My friend, Cheri, mentioned a way to send pics from my phone to my e-mail. Here are the three we took at Jake's Utah Bar Admittance ceremony. The pics are a little blurry, but at least we have something to remember the afternoon.
Last night I was up late making a card for a friend and decided to check an online board I frequently lurk and post on. I've been a member of this LDS bulletin board for over 5 years and have had a couple moments where I have read something that made me laugh, feel angry, and even sometimes cry. Last night was definitely a cry moment. I read that a board member, Aaron Reed, an LDS 25-year old mom of three was killed in a car accident over the weekend. Her family lived in Missouri and her husband got a job in Utah and left two months ago to start work and find a house. She was moving over the weekend to Lehi, Utah to meet up with her husband and get settled into their new house. I guess a friend and student of hers was helping her with the drive and it sounds like the 18-year old girl might have fell asleep at the wheel. It was very shocking to read about, especially since I remember Aaron posting just last week. I know I didn't know this woman in real life but it still rocked me to the core, hearing the news. I feel so badly for the girl who was driving, Aaron's husband, and her three little boys who will never have their mom to take care of them as they grow up. That is one of my worst fears, to die before I can see my children grown. I have looked over Aaron's blog this morning and I keep thinking "Wow, that could be me." Just the thought of not being able to raise my three kids and be together with Jake until we are old makes me sick to my stomach. Life is fragile so live every moment to the fullest and squeeze your babies a little tighter tonight.
Today is Memorial Day and Jake's family has a tradition of going to Jake's grandparents' graves each Memorial Day. (Check out the first picture of Jake's step-grandma (Feikina), Jake's grandpa Jack Schipaanboord, his grandma Irene Carling, and his grandpa Grover Carling with us at our wedding.) This year Jake's parents were on vacation and his sister, brother and Grandpa went yesterday but we still wanted to go. So after the kids' naps we headed up to the Salt Lake City Cemetery, where Jake's grandparents and great-grandparents on his dad's side are buried. I love this cemetery. It is very beautiful and has a great view of Salt Lake. Many church leaders and their family members are buried there (Pres. Hinckley, Hunter, Grant, Kimball, Lee, McKay, Woodruff, Taylor, etc.) The picture below is of Jacob "Jack" Schipaanboord's and Jane Hart Schipaanboord's grave. I never met Jane, Jake's grandma. I've seen pictures and videos of her though and I know we would have been good friends. She was very kind and loving, always in a skirt and had a way of getting her kids' attention by just clearing her throat. I did meet Jack Schipaanboord, Jake's grandpa. I knew him for about 3 years before he died. I've been told I don't know the real Jack because he started going downhill around the time that I met him. He was very sociable and sweet. One of my favorite memories of him was playing the piano at Christmastime and having him come up right behind me and sing the songs. He had a very good voice and I could tell he loved music. I was honored to sing at his funeral in January 2004.
After visiting the SLC Cemetery, we headed over to the Memorial Estates Cemetery, where Jake's Grandma Carling (his mom's mom) is buried. As you can see, it was pretty bright when I took the picture. The kids had to squint or close their eyes when I took the pic. I knew Irene Carling for about 1 1/2 years before she died. I've been told she was the one always willing to help those in need, passing out fudge to neighbors, making a meal whenever it was needed. I remember the first time I met her was at the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert in December 2000. Jake and I were nearly engaged and we went with his family to the concert and I sat next to Irene. She was a talker and by the end of the night I felt I knew her very well. :) It was hard to see her get so sick over the next year and a half... and then it was even harder to see Jake's grandpa go on without her. Grandpa Carling lives at Jake's parents' house now and we see him every time we go over there. I'm glad my kids know who their Great-Grandpa Carling is and hopefully they will always remember him.
We had a monumental day today... we bought our first gas grill. Jake scoured the internet for reviews and checked Consumer Reports and finally was satisfied with this Char-Broil 4-burner. It's a Consumer Reports "Best Buy" and we felt good about it. So, thank you President Bush. Our stimulus check purchase will be well-used this summer, cooking up tons of hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and steak! Now, what about some patio furniture??! :)
So I saw a post on my sister's blog and my friend, Heather's blog, about making a princess tutu. It looked so easy I decided to give it a try (I already had leftover tulle from Emma's birthday party in March and elastic from Jake's grandma.) It took me about 30 minutes and was definitely easy. Emma loves it (as long as she has pants on underneath because she says it's itchy without.) Here is the website with step-by-step instructions on how to make one:
Well, we made it back to Salt Lake safe and sound yesterday. The flights seemed a little longer and harder than the first time around, but overall it wasn't too bad. The flight from Malaysia to Taiwan was about 4 1/2 hours and the kids did really well. You can see from the first and second picture they are very chipper and excited to be back on the plane. The third pic is of the kids in the Taipei airport. When I had to wake them up to get on the plane they were not very happy with me. Josh slept for about 3 1/2 hours and then woke up still very tired and cranky. I tried getting him back to sleep by walking around the plane, changing his diaper, feeding him, etc. but nothing worked. I finally just put him back in his car seat and let him cry for a few minutes until he fell asleep. I felt bad for the passengers around me, but there really wasn't much else I could do. When all three kids were still asleep I had to go to the bathroom. I figured I would only be gone a few minutes so I got up and went. When I got back (about 2 minutes later) Emma was awake and a complete stranger was holding Josh, telling me he was trying to climb out of his car seat and got stuck... nice. I get the Mom-of-the-Year award for that one! We were all very excited for that 14-hour leg of the trip to be over. We pulled into LAX around 8pm Tuesday and had to get our luggage and go through customs. I thought Josh's stroller would be at the gate but found out later it was checked with the luggage and was waiting for me at the baggage claim. So I walked from the gate through immigration to the baggage claim carrying Josh in his car seat, my carry-on bag, the baby carrier backpack, and Emma's backpack. I thought my arms would break off by the time we got to our luggage! Luckily, customs went very smoothly and we were in and out in just a few minutes. We took our bags to Delta to see if they would check my three because when we were in Malaysia they already requested it to be sent straight through to Salt Lake. Well, I was told it was too early so we had to take all of our luggage to the hotel with us. Thank goodness Whitney was there. I don't think I could have done all that without her! We got settled into our hotel around 10:30pm, Josh woke up at 12:30am, and the other kids woke up at 2:30am. We left at 3:30am to catch our shuttle and checked in at Delta's ticket counter. Whitney decided to go check her luggage at Alaskan Air and then meet up with us later. It turned out her terminal was clear on the other side of the airport so we never got to see each other off. I took all three kids by myself and checked the luggage, got through the security check, walked to our terminal, and then endured the last leg of the trip to Salt Lake. I felt pretty good about it, considering I didn't lose a kid and we all made it safely. :) The flight back was wonderful. The kids were happy, it was less than 2 hours (woo hoo!), and the plane was half full so we got an entire row to ourselves. Ben wanted a window seat so sat at the other end of our row and watched out the window most of the flight. We were sad to leave my parents, but it was definitely a great feeling seeing the Wasatch Mountains as we pulled in. Jake met us at baggage claim and the kids jumped in his arms, showering him with hugs and kisses. As we were getting the luggage Jake mentioned to me how he just found out he needed to go to Moab in a few hours for work and wouldn't be back until Saturday (then he leaves again on Sunday for a mining conference and won't be back until Friday.) I about cried. Then when we got home I opened my luggage and pulled out my favorite statue I bought to show Jake and found it broken into three pieces. Also, my cell phone died because I left it in a ziplock bag with Purell in it and the Purell leaked all over (yes, smart... I know.) Anyway, Jake left a few minutes later for work and I broke down and cried. I'm sure most of it was due to exhaustion, lack of sleep. Jake left for Moab around 2pm and the kids and I slept for a few hours. Then we headed to the AT&T store so I could buy a new phone and then we went to Jake's parents' house so we could see Jan and talk to her about the trip. She was so nice letting us stay there and talking to me for a couple hours. We stayed until 9:30pm and I know she goes to bed early but she didn't seem to mind. I put the kids down around 10:30pm and Josh woke up probably 4 times during the night and Emma woke up once. Josh woke up around 4:45am ready to play and so I stayed up with him and just barely put him back down. So, here it is... 6:55am and I'm ready to take another nap. I think it's actually a good thing Jake wasn't here to experience last night's craziness. He wouldn't have been fully functional at work today if he had been woken up that many times. Hopefully we will all get over our jet lag very soon!
We had an awesome day today at the Laketown Resort in Bukit Merah. We visited the only conservational orangutan island in peninsular Malaysia, an Eco Park with wildlife you can feed and touch, and then we went to the Resort's main attraction, the Waterpark.
Our flight home leaves tomorrow around 3:30pm and we will get back into Salt Lake on Wednesday around 9am. The kids and I were talking about leaving and they said they will miss it here. It has definitely been a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I just hope the kids remember all they have seen and done. As sad as we are to leave, we are very excited to see Jake and give him hugs and kisses. We have all missed dad a lot. I don't think I will be posting again until we get home so... until next time.
