Mr & Mrs Smith...

We finally got a house! Closed on August 22 2008. The closing went smoothly & took about 1 month to complete with the paper work. 1900 sq ft 1.5 bathrooms and four rooms. We are very happy with our find as many family names are street names located close by. Genevieve St, Phillip St, Johnathon St, Ann St, Henrietta St, Van Dyke St, to name a few. Neat to have family nearby...in a way of street names!

Here are pictures of our DIY home. It is a mess right now with foam on the floors, left over from the old pink carpet we removed. Walls torn up but the projects are coming along nicely. My darling Ben is working on the electrical work, while I scrap floors and knock out walls to put insulation in. We plan to remodel the kitchen and bathrooms next year some time.

Picture of before and after of the front of the house.

A picture of the coloured stones underneath the front door entrance. I put a shrub to compliment the differant colours of stone on the front porch. It changes during the seasons and with a few other scrubs that will eventually grow to the height I want.

The front door that I resprayed black..bit of a 'whoopsie' at the top left hand corner...will fix soon

The state of our driveway- another project to complete in the coming years. I am not looking forward to the ice in winter time with this driveway.

Here is the Pine tree at the back of the house. Abit of work to rack the fallen pine needles for the winter coming.

Some pics of the laundry room Ben is doing a great job on. Here is a pic of the washer\dryer set, not sure if I want to keep them stacked or put both on the floor side by side. Ben has finished the insulation. Next work to do is put up the gibb for the laundry room.

Wonderful wiring work...

The laundry floor-

The laundry ceiling...

Here are pictures of the downstairs. My scraper for the kitchen floor. I am removing the tar adhesive. We may replace the floor or have it finished...just abit suecky to walk on at the moment...

Photos of the upstairs.
This picture is 'coming up the stairs from the front entrance'

Coming up the stairs looking to the left you will see the master bedroom. The stairs to the Attic is on the other side left of the stairs. The office is to the left as well.

Looking to the right from the stairs is the Spare bedroom- the pink room. I demo'd when Ben left for a few days, hehe. Bathroom is the right, as well as the reading room.

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Our bedroom,which was the lovely pink. Painted quickly with a neutral colour so we can sleep at night.

The office room- at the front of the house.

Living room looking from the dinning room to the left hand side. You can see the front entrance on the left.

Top of stair case when going to the attic-pretty cool seeing the wood frame & beams.

Attic- the stairs are in the middle of the picture

Pictures of the outside.

Work that I have done on what was the over grown garden. Ben had chainsawed through every plant & bush -so I started from stratch. The garden was looking good, until the big pine tree behind our property started to shed for the winter. So these photos are from what it looks like at the moment.

In Amsterdam...New York that is...more info and pics to come soon!

I made it to NZ! After flight delays, lost luggage and swollen ankles...

I had knots in my stomach. Earlier that morning before my flight to NZ, we had a storm. Lightening struck a tall tree at the far end of the car parking lot. Two cars had back windshields blown out, five cars had tyres blown, 1 car had its circuits blown. My car was next in line with the damaged cars but thankfully, no damage done. Phew!
Sadly, that was the que to let me know it wasnt going to be an easy trip to see my family, who were waiting anxciously back home.

The alarm sounding off at 3am, nervous me got up out of bed & got ready to head to the airport. Arrived at my inlaw's home and to my lovely suprise, even Linda, my sister inlaw was up to come along for the ride. After the fairwells and safe journeys said, I checked in my luggage and waited in the looong que to go thru security. Yakkin to people in the que, I heard my name mentioned on the overhead speaker.."would Lavinia Smith please return to the checkin couter to UNLOCK HER LUGGAGE".. whoops, didnt realise this was illegal. Got to the counter red faced to unlock my suitcase. Back in line again, the que even longer than before...
Landed in Chicago, stayed unwillingly for 14 hours trying to get a flight out. Thank godness I brought my cell phone. Finally got a flight to LA -Orange County Airport. Airport was closed and no luggage of mine to be seen anywhere. I was supposed to pick up my luggage and take a shuttle to LA Airport which is a 45min drive away, but no luggage-must be at LA airport. Advised I had a hotel booked for me and was directed to hotel. Jumped in Cab, cab didnt take credit card, went back to get cash, got cash, arrived a Hotel, no booking and... no voucher...but I could stay for $238 per night! Walked back to the closed Airport and tired to sleep on a cold metal bench for 5hours!
To my joy I had some battery left on my cellphone and getting really cranky now. Spoke with my dearest mum, who gave me a breath of fresh air. I got my sanity back and able to sleep for a few hours..there was me, on a iron bench, cold as ice, stearing at a store opposite me, which sold blankets and pillows- closed!

Got in a pre arranged (with ofcourse hassles) shuttle finally, and made to....

LAX. Lots of walking to find my luggage, found it, then took the 12 hour flight to Auckland, nearly missed the plane, so cldnt let family know I was on my way. Arrived in Chch, and saw my wonderful sis, Angie..I was sooo happy! Everyone was there, Mum, Arthur, Gene, Rachelle, Bevan, Brian, my nieces and our dearest Oma. We all had coffee then I headed to see Mum & Arthurs new place in Rolleston. Loved the way the place is done..I can say Mum and I have the same tastes! After a relaxing shower and a bit of rest, Genevieve took me out for a drive...I had my reservations but the scary part was remembering I was now sitting in the passenger seat...very scary.
Gene and I went to see Nick and his flatmate (roommate) and Darian. So good to see everyone again. Gene looked after me the whole day, she was so good.
Thsi is Gene washing her 'poo brown' car that she brought with her saved up money

I finally got to have a meat pie after 2years not having one..boy it was good! oh and crunchie bars, vogels bread..it really is like that ad.
Went out for Dinner with Mum, Arthur, Jono, Dom, Gene and Ben when Jono had arrived from Wellington, at a Asian cusine place, very tasty! Had a lot of fun


Dad, Ben and I went out to Dinner at Lonstar, Dad is very popular there as the staff knew him by name! Had a great time, especailly with giving good old Kiwi hassles to our waiter who shrunk when taking our order.
Ben, Gene & I spent a day at the gorgeous Sumner beach, beautiful day to give Gene a 'shower' at the beach, lol. Had yummy kiwi fish n chips after our drive over the Port Hills.


Meet up with seeing my beautiful niece, Alexandra & Abby. Read Alexandra a bedtime story and spent some time with her.


Spent some time in the city of chch and it was great to see a real Police Car!

My last day in NZ, Ben and I went on a driving trip at the last minute over to Arthurs pass, greymouth and over though Hamner springs. Tried to meet up with Claire and Grant, but didnt work out, so we headed to the beach to watch the sunset.
Me in Greymouth with the Train & Car Bridge is.

Lake Lyndon in Arthurs Pass

A picture (left to right) of Shannon, Ben, Little Ajay adn Caitlyn

A poem for little Ajay

'In Our Hearts'

We thought of you with love today,
But that is nothing new.
We thought about you yesterday,
And the days before that, too.

We think of you in silence.
We often speak your name.

Now all we have is memories,
And your picture in a frame.

Your memory is our keepsake,
With which we'll never part.

God has you in His Keeping.
We have you in our Heart.

Photos of my Niece Alexandra trying on her Uniform with her mother Abby. Isnt she so adorable?!

A few pics of the winter snow. This is a pic of our view outside our bedroom. The river is just behind the trees-frozen river which I will add.

The lethal looking icicles hanging down from our apt building.

This pic is taken form inside our apt..you can reach out and touch the icicles, oh how fun!

It wouldnt be a good idea to be running late on a day with a car like this...

This shows how much is snowed last night...nice to have plough workers who clear out the snow everyday and night

Here are a few pics of our 2 Bedroom\2 full bathroom apartment in NY.
Here is our Kitchen

Here is the Living area.

Here is the spare bedroom which we call the Study\Exercise room.

And the main bathroom. It has tiles and a marble entrance at the door. The ensuite bathroom to the Study\Excercise room is smaller, but still a full bathroom.


A very cosy apt compared to places I have lived before andI am very pleased...cos we have central heating...oh so nice not to live in a damp place!

Winter Dec 2007 is now here. Ice and snow on the ground amoungst the grounded leaves from Fall. The Dark grey Sonata is my car in the parking lot. Ben's Truck is to the right.

Fall Sept 2007. Warm Temperatures. The trees with their beautiful leaves changing colours as the chilly Fall season is with us.
Summer August 2007. Gets very humid, hot, above 30 degree c. (98 f)

A three day canoe trip with Isaiah, my husband Ben and me, though April couldnt make it as she wasnt well. A delightful sunny day was spent canoeing passed a few lake side vacation homes, as we headed our way to Hoel Pond. Isaiah had spent a night already to 'safe keep' the best camping spot at hoel pond.

A pic of Isaiahs first 21" Brown Trout fish - very skinny but made a tasty meal later that evening.

The boys heading out...

I caught a fish too..without any bait on the second try!

Me and our piled up canoe, enjoying the warm sun

This is the small tunnel Ben and I pushed the canoe thru...mush easier instead of carrying everything over the train tracks.

This is Ben enjoying the warm water.

Signing out!