Sunday, August 14, 2011

Visit from Grandma Holbrook

I know it has been so long since I posted. I think when I know I have a big post to do I get overwhelmed and keep putting it off since its such a pain to upload pics. Well I think I finally figured out the easiest way to do it! Use Picasa...so easy. I wish I would have figured that out a long time ago. Get ready for a picture overload. At the beginning of July my wonderful mother-in-law came and got the Sydney experience! Unfortunately it was pretty cold while she was here so we tried our best to stay bundled up and still go out and see all the sights. Its so nice to have family visit and I think she really enjoyed being here.

When she got here and unloaded her suitcase it was like Christmas! Jett seriously had outgrown all of his clothes so I had ordered a bunch from the states and sent them to Susan's house and she brought them with her. On top of that, she also got him some more clothes so he is set for the rest of our time here. I love seeing him in clothes that actually fit...no more holes in pajamas!

We had a lot of fun shopping and visiting the outdoor markets.
We stopped by Manly Beach...can't wait until its actually warm enough to go swimming!
Took a ferry ride...
Visited the Opera House...
Had a picnic at the Botanic Gardens...
Went to church...

(Jett always falls asleep on the way home)
Enjoyed some spectacular views...
Cuddled the koalas...(Susan's favorite part!)

(I love the look on Jett's face in this one)
Watched all the pretty butterflies at the Wildlife World...


Admired the amazing creatures at the Aquarium...
Walked around Todd's school...

Laughed at all the Asian tourists taking pictures of Jett...
Went to the world famous Bondi Beach on a freezing day (they had an ice rink set up right on the sand!)
Went on another ferry ride...
Saw even more animals at the Taronga Zoo...
Smiled at the cute little red pandas which are almost as cute as little Jett...
And enjoyed the last sunset from the comfort of our cozy little apartment. It was a great week filled with fun outings, awesome food, and most importantly...family! We are already getting excited to go home to the states and be closer to family. Less than 3 months left! Crazy!

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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Welcome Home Elder Casper!

Today is the last day that my two younger brothers are out in the mission field at the same time. Will comes home from North Carolina tomorrow. I can't believe it has already been two years. I'm so proud of him. Too bad we won't be there to greet him at the airport... in fact, we won't even be able to see him for about 5 more months until we get back.

Today is also the last day that my family is all in different states/countries- My parents in Washington, Hauni & Aaron in Utah, Derek & Brianne in Texas, Meg & Jake in Arizona, us in Australia, Will in North Carolina, and Michael in Brazil. Talk about spread out! I hope in the next few years we can all move a little closer together.

Anyways we can't wait to skype with Will and let him see his nephew Jett for the first time! Welcome home, Will!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Jett's Birthday

I was supposed to post this about a month ago but never did! Oops. Can't believe my little guy is already 1 year old (actually like 13 months now). We didn't do anything extravagant for his birthday this year because of our situation but we did have a little early birthday party for him when my parents were in town. He got a few new toys which he has loved! His favorite was a little basket of plastic fruit that we got for $1 at Big W. We let him go to town on his cake and I think he enjoyed making a mess more than actually eating it!









Jett is our little sweetheart! We are so blessed to have him in our lives. He has such a fun, charming personality. He loves to follow us around the apartment and see what we are doing all the time. He loves to watch the Wiggles and he is quite the dancer just like his daddy! He is just so darn cute I have to squeeze and kiss his cheeks constantly.

He just had his one year shots (Big scary man gave them to him- no fun!) and he has his first molar poking through. Our little baby is growing up!

Our little energizer bunny has loved to wiggle from day 1. Here is a video I took back in March to show you just how much he loves to move! This makes us laugh every time we watch it. We love our little Jett!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Giveaway!

Uhhh...its kinda been a long week. Todd started this temp job and between that and finishing up his first semester of classes he hasn't had a day off in awhile. He also has to commute to work which takes like 3 hours out of the day (I'm glad this job is very temporary!). That has left me and Jetters with a lot of spare time here at home. Too bad winter is upon us and it actually gets pretty cold here! But I've kept myself busy entertaining Mr. Jett and working on headband stuff. Oh I had my 50th Etsy sale today! Thats kinda cool but doesn't really reflect ALL of the headbands I've made so far. Hopefully someday I will have a baby girl and she will seiously be set with hair accessories for life.

I just had to share some DARLING pictures that my friend Heather took for my etsy site. She is so talented! http://www.heatherpphotography.blogspot.com/ It is seriously like Christmas for me everytime she sends me photos!


If any of you ever want to get a headband please use the coupon code FRIENDS25 at checkout for 25% discount on Etsy. My gift to you for having to read about my headbands all the time :-)



Also wanted to let you know I am currently doing a giveaway on my facebook page. Check it out if you are into cute free stuff (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blossomchic-Boutique/122074484542078).



Thursday, June 2, 2011

My Parents Come to Sydney

I started this post the day my parents left but got overwhelmed with all the pictures and I never finished it. I do not like loading pictures to blogger. Is there an easier way? Also when I load pictures they come out really fuzzy on here which I don't know how to fix.

ANYWAYS! It was awesome having my parents here! They got here on a Wednesday morning and left on the next Tuesday morning which was not long enough but we made the most of it. It also turned out to be really cold while they were here so we had to bundle up inside and outside and made the most of our little space heater. They were able to make their way from the airport to a train all on their own and I "picked them up" at the station which means I showed them the way to the right bus to take to our apartment. We took so many pictures so this is going to be long!

Our first day at Balmoral Beach! Brrr...no sunbathers out that day.

We did a lot of waiting for buses while they were here. Jett likes kisses from Grandpa. We spent the rest of the day visiting, eating, and emailing a letter to Elder Michael. We went to bed early every night (jet lag).

Our second day wasn't much warmer but we headed out to Manly Beach and then took a ferry to Circular Quay and walked around. Unfortunately we got on the backside of the ferry and didn't get the grand view coming into the city but it was still nice.

I love this picture of my mommy. We wished we would have had more time to walk around the Botanic Gardens. Next time maybe? :-)

Ferry ride home


On Friday we took a guided tour through the Opera House! Don't we all look amazing with our headsets?

Here we are touching the tiling of the roof. Such an amazing building with a pretty cool history.

Blurry but this is Jett inside the Opera House! Can't wait to show him this picture when he is older.

My dad was front and center for the tour. It actually turned out to be a beautiful day!

Jett was such a good little traveler throughout the entire week! My parents found out what a charmer he can be to strangers! Everyone loves him.



My parents taking in the city.

Then we hopped on a river ferry and headed to Sydney Olympic park. Again, we ended up on the wrong side of the boat and didn't get the best views.

In front of ANZ Stadium


One thing my parents wanted to do was to hire bikes in the Olympic park and go bike riding. I'm so glad we did it! We rented the bikes from this really nice lady and she helped Jett get situated in his little seat. Isn't he ADORABLE??



Todd says don't look at the hoodie tied around his waist (he knows its dorky). Haha.

My parents had a pretty good time too except they rented a tandem bike which my mom did not like! Since my dad was steering he had complete control of how fast they were going and where they would go. As I was riding behind her I noticed the sometimes she would take her feet off the pedals. I asked her what she was doing and she quickly quieted me. She was getting back at my dad by refusing to pedal so he had to do all the work himself! Lol. Here is my dad being a backseat driver:


On the train ride home he must have been bored because he helped another passenger solve her crossword puzzle.

On Saturday Todd and I got up early and went to the temple for a bit while my parents recovered a little and watched Jett. When we got back we had a "picnic" by our window. That night we had a beautiful seafood feast prepard by Chef Todd! The garlic prawns were so fresh and so perfect. I know that this was probably my dad's highlight of the trip.


Yummy!

My mom took this picture of Todd and I changing a messy diaper because she thought it was funny. Jett is such a little wiggleworm that sometimes this is the only way! :-)

This happened when Jett grabbed the baby powder from me before I had a chance to close it and started wildly shaking it.

It was a great experience having my parents come to church with us and meet some of our new friends.

If you notice Jett is awake in these pictures but after a short walk to the bus stop he falls fast asleep!

At the bus stop

On Sunday night we had a little celebration for Jetts birthday but I will post pictures of that in a later post.

On Monday Todd was back at school so we decided to take everyone so they could have a look around Sydney Uni.




It was their last day which was really sad for us!

I took mom and dad to the train station on Tuesday morning and we said goodbyes and I waved to them as their train left just like in the movies. It was really sad and I got a little homesick for the next few days but I'm really glad that they were able to come and see us! Now its just the three of us but now its mostly just me and Jett at home since Todd got a temporary job and will be gone a ton during the next couple months. Did I mention Todd is one paper away from finishing his first semester of classes? He turns it in on Monday! We are looking forward to our next visitor though and are already excited for Todd to have a break then! Susan, Todd's mom, gets here on July 1st and we can't wait!!