It's been awhile........................

since I posted a message and so much has happened.

We've just got home after nearly 2 weeks away in lovely Queensland. We spent 5 days on the Gold Coast with my brother Tony, his wife Megan and now 8 year old Jackson! We stayed in a lovely house at Mermaid Beach - 5 bedrooms, plasma screen TV's, pool, playstation for the boys, table tennis table, etc. It was the perfect place to base ourselves.

Of course we did the theme park thing - 3 parks in 3 days!! The boys tell me they liked Wet 'n' Wild the best. I was very brave and went down a water slide with Shayne - what fun, but couldn't convince Bowen to give it a go. Ryan went on another one with Shayne and Tony though!

My brother was a revelation! For someone who doesn't like water, he got remarkably wet and also surprised us all by going on the Superman rollercoaster at Movieworld with Shayne who went on it twice! They are still talking about how awesome it was. Much too scary for me - I was happy to stay on the ground and take photos!

I was also really lucky to meet the wonderful Robyn - she is such a sweetie and I was sorry I couldn't stay and chat all day. She even made us some of her wonderful bikkies - the boys did leave a few for me!

We said goodbye to Tony, Megan and Jackson and then headed off to the Sunshine Coast for some rest and relaxation. Didn't do too much but enjoyed the most wonderful massage, truly relaxing!

I think I took over 1000 photos - I have included a few here for you - love how the water shots turned out!! I think I'll have plenty to scrap for the next 10 years!!

Happy birthday

Just a really quick post to say happy birthday to my darling husband Shayne for yesterday. Didn't get a chance to post, but I love you heaps.

An almost sunny day....

The weather hasn't been too wonderful lately, although the rain is definitely needed. We decided to take advantage of a nice day yesterday and took the boys (including Bowen's friend Jesse) to the playground. Ryan has decided that at 9, he is MUCH too old for the playground and wanted to kick the footy. So we went to Vansittart Park which has a playground and football ground right next to each other. I made use of the time to try out some new settings on the camera and was quite pleased with some of the photos.

I hate germs!!!

It's been a couple of weeks of illness in the Hosking household. Both Shayne and I have had some flu like virus that took a lot of convincing to leave. I had a couple of days of work but good old Shayne kept on going. It was Bowen's turn on Sunday - he spent 3 days on the couch. He went back to school on Thursday but was back home again today. Even Ryan had Wednesday off. I'm hoping that with a lovely long weekend here that we will all be back to 100% health on Tuesday.

I've got some photos from the boys soccer and football and couple of weeks ago that I haven't shared with you yet. We missed Bowen's very first game of Roo Ball but made up for it at the second game by taking lots of photos. He was very excited to have kicked 7 goals and can't wait for the next match. Ryan continues to play both Under 12 A's and B's not a bad achievement for someone in their first season.

I've been home for a week, but it feels much longer. In fact our trip is a dim, dark memory. We had a lovely time, great to catch up with Dean, Wendy, Rob and Julie and the other Toshiba-ites. Not sure that Noumea is a place I'd go back to though - VERY expensive, not a lot of shopping and there's not much else to do other than sit by the pool or beach (which is not a bad thing)!! However, we did have a nice break. Here are a few photos.

The motel was lovely and we certainly didn't starve - the mai tai's were also a hit - but at $20 each, I certainly made sure I enjoyed every last drop.

It was great to get home and catch up on all the news - not working TV, winning sports teams and an enormous pile of washing.

Leaving on a jet plane.

Well, after a week of stress getting organised, Shayne and I head off in the morning on our trip to Noumea. I'm sure once I get on the plane I'll start getting excited, but making sure that Nan and the boys have everything they need while we're away is hard work. Ryan and Bowen seem fine about us going away, but we'll have to wait to the morning to see how they manage it. The thought of having Nan look after them and the expected presents will help ease any worry about us going.

Anyway, better go and finish packing, will fill you in on all the details when I get back.

Cheers, Deb

A Good Scrapping Week

I've had fun scrapping in the last week or so. Since selling the business I have truly enjoyed just scrapping for myself and taking on challenges from other places. Too much fun. I don't get to scrap at Janet's as often as I'd like but it's good to be scrapping again.

The Biggest User competion at Country Papercraft is underway and I was stoked to have got through the first round given I tend to be a minimalist kind of scrapper. I've added lots of older things to my layout for this week but will have to wait until Saturday to see if I get through. Here are my first 2 layouts of the challenge for you to see.

I also won TD's Design Team challenge - thanks TD for the awesome challenge and everyone that voted for me. It was a real thrill. You must check out Country Papercraft if you get a chance, Marg has lovely things in her shop and the forum rocks - really friendly and fun!