Melbourne Pettys - June

Vernice and I turn fifty had a party in Canberra and Stake Conference with Elder Hamula and Pacific Area President.  

Saturday the second was a sunny day so I went with Ellen to the computer market at La Trobe Uni, a bit nerdy I know but the Stuarts put us onto it. She bought some nice red headphones then we went for a walk at Bundoora Park so I could take photos of birds. I managed to get a new species, the Australasian Grebe. It doesn’t take much to keep me happy. Sunday Mum and Dad rang to wish me a happy birthday which was nice.

For my fiftieth birthday the children asked me what I wanted to do. I told them that I just wanted to say home, watch TV and play the playstation. I told the day off work and Carmen had the day off from school so we were planning to go for a walk to look for birds but it was a cold wet day so instead we went to the new hardware store called Masters instead. I bought myself a ratchet. That evening Janet the Dudfields and the Tempanys came over for dinner.

When Vern was asked what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to go to Canberra and have a party with her family so that is what we did. Since the Queen’s birthday weekend was between our two birthdays we had it on Saturday the ninth at the Woden Chapel. I took the Friday off work to drive up but we didn’t leave until the late afternoon since we had to wait for the car to come out of the panel beaters. We picked up Deshon in Craigieburn then went around to the Judd’s place since they were following us up. We then headed north stopping in Benalla for dinner and getting to Les and Moana’s place about midnight.

After dropping the children off at the Chapel so they could play basketball and set the place up for the party Vern and I visited her parents then when and had a look at the Mugga Mugga cottage, it is billed as historical but it was just old.

At the party in Canberra 9th June

We picked up Janet and Johnny who had come up for the party and went to the party. It was nice they did a good job setting up the hall with pictures of birds and a big picture of a kombi with all of us in it. I few of Vern’s friends had come down from Queensland and it was good to see them. After church we spent some more time with Vern’s parents then we drove back on Monday. We took our time and made a few stops to stretch the legs.

Thursday was the try outs for the upcoming Regional Youth basketball. Carmen and Austin both made their teams. Friday evening we all went over to the Eltham chapel for the welcome home party for Jason Triantafillakos.

Saturday we went to an early morning temple session as a Stake Presidency. Vern came along as well since she works most Thursday evenings. It was a nice morning and on the way home we rang Ces McQueen since he had rung me on my birthday and I had missed the call. It was good talking to him. He now works out on the mine site two weeks on one week off and is planning to move to Perth shortly.

Sunday was a busy day with the lead up to Stake Conference. After an early morning High Council meeting I attended both the Epping and Craigieburn Wards and released five people, called three, asked someone to speak at conference, set apart two people, did four priesthood advancement interviews and six temple recommend interviews. It was a good day.

For a surprise Vern’s friends Sheryl and Joanne booked Vern and I into a hotel in the city for Vern’s real birthday. They had arranged for Ellen to teach Vern’s Seminary class and they knew I was taking the day off work so after dinner Sunday evening we headed off.

 

New Suit, you could call it my birthday suit

Vern still had to do a work thing in the morning but I had the day off so after she finished we headed to Northland. For our birthdays she bought a nice gold watch and I bought a new suit and we had a nice lunch before heading home.

That evening we met Janet, Max, Renee, Mark and Blair at the Muskito Bar for dinner. I was nice to catch up, and Max and Renee are expecting a baby. Janet gave Vern another watch, a white one luckily and Max gave me a few of his shoes. I like his shoes since they have leather shoes and they make crunchy sounds when you walk on concrete.  It was a good day but the start of a very cold week.

Thursday evening the Sisters and Misters singing group that Vern runs with Irene were putting on a surprise birthday cake for Vernice. Irene ask the family to come along as a surprise. Marion took the message and there was a bit of a communication problem between the two of us and Vern found out about it. Anyway we still went along and she acted surprised.

Friday night was the Stake Family activity to mark the start of Stake Conference weekend. It was a cold wet night but there was a good turn out and I got to play table tennis against old Bro Tasi.

Elder Hamula who is currently serving as the Pacific Area President was the visiting authority for our conference. The pressure was on because some time back the area had set a goal that they wanted to see twenty five men receive the Melchizedek Priesthood at each Stake Conference.  We tried really hard but only got twenty one, still that is about three times more than we have ever had before. The meetings were all good, Elder Hamula is a very nice man and his talks just consisted of him going from one scripture to the other, he really knows the scriptures. Vern and the other wives came along for dinner and lunch with him.

On the last day of the month Ellen and I went to the Temple. It was a Saturday; I went for the last session since it was our Wards turn to clean afterwards. Gwyneth was there as well and had her Dad Hue in the car outside. I went and had a bit of a chat with him afterwards. That day Austin went into the City to see the comic book show. Stan Lee was there but it was all sold out so they just spent the day in the city.