Tasmania!

  I never would have believed a few years ago that we would be in Tasmania today...the very tip of Australia...nothing but 2000 miles of ocean between here and Antarctica (Saren tell, Ashton!)

Today we went to Port Arthur which is where 67,000 convicts were sent, mostly from England in the 1800s including 3000 young boys.  Many were there for stealing a silk handkerchief or something to save them from starvation. They spent most of their lives there building this whole Island. 

Here's the penitentiary where they stayed and were either whipped or sent to solitary confinement.  I guess some of them were pretty bad but really!  When they died they were buried on a small Island called The Island of the Dead!  Sad!

Here is a Tasmanian Devil....at least a picture of one!  We haven't seen a live one yet because it cost $50 to get in a see them get fed. We'll wait until we get to the zoo.  Apparently the name came from the horrible sound they make at night.  Ther are SO cute! 

Who would have thought that one of the most amazing things we have found here is a fabulous bed and breakfast.  Two guys who have been partners for 23 years have created an amazing place...restoring an old house and building a "new" gardner's cottage where we are staying from timbers hand hewn by convicts.  The only thing better than the houses is the gardens. It is truly incredible! 

  Too many fabulous pictures to send!  Gotta go to dinner!  Shucks!

Another Great Tennis Day!

We saw some great matches today including the one that Ana Ivanovic won after losing the first set 6-0! It was sprinkling just a bit before the Sharapova match so they closed the roof which had been open the whole time (see picture). It's quite an amazing building! After the day sessions, we decided that Tsonga would get beat easily so we toured Melbourne for a while and saw this incredible art museum. When we got home we were able to see the last two absolutely incredible sets wherein Tsonga just played the most incredible tennis we've ever seen. If he plays like that in the final, I don't think Federer can beat him either. It was so fun to see..uninterrupted!

We're getting ready to check out of our cute little hotel to see "The Twelve Apostles", some gorgeous rock formations in the water about two hours from here. We're having a great time on Shawni's birthday! Love to you all from Down Under!

The Time of His Life!

So here's Dad having the time of his life at the Australian Open and I'm having a pretty great time myself! Having wanted to do this his whole life, he's kind of like a kid in a candy story! He is like a gadfly, running from court to court making sure that he sees EVERYTHING and I am pretty much on my own until he decides to "settle". It was so fun to watch Serena warm up for her match yesterday, even though she lost and then see Nadal pull out another win. The stadium is smaller than it looks so we felt pretty close to the action. On the Margaret Court Court yesterday afternoon, were within 6 yards of the Williams sisters and saw a fabulous doubles match agains a couple of amazing girls from China. They were all aweseome but the China girls won!

The weirdest part was that just at the end of the doubles match, something flew through the air and dropped a big splob me right on the front of my new white T shirt. I looked down and realized that a seagull had just flown by and dumped on me! The only thing I could think of to say was "Crap" (no pun intended)! It was pretty funny actually. A permanent memory for that T shirt I'm afraid!I woke up at 6:00 a.m. thinking about our great kids and wishing each of you could be here with us! After thinking we were going to be sweltering in the heat we were really cold yesterday. It's the coldest Open in 20 years, so I'm trying to figure out what to wear to stay warm outside of wearing my winter coat which I brought for China. I'm sure we'll survive. We're having way too much fun. Sorry!

P.S. Since this didn't post, it's another day down so I'll add today! We rode ten speed bikes from our Hotel straight to the Tennis arena (about 5 miles) along the beautiful Yarro River and back afterward. It was really fun but I think I'm going to be a little on the stiff side tomorrow. The matches were so fun today and it was nice and warm! Hope you're all well!

A Bitter-Sweet Farewell!

So here we are at the airport, sending off our darling baby girl to be a missionary for 18 months! I'm ot sure which of the you siblings she was talking to at this point but it was the same reaction with each...a nice mixture of sorrow and joy! We sure love this girl and know she'll make a fabulous missionary!

Ready to GO!

So here we are for the 12th time, sending a missionary off to the mission field (most through Bishop/President Omer!
This girl is ready to serve and well equipped, mentally, physically and especially spiritually!
Tomorrow she leaves for the Preston England Missionary Training Center where she'll be for 19 days and then on to the England London South Mission!
Happy Day for all of us and our Baby Girl!

Charity and Jane: Great friends forever

Making Memories!

Charity and I had so much fun for her little graduation "trip" which included an overnight in a gorgeous bed and breakfast in Midway, in a room called "Waterfall". You can't see the waterfall too well in the picture, but the room lived up to its name as the toilet ran over! It was breathtakingly beautiful outside and we just relaxed by the fire and saw "My Fair Lady" which Charity had never seen. I especially loved it after seeing Pygmalian on Broadway with our fun group recently! I'm just today putting away the last of Christmas and wondering how all 28 of you survived in this house! That's a lot of bedding! Thanks for all your help in cleaning and clearing and for putting up with all the commotion for a week that we'll never forget! I do love all your thoughtful and wonderful gifts. I"ve love showing off all our darling grandchildren to the workers at the house and can't wait for more to see it! We're looking forward also to the Wellesley/Narnia lamp which will be memory for a lifetime and each of your thoughtful (and time consuming) gifts! It was so great to watch the DVD that Noah prepared together and to have my favorite Christmas scene framed for all the Christmases to come! I'll write individual thank yous when the dust settles and we're on our way around the world! STILL, the temple was my best pay day ever! Thanks for the effort you all made to be there! It was so fun to be in St. George last weekend for Ashton's birthday party and baptism (sorry, my camera broke and I don't have one of the baptism until Saren sends them). I can't wait for Saren's description of the excitement that Oliver provided just before the confirmation. It was great to catch up with the Looslis and see Lynn looking so well!!! On Saturday night we Eyres went to the St. George temple and had a special tour of the sitting room upstairs where Lorenzo Snow used to live! During the sleepover with Charity, we started reading some family history stuff. Charity's mission president and wife wisely asked everyone to bring a 4 generation chart and some stories about ancestors. We read Grandma J's missionary journal from almost exactly 80 years ago, which is so dear where she talks about feeling joy and inadequacy as well as real sorrow at missing her oldest sister's wedding, especially since her mother had been gone for 8 years. It was so fun to read her writing style which is similiar to Charity's in many ways! We also read about Edwin Eyre, Jr. who came across the ocean from Liverpool and during the voyage lost his mother. Then came across the plains in a non-mormon wagon train where he and his brother (20 and 25) were treated terribly by the wagon bosses and then their father died on the trail! After arriving in the valley and being greeted by an older brother (sixteen children were born to the family, eleven lived and only about 4 made it to the valley), they moved to Minersville. After marrying and with a young family he was called back to England on a mission and was set apart by Lorenzo Snow. He baptized 26 and after much hard work, came home to find tp his delight that his wife had $10 in her possession and no debt!!! Later in life, he and his wife were called to be officiators in the St. George Temple, which he had helped to build! He was an active community leader but seemed to feel that job was his crowning glory! What a story after our fun time in that very temple on Saturday night! (By the way, Jonah, some of this info came from the records of someone named Elsie Eyre...how about that?) We're scrambling to get Charity ready to leave 45 minutes before we leave at the airport next Thursday. We have a speech in St. Louis that night and then will come back on the 18th and have one day to get ready and leave for 5 weeks! One of my biggest challenges is to get birthday wishes to everyone whose birthdays will happen while wer'e gone as well as Dave and Kristi whom we missed in the wild scramble since Thanksgiving which also includes Courtney and Ian and Brinley! With eight grandchildren born during the span while we're gone, I have my work cut out for me! Hope you're all doing well and that you can get your pics with Charity and the grandchildren to Shawni's Costco account to be printed and picked up on my last trip to Costco on Friday morning. She'll love having those with her!!