Update

I've been told repeatedly that I need to post so here you go. We are enjoying the nice spring days here in Shanghai. I put away all of the sweaters and heavy clothes in the hopes that the nice weather is here to stay.

We are staying in Shanghai this summer. We don't have enough money for the trip back this summer and with CinnaSwirl still so busy I can't really leave it. We're hoping we will make it back for Christmas but we will have to see how things go. I also think the kids and I need to spend the summer with Jared. It's hard on them to be gone from their daddy; they start misbehaving a lot more. We have a lot of friends staying here for the summer so we are planning a lot of swimming days and hanging out with friends.

My business is doing well. We're trying to decide where to take it. We've talked about doing wholesale and selling to restaurants and shops like Starbucks but I think that we have pretty much decided against that route. We have a couple people who have approached us about investing and we might look at opening a retail store. We will see. Jared and his partner have their first book written and the concept ideas for four others. The first book is The Secret Garden. It is a 300 character level book.

Miles is doing well. He loves his teacher and school. He got a microscope for his birthday and some legos and he was so excited about both of those. I can't believe my boy is six. He is reading quite well these days. He still prefers me to read to him but we have him read to us a little every day and he is getting faster day by day. He is becoming such a good helper and can help me with carrying Ella a bit and taking care of some of her small needs like getting her a drink or snack or helping her find a toy to play with.

Colin is an adorable frustrating 3 year old. He wants to do everything himself and consequently we have a lot of breakage and spillage around our house. I can't tell you how much toilet paper and baby soap and shampoo and milk we have gone through in the past few months but it is a lot. Both he and Miles call themselves my little chefs and they love to help me in the kitchen. Though it is quite the mess when they are both "helping."

Ella is still not walking. She tries to go too fast and kind of throws herself at you because she knows you'll catch her. She gives the most adorable kisses and she is starting to become a daddy's girl. I stopped nursing her a few weeks ago, but she still gets mad at me when she wants to nurse and I won't let her. She is at a rough stage right now. She can't communicate well so she just screams. It's pretty bloodcurdling. You tell her no and she throws herself on the floor and screams. She is such a little tease. She thinks it is hilarious to pull her hand away during family/family cheer and have us snatch her hand back. She sometimes refuses to give you kisses because she thinks it is funny. This week she started to use the word no and I think it is only a matter of days before she is using it with reckless abandonment.

We are planning on moving at the end of July. Our friends parents need the apartment back. We've only stayed this long because it has been such a sweet deal on rent. But we are definitely ready to move. They split our 2 branches into 3 branches last month and we feel like we need to move into the other branch. We just barely made the cutoff by one street and before the split we were already planning on moving further into town. It won't be the easier branch to be in because it is the one that straddles the river but it feels like the right choice.

Sorry I don't have a lot of time to post these days.

My Eternal Family

The main reason that we stayed in the States for so long this summer was to be able to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House. (For those of you that don’t know whenever an LDS temple is built there is an open house before it is dedicated where anyone, no matter their religion or age can attend) It started the weekend before we came back to Shanghai. I wanted to go see it not only because the temple is in my hometown, but especially because I felt that Miles would be old enough to remember the experience. It was a sweet experience to be able to take our whole little family to the temple. It was so beautiful inside and out. Before we went we talked about temples and how Mommy and Daddy were married there and because our family is sealed together in the temple we have the promise of being an eternal family. The sweetest part for me was to see my family all together in the Celestial Room (the room that symbolizes heaven). I know that the temple hasn’t been dedicated yet, but the Spirit was there and it was such a peaceful and joyous feeling. Later I asked Miles if he felt the Spirit and he told me he felt warm in his heart in the big room that looked like heaven. I’m so grateful for the knowledge I have that if we hold true to our faith and live righteously, my darling family will mine forever. That knowledge gives me so much peace in this troubled world. Where nothing is certain and my life seems in constant upheaval, my faith in my Savior and my God and their plan for me gets me through it all. I am so glad I got to share just a little tiny glimpse of the peace of the temple with my children. Better pictures than I could ever take of the temple. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid802589739001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAut5OBKE~,0d8kPD-tliabF_esIH3o0DBvuGFa76sc&bctid=1764297108001

At the cabin

Jared hadn't been up to my parents cabin in three years and so we took an overnight trip up so he could see it and we could spend a little time up there. We love being with all our family, but it was our first trip ever up there with just our little family and it was really nice.

Here are the boys in the Rhino. Us girls stayed at the cabin.

Ella in the new swingset.

The poor little mouse that was caught in the basement.

Jared has a slight dislike (phobia) of mice so yours truly was the one to dispose of the little guy.

Isn't he handsome?

Those two! Best of friends- worst of enemies!

I don't know why, but I love Colin's monkey face in this picture.

Ella-bella! She (unlike a lot of babies) loves grass.

I'm going to try and play a bit of catch up from summer pictures!

One of the things we love about B.C. is that you can drive 10 minutes up to the canyon to the campground. It's so close, but it's so nice to be able to get out and build a fire and roast marshmallows and let the boys play in the creek and play with sticks and rocks (and get dirty- which believe me they did)

In the absence of posts....

One of these days I'll get back to posting. Maybe when Miles is in Kindergarten- which starts next week. In the mean time here is a couple posts from my sister's blog:
  Tennis Lessons
  At the Zoo

Pics from Miles last Model Shoot

I love these pictures because they capture my cute boy's fun playful spirit! So cute!

I love to see the temple

Just a glimpse of the new Brigham City Temple...