-9- Thank You Australia

.Australian Football.

A little while back our friend gave Phil and I some tickets to an AFL game.  We cheered loud and proud for the 

SYYYYYYD-NEEEEEEY SWANS.

{check out my team scarf-yup, we're true fans!}

That there with me is my fancy clapper, that they gave me FOR FREE.  

Just bend and clap-simple as that! 

Psh, nothin's free in Australia so we were pretty stoked.

It was heaps of fun. Freezing, but fun!

 Perhaps you are thinking, there is no such thing as this 'Australian Football' but folks, I'm here to educate you.  There is such a thing, and contrary to popular (well maybe just Kaylee's) belief, it is not at all like Quidditch ...

(darn!-even with the three goal posts and all)

...anyway, AFL is huge here in Oz.  The rules were easy for me to catch onto making the game fun to watch.  Now if I could just figure out how to keep my eye on the ball, cuz mate!-these blokes are quick!

None of those heavily padded big brutes plunkin' around on the field.

None of that giving the players some rest while switching teams for offense and defense.

None of that-NONE!

 Guys, this is intense!  

Honestly, after watching AFL I just thought, 

{oh NFL players...you are such whimps.}  

Sorry America, I'll have to go with Australia on this one.

AFL = Legit.

...and so to you, Australia, today I say

Thank You.

That One Time

Remember that one time Halloween wasn't celebrated in Australia?

Remember that one time I was sad that I'd miss seeing cute little munchkins dressed up as ghosts and princesses at my door?

...well...

forget those times baby cuz they're long gone!  

Just take a gander at what we did this past weekend.

Trunk-or-Treat!

Now let me just tell you something; these Aussies, they didn't just semi trunk-or-treat it, more like they 

semi TRUCK-ed 

their trunk-or-treat.  

It was massive!  It was epic.  I loved every single last bit of it.  I've never seen anything like this back home.

Yes they are capital LEGIT.  I guess warm weather on Halloween provides for elaborate trunk decorating.  Who knew?

The kids were the best part.  Pretty sure that a lot of them had never even been trick-or-treating.  They'd come up and timidly hold out their bag.  Caylee, Phil and I taught them well and made them say 'trick-or-treat'. 

Phil & I were a bit timid to dress up not knowing if it was an adult event as well, but once we got to 

Caylee & Dan's

or should I say 

Lady Gaga & Jack Sparrow's

our fears were wiped way.  These guys were great!

Phil whipped out his school lab coat and I rummaged to find an old 7th grade cheerleading outfit of mine.

Mad scientist + cheerleader = ♥♥♥

Thanks Caylee and Dan for letting us tag along to your ward activity with you.  We were good just like we promised!

Geez we had so much fun.  

I was grinning ear to ear the whole time. 

Word for Word

Mom...this one is for you

Isn't this what we all lived through growing up?

Perfectly, word for word.

Thanks mom for putting up with me. :)

enjoy.

Get Jealous

We went.

We watched.

We lived.

Sydney Speedway

 "Greatest show on DIRT"...oh bless our hearts.  

Dad B. was in town and he couldn't pass up his favorite outing.  Phil has always gone with pops so I decided to tag along.  

Such a treat I reckon!  Now, I am def not a huge fan of speedway but spending time with family and the hubs is a plus.

Check out what our night consisted of...

Still there?  Whew-you made it.  It's a rip-roarin race lasting a smashing 3 hours.  Check it! 

We're definitely with a different breed out there at the speedway...like-unto a rodeo back him in the US: all these people that you did not even know lived around you come out from hiding and they are surely not afraid to show their true colors.  Mullets, beardies, the whole shibang.  Bonus for Australia!...we get a whole bogan accent to go along with it.  

Yes, just listen folks.

Catch all that?
Yes, that's how people talk where I live.
I am in a foreign country.

Thanks speedway for culturing us.

Oh and thanks for confusing us too.  This befuddled me.  These signs were within 20 yards of each other facing these exact ways, with no exit in between.  I just hope there isn't an emergency anytime soon!

And who will ever forget our trash can guy?  

Cheap way to re-chalk the course?-no problem.  

A four wheeler & rubbish bin will do the trick.

Don’t even fret. There was a nice demolition derby to finish off our night.  Oh boy, I never thought I'd say {demolition derby} and {our night} in the same sentence.

Crickey!

Now for a final smash to leave you with.  

Note to self: 20 sprint cars on the track = crash and rolling cars.

Even touched a sprint car, yes yes we did. 

 That is us-right there. Don't get jealous now.

xoxo

Elephant

From the diary of a Pre-School Teacher:


My five year old students are learning to read.


Yesterday one of my students pointed to a picture in a zoo book and said, "Look at this!  Its a frickin' elephant!"


I took a deep breath and asked..."What did you call it?"


"Its a frickin' elephant!  It says so on the picture!"


And so it does...

"A f r i c a n Elephant"

Hooked on phonics...ain't it great?

xoxo

Pacey

Check out this cutie-patootie I'm holding!  Don't 

you just want to squeeze her?  This is our neice, Matt & Jade's dear little Pacey.  

She’s such a doll!  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make her some headbands when they visited us down in Sydney this month.  Jade sent me some cute pictures of her modeling them and I had to put them up.

This is my favorite picture of her.  She's SO cute!

Such a good model. :)

All the headbands had the same basic design.  I bought plain headbands and added homemade flowers.  The yellow one was a single flower and this one above is a small one on top of the big one.  I loved the cute buttons at the store and they were perfect for the center.

For the third one I just did two little flowers right next to each other.  Really simple yet really cute!

...her smiley face really helps too I think. :)

And that's our (well Matt & Jade's) cute Pacey-girl...

Miss you Matt, Jade & Pacey!

xoxo

Laugh

Halloween is coming and so are these monsters...

LOOK OUT!

and in light of the season, I've decided to be 'Wicked-ified'.  It's the new look for the season, okay maybe just the Halloween season.

That’s all. 

Go laugh today folks-it's healthy.

xoxo

Spoiled & 23

Oh look at this guy.  He’s 23.

(this is his Jocelyn pose)

We had a grand old time celebrating this old geezer’s special day.  It started off with a lovely day at work for the both of us (blah), but then afterwards the real fun started!

We were lucky enough that Phil’s parents and Rachael were in town so we had them over for a little dinner of ribs and mash and birthday love complete with Aussie "hip-hip horays".

Surprises came next with presents from America-thanks Perucca fam-, presents from me and from his parents & Rach.  

Here he is with his spread. 

(I just fixed the guitar, not a new one)  

Phil is one spoiled boy!

His family knows him soooo well.  Check out his candy spread.  Phil definitely has a sweet tooth.  

The next night we gathered the clan together at Outback Steakhouse for the family birthday dinner.  YUM!  It reminded me of America and Phil’s family loved the bottom-less drinks.  It’s rare in Australia.

(sorry Jade, at least we know your hand was present)

Phil loves donuts.  He was in heaven when I told him his cake would be donuts.  It was so yummy, and easy! :)

Here's a few photos of our night.

How sweet...

It was so much fun to have all of Phil’s family there, all 16 of us!  Whew!

Happy Birthday Phil!

It's Only Spring

I wish weekends lasted forever. This one was the best.  Who can complain about a picnic with their hubby on a Sunday afternoon? I submit: no-one.  But then it gets better-  

.the beach. 

MMMM- a Sunday afternoon sitting and listening to the waves and exploring the shore.  It was ideal.

We found a nice spot to plunker down that overlooked the whole beach.  With our picnic basket full of goodies we relaxed and did some classic people watching.

(ps- I love people watching)

Yes we took some timer photos of ourselves.  Don’t judge.

Then came the exploring.  

Nature is the prettiest thing in the world.  

Makes me grateful for the small things in life.

We even made some time to take a gander at the local Baha’i Temple.  It was so beautiful yet so simple.  Plus, they let us walk right in!

Oh thanks Whale Beach.  You were fab.  We’ll be back...

...it’s only spring!