Making Cookies

Okay, so I'm going to be this fantastic mom and make cookies with my children. My mind is filled with pictures of us taking turns stirring the batter, Olivia cracking the eggs perfectly into the bowl, and little smudges of flour on their cheeks and nose...

Not true!!

After announcing that we are going to make cookies, and talking the girlies into washing their hands so they can help, we pull the chairs up to the counter (because I'm not talented at making cookies on the floor). I get out the bowl and a few of the necessary tools: spatula, spoon, measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc. While I am locating the beaters, one has put all my measuring spoons in her mouth while the other has picked her nose. After re-washing hands and finding more measuring spoons, the spatula has been put in a mouth, but I'm not getting another spatula (don't tell Shayne), so I quickly push all the tools out of the way so that they can stay semi-clean, and notice my bowl is missing. FOUND IT !! on Isabelle's head, wiped it off, took the beaters away from Olivia trying to put them into the machine. Got out the sugar, girls reappeared with spoons for their own tastes, put some sugar on the spoons, dropped the sugar off the spoons, wiped up the sugar from off the floor, put more sugar on the spoons, wiped up sugar from off the chair, said NO MORE SUGAR! and put sugar in the pantry. Got out the brown sugar, repeat the previous experience. Mix sugar, brown sugar, butter with mixers while all three of us have to hold it and I can't really move it around to mix really well...two minutes later I give each girl a popsicle so that they'll sit at the table while I frantically try to mix up these cookies before they finish their popsicles. Great experience, don't try it at home.

Our Trip Overseas

Shayne got to go over to Beijing for a class with Thunderbird. He said it was an eye-opening experience. It was really great to experience a culture that not many people get to, but he is definately glad to be an American. The income disparity is really huge between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots', so you would see a lot of slums next to really nice buildings. The pollution in China was really bad too, they still mainly use coal for all their heating and cooking needs, and the air has a thick layer of soot in it. In the midst of classes, he was also able to visit the Forbidden City, Tiennemen Square, and the Great Wall. Olivia's favorite experience that Daddy had was the delicacy of eating a scorpion (we can tell you he hunts for them all over the house, he just can't get enough it seems).

While Shayne was in China, I got to go over to Japan. I went back to the town that I spent six months in when I was on my mission. I stayed with a girlfriend there, and we had a blast touring around together for 3 days. I was able to see castles and gardens and beautiful coi ponds. Then I spent a day on the trains to get up to the mainland to meet Shayne so that we could go over and visit family friends over in Nara. This was the first time that Shayne and I had been in Japan together, and we had so much fun! The family we were staying with asked us what we wanted to do, and our TO DO list consisted of mainly food we wanted to eat while we were there. Other than lots of eating and shopping, we were also able to tour Eigamura (like a Universal Studios, but for samurai movies), go to the gigantic temple in Nara and see the deer (they believe that the deer are messengers from God, so they don't kill them, and the deer have overrun the place; they just walk around the shopping area like they are window shopping). We also got some time just to bum around the two of us in the city, getting on wrong trains and finding little mom and pop places to eat. We had a ton of fun. My parents came to stay with the girls, and I guess they didn't miss us at all (which I'm not sure how I feel about that). Well, we got back safe and healthy, and can't wait to go again.