made it to the hospital in about 10 minutes. She took one look, broke my water, and Trey was born with the next contractions. Like Jessy said, it was 22 minutes from check-in to delivery. Crazy! It was all such a whirlwind, but it was definitely a good way to do it when you want to go natural. The nurse told me that if I have another, I need to go to the hospital with the first contraction, since now my pregnancy history will have rapid labor to go along with extra-large baby. (My mom says that Trey came so fast because Hunter made the chute big. That might be too graphic, but funny anyway.)
Trey is gorgeous (what mother would say anything else?). I thought he was bald when I first saw him, but he has quite a bit of hair--it's just a golden-brown color rather than the black hair our other kids had. He has Jessy's lips, droopy left eye (at this point, I sometimes think we have a mini pirate), and little head (his head circ falls in the 16th percentile--our other kids are no less than 75%). When the nurses cleared out after he was born, he was so alert and just cooed and gurgled and looked all around while Jessy held him. He is a good baby and sleeps SO MUCH!! I always thought people were lying when they said their babies slept most of the time and didn't cry much. It is possible, it just took us four tries to get one of that kind! Everything with this delivery/recovery has been so much easier than the rest--and not just because it's the fourth time. I really feel blessed!As you can see, Trey is loved. I think Daddy appreciates the "good baby" factor as much as I do and he loves holding him at his alert times (plus he's a fantastic diaper changer). Savannah loves to hold him, is an expert at getting him to sleep, and has even fed him! Hunter can't get enough, and when his cold sore goes away, he will return to plastering Trey with kisses and cuddles and holding him, then returning him, then wanting him back, then... Collin said he would not like the baby if we named him Trey (he thought we should name him Collin, or as a last resort Hunter, because those are the best names), but as you can see, he was all smiles when he met him for the first time. We love our baby and are so glad he finally came to join our family!

Trey Harry Jones

2008-11-05T08:28:00.005-07:00

Good early morning, everyone! We FINALLY welcomed Trey into our family early this morning (November 5). Kelli had been having some minor contractions before bed, but then woke up at 1:45 with the major 'ouch' ones and soon we were on our way to the hospital. As it turns out -- we cut it a little too close. By the time we actually got to the labor/delivery area, she was dilated to a 9 and a mere 22 minutes later Trey was born. He weighed in at 7 lb 2 oz, 20" and was very alert and awake. Kelli did great and mom/baby are both doing very well. We will give more updates ... but for now it's about time to sleep :)

Mixed in our some Halloween pix of our witch, jedi and astronaut (Hunter changed costumes from a dog to an astronaut multiple times ...)

Good times

2008-10-29T13:20:00.009-06:00

With it being a few weeks since our last post, some of you may be wondering "Did she have the baby? Is that why they haven't updated?" You can stop wondering. The answer is no. But in the meantime, we've had a lot going on. (And I'm sure I'll miss most of it in this post.)

First of all, we had a fun weekend when the Jones side came up over the holiday formerly known as UEA. We celebrated grandma's birthday, carved pumpkins, made caramel apples, had a yummy dinner and made and decorated cookies! It was fun for all!

Collin also had his last soccer game of the season that Saturday. It was a great game (forgot the camera), and it was exciting to see how much progress the team has made since the first game. Way to go Great White Sharks!

Collin continues to have his BYU fetish fueled by uncle Chris. He has worn his Harvey Unga jersey 3 days in a row--I finally had to quarantine it until laundry day (then Hunter hid it and it missed the wash! Tragedy!!). He was wearing it at Smith's one day and a grandma told her granddaughter, "Look, there's Harvey Unga! He's littler than he looks on TV." Collin didn't hear it, but it was cute.

Savannah has been busy with school and activities. This week is not only Halloween, but also red ribbon week. Today was crazy hair day. Here's a sample of her "craziness."

Hunter is doing well. We went to a "well-child checkup" even though he is in-between usual check-up times. It was to find a pediatrician for us before the kids REALLY need it. The doctor was great. Hunter enjoyed being nakey (down to his diaper, anyway), for the visit. We found out that the great, big baby he was has moved from the ginormous category to the small-to-average category (they don't do height/weight charts in Australia). He is 18th percentile for height, and 50th for weight. His head continues to be large--75th percentile. And he uses that big noggin well. He is always in an imaginary scrimmage with Collin. He is by far the best Wii boxer in the family. And, of course, that head holds all his crazy brains--the kid comes up with some wacko things. I guess that happens when you are the third child.

Jessy has been making progress in the basement. He can't wait until it is done so he can work on the yard or play with the kids instead of being down there all the time. (He did get out and dig up the garden, taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather we've had (after the early snow)). He is working on the finish work and hopes to be able to paint before the baby comes.

As for baby #4...there is nothing really to report. Besides feeling like I'm lugging around a watermelon and sometimes not being able to walk at all, there is nothing new. According to my original dates, I was due October 25. That day came and went as we spent the day travelling to and from Provo. I've had some days (always Sundays, oddly enough), where I've had 6+ hours of contractions, but it has done nothing for me. I'm hoping the change in weather this Sunday will bring about some action, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high. The midwife asked when I thought enough was enough, and I said I probably don't want to go longer than next weekend (November 7 or 8), so that will be my induction time frame if it goes on that long. I'm not too disappointed that he waits until Halloween is over, but I have predicted that he will come on either November 2 or 4...we'll see about that. I won't be sad to say good-bye to the heartburn/reflux, pinched nerves, and extra weight that just seems to keep appearing (I put off buying Halloween candy as long as possible, but parties and trunk-or-treats start tomorrow, and I knew I wasn't going to get back to Target before then, so now that they're here, I have to eat them. Almond Joys and Reese's peanut butter cups--they both have nuts, so they should probably be banned from trick-or-treaters anyway!). In response to the requests for a belly shot (it's funny that only you Aussies ask to see this!!), I'm posting one, but Jessy says I look mad and I think it makes me look bigger than I am (don't pictures add 10 pounds? or is that just video?). I'm not really in the mood for photos these days, I guess. We'll be sure to update when there's news to report!

Soccer and Snow

2008-10-12T20:14:00.003-06:00

We've had some great laughs with the kids recently. First is Collin and his 'prowess' on the soccer field. He's been doing really good ... so good in fact that I need to bring in the reigns a bit. He scored a couple of goals last game and I kept telling him to get his teammates involved and help them score. So, the next time he was on a break away it was just him and the goal. He stopped, looked around, and then passed right to one of his teammates who then scored. He's been doing just awesome and we are all very proud of him.

The other big news is the dump of snow we had this weekend. Good thing it didn't hit while we were at the BYU game, but it did back home! Above is a home video of the kids enjoying some of the their first snow in a number of years (and for Hunter his very first!)

Kelli was having some pretty good contractions tonight so hopefully we are getting a bit closer :)

See ya!

Full Term!

2008-10-06T03:58:00.003-06:00

Well, thanks to those who voted for our baby's name. And especially thank you for out-voting Stinky Doo-Doo. Hunter will be disappointed, but I'm sure he will be using it for a nickname. In case you didn't guess, Collin would like the baby to be named Jett. Trey is one the adults in the house are tossing around. I guess we'll have to wait and see...

We are officially full-term with this pregnancy. For most people, that means the baby could come at any time and be healthy. For us, it means our baby will come in about 4-5 weeks. Who knows, though, we could get a miracle! (Please just wait until I get the Halloween costumes done and Jessy is done travelling!!! But if you really must come now...okay!!)

Since the last post, Collin and Savannah both had their first field trips of the school year--Collin on a nature walk to the Ogden River Parkway, and Savannah to the Ogden Nature Center and the Treehouse Museum (or Moo-seum, as she still insists on saying). They both loved their adventures.

The Lindsay side of the family had a family reunion last week and it was fun! The mountains in Park City (and on the drive there), were pretty with the fall leaves and once we got there it was non-stop cousin time--yea! In fact, we didn't see Savannah hardly at all on Saturday and she had a blast with her distant cousins.

We travelled to Salt Lake again this week for my grandma's funeral. She had a massive stroke two weeks ago. I'm so glad we went to the funeral because it gave me a different perspective on her life--it's funny that you don't really realize that people had a life before you knew them (like your parents or grandparents). It was fun to hear the memories of her from her children and see the slideshow put together by Keith.

This weekend was fun--Grandma and Grandpa Whetstone came up Friday and Chris came Saturday. Grandpa helped Jessy in the basement, we watched General Conference, went for a drive in the canyon, and maybe most importantly, watched Collin in his soccer game. We love having them here and hope they didn't go home with more than they came with!!

As for Collin's soccer game--this week he estimates to have scored about 7 goals (it was around there--we all lost count). Lucky for me, I got one on tape. Between Savannah in my face, Hunter on my lap, and the fast pace of the midget-sized game, I don't always get the camera on in time (like when Collin did a goal kick to himself and took the ball all the way downfield for a goal). On Saturday, his team really beat up on the other team (other kids on our team scored, the other team didn't get a goal), but the other team didn't seem to mind much.

I should probably go back to bed.

Busy Days

2008-09-21T16:11:00.007-06:00

Well, things are just getting busier and busier around here!! That's what happens when summer winds down. And we are excited for fall to start tomorrow (one season closer to snow, as Collin puts it).

Collin continues to LOVE soccer. He and Jessy are busy with practice and games (I guess we all are, since we usually go watch). He scored 5 goals in his second game, and this past week scored two (5 of the 6 players on his team scored--it was great!). Preschool is going well and it is his favorite part of the day.

Savannah loves her tumbling. Her tooth fell out (2 hours or so after school pictures were taken...I guess there are always retakes). She also loves school and her favorite parts of the day are riding the bus, recess, and lunch.

Hunter is a crazy man, but we love him. He dutifully tags along to all the extracurricular activities and is pretty good about it. He also is my little helper--with laundry, sweeping, garbage emptying and yardwork.

We've been going to the BYU football games (I nearly died when Jessy agreed with Chris that we should get season tickets), and love spending all day in the car with Erica and Mark, at the tailgate party with the Whetstone side of the family (and Jenny and some friends), and at the game. Hunter makes the rounds of sitting on everyone's laps (until he gets a stinky diaper...) and loves watching "the gun" (they shoot a cannon after each score). Collin follows the game pretty well and is very much into shouting "first down" and singing the fight song. Savannah's favorite part of the game is going out with Angie and Colton when he gets restless and doing cartwheels in the shade (and sometimes being spoiled with Dippin' Dots). It's a good thing BYU is having a good season--it's keeping Hunter and Collin happy, at least!

Jessy has another full-time job. He is working like a mad man on the basement. He just finished the heating and AC duct work, and is now working on wiring the lights and outlets. The plumber will be in next week, followed by the drywall crew in the beginning of October. He's set on finishing it before the baby comes, and I believe that he will indeed. He just got a new calling as well. Any guesses? He's the second counselor in Young Mens and the scoutmaster. I know he'll be great at it--he's had a similar calling in our previous two wards!

Speaking of the baby, I had an appointment this week (I was so excited-ha!-to get there, I got pulled over. Thank you, Mr. Ogden Policeman who called it a "pregnant moment" and let me off with that!)--according to the ultrasound, we are on track to have a 9 1/2 pound baby...again!! Isn't once enough for anyone??? I also got a job. Kind of by accident, but I'm not complaining. When we first bought the house and all the details on the mortgage and payments and everything, Jessy was wondering how we could pay it off and half-jokingly told me to apply at some local colleges to teach (he knew I liked doing it in Albuquerque, too). I checked a few out and actually applied to one, just so they would have my resume on file. (The HR people told me to do so because sometimes they need a substitute or something.) Nothing happened for weeks and I wasn't devastated or anything, but then, out of the blue, I got a call saying that this person wanted an interview with me. No details, so I figured it was about subbing. When I went, they said they wanted a person to teach at night at this other campus. And it has worked out great! It is more like a tutoring position as there are three sections of math, ranging from basics to advanced algebra and trigonometry. The students can enroll anytime and then they just work their way through the packets of each class until they are up to speed for what they want to do (nursing at Weber State, advanced electrician classes, etc.). It is ideal for me--I go twice a week for 3 hours. Just enough to get the mental stimulation I need and enough for the kids to miss me!! I also started working with the activity days girls, which should be a fun challenge--those 9-year-olds are crazy!!

So, our lives are getting busier, but it's making time go faster as we wait for Baby 4 to join us!

In case you need a reference...

2008-09-11T10:26:00.001-06:00

Nanny McPhee

Napoleon Dynamite

Nanny McPhee and Napoleon Dynamite

2008-09-10T21:46:00.004-06:00

When Savannah came home yesterday, I noticed something wrong with her mouth as she was talking to me. She proudly showed off her loose tooth. It looked like Nanny McPhee's scraggle tooth, but I didn't say anything so as to not hurt her feelings. When Jessy came home, I told her to show dad what was different about her. Jessy immediately said, "You look like Nanny McPhee!!" I about died laughing! It's gotten worse today, it still hasn't come out, and tomorrow are her school pictures!! Jessy tried to pull it out tonight, but he couldn't do it like Grandpa did it, so she just may have her scraggle tooth for this year's pictures.

We also have our resident Napoleon continuing to dress himself and amuse his mother (and probably all those who drive past our yard). Not only does he put on his boots with every outfit, but he found his "mailman helmet" today, and has taken up wearing that again. He's quite a sight, out there digging in the dirt with his get-up! We love our Hunter!

Seven years later and still going strong

2008-09-10T21:37:00.003-06:00

For anyone who has never witnessed a Savannah tantrum, either as an infant or as she has gracefully matured, here's a small taste. She had toned down by this time, but we thought we'd preserve a memory or two for posterity.

Game On!!

2008-09-07T17:19:00.003-06:00

Collin had his first soccer game yesterday – and he was on cloud nine the entire day … with the small exception that he was so disappointed he couldn’t play another game the same day. His game was at 8:30 in the morning and he just couldn’t wait … good thing he didn’t have to wait until the afternoon! Mom and Nathan came up and spent the night to catch his early morning debut and it wasn’t a disappointment! The ‘White Sharks’ as they have labeled themselves (and as evident by the color of their uniforms – Collin wanted to be called the white crocodiles but he was out voted --) were pitted against the Red Dragons in a ‘classic’ match. The fields are set up so that there are two PVC goals on each end of the field which is about 30 yards long and 15 yards across. Collin was just excited by the fact they didn’t have to use cones for the goals (unlike practice!) They play 3 v 3 with 6-minute quarters and a break long enough to change the players out. Collin started on the sideline (the whoas of being the coaches son) but we were quickly down 4-0 by the first quarter because the other team had quite the bruiser who literally threw elbows and ran kids over! The kids fought back though and Collin scored two goals! They were running all over the place. It doesn’t take much to knock the boys over, and they are overly dramatic in their response to a little kick in the shins or running into each other. All in all it’s hilarious to watch. Collin’s teammate Cooper added one more goal in the second half and the game ended up a 7-3 loss for our team. If there was any disappointment about losing, it didn’t show long once the koolaid drinks and fruit roll-ups came out of the bag. That is, of course, except for Collin. As we were walking back to the car, Collin asked if we lost. I told him that the other team scored more goals than we did, so yes, we didn’t win. Collin thought about it for a moment and then responded, “Dad, I don’t like to lose.” … in a somber tone. The he added, “I’m going to go tell my friend Carson that we had our first game today … and lost!” I responded with, “Why don’t you tell him you had your first game and had fun.” He thought about it for a second and then said, “I’ll tell him that later.” Not sure where he gets his competitiveness from … not that he ever had a chance between Kelli and I. We did have a lot of fun and look forward to many more games and fun. Just another funny saying from one of the boys -- at practice on Wednesday I was trying to teach them to pass. One of the boys picked up a weed (obviously wasn't pay too much attention to the important task at hand) and turned to me and said, "My Mom has these kinds of flowers in her yard!" Yes, many more fun days on the 'pitch'.

And one tired boy as a result!

And the race is on ...

2008-09-01T21:09:00.001-06:00

Kelli has been the diligent one in making sure that there has been some level of continuity since moving into our home here in Ogden. Between spending heaps of time trying to get the yard looking semi-descent, unpacking boxes and rearranging furniture, rooms, kids, … and finishing the triathlon training, it’s been more than a hectic last couple of weeks and months. Now that the yard is somewhat in order and the triathlon has finished, attention has turned to finishing our basement. We bought this home with a reasonably sized basement that is mostly unfinished. It’s good in the sense that we get to put it together how we’d like, bad in the sense that we have to put it together J So we’ve spent a lot of time just trying to figure out how much of it we can do on our own and how much we need to bid out. All in all we’re hoping to have it done before the baby gets here … but we’ll see what happens!

Anyway, there have been a couple of recent happening with the kids which just can’t be left undocumented. Hunter has been the most hilarious of late. We had some neighbors give us their little battery-operated jeep which Hunter just can’t get enough of. He is just tall enough to be able to push the ‘gas’ pedal. He cranks the steering wheel to one side and will literally just go around in circles for a half hour … or until the battery dies. The other day Kelli went outside and was trying to tell him to come inside and get some lunch or something. He stopped his jeep just long enough to look at her blankly for a second … and then respond, “Hey Mom! Close the door! You’re letting flies in the house!” His level of manipulation at this age is approaching his older sister! Then tonight we were out running some errands and Hunter was in the back in his car seat. He was trying to get her attention and got a little flustered when he couldn’t. Then he finally broke out with, “Mom, hey Mom, ding ding, hey Mom!” Ok, so those are cute and funny, but he’s also been increasing his vocabulary in areas which aren’t so good. He’s exploring his d’s and a’s and m’s and n’s … generally putting them together in that order. Kelli has tried to get the kids not to make a big deal of it and hopefully he’ll just pass through this phase without letting it stick. In the store tonight he did start shouting out, ‘darnet, darnet’ so at least he’s becoming slightly more ‘clean’ with his language.

In other news, Collin had his first soccer practice last Saturday. Kelli and I are the default coaches since they had enough kids sign up late they just set up a whole new team. It’s going to be 3 v 3, which should be quite entertaining. I thought we would do hour practices, but after 15 minutes the kids were just plain tuckered out so maybe we’ll go back to 30-minuters. We also did our first BYU football game over the weekend. Uncle Chris (affectionately known among his niece and nephews as ‘King Chris’ – yes, they have been brainwashed!) set up a monster tailgate party complete with generator and 2 TVs so we could all watch the Utah/Michigan game. It was quite hot, but the kids were so excited to finally be able to go to the game after waiting so long for it to come. Collin is an avid fan (so avid in fact that when his Aunt Jenny gave him a U of Utah doll, he promptly told her he didn’t want it and to go throw it outside!) I could only laugh when after BYU’s first score, they started to play the BYU fight song and there were Kelli and Grandpa Whetstone just staring at Collin as they were singing the song and making sure he got all of the actions in. If there was any hope ever left that he might have a tint of red left in him … I knew at that moment he was gone forever. Alas, at least we can look forward to an entertaining college football season!

Well, that’s about it for now. We are thoroughly enjoying being back home and closer to family. There are moments of panic and anxiety on whether we made the right decision, but there is also a quiet sense of peace that things are in order and will work out. We wish everyone the best out there and looking forward to hearing from you if you have a free moment. Cheers!

Back to School!

2008-08-28T03:25:00.005-06:00

Well, Savannah started school this week and it has been great for everyone!! She was so nervous and excited for her first day that she was sick to her stomach Monday morning. All the neighbors had a potluck breakfast for the first day of school and she could only eat half of a Creamie (who brings popsicles for breakfast?), and a sip of hot chocolate before she headed across the street to wait for the bus. The bus finally arrived and she got on and happily waved to Hunter and I (Collin was off with his buddy Carson). She loves the bus (she's the face in the metal-framed emergency exit window)!! These first three days have been half-days, but she thinks she knows it all now. I forgot to tell her to make sure to get on the right bus the first day, but she is starting to think ahead and told me that she remembered the bus driver, so she got on the right bus. She is excited to have a long day because they have THREE recesses. I have been told that it is "so cool" that her class has their own lunch table in the lunch room--in fact everything about lunch is pretty cool. Hot lunch, American style doesn't exist in Australian schools, so she thinks everything is amazing. Yesterday, I asked how her sloppy joe was, and she said, "They gave me a chicken sandwich and it was DEEE-licious! It was a giant chicken nugget on a bun! And they gave me two drinks--I chose chocolate milk and an orange slushie." What?? Chocolate milk days were special when I was in school and where were those orange slushies? She has been as happy as can be, and the dynamics of our home sure change with one less bored child around. Collin can't wait to start his preschool next Tuesday--we're headed to back-to-school night for him tonight.
While Savannah's away...the boys have been busy riding around in the Jeep. Last week the neighbor/primary president called to see if I would substitute for the 12-year-old class in primary. Then she asked, "And do you think you would want the Jeep? I've only charged it once or twice in the past three years until you guys moved in and now I charge it once a week." How could I pass that up?? Every time we go to Walmart, the kids have to go by the bike/electric toy vehicle section and take a look. Hunter bawled every time we had to leave it because he wanted to look at the tractor a "teeny bit longer." I certainly wasn't about to shell out $200-300 for one, since I thought they'd get sick of it quickly, and I wasn't looking forward to them asking for one for Christmas. But now that they've got one, they are out on it everyday. The first day, Savannah took charge and drove the boys around. Then when she went to her friend's house, Collin thought he could drive it (Jessy was out mowing the lawn and supposedly supervising this). I was doing dishes when I heard some yelling and looked out the window to see Collin trying to push and lift the Jeep while Hunter was patiently sitting inside. They had the left side wheels off the pavement and were high centered on the sidewalk! We've now set some rules, like stay on the grass, so our yard has turned into a racetrack. Hunter thinks he can drive it, but he can only barely reach the pedal so it jerks forward a few inches and stops. It's pretty fun for them and they are definitely using it well--thanks, neighbors!!!

The first week of school is always tiring, but I thought this was funny. Yesterday I woke up when my cell phone alarm went off--in the kitchen. I thought for sure the kids would wake up with it, too, since they were usually up well before that. Well, Savannah didn't get up until 7:10 (this is major sleeping in for her), Hunter got up at 8:00 (also big time sleeping in), and Collin rolled out of bed when the school bus pulled up at 8:15 (not so much of a surprise). I didn't catch Savannah sleeping, but thought the boys were pretty funny in their sleep poses. You can see that Hunter invaded our bed last night for the first time in a long time. He wanted a drink of water out of a certain water bottle and had a hard time settling back down to sleep.

Catching up

2008-08-22T13:20:00.007-06:00

Well, lots has happened since we last updated the blog, but I doubt I'll remember everything. So, I'll give a brief rundown. We've been unpacking, gardening, visiting, and really enjoying our time here so far. We particularly enjoyed a few things, like dinner at Grandma Whetstone's house--it reminded me and Jessy why we decided to move closer to family, and the kids thought it was great (they also thought a visit to grandma's meant spending the night!). We hope Grandpa's knee gets better soon. We also met Grandma and Grandpa Jones up at Porcupine Reservoir for an outing on the boat. Lots of fun!!

Jessy competed in a half-ironman on Saturday, August 9 (sorry, no pictures). Because it was at Utah Lake and started at 6:45 am, we stayed over at Angie and Robert's house for the night. We got up early and headed over to the lake...along with about 2 trillion mosquitoes! Luckily, they dispersed with the sun coming up, so the kids and I ventured out of the car to watch Jessy. Jenny, Nathan, and Grandma Jones also made it, so we were able to watch his swim (1.2 miles...plus 200 meters, thanks to the organizers' GPS mistake), see him off on his 52-mile bike ride, and then see him a couple of times on his 13.1 mile run. We were able to go to the beach and play at the park and eat snacks during the 6 hours during the race, and it was quite fun, except for the bee sting Hunter got. Jessy didn't fare so well. He drank too much on the bike ride (it was overcast and he didn't need quite as much hydration as he thought), so he was sick and puked twice on the run. He said that after he got rid of it all, he felt much better and finished well. Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Jones even made it just in time to see him, with Savannah and Collin, cross the finish line. I'm not sure I liked this race so much, but I was proud of him for having the motivation to train (he was up early every day practicing one or more of the three events), and actually going through with it. And I'm very glad he didn't die.

I had a doctor appointment Aug 11 and the doctor is now certain, along with the ultrasound tech, that the baby is a boy. So, that leaves finding a name. And that's where we are. Thirty-one weeks into it and no name. Fortunately, this pregnancy has been pretty smooth. Unfortunately, the third trimester aches and pains are settling in. At least with this one (unlike some previous pregnancies), my back has held up pretty well. It makes a big difference. I'm also excited to have some cooler weather soon, as most of this pregnancy has been in the heat.

Last weekend we had a fun time at our house. Robyn and Jacob and crew came up Friday to spend the weekend, and Grandma and Grandpa Jones and Jenny joined on Saturday. Jessy and Jacob took 5 of the kids fishing at Pineview Saturday morning and they all survived, including the fish. Then on Sunday most of the rest of our families came up to celebrate Savannah's 7th birthday. (I'm going to let her give most of the details on her blog--click here or see link to right.) It was so nice to have everyone here and the birthday party was great. Angie's cake was awesome!

Yesterday we went to Back-to-School Night to meet Savannah's teacher and walk around the school a bit. Mrs. Shaw seems very nice and well-organized for the upcoming year. Savannah is excited to start on Monday, and particularly excited to take the bus to school.

The kids are ready to start school, I think. We enrolled Savannah in tumbling and a cheerleading clinic, and she continues to progress well in piano lessons. She loves to go to her friends' houses and has been good about doing her chores first thing so that she can play ASAP. She had a mega-sleepover with her friend, Emma, from Albuquerque (who now lives about 1/2 hour away). They slept over here for two nights after sleeping over there for 2 nights. Collin starts preschool on September 2, and soccer starts sometime shortly thereafter. He loves playing with his buddy, Carson, and they are two peas in a pod. Hunter...well, there's no kindy here, but he likes it when the kids go away. He did go to the potty once, when I caught him squatting after getting out of the shower. He likes to "do a little, tiny wee wee" whenever his diaper is off (before or after bathing). He also does well to ride his bike in circles on the patio (Collin gets dizzy after a few minutes, but sometimes Hunter is out there for an hour or more), and play in the dirt. He is the first to really care about what he is wearing, and his outfit of choice is usually finished off with some snow boots I found while unpacking.

SURPRISE!!

2008-07-28T08:53:00.003-06:00

**Once again, I was waiting on Jessy to upload the pictures from the camera to the computer. It's not that I'm unable to do this, it just takes me a lot of time because I do it once in a blue moon. After reading the post, you might understand why neither of us has had much time to work on the blog. However, that will be corrected shortly and I plan on getting the camera AND the cables and revamping the whole thing.**

Imagine my surprise when I got a phone call last Monday saying that our stuff was in Salt Lake and they needed to set up a time to deliver it. It was only our stuff from Albuquerque (I thought), and it was only a few days late--to be expected. I almost fell over when they said it was from overseas!! It came 6 weeks early and beat the stuff that had been only 10 hours drive away in New Mexico!!! I excitedly arranged for them to come the next day. It was hectic, for sure, with the three kids and no Jessy, but somehow we managed to get all the boxes ticked off and all the stuff more or less in the house. It helped that the neighbor sent her kids over to get Savannah and Collin toward the end because things were getting a little out of control. The movers were supposed to unpack everything, but if you would have been here, you wouldn't have wanted them going through your stuff, either. I just had them unpack the kitchen, which left a huge mess since they aren't allowed to put things in the cupboards, but no boxes. I've only got one box left to go through in here and it's full of tupperware and sippy cups--I'm not putting them away until I determine that they're worth keeping (has a lid and/or all parts and isn't smelly or gross-looking). Our bedroom and the basement are still full of boxes, but the house actually looks kind of homey, it doesn't echo so much (HOORAY!!!), and everyone is on a real mattress now.

We had to speak in church yesterday. Unfortunately, we had been very distracted by unpacking that we had put off writing talks until Saturday. Grandma and Grandpa Jones came down from Logan, and we were very grateful for that. We were asked to speak on missionary work. Hunter gave a short talk that was not understandable and included him licking the microphone while he was listening for his next line (he licks everything!). Collin gave his scripture both in primary and sacrament meeting and did a great job. Savannah helped write her talk and spoke very clearly into the microphone. I was very nervous, especially about taking too much time, so I talked fast and left Jessy and the rest hymn 25 minutes. Jessy gave a great talk, and was able to make up the time well. Once the kids were done with their part, the boys decided to run back and forth between the stand and the grandparents in the congregation. Finally, I grabbed Hunter and took him out after giving Collin a discreet lecture. In any case, we made it through. And we got to have a yummy roast dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Jones--and Nathan (we enticed him up by the description of what we were making)!

No more weeds, no more fingertip

2008-07-15T17:41:00.003-06:00

**I didn't publish this as I thought maybe I'd add a picture, but I don't know if we'll get the actual photo off the cell phone, and the ones I found on Google, while pretty similar are rather gory. Don't want to make anyone sick!**

These past two days since Jessy last posted have been quite eventful. This is just a short blurb in between Jessy's detailed posts so I don't forget anything. After a weekend away in Salt Lake, we brought Grandma J back with us so she could watch the kids while I went to a doctor's appointment. It worked out very well. Grandpa J made it up after lunch and brought the tractor to raze the weeds in the back yard (it looks SOOOOO much better!). Hunter was in heaven driving that thing around on Grandpa's lap. Then Jacob and Robyn came up for an overnight stay en route to a family reunion at Bear Lake, which was also very fun for us all. We ate some dinner and Jessy went out to crank out some slushies for all the little kids (neighbors included). Grandpa thought he'd be funny and ask Jessy to get us adults some, too. When he returned to his chair, he plopped on down to relax and collapsed the lawn chair. Unfortunately, his finger was caught in the collapse, between a plastic armrest and a metal bar. We all sat there stunned for a second waiting for him to get up, but when he uttered an "I'm in trouble" and pulled out his bloody hand, things became a blur. His middle (or rude) finger on the left hand had a good size chunk out of it. We didn't really know this until we were trying to get him out the door and into the car when Grandma said, "Oh, Rynn, there's part of your finger over here." She scooped it up, but it was too much for me and we sent Jacob and the parents on their way to the hospital, while we looked up the best route and coached over the cell phone. While Jessy was on the phone, I was cleaning up the carnage--and it was exactly that!! It looked like a crime scene from a TV show. There was blood pooled on a chair and on the floor. Drops of blood everywhere--walls, floors, cabinets. Even spatters up the wall and on the blinds and window. The ER gave him a nice pain block but ended up sending him home with instructions to return in the morning for surgery.

Gettin' in a Groove

2008-07-13T21:26:00.008-06:00

Whoever said a thousand transitions at once wasn’t fun??!! It’s been so long since the last entry that I’m not even sure where to start. Kelli already posted the big news about the baby being a boy – so now I’m over halfway to my full-strength basketball … or hockey … team! Since we don’t have much luck for height in our genes, and since the first time I skated with hockey skates I knocked myself out … maybe I’ll have to settle for two kids to man the oars, another the fish finder … and I’ll do the fishing! Actually, the way it will probably work out is that Savannah will be barking the instructions/orders from the front of the boat, I’ll have three snoopy fishing poles all tangled up and knotted, all the while trying to row the boat and manage the fish finder :)

So, life is good. We’ve moved into our home and love the neighborhood. Our house is in a little town called Pleasant View and just north of the ‘big’ city of Ogden. It’s nestled up against Ben Lomond mountain which we can see from our back patio. It’s pretty empty right now since our stuff is still on a boat (hopefully still on the boat!), on the Pacific Ocean and we are awaiting our shipment of Albuquerque odds and ends (BBQ!) which should arrive next week. The Pacific Ocean stuff will not arrive until August, so the kids will enjoy screaming and running through an empty house for a bit longer. We did get our fast, light shipment from Australia last week and that had some essentials like bikes, pots/pans, extra clothes and bedding. Thank goodness for family to fill in the other bits and pieces. One thing I really wish we had remembered was tools! What was I thinking?

The ward and neighbors have been awesome. We had three dinners brought over to us last week along with a myriad of cakes and cookies from various people. The ward is very open and numerous people have come up and introduced themselves without hesitation. The neighborhood yards are set up so that all of the backyards back up and run into each other … which means you have something akin to a golf course for a play area. All the kids just get together in the backyard(s) and have a hey day! Where one has a trampoline, the other has a playset … and the other a baseball set up. Our kids are a little on the younger end of the spectrum, but all in all they are getting along with the other kids and really enjoying living here. Today they all went to their respective church classes by themselves --- Hunter included!

We’ve also thoroughly enjoyed spending more time with family. I stayed with my brother Jacob and his wife Robyn … and their three kids for a week in Logan while I started work. Kelli and the kids came up and we stayed another week with them. My brother Nathan and I did an Olympic triathlon together and had ‘heaps’ of fun. He finished the swim before me and then after mile 18 I caught up to him on the bike and we finished the rest of the race together in a whopping 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was a lot of fun to do it with him. Then we had my parents and sister come up and spend the 4^th of July weekend with us. We went to a parade and had a picnic (the Kaysville parade was quite unique--there was the regular parade of floats, military, bands, police, horses, and then the water portion followed, which consisted of city water trucks, old fire engines, flat bed trucks, etc. all with people and hoses just soaking everyone who didn't get up and move fast enough!) … then experienced fireworks about 2 minutes from our house while sitting atop a hill next to our house overlooking the high school. The next day we enjoyed a drive through Eden and some time out by Pineview Reservoir. These are the kind of experiences that I looked forward to when we decided it was time to come back home …

Work is going very well. I’m enjoying the position I am in and it looks like there is a lot of opportunity on the horizon with this company. Last Tuesday was my official last day in the military. It’s a batter of mixed feelings leaving the uniform behind. I’ll always be grateful for the friends we made and the experiences we had moving around. I can’t imagine our lives without those friendships and associations. Serving as a military member was in and of itself a plethora of mixed emotions. It was an honor to serve our country. Some of my most cherished experiences were spent wearing the uniform and saluting our nation’s flag. I had the opportunity to spend some time in Washington D.C. and spent many an hour walking around the monuments – but perhaps my most memorable experience was walking through Arlington Cemetery. If you ever get a chance to meander through the headstones of those who died while giving their life for our country and our freedom, it’s an experience not to pass up. We indeed have a lot to be thankful for in our country and the opportunity to serve for 8 years (12 counting the Academy!), was one that I will always treasure. That said, we are excited for this next phase of unknowns and have high hopes of a more steady future. It’s already strange to know that the house we just purchased could be our home for the next 20 to 30 years. I don’t have to look just 2 and 3 years down the road for the next move – I just feel like it’s easier to live in the here and now instead of always wondering where the next move is going to take you. Hopefully the kids will find some good friends and enjoy the opportunity of staying in one place for a while!

Since we don’t have a lot of stuff to find places for we’ve been spending the majority of our time outside getting weeds pulled and a makeshift garden in place. It might be too late in the year to get anything from the plants, but it at least keeps the kids busy (and me J).

The kids really are enjoying the fact that we are now in our own place and not living out of suitcases. Hunter seemed to struggle the most, but now is doing better. After nursery today the nursery leader told him, “See you later, hun!” … to which he responded “See ya, hun.” He hasn’t lost his personality for sure. He also loves babies. We went to lunch with my parents at a restaurant yesterday in Eden. On the way out Hunter walked by this Mom and a baby who were standing in the hallway. Hunter promptly stopped, looked up and started to pet the baby. Random, but funny!

Collin is a sports freak still playing baseball with anyone and everyone who will throw a pitch to him. He was invited over to a boy’s house in the ward … but unfortunately returned an hour later with big swollen eyes and cheeks because he’s allergic to their dog. I guess a dog isn’t in our immediate future as once planned.

Savannah is riding her bicycle like there is no tomorrow. She’s got more energy than we know what to do with, but at least there are neighborhood kids to help release it now. She can’t wait for school to start … but until then there is plenty to keep her busy little mind … well, busy!

And last but not least is the driving experience all might expect when traveling between countries where left is right and right is right. We were going down a road in Ogden which was a one way street. I was in the far left lane approaching a intersection with a light. The light was green and I prepared to make a left-hand turn to start going on the road perpendicular to ours. The only thing I neglected to take into account was the fact I was in the left lane, but still in America. So I took my immediate left and ended up going head on into the oncoming traffic. Luckily there was no one right there and Kelli let out an immediate warning to get into the ‘right’ lane, which I promptly did and thereby avoided any further embarrassment. Whew – hopefully it’s the last time of one of those!

And the newbie is a...

2008-07-02T15:55:00.002-06:00

Well, after Jessy's bout with kidney stones and my first appointment (they do ultrasounds and put them on DVD every time you go to the doctor/midwife here), we were pretty convinced we were having a girl. Combine that with the smoothest pregnancy and the least active baby so far, and I was more than sure that we were having a girl--a mellow baby girl. UNTIL we went in for the real ultrasound Monday and learned that our little girl is a BOY!!! The ultrasonographer was 100% sure that it's a boy. She saved the gender-looking for the end and regretted it. She had to pound (I am serious!), on my stomach for quite some time to get the baby to move. I asked if I should roll over or anything to get the bub to move, and she glanced up at me and said, "What, you don't like my methods?" She eventually got a quick peek at his nether-region and pronounced that we're having a boy and immediately turned off the machine. Kinda crazy. Don't get me wrong, she was really nice and everything but it was an unusual ultrasound for me. So Jessy and I spent the time on the drive home thinking of names. None yet. I had a girl's name all ready. But I'm still excited for another baby and I'm hoping this one bucks the trend of coming a week later than his predecessor--three weeks late would be a little too much! (I get the feeling they don't let you go more than a few days over here in Utah--I'm considered some type of higher-risk pregnancy because Hunter was 9 lbs. 11 oz. (4.4 kg)).

On to other news, we are very excited to be in our new house and actually hooked up to the internet again!! YEA!!! We love the house. Since we moved in with little more than our suitcases and some bedding, card table, and chairs borrowed from family, we are enjoying our empty space. We got appliances Monday, and internet, new windows, and our "fast shipment" today. So, with a fridge, our bikes, and some pots and pans, I think we're set. The people here have been great. Our new ward was very excited to welcome us and have brought us dinner the past two nights as well as tonight. We have had several neighbors drop by to welcome us to the neighborhood--some with cookies or cakes, some peddling their babysitting abilities. Our first day here was "Founder's Day" for the city, so they lit fireworks off at the school just down the hill. It was nice to sit on our porch and have front-row seats to the show. What a welcome!!! With little inside the house, we've spent a good deal of time outside. We planted a garden (we'll see if anything comes from it), and have filled a huge garbage can with weeds. Savannah and I spent several mornings this week out there until it got too hot. I'm sure Jessy will have more to post later, but I thought I'd give everyone a head's up on the baby news!

Just Relaxing ... Most of the time ...

2008-06-13T17:09:00.007-06:00

We are in full swing back home in America. So much so that it’s 1:30 in the morning and I’m still awake! Actually, it’s not because of a prolonged case of extreme jet lag, but the good ol’ US of A has welcomed me home by making me pass a kidney stone over the past week. I spent a good part of yesterday in the hospital on a lovely drug called morphine --- and now just trying to gut out the last (hopefully!) few hours of pain till it passes completely. I’ve already decided that this means we are having a baby girl come October since the last (and only previous) time I passed a kidney stone was about 4 months before Savannah was born … which would be about the same time frame for this next baby. All I can say at this point is that modern drugs are a wonderful thing :) … Ok, it’s now 13 June and as it turns out, the worst was actual yet to come and I didn’t pass the stone for another 17 hours. Thankfully it did pass on it’s on though around 5 the next evening and sleep was never so peaceful the next night. If what they say about passing a kidney stone being anything close to labor for our better halves, well, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. At least they get a cute baby at the end … all I got was a miniscule ugly looking rock!

So let’s get on to some of the more enjoyable parts of being back in America. Amongst finding a home, getting cars registered, and tying up necessary loose ends to get settled, we’ve taken advantage of our time off to do some stuff with the kids. Among some of our activities have been a dip in the local swimming pool (the kids were more than excited to get back in the water after going through withdrawals from their Aussie swim lessons), taking the kids to get some strawberry/cheesecake/kitkat shakes at some of our favorite local shops like Ab’s and Arctic Circle, going to a baseball game with the Salt Lake Bees (trying to get Collin converted to baseball from the cricket routine – almost caught a few home runs/foul balls but some kids ran me over), and while their enjoying some hot dogs, cotton candy (or fairy floss :)) … and also some backyard BBQ’s, games of kick soccer, Anna’s birthday party complete with piñata, baby Colton’s baby blessing, swinging in the hammock, going on walks with Grandpa/Grandma Whetstone (we even caught a snake on the railroad tracks the other day!), going bowling and to the zoo, and catching up on sleep! The weather has been less than summer-like. In fact, it’s been down right windy and pretty chilly. That said, it’s still comfortable and we’re getting used to the altitude change.

The kids seem to be doing pretty good. Hunter loves watching the tractors Grandma/Grandpa Whetstone’s house. They are doing a lot of development across the street and Hunter just stays glued to the windows all day dragging whomever will indulge him to take a peak at the latest ‘big twuck’ digging holes in the dirt. Whenever he talks to someone on the phone his first comment (and middle, and last) is always, “I saw a big twactor!”

Collin is our little sports fanatic. He has really latched on to the baseball thing. We bought him a little soft ball and bat. Between him and Savannah they’ve already destroyed 5 of the plastic balls … and lost one in the bushes at Grandpa Lindsay’s house. His Uncle Chris bought him a generic basketball uniform and he rotates between that and two other sport uniforms that other people have given him. He also is enjoying playing ping pong and basketball. He has quite the imagination for hitting ‘home runs’ and ‘foul balls’ and whatever else he needs to beat dad.

Savannah is truly missing school and her Aussie friends. She’s keeping busy though with doing piano lessons, reading books, playing the board game ‘Life’ with whomever, and coloring a massive picture of a unicorn. She is always looking for new things to do. For instance, she just walked in and demanded to know when I am going to follow through on my promise of taking her ice skating. I guess they aren’t going to forget anything I told them we would do when we ‘got back to America’.

So I guess that’s about it for now. We find a home in North Ogden and I start work next week. It’s been a relaxing down time, but I guess you have to come back to reality some time, eh?

A Tale of Two Cities

2008-05-26T21:26:00.009-06:00

We’ve been back in America for nearly a week now and I think only in the last day or so have we started to feel somewhat normal. At least “with it” enough to be able to document the adventures of the last few days in Adelaide, the trip over the Pacific and our first few days back home.

Reflecting on the events of our last few days in Adelaide, I figured Charles Dickens’ book A Tale of Two Cities is the most appropriate – especially the first line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” It was frantic getting everything in place: selling the cars, transferring money, cleaning the house, packing the suitcases, preparing for the house inspection from our tyrant house agent, saying goodbye to friends and all the while trying to keep a positive attitude that everything would work out in the end :) We had many people from the ward come and help with cleaning the home on the Saturday prior. It was a breath of fresh air to have so many people willing to sacrifice of their time – even though Kelli and I are stubborn enough to think we could accomplish everything on our own. As it turned out we could have spent weeks on end getting the house ready and it would not have been good enough … but more on that in a moment. Our last Sunday was melancholy. I didn’t really think it would be as hard as it turned out to be – I guess a testament to the close friendships that we’ve been able to foster while in Australia.

So, that was the best of times … the worst of times was the day before we had to leave. I don’t want to dwell on this part of the move since it was so horrible, but nonetheless warrants at least a mention. Suffice it to say that the house agent was in the house for 7 ½ hours! She went through everything with a fine-toothed comb. My inspections at the Academy were nothing compared to what this lady did. It was so ridiculous it was comical. We had a lot of things left to do that final day in Australia but spent all 7 hours following her around cleaning this and that. In the end she said our cleaning of the blinds and windows wasn’t good enough and she was going to have to do it ‘professionally’. Kelli in the end had a huge shouting/yelling match with her and we just signed the paperwork, handed over the keys and left. We have no idea what kind of bond we’ll be left with, we were just glad to finally say ‘see ya’.

Ok, so now on to the adventure of actually traveling. We arrived at a motel down by the Adelaide airport around 8 that evening … utterly exhausted. A good friend of ours dropped us off and took our minivan back to a family in the ward which had bought it from us. We put the kids in the shower and Hunter was in there for literally 45 minutes (sorry Adelaide … after the day’s events we weren’t in much of a mood for making sure we conserved water.) We all went to bed fairly quickly but then Savannah woke up at 1 in the morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep so we watched Pocahontas together and then around 4:30 had to get everyone up to get ready. We had good friends meet us at the airport – Scott Hann, John and Brianna Chambers (Brianna was in Collin’s primary class) and Leanne, Keely and Savannah Fleet (Savannah’s friend from school.) Keely and Savannah gave our kids bags of things to do on the airplane. They’ve all been such wonderful friends … and the fact they got up at 5 in the morning to come see us at the airport is just a small indication of the kind of things they did to make us feel welcome in Australia. They will be missed dearly.

Our first leg of 5 was a short hop over to Canberra. We made a quick stop in at the US Embassy to do my final outprocessing. There is a funny story with Collin that MUST be mentioned. So I was in the Embassy doing my thing and Kelli and the kids were out in the rental car. They were parked on a side street which led to the Israeli Embassy and right in front of the Myanmar Embassy. Collin decides that really has to use the toilet, so Kelli takes him directly over to the Myanmar Embassy fence (a black, wrought iron fence covered in ivy) and tries to get him to go. He gets stage fright and just can’t go so they go back to the car. Yet, the urge becomes too great and he runs back to the fence, bares it down to his ankles and relieves himself all over the Myanmar fence. I guess he showed what he thought of them, eh! (Don’t tell anyone by the way …)

We were able to catch up with some good friends that moved to Canberra from Adelaide – the Atkinsons (Chad, Holly, Hinckley, Belle and baby-yet-to-be-named.) We enjoyed a lovely meal of Kentucky Fried Chicken and had a few good laughs for old times’ sake. It was good to be able to see them before heading out. The next morning we were off to Sydney. Thank goodness the lady in Canberra checked our bags all the way to Salt Lake, so we didn’t see them again until LA and the customs checkpoint … and only then to pick them up and drop them off on the other side of the checkpoint. Sydney was amazingly blue and pristine as we flew in and flew out. It was good to have a final snapshot of the eastern Australian coast to pack into the memory banks. Our plan of having a whole middle row to ourselves on the 747 fell through as the plane filled up pretty fast. It was also a very old 747 (it still had ash trays in the bathroom!) that had only one movie projection screen at the front of the cabin and it was a poor picture to begin with. So, we were left to our own devices to keep the kids entertained. We’d managed to keep Hunter from taking a nap during the day, so by the time our 2 pm flight left from Sydney, he was ready for a nap. But, with all of the big trucks, tractors and airplanes at the airport the excitement was greater than nature’s call to sleep. That said, the gentle roar of the jet engines was no match for his will power. As we took off I looked over at him in the window seat and he was falling asleep kneeling up and fell against the wall of the airplane. Thank goodness he slept for a couple hours, was up for a couple more, and then pretty much slept for most of the rest of the flight. We managed some meager sleeping accommodation by putting Hunter on the floor and Collin and I shared the side seats while Kelli and Savannah managed in the middle. It was a very long 13 hours, but the kids did very well. Landing in LA was a welcomed sight to see the good ole US of A. It was a very nice, blue day as it was in Sydney with very little LA smog to speak of. After a snafu of collecting our bags (United put 3 international flights on the same carousel … even though there were 3 total carousels that they could have used!) we took our 2 full carts of luggage through customs (Kelli had tried to smuggle 3 bananas in her backpack so we had to go through the hassle of a customs line instead of bypassing it …I didn’t smuggle them, and there was no customs line, we just had to put a few bags through another x-ray machine). We then boarded our plane to Denver … of which we all remember next to nothing because we slept the entire 2 ½ hours (except Kelli, who woke up just as we were getting settled when the refreshment cart banged into the back of her seat). We were hurting pretty bad, but at least our bodies let us sleep on the plane to Denver. With a small layover in Denver we boarded a small regional jet headed for SLC. That flight was long with anticipation, but as we descended over the snow-covered mountains and Mt Timpanogas into SLC, it was a feeling of relief and gratitude to know that we’d finally made it back home … for me personally it has been 14 years of doing the military/mission thing and not living in Utah so it was even a little more, gulp, emotional.

Sydney ... L.A. ... Rocky Mtns = Home!

The kids came running out of the security area to give Grandma Whetstone a huge hug … Hunter was once again taking his own sweet time (he was our little slow poke since he had to look at every light in every airport, stop at every window to look at every truck and airplane …) but when he came out of security as well he came running up and laid a big hug on Grandma W as well. We were all happy to be off the airplanes and somewhere which felt like home. We spent a relaxing evening with Kelli’s family eating Papa Murphy’s pizza and cream-filled strawberries … only then to watch my first and last live Jazz game of the year as they lost to the Lakers in the playoffs. And then I got up at 4 the next morning because I couldn’t sleep … and ended up going down to American Fork to watch Jenny (my sister) do her first triathlon. So, no rest for the weary!

Over the past week we have been burning up I-15 to Logan and Ogden spending time with my side of the family (first time our entire family has been together since my brother Oliver’s wedding over 2 years ago!), and looking for a home. All the cousins are getting so big and Savannah has loved playing the big, big cousin role. Hunter loves to hold the ‘babies’ … one on each side of the family (Rya with Jacob/Robyn … big shout out to those two for letting us invade their home with only a 4-week old baby! --- and Colton with Robert/Angie.) We’ve gone through over 30 homes, and we finally found one that we like. We’ll see how the rest of the process goes. It is a beautiful area and I’m sure it will be good to get settled in to a new ward and everything.

The jet lag has been killer for us. We’ve taken a lot of afternoon naps and spent many a night hour looking for a way to kill time until the morning. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed their time with cousins, taking walks with Grandmas/Grandpas, playing the Wii and getting teased about their Aussie accents. Some of the things that have been ‘impressionable’ since coming back are high gas/grocery prices (looks like Walmart and Sam’s Club will be the shopping areas of choice!), hearing people talk about priesthood quorums and church callings while at the gym, listening to the radio and having a heavy LDS opinion being voiced, seeing billboards with LDS advertisements, the large size of trucks and vehicles in general, being able to talk without fear of people not recognizing what you are saying or giving that quizzical look of ‘where are you from’, and generally just being able to relax. The other big thing is the scenery – there is one thing that I’ve missed wherever I’ve lived since leaving Utah and that’s the amazing scenery and view of the mountains on both sides of the Salt Lake valley. Dad just bought a little aluminum (or aluminium :)) fishing boat and so we he took Jacob and I out on the Hyrum reservoir to teach us how to use it. Just being out on the lake and enjoying the sounds of the water and the birds was a heavy nostalgia for me. Just amazing the scenery and beauty that Utah has to offer.

Triathlon training on top of jet lag and the nearly mile of altitude gain has been interesting to say the least … only yesterday did I finally feel like I wasn’t starting from scratch all over again! Nathan and I are getting ready to do an Olympic distance in June (Nathan has to defend his sprint title) and then I’m doing a half-ironman in August … hopefully :) Yeah for Utah and being able to do this stuff on Saturdays (not Sundays)!

To finish there are some funny stories from our trip …

Hunter, upon getting into one of the first airplanes, turned to Kelli and told her he wanted her to open the window.

Hunter also thought he was pretty hot stuff being able to sit in his own seat on the airplane and buckle his own seat belt. Of course we couldn’t keep him buckled for more than 2 minutes … but at least he never took his diaper off and ran down the aisles!

In the hotel, before we left Adelaide, Collin all of the sudden got melancholy and told Kelli, “I’m really going to miss my friend Jack.” The kid has too many big emotions going on inside of him!

In Canberra when we were having dinner with our friends the Atkinsons, we gave Collin 2 chicken nuggets to which he replied, “Only 2? That doesn’t make sense.” Ok kid, whatever.

We traveled on a good number of vehicles, planes, etc getting back to America. One vehicle of choice was a shuttle from the plane to the terminal. The only problem is that Collin couldn’t get it in his head how to pronounce it correctly and kept calling it a ‘shittle’. What can you do … laugh?

And Collin again … in one of the airports they had a bathroom stall that was just for little kids, complete with miniature toilet … Collin was so excited as he sat down he exclaimed, “It’s just right for my bum!”

And lastly it was funny for me to be the caboose of our little train as we traversed the airport crowds. Each of the kids had their own little suitcase and Kelli and I looked like a father and mother chicken trying to keep all the little chicks in line and moving in the right direction. The grandparents usually stopped and commented on how cute it was, and people our age stared as if we were nuts and we could see the question in their eyes of whether we knew what birth control was or not (at least that was the impression in Australia since I would say 95% of people our age do not have 3 kids – the other 5% are members of the church … in Utah the ratio is probably reversed somewhat so it’s the norm and not the exception!)

So that’s about it! We are looking for to getting settled and know there is a ton (or heaps!) to do between now and then, but for now and forever, we’ll enjoy the journey and all the adventures that come with it. Cheers, ya’ll!

Home Safe ...

2008-05-17T04:31:00.002-06:00

Hello, Everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that we made it home safe. That was 7 pm yesterday evening ... and here it is 4 am and I can't sleep! No real problems from the flight over -- the kids did pretty well and we're just happy that we made it safe and are now back with family. We'll give a full run down pretty soon ... there were some pretty darn funny moments from the kids.

Cheers -

Cheers, Australia!

2008-05-11T05:38:00.004-06:00

We have but a few days left in Oz so this will probably be our last entry before we are back in the States. We definitely are preparing for this move with somewhat heavy hearts. People have asked if we are excited to go back and I’ve responded that it’s much the same feeling as preparing to go home from a mission. You look forward to being reunited with family and getting back to the life you knew from before … but at the same time you know that you are going to miss those friends and experiences you’ve had here. That said, we do have the luxury of the internet and technology to keep in touch, so hopefully we all do :)

So where do we start with the fiasco of the past 2 weeks since the last entry? How about the fact that Hunter has conveniently started to undress himself from head to toe and loves running around in the buff at each and every opportunity! We did try the potty training a little while back but when it didn’t work we realized our timing wasn’t very good and decided we’d try again when we get settled again. The other day I caught him behind a tree out in the backyard trying to ‘go potty’ and then today after church he had a dirty diaper and decided he was going to remove it himself. This is probably more information that you care to hear about, but it does add some humor to our current circumstances. With all of the house in mayhem he is in heaven with all of the opportunities to get into things. Yesterday it was a bottle of lotion that he decided to use as shampoo (and still has a lovely fragrance following him around!) and today it was a bottle of ‘eclipse’ gum that he thought would be fun to eat like candy. We all know that if he’s quiet for more than a few minutes then you can expect trouble. We just hope there isn’t too much that he’ll be able to get into on the 13 hour flight over the Pacific. A streaking little 2-year old down the aisle might add some comedy to the flight. He has been pretty good in enduring three days of movers in the house, packing and boxing all his belongings, but tomorrow may push him over the edge. We’re hoping he can last one more day, and he has been promised to be able to sit in the “huge” truck the movers are bringing tomorrow. We are a bit sad to be leaving just as he has really gotten settled—he goes to kindy and nursery without crying at all, and loves his friend, Jade, a 12-year-old girl in the ward he loves to be with (he’s spent the last two Sundays on her lap).

Collin has been his usual crazy and entertaining self. The move is affecting him a bit more, as he is unsettled and can have melt downs. But he is doing rather well, especially since he is able to go to kindy most afternoons. He told us today that he wants to sleep naked. He also confiscated my mother’s day flower after church and wore it around, along with his light saber. He is quite interested in football, since we told him we got BYU tickets, and told Jessy, “You be BIU and Savannah will be Port.” A funny mix of Aussie rules and gridiron. He fell getting into the shower on Tuesday and still looks like an abuse victim, with the biggest, nastiest bruise on his thigh, as well as several along his ribs and spine. He is very excited to go for a final play with Savannah’s friend, Keely, and her mom and older sister, Savannah. I’m not sure what he is going to do without their family. He also now looks for someone to go sit with during church. Luckily, the Hanns were sitting right behind us and he went back with Jacob and did some drawings.

Savannah was very lucky to be able to go to “High School Musical on Ice” Friday night with Keely and their family. She had so much fun at the show, and then she and Keely slept on the air mattress at Keely’s, where she is proud to say they stayed up until midnight. She then went with Keely to netball and out to lunch on Saturday. It was her last big shebang, and the Fleet family showed her a great time. As far as the move goes, she has been the least affected. She goes to school just as the movers get here and comes home as they are getting ready to go. Her teacher and class have prepared a farewell party for her on Wednesday, and they are all talking about it. Her teacher and some of the kids from her class last year are preparing to “crash” the party. They all want to wish her well. She is sad to leave her friends, but is sure she will make new friends in our new home. Her teacher is more concerned about the kids she’s leaving behind, as they have been worrying about her leaving for months and telling her and their parents how much they are going to miss Savannah.

Kelli was lucky to have several ladies from school throw a farewell party for her, too. Shauna, Savannah’s teacher from the past two years, and Leanne organized a dinner out and there were 5 other moms and two of Savannah’s teachers who showed up. They each gave her Aussie souvenirs and Kelli was so happy and genuinely touched by their thoughtfulness. She even stayed up way past her usual bedtime—the ladies stayed until they were closing the restaurant and Kelli got home just before 11 to find Jessy asleep on the couch (actually he heard me open the door and groggily jumped up, thinking he was going to protect the family from an intruder, but when he saw it was me, he fell onto the couch, already sleeping again). I also had a Mother’s day to remember today. It started with breakfast in bed. Since everything is packed (we are so grateful to Leanne for bringing over air mattresses, blankets, sleeping bags, towels, and pillows when she brought Savannah home), I probably will never have another Mother’s day quite like this. Jessy and the kids came up to the air mattress to deliver breakfast of toast and orange slices on a paper plate, as well as my gifts of a card and chocolates (I get to buy some clothes when we get to America). My special dinner was a pre-made lasagna and garlic bread on paper plates on the floor (Jessy was thoughtful enough to get us each a pillow to sit on), with our last can of beans and some bottles of ginger beer. That sounds more pitiful than it was, but it was definitely a day to remember.

Jessy has officially completed his assignment here at work, and had his farewell barbecue Friday. He also had a last kick with his soccer buddies from the workplace last Friday, a final game with the 5-a-side team at the Air Force base on Tuesday and a final golf outing with fellas from work on Monday. It has been a dream job with nothing but technical work and little to no ‘extras’ to worry about in the workplace. But, alas, time to go back to the ‘real’ world.

I guess it definitely goes without saying that we are going to miss Australia. I woke up this morning to the laugh of the kukaburra, watched the lorikeets flying through the trees, and the cockatoos gliding gracefully through the air. It is a beautiful place. We’ve been extremely fortunate to see a lot of the beauty of the land down under, but most of all we have made some great friends and we are going to miss hanging out with them. We hope that our Aussie friends reading this blog will always know that they have a place to stay where we are in America and we hope that someday we will be fortunate enough to come back for a visit and ‘holiday’. Until then, thank you for the warm hospitality and opportunity to share in your culture. It was been an amazingly quick 2 years :)

Culturegram #2

2008-05-10T22:02:00.001-06:00

Continuing with our impressions of the Aussie culture … last time we talked about language, food and birds. I did miss a few things on those items. We totally forgot about the poor little kookaburras – they are pretty elusive in terms of being able to see them, but you hear there laugh from miles around. It’s kind of infectious as well. In addition, I had the kids at the park the other day and there were these two rosellas. They look like parrots with red heads and blue breasts. Very pretty birds. There were just the two of them eating on the grass. Collin kept sneaking closer and then finally they flew away.

Sports

Aussie football, Rugby League, Rugby Union and Cricket. Mix in a little soccer and basketball … and some netball for the girls and there you go. We posted a bit on our blog recently about the Aussie football experience at an ‘AFL (Australian Football League) game. It was good fun and the action is pretty nonstop. They rough each other up even when the ball isn’t around but it’s just part of the game (although the ‘minor’ league games are a little more of the no holds barred variety.) Not sure on the Rugby stuff since that’s primarily played on the east coast – New South Wales and Queensland (footy is big in Victoria, South Australia and West Australia.) We’ve never had much to do with cricket. It’s a lot like baseball in terms of pace of the game and such … kind of boring unless you know the tactics and players. Basketball and soccer kind of take a back seat, but are popular among the younger generation. There is netball as well which is basically basketball without a backboard but you can’t dribble with the ball and players, depending on position, are allowed in only certain areas of the court. A little different but Savannah has enjoyed playing in a little league with her school friends. And this section wouldn’t be complete without a comment on their emphasis on swimming. All kids are expected to be able to swim. There is a sign in the swimming pool where I go that they are expected to be able to swim 400 m by the time they finish primary school. And it really does show … the schools even take a full week during the year and they do swim training. As near as I’ve been able to tell, they don’t have a whole lot of high school sports competitions (between schools that is). It’s more based on community programs, which is nice for kids and adults alike. Tennis is something that isn’t as common. In fact, it’s pretty difficult to find a public tennis court. Kelli had to join a tennis club to get her fix and a decent tennis court.

Shopping

Australians have a unique set up for their shopping. With few exceptions, grocery stores close around 9 during the week and by 5 on Saturdays. Pretty much all other shops close at 5 every day except for Thursdays. That means that Thursday evenings you just stay home. Going to the mall (or plaza) on Thursday is just asking for crowds akin to the morning after Thanksgiving. It’s nuts but something you have to experience to believe. As far as the actual shopping, prices are 1.5 to 2x more expensive than prices for the same items in the States. It probably has something to do with the lower supply and longer shipping routes. But, then again, you don’t have the same demand as well. I only managed a B in economics and don’t even claim to understand it all. People just generally don’t buy so much junk (which isn’t such a bad thing :) and have to save more before buying certain items. Definitely makes you more conscious of what you are spending your money on. As Kevin alluded to in their blog, gas is around $6 a gallon. So, we’re already getting used to the pain of the gas in the States coming up to $4.

Pubs and Pokies

When you want to go out to eat, the most reliable source of reasonable food without going to the expensive joints downtown are the local pubs. No kidding, take the kids and lounge in the restaurant. The local footy clubs also have very good restaurants that they use as a source of additional support for their teams. But, also attached to these establishments are drive-thru liquor stores. No kidding, you pull in to something like a Jiffy Lube, but instead of an oil change, you place your order for whatever sort of spirits you are looking for. You don’t even have to get out of your car --- this is full service we are talking about. Inside the pubs and footy clubs you’ll find a festive atmosphere of food, drink and … pokies! These are the Vegas style slot machines that many a person enjoys in the middle of the Nevada desert … and in all throughout South Australia. In fact, gambling in general is pretty popular. It’s generally even an acceptable practice to do ‘footy tipping’ inside the government workplace … including using government e-mail and such to advertise it. Horse racing is also hugely popular. Look inside the newspaper at the sports section and 2 full pages are dedicated to nothing but horse racing for that day.

Wildlife

So we mentioned the Australian birds which do deserve their own little section since they are so unique to Australia. That’s taking nothing away from some of the other amazing animals down here. We’ve had the opportunity to see kangaroos, wallabies, emus (pronounced em-you for all you Yankees!), Tasmanian devils, wombats (did you ever know there was such a thing), and koalas. I did fail to mention one bird which I’ll mention here. It’s the wedge-tailed eagle. I’ve seen golden and bald eagles, but this thing is enormous. When we drove up north through the center of Australia on our way to Uluru we could see out in the distance a roadkill and it looked there was this long-legged dog of sorts standing over it. As we got closer though, this massive ‘dog’ spread it’s wings and took flight. I couldn’t believe the size of this bird. It was just amazing how long its legs were, saying nothing of its wing-span. The kangaroos are big and muscular. Not something you’d want to mess with and can very easy grow taller than you in height (and width) and are amazing to watch in how smooth they bounce and how fast they cover distance. The wallabies are basically miniature kangaroos that are your cute and cuddly variety that don’t come any higher than your waste. Emus are nasty ostrich-type birds that have little to no fear when it comes to humans. I did taste emu once and they aren’t too bad. Tasmanian devils are pretty elusive, but I don’t know much more about them. Koalas appear cute and cuddly but when they walk on the ground or you hold them they are more or less wirey little creatures with not much to them. Wombats are about as bland as they come. It’s basically a generic oval-bodied animal with a round head that you’d see a kid drawing in elementary school. But, they are Collin’s favorites … they do kind of look alike. And then there is the hard-to-see platypus. We’ve tried numerous places to see one, but just haven’t been successful. They like their solitude and only tend to come out at night. Alas, we’ll have to wait to see them in a zoo J

Happy 24th!

2008-04-28T14:58:00.004-06:00

It’s been a week of happy occasions in the immediate and extended family – definitely enjoy writing and thinking about these kinds of weeks. The kids as well were up to their usual antics, but we’ll keep that for later :)

Last week we finally finished off our last birthday of the spring – we went from Hunter to Collin to Kelli and then mine. Poor Savannah is out on her own there at the latter end of the calendar. At least the new little one will be coming along to join her pretty soon! Well, relatively soon. Actually, it’s a long, dreary 180 days to go – but who’s counting. Guess you can tell who hasn’t proof read the blog entry yet, eh? So the birthday was ok, but the biggest news is that our extended family (Jacob and Robyn) had a new little baby girl the same day! Her name is Rya (R-I-A) Afton Jones. We are all very excited for them … now it’s double the cake, ice cream, party hats, pin-the-tail on the donkey. Just exactly what someone needs who is now moving through their 30’s … a little niece who will keep the lighter side of birthdays going.

Jacob and I also both found out the very same day that we’d been offered jobs. That was a lot of stress and anxiety gone for the both of us. We are going to end up at an aerospace company near Brigham City, Utah and Jacob is more than likely going back to the old stomping grounds and will teach math at the high school our PARENTS went to. So, yes, it was a happy day all around!

I do have to talk about one down side to the day. We decided to go eat out to celebrate the birthday and job. We don’t go out too much down here because there aren’t any Applebee’s, Outbacks (go figure), Olive Gardens, etc. If you want to eat out you generally go to a pub – yep, family friendly even. Our kids are generally monsters when we take them in public, so we rarely venture out so as to avoid even the slightest possibility that they will embarrass themselves and us. But, there is this nice looking restaurant near the city park where we live. It’s even called the Family Restaurant on Civic Park. Now how can you go wrong with a name like that? Well, we did. You walk in and you’re immediately hit with a nose full of seafood and Chinese food aromas. It was a pretty busy night and they were pulling card tables and whatever else out of the closets to accommodate anyone and everyone who walked through the door. As Kelli mentioned, I’m sure we surpassed the quota for the fire code regulations. But, it was a buffet and not very classy, so the kids pretty much could do what they wanted and no one would notice. The kids ate chips (French fries) and meat pies (which they probably bought from the local store and stuck in the microwave) and Kelli and I ate some of the greasy Chinese food. The bonus was the dessert rack which we let the kids go crazy on. I definitely had a headache by the end and it was one of those times you just couldn’t leave fast enough. We figured it was at least a memory to take with us.

As usual the kids have been full of it. Ever since we took Collin to the footy game he’s been playing all the footy he can. He uses the couch in the living room as his ‘goal’ and has to kick the ball over the couch to get points. Luckily his little leg can only carry the ball just over the couch, so thus far he hasn’t broken anything. Savannah has to temper her aggression a little more. We had one picture knock-down with her aim, but luckily it didn’t break. Hunter has also been sporting his athletic side. Every time he gets dressed (regardless of what he gets dressed in) he has do the ‘Collin dribble’ which is basically putting both hands in front of you and doing a jig while bouncing both hands up and down. It’s pretty hilarious. Hunter has also turned into quite the musician and will play Collin’s guitar while bobbing his head up and down and walking around the house.

We also bought season tickets to BYU football games. I’m a die hard Utah fan, but it’s more for the atmosphere then anything. Immediately after buying the tickets I made sure I found the UofU hats and told the boys that they need to keep their priorities straight even when going into ‘enemy’ territory. I’m sure they won’t mind wearing red. Collin just likes the uniforms and has a fancy for whatever color looks the best at the moment. He does like red, though.

A few one liners and funny happenings from the past week: Savannah went to a birthday party for a girl from church. It was only for the ‘big girls’ and Collin was upset that he couldn’t go. Kelli tried to distract him by telling him that when we get back to America he can have a party with his Grandmas/Grandpas/aunts and uncles. His response to that was, “NO!! I don’t want a party with them – I only want big girls!” Need I say more? Collin has also been watching too much TV lately. He’ll just come up with some of the most random sayings. The other day he told Kelli that, “Dad is clever because he can put on my missionary tag.” And then he said, “Ready and Action!” when we ready to start playing Guesstures. And lastly, from Collin again, we were asking the kids at dinner what we should call our new baby. Collin perked up and said, “SHICKEN!!” Kelli looked at him with disbelief and Savannah responded, “Who would call there baby CHICKEN!!” To which Collin retorted, “I didn’t say CHICKEN, I said SHICKEN!!” So, we’ll just call it the week of the Collin. He did start his first full week of kindy (3 hours a day except he ‘has Fridays off’ – as he puts it.) The kid is a kick in the pants … literally!

Culturegram #1

2008-04-23T03:44:00.002-06:00

We thought we'd take advantage of these last few weeks to document some of our lasting impressions of Australia ... there were so many things that impressed us and took some getting used to when we got here ... and now are just life as usual. So, for the first few thoughts ...............

LANGUAGE

Although they do speak english down here, it's their own unique version different than the Queen's or that from back home. The sentence structure is obviously the same, but it's mainly the vocabulary. When I was working with the young men in church there was a rarely an evening or Sunday meeting that went by when they didn't snicker at something I said or there was something they said that I had to ask for clarification on. And for those words that we do have in common, they tend to pronounce a lot of them differently. Just today I heard someone say the word, 'advertisement', but it was not prounounced 'ad-ver-TISE-ment' it was pronounced 'ad-VER-tiz-munt'. They also like to shorten everything that can be shortened; and even those that can't be shortened. An example, in their local footy games they have 'spectacular' plays but call them 'specky' for short ...

BIRDS

This is something I am truly going to miss. We walk outside of our house and it's literally like being in an aviary. Just this morning we had 1,000's of white/yellow cockatoos flying around the trees across the street. They were making their 'caw' sound and flocking this way and that and then landing in the gum trees. They occasionally play with each other by hanging upside down and spreading their yellow wings as far apart as they can. Then there are the lorikeets that are bright green, red, blue, yellow and are very fast. They love to sit in our little bush tree outside and munch on the seeds ... they also like to hang out in pairs like little love birds. Then there are the galahs that look like cockatoos but are pink and gray. They make a less than pleasurable noise and love to chew up the grass looking for whatever. They are still pretty to look at. And then finally are the gigantic magpies that dive bomb you while riding your bike and the little robber birds that look like robbers (they're called miner birds and make a sound like a ringing cell phone), and are also pretty adept at kamikaze tactics.

FOOD

Can't have a culture gram without food now can you. Ok, so for the biggest thing to miss -- TIM TAMS!! Those delectable chocolate covered wafers sandwiching a smooth chocolate cream. And then bite off a corner from each side and suck in some hot chocolate through the cookie (sorry, biscuit) and you've got a little piece of heaven. Lemon squash is like carbonated lemon juice and is sour, but refreshing. We also like passionfruit crush, and the kids like ginger beer. And what would be a summer drink without some cordial (something like very concentrated liquid koolaid that is diluted directly in water.) We love the aussie barbies, especially the kids and their sausages (hot dogs) on white bread with ketchup (and grilled onions for the adults). There aren't many choices for ice cream here, so we'll be happy to get back to that action!

Going Private

2008-04-22T18:32:00.002-06:00

Well, you did it! Everyone going private has made me nervous and so we're going to jump on the bandwagon. I don't know who would want to find us ever, but I guess that's only one of the many reasons to have a good idea of who is looking at your stuff. So, if we don't have your email and you'd like to be invited, let me know and I'll send out invitations in the next two weeks or so.

PS--After all the complaining about how stinkin' hot it was around here, I should be fair and rave about the gorgeous fall weather we've had for the past three weeks. It's about to turn colder here in a couple of days, but you can't beat the sunny, crisp-cool fall days we've had lately!

FOOTY!!!

2008-04-20T05:36:00.007-06:00

We are one step closer to making our move back to the States. We somehow managed to get our house in pristine condition to pass our pre-moving house inspection. That included washing all the walls (pen and pencil marks gone!), scrubbing the carpets with water/white vinegar (that stuff is amazing if you’ve never used it), vacuuming, and organizing all of our stuff. The first moving company came to do an estimate for all the first load of stuff to go on 7 May. The rest gets moved on the 12^th. We also got an estimate for getting rid of our vehicles and had a ward party at the church for another family and ourselves that are moving shortly (still 3 weeks out and they are already trying to get rid of us!) It’s been frantic … but it will all be over soon … hopefully J

The kids have been doing very well. It has been school holidays for the past week so Kelli’s been dealing with them all day, every day. Except Friday when Leanne, Keely and big Savannah took the two older ones downtown--more later on that one. They were in swimming lessons at 4 every afternoon which knocked them out for the evening. That was good, but they still haven’t managed to get used to the time change. Hunter got up at 4 this morning and kept giving us the ‘I wan’ go downSTAIRS!!’ We finally just put him back in his crib and after 5 minutes of crying he was willing to go to sleep in our bed.

Collin had a special day at church today. He was asked to give the scripture in primary and did an awesome job. He was dressed to the hilt. We didn’t realize he’d outgrown his pants, but he really wanted to wear his matching vest and orange tie (which was too big for his vest), but alas he won over the argument. He also got a haircut the night before and was very particular that it was combed just right. He was very handsome sitting up there on the front row waiting for his turn. He kept sneaking a peak at Kelli and I in the back row and giving us a wave and a smile. When it was finally his turn he went up the microphone and as I was kneeling down to help him with the words he put his mouth right up to the microphone and as clear as day said, “Good morning, brothers and sisters!” Who knows where he picked that up, but maybe they are paying more attention in sacrament meeting than we thought! He proceeded to give an excellent scripture and we were very proud of him. It was one of those moments as a parent that you wonder how your kids are getting so big so fast. Kind of brought tears to the eyes.

Savannah has had a productive week. I wouldn’t say that she is enjoying being home because she really loves school. She’s been a big help around the house. I would say also that she must be growing because she is eating like a champ these days. She had one and a half sloppy joes (and asked to have them the next night), and double and triple helpings of lasagna and shepherd’s pie (which is her favorite.) Savannah has been doing incredible at swimming. She has a wicked backstroke, but her freestyle is starting to catch up as well. In fact, she did a full length of the pool and back (~35 meters!) all by herself. Collin graduated from the platypus and spent a full week with the starfish group. The teacher took his floats off and let him flounder in the water. He did a pretty good job of trying to keep himself afloat. They are both turning into water mongers!

Hunter is full of his usual antics. We are just trying to keep him from destroying the house until we leave. We don’t know how we’re going to survive on the airplane, but hopefully somehow, some way it will all turn out ok. He’s full of one liners right now and it’s hard to keep up with the kid. The other morning we were reading scriptures and talking about how if the Lamanites didn’t repent then they would be destroyed. Well, Hunter was repeating after her and instead of destroyed he said, “FRIED!!” Ok, that works, too. We’ve also mentioned in week’s past that he is our little inquisitive and creative one with getting in to things. That has a good side as well, though. We have some of those building blocks of different shapes. One is an arch with another block that fits inside the arch. Kelli said that one day he was sitting there looking at both of the blocks and had this studious look on his face. Then it was like a light came on. He looked over at Kelli with this sort of ‘Eureka’ look on his face. He then looked back at the blocks, picked up the two of them and placed them right together. Right now he’s sitting on Kelli’s lap with his lips sticking out trying to figure out how to button up his pajamas. He’s pretty determined. One other funny story with Hunter – the other night we were watching the move, “An Unfinished Life.” He was dozing off towards the end, but then there is a part in the movie that is kind of scary where a bear comes walking down a path and face to face with this guy. The way the lighting and stuff is done is quite amazing and sends chills down your spine. Well, all of us are sitting there watching the drama unfold on the TV and then Kelli gets my attention and points toward where Hunter is lying on the floor with his head propped up on one of those foam chairs. His eyes are wide open and he is literally petrified looking at the TV. His face was all scrunched up and lips were sticking out. He did not move from that position or change his facial expression while we looked and talked to him until the bear was out of the scene. I think we definitely scarred the kid for life in terms of bears. I guess we’ll have to get a camper or something if we want to venture into the woods.

We also went to our first full-fledged, professional footy (Australian football) game between the Adelaide Crows and another team from around Perth (Fremantle). Collin was counting the days down all week until we would go. They did pretty well through the first half, but it’s the type of game that isn’t real good for kids because the pitch itself is enormous and the seats and stands are not at a very steep incline relative to the field. So, unless the action is right in front of you, it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on at the other end of the field. Nonetheless the kids did well through the first half. The 3^rd quarter they lost complete interest and were just goofing around with each other. We decided to leave at ‘three-quarters time’ to beat the rush and get to the ward party. The kids were okay with that until Collin realized that nobody else was leaving with us and were still in there seats. That’s when we started the floodgate of tears and the, “I want to stay!” It didn’t matter that the he hadn’t watched any of the 3^rd quarter, the game was still going on and he wanted to be a part of it. (Sound familiar?) Of course, even though I was getting my own dues for what I pulled on my parents as a kid, at least Collin had clean language throughout the tirade :)

So, yea, that’s us for another week. We’ve been told that an official offer is in the final approval stages and should be forthcoming early next week. We'll keep our fingers crossed that all goes as well ...

Our "TERRIFIC KID"

2008-04-15T05:49:00.005-06:00

This time change has definitely thrown us for a loop. While it is proving easier to get the kids to bed quicker because it’s darker earlier, I didn’t take into account the other side … the getting up an hour earlier as well! So, Hunter has taken full advantage of the situation and gets up at 5:30 every morning. He’s pretty funny about it, too. You hear his crib creaking next door and sure enough, a couple seconds you brace yourself for, no, not a cry or scream, just a simple, “Dad!” or “Mom!” (for whomever he’s having a hankering for at the moment.) He’ll even give you a couple of minutes to get your senses together before he starts getting perturbed and upping the volume a bit more. Of course, it’s then not just a case of bringing him in to bed with you and going back to sleep. He gathers whatever toys from his crib (he sleeps with two dolls and their blankets, a dinosaur, an elephant, and a bird) … his next line is always, “downstaurs?” … actually, it’s more of a demand than it is a question.

While we are on Hunter, just a few things out of the ‘ordinary’ with him for the week. He’s still in the mode of throwing anything he can get his hands on. He’s also got quite the creative and intuitive mind. If he can’t reaching something, he learned early on that a chair will do wonders. And then if the chair doesn’t get you high enough, you just find a stick somewhere (one of Collin’s lightsabers, aka golf clubs usually does the trick.) Whack it a few times and voila!, there you go, whatever it is you are after … plus a few other minor things. But who’s counting? The funny thing is that he knows what he’s doing is going to get him in trouble and he’ll often go punish himself by sitting on the stairs. Of course, as soon as he gets on (and he’s learned this from his two older siblings) he’ll let out, “Can I get down now?” To which we’ll say yes and he’ll keep repeating if he can get down now until he’s ready to get down. All on his own time :) But, you can’t help but love the little scrunch bean and his happier moments.

Collin can’t wait to get back to America. A lot of things that the kids keep asking for (roller skates, dog, etc.) we just use the excuse, “When we get back to America.” I don’t know how good their memory is but we might be in trouble if they remember everything we’ve used that line on. One thing he’s stuck in right now is ping pong. We played it a few times at the church and his uncle Chris showed him his ping pong paddle over webcam. Since we used the ‘wait till America’ line, he decided to take matters into his own hands and had me draw a picture of a ping pong set. We then cut it out and after it was all cut out, he seemed a little confused at what to do next. He figured that if he could just draw a picture then everything would work itself out. He had Kelli make him a paper guitar last week, as well. I think he’s been watching too much “Little Einsteins”. We did the same thing with a footy tonight. He did a cut-out of a footy and then played footy around the house. He’s decided that he wants to play footy when we get back to the States. We told him that they don’t have it back home and soccer might have to do for a bit :) He’s ok with that. Speaking of which, Hunter has a nasty left foot.

Savannah has been the princess of the week. At school we found out that at the whole school assembly she was awarded with something called the ‘Terrific Kid Award.” It’s a big deal, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club and everything, and given out once a term. Apparently they have the students in each class vote for their peers to select someone who they think is a terrific kid. Savannah was voted the terrific kid (girl) from her class of about 25! Brings tears to a parents eyes, sniff, sniff. We also had a new experience as parents. Our first child just lost her first tooth. It happened pretty darn quick, too. One day it started wiggling and then the very next she comes home with the same tooth in a little pouch. The tooth fairy made a special visit and must have known that she valued the tooth at around $1 (the tooth fairy increased it slightly to $1.10 – something with the exchange rate between here and America these days :) She also got a meat pie and chocolate milk from one of her friend’s Mom. You can’t buy the meat pies at school any more because the schools have decided they are making the kids obese (of course, you can buy pizza still, but whatever.) Meat pies are the Aussie food Savannah loves most and she used to order one every Friday from the canteen if she had behaved well that week at home. It was so easy to say, “Do you want a meat pie this week?” when she was acting up. It doesn’t seem to work so well with, “Do you want a half a hot dog this week?” It might make her think, but doesn’t get the instant results.

Hunter, by the way, downed 2 hot dogs (or Aussie sausages) by himself at dinner tonight. The kid is a tank. Not sure where he gets his appetite from, but it’s ferocious.

Kelli and I are busy getting the house ready for inspection and prospective tenants to look through. We’ve pretty much finished the big stuff outside and are now working to tidy things up on the inside. The agent for the home is still giving us a hard time about breaking our lease and doesn’t want to let us use the military clause that is in our contract because we are getting out of the military and not moving to another assignment. When she found out that we’d be moving before our lease was up regardless of whether we were getting out or not it seemed to appease her a bit. We’ll see what she does with the bond money, though.

Other than that we are relaxing without church callings to take a lot of our time now. I don’t think we realized how much time and effort went into the callings until we didn’t have them anymore and now wonder how to occupy our Sundays and such --- of course, there is the house work to take care of that little ‘problem’.

The job search is more or less over. I’ve got to be cleared through the legal details of moving from the government to contractor side, but once that’s complete it should all be smooth sailing … which will be a huge relief to have done and over.

Well, we’ll leave you with that for now. Till next week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KELLI!!!

2008-04-07T05:40:00.005-06:00

So it’s only 8 at night and we’re already enjoying the fact that we just hit daylight savings time. Fell back the hour, got an additional hour of sleep last night, and now the kids are in bed before 8! That is of course except for Collin who is our regular night owl regardless of what time of year it is :) (I wrote this last night … and little did I know that they would be up at 4:30 this morning! Geez maun … name that movie :)

By the calendar we are 5 ½ weeks away from returning to the States. A lot of people have been asking if we excited to go back, and most of the time we give the politically correct response that there are a lot of mixed emotions, which is the truth. But, the fact that it’s somewhat imminent gives a sense of urgency to wanting everything done and over with. Just considering that, yes, we are excited to be going home. We do have a lot of good friends that we’ve made here (and good friends that we knew in the States that are now here in Oz), so there are many ties that we are leaving behind. The beauty of technology and such, though, is that we can keep in touch and enjoy one another’s experiences even from far away. The obvious draw back to the States is the chance to see and spend time with family again. I watch a lot of the families here who have Sunday dinners together, grandparents playing with their grandchildren, and just a lot of family time that we don’t have the opportunity for. Although we’ve thoroughly enjoyed moving around and having heaps of new experiences, we feel good about it being time to settle down. Speaking of which, there was talk of a job offer last week and an interview this week, so hopefully that ‘little’ piece of the puzzle will soon be in place.

The kids are more or less unaware of the stress their parents are going through right now. They are continuing with their usual routines which is good. Of course, after this week we go into school holidays (2 weeks in between terms) and that’s where things can get a little hairy! But, Collin and Savannah will be in holiday swim lessons which gets rid of all excess energy and helps to keep them manageable during the day. Hunter on the other hand...there’s little to no hope with that kid.

So while we’re on the little monster, let’s share a few. The other day he got a hold of this mini flashlight that takes one AA battery. He figured out how to open it up and then amused himself by taking it apart and then putting it back together … then stuffing pieces down his onesie and then pulling them out again just to start over. Well, during one cycle he got the battery in backwards and it heated it up so that it was very hot to the touch. He took the flashlight apart and as before, stuffed it all down his shirt, only this time it wasn’t quite so pleasant. The hot battery ended up giving him burn blisters on his tummy. OUCH!!! He has also started throwing everything he can get his hand on. He’s got an awesome arm! But that’s neither here nor there … it’s the fact that he throws things against the windows, computer and TV that is the problem … did I mention his brother and sister as well? And what’s worse is that he has this little smirk on his face as he’s doing it. He gets punished but it doesn’t matter and he keeps on doing it knowing full well that it’s wrong. He’s a motor mouth as well. Now that he’s started talking he repeats pretty much everything he hears. Some things don’t exactly come out quite right. The other day Kelli said she needed to take her pre-natal pill. Hunter, being the gracious kid that he his, offered to get it for her. His response though came out, “I want to get your poo!” The other thing he does funny right now is use the letter ‘b’ for everything. It’s not a vacuum, it’s a bacuum. It’s not a ‘very high’, it’s ‘berry high’. Just a little quirky thing he’s going through.

Collin’s a goof as usual. Today we were at the pond and he went and collected some rocks for Hunter so he could have some fun as well. When Collin laid the rocks in front of Hunter, Hunter got all excited and as Collin walked away he put his hands in the air and said, “It was my pleasure!” Where did he get that from? Grandpa Jones said it reminded him of Little Rascals and that fits the bill perfectly! He’s our little Alfa Alfa :) The other night I was wearing some slippers around the house, which I normally don’t do because it’s so stinking hot. Collin noticed the change in attire and asked why I was wearing flippers around the house.

Savannah has some quirks as well. Today for some reason she was talking about the difference between kids and adults and she called the adults, ‘BADults’. Nice to be in THAT category, eh? We were also trying to fix some kites that Grandma Whetstone sent them and we had to resort to duct tape. Savannah soon learned the miraculous wonder of duct tape and lovingly started referring to it as ‘duckling’ tape.

The past two weeks have been quite entertaining, needless to say. The processing of our move is coming along very well all things considered. We did get our flight itinerary back to the States and that’s going to be a nightmare. Economy class all the way, and we start at 8 in the morning 0f 16 May from Canberra to Sydney (we fly to Canberra from Adelaide the day before to do some outprocessing at the Embassy.) We then board the international flight in Sydney around 1:45 pm (16 May) and arrive in Los Angeles around 10 in the morning (still 16 May). We then have to fly to Denver, yes Denver, getting in around 4 pm (you guessed it, 16 May) and then finally board a plane to Salt Lake City and get in around 7 pm (16 May!!) It will be the longest day of our lives … literally and figuratively. (In case you're not a time zone expert, that's 27 hours of travel.) The government has to fly us through Denver because we are on United out of Sydney (unfortunately …) and thus have to fly to Denver because there aren’t any flights out of LAX to SLC during the day. We could fly to San Francisco from Sydney, but United doesn’t have a government contract for that route, so we’re stuck with the monster long itinerary. At least it’s all paid for, but it’s going to be CRAZY!!!

And a big happy 31^st birthday to Kelli!! She had her pumpkin-type cake and the kids couldn’t resist throwing a Shrek cake topping on top. The kids love birthdays and right now they just can’t get enough of them … good thing, too!

And one last happy moment … Collin the other night came into our room because he’d had some nightmares. Being the sympathetic Dad, I just pulled him in bed with us and rolled the other way. He couldn’t sleep so he kept talking Kelli’s ear off. I was half in and half out of sleep as she tried everything to get him back to sleep (think about happy thoughts … cars, balls, friends …prayers) Nothing worked. Finally after quite a long time of hoping he would go back to sleep Kelli suggested I give him a blessing. So, more than half asleep I sat up in bed, gave him more or less a 3 sentence blessing and went straight back to sleep. Kelli the next morning said that after the blessing he rolled over, curled up against her back and went straight to sleep. Pretty cool, eh?

OH, and we had a Huntsman visit us the other day -- a 5-legged one at that!

Oh Give Me My Home...

2008-04-03T20:55:00.004-06:00

Jessy mentioned in the last entry that I was having some cravings, but oh my!! I just got an email from Sonic (I must have registered for something and put my birthday down), and can I just say that while I will miss friends and wildlife and Tim-Tams and the fish and chips shop, I will be SO HAPPY to be able to go to Sonic during happy hour and get an ocean water!!! I have craved that with this one and Pub Squash just isn't the same. Maybe I'd get a toaster sandwich, too, and Savannah would think she had died and gone to heaven when she tasted tater tots again--she loved those! Also, some good Mexican would be great before I get to the heartburn stage (maybe too late for that one already!). And is Big Mac Monday still around??? I really wanted funeral potatoes the other day, but frozen shredded hash browns are unheard of here. And the other night, when we were making some super-duper burritos, I said, "These are better than 7-layer burritos at Taco Bell." The kids' reply, "What is Taco Bell, mum?" I think more than anything, I miss the options--fast food choices and family-friendly restaurants here are few and far between and I appreciate them when I am hungry but can't stand the thought of touching chicken or making anything over a hot stove. Are my kids deprived? Probably not, but I do hope that as we introduce the kids to good old American fast food (in moderation, of course), Savannah will drop the habit of calling dinner "tea!"

Happy Birthday, Happy Easter, Happy Happy Happy!

2008-03-27T04:45:00.004-06:00

A lot to go through from the past bit so let’s jump right in!

Of the biggest news is the release from our record setting heat wave. I think we hit 2 weeks straight of 35’C (95’F) or hotter weather. Our lawn somehow looks like it survived which is a massive relief given that we’d have to pay for a new one here in a month or so if it was brown. It was a trip for sure … nothing like dripping sweat while driving your car or paying $$$$$ for air conditioning. But, it was something to remember Australia for. One of the beauties of living in Adelaide is that you get the desert feel (no humidity :) and yet you live by the ocean as well. No sooner did the heat wave leave, than we received our first rain storm in I don’t know how long. One of my favorite smells is that wiff you get in the desert right after it starts to rain. We got that same sensation here in Adelaide and it was awesome!

The other BIG news is that Collin has turned 4!!! He was so happy to finally have a cake and all the presents (thanks G&Gs, aunts and uncles … everyone!) We received a lot of packages from home and had a huge package opening activity. It made for a lot of little happy kids. Collin’s party was all about balloons and streamers. He wanted broccoli cheese soup for his dinner – strange kid, I know. And he had fun with his rocket party hats/plates/cups … so we had to continue with a rocket cake. He was a pretty happy camper.

Collin has been having a few problems with making it to the toilet on time. A couple of times he has realized he’s had to go only to make it to the bathroom and next to the toilet … and then loses it. The other day Kelli was so frustrated with him and asked why he didn’t listen to his body better, to which Collin responded, “I did listen to my body and it said, ‘go quickly!’” Speaking of potty talk, he also loves potty humor. He filled out his NCAA tournament bracket. On one side of his bracket he finds the team, “Pittsburgh” to which he starts laughing hysterically at the ‘PITTS’ part of the name (from arm’pits’). So he decides to take ‘PITTS’ all the way to the finals. On the other side of the bracket he finds the team “Butler” to which he once again starts to roll because of “BUTTler”. So you can guess who met in the finals – both teams of which didn’t make it out of the first two rounds of the tourney. He is also quite competitive. He keeps asking how many points he has in the competition we have going on with the tournament, and somehow we have to mask the fact he is at the bottom of the ladder with the least points … otherwise we might have a sad little boy on our hands. He’s also our little Mr. Nick Jr. He loves to play on the internet all the games on the Nick Jr site and has become quite the expert. On additional happy notes, he graduated from the platypus group in his swimming class and now turns into a starfish! We’re oh so proud parents!

Hunter is a goof. The kid is a water magnet. What’s the word for someone who likes water like a pyromaniac likes fire … cause that’s Hunter through and through. Just give the kid a bucket and he’ll sit outside all day pouring water on himself. That and he’s still getting into mischief. Yesterday he was quiet for a bit (first bad sign) and then he comes traipsing in with this white foam all over his clothes. We go into the computer room and there is Collin oblivious to the world and then there is Hunter who managed to find a can of shaving cream. He thought it would be a good idea to expel the contents all over the carpet. The positive side is that the room smelled pretty good after I was done cleaning it up. On the bright side, he has started going to kindy – a sort of preschool for 3 hours once a week. He cried for 15 minutes or so, but finally made it on his own. We also had success with keeping him in nursery. Last week he made it on his own, and the following week he wouldn’t leave sacrament with Savannah because he knew she was going to take him to nursery! He went like a trooper and ended up staying the whole time. I think we’ve turned a corner!

Savannah is doing really well in school. She’s an excellent speller and is very good at reading. She’s also mastered the freestyle stroke in swimming and can now go about 15 meters all on her own! She’s also got a wicked backstroke … which is probably her best. Watch out Nathan – you might have a competitor.

I had a cool experience recently. I was doing a Saturday morning run down the river park path. As I was ‘cruising’ along, I looked up and two bikers had stopped and were photographing something with their cell phones. As I got closer I realized there was a Koala just walking along the path as if he owned the place. As I got closer and passed on the other side of the path he walked to the edge of his side of the path which dropped precipitously down to the river. Then he stopped, gathered himself, and took a flying leap to a tree which was probably 3 feet away. It was like a koala-spiderman. Then it turned and just looked at us while hugging the tree as if to pose and let everyone take more pictures. It was quite entertaining. They are so weird walking along the ground – kind of uncoordinated and gremlin-like. But then sitting in trees they are cute and cuddly. One of nature’s strangest furballs.

Easter was pretty good. We colored our ‘army’ eggs – but used more food coloring this year than we did last so they actually turned a shade of color. The kids had to wait until Saturday afternoon to do the easter bunny thing since I was on a young men’s camp Friday through Saturday. Savannah was pretty upset earlier in the week when she found out that the easter bunny wouldn’t be coming Saturday morning. So, she wrote him a letter and had me ‘post’ it to him to see if he’d be willing to come in the afternoon instead. Thankfully he obliged. I was most in trouble though for getting home at 3:30 instead of 3! Go figure :)

In other news, for those that haven’t received the news yet … yes, we are expecting our fourth child in October. We’re guessing sometime around Halloween, but you never know. Could end up a turkey baby! Either way Savannah will finally have some company at that end of the calendar :) Kelli is pretty sick but luckily hasn’t had to puke. Just tired and can’t go in the kitchen … that and she keeps craving things she can’t have … like Applebee’s, Sonic banana shakes, etc. I did make her a spinach/artichoke dip to at least quail some of the cravings.

Kelli was also released recently from her calling in the Relief Society presidency and I am being released as the young men’s president this Sunday. I managed to sneak in a last camp with the boys over last weekend. e took them about 3 hours northeast to a hilly area near the outback. The sand was so fine it was like leaving your footprints on the moon – expect that it was an orange and red sand instead of gray of course. Our second counselor is really into doonbuggies and offroading --- the boys had a kick in the pants until we ruptured the fuel tank in the doonbuggie by going over too many sharp rocks in the creek bed. Did you know that you can fix a gaping hole in a fuel tank with some soap shavings and spit? Learned something new. I’ll post some pictures when I get them from the boys … it was quite entertaining. I’ll miss the boys, we’ve had a good run together and I hope they’ve increased their testimonies as a result of our time over the past nearly 2 years.

We also got to participate in Elder Bednar’s recent trip to Australia. We saw him in person on Wednesday here in Adelaide although we only made it through the first hour since our kids were on one (it didn’t start until 7:30 so they were pretty ornery and tired after the first half hour.) Then we participated in the satellite broadcast from Sydney. Stacy Hutchinson did a good run down of the highlights so visit their blog to the right if you are interested. It was neat to listen to an Apostle – I think I was most impressed by his humility and blunt recognition that without the guidance and promptings of the Spirit he wouldn’t be able to have accomplished what he has nor be in the position he is now.

Anyway, that’s about it for the past week. Hope you all are doing well and we look forward to seeing most of you very, very soon!

Oh Hunter, our Hunter!

2008-03-16T05:25:00.004-06:00

So we've officially hit the TERRIBLE TWO's!!!! Actually, Hunter's a pretty good kid full of hilarious antics, we just have to go for the sympathy votes at any opportunity :) He has found his way into temper tantrums though which isn't a whole lot of fun.

We celebrated his birthday at home with the family. I had the day off because it was the grand ol' Adelaide Cup -- a public holiday for a horse race that no one really cares about, but hey, whose keeping track of why we have a day off, right?! We baked him a nice, round basketball cake and despite the frosting separating because it's so stinkin' hot (we are currently on a hot streak of 12 days at 35'C or greater ... usually around 40'C, 104'F - the most for in the history of Australia, what a dubious honor to be here for that one, eh mate!) He 'agreeably' took a nap in the afternoon and Savannah and Collin helped me blow up balloons, tape streamers and get the party ready. When he woke up he was bright eyed and opened mouth with all the colors and excitement. We had G&G Whetstone on webcam so we sang happy birthday to him ... a couple times for the full effect and to let him blow out the candles a couple of times. He then opened his gift of a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' suitcase which will come in handy shortly, and some toy planes and garden tools. They then went outside and threw lots of water balloons at each other -- since it's probably the only time he'll ever have a birthday when the temperature is above 100'. He also received a Crows (local footy team) pullover and koala lounge chair from his kindy teacher (although he hasn't been yet because he had a contagious lip sore -- how convenient for him!) He did make it all the way through nursery today though -- on his own! YIPPEEE. Great Grandma/Grandpa Jones sent him a cute little ship card and some American money --

Hunter has also had some hilarious quotes recently. As always his vocabulary is growing day after day. He loves to look at pictures on the internet of cousins, relatives, friends, etc. When he finds something that really interests him he lets out a, "WHOA!! Gosh!"

The other day we were looking at a picture of his cousin Rose in Houston, TX. She was eating a pine cone, or attempting to anyway. Hunter's reaction was, "Gwose (translation - gross) eating, 'pider (translation - spider)!"

He and Collin/Savannah are always making each other laugh. The other day he was throwing some water on himself and then punching himself -- which the kids thought was hilarious.

We were also on our way to a fireside this evening for Elder Bednar (who has been visiting Australia over the past 10 days.) On the way to the chapel he asked if we were going to the fireside, "Going ... fiweside?" But after a while I think he confused himself and starting asking, "Going ... fiweworks?" Yeh, kid, something like that.

And this last one is gut-busting. There is this cute little 13-month old girl in our ward. She is a little fire cracker and runs all over the place. Well, this evening at the fireside I had the kids in a separate room from the chapel because they'd just had enough of sitting in one place for the day. In comes little Zoe (the 13-month firecracker). Hunter goes out of his way to go over and show off some of his art work that he'd been working on. All the kids then go off playing on the other side of the room. I look over at the same time that Leslie (his grandma) does and we see Hunter grab Zoe by the shoulders and lay a big smack right on her lips! I couldn't believe my eyes -- but he wasn't done there. He would follow her around giving her hugs and being right next to her. At one point Zoe had had enough and turned around and hit him on the head a couple of times. I think it surprised Hunter because he came running over to Leslie and I saying she'd hit him on the head. I then made the mistake of telling him to go giver her a hug -- which he definitely took to heart and didn't bat an eye. Zoe had for sure had enough by now and just kept pushing him away and wouldn't let him near her? So I think Hunter thinks of himself as quite the lady's man already, ho hum!

Anyway, we've had a lot of fun focusing on the little monster this week. Now it's Collin's turn for his big number 4 tomorrow! Happy, happy birthdays! Oh, and if you missed our hint at a new little happenings in our family, you might want to go back and read our last month's entry. Cheers, mateys!

The Heat is ON ... again!

2008-03-08T22:19:00.005-07:00

Well, I wrote a post describing the heat wave we're experiencing at the moment, but never published it. Let's just say that the first week of fall has been hotter than summer! We're currently sitting at 104F/40C. It's not pretty! Forget the hopes of the grass going green--it's crunchy and brown.

A few things from this past week--Savannah had swimming at school. It was fun to see her progress. Last March, she was in the beginning group, the ones who are afraid to get their heads in the water. By the end of that week, she loved it and we signed her up for swim lessons. After one year, she is in the top group. She wasn't the strongest swimmer in the group, but held her own considering some of those in the group were also in the top group last year. She did great, learned some new things, and had fun. Collin, Hunter and I enjoyed watching her, even though the pool was like a sauna for us!!

Collin is getting ready for his birthday (and Hunter's). He is making plans and changing them everyday. I am told several times a week that I need to make a ninja turtle cake which changes to a Lazy Town cake which changes to a sports cake which changes to a volcano cake. I think I'll ignore him and do my own thing. He is SO EXCITED to be four! His friend, Jack, at kindy just had his birthday and Collin can't wait until he gets his turn to sit in the front of the kindy and have all his friends sing at him. Luckily, he won't have to wait long--this Friday is the day! He continues to be passionate about sports and extremely competitive (must get that from Kelli :). The kids and Jessy have set up the laundry basket on top of a bar stool in the dining room (you know, the empty room...), and they frequently play basketball. You should hear him when he makes a basket - it's as if he's won the NBA championship each and every time! When the missionaries came over, Collin asked them if they could play for a minute, so they did. Collin chose his team first--picking the tallest missionary and Hunter, and leaving Jessy, Savannah, and the other elder as the opposition. Collin and Elder Black lost and you would have thought it was the end of the world with all his wailing and screaming! It was unreal! The missionary claims to have felt bad all night. Collin is looking forward to being able to play soccer when we get back to Utah, but I hope we don't have to deal with this reaction every time he loses! Another funny happenings with Collin -- the kid loves pancakes and pretty much every morning he asks me if I'll make pancakes. I usually have to say I don't have time to make them because I have to go to work. Well, the other day I made them over the weekend and had some prepared for Monday morning in a little baggy in the fridge. So true to form, Collin gets up Monday morning and asks if I can make pancakes and I open the fridge to get them out but I can't see them. I'm looking around and just can't find them. Collin comes up beside me and points right at them (they were in plain sight!) and then can't resist adding on, "Daddy, you don't have good eyes!" Thanks, kid.

Hunter's birthday is Tuesday, but he has already hit the Terrible Twos!! The past couple of days he has started these incredible screaming fits for no apparent reason. He can scream with the best of them. I'm hoping he gets over it quickly (ha ha). A 15 hour plane ride will not be fun if the Screamin' Demon chooses to show up! Right now Hunter is also going through his second bout with impetigo. It showed up yesterday afternoon, of course on a Saturday with a long weekend ahead of it (we have a public holiday for the horse race here). So, it looks like he'll be missing his first scheduled day of kindy (bummer for me). He's also continuing his interesting uses of the English language. The other day we were on a walk in the park and Collin came running past Hunter and I. As he ran past Collin yelled, "See ya losers!" (once again that competitive spirit coming out.) Well, Hunter began processing that in his little brain and 30 seconds later he yelled, "S'ya losers!" We were also listening to the 'tiki bird' song from Disney in the car the other day and Hunter decided he would rename it the 'ta-waka-waka' (or something like that) song. He also has begun referring to us as Jes and Kel. He's also carrying around the babies that we gave Collin and Savannah when Hunter was born. He's always saying, 'hush hush', feeding them bottles, and sleeping with them. Just getting ready for October I guess :) And a last note -- he's officially acquired the Aussie accent along with the other two. He likes to refer to himself, not as 'Hunter' but 'Hunta' ... and it's not a glass of 'water' it's 'watah'. What a kid!

Jessy is back to training for his half-ironman following the head/chest colds we came down with about 3 weeks ago. He goes on some mighty long bike rides and runs. I think he's spent a little more time in the pool with this heat. He's looking forward to being able to interview "for real" here in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully that relieves some stress.

I am still coughing up a storm from the colds we had. It drives me nuts to be coughing every time I talk or turn my neck. Not much else is going on here. I'm worried about huntsmans coming in the house with all the hot weather--I see one just about every week at church and it creeps me out! We're getting more and more excited to be going back home--we know that once the birthdays start (we have 4 in the next 6 weeks or so), things are going to get busy and we'll be going home before we know it. There are lots of loose ends to tie up, but we're slowly working on what we can and May will come, ready or not! Thanks, Grandma for the fancy dinnerware!

NO MORE BINKY!!

2008-02-27T03:30:00.004-07:00

Where to start from the last 2 weeks. The kids are goofier than ever and we haven’t been very good about keeping notes on their various shenanigans and comments, but we’ll do our best to give a flavor for where they are at and what they are doing. Adelaide is cooling down … FINALLY! We had a couple of really hot days last week, but for the most part we are down around the 70s again which is a welcome relief for sure. Hopefully our lawn will start a turn for the green instead of the sickish yellow that it’s been in for the past couple months :)

Ok, so moving on to the fun stuff. We gave Hunter’s binky the boot last Monday. We happened to forget it for church on Sunday and thought, “Well, we’re coming up on his second birthday and we’d rather he be used to not using it when we go back, so let’s bite the bullet and do it now.” So, Monday is garbage day and he loves the ‘garba man’. Kelli went out with Hunter and they waved to the garbage man as he took our garbage and drove up the street. On the way down the street again he stopped and waved at Hunter and gave him a ‘beep beep beep.’ Talking with him over the phone he was so excited and told me, “Garba man, go beep beep beep!” Kelli seized the moment and told Hunter that the garbage man took his binky and that he wouldn’t have it anymore. Well, the first nap after that was terrible. He screamed a terrible scream trying to get to sleep. He finally settled into something that I guess you could call a state of sleep … but then we had to deal with the night-time. He’s always been one to go to bed quickly and on his own, but that was with his binky. Now without it we felt like we were on square on again. We gave him a break the first two nights and held him on the chair downstairs, but the third night we had to let him cry it out. Now a week later he’s back to his normal sleepy self and NO BINKY!! So, we’ve crossed that path … now for the potty training … after a few weeks of relishing this victory of course. We should also mention that he is talking in pretty much full sentences right now – albeit with incorrect grammar. Things that come out of his mouth just make you laugh. The other day he did a ‘tooter’ and told Kelli, “I toot … [pause] … you like it Mom?” He is also a very polite boy saying, “bless you” and “dank you, Dad” all the time. We also have him swimming right now and he’s king of the class. Of course, last week Kelli made the mistake of getting Collin an ‘ice block (popsicle)’ right the beginning of Hunter’s lesson. When Hunter laid eyes on the ice block there was no keeping his concentration on swimming and all he wanted was one of his own. Some things never change with the kid – he’s definitely got a short circuit from his tummy to his brain. He does do really good swimming and doesn’t mind going underneath the water but especially loves being thrown up in the air. And one more thing on the little man – the other day he got mad at Savannah and yelled at her, “Sannah Jones!” We’ve heard “Collin Pachik Jones!” quite a bit, but this was a new one for his sister. Oh, and this morning Hunter was the first one up (as usual) and we were downstairs together. When I went upstairs and Collin got up, Hunter came wandering up the stairs. On his way up he said, “Dad – where Collin?” … to which I replied, “He’s right here.” … to which he replied, “Cool –“ We’re not sure where he’s picking ts stuff up from, but it’s coming in waves right now!

Ok, now that we have Hunter well-documented, what do we say about the other two? Collin is loving all sorts of sports and his bicycle. We went fishing on one of our recent bike rides at a local pond and although we didn’t catch anything in the 5 minutes we were there, he thought it was pretty cool. He’s really into basketball right now and is a goof in and of himself. He and Hunter fight quite a bit, but they have their good times as well. We think he’s growing quite a bit right now as he sleeps heaps at night and eats a full peanut butter, jelly, and chocolate chip sandwich (including crusts) for lunch … which he’s always struggled with before. He’s really good about making his bed and wanting to do his other chores. And as always he’s our little pack rat carrying everything and anything around with him during the day. I bought them some cap guns the other day and you would have thought he’d died and gone to heaven. Hunter doesn’t like the noise, but Collin thinks they are great.

Savannah is loving school and everything to do with netball and swimming. She also went to a birthday party last week and had a great time hanging with her friends and singing karaoke. She did a ‘me bag’ at school the other day where she showed a picture of her family, piano music, tennis racquet, art projects, netball trophy and swim goggles. I stuck around to watch her present her stuff and it was so cute to watch as she’s sitting in front of the class and after she’s shown everyone her things she says, “Are there any questions or comments?” Two kids raise their hands and each say, “I go to swimming on Wednesdays” and “I go swimming, too” … to which Savannah stares blankly and replies, “Are there any more questions or comments?” Some other kid says something random and Savannah replies, “Are there any more questions or comments?” Good times in 2^nd grade.

Kelli and I have been sicker than dogs the past week. Thankfully we’re both coming out of it, but the nasal congestion, sinus pressure and chest cough have been horrendous! Finally I can think reasonably straight and get back on the bike (hit 4,000 miles this week!) With only 2 ½ months left until we return home we’re trying to figure out how to get rid of all of our stuff … and in a manner which allows time to still have transportation and sending money back to the States from our Aussie bank account. Should be another adventure just waiting to happen :) So that combined with our computer having 70 viruses on it from the time our anti-virus software ran out until we got new stuff has provided us with some crazy last couple of days. Stay tuned for more looney tunes to come! Cheers!

36'as!

2008-02-13T02:59:00.004-07:00

Well, we don’t have much to write this week, but there were a few highlights we’ll mention. First, on Saturday we took a long bike ride. It was long for the kids at least (3 miles or so). They were troopers and made it up the hills, even when they had to walk their bikes up. It was fun for all—we got to cross a bridge over a pond, stopped to play at a very unsafe playground, and enjoyed all the birds (we’ll miss the cockatoos and lorikeets and rosellas!). The weather has been absolutely gorgeous—almost like fall. We’re taking advantage of these cool days while they last (we’ll be up to 100F again by Saturday).

Hunter went to swimming lessons Saturday morning after the bike ride. He LOVES his time in the pool with dad! He particularly enjoys splashing the teacher and jumping off the side. He does really well, and doesn’t mind going under at all. Even when he is tired, he is a trooper and does everything the teacher asks (as long as dad throws in a few extra tosses in the air!).

Saturday evening, Jessy took Savannah and Collin to an Adelaide 36ers game. It’s the basketball team here, and apparently it was a great evening for everyone. (They went with Scott and Sam Hann and family.) They played the Cairns Taipans and beat them, mostly because Collin was fiercely cheering them on. Collin was pretty hilarious at the game, in that kind of mode where he is just soaking everything in. I expected both kids to get ornery and cranky at some point during the game, but they were enthralled by everything that was going on. Collin turned to me at one point early in the game and said, “Dad, have those guys been baptismed?” We had just come from a baptism earlier in the afternoon and it must have been on his mind and he was concerned about the b-ball players. He also kept asking me, “Dad, are the sixas winning?” – throwing in some Aussie accent to fit in with the crowd. Both kids loved the whole atmosphere and when they came home at 11:00, they were wide awake, giggling, and had to recount to me everything that was said or done the whole night. The Hanns are awesome friends and we are going to miss their company. Scott has been my counselor in young mens and was recently released to go to the high ‘dry’ council … we sent him off with chocolate and a magnetic sudoku game to keep him awake and not bored out of his mind!!!! Collin has a special affinity for Micah – their 14 year old. He’s a really good kid – one of the best, and a great example for little Collin.

Attention all Shorties!

2008-02-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

While I was browsing blogs the other day, I found a great site for hemming jeans. Mine are always frayed and dirty on the bottom because I hate the look of hemmed jeans, but this looks to be the perfect solution for me. Haven't tried it yet (don't need it for shorts or capris), but I will, mind you. (By the way, today's high temperature was 68F/20C. That's cooler than our low temp on most summer nights!!)

School's in Session!!!

2008-02-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

School’s in session!!! Savannah and Collin have returned to school from their summer vacation. Yes, all you up north who are inundated with heaps of snow, we’re still living up the rays of ozone-less sun. Our friend, Holly Ziegler, living up in Mountain Green, Utah sent us a picture last Sunday. They had so much snow they couldn’t clear the parking lot at church so it was canceled! Go figure – can’t wait to go sledding in some real snow … and not just white sand!

Anyway, Savannah was very excited to get back to school. We took her Monday morning and her seat was placed right next to her best friend Keely which helped to calm the nerves a tad. She found the place to put her water bottle, backpack and everything. Savannah brought home homework for Kelli and I – wrapping the notebooks in contact paper (totally annoying--it gets all these wrinkles and bubbles and sticks to everything!!), to keep them in a usable fashion for the entire year. Her teacher, Mrs. Stevens, is wonderful and super-organized. She says that "organisation is one of the four paths to success," and I'm hoping Savannah will absorb that mantra in these 4 months or so in class. Collin, on the other hand, had to wait until Friday for his turn. He goes every Friday for 2 hours to ‘pre-entry’ (when he turns 4 in March he will be able to go to kindy which is 4 days a week.)

Hunter has been continuing his amazing path to full-on conversations. He’s gradually developing full sentences. He is also very concerned for his siblings. He tells Collin when he gets hurt, “You ok, Collin?” but it comes out more like “You ‘k Con?” He also likes to say ‘disgusting’ which comes out like ‘sgusting’. And of course the all-time favorite – ‘toot’ which comes out, well, ‘toot’. He also likes to go to bed on time! He likes to spread out blankets (yelling at whoever walks on them), and jump with two feet off the ground. He especially likes jumping from high things, like chairs, stairs, and even out of the car. I'm getting good at doing, "Crocodile, crocodile on the wall, Crocodile, crocodile in you fall" at record speeds. He also likes to sing, and like his brother and sister before him, has drawn attention to himself lately in sacrament meeting with his "singing." As soon as he hears the organ, he starts moaning loudly while holding a hymnbook open in front of him. All around look at him to see what's wrong and then smile when they realize he's singing. He likes to give fish kisses and little squeezes, well, ok, big Hunter hugs – with an added verbal ‘squeeze’. He’s even started giving strangers all sorts of hugs … and even went up to the missionaries at church on Sunday to shake their hands. Yes, he’s kind of coming out of his shell. Now, if we could only get him to go to nursery by himself.

Kelli is doing well to keep up with the kids and all the activities going on. She’s extra busy making super-duper quilts for nieces and nephews and even made a headband for Savannah (in the picture), which she hasn’t stopped wearing (she chose the material--not exactly school colors, but it is cute). Click here for the link to the pattern (for you, Jenny). The lady who designed it is a fabric designer who also has fun crafty, but not country-crafty, stuff on her website (anyone need a good idea for Enrichment craft activity? See the paper globe pattern on the right sidebar...could be a great spring decoration or Christmas tree ornament).

I had my run-in with backyard cricket at work. Very fun game except that I was in the equivalent of bottom of the ninth, two outs, full count … and flew out to right field – we’ll see if they let the American play cricket again J Job search is going ok … gradually making progress.

New projects

2008-01-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

In case I needed to find something else to keep me from doing things that I REALLY NEED to do (like go through boxes from when we moved here...), I decided to get inspired by some blogs on quilting and catch up on the quilts for nieces and nephews. Since Mia will be 2 in July, I think it's time to get her baby quilt to her. The other three are younger, but still quickly growing out of babyhood. It's part of my New Year's resolutions to get these 4 done, plus at least a good start on the next niece's quilt before we move. Well, I started in the first few days of January, and I'm happy to say 2 are done (the tops, at least. I'm waiting on the batting, which had to be ordered due to Australia's extremely ridiculous overpricing of everything, including fabric, batting, and anything else needed to make a quilt!). I won't spoil everything, but here are the fabrics for the 3 girls. The fabrics look great...we'll have to see about the quilts themselves. I bought this fabric for 3 quilts here and then got smart and ordered the rest from the states.

PS--Coming soon to Savannah's blog--a tutorial on how to make a slushy, featuring her new slushy maker from Christmas. She's excited to make it and has really thought it through with all the pictures she wants. Should be helpful to all y'all in a few months' time!

Tour Down Under

2008-01-26T23:16:00.000-07:00

We opened a new chapter in Australia this week. Besides it being Australia Day and blazing hot (yes – Kevin, Stacy, Madi, Coop and Rylee – you guys brought and then took away the nice, comfortable weather from Sydney!), we went out for a stage in the 10^th Tour Down Under

(similar to the Tour de France … except here in our lovely backyard of Adelaide and the surrounding countryside. I’ve never been one to watch cycling events on TV, but like most sporting events, this one took on a whole flavor of its own while ‘on site’. It’s been going for 10 years, but this is the first year that they have ‘pro’ status.

So, many of the pro teams from Europe are here albeit not with some of their best riders (a pro cycling team will have 30 riders and yet only 7 will ride in a particular event – and a team will cost on the order of $20M a year to run!). Anyway, the atmosphere was just awesome! The police with their sirens going in front of the pack to make sure the streets are clear (that was Hunter’s favorite part). Then there are sponsor vehicles which have huge model cyclists on top of the vehicle and they throw out all

sorts of free stuff (the kids collected bags, bracelets, insulated mug holders, flags, banners, etc.) This particular course had the cyclists coming around 4 times over 3.5 hours. At the first of the race we were positioned just after the ‘neutral start’ position (they ride for 2 km before the race actually starts – we were after the 2 km and they were really moving.) I was standing not on the road, but on the shoulder trying to catch a picture of them coming by. I looked down at my camera and then looked up only to see this cyclist coming straight at me. Needless to say I moved faster than I think I ever would be able to otherwise off the road entirely – I’m sure the

rider wasn’t too crazy about my position on the road :) Anyway, you’d watch them come whizzing by and then go about the local activities like a bazaar, bands, a loud speaker announcer giving updates on the racers and where they were at. As they came by the start/finish line, we would all bang on the signs which were posted to the barricades. They would also collect food and water at this location and freely discard their old water bottles (Collin managed to collect one of these prize items). It was just a riot being there and in the atmosphere of it all. I think the Tour de France will have a new viewer this year … and for years to come. The kids really enjoyed themselves and a good time was had by all. We went with our friends, the MacAllisters, who are avid race friends and showed us the ins and outs of the sport. (They went into the city afterwards and got autographs of Cadel Evans and Robbie McKewen after the race … for you race fanatics out there!) A quick aside from the MacCallisters -- they brought the orange banner that Savannah is holding to church today. Kelli was giving a talk in sacrament and during her talk they held it up from the back row and instead of 'feel the rush' they put 'feel the spirit' with the 'rush' replaced by 'spirit' on notebook paper -- which fell off according to Kelli.

We ended our Australia day by letting the kids snooze in the back of the car on the way home and then getting in their wading pool and finally doing sparklers in the evening. We took them out to a high vantage point to see the fireworks, but believe it or not Adelaide didn’t even do any fireworks! Go figure … but we still had a great day and it was one we’ll remember for a long, long time!

These last pictures are of my trip up to the Murray River with the youth from church. We had a great time. I’d also like to throw in a “feel good” moment from church, if I may. I was just sitting down to write this blog and a grandma of one our deacons from church called me up. This particular boy lives in a home with a single mother and his younger sister. His dad, I believe, left them at an early age. His mom isn’t active, but every other week he comes to stay with his grandma who takes him to church on those weekends. He was ordained a deacon last September or so and today was set apart as a counselor in the quorum presidency. During the blessing, it was a neat feeling to feel of the Spirit and the thoughts and words just flowed smoothly. The grandma was calling up to thank me for giving him a blessing for the start of school this week. She was hoping that someone could give him a father’s type blessing for the start of school, but he didn’t feel particularly comfortable with anyone coming over to do it. During his setting apart today he was blessed that he would do well in his school work, relations and education. When his grandma asked him if he’d at least be willing to say a prayer for school before he left her house this afternoon, he said that he’d already received the blessing that he needed during his setting apart. It was a testimony to me of how we can be an instrument in the Lord’s hands … and how taking a few moments to make a phone call of gratitude can mean a lot. Just wanted to close on that happy note … happy Australia day everyone!! Australia Day and 4^th of July in the same year!! Wahoo – and we hope to get fireworks in America!