brookandkatieturner

I'm crawling! Army style

2009-05-03T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys, We hope all is well with you all. Sorry we haven't posted photos on the blog recently. Both Katie and I are pretty flat out at work. Evelyn is crawling now in an army style crawl but it won't be long before she is zooming around the house on her hands and knees. I put down a toy across the room from her and she crawls towards me and picks it up. She is also begining to talk more. Not words of course but she is saying more than just MUMMUM! I heard her say DADDAD for the first time yesterday and she says another word that sounds like hello.

Evelyn loves music and you can see her listening to the speaker in our lounge in one of these photos. She listens for a long period of time facinated by the sound waves. It is really cute.

We hope you enjoy these photos and pray God's blessing and provision upon you.

Brook

4 Generations of girls

2009-04-04T17:16:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well. What a week we have had. Nan and Pop have arrived from England and Evelyn instantly fell in love with them. There is a photo here of Evelyn with her Mummy, Granma and Great Nan. Amazing! We also talked to Russell and Sarah on skype and had a visit from Cam and Marie (Brooks cousin and cousin in law). And just we we thought we had seen all the family possible for the weekend, Brook's Aunt and Uncle visited and Nana Turner arrived on Sunday.

The other cool thing about this week is the fact that Evelyn just learned to clap. She also loves playing the guitar with Daddy.

Having kids is so much fun. You should try it.

God bless.

Brook, Evelyn, Katie

Evelyn and Brooke at almost 8 months

2009-03-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone. Here's some new shots of Evelyn with her friend Brooke. These girls are almost eight months old now. Amazing! Every month presents new challenges and new learnings for a child. It is amazing to watch. The random photos of the bathroom are for our family oversees to view. This is the done up bathroom for Nan and Pop who arive from England this week to live with Neil and Sue (Katie's parents).

We hope all of you are living the dream and keeping positive.

Brook, Evelyn and Katie

I'm sitting up!

2009-03-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

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Hi everyone. Our apologies for taking so long to post new photos and fill you in on what the Turner family has been up to. Here are a whole bunch of recent photos to compensate. Katie and I have been busy buzzy bees at work balancing parenting with bringing home the bacon. School is going well for Katie and I am enjoying my study through Unitec. Evelyn is learning new things all the time. One of her latest feats is sitting up all by herself. But she does get stuck in that position and needs our help to get out of it.

She has also learned to wave hello and goodbye - probably from watching Teletubbies with Granma! She is enjoying her solid meals and has just discovered yoghurt this week...Yum yums!

Mummy is also teaching Evie how to clap and she is slowly getting the hang of it. The most annoying thing of the week has been the fire brigade down the end of our road that sound a siren every fricken time there's a call out waking our baby. Have these people heard of text messaging or pagers? I never thought I'd say it but that is one bad thing about Tawa. One in a Million though. Remember that!

We hope all is well in your worlds and look forward to catching up soon.

Brook, Evelyn and Katie.

High chair baby moments

2009-02-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone. Our apologies for not posting any pictures recently. Life has been pretty fast paced. Katie is doing a fantastic job juggling being a teacher, Mummy and pastors wife, all of which are demanding enough to be full time jobs on there own.

Evelyn just keeps on growing and surprising and amazing us with her personality and ability to learn fast. She blows rasberries at us now and if we blow them back we have a fun little conversation. She also tries to kiss us but keeps her mouth open so its pretty sloppy but sweet.

She loves her fruit. Banana and apple are her favourites and she is slowly warming to the veges as long as we flavour it with steak juice. Thats right, she is a carnivore.

Katie's mum Sue is doing a fabulous job being Eve's nanny and our good friend Brodie loves looking after Evelyn every Tuesday morning. I personally love Mondays more than any day of the week cause its my turn to look after her then. We always play the ABC game online and listen to some Bon jovi.

We hope all of you are doing well and not basing your confidence in the world but on God. There's a lot of negativity out there that can affect your outlook on life. Its better to feed on the Word than the words of the media at the moment.

That reminds me of a story of a young man visiting the english preacher "Smith Wigglesworth" years ago carrying a newspaper under his arm. After opening the front door to the young man and seeing him with the paper Smith said " you're not coming in here with that"! (pointing to the newspaper). Then Smith said 'Why read the bad news when you can read the good news"

Sermon over. Have a great week.

until next time.

Brook, Evelyn and Katie

Learning to crawl

2009-02-12T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone. We hope your all doing well. Heres just a few cute shots of Evelyn learning to crawl.

Brook and Katie

Almost 6.......months!

2009-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone. Well, Evelyn is almost 6 months old now. Wow! Thats pretty hard to believe ah. Katie and I can hardly remember life without Evelyn in it. She is our precious little one who we love greatly. Here are some of our latest photos. Evelyn loves playing the on line games that teach her the alphabet. The photo here of her on the computer also show Uncle Cam (Brook's cousin).

Over the last month Evelyn has been teething and a week ago we bought her first tooth brush. Mummy brushed her teeth very carefully because Evie was a bit unsure about it. Evelyn is also a little afraid of the vacuum cleaner and gets a cute cautious look on her face whenever we do the vacuuming.

This week Nana Turner and Poppa Turner have been staying in Tawa helping us as Katie goes back to school to teach. Heres a photo of Nana with Evelyn. Evie tends to be very calm around Nana and the other day she lifted her hands up towards Poppa asking for a cuddle.

As you can see our little girl is continuing to grow up.

We hope you all have a good week.

Brook, Katie and Evelyn

Teething and learning

2009-01-23T18:27:00.000-08:00

Hi friends and family. Sorry for the long wait between posts. I have started back at work and so things have been a bit full on. Since the last post we have only taken about 20 photos and only a hand full of them are decent, hence the small number here. Evelyn is loving learning the alphabet on line and colouring in on line. It is amazing to find so many tools for teaching babies on the internet I am not sure how much she takes in but she certainly likes bashing the keys on my laptop. She also loves her teether and food time. Her hands and face get a bit messy when we feed her but thats because she tries to help us. Its very cute. There are a couple of pictures here of all the babies from our antenatal group at 5-6 months old. We hope you are all doing well and making the most of the start of the year.

Brook, Katie, and Evelyn

I love eating things

2009-01-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

Hello family and friends. We hope all of you are doing well and seeing the God side of life in your circumstances. Katie, Evelyn and I have just been to Palmerston North for the weekend to visit grandparents. We had a lot of fun with Evelyn being the centre of attention most of the time. Evelyn loves eating things! From her feet and fingers to spoons, books and toys, everything goes in her mouth. There are a couple of examples here. She also loves playing on her swing horse and gets reallly excited when we read to her.

Tonight is a bit sad for us though because I start back at work tomorrow. The three week break has been really good for me but leaving Evelyn and Katie in the mornings is one of the hardest things I have to do. Nevertheless, "if a man doesnt work he shouldnt eat" goes the saying so I better get my a into g and get back into it.

Katie starts teaching again on the 30th of this month and so Granma Stiles will be our Tawa nanny for the little one. God has blessed us so much to have Neil and Sue in Tawa and hopefully with Sue's help this year will work out ok. Any prayers you can fire out our way would be appreciated.

God bless you all

Brook, Evelyn and Katie

A day at home with Evelyn

2009-01-04T12:54:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone. Katie, Evelyn and I had a wonderful day at home together yesterday spring cleaning. Theres nothing like cleaning the house with the doors open, the washing waving on the line, eighties music blasting from the radio, and the summer breeze drifting through the hallways. In the middle of our crazy cleaning session we paused to take a few shots of the family. Here they are.

Bless you all

Brook, Evelyn and Katie

Farewell Sarah and Russell

2009-01-02T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well, the wonderful holiday with Sarah and Russell has come to an end. It was too short but Katie, Evelyn and I are very grateful for the time we did have with S & R. Here are some photos of us all together at the airport. We hope to see S & R in 2010 but its all up in the air from here on. I guess thats why God asks us to trust him. his timing is perfect. we are just priveleged to have such a close knit family that loves one another.

Katie and I hope you are all doing well.

Blessings

Time away for new years

2008-12-31T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. Happy new year. Here's a bunch of photos from our new year's holiday. Sarah and Russell go home tomorrow and we are a bit sad about that, but very pleased that God has lent them to us this summer.The time together as family has been priceless. There are a couple of photos here that show Evelyn eating solids. She is eating this rice cereal stuff that tastes disgusting but apparently it's the best food to start with. We have started feeding Evelyn pears as well. She thinks its very yummy.

I am looking forward to watching a one day international on the 7th of January and seeing the New Zealand cricket team thrash the West Indies. I will make sure I put photos on the blog of the game.

We hope all of you are well and excited about the new year. Katie and I have decided that 2009 is a year to be grateful. It is easy to forget how much God blesses us and occasionally it is healthy to reflect on all we have and all he has done.

We hope you do the same

Brook, Evelyn, and Katie

A night out with Russell and Sarah and Peter

2008-12-28T16:53:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone. Last night Katie and I got Sue (katie's) mum to baby sit so we could go out. We took Sarah and Russell to the Fisherman's table and Pete came along too. It was a beautiful night and so we took a bunch of photos together. Heres a few of them for you to browse through. Tomorrow we are heading off to Te Horo for new years with Phoebe and Matt and Russell and Sarah. We are enjoying our holiday but are aware of the challenges of 2009.

Katie will be going back to school in February and so we will be balancing work with baby. God's got it sorted though and we will trust in him. We hope your all doing well

God Bless

Brook, Evelyn, and Katie

Christmas and Holidays

2008-12-26T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hi family and friends. Sorry that it has taken a little longer than usual to update the blog. We have been busy spending time with our much loved family and hanging out with Sarah and Russell. We had a fantastic Christmas day at Neil and Sue's and were thoroughly blessed to be together as a family all in one place. Christmas is a wonderful time to remember how much there is in our lives that we can be grateful for. We are most grateful for Jesus' life and how he laid it down for each one of us so that we could find true hope.

Here is a whole bunch of photos including Evelyn's first tramp (bush walk) through the hills of Tawa. Thats right, bush walks in Tawa! Is there anything this suburb doesnt offer? There are also a couple of great individual shots of Evie here and some cute pics with Uncle Peter, Aunty Sarah and Uncle Russell.

Please notice the shot of our house at 19 Roy St. This gives you a really good view of what true paradise in Tawa looks like. We hope the new year fills you with hope and new dreams.

Love from Brook, Evelyn and Katie

Brooke and Evelyn - friends

2008-12-19T14:48:00.000-08:00

Hi family and friends. Yippie! Katie and I have both finished our work for the year now so we can focus solely on our beautiful daughter (and my awesome brother and sister in law who are over from the US for Christmas). There are a bunch of photos for you to see here. The little baby in these photos laying next to Evelyn is cute little Brooke. She belongs to Becky and Jonny (some close friends of ours). I have really connected with Brooke. I think it has something to do with sharing the same name with her. Any way, there are a few other cool shots here of Katie, Evelyn and her parents waiting for Sarah and Russell to arrive from America, and uncle Ben giving Evelyn some tummy time.

Christmas is close now and gives each one of us the opportunity to remember the hope that Jesus' birth brought into the world. Having Evelyn has taught Katie and I alot about hope and she is just another precious human. Jesus was and is the Son of the living God. His hope points directly to heaven and reminds us of a father and friend who loves us beyond human reason.

Be filled with hope this christmas.

Brook

Fun in the sun

2008-12-14T00:54:00.000-08:00

Summers here and we are loving it. The family had a great weekend together especially because Katie and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Granma Stiles looked after little Evelyn while we went out for a lovely dinner on Saturday night. During the week my Mum and Dad came down along with my precious and special Grandpam seen here holding Evelyn. we think Evelyn has found her favourite toy in the form of a little soft toy rat that we affectionately call Rattie! Evelyn loves to go to sleep with Rattie over her face and loves holding rattie in her hand. We have also had fun this week buying toys for Evelyn for Christmas. i am re-living child hood all over again. God is so good and Katie, Evelyn and I feel very blessed.
We just cant wait for Sarah and Russell to arrive on Tuesday.

We hope all is well for the rest of you

Good tidings

Brook, Katie and Evelyn

A trip to the beach

2008-12-05T22:03:00.000-08:00

Hi guys. This week Katie has been busy doing some contract work and I have been working hard to tie up all the loose ends at work before our Christmas break together. So today we decided to have some time out and drive to the beach with Evelyn. It was a great family time together. Here are a bunch of photos from today and a couple of extras we've taken earlier in the week. We hope Christmas greets all of you with fond memories of 2008 and great hopes for 2009.

God bless

Brook, Katie and Evelyn

Whats that on my feet?

2008-11-28T23:33:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone. Another week and a whole lot of new memories with our little one, Evelyn. A few days ago some friends of ours called Jon and Chris gave Katie and I a gift for Evelyn. It turned out to be these cute little socks with bugs on them. When we first put them on Evelyn she looked stunned. it was priceless. She is having a lot of fun wearing them.

Evelyn loves the camera and is only too willing to give all of us her best look for every shot. We had some fun today while Mum was out by rocking out to Bon jovi and taking photos of Dad and daughter.

The three of us are doing well and looking forward to a Christmas and new years break together. Its hard to believe that Evelyn is over 4 months old now. Every week she changes and grows and becomes more alert and more engaged in life.

Until next time.

Brook, Katie and Evelyn

Evelyn of Arabia

2008-11-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone. We hope life is treating you all well. Here's our usual weekly update of a week in the life of Evelyn Grace Turner. I think the photo of her with Katie after she has had a bath makes her look like Laurence of Arabia. I have been away for the last four days and in that time Katie has taken over 60 photos. So I chose some of the standout shots and posted them for all to see. Evelyn is getting good tummy time each day and is learning to hold her head up on her own. Katie and I have had a bet on her eye colour as it has been changing since she was born. I thought she was going to have blue eyes like me but Katie thought she would have brown eyes.

It turns out her eyes are turning brown so I guess katie is the winner. A regular occurance in this household.

Have a great week.

Love Brook, Katie & Evelyn

BONANZA AND SUPER GIRL

2008-11-15T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hi family and friends. Another week has gone by and more photos have been taken. Evelyn, Mummy and Daddy are doing well and having lots of fun together.

Notice the photos of Daddy holding Evelyn in the flying position. I think if Evelyn was a super hero she would be super girl. She loves it when we hold her like this. You will also notice the photo of Evelyn on my knees with a look of absolute glee on her face. This is when Dad bounces her on his knees to the tune of Bonanza.

There is a photo of family here too and one of Evelyn with her friend, Brooke Lusby, on Ev's play mat.

I particularly love the individual shot of Evelyn in this series of photos. You can really see her features and notice her growth if you scroll down and compare to earlier photos.

We hope you all have a blessed week.

Brook, Katie and Evelyn.

Rattles and Swiss Balls

2008-11-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone. We hope you have had a fantastic week. Here are some more photos of the family including Evelyn's first swiss ball session. She loved being on her tummy and is learning to keep her head up (very important for crawling). One of the other photos shows Ev in her cot for the first time with her teddy. Dad and Mum assembled the cot together on Saturday and are very proud of themselves for the effort (man, cots are complicated to put together!). Dad managed to finish the assembly of the cot without swearing a single time!

The cot is a beautiful gift from Granma and Grandad Stiles who we visited for lunch on Sunday. Katie had a reunion with her old youth group leaders, Ray and Sharon, who she hasn't seen for like 10 years now! Great to catch up with old friends.

Evelyn is also learning to hold things in her little cute hands. You can see her here holding a rattle. It's really funny when she does this. She also goes off to sleep holding her dummy in her hand as well.

Blessings,
Brook, Katie & Evelyn.

Another weekend as family

2008-11-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. heres a few more photo's of the family. They include Mummy Turner bathing little Evelyn. Daddy Turner weeding the vege garden (THIS IS PURE LOVE, I HATE WEEDING),and Evelyn in her first re-useable nappy. Thats right, we are getting cleaner and greener. We have even changed our washing powder to the ECO brand. There is also a photo here that Mummy took of Dad sleeping with the little one next to him at the crack of dawn. Pretty shaddy photography but at least Evelyn looks cute. As you can see life is settling down for us as a family although the changing of the nappies always has the potential to surprise us. Evelyn is very talkative now and smiles and gigles lots. Hope all of you are doing well.

God bless

Brook and Katie

Labour Day out as a family

2008-10-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

Today we went on a little family outing to Plimmerton Beach. First Daddy and Mummy had to do some chores at home but once we were finished off to the beach we went. We had a lovely walk and took some photos along the way. After a long walk we got a much earned ice cream and then came home to spend the evening together as a family.

We hope you enjoy the photos

Brook, Katie and Evelyn

More photos for your viewing pleasure

2008-10-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone. Wow another post already! We thought we would put some more photos up because Evelyn grows so fast and we haven't posted many. Here is a few cute shots to look at. There is also a shot of Katie and her brother Peter. This was taken at Ohakea Air base where Peter is training to become a pilot in the air force. We even got to see the planes in the hanger but were not allowed to take photos. So proud right now. Peter AKA "Maverick", our own topgun pilot in the family.

As you can see the little one loves the camera and is only too pleased to pose for a photo. We are doing well enjoying a much earned weekend off for labour weekend.

We hope all is well with family and friends everywhere and send our love.

Brook,Katie and Evelyn!

2008-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. As you can see little Miss Evelyn is growing and loving life. Mum and Dad have just spent a wonderful day together with their daughter and are finding lots of clothing bargins at the Salvation army.

We are continually amazed at Evelyn's progress. She is now smiling wildly at us and sings along when we sing.

The other night Uncle Ben (Brooks Brother) and Uncle Cam (Brooks Cousin) sung to Evelyn the theme music to Indiana Jones. She absolutely loved it.

Last week Grandma and Grand dad Stiles looked after Evelyn while we went to the Musical "The sound of Music" it was a wonderful date and a good break for Mum even though we both missed Evie!

Tonight we are going out for Dessert at Strawberry fair and then a walk along the water front.

Evelyn turned 11 weeks old today and she will be three months old on the 5th of November. How time flies.

We are definitely still adjusting to parenting and Work life balance is a bit of a mission so any prayer would be great.

We miss you all and hope everything is going well in your world.

Trust in him always.

Brook and Katie

Evelyn and her family

2008-10-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone. Heres some fresh photos of our little Miss Evelyn for your viewing pleasure. Sorry about the delay. the blog site has trouble loading our new cameras photos because of the high Megapixel rating.

Family life is good and Evelyn is doing very well. She loves her night time baths, walks round tawa in the stroller and supermarket visits with Mum in the front pack. we will try to get photo's of these. We hope to share many more moments and memories along this beautiful journey that is the life of Evelyn Grace Turner.

Thank you for all the gifts and prayers you have given on our behalf. Being a family is truly a gift from God.

As it says in Psalm 103:15-18 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.[a]
17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them

We hope to raise Evelyn in the Lords ways.

Stupid slow computer!

2008-10-01T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hey there team, sorry there is only one photo....of proud uncle ben with ev. Brook's computer takes a million years to upload each photo and I just don't have the time to spend uploading anymore at the moment....hopefully put some more up soon.
love katie

We are proud to announce Evelyn Grace Turner

2008-08-11T23:28:00.001-07:00

Well, the waiting is over. The world has changed for good. Evelyn Grace Turner has arrived. Mum and Evelyn are doing really well and Dad hasnt lost his smile yet. Here are some of our first moments with Evelyn. Our heartfelt thanks to family and friends for all the support, gifts and prayers you have given us. Evelyn is healthy and vibrant and has her mothers features and Dad attitude.

Having a baby is just another reminder of how amazing God truly is. Seeing our little bundle of joy alive and kicking is the most incredible miracle Katie and i have ever experienced. We look forward to sharing memorable moments with you guys and the new addition to the family.

Everything is ready...just waiting for baby!

2008-07-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Hey team,
here are some photos of baby room, which is already now! Brook did a great job preparing it and I have been nesting setting up everything. Just waiting for Paige now to make her entrance...now one day overdue! Its a funny time waiting for her arrival, we really should be making the most of the sleep and opportunities to rest...but we really want to meet her and get on with the business of being parents!
Hopefully our next post will be filled with photos of her.
blessings,
katie

Let the baby room renovations begin!

2008-06-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
Here are photos from our wallpaper stripping party yesterday!! Mum & Dad were such legends helping out...we are very blessed! The baby's room is now ready to be insulated, plastered, painted and have carpet laid. Am hoping this process is not going to take too long....as baby may come early (at my last midwife visit, I'm measuring quite alot ahead of my 35 weeks!!).
Blessings to you all,
Katie

Birthdays and baby bump

2008-06-07T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,
so sorry its been two months since our last update. We have been super busy with Fuse (a national talent quest for young people) that Brook has been in charge of. The main event was last weekend which went really well. And now we can get on with things like updating our blog and finally getting the baby's room ready!!
Here are a collection of photos of growing baby bump (33 weeks now) and also photos from our birthdays - Brook's 28th on April 25th, my 27th on May 5th and Ben's 29th on May 9th.
Blessings,
Brook & Katie
P.S- The photo with the big white tri-pillow thing - its called a cacoon. And is a super invention to help pregnant women get some sleep!

Cameron & Marie's Wedding

2008-04-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Hey team,
here are the photos from Brook's cousin's wedding yesterday. It went very well. Brook took the ceremony and we all had a great family time altogether. There are also a couple of photos from our Easter weekend up north. I spent time with Mary and Jono in a place called Mata Mata (near Hamilton) and Brook spoke at a youth Easter Camp in Rotorua. We met up in Tauranga for a glorious afternoon of sunshine and ice-creams!

Renovations, moving, Bilbo's last song and baby updates

2008-03-15T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hey team,
here are some photos of what we have been up to lately. They include helping Mum & Dad pack up their house (they are moving this tuesday). Some last shots of Bilbo before he was put down, bless his little soul. He was a fighter, but was very sick at the end. We are currently renovating our spare room - stripped the wall paper and are going to paint it as we have a new boarder, Helen, moving in early April. Found out this week that we are having a girl! Am now 21 weeks pregnant - more than half-way finally!!
Hope everyone is doing well,
lots of love,
Brook and Katie

Bathroom renovations

2008-02-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

Here are some before and after photos of our bathroom renovations. While I was with Sarah and Russell, Brook was helping to put in our new bathroom that he designed. He has done such a good job, he is such a treasure!

Some more photos from Katie's USA trip

2008-02-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Hey team,
sorry I have been very slack and haven't posted anything since mid-january. I have been home in beautiful NZ now for 3 weeks. Just thought I'd put a few more photos up from the rest of my time with Sarah & Russell. We went to a few "Kentucky attractions" like Fort Knox and Churchill Downs. We also enjoyed a few snow days (yay - no school for Sarah!)and of course enjoyed eating out quite often. I caught up with my second cousin, Tara and her son Phoenix again in LA during my 40 hour journey home which was cool. I will put another post up of the wonderful new bathroom that I came home to as well!

Katie in the states

2008-01-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

Hey team,
sorry I haven't put any photos up yet, am already halfway through my trip!! Am having a great time with my sissy and brother-in-law. It has been so good to be a part of their world and meet all the people they talk about. It's also been cool to do things like trim sarah's hair tonight (because she refuses to get her hair cut in the states coz you HAVE to tip the hairdresser!!). We just got back on monday from visiting Russell's parents in Woodbridge, Virginia - which is about 30 minutes drive from Washington D.C. Was great to see them again. The weather of course is pretty cold here. Has been freezing the last couple of days and we are expecting snow tonight! But thank goodness they make houses properly in the states, so as long as you are inside, its fine. My wonderful hubby, who I miss very much, is currently working on our bathroom renovations - he is such sweetie:) Hope you are all doing well. Blessings, Katie

Merry Christmas 2007!

2007-12-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hey there everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated up at Brook's parents house in Palmerston North with my parents there as well. Because Peter worked on Christmas day (I know!!), we had a wee celebration with him and a reduced Stiles collective in the morning. December 14th was our 5th wedding anniversary! We went out for dinner then had a walk along the Petone foreshore and came home by 8pm - I think we are getting old already! Just before Christmas we went to Beth Thomson's "Fluro" 21st birthday party, which was full of crazy outfits and lots of fun. I am off to visit Sarah in a couple of days now and staying for the entire month of January. I will try to update our blog from there. Brook will be kept busy helping the builder with our bathroom renovations. He is a sweetie! Love Katie

Whangaparaoa retreat

2007-12-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Hey Team!
Just went on an awesome retreat about an hour north of Auckland with the Blueprint/Zeal crew. We had a great time in the sun, lots of laughs, fellowship and discussions. Brook even went for his first swim in the ocean for about 2 years!! There are a couple of photos of little scamper who unfortunately got put down coz he was real old, blind and too much to manage for mum. Loved that dog, he was very special and we treasure finding him up in the wilderness of the Tararuas almost 9 years ago. Pets are a real blessing in life but it sure is sad when its their time to go. 2 pets in one year is pretty tough too, bilbo is hanging on in there for the moment!! love katie

Busy times

2007-11-10T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated lately, been real busy with the year drawing to an end soon - only a few days left until four out of my five classes go on study leave!! Here are some photos of our gardening efforts over labour weekend, my class party at school (special surprise in one of the photos for you sarah!) and our life group dinner. More photos soon. Blessings, katie xox

Trip to Auckland

2007-10-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hey team!
Here are the photos from our trip to Auckland last week. We stayed with our friends Stacey and Tim who are starting a new Zeal youth centre and Blueprint church in West Auckland. Weather was alot warmer than Wellington and we had two lovely visits to beaches, Bethals Beach on the west coast (with "Romi" our friends' hyperactive doggie!) and also Snells beach on the east coast about 1 and a half hours north of Auckland. We caught up with Graham, Renee and Keenan on saturday which was awesome; I got my first Keenan initiated huggie!! He was also quite taken with my sunglasses case!

correction to last post

2007-10-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

sorry, got my photo numbers mixed up! Here is the photo of our purchase of the year. That photo of me dressed up as a cowgirl was for our 'Americana' day at school. Sorry bout that!

Blueprint Church Camp

2007-09-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Hey peoples!
Here are a collection of photos from our church camp over the weekend and a random photo of our purchase of the year: a dyson vacuum cleaner! At camp we had the Blueprint Olympics; which included the cross dressing rely! Doesn't Brook look gorgeous in a dress and heels?!! Brook's country was 'Eagleshark'- named after the brilliant NZ film called Eagle vs Shark - definitely see it if you get an opportunity, gives a great impression of kiwi humour, I like to think of it as our own version of Neploean Dynamite. My country was 'Scoutland' - as we were staying at a VERY basic scout camp out in the Wainui valley. Blessings:)

School trip to Christchurch

2007-08-26T02:37:00.000-07:00

hey team,
hope you enjoy these photos of my school trip down to Christchurch to participate in the national barbershop competition. We took 110 wonderfully behaved students and won the girls' chorus and our boys came third in their competition. We also went to the Antartica Centre; it was lots fun experiencing a simulated antartic storm....they also had very cute blue penguins there, we sang there as well as the restaurant we went to and outside the mall!! The weather was pretty cold but scenary was gorgeous...hope you like my artistic photos!

The last month or so.....

2007-08-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

hey people,
sorry I haven't posted any photos lately....am finally getting round to it today.
There are some photos of Brook's trip to the Every Nation International Conference in the Phillipines in July, our clearning out of the front garden with Dad, our friends Jani(he is Finnish) and Jenna's wedding and most recently, Cam and Marie's engagement party last night. Had lots of fun there, danced for about two hours in Uncle Si and Aunty Shelli's lounge. The girls in the photo from left are Marie, Katie (Marie's sister), Hannah (Ben's girlfriend), Bex and I.
Hope you enjoy the photos:)

4th July celebrations!

2007-07-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Just came back from Palmerston North where we had a birthday party for Phoebe in the theme of 4th July. Sarah and Russell sent all these cool decorations which we had fun putting up. We even had tatoos! Am on holiday at the moment for a couple of weeks which is just lovely. Is pretty cold outside but am managing to do some gardening as well reading two really good books: The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom and The Cross and the switchblade by David Wilkerson; would thoroughly recommend them both. Blessings to you all:)

Keenan turns 1!

2007-06-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hey people. Sorry I haven't updated our blog for a few weeks. My laptop wasn't connecting to the internet at home and that's the only way I can put photos on our blog. So, the update, Keenan's birthday party, doesn't he look gorgeous! We played pass the parcel, Renee made a beautiful teddy bear cake and Keenan sucked on Graham's beer bottle because his gums were sore!! By the way Sarah, Dad wants to know what "Yule" means!!

Cam & Marie are engaged!

2007-05-26T14:16:00.000-07:00

hey various family members,
here are a few photos to update you on what we have been up to lately. Brook's cousin, Cam, and Marie (who lives with us) got engaged last weekend! Very exciting. They are planning on getting married feb/march '08.
The other day brook surprised me and came to work with a bunch of flowers and then took me out for dinner and a movie.... such a lovely husband. Everyone at work thinks he is just amazing:)
we have had lots of birthdays lately also. brook turned 27 on april 25th, i turned 26 on may 5th then ben (brook's brother who lives with us) turned 28 on may 9th.
we've got brook's parents (mary & jono) visiting us at the moment for a few days,
so here are a couple of photos of them.
love you all lots:)

brook's birthday

2007-04-28T04:03:00.000-07:00

Hey awesome family members! Hope you are enjoying our blogs. I've made it a goal to update it every week. It'll be an incentive to take more photots, sorry they won't always be interesting. This most recent collection includes photos from brook's birthday and dinner with my old next door neighbour Jen and her boyfriend Matt (jen made this awesome pavlova. There is also an example of ben's coffee art: "the silver fern"!! There is also me holding one of our neighbour's kittens, daisy or sally, i get them confused

Weekend away

2007-04-21T23:12:00.000-07:00

My wonderful hubby took me away for a romantic weekend up the coast at this amazing beach house belonging to a mentor of his. We had such a chilled time together...long walks along the beach, watching the sun set, cooking fancy meals and just enjoying some time alone together. The weather was fantastic for april. We tried to be arty with our photography! Hope you like the sand message sarah & russell

Welcome to our blog!

2007-04-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
Brook and Katie have officially opened a blog. This is quite a big deal since both of us are not really into computers, but when your family lives around the world, this is a great method of sharing our lives.
The photos you can hopefully see are those of our "summer" project (still not finished):painting the exterior of our house! Big, big job but really needed doing. Sorry about a couple of the photos being the wrong way round, not sure how to turn them round properly!
lots of love and blessings,
brook and katie