:: OUR FAMILY ::

Last Sunday in Laos

2011-08-07T15:37:00.002+07:00

Since the only branch of our church in Laos is in Vientiane (an overnight bus-ride away), the Mission President gave us permission to hold sacrament meeting in our home while we have lived here. It's been a really wonderful experience in a lot of ways. We've kept it short (usually around 45 minutes) and simple for the kids and in a way, it's been really nice to focus on the simple elements of the gospel and on the sacrament. Though I am really looking forward to being part of a ward, I admit I will miss our sweet, simple family meetings each week.

Chelsea in the Paris Metro

2011-07-29T13:08:00.000+07:00

I thought I could draw

2011-07-29T13:05:00.000+07:00

I have been coveting my friend Anna's duty board for weeks and have been brainstorming ways to make it for our boys. My dad can do the wood work, but as far as the cards go, I didn't know. I looked online and all the clipart for chores was just hideous. So finally I thought, "hey, I can just draw the pictures." I was feeling pretty good about myself until I got to "homework". Check it out. It makes me snicker every time I look at it.

spelling list

2011-07-29T12:59:00.000+07:00

I told Ezra to practice his spelling list words this week and he decided to take it a step further by writing them out on tiny pieces of paper. This was kind of a triumph for me because having him practice spelling has not been the easiest thing. There has been some tears. He doesn't particularly like rote memorization (who does?) and so I try to mix things up. But in the end, you just have to put in the time and effort and practice if you want to learn things. The other day, we were having this discussion and finally Ezra said, "Daddy says sometimes we have to do hard things." Yes, thank you Daddy for saying that and thank you Ezra for remembering it at such an appropriate moment. So then he decided to continue writing the words out and was so proud of himself at the end.

Anyway, this event (picture below) happened a few days later and it made me happy to see that he was making it fun all by himself.

Backyard

2011-07-29T12:49:00.000+07:00

A couple of images from last night and this morning.

It was not cool outside (90 degrees) but Eli loves this shirt and calls it his "Christmas shirt".

Ezra reached his arm around Eli and Eli patted his hand.

Ezra's Preschool is now in session.

2011-07-29T12:45:00.000+07:00

I was doing the dishes this morning and not really paying attention to what exactly the boys were doing - though they sounded busy and not unhappy. Then I looked up and saw that Ezra had written out the alphabet on a piece of paper, taped it on the wall, and then had Eli sitting in a little chair, saying the letters one by one. I stopped and watched them for awhile and it was the best! Ezra was really trying to help Eli and was doing a good job not getting frustrated. He was really encouraging, and Eli was trying hard to get the letters right. Ezra promised to give Eli his bear if Eli learned all of the letters.

Cool Bug

2011-07-29T12:39:00.001+07:00

The kids came across this cool bug this morning. At first we weren't sure if it was alive, but after some blowing and poking it with a blade of grass, its head popped out and then it flew away. I love the jewel green color! Nature always amazes me and for me, is inexorably tied to love - God's love for us that He would create this world with all its beauty.

The red on Eli's forehead is not (for once) a booboo. He and Ezra got into the finger paints and were pretending to be warriors.

I have a mistake in me

2011-06-04T00:07:00.000+07:00

Tonight before bedtime this conversation occurred:

Ezra: (Guiltily) Mom, I have a mistake in me.
Me: What is it?
Ezra: In the mornings, I sneak treats.
Me: (Anxious to know exactly what treats so that I could find a better place to store them) Which treats do you sneak?
Ezra: Things like peanut butter, salt, sugar, sprinkles, lollipops, and those things in the freezer (which don't have an English name and we only got them for their b-day parties so he doesn't know what to call them - they are kind of like gelatin otter pops).

I assured him that we would find a better place for those things so he wouldn't be tempted. I found his list amusing though, because I knew about the occasional lollipop or yogurt, but the pb, salt, sugar and sprinkles were all new to me.

I also love the language kids use - "I have a mistake in me" is not the way most people would say it, maybe, "I made a mistake" or "I'm having trouble with something." But I like those words because somehow they give more insight into his personality and how he feels about the thing he's been doing.

Ezra's 5th and Eli's 3rd Birthdays

2011-05-28T22:49:00.001+07:00

The boys' birthdays were today (the boys' birthday was today? I'm still not sure on the grammar - they each have a birthday but it is only one day. Someone help me please.) Their neighborhood friends came over and it turned out really well.

The kids came in the morning about an hour early to do yard work and help decorate. And then after the party they stayed to help clean everything up (including mopping). They are good kids and now that I have experienced a party like this, it's going to be hard to not expect something like that for future parties ("You're invited to Ezra's 6th Birthday! Please come an hour earlier to help set everything up and plan on staying until the mess is gone.")

I'm going to add more to this post tomorrow but I need to go to bed now.

(just a few reasons) Why My Mom is AWESOME

2011-05-09T21:07:00.013+07:00

This was in my 'edit' bin since Mother's Day and I haven't been able to publish it until now. I love you Mom - you really are the best.

She loves the power of nature and gets excited at any kind of major storm.
She's watched Oprah since Oprah was tubby and wore big blue polyester articles, yet is not duped by the awesomeness of the being that is OPRAH (she has a very keen ability to discern truth and error).
She loves good music and always has it playing (when appropriate - she also senses preemptively when music in the background is about to turn into the kind that makes you feel like your hair is on fire, and will not tolerate even really good music if it threatens to destroy the peace or ruin a conversation). Also, listening to awesome music is the only way to clean (i.e. Billy Joel's An Innocent Man album - I will never forget dancing around to Uptown Girl and cleaning in our Grand Canyon house).
She has an incredible balance of knowing the importance of the spirit of the law, yet doesn't tolerate excuses for disobedience to God's commandments.
She LOVES a fun time, and infused her kids with this same love. Car trips were a blast - even if we had crispy hair and we slept on the floor of the van, or got touched by our siblings (my siblings would understand what I'm saying here). We would learn parts to songs and harmonize together, or play word games, or listen to great music and look out the window and think how awesome it was that we were born into this family.
Maybe this goes in the music section, but I think it deserves it's own paragraph. When I was in middle school she came downstairs one evening and proceeded to perform a dance routine she had choreographed to "What A Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers. She had never done that before and hasn't done it since but I think it was officially the coolest thing my mom has ever done.

Buddha Cave, Khammouane, Laos

2011-05-05T21:33:00.001+07:00

We had a teacher conference in ThaKhaek which is about 90 minutes away. The first round of workshops ended a bit early, so all the teachers decided to go visit a local tourist attraction about 30 minutes away. It's this cave full of old Buddha statues that was discovered by a local in 2005 or something. It has a beautiful pool of water below it and the entrance to the cave is about 50 feet up. They have stairs leading up to it now but I wonder how people used to access it.
They were really particular about things like women must wear a skirt (luckily I was already wearing one but the teachers weren't so lucky, see pics below) and no photography inside the cave. That's great. We are really particular about how we treat our churches and temples so I totally get that. But why is there a bunch of trash in the blue lagoon down below? What about the fridge inside the cave? There were all these old statues and then a fridge and then more statues. Plus, dust kind of creeps me out. It gives things an authenticity I guess but I'd rather they were clean so I could see what they looked like when they were made.
Sorry for the complaints - it was a really fun trip and the surrounding karst topography is really beautiful.

During the rainy season this area is a marsh.

The teachers borrow skirts

One of the Thai teachers brought his daughter along

I'm not sure why I had them stand behind the rock. There, perfect. Now you each have one foot hidden.

A lady was selling all kinds of medicinal forest products - there were some hooves and other various animal parts. This wood is supposed to cure some stomach disease. The sap was really dark red.

I almost photoshopped out that drink container behind me but decided to leave it to show the reality of most beautiful, tourist sites - the natural beauty is really incredible but there is litter everywhere. It's like biting into a gorgeous chocolate cake and finding a hair.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:52:00.001+07:00

We had a special Easter Sunday today. There are only brown chicken eggs here and of course no dye, so I wasn't expecting much from our food coloring/brown eggs combination. But aren't they pretty? I actually prefer these colors to the typical Paz set from the supermarket. Of course I dumped at least a teaspoon of food coloring into each small glass so I wasn't messing around.

It took only about one minute for the darker colors to set and three minutes for the orange and green. I didn't boil the eggs because we were going to use a bunch of them for German Pancakes. So after they were dry, I blew out the insides and then we used the colored blown eggs later for the treasure hunt. David made little clues and we stuffed them inside the egg shells.

A blurry picture of the German pancakes:

I don't have a picture of our church meetings but they were special as well. I spent a long time preparing the lesson about Christ's resurrection in a way that they would be able to understand and that Ezra wouldn't get nervous. He kind of freaks out when we talk about death or Heaven. So I wanted to concentrate on the fact that we are happy, that we celebrate Easter because Jesus came back to life and He's still alive. I made a little Powerpoint presentation with the Primary cutouts and then traced a picture of the tomb, the stone, and Jesus. It was simple and no one freaked out and I think they understood it.

Before the main lesson we did a mini lesson about our bodies and spirits and used gloves to represent our bodies (hands = spirits). It worked and it was neat to see the recognition spread across their faces when we talked about the Savior's spirit and body and what it means to be resurrected.

Preparing stuff for Easter gave me a good opportunity to think about what the Savior has done for us and how incredible it is that we will all get our bodies back, in perfect form.

superheroes

2011-04-22T17:48:00.000+07:00

A few times a week these guys will get into the dress-up clothes and pretend play for awhile. Today, they chose their superhero gear because they were inspired by the fruit cushions that came with the apples from the market, and their rediscovered Spiderman rubber bands (see their legs). Also, Ezra worked all morning on his stick-leaf "umbrella". The capes (created by Marisa) completed the effect.

Update

2011-04-12T12:50:00.000+07:00

There are so many things to document, I don't know where to start and clearly I've pretty much given up trying to keep up. Also, I feel like I should be writing more than whatever I write on this blog. I used to keep a journal but it's been years. I have all these pictures of our family but haven't printed off a single one. We have no albums, we didn't do a Christmas letter. It's bad. Especially because life is so good and so busy and so fast, I feel like it's as much as I can do to keep my head above water. Where should I start? What will be the most important/enduring way of documenting our kids and family? Please, if you have any ideas, especially baby steps that I could actually implement, let me know! What does your family do?

Wat Phou / Wat Phu

2011-03-30T17:04:00.000+07:00

Patouxai (Vientiane's Arc de Triomphe wannabe)

2011-03-18T21:51:00.000+07:00

I'm skipping places and events but I just feel like posting these ones right now (and if I don't do it now, it may never get done, you know how it goes).

Ezra gets hurt again...

2011-03-18T21:34:00.000+07:00

We went from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Udon where we took the bus to Nong Khai so that we could cross the border into Laos. Here is a picture of when everything was still fine. Ezra and David were sitting together, I sat next to Caroline, Seth and Thomas sat together and Eli sat with the monks in back.

Things went downhill when we got to the border station. We were filling out departure cards at the tall counters while the boys ran around. I heard and felt a loud "thunk" and saw Ezra on the ground, and knew immediately that he had run head-first into the corner of the marble countertop. Before even moving towards Ezra I glanced at the corner and knew it was going to be bad. David picked him up and ran over to me kind of frantically. I took one look at Ezra's forehead and started crying. It was much deeper than I expected and I could see his bone and I kind of freaked out. I stood there crying while Seth ran over to check it out. Fortunately for us, Seth took an intensive first-aid wilderness course for a job a few years ago and has a lot more skills and knowledge than we do. So he and David left with Ezra while Caroline watched the boys with (for) me and gave me small jobs to keep my mind off things.

They returned about 15 minutes later with bandages, alcohol and cotton. Seth had done a cursory cleaning and put a temporary bandage on his head. The plan was to cross the border and see if we could find materials to tape it shut and if not, take him to a clinic to get it stitched up. In these pictures, you can see that he bled through the bandage and so it needed to be changed.

[Ezra trying to negotiate a way out of having to get his bandaid changed]

[Seth getting things ready]

[Putting the new one on]

[This picture was taken today - I didn't want to end on a sad note]

Our driver was really kind and took us around Vientiane to find the supplies. I'm also grateful to my friend Diana who was able to point me to the best pharmacy and gave me the emergency number to the French clinic. When we got to the hotel, David gave Ezra a blessing and then Seth cleaned it out and used superglue and medical tape to close it.

So far it looks good and Ezra says it doesn't hurt at all (and we've asked him many times throughout the day). We're just keeping an eye out for infection.

I want to say thank you to a Heavenly Father who constantly watches over us and blesses us with tender mercies, to loving family members who offer prayers of faith on our behalf, to Seth for his skills and his calm demeanor, to Caroline for helping me to not totally lose it and watching two young kids at a border station while 7 months pregnant, to our driver who stayed with us the whole time and carried our bags and took us around Vientiane for no extra charge, to friends like Diana who have the right information at just the right time, and especially to David, Ezra and Eli who are at the core of my happiness in life.

2011-03-15T23:28:00.000+07:00

Ezra got a ball stuck in his ear.

2011-03-13T19:48:00.002+07:00

On our way down the mountain from Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai, Ezra turned to us and said he couldn't hear in his right ear. He's had problems before with pain from his ears not adjusting to changes in air pressure and we were driving down a long steep hill.

So David and I tried a bunch of things. I held his nose and had him blow. Seth pulled out a piece of gum for him to chew. David gave him some water. It was getting so dire that I actually put my mouth on his ear and started sucking.

All this time he was getting more and more scared and saying, "There's something in my ear!" Finally David asked him if there was really something in his ear and took a look. Sure enough, there was a red plastic ball from a BB gun stuck in there. Apparently he had put it there while no one was looking.

We tried various things, prompted by our desire to avoid a trip to the hospital, but restrained by our fear of making things worse. We put a straw in and tried to suck it out. I learned at this point that Caroline was the declared champion of Suck and Blow at a youth conference (but unfortunately even her amazing sucking skills were not enough). We also tried a headlamp and tweezers, but it became clear that we would need someone with more expertise and better tools to do the job. David gave Ezra a blessing and then Ezra and I left for the hospital.

[Here you can see the straw in David's hand and the concerned look on Ezra's face.]

Ezra is one of those kids who is deathly afraid of hospitals and doctors and of people using weird tools on him or on people he loves. We got in there and luckily all the nurses and doctors were women (not as scary) and they all spoke English with him. Still, when it came time for him to lay down and let the doctor put the long scary metal stick in his ear, he freaked out.

The more he freaked out, the harder it was for the doctor to do her job. I had to hold him down and they had to bring extra nurses in because I wasn't strong enough. He was screaming and it was horrible. She had to try five separate times and each time it just got worse. Finally she said they would have to put him under anesthesia because she was afraid of puncturing his ear drum and there was no way she could delicately get the ball out because he was just moving too much.

At this point, David called and Ezra sobbed while he talked to him. He handed me the phone and I gave David an update. We hung up the phone and I was seriously wondering whether to try one more time and put Ezra through the same torture, or just wait until the morning and bring him in for the anesthesia method. I talked to him about the choices and I can't believe he said he wanted to try one more time. He was so scared but he laid down and I held his head and the other nurses held his arms and legs and I had him count to 20 with me. At one point the doctor was like, "Try to count a little more slowly." The counting was keeping him calm and before we got to twenty, she had retrieved the ball!

We called David to tell him the good news and he told me he had been praying really hard. I wasn't surprised to hear this because at the moment Ezra laid down for the last time, I knew it that ball wasn't coming out without some divine intervention, and I really couldn't believe it when she said it was out.

Best of all, even through all the flailing, his eardrum was still intact. I'm sure this was the most traumatic experience he's had in his short life and the whole time I was holding him down I kept flashing back to when I was three and a half and had to get stitches in my pinky toe, and the nurses had to strap me down and I remember not caring about my toe at all - I was just so mad and scared that they had strapped me down.

We got back home and all he wanted was David. They got some ice cream and talked outside for twenty minutes before David put him to bed.

[Ezra putting on a brave face, waiting to be called in to the doctor's office. You can see how puffy his eyes are already from crying earlier.]

[He was much braver than I've seen him about getting all the measurements - he had no idea what he was in for.]

[This is just after she got the ball out. You can see it on the napkin to the right of his head.]

On a Trip!

2011-03-08T22:13:00.000+07:00

Our good friends Seth and Caroline are coming to visit us! We had to leave Laos a little early because our visas ran out on Mar. 6th. So we made the trip down to Bangkok and are hanging out until they get here (tomorrow night!) Sadly, I brought BOTH of our laptops and forgot to bring any chargers. So that means no iPhone, no laptops, no nanos, and free WiFi means nothing to us. It is very sad and kind of makes it hard to plan and to correspond with people. So please forgive us if we are incommunicado.

2011-03-04T11:04:00.000+07:00

Over the past month or so, I've been wondering if I'm losing hearing in my right ear. I wake up in the morning sometimes with the feeling that it's filled with water, but then it goes away. Lately I found that pressing it makes it hard to hear for several seconds after I've stopped pressing.

Last night David asked me if we had any Q-tips. We didn't, but when I went out later to get some food, I saw some at the store and picked them up. When I got back home, we opened the package and started going crazy cleaning out our ears. I'll spare you the details and just say that my hearing is back to 100%.

kids

2011-02-28T23:56:00.001+07:00

When we first moved here we asked if there were any other kids in the neighborhood and it seemed like the answer was no. But over the past few weeks it seems they have come out of the woodwork (I think they were a little scared of us) and finally came to play in our yard on Saturday. Since that day, all Ezra has wanted to do from the time he wakes up, is play with the neighbor kids. This is really new for all of us - Ezra has really never been in very many social situations. If we were in the US right now, he would have already started preschool. But since preschool options are limited here and he can't speak Lao or Thai, we've just kept him and Eli at home.
Anyway, I was making bread today while Ezra and Eli played with the neighbor kids and it took all my strength to not intervene every 5 seconds. First of all, we haven't really talked about rules so there was a lot of craziness (really, I should have been out their the whole time, but the Lao kids were already timid and I didn't want to scare them away) and second, Eli and Ezra ALWAYS play with each other. Eli has never had to share Ezra with anyone and so I heard Eli saying, "Come here! Come see my rocket Ezra!" over and over with no response. He would try different things to get Ezra to pay attention to him, but Ezra was beside himself with joy to be able to kick a soccer ball with a boy his own size and I don't think he even heard Eli.
It only took about 30 seconds of this for me to rush out the door and pull Ezra aside for a little chat. Once I started to explain what was going on, and that Eli was calling his name and getting sad, I didn't even finish my sentence before Ezra ran over to Eli to make amends. I was so glad that Ezra understood. I always want my kids to stick up for the underdogs and pay attention to the younger, less cool kids and I don't know what it takes exactly to instill this in children, but I think it's really important. By the way, the neighbor kids are all really well behaved and sweet, and I am so thankful for that. The little 8 yr old girl took Eli under her wing and played with him, which he loved. Anyway, here are a few pictures.

This is the 8 yr. old who took care of Eli. She has a gorgeous smile, just like her mom. They live two doors down and she is the middle of 5 kids.

Giant fallen tree near Bung Va Lake, Savannakhet

2011-02-27T22:03:00.000+07:00

On our Sunday drive we went to look at the lake near Savannakhet. We went down a couple little roads and found this huge tree. Ezra was so stoked. I have a video of him exclaiming, "This is perfect for me!" as we drove up to the tree. Eli was more excited about a group of goats nearby.

I don't think these pictures capture the awesomeness of this tree. I'm not a tree expert but it looks like it could be at least 500 years old. Any tree experts out there?

our lane

2011-02-24T22:58:00.000+07:00

David went to go eat some dinner so I took the boys out for a nice evening walk down our lane. In this first picture, our house is just behind me on the left.

Eli's many faces. He loves these jean shorts because he can put things in his pockets. They are actually cut-offs from his cousin Sam that Ezra wore when he was 2 too.

There are little piles of sand on the side of the road everywhere. I think it's leftover from construction of some sort, but it quickly gets turned into a play area for kids.

This is one of our neighbors. I just met him today - he invited me into his yard to try one of the fruits he was collecting in his umbrella. He was doing it for his mom (in the background).

Daddy's back!

Ezra wanted to have a race...

checking to see if Daddy's ahead...

It's better than I thought...

2011-02-14T11:52:00.003+07:00

I don't know, I was honestly a little scared about moving here. But we are staying in a great house with a big yard for the kids and a little wooden play house.

So far we don't have internet and it appears that whenever we do get it, it will be slow and expensive - so long Skype :(

UPDATE: We now have internet and it's fast enough for a video chat through gmail - woohoo!

Also, we have fruiting mango trees IN OUR YARD, which fills me with happiness.

Piglets!

2011-01-27T22:08:00.003+07:00

This little piggy got some food.

This little piggy modeled for me.

This little piggy was thrilled.

Nick and Tik's pig had her piglets last night and they invited us over to take a look. I'm pretty sure nothing is cuter than baby animals. They looked just like they do in the movies. Perfectly pink peach fuzz, climbing and falling all over each other to get to mom. There were ten of them and no runts. Ezra and Eli were stoked. Ezra wanted to poke them with banana leaves and Eli just wanted to pet them and hold them. I'm pretty sure Nick said something about waiting for a few days to hold them, but when he was out of range, Tik took Eli in the pen for a quick pat. Eli was beside himself.

Hmm.

2011-01-22T22:45:00.000+07:00

I'm interrupting my journal of our Vientiane trip (let's be realistic, am I ever going to finish it anyway??) to say that my zodiac sign has changed and I am a little dismayed. Not that I buy into that stuff, but you know, I was always a Sagittarius. That's what I was. And now suddenly I am something that is unpronounceable (you know that's a word!): Ophiuchus. That's right, Ophiuchus. And you can see how upset I am because the font just changed. Who is in charge of this? It seems a bit arbitrary, (not that zodiac signs themselves are based on logic that is any less arbitrary).

Visa Run to Vientiane Day 1

2011-01-11T00:03:00.000+07:00

It's late, but here is just one picture from the bus ride to the border. It was packed and I had both kids on my lap. David had to stand in the aisle.

Draining the Fish Pond

2011-01-10T23:45:00.001+07:00

Nick and Tik have three ponds on their property. Apparently it's important to drain a pond every once in awhile and we just happened to be around (I mean here in Udon) when one of their ponds needed to be drained. One reason they drain the pond is to let the sun kill all the bad bacteria. Another reason is to complete some repairs to the pond sides, etc. The coolest reason is to harvest the fish. They invited us over to see the big production and it was so interesting and fun.

There were two pumps and by the time we got there, the water was pretty low. It was crazy to see all the fish in the pond, all confused and jumping out of the water. There were a couple of official fishermen with nets, but near the end, everyone just waded in and started catching the fish with their hands.

Nick couldn't remember all the types of fish he had stocked the pond with but as they came out, he described the different species and what made them unique. Some of the fish have no gills but rather crude lungs. This enables them to burrow into the mud and still breathe. A few a the fish that came out were bigger than Ezra.

Needless to say, both Ezra and Eli were in heaven. They got to see fish after fish being pulled out of the pond, and then they got to touch them, and then they got to see how they were cut up and cleaned, and then they got to dive into the mud to try and catch their own fish. Ezra caught a few with his bare hands.

Eli watched in fascination as fish after fish was cut up and cleaned. When I got around to him he had little bits of fish, scales, and little drops of blood all over his shirt.

This is Tik (Nick's wife). She was amazing! We couldn't believe how skilled she was at grabbing the big fish out of the mud and lugging them to the buckets.

I love little Eli standing in the mud.

Here comes David with a catch. He was really glad he wore his white shirt.

ก๋วย เตี๋ยว

2011-01-01T10:59:00.000+07:00

We found a shop not far from our house that makes the best ก๋วย เตี๋ยว (kuay tiaw). It's similar to the Vietnamese soup, Pho, except we like it with egg noodles and David likes to put tomatoes in there too (Lao-style). It's a family favorite.

So, notice the cups? Every time we go I comment to David how much I like them. They are solid, they don't break, they don't have little parts, and it's fun to drink cold water out of a metal cup. So last time we were there, we asked the ladies where they got the cups and right away they asked if we'd like them to get some for us next time they went to that market. We said sure and "ordered" four.

That's one of our favorite things about Thailand. It's kind of hard to put into words but if I had to choose one word, it would be "flexible". When I think of the US, things just seem so much more set in stone. It would be a much bigger deal to figure out who purchased the cups for the restaurant and then to actually track down the cups. Plus, it would be almost unheard of for the person to offer to buy some for you the next time they were at that market, and then not require payment up front.

Of course there is a positive side to the way things are in the US: everything is pretty predictable. You can count on things unfolding in a certain way and the laws are pretty clear. For now though, we are enjoying the flexibility here in Thailand.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-30T14:13:00.003+07:00

We had the missionaries over for dinner which was kind of a dream come true for us. We had a really fun time coming up with the menu as we thought back to what it was like for us when we served here. The constraints of our kitchen (one burner, one tiny toaster oven, one small pan, one small baking dish) limited our options, but we decided on baked macaroni and cheese, brownies with peppermint cream cheese frosting, peanut butter cookies with dark chocolate on top, and Nam Dogmai mangos. We hoped the food would be a fun treat for them, but the best part for us of course was their company. We have 4 Elders and 2 Sisters serving in our area and they are all delightful.

I went outside to get something and this scene filled me with happiness:

Am I a geek for being so excited about missionaries? I can't help it. I have such fond memories from my own mission. It changed my life and filled me with love and gratitude for my Savior, for Thailand, for my family.

And here is a little video of Ezra talking about our day.

Ezra Talks about Christmas Eve from Jade Noel on Vimeo.

2010-12-29T23:10:00.000+07:00

This was taken after we took a little family ride out to the lake near our house. We had just had the missionaries for lunch and Ezra was still on cloud nine, reliving his interactions with them. I have a little video of him talking about our Christmas Eve day - I'll try to post it tomorrow.

Merry Christmas from Thailand!

2010-12-26T21:47:00.001+07:00

Pickles

2010-12-19T22:15:00.000+07:00

Someone at church gave us a jar of pickles today. She said someone had given them to her and she didn't know what to do with them and could we use them, but bring the jar back to her next Sunday? So I said Yes, thank you and took them home.

When we got home I put them on the counter. A few seconds later, Eli noticed them there and said, pointing to them, "What's that Mama? That my poopoo Mama?" I wasn't really listening so he repeated it, "That Eli's poopoo Mama?" Clearly, Eli has never been introduced to pickles, but I love that he thought I would can his poo.

(I just grabbed this image off the web for the sake of having a picture).

2010-12-19T22:10:00.000+07:00

We went out today on our Sunday drive and found this great salaa in the middle of some rice fields. The boys loved it because it's basically a giant fort. I have to go to bed but I wanted to post just one picture before bed.

Christmas Lights

2010-12-16T10:06:00.000+07:00

The kids were playing with the Christmas lights this morning (it was very early - notice the total darkness apart from the lights) and I was playing around with the shutter speed.

2010-12-13T22:02:00.000+07:00

A Special Day

2010-12-13T10:18:00.000+07:00

Yesterday, Mote, Bow, and both of their moms were baptized. They are such a cool family. Mote (the dad) spent two years in France as a chef (he cooked both french and thai food). He and Bow are really thoughtful, kind people and their daughter, Eva, fills me with baby envy.

The baptismal service was really special. Almost the whole branch was there in support and at the end, each shared their reasons for wanting to be baptized and how their testimonies of the Savior had grown.

Mote, waiting for Bow, his mom, and her mom.

I'm 30.

2010-12-02T17:50:00.000+07:00

We made a cake, just like David's. Mom, I'm saving the cake you sent for Christmas because I couldn't get any cream cheese or sour cream for the frosting and I didn't want to waste a chocolate cake with lame frosting.

We went to a huge festival in the center of town. There was a parade, a carnival, a huge market and tons of food stalls everywhere. I sent the boys to ride on the ferris wheel so I could take some pictures. They got in and the wheel went up a quarter turn, then came back down, up a little, then back down. Apparently the machine wasn't robust enough to handle an adult farang with two kids.
But no problem, the carnies came and gave it a little push and they were off!

This is how Ezra felt about it:

This is how Eli felt about it:

Then we went to the bounce house. The kids LOVE bounce houses. Good thing they are everywhere. No one was in this one so they had it all to themselves for awhile. Ezra was getting some serious air and Eli was zooming down the slide face first. I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but it's steep.

Then they rode the train around which was waaaaay faster than it would be in America. Also, they got to ride for like 5 minutes and it only cost 75 cents. Also, it would probably never pass any kind of safety test.

Eli chose the chicken which was so funny to us because he kind of reminds us of a little chicken. And his Thai nickname is "chicken" (sounds like 'guy').

And here is our favorite food stand these days. David ran into this lady one day when he was out and about with the kids. He brought a gyro home for me and I was so surprised - I've never seen gyros in Thailand. And they are SO good. She uses chicken because lamb is a little hard to get a hold of. But they are incredible and only $1. He actually got her number so we could call her and find her whenever we want some.

And to top off the day, here's Ezra making a sour face. It's like, "Dude, we let you ride a ferris wheel and a crazy train, play in a bounce house, eat COTTON CANDY (which, by the way, now that I'm a parent I totally understand why I remember eating cotton candy only once during my entire childhood) and you're giving me a face?" This was like the fifth sour face he had given and I'm beginning to think it has something to do with having a day where all you do is really fun stuff and think about yourself all day.

And just for fun, here is a video of Ezra and Eli on the train. Teenage girls love Ezra and Eli and just about shrieked with delight when Ezra waved. Check it out:

Loy Krathong

2010-11-22T00:15:00.000+07:00

Loy Krathong is a big holiday in Thailand. The idea is to make these pretty little floats, light a candle on them, and then send them out onto a lake or river or other body of water. There are also tissue lanterns that people light and let them float up into the air. We went to our favorite park (Nong Prajak) to watch the festivities and for the most part, the boys loved it (Eli hated the fireworks - see picture below).

We didn't know there would be a fireworks show and were pleasantly surprised at how big (and quick) it was. Eli flipped out though.

No, your eyes do not deceive you. These are baby bunnies wearing dresses.

Rice Harvesting

2010-11-19T23:17:00.000+07:00

We went to Nick's house today and harvested a little rice. I say "a little" because they had harvested most of it before we got there and left a bit for us to try. It was fun but it made me think how not fun it would be if I had to do a whole field of it. Nick had these scythes and showed Ezra how to use it. Ezra was totally pumped about the whole thing. The kids love Nick's house because there is so much to explore and so many animals to play with. Eli loves the rabbit and cats in particular and Ezra loves all of Stephen's (Nick's son's) old toys.

Eli gazing at the pig.

Showing me his booboo.

A reflection from one of their ponds.

I Spy an Elephant

2010-11-16T21:42:00.001+07:00

After four months in Thailand, the boys finally saw their first elephant.

Boohoo. The elephant has to go home.

Sisters!

2010-11-16T21:27:00.000+07:00

The 18 months I spent serving a mission for my church was (thus far) the best year and a half I have ever had. I have never worked harder, I have never been more faithful, happier, less prone to pettiness, closer to God, and hundreds of other things. I say "thus far" because I have the hope that I can be that way again, and maybe even better. I take issue when people say their missions were "the best two years/18 months" because what that says about the rest of their lives is kind of depressing.

The other thing is, I have never had a clearer perspective about what is real and what matters. Having a correct understanding of the world, of why I am here and what God's plan is for us, is more empowering than any other kind of knowledge. Down to my toes, I am so grateful for every experience I had while serving as a full-time missionary.

I can't explain it, but I kind of get a tear in my eye when I see other missionaries, especially sisters. I'm so excited for them and so grateful that they chose to serve a mission. These are the sisters currently serving in our branch in Udon - Sister Wanlapa and Sister Chambers. They are both wonderful.

David is 28!

2010-11-09T22:10:00.000+07:00

I have been planning this cake for months. So, just so you know, this is a post disguised as a Happy Birthday post to David but really it's about the cake.

Asians are not big on cakes. Or baking. At least not in the way that most Americans or Europeans understand baking. Every single cake I've had in this area of the world has tasted like total trash. You know I love so many things about being here, but the quality of baked goods drives me insane.

So, making a real cake is something I've been daydreaming about since before we even got to Thailand. Ovens are a novelty item and it took some time finding one that could work. Then I had to find the cooking utensils (I could only find two small aluminum pans imported from Japan). Gathering authentic ingredients also took some effort.

But it all came together this morning and the cake turned out really well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!!!! You are my best friend and I'm so glad you were born on this day 28 years ago.

Pictures of Laos

2010-11-07T10:06:00.000+07:00

I just posted some pictures on my photography site. I didn't get as many as I wanted but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. People were really shy and I felt a little like a freak-show. It's hard to break down the barrier and convince people that you are a nice, normal person and that you are just as fascinated by them, and can I please take your picture to document how beautiful and interesting you are?

It helped that I could talk to moms with kids and tell them that I was a mom too and had two little boys. Making any kind of connection helped to break down the big wall of anxiety/wonder/mistrust and I was able to get a few really good shots.

This is my very favorite one:

I kind of cried when I saw it on my laptop for the first time. It probably means a lot more to me than anyone else because it took so much work to get that picture. And more than that, I think it's the first time that I've really captured part of someone's spirit. I love how he's looking at me, with resolve not to be afraid.

More here.

It. Was. Awesome.

2010-11-05T22:46:00.000+07:00

I got back last night. There is so much I want to write, but so much I have to do now that I'm back. David took such good care of the kids and the house and yard was immaculate when I got back. Also, apparently they didn't hardly ask about me which makes me feel so relieved. I talked to David once about three nights into the trip and asked if the kids missed me. He paused for awhile and was like, "I'm sure they do..." He was afraid to tell me that they had hardly said a word about my being gone, but in fact I was so glad to know that they weren't crying and pining after me.

The purpose of the trip was so that the Thai teachers and the Lao teachers could go visit their PRAM students in their villages and evaluate their projects. Each student must do four major projects and over the past few months, they had been working on their first two.

They are real, working projects that must address the needs of the community and help reduce poverty in some way. The students are agricultural extension officers (government) and each student chose certain families to work with in their village, based upon desire, ability to learn, and level of need/poverty.

The students are divided into two groups: animal husbandry and fisheries. To be honest, most of the projects I saw blew me away. And it was really amazing to hear the villagers talk about how it had improved their lives. This one woman said the best part about having a fish pond was that her relationship with her husband had improved, due to the fact that he had stopped going out drinking at night because he wanted to save their money to buy food for the fish.

This man said they now had a monthly income because his fish pond was doing so well, and that he was well-respected in his village for his new skills. He had never raised fish before a few months ago and it was easy to see his confidence and pride at what he had accomplished.

We also crossed the Vietnam/Lao border and spent twenty minutes or so at a really cold, run-down market that didn't have anything interesting. The coolest part of crossing the border was that I didn't have a visa. One of the Lao students had a friend at the border that offered to help us cross, but of course when the Vietnamese soldiers saw me in the van, they stopped us for 15 minutes and looked menacingly at me. They took my passport and I was worried I wouldn't get it back, but after a few phone calls, they gave it back to me and waved us through. My half-hour in Vietnam didn't leave me with the best impression.

I bought some kinds of fruits and vegetable oil.

I'm in Laos

2010-11-01T18:36:00.000+07:00

Out of the blue, I got the opportunity to accompany the Thai and Lao teachers to visit their students in some remote villages in Khammuan and Bolikhamsai provinces for the next few days. My job is to take pictures of the students and villagers. How cool is that?

I have to admit though, that I almost cried this morning waiting for them to pick me up. A.) because David just got back and I miss him, B.) because I will really miss the kids - I haven't been away for longer than a day since my trip to Hawaii a few years ago and C.) because what if I do a terrible job? David's sacrificing while I go do this, and I'm putting my website work on hold (still working from my hotel room) for a few days and what if it's not worth it?

I hope it is.

(a picture from the market in Savannakhet this evening)

Evening

2010-10-27T18:52:00.000+07:00

We ate dinner at the guesthouse next door and came back to our house with just enough time to play outside for a bit before bedtime. The light was beautiful and the kids were happy. I should mention that I'm happy too because I'm heading toward the finish line of a marathon of being by myself with the kids. David has been gone (in Laos) since last Monday and he comes home late tomorrow evening (yay!).

Sisaket - and MONKEYS!

2010-10-18T21:49:00.000+07:00

We took a two-day trip to a province south-east of us which borders Cambodia, and yes, I did spend 15 minutes trying to see if there was a chance we could "pop over" to Angkor Wat (someday...). Since it was an 8 hour trip there and a 5 hour trip back, and we left at 11am Tuesday and got back at 8pm Wednesday, you can imagine that it was not an easy trip for the boys. In short, it was a lot of car time and when not in the car, we were talking or in official meetings with people so with no one to watch the boys, they suffered. Luckily, these kinds of things rarely happen and for 98% of the time we are able to work out a good schedule between us and the kids, but I still felt bad for them

Anyway, the purpose of the trip was to visit Sisaket College of Agriculture and Technology and talk with the professors there about their work with PRAM students. I also have this secret dream of getting a dairy goat so I spent a significant amount of time questioning the goat professor and looking at the goat living quarters. Unfortunately, they did not have dairy goats (only meat goats) but it was still really interesting.

I have this fascination with dairy (which is why I want a dairy goat) because there is so little of it in Thailand. I miss CHEESE! Cream cheese, gouda, cheddar, parmesan, etc. Yogurt, sour cream, heavy cream, ice cream (that's made with actual cream). I've never really cared that much about where dairy products come from. But living here has really made me think about where food comes from and how I can get it on my own (when it is not offered in stores).

For instance, I want corn tortillas. If I prowled the stores every day, I might get lucky every couple of weeks to see that they were in stock at Carrefour or something. Clearly that's not realistic. So I spent a good hour looking online to see how they are made and what I would have to do to make them. Luckily, corn grows really well here. And slaked lime (cal) is readily available (it's what those old women with the red gunk in their teeth use to mix with betel leaves). But I'd need the corn to be dried and all I can find so far is stuff that's used as animal feed. I still haven't established whether or not it's fit for human consumption.

So I was thinking about cheese and I thought to myself, hey, what if I made my own cheese? Then I thought about the milk and thought about all the goats I saw in Laos and decided that it might be interesting to have a dairy goat. I'm not sure what will come of this but we'll see.

All of this contact with agricultural students and teachers has really started me thinking about farming and animal husbandry and how those skills are pretty much applicable everywhere.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our trip. Serm (Nick's assistant) was driving and so knew about this cool Buddhist wat (temple) right off the road - but in a grove of big trees - that had monkeys. It was the first time Ezra and Eli have ever seen real monkeys and their reaction was a mixture of fear and giddiness. I'm not a big fan of monkeys but it was really neat to see them anyway.

Nong Prajak Park

2010-10-18T21:38:00.000+07:00

Our neighborhood is only a couple miles from the coolest park in the city. Nong Prajak Park is a small lake surrounded by two paths (one for running, one for biking). It is a surprisingly well-planned park (aside from the lack of drainage system at the kids playground which renders every slide unusable during the rainy season) with a pretty water fountain, wide paths and areas for exercising (one day I'll post pictures of the crowd of hula-hoopers that gather every night) and lots of trees and gazebos for shade.

The best part of the park for the kids of course, is the lake itself. There are tons of fish that love to be fed and Ezra and Eli can't get enough of it. For 75 cents you can get a loaf of bread to feed the fish. Usually we tear up the pieces but sometimes we throw whole pieces in to attract the bigger fish. David's dream is to take an entire loaf, mash it into one big ball, and chuck it in the water to see what the fish think of that. I'm not sure that fish are meant to eat bread but I try not to think about it because it would ruin our fun.

Meet our lawnmowers

2010-10-08T20:30:00.000+07:00

Our lawn is overgrown but there's not much we can do about it since we don't have any yard-care equipment. So when David noticed the cows milling around our neighborhood today he rolled our gate open all the way in the hopes that they would come in and take care of our yard a little bit.

Needless to say, the boys were thrilled to find cows in our yard when we came home from swimming. It was fun to watch them voraciously eat our long grass and weeds.

After-church Lunch

2010-09-28T22:26:00.000+07:00

Several of the wards and branches in Thailand have a tradition that I love: lunch after church. It's a great time to get to know the members and talk and socialize, plus everyone is usually starving after church so it serves multiple purposes.

Yes, we ride the motorcycle to church and yes, I rode side-saddle for the first time ever (in previous weeks I just wore leggings underneath so that I could ride normally but last week it was beyond hot and I couldn't stomach the thought of One More Layer).

Baby Powder

2010-09-28T22:17:00.000+07:00

Even after nightly showers, the boys sometimes are sticky at night because of the heat. So we got some baby powder to put on them before bed to help keep them cool and dry.

Last night I was helping Ezra go to sleep and he kept flopping around and finally said, "I'm itchy and sticky!" So I came out to ask David where the powder was and he said he left it in Eli's room. Eli was on his way to sleep so I didn't want to disturb him.

I took Ezra to the kitchen and gave him a quick wipedown with a clean wet washcloth and on my way back to Ezra room, saw Eli peeking out of his room, looking like this:

Meetings Today

2010-09-24T22:24:00.000+07:00

I was the photographer at the meeting today and got this picture which I think captured the general mood :) The teachers and other stakeholders were trying to come up with OVI's for their logical framework and yes, it was as exciting as it sounds.

Nick had the hard task of explaining the objectives in two languages and leading the subsequent brainstorming session. It actually turned out well in the end but it took quite a bit of facilitating.

2nd day in Savannakhet

2010-09-24T07:45:00.000+07:00

David went to the meetings with Nick in the morning and then Nick took us out to a farm on the edge of a national forest. The owner of the farm, Duangchit is a chemist and was educated at Cambridge, but returned to Laos and bought a bunch of land to farm. People thought he was a little nuts, but it's really amazing what he's done with it.
There are cows and chickens, a mango orchard, jackfruit trees, and many other things. But what is so cool is that he left a large portion of the land untouched. So there are some really amazing hardwood trees - the kind that used to cover the land but are mostly gone now except in the national protected areas.

More pictures and explanation to come.

1st day in Savannakhet

2010-09-24T07:33:00.000+07:00

Savannakhet is in central Laos and is apparently the most populous province. But in a country of only 6 million, it's still seems pretty rural. I see a lot of empty shops and restaurants and a general lack of people and it feels kind of lonely. It's hard to explain.
This morning I went to the PRAM meetings with the teachers and other stakeholders while David stayed with the kids. It was really interesting and I will write more about that in a different post (or on another blog). When I got back, David had rented a bike so I took the kids to the dinosaur museum (where they got to touch the bones!) and then to eat pizza and (what else?) popsicles.

I know Ezra's hair is getting long - I keep going back and forth but I think I'm going to let it grow a little. He has this huge cowlick in the back that sticks straight up when his hair is short so I'm thinking if it's longer it will lay down a little better. We'll see.

Savannakhet, Laos

2010-09-23T08:00:00.000+07:00

across the street from our hotel...

In Laos (and out of touch)

2010-09-21T20:25:00.000+07:00

We will be in Laos for the next 5 days, extending our Thai visas and attending workshops and conferences connected with the PRAM. Internet here is very sketchy but we are taking pictures.

Daddy's Home

2010-09-18T16:24:00.000+07:00

Around noon today I heard Ezra yell, "Daddy!" and turned around to see David walking up to our gate. It was so great to see him. We are glad to have him back.

Here are some pictures from his trip. He crossed the border in central Laos and then traveled south to Saravan and Attapeu provinces. We still haven't really had the chance to talk yet but I'm excited to hear about his stories as soon as the kids go to sleep.

Pink Clouds

2010-09-17T13:03:00.001+07:00

So after waking up several times throughout the night with bad dreams, Eli woke up for the last time at 4:15 this morning - which means that we all have been up since 4:15. I laid in the dark in their room for awhile, trying to pretend I was asleep and shushing them if they made noises.

But finally light started to creep into the room and Ezra came over to me and Eli. I was totally grumpy and I made no efforts to disguise my frustration. Ezra pulled back the curtain and almost yelled, "Look Mommy!" I hesitated before opening an eye to see what he was pointing at.

I looked at the sky and saw pink clouds surrounded by the pale-blue light of the morning. Ezra looked at me and said, "Beautiful, huh."
"Yeah, Ezra, those are pretty beautiful," I said. He replied, "It's because the sun shines its colors on them."

Ezra loves the morning. I'm thankful to have children that help me remember to be happy about things. And frankly, I think that was really brave of him. I would probably have been a little scared of me and my bad attitude, and maybe he was. But I think part of him was excited for the beauty of the morning and part of him just wanted to make me happy.

And he did.

Trip to the Market

2010-09-16T14:56:00.000+07:00

So, the two major issues to figure out while David's gone are 1.) how to get food and 2.) what to do with the kids (I'm so jealous of all you moms sending your kids to preschool! I know if we were still in Utah, Ezra would love preschool and I would feel good about him going. But here, it would be an all-day, every day event and he doesn't speak Thai. Granted, he would pick it up quickly, but after how many tears? I should save this for another post).

We really love our house and the location is actually perfect. The only thing is that - apart from the excellent food at the Englishman's Retreat next door - the closest market is about 1.5 miles away. We go to the ER for a meal once every day or two, but it can get expensive and plus, anyone that knows me knows I really dislike eating out - especially with kids.

Anyway, I'd heard and read that there are no baht buses (regular transportation) out on the main road, but I had noticed a few here and there in my trips to the market. Our house is about 350 meters in from the main road, so I packed some water and snacks and umbrellas and made the trek with the kids out to the main road.

We only had to wait 15 minutes or so for a baht bus (a small truck with benches in the bed and a tall roof) to drive by. We made it to the market and back, all for 30 baht ($1). I was so proud of us! And the kids got a special treat: popsicles. We don't have a freezer so anything frozen is always a good bribe to get the kids moving.

For all you "pre-rinsers" out there...

2010-09-15T23:24:00.000+07:00

This from the NY Times:

Also, remove baked on food and large chunks, but for the most part, everyone I spoke to said prerinsing dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was not only unnecessary, it wasted thousands of gallons of water and could actually result in dirtier dishes.

“The soap needs something to work against to get the dishes clean,” said Lou Manganiello, who owns Household Appliance Service in Hawthorne, N.Y., and has been doing repairs for 23 years.

The Good Things

2010-09-15T19:05:00.000+07:00

So. It's been tough - but good. Moving overseas, especially when we are in charge of every single detail (creating the proposals, finding places to intern, study the language, finding research affiliations, not to mention insurance, flights, visas, finding a house to rent, figuring out how to get drinking water, not having a car and not being near mass transportation, figuring out FOOD and what to feed the kids, teaching the kids about things like NEVER drinking the water, figuring out how to stay cool in the constant heat without feeling like a sedentary blob all day, learning to ride a motorcycle, learning to ride a motorcycle as a family...remembering to turn to the Lord for guidance and strength and patience) has been a whole lot of work.

BUT, there are also many wonderful things about this experience for us.

First, Thai people consistently surprise me with their generosity and kindness. I can't count the number of times we've been saved in a pinch by people offering to help.

Second, these experiences so far - especially the hard ones - have been priceless to us as a family in growing closer together and closer to the Lord.

Third, there are little things all the time that please me. For instance, looking at the fruit in my fridge: dragonfruit, sweet pineapple, guavas, bananas and mangoes.

I really am so grateful for this experience and hope that I can stop wasting my time missing things back home and just enjoy all the wonderful parts of being here.

Microwave Brownies!

2010-09-14T14:34:00.000+07:00

David left this morning for a 4-5 day trip to Laos (his first international business trip! haha). Luckily we had a least a little time to set our house up a bit and find some kind of routine, especially with food and meals. I went to the market this morning and stocked up on stuff and hopefully it will last until he gets back since there is no way for me to get to the market with the kids. If I get in a jam, I have phone numbers of some women from Relief Society who hopefully could come over one evening after the kids are asleep so I can leave to get more supplies.

The day really drags on without concrete activities so I thought we'd kick off our week by ourselves with a batch of Microwave Brownies. A few days ago, my mom reminded me of my microwave brownie fiasco on my mission: I cooked them for 11 minutes instead of the required 4 and brought them to a ward function. I was new in the mission, could not speak Thai, my companion couldn't speak English, and I didn't realize my mistake until I saw one of the Thai sisters kind of gnawing on a piece of brownie. I never lived it down.

Also, I would like to point out that even if I had made them correctly, they probably wouldn't have been appreciated. Over the years, I've slowly come to the sad realization that most Thais don't really like foreign foods (because what could be better than Thai food??) But I still can't really believe that real gems like soft peanut butter cookies, gooey chocolate chip cookies, fudgy brownies, yellow cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with sour cream chocolate frosting, etc., would not convert even the most die-hard Thai person to the glories of baked goods.

And then, it all became clear to me when my Thai language instructor said that most Thai people DON'T LIKE BUTTER. OR CHOCOLATE. What?! How is this possible?

Anyway, I plan on purchasing a little countertop oven at some point, but for now we are cooking our brownies in a plastic container in the microwave (what BPA?).

Nick and Tik's House

2010-09-11T18:48:00.000+07:00

Today Nick (the person in charge of the PRAM initiative and with whom we are working) invited us out to his house for lunch. We've been out there a few times before and the kids love it because of all the space and all the animals, not to mention the great company of Nick's family. They made us an incredible lunch and then David and I had a lot of time (several hours in fact) to talk with Nick about everything while Tik and their daughter Jennifer played with the kids. It filled my heart with joy to see Ezra and Eli so happy and so active.

Rainy Day

2010-09-10T15:31:00.000+07:00

It's kind of a slow day today since it's raining and David's gone so we're just hanging out inside. I saw some nice light coming in through the back door and decided to set up a mini studio. The background is fabric I purchased at Sampeng Market in Bangkok. It's called Super Black and it is the heaviest, darkest black you can imagine. It also doesn't wrinkle so it's a perfect background.

More photos at my photography blog...

Eli Eli bo Bee-lie

2010-09-07T20:55:00.000+07:00

First Week in Udon

2010-09-07T04:28:00.001+07:00

We stopped using day diapers for Eli when we got to Thailand, partly because they are bulky so we only brought night diapers, partly because they are expensive, but mostly because we knew he could do it (and Thailand is the perfect place to potty train because all the floors are tile - easy cleanup - and because it's so warm, it's easy to go diaper-free without worrying about kids getting cold).
He has been doing so well, even through all of our travels and changes. I'm so proud of you Eli!

We found a house in an area just outside the city. I'll post pictures of the house later, but here is the street in front of our house. If you look closely you can see our resident herd of cattle sitting in our neighbor's front yard (we are up the road about 50 yards from where I took the picture).

We've had to do a lot of shopping to outfit our house and we found this Chinese warehouse store (think Costco but Chinese). There is an aisle just for pots. I love the size of some of these - why use 20 normal-sized pots when just one will do the trick?

Also, would you care for some top ramen with your roach spray? Good combo! There's also diapers with a free bottle of dish soap.

I got a picture of Ezra wai-ing! Originally I was just going for the turtles and fish and then he wai-ed the lady right when I took the picture.

It's been a hard week so we thought a little ice cream was in order.

Our Ride

2010-09-07T02:33:00.000+07:00

Overnight Train to Udon

2010-08-31T12:59:00.000+07:00

We left for Udon on Monday after spending five weeks in Bangkok. When I served as a missionary in Thailand, I spent the first 10 months of my mission in Bangkok and at the time, felt a little sorry for myself that I didn't get to see the rest of Thailand. I did eventually get to serve in the north (which was amazing) but my point is that I don't think I appreciated Bangkok until just recently. It's true that it's crowded and hot with tons of vehicle exhaust and a severe lack of wilderness (duh, it's a city). But it has everything you could want or need.

I have been a little apprehensive about moving to Udon because a.) I've never been to the Isaan (NE Thailand) and b.) even though it's a bigger city, it's nothing compared to Bangkok and it's kind of out in the boondocks.

Monday, we packed up our stuff, got (half of :( ) our deposit back from the landlord, and headed to the train station to take the overnight train to Udon. Our reason for taking the train was that we have way too much stuff to take on a flight, plus it is so much less expensive to take the train. Also, we chose 2nd class so that we could have fans instead of air conditioning (first class has only air conditioning) and the air conditioning actually gets too cold. This, however, was a decision we would come to regret.

Anyway, just try to imagine getting from one place in Bangkok with 8 large bags and 2 small children and no personal vehicle. We called for taxis to come get us and our security guards (who we thought we on our side) secured a price of 200 baht per taxi. Usually, you just use the meter but in some special cases (super late at night or traveling long distances) you can settle on a price in advance.

I wasn't sure how far the train station was and trusted our guards so we agreed and got in the taxis, David and Ezra in one and me and Eli in the other. Meanwhile, our friend Pim was running to try and say goodbye to us before we left (and before she left to go back to BYU). I didn't think she'd make it, but we got stuck on our street waiting for traffic and so she was able to catch our taxi and hop it.

It was so fun to see her and a nice break for me because instead of crawling all over the taxi per usual, Eli sat quietly beside me because he was shy that Pim was now in the car.

When Pim found out that we were paying 200 baht per taxi she was pretty surprised. I told her I wasn't sure why we agreed to that, only that we trusted people. But when we got to the station the meter said 79 baht. I was like, "Pim can you please talk to him?" I hate going back on something I've agreed to do but I was starting to get the idea that we were being taken for a ride (no pun intended). I'm so glad Pim was there - and I'm sure the taxi driver was totally ticked that she made it into our car because by the end, we ended up having to pay only 100 baht per taxi. Thank you Pim!

She helped us into the station with our bags and then had to go. Which is when we realized that Eli's little red backpack was nowhere to be found. I was so bummed but tried hard not to think about the loss - just how we would cope with what we were now missing (diapers, toys and treats for the ride, etc.)

David said he thought it must have been in his taxi and ran off to see what he could do. The kids and I said a little prayer that we would somehow get the backpack back. David returned 10 minutes later and said he'd call the taxi services who would then make an announcement over the radio. We didn't think that would do much since people lose stuff in taxis all the time and no one ever gets it back.
So we went to find our seats and load our stuff.

We had about 20 minutes so I took Eli to go find some snacks and drinks. After about 10 minutes I got a call from David who said they had found the backpack! We couldn't believe it! I took Eli to go pick it up from Information and then made the trek back to our car.

So, the total cost of tickets was I like $55 for the four of us. But you get what you pay for. After spending an hour or so on the train, it became clear that the difference between 2nd and 1st class is not merely a matter of temperature. The um, windows are wide open. This means that small children who like to climb - say, two boys ages 2 and 4 - could easily climb out.

Also, the 2nd class cars are probably at least 20 yrs older than the 1st class ones and I doubt there is any regular cleaning, let alone maintenance. I don't want to talk about the toilets. I tried to take Ezra because he needed to go poop. When we came back unsuccessful, David tried to talk to Ezra about it (he hadn't seen the toilets) and said, "Ezra you need to sit on the toilet -" and I was like, "Absolutely not." They are not the sitting kind anyway so that would be a disaster.

There were also mini cockroaches. The springs in the seats were worn out. At least they closed the windows once the beds were made up. But then it was like an oven so I kept my little curtain open in order to catch a breeze from the ceiling fan. It was still too hot. Oh, AND I was totally sick with the same thing David and the kids had last week but I happened to get it later.

The good news is that the kids slept pretty much through the night and David was able to keep Eli quiet during the time that he woke up. If David were the one writing this post I'm sure a large portion would be about what happened at night - most of which I was blissfully unaware because he took care of it. Other good news is that there was coverage for my iPhone so even though I couldn't really sleep I was able to check email and stuff.

Anyway, we made it. And I have to say that though this could have been a horror story, that's not how we will remember it. Even though things were not ideal, it could have been so much worse (we could have lost the backpack entirely, it was so perfect that Pim was there just at the right time to help us sort out the taxis and then to help us unload all our stuff, plus it was just so nice to see a familiar smiling face in the midst of all this, the train ride actually could have been so much worse but the kids hardly made a peep the whole night, etc.)

Mostly, I just feel the the Lord is helping us and constantly easing a situation that could in fact be 10 times harder. I don't know if He's making the situation easier or making us stronger, but either way I know He is watching over our little family.

2010-08-26T21:08:00.000+07:00

2010-08-18T21:58:00.000+07:00

Ezra has been under a lot of stress because of our big move. I knew it would affect each of our kids in different ways but was especially mindful of Ezra because he has always been highly sensitive to change (even as a tiny toddler he would get really upset if I tried to put my hair back, or Mimi or Coco put glasses on, etc.) There are so many differences here and I worried he would be overwhelmed.
But it's been almost three weeks now and he is doing so well. In week two, there was a day he didn't want to go out of the apartment at all ("I don't like Thai food, I don't like Thai speaking, I don't like Thai people, I don't like rice or chicken..."). So we stayed inside the whole day doing preschool and fun activities. Since then his attitude about speaking Thai has changed but his feelings toward Thai food have unfortunately, remained the same.
He and Eli have been getting along again and making each other laugh and doing a lot of pretend play, which signals to me that they are not using 100% of their efforts on just surviving and are now relaxed enough to let their minds wander and laugh and stuff.

Swimming!

2010-08-12T21:47:00.000+07:00

Ezra loves the pool. He has always loved water but he has been especially excited lately because he's been learning how to swim. Today for the first time he learned (taught himself) how to doggie paddle, take a breath, doggie paddle some more, etc. He swam across the pool by himself. But when I tried to take a video of it, we were so focused on the video part of things that we kind of left Ezra hanging and he got a mouthful of water and then got scared. I felt so bad! And um, erased the video because I swore and we look like horrible parents and it's less like, "Look who's swimming" and more like, "Look who can't swim quite yet, even though his parents think he can and forced him to try it for the video camera." Here are some pictures before the incident.

2010-08-08T12:45:00.000+07:00

On our first Sunday here, our friends, Rikker and Kaw (vowel sound is pronounced like "now" with a hard "g") had us over for dinner. Rikker made spaghetti and chocolate cookies (yay!) and I got to talk to Kaw while David mostly watched the kids (thank you David). Kaw is due in like 2 days with their second child and I, barring some disaster, am going to take some newborn photos. These guys make the cutest kids so I am really excited to see what their next one looks like. Here's there little 2-year-old:

Swim Cap

2010-08-08T12:40:00.001+07:00

If these swim cap / Thailand pictures look familiar, you are not mistaken.

2010-08-08T12:32:00.000+07:00

So, our place is great. Our basic schedule is that David has language class in the mornings while I have the kids, then we switch off and I have language class in the afternoons. Then we all go out together and find a place to have dinner. We've been trying to stick to Thai food as often as possible, but we've kind of set Fridays and Saturdays as our international/American food dinners. So here are some pictures of us going out to find an Indian food restaurant we'd heard about. In the end, we didn't find it but we found a Pizza Company.

It's the rainy season and you can see that the ground is all wet from the almost daily afternoon rain. Sometimes we're up on the 8th floor (swimming pool area) when the rains come and it's so awesome to see the dark purple-gray clouds moving towards us.

We Made It!

2010-08-01T07:06:00.000+07:00

Taxi ride from the airport to our apartment.

View from the 8th floor/swimming pool area (we are on the 7th floor).

Faces

2010-07-16T20:12:00.000+07:00

Little freckles...

I asked Eli to smile for me and this is what he did. Can you believe it? I stared at this picture for a couple of minutes last night and laughed so hard.

Then he made a face. I think the reason this is so funny is because his mouth is usually so small. It's cartoonish.

2010-07-10T13:06:00.000+07:00

The Beach

2010-07-05T12:58:00.001+07:00

We went to the beach with Mimi, Papa, Alex, Crew, and Chels and Mike and their boys. Ezra and Eli could not get enough of the sand and water. Here are a few pictures from our campfire the first night (no shots of the fire but you can see the pretty light from the sunset).

2010-07-02T23:50:00.000+07:00

We finally have our tickets! David will be flying out on July 19th and I will be flying (alone!) with the kids the following week. Even though we wanted to get going before now, I'm glad to have more time with family and enjoy the summer in Oregon.

Hey, David's famous! This is the home page of BYU's MPA program.

And here is the article (which was accurate accept for the fact that we haven't left for Thailand yet).

Bow and Arrow

2010-06-14T22:56:00.000+07:00

Ezra has been begging for a bow and arrow for the past year. I have wanted to make his little dream come true, but where does one even get a bow and arrow? Especially for a 3 or 4 year old? Well, David and I had a little getaway this past weekend and our parents took care of the kids (thank you Coco, G. Steve, Mimi and Papa!). When we got back, we found that not only did Steve have a bow and arrow that wasn't too big, but he taught Ezra how to use it. I can't believe how fast Ezra caught on. Here are some pictures from this morning (he is still wearing his spiderman pajama shorts because it was actually very early this morning and basically all he wanted to do as soon as he woke up was practice with the bow and arrow).

The next three pictures are of his glee when he found that he shot it through the lattice at the top of the door (he is only allowed to shoot at the door so it was very exciting for him to have somehow got it "through" the door).

Eli retrieving the arrow...

Fishing!

2010-06-07T06:00:00.000+07:00

We all went fishing last night and after finding the right fly (a nymph) the fish were biting like crazy. The boys loved it and it was a beautiful place.

Jakob is home!

2010-05-31T12:33:00.001+07:00

After serving a two-year mission in Romania, Jakob is finally home!

This is the first time the Grimmius kids have been together in over 5 years so we took some photos to document it.

Mimi, Papa, and all the grandkids.

Santa Monica or Bust

2010-05-09T06:59:00.000+07:00

I'm hiding in the back room looking through the pics of our trip thus far and David just busted me (everyone else is watching kids and/or cleaning - my siblings are familiar with my ability to duck out of responsibilities such as these)...so these are the only pictures for now but hopefully I can write/post more later. We're having a great time.

Passport Photo Outtakes

2010-05-09T06:55:00.000+07:00

Of the 70+ I took, only 2 were acceptable so I printed both out. As it turns out, they don't like teeth showing in the pictures so of the two, only one made the cut. Glad I took 70 pictures.

Guess what... (no I am not pregnant)

2010-04-27T02:53:00.000+07:00

We just found out today that David got the Fulbright to study in Laos starting this Fall. Yay!

Update II

2010-04-19T03:26:00.001+07:00

Our poor health seems to finally be over. After the last update Ezra came down with a 104˚ (by the way, the Fahrenheit degree symbol is option + k on a Mac) fever which didn't come down for two days and then mysteriously left. We took him to the doctor which was a horrible, traumatic experience for him and after running the tests they didn't find anything (which is exactly why I try to avoid going to the hospital/dr. office at all costs).

Meanwhile, Eli tripped over my big toe and peeled the nail back halfway. We couldn't find the alcohol so I dipped my toe in Listerine for a few minutes. Did it kill the germs? I don't know, but it hurt really bad so I think so.

Anyway, we are all currently healthy for the first time in 5 weeks. David is finishing up his finals and pulling kid-duty while I work like crazy to finish two web projects. One is due Apr. 24 and the other is due as quickly as possible after that.

Also, we are waiting to hear back on whether or not David will get a Fulbright grant to do research in Laos for a year. The letter should be coming within the next 10 days. We are also waiting to hear back from the NSEP Boren Fellowship, another year-long research grant but it would be in Thailand. AND we are also waiting to hear whether or not he will get security clearance to work for the State Dept. at the US embassy in Bangkok this summer.

So, we really don't know exactly what the next 3-12 months will be like for us. It's a major waiting game right now. Luckily the time is flying by with all the stuff we have to do, not to mention my new photography biz, which is more of a creative outlet than anything else but I would spend all my time on it if I could.

Anyway, that's what's goin' on.

More Alex

2010-04-07T02:27:00.000+07:00

This morning we went around and took a few more pictures. Check out my photography blog for more.

Alex

2010-04-05T09:54:00.000+07:00

Look at her bone structure! I once dated a guy who's mom knew all three of us Grimmius girls and upon learning of his dating me, she said something to the effect of me not being the cutest one. I thought it was really funny at the time but we've always known that Alex has the best looks. I mean I'm not bad, don't get me wrong. But come on. Look at her!

*please no comments about my beauty. I know I am really attractive and I don't feel sorry for myself. I feel really good about myself (too good I am sure).

Update

2010-04-05T09:41:00.000+07:00

The last three weeks have been really horrible. I'm posting this just for people who maybe haven't heard from me in awhile or who were supposed to hear from me or whatever. I considered writing out a detailed list of what has happened but I'm just ready for it all to be over. It involved me being alone with the kids for a few days (which would have been fine had the proceeding things not happened), Eli came down with a horrible flu (all symptoms you can imagine were involved), then Ezra had an intense ear-ache late Saturday night (thank goodness for relatives who are doctors - THANK YOU KIRK), then Ezra got whatever Eli had (clean-up for said flu involved lots of piles of laundry), then David got the bug (on top of this being the busiest three weeks of his life in terms of homework), then just after Eli began to recover he got a high fever (again, a big thank you to relatives who are doctors - DAWN JOY gave me lots of very helpful information) which led to a ruptured ear drum. For kicks I am including a picture as evidence.

Anyway, if I have been irresponsible in my communication or commitments, this is why. And I keep thinking it's almost over but I keep being wrong.

In other news, my sister Alex is here visiting with her baby Crew (who could not be sweeter) and I am so happy that she is here and hope she can have a good visit in spite of the circumstances!

Proof of Happiness

2010-03-28T23:17:00.000+07:00

Today was the first morning in over a week that the kids woke up happy. We have been under attack from some horrible flu virus (which I, so far, have avoided but to which David succumbed late last night). Here is some proof of happiness.

Jakob is going to BYU!

2010-03-27T03:53:00.000+07:00

My brother Jakob, who is serving a mission in Romania (and will be returning in May - YAY!), was accepted to BYU! I am so proud of him and so happy that he will be near us in Provo this fall. Congratulations Jake!

Marcus Won the Triathalon!

2010-03-21T02:27:00.000+07:00

No, just kidding. But he finished! Clay (Marcus and Clay are David's cousins) helped me watch the kids while I took some pictures. It was fun to run around from spot to spot and cheer Marcus on. And it was inspiring to me - I love a race. Exercising is pretty boring to me, but give me a race any day.

Great job Marcus!

pre-race (fake) jitters

running to the bikes

eli twiddling his thumbs as we wait for Marcus to round the corner

ditching the bike and starting the 5k

cheering

Ezra found one of those "helicopter" leaves and threw it up in the air

approaching the finish line

Singing Hymns in the Morning

2010-03-20T08:24:00.000+07:00

One of the things I love about our house is the way the sun comes through the windows in the morning. A few times a week the kids will open the hymnbooks and start to "sing". This morning, I was sitting down across from the bookshelf and they happened to pop out the hymnbooks and luckily, my camera was right above me on top of the armoir. So I got to catch the morning light, and their singing. The day went rapidly downhill from there but at least it started out well.

Gray Clouds

2010-03-20T00:05:00.000+07:00

Today is partly cloudy and a little cold. Ezra is scared of anything that could mean a storm. This morning he listed all the kinds of weather he didn't like (white clouds, gray clouds, rain, wind, etc.) Then, as we were getting ready to go out he said, "I want gray clouds to go in the garbage and stay there for a LONG time!"

I feel the same. Spring, where are you?

Hands

2010-03-19T11:01:00.000+07:00

Eli has the best hands. David and I frequently comment on how we love to hold them and squish them. He has particularly long fingers, which I love. Both my dad and David's dad have great hands and Eli's hands remind me of both.

*Don't ask me why I keep putting him in this hideous red shirt. It looks okay in real life but every time I see it in pictures I get sad.

Ladybug!

2010-03-19T04:11:00.000+07:00

Eli LOVES ladybugs. Ezra knows it too and is always trying to find one for him. Well this morning, Eli finally found a real ladybug on our sidewalk out front.

I posted more pictures on my photography blog.

Sole Meunière With Kate and David

2010-03-15T10:53:00.000+07:00

Tonight we had dinner with our friends Kate and David (one of David's companions from the mission). Kate is an excellent cook and ever since watching Julie and Julia I've wanted to try some sole meunière. Well a couple of days ago they called to say they had some fresh sole and would we like to come over for dinner. Yes we would. It was SO good.

I'm doing it!

2010-03-14T07:00:00.000+07:00

I decided to finally get serious about photography, so I made a little website for myself. I have my first paid client on Monday and I hope I'm not a total buffoon. The URL is jadenoel.com.