still me

dreaming of a pink christmas

So I have to admit, that as Emily started packing to go home, I started feeling a twinge of homesickness… It’s weird that I haven’t really felt that since we left… maybe since I have just been overwhelmed with getting settled, and totally enjoying the ride. But I couldn’t stop thinking about cruising through the drive-thru at SONIC and ordering a large-diet-coke-with-lemon!  And then swinging by target on my way home just to browse through the new holiday section…and picking up a few this-and-thats…and running into the random people that I always seem to run into at target! It was bumming me out!  it was so fun to have Emily here, and those 3 weeks FLEW by… I can hardly believe it! as I left the airport, dropping her off I went to the curb to catch a taxi and decided I wanted to go to IKEA, so I stood in the taxi line trying to figure out how to say that in Chinese.  WE (me, kylee, colton, cory and quincy) have been taking Chinese lessons 4 days a week…we have such cool teacher, her name is Echo. Anyway… So, as I am standing in the line, I am trying to think to myself how to say ‘I want to go to Ikea’. I called eric and found out how to say IKEA in chinese… I practiced in my head a few more times, and then climbed into a taxi and told him “wo yao qu IKEA (I can’t spell that one in Chinese).” And he flipped on his meter, and off we sped! I could only hope that he was heading for ikea!! I have to tell you, I was SOOO proud of myself. I just sat there in the back of this little taxi grinning from ear to ear, and my homesickness started to fade just a little. Sure enough, we pulled up to Ikea, and I was able to grab a couple of clocks for some Christmas gifts I am making, and pick up the Christmas tree lights that I went for. I figured if anything would battle a little case of the homesick-blues, certainly the pink Christmas trees would do the trick! Ikea has these fabulous dangly-crystal lights that were just perfect!
-so just a little background- when we were packing our container to ship here with the bulk of our stuff, we had been working all day and into the night packing and deciding what to bring, and going to Costco and target to get some of the essentials to include in the shipment, and it was about 2am, and we felt that we had everything and we walked back into the garage to make one last scan for needed items, and there was all the Christmas trees/décor and stuff.  we just weren’t sure if we wanted to put it in, if we would need it, or even set it up…but last minute, I mean- literally the last thing – we decided to just throw in the pink trees and ornaments. Man, I am so glad we did.
Just setting up the trees made all of us feel Christmas JOY! Even if they are PINK! Now, that’s tradition. And the whole element of ‘tradition’ is what makes it! So, we had fun setting them up. There are only 4 trees, and we had to place them up on a table since miss Capri would constantly un-decorate them..and I used my extra left-over fabric from the pillows to sew a table cloth and tree skirt. I keep getting the ‘I thought Christmas trees were supposed to be green’ from everyone… but I still love it! I think that even kylee was won over after awhile.
Tomorrow is my first Christmas party… the Relief Society Christmas Dinner…and I signed up to bring a dessert. So I made another ‘texas sheet cake’! I have rec’d a bunch of requests for the recipe… so here it is:

Aunt Martha’s Texas Sheet Cake – I got this from Elizabeth Banks

1C. water
½ C. oil
½ C. margerine
2 C. Sugar
2 C. flour
1 tsp. soda
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
½ C. sour or buttermilk***
4 T. cocoa

In a saucepan, melt the marg(or butter) and mix in water, oil and cocoa.  Bring to a boil, dissolving cocoa well.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar, flour and eggs and beat well.  Dissolve soda in buttermilk, and mix in with vanilla.  Bake in a 10x17 inch greased cookie sheet (the kind w/ sides) at 325 (degrees Fahrenheit or 163 degrees Celsius) for 20 minutes.
***if you don’t have buttermilk, you can add ½ teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk and let it stand for about 10 minutes to substitute.

Frosting:
1 lb powdered sugar
¼ C. cocoa
¼  C. milk
½ C. butter

put all ingredients in saucepan. Stir well over medium heat until everything dissolves. Remove from heat and add 1 t. vanilla and frost while warm

FOR MUD PIE: (this is how I like it)
Remove cake from oven and cover with mini-marshmallows and return to oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and wait just a couple minutes, then pour the frosting over all the top.
ENJOY-

It’s so yummy. But I just realized that I forgot the vanilla in the frosting tonight. Shoot, I hope it isn’t ruined! I hope you have a cute holiday apron for all the holiday cooking!!!

i had a couple friends over today decorating clocks for christmas... it was SO fun just to have an excuse to sit and visit under the guise of making christmas presents. i got one done, and would like to make at least 3 more. they are SO fun! i would post mine, but i has to remain a surprise!

thanksgiving weekend...monday!

Happy Monday… I love Monday! I love how super-charged I feel after the weekend, and a restful Sunday and the beginning of a fresh new week. Not much is better than thanksgiving weekend, you know? Left overs to snack on every time you walk through the kitchen… friends and family around…special events and get togethers… Christmas shopping!! Good stuff! Saturday morning, we got up early and participated in Ellie Goldrup’s “Smilie fun run” (Ellie is the girl who was trying to become a torch bearer for the Beijing Olympics). The fun run was to raise money for a school for deaf kids here in china. There was a 2K and a 5K and we all jumped on board! After the race, there was a ‘Turkey Bowl” flag football game at the international school of Beijing. I have never played in a turkey bowl flag football game but I thought it was a better alternative than sitting on the sidelines and freezing. So I ran around a bit, but I am afraid that I wasn’t benefiting my team much! We topped the day off with a little Christmas shopping at a market in the city… LOTS of fun stuff to buy here! It’s overwhelming, but so fuN! It’s a shopping experience like no other. It’s all about bartering and dickering. Pretty entertaining really. Sunday we went to church… it was the primary program. I love the primary program. There is a huge primary in our branch… around 80 kids or so. They all sang  the songs, played musical instruments and gave little talks that many of them wrote themselves, from their hearts. It was so touching. The theme is “I’ll follow Him in faith”, and they all talked about their faith in Jesus Christ. I love how kids have so much faith! The kids each illustrated the cover of the program…so each one had original artwork from a child ages ranging from 4-11. They were sooo cute. I loved seeing them all! Quincy’s said “no steeling” on the front (she is very opposed to robbers).  It was so touching. I think that children singing is just the most precious thing… I loved it. Church is a challenge with the little ones. Between Capri and Connor, neither Eric nor I get to sit and listen very much… but I still love going. I am so thankful that we can attend church here in china. Sunday evening we had another family over for dinner, and it’s just really fun to get to know new people, and learn about them. what better way than eating!? LOL. I bought this giant ham, and it’s going to take awhile to whittle it away! Today we did a little more shopping at the markets. I am trying to get some Christmas gifts ready to send home with Emily… she only has 2 more days, that time has FLOWN by. Hoping that we will get the JINBEI back this week! It’s hard not having a car.

I can’t believe it’s almost December. And 2008 (deep breath)… as the year is coming to a close, it’s time to reflect on the past year, and also contemplate the future! As part of that, I am excited about a few different things that I have in the planning stages! I can’t share them all yet, but I am really excited. I have been invited to teach aboard the ‘Ultimate Cruise” produced by Jim West at Scrapmap. I will join a bunch of awesome teachers… including my friends Margie Romney-Aslett, Donna Downey,  and Teresa Collins and a few girls I haven’t worked with yet like Karen Russell, Nicole Gunter and Michelle Van Etten.  Sounds totally fab. The cruise is going to Grand Cayman, which I love- but seriously… who cares where it goes… it’s winter, in the carribean… better than freezing. (we’re talking 2009…which seems forever away, but holy cow, it will be here before we know it!)  and if you check out jim’s blog… he has let the cat out of the bag that we are putting together a tour here to China/Beijing for scrapbookers. We are working on dates… but I am so excited.  There are only 45 spots… more info to come.
Ok, how did it get to be 2:30 am??? 

just a favorite photo

this is from the other day. whenever you take photos of chinese people, they totally give you the 'peace' sign... so we decided to try 'fitting in!"... can you tell we're tourists?

this is at the Ming Tombs.

happy thanksgiving... and MYACHI MADNESS!

We had the most FABULOUS thanksgiving. I have never  had so much to be thankful for. As we were preparing our contributions for the thanksgiving dinner, I was reflecting on the last year of my life. CRAZY. Last year I just found out I was pregnant again, with my 3 month old baby… and feeling totally overwhelmed…good thing that no one told me at that time I would be living in CHINA in a year…. I would never have  believed how much I would love it here!  We spent thanksgiving with 2 other families, and it was really fun to hang out, and eat each others’ favorite dishes… and get to know each other better.  We are very thankful to have made such awesome friends…they have totally make all the difference. We do miss our families so much, and thankfully we have video chat! It’s so funny how making ‘traditional’ thanksgiving food makes you feel at home! I made ‘yams and apples’ which is “my” thing that I always make. 

i know that thanksgiving is over, but i thought i'd still share my recipie! i should have shared it BEFORE! this is a great one to hang onto! 

Mom's Yams and Apples

6 medium yams
4 apples
1/2 C. butter
3 T. cornstarch
1 C. sugar
1 t. salt
2 C. water
2 T. lemon juice

Cut yams into smaller pieces and boil until just soft. Drain, peel and slice into 1/4" slices. (much easier to get the skins off after they have been cooked). Peel, core and slice apples. In a buttered 9x13 casserole dish, layer yams, then apples, then yams and top with apples.
In a saucepan, melt butter, add cornstarch, sugar, salt and mix well.  Add water and cook until thickens.  Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Pour over the yams and apples. Cover w/ tinfoil; cook at 350 for 1 hour. SO GOOD.

i also made this 'texas sheet cake' which is my FAVORITE, but it seemed too hard to make (cause it's from scratch-like cooking on the stove scratch)... but i broke down and made it, and even did the whole marshmallows on top thing... YUM! so good!

Speaking of friends… the boys have a friend named Mason, and he introduced them to their current obsession: MYACHI. Have you seen or heard of it?? I had never, but  holy cow, I feel like an expert.  Ok, a MYACHI is a little rectangular ‘sack’ that you bounce around or “juggle” on the backs of your hands. There are a million different moves, and tricks and my kids have been watching little videos of the tricks on the myachi website and also on you tube. They are getting really good! I guess it could be compared to the hackysack era. I have tried to play along  with them, but I just don’t have the same eye-hand-coordination! They have been having a blast with it… so if you are looking for a perfect gift… ‘stocking stuffer’ idea, for your kids… really pretty much any age… from 5-6 years old… up to well- eric even thinks it’s fun! They are only $6.50. The only place I know to buy them is on ebay (we got them from Tia’s Purrrrfect Gifts) … but maybe they are available in stores-near-you! don’t worry, we have watched all the interviews, and read all about the founder on Wikipedia and stuff.. it’s pretty cool. I think it’s fun to find something like that—inexpensive, and requires some actual movement… and is not only something that kids can play with together, but they can do it by themselves… (quietly!) lol… anyway… colton and cory have emailed the ‘myachi  man’ and there is one thing he tells them “spread the word and keep on jammin” … so this is us, doing our part… to spread the word! Check it out! (notice how all the boys in the thanksgiving photo have myachis ... so fun!)

about the kids.

It’s only been 2 months since our big move, and it feels like it’s been a lot longer that that. I have noticed amazing growth and change in each child… and so for the sake of the grandmas… I have to tell…
Connor being the smallest, I think has grown the most! Even though he is still so                          tiny and new, he just fits right in! like he’s always been here. It’s time for him to start sitting up! He is trying. He is so happy, and sweet. He is just barely big enough to have his toes touch the floor when  he’s in the exersaucer, but I think he loves it cause he can see everything going on. it’s such a circus. –

Capri is just at the best age. Can’t get enough of her full blown personality! Her curly locks are just irresistibly, disorderly!  She loves everyone’s shoes, and since we are in china, that means you take your shoes off and leave them at the door. We have quite a pile there all the time! and it’s like a gold-mine for her. She is continually stomping around in someone’s shoe, and as a result, usually when it’s time to leave, you can never find one shoe, and it becomes a hunt. Next to the shoes, she loves to terrorize my newly-organized scrapbook space. The drawers are just her perfect height for her to reach in… and there is a little table I have with some paper trays on, just at the perfect height for her to climb up on. it’s a never ending battle.  She is learning to count… I count everything for her, and she is mimicking not the word, but more the tone of my voice… so now we all count everything. I love it when I can hear from the other room ‘ one…two…’

Quincy’s newest accomplishment is the loss of her 2nd front tooth. Just in time for ‘all I want for Christmas…’ I have been amazed with her reading skills. They have sky-rocketed, and she likes to read everything out loud. The girl is destined for greatness! I have been trying to teach the kids to cook- and quincy  LOVES helping me in the kitchen. Her specialty is definitely breakfast. I can totally leave her alone to make pancakes and French toast. It still freaks me out to let her crack open the eggs, but I just don’t watch! I think that one of the hardest transitions she has made is sharing a room with Capri… now she can even sleep through the midnight wake up, cryings! She is being such a great big-sister.

This whole experience has helped me to see the boys so differently, learn so much about them. what works for them, and what doesn’t. Cory can concentrate better if he’s snacking on pretzels while he works, and Colton can’t concentrate unless he’s standing up. … and  he likes to sing while he does his work. Chuckle. I am glad that I know that about those boys. I am particularly thrilled with their ability to learn Chinese. I am jealous of the way their minds soak it up, and remember the vocab, and how to pronounce. They memorize on the fly… while I am trying to take notes and visualize the foreign sounds. Seriously… I am so glad they are happy here… having this crazy life experience.

black & white

I am addicted to black and white.
I have only made 2 purchases in all my wanderings, as I have been getting my bearings… trying to figure out where I can get what, and what I can find where…but I did buy a super-fabulous black and white coat, and well, you already saw the b&w fabrics I bought for making pillow covers for our family room couch.  (the DEC. Club Heidi kit could NOT be MORE right up my alley)!  Anyway… just had to share, for the benefit of my mom, oh-and you cha-girl… ‘see, I can sew on fabric!” … they turned out really cute, and are much more comfortable to lay on!


Saturday we woke up to a beautiful, clear day and we were delighted, because we had made arrangements to head up to the wall. Since the JINBEI is out of commission, we hired a 14-passenger van and ‘happy charlie’- an English speaking driver!... to take us around for the day. we had a blast. we went to the same part of the wall that we have been to before, but checked out a different part. Of course, it was emily’s first time…and she was amazed! It’s  so  awesome… (despite the cold). We also ventured to the Ming Tomb, it’s one of 13 tombs of emperors in the Ming Dynasty-the only one open to visitors. It’s   pretty amazing. it was really interesting to learn more about the way they lived, and died. Even the kids were fascinated to see how the bodies were put to rest, and the tombs secretly hidden… ‘just like in the movies!’. I guess it didn’t occur to them that the movies are just like what happened in history! They were intrigued especially by the whole buried treasure aspect. Our drive home was particularly long, due to traffic, but we sang Christmas carols of all things to pass the time! and you know… I kind of liked it!
Eric and I have been called to be the activity co-chairs of the Beijing branch…the first order of business is the Christmas party… so I have been brainstorming… it’s going to be fun.

What is black and white and PINK all over?

So I just got a package in the mail… this is a VERY exciting event, as you can well imagine! I was expecting it for a couple of days, which made it even more exciting… and in addition to the infants cold meds, and a really CUTIE journal that Janet found… in it was my ‘december club heidi’ kit! It’s SOOO cute, I just had to share a little sneak peek here… YOU WILL  NOT WANT TO MISS THIS! And of course, as always---the quantities are limited and the price is fabulous! It will be a good idea to nab a couple to give as the most perfect gift for that creative-type that ‘has everything’! this kit will go on sale at 9am pacific time December 3rd… and get this… we will be announcing at that time a fun ‘club heidi contest’… the first of it’s kind!  Ok, well- I have been waiting all day to play with my favorite color scheme of the moment! Wink…

fabric purchases!!

It’s late, late on Thursday night (Friday morning really) and I SHOULD be in bed… I am going to regret this tomorrow! It’s getting colder, colder here in Beijing! I am just not a fan of the cold weather. It was a nice clear day today, and only about 38-40 degrees F. do you think I will ‘get used to it’? I had to take the widget that tells me the temp in AZ off my desktop… sheesh… (waving at you people basking in the 80’s… STOP COMPLAINING!) today Emily and I got out a little early and went to the fabric market. It’s a bit of a taxi ride to the south end of the city, on 2nd ring road. The taxi driver knew right where I wanted to go! This place is just unreal.. it’s blocks and blocks of vendors and stores, ranging from furs and batting to gold metallic plush stuff that I am not sure what it’s used for, but I saw a LOT of it! lol.. I went looking with a couple things in mind… one was fabric for making/covering throw pillows for our couch. Seriously, I found so much cool stuff, and then visions of skirts and coats and table cloths and bedding… oh my! Here are a couple photos… we were SO HUNGRY when we got down there, and there were lots of  street vendors, but em is the wrong person to get adventurous w/ Chinese food, and I have heard too many horror stories, but it all smelled really good! Anyway, we shopped around for awhile, until we were frozen to the core. I was happy with my purchases, even though I am NOT good at bargaining! I am going in search of pillow forms and a tailor tomorrow! Wish us luck!

OH… and I have to mention, that I made SALSA tonight, and I am sooo proud of myself. it was SO good, or at least it seemed really good, but that might be cause I haven’t been to a Mexican restaurant in a long time. We made Chicken Enchiladas for dinner,   and the salsa just made it!  I used my new chopping skills that I learned in the dumpling making experience! Who needs a food processor when you have a huge CHOPPING knife!
Purchased from the wet market:
Tomatoes, onion, garlic, lemon, green pepper, jalapeño pepper and green onion… PERFeCt! (Katie, it was almost as good as growing my own veggies! But not quite)

crash.

Well, it was bound to happen! Gratefully, no one was hurt. Last night, eric was almost home… just had made a quick stop and was cruising along a dimly lit road, and bam all the sudden there was a big huge truck that was coming to a stop but didn’t have brake lights-he basically slammed into the back of it. SHOOT!!!! I am so happy that eric is ok. He was alone in the car, and he only got a little tiny cut on his knuckle and a bruise on his leg. Looking at those photos, you’d think that it was a lot worse. But I guess it’s totally fix-able. Just a bummer to be out of a car for a few days.  Could be worse…SO thankful he’s ok. 

happening weekend!!

I tell you what, it’s fun to show someone new around to all the ‘stuff’ that is so cool, so unique and different and INTERESTING and fabulously CHINA! This place is really so cool! I love it. It’s been fun having em here… she has heard about everything, and it’s fun to show her in real life, and see her reaction to everything! Friday we had a kick back, mellow day- the kids were all out of school, so we had friends over for everyone, and while they played, tried to do a little organizing around here. It was going to be Kylee’s 21st B-day Sat, so we ‘heart attacked’ her room (the kids loved this project) and got ready for her big day. We even made heart shaped sugar cookies …thanks again to the hand mixer…when eric got home from work, we decided to cruise to IKEA for a few things. I figured it was time for me to try my luck at driving there by myself! All 3 of the older kids couldn’t resist joining the adventure, and so off we went- eric stayed by the cell phone at home with the babies.  I was feeling particularly optimistic about the challenge. Eric gave me detailed instructions- and I have NEVER claimed to be good with directions, cause that requires paying attention! But I was really determined. I wish that I could have a video to somehow show that would validate me on this situation! But, it was dark…I did ‘know the way’… it’s just that I hadn’t really ever done it myself. Ok- so we got really close before I missed the turn, and what followed was 45 minutes of trying to figure out how to U turn, get back on the right road, going the right direction and then around again to get onto the road that got you on the other road that had the turn that I was originally supposed to make (see why it was so confusing!) LOL. Ok, so – we made it there… got the stuff needed (big mirror to decorate for my scrapbook room)…and we then made it back, and only missed one other turn  getting back- safe and sound.  But I think that Emily knows her way around this place perfect by now! She is much better at directional stuff than me.

We were lucky enough to get an invite to the ‘dirt’ market for sat. morning bright and early. We snuck out by 7am and we were so excited. I have heard so much about it, but not really sure what to expect. To put it mildly, my expectations were far exceeded. Man, there was so much cool stuff! TONS of beads for jewelry making, all different kinds of Chinese type stuff- souvenierish and regular. Everything from teapots and pottery, to shadow puppets, to Chinese lanterns… and even instruments and furniture… fabulous. Seriously fabulous. I couldn’t even buy anything I was so overwhelmed, and figured, you know- I live here, I don’t have to make any rash decisions, cause I can go back whenever I want!  It was fun to see emily’s reactions to some of the stuff that I have grown accustomed to! Made me feel like an old-pro at this China stuff

Once we got back from the market, we celebrated Kylee’s b-day. (She LOVED the heart attack!). we opened presents, we gave her the cutest Chinese paper butterfly, painted kite that we got at the kite market here by our house. (lucky its within walking distance). I has also selfishly planned to treat Kylee to a foot massage for her birthday- I say selfishly because that meant that I would have to go too! And I for sure owed Emily a foot massage for all the stuff she brought over from the states that I was in dire need of!  So in celebration, we had Thai for lunch, went inspiration shopping and then got 90 minute foot massages. It was heavenly!

Today was early church, we had District Conf. and it was amazingly inspiring. For many reasons. I needed that! I appreciated the messages delivered and the reminders about what is most important and why. It’s funny how a different perspective (like a move ½ way around the globe) changes your ability to see things, and understand them. I am so thankful for that change, and for the little (major) lessons that will change my life forever. and even more amazing, are the people that I have come in contact with that simply inspire me to be better, do better, and want to be more.  At church today, one of the speakers was a couple that had lived here in Beijing years ago with their family, when their 6 kids were young. They talked about how their time in Beijing effected their family dynamics, and the things that they learned and ways their lives were changed and influenced by living here.  It was so awesome to hear them vocalize some of the things I am feeling, and appreciating about this. –I can’t believe we have only been here 7 weeks.
After church, we went back to roam around the Summer Palace a little. We were too late to really get in, so we just wandered the grounds a little. –so fun.