The big 3 months

Here is Will showing off that he can stand up almost on his own. He loves to do this. Below is the picture from yesterday's photo shoot with Jen. Love the smile on this one. He is always happiest when he gets in the buff. Strange, I'm not sure where he gets that from...

Will is three months old today. Time seems to have passed very quickly but at the same time it seems like he's been a part of our family for a long time already. He continues to grow really fast. Jen took him to the dr last Saturday and he weighed in at 18lbs! Our friends here have a two year old kid that is 19lbs. Jen decided that Will needed to have a photo shoot yesterday so she stripped him down to get the classic naked baby pictures.

Jen is up to 30 min runs now is feeling better all the time. She still isn't in love with the treadmill though. We started doing some workouts together in our front room from the P90X program. A couple times a week now we do the Ab Ripper X workout and it about kills us. After my marathon we plan to do the full 90 day P90X program together. It's supposed to make us ripped and buff!~ Speaking of the marathon, I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to finish it. Last Saturday I ran 19 miles and lived to tell about it. I know that 19 is still far away from 26.2 but after doing the 19 miler I feel confident that I will at least be able to make it to the finish line, alive.

As much as. . .

Taylor told me he was pretty fond of his new mustache and asked what I thought about it.

"As much as I like mustaches and all..." I said.

And my response was mostly in gest of the comment he made the other night when I made chicken pot pie for dinner and he wasn't too enthusiastic about it.

"What's wrong with it? Tell me why you don't like it?"

And his reply, in all seriousness, made me chuckle.

"As much as I like bland food and all..."

Here's Big Willy

This is William's size, relative to an average 9 month old baby.
William is 2.5 months old. We love our Big Willy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Last year Jen and I were in Korea for Thanksgiving. We sat on the floor of a restraunt, chairs were not an option, and we ate Korean bbq and kimchi ( spicy, cold, fermented cabbage). Then on the day after Thanksgiving we went to a family friends house in Korea and had a wonderful traditional American spread.

This year we stayed in Shanghai and the whole weekend was full of adventure. Since Thanksgiving isn't a recognized holiday here I still had to work, but I worked from home instead of going into the office. On Thanksgiving day we went to a friend's house with about 10 other families and had a huge feast with all the fixings. There were even two turkeys there. One deep fried and one smoked. We stuffed ourselves silly but everyone called it an early night because we all had work the next day, no Black Friday here, and all but one of the couples at the party had a baby under 9 months old - 4 of us even used the same doctor!

The next day we helped put on another Thanksgiving dinner for some of the single adults and other couples. This one was pretty good too but it was minus any turkey. Turkey isn't something the Chinese eat so you have to get them at the import store. They are between $100-$130 USD! So we settled for a $3 duck instead and lots of pumpkin pie.

On Saturday morning we had a baptism for two ladies in our branch. They are both in my Sunday school class. I teach the Chinese Gospel Principles class at church. The one sister is Canadian-Chinese and the other is from China but is married to an American so they are allowed to be baptized in Shanghai. We baptized them in a swimming pool and held the meeting in a clubhouse. After the baptism about 15 of the guys in the branch got together for a Turkey-Bowl. We are all fat and out of shape but that didn't stop us from playing football for 3 straight hours. By the time we were done we only had one person get knocked out, one bloody hand, the wind knocked out a few people and a few scrapped hands and knees. Not bad for a game of two hand touch! Don't worry mom, I didn't get knocked out, but I'm partly responsible for the guy who did.... Sunday morning was the day of the Shanghai Marathon. I opted to switch to the half marathon because of my intense travel schedule these past few weeks left me unable to train. However, when I woke up this morning I was SO SORE from the footbal game that I had a very hard time getting out of bed. I made it to the starting line and used the first 5k as my warmup. The race went well and I made it to the end. The other good part about switching to the half was it allowed me to finish early and get to church. I miss Utah and all the Saturday races. Next up will be the Xiamen full marathon on Jan 2.

On Saturday afternoon Jen took her first run outside. We drove to the park where I ususally do my long runs and Will and I sat in the car while Jen went for a run. She loved it. She did a 5k loop and finished a few minutes quicker than I thought she would for her first 5k back. Once she finished she quickly started asking when she can start training more etc. I laughed and told her to settle down and take it slow. Will is the same way. He looks like he's ready to start crawling/running! He has so much energy that it will be very interesting when he is moble.

Long post with no pics. sorry. next time.

How old is this kid???

Will and I share a quick smile with each other.

Will hoping that mom doesn't let go!

Here is Will after church on Sunday. This outfit is a 6-9 month outfit from Gma Price. His eyes are often open this wide. He is always trying to see as much as possible.

Will had his 2 month checkup recently. The doctor determined that he is...big. He weighed in at 16lbs and was 25 inches long. My friends Tyler and Seth have babies that are 4 months old. Will is the same weight as Tyler's and bigger than Seth's. How did Jen and I end up with a big baby? If he keeps this up he will be bigger than me by the first grade or he'll be like me and stop growing when he's 12.

Jen has started running again. She doesn't even look like she just had a baby! I have opted out of the marathon this weekend and plan to do the half marathon instead. But I did just register for the Xiamen marathon which is on January 2nd. This is the biggest marathon in China and rated as one of the prettiest marathon courses in world. The whole course runs along the ocean and they have bronze statues of runners lining the course. Pretty cool. Jen tells me that she plans to race the DesNews 10k this summer. It is great to have a training parner again. Last night we took turns running on the treadmill and working on the computer. For us this was a great date!

Wild Will

2 Months Old

William is two months old. He keeps us laughing all the time. I don’t think I’ve bounced, swayed, or rocked more than I have these past two months. Here are some things about him:

*He has a big personality that matches his big size. He is Mr. Squirrly. He is our little squirrel because if he’s awake he’s squirreling around. He won’t hold still. His legs are always kicking. When we first met him on the ultrasound screen at 8 weeks all you could see was a bean with two legs kicking. We called him our little rabbit. He likes to move his arms too, sweaty tight fists, punching anything in his way, including his own face. That makes him mad. When he’s happy he’ll throw out happy punches. He doesn’t allow these ones to hit his face. He is our busy wild Will. Yesterday I put him in the front carrier to go out and he did not like that. His arms and legs were kicking and punching while his head was turning as he was screaming in my face. I had to laugh at how silly he looked.

*He can only take naps, or fall asleep at night by listening to the white noise of the oven fan, car rides, or long walks (And the blow dryer worked wonders for us this past weekend. Since winter is coming, and we don’t always have places to go, I’m hoping he’ll continue to like the oven fan. His faze of falling asleep to running water didn’t last long, which was okay with me since I’m not really into wasting water. When he does sleep he likes to arch his head way back and throw his arms up by the side of his head like a football goal. This is his favorite sleeping position.

*He likes taking naps in his chair just outside the kitchen door while the oven fan hums.

*When we swaddle him he’ll usually fight hard for his hands to be free.

*He is wearing clothing for a 3 month old, and sometimes clothing for a 6 month old. Last night I pulled out a warm long pajama (size 3 months) for him since the weather is getting chilly, and couldn’t believe it when I couldn’t zip it up. His legs were too long.

*He talks to us using different tones of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhs’.

*He likes getting baths in the bathroom sink. He loves the freedom of shedding the diaper.

*He sleeps well at night but is big into fussing during the evening hours.

*He is starting to smile at us and respond to our facial expressions.

*He has very expressive eyebrows.

For Halloween he was Santa Clause. We were his Elves. Taylor and my costume didn’t work out quite as planned, but Santa sure was cute.


I’ll have to get back with the height and weight stats once we visit the doc. Did we mention that at his 2 week appt. he was off the charts for height and weight? My big boy.

William is super sensitive to the foods I eat. I really have to watch it. It seems like I have cut out everything. The other day TP says, “Well, it looks like you’ll have to go on the BRATs diet.” After inquiring he replied, “You know where you can only eat Bread, Rice, Apples… Toast…” (Ha ha. I had to chuckle to myself) “…so I guess that would be under Bread.”

Layover

Well I made it out of Africa just fine. This morning I got up real early and did an hour run along the Cape Town coastline, very cool. My 12 hour flight fro SA to Singapore was nice and uneventful and I watched 3 movies and read a new Lance Armstrong book.

I was originally going to stay in Singapore for a day but when I landed at 5:30am and saw that there was a 7:30am flight to Shanghai I got homesick for Jen and Will and switched my flight to 7:30. I board in 30 minutes. Just a side note, if you ever do have a long layover the Singapore airport is the place to do it. They have a gyms, showers, movie theatre, shopping mall, go kart racing track, SPA, and a large pool. Certainly a step up from some of the other airports I've been in. I never thought I'd see so many stinking airports. In the past year or so I've been to 14 different countries. It is neat to see all these places and understand their unique cultures but it also really makes me grateful for my home country and the freedoms we enjoy there.

Well, the 12 hr flight is down, now just another 5.5 hr flight to go and I'll be home!

South Africa

All of my meetings here have come to an end and I will be flying out tomorrow morning. Currently I'm in Cape Town South Africa. Cape Town is a great city and the sea food is great. I spent two nights here and two nighs up in Johannesburg - didn't much care for Joburg though. Never thought I would ever end up in Africa, but here I am. The country is busy getting ready for the World Cup next year. They have a huge stadium right next to the beach that will be 'fantastic!' I think 'fantastic' is the most commonly used word in South Africa. The first day here I had trouble with the accent but I'm doing well with it now, it's fantastic.

On these trips I never really get to see very much other than fitness stores and offices but they did take me for a drive around the Cape today and it truley was fantastic. Table Mountain overlooks the coast and the city and the view is incredible. In most Asian cities I usually go for a walk at night and have a look around the city but I don't do that here for safety reasons. It has been a long week away from Jen and Wild Will. Can't wait to get home to them. I leave tomorrow morning on a 12.5 hr flight to Singapore. I'll stay in Singapore for one day of quick meetings and then another 5.5 hr flight home to SH. Can't wait to get home. South Africa is a long ways away from anything, except Zimbabwe.

Long Time

When we can't blog at home it really slows down the process. And with Big Willy taking up so much of Jen's time she hasn't been able to download pictures and send them off. But I wanted to get a few pictures posted because he is growing so fast. He's six weeks old and wearing clothes for 3-6 month old babies and the feet on the 3 month old pj's are too small. He really isn't that chunky, he's just big. Things here always seem to be busy. Jen recently learned how to do her grocery shopping online and have it delivered to the house. In this city that is a big deal. Grocery shopping here takes careful planning and a long time.

This entry didn't end up like I planned but at least we got a few pictures up!

quick update

I thought I would just do a quick update since I'm in blogging territory. Jen and Will are home right now having fun together. Jen's mom came and stayed with us for about 10 days in Shanghai. It was great to have her there. Jen was so glad she could come and be there. I'm in Nagoya, Japan right now. I love Japan. It is such an amazing place. I got here Sunday afternoon and will head back in a few days. Japan has it's own cell phone network so even if you have a global phone it still won't work here...annoying.

Will is growing so fast. He will be two weeks tomorrow. These pictures that I just posted are old but I thought I'd post them anyway. When I get back in town we will post new updated ones. He is changing everyday. He actually looks a little more like me than he did early on :) He loves to eat and sleep. Some of his newborn clothes are already too small. The other day we put him in some 3 month clothes. Big Willy!

A few more pics of the little guy.

This is the baby van that they brought us home from the hospital in. This is the biggest van I've ever seen in China! It had 4 TV's inside.

Will likes to sleep on my chest.

Me and the little guy taking a nap. Our favorite thing to do together.

More Pictures

Here he is!

New Arrival!

Today at 3:30p.m. Beijing standard time baby William was born. Both Big Willy and Jen are doing great. As you know Jen was due last Friday so they scheduled for her to be induced today, Tuesday 9/15, at 9am. They broke her water at 9:15 and then at about 10:30started to give her some petosin (sp?) to start the contractions. They thought that by 5pm she would probably be dialated to a 2 or 3 but by 1pm she was at a 7. Then she got the epidural. Although it seems that the epidurals in the US are a little more potent than here because she could still feel a lot and she can move her legs and walk around immediatley after.

She started pushing at about 2:45 and by 3:30 the baby was out! He is 9.12lbs and 20.9 inches long. That's why we call him Big Willy. All of the doctors and nurses were amazed at how quickly and easily Jen could push out such a big baby. I told them that she was a distance runner and has been swimming a lot. They all said that was a big reason as to why it all went so smooth. He has big hands and big feet and dark brown hair, but kind of thin - nothing like Tyler's baby. He is a major conehead right now but that should change soon.

Breast feeding has not been a problem. About 45 min after he was born they brought him in to try to feed and he latched right on and has been eating for the past hour and fifteen minutes. Looks like he'll stay a big boy!

He's been alive for 2 hours now and everyone is doing great. I just downloaded pictures to post but the great firewall wouldn't allow it. I'll have my family post them.

still nothing....

The little guy is three days late now and showing no signs of wanting to come out and play. We go back to the doctor this afternoon. Hopefully there will be more to report about later.

This past weekend we had Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Elder Anothony Perkins come to Shanghai to visit our district conference. It was awesome. We had a Saturday and Sunday session with them. Our district here has over 500 members. All of the members are foreigners. The locals are not allowed to meet with us. The meatings were great.

No baby yet...

We went to see the doctor the other day and they said "come back next week". I guess this baby isn't ready to come out yet. The due date is this Friday, September 11 but we won't go back to the dr until the 14th for a checkup. They said that if she goes 5 days over the due date then they would consider inducing her.

The good thing is that Jen still feels well, is still swimming, and the baby won't be born on 9/11.

The weather is finally getting better here. It has been so hot and humid for a long time but this week it's been in the low 80s and it feels great! Hopefully we'll get some pictures loaded up on here soon.

Must be in the Blood

I just checked out blog for the first time in over a month. We are still unable to check the blog at home. But the past month has been busy as ever. Last week we moved to a new apartment. The locals here don't hardly ever move. Some of the people in my office have an hour and a half commute each way to work and I've asked them why they don't just move. They always look at me like I'm crazy. When we signed the 1 year lease I knew that we would move at the end of the year. I only intended to be there one year. Anyone who knows my family knows that we have no problem moving.

At first I thought it was just the locals that thought it was weird that we moved after one year. But then we told our friends at church and many of them gave us the same strange look and asked why on earth we would move. My response was simple. Why not? Plus, there was a light bulb burnt out in the old place and it seemed like a good reason to move. We love the new place! We are on the 22nd floor of a 31 story building. In our complex there are about 6 of these 31 story apartment buldings. The new place is only a few minutes away from our old place.

A few weeks ago I had a long business trip. I didn't like to be gone so long but I had to get it out of the way before the baby came. All of the countries were close together so it made sense to do it all at once. The countries included Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia. This was my first time to 3 of the 4 countries. It was so interesting to see the differences in each place. Interestingly enough, my meetings in each country were in Chinese. Who would have guessed?!?

Jen has turned into a fish lately. She is really enjoying swimming. She has been swimming about 1,000 meters per day. The baby is due any day now but she did another 1k this morning. Most of the men at the pool know her by now and tell her that she is awesome but most of the women still give her strange looks. Her belly sticks out pretty far. From behind you can't tell she's pregnant but then she turns sideways and HELLO there it is. Looks like a skinny girl stuck a basketball underneith her shirt. We'll post pictures later. She has been having a few contractions but not a lot. We are hoping this baby comes sooner than later since the doctor estimated last week that the baby was already 7.92lbs. Big Boy.

That about sums up our last month or so. Once the baby comes we will post pictures.

Our Daily Life

Every day in the streets of our neighborhood you’ll see people throw out their garbage into the streets: full garbage bags, uneaten leftovers, rotten fruit and vegetables, cut hair from the endless barber shops lining the street, and any other type of garbage imaginable, including human waste. Very gross. TP will occasionally get mad at those people if he sees them do it and confront them, like he did today: “Why do you ruin your city like that? Do you not like your country?” The people are always thrown off and are very confused. TP always wants to throw the garbage back into their homes or businesses but I have to remind him that these people have never been taught any other way. They’ve simply known all their lives to throw out the garbage in the street, and the street sweepers (with their blue overalls, their garbage wagon on wheels, and their bamboo brooms) will come out every few hours and sweep it all away.

In the local restaurant today we paid $2 for our dinner. The lady brought out TP’s food first (not like in America where everyone gets their meals at the same time) and then brought out my soup and placed it next to TP, on the opposite side of where I was sitting, as if serving to an imaginable person, even though I had ordered it and she knew it was mine. We laughed and TP said, “Who are you serving it to? There’s no one sitting there?” She seemed very confused as she put it in front of me. We still haven’t been able to figure that one out.

Our apartment has a gym with a pool where I like to swim…or float. Call it what you want. The first time I tried to get in the lifeguards wouldn’t allow me to since I was pregnant and it’s apparently unhealthy for a prego woman to swim??? I assured them I’d be fine and that I would only pool run to ease their nerves. The agreement was that I would stay in the shallow end only and not dunk my head under. One of the lifeguards stayed by my side the entire time and yelled at anyone who got too close telling them to be more careful when near me because I was 7 months pregnant.

The other day I went for a swim, and a rather large old lady blocked the stairs and told me not to get in since I had a big belly. I ignored her and got right in beside her and smiled. She also yelled at me for swimming with my head under water. That same day a bunch of young boys were playing tag in and around the pool, running at full speed around the perimeter chasing each other. Even though the floor was slippery wet and they could have fallen and been hurt quite badly, not one lifeguard gave a second glance…Some things I will never understand.

Jen at 11 weeks


At 31 weeks

At 33 weeks

I think we are back in the blogging business

The government has put restrictions on various websites, including blogger.com, and more recently Facebook, which is why we haven’t been able to post. Unfortunately, we have been denied access along with the rest of the country. We are sad we won’t be able to view all your blogs, however, we will now send our posts to TP’s sister and she’ll post them for us allowing us to keep up with our family journal. Thanks H!

So to play catch up:
In China:

We had our friends from Guam spend two weeks visiting us in China. We had a great time taking them around 4 different cities. In Pudong we rented bikes and boats in Century Park. In Hangzhou, one of our favorite retreats, we rented bikes and biked around West Lake, and explored many different areas. We took them to a water town and took another little fishing boat along the canals. In Nanjing we hiked up to Sun Yet Sen’s Mausoleum. And we spent the majority of the time exploring Beijing on bikes and foot. I think we all agreed that Beijing is quite the historical place to be and were astounded at the immensity of the Great Wall. It is simply the most amazing man made structure I have ever seen. I don’t think I can write words that fully express how amazing it is. Did you know it was built in 221 B.C.? Neither did I. It’s crazy to think the Great Wall was built before Christ walked the Earth! We also enjoyed running in the Birds Nest where the greatest runners in the world competed in during this past Summer Olympics. We all ran a short 100M sprint together in honor of becoming such awesome friends through running. The last time we had all been together for a run was in 2003…

The Bird's Nest

The Great Wall

In America:

We took a ‘heavenly summer holiday’ back in the good old USA. I quote ‘heavenly summer holiday’ since I’ve been asked to write about this exact topic for a ward newsletter, and since upon arriving in the U.S. I did use that exact word: ‘heavenly’. Here is what I wrote:
Highlights of our heavenly summer holiday included spending a week with my sister and my beautiful nieces; getting together with college running friends at Ruth’s Diner up Emigration Canyon for breakfast and laughing like we had never spent a day apart; a Price Family Reunion up in the top most hills of Ogden Canyon and being in endless amounts of open land on top of the world; playing a made up game with my brother that lasted all day long; cheering TP on in the Wasatch Back Relay, a 12 man relay race that spans 188 miles beginning in Logan and ending in Park City; having a 4th of July bratwurst bbq and then taking an evening walk with TP in the quiet, calm before the fireworks--and then watching the sky turn all sorts of wondrous colors before the setting sun; sitting on a grassy hill with TP on a Sunday afternoon after a Sunday walk and watching another family playing fetch with their dog: up and down, up and down that hill, repeatedly he went; shopping with my mom, of course; and above all, sitting quietly in Logan Temple’s celestial room with my husband beside me, holding my hand. I enjoyed the open green land and wonderful Utah morning air so much I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity (despite being 7 months pregnant and increasingly uncomfortable) to go on a quiet morning run, which I did, and didn’t make it more than 20 meters without realizing I had to walk the rest of the way. But that’s okay, I enjoyed it almost as much as a run. It was almost the same.

TP and his sister at the end of the Wasatch Back Relay

Ogden Valley

Back in China:

Taking a visit back to the U.S. to be with family and friends is always heavenly, but upon being back home in SH., I’ve discovered a new noise: It’s something quite different than the normal loud honking, people talking, jack hammers pounding away throughout all hours of the night. No it’s not that. It sounds like a loud washing machine gone crazy. A vacuum multiplied by a thousand. Its loud humming buzz seeps into my apartment on the 11th floor along with the heavy humidity, and upon further investigation, I realize it’s the cicadas alive and well in the trees. It’s an amazing sound that reminds me of movies I’ve seen of jungles in Vietnam, or of a lush tropical island, or of hiking in the jungles of Brazil (something I can only imagine), and I think that this is heaven too. On this side of heaven I get to spend the entire weekend with my husband, and I get him all to myself; and all because of our great house help, dinner is on the table at 6, dishes are washed promptly when we are through, our home is clean and orderly (though not always the case), our laundry is always clean and folded; we have awesome friends in our branch; and cicadas buzz in the trees during the hot humid summer months. Besides that, SH’s week long New Year’s firework celebration can’t even compare to any 4th of July firework celebration ever given in the U.S. I mean really, the U.S.’s show starts at dark and ends with the finale at 10:30 PM. In SH, the celebration doesn’t even begin till midnight!

baby love

...at least I think.

On the phone with my sister, she asked how I was doing, and I told her I was 'good'. But what I really meant to say is that my lower back is starting to ache, especially when I lay down on my back and side, and or any other creative way at night (my china bed is really rather hard), and it aches when I walk a lot, or walk around without shoes, and I feel like I'm going to POP! And I'm only 23 weeks along, and my feet are swollen, and my hands too, and I have total acid reflux in the night and even in the middle of the day...
But I'm not complaining or anything...
Whoever said the second trimester was the easiest?...

It's all worth it though when I can lay down and I feel my baby boy move and kick.

Happy Birthday Jenny!

This Happy Birthday! shout goes to my great friend Jenny!
Running friends are the friends that seriously last the longest!
Here's to all those marathon training days,
and those good ol' college running days.
When you run with someone for HOURS and HOURS, and HOURS in the freezing cold, the wind and the rain, the mud, the gruesome summer heat on all sorts of terrain, and sweat, and train, and work the hardest you've ever physically worked before, and hope, and dream and cry, and laugh, and smile together, somehow through it all you start as running pals and end up as sisters!

I hope your birthday was the best!!!

Even though it's Tuesday...

I am stealing the idea for this post from my great friend April. :-) On her blog each Wednesday she spotlights an amazing woman and describes why she thinks this particular woman is great.

Rachel, my sister-in-law, has been on my mind lately.

Rachel is an awesome mother to her daughter and a wonderful wife to my brother.

Patient and put together describe her very well.

She has her head on straight, so to speak.

She is a balanced person, hard working and is always striving to reach greater heights.

She keeps my brother in balance.

She is extremely courageous and stalwart.

She is calm and collected.

She always has a smile on her face and always has something funny to laugh about and share.

Whenever I talk with her I always end up laughing about something.

She is a beautiful person and extremely photogenic.

I always said the person who marries my brother is a saint.

She is that saint.

She has tamed my untameable brother.

This past month she has dealt with much more than I could ever imagine in my lifetime.

She gave birth to two beautiful twin girls, and in the same month, lost them both.

While her new daughters developed kidney complications in the NICU in one hospital, she developed an infection from her C-section and had a week long stay in the ICU at another hospital.

While in the hospital they brought Katelyn, one of the twins, to Rachel's hospital so Katelyn could pass away in her mother's arms. Little Carly fought hard to live but within a couple more days Carly passed away as well.

During this rough time Rachel has remained in control of herself and brought comfort to my brother.

She inspires me everyday to laugh more, smile more, work harder, and to enjoy the journey more.

You can read her amazing story on her blog at

http://www.alexiabruschandfamily.blogspot.com/

The twins funeral will be in Salt Lake this Thursday at 1:00 PM.

In lieu of flowers she has set up an account at Zions Bank under Rachel Brusch

or online by clicking on this link.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4968467

Thanks to everyone who has been so helpful, supportive and caring to our family during this time.

(Rachel and Lexi)

Rain

I love waking up to the sound of rain.

These three weeks

Here are some things that have happened to us the past three weeks:

-I am now 19 weeks along in my pregnancy and am getting bigger. Sometimes at night I think I can feel the baby move or kick, but I can't be quite sure.

-Taylor joined an expat frisbee league and is tearing up the field. He's getting used to playing frisbee with rules, and it's great because now we know where there's an accessible running track in Shanghai.

-Taylor took a long business trip to India and even met the missionaries undercover due to the current presidential(?) elections. Apparently it can get quite dangerous.

-I took a trip home to the U.S. using my mom's flight benefits and was able to spend lots of time with my wonderful family and beautiful nieces.

- I've finished up the second of three intense Chinese language courses right before I left for America. I'm now able to buy, barter, and get around much more comfortably. However, once I got back from America I feel like I'm starting new again, or atleast a couple steps back. It seems to go easily...

-My brother's beautiful twin babies, Katelyn and Carly, were born on his birthday, April 3rd, and sadly developed kidney complications. It was such a blessing to be in the U.S. at this time so I could meet them and be with my brother and sister-in-law. Complications became greater and they were switched to Primary Childrens Hospital for better care. Despite the great care Katelyn received, her small body couldn't handle the stress and she passed away just yesterday. Although her small body couldn't bear the stress and wasn't able to recover, I believe her spirit was strong and smart and that she knew more things than we can understand, fresh from heaven. I believe she knew her purpose on Earth, that she knew her family, and that her parents loved her immensely, and was peaceful with the fact that she had gained a body and now can rest peacefully and perfect in joy. Though I still do not fully understand why she had to leave so early, I believe one day we will understand. I believe God has an eternal perspective and vision, and of course, with our earthly vision, we simply can't comprehend. I do know that he is mindful of all his children, knows us individually, and has a plan for all of us. I greatly admire the strength of my brother and sister-in-law.

-Carly is quite the fighter and we are praying and hoping that she will be able to heal well enough and develop strong enough to be released from the hospital and return home with her family.

-It was a blessing to be with their 2 year old sister, Lexi this past week and get to know more of her wonderful personality. She loved to hold my hand and talk with me, and I can't wait to spend more time with her in the summer.

Little by Little...

I realize not all readers of this blog are members of the LDS faith and might not find this post very interesting. But the blog is also a form of a family journal for us and I wanted to record some experiences that have happend lately. I'm sure Jen will soon put up more entertaining posts with pictures soon.

Even though Jen and I think it is a great opportunity to come and work in China we have often felt like the job wasn't the real reason we came here. Hopefully during the years that we are here we will be able to find out why exactly we did move here. Lately there have been some neat experiences though. Some of you may have met big Corey from Shanghai while he was in Utah last June. During that time he visited Temple Square and attended church meetings. He was given a Book of Mormon which he started to read, a lot. It was interesting because while in the US I was able to answer any questions he might have. But once I moved to China I was no longer able to discuss religion with him due to the local laws. He continued to study on his own. A week or so ago we were in Taiwan for a trade show. During that time he arranged for himself to get baptized. The Taipei mission president conducted his interview and spoke at his baptismal service. I was also able to attend. It was a great experience. It's amazing that the gospel is being spread even in places without missionaries. (there are alwasy rumors, but there are no missionaries in China)

There have also been a few other neat things happen lately. A young man that one of my mission companions baptized just completed his mission. He used to come on exchanges with me a few times a week. He has no parents but he was still willing to give of himself to go out and serve. He finished his mission two weeks ago and contacted me. It was great to speak with him again.

When I returned from my mission I spoke about three people in return- talk at church. Some of you may remember. This morning I was in contact with two of them. Roger, who many of you have met, has turned in his mission papers and will be leaving to serve a full-time mission this summer. The other was No-No, yes this is his real name. I lost contact with him for a couple of years but found him this morning. Come to find out he is also living in Shanghai! We are going to get together this week for dinner.

One final experience. Two years ago when I was in Shanghai I met a young man from Taiwan. We met while running on the treadmills at the gym. Because he was from Taiwan the local laws do permit us to discuss religion. He started to come to church with me. After I moved back to the US I lost contact with him and shortley there after he stopped going to church. When Jen and I moved back I hoped to find him again but in a city of 20+ million people it is difficult to 'run into' someone. Jen and I hoped and prayed we would be able to get in contact with him again. Shortley there after I did 'run' into him! He has been attending church with us ever since.

It is neat to see the little bit of good we can do. Affecting 1 or 2 people's lives doesn't seem like a big deal when you look at the total population, unless of course you are that one person.

Our new Sunday walk

Guam

Because Taylor took a business trip this week, I decided to take a trip as well! Since my good friend and college running teammate, Nellie and her cute family, live in warm sunny Guam, only a couple hours flight from the Philippines, and her husband was gone for training, I decided to take this opportunity to visit her and Guam. If you all can remember my favorite ultimate fighter, Justin Cruz, lives in Guam. I hoped to see him on this trip but he was probably somewhere else winning fights;) It was so wonderful to see the sun again. For the last month the sun was struggling to find Shanghai. It was also wonderful to see Nellie again. She is a great friend and an even greater mother and I learned a lot from her about mothering. I learned all about nutrition for children, singing to children, playing with your children, discipline, and love. I also learned a lot of essential other things like new healthy recipes, running while pregnant, things that help ease pregnant nausea and so much more. I had so much fun as they showed me their favorite spots: Ratidian Beach, Haputo Beach-we had to take an awesome hike to get to this wonderful secret of the Earth beach, Inarajan Falls, Chamorro Village on Wednesday evening where I was able to try food from Guam, and Timon Bay. We even ran a few times in the morning. I loved being outside running in the warmth. I am having so much fun with Nellie and her beautiful daughters, and I have one more day to experience Guam. It's more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. The warmth is awesome!!!

Thanks Nellie for showing me around your new home! It's been a great week!

Fresh coconut from Umatac Bay.

Me and Analia in a small local village called Gef Pago.

The wonderful secret of the Earth Haputo Bay. I loved this secluded beach!

One of the most amazing sights I've ever before laid eyes on. The immensity of the ocean is just astounding!

Fresh bananas from Umatac Bay. The nice guy introduced himself as Big Johnny. He let us eat these bananas and cut us open some coconut and let us drink the juice. He let us feed his water buffalo Bessie, and even let Analia ride her. He pointed out to us the village cemetery below and joked that people were dying to get there...Funny guy.

I think Maya thought this was just as interesting as I did. I've never fed a water buffalo before!

On one of our hikes.

Thanks again Nellie for a wonderful week. I really have enjoyed my time exploring the island. We hope to see you in Shanghai this summer!!!