Hey! Hey! Hey!

I am in the U.S. now! Not for good, this is just a visit and I might not be in your state right now, but I am here and am trying to make time to see all of my friends while also meeting family demands so please be patient and if you live in AZ I will try to call you in the next week or so to see when we can meet up!

Day 4: Gall stones suck!

For many reasons. The first being that they have sent me to the emergency room twice in the last month! Have I mentioned how much I hate Chinese hospitals? And second, unless I want to make more visits, I have to make drastic dietary changes. I know I was working on my sugar intake, but now I have to focus on fats. Lame.

Day 3: I broke the law

This photo is not that exciting, but its content is. Basically I broke the law by not applying for a visa for my baby here in China in the first 30 days of his birth. I did not realize that you could apply for a visa with out a passport (you can and you should!) so we applied for his visa 34 days after we should have. So I had a child living illegally in China for more than 30 days and was punished accordingly with SEVERAL visits to their offices an hour away and a 1,000 RMB fine. I got off lucky because the police officer who interviewed me decided that my negligence was completely accidental and not malicious. If he has decided otherwise then he could have sent me and the baby to Hong Kong to wait for a Z-visa to be issued from the U.S. A much more time consuming and costly affair!

Day 2: Stacie's Birthday

This isn't exactly China-specific, but it is a little hard to do birthday's in the typical American fashion here. Notice the tiny cake? This is because I have to cook in a tiny oven. Notice the lack of candles? That is because birthday candles is not a tradition they have here so they are impossible to find. It was still a great night though with lemon cake and western food, compliments of an Irish pub in the city. Happy Birthday Stace. (And Elizabeth and Melissa!)

Day 1: Hangin' with the Peng's

I admit that this is a cheater photo because it is from our visit back in February. I took my camera today with every intention of taking photos, and then forgot. Anyway, we love the Peng's. The first one we met was Axin. You have probably heard me mention her before because she is Avery's second-best friend in the world. When Axin's parents learned that Joe and I had babies they decided they needed to invite us over for dinner. Axin is their oldest and is not real close to marriage and kids so they wanted a baby fix. In exchange for letting them hold my babies all night ;) they fed us dinner! That was back in Feb., and this last week Axin informed us that her mother missed us very much and wanted us to come back for a visit. Well, alright, you pulled my arm. What is so sad is that we have no pictures of Axin's parents! They do the cooking, the cleaning, and the babysitting, and we just show up and eat and they managed to escape all photos! With Axin's guidance the food has been exceptional each time. We were afraid at first of what they might serve, but Axin made it pretty clear what was and was not to be served to us. So we ended up with some awesome eggplant and pork, beef and bell peppers, cucumber salad, and yummy soup. We love the Peng's.

Why stop a good thing?

I liked this 30 day challenge. I feel like it has kept me more involved with people at home. So I have decided that I am going to issue a new challenge to myself. I am calling it "30 Days in China." Every day I am going to post about something I did in the day, or comment on a cultural aspect of China that I find particularly...interesting. There is no real specific topic for each day, it is simply anecdotes on living in a VERY foreign land.

Day 30: Someone You Miss

I miss Dave. I've never actually met him, but I miss him all the same. I miss the warm, yummy smells that always permeate his place. I miss the completely satisfied feeling I have whenever I leave. Every time my friend's and I discuss things we miss about home I always think of Dave. I wonder if he misses me too?

No offense intended to my brother, Dave, whom I also miss.

Day 29: Something That Always Makes You Smile

Something about my husband holding one of our sleeping babies makes me so content.

Day 28: Something You Are Afraid Of

Spiders. In fact I am so afraid of them I can't even look at pictures of them without getting the heebie-jeebies or jumping out of my skin; so no photo this time.

Day 27: You and a Family Member

Day 26: Something That Means A Lot To You

It doesn't have to come with flowers, but a sincere "thank you" can lift spirits and warm hearts. It is nice to know that your efforts are acknowledged and appreciated.

Day 25: Your Favorite Day

Honestly, how do people choose these things? I'm going to pick 3, but I only have pictures of two.

March 18, 2005

Joe and I had just gotten engaged the night before and we spent the whole day at 6 Flags: San Antonio with Jon and Nate. I was giddy and in love, I was riding roller coasters till I wanted to puke, I was in one of my favorite cities, and I was with family. Too many good things to ignore. Sadly I have to pictures of this day.

October 31, 2009

Joe and I LOVE Halloween. The whole month of October is our favorite month, but the holiday is the icing on the cake. Technically this was Avery's second Halloween, but it was the first she was aware of. We were in Texas visiting family and we went to downtown McKinney to wander around only to discover "Scare on the Square." It was a totally awesome Halloween festival that the whole city had set up for. Shops closed down and set up candy tables, there were hundreds of kids and their parents dressed up, there were fire trucks and game booths. It was so much fun!

July 4, any year, but this picture happens to be 2008.

Joe and I love to go to Utah for the 4th. The weather is so much better than Phoenix and we love to spend a few days hiking and riding bikes. But on the actual holiday we hang out with the Nielsen's in Centerville. The day starts with a 5K and then breakfast in the park. Then it is down to the main street to watch the parade and watch the kids scramble to collect candy thrown from the floats. After that we head to Kelly's parent's house for a BBQ and possibly a nap. We usually manage to sneak in a movie in the late afternoon, and then fireworks over Thanksgiving Point that night! Every year that we get to do this it becomes one of the highlights of the year. Thanks so much to Jenn and Kelly, as well as Kelly's parents, for always welcoming us to this amazing celebration.

Day 24: Something You Wish You Could Change

My address. I'd like it to end in U.S.A instead of P.R.C.

Day 23: Your Favorite Book

I don't know if you know this but I read a lot. Picking one favorite book is a ridiculous notion to me. So let me just list a few of my favorites that I re-read on a regular basis:

Day 22: Something You Wish You Were Better At

Oh, this list could be SO long. But since I was long and wordy yesterday I will just pick one thing on my list of 5,000 things I wish I was better at.

Right this second I really wish I were better at being a mom. This last week has been long and rough and yesterday may have been just about my worst day ever as a mother. Avery is a really difficult 2-year-old and Oliver requires a lot more attention (meaning he needs to be held) than Avery ever did as an infant. This being the case I spend most of my day going from one screaming child to the other just trying to achieve a few minutes of calm. I feel like I have no patience, no energy, and I never seem to be able to just sit and play with my kids since when they are being good I hurry to do things like the dishes, or blogging, and then there is guilt. I've always loved being a mom, but this week has made me wonder why I am suddenly so bad at it.

Day 21: Your Favorite Night

My family is made up of night-people. Half of us suffer from mild insomnia and the other half aren't exactly morning people either. Joe is the same way. If it is his day off he prefers to sleep in a bit and spend the evening watching movies or playing games. This being the case, it is impossible for me to pick a favorite night.
Growing up we would watch movies together as a family on a regular basis. Mom popped popcorn, we all brought up blankets and pillows and crammed into our small living room to enjoy "The Thin Man" or "The Hunt for Red October" or a James Bond film. I loved it.
When Joe and I started dating we had some AWESOME dates that I can remember vividly. There was the night we went to the Norah Jones concert, and the night we took the jeep up on Pinnacle Peak, when we got engaged in San Antonio, and many more.
And since my marriage, and especially when my dad was sick, there were some amazing nights when we were all together as a family that are now some of my most treasured memories. There was the night on the cruise when we did the white elephant exchange, Christmas when we did the talent show and everyone almost got snowed in at Jenn's, carne asada night in Phoenix, the Wii bowling tournament.
Honestly, I can not choose a "favorite night" with so many great moments among my night-owl family.

Day 20: Somewhere You Would Love to Travel

Santorini, Greece

Look at this picture and try to tell me that you don't want to come along.

Day 19: You, when you were little.

This is the only photo of me as a child that I have available right now. I'm glad it's a good one. Though I wish I had the one of me in the pink dress and white hat holding the little potted plant. You know the one I mean, Mom?

Day 18: Your Biggest Insecurity

Yeah, like that's going to happen. I'm insecure about it for a reason.

Day 17: Something That Has Made a Huge Impact on Your Life Recently

I moved to China.

I had a baby.

My dad died.

Take your pick.

Day 16: Someone Who Inspires You

Can someone inspire you and make you feel totally inferior at the same time? Meet my friend Jax. Check out her blog from my list, and then be blown away. The more you read the more you will learn about her. She is an Irish dancer, photographer, crafter, cook, recent sewer, etc.... Oh, and she has 2 kids, one a newborn and yet she still does all of this. Like I said, inspiring yet demoralizing.

Day 15: Something You Want To Do Before You Die

I asked my mother once if she was always so patient and nice, if she always was so strong in the church, and if she always thought nice things about people. She told me that she became the person she is through many trials and tribulations and that her faith and patience came from study and practice, and all of this some time during the process of raising children. She also confessed that she doesn't always think nice things, but she tries to only say nice things. So she wasn't just born awesome, she worked for it. She was not instantly the best mom when Jenn was born, she bettered herself over the years. This gives me hope; hope that I can someday, before I die, become like my mom.

Can you believe...

I am 30, people! When did this happen? I certainly don't feel 30. Although, to be fair, I guess I don't know what 30 is supposed to feel like so it is entirely possible that I feel exactly like a 30-year-old.

Day 14: Someone You Could Never Imagine Your Life Without

This topic seems to tempt fate just a little bit too much for me. I am almost afraid to talk about someone that I can't imagine losing, because then that opens the doors for a serious trial option. I am not generally superstitious, but I just can't do this one. So instead I am going to talk about someone I could not imagine having lived my life without thus far. I have had so many good examples and great friends in my life so I had to think hard about someone who has really influenced me and who I think I would have left a great hole in my person. I picked:

Lisa. What is a little sad is that this is one of the only pictures I have of us together.

When I moved to California at the age of 14 I had a VERY hard time. I did not want to leave Washington, most of the girls in my new ward were not very nice to me, and, being semi-socially retarded, I didn't really know how to make friends. I was angry and sarcastic and mostly just grumpy for about a year and a half. Lisa and I were not friends right away. She was in my ward but most of the girls there, and at school, had all grown up together. Do you know how much fun it is trying to break into a group of teenage girls who have known each other their whole lives? Anyway, I actually went through a couple of pretty good friends, who discarded me after a few months, before Lisa picked me up. I don't even know how we became friends. When I look back on it she was just suddenly there. She helped me be the happier version of myself, she was someone with whom I could raise my personal standards and not be made fun of, she was encouraging, and she was so talented I suddenly realized that learning to sew and playing the piano were not old fashioned hobbies but talents that would be incredibly useful in the near future. Of the good friends that I made in California, and in the end it was a good number, Lisa is the only one I still talk to. I still think of her as my best friend. We can not talk for 2 years at a time, and we have done just that, and then pick up the phone and chat like we were together last week. I don't know what kind of moody, unhappy, and possibly inactive person I would have been if Lisa had not found me.

Day 13: Your Favorite Artist or Band

I could listen to this album over and over and over. Oh, wait, I HAVE listened to this album over and over and over. Thanks, Maria, for introducing me to it! Do you have an album that is your go-to album? The one that you turn on when you are happy, angry, nostalgic, tired, or pumped? This is mine. I love Maroon 5!

Day 12: Something You Love

Did you ever do one of those intelligence tests where you would look at a picture then turn it over and try to remember as much about it as you could? Okay, take a good look at this photo:

When I look at this photo, and even when it has been taken away, I see and think of a whole bunch of things that I love.

I LOVE:

Joe

Food

Eating at Famous Dave's!

Las Vegas (I know that you can't tell it's Vegas, but it is!)

Visiting friends

The Whitings

Date nights

Good hair days

Did you realize that this one photo had so much stuff in it?

Day 11: Something You Hate

What is wrong with this picture? I'll tell you what; she is biting her fork! It could be a spoon or a knife and it would still have the same effect. I can go from I-love-you-so-much-I-would-give-you-the-shirt-off-my-back happy to I-will-gouge-out-your-eyes angry in 1.2 seconds flat if you do this at the dinner table. That goes for chewing with your mouth open as well! Manners, people!

Day 10: The Person You Do the Silliest Things With

Angela, of course. Geez, these last two have been easy.

Day 9: Person Who Has Gotten You Through the Most

Mommy, of course.

Oliver: The 2nd Month

Oliver is so big! I can't tell you how much he weighs because I have no idea. I just know that I feel like Avery was this same size at 8 months, not 2. We are surprised at all he does already. He lifts his head up really well. He smiles a lot, even though we never seem to catch it on camera! And just today,, while I was doing his photo shoot, he rolled over! Just like that. He was holding himself up and the next thing I know he is tipping and tipping, and BOOM, he is on his back. It was awesome. He is thankfully getting better at sleeping as well. He will stay asleep for 5 or 6 hours at a time in the night now, but only once. Then he is back to waking every three hours. Good thing Avery started waking up in the middle of the night for hours at a time or I might have started getting some decent sleep. What a tragedy that would be.

Day 8: Something That Makes You Laugh

This:

And this:

And this:

I should note that she makes me want to scream as much as she makes me want to laugh. I guess that is the joy of a 2-year old.

Day 7: Your Most Treasured Item

I have been thinking about this ALL DAY long. I don't know what this says about me, but I literally do not have a most treasured item. I have been wracking my brain trying to think of something I own that I just love so much that I could not part with it, and I came up blank. In the preparations for moving to China I sold almost everything that we own. There are some things that I kept, like my sewing machine, my Cuisinart, my Kitchenaid, but I lent those things out to friends. How "treasured" can they be if I am okay with parting with them for years? I brought stuff withe me that I love. Mostly just clothes and shoes, but they are certainly not "treasured." So, I guess I am lame. I got nothin'. I am actually kind of sad about this. I can't think of a thing I own that I would be heartbroken to lose. All things can be replaced or repaired, in my mind. What does that mean?

The Scooter

Some of my family members expressed an interest in hearing about our scooter. We finally broke down and bought one because we felt like we were wasting so much time on the bus. The buses here in Clifford can get you around really well if you are willing to take the time to wait for the bus, possibly transition at the depot so that you can get on yet another bus, and sit through countless stops. There is also the crowd to consider. Joe was losing half of his lunch break every day to travel, and I was losing 2 hours with my family on Saturday because I was sitting on a bus to and from my tutoring gig. It sucked. So now we have the scooter, and, yes, we all ride it together!

Day 6: Person You Want To Trade Places With

I am taking this literally. I want to trade places with Micah Woodard. I don't want to be Micah or anything, (no offense, Micah) I just want to swap places with him for a day. He can teleport here to China while I head to Utah. He can hang out with Joe and experience Guangzhou in fast-forward, and I can eat all the foods I miss, spend time with my family members in Utah, and just enjoy the great country that is the U.S. of A! I actually would like to replace some other random person in Utah so that I could see Micah too, but if I were to be gone for a whole day I would need to leave behind someone that Joe would like to hang out with; we are trading places after all.

Day 5: Your Favorite Memory

Is it cliche to say that the birth of my first child is my favorite memory? Not the actual birth really, but the night of. I remember having her lay next to me and just staring at her thinking that I had never been so happy and so scared in all my life. I was so overwhelmed with love I thought my heart would explode (come to find out that was my liver, not my heart). I suddenly understood how our Heavenly Father could love us unconditionally, why Christ would suffer and die for us, and why parents stay up all night the first time their child goes out on a date. It is the first time I experienced several new emotions and it made the situation all the more poignant for me. It was a really great moment for me as a person. Again, pictures will have to wait.

Day 4: Person You Have "Liked" the Longest

I love this title. Keep in mind I got this list from my niece who is is junior high. That being said, I am pretty sure that "like" means, you know, that you LIKE like them. Tee hee! So I pick Joe! I am sure that he is relieved to hear that. It is great that this post came today because I just spent the whole day with him! Stacie babysat the kiddos and Joe and I had a date day. This picture is of us on the scooter we just bought together this morning. That was followed by a little lunch, a couple hours at the amusement park, and then dinner with friends. But the best part was just being with Joe, with out kids, for once.

Day 3: Cast of Your Favorite Show

I LOVE CASTLE! It is one of the few shows that I still follow even here in China. Nathan Fillion is one of my favorite actors and the witty banter keeps me in stitches. And, as every good show must, this one has great side characters. Ryan and Esposito are awesome. They know each other like an old married couple and argue and console one another accordingly. And Castle's mother never fails to please.

Day 2: Someone You Used to be Close To

I am taking this literally. Since I live in China I could pick anyone really, but I am picking Gina. My friend Gina lived right down the street from me in Phoenix. We have children really close in age, and we have similar hobbies. Mostly it is really just sewing, but that took up a lot of our time! I went from seeing Gina a couple of times a week to now having the occasional email. We would get together to sew, go to Joanne's or Hobby Lobby, discuss new patterns, and generally just ooh and ah over what the other had made since we last saw one another. I think that when I come home we will jump right back in, but right now I can say that we used to be close, since we are now separated by nearly 8,000 miles.

Day 1: Yourself and 15 Random Things

1. I was born in the bathtub.

2. If I have to choose between read, blog, watch TV, work out or sleep, sleep wins.

3. I have clothes that I can say I bought more than 10 years ago. And I still wear them!

4. I don't like Chinese food.

5. All of the weight that I have lost here in China, I nearly gained all of it back when Angela was here for 2 weeks.

6. I love my Nook even though I was sure I would never like an e-reader.

7. I hate trying to blog here in China because I can only post pictures 1 in 10 times that I try.

8. I miss sewing a LOT.

9. I hate my new haircut.

10. I am newly addicted to Supercook.com. Check it out!

11. I love to get emails from my far away friends, but I have trouble writing emails myself.

12. I don't care what my family says, I think the "terrible-twos" exist.

13. I get really excited over getting new clothes for my kids.

14. I have recently made the decision to cut my desserts from apx. 5 a day to only 1. That may sound silly to some of you, but my sugar-addict family will get the difficulty of this decision. 7 successful days!

15. I always thought that I wanted to live abroad...I was wrong. God bless the U.S.A.

Inspired

I have been feeling very much like I have nothing to blog about. I know, I live in China and you would think that I would have lots to share. Unfortunately most of the stuff I want to share is not positive, and I don;t want my blog to become a downer. So I saw on my niece's blog that she is doing this month long blog challenge where you post everyday on a predetermined topic. It looked cute and I thought I might do it. Then today I checked my sister's blog and she is doing it too. So it is settled, I am jumping on the bandwagon. Thanks Megan and Jenn for the inspiration.

The list is as follows:

day1 - yourself with 15 random facts
day2 - you and the person you used to be close with
day3 - the cast of your favorite TV show
day4 - the person you have "liked" the longest
day5 - your favorite memory
day6 - a person you would love to trade places with for a day
day7 - your most treasured item
day8 - something that makes you laugh
day9 - person that has gotten you through the most
day10 - person you do the silliest things with
day11 - something you hate
day12 - something you love
day13 - your favorite band or artist
day14 - someone you could never imagine your life without
day15 - something you want to do before you die
day16 - someone who inspires you
day17 - something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
day18 - your biggest insecurity
day19 - you, when you were little
day20 - somewhere you would love to travel
day21 - your favorite night
day22 - something you wish you were better at
day23 - your favorite book
day24 - something you wish you could change
day25 - your favorite day
day26 - something that means a lot to you
day27 - you and a family member
day28 - something you are afraid of
day29 - something that always makes you smile
day30 - someone you miss

Toys

Why do we buy them? I think that I have blogged about this before but it just is reinforced to me everyday. We buy Avery toys thinking that she will love them so much, and instead she just uses the boxes. We should just shop at the Container Store.

Dear Aunt Angela,

We miss you! Mommy won't hold me all day like you did, so now I cry a lot. And Avery misses having someone share a bed with her so she wakes up in the middle of the night screaming because she is scared. Mom and Dad are tired and cranky, so we want you to come back soon.

Love,

Oliver

P.S. Aunt Jennifer is invited too.

Wet Market

This the wet market I shop at. I get all of my fruits and vegetables here. I could get my eggs and meat here too, but I am not that brave yet. I didn't even take a photo of the meat vendor right next to my veggie lady because I thought it would scare people. I love this girl. She is super friendly, more rare than you think in China, and she gives me free stuff to encourage me to come back again. Now if only she would start carrying lettuce.

Angela in GZ

Angela came to visit me for the last two weeks and I have almost no pictures to show for it! To be fair we did not leave a whole lot. It was mostly just sitting around talking and playing with babies. Poor Oliver has been spoiled into thinking that he will be held all day long. The day before she left, or the day before she was supposed to leave, we had a packed day to send her off with. We went to the zoo, and an awesome visit it was. Angela was like a 4-year old, feeding the giraffes, the monkeys, and getting excited over the baby animals. It was so fun! That night we went to Sultan's for dinner. We were a little upset at the wait time, but, by the time we had gotten our bread and garlic dip, all was forgiven. The food was so good, as usual, and it ended up being Angela's favorite food this trip. And that is saying something because we had some good food.If you want to hear about her attempted flight home and the drama with her luggage you will have to ask her!

Side note: NEVER FLY AIR CHINA!

Great Hair

I don't even need to brush Avery's hair most days. Even with CRAZY bed-head it still looks better than my hair ever does. I hope it is always that way!