Adventures in Love

Lovey Dovey Decor

2012-02-13T20:50:00.001-08:00

Growing up, I LOVED coming home from school or practice to find mom’s seasonal goodies all over the coffee table, mantle, entry way and throughout the house. And we’re not just talking about Christmas here…EVERY holiday got it’s little time in the spotlight and it made every part of the year worth getting excited about. It always made me feel all sparkly inside…and I’ve missed it. While we were overseas, we tried to decorate as much as we could but it wasn’t the same. So, I’ve really been enjoying getting our little nest spruced up for the holidays this time around. To start, my goal this year is to make a wreath for each holiday…so here’s what’s on our door for V-day:

Living in Vernal and living on a budget is making it a little tough..but I’m trying to improvise. For instance, there wasn’t a wreath to be found in all of Vernal, so I went to the DI and found a Styrofoam wreath with humungo fake flowers on it. I’m pretty sure it came from someone’s gravesite (kinda gross) but I decided it needed a second chance at life. Plus, I wanted some cheery things inside for the winter…so, I made these garlands out of paint chips and ribbon (Thank-you Pinterest).

After repurposing some things around the house, we have a tablescape with some goodies…Chinese figurines of a couple getting married that were given to us by a friend in Tianjin…a framed piece of fabric with some 3d things I stitched in it…and candy hearts, of course. I always like to have some themed candy, but I like to get the nasty, non-chocolate kind so I won’t eat all of it. Jordan says he doesn’t like them either, but the goal keeps getting lower and lower. Funny, the very same thing happened to the candy corn last November!

“You are my favorite” is a phrase that the man used to say to me when we dated…and he still does…love that Valentine of mine.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

xoxo

A Taste of Sunday…

2012-02-12T15:48:00.000-08:00

First, we started off with a second taste of lunch… :0)

Then on with her little photo sesh to show off the cute bow my sis-in-law, Yulie, made and the sparkly red shoes from Susie and Addy that she can’t kick off her feet! I had to celebrate THAT triumph…

Pretty sure my happy girl thinks taking pictures is hilarious.

Trying to remove the shoes…

Wait for it, wait for it…

There it is…

NAP TIME. :)

Happy Sunday!

Pocketful of Yuan…

2012-02-10T00:11:00.001-08:00

In January I pulled out my big red coat that I hadn’t worn since last Winter and found all these treasures in my pocket from China!

1.Yuan!!!! 73 1/2 Yuan to be exact. Sounds like a lot, but it’s just around 10 bucks. Worth hanging on to for the next time we go? Possibly ;)

2. Candy and Gum- I was pregnant and very sick at the time. Sometimes sucking on these things were crucial.

3. Lots of Tums- Pregnant. Enough said.

4. Receipt that reminded me of how cool and beautiful their symbols are.

5. The best scented VS lip gloss that I thought I lost. The good smell right under my nose helped me avoid puking.

All these items added up to a total score. They reminded of China and how we needed to celebrate Chinese New Years! So we did, with some last minute Beef and Broccoli from the freezer section (oh yes, we’re all sorts of fancy), fortune cookies and a Chinese Movie via RedBox!

Last Year’s Celebrations-

J drove us all over the city to see all the fireworks on our little red motorbike…then tried to get me to go up on the roof of our high rise building at midnight (when the fireworks really go ape-wild) but I wouldn’t due to my fear of heights and the ridiculous ladder you had to climb to get there…It was amazing though in our apartment….Fireworks were literally going off on all sides as far as you could see and there were ones RIGHT up next to the window. People were lighting huge ones in the courtyard too that landed on the roof…right were J was! He was fine, but a little singed. The video he got was well worth it…I’ll have to find it in our old files and add it here one day! This picture was from our ride before there were too many over the river…and there’s that lucky red coat!

This was our spread this year…(the hanging symbol was given to us by our neighbor, Ron/Charlie…he couldn’t ever decide on just one English name…so we always called him both.

If you’re wondering why she’s in a Bunny suit, here’s the answer:

We celebrated Chinese New Year’s living in Tianjin, China last year and it was the year of the Bunny. In China, you are the animal of the year you were born, according to their calendar and when your year rotates around again, it’s a BIG deal…You pretty much have the biggest birthday party of your life, you’re super lucky for that year, you eat a ton, wear lots of red and people give you mullah in pretty little envelopes (if you’re Chinese, we just ate a lot and enjoyed being pyromaniacs). Amelia-Jayne was born last year, so she’s our China Bunny…1987 also happened to be the year of the Bunny- so I’m a bunny too! I guess that makes Jordan the new Hugh Heffner. Haha.

Amelia-Jayne tried to munch through her own fortune cookie and got her first taste of what else?! RICE cereal. We had to get the Asian theme in there somewhere for her. :)

We decided that we want to have traditions surrounding the places we’ve been and that next year we are going to really live it up for Chinese New Years…a party will happen with joutsa, chopsticks and PYROTECHNICS! (We’re really excited about that) So, if you happen to be in the Uintah Basin…come celebrate with us! YOU’RE ALL INVITED!

Next stop…BRASIL!

Carnival, anyone? I’m not sure Vernal is ready for that kind of party. ;)

5 Months!

2012-02-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

Babycakes is 5 Months Old! And as Jordan would say…that’s almost 6 months! :)

All of the sudden, it seems like our little girl isn’t such a little baby anymore. Now she has even MORE personality in her little body! Here are some of her latest tricks:

-Amelia-Jayne loves to smile at strangers in the grocery store…her favorite demographic right now seems to be old men. I think she misses her Papi!

-This girl can sit…and roll…and roll into things, off of things and under things. I don’t know how she does it…because she usually gets into trouble when we’re out of the room (ie: rolling into the sharp end of the rocker) and only rolls once when we’re with her. She also has this funny little butt bridge she does when she’s on her tummy…it helps her do her little army crawl scooch.

-She sleeps all the way through the night and is usually pretty dang happy to see us in the morning.

-If you tickle her neck, feet or sides she has this funny old man giggle.

-Babycakes has been eating like a champ now for a week. It took her about two whole feedings of rice cereal before she got the hang of swallowing…now she leans into the food, tries to grab it (usually successfully at least once or twice) and gets upset if we take too long to get the spoon in her mouth….You would think this girl’s been eating for years now.

-She likes to take out her bows, kick off her shoes and pull of her socks (and giggles while doing it. Notice the pictures above). She also LOOOOOOOOOVES to spit up ALL over herself anytime I give her a bath and get her (or me) dressed all the way. I’ve been questioning why I get us dressed at all the last few weeks. Her favorite time to do all of these things simultaneously happens to be Sunday mornings…last Sunday she even managed to dump the bucket of soapy water from her sponge bath all over my living room carpet…Church is starting to get a little more eventful each Sunday. :) She is still a great baby, she’s just learning that she can do SO many things!

Good thing she’s so dang cute. :)

Dear Detox,

2012-01-12T22:42:00.001-08:00

I would hate you if you weren’t such a dear friend to my butt. Good thing you only come to visit in January.

Sincerely,

The Deprived Lady

3 & 4 Months!

2012-01-12T22:09:00.001-08:00

The holidays were way too fun to stay caught up on blogging, so here are some pics of how much the little miss has grown these last couple of months…

3 Months

4 Months

TODAY’S STATS:

Weight: 18.5 lbs (96%)

Height: 27” (99%)

We always get comments on how chunky she is…I love that she’s chunky and might need a bra any day now…but today I learned that based on her weight to height ratio, she’s only the 68th chunker out of 100 babies her age. What the heck?! I say bring on solids. ;)

Head: still off the charts.

….Staring down at my favorite boots that inspire her borderline heinously bright outfits….

The Babycakes has really grown into herself, personality wise. She really is quite funny and I have a feeling she will be my little firecracker. It’s just a hunch now, but when she laughs at me when I tell her “you have to go to sleep now” or smiles at me when she has a blow-out or spits up on both of us after just getting ready for the day…I think it’s a pretty good hunch. :) Amelia is a really well-tempered baby, loves to smile at strangers, will endure a long shopping trip with Nani and Mommy as long as she can look at the pretty things too, and has connected her will power to her fingers (ooh…I can get that! oooh….hair!!!). She will however, let out a high pitched and very loud scream if she accidentally bit a finger from chewing on it or mommy and daddy couldn’t get the bottle fast enough….emergency. But that’s pretty much it. She loves to be around people and still has moments where she will stare at a blank wall or a completely non-stimulating area of the room and interact with it. I personally think she’s just being visited by loved ones I can’t see. I’m a believer!

Some big changes happened this last week as she moved out of our bedroom and into the nursery (she did great! I think she thinks it’s her throne) and she JUST started sitting up on her own! Daddy and I both think she’s too smart for her little pants and are loving her sweet and spunky little personality in our lives.

Better Late then Never…

2012-01-07T23:46:00.001-08:00

So, Babycakes was born 4 months ago and we just got our ~~birth announcements~~ Christmas cards out last month. :) Besides being behind the ball, we’ve had some issues with finding addresses that were on my old computer and locating our overseas friends. So, if you haven’t received yours for one reason or another….here they are. I made two because I’m indecisive.

(This picture was taken by the lovely Susie!)

First Night…

2012-01-07T22:38:00.001-08:00

Tonight is Amelia-Jayne’s first night in the nursery. When we first had her and she was waking up every 90 minutes or so, we thought this day (or night) would never come…but over the last week I’ve kept putting off her last night with us for any excuse in the book! She fell asleep after trying to figure out her butterfly mobile and a few smiles for Mom. No tears or anything! I’m pretty sure she’ll sleep better than me tonight. What will I do without rolling over to check on her every 30 minutes? I think the monitor and I will become close friends.

Sweet dreams, baby girl.

xoxo

Blessing Day

2011-12-16T22:09:00.001-08:00

Our little girl was given a name and a blessing on November 13th! It was a beautiful day spent with a lot of family members on both sides that were able to come.

Amelia-Jayne wore the same blessing dress and shoes that I was blessed in. My Grandma Parrish bought it when my mom was pregnant with my oldest brother and had to wait 11 years for a girl to be born to wear it! My mom and I did some minor repairs to it the night before and I made her bow and bracelet to update it.

…Getting her ready…

This bonnet was made by my Great-Grandma for my Grandma and was also worn by my mom and myself. That’s 4 Generations of baby girls in this bonnet! With her large head and the fact that she was older when we blessed her-it would barely fit on her head…

It was a beautiful blessing given through Jordan. The big group did such a good job bouncing her (it was like an NCA cheer basket toss), she was happy and making soft noises. I am so grateful for the gospel and for our opportunity to have eternal families. I’m also so grateful for righteous priesthood holders and especially blessed that I have one as the patriarch in our home.

Better pictures of this day are on their way!

xoxo

Christmas Gift…

2011-12-16T21:31:00.001-08:00

This week my family received a Christmas gift of the happiest sort.

A little background story- My family has been affected entirely too much by cancer. My Grandpa died from Lymphoma and I witnessed my Mom struggle with a very late stage breast cancer. I remember on multiple occasions walking in her room and seeing her so sick and lifeless that I thought she had died. Thankfully, she fought hard and beat it.

With that said, we were scared when we found out last summer that my Dad had Prostate cancer. We waited for a while and last week Dad finally had his radical prostate removal surgery (where they go through your abdomen) at UCLA medical center and had it removed. We heard back today from UCLA that his Pathology report came back with clear margins and with clean lymph nodes!

I couldn’t think of a better gift this Christmas than to know that the people we love are healthy and blessed.

Way to kick cancer in the butt, Dad! Amelia-Jayne is so lucky to have you as her “Pappi!”

We love you!

How lovely are your branches…

2011-12-11T20:56:00.001-08:00

During our Hurricane/St. George visit, Amelia-Jayne and I got to go to the Jubilee of trees with Nani! It was beautiful and got me all excited to go home and decorate our house for the holidays- especially our Christmas tree!

Babycakes met Mr. Clause for the first time…He was so sweet with her.

After seeing Santa, babycakes checked out and ensured her spot on that day’s very “nice” list. :)

Before leaving George town, I had to get the supplies to do up our tree (because there was nada at our Wal-Mart)…then we came home and baby and J helped put up our tree. It’s a bird/peacock themed tree that goes with the other Jewel tones in our living room (ignore the cabin wall:) We want a star on it, but I’m waiting to get a sweet one and a few more things to load it up at the after Christmas sales!

I think she likes it!

And here’s just a few of my very happy Christmas girl!

In other news, I had a size mishap with her black Mary janes (one was a size one and the other shoe was a size two…wah, wah). So, without anywhere to get them in time in V-town, I decided to make them…and spent WAY too long doing so…only to find out that I made them too small and they may only fit her this week. Crud.

Cheery Holidays! xoxo

Butterball Turkey Day

2011-12-11T20:46:00.001-08:00

We went to Hurricane for Amelia-Jayne’s blessing the second week of November and ended up staying until after Thanksgiving! It was a long, but fun trip and extra special because Nani (my mom) and I got to play in St. George while our hard working husbands went back to work the week after the blessing…then Nani had to go home, J got off work and came down and we had Thanksgiving at Grandma Hastings’ house.

The weather was gorgeous that day and we traded family pictures with Sierra and her family. I love how round Amelia-Jayne looks in this picture…our own little butterball.

J and Sierra’s husband, Bryn, were super excited to go hunting a few times during the visit and kept teasing us about having rabbits and squirrels for T-day dinner. Luckily, that didn’t happen!

Dinner was wonderful and there was SO much food! Babycakes even got her first little piece of dinner with sweet-potatoes…she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, but she kept licking and sucking on the spoon.

We all ate so much, our pants felt a little like hers after…

xoxo

Dunk

2011-11-29T16:27:00.001-08:00

Amelia-Jayne got her first big girl bath in a real tub. Yup, it was getting so that when I bathed her in the sink, she would barely fit and she could push herself over…plus, when she sat up the water level only covered her little bum cheeks…brrr!

It was practically a swimming pool for her. She seemed to really like her first bath…

until we thought it would be good for her to learn to love the water and dunk her. The first one didn’t bother her, but the second was a little much. Anyways, I really want to find a mommy and me swimming class in town, I think she’d love it! I hope little old Vernal has one!

3 Little Pumpkins…

2011-11-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

This year I loved my pumpkins! Jordan got a few we didn’t end up carving from some roofing customers…but they were pretty on my porch…the cute chunky one is my favorite. ;)

I wanted to do something different than carve pumpkins this year, so I got the idea for a pumpkin family from “All You” magazine and this is what I came up with…

Happy Autumn from Us!

xoxo

Black Water

2011-11-09T19:19:00.001-08:00

AKA: poopy water, reak-fest, feces where you don’t want it to be…

is in my basement.

Yup, a sewage drain backed up this week and I found the foul smelling loveliness on my way to the nursery one night. No problemo though, thanks to a pro neighbor and a call to our insurance… now it’s been gutted, dried, sanitized and looks like this:

Not pretty…but definitely no longer a poop fest.

The culprit is under this toilet. Dang this drain and sewage line.

Turns out it might actually be a huge blessing, as it pretty much just flooded the part of the basement that we were going to renovate when we had the money anyways…and if the claim goes well and the drain gets roto-rutored alright, it might contribute enough to do some of the renovating we wanted to do anyways! I might just love the sweeter side of this black water…one day….but probably not today.

Hastings’ Cupcakery…

2011-11-08T20:11:00.001-08:00

Look what we made!

We got to do costumes family-style for the first time this year…and what else would our little BabyCakes be besides the most delicious Cupcake ever?!

Naturally, we were the Baker Baby-Makers.

Nani and Poppi sent her cupcake costume and we had most of our costumes on hand. I just had to make my hat and cover up the Chef Boyardee logo on J’s hat with a cupcake. It was a really fun Halloween. We got to go to Salt Lake and Provo for a family trunk-or-treat and fun weekend, then come back late on Monday to pass out candy and visit with friends. It was pretty much our first “grown up” Halloween.

We got pretty excited thinking about next year when we can take her trick-or-treating (She’ll still be pretty young…we’ll have to go in a big group to feel validated and not seem like those high school seniors that show up with their pillowcases :) But we are not missing it!)

Happy Halloween!

xoxo

2 Months...

2011-10-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Guess who had their 2 month shots today and didn't like them?

This little pumpkin. I don't blame her. Have you seen the size of those needles?! They're like 3 inches long...for a baby!

Here's our little trouper!

STATS:

Weight- 13 lbs 13 1/2 oz (97%) Yup...that's right. The doc said that that's a normal weight for a 4 or 5 month old. I guess we should stop slipping her ice cream. ;)

Height- 23 1/2 (90%)

Head Circumference- Officially off the charts. I immediately thought, I've known that since Delivering her!

My favorite development this month is how she interacts with us. She will start cooing, wait for you to respond and coo back, play on the floor more and smile and coo when you come home or when she wakes up (that's my favorite!). She still has a little colic in the evening, but she slept through the night for the first time two nights ago. Let's hope it wasn't just due to a growth spurt and becomes a habit. She's getting stronger by the day and tried to roll over in the sink during her bath.

Aunt Who?!

2011-10-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

Thought I’d share a funny little story about my favorite little 2 year old that turned 3 last week.

This is Andrew. Aka, the Drewski.

Every one of my nieces and nephews knows me as “Aunt Mimi” in our family. It started out with my 1st nephew, Josh, not being able to say Miranda when he was a baby…and that’s what he came up with. What a trendsetter, that Joshy.

Anyways, one night shortly after we moved back from China I came in from the rain with my hood on. Mom and Dad said, “look who’s here, Andrew!” Andrew looked up and yelled out “JESUS!” as he ran over to me.

At the time we figured it was probably the long hair sticking out of my hood and the fact that I was kind of backlit when I came in.

However, it didn’t stop there. My parents have each couple’s wedding picture on the wall going down our staircase. So, it’s tradition for Andrew to name the people in the pictures every time he comes down the stairs…. “Nathan, Jen, Jon, Kim, Daddy, Mommy, Jordan and….Jesus.”

I guess if I’m going to be mistaken as a man, Jesus is a pretty good one to be mistaken for. :)

Happy Birthday, Drewski.

xoxo, Aunt Mimi

Six Weeks…

2011-10-11T19:43:00.001-07:00

It’s been six weeks since this little one was born and I can’t believe it.

(Babycake’s 1st Piggy Back Ride and rocking with mommy…sorry about the quality, they’re from my phone)

As you know, I’ve been pretty sad about her growing out of her tiny newborn self…but she’s starting to interact and do all of these new tricks that make her even more fun! Lately she’s been smiling for us a lot. She seems to recognize when Jordan and I are near and loves to smile and kick her arms and legs when we play with her. I like how she used to have to go through a million different facial expressions to find her smile muscles…but now she can go straight to the smiles!

In the last two weeks, she’s also been sleeping a little longer at night, thanks to swaddling. I wouldn’t call it a schedule just yet, but she’s been consistently sleeping at least 4 hours at a time at night, which makes me SO happy. :) We’re shooting for 10 next month. Just kidding. OK, not really.That would be heavenly. She’s a very happy baby all day until evening time when she gets a little colicky...but we ordered a swing and hopefully that will alleviate the need for the constant movement that makes her tummy feel better. She’s a talker and is starting to coo and discover her vocal chords. My favorite is when she does her little girly snores when she sleeps.

And as for me, I’m feeling pretty good considering how much I tore. But, what’s more exciting is that I can now start an exercise schedule. I gained a reasonable amount of weight with this pregnancy (28 lbs) but for some reason after I came home from the hospital I was only 3 lbs less than when I went in! What. the. heck. How does that work with an almost 9 pound kid and “the biggest placenta” my doc’s ever seen?!? TMI. I guess some people have an allergic reaction to epidurals and swell up like a balloon…and I was one of those lucky people. Anywho, now I have 10 more to go. So, today I decided to celebrate the beginning of the end of fun eating with a side by side taste test of all 6 of the Private Selection ice cream flavors in my freezer (thanks, Sierra!). Don’t judge. If you have not tried this ice cream from Smith’s, you have not lived. And the verdict is…

I couldn’t decide. But I might just have more to lose by tomorrow. Whoops. ;)

Fall?

2011-10-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite season…The colors…scarves and boots that don’t have to be practical quite yet…the crisp-but not cold air…escaping the heat…getting to get all of your wiggles out in the outdoors before a long winter.

Now, look at this…

Yes, that’s Snow. Hard to see, but the next morning it was everywhere. It started the first week of October.

It’s official. We got a two week fall. I guess I’m going to have to fake it inside with the furnace on and an apple-cinnamon air freshener. Dang it.

H-Town…

2011-10-10T22:07:00.001-07:00

We got to go to H-town last week for the babycakes to meet J’s family. H-Town is always a fun place and this time it felt even better, as a good “get OUT of Vernal” trip was needed. Don’t get me wrong, I love this place…but every once in a while it’s nice to ride in the car for more than 5 minutes and have some options besides Wal-Mart. While we were there we got to enjoy conference (wasn’t it wonderful?), introduce the babycakes to lots of family and friends, have a fun naked-baby shoot thanks to my cous, Susie, of Adelaide Photography, and do a little shopping (yessss). Unfortunately, I only got a few pics on my phone of the rest of the trip…but here they are!

(The Hastings’ side will have 3 new babies within 6 months of each other…and little Ann loved giving her cousin sweet kisses that were too fast to catch)

My brother, Jon, and his family even came for a quick visit so they could meet Amelia-Jayne. I was so happy to see them! (My two nieces finally have a girl cousin on the Arnold side now!) Thanks for coming!

One Month…

2011-09-29T23:53:00.001-07:00

I’m one month old and I think I’m liking my new place and the people around me…

Mommy is going to make me sit in this chair to see how I grow every month…

So far, I’ve been eating, sleeping and making messy diapers. Besides those things, I like to smile, cuddle, get tangled in mommy’s hair, stare at the window and other bright things, listen to music, go for walks with the parentals, and get lots of kisses on my kissy lips. I’m really vocal and this week I’ve been caught giggling a lot! I love my bath time and I’m starting to get swaddled now that it’s not so hot…so hopefully I can start to sleep longer at night since we’re still averaging 2-3 hours at a time. Did I mention I like to eat? Mhmmm. Most of the time I think I need 5-6 ounces but I’m only supposed to have 3-4. :)

See you next month!

xoxo,

Amelia-Jayne

Love Me Some Laundry…

2011-09-23T13:38:00.001-07:00

Back in the college days I had one laundry day, probably once every couple of weeks… and possibly, if I stretched it, one BIG one every month (Yeah, so it turns out I have a lot of clothes and a ton of chonies ;)… Let’s just say that I never knew what a lot of laundry was until my husband started working in the oil industry and we had a cute little baby, to go through lots of cute little mini clothes. But with a girly like this…how could I mind?!

Behold, the nudey pictures we’re showing her future husband…:)

The bum shots were not very successful… :)

Mom, or “Nani” as Amelia-Jayne knows her, and I put babycakes through one last little photo shoot before Nani had to go home a couple of weeks ago. I hope she doesn’t have a complex with Nani, as every time she sees her we’re always up to something to interrupt a baby’s R & R.

But that’s why Nani’s are so much fun!

No, I know Amelia-Jayne loves her Nani. She was able to come up for a month. Two weeks before her birth (thanks to the little Miss being SO late) to help get our house set up and stay two weeks after to help me recover from a tough delivery and our breastfeeding saga. She was such a HUGE help and I don’t know what I would have done without her!

Thank-you for teaching me how to be a Mom, Mom. Not only through all of the lessons the last couple of weeks, but more importantly through your example my entire life.

My Dad, or “Pappi" to Amelia-Jayne, also got to come for her birth and the week after….he was a huge help too with lots of calming “Pappi holds” that magically put her to sleep when nothing else could… and together, Mom and Dad had our entire living room, hallway, and the infamous “Nascar” room painted as a surprise. That was a whopping 4 layers of primer plus 2 coats of paint just for that crazy Nascar room!

We Love you both SOOOO much and can’t wait to see you again!

xoxo

First Weeks for the Babycakes…

2011-09-19T13:05:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to believe we’ve already had this little angel around for a THREE whole weeks. I remember distinctly feeling in the hospital that my joy was completely full, and besides just being shortchanged on sleep, that hasn’t changed a bit! Life has been good. I’m worse for wear than before, but it’s all so worth it. After getting out of the hospital, we’ve mostly been lying low, enjoying J Daddy’s rare days off, learning a few good lessons in parenting and getting to know our sweet babycakes. Since blogging has been even less of a forte for me in the last few weeks, and because the important stuff is in my journal, here are a TON of pictures of our sweet bundle to help us remember her as our tiny little newborn!

First moments and getting to know each other at Uintah Basin Medical Center…

Happy to be Home!

Amelia-Jayne has been a healthy, happy little girl except for an uncertain time when the Little Miss had to keep returning to the hospital for billyruben (jaundice) checks and weigh ins. She came out big, but when we had some issues breastfeeding, she dropped almost 20% of her weight. It was scary and frustrating, but since then we’ve started her on the bottle and our little gal has been steadily gaining more than enough and is now equipped with plenty of cute chub. She got a 9/9 on her Apgar test and a “perfect” review from her pediatrician both at birth and at her two week check up. Her doctor also always exclaims how “toned” she is. That’s our buff little girl! She came out lifting her head up from day one and can strong arm almost anything and anyone. She loves tummy-time, her hands,smiling in her sleep (and just this last week-when she’s awake), having toga parties, staying awake to take the world in and falling asleep on mommy or daddy’s chests.

Love all of her little sleeping poses…

She lets Mommy and Daddy (and Nani) play/bother her. A whole lot… :)

Babycakes and I on my 24th B-day!

We have loved every minute of this girl so far. She really brings a heavenly spirit to our home as our first little “Bethlehem.” I cry when I think of her growing up and not being my little newborn anymore, but she’ll still be a newborn for a while so I’m going to go enjoy it!

xoxo

First Day at Church…

2011-09-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

Today was our first day back at church and around a lot of interaction (yup, I’ve been a protective germaphobe with her) and we only had one blow-out followed up by a smidge of pee on the dress ;) …but she was great the rest of the time and even gave me a smile during sacrament! The little miss started socially smiling yesterday and we’ve been acting/looking like crazies trying to get her to smile ever since. :)

Success!

Look who’s online…

2011-09-15T19:39:00.001-07:00

So, the hospital I delivered at has an online nursery of all of their special deliveries….and I found our little girly on it! They also put the baby announcements in two local newspapers, but we don’t have them…so if for some reason you’ve been hitting up the basin nickel ads, maybe you’ve seen her!

http://ubmc.org/nursery/baby_bio.php?id=117609

Day of Birth

2011-09-12T12:08:00.001-07:00

Thanks to my Mom for this wonderful day of birth, 24 years ago.

For some reason, I’m appreciating her efforts so much more this year. ;)

PS- I’ve realized today that I’m no longer in my early 20’s. I’ve entered the mid-20’s range. Kind of sad.

Oh well, at least I’ll never be as ancient as my dear old husband. haha :)

xoxo

Daughters…

2011-09-07T23:47:00.001-07:00

…are Flowers that are forever in bloom.

I’m so glad you were planted in my garden, Baby Girl.

I Love You.

(and thank-you for letting us disturb your slumber, stick things on you and throw you in baskets and pots to do these silly things that are so much fun for mommy ;)

xoxo

Introducing…

2011-09-02T19:47:00.001-07:00

Amelia-Jayne Hastings

Born August 27, 2011

8 lbs, 10 oz

19 1/2 inches

Stay tuned for more on our little babycakes!

xoxo,

the THREE of us

Still Kickin'...

2011-08-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

That's right, Amelia-Jayne is fashionably late, as expected...

or maybe she just didn't get the memo that she was supposed to be here last Friday, and doesn't need to pick an outfit because she'll be sporting the Birthday Suit...

or maybe I just need to learn how to be patient.

Probably that last one. :)

Anyways, we went to the Doc yesterday and I am 3.5-4 centimeters dilated, with the same pelvic station and effacement as last week. We talked about induction, but I don't really feel good about doing that without a medical reason to. So, babycakes and I got our membranes stripped (ouchies) and are going to wait the rest of it out. Everybody says "good, enjoy sleeping" but sleep. is. impossible. Instead, our household is in full on nesting mode- which is really nice with my mom here and such a hard working husband.

Little Miss Amelia-Jayne seems pretty happy anyways...just b-boppin' around in there more than ever.

But we're still hoping that the NEXT picture you see is of a BABY and not a BELLY!

The Bump Update…

2011-08-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

Little Miss Amelia-Jayne is almost here and boy have I been slacking! I meant to keep a record of the belly bump on here, but due to life and laziness, they’ve only made it randomly onto facebook. So for fun’s sake…and to help me remember that at one time I didn’t look like a giant balloon…here’s how our little girl and I grew over the last nine (almost ten) months along with some of the joys of pregnancy!

Note the funny change in surroundings too…this timeline spanned my living room in China, my parent’s front porch and now our home in Vernal.

I was sooo sick for the first 20 weeks. I could barely keep anything down for the first four to five months. I’m not sure if it’s hereditary (my mom was the same way) or if it was a combo of that and simply being in China…but it was not that much fun. We were so happy to get to start a family, but I remember thinking, “I have to do this 3 more times?!?!” around week 10. Lucky for me after 20-25 weeks I only got nauseous (without too many pukes) a few times a week for the rest of the pregnancy. I can’t imagine having 9 months how the first five were! Yeah for food!

-12 Weeks-

-13.5 Weeks-

-14.5 Weeks-

(Thanks for the flowers, J. xoxo)

-16 Weeks (4 Months)-

This week I felt her first kick…and she’s been my little dancer girl ever since!

-19 Weeks and starting to keep it down!-

-23 Weeks-

I started to notice the belly bump comin’ on out!

-26 1/2 Weeks-

No hiding it now….the 20’s and early 30’s were probably the easiest weeks. Energy was up, I could exercise and do Zumba (I hope it gives this little gal natural rhythm!), plus you could tell I was pregnant instead of just chunky. :)

-28 Weeks (7 Months)-

-30 Weeks-

My darling cousin, Susie, had a maternity session with me. She is awesome!

-31 1/2 Weeks-

Felt like an extremely bouncy volleyball was tied to the front of me.

-33.5 Weeks-

Amelia-Jayne’s jabs turned into GIANT movements around this week. You could start to identify little body parts moving the belly in any direction. Watching for these movements became some of our favorite entertainment at night.

-36 Weeks-

Starting to notice that women were right about how uncomfortable the last trimester is…but how exciting it is at the same time too! I’m lucky I wasn’t that uncomfortable until later in the pregnancy, especially with the work of moving in the last 6 weeks and everything. I’ve heard for some it’s the entire last trimester…thank goodness that wasn’t the case! Interestingly enough, I haven’t had very many cravings the entire time (just massive amounts of fruit and water) UNTIL the last 3 weeks. Ever since, I’ve been craving ice cream, otter pops and cereal like crazy. Cereal of choice? Fruit Loops mixed with Frosted Mini Wheats or Blueberry Muffin Tops. Sooo healthy. I used to like All Bran. Go figure.

-38 1/2 Weeks-

Started having some contractions and was dilated to a 2.

Bags were packed and ready to go at any minute…getting antsy to meet our little girl!

-39 Weeks-

Dilated to a 2 1/2, but contractions slowed down.

-39 1/2 Weeks-

Contractions all but disappeared only to be replaced by low low sharp bursts of pain. I got excited when they continued for a couple of hours but then they disappeared again. She must be shy or something… Dilated to a 3 at last appointment.

We’ll see if the next picture is of another bump or of a cute little bambina!

Any predictions?

Personally, I’m hoping it’s of a bambina. :) Only 2 more days left!

xoxo

Fruity Goodness…

2011-07-27T09:31:00.001-07:00

Around here we eat fruit like we’re never going to see another piece of it’s sweet goodness again. I can’t keep it on the table long enough. This week alone I’ve had to go to Wal-Mart 3 times to get peaches and nectarines…and each time I walk out with at least 20 thinking it will be enough, only to be back in a few days. Remember that 5 gallon bucket of cherries? Yeah, aside from a few friends, we pretty much ate the entire thing ourselves…and no, we don’t get the runs…;) Our yummy habits may become a problem if we don’t start getting our own trees in every variety known to man. And if they could magically become year round producing trees, that would be nice too.

Anyways, today I have 2 delicious things to share with you.

1. Bountiful Baskets. My friend, Tara, introduced them to me when we moved here…and how did I not know about these before? For just 15 buckaroos you get a big basket of fruit and a separate big basket of veggies from a co-op of farmers. The first time I got one I was surprised to find that the cauliflower was from Big-E produce in good ol’ Lompoc, California! Way to make me feel at home my first week here, Big-E. Now I just need to figure out how I can get 2 orders of fruities and one order of veggies…sorry my green friends, we just don’t go through you as fast.

2. Apricot Jam. is. so. good. The week before I moved out here, J’s mom taught me how to make their version of Apricot Jam. I’ve only made plum jam from my parent’s tree at home plus strawberry jam and boy was the prep for Apricot jam easier! Here’s a photo recap:

First, get lots of fruities. These were from our Aunt Angelyn’s tree.

Then, pit them (apricots make this SO easy) and mash them to smithereens.

Heat them up and add sugar.

Next, the fun sticky part…pour hot jam into clean jars, and put a hot lid on each.

Then, notice how much jam gets dripped on your preggo belly while waiting for the jars to “pop” seal.

Lastly, behold your finished work and have a piece of toast!

Next year I want to make some lower sugar versions of jam…not with artificial sugar, just less. Anyone have any good recipes for that sort of thing they want to share? Thanks!!!

xoxo, MJ

Our House!!!

2011-07-25T23:57:00.001-07:00

Last week we finally were able to close on our little old house. Our house was built in 1948 and is on what I call “Temple Square” in Vernal, because we live one block away from the temple and can see it from most of our North facing windows…THAT is probably one of my favorite things ever. We got it for a steal of a deal and want to renovate it, as renovating an old house and actually living in a house we own are two things we can now cross off our bucket lists! The first things on our to-do list are finding out it’s little quirks from being old and sitting for so long foreclosed (plumbing, critters, what is this hole for?), cleaning up the yard and most definitely putting together the nursery for our babycakes. Here’s a little taste of some of my favorite things now…there’s lots of work to do so I’ll post more pictures as we slowly make progress and work on our projects.

I love the huge windows all throughout the upstairs. They let in so much light and it keeps the whole place cheerful…I’m just going to have to come up with a lot of window treatments to keep out heat and cold…but I’m more than happy to have fun with that. :)

The living room is this huge L shape, so I’m making the lower part of the L into a formal dining room area.

I love that I can see the temple through those windows by the sink. Makes washing dishes not so bad. We do plan on redoing the kitchen someday…the countertops are super short (barely come up to my hips….makes me question how tiny people were back then or if really short people lived there).

I love that someone added on this cute little sunroom-like kitchen nook off of the kitchen.

One of the rooms upstairs was converted to a big laundry room…but we’re keeping it that way and it will double as a sweet mom’s office and craft room! Hooray!

And some of the funniest things in the house left by the previous owners are the paint jobs…they liked their color! So let me introduce you to:

the master bedroom blues…

the Easter egg girl’s room…

and the “Nascar” guest room!

We’re welcoming any and all ideas to top these last paint jobs….go bold or go home. :)

This is a peek at what we’ve fixed so far in the Nursery…from Easter Egg to “Aqua Chiffon”…I think I’m in love.

Anyways, please come stay with us in the Nascar room soon!

xoxo, MJ & J

Confessions of an anxious momma-to-be…

2011-06-30T17:07:00.001-07:00

I'm back in Utah today after a couple of fantastic weeks at home. It was harder leaving my mom and dad and my home this time than when we moved abroad...I think it's because I know the next time I see them I'll no longer be just their daughter...I'll be another girl's mother. Which I am scared to death of and elated over all at the same time. But, I'm pretty sure that we've been blessed as women to "know" how to do these mothering type things...and hopefully we adapt and learn as we go. I just hope the learning curve isn't too steep…and the L & D pain isn’t too bad. ;)

Another reason could be that I'm also leaving my obstetrician, who I really like. With my medical background from school, you would think that I would have no problem with any doctor. The years of work they have to do to get where they are should mean trust in a bottle (well, in most cases)...and usually it does. Not so this time. With my own doctors it's just about me and my body. This is my baby. And I've felt this whole new surge of needing to REALLY like and trust this doc.

Plus, a big reason is that we're still in the middle of an international move. We've been trying to close on this house we found in Vernal for what seems like forever. But between the finickiness of FHA, the ever growing list of rules HUD applies and our unique work and living history...we're still without a place to live and only 6 1/2 weeks until our little girl is due. But we're moving to our new town, Vernal, UT, on Tuesday after Jordan's brother's wedding...soooo, we're crossing every finger and toe we have that it will close next week. Because we all know that babies don't care about the bank or the government's timetable...she'll come regardless! Before I had ambitions of an organized and decorated house before she got here. Now I just want a clean place to set up her pack n' play. :)

However, there are lots of wonderful things to not be nervous about...like how I scheduled our appointment with who Google says is the best baby doc in the area and their office had no problem fitting me right in…or how I received this package in the mail from J’s work, thinking it was a piece of equipment for J, to find out later that it was a care package from Pason. They wanted to “thank me for my support during Jordan’s training.” Jaw drop.

I think the Air Force Wives' Clubs of a couple of decades ago were the only people I’ve heard of doing something like that…and this is just the company! With that little wonder and how they’ve treated us so far, it reassures me that this company treats their employees well. I am so grateful our work decision is turning out…another reason is how I bought a virtually new pack n’ play at a garage sale for $25 and later found the same one at Target for upwards of 180 big ones (love me some bargains) and how the little miss will be in it right by us soon…another great one is how I get to see this big guy change outfits monthly in our new town’s main drag. This let’s me know that the Vernalites have a sense of humor and might accept our kind of crazy.

(Oh yes, that’s Dan the Dino in his fishing outfit to welcome summer.)

…and most importantly, how I finally get to be with my husband for more than once a month visits. I am SUPER happy about that one. Although, J may be surprised at how poorly baby cakes and I share the bed now…haha.

So, there you have it. What makes me pretty nervous and what makes me pretty happy. I’m sure it will all work out….but sometimes I need to simply feel a little justified in my insanity and know I’m not losing it!

Faja’s Day!!!

2011-06-20T20:21:00.001-07:00

I’ve been feeling so blessed to have such a great Dad this Father’s day…

(I love this picture for capturing what kind of a Father my Dad is)

…and getting pretty excited to see Jordan as a Daddy in 8 more weeks. :)

I just KNOW he will be a wonderful one!

Happy Father’s Day week, everyone!

xoxo, MJ

Life is Cherry

2011-06-09T13:30:00.001-07:00

This last week I got to go see J in Price, UT. He’s out there training right now for his new job. He’s working for Pason, a company that supplies and manages all of the computer systems, sensors and alerts for oil rigs. Jordan seems to really like it and we’re so thankful that after deciding to come home from China, everything is working out well. We are grateful the Lord has truly been watching out for our little growing family.

So, after not seeing J for another month, we were excited to spend this week together! I also got to see his new truck, which I must say…he looks pretty spicey in. :) It’s been fun to go on dates with the hubs and check out what such a tiny town has to offer…we even got into the infamous archeology and paleontology museum for fee, which is always nice.

Now we’re in Hurricane, enjoying family and taking care of some business. Part of this morning’s business was all about unloading one of J’s houses of these beauties.

There are two trees there. One has dark red bing ones and the other has some sort of yellowy-pinkish ones. Not sure what those are called, but they are all sooooo sweet…

J got the high ones, and I got the low ones. And I’m pretty sure we had at least 1/2 a bucket each while we were picking.

**Note to self…do not pick cherries in a white shirt, especially when your belly is protruding…it will be sacrificed to lovely red juices.**

We realized that it’s been two years this week since we first met each other on a blind date (thanks susie and gena!) and life together is pretty cherry.

Yo Queiro Hablar Espanol….

2011-06-05T17:40:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time a girl named MJ had way too many classes she wanted to take in her 9+ period day in high school. (Early morning seminary+zero period+7 normal periods+after school practice). There just wasn’t enough day time for her councilor to cram in a stinky old, mandatory Spanish class. To give you an idea of how Spanish class rolled in her CA high school, she basically brought empanadas to class for a final, translated a few phrases from a popular Shakira song and learned how to say “my name is Mirrrrrrranda” in Spanish with the worst gringa accent ever (couldn’t roll her r’s-just kind of made a spitting sound)…and earned herself and “A.”

So, solution for the next year’s problem…why not take Spanish class as a home study course? It was that or give up a fun class. Considering the year’s worth of ease before, “how hard could it be?” she thought. A WHOLE. LOT. HARDER. It was then that she earned her first horrible grade and swore off learning languages forever...why would she need them in the USA anyways, riggghht?! She even took an American Sign Language class in college to fulfill language requirements as it had been rumored that being a part of the happy hands club was reminiscent of her Freshman Spanish class.

Then, this girl went on a blind date with a Latin American Studies major who swept her off her feet, married her and took her to live in Brazil and China. Yup, Portuguese and Chinese baby. She ended up falling in love with Portuguese, only to be moved to China where Chinese made her remember her disdain for the difficulties of language barriers.

Now this girl is back and realizes that Portuguese will never be very useful in the States and that she would never be fluent in Chinese even if she lived in Beijing her whole life. Besides, she’s realized how much there is to love south of the border and wants to go back with J one day. Sooooo, she’s back to giving Spanish a try…and guess how she’s doing it for now? Online/Home Study, of course.

Let’s just say that I hope this experience will be more fruitful than my estúpido high school one.

Domestic Desires

2011-05-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

So, there are certain “wife/mom-type” things that I’ve pretty much stunk at, like cooking, sewing, and most things remotely domestic. It used to sort of bother me that I didn’t have domestic “skills” (does anybody else instantly think of bow-staff skills when they hear this word? Thanks, Napoleon.) most think are necessary, but I’ve slowly come to the following conclusions over the last year:

I don’t have to be good or even know how to do everything in this vague category. If it doesn’t come with time, it won’t come at all so I just shouldn’t worry about it.
If I were good at cooking, I. would. be. HUGE…So, I should really count this one as a blessing. Besides, with my major and everything, I would really like to focus instead on healthy whole foods for our family. But J and I still have our sweet tooths, so we won’t be going too granola-y anytime soon.
I want to learn how to sew. I don’t need to be that talented in it, just know how to do it right so I can do a few cute things for babies, fix things that need fixing (like hems and other small tailoring fixes), whip up a simple window treatment on the cheap or make an occasional Halloween costume. Nothing too great, just the know-how to turn to when I need it most.
I want to learn how to decorate a cake without it falling over or looking like I finger painted it. Not like it’s a necessity, but it just looks like SO MUCH FUN (Cake Boss!). I can not wait to throw kiddie birthday parties.

So, to start on my first goal, my mom taught me how to sew on her new sewing machine with these Cloth Diaper Burp Cloths. The irony of the Ice Cream ones make me laugh…they should make breastfeeding covers in that material…or maybe one with cows on it would be more appropriate = ).

My second sewing project was this rag quilt…it was supposed to be a “super-easy” quilt but ended up taking FOR-EVER. It was fun though to feel like I made something substantial (don’t laugh!) and hopefully the bambina will get a lot of use out of it.

This is the back side before I cut and washed it (I was stoked when my seams and X’s lined up…it’s the little things, ya know ;)…

And this is the front after I washed it…it fluffed way up!

(I’m slightly in love with the crazy, semi-not matching fabrics…they just make me feel bright inside)

My talented friend Kaity, had a great tutorial about felt rose buds, so I’ve been experimenting and having fun with them. She has an awesome one on a felt activity book that would be fun to try later if I get really ambitious. Thanks Kaity!

Some of the experiments…I want to be able to mix and match them on different headbands (we’re making soft baby ones out of tights or knee-highs) or pins for outfits… so I got felt in every color and it’s my sit in front of the TV but still feel semi-productive project.

I’m also having fun with random ribbons/scraps and trying some pinwheels to make bows (not sure if that’s a real name for them or just making it up…haha) like these two I made for our niece, Ann.

Hopefully there will be more to come soon…but don’t hold your breath too much, I feel like preggo hormones give you ADD.

Noite Brasileira

2011-05-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

I finally found an affordable pressure cooker so I could get my Brazilian food fix!! So, we had a little family dinner and I made feijoada (Brazilian style beans) with fresh limes,rice, cornbread and salad. Rice and beans was a typical lunch for us most days (and a lot of nights too…haha) when J and I lived down there. If you were to eat this dish at a restaurant, it would usually be accompanied by Pao de Queijo (aka: heavenly cheesy bread balls)…but I didn’t have the right kind of cheese, so I didn’t want to risk it and ruin the experience for the first timers in my family…it’s like I needed them to love it as much as I did.

Instead of Pao de Queijo, I made Brigadeiro for the first time. These little balls of chocolaty goodness are a really popular sweet that is SOOOOO rich. The girls in our department and I ate one after lunch almost everyday! I like to think of it as a very Euro way of eating (they had a lot of European influences there) but it could just be called gluttony. You decide. ;)

I only got pictures of the Brigadeiro…so if you want to experience the rest of it, you’ll just have to stop by our house!

I had my best taste-tester there to help me out…

…don’t bother him, he’s thinking….

Yes, a success! Thanks, Drewski.

Sweet Cheeks…

2011-05-18T00:25:00.000-07:00

I got to see our sweet cheeks last week for our total fetal screening! Everything went well and she’s a healthy baby girl…except the doctor scared me for a bit when he said he couldn’t confirm her gender since she was sitting like a lady!! She moved after a bit and he confirmed it! (Not that there’s anything wrong with a boy…it’s just that the dresses I have wouldn’t look as cute on a him =)

Here’s a few pictures of her at 25 1/2 weeks. I know that we’re entering the realm of parenthood where most posts become your kids stats…SORRY! However, seeing that probably 3 out of the 4 whole people who read this are either her 3 Grandparents or Daddy, it won’t matter too much ;). Besides, J is training in UT and hasn’t even been able to see these yet!!

He got a quick 3-D picture of her face for us…don’t worry, the streaks are just the ultrasound trying to look through fluid and tissue.

Get ahold of those cheekies! I love her sweet little features.

This is her fist. She’s starting to pack some serious heat behind her kicks and punches. I started to feel her kick and move pretty early at 16 weeks…back then it just felt like a puppy was pawing or licking me from the inside…and now I see parts of my belly suddenly jumping out when she moves! At the appointment she was 1 lb. & 9 oz. and by now she’s probably about 2 lbs. It’s hard to believe how fast she is growing now!

You can see her little foot caught in a kick here…The doctors always comment how active she is. In China they couldn’t even get her to stay in one place long enough to get her heartbeat…which was scary at the time but kind of comical now…so I’m pretty sure she’s either going to be a dancer or an ultimate fighter…what do you think?

Relay for Life

2011-05-16T00:09:00.001-07:00

Cancer is a scary word…it usually is accompanied by fear, anxiety, pain and the memories of loved ones lost…

However, this week it took on a more positive light…especially with the word SURVIVOR added to it.

So that’s why I chose to celebrate with two very important survivors in my life this last week. This is my Mom and her best friend, Darlene. They’re both survivors.

There was a special dinner for Survivors earlier in the week and a relay on Saturday, where people pledge and walk for the fight against it. You form teams and take turns walking for the 24 hour relay, and have a dang good time doing it with all of the company and entertainment! It’s a great fundraiser for ACS.My Mom was out of town for the relay, so I walked to represent, plus it’s been a while since I’ve been in town to go.

They had a beautiful luminary ceremony at night and we walked around the track with a luminary representing each person. We put out one for my Mom who survived and one for my Grandpa who didn’t.

The bump (which has suddenly popped this week) got to sport this…I’m eternally grateful that my Mom fought it and was blessed to beat it…there were times when we both thought she wouldn’t be around to see her last two kids get married or enjoy her grandchildren. Miss Amelia-Jayne is a lucky little girl to have her Grandma…

and so am I. : )

Love these Kids…

2011-05-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

I got to see my favorite kidlets (and their parents :) last month for a fun time in San Diego…

…miss them already and will post more about our little trip soon. :)

Have a fabulous Friday!

xoxo

Preggo Dreams

2011-05-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

A little glimpse of what's been playing in my head the last couple of nights:

Dream 1-

Jordan and I were at our friends, Audrey and Andy's, new house having a fun triple date dinner (Ironically, Audrey is buying a new home and if it's anything like this one in my dream....it is NICE). The baby was with us and for some reason she was a few weeks old and I hadn't started nursing her yet. So, as if there couldn't be a better time to learn that "how-to," I excused myself and went into their master bedroom. It was sort of like a sunroom that was surrounded by redwood trees, and the master bath was like a marble and tile shrine.

Anyways, I took the blanket off the baby and what was supposed to be our baby girl was a MALE PUPPY....sort of....kind of part pug and part baby boy.... a Humo-pug (and you thought labrad00dles were scary). I was weirded out a little but tried to nurse anyways, only to find that it had one fierce barracuda latch (this pup already had incisors). Ouchies. I was clearly upset and all of the sudden Audrey's cute little Latina maid popped out of the shower (like I said...her house was swanky) and handed me a breast shield- as if to say "didn't you know? this is how you breastfeed a puppy."

Needless to say, I was glad the doctor confirmed that she was indeed, still a baby girl at my appointment the next day.

Dream 2-

My mom and I got up to watch the royal wedding waaay too early Friday morning. I fell asleep while watching the procession back to Buckingham Palace.

In my dream I dreamt that Jordan and I were dating again. J was British all of the sudden, and apparently Harry and William's middle brother. It was all about us waiting in Westminster Abby to leave for the big reception and trying to get Camilla to tell me about how long it would take to get to Oxfordshire, where I was born. She and Charles seemed pretty out of it and it was by far one of the harder conversations I've ever had. In the end, we were done waiting and tried to walk back to the palace (those minivan budget cuts, you know) only to get stuck in a freak snowstorm, where other ladies put pop up laundry hampers over their heads to protect their hats. Classy.

So, anybody have any ideas for what should be playing in my head tonight? These hormones are quite entertaining.

Monterey

2011-04-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

A few days after we got back from China, we got to enjoy a little family reunion with some of J's family near Monterey...here's some pics of our fun little trip:

We went to Santa Cruz's Mystery Spot. It was my first time discovering some of the crazy things that it does to you. This is us standing "upright," but as you can see, we're hanging waaaaay over that table's edge.

Besides messing with your center of gravity, it does funny things to height differences too...This is J standing as the tallest person in this line ranging from 5'2" to 6'.

And this is the same line of people standing at opposite ends. They were all 5'2"!!

Nice one, Jordo.

As a surprise for the trip, J's brother, Bryce, asked his sweetie to marry him in the Redwoods. Congrats and we're excited to have you in the family, Breanna!

Checking out the fishies at the aquarium...

My favorite part of the week was on the last day, when Uncle Marshal took us for a tour down the coast and we got to stop at Point Lobos. We ran all the way in and out through the rain to visit the spot where J asked me to marry him not so long ago...

We love this place, and as you can tell, the knees of the Hastings boys really like to hit the ground here in California! :)

The Latest and Greatest...

2011-03-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

So, let's face it...I'm a horrible blogger....the last time I blogged was *cough* Christmas.

Whoops.

I blame it on pregnancy and genetics (my mom puked for 9 months and it doesn't seem like I'll be that different). It's all your fault mom...just kidding. It's just your genes...but if I can fit into your jeans (we share clothes) at your age, I guess I'll take your genes too. :)

However, I wasn't a great blogger/journal keeper before, so it can't all be because of our little package on the way.

But, to save the one or two people that still read this from one REALLY really long post, this is only a semi-long post about what we've been up to since the last time there was any action on here:

-We had a wonderful Christmas in China and found out we were pregnant! It happened much faster than we ever expected and we were and still are just beside ourselves with excitement.

-Pregnancy was a dream until 6 1/2 weeks (haha)...then I started puking and couldn't stop. Most days I couldn't keep anything down and some days I couldn't even keep water down. It was pretty rough trying to deal with that and keep up a 40-60 hour workweek at Wizard China. For a while they let me manage with a mixture of Skype at home and going into the office part time, but that changed and you'll hear about that later.

-We enjoyed seeing what Chinese New Year was all about with the Year of the Bunny. (I'm a Bunny circa 1987 and our little baby will be one in 2011 too!)

-Our bunnies turned out to be two females, which meant they kept peeing on each other and started to bite each other after bunny puberty. They also lost their potty training we were so proud of. This didn't work so well with my over-sensitive nose...so we sadly got rid of them. We decided to take them to a local pet store for someone else to love, but a miraculous thing happened. Just as J was leaving to take them, he met our neighbor and her 14 year old son in the hall and they wanted them! We were happy to give them to our "Ron-Charlie" friend, who is actually a student of ours at school. Hopefully they keep them as pets for a while and they don't end up in some one's soup...but they had a good home for a little while longer- so we felt good about it.

-Jordan had a birthday on Valentines day and officially got older. We celebrated with a day at work after a cinnamon roll breakfast (probably the one thing I've made since being preggo...poor J), our little kid students singing "Happy Birthday" to him, and came home to the best pizza we'd had there via the delivery woman. J's one birthday wish was to become a Dave Ramsey lifetime member. And now he is...so look out world. :)

-We successfully ran two last minute "Winter Camps." These were two whole weeks of kiddy day care from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm (that ended up being sold cheaper than most babysitting or free)...but included intense English lessons, multiple meals and cooking classes, dance and singing lessons, games, cultural lessons about America and a Road show at the end of the week. It was fun for me to plan (but would have been more fun with more time in advanced notice and if I felt better) and thanks to my awesome teachers and J, we pulled it off. I did like teaching dance for the road show... and we did have some mighty cute kids at it. The theme for the week was "From Sea to Shining Sea" and we stopped in different regions of the United States, singing, dancing and teaching our way through. Overall, it was a rewarding experience. (This pic is actually from a different event, but still...you get the idea)

-As you could tell, things at work were getting pretty rough. We were sent from Brazil to manage and to make sure that everything was happening according to Wizard's franchise standards. Since day one, Wizard China didn't seem to understand what a franchise was or want to have anything to do with Wizard school standards. They also didn't want any American or Brazilian input, which makes it difficult for a Brazilian based company that teaches American English. To make a long story short in the end, the health of our baby, my health, little financial benefit and no opportunity for advancement made our decision to come home the most logical choice. We still have great feelings toward Wizard Brazil and the opportunities they've given us, but know that China might not be their best opportunity for growth right now. Overall, we've chalked up China as a really positive experience, as we often learn more from rough times than ideal ones. It has given us invaluable leadership and management experience, further international experience, taught us how to deal with difficult personalities, and helped us see a different side of the world....which we'd like to keep doing and go international again someday. We walked away with lifetime friends and memories that we will cherish. We wouldn't trade our year abroad for anything, and as a couple it brought us closer together than anything else in our first year of marriage could. Being on three different continents and dealing with the changes we did in one year is enough to make or break you. And it made us.

Here's a little sentimental trip through a few of our China highlights...

-J and I enjoyed a couple of days in Beijing before we left to see the sites and get ready for the long flight home.

-My mom picked us up from LAX and we were only on the ground for a few hours when J and my Dad couldn't take it any longer...they called up "My First Peekaboo" and made an appointment for that night... we found out WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!!

-A few days later we went to Aptos/Salinas/Monterey area where we got to be with J's family for a little reunion for a week. It was beautiful and we had a great time together.

-J is now in Utah interviewing and I am staying with my parents trying to learn some domestic skills from my mom until we know what we're doing and where we'll be. It's fun to be so well taken care of at my parents, but I'm really missing J! Hopefully we'll get some plans in concrete soon.

That's all of our news for now...we're back in the States and have been having a great time reuniting with family and friends, eating wonderful food (finally!!! good food and it's staying down!), and exploring the opportunities that lie ahead. We're not exactly sure what is next for us, but as long we put our faith in the Lord and get to be together (all 3 of us now :), it's sure to be an adventure.

xoxo, MJ & J

China Baby…

2011-01-28T04:58:00.001-08:00

It’s been a bit difficult for my wifey to do much blogging lately. Between the difficulties of being pregnant and the responsibilities at work there hasn’t been enough comfortable time to make it a top priority. So, I decided I’d say a few words about what has been going on here in China lately.

The company seems to be going forward one step at a time. It is really challenging to break down the cultural barriers and achieve efficient, clear communication between ourselves and our Chinese co-workers. Overall, the Chinese are very helpful and have been great friends to us thus far. It has been really fun to announce our pregnancy at the office. One person said that Miranda still looked pretty so it had to be a girl. When we told Frank the sales manager that we were pregnant he took a deeper, slower look at Miranda. After studying her face for a while he confirmed pregnancy and announced that it was a boy. I figured that we had about a 50 % chance at a boy but Frank cut right through the speculation. The Chinese calendar says it's a girl, so we’ll see who takes the day.

Miranda has been cautioned that she isn’t allowed to use her cell phone or a lap top because of the radiation that is created. I guess that here in China they have a big lead apron like those used when getting an X ray. Also, one of the co-workers told her not to wear make-up because its bad for the babe. It has been an interesting road so far. When it becomes obvious that she’s pregnant I’m sure we ll get a lot more stories. Speaking of that, she is not showing at all! I'm thinking of buying another 15 preg. tests to make sure. I don’t know when women normally start to show but nothings popping out yet.

About the 15 pregnancy tests….that's how many I made her take before it finally hit me that we were pregnant. The first five or so times the second line was so faded that I thought that it was just showing through the white coating. There were also a few tests that didn’t work. I just couldn’t believe that some super faded line could change my life!! The last few tests I wanted her to take just because it was so fun to see two full color lines that confirmed. Ok, nothing happened in the night. I'm still having a kid. I wasn’t dreaming. Life is still good. We have a pharmacy nearby where I would buy these tests. Miranda didn’t know it but I had already stopped buy to get another batch. When she tried to buy one all the ladies told her to go home. Her “friend” had already almost bought out the store. Now that I m a preg. test expert I think it will only take 5 or 10 next time: )

WE’RE HAVING A BABY!!!

2011-01-04T06:18:00.001-08:00

And I’m not even pulling your leg this time! Ask my family…I’ve teased them so much this past year about having a bambino that I had to show them the stick! Because you know it’s only true if you can see “the stick”…unless you’re Jordan, and then you might need to literally see 15 of those sticks to be a believer!

We were going to wait until at least 3 months to spill the beans, but my morning sickness has made it rather obvious to anyone around us…so here we are, 7.5 weeks pregnant and excited to share!

I’ll post more and catch up on the holidays later…but I just couldn’t wait!

xoxo,

MJ & J

11 Things and a Birthday

2010-12-17T05:39:00.001-08:00

First off, some Christmas cheer…brought to you by my now 26 year old brother, Nic.

Happy Birthday Nic!!!

Tonight I was introduced to the Reverb10 site. They give you a daily prompt to reflect on during the month of December. In return, you write about your experiences from 2010 and what you would like to make happen in 2011. I love it.

BUT…I’m not so hot at the whole daily blog thing, and uh… it's already the 17th.. whoops! I do, however, want to chime in when I can, especially on the ones I feel I need to do (or, ok,ok…the easier ones).

This was the prompt from December 11:

What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)

11 Things I don't need in 2011

1. Regret. Nothing too big here, you’re just reading about an indecisive person. I don’t need to hang on to regret in 2011 or live a life with new regrets…just decide and conquer! I think many of us look back and think “what if'?” It could be anything from what happened years ago to what we just ordered for lunch. No looking back, just keep on keeping on and make the best of it!

2. Impatience. Mmmhmmm. I think that will be something on my list of no-needs EVERY year. I think a lifetime of practicing patience just might be enough. Maybe.

3. Late nights. I am horrible. My husband is awesome. I will often try to go to bed with J, only to get up out of bed 15 minutes later. No more late nights. A 10:30 bed time sounds doable...but why is it so hard to keep?!

4. Stress. Obviously. Who needs stress? Let’s cut that out. I need to do what I can can and let the rest handle itself. Life always presents us with a certain amount of inevitable stress…but we usually double it just by thinking about it!

5. To compare. I don’t think I’ve made it a day in my life without comparing my life or my things to someone else's. Plus, Mr.. Internet here doesn’t help. He’s constantly stuffing us with things to compare ourselves/our kids (or lack thereof..sad)/our husbands/our houses/our shoes to. I must stop comparing, and start owning what makes me, me.

*cough*

Hi. My name is Miranda-Jayne. I have white hair, don’t have cute kids yet and work way too many hours each week. I haven’t lived in one house long enough to decorate as a newlywed and that drives me nuts. My neighbors probably think I’m nuts…and really loud. I can't afford to shop at Anthropologie, and probably wouldn’t if I was rich anyways...unless they had a killer sale. I don't know how to make my eyes “smoky,” use a straight iron to make curls or make a batch of cookies without eating the dough to save my life. I frequently walk out of the room and leave the refrigerator door open and sometimes I don’t wash my hair for a number of days and call it “conditioning,” when really I just want to sleep in for half an hour. And that's me. Some things I like and some things I’d change. But at the end of the day it’s still me.
There’s a start.

6. A tiny kitchen. Did ya see how I did that? I worked something into this list that I DO need, because I really don't need (or want) my tiny kitchen. Sneaky…sneaky!

7. A house. Turns out I’m already regretting #6! I really don’t need a house…we have everything we need. I would just like to live in the same living space long enough to put some of my own spice on it.

8. To hate the gym. Really, I’m an exercise science major…that should be my hog heaven. But, I still manage to find something…anything better to do with my time. It’s not out of total laziness, there’s just something about a gym that screams stinky funk prison.

9. Junk. First of all, where does it all come from?? Secondly, why do I think my life won’t be complete without it? Last week I couldn’t retire my favorite wrap sweater that was stained and balled up after too much wear…so I tried to repurpose it into a bathrobe (which ironically is what J said it looked like in the first place). It’s staring at me right now asking me to throw it away. I think I will tonight.

10. Wonder Woman Skills. Do I want them? Heck yes. Does it seem like everyone and their mom (especially my mom, haha) has ALL of them? Yeppers. Does it drive me crazy that I can’t even work on half of these skills as a semi-newlywed/person who should be getting the hang of this domestic goddess stuff over here (you try shopping for ingredients or buying any sort of craft thing…I was thrilled last week because I found scotch tape…nothing too glitzy…just plain old scotch tape that didn’t even have a dispenser;)? Yes.
I’m sure skills will come with time. And if they don’t, acceptance of things I just have no talent for will. Hopefully.

10. Facebook. Sure, it can be good for the occasional birthday reminder or high school reconnection…but do I really NEED to check facebook everyday? Nope. I think I could still reap FB benefits by checking it about once a week....now that I've just refreshed my FB page.

11. American Everything. It’s easy to become enamored with everything “normal” when not much around you is. I smell good pizza…I’m drooling. I hear English…I’m all ears. I need to suck it up and not be stuck like glue to anything that reminds me of home. We chose to live here so what should we expect? I should be able to go out on a limb more for things like food, customs, etc. Besides, I’m the weird one here!

Well those are my 11 No-Needs for 2011…I’ll tell you how they’ve changed my life next year. ;) Now it’s your turn to play along!

11 Things YOU don't need in 2011.....ready? Go!

Christmas Wish Lists...

2010-12-13T20:56:00.000-08:00

In the Hastings house, we’ve been doing our wish lists lately. Needless to say, I was pretty amused with Jordan’s.

If you didn't know Jordan, would you have guessed this was a wish list for an almost 28 year old?! Looks like I have a Peter Pan on my hands!

Since gifts for others have been on the mind lately, I thought a little bit about what I would get people in my family if money and time didn’t matter.

Here are some things that came to mind:

Mom

If you’ve seen pictures of our wedding, you would know that the person that did the flowers was VERY talented…and if you knew anything about my family you would know that my mom did them…yep, she’s pretty much amazing! So, I would like to get my mom her own floral refrigerator and work counters so she could have everything she needs to keep doing flowers for events from our very own home.

Dad

My Dad has always been a great provider for my family, and a very unselfish one at that. He usually gets the nice cars and lets the rest of us drive them, leaving the older “cancer vans” or “bishop’s cars” to himself. I think it’s hard for him to let go of the old car’s “character”. Anyhow, I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to let the old cars go on their last legs if he had either one of these to come home to.

Why a crane with the 350Z, you ask? Well, I would have the crane installed in our driveway to help him get in or out in a few years when his knees say bon voyage… ;)

Mom, Dad & Mom-in-law

Jordan and I love the chance to live abroad…but let’s cut to the chase…being away from home is soooo hard. Can you imagine how hard it must be for parents to not live near their children and grandchildren? Well, both of our parents have kids and grandkids far away. I would love if they could have unlimited flights to come visit us and our siblings as much as they wanted to!

Nate & Jen

I would love to get Nate and Jen regular tour tickets to see The Dave Matthew’s Band (they are SO SO good live) and Celine Dion. I think a private concert featuring Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds and Celine herself would send them both to tears…let’s make that happen!

Jon and Kim

Their cute family LOVES going to Disneyland and has enjoyed an annual passport before…I’m sure this would be a great fit for them EVERY year!

Nic & Tammy

Nic got a big raft as a gift one year when we were younger. I remember taking it out into the ocean and getting tossed! So…since Nic seems to love all things that float and has been on a couple of cruises before…I think an annual family cruise would be sweet. Besides, who wouldn’t like a cruise? I would also get them a lifetime prescription to the Discovery Channel…Bear Grylls 365.

So family, if I’m ever ridiculously rich…expect these gifts to come your way!

What's on YOUR list this year?

xoxo,

Shortest Calling Ever…

2010-12-12T22:47:00.000-08:00

No, I’m not talking about being called to be the Nursery leader, I’m talking about my first calling here in Tianjin. :)

Last month I was called to be the ward activities chairman, only to find that my calling was cancelled entirely at the worldwide leadership meeting for our church just two weeks later! Nobody in our branch knew, as we don’t get the recordings of the broadcasts for a couple of weeks…but my Dad called and told me. I was happy to receive the calling, but also fine to have it taken away, as part of our job at work is to have parties every other week…literally. The Lord knows better than I do! But boy did I have fun teasing the President of our Branch the next Sunday!

To fulfill my two week duties, I threw the Thanksgiving Party with the wonderful help of the rest of the branch. We had about 50 people in attendance, a traditional assortment of T-Day food, some great Korean food by our Korean members, a short play about Squanto put on by my teachers and I, seasonally fresh centerpieces and a little bit of holiday singing to end the night. It was fun to feel at home and celebrate our Western traditions at Thanksgiving!

Here’s a few pictures of our church building (we actually have church in a house the church rents).

We had to be creative and sit people in different levels throughout our “chapel” in the living room (as seen above) and other rooms/levels in the house.

There also aren’t any tablecloths in China and it’s not like you can just stop by your local craft store or Costco and decorate for these kinds of things here…so I relied on some cardstock in fall colors to act as placemats and made some centerpieces after a quick trip to my favorite cheap flower mart.

I think it turned out great, and even though I know I’ll never have that calling again…I wouldn’t mind an excuse like that to throw another party!

xoxo,

Our First Year Anniversary in 蓟县!

2010-12-05T22:37:00.001-08:00

I would have to say that this year’s anniversary has been my favorite yet! ;)

Since we’ve had a tight financial month, we decided to go somewhere instead of do the whole gift thing…going and doing things are usually the best memories anyways.

We decided to go see The Great Wall (Huangyaguan) in Ji Xian 蓟县. Some friends told us about it, so with a couple of Chinese characters on a piece of paper in hand, we ventured off at 6:30 am (people who know me have to be impressed by that ;). We raced to board an extremely crowded train.

Now in China, ticket offices don’t stop selling tickets just because the seats are sold out. Oh no. There is no such thing as a maximum capacity in China. You just have to stand there and hope for a few inches of real estate in front of your face so you can breath your own air.

This is a picture of the train after a bunch of people got off…and it’s still packed!

Somehow, we managed to score a seat for the second half of the three hour ride. There we met a few college kids who helped us with directions and got us a good deal on a ride up to mountains where we would find our section of the wall. I think being a foreigner can have its benefits at times!

I can still remember our funny little ride up to the mountains. There were 8 of us in a van no wider than a volkswagen golf. We dropped everybody else off in these qauint little mountain villages. These villages really reminded me of Latin America for some reason. Small, mismatched houses with cute scruffy muts running around in the streets…and most people were hard at work preparing for winter by cutting and various fruits and corn and throwing them on their roofs to dry. Then, amidst the curves and pretty trees, we began to see parts of the wall peek out of the mountains. We were so excited, the driver got a kick out of us!

This is a view from the parking lot at the wall. It was so high and magnificent! The high peaks on the right of the picture above kept reminding me of the mountains backing the beach in Rio… Don’t you think they look similar?!

(Here is a greener picture compliments of Google. Sadly, I don’t have too many pictures of the trip, as I accidentally forgot to charge the camera the night before! Oops!)

The first thing we wanted to do was get on that wall! We did and hiked to the top of the more touristy section…but we wanted to see the un-restored sections of the wall…so we kept going…and going…and going. At times, things got pretty steep. I’m not going to lie, Jordan had to do some serious coaxing to help me with my fear of heights on parts. He kept saying “I think I see another tower right above us ahead!” Who can resist seeing an untouched piece of world history? Sure enough, they were there…and they kept getting more and more deteriorated. It was so neat, as one looked as though a canon had come right against it and blown half of the roof to smithereens… in fact, that’s probably just what happened! You could usually get inside the towers, but this one in particular had no doors or windows. So, Jordan decided to do a little rock climbing and conquer that thing. I decided to watch/assist from the ground. ;)

That’s my man!

After this tower, we went straight up for another couple of runs. We were off the wall and just on some trail for quite some time until we were on the very top of the mountain (it was quite the ascent!) We began to walk on this narrow ridge. There were parts of it that were only a foot and a half wide, then there would be a twenty foot drop off to a ridge with another huge drop for the rest of the mountain. Jordan, like his typical mountain goat self, practically ran across this section, found a nice seat on some huge rocks at the end and took a seat. He took out an apple and told me to come across so we could eat our apples together. What a tease! I was ridiculously scared and tried to hug the earth on all fours to get across. But then I turned around and saw it…below us was the whole mountain range, painted with the great wall as far as the eye could see. (I’m going to paint this for you, as I sadly don’t have a picture of this…but that’s ok, I was left to enjoy instead of worrying about a camera). To our right was the tiny village that now looked even tinier followed by a sparkly lake behind it. Down to our right was this little colorful temple. We hadn’t seen it the whole way up, and there was no viewable road to get there, but somebody happy and religious lived there and enjoyed a great sight! Directly below us and jutting back and forth all over the mountains was the rest of the Great Wall. Then we realized…WE WERE SITTING ON THE GREAT WALL! The part we were sitting on and the very narrow ridges we walked across were part of the deteriorating wall! How I wish I had a picture from the top…but I guess this means we’ll just have to go back!

While we were there we talked about the great things that happened a year before when we were married and sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. Then, as we were reminiscing about that special day, we thought how hilarious life is… we would have never guessed 1 year ago that we would be sitting on The Great Wall of China for our first anniversary!!! We’ve had a really fun year living on three different continents. I don’t know how and if we’ll ever top it…but I do know that our first year of marriage has kind of been like our hike up the Great Wall:

We were really excited to start our married lives together... learned an unimaginable amount about each other, cultures and life in general... we encountered steep times where we had to rely on each other to get through... had fun... enjoyed the view... and would do it all over again as long as we had each other.

I think that’s how LIFE should be.

You work hard. You play hard. You enjoy the views.

When Jordan and I get to see our ultimate views on the other side of heaven I want us to be able to look back and say “MAN, WHAT A RIDE!” That’s the goal.

Thanks for being my “partner in adventure” for the last year, Jordan.

It’s been quite the ride!

xoxo,

Temple Blessings…

2010-11-17T09:37:00.000-08:00

I am so grateful for so many of the things that I have been given in my life, but right now I am particularly grateful for the blessings I receive from the temple.

You see, today is a very special day…

one year ago today I went to the temple.

After singing “I love to see the temple, I’m going there someday” for so many years…

and I’m SO glad that I went.

Because of this special day and the covenants I made then and when Jordan and I were sealed almost a year ago, I have the opportunity to have my family around…sealed to me…forever.

Can anyone fathom any one thing that would make you more happy than to know that no matter what, you could have your family forever…for eternity?

I can’t.

I’m also grateful for the stunning sanctuaries they are…

and the fact that we have them all over the world.

It was so nice to have so many so close in the states…

then we were lucky enough to have one in Campinas, Brazil…

…and one day soon we hope to make it to the Hong Kong temple. Once you see the blessings, it’s hard to be away for too long.

Let’s go the temple sometime soon, OK?

I can’t wait.

xoxo,

If you have questions about the temple, feel free to ask me or check out these sites: http://lds.org/temples/home/0,11273,1896-1,00.html

http://www.mormon.org/

We’re Famous!!!

2010-11-12T11:20:00.001-08:00

…well, only in Brazil I guess!

But, if you happen to be in Brazil and read any of their business magazines, you will see this…

xoxo

MJ & J

Over the Weekend…

2010-11-07T05:03:00.001-08:00

This weekend we…

finally got our heat lamp in our Bathroom fixed. I guess I sound pretty high-maintenance complaining about a bathroom in a foreign country without a heat lamp. In Brazil, our bathroom was sort of like a camp ground bathroom. It didn’t even have a sink or a mirror! Needless to say, I’m SO glad we have one here…because it is FREEZ-ING!!!

Then, on Saturday, we went to this store called the Metro. It’s basically like a Chinese Costco and has quite a bit of expat stuff. We’re in love.

Most stores and markets here don’t have bags and you usually have to buy them for a low price. BUT, this place didn’t have any plastic ones to buy! So, we had a whole cart full, piled it piece by piece into a taxi, then unloaded it into a shopping cart that was luckily by the gate guard. So, we pretty much just did it white trash style. Gotta love it.

Then, we made pizza…the homemade variety, which was……OK. The crust was awesome, but we’re definitely going to have to improve the sauce and get some semi-alright cheese. But, it was a first!

After, we went bowling…and J won BOTH games with his sweet skills. I, on the other hand, didn’t break 100 either time. BUT, I did get two whole strikes and didn’t jump lanes with the ball like I used to. Remember that, Jon and Nic?!

This weekend, we also went to a market to see what Tianjin’s flower market has in store for our Thanksgiving centerpieces.

However, we were taken by a Chinese friend to an outdoor food market because she thought we wanted FLOUR, not FLOWER. Pretty funny after 30 minutes of wondering where the flowers were! Even though we were at the wrong place, it was wonderful! Colorful produce, barrels of grains and rice and of course, the meat department.

When we made it to the real flower market, I was amazed…my Mom’s going to love this place when she comes! We only had time for about 4 stores…but I could have stayed there all day. Next weekend…flower market date!

After, we enjoyed the best lasagna I’ve had in another country at a ward member’s house. YUM!

Today is also Carson’s birthday! Happy Birthday big man! You are a great nephew!

So, how was your weekend? We want to hear all about what’s going on at home. But your weekend isn’t over yet…you’ll still be in the middle of your weekend when we have to get up to start the work week tomorrow! Dang.

xoxo,

MJ & J

Over the Weekend…

2010-11-03T07:10:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend we threw our second big party for Wizard as part of our increased marketing efforts…but this one was for Halloween, so I’m pretty sure it was as much fun for the Westerners as anybody else! There’s something about being in another country that makes you appreciate any little tradition from home you can get your hands on.

I Love this little guy’s face with his first jack-o-lantern experience!

So these next few holiday parties will be extra special…a little more work… but a lot more fun!

And, guess what callings I received in our little branch on Sunday?

Enrichment Leader…

Activities Director.

I guess I’m a professional party person now…or at least I’ll have to pretend to be for the next couple of months. Wish me luck…sanity…and maybe shoot a couple of time saving, cute tips my way! Thanks in advance, Mom. ;)

PLUS

Last weekend we discovered that you CAN wash bunnies…

but they definitely won’t like it.

And that if you go to any of the big parks on a sunny Saturday afternoon you’ll find a bunch of Asians flying kites…

and they’re fun to watch…and extra interesting if this guy whips out his 300 foot kite (the kite itself was that long…not the string) and gets tangled with a bunch of other kites.

But it is a beautiful thing when he gets his dragons to “dance” next to each other.

We also found out that there is even more stuff to do near our house than we thought. Now we just need the time to go and do it!

For instance, we went to this great place called Ancient Traditions Street. Tourist Trap? I think so… But I found out what I want made for myself…

and Jordan found what he wants to take home. Christmas is right around the corner, honey… I know you were pretty excited. ;)

Then, we came home and I tried my hand at my first Navajo Taco meal. It included 2 days of soaking beans and an hour and a half to prep the rest of the meal (I’m not THAT kitchen retarded…but you do have to get creative without some of your normal modern kitchen amenities and take extra care with produce!). In the end, they were well worth it. Jordan is still raving about them and I felt the most satisfied after dinner than any other meal out of the country.

During the rest of the weekend we enjoyed seeing what’s new with family over Skype dates, going to church, catching up on “The Office” and having a hilarious dinner with some of the people from our ward.

I love weekends.

Let’s have a weekend again soon, alright?

Tell me about your weekend.

Miss you all,

MJ & J

Technorati Tags: Wizard,Holidays,Ying Yang,Foodie

Technorati Tags: China

China…

2010-10-31T07:20:00.001-07:00

Miranda has suggested I write a bit for quite some time. It has been another great Sabbath and I guess I just felt up to it today. China is quite the place. I have moved countries enough to know to expect what you don’t expect and when you get the unexpected it’s not such a surprise. I expected China to be much more China-ey. You know, lots of crazy ancient Chinese architecture, with stone buildings and upturned roof tips. Tianjin is very modern. Once in a while you can find an old temple(mostly for tourism) or other building with a Chinese flare, but mostly, the city is modern apartment/business buildings with modern lines, beveled edges, or glass balconies. There are some really cool buildings to look at. We live right in the heart of it all, on the 15 floor of a 25 story edifice. We share our location with 6 other buildings the same height. Below there is a pretty cool little gathering area with trees and water features. In the morning when Miranda and I head out on our 10 minute walk to work, there is often a group of parents and grand parents with their children all around the ages of 2,3 or 4 years old. It is good to start out the day walking by the kids each morning. I guess they like to get a bit of social interaction as most of them don’t have brothers or sisters, and will probably have a full time job when they turn 5. Because most people only have one child, there is a lot of time, energy and money spent as an investment for their future. Not too surprising I guess. Well, as it turns out, children around here are expected to work very hard in their school and other disciplines. The bonus is that on the other hand they get a lot of toys and attention.

The traffic around here is great. If you ever come to China, do it with a sense of adventure as well as a sense of humor. The intersections are often just clumps of traffic trying to push through each other. The name of the game seems to be never back down, if your not sure honk, and there is always enough room to fit between two cars. The problem with the never back down part, is when two cars need to get out of each other’s way to proceed the opposite direction, they will often just sit it out and make the other person move first. Cut and paste that mindset onto two parties and you can have some pretty funny Chinese showdowns. I have seen a few traffic jams waiting on two cars having an intersection duel with neither willing to move out of the way. Honestly, one was about 10 minutes. They have these little red motorcycle trikes that have been covered in the back to create a little passenger cockpit. After coming out of wall-mart with arms full of groceries we decided to take one the short distance home. We weren't disappointed. Miranda laughed the whole way home. It was like we were in high speed chase, only we were barely able to go 20 miles an hour, because in China the road is there for everybody. None of this your side my side stuff. We flew in front of busses, down one way streets(the wrong way) and everywhere else we could get in the way before making it home. Our driver kept looking back wondering why we were laughing so much. Probably thought we were making fun of him or something.

Like anything worth doing in life, there are sacrifices that have to be made to pay for the experience, money or whatever the gain may be. Most of the time being here in China, or when we were in Brazil, presented a fun experience each day. Something to laugh about, roll your eyes and think only in China. The experience here is different enough to learn new and exciting things each day. Sometimes though, you just wish you could smell home. For me it is the desert sage, after a summer rain, for Miranda probably the ocean breeze. Feel the air. Be around the people that bring you the most happiness. All the things you don’t think about, yet subconsciously classify as “normality”. I have come to realize, since living so much out of country lately, that I am quite a mountain boy. This next part gets kind of weird for me… but who cares I guess. Right now its just me,the bunnies, and my wife. Tucked away in an apartment nook thousands of miles away. I miss the spirit of the earth. I have always been close to it without really knowing what I was enjoying. I ll try to explain. In Hurricane I was only a few feet away from gardens, trees or grass. I could walk bare foot in a plowed field. I could go outside and pick something to eat. Anybody who knows me knows I did all summer. I could see so far away and there was usually something to see. The rain clouds building up on pinevalley, the sun setting on timbertop. There were always birds, or chickens or some kind of animal around the house as well. On weekends I was often in the mountains, carving trails, or building ponds, fishing, hunting, camping, fourwheeling or whatever. I was(am) always a messy kid, in the mud and dirt, throwing something or building something.In contrast, in Brazil and here in China I walk to work on hard pavement all the way. My view is limited to the big buildings nearby. I am inside working, calling or typing without even knowing if it is cloudy or sunny. Sometimes I come out of the work “zone” to find it rained really hard! I didn’t even know! The disconnect seems to be really big right now between myself and everything natural, or living. Cement, metal, plastic and all the other technological barriers have got me on another planet! The weird part is when I get to thinking about this I just want to go hug a tree. Or at least climb it! Or go to a mountain stream and drink until I can’t move. Or lay in a huge pile of fall leaves. Maybe lay down in the grass and get grass stains. I make myself laugh when I think about this. Anyway, with fall in full bloom I think about this stuff a lot. I love fall. If I ever blog again I ll talk more about China. So, I have been looking everywhere for house plants. We haven’t really found any yet. I bought a couple of bunnies and they have been fun. I have had this crazy green thumb thing attack me, and without the possibility of planting anything in a yard, I finally through some beans in a paper cup and started…well I’m not sure. But it is growing and I smile when I see it. Here’s a picture.

Technorati Tags: China

Happy Halloween!!!

2010-10-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

xoxo

MJ & J

We are Parents…

2010-10-24T04:39:00.001-07:00

of Bunnies!!!

Meet Ying and Yang…

Ying is the cute little girl (we think) and Yang is the fun bigger male. I guess we’ll really find out what Ying is if we start to find other little bunnies…but for now, just her sweet personality screams girl, while Yang is speedy Gonzalez and all over the place!

They are the first (and most certainly not the last ;) to

join our little Hastings family.

Y & Y are hopefully baby dwarf bunnies (our apartment is great…but a little on the small side for BIG bunnies). Cleaning up after them is helping us practice for real parenting positions…and we LOVE them!

In other news:

We’re slowly getting our apartment put together. We’ve finally figured out where to get the good stuff on the cheap, have a couple of rugs for the living room, found my dream bed set and pillows at silk street in Beijing (that place is worthy of a whole other post!) and are gearing up to paint our wall either a bold red or a bold teal. We’ve also started decorating for the holidays, which really helps to feel more at home!

Trick or Treat!!!

We’ll see how many kids we get this year! Happy what?!

(I had to dig through the gourd section at the store, but finally found one that somewhat resembled a pumpkin!)

Cooking. Good old fashioned American (or anything close to it) cooking is hard to find here. BUT…we’re also figuring that out…slowly. ;) We got an oven, so that helps since almost everybody here only fries things on hot plates (blech). After bartering for some imported powdered sugar from the relief society pres. in our branch, I made a batch of home made cinnamon rolls that turned out pretty dang good!

Work = chaos that is getting better. We’ve had a crazy busy first month…but I guess that’s what you can expect with a change in management, especially if you’re the new management! It’s already gotten better though and I feel like the company’s made some real progress. I have a great team of teachers and love how the Chinese receive our school and our marketing. Here’s a picture of a party we threw for marketing…

The Chinese love fireworks…we see them every night from our apartment…but we had our own little pyrotechnic show in our apartment this month. Jordan was lying down with the laptop on his stomach (and more manly parts), got up and less than 2 seconds later…BOOM!!! His battery exploded and started a fire in our room. I was in the living room and heard this huge bang, looked around the corner and saw flames under the door. We put it out but it kept exploding like a firework fountain. Everything but our floor left with a nasty battery acid hole was fine…but I’m pretty sure HP is getting a few phone calls. ;)

These are the charred remains of J’s battery!

I’ve passed my first language test and it was the same one I took in Brazil…TMI, I know, but you know you are on your way to independence in a country when you can go to the pharmacy and get your birth control! Sort of sad here though, they didn’t really know what it was and kept trying to hand me the abortion pill. Mmmm…No thank-you.
My sweet dog, Corkey passed away. He was the best dog ever (yes, J…even better than Shasta!) and lived to the ripe old age of 18ish. My mom said he got really sick and started having what seemed like strokes the day that J and I left for China. I feel like my favorite dog stuck it out one last time for me. Thanks Corkey. I still remember picking you out at the pound, growing up with you, you barking at old boyfriends you never liked and our many trips around the block as you pulled Nic and I on the scooter or our roller blades (you were one buff ten pound pup). So many good memories and many more to come, as I’m sure my two grandmas upstairs are taking good care of you. Love you Cork.

2 Birthday Boys!

2010-10-24T03:04:00.001-07:00

Last week was a very special week for two boys of mine…

My brother, Jon, turned 32 (wowzas ;)

and my nephew, Andrew, turned 2!

Happy Birthday Guys!!!

xoxo

Wu Flung Poo…

2010-10-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

Yes folks, this phrase was something that my brother, Nic, and I used to say to each other growing up. Unfortunately, everything here so far has sounded like a weird combination of this phrase and the word “zhege, zhege, zhege.”

So, thanks for prepping me for China all those years, but I guess I should really start working on my Mandarin now.

;)

Aside from having absolutely no idea about what people are saying, we quite like it here. Don’t get me wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Brazil…and don’t tell any of our Brasileiro friends this...but I think I’ve convinced myself I like this place a little better. Here’s why:

Here we have our own apartment (Roomies, we had our fun times…but there are definite reasons why married couples don’t usually live with others. haha)
We have 2 rooms in said apartment…this means we can have guests! Please ignore the above complaint about roomies, because guests= Not Awkward. :)
Each room in our little apartment has bay windows with breathtaking views of the city. I don’t think I’d trade our apartment for one twice as big if it meant I had to give up my sparkly views!

This is how a sunrise looks from our bedroom window.

We are surrounded by 14 (no joke) malls and a plethora of gorgeous parks. There is also a huge river, lots of tree-lined walk-ways and an Italian district all within a 5 minute walk of us.
Campinas, Brazil was the second most expensive place to live in on an expatriate site I found. Tianjin, China was the very last. I think I’ll enjoy that financial freedom a little more.
It seems to be a lot safer here. Laws are extremely strict here against criminals all the time, but especially when somebody messes with a foreigner.
Chinese Nationals seem to love Americans. In some parts, you may be the first foreigner many have seen, so they treat you like rock stars. This can get old if you’re in a hurry, but so far we’ve enjoyed it and it’s been a great marketing tool for the company.
Because of the things mentioned above, I feel like we have a lot more freedom…which is pretty ironic, considering that we live in a country ruled by communism.

Here’s a quick picture recap of a Sunday evening stroll down the river:

A couple of views from the river in our He Ping District.

Jordan in front of the Italian District. When we get tired of the weird spices, we’ll have to go there.

Jordan had me pose here so we could secretly capture the guy in the back practicing Kung-Fu. He was awesome!

A native making decorative lollipops by hand. He free-handed this in about 2 minutes. If it weren’t Sunday, we would have gone home licking a dragon one ourselves…

A crazy “Rudolph” catfish we found at the port.

Jordan in front of one of the cool palaces close to our house.

Following a tradition for their Autumn Holiday, we got to write our wishes on a hot air balloon and release them over the river. It was so pretty to watch our wishes float up and away over the city. It kind of reminded me of a Mary Poppins scene, except more romantic after the initial scare that a truck would run it over when ours first decided to float down instead of up! It got over that obstacle and is now somewhere waiting to get our wishes processed! ;) Next time we’ll wait for enough hot air!

I’m sure we’ll find things we don’t like so much (such as unfavorable food and foul smells), but why not bask in the glory of China’s honeymoon phase?!

So, for the time being, I’ll try to keep you updated on all of the good…and interesting things that we find here. But really, you ought to come and hear the “Wu Flung Poo, zhege, zhege” for yourself!

Back to the Future

2010-09-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

Saying Goodbye stinks...

BUT, we made it part way and

right now we're sitting in the Seoul, Korea airport waiting for our plane to China...

Crazy, but we got on the plane at midnight on Thursday....

...and now it's Saturday morning.

We literally skipped all of Friday...

Weird/Awesome.

I like what I see so far!

Anyways, can't wait to post something in China...because that means we'll have figured out how to get past their firewall!

Come Fly with Me, Let's Fly....Let's Fly Away!!!

2010-09-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Jordan and I flew back to the good old United States...

...and boy does it feel good to be back!

We LOVED Brasil, and I'm sure we'll like China too...

but there's just something special about being HOME.

...Being home in your own country...

...Home eating peaches and strawberries...

(plus almost everything bad for us...we're not worried...we're going to CHINA! The shock diet starts next week.)

...Home playing with our pets and animals (the ones at my house are becoming increasingly geriatric. No joke, my dog has diapers! )...

...Home watching hometown parades and crying when the grand old flag or veterans pass by...

plus

...fixing up our old cars...

...catching up with a baby niece and a toddler nephew...

...camping and riding quads...

...hiking...

...shopping...

...road trips...

...watching football games...
...beach days...
...general laziness...

and most importantly

...Spending time at HOME with FAMILY.

And that is my favorite part.

We also celebrated my 23rd Birthday last week. This year marked the first year I can ever remember feeling OLD on my Birthday. Gross!!! Hopefully that feeling goes away and never comes back. Because, I have a plan...I'm going to go up to 29 like normal, then just count my way back and forth through the twenties for every decade of my life. Sounds great to me!

What do you think?

Despite this new icky feeling inside ;), my Birthday was nothing short of AMAZING!

We celebrated on Sunday with the most beautiful cake made by Kara, my awesome SIL, after a wonderful lunch of my favorite things!

On Monday, I spent almost the whole day on a Shopping trip with my Mom...which we all know makes for the perfect day.

In the middle of the day, Jordan swooped me off for the most wonderful surprise....he chartered a plane to take me flying over St. George, Kolob and Zion's National Park!

There was an extra seat, so my Dad got to come and even flew the plane! I think he's dreaming of a new retirement career in aviation as we speak!

The breathtaking views and exciting adventure (especially for a flatlander like myself) made for an experience I will never forget!

And as if the day, couldn't get any better, Jordan's Mom took the family to see "Tarzan" at Tuachan. WOW! That show was definately one of the best performances I have ever been to!

Thank-you everyone for such a fun Birthday! I had a blast and I love you all!

Now, we'll enjoy being HOME a little longer before we have to fly away to China!

I will try to get caught up with Brazil and post a few pictures of our vacation here, but it will probably take a while for us to get set up in the far East...so until then...

"Once I get you up there where the air is rarified

We'll just glide, starry-eyed

Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near

You may hear angels cheer 'cause we're together

Weather-wise it's such a lovely day

You just say the words and we'll beat the birds

Down to Acapulco Bay

It's perfect for a flying honeymoon, they say

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away!"

Parabéns Nathan!!!

2010-09-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

"Parabéns a você, nesta data querida.

Muitas felicidades, muitos anos de vida.

Hoje é dia de festa, cantam as nossas almas.

Para o menino Nate-dog, uma salva de palmas!"

Happy Birthday, Nate! You're the best!!!

xoxo, MJ

PS Everyone- we fly back to the states in less than 24 hours!!!

Tchao Brasil....Wei China!!!

Beatles in Brazil...

2010-08-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

Although we do have a ton of beatles, cockroaches and other interesting insects down here, this post is about some beatles of a different variety...

THE BEATLES!

Since starting at our company, I have worked off and on with a writer and a musician to record some songs for Wizard's new language books. It's been quite the experience, as I've loved performing my whole life...but have never made a CD or anything....Besides, who wouldn't love singing songs about burgers and fries, the weather, prepositions or long lost loves?

Exactly.

Martha, the lyric writer, happens to be a very successful owner of her own Skill language school and always throws fun activities for the community through her students. She invited me to sing some Queen songs at her next school concert, as she's been a witness to plenty of silly "Jam sessions" where Rafael (amazing musician/music writer) and I rocked out to some of their classics. I LOVE QUEEN. But, as a last minute change, I had to sing Beatles, which I've never tried to listen to, since they seemed too cliche and I grew up with my Dad jokingly calling them "The Beatless."

Newsflash:

I LOVE them too.

The concert was great.

Kids sang tons of classics...

Teenagers belted out some sweet ballads...

Rafael and his right hand man had some sweet guitar/piano solos...

and I got to sing a few songs as a guest artist with one of my
favorite gal pals, Cris, backing me up.(Cris and I...she's our black momma of the office and I love her!)

(Our support group/fan club...we like to keep it small and extra special ;)...Thanks J!)

Everybody giggled over my Portuguese...

(Rafael: Psychologist by day, musician by night and friend to both of us!)

The funniest thing about the entire shindig was a series of events near the end. I had just finished the concert with "A Little Help from my Friends"and I heard Martha asking Rafael if we could do another song... some Queen this time.

My interest was peaked...BUT...

No practice...

No Music...

No nothing...

So, I said, "Oh, we don't know right now, maybe next time...." thinking I was golden and done being nervous for the night.

Then, the next thing I know, Miss Martha is up there announcing that the American will be up momentarily with an encore performance of Bohemian Rhapsody.

What?!

Holy impromptu and outrageous fear of slaughtering an epic song. But, it turned out pretty dang cool, thanks to a perfect guitar solo from this guy and a quick rearrangement of the song cutting out all of the crazy choral parts in the middle.

I wouldn't say it was thunder bolts and lightning...

but it wasn't very very frightening and I did feel like a Rock Star!

I'm so glad I kept a cassette tape of Queen in the Mustang

for all those years....Thank-you Emily...sorry Vandenberg Village neighbors. ;)

(Me, Martha and Cris)

In the end, The Beatles by Skill concert was such a fun night and I was grateful for the opportunity to do something creative again.

So, stay tuned for when you can hear my sweet melodies about Burgers and Fries...

I'm sure they'll make my Mom's Top 20.

;)

Rio de Janeiro...

2010-08-04T06:46:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago we got to go on our first married get-away together....to Rio de Janeiro!!! It was our dream get away for a long weekend and we enjoyed every minute of it!

We left Thursday night at about midnight for an adventurous night bus ride and arrived in Rio de Janeiro just as the sun got there too.

I can still remember getting in the taxi, winding around some roads in a more "urban" (or ghetto...however you want to say it) area. Then, all of the sudden, we came around this curve and it was like the whole city opened up and I could see the Cristus for the first time. Beautiful memories...

We stayed at a hostel about two blocks from Ipanema beach. It was great, with hammocks on the roof, a room to ourselves and plenty of interesting people to talk to.

We went to Ipenema Beach our first day there...My theme song the week before was "The Girl from Ipanema," so I wanted to test it out.

I think I was a little too white and overdressed to be that girl...but that's ok. I guess I can be the Gringa from Ipanema!

We walked the beach nearly end to end and got some good R&R...

And realized that it was my first time in the Atlantic Ocean!!!

Had to show the Brazil flops for proof...

That afternoon we took off for Pão de Açúcar.

It was perfect timing, because we got to see the sites by

day and night and see a gorgeous sunset!

On top of the first island mountain, we saw our first wild monkey of the three on this trip...So glad that happened because seeing a random monkey was on my bucket list for Brazil and I hadn't seen one yet. Monkey....check.

There's always a whole lotta of suga' on the sugar loaf!

We ran around and saw the sites, then caught the gandola just in time to get to the higher mountain before sunset...

Overlooking Cococabana and the centro side of Rio...
We kept having to play chicken with the clouds...lots of our pictures came out like this...

I guess that's what you get when you're IN them!

There were some pretty views to be seen!

One of my favorite parts of the experience was at sunset....These billowing clouds were hovering just at the tops of the mountains, and as the sun set, the clouds lowered just enough to see Christ standing. If that's anything like the second coming will look like...that will be one dazzling day!

I had another picture when it was slightly lighter than this and zoomed in...and it totally looked like a super blurry version of the picture we have in the forrier of almost

every LDS church of the second coming...

I would have included it, but Jordan said it would probably be good to not have over 50 pics on here...so I settled for the high 40's and it unfortunately didn't make the cut.

The next day we set out to find Cristus Redentor...

and happened to find a sweet old house we both agreed on...

and rode on a train that took us all the way up the mountain...

Silly tourists...

I read on a travel tip site that if you sit on the back right, facing backwards, you get the greatest views....and they weren't lying!

We got up to the top and enjoyed a great afternoon with 360 views and the towering Cristus statue behind us...

...Foi Maravilhoso...

We tried to battle the tourists and get some good pictures with Him...

(which really means J had to put up with me asking a random stranger...or making him ask...if they could try and get a picture)

This one was from a lady who lied on the ground for us...so nice...but we still couldn't get our heads and His together...

So we went down to another look-off, sat dangerously close to the edge of a wall seperating us and a cliff and got one with all of us...and walked away happy...

...to the end of a look out with the entire bay...

You can tell it was sunny **squint**...but don't you love those seemingly floating mountains?!

We also saw monkey #2 here...so the day pretty much couldn't have been better!

On our last day there we went to this awesome fair, where we bought some sweet stuff, including these necklaces that they made on site. J and I even got to pick out the stone combo's...One for me and one for him...

Just kidding, he got a wallet! ;)

Then we headed off for our 3rd Omni-bus adventure (which are awesomely efficient there) and found the Botanical Gardens...where there were beautiful trees, crazy trees like this one with questionable balls on them...

flowering trees...
trees of unusual size (if you haven't noticed, we love all things in giant porportions)...

pretty fountains and palm "hallways"...

and J's favorite, Bamboo. Great thing we're moving to China, right?!

This also happens to be Bamboo of unusual size, if you can't tell... ;)

The Botanical Gardens were started by the King in the early 1800's and were the Royal family's own gardens for quite some time.

That's why you can find awesome pieces of classic architecture like these ones...

Classy...

And...our 3rd...that's right, third monkey sighting of the trip. And this time there were 4 of them...Can you find the monkey in this picture?

When you look up, all of the mountains look like this...

Beautiful forests everywhere...

Which we loved to explore...

...and found waterfalls!!

The gardens also had some interesting swirli cacti, that fought

with the bamboo to be Jordan's favorite...

As we were leaving I noticed these little lovelies...

And thought their choice of naked dancing statues

by the entrance was intriguing...

Then, we got to finish off the trip by spending some

quality time with the locals, fishing by the moonlight in what

I like to think is the real "Rio de Janeiro"....

(Aren't the flavela and mountain in the background great?! I feel like

this briefly depicts life for manywho live there.)

Later that night we came home via the Night Bus (first class this time...for any of you traveling by night omnibus in the near future, it is worth the extra R$12 [US $6]. We both slept almost the entire time!) and returned to enjoy a relaxing day off in our temporary home of Campinas.

We are so glad we got some time off and have been able to explore one of the greatest places in Brazil. Iguazu Falls and Manaus (for the Amazon and there lovely pink dolphins) are also on our bucket lists...but we aren't worried... because I'm sure we'll be back!

Aubrey is 5!!!

2010-08-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

On Sunday one of the cutest little
girls in the world turned 5!!!Happy Belated Birthday, Aubrey!

I love YOU!

xoxo,

Aunty Mimi

We're leaving on a Night Bus.....

2010-07-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

To go HERE...

Vida e boa. ;)

Have a fantastic weekend, everybody!

Ulien & Hastings Fun...

2010-07-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here in Brazil, we've had plenty of opportunities to meet some really great people.

Meet Hayley and Nat Ulien:

This is Nat and Hayley at Shopping Don Pedro, the biggest mall in latin america (with suprisingly big prices too!).

They are a particularly awesome couple that moved here from BYU-Hawaii. He's from Haiti, she's from the San Diego and they are starting there adventures back in Haiti this week as they invest more of their time in their non-profit organization, The Ulien Academy. Their academy will be a great resource for the people of Haiti....a place where the people can grow, learn to provide for themselves and their families and ultimately pay their good fortune forward as the country is trying to piece itself back together. The Academy's theme follows the old saying, "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for life."

You can visit their site here and see all of the good things they are up to!

During our friends' stay in Brazil, we got to do a few super fun things with them...

My favorite was going to Festa de Junina!

We got to hear some great live music, eat lots of food from our pick of TONS of food booths, ride an awesome "how fast did they put this up?" ride, watch two thousand Brazillians pretend to be cowboys (probably from Porto Alegre...haha, Dad!) and even got to dance a little bit! Thank-you J, I know how you don't like that... ;)

Heck yeah! We went on that!!!

This boy loves his churrascaria!

Of course we had to visit our favorite park, Parque Portugal, while they were here...

What with their sweet Bellagio fountain set-up...
...coconut milk....
...& swan rides, what more could you ask for?!!

I tried to teach Hayley the fine art of maxin' and relaxin' in the swan......but she chose to take pictures instead...which she is really great at, by the way!We got to try some different Brazillian fare this time too... Ginormous Brazillian Hot Dogs.
Now, these put our little dodger dogs to shame...and sadly, I even think they've got a little something on J-Dawgs in Provo...although I'm sure some of you (Jordan & Nic) might beg to differ...

...I just think there's something fantastic about getting the hot dawg partially up your nose when you bite down...

Come on America, where were you on that detail?

I thought you would enjoy a picture of the capivaras

getting a little offended when I got a smidge too close...

By far, the fastest I've ever seen them move.

Don't you think they kind of look like cute little pig/dog/deer/rat animals?

I do.

So, what have you done with your friends lately? We miss you and want to do something fun with you very soon.... ;)

8 MONTHS!!!

2010-07-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday was our 8 Month Anniversary!

We are docking some serious marital time now...soon, I'm sure we'll know all there is to know about marital bliss...;)

Just kidding...we have SO much to learn, but are loving every step of our journey.

And remembering times like these, when I come home from work to this...

Jordan surprised me with my favorite things:

Creamy Peanut Butter...my favorite and a very very hard item to find south of the border. It was so special too because he thinks crunchy is better, but I know that creamy is the superior form of peanut buttery goodness...and he got the creamy kind anyways.
Flowers...I have loved having flowers here. Brazil has all kinds of gorgeous flowers blooming all the time. However, there is something special about having flowers in your room and by your door when you can't decorate otherwise. It was also perfect timing, because the next morning we woke up to find our other flowers raped by ants of unusual size and number. I will not surrender these beauties to those monsters this time!
Titanic. We've pretty much doubled our DVD collection while being here by purchasing two movies: Casablanca (can't believe I've waited this long to see that!) and Titanic. These are great for room dates and will be great additions to our tiny library of Pride and Prejudice, The Princess Bride, Robin Hood and Single's Second Ward. Haha....
Chocolate. Cookies and Cream.....enough said.
Candles. 8 is great candles, to say the least. Jordan mentioned that they were not only for the atmosphere, but acted as some sort of shrine for the peanut butter. :)

So we shared our plate of homemade chicken fetachini in style...in our room, away from our 7 roommates...with J's sweet surprise.

Thank-you, J.

You are the best!

Here's to many more months, years and eternities of happiness, learning and sweet surprises.

xoxo

Boys...

2010-07-15T06:52:00.000-07:00

I came home from work the other night to find this little lovely by the door...

I didn't think much of it at first...

...maybe Jordan decided to take up whittling?...

...a lumpy bubble bath?....

When I asked J what it was, he said he couldn't find the laundry detergent...

...too funny NOT to share...

BUT, so grateful the hubster helps so much. Thanks J!

So, what are some of your fun domestic boy (or girl) stories?

Paulistano Weekend...

2010-07-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

Jordan and I got to pretend we were Paulistanos for a quick weekend trip to Sao Paulo City, one of the largest cities in the world. We had a great time just soaking up the atmosphere, eating delicious food, visiting friends and of course, doing a little shopping!

While driving around, I found this sweet wall that I thought represented the inner city portions of Brasil. It can be sort of rough on the outside and in the streets, but when you look through its window, there´s a colorful culture and beautiful way of life waiting to be discovered.

But let's not get too deep here.... ;)

The morning we arrived, we went to a market that was in our friend, Flavio´s, old neighborhood.

Best little farmer´s market I´ve been to in my life!

We ate yummy pastels from this year´s top voted pastel stand. I thought it was funny that it was run by Asians. Dang they are good at almost everything they do!

Normally I wouldn´t note the ethnicities of people around me. But here, it´s a little different. For example, if you see another blondie you have to instantly assume that they are either Alemão (German) or don´t speak of lick of Portuguese and are just tourists...

BUT I have to admit that ever since we found out that we´re moving to China, we get all excited and can´t help but whisper "Asian!" to each other whenever we happen to see one. Rascists? Definately not. Excited? Heck yes!

Besides culturally diverse pastels, they had rows and rows of the most delicious fruit...

Bananas as far as the eye could see...

Papaya...

My personal Brazilian favorite, FRUTA DO CONDE!

Looks borderline monstrous on the outside, but once you get on the inside, it literally melts in your mouth like pure sugar....mmmmhmmmm...so good.

Carambola...which turned out to be the simpler answer to what I thought was a Brasilian friend´s hours of handywork cutting star shaped fruit for their salad.

And boy did I find out how good the fruit was there! I got free tastes and treats at all the stands where they were calling out "Loira, loira!"

Then, Jordan would come around and they would always stop giving samples.

Dang it. ;)

This guy was one of my favorites, as he wanted me to try the fruits we have in California and see if they were good there.

Does California have melancia? Yes.

Did I get a sample and is it wonderful in Brasil too? Yes and yes.

Aside from fruit, the market also had flowers, freshly caught fish and the occasional chicken feet bin like the one you see under the nice butcher man below.

Oh yes, and wee little piggie and cow feet too...

Now, I want to know if all of you Stouts raising pigs and cows out there are planning on using them that efficiently...

We also got to see the same group of velho men playing games on the little cement table on the street where we stayed. They were pretty dedicated, as I saw them playing there that morning, that afternoon and the next morning...

So, I decided to make friends.

But, I don´t think they were used to strange foreign girls playing...they kept laughing. I somehow think that that was related to me saying that I was an English teacher to the question that Jordan later informed me was "where are you from?" Oops.

The next day we went to Venti-sinco de Marco street, where we´ve heard rumors of shopping galore. I went fully expecting to spend all of the reals in my pocket, but ended up noticing that nearly everything was made in the country that we´re moving to in two months...so I only spent R$31 (the equivalent of about $16), as we figured we could wait and buy something that really represents where we've been living for the last 4 months. However, it wasn´t a total loss because I got to ride my first Brasilian subway (an experience in itself), see some beautiful scenery while on the ride and just enjoy being around a TON of awesome, cultural people and places....besides, I still can´t resist a good scarf and some cute hair doo-das reguardless of if I wanted them to be made in Brasil or not.

Because somebody else would be enjoying my camera now if I took it, this is the only pic of anything related to that shopping trip...

I´m naming it "Produzido na China."

The end.

So, I want to know... how was your weekend? Give me the details of your lives...we miss all of you so much!

Making Bread...

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

Jordan and I love bread...especially that of the homemade variety. We're pretty much carboholics. Unfortunately, when you move to a different country, almost everything you need for your cooking and baking needs is completely different...and I'm not just talking about google translating the ingredient list! The "farinha de trigo" (flour) is different, we don't have measuring cups or measuring utensils (you have to develop some serious skills at "eyeing" everything), the yeast is slimey, nobody can seem to explain the difference between baking powder and baking soda (which is slightly problamatic with some baking) and don't even get me started on the sugar. BUT, I hadn't made any good old fashioned bread since Jordan and I were dating...so, I gave it a shot last week and this is what I came out with... Aside from the different shape and taking over 4 1/2 hours to rise, it tasted pretty good! And Jordan approved...
(Please excuse the messy kitchen...I live with 5 boys)

So guess what I'm making again today?

Rice, beans and.....bread.

Maybe I'll get the hang of this international cooking thing after all!