water babies

so... unexpectedly my children have turned into water babies. four out of the five days this week they were drenched and loving it. we are super lucky to have an amazing water park in ellenbrook and we spent a few hours there the other day with our friends catching some sun... and doing yoga. crazy kids, we were dying laughing watching them.

having a break from splashing

plus we have friends with pools, so we have been swimming too, these kids are going to have an amazing summer with all this water...

they are both getting so brave too, here's maddie jumping in the deep end, where she would push herself off of the bottom of the pool, back to the edge and then jump in and do it all over again... 

here's to summer! (rank... i am totally a winter person haha)

president monson: on the lords errand

 

we received word today that our beloved prophet, president thomas s. monson had passed away in his home in salt lake city at age 90. although he was showing his age and seemed to be declining so quickly in recent times, it is always such a shock when the time finally comes for them to return to their heavenly home. what a joyful reunion it would have been for him and his wife! i am sure he is blissfully happy to be with her again. it's certainly a rest he has earned, having served faithfully in the church his entire life and being a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles since 1963... that's more than 50 years! 

the last talk president monson gave to the world was at the april 2017 general conference, speaking about the importance of having a firm and sure testimony of the book of mormon, encouraging the almost 16 million members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day to ensure they took the time to read it daily. this talk meant so much to me, i felt at the time it could be his last counsel and i took it to our relief society lessons encouraging the sisters to read it faithfully... and to my own family. our goal for this year 2018, is to read the book of mormon together as a family, but the proper one this time around, not the junior version, in memory of president monson. 

my favourite talk of his remains the holy temple a beacon to the world, which was made in to the most incredible mormon message: temples are a beacon. i cannot help but cry each time i watch it and have watched it so many times yet never tire of it. i absolutely know that president monson was called of god. simply hearing him speak was enough for me to have a sure knowledge of that. he spoke with such conviction and love. we were so lucky to have him serve as the president of our church and i know he will be so missed. please take the time to watch this little tribute, it's perfect. 

we thank thee o god for a prophet, to guide us in these latter-days ♥

instagram top nine

it's a new year and i keep seeing these instagram top nine photos appearing in my feed, so i thought i would jump on the bandwagon and see what mine had in it. i honestly cracked up laughing when it came back with these 9 pictures that make me look like an absolute molly mormon. 

left to right, top to bottom:

the salt lake city temple during my visit to utah in february

our little family at the pinker wedding

an evening session at the perth temple

provo city centre temple also during my visit to utah

dallas texas temple with the demkes

rocking my mary poppins outfit at the madeley ward trunk or treat

another evening at the perth temple

madeline's moana party "heart of te fiti" cookies

the salt lake city lds conference centre

it was definitely a great year, with some excellent memories - and being that most of them involved church this is a perfect nine for me. 

let's hope 2018 is just as good. ♥

the elf on the shelf

so this ridiculousness happened in our house this year. oh my word. so much effort haha. but it was fun and the kids loved finding the elf each day and seeing what she had been up to. big thanks to my friend claire for sneaking me her spare one - into madeline's backpack i might add... so when she got home from school one day i told her that i had a text message from the north pole and asked her to look in the front pocket. priceless!

so here are the adventures of snowflake the elf in the kendall house ♥

day 1: december 7 hanging with mary and joseph and holding their newborn baby

day 2: december 8 did almost all of josephs puzzle, just left the pieces of lightning for him to do

day 3: december 9 got caught in the fridge, luckily there was a tea towel handy to use as a blanket

day 4: december 10 pooped some choc chips into a glass

day 5: december 11 got stuck hanging from the living room light fitting

day 6: december 12 toilet papered the christmas tree

day 7: december 13 imitating miley cyrus and cannonball on the kitchen lights

day 8: december 14 did a little graffiti on mum and dads wedding picture

day 9: december 15 playing poker with santa and joseph

day 10: december 16 being a pirate complete with her own flag and ship in the kids bathroom

day 11: december 17 playing daddy's samoan drum

day 12: december 18 having a romantic picnic by candlelight with flynn ryder

day 13: december 19 sunbaking (under the lamp) at the beach

day 14: december 20 helping put todays decoration on the advent calendar

day 15: december 21 babysitting the baby jesus while mary and joseph had date night

day 16: december 22 chilling in dad's shoe

day 17: december 23 all dressed up with pearls and perfume, ready for a night out 

day 18: december 24

holding the bible open at luke chapter 2, ready for us to read the nativity story before bed on christmas eve

♥

vegan cheesecake

i'm still on the gluten free and dairy free train (thank goodness i am feeling a whole lot better, it certainly makes it easier...) so decided to make this vegan cheesecake for boxing day. i had multiple questions from people that knew i had made it, wanting to know if i was going down the vegan path. here is your answer: no. i enjoying eating meat. i am sure if i desperately wanted to do it, i could. i mean really, anyone can do anything that they want to do badly enough... but i like meat. veganism is not for me at this stage in my life.

but, back to the cake. i don't eat gluten or dairy, so cheesecake was out of the question for me. and what is christmas in australia (ie. frigging hot summer!) without cheesecake or cold dessert of some description? heck to the no was i missing out. so when this delicious looking recipe appeared in my facebook news feed this week, i went looking for the recipe... which you can find here (at ever and ivy) - along with a video for you to follow along with.

vegan cheesecake

crust:
1 cup raw walnuts
1 cup raw almonds
10 medjool dates (pits removed)
3 tbs melted coconut oil
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/ tsp sea salt

filling:
3 1/2 cups raw cashews (soaked 3hrs or overnight)
1 cup coconut cream
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries

1. process crust ingredients until fine crumbs. pour into tin and press down until smooth.
2. blend all filling ingredients excpet blueberries until very smooth. set aside half of mixture.
3. add blueberries to the half of mix in blender and blend until smooth.
4. pour blueberry mixture onto crust. pour white mixture on top.
5. freeze. allow to thaw for 15-20 mins before serving.

the verdict:
so. it wasn't cheesecake and so didn't have the cheesecakey flavour. but. it was delicious! seriously. i was well impressed, as was everyone else that had some, including my skeptical husband, who i found out later had actually eaten 3 pieces! i will absolutely make it again, no doubt about that. my only comment is that it makes a lot! i made 2 cheesecakes with the mix! which was great because we are having a baby shower here for my friend this weekend, so we'll bust out the second one then, but you could possibly halve the mixture when making it? or not, obviously it is frozen, so you could store it for as long as you need. but yum yum yum. so worth the effort!

boxing day

boxing day was spent at my parents house... my very favourite place to be. sure, growing up in clackline can't compete with growing up in the big city, but we made our own fun - and had the best time. and now, even as an adult with children of my own, going to clackline feels like going home. the wide open road with bush either side that stretches forever and the dirt roads, the kangaroos... and their house, my childhood home, that holds the very best memories i possess.

as you would have seen from my posts over the years, i love nativity sets... and this is the first one i remember... my mothers one. taking it out of it's black tin and taking it out of the tissue paper to set it up each year was my favourite thing - and definitely began my obsession. 

cooking and fun with my niece laura ♥

and maddie with her favourite cousin emma ♥

my two favourite babes. i love these kids!

i know people might not be a fan of the country, but for me it will always be home. i don't know how anyone could not love this view. the end of the day in clackline... it was a very merry boxing day and -

home is wherever i'm with mum ♥

christmas with the kendalls

i, along with everyone else i know, love christmas! it truly is "the most wonderful time of the year" and to celebrate the birth of our saviour, with family by our side is one of lifes greatest blessings.

we are lucky enough to have both sets of our parents living within an hour of our home, so we had them all over on christmas day... brunch with dougs parents and then both sets for dinner! my kids seriously have no idea how lucky they are to have them all around.

mum and dad and the grandparents* certainly delivered and the kids got some gorgeous gifts! madeline got a gorgeous doll that looks just like her (not the one in the link, hers has red hair, freckles and brown eyes ♥) the our generation dolls are so cute! such good value for money too. we were stoked to find them!

(*note: my kids talk about santa... and i neither confirm nor deny his existence. for us, the main focus of christmas is to celebrate the birth of christ and i am not fussed if they don't believe in him. plus i am the youngest of four, with only brothers [the eldest of which are 11 and 9 years older than me] so to be honest i can't actually remember believing in santa... we just tell the kids that the things in their stocking are from santa and they seem cool with that)

and joseph was blown away with this ride on lightning mcqueen car... you should have heard him squeal. so much fun! i can't wait to see him drive it once he really gets the hang of it.

and this book. what a crack up. more for doug than joseph i must admit, but so good.

we had the best day and put two very tired and happy kids to bed at the end of it. christmas comes but once a year, but with it comes so. much. love! ♥

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"for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful, counsellor, the mighty god, the everlasting father, the prince of peace." isaiah 9:6