Date Night

Bowling with Tanner and Cherylyn Neilson! Super Fun! Tanner kicked all our butts. But since the stakes were on couples...Mike and I pulled through as the ultimate team winners! Oh ya!!
Tanner and Cherylyn...we'll be waiting for the movie date...mwahaha!

Interesting thoughts

I was reading the first chapter of the book of Alma today in the Book of Mormon, during this part in the book, the Nephites (ancient inhabitants of Central America) have just lost their King, a just and holy man, greatly loved by his people named King Mosiah. When he died, none of his sons wanted the throne, they wanted to spend their lives bringing the souls of men unto God, preaching His word, so King Mosiah left the people with judges, higher judges, and a chief judge, chosen by the people. Sound kind of familiar? Anyway, just 2 years after the establishment of judges, there began to be much wickedness among the people and this is the verse that I read today that made me ponder: "Nevertheless, they (wicked men) durst not lie, if it were known, for fear of the law, for liars were punished; therefore they pretended to preach according to their belief; and now the law could have no power on any man for his belief." We, in our world today, have reached a point similar to that of the Nephites, where those deceived by Satan use the word "beliefs" to spread lies, wickedness, and untruth. Where right and wrong (as far as the laws of the land) have become contingent upon wicked and lying people, claiming beliefs in choice for abortion and gay marriage. And, as in this book of history, the law can have to claim on what deceivers claim are 'beliefs'. I'm grateful to know that yes, we are given agency, the ability to make our own choices, but we are not free to choose the consequences. And that their must be a right and wrong, a good and evil, just as there is light and dark, sweet and sour. You cannot appreciate one without the other. And without them, there would be no agency or justice.

I hope that my thoughts here are clear. As I reread this, I don't know that what I felt today and thought about have come across in the writing of it. I was thinking so much of the gay/lesbian issue that is plaguing the USA right now and how people are being led into thinking this is a matter of beliefs versus what is truth and lies. The truth is, man and woman were put on this earth to create families, to learn and to grow, to prove that we would follow God's plan, to experience joy and sadness, that through this we could become more like our Father, and prepared for what is to come after this life. This is truth. And unfortunately our laws today can have no claim on those who lie and deceive calling it 'beliefs', though they lead many astray with their cunning and seemingly educated words.

Maybe no one else will understand this as I did today, but I love when I feel real personal revelation, when the scriptures of old reach out to me, written for our day to speak to me of troubles we face now, that they knew would come. May we hold fast to that which is true.

Water Bom!

We had a 5 day weekend and we went with a bunch of friends to a water park called Water Bom. We had a really great time with our friends, and watching our kids play together. Poor Eden was not feeling well while we were there and didn't participate much, in fact she took a nice long nap in the middle of the day on some pool mats. Below is a picture of Neil Prendergast and Tanner Neilson with Andrew, the Neilson's son. Also Marion and Emma sliding, we couldn't keep them away from the water slides.

Below left, Maria Rosa's family with children Ian and Zoe, center picture is all the children minus 4 that left earlier in the day. Marion playing with Grace and Kathlyn Prendergast.

The last picture below is the Keys family, Sam, Christy, Ella, and Cooper. And I'm ready to throw this laptop into the swimming pool after trying to make my text and pictures line up right and being completely unsuccessful!! Arghh! So, it's a mess, but it's here, now you can see us and our new friends.

The Tooth Fairy

At 7 1/2 years, and in the 2nd grade, Eden finally lost her first tooth!! About 3 weeks ago, Eden told me that her front teeth really hurt. Turns out all of her front teeth are lose at the same time! So just 6 days ago her first tooth came out during school (it was the big excitement in her class that day). I don't know who was more excited, Eden or me! In our house, the tooth fairy leaves a small gift for the very first tooth and for every other tooth she leaves a dollar (or in our case 10,000 rupiah). For her first tooth, Eden received a very pretty fairy necklace that she absolutely loves!

Only 2 days later, Eden's 2nd tooth pops out at a water park during a birthday party. Chowin' on pizza, the crust will getcha everytime! Give her another month and all 4 front teeth will be gone...maybe I should start thinking about our annual family picture sooner rather than later!

Salad

Mike and I were in the bathroom yesterday morning, chatting before we headed out to greet the kids, when Dallin comes walking in: "Mom, Dad, did you guys have salad for dinner last night?" Dallin had been at a friends house the previous evening and had dinner there so he didn't eat dinner with us. "Yes, we did have salad for dinner." "Was there any left?" "Yes, there is some left in the fridge and you can even eat it for breakfast if you want." Dallin went skipping and jumping out of our bedroom going "YES, YES, I CAN EAT SALAD FOR BREAKFAST!! WOO-HOO!!" Now I ask you...where did this child come from?? What 9 year old boy wants salad for breakfast? Mike and I just looked at each other and laughed.

Eden...again!

This girl just cracks me up!! Today for homework she had a writing assignment, so she sat down at the table to begin. After about 10 minutes I went to check out her progress. The assignment said, "Draw yourself as a reader", "Answer the following questions: What kind of reader are you, why do you like to read, and where do you like to read?" So I'm looking first at her picture, "draw yourself as a reader", and I was a little confused, it didn't make any sense. Eden noticing my perplexed expression, looked at the picture she had drawn and read the directions again. She starts laughing, and says "Oops, I did this wrong" and while laughing pulls out her eraser and says "I thought it said 'draw yourself as a reindeer'". We both totally lost it!! That would explain why the picture of herself had antlers coming out of her head!

Home Teachers

Yes, here in Jakarta, we have very regular, excellent home teachers. Brother Jed Beckstead and his son, Hayden, came to visit us this last week, and while they were here, gave the kids rides on their motor scooters...SUPER FUN!! Even Mike took one for a spin up and down the street.

Eden says the darndest things!

We are sitting around the dinner table one evening and Dallin is telling everyone about an audio book he's been listening to about the Titanic. Eden was finding it very interesting and said, "It would be cool if you could actually see the real titanic that sunk under the water." Dallin says, "You can Eden, you can scuba dive down there." Eden with a very amazed look on her face says, "Whoa! I would need a really big straw!" The dinner table erupted in laughter. We love you Eden, thanks for all your quotables!

First day of School!

Another year begins...
Dallin started 4th grade...Holy Crow! He was a little bummed about beginning school again. He was excited to see his friends but he hates school work. His teacher is pretty darn young and she's "cool". She lets all of her students call her Brooke...oh ya, that's cool!


I took that picture of Dallin in his classroom, and he was like "Mom, get out of here, you're embarressing me!" He didn't actually say that but it's written in his face as you can see. "Mooooom!"

Eden, on the other hand, was thrilled about starting school again. She was literally counting down the days. She and Marion have been very excited about their new matching clothes too! They like letting people think they are twins :) Eden's teacher is Miss Laura Lamb...how sweet is that!


Marion doesn't actually start Kindergarden until Friday so I'll have to post about her actual first day later. We did meet with her teacher for an orientation on the first day, her name is Ms. Corly and seems very nice as well. Marion was acting very shy when we met her :) But she is anxious to begin because now she is one of the big kids and gets to see her siblings at lunch and ride the same bus as them on the way home...oooh!

Our Reverent Prayers

Usually, family prayer feels a lot like this:

"Kids, come on, it's time for prayer...get in here...guys get your tushes in here...it's time for prayer...now, I mean it! Alright, everyone on your knees, fold your arms, bow your heads, and close your eyes or so help me...we are going to feel the spirit darn it!!"

Lately things have gone a little differently:

Two night ago, one of the kids was saying the prayer, and Emmalyn tooted (hence the nickname she has had since birth, Tootie), we fell apart halfway through the prayer in complete hysterics!

Then just tonight, Marion was saying the prayer. She has a tendency to speak very quickly and sort of slur her words together when she's praying so it can often be difficult to understand her sometimes but there was one sentence that we all heard very clearly: "please help us all so we can learn spanish" Again, complete hysterics! We were completely out of control, even Marion was laughing though she had no idea what was so funny. Then when we explained that we're learning Indonesian not spanish it was a revelation!

Failed Miserably

So the kids have accused me on a number of occassions of eating vast amounts of junk food (sweets to be particular) in the evenings when Mike is out of town. There is some truth in this statement. Therefore, I decided that while Mike was away this time, I would refrain from such weakness and not eat anything deliciously sweet and dilectable after dinner. Mike left this morning. I didn't make it one evening. Loser!! I ate two pieces of Jello Toast on homemade bread. Delicious (thanks Ashley!) Jello toast: buttered bread with a thick layer of powdered jello on top of the butter, then baked in the oven just until jello is melted and a little crispy ...Yum! Great for those Family Home Evening's when you forgot to make a treat.

Bali Vacation

What an excellent, fun, yet relaxing vacation! Just what the doctor ordered. We stayed at the Club Med Resort which I thought was terrific! Unfortunately, since we always have to get 2 rooms, it was way too expensive for us to ever do again. We spent a lot of time swimming at the big pool which was one of the highlights for the kids (which included getting thrown off moms shoulders) along with our day down at the beach building sand castles. It rained for nearly 2 days straight while we were there, during that time we participated in some of the indoor hotel activities but mostly we stayed in our room, Mike and I sitting on the veranda reading, while the kids played in the room and watched Nick Jr. (yes, we traveled all that way and spent a fortune so that our kids could watch Nick Jr...grrr!)

The beaches in Bali were better than any beaches I've been to in the states (aside from Kawaii) but I hear they are nothing compared to Australian beaches.

Dallin spent 2 days at the kids club. He found a bunch of boys to play with and they had really fun counselors that kept them busy doing all kinds of activities and sports. It was like a summer camp. One day they built boats out of plastic bottles and balloons then raced them across the swimming pool.

Mike and I spent one morning playing tennis, golf, and a little pool. Then together as a family we did a little trapeze, kayaking, boche ball, and circus juggling. There were these really cool lizards in the pond that we kept watching, one of them was at least 4 feet long!

My only complaints were: Everytime I ordered beef it turned out quite grissly, and the fruity drinks were lame! The kids loved the food! They spent 5 days eating french fries, pizza, breads, and chicken fingers. Not to mention the 2 ice cream cones each every night for dessert! Heavenly!

We went for a walk the first day that we were there and found a bunch of animal statues along the way that we thought were really fun. When we saw the first one, a frog, we thought "hey, let's take pictures with as many different ones as we can" after taking the first picture, Dallin says, "guys, I think they're trash cans". So then we had to take pictures of them because it was so hilarious! There was a squirrel one that was very anatomically correct (picture not included for that reason).

Enjoy the pictures!