temple saturday

when we moved into our house in aveley, i made a goal of attending the temple once a month. i am proud to say that i have nearly always managed to keep that goal steady. sometimes i have scraped in on the 1st of the following month due to something i couldn't control and then gone again later that month... but the point is, i have tried my hardest and as president nelson said, "the lord loves effort, because effort brings rewards that can't come without it."

i have tried so hard to keep to my commitment and i know that blessings have flowed because of it. i love being at the temple and being able to feel close to my father in heaven in his holy house. i am especially grateful to those who have helped make it happen. for the times i slide out of bed early on a saturday (like this morning!) leaving doug home with the kids, or the times i fly past the pinkers and throw alex at them on a thursday so i can make it in time. 

i am just so grateful to be able to make it happen - and for a temple right out on our doorstep. ❤

family history: a primary lesson

today i taught the primary lesson - about family history. i attended a relief society activity yesterday that was focused on our heritage and when i got home i felt really inspired that was what we needed to focus on today. here's alex for an attention grab - looking less than impressed with our family tree.

_____________________________________________

we started by watching this gorgeous video about a family's record - or their book of life, which you can find here and asking some questions:

what was that video about?

what did you learn from it?

what was the book the girl was holding?

before having a quick game of hangman, with the mystery word being ancestors. 

what is genealogy? another word for that is family history, which is learning about ourrrrr? ancestors!

here's a little about my ancestors:

william and mary goodlet (my father's grandparents) - immigrated from scotland and lived in a tent for two years in koorow on scrub land. my great-grandmother was a small and timid lady, but big in personality when she needed to be.

stanley and violet marshall joined the church in england after meeting the missionaries and purchasing a book of mormon, then moved to salt lake in the 1920's. my grandfather roy was born there, on the same day and in the same hospital as president nelson! (there was a lot of wows from the primary kids at this one hahah) he was a builder by trade and also kept bees!

joseph goodlet was my grandfather, he was a painter and glazier by trade but was also very skilled with wood and much to my mother's horror (but not surprise) made slingshots for all of his grandkids. he also made rockinghorses and stools and i still use mine in my pantry as a step, it was made more than 30 years ago! he fought in wwII in a placed called morotai that is between indonesia and papua new guinea.

(my little display at the relief society activity yesterday - including wedding photos of douglas and i - my parents and both sets of my grandparents, my blessing day photo with my mother, hand written recipes from my grandmothers, quilts made my mother and grandmothers, the book of mormon my great-grandparents purchased in england and the shell my grandfather brought home from morotai for my grandmother.)

his wife phyllis goodlet became the cub commissioner for perth in the scouting association. her favourite flowers were roses and geraniums which she grew and she also loved carnations. she loved to crochet and made a blanket for each of her grandchildren along with many other things. she was an great cook and loved to feed people. she had a beautiful alto voice and was often asked to sing for occassions, such as weddings and as the entry voice in the perth production of the saturday's warrior musical. she was a staunch and faithful member of the gospel and raised two sons in the gospel after one died when he was younger. she also lovingly raised foster sons. she was the only person that drove in their family, my grandfather never got his license. she had a little green car with no seatbelts in the back.

my mother's mother - was gwendoline madge marshall. we realised a few months after madeline was born that we had accidentally named our daughter after her. ma-deline! she was a tea lady at the perth lawcourt. she enjoyed spending time with her grandkids, kintting, embroidery and going shopping at the garden city shopping centre. they lived on reynolds road which is one street down and she would take the bus from her door to the shops, because although she had her licence, she never drove! she was a well presented and softly spoken brit who lived for her family and loved them all fiercely. she passed away reasonably young and left behind her husband who never really got over it and spent years mourning her. 

both of my grandmothers joined the church in the 1960's. they had lost a child and felt the pull of eternal families in the gospel.

can anyone tell me something fun about their ancestors? do you know your grandparents first names? why do we focus on family history? (so our family can be together for eternity)

now. i want to know about yours! when you go home today, i want you to fill in one of these! get your parents to help you fill in the names and then find out about the people and learn their stories, our ancestors can live on when we tell them again and again.

family tree for junior kids available here

and senior primary here 

it was a great lesson with lots of laughs and questions, we really enjoyed it.

canola fields forever

i have said this a million times over, but i love the country and i love the wheatbelt. no lies. my long term dream would be to buy some land so i can enjoy the open space, grow things and just listen to the sounds of silence. to me, the country is beautiful, often in unconventional ways, like the colour of wheat against the blue sky. the sunburnt paddocks when there hasn't been any rain for months... and the dirt tracks with the green trees hugging their edges.

but i also find the things that should be pretty too - like the canola fields in full bloom on my drive to york today. they are just breathtaking. very few things are prettier than them in fact. they were so striking that i pulled my car over to take some pics, then a car pulled over on the opposite side of the road and waited and waited, so i thought i was being watched by a local who was making sure i didn't walk out into the fields for my own personal photoshoot. they have a lot of issues with that - and my friend keryn who lives in york takes great delight in yelling at people who do it because it's super disrespectful and it ruins the crops!

i hung about for a minute or two more just admiring the view then got in the car to keep driving - as which time the other person got out, phone in hand. looks like they had been waiting to do the same thing and was too embarrassed to get out while i was there. crack up! 

it's the country life for me. ❤

bookweek 2021

it's bookweek time!!!!! i absolutely loved seeing these two dressed up and ready to go out the door yesterday and i was low key squealing on the inside a little when i saw maddie in her costume that i made myself. 

joseph however is my hero of the day - as when i asked him what he wanted to be, he went and got his iron man costume out of the wardrobe and his helmet out of the toybox and threw it at me. yessss son. no more sewing for mum.

what a cutie! 

he was so happy in his costume and it really showed, he couldn't wait to get to school and show it off

❤

costume looking a little creepy set out the night before

but not as creepy as this. i nearly died laughing when i saw how this shot looked on my camera roll. i snapped it after school when he got out of the car and slumped on my bonnet.

maddie was thrilled beyond words with her costume. she kept saying how much she loved it which made me so happy.

complete with her mermaid crown, left over jewels i bought for dancing concerts years ago (they were too big!) and seahorse earrings from pip and pepper.

and we even chalked her hair in some cute pastel shades for that extra mermaid vibe.

seriously, look how chuffed she is!

i think this mum did okay this year huh? ❤

mermaid costume making

bookweek is on monday and madeline has decided she wants to be a mermaid. inspired by the shell crown my mum made her to wear to her mermaid party last year, that was what she decided it needed to be this year, so she could wear it again. so. this mum got to work.

inspired by this shirt i found online, i bought iridescent iron on vinyl patches from spotlight, traced and cut a pattern from tracing my computer screen and proceeded to cut each individual piece out, one by one. shoot me now, that's never happening again. 

but it worked and oh did it work, so it was totally worth it of course.

see, piece by piece, not fun. 

i ironed each one with a tea towel over the top to prevent it melting, but i think it was just sheer luck it worked out.

the skirt was very much inspired by this skirt my friend made for her daughter years ago for a costume day at their school, i had to search back for ages on her facebook but finally found it and just guessed and kind of winged it to make it the right shape.

which also miraculously worked, so maybe i am finally nailing this barbara junior gig hahaha. i can vouch though, the famous fork pleating video online works an absolute treat - cause that is how i managed to get this fishtail skirt to sit so nicely. 

she is so thrilled and i am chuffed, she can't wait to show it off at bookweek and keeps bragging to everyone that i made her costume. well, yes i did, so i guess i can be a little bit proud of myself too! ❤

 

an unexpected flower delivery

doug's sisters best friend had her 30th birthday yesterday and being the good prompter that i am, i messaged her to remind her and suggested she send her a bunch of flowers using a local posy delivery service. which she did (you're welcome niques haha)

so imagine my absolute delight when she sent me some the very next day, the exact ones i had been eyeing off on the website when i made a suggestion for her friend! along with the funniest card, in true niques style.

"jade. let it be known once and floral, hands down greatest quote from back to the fuschia 2... doc says to marty... "it's orchids, marty! something gotta be done about orchids!" haha just pollen your leg! hope your daisy gets better and love you a bunch! -ok bloomer."

oh my goodness. i love them - and her, so much. i seriously scored in the sister in law department. what a lovely thing to do. ❤

madeline's ctr ring

when madeline turned 8, doug and i gave her a ctr ring to wear. many people in our church wear a ctr ring, a small shield that stands for "choose the right." it has rarely left her hand since and she was sure to mention it to her teacher that year to ensure that there wouldn't be an issue with the school dress policy as it is quite strict and does say that jewellery other than small earrings are not allowed, with the exception of items worn for cultural or religious significance. 

this year however, a lot of the girls in her class have been caught out with all kinds of jewellery on, plus nail polish which is also against the rules. madeline was caught in the classroom blitz and asked to remove her ring which thankfully she did without argument even though it upset her.

her mature, level headed response allowed me an opportunity to email with her teacher and explain our religious beliefs and the reason behind the ring, which was wonderful for me. we have been told to plant little seeds wherever we go and leave things better than we found them and this was my chance to do so. 

choose the right, when a choice is placed before you

in the right, the holy spirit guides

and its light is forever shining over you

when in the right your heart confides

choose the right, choose the right

let wisdom mark the way before 

in its light, choose the right

and god will bless you evermore

-choose the right lds hymns #239

lacey and gloria flash sale

a friend of a friend owns a size inclusive, modest dress store and oh do i love their stuff. yesterday they had a flash sale, with all their dresses just $20 for 20 minutes. you bet your ass i was on there quick smart, trying to see what i could nab and was thrilled to lock down these three dresses.

cannot wait for them to arrive, i am so stoked.

******************

update (march 2022): the black one is an absolute dream, so damn comfortable and fits beautifully with side ties to cinch in the waistline. i love it. it's already been loaned out twice with rave reviews from the other wearers too

the eva is gorgeous and bright (with pockets!) and has been worn for a multitude of fun occasions by me and others, including a bunny themed backyard party at jens.

the eveline is soooo pretty and feminine. i threw it at jen for her last maternity shoot and it was just perfect. loved it. lacey and gloria you are the bomb.

i didn't like it that much

doug and i have spent the last few months laughing hysterically, every time someone brings up disney cars and joseph loses his shiz. 

let me be quite clear about this. joseph lived and breathed lightning mcqueen and disney cars. i can't even emphasise that enough. like i cannot tell you how much he loved it. i swear we watched cars 2, once and sometimes twice a day, for about a year. 

we had everything lightning mcqueen. he would watch the movie, in his lightning pjs, or clothes (we are talking shirt, shorts, undies, socks, jumper, and even shoes with cars on them) playing with the cars from the movie, doing puzzles of cars, writing the names of the cars... while eating off his lightning mcqueen plate with his lightning water bottle. not joking. 

if we saw anything lightning mcqueen, he needed it. here we are spending our birthday money from aunty jenny.

birthdays were so easy. lightning mcqueen all day erry day.

i mean look at that happy face after unwrapping more cars stuff.

cars shirt, eating his cars decorated cake from nanna

and cars pj's brought home from the disney store in utah, again playing with cars toys.

but now, he claims, "i didn't like it that much!!" and then gets mad and storms off. well my son, i can assure you, you did like it that much. and more.

off to the hospital for dental surgery, in a lightning jumper, with a cars backpack.

the happiest day of his little life, at the cinema for the first time, to see cars 3. i have never seen a kid more excited in my life. that's when we were introduced to jackson storm, the first car to beat lightning mcqueen, who became joseph's arch nemesis. he was so mad about him beating lightning that he never got over it, in fact he had a pair of cars 3 pjs that had jackson storm on the front and after a little while, we had to rip the tag out of them, so lightning could be on the front and jackson had to be on the back.

yep. didn't like it that much.

i do hope these photos have proved just how much he "didn't like it" as i'm roaring with laughter all over again posting them up now.

he even got a ride on lightning mcqueen electric car for christmas from poppy and grandma. i can't describe the joy he experienced that day. 

anddd the lightning library bag nanna made you. joseph, you may not have liked it that much... but we sure remember it differently.

rip to lightning mcqueen in the kendall house, cause alex isn't even allowed to watch it now.