Don't Let This Cute Face Fool You......

Yeah I said it! Don't let this handsome face fool you, especially after last nights episode.  Right now, this little man is sound asleep and both Kurt and I are walking zombies.  This fella kept us up most of the night!  There must be some in-built gene into all parents, especially mothers who are able to be up most of the night and some-what function the next day.  Believe me, I know all too well that it happens!  It would be so good to slip back under those bed covers with him and sleep the morning away but alas, like most of you out there you have other children to tend to and homes to clean.  I give a huge amount of credit to all parents who can function that way almost everyday.  Hopefully, it's a one off thing with Massey and he gets back into a regular schedule (who am I kidding, right) but for now, I will raise my fist in defeat at the lack of sleep but continue to shower you our son with all the love and affection you so deserve because we love you more than you will know.  And don't forget son, we would do it again if we had to because we have to!  See, as I said it would be nice to go back to sleep but right now I need to wipe someones snot hanging from their nose. 

She Makes Us Laugh (in a good way)

Daisy Winking

We just wanted to share with you a little tidbit about our Daisy.  She has really grown into one hilarious child (among the other things we love about her) but her comedic chops have really shone through.  She makes us laugh on a daily basis by the things she says and does.  Here are some of the random things our beautiful daughter has said: "Mummy, I love Justin Bieber, I want to kiss him on the lips and show him my arms", "Mum, Mum, I can't see out of my eyes, turn the light on" (this is her asking if I can turn the light on for her because it was dark). Mum, get the camera, I want to take a picture of my friends on the TV.  She is also such a huge help, will put dishes in the sink, will pick up toys without complaint, is so loving and thoughtful of others, especially her siblings but she is one funny, sassy little girl whom we love and adore!  We love us some Daisy!

The Land of The Long White Cloud....

 Aotearoa is often translated as "the land of the long white cloud" which is the Moari name for New Zealand.  I am from New Zealand, born and bred, my family moved to Australia after I finished High School (from what I can remember of the move), in my young adult age, I was extremely blessed to meet a handsome Aussie bloke whom I ended up marrying and together we are raising three rambunctious Americans.  Our family is multicultural but my roots lie with New Zealand. That will forever be my home (second home), my first will always be with my family! This post is from a personal perspective brought on by the fact that back home, New Zealand is hosting this years Rugby World Cup and I am missing out on the atmosphere the games bring, especially to us 'Kiwi's' being able to host it, right in our backyard.  I admit that being a girl I wasn't really into Rugby myself but I remember when I was little and all the family gathered together to watch the games.  Actually, I'll correct myself, we would watch my dad and his brothers (my uncles) watch the games, while the ladies would talk amongst themselves or be in kitchen cooking while the kids, would be outside playing.  I really enjoyed those times!  Kurt enjoys the game and played in his younger years (he is still young) or would often go watch and support family and friends who played.  I do know that he has a love for the Australian Sport AFL! Go the Swans!   I remember once when we were watching a BYU Rugby match and Kurt was right there on the sidelines yelling at the players or ref because of some call or some play! I would tell you what words were said but for those who know my husband, you will understand! That there tells me, that my husband has a love for Rugby. 

I guess what I'm trying to explain is since moving here to Utah and being here for the past 5+ years my love for Rugby has really grown because it is the heart and soul (among others) of Kiwis.  I miss not being there amongst family to watch the games together.  I would love to take Kurt to an actual game.  Although it would have to be a game between Australia and New Zealand to make it worth the money.  I miss not watching my fathers joy for the game and his reactions.  It pulls at my heart strings every time I watch, read or see anything relating to New Zealand.  Just this morning I was all choked up watching parts of the Opening Ceremony for the RWC.  I have a passion and love for my home country and hope that I can continue to share that passion with our children. 

I will tell you however that since being married to an Aussie I have a fondness for Australia.  I actually do not mind weather New Zealand wins or Australia wins (when it comes to all things sports) well I lie, I hope New Zealand wins but am not disappointed if Australia takes it this year.  Because at least one of us is happy in the home!  Our children will also come to learn and share a love of Kurt's homeland as he so valiantly does himself.  We will continue to share and teach them what we know about our homes and when they are old enough to understand, we want to show them. They have been back to both countries before. It doesn't matter where we end up when we finish our journey here in Utah because where ever we do go we will make it our home. That being said if we were to end up either living back in Australia or New Zealand.  I know it's soppy but it's the truth!  We love our fellow countries and couldn't be more proud to be both a true Kiwi and an Aussie!  Good luck to the Wallabies and All Blacks!  

PS: I hope the All Blacks take it this year :)

First Day At Kindergarten

Check it out, we have someone in Kindergarten.  That's right people - Abbigail is now attending Kindy!  She did so well going to school for the first time, it was more myself and Kurt that were a little unsteady.  So far she is enjoying it and making new friends.  She has a few boys in her class that live in the same quad as us, so she felt better knowing a few people already but over the last week or so she has really branched out with meeting new people.  She loves her teacher, Mrs Werner, who is the sweetest thing and is learning so much already.  It's sometimes hard to get her to talk about what she did at school either because she wants to go do something else or she can't remember.  Eventually though, she'll tell us all about her day which usually involves a lot of talk about playing on the playground.  She does love showing us her school work and enjoys doing her homework. I just hope she keeps it up right through High School. 

Birthday Boy

This lil fella has blessed our lives immensely.  He turned 1 on August 9th.  We had a small party with our family for him.  As you can see from the above pictures, he scored himself a car and got to eat cake to his hearts content.  He isn't walking quite yet, hopefully soon for our sake.  He, for some odd reason loves pulling at hair.  Even better he'll twist it around his fingers, stick his thumb in his mouth and suck on it.  It's gross and we have no idea why he loves doing that but he does!  He is a definite "Momma's Boy" and I don't mind as I love those small moments I get with him.  He adores his sisters, as they adore him also.  If he wants to be heard, he'll scream till he gets what he wants and that is usually to be feed or held.

We love our 'big boy' and are blessed to have him in our family. 

Abbigails Birthday

Can you believe that we have a five year old now!  She is growing up so fast and even though Kurt is getting old, I'm still retaining my youthful looks (yeah I wish).  Anyways, we can't believe our 'bubba' is five!  We had a party for her and some of her friends at a local park and I do have pictures of those but they are on our SLR Camera for which I can't seem to find the cord that connects it to the computer, so that I can download the pictures.  The pictures above show the morning of her birthday opening her presents from us.  She had a blast and Kurt and I (along with a good friend of ours) had a great time putting together her party.  We love our Abbigail!

So that you get to know Abbigail a bit more, here are just a few of the many things we love about her:

 

She is a total Daddy's girl. I love that her and Kurt have a special bond.  He is her comfort when she gets "owies" (hope that's right), her cuddles and kisses at a moments notice, her source of laughter and most of all, he is her 'Best Buddy'.  It's a bond I hope only grows stronger!  She has caught the "Bieber Fever", we have his CD's in the stereo player of the car and it's the only thing she and Daisy want to listen to.  All we want to do is throw it out the window, but we can't because it makes her so completely happy.  I don't know why we parents do it to ourselves and purchase these things but as I've mentioned, it makes her happy and we love seeing her happy.  She most recently has started riding without training wheels. No help whatsoever from either of us, she taught herself one day.  It amazes us what that girl can do.  She loves to dance and I have to admit, this girl has rhythm.  It's so fun watching her get her groove on.  We'll sometimes have impromptu dances in the lounge with the music turned up loud, forgetting that our neighbors are probably annoyed at us right about then.  She loves being involved with everything, from helping us whenever she can, being the best big sister ever or playing outside with her friends.  She's always right amongst it all!  

We are so blessed to have her in our family.  She brings so much joy into our lives we don't know what we would do without her. 

Daisy and Her New Bike

This is Daisy and her sweet new ride that we got for her.  You can see in the photo she has that gleeful, I just got something new face!  I love it!  Where we live they have a small grassed area with a playground that the kids get to enjoy.  Usually in the warmer months the kids are out there from sun-up to sun-down.  Here's a little tid bit about our quad, we have in our 36 apartment quad a total of 70 kids.  That's a lot of kids and a lot of noise.  Anyways, Daisy would always find other kids bikes to ride and we would watch her riding with such joy around and around the quad.  It finally hit us, that we should buy her, her very own bike! So, here you have it.  Daisy and her new barbie bike! 

To Blend or Not To Blend

 "It will change your life" - that's the phrase a wise friend told us, if or when we were to purchase a Blendtec Blender.  I had put off the thought of buying one for a little while, seeing as though it can become expensive and we already had a blender, that although it wasn't great it still worked.  You know the kind of blender that you have to jam a wooden spoon into, to get things going.  It was even better when you had to do that process about five or six times before the desired smoothie was ready to drink.  


The other day I had been craving a smoothie pretty bad.  You ladies would know (or men) that desired hunger for something you want and you can't be satisfied until you get it.  The said craving is usually  mutiplied 10 fold when you are pregnant (and no I am not pregnant).  But it was that kind of craving. I get out our blender, went grocery shopping for the ingredients, came home and put everything into the blender to make my smoothie, pushed the button to get it going and the blender did not work! Ahhhh! Well, low and behold I had a minor tantrum because of it! In the end I had to borrow a blender from a kind friend to make my smoothie. Long story short, my loving and awesome husband saw the events unfold and in a jiffy, purchased me a Blendtec Blender.  It has definitely changed my life!  I can put that wooden spoon away, throw out that blasted blender and enjoy in the very short amount of time, a delicious smoothie (and more).  Let those cravings be satisfied!  My only advice (if you choose to take it or leave it) purchase a decent blender and I'm not saying buy a Blendtec, at least buy a decent blender so you don't eventually end up in the same situation as I was.

Anyways, there's my pointless tangent. I just wanted to share that bit of news with you. I would've had a picture to show for it but I'm not tech savvy and can't for some reason work out how to post pictures off the internet of it.  So put your imagination to good use!

The Beginning

 

These are the most recent photos of our family! They were actually taken as part of our trip to Japan.  Yes, we're not all in the same photo but that happens when one or the other parent is taking the picture. There would've have been a much more recent one of us but most of our pictures have yet to be uploaded onto the computer or we have them stored on our old laptop (this is a sign we need to get our pictures organized and in order) but alas; for now you have the pleasure of viewing these ones.  So here you have it, the 'beginnings' of the Elder Blog!  As a side note, I'll have you know that 'blogging' is all the rage here in Utah, so thought it was about time to jump on that bandwagon. But,  the real purpose of this blog is so that YOU, our family and friends are able to see what's happening in the lives of the Utah Elder Family and I only say that because we have many family members living worldwide.