A good night OUT

my wallet and bag are FULL of these little ticket stubs. i honestly think all the sports stadiums in perth have a supply agreement with the company.

everytime i see one of these little ticket stubs i have so many good memories to look back on. all the hawks, wolves, senators, marlins, royals, tigers, tuart hill, heat games from the past several years ... all of them involving the people that mean the most to me ... my family and our teams.

these tickets are from the last WABL game at stirling this season ... good times :)

IT'S all about the BROMANCE

theron's mates have become part of the family since dad's passing. our home (even though it is at least half hour away -one way- from woodvale) has someone over nearly every weekend and when they are over the lounge room gets turned into the 'boys cave'.

today theron had blake over and after a rather heated playfight they seem just to tire themselves out or as they later put it 'they had a power nap'.

no matter how old they get, they just dont seem to change at all ... they are still my little brothers :)

I love RAIN

i absolutely love rain!

i was born in the middle of summer so therefore i should be a true summer baby right? wrong! so very very wrong! i am a winter girl through and through.

i love wearing layers, jeans and hoodies.
i love the thunderstorms, the hail and the lightning.
i love the heater being on, candles being lit and wrapping myself up into a huge doona.
i love the fact there are puddles everywhere, the skies going darker by the minute and the bottom of my jeans staying wet due to the puddles being everywhere!!

A wicked GIFT

glen bought the family tickets to wicked and it was simply AMAZING!! darrio and taui had already seen it with friends but for mum, theron and i it was a new experience and we are totally, wickedly hooked!

i had 'wikipedia' the storyline of wicked and i dont think i read the ending right. i didnt like what i had read that elphaba and fiyero didnt even up together and as much as i was looking forward to the show i was a little disappointed ... that was until i saw the ACTUAL ending ... where they did end up together and happily ever after!

the stage and the costumes were amazing and the actors were so talented. lucy durack (glinda), jemma rix (elphaba), david harris (fiyero) and bert newton (the wizard) were all simply awesome as actors and i want to go back again and again ... i seriously can not get enough of wicked plus i think i have a slight crush on david harris :) darrio, taui and i have the wicked soundtrack playing non stop and darrio has memorized the words perfectly.

ps ... darrio and i are ADDICTED to the wickedly green mocktails!!

MR popular, that's HIM

every school holidays means one thing ... wildcats camp. theron started wildcats camp as a camper when he was only 7 years old, so four times a year he would sign up and learn from some of the best players in the state. when he turned 13, theron became too old for the camp but he had been there longer than any of the wildcat players themselves ... he had outlasted all of them.

theron then became a camp helper at the tender age of 13 ... he would go down a few days before camp started and he would pack up the bags, pump all the balls and help with the registrations of the campers. at the age of 15, theron upgraded to being a camp coach where he was now coaching the campers with the wildcat players.

the funniest part of the camp is when its autograph time and all the coaches line up and theron is amongst the wildcat players having kids lining up and asking him for his autograph and even asking him for a photo or two. its even funnier when we go to the wildcat games and you see kids from the camp wearing their signed shirts and you can see theron's signature on their shirts!

ALL aboard to HOGWARTS

the final midnight session. the final movie. the final time to see harry, hermione, ron, neville, snape and the handsome weasley twins fred and george and the rest of the gang. harry potter and the deathly hallows part 2 has been one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of 2011 .... and it didn't disappoint.

the movie was magically, absurdly, stunningly brilliant. it was definitely the perfect tribute to harry, who i have grown up with over the past decade.

i laughed hysterically when neville went looking for luna, then cried openly when snape was killed, then shed more tears when we all saw fred, lupin and tonks in the great hall and then finally sat there content that the journey had reached the end and harry and ginny were waving goodbye to their kids on the hogwarts express.

i knew it was going to be emotionally ... and it was. and i was alright with that.

3 months to the day ... the bad and the GOOD

its been 3 months to the day that dad passed away ... 3 long, long months filled with tears, laugter, fights, angry words, basketball, tributes, cards, flowers, lawyers, coroner letters, legal issues, bills, paperwork, changing details, hugs, dirty looks, slapping his picture down, pulling his picture back up, sharing our story and most importantly trying to just keep living with our matriarch and the priesthood holder no longer here.

there are moments when i wish i could just speak to him, like last saturday when i was coaching the heat and i just couldnt remember the rule about 'fill in' players. there are moments when i wish i could just slap him across the back of the head for not filling out paperwork when he should have. there are moments when i just wish it never happened ... but then i think about the reason why he was taken. heavenly father has a plan for each of us and the plan was for dad to go and to continue the work up there. there is a lesson that i learnt in young womens ... nothing happens to us that we can not handle. heavenly father will never test us with something we are not strong enough to deal with and i have faith in that.

monday was a tough day, i had a horrible morning to the point that i just played the song dad always loved to sing with darrio 'big girls dont cry' by fergie all morning and when my boss walked in i burst into tears. HOWEVER that evening i got the BEST news ever ... i was officially an aunt to the most cutest child EVER ...

miss madeline beth. i havent yet been able to see or hold madeline ... or even been able to tell her the nickname i have for her that no-one else can use ... but she means the world to me because she got me out of my dark mood. she had spent time with my dad up there and im pretty sure he pushed her along so that she was born on the 11th ... im sure of it.

KNIGHTS grand final = CHAMPIONS

l to r jamie, tom, nelson, benjamin, theron

all season long the knight's have won every game ... and by a decent margin. an entire undefeated season rests on one game ... as it did last season. however this season would be different. the boys were not going to lose in the grand final even though they were going to be without mike their coach and the other player on the team, jeremy.

despite not having a coach, the boys still had the mothers all encouraging (if not yelling a little loudly) them on and after a well meaning rocket up their bum speech at half time, the boys went on to play seriously and in the end, win the game.

hilarious side note to the game: the opposition was theron's best friends team ... so not only were we cheering for the knights but we were also cheering for the opposition (just as loudly) and getting shouted down by our own mothers haha

the game was filled with theron and josh going up against each other, a lot of butt taps between each team and a sign for the opposition's point guard on the knights bench (that was me)

SHOES are the symbols of LOVE

since you've been gone (ha did you get the kelly clarkson shoutout then ... hmmm probably not lol), we have had more boys in this home then ever before.

as much as the boys need to be here with the family, we need them here to fill just a tiny bit of the massive hole that is left. it helps them as much as it helps us ...

and the way that you can tell that someone is here is by the shoe collection at the door ... and this was just a slow day haha

to us the shoes are symbols of love ... the love they have for the family, the love we have for them and the love we both have for you

HIDE and SEEK

i am a self confessed stationery freak. i need at least 10 pens at all times in my pen holder and they must be the blue staedtler medium point pens and curse the person who touches my pens without permission ... they are like my children!!

then here comes friday morning when i walk into my office and my entire stationery tray has been taken and hidden. Explaination: my boss and i have a war of the minds going on ... whoever has the best hiding spot wins.

as you can see, my boss didnt put too much thought into the hiding spot as it was one of the worst (therefore easiest) hiding spot on the entire first floor.

game on buddy!!