Sun Productions

Let Me Explain. No, There Is Too Much. Let Me Sum Up.

2010-02-10T01:37:00.003-05:00

It's been a long while since I have posted, unless you count my last post about something that happened a year ago. We've actually done a lot since the Piece of Cake incident.

First, we returned to live in the United States. It's been an interesting six months full of football, school, driving all over town, family, holidays, vacations, and adjustments. If someone would have told me that I would be just as culture shocked moving back to the country of my birth as I had been when I arrived in Paraguay, I would have said, "Cra-zy!" But it's been an adjustment. The sheer volume of ready to eat breakfast cereal in the grocery store is ASTOUNDING! Seriously, a whole aisle devoted to sugary goodness. And that's just cereal. The driving here is generally more polite and restrained, but I am doing tons more of it, we lived in a hotel for three months, and I have two kids attending high school (which makes me feel old, which is an adjustment, but not necessarily because I am living back in the United States; it might just be that I am old). We did make a detour in Florida to visit Mickey and friends, and had a fantastic time.

Second, we have played and watched a lot of football. Chris, Sam, and Marcus all played last fall, we had approximately ten practices and three games each week. I love football!

Chris's football injury.

Sam is out there, I promise.

At the championship game.

Third, school. I mentioned the two kids in high school; my other two are in elementary school at the Open Classroom: ocslc.org. We love school (right boys?) and especially love that we are back to attending with cousins and friends. I get to spend two mornings a week with the younger two boys, and we stay busy driving from school to school to school to home. Noah is going to the McKee Language School, http://www.mckeeschool.com/, to keep up with his Spanish skills. It's been a challenging year for me because kindergarten is half-day in the morning, and then Spanish in the afternoon. I get to eat school lunch with him, then drive him to Spanish. I love kindergarten, but I am looking forward to having all the kids at school, all day long.

Reading.

Finally, the house. I'm not happy about the house right now. I think I'm going to live out of the moving boxes forever and ever. I don't want to unpack, I have put it off since the end of October, and now I am used to the chaos. I'm not used to the chaos; I don't want to deal with the chaos. My one New Year's resolution is to get the house in some sort of order. Fortunately, I have 10-plus, months to worry about it.

There's more, but it's all details: field trips, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, birthdays, I ran a marathon, my sister had her first baby, and vacation. Oh, and Kevin working (living) in Mexico City since October. But details, right?

At Great Salt Lake. Salt is bad!

Corn maze!

Charizard.

Baby Oliver.

Christmas morning.

On the road to Hana, Hawaii.

Punta del Este

2010-02-09T20:34:00.002-05:00

An entire year ago we visited Punta del Este, Uruguay. We hung out at the beach, got sunburned (wearing sunscreen, strong sun), saw a fun Carnaval parade, and had a generally fantastic time (if you like, you can ask Sam about the cute and tiny jellyfish, as a rebuttal to the fantastic time statement).

Hanging out on the giant hand in the sand.

These boys LOVE the ocean!

Having Your Cake

2009-06-30T15:26:00.002-04:00

Yesterday when we were packing, I asked Noah to come and help me with his toys. He refused, and told me it would be boring. I told him to just come and help me, it will be a piece of cake. He said, "Yeah, a really hard one, that you have to cut with a saw."

More Noah

2009-06-20T22:36:00.001-04:00

Noah went to play at his friend's house. When I went to pick him up he told my that he played with a cool puzzle, and could I buy him one, please. I asked him where his friend got it. He said, "On the internet." I said okay, I will asked his mom and find out which website. Noah said to me, "I think you just type www.coolpuzzles.com. I'm sure they sell them there."

Wrong. Just, wrong.

2009-04-16T12:29:00.001-04:00

For all of you who need a laugh today, read this:

http://kryptonsgirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/goinggreen.html

If You Would Have Been Thinking, You Wouldn't Have Thought That.

2009-02-09T23:48:00.005-05:00

I have been thinking. And reading blogs. And wasting time, in general. But back to the blog reading, I often read a blog called Diet Cake. It's full of humor, fun, and great tips for healthy eating. You should check it out (side note: I'm sure that all three of you reading this already check it out. I’m just giving credit and all that). Anyway, one or two of the posts I read a while back (months, actually) have had me thinking. The posts are about making plans to achieve health and weight loss goals, and contain a quotation from Anderson Cooper that states, "Hope is not a plan." What I got out of reading these posts is this: no matter what I do, I will never accomplish anything unless I move past the "I hope" stage and actually do something: Make a Plan.

Okay, a small admission, I am actually good about making plans. I have plans. I have life plans, plans for my children, and plans to lose weight. I like to plan, think about the plan, and spend a little more time thinking about the plan. What I lack is the actual doing part of the plan. I'm truly going to work on the doing part of my efforts for my 2009 resolution. I am, honestly. After I think about it for a little while.

However, my point today is this: wouldn't it be fantastic if you could actually think or your plans into reality? I could think myself healthy, strong, and wealthy, not living in Paraguay, organized, clean, and the mother of four perfectly perfect children. Also, I would have beautiful, flowing, artistic-looking, and legible handwriting, be able to run an eight minute mile for more than three miles, and cook delicious, nutritious meals every night. And then, all that thinking and time wasting I've been doing lately would really pay off.

You Keep Using That Word. I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.

2009-01-25T23:34:00.002-05:00

Last week Noah and my nephew, Bennett stayed with me while the rest of the boys stayed with my brother and sister-in-law. I was having a lazy morning, reading in bed, when I overheard this conversation:

Bennett: “What was that noise?” after the furnace had kicked on. “Was it wain?”

Noah: “Do you mean Wayne, my mom’s dad?”

Bennett: “You mean Grandpa?”

Noah: “Yeah.”

Bennett: “No, you know the stuff that falls from the sky?”

Noah: “Oh, you mean wain.”

Funny, funny boys. They were great to have with me for the day. I was highly entertained.

Chantelle

2008-12-09T22:44:00.000-05:00

You Are Original and Innovative

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily.

You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind.

A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable.

You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.

Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.

Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.

You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.

You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.

You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.

You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.

You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.

Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Things I Love Today

2008-11-05T14:35:00.001-05:00

1. Democracy
2. Gravity
3. Thor-lo socks
4. Rain
5. Girlfriends

I Feel Five

2008-10-16T00:39:00.003-04:00

Last week while driving Chris to basketball, Noah and I had this conversation:

Noah: "I think I'm five now."

Me: "You haven't had your birthday yet, you're still four."

Noah: "I did, I grew, and I'm five."

Me: "Your birthday is after Halloween, after Christmas, after New Year's."

Noah: "I think I'm five. I just feel five."

Internet Explorer Doesn't Want to Display This Webpage

2008-09-19T19:33:00.005-04:00

Every time I go to a new website, my Internet Explorer gives me this: "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage...." I then hit refresh and voila, the website.

This makes me feel more like Internet Explorer doesn't want to display the webpage, more than it can't. Or that it is like Sam, when I send him to look for something like his shoes or (insert lost object here). He goes off searching, while the rest of the family shears a sheep, cards and spins the wool, and knits enough sweaters to clothe Bill Cosby during the Cosby Show years, then he returns and says he can't find his shoes or (insert lost object here). If you are a mom, you know the next step. You say, "if I come looking for your shoes or (insert lost object here), and I find them, then you are going to be in TROUBLE!" And then you go and look and find the shoes or (insert lost object here) and you find them where they belong, in the closet, or on top of the nightstand, or in the bathroom. You know, pretty much in plain sight, and in less that 45 seconds.

So what I'm saying is that maybe my page should say: "Internet Explorer is too lazy to look very hard for the webpage, so go find it yourself."

-humorous postscript: When I hit the publish post button I got "Internet Explorer cannot show the webpage." Nice.

5 Things I Love About Paraguay

2008-09-17T22:41:00.002-04:00

1. Friendly, friendly people. My spanish is not great, and every time I am certain I don't know what I'm talking about, someone will take the time to help me (whether or not they're able to). When I can't find what I want in the grocery store, when the waiter and I are obviously not communicating, when Noah's profe (teacher) is trying to tell me something important about school, there is always a shopper, patron, mom, or somebody who helps me. Now, if we're talking about Paraguay drivers being friendly, that's another story!

2. The smell of flor de coco during Christmas.

3. The beautiful red earth, green vegetation, and blue sky. All together they are a stunning combination.

4. Trees in the middle of the road. I have said this before, I will say it again: trees in the middle of the road are AWESOME!

5. McDonald's delivery. I know this is not exclusive to Paraguay, and that other restaurants also deliver, and that it is kind of pathetic, but I love McDonald's delivery. For those times (every time) when I'm too lazy to leave the house for my Big Mac Attack! To tell you the truth, in the United States, I didn't even like McDonald's!

Tagged!

2008-09-17T16:00:00.007-04:00

List 5 Joys, 5 Fears, 5 Obsessions, 5 Surprising Facts, 5 People to tag:

5 Joys

1. My boys
2. Chocolate
3. Mountains
4. Oceans
5. The Cosmos

5 Fears

1. Large cockroaches
2. Sharks
3. Fire
4. Anaesthesia
5. Losing my hair

5 Obsessions

1. Dark chocolate
2. Shoes
3. Sweaters
4. Ice cream
5. Altoids (or other strong mints).

5 Surprising Facts

1. I am learning how to play the harp.
2. I love trivia and other useless knowledge.
3. I am shy.
4. I live in Paraguay (not surprising to some of you).
5. I like fixing things, putting things together, and building things.

5 People to tag

1. The Erb Garden
2. The Gray Family
3. Tales of the East
4. Leelee's Point of View
5. The Bruner Bunch

(Sorry Higbee/Warner clan, I don't know that many bloggers!)

The Answer Is No!

2008-09-12T00:47:00.003-04:00

Noah dared ask this question today:

Can you plug your 110v computer speakers directly into the 220v outlet?

Rain, Rain Go Away (or Not)

2008-08-28T14:21:00.002-04:00

I find it interesting that on rainy days there are very few kids in school. Today at Noah’s preschool there were only five kids in his class. My boys and I try to figure out the reasons for this. We have come up with these:

1. Paraguay, being hot and humid much of the year, makes other people feel cold when we (who are originally from Salt Lake City, Utah) are comfortable and happy. For example, today my boys went to school in shorts. They wore sweatshirts over their t-shirts, just in case they got cold. When I went to pick up my youngest from pre-school there were kids in gloves, hats, scarves, and what I would consider a winter coat. May I add that it is 19 degrees Celsius (that's 67 degrees Fahrenheit) today? Maybe it’s just too cold to leave the house?

2. The streets are full of water and they don’t have a car/boat to get to school. I wish that my internet speed allowed for photo uploads, because I have a great picture of Rio (or Avenida) España during a rainstorm.

3. It’s too dark in the morning to wake up. We didn’t wake up this morning, because my boys were convinced it was way too early to get up, when in fact, it was 7 AM. However, being the mean mom that I am, I made them all hurry up and get ready, and go to school.

4. They are afraid of the falling power lines, trees, etc. I can really see where this is coming from. On our way to school, Noah and I had a nice discussion on why you should NEVER (really, never, ever, EVER!) touch the wires that are hanging from the poles into the middle of the street (because you will die! And also, I said so). Plus, my empleada tells me that I should watch out for trees falling because they fall and kill people during rainstorms.

5. Like Chris says, “The sign says school, but my heart says jail.” And they (or we) are looking for any excuse to miss a day of “jail.”

So, these are our top five reasons. Do you have any others?

You Can't Always Get What You Want

2008-08-16T14:21:00.001-04:00

The other day Marcus was in my room playing the Wii, when Noah came up to me and said, "I usually get what I want, don't I?"

I replied, "Yes, you do. What do you want?"

Noah: "I want to play the Wii, so tell Marcus to get off of it."

Me: "No, you don't always get what you want. Marcus was there first."

Noah: "THAT'S NOT FAIR!"

I Have Just Won a Major Award

2008-06-27T16:27:00.003-04:00

It's official! According to a panel of four independent judges, I am now the Meanest Mom in the World!

Do you suppose this award comes with a cash prize?

The Internet Here Stinks!

2008-06-13T16:11:00.002-04:00

I have spent countless hours trying to upload photos/video to this blog. In the last few months I have been completely unsuccessful.

I really hate the internet here. We pay about the same as we did in the US, for a "broadband" connection that is only marginally faster than dial-up.

Our friends that have good, fast, reliable internet are paying over $200 a month. To me that's just about a car payment, and I refuse to pay it.

I Obviously Don't Know How to Dress Appropriately

2008-05-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

Last night/this morning, Chris left on a trip to Brazil with his school basketball team. I am both nervous and excited for him to go. He's flying alone (with 55 other students and 7 chaperones), to the world's stupidest airport (Sao Paolo), to a foreign country where he won't have cell phone service. Not that I'm worried or anything. I'm sure he'll have fun, and like he says, anything is better than a week of school. As a parent I can think of some things worse than a week of school, but I'm not going there right now.

His flight left at 5:45 AM, which meant that we had to be at the airport at 3:45 AM, which meant that we had to wake up a little after 3 AM, which meant that I should not have gone to sleep. In the US, if I had to take anyone to the airport early in the morning I would get up, pull on my comfy pants, put on my glasses, slap my hair in a ponytail and go. Right? Well, I assumed that's how it should work here. But you know what they way when you assume...that's right something about....

Anyway, I get to the airport in my early-morning-it's-way-to-early-to-be-awake-and-showered-and-cute clothes, and notice something very strange. All the moms at the airport are dressed to the nines. Their hair is done (at the salon), make-up is on (again, at the salon), they are wearing fancy clothes (sparkly, dressy, furry, satiny). I am feeling like a huge slob, I am wearing no make-up, my thick glasses, my sweats, and a Green Day sweatshirt. Soooo cute. Well, next time I will know better. I'm telling you though; I honestly didn't know that going to the airport at 3:45 in the morning was a formal occasion.

Man Cold

2008-04-03T17:03:00.005-04:00

I have five or six posts that are still in draft form, mostly because my internet is so slow that I can't post any pictures. And the posts are about trips we've taken, and events (like birthdays) that are just better with photos. So sorry, I am trying to catch up.

In the meantime enjoy this video. We started about a month ago with Marcus being sick. Followed by Noah. Then Kevin and Chris. Then Noah again. So I am now a PRO at the man cold. "How do you think I feel, I've got your stupid cold haven't I?"

--okay forget it, here's a link, my internet isn't quick enough to upload the video--

Man Cold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXLHWmjA5IE

Happy Birthday Marcus!

2008-02-05T15:08:00.002-05:00

Marcus turned eight February 1. Eight years old. He is such a grown up, good boy. He is also lucky. Each winter we try to take a vacation to get through the cold and snow. Although this year, being in opposite-land, we needed to get away from the heat and humidity. Anyway, he spent his fifth birthday in Hawaii, and this year he got to celebrate his birthday on a cruise ship, somewhere in the South Atlantic Ocean, between Puerto Madryn, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay. I think he had a good day. We hung out on the ship, went to the "show" after dinner, and then attended the chocolate buffet, which I believe was planned just for his birthday.

When we got home from our trip, our maid had decorated the dining room with balloons, flowers, and fun decorations. He got to open his gifts from everyone, and we took him out to dinner.

We haven't decided whether we are going to wait to go home, or have him baptized here. He kind of wants to wait, but also thinks that it would be cool to be baptized in Paraguay. We need to figure it out.

South American Cruise 2008

2008-01-28T22:30:00.003-05:00

We are just leaving Ushuaia, on Tierra del Fuego, in Argentina, we have had a great cruise so far…

Our ports:
Puerto Montt – we visited a small town called Fruitallar, another town called Puerto Varas
Puerto Chacabuco – very small town, we got a taxi and rode to a waterfall, looked at a cool pedestrian bridge, played in the river…
Punta Arenas – awesome! Penguins!
Ushuaia – we went on a train ride to Tierra del Fuego national park, it was beautiful.

We’ve also seen glaciers, the Straits of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, tomorrow we go around Cape Horn, where the Atlantic, Pacific, and Antarctic Oceans meet. It’s going to be cool! The sun has been setting really late, tonight official sunset time was 10:47 PM. It’s very weird, but cool. I never actually thought that I would see this part of the world.

We have three more stops before Buenos Aires: the Falkland Islands, Puerto Madryn, and Montevideo…I hope that we can find some cool things to do in those ports. I will post photos in a bit…

The Voice

2008-01-19T13:34:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday while we were at church Noah was feeling a little bit crazy. He was having a hard time being quiet, and a harder time holding still. He couldn’t stay in our bench and kept going back and forth from our bench to the family behind us. When he wasn’t doing this he was climbing all over the bench. Basically, he was loud and distracting. While I was sitting and trying to listen to the speaker, Noah yelled, “Mom! Listen to me!” I turned to look at him, and he had both of his fingers in his ears. I thought he was trying to plug his ears so he didn’t have to listen to the speaker, or to me telling him to be quiet. Instead he said, “Something is wrong with my ears. I can still hear the voice.” I suppose that when he is misbehaving and deliberately doing what I told him not to do, he can claim that “the voice” told him to do it.

Happy Birthday Noah!

2008-01-16T15:09:00.001-05:00

Today is Noah's birthday, he is now four years old. He is the funniest, craziest boy in our family. He asked for a Nintendo DS, which we didn't get for him, because I thought he was too little. So we bought these crazy chairs/hats/pool toys/scoops/step stools for the crazy boy!

We went to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, La Paulista, and then had chocolate cake and ice cream.

He loves all of his gifts, especially the truck that turns into an ape. And the really big shark, and the other truck, and the Diego stuff...and where's his DS?

Happy Birthday, Noah!

Buenos Aires

2008-01-10T13:37:00.001-05:00

Two days after Christmas we got in the Suburban and drove to Buenos Aires. Kevin has a friend and collegue who lives there and offered his house to us while he was spending the holidays in the United States. It was very generous, we really wanted to visit, and so we took advantage of his offer, hoping that we (or he) didn't live to regret it.

We were happy that the roads were good, and the countryside was pretty. It looked like the Midwest: flat, fields, farms. There were fields full of sunflowers that were beautiful. Acres and acres of golden yellow happiness. If I ever become a farmer, I will grow sunflowers. I'll tell my friends, "I grow sunflowers, rainbows, and happiness, right here next to my unicorn ranch." How awesome would that be?

Anyway, we drove from Asunción to Rosario, Argentina, where we spent the night in a Holiday Inn, ate at McDonald's, and heard a rumor of a Subway. We also left Noah's blankey in the hotel, "my favorite blankey, with frogs, that cost four hundred dollars!" It didn't cost quite that much, but it does have some sentimental value. I didn't discover it missing until we were a half an hour outside Buenos Aires and Kevin was not going to turn around to go and get it. Fortunately, when we called, the hotel had the blanket, and we were able to retrieve it on the drive home. Noah rode with it over his head the whole drive home, he was so happy to get it back.

Buenos Aires was fun, it is a beautiful city, with plazas, and green space, and statues, and cool old buildings. We visited the Casa Rosada, where I really wanted to go and sing from the balcony, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina." The boys told me that I couldn't and shouldn't. We also saw Eva Peron's grave in the cemetary at La Recoleta. It was an old cool cemetary, with vaults made of marble, granite, and a colony of wild looking cats. I could have wandered in that cemetary for hours. We visited La Boca, a colorful, fun place, with street tango dancers, cool arts and crafts, and painted buildings. We drove on the the widest street in the world, Avenida 9 de Julio, past the Boca Juniors soccer stadium, and alongside the Rio de la Plata. We took a trip to a zoo, swam in the pool at the house, and had a relaxing time. It was a good trip, and traveling to Buenos Aires from Asunción is like taking a time machine from the past to the present. The internet was fast, the people (mostly) obeyed the traffice rules, and the streets were mostly smooth, wide, and nice. One thing I have noticed while visiting South American cities is that the painted traffice lanes seem to be a guideline at best. Where there are four lanes in the road, the drivers make five or six. I asked Kevin if maybe I was approaching the whole painted lanes issue completely wrong, and that instead of assuming that we were supposed to be between the lines, we should be straddling them.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2007-12-26T12:44:00.000-05:00

We had a different Christmas this year. No snow, no extended family, no cold. It was about 100 degrees on Christmas Day. The air conditioning was cranking out cool air, and it was green and sunny. And humid.

The kids had a good holiday, I think. Chris got an electric guitar, Sam, a pair of R/C helicopters, Marcus, an Eye-clops, and Noah, an Optimus Prime voice changing helmet. We now have the potential to be twice and loud as before, and that’s a hard thing to accomplish, with all four boys home for the summer (winter to you all in the Northern Hemisphere) break. They also got video games, DVDs, clothes, new swimming suits and more toys. After we opened the presents it looked like Hurricane Noah had gone through the inside of the house. We are so thankful for the gifts and food and candy that we received from our family and friends in the United States…it really made our holiday much nicer.

We were a bit homesick, it was weird not to share the day with everyone in the family, and we are strangely missing the cold weather and the snow. We did however, get to go swimming. That's something we won't get to do every year.

We're going to Buenos Aires tomorrow, for the new year. We have decided to be adventurous and drive...I'll let you know how that goes.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

A Letter to My Neighbors

2007-12-14T01:15:00.000-05:00

Dear Neighbors Who Live Right Next Door,

Please tell the DJ to stop playing music so loudly. Because it is one in the morning, and none of us here can sleep. And we have one last day of school tomorrow. So please, please, please STOP. PLAYING. MUSIC. NOW!

Sincerely,

Your Neighbor Who Has Four Boys That Need to Go to Sleep, Right Next Door to Your Very Late and Loud Party on a School Night

'Tis the Season

2007-12-12T18:40:00.000-05:00

I was on a roll in November with the blog posting, and I have hit a dry spot. I really don't know where the time went. Chris pointed out earlier today that Christmas is less than two weeks away. I got kind of freaked out, because I just put the tree up on Friday, and I haven't been feeling like shopping, decorating, or any other Christmas stuff. It's okay for me, but not very nice for the kids. I mostly have been wondering why I organized all my Christmas decorations in new plastics bins and boxes, and then chose to leave them home in storage. It's just not fun without my familiar things. I miss the stockings, the wooden train, all the Santas, the angels, the years of Christmas projects, and the fun decorations for the Christmas tree. I mean, really, what was I thinking? One bright spot is that I got to go shopping for decorations and lights and other fun Christmas things. I found some really cool pesebres (Nativity sets), I have already bought two sets, but I think I might need just one more (it is really nice, and carved out of wood). I bought an artificial tree from a family who returned to the United States in September, and I have been buying ornaments every time I go to the store. If the whole decorating thing turns out nice I'll post pictures. If not, then I will pretend that I didn't take any pictures.

Here are some things that I like about Paraguay during Christmas. First, there are nativity sets everywhere. There are some in the malls, some in the grocery stores, and many being sold on the street corners and intersections. It is much easier to focus on the reason for the holiday, instead of the commercial aspects of it. Second, there have been many people who come and ring the doorbell offering interesting things for sale. I have bought a cool flower, a flor de coco, that smells very good, some ñandutí, a guy comes buy every once in a while offering brooms, and I have a fruit truck that stops at my house. I like not having to drive to find some of the things I want, and I like that the people who stop by are friendly and hardworking. Okay, this happens all the time, not just at Christmas, but there seem to be more in the last few weeks. Finally, it seems that because life here is slower, Christmas doesn't seem as commercial, rushed, and frenzied.

The boys get out of school on Friday, for two months they get to enjoy their summer. We miss winter and snow and cold, but we had two winters this year, so we are looking forward to time off to relax, hang out, and play. We're planning a couple of trips, one to Buenos Aires, and a cruise around the Southern tip of the continent. It will be exciting to see a huge, modern city, and more exciting to see glaciers, penguins, and Tierra del Fuego. I read that we can take an excursion to Antarctica for the bargain price of $2100 per person. Should we go?

Merry Christmas!

2007-11-17T15:50:00.000-05:00

To tell you the truth, I didn't discover this on my own. Lindsay and Seth sent one to their family, who forwarded it to me. So, I'm not original, but it doesn't make this any less funny.

Enjoy!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9532899086

Here's a link to Lindsay and Seth's: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9526815833

This is really too funny. Make one of your own, post it to the comments...

Hmm...

2007-11-15T17:46:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog I thought, “I’m moving to a foreign country. I’ll have lots of experiences that will be interesting and worth writing about.” And I’ve had some. One or two...hundred. But lately I’ve been having a hard time coming up with something to write, something that would show my shock and surprise at living in a foreign country. I’ve got Noah stories. I can tell you that the boys like to complain about school, but nothing on how I’m getting along in my new country. Do you suppose that I’ve finally adjusted?

eBay Pokémon Card Auction

2007-11-11T16:04:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that I am really far behind on this, and that everyone has already seen it. Twice. But, I just found it:

http://mom2my6pack.blogspot.com/2007/08/adventures-in-grocery-shopping.html.

I laughed until I cried. Kids!

Graffiti Artist 2

2007-11-10T15:35:00.000-05:00

The saga continues...

I am going to have to hide all writing instruments. Everyone of them, the pens, pencils, markers, crayons, Sharpies. All. Without exception.

Kevin called me upstairs last night and asked me why I was drawing on the walls. Apparently, when questioned about the drawing, Noah told Kevin that I had done it. I denied it, because clearly I didn't do it. If I drew on the wall it would be colorful, and have a rainbow, with a sun peeking out from behind a cloud. And there would definitely be a unicorn. Or Pegasus.

So I asked Noah who drew on the wall. He told me that it must be Sam. Sam drew on the wall. I pointed out that the size and location of the drawing led me to believe that someone exactly his height had executed the drawing, but he assured me that it was Sam. Or Marcus. But definitely not him.

I asked, "Noah tell me the truth, who drew on the wall?"

He told me, "Sam did."

By this time Kevin and I are both frustrated not so much about the drawing, but about Noah's ability to lie very convincingly to both of his parents.

Then Kevin asked him, "Do you know the what the truth is?"

His response, "Yes."

Kevin: "If I said you were a girl, would that be the truth?"

Noah: "No."

Kevin: "If I said you were a boy, is that the truth?"

Noah: "Yes."

Kevin: "Okay, then who drew on the wall?"

Noah: "Sam. Or Marcus. Or Mom."

Me: "Noah, you drew on the wall, right?"

Noah, rolling his eyes: "Yes."

Kevin: "Who drew on the wall?"

Noah: "Sam."

He is really good at lying, he looks us straight in the eyes, no funny faces, no smiling, he is dead serious. We are in so much trouble. I can just see it--

Me, to sixteen year old Noah: "Noah, who's beer cans are in the garbage?"

Noah: "Sam's. Or Dad's."

Or--

Me, to sixteen year old Noah: "What happened to the car while you were out?

Noah: "You wrecked it. Or Dad. Or Sam."

Scary!

On a more positive note, I'm thinking I will start a business with his artistic talent. I'm going to get T-shirts printed up that say, "Because I was tired of drawing on paper," and then I'm going to have Noah draw on them. Then I'm going to sell them on the Internet for $24.99, plus shipping and handling. Because when he is a famous artist, they will be worth much, much more.

Graffiti Artist

2007-11-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

As long as he has been able to hold a pencil, Noah has loved drawing on walls. We have a lovely example on the wall in our house in Salt Lake City, executed in black Sharpie. He has also decorated the floor of our Salt Lake house, and some other areas in a variety of media. He is most adept at drawing in Sharpie, but also has proficiency in ink, pencil, chalk (my personal favorite), and crayon.

Yesterday my maid told me that Noah had drawn on the walls with a pen. I asked Noah, after I found the small masterpieces, why he drew on the walls. Our conversation went as follows:

Me: "Noah, why did you draw on the wall? I just gave you like, ten pieces of paper."

Noah: "Hmm, I was tired of drawing on paper."

Yeah, well guess what Noah? I'm tired of cleaning the walls.

Top Five Text Messages From Chris

2007-10-25T12:11:00.000-04:00

Unedited and direct from my cell phone! These are all from one conversation, one sunny afternoon in September.

5. If u love me then ud lev me miss bball.

4. Please can i come hom i mean football practice is better then this.

3. Mom maybe u shudnt text me back cuz this phone is gonna be smashed into a 10000000 pieces

2. Srry chris cant text u back his phone is smashed into 1000000000 pieces

1. All he said was blah blah blah and i said so i can go hom and then he said blah

Just so you all know, he went to basketball practice. Because I am mean. And I like it.

Rio!

2007-10-10T07:50:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Sam!

2007-09-20T22:46:00.000-04:00

7Sam is now eleven. That's only a year away from twelve, and a year from then I get to have two teenagers in the house. How lucky can I get?

Sam asked for a cello for his birthday, and we looked all around this town and could not find one. You would think that a city of around a million people would have at least one cello to buy, but no, we could pay someone to go to Argentina to get one, or wait a few weeks and see if one shows up, or just go ourselves to buy one, but we cannot get one here, where we live. I even spent hours on the internet trying to see if I could get somebody to ship a cello to us. Everyone online would be happy to, except that the post office size limits prohibit it. How difficult does it have to be?

Thank you to everyone for your gifts and cards.

What?!

2007-09-14T12:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday. This is Noah's gift to me:

"Mom, you drive me nuts!"

I drive him nuts?

Our New Home

2007-09-05T11:01:00.001-04:00

Finally, pictures of our new house.

Front of the house. Obviously.

Balcony.

The view from the front balcony, looking down the street.

Front door and entryway.

Office.

Living room.

Looking down at the entryway.

Family dining room.

Formal dining room.

TV room. Noah is playing with friends from school and embassy.

Master bedroom.

Christopher's room.

Samuel's room.

Marcus and Noah's room.

Back of the house.

The Quincho.

We have a grill, a half-bathroom, an extra room upstairs, and maid's quarters.

Pool, swingset, and tetherball.

The quincho from the back balcony.

The pool from the back balcony.

INTERNET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-23T13:33:00.000-04:00

The guys finally showed up from the internet company. Congratulate us on joining the 21st century.

Living in the World of Yesterday

2007-08-21T10:34:00.000-04:00

We have now been here for five months, if you can believe it. We can’t, the time has passed pretty quickly for us. We are settled into our house, into school, and sports. I can’t say that the boys are completely happy to be here now, but they are definitely adjusting. It helps that they leave for school at 7:30 and don’t return until after 4 PM. That leaves little time for brooding and complaining. School is a good thing.

The Aquabats are on TV right now. Noah has discovered a new kids TV show on Nickelodeon, it’s very weird, there are puppets, animation, guys in costumes, kids, and today the Aquabats. It’s pretty strange, I have no idea what it’s called, but it is definitely odd. I kind of like it.

I am enjoying having someone here to help with the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. We hired a very nice lady named Celsa, she worked for a family that just returned to the United States. She was a nun, a preschool teacher, and a nurse. We really like her, she is taking very good care of us. Just so you are all very jealous, it is 10:30 in the morning, and my laundry is all done, the bathrooms are all clean, the beds are made, and I haven’t done any of it. Later, I won’t be cooking dinner, ironing any of the clothes, or sweeping the floors. Plus, I never realized how nice it is to sleep on ironed sheets. I am going to miss her when we return to the United States.

We still do not have the latest Harry Potter movie showing here. We really want to see it. It is amazing how far away we are. A lot of the kids at school went to Argentina or Brazil to see the movie. I keep hoping it will open here, or we are going to break down and buy a pirated copy off the guys on the street. I really don’t want to contribute to the intellectual property and counterfeit problems that are here, but I am just about at the end of my patience. Every Friday I go to the mall by our house to see if the movie is there, but it’s been more than a month and still no Harry Potter. We are going to have to be like the local wealthy families (without the wealth) and go to Argentina or Brazil to see the movie. It is funny, but there are families that drive once a month to Argentina to buy groceries, especially dish soap and laundry detergent. For some reason the dish soap here is bad, it barely has suds, and most of them smell really bad. I bought a bottle and smelled an old, moldy sponge smell, and I kept getting new sponges, and bleaching the dish cloths, and it turns out, that’s just how the dish soap smelled. So when Kevin went to Buenos Aires last week, I sent him with a list. He brought back nearly 40 pounds of groceries. There are things that we just can’t get here, besides Harry Potter and dish soap. We can’t get good toys (we can, but they are very expensive, a Barbie is almost $30), maple syrup, chocolate chips, Pepsi products, marshmallows, chili, peanut butter, enchilada sauce, Doritos, canned soup, or Pop Tarts. Some of those I expected and knew about, but the canned soup and chocolate chips really threw me off. I have noticed that there aren’t a lot of convenience food products here. Not a lot of cake mix, or any box mixes, canned goods, virtually no microwave products, except popcorn, no concentrated frozen juice, in fact the frozen section of the grocery store is very small. It has been weird, but probably a lot better for us to eat food that is fresh and not boxed, canned, or frozen.

Anecdotes and Observations

2007-08-10T13:03:00.000-04:00

It is cold today. Yesterday it was just over 90 degrees, today it is barely 50. The weather here is so changeable. Summer one day, winter the next. It is not surprising that everyone has some kind of a cough or sniffle. Our bodies can’t keep up with the change. I can feel the wind blowing through the cracks between the door and windows and their frames. This house is not weather-proof. It lets in the cold air, the hot air, and has absolutely no carpeting. The floors are so cold that we have been wearing our warm slippers all day long, just to keep our feet off of the cold floor.

I finally got the last (or next to the last, because I am not counting the box of wipes and diapers that for some strange reason was in our surface shipment) box unpacked. It is nice to have everything put away, even if it is in a place that I do not want it. For example, there is no linen closet in the house. So I have linens in Sam’s closet and in my closet. I really would like them all together, and preferably not in my room, but sometimes you get what you get. Today we get small closets and not much storage. It’s good that we didn’t bring all of our junk, I mean, that I got rid of all our junk.

The boys started school last week. It is weird to think of Chris as an eighth grader. Eighth grade is so grown up. Next year is high school, after that will be college, mission, and adulthood. It is going too quickly for me. I really like where we are as a family right now. We have Chris at thirteen, a good young man, hard working, smart, and not quite into his teenage surliness (I hope he never gets there). Sam, at ten, still innocent and wide eyed, loving the world, and asking questions about everything. Marcus is seven, still enough of a little boy to crawl around with Noah, but enough of a big boy to ride the bus and read chapter books. And then Noah, three years old, cute, outgoing, funny, rebellious. I tell people that he is a brat with just a hint of pride. It is wonderful to have four different ages of childhood in our home, and I am going to miss leaving each stage (except for diaper changing) as they grow.

We have had some interesting and funny experiences while living here. It is really a different culture and I have learned to adjust my expectations and assumptions about how things should happen.

First, we have installed DirecTV from Puerto Rico. We had to buy the equipment, have it installed, and then contact DirecTV in Puerto Rico to get the signal sent to us. Kevin called the person that people in the Embassy have used to install their equipment. One morning, two guys came walking up our street, one of them carrying a big DirecTV dish on his back. They walked past our house, but looked lost. Kevin and I thought, “What are the chances that someone else in the neighborhood is installing DirecTV this week?” We figured none, so we asked the guys if they were looking for our house. They were. It’s the first time I have received installation services from two guys walking down the road carrying the dish that is going to be on our house. I wonder if they took the bus with the dish or just walked all the way.

Second, we went on a field trip with our Spanish class. It is nice, because they are paid for, except for our food and souvenirs. We don’t have to drive, or park, or get lost, it’s up to our Spanish teacher and the drivers to get us where we are going. We went to a small town just outside of Asunción, called Areguá. It is near Lake Ypacaraí, and it is a pretty little town. There is a hill close by called Cerro Koi; it is one of only three places in the world where you find natural hexagonal shaped rocks. It was all very interesting. The funny part of the story is when we were riding home and Kevin and I saw a truck full of wooden furniture in the bed, lashed on the top, and lashed on the back. And it was not a nice truck, with a covered cargo area. It was an old junker, with an old green tarp covering the back. And it was also full of guys, maybe five or six guys riding among the furniture. We looked at each other and said, “That’s the RC Willey truck.” We have had several workers at our house, painters, carpenters, locksmith, internet, and only the internet guys came in a truck from their company, the same as you would expect in the United States. Everyone else has come on foot from the bus stop, or on a motorcycle. It has really shown me what a different world I am experiencing.

Cerro Koi

On that note, I have also discovered that in Paraguay tomorrow does not necessarily mean the day after today. Two weeks ago the internet guys were here and they said they would return tomorrow and install our internet. Well, no internet, no guys, nothing. Did I mention that we don’t have the internet? For three weeks, three days, and approximately eleven minutes, we have not had the internet! And it’s been plenty of tomorrows. So I can only conclude that tomorrow means sometime in the future, but probably not soon, and definitely not the day after today.

New House

2007-07-16T15:11:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is moving day! We will be leaving our small, cozy hotel suite, and moving to a very large, pretty house. With a yard and swimming pool. And a room for each of us, if we want it. And our own kitchen. I am so excited not to eat another restaurant meal, that I may even cook. I will post pictures of the house as soon as I take some and can get hooked up with internet...

The Missions

2007-07-14T13:14:00.000-04:00

We took a nice weekend trip to see the Jesuit ruins in the south of Paraguay and also in Argentina. They were very interesting, I love old, crumbling bits of history, so they were perfect for me. They boys seemed to enjoy them as well.

This picture is of Nuestra Señora de Santa Ana, in Argentina. It was the most ruined of all the sites we visited, the walls were all fallen down or held up with wooden braces. There is also a cemetery that was still being used up until the 1980s.

The next five pictures are of San Ignacio Miní, also in Argentina. The first is a view across the plaza to the church, and the second is a close up of one side of the entry to the church. This was an amazing ruin, there were many outbuildings still standing, and much of the carving in the church was intact. The third picture is of the original floor. The fourth is of carvings over the side door of the church, and the last is carvings along the bottom of the wall.

We spent the night in a cute little cabin in the town of San Ignacio, then got up the next morning and drove back to Paraguay. We visited two ruins in Paraguay, La Santisima Trinidad de Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue.

La Santisima Trinidad de Paraná:

Jesús de Tavarangue:

There is a good movie from the mid 1980s called The Mission, starring Jeremy Irons and Robert DeNiro. It is a fictionalized account about the end of the Jesuit Missions, and the film is beautiful, but depressing. There are some scenes that feature Iguazu Falls, so you get to see the two coolest thing in Paraguay in one film. Marcus, Sam, and Chris watched it after our trip to the missions. I think that the movie helped them see how the people might have lived in the missions, and how they looked before they were abandoned and ruined.

I am going to put all the pictures we took up at Shutterfly, if you want to see all of them, go to: http://sunproductions.shutterfly.com/

Information on the ruins, or Jesuit Reductions, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_Reductions

Home in Asunción

2007-06-27T23:06:00.001-04:00

On Friday night, while the boys were teasing each other, yelling, and fighting, Kevin was out of town at a retreat in a place called San Bernardino. He had organized the retreat for some of the local lawmakers in order to finish some of the procedural code that he is here to help complete. I'm sure it was a very important and interesting experience, but he was gone the first two weeks of June, and then home Sunday through Thursday afternoon, and then left until Saturday morning for his retreat. I know he is here to work, but I was feeling sorry for myself for being (1) in a hotel for three months, (2) homesick, and (3) a reluctant single parent for the seventeenth day of the month. All in all, not one of my high moments here in Paraguay. I wanted to lay on the bed and cry. Instead I laid on the bed and flipped through the channels on TV. I usually hate channel surfing, but lately I have been doing it, so I don't miss any of the shows that are broadcast in English, and more importantly, so I miss the commercials in Spanish (they make my brain hurt, and commercials are bad enough in your native tongue). Friday night it paid off. I was flipping through all the channels, and I noticed a gymnastics meet happening on ESPN, in Spanish. My first thought was, "wow, that looks like the Huntsman Center." And guess what? It was the Huntsman Center. We got to watch the NCAA Gymnastics Finals in Asunción, Paraguay. It was pretty strange. I don't understand enough Spanish to understand gymnastics Spanish, but I enjoyed it just the same. So what if it was two months late? For a few minutes, if I pressed mute, I was home in Salt Lake City, at the University of Utah, watching a gymnastics meet. Sometimes I love TV.

Things I Love About Paraguay

2007-06-22T14:44:00.000-04:00

There are many things that I love about living in Paraguay. Here are some pictures of a few of them.

First of all, the streets. How cool is it when you have full grown trees in the middle of the road? This happens everywhere. Sometimes there is one tree, sometimes three, sometimes the tree is on the side of the road, sometimes right in the middle. This street is my particular favorite. We can see it on the way to school. I would love to get a hammock tied up between those trees and spend an afternoon lying in it.

The streets, continued. This picture is a close-up of the street in the picture above. Many of the streets here are "cobblestone." They are made of rocks (not necessarily flat and smooth) and sand. This is actually a pretty smooth street. For the most part the streets in Asunción are very hard on your car. It is impossible to speed on many of them. I like that.

Another thing I love is that it is very green and pretty. This is a picture of the garden in the back of the hotel. It is a tropical paradise. There are palm trees, beautiful flowering trees, bushes, some cute little lizards, and best of all the swimming pool. We love the swimming pool!

Countdown!

2007-06-01T10:33:00.000-04:00

I don't think this is completely accurate for my location...

I wish I knew how to change it for Paraguay...

Because I Do Not Have the Words to Describe Them

2007-05-30T11:41:00.000-04:00

Iguazu Falls from the Brazil side.

2007-05-30T11:27:00.000-04:00

2007-05-30T10:49:00.000-04:00

"Champing" in Escobar

2007-05-15T14:53:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we went on a fun trip Noah calls “champing.” We went to a ranch out in the country, near a little town called Escobar. It wasn’t really camping, we got to stay in cabins, with showers, beds, and running water, so it was perfect for me. Kevin always teases me by saying that I think that we are camping if there isn’t room service. I’m not quite that bad, but close.

The boys had so much fun. We rode horses, sat by the fire, cooked hot dogs and marshmallows, and ran around and had a great time. Sunday was Mother’s Day, and the men cooked pancakes and sausage, and then cleaned up. What a great present, kids happy and occupied, and no dishes!

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Cowboys. They would still be on the horses, if that were possible.

Ride 'em, cowboy! Noah loved the horses.

The biggest camp(bon)fire. That's a six foot tall teenager behind the fire.

Sticky, yummy s'mores. Not quite like at home, but close enough.

No More Diapers!

2007-05-08T18:45:00.000-04:00

Noah is finally potty training. We got our air shipment last week and we now have a little potty, and we are ready to live a life without diapers. Noah is doing a pretty good job. He goes to the bathroom about every fifteen minutes, even more when we are in a public place, and he has had only one accident. Okay, he's had two, but I'm calling the second one an on purpose. He wanted to change into a new pair of underwear every time he went to the bathroom and I told him no, we only change if they are wet or messy. The next thing I knew he had wet his pants, and yes, he changed to his Bob the Builder underwear. Which is what he wanted. He is kind of a brat, a smart (manipulative) brat.

We are going to an estancia this weekend. A woman who works at the embassy and her husband own a ranch (estancia) on about 75 acres of land out in the country. They have guest rooms, horses, and lots of room to play. I am sure it will be fun, there will be horseback riding, the kids can run around like maniacs, and we will see a new part of the country.

Procrastination and Pictures

2007-05-02T07:16:00.000-04:00

We have now been living in a hotel for six weeks. It is getting really old. We received our air shipment last week, and we had to store it at a warehouse because we don't have anywhere to store everything here. Kevin and I went to the warehouse to get some things out of our boxes, and I noticed that I needed everything that I packed. I suppose that the point of having an air shipment is that we get the things we need faster, and now we have to decide what we need and what we don't. It really is okay to live with less of our stuff. It's hard because there is only one dresser drawer for each of us. And two tiny closets that we share. Kevin's work clothes take most of the space in one closet, and the other is full of the boys' toys, shoes, backpacks, the hammocks we bought last week, and a couple of suitcases.

For the last six weeks, I have been telling myself, "as soon as we get a house, I will..." I will start exercising, take harp lessons, find the kids a piano teacher, feel like we are home. Not having a house has been my excuse for not doing a lot of things. Well, last night I decided that I'm going to start doing some of those things while we are in the hotel. If we are going to be here another two months, then it is really time to start living how I want to live while I am in Paraguay. My first task is making, I mean, signing up the boys for afterschool sports. Sam and Chris are going to play basketball, and Marcus wants to play soccer. I think that they will be happier and make more friends if they get involved in activities. My second task is going down to the gym at the hotel and spending some time on the treadmill. My third task is getting some pictures up on this blog. I hope that some of this will help us feel like we are living here, and not on an extended vacation.

I have some cool pictures of our field trip to San Miguel.

Here is a worker at a big loom. It's kind of dark, but you can see the whole loom. He is using foot pedals to switch the warp threads up and down, and also to shoot the shuttle across. It's pretty amazing, this piece of fabric he is weaving is going to be sized for a queen bed. You can also see some wool hanging from the ceiling.

This is a smaller loom. This weaver is making narrow fabric for throw rugs, table runners, or placemats. He uses his feet to switch the threads, and sends the shuttle back and forth with his hands.

A spinning wheel, still in use.

These girls are wearing traditional Paraguayan clothes. They performed two dances for us at lunch.

This dancer has a bottle on her head. It's hard to see in this picture. She is wearing a beautiful skirt of handmade lace.

The final two pictures I took from our van, while it was driving. They are kind of blurry, but you can see what how the campo (countryside) looks.

Happy Birthday to Chris!

2007-04-29T17:11:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was Christopher's birthday. We went over to our friends' apartment to bake Chris a birthday cake. Bakery cakes here are weird, they taste pretty good, but a lot of them are frosted with dulce de leche, and they are much too sweet. Chris asked if I could try to make a Grandma Anderson chocolate cake, so I gave it a good try. First of all, there is no Crisco here, or anything else that is like vegetable shortening. And the lard is smelly. Much smellier than at home. Plus it's lard. So I tried butter. I think that this cake is kind of temperamental anyway, and I was very worried that we were going to be eating large, flat, chocolate disks. The cake was kind of flat, but turned out pretty good. What do you think?

Chris got a guitar, a 20 Questions game, some gum (we found Bubble Tape in the American aisle of the supermarket), and a jar of peanut butter. I think that he had a good day.

On a more serious side Kevin and I now have a teenager. Yikes! We now get to deal with teenage boys for the next seventeen years.

Hotel: Good and Bad

2007-04-24T15:43:00.000-04:00

Things I like about living in a hotel.

1. Clean sheets every day.
2. You don’t have to cook.
3. Or wash dishes.
4. Or vaccuum.
5. Or clean the bathroom.

Things I don’t like about living in a hotel.

1. The boys do not know how to fight quietly.
2. Every meal, every day at a restaurant.
3. Noah spills everything he touches.
4. Hauling laundry to the lavandería.
5. Two words: It’s not home!

Pictures

2007-04-23T17:05:00.000-04:00

Pictures are coming soon. I promise!

Field Trip!

2007-04-23T16:26:00.000-04:00

Saturday we took a field trip to a little town called San Miguel. It is a town that specializes in wool. They raise sheep, spin wool into yarn, and make blankets, rugs, ponchos, and other things out of the wool. It was very cool to get out of the city, and see some more Paraguay.

San Miguel is about 3 hours south of Asunción. We met at the embassy at 7 AM (early!) and rode in vans to the town. The campo, or countryside, reminded me of Wyoming, except with palm trees and red tile roofs. There were wide open spaces, rolling hills, and small towns along the drive. When I mentioned this to another person in our group, he agreed. He is from Casper, so he would know.

Our first stop was a cooperative where the finished items are collected and sold. We looked at blankets, saddle blankets, and knitted items. There are quite a few black sheep in the area, and many of the items were made with undyed black wool. It is very pretty, it is the color of Whitney's hair, with subtle variations of brown, red, and black. Some of the blankets were only $20, they were all handwoven and would fit on a twin size bed. The larger ones were only slightly more expensive. I was amazed that they were so inexpensive.

Our next stop was a shop called Muñeca. Here they make hammocks, rugs, bedspreads, ponchos, tablecloths, and many other things out of cotton and wool. We got to go in the back at look at the workshop. They were using looms that could have (and may have) been built in the 1800s. These looms were operated manually, no electricity, only foot pedals and man power. It was so interesting to see how to make a piece of fabric, and to realize the time it takes to produce one item to sell. Everything that is sold out in the front was made by the family in the back workshop. We bought a couple of cool hammocks, for when we get our house, and Marcus picked out a fun rug that he wants to put in his room.

Our last stop was an estancia, or ranch. We met the owner of the ranch, Dueño San Francisco, and his family. They have cattle, horses, a couple of crocodiles, an iguana, turtle, monkey, and a big bird called a ñandu (like an emu). We watched some beautiful girls dance, ate lunch, and tried some new desserts. One of the girls in our group got bitten by the monkey. It was sad, she was so upset that the monkey would bite her, and I'm sure it hurt. We got to go to the clinic in San Miguel, it was reassuring to see that it was clean, but not so reasurring that they didn't have band-aids. I hope we don't have to have many medical experiences while we are here. All in all, it was a great activity, and we were glad we went.

Chris has asked for a guitar for his birthday. There are some very good guitar makers in Asunción. There are also beautiful harps in many of the shops. I told Kevin that I am going to take up the harp, just so I can buy one. Whether I played or not, it would be a beautiful addition to our decor. We have the names of a couple of luthiers (my word of the week) and my task for the week is to find a good guitar for the birthday boy.

We miss you, but I think we are finally adjusting to life in Paraguay. We have a routine, we know where to grocery shop, and what restaurants we like. We can find church, and I am a pro at calling a taxi, but every once in a while I stop and think "wow, I'm in Paraguay!" It is still a bit unreal to me.

2007-04-03T23:10:00.000-04:00

It's late afternoon and I'm sitting by the pool watching the boys splash and play. Chris is so athletic and coordinated, I love to watch him in the water. He does flips, dives, and other tricks. He tries to imitate a dolphin jump and a whale breaching. He's too funny. Sam is fun, he tries to keep up with Chris and does a pretty good job. He likes to pretend to sumo wrestle on the side of the pool, the loser get pushed in. Marcus has improved so much in his swimming, I can't even believe it. Last summer he didn't even want to get his face wet, and now he is swimming and diving and dunking and splashing. I think that Noah is part fish. He has no fear, jumps of the side of the pool, tries to swim, and basically scares the crap out of me. He looks like a water creature. He has arm floaties, goggles, crazy hair. Everyone here is enchanted with him.

Chris and I had a security briefing today. It is necessary to have one in order to get our ID card for the embassy. It was interesting, we learned what we need to worry about, mostly bad drivers, and how to be safe. It was also interesting to learn a little about the security at the embassy.

Today all four boys also got vaccinated against yellow fever. They didn't like it, but it's necessary if we travel outside of the city. They are good for ten years, but I don't think I'll tell them that flu season is coming up, and that maybe they need rabies vaccinations...

I have started Spanish class, it's a good thing. I have found that I know a lot of vocabulary, and I can even understand most things, except at church, but I have no idea how to converse and use grammar. I am lucky that I have one on one lessons for a few weeks, when I get a little better, I will join a class. I hope that I can soon feel comfortable getting around the city, and getting the dry cleaning and laundry done, because right now I am pretty intimidated.

The kids are out of school this week. They are starting to fight and tease. I can only hope that this week will go fast!

Week One: Already Civil Unrest

2007-03-27T14:50:00.000-04:00

It is Tuesday, and one full week since we arrived in Paraguay. The boys have started school, we have met some very nice people, and we have explored our little part of the city. Not too bad for only seven days.

I'm still without a way to upload photos to the blog, because I am not smart enough to pack the cord that came with the camera. While we were packing I couldn't imagine why I would need it, because out printer has a built in compact flash reader. However, the printer is in the surface shipment. I wasn't thinking of the three months or more that our surface shipment will take to arrive. Silly me. In the meantime, I am looking for one, and I hope that soon I will be able to share photos of our new home.

Last week was eventful in more ways than one. We explored a little bit of our new city. We found that there are very few traffic signs. And many one way streets. And most of them lack traffic signage. I have seen only one stop sign, but everyone seems to know who has the stop and who has the right of way. I can't tell that there is a system, but I hope to crack the code before I start driving. We're lucky not to have our car here yet. We would definitely get in a wreck if we did.

Monday was the boys first day of school. The first difference that we felt is that everything in this country starts early. The school bus comes to get the boys at 7 AM. Seven o'clock. One more time, seven. Seven. We have to get up and get dressed and get down to breakfast by 6:30. In the morning. We are used to leaving our house by 8:20, nearly two hours later. School starts at 8 AM, and goes until 3:30 PM. After school the kids can play basketball, volleyball, soccer, chess, get homework help, or learn about the surrounding countries. It is a fun program, with many travel opportunities for the kids 5th grade and older.

Chris seems fine. In middle school all of the classes are taught in English, except for Spanish class. He also goes to a special social studies class where he learns a little about Paraguayan history and culture.

Sam goes to SSL, Spanish as a second language. He is in a grade without many foreign students. While they speak English during instruction time, the playground language is Spanish. He misses the OC, he wants to go to the OC, and he wants to be home. I hope, for his sake, that he can have an attitude adjustment, or this is going to be a very long year for him.

Marcus got put into immersion Spanish. In first grade the language of instruction is Spanish because most of the kids are local Paraguayans, with only one year of English. Marcus is feeling frustrated because he wants to follow instructions and do what he is supposed to, but he doesn't understand what those instrutions are. Other than that, he likes school.

Each of the boys is assigned an "ambassador" who will show them the ropes, how to get lunch, how to get on the bus, and to hang out with them at recess and breaks. We hear that many of the ambassadors become the new students best friends.

Noah and I have been walking to the grocery store every day. We buy new treats to try, and stock up on bottled water. The store has Pantene, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson's, Huggies, a lot of Nestle products, Dove soap, and Coca-cola products. But everything smells different, or is different that what we buy in the USA. The chocolate tastes weird, the diapers are different, the soap is smelly. They only thing that is the same is Coke. And Coke light (diet Coke). Noah and I also explored the mall, it's pretty, it's kind of expensive for Paraguay, but we did find a suit for 340,000 guaranis. At the exchange rate of 5000 guaranis to 1 dollar, that's a good price.

We also experienced our first bit of authentic South American civil unrest. I don't know what is going on here politically, but there were about two thousand protesters outside the embassy today. They weren't protesting at the embassy, but at a building nearby, and there were riot police, and rubber bullets, and people being pushed away with water cannons. It's kind of scary and kind of interesting.

Here is a picture of the police outside the embassy.

I'm sure many of you know that we lost my grandpa last week. We really miss being home, especially because we are so isolated here. The boys have been very sad. Sam already wanted to go home, and this just cemented his desire. We are learning that life goes on without us, it is hard to learn, and harder to accept. We miss our family very much.

Welcome to Asuncion

2007-03-21T20:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday after twenty-four hours of travel, about a month of trying to pack, clean, and give away our extra stuff, and a very intense week really packing, cleaning, and giving away our stuff, we have finally arrived in Asuncion, Paraguay. There are a few things I have learned during our transition.

First of all moving is really horrible. But the organizing and cleaning out all of the extra collected junk is really nice. I feel like I lost about 2000 pounds. Probably because I did. I really like to keep stuff and have stuff and share my stuff when it is needed, but holy cow, I don't really need all that stuff. So now a lot of it is gone. But not all. I have some packed away in storage, like a security blanket, just so I can be comfortable. And happy.

Second, if you ever move, and if you can afford it (because we didn't pay for it and I have no idea how much it would cost), it would be really great if you could hire movers. They are soooo nice. I wasn't supposed to put anything in a box, or move any boxes, or do anything to any boxes. Three very efficient movers showed up at my house on a Tuesday morning, and by the time they left on Thursday afternoon, my house was empty except for some cleaning supplies, the stuff we were taking to Paraguay, and some leftover stuff that we forgot to store. In an ideal world, I would have been organized and had everything ready to go, but in reality I am me, and I don't do things until the last minute, so I was still sorting and reducing while the movers were packing. It's really not the best way to do it. Sam tells me that if Kevin was in charge, then we would have been done weeks ago. I'm sure that's true, but I am a procrastinator, and I do all my work at the last minute. It worked in college, and it worked this time. If I were giving out grades, I would give myself an A-. However, I am so exhausted that I could cry. Next time, when we move home, I resolve to be more organized. And not keep so much stuff.

Third, traveling to a foreign country, on another continent, and in another hemisphere is not really fun. We got on a plane in Salt Lake City, Utah at about 11:45 AM Monday morning, and flew to Atlanta. We arrived in Atlanta at about 5:30 PM, and got on a plane to Sao Paolo, Brazil at 7:30 PM. We flew all night, and arrived in Sao Paolo at about 5:30 AM. Then we got on one more plane at about 7 AM, and flew first to Ciudad del Este, then on to Asuncion, Paraguay. We arrived here at about 9 AM. We were met by some really nice people from the embassy who got our luggage to a van and took us to our hotel. So, after about twenty-four hours of travel, three airplanes, and not a lot of sleep, we arrived at our hotel. Kevin and I crashed at about 2 PM, the kids fell asleep at about 4 PM. It was a very long day.

Fourth, you can cancel all of your utilities from your cell phone in an airport. We know because we did. Kevin called to cancel our last bill, our cell phone, during our layover in Atlanta. It was kind of funny, but we didn't want to be without a phone until the last possible minute. As it turns out, they won't stop our service until the end of the next billing cycle, so we still have service until April, but we don't have phones that will work in South America.

Finally, our family is very loud. We are in a nice, quiet, peaceful hotel, and we are loud. We talk loudly, we run loudly, we yell, loudly. I feel bad because I know the kids are feeling stir crazy, but we are not in our own space yet, and we are making our presence known in this one. The hotel is very nice, we have two adjoining suites, two bathrooms, two bedrooms, and two pull out sofa beds. Plenty of room to sleep, but not to play or to unpack all our things. I would love to have a big closet, a dresser, and a bathroom cabinet to really unpack and move in.

Our first impression of Paraguay is that it is very green, lush, and quaint. The streets are narrow and all except the main streets are paved with rocks. Not cobblestone exactly, but rocks, with sand pounded in to fill the gaps. They are very bumpy. There are not really any high rises right around our hotel, and most of the buildings have red-tile roofs and stucco walls. We walked to a supermarket yesterday, bought some water, some snacks, and changed some dollars for guarani (local currency). The traffic is loud, a bit unruly, but not that bad. We had hamburgers with ham and cheese on top, pretty good, and fries. We haven't tried any local dishes yet, we are starting out slowly.

We also went to tour the boys' new school today. It is a beautiful campus, with lots of grass, flowers, and trees. It seems like a good place for the boys, and they will start on Monday. If you would like to check it out, here is the website: http://www.asa.edu.py/.

We miss our family and friends in Utah, but we are excited to learn new things and make new friends. Please drop us an email at llawdnus@gmail.com, or give us a call, ask Cynthia for the number. We'd love to hear from you.

Happy day after Christmas!

2006-12-27T00:23:00.000-05:00

We survived Christmas! Hooray! The boys got everything they wanted and then some. We got a Wii, it rocks - we've already spent 20 hours playing it. Chris got Guitar Hero 2, also rocks, we want a whole garage band game. I'm going to post some pictures as soon as I upload them, too lazy right now.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Sundwall Family Blog!

2006-12-23T15:24:00.000-05:00

It is the twenty-third of December, and I should be doing something Christmas-y, like wrapping presents, but I don't feel like it. I think I secretly like the stress of getting ready at the last minute...

This is Sun Productions, the place to get all the information about the happenings in the Sundwall family. We are getting ready to have a fun adventure, and I thought this blog would be a good way to keep everyone up to date, and also keep track of our experiences while living in a new place.

I'm Chantelle, married to Kevin, and the mom of four boys, Christopher, 12 years old, Samuel, 10 years old, Marcus, 6 years old, and Noah, 2 years old. I am lucky enough to get to stay home with the boys. We live in Salt Lake City, Utah, but will soon be moving to Asuncion, Paraguay. Yes, that is in South America. It's a bit crazy, and quite a bit more adventurous than we usually are, but we are going to take the opportunity to broaden our horizons, move away from the neighborhood where we grew up, and have a great, frustrating, exciting, frightening, life-changing experience.

I'll keep you posted. Wish us luck.