Christchurch Pettys

This was a medium month, pretty quiet, as far as Decembers go.

The highlight was talking to William on Christmas Day. The poor lad had nowhere to go on Christmas Day so he was keen to talk. It was all rather normal chatting to him, as if it hadn’t been 7 months. My mother came over and we tried out my new barbecue, and we talked to my brother Peter, who was at a zoo in Japan at the time.

Jonathan and Mark went to the Attitude Awards in and had a nice time in Auckland. At the Awards, they played a short clip of Jonathan talking to Elmo while Mark was taking Jonathan up to the piano. The audience went aaah (Descending pitch) when Jonathan hugged Elmo. Mark was trying to crane his neck to see it. Jonathan played well and looked great. He looks great in a suit. He may have lost the cuteness factor he had when he was little, but he still fills the room with his music.

We had the Ward Christmas party and got so many people that we ran out of cutlery. Fortunately the catering included a whole pig, otherwise we would have run out of food. What is it with people who turn up to a potluck with no food?

William got a new companion, from Washington state. They came out at the same time, which makes William feel a bit backward, as he is junior. He has been very fortunate to have such good companions up until now, and his complaints about this one are minor.

At the beginning of December, Jonathan and Leao had a morning tea to say thank you to the staff at Mairehau and Elmwood. So many people really like Jonathan. His teacher aide, Libby, was looking rather sad that he would be going. We felt proud to be Jonathan’s parents, that he had made such a positive impact on so many people. Leao played the guitar and sang Feliz navidad, and Jonathan almost sang. Jonathan had his last day of school – ever. It is the end of an era.

We took Jonathan to give blood, which was pretty tricky as they asked him a whole lot of questions about his sex-life, and I wasn’t allowed to be in the room. I tried to explain them all to him before the nurse took him away. In the end he couldn’t give blood as his iron count was too low. Mark gave blood though.

We had two missionaries from Dunedin staying with us for the night as they had a Christmas Zone Conference going up to Hanmer for a walk up a hill. It rained. We enjoyed having them – they were really nice lads.

I did a one hour walk with my Healthy Living Group and then Mark and I did a 2.5km  orienteering practice up at Victoria Park on a Saturday morning. It was quite hot and hilly with waist high grass. It took us nearly 2 and a half hours to do the 2.5 km route. We were preparing for a rogaine up there on Wednesday evening, so we thought we’d see how long we should plan for. Then later in the day we went for a bike ride with Jonathan. I was officially pooped at the end.

On Sunday 20th December they showed the 1 hour programme including our trip to Sesame street. We only found out about it on Wednesday. It was fine. They showed quite a bit of William again in it, and Jessica made her appearance. There was only a little bit on the concert, and the trip to New York, and quite a lot of Leao. It’s nice to have it all over though. Our lives as TV subjects are done.

Wednesday was a big day, as we went to see the accountant to set up Creative Heuristics, which is the company that will develop and sell Rogo puzzles. We will have 25 shares each and the Dyes will also have 25 shares each. The same day, Mark talked to his boss about taking 4 months leave without pay. They just about hugged him as the economic recession means that they are short of work at present. If the business works, he won’t be going back. As you can imagine, he is pretty excited about that. It will be a bit of a stretch financially to lose his income, but we hope that Rogo will do well, and he can work on that for the rest of his life.

In the evening we did the rogaine up at Victoria Park, and managed to not get lost at all, and find all the marks we were looking for. However this time we underestimated how fast we would go, and got back 30 minutes early, which is a pleasant change.

I visited several of the markets – at Lyttleton, Riccarton Bush and the Arts Centre, and decided that the Arts Centre is the best possibility. It’s a way of getting the puzzle out there, and with luck bringing in some money, while we gear up for the newspapers.

We spent Boxing day working hard on the garden etc, and Mark fixed the table in the caravan, which was a bit of a booby trap, and not at all suitable for doing a jigsaw on. The whole “collapse if you look at it funny” aspect was a trifle disconcerting. We biked over to uni with Jonathan and got a quiz activity printed out in colour to use in Sunday School.

Eric Ruth and family came over for dinner and the evening. They liked Rogo. I cooked a barbecue with chops and kranskys. And veges on skewers – courgettes, mushrooms, capsicum, red onion, asparagus. We had homemade ice cream and boysenberries for dessert. We made them watch the Attitude programme about our trip to the States. It was really good to spend the time with them. Eric is one of the few members who knew me before I joined the church. He and I were Venturers together. He joined the church about a year before I did, and went on a mission. He is now a Bishop, and very happy, with great kids. It is so nice to see the fruits of the gospel in both our lives. He was saying he never would have made it through university before his mission, but after his mission he was able to. They live in Tawa now. It is his second time being a bishop. His wife is good friends of Alison Kurene. (our Bishop’s wife)

Mark and I went to see Avatar in 3D. The 3D didn’t really add a lot, except the subtitles were sort of cool, the way they stood out. The story was straightforward and long, but there were some very beautiful bits of scenery. As in Jurassic Park, the animals were extremely well trained. James Cameron recycled the Titanic theme tune at the end. There were some rather excessive chase scenes, but I don’t think I am the demographic they are aiming at there. I rather got a hint of that when none of the movies advertised in the trailers seemed at all appealing. It was at Reading, so that was a bit of nostalgia for us to go there.

On New Year’s Eve we had the O’Neills and Gran for a barbecue and had chops and honey chicken.

So now we come to the end of 2009. It has been a great year for us all. The beginning of the year was great, as we took William to the temple and witnessed his metamorphosis into a fulltime missionary. (Which featured on National tv as well!) We were filmed sporadically, and Jonathan had some great adventures, culminating in our trip to the United States. At work I was able to make the transition to full time, and we enjoyed having a person clean our house. Sadly with Mark stopping work for a while, we won’t be able to afford that any more, but I am trying to have some better habits myself.

2010 is full of adventure and promise. We are hoping the Rogo business will be a success, so that Mark can work on that rather than surveying. He will also be helping Jonathan with all his activities and possibly work. I have a conference to go to in Solvenia in the middle of the year, and William will be on his mission, but on the home stretch. I am doing some interesting research and teaching a new course at University, and I will be teaching the Book of Mormon for the second time in seminary, making it my 8th year as Seminary teacher. It’s a wonderful calling. Mark will continue to serve as Stake Clerk, and with his extra time he hopes to do a better job of it. He is going start going to the gym with Jonathan.

Love to all from all
Nicola, Mark and Jonathan.