:: time to pack up ::

The view just up the road from our house - photo by Linda Moes.

The time has come, after many stops, starts & stalls, to pack up our things here in Utah & go home to Australia. I won't bore you with the many details of what should have happened, what was supposed to happen because I think that all that really matters right now is that we are coming home & it is the right time for us. 

I am currently doing one of my favourite jobs, selling things that we no longer need on second hand websites. I love the thrill of feeling like I am getting something back from the money invested. That we really only rented something for a short time, then passed it onto someone else who will value it. Over the past few weeks I have sold beds, a cot, a slide, a trampoline, toys, clothes, an outdoor umbrella, a coffee machine & best of all - a car! The dollar has completely blindsided us while we were over here - we came when it was at 80c & we are leaving when it is over $1.05. Oh dear, not much we can do about that except remember that we are still in the top 5% of the worlds population in terms of wealth. Yep, that seems to always put things in perspective. 

Our plans for the next month include a trip to Yellowstone National Park, packing up & moving out of the house, a super big Yard Sale, then a couple of week trip to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon & Zion National Park in our caravan. Then around the end of the month we will hop on our last international flight with kids under 5 (Danny & I have made a blood oath to each other :) ). Hopefully the tenants will have moved out of our house, otherwise we will be setting up camp at my Mum's for a month or so. She did say that she missed us! 

Danny still has a few trips back to SLC to keep an eye on things in the office here but he will be coming back to his new position at RME in September. 

That's the plan anyway! See what happens in the next few weeks. If I have learnt anything on this adventure it is that flexiblity is the key to sanity.

+ a 1st trip to the movies +

Jamin went on a very special date with Danny on the weekend. He has been hanging out for weeks to see the new Cars movie & the day finally arrived on Sunday. 

They had a great time & he didn't even fall asleep in the theatre! He was quite upset about some other cars wanting to kill Lightening McQueen in the beginning but was relieved that Mater saved the day. 

I was not so happy about how much he enjoyed the movie when he burst into our room at 5 o'clock this morning telling me very excitedly that he had a dream about all the cars from the movie. Hmm...

:: dinosaur museum ::

We opted to stay in Salt Lake City this weekend to do a few more tourist spots that we hadn't gotten to yet. I am finding it hard to believe that we have been here 14 months now & are winding up our adventure. Some parts of me are feeling sad but other parts are very excited to be moving back to our family & the life we have in Australia. We have some very strong connections in Toowoomba, both Danny & I having lived there our whole lives, & there is so much that we love about the town & people in it. Saying that, I am going to miss living at the foot of these amazing mountains!

Back to our weekend!

On Saturday morning we went to Thanksgiving Point & saw the Museum of Ancient Life. It was very impressive. A great mix of information & hands on activities for the kids. Isn't it great when you don't have to follow little kids around a museum saying "Don't touch that" & "Slow down". Well, I might have said that a few times but it was still an awesome morning. 

The kids play area of to the side of the life size Supersaurous & Brontesaurous. They were cool!

Another view of the Supersaurous.

The sand & water play table where you could build dams & canyons then play with the dinousaur's in them.

Build you own dinosaur - I loved this one!

Dinosaur bones to be puzzled together on the ground & then placed up on a huge magnetic wall.

A dinosaur just for climbing on.

Excavation time! - They provided the dinosaur bones & brushes. The kids had to dig them out.

Danny & Kael hanging out in the excavation pit. 

Sorry about the photo quality. We only had Danny's iPhone & it was quite dark. You get the idea anyway... a great morning out!

+ a messy morning +

I was feeling adventurous this morning so we decided to make some oatmeal dough.

Here's the recipe if you are game to try it

1 part flour

2 parts oats

1 part water

And here is what happened...

The boys had a ball, got very messy & coated the grass. I am really hoping that the birds are attracted to a flour'y treat because it will be a challenge to get it out of the grass!

We did a lot of hosing down with mixed results. I can't really say that the clean up was worth the fun but the boys might disagree with me. 

:: photos by jamin ::

Jamin has had the water-proof, shock-proff camera out over the last few days & is loving playing around with it. Here are some of his pictures. 

Beloved Aunty Linda talking on Skype. 

Random

Self portrait 1 - 

Jamin specified that the 2 pictures were supposed to join together.

Self portrait 2

Self portrait 3

Kael

Do we have another new photographer in the family?

:: tea & trees ::

What did I do this morning after I hustled the boys out of the house for their "Ginger Day"? Well, I gathered the washing (it didn't quite make it downstairs to the machine yet) & did the washing up... 

Then I made a cup of tea, reheated some pikelets, found my book & hightailed it out to the deck off our bedroom which calls lovingly to me most mornings while I am rushing around my room trying to get dressed amongst little ones playing super heros.  

And this is where I spent the next hour... reading, resting, enjoying the warm breeze, the peace & quiet that is my house on a Thursday. Ahh...

This is what I see when I look up...

Then I look to the side...

I think I may be in love with this tree.

And then I look inside... hmm... maybe I shouldn't look inside because I see all the jobs that need doing & feel a little guilty for sitting on my butt reading, again. What can I say? I don't sew or create in the ways so many other Mamas seem to be doing these days. I read. A lot. The outcome? I have a really good vocabulary & can out spell most others. That will have to do. 

Happy Thursday to you!

:: sunny summers day ::

The last few weeks, excluding our dreary Sunday, have been divine - full of sun, flowers, picnics, shorts & t shirts. I adore summer. It lifts my mood everyday & fills me up with ideas to spend my days with my boys.

Chocolate cake, banana & Orange juice - a great afternoon snack!

The flowers from our garden brightening up the room.

The little vase the boys picked.

The beautiful flowers that I thought would look just perfect in our bathroom.

Did I say it already? I love summer!

:: flaming gorge, utah ::

We were back on the road this weekend, heading about 4 1/2 hours east to Flaming Gorge, on the border of Utah & Wyoming. The car trip was long but the boys did really well. I just don't know how we would survive driving these long miles over here without the iPad for dvd's & games. A sanity saver thats for sure! 

The views were amazing!

We found a campsite about 1 o'clock on Saturday, after stopping for an all American lunch of hamburgers & grilled cheese with fries. 

After setting up we headed off for an easy hike along the rim of the gorge. 

Well... it wasn't so easy with both of us carrying heavy children on our backs. Danny & I both felt some pain the next day!

We were a little envious of the boats on the dam below. Can you imagine wake boarding down there amongst these rocks? 

We saw an eagle (we think) flying just off the side of the cliff. Very cool!

Our walk finished at the Visitors Centre where we listened to a Ranger's Talk about the native plants. Notice how all 3 boys have identical looks on their faces? Wonder what they are thinking. Danny said that he was trying to look interested because the Ranger was so passionate about her topic. 

These animals are native to the area. Eeek!

We headed back to camp & dealt with a tummy bug scare with Jamin (didn't we sigh with relief when it turned out it was his bowels?). The boys were in bed early & we decided to make the most of the fire pit. It has been so long since I have had a camp fire & once again I was reminded of what a great choice in men I made. Danny did some 'fire-tending therapy' while I finished off the bottle of wine. The sun set around 9 o'clock so we decided to head back inside. It was a great night! 

Things went downhill from there... I spent most of the night up with Jamin, then Kael woke at 4:30am. We 'woke' the next morning to find it was pouring with rain with no predictions of it letting up for the day. We threw in our plans for a long ride & another hike, packed up & were gone by 9 o'clock. The drive home was gloomy as was the afternoon at home. This seems to be the pattern of our 'American Adventure' - high highs but very low lows. We think maybe in 10 or 15 years we will look back & say it was worth it. For now, we will keep on trying to make the most of the opportunity we have, without losing our sanity dragging 2 little boys along behind us. 

:: hills aerospace museum ::

On the way home from Bear Lake we stopped in at Hills Aerospace Museum near Ogden. We all loved being able to check out the planes on the Air force Base, which had been kept in amazing condition. 

Here's some photos to check out. 

Inside a ambulance helicopter from one of the wars (sorry, forget which one). It was huge & very special to be able to go in & see it up close. 

Some more helicopters & planes. No time to read information cards when you are chasing after 2 little boys!

A replica of the Wright Brothers first planes. Amazing to see up close!

A great place to stop to stretch out legs on the way home!