High country living...

We moved to the country almost 2 years ago.  We bought 33 acres and designed our dream home.  Our original plan was to rent while we built the house, though lucky for us my in-laws had an investment property for us to move into instead. 

About 2 years ago...

We were so excited to make this tree change.  Why else would we leave with Michael in a stable job earning great money and with a 4 little ones aged 9 months, 2, 3 and 5 years old? 

Hay rides today to feed the cows

All 8 of them...

Love this...Dylan's face when we were talking about sausages and where they come from...

It's always the simple things...the boys had a ball playing with this pipe

We had dreamed of a move to the country for as long as I can remember.  The idea of all of that space with 4 boys just made a lot of sense.  Michael was a country boy at heart having grown up weekending in this same area and riding motorbikes. 

So, we thought why not? We were making the move to live our dream life. 

Reality was a little different. 

Work was quiet, our savings dropped, we faced a lot of personal challenges and it turned out to be the most difficult year of our life.  The house plans were put on a back burner and we fumbled our way along trying to keep ourselves afloat.  We questioned every element of our life at this stage.

We talked briefly at times about selling our block, returning to Melbourne, Michael heading away to work in mines the other side of the country.  Each time we would get to that stage though we both knew we didn't want to let go of our block. 

3 boys running up the driveway to our house site

I can honestly say now though that I'm grateful to have had these challenges. It has forced us both to face some stuff we really didn't want to.  I can be grateful now because we've come out the other side. 

Now it's just a game of catch up financially and rebuilding our dream.  It will happen, it will just take us a little longer than first anticipated.  I believe that everything happens for a reason, so I will continue to be confident knowing that this is the path we were meant to walk. 

We all love living up here.  The boys enjoy visiting family and heading down to the "big smoke" however the country is our home.  They love the freedom and of course the fact that it doesn't matter where you go, there is always someone they know! 

We look forward to building and moving up to our block one day...just watch this space! 

Our dog Daisy...she was so tired after a big run around!