Saturday, June 12, 2010

I come from a land down under!

Even though I did not eat a Vegemite sandwich, I think I got a pretty good taste of Australia!

We were able to spend three amazing weeks in Australia.......AUSTRALIA!!!! I still can hardly believe it! I have always had a fascination with Australia and I don't really know why. When I was thirteen I even did a school project about AU. I have always thought it would be an amazing place to visit but never thought I would be able to go there. It is expensive to fly there and once you get there it's expensive to stay! Last year my parents and three youngest sibling moved to Queensland, they live in town just outside of Brisbane. So now one of my Australia obstacles was gone, I had a place to stay! I also now wanted to go there even more because I wanted to see my family!!! Ryan and I had decided if we wanted to go now would be the time because Ezra was under two (you still pay for babies on international flights but it is "only" 10% of the cost of an adult ticket) and if we waited any longer we would be paying for another child......little did we know it would be TWO more little ones. Funny side note.....I said before that I thought from almost the very beginning that I was going to have twins. Before I booked the tickets I called the airline to see what the restrictions were for women pregnant with multiples.....TRUE STORY!.....I told you I knew. Anyways.....Back to the story. The timing was good and we had a place to stay but where do we get the money for the tickets? Tax return. I must say that we were very blessed to get a good tax return this year. We were able to back some of the money we owe (house stuff) and we were able to fund our trip to Australia! I KNOW that this blessing is a direct blessing from paying tithing! Always put the Lord first and he will bless you!!! So now that we had the money we had to "pull the trigger" and buy the tickets........I hate spending money! I am a saver. I have been since I was a young girl. I would to have LOVED to pay off more money that we owe or put the money into savings! Ryan is a "big spender" what can I say opposites attract. It is not uncommon for us to have a "fight" in the store that sounds like this....
Ryan: Just buy the shirt (or whatever it is that day)
Me: Oh, I don't know.....I don't want to spend money.
Ryan: JUST BUY IT!
So you would think I was spending a great deal of money by the way I hesitate, right? No, the shirt is probably about seven dollars. This is how much I don't like to spend money!
YES, I know I am making this a long story by all my little side notes but this is my journal and someday my great great grandchild might find this amusing!

I kept going back and forth about going....I couldn't bring myself to spend the money. Ryan finally said "WE ARE GOING!" Not in a mean way. He knew this was really important to me and that I would never spend the money on my own. We make a good team Ryan and I!
So we did it! Let me tell you.....IT WAS WORTH EVEY PENNY!!!!!

To start from the beginning of our Australia adventure please go back to the post titled

"Australia or BUST"

You might want to break up your reading because there are over 20 posts!!!! I've been working on this for weeks!

4 comments:

W Hansen said...

It looks so beautiful there and that you all had an amazing time!
And your posting about how the Australians are so amazing about complimenting pregnant women has changed me in what I will say. You really are beautiful.

PookaB said...

Wow! What a huge blessing to be able to see your family and enjoy AU.
And you truly are a beautiful pregnant woman. I never understood peoples need to tell women how huge they look. Rude!
Your posts made me want to take a visit down under :)

The Hughes' said...

So sorry if all my comments bugged you! I just love Oz! I can't wait to go back when I am feeeling well! I want to be able to enjoy the food! I am so glad you got to see your family and I am glad they are doing well!

chelsea mckell said...

ahhh! We have even more in common than the SAME due date and twin combo... I'm totally a penny pincher too and my husband is the spender! But I figure it's better than way... if two penny pinchers live together, they'd end up Amish, and if two spenders are together, they end up drowning in debt!
Also... Australia is TOTALLY on our travel list! My husband and I love to travel and have done several international vacations. But AU hasn't happened cuz it's just so darn expensive. We're hoping in like 5 years we can save up, then leave the kids with my parents and go. We'll see. I'm excited to look through your pics!