Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

January 2009 finds me in a new area - the city of Brisbane. My companion has gone home on a medical release so I am in a 3 way companionship with sisters Shaw & Brooks, both from Texas. My assignment is doing tours at the Brisbane Temple gardens.

What a whirlwind this past month has been, for all of us. My bedroom is the dining room in our 2 bedroom flat, just blocks from the temple. It is a nice walk but not one that they want us doing at 9:00 PM at night so se still have the car. And, you guessed it, I'm the designated driver!!!! Scary!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas came and went in a whirlwind. Just before Christmas we took a trip to the beautiful Gold Coast & Tambourine Mountains. Then we ended the trip riding the City Cat ferry down the Brisbane River at night. Beautiful!!!!!! On Christmas Eve we attended a Hangi, which is a Tongan luau where they cook the food in a big pit. So much food!!!!!

The real highlight of Christmas though was the safe arrival of Madison, our second Christmas baby in a row. Savana came just after Christmas last year. I am so thankful for Madison's safe arrival.

Happy Birthday Savana & Madison!!!!

Hopefully I can get some more pictures up soon, with my companion & Quinn's help.

Adventures in Australia

Several of us senior missionaries went on a 'road trip' and got to see some of the beautiful countryside of Queensland, Australia. We went to the Australia Zoo; home of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. We also went to the Sunshine Coast and I ran along the beach. We saw about 50 kangaroo in the neighborhoods along a beach town! They have "beware of kangaroo" crossing signs on the roads there!! I've also seen "beware of koala" crossing signs too. They say there are also ‘beware of alligator’ signs! It's so funny!!

They have lollies here called bullets. Lollies are candy and bullets are chocolate coated black licorice pieces. Yum! Yum!!!!!

I saw 2 gorgeous parrots in a neighborhood tree the other day; it still amazes me the things we just 'see around'. They have these ‘bush turkey’ all over. They are so scrawny they wouldn’t even be in danger at Thanksgiving, if they had Thanksgiving here. That’s going to be weird!

We went to Mt. Coot-tha forest and it was beautiful. We took a lunch and ate it by the lake. We saw the Fern House, Cactus House, Botanical Garden & Geodesic Dome of Tropical Rain forest Plants and Trees. My favorite tree, of course, was the chocolate tree. Then we took a mini-bus tour around the whole place. Wow! We will go back to see the Japanese Garden and take a closer look at the Rain forest area, Pine tree Area and the lookout over Brisbane.

I finally got to try 'Vega mite' and I didn't care for it. It's a yeast spread, used like peanut butter. Don't know why you would want to eat a yeast spread!! But I HAD to try it; it's big here. I opted for the Nutella!! Surprised??

Adventures of Crocodile Doree

Petting the crocs!!! Fun!!!
(posted by quinn)

Missionary Decorations

Decorations from home LIGHT UP a missionary apartment.

Braving the Kangaroos

The first of the Kangaroo. I'll have better pictures later, I think. I have gotten a little braver around them as I've been around them more.