Albany

Over the weekend, I went to Albany. It was  a LONG car ride ! 818kms round trip ! We left 1pm - ish on the Saturday and arrived home just after 6pm Sunday. Thankfully, I was chauffeured driven down there and I had the WHOLE back seat to myself ! Woot !

So WHY? Well, it was the Albany Branch Conference so as a stake leader, I went to support the Relief Society sisters in the far reaches of WA. It was awesome. Lot of happy memories of what fun a branch can be - everyone knows everyone...people serving diligently with three and four callings....hilarious activities and gatherings...half the branch getting up to sing for their visitors... :D Most of all I remembered the strength I got from knowing the unconditional love of being part of something special.



The Holder's place

 Upon arrival, the wonderful Holder family had dinner on the table..."Thermomix" dinner...butter chicken. Was delish and the dinner conversation lively and fun. The views outside spectacular ! Imagine...a two week old foal just outside the front door - literally ! Huge, big, sweeping gumtrees, birds twittering, sheep contentedly munching away....and GREENERY everywhere you look ! Was SO delightful !

The branch activity included "get to know the stake leaders" games...was hilarious. The members of Albany branch had to "guess" which foot was sticking out from under the stage curtains. The it was random questions to get to know us better...then a Scattergories game...fun.

I slept in a double bed all to myself...it was even COLD enough that I had to have covers on ! Imagine that huh? (56 days and counting since Perth got any rain?!) Was delicious having to snuggle under the covers ! I even read in bed ! Breakfast was oats...freshly cooked for us with home grown honey and dried figs....YUM ! SO delicious !

Meetings were so inspiring. Pres Pemberton spoke about his travel down to Albany and how he almost came "a-gusta" by drifting off two - three times because he fell asleep behind the wheel of the car ! He paralleled the story with every day life  - we don't mean to drift to the "other side" and engage in things we know are wrong ....it can happen at any time. We need to be alert and attentive for things that distract us from the path of "truth and righteousness".

The sisters appreciated our efforts to present a lesson for them - based on Doctrine and Covenants 101:16.



Jenny (lf) and Lorraine (rt) "hamming" it up !

 It was a good weekend. The road trip was a great opportunity for the three of us in our presidency to bond and get to know each other better. We are a terrific team and I am blessed to be motivated by these fantastic sisters !

Catching up on blogs...again !

Okies...been a pretty busy full on few weeks...Erm...where to begin?

On Saturday 26th February, Prue had her appendix removed. All went well and she is well and truly on the mend. On the Thursday, she went to bed with a "sore tummy", which she has complained about off and on all year...so Carrie (her mum) soothed her and put her to bed. On the way to school, Carried decided that Prue should see a doctor. The doctor suggested that Prue had appendicitis and sent them up to Princess Margaret Hospital for Children...They got into hospital at around 10am and by 5PM (yes, it took that LONG) they FINALLY got to see a radiologist who did a very through ultra-sound and confirmed an inflamed and larger than normal appendix. So Prue was booked into have the appendix removed the next morning. She was FINALLY able to get into a bed/room at 7pm that night...and scheduled for surgery in the morning. In the mean time, Prue was hooked up to an IV for fluids and antibiotics for a urinary tract infection which she also had at the time.

Saturday morning the doctor told Harv and Carrie that Prue was scheduled to have her appendix removed at 11am. That time came and went due to other emergencies. So the next time given was 1pm. That time came and went too. The next time given was 7:30pm and THAT time came and went too...FINALLY at 10:45pm she went in ! In the mean time, Carrie and Harv were getting MOST anxious because the little gal opposite Prue had also had appendicitis...but unfortunately, they had so many delays that when they got to her, they had burst ! Now the little girl had a longer, lengthier and more complex surgery and healing time. Poor little thing. Thankfully they got to Prue's appendix in time - and with key hole surgery. So with no complications, she was happily home for a weeks rest by Monday.

In the mean while, Michaela, who HATES maths, did an awesome test and got 80% ! Woo hoo ! It has really boosted her confidence in her own abilities and we are SO proud of her. She even got a letter of commendation in the mail !

We have  a "break out" rabbit...Stewit has diligently dug his way out just about every day in the past two weeks. We have moved the cage all around the garden in the hopes of deterring him...but to no avail. On the UP side...Guess had turned out to be an AWESOME "rabbit rounder up- er-er". Every morning, when we let him out to do his "business", he goes to the cage and checks to see if Stewit is in residence. When he is AWOL...Guess goes on the "hunt" and rounds him up ever so gently with low growls, and few yips and excited running around. Its PERFECT ! Whatt watches with amusement and thinks he's "above it all" since he's a cat ! Ha ha ha ! Nine times out of ten, Stewit is in such a hurry to get out of Guess' way that he goes back UP into the hole he just dug out of ! :)

Harv had been practicing his skills in the kitchen. He "invented" a curry the other day. It was yum. Michaela is getting quite savvy in the kitchen too. She is doing a Cert 3 through high school, in the hospitality industry. We had a really fantastic Bacon Cabonarra last Thursday. It was so good she had repeated requests for it this week too.

Everyone else has been busy doing lots of "stuff" too. We manage to keep busy doing lots at break neck speeds ! Life is good.