Merry Christmas!!

Well I can always tell it's been awhile since my last post b/c of all the pictures I have! :P  Sorry, life's a bit nuts right now but finally found some time to get you all caught up :)  Make sure you have a bit of time b/c this one's a long one and don't forget to scroll all the way down, don't want to miss anything ;)

Had our IKEA Christmas Party the other week, it was good fun, they always seem to be.  Everyone got to get all dolled up (out of our beautiful yellow...cough cough uniforms;).  Free food and free drinks, gotta like it :D (which is dangerous too!  Especially when there's a bus service:P  All I can say is ouch the next day.)  It was just a good time, caught up with some people I haven't seen for a little bit since I swapped departments and got our dancing shoes on :) 

This was taken awhile back but I thought you might enjoy :)  hehe, Dan had put the chair outside the sliding door to sit on and he got up to go inside and this was what he turned around and saw :)  hehehe, makes me smile. 

Junior's decided to start digging again and getting underneath the deck, problem is he doesn't come out unless you coax him.  lol.  We've fixed it now so he can't get underneath but it was pretty funny and annoying at the same time.

Some of the communications and interior design girls, hopefully I'll be in the department 2014!

Found this little guy in our garden, if you can spot him, a froggy!  Which is weird b/c we only normally get frogs in our back yard when it's cooler, raining and at night but this little guy was out in the middle of a hot day.  We had gecko's on our bathroom window the other night too!!  Usually only get little lizards and they creep along the ground but there was two gecko's on our window, so cool!!

Our Chirssy tree for this year, a bonzai :)  Dan likes to collect bonzai's and he spotted this one a little while back, so I went out and bought it for him and decorated it like a Christmas tree.  Think it works well! :)  Plus it takes up less space.

Junior watching TV...hehehe :D

Girlfriend from work bought these for me the other day, was feeling a bit stressed out for a number of different reasons and she brought these into work for me :)  I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people around me xx

FRUIT PIZZA!!!! :D :D  YUM!!  I made this last weekend for our family Christmas Lunch we had up at the in-laws place.  I think I might have to make another one sometime soon, it was SO good!!

We're dog sitting Max at the moment for a few weeks, his owner's have gone to England to have Christmas over there and we offered to look after him.  This was on the way home from Christmas Lunch last weekend, they had a grand old time sniffing, playing, chasing the cricket ball.  Very cute and very exhausted.

Vanilla Slices, yummy!!  I made two batches of these yesterday for work, they were having a fundraiser for UNICEF and proceeds from the baked goods co-workers made went straight to UNICEF (sold to staff only).  Some yummy stuff there.  IKEA does a soft toy campaign every year and proceeds go to UNICEF which is really cool, we're a bit behind what we'd like to raise this year so they thought they'd do a teddy bear picnic and co-workers to bring in baked goods.  Pretty cool.

I didn't know we were dog sitting Houdini!!  Little mungrel got out of the pen every day this week!!  Finally tied him up today and he still got out, but he was still tied up so he couldn't get very far!  That'll teach him!  Little bugger dug up part of the garden and we had just put fresh mulch down :(  Sigh, oh well.

Besties :)

Pavlova!!  Yummy :)  Rel made this for Christmas Lunch last weekend, one of her signature desserts and we get her to make it every year.  It's delicious!  Can't wait to have another batch on Christmas Day when they come over here for lunch!  Christmas at ours this year, should be new, we've never hosted Christmas :)  Luckily we've got a dining table this year ;)

Jackson amusing himself for a little while, he's what I'd classify as the 'class clown' :P

Good ol' Aussie Chrissy, cricket in the back yard.  Jayden haven a swing and Junior trying his hardest to get that darn cricket ball :P  (Christmas Lunch last weekend)  We had it b/c Andy and his family are gone for Christmas camping, so we had the lunch all together and then we'll have Christmas day at ours with the rest of them.

Rob, Andrew & Paul 

Andy trying to keep Junior occupied from stealing the ball :P  lol.

Just one of the many gorgeous plants in Sue & Rob's backyard.

Rel, Olivia & Robyn

Dan haven' a crack.  Was good fun to watch, I had a go but was completely useless but still good fun :)

Just a few photos from the 'family photo day' we had a little while back.  The three brothers above, family below :)

Had a go at the driving range the other week.  Was feeling a bit of pent up frustration/anger from everything that's been going on lately and a friend suggested 'whack f****', pretty much whack the crap outta some golf balls.  Was good fun, Dan and I had some good laughs as we missed the ball or I hit them straight up and they bounced off the roof.  Did hit some good ones too ;)

Finally got a phone call from school today, I did receive my letter of offer in the mail the other week but I need to get in sooner to get all the info so I can sort out stuff in Canada they said they would give me all the details within the next couple of days!!  Exciting!! :)  I spoke with a guy at work today who's doing a similar course as I'm going to and he said it's really good, that I'll enjoy it.  2ish more months!!! :D :D  Looking forward to putting all of my energy into something else for awhile, something I think I'm going to enjoy.  Will be nice to step down from work for a little while, have less responsibility/stresses.

What else?!  Of course we can't forget about wedding!  Been busy busy bit by bit getting things planned.  Got all the bridesmaid dresses in the mail last week which was exciting!  But of course I can't tell you much about them b/c I want it to be a surprise ;)  I had my first dress consultation last week, Rel & Sue came along which was great, went had some lunch afterwards, nice day out :)  Of course I can't give you any details on the consultation either ;)  hehe.  Waiting on some sample invites in the mail then hopefully order those, next will be booking accommodation, hopefully we get what we want/need there!

Alright, well it's dinner time and this post is getting pretty long so I guess I should wrap it up.  I'll try to not leave it so long between posts for next time.  Love to you all and of course.....

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!!  

Big hugs to all of my family and close friends, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas full of love, laugher & joy :) xoxo