My, How Life Changes Fast!

Anyone that's followed us on facebook or emails will know that we have had a few changes in our life lately.  The bookstore closed, Steve got a job in Australia, and our little one turned 1.  With us moving to Australia, we wanted to make sure we visited all of our family because we wouldn't be back for at least a year and half (We're hoping to visit for Christmas of 2012).

Having had the bookstore, we became accustomed to having a crazy life. We had four kids playing sports, one in scouts, three in school and I was put in as 1st counselor in the Primary.  When asked how we survived it, we just say "we just did".   We even look back at life then and wonder how in the world we did it!!

When it was time to get ready to move, we took the things we learned from the insanity of the store and used to pack an entire house.  My sister was a huge help and kept me sane when I was about to lose it!  Because hey, I may have survived the year before but that didn't mean it was easy. Plus she was there through all of that too. :)  During all of the moving we had to figure out WHEN we were leaving but also how to visit everyone before we left. Steve's parents kept telling us that we didn't need to worry about going down there but I was determined we would make it because we love to visit them and because they're family.

The first visit was to my family.  We stayed a little longer so that I could go to the dentist to get a bridge fixed. THAT was fun.   Here are some pictures from then:

 It was a wonderful weekend.  I was sad to see it end.   My children had a very difficult time leaving and that made it even harder for me!!  A week later I had to go back to get my bridge put in again and it was hard driving past the turn off for Oakley and not get to go.  I did get to have frozen yogurt at a yummy place in Burley with my sister and her kids. It was awesome! And yummy - even if I only got to taste it with half a mouth... dumb numbing shots...

On the 28th of February I got a brand new nephew. I was so happy I got to be around when he was born. I was afraid I'd miss him!  And the next morning was Heidi's birthday.  She didn't get much of a birthday because of packing. But in the evening we stopped for a bit and let her have some of the amazing chocolate cake we'd gotten the night before for a birthday party.  Here are photos:

What a happy baby!!  She LOVED her cake.  And we were all so tired that we forgot to give her the gift we got her until two days later.   It was a little princess doll. I still need a picture of her cuddling up with her doll.

After all the packing on Friday and Saturday it was time for a nice break for Sunday.  But alas, we kept right on going.  We headed on down to St George and spent a wonderful day with Steve's family.   We stopped first at the Red Rocks to get pictures.  Then we headed over to Steve's sister's house to eat a yummy dinner.  After visiting there for a couple of hours we gave hugs and went to Steve's parents' house.  It was a fun time and we got pictures.  Some are blurry. :(

 

 

 We were sad we didn't get more time and it was hard to leave.  I don't like seeing Steve tear up but I knew what he was going through.  Its hard to say goodbye for long periods of time!! I can't wait until we come back to visit. 3 years and 11 months will go by fast and soooo slow at the same time. I'm determined to get as much out of this adventure as I can. But will sure be happy to go home when its all over!! Wow, just realized it really is 3 years and 11 months from today that our visa will be up...


 For any of you that follow this blog but don't know about our travel blog, it is www.weistadventures.blogspot.com.  That one has pictures and stories about our move to Australia and what we've experienced.

I love and miss all of you!!  I will continue this blog for family type stuff like birthdays and holidays.  This gives me a hobby and something to do since I have so much time on my hands now! For now....

Christmas 2010

Now that it's nearing the end of January, its time to post for Christmas...

We got to have a long, relaxing vacation. We were going to leave for St. George on Monday the 20th but because of a coming storm we took off on Sunday.  And we're glad we did!  There was a stretch of road where we could barely see anything that night and it only got worse the next day.  In fact, for the first couple of days we were there, there were flood warnings throughout St. George (there was a stretch of road that was closed by our house!) and there was a dam that looked like it might fail. Crazy!!!

We rented a house this time.  So after waiting all day for our Odyssey to get its oil changed and recalled parts replaced, we finally went over to see it. And we were in awe. It was NICE.  There were 4 bedrooms, a fireplace, granite countertops, a little putting green and on and on.  Which is good because Steve got sick and we were stuck in the house for a few days.  They didn't go crazy in the house like they would have in a hotel!!

We also took care of passport pictures for all of the kids, did some shopping and visited with all of Steve's family.  It was so much fun! After a rather large mess of getting Christmas gifts (long, funny story that I can't share on here but if you ask, I'll tell you later) we had a fantastic Christmas.  We borrowed a small tree from Steve's parents' neighbor and had our own little Christmas. I even made egg nog milkshakes. YUMMY!!

Christmas afternoon we took off and headed home. It was hard to leave because the kids were having so much fun with cousins they don't get to see very often but we needed to make the next leg of our trip.   We got back around 10:30 that night and because the kids had slept in the car, we opened the gifts that couldn't fit in the car. 

The next morning we went to church and then headed on to Idaho. The roads were not so pretty but we made it and were happy to be there.  We opened the gifts from Grandpa and Grandma and cousins.  The kids loved it!  My brother's family also opened the gifts from us.

We enjoyed our time in Idaho. We played with cousins, enjoyed time with Grandma and Grandpa and just had quiet time.  We visited both of my grandmas which was a lot of fun too.  I woke up with a cold one day and I was very grateful to have time to just lay down.

New Year's Eve was great!  The kids played Twister which was fun to watch. Grandpa spun the wheel and Grandma took pictures.  Then we all sat in the hot tub.  Around midnight we pulled out the fryer my dad got my mom and we enjoyed mozzarella sticks, french fries, and cheesecake.  YUMMY!!!  For Christmas we all got a industrial french fry cutter and we tried it out. It is AWESOME.   My sister came over after her kids were asleep and we enjoyed talking until 3:30 in the morning.

Then it was time to go home.  We got home and shoveled our way out so we could actually make it into the house.   Now to see what 2011 brings us!!