My Adventure Buddy

I may or may not have fallen for my brothers complete charm and take way  too many pictures of him but my favorite thing to do is match the pictures to a quote that inspired them.  

These are some of my favorites.

Quote Reminder

Overcoming Fear in an Aussie Halloween

This week was pretty exciting since I went to a YSA camp weekend in Apollo Bay which is on the Great Ocean Road (an extremely famous coast line).  Friday started out pretty nice with it being really warm and sunny so Clare, Tim and I (who were carpooling) stopped and swam in the ocean for a few hours before heading to camp.  Once we got to camp we started setting up camp and getting the Scare Walk ready for when the others came. 

They don’t really do Halloween here, it’s more a light fad, so the Scare Walk was the extent of my Halloween activities. 

We started the walk at about 10:30 at night and we used a path that went from our camp site down to the beach.  We had people, me being one, who were strategically placed down the path to freak people out.  I got one girl really good.  :D  Once we got to the beach we then played capture the flag for a while before having to head back to camp since it was starting to rain.

The storm hit at about midnight.  And OH WOW.  It was so bad that a group of us huddled in the club house (a little shelter building at the camp site with a fire place.  It was open on one side so all it did was shelter from the rain, not the cold or wind) and played cards until 2:30 when we got in trouble.  It was massive amounts of fun though.  They had never heard of Slap Jack!  Don’t worry.  I converted them.  :D

The storm lasted all night long and after we had to get up and tie the tents down extra firmly since two blew off, our tent leaked and every time the wind blew water rained from the roof to our heads.  :D  I got about an hour and a half to two hours of sleep….

The next day we went kayaking down the river that we were camped on to the ocean which was EPIC.  I KAYAKED to the ocean.  :D  Once we made it to the surf we left our shoes and paddles on the shore and then we took the kayaks, they were sit on top, out to where the waves were and we would hop on them and ride them into shore like a body board. 

Well my motto right now is “overcoming fears” since it’s becoming a big problem in my life.  I get really fixated on little things that freak me out and I freeze up or start having panic attacks.  One of my biggest fears is being thrown into water or getting water on my face unexpectedly.  I’m fine with going in deep or jumping off the diving board or what not if I decide to do it.  However if I lose control of that I start to panic.  For example, the last time I went boating and they put me on a tube I started hyperventilating because it freaked me out that I didn’t know when I was going to get thrown. 

Anyway…. That was a long explanation to where this is going…  I was trying to face fears this weekend so they convinced me to do the kayak/body board thing which was freaking me out since the waves were throwing us all over the place.  Well I jumped on the kayak and got NAILED by this huge wave that threw me off the kayak, away from the kayak and my buddies, and into a massive pile of rocks that we didn’t know were there.  Needless to say that fear is still being worked on and now I have some epic bruises.  :D

Rose By Any Other Name

This weekend we went to the Werribee Mansion Park again for the Rose Garden opening which was BEAUTIFUL!  I have so many pictures of roses now!  :P

The best part though was Zach figured out how to smell the roses so he was walking around doing over exaggerated sniffs and then saying “ahh.”  Well he found this one rose that was just slightly taller than him that he wanted to sniff so he started pulling it down to his face to smell only to discover that it was full of rain water.  It splashed all over his face and nose and he freaked out!  The best part was though I just so happened to be trying to take a picture of him with the shutter button down on my phone so I caught the entire sequence on camera! 

It’s so weird to think that it is spring here.  My brain is wigging out whenever they start talking about doing a picnic or a beach day for Christmas and how we’ll be roasting in January when it’s over 100 degrees every day.  It’s going to be so fun but so weird!

Moonlit Sanctuary

Shawnie had her birthday here a few weeks ago which was absolutely amazing.  Since we can’t really take much home with us when we leave we are trying to focus holidays on gifts in the form of memories or experiences so for her birthday we went down onto the peninsula and spent a few days in a beach house, since it's spring here (a weird notion to think of November as spring). 

My favorite part of that trip though was on the way there we stopped at a place called “Moonlit Sanctuary.”  It was a place where they had all different kinds of Aussie animals that you could interact with.  I have officially hugged/cuddled a koala.  :D 

However the coolest thing was they had this area in the back where they just had domesticated kangaroos and wallabies wandering around free range and we were able to buy some food and hand feed them.  IT WAS SO COOL!!!

They love the forests here, which while impossible to explain or photograph are extremely beautiful, so you walk through this path in this forest and they are just everywhere sleeping on the sides of the path or following you.  Even Zach was able to hand feed a few. 


Since it’s spring it’s also baby season and at one point I had four wallabies (they are like mini kangaroos) eating out of my hands, three of which had baby joeys hanging out of their pouches!

The Finish Line

This morning I lost my very best friend in the world.

Ryker Lance Dattage was killed this morning at 8:40 in Green Canyon when they assume he fell asleep behind the wheel before crossing lanes of traffic and hitting another truck.
He died instantly.
All I can keep thinking is that I never got to say goodbye.  I hadn't even had a face to face conversation with him since graduation and he was out of town when I moved.
Ryker, you've been my best friend since the third grade.

I'd helped you get your first girlfriend, overcome depression (mine and yours) with you, competed in debate with you as a team mate and a fellow captain, smacked sense into you way too often, and laughed with you way too much.  You used to always call me your second mother because I pushed you so much and held you back so often.
I know I didn't leave America on the best of terms with you and I regret some of the childish things I said but I can't even be mad at you for breaking your promise.

It was you who taught me what it meant to be a friend.  I'll never forget how good of a friend you were to all those around you whenever they needed it.

Remember when Tristan was getting bullied by some kid?  You didn't even hesitate you marched off only knowing the kids extracurricular activity, hair color, and height to stand up for Tristan.  I'll still be mocking you in heaven for pinning the wrong kid to the locker and giving him a piece of your mind.  But it just showed me how someone is supposed to care about their friends.  You would have done anything for the Muchachos and because of that they would have done anything for you.
For the first time in my life I regret not keeping a better journal or taking more pictures.

You taught me what it meant to be proud.
I remember you telling me how proud you were to be a Dattage and how you hoped that you could live up to that name so that someday your kids could be proud of it as well.

You taught me that it's important to listen.
I probably ranted to you about stupid things more than any other person but that was because you always listened.  You always corrected me, cursed with me, or simply sat in silence while I got it out.  I know that you ranted to me just as much and I tried my best to listen but I can't thank you enough anyway.

There are so many 'remember whens' and 'what ifs' that my chest feels like it's going to explode.
But you better know that just because you're gone from here that I'm letting you off the hook.  You better be ready to talk next time I see you.
Because next time I'll listen.
And until then I promise you that I'm going to do my best to live life your way.  To fight for my friends.  To be proud of my family name.  To listen not just to respond but to understand people.  To notice the small, beautiful moments.  To love whatever I do.
I promise.
I'll see you at the finish line Ryk.

Imperfectly Beautiful

I’ve really been thinking a lot about different things and I found this quote the other day that just made everything better. “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”  Sometimes in this life we get so focused on everything that we should be doing or everything that could go wrong, or we get set in a certain way of doing things that we miss out on what Heavenly Father has planned for us.  

Life is beautiful.  

Why would we want to miss a second of it?  

Sometimes you we will mess up.  Sometimes we burn three pie crusts in one day simply trying to make an American Pie for someone as a thank you.  Sometimes the little brother deletes your homework.  Sometimes you scrape your knee.  Lock yourself out.  Misinterpret something.  Forget a birthday.  Fall and tear your pants.  Quote a scripture mastery wrong.  There will always, always, always be mistakes.  '

The trick is to smile, laugh, and find the beauty. 

Because sometimes it’s the flaws that make something beautiful.  

Sometimes it’s the sticky, grubby card that a sibling makes for you.  Sometimes it’s the flower missing it’s petals that stands out the most.  Sometimes the scrapes, bruises, and worn parts are what make something valuable and treasonable.