Australia Trip Day one: flight and hotel

More for my journaling but because so many of you have asked I am going to be putting in my blog details about our trip to Australia. The first night we were thee I bought a little notebook and then each night I wrote down everything we did that day. I am so glad I did that because I am able to look back and remember things that I would have forgotten. I am going to write down how I put it on my notebook and then will elaborate with pictures if I need to.

December 11, 2008

*Left Boise at 6:40
*Arrived in LAX 20 minutes early.
*Had to collect our luggage and catch a shuttle to the international terminals.
*We were told to get off at terminal 4 but when we got there they said that flights to Sydney were out of a different terminal so we had to backtrack to the other terminal.
*Went to check in our luggage and after checking our passports were informed that we needed to buy our visas.
*Had to wait in another line to pay $25 each for our visas
*Finally got our tickets and went through security to our waiting area.
*Neither of us had gotten dinner that night and by this time we were so hungry. We thought that once we got past security we would be able to find a McDonald's or something to get some food. Wouldn't you know that the only place top get any food at was at a bar, and it wasn't even really serving food! So we had to wait ...:(
*Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:40 LA time but it was delayed an hour and so we spent alot of time waiting, tired and hungry!
*The terminal was very crowded because their was our flight and a flight waiting to leave to Mexico. We couldn't find a seat amidst all of the confusion and so we went to the downstairs waiting area where we were all alone. I laid down and tried to sleep while Kefford played the DS.
*Finally were able to board and after the plane had started taxiing away from the gate it had to come back for whatever reason.
*Waited while the airline people talked about refueling but then they just decided to leave and fly the plane a little slower.
*Waiting on our seats were a pillow, blanket, and a little travel kit filled with a sleeping mask, socks and a Qantas key holder necklace thingie, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.
*I put my sleeping mask on and told Kefford to wake me up when we got something to eat.
*I don't know how long I slept before I got woken up but I was famished and ready to eat..even airline food. It wasn't too bad.
*Fell back asleep and then after we woke up I watched two movies and ate breakfast. Sometime during the night a bag of treats was left on my lap. Filled with cookies, dried fruit, mints, chocolate and a water bottle...too fun!
*After 14+ hours we finally arrived and landed. We were seated in the middle of the plane and try as I might I could not crane my neck far enough to get a glimpse of Sydney..kinda disappointing.
We did not take any pictures of our flight down to Australia and the only ones we took on the flight home were the ones Kefford took of the sky out the window.

These two pictures are of our hotel room. The best thing was to leave the room fairly untidy only to return and find the bed made, pillows plumped, robe and new towels hanging up nicely, and more lotions and soaps for me to stash in my suitcase(:

I love being on vacation!! We were up on the 34th floor and I loved to sit on the little window seat and observe the outside world!

Merry Christmas 2008!

Settling back into the day to day life of a Mom is never easy for me after being on vacation. I seem to take the word vacation very literally and coming back home after a week and a half of no kids has been very difficult! Kefford went into work on Christmas Eve day and I was left with 4 kids and alot of preparations for Christmas that needed to be finished. I was trying to get the house cleaned up and ready for the invasion of more toys. I was also trying my hardest to get the kids to help me. Needless to say it was not a good day with alot of arguments and threats of no gifts. Whenever I asked Kenedy to help me by doing something she would get real upset and inform me that I should do it since I just got a vacation! Oh really Kenedy, and how hard did you have to work while I was gone? Seriously! By the time Kefford came home I was near tears and ready to run a hot bath and escape for the night. But he was able to calm everyone down so that we could have a good time together. We did not have any food in the house and I was too busy in the home to go get some so I asked Kefford to pick up a pizza for dinner. He came home empty handed to inform me that the pizza place was closed. UGH!! But Kefford had me mix up some pancake batter and he cooked pancakes for dinner. After dinner we gave the kids their new pajamas, sat them down, and after a little talk about the true meaning of Christmas showed them "The Nativity". We then showed them "Mr. Kruegers Christmas", said prayers and put them to bed. After the kids were asleep Kefford and I set out the presents and put their filled stockings on the ends of their beds. I went to bed while Kefford stayed up and finished wrapping gifts he had bought.

We woke up the next morning to kids waking up, finding their stockings, and coming into our room to open them. My flat iron got burned up while in Australia (more about that another time) and I was very excited to find a new one in my stocking! After we were done with those Kefford had us all get dressed for the day. In my family part of the fun of christmas is lounging around in our pajamas all day. In Keffords family they have to be dressed before being allowed out of their rooms. We compromise by opening our stockings in pajamas but everyone has to be dressed before going downstairs.

We were finally able to allow the kids downstairs where they oohed and aahed at all the presents under the tree. I really enjoyed watching their excitement and it always reminds me how much more fun it is to give then to receive. Having kids really does make present giving so much more fun. I was pleasantly surprised by the WII Fit that Kefford gave me as well as the promise of finally getting the DSL I have been begging for! Yay for us all! I tried out my WII Fit and then did a little more the next day. I am not an exercising person and after doing a set of lunges have been in pain all weekend long! Hopefully that will ease as time goes on and I do more.

After we were done opening gifts we headed out to Nyssa to see Keffords family. I was excited to get a gift card to Jo-Anns and some candy. I gave Alison a months of the year tile thingie I made at a super Saturday in October and Bob got his Line of Authority that I also made at the super Saturday and had framed. Alison seemed to like her gift and with Bob you never know. He didn't complain so I will take it as a good sign!

Overall we had a great Christmas and really enjoyed being together as a family!

Kefford and Ryker playing a new Wii game Ryker got. Notice the Batman Bathrobe Ryker is wearing. He got that for Christmas and spent the entire day in it! He said it was warm!
Avynlea got this wedding day dress up ensemble and spent the rest of the day telling everyone she was going to marry Ryker today! Ryker would roll his eyes every time he heard her say that.
Kenedy and Avynlea both got new Polly Pockets and Littlest Pet Shop toys. They were kind enough to let Ryker join in the fun! Again, notice the bathrobe!
Here the kids are lined up in front of the tree with their new pajamas on.

We're back!!

At the Circular Quays (pronounced keys) Harbour with the Sydney Opera House in the background.
We walked across the Sydney Bridge and we stopped in the middle to take a picture. It was crazy windy up there but it was really cool being able to look across and see Sydney

So many of you know and some of you may not know that for our 10 year anniversary Kefford surprised me with a trip to Australia! I know, he is just so incredible and that fact that he had this planned for so long and never let on just amazes me. He told me about it back in July (when our anniversary is) and I had to wait 6 long months to go on this trip. But I am now back and although I want to tell you all about it and show all of the pictures on here...I can't. For one thing it would take forever (literally) to post all 400+ pictures and I have too much to do to get ready for Christmas. I just want you all to know that we are back, the trip was amazing, I loved Australia but was ready to leave after a week, we stopped in California for two days to see my family, I was not ready to leave them and cried buckets to the airport and at the airport, I was very excited to see my kids, I missed them a bunch, and now things are getting back to normal. I posted a couple of pictures but the whole story will have to be told at other times.

good friends and good kids

Kenedy came home with this skein of yarn that she has to roll into a ball. According to her they are going to make a blanket to give to someone in need. I think that is a fun idea for the class to do. You might notice that Ryker is looking mighty mischievous. He is plotting. A couple minutes after this picture was taken he took her yarn ball and covered himself with it. What a little stinker!
My visiting teacher came over and I took the opportunity to get some more items crossed off my to do list.. I really wanted to get more things done and did not want to sit around talking instead of doing them. So I took her into our work room and while I filed papers she cleaned out my dollhouse and made it look good. We had a good time talking and she brought over my favorite treat. Her famous caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rods...mmm yum yummy! Thanks Brooke, you are a super kind of friend!

I also had her cut out the papers so that I could finish this Christmas gift for my sister. I can safely post the picture because she doesn't look at my blog. And to all of you who think you are going to ruin the fun and tell her about it..well too bad for you she already knows. Who do you think picked out the paper. Yeah that's right I really know how to work it!

Another conversation between Me and Avynlea

Avynlea: (playing with the magna-doodle) look Mom I drew a picture of you and Dad on your trip.

Me:Cool, are we having fun?

Avynlea:Oh yeah.

Me: where are we?

Avynlea: At the house..(I think she meant hotel)

Me:Oh, well what are we doing?

Avynlea:Playing a game.

Me: Yeah? What game.

Avynlea:Cottonball game.

Me:(giggling quietly) How do we play that game?

Avynlea:You jump around!

Me: sounds like fun Avy!

So the next time any of you come over we are going to play a fun game of Cottonball!

My little cleaning helpers!

I woke up this morning with the need to cross cleaning the bathrooms off of my list of things to do. I had so many errands I had to run that morning that i could not get to it until after lunch. But wouldn't you know that after lunch came around and I was so tired I sat on the couch for an hour watching "Halloweentown High". I had woken up this morning right around 6:30 and could not get back to sleep so I came downstairs and started editing and commenting on the first chapter of a book that my brother-in-law is writing. Now that was a lot of fun. Too often I get frustrated in reading some books because I think "this really would not happen in real life" or "why would they say it like that? It sounds so dumb". So I got to really rip into his book, and let me tell you, I tore that thing apart. I felt a little bad after I sent it back to him but he commented on how grateful he was and that it is helping him a lot. He then sent me chapter 2 which I need to find time to look at.

So there I was sitting on the couch exhausted but knowing I needed to get up when I finally did. I went upstairs and started in my bathroom. Avynlea quickly followed me up and I put her to work helping me clean the sink and then the toilet. As I was cleaning the tub I sent her into her bathroom to start cleaning that toilet. Which she did, and she liked it!

Ryker soon found us and wanted to get in on the fun and so he started cleaning their bathroom sink with strict instructions for me to stay out because it was a surprise. So I did and just finished cleaning my bathroom. Soon he came out and told me his surprise was ready and I went in and started gushing on how nice the sink looked. He was so proud of himself and kept telling me to look at how shiny it is and that it looks brand new. I smiled and tried to ignore the big blob of toothpaste that was smeared on the corner as I told him he did a fantastic job.
How cute is that seeing his little crutches propped up against the sink as he cleans it?!
While we were out driving in the car Ryker was "talking" to his friend Abby on the little toy cell phone. Avynlea kept trying to get him to call Santa Claus, and this was the conversation that followed...
Avynlea: Ryker call Santa Claus.
Me: So Avynlea you know the number to reach Santa Claus?
Avynlea: Yes.
Me: Oh well what is it?
Avynlea:It is 888-222 (long pause) and a 333 (even longer pause) and also 888.
Me:(giggling inside) really? that number will get me Santa on the phone.
Avynlea:(with all the confidence in the world) Yup!
What a funny little nut!
Later that night I went out to dinner with my Aunt Jennifer. We had fun talking about her new boyfriend and she told me more about her recent trip to California. We went to WhiteWater Pizza and Pasta and I had a most yummy sandwich, I think it was the willow creek. We had them sit us next to the fireplace and we pulled our chairs closer to it and rested our feet on the brick. It was so warm and cozy! About halfway through our meal we heard a crash and then I felt something spray onto my face. The waitress had dropped the pitcher of Blue Cheese Salad Dressing she was carrying and it sprayed halfway across the room hitting me in the face in the process. I really should have tried to get a free meal out of it but no harm was done. It does give me a good story to tell! After we stopped at Cold Stone I came home and fell into bed I was so tired!
I am now one day closer to my trip of a lifetime!

"Spring" Cleaning!

In anticipation of our going out of town, I have a list of things that I want to have done. On that list is cleaning out Avynleas closet and drawers, and cleaning out Rylees drawers. I spent this morning doing just that and since I loaded the pictures in backwards you get a backwards telling of my accomplishments! :)This is a very small example of how the house looked while I was upstairs cleaning. I turned on a movie the girls had picked out thinking it would keep them entertained enough for me to get my job done without them creating more work for me. What a joke! In addition to the two small bags of chips pictured here, they also managed to get water spilled all over the carpet, get into 3 or 4 more bags of chips, got the vacuum out and left it lying on the carpet, pulled out a bunch of toys and spread papers and crayons all over the floor. I really wanted to show a picture of the destruction but I wanted even more for you all to think that it was not as bad as it sounded and for you to imagine my house being in the pristine condition it always is in..HA HA!
Here is Avynleas closet after I got it all sorted and cleaned out. I pulled out everything that was either too small and or stained. I did not get a before picture but just to give you an idea of how cluttered this small space was....

Here is a picture of the hangers that were emptied during this project. Maybe it does not like a lot in the picture but believe me..it is a lot!

I found the girls swimming suits and as soon as I pulled them out I had to do what I always do when pulling out their swimming suits..I smelled them. I LOVE the smell of the chlorine mixed with sunscreen that just does not wash out of the suits. It is one of my most favorite smells, if not my most favorite!

And here is a picture of what things looked like in the middle of my little project. Avynleas clothes are piled on the left and Rylees are on the right.

So now I can cross that off of my list and move on to the next thing...cleaning up the destruction downstairs! :)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

As hard as it is for me to be cold all of the time I absolutely love it when it snows! This morning when I got up I turned on the T.V. to listen to the news while I got ready for the day. What a surprise to see the snowfall they were showing that was going on in Boise. I quickly ran to the window to check and sure enough we had snow! Not a lot but enough to make me excited about the season. I love how excited the kids got when I told them it was snowing and watching them run to the window to check it out was so cute. Obviously it was not a lot of snow but the flakes that were coming down were HUGE! And although as I sit here typing, the sun is melting it all away, I am happy cause I managed to take a picture of the kiddos with the first snow of the season and I can hope that the next one is not too far away!

Our Christmas Tree Is Up!

On Monday for Family Home Evening we got out our fake Christmas tree and all of our Christmas decorations and started to decorate. This Christmas tree was a hand me down given to us many years ago from Keffords parents. We love it! It looks like a real tree and thanks to my pine scented candle it even smells like the real thing. Everybody who sees it comments on how beautiful our "real" tree is. In fact Bob (Keffords Dad) stopped by yesterday and said to me "nice tree, you know it is going to dry out right?" To which I replied "that's the fake tree you gave us!" Yup this baby fools them all! Here is Avynlea putting up one of her ornaments. Both Kefford and I received a new ornament every year since birth and we have started that same tradition with our kids. So we already have a plethora of ornaments to decorate with!
Rylee found Kenedys "first Christmas" ornament which is a baby and once she got ahold of that, it was very hard to get her to let go. She was carrying it around cuddling it like it was a real baby!

Here is Ryker with his cast on and his crutches. If you look closely you can see that he was crying and that is because he wanted to put the star on the top but Kefford said he couldn't because of his broken leg. But most definitely next year he can, if he is injury free! :)

This one is a little posed, I missed them putting the star on and so I made them do it again so I could get a picture!

At some point I will get a picture of our decorated Christmas tree because you know since we had our four little helpers it is a beautifully decorated tree!

our thanksgiving

My little sister Ashleigh and little brothers Joshua and Andrew drove down from BYU to have thanksgiving with us this year! (as soon as Josh emails me the pictures I can post pictures we took together up here) (get on it Josh!) We went to Keffords parents house and while we were there Keffords Dad introduced them to everyone else like so..
"So that's Darrell, and that's his brother Darrell, and that's their wife!"

Clearly he was joking and we all got a little chuckle over it. Well we were sitting at the table eating dinner when Grandma Marge turns to Ashleigh and asks her how long they have been married. I started laughing and told her that Bob was just kidding and that they were all my siblings. She is too funny!

So I did not get any pictures of us eating but I did get a couple of us shooting skeet later that day.

Joshua watching Andrew and Kefford take a shot!

Here I am taking a shot and guess what...I hit the very first one I aimed at! Yeah that's right my first time hitting the little clay pigeon! I was actually disappointed when I saw it explode because I thought someone else shot it. I turned to everyone else who was holding a gun to question who it was and they all told me the same thing..it was me!! Well of course I had to do my victory cheer which Alison caught on camera so maybe someday I can post that in here too. Happy days for me. (by the way that was my one and only hit. I should have quit with that one then I could have had 100%! Ha ha ha!

Rylee was not at all happy about being left inside. So nice Grandma Alison wrapped her in a jacket and brought her outside with her. After a couple minutes Rylee took the jacket off and left her bare toes exposed. When we tried to put it back on her she had a fit. Crazy kid was not cold! (Amberly, maybe she is one of your hot and sweatys!)

We had a great thanksgiving and were happy we could be with family. I love Keffords family and am grateful for all they do for me and my little family. I could not have asked for better in-laws!

(By the way..Karli, I hate that you guys were at your house all alone for thanksgiving. I know you had a good day anyway but sheesh girl you live a mile down the road and we are family I would have loved to have had you there to visit with! Don't let that happen again)