Sooooooooo

So Llewellyn's gone.
The Boise airport is a lot closer to our house than what I thought.
It was all over so quickly.
The same thing happened with Llewellyn that happened with mum.
When it was time to say goodbye I acted tough and didn't loose it, then when they left my sight I lost it and started sobbing.
Yuki goes 'What's wrong mum?' to which Masaru replied 'She misses her brother, just leave her alone'
Dru tried to comfort me but I didn't want him to touch me.
Funny aye......
But that's how I get.
I guess I feel alone in my loss and don't think anyone else can understand what it's like so don't want their comfort.
It's also like being on a seesaw or a teeter totter of emotions.  In once sense you can just hold it together but if you have to talk about it then you loose it.
I had a couple of BFF's ring me to see how I was and it took all of my effort and energy not to start sobbing on the phone to them while talking about it.
So you do the usual, try to talk about them or how they're doing so you don't have to loose it infront of people.
No that they would've cared, I already lost it infront of one of them when mum left, I think that's why she rang, cause she REALLY knows how I do, not good.
Thanks guys.
I dunno sometimes life's just not fair...........
'Come on Melissa you did this to yourself' you might be saying.............'You knew that if you married Dru you'd be gone from your family'
Even though that may be true it still sucks.
Plus I didn't know it'd be for this long.  I thought maybe we'd move home eventually.  Plus I'm still holding onto that...............no matter how small a chance it might be.
Do I fight with my siblings?  Sure.
Do they annoy the hell outt've me sometimes? You bet.
Are they perfect?  No.
But I still miss them cause all of them are really good mates who understand me and love me no matter what, and sometimes it's nice just having those kinda people around you when you need them you know.
It's very rare that you find a friend that you can be THAT relaxed around, just like siblings/family.
Lucky for skype and vonage.  Life would be harder without the internet that's for sure.

My nephew put it nicely the other day when he was talking about his mate who was an only child.  He thought everyone was calling his mate a 'lonely' child to which his mum laughed and corrected him to 'ONLY' child not 'LONELY' child.  He probably really thinks his mate is lonely since my nephew has 4 other siblings and wouldn't know what it was like to be the only one, so he must be lonely right? LOL
I've been thinking about that though and sometimes feel like the 'LONELY' child over here in the USA.
I had the best time with Llewellyn and he had the best time here.
My kids miss him and were all over him instantly.
I couldn't believe how easy it was for them to just love him.  Especially Takeshi, who's not as friendly as the other two.
It's sad they don't get to hang out with my side of the family much.
Thank goodness Dru's side is so good.  Man what would I do without those guys?  So blessed.
My kids at least love, love, love their cuzzies in Utah and CA and have the best time with them.
That's something right?
Someone's always going to miss out, and at the moment it's me and my side of the family I guess.
But things could be worse, and they're not, I'm grateful for health, and like I said the internet and cheap flights.
Now it's back to being the lonely child LOL

'I'm bored' activities

TV Pictures

Draw a picture suggested by a character or scene in a program.  Glue it on colored paper for backing, and tape the original artwork to refrigerator door.

New Ending

After you've watched a movie or program, rewrite the ending the way you would have liked to see it happen!

Those are the end of the TV activities.
The next ones are more art activities to do with certain different media.

Sunday

We went to brunch with our mates the Bleazards.  It was awesome.  The food was great and seeing their new 10 day old boy was a nice cherry on the top.  He's just perfect.
It was great to have them meet Llewellyn.  We had a great talk and the kids played with all the wonderful toys that they have to offer at their place.
We then went to church which was fun.  The last meeting was altogether since it was the 5th Sunday.  The missionaries talked to us about missionary work.  It was alright.
When we got back we started on dinner.
I was gonna make Samoan Coconut cream buns but I went through three different yeasts and none of them were bubbling.  I'm not sure what was going on.  What are the chances that three separately brought yeasts would ALL FAIL?  One was new, one was semi new and one was old.  ZERO WORKIE.  I was dissappointed to say the least.
So I used rhodes rolls right? NEVER DO THAT.  They turned out crap cause they're just not dense enough.
I need to work through my yeast issues man.  LOL  That sentence is funny LOL
Dru made us Tonkatzu which was perfect. 
We had our mates the Girrads around for dinner.
They're always fun to have.
We then mucked around and played 'Settlers of Katan' with them.
It was a pretty long game man.  I sat and fought with the buns and knitted.
Then Llewellyn proceeded to tell the Girrads about some fighting on the rugby field stories.
LOL
Gavin has never been in a fight.  Dru's only had fights on the ice rink while playing hockey.
I think Llewellyn's team almost has a fight a game.
Apparently he plays with the 'Black Power' team and when they play against the 'Mongrel Mob' team it's always a disaster.
Llewellyn says he gets away with a lot though cause he's white.
Crazy talk.
I forget sometimes what my life was life at home.
Last night with Llewellyn.
I'm holding on by a thread.  I've got all today and I just need to enjoy it.

Saturday

So Llewellyn went to the Boise Temple and then we met Dru for lunch at Costco.
Llewellyn walked around being amazed at all the bulk buying as well as how cheap it was compared to NZ.
We had fun.
Then we put Takeshi down for a nap and I went to the gym and ran a while.  It felt great.
I made Llewellyn 'Navajo Tacos'  This is where you make fry bread and chilli and then add lettuce, sour cream and cheese to the top.
Really yummy.
Llewellyn got his own pot of chilli and made it so spicy that by the end of the meal he was sweating.  It was pretty funny man.
We then saw a movie called 'Lincon Lawyer'  It was the best movie outt've all three of them.
Great day.

Journal Entry Thirtysix

Tell one story about your mission.

Click HERE to read mine.

I'm really glad that I kept a journal my whole mission.
One day I'll have to go back and re-read what I wrote.
For now this one story will have to do for my blog book.

Friday

 Yesterday morning we were reading the scriptures and in the Friend magazine it had this recipe for these parfaits.  So we made them.
Don't they look so yummy?  The recipe is in the May edition and you can click HERE to get it.
The kids didn't really like them that much.  Well Takeshi LOVED them but the other two didn't.
I'm beginning to think I have fussy eaters just like their father *sigh*
Anyway Llewellyn and I loved them and scarfed them down.

 Then we headed out to do a shop at Walmart and Deseret Book.
We met our friend there and she helped us with the last of Llewellyn's books that he wanted to get before going home.
Thanks Kris, your the best.

 I had to pop these pic's of Takeshi in here.
There's something about your kids sleeping that makes everything alright again no matter how things are going right?

We hung out.
Llewellyn's been sleeping a bit.  About three naps a day LOL  Lucky thing.
We had movie night and breakfast for dinner and then the adults watched 'True Grit'.
It was ok, better than 'The Tourist' that's for sure.
It was just a weird ending and I felt really bad for her horse.  That's all I'm gonna say.
My hat I'm knitting for my brother is going slowly.  I hope I can get it done by Monday night.

Personal Training

Here is my trainer, Chris, new website and information for those of you who read my blog in Boise.

If you train with him, your life will be changed for the good, forever.
Click below to go to his website.

physiquefitnessandpilates.com

Personal Training-Group Training

NASM-CPT Chris Johannessen

chrisphysique@gmail.com

            208-697-1875      

Reformer-Mat Pilates

Certified Pilates Instructor Julie Aldrich

juliephysique@gmail.com

            619-244-8453      

 I recently have left Gold’s Gym and have started a small training company called Physique Fitness and Pilates. My business is mobile so I can train you almost anywhere, however, I train the bulk of my clientele at a small gym on 808 S. Vista called Body Renew. It’s located in the Vista Village shopping center. My business partner (Julie Aldrich) is a Pilates instructor and she teaches at a studio called Thrive Pilates located on 2032 N. Bogus Basin Rd. Suite B&C. (corner of Hill Rd and Bogus Basin Rd) I am currently reaching out to you to express some of the great introductory rates and free time we are offering.

For anyone who would like to experience what I have to offer you as a trainer can come in for a free introductory session. This is to include, measurements, general fitness assessment, as well as a full one hour long workout session with me. My individual session rates vary based on the time of day you are available to train. Peak times are  $45-$50 per hour. My non-peak times are ranging from $35-$45 per hour.

Anyone interested in group training are offered an introductory rate of $100 per month. My group training sessions are conducted on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6pm. Once I receive a minimum of 8 participants the class will begin and will run continuous for four weeks.

For those who are interested in Pilates and intrinsic core strength Julie is offering free introductory mat sessions and reduced rate reformer sessions.

Today

So today we went to hike up Castle Rock and got about 3 meters up and our shoes were caked with about 5lbs of mud on each shoe.  So we turned around and came  home again.
Maybe tomorrow.
Then we hung out and Dru came home and took Llewellyn out to shoot guns with his law school mate.
He had the best time ever !!!
Then I made lettuce wraps and we watched the movie 'Tourist' which SUCKED, don't waste you time watching it.
I'm trying to knit Haydn a hat and me and Llewellyn are now having a good talk.

Shopping

So I'm shopping right, for food and I get to the end of the row and this lady is going past.
Well she stops so I go, but then she starts to go, so I stop, but she stops, so I start to go then she starts and I just push past her.
Mate, I don't have time to be playing some kinda musical chairs with this lady.
She thinks I should've said thank you to her and says so loudly to whoever was with her.
I didn't say anything to her, but ALMOST did.
I had a pretty good come back too but I bit my tongue.

See.................I'm learning to behave myself in my old age.........pity this lady isn't though....;)

Gym

So I was at the gym this morning working out and saw some of the Boise 12 week winners on the board with their before and after pic's as well as their stats.
Yeah most if not all of them did A LOT better than me.
I had no chance.
I think I lost fair and square after checking out that board today.
Oh well.

Boise

Soooooooo it was Llewellyn's birthday on Monday and the day was spent packing and driving.
I felt bad for Llewellyn but he just had a weekend in Vegas so it wasn't ALL bad you know.
Plus we shouted him McDonalds that night.  We asked him where he wanted to eat and the kids screamed 'McDonalds' and pointed to the playland, so that was the end of that.
We didn't get into Boise until 10pm.
We unpacked everything and I just looked at all the bags and crap and went to sleep.
Tues I spent the majority of the day doing washing and unpacking.
I also managed to get some food at the store since we had none.
Dru invited his boss around for dinner which stressed me out a little.
We ended up just having curry.
Llewellyn played outside with the kids for a while and we watched a movie last night.
Today we went for a bike ride to the Boise River and threw stones, rocks, sticks and logs into the river.
The river was REALLY HIGH and REALLY, REALLY FAST.
Man if you fell into that, it'd be curtains for you. 
The kids had a great time.
Llewellyn took about three naps today.  I think he's catching up on all the loss of sleep over the past two weeks.
We went out to dinner at a mates place tonight and had some fun.
They've got this little pond out the back and Takeshi walks in wet from the tip of his head to his feet.  Our mate found him scrambling to get out of the pond.  Lucky he was out there I guess.  I think Takeshi would've been alright though.
So that was the excitement at our mates place.  Great food and my kids always makes things exciting.
Our mates are going to the Rugby World Cup in NZ this year and so Llewellyn gave them some great ideas while they're over there.
They were pretty happy with our visit................we most of it.
The kids kept chasing their cat around.  Actually I don't think we'll be invited back any time soon........
No wonder we don't get invited out to dinner much.

Then tonight was TORRENTIAL rains man.  What's up with this crap weather?
It makes it hard to do stuff with crap weather man.
So I'm gonna ask peeps to pray for great weather while Llewellyn's here in Boise.
Then we can go on some hikes and the zoo and shoot some guns etc.
He's gonna go to the Temple too at some stage.
Alright so that's what we've been up to...........I just need to get it down so I can remember and for Llewellyn as well oh and all the family back home who read this, so they can keep tabs on what we've been up to.

Family pic's

 This first picture is my sisters middle daughter.
I think this photo's pretty awesome.
She's doing great with her cancer and our hopes are that she continues to do so.

 These pictures are of her other daughter {right} down with her Auntie in Christchurch and her cousins.

 I love this picture of her jumping off.

 Cuzzie shot.

My Auntie in the background.
She seems to be getting more and more daring the older she gets.
Anyway I wanted these pictures in my blog book.

Vegas

 So I dropped these guys off early Friday morning to the airport.
When they arrived, they picked up their car and headed straight to the Las Vegas Temple.

 They stayed at Circus Circus Hotel, but here's Llewellyn at Caesars Palace where they ate at the Cheesecake Factory.
They met their mate 'Kayberry' at the Hotel.  Now this is the same Kayberry that we stayed with in Montreal for a month, Dru's MTC comp.
He borrowed a $5 from Dru, put it in a slot machine and won $168!!
Can you believe that?
He then divided it amongst them and they had some fun with their free money.
At one stage they were up $350!!
But Dru reported they had nothing to bring home. 

 Kayberry and Llewellyn deep in conversation.
These two are competitive and so had a few running competitions all weekend.

 This being one of them.
Go carts?
They loved it.

 They also met two other mission buddies down there that Llewellyn hadn't seen since the mission.  That's a while ago.
They went to a David Copperfield show and Dru said it was amazing but he's pretty into himself.

 Llewellyn and Kayberry did a cheeseburger challenge and won easily.
I forgot how well Llewellyn can eat.
Kayberry said he felt a little 'crook' afterwards but Llewellyn said it 'filled a spot since he was hungry' LOL
So they won their T-Shirts.

 

They had a great weekend and talked a lot and stayed up late and enjoyed their time together.  I think it was good for all of them.

Who wouldn't like a weekend away, with no kids with a group of mates?

Llewellyn said 'It was good to go and see it, but I wouldn't go back'

I think that about sums it up right there.

Who wants to plan something with me since Dru owes me?

Jokes man jokes.

Picture catch up

Llewellyn went to the Logan Temple this day, as I said before.  Isn't it just beautiful?

One of the original copies of the Book of Mormon.  The printed 16 pages per one big print.  Does that make sense?

Part of the original translation of Oliver whilst helping Joseph Smith with the Book of Mormon.

The printing press that did the original copies of the Book of Mormon.

There were 5 men in the room when Joseph Smith was killed.  One of them had a cane and as the angry mob flew in with guns blazing, he stood behind the door and tried to wallop them with his cane.  You can still see the marks where he hit the mob.  They're down the bottom part.  He was the only man not hurt during the ordeal.

This is the original horn that one of the angry mob members had that killed the prophet.  He engraved in the horn the date that he helped kill the prophet and his brother.  I also found out that some thought Joseph was a coward for trying to go out the window when he died.  In actuality he thought if he went to the window and was shot, the mob would see him and stop trying to harm the other men.  I dunno about you, but that doesn't sound like a coward to me.

 This is a bed for an ENTIRE FAMILY whilst coming across to USA to Utah.  The pail at the top is for vomit as when there was a storm they weren't allowed to leave these quarters.  The other bottle to the right was fresh water for them to use.
Some of them just slept sitting up.  What a nightmare, yet most of them never complained.

The cart that they were allowed to take with them across the plains.  The adults were allowed 17lbs.  THAT'S IT.  The children were allowed 10lbs.  That INCLUDED all the kitchen pans.

Here's some of the artwork displayed at the moment. 
Sheer beauty if you ask me.

Christ visiting the Americas.

Garden of Gethsemane.  I couldn't spend too long infront of this one without sobbing, so I just quickly took the picture and kept walking.

An alternative viewpoint of the Crucifixion.

Christ.

Mary at the foot of Christ.
LOVE this one.

Peter betraying Christ.

This was a portrayal of faith, hope and charity if I can remember right.

Beautiful stain glass window of Christ and his Apostles.

Abinidai and wicked King Noah from one of the stories in the Book of Mormon.

Stain glass portrayal of Joseph Smith being visited by Christ.

Beautiful picture of Christ and two good looking boys.

 Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Llewellyn looking shady.

It's official

Warning to all my male readers {I can think of three, you know who you are} I talk about my boobs so PLEASE don't read on, or if you DO read on, NEVER talk about this or bring it up with me.


I think there's a few ways you can judge that you have little boobs.
You can look at them I guess.
You can go by your bra size and figure out what size is officially 'small' but this morning I discovered that my boobs weren't what they once were.
I went for a run right................and half way through running I realized I didn't have a sports bra on and I couldn't tell the difference.
Sad day in boobsville peeps.
I think it's official and I have to call it.
I've got small boobs.
I think I'll spare everyone the picture on this post ;)

Journal Entry Thirtyfive

Did you serve a mission? If so tell about your call.

Click HERE to read mine.

While showing my brother around this past week I got an even stronger testimony of the importance of family history and journal writing.

We have so much information about the beginnings of the church and also just about plain old history because people kept journals.

I'm sure they thought they might've been 'mundane'  but I'm sure glad they kept up with it so we could have the information that we do now.

Time on my hands

 So since Dru and Llewellyn have been gone to Vegas, all of a sudden I've got time on my hands.
I don't have anywhere to go and am kinda house bound.
So my mate just had a baby girl and I thought it'd be the perfect chance to get her gift done.

 She emailed me a picture of what she wanted and so I had to figure out how to make it from that picture.
I got in contact with my mate Stacey to see if she could help me find a pattern similar to the picture for free.
She's a pretty awesome knitter and found me this pattern to go from.
Then I headed on over to my SIL's house to get going with the project cause it's nice to have a handy, dandy, expert around when you're attempting new things.
Thanks Kristin and Stacey.
I think it turned out cute.

 Then we had ZERO pattern for the hat so I just kinda made it up.
I think for a made up job it turned out alright.
Feel free to change the buttons Jenny, these are all I had.

 Here's the set together.
I'm sure between Jenny's photography skills and her cute baby girl they might come out looking cute enough I think.
Jenny's photography blog is the CJP button on the side of my blog if you wanna look at her awesome stuff.

 Then I decided to knit a cocoon blanket for her as well.
I used cocoon colours and crochet it all together to make the blanket the cocoon shape.

 I think I'd like cocoon blankets to tell you the truth.
I'm usless at wrapping my babies plus they never stay in their blankets.  This way they're in and they can't escape and can always be warm.
I'd probably use it alot outside at the park and stuff.  Man with how cold it is here still it'd be perfect.

Anyway I hope you like it Jenny and I'm glad I"m done.
Now what to do?
Dru and Llewellyn are still gong for another day and a half...............
Read maybe?

Emotional

I'm not sure what it is but I've been pretty emotional lately..............well more so than normal I guess.
Maybe cause Llewellyn's in town?  Who knows.
One of my very best friends is going through a rough patch in their lives and I feel extremely helpless and usless.
I don't feel like talking about it to anyone cause, you know, you don't want to cry infront of people EVEN THOUGH MATES WOULDN'T CARE, still it sucks to be that vulnerable even amongst close friends.
So instead of crying on someones shoulder about it, since Dru's outta town, I went to Dick's Grocery Store and got some food and quietly bawled my eyes out sniffing while I went along.
I'm glad I didn't see anyone I knew and I'm glad no one approached me to ask what was wrong, it'd be pretty gutzy too if you ask me cause it could be a number of things that maybe you don't wanna know about from a perfect stranger.
I think I cried for a good 20 mins while walking around getting all my things then came home and felt a little better.
I'm not sure why people get certain trials, I don't have the answers but my mate has a true testimony of Jesus Christ and helps to calm ME DOWN!!
Told you I'm usless, THEY'RE going through a trial and THEY have to calm ME DOWN.
I don't think I'm gonna be up for BFF of the year either.
Oh well............................I might go to Dick's again for some more therapy ;)

Clothing, history and music

Llewellyn and Dru left for Vegas this morning.  I actually just came back from dropping them off at the airport.
I hope they have fun.
Dru took the camera that had all the pictures of yesterday on it so no pictures for now but I need to write down what we did, otherwise I'll forget and it WON'T be history.
Llewellyn got up at 5am and headed out to the Logan Temple.
He said it was beautiful and he loved it.
That was the last Utah Temple he was able to stamp in his little Temple passport of his.
So altogether he hit 8 Temples in Utah in 6days.
He's a bit bummed that he didn't hit Manti and St George, but this gives him motivation to come back and still have things to do while he's here.
So once he got back we fed ourselves and the kids and headed downtown to the 'Church History Museum'
where the kids Grandma {Dru's mum} is serving a mission.
It was great to see Shauna in action and the tour she gave us was very good.  It was a highlight for Llewellyn for sure, and I loved it too.
So many awesome artifacts of church history that are there.  I got some great shots that I'll have to post on Monday.
The kids started off ok and slowly, ever so slowly, started to loose it.
So we went to the kids section where they played for a while, while Shauna showed Llewellyn other parts of the History and Art Museum.
The artwork there right now is simply amazing.
We took photo's of that as well..........
I was planning on going somewhere else after the Museum but the kids needed food and to go home.
So we headed back and fed them and put Takehsi down for a nap then I asked my SIL to look after the older ones {Thanks Kristin}and we headed back out to the Humanitarian Center.
We had a really good time and it was amazing  to see all the clothes and supplies and just how many are sent out to the world.
The church receives 30 x 1000lbs bundles of clothes a day which then get sorted and 85% of it gets sent overseas to needy people and 15% stays in Utah and gets sold in DI to which their profits are put back into the people who are working there for the church and learning how to be self sufficient while they work.
What a fantastic programme.
Any clothes with stains or rips get sold to other clothing companies for scraps or rags and that money gets spent on these beautiful woolen blankets that get sent to the needy.
Just a really neat place to be and learn about.
We then got home and Dru's parents babysat the kids while Dru, Llewellyn and myself went out to Kyoto Restaurant in Salt Lake.
Everyone who goes there LOVES it.  Llewellyn, who loves Japanese food, thought it was pure awesomeness, so that's saying something I think.
If you havn't had the blessing of going there then you need to make it a goal in your busy lives to go.  You won't regret it.
Best Japanese food out there, especially in the Salt Lake City area.
We then headed to the Tabernacle to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice. 
I was sorely dissapointed as we didn't get to hear one full song sung by them.
It made me sad cause this was Llewellyn's only chance to hear them and we were excited about it all day.
They just sung bits and pieces and practiced songs we didn't even know.
I wish Llewellyn could've heard the 'Music in the spoken word' on Sunday but he's in Vegas which is a bummer.
So that was the saddest part of our day.
We then visited some mates and had a chance to chat with them and hang out, then went home, asked how the kids were.
Their grandparents asked them what they wanted for dinner, to which they responded 'MAC DONALDS' of course and so headed over there.
They would've loved it.
Sounds like they had just as good of a time without us, so that's a bonus.
Great day, apart from the choir, and now I hope that Llewellyn and Dru have the best time down in Vegas.  I hope they get some good shots.

Art and cheese

 So today Llewellyn got up early and went to the Draper Temple.

 Then he met his mission buddy at the  Timpanogos Temple at 10am.

It's been pouring with rain but that hasn't stopped us from doing everything we've wanted to on this trip.
Kristin got Llewellyn a Utah Temple Passport with each Temple in it and some space to take notes and put a sticker on the ones you've been to.
So he's been stamping and writing notes etc in his Temple Passport.

We then went to Welfare Square and got a tour of this amazing site and the food the church makes and delivers to those in need.
It's always fascinating to me.
Llewellyn took particular interest in the dairy section since he works at a cheese factory in NZ.
He said the machines they use at Welfare Square are really old school but must work for the little the church produces and the volunteers to run it.
He said that the LEAST amount of time they age cheese in NZ is 18 months and at the Welfare Square it was just ONE MONTH.
He couldn't believe that.
Interesting stuff.

We then went to the Conference Center and took a tour of that.
Here's a cool window {above} and fountain {below} which I was told has absolutely no meaning whatsoever.
I find this hard to believe.  Someone did this window and sculpture and had SOME kinda thought process behind it right?  I mean did they just throw peices of glass together and just hang it on some fishing line and think 'Yeah how about we just do that'
I don't think so.

Inside the Conference Center.
They were taking it apart for some reason so we didn't see the whole thing set up.
Llewellyn asked if we could go up to the organ and the lady said if we did security would escort us out.  So we figured we'd better stay put.

Here's our guide for the tour.  She was great.

And here's Llewellyn infront of the original painting of Jesus visiting the American Continent.
It's MASSIVE right?
The artwork in the Conference Center is simply amazing.  We were both in awe of how stunning the work was.
I think we took a long time cause she said it'd be about 45 mins but I'm pretty sure we took more like over an hour.
I love this conference center.  So much beauty.
Then we came home to another great dinner by my awesome mother in law and then Dru and Llewellyn headed out to their mission pres. home to visit.
I hope they're having fun.
I trimmed Yuki's hair today.  So all my kids got their haircut.
Dru's pretty upset with Takeshi's hair, but I'm blowing it off man.  I've yet to get Takeshi's haircut to where Dru is happy with it.
He's so picky.............................but I love him ;)