Awfully Blessed

One glorious and fateful evening after visiting our favorite camera shop and having a delicious dinner of German Spaetzle, Debbie and I wandered around visiting and went into the mall.  Debbie noticed the "awfully chocolate" store.  She had gotten their chocolate cake on her birthday and her husband had the chocolate Hei Ice Cream.  She liked the ice cream better than the cake so we promptly ordered a scoop.  Or was it two?

This ice cream is unbelievably good.  It's rich and dark and not too sweet.  It comes in a cute chinese takeout box.  The little green paddle they give you to eat it with is just the right shape to help you savor every bite.  I was sold after my first taste.  I had to have it every time I went to the city and found myself near a mall with an awfully chocolate store.  Or at least within a few MRT stops. :)  It truly is the perfect chocolate ice cream--no candy or nuts needed.  Even Ben says so and he doesn't eat ice cream without "a crunch".

My last trip for the chocolaty goodness. :(

Singapore friends--if you haven't been, GO.  Don't even bother collecting the $200 as you pass go, just go try it NOW!  You will thank me. 

I've been anxiously waiting a visit from my dear friend, Jessie, and her family.  She's the best and I could spend days straight talking to her about everything from ice cream to traveling to raising kids.

You can imagine how awfully delighted I was when she pulled out a black "awfully chocolate" bag.  I was literally in tears.  Not only did I get to spend the evening with her sweet family, but I also had a special delivery straight from Singapore carefully and lovingly transported across the world in an overhead compartment.

She brought me (among other sweet gifts) awfully chocolate mooncakes.  I can't think of a more perfect gift.  Mid-autumn festival is a delightful holiday.  

"The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four most important Chinese festivals.  The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching, when mooncakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival.  Typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4–5 cm thick. A rich, thick filling usually made from red bean or lotus seed paste is surrounded by a thin (2–3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs. Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges accompanied by Chinese tea."  Info from Wikipedia 

Traditional mooncakes are gorgeous, but I can't say they taste that good (to me).  Awfully chocolate mooncakes, however, are scrumptious.  They've got looks and a sweet spirit!  No lotus paste in these--only pure unadulterated rich brownie and butterscotch.  Heaven.  I enjoyed every last "wedge" minus the Chinese tea and enjoying them with family and friends.  I sort of ignored the sharing part.

Samara's carrot was jealous of all the face time the mooncakes were getting.  

Isn't the bambo box gorgeous?!  I felt like royalty every time I opened it to sneak a mooncake bite.  I have the box along with my mooncake mold displayed up on the kitchen shelves.  Every time I look at them,  I am reminded that I am oh so awfully blessed to have such wonderful people and experiences in my life.  Thank you Jessie and Sarah for the sweet gift that will always remind me how blessed I am!!

St. George

We took a little trip to visit Ben's Grandma over conference weekend.  She's the best!  Grandma is the most loving person and has a magical ability to make you feel like the most important person in the world.  The girls immediately felt this and loved being at her home.  They also enjoyed playing with their 2nd cousins (is that what a child of your cousin is called?).  Ben's cousin was so sweet to host a dinner for us all.

Isn't Grandma lovely?  We always learn a little more about Ben's sweet Mom and enjoy every moment spent with her.  I imagine his Mom would be the same kind of wonderful grandma.

Whenever we take photos with her I always have as many of her looking at the crew as at the camera.  Can't you just tell how much she loves us? 

Her house is filled with things that Ben remembers from his childhood.

The girls loved petting her pets. 

Look at this sweet quilt with a square for each family member.  What a great idea!  Ben's mom helped make it.  Here are Ben and his Mom's squares.

Her towels are too pretty to use.  She told me these are still like new because no one wants to use the fancy towels when they visit. :)

Grandma sends cards to each grandchild, their spouse and the great-grandkids.  I think the number is up to 177 a year.  Each of us looks forward to her cards and phone call on our birthday.  All these markers and pens sum up her boundless love and the time she spends making sure we all feel it. 

As an added bonus, we also got spend time with our singapore cousins.  Love and miss these sweet kids!  And it was so fun catching up and laughing with their parents.

Samara has stickers on her little suitcase of all the countries she's been to.  On the way home, she asked if we could get a "St. George"sticker.  We had to explain that not only were we not in a different country but we weren't even in a different state.  Seriously, how can we be in the same country after traveling for four whole hours? :)

Cougar Run

BYU homecoming was this weekend.  The game was a huge disappointment.  

But spending time with out-of-town family made up for it.

Samara did the Cougar Run for the 2nd year.  I lugged my camera both years.  Last year I didn't pack my memory cards and this year my battery was dead.  Thankfully Ben had his phone.  Lizzie brought Samara's "niece" to cheer her on.  Next year Lizzie will probably do the race too.

Seeing the kids lined up brings tears to my eyes.  They are so cute!

Samara finished the 400M race in 2 min 29 seconds, a 10 minute mile pace--much faster than I can do right now.  Go Samara!

She was so serious while she was running but very happy to see us at the end.  And we were all so proud and glad to see her.

Two cute cousins at the finish line. 

September 25th

September 25th is an important day to me.  It's the day my two favorite men were born--Ben and my Dad.  Ben's Grandpa and our nephew also share the birthday so it's a popular day to be born in our family.  While we were building the house, Ben and I weren't always exactly what Mr. Ryder would call "sympatico" with one another.  I may or may not have chucked him a store bought cinnamon roll (his choice of b-day cake) with a muttered "Happy Birthday" last year.  Pretty lame, I know.  I wanted to make up for it this year so I enlisted my master party planner, Samara, to help.  This is the list she came up with/dictated to me.

Does she know her dad or what?  Samara woke up at 5:15 AM, tiptoed into the room and said, "Mom, I tiptoed in so I wouldn't wake Dad up.  Can we decorate the house now?"  I stalled her for an hour while I smiled about her excitement and thoughtfulness in my half-sleep.  I'm happy to report that we did everything on the list except the Piñata and the Spiderman on the web.  We substituted that for a Spiderman-themed breakfast in bed.  And the book Ben got/wanted was a novel not about Spiderman.  But that's only because he already owns all the Spiderman comics.  

Notice the couch in the background.  Samara cleaned the "carpet room", aka family room, while I cleaned the kitchen.  She even draped the blanket over the couch and lined all the pillows up neatly on it.  She was so proud to show that off when he got home.  Lizzie, well she gives him a present everyday of the year, because whenever she sees anything to do with Spiderman she says, "That's Daddy Spiderman".  And that makes Ben more proud than anything else.  Basically, he's taught her everything she needs to know.

The students, who work in his lab, gifted him the Flash t-shirt.  And our niece got him an Avatar t-shirt.  In case you didn't notice, he's a pretty big superhero fan.  

When Ben blew out the candle, Samara whispered in my ear, "I know what he wished for.  He wants every birthday to be just like this one."  Tears.

I would actually love to learn the art of cake making someday.  I really admire that talent/skill and love seeing friends' creative cakes.  For now though, it's a good thing Ben is easy to please and all he wants are cinnamon rolls.  Plus these are homemade AND they were nicely handed to him this year.

Now, for my dad's party.

 

One of the things I love most about living here again is being able to visit my Dad's grave.  It helps me feel closer to him.  My Dad loved fruit.  Loved it.  After Ben and I got married, we'd often find a fruit salad or peeled and sliced fresh peaches on our doorstep, when we got home from school/ work.    Every year since I can remember, My dad would buy 20+ green river watermelons (the best kind in UT) and then have us kids take them around to neighbors and tell them that we grew them in our garden.  Our garden was a slab or concrete so I thought all the neighbors knew that this was just my dad being his quirky self.  Until one day (I was adult at this point), I ran into a neighbor who told me how much she missed getting one of my dad's garden watermelons each year.   Dear me!  I chuckled and told her that we never grew a single melon in our garden because we didn't have one.  I knew her pretty well so we both got a good laugh out of it.  

 I loved the Buddhist custom that I saw throughout SE Asia of leaving out fruit as an offering/gift for ancestors.  I decided if it's good enough for them and has been practiced for centuries then it's good enough for me.  Last summer, we were passing through the city of Green River on our way home from Colorado, so I, of course, had to stop and pick one up for my dad.  That started a little tradition of taking his favorite fruits to the cemetery when they are in season.  I know when my dad sees it from heaven, he lets out his hearty belly laugh that I miss so much and says, "Oh Cherylkins.  Love ya.  Love ya.  Love ya.  Squeeze ya.  Squeeze ya.  Squeeze ya.  Miss ya.  Miss ya.  Miss ya."  Those aren't typos.  When my dad really meant something he repeated it three times. :) 

I won't lie and say that I don't feel sorry for myself sometimes because he is not around to shower the girls with affection and attention.  He would have been tickled listening to me go on and on about all the clever and darling things they do and say.  And how he would have teased them.  I know they would have begged to go to his house all the time.

 Jei-Jei, which do you think makes it faster to heaven, balloons or fruit??

The Moment When...

...you realize exactly how annoying you are behind the camera.

Samara's camera had been forgotten in the backpack for a month or so.  When I pulled the phone out for a charge this morning, she was thrilled to use it again.  

This morning, we were saying goodbye to Ben as he rode off to work on his bike and talking about how I was going on a bike ride in the evening.  Samara suddenly announced that she NEEDED a picture of me on my bike.  Four minutes later, I realized just how she feels when I take her picture.

Samara: "Ok, Mom.  I need you on your bike and Lizzie to be on mine."  

Lizzie: "No, I'm not do-ing on da bike.  I wanna sit on mama's lap."  

Samara: Sighing "Fine.  She can stay on your lap but I'm getting one of her dolls to go on it."

Me:  "I don't think her doll will be able to sit up on the bike. " 

Samara: "Then I'll just have to use the scooter."  Gets the doll and comes back.  "Now, make a face like you are scared because you can't find the doll.  Uh.  I am going to be LATE for school.  Lizzie, can't you just do what I ask?   Do this with your mouth.  Demonstrates the circle.  Fine.  I got it."

Samara: "Ok, we need one more with the umbrella.  Mom, my bike is falling.  Can you hold it up with your leg?  Hum...that's good.  Mom, you can just set the umbrella down and we'll go to school now."

When Samara saw this picture uploaded she commented, "Uh.  You are covering Lizzie's face with your hand."  Oops! Sorry, Kiddo.  It's really frustrating when someone does that.

The stroller, bike pump, and balloon were also strategically placed.  The rake and lawnmower weren't. She's very much a beginner in photoshop though so she hasn't learned how to remove unwanted items from the picture yet.  We aren't going over that until Grade One.

Lizzie is also a fan of being in charge of the camera.  She asks several times a day for "more cheese", which means she wants me to hand her my phone and turn the camera on.  I have a really awesome phone that is taped together and the picture quality is astonishing.  No smart phone for me until 1) I drop my phone less than 3 times a day and 2) The phone is no longer Lizzie's favorite throw toy.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten.  A big milestone that came too fast.

Samara has newly painted toes

for her new school shoes.

 Good thing we put off buying a backpack because only tote bags are allowed in Kindergarten.  Her teacher seems great.  She's making new friends.  There is even a little girl in the class named Samaya.  What are the odds of that?

Samara started pre-school 3 days fresh off the plane from Singapore and didn't bat an eyelash.  But she's worried more this year and definitely had an adjustment period.  But I can tell by the happy smile that greets me when I pick her up, that she is settling nicely into school.

I have to admit that even though we've been going through the routine for weeks now, I get choked up every day when I squeeze her hand to say goodbye and watch her walk into the classroom.  And Lizzie never forgets to do their little fingershake.  I told Samara I was sad she was all grown up already.  She corrected me, "Um.  I'm not all grown up.  There are still two more steps before that, teenager and adult."  Phew!  I still have some time.

She is excited about the new family member that will join us this school year.  That's baby brother "swaddled" in my arms.  I really like that I am taller than Ben.  I was going to include this picture in the last post but my brain is on a 24-hr time delay.

News

Click on the picture to see the announcement

Bouncing baby boy Bikman will be joining the 'lot of us' on February 15th--there are some benefits to scheduling a c-section. :)  We've had a boy name picked out since we got engaged and we are 90% sure we will use it.

Ben and I were surprised when the u/s tech said, "that is definitely a boy!" but we are both thrilled.  Samara can't wait.  Lizzie says, "No baby, mama.  No baby!" when you ask her about it.  She loves babies so I'm sure she will come around.  The other day she told me her two baby dolls, "are hav-bing a sword fight."  She needs a little brother. :)