look smart be smart

if I was an x-man

2012-01-22T20:21:00.000-08:00

Rocky turned to me out of the blue a few months ago and told me if he could change one thing about me it would that I would have retractable tweezers that came out of my thumb--wolverine style. He went on to tell me how useful this would be in all sorts of random, not realistic situations.

I immediately dismissed it after saying something about how he was welcome to tape some tweezers to his own thumb and leave me out of it.

Then just today I decided I would be willing to get rid of my left arm if I could replace it with this:

My electronic mosquito zapper.

Then E and I wouldn't look like small pox survivors.

to my sweet, sweet girl

2012-01-19T04:22:00.000-08:00

These last few weeks I've been thinking about how much I love this girl. For almost three and a half years she has been the center of our lives. I went to the doctor today and he told me the new baby was coming soon. I'm not due for another three and a half weeks and I was a week late with E, so I don't really believe him but it made me stop and think about how all our lives are about to change.

I want E to know how much I love her. Since she was born I have felt like it was always she and I, together. She has become my best friend (which is something I never thought I would say about someone who still eats their own boogers.) We've lived together in five homes and three countries.

I love when she snuggles up to me and tells me, "I love you so much."

I love that she can't seem to grasp the pronoun "I." Yesterday on the way home from school, Abe was trying to get her to say, "I have a sandwich" instead of "me have a sandwich" and she finally just said, "Me 'ready said, me have sandwich. Me 'ready said it!"

I love how she says "hi" and sometimes "sah-wah-de-kah" to people we pass on the stairs or in the street. I love how she is so friendly. I love how if I point out someone she should play with, she really tries to play with them--no matter who they are, what language they are speaking or whether they are trying to run away from her.

I love how much she loves dinosaurs and how she is always asking new questions and wanting to learn more.

I love that she is a total sucker for fairy tales and loves the lame ones I make up for her.

I love that she loves books and is willing to stay in bed at night at the promise of a new book from my book fair stash.

I love how she runs into school everyone morning with a huge smile and runs out every afternoon, gives me a big hug and says, "Me miss you so much, Mommy!"

I love how much she just loves to play. To play at the park, to swim in the pool, to play with her friends. She plays as hard as anyone.

I love that she cares so much about others. The other day we were walking to the train station and we saw a lady sitting at the bottom of the stairs to the station, holding a cup. I'm embarrassed to say, unless I have change in my hand I want to get rid of, I usually just walk by. But that day E said, "Why that lady have no food, Mommy, me give her food?" I didn't realize she had picked up on so much. A few coins of baht is never going to matter to me--I find myself shoving them in E's piggy bank when my purse gets to heavy with coins anyway--I need to be less cynical and more willing to see things as she does.

I love that she thinks the word "cheeky" refers to someone having cheeks and is always pinching my cheeks and saying, "You so cheeky." I find especially funny as both the true meaning and her own meaning definitely describe her.

I love how excited she gets about simple things. Even though we swim almost everyday, when I tell her we can go, it's always like Christmas. Everyday when Rocky gets home from work I'm worried she's going to pee her pants from excitement.

I love her mischievous streak and that glint she gets in her eye when she's about to do something to make someone laugh or that might possibly get her in trouble.

I love how excited she is to meet her sister and how she often has conversation with my stomach--though they are always one sided and generally end up with the baby telling she can have something she's not supposed to or that she can go somewhere we just told her she couldn't.

I love her so much and have been so thankful for the time I have had to spend with her, just the two of us. She is so special and I feel so blessed to have her as my daughter--even when she tells the entire primary what she just did in the bathroom.

there's a plus side to everything.

2012-01-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

You know when your child says something and you feel like the best parent in the world? I have those moments a lot.
The other day E was chewing on something in her bedroom, I hadn't given her any food in a while and we have a serious ant problem so I was concerned.
Me: Hey, what are you eating?
E: My boogers. They way yummy!

Another day, while waiting for the bathroom.
E: Mommy, I have to pee lots. Like cows. Cows pee lots?

Sometimes having a three year old who doesn't speak clearly enough for anyone to understand--especially since English isn't the first language of most the people we're around--is a huge bonus. Like when she sees people wearing those hospital masks around and loudly asks why they don't have mouths.

nothing in particular

2012-01-15T02:20:00.000-08:00

Just a general update.

We're alive and loving Bangkok. The weather is nice 85-90 degrees. E started pre-school with Abe and loves it. We're getting settled, after three trips to Ikea, I've decided for our bank accounts sake, never to go again.

One of the best things about being here is Rocky's travel schedule. This week he went to Vietnam one morning and was back by the next night. The next day he went to Cambodia in the morning and was back later that same day. When we were in the states these trips could take 1-2 weeks--I could definitely get used to these shorter trips.

I'm still four weeks from having this baby and am starting to feel some pressure to come up with a name. A few months ago I made a deal with Rocky that I would name the girls and he would name the boys--banking of course on the idea that we may never have boys. I have since rescinded the offer and begged him to help me choose a name. We're still not close. I wouldn't be as worried but we would like to get that baby a visa/passport/birth certificate as fast as possible.

E asks to swim everyday, the pool in our complex isn't heated and if feels more like someone throws a few icebergs in it every morning. After a good 30 minutes swimming she comes out with her lips tinted blue. As I only occasionally put my feet in, we do our best swimming on Saturdays when the better parent, Rocky, is around. Our big accomplishment yesterday was E jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side her self and then later swimming a few laps across the pool--she has to keep moving to ward off hypothermia.

Here are some pics in case you forgot what we looked like (there are no pictures of me of course but yesterday Rocky compared me to a whale, so just imagine that. In his defense he said I could exchange that comparison for a walrus, should I choose):

christmas

2012-01-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

when you can't have a white Christmas

2011-12-31T23:31:00.000-08:00

The best option is clearly to go to the beach.

Since there was no way an airline was going to let Amy or me on an 18 hour flight at 32 and 34 weeks pregnant, we were going to be celebrating Christmas in Thailand. Luckily we had some family willing to make the marathon flight out to spend it with us. A few hours after my parents and younger siblings landed in Bangkok, we headed back to the airport to catch a quick flight to the beach.

Nok Airways briefly debated not letting Amy and I on the flight but after we agreed to see and pay for a visit to the airport doctor--who cleared us to fly, they gave us our boarding passes.

E had spent the last few weeks of fog and cold weather in Switzerland planning everything she would do when we got to the beach. Here are some of the things we got to:

Not actually on our list--but it would have been if we had known elephants take baths in the ocean.

Last summer, E spent her time at the beach playing only in the sand and avoiding the water, this time she found a new love, body surfing in the waves.

Thanks to a letter from my brother Sam, on a mission, where he said Hannah didn't have it in her to bungy jump, we made a quick pit stop that Rocky took advantage of.

And so did Hannah.

And then it was time to go home.

you know...

2011-12-25T20:28:00.001-08:00

You know you're looking especially pregnant when the airline makes you go to the airport hospital for a doctor's visit before they will let you on a one hour flight....even after you promise not to have the baby on their airplane.

a visit from santa

2011-12-15T05:16:00.000-08:00

We made it to Bangkok just in time for our new building's Christmas party. E could barely sit still she was so excited. After just barely touching down on her seat, she asked if she could go dance. No one else was dancing but there was Christmas music playing so I agreed. For a few minutes she danced by our table, then she recruited her cousins to go up front with her. She spent the rest of the night jumping and dancing a way--getting more damp than what is just normal. The quote that sums her up lately was from a new neighbor, "Well, she's definitely not an introvert."

She loves introducing herself to people. Whenever we meet someone new, she sticks out her hand and says, "Ewisfart. mefree." I then translate.

We love being so close to family.

A little later in the party, Santa came to visit. I'll spare you the 30 second video of sheer excitement, as this picture pretty much sums it up. Just imagine a lot of jumping and cheering.

Abe was not nearly as impressed.

some art

2011-12-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

Before I forget.

our last weekend in europe

2011-12-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Our last weekend (and Rangi, Sara, Roman and Michelle's) in Europe we drove up to Munich. We ended up driving two cars, one a giant, rented van that still made it over 100 on the autobahn (100 kph).

Our first stop was the Dachau Concentration Camp. I went with my family about ten years before and since I still remember some of the images I saw in the museum, I opted to stay out and walk around with E. I believe concentration camps are important historical places, but by no means are visits there easy or pleasant. Being in a place were so much human suffering happened, makes all your problems seem insignificant and your simplest blessings great.

After Dachau we headed into Munich for the Christmas Market. When I found out we were leaving December 1st, I was a little bummed when I thought we would miss the famous European Christmas Markets. Luckily they start the week before December. We enjoyed some delicious bratwurst and briefly considered buying a hand carved nativity, we decided not to when we realized we didn't have a couple thousand euros just waiting to be spent. Instead we stuck to waffles and smaller ticket items.

E asked to have her picture taken with these lions and since she continues to be such a cheerful traveler we were happy to oblige. If she seems a bit distracted, it's because we weren't the only one's taking her picture. Somehow within seconds of posing she was discovered by quite a few camera wielding tourists.

The next morning we went to the local Munich Ward, Rangi and Sara were impressed by the headsets and translation, Rocky and I were counting down to church in English, and E had no problems in nursery because she speaks German (she doesn't really she just insists she does).

I had a once in a lifetime drive planned for us through the Black Forest but failed to account for travel time and the reality that in the winter the Black Forest is pitch black by 5:30 pm. We did make it to one castle, unfortunately it was turned into a Christmas Market and only small parts were open. We probably should have been tipped off by the hoards of people on the half mile stairs/hike. Speaking of the hike, I wished I brought some kind of adult stroller, so I could've been carried up like E.

Then we drove home, sent off our guests, packed our bags, shipped some boxes, bought chocolate in bulk, paid some baggage fines to Swiss Air, and left Switzerland for Thailand--where we hope to have many more adventures, like a new baby.

we're here

2011-12-08T05:32:00.000-08:00

I don't have any pictures yet but we're alive and loving Bangkok. The American/European imported grocery store is comparably priced with our local Swiss grocery stores. I bought some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a new supply of American peanut butter, to replace mine, which was taken away at security (I tried to keep it, begged and pleaded and possibly cried). The local markets are so cheap I keep thinking I'm doing the conversion wrong (maybe I am--wouldn't be the first time).

After several trips to Carrefore and a trip to Ikea, we are starting to feel moved in--we even bought a Christmas tree. We momentarily considered the real, imported, 3 foot tree for $300 dollars but went with a fake, much cheaper model. We're doing our best to get in the Christmas spirit while the weather's in the 80-90's--which is actually fantastic for Bangkok.

As much as Rocky and I love Bangkok, times it by a million for E. She is in complete Heaven. Every day this week we have played with cousins and new friends. She loves wearing flip flops and short sleeves and everyday when she gets dressed she says, "Way warm here." As if to remind me we live in Bangkok and she can wear whatever she wants. She does walk around all day as wet as if she just climbed out of the pool--I'm hoping she adjusts to that--but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, she just got mad at Rocky for turning up the AC, "No Daddy, too cold." She clearly fits in well.

Some of her quotes from the past week:
Upon getting of the airplane, she threw both hands into the air and said, "This place warm! This place have bright sun! Me like this place!"

When we went to check out the local preschool, Mary, her cousin, explained some of the rules to her,
"You can't speak Thai, only English."
E: "But me only speak German."

After a day of playing at cousins I told her it was time to go home, she immediately dissolved into fits, and cried, "No! Me no want to go back to Switzerland!"

We loved our time in Switzerland and all the traveling we were able to do but we excited and feeling very blessed for the new adventures we will have in Thailand. And we're excited also that we won't be moving for at least another year. Hopefully.

goodbye switzerland

2011-11-30T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hello Bangkok!

All our bags are ready and we're waiting for our taxi to come get us for the airport for our 11 hour flight. We have four new movies on the iPad for E. Hopefully some sleeping happens as well, since we're flying through the night.

We've promised E we can go swimming if she's not too crazy on the flight. Wish us luck!

rome

2011-11-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

Are you feeling overloaded by posts? I'm sorry, I'm trying to get caught up before we move to Bangkok...tomorrow. It probably won't happen but I'm putting in some effort anyway. After Venice we took the train down to Rome. None of us had ever been and it was amazing to say the least. We got in late at night and headed out early the next morning, walked around a corner and there was the Coliseum and the end of the street. Rocky was in heaven.

The whole city is amazing. We spent two days and felt as though we'd barely scratched the surface. Here are some of the pictures--though I should confess after I saw how much effort Roman was putting into all his pictures, I stopped putting any effort into mine. I think he said something about dropbox. Or maybe I'm just hoping he did.

st martins day

2011-11-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

For St. Martins Day, E made a lantern in school. They put a tea light inside and took them for a walk outside. I noticed her tea light was never lit, her teacher told me she kept reminding them to be 'way, way careful' with fire. This is a serious improvement from six months ago when she started her room on fire.

Another day they made stained glass windows from tissue paper. When I asked her what it was she gave me another name. I'm not sure it if it's a German word or one she made up herself. Maybe she really does speak German...probably more likely it's a speech impediment. We love her so much!

unfortunately

2011-11-28T01:57:00.000-08:00

We didn't actually need this translated, we already know what it means.

venice

2011-11-23T03:23:00.000-08:00

Two of Rocky's brothers and their wives came to see us (well came to see Europe) and we headed off to spend the weekend in Italy. Since we leave for Bangkok next week, we're running out of time (energy and money) to see Europe. This was our last chance for Italian pizza, pasta and gelato--we tried to have as much as possible.

This picture sums up a lot of our time in Europe, E wearing something colorful and crazy, running around with the birds, while a stranger takes pictures of her.

When she got dressed that morning Rocky said to me, "I don't think she could have anymore colors on." I didn't think she'd heard but she went over, took off her plain white socks and replaced them with orange and green Halloween ones, walked over to Rocky and said, "Look, Dad, more colors!"

I will admit the benefit to her wardrobe choices is it's always easy to pick her out of a crowd--which comes in handy more than I'd like.

Highlights of the trip:

E loved the pigeons as always. She runs around and around trying to catch them but if they try to land on her she freaks out and starts crying.

We loved getting to be with family, even if only for a few days. Also, a gondola ride is a lot cheaper when split three ways.

Venice was beautiful, the narrow alleyways and canals were like no place we've been. We're glad we stopped, even if one restaurant did charge us 2 euros a person for tap water.

istanbul

2011-11-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

Two days before we left for France, Rocky was asked to get to Istanbul as soon as he could. He decided it was best to fly out of Paris on our way home, rather than take the train all the way back to Zurich. I started looking for cheap flights right away. There were three main reasons I wanted to go:

1. I didn't want to have to take the train home with just me and E.
2. Since Rocky was coming back to Switzerland only to catch a flight to Bangkok, I wanted to minimize the time spent on my own, and 8-plus days was sounding a little hard.
3. I wanted to go to Istanbul.
4. Rocky said Memo Okur was somewhere in Turkey--I never saw him in Salt Lake my chances had to be better in Turkey.

We spent the next two days checking every way to get E and me to Istanbul--night train, miles, cheap flights. We couldn't seem to get anything to work. By the night before we left, I had almost given up. Rocky said we should try using our Delta miles one more time. He called and worked some serious charm and before I knew it E and I had tickets leaving Paris and returning to Zurich for significantly less miles than we'd ever imagined. We called it a miracle.

In Switzerland, E is either ignored or, when she does something really unusual like planking on the grocery store floor--silently stared at. In Turkey, she was treated as a celebrity. Everywhere we went people gave her toys or candy. Strangers were always asking for kisses and one woman fawned over E in tears (she kept trying to tell me something, but she didn't speak English and I don't speak any Turkish).

For the first few days, E soaked it all in. It quickly went to her head and she started bossing all of us around and expecting special treatment--like jumping off thousand year old artifacts while the security guard laughed and told her how cute she was. After a while she got sick of it. When people would smile and come over to talk to her she would either run away or just start crying. Luckily, by then it was time to leave.

There was so much to see in Istanbul, we barely scratched the surface. But I have found myself a much more cautious traveler when it's just me and E. Our favorite sites: Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar.

We went to the Bazaar on our last day and only had a couple of hours to spend before we had to catch our flight. I was expecting it to be like the other flea markets we've been to or maybe like Chatachuk in Bangkok--where there is some neat things but a lot of touristy knick-knacks. It wasn't.

It was amazing. So many fine goods and all for bargaining prices. We were overwhelmed. There was everything from hand woven carpets and pillows, leather goods, scarves, hand painted pottery, mosaic lamps and tiles. We'd barely made it inside before we had to leave. If I ever win the lottery, I will probably spend it entirely in that one place.

These giant lamps were my favorite. I didn't get one and I've regretted it since, as far as light fixtures go, they were pretty cheap--about $100-150 for the large ones. Next time Rocky goes to Turkey, I'm sending him back to the Bazaar. Any one else want one?

quotes

2011-11-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

Our little girl has gone from tiny newborn, to stubborn toddler and now to bossy three year old who plays by her own rules.

She always seems to be saying something hilarious, usually when she's dead serious. Here are some quotes from the last week.

While going through security at the airport in Paris, the security agent tried to strike up a conversation with her.
Agent: Hi little girl, do you speak English?
E: No, I speak German, just German.

She's sticking to her story, and though she finally admits she's from America and not a country called German-A, liked she previously said, she still refuses to believe she speaks English.

E: Mom, what kind of animal makes Coke?
Me: Humans.
E: What does my little lamby make?
Me: Kebabs.

While powering through her third yogurt of the day (she's on her second set of six for five days),
Rocky: Do you like yogurt?
E: (Sighing) No, I like my daddy.

The other day we made cup cakes and while making the frosting, I turned around to find her spooning it into her mouth as fast as she could.
Me: Stop! You can't eat frosting with a spoon, it will make you sick.
E: Eating it with a fork make me better?
Me: No.
E: Knives?

bayeux

2011-11-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

We stayed in the town of Bayeux while in Normandy.

The Cathedral is almost a thousand years old. We took a walk inside and E sat down on a bench right in front of this painting.

It's Thomas Becket about to be murdered at the alter, if you look close you can see the monk with his hand hanging on only by a few strands of skin. I tried to distract her, but she said, "No, I just sit here and look at this picture for long time."

Of course, she is the girl who happily tells us each morning she had bad dreams and when I tried to explain she could pray for good dreams she asked, "I pray for bad dreams?" So I'm not sure what to think.

normandy

2011-11-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

The true reason we went to France was to come here. This was one place that was at the top of both of our lists. I've been to a lot of cemeteries and war memorials and there is always something special about a monument or cemetery that stands on the same ground where the battle was fought.

The American Cemetery stands on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach. There are over 9,000 American soldiers buried here. Most were killed during the Normandy Invasion or during the ensuing battles.

In the museum we watched a video with some original footage of the invasion, it's easy to look back on the invasion now and respect the losses made--but watching the footage, seeing the concrete German fortifications, and reading some of the doubts and fears the commanding officers later confessed, brings the realization that the Normandy Invasion was far from a guaranteed success. I doubt I will ever understand the courage it took to just to stand on those beaches on June 6, 1944 and keep moving forward when hell was going on all around.

The Wall of Remembrance, where the names of the soldiers whose remains were never found are written.

Walking on Omaha Beach was a little strange. It seems like any other beach, clear blue water and soft sand but it has seen it's share of human suffering. In the distance you can see the Pointe du Hoc.

The Pointe du Hoc is a 100 foot cliff that stands between Utah and Omaha Beaches, it was secure point for German artillery and a key position the Allied forces to take as soon as possible. The Ranger Battalion under Lt. Cl. James Rudder was given the command to scale the cliffs and take out the guns. Standing up there, seeing the cliffs and concrete fortifications it seems impossible. Once on top they made their way to the guns using the shell holes for cover. After two days only 90 of the 225 men could continue in battle.

While walking to the grocery store to find some food for dinner and lunch the next day, we ran across the another cemetery where soldiers from British, Canadian, Polish, German and other forces are buried.

Rocky is always making fun of me for my obsession with Poland but ever since I saw the sketchy survey from Badoo putting Poland as the second to last coolest country (luckily they beat out Belgium), my mission has been renewed. Polish soldiers had been fighting since 1939. Their country was completely occupied and their government in exile. They fought and suffered casualties in almost every battle in WWII. They have yet to be given the credit they deserve.

paris

2011-11-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

We bought some Eurorail passes to use when family comes into town and we had a few extra days so over the holiday weekend (All Saints Day, not Halloween) we headed into France. Even when I'm in charge of packing all her clothes, E still finds a way to make her outfits unique. I swore to Rocky I was making all pictures of her from the trip black and white. But right now I'm too lazy.

We spent our first night in Paris. Rocky had never been and I'd forgotten what an amazing city it is.

We did one of the hop-on-hop-off bus tours, which is great because then you can avoid the metro as much as possible. The Paris metro is my least favorite subway system. It confusing, smells like urine and sometimes they randomly close down entire lines, which is especially problematic when you are trying to get across town, from the train station to your hotel, with two gigantic suitcases and a 3 year old who insist her feet are too small and she can no longer walk.

We didn't go to any museums, I'm saving Rocky's patience for when our children are older and can gain something cultural experience. Mostly we just rode the bus and hopped off to take pictures and go inside whatever was free.

We had fantastic weather, not as good as you'd think from what Rocky's wearing, but still great.

I can't say enough what a fantastic sport E is. We drag her from city to city, place to place and she always finds something to be happy about. We had to wake up before 6 AM to catch our train and by that evening she was so tired she almost fell asleep on Rocky's shoulders. On our way back to the hotel that night we stopped to see the Eiffel Tower lit up.

She'd fallen asleep on the bus but woke up when we stopped. She opened her eyes and said, "Ooo the tower so pretty." Then leaned over to hug me and said, "Thanks for taking me here." Maybe we should just retire from traveling with kids, because I don't think their attitudes are ever going to get any better.

It's embarrassing but true, we had just over 24 hours in Paris and stopped for a Chinese Buffet. Before you judge us keep in mind we've been in Switzerland for over two months now and I've been craving Chinese and Rocky's been craving a good deal for food. This satisfied both of us.

We had to do this for E after all she does with us. I still think it came in as second favorite to the hotel room we once stayed in with a bunk bed--the two things were closer in price than I'd like to admit.

When the Japanese tourists asked for a picture, I agreed because I'd thought they just wanted one with E, which I was totally okay with. But no, they insisted I be in it to. Rocky took about 30 pictures, so he could keep the camera over his face and they wouldn't see he was laughing so hard, he'd started crying. If you look in E's hands, you can see a cobble stone from the Hotel de Ville. She brought it home--kind of matches her mischievous smile.

25 weeks. Getting closer. Slowly. FYI, this dress is on backwards, I didn't realize it until I got in pajamas that night. I thought it fit weird...

Paris highlights:
E: carousel and the "pretty tower."
Me: Watching E do some interpretive dance in front of the Eiffel tower, everything we ate, and getting to see Paris from above ground.
Rocky: Antique book stalls on the street, Japanese photo shoot, and everything we saw from the bus.

low key

2011-11-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

We had a pretty low key Halloween this year, luckily E got a ballerina outfit for her birthday or she probably would have been without a costume. Switzerland doesn't really celebrate Halloween and we were going out of town anyways (November 1st is a Catholic holiday and since we live in a Catholic canton, Rocky had it off). We did go trick or treating to one house, we asked some friends beforehand if we could stop by on Thursday night, as an attempt to keep the magic of Halloween alive until we make it back to the states.

She was, and almost always is, a fantastic sport. Even though she didn't get her dream costume, a black fishy (don't ask, we don't know), she was excited and content with what she had.

fathers and daughters

2011-10-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

Three plus years ago, on the way to our first ultrasound, I asked Rocky to tell me honestly whether he wanted a girl or a boy, he replied, he had no idea what to do with a girl, so he'd prefer a boy. Of course, we had a girl. I remember spending the last few months of my pregnancy wondering how this man would handle a little girl.

I should never have spent a second worrying, from the moment she was born he knew exactly what he was doing. He spent our two days in the hospital holding her every second he could, changing the colors of the bow in her hair, and occasionally comparing her to former wrestling teammates he'd had.

This past month we listened to General Conference as we drove home from Prague, this talk on fathers and daughters came on and Rocky said, "Nobody talk, I need to hear this."

In our sweet girl's three years, he has continued to surprise and impress me with how amazing he is at adapting and discovering how to love and parent his daughter.

Which is good, because we are doubling down on girls.

(I'd post an ultrasound photo but the only one we got today is slightly pornographic. Swiss doctors print the strangest photos for you to take home. So far I have only been given pictures of the spine, femur and close up, right between the legs.)

looking for recommendations

2011-10-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

I want to get E some new books for Christmas--I know it's early but I have to order online. Any recommendations? Since we can't go peruse through book stores (actually I have but it's not as informative when you don't understand the books) we would love any ideas for some good books.

jumping

2011-10-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

She loves jumping. On the couch, on the bed, off stairs. We've had to set a limit on how many stairs she could jump off at once, three's OK, five's not. She actually figured out that for herself.

Rocky wants me to point out she gets her air from me.

This ones a little better.

She just kept telling Rocky to move back farther and farther.

She loves these pictures, "me fwying, me fwying!"

zurich

2011-10-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

It's probably a bit embarrassing we've lived here for two months and never been to Zurich, outside of the train station and airport. Probably more embarrassing the reason we decided to go today was to go to the Lindt Factory Store.

To make ourselves seem less pathetic, we stopped by Old Town on the way.

Is there anything cuter than a toddler in a scarf?

The Grossmunster, construction began on it in 1100.

Can you see the Crocs with Oscar the Grouch socks? That's high fashion.

A few short months ago I was able to pick out all her clothes and dress her as I chose. Now everyday it's a battle. We call it 'dressing the beast.'

Her rules for dressing:

1. Every outfit should involve a dress, and if possible a skirt underneath for a little extra flounce. 2. No such thing as too much hot pink--all pinks and reds match each other. 3. If you absolutely have to wear socks, make sure they're Oscar the Grouch or Halloween.

While wandering around Old Town we found a flea market. Demonstrating she was a true Smart, Eliot spotted it first and said, "Ooo, that like garage sale."

It's probably for the best for our bank account we only found out about it now.

Idaho license plate? I have one.

Fur was everywhere. Family members--if we drew your name, there's a good chance you get presents made of fur with tiny feet attached.

What we took home:

Christmas tree ornaments.

Cowbell door ringer. In a few years when we move back to our house, it will have a home. I have a sinking feeling we will be the most doorbell ditched house in the neighborhood.

(And one more thing but it's a Christmas present.)

first attempt

2011-10-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas card photo attempt. It's harder than I remember to get three people to smile and look at the camera at the same time.
But anyways, Rachel, this is me at 23 weeks.

what we learned in the alps

2011-10-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we were invited to meet some families in our ward for a Halloween picnic at a Witch themed park. The park was on the top of a mountain and to get there you could ride a cable car. We packed a lunch and a change of clothes for E (which you can tell, if you look at the pictures closely, we used) and headed out. E fell asleep on the way so I waited in the car while Rocky went in to buy our tickets. He came back out with just one way tickets. He told me you had to pay for rides both up and back and the lady selling tickets said a lot of people just rode up and walked back down.

I'd eaten about a pound of candy corn that morning so I thought the four mile walk down the mountain sounded great. We rode up, above the clouds, clearly failing to note how steep and tall the mountain was. We had a great time at the park, there was an alpine slide, witch's broom zip line, merry-go-round and all sorts of things to keep E happy.

Around 5:00 we decided we better start back down. We headed down a paved road that eventually dead ended into a very thin, muddy trail. Around this point Rocky confessed that the ticket lady may not have said, "Lots of people walk down" only, "It's possible to walk down." And then our trail dead ended into a field of cows.

We considered going through the field but then the cows started running towards us and snorting menacingly. We walked through a field without cows, only to have it dead end in a gully. We tried another empty field, only to be electrocuted trying to cross the fence.

Finally, we hiked back up to a farm house and asked the man, who had been watching us since I had screamed and jumped back from the fence. Unfortunately, we don't speak German and he didn't speak English and we couldn't seem to get a satisfactory answer. Luckily, his grandson spoke perfect English and told us we just had to go through the field of cows and we'd find the trail again. Rocky asked him if the cows would hurt us and he started laughing and said, they wouldn't bother us at all.

Easy for him to say. The closest I've ever been to a cow is some unpasteurized milk my mom bought a few months ago. We slowly started walking back to the cows, Rocky told E not to show the cows any fear, and I unlatched the gate. We calmly walked across the field, about halfway through, I stopped to tell Rocky something funny I had just thought of (I don't remember what it was but I'm sure it was hilarious) he looked at something behind me and said, "Uh, let's keep walking." It took all I had not to sprint to the gate. We made it. Cow attack free.

After the cows, the real hike began and we fortunately had just enough sunlight to get us down the mountain. E walked most of the way herself, and by that I mean, she held Rocky's hand and took gigantic leaps, covering 5-8 feet at a time. Just when his arm was getting really tired, she was too tired walk and had to be carried.

At one point she stopped and turned around and said, "This is the prettiest place me ever seen." It really was beautiful and when the blisters on four of my toes go away I'm sure I will remember it fondly.

Earlier in the day I wore this scarf to the store and there was a man wearing the exact same scarf, tied the same way.

They don't look near as menacing from far away.

This was the spot she thought was the prettiest in the whole world.

Giant mushrooms.

prague

2011-10-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

Prague has been my top dream destination for a long time. It's only a three hour drive from Berlin, so when we found out about Rocky's conference, I suggested we drive home through Prague and spend the night. I think he agreed to it only because I wanted to go so bad, but after he said it was his favorite place he'd seen yet.

He says, "What Switzerland is for mountains and scenery, Prague is for old buildings."

It really feels like it's been frozen in time, and due to communism, it was. Unlike a lot of places in Europe, the city of Prague was mostly untouched during WWII, it was only bombed once, toward the end of the war.

We only spent the afternoon and evening, and left the next morning. There was so much to see, we mostly just walked around in awe.

There were a couple of museums I wanted to go to but since E got scared at the chocolate factory presentation, I didn't think she could handle the Museum of Communism or the Museum of Torture.

Besides, after our expensive lunch, we were running low on koruna. We were definintly trying to do Prague cheap, I got us a hotel for $60 in the city center. Only after booking I read a review that said there were apartments on SAW movies that were nicer. It wasn't too bad, except the 12 inch section where our door was carved out around lock and doorknob.

Walking around is free and the best way to see an old city. Though after a few days walking all day long at five months pregnant, I was walking a lot slower. And by walking, I mean, waddling.

We think this church tower was free to climb, at least we did it for free. It should be free at least, it was 278 steps up and with a three year old, that is no easy feat. But she walked about half of it herself.

During communism, in the 1980s, there was a wall where some teenagers starting voicing anti-communist opinions and writing lyrics to songs by John Lennon. They called in Lennon-ism, in an ironic reference to Vladimir Lenin and communism.

The church next door owns and maintains it now.

It's constantly evolving even today.

We overheard a tour guide tell his group that the reason so many of the statues and parts of churches are blackened is because during communism there was a big push for simple things that were not overly beautiful or extravagant. Some of the Czech people were worried they monuments and churches were too beautiful and would be destroyed by the authorities, so in the middle of the night they blackened them.

We recommend Prague to anyone and would love someday to go back.

traveling tips: count your change

2011-10-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

We didn't realize this when we feeding her hot dog bun to the birds, but because we didn't count our change when we bought lunch, those three hot dogs and a bottle of water ended up costing us about $30.

This seems to matter most when you are just short the money to buy a Utah Jazz Babushka doll, with a teeny tiny CJ Miles inside.

More pictures from Prague to come.

polar bears or pandas?

2011-10-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

Since she was such a good sport going to museums and walking around the city with me, the next day, I took her to the zoo.

I'm slowly losing my mind. I knew the Berlin Zoo was famous for something about baby Polar Bears. So I filled E up with all the excitement of see real baby Polar Bears. Then on our way to the zoo, I remembered why they are so famous for Polar Bears, Knut, the baby Polar Bear, dropped dead during a show this spring.

Luckily she thinks Panda and Polar Bears are the same thing.

How could you not love Pandas, they're so cute.

Even though they're closer to raccoons then bears, I still think this one might rip your head off if you stole it's bamboo stick.

Since E generally eats more than an adult man, (no lie, dinners have turned into a silent eating competition between Rocky and her), we often refer to her as a hungry hippo. We are working hard at building her self esteem. But I was a little taken back when I showed her the hippo and she happily replied, "That's me! I hippo!" We are parents to be admired.

It turned out to be her favorite animal as it went into the water and popped back up ever minute or so. I found her attention span to be much longer than I previously had known. Long enough to test my patience. You can only stare at algae covered water for so long. But every time I tried to pull her away, she'd say, "No mama, it's coming, it's coming now." And it always came back up. Turns out you can't will a hippo to drown.

It was a great zoo and we had a blast, until E had an accident and we had to leave to buy new pants.

Berlin

2011-10-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Conversation from a month ago:
Rocky: Some of my consultants are recommending I go to this law conference in Ber-
Me: I'm coming. I've already googlemapped it, we can drive there in eight hours. There's so much to see there... and then we can drive home through Prague.
Rocky: Lin.

Even though it would have been a lot easier for him to take the train or fly by himself, Rocky was kind enough to drive, so we could come along for free. I'm not sure I gave him much of a choice, but I do appreciate it.

Here are just a few of the pictures we took during our two day stay:

Berlin Cathedral

E must have over heard me talking about all the great museums in Berlin, because the first morning she and I were eating breakfast and she asked if we could go to a museum today. I've never turned down this offer from any one. When I told her we could, she threw her hands into the air and shouted, "Yes!"

We went to the Germany History Museum and she made it from year 1000-1918, when there started to be a lot of weapons. I was very impressed.

Brandenburg Gate, it was built in 18th century. In 1961, when the wall was built, it was located on the east side. Most importantly, it was the backdrop of Ronald Reagan's speech in 1987,

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall."

Don't worry, I reenacted it. Rocky took pictures, but I won't post any of them because I couldn't stop laughing (people kept staring at me) and I ended up making a really creepy face.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe:

It is fairly new and very abstract, since I didn't have my friend, Steph, there to explain it to me, I had to use Wikipedia where I learned it is supposed to illustrate an apparent organized society that 'loses touch with human reason.'

This was Rocky's favorite thing we saw in Berlin. Although, before we get too philosophical, he did follow that statement with, "It would be an awesome place to play night games."

Rocky had meetings during the whole first day, and E and I spent the day walking around. I told Rocky that morning we would meet him at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Chapel. It was over by his conference and I really wanted to see it, it was bombed in the war and has a giant hole in the tower. It was an hour walk for me but E fell asleep and the weather was nice. Then when I was twenty minutes away, it started pouring rain. I had no umbrella and couldn't call Rocky, so I kept going.

When Rocky found us I was totally soaked, E was just waking up.

Of course, the church was completely under scaffolding.

Some of the wall, inside a mall.

Checkpoint Charlie

cinque terre

2011-10-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my brother, Fenton, told us we should try and make it to the Cinque Terre in Italy. I had no idea where or what it was, but since he once loan sharked me out of savings as a nine year old, I always try to look into what he says.

The Cinque Terre is a series of five villages situated in on the coast of an especially rugged part of the Riviera. You can't travel between them by car, only train, hiking path or boat. Because it's such a tough location to access, most modern development hasn't reached there.

It looked amazing and since Moneglia (the beach town where we stayed) was only an hour from Cinque Terre, we headed down there to check it out.

In Switzerland our GPS says we're driving on toll roads, but we've never paid anything. We've heard it has something to do with a sticker on our windshield. In Italy, we actually pay real money. I don't know if this bothers Rocky because we have to pay money or because we have to stop, but when our GPS warned us of tolls on the roads between Moneglia and Monterosso al Mare (the first of the Cinque Terre), he opted for the route without tolls.

This route was made for four-wheelers or bikes or some kind of extreme, mountain golf cart. Not cars. After one gravel road, barely wider than our car, that drove straight through the back yard of someone's vineyard, we hit our Waterloo. It was paved, a little wider, but had some turns so sharp, very few cars could be capable of making them without driving off the cliff. We finally had to reverse down the road and hit the freeway. But we did avoid the tolls.

When we got there, Rocky bought tickets for a boat that goes along the coast, between the five villages. I was a little nervous at first, I'm not great on the open seas when I'm not pregnant, but the water was calm and the scenery was beautiful.


Listening to Fenton paid off yet again.

we're back

2011-10-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

In the last two weeks, we've logged over 40 hours of driving. We're definitely taking a break for the next few weeks. Blog posts to come.

basically she says jump, we say how high

2011-10-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

When your about to have your first baby, everybody tells you how much your life is about to change. No matter how many warnings you get, or how many books you read, you really have no idea how different things are about to be until your baby is born. E is three and we're still getting used to the way our lives have changed.

Traveling is definitely one of those ways your life changes completely. I've always loved to travel, before E was born, I would pretty much do whatever it took to get a new passport stamp or see a new city. Now I have all sorts of new things to consider. When I'm planning a trip, instead of seeing how many museums and how little food I can fit into each day, I'm googling things like, "childrens museums in Milan" or "what to do with a toddler in Munich." I'm not complaining, I wouldn't change it at all. It's just different and we're still getting used to it. Like everything you do with children, traveling is more complicated but it's also more rewarding.

When we had a free weekend and some money saved in our fast diminishing travel budget, we considered a few different places we wanted to go. But since E pretty much runs our house, she made the final call and we headed to the beach. We found a small town in Italy with a cheap hotel right on the beach and early Saturday morning we packed our PB and J's and headed out.

She first wanted a "Sunny Beach" as in a beach close by where her cousin, Sunny, lives but we pacified her with a "Sandy Beach."

We reaffirmed what we discovered this summer, Rocky and E have opposite beach attention spans. She could spend 10 hours a day playing in the sand. While he, after 45 minutes, is itching to do something else. It didn't helped that he'd specifically picked a beach with wave breakers, since E is afraid of waves.

Rocky had my camera for the afternoon and if I had a nickel for every picture I now have on my computer of fat guys in speedos, we probably would have asked to just pay for our hotel in American coins.

This seems to becoming a tradition in our family, and somehow I always end up the one buried. It did make us the hit of the beach, and all the kids kept coming over and saying stuff about pizza, I think. Including one boy, we'd already nicknamed, "the destruct-or" (for knocking over all the other kids' sand castles), who spent about 20 minutes standing suspiciously close to my head.

Rocky out on the wave breaker trying to find something to do, while E is completely entranced with mixing dry sand and wet sand and I'm taking a nap.

I wonder if she realizes her only child days are numbered.

neuschwanstein

2011-10-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

We took the long way home from Munich, so we could drive on the autobahn more, but really so we could see Neuschwanstein.

The castle was built by King Ludwig II and construction began in 1869. It's incredibly ornate, especially inside--where you aren't allowed to take pictures. Fourteen woodcarvers spend four years working on his bedroom alone.

The castle was never completed and King Ludwig only lived in it for 172 days before he was arrested on charges of insanity and drowned a few days later under 'mysterious circumstances.'

Not sure where she got that head tilt. It must be a paternal trait. It's not like my family once sent out a Christmas card with everyone tilting their heads or anything.

She refused to believe the castle belonged to a king and instead spent the trip telling us where the princess lived.

View from the castle.

The thirty minute ride up the mountain in her stroller was clearly too tiring.

pics from Munich

2011-10-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Rocky had meetings in Munich, so we all woke up early and drove there together.

While he was in his meetings, E and I explored the old town. We got to the Glockenspiel just as it was striking 11:00. The figurines in the picture above, come out and dance around while music plays.

We didn't realize until we got there, but it was Oktoberfest and Munich is one of the top locations. Lots of people were dressed up in the traditional wear, some more traditional than others.

Highlights of Munich:
Rocky: Driving on the autobahn, we're still figuring out which signs mean no speed limit, but he had a big grin on his face whenever he could drive as fast as he wanted.
Me: Buying two shirts, a scarf and headbands at H&M for less than the price of one sweater at the H&M in Zug.
E: Going to a toy store to spend her "monies" from her Grandparents. We found a gigantic toy store and spent way too much time there. They had dollhouses with all kinds of tiny accessories, even little chandeliers you could install that ran off electricity. The toy store made quite an impact on E and she has included it in her prayers ever since. I'm just not sure whether she's being thankful or praying to go back.

the wrong way to eat chicken noodle soup

2011-09-30T02:33:00.000-07:00

What I crave most when I'm pregnant is soup. Especially creamy potato soups. I've designated one night a week as soup night. On that night I make whatever soup sounds best to me, then cook hamburgers for E and Rocky--neither of whom believe soup makes a sufficient meal. This last week I decided to branch out from my last three weeks of potato leek soup and make some homemade chicken noodle soup.

E loved making noodles, and yes my kitchen always looks like this when I cook.

My grandma makes the best chicken noodles soup, and I convinced her to give me her recipe a few years ago. My life has been incredibly better ever since.

I believe the proper way to eat chicken noodle soup, is with as little chicken as possible, lots of homemade noodles, piping hot, poured over a big bowl of mashed potatoes.

This is the first time I have wondered if the hospital nursery switched babies on me.

Yes, she's eating the noodles with a fork, and dipping them in ketchup.

It is clearly an abomination.

we went to Liechtenstein and all we got was this crappy photo

2011-09-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

We've wanted to day a day trip into Liechtenstein, mostly just so we could say we'd been there, and also because it's only a hour drive. After we found out you can't go in the castle because the royal family still lives there and one of the top five sites in Vaduz (the capital) is the Postage Stamp Museum, we decided just to drive over on a Sunday afternoon and look around.

We found out a few things:
1. No matter how far we drive, E only falls asleep if we within 15 minutes of our destination.
2. Even at 20 weeks I can still throw up three times in one day. On a similar note, Rocky continues to be stellar at pulling the car over on the freeway as fast as possible.
3. Liechtenstein really does exist, and was not just a name made up for A Knights Tale. They actually have a very fascinating history and we really would have like to spend more time, but when we got there we basically just pulled over, took this picture and turned around to go back to Switzerland, only to have E wake up and want to see the castle. She was pacified by another lap around the town and being told she can't go in the castle because the pretty princess lives there.

to see the fancy cows

2011-09-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we headed into the mountains for Alpabzug--when the cows are brought down from the high Alps for winter. Each family parades their cows down through the main road with everyone dressed up--especially the cows.

Before it starts there was plenty of time for checking out the local meat.

I considered buying one of these for E but then I saw they rage in price from 80-800 CHF. It's probably a better deal just to keep her close.

Homemade yogurt

We tried lots of samples before choosing a mild cheese with herbs--which according to the pictures hanging in the booth, was made by the same people we bought it from.

Alphorns.

I decided if I ever have to carry a back pack, I want it to be full of cheese.

And the cows.

These were E's favorite "cows."

"They my size. Teeny."

Earlier that week, before we were planning on Alpabzug, we promised E we would go swimming. We held her off by telling her we were going to see some fancy cows. After about an hour of cows, she was completely done. We decided to grab some food and leave before the traffic. Unfortunately all the roads were closed, we took a deteur over to the other side of the mountain, only to run into more cows.

We didn't mind.

Rocky's quote of the day, "The problem with driving in Switzerland is I don't ever care if I get lost because we always seem to end up somewhere amazing."

I guess it's only a problem if you have somewhere to be, or pay for gas, or have an angry three year old who was expecting to swim hours ago.

birthday girl

2011-09-23T01:13:00.000-07:00

We love you more than we ever thought possible. Happy birthday!

You're finally three!

sometimes i read grown up books and recommendations from a 2 year old

2011-09-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

I used to have a lot of hobbies. Generally speaking they involved projects on my house and on my sewing machine. Right now I live in an apartment and right before I moved here my sewing machine broke. I didn't want to deal with it, so I left it home.

With my main two hobbies gone, I've narrowed my list down to three, cooking, photography, and reading. Turns out, no surprise of course, I'm bad at cooking and only do it on a limited bases (as in just for dinner) and I can only take so many pictures of my apartment during nap time. So...that leaves reading. After devouring a great deal of ya lit, some books I will admit to reading, others I won't (just because it was $1.99 on my kindle, doesn't mean it was worth reading), I have started back on my 'classics bucket list.' I am officially on page 354 of Anna Karenina. Consensus so far: it's good. Definitely not as bad as I was expecting, given that I already know the ending.

I would recommend it. I would also recommend a few fun ya books--anything by Janette Rallison. My younger sister looks down on me for this obsession but I like her books. They are well written, entertaining, clean and very funny. I read It's a Mall World after All on a layover in LAX this summer and was consistently stared at for laughing so hard I was crying but it was worth it.

I also love recommending children's books. With our evenings being very, very free, we have been reading more than ever and discovering new favorites.

I bought this book (and almost all our picture books that weren't gifts) at a garage sale. I'm sure it was less than a dollar but I can only imagine what the introduction of Fancy Nancy is going to cost me. First off, E wants a fancy dog. Second, she wants fancy hair, which to her means curly red hair--which she will never have. Third, she wants all of Nancy's accessories. And fourth, perhaps the only one she will ever get, she wants a little sister who she can dress up like a dog.

Along with Fancy Nancy, we read this book every...single...night. E always has to have her blankie with her as she says, "Dis book weary scary, weary nice." The illustrations so beautiful.

To most people, who are better parents than us, this is probably over due, but we've been taking advantage of our free (boring) evenings and reading the Book of Mormon stories together. I'm not sure if it's working as E is favorite person from the book is King Noah or "that weary bad guy" (she talks about him all the time) but I'm determined she's learning something. She demands to read her "siptures" every night before bed which has to be a good sign, though it's probably a stalling technique as she often requests to read them before nap time and time out as well.

I've talked about Knuflfe Bunny books before, but we LOVE them (thank you again Derrick and Julie). The only problem is if we read one, E insists we read all three. Warning: I've yet to read the epilogue of Knuffle Bunny Free without crying.

The other day we finished off a Knuffle Bunny trilogy marathon and E started demanding a knuffle bunny of her own. Rocky told her if she brought him her blankie, he would take it to the store and trade it for a knuffle bunny. She slowly walked into her room and brought back her blankie. She stood in front of him for a long time, then set her blankie in his lap, and immediately dropped to her knees crying. We were heart broken. After we told her she didn't really need a knuffle bunny and could keep her blankie she slowly cheered up. Though, she was a little wary of Rocky getting too close to blankie for a long time.

cheese and chocolate

2011-09-20T05:38:00.000-07:00

So I've been to a few cheese parties but I'm in no way an expert. In fact the Swiss would probably take away my residency permit if they found out before coming here, my two favorite types of cheese were cheddar and the powdered Parmesan found unrefrigerated by the pasta section.

I like to think I'm making some progress and branching out--mainly because you can't find either of those cheeses at the grocery store here.

When D, S and C were here, they introduced me to Gruyere cheese. It was instant love. I ate the entire block of Gruyere myself. I planned a trip on our next free day to see where it's made.

We timed our visit to the cheese factory right at lunch time, so instead we watched cheese making on video.

We did learn that all Gruyere cheese is made in the Gruyere region.

And that of all the Gruyere cheese made, Switzerland consumes 2/3 of it themselves. So really, we're only eating this much cheese to fit in. And maybe it's because we heard how much cheese costs in Bangkok and we're like bears before hibernating, desperately trying to eat as much as possible.

After some cheese tasting we headed over to the Callier Chocolate Factory.

The tour ended with a tasting of seventeen different kinds of chocolate.

Rocky decided this is very hard to do without a glass of milk.

E decided she didn't want our white chocolate cast offs and requested only "black chocolate."

I decided that the very best one is the very last and they do that on purpose.

gruyere

2011-09-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

With no family, house or yard work, Saturdays around here can be a little boring. We've been trying to take a trip whenever we can. This past Saturday we drove down to Gruyeres.

It's a Medieval town in French Switzerland--more importantly where the Gruyeres cheese is made. E wanted to make sure we went to the castle or chateau to see the pretty princess. Unfortunately, as we learned from a surprisingly dark and intense movie, this was a knight and battle castle. She wasn't so keen on the whole castle thing after that, "I want to go home! I want to go out this place!"

The town is car free, with cobblestone roads. It's pretty much adorable and smells very strongly like cheese.

As you can see there are some cars in the background of this picture, but I swear it said no cars. I can't blame the people driving as I do remember my dad driving circles around a car free town square in Krakow in our gigantic rented van, while Fenton cried of embarrassment in the fourth row back.

This is the view from the Chateau Gruyeres (top picture). It was built in the 13th century and is one of the oldest castles in Switzerland.

French gardens.

Church and cemetery. Have we mentioned Switzerland is completely gorgeous, even on a rainy day.

Rocky took a lot of pictures of furniture. I will post more later.

We're thinking of adding a few of these to our castle at home. I think our neighbors would be thrilled.

still getting adjusted

2011-09-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

Rocky: Do you like living in Switzerland?

E: No, I like PG.

sometimes we eat swiss food

2011-09-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

We don't only eat cheese and chocolate. Sometimes we branch out. In fact, tonight we had Chinese take out--our second meal out in Zug. (Our first was kebabs--can you tell we're going for the authentic Swiss cuisine) Here are some of our favorite meals that might have been partially born in Switzerland:

Yogurt, blueberries and muesli.

We buy the cheapest yogurt possible and it's so good we eat it for breakfast, snacks and sometimes dessert.

When we bought groceries in Italy, we bought three boxes of a borderline sketchy, chocolate cereal called Croc Balls with Mickey Mouse on the box. We thought they'd be a big hit, but everyone, even E, would rather eat muesli.

I've been told this is a traditional Swiss meal, but since I'm pretty sure I've been washing my clothes with fabric softener for three weeks, I'm clearly not an expert on anything Swiss.

But what could be better than fresh tomatoes, basel, mozzarella cheese and balsamic paste (and mystery lunch meat if it's on sale).

This was my meal in Interlaken, it was delicious--potatoes, ham, onions and cheese topped with a fried egg.

My stomach was completely empty when we ate and I still couldn't eat the whole thing, no matter how bad I wanted to. I'm sure it's the best thing I've eaten since we got here (it's only competitor is the Chinese take out, but I'm pregnant so I'm clearly not a valid food judge). It's possible I dream about this skillet at night.

a chocolate snob

2011-09-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

We eat a lot of chocolate.

Maybe because chocolate and cheese are the only things in the grocery store that don't seem absurdly expensive. (We eat a lot of cheese too.)

And maybe because chocolate here is better than any chocolate we've ever tasted.

Without really noticing we started buying only dark chocolates, sometimes fine brands, mostly store brand, they both taste delicious. Every night after dinner we would each have a piece. E always requested a "tall piece" if her piece wasn't big enough she would try to trade for, or swipe, the biggest piece.

The other day we found a giant bag of fun size Twix bars on sale. We bought them and froze them (we only eat chocolate frozen, it's so much better). One day E saw me eating one and asked for a bite. I didn't want to share, so I got her her own. She took one bite and handed it back to me, "I no like this chocolate." I was shocked. We've never seen her turn down anything with sugar in before. So we tried a few days later and got the same results, after a tiny bite, she handed it back, "This chocolate yucky."

I guess it's just dark, Swiss chocolate for this chocolate snob and more Twix bars for my unrefined tastes.

pancakes

2011-09-15T04:10:00.000-07:00

Fact: I'm not good at following directions, especially recipes.

I don't know what it is but somehow, even if I do have all the necessary ingredients (which is rare) I will skip or add a step--just because I can. Maybe it's because who ever wrote the recipe is not in my kitchen and I can do whatever I want. Or maybe it's just because I'm too lazy to read things over and over again and would rather just make it up. Whatever it is, yesterday my recipe skills collided with another lack I have:

Fact: I don't speak German.

I think my Polish might be better than my German and all I can say in Polish is , "Hi," "Thank you," and "I don't speak Polish." Really, this should be something I'm working on harder....but it's not.

Yesterday all I wanted was pancakes. (Pregnancy cravings get especially difficult in foreign countries.) I went to the store to buy all the necessary ingredients and when I couldn't seem to find bakpulver (baking powder) in a container that looked familiar, I gave up and grabbed the American Pancake Mix.

I then spent about five minutes in front of the only maple syrup in three stores, it was a tiny glass bottle that was over $8. I finally just bought it--I'm pregnant I wanted pancakes and syrup. On the way home E insisted on carrying the syrup, which as you might have already guessed, she dropped and broke within 10 yards of the leaving the store.

Oh well, pancakes and jam are delicious too. I spent the afternoon dreaming about my big, fluffy pancakes for dinner. When it was finally time to make them I got out the package, of course the directions were in French, Italian and German. I speak none. I figured my best bet was German, I hear it all the time, I have to be picking up something, if only through osmosis. The only words I could read were, "und" which is "and" and "milch" which is "milk." Clearly, I'm fluent. I sat down with my best friend, 'googletranslate,' and started typing in the recipe, word for word.

This is what it came up with:

"You jointless add:
Past 3 dl milk or UP-
give milk to a scatterbrain. Contents of the bag and add a voice verruhren Bensen until a smooth dough."

In the end I did what I do best, ditched the recipe.The first two pancakes were over eight inches think and closely resembled the type of hard tack even rats turn down. But through trial and error--mostly just adding more milk, since that was all I could decipher--I came up with something that worked.

And they really were as delicious as I imagined them being. Besides, it turns out E likes hard tack. Even the kind rats turn down.

to my sweet, sweet girl

2011-09-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

You are almost three and I think that is too grown up.

I just dropped her off at pre-school/playgroup/creche for the first time. She spent the hour before we left asking when she could go to school, if she could take this or that, could she wear her pink shoes. But now she's gone and it's awfully quiet here. I can't believe only a year ago we were so worried about her speech that her doctor had her evaluated. Now we can barely get her to stop talking for a five second prayer.

When I dropped her off, she ran right inside. I didn't want to leave so I hung out by the door and kept telling her goodbye, that I would be back soon, the potty's right here, but she didn't seem to mind and went on playing. I walked down to the store and realized it was the first time I'd gone anywhere in Zug without her with me. It was strange, I didn't have to check my cart at the checkout stand to make sure anything with a cartoon hadn't been added, or distract her while we walked past the toy section.

Next week she will be three. For her birthday all she wants are dress ups and glass slippers, to ride in all the coin operated toy cars around town (and there's about 35) and eat pink cu-cakes. She's always been very independent and won't let any one do anything for her if she can't "do it myself." Including things we tell her she can't do. "E, you can't climb up there its too high." "I do it MYSELF. hurumph." She's a fantastic helper and often tantrums are thrown because I wont give her a job to do, "Mommy what CAN I DO!" She is constantly kissing my stomach, talking about her sister and promising to share with the new baby. "Mommy, when the baby come out you tummy, I share my little bow socks."

I've never been sad about her turning from baby into little girl but now I'm finally starting to realize she's growing up and is going to live her own life, and there's nothing I can do about it.

(When I went to pick her up from school, she cried and didn't want to leave. Clearly I must be doing something wrong.)

interlaken, the james bond way

2011-09-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

When Darrell and Sheila asked us to plan a pure-Swiss weekend we put on our never-before-used travel agent hats and got down to business. I now have a great deal of gratitude for my mother and all the amazing vacations she planned for us, and my dad, though I'm not sure how much planning he was involved in, he definitely payed, I mean played, a role as well.

We set out to plan our weekend and made two separate itineraries, emailed them and waited to hear back on which to go with. When we hadn't heard back four days before they arrived, we ditched both ideas and went with Interlaken--which we were told by some families in our ward was a must see. We have since decided to call this trip the James Bond tour of Switzerland after having read that scenes from Goldfinger were filmed on the Furka Pass. (If I had known Darrell was such a Justin Bieber fan I would have tried to plan a Beiber weekend, but I'm not sure JB has ever been to Switzerland.)

We couldn't have asked for better weather.

My photography skills are limited to needs--I needed to take pictures from the waist up as her dress was tied up around her waist.

Rocky feeling good about the view from the hotel he booked. After all the hotels in downtown Interlaken were filled for the Jungfrau marathon, he spent hours researching the surrounding towns and we like what he came up with.

The next day we took a tram up to the top of Mt. Schilthorn, where some scenes from James Bond, On Her Majesty's Secret Service were shot--back in 1969--when they were still filming silent movies, I think Charlie Chaplin might have played Bond.

I'm pretty sure this is the Eiger, but I'm not totally positive. If it isn't, don't tell Rocky, he told me to only take pictures with the Eiger in it. Darrell and Rocky have decided to come back and climb it but are still debating if it counts as summitting a mountain if you take a train to the top of the Jungfrau, the next mountain over. I suggested they charter a helicopter to drop them at the top, but apparently this is not in the gray area.

We were there, really. We didn't just photoshop ourselves in.

Anybody want a $35 mug?

Sheila, Chelsea and Darrell were there too. Ask them, they can now back us up on how expensive Switzerland is. We only hope they will come visit us in Bangkok, we promise it's cheaper. And besides, we know this great crocodile farm...really secure...
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/497854-dozens-of-crocodiles-escape-from-crocodile-farm-in-pattaya/

Not everyone was glad they were there. But this girl continues to be a fantastic traveler, whether she likes it or not.

have you ever wondered...

2011-09-12T02:45:00.000-07:00

What does a gps looks like when you're driving on a walking path?

The Jungfrau Marathon in Interlaken kind of threw things off, but eventually we made it. We were also able to demonstrate to our guests one of the things the Swiss do best, glare at you when you break the rules.

into the alps

2011-09-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

We have successfully hosted our first visitors. Rocky's aunt, uncle and cousin, Darrell, Sheila and Chelsea, came in for the weekend. We've decided we LOVE having visitors and E LOVES having friends.We definitely recommend visiting us.

I know it's hard to compete with London, where Darrell, Sheila and Chelsea have been for the last week to get Chelsea ready for school at U of London, but we tried our best with a trip into the heart of the alps--Interlaken.

After some more research about Rocky's favorite drive, he discovered we hadn't actually driven the Furka Pass but another of the five mountain passes in the Swiss Alps. In order to maintain blog integrity, Rocky insisted we drive it on our way to Interlaken.

It was gorgeous.

Really fantastic.

Even though this is our second mountain pass, we still can't believe places like this exist, especially with navigatable roads. I tried my best to document some of the amazing sights we saw so we didn't have to steal pictures from the internet. Around every corner the views are incredible, and a bit terrifying--although there was only one near death experience when we almost ran head on into a bus. Turns out it wasn't a one way road.

Remember when I used to choose her clothes and do her hair? Now her favorite dresses are Tel Aviv flea market finds and must be worn with the additional ribbon sash. And since I can't seem to be bothered to to my own hair? Why E's? We're trying to integrate into Europe.

Unfortunately. the backseat of the van we rented for the weekend wasn't as smooth as our car was the last time we drove. Windy roads, morning sickness, and running out of Zofran definitely tested the patience of the other people in car. Luckily they didn't kick me out, just kicked me up to the front seat.

It only added an hour to our drive and was so beautiful, it was definitely worth.

Pictures from Interlaken to come.

milan and quite possibly the drive of our lives

2011-09-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Rocky had a meeting in Milan this weekend so E and I tagged along. The drive was less than three hours, beautiful, and full of tunnels. One tunnel we went through was 15 kilometers long. Every time we drive any where here we find ourselves say, "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Only to be one upped on the next drive.

We got to Milan with just enough time to park the car, check into the hotel and have Rocky run around the block to his appointment. After catching our breath and getting directions from the hotel, E and I headed off in search of the Castille Sforzesco. We were told it was a 10-15 minute walk. I rocked it straight out of the door by immediately making a wrong turn and following that with more wrong turns.

When I finally located our position on the map, I realized our predicament--we were out of food, had no euros and no debit card and were probably as far from the castle as the hotel. I decided to go forward almost solely because I wanted to get some pictures of the castle. After an hour of more wrong turns and confusion, we made it there. I got out my camera only to find the battery pack had never been put back in. In dejection and massive hunger, we walked straight through the castle (E stopped to try and fit herself through a few windows) and into the courtyard. I was sitting in the shade contemplating having to walk all the way back to the hotel to meet up with Rocky, when he showed up right behind us. That was probably the high light of my trip.

We bought some pre-dinner and gelato and went back to the Castille to take some iphone pictures and explore.

In the 23 hours we were in Italy, Rocky ate Pizza three times. Eating out in Zug is crazy expensive. We've only done it once, on our first night. For two kebabs and a side of fries it was over 26 CHF about 30 dollars. Eating out in Italy was a lot cheaper and we did our best to do it as much as possible in two days.

The Duomo di Milan was incredible. According to wikipedia it was started in 1386 and finished in 1965 but hopefully they were able to use it before that.

Some guy walked up and put popcorn kernels in my hand and the birds flew in, when they were gone he put more in, then he offered to take a picture of us. When we were done he told us that it would be 5o euros.

So this is the most expensive picture we'll ever take. Just kidding, we refused to pay him that, I gave him the 4 euros I had and still felt totally ripped off.

An indoor mall.

An outdoor mall and E trying her hardest to see how many bike wrecks she could cause, by running straight at every biker she saw.

E learned quickly how to use the squat toilets--the ones with just a hole in the ground. And at one time, when it became necessary, she might have peed over an open grate outside the street market in Como. But that only might have happened.

The church of Santa Maria de Grazie, next door is the museum where Leonardo de Vinci's Last Supper painting is held. Unfortunately we're too cheap to pay 28 euros each to see it. Maybe some other day.

Remember that 15 kilometer tunnel, apparently it and the other tunnels can cause major traffic. Our TomTom warned of 4 hours of traffic on the way home. So we took the back roads and it was beautiful. We drove through Ticino (the Italian part of Switzerland), through the little towns down winding roads and the up over the Furka mountain pass on a very windy and very steep road. It was beautiful and a bit scary for me. '

This is the only picture I took and it was almost at the top--far above the tree line, as I spent most the time in sheer terror that at any moment either we or the bikers we kept passing would be careening down the steep cliffs all around us. Apparently heights at high speeds effect Rocky differently as he couldn't stop saying what an amazing drive this was and asking if I wanted to do it again the next day. It only added to the euphoria that we passed a carriage drawn by Clydesdales, two four wheelers and several bikes at about the same time we were passed by a Ferrari. I don't know how much time the drive saved us but now at a safe height I can say it was definitely worth it.

(Rocky found this picture online because he didn't think I was doing it justice. He's also pretty sure driving it makes him James Bond...or maybe it was that he saw the drive in a James Bond movie.)

*Oh and if you have any good pork chop recipes, we'd love to have them as we bought 10 pounds of pork chops (all we thought would fit in our tiny freezer) on sale in Como, before coming back into Switzerland. You know you're cheap when your willing to go to Italy to buy meat.

Pumpkins

2011-09-01T10:08:00.001-07:00

While walking through the market we saw some pumpkins.

E: "mmm me like pumpkins. Licious!
Me: "Really?"
E: "Yeah, me have pumpkins and get nandy! Lots and lots of treats! Me like pumpkins!"

Every holiday in our house is trying to catch up with Halloween.

basel-icous

2011-08-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

Note: We'd love visitors at any time. We only know we'll be here through November. If you can't come before then, we'd love to see you in Thailand.

Rocky had a meeting with a consultant Friday in Basel. In a valiant effort to avoid E and I both taking five hour naps and spending the night wide awake, we came along. The hour drive and was beautiful and green with a lot of long tunnels. I don't completely understand the tunnels here. They usually only go through relatively small hills, it seems easier to just build the road over the hill--but I guess the landscape is preserved and the tunnels make me feel like I'm in a Bourne movie, so it's a win-win.

While Rocky was in his meeting we went to a animal park with donkeys, lynx, swans, monkeys, etc. Best part, it was free. The pictures aren't great but in my defense, I had yet to keep any food down that day and our tour of the park basically consisted of me pushing the stroller from bench to bench then stalling E for as long as I could at each animal--so I didn't have to move. She was a gem.

She was quick to point out the mommy, daddy, baby and sister monkeys. Although I'm pretty sure the "sister" was an unrelated male monkey.

Here she is demonstrating for you what the lynx is doing. He really is there. Unfortunately the licking display has set off a string of awkward situations as E thinks it is her duty to lick everything and everyone possible.

Like the Swiss children at the park, this goat did not understand her. But it didn't stop her from yelling at him for at least five minutes. "Come 'ere baby goat! Come 'ere!" I didn't stop her either and relished in the break from walking.

The other day we were at a park with sand and water when she saw a boy and girl both playing in just speedo bottoms (Euro style apparently) she could not seem to get all her clothes off fast enough. That time we convinced her to keep her clothes on--since we were on our way to the store. This time I wasn't as persistent. And her clothes were wet from her falling in with them on. A few people asked her in German where her shirt was (so apparently wearing only panties at a public zoo isn't totally acceptable) but she just smiled and told them (in English of course) she was washing her hands and legs.

On the way home we had to run an errand in Zurich. I was determined if I just had some delicious, hot soup I would feel instantly better. We stopped at a few stores on our way but we never found any soup we could take away. We were past the point of being able to sit down at a restaurant, as I was wearing my last meal attempt.

When we finished up in Zurich and started what should have been a 30 minute drive home, our trusty Tom Tom GPS diverted us in order to save 8 minutes of traffic. It kindly sent us into the heart of Zurich traffic and repeatedly tried to get us to turn down a road blocked off for construction. At one time it even had us making a left turn in the middle of a tunnel. Finally we quit listening to Tom Tom and followed the stellar directions from Tum Tum (what Rocky was calling me at this point) and made it home, four hours later.

While I showered and changed clothes, Rocky and E headed out to find some magic soup. Unfortunately it was seven o clock on a Friday and in Switzerland everything closes by six on Fridays. They finally found some won ton soup in the train station. And it really was everything I'd been dreaming about all day.

we're here and it's beautiful

2011-08-27T11:36:00.001-07:00

We've actually been here four days--most of which time we've spent sleeping. The rest of the time was spent wishing we were sleeping. But we're finally unpacked and starting to get back on track sleep wise. Today I was actually able to keep food down during the day and I am anticipating a night spent in bed and not feeling like a secret eater who devours mass amounts of food at night so no one will know.

Eliot was the airplane champ. She only cried once when we tried to force her to sleep by putting her in strait jacket position, before you automatically assume we are horrible parents, it was after 15 hours of her being awake--and maybe I wanted the ipad back. As long as she had Cinderella on she was perfectly content. I think she must have watched it 4 plus times on the flight, each time with the same rapt attention.

She did end up falling asleep but not until 1 hour before landing. She woke up happy enough but refused to put shoes on, so she took the Zurich Airport barefoot.

Here's Zug and Lake Zug. We couldn't ask to live in a prettier place.

Today to celebrate a clean apartment, we headed out for a walk around Zug. We'd also promised E a trip to the beach--but the weather didn't really cooperate. We went to the bird aviary and walked along the lake.

What's Europe without gelato?

Not much if you ask me. E got to choose the flavor, I would have picked Smurf flavor. My favorite, I've heard it's made from the juice of real Smurfs.

Rocky called this E's flasher jacket, right now she is wearing pants, but it turned out to be a self fulfilling prophesy as the creek we played in turned out to be too much and an accident was had. We only hope none of the many people flashed on the way home were paying too much attention.

A deer park along the lake we fed them grass and clovers, hopefully it wasn't poisonous.

We're still getting used to our new quieter (lonelier) life here. E keeps asking to go to her grandparents and wants to show her new house to Max. When we told her she was going to make new friends, she asked if they would be Zoe and Sunny.

summer and...

2011-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sprinklers. Cousins.

What more could you ask for?

Perhaps a baby?

This little girl is finally going to be a big sister!

We don't know whether it will happen in Switzerland or Thailand but hopefully by February 12th we will have a new baby.

And we're also relieved E was not right, there is only one baby, not five as she insisted.

*I would like to thank my two friends--Clomid, I am glad we have finally parted ways and Zofran, you are a special gift and I love you with all my heart.

a day by the sea

2011-07-26T13:41:00.000-07:00

We're back in the blogging world but I'm not promising we'll be consistent.

This is the favorite book in our house and has been for a long time now:

Lately E has insisted we start from the very beginning.

She then points out that that is her mommy. It is very cute.

As you may have guessed, it's pages are a little worn and torn but it is a fantastic book full off entertaining illustrations about all the seasons and wonderful poems. It doesn't hurt that the little girl wears rain boots consistently like someone in our home (and it's not Rocky).

For most of the summer, this drawing has been E's favorite part of the book.

When we told her we were going to the beach, she repeatedly showed Rocky this picture and informed him she too wanted to build "sand castle houses" with her dad.

She talked about going to the beach for weeks. And even stayed awake almost the entire drive 11 hour plus drive, even though we left at 5:30 AM. I assume she wanted to make sure I didn't actually drive past the beach.

It definitely didn't disappoint.

And she did spend most of the week with her face looking like this. Every time we washed her she just ended up covered in sand again, almost within seconds. Eventually we just gave up.

She was buried, given a sand pillow and pretended to fall asleep--this is about as still as she was all week.

She then proceeded to try and bury everyone else, stranger or not, willing or not.

I attempted to do all my parenting from a reclined position.

We invaded my sister-in-law Julie's family party (they were very gracious) and camped just a few minutes walk from the beach.

This is about has close as she came to the water. Her cousin was quite a bit braver and also very fun to play with. Whenever it was time for Sunny's nap, E would try constantly try and wake her up so they could play some more.

There are not very many things more fun than flying a Buzz Lightyear kite, well maybe flying one when there is wind and it actually flies.

And of course there were many sand castle houses built.

We decided we agree with Shirley Hughes, "A day by the sea is the best kind of day."

five years

2011-07-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Having just celebrated our anniversary, I realized, in the five years we've been married we have moved five times.

We're gearing up for move six and inevitable move seven and eight. We officially have an apartment in Switzerland. Close to Rocky's office and close to H&M. I'm not sure there's much more I could ask for--maybe close to a bakery.

I think the test of whether or not you have moved too much is if when you pack, tape and label your boxes, you already have two crossed out labels and you're about to cross out one more and add another.

We're slowly dejunking, and packing away our stuff. Luckily E has yet to realize her books and toys are slowly disappearing, either to suitcases to Switzerland or given away.

You would think with five moves in five years, we would have less stuff and I would be better at moving, but I think it's the opposite on both accounts.

Some things aren't worth fighting

2011-06-28T09:31:00.001-07:00

Yes, that is a bowl of gold fishes and milk.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Some things aren't worth fighting

we went on a bear hunt

2011-06-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Every year Rocky and his brothers/friend/cousin attempt something they are barely qualified for just to prove to themselves they can do it. Past exploits have included marathon, Ironman, 100 mile mountain bike race, sea kayaking, and hiking. There is usually little to no training that takes place. This year they hiked Mt. Rainier. In keeping with precedent Rocky kept his training to a minimum, running on the treadmill, sometimes at an incline, and mowing the lawn to break in his hiking boots. (He must not have mowed it enough and if you've driven by our house lately you might be able to imagine why Rocky was so mad at his boots he left them at the trail head of Rainier.) This is the only picture he took, we're hopeful Rangi documents their trip as he took a lot of great pictures.

While Rocky spent two days getting a blistered forehead, sun burnt nostrils and blisters within blisters, the wives and children stayed at the Darrell and Sheila's Resort. E and I soaked up the time hanging out by the pool, taking long naps and eating incredible food.

On our last day there, when everyone was back, we took a hike to a cave with all the kids.

E and I woke up and went straight from our daily vacation nap, without thinking about the weather, and ended up borrowing 30% of our clothing from the Bramwells' trunk.

We're first time parents so we're used to making mistakes, like reciting the book We're Going on a Bear Hunt to your two year old as you walk up the mountain to a cave.

Needless to say, when we got there she wanted nothing to do with the cave and refused to go in. I finally coaxed her by telling her it was a fairy cave, much to Rocky's disgust.

In the end she loved it.

Though she did mention on the way down that she'd seen two fairies and something with two big goggly eyes, two furry ears and one shiny wet nose.

croc videos

2011-06-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

No matter how much this guy gets paid, it's not enough.

you too could feed a baby tiger

2011-06-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

When we planned our trip last month, we weren't planning on having a lot of time for tourist things, we thought we'd be busy checking out pre-schools, apartments and pricing cheese and cold cereal at the grocery store--deciding how many suitcases to fill with Tillamook sharp cheddar and how many with Golden Grahams. But turns out it's hard to get a contract when you have no idea if you will be ready in 3 or 8 months.

So when Rocky got to BKK, we tricked Hannah into coming with us to see all the things she's already seen and headed out. Turns out Bangkok is HOT.

This is the Grand Palace.

Rocky did not voluntarily wear pajama pants for a day out in Bangkok, apparently shorts are a sign of disrespect and he had to rent pants to come inside.

Hannah cried when we left. I didn't see it but I'm sure it happened.

The next day we headed out of the city to a crocodile farm.

Hannah and I fulfilled some life long dreams we didn't know we had by being picked up by an elephant's trunk.

And feeding a baby tiger.

Rocky opted out of all those things and instead spent his 100 baht (about $3) to fish for crocodiles with a whole chicken.

(footage to come, if I can ever figure out how to load a video on blogger)

Another bonus, albino zebras.

Our trip was so much fun and we really feel blessed to have been able to take this trip and for the upcoming adventures we will be taking with Roger Federer, Heidi and all our other Swiss friends.

p.s. these pictures are really a thinly veiled effort to lure our family and friends into coming to visit us when we are living in Bangkok in a year or so. Turns out we don't need to try to lure anyone to Switzerland all we have to say is we will live 29 km from the Golden Eye Bungee Jump.

back from bkk

2011-05-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

I flew in Sunday morning and to keep me from falling asleep for the night before 2 pm, we went for an afternoon walk in the park.

According to Dan and Amy, Lumphini Park is the Central Park of Bangkok.

I haven't a lot of time in Central Park, but I'm pretty sure they don't have five foot long lizards walking around.

When Abe asked to go see the lizards, I was expecting the tiny ones I can never see.

On Saturdays and Sundays Lumphini Park has super large dance aerobic classes.They look like a blast.

This girl was so cute and fun, it was sad to leave her.

My first impressions of Bangkok, it was nice. I think I could live there.

the post you and i have both been waiting for

2011-05-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

IT'S FINISHED!

(at least for the next two years.)

Before:

After:

The biggest project was putting in a new floor. The wood underneath the tiles was rotted out and it was only a matter of time before someone fell straight through.

Before:

We replaced the wood then tried to salvage the tiles. In keeping with our project history, we didn't plan well enough and before we were done, ran out of the right pieces. We had to get pretty creative with a placing--but it all worked out.

Luckily we had E and Baby Dinosaur (the toy of choice at the moment) to help.
Floor: After

Door:

Thanks to Tangled, E thinks she is the "purple princess" and wants to spend all day in her castle wearing her huge purple party dress.

I really wanted the flower bed. Rocky was hesitant to add another project to our already long list. So I built a wall, bought dirt and planted flowers. My wall fell over the next day.

I'm still sure the castle's too big and our neighbors secretly hate us. But Rocky's convinced its an absolute renter attraction.
We only have three months left to play in it. Our cousins can't get here soon enough.

The man with a dream and his inspiration.

Thanks Rocky! It turned out better than I hoped.

change of plans

2011-05-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

We're not going Thailand. At least not yet. We're going here:

Switzerland.

Lucerne/Zug area for 6-12 months and then onto Bangkok. I'm excited and overwhelmed. Basically, living in Europe again is my dream but I was looking forward to being close to Dan and Amy and some of the perks of Thailand i.e. maid=no laundry or cooking.

On the other hand, it's Switzerland. I can't complain.

E overheard us talking about trains and commutes and got the wrong idea. She told me "my new 'ome fa way. Airpane. Daddy ride boo choo choo (Thomas the Tank Engine)." Do you think she will be disappointed when we get of the airplane and we're not on the Island or Sodor?

Although, who knows, maybe that's where we'll be going next week.

As before, visitors are most assuredly welcome.

p.s. I just bought a book on learning to speak German so I guess I'm all in. Or maybe it will just end up catching dust next to my book on learning to speak Thai--which seems completely impossible to do by book.

yard-ish work

2011-05-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Lately...

We've been working like mad trying to get our house ready to rent. The problem with being too ambitious about DIY projects is we have a lot of half painted rooms and partially finished flower beds. The last two weeks we bought 4 different colors of paint, filled our truck bed with dirt, rocks, and more dirt and went to work.

The list of finished projects is quickly becoming longer but is still completely dwarfed by the list of to do projects.

I bought a 32 gallon Tupperware and have been filling it full of toys, games, sewing projects, and clothes that Rocky and I will take to Bangkok with us when we go apartment hunting in a few weeks. The problem is finding summer clothes and other things we can live with out for the next three months. Rocky has offered to fill any extra space with sun flower seeds, and in effort to show good faith, bought 10+ packs. I bought a giant bag of Honey Comb, packed it, and unpacked to eat for breakfast the next day. We are packing a few pieces of baby clothes, and hoping and praying it doesn't come home unused.

We are getting more and more excited for our upcoming adventure. Especially if we don't think about all the work to do on our house and all the people we are leaving behind. Although after two days working on our 8,000 pound castle and trying to rein in sprinkler geysers created by said castle, the idea of no yard work for two years is sounding pretty alluring.

I promise to post some pictures of the castle soon. We are on our last item of our 'castle to do' list, as we try to get it ready for visiting family this summer--in a desperate attempt to secure E's cousins will play with her.

We are missing my brother, Sam, who worked for us in exchange for cold cereal, almost expired movie passes and meatloaf. Dallin is requesting actual money in exchange for staining our fence. We're not really sure how the whole 'paying people to work' thing works.

happy easter

2011-04-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

we have an annoucment

2011-04-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

We're not pregnant.

We're moving.

Again.

I know, it's starting to seem like a recurring theme. (I think it's life's desperate attempt to keep me off the show, "Hoarders.")

We're moving to Bangkok. In Thailand.

Starting in September, we will be there for 1-2 years.

We are sad to leave our home and families but excited for the adventure. If you're in Southeast Asia come visit us. Please.
On related note, if you know of anyone who's looking to rent a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house in Pleasant Grove with a 19 foot tall castle in the backyard. Let us know.

are christmas trees flammable? and other things we did at the beach

2011-04-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Only if you douse them in lighter fluid.

We brought Rangi and Sara's Christmas tree to the beach for a bonfire. The boys were out surfing when we got hungry so the girls built the fire, defying the naysayers who believe you need a Y chromosome to build a fantastic fire. Basically, I feel a lot better about being stranded on a deserted island now as long as I have lighter fluid and a five month old pine tree.

We played in the sand.

The book Olivia, gave E a false idea of how tall of a sandcastle she could build. But her disappointment didn't last too long.

Had a kite fight.

Rocky: End score: Nemo 3, Dragon 1. I guess you get what you pay for, $5 versus $3.

Went surfing.

And just enjoyed the warm weather.

Now we're home to work, stress, and life changing decisions.

More to come.

buzz's house

2011-04-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to get the picture I wanted. The two girls on either side of Ricker. He rented a wheelchair for his foot and kept us from waiting in line. Also, this was taken right after we walked into the park, her stroller was never buckled again. "No bitsy!" Making it easier for her to jump out and run to whatever caught her eye. (Bitsy=all inclusive word for buckles, zippers, buttons, snaps, anything.)
Rocky and I are sure we have joined an elite group of people: people who start off Disneyland with back to back Jungle Cruises. The girls loved it. Luckily E didn't see the Rhino.
We went on our fair share of carousal rides. I can't complain, their lines were short--the lines were always short for E, if she had to stand in one place for longer than a minute, she would wait for us to turn our backs and bee-line for the ride. This proved to be pretty embarrassing as she often made it all the way onto a ride and we would have to go get her out and try to explain the concept of waiting in line again. She definitely kept the people around us in line entertained. I knew she had taken off when I heard, "Wow, she's fast." or "There she goes again." Or every mother's personal favorite, "Whose little girl is that climbing onto the Buzz Lightyear ride alone?"

Cousins.

E's favorite thing in the whole park was the Bugs Life sprinkler--probably the cheapest ride that exists.

This is E's 3rd outfit. She's not wearing a shirt under that jacket--as her shirt was soaking wet and drying on the stroller.
Waiting for light/wash show, World of Colors, to start. Our fast pass on wheels got us great close seats, we just failed to heed the sign that said, "Wet Zone: You WILL get wet." We got completely drenched.

We didn't get a picture with Buzz. Even though E had been talking about going to Baby Buzz's house for a week. I tried to tell her Sleeping Beauty's castle was where Buzz lived but she quickly told me, "No, my house." We did walk past Buzz a few times and E was a little taken back. He's definitely not the same size as Baby Buzz.

the racetrack and an ethical question

2011-04-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

While in CA we decided to try something new and headed out to the Santa Anita Racetrack. We were lured there by the prospect of gourmet food trucks. From the length on the lines, we can only assume so was everyone else in Southern California.

After being denied the opportunity to ride a pony, E consoled herself with peanuts and cousins. If you ask why she didn't get to ride a 'baby 'orsey', she'll act out running away, because that is what happens when you are over two and a half and have the vocabulary of an eighteenth month old--you get really good at acting things out. I have great hopes for her as a charades player. Or a mime. Ethical question: When you post pictures of your child with other peoples children, do you choose the one your own child looks best in?
Like this one. Or the one most of the kids look good in.
Because there's no way I would ever choose this one, my daughter looks the Beast.

and we're back

2011-04-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

Where were we, you ask.

We went to...

wait for it...

Disneyland!

I'd prefer not to, but I would

2011-03-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get caught up in the isolation, temper tantrums and the 3 am Tylenol wake up calls.

The other day, I saw this and the first thought that came to my head was, 'I would clean poop off the floor a million times for you.'

Yep, that's how my mind works now.

farewell to a good and loyal friend

2011-03-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Nano has died. He went peacefully, one and half songs into my 'music to run' playlist--which I always believed was his favorite. He fizzed out and never came back. I finished my run with no music, in his honor. He will be sorely missed.

It's just over five years from the time I first met Nano. My ever-honest mother had listed all the contents of my birthday package on the customs paper, taped to the outside of the box. Even though she had specifically said not to open it until my birthday, I did anyway. Just to get a peak--not to use. It was love at first site.

We quickly became best friends. Back before he gained status of "ancient artifact," he was stolen from me (I never lose things, they are always stolen) and it's possible I told Rocky, amid tears, that I felt like I had lost my best friend. Luckily the thief replaced him under my kitchen table.

We lived together on two different continents, a marriage, several long flights, a baby a few 5ks, a half marathon and the Ragnar Relay. It was Nano who first introduced me to Public Radio, Carl Kassle, Peter Segal and Ira Glass.

I'm seriously considering burying him in my backyard. That is unless I can donate him to the British Museum.

Actually, better idea, I'm going to blend him in my blender and ask the next person I know going to London to scatter his idust into the River Thames.

a really long post about a pair of chairs

2011-03-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

If I had to describe my personal style, well I probably couldn't because it's constantly changing. But right now it is old classic style with a modern twist. Which makes a new store we found perfect for me--except that it costs money.

It's called Eurotreasures and is located in SLC. Basically it's a giant warehouse full of thousands and thousands of antiques imported from England. We went up with Rick and Cheryl, they are collecting chairs to refinish and sell.

Need a new chair, or maybe a thousand?

What about a stain glass window?
Someday I will have a place for you.

Or a cradle...for baby Yao Ming?

I'm always a sucker for books.

She found a chair she loved. Which Rick and Cheryl bought and she's been furious ever since. When she sees it at their house she gets so mad, "My seat! My seat!"

Yep, she's spoiled. But what were we expecting? We bought her a castle. We might as well just surrender and learn to live with it.

We have Eurotreasures to thank for finally finding something our daredevil daughter was afraid of, Rhinoceroses. Or at least half a body of a taxidermy Rhino. She refused to walk by it alone. She would just stand next to it, hugging herself.

As far as courage goes, it's been downhill from then. If she even sees a picture of a rhino in a book, she hugs herself and starts to cry. We took her to her favorite place, McDonald's (I told you we were awesome parents) and she refuse to go down the slide. She said one of her longest sentences yet, "It frightens me, I baby." We were so proud.

I believe, this is the true use of a truck--at least of ours.

We fell in love with these chairs on our first trip. We had to do a little searching to find the second chair. We tricked Rick into refinishing them by inviting him over to watch the BYU game and then locking him in the garage until he was finished.

I think my photography forte might be the 'before' pictures, you know, the pictures that are supposed to be too dark and grainy to make the after pictures look better. I wonder if there's a market for that?

We love them.

best parade yet

2011-03-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from this years St. Patrick's Day Parade. This was Rocky and my 3rd year and definitely the best yet. No rain or snow and no hours of waiting--in fact, instead of waiting for our spot, which was dead last (who would have thought signing up only a week before would turn out that way) we snuck in between the Holy Trinity Church and a bag pipe band. Basically everyone thought we were just an addendum to the Holy Trinity Church only much cooler because we brought a Vespa with a side car. That was definitely the highlight for most people. Including this girl who spent the entire time eating as much candy as possible. Though, Ricker swears she didn't eat more than five pieces. I think he must mean she never ate more than five pieces at once.

Lately she has really been into dogs, which she calls "woofs." She broke Rocky's heart a few days before when she asked if she could have one. She was denied even after asking, "pease!" She found a stuffed dog gifted for her birthday and has been happy ever since. When we were telling her about the parade we mentioned all the dogs, or woofs, that would be there and she insisted bringing hers to play with them. Though she couldn't quite figure out why none of the dogs wanted to play with Woof--no matter how loud E barked.
If she thought about it, she was probably even more confused with the fact that she was on a leash instead of her dog.

I branched out costume-wise and paraded as the "pot of gold" though I spent most of the time with the words on the bucket covered. So most people just assumed I was a girl in a bucket.
It was actually pretty convenient. I could keep my candy, camera, and E's Woof inside. Though when my candy bag spilled I just kept dropping candy behind me. Kind of like bananas or green shells on Mario Kart.

This newest treasure troll. Or blond, baby Syndrome.

I don't think anyone had more fun handing out candy than Benson.

Max is known in our house as "blue choo choo" said while pointing to your shirt. Because he owns a highly coveted Thomas the Tank Engine shirt which E has remembered for months and talks about all the time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's also my birthday. FYI.

the castle has landed

2011-03-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

And it is gigantic.

Friday morning I went to Target for St. Patrick's Day parade supplies. I came home an hour later to a new front yard. No castle and no new lawn destruction. It was a spur of the moment move that was so successful it could almost make me a castle believer.
Give me one year with no broken bones and I will be a true believer.

E is so pleased she talks about "my ouse" all the time and would be completely content spending all her time there.

So far we have decided our neighbors either don't mind us having a 19 foot castle in our backyard or are too polite to be honest.

We don't really mind, we're solely focused on becoming those obsessive parents that will do anything to ensure their child is loved and popular. Even if it means using a bulldozer to bring a 6,000 lbs castle into their backyard.
The problem is, how do you top buying your two year old a castle? With an island or a small country? Do they ever list those on KSL?

milestones for toddlers--revisited

2011-03-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

Fairly important: Having a vocabulary of 100+.

Semi-important: Not wetting your pants constantly.

Most important: Moonwalking.

One for three isn't bad.

a hint, maybe

2011-03-09T07:06:00.001-08:00

Do you think she's trying to tell me she doesn't want to do the silverware anymore?

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

creativity in the kitchen

2011-02-24T20:50:00.000-08:00

E loves to help out. She loves doing things herself and is always wanting to to jobs that are too complex for her--like putting on socks or buckling herself and her toy train into there respective seat belts. But she has gotten setting the table down. It's kind of like having a really short slave, but one who can dissolve into a major tantrum if you push the button on the blender when she wanted to.

The other night she set herself a sweet meal.

Chocolate truffles Rocky found in his hotel room in Tel Aviv and have been sitting in our freezer for two months plus.

I left it alone, partially because it was awesome and partially out of laziness. Dinner was delayed a little bit and her meal kept getting better.

At this point I did take it away. I was torn. I'm pretty sure if I let her eat it she would never make herself a plate of chocolates again. But I think there was a significant chance eating it would make her throw up--which I would have had to clean up.

meet baby buzz

2011-02-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

Being an only child can be boring. E gets pretty lonely at home. (She tries to wear dresses everyday in hopes she can go to nursery at church. ) Enter her best friend: Baby Buzz.
Every parent wants their child to be dependent on a two inch tall toy that is consistently getting lost.

As every best friend should, he help her with chores.

He receives a fair share of kisses.

Her love of Baby Buzz has not diminished her love/crazy dependence on blankie. The other night we lost Baby Buzz at Rocky's parents for the night and blankie was in the wash, as a result of an accident. It was a rough night. The next morning I told her we could go back to Grandpa Owie's to look for Baby Buzz and she dissolved in tears of excitement.
Is there anything better than watching Toy Story, while wearing Buzz pajamas, with your best friend who also happens to be Buzz Lightyear?