Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Happy Holidays!

So here- whenever there is a school break or just a public holiday.... it's the holidays! So the kids are on a 2 week holiday from school. Things are starting to feel a little more normal around here, as normal as they can when you live in a foreign country. We are enjoying it- as we meet more people it enhances the experience.

I though I would start out with a few more vocabulary words for you. The award for the best vocab mistake of the week goes to..... Kevin! Kev has been interviewing new assistants. He found one who he liked, she is about 50 yrs old. He told his staff in a meeting "I think she would be a great assistant because she is really 'spunky'!" Spunky here means - 'hot and promiscuous'. FUNNY! I'm glad they worked that one out or they would think he was a sick-o.

Cuppa- cuppa of whatever: coffee, tea or in my case juice. I went and grabbed a cuppa with some of the 2nd grade room moms.

Just a Tick- just a second..... 'we are leaving in just a tick'

Muckin'- 'Quit muckin' around!', means messing around or goofing off.

Ring- 'Just give me a ring.' Call me.

Sing out- 'If you need anything just sing out!' Just let me know.

Lovely- if food is good, I'm sure other things too. 'This dip is just lovely.'

Cheers- Sometimes people use it to thank you or sometimes they thank you and then say 'cheers', people end emails with it or say it when you open a door for them and such.

No worries- basically saying 'No problem.'

Everyone also always asks how we are 'finding it here?' How do we like it so far.

There are a few phrases I can see myself picking up. Many of them sound more cheery....however to hear a grown man say "Oh- I want to go get some lollies (candy)," makes me laugh....some words sound a little feminine. :)


The school year here starts in February and ends December 21st. So there is only a 6 week summer but after every term the kids get 2 weeks off- that happens 3 times. I actually really like it. It was $650 for the kids uniforms and it was just over $1000 to get the kids registered for school. That is a cheaper public school. However, they do great field trips and in just the 4 weeks my kids have been there they have had 6 career professionals from city come talk to them. I can tell this is a really great school and the moms are so involved. My friend told me to register her 4 girls in their private school, which is most common for middle and high schools here, they could have purchased a really nice car. That is just for one year!

Andrew and Brooke on the first day! They have to wear the hats at recess the 1st and 4th semesters- sun smart school.
Yes....she's mine :). So cute but she said she only wore it because Aunt Leah wanted a picture. I can only get her to wear it like once a week but it's so cute on her!
This is there school- it's pretty old and historic looking but they have updated it and added a new addition on the back.
New addition...and the playground grass is turf. They also have 3 sandboxes.
These next few picts are at the Victoria Street market. It is awesome there- a huge square block of just an outside market- under a metal canopy. They have clothes, cooking supplies, toys, souvenirs, and food. I believe they are open year round. This is Brooke with a potato dipped in batter and fried. And it came from a Chinese booth. By the way....when we say Idaho here people say "oh- home of the potato!"
Tons of fresh fruit and veggies....I love it!
Meat market across the street from this market. Seriously a building filled with vendors selling meat. One guy had beef ribs in an open box on the ground....needless to say- I purchased from the next guy.
We are really close to a train station and the kids love to ride it- it is quite handy. The kids and I took it the 2nd week we were here to the zoo while Kevin was out of town. This is the central big station downtown where the trains come into- I took this picture when we were switching trains.
Train ride!
So the story with Kevin's foot is still sortof a mystery. While he was traveling on business we think he got bit by something. The problem was that it got crazy infected- it was so swollen and he couldn't walk to get onto the plane to come home. They wouldn't let him get on plane and sent him to hospital- he came home the next day and was on in-home hospital care for the next week. It was awesome having the docs an nurse come to the house so Kev could just be home with us. Carson didn't leave his side- at the end of the week the doc told Carson that he was released from the hospital too and that he was also going to have to get out of bed soon!
Kevin's IV of double dose antibiotics hanging from the curtain rod :).
Here are just a few random pictures of a few things we have done and seen. This is the first beach we went to- Safety Beach on Mornington Peninsula. So clean and beautiful!

This huge dome is the stadium where Kevin got to watch some of the Australian open tennis tournament. Botanical gardens- they had 1,800 different kinds of trees and plants there- it was awesome.
St. Kilda beach near downtown Melbourne. It isn't very clean but it was an awesome view.
Wind/kite surfing. We don't know the official name but these guys were all over and it looked like so much fun!Last but not least. This is a picture of our safe haven....our home away from home. Oh Mackers (McD's) how we have such a love hate relationship. In Idaho Kevin and I would protest before we would eat here.....now we look forward to it. Soda's with Ice and a cheeseburger that tastes so familiar to us. Not to mention....the only good deal we have found in Australia so far....the ice cream cones are only 30 cents! However- value meals are only available from 12-2pm....otherwise you have to order the meal separately!

Until next time! Cheers- Steph

Friday, March 16, 2012

The move...

These are a few of the pictures of our journey over to Australia and our first few days. Kevin has some better pictures of the plane ride that I will get on here soon. Besides our suitcases we were allowed to send 500lbs of our personal belongings. Sounds like a lot....but turned out that it's not. Below is what 500lbs looks like.
Saying goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa....
The first of 3 flights....kids were super excited, I think I was numb.
Carson fell asleep in the LA airport on the floor waiting to board for the 16 hour flight- we tried to keep him up but luckily he slept for almost 8 hours of the plain ride too.
Andrew loved the T.V.'s on the back of each seat. They were seriously so nice, I think I slept a total of an hour and a half on the flight so I was able to catch up on my chick flicks.

Our first sight of the Australian coast line...
Landing in Melbourne.....looks like...not what I had imagined :)
This is our 2 story plane. It was 10 seats and 2 isles wide.
This is the comforting big sign we saw in the airport.
Downtown Melbourne, pretty beautiful.
Many of the streets are lined with trees like this, it's beautiful.

Our new townhome- it really is beautiful and we feel quite comfortable in it. There is no yard just a little porch out back.

Carson- sleeping on an Ikea bed in the middle of the store. He and I had the hardest time adjusting to the time difference. There was a lot of shopping the first few days because we didn't ship any furniture over- it was cheaper to buy it here.
Instead of 50 cents for the little kiddie rides they are all a $2 coin, Kevin told them to enjoy the ride because it was the last one they were going to get while here. ;)

I was a little overwhelmed after the first grocery shopping trip. The butter comes in solid blocks of 500 grams (1.1 lbs) or in 1.5 grams (3.3 lbs), and the cheddar cheese is white! Medium cheddar is called Tasty Cheddar. I found the cheese at the end of the shopping trip and trying to adjust to all of the new brands and not finding just our normal basics I was....a little flustered. Kevin recalls me turning to him and saying "The cheddar is white here, I'm just not sure I can do this anymore- you pick out the dang cheese!" So much to take in the first week and I am still struggling with the easiest way to measure butter from a big block.

This picture doesn't give justice to how huge this block of butter is!
I took this picture in our travels...Idaho??? Nope....Australia.
More pictures to come!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Australia!!!

So as most of you know.....we are living in Australia for the next year or so. Kevin was given the opportunity to be the General Manager of Australia and New Zealand for Melaleuca. It has all happened so quickly- he was first approached about the position on January 3rd, by January 16th he was on a plane on his way to Australia for 2 and a half weeks. On February 18th our family flew out of IF to begin our new adventure. As exciting and as extreemly difficult as this decision has been for our family we feel like we were ment to come here. Not sure totally why yet but time will tell.

So we have been here for 2 weeks so far.....it has been a long 2 weeks! After one week I felt like I had been here a year already. It's getting better but part of that has been that we still haven't received our shippment of 500lbs that we were able to ship from home (which isn't all that much). So we have what we carried in our suit cases (all 9 of them + carry on bags) and what we have purchased here.... the basics of furniture and food. We have watched Dispicable Me at least once a day for 10 days (we don't have our DVD player yet and it's the only movie on a jump drive). I haven't blown my hair dry in 2 weeks....it's getting out of control.

Since I can't get my memory card with my pictures on it to work I thought I would just post about a few differences here and for those who don't know much about Australia (NOT THAT I DO)....give you a few details.

*We live in Surrey Hills which is a suburb of Melbourne; pronounced "Melbin". Melbournes population is around 4 million people. Only slightly larger than Idaho Falls :).

*Melbourne is in the South East corner of Australia and in the state of Victoria, Australia is made up of 6 states and 2 territories, the islands of Tasmania or Tazzy being one of the states.

*Australia is about as big as the connected 48 states. Melbourne is the second largest city. However, much of the middle of the country (The Bushland) is not very populated.

*We are 18 hours ahead here. So the easiest math for that is take your time in IF (would vary for other places) minus 6 hours......but we are a day ahead. So if it's your Friday at 3pm it is our Saturday at 9am. The kids think it is cool that we left on a Saturday and got here on a Monday....we completely skipped Sunday.

*As Kevin states it they drive on the "wrong side of the road" as opposed to the actual right side of the road. Oh- and of course they use the metric system. My weight on the scale looks way better in kilograms.

*Also...I'm sure in your head your are possibly picturing the late Steve Irwin or Crocidile Dunde (seriously people??). Anyway....yes the accent is the same or similar. But no on the khaki and the life style. Well....in Melbourne that is. This is big city professional and to me the shock has been more with the big city life than the fact that I am in a foreign country.

So here are a few other things that I found interesting about this place.....

*People have said the toilets flush the opposite way than they do in the US, so I tried to take notice. However, it must be a newer thing they have a "full flush" button and a "half flush" button and they both just go straight down not in any particular circular pattern :). To conserve water.

*Power is expensive here and so there are little switches above all the outlets- you only turn them on when they are in use. Also- I thought the oven was broken....but apparently there is a button to turn that on too.

*In a lot of stores you put money in to get a Trolly (shopping cart) and when you return cart it will return your $.

*Supposedly you don't tip here (I am still trying to figure out if that is Kevin being cheap or not).

*Their smallest bill is a $5- they do have $1 and $2 dollar coins (along with others) but no 1 cent. The smallest is 5 cent and tax is built into price.

A few of the words they use....that I understand what they mean.....there are lots that i don't get yet!

*Good onya- means good for you or well done.
*Fair go- 'Give it a fair go." Give it a chance or try.
*lolies - sweets or candy
*Bloke- means man or guy. (When Kevin first heard this word he thought it was mean term).
*Kindie- Kindergarten which is actually our pre-school.
*Uni- University. Our neighbor told us her grand daughter was 'At Uni in Road Island'
*Brekkie- Breakfast
*mate- friend
*Mackers- McDonalds (this is for the Gordon's they were trying to figure it out).
*Rubbish- garbage. It's printed on the bins every where- I just thought it was slang.
*Footy/Aerial Ping Pong- Australian rules football.
*Chokkie- Chocolate
*Tea- supper, meal....snack. The kids get a tea break at school (snack break).
*Fairy Floss- cotton candy

A few of the things I miss.....besides the OBVIOUS: family, friends, ward, profession and feeling like an active member of society.....! Ok- so here are a few trivial things....

*Ice Water......ice is rarely used here. In fact Mackers is the only place to give ice with drinks....and that's an American place. I asked the furniture guys if they wanted Ice Water and they said....um, no ice. I actually asked if it was because they didn't like it or was it just part of the culture. They stared at me and just said "Um...no ice."

*I miss going to the 'Market' and finding whatever we need. I haven't been able to find any baking soda yet. The only cereal the kids would pick out was fruit loops and it was $7.50 a box! On the other hand we are developing better eating habbits with out all of our extras.

*I miss a full size washer and dryer. They don't even use dryers here!!! They had to put mine on the cabinet and there is no air return vent so it just blows into the laundry room. Not good on a hot day. I admire them for this.....

*I miss jumping into the car and heading where ever I need to go. I haven't attempted driving yet because it's crazy here, so I can get on the train....which is kindof cool. However there seems to be no quick trips.

That is all the complaining I wish to do tonight. Over all this has been an eye-opening experience- which is exactly what I was expecting. I'm excited to do more exploring- so far we have been to a beautiful beach, downtown street market and I ventured out yesterday (Kevin is out of town) and took the kids on the train to the zoo.

I will really work on getting pictures on here....but the pictures don't scream "Whoa she lives in Australia" anyway :). Good night!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

It's only been 16 months since an update.....

Well, it's been a while. A LONG while. I was looking through my pictures this morning looking at all of the fun things we have been up to and decided it was time! It's almost Christmas but here is our back to school picture and a few others from our great summer!

Carson (thinks he is starting school this day....super unhappy when he finds out that Joy School doesn't start for a few weeks. Brooklyn 1st grade and Andrew 2nd.

We had the chance to be with both sides of our family this summer and see everyone- it was awesome but reminded me of how much we miss everyone and love being together.

This is the whole Sommer Family- we were all together for 1 day for baby Lola's baby blessing.

These are a few of the cousins in my family...minus the ones under 5. We didn't get a good picture of everyone together.

My beautiful friend Tiff (Yost) Roundy took our family pictures this summer- I was so thrilled with the way they turned out, she is truly talented. Carson threw up during the first family shoot so she came back 2 weeks later when he was up to it. I want to frame this picture because this captures the true reality of life. Perfect.


He is still not so happy.....but he was a trooper.

2 weeks later.....happy Carson, 3yrs old.
Brooklyn 6yrs....there were so many amazing pictures of this Angel!
My handsome Andrew 7yrs, what a little stud.
My three little amigos......
Us.....LOVE him.
Well.....who knows, maybe by next June you will have an update on Christmas!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Back to reality....

Well, this summer has been a great one! We will miss it.... I will miss the sleeping in probably most of all. Today was the first day of school, I have so many emotions. Sad....excited.....and everything in between. I love my kids so much- Andrew to be gone the whole day is a bit much. He is just too good of a kid to wish him away. Brooke will do great she does love school and 3 hours is enough to get her fix yet I still get her most of the day. After everyone left this morning Carson went down stairs and was yelling "Dada, dada... where go?" Next I heard him yelling for "An-do, An-do (Andrew)" He came upstairs and said "Mom- where go?" I told him Dad was at Work and Andrew was at school. Then I asked "Where's Brookie" and he responded "Wok (work)"! It's going to take some getting used to just Carson and I alone...maybe we will get a new hobby, like jogging or folding the clothes they same day I wash them :).

First day of school! Brooklyn started Kindergarten and Andrew is in 1st grade. Yes- those are coats on August 30th.
Kevin had an amazing opportunity to go to Alaska fishing for 3 days, he just got back. He loved it. This is him with his 45lb Halibut.
The Melaleuca crew with just ONE day of their catches.

Carson......
Playing at Rigby Lake

At Warm River feeding the fish, it never gets old.
Boating with friends while we stayed at their cabin in Island Park.
Carson has newly discovered the art of 'Pluggy Walking' (pacifier=pluggy). He is one of a kind, I know it's kindof gross.
Hope you all had a wonderful summer!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Sommer Summer Update....

So far this summer has been fun and is going by too fast! We just ended our Tee-ball season- which turned out to be really fun! Andrew is a great hitter and Brooklyn...really improved from the beginning of the season (mainly she is just really cute out in the field).

Andrew caught his first snake in our back yard (usually dad catches them), he asked over and over "Mom, are you the proudest you have ever been of me?" He was super cute- not so much the snake. (can't turn this pict for some reason).
We just had a great visit with our cousins from AZ, The Madders (my sisters kids). We loved having them and we already miss them so much! This is my mom with the grandkids. 4th of July (well...actually 3rd of July)- Down at the River....

Carson eating Corn on a Stick and loving it!
Brooklyn with cousins Ally and Analiese- so cute! They are all with-in about 8 months of each other.More Cousins.....Halle and Jagger.

Right when the big fireworks started...this is what Carson did. Sparklers......
Happy Summer to you all!