Sara's Grand Farewell Weekend

It was finally the day.  The day that I had to take Sara to Perth to say goodbye.  I couldn't believe that it had come so quick and I don't think she could either.  We dropped the girls off at school and then we took Will to a friend's house so we could get an early start on our long drive to Perth.

Here is Sara saying good bye to the girls.

 Such cute girls-all of them.  :)

Here is Sara saying good bye to Cory.

Here is Sara saying good bye to Will.  Such a cute photo.  :)

And here is Sara with our friend, Ali, the day before at her farewell lunch.

There now, with all those good byes out of the way, we hit the road.  The long boring road to Perth.  We were rock stars though and just plowed through it.  We didn't have to stop to pee not once!  Which was good because we were trying to make it to the temple in time for the 4 o'clock session, which we barely made since we were having a hard time following the gps directions for too many reasons to get into here.  ;)  But I was pretty excited when I saw the sign for Walter Street and we were on it!  Except we weren't looking for Walter Street we were looking for a different street.  I was totally knackered (tired in Australian!) by that point!  We did, in fact, find the street we were looking for and we made it to the temple session on time!  :)  It was a much needed change from the drive!

 The Perth Australia Temple in all it's glory.  Quite literally! ;)

 Sara and Lena.  Both single and adorable!  Seriously, could these girls be any cuter?  I loved both pictures of them, so I couldn't leave one out!

 Me and Sara.  I seriously don't think Sara could look any cuter in these photos!  :)

 Me being a photo bomber!  It was just supposed to be of the temple!

 There we go, that's more like it!

 Sara being artistic with her photos again! ;)  Angel Moroni

 Me and Sara again.

 So, funny story, I don't have a phone charger for my phone that works in the car.  So by the time we made it to the temple my phone was dead, which is what we were using for our GPS because Sara or myself couldn't figure out how to get the Tomtom GPS that Karl so generously loaned us to work.  So that is why we struggled to find the temple in the first place.  Anyways, so I had a dead phone so after our session we went into the waiting area at the temple and I had to plug my phone in to charge.  So we wandered around the very small temple grounds for a while to let my phone charge a bit.  There were these cute little alcovey things behind the temple.

Here is Sara doing her princess pose by one.  We decided they looked like a place where a Disney princess would sit at Disneyland.

 Won't she make a beautiful princess bride one day???

 There was this cool, oddly shaped fountain with another princess alcove behind it.

 It was my turn to pose as a princess.

 It's a good thing I've already done my princess bride thingy...

 And here is another artistic photo from Sara.  The back view of the temple with the fountain thingy. It was so great to be able to go to the temple at all and with Sara, that made it even better.

So with my phone charged up we were ready to hit the town.  So we headed over to King's Park, a must see while in Perth.

Here Sara and I are at the whispering wall.  Let me tell you it does work.  So beware of what you are saying around the whispering wall, your conversation will carry all the way to the other side.  People could easily eaves drop on your conversation.  :)

 Photo bombing once again, but that is the whole wall.  It's pretty big.  I was all the way on the other end and what I whispered Sara could hear.  Pretty cool, huh?

 The King's Park monument.

 With the fire and the deep thought.

 Close up of the monument.

 Cute Sara.

 Sara and Lena, once again too cute to decide which photo was better!  ;)

 Seriously, how cool is that??? I love that view!

 These are the names of all the men who died in the Great War (I'm assuming that that means World War 1? Not too sure!) They are all listed on the walls underneath that big monument.

 The look out.  Gorgeous, isn't it?

 Don't you just love the moving lights??  I love it!

 I bet you can't guess what this massive thing is?

 Not a monument or a tomb, a drinking fountain!!!  I think that clean water used to be very hard to come by here in Western Australia.  Don't you just love Lena's face here?  It's like she just squirted herself in the face!  Oh wait, she did!

 There was this really massive,cool looking tree!  So, of course, we had to take this cheesy looking picture with it!  :)

After our fun at King's Park we headed over to the Hemi's house.  They were the generous members in Perth who were letting us stay with them.  Sister Hemi is the mother of the YSA leader here in Kalgoorlie, so that is the connection we had.  Brother and Sister Hemi were so awesome!  It was so great to be there because I felt just like I was at my own grandparents' house.  It just felt like home.  They got back from working in the temple that night so late and we all stayed up eating and talking until like 1 am!!!  I am always amazed at the stamina of older people to stay up late!  I don't know how they do it!!!  It was great though! We all crashed after that and the bed they had for us to sleep in felt like the most comfortable bed in the entire world!!!  It was a great day and sadly, I only had one day left with Sara!

Bishop Rowe

Warning: This is a personal post where I just wanted to record some of my own feelings going into this new chapter of our lives.  If it bores you or you think it is at all ridiculous, feel free not to read!  :)

The Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here in Kalgoorlie became a ward on June 16th, 2013.  It was a joyous day for all the members here, but especially those members who have lived here for a long time and have been waiting and waiting for this day.  The spirit was so strong and it could not be contained.  The building was packed-nearly 300 people filled the chapel and the overflow area.

Missionaries from Perth first traveled to Kalgoorlie in late August 1907 and met up with Sister Brooks, and Sister Miles and Brother James Harding.  On Sunday, the 8th of September, a sacrament meeting was held in Sister Brooks' home with seven present, including non-members.  This would have been the first ever meeting held by the Church in the Goldfields. (Saints of the Golden West, by Donald W. Cummings, P4-5, 1896-1924).

The Kalgoorlie Branch officially began in 1963 with just a few families.  Then in 1966 the Kalgoorlie Chapel was dedicated.  The Mayor of Kalgoorlie at the time, Sir Richard Moore was in attendance at the dedication and he said, "Watch the Mormons, if they build a new church, then the area will be stable."

I don't mean to be boring, I just thought it would be nice for my own family history to have a little bit of the history of the church here in this unique area of the Lord's vineyard.  I also wanted to record some of my own feelings about the Kalgoorlie Branch becoming a ward and Cory becoming the bishop of that ward.

I would just like to start by saying what a testimony building experience this has been watching our branch become a ward and watching Cory become a bishop.  It was incredible to see the Priesthood in action like that.  It is evident to me that the Priesthood really is the power of God on earth.  These men who are called are nothing more than that, they are only men who have been called on to serve and they have accepted that call.  But when these men accept the call to serve and are set apart, they truly become the instruments of God.  I have seen that amazing transformation in Cory as he has been set apart and filled that role as bishop.  The Lord is working through him, he is simply an instrument in the Lord's hands.

It was also amazing to hear and see the bestowal of the priesthood keys.  Having the keys of the Priesthood is essential to being able to serve in the capacity required.  I don't think I even ever understood what the difference was between Priesthood keys and Priesthood power until I saw my husband recieve those keys by the laying on of hands.

The day the branch became a ward, the spirit truly was there and it was unrestrained.  It was so clear who was really in charge of that meeting and it was the Savior.  He is truly the head of this church and He is mindful of all of his members in all parts of the world.  When Cory got the call extended to him the stake president didn't say that he would like to call him to be bishop, he said that Heavenly Father would like to call you to serve as bishop of the Kalgoorlie Ward.  That is a truly humbling and overwhelming moment.

The meeting was a truly memorable one, it really brought to light the words of the classic hymn, The spirit of God like a fire is burning.  I know that this church is true and I love my Savior, Jesus Christ with all of my heart.  I would do anything he asked me to do because I love him.  I am so grateful for this amazing learning experience and great opportunity to serve that He has given Cory and our family.

Since that day when Bishop Rowe got called I have seen an amazing transformation as Cory has risen up to fulfill that mantle of the bishop.  It is truly a testament to me that whom the Lord calls He qualifies.  When Cory first got called, and it hadn't officially been announced, any time I thought about him being the bishop, I couldn't stop laughing.  It was just so funny to me that my husband of all people was going to be bishop. Don't get me wrong, I knew he was very capable, it's just not something that I ever thought would happen to us.  But since he has been called and set apart it is very clear to me that the Lord knows what He is doing and that He calls people not because they already know how to do what is asked, but because He wants to teach and mold them through the experience.  The other thing that has been reinforced to me through this whole experience is that the more you serve and the more you sacrifice, you get infinitely more in return from the Lord in the form of blessings.

We feel so blessed and grateful to be a small part of this historic moment for the church here in Kalgoorlie.  I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and this great plan of happiness that our loving Father in Heaven so perfectly prepared for us.  He truly is a loving and merciful God, and I love him.

We hope that the next few years will have good things in store for the church here in Kalgoorlie.  We are excited to be a part of it.

Aunt Sara's Last Days

As the end of June came, so did Sara's big, long stay with us.  The girls were devastated that she was leaving and Will was disturbed as well, though he wasn't able to express it as well as Lily and Ava.  We had all enjoyed having her here and she has been sorely missed since she left.  She was an aunt, a sister, a babysitter, a dishwasher, a friend, a snuggle buddy, a maid, a diaper changer, a playmate, a sleepover partier, a spiritual leader among the YSA, and a joy to have around.  We love you, Sara, and hope that you are doing well back in Utah.

We were grocery shopping together and this was up at the shop.  So I made her take a picture with it.  Sara was a good sport and did it!  Doesn't she look cute??  We also started a trend.  After Sara got her picture taken a bunch of little teeny bopper girls came over to do the same.  :)

Sorry, this is random, we were babysitting my friend Allie's kids (she has four, so my three and her four, that makes seven total!) I'm really glad that I had Sara's help! :)  And aren't Ava and Annabelle so cute blowing bubbles in their milk?

 Here is Will just having a hay day in the flour.  Sara was always so nice to clean up after my kids before I could get to it! :) 

Lily got a face paint set for her birthday.  Sara was a good aunty and got her face painted.  :)

Here's everyone elses face art as well.  Ava's is a butterfly in case you couldn't see past her crazy eyes!  

 And yikes!  I did Lily's face paint as a vampire.  Pretty scary, huh?

 Last few times playing at the park with Sara.

 Here is Sara and her friend, Lena, at the movies.  Lena took Sara's picture with my phone upside down!  Haha!

We decided to go shopping with the kids during Sara's last few weeks to look for souvenirs.  Shopping with the children, always a disaster, but the kids had fun.  Here we are hanging out on the town square.  

 Here is the walk to work that Sara would do in the mornings.  It's a nice little running trail.  I'm sure Sara isn't missing the cold weather!

Before Sara had to go we got to celebrate her birthday with her!  I was trying to get a pic with all the kids, but, of course, Will wasn't having it.  Here is the best one we got.  He was just squirming away.

Just the girls.  They sure love their Aunt Sara.  :)

 Here are the kids helping Sara open her present.

 Here is the shirt Ava picked out for her, but it didn't fit.  We are such lame gift givers.

 We made oreo truffles for Sara's cake.  Delish!!

 Will could hardly wait to dig in!

Later that night, a bunch of YSA girls came over for a movie.  I should have taken a group photo!  It was fun though.  They are great girls!  I miss having them come around since Sara has left.  :) 

On one of Sara's very last days we headed to Hammond Park.  I was really lame and didn't take any pictures.  I think Sara did.  We actually got to see the Kangaroos up close and the Macca totally imitated my laugh. It was hilarious!  Sara got it on video.  It was such a fun time and nobody else was there.  Here is the only pics I got.  It's Sara and Lily at the top of the tarantula.  Sara is such a fun aunt.  She didn't just sit back and watch she got in on the action.  

Thank you, Sara, for coming to stay with us for a little while.  We loved having you and we miss you!