Moments that define a word

I had my newborn baby in my arms, sitting on a comfortable chair. I wasn't focusing on anything in particular, but was feeling something. I looked around and saw my wife and was thinking of how proud and happy I was of her. As I sat and pondered for a moment I thought to myself 'I think this is what is means to feel peace' I felt as easy about the world, my life, and my daughter. I have not felt that real 'peace' for a long time, or maybe I just had it pointed out to me. Such happiness follows, Love you Violet.

The 'untold' photo

While listening to my Dads Cd (thanks milz) and sifting through 9,688 photos on iPhoto I thought...What is the point?

You'd be happy to know it is now down to 8,976 odd. But crickey!!! 56gb it's at, down from 64gb. I found 1 video 25mins long with nothing but Gracie fumbling around the room with the camera in her hand haha.  

We often take photos that have untold stories. We could take them because we want to capture that moment in time only for ourselves to review. I saw some great memories and cherished them as I scrolled to the never ending bottom of the iPhoto page. Anyways that back up is in progress, because if I lost them i'd be spewing. 

Here are some 'untold' photos... Enjoy!

Night before CHRISTmas

Who knows what happens in the week between christmas and new years but I thought I'd do a little review. Normally that week is recovering from the chocolate overload but trying to eat it all before the new year resolutions start haha.

First Memory was Kicking it in Kaponga...who would of thought a DP after 4 year teaching. What an awesome experience it has been and a great move for the family

Second Almost Dying...Flip heck thinking about it scares me 

Viva la Salamanca - Going to Uni in Spain was way choice...I miss it almost everyday 

Jessie still alive after flipping the car... Protected from the Lord hard out.

Getting our first pets... Lucy and Kate

Going to see the warriors on school camp... Man this was a dream come true, what legends! They rolled out the red carpet it was so nice of them. 

Kiwis win four Nations... I had the faith and brought the tickets early. To share it will my mate Dave, Lou, A'ashan, and Jessie was electric. Even getting a selfie with Manu made my year. 

Iestyn came down to earth... Haven't met the guy but to have a mum like this he must be a legend. 

Delwyn and Haley's Wedding... This wedding made me wanna take up 'stand up comedy' haha seriously I was loving it aye... It was simply beautiful in the temple, a cherished moment. 

My Joshie... I just love this boy. He is speaking more and a lovely kid to be around 

Gracie... This girl will rule to world one day. But what a ball of fun.

And Jessie... Who would we there to mock me, love me, put up with my rubbish, comfort me and be the joy in my world?

I' not gonna lie, there has been some crap times. Life isn't always rosy. But learn from them and move on. Onward and Upward, I am just aiming to be a little better then the years past. I love my family...

Bring 'Espana' to the family!

So I will blog about my trip later but for now let me celebrate with food. Boy it was good and my tummy hasn't ben the same being back in NZ. We went to a cooking class and this seems to be the easiest to cook so Gracie and I gave it a crack. 

It's Spanish tortillas 

Ingredients: patatas, cebollos, aceite, huevos y vegi's to hide in for the ninos haha. 

(see how thin those patata slices are 'viva salamanca', I had the wrist motion going and everything ;-), Xavier would be proud haha)

Semi deep fry the patatas and cebollos for vientecinco mins, add the vegi, flip it using a plate, put it back on the heat, and there you have it. 

The photos explain is all. Gracie ate it eventually. It was a hit We had a really good time making it. Enjoy!!!

Operation 72hour kit fail

Well this blog I feel comes with a lot of laughs. We realised last week that our 72 hour kit food was expiring so we thought to ourselves 'lets do a test run next Monday' so we did. We prepared the kids by telling them sometimes earthquakes, volcanos, and tornados damage the power so we have no light and have to survive. We turned the lights off and the fun began.

We started lighting all the candles and I don't know if this is common knowledge but those little circle candles are rubbish. We had them everywhere and we could hardly see. We had a lantern that we had to take everywhere.

We started on the dinner and prepared the pasta dish and beef curry. We blessed the food and took the first bite.  It was like a Hollywood movie Jessie and I looked at each other and knew we couldn't turn back. We previously decided that we would have the black out till the kids are in bed. After that first bite we knew it would be tough.

I convinced jessie the beef curry was better and she ended up spewing it out haha. There was a cool like snack pack that came with raro and lollies. So we played 'don't eat Pete' with the lollies and decided the quicker we can get the kids into bed the kicker we could end this torture haha.

Overall it was a disaster, I realised that we are not prepared, have rubbish lighting, and the food would make us all sick.  It was crack up when I was relaying it to my students at school today. Jessie had some really good ideas from it. Like doing it every year at the daylight savings going into winter. Brilliant idea I thought. Anyways thought it was worth a blog