whistlers chocolate factory

my kids had made a very extensive list of everything they wanted to do during the school holidays and we got the last one done today, on the very last day. phew! just scraped in. also, i claim super mum right here, because even though doug was home for a lot of the holidays, all the kids requests and fun have been woven in around the endless appointments as both his parents deal with their cancer treatments. it's a hard road sometimes, but we are trying to make sure that it doesn't interrupt the kids too much. we seem to have done alright so far, although doug often has to miss things which can't be helped. 

anyway... their last request was the whistlers chocolate factory on great northern highway. we hadn't been before and although there is the one drawback of not being able to watch the chocolate being made (unlike the margaret river chocolate company), i loved it! their showroom was huge and beautifully set up, with free samples (everyone's favourite thing!), a gorgeous old fashioned chocolate lounge, an awesome gift shop (i wanted to buy pretty much everything), a cafe and a huge outdoor play area. i will absolutely bring the kids back next holidays, maybe with some friends to have an icecream and a play.

this kids thought it was the best day of his life... he is so addicted to icecream!

i am so sad the holidays are over, i love having the kids around, but i am sooo ready to send them back off to school, because they are starting to get on each others nerves (and mine!). bring on school tomorrow! hooray!

the restoration: a young womens lesson

the lord still speaks to us in these latter days. we are still receiving revelation and that is the main difference between us and other christian religions. when people have asked me what makes our church different, i always respond that we receive modern day revelation through the leaders of our church and that you will never find a cross in our church as we focus on the living christ, not his crucifixion like so many churches do.

it was my turn to teach young womens this sunday and i had chosen to speak about the restoration of the gospel.

we started by watching this mormon message: a piano's purpose, about the restoration of a seond hand piano. then we spoke about what it means to restore something. restoration is to lovingly repair something to its former glory.

when joseph smith was a boy, he said he was “overly concerned with the welfare of his soul” and after a time, and reading a scripture in james, he took it upon himself to pray.

"if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of god, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." james 1:5

we then watched a recount of the first vision, one of the best ones i have seen, called "ask of god" which is apparently played in the visitors centre at temple square.

joseph smith was chosen to lovingly restore the gospel in these days to its former glory.

we spoke about the apostasy and restoration as covered in preach my gospel, including an emphasis on the fact that as the book of mormon was translated joseph discovered things he didn't know and has he took his questions to the lord, the church was restored bit by bit. line upon line, precept on precept.

we can know for ourselves by taking the time to go and pray and ask. if we truly want to know, heavenly father will reveal the truth to us as he promised in the scriptures. we read moroni's promise together in moroni 10:4-5

i ended the lesson by briefly speaking about emma smith. it is my hope that our girls will all will do amazing and wonderful things. i hope they head companies and invent new technology and lead groups with love. but as women in the gospel, sometimes the greatest thing we can do is to support our husband and assist him in his tasks, within the gospel and otherwise. emma smith stood by her husbands side and held him up through the most awful of trials and darkest moments in his life. when you choose to love and marry, please be ready to be all your husband needs you to be. think of emma and her grace in times of hardship especially throughout the restoration of the gospel and determine to be a woman of faith, for the world needs much more of them.

mundaring sculpture park with the cousins

our kids have loved having their cousins visit from queensland! we have had a great time together and i have enjoyed every minute of the giggles and fun. we met halfway between our house and mums house today for a play at the mundaring sculpture park, which is truly one of the best parks around! it is amazing, if you have kids and live anywhere about (or even close enough to drive out there) it is totally worth it. i cannot emphasise this enough. there is so much to do and see!

one of our favourite things there is the big lizard in the sandpit which is fun to climb on and dig about  - and apparently take photos on too!

time with family is the best... i only wish these little ones lived closer so we could play all the time.

nanna (my gorgeous mum) with her youngest grandbaby, my little alex ♥

what a great afternoon we all had together!

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i also noticed today that a "little free library" has been added to the park. these are honestly one of my favourite things ever... found all around the world (there are even a few in ellenbrook, including one at my kids school!) they are a small weatherproof cabinet stocked with books, allowing the public to take a book and leave a book. it's so fun! i am always on the look out for them and love it when we find one. what can i say? after all these years i am still a giant book nerd :)

girls without limits

today was by far the day of the holidays that miss madeline has looked forward to the most... the day she fiiiiiiinally got to go to girls without limits! we heard about the program from one of the teachers at school who we are good friends with, her daughter goes and loves it. it is to teach girls ages 8 and up about self-worth, mindfulness, acceptance, respect etc., all values that seem to often take a backseat in todays world.

they do run after school programs, but with the amount of dance maddie does, it makes it a bit difficult to fit other things in, so we booked her into one of the school holiday day programs. 

the girls chatted, made clay figures, painted them, made bliss balls and a collage. madeline just loves anything arty, so she was thrilled to bits with all of the above.

as was i when i arrived to collect her and saw the gorgeous set up and how happy all the girls (including mine) looked. we will absolutely be coming back for more of their holiday programs and maybe even do some of the after school drop in ones, it looks like there is a lot of fun to be had here, with other things like meditation and yoga also part on the menu.

she didn't even want to come home... "oh good, here let me hold alex, i want to show you this and this and this." with pleasure maddie, with pleasure.

i truly hope this girl goes places in the world and doesn't see limits, she certainly has a very bright future in front of her and i am so proud of her and everything she does. she throws herself fully into everything and i am sure it will get her places. go maddie, shoot for the moon! ♥

kings park in the holidays

we are so so lucky to live where we do. surrounded by amazing weather all year round, awesome things to do (and so many of them are free!), beautiful things to see and gorgeous parklands. after our morning at the subiaco library, we took the kids over to kings park for a picnic, a play and a bit of a stroll.

we headed out over the path towards the treetop walk, because in all these years we have never done it... and now i seriously regret not going to look at it sooner, it is a-ma-zing. seriously, look at these views. kings park is situated above perth city, looking down from west perth and has views for dayssss.

like this one, of my favourite building in perth, the old swan brewery. i seriously wanted to have our wedding reception here, but it was wayyyy out of our price range.

everyone looking super excited about todays adventure haha

more views of perth city from the path down to the treetop walk

so, here is what we were walking around on: a walkway built to be amongst the tops of the trees and then a suspended glass and steel arched bridge that reaches the highest point. it's all completely pram accessible, so it was easy to get through.

some of the beautiful bush on display as we walked about

a rare picture of doug and i 

and all of us in the water garden rotunda at the base of the treetop walk. joseph looks like he has had enough, while alex was overexcited.

we had the best family day we have had in forever, nothing to worry about - just time with all of us together, having fun.

perth, we love you!

art in april with kelly canby

my mum follows a super fun childrens author and illustrator on instagram called kelly canby... then a few weeks ago, mum sent me a post of hers, saying that she was running free drawing workshops at the subiaco library for school aged children during the coming holidays. i quickly tried to book them in, was super annoyed to see that it was booked out, then saw that there was a junior workshop too - and madeline just scraped in. hooray!

kelly was so much fun! she encouraged them to get as messy as possible and to have a huge imagination! she began by asking "just to make sure" that no one had worn their best clothes or arrived in a wedding dress. haha. joseph was pleased, he looooves to get messy.

one of the first activities was to draw an alien. each child was told to draw a body and we watched them carefull do exactly what they wanted, only to be told that they had to move one paper to the right each time they finished drawing something. kelly had a few dice and would let the kids roll them, to decide the number of whatever they were adding next. 3 mouths! 12 ears! don't forget, they can be anywhere, not just in the normal place. 

the kids had so much fun at her workshop. she was so easy to like and interacted with them all as she went around the room. 

one happy messy boy.

their final task was to draw a special character of their own with everything they had learnt today. this is joseph's, a boy called kyilem (kylam) after our friend kylam parsons. (em he still talks about him nonstop! haha)

and madeline's a very flexible girl called isabell (i swear she is going to call her daughter that one day. every girl thing she ever has to name is either isabel, or isabella) yes. that is he leg she is holding up like a ballerina/gymnast whatever she is. 

my favourite part of the morning was when kelly got the kids to come up and tell everyone about their drawing. "come up here and show off your picture, but i'd like you to do it like this: i'm joseph and this is my picture. everyone: wow joseph that's amaaaaazing. joseph: i know right! then tell us about your picture. okay go." so much fun!

kelly canby, you are a national treasure. i truly hope we get to meet you again one day! ♥

and one more thing from my book loving self... how cool is this wallpaper in the bathroom! obsessed! i need some for my bathroom!

a day with the cousins at caversham wildlife park

aaron and his family visiting from queensland called for lots of family time and today we all met up at caversham wildlife park (inside whiteman park, just a 10 minute drive from our house). our little monkeys had a great time together and spent the day running, yelling and giggling at full speed. i love to see them together and wish time and time again that they lived closer so we could do this all the time.

first things first, silly photos by the dozen are a must!

the kids loooooved the farm show and sat in awe (you'd truly think that it was the first time mine had seen it and that they hadn't seen it multiple times and one of them just a few weeks back haha) as the dogs rounded up sheep, the sheep was shorn, the lambs were fed and the whip was cracked about. love it... it's so much fun for them to watch! 

meanwhile, doug missed the show for the second time as baby alex had a nap outside in his arms. it seems to be his favourite place to nap.

maddie went and hung out with the rabbits and the guinea pigs. she is convinced we neeeeed one or the other and asks me on a regular basis if we can get one. i tell you what, it will not be a rabbit. i am still scarred from the angry white one we had when i was in primary school. they might be cute, but they get annnngry.

this little babe enjoyed his day as his siblings and cousins clucked over him as they ran past the pram. he is just so loved and with that cute little face it's easy to see why.

maddie and grandad stopping for a picture together. we are so lucky to have this awesome man in our lives... he was the best dad and is now an amazing grandad too!

katja looks completely horrified in this pic, because she is not a fan of snakes. not at all... and jonas decided along with aaron that they needed to hold one and she needed to get in on the action. i don't think felix is really convinced either judging by how far away he is standing.

how cute is this baby! oh we love him. our other kids ran off with my parents and we had a lovely time pretending for 5 minutes that we only had one to worry about.

we stopped halfway for lunch in the picnic area and had a cake for jonas who celebrated his 5th birthday last week. you can see how chuffed he is with his cake. he is the funniest!

maddie loved spending time with the kids, she dotes on felix (and has since he was a tiny baby) and insisted on picking him up and cuddling him "like a koala!" they were so adorable!

we went into the farmyard area this time, which i hadn't actually seen in previous visits and madeline fell in love with this little lamb. i can't blame her, he was very cute! i'm so glad to have these lovely parks local so the kids can experience all the farm things that i took for granted in my childhood.

before we left for the day we managed to get some fun photos of us adults, thanks to madeline who is a little too familiar with using my camera. i love this one of all of us crazies together. i'm so lucky to have the family i do.

and one of nanna and grandad and their walking grandchildren. so cute! i love them all to bits! ♥

easter 2019

we had the best easter sunday with our little family today. it was obviously alex's first one and i think he absolutely loved it! dom took this lovely photo of us after church and i love it! so rare to have all of us looking and smiling, what a legend!

the kids woke up early (ummm at 5am... at which time they were promptly sent back to bed, but too late, the baby had been woken and i was up for the day! ugh) to find malteaser packs and sloth socks, which they loved and put on immediately, with a humpty egg for alex... just because that's what i always remember mum getting for me!

there were also chocolate bunnies from nanna and grandad, so of course we had to pose for a photo with those too.

madeline was so funny. she had left a note out for the easter bunny with some carrots and of course expected a reply, but was very irritated to see that the easter bunny's hand writing looked very similar to mine. bahaha. i explained to her that there is no way a rabbit can hold a pen because they don't have opposable thumbs (which of course i then had to explain to her). after rolling her eyes at me, she finally decided it was okay that he had told me what to write and went on her way happy. she is a seriously smart girl and i don't think for a minute that she's actually convinced that any of these characters exist... but she's choosing to be like her mama and believe in anyone that brings presents. that's my girl. she did enjoy my quip about the leftover carrot pieces being magic though and was very happy to see them grated into the carrot cake i made for dessert.

i let alex have his first taste of chocolate, by sucking on my malteaster bunny... he was pretty pleased and i don't think he was keen on letting go of it.

we had a lovely church service, with beautiful hymns about easter. i had actually been asked to sing this year and chose to sing an arrangement of "i know that my redeemer lives" which went beautifully. i am so grateful for music and love being able to sing, especially for occasions like this.

I know that my Redeemer lives.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead.

He lives, my ever-living Head.

He lives to bless me with his love.

He lives to plead for me above.

He lives my hungry soul to feed.

He lives to bless in time of need.

He lives to grant me rich supply.

He lives to guide me with his eye.

He lives to comfort me when faint.

He lives to hear my soul's complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears.

He lives to wipe away my tears.

He lives to calm my troubled heart.

He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives, my kind, wise heav'nly Friend.

He lives and loves me to the end.

He lives, and while he lives, I'll sing.

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

He lives and grants me daily breath.

He lives, and I shall conquer death.

He lives my mansion to prepare.

He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!" 

after church, we had our easter egg hunt in the back yard like we do every year... i can't wait to watch alex out there running with them next year!

madeline was out like a shot, rounding up her share of the chocolates, complete with the egg catchers we found at kmart a few weeks ago for just $2. she had so much fun with hers and had us in fits grabbing away at everything including baby alex.

maddie complained that the hunt had been too easy in past years, but imagine her horror when she realised the final bunnies couldn't be found. she was so annoyed with us for actually making it harder. mate, parents can't win can they! they finally, with a lot of hints, worked out they were in dad's dart cabinet, then joseph was annoyed all over again, because he couldn't reach his! oh my word.

what a haul!

we had roast lamb for dinner, which we do every easter. easter lamb roast is the best! i feel a need to showcase these veggies, because they looked so good...

our table looked amazing too, with easter cookies at each place made by my friend jen and roses from another friends garden, that smelled like heaven.

and here's our carrot cake ready for dessert, made with those magic carrots.

a perfect day with our little family. ♥