, KMC losing their contract and Cory being out of work. That was the worst!!! Here we were half way around the world from home, facing unemployment with no prospects on the horizon in Australia or America! It looked like we were going to have to spend most of our savings on plane tickets back home to live with our parents for an undetermined amount of time, all the while being totally broke, with no home, no furniture and no job! Ahh!! That is totally the worst! 
Then out of no where this super exciting offer
comes from this super exciting company called ASI based in Logan! Yahoo! ASI saved the day with it's awesome company, great employment package, great location, and awesome relocation compensation! That was the best!!! And it has turned out to be the very best! We know this job was a miraculous blessing from God! The timing couldn't have been any better, and if we had to leave Australia prematurely at least we were coming back to a really awesome opportunity for Cory! :)Saying hello to this!
Lily: Lily's worst of 2014 was leaving all her friends in Australia and having to start over at a brand new school again, and gasp, start year 2 (second grade) all over again! Lily was pretty upset by that! To her it was the worst!!! Lily does use that term quite liberally, however. And it probably would have been the worst if she really had to go back to learning the same things she was learning at the beginning of year two in Australia when she started second grade here. But she didn't and she really loves her teacher, Mrs. Blair, so that helps too.
Saying goodbye to her two best gals, MacKenzie and Zahara.
The upside to having to leave her friends and school behind in Australia, was that we would once again be near family! Lily's best of 2014 was getting to spend time with her cousins and grandparents again! Lily and her best boys, Lawson and Wyatt, Trevor and Sterling, all picked up nearly right where they left off. That is the best!!! We are very excited not to be missing out any more! Plus Lily gets to form relationships with her cousins who were away or too little to remember her before we left. :)
Ava: Ava was the only one in our family when a pole was taken, conducted by Ava, who voted to leave Australia and come home to America. She was very excited to see all of her loved ones here waiting. However, Ava didn't realize that leaving Australia meant leaving all her friends behind. Ava's worst for 2014 was leaving her friends, especially her best friend, Sonya and only a few weeks before Sonya was to become a big sister for the first time! It was so very hard and sad to say good bye! It was the worst!
Oh yeah, and Ava definitely wins the award this year for worst haircuts! All self given, thank you very much! One at the very start of the year, and one right in the middle. We're still paying for that terrible fringe cut!
Returning to the states meant that Ava would go from full days of school all day every day to half days of school. Now some might think that this wouldn't be a good thing, but for Ava (and me, and Will) this was the best!!! Ava really values her free time and so not having to be at school all day for Ava is a dream come true. I, for one, have really loved getting some time back with my little Ava who I missed so much when she started full days of school. Will, for two, has also loved the extra Ava time. They are the best of friends! I love it when Ava gets home, straightaway she says, come on Will! And they are off to play and do so for hours together peacefully, for the most part. It is the best!!!
Will: What a year Will had! A lot of change and upheaval! There was a new baby, then moving half way around the world, then being homeless, then moving to a new house not to mention toilet training in there somewhere, or all over the place really. Seriously, how much stress can you put on one little guy? And when we were in the midst of being homeless, Will thought it was the worst! Now he didn't really tell me that, but if you ask anyone who witnessed the crazy thrashing that was going on then, they would agree that it was the worst!!!! It was a nightmare...he was a nightmare! When we finally got settled again, there was some major reforming that took place. It was amazing what a little stability did for the guy!
I can't believe all the pictures I have as evidence of Will's poor behavior! Sitting on a tractor he had been told not to.
Once Will had a stable life, he turned into the sweetest most sensitive a friendly little boys I have ever met. And he finally got completely toilet trained!!!! Yahoo!!! That is the best! (His diapers were the worst to change!) But the best of Will for 2014 is his hugs, his "I'm sorrys" and his "I love yous" Out of all my kids he is the quickest with a hug and an I love you and an I'm sorry when needed. Will is very in tune with others emotions and genuinely cares if they are okay. Will is also super out going and polite. He always says hello to strangers and will strike up a conversation. It's the best!!!
I think I got a little carried away with the picture, but I couldn't believe how many cute Will hugs and snuggles I captured!
Sofie: Sofie really couldn't possibly have a worst this year! She is perfect! But one thing that I think is the worst is that she didn't get to spend more time in her birth country! I'm very sad that she will have no memories of the wonderful place she was born! It's the worst! We will have to go back one day when she can remember it and let her make some memories there.
Sofie won't remember any of these things, but here are some of her Australian memories. :)
Seeing kangaroos.
Sofie is just all around the best! She is literally the best baby ever! Through all of our traumatic changes this year she has been nothing but happy. Her entrance into the world--the best! Her easy going nature--the best! Her amazing traveling skills--the best! Her rate of hitting certain milestones--the best! Her sweet face, smile and laugh--the best! Her eating skills--the best!! Sofie is the best!!!! (Before anyone thinks I am a bad mom, I would say this about all my babies, just maybe about different qualities!)
Noelle: I was going to go to Sydney. I was going to go to Bali. I was going to go to Thailand. I was going to go to Albany, for crying out loud! My best friend had breast cancer and was going through chemo therapy and I was going to be there for her. I was going to run the Tough Mudder. I was going to play Rugby and Basketball, for reals this time. I was going to be a support to two of my best gals who were expecting babies. I was going to go to the Saint Barbara's Day parade. I was going to have more summer birthdays. I was going to share the gospel with my friends. I was going to do so many things. But then my Australian adventure got cut short!! It was the worst! It really was the worst that things ended so abruptly. I had plans, big plans! We had finally gotten settled, we had finally gotten to a place where it felt good. It was seriously the worst when I found out that I had to sell everything I owned, again, and fly half way around the world with small children, again, and start all over, again in less than two years time from the previous time I sold everything I owned, flew half way around the world with small children and started over. It was the worst! Then adjusting to life in Utah again was also the worst! Okay, maybe not the worst, but it was hard! I really struggled. I kind of still do sometimes. Leaving Australia was definitely my worst of 2014.
Just a few...I mean, way too many pictures from our Australian adventure. :)
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Super pit!
Aw, Hannans Street!
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Taking home a priceless Australian souvenir, however, was the best! Sofia Matilda, born in Australia was the best thing about my 2014! When I found out we had to leave Australia much sooner than we had anticipated, I had the thought, well, I guess I could have waited to have another baby. See I thought we'd be there for 5 years and I didn't want to wait that long for another baby that I knew we needed to complete our family. But since it was only 2 years, if that, I could have waited and I could have traveled to all those places I wanted to go instead. However, on second thought, I could not have waited another day to have my little Sofie girl. Before she was even conceived I knew I'd have another girl one day and I knew I'd name her Sofie. And once I knew that, I was so anxious to get her! No trip to Thailand or Bali or Albany, for crying out loud, would have been worth waiting any longer to meet my sweet little angel baby. Sofie didn't want to wait either, she came early, just in time for her dad's birthday! I have never felt so strongly about needing to have a baby when we had her. We thought about waiting a little while longer, but the feelings were so strong to have a baby now. It's crazy how things work out too. I did the math when we were packing up and leaving Australia. If we had waited the couple of months we were going to, I would have been due on the exact day that was were flying home. I'm so glad we didn't wait! And I'm so glad we brought back the most important thing from our Australian adventure that no amount of traveling or cool destinations could ever compare to. Our Sofia Matilda, she is the best!!!
Thank you, 2014, for a year of ups and downs! Our joy was so deep thanks to our sorrows. :) Here's to a great 2015! Full of bests and worsts!
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