still me

i'm back

well, i didn't think i could get a cuter photo of connor than that crawling one that has been up for weeks! but, look at that! (easter sunday). this is my favorite shot of the day.
I told myself that I wouldn’t go to sleep another evening without blogging. it has so been forever since I blogged, and there is just NO EXCUSE for such lame behavior. And as usual, when I go for long breaks, I feel a compulsion to summarize all the goings-ons but then can’t cause it’s just crazy-lots of stuff. So it’s almost 2am, and I can barley keep my eyes open…but dang it, I am going to BLOG.
Life is good.
It’s crazy. And it’s NOT easy. But it’s good.
I have been so busy the last few weeks… and the thing is that I am always busy-have a million things I want to do, after the million things I have to do… and that is pretty standard procedure- but I guess I just gave in to the overwhelm lately. The little bit of ‘spare’ time (what a joke: spare time… what is that? and WHO has it I ask… ) I have spent working on stuff that I wanted to do, and had been putting off. I am very excited about everything that I am working on right now- which is not always the case… but I am feeling challenged in all the right ways. Being pushed in ways that are resulting in good little lessons that teach you about what you are really made of.
In addition to the ‘work’ type stuff… we are so excited to have my cousin who lives in Sinapore bring their 4 children over to Beijing for Spring Break. Singapore is nice weathered most of the time it sounds like, so the cold has been a little shock to the system.. be we have been having a blast, squeezing every possible drop of fun out of this trip! We went to a different spot on the Great Wall (with a zip line to get down) a different theatre for Chinese Acrobats and all the Beijing sight seeing you can handle. They have 4 kids very similar in age, and they have all been having a blast… so much fun. I am popping in a couple photos… and then sneaking up to bed, with a renewed commitment to the blog!

trouble.

Does this photo say ‘here comes trouble…’ or WHAT???
Dang… he is a cute baby, and we love him SO much. he is just sugar sweet. And you can see it in his sparkly eyes. You guessed it, Connor is crawling!! This poses new problems for me. they are SO much easier to manage when they can only roll. they are much more confineable. Not anymore… this one is all over; he is in full-explorer mode. He is eating all kinds of Polly Pocket shoes, chocolate covered raisins and scraps of paper. He has not yet found the stairs- which means we have about a week before the gates go up and we are forever nearly killing ourselves trying to climb over the baby gate at the top and bottom of the stairs. Can’t wait! But like I said… cute, cute, cute. (good thing!)
I just had to design some paper just for this photo… hoping I will get a chance to scrapbook in the next few days.
Saturday I am giving a little lecture for Enrichment here in Beijing… it’s from 11am-1pm, so if you are in the area, please join us! (wink)
Actually, I am planning on presenting it as a podcast type thing that will be found on my NEW website that we are in the process of totally revamping. It’s so exciting! SO… you don’t have to come to Beijing to hear it…we are looking at JUNE for our re-launch. I can’t wait for it to come together.

give me '5'

march 10 is my little brother’s b-day… happy birthday cam! At least he did invite us to his birthday party via skype…so that was nice of him. A big step up from the last event they hosted at their house! (wink). I had decided on the perfect gift for him…and thought that it might be a good idea to sort of you know, feel it out- see if it was something that he would like! …so I showed him my new favorite, inspiring book: ‘5’ My sweet friends at Compendium Inc. sent me their newest creation for Christmas, which I just got in my hands when I was home in Feb. it’s called ‘5’.  It’s brilliant. Have you seen or heard about it? the premise is: what do you want to do with the next 5 years of your life?
in fact, I want to quote a little snipit from the intro:

“…the purpose of this book is to stir  your creative juices and to inspire you to really get in touch with your dreams. The goal is not to provide a list of what “should” be done with the next five years- but to stir up some exciting possibilities of what “could” be done.”

ok.. one more part:

“…This is your life, your one-and-only-life, and you don’t want to miss any part of it So, what is it going to be? you decide. Starting today, you can make the next five years the most exciting, satisfying, productive and amazing year of your life so far- or just another five years”

YUM.
I LOVE it so much.
Get this, it’s not just a book of quotes, or inspirations… it’s a WORKBOOK… I guess that is how it could be categorized. Wait! This is what it says in the inside jacket: “There are no rules here. This is not a work book, it’s a play book. This is not a ‘here’s how’ book, its’ a ‘why not’ book. “
Don’t’ you love that? NO RULES? I love the no rules part… it can be whatever you need and want. I have been reading and pondering it since I got it over a month ago. I feel like I go to bed thinking about it, and wake up thinking about it. and until last week, I haven’t wanted to WRITE in it… the pages are filled w/ blanks to fill in and get yourself thinking, doing. I have been hesitant…not wanting to mess it up. Not wanting to write the wrong answer, or not being willing to dream big enough- or maybe just feeling too tired to take on the next 5 years.
But I decided it’s TIME. I even wrote a personal mission statement- GASP. And while I thought and toiled about it forever, when it finally came, it was SIMPLE and direct, and it filled me with purpose. –
I especially love the part dedicated to the beauty of MONDAYS! I love Monday…
Anyway… I had decided to show my bro the book- totally planning on giving it to him for his birthday, but wanting to sort of plant the seed. Well, in true MAN form- he went out and bought it for himself. (smile) so I had to think of something else for him, that will be waiting for him when he gets here in a month! …
Anyway… I think that EVERYONE should have this book. I had decided to order this book for all the birthdays this year… for all my friends and family, so I guess by divulging this secret, I will have to re-think all the birthdays… but I just don’t think anyone should have to WAIT to get their hands on this book. It’s so inspiring… motivating and just grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you!... it screams “GO FOR IT”. if you just open it right up to the middle of the book – there is a page that is all red, and all it says going across the whole page is:
“do you know how amazing you truly are?”
and I ask… do you?
I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes:
“We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?” –Marianne Williamson

buy the book. Right now. It’s only 15 bucks- and if you let it, it will transform you.
you might want to get one for someone that you know needs it, or would love it… allow it to cause you to think, and ponder. Don’t rush through it, don’t try to have all the answers right away…just let it lift you up, and let it inspire you.

there is another quote i love by Dan Zadra, who is one of the Compendium guys... "whether you are 5 or 105, you have a lifetime ahead of you"...

and to you Cameron… I am so glad you got yourself a copy! I hope that you will think about it… and I hope that you will connect with your dreams. and that the next 5 years will be your best so far! i love you! happy birthday….you have a whole lifetime ahead of you!

this is my brother Cam visiting me while i was teaching at Provo CKU- he works in Provo... he likes to see me in action so he can make fun of me.
gotta love brothers.

chinese version 'krispykreme'

I have to just quickly share one of my favorite things!
Can you tell what this is from this photo? this is a motorcycle converted to have a flat bed trailer coming off the back, that this guy has an OVEN mounted onto. I mean, this is a serious OVEN. It’s kind of secured onto the trailer with that sketchy red rope- no ratchet straps, or even bungees…he then has a propane tank and a generator there… I am not 100% sure what is hooked up to what! But they are making sweet breads that are SO YUMMY. And of course, you buy them HOT right out of the oven- right there. he whips the dough up, that is made right there on the spot.. (notice the flour and eggs etc). he has those 2 huge baking molds- and he greases them up, and pours the perfect amount in each section and doesn’t drip a drop! (I watched him awhile). I totally LOVE going to the market… I love coming home with all the fresh stuff! It makes my day.  they are ALMOST as good hot as a hot krispykreme donut... (almost)

forbidden

So it hasn’t been the weather holding us back from our Beijing adventures… lately it’s been the jet lag, and the catching up on school for the kids, and work for eric and I! but today we put in ½ day of seriousness and then loaded up to take Flat Stanley on a little tour of the finer things of Beijing… some of the cuisine, and of course, the Forbidden City. You would think that after 6 months of residency here, we’d have the Forbidden City already chalked up… but this was our first time there- actually inside. It is so much more intense than what you see on those National Geographic documentaries… or even Mulan – although Mulan is quite the reference point on a regular basis! I was determined to learn how to drive there myself- I want to actually start having a clue how to get a few places-and what things are what directions from the other things that I know of.   It’s just a jumble in my mind, and not having the mountains like you do in SLC, I just never know  which was is north.  The weather has been amazing. the kids have broken out their shorts (not that it’s really that warm, but it is totally spring fever). Like I said, the Forbidden City is so enormous, so expansive… it’s just holy cow HUGE. There is just no way to capture it in a photo or even on film!  You just can’t do it justice…it goes on forever, and all I could think to myself is that it would be a great place to play ‘capture the flag’ or something of the like. There are so much to check out and explore. We kept our visit today pretty brief, but we were still there a couple of hours. It takes a long time just to walk the thing… and there is a huge park behind it, that we didn’t’ even get to. Flat Stanley loved it. this was another instance where the kids got a lot of attention for being blonde and kids! they have gotten quite bold about not letting people take photos of them (for free)… we made our way up to ‘WangFuJing’ Street- which is just a big city street that no cars are allowed… has lots of shops and stuff, but the cool thing is at night there are all these little carts w/ all kinds of freaky foods…. Like you-name-it on a stick. I thought the scorpions were particularly freaky… it was so fun to look at all the different options! We did get some dumplings, some fried icecream and also my favorite, fried bananas…such a cool, interesting part of China. We successfully wore everyone out, including ME.

 
 

for sale!

You are lucky to be in Mesa this weekend!
Not only because it’s surely fabulous weather… or the delish mex food. But because Emily is cleaning out the garage, and wanting to rid herself of TONS of excess scrapbook stuff! She is having a huge sale!  Her house is located around Sossaman and University…it’s THIS SATURDAY from 8am until 12 noon! Here are just a couple shots that she sent me… there is all kinds of good stuff! You will want to get there early… her address is:

353 North Greenwood, Mesa, 85207

the gate code is #4040

still not enough sweet dreams

Happy Monday morning! It’s a gorgeous day here…I love that. I am trying to get my groove back. I was hoping that I would wake up this morning, and feel my usual surge of Monday energy and be able to plow through my to-do back log. But I am STILL dragging. The kids slept until about 5am… so we are getting better! But it’s 8am and I need a nap… both babies are asleep, and I should be too. But how can I waste a Monday morning? It’s my favorite time of the week!  we had a great weekend, catching up on all that we missed out on while we were gone. Saturday night was a big tradition here in the Beijing branch: “Fiesta Fandango”. It’s the annual fundraiser for the youth and they put on a Mexican dinner-homemade chips, mango salsa, shredded pork taco salad- café rio style!, a talent show and they had a regular auction and a silent auction. It was a blast. All kinds of things were on the block for purchase, and it was a riot to see people out bidding each other for dinners, bikes, drivers-for-a-day, and other luxuries. I was happy to have scored some babysitting nights, Chinese lessons, we bought a Chinese dinner, and a night at the WESTIN (my favorite). I donated some scrapbook kits that were a hit, and a family photo shoot… and 8 weeks of cookies delivered to church each Sunday! (12 year old Chase put up some serious cash for that one!)  what a great time we had, and we were happy to have been kept up past 7pm. The good news about jet lag, is that you can be on-time to the early morning commitments. We were all ready for church with time to spare! 
I knew that I would get back here and be kicking myself for not remembering things that I needed…and that has been the case a little, however, we did bring with us 2 things that I can’t believe we ever lived without: 2 sound machines.  I am talking about the little things that look kind of like the size of a clock radio, but they create ‘white noise’… waves, rain, rainforest, heartbeats and even I think there is a lullaby or 2 on there. THEY ARE FABULOUS! Our home here totally echos with the tile floors and all cement construction of the walls. Sound carries like crazy, and it’s been so hard for the babies to get solid naps. The minute the kids run through slamming doors or calling each other names as they are fighting (surely mine is not the only house with the kids name calling all the time! I hate that)…the babies continue to sleep right through it, and through the ensuing reprimand by me, and crying from them and all other chaos and commotion of our daily life. I think that quite possibly, it’s the best $29.99 I have spent in a long time. And even as I lay and listen to the waves and the seagulls, I find myself drifting off to sleep imagining swinging in a hammock on the porch of a cute little beach bungalow. It’s been making for really sweet dreams! I just wish I was dreaming past 5am.