Endings

I hate endings!  They are the worst!  And I am the worst at facing them.  I'm always in denial all the way through endings and then after it's all over, I wished I had said good bye better than I did.  The ending of our time in Kalgoorlie was no better than any other ending I've ever had.  The only good thing about the end of our Australian adventure is that it happened quick.  We just pulled it off quick like a band aide!  Less painful that way! When we left America, we had been anticipating our move for over 6 months, so it was a long and painful goodbye.  I much prefer how we left Australia in that we didn't even know we were leaving for good until about a week before we actually boarded a plane and left!

Let me run down a little time line here.  KK Machinery was going out of business.  They kept Cory on to help with the bankruptcy process.  During that time I was certain we would find something else in Kalgoorlie, because it was NOT our time to go yet!  We just needed to have a little faith, right?  Well as time went on Cory was finding work just about any where except Kalgoorlie.  But I still wasn't ready to let it go.  It started looking like we were going to stay in Australia but not in Kalgoorlie, but in Perth.  That was something I could get excited about,  but I was still sad that my time in Kalgoorlie was ending and I didn't want to start all over again in Perth.  I loved my family away from family in Kal and that is where I wanted to be.  But alas, it looked 99% certain we would be moving to Perth, so I told my mom that.  My parents were planning a trip out in December and they had already bought their tickets!!  Ah!  So they wanted to know what was happening also.  So I told my mom that we would be moving to Perth so they could keep their tickets.  And almost instantly when I told her that, I knew that we wouldn't be moving to Perth but that it was time to go home.  So I finally decided to let Australia go and once I did, Cory was offered the job here in Logan and we packed up our house, sold everything we owned in a matter of 3 hours on a Saturday morning yard sale, booked our tickets and flew out of there!  It was crazy fast!

Here are some pictures of our last days in Kalgoorlie.

Our little Aussie in her homeland.  :)

 This was some of the girls impressive Barbie family collection before they had to say good bye to them for good.  They went to a good home! :)

 Sofie snuggles.

 Will's personal mine site!  I do miss digging up rocks with him out there!

 One of our last days with furniture we were lucky enough to have our best friends Natalie and Isaac over for a play.

 Busy little two year olds, too fast for my camera to capture!

 Sofie admiring her biggest sister!

 Here is Ava with Tallulah Mae and Zara on Tallulah Mae's last day in Kalgoorlie.  Turns out Tallulah moved 5 days before we did. The difference was they knew they were moving for 11 weeks before they did!  We only had a week!

 On our last night in Kalgoorlie, our good friends, the Klemasz's threw together a last minute going away dinner.  It was awesome and so nice to see so many friends before we left.

 Cory and the boys, Dean, Ash, Ben, Ces and Dan.  I miss these guys!

 The Papasin's, whom I love dearly brought us this delicious pie as a going away gift!  It was amazing!!!

 This was some of the final stages of packing.

 While packing and cleaning I kept finding these beautiful little gems!!  This one was my absolute favorite! I don't know how I got so lucky to have such a sweet daughter like Lily!!  I love her!!!

 For some really strange reason that makes no sense to me at all, when it is your last day of school at O'Connor, you bring a treat for your class...huh??  Why or how would you even have time for that when you're moving?  Anyway, I took that delicious pie that the Papasin's brought us!!  Haha!  We couldn't eat it all!!

 Here's Lily with her two best friends, McKenzie and Zahara.

 Here is Ava and Lara on Ava's last day at school.  Oh, sadness!!!

Then it was off to the airport for the longest flight ever!!!!!!

Ward Conference

Call it Serendipity, coincidental, or perhaps God knew and had planned things just the way He did, but we had Ward Conference on August 10th, 2014 where Bishop Rowe got released as bishop of the Kalgoorlie Ward.  Cory being bishop was the only thing left keeping us in Kalgoorlie at that point since he no longer had a job.  So I just found it extremely amazing that the timing worked out so perfectly that Cory could be released and then two days later we were on a plane flying home.

It was bittersweet to end our time serving the good people of Kalgoorlie.  I am certainly very grateful for the opportunity we had to serve and give of our time and ourselves.  I'm with President Hinckley when he said what appears to be a sacrifice today will prove to be your greatest investment.  When you chose to serve, the blessings you get in return far exceed any sacrifice you think you're making.  I am just so extremely grateful for that life changing experience.

When Cory was released and the mantle shifted to the new Bishop Scott, I couldn't believe what a physical thing it was.  I could physically feel the weight of that calling leave me, and if I felt that then I'm sure Cory felt it even more!!  So this Ward Conference was much more relaxing and enjoyable than the one when Cory got called as Bishop!  It was bittersweet, however.  So sad to go so soon!!!!

Bishop Cory Rowe at his desk for the last time.  He was already released and cleaning it out.  He looks quite happy, doesn't he?

 Bishop Rowe and our favorite little sweetheart, Mark Burton.

 We had a potluck lunch after church.  Always a good feed at the Kalgoorlie chapel.  Gotta love the kiwi Coconut Sweet Rolls!  I was told that those are how they get their thighs!  ;)

 Ava enjoying her muffin.

 Bishop Rowe and Sister Maisy

 The Thompson family.  Ben, Jess and Kialie.

 And Grandma Marilynn and Azalia.

 Bro Seala and Corrine Taurima, love her!!

 Beautiful Heidi Prall and Chloe Tomlinson, and Allison Sateki.

 Oh, Nadine and Julia!!!

When I saw this picture with the Prall's, it instantly brought tears to my eyes.  I will always love them for their kindness and generosity.  Karen and Karl, we love you!!!

 And of course, good old President Masson, the stake pres.  We love him too.  A very nice man who serves the church well in Australia.  He was Bishop Rowe's mentor and example and we could feel that he had a genuine love for Cory and our family.  So glad to have met him and gotten to know him so well.

 Leonie and Asher, Luisa and Hannah and me and Sofie.  Just a few of the new babies born in Kalgoorlie that year!

Kalgoorlie Ward, we love you!!!!  Thank you for letting us serve you and thank you for all of your love in return!!!!

A Kalgoorlie Girl's Night Out

Kalgoorlie is an extremely transient place.  People are always coming and going.  It is also a very culturally diverse place.  So many different cultures in one city!  My friend Cassie, who was from England, was ready to move her little family back home to England to be close to grandparents and cousins.  So my friend, Stacy decided to throw her a going away girls night out.  They knew I didn't drink but they invited me anyways and I decided to go along as the designated driver.  

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I went and got that true, authentic Kalgoorlie experience, especially since it was so close to me leaving there for good as well.  It was incredible and fantastic!  The people watching was amazing and the company that I was with was good too!  It really was a great night!  

Here I am with Cassie, the lady of the night.  This was our first drink of the night at Paddy's.  I have my lemon lime and Cassie has her champagne.  

 From Paddy's we moved next door to the Exchange Hotel where there was a live band and (gasp) skimpies!  Skimpies are a big thing in Kalgoorlie, almost every bar has them.  Some bars they go completely topless, but lucky for me, at the Exchange they were just walking around in their underwear...very small underwear!!!  But they were behind the bar and since I wasn't ordering any drinks I never had to ever look in that direction if I didn't want to.  :)

 More of Cassie's friends joined us later.  Here's everyone except Stacy.

 Cassie is Tallulah Mae's mom, Tallulah Mae is one of Ava's very best friends from her school class.   We saw Ava and Tallulah's school teacher at the bar!  Miss Parrott!  She happened to be there with Lily's school teacher Miss Blackwell.  And then later that night I saw Lily's year one teacher, Miss Jones there as well!  That was a trip for me!!  It's hard to imagine that your kids school teachers have any life at all outside of teaching, let alone one where they get smashed every weekend at the Exchange!!!  I do have to say though they were the cutest single ladies there!

 Here's me and Stacy coming back from one of her many bathroom trips!!!

 Here's me with my Diet Coke!  So I never drink alcohol and sadly enough I almost never drink caffeine!  But since I was designated driver and it appeared these ladies would be going late into the night, I fueled up a bit so I wouldn't totally crash since I'm usually in bed asleep by 10 pm most nights!!!  Plus I really couldn't think of anything else to order when they kept asking me if they could buy me a drink!

 Stacy was the best!!!  She was just dancing away, no inhibitions whatsoever!  I cannot tell you how happy I am to have made this awesome lady's acquaintance!!

 Lindsey and her friend....oh dear, I already don't remember her name!

 You'd think I was drinking based on the photos, but no, this is my normal!  ;)

 I joined Stacy in dancing most of the night, but it was a little harder for me since I was fully aware of how ridiculous I looked!!

 Poor Cassie, since she was leaving and the get together was in her honor everyone kept buying her new drinks before she had finished the last one!  I didn't realize that the goal was to get her completely hammered!!!

 From the Exchange,we bar hopped yet again, going across the street to the Gold Bar.  We hung out there for a while and I decided to just sit down and wait.  Lindsey and her friend joined me.  We had one weak attempt of someone asking us to dance which we all refused.  :)  I think that Stacy would have been happy to go all night, but after she fell down for the second time around 1:45 am, I decided to call it and I drove them all home.

It seriously was an awesome night.  Happy to do it only once!  :)  I can't believe that that is what people do every weekend or every night!  After experiencing something like that, it always makes me even more grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and the commandments that we have to protect us and keep us safe and happy.  I know I am so lucky to have a testimony of this gospel and to be able to own it and stay true to it.  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior very much!  It's funny that I'm ending this post with my testimony since, strangely enough, that is how I ended that night as well.  While I was driving Stacy home, she was becoming a very reflective drunk and was asking me questions about God.  And while I doubt she remembers any of our conversation, I felt the spirit as I bore testimony of a loving, caring God who is our Father and is mindful of her and me and every person on this planet.  

Couldn't have asked for a better girls night out in true authentic Kalgoorlie fashion.  :) 

Kalgoorlie Dreamin'

It has been over two months since we said good bye to Kalgoorlie!  It all happened so fast I hardly got time to process everything or say a proper good bye to all of my many friends there whom I love as dearly as family.  I was really sad to see the experience end prematurely, but I am forever grateful to of had the experience at all.

Our Australian adventure was so good in so many ways.  It was also so hard in so many ways, but that is why it was so good!  We were tested and stretched, sometimes beyond our capacity to bear, and it was at those times that I know my Savior carried me and my family through.  I will forever cherish my life changing time in Australia.  A little piece of my heart will forever be Aussie, and more specifically Kalgoorlian!!!

Say what you want about Kalgoorlie, and anyone who has ever lived there or been there will not hold back in pointing out the negative side of Kalgoorlie, but I want to say that Kalgoorlie is the most generous and giving community I have ever lived in.  We got by on the kindness and generosity of others for the almost two years we lived there.  Without that, we would not have survived.  From people giving us their old furniture free, to helping with yard work, to bringing by blankets because they knew we were cold, to leaving Christmas gifts on our doorstep for our kids, to bringing by meals or picking up milk for me at the shops, to just offering a smile and a hug, to loaning us a car for two years, all expecting nothing in return.  This has all left me over flowing with gratitude for the kindness that still exists in humanity.  If there is anything I hope rubbed off on me in Kalgoorlie, it is that Kalgoorlie kindness and generosity.  I hope to spread some of that love where ever I go in the future.

Now, I'm going to attempt to catch up on the last two months happenings that I haven't had time to blog about!  I feel like too much good stuff happened to skip over it!!!