Having fun!

So it has been raining the last 3 days and today it finally stopped but it was still cloudy all day. This is unusual amounts of rain for Brisbane, to the point that they are setting new records....I just wish it had waited until I left. So the beach wasn't even a site to see as you will notice in the pictures below. Due to the recent earthquake in Chile and the storms in Brisbane, the water was brown and really gross!!! I was really disappointed. I will just have to make another trip back someday to see what Australia really has to offer!

I chased the seagulls since I was bored and couldn't go in the water. It was pretty fun.

An huge ugly puffer fish that was washed up on shore.

Last night I went to Bulimba which is a nice little town by the Brisbane river, had some dinner with friends I volunteered with in Romania nearly 4 years ago (who knew we would all reunite in Australia 4 years later) They all live in Brisbane now so it was quite fun catching up with them and remembering our Romanian adventures!! We also headed over to Kangaroo point where the temple is and had a nice walk along the river overlooking the city.




Only a few more days left and not much planned......definitely have to come back and do things right next time!! I am so glad I got to see some old friends and of course Jenessa!!!

Adventures in Australia

So plans for Australia didn't quite go as I thought they would. However, I have done my best to have a good time, despite the rain, and unexpected events, I think so far, I have had a pretty good time.

Coincidentally, our friend Ian Fowles and his band the Aquabats fly to Brisbane on the same flight as me for a band tour. So we went out to lunch with Ian and his friend (Sax/keyboard player for Aquabats) at Nanado's, a delicious chicken place that is super popular apparently.

Jenessa and I got free tickets from Ian to go see him play at the huge Sound Wave event. It is the equivalent of Warped Tour in the states. Anyway, we felt totally out of our element but it was fun to see the Aquabats play again, especially since we used to go see them all the time when we were teenagers.
Here they are playing one of their long time favorites, Martian Girl. Our friend Ian is the Bass guitarist on the far left....the super skinny guy rockin' out!!

So we were so excited because just after the Aquabats finished playing we were able to stop and see Jimmy Eat World play for a bit. I love this band and it was so awesome to get to see them play. There were so many people there it was insane!!!!

I love museums and I went to the Brisbane Museum of Modern Art and saw some pretty cool stuff. This is a figure of Buddha lying down made completely out of stickers. There was just about every sticker you could think of on here.

This tree made out of copper and brass pots and pans from village people somewhere in Asia (I forgot what country) was pretty cool, so big and such an interesting idea for art.

One of my favorites was this VW bug, its like the mansion of VW bugs, totally thought of my friend Jon when I saw this, he lived in his bug for awhile back in the day.

Went to lunch with some beautiful girls. Jenessa and a wonderful Aussie girl Bec and I had a great lunch and then browsed the cute antique shops of Paddington.

We scored some cool finds, including these seriously heavy and horribly uncomfortable prosthetic legs.

Who remembers the trolls?

A very nice lounger from a high social class family, it doesn't look very comfortable but it was surprisingly nice.

So it has been raining for 3 days and that has kind of ruined a lot of plans to fun....not much to do when it rains. We ventured out to the shops today anyway and got soaking wet. Its not too bad though since it is still like 80 degrees outside.

More adventures to come.....

If you ever think life is hard........

Read this book!
And you will realize that life is full of struggles, but there is always a choice of how to react and what to do with that sliver of strength you have left to once again make life worth living.




My mom gave me this book for Christmas and like many books I have read, it really made me think and appreciate all I have been blessed with in life. If you want to learn more about the book or the movement go to http://www.halftheskymovement.org/ Even recognizing and talking about world issues can bring change. It is a lack of knowledge that thwarts change.

My loves are leaving....

My sister and her husband decided since he graduated from Chiropractic school to settle down and start his own practice....of all places they could do this, they chose BOISE, IDAHO. So far away, so cold, and so small town. That's why they love it. But sadly, that means that I won't get to spend much time with my 3 loves anymore, so I made one last trip to California to spend some extra time with my favorite nephews and niece. I love them forever!!!!

Can't help but smile when I see this face!

Love my sister forever!!!

This smile gets me every time!

These brown eyes.....precious!

Elsie and Ryan having fun playing!

Some great moments!

The last few months have been wonderful. Spent 3 weekends in a row in California. It was a lot of driving but I had lots of fun. Thanksgiving was great spending time with all the family. My friend Jon from Wales is visiting so he had Thanksgiving with us. Our relationship is a unique one, everyone thinks we are dating, but we are really more like brother and sister. You can tell by the picture below!!!

Wouldn't be a trip home if I didn't get to see my favorite kids!

We all went to the tree farm to pick out a Christmas Tree. The kids liked the sticks and dirt much more than looking for a tree.

See...Jacob had lots of fun playing in the dirt.

But the best of all was going to my best friends wedding. Here I am with my hair all done up! It was beautiful!!!

Joel and Jenessa Christie!!!!

One of the happiest days for me was being able to spend this special day with my best friend of 25 years!!!! It was really hard as well because she married an Australian.....and now she lives there. Guess that means I will get to do more traveling!!!

It was freezing out side the L.A. Temple but we faked it for all the pictures.

And I got pretty lucky and enjoyed spending some time with one of the groom's men from Australia. Now I have twice as many reasons to go visit Australia!!!

Finally back in business! Catch up time!

So I have been pretty out out of the loop because my computer at home totally died and my computer at work doesn't allow me to look at facebook or anything like that so I haven't been able to catch up on everyone's life or my own virtual life for awhile. Thanks to an awesome friend out here in Vegas, he was able to revive my computer and I am back in business!!! So I wanted to share a few pics of what I have been doing in the last month.

I took a weekend and went back home to visit and of course that meant spending time with my adorable niece and nephews. They are the love of my life and from the pictures it is obvious why!

Elsie likes to make a mad face but she is soooooooo cute when she does I can't help but smile!

Joshua has more energy than the energizer bunny and just keeps growing and growing!

I got to see Jacob for the first time since his surgery on his lip! His new smile is just as cute as the old one. Sadly, he was afraid of me when I first saw him and would cry when I got near him. Thankfully, he warmed up to me after about an hour and followed me around the rest of the weekend wanting me to hold him!!!

My mom did something surprising that I would have loved to have done!!! While my brother in law was sleeping on the recliner she painted his toe nails purple!!! He used to always get mad at me for painting Joshua's nails. It was great I had to capture it on my camera!

Back in Vegas I continue to find out the cool spots. I went with a group on a night hike to some hot springs. It was really awesome!

The water was so warm, one of the pools felt hotter than a hot tub I could only stay in it for a few minutes. It was amazing it all happens naturally!

I am enjoying my job and will be taking my big exam on November 5th that allows me to officially practice social work in Nevada.....and it will get me a big pay increase too!!! I am not looking forward to the test since so much is weighing on my passing, but I am going to keep studying hard and ask for all your prayers so I can pass!!!!
Love and miss you all!!!!

Hiking in Vegas!

I never even knew there was a national park near Las Vegas where there is lots of hiking. We went to Red Rock and went on a pretty moderate 2.5 miles hike. It was lots of fun but I want to try some others out that have hidden green grass valley's and waterfalls. You would never know it looking at all the dry desert rocks!

My roommate Lindsey and I made it to the top.

Getting ready to go hiking with my roommate Lindsey, she is sooooooo sweet!!!!