Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Diamonds

I'm getting a little stressed about the things we will need when we move, so I bought some totes. Now, when I think, "I'm really going to want that in the Philippines," I just throw the item in the tote and quit worrying about it. The girls have figured out that things in the totes are going, so I keep finding little surprises in them.

Kiki is so worried that she won't have any dinosaurs or dragons in the Philippines. Of course, she can't stand to be without them either, so these appeared for a day or two then were removed so she could love them.

She says things like, "When I look at the stars, I think about my dinos and dragons." Or when I tried to coach her to think about Jesus at church, she said, "Or I could think about my dinos and dragons."

What's funny is that she still likes "fancy" things too. We picked out some new shoes and she chose glittery, sparkly blue Tom's. She borrowed some "diamond" earrings from me and has worn them for days and doesn't want to change them.

Sometimes Dinosaur World and Fancy World collide.

Then you find a T-Rex wearing a wedding dress.

Or maybe you invite her for a mani/pedi and she says, "Yeah, but they can't touch my thumb and the polish has to match my dino."

Of course, because it's Dino World meets Fancy World, the polish matches the dino but there are still diamonds stuck to the nails.

First Day of Second Grade

...or maybe SEVENTH grade is more like it since she complained about her hair looking good enough and asked multiple times about deoderant and nearly drove me insane at Justice last night trying to find the exact right perfect outfit.

That said, we made it to the first day of school and by the time the bell rang she was back to her sweet self...right in time for her teacher to enjoy it. Love her anyway, though.

Make New Friends But Keep the Old; One Is Silver and the Other Is Gold

I'm not very nervous to move to the Philippines, but the one thing that is constantly on my mind is my friendships. (Fortunately my bonus sis has given me a head start on a friend in the PH, so that has me feeling a little better.) I have been really lucky in my friendships- it seems like I have always had the right people in my life at the right times and I'm really grateful for that. In the last week I've been with friends who have been with me in different stages of my life, and it has been so much fun. Truthfully, though, it has also been oddly painful because I feel like I am saying a lot of good-byes at the same time.

This is Sheryl and Dixie. Our husbands were roommates, and we all were married about the same time and had kids about the same time. Our reunions are not as frequent as we would like, but it is always so much fun to see each other and see how our kids have grown.

Stacie, Anneliese, and I have known each other since junior high! We remember tapered leg jeans the first time around. We had our first dates, break-ups, and all manner of high school dramas together. Now we are old married ladies. (Please ignore my scrounginess in the photo below...I'd had a very busy morning and figured my two oldest friends wouldn't mind a tiny bit of B.O. I may have been wrong.)

A few years back my friend Steph moved down the street. She's not in any of these pictures but her kids are. Steph and I took our daughters to dinner and to see "Sound of Music" at Sundance. Steph is a ray of sunshine whenever I need it. Also, she talked Kiki out of peeing in the bushes during intermission. That's true friendship there.

We have a little tradition in the neighborhood- on the first day of school the moms go to breakfast- the "Boo Hoo Breakfast." We sympathize and encourage each other through that emotional first day of school.

I'm really going to miss these ladies.

Sidebar: Kiki likes oranges.

Adventures With The Hatch's

We've enjoyed the last month with Bruce's family in town. I wasn't very diligent about taking pictures, but let's just say it was because I was too busy having fun. One celebration I did manage to capture (mainly because we celebrated it twice) was Burke's birthday.

The girls picked out Burke's presents. He was thrilled because he had really been wanting a Pac Man shirt and a purple Fanta shirt for his 36th birthday. They are just what the maturing man needs.

We barbecued with some of our favorite friends on Saturday, but on Burke's "official" birthday on Wednesday, we went to Tepanyaki.

Kiki was grateful for the protection her blanket offered from the fire.

Walruses. (Walrus-i?)

Since we had cake for Burke's Saturday birthday, we celebrated the Wednesday birthday with pie instead. Birthday pies are starting to be a tradition around here.

All in all, we had lots of fun with the Hatch family. They are always so good and sweet to the girls and really make an effort to bond with us. It makes the $250 power bill I received yesterday totally worth it.

Preparations Ensue

Last week's activities can largely be characterized as "notifications."

"I need to change my car insurance...we are moving to the Philippines."

"We are moving to the Philippines so I won't be teaching piano until April."

"I'll be in the Philippines when my IUD expires. Is my uterus going to fall out?"

"I need a meeting with the principal, we will be in the Philippines for most of the school year."

And on.

And on.

This week the notifications are fading away and actual preparations are beginning to take place.

The girls' passports arrived.

Mine is the only one still not here.

I'm starting little mental lists of everything we need to take. It's not a lot, but I want us to have our favorite clothes, books, and toys with us, plus I have some school supplies that will need to go. I know that all of those things can be purchased there, but I also don't want to have to shop out of necessity the second we arrive either.

Bruce is working in earnest to book our travel, and secure us an apartment, a Nook, and a new computer so we can skype.

I met with the principal and Kate's new teacher. Both couldn't have been any nicer or more accommodating. It sounds like we are well on our way to a good working relationship. All I want is for Kate to be on target with the curriculum, and for her to stay connected to her class. Kate is going to have her own blog- it will be a great way for her to practice her writing (since she will write it and I will type it in) and let her classmates and friends see what we are up to. I'd love some suggestions for a cute name for it.

You know how when you are cleaning your house that you always have some random item or two and you think to yourself, 'I'll just shove it in some out of the way corner...it's not like anyone is ever going to see it.' I have. And now my step-brother and sister-in-law are going to be privy to all my secret corners so you better believe I am cleaning this place top to bottom. I'm sure that they don't care nearly as much as I do, but it's embarrassing to admit, "Well, I keep the kitchen timer in my cookie jar because I didn't have room in the drawer of cooking stuff because my drawer of cooking stuff somehow got filled full of dinosaurs." I started in my food storage room yesterday cleaning out soon to expire items, and it seems our diet between now and the move will consist of cream of chicken soup, mandarin oranges, olive oil, and chili.

Here are a couple of links to the towns we will most likely be living in: Fort Bonifacio, or Taguig City.

This is starting to seem so real.

Wrap Your Brain Around This. I Can't.

A couple of weeks ago, Bruce came home and asked if I would ever consider moving somewhere else for a few months if it meant an incredible work opportunity for him. At the time, it seemed like a fantasy and I was all for it. Little did I know how quickly fantasy could become reality.

Ten days ago we got our passports.

Kiki, in particular, is thrilled by the prospect of international travel.

After too many days of having my guts in knots, we received the final word on Monday.

We are moving.

To the Philippines.

Only for six months. Geography is not my strong point- I had to pull out a map to find out that the Philippines is an Asian country. It's in the same neighborhood as China, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Also, it turns out that my whole life I have been misspelling "Philippines."

The nitty gritty: We are leaving when our passports and visas arrive. Bruce's company wants us there no later than October 1. He will be running an entire office for his company. (They sell software to call centers.) We will be in the Manila area, which is huge and made up of six different cities. The girls will be home-schooled, mainly due to differences in the school year calendar and my lack of desire to home school notwithstanding. (Don't worry...I always rally when it counts and I won't scar my kids for life by grading on the curve. "Sorry, girls, since there's only two of you, one of you is getting an A and the other is getting an F. Rules are rules.") My piano students are stuck. I feel really bad about that. My step-bro and sister-in-law will be house/dog sitting, for which we are extremely grateful. We aren't planning any visits home, barring a medical emergency of some kind. We aren't allowed to drive, so we will be provided a driver, and the apartment hunt began today. It's all happening very fast.

My apologies if you are a personal friend getting this news via the blog. I am completely emotionally drained after calling my various immediate family members, then 27 piano students, then all of our various financial institutions, doctors, insurance companies, teachers, and whatnot. It's nothing personal, but I can't handle any more phone calls today. I'm sure I will feel better tomorrow but my nerves are shot as of right now.

Know what's fascinating about the Philippines?

I will tell you in my report on the Philippines.

The Philippines has two official languages: Filippino (Tagalog) and English. (Thank you, Jesus.) It is made up of over 7100 individual islands. Most of the islands are covered in tropical rainforests and have incredible biodiversity. There are 3 seasons: the hot and dry, the rainy, and the cool and dry. The temperature range is 70-90 degrees. (Back to school shopping is going to be a snap: so far we've purchased only shorts and swimsuits.) Manila, where we will be living, has 11 million people and is the most densely populated city in the entire world. 24 million people live in Manila and its surrounding suburbs. My mother will be relieved to know that the Philippines has earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, and typhoons. Almost everyone is Catholic.

So, it's a lot like here. We're going to fit right in.

From the very start of this process, I have had a peaceful feeling about this. My gut feeling was that we would wind up moving, so the most frustrating times were dealing with the slow cogs of corporate America to finalize the details when I already knew we were going and was dying to move forward. We have made this decision thoughtfully and prayerfully and feel like it is the right thing for us and our family. This experience has many advantages for us. First, it is an incredible career move for Bruce. The requirements of the job are right up his alley and I've no doubt that he will be successful. Second, this is a opportunity for us to have some amazing family experiences. I'm not deluding myself that this is going to be a vacation- there will be a lot of hard work, frustration, and loneliness, but at the end of the day, I think we are going to be a lot closer as a family. Third, one of Bruce's and my biggest reservations about raising kids in Utah County has been that we would inadvertently raise children who believe that the world is populated entirely by white Mormons. I'm thrilled for all of us to see how big and diverse the world is.

Having made almost a hundred phone calls in the last two days, I am already sick of a few platitudes. Spare me the following:

"What about your house/dog/piano students?"

What sort of response is anticipated here? "Holy S***! I completely forgot that I had a house/dog/30 people depending on me for their musical education! What am I going to do?" Folks, this is all we've been thinking about lately. The house will be here in 6 months. The dog may or may not be here; whatever God decides. The matter of the piano students was a tricky one, but at the end of the day, while I know this is an inconvenience for those families, I had to consider first my own family.

"Well, that's one way for Bruce to get released."

Yes, he is in the bishopric. Yes, it is time-consuming. But, there's lots of ways to get released that don't include picking up and moving to the other side of the world. He actually doesn't want to be released and has been heartsick about it. He has loved the calling and loved serving. Don't joke about it. Thanks.

"Now you will learn to appreciate your life here."

I would have to be a complete moron to not appreciate the life I have here. Those who've known me less than a decade are perhaps not aware of the complete chaos I created for myself from 1994-1999. I swore that if I ever straightened my life out I would not let a day go by without be grateful for it. I recognize that I live a life of relative ease and stability, and I have kept my word- I feel grateful every single day for my life and regret only that I haven't made that completely plain before now. Admittedly, while I'm as grateful as I can be, the possibility exists that we will see poverty and pain unlike anything we have been exposed to here. To insinuate that just because I am ensconced in American suburbia I'm not grateful is starting to feel hurtful.

I'm not trying to be a jerk. I know that those who have said these things didn't mean any harm, but after hearing it non-stop for three days I'm putting my cyber-foot down. If someone says this stuff, I'm still going to be nice and not freak out. But inside, I'll probably be thinking, 'ENOUGH!'

So, that's our big news for today. We'll be keeping you in the loop as things develop.

Don't Forget the Boobs.

Grandpa Jack recently rehabbed the sandbox with a load of delicious new sand. My kids have had so much fun. My washer and dryer...not so much. I snapped this pic a couple nights ago and Kate said...

"Get closer..."
"...even closer..."


"...Don't forget to get the boobs."

Goings On

Oh, how I looked forward to the lazy days of summer. I imagined my summer to be vast expanses of unstructured leisure with perhaps an occasional swimming lesson to break things up a little. As it turns out, the relaxing summer I fantasized about was, indeed, only a fantasy. It has been non-stop lessons and visitors and other such activities.

Has it been fun?

Of course.

Has it felt a little nuts?

Of course.

Here's what's been happening in the last little bit.

The Hatch's came to town a couple of weeks ago. (My camera has malfunctioned so pictures are nonexistent.) Despite the lack of photographic evidence, we had a really great time. The girls love the uncles and idolize Aunt Tiffany. (I had my hair highlighted, and Kate's comment was, "Now you look like Aunt Tiffany!" It was the highest compliment in her mind.) The visit went by much too quickly for us. Paul and Ruth have stayed on for another few weeks.

I appeared in an infomercial last week. My neighbor is a film maker who does the occasional infomercial (Little Giant, anyone? That was him.). He recruited me to be a runner in a scene. All I had to do was run by a woman and say, "Wow! I love your nails!" and then point and admire. It was rather silly, especially because the way I had to run, then grab her hand, then point to the nail decal (that's what the infomercial was for) was absolutely not the way I would naturally move at all. We had to do it a bunch of times so that the camera could take full body shots, then face shots, then hand shots. So, when you see a "Nailtastic!" infomercial on TV when you are suffering from insomnia one night, look for me. The best part of this whole tale is that the director, my neighbor, specified that I was to wear "modest running shorts" which made me laugh inside because I think that's an oxymoron. My motto is, "The shorter the shorts, the faster the race." I wound up having to purchase some shorts, so I'm pretty sure that even though I was paid for my time, once I subtract out the cost of my new running gear I netted 6 or 8 dollars.

I gave a solo recital last Thursday. This was a huge deal for me. I memorized the song- it was the first song I have memorized since high school. Kate told me, "Your song is so long that when you play it I can read TWO BOOKS!"

This is Elaine. She is kind of my idol.

The recital went well- I invited Elaine, the in-laws, my mom, and friends from the neighborhood. I was really, REALLY nervous but I think I did well. I didn't have any memory problems and that was what I was the most nervous about. I have promised myself that I will tape the performance and put it on the blog, but I'm actually pretty sick of the song so I'm giving myself a little break from it. The best part of the night was feeling surrounded and supported by people who believed that I was doing my best.

My nephew was baptized on Saturday. With the girls dressed up, the daisies in bloom, and a few extra minutes, I managed to get a few pics of us looking decent.

At the tabernacle.

Lindsay and Preston.

It was a great day.

The Shelton kids stayed for the night while their parents went AWOL.

Whitney kills me.

She's a serious kid. We played at the pool, then all the kids slept over at Grandma's, we braved church, then they played on Grandpa Jack's zipline and petted his horse.

Last night we took dinner up AF canyon with Bruce's mom and dad.

It was beautiful. I've had to resuscitate my old Olympus so my pics aren't the greatest, but we had a good time.

As crazy as things have been, they are about to get crazier.

More on that later.

Spudman/Spudmen/Spudwoman

Bruce convinced his brothers that it would be an excellent bonding opportunity to swim/ride/run the Spudman in Burley. Mark was game early on, while James had to assume a false identity to complete the race. The Shelton's were participants also: Dave and Liza are fierce competitors and were hungry for some Hatch blood.
Bruce, James, and Mark.

Wetsuits are tricky. Bruce reports that he is an expert. I believe him.

Official Results:

1. Mark. He recently completed an Ironman so no one was really surprised.

2. Bruce. Met his goal time and felt good.

3. Dave.

4. James.

5. Liza.

James only beat Liza by a few seconds, so for the record I will report that she completed almost no race training and this performance was based solely on her base fitness. In other words, sleep with one eye open, James. (Also, let's all agree to not tell Liza that James hadn't really trained either. This rivalry is heating up!)

I completed an endurance event of my own: babysitting 7 children age 8 and under for the entire morning.
No medal awarded for that one.

I'm So Productive That I Have a Little Extra Time For a Fender Bender

My in-laws came to town last week- the August visit is a tradition and we look forward to the bonding. Ruth, my mother-in-law, loves to brag about her daughters and daughters-in-law. In her eyes we are the most accomplished and talented women on the earth. (I dispute her only occasionally. In addition, my almost daily "profanity slip-ups" keep her from having her head entirely in the clouds.) I was up early on Thursday morning for my usual trip to the gym followed by piano lessons. I had the added complication of having a bunch of cherries to bottle, so in between lessons I was processing cherries. Ruth was telling everyone about my amazing time-management skills and how much I accomplished that morning, and I guess I did cover a lot of ground. By 11:30, my sister-in-law Tiffany and I were free to go shopping. We parked on Main Street in PG and went to a couple of stores. When we came out, there were 2 police cars with lights flashing right there in front of us. "Someone must have had an accident," Tiffany said. We looked closely. "I've had an accident!" I said. Sure enough, I'd been rear-ended. The police informed me that someone across the street had neglected to put their car in park; it had rolled across the street; it had hit me hard enough that my front wheel had been pushed up on the curb. It was a two car accident with zero drivers involved.

Fortunately, my tow hitch was on, meaning my truck sustained no damage while their car is going to need a little bit of work. The man did eventually show up and was pretty embarrassed about what had happened, even more so because it was his son-in-laws car. Awkward. Next time I think I'll be a little lazier in the morning and hope it prevents me from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.