book!!

lets book it!

NEW BLOG!!

ok, so since i have used about 87% of my allowable picture space on this blog, i decided it was time to start a new blog. new chapter, new blog. plus, i figured we would have plenty to talk about while we are here here, but lets face it, its all about the pics. so check it out!

http://aidasinausie.blogspot.com/

jet lagged

so for anyone who understands how important sleep is for me will know how i am hating being jet lagged right now. it is currently 4:30 am and justin and i are up for the day. i even stayed up late and everything. boo!

We made it!!

we are alive and safe and loving oz. still working out housing details, but so far we are loving being here. we got justin enrolled in his classes, found a place we really like (hopefully we can get it), and got a phone. justin starts school next week so hopefully we can get everything settled before then. its proved to be quite the adventure and we are loving it. oh and did i mention its the dead of winter and so nice outside? why do i live inoregon again?!?

oh and im starting a new blog for our adventure here. hopefully it will be ready soon...

its here

we leave TODAY!! yea, are you thinking what im thinking? HOLY CRAP!!!! what did i get myself into?!?!?! tonight we hop on the plane and in 14 hours we are lost and homeless in oz! yea, sounds crazy, but we have nothing set up. not even a rent a car. oh well. it will be tons of fun and we are super excited. wish us luck and ill keep you posted on life with the kangaroos.

reality settling in

so we have been looking forward to the month on july for along time now. it was going to be spent with wonderful friends and family and adventures. probably the best month ever. well it is now half way over and the reality of the end of this month are setting in. tomorrow, big g- justins youngest brother- goes into the mtc to begin his 2 year mission in japan. it also happens to be our last day in utah, which has turned out to be so awesome and even better than we could have planned. playing on the boat with the rollins in brigham, cafe rio...twice, family, the mattices, tennis, family pics, and thats just the beginning. now we are left with a road trip to cali, a few days with my family and one week from today we board the big metal bird to oz.

where has all the time gone? it seems like 2 weeks ago i was finishing my last day at my job, packing up the house and still unprepared for the upcoming move. little worries though, as it was still so far away. well those worries have turned into stress-overload. good news though. we officially got our student visa, which means we wont be thrown out of the country. and everything else will be just fine.

another big one

ok. so i know i just did one of these and i should really be totally up to date, but what can i say? when the sun is shining and the pool is right there, i would much rather be out there. so sorry for slacking, but not really. anyways. so we have been up to quite a bit.

cincy

ok, so in june we went to cincinnati for a class reunion and another rush concert. justin spent like 2-10th grade in ohio and it turned out that the class he would have graduated with was having their 10 yr reunion on that saturday. so after re-living all his childhood memories, like old schools, skyline chili, rallys, and the udf, and even a bike ride through sharon woods. (if he ever talks about cincy, its usually about football or sharon woods. it was fun to see what he was talking about.) that night at we had so much fun seeing all his old friends and we were both pretty shocked at how many people he remembered, and remembered him too. it totally made his week seeing all his old friends. the next day we went out to justins old ward and he recognized no one. too funny. however, his old ym president, who also works for p&g, just happened to get back from 3 years in germany recetly. we went to their house sunday night and had a wondeful time getting to catch up with them. the next day we went to kings island, think a smaller six flags magic mountain theme park. it was fun to go on the rides and play like a kid again. that night was the rush concert with my dad and his bf bill. lots of fun and we finally caught a t-shirt (the ones we have been trying to get every show for over 10 years now). it was tons of fun.

2 of my favorite people

that next weekend, my best friend came out from utah to visit me. sheri and i have been friends since like we were 16. but then we went to visit our other best friend tim mcgraw. we spent senior year of high school ditching class to hang out at her house and going to every tim mcgraw concert in so cal. we certainly did not want to let this tradition die, so we went to his portland show on wednesday. this had to be one of the best shows we have been to. we started out about 15 rows back on the very far side. by the end of the show we were right next to the stage where tim touched our hands and signed our pictures! it was so great! after our 1130 run to denny's to cap off the evening, we got pulled over by a state highway patrol man. aparently the freeways in portland areonly a 55mph zone. who knew!?! when the cop asked how fast, i was like "70, whats the big deal!" he let us go with a warning, and a big heads up that i should watch for the speed signs in portland. anyways, we spent the rest of the time hanging out by the pool and enjoying all the sunshine. it was so good to see her and i cant wait till later this week when we play in utah.

run for justice weekend

friday we went to a party for a client at justins firm who happens to live on this beautiful property over looking west portland and is starting a recording studio. it was so beautiful and lots of fun.

on saturday, justins law firm had a 5k "run for justice" event. it was such a blast to run along side him since he didnt do the tri with me. he kept running up ahead of me and snapping pictures so there aren't any of him, but trust me he was there.

after the run and breakfast with some of the people at the firm,we headed out to the coast for one last surf trip in oregon before we leave. it was a bit cold but not windy. i hadnt seen that part of the coast before so i was loving it. we stopped by cannon beach overlook to see the rock from the goonies.

then we contiued down to the cool surf spot that you have to walk through the wods to get to. also, you can camp right there for free and is something we want to do when we get back.

ont the way back home, we stopped by the tillamook cheese factory because they also happen to make some amazing ice cream. my favorte is the chocolate peanut butter, it is by far the best.

out of commission

well, tons has been going on, and i will have to catch you up asap, but that will have to wait. we had a huge lul in our summer, but everything is picking up speed.

two weekends ago, justin and i did the "run for justice" 5k and had a blast. last week my bff sheri came out from utah to spend the week with me and go to the best tim mcgraw concert ever! ill fill in details and tons of pics later. lets just say, we got up to the second row, he touched our hands and we got our pictures signed by him.

then we all left on friday and justin and i came out to Cincinnati to relive some of his old memories. he lived here from '88-'96 doing most of his k-12 ed in cincy (as he calls it). anyways, it just so happened that this weekend also happened to be the 10 yr reunion for the high school he would have graduated from had his family stayed here instead of moving to the Philippines. what a coincidence eh? so after a day of touring the old schools, house, and child hood memories, we went to this reunion. we were both so surprised at how many people still remembered him and it totally made his day (again, pics to come later)

we have a few more days here, complete with of course a rush concert, (for those keeping tabs, that will be number three in the last 2 months... i know.) then its back to work for justin and off to NYC for me! i have never been but am so excited. for anyone who has advice on what to do, see, eat i would love some advice! there will for sure be a yankees game, but other than that, it will be 3 days of who knows.

once i get back on the forth, it will be a few days before i start the 2 week road trip to utah and ca before hopping on a plane to oz on the 22nd. wish me luck.

updates

so the past few weeks have been pretty crazy. not in the sense that they have been overly busy and i have no time, but just the opposite. i have had so much time lately, to much time in fact. i find that i dont get nearly as much stuff done. its weird, i know. well, turns out blogging is one of those things that doesnt get done. sorry. so heres an update of what we have been up to.

triathlon

so i did it! i finished my first triathlon since i was like 7. i did good in everything except the transitions (something to work on). the whole thing was a .5 mile swim, 12 mi. bike and 5k. i came out of the water third in my division, had the longest transition, was so frustrated at the 40+ group wizzing by me on the bike, and finished the run thinking i should have gone faster. oh well. it was way fun though and i think im hooked!

my wonderful husband came with me to be my super support! he was so great, cheering me on and taking some awesome pictures. every time i saw him it made me want to go faster, push harder and make him proud. next time, i hope we can get do it together.

justins new toy

a few weekends ago we went to newport so justin could have a surf day and play with his new toy, his 3 meter kite. it was a gorgeous day at the coast, sun shinning and very little wind. great for me sitting in the beach watching him surf, but not so good for trying to fly the kite. we were having little luck getting it to stay in the air because the wind kept changing directions. what we did do with it was really fun, and even i gave it a try.

we went down to the harbour to get some lunch and loved having the whole fam together.

weekend with pops

so at the beginning of the month, my dad and his friend came up to visit justin and i for a weekend of rush concert and sight seeing. we headed up the columbia gorge (this is such a beautiful drive! highly recommended) and stopped off at the multnomah fall, which is right off the freeway. we then continued up to george, washington (yeah! seriously) for the rush concert. this amiptheatre is called the gorge, and it is stunning. it sits right on the bluff overlooking the columbia river. it is so pretty. it was a bit windy, but watching the show with the sun setting in the background was awesome.
the next day we had it all planned out to go check out mt st helens, since its just over the border from us. it had been sunny and clear the whole drive until we got to the point where we should have been able to see the mountain. yea, thats right, should have! in true northwest fashion, it will be clear and nice until you get to where you are going, and thats when the clouds roll in. we got into the park and could barely see 20 ft in front of us. just a big white cloud where this massive volcano missing its top should have been. such a disappointment. i doubt i will be able to get justin back in a car for a few hours to go see it again any time soon. so when you look at these pictures, imagine a huge mountain behind us and that this is just like a green screen or something.

newest addition

Congrats

to my brother and his wife for a beautiful a baby girl.

Ashlyn Jane Woodbury

was born June 2nd at 2:55am. 9lbs 2oz and super cute!

fyi

so i finally got a bike for the triathlon i am doing in 9 days (AAHHHH!!!) and decided to take it out for a ride yesterday. mind you i have never ridden in clip pedals before. im coming down this road and this car pulls up next to me. i look and see this old lady driving and decide to ignore her and maybe she will take a hint. 2 mintues later, she is still there. finally i take out my ipod and wonder what possibly is so important that you need to try and stop me. as im coming to a stop and trying to hear what she is saying, i totally forget that i am clipped in and fall right over!! now my leg is all scrapped up, i totally embarased myself, and still have no idea what she wants. finally i ask and she says "does this road go to indepenedence?" you have got to be kidding me right??!! that is what was so important that you couldnt continue down the road 1 more mile to see the sign for yourself?? so FYI- do not bother a bike rider! unless they have dropped something totally crucial, like an entire tire or their leg, do not stop them! i guarantee you will be cursed like crazy the rest of the ride!

gone baby gone

we have been saying alot of goodbyes lately. wednesday, i said goodbye to my work of 2 years. thursday, we said goodbye to our wonderful house in eugene. and in july we will be saying goodbye to the USA and all our loved ones in it as we move to Australia for a semester. Its weird and exciting to think about, and ever so intimidating to prepare for. Ill give some facts so you all know what im talking about.




through justins law school, they have an exchange program with the university of adelaide in australia. they allow 4 people per term to go and study there, while gaining credit and grades that count towards his law degree. Adelaide is located about 16 hours drive directly west of Sydney. its right on the coast and is a good sized city, though not as big as sydney or melbourne. it has its own LDS temple and international airport, which are both necessitates. we originally planned on going during his spring term of the third year, but that means he would miss taking the bar in july, and would miss his graduation. both no good. we had thought the deadline had passed for getting in for the fall term, but when asked the australian school, they said we still had about a month left to apply. so after a few weeks of waiting to find out, we finaly got the verdict that we were accepted for the fall term. now that was back in march and since then we ahve bought our tickets and begun planning for our departure in just over 7 weeks! yea thats less than 2 months! AHHH!


it had been my dream to travel around the world after studying there for 4 1/2 months, but that was proving to be quite expensive. so after lots of thought, quotes from agents and hours of researching countries, we decided on a different plan. since the school runs from july 28th to november 20th-ish, we will be in ausie till then, and then hop over to new zealand for about 7 weeks before we have to be back in oregon in january. we absolutely loved NZ and couldnt wait to get back, but we had no idea it would be so soon.

we are still working on our visa's and neccesary study abroad stuff but we are so excited. and now moving straight up to portland when we get backs means we can hopefully find a good house to buy and be settled in for a little while. to think of being in one place for more than 9 months... that will be new.

so proud

my hubby impresses me every single day. the stuff he manages to do, find and come up with always surprise me. his latest doings were our plans for when we get back in january. we had a couple of options between moving up to portland for the extension school, moving back to eugene to finish his last 10 credits, or finding something else totally different that he could use to finish his schooling. well, last night justin had an interview for an extern ship for the spring semester next year. these are not very common, so neither of us wanted to get our hopes up. apparently it went really well because they hired him on the spot. that means that when we get back, instead of coming down to eugene for his final semester, he gets to go work for school credit. talk about the best third year of law school ever. so now we get back he will begin his work with

Yea, seriously! i could not be more proud of him and all his hard work. he has always wanted to work for a big, sporty, active-style company and now is his shot! I know he will have so much fun and work really hard, and who knows what that means for our future. and talk about the discounts! woo hoo! it will be a great experience for him. hopefully we can finally buy a house and settle into one place for a while. that would be quite the change.

crazy weekend

this weekend we got a ton done. on saturday, justin and i got everything boxed up and moved out of our house. thats right, our house is empty. we had originally planned to leave some stuff like an air mattress, bike and stuff for me to use while i lived there for these last few days, but changed our minds while we were packing to just take everything out at once while we had the big truck. this way i wouldnt have to make multiple trips this week to finish hauling up our stuff. so after 12 hours of packing and loading, we finally finished our house at 11pm. we drove back up to my aunts house, again not in the original plans, to go sleep in a real bed.

we unloaded everything sunday, with the help of my fam, into my grandmas garage. i must say, it drove me crazy that after 12 hours of work the day before, we had the entire thing unloaded and ready to go in like an hour and a half. not that i wanted it to take all day again, but it seems like all our hard work was undone in seconds. but, its all unpacked and on to the cleaning!

our memorial day bald eagle we sawthen we got to go fishing with my family on the columbia gorge, which is absolutely beautiful, for shad. this is a fun fish to go for because we only go when there is tons of them heading up the river, and we use them as bait for other fish like halibut and tuna. so when we go, it is almost guaranteed to catch stuff. i think we finished the day wit like 16 total fish. so fun.

and we have also taken up playing doubles in tennis with my aunt and uncle. it has turned into boys vs. girls, but since the first time we played, us girls have been on a losing streak. despite our killer 4 game come back last night, we still lost all three games. i think we need to continue our lessons and maybe get some practice time with out the boys there to help hone our skills!