Five Fabulous Years.

Willie said to me one night, ‘do you remember asking this question five years ago; where will we be in five years?’ We did not EVER expect to be out of the country. In five years we have accomplished much. Willie and I have moved, on average, two times a year. We have met dozens of wonderful people along the way. We try to keep up communications. We have been blessed with two outstanding little boys that bring so much happiness to our lives. For five years our love has grown stronger and stronger. For nearly three years we were never apart from one another. Willie started visiting schools and we made the decision to move to Atlanta. Who knew so much would come from that decision. I stayed in Utah while Willie moved everything to Georgia, we were apart for three weeks. We hope that will never happen again. Three weeks is such a long time. We thank the soldiers who sacrifice their time with family to protect us. I am so grateful for Willie and I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have him by my side. I am grateful that we are sealed for eternity. The temple is an important part of our lives and because it is, so is Jesus Christ. I know that we have been watched over and protected in our adventures. We are having an adventure. With every step we take it will become more cherished. Being out of the country I don't have any wedding pictures on hand, perhaps I will post that another time.

For our anniversary we decided to go downtown. We visited the river and went out to eat. With kids we try to eat early, Porto likes to eat later than 7:00. We didn't make it to a restaurant that was suggested to us because they didn't open their doors until 7:00 (bedtime). We tried out the cuisine somewhere else. Here is a traditional Portugese dish, it's called Francheshina (or something close to that). It's meaty and packs a punch. Good to try one time.
Willie ordered some sausage. I didn't like the taste of this too much, but the lettuce and fries were good.
Parker's meal was easy; hot dog. I did like what they did to it though; they added ham and cheese. Parker loved it, I wish I could have had a bite but he ate the whole thing.
Yes and we did take a picture of the two of us on our anniversary. We did spend it with the kids but it was nice to have a couple of minutes together.

Here is Parker in front of the Ponte Luis I Bridge.
And now Lincoln.
Here are some parts of Porto that we enjoyed. The weather was wet and cold, but we still had fun.

two children, three flights.

We were very blessed to be in Atlanta for a few days before traveling to Porto. We stayed with the Foye family from our Papermill ward. I don’t know how we will ever be able to repay them. They are wonderful examples of how to be Christ-like. We have met many people whom we consider to be close family for the service they have shown us. One day we hope to do as they have done for us. We hope to be the ones offering all that we have. We packed like true Americans; four big bags and two carry-on sized bags that were checked along with the pack-n-play. For the carry-on’s we had three back-packs that contained two laptops and one dvd player (that we forgot to charge), we also carried one big diaper bag full of toys, food, and changing material, and we had two pillows. Parker pulled his little backpack on as well. Don’t forget the huge double stroller that won’t travel down many of the sidewalks here in Porto. Once we were all packed we put our things into my new favorite car (a Honda Pilot) that belongs to the Foyes. Thank you for driving us down to the airport Joe. We purchased the use of one of the carts and found that we couldn’t check in with the airline we were supposed to fly with. After about 15 minutes we found the place to check in and prepared ourselves for a crazy security adventure. We made it through in what I felt was good time.

There were two small blessings along our journey that I remember well. We were blessed abundantly the whole time though. The first was that we couldn’t find a spoon I had packed for Lincoln’s food. I asked the male flight attendant if they might have a spoon on the plane. He said that they didn’t but that he could check his bag. I thought about it and decided that it would be okay for him to check. Then he proceeded to pull out his lunch box and pull out some silverware that he had for his lunch. It was wrapped and he said that he would be able to get another set of silverware. I felt horrible and grateful at the same time. He was so nice to give up his spoon so that Lincoln could eat. The second small blessing was on our flight from Frankfurt to Porto. Parker hadn’t slept for many many hours and he was very tired; in fact we were all tired. We boarded the plane, bumping into people with our large load. We sat toward the back of the plane. The flight attendant was very kind. He spoke a little bit of English which helped a lot. He gave the boys two little toys; a small stuffed bird and a little fabric book with a few pictures on them. He said that the boys could have them to help them on the flight. With the boys crying for a short time the plane was de-iced and we took off. We all fell asleep very soon. We didn’t wake up until we had to land. The flight attendant was really good about trying to make us comfortable and helping us to understand what was happening. He even helped to carry our load to the front of the plane.

Once we arrived in Porto we had to wait for our stroller; come to find out it had been taken down to baggage claim. We hauled the boys and our many carry-on’s down to the carousels. We were tired and exhausted. We found some seats and set everything down and Willie went with Parker to get our load. With two carts full of baggage we found out where the taxi’s and ATM were. Walking through the doors we looked out and saw Willie’s professor, Joao, there waiting for us. We were so relieved to see him there. He had a car that looked a bit like a Subaru. He has three little boys and we were able to put one car seat up top and use the other two for our boys. Two strollers also went on top of the car. We were packed in tight, the back was full to the brim and we had bags under our feet. Parker fell asleep in the car and we went to the University where Willie is working. Willie went downtown to sign our contract for the apartment. After quite a few hours Willie finally made it back and we went to our new home. We dropped our things off and drove back to the University for a little New Year’s party (free dinner) we couldn’t miss. We hope to be able to experience the greatness Porto has to offer. We hear their wine is superb, maybe we can enjoy the vineyard instead.

Another 'new' home.

I can't get enough. I just need a new home every few months. We have a nice three bedroom (more like 2 ½) apartment. The first day we discovered that people here in Porto don’t really use heating or air conditioning. The weather is generally just right. It’s the rainy season and we were very cold. We grabbed every available blanket and used them often. Lincoln slept with us the first night to keep him warm (he rolls out of his blankets). Our landlord brought us an electric heater and we bought another. We transfer the heaters to the rooms we are in. The apartment is tiled in the living room, bathroom and kitchen; and wooden floored in the bedrooms. The laundry room is behind the glass door. We are very blessed to have received a furnished home. There are a few things missing like a can opener and baby chair, but do we really need those things? We will get a can opener but the baby chair we could maybe do without. We have a semi-nice view out of our windows. There is a building blocking part of our view but other than that we get to see some parts of Porto. There is one set of keys to the apartment, hopefully we don’t misplace them. If we do we can’t get in or out of our apartment. This is a picture of the front door knob. We have to turn the key about three times for it to unlock/lock. I nearly couldn't open it the first day, a little scary. Here is our living room. I like the door. We spend most of our time here keeping the room warm with one heater. Parker and Lincoln have a lot of space to play.We still haven't really figured out what that second sink/toilet is for. With the language barrier we understand it to be a place where I can shave my legs. I don't know though, they had a second sink like this at the University so the shaving legs thing didn't make sense. Plus the lady said something like men and women sit differently on it. Who knows? If you do know please tell us. For the first time in my life I have not had a clothes dryer. We are very blessed to have a washer and a clothes line. I’m learning how long it takes for certain types of clothing to dry. I have to be on top of the laundry or we could be finding ourselves a bit cold. Sorry no picture of our laundry drying.

Peanut Butter.

Less than a week in Porto and at every meal Parker has had about two peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Parker was on such a pancake kick that I thought he would like pancakes one morning; boy was I wrong, he wanted to have pb & j. After five days we finished off the jar of pb that I brought (granted it was only about ¼ full). Luckily I have a backup. I thought I would wait a few days to see if Parker would eat something else. Once again I was wrong; he decided to have a jam sandwich (no peanut butter).
Here is a picture of the scraped out jar of pb. I tried really hard to get every little bit of peanut butter out.This is Parker enjoying his last peanut butter and jam sandwich. Yum.Parker has become a little creative in his food. He asked for a grape roll-up the other night for dinner. He took about five red globe grapes and rolled them up inside a piece of bread. He enjoyed it and we were okay with him eating something else. Hopefully we can get him eating normally again.After this incident I decided to pull out a spare jar of peanut butter. Who knows how long it will last. Without the peanut butter for a day we did good getting him to eat what we were eating for dinner. And we finally made some syrup (thanks Lindy and Camille) for the homemade pancakes.

To a good man.

The last time I saw my grandpa he was in my parent’s office and he was sitting on the couch talking to my cousin about a few legal things. I had gone in to give him a picture that will forever be cherished. The picture is of Parker and Grandpa laughing at the Combe Christmas party. There is one thing I regret; my grandparents asked Willie and me to attend the temple with them. My parents had offered to give Willie and I a date (we never go on a date) the same night and my parents invitation was first. In the long run I decided to go on the date. I wish that I had gone to the temple that night. What would I have learned from my Grandpa? I suppose the next time I go I can think of that question.

The lessons learned from Grandpa are as follows;

- Work hard

- Don’t let time slip by

- Finish everything you put on your plate

- Slow down; whether it’s running through the halls in the house or in life

- If the light’s on, turn it off

- If you open the door, close it (but not if it’s the gate and the cows get out!)

- Always give what you can

- Pay attention (My cousin Tony told a story of picking up rocks and Grandpa coming up from behind on the tractor telling him to pay attention)

I learned at the funeral that my Grandpa was shot in the chest when he was a teenager. From three feet away a friend had accidentally shot him. The friend telling this story said it was the first Priesthood blessing he had ever given. Grandpa’s lung had been hit, but he lived. He never really liked guns after that. I learned that Grandpa would drive just about anywhere as long as he had some way to pay for gas along the route. They once packed up corn and cantaloupe to sell along the path. No one ever bought the cantaloupe so they ate it. My Grandpa really loved to eat fruit. But no fruit can be as good as the fruit from the Tree of Life.

Grandpa, thank you for everything that you taught me. Thank you for being an example of how to be Christ-like. I love you and I can't wait to see you again.

Generations.

We were able to spend some time with Willie's grandparents. It was fun getting a picture of the generations. We have Willie's grandpa Thede, dad Kim and then Willie and the boys.We don't get to see Willie's grandparents as much as we would like. We were excited to spend some time this holiday season with them. The boys had fun hanging out with grandpa and great-grandpa.I think the following picture is fun because they are all giving the same look. We just needed Willie in the picture, oh well.

A move back home?

We are officially homeless. We made the move back to Atlanta from Boston; granted nearly everything we own is in storage. We will miss those in Boston who have touched our lives. We learned so much from them and we are grateful for the friendships we have made. We thank those who helped us so much while we were there. All of the wonderful people in the photo below are those who were able to come help us pack up on a Monday night. Thank you Dan, Tim, Mike?, Chris, the Kang family and Bishop McKechnie with his girls. We have been blessed by our experience in Boston. We loved it so much that we hope that one day we can return. Who knew that Boston was such a spectacular place?
Day 1: The first leg of our trip took us to Flushing, New York. Willie's mission! Through facebook I spoke with Candy and we set up a gathering of those who Willie taught. I knew that Willie was extremely excited to visit his old stomping grounds. He was ecstatic about seeing old friends again. We had a great Chinese dinner. I even tried jellyfish. Chewy. Thank you for dinner our friends. Day 2: The second part of our journey took us to Washington D. C. We had hoped to stop in Philadelphia to visit a friend of mine but the circumstances did not allow such a visit. Bummer. We did get to drive through a big rain storm in D.C. where it took us an additional hour or two to get to our destination. We just happened to drive by the Temple so we pulled off the freeway to avoid some traffic and see a beautiful site.
We stayed with some of our old friends from Utah State/Boise. We had some fun with them. Thanks for hosting us.Piper was a treat. She and the boys stayed in one room together. We found out that Piper stayed up extra late working on a project. She found some baby powder and started distributing it to Parker and Lincoln, but first was her baby. Parker had a line of baby powder on his head. Lincoln was lucky, the powder was nearly gone when Piper got to him.
Her poor baby was received the first blow.We made it to Atlanta after another two days of travel. We stayed with the Merkley family. Thank you so much for letting us stay with you. We all got together, the Merkley's, the Salmon's and us. We let the kids go to bed and we stayed up enjoying each others company. After being friends for two years we finally have a group shot. I think it turned out rather nicely. Thanks for being our great friends.
p.s. this post is incomplete. I have forgotten a few things but one day I will hopefully write them down. :)