We made it!

Well... we made it!

The move is finally over and we are finally here!

A little background from the past few weeks...

We packed up, gave away, and sold all but 11 boxes/bags of our Carlsbad apartment and headed to LA on the 10th.

We stayed in a hotel in LA on the 10th because Jackson had a 9am appointment on the 11th in LA.

On the 11th we took Jackson to the appointment and then spent the day doing Jackson things starting with spending a few hours at the Long Beach dog beach (which is a great area and I would definitely recommend it to anyone in that area with dogs).

Then we took Jackson back to the hotel, gave him a bath and let him take a little nap while we went and checked in all of our bags at the airport. We were able to check in all of our bags with pretty much no trouble hours before our flight which made things much easier when actually getting ready to depart.

After we checked in, we went back and hung out with Jackson and prepared for dropping him off for the flight at 6:30pm. (Flight left at 10:20)

Just before the drop-off, we took Jackson to a dog park to stretch his legs one final time.

I won't go into the sad details of dropping him off, so let's just leave it with, it was TERRIBLE.

So moving on... after the drop off, we were able to meet up with Kelly and Mauricio for a final send off dinner which was really great.

After dinner, we were on our way and off to the airport. We made it through security with our over-packed carry-ons and settled on the plane.

The flight was relatively quick and we were able to get some rest which was really good because we really haven't since.

We landed Thursday morning in Sydney and Kennet came to retrieve us from the airport with a rental van that we CRAMMED all of our things into. We spent Thursday getting cell phones, looking into beds, getting the essentials (towels, hair dryer, etc) to get us through until we were able to shop again once we made it to our new house.

Thursday night we had a nice dinner with Kennet and Rose and then were off to bed pretty early.

Friday morning we had our new car all loaded up and ready to make the drive from Sydney, NSW to Redland Bay, QLD.

Packed to the Rafters!

Before starting on our voyage, we made a very important stop to visit Jackson in quarantine.

The visit was bitter sweet, but all in all good to see him and good to see where he'll be living until January 12th, and good to see he actually made it in the country after an 8 month process to hope he would be let in.

Quarantine isn't as bad as we thought. It's in a rural area that's pretty quiet. There are a TON of dogs and cats there, so he's definitely not alone. They are very strict with visitation, but we do have a company that is visiting him while we can't be there.

Jackson's area is pretty big for a confined space. He has part that's "inside" and out of the sun and a good portion that's outside. He has very cute neighbors (which he didn't realize he had until we arrived), that hopefully he'll make friends with during his time.

If you want to keep updated with pictures of Jackson, you can go here: http://www.dogwalks.com.au/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=1519 this is the album from the company that is visiting Jackson while we are away for the holidays.

One of Jackson's neighbors

Jackson meeting his second neighbor. This neighbor is amazing and spent most the time we were there chasing a beetle... slowly. Jackson of course was barking at him.

 After leaving Jackson we got started on our 10 hour drive to our new home.

The drive went well and we are very happy with our new home. We are renting a house in Redland Bay, QLD. It's a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom home.

Since we didn't bring much over, we've spent the last few days madly trying to get what we could. We spent the first few nights on the floor, but now have a bed (and a guest bed! hint hint). We have a couch, TV, washer, dryer, some dressers and bookcases, a desk.... close to all the essentials. Dan has been building all of our furniture and I just get to come home and see it all put together :)

We were able to have our first home-cooked meal Saturday night and sit at our new outdoor set (courtesy of Dad and Shirley for Christmas, thank you!). We still need a kitchen table, but that will come :)

I started work on Monday and feel really blessed to have been able to get this job while we were still in the US. I'm working at Absolute Distributors which carry both Z-Flex Skateboards and Penny Skateboards.

  

The team here seems really great. I had the opportunity to meet with the owners yesterday and they are really great and seem to really have a heart in the business and industry and most importantly their staff.

When you start with the company you get your own Compassion sponsored child (like World Vision). They pay for the sponsorship, but you are responsible for writting letter to them. I thought this was really cool, and good to see that the heart of the company is a good one.

This is my sponsor child, Romtira Chaiyana. She's from Thailand

They also have this milk frother thing, so I am on a two cups of tea a day regimen. Best tea I've ever had!

So all in all work is going really well so far and I'm really excited to get back to work after the Christmas/New Year break and really start to get myself oriented and invested into my job and my role.

I think that's most the updates. Dan and I both have Australian mobile numbers now, so feel free to email us or send us a message on facebook for those numbers or our new address or whatever.

We're off to Bundaberg this weekend through New Years and are looking forward to catching up with friends and family there and also having a chance to just relax and take in all that we've been doing over the past few months.

Since I probably won't write again until after, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the O'Brien's!

until next time...

Thanksgiving, Australia update, and the final days

It seems like time is both stopped and flying by. Not sure how that makes sense, but we'll go with it

2 weeks ago, Dan, Jackson and I were in Phoenix for thanksgiving and spending time with my family before we move.

It was a great week and a nice time to share with everyone.

Heidi's 30th birthday was on November 26th so in honor of thanksgiving and her birthday, Uncle Guy introduced a new holiday tradition of Jell-O shots. Even Grandma Phyllis took part in it! However she has no idea it had alcohol in it and the only way I can share that on here is because she is yet to get a computer :)

Also in honor of Heidi's birthday, my mom took Heidi and I to a BYO painting class. We brought in a bottle of win and were guided step by step to paint a park scene picture. It went a little fast at parts and was pretty frustrating at times but overall a really fun experience!

Now that thanksgiving is over we are working in getting all the final details sorted for the move which has become a bit daunting. I think I like it better when you rent a truck one day, load your things into it, then drive it to your new place and unpack the truck. That is NOT the case for this move. I feel like ever since we decided to move in March we've been slowly preparing and now we're ready to just settle!

Things are really falling into place over in Australia and we're getting really excited for the move. Just to update you all, Dan and I both have gotten jobs in the Loganholme/Beenleigh area. Dan got a full year contract at a high school and I got a brand management job with Absolute Distributors who have Penny Skateboards and Z-Flex Skateboards. I'll be working specifically on Z-Flex. They are an American skateboard company started in Venice, CA in the 1960's and they're looking to relaunch and keep their American roots, so what's better than hiring an American? :) I start on the 17th of December and Dan starts at the end of January. We both feel very blessed to have gotten jobs so quickly and really feel like everything is working out to make our transition a really good one.

We have also rented a house in Redland Bay. We were originally looking at the Gold Coast but since we both got jobs north of there, Redland Bay seemed like a good option. For those of you unfamiliar with the area (like me), its a bay town that is separated from the ocean by a bunch of little islands. We will be living less than a mile from the bay and there are a lot of nice walking trails to take Jackson to as well as a little beach area at the bay. The town itself is small, but where Dan and I will be working there are plenty of shopping places (including IKEA) so we don't really need much in walking distance from the house. We also have 2 spare bedrooms for all the visitors we'll have... Hint hint.

One final update, thanks to the wonders of Michael Kennet- Dan and I will have a car when we arrive so we can actually get to our new home and jobs :) see what I mean.... All falling into place.

So it's official. We leave in less than a week. Arrive in Australia on the 13th and then head to Redland bay the next day. We will be in Bundy for Christmas and New Years and are looking forward to catching up with everyone there.

So that's it. Next time I update we'll be on the other side :)

Until then, here's some photos of thanksgiving in Arizona (a little out of order, sorry, trying to update this on the go) ...