Family Trip!

San Diego

We had a great spring break in the sun of California. We enjoyed the beach and amusement parks. Didn't enjoy the airport, but are so glad we didn't have to drive.

(Cell phone pics)

Our New Adventure

This is Saipan

We are moving there for 2 years

Where is that?

Map Saipan is an American Territory. They speak English. There are about 69,000 people on the island, very diverse, with people from china, japan, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, and the Pacific Islands. Brilliant Star School ,the school we are thinking of sending the boys to, has a great webpage with information about the island. Most of the schools there teach Mandarin as a second language. Luke is very excited to learn Chinese.

Why

Saipan is an under served area that has qualified with the Health Corps as a loan repayment job. Ben will be working in the ER at the hospital. After we finish our two year contract, the government pays off our student loans. It is a normal job so we also receive a reasonable salary, house allowance, relocation, and post relocation. This opportunity has come at a great time in Ben's career. He really wishes to broaden his scope of practice and this will give him just the experience he needs. When we get close to the end of the two years we will get a new job in Boise to come back to. This really has been a dream of ours that we thought we wouldn't be able to do until we were retired.

When

We start work at the end of June 2011.

House

We love our house and want to come back to it, so we will be renting it for the two years. Let us know if you hear of anyone wanting to rent a house.

Communication

I will continue to keep my blog going. We have also signed up for Skype. Saipan is 17 hours ahead, so we will be available mostly in the afternoon and evening.

Church

There are 175 active members on the Island. The branch is currently becoming a ward. The PA Ben will be working with is LDS. There are also two other doctors at the hospital that are LDS. We are in contact with 3 families from the ward right now. They are very helpful.

Crazy?

We feel so good about this as a family. We feel the Lord's hand in this process. We will really miss everyone here and hope to stay connected.

Visitors are always welcome!

Happy Birthday Luke!

7 Years Old!

Cupcake Flop: Some things should be left to the professionals

Started Football: He's playing Defense, and loves it.

We sure love our Lukey!

We need an update on the kids

They are growing up!

We went to the Harlem Globe Trotters! It was funny.

Indoor sand box: made with beans. This project must be done right before sweeping the kitchen.


Gabe:
Loves school. Just absorbs everything his teacher says,
then tells me all about it on the way home.
Sweetest and craziest kid I know.
These are perfect examples of typical Gabriel behaviors:
All that is missing are lightning flashes to represent the speed and burst of energy he exerts.

Helping me cook. Of course with his shirt off because the less clothes the better for him.

Wants to do the dishes. Because he loves to work, help, and play in the water.

The other morning he brought me 6 screws. I asked him where he got them, and he lead me to this door. He had unscrewed the door hinge. He has a crazy little engineering mind, always wondering how things work.

"Mom, I'm all dressed!"

He's a healthy developing boy!

Luke:

Had his school music program, "Music around the world" His class sang a song in Chinese. He loved his Chinese hat with the long ponytail down the back.

Luke found a few tutorials on u-tube about redesigning your clone troopers. The project included sanding off the top of the helmet to be smooth and adding orange permanent marker.

He has also started building and collecting model airplanes.

He has also started having an opinion about his hair. He wants it to be longer.

Clark:

Has hit the two's. He's throwing fits and screaming. He's still adorable most the time. He sings "twinkle, twinkle, little star" (just that phrase) over and over in the car.

He loves his baby.

He finally decided he liked watch TV, but only one cartoon. Dora the Explorer. He is obsessed with her. He has also started doing puzzles a lot.

Ben:

Had a work conference in New Orleans. This is the BBQ shrimp he ate. He had to hide in his hotel half the time because he was there during Marti Gra. He said it was a very dirty and immoral place. He doesn't recommend it.

He got all these beads at the family parade. He said the High School Marching bands in the parade were the most impressive part of the trip.

T-shirt Refashions

My friend has inspired me to refashion some of my old t-shirt that I didn't really wear.

These two shirts needed some spice, so this is what I did:

I was inspired by this picture:

Flower shirt

I cut off the long sleeves and used the fabric to make the flowers. I add some tool fabric in between for texture, and secured the flower to the shirt with a bead in the middle of each flower.

This is in the middle of the process after I had pinned the flowers in place.

Then I was at the mall and saw this Ruffle Camisole,

so I sewed on some gathered ribbon onto this shirt.

I'm deciding between these two for my next project:

Ruffle Cardigan OR Ruffle Shirt

Being creative is so energizing!

Family Sledding Day

On the holiday Monday in January we went up to the mountains to sled. It was the best day of weather! It was above freezing, sunny, and no wind. The kids didn't complain and the day lasted much longer than I had anticipated. They loved sledding. All the boys are dare devils. They have no fear! We had an awesome time.

CLARK

Clark loved his first experience. He laughed a smiled every time. He did require a lift up which was a lot of exercise for mom and dad.

GABE

At first he was only body sliding and eating snow, but when he decided to start sledding he was face first bombing the hill over and over.

Luke

screams and laughs the whole way down.

It got to warm for a coat.

Sledding with his cousin.