Smiley Face

Can you believe it has been another week!  What a week we have had!  We feel each day that we are getting more and more settled in.  We are loving our home, our ward, and the kids adore their school!  Each week I am so impressed by Boston and Lillie.  Kids really are amazing creatures that are so resilient and upbeat!  So grateful for them even if they are little high strung most of the time.

Over the weekend we were able to celebrate Boston's 7th birthday!!!  I took pictures on my phone and so I will upload them sometime.  For his birthday he really wanted to go to the bowling alley.  Let me tell you how expensive Melbourne is...it is $14.50 a person to bowl!  So for our family of 5 it would have been $72.50! For one game!  I am use to BYU bowling where the whole family can bowl for like $15!!  Anyway, once we got to the bowling alley and paid to bowl Boston asked if we could do the arcades instead.  Which was *heaps cheaper to do the arcades.  So that is what we did!  Then we went out for a steak dinner (Bostons favorite behind Los Hermonos) and then we went to our Ward party.  Which happened to be a cake auction to help raise money for the youth.  Lucky for me (but mostly Boston) I bought Boston the coolest *Tin Tam and M&M cake for a whoppin $65 (it was for a good cause, right)! Happy Birthday Boston, sure do love you to pieces!

We did it!  We swallowed our pride or more like I swallowed my pride and bought a van!  Once again the prices in Australia are crazy when it comes to cars!  We bought a 2001 Chrysler for $12,500!  {gag}

As a family we have been trying to decide on a name for the beauty.  The golden egg, the golden statue, the golden eagle...but it was not until Jared's realization of what the three letters on our cars license plate did we settle on a name.....The Golden ZIT!

In the words of my sweet 5 year old, in a giggle, that is what mommy gets! (Thanks Lillie, you are now officially removed from the will!  NO golden zit for you)

Going to give you a little sneak peak into our home.  Don't expect too much seeing that our container has not arrived.  Speaking of, would you like to see the "vessell" that all of our stuff is on.  When Jared showed me the picture last night I was quite impressed.  So, I thought I would share.  Crazy to think that our stuff has traveled on this boat all the way from America!  Amazing!!  

Here is a picture of our house! Very modern!  I love it!  Their are things throughout our house that one day when me and Jared build back in Utah that we will definitely be incorporating into our house!  I will feature some of these items through out the years we live here (so keep reading ;))

The view from our balcony...

My mom was quite amazed by our mailbox and she thought we should share!  They put the mail in that little whole and then on the back it opens up with a key!  Pretty cool!  Speaking of addresses...anyone want to come see us!! :)

Our beautiful kitchen table and chairs.  Or, as the Aussies say *tresses!

This is how Pax watches TV!  :)

Our sleeping arrangements...

House Feature #1

I love this!  This is actually built into the wall and we have one built into the wall in the garage.  It is for shoes.  

Each drawer just slides open and you put your shoes in it!  It is brilliant!  I think that you could get really creative with these!

Me and Pax were able to go on a play date last week with our sweet friend Kerri and her son Lincoln.  We went to an indoor play centre because the weather was rainy.  Kerri ordered us some hot chocolates and *mini chinos for the kids.

Lincoln and Pax loving the balls!

Pax, Lincoln, and Kerri taking the Thomas the Train through the *shopping centre!

Also, they do not celebrate Halloween down under.  Which for me that does not hurt my feelings one bit.  I think Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  It is so much work getting the kids all dressed up and then take them to see grandmas, grandpas, trunk or treats, neighbors, etc.  The Auger family is totally fine being on bi for a couple years.  But what we will miss the most is my *Mums birthday is on Halloween!  So we will miss her homemade chili, Ashlies homemade bread-sticks, and just all meeting at her house where my dad has gone to Sam's Club and bought the kids king size candy bars (and most likely that is where he got my moms gift too...haha)!!  That is what I will miss!  Happy Birthday Mom!  Love you a million brown licorices!

Aussie Slang Guide

*Heaps- they use this word to describe anything in large amounts.  "Heaps and heaps of rain came down today!"

*Tresses- folding tables

*Tim Tams- An Australian cookie type treat. They actually do sell in the US now but according to Jared (and any missionary that served here) they are better here in Oz!

*Mini Chino- a cup literally full of froth and Pax loved it.

*Shopping Centre- Kinda like a mall.  But they have grocery stores, and pharmacies, and every shopping centre has a huge fresh fruit market that are to die for.  

*Rubbish- Trash or garbage.  It is the rubbish man, take the rubbish out, etc!

*Wet his tummy- While on our play date Kerri said she needed to wet Lincolns tummy...I had to ask her what that meant...she said ya know get him a drink.  I said...oh...wet his whistle!  And she said What!!!

*Boot- trunk of the car

*Mum- Mom

Victory

Another week, and another round of emotions.  It is crazy to me how emotions can work.  We can go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a matter of seconds.  So, here's the thing that I need to start off with...Heavenly Father knows me and knows of my needs and my families needs.  He loves me!  He is not going to leave me hanging.  We have had some really hard moments since being here.  Like really hard moments.  Just when I feel like giving up and thinking lets just go home, we get what we have decided to call "A VICTORY!!" Sometimes these so called "victories" are cheesy things like we made it to the store before it closed.  The shops here close at 5:30 except for Thursdays and Fridays.  But some "victories" are more like tender mercies from the Lord.  Which in those moments of these sweet sincere moments I am ever so grateful for my knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father.  

We were finally able to move into our home on Tuesday.  Which is a good thing.  However, we had someone else inspect our home for us while we were still living in Utah and we saw pictures but didn't pay too much attention to detail.  Our whole house is either tile or hardwood floor. Which is lovely minus the fact that it is very loud and everything echoes. But the real problem arose when we realized that our container of everything still has not arrived.  Which means no beds! It will be docking here in Melbourne on October 30th and then about a week to clear customs, a week of quarantine, and then a couple days until it is delivered at our house!!  We walk into our house which is lovely, by the way and I soon realize that we are going to need blow up mattresses or something.  We have made some kind and generous people in our ward who had already offered to bring us blankets, sleeping bags, and pillows.  In my head I thought we were prepared but sleeping on hardwood floor did not sound like too much fun.  A couple of days I am sure I could handle.  I was raised by the coolest redneck in Spanish Fork and the least I could do to make him proud would be to spend a couple nights on the floor! Ha!  But we are talking possibly up to three more weeks before we get our container with our beds.  But lets face it...I am also what my dad calls HM (high maintenance)!!!

Right in the midst of my tears Jared got a text from some of our doTERRA family asking if we needed anything.  Jared asked if it would be possible for them to come and sit with the kids while we ran to a store to get some rugs, blow up mattresses, etc.  They said absolutely and to make a long story short when we got home from the store they had brought over three single mattresses and a double mattress from their home.  It really made my heart so happy to be surrounded by such nice people.  Not only were they an answer to my prayers but I am sure they are an answer to my Mom and Jareds moms prayers!!  On top of that this same friend wears the same oils as my Mom and when I hug her I just want to cry and up until that night I have always held them in and been good  but that night I cried, and she cried with me!  They ended up watching our kids for three hours or so and by the time we got home the kids were calling them Aunt and Uncle.  It made me happy!  It made my kids happy and that's all that matters to me!  For a few more weeks we will be wearing the same 10 outfits we have had since August 17th and tonight I don't really care. We are in our home, with mattresses on the floor, and warm blankets and so tonight my friends I CHOOSE to be not only grateful but happy!  

We have had some great moments  in the last week as well.  We went to the Stringy Bark Festival and did some fun stuff.  We got to see some cool animals and play on amazing park!

Boston was mostly excited to send these pictures to his buddy at home of all the animals.  Hunter these are for you buddy!

Boston with a prey mantis on his hat!! Eek!

Got to see a turtle!

And a lizard!

A couple of Kangaroo's  ;)

Ranger Roo!

A big game of chess!

A real owl!!

And an eagle..I think!

Oh yes people...they still Zumba down under! :)

Found these Rockstars!  Rockin doTERRA!! :)

They got to climb the rock wall.  Instead of climbing up...they climb across!

This park was amazing.  We will for sure be going back to it.  It was really like a park in the middle of a forest or something!  It had some cool things for the kids!!

Of course it would never be the same with out bounce houses 

and fun little kid rides!

Kind of random...but for some reason this made me smile!  Cat lovers are down under! :D

Here is to another week of VICTORIES

and

Here is to another week of......

With love...

 Your, Aussie Augers

P.S. Downloaded this album and have loved every minute of it!! Music is something that is wonderful to me!  And also it helps that I am a huge T. Swift fan!  She especially reminds me of my sisters, friends, family, and I love it!   

 Aussie Slang

Ta- Thank You

Mum- Ma

Bogan- White Trash People

Ute- Is what they call trucks (Di, thats for you)

Waggin School- Sluffin school

Good on ya, Mate!

Well it is true! We have survived another week down under.  Things are going very well for us.  We get to move into our house in a weeks time (Aussie talk)!  Which will be wonderful!  We also got an e-mail from the company that is shipping our stuff from the U.S. and it is actually set to arrive the day we move into our house!  How amazing will that be if it actually works out.  Jared said the shipment could still get held up in customs but at least it will be Australia!  We really miss our bed!  So keep your fingers crossed for that!  

This past week went by pretty good.  Both kids have been accepted into their new school exceptionally well.  They have an assembly every Friday, put on by Grade 5 and 6.  Awards are given out and such.  Boston was called on stage to receive an award.  It says OUTSTANDING presented to Boston Auger for his excellent social skills and for fitting into L2A so quickly!  He was so proud when he came out to the car.  I was most worried about him when we left home because that kid thrives for friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, neighbors!  Anything with a face...he loves.  But, he never ceases to amaze me fitting in so quickly has truly made us feel blessed.  Lillie is doing well in school as well.  Her and Boston have both been invited to birthdays already and they think that is awesome as well! 

I will admit that I had a bit of a slump on Friday.  It was the weekend and well lets face it from Friday to Sunday we were with friends and family when we lived at home.  So Friday hit and it was a hard day!  I cried a little and then put on my big girl panties and got over it.  Not going to do me or my family any good if I turn into a big waaa waa! On a good note the weather was good and so the kids were able to play outside and go to parks.  We took the kids to see Hotel Transylvania and it was so super cute.  When it was over Paxton asked me if I could start it again! 

The highlight of our weekend was Sunday.  We got another invitation from a sweet family in our ward to come for dinner.  Me and Jared were excited to go for some adult interaction and the kids were excited to play with kids.  It is pretty sad when Paxton has to ask to play on grass!! Ha! We had such a good time at dinner. We probably over stayed our welcome but we loved every minute of it.  Everyone in Australia has been so nice and sincere with us every where we go.  

I took the camera out today so you could live vicariously through us!  Don't get to jealous! 

Here is the 20 minute drive to the kids school.  It is going to be about a 3-5 minute drive once we into our house. It is literally a straight shot.  It is not an interstate or anything but more like State Street.  Lots of red lights with strip malls, food places, etc.

 

We have to pass this same building like 100 times a day everywhere we go.  Every time we pass it Paxton yells, "there's Grandpas work!!"  Apparently this shopping center looks like the Novell building off Provo Towne Center exit!  Either that or Grandpa Kevin moved to Australia and didn't tell anyone but Paxton!

 

Stop Lights.  Rarely is a stop light hung above the intersection like at home.  They have lots of smaller ones on the sides of the road. 

Also, above you will see tram rails.  While driving not only do you have to look out for cars you have to watch for trams! Stressful!

I have yet to see a STOP sign since I have been here.  Just lots and lots of round-a-bouts.  And lots of these "yield" signs! ;)

Also, they do kmh.  So when you see signs like this...don't get too excited.  We really are not going that fast!

Some of you have been wondering about gas prices.  Well here you go…be my guest and figure that out will you.  That is done in liters!  If you figure it out don't tell me! I like to think that price is by the gallon!

 

Our big adventure after the kids got out of school today was trying to find a car, or a van, or as Australians would say, a people mover!  Let me tell you how fun car shopping is with three very rowdy kids!! Not that fun!  Played lots of games and lots of iPads to keep them entertained. Not to mention that we are potty training Pax (this is for another post)!  I will have you know he full on peed his pants twice.  Well and a kind of half of another time.  Which sounds like it might be an epic fail and we should give up!!!  BUT, we had 7 yes people 7 successful potty stops!  So we are not giving up! Nope! Not today!  :) Any who....

We drove by places that were not so good….

 

Houses that looked like this…

 

Paxton managed to find Aunt Ashlie!  She too either moved to Australia without telling us or else someone else has a car like hers even though Paxton was pretty sure it was her in there!

 

When all was said and done we had 3 kids that looked like this!! I believe Lillie is the only one showing every ones true feelings (imagine that)!!

And 2 parents that looked like this!

I must have been really mad...look at my fist! Haha!

Aussie Slang Guide:

People Mover:  That is a van here.  If you ask for a van they usually think you want a huge utility van!

Lamb: It is eaten very often here.  Surprising, it is good.  They offer lamb burgers at McD's!

Tiggy: The kids now play "tiggy" at school as opposed to tag!

Serviette: Napkin

Tomato Sauce: Ketchup

Toilet:  It is not a bathroom, restroom, or potty.  It is a TOILET!

Mates: Friend

Good on ya, Mate: Instead of saying good job! You would most likely hear. good on ya!  

Until next time!  Cheers Mate! XOXO