Culture Night: Vietnam

We had another fun culture night around here.  Natalie picked Vietnam. We had a delicious and fun dinner making our own spring rolls. We got to bust out the induction stove thing Joe bought off an informercial a while back to warm the broth and then we cooked the beef in the broth. The kids loved seeing how the rice paper started hard and turned soft and stretchy. I loved the delicious flavor of the broth. They all ate it pretty well!  Making it yourself always helps with that.

Then we did our presentation. Elizabeth did one on the Vietnam war, Nate and Joe did sports again, Natalie did the language, and Eli and I did art and dance. I learned that when my friend Lan from elementary school told me that "bicycle" in Vietnamese sounds like "shut up", she was telling the truth! :) It was a fun night. Joe and I learned a lot watching the Ken Burns documentary on PBS, too.

Nate is 8!

Time to catch up on the blog! We had another birthday around here and it was a big one--Nate turned 8! I loved this birthday list he made, complete with a drawing of a cake with Mario charcters:

For his cake, Nate requested a blue toad (his favorite character) getting a flyer power. I was pretty proud of how it turned out:

On the day of his birthday we did the usual birthday breakfast (cinnamon rolls) and dinner (homemade pizza) that night, followed by cake and presents. He got some he was pretty happy about.

A new game:

And a ripstick:

A bunch of the kids in our neighborhood had them and he worked hard to practice on theirs. Now he's an expert ripstick-rider!

We gave Nate a choice about baptism dates and he decided he wanted to be baptized as soon as he could. So, we scheduled it for the Saturday after. It was a bit of a stressful morning since we nearly forgot to fill the font but it was just done in time.

Some quick pictures before the baptism:

Nate asked Natalie to give the talk on baptism and me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. Natalie did a great job! She seemed really confident up there and did the demonstration with the penny in vinegar. I talked about how strongly I felt the Spirit when we were deciding whether or not to have more kids after the girls were born. Of course I cried more than I wanted to but hopefully Nate felt how much we love him. Joe did a great job with the baptism. Nate did get to be baptized twice since his toe came out the first time (the low water level made it a little tricky). 

We had some light refreshments after the baptism for all the kind people from our ward who came to support him, then we went back to our house with our family for a BBQ and to watch the BYU football game. 

All the family that made it:

(Including Andrew who took the picture)

I loved this shot of our family, even though I'm laughing about something. It was a great day!

It was a birthday party year for Nate so the weekend after we invited some of his friends to come over for an American Ninja Warrior party. I got some free wood and along with some that was already in our backyard, and some from Home Depot, made some obstacles throughout our yard. I was kind of worried everything would fall apart but it held together well and the party was a success. 

We folded some ninja stars when they first arrived:

Then it was time for the course!

All the boys with their ninja gear:

They crack me up. :)

I wish I would have gotten better pictures but here are a few I got...

The course started with these blocks:

Then they jumped on the tramp to try and reach a handkerchief that I held up with a pole. Then, the floating steps:

Then, these PVC pipe over and under type of obstacles:

Then, a skinny wood balance beam I didn't get a picture of, followed by a climbing rope we hung from the tree in our front yard. The tricky thing was some boys cared a lot about being timed and it not counting if they fell off, and other boys didn't. Plus, we got a little log-jammed at the tree at the end. Other than that, they all had a a lot of fun playing on everything.

Nate's other request was a pinata so we did that, too:

Present time:

Nate is at such a fun age right now. I love watching him discover new things he can do. Physical things definitely come easier for him, still, so he doesn't like it much when something is hard for him to figure out (like the ripstick) but he works hard to figure it out. He's got great coordination and strength. He still loves tetherball and plays it at school all the time. He's starting to play basketball on the neighborhood hoops, too, and getting better at that. He also played fall baseball and did really well. He could be really good at baseball if he keeps working at it. 

He is learning a lot in school, as well, and it still a really good student. About a month into the school year, Nate got into our neighborhood school. This was great news to me--no more driving everywhere to pick up kids from 3 schools, but Nate was very sad.  It is hard to switch schools, especially mid-year, and it was a hard transition for him.  He still misses his good friend Pedro from Cabrillo and his teacher, Mrs. Jain-Sharma. He is starting to feel more settled there, though, and I think it will continue to improve. He is doing great in his schoolwork, especially math. He started reading chapter books (Magic Tree House) and is getting to be a fasted reader.

Nate and I took time most nights leading up to his baptism to read from the Book of Mormon together and I loved that time so much. It was amazing to see what a good reader he had become and I loved reading and talking about the scriptures together. One funny thing--Nate loved to emphasize every word that had a footnote on it and was very concerned about keeping track of which verses had the most footnotes. :)

He is funny and makes us laugh a lot! As much as he claims to hate dancing, he will often do a crazy dance when he's feeling silly and make us all laugh. He also still really loves video games and loves to play whenever he can, by himself or with friends or family. Nate is still such an easy kid--my least pickiest eater and usually the best at getting up and all ready for school by himself and getting his homework done. He had his moments, but overall he is a really helpful and easy-going kid. 

We've started having one-on-one time with the kids every Monday night and it has been great! One night I wanted to remember was taking Nate to the local little pumpkin patch with inflatable slides and stuff and then getting ice cream after. We had fun guessing each others numbers and Nate thought it was hilarious to tell me he was thinking of a number between 1 and 2000 and then it would end up being 1. :) Nate has a really great laugh and we were laughing hard and having a great time. I just wanted to remember that moment with my Nate Nate.

We sure love our Nate!

Back to School

At the end of August, it was time to head back to school. We had some more trickiness this year when we found out that Natalie had gotten into our neighborhood school but Nate hadn't yet--he was number 2 on the list.  We thought about just leaving them both at the overloaded school (they wanted to stay there anyway) but since Nate was so close to getting in we decided to have them attend the neighborhood school and hope he got in quickly.  That way, Eli would get into the neighborhood school when he starts next year and we would hopefully be done with all of this mess! 

So, we started out at 3 different schools--Elizabeth at the junior high, Natalie at the neighborhood school, and Nate at his same school as last year.  Thankfully we had friends to carpool with that made it easier.  When I had to pick up all of them, some would have to wait for quite a while for me to get them.  Nate was excited that he got his same teacher as last year since she moved up a grade.  She was a great teacher so we were happy about that.

First day of school:

Keeping track of pick-up and drop-off times on my white board:

It was complicated!

Nate eventually got into the neighborhood school a month after school started. That was hard for him.  He was sad that he wouldn't have any recesses with his neighborhood friends (who are just a few months older and in 3rd grade).  He really didn't want to leave his old school and his good buddy Pedro.  It broke my heart to see him so sad but we hoped it would all be for the best eventually. He has been adjusting slowly.  We like his new teachers (he actually has 2 that split time).  He is getting to know more kids.  He still wishes he could go back to his old school, though.

Natalie started yet another year at a new school.  That was hard for her.  She just feels really tired of doing that.  She always seems to make friends pretty quickly but she misses her good friend, Daniella, from her old school. I think she is slowly getting used to the new school, too. It makes me happy that she and Nate are at the same school again.  I like having them there together even though they don't always see each other much.

Elizabeth has adjusted well to junior high.  She was probably the most nervous to start but has been doing well.  She's still figuring out how to keep up and stay organized with her homework but her grades are great--as always--and she is in some pretty challenging advanced classes. 

Eli has started a preschool class that he loves three times a week.  His teacher is great and it's been nice for me to have some extra time to myself every week.  He is always asking to play with friends.  He's a social little guy so it's good for him.  

All in all, it's been a good year so far!

New Orleans!

In June, Joe and most of the other attorneys in his office planned to attend the annual AILA conference.  It was in New Orleans this year and I thought it would be fun to tag along.  Thankfully, Marsha was out of school and was able to come watch the kids so I could go.  We were so grateful!  It was a really fun trip.  It made me remember how much I love traveling with Joe.  He's a pretty great travel buddy. :)

We were on separate flights over but I was lucky enough to get a whole row to myself so it was an easy flight.  We got in and took a shuttle to our hotel and ventured out to find food.  We were hungry! We found a restaurant with the traditional New Orleans food and ordered it all: etoufee, gumbo, jambalaya, and even some fried alligator. Here we are trying it out:

It was good! That restaurant wasn't the greatest but I still really liked the etouffee.

It was hot! Can you tell how sweaty we are?

The next morning, Joe's conference started early and I headed out to explore on my own.  I walked quite a way to the World War II museum and stopped for some grits for breakfast.  It was my first time having them and they weren't bad!

A pretty shop on the way:

The museum was amazing! I was glad I went. I watched a really powerful movie first and then walked through the different parts of the museum.  I didn't get to see everything but still saw a lot.  I couldn't help but think of our grandparents and others who experienced it.

Where my Grandpa Allen served (mostly after the war had ended, I believe):

Loved this quote:

Then I met Joe on his lunch break at a restaurant that had been recommended called the Ruby Slipper Cafe.  It was SO good!  We got stuffed french toast and eggs benedict two different ways.  It was all incredible!

After that, I explored some more down Royal Street and by the river.

So many beautiful and interesting views!

There was a band playing just out of view in this picture that was so good!  I loved the music everywhere.

I thought Joe would appreciate this statue dedicated to immigrants.  The next night we went to a fundraising dinner and the man who made it spoke.  

We went to an Emeril restaurant with Joe's coworker, Erin, that night.

We went to Preservation Hall that night and had an amazing time!  It was so worth it.  The energy in that tiny, hot room was incredible. There's nothing like live jazz music.

Of course, we had to get some beignets at Cafe du Monde after that:

It was hard not to inhale all that sugar! 

We did some more exploring that I didn't get pictures of including Bourbon Street (not worth it--we had to shower and change our clothes just to get rid of the smoke smell, and we just passed through!), a ghost tour (also not worth it), and one of the most fun things we did--Pat O'Brien's piano bar.  Joe's friend from high school performs there and it was so fun!  She got us past the long line, gave Joe a shout out and we loved just singing along with a huge group of strangers (most of them drunk :) to a bunch of random songs.  We only got video of that.
We did go for a walk to the river together one night:

The next day, we'd planned on flying to Atlanta so see Joe's cousins but in the end, we decided to drive and I was so glad we did! It's not often that Joe and I road trip alone and it was a lot of fun. Plus, we got to see a lot more of the South that way. We drove through
Mississippi:

We drove through Alabama and then took a slight detour just so we could drive through the corner of Florida:

We stopped at a Piggly Wiggly there and bought some Bluebell ice cream, because why not?

Finally in Georgia:

We drove through some crazy downpours and then as fast as they came, they were gone.

We drove to Peachtree City to stay Saturday and Sunday night with Nate and Mandi.  They were so good to us! They fed us delicious food and took us on fun golf cart tours of where they live (they can drive to school and Target in a golf cart! There were miles of paths). We went to church with them on Sunday and then took a ride out to this lake:

We were so grateful to them and loved getting to know their awesome kids better.

We left pretty early Monday to head to the airport and fly back home to Marsha and the kids.  We sure missed our kids but it was a great trip!