niques is going on a mission!

oh. my. gosh. it is finally happening!! after over a year of preparing and trying her butt off to get there, niques got her mission call today!

dear sister kendall... you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints, labouring in the hamilton, new zealand mission, reporting to the auckland missionary training centre, april 23rd 2015.

new zealand! how exciting. we are stoked, she is excited... and it's all go go go.

good things come to those who do!

what we did on our holiday

we went on a child-free (thanks mum and dad) date with my best friend and her husband today, to event cinemas gold class to see what we did on our holiday. oh my word. i have not laughed that hard at a movie in forever. it was just classic british humour at its finest, that had all of us laughing from start to finish. i will not spoil it for you, but if you like brit humour, this is a must see. you will not regret it. 

please just trust me. you can watch the trailer here.

the best carrot cake

i love love love a good carrot cake and have spent years trying to find a good one. last year on pinterest i came across this one that i decided to give a whirl. i've made it about 10 times since and it is amazing! nice and moist, great icing and keeps super well in the fridge. i wish i could claim it as my own it's that good haha, but the best bit is that it doesn't have nuts in it. :) awesome for all the nut free necessity in the world today. give it a try, you will not be sorry!

ingredients

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1-1/2 cups finely grated carrots

icing

2 tablespoons butter, softened

55g  cream cheese, softened

1 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1 tablespoon milk (only if you are making a bundt and want runnier icing)

method

in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugars, baking soda, allspice and salt. beat in vegetable oil. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. stir in carrots.

pour into a lined 8-in. square baking dish. bake at 180 degrees celcius (160 fan forced) for 35-40 minutes.

for icing, in a small bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth.gradually beat in the icing sugar and vanilla. spread over cake.

added bonus, this cake freezes really well and tastes just as good when defrosted.

sunday shots

i love sundays. the best (and possibly the longest haha) day of the week. 

i love church quotes and especially love this quote from president spencer w. kimball, which is such a good reminder of why we need to give. "sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!" this is one of the greatest promises i have ever heard, giving a little - for a lot, is fine by me.

every sunday after church i am very careful to take a photo of the kids, to send to doug's parents in queensland. i feel bad that they live so far away and like to make sure that they are able to watch them grow and change. so sunday shots it is, every single sunday. to the point that madeline knows the routine now. rolls her eyes, stands and smiles cheesy at the camera.

i am so lucky to have such beautiful children, with grandparents who love them so much. 

how lucky we are to know that families are forever.

wedding love

i was a leader in our church young womens program for quite some time and saw many lovely girls grow up. one that has remained very dear to my heart is miss crystal and today she got married!

she and michael actually went to school together, but got together years later and now have beautiful twin boys that just turned one in december. i am so thrilled for them and was so happy to be able to be there and be a part of her big day.

of course no wedding is complete without a family photo - so selfies it was on the way back to the car... aren't my babies beautiful?! it was a lovely day, very hot, but not unbearable. being that i was married in february though, i can totally sympathise with the heat!

joseph was so well behaved and sat chilling in his pram during the ceremony, just babbling away to himself and blowing the occasional raspberry.

while madeline had the best view in the place, atop her daddy's shoulders. what a lucky girl.

it makes me so happy to watch the girls i have watched grow up, thank you crystal for thinking of me and letting me be a part of your day. ♥

farewell morning tea

jo, thomas and baby estela are going back to melbourne tonight to live so today some of the ladies in our relief society threw her a morning tea. it was a cute little get together and a nice fun morning.

with the cutest food!

maddie finally got to have a hold of baby estela and she was absolutely in her element. she is just obsessed with babies, maybe i'll have to get her another one one day. haha. but seriously, if anyone has a baby, maddie is over there trying to push her way in to have a better look.

we even went and had lunch with mel and her kids afterwards, so madeline got to hang with her bestie ngawai. they are so sweet together. it was a good day. ♥

stuart family

it is absolutely no secret that i love to take photos of people. more so than things. i love to capture the little smiles and laughter and the looks... so i loved every minute of snapping some pics of thomas and josephine and their sweet new baby estela.

she is such a sweet babe, sleeping away - unless she is hungry... and loving being held by everyone.

and look at those little cheeks and mouth ♥

daddy is clearly smitten with his little girl, and rightly so!

what a beautiful family! ♥