oh the places you'll go...

One of the top questions we get asked is, "Where do you think you will live after Australia?"  Our answer has always stayed the same....We don't know.  Pictured above is "home".  It is where I spent most of my childhood, Elementary School, Jr. High School, High School, College, and where I met Jared and was married.  So, it will always be home for us.

I never dreamed that I would live here....in beautiful Sydney...but here we are, & as much as I miss home at times, I am certainly grateful we are having this experience right now with our little family.

My family loves to travel and see the world.  Several of my siblings have or are living abroad at the moment.  We get it from our parents.  They have always filled our home with books about other countries and gave us the experience of living outside of the US.

When I was 11 years old, my family, well, half of my family...the older half of the family was either married or in college by then...we moved here....

Compstall, England located just outside of Manchester.  I attended 6th grade at Marple Hall, wore a cute little uniform and rode a double decker bus to school.  I met some great friends there, whom I still keep in touch with.  Our little cottage that we lived in was located across the street from a beautiful park full of aggressive geese, but once they got used to us or we got used to them..not sure, walking in through the park was great.

After that experience we moved back to our same house in Orem and then my Dad took another sabbatical and this time it was here....

France!  I was 13, almost 14 at the time and we lived just outside of Fontainebleau which is approx. 40 minutes outside of Paris.  My dad taught there and we had the great opportunity of living life in France.

This time around was a little harder because of the language barrier, but we adapted and had a good time.  We also had a fun summer traveling around Europe, all piled in the car, camping every night in tents for 2 months.  Some of my favorite memories!  The forest above was near our home and one time two of my sisters and a friend decided to sleep in a tent in the forest, just for kicks, because they heard wild boars lived in it.  :)

Next up....Spring 1999.  I was 20 years old, attending college and applied with some friends to do a study abroad semester in London, England!  I LOVED it!  We lived on the top floor of a building in a tiny flat on 10 Queens Gate in South Kensington.  I met some of the greatest people while there. 

London is incredible.  I have a box at home in the US chuck FULL of pictures from my time there..so unfortunately I can't upload them here...it was back in the day before digital, so I need to scan them all one day.

Portobello Road was a favorite spot and where this lovely movie was filmed....I love this movie!!!

We rode the tube almost everywhere,or walked and loved the saying, "Mind the Gap."

After our studies in London were finished, a group of 6 of us packed what we could in our backpacks, left the rest of our luggage at the flat in the basement, and took a ferry across the ocean to France and spent the next 2 weeks backpacking around Europe.  It was an adventure!!!  We slept on trains, got robbed on a train, slept in some pretty interesting hostels and had such a great time together.  Whenever we get together, we still laugh and laugh about all the funny, crazy and great things that took place on that trip.

Just about a year later I found myself here...Italy!!  Funny thing was that when we were robbed on our trip, it was in Italy.  A few other things happened in Italy and I told myself I was happy I had the experience of going there, but that I would be fine if I never went back.  Dec. 99, I opened my mission call and what do you know....Italy, Milan was where I was meant to go. 

My first area was Torino.  A city full of apartments buildings, factories and the beautiful Swiss Alps in the distance.

Next up...Milano.  My attitude about Italy quickly changed as I got to actually see and know the country.  The people were great, not interested in what the missionaries had to say...:), but they were great.

I learned so much during that time, patience being a big one.  Patience as I struggled with the language and with my confidence as a missionary.  Thank goodness I had incredible companions and missionaries around me.

My confidence grew and I really loved my mission and my final area was here....

Beautiful, quaint, hilly BERGAMO.  I know how hilly it was because I was on a bike the entire 6 months I was there...but I loved it.  Nothing like people yelling and making fun of you as you cruise along in your helmet and dress flapping in the wind.  :)

All in all, I think one of my favorite things to do is see the world. Of course most of this took place before blogs and all the luxuries we enjoy with technology now, so one day I hope to get pics scanned and posted so that I can have it as a record for me and my family.  I have such great memories from each place I have lived...inside the US and out.  I definitely don't think it is always easy to be away, but I am glad that my kids are having this experience, I know they won't forget it.

So until next time...ciao (cheesy, I know...hahaha)