Brisbane part 2

Here are a few pictures I couldn't help but post of Dallin.  The minivan we rented in Brisbane had these trays that flipped out kinda like the airplane and Dallin and Whitney thought it was so cool.  But I didn't know it would end up being a foot rest for a VERY tired boy!

Dallin has always LOVED babies, and loves to help when he can with them.  So he was so excited to get to feed baby Madelyn.

Mt. Tambourine

The following are pictures from our hike at Mt. Tambourine.  As you will see from some of the photos below there were some huge tree trunks, and roots on our hike!

In this picture you can see "some guy" close to the edge.  When we were at the look out spot Dan said to me "look at that idiot standing on the edge", I realized after taking a harder look it was his brother, so my response to him was "ummm honey-that idiot is your brother!"  We had a pretty good laugh about that one.  David and Jane had snuck off from the group a few minutes before to try to see where "another trail led".

Off to Cairns!!

We had had a great time in Brisbane but it was time to head off to Cairns!  Here we wait at the airport again!

Excited to be on our way! Great Barrier Reef here we come!!!

More on our Cairns and Port Douglas trip tomorrow!

Brisbane

We just got back from a GREAT time away.  We went to Brisbane for 4 days then on to Cairns for 4 days.  We left at 8:30 in the evening on a wednesday so here are the kids as we wait for the boarding call.  I must say I forgot my purse at home so my sweet friend ran it all the way to the airport for me!  I REALLY appreciate her and her family being willing to do that for me!

We rode on Jetstar and if you were on certain rows you had to walk outside and then up a bunch of stairs to the back of the plane.

We arrived at David and Jane's house at about 1:00a.m.  Kind of a funny side story is that David and Jane live in an apartment complex and David told us he would have to let us in and show us where to park so we should just call him when we were close.  So I tried his mobile number and he didn't answer.  Then I tried it again and he was totally out of it.  I told Dan I was concerned whether David was awake enough to really know what he needed to do.  When we arrived he did meet us outside but said it was only because Jane told him to!  Even funnier is Jane says she doesn't remember that at all!!!  Oh well we were glad we got in!  Dianne (grandma Greaves) woke up to say hello and pass out goodies to everyone!

Dallin and Owen!  They became GREAT buddies.  Dallin doesn't really know what cousins are since he has really only seen them on the computer screens so he kept referring to Owen as his best friend.  They played really well together.

This is the BEAUTIFUL view from David and Jane's apartment!  The city of Brisbane and the river.  We LOVED being on the deck morning or not, the view was AWESOME!!!  David and Jane housed all six of us, plus grandma, and their own family of 4 in their 3 bedroom apt and we loved it!!!

We went for a "tour" on this paddle boat.  We had a nice lunch and learned all about the different places along the river.  It was really a nice afternoon activity.

Our lunch table!

Grandma with baby Madelyn

Us on the deck

The girls anxiously await their turn for lunch!!

Enjoying the views!

This man entertained us for the WHOLE ride.  He told us all kinds of facts including a few things about the Temple.  If he wasn't  talking to us then he was playing the accordian, and even let Whitney come up and press a few of the buttons.  He was a nice guy but totally looked like  the part of a what I would imagine a some of the boat crew would look like!

I think this is called Storey bridge.

Dan, his mother and brother!

Just in case he decided he wanted to go for a swim!!

All of us in front of the boat!

Inside the ferry that would take us from David and Janes to the other side of the river

Swings outside the apartment

After the boat ride we went to a lookout spot, in the background is all of Brisbane.  Getting to this point is a bit more tricky than getting around Adelaide.  It didn't feel like we went on many straight streets.

a closer look at the city

A wild turkey walking around at the lookout!

Another side story- Jane has asked David to buy her a hat.  He found one but it had a small imperfection at the top so David asked how much it was, the guy ended up giving it to him for free because he couldn't find it in their system there.

We ended the evening by having a Bar-b-q of delicious marinated chicken and roast vegetables. 

This was the view to the right of where we were eating,

And this was the view to the left of where we were eating!

Then all of the girls walked home back to where we were staying!  It was a beautiful evening.  They have some rock edges that they light up and people rock climb.  I was surprised at how many were climbing the rocks!

Whale watching

They served some chocolate cake before we set off for the whale watching tour.  Dallin was TOTALLY enjoying himself and the picture doesn't give justice to the MESS he has made.  Here we are waiting TOTALLY unaware as to what was ahead of us!

Looking forward to our adventure!

This is my girls depiction of what was going on inside and out the back of the boat!!!!  LOTS of sea sick people!  It made the ride out to watch the Whales BRUTAL!!!  There was a lot of movement of the boat and I would say HALF of the people on the boat were sea sick.  And for those of us who weren't we were grossed out by all the vomiting that was going on around us. 

Luckily here are some of what we got to see once we were there!  Right next to the boat I would say there were about 5 or 6 whales at different spots that we could see VERY close to the boat.

Did I also mention that we were soaking wet because it was also raining.  It was much better to be outside though than inside.  Needless to say I think there was plenty of leftovers from lunch that day!

All of us glad to be back on dry land, but not sure we would ever do that again!!  Glad we at least got to see the whales!

I will post the other few days later.  This post is getting long and I need to make dinner!

Contention

Today I spoke in Church, and the topic was contention. It was a great reminder to me of how I should be trying to eliminate it from my home.  Between children, spouse, child to child anyway you look at it contention should not be part of our daily routine, yet somehow around here it definitely is.  Sooooo my challenge to each of you is what we are doing for Family Home Evening tomorrow night.  Writing lists about the characteristics, and virtues we love about each member of our family.  I challenge you to do the same.  I am going to ask the kids to list 7-10 things about each person.  For me I am shooting for 10 for each of my children and 25 for my spouse.  Then I am going to try to refer to them often when I feel like I am getting frustrated or annoyed with them.  Here's hoping we can eliminate a bit of contention from our home.  I can't help but think of how much this time in Australia has helped us grow, but we do live in close quarters and because of it I think contention builds quicker and easier.  Oh well!!  We are told we can make weak things become strong so I am willing to give it a try!

I am trying to turn over a new leaf.  I haven't blogged for a long time because I always think each entry has to have photos and be really interesting, then I don't end up doing anything.  So I am trying to find middle ground. 

It is Great to be 8!!!

So Whitney has turned 8!!  That is a big day for us in MANY ways.  When they are 8 they can have their ears pierced, they get baptized and Whitney had her first birthday party in Australia. 

Dan and Whitney in Baptism clothing

Our family before the baptism.  Sara in Red, Carlee in Black.  After the baptism we had a light lunch of Sloppy Joes, chips, fruit and cookies in the gym.

Here are pictures of our "Australia Family".  That sums up nicely how I believe we have been treated while living here.  Just like we are family.

Some of our Friends that attended.  I of course realized as a few people had already left that we hadn't had the camera out and taking pictures so we are missing some of our friends that were there.

 Flemmings.  They also took the beautiful pictures of Whitney in her Baptism dress.

Presslers!  This is our Bishop, his wife is one of my counselors in RS, and their daughter Sarah is Whitney's teacher at school  Whitney also asked her to speak at her baptism on the Holy Ghost.

Dallin with a few of his "girl" friends.  Sara and Celeste

This picture is pretty priceless to us!  It has our missionaries but also so many of our new converts that came to support Whitney.  We love them all so much and really appreciated that they put forth such an effort to be there.  It is Elder Mahler, Elder Gong, Elder Ipsen, Yak, Luke, Victor, Than, Elder Reiri, Sister Webster, Whitney, and Sister Teichert.  Eileen, Kyle, and Roger had left before we took the picture.

Our family in the Courtyard of our Church building

I'm chatting with Benny Sorrell, and Sister Webster

group photo but we lost some of them in the sun.  Includes Sorrell family, Chalmers family, missionaries, Karen, and our above new member friends.

Our 8 year old Baptized and happy!! We had about 60 people at Whitneys baptism and we are so grateful for each of their support!

Photos of Whitney in her Dress

Here are some photos that were taken by our friend that we used for the program and a small table we set up.  

 

Whitney wanted this shot because her birthday will never be in the fall in America.

Birthday Party

Last but not least was the birthday party.  It was a Chef birthday.  I made aprons for each of the girls and they made their own pizzas for dinner, and then got to decorated their own cakes to take home.  It was a fun evening and the favorite time was decorating the cakes of course.

All the girls (and 1 boy) in their aprons. Estella, Grace, Sian, Indianna, Whitney, Dallin, Jessica

Carlee and Sara teaching napkin folding as the pizzas bake.

I couldn't be bothered to make ONE MORE cake so we ordered one from our friend at Wendy's!  It is ALL ice cream except the chocolate bits on the edge!  YYYUUUUUMMMMYYYYY

some cake decorating

Whitneys "masterpiece" top view

side view.  Definitely tasted better than it looked.