...Surviving week one.

I have not mastered my  new set up to add photos - hopefully they will come soon.
We survived a whole week!  Phew!
Most of us bounced quickly back from the time change, although if I sit back to relax any time after 8 o'clock I am instantly asleep.
The kids have loved exploring in the backyard.  Ethan begs each day to go to the ocean and find a fish to put in the pond, while Sabrina tells him it will just die.  Salt water vs fresh water does not penetrate a 5 year old mind.
Emma tromps through the mud and on to the trampoline often.

We found a house to rent, we are just waiting on the process to finish.  Honestly, I am not holding my breath, so far everything is very complicated.  It took us days to get our cell phones figured out.  Weeks to figure out the banking.  I can't imagine the hoops to jump through for a house.
Today, step #2 gets underway.  Finding two cars.
So far the biggest adjustment has been the obvious things.  Weather.  Man, it is chilly.  We already figured out if the weather says southerlies - we are in for misery.  But, it has been pretty nice the last couple days, so we are hoping spring has sprung and we are on our way to warmer days.   The other adjustment, food.  Ethan is by far struggling the most.  The crackers, etc do not have near the salt and sugar content.  A good thing, unless you are five and just want a darn wheat thin!  We bought a bottle of soda for them, and it has sugar in it, but it is not nearly as sweet as what they are used to finding.  Even the "drinking chocolate" lacks gusto.  And they all pucker when they eat the yogurt.  I think its great.  And the fruit is amazing.
It is so beautiful.  We are right by the ocean, maybe a five minute walk away.  The sun is popping out, and we are going to go out for a walk and see what we can find.

...Lots and lots of paper.

This stack of papers is the MEDICAL portion only of our visa application for the six of us.  It likely goes without saying that we have spent the bulk of our summer holiday in the doctor's office or hospital!!  One of the nurses at the hospital saw us all parading in to the radiology department and said, "Let me guess..New Zealand?"  Wait, when does the fun start?

Just visiting for now....

We started out in crazy thick fog...driving on the wrong side of the road.  (I found a better photo, but I am too dingy to get it to switch.)  Admittedly, it was a more than a little stressful.  Slip roads and round-a-bouts where you drive the wrong direction!  But nobody died.

Tasman Sea.  This was the part where Rich really started regretting letting me talk him OUT of bringing the nice camera.

Rich really wanted to be with this totally crazy dude.  It's foggy because its cold...and he was getting very wet.

Oh, did I mention I loved this spot?  It was my first black sand beach. It did not disappoint.

The GPS was messing with us, but we enjoyed the detour.

We had a free day, so we started driving up along the coast towards the top of the island.  I loved this spot too!  I cannot wait to be there in the summer!  It was a bit breezy and only in the mid 50s.  Not my kind of swimming weather.

We did not pile these up.  Huge stretches of beach lined with shells.  It was insanely beautiful.

This was up by Bay of Islands.

It has already been an amazing adventure.  The food was delicious.  The city was gorgeous and very intimidating.  The traffic was nuts.  The people were super helpful.  The groceries were expensive.  The landscape was so varied and beautiful and we only saw a TINY piece.  We can't wait for next time to see more! and then more after that!!

...Making a Splash in Sunbeams.

So...Ethan is the most adorable little missionary looking guy who ever humiliated his parents in Primary.
Two examples:
Our lovely Primary gal doing sharing time is always trying to keep their attention by telling the kids to touch their heads if they have ever done this or that. She was on a big story about reading scriptures and books in general, trying to get them to touch their heads if they have ever done these things. Ethan is of course messing around with his buddy and their new little scripture cases. The teacher says "oh, Ethan, you aren't listening or you would be touching your head!" He looks up at her and says, "What?!? (the why are you bothering me kind of what...)My mom NEVER reads me any books!" Lovely. Of course every adult and most of the kids look right at me. Nice rep.

We were discussing prophets Sunday. Same teacher asks who knows who the prophet is. Ethan is jumping up and down on the front row with his little tie flipping around just begging to be called on. She is so nice, picks him, and he says super loud, full of confidence, President Barack Obama. NO, NO, NO please NO! He did not just say that in a room full of Happy Valley conservatives. Yes, he did. Bummer.

I suppose it is my fault because we have been through this whole thing about the President all week. For some reason he calls Michelle Obama, "she-bama", so I was trying to explain who they were and all. Bad timing I guess.

...What happens when Rich stays up too late...with Jimmy Fallon.

...Zero self control...

So, you know how when the kids get home with their Halloween candy, you are looking over the insanity as they are dumping it out and the big kids are talking the little ones in to trading...and comparing the number of "king size" candy bars they received? And you are totally disgusted by the amount of candy in your house?
Now then...
Imagine now, Richard and I at Target. Trying to buy some more plates for Thanksgiving. We wander past the candy row...and we have zero self control. 75% off candy! That never happens right? 20 pounds, AND ONLY $12 LATER, I am literally lugging the two big bags out of the cart to put them in the car. Only to arrive home and be so utterly disgusted and humiliated by us, I of course had to document our insanity.

And Richard took almost all of the candy to work to stick in the community candy jar.

Is there a therapist out there who deals strictly with totally insane people like us?

...Preschool Fieldtrips.

Ethan's first field trip to Hee Haws.

Ethan walked around the animal part of the farm with his arm over the back of this goat like it was his very own pet he fed from a bottle when it was a baby.









Who would have thought that corn could entertain 3 year olds for so long. They all ran around the corn maze searching for the cobs still on the stalks - or the ground - buried in the mud - anything.















Feats of strength. Ethan's current fun. What is the biggest pumpkin I can carry around? I don't know if it is worse here where it can smash all over the tile - or taking them from the big arranged pile at Hee Haws.

...Halloween #1

Halloween 2010. "The grown ups". We are not super halloween-ey folks. We finally decided Thursday we should figure something out for our party Friday. I swear in real life, my hair looked better. It was jet black with a couple flourescent purple streaks. And huge! My kids couldn't believe I got it so big.
So I guess the theory behind Halloween is that you try to dress in the stuff least like your own self. I think it is a curse for those of us - baggy jeans and tshirt with a the least amount of make-up you can get away with in your age bracket- type people. Note the pleather leggings. And giant shoes. Delaney was completely horrified that I had the leggings on. If you consider "You aren't actually going out of the house in those, right mom?" horrified. (The good news is I dug up something out of our old box to put over them.. I am not nearly that confident in my, uh...physique.) The kids were not super in love with Rich in makeup...or nail polish. Sabrina did not approve of the tatoo shirt. I super offended her.
We did have a super fun time and we were thrilled to wash our hair. Incidentally, I don't recommend pleather leggings playing Lazer Tag. Or the big boots for that matter. Bit toasty.

Rich looks a bit too natural, don't you think?

...Date Night

For our rare date the other night - we headed to the sports grill to watch our favorite boys in red kick some tail. I was admittedly a bit hesitant to watch football in public. Due to my...we'll call it passionate...nature when it comes to sports. We had such a fantastic time hanging out with all the other crazy Utah fans! I think I drank about 10 cokes. On the 10th I asked for diet. The waiter mocked me the rest of the evening. And put cherries in it to disguise the diet...

...Lemon memories.

I had this insane need to make a lemon cake the other day. I kept on adding lemon to the icing..trying to get it super lemoney. As I was serving up the cake, I realized that the reason I love lemon stuff is because it reminds me of my mom. Maybe I am a total idiot for not coming to this realization earlier. I just love it when things pop in to your mind and make you happy - just because you happened to buy a cake mix on a whim. (The depressing part of this will catch up to me later, but for now, good memories of all things lemon.)

...Mastering play dates.

Ethan and his friend Ethan were out playing in the yard. I was working out there and keeping an eye on them. They got bored of the sand/water mess, and started hiding in the bushes playing good guy, bad guy.
I hear Ethan tell his buddy, all exasperated, that he is Darth Vader and he HAS to call him "MASTER".

What is to become of this crazy dude?

...Wahooo!

This is a ridiculous thing to blog about after six weeks. However, it is such a momentous occasion, I have to do something to celebrate.

We finally have Delaney's pointe shoes! They fit! They have the little elastic thingeys on them...in an "X". They have the lovely shiny ribbons sewn on to make them look beautiful and official. She has the little bag of lambs wool to stuff in between her toes. All we need now is the giant blisters. She is ready to destroy her feet.

It seems silly, but it has been such a stress in my life for so long! We've made SO many trips back and forth to get them right, and then to get the bits sewn on. My mother-in-law is a saint for helping us. Truly.

(I will politely leave out the swearing, muttering, general crustiness, and finally the "that's it you are NOT going to do this" parts. We'll work on repressing all of that.)

...Okay, maybe we will miss it...

After Delaney danced her self sleepy today, we headed to the Dinosaur Museum. The kids had much more fun than I thought they would. We even talked Delaney into playing in the sand!





We ate at In n Out...which the kids love, because it used to just be a place to go in St George - perhaps the novelty will wear off when they realize there is one 10 mins away now.


Then we went to visit Grandma...because Delaney finally made it to point shoes. (I really don't get it - but she is VERY excited - is made it even the right word?) Anyway, the end result of this is: I know nothing about dancing. Everyone was so excited to see Grandma - they didn't even tear the shop up too much. ( I forgot to get a photo. I was too focused on the information about orthopedic specialists. Yikes.)


And then we visited Grandma Cora and Grandpa Jay. Where they all ate gummy bears and left with a soda, so they all had black cherry mustaches by the time we got home - just in the nick of time to start soccer practice. Yee haw!

I think we might just miss summer after all.

...What happens when D goes to the mall...

Of course, they are adorable...and every little girl she knows/tends stares at her in awe. How can you go wrong with gigantic green butterflies?

...Saturday nights...

We went to a demolition derby last night in Nephi.
It was so AWESOME! I wish I could have photographed the kids faces when the first big crashes happened. We all loved it. Lots of cars crashing...and PLENTY of people watching in between while the cars were being towed off.

...Park day, finally.

Last year we went almost every week to the park by Richard's office, and spent an hour or two. I am sad to say this was our first one this summer. Beautiful weather today, and dad was even available!

...Really bad ways to spend money.

Delaney got braces today! I am so sad that I didn't have my camera in my purse to get a photo of her with the huge red thing stretching out her mouth. Gorgeous.
All in all, she is pretty miserable. I am not sure whether it is the pressure/pain or the not-being-able-to-eat-caramel.

...Puppet Shows...

Now then, can you even believe this?!!?!? I dragged Emma home from her friends house, grabbed D from dance, threw a sandwich and a water bottle at Ethan in the back seat, and drove all the way to Orem to watch Sabrina's little class puppet show. It started at 12:30. I walked in the room at about 12:34 and my friend had a teary expression on her face and mouthed to me that I had missed it. 12:34!!!! Of course. It had to be Sabrina. She said oh, it doesn't matter...then the first thing she said to Richard when he got home was that I did not come to her puppet show. I feel like such a jerk. The darn teacher could have asked if anyone wasn't there yet - or Sabrina could have just volunteered the information - that I was coming. (Obviously, it was a VERY short puppet show, not a huge deal, but I have a feeling this will be mentioned often during those lovely little "you don't love me moments"...with the team of therapists my kids will have when they are 30.)

Incidentally, her teacher said, oh too bad you missed it. I will send you a photo. (Seriously?) I will post it if I get it.

...Bad attitudes...

Ethan told me tonight: "Mom, I have a bad attitude."

I was laughing and wondering where this little tidbit of truth came from.
We got the "old" version of the "Karate Kid" for the kids to watch this week - for a little family movie night. Apparently, Mr Miyagi tells the Karate Kid, those "boys have a bad attitude".

Smart little dude. He is a boy. So apparently, he has a bad attitude.

...What ever happened to the rules...

This is how the conversation went... (Between Rich and I)
RICH: "I went in to buy guinea pig food, and saw the most adorable baby guinea pig".
ME: ARE YOU CRAZY?
"No, really, she is SO cute. She is like, as tiny as my hand."
That's nice. No way.
"She is one of those that has the crazy hair. She is so small and soft."
Ohh, I bet she is cute. Forget it.
"But maybe it would be so GOOD for Sabrina".
Nice try. I do not want the huge cage/expense/etc.
"Really, she could have the responsibility. She would clean the cage, everything."
Oh yes, like Emma. Roll the eyes. No.
"Okay, we can talk about it tomorrow."
Tomorrow:
"So I was thinking of running over to the pet store today, want to come...Sabrina will be with you?"
(I see now, that was where I went wrong. )
The next day...
"I am just going to run over there since they were out of food the other day, what do you think?"
I think pretty much no.
"Well, I will just go see if she is still there."
Right, then we will decide. Call me so I can say NO again.
35 minutes later...
Welcome home Frizzi. Meet the family!