one last summer holiday adventure

Our summer holidays are coming to an end on Monday when the kids head on back to school. It has been a fun filled summer...hot, but fun!

On Friday I took the kids to the zoo and we had a fun time there. Toronga Zoo is a great zoo but it is HUGE and super hilly so you leave feeling like you got a massive workout...especially when you are 6 mon. preg and trying to push a huge 2 year old in a stroller up the hills. :) I finally made her bail and walk part of the way...didn't really want this baby born at the zoo.

We have passes to the zoo which makes it nice so we don't feel like we have to rush and see everything. We spent a few hours there and then headed over to see daddy at work.Lucy liked the itty bitty baby rhino statue...

Liv's cousin Leah sent her a Flat Stanley and we have been taking him places with us and taking lots of photos for her.

yep, Lucy is too cute for words....:)

The gorilla family mingling with the Finch family...

the cuties..

Lucy with Mr. Croc...

Happy 7th!

Alivia has always been my helper! She is a great little gal....

She is very loving....

Super funny..............super cute...

and we couldn't be prouder of her. She is caring and always looking for ways to be a good sis or help me out.

We all love you Miss Livi Luna! I am so so happy I get to be your mommy! I couldn't imagine my life without my girl!

You've had a birthday shout hooray!!

My first baby turned 7 today and I can hardly believe it. She has been looking forward to it for months.

She received lots of fun gifts from family & friends along with "millions" of phone calls & emails( as Livi put it). Thanks everyone for the love...she loved every minute of it.

She requested Outback Steakhouse for her bday dinner destination. Of course the food was yum and we devoured the plate of cheesy chippies. Just sitting in the restaurant kinda felt like I was in the Outback restaurant in Orem..it's the most American feeling restaurant I have been to here, which is odd because it's meant to be an Aussie feeling restaurant. Interesting!

The birthday gal....

The other side of the table..

In the morning Liv & I headed to the local mall for a little girl time. Liv had her finger and toenails painted....she felt pretty fancy. We had lunch and did a little shopping.

Her birthday breakfast request was french toast and scrambled eggs with extra cheese. We love you Liv! :)

classics...

Yesterday the kids and I had rented a Smurfs DVD from the library and we all plopped on my bed and watched it. The kids are always asking me about shows that I used to watch when I was little & it got me thinking about the classics. I kind of wish they still showed good, cheesy shows like these. I loved wathcing the Smurfs when I was a kiddo. Who's the Boss...come on...it was great. Tony, Samantha, Angela, Jonathan & Mona...and the big blue van...classic!

Although this show kinda scared me a little....Vicki the robot...umm, a little strange, but I still really liked it. Jamie's overbite was great...the entire show was iffy but oh so classic...

Oh yeah, Saturday mornings! Who didn't think Slater had the cutest dimples ever?!? And Zach, he was just a cute, cheesy stud in the show....classic!

I love that Sesame Street is still on. Everyone remembers the one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, elllllllllleevennn, tweeeeeellllve song. I have watched it a few times with my kids and can't believe Gordon & Maria are still on the show. They were on it 25 years ago when I was a five year old watching it. Classic!

Punky, Punky Punky...and her friend Cherry. Remember her cool room? I remember trying to dress like her and do my hair like her. Classic!

Full House!! I really loved this show. I would get so excited to watch it. Uncle Jessie was such a cute, fun uncle. I loved DJ's hair...the volume..& her friend Kimmy, good grief was she annoying, but also really funny! Classic!

Mr. Belvedere! I always got the song stuck in my head. Another Classic!

Oh Mr. Rodgers. I really like Mr. Rodgers, but looking back I gotta say I was a little creeped out whenever the trolley would go into make believe land area. The puppets scared me a little bit. hahaha, especially the one with the huge red nose. I think she lived in a tree?? Classic!

I have 5 brothers so of course I watched plenty of He-man & the Masters of the Universe. So classic!

Growing Pains! I loved this show and I had a huge crush on Kirk Cameron. In 3rd grade I bought a book from the book order entitled, Kirk Cameron, Dream guy! Oh my, oh my did I love that book. So funny to think about now! Classic!

Family ties! The dad with his corny jokes & feathery hair! The whole thing screams classic!

Who didn't love the Cosby show!?! I remember as a kid I thought Denise was so pretty and grown-up. I remember thinking I wanted to look like her when I grew-up...Umm, not really sure how I was planning on pulling that one off! hahaha

Carebears..ahhhh...I loved that show. Carebear stare! Classic!

Yep, I might have had a crush on Charles! Another one that was working his feathered hair! haha! Oh & Buddy...wow, was he a cheeseball! I think Jared told me he had a crush on Jamie. hahahaha! Young love...haha! All these shows were classic! I can picture myself watching them. Ah, the good old days! :)

Summer holidays

We have been enjoying the last few weeks of summer holiday here before the kids head on back to school the beginning of Feb. Jared has been on business trips the last few weeks so on one of the many hot days we headed to the beach with some friends. We are considering changing Rex's name to Rex Fish instead of Rex Finch. He loves water and is a great swimmer.

Me and my friend Gemmah having a relax. You can see my now 6 month belly popping out. :) I actually am enjoying this pregnancy. Something I hope I never take for granted.

Little Lucy loves seeing how much sand she can accumulate in her swimsuit. At one point we had to take her suit off and empty out all the sand...let me tell ya, there was a ton.

I have been having a lot of little moments lately when I just sit back and feel really grateful for what I have in my life. I am grateful to live in a beautiful place, even if the distance from family & friends makes me sad sometimes, I feel grateful for the experience. You know those moments when you just feel happy about where you are in life....that is where I am at.

oh, & I really love these 3 little monkeys in my life. They each teach me a whole lot.

two little pampered beauties

A week or so ago, I went to check on the girls to see if they had fallen asleep and this is how I found them in their beds. I laughed out loud and went downstairs to get Jared so that he could see how flippin cute our girls are & to snag the camera. I like to keep the little eye shades or whatever they are called from the airplane. I keep a couple of them by my bed for those mornings when the kids wake up at the crack of dawn and I am still needed and wanting a few more minutes. I let them climb my bed, watch some cartoons while I get another half hour in with my shades on. :) It works for me!

Noah & Emily

Noah is the tallest one in the picture.

I am so proud of my niece and nephew. My nephew Noah is 9 years old and very smart. He has his own blog and has recently created a free image converter program and submitted it to Apple and they approved it and they put it on their Apple store website. He is so happy that people from all over the world can download his program. Way to go Noah! Here is the link:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/convertitimageconverter.html

My niece Emily submitted her testimony to lds.org for their new website made especially for youth. She was chosen as one of the youth to have her testimony put onto the website. On the front page of http://www.lds.org/ you will see this.

Emily is the cute blonde at the top. Congrats Emily!!

https://beta.lds.org/youth/we-testify?locale=eng#gc23109115374504989710-eng

Living in the Moment

On the first Sunday of the new year we had a great lesson at church on the topic of "Enjoying the Journey" & "Living in the moment". I have been thinking a lot about living in the moment this past year. Although we may not always know what the future has in store for each of us, it can also be kind of exciting.

During our lesson we discussed change. I will admit, I am not a super fan of change and times. I struggle with it at times, but I have found that pretty much every change that has happened in my life had been for the good and had made me a better, stronger person. The moments when I know change is about to happen and I think to myself, Ahh, nope I don't think I can do it and then change happens and you look back and think...hmm, maybe I can do harder things than I thought. That is a good feeling, eh? I love this little quote by President Monson.

"Time never stands still; it must steadily march on, and with the marching come the changes."

Change is good! Although it would be nice if my kids would not grow up so fast. :)

I think a big part of being able to live in the moment is being content and happy with life and being grateful. So as this new year has started, I have been trying to focus on enjoying day to day things that happen in my life. I am amazed each year just how fast the years go by. So some of my personal goals for 2010 is to ENJOY, STRESS LESS, SIMPLIFY, and I really want to learn how to sew. I mean I know the basics that I learned in high school and 4H when I was little, but I have so many ideas in my head and I want to be able to make them happen. So 2010 ...let's do this!

cute headband + cute girls

jared likes to watch csi ny and i quite like it too, but i can't always handle it, so i like to have a back up distraction that i can turn to if the show gets too scary or something. i do find it fascinating how they solve crimes and such, but i am also a bit a of baby when it comes to blood and scary stuff. so, long story short...last night we were watching the show and my back up distraction was making some headbands. i have some old fabric, old clothes the kids no longer fit into and bits and pieces around the house so i thought i would start making use of the fabrics.

i finished this one headband and almost completed another one. the girls loved it when i showed it to them in the morning. it feels good to get back into crafting a lil bit. P.S. i love liv's cheeser in this pic.

a few days ago liv asked me if i would cut her hair. at first i was hesitant because i like it long because i can do more with it, but at the same time it gets tangles in it and food and can be a pain in the behind at times. so, i got out the haircutting supplies and we cut off 4 1/2 inches. i actually think it is a good change and she absolutely loves it. she ran to the mirror and said, "mom, it is exactly what i wanted, it's perfect." yeah, i was pretty happy at that point. ;)

The past year.....

This may be my most photo packed post ever. I wanted to share some of the fun things that made our first year in Australia so great. We celebrated last night with some Pavlova cake...

Sour cream & sweet chili sauce with potato wedges and of course...a....

Sausage sizzle. All foods that have become part of our Aussie experience.

We also went for a nice swim. The kids love it and have become great little swimmers.

Rex mid launch.... Happy one year....Here is December all the way down to January.

We can say that we spent New Year's Eve over looking the Harbour in Sydney and seeing the spectacular firework display...but man were there a lot of people. We were all wiped out when it was all over. The view was pretty incredible though.

New Year's Eve with friends, waiting for the fireworks. The kiddos stayed up until midnight like little troopers and loved the fireworks.

Christmas was fun with Jared's parents here. The time went by too fast, but we were happy to have them here with us. It had been almost a year since we last saw them.

Santa came to Liv's school, but he didn't arrive on his normal sleigh...nope, in Australia he comes in style...on a Harley.

Alivia's year end Christmas program. She was a cute little angel and she sang her little heart out!

We went on a walk with friends to look at Christmas lights. This house was totally Griswalding it big time, but it was fun to see it. They even had a real snow machine blowing snow off the roof.

Christmas was spent in shorts and flip flops. We missed the snow....

Our first hot Christmas...the kids wanted some snow by the tree so they cut paper into itty bitty pieces and scattered all over the floor. I didn't clean any of it up. I thought it was adorable and it stayed scattered all over the floor until Christmas.Alivia's graduation from Year 1...way to go Liv!

Our first Thanksgiving spent with friends and the Elders....good times.

A picnic at the park after church with friends...

Jervis Bay was a highlight. We loved spending a few days and nights there with our friends the Riley's who live here but are from Utah.

Rainy, humid days means we bust out the rain coats

This was actually a pic from our first week in Australia. Our first encounter with a koala. Lucy looks scared to death. I am just smiling and hoping the little critter doesn't claw my face off.

We loved meeting the kangaroos here in OZ

We love the Sydney Temple

My parents made the journey over and we had heaps of fun with them. It was fun having them stay for almost 4 weeks. We were able to do a lot during that time.

Kelly,a friend and sister from my mission was in Sydney with her parents for a week and was able to stay with us. It was fun having her here and the kids loved her cute little boy.

Our first Fourth of July away from home was spent with fellow American friends.

Jared & I spent a night in the city. We had fun walking around the city, going on a jet boat ride & enjoying the city at night.

Alivia and her friend Jane from school

Our great friend Stef was our first visitor. It was so fun to have her here.

Ferry ride to Watson's Bay

The beautiful Harbour

Easter Carnival

Our first walk across the Harbour Bridge. We spent my birthday watching our first AFL game.

The Royal National Park

We have loved the beaches here. This is a great beach we went to with our friends the Collings. Jared & Rex were even able to do some snorkeling there.

Bowling with friends on Australia Day

Our first week in Australia was spent at the beach & exploring Sydney. This is a pic from our first walk around the city.