tenaha wilson: Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day everyone!

We have just returned from a very awesome day at the Newman Aquatic Centre. The East Pilbara Shire opened the pool to the public and had tattoos and flags for the kids; a really good local band; a free sausage sizzle for lunch; and the slides out in the pool. I think the Shire did a fantastic job managing the crowd of people and the Australian doo they put on today. The party goes until 5 this afternoon and then commences again with fireworks at 8. I think we are so lucky to have such a great event in such a remote part of the northern west of Australia. Well done Pilbara Shire!

Our local Newman resident that received Australian of the Year was our fantastic Doctor - Doctor Leslie Green. So well deserved. Dr Green has been in Newman for 19 years now, he saids. He goes beyond his work too, sometimes staying back to late hours of the night to ring his patients personally to give them test results - we know this because he has done this for us on numerous occasions and we have only lived here for 3.5 years so I can only imagine what he has done for other patients. He has certainly been a life saver for several of our friends and family members. If only there were more Doctors out there like Doctor Green that dedicated their lives to medicine in remote areas of Australia.

Tomorrow is a changing chapter for our family - but a positive one. I start full time employment again as an Environmental Advisor for BHP. I am really looking forward to full time work again and it has just come at a time when it is perfect for our family as a whole. It has been nearly 4 years since I last worked full time. I am really looking forward to the challenges and rewards that the job will bring. And despite my busy schedule - i am still hoping to maintain our busy family life with sports; committees; business and of course - scrapbooking!

Enough chatter - here are some layouts to share...

The layout below is for a challenge for Inspired Blueprints - Sketch 40.

I used papers from Kaiser Craft; felt from Blue Eye Dezines; rubons from Maya Road; flowers from Kaiser and Green Tara; bling from Prima; & trimmings from German Scrap & miscellaneous.

Another Kaiser layout below. This layout used kaiser papers; letters from Creative Imaginations and Heidi Swapp; silver ink; flowers from Prima & Green Tara; miscellaneous dress pins; pearls from Prima & Kaiser; butterfly embellishment from Prima.

The layout below is of my best bud getting married March last year. For this layout i used Burnt Red glimmer mist and a Basic Grey doilie sheet as a mask; papers from Basic Grey, Sassafras Lass & Cosmo Cricket; stickers from Cosmos Cricket and Basic Grey & Chipboard from Cosmo Cricket.

The following layout is some old photos of the day Seekara was christened in Wanneroo, Perth. For this layout I used papers from My Minds Eye & Hamble Screenprints; chipboard from Collections; Cuttlebug embossing folder; stitching with sewing machine; miscellaneous buttons; bling from Prima and Kaiser; flowers from Prima and Kaiser; brad from Making Memories; glimmer mist; embellishments from Prima; and trimming from Webster's.

The next layout also features on our Rtlicious blog site as Challenge #4. For this layout I kept it very simple to obtain my 30 minute deadline to complete my page using Basic Grey everything (except for the journal tag which was My Little Shoebox)!