Crazy Life at The Warner's

I am so excited that I could figure this out. I'm sure glad I could ask Stacy a few questions, however. This was super fun. I think I might be able to scrapbook like this. I just got out the computer, turned it on and then when I was finished turned it back off. I should be able to take the computer with me to soccer games. Tell me what you think.

So now that I have been home for a week and I feel like I am back to normal I have had some time to think about the things I really loved about Australia. Here are a few of them: hanging out with Mark, hanging out with Kev, Stacy, Madi, Cooper and Rylee, Stacy's cooking, walking on the beach looking for seashells, listening to the Kookaburras sing, trying new things and the beautiful flowers and birds.
I loved spending time with Mark and doing things that I don't normally do. Mark is defiantly more adventurous than I am, but I decided while we were in Australia that I should just try things and see what could happen. I don't think I am completely over my fear of water, but I am not as afraid as I used to be. I don't like to fly because of the take-offs and landings, but even that didn't bother me this time around. I tried new foods like: fish and chips, a great Korean restaurant, sausage, meat pies, Ginger Beer, vegemite, hot chocolate and pizza. I know pizza is not new, but in Australia it has a different taste and I like it much better than our pizza around here.

Stacy is an awesome cook and has learned how to cook lots of different things from scratch. I don't mean buy a cake mix and add water, I mean flour, sugar, vanilla, etc. Dinner tonight is a recipe from Stacy, yummy chicken. I had a great time going to the shops and finding out the things you need aren't all under one roof like WalMart. I even took my "green bags" with me this week when I went shopping.
I actually miss the Kookaburras singing to us every morning. They are a beautiful bird and I fell in love with them. For the first week or so I could only hear them I had never seen one and finally in Stacy's backyard we found one. I tried while we were there to video them or at least the sound they make and every time I was ready with the video camera they stopped singing. They have lots of really colorful birds, but I don't know all the names of them. I guess I will have to look them up.
I loved looking for seashells and I brought four boxes of seashells home. I found some glass containers at Target the other day and put all my shells in them. I love the beach and the water is so warm. I think I could have gone to the beach every day. It is very relaxing to watch the water come onto the shore. I have always loved the feel of sand between my toes.
We did lots of touristy things and those were all lots of fun too, but I think I will remember Australia for these reasons.

He finished his project in Nov of 2008. He choose to have a Cold Winter Drive and take the collected items to the local shelter. We decided that not only should the scouts help, but our family should take the opportunity to help too. It was a great experience and we still talk about it and how grateful we should be for the things that we have.

He is almost ready to pin the mom and dad pins on us. That was so cool. I know how hard he has worked since he was 11. The funny thing is that they only reason he worked on his eagle was to drive a car. I did ask him today if he thought it was worth it to become an Eagle Scout and he told me it is. I am proud of Avery and how hard he has worked on becoming an eagle.
Avery had a mentor pin for somebody who he felt had helped him throughout his life. It could have been a scout leader, church leader, friend or family member. He chose his Grandma Cooper. I think that she was a little bit surprised by this, but what a great moment for a grandma to know how much she has helped her grandkids.
Avery is a great kid and we are proud of him and all of the things that he works so hard to accomplish.

The next Eagle Scout in our family is well on his way too. Austin received his Star at the Court of Honor. Keep up the great work Austin.

During the 2nd week of our trip we spent the week walking all around Sydney and taking in the sites. We went to the Blue Mountains with Kevin, Stacy and Rylee. It was a great time. I tried to walk down the stairs to the sister rock, but I only made it half way down before I started panicking. The huge drop-off of course had nothing to do with it. Sometimes it's not fun to be scared of heights.

The Three Sisters

Still smiling.

Start of the panic.

The weather was beautiful and the sky had a blue haze to it. The heat of the day heats of the Gum Trees and puts eucalyptus oils in the air and makes the blue haze on the mountains. Some of the people in Stacy's ward asked if we were going to the Blue Mountains and I laughed to myself when I saw them because they are so small compared to the mountains around here. It was more fun to go there because of all the cute little towns and shops on the way there.

The Chocolate Store. Awesome hot chocolate.

Poor Mark.
The next day we went to the Taronga Zoo. We took the train into the city and then caught a ferry across Circular Quay to the zoo entrance. You take a sky ride all the way to the top and then work your way back down to the bottom. We saw a lot of really pretty birds, koalas, kangaroos, otters and all kinds of other animals. We were a little disappointed because we never saw the platypus.

Next on the list of things to see while in Australia was the beach and seashell hunting. I brought home 4 boxes of seashells. Stacy didn't think I could get them into the country, but they didn't even ask about them on our customs papers. So we headed off to Avalon Beach hunting for shells.


The next day we were waiting for the arrival of the next visitors at Stacy's house, Brandon, Julie and Claire. Madi and Cooper were so excited because they didn't have to go to school. After Brandon and Julie got a little settled we headed out for our next adventure to Darling Harbour. We went to Paddy's Market, Maritime Museum and the Aquarium.

Maritime Museum

I'm really glad I don't have to live on a submarine. I would get so claustrophobic.

Aquarium. It was soooo cool. They had walkways surrounded by the water and the fish, sharks, sting rays and turtles just swam around you.

The last day of our vacation we went to the Koala Park. It is close to Kevin and Stacy's and they had never been there before. I think it was one of the most fun places we went. It's among the top three anyway.




I love koalas and they are so soft. It was awesome to be that close to them.

We fed the Kangaroos. That was really fun.

Then we went to a Korean place for dinner. It was called Ben's .... I can't remember the rest, maybe Stacy can help me out.

The food was delicious and I loved the atmosphere. We cooked our own food at the table and I tried lots of new things.

No, I didn't try the octopus like Mark did, I am not that adventurous.
After dinner we headed off the the Sydney Temple to do a session.

What a great way to end our vacation serving in the House of the Lord.

Some of the things that I love about Sydney are the beautiful flowers, the colorful birds, the kookaburras and the cockatoos singing to us every morning, all the green space they preserve and spending time with family.

A beautiful kookaburra.

We decided that while we were visiting Stacy and Kevin that Mark needed to scuba dive in the ocean. He has been certified for 20 years and has never been in the ocean before and what a better place than the Great Barrier Reef. We left on Wednesday and went to the night market on a hunt for souvenirs and found lots of fun stuff. Mark found him a new hat made out of Kangaroo and I found me an opal necklace to name a few things.

The next morning we woke up bright and early, the earliest this whole vacation so far, and headed for the marina and some awesome scuba diving and snorkeling.

This is before we started the hour and a half trip out to the reef on a very bumpy ride, by the time we got there I was sick, but it was worth it. Mark hired out a camera and took lots of pictures while scuba diving and I learned how to snorkel.


He is so excited, he could hardly sleep the night before. He asked me about 20 times if I knew for sure the alarm was set because he didn't want to miss the boat.

I even survived snorkeling. When I tried it in Bear Lake I started to have a panic attack and I was worried what would happen here, but as soon as I stuck my head in the water and saw all of the fish and the coral I didn't even remember that my head was under water. It was sooooooo cool.

Mark found Nemo and his family,

A huge clam,

a lion fish and

a sea turtle just to name a few.
I was just happy to stay on the top of the water with my tour guide, Ana. She was very nice and helped my get around the reef.

The next day we decided to take a tour to a different part of the country and very different from the ocean and went to the rainforest. We went on a boat down the Daintree River keeping a sharp look-out for crocs, as they call them in Australia. Towards the end of our journey, low and behold we finally found two of them. One with his beady little eyes looking at you out of the water and the other one sunning himself on the bank.

The rainforest has beautiful trees and bushes and the most gorgeous flowers.

We stopped at a look out on Four Mile Beach.

We ate bananas that were from a tree and not the store. They taste different than the ones we buy at WalMart in Utah. They are have a sweeter taste to them and are really yummy.


One of the last things we did was hunt for seashells on the beach. We found lots of seashells and brought them to Stacy's house. Stacy told me that she boils them to get rid of germs and so I put them in the pot of boiling water. Guess what was inside one of them?!?! You guessed it a little crab, Stacy says I am a murderer. I feel so bad I didn't even know he was inside his house.


We had a great time in Cairns (Cans) and loved seeing a different part of Australia. Next week with Stacy we will see more of the sites here is Sydney. Stay tuned for more adventures from Australia.