There can be no jet lag for us!

I could have done so many posts on my trip but I had to limit them, it is always so hard to choose pictures. We had so much going on at home when we returned! We got home Friday morning and immediately had to go the the kids schools to work on getting schedules and teachers. That evening was really special - our dear friend and neighbor Kelly was baptized. As a neighbor they just dont get any better than her, she takes care of our house, mail and yard whenever we go out of town, she always brings over some of whatever she bakes, she always has a listening ear and she always has whatever I need to borrow. Kelly was baptized in the her friends backyard pool, it was a sight I will always remember. It was sunset, the kids were dangling their feet over the side of the pool and then there were a ton of missionaries and some friends surrounding the pool as Kelly entered the water. Very special night and we are very happy that Kelly has made this decision. I hope that the gospel will bring her the peace and happiness that it has brought to my life.
Kelly was doomed, how could she not get baptized with The Fifields on one side and us on the other - she was double teamed!

The next day was a big one, we had the Livingston wedding in our backyard and there was plenty of work to be done. We gardened, moved furniture and decorated all day, and the end result was so beautiful. Even though its alot of work to get ready for, this is the 2nd wedding in our yard, I really do love it. I love having people over, so it is like one big party that I didnt have to do invites, food music, decorations or anything. I loved their garden theme and they covered the yard with twinkle lights it was so pretty!






These cute girls collected gifts and greeted guests as they arrived!
The bride and groom, they were so happy. Courtney was one of my YW when I served in YW she is such a sweet girl - congrats!

Then I got the kids ready for going back to school, and then I CRASHED!

Family Getaway

The whole gang, ditched school and work and went down south for a 4 day stay in Mandurah. The whole gang even included my grandparents, both my aunts, one uncle and 3 of my 4 cousins! My sister got us this great place to stay right on the ocean where we watched dolphins frolic in the mornings right out our windows - AAAH. It was a fantastic getaway full of tennis matches, synchronized swimming, water polo, shopping, late night game playing, crab catching, walking, swimming and being together.


How many family members can you get into a hot tub? It was so great because it was winter and the off season, we basically had the use of the facilities at the hotel to ourselves. I guess no one else was crazy enough to swim in the middle of winter besides us, some of them even swam in the ocean. We weren't that tough though the weather was so perfect!

During another little picnic by an estuary the kids went rock crabbing. After catching hundreds, we did the traditional racing of the crabs to the water. This always brings back memories from my childhood, and the kids just love it!

This isnt all the girls, but our families specializes in mainly girl cousins, there are very few boys out of the 19 of them!


Couldnt resist taking picture during this beautiful sunset - with such cute subjects the pictures turned out pretty dang good.
My husband was feeling a little out of it, you know with his accent and stuff, so he bought an authentic Australian hat to feel a little more "ocka" and try to fit in. He really liked it and wore it the whole trip, when the kids weren't stealing it to wear it themselves. You can now see him wearing it each weekend when he works in the yard, it has officially replaced the sombrero!

Keeping with the wildlife theme

My family in Australia likes to go on picnics. We dont go on so many because my husband has a little bit of a problem eating outside, you know the bugs and stuff, but when we are with my family he does a good job of grinning and bearing it. I swear he even enjoys himself the majority of the time, but he doesnt want us to know that! Living in Perth there are always so many beautiful places that are within an hours drive of a great place to explore, play and have a little picnic. These pictures are from 2 days - Bells Rapids and another in a national park in the hills, both times we were joined by various family members and we had great times.


This is taken above Bells Rapids, there was a big 2 day kayaking race going on that weekend, and the water was really gushing under the bridge. We hiked up this mountain and were quite proud of ourselves.

We found this swing and had a great time taking turns


These birds are everywhere in Australia, we call them 28s, I dont know the official name for them. Chad sat down and starting feeding them, my mum called him the bird man. Pretty soon the kids were copying him and we had them eating off their heads, shoulders, hands, you name it!

So have you heard that song about the kookaburra - you know kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, merry merry king of the bush is he! Well we were eating lunch and there were birds every where, all of a sudden a kookaburra stole a piece of steak from my plate, it literally swooped down and took it away. So we tried a little experiment to see if they really liked steak - yeah I suppose they do!

Fishers of fish!

My oldest sisters husband took us out on the ocean - the Indian ocean, one day, to go fishing. We Gharrings have never had too much luck with our fishing before so we were a little skeptical. The day didn't start off too well when we got out there and realized we had left the bait behind - big whoops! Luckily we found a fellow friendly fisher who gave us some of his to get started, and we were good to go. It started off slowly and then as Luke would say we were on fire. It was so fun, we were all getting bites quite often. Paul, my brother in law was helping us, especially the kids and we kept him super busy, he was so great. At one point all of us had fish on the line.

We caught mostly whiting and some rainbow something (cant really remember the name) Notice how cold it is, we are all rugged up, it was early in the day, but by lunchtime it was magical - sun shining, clear skies, blue ocean, peace and quiet, perfect temperature and plenty of fish to keep reeling in.


Hayley loved catching these blow fish, the kids thought they were so funny!



The highlight of the day was when Luke pulled in a shark. Really for a 5 year old is there anything cooler than that. At first we thought it was a leopard shark but after inspecting our books we now think it was a Port Jackson shark. Of course we threw it back because it was just little, but it made for a great ending to the day. Actually the ending to the day was when we were packing up and all of a sudden a huge seal popped his head up right next to the boat to say hello and then swam around us for awhile.

Another day he took us out to fish a little and to go squidding. I never knew that catching squid would be so interesting. When they come to the surface and see you with their huge eyes they ink - huge amounts, think Nemo (ahh you just made me ink)! It was fascinating to watch.


Abby was quite proud of this catch because she thought it looked like a swordfish, another successful day of fishing, mostly catching Herring.



You would never know it because they look clear and almost translucent but when you clean out these squid, their ink sacks are so concentrated of black ink, it is crazy and then you pull out the backbone -it was really fascinating. We didn't eat the squid but apparently it was so good, according to my sisters family!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

When Chad and I got married, he promised my parents that he would take me home to Australia every 2 years. So far he has fulfilled that promise and we just got back from our 7th trip since being married. Each time we go it is in August because it works well with Chads work schedule, summer vacation and the frequent flier airline miles that we use. It also is a horrible time to go - 1st of all it is the middle of winter, now their winters are really pretty mild, but one of the greatest things about Australia are the beaches and my parents live a quarter of a mile if that from the beach so I wish we could be there for a summer visit to really be able to appreciate the most beautiful beaches ever! Secondly the kids have a ton of cousins but they are in school at the time of our visit so that is really hard for everyone!

We had another fantastic trip. Chad and I were not worried about the ridiculously long plane trip because this is the first time with no really young kids, so we figured it would be a piece of cake. They actually did do well, but I guess that trip could never really be considered a piece of cake! We did so many fun things and took so many good pictures, I am going to have to break these posts up into sections.


One of the things the kids like to do is to see the kangaroos. We went to the zoo one day, but it is not the same as seeing a dead one on the side of the road, or a bunch of them in the wild. You see a lot of them in places that are not so built up, like in the bush, sometimes in parks and a lot of times on golf courses. A great place to see them just a few minutes from my parents house is at a cemetery, so that is exactly where we went, right at dusk when they were coming out to feed.

I love this picture - I dont think they come much better than this, handsome boy and cool kangaroo!

We brought some bread with us to feed them and they completely loved it, the kids kept getting worried that they were getting too close. We later saw a sign that said no feeding the kangaroos but by then we only had 2 slices left, what the heck we had already done the damage, so we finished off the rest!

We did this on a self timer, so Chad had to slowly get back into the picture without scaring away the kangaroos but also in time for the picture to be taken. It was pretty funny!

There were so many kangaroos with baby joeys in their pouches - it must have been the time of year. It was really cool seeing them all, notice all the poop everywhere!