Double Digits

Maya turned 10 this year. As always, it was a much awaited birthday.

A Fur Real cat from grandma. The only kind of cat we are likely to have in this house!

 Ginny Weasley's wand.

 Her own camera! One of the things Maya says she wants to be when she is older is a photographer but I don't like her using my camera. Now she can take all the pictures she wants.

We stayed at Corinne's house the the night before Maya's birthday so she got to wear the birthday hat and have the birthday sign up.

But the most exciting part of Maya's day was getting her ears pierced. She has been begging to get her ears pierced for a few years. She was nervous about the actual process but said afterwards that it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

I love this smile. I love this girl.

Australia Day 2011

When celebrating Australia Day in Utah when the weather is cold and snowy, our main way of showing our love for Australia is all about the food. We loved that we could share the day with family and friends.

Corinne made these honey joys and chocolate crackles (one of my favourite party foods as a kid!).

We had Australian-themed tattoos for all who were interested. We didn't think about the fact that it was Sunday the next day and they wouldn't wash off the children's faces in time! Annabelle sure did look cute though. Her expression captures my feelings about the food perfectly.

Josh's sausage roles. I ate one of these this year - it was the first meat I had eaten since December 31, 2009.

 Sara made the pavlova.

 Jeni made the caramel slice.

 We shared a bag of banana lollies.

Aussie-style burgers with beet root and pineapple. I love beet root!

Lamingtons with cream in the middle - the only way to have them.

Mrs. P and the Psychlettes

Liesa and her family came for a quick visit in January. We wish they could have stayed longer but we were glad for the time that we had with them. The boys have all grown so much since we saw them two years ago. They are all wonderful boys and we love them to bits.

Maya loved having time with Bailey again.

Captain James

We went to James' baby blessing a few weeks ago. He is a beautiful and sweet little boy. 

 My three favourite Joshuas

Walking the Dogs

We bought a treadmill for the dogs not long after we got them. We tried several times to get them on it but couldn't do it. Then, about a week before Christmas, we decided it was time to try again. I'd watched an episode of Cesar Millan that showed really well how he did it and I felt confident we could. Maybe the dogs are more comfortable with us now too.

The first day we got them on for about 10 minutes each. Josh and I both had to work together for it. The second day it was enough for Josh to hold their lead sitting in front of them. After a couple more days we were able to tie the lead to the treadmill and just be nearby. Now, we put them on without a lead and we don't even have to be in the room. They walk for an hour each morning and jog for 30 - 40 minutes each evening. I love how much exercise they get now! I don't plan on this being a substitute for our outside morning walk, but it has been really nice to use the treadmill over the last few weeks when it has been freezing cold and I haven't wanted to be out in the mornings. It's definitely relieved some of the time pressure of dog ownership too.

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve dinner, a tradition carried on from Josh's family, was a lovely evening for us. Josh prepared most of the meal and it was delicious. Since we ate at Mum and Dad's house on Christmas Day it was nice to have leftovers from our own meal that we got to enjoy for a few days afterwards.

Maya was very excited to get Felicity's horse Penny and Felicity's riding outfit for Christmas. Penny was the gift Maya asked for and she really loves having her.

A surprise gift for Maya was this Barbie Glam Jet. Even Josh and I have had fun playing with this!

Maya loves her new Nintendo DS.

Josh and I loved our new goodies too.

Lucy and Drover enjoyed a little treat for Christmas.

Gymnastics

Maya began gymnastics last November. She loves it. These are some photos from the show they did for parents just before Christmas.

I need to tell Maya to always look up for the camera while performing!

This week they had to do a cartwheel off the balance beam. I love watching gymnastics and it is fun to see Maya doing exercises that are the building blocks for each apparatus. This week she also graduated to Level 1 - B.

Train Ride to Temple Square

Maya and I caught the train in Utah (called the Front Runner) for the first time in December when we went to meet Josh after work at Temple Square. Maya loved the train. It is nice to have a train system running in Utah now. It's about time the public transport around here gets better!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the first HP movie we've let Maya see in the theatre. Josh and I went to the midnight showing with Sara, Alyssa and Alex. Then we took Maya to a session that afternoon (about 12 hours after we saw it the first time!). Josh and I saw it first so we would know when to tell Maya to close her eyes! Maya has loved Harry Potter since we started reading the series 2 years ago. Now we're half way through reading the series for the second time. It was fun to be able to see this movie with her in the theatre and we look forward to the last movie next summer.

There were some people dressed up, but our favourite thing was the train station outside the movie theatre - it was turned into Platform 9 3/4!

Halloween

Maya dressed up as an "Eighties Girl" for Halloween. She wore my old dance costume that I had from my Year 6 Dance Group. Her favourite TV show these days is Full House (as we were heading out to go trick-or-treating she started telling people that she was Stephanie from that show) and she thinks the 80's were really cool. Well, obviously that's correct - just look at this rocking outfit!

Kate dresses up as Mrs. Figg, a character from Harry Potter.

I think the main reason Maya wanted to be an Eighties Girl is because she would get to wear make-up. Love that blue eye shadow!

With Bumblebee Alyssa and Grandma

Josh has decided to go with an Australian theme for his Jack-o-lantern each year. This year he did the Harbour Bridge and even added a small shark fin below it. Maya went with a happy face and I did a spider in its web.

There are not very many lollies that Maya got that she really likes (she is way more particular about her lollies than I am!). So at the end of the night she took out what she wanted to keep (mostly chocolates) then we took the rest to a local orthodontist who gives kids $2 per pound of Halloween candy they turn in. She ended up making $4 which she was much more excited about than the lollies.