The Jungle and A Backyard Camp Out

We had to go into SF on Friday and at lunch we splurged and finally went to this cool place called the Jungle that we have seen so many times. 

This is Kohen trying to see if the huge mechanical Anaconda will lick his hand. It should be noted he did not desire the snake in our back yard to do the same... thankfully.

Though the food was overpriced the restaurant itself was really cool. It was a jungle from floor to ceiling with animatronic jungle animals moving and roaring all over the place, pretty neat. 

We got to sit right next to this big aquarium which was unique and fun and kept the children entertained while waiting for their lunch.

The real fun started that afternoon after naps. We decided it was a good weekend to Camp Out in our backyard and we surprised the kids. They were so thrilled. I found Kohen upstairs gathering camping stuff and he breathlessly starts telling me what all he has 'packed'. "I've got my pajamas, my telescope so I can see the snakes, my Book of Mormon, my chopsticks...I'm ready to go camping!"......Chopsticks??? 

Kohen brought out his snake and tried to scare all of us that it was one of our real snakes. He actually got Nathan pretty good once, lol.

I enjoyed my time cooking outside. We only had one small mishap when I spilled soda trying to hand Nathan a blanket while cooking and when I jerked the blanket away from the soda and started cleaning up I actually threw it onto the coals and melted part of it without even realizing it until Nathan jumped in and saved the day...woops.

Poor Kohen came over bawling to me about his journal where he had been having Nathan write down everything we'd been doing and eating. Below is the cause for the tears- had to laugh at that face though- as I cleaned it up for him of course.

Aly tried her hand at roasting a marshmallow- just as long as she wasn't roasting her hand...

I'm not even gonna lie right now. I make a mean S'mores and you should be crazy jealous.

It had actually gotten really windy and cold so it was nice to get all tucked into our tent and get warmed up. The glow sticks were a huge hit. A buck well spent for sure. The kids were laughing so hard I thought we'd wake the neighbors. 

As the evening wound down Aly - a known partier- refused to settle down. When she declared she needed to go potty I gladly took her in- bidding the other 3 a good night. Though Aly wasn't pleased when she found out she was staying inside it really was for the best for both of us. As far as camping goes- I'd say back yard camping is right up my alley, at least for now with little ones. Fun night!!!

There's a Snake in my Boot

Sweet Kennedy was helping out by running a cereal box out to the recycling bin. She went out the back door and a minute later when she returned, by the look on her face I knew something was terribly wrong. She tells me while literally shaking, that I needed to look out the back door right by the house. Because blogging comes first in this household, I took a few pictures before calling in back up.

Nice. An at least 3 ft snake waiting right out side my back door to- let's be honest- eat me. Or maybe one of my sweet children, should I send them out with some recycling. Anyway, Nathan was on the job and the children were glued to the back door and nothing was distracting them. Nathan was out there with a rake (your obvious first line of defense against snakes) and fearing the rescue/removal mission may quickly turn to a gory extermination, I began trying to distract the kids from their front row seats. I started with, "Hey guys, dinners ready. Why don't you sit down?" zero response. No wait, Kohen said, "He's getting it! He's getting it!" So I tried a little harder, "Whose gonna help me with the cantaloupe? You can even have some while you help..." Nothing. Finally I tried a loud, "WHO WANTS TO GO TO DISNEYLAND?!" Aaaand that's when I officially gave up.

When I saw Nathan jabbing a freshly broken rake handle into the bushes I physically removed each child from the back door and put them up to the table. Meanwhile, Nathan the Snake Hunter was taking care of business. Turns out there was more business than initially thought. 3 snakes, as in one- two-three snakes in our backyard. What the?? 

The area we live in does have issues with Rattle snakes and our fence is actually specifically made to keep them out but apparently this large garden (?) snake has some sort of VIP pass into our yard. 

Unfortunately 1 out of 3 snakes was harmed in the making of this blog. But it was his fault. He was hissing and biting at Nathan and refused to be chucked harmlessly over the fence. Don't tell PETA.     

Medical for the Fam

It's a little weird to open the fridge and see a little box containing a live Typhoid virus. The product of our family visit to get our medical stuff done to move overseas. The office we went to was a little ways away and I was wondering how it was all going to work with all 5 of us being seen together. 

Though it is nothing I care to do again anytime soon, all things considered the children did really well all 3 and a half hours we were there. Sure there were different children climbing the walls at different times but then again, so was I. For the grand finale each child had blood drawn and two additional shots along with Nathan and I. I really wish it would have been like at the Pediatrician's office where they've stuck the child all 3 or 4 times before they can even get out a cry. Instead it was painfully drawn out, each child getting one then starting rounds again. By the end they had certainly had enough. The staff was very complimentary of the kids which is always nice to hear, though a bit odd to hear your children handle getting stuck well.

Anyway, Kennedy and I got a kick out of Aly when she and I were doing our eye tests "E...H...G...C..." and Aly was dying to have a turn. I hand her the little eye cover and she gets herself in position, one eye covered and she earnestly begins, "A...B...C...tuna". Probably would've had to have been there but if you know Aly you may get a chuckle out of it.

When we finally got home, more than half the day gone, we all absolutely crashed. Whatever shot the 3 children and I had was killing our arm and I'm not even kidding. I'm almost glad mine hurt too so that I was appropriately sympathetic to my babies. It hurt to move it at all and it was several days before it went away, crazy. Anyway, we really did pass out because when I shot awake 3 hours later I was getting everyone up and Kohen says cheerily, "Well that was a short rest." No concept of the hours that had gone by, lol. 

Glad to have that out of the way for sure. I'm with my children, I don't ever want to go back there...if that's okay.

Embarrassing Moment #369

We have the most quaint post office near where we live. The service has always been impeccable, they are always friendly and I've never waited more than 2 minutes to be helped- and yes, I am in fact talking about the US Postal Service- hard to believe. Anyway, this morning I went in with Kohen and Aly.

After 1 minute of waiting Aly is trying to rip my arm off so I pick her up as I am called up to be helped. The gentleman helping the customer to my left is Hawaiian or something but he is really tan and looks almost African American. This line of thinking never would have crossed my mind until Aly points her arm clear out at him and says, "He's a TROLL!"......... *crickets chirping*.......WHAT?! How do you recover from that?! At first I thought maybe he wouldn't understand her but no such luck, against all odds the guy understood every word. Thankfully he seemed to have a good sense of humor but I still wanted to die. I mean- I have a suspicion the comment came from a Dora the Explorer episode but how do you explain that to the newly christened 'Troll'? Especially when he looked nothing like the cartoon troll? I can only imagine what the postal worker/troll thinks we are teaching our little children. I knew that Dora was up to no good...

Happy Mothers Day 2009

I've had a lot of time to think without being interrupted this weekend and I have come to several conclusions. First of all: every "normal" family is functionally dysfunctional- don't argue with me- you know as well as I do that if every one could watch your family for a time there is inevitably a few things you all do that the rest of us would raise our eyebrows at. And no family is perfect, though that probably stems from none of us being perfect but you know, usually we do our best. 

As far as my grandmothers go, they both worked extremely hard and made enormous sacrifices for their children. Following in their footsteps my mother also worked very hard, and I have it on good authority- shed many tears over her children and our well being. Their examples were and continue to be a treasured source for me as far as mothering goes. Why so few of the housekeeping skills have rubbed off, I know not but it's a shame. I love my Mother, Grandma Nona, and Grandma Doris very much.

Nathan unknowingly gave me the best gift this weekend (aside from subbing for me with the 3 amigos and the flowers that he sent to the hotel) when last night he had finally gotten the children to bed he texted me 5 glorious, validating words: YOU HAVE A HARD JOB. He told me today that his "Internship" the last 4 days has really been the best way to appreciate the job I do. Being a Mother is the hardest and best job I've ever had. Happy Mother's Day to every woman who is, has been, or will someday be in the trenches of motherhood.

Um...Whoops???

About two weeks ago I went to a friends blog to find a picture of her young daughters Cello which had been accidentally broken badly, though luckily it was covered. My comment was as follows, "Today the Cello tomorrow the car. Let's take this valuable lesson and insure everything that our children touch, lol." Yes, haha our children who break everything they touch, those pesky things. 

So fast forward to Nathan and I's long flight home from Taiwan. Nathan was helping me figure out the buttons to lay the chair further back and as he and I each held buttons that were slowly moving the whole seat forward and down, we were yuckin' it up about something when we heard this ominous "CRACK!" We look at each other and Nathan says, "what was that?" I already knew. I realized my backpack had been laying on the floor as we started moving the chair and eventually the chair had squished it into the center console and...well...see for yourself. 

That ^ would be my not even 6 month old MacBook Pro which had been in my backpack. The white lines on the screen would be a horrible crack shouting to the whole world my clumsiness and stupidity. Pictured below on the left side of the screen you can see some more damage. Ugh, I was sick to my stomach as Nathan and I sat looking over the carnage that was my laptop. It was brutal. All I could think about was that stupid comment I made on my friends blog. Yeah, cuz it's the kids who break everything they touch.

The happy/ironic ending to this story is when Nathan says "Well, it's a good thing I got that extended warranty..." How embarrassing. We have to ensure everything I touch! But I was so grateful Nathan had done that, I guess he knows me all too well, though at the time I'm sure I figured extra protection was because we have 3 little ones around.

Anyway, as it stands right now the only difference I can see between little children breaking things and me is that occasionally toddlers will destroy things out of curiosity. Other than that I think we need to be just as cautious of what I might demolish as them. My sincere apology to little people everywhere.

Tepan-yucky

The fact of the matter is, if our trip had been even 2 weeks earlier I would not have felt up to going. I am having many more good days now though sites and smells still effect me and I am pretty careful about when and what I eat to keep from getting sick. The Taiwanese people are a very kind people for the most part and gift giving seems to be a big part of their culture. Ever since Nathan started working with people from there -clear back before Kennedy was born he would bring home gifts for me- and occasionally even our children, from their Taiwan partners or clients. In January we received a package out of the blue from the girlfriend of someone Nathan had worked with. It was an outfit for Kenna and Kohen and a purse for Aly and some other thoughtful things. A very sweet gesture. 

Anyway when people that Nathan works with found out his wife was coming with him this trip they all began inviting me to go to their business dinners with them. I apologized sincerely to Nathan but told him there was no way my stomach was up to the task of eating unfamiliar foods and if I don't eat the food offense could very easily be taken. Nathan was able to get me out of everything except one lunch. The people responsible for our recent package insisted on taking us out to lunch to a Tepanyaki style place. I dreaded it all week.  

Things got off to a bad start when I was already hungry and we arrived at the restaurant where reservations had been made and imagine that, they had no record of it and all 3 tables were being used by bigger parties than ours, obviously we'd been bumped. We proceeded to wait for more than an hour while I grew closer and closer to being sick. When we were finally seated the food I had waited so long for proved to be one hideous dish after another. Poor Nathan, trying to protect me would whisper frantically under his breath to me, "Do Not Eat That! I'm telling you, if I can't eat it you can't!" Good thing the cooking was loud or we'd never have gotten away with that. 

As the dishes grew weirder and kept coming one after another endlessly- so much yucky food!- Nathan's whisperings became more desperate, "I'm so sorry honey!...You can have whatever you want for dinner!...Just don't look at it!" One of the dishes was Cod and might have been okay had it not been swimming in what looked like blood water. After about 6 gross courses they brought out the lobster and threw them on the stove. Um, they totally started moving involuntarily all over the place. It was the most stomach turning part of the lunch. Nathan took some video though they had slowed to about half the initial movement, it's about 20 seconds and it's...yuck. It's funny though at the end it shows our hosts saying hi and totally oblivious to the torture they were putting me through.

By the end of the bazillion course meal Nathan and I were having a hard time keeping a straight face about things. This was the only picture I let him take of me because I was afraid that our hosts would see I was being sarcastic and be offended. Though I don't know how they could've missed that I couldn't choke down hardly any of it, I guess I did get pretty good with the earnest pushing of food around my plate. I'd like to say this lunch proves just how much I love my husband. I was sick to my stomach the rest of the day and I would only endure an afternoon like that for him. 

#4 Makes First Appearance!

While in Taiwan I went to the playgroup of Mom's from our church ward- to be and it was good to hear opinions on life in Taiwan and hear about some of their experiences giving birth there. Overall Taiwan is about 20 years behind the times as far as birthing goes, except for C-sections which they are all over and have a high rate of. I was nervous but learned that for ex-pats that isn't the case. The girls in the ward have all used a Western trained doctor and had good experiences with her. 

So since I will be about 5-6 weeks away from having baby #4 when we move we thought it might be wise to meet this Dr. Ling. She was great, talkative and assuring, except the part where she repeatedly said at the end we would check often and see whether or not I needed to be induced (after Aly, I'd have to give that a NO WAY ummm, no thanks) but other than that it was positive.

Especially the part where she did an ultrasound! Yay! And I am excited to announce- especially on behalf of Kohen- that the score is now even, 2 girls, 2 boys! We are expecting our second little boy around the second week of September. We really weren't very surprised, I'd thought it was a boy all along and after being correct 3 times before, Nathan knows better than to question me :) It was sweet, when we gathered the kids yesterday to tell them we took the last vote of what each thought we were having. Kohen held firm on a brother. Kenna, and therefore Aly believed it was a girl. When we revealed it was a boy there was a collective cheer and then Kennedy shouts "I just knew it was a boy!" which I thought was funny considering her vote to the contrary .5 seconds before.

So the next question is always, do we have a name? Well, no not really but the fact of the matter is you probably won't like what we pick anyway- at least initially-  so should I really share??? I dunno, we'll see. We're certainly taking suggestions. hint hint.  

House Hunting

So yes, supposedly (picture me giving you a slight roll of the eye) we are moving to Taiwan this summer. I say "supposedly" because within those quotes is just enough wiggle room for me to squeeze through to one of my favorite places, the Land of Denial. It is a lovely place I like to visit whenever the subject of an international move comes up. Everyone- including myself back before I was in danger of experiencing it first hand- thinks that moving over seas sounds exotic and adventurous and wonderful. True, true and true. But what you don't realize is that much must be given up for the opportunity. What I have come to understand about myself is that when I thought overseas living would be awesome, overseas travel is actually my idea of exotic, adventurous and wonderful. Most of this has to do with having little ones whose lives and education we are responsible for. I guess my point is that overtime I have become used to the inevitability that we were moving overseas largely by trying to understand the very real perks and very real difficulties that come with it.... and a healthy dose of the Dory "just keep swimming" attitude that has always come so naturally to me, ha!

My awesome sisters were up to the task of watching our kids again while I left with Nathan for my first trip ever overseas. I seriously should have taken a picture because you would never believe the condition we left our room in for the girls. Laundry, albeit clean, piled high and strewn everywhere. A product of being home from Boise for about 36 hours before we left again. So Natalie and Ashley are pretty much amazing for even agreeing to walk into that sand trap.  

Having said all that I'm about to get very honest. When people ask how I feel about moving to Asia I give most everyone the same answer about how I am a bit apprehensive but I'm sure we'll adjust and the Taiwan American School is amazing and I might even throw in how having a maid is cheap and very standard in Taiwan. But this is me we are talking about. As much as I long to be that woman who when offered this experience doesn't bat an eye and excitedly replies, "let's do this!" and "when can we leave!?"- I am not nor will I ever be that woman. Instead I worry. I worry about driving (I can now report the driving here is like NY cab drivers but on crack) I worry about health care (and that would be a yes, I'm planning on having this baby in Taiwan. Somebody slap me.) I worry about where I will get food to prepare for my family (have I mentioned I'm not a fan of Chinese food?) I worry about being SO far away from family and friends and our DVR- in that order I swear. But thanks to some awesome friends (Allison!) and people I have been put in touch with from Taiwan many of my worries were settled at least partially. 

When Nathan and I left for our trip on Sunday I was excited and looking forward to the experience. Taiwan is sometimes confused with Thailand but Taiwan is actually the Republic of China and they speak Mandarin Chinese. At any rate, I was excited to check this place out. So that makes it a little hard to explain why about 8 hrs into our flight I started bawling. No really, full on sobbing. It started out as just a little teary and I was trying to pull myself together but instead I just lost it. I was trying to be discreet but at some point Nathan realized I was crying (poor guy, he was so confused) and I scared the crud out of him because I was crying so hard I couldn't even speak and so he was imagining something terrible had happened. As my sister explained, I was having one of those, "oh my gosh this is really happening" moments and she's right. Suddenly the reality of moving overseas became a little too real. In that moment I DID NOT WANT TO MOVE. Thankfully though I felt much better after a seriously huge cry. 

I was amazed when on the first leg of the flight Nathan slept and slept and slept. I took a short little nap and then proceeded to read an entire book (A Thousand Splendid Suns, not really a funny ha ha kind of book). During our layover in Japan I started to feel it and by the time we boarded the last leg of our flight I could hardly speak without slurring my words I was so dang tired.  Frankly, I would've blogged days ago but I have been battling jet lag any moment I sit still too long. 

Though pretty much every smell is offensive to my sensitive nose, I have managed pretty well here if I do say so myself. It has really been cool to get to explore a bit of this country. We've spent several days house hunting- hopefully our prayers have been answered and we will find a place before we leave this trip. I have lot's of other details and things that I have found interesting but I'm not really sure if they would be interesting to anyone else so for now I better call it good I think. More later...

Elder Wilcox Returns!!!

So Tuesday night was the big night. After 2 years in Taiwan my little brother was coming home!! My whole family was excited, the kids helped make posters and were thrilled when the time had finally come. Unfortunately Justin's flight didn't get in until after 11pm and I swear those last few hours took their sweet time passing! But finally........

...Elder Wilcox appeared and as far as my immediate family goes, we were all a bit too excited in the moment to do things like, ya know, focus the camera, lol. But you get the idea. 

I was glad we had made the effort to bring the kids-  we hope the night will be a lasting memory for them. That night at my parents house after the kids were down we stayed up until 3am catching up, so brutal come 8am the next morning but so worth it.

Unfortunately Justin only had about 48 hours home before he had to head off to BYUID again which kind of seems like a cruel joke but I was happy to get what I got. It is purely coincidence that Justin served where our family will be moving, but I found myself paying close attention to details that I might not otherwise, things like how people he knew emptied 2 gallons from their de-humidifier daily...oh boy. Anyway, we got together at Ashley and Shayn's the next night, it was great to all be together.

Aly proved to be the entertainment much of the evening, but here she is eating the best dessert ever that is so sinfully good and yet dangerously bad for you, you probably shouldn't eat it unless there is a defibrillator nearby. At any rate, I may have only posted the picture because it brings back yummy memories.

The picture below- there are about 15 versions of it (none of which do I look any better than that, yikes! Would you believe me if I swore I wasn't feeling so good?) but we were all laughing so hard trying to get a pic and Aly was hamming it up- she has learned from her Aunties how to work the camera!

The Menfolk

I have no idea why everything is underlined now...must be because blogger feels what I am typing is that important. Anyway, Justin seems to be transitioning very well, granted there has hardly been time for anything else. I was impressed when day 2 his hair had started the slow transition from the Missionary hair do, thought for sure that was gonna take some time to kick :) I can't think of any way that isn't cheesy to end this post. Well, it is what it is. I love my brother and I am thrilled to have him home!

More Easter Than You Ever Wanted

This year we went to Boise for our spring break which coincided with Easter and my brother coming home from his 2 year mission in Taiwan so there was a lot we conveniently plopped ourselves in the middle of. This is the Easter montage- coloring eggs at home before we left, then on Saturday we headed over to the Jensen Easter bash and though 2 families/8 cousins were missing we were still able to have a great -though quieter- time.  

After the egg hunt we broke out the bubbles and I have to give my SIL Amber a shout out for most of these pictures, they turned out great and I had to snag 'em. With everyone blowing bubbles the backyard was quickly filled with inexplicably magical iridescent spheres (thank you for indulging me with that superfluous description... now I'm just being pedantic). 


Was it me or was pretty much everyone dressing their darlings in clothes from The Children's Place this Easter? What can I say, it was the cutest thing I could find short notice when I began to be able to peel myself off of the couch sometime between late March early April.
And I had to add these pics because growing up at my Gma Nona's house we would do this and it was so fun. Each basket is attached to a large spool of wrapping ribbon which is then unraveled all over the backyard (traditionally by the men folk) and then each child gets their spool and begins following and winding, racing to be the first to reach their Easter basket, not sure that was a very good description. At any rate, the more participants the more ribbons all over so just know that with only 3 it wasn't as impressive as it could be. It's pretty cool when a backyard is absolutely covered in bright ribbon all over.


And all this is still not including the Easter Bunnies visit Saturday morning or hearing the Easter story from our children after Sunday school, Easter dinner and on and on. Easter 2009... AWESOME. 

A hundred and a hundred!

I am still in Boise- and obviously lot's has been going but while I have just a second I have to report that Aly has had potty training success!!!! Starting conference weekend when Nathan was available we began with Aly. It took all week but by Thursday when we flew to Boise and had a 2 hour delay at the airport -ugh- she did great. Nathan and I were panic stricken when on our flight we went to take Aly to the restroom and she flat out REFUSED to use that "stinky" potty that "has no water in it!" But defying the odds she made it through all of our travels dry as can be. This is especially impressive when we were previously taking her to the restroom every half hour. Let me just share one thing. The other two did not stay dry immediately at night when they were training, but Aly sleeps 12 hour nights and will be completely dry in the morning! I CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!!!!! It is super cute (to Aly's parents anyway) when she opens the flood gates in the morning after those 12 hours and she excitedly shouts "A hundred and a hundred!!!" There certainly is a lot- I have serious bladder envy.
So here is the deal, we have been in Boise on our spring break and my brother Justin came home from his 2 yr mission to Taiwan for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints this week which was amazing!!! I will be able to blog properly about it when I get home to my laptop, Nathan's is killing me. For now though, let's follow Aly's example as she would demand we "BE EXCITED" when she would successfully use the potty. That or, "CLAP FOR ALY!!!"- which at this point I feel is well deserved. That's my girl.

Let's Go With "Better Late Than Never"

What. So St. Patrick's day was almost a month ago. The fact that I'm blogging about it now should give you a pretty good idea of how I was feeling and then how the whole fam was feeling. Truth be told I couldn't skip this because I need a pat on the back for the Green and Shamrock filled lunch I made Kennedy and her friend Alex who came over. I was NOT feeling well that day but I pulled off a little lunch that had the girls tickled so it was almost worth the trouble.  

Next we had my 29th Birthday. Again, I was feeling like crud but Nathan had the children so excited about my birthday. On the Monday before they all "went to the park" but really went to Target so they could pick out Birthday decorations (as told by the Tinkerbell/Spiderman adornments). When they got home they were all telling me how on Wednesday (my B-day) I should take an extra long nap, "like past when Dad gets home"...in the hopes that they could then decorate and surprise me. 

Then the morning of my Birthday Nathan got up early with Kenna and Kohen and made me breakfast in bed which I only wish I could've eaten more of, fruit and freshly made coffee cake and Bran flakes (cuz let's not forget I'm popping Zofran like candy and if you've ever taken it you know why the bran is highly necessary). To see them so excited to bring it to me though was the real gift. Kennedy was in charge of pictures that evening and seeing as how I looked about like how I felt, I figured this one was good enough.

Easily my favorite gifts were the cards that Nathan let each child pick out for me. Kennedy and Kohen could hardly wait for me to see what they had chosen for me/get to use the paper doll and/or Knight in shining armor stickers that came with the cards. It was too funny.

Then we had Aly's card which about brought tears to my eyes because Nathan said she was adamant about this one. And when I opened it she frantically pointed to the little girl and then the mom, "Me! You! Me!"  

I'm not sure I ever would have thought cards from a 6, 4, and 2 year old could mean so much.