Our House

G'day. We still haven't had time to take pictures of the house since we've moved in, but I do have a few of it while it was still empty, so I thought I'd show you them for now. I know a few of you have already seen them... sorry. Internet sucks here and they make things so complicated with it... so we're still trying to get that figured out.

Anyway, here is our house before we moved in...





It's a great spot. We're really enjoying it. It looks much better now with all of our stuff moved in. We don't have a couch or and living room furniture yet, but we're hoping we will soon.

There are three massive bedrooms upstairs and a nice study downstairs. Our bedroom is huge. Amy has to wear her glasses to sit in bed and watch TV... It's too far away. It's beautiful... the whole house is.

Talk to you later.

Ryan

PS - If you need our new address just let us know and we'll email it to you.

A Quick Update

How's it going, everybody? Amy and I are doing great and just wanted to give you a quick update on our house search. We ended up not getting the house we initially wanted, but instead got something even better. Pretty crazy, hey. We're really excited about it and now that we've moved in and have things looking like a home, we're enjoying it all... being in a beautiful house in a great neighborhood.

We don't have internet just yet, that will take a few days, but we just wanted to let you all know how things are going. We'll post some pictures in the next few days so you can have a little peek... hopefully.

Ryan

PS - It's Amy's birthday today.

Beach Bums

Hey, all you beautiful people! This is Palm Beach - just 45 minutes from where we live. It is absolutely breathtaking and the most expensive place to live in our state here in Australia. A lot of rich and famous people reside here and there is a popular Australian soap opera called "Home and Away" that is filmed here daily.



Yesterday (January 10), Ryan and I officially became Australian. We spent the entire day being lazy at the beach. It was a beautiful day with a slight breeze and lots of sun. Lots of other people took advantage of the weather, too - even some topless ones! (We won't be posting those pics on the blog though - it's safe.) We went with some of our friends - Nolan (from Hawaii), Stephen (from Canada - the other really white guy), and our newest friends, James (from Melbourne) and Amy (from England). We all left quite relaxed and a little sunburned. The sun just isn't like it is back home - it's a powerful flesh cooking machine here...I'm tending to my husband's swollen and crispy sunburned feet as we speak. We've learned a lesson though - lots more sunscreen next time! And for those coming to visit - make sure you pick some sunscreen up before you come. We love you all and hope these pics make you drool...just kidding...summer is on it's way for you guys, too and it's beginning to feel like an oven here...we're praying for snow. Have a wonderful day!

love,
amy t.

The Fifth

Hey everybody. How's everything going?

Today is mine and Amy's five month anniversary. Five whole big months. Pretty crazy, hey.

It's been a blast so far. We celebrated tonight with an awesome dinner - chicken, dressing, fresh veggies. After that we went and threw our arms out at the park. There is something a little weird about playing catch in January, but it was great.

Ryan

PS - We're in the middle of dealings with the real estate agents. Pray that God gives us favor in the eyes of both the real estate agents and the owners of the houses we apply to rent. We've seen some really beautiful ones for descent prices (by Australian standards). Sometimes students with little income aren't necessarily ideal tenants, but we're believing for a great place at a great price.

Fireworks

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you're all enjoying 2007.

Amy and I rang in the New Year at Sydney Harbour with a million or two other people. It was heaps of fun. We had a great seat. We were on a rock jutting out into the water of the harbour. What a view! Fireworks were being set off in four spots around the city. From our rock we could see all four. It was a very impressive show...

Here's the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This lit the whole city up, as you can tell by the water here.

It was amazing to see the fireworks exploding off of the roofs of the major buildings of the city. I've got a bit of this on video if you want it.

It was an impressive show as I said. This is just another shot we took.

With as many people as were there, you can imagine what the trains and buses were like. We chose the train. It was crazy. You could hardly move, and everyone was sweating and smelly. It was worth it though.

How was all of your New Year's celebrations? Anyone do anything fun?

Ryan

PS - Have a blessed 2007!

An Aussie Chrissie!

It was so nice to hear from our families at Christmas time! We love you (both moms and dads and sisters and brothers and nephews and niece.) We were just happy that all of you seemed to have a great holiday! Here's some pics from our day...(minus the really good Christmas dinner that we ate and ate and ate for three days after...)

Santa even found us here in Australia this year. We had a lovely Christmas, as you can see.

My handsome husband picked this little beauty out for me - I love it! (We're kind of into Billabong right now...we're trying to look the part of surfers...without the sharks!)

Ryan spends all of his time with his new iPod. He kisses it, he plays with it, he even wanted to sleep with it - but I said I didn't think that was a very good idea (there's only so much that warranty covers and I'm pretty sure drooling isn't included...he leaves a pool every night on his pillow.) - Amy