Christmas Lights with Poppy

Like most people, Christmas is my favorite time of year, but it also brings with it some sadness. Shirley, Cheyenne's grandmother (Jamie's Mum) died on the 19th December 2002 (7 years ago). Shirley had just celebrated her 50th birthday on the 9th December - 10 days later she was dead. Not that it was a surprise, she had been diagnosed with Cancer earlier that year and sadly it was a long tough year as we watched her literally fade away to a shadow. Death was a respite but still an extremely sad time for us all.
John (Shirley's husband & Chey's Poppy) misses her deeply and I know this is always a tough time of year for him, so we do our best to spend time with him and keep him busy and show him lots of love! Which isn't hard, because we do love him heaps!


So, Sunday night we ventured over to Poppies house (just Chey & I) and after a lovely dinner cooked by Poppy, we got into the car and made our way to two chruches which had the most impressive lights & Christmas displays.

It was a lovely night, I really enjoy this time together as we talk about the old days and remember Cheyenne as a baby - specially since she was a Christmas baby (almost). Which by the way, i will post photo's of her birthday soon - i haven't forgotten to blog that one!!

Here are a few happy snaps of our night....
Chey holding one of the baby chicks at the animal display at the Baptist church - were ever animals are...you will find my girl!

Chey insisted on taking a photo of Poppy & I

My girl

I hate to say it, but Poppy certainly has a favorite!! They have such a great relationship!

Last Friday we had our internal Christmas party. I feel blessed to work with such great people, we always have alot of fun when we are together and Friday night was no exception. As we are a small office of 5 people, we decided to invite two of our Vendor friends Evan & Brenton pictured below with Carrie & I.

Office photo; Carrie, Ollie, Me, Daniel & Dean

Miss Scarlett turns 1!! I can't believe she is 1 already! We had a nice afternoon down at Cotton Tree - not that we were there long, poor Chey had been sick and so we had to leave shortly after the party started.

She is such a beautiful baby! Always smiling and definately runs rings around her big sisters.

Ollie & I

Carrie & I

Recently one of our Vendors arranged an afternoon of Paint Ball. I have always wanted to play and so jumped at the chance when they sent the email inviting us. It was an extremely hot day and with all the 'special' gear you have to dress up in, made for a slightly uncomforable afternoon. Never the less, we had fun and although i was feeling very nervous as they gave us the run down on the do's and don'ts of the game I still managed to throw myself into the game.

We did walk away with some crazy bruises, mine fortunately were on my arms and upper thigh's, Carrie's however were all over both arms and down her side - for two weeks she looked as though she had been beated up badly! The crazy stares were funny and didn't go unnoticed. A couple of times we could see people checking her out with a look of concern, however once they noticed i had similar bruises on my arms, they concluded she wasn't a case of domestic abuse!

A great afternoon - but don't be fooled, the paint balls HURT even some of the guys almost hit the deck after a couple of pelts!

A few happy snaps from 2009, in no particular order :)

Lis & I at Cathy Johnsen's 30th birthday bash in August

The lovely creativness of a bunch of 6 year olds at Annaliese's birthday in September

Scarlett ready to party at Annalieses birthday - gorgeous!

Cartia, Isabella, Annaliese (the birthday girl) and Cheyenne - great friends!!

Who can resist this face of sweetness

Just hanging around

The grey nomads, living it up on Dicky beach - first stop of many

The grandkids visiting Nanny & Grandad at Dicky beach. Ayla, Taylah & Chey

My lovely niece Kaiya turns 7 - November (Kaiya & her sister Olivia live in NZ with their mummy and my brother)

A well over due catch up with my lovely friends Cass & (new husband) Lance & Becky (not in this photo). My first job as a Beauty Therapist was in a Salon where i worked with Becky and Cass was a hair dresser. Who would have thought years down the track we are still great friends.
Jen with Gab & Becky

What are little boys, made of? Frogs & snails, and puppy dogs tails, thats what little boys are made of

On Monday 7th September @ 8.50 am my dear friend Jen gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Cooper James. Such a beautiful baby boy. Jen & Tony have settled into parenthood with such ease and are making fantastic parents! We look forward to watching this precious life grow. Love you guys.

I think a certain someone has claimed this little boy as her own :) won't be long now and Chey will have her own half baby sister or brother - very exciting for her!!

30 years young....

I still can't believe I am actually this old...but alas...the day finally came and I celebrated my 30th birthday with my closest friends and family.

August was a busy time for us; moving into our very first home and organising a 30th party for 130 of my closest friends was not without its minor melt downs! If it wasn't for my fantastic friends, Jen (who spent hours party planning, designing invitations and cooking) Heid who made my fantastic skirt and Kate who (crazily) spent a week constructing the most AMAZING cake you have ever seen and Steve who manned their infamous photo booth, I certainly couldn't have pulled it all together!

below are some sneaky photos from the booth :) thanks Kate! This made the night so much more fun!!
The night was full of lots of laughs and crazy poses and a great time had by all. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family who make my life all the more special. Thank you to all of you for making the last 30 years so special. MWAH

And the Winner is......

Before I turned 30 I gave myself one goal.....compete in a 10km race. I managed to do this twice over, competing in the Gold Coast half marathon (10km only obviously) in July and the Noosa half (10km only again) early August.

The photos above were taken at the Noosa run (not exactly flattering!) Mum, Chey my neice nephew and I headed up the coast the night before, staying at the Taylor hotel (said Taylors were on holiday in Adelaide). I was really looking forward to the cheer squad cheering me on as I ran into the finish line but unfortunately mum couldn't find her way around all the road detors and consequently missed my race...I found them at the finish line eagerly watching for my grand arrival poised ready to cheer as hard as they could....when I came up behind them after having crossed the finish line, sat down for 5 minutes, gathered my bag from the gear tent and eaten some watermelon! There were a few disappointed faces when they turned around to see me standing there.

SOLD

I never thought this day would come.....but it did and we have settled into our new home (well....almost settled). Monday 3rd August we got the keys from the real estate agent and the following day, it was all systems go.

We absolutely LOVE our new house and Chey has really settled into life back on the north side. I was really amazed me with how easily my girl fitted into her new school and has made some great friends already - she even managed to win "Kid of the Week" after being there only 3 days! Was very sweet. Her class has a voting system whereby the children can nominate other class mates for what ever reason and when Chey won, they sent home the votes she got. A couple of them read "Sian (Cheyenne is a bit hard to spell :)) is doing really well at getting other childrens names righ" & "Sian always puts her hand up at question time". So cute and so lovely for our first weeks experience at school.


I really enjoyed having a week off to walk my girl to and from school; its easy to forget how important the little things are when you get caught up doing life

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU

Saturday the 18th of July we celebrate our good friend Rod's 40th birthday in the park. It was a lovely day and the kids had a blast - we always have such a good time with these guys.....always makes you wonder why you wait so long to catch up with everyone!

Here is Rod with his youngest beauty....Scarlett Macey. Isn't she just gorgeous!

Annaliese (Rod & Heids middle child) tries her hand at photography....watch out Kate! I think she is almost as good as you :)

Annaliese, Bella & Chey the terrible threesum

The lovely Becky and Miss Gabriella

And miss "I don't like my photo being taken....I like taking the photos" Kate Austin.

Happy birthday Rod, we look forward to many more birthdays to come.

Camp Hill Sports Day

A couple of weeks ago we had sports day at Chey's school. It was a lovely day catching up with the other mum's I don't get to see too often and watching my little girl and her friends having a great time and enjoying being out doors and active.

Chey competed in a couple of races and of course, I was a very proud mum, standing on the side lines cheering her on (I tried not to be too embarrassing). Here are a couple of pics from the day.

Chey with her two friends Sophia & Lily.

I've been tagged by Cath....here is my answers to her questions:

1. What is your current obsession?

My new house. I am a very excited and proud first home owner. Everything in our lives seems to revolve around this purchase....sometimes not always in a good way, like I have been restraining my self from going shopping today, even though that is the ONE thing I would love to do more than anything right now :) I even resisted while in Melbourne last week! Now that is control my friends!!

2. What are you wearing today?

Lorna Jane pants and a single with my huggies.

3. Whats for dinner?

Good question! Chey is with Jamie for the night and so I struggle to cook when i am by myself....bad habbit but it just doesn't feel worth it for one person!

4. What would you eat for your last meal?

Another good question. I am a shocker with food. I love it, don't get me wrong, but trying to decide on what i want to eat at the best of times is a challenge. But if it was my last meal, i think i would want a massive spread so i could eat just a little bit of everything! And wash it down with a nice bottle of white.

5. What was the last thing you bought?

I did splurge just a little bit the other weekend, but it was totally justified, of course....I bought a cute skirt from Review (on sale!! and I needed one for work), a nice jacket (had to have one for my regular trips to Melbourne for work of course!) stockings....really loath buying stockings, i inevitably wear them once and put a hole in them! Which i did, for one pair i wore out that very night!

6. What are you listening to right now?

The next door neighbour washing his car....it is very quiet in my house right now (no one home but me) Although Jen will be here soon! Hoping to get a feel of this lively baby in her tummy she keeps talking about.

7. If you could go anywhere in the world in the next hour, where would you go?

Honestly, i think i would just go down the road to Aspley and pick my girl up from her daddy....haven't seen her much in the past 2 weeks so i am missing her. Then i would get on a plane to the next destination available OS. A surprise!

8. What do you love most about where you currently live?

If you are talking about country? I would have to say, climate, opportunities and it is home for me now...been here 16 years and have no desire to live anywhere else.

If you are talking about suburb, Carina, i love living here because it is central to majority of my friends. I am sad to be moving away.... but excited about being closer to some people I haven't had a lot to do with for a while. Hopefully my friends will come visit.....:)

9. What is your favorite color?

I am with you Cath....I have never really had a fav color. I do love pink, but i also love green. However....I wear alot of black!

10. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe?

Again, with you Catch -nothing beats a good pair of jeans!

11. What were you doing 10 years ago?

Man...that is a long time ago! In 1999 I was....still thinking....Ummm....living at home with my parents, about to move to Sydney where i stayed for 3 months before coming home early 2000 pregnant with Chey. I must have been working as a nanny to Oska, Alexander and Oliver.

12. If you had $300 right now, what would you spend it on?

Hmmmm, so many options. I would probably buy some new boots - I love shoes!! But i would also probably buy something for Jen and Tony's baby as well....I can't wait to meet this bubba!!

13. What are you going to do after this?

Jen is on her way over for a catch up and then i may get some movies and watch them with a nice glass of wine.

14. What inspires you?

People who love people and life. Like you Catch, i am inspired by people who are selfless and put others first.

15. What are you favorite films?

Pretty much any of the children's movies, I think it is really clever when they add a bit of adult content to keep us just as amused as the children.

16. Who's work/designes are you inspired by?

That is a hard question. I am not much of an art goer - I have some very talented friends who have done some beautiful paintings which i love and have asked to do something for me for our new home.

17. Your favorite book?

I LOVE reading! I don't have a single favorite book (i sound very cultured don't i? No favorite books, no favorite art work etc). I will read almost anything....I love nothing more than settling down to a good book on a cold night. Wonder if this is why i am still single....maybe i need to get out more :)

18. Do you collect anything?

No...unless you can count shoes?

19. What makes you follow a blog?

I enjoy reading about my friends and catching up on what is happening in their lives. I love seeing photos - life is so busy, sometimes it is hard to keep up with everyone and so i find this a really nice way of keeping in touch. Specially with family who are overseas.

20. What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?

Lay on my bed with my best friend and feel her baby kick my hand, while eating home made short bread and discussing what movie the lucky boy Tony is going to take his girls to see tonight.

21. Whats one thing you dream of doing?

Opening my own beauty store. I will be starting up my salon from home in our new house and I am very excited about this.

Whos getting tagged?

Jen & Kate Austin

DIB DIB, DOB DOB

Last year Chey and my niece Taylah started going to Scouts on a Tuesday night. They have both really enjoyed being a part of this group and we have done a couple of fun things now...including our first family camping trip....that was interesting to say the least. Not sure how into it I am....but its good for Chey.

Chey and Taylah stayed at underwater world up the coast, sleeping in the tunnel with the sharks swimming above them! I didn't think she would survive the night...but she proved me wrong. Tay on the other hand is a tough nut...so I didn't have any worries about her!

This year they marched in the Anzac parade and really enjoyed it, although it was as stinking hot day and they didn't have any shade to sit under, so it was a bit much!

Not a great photo....but the girls are there marching! Tay took it very seriously.

My checky nephew Aidan

JAPAN


It has been a while since our holiday to Japan, but we had such a great time and it was so awesome for Chey. Chey just embraced the culture and learn't a few cool words and enjoyed dining on noodles everynight! Occasionally we succumbed to eating McDonalds - i was well in truely over noodles and meat by the time we came home, I cooked a roast the first night we were home with LOTS of veges! Even Chey happily ate her vegies.

I was impressed with how well my girl managed to keep up with everyone on all the walking we did and late nights. Although we didn't have as many late nights as the others.

Chey of coure was the centre of attention everywhere we went. Strange how in Australia, we don't even look twice at a foreigner walking down the street, but in Osaka, we certainly turned some heads....well...Chey did more than anyone else. We always knew that would be the case, but honestly, Chey was given so many toys and lollies and ice creams from strangers - even given ice cream before her dinner was served! Didn't Chey just think that was awesome!

Here a a few pics of our holiday....

Banging a gong in Nara

This was at dinner for the bride & groom whose wedding the people we were travelling with, were there to attend. Seriously, Chey and I tried to hide up the back and blend in with the crowd since we were just hangerons....but alis....it was only a matter of minutes before Chey was presented with this cat from these guys (who are the family of the bride)! I'm not sure who has a bigger smile, the cat or Chey? These guys went out and bought this for Chey after they met us that night - it would have only been minutes after we arrived as well.

And this is the bag of lollies the Aunty whose restaurant it was we were dining at bought for Chey. I came back form the loo to find Chey all coated up and ready to walk out the door with these strangers who wanted to take her across the road to buy lollies! If this was Australia, I would not have let her go, but the Japanese are so respectful and just wanted to lavish her with gifts. Chey of course was not about to say no!

She also received a mini mouse and mickey mouse toy from some other family members as well as ice creams literally thrown down her throat. I think the entire family ended up sitting up the back of the restaurant with us....so much for blending in!

Here are Matt, Carrie & Chey hanging out in Hiroshima. We visited the Atomic Bomb Dome Meseum this day. We took the bullet train from Osaka to Hiroshima - took about an hour in travel time. Was really sad but interesting.

Look what the Easter Bunny left on the end of our bed....

There certainly isn't a shortage of
Easter eggs in our house at Easter time...I have to admit though...chocolate does tastes better when it is an Easter Egg.

Here is Isabella, Cheyenne and Annaliese holding up their bunnies - i think Bella's lasted less than a few minutes before it was all gone! Nothing like chocolate for breakfast (a favorite of mine i have to say!!)

Chey with her chocolate stash

Chey and Scarlett

No longer able to tick the under 30's box.....it is a very sad day.....

Jen is the first of my girlfriends to turn 30 this year and i must say, we are all struggling just a little bit to come to terms with no longer being in our 20's

Happy Birthday Babe

The day started with some girlie fun.....facials and getting our hair done before the big surprise.....

Lunch at the Piney

Jen arriving at her 'surprise' party.....coming out of the lift to see 65 people waiting for her - enough to scare anyone!!

It's hard being a kid sometimes....Chey spent most of the afternoon hiding under the table (there were supposed to be some other kids there who didn't turn up, so Chey was not a happy camper).