Jonathan's Job

I don't think I've done any updates on Jonathan's job since we've been out here, so I should probably write about that. Before we moved out here, Jonathan had contact with a company in South Carolina about 30 minutes away from where we'd be moving to. He had a phone interview with them when we were in Utah and they said to contact them when he got to NC and they would do a formal interview then. We knew that if that didn't work out, my Dad was willing to hire Jonathan out for odd jobs until he found something. So, even though we moved here without a job, we knew we would be okay. 

We were here for a week or two before Jonathan contacted the company. We were trying to get the house in order before he started (hopefully) working full time. He met with them and they told him there were two different positions, one as a factory floor manager and the other as the purchasing agent. So, he had to decide which one he wanted to go for- he wasn't offered either job, just told about both of them and asked which one he wanted to be considered for. We discussed it for a night, then he called them the next day to say he was interested in being the purchasing agent. The guy he talked to said he had to talk to the boss and he'd call back. By the end of the day, Jonathan had a job. He is a lucky charm that boy.

I asked Jonathan a bunch of questions about his job, because he doesn't like to write, but I thought some people might want to know what he does...and for posterity. So, without further ado, Interview with Jonathan.

Q: Where do you work? 

A: Keer America- a cotton mill in SC.

Q: What do they do?

A: We make cotton yarn.

Q: What is your job title?

A: Purchasing Agent

Q: What do you do?

A: Buy everything the company needs

Q: What do you enjoy about your job?

A: I get to speak Chinese a lot. It's hands on and real. I get to work with parts and fix things...make things better. I like that it's pretty flexible.

Robin: What does that mean?

Jonathan: I can do whatever I think is best. I pretty much have no direction, which is good and bad. I also had no training...get used to that. I also like that they trusted me with lots of things really fast. 

Q: How much Chinese do you use? 

A: A lot. 

Robin: Expound on that.

Jonathan: Everyday I use a lot.

Q: What do you dislike about your job?

A: I do a lot of paperwork sometimes.

To fill in on Jonathan's lack of words, He's working for a Chinese company based here in the US that makes yarn. The majority of workers at the factory are Chinese nationals who are here on work visas, so Jonathan reads, writes and speaks Chinese every day. The factory workers will tell him (in Chinese) what piece of their giant machinery they need fixed or a replacement. Jonathan then has to figure out what the piece is called in English and then buy it. He has expanded his vocabulary in both languages and gets to go to Home Depot all the time. He seems to really like this job. He comes home happier than his last job. He didn't ever come home sad or angry with the last job, more just bored. I think he also really likes that he is not stuck behind a desk all day long. He goes between the office and the factory and also gets to drive around getting things. Jonathan deals with stuff like this: 

Numbers, heaps of them.

Giant Wheels- I think from their venting system.

Machinery pieces

Chinese and numbers!

Diagrams

Jonathan likes his work, which means he comes home happy, sometimes with good stories and sometimes, when we are really lucky, donuts. Also, sometimes he comes home with zong zi (meat wrapped in rice, shaped in a triangle, wrapped in a leaf...of bamboo...maybe, they are delicious). I'm glad he is using his Chinese again. His boss, Mr Ma, seems to like Jonathan, which is always a good thing. So, now you know a little more on what Jonathan does every day. Thanks for reading!

Nelson Family Update

I'll write a short update first and see if I have time for anything else afterwards. All the boys are asleep now (Jonathan included). I know some people would say, "You should be resting too!" But sometimes I think it is better for me I write some things down instead of sleep- get it out of my mind. Sure I'll be tired, but I'll have some memories stored. So, I'm writing and eating some Easter candy...none of which made it into baskets...because it was that kind of a night (I also spaced the Women's Conference address...good thing I can listen to it later online), and because I was trying to finish up a church talk because my brother is the bishop (leader of our congregation here) and asked us to talk in church today. I'm glad Peter is too young to know about Easter baskets, because he wasn't sad not to have one. Maybe we'll do it tomorrow, that can be our family tradition. But in the meantime, I'll eat some chocolate eggs and let you know what we've been up to.

We decided to move back east (I don't think I even wrote a post on that decision). So, we packed up, sold a lot of things and drove out. We made it across America!! We took 5 days for the trip, staying at various friends and family of friends along the way. The boys did surprisingly well and we saw some neat things. We stayed with my parents for about a week as we got paint and floors into the house we will be living in for the next bit. It is looking pretty great now, although we still have some projects we are working on.

The best news is Jonathan got a job!! He's a lucky charm. He will be working as the purchasing man for a Chinese textile factory based in South Carolina (about 30 minutes away from our house, so we don't have to move again!). Most of the workers speak Chinese, so Jonathan will get to use his language skills everyday. Their goal is to transition from Chinese workers to American's. So, Jonathan will also help in cultural differences and how to work together. We will really really miss having him home everyday to help with life, but it will be nice to have an income again. Also, another Jonathan update- he shaved his beard! My dad said that it might help in job acquisition as many people in the south equate beard with redneck. I'm pretty sure Jonathan would have gotten the job even with the beard, he'd spoken with them before and they really liked him, but we thought we'd better be safe. He looks good, and said he might grow it back sometime, but take a beard break for now.

Ezra, Peter and beardless Jonathan
These faces are my favorites.

We both spoke in church today. I spoke on how we can improve our lives by following Christ's example, and Jonathan spoke on the Atonement, justice and mercy. The talks went pretty good. The boys sat great as we switched speaking and sitting with them.

Peter: He is having a little bit of a tough time adjusting... again. We know from the last moves/Ezra's birth to expect about a 2 month transitional period where he is extra cranky and emotional, and boy are we getting it. Overall, he is doing great. He loves playing with his cousins, seeing Grandpa and Nainai, and playing with his Uncle Ian and William. He loves being outside to play and seeing the birds by the pond. There are just many more tears than a "normal" day and more foot stamping when we ask him to do things. It's exciting. He's also been really lovey to us, extra snuggles and hugs. So it's nice and hard at the same time.

Peter at the church Easter egg hunt

Ezra: He is growing and growing. He is in 6-9 month clothes for the most part. He is getting better at grabbing things. He is still super smiley and happy. He has developed the love of falling asleep not while being held. He will wiggle and squirm and then I can put him in his swing and he will calm right down and close his eyes. He is currently napping in the swing. I love that thing. Quick Ezra story: Today he was dressed up for Easter- and super adorable, as was his older brother and I was going to get an Easter picture of the family when we got home from church. So, naturally, Ezra pooped out his entire outfit- giant diaper explosion...it was terrible. And, naturally, I'd forgotten to pack an extra outfit. So, for the remainder of church, Ezra wore a zip up hoodie and shorts that I didn't know I had in my bag. He was pretty stylish. I learned my lesson to take pictures as soon as they are in their cute clothes and not to wait for any diaper explosions.

Ezra loves his thumb.

Robin: I'm also adjusting to living back in the South. Everything is simultaneously familiar and foreign. Buildings along the roads have changed and areas have grown. I get lost half the time when I drive because I don't have mountains to guide me and I didn't drive most of these roads when I lived here as a teen. There are people at church I've know since I was 11, but I haven't spent time with them since I was 18, so they don't know me and I don't know them, but we both think we do. I've been away longer than I lived in this city and the person I was when I left is not the person I am now. I am usually a visitor here, but now it is my home and I have to figure out where I fit in. But, I love it. My "yard" is full of trees and birds. We had a good rain yesterday and today, and I love it. This is a good spot for us right now. We'll see what comes next in life.

Taking selfies while we wait for Jonathan and Peter

Yosemite- May 2015

I had all these ideas of stories I was going to write about our trip to Yosemite, which did indeed happen many months ago back in May. We drove up after Christina's wedding, and traveled with Jonathan's parents. We stayed for a couple of days in their trailer, met up with Jonathan's Dad's biological dad, saw some beautiful trees, waterfalls, and got snowed in for a day...in May. I was going to write all these stories, and share them with you. But, I got distracted and busy and life kept going and it just wasn't happening. Then, I got a code for a free Shutterfly photo book, and I made a photo book instead. I figured instead of rewriting everything for a blog post, I'd just share the photo book! It's so much faster this way! So, here it is, Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Halloween 2015- Trick or Treat!

This year we (read- I) had a tough time deciding on what we should dress up as. I really wanted some kind of costume idea for the family that incorporated Jonathan's beard. We tossed around the idea of a lumberjack family, How to Train Your Dragons cast, Bob Ross and trees, and pirates. But we couldn't settle on any of those. Then, we thought about being robots or dinosaurs. Jonathan and I were dinosaurs many years ago, so I would only have to make a costume for Peter...so that was sounding good. But then Jonathan said we should be robots because we have heaps of boxes from moving and then Peter could help make his own costume- which was a fantastic idea and I was totally behind that. But then it just wasn't happening and wasn't happening, and Halloween was getting closer and closer. 

Then, about a week before Halloween, Jonathan sent me a picture of a guy dressed up as Yukon Cornelius, the miner from the old Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer movie. As soon as I saw the Yukon picture, I knew we had to be part of the cast from that movie. Yukon has a great beard. I googled the cast and decided the easiest/most known characters, aside from Yukon, who Jonathan had to be, would be Rudolph, Bumble the Abominable Snowman, or Hermey the Elf who wanted to be a dentist. I didn't narrow it down any more until I found what clothing items we had or could be easily acquired from friends or the thrift store. 

I sent out a quick email to some friends in the area asking for specific colored pants, hat, jacket, etc. I got a response back pretty quick from a friend who had most of what we needed. For the rest, Peter and I ran to Wal-Mart for some felt, then to the thrift store for white pants and shirt for me. We found everything pretty quick and all was well. Peter decided he wanted to be the reindeer (which was great because his costume was by far the easiest, and I was going to be Bumble. 

The finished products!
Robin as Bumble, Peter as Rudolph, and Jonathan as Yukon.

Peter's costume: a pair of brown pants (a size too small, so they were high-waters, but whatever), brown shirt, and the giraffe headband I made for my costume last year, and I just cut the nubs smaller. Red lipstick on his nose. We owned everything for his costume, and it was the fastest to assemble.

Robin's costume: white pants and pajama sweater from thrift store (basically I chose the ones that at least semi-fit,trying to find non-maternity things that fit was near impossible, I think I tried on at least ten pairs of white pants.) We made the hat from cardboard, twine, felt and left over pieces of furry white from Peter's panda costume from last year. Jonathan engineered most of the hat/face, and did a great job. It looks better in pictures, and the glue gun saved the day on that part of the costume.

Jonathan's costume: borrowed red beanie, and used a safety pin to hook a red pom pom on the top. He covered a pair of black earmuffs in white fuzzy material. He made his ax by using cardboard and aluminum foil with a hammer as the base and made the belt buckle out of foil and cardboard. All of his clothing and backpack he already owned. He even thought to stuff the backpack with pillows to make it look full. He's pretty much genius level at making costumes.  

Our living room post costume making. 

Yukon and Rudolph, just hanging out. 

I learned a couple of things from our costume making- first, never wait until Halloween to make your costume...rookie mistake. Second- Jonathan is excellent at engineering things to work and have a good structure, and I can sew/design the outside look...so basically we are unstoppable. Third- Peter is a good helper, and sometimes makes things harder, but is still fun to have around when we make things.

Costumes were finished around 6pm, which was perfect timing for us to set out and gather some candy. We explained to Peter how it worked, and he did great. He would go up to every door, hit it with his bucket and yell, "Trick or treating!" Haha, I think by the end he got "trick or treat" down. Everyone thought he was adorable...because he is, and they loved that we all dressed up. I think most people knew who we were. Peter wasn't scared by any of the decorations or costumes we saw. Although the below house had a pirate skeleton sitting in a corner of their front porch with a sword sticking out of him. Peter said, "Oh no! Skeleton...pirate skeleton. He hurt. Oh no. He sad." He wasn't scared of him, but he did want to help the skeleton. He also would ask almost everyone who answered the door if they had a dog, and then proceed to tell them about our dog (our upstairs neighbor's dog). I'm pretty sure he liked chatting with everyone more than he liked getting candy.

Peter and Robin and the pirate house

We learned that we have a fantastic neighborhood for trick or treat. There was only one house with no one home. There were a few who left candy buckets on their porch. But almost everyone was home handing out candy. We live in a neighborhood with lots of empty nesters, and they were all in love with Peter. Also, you know how as a kid you would always spread the word, "Go to Mr Smith's house on the corner. He's giving out full sized candy bars!" Well, we had at least 4 houses giving out full sized candy bars. Candy for weeks! Peter did great at only taking one piece- although many times the people encouraged him to take a few more, apparently the neighborhood doesn't get a ton of kids, so they all were trying to give it away. Also, there was one house who had a candy bucket with candy and one dollar bills and they let kids pick if they wanted to get candy or money. HA! Peter picked candy...because that is a lot more appealing to a small one than a green and white piece of paper. Although if the choice had been between candy and pennies...he might have picked a penny. He likes the little coins.

There was a cool sunset, but we could either capture faces or sunset...not both.
So here are our cute faces!

We had a great Halloween night. Peter had a blast running to all the houses and looking at their decorations. His favorite adjective for things was "spooky". "Oooo mom, that man spooky." It was fun. We wore him out and got a ton of candy- we still have half a bucket and we only went around a small part of our neighborhood. We also learned where more people we see at church live, which was nice. Happy Belated Halloween, I hope everyone else had a great time!

Pumpkin Carving

A few days before Halloween, we set aside some time to carve our giant pumpkin. Last year, Peter wanted nothing to do with getting his hands dirty with pulling out the pumpkin guts. This year was more of the same. He helped a bit in the very beginning, but was very quickly done with touching the seeds or stringy insides.

Peter helping Jonathan get some of the pumpkin guts out.

After prepping the pumpkin, we looked at some pictures until we found a pumpkin idea we liked. Peter really wanted a sad pumpkin...I'm not sure why. But we convinced him to have a happy/silly face instead. I was in charge of drawing the face on the pumpkin and then Jonathan carved the face.

Robin, pumpkin artist.

Jonathan, pumpkin carver, with Peter, self-appointed photographer.

Peter has recently learned how to take pictures on our phones. Jonathan's phone has hundreds of photos of Peter's feet, close-ups of the ground, random toys, and blurry arms/legs/faces of anyone nearby. It's pretty fantastic. He was all about taking pictures the whole night. Here are two of the clearer ones-

Almost artistic

There were at least 20 of these close-ups

Jonathan finished carving our mustached pumpkin. It seemed fitting for him to make. I think it turned out pretty good. He looks happy and it was fun working on it together. 

Peter, Jonathan and mustached pumpkin

Belated Father's Day

Since the last posts were quick turn around posts, it's now time for a really belated post (and don't you worry, I have plenty more really late ones saved as drafts, just itching to become real posts)! This is what we did for Father's Day...back in June. I would laugh at how long ago that was, but I know I have posts from way longer than that still waiting in the queue. Anyway, here it is.

About a week before Father's Day, I started asking Jonathan what he wanted to eat for dinner and dessert on his day. Turns out, he doesn't really have a favorite dinner, or dessert...so he didn't know and didn't know and didn't know. One of the hard things for me in cooking special dinners for this husband of mine is that he usually wants to have a meat dish. I on the other hand, don't love tons of meat, so I usually don't cook it, so I feel inadequate in making steak, or burgers, or any manly meaty dinner. So, naturally, Jonathan wanted bacon burgers for dinner. I told him I'd buy everything if he made the burgers. He was more than happy to make them, and I was happy that he was happy, so everyone won. 

Washing Dishes and Making Bacon!

I've learned there are few things that I love more than my boys working in the kitchen with me. It's just more fun to make food together, even if it does mean it's a little messier and, with Peter, more chaotic. So this day was fun. Peter "washed" dishes for a good 20 minutes. And by wash I mean used the rag to splash around and soak his body- but hey, it's a start.Jonathan did the meats, and I put together dessert.

Look at that focus.

For dessert, I made cream cheese fruit bars. They were good, but way sweet. Even as I was following the recipe I remember being nervous about the amount of sugar it called for. Also, it called for 2 cans of fruit filling, while one would have been enough. I don't know if China made this happen, but there are so many desserts I've made since being back that I think would be way better if they used less sugar. But anyway, not a terrible loss, but I wouldn't make them again. 

Dessert prep and pan of fries waiting to go in the oven

Dessert! (Don't worry, his beard is not touching it. It's just the angle.)

Dinner turned out fantastic, and we ate happy. I just asked Jonathan if he remembers what we got him for Father's Day, and neither of us could remember...whoops. But he asked what we did and I showed him the above pictures, and he said, "Oh yeah, those burgers were soooo good. I remember that. Wait, we still have bacon in the freezer from that don't we? We should make that again." Haha, so the burgers were a total success, and we had a great day in the kitchen together. 

Now let's get a little sappy. I just want to say a few things I love about Jonathan as a Dad. 

Jonathan is great at teaching Peter things- especially things he loves, like the outdoors and tools. He is pretty patient when doing projects with Peter. On Saturday, he took Peter outside to help him work on the car (putting in a new wheel-well cover/fender liner). Do you know how helpful a small child is when doing car repair? Not terribly helpful. Jonathan would have done it faster if he'd left Peter inside. But he was fine with it taking longer and showing Peter some car things along the way. Also, with swimming. Jonathan will go in the pool with Peter and work on putting his face in the water, blowing bubbles and kicking. He is way more patient in the pool than I am (and he knows what he's doing), and they will play/learn for a loooong time before either one is bored. 

Jonathan is great at giving me a break and helping with Peter. Since becoming pregnant, Jonathan gets up with Peter every single morning, without fail, and lets me sleep in until he has to leave for work. It's beautiful. Peter wakes up and comes into our room, usually asking for "cereal and milk?" and Jonathan gets out of bed, and feeds Peter, and then keeps him occupied until he goes to work. At which point I usually convince Peter to crawl into bed and warm up and he talks/plays while I lay quietly until Peter gets too bored and we get up. I know I won't have too many more of these sleeping-in mornings, so I cherish them and am so grateful that Jonathan lets me get a little more sleep each morning.

At night, Jonathan reads books to Peter before he goes to sleep. I'm not sure how this started, but every night, we read scriptures as a family, say prayers, and then I leave and Jonathan lays down and reads a couple books with Peter. I think it's adorable, and I love that they have some quiet time together.

Jonathan plays with Peter...sometimes rougher than I like, but Peter LOVES it, and I'm pretty sure Jonathan thinks it's great too. I love it because I just don't have the energy to play around with Peter as much these days, so it's great for getting some of his massive amounts of energy out. 

Something great that Jonathan does as a dad is he reads/researches parenting things. He has read (actually listened to as audio-books) 2 books that have been on my list to read for a while- they weren't at the library and I had to wait for them to come back in. I didn't even tell him about these books. He heard about one from a guy at church, and the other one from this blog: https://www.fatherly.com/. Yeah...he follows a parenting blog of dad stuff. He'll send me links to articles he has read and finds interesting, and when he comes home (if he remembers he sent it, or if I bring it up), we'll talk about it- do we agree or disagree with the thoughts of the writer? Do we want to implement any of those ideas into our family? Etc. I'm glad he reads things and doesn't leave parenting up to me. 

Jonathan is a good dad, and we are lucky to have him. I'm grateful I married this man and that we get to raise a family together. It is fun to watch someone take on a new role and see them grow and change. Jonathan is not the perfect dad. He gets frustrated with Peter sometimes and sometimes we disagree on how we should do certain aspects of parenting. Sometimes I know he'd rather sleep in and let me take care of Peter. Sometimes he doesn't want to get hit in the face with another pillow. But even if he is not perfect, he is a perfect fit for us. He balances me and overall we work together great. He loves his boys and he will help them become great men. We love you Jonathan! 

Father and Sons Camp-out

Peter and Jonathan went on their first Father and Sons camp-out a few weeks back. They had practiced tent camping for our Yellowstone trip the 2 weeks prior by sleeping in the backyard on Friday night, and this camping trip gave them a chance to see how well Peter did camping in a new place. 

It was a little crazy getting the boys out the door for this camping trip because we had to take our car into the shop to check a couple things before they left. Jonathan took the car in Friday morning and learned there was a gas leak- and a couple of other small things, but because of the leak, the car was unsafe to drive- turns out, it could catch on fire! So, we left the car at the shop the whole weekend so they could fix things, and Jonathan and Peter got a ride to the camping trip with another guy from our church. *Sidenote: the mechanic fixed everything- and it ended up being inexpensive fixes, and the car is back to running great.

So, Jonathan got a ride to work with a co-worker and the guy who was driving them camping told him that he would pick up Jonathan and Peter at 5:30. Jonathan called me at 5:20 to say they were just leaving work, and could I get everything packed in their bags, and get a lunch together for Saturday. Gah! So, I frantically tried to get everything (2 sleeping bags, 2 pads, Peter's clothes, Jonathan's clothes and foods) into a big hiking backpack- so Jonathan wouldn't have to try to wrangle all the 'things' along with the 2 year old, and I did this while making dinner for Peter and hoping that the guy from church didn't show up and have to wait around for too long. But, everything turned out fine. The guy didn't come until about 6:15, and by then Jonathan was home and could help get everything together. 

In the truck heading to the camp-out.
I promise he was more excited than he looks.

 Peter was so excited the whole time to go camping, and when Jonathan got home and saw how I'd packed most of the stuff he said I did a great job. So, we were good to go. They got off safely, and the house was silent. While they were gone, I cleaned the house and reveled in the fact that everything stayed clean the entire night. I also watched any show I felt like. It was great. I had a relaxing night, and knew that Peter and Jonathan would come home with lots of fun stories to tell me.

Peter "fishing" with a stick.

 Jonathan says that lots of other kids were there and Peter played with them all Friday night and Saturday. Apparently Peter was really good at getting snacks from all the other people. The guys made cobbler that night. There were cabins at the camp site that most of the guys slept in. We have a tent, but Jonathan said the ground was quite rocky, so they opted for the cabins as well. They slept good and stayed warm.

Peter and his head lamp...so he doesn't get lost.

Jonathan and Peter with his pliers.

Jonathan and Peter, enjoying cobbler and pliers. 

Saturday morning, they shot off homemade paper rockets, made sand castles and went "fishing". Jonathan said that they kept increasing the air pressure going to the rockets until one of them "exploded" instead of taking off. He also says that Peter had a great time with everyone, and loved playing with a baby- 8 months old- who was there. They got back around 10am, and everyone was happy and full. Camping trip was a success. Peter is an excellent camper and loves being outside, and I'm glad he and Jonathan had a great time together!

Yellowstone Camping Prep

A while back, we decided we wanted to take a trip to see Yellowstone before we move from Utah. We don't actually know if we will move or when we might move, but we know it's a possibility and I knew I would be super bummed if we didn't take advantage of a cool National Park while we were living in driving distance to it. So, to get ready for the trip, we started with buying the things. Jonathan has a lot of camping stuff for him, and I have a pretty good sleeping bag. We did have to buy a sleeping pad for me, and a tent. We bought one of the thicker pads for me- it cost more, but then hopefully I wouldn't regret the camping trip being 5 and a half months pregnant and not sleeping well at night. We also bought a 6-man tent- it was on clearance at the camping store we went to, and was cheaper than the 4 man tent, and Jonathan can almost stand up in it! It's big and lovely. 

Once we had purchased the few supplies we were lacking, we decided that Peter needed some camping prep. The first time we set up the tent, he was so crazy excited, which was fun, but when I thought about him acting like this when we were trying to go to sleep after a long day, it was less fun. So, he and Jonathan slept in the tent in the backyard a couple of times so the tent wouldn't be so new and Peter would know how things would go and get accustomed to everything. 

Peter eating an apple and learning about wood-cutting safety.

Good helper pulling the wood to the fire area

On Friday, Jonathan and Peter would go outside, set up the tent, make their beds, and make a fire. Jonathan made tin-foil dinners with leftover curry one night- that was delicious. I would go outside to check on them, and eat dinner with them, but when bedtime came, I'd go in and sleep and the boys stayed in the tent. Jonathan said the first night, it took Peter about an hour to go to sleep. Then next week, he went to sleep in about 30-40 minutes. By the third week, Peter went to sleep in about 15 minutes. Win!

Peter playing in the tent

Dinner time outside the tent

Backyard camping!

We had safety talks about fires and how Peter should not touch it ever, and that he was only allowed to put things into the fire if mom or dad said it was okay. He did really good with staying back from the fire, and also reminding us that the fire was hot! 

Chicken curry tin-foil dinner!

Camping necessity- roasting marshmallows

Boy loves his marshmallows

Making breakfast after a good night's sleep.

It was great to watch Jonathan teach Peter things that he loves to do so much. Jonathan loves camping and he was really good at teaching Peter how to help in ways that were perfect for a little boy. Jonathan is so patient with Peter and does a great job at involving him with the things he is doing. It was also great to get a break from Peter and have a couple of nights to myself. I joked that Jonathan was in charge of one of the boys and that I would watch the other one. Although, I'd rather switch and let Jonathan be the pregnant one and I'd take Peter. Haha. 

Camping prep ended up being a great idea. When we went to Yellowstone, Peter slept great every night, and didn't get too excited when we put the tent up, so he would still sleep fine. We had a great time and saw lots of neat things, but that is a post for another day.

American Party in China

(Flashback to May 2014)

The groups that NPI (Jonathan's internship in China) works with

One of the things Jonathan did for his internship in China was to plan and carry out an "American Party." His organization wanted to experience some American culture and learn what we do for a party. It was the last big thing that Jonathan did before we left, so I'm pretty sure they just wanted a party and figured it would be more fun if it was just like what we do in America. 

The tricky part though, is we weren't in America, so finding things for the party was a little difficult, but it ended up working out great. Jonathan wanted to grill hamburgers and hot dogs (which were an adventure to find) and have some games to play. He planned everything and assigned people to help. Also, our friend, Leigh, (who we went to Cambodia with) had done lessons in baking as part of her internship. So, Jonathan had her come and teach a short baking lesson as part of the American party. And another friend, Melody, taught a small dance lesson.

Jonathan grilling, Peter and Robin in the background

Leigh and the party sign

NPI had a rooftop balcony that we ate and played most of the games on. It started to rain about 30 minutes before the party was supposed to start, so they dragged everything inside and then after just a few minutes, the rain stopped and it stayed gone for the rest of the party. We had great luck with that rain leaving so fast.

Leigh taught the group how to make mini pies. I believe they were a lemon custard type pie. I do remember they were pretty delicious, and I think that's what matters most. She had different people help mix the filling and she did a great job teaching.

Sheng Chen working the hand mixer...literally, it's not electric. Mixers are hard to find in China.

Look at all those little pies....yum. Just like America.

Peter thought it was delicious.

Ellison and Jonathan grilling hamburgers.

After the pies were made, we went back outside to play some games while the burgers finished cooking. We played one getting to know you type game where you sit in a circle and the first person says their name and an adjective with their name then the next person says the first person's name and adjective and then adds their name and adjective and each person that follows repeats from the first person to them and you have to remember everything. There was a lot of laughing, but everything was in Chinese. So, I didn't get it, but everyone else seemed to have a great time.

Then, they brought out the water balloons. The Americans taught everyone the concept of the water balloon game where there are 2 people working together and you throw the balloon and take a step back, then throw and step, and whoever makes it the furthest apart before their balloon gets dropped and breaks wins. This was by far the most hilarious part of the party. It was the best when some people decided to throw it badly on purpose so it would hit the ground by their partner's feet and soak them. Let's just say, lots of people ended up more wet than they thought they might be at the end of the day.

All the weapons of war

Once all the water balloons were exploded and everyone was sufficiently wet, the food was also ready! We had hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon and soda. Everything turned out pretty good. The guys did a great job grilling the meat and I think everyone liked the food. Chinese don't grill like we do- they grill meat, but not hamburgers, and they eat it with rice or noodles, not in a bun. So it was fun to share this American culture with them....and it was lots of fun to have something so American tasting while we were in China.

Making burgers and eating some good American food

After we ate, they presented Jonathan with an award for being an awesome intern. He got a cool glass award he now displays on our bookshelf, and he got to give a speech after he got the award.

Jonathan getting the award

Speech! Speech! Speech!

Peter just liked squishing his face against the award.

Jonathan, Peter and co-workers

All the people who came to the party. 

Also, one of Jonathan's fellow flagship students, Melody, loves K-pop and dancing. She taught a small dance thing for the American party, and NPI wanted to have her teach more, and since she loves dancing, she jumped at the chance. Jonathan planned a second party- and NPI invited the organizations that they work with to come. The second party that had different American things- games and trivia about America, and then Melody taught them to do a couple of dances. She got a number of people to get up and try to learn some dances with her. It was pretty fun watching them all, and trying to keep Peter from getting run over. 

Melody teaching, and some of the guys trying to keep up.

Peter boy and his balloon bunch

The American parties were fun to go to with Jonathan and Peter had a great time each party. I had fun meeting Jonathan's co-workers and see where he went to work every day. Peter had fun showing off for everyone. Jonathan did a great job with both activities. Nice work everyone!