Melbourne Pettys

Marion and Jordan come for a visit, went to church in Geelong, Dylan goes back to his pools, Carmen, finished school and went to schoolies at Phillip Island and we went to the Ballet. 

Marion and Jordan came down on the first as a surprise. They turned up early Friday morning before work while we were all still in bed. Since it is a long weekend Mum was going to go up there but they told her that they weren't going to be there knowing they were coming down there. It was great to see, and send some time with them. Ellen missed out since she went to Perth this weekend so they missed her.

We all headed down to the beach the next day, Point Addis. They have closed the track that goes down to the little bay that we used to go to so we went down to the beach on the Anglesea side. It was a beautiful day, a little cool and the water was cold. That didn't stop everyone going for a swim and I went for a surf. Afterwards we went to Janet's place in Torquay and had pizza for dinner. The older group went home but we stayed the night.

Sunday we went to church in Geelong. The Chapel is in a lovely spot with a view of the bay, Carmen had a nice visit with Geves and of course Mum knew everyone. We met a Sister Missionary there that knows you, Sister Wirihana. We headed home after church since Carmen needed to go to Mission Prep had an exam the next day.

Tuesday was cup day and there was stake basketball day at Diamond Valley. Ellen had an exam but Dylan, Carmen and Austin all played. It was a beautiful day so when I dropped Vern down there I went for a walk up the road by the Plenty River and around a lake in an old quarry. They all had a good time at the basketball, Sweetie and William Hicks were there which was good.

Vern and I were given a couple of Gold Class tickets some time ago so we went out to see the movie Captain Phillips on Friday night at the Rivoli in Hawthorn. We hadn't been there before, it is a very nice old art deco building. It was a good movie and I enjoyed the company.

There was general priesthood on the ninth and it was a good meeting. They had a few Aaronic Priesthood speakers and Dylan also spoke. He gave a good talk and overall it was a good meeting. We have Daniel Martinez staying with us at the moment. He is a Mexican studying at La Trobe and is in between places at the moment.

Both Ellen and Dylan finished their studies for the year this week and Dylan has started back doing the swimming pools and is staying with Brigham and Katelin when he is down there. As soon as Dylan went Austin moved down into his room, he has had his time upstairs that is for sure.

Carmen went out on the ninth to a party at Kendal's place and didn't come and turned up at Church this morning. She did tell us what she was doing but when I saw her at Church I gave her a hug and whispered in her ear that she wasn't allowed to leave the house again. She of course laughed used the "I'm eighteen now and you said I could do what I want when I am eighteen".

We had the Elders over for dinner on Calvin’s birthday. Vern got a cake and we sang happy birthday to Calvin and then got the Elders blow out the candles for Calvin. Dylan thought it was a bit dumb but I thought it was a good idea. It has been got working with the Elders as the Ward Mission Leader it takes me back to my mission days and it also reminds me of Calvin.

Alyce Dudfield got married to Jared Smith on Saturday the sixteenith. Vern and I went to the ring ceremony at the amphitheatre by the boat house and then reception that evening at the Stake Centre. Austin and Carmen were asked to help serve so they came along after going to the Spanish Festival. It was a good reception as receptions go, Jared sang a song to Alyce which made me nervous but he did a good job. The ladies really go for that stuff.

The next day was the Seminary program for Sacrament meeting. All the students spoke of shared their testimonies and Vern was the final speaker. They all did a really good job and as mum said they make her look good. It was also the seminary graduation this evening, Carmen, Sonic, Janice and Magnus all graduated. We had Uncle Max's Porsche since we were looking after Ava, I thought I was pretty flash. Ava is hard work, she doesn’t cry but doesn’t sleep either.

This week was Carmen's formal which was down on High St somewhere. Isaac Cochran went went with her which brave of him I thought going to a dance when the only person he knew was Carmen. Carmen looked great and they sure made a night of it with a pre-party and an after-party. So that is it for Carmen and High School, all over, and she is planning take a gap year and work next year and get some money together for some travel.

Austin went for a man’s trip to Finley NSW with the two Isaac's and JJ. They left on Friday night before I got back from work and got back Saturday night. They went Kangaroo shooting and he managed to get one.

We went over to Pue & Sharon Matuato's place in Greenvale for dinner on Friday the twenty-second. They have a really nice place there and a pool table so Dylan showed us his skills. They are a great family and the children are all good sorts. Trent is twelve now and pretty tall.

We had a few investigators come to church on the twenty-fifth and President Maxwell, our mission President spoke. He spoke about his mission in Germany which was good because one of the investigators was German speaking. I introduced him afterwards and it turns out that Sister Maxwell spoke better German than he did because she spent a year there when she was a teenager.

That evening we went to Bishops place for a Duty to God evening with Austin. We had a nice meal with the rest of the parents and young men. Then we sat with Austin as he wrote down his goals for the coming year. I thought it was a great idea.

We had the Somers family over for family home evening on the twenty-fifth. They have three small children so I had to give a little thought to what the lesson was going to be so we talked about going on missions. We read out Calvin’s email like we normally do and it happened to be about trials he is having, Vern said "well that is all part of a mission". Then we all compared our 'tough' times we had on our missions.

Carmen spent the week at Phillip Island staying at the Tempany's holiday home for a Mormon's schoolies. There were twenty of them there and they had a great time. When they were swimming one day a dolphin came up and swam with them for a while.   


The highlight of our week was going to see Rebekh do her ballet thing. The Melbourne Dance company put on The Nutcracker in a theatre in Eltham and we went along. I must say I was looking forward to see her dance but didn't know how long I would last. As it turned out I quite enjoyed it, they sure know what they are doing.