And another year passes - many an update #2

Staying with Sparky and Sar is pretty much like coming home for us. I think they're possibly our best friends in the whole world and sometimes it's more comfortable being with them than family even. Surprisingly, they're also the only people in the world who can ever convince me to drink anything other than the odd Kahlua and milk - I think the last time I had wine was with them and this time it was sparkling wine. There's always culinary delights to learn while we're there too :)

Cody had a great time learning what it's like to have another baby around. A little confused and shy at first, but Elvis (not his real name :P) was very gentlemanly and made sure not to spew on Cody ;) He apparently didn't have the same promise for the rest of us *laugh*.

We caught up with our sister-in-law when the fam came to a bbq at Sparky and Sar's. It was fabulous to see the guys again - we don't seem to see them nearly as often as we should. It was also comforting to see how well our sister-in-law was doing - still in a lot of pain and still adjusting to a prosthetic diaphragm, but doing well nonetheless.

The next catch up we were doing was probably a bit more of a challenge for us. We had to leave Cody with Sar and Sparky for the evening because she is just a minefield of germs at the best of times and with a snotty nose, we couldn't guarantee what she'd be passing on if we took her with us when we saw the boys. Ultimately a good decision because our thoughts were confirmed that Trent's immune system just wouldn't cope with anything Cody might pass on.

As an even more special ring to the evening, we caught up with Renee's friend Carla at the boys' place too. I think its been a solid 10 years since we saw her, so it really made the night perfect to have us all there :) We were sitting around talking and laughing and settling right in, then Trent came down and we listened to Xmas carols and goofed around like we would have had it been 4 years earlier. As much as Trent looked much different to the last time we saw him and had much less energy, it made me all warm and mushy to see he was still the same cheeky Trent on the inside :) It was touching to be there that night. I don't think Xmas had ever meant quite so much to me as it did for that couple of hours.

All too quickly, our time was up in Sydney and we were back to Marrar for actual Xmas day and the rest of the family coming in. I can remember a few moments when we were all just kicking back around the table, thinking how much I loved spending time with family. I felt so comfortable and so relaxed and it was awesome to have us all together.