Halloween Part 1 (2010)

In a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween (or much for that matter) and a husband who doesn't really like dresssing up (who doesn't like dressing up?) it's always a bit of a struggle to get ready for Halloween. But as you can see I was inspired last year to make it all happen. 

Just in case it's unclear, Varian is a "soccer player" for his costume which I thought was a bit weasely since he wears that shirt around the house all the time. But he did put on shoes (which is big for Varian) and bought a soccer ball, and the shirt is an actual soccer shirt from Brazil that Ben gave him...but still, it seems like a creative attempt to get out of wearing a costume. Well at least he's semi-trying. The night before (the day we cemented) we had our traditional party with our sweet friends Chrissy and Nathaniel. They are such good sports to come and dress up and I love when we get to see them!

Jaren's outfit was a great find. It was easy and comfortable and he is a super-baby, so it was very fitting. More pics of him to come in the next post.The night before Halloween (the day we cemented) we had our traditional party with our sweet friends Chrissy and Nathaniel. They are such good sports to come and dress up and I love when we get to see them!

  

These are some of the treats she brought in her little Red Riding Hood basket. 

One of my favorite Aussie-Halloween traditions is carving watermelons. I know I've posted about this before but they really are quite handy. It does seem like they are starting to sell Jack-o-lantern pumpkins here but they're pretty expensive - especially when you consider the piles of pumpkins my parents give away for free every year.

So we've crossed over to watermelon. They're so easy to carve, you get to eat all the guts, and they glow  fiery red - so cool and Halloweeny! Our pumpkin this year was a bit more graphic with a knife and coming out of it's face.

Cement Shoes

Ever since we bought the house, Varian's been wanting to put in a back patio. I was a bit more skeptical about it, but eventually came around, and brought the addition of paving a sidewalk path down the side of the house where the grass has never grown well and to connect it to the cement that was already on the side of the house. 

 I also insisted that we put our hands in the cement like my parents would have us do growing up. My parents house in Huntsville has my baby footprint by the sandbox, my right foot by the post in the garage, my thumb print by the back door, and many other people's hand prints in various places when I wasn't born or living there. I wanted to carry on the tradition here. Though the cement was hardening a lot faster than expected and it was quite tough to do, but I'm glad we did. 

 

Our neighbor Pese helped us do all the cementing, along with some other ward and family helpers. They worked so hard and it's been nice to have. Here are some shots of that day.

   

Varian loved cementing so much, that now he's itching to put in a carport. Hey Pese - any plans for next weekend?

October

Some October (2010) Highlights:

Chinese-themed date with my hubby and flowers he brought me one day just because he loves me :)

Shortly after moving here, I was called as the Stake Young Women President. It came as a bit of a surprise, but was a great calling. I was blessed to serve with two sets of amazing women. I had this calling for about 2 years but after Varian got put in the bishopric they had me finish up the camps and trainings and then released me. Here is a picture of my presidency about a month before I was released. (Bethany Easdale- Secretary, Cassie McCall- 2nd Counselor, Karen Bishop- 1st Counselor).

Roma Street Botanical Gardens - so pretty, I'm a sucker for botanical gardens! Also some family pictures. I love watching Varian play with our children. He's such a loving and involved father!

 

 

We'll stop here and save the rest for another post. I'm getting caught up. Soon I hope to be posting about 2011 - ideally while we're still in 2011. :)

And I'll see you...in September (2010)

So here are some other highlights of last year's September, mixed in with pictures of adorable baby Jaren. :) 

Varian got called into the bishopric as the second counselor. 

Lani (Varian's youngest sister) and Cameron Orth got engaged. Hooray!

Jaren got his first tooth. (And put up with lots of photo shoots of it - see below, though in these shots I think he's showing two teeth, very exciting.)

 

We found out we were expecting. Okay this bit of news came as a surprise. We were more thinking to aim at having a baby in September-October-ish, but Heavenly Father sent him a little bit early. And thank heavens. Looking back the timing of our pregnancy and Reid's birth really was a blessing. I was so tired at first but by the time my parents came to visit in November I was through my zombie stage. Then we had them and Aston house guests for about 2 months and then the floods hit. What an insane amount of work that followed but I think I was blessed with the stamina and strength to be able to handle it, which also may have been hard if it had been the first or end of my pregnancy. Reid then came a month before we had to move back home which was a major ordeal and gave me time to heal a bit from my c-section. And the Aston family has just had a big reunion which we would have had to miss had we just had our baby. It just goes to show that the Lord is at the helm and he has a better perspective and knows what will be best for us. And oh how I love my baby Reid! So it was great news! 

 

Varian came to help me with our Stake Youth Conference the day I took the pregnancy test. I had suspected before this that I was pregnant mostly because I was just so tired. But when I told Varian that he said he must be having twins then, because he was exhausted. :) But still I was so tired and so hungry all the time, that I decided to take a test but even then was quite surprised to see it was positive. I showed them to Varian that night at the camp and it took him by surprise as well. But it was definitely a happy surprise. Granted Jaren at this point was only 8 months old. In the end because of when the doctors count your starting date, and because my babies are breeched and come early, the boys are 16 months apart. And they're wonderful!!! It isn't as hard as I expected it to be, it's just wonderful. But those are updates for another post.

Now the rest are pictures I took of Jaren and I downloaded these ages ago onto this post and so I'm just going to include them all (also a picture of our house and yard before we ripped out those bushes in front of our house). Jaren is/was such a cute baby and so full of expression. I love his little face and could kiss it all day long!!!