Excitement!!

I am super excited! 

Today, after some hunting for cheap flights my sister has agreed to come for a visit next month.

And she is bring my spunky, handsome 8 month old nephew with her!

Oh i can not wait!

I have that they live so far away, 

I miss having cuddles with them,

Watching him crawl and play games with them.

I can't wait to see him play with his little cousin Zoe,

Last time they saw each other E was only little.

Will be so much fun to see them together again.

I think I either to to kidnap him or move to Queensland!

Bring on the 15th of Feb for cuddles!

Well I am off camping tomorrow,

So there will be no post from me

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Be back soon!!

Quarter of a Century Old!

Yesterday was my 25th Birthday.

I am not a big fan of working on my birthday.

But lucky I have pretty awesome work mates that made my day at work a good one.

And that fact that one of them make me a white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake,

Made my day amazing!

Kristy did a great job, it was so delicious!

Mouth watering I know!!

While at work I got a pretty surprise visit from Kat and Lisa,

Lisa brought me some gorgeous flowers to make my birthday bright!

After work, I made my way out to my parents place,

Where I spend the evening with friends,

Enjoying a yummy BBQ, warm summers evening, and a relaxing movie.

To finish off the evening, I got home to two surprises.

The first one was a yummy bottle of sparkling apple and card from two amazing people that had been left on my door step.

Then walking into my room I found another surprise...

Kat and Lisa had made my bed into one big present!

Thank you to all my friends and family for making my birthday awesome!

Christmas Wish...

I am back from my mini holiday!

Hope you all didn't miss me too much,

And that you enjoyed the range of guest bloggers that were featured over the past week and a bit.

If you haven't noticed already,

The theme on my blog for the past 9 days has been Christmas.

Christmas is my favourite time of year,

I love everything about Christmas!

But most of all, my favourite part of Christmas is family.

Every year I have one with that we can all be together,

That we can spend Christmas under the one roof,

That we could have one more Christmas like we did when we were little...

Bright and early on Christmas morning, 

Before the sun came up,

Little kids would stir,

Excitement would fill each of them,

Knowing that Santa had been,

And goodies awaited them.

Each child would jump out of bed,

Grabbing their pillows,

And dragging their quilts behind them.

Making their way out to the lounge room,

Stopping for a moment by the fire place,

Where they found stocking filled to the brim with surprises.

Moving on to the lounge room,

Each one finding a piece of couch to curl up on,

Those awake first got the best spots,

The rest got the floor,

Or if you were the lucky youngest of 6...Me,

Then you automatic got the floor.

Lounge room slowly turning into a one big bedroom,

As we all got comfortable and settled in front of the Christmas tree,

To the right the tv provides entertain through cartoons and music videos,

While on the right, behind the Christmas tree, 

The sun starts to peek over the hills,

Reminding us of a new day, Christmas day.

While the sun rises,

We enjoy each other company,

Eating goodies from our stockings,

And doing the puzzles from the books included.

7am rolls around,

Time for presents,

But mum and dad are still asleep,

So a lucky person gets to go down stair and wake them up...

Each of them, one by one looks towards the youngest,

And off I go...

Couple of moments later the parents join in the fun,

Presents are opened,

Breakfast is eaten,

Games are played.

This is the christmas I love,

Spending time with my brothers and sister,

Enjoying a simple tradition of old,

My Christmas wish is to have one more Christmas like this,

And to enjoy it with my amazing niece and nephews.

I want my Christmas to be fill with fun and laughter

And to be surrounded by family again,

To each christmas like little kids do.

Why do we have to grow up and lose these traditions?

Cause that is what Christmas is about... Family.

I want them back!

I miss my brothers and sisters.

Pinterest

Little Letters...

Pinterest

Dear Back,

It is official, I hate you. But I am willing to put the past behind us and move on if you promise to get better and stop playing up. What do you say?? Please... Pretty Please.

Dear Chiropractor,

Your hands can do wonders, you nice, good looking, explain things really well, but we still have a love hate relationship, at the moment I'm only liking you for about 1-5 hours max when I see you, the rest of the time I hate you! You promised that wednesday's session was going to be the worst one... you lied!

See you Monday, hopefully you will be nicer to me then!

Dear Heat pack,

You are amazing! best invention ever, but the stick on heat packs are the bomb! They are awesome and I love them! Both me and my back would love to thank the person who came up with the idea! Very grateful!

Dear Pinterest,

I am officially addicted to you now! Seriously I am, love it! So glad that there is a iphone app for it. If there is anyone out there who hasn't signed up for Pinterest.... why not! GO DO IT NOW!!!

Dear Exercise bike,

I like you! So glad that I decided to buy you! I am truly sorry that I have only used you once in the past 6 days, blame my back for throwing a tantrum! Promise to use you heaps real soon!

Dear Lolly,

I has been so go to see you! So glad that you came down for a holiday. You inspire me with your talents and just your determination to achieve your goals! I miss you but I am glad to see you happy with your new life in Canada with Mark.

Dear Weekend,

I am go glad that you are here, I wish you could stay for more then 2 days, it's just not long enough. But I promise to make the most of them!

Dear Followers,

How are you all? How is life treating you? What's planned for your weekend?

Have a awesome weekend!!

We will always remember...

10 Years ago today,

The world changed.

We all changed

No matter where you live in the world,

9/11 effected each and every one of you.

Many people lost their lives on this day 10 years ago

Every day since,

Hundreds and thousands of amazing men and women,

Have put their lives on the line,

To fight against terrorism,

And fight for freedom.

Thank you for all those men and women,

We are all grateful for your strength and sacrifices.
For those who have lost their lives during the fight.
You will always be in our hearts.

For those who have lost loved ones,

You are in our prayers,

For those lost on that horrible day,
We will always remember you.

We will never forget how these events have changed our lives.

How has these events changed your life?

I want my life to be one of faith and hope,

I want to ensure that I am putting what is really important first in life.

My family.
I am grateful for the gospel, and that my family is for eternity.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to every single Father out there.

To all those who are about to be fathers,

To those who are uncles

To those who are a bother or friend.

Happy Father's day to my Dad.

Thank you for the years of sacrifice that you have given for our family.

Thank you for providing for us.

Thank you for teaching us and being an example to us.

Thank you for being strong in the Gospel.

I am so grateful to have you in my life.

I am so grateful that you are my Dad.

Thank you for being you.

Love you Dad.

Follow Your Dreams...

Ever had a dream 

That you wish to follow with all your heart?

I would like to introduce everyone to my extremely talented cousin 

Lauren Watson!

Also known as Lolly

Lauren Watson

Lauren has always had a strong drive to achieve her dreams.

She has so many talents such as acting, producing, script writing, photography and so many more!

When she has a dream, she runs full force towards it.

She is driven and passionate about her life and what she does.

Now I would like to share with you her latest dream...

1 Month ago she started her own production company called 'Oakora Entertainment', 

She now has a team of incredibly talented passionate people all ready to share their extraordinary talents with the world through amazing movies.

They are already working on their first movie

A script that Lauren wrote 6 months ago called Speak Now

Over the past few weeks she has brought it to life!

Now her dream is to share this amazing movie and all it's talented people with the world.

Next stop... film festivals!

Please help Lolly make this dream possible!

To find out more about...

Check out her Indie GoGo page

Also please help by showing your support by...

Donating to get the movie to the festivals, 

spread the word... 

blog about it, 

tweet about it, 

follow her on twitter

Like her acting page

Like her photography page

Like the production company page

Like the movie page

Check out her IMDb Page

Everyone has a dream

Help Lauren achieve hers!

Any act, no matter how small or simple is greatly appreciated!

Indie GoGo

Mini Family Reunion!

WeHeartIt

This week is has so far been really good.

It's been great having time to hang out with Cass.

Her puppy dog Odie is gorgeous!

Cass has trained her so well!

Last night she slept next to me on the mattress,

Which was so sweet and cute,

The only down side is that dog hogs the bed...

Majorly! lol

Today my sister J and her husband arrived with their cute little Mister.

This was my first time meeting Little Mister

I got to have my first hold, and instantly fell in love with the little mister!

Due to a early wake up and spending half of the day flying,

Ethan had not had very much sleep,

So J feed him at put him down soon after getting here,

About half an hour after he had been put down to sleep 

I walk past the bedroom door and hear a baby noise...

I pop my head in thinking that he may be crying

I look across to the cot and see Little Mister looking up wide awake,

Smiling, giggling and baby talking!

**Fall head over heel more in love with this little Mister!**

I think I may either have to....

A: Kidnap Little Mister so he stays here in Tasmania with me

or

B: Move to Brisbane so I can see my little Nephew more often!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

Happy Friday!

WeHeartIt

Happy Friday everyone!

Hope you all have a awesome weekend plan!

I am super excited for my weekend.

My whole family... all 17 of us...

Will all be in hobart for the first time in years,

It will be great to meet my new little nephew for the first time!

Can't wait to have cuddles with him!

All up it will be great to just spend time hanging out with them!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Break in the silence...

This week has been crazy busy!

This was my first week back at work from having two weeks off!

And let's just say it wasn't very productive!

It was very hard trying to get out of 'holiday mode' this week at work,

Let's just hope this week I have more success!

Not only has my productivity at work been poor this week,

But it has also been lame this past week on my blog

For this I am sorry,

Try to be better this week!

Oh I have so much to feel you all in on!

But not right now as it is late, and I have an early start!

But I would like to leave you with a awesome video!

Today at church in relief society Chelsea shared with us a amazing video,

I wanted to share it with you with a hope that it touches you as much as it did me.

I am so grateful for the people in my life, 

No matter how small of a role they may think that they play in my life,

They should all know that if they didn't play that small or large part in my life,

And have the effect on me, and the examples that they are to me,

I would not be the person I am today.

And I love each and every one of them,

For every single thing they do for me.

Hope everyone had a great weekend,

And have the best start possible to your new week!

Parents...

I am grateful for the loving parents that I have,
They are my best friends,
They are always there for me,
They listen to me rant,
They give me advise when I need it,
They are my role models,
They encourage me,
And support me in all that I do.

There is so much there I could say about my parents,
But none of that could capture the full meaning of my love and appreciation for them.

In a week I am heading on a road trip with my mum to Melbourne to do to the Temple.
Thank you for everything you do for me.
I love you both!

Time to Vote!

Let me introduce you to the newest man in my life...

This is E, my 2 and 1/2 month old nephew.

My sister J. has entered a photo competition with the photo above of S. (her husband) and baby E.

Please pop along to Photography By Shayla and vote for photo number 4!!

Once you have voted, leave a comment to let me know...

Everyone will then go into the draw,

where 5 people will picked to guest blog,

to do a post of their very own!!!

For extra entries...

Leave a comment per entry...

-Twitter the link and tell people to vote for photo 4! @jess_barnes

-Tell you friends on facebook to vote for the photo

-Reblog!

Competition ends 9pm AEST on Tuesday 31st May

Winners announced on Wednesday 1st June.

Thanks for supporting my sister and her little family!

Mothers...

Happy Mothers Day mum, and also Happy Birthday for tomorrow.

Thank you for being the amazing women that you are.

Thank you for the example that you are to me.

Thank you for the strength and courage that you show.

Thank you for the support and advice that you give me.

Thank you for sharing your talents with me and teaching me new things.

Thank you for just being there to listen to me.

Thank you for all the hard work and dedication that you have put into our family.

Thank you for raising us in the Gospel.

Thank you for always having faith in me.

Thank you for being there for me at any hour of the day.

Thank you for caring about me and loving me.

Thank you for being my best friend.

Thank you for being my mother.

Thank you for everything that you do for me, and everything that you continue to do for me, and for everything that you will do for me in the future.

I love you Mum, for now and all eternity.

EXCITEMENT!!!

I'M AN AUNTIE AGAIN!!!

To a beautiful baby boy

Congratulations to my sister and brother in law!

(Pic from We heart it)

Happy Friday/Weekend everyone!

Hope your weekend it awesome!

Mine's off to a fantastic start

Now to go shopping with my mum!

Life through a polaroid picture...

Project 365

Day 2

2nd January 2011

Sunday dinner at my parent's place

Cuddles with this Little Miss Zoe!

She's growing up so quickly.

Spending time with her makes life awesome!

101 in 1001 Update!

16# Write a letter to my nana, send it to her along with flowers.

COMPLETED

I changed this one up a little bit.

In the spirit of Christmas,

And with my nana coming out for Christmas Eve dinner,

It gave me the perfect opportunity.

The letter was written, full of love and gratitude.

And a little present to match.

Angel of Remembrance

~Keeping treasured memories close.~

End of leave...

Back to work on Monday, my two weeks leave now at an end.

The past two weeks have been flat out. Today I went to my work christmas lunch, and realised that it feels like I have been away from work a lot longer then 2 weeks.

My holidays have consisted in helping my mum out with things, playing with my gorgeous 3 & 1/2 month old niece, and lots of doctors appointment and test- trying to sort my back.

It's been good to rest up and just have time to go to appointments, knowing that I would be free to go to appointments whenever I could get it, and not having to work it around work.

December is my favourite time of the year. My birthday is on 22nd of December, but more so, December to me is about family.

This year it's going to be awesome, my sister will be down, I haven't spent Christmas with my sister Cass for quite a few years, it's exciting cause we nearly have the whole family together! All we are missing is my sister Jaci and her husband Sam.

I can't remember the last time we had the whole family together for Christmas, it won't be this year but we're getting closer, maybe next year.

I'm excited about seeing my sister, we have so many plans for this month, with our mum still recovering from shoulder surgery, me and my sisters will be doing alot of the cooking this year. Me and Cass have a lot of idea already, one of which is to make my birthday cake.

Another special thing about this Christmas is that it's Zoe's first Christmas! And it'll be Cass first time meeting Zoe in about a weeks time when Cass arrives.

It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas, and I have a feeling that this is going to be a very merry Christmas!

Pic

Bring on the weekend...

Sure I know what your most likely thinking... hang on the weekend has only just finished, how can I be hanging out for the weekend already when the new week hasn't even started.

That is because I have three thing to look forward to this weekend...

1:

Friday night I fly out to Melbourne with the YSA to go to the Melbourne Temple. It going to be an awesome day on Saturday to spend time with the YSA in the amazing temple.

(Who wouldn't want to spend time in a building this beautiful!)

2:

I begin 2 weeks holidays. My mum is having shoulder surgery on the 30th so taking time off to help her out and because I have medical appointments and test to do in regards to my back as its not getting better and my CT scan show up some concerning things.

3:

The most important things that I am looking forward to is having my sister down!! YAY. She's coming down for my mum surgery and to spend christmas at home. Can't wait!! We have so much planned and I'm looking forward to spending time with just my sister and no one else. Haven't done that for a while and lately we have been getting a lot closer.

Sisters...

I am blessed to have three of them and even more blessed that I am close to all three.

Life wouldn't be complete with out them in my life.

They are a huge example to me, and each one of them are strong woman.

Ang, the one in the cream top lives here in Hobart, she is the mother of my gorgeous niece Zoe.

Jaci, the bride in this photo, she lives in Brisbane, and is the mother to be of my handsome nephew.

Cass, the one in the blue dress, lives in Perth WA. She is the one that I get my adventurous spirit from, which my life would be boring without.

The exciting thing at the moment is that Cass is coming down in about 3 and a half weeks!! And she'll be here for at least a month! Which means she'll be here for my birthday and for christmas! So excited can't wait for her to get here.

Last time she came down it was only for a couple of days and I didn't know that she was coming down, she called me and we were chatting, which was nothing out of the normal we did that often, there was a knock at the door, which was dad as he was picking me up for family dinner, when i opened to door, there was Cass with the phone in her hand. Sneaky little thing.

Let Me Introduce You....

Let me introduce you to my new niece... Zoe born 18th August at 4:30pm 7lb 3oz.

Congratulations to my sister Ang and her husband Cookie. Nice work guys!