Night Out

Last weekend, Heath and I went to the River Fire. What it is is they have a massive firework show all along the Brisbane River and then at the end they have these F11's (I think thats what they are) fly over with big flames on the back. It was pretty awesome! We got a few pictures of the firework show and a little video of the planes. It was a fun little date night for us! We also met up with our friends James and Amy, who are getting married September 25!

The Little Things

I come home from work and I see this... with a note that says "Happy 1 month Anniversary!"

I have the best husband! Thanks babe! I love you!

First Apartment

I figured a video is more fun to watch then look at pictures, so enjoy the tour of our new place!

We are living in Brisbane, which is about an hour flight north of Sydney. Even though I am far away from my sister Kim, we still talk on the phone often and try to see each other as often as we can.

Our new place is a little small, but it is perfect for the two of us! It is in a great location because its close to Heath's school, and its close to the city where I work. We have enjoyed getting new things to decorate the place and making it feel like home!

Our Wedding Day

Here are just a few photos of our perfect day! We got married at the Mesa, Arizona temple July 18th at 10:30am. Heath's parents, 2 brothers and 1 older sister flew over for the occasion. Kim, Ethan and Thurston also flew over from Australia. We had our reception at Highland Stake Center and HEAPS of family and friends came along. We stayed 1 night at the Arizona Grand Hotel compliments of Ginger (family friend) and then flew to Las Vegas for 5 nights then onto California for 3 nights before we head back home to Brisbane, Australia.

The Ring

Here is my new engagement ring! It is a good upgrade from the dollar ring Heath bought in Japan.

It is two weeks til we leave to America, and five weeks until we get married! Time if flying by so fast! I can't wait to get home to see my family and friends. I know my mom won't believe this when she reads it, but I am really missing home and am really anxious to get there! 1 week and 6 days counting....

A Long Weekend

Heath and I went to Adelaide this weekend for one of his best friend's wedding. We got there Thursday night and stayed at his aunt and uncle's house. Then on Friday, we drove around and visited some of the places Heath used to hang out at and also drove by his old house.

Then on Friday night, Heath went out with the boys for the Buck's night and I went out with two of Heath's cousins. We shopped around the city and had dinner and then went out dancing! The funniest part of the night was when Lechae (married to Heath's cousin) and I got asked if we were single and we both said no...she's married and I'm engaged! It was classic to see their reaction because they were so shocked that we were so young and already committed to marriage. It was the first time a stranger had asked me if I was single and I was proud to say that I was engaged :)

In Australia, it is tradition to have an engagement party. We decided since we were already in Adelaide and Heath has a lot of family there, we decided to have an engagement party there, as well as in Brisbane. Heath's aunt and uncle, Lynise and Lindsay, helped us put together a beautiful party. We were thinking about doing a simple Sunday afternoon BBQ, with sausages, chops, salads and maybe a cake. Well, Lynise made sure that we had tons of food and variety! She made 4 different salads, veggie platter, fruit platter, 3 different desserts, and she even made us an engagement cake! They did a wonderful job and we really appreciated all the work that they did for us. They are Heath's second parents!
Engagement party cake
Lindsay, Heath's uncle
Cutting the cake

When we got back from Adelaide, I had the day off on Monday so we decided to go golfing. The course we went to had heaps of kangaroos running around the course !
Nice shot, Heath!
This was at the 7th hole and my ball had landed close to this big male kangaroo. He was standing on his two hind legs and it looked like he was flexing his pecks! He was pretty intimidating so I was hurrying to hit the ball!

So things are well down unda. We are counting the days till we are back in Arizona with my family and married in the Mesa Temple. 8 weeks and 4 days till Heath and I are sealed for time and eternity! Can't wait!

ENGAGED!

If you haven't read my mom's,Lucy's, or Valerie's blog yet, I am proud to say that Heath and I are engaged! We went camping to Stradbroke Island with his family a couple weeks ago and that is where he did it. He woke me up early one morning and asked me to go watch the sunrise with him. Initially, I was thinking "oh this is some kind of tradition that he does with his family or something" so I went along with it. We went up on the rocks and watched the sunrise and then I got up to start walking back and go to bed and when I turned around, he was on one knee! Then he asked me and I said yes! We will be married in the Mesa, Arizona Temple July 18. We will honeymoon in America and then head back to Australia a week later.

We took photos for our engagement party and reception announcements last Sunday with Heath's brother-in-law near the city and the Brisbane river. Here are some photos! :)

Sea World

We had a fun filled day at Sea World last week. The only thing I was disappointed about was they didn't have Shamu! But they did have lots of sharks and cute little baby penguins!

Other than that, we saw a dolphin show, a sea lion show, and rode a few rides. They had a new ride that just opened called the Jetski Rollercoaster. You were strapped into jetskis and then the ride took off really fast. It really felt like you were on a jetski!

New Hair Cuts

Its almost as long as mine!
Bringing back the undercut
Squire
Lloyd Christmas (Dumb and Dumber)
Comb over
Mohawk

Final result...Heath's not very happy losing his hair, which took 15 months to grow!

Here are the updates! There's not very many, just having fun and getting into normal life. Heath is going to Queensland University of Technology and I just got a job at Rebel Sport, which is a sporting goods store. I work in clothing, so I am learning all the Rugby and Australian Football teams! They also sell Lakers jerseys, which is a nice little piece of home in the store (even though I hate the Lakers).

Here is us bowling a few weeks ago with Chad and Irene (Heath's brother and his wife) and Miki, a Japanese student staying with Chad and Irene.
Celebrating David's 25th birthday at the drive-in movies.
This is David and my good friend Courtney who came to visit me in Australia! She has been here for two weeks and leaves tomorrow. I am so sad! It has been so fun having her here. We are on our way to the city for a night out on the town!
Aww..I love him!
On the bus on the way to the first rugby game of the season...also, mine and Courtney's first rugby game ever!
In the stands at the game....it was pretty eventful. There was a proposal at the beginning of the game; the Broncos (the team we're going for) beat the Cowboys (rival team) by 1 point; and then with a couple minutes left of the game, there was a man streaking across the field! It was pretty funny.


And for Courtney's last day, we went to church and then had a picnic at the botanical gardens in the city. I am going to miss Courtney when she leaves!

Cruise

I have never been on a cruise before and a couple weeks ago we had the opportunity to go on one! One of Heath's friends works for a cruise line they were able to get a ridiculously cheap deal...$200 for 7 days, so we couldn't pass it up! There were tons of Heath's friends there as well so it was a lot of fun!

The first day couple days, we were just out at sea. The first night, we went to the nightly show and then went to karaoke with all of our friends. I decided to get up and sing Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time". Bad idea!! All I knew was the chorus and the first verse so I was stumbling over words, and then the boat was rocking a lot so it was hard to stand still and I looked drunk! It was a lot of fun and everyone was cheering and laughing. When I finished the song, everyone was clapping and Heath came up and gave me a big kiss in front of everyone! It was a good finish to the song. After that, we all went out to clubbing at Club Oz on the boat, which was a lot of fun.

The next day, we stopped at Whitsundays. That day was also Australia day (similar to our 4th of July) so we got decked out in Australian flag swim suits, tattoos, and hats. We went to a lagoon and played games and hung out there. 

The next stop was Cairns, where the Great Barrier Reef is. My only regret is that we planned things better and made a point to go scuba dive and/or snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef but there wasn't that much planning and by the time we figured out what we wanted to do, we didn't have enough time. So we spend the first day at a lagoon laying out and swimming. At night, we went clubbing in Cairns with some of the entertainment crew from the ship. The next day, we rented a motorcycle and drove about 20 minutes to a place called the Crystal Cascades. It was similar to Slide Rock in Sedona; it had lots of natural water falls and water slides. We started at the top and let the current take us along this little creek. We ended up with some scraps and bruises but we ended up being okay. On the way back, we stopped to pet some horses (I wouldn't touch them, as you can see from the pictures) and while I was getting off the motorcycle, I burned my leg on the exhaust pipe! It hurt soooo bad! 

We made our way back into town and got back onto the boat, because it was leaving at 5:30pm that night. That night, the boat was rocking a lot, and everyone was feeling kind of sick. We ended up going to bed really early that night. The next day, everyone was feeling really sick and ready to be off the boat. 

There were entertainment shows every night, followed by lots of other activities like dancing. During the day, they had Wii Bowling tournaments, table tennis tournaments, golf, etc. The cruise was a lot of fun, but because I was so sick at the end, if I went on another cruise, I would only go for 5 days!