Thump!

Yesterday we heard something hit our window and we when we went to go check what it was we found this:





She was a little dazed but after she sat in the shade for a while she was able to fly away.

I love Australia

After my last post I thought Australia deserved a post of all the things I love about it.

1. Our Ward: We have moved a lot and therefore been in a lot of wards. All I can say is this ward is awesome. I have never felt so welcomed!

2. The accent: Of course this is one of the best accents ever! At work the other day I was actually told that my accent was "beautiful". I thought it was crazy that someone would think the way I talk is beautiful compared to the way they talk.

3. The people: I guess this goes along with #1 but everywhere we go the people are so laid back and friendly. Nate's school, church, work - everyone!

4. Tim Tams: Chocolate cookie (or biscuit) with chocolate inside, dipped in chocolate. Mmm.

5. Wild Kangaroos: There is a field right by our house that always has kangaroos. I love driving by and trying to point them out to the boys. And it is so cool to see them bouncing!

6. Birds: The birds here look like they are straight from a pet shop and they will just be standing out in the grass in the mornings. My favorites are the red parrots and white cockatoo with yellow mohawks.

7. Our House: (see earlier post) Our house is so cool!

8. Rounding: They do not have a 1 cent. They just round everything to the nearest 5 cents. This is especially nice when you are working as a cashier (I am).

9. Minimum wage: The minimum wage here is around $15. Awesome!

10. Shops: The ACT is set up so that each town or suburb has an area of shops. Sometimes the shops are small and there will be an IGA (small liquor/grocery store) and maybe a restaurant, hair salon, bike shop, etc. There are bigger shops where there might be a grocery store (or two), clothing shops, veg market, hair salon, bank, etc. In the even bigger ones there is a full mall complete with grocery stores and fresh meat markets. I just think it is really cool that the shops are grouped all together. It makes it so much easier to find things when you are new to the area.

So these are just the things I have come up with living here for 4 months. I am sure by the time our 4 years here are up we will love it even more.

Not that I'm homesick...

I have been thinking lately about all of the things I miss about the good ol USA. Don't worry, I'm not sitting here depressed and crying over this. There are just a lot of things that I have gotten used to over the past 27 years and now find myself without them. So here they are in no particular order.

1. Family and friends: of course I miss you all the most. It is so strange to think that I can't get in a car and visit (or come to your wedding) if I wanted to...and I DO!

2. Taco Bell: I miss my bean burritos no onions!!

3. Shopping carts: Don't get me wrong, they have shopping carts or "trolleys" but they are HORRIBLE! I can't figure out what is wrong with them but they steer you, you don't steer them. I spend my whole shopping trip fighting with them to go where I want them to go and it gets worse the heavier they get.

4. Neosporin: you have to get a prescription to get it. Seriously, am I going to go to the doctor when Liam scrubs his elbow just so I can get some? Tempting.

5. Brands: Not that I am all about the brand names but I recently started a new job and had to find navy blue trousers. If I was in the US I would know exactly the stores to go to to find something that would be what they wanted, within my price range and still cute. I walked through 2 malls and found nothing! I finally found what I was looking for in a kids clothing store that happened to have a section for school uniforms.

6. Mexican Food: There are no Mexican restaurants! Its killing me! There are plenty of Chinese though. Maybe someday we'll get to try some. Which brings me to my next thing...

7. Eating out: We used to try to eat out (not really expensive or anything) at least once on the weekend. Mostly because by the weekend I was usually on cooking strike I was so tired. Eating out is so expensive here that we haven't really been able to try much and trying new foods/restaurants is one of my favorite things to do.

8. Measurements on butter: you try making cookies with a 500g stick of butter when your recipe says you need 1 cup!

9. Target: There is a Target here but its not the Target I know. Apparently they just let them use the name but they are in no way connected.

10. Central Heat: Even Australians have told me that they don't heat their houses as well here. It might help if they had seals around their windows too.

11. Upright vacuum: Vacuuming has always been my favorite chore but when you have to do it hunched over with a hose and adapters its not quite as fun or effective.

12. Right turn on red: Of course if you tried to turn right on red here you would be turning into the middle of the intersection but you are not allowed to turn left on red. Sometimes I want to turn so badly but you never know when a camera will catch you!

Leelou Party

Leelou blogs by far has the cutest layouts I have ever seen...and they're free! I'm ready to party (and maybe even win some free stuff)!

Park Days

Now that the weather is getting warmer we have been spending as much time as we can at the parks. We figure we better get it in before the weather gets so warm we can't go outside!

not cute...HANDSOME

Liam came out of his room this morning all dressed. It isn't unusual for him to dress himself but usually he comes out in either a Thomas or Buzz Lightyear shirt. I thought he looked so cute in his polo with the collar up and shorts. It was something I would have picked out for him to wear (minus the socks). I made him stand there and let me take a picture (okay, 10 pictures) and when I told him how cute he looked today he said, "no mom, not cute...handsome! "

Husband Tag

Where did you meet your husband? Provo, UT, BYU 198th Ward
How long have you been married? 6 years, 10 months
What does he do that surprises you? Does the dishes (sometimes) while I'm at work
What is your favorite feature of his? Lip/chin area
Does he have any annoying habit? Amount of time spent on the computer
What is your favorite quality of his? Always wanting to learn more about anything
Does he have a nickname for you? Sweet lips
What is his favorite color? No idea, but if I had to guess it would be blue. (Just asked him and apparently it's gray...who knew?)
What is his favorite food? Chicken enchiladas, pizza, Stouffer's Lasagna
What is his favorite sport? Basketball
When and where was your first kiss? At a park in Provo, probably June 2001
What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Move...just kidding. We like to go out to eat. Anything we get to do alone is nice because it doesn't happen very often.
Do you have any kids? 2 boys
Does he have a hidden talent? Throat singing and ironing
How old is he? 28
Who said I love you first? Him
What is his favorite type of music? Seriously anything, you should see his music collection
What do you admire most about him? His ability to talk to people easily about almost anything
Will he read this? Eventually

I guess I have to tag someone now...how about Amber

Spring is Here!

I love spring! Last week I walked around our yard taking pictures of all of the flowers. I found 11 just in our yard! I have no idea what any of them are called but I was very impressed that our yard could produce so many flowers in a water shortage with no effort on our part! I just wish I was a better photographer!

"I making cookies Mommy"

Every night when I am making dinner Jonas comes into the kitchen and "makes cookies" in the cabinet next to me. Sometimes I get frustrated because he pulls the pots and pans out and drags them all over the house and gets in the way while I am trying to cook and makes so much noise.

Sunday our lesson in Relief Society was on Elder Ballard's conference talk from April 2008. In it he says, "recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.

Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

I know I definitely get caught up in everything I have to do and forget to enjoy life but I am going to try and treasure these moments with my children more.

Labour Day (rained out)

So today is Labour Day and since Nate had the day off school and I don't work on Mondays we thought it would be fun to invite a family from church to a park to have a little BBQ and let the kids play. The drive to the park was nice and sunny and there was only a minor chance of rain in the forecast. About 5 minutes after arriving it started to get really windy and we could see dark clouds coming our way. Right as the other family got there it started sprinkling. We weren't going to let that scare us away! This was the first time we actually invited someone to do something and we were going to make the best of it. Plus, you try dragging 4 kids all under 4 away from an awesome park after you've only been there for a few minutes! Almost everyone else at the park was leaving so we had the best picnic bench that was under a cover and we were close to the play area and a grill. We figured if we waited it out long enough the rain would pass and we could have the park all to ourselves. After another 15 minutes of waiting it out the rain was just getting harder. When we saw the lighting flash we decided we better try again another time. We did manage to get a couple shots of the kids chasing the gulls before we had to run to the car.

Tickle Tickle!!

The other day Liam fell on the floor and Jonas immediately pounced. He started tickling him like crazy! One of my favorite things in the world is seeing them laugh together.


It wasn't long before Liam got Jonas back.

By Request

I had a request to see the straw material close up. The owners were telling us about it when we first came to look at the place and I guess the straw is really thick and then it has concrete roofing tiles on the outside. He said it is what they use for insulation on ice rooms (where they store ice I guess?). I can definitely agree that it keeps the warmth OUT! But we are told it will feel like we have air conditioning in the summer when it is super hot outside.