Kohen Turns 8

When Nathan and I asked Kohen to tell us what his dream birthday would be like, we were happy to hear his dreams were well within reach as we planned his day. 

It started bright and early "Golfing for one hour." Nathan and Papa John took Kohen to hit a couple buckets of balls. Nathan sent me some cute pics throughout, I think his ninja head band really helped him with his form.

That, and a few pointers from Grandpa.

Kohen came home to a "Big Breakfast" (which, could have been cereal with toast since I don't do impressive breakfasts, and he would've been happy) he lucked out with hash browns, eggs, bacon and pancakes, his pancake was even his signature caped-K.

Scarlett getting her first taste of delicious nitrates bacon. I think she ate her weight in pancakes this morning.
Next Kohen dreamed of going to Roaring Springs and after all of our kids begging to go for a full 3 summers now, Nathan and my dad took Kennedy, Kohen and Aly to the water park for the bulk of the day. They actually had an awesome and memorable time- my dad and Nathan included.

Kohen rounded out his perfect day by having cupcakes with both sets of grandparents, Uncle Justin, Mom and Dad and his siblings.

(Scarlett is a hard one to catch on film these days. You'll just have to imagine her normal, sweet faces. Maybe she will grow up to take after her beautiful grandmothers one day :)

Captain America swim shorts, fun and practical- my kind of gift!

It really was Kohen's perfect day. And I was happy to make it special for this extraordinary kid.

Special Visitors

(Aly feeding Taylor)

 One thing we all looked forward to during our stay in Boise was for when we got to spend time with loved ones we don't see often and when visitors were arriving. Peter and Jen were blessed with triplets this year and Jen made the monumental trip up from TX with the babies so that the family could meet them. We were smitten.

 My kids enjoyed not having to fight over one baby, adding Scarlett into the mix at feeding time and there were plenty of hungry babies to go around!

 Kennedy feeding Carder = one genuine smile!

I snagged this pic of all three cuties from Jen's blog because I needed a picture of Cruz in there too! Plus, I can't help it, they are adorable. Each in their own right.
I think about Jen a lot since she had the triplets, when I feel overwhelmed or can't get everyone happy at once. I've had the realization that she and Peter were surely chosen to care for three children at once because few could do it well. It's a ginormous job. After seeing Jen in action with these bambinos, I was still surprised by the reality of what 3 babies takes. However, she is sincerely a super mom and the babies are lucky to have her. (I also realized after the fact that I too had asked her the same like 5 questions literally every person asks them, that must get old reeeeeal fast. :)

 Marianne! We love Marianne. She sacrificed time with her hubby Brad to visit and we were SO glad to get to hang out.

 We were able to match up our time visiting Boise with the Furnisss' and had several fun swim days where we let the kids swim to their hearts content while we visited on the patio.

 Yup. Swimming to their heart's content ;)

 ROSIE!!!! Getting to see Rosie, personally, made my whole trip worthwhile. I want to be like Rosie when I grow up. No, but for real. I don't think the whole BYU Basketball thing is gonna happen for me at this point, but maybe I can somehow still pull off being a mother and grandma who is as straight forward, sincere, genuine and fun as she is.

My lack of 100's if not 1,000's of pictures from this summer should stand as proof of how busy we were. Looking through my pictures this is what I've got of us spending time with family and friends. If you are not pictured, know it's because I have none to picture! Not because we didn't cherish our time together. Though I have been making a concerted effort to just enjoy moments when we are in them and fight the urge to preserve every last one.
We sure appreciated and enjoyed spending time with so many loved ones.

A McCall Gettaway

A wonderful reprieve came in the form of a trip to McCall where the kids and I would meet my parents.   After I had gotten our crew there in one piece, I realized that my parents had taken care of the planning and organizing of all of our meals and activities for the week. There is no greater gift to an overburdened mama! 

My dad further sealed a place in my heart forever by quietly taking the older 3 out on crack-of-dawn adventures so that the rest of us could sleep in. Sleeping in. The very definition of vacation. (Of course, my idea of "sleeping in" - 8am - has changed drastically in the last decade. By about 3 or 4 hours. *sigh*)

I'd like to title this picture "Kumbaya Kohen"

One morning my parents pulled out the cool bug catching kits they brought the kids and went on a bug hunt. I could hear squeals and a scream or two from clear down the road. Surprisingly though, there wasn't much in the way of creepy crawlers.

I told the kids they'd surely have much better luck at home in Taiwan searching for bugs. You may not even have to go outside.... and unfortunately, you're gonna need a bigger container. For reals.

Uncle Justin made the long drive over from BYUI and it was so great to see him. The children were all excited to have grandpa and Justin to climb all over and wrestle with.

There is a distinct but important difference between "milk ice" (which you find camouflaged under the guise of 'ice cream' in Taiwan) and good old fashioned ICE CREAM! God. bless. America.

I love this picture of Justin studying with Scarlett in his arm. Check out her little crossed feet. LOVE.

Painting rocks and ceramics with "Pixie" and Papa John.

My children were soooo excited to go ice skating in the middle of summer. Having received a concussion 2 years ago during a Mutual activity that Nathan and I took our youth on (I was even wearing a bit too big helmet at the time), I was a little nervous to get back on the ice. It's just so, hard. My quad of skaters were not, however, nervous at all.

I kept my skating speed to about .05 mph and mostly stayed within reach of the wall. Aly and Kohen needed a lot of help initially but were inching along pretty good by the end. Justin and I stayed close to help the wall flowers. Kennedy went skating once before and between that and her roller blades, she did awesome! I was so impressed with her. And my dad.

For an old guy, he's still got skillz ;) Ander didn't want skates on but once my dad scooped him up and zoomed around the rink with him, Ander couldn't get enough. He skated around in his shoes in between rides with grandpa. The kids ended up lasting way longer than I would have guessed. I pooped out before they did.

My dad braved fishing one morning with the older 3. They all caught fish and they were all beyond excited about it. I was so happy they got to go!

Back at the cabin my dad obliged Kohen and was teaching him how to gut a fish. Throughout the hands-on experience I kept hearing this small spitting noise. Over and over. Finally I realized it was Kohen, who kept spitting because the task was "just so gross!" Even after when I sent him into the shower I could still hear him spitting, over and over. Too funny. 

We've got a live one!

I'm framing this. 

Like immediately.

On the weekend Uncle Shayn, Aunt Ashley and Aunt Natalie came up. We headed to the "beach" down at McCall lake and spent the afternoon enjoying watching the children run around.

My mom generously offered to stay with a sleeping Scarlett for most of the afternoon. But we did eventually go back and get them to join in the fun. The whole week my mom was always offering to take the babies or let me go do activities, I was so grateful for her!

No I swear, ignore Ander's face. We were having fun.

After the beach we headed over to a pool we had access to and let the kids swim (and by swim I mean, hopefully get the sand out of cracks so I don't have to tend to it).

We ate tons of delicious food and laughed and visited and enjoyed each others company.

McCall surprised me and ended up being the best week of our trip this summer. Could have only been better if Nathan could've been there. Thanks mom and dad, for making the trip doable for me and so fun for all of us!
xoxo

Weeks without Nathan

I've been trying to find the right words to describe how I felt during this summer when we went home. Nathan and I finally decided on this: the highs were high but the lows were pretty low. 

It was also the first time when I had all 5 children at home and I was doing the cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. by myself -but most notably, without Nathan- for 5 weeks.   

I felt in this strange in between place where I wasn't at home in Taiwan with neighbors and friends but I also am not a part of any real network in Idaho anymore, either. It was hard.
We were privileged to be able to stay in Bonnie and Norm's lovely home while they are in the final stretch of their mission in Seattle. I enjoyed learning a bit about keeping up the pool and we all enjoyed using it.
Did the neighbors enjoy hearing my children squabble play and watch Ander strip down and run naked through the front yard sprinklers at 8am? Maybe not so much. But we did our best.
Our friends from Taiwan were in the area and came over one afternoon to swim. It's always so nice to be able to have a conversation with someone who understands the realities of expat living, (i.e: shopping for enough clothes for a year for 5 children, guessing how much they will grow by the spring, paying full price for clothes that you know will go on sale two days after you leave, seeming to spend so much time and money and having so little to show for it, and on and on). But griping is just one of many reasons it is always fun to see Taiwan friends in the U.S. :)

Looking back I realize I didn't get out that much in the weeks before Nathan arrived. I did get to go out with my SILs for a lunch here or there, I always love gabbing with them SO much, they are intelligent, funny and are all awesome mothers, wives and friends. 

Another night I went out with both of my sisters for Ashley's birthday. It was so much fun for me, I love any chance I have to hang out with these girls. 

(***Is this a good time to put in a plug that most of the times I went out, one of my awesome nieces would be babysitting my kids? I am so blessed with amazing young women growing up in this family! I love them dearly!)

As July was getting going Bonnie's father, Joseph Glen Cheney passed away. Bonnie and Norm came home from their mission for about a week to be with family and to arrange his funeral services. The byproduct of this was that my children were able to see and spend some time with Gma and Gpa Jensen, and at 11 months old, Scarlett was finally able to meet her grandparents.

 It was a highlight for me that my kids were able to have time with grandpa, doing projects, riding bikes, working a bit in the yard and swimming.

 Bonnie had less free time, of course, but she made great use of what time she did have. Her grandchildren just gravitate to her and want to be around her, I love it.

Joe's funeral services were beautiful. I loved hearing more about his life. I sat in this room full of people, his family and friends, and I thought about how grateful I was for this man. Without him and the choices he made throughout his life, my husband wouldn't be here and he certainly wouldn't be the man he is today. I felt gratitude, and a great sense of pride to be a part of such a good group of people.

Scarlett's Swim

I remember the first time I saw a video of a baby who had had ISR lessons. I had massive anxiety the whole time I watched it. It doesn't look natural and your parental rescue instincts are kicked into high gear. Ander was older when he started lessons so it was less distressing. And this year Ander was even more confident and completely took off. He learned the Swim-float-swim technique that enables him to breathe before continuing on swimming. This video shows a few of his skills, the flip at the end is my favorite, it shows how he completely loved his lessons, and never wanted to get out of the pool at the end. 

He is a total fish in the pool now. He's swimming, jumping in, going down the slide on his own, diving down to retrieve things, and generally trying to grow gills by spending so much time in the water. Even still, Nathan and I stay close by in case he does something like knock himself out jumping in too close to the edge.
Speaking of, Ander accidentally fell in the pool the other night when no one was swimming and we all got to see if he would actually do what he has been taught. It was a nervous and long 10 seconds for me watching Ander flail around until the shock wore off and he realized he had the skills to help himself and he swam to the side. If you are wondering how deep his emotional scar will be- he spent the next hour jumping in and swimming around the pool.

This year Scarlett started ISR's self rescue lessons. I was suddenly witnessing my own little 10 month old being taught to roll to a float no matter how she may fall or be set in the water. It took several weeks before she would go through a lesson without fussing through at least part of it. It is hard but important work she has been doing. Dotty had Scarlett floating on her own by the second lesson. Dotty's amazing. The program is amazing. In this short video Scarlett is wearing clothes and a diaper to simulate accidentally falling in water, as she would likely be in clothes. She does great even being weighed down. I'm so grateful for these lessons and the survival skills these babes have learned.

If you want to learn more about Infant Swim Resource you can click here to learn more about their programs and "Not one more child drowns" Mission.

A Right of Passage

This summer was time for a right of passage for our growing girl Kennedy. She had decided that since her best cousin Laynie had gotten her ears pierced that she too, was ready to gather her courage and get it done. She looked forward to it for most of the year so the anticipation was thick. 5 Aunties, 2 cousins, her sister and her mom were all there to cheer her on. It was fun to all be stuffed in the Claire's store together for this small but special moment.

The piercing on tape: she doesn't even flinch or break her smile, I did notice she squeezes that bear pretty darn tight though! Way to be brave Kennedy!

Every girl remembers getting their ears pierced, but I doubt many have as fun a memory as Kennedy does now. Lucky girl!

Battling Jet Lag

(Checking out the horses before the parade)

Living overseas with a bunch of other expats you learn that most of us have ideas about what helps with jet lag. Nathan has about 15 years of experience so he's definitely earned his tenure.
We've learned it's important to get on the eating and sleep schedule of your destination place as soon as possible. For example, if you get off the plane and just feel blah but it is dinner time, you should still try and eat. Then the goal is always to stay awake. At least until 7pm that first night, but the later the better. Another key that is super difficult for me to not give in to is NO NAPS. Because if you take a nap in the middle of the afternoon, your body feels like it should go into a deep sleep like you would be back at home where it is the middle of the night - it'll mess you up for days.

So this year we got off the plane after roughly 24hrs of travel and headed to Meridian Diary days. My older 3 had essentially not slept on the plane at all but were so excited to see their cousins and Aunts and Uncles that they all had freakish amounts of energy (this is a phenomenon I do not understand but envy deeply).
My BIL does the shirts for the Dairy Days parade and so this year Nathan walked the parade with Kennedy, Kohen and Aly, throwing t-shirts out to the crowd. They had such a fun and memorable time. I guess Aly did get a little tired during the parade so she was able to ride in the truck and hand out shirts from there. But they had a great time. Thanks Tara and Brandon! for letting them participate.

I watched the parade with my SILs and BIL and Ander and Scarlett. Scarlett passed out in Trevi's arms before too long, and Keith helped me keep Ander from getting run over. I just worked on forming my sentences properly and not acting as mentally handicapped as I felt from lack of sleep.
When I picked up Nathan and the kids we were surprised to find it was already 9pm! The sun stays up so late in the summers here and we always forget in the beginning. But it worked out so perfectly for getting us a good head start on jet lag.
Poor Nathan had to turn around 24 hrs later on Father's Day and go back home to Taiwan. It's a darn good thing he is our families resident expert on jet lag.

Aly's 6th Birthday

Shortly after our arrival in Boise our sweet Aly, who is both middle child and middle sister, turned 6 years old. Aly is a friendly, outgoing, comical, creative child and I feel like her placement in the birth order in our family has probably enhanced some of these qualities even more. 

 She really is the comic relief of the fam. Aly will do ANYTHING for a laugh. We actually have to remind her on a pretty regular basis that she is funniest when she doesn't try. But once she gets a genuine laugh out of us you can bet she is going to repeat the same winning phrase or obnoxious sound until the spontaneity and charm are completely beaten out of it.

Aly spends a large portion of her time in this life make believing she is in some other more beautiful, romantic, funny and dramatic world. Her imagination is engaged more than the average 6 year old and I love to sit and listen to her weave magnificent tales in her pretend play.

(Scarlett, 10 months)

 This year she was a good sport about "spreading out" her birthday. This is another trait I admire about Aly, that she has a sunny, positive disposition. Reality was we were all jet lagged and I was trying to get my feet under me with all of the kids and Nathan now gone and I couldn't quite pull off everything for her birthday in one day. So she would happily announce to people that she got to have her birthday for days because we were just spreading it out.

Though really, who doesn't love spreading out their birthday?! On this day the cousins came over to swim and have cupcakes and wish Aly a very happy birthday. It was a great time.
I love this cheeky middle child of mine. I am proud of how she handles challenges in her little life. Love, Love, LOVE her.