50 years of neil and barbara

 

fifty years ago today my parents said i do. 

fifty years!

when my mother was 11, she told her mum she was going to marry neil goodlet. her mother was of course a little disbelieving and gave her the standard "that's nice dear response" but little did she know what was ahead. mum wasn't kidding. 7 years later, they were married at the melville church of jesus christ of latter-day saints - and fifty years later, here we are.

4 children and 12 grandchildren later - a true legacy of love. i have never seen a couple more in love and more devoted to each other. i was so blessed to be born into a home full of love.

as an anniversary gift, i had this painting done for them from @love.staxx on instagram. i have purchased other items from her in the past and her work is beautiful and she is absolutely lovely. i approached her with a black and white picture, as it's a long time joke in our family about the fact that mum and dad's wedding photographer forgot to bring colour film on the day so they actually don't have any colour photos!

until now, when i made this on the "my heritage" website for them during lockdown last year when they made unlimited colourisations to help those at home wanting to keep busy. legends. stacey from love staxx then painted them a colour portrait and mum loved it.

in celebration of their 50 years of marriage, here's a couple of photos of them over the years...

young and in love at dads 16th birthday party in the backyard at my grandparents elvira street home (which my parents still own coincidentally)

posing at the wishing well in kings park, young and freshly enagaged after attending a friends wedding (who absolutely did not make it to the 50 year mark!)

another one at kings park when we had family photos back when emma kate was a baby. i actually snapped this shot on my phone between the photographers efforts and i love it so much, even all these years later. i love how in love they are, it shows so much. dad is always telling us what a babe she is and it's adorable.

this snap is at my best friend jennifers wedding 2010, i am pretty sure it's the first time that they worked out how to take a selfie by the looks of it.

i just love how much they love each other. it's the greatest thing in my life. i looove to tell people how long they have been together. it's truly the most wonderful love story.

***

as a gift for them, my brothers and i paid for them to visit rottnest together today. the last time they went was newly married, while mum was pregnant with my oldest brother. they (mum especially!) were so stoked, and as soon as dad found out it included multiple tours (including the rottnest train run, and the guns/ war memorial/ tunnels tour) he was keen as beans. they said it was the best day and we are so happy that they loved it. we are so so lucky to have them as our parents. they are simply the best.

20 years later

twenty years ago today i waited excitedly outside of the sydney temple with my brother isaac while my oldest brother jared and his wife donna were married for time and all eternity and i gained my first sister. what a wonderful day it was for us all. i honeslty can't believe it was that long ago, i was only 12 years old! but here we are twenty years later hauling out the photos...

here we have mum and i at the reception a few weeks later in wa (they honeymooned in nsw after their temple wedding) it was my first time as a bridesmaid and i was so excited to be a part of it. to this day i don't think donna has any idea just how special she made me feel by asking me to be her bridesmaid. i really felt like i had a sister that day... and have every day since. 

congratulations on such a huge milestone jared & donna. i love you both ♥

four years down - mat & jen

i can't believe it has already been 4 years since mat & jen got married! feels like it can't have been that long, but the calendar doesn't lie.

happy linen anniversary guys!

i found this amazing cushion from a girl on madeit.com.au , that could be personalised with all your own info. it's so cool, with such a reasonable price (close your eyes jen - $39 shipped within australia) that i wanted to put it on here for everyone to see. it was made really quickly too and i am so stoked with the result! you can order one here!

wedding anniversary & blogiversary!

it's been 8 years today since doug and i knelt together in the temple and promised to love each other, hold each other and uplift each other - for time and all eternity. i'm not going to lie... it hasn't always been easy, there's been rough days - but more good ones. i remember one of the young women asking me once how i knew it was time to marry him and my response was - "when there was more things about him i liked than i didn't like." i certainly wouldn't be where i am in my life without him - and i know that i made the right choice. knowing that he loves me and our babies means more to me than i could ever explain and i know that he's the one i want to spend my eternities with.

after all - "the greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother."

today also brings my 500th post on my little blog that probably no one reads, but what matters is that i made a goal to keep it going and i have! it's kind of like my journal and i love to look back at what i was doing, where i was, who i was with and how life was at the time. i've had two kids since i started - along with so many other things happening. but here it is! 500 of them. hope you've enjoyed - and prepare yourselves for the next 500. i am not a quitter, so you'll have to put up with me for a long time yet!

anniversary gift

each year for my best friend jennifers wedding anniversary i hand make her a gift (mind you there has only been two of them so far, so lets see what the future brings...) last year it was a button cushion for cotton which you can see here and the year before a framed tree which you can see here. but this year - she surprised me, with a lovely gift that she had handmade for me. i see this is going to be a competition now and i love it. i must say though, hers was a lot more difficult - being copper for seven years. what do you do with that? 

this!!

her gorgeous husband mat (who she always claims is so unromantic - pffft he has just proved otherwise...) apparently offered to make the copper heart, which she then put on a background of the paper used on our wedding invitations (which is apparently now out of stock... boooo) and for good measure stuck on our placecards from the table. such a sweet and thoughtful gift. i love it so much! 

♥

p.s. if you're interested in seeing what item is for each anniversary year - there's a handy website here that has them all!

7 years and counting!

7 years ago, on saturday i married this amazing guy. who would have known, that all those years ago - i would have taken a leap of faith, going to brisbane even though everything had gone wrong (would you believe that i actually went to brisbane for someone else?) before i had even gotten there... but i got on the plane and decided to give it a go - and met the one. in all honesty, everything i never knew was missing in my crazy life.

doug was friends with my flat mate beth, who introduced us in the kangaroo point chapel foyer after i had sang at a friends baptism. i didn't really think too much of it, seeing him again at a party that night where i waved hello and kept on walking and then seeing him again at our house the following week where i was introduced again with a quip from beth, "this is my friend doug, you can marry him if you want!" not exactly what i was wanting to hear that week i can assure you. i was still dealing with the burns from the last one...

but... we came to be friends, and it all went from there. he invited me to the stake ysa ball, we kissed - and we have been together ever since... and i wouldn't change a thing. he is the best thing that has ever happened to me and i am so grateful that he chose me. looking into his eyes on our wedding day 7 years ago and promising to love him not only for this life, but for eternity was the best choice i ever made. i can't wait to spend eternity with him, miss madeline and our babies that are yet to come.

dsk♥jeg

for eternity 

buttons!

 

my bestie and her husband celebrated their two year wedding anniversary over the weekend and of course i decided to make them a theme gift. two years traditionally is cotton so i got a cotton cushion cover and proceeded to make a heart shape of all different shades, shapes and sizes of red buttons - sewing them on with what else? red cotton.

 

i began to regret my decision pretty quickly - after the first two hours or so in fact - when i realised just how long it was going to take. but considering i decided to make it on thursday night - for saturday. what the hell was i thinking?? seriously...

 

cause this is what it looked like an 12:36am saturday morning. but... nonetheless, it was totally worth every stitch, cause i was so happy with the final product that i was also tempted to keep it. love love love! and thankfully, she loved it too.

 

and just cause i can't resist showing off yet another photo of this gorgeous girl... maddie and aunty jen had a lovely afternoon together during our lunch at the mahogany inn.

 

p.s. most amazing banoffee pie ever... can't wait to go back for some more. or at least try making it their way - which i am totally going to get to work on. yumm

six years

i can't believe six years have passed since
doug and i were married.

so i just thought i'd share my favourite picture from the wedding... i dreamed for so long of having this picture and then finally got to have it, thanks to our beautiful photographer mimi. (who just happened to be my young women's leader back in the day!!) for my birthday a few years ago, doug had it done up huge on a canvas for me, it's my favourite thing in the whole world and probably the first thing I would save if the house was on fire (heaven forbid...)

no woman is ever disappointed when a pandora bag shows up - (unless of course you're crazy) so imagine my delight when he surprised me when he got home today with the most beautiful pair of earrings from the pandora store. and i really was suprised. way surprised. i had absolutely no idea i was getting something!! so just to add to the reasons i love him...

not that i need another one!

i have the tree of life necklace that i got as a gift from my work when i left - plus it's my favourite charm on my bracelet... what can i say - i'm a tree hugging hippie after all...

pandora freebie with my earrings! super cute!

six years down, eternity to go! it's a very long time, and i can't think of someone i'd rather spend it with

♥♥♥♥♥♥

arabian nights

on saturday night mum and dad celebrated their 4oth wedding anniversary in style with an arabian nights party. a lot of effort went into it (a lot) and it was a raging success. we had the shin-dig at the hub of the hills hall in mundaring and there was about 60 or so people there, friends and family from the last 40 years of their life.

my brother aaron (aka. kingsley shacklebolt - due to the costume) and his gorgeous little wifey katja came all the way from london for it!! it has been so nice to spend time with them during the last week and for them to get to know maddie... i can see she adores them already!!

no party is complete without one of these! haha

we had made up a photo tribute of mum and dads lives together over the years (big thanks to jamie-lee for the effort she put into it!!) and it was a big hit... so many hilarious (and embarassing) shots for all of us. then... they were dragged up to address their crowd. i am so proud to call them mine, the most wonderful parents one could have ever hoped for. i only wish they could have another 40 years together. 

my lovely doug was dressed as the magic carpet from aladdin, in my doona cover that mum and i had re-fashioned, complete with a tassel on each corner. (i am sure that later in the night it again served it's purpose as a doona cover when miss emma had a sleep in the adjoining room.) i had a sari that i was given by a wonderful indian family through work years ago for assisting on their mothers funeral.

miss maddie was beautifully behaved as always, passed around through all her aunts, uncles and grandparents... as well as a few people she'd never seen before in her life, but still managed to have a few catnaps and enjoy herself - in her little outfit that nanna made for the night.

mum had organised a surprise for everyone, a bellydancer that arrived later in the evening to do a bit of a performance for everyone and certainly got the crowd up on their feet. it was fun just watching everyone getting into it.

my dad (aka the sheik) was also presented with a birthday cake (my specialty violet crumble cheesecake) near the end of the night... yummmm

quite simply, it was a fabulous night...

and in the immortal words of frank sinatra,

"the best is yet to come!!"

happy anniversary jen and mat

it is so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that a whole year has passed since my bestie jen, married my friend from kindy - mat. a whole year! we had a celebratory lunch at the restaurant where they had their wedding today (btw - won't be going back there... but luckily the company was better than the food!) and had a great old time laughing it up and reminiscing. thankfully today there were a few less flies than there were at the ceremony (one of their actual wedding shots is mat dousing himself in aeroguard. hahaha)

the traditional first wedding anniversary gift is paper so i made them a tree with the lyrics of their bridal waltz printed over and over through the branches, and two hearts hanging from the bottom branch (and yes, i may well have gotten the idea from pinterest thank you very much - and seeing as it's the first thing i have made from pinterest, i'm a little proud of myself!)



anddddd the back...

a day out with the two of us is never complete without one of these...

happy anniversary kids!

here's to many, many more...

loveshya!

chipper-versary with 2 months to go...

this monday 23.05 passed was my six year anniversary at chippers! six... freaking... years...! i am so proud, especially after all the boys taking bets on how long i would last when i started and me beating the lot of them. :) but it has flown by and i can't believe that it's been that long - and that 1. i'm still here and 2. i still love it enough to be here. here's to some more fun times in the future, but i am pretty sure there won't be another six!

monday was also - the "i've-got-two-months-to-go-til-the-baby's-due" day. looks like everything is happening at once! and you know what? i freaking love it! x

5 whole years!!!

it amazes me that it has been five whole years since doug and i got married for time and all eternity in the perth australia temple. this post is actually a week late coming, as things have been nutty - and quite simply i just forgot to write it down. i certainly didn't forget my anniversary - just forgot that all of you needed to know as well.

on may 21st 2005 doug and i were walking in the gardens out the front of the temple, he picked me a yellow rose (from the temple garden - ooh mah) and handed it to me, before we continue our walk. i stopped to look upwards, as you do when there's a beautiful gold statue to look at, then then when i turned around,
there he was, kneeling in the grass.

i asked him what he was doing... to which he replied,

"jade, i have loved you since the first time i saw you,
i still love you, and i will always love you...
and i would really love it if you would be my wife."

then those three magic words that every girl dreams of:

"will you marry me?"

the rest of course is history,
married 23rd feb 2006
in the perth temple with our reception at the
olive garden restaurant in west perth,
a perfect day.

and here's to at least another 5 years.

i love you douglas stephen kendall
and i will love you

forever

engagement anniversary...

on friday - doug had i had been engaged for 5 years!
that's right ladies and gents,
5 years ago, we stopped at the perth temple
on our way back to my mum and dads after a day in perth,
where he knelt on the grass in front of me,
pulled out a beautiful white box and handed me a yellow rose, saying:
"jade i've loved you since the first moment i saw you,
i love you now, i'll always love you
and i'd love for you to be my wife...
will you marry me...?"

the ring was amazing... (he picked it all by himself!!)

and it still looks amazing on my finger

definately a good choice :)

love you bebeh! xxx

4 years and counting!

this time 4 years ago i had been married for just a few hours!
but 4 years, 48 months, 208 weeks, 1461 days later here i am...
still smitten - he's still just as hot!!

i enjoyed every minute of piking on the couch with
wok-in-a-box & a movie
even if the power decided to go out - and my western-power-employee-father was "conveniently" unreachable, hmmmm.
i got a present too!
a plaque for the wall - that i have been lusting after forever!
soooooo pretty!

here's to at least another four!!

love you!!