Jess' Blog

Most Friday's, I spend the morning babysitting my utterly adorable cousin Luci while her Mum and big sister Ella go to Pre-Kinder.

When Ella and Aunty Bin came home, I kidnapped Ella and whisked her away to aid me in some mischief and fun!

We went to Maccas for lunch (what kid doesn't like Maccas!?), played with Anthony in the park, then... we got messy! Here's what we got up to:

[Ella LOVED cleaning her hands in the puddle...and her shoes...and her knees...and her shirt...]

[The end product. Ella painted her name all by herself! Which is probably why the L's have come first :P ]

[Ella is spacking with excitement - hence the crazy face!]

We had sooooooo much fun! Thank you Aunty Bin for letting me kidnap your daughter and play the day away!

Since Anthony & I got married we've started a young married couples get together thing. However, we started with 3-4 couples and are now down to the Gilligans and us. We miss the Weedens and the Taylors very much! So our young marrieds get togethers happen probably once every 1 or 2 months during school semesters and then much more regularly during the holidays.

The holidays are great.

No doubt.

But the holidays are AWESOME when you have friends like these:

That's Emily & Aaron Gilligan.

Emily is my cousin, but since being married, we consider the Gilligans in higher regard - close friends.

So because we were all on holidays, the Gilligans took us on some fun adventures!

On one day we decided to road trip it to a beach (Sanky Beach near Hawley) and randomly play Sardines amongst the rocks!

[Hehe, that's me hiding under a big rock!]

The highlight of the day for sure was Emily's outfit! Why? See for yourself:

On the way home, we stopped in at Ashgrove Cheese Farm (so Aaron and I could get our cheese fix), where they were having a 2 for 1 sale! Booyah! We had some sleepy time when we returned to Launceston, then met up again for dinner and games at our place.

It was a great day.

Our next adventure was quite spontaneous! We went on an road-trip-overnighter to HOBART!

On the trip down we had quite a few laughs out of Ice-Breaker cards (like conversation starters)! Once we arrived in Hobart we didn't even stop until we arrived at Lipscombe Larder in Sandy Bay. Emily just HAD to get a choc-raspberry mud cake from this one store (but we were glad she did, it was delicious!)

We had planned on the trip down to eat at Hogs Breath for dinner... However, when we called up we got a devastating message - CLOSED! Closed due to "kitchen problems". Whatever that means. So we ended up dining at La Porchetta. We all underestimated the sizes of the dishes and were VERY full by the end of dinner!

But we still had room for cake. There's always room for cake! :D

We played a card game which we named 'Trump' (because no-one seems to know what it is actually called) and scrabble before we got all silly from tiredness and called it a night.

The following day we went to Eastlands for some retail therapy.

Then came the highlight of the trip... MONA!

Don't know what that is? Click here.

Explaining it is pretty much impossible. You really do have to experience it for yourself to truly understand.

Emily and I were trying to put it into words. We came up with: fascinating, unique and disturbing.

[This was one of my favourites. The lights flickered at the same rate as your heart beat. it measures your pulse and blinks at the same rate. I had alot of fun running from one end of the room to see how fast i could make the lights go and it worked!]

Our favourite I think would have had to have been the water feature as you first enter the lowest floor of MONA:

Before leaving Hobart, we made a quick lunch stop at MacDonalds then hit the road!

As we travelled through the midlands, we found a winter wonderland of SNOW! We were snowed on!

And that, my friends, are just some of the adventures of the Gilligans & Wheelers!

The end.

Stumbled across a brief but moving message:

We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most.

My favourite 'moment' is between 2:07 & 2:18.

Read the entire address HERE. It's well worth the read.

This is the second in a series of posts dedicated to people who have made me who I am today.

If you read my blog regularly, you would have recently read this, and it would come as no surprise to you that this post is dedicated...

I am certainly a changed women since you came into my life!

I was a silly, bruised, insecure and unattractive girl when we met.

And you loved me regardless of my looks, insecurities and faults.

I remember on the first date you took me on, you looked at me, I had no make up on, was covered in sand, feeling nervous, and you just put your arm around me, looked me straight in the eyes and told me I was beautiful.

I've been completely smitten since.

Waking up to most mornings with your arms wrapped around me and a whisper "Good morning beautiful" reminds me of your unconditional love.

Your patience ever astounds me. It matches no other that I've ever known! I have little patience and you have enough patience for more than the two of us.

I'm grateful for your enduring patience.

And I'm especially grateful for your ability to overlook faults and look instead on improvements and ongoing progress. Your unwavering support has moulded me into a more sensible, confident and 'attractive' woman. (Well I'm not totally ugly at the least).

Your example as a righteous Priesthood holder has blessed my life greatly. I value that you endeavour to bring good habits from your mission into practice in our marriage. We're both better because of it.

And I especially want to express my gratitude for your willingness to forgive. I know of late, I have been exhausting and confusing. But I am ever grateful for your forgiving, supportive and loving nature; that you so sincerely set aside your own feelings to support me in times of trial.

You get better with time hun. I know I tell you this often but it's so true!

I appreciate all the 'little' (and big) things that you do... From your little notes, to the frequent gifts (especially those edible ones!), to coming home after a long day to find our place all cleaned and dinner on the go.

You were everything I ever wanted in a husband. Now, you are even more!

I love you.

Forever yours,

your wiff ;).

(For people who are not Anthony, 'wiff' is not a typo, it's an inside joke).

Yesterday was our 2nd anniversary.

As it was a Sunday and my sister's birthday too, we celebrated on the Saturday instead.

Anthony took me to the Salamanca market (my first time since I was 3). And I loved it!!

He bought me some mittens (my favourite purchase of the day), a scarf, and 2 bottles of boiled lollies.

Later on in the day he also bought me the BBC Pride & Prejudice miniseries. (Yes, the one with Colin Firth!)

Later on, we went to the Point Revolving Restaurant for dinner.

It was severely overpriced but worth doing at least once.

The view was spectacular... And the view of Hobart was nice too ;)

So, we've had A LOT of rain in Launceston lately. And on Tuesday it was HEAVY! It had been raining all night and was still going strong when Anthony woke up. He came rushing into the bedroom saying, "Jess! You've gotta come see this!"

Tearing myself out of bed (I really didn't want to get up out of my warm bed), I looked outside the kitchen doors to see this:

OUR COURTYARD FLOODED!

(Most likely due to the horrendous and pretty much non-existent drainage system outside).

As the rain continued relentlessly, our courtyard continued to fill... right up to our doorstep!

Our 'doorstep' is a rather deep chunk of concrete, so that means there was A LOT of water in our courtyard!

Luckily, as the rain slowed, so did the filling and eventually the water drained away... Phew!

To all those who may read this blog from time to time...

This is the beginning of a few posts I'll be dedicating to people who've contributed to my life in some significant way.

The first person to dedicate a post to was an easy choice...

Firstly, I MISS YOU!!! It has been sooo long since we've had a 'spack' together ;)

Ok, now I've got that off my chest.

Where do I begin? Since before I can remember we've been the greatest of friends. My earliest memory that I can think of right now... We were playing in the cat-poop-filled sandpit in QLD. I think we were making "Friday Island" or something. I don't remember details but I do remember feeling so very very happy that I had someone to share the same imaginary world with me. someone who understood where I wanted to plant the twigs in the sand without me having to say anything.

You've supported me in my every endeavour. You've always been so willing to follow me through the wildest of plans! Remember the animal rescue lady? Remember the "lemon leaves"? Haha. Good times. You always listened to EVERY SINGLE THING I've ever said to you. That's dedication.

Thank you Bek for always listening. For someone who is 'off with the fairies', you've always ALWAYS been there for me. Thank you.

In my weakest moments, you've always been the one to give me that look that says 'Oh grow up, Jess'. Thanks for being honest with me, even when I really didn't want to hear it.

In my sadest and most lonely times, you've been there to understand, to support and to just give me cuddle or to just give me space. Thank you for always knowing what I need when I need it most.

We've known each other for a very long time, and in that time we haven't always agreed on things... Thank you for never letting our disagreements last longer than an hour or so! I really love that we can have our spat then an hour later be laughing our heads off!

I miss that the most... We never went a day without laughing when we were in each other's company. Remember the 'fart spot' on the carpet? Yeah. That cracks me up thinking about it!

You hold a very special place in my life.

You've been there through it all, my constant buddy, my pain-in-the-bum, my voice of reason, my closest friend and greatest support.

Thank you for helping me become the person I am today.

I love you Brekky.

This post is for you <3.

Love your big, soppy, silly sister,

Jess.