Growing Up

Today (last Friday) we started the process of signing our little T-Man up for Pre-School. I can't believe he is just about old enough to go off on his own to school for a few days a week. Since the boys are so close together, I can see how quickly it will feel like they are all going off to school one right after the other. Tate is starting to wear the clothes Teagan was wearing right before we came here and Steffan is already wearing the clothes that Tate was wearing right before we came here. My friend Jenya already registered her daughter, Avery, for school and I know she was a bit sappy about it, but until I started it myself, I didn't get it. We have to get a lot of paperwork done for Teagan's registration because we are from overseas. I'm kind of dreading rounding up all the info they need. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Jeremy's job is listed on the "approved" list of skilled jobs from the Immigration Department so that the government will pay for the boys schooling. Otherwise it's $3,600/ year for public school. What?! I'm pretty sure that it will be covered though. I also found out today that all of the children in the ACT schools are required to wear uniforms. That will be a new experience for me. I've never been anywhere that had a uniform requirement.

Teagan is very smart! I have been working with him a lot during the time that Tate and Steffan are napping each day to learn things that will help him in pre-school. He already knows all of his shapes and colors. He can count to 15 but always misses #5. We've been working hard to not forget #5. We read and sing a lot and go over nursery rhymes and letters and numbers. We've even started writing some of them. He loves when I buy him work books to work in as well.

Since the seasons are opposite of the US, the school year begins in February and their summer break is from the end of November thru the beginning of February. It will be hard to get used to that. It's already hard to think that we are going into winter right now when I know that all of the Orem summer festivities are beginning. I will really miss that!

Tate has officially hit his "Terrible Two's". It is exhausting. His "Thing" is to pour, dump, play with, smash, rub in any food or liquid he can get his hands on.  And Teagan is practicing his "power" as the older brother. He is always telling Tate, "Tate, go get those cookies in the pantry and ask mommy if you can have them. Here Tate, play with this soap bottle and razor that I can climb up and get for you. Here Tate, let me put bum cream all over your head and face (diaper rash cream)." Tate willingly does everything that Teagan tells him to do and Teagan blames everything on Tate. 

Teagan has also started asking the rhetorically dreaded question, "Why?" For example: Mommy what are you doing? - I'm turning on the heater? - Why? - Because it's cold. - Why? - Because it's almost winter. - Why? --- Why do you think Teagan? -OR- Get in your car seat Teagan? – Why? – Because we’re going somewhere. – Why? – Because. –I don’t want to go somewhere mommy. ----- Sometimes I find myself not responding because I don't want to get angry.

A couple of days ago I was feeding Steffan and thought I'd put what i though was an interesting movie on for the boys to watch so they wouldn't get into trouble while feeding him. About 3 minutes later, Tate comes in crying and yelling, "Owie, Owie, Owie!" I didn't look up because this is common. I just yelled... "Teagan, what did you do?" I didn't get a response so I looked up to see that Tate had some sort of brown powder dumped all over his head. I ripped the baby off from feeding and ran out to see what it was. I found the Costco size Cinnamon bottle empty! I ran and pulled Tates clothes off and put him in the shower to wash the cinnamon off his face and out of his eyes. It was burning his eyes and his skin was getting all red on his face. Teagan ran and hid (hence why there was no response). Just one of the little adventures we have quite often here in the Green home. (sigh)

On a positive note Steffan just turned 5 months old this last week.and is about to roll over any day. He discovered his hands and feet about a month ago, but they still seem to entertain him all day. He just stairs at them. Teagan also did this a lot. He is a big boy just like Teagan was. I LOVE his rolly-poly legs and bum. He watches us eat food and is starting to look interested in it. But nursing him is helping me lose weight so I don't know if I will give it up anytime soon. I've lost 29 lbs since we've been here (3 1/2 months). I only have 9 more pounds to go before I'm pre-pregnancy with Stefffan. Woo Hoo! If I keep going at this rate, then I will be at the weight I was when I started dating Jeremy at Steffan's 1 year birthday. Maybe I can come home looking like a brand new person!

Dear Husband,

We have been together for four years. I'm not sure if I should say, "Wow, it's already been four years!" OR "Wow, it's ONLY been four years?" We have been through more than most people in ten years. We've been through trial after trial and have been tested time and again. We have overcome temptations and manage to still push each other to be our best. We have our number one fan and the other half of our team (each other) supporting us everyday. We've learned (and are still learning) what is trivial and what is important and are never scared to change things up to make things better.

We started off with children right away and managed to squeeze three boys in, in only three years. We have lost jobs, gotten new jobs, sold homes, bought homes, worked and gone to school. We have lived care free and also learned to be responsible. You have built me up and reminded me that I AM worth it! I knew you were the one for me the day we said, "I do", but I don't think I knew how lucky I really was. There is no one else on this earth I can picture being with. Before you, no one fit me and my life the way you did. Now I can't imagine life with out you.

I can't imagine sleeping next to anyone else that tosses and turns and plays musical beds through the night.  I don't want to watch *D.H. or *V.D. (lol) with anyone else, 'cause it's "our thing"(except maybe Kiley)---(*Vampire Diaries or Desperate Housewives). I love our down time at night where we get to make popcorn and treats and watch movies or whatever TV series we are into right then (Design Star, Food Network Star) -- Do you love that I've revealed all the girly shows you love? ;). And I don't want to get used to anyone else always getting my food orders wrong (I know you're thinking, "I get her food orders wrong all the time?"). I love that you still kiss me on my head.You make me more thoughtful because you are thoughtful. You tell me that I'm beautiful often and call or text often to tell me you love me. I always know you are thinking of me when you're away and love that you will always bring something home to let me know you care.You always want to be better and are willing to make new plans if your first plan doesn't deliver the results you want. I love that you are a husband that will get up in the night with our kids or make dinner if I'm too tired. You will do the laundry and the dishes or take our kids out just so I can have time. You ask me often if I need to go have time for myself and I appreciate it more than you know. If I'm tired you will let me sleep. I don't know many husbands as willing to please and take care of their wife and children as you do.

You are loving and kind. You are a friend to many. You know when to be serious and when to laugh.You love having fun and love getting to know people around you... even if it's someone that you are passing by in a gas station.

I know we are not perfect and we have our 'hater' moments too, but I'm proud of our marriage! I'm proud that we have successfully been through some (maybe all) of the top 10 most stressful situations in life, packed into the shortest amount of time possible. ...And then we decided to move our family to a new country. Studies show that this can and usually break a marriage, but it has made ours stronger.

But most importantly, we have the same goals. We have the same big picture. Our paths crossed many times before our lives were ready to unite. We had a lot of "stuff" to get out of our system before we were ready for the stuff we had to sacrifice and face together. We have much to accomplish in this life TOGETHER. I just know it and feel it. I know that the core of you is sincere and good. You are a worthy priesthood holder for our home which brings much security to my mind for our family. You have a strong testimony of the church and desire to uphold the standards and values we believe. There is nothing more important than that! I'm proud to call you my husband and the father of my children.

I've learned what a real marriage is by being married to you. You fill my emotional needs and you make me whole. I mean this, I really couldn't have gotten anyone better. No one could fill your shoes and I don't want anyone else to fill them.

Happy Four Year Anniversary and Eternity to come!

With Love,
Your Wife

PS. I bet you can't wait to watch our wedding video again! ;)

Funny things from Teagan

Teagan starts off a lot of stories with, “When I was a little boy…”
And even funnier... he sometimes starts off stories telling me, "When you were a little boy, before you were a girl..."

J: Do you want to have a wife one day?

Tee: No

J: Why not?

Tee: Only bad boys have them.

J: Is daddy a bad boy?

Tee: No.

J: Do you want to have kids one day?

Tee: Yes.

J: Are you going to yell at them like daddy yells at you?

Tee: No. I’m going to be nice to them.

J: Are you going to spank them?

Tee: No.

J: What are you going to do when they’re naughty?

Tee: I’m going to put them in the back yard and tell them to be nice.

J: What about if they hit their brother?

Tee: I’m going to sp… I’m going to have their mommy do it.

Teagan hurt himself when he was running around chasing Jeremy and Tate and got hit in the eye. Teagan ran up to Jeremy and started crying and telling him to look at his eye and Jeremy said,

J: It’s OK.

Tee: No it’s not.

Jeremy looks at it again and says---

J: You’re right. We are going to have to take your eye ball out. Go have mommy look at it.

Me: Yep, get me a spoon. I’m going to have to take it out.

Teagan started laughing and then I appeared that I was really going to get a spoon and the smile faded from his face and as he backed away from me he said, “Mom you’re not helping me!”

Hee-yuh & They-yuh & Petrol

Tate has already started his little Aussie accent. It is really cute. Instead of saying "Here" he says, "Hee-yuh" and "They-yuh" for "There".

Teagan always calls the gas station the petrol station because that's what they say here. It amazes me that they are picking that up when it's not things that Jeremy and I say.

Oh what to do...

It's sooooo nice! It's almost 8:30pm here and I have had two hours all to myself to do whatever I want!!! That is RARE! All of my boys, including the 'big' one, fell asleep at 6:30pm. I might regret how early it was when everyone wakes up at 5am, but I'm enjoying every second of it for right now. We have to go back to the basics on some days when thinking of activities to do. I miss being a kid sometimes! When did I get old? I think I got old the second I had kids. How ironic is that?

 Finger Painting: While we were breaking down boxes in the back yard, we let the kids play with finger paints. They had a lot of fun!

 Sydney Water Pad: I wish we would've taken pictures of all the water stuff they had walking around in Sydney. It put all the water pads in Utah to shame. They were awesome! Even the adults were having fun. We are going to Sydney this weekend to go to the temple, but it will probably be too cold to play in the water. We are switching off on who goes to the session so that one of us can watch the kids. We got an annual pass to the Wildlife park and Aquarium so we have stuff to go do while we are there. This is what we are doing for our 4 year anniversary! Ironically, we will be spending it separated from each other all day. lol ...but it's for a good cause. :)

Toilet Papering: We gave the boys two cooking spoons and let them put the toilet paper on the spoon handles and use it as a spool. Then they got to run all over the place with 8 rolls of toilet paper. It didn't last as long as I'd hoped, but at least it entertained everyone for a bit.

Forts & Caves: Ahhh, those were the days, right?

The Voice

The Voice is an Australian show that came out and just started about 2 weeks ago. It has some really amazing singers on there. Two of the four judges include Seal and Keith Urban. All of the judges begin by being turned around where they can not see who is singing, only hear them. If they are interested in being their coach, then they turn around to see them. They just completed setting up their teams. I just listened to the most amazing 19 year old singer from Sydney, Brittany Cairns, who did her audition using the song by Sara Bareilles', Gravity. This girl's voice gave me the chills. It even made me tear up. The only other singer that has made me do that is Josh Groban when I saw him in person. :) I dare say that she even out did Sara Bareilles on the song. What an INCREDIBLE voice this girl has! Music has always touched me to the core of my soul. It moves me in ways that change my demeanor and perspective of life. Music is a powerful tool for good or evil.

Go HERE to listen to Brittany's The Voice audition.
***I guess you can't see this video in the US. :( Sad! You will have to try and find it on YouTube I guess. I saw one on there that had her singing in the back ground but you don't get the same effect.***

Here is the video of Sara singing her song Gravity. Tell me how you think Brittany compares.

ANZAC Day - April 25th

Today is ANZAC Day. Jeremy is off work and we are at home enjoying the holiday. As we are moving into winter, it is very cold and windy outside. It is only 2 degrees Celsius. The leaves are changing and look beautiful. It is strange that we are moving into winter and that we are not getting ready for the holiday season. It makes me think that Christmas is coming soon. I will have to have some cookie exchanges or holiday'ish parties over our winter so that it feels like home.

We are watching the ANZAC Day parade on TV (the tele as they call it here). We thought about taking the kids to the War Memorial today but it is probably too packed to enjoy it. The War Memorial is pretty cool. It has real life size helicopters and airplanes that they used to fight in the World Wars. The kids can even get in the helicopter and pretend they are driving. It has sound effects and sits in front a a big screen so it looks like you are really flying. This is worth going to see if you come to Canberra. Today we will be making the famous Anzac cookies/biscuits below. I will have to let you know how they are.

 What is ANZAC Day? ANZAC Day – 25 April – is probably Australia's most important national occasion. It marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.  

What does ANZAC stand for? ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The soldiers in those forces quickly became known as ANZACs, and the pride they took in that name endures to this day.  

What does it mean today? Australians recognise 25 April as an occasion of national remembrance, which takes two forms. Commemorative services are held at dawn – the time of the original landing – across the nation. Later in the day, ex-servicemen and women meet to take part in marches through the major cities and in many smaller centres. Commemorative ceremonies are more formal and are held at war memorials around the country. In these ways, ANZAC Day is a time when Australians reflect on the many different meanings of war.  

Red poppies This is a picture of the poppies that they put next to the names at the War Memorial.

The Flanders poppy has long been a part of Remembrance Day, the ritual that marks the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and is also increasingly being used as part of ANZAC Day observances. During the First World War, red poppies were among the first plants to spring up in the devastated battlefields of northern France and Belgium. In soldiers' folklore, the vivid red of the poppy came from the blood of their comrades soaking the ground.  

Anzac Biscuits Traditional biscuits baked by anxious wives and mothers during World War I, packed in food parcels, and sent to the Australian soldiers in the trenches.

Anzac Biscuits
INGREDIENTS
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup desiccated (dried/unsweetened) coconut
1 cup plain flour
1 cup sugar 125g (4oz) butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup (I asked someone if I could use any breakfast syrup and she said yes, but then they aren't real ANZAC cookies)
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (Baking Soda)
1 tablespoon water Preheat oven to 300F (150C)

 Mix oats, flour, sugar and coconut together. Melt syrup and butter together. Mix soda with boiling water and add to melted butter and syrup. Add to dry ingredients. Place 1 tablespoonfuls of mixture on greased tray (allow room for spreading). Bake for 20 minutes. Loosen while warm, cool on trays. (makes about 35)

 ***Update*** We made the cookies and they are delicious! I've never heard of "dessicated" coconut and am not sure where you would find it in Utah. It's like a dried, powder of coconut flakes. I also don't prefer the word "dessicated" it sounds like "defecated" and kind of ruins it for me. However, the cookies were so yummy. They tasted like granola cereal made into a cookie. The mixture seemed dry and crumbly but we went with it and made a batch with our trusty cookie scoop by packing it in as tight as possible and pushing down with a fork. I made a second batch with more water added to it and it wasn't as good. So, definitely make it the crumbly way and pack it tight before cooking it so it doesn't fall apart. Also, I just used the Kirkland Organic Pure Maple Syrup, which I believe you can find in the Costco in Utah...

Sydney Opera House & Sydney Harbor Bridge

The Sydney Opera House is just as amazing as you would expect. But, I also LOVE architecture and buildings. We weren't able to go do the tour with the kids, because there are many stairs you have to go up and down and the prams (strollers) wouldn't have made it. They do tours at the opera house every 30 minutes through out the day and then they take a pic of you inside the opera house. I had never seen the inside before and it is simply beautiful! Here is a picture of it. I want to do the tour before we leave Australia. I also want to make sure we go to a showing at the Opera House while we are here too!

The Sydney Harbor Bridge is the next thing I want to do. You can climb up the side and see the amazing site of Sydney! Doesn't it look amazing?! When you are riding the water taxi's there, you can see all the people climbing up. One day I will be putting my own pictures up here of ME & JER climbing the bridge. :)

Tim Tam Slam

I am going to confess something for Jeremy. He is totally and completely addicted to Tim Tams! They are this little, double layered chocolate cookie with a creamy chocolate filling and dipped in chocolate. They come in all different flavors, but the 'original' cookies that I described is his favorite. I actually didn't care for them much when I first tried them, but they have grown on me since they are always in our house. You can buy them at Costco and get three boxes to a case. Jeremy goes through a case just about every week and I usually only have one or two cookies total out of the three boxes. And Jeremy usually hides them from the boys, so it's Alllll him! He wakes up in the middle of the night to eat them, literally. Sometimes when he wakes up in the morning and the first thing he does is get up to get a Tim Tam. And sometimes it's the last thing he does at night before he goes to sleep. We recently had dinner over at one of the ward members homes for Family Home Evening and I was telling them about Jeremy's little addiction. And they said, "Have you tried the Tim Tam Slam?" We hadn't tried it yet and asked what it was. It is when you bite off both ends of the Tim Tams and use it as a straw to suck up hot chocolate. It melts the inside and when you bite into it, it makes it ooey-gooey goodness. I've tried this at home with other stuff, but not with a Tim Tam (obviously because Tim Tam's are only made and sold in Australia). Last night we tried the Tim Tam Slam. And it is sooooooooooooo good! It made the Tim Tam go up about 15 points in my book. Everyone that visits MUST try this!

John Knight Memorial Park

This park is one of the coolest parks I've seen. It is huge and has a lot of things to do for kids and adults. There are a few different playgrounds, ponds, ducks, waterfalls, a lake, and much more. We first went here for Australia Day with our ward. Jeremy played Cricket for the first time. (I also got hit flat in the face with the cricket ball-- not from Jeremy, but someone else.)


...and Teagan (despite how many times we warned him not to get too close) fell into the duck pond. :)


I was going to add this park to the list of why Australia is a yellow country. The playgrounds have no safety. lol They are definitely much more fun. But I think if these went up in Utah, they would get a lot of complaints. There is a zip line for small and big kids (I think its way fun). There is a massively tall slide (which is metal - - hot in the sun)and it has wood chips under it in case anyone falls. Fun yes... doesn't look safe though. And there is lots of things to just spin, spin, spin in circles.

Poop Flinger

The name of this post is EXACTLY what you think it is.

Yesterday when Tate got up from his nap he was yelling, "Moooommmmy, Mooooommmmmy" in the other room for me to come get him. I told him that I was feeding the baby and that he needed to wait a minute. It got very quiet in there and when I went in to get him, it appeared that he may have gone back to sleep so I walked by quietly as not to wake him up again. Then a few seconds later I hear, "Mooooommmyyy - - - Pooooopy!" My heard just dropped. I yelled back into the room, "Tate! Have you been playing with your poop?" (because this is not the first time) And Tate yelled back, "Yeah!"

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuugggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

I ran in there and like a brick the smell hit me in the face. I started gagging knowing what I was going to have to do. I looked over at him and sure enough there was poop smeared everywhere in his bed and on the blankets and on his pillow... AND all over himself (legs, feet, face, hands) EVERYWHERE!. I quickly scolded him telling him how naughty it is to play with your poop and how dirty and yucky it is. I wiped him down, put him in the shower and started the clean up process. After I cleaned it and sanitized it and deodorized it... I could STILL smell it. I couldn't figure out why. I looked at the wall on the opposite side of the room that Tate's bed was on and saw that he had thrown poop across the room and it had stuck to the wall. So GROSS! I regret that I did not take pictures of the poop massacre, but I'm sure you understand that I couldn't leave Tate alone with his poop for one more second while I got the camera situated.

Where did you get your license?

Jeremy was driving the other day and was driving next to someone where they were supposed to merge into one lane together. Jeremy was a little bit ahead of the other guy and sped up to get in front of him so that they could form one lane. The other guy got very upset and sped up next to him. He was yelling and shaking his fists out the window. Jeremy said the guys wife looked really embarrassed. Jeremy rolled his window down and the guy yelled at him and said, "Where did you get your license?!!" And Jeremy casually responded in his American accent, "From the United States". The guy rolled his window up with out saying anything else and drove off.

I've been laughing about this for the last couple of days.

Brothers Forever

MIA

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I posted last. I've been doing so good. I've been MIA since we found a house and have been busy unpacking and cleaning, etc. Ugh! Please tell me I won't have to do that again any time too soon. I'm all 'moved & packed' out! I'm also sad that we moved out of our old ward, but am happy that we now have another equally wonderful ward. Our new ward had people coming over and calling us before we even attended the ward. I forgot how wonderful and different it is to attend a ward outside of Utah. Everyone in Utah already has so much family near by that their ward doesn't become their family like in other places. I don't think we would have had the same warm experience moving to a new country if we didn't have the network of the church. It has renewed my testimony of the organization of the church and how amazing it truly is. Our wards have really gone above and beyond of magnifying their service to us. I'm so grateful for their kindness and friendship and for all of the time they've taken out of their days to help us.

I'm also sad to report that all the pictures and videos I've taken for the last month have been deleted and erased by the wonderful Teagan. :( So, I don't have pictures to put up of anything recent.

Catching up: Here is some of the Green family photos we took right before we left in December.

Fairy Bread

Teagan has gone to a couple of birthday parties now. At each birthday party they have brought out "Fairy Bread". The first time I saw it I said, "What is that? Just some bread with Hundreds & Thousands (What we call "sprinkles") on it?" And the answer is, "YES!" Hmmmm...

Then I met up with my friend Angie at a play place called Kid City and saw that they also had it there as a treat to buy for the kids. I asked Angie how you make it and it's just white bread with butter/margarine and then you put 100's & 1,000's on top to stick. Interesting, huh? I will have to serve it when we have our first family get together back in Utah.

Ingredients

8 slices white bread, with crusts trimmed

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1/4 cup multicolored Hundreds & Thousands

Directions
Spread margarine onto slices of bread. Cover with Hundreds & Thousands. Cut into triangles to serve.

About Tate

Favorite Food:
Favorite Treat: Cheese and Cookies (he asks for one all the time)
Favorite Friend: Tee-Tee (Teagan) He LOVES his big brother.
Favorite Color: He doesn't really know his colors yet, but he always says, "BLUE" if you ask him. (ps. all colors are "blue" when you ask him)
Favorite thing to do: Playing with Teagan and his daddy (maybe one day I can make it on the roster of favorites)
Favorite Toy: He loves trains and cars. I should also add on here that he loves "binky & wuby".
Favorite Movie: He loves watching Cars 1 and 2 (I've seen these movies so many times I bet I could quote them to you). But he calls the Cars movie and all of the cars in the Cars movies, "Mae-Mae" for Mater. Somehow all the cars are called Mae-Mae, except for "Guido". I think it's just cause he likes to say "Guido".

Tate is talking so much and so well. My favorite word he says is "Thank you" because he says it as "Tookie". He has the cutest little voice too. I love when I give him a drink or something else and hear, "Tookie Mommy" as he walks off.

Tate is free spirited, funny, loving, good-natured and kind. He is truly a self-less little boy and is amazingly smart! He always amazes me with the large concepts that he already understands. He is definitely advanced both verbally and emotionally. Even his pediatricians have commented on that in previous visits. He observes everything and is a very fast learner. He is kind and loving to others and is constantly drawing attention from others naturally by being himself. People are always telling me they want to take him home with them or how adorable he is. He makes others laugh often and talks with a lot of inflection in his voice. He is very animated with his facial expressions (as you can see in the pictures) and isn't afraid to entertain others.

Tate is a very sensitive little soul and doesn't like sadness or contention. He wants everyone to be happy even if that means giving away his last cookie, expecting nothing in return. He even runs around sometimes quickly chanting, "Happy-happy-happy" over and over again.

Tate is also our dirty, messy and stinky kid. He is always messy and/or dirty. We change his clothes about three times a day. He usually has a bath in the morning and in the night too. I remember when he was just a baby that his feet always smelled like a man's feet too. lol I didn't even know little baby's feet could smell that bad. I also know that if I hear Tate say, "Sorry Mama" out of the blue that he has just made a big mess of some sort and I dread looking over to see what it is.

He will say just about anything you tell him too, but here are some words he says that I think are cute:
Tookie = Thank you
Ovie = It's over (like a movie or TV show)
Lovey = Love you
Cocky = Chocolate
Cocky = Socks (Yes, it's the same as chocolate)
Boe-bee = Birdie
Cockuh = Cracker
Cheesh = Cheese
Teaguh = Teagan

Tate has even started saying prayers with some help. It is the most precious thing to watch him say prayers. He is very intent on listening to every word and trying his best to say it. He knows that when we say family prayers at night that the TV needs to be turned off and he will always run over to it saying, "off- off".

Tate is also very cuddly. I LOVE that! Teagan isn't as cuddly, but Tate likes to lay and cuddle with his mom and dad. I sure love this little boy!

House Searching, New Friends & Missionaries

This last week we have been searching for a house to move into. It is really stressful! They do it a little differently here. All rentals go through an agency and the agency posts and inspection time(s) up on their site which is in 15 minute time frames, usually 1-2 times a week. You show up with all the other families that are interested during that 15 minutes to look at the place. You then fill out a long application for EACH house, which is just shy of giving your first born and signing your life away, and then you see if you get approved or not. You have to give them birth certificates, passports, drivers licenses, vehicle registrations, references, rental receipts, work history, etc. It's kind of ridiculous really. You are basically competing with 10-20 other families. The rental housing is hard up right now because Canberra has lots of people moving in to work right now. They also charge rent by the week and not by the month (even though you pay monthly, so it makes no sense). The average cost to rent a 3 bedroom/ 2 bathroom home is about $500 a week. Isn't that insane?! We finally found a place we really liked this week and are crossing our fingers that we get approved. We will hopefully know if we get it by next week. However, we are still going to a few homes this weekend and will keep filling out applications until we get a place.

If we get the place we want, we would be really close by to our new friends James and Liz. James works with Jeremy and has been AMAZING in helping us figure things out and watching out for us. They have a little boy, Daniel, that just turned four. Teagan LOVES playing with him. They are both rough and tumble little boys, so it works out perfectly! They are seriously considering moving back to Utah with us when we move home. Wouldn't that be awesome?! They just moved here for the job last September from England but have always wanted to go to America. They moved here mainly because they said the quality of life and education is better here for their son than in England. They are originally from Scotland and have cute Scottish accents. We really enjoy spending time with them and know they will be our family while we are here.

A side thought on this: I have a new found respect for missionaries. Not only are they young (19 and 21 years old) and still trying to figure things out, but they get sent to new countries where everything is different... by themselves --- and on top of that, they proclaim the gospel. In being the minority religion here, I see how much scarier it is when you are actually close to people that know nothing about LDS. We pray that we can be good examples of our values to those we are around. We know it is much more important for us to uphold those values being away from Utah, because just about everyone is LDS in Utah. Even if people don't uphold their values in Utah, they usually still believe it anyway. So, it gives people some slack, if that makes sense. But here, no one knows the difference of what we believe, so it's that much more important for us to be true to our standards. Know what I mean? :)

My Heart is Full of Honey

Steffan is getting bigger and bigger. He is so dang cute! He has a sparkle in his eyes that makes everyone smile.

We have a group of Chinese people in our ward and the Chinese girls LOVE Steffan! I never see him again after I walk into a room. Last week I had him in his capsule (aka car seat) on the floor and turned around to look at him about 30 seconds after I sat down and couldn't find him. I looked back at the Chinese group and they had him out while oogling at him. There are three other babies in Relief Society and I never see them holding the other babies.

One girl in our ward really wouldn't give him back to me one Sunday after sacrament. I kept saying, "Ok, well, we are going now" and would hold my arms out to take him and she wouldn't give him to me. I literally sat there for about 5 minutes trying to take him until I had to just pull him out of her arms. She kept giggling when he would smile at her. Then in her broken English she said, "Ohhh no baby ever smile at me like that. He make my heart full of honey!" lol I thought it was the cutest thing I've ever heard. I'm convinced that he is going to go on a Chinese speaking mission and marry someone Asian now.

The picture above is of Steffan this last week and the picture below is of Teagan at 4 months old. They look so much alike!

Mystery Rodent

The last night that my mom was here, Jeremy and I decided to run over to Blockbuster to get some movies since it would be the last night we can go somewhere together with out the kiddos. (When was the last time anyone went to Blockbuster for that matter?)

It was a dark night and on the way home something ran out in front of our car on the road. Since we were on the back roads there wasn't a lot of traffic, so we stopped on the side of the road where we saw the rodent run to see if we could see what it was. I could see some glowing eyes in a bush and I rolled down my window to get a better look at it. We were really close to it actually. I squinted to see if I could make it out. It had a long tail and two long pointy ears and a snout. It was probably about 15 pounds in weight. As I sat and stared at it, it stared right back at me. It didn't look away. I hurried and rolled my window up for fear that it was something that was going to fly and attack my face. "What IS that thing?"

I've been wondering for the last couple of weeks and haven't seen one since.

More Random Information

Canberra is basically a melting pot of many nationalities and backgrounds. There are many people that have come from other countries to work here. Since Canberra is the capital of Australia, all of the countries embassies are here (Poland, Finland, America, Russia... etc)

Another Yellow Country trait: Every Thursday has Desperate Housewives at 9:30pm and it always starts 10 minutes late. I don't get it. They advertise it to start at 9:30pm and it always starts at 9:40pm.

Since our winter is your summer, we don't start the season for T.V. episodes until our fall/winter starts. So it's always 6-7 months behind what it is in America. We had been watching Desperate Housewives before we left and are still waiting for the episodes to catch up where we left off.

This also goes for movies. Movies always come out way earlier in America before they come to Australia.

Double lane round-a bouts: These are super scary and they are all over. It's a round-a bout with two lanes (inside and outside). The first month or so, I always got honked at in the round about. It's scary because if you are in the inside lane and are getting off on one of the exits, you don't know if the person next to you on the outside lane is going to keep going through. So, essentially, you have to hurry and cut them off to get out. I asked someone what you're supposed to do in this situation and they said to use your indicators to tell them (blinkers). BUT... if the person is RIGHT next to you, how are they going to know? It's just scary! Hate the double lane round-a bouts!

In my previous post I told you how they call McDonald's Macka's. Well just to clarify, I spelled it wrong. It's Macca's. They actually had it spelled in one of their commercials when I noticed I spelled it wrong.

I mentioned going to Blockbuster in my previous post... and seriously, do you remember the last time you went (aside from the fact that they are shut down now in Utah). I didn't know people still rented movies, but now we do that again. We are paying for our internet by the download, so we can't download movies now like we used to or else it would use all of our data up. We will be able to get normal internet when we can move into a house. I can't wait!!!

Everyone says, "How are you going?" instead of "How are you doing?". The first few times that people asked me it caught me off guard and I had to think about what they were saying.

I have actually had a few dreams where we are all speaking with an Australian accent. lol

We just barely found somewhere you can buy the stick deodorant. I thought we were doomed with roll on and spray on deodorants. That is really all they sell everywhere. Again, isn't that what we used in the 80's or 90's? Good 'ol Lona sent us some normal deodorant in the meantime.

Costco Pizzas-- I posted about the seafood pizza, but they also have a meat pizza with salami, lamb, Canadian bacon, and chicken... That one looks less gross than the seafood one, but it's still up there on the "do not eat" list for me.

Here is another commercial song that is always in my head because they play it alll the time! It's a Super Annuation (what we call 401k) commercial. I just played it on You Tube and Jeremy rolled his eyes and said, "Ugh".

"From little things, big things, grow..."

I posted the "Tip Top Bread" commercial song previously that went, "Gooooood on ya mum. Tip Top's the one. Good on ya mum." Say that out loud at random through out the day still.

Hana's Helpline: I always have random songs in my head from the shows here. This is another song that is a kids show. It's about this duck, whose name is Hana and she solves kids problems. The numbers on the phone are animal noises instead of numbers and the phone number to call Hana's Helpline is: Moo, Baa, Double-Quack, Double-Quack


This brings me to my next random thing. If someone is reading back the spelling of something or a phone number, and there is two of the same digit or letter next to each other, they will always say "Double 2 or Double R", etc.

On the phone:
They say, "Hash Key" = We say, "Pound Key"

No one uses their checking account here. They all use their savings account and then use their debit cards to withdraw money from savings instead of checking. ??? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a savings account? I finally asked someone in the store the other day why they do that and she said she didn't know. Half the people here don't even have a checking account, only savings. People can set up to 15 savings accounts at the bank to separate what they are saving for or paying for.

I still haven't tried Vegemite, but I plan to before we go. It just doesn't look too appealing.