ECOSWAY's Grand Opening Aug 2011

My Mother-in-Law Michaela, and her cousin Gabriela opened their own eCosway store in Toombul Shopping Center. They had done a lot of network marketing and work to get to this point and we were excited to come to their grand opening and see their beautiful store.



This company is based out of Malaysia and is more dominant in Asian cultures, and I believe Michaela and Garby were the first Westerners to open up a store. They sold a variety of things from health food to dishes to toys to bras. But it was all very natural and good for you. :)



We have loved the products they've given us over the years and are so proud of all their work. 



Here she is, the lady-of-the-hour herself, ringing in the first store purchase.

This year (2013) sadly, they did make the decision to close down the shop and move on to other business pursuits, but I think they really enjoyed it, and they put countless hours of love and sweat into this store! Here are some other shots of the grand opening day.



ps: The shop itself is still open in Toombul, but if you go on by you'll see a nice Asian man sitting there instead of the smiling faces of Michaela and Garby.

Splish Splash I Was Taking a Bath (Aug '11)

 

  

   

Farewell Party for Sister Leah and Panu

Varian's sister Leah and her husband Panu were living here for a few years and then headed back to America. These pictures are from our last dinner party with them. Varian's family is all very international and they travel and live all over the world. This is sad not to all be close together, but the upside is they're used to keeping in contact long distance (*cough*cough* for my own siblings- although Katie is probably the only one who will read this and she does an amazing job!)

So they were gone on a crazy long Asian trip (hence the tans) and home just in time for one last farewell party before flying off again to start their next chapter of life. So far they seem to be loving being back in the states.

Side note: Lani is the first Aston sibling to marry an Australian (Cameron Orth below). Otherwise we in-laws have come from America (Brandon Richards and Myself and partly Panu), New Zealand (Felicity Bryan), Germany (Ex-Tom Defenbruch), and Finland (Panu Puikkonen). Though Felicity and I will have gained Aussie citizenship this year - it's still a very non-Australian Australian family. Particularly if you consider that Varian's mom is from Germany and his dad from New Zealand. Quite the melting pot!

I think this was just a week after we moved into our home and it took some super human effort to get the place in a semi-decent-organized manner for the party. Soon you'll start to see blinds on the walls and more decorations...etc.

 

It was nice that they could see Reid again before leaving. I think they had only seen him in the hospital if my memory is right before they were off on their trips. 

Slide Show of Some Pretty Cute Faces (8/11)

Capturing sweet moments/faces of my adorable babies. No other explanation needed. :)