Oh Christmas Tree 2

Here are some of the pictures of us when we were getting our Christmas tree at a place benefitting the YMCA near our house. Do we all look cold or what?

Potty training???

So Ariana has been interested in the potty for awhile. i got her a potty seat over a month ago and put her on it whenever she wants or just before her bath- just about once a day. She's never peed in it but she goes through all the other actions just fine- toilet paper (always wanting too much of course) flushing, washing, etc. She's not the least bit scared of anything and she's totally obsessed with potty functions.

Today, I put her on the toilet when she got a whim and it was the first time that she actually made some tinkle!! It was actually pretty exciting. My question for all you people who are experienced in potty training a toddler is, do you think that I could actually get her potty trained before the next one comes? She'll be 2 in the middle of February and the next one is due May 1.

Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I was planning on potty training her before the next and I said that I thought I'd have two in diapers. Maybe it won't be the case? The thing is, I don't think that she knows how to do it, how she makes pee and poo happen. Today was probably a coincidence. Any suggestions?

Oh Christmas tree!

Yesterday we got our first real Christmas tree. It was real in two ways. First, it is an actual tree that was cut down, not plastic and wire. And second, it is actually the first tree that we've got in our marriage. The last 4 years we've used a little 12 inch thing because we were always with family during the holidays anyway. It is amazing all the new stuff that we've had to get because of the tree, but our house is really looking festive!

Getting the tree wasn't that bad in some ways. There was a tree lot benefitting the YMCA real close to our house and the guys were able to tie it down to the top of our SUV. But man is it cold! We put Ariana in her little down snow suit, hats, mittens, etc, and she only really lasted 10 minutes of tree hunting before Reuben took her back to the car to warm up. Getting the tree off the top was difficult too. It's a full tree and very heavy. Reuben had his friend Trevor come over to help that night. Tonight we're going to decorate it. I'm excited because that was always a fun part of my childhood. We'll see if I bought enough light strands!

Pictures to follow!

Posts that I shoulda posted when I coulda

So, I was going to post these things up on the blog and I was even going throughout the day thinking about what I would say, but now these things are just no longer true. Here they are:

17 weeks pregnant and still fitting into everything! Even my tightest jeans!

I was so happy that I still fit everything, mind you, I wouldn't wear some of my tighter shirts anymore because I just looked funny, but I hadn't outgrown it and for that I was happy. I realized that Sunday when I was putting on a nice winter outfit that I hadn't wore yet this winter that I really couldn't zip up the back. Reuben wasn't there to help me (he was on call) or else I might have been able to, but now two weeks have passed and I know that there's no way that I'll be able to fit that dress. Maybe next year!!!

20 degree weather (plus crazy wind chill) and still riding my bike 9 miles a day!

So I was riding my bike up until last week every day to my Chinese class still, a 9 mile ride round trip. I like to ride to multitask (pregnancy appropriate exercise while also needing the transportion) and also to save on parking fees. It would take about the same amount of time too so it wasn't bad. But then it snowed and it's all icey so right now, I think that it's a bit risky for a pregnant woman.

This is the gear that I would wear while riding. Face mask, special winter riding gloves, scarf, hat, hood, thermals, wool socks, jacket, winter coat, and then my normal clothes. I wanted to get anti-fog ski goggles next but I guess that might be it for riding. Anyhow, my class ends in a week.

Ariana's words-sorry-boring post for everyone but me!

So here are the words Ariana knows so far. I think that there's more but this is what I remember so far.

ball
Daddy
cheese
water
shui (water)
wazi (chinese sock)
nainai(chinese milk)
baobao(chinese to hold)
baba (chinese dad)
mama
dui (chinese yes)
shoes
book
toy
xishou (chinese wash hands)
ca shou ((chinese wipe hands)
bei (chinese back)
zhege (chinese this)
this
xizao (chinese bath)
dog
gou (chinese dog)
cat
mao(chinese cat)
yu (chinese fish)
baby
rou (meat)
mian (noodles)
zhurou (pork)
jidan (egg)
duzi (stomach)
pigu (bottom)
niao (peepee)
poopoo
uh-oh
no
mine
na-uh (no)
cai (vegetable)
juice
xiangjiao (banana)
all done
mian bao
meiyou (no, none)
hua

New developments

-So since I posted about less than two bucks a gallon for gas I've seen cheap gas all over this town. That's pretty cool. I almost feel like I'm in High school again-sometimes when the tank isn't completey empty I end up paying less than $20. I used to be paying $50!!

-We just saw the new James Bond movie. Pretty good with nice action but not as much emotional mushy plot love stuff going on- the stuff I like.

-Reuben played football with the Elders today. The first time I've seen him play football.

-After lots of practice, Ariana is finally willing to show me that she knows the names of her body parts.

-Ariana's words. This week she came up with a whole slew of new words in English that she must of learned from, well, who knows? We talk to her in Chinese and saw a word to her like toy in Chinese a thousand times and she hears "toy" once in English and it suddenly sticks. I said "milk" once and she said it back to me in a second. She must know that all the cool kids (every kid around here but her) only speak in English.

Gas for less than 2 bucks a gallon!

So yesterday I bought gas at Costco for less than 2 dollars a gallon. Oh happy day!

Good news

If you read my last post, I alluded very bluntly that we are expecting. Well, it's true. Here our first picture of our little boy (99% sure that it's a boy). I'm 15 weeks along and so far so good. All the regular pregnancy symptoms apply, but to a lessor degree than when I was pregnant with a girl. My greatest complaint lately is my lack of a brain.

Oh, and while Ariana was "made in Taiwan" this one was "made in China" if you know what I mean. . .

We're expecting him around May 1 of next year.

Nursing is over

So Ariana breastfed until she was 20 months old. I was a little embarrassed to say it because for some reason it's super good and awesome to do it until they are a year old and kinda weird and strange anytime after that.

Really, it's so easy when they are older and only do it once or twice a day. Plus, I couldn't ween her this summer because we went out of town too much and had too many trips. This fall she started her Chinese daycare which was a huge stressor for both of us so it was up until three weeks ago (it's taken a while to get this post down) before she finally stopped. She hasn't asked for it for 3 days now and things are good.

My little girl has grown up. That's a good thing because although being pregnant and breastfeeding at the same time is fun on fast Sundays and anytime you want a reason for thirds and fourths, it's probably better not to do them both at the same time for too long.

those golden days are over

So I knew that as soon as I wrote that last post things would start going wrong again.

So Ariana ate too much candy during our Halloween parties (too much being a couple of suckers and part of a cupcake- a lot for a little person like her) and also started expanding her crazy picky toddler food likes which in some sort of combination gave her some diarrhea. It wasn't that bad but because she was pooping a couple of times a day, that gave her diaper rash. The diaper rash ointment that we used or some sort of combination of that and her father's history of allergies gave her two matching rashes on the side of her butt. Her long fingernails (that I finally cut tonight) made those rashes hurt more.

Consequently, the golden days of nothing going wrong are over. . .

The Golden Days

So things are going really well with Ariana. She's not sick, she's not teething, she goes to bed willingly and at a decent hour then sleeps 12 hours at night, she has a good nap for about 2 hours in the day, she's not having crazy tantrums, etc etc. It's really quite awesome. I'm feeling like I'm rocking this motherhood stuff. When she's so calm we have more time to just giggle and play and read together.

Just a few weeks ago it seems so crazy, I was considering quiting taking classes because she was having a hard time adjusting to preschool (she was fine while she was there- it was just hard when she was done- night wakings, tantrums, grumpiness, etc). Now her preschool seesm to go so well. She doesn't cry when I leave and she's super happy when I come back. She sleeps well and she's learning how to listen and follow directions.

I call these the golden days because I bet in just a matter of days, everything will change. So enjoy those moments while they last!

Pittsburgh Thank you

I wanted to up this post to finally thank my friend Brooke for all of her awesome hospitality recently when we went to Pittsburgh. Reuben went to a conference and Brooke drove over to our hotel two days in a row to drive me around, hang out with me, take me to church, and also fed us lunch and let us hang out at her house all day Sunday. We had a great time! She had a busy weekend arranging a Batmitten tournament with barbeque, her primary program (her being the Primary President), and her husband leaving that Sunday for a week long fishing trip. We feel really grateful that even with that was going on, she also took time out to drive us around and entertain us while we were in town.

Thanks Brooke!

She also recommended an awesome breakfast place near our hotel. It was one of the best breakfasts we have ever had! I got incredible strawberry crepes, Reuben got strawberry french toast, and Ariana got scrambled eggs (which she has asked for every morning since.) The food was great but the best part was that all of that came out about 3 minutes after we ordered! We barely had time to even start a conversation and Ariana didn't even have time to get out of her high chair and act crazy by the time we were eating!

t

In sickness and in health

Ariana was sick yesterday. I felt bad for her, but it wasn't that bad of flu, so i didn't feel that bad. She threw up twice and had a fever. Today is was mostly gone.

I actually had fun (except for that cleaning up that large mess egg and strawberry vomit). It was kinda cool to have a lethargic cuddly toddler for while. We sat on her little couch and watched cartoons, read books, and she didn't run around that much while we were doing it! I took her to the store to get something, and for the first time ever, she sat in the shopping cart the whole time! She usually stands up (no matter how tight i tie the belt) and tries to jump out and run away!

I don't hope that she's sick again, especially since we usually have something going on every day of the week that involves close contact with other people, but it reminded me a little of how she was when she couldn't walk around or as often is our case, run away. How times are different now!

Ariana

So Ariana is getting pretty cute. She is learning a lot of new words, although she doesn't always like using her words. Her favorite and most useful words that she knows are
"nai nai (milk)"
Juice,
dog (any animal including ladybugs),
baby (any toy with eyes including little people),
da baby (I think that this means people or "big" babies)
cheese (and any other food)
Ji dan (Egg and any other food)
wa wa (water and juice)
baba (dad and anything else she likes to point at)
bu bu (poo poo and pee pee in her diaper)
Chu qu (to go out)
Shoe (shoes and socks)
Wa shoe (Wazi or sock)

She's also finally repeated some of the chinese words we've been saying to her for the last 19 1/2 months. It's funny and sad that she prefers so many English words. Although sometimes I read to her in English, I always speak to her in Chinese at home and almost all the time when we're out and about, but somehow, some kids told her something in English once or twice and all the sudden, she says Juice and not the Chinese word for it. It's good that she's learning, but it is sort of telling us that she's more of a social peer centered learner than a listen-to-parents-learner. She already thinks more of her friends than she thinks of us!

She goes to Chinese preschool where they speak to her only in Chinese (because the Teacher's English is actually very very bad- they are all from Chinese speaking countries) and most of the kids in the class speak Chinese to her. She is actually starting to learn pretty fast I think. I was a little upset when after the first week, the only word that she came back with was "MINE!" and in English. It's nice that she had this Chinese environment. She is doing really well there and every time I pick her up the teachers tell me how well she ate, how happy she was, etc. I'm pretty happy that she's doing so well at this, because it was pretty traumatic only a couple of weeks ago. Now she's doing great and we're happy for her.

A couple of weeks ago she would be happy when I picked her up, all smiles and hugs, then she got super moody. I could tell she was super hungry and thirsty- she probably forgot about these feelings with all the kids around. We moved dinner up to 5:30, basically right when Reuben walked in the door, but she was still so moody I could hardley stand it. The last couple of days she's really improved and I feel happy to be a mom again. Really it can be a lot of fun! I guess that it's good to have some bad days because I really value when she is good. Tonight we went out to eat at another sushi restaurant and she was pretty good. She spent most of the time on our laps trying to play with stuff on the table, which is normal, but no temper tantrums or crazy food throwing. We're grateful!

School, Soul searching, and three hour trip to ER

Wow, what a crazy week. Really nothing huge went on except another week of school and some soul searching, and of course a three hour trip to the ER. Ariana twisted her elbow but don't worry everyone, it should all be better by tomorrow.

So going to classes again is a little frustrating. You know, I'm turning 28 soon and I thought that I had a young spirit but I am realizing as my life is catching up to me, that I'm getting a little old for this. Nevertheless, Chinese needs to be learned and this is one of the best ways to motivate me and my learning style. So Ariana has been going to a Chinese Preschool while I go to my class. I think that she secretly likes it, even though she cries like none other every time I drop her off. Separation Anxiety, I get it. So far, the only word that she seems to have learned is, "MINE!" and that's not even in Chinese.

But this might be a good time for her to be around so many Chinese speakers because I can tell that her language explosion is about to go off.

Her favorite and only real word that she says in Chinese more than once is, "Jidan" which means egg (more specifically chicken egg). She LOVES eggs- she ate two for breakfast the other day, along with her cereal, fruit, and yogurt. Hopefully I can get her to say other words in Chinese too but I think that she definently has favorites in each language. She also LOVES shoes and before this week was calling them "Badoo!!." This week she finally learned how to say Shoe and also says that repeately. She refers to socks and "shoe" too. It's actually helpful when we're out and about and her shoe comes off, she'll usually tell me, "Uh-oh!!!. Shoe!!" which has helped save quite a few pairs.

Chinese class is going well. There are a lot of words to memorize each day. I remember when learning 10 new characters took me hours. Now I learn about 50 for each class. THe test actually was disappointing. I've never taken a Chinese test with so much multiple choice. We'll see how I do, but overall, the easiest test that I've ever taken in Chinese.

However, on Thursday, the day before the test I felt like giving up. I don't really feel like this easily. I've ran 3 marathons, multiple half marathons and a couple of triathlons. I ran 2 of those half marathons on a hurt foot and I ran one of the half marathons three months after having a baby. But this is a stress and a guilt that I don't know how to resolve. Because of my class time, Ariana has to stay at the preschool longer than I would want her to. She cries when I drop her off. I was wondering if it was all worth it. Then when I picked her up I wanted to be a good mom and take her to the park before dinner. When we were walking back, holding hands, she either suddenly decided that she didn't want to stand anymore or she decided to do 1, 2, 3 jump- but with only one person holding her hand, that game doesn't work. What happened is that why I was holding her, her arm twisted, and she got something called Nursemaids elbow. It is easily resolvable, although I didn't know at the time. You just have to pronate and then extend so everything goes back in place and only happens to kids because of the size of their muscles. However, she cried for a lot longer than usual and when Reuben got home we decided to take her to the hospital. They fixed it and put it in a splint to make sure that it would stay.

The whole experience was obviously very stressful because it was the first time we've had to go to the hospital with her (which is the second time someone in our family has gone to the ER already since we've moved- I hope that I'm not next!) It also made me feel sad about the whole situation and I almost gave up. I think that I feel better about it now. We'll see how it goes this week!

Pictures

If you've noticed, I haven't been putting as many pictures up as usual. That's because it takes too long and lots of times, it doesn't work the first time I have to upload so it takes even longer. I've decided that facebook is a lot easier to put up pictures so I have a TON of pictures up on my facebook. My name is just my full name (with maiden name) so I'll be easy to find. Look me up and be my friend! Then you'll be able to see a lot more pictures on that site.

Little Bunny rabbit

So I'm riding my bike a lot more lately. I ride my bike to my chinese class because the parking rates at the U of Minnesota are extraordinarily high. I really like riding and it makes me feel good. Plus, I get to use a special road that only bikers and the buses can use that's a total shortcut. I hope to be able to ride for a while longer, but the winters here are brutal and I'm not sure how many months my bike will be sitting in the garage during those subzero crazy snow like days.

Anyway, back to the story. I found a baby bunny on the side of the road (alive still- not road kill). It was so small it didn't have it's eyes open yet. I didn't know what to do. I didn't see the mother bunny around nor any of the little guys brothers and sisters not did I see anything that looked remotely like a little bunny hole or nest. So I called reuben and asked him what to do. Now, he doesn't know anything about animals but he gave me permission to save the bunny. I picked it up to do something for it and thought, "oh no, now there's no chance for the bunny! The mother will eat it or won't accept it if it smells like me!"

Anyway, I took the bunny home and it was pretty darn cute. I got home and looked up everything that I could about bunnies and taking care of them and it didn't take me long to find out that wild rabbits are basically impossible to take care of. Most of them die, even if they are taken care of by a professional. Jack rabbits in particular are impossible, because they are so wild that once they get stronger, if you get anywhere near them to try to feed them, they will hop away at full force and can run themselves into a wall or the side of the box so hard it could kill them.

I read stories and poems and got more and more depressed. I realized that I probably couldn't do anything for the bunny, especially since we were going on vacation in a few days and probably wouldn't be able to get the bunny on my carry on, right? So, one thing I read said that bunnies aren't canabalistic, they won't eat their babies if they smell funny. The mom comes to them only once a day, and only for a few minutes to feed them, usually during the midnight hours. If one is missing they will look for their babies within a 50 yard radius. So I felt utterly stupid and just got in the car and put the bunny right where I found it (well, not on the road this time, on the side of the road.) That's the last time I try to save any bunnies!

Update- I've been riding past that same area where I found the bunny and haven't seen any bunny corpses lying around. I hope that's a good sign!

My little Nightmarish Miracle

Some of you know that I’ve been taking Chinese classes. I’ve taken classes at a few different schools, and also in Taiwan and by personal tutoring. You know the language part of your brain? Mine has problems. So languages have come harder to me than just about anything else in life, well, maybe except memorizing dance moves. I truly suck at language skills. It’s funny that a person so deficient in natural language know-how would want to be trilingual. But that’s what my life and goals require.

When I had Ariana, I thought that the whole taking classes and school thing was over. I had a masters degree in a field that I loved and that was that. If there was any else that I needed for my career, it certainly wasn’t more school but more experience in my field. After I had Ariana, I suffered a bit of what happens to every new mom. They go from an exciting life where they see progress and achievement every day, to a life where if you end the day with a house that isn’t a total disaster, an outfit that doesn’t have any bodily fluids on it, and nobody’s starving, then you’re doing good. I did what I had to do and I made some goals for activities that I thought could bring me some other senses of personal achievement and help me get out of the house. I trained for triathlons and half marathons and I ran 2 half marathons within a year, 2 triathlons, and 1 duathlon. I also invigorated my mind and decided to finish second year Chinese at UCI. I had started the Chinese 2A class when I was in grad school. However, eventually, grad school requirements plus the differences in school schedules stopped me from finishing. I wanted to finish second year Chinese and look for the opportunities in the future, namely continually Chinese in Minnesota.

I had found out that the University of Minnesota also offered classes, in fact, it offered up to 5 years of Chinese. I wanted to do that to make up for the defiency in my brain. I feel like learning Chinese isn’t necessary for my life, but knowing if would be really convenient for my family and my husband’s future work situation.

I thought that taking the classes at UCI would pretty much guarantee a spot in the 3rd year Chinese. After all, an upper division class doesn’t always fill up, right? Well, after I got accepted at University of Minnesota, I looked at the status and it was full and already waitlisted. Once more, I couldn’t even register until the middle of August, after I went to a stupid Orientation and advising thing. School starts two weeks later. I felt so much angst. It seemed like there was so many things in my way.

1) A Parking pass lottery- that I happened to win- while I was camping and out of the reach of a phone and internet service. Will I be walking in the snow and -30 degrees?
2) Childcare? Who will take care of Ariana?
3) Do I really want this?
4) Placement test?
5) Waitlisted class
6) Not being able to register
7) Do I really want to do this?

When you have a kid, you sort of have to be a little planned out, but whatever I did, it seemed like things were all going against me in my pursuit to take the class. Is taking the class wrong? I have to spend time and energy away from Ariana. Is it going to be too much of a sacrifice?
(Of course I don’t want Ariana to be away from me, but at her age when she just really wants to go wild and crazy with other kids, I think that it might work out for her to have an external outlet.)

The big kicker of a challenge was what I found out at orientation. By the way, University of Minnesota is just too great and grand of a school to let you continue taking Chinese from the fact that you’ve already taking two years at a different school. They have to give you a placement test, based on their book, the whole book, which just happens to be a book that I haven’t used. I had a task ahead of me. Memorize 1000 new words and read the entire textbook in a week. So I’ve studied morning and night burning the midnight oil since then . (And by the way, Ariana has had jet lag and has suddenly made it a habit to get up in the middle of the night, every night which has added to my stress!) So this last little bit, I’ve been studying 4 to 6 hours a day. I’ve felt just about every emotion and had to evaluate if I really wanted to do this, if taking this class would be worth it. You know, I feel that it doesn’t make sense, but I really still wanted to do it. Something inside me said it would be giving up to not do it.

I got a blessing from Reuben the night before. It talked about faith. I read my patriarchal blessing and my favorite chapter of the Book of Mormon in Ether. I felt alright and Reuben said that he felt good too. He said that he thought that it would be a hard test, but things would work out.

When I got into the test, it was so much more nightmarish than I ever expected. I received the test, and it was all in simplified. In my communications I had read specifically that it was traditional. I just didn’t have time to memorize both.

I couldn’t read hardly anything. Even the grammer was something that I didn’t remember seeing in the book. Also, the entire test wasn’t on anything but the vocabulary from the last chapter, the chapter with so many vocabulary words that I couldn’t remember and I decided to focus my efforts on the previous 17 chapters. I cried silently during the entire test. All of my planning over the last year led to this, and I was going to fail. I tried to have faith and think positively but my mind kept on thinking of alternatives, thinking that I really didn’t want to do this, that I would be much happier if I just gave up my goals and ambitions. I thought that this was a trial, but not of my faith, just of my character.

I was the last person to finish the test and I did something I’ve never done before- I didn’t answer all the questions. I laughed- well, Reuben got it half right, the test was hard but I’m not going to pass. I turned it in and met with the instructor who did the oral part. She asked me a few questions and even in my daze and craziness, recognized that I could speak alright. I had already sent her an email about my situation and had basically begged for a space in the already filled to capacity class. She gave me a permission number cheerfully. “But I didn’t do well on the test!” I exclaimed.
She gave it a little peek. “Oh, it looks fine! “
“But I didn’t finish the writing part!”
“That’s okay!”

I walked out of the room grateful and amazed. I had spent 2 hours in torture taking the test, knowing that this was the worst test I have ever taken, and I was mercifully accepted into the class. I know that not everyone got in. Both classes really were full to capacity. But somehow it really was all about faith, just what Reuben and my chapter in Ether had told me. How can it be that if you have faith and work hard, all things, even those that seemed impossible at the time, really will work out? After this experience, I realize that this concept is something that I have yet to really learn but have again, been blessed after the trial of my faith.

Olympics Pictures- go to my Facebook!

After being persuaded by many people, I finally started using facebook. Adding pictures onto facebook is a lot easier and I could add about 10 times as many pictures at once compared to blogger. So I've decided to put most of my pictures up on my facebook account. Please look me up, my account is under my full name and I put my hometown in Washington as my network. I would love to have more friends!

Opening ceremony

Katie in front of the Bird's nest


Inside the stadium with a little toy drum that we got in our opening ceremony bag.

Reuben with his drum.

Convention Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Sunrider Convention, held this year at the end of July in Anaheim, California. We didn't have a chance to go last year because it was in China and Reuben had just started his internship year. This year, he didn't have any real time off, just a free weekend, so we made a rush trip to go. We had a lot of fun but we didn't get much sleep! Here are some pictures of my awesome hair and some of our outfits. Reuben was the MC along with his brother for the Gala Evening and here he is with the microphone. Looking good Honey!!!

Being assimilated

So it's hot and muggy and we're getting used to it. We haven't had to deal with houseflies in forever and although we still haven't bought a swatter, we are getting a better aim. (Once I told Reuben that a single chop stick was not the best way to kill a fly- it you want to do it Mr. Miagi style (is that how you spell it?) you need at least a pair-see The Karate Kid if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

Today I was cruising along the freeway at my usual 45 mph and was feeling content, not the anxious feeling of going too slow like I felt before. I'm getting used to this place.

I even went to the Mall of America the other day and had some recollection of where a few of my favorite stores were. Although it still took us about half an hour to walk back to our car, I still felt good about myself.

What else? Oh tonight we're going to a free concent in the park right by the capital building. Being outside whenever the weather is nice is what Minnesotans do. After all, the summer is almost over. Got to make the best of it!

Minnesot-ah!

So here are a few things that we've noticed about Minnesota (other than the accent). I thought that I better write them down now before I get desensitized!

-People drive SLOW!!! I mean, really slow!!! I guess that they can't help it because the speed limits are also so low. Get this, we live by a major freeway, the 35E (the sister freeway of the one that had the bridge fall down- that's the 35W) and the speed limit is 45mph!!! That's even slower than our road that we lived on back in Irvine- the speed limit there was 50 and it had traffic lights!!

-Trees grow naturally.

-There are no palm trees here except in the conservatory by the scupture garden (In this case, the greenhouse is a good thing)

-Lots of Root Beer Everywhere! We've asked a few people about the root beer thing, and they deny it, saying that everyone likes Root Beer. But it's in all the fountain drinks, three different places in the grocery store, and we've already been offered root beer or root beer floats at just about every Minnesotan house that we've gone to so far. Come on, I found root beer float flavored yogurt. It was tasty :)

-People are Minnesota nice, which doesn't mean incredibly too nice, like bringing over muffins to the new neighbors (I thought that this would be like on desperate housewives and the neighbors were going to come bring us baked goods. Where are my muffins!) As I've read in my Minnesota lingo book, Minnesota nice means something more specific. I'll tell you when I figure it out.

-People actually like old houses. They think that they have character.

-Lakes are cool and people go and actually swim in them.

-It's very humid.

-When the weather is nice, everyone is outside. Lots of people just like going on walks or sitting on their porches.

-It's actually a lot more cultured than we thought. For instance, just at church on Sunday we had many people from many different nationalities and races give their testimonies: West African, Chinese, Korean, Jamaican, White American, Vietnamese. Our ward is way more culturally diverse than even our ward back in Southern California. The Jamaican guy sang his testimony and invited us over to his house on Saturday for chicken. Go Jamaican Jerk!!! (meaning the spices, not saying that he's a jerk for inviting us to his house.)

Well, that's it for now, I'm sure that I'll have more insights later- that is, if I don't get too caught up in the Okay Dokey, Beg (bag), and "you bet" Minnesotan lingo.


I'm sure that there will be more, but that's it for now.

More pics

Here are a few pictures of our house. Right now is a great time of year because the weather is good, (the thunder and lightning storms have made things interesting) and everything is green and blooming. In front of our house are some beautiful and fragrant white lilac trees. The entire street is tree lined but our house has the best trees of the neighborhood! The backyard behind the other townhouses is a forest- I'd love to go walk though it some day. Across the street is a park with basketball, tennis, baseball/softball, and a playground complete with merry-go-round. We got there almost every day. It isn't the best playground around, but there is another one that's great at a park that is a little farther away but still walking distance. Our living room area isn't quite ready yet, not all the pictures are in the frames, but we're getting there!

Pics

Minnesota sushi. I guess that it does exist.




So there has been a request for pictures. Although I don't think that I can get all the pics for those random animals sightings (snacks, turtles, wild turkey, etc) I have some pictures for things that have been happening lately. For the first set, these are all things that we did today. We decided that we were all done packing and shopping for things for the house and today we went out to get to know Minneapolis better. It probably wasn't the best day to choose to go out because being a Monday, most of the museums and also the restaurants that we wanted to go to were closed. But we still got to go see the Spoonbridge and Cherry, a landmark here in Minneapolis. We also went inside the Guthrie theater and saw the "Endless Bridge" which really more like something that wasn't a bridge, with a definite end but a great view. We also went out for sushi which ended up being pretty good, although we didn't feel super welcome in the restaurant because we brought a kid (that's why we went at 5 pm!). The waiters kept on coming and checking on us, even though she was pretty good and just her normal messiness.










Spoonbridge and Cherry in the sculpture garden outside the Walker Museum of Modern Art.



Views from the "Endless Bridge" at the new Guthrie theater. That's the Mississippi river with lots of bridges and St. Anthony falls (I think). The bridge that collapsed in less than a mile north of here. In the picture with Reuben, the red brick buildings in the background are some of the buildings from the University of Minnesota (also called "the U" here).

In Minnesota!

So we've been here in Minnesota for almost two weeks and it's been a whirlwind of emotions already. I'm not sure if it was just women's scheduled changes in mood, the process from denial to acceptace, or it it was just the weather. I'll just say that life is back on track and we're all happy, healthy, and getting around.

Over the past 5 days since our internet was installed, I've been thinking about what the theme should be for this blog entry. I have lots to say and only part of Ariana's naptime to say it in. I could mention how we've already had more "weather" here than in my last year in Irvine (wind, rain, thunder, lighting, sun, and too much sun.) I could mention how we basically live right next to a forest in the middle of town and we saw two wild turkeys the other day in our back yard (it made me hungry but Reuben, on the other hand, saw the wild turkeys from the basement window and thought that they were either birdy dinosaurs or ugly neck dogs.) Or we could go into all the trauma and expense a family room that has built-in surround sound but that didn't come with the receivers, the amplifiers, and stuff like that. I think that instead I will just briefly talk about biking in Minnesota, if that's alright with you guys. I'll get into all the other nitty gritty stuff later.

So, as I said we live by a forest that's in our backyard. We also live right next to some marshland by the Mississippi river (that's M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I). There's a trail though it and a boardwalk right on top of it on the more swampy area. I rode my bike through and thought that it was heaven. The weather was perfect, there were tall old growth deciduous trees on both sides of me, and nobody in sight. (Well, actually at this moment I was just wondering if I still got cell phone reception in case I got abducted.) I rode my bike on the boardwalk and almost ran over a little baby turtle (like the kind in a pet shop), a snake, and all the other rustling things in the brushes. Afterwards I climbed up a hill and at the top was a lookout point. Moments later a big bus full of European Tourists came to the point to stare at Fort Snelling across the river. (Wow, they come all the way from Europe to go to Minnesota?) It was pretty but I didn't really have any idea where I was. After that, a bike commuter (a guy who rides his bike to work- which is quite common here- even among white collar workers) was cooling off and he told me there was actually about 4 trails right there in sight. He also told me how to get home. (THANKS!)

This week I went cycling with the Relief Society interest group and went to Minnehaha falls. We circuled around the Veterans hospital, an old train depot, tons of parks, a gift shop, over the mississippi river, and through another forest, all in the middle of Minneapolis. I've heard that there are more miles of good paved bike trails here per capita than any other city in the US. I think that it is probably true. It's funny that even driving around, quite a few of the vehicles out there are hauling around their bikes too. So, hopefully this is a place where I can develop this hobby even more. And I thought that Orange County was a nice biking place!

In Utah

So we're in Utah. We came to go to my nephew's baby blessing tomorrow morning. It's always fun to come back where all the magic started- where Reuben and I met. The old college feelings always come back a little. Plus, a bonus, everyone is really nice and everything is super kid-friendly. It's not always that way in California. As an extra bonus, we got some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that are so incredibly delicious! California is cool and we have good food, but our food is all vegan, ethnic, and hummus-y which I like, but it's not always that homestyle feel-good (plus super high in fat) sort of thing.

This week was super busy and it will be followed by a couple more super super busy weeks. I went to both Disneyland and Wild Animal Park this week. We enjoyed Southern California but I only got an amazing box and a half packed. Lots of work to do next week.

And yes, we are moving to Minnesota. Who moves to Minnesota- doesn't that sound so weird and random? Yes, but that's our new and fascinating life in the Midwest. We're excited!

What I'll miss about the O.C.

There are plenty of things that I'll miss about this place. I think that it's a great place and very beautiful. It's nicer than LA and that traffic isn't as horrible. There are still wide open spaces and plenty of room but close to a bunch of cool things. It's pretty sad moving from here because now that we have some idea of what the rest of our life will probably be like, it's more and more probable that we will never live in Orange County ever again. We actually expected to be out of here 2 years ago; I'm glad that we've been able to stay double the time!

1. The weather
2. Running trails everywhere
3. Going to Disneyland whenever I'm bored
4. The beach- even if we never go
5. Wide tree lined streets
6. Fast speed limits
7. Safety- one of the safest cities in the USA
8. Airport about a mile away
9. Our ward
10. The weather (did I already mention that?)
11. The "resort-style" pool at our complex
12. Ocean sports
13. Great Asian food everywhere
14. Wahoo's
15. CPK
16. Sushi
17. 4 big malls/shopping centers within a 6 mile radius
18. South Coast Plaza- one of the best malls in America (although I know we're moving close to the actual biggest mall in America)
19. Everyone here has an active lifestyle
20. Cycling- a big sport here
21. The beach

So this isn't as an inclusive list- there's a few others that I've forgotten to add. Question of the day: what do you all like about the OC?

Ariana

I was thinking about how kids grow up. I better write down what Ariana is like right now because she's going to change soon! Here are a few of Ariana's favorite things:

Favorite foods- 1) potato salad (interesting because she really doesn’t like potatoes and she’s not much into eggs. Could it be the salad dressing that interests her? 2) Chicken noodle soup- she’s just a fan of noodles and vegetables. Good girl. She still loves avocado, oranges, yogurt, cottage cheese, and bananas.

Favorite thing so do after a bath- hit her belly with both hands while she’s still naked and run away from mom while mom is trying to get a diaper on.
Way she likes her food- cold or room temperature. Never warm. But always very messy.

Favorite sound- That annoying throaty growling sound that ten year old boys love to make to annoy everyone. I don’t know how she figured it out, but it’s her favorite sound in the word.

Favorite word- Dada. I think that it means quite a few things beside Dad.

Other words she says- Baba (mom and dad), BA (with that throaty growling sound)!! (ball), sheshe (xiexie- Chinese for thank you), buu (bu- Chinese for no), Uh (as in the first syllable of uh-oh), blah blah (Mama), ba (bye- with a cute little wave), PAPAPAPAPAPAPPAAAA! (please don’t put me in my car seat!!). Maybe she know more words but she’s a little too interested in climbing over things and other motor skills for language skills right now. That will be a focus for her later on.

Her favorite activites- following mom around and dumping out things on the floor, baths, slides, climbing, trying to hide in cupboards, chase, growling, being tickled, pounding on her belly (as described above), carrying around books that I’ve just read to her, Disneyland, cuddly, nursing (she’s over a year, but it’s still mutually satisfying so on we go!)

Favorite toys- she actually prefers any bottle with a lid that she can twist on and off to a toy, but if we are talking about things that are actually made for kids and don’t contain potentially un-child proof materials, her favorites are: her Dora couch/bed and her play stroller. Both of these are still relatively new. Let’s see if she gets tired of these as she has of everything else she no longer likes to play with.

How she expresses her emotions:

Happy- giggly, squealing, getting so hyper that he body becomes a little rigid and tingling with excitement

Sad- the most heart wrenching sob that you ever have heard

Tired- dazed and cuddly. Very willing to sleep if in the right environment.

Hungry- willing to eat and eat fast!! She’s a speedy one and we actually try to slow her down and make her take longer by feeding her finger foods and oranges which she sucks the juice out on one piece at a time then spits out the pulp.

Upset- temper tantrums- flings herself on the ground or her couch. If it’s mommy who’s upset her she will show her anger by walking away into another room and crying until she’s cooled down. She looks just like a teenager when she does that! It’s funny but it’s so sad too!

Journal Entry

I'm starting to write in my journal more often after inspiration from my husband. here is my journal entry from today.

Today was great. I woke up at went on a short bike ride. It was fun getting on my bike again. I didn’t go that fast because I just wanted to get out there and warm up my legs but not wear them out for the run later on. When I got home, the sound of the door woke up baby. I was alright with it- she slept in until 6:30 which is pretty good. We played and took it easy reading books and growling at each other (her favorite thing) until after her breakfast. Then I knew we had to get ready for the run. I like running, but it’s always hard to get out there and do it. I have a good jogging stroller but jogging with a baby is for some reason especially dreadful- and especially slow. I don’t know if it’s just a mental thing or what. My stroller basically pushes itself, except for up hills- it must just be the length of my stride. I don’t know. Anyhow, we ran for about an hour and a half. She fell asleep at the end and it was alright. We were going to birthday party during her naptime so I wanted her to be awake for awhile.

I was going to go to the mall after I showered but I just got a little too Saturday morning lazy and decided to get a few things done at home. That was a mistake. The more time I spend at home cleaning while Ariana’s up, it seems like the farther behind I get sometimes. Today she found my foundation and spread it all over the carpet and herself (how’s this for lucky- I had just scheduled the carpet cleaners to come this coming week) and then she found the cinnamon and with her super duper lid twisting skills, she also spread that all over the carpet too. I hate carpet. I’m so exited for our new hardwood floors in our new house.

We got ready to go swimming at the pool party for Alexander Anselmo who lives in building 30. We went to the pool outside and played in the toddler pool for a big until we figured out that it was at the other pool. While we were there Ariana got in the pool water and loved it, I saw Corrine and I saw Holly, who had made the same mistake. We went over to the other pool and saw that Ariana is a natural in the water. We’ll spend a lot more time at the pool until we move. She had a blast. There were a lot of fun people from our ward at the party, but we only stayed for a little bit because Ariana got tired, cold, and hungry. We came home and I nursed her and then she slept for about 2 hours.

When she got up she was hungry, even though I had fed her a good prenap lunch. The post nap lunch was even bigger. She must just love my chicken noodle soup (minus the actual soup part so it’s not quite so messy.) Either that or it just isn’t filling enough.

After a lot of eating and cleaning up (the ants are back!) we finally made it to the mall. I finally got my watched fixed and then we spent way too much at Gymboree. They had such great sales and I got some cute stuff for Ariana to use in Minnesota. Then we came home to babysit. Cassie actually was too tired for the date that she had planned so I just got Ariana ready for bed and she fell asleep about 7:30.

Now I have a lot of time to do whatever I want. Unfortunatly, it seems like every night is a little something like this, except tonight I didn’t cook so I don’t have to do as much cleaning. Reuben’s been gone almost every night for the last couple weeks. I’m getting a little tired of this. Mostly, I’m getting lonely and wishing that Reuben could have gone to the pool party with me like all the other families there and wishing that he could come to church with me more than once a month. I’m alright with being a doctor’s wife, I actually think that I don’t mind being alone as much as other people. I’ve even gone to Disneyland alone (with Ariana) and really enjoyed it. I don’t mind having a lot of “me” time- even though most of that “me” time is spent doing the dishes and folding laundry, but it would be cool to have a well rested husband around again.

Super Awesome baby stage.

These last few months have probably been some of the hardest in this whole mothering thing. The honeymoon period is about over so all those happy hormones are going away, but my daughter is getting more and more crazy. My nerves were suffering.

It seemed like we had a lot of things that we were working on, weaning, figuring out each day if it would be two naps or one, sippy cup, getting her to gain weight, cleaning up a lot of messes, etc. Finally, I think the stress and the objectives of her one year appointment have all been met. She's no longer nursing 7 times a day (which is what used to be going on) and she's using a sippy cup and no bottle whatsoever. (Finally, 7 months after casually introducing the sippy cup and she finally knows how to use it!!!) No more night feedings either- which went on until she was about 13 months old. The lack of night feedings also means that she now wakes up at 6 am, which used to be more workout time, but now that I know what we're up against, I think that I'm no longer going crazy. She's even taking a 2-3 hour nap in her crib.

It's weird how in the beginning of this whole mommy time, I was ready to have another baby right away. I was thinking if it would be alright if they were less than 18 months apart. As Ariana's seek and destroy personality starting developing and the nap scene got more crazy, I had more than one crazy mom episode yelling to my husband, "NO MORE CHILDREN!" It's probably been just a little more than a week since the last such incident, but Ariana is a changed baby. (Not in the diaper sense- in the new person, new stage sense).

Now that I did my triathlon, I told Reuben that we might start having kids soon. I don't think that he's thought too much about it all, because 1) he just always figured that it was my decision anyway (Good husband) and 2) He's too tired to think about anything else except for sick and dying veterans at the VA.

We'll see how long this super awesome baby stage lasts- the one where she goes to sleep and naps easily, eats all her vegetables and other healthy food, where she laughs and giggles and think that mom is the bomb, and still loves to cuddy. It may just last until tomorrow during church (where I have to be there early, stay late, teach a Sunday school class, and do all this alone with a toddler during her lunch and nap time. ) Until then, the mommy life is good.

Birthday Picture

This is a great picture of the entire family at Reuben's dad's birthday party. It's amaz

ing that we got all the kids looking!

More Cute Ariana Pics

Katie with Ariana and Anabelle.

all three in a row

At the Beverly Hills Hotel

Cute- both of them sucking on a finger.


Wriggly girl with Sunny.





In "her" drawer in the kitchen- you know- the drawer without child locks and without sharp objects. (really, this was supposed to be the tupperware drawer.)



Cute Ariana and Anabelle picture with Ariana's new trick of the week- to wrinkle her nose in that funny way.



What a beauty! Is she crying because she's wearing pink stripes with orange flowers? This is her wearing her new skirt that Wendy made while we were visiting.



David and Ariana looking like very obedient children.

Triathlon Pics

Here are pictures from the Triathlon that I did in Las Vegas with my friend Melissa on Saturday April 12. It was the longest Tri that we've done so far and other than running in the desert with no bathrooms and no trees in sight, it wasn't too bad! (Well except that part when I was swimming and thought that I was going to die- don't worry I didn't.)

During the run in the desert

After the swim trying to run while freezing and in bare feet getting back to the transition area to take off the wetsuit and get my bike.

On the bike looking very competitive.

This has to be the most awesome finishing picture ever! I love how my neck is cranked back like I'm going to croak. But isn't that a nice fashion statement how my outfit matches the banners?

These are just the pictures the photographer took but I'll post some more from the personal camera later!

Easter

I know that these pictures are a little late, but these are the pics from my Easter vacation back in Washington with my parents and relatives.

We had an easter egg hunt and my mom, Grandma, gave Ariana a new beautiful Easter dress!

Ariana also got her first look at cats and love to pick up the little cat, even if the cat was upside down!