rugby roos

after a whole bunch of convincing from heaps of people we know, especially our bishop paul, joseph has embarked on a rugby clinic covering the next few weeks. day one was yesterday and he really liked it! sooooo that's good. he ran, he caught the ball, he gasbagged with the other boys (see above lol) and we will do it all again next week. let's hope he still likes it then. 

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

edited to add. he loved it! but then grandma died and he missed the last one which was a full day workshop to end them off, as it was the day of her funeral :( hopefully next year once the season starts again he'll get back into it and give it another try. doug's family have always been rugby obsessed so we can only hope he gives it a go sometime in the future.

the first vision: a primary lesson

 

**all artwork found on google images, used simply for this post. if you are the owner of an image and wish to have it removed, please contact me so that i can do so**

in our religion, we believe that god the father and his son jesus christ appeared to the boy joseph in the spring of 1820. we believe they appeared in response to his fervent plea to know of which of the religions of the day was the right one and which one would lead him to his father in heaven. there are so many artists depictions of this moment and over the years i have loved so many of them, but none have ever had quite the effect on me as seeing this one. i don't doubt joseph would have been overwhelmed and likely afraid. seeing this version where he is being held by his heavenly father gave me chills. knowing he was loved and that he was no doubt comforted by them in that moment was incredible to me. what a wonderful feeling it gave me.

i was scheduled to teach our primary lesson today and really wanted to teach something that the children needed (and would want) to know. all week as i considered the options, i kept coming back to the first vision over and over. it's been a long time since we had classes in person after covid came along and ruined everything, but we are back - with an all in primary set up. nursery through to 11 years old - and it's loud and messy, but a lot of fun. 

a lot of the really junior kids have probably never seen a lesson on the first vision, because the doctrine and covenants/ pearl of great price along with the other standard works are only covered once every four years. so we watched a kids video of how it went down here, read the scripture that prompted joseph to offer that first prayer in james 1:5 "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."

then we all recited the first article of faith together: "we believe in god, the eternal father, and in his son, jesus christ - and in the holy ghost."

before we taught them the first verse of the hymn joseph smith's first prayer to finish up. it went really well and i was so pleased with my choice, especially when i learned that the "come follow me" theme for this week was the restoration. coincidence? i think not. haha.

oh how lovely was the morning!

radiant beamed the sun above.

bees were humming, sweet birds singing,

music ringing through the grove.

when within the shady woodland

joseph sought the god of love.

when within the shady woodland,

joseph sought the god of love.

you can listen to a beautiful version of the song in full here.

it goes on with further verses as so:

humbly kneeling, sweet appealing,

'twas the boys first uttered prayer

when the powers of sing assailing

filled his soul with deep despair

but undaunted still he trusted

in his heavenly fathers care

but undaunted still he trusted

in his heavenly fathers care

suddenly a light descended

brighter far then noonday sun

and a shining glorious pillar

over him fell, around him shone.

while appeared two heavenly beings

god the father and the son

while appeared two heavenly beings

god the father and the son.

joseph this is my beloved,

hear him! oh how sweet the word!

joseph's humble prayer was answered,

and he listened to the lord.

oh, what rapture filled his bosom, 

for he saw the living god.

oh, what rapture filled his bosom, 

for he saw the living god.

it will never cease to amaze me, the incredible things that took place that day. that a teenage boy had enough faith to be ready to see god himself and his son jesus christ and be the one chosen to restore their gospel to the earth in the latter days.

how very blessed i feel to know the truth and to be able to raise my family in the gospel.

d&c 76:22-24 

and now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: that he lives! for we saw him, even on the right hand of god; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the only begotten of the father- that by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters of god.

catered breakfast

i got the huuuugest compliment last sunday. a friend from church came and asked me if i would do some food for her husbands birthday party the following weekend. now this chick is a foodie like no other. she's south american, looooves beautiful food - and she asked me. i was gobsmacked. even more so, because i don't think she's ever even tasted anthing i have made. but she came to me and when i said that, she was like, "well he has! and i've seen enough of it online to know i want to order some!" amazing!

she decided on ham and cheese croissants (no, i do not make those from scratch, you would legit have to be insane) ready to go in the oven to melt the cheese, spinach and ricotta parcels and a batch of blueberry muffins. i was super stoked and got to work. apparently it was amazing (it was a surprise and he was very surprised), all the food (well all of mine!) got polished off quickly and it was a great day. hooray! i even got sent a banquet photo, which looked incredible. hopefully more orders come from it, cause i don't mind a bit!

flowers from my love

there is absolutely nothing more wonderful than getting flowers for no reason. better than my birthday, valentine's day or any anniversary, is simply for no reason at all. every now and then my husband delivers and today was that day. he even got my favourites, yellow roses, which i had in my wedding bouquet. today was a good day. ❤

 

pro baller

this little nugget started basketball boot camp (okay maybe it's u10 basketball skills) at a nearby rec centre a few weeks ago. oh my gosh does he love it! he is freaking ruthless and is always out to get that ball and get it in the hoop. he's actually not done too badly with it either, with a lot of his shots making it in. it's so nice to see him running and moving and being into sport. bball was always on the cards, because his dad loves it and the most important person in the world, his precious aunty dom loves it. lol. i'm hoping that by doing the rest of the term, he'll like it enough to play in the summer season as it arrives around again in term 4. funers crossed we have another sports mad child in the house. haha.

 

joseph's 7th birthday party

yesterday joseph and his pals hit up the local timezone for his birthday party. when we asked him what he wanted for his birthday this year there was not even a moments hesitation before he yelled timezone again! well. that makes it easy for parents. until we booked just hours before the perth lockdown was announced. yikes. they were great to deal with though, we just pushed it back a week so he could hand out invites when school went back and that was heaps of time!

oh my goodness. i always forget just how loud little boys can be, until there is a bunch of them in the same place with computer games added to the excitement. it was insane! but watching them was hilarious... all us mums got such a laugh out of it - and all of them declared that it was the best party that they had ever been to!

he even let madeline invite her friend madison along too and she was loving having someone her age there too. they were hooked on the virtual reality and screamed their heads off along with the ride

and did some biking together lol

what a bunch. i am thankful over and over again to live in western australia where we remain reasonably unaffected by covid and don't have it ruining everything for us. i mean, i don't think most of our friends around the world would be able to do this, or anything like it, and if they were, it would be masks on at all times. ugh.

being that lockdown was only a few weeks ago and then another week of masks after that, i tried to be covid restriction friendly with the snacks at the party, even though they hadn't specified that i needed to do so. all packaged, in their own bags so they didn't even have to share. winner. plus there was a lot less prep and cost involved than my usual spread!

and this cake. oh that cake. i asked him what he wanted so that lovely aunty jenny could get to work, only he was insistent that he wanted a caramel mudcake from woolworths. that was it. his only request. so i got creative. i had seen this hack on the internet and it's so easy that it's ridiculous so that was the order of the day. two caramel mudcakes, stacked, mouth cut out (and eaten by happy kids) lol with chocolate fingers all the way around for a border, a filling of yellow smarties and half a giant marshmallow coloured in with a sharpie for his eye. probably the easiest cake of all time, not going to lie.

and he loooooved it!

party done, cake cut... 

happiest kids, "goody bags" items chosen from the prize store with the preloaded points you get as part of the party pack

and amazing cookies from aunty jenny to take home too. thank goodness that's over for another year! 

esps hero dress up day

i laughed so hard at the choice of outfits from these two today on "hero dress up day" at school.

as i have mentioned in previous posts, there was a huge and devastating bushfire burning out of control for over a week, just a few weeks ago. many houses and a lot of land was lost to it's path. the perth lord mayors fund put an appeal into place and many people have donated money, along with those who have donated their time to help during this disaster and other physical items that were so badly needed. our school p&c rose to the occasion and called for a free dress day, where everyone could donate to the fund. we normally ask that people send a gold coin donation, but this time people were sending more, mostly $2, but some notes arrived and the school raised over $1000 from the day!

i was amused though, heroes was chosen as the theme because of all those who had been in the line of fire protecting our land (due to the closeness of the fire many in the school community were affected or knew someone that was) and there my kids are, turning up as basketball players and dance teachers! hahahah. classic kendall craziness. it makes me so happy to see them enjoying things though, so thatá mum win. love our school community!