We're home.....

Connie and Bill thankfully picked us up from the house to take us to the airport...(we had quite a bit of stuff).  Sharon and Lindsay stopped by to say goodbye and we were able to offload some of our gear to them...not sure how they were going to fit it all in when they had to leave, but WE didn't have to get rid of it, which was a relief!! It was -10C and snow still around when we left.

Out the front of the house, the day we left

We took the hire car back and arrived at the airport in plenty of time....to offload all our luggage, pay excess of $300 (much to our annoyance, but we knew about it before we got there)....

before having a quick lunch with Connie and Bill.  Saying goodbye to them was so hard and so sad, but we stay strong in the thought of them coming to visit us!! (We miss you Connie and Bill)
The flight home was uneventful, except for the delay leaving Denver IA, which wasn't a problem as we had a 6 hr stopover in LA.

LA still has done nothing to endear itself to me (admittedly I have only been to the airport-twice) and we eventually found our way to the International terminal.  We were flying home QANTAS, with our first stop being Sydney, so were immediately inundated with Australian accents, which was so weird.
We arrived at Sydney with under 2 hrs to get our luggage, get through Customs, and transfer to the Domestic terminal.  We managed to to do this with about 1/2 hr to spare and it was here we noticed the huge difference in temperatures from Denver to Sydney!!!
Margaret picked us up from the airport in Perth and we were surprised to see Fiona and all the kids there as well which was really nice.

Margaret and all of us

Fiona and all of us

Despite wanting to tell Marg she was driving on the wrong side of the road, we made it back to our beautiful home on the Leschenault Estuary and to the boys and Lua, (after 32 hrs of travel)

.....the house looked great and it was so lovely to just wander around and take it all in.

Joshuah and Mundi out the back

Since we have been home it has been a bit of a whirlwind.  We had Kristoffer turn 26 on Christmas Day,

Christmas Day with the family,

Margaret's birthday on Boxing Day,

Joshuah turned 18 on December 27th,

time with all the Singaporeans who were here for their 2 yearly visit,

and plenty of backyard cricket....

We've caught up with family, lots of friends

and bought a new car!

Josh and I took a trip down to Margaret River and Redgate Beach for Josh to do some surfing, and the Indian Ocean was simply sensational.

 I really enjoyed a polony roll, with tomato sauce....have been hanging for that for over a year!!!

 and some Heinz Baked Beans in tomato sauce on multigrain bread!!! Nothing better!

But most importantly we celebrated Kristoffer and Asha's engagement party....on our 28th Wedding Anniversary, in our backyard where we had our wedding reception all those years ago.  It was a beautiful night with family and friends and great weather...

Kristoffer and Asha

Asha, Kristoffer, Joshuah, Morgan and Jakeb

So it's been a pretty busy return to life back home and we haven't really had the opportunity to sit back and reflect on our amazing year yet, but it WAS an amazing year and we got to see and experience so much.....more than we could ever have imagined.
We miss the snow, (but not all the clothes you have to wear) and the beautiful mountains. Colorado and the US will FOREVER hold a special place in our hearts and we will be back.