Pioneer Day

My cute niece loves all things "pioneer".  My sister is the music chorister for the primary kids at church.  She was able to rent some great covered wagons so the kids could do a primary pioneer parade.

The babies and all the older kids loved playing in the covered wagon and going for rides.

Samara's Olive doll.  Olive is my maternal grandma.  My mom gave her granddaughters the doll to go along with the personal history she is writing. 

We dressed up in pioneer clothes and did a little caroling parade around the neighborhood.  After about an hour we passed my sister's house and I opted to sneak into the A/C with my fussy baby.  I left amazed that people trekked that way for months and months--not only through heat, but trough the winter.    Taking 24 hours to fly home suddenly seemed like a breeze.

I am in awe of and grateful for the sacrifices the pioneers went through to get to Utah so they could  enjoy religious freedom.  During our time in Asia, we were able to visit several places where people were also made refugees.  My heart goes out to them.

Pioneer Day is a great reminder for me that I should be grateful for the freedoms and comforts I enjoy.  I hope someday that I can be of service in some way to those who are not as fortunate.

Pioneer Day also happens to fall on the birthday of one of my favorite people.  (You know who you are!)

One year old

Elizabeth is one year old!  We can't believe it.  I must be in denial or at least I'll use that as my excuse for it taking a month to make a post about it.  We are delighted she is part of our family.

We loved being able to celebrate with cousins and Grandma. 

 Contrary to how it looks it this picture, Samara was actually very happy to celebrate with her.  Or was it that Elizabeth was rubbing it in her face..."I got presents and you didn't!"

Lizzie is a love bug.  She gets so excited when she sees any of us.   She especially loves when Papa Ben gets home from work.  It's a mad crawl towards him if she's on the ground.  Or if she's eating dinner, it's an abrupt end to eating and a mad squeal until he takes her out of the chair.  She has powerful lungs and we've been told by several people that she'll be a singer.   

Her favorite things to eat are rocks, dirt, sand, sticks, paper, coins, and ice cream.   Everything goes in her mouth, especially anything that shouldn't.

Lizzie is friendly but still very pensive when it comes to new people.  She has a sweet and calm demeanor and is very tenacious.

We thought she'd be an early walker because she has been on the verge of walking for months.  But she's been more apprehensive than we expected (perhaps because of all the changes).  Poor kid doesn't know where she will be sleeping from week to week.  She recently started taking more steps.

I dread the day when she forms an opinion about all the kisses we give these sweet cheeks.

We love you Elizabeth Helen Bikman!

Packing up but not upacking for a long long time

We have been back in the states for a month.  It's been a long jet-lagged and exhausting month.  I just got on to make a post/update and saw these photos in my drafts so thought I'd post them.  Packing up and getting rid of most our stuff was not an easy task, but we did it.  We must love the feeling of living out of suitcases because we decided to build a house, which means we won't be settled and unpacked for a while.  We hope to close and start building in a couple of weeks.  I have a ton of photos to go through from our last couple months in Singapore.   Now that Elizabeth sleeps more than once in a fortnight, I have some time and hope to catch up on everything eventually.

We had a month to consolidate, get rid of, and pack up our stuff.  It was hectic.  The girls were a tremendous help.  We built forts, dog houses, packed, un-packed, and re-packed.  Samara promoted herself to foreman of our packing team and had an opinion on what should be packed where and when.  Lizzie, though young, is an expert at unpacking everything.  She left me wondering how much paper an infant can safely consume.   And I'm pleased to say that Samara and I survived the month with a mother-daughter relationship still intact!

We are adjusting to life in the states.  We wonder where all the people are, marvel at how cold it gets (we sleep with space heaters), and are amazed at how cheap things are and how easy it is to communicate with people.  My sister is generously letting us stay with them so we are back in the basement where married life for us began.  Lizzie spent the first two weeks screaming like mad for the entire duration of any and every car ride.  But I am very happy to report that she does awesome in her car seat now.  Samara is loving the lack of attention and manhandling from strangers.  She also started pre-school at BYU and loves it.  She begs to go every day and tells people that her dad got a job at BYU because she goes to school there.  Ben is busy getting his lab up and running and putting together the curriculum for his course.   I love the beautiful mountains, but am still mourning the loss of adventure, culture and travel.   There is so much we will miss about Singapore, but it is nice to be "home".

4th of July

 It was wonderful to be back in the states celebrating the nation's birthday, especially because we spent the time with family.

UT county does a great job of celebrating the 4th, hosting a variety of fun and educational activities.  I needed a reminder that my country too has a history and is an interesting place.  :)

And what is the 4th of July without a parade and 

Fireworks?!

A very happy Independence Day from my adorable 'lil Betsy Ross and her cute-as-a-button cousin.