Photo OVERLOAD! Best holiday EVER!

    I can't put into words how much fun we're having in Australia but hopefully these photos, all these many, many, many photos convey a fraction of the fun we're having 'down under'. We're living our best life at the moment!

Outback Extravaganza was a neat experience.

    And while we're 'down under' the kids are back in Utah getting along just fine without us.

Never miss a Saturday at Fiiz!

A fun visit with Ben's family. Greg makes buddies wherever he goes. Henry and Harvey gave him the biggest hugs when we left.

Seriously, how lucky to grow up in such a beautiful place.

This was one spot we stopped to hunt for kangaroos.

Found a 'roo or two at the university in the evening when it was cooler.

Made a trip into the city and got to walk around the Brisbane temple grounds. It's so crazy how it's right in the heart of all these high rise buildings.

So pretty!

Halle is the funnest little exploring buddy.

Hazy but still cool.

     Greg's 47th birthday will go down in history as his best birthday ever! The girls spoiled him rotten and what could be better then a trip to the Steve Irwin zoo in Australia!? It was amazing!!

Lots of love from the girls.

   Let the zoo photo madness begin!

Snakes and birds just hanging out with their handlers.

Koala bears are the absolute best! This is where my love and dream of visiting Australia stems. I've loved these cute things since I was a little girl.

Greg got some love from Khan the tiger.

The legacy Steve Irwin left is beyond comprehension. What an amazing guy!

Some seriously crazy reptiles.

You can't go to Steve Irwin's zoo and not check out the reptiles.

Lizards were even out roaming free throughout the zoo.

Lots of crocodile 'statues'.

We could have fed and petted kangaroos for days.

Weird 'big' birds.

The tiger show was pretty awesome.

Love the Lemurs.

Rhinos, tortoises and wombats, oh my.

And you can't miss the crocodile show!

Amazing beasts!

More kangaroo love!

Such a great spot for all 10 of the giraffes and that zebra is 'manly'!

Cutest Meerkats!

"The dingo ate your baby!" Tasmanian Devil and Binturong

Alligators and crocs.

And another visit with the Koala's! I love them so much!

And what birthday is complete without cake topped with a colourful kangaroo. 

    Greg will do anything for the girls and shoulder rides are happening a lot, at least for the two youngest.

Dropping the older girls off at school.

We headed to another beach and pier. This beach isn't one of the more popular but it was still fun to explore.

Redcliffe, Bells Beach.

Kind of cruddy water but lots of tiny fish swimming under the pier.

Woody Point/Pier

Another pier. Sandgate.

So many Blue Blubber jellyfish!

Stinky but a fun beach.

One of the better burgers from the Snackleberry.

   We had such a fun time today hiking and spending hours at the beach. This hike was amazing and the girls did such a great job. Shae was a billy goat and beat us all to the top. I've never hiked where the majority of the path is stairs made out of rocks.

All the fires in this part of Australia are making things hazy but you can still appreciate the spectacular views.

So awesome!

Best hiking group!

    Halle came to the top riding on Greg's shoulders and shouted, "I made it! And I did it without crying!" It was the cutest thing ever. She also told me the other night, "I love jewelry". You can't really appreciate how funny and cute it was without seeing her face when she said it but I had to post it so I can remember. She's so stinkin' cute!

Selfies!

More selfies. 

The Sunshine coast was awesome! We had such a fun time. It's not very often I get to a beach where I can wear my swimsuit and actually play in the water.

Beach mermaids.

This was the view from the fish & chip shop where we had lunch by the beach.

    And meanwhile, back in Utah, the kids are plugging along with school and having fun with their big sister, niece and dogs.

    We still have several more days of adventuring to go. I can't believe our time is nearing its end. We're so lucky to be here and are having so much fun! Our next visit will be in another season. We'll have to come back for all the seasons. Dreams do come true!

Our last few days at home and then AUSTRALIA!

     So.... WE'RE IN AUSTRALIA!!! Whenever I was asked where I'd like to travel if I could go anywhere Australia was always at the top of my list and I really can't believe it's actually come true. I was beyond anxious about the long flight but we survived and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And because there's been little to no rain 'down under' the humidity isn't bad at all. I honestly can't even tell the difference from the heat we get in Utah, it just feels warm and wonderful.

     But before we left we got to spend a little time with cute baby Beau! She's so fun and adorable.

     Before our long flight to Australia we had a little over a day in LA so we decided to make our way to Venice beach where we saw some pretty interesting people. There was a man fishing on the pier who rides his bike 7 hours from Orange county to fish off the pier for about a week. He even sleeps on the pier, pretty crazy.

Greg drew the pigeons in with gummy bears and they were not impressed. 

   I found my stores at both Venice beach and Australia. The "It's Sugar" was Venice and "Candy Time" is at the shops in Australia.

     Our first meal out was at "Hog's Australian steak house". The food was pretty good and the photo opt was amazing. Ha ha. Cute Halle!

     We were so excited to see these cute girls. Greg is in his element with all these girls. He's ready to give them whatever they want.

     Our first beach visit was at Brighton Beach. It was so pretty and windy.

     And the fruit salad Jackie and Ben made us is spectacular! We don't get fresh fruit quite like this in Utah.

    I never get my hair combed at home, having all these girls wanting to comb my hair is a dream!

    This was my hair-do from Kirra today.

     Tonight we're helping Jackie and Ben celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary by going to the Outback Extravaganza, which sounds like a good time. We're so excited to be here and can't wait to experience a lot more fun stuff over the next week or so. Thankfully the jet lag hasn't been bad and minus the guilt of leaving the kids for so long, I'm so excited we're here and I've already started my mass stock pile of glucojel's!

Birthday and Halloween!

     We've had a fun week celebrating Isaac's 17th birthday and Halloween. And in case you haven't looked at a calendar today, it's NOVEMBER!! How are we already in November?! And what's even crazier is we're only four sleeps away from flying to LA and 5 sleeps from flying to Brisbane!! I'm kind of FREAKING OUT!! Greg and I are ready but these kids may not be.

     I am going to miss cute baby Beau! She's so fun! 

That hair bow!

Uncle Mark snuggling the baby!

    Isaac made his birthday easy on us and took a little birthday cash and bought his own gift, a new gaming monitor. And of course, he was happy to have yummy cheesecake.

    The 3 youngest had spirit week at school and loved crazy hair day especially.

I failed to get Brock's photo but they all three had some fun purply hair.

    And of course we had a successful Halloween. Parades, trick or treating and plenty of candy.

Brock's last Halloween parade!

Quite a haul!

     Well that's our week. Mark did have a little car accident swiping a pole on the side of the road. He found out today it's well over $6,000 in damage and it may be weeks before his car is repaired. Thankfully it's still drivable and thankfully he wasn't hurt and the insurance has already cut him a check so he can get it in the shop asap. For whatever reason Mark has to learn lessons the hard way. He also found out he had a few things stolen from his car recently including one of his really nice drills. It's probably not been his favorite week.
      So next week if my blogs not updated give me some slack and remember I'm in AUSTRALIA! I'm sure I'll have lots to post whether it's while we're gone or when we get back but I can't wait to see my favorite Aussie's, it's going to be EPIC!