Last Milestone

Today our friend Zeb arrived. He is Joseph's age, lives in our neighborhood in Utah, and came down here at his mother's request, cause "you need to take advantage of these opportunities!" :) And this is our last milestone! He's hanging out with us here until we all go home two weeks from tomorrow. I'm hoping it will be a good experience for him, not just a "my neighbor's little girls harassed me for two weeks" experience. (Lily has been the #1 guilty party there, leading the attack. Poor Zeb, he's fresh meat!) He's been a good sport so far, we told him he's free to run or we can help if they get out of hand and he doens't know what to do. Zeb's the youngest in his family, and thus isn't used to the noise and commotion that goes on constantly in our family.

Well, what else? We have had our last swim day, not when I thought, but when Joseph and Ethan arrived. And here is a picture of that event that wins the "picture of the month" from us and will probably be one of the pictures memorialized on the wall when I make a collection of pictures highlighting this experience. So - the girls have these pink tutu bathing suits. I've got a picture of Abi and Lily in them (pic 10), and Lily and Sophi I think, so I wanted one with Sophi and Natalie too. I wanted them to strike a pose and hug each other, but when Sophi went to hug Natalie, this is was her response:

Let's take a closer look at that!

And that my friends in the picture of the year that has made all of us laugh so hard when we see it! Natalie! You are so funny! Look at that little frown and double chin - those baby seal arms and the shrugged shoulders. Corey calls it the "I don't like what you're doing" pose. So funny. So they didn't hug, but I did get a few more shots that might work.

Though I wish I had pulled Sophi's bangs out of the way.

A few of our other "lasts" ~ I gave Joseph and Corey both their last haircut Monday morning. I think I'll only have to filter drinking water one more time. I've made my last trip to Sam's club and today we used the last of the regular jar of peanut butter that I got there and I'm not going to buy anymore. This little local brand and jar of peanut butter is all that we've got left.

Is that the smallest jar of pb you've ever seen? It made me laugh when I saw it at the Walmart here, so I had to buy it to show the kids. So funny, that will make, what, like 3 sandwiches? Something we've joked about here, when it comes to all the little cars and skinny driving lanes and small cereal boxes and other things that we take for granted in the US, is that "ya gotta think little!"

Sadly, I doubt that I've plunged the toilets for the last time. Last Saturday I was so mad at the toilet and the plunger, I had to yell at the skies with frustration - the plunger is so stupid - it turned inside out each time I try to plunge, which just doesn't make any blockage go down. So I have to try to push it really hard and fast, which makes all the water splash back up at me, which makes me want to curse. Plus the plunger is round, the toilet hole is a rectangle with rounded corners, which doesn't work together well. So I end up having to try and push it down 50+ times, honestly! I was trying so hard that the pvc pipe handle broke in two and I was just seething in my head. Yeah, I was just ready to curse and the kids came to see what was making mom so mad... and I yelled "I HATE THESE TOILETS!!!" "I'm so sick of the plumbing here!!!!" and "I've plunged the toilets here more during these 2+ months more than I did the toilets at home during our 4 years there!!!" And as I gnashed my teeth, I remembered this video that I had watched earlier in the day of Jack Black spending the day with a homeless and family-less street kid in Uganda. As I plunged the toilet I thought of Felix. I though that he would probably think our toilets and bathrooms and house were really nice. Sure, it clogged occasionally, but is that a big deal? No, it's a small thing, why and I making it into a big thing when it's not? Sure, a few minute of plunging, a splash of poop water on my foot that I can wash off with clean water and soap... are these problems? Poor Felix, he's in a rough situation, not me. This isn't hard. There are so many people with real problems and real needs in this world. We had a FHE last night about being anxiously engaged, finding their talents and gifts and what they are passionate about and using those talents to help and bless and lift. We should be helping other people in this world. Be like Tim Ballard. Do NOT spend your short life making up problems for yourself (like this white woman who is "transracial" and claims people are racist against her.) or getting lost in our own pretend personal crises. Get out there, think of others, and do something to help and bless. So that was my moral take away from the latest clogged toilet on Saturday evening.

Heading Out

Last night as I packed bins, Corey told me his plan of attack - Let's clear out of here as soon as we can, then we'll go hang out at Felipe's house for lunch, and then go to a churrascuria with all the kids and get a nice big dinner meal before the airport. 

We came pretty close to executing his plan. We did it all except go out to eat. (That sounded pretty painful to me anyway - taking all the kids out to a restaurant? I don't know that we've ever done that!) So, I packed and cleaned and a wonderful friend from church came and helped cook eggs for the kids and then cleaned the dishes for me so we could pack those. She was a life saver. Then I sent her off with a hug and a kiss on the cheek with her car loaded with pillows and sheets and cooking pans and plates and other stuff. Corey had guys from his work come and they took away all the crates. He thought it was poetic justice, that the crate furniture is going to return to become crates again.

We joked how the crates have been in denial - "I'm not a crate! I'm a couch!" You can't change what you are - and you make a lousy couch, we're gonna help you become a crate again. We think they might feel a little snobby around all the regular crates that don't have a coat of paint. 

As the bins and boxes got packed up, Corey put them on the front porch. Eventually we had enough done that we could head out. But we had to wait for the moving van with crates to leave first, since our cars were stuck inside the gate.

But good news - Nathy's car was parked on the outside! She offered to take them over to Felipe and Angela's house. Sounds good - then we can finish the final touches without kids trying to help.

She had 7 Wrides and 2 of her kids in the car, plus her driving. Before Hyrum got in, he looked at me and said there was no room. Nathy assured us "There is room!" He asked me "Is this okay?" (with Lily on his lap)

Nathy said "Not in the US, but here it is ok"

So off they went - 3 Zancas + 7 Wrides. I left shortly after them. My car was loaded with bins and one Natalie and her baby.

At Felipe's house the kids watched movies for several hours. Mel played with their baby boy as Natalie put a pink bow on him. Mel had fun holding the baby, she's excited for our baby to come. I wonder how much pink and girly stuff his 4 little older sisters will subject him to?

The kids watched movies and had plenty to eat - Angela is an angel and made us hamburgers, fries, and we brought a cake that Renata brought us for Wesley's birthday. So that was lunch... (do you like the chocolate on Sophi's face?)

(And her poor crossed eyes, I hope I can change to get an appointment sooner than the one I have for October...) And then they watched a few more movies while I took a quick hour power nap, Corey took Zeb to the airport cause his flight left 3 hours before ours. Zeb will be back in Utah tomorrow around noon. We don't get in until 8:20. But he has two layovers, and we didn't want that. We'd rather do 10 hours in Orlando than have to take another flight. So after taking Zeb to the airport, Corey came back for the rest of us. We ate some pizza and loaded into our Fiats for the last time. And it was off to the airport - to be continued tomorrow!

The People In Front Of You

I've been thinking about the news and the kinda bad mood it puts me in. I think it caused me to feel quite unsettled this past weekend. I want to be informed about current events, but I'm starting to think the worry it stirs up isn't worth the knowledge it imparts. Then a friend posted a quote similar to this yesterday and I loved it.

Her post was private, so I googled to find it and found that image above. I shared that one on mine right before I logged off, saying: "Turn of the news and love the people in front of you! Serve your neighbor, play with your kids, read a book, have family dinner, get outside and smell the roses" and posted corresponding pictures of our family and our roses.

As I was reading my scriptures this week, I had the same thought. Like, what good is all this information I get distracted by and am taking in? Alma 12:13 had the answer for me: "if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned." What is it that needs to be found in us when we are standing before the bar of God? The word! That is what I need in me! Not the news, I need the scriptures in my heart and soul. So I'm going to focus more on getting the gospel, (which literally means "Good news"!) IN to my heart. Alma 12:9 - I can receive more of the mysteries of God if I give heed and diligence to him and the words he has already spoken. Alma 12:10 - if I will not harden my heart, I will be given a greater portion of his word until I can know the mysteries of God until I know them in full! But Alma 12:11 - If I harden my heart (through worry, fear, doubt - all things that the news causes in my heart) then I will be given the lesser portion of the word (if I'm not making room for it on my plate) until I know nothing concerning his mysteries and will be taken captive by the devil - "Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell" - Like hell, to me, can just be all the negative thoughts in my own mind. I don't want the devil in my mind or having control over my thoughts or my heart. I can and want to see the good in people. We started watching the Imagineering Story on Disney Plus, and I loved a quote about Walt Disney in the first episode, that he felt everyone was good and had good in them. That is how I want to feel about life and about people, and I don't feel that way when I tune into the news, so we're going to say goodbye for a while. I might still take in a little bit of news, but only after I've feasted and had a generous fill of the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL. A few quotes from my study yesterday and today:

"Greater happiness comes from greater personal holiness." - President Henry B. Eyring, Oct 2019. If I want to be happy, I need look no further than becoming more holy myself. Happiness is a personal matter. Become more holy, that's the answer to greater happiness! It's about ME getting God's word inside of ME!

 "So be kind. And be grateful that God is kind. It's a happy way to live." - Elder Holland Apr 2012 Gen Conf

And a talk by President Gordon B. Hicknley called Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled -

(Here's a little snippet of the talk in this video here - "Don't be a pickle sucker.")

So, how did I apply this self talk today? Well, I went on a walk this morning, and I walked past a cat that looked super skinny. I watched him for a bit, turned back, tried to get him to come to me, I picked him up, then my walk was cut short as I took him home. I thought he might be a neighbors lost cat (Zeb's (neighbor who came to Brazil with us)), so I went straight there and knocked on their door. Zeb answered, and the cat wasn't his. Then I asked if they had any cat food. They did, he got some for me in a bag and walked the cat and I home. We got some water for the cat.

Zeb suggested there was another cat poster on the post by the church, and it might be their cat? So I put the kids in charge of the cat, I walked back to the church...

It looked very similar... I texted them and sent them the picture. They came, they didn't think it was their cat Milo, but they couldn't tell for sure cause he was sooo skinny, so they took him anyway cause their heart broke for him. I texted later to see if it was Milo, she said no, and that their vet was worried he was dying so they gave it to Sandy City, hoping it has a chip. So I tried to help. Not sure if Sandy City will give that cat a similar treatment that animal control gave our baby skunk, so, yeah. Hopefully he's being fed and taken care of, or worst case he's atleast probably out of his misery. So that was me trying to help the world/animals in front of me.

Back at home, Peter was being gruuuuumpy, and didn't want to eat, didn't want to read, didn't want nothing except to make his little meh sound at everything. So we sat in the playhouse in the backyard. I took selfies of him, and he tried to bat the phone with his hand and kick it away with his foot.

He was kinda high maintenance most of the day so I didn't get a lot done, but I did have dinner ready when Corey got home from work (Burgers and chips) and then we went to watch the kids play hockey (Thursday night is street hockey night! This was their third Thursday in a row).

Peter and I hung out by the gutter to save the balls from being lost down the gutter. They have a big gutter hole over there. One ball got lost, but I save one that was about to go in, go me. Peter started being fussy, so we went home to get a snack. I took a picture of our neighbors flowers - pretty lilies! Stop and smell the flowers! (Or alteast photograph them!)

Peter and I didn't make it inside for his snack, cause we got distracted working in the front yard.

Hey! He's smiling! Look at that, Peter likes yard work!

I'm very proud of the dirt I reclaimed last week.

We made more progress tonight. It's not looking as amazing at it did when it got all spruced up before Joseph's farewell, but it's much better than it was. And I get a dopamine hit of "hey, I did that" each time I see it, so yay for happy hormones. I'll keep working at it a little bit each week. Everyday - Love the people in front of you, do the work you can do to make your world a little better and brighter!

Campinas to Florida to Utah

On Wednesday night, our friend Zeb's flight left first around 8, so Corey took him to the airport around 5 and took our luggage with hopes that he'd be able to check it in early. They wouldn't let him, so a friend stayed there and watched it while he came back to pick all of us up. We left around 8. First task - return the cars.

We loaded the kids into the van while Corey talked to the rental people, doing whatever they needed to do for 30 minutes. (Things just take longer here!)

The kids kept getting drinks of water and eating their complimentary candies, and finally they were done and we got in the shuttle to head to the airport. Natalie fell asleep on the drive to the airport, so we carefully placed her in her carseat into the shuttle, then onto the smartcart - she was able to keep sleeping until we had to check her carseat.

We said goodbye to our friends, they all helped us out so much, Thank you! We will miss you!

And now the moment is here, we're on the plane headed home! How does it feel, kids? I think they're excited.

The stewardess' brought around some i-pad type things and the kids watched movies and played games. We enjoyed a nice dinner at 1 a.m, except Abi and Lily were already asleep. Then we told the other kids it's would be good for them to try to go to sleep too. Are you comfortable Wes?

I think all the kids slept pretty well, although Ethan told me later how terrible it was cause he asked for a drink of Guarana but they gave him CocaCola, and then he fell asleep and it spilled all over his shorts and soaked his socks, so he had a miserable night cause he felt sticky and wet. I think he had it better than Corey or I though. I knew it would be bad, so I wasn't surprised, but boy, my ankles got so swollen. I think they're gonna need a few days of elevation to recover. And as for Corey, he saved my life, cause Natalie had a little bit of Coke for dinner when we were at Angela and Felipe's house... and that might not have been a good idea, cause she was seriously awake and full of energy until 3 a.m. Maybe it was the little power nap she had in the drive to the airport, I don't know, but she was on one. There was like no leg room and I would have died if I had to hold her still during the whole night with my pregnant self. Corey saved my life by taking both her and Sophia for our un-restful night's sleep on the plane. Sophi slept on the floor when Natalie was on her high energy kick climbing all over the chair. She finally gave in, but we were going to be getting up early - we landed at 7:30 Florida time / 8:30 Brazil time. That's just five and a half hours of sleep for Natalie - and that's not good.

After we landed, we went though customs and that wasn't bad at all. Although it always makes me laugh to see Corey hand over a 10 pile stack of passports. "School trip?" he was asked. Nope, just our family. After going through there, Corey and the older kids went to check in our luggage for our next flight... but that wasn't until 5:30... yes, this is going to be a long layover. How will we cope? Corey was able to check in the luggage (thanks Delta!) while I stayed with little kids who made a big mess with crackers and drawing papers. And when he returned, he said "Grab your stuff, I got us a room!" What? A hotel room? Wow, brilliant! Yes, there is a Hyatt hotel right there in the Orlando airport.

The view from our room - I love seeing that flag!!

Corey got two pizzas for the kids and they watched tv and Corey and I, well we got to go lay down and sleep!! This was the best idea ever! Natalie didn't eat any pizza, she was too cranky and tired. I went and got her from the kids room and she fell asleep right away.

The kids were thirsty - and were happy when I reminded them that we were in the US now, and you can drink water from the tap here! Drink up!!

After a good nap, we got ready to go catch our final flight.

Unfortunately it said it was delayed for 2 hours. Doh. Wish we hadn't checked out of the hotel yet, but we're not going through security again. So time to sit and wait kiddos.

They did pretty good (with the help of some hamburgers, fries, and chocolate milk). Nice crown Hyrum. Zeb forgot his hat at our friends house, so Wes was in charge of keeping that for him.

Ethan really liked the eye masks from the Azul airline.

The delay turned out to be just 50 minutes, not 2 hours, so that was good. We were on the plane at 6 and soon in the air. Natalie was once again full of high energy. It was a long 4 1/2 hours...

She was just constantly moving - She kicked me out of my chair (wanted equal treatment) so luckily Sophi was willing to sit on Corey's lap and I scooted over by him. Natalie wanted the window seat (open - close - open - close...)

Playing peek-a-boo with Abi in the chair in front of her.

I didn't know if the plane would be landing from the south or coming from the north. But figured it out when I saw the Y on the mountain!

 Kids! There's BYU! We're almost home! 

There is our home! Little Cottonwood Canyon! Although Abi was disappointed she couldn't see her school or our house.

On the planes' decent - that was when Natalie decided to fall asleep. She crashed hard, face down in the seat. Sleep child, sleep.

My parents and Corey's parents and his sister were all there ready to help us load our baggage and transport the kids home. My little sister had decorated our driveway - so nice for America to welcome us back!

We walked in the door and after ooh-ing and aah-ing about the house and how it felt the same as before (it is the same!) they went straight for the Lego room. This chalk writing on the driveway spoke truth - "Home is where the Legos are!"

As they played, we reminded them that it was late, not just for Utah time - but it's like 2 am in Brazil... Aren't you guys tired? Let's go to bed! I'm glad we have a day to recover tomorrow before the 4th of July festivities.