Smile nicely

Out to dinner with these guys.  

Everyone else was somewhere else tonight. 

Love you guys and yes your smile was just luverly! :) xxx 

Roughin' it !

This was so great. 

I decided to take Ammon and Josh on a little wilderness adventure on up our land. 

The Young Men leaders from Church organised an awesome camp the week before and I thought it would be fun to sleep in the shelters they had made - no tents only tarps and tree branches - besides I couldnt be bothered with a tent anyway - or is it that I can't actually set up a tent without Tony, Fletch or Gil :) 

We were lucky enough to have all the tarps left over from the camp and so we used all but 2 of them for our shelter ( I think the young men had 3 each. Hee ) 

We chose the shelter closest to the camp fire which the Young Men and their leaders had also set up awesomely. The shelter had " Flaming Wombats" engraved into 2 of the branches. 

I prayed that nothing would bite us and all was well. The moon shone through the side wall that was made of branches and leaves. It was wonderful. 

The smell of the gum leaves and the sunset skies were relaxing and uplifitng. 

Ammon and Josh enjoyed clearing trees. This involved walking through the bush and whacking the dead saplings with a stick. They also spent time building a snare and checked it regularly for rabbits.  I now know this is illegal but yeah lets call it wilderness survival training. No rabbits were caught much to Ammon and Josh's disappointment. It was fun having a go tho. 

We sat around the camp fire and answered the "Tip of the Tongue" trivia questions and laughed at our funny attempts to answer questions and the things we learned ie. Who invented the toilet and was Harrison Ford or Hans solo the actor in that movie ? haha. 

We only stayed for 2 nights but it was enough to feel as though we had escaped from it all and we had a really fab time together. 

Tis good to get away from the city noise. 

I love this sunburnt country. 

Bagpipe Caroler

"What's that ?" I called to the family. 

I had heard bagpipes but they thought it was coming from the TV ( we had the Melbourne Christmas Carols playing ). 

I knew straight away that it was Peter Cluff. He was our Home Teacher when we lived in Seven Mile Beach and he and Fraser visited us there to play the bagpipes for Christmas. It was amazingand  we felt like the luckiest family in the street. 

Peter and Fraser have since moved away but they were visiting family here in Hobart and so decided to visit us again with the bagpipes !! Absolutely brilliant. 

After we listened to the bagpipe carols we invited them in to share some Glogg. Tony had bought it in Sweden during the year and we were saving it for Christmas Eve. It was delicious and made even more special because we were able to share it with friends. 

We are so grateful for the blessings of the Gospel and the kindnesses of those who follow its teachings even when their assignment may have ended. 

Brillon Farm

Thats what we named our land in Campania. It's becoming an actual farm. We have 37 cows , 4 pigs , a fodder machine , 1 grain silo , a big shed and lots of farm machinery. 

I had a fun day moving branches and cleaning out the loo shed :) 

But I may not be able to walk with my boots on again. New boots / gift from Tony / dont check the size / hmm I think they fit =Blisters!! ( Turns out they were a size too small.  Aaagh ! )!

The boys rode motorbikes , played in the cattle yards and worked on the cubby. Its lovely to see them invite their cousin to join them. 

Nice to get out into the country:) 

So this hat makes me look like Uncle Fester from the Addams Family :) but I was just so amazed that our Joshy said 

"Hey Mum wanna lift ?"  :) 

Muscle Man

"So how did you get that on the trailer Dad ?" 

Tony had a delivery and found this along the way.

We had a nice visit overnight to Launceston. 

Snoopy and Charlie Brown at the movies ( SO impressed with the moral of the story) City Park fun and then Airtime 360 the next morn. We had another interesting stay at the Grand Chancellor  but at least this time we had a hot shower , actually the shower was amazing , so much water from a huge square shower head. 

The boys stocked up on lollies in Campbelltown (We love Little Piece Of Heaven Lolly Shop) and we had some hilarious eye spy games on the way home - Ammon and Gilbert you are officially banned from Eye Spy !! 

#waytocleverforme :) 

Love you guys xxxxx

For the record : 

Some of the eye spy words were

Ammon 

Airbag man

Spiral chord

*Civilization 

*Tasmania 

*(previous games where we should have learned!!) 

Gilbert 

Waste 

Logo 

See what I'm sayin' !!! :)