Waffles, Teaching, and Gingivitis.

Note: I will soon be updating my previous blog with wedding photos so don't forget to check on that post too!

About the title - sometimes great titles come to mind for me as I start writing about events. This time I just opened my planner up to the last day I wrote a blog and noted that I had waffles that day. I love waffles which is why we bought a waffle maker to have them whenever. You know how waffles have all those deep craters where you can pool your butter and syrup to make a delicious and tasty bite every time? It is why they are so superior to pancakes. Well, I feel like since my last blog post I have fallen into multiple craters, but instead of a syrupy delight, I got a sticky mess. No worries though, there have been good times to.

APRIL

Happy Times:

I got a complimentary foot detox at Zen Chi. Apparently most of my issues were with my joints according to the water colors.

This was at the end of the 30 minutes

Our first AirBnB guests came and stayed for a week. They were from Samoa/New Zealand and were in town for a funeral. We barely saw them, but when they first arrived we had a great talk with them.

Sakura had fun with daddy at Lollipops, and friends at games night.

Our ward also had a fun dance party activity! Sakura danced and partied the whole night! I just hoped she didn't outshine those that had prepared a special dance for the evening. :)

Not so Happy Times:

Sakura had an accident with the honey jar. Totally my fault because she wanted to get the honey out of the jar as I had done. I put it on the ground with her thinking she would just realise it was closed and move on. She decided to pick it up and either threw it or dropped it - I just heard the glass crash behind me. The end result was a cut toe - luckily no stitches required.

MAY

Happy Times:

AirBnB
New AirBnB guests were from Argentina and I got to practice lots of Spanish! After a few days I started to dream in Spanish again. I finally got to try mate for the first time, and to no one's surprise, Matt and I didn't like it. Funny enough, my "mate celestial" that used shredded coconut, milk, and cinnamon in the mate was a big hit with Matt. He made his own version of the drink for a few nights after that. We also enjoyed doing a few fun things with Vero and Andres while they stayed with us, including going to the beach, going to see the new Avengers movie in the theater, and going to Wild Koala Day.

Doesn't look like winter...

Our house actually felt really empty when they left and we were sad they were gone. Luckily they moved about 15 minutes away as they are trying to get permanent residency here. We met them one Sunday afternoon at Tinchi Tamba Wetlands to have a BBQ and catch up. It was great and there are even wild kangaroos there!

We got other AirBnB guests a week after our Argentinan friends left. The new couple are from France but have been in Australia about eight months on a working holiday visa, also hoping for permanent residency. They booked for 35 days when they are going back to France to visit family and hopefully return to Australia a couple months later. We weren't sure how a month would go, but we figured we would try it out. This time we got a mini fridge for them so they could save money and eat at home. It has been really fun. We talk a lot and have had lots of fun playing board games. They have been just relaxing and enjoying this last month because it has been too difficult to get a job. This means they have both been home a lot and Sakura has loved having extra play mates! We are so glad we decided to host and meet so many great people!

Water Fast
Matt has done two water fasts and I felt prompted to try and do one too since I haven't been breastfeeding or am pregnant. I started Sunday May 5th and just sipped water constantly. To my surprise, I didn't really feel hungry. I went through my regular routine for the most part and wasn't really weak like Matt had been. Any time I felt a little hungry I just kept sipping my water and the desire went away. By day 3 I had a bowel movement where your built up stuff in your gut gets cleaned out from fasting. I think Matt had this happen much later - Day 7 I believe. This happened again on day 6. It was a pretty funny story - see below. I finally ended it on day 7. It was actually really easy, but I missed the joys of eating more than feeling the need. I suddenly understood why some people could be anorexic. What's interesting about that mental illness is that many believe they are strong because of the self control they have to exercise all the time. It does require a LOT of self-discipline to stick with it, but I knew the health benefits would outweigh the costs. I do think anyone that tries it should make sure they have an accountability partner,. If I had body image issues I could have easily developed some anorexia behaviours. Surprisingly, I HATED what my body looked like at the end. I reached my target body weight - 54kg (actually I got just below this), and I was 18% body fat approximately. I thought I looked weird and bony. I'm glad I now know I'm happier with how I look with a bit more fat and muscle!

A Japanese pancake I couldn't eat :(

How I felt fasting :)

Paradise Country

My friend Cate Innis was going to Paradise Country to celebrate Finley's 2nd birthday. I wasn't sure how I would handle walking around on my fast, but I went. Sakura had been teething and was extra sensitive and whingy that day, but she LOVED the animal farm. We actually spent the most time at the playground in the end.

(WARNING: Some unpleasant toilet talk to follow)
So while at Paradise Country I decided to purchase a juice slushee for Sakura that comes in this nice souvenir cup. To my surprise she only had a couple of sips. She fell asleep on the way to the car and I had this yummy slushee in my hand thinking about how I was going to break my fast tomorrow and how weak I felt. Naturally, I decided to drink it. Luckily I was smart enough to drink it very slowly. At about 30 minutes of driving, Sakura woke up and I had to find a way to occupy her. By about 20 minutes left to home I started to feel some familiar movement in my bowels. NOT good timing! I was holding it all in as hard as I could for the last 15 minutes and managed to get out of the car but getting Sakura out was difficult and my body couldn't hold it anymore. You guessed it... all in my pants, and it was a LOT! Oddly enough, I was extremely thankful for garments as my special church underwear contained the mess. I got Sakura set up with a show and managed to clean up including a thorough shower. As I mentioned before, when water fasting any bowel movements are very old built up remains in your system. This meant that for me it was thick and sticky Ugh!! I am telling you this for a reason...bear with me. So I spent a lot of time in the shower trying to scrub this stuff off and I tried to clean the shower to the best of my ability before exiting.

As I was dressing, Sakura decided to take a look in the shower. She just walked around in her boots which were gross from the animals anyway so I thought nothing of it. I glanced over to see how she was going and she was now splashing her hands in my potentially contaminated shower remains. Another second, now she's wetting her hands and her hair in the dirty water! It's a good thing she loves baths!

Mothers day!

I loved my handmade gift for mother's day from Sakura! I'm so glad our childcare does this. Matt also gave me some nice alone time so overall it wasn't a terrible day. I made up for the lack of food later. 

VIPKIDS
For a while I have wanted to do online tutoring, but finally I followed through with something I hadn't tried. VIPKIDS is a company that teaches English to kids in China. There are something like 60,000 teachers I believe. They require you to have a degree and be North American because the students learn English from the United States mostly. Luckily, I met the criteria even though I live in Australia. The application process was a bit involved though. Here's a very brief run down....

1. Online application for a position.
2. Interview with someone an employee in China where you teach a "mock" class with your interviewer using the materials they provide you. You want this to be as legit as possible so it required a bit of prepwork including props and whatnot.
3. Certification for Level 2 and 3. This is where you study and review material to teach another "mock" class with a VIPKID tutor. They provide two separate classes and you will only know which the tutor will pick at the mock class. Again, lots of prep!
4. Certification for Level 4 and 5. This is optional, but I figured better to get it all over and done with. It's the same as above, but the kids you would be teaching are more advanced so you can use bigger sentences and the material is way more complex.
5. Fill out all the paperwork for your background check, tax details etc. Also complete the profile video and profile details to complete your contract.

It is A LOT of work to get that all sorted and I watched a lot of Youtube videos for help. I completed my certifications 1st try and when I opened up slots for bookings I soon had five classes booked! I could talk so much about this, but I won't. If you are interested in more details just ask me! Mostly I just want to say that so far it has been AMAZING! I've learned a lot from the process, and I love teaching! I have mostly taught level 4 kids that are around 9-11 and I'm so impressed by them. I teach at night when it is the best time for the students in China and Matt is putting Sakura to bed. I love trying to be creative and help expand their understanding. It's also really good for me to feel like I have something else in my life that is all mine. The income isn't much ($16/hr) and especially when I consider I have to pay taxes. Nevertheless, I hope that the little hear and there I gain will help pay off my student loans, which is the whole purpose for doing this. We shall see how things go in the future. (Here is my referral link if you are interested)

Pressure Cooker Awesomeness
We finally bought a Philips multi-cooker from Costco since the Instant Pot isn't available here in Australia. It has been AWESOME! I've made coconut yoghurt, salsa chicken, pulled pork, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs, and more. It almost always saves me time, and the food tastes better. My pulled pork recipe usually takes 12 hours in the slow cooker and only took 1.5 hours in the pressure cooker. I still don't know how to use it well enough to know what I am doing, but so far I haven't had anything not work out.

Jayliano's
During my fast I missed the joys of eating. So Matt and I decided a couple of weeks after my fast we would go to an all you can eat buffet called Jayliano's. Since it would take place during our usual game's night we invited our game's night friends to come and we organised a babysitter for the night. It was sooo good! They had delicious steak, pork belly, chicken parmigiana, beef curry, and much, much more. In terms of what I have seen from many American buffets, it did not have a lot of options, but what it did have was pretty good quality. To my surprise, Matt and I felt ok even with our consumption of gluten and dairy. The only issue was we at too much of it all. We still managed to have a really fun game of Red Dragon Inn that night though.

Games Night
Games nights were pretty successful for May. We had games with the Biddle family, our French AirBnB friends, and the one night with the Wilson family, Ella, and the French couple together.

Can you see Shade?

Baby Monitor
I ordered a baby monitor from Amazon but it wouldn't ship to Australia. So I had to send it to my sister who could then forward it on to me. I was so excited when it arrived! The new baby monitor is SOOOO much better than my previous one even when it was working properly. We can move the camera to see her, it has much better zoom and sound capabilities, and overall we are glad to have gotten a better one. Now I don't have to listen to an annoying beeping noise all night just so I can see if she is ok when she cries. Many times she will wake up crying but isn't really needing anyone, just vocally expressing her discomfort or pain as far as we can tell. Video monitors are perfect for me to assess whether I should let her go back to sleep on her own or get up and comfort her.

Sakura's Cuteness

Playgroup

If only we could get her to wear the hat for longer periods

Another playgroup - future boyfriend? :)

It's electric!

Face first down the slide with grandma watching!

Not so Happy Times:
The poop incident actually made me laugh, but I wouldn't call it a happy time. I had managed to make dinner and was bathing Sakura before Matt got home. As I took Sakura's nappy off she did a poo, but I managed to get it sorted with the diaper. I was glad it came out prior to the tub at least. I was wrong, she later did an even bigger poop in the tub. I quickly got her out and wrapped a towel around her. I let her wander off while I cleaned up the mess. Just when I cleaned up the bath tub and toys to go around the corner I saw a MASSIVE load of poo that started in the hallway then trailed into the kitchen and was all over Sakura's legs. She wasn't too happy about being messy either so I took a crying child back to the tub for a good long scrub. When everything was clean I just let her play in the warm soapy water with toys while I cleaned the room. Matt came in just as I had cleaned all but the carpet. The tile was easy, but all my efforts on the carpet just left a slight bleached mark everywhere I cleaned the poo. Oy!

The results of our Tinchi Tamba BBQ involved Sakura having something like 15 mosquito bites, and I had 25 or so (17 just on one leg). I had made sure to spray myself liberally right when getting out of the car there and I also made sure Sakura was thoroughly sprayed as well. Apparently these guys didn't care. This resulted in itchiness that was so severe no essential oil or creme seemed to help and Sakura would scream and try to scratch the bites at night. Facebook finally helped that one and I used some Medicreme as recommended by one mum. It wasn't perfect, but it helped enough to let us sleep.

Sakura and I got sick. I'm not sure if it was a response to the ross river virus carried by mozzies, but I had horrible fatigue, hot and cold flashes, and severe joint pain. Sakura seemed to have similar issues, so neither of us were getting good sleep. My problems took many days to subside, but finally my temperature went back to normal and I felt good enough to do things again.

JUNE

Happy Times:

A mother from a mum's group I am in agreed to do a babysitting swap. She watches Sakura on Monday from 9:30-2:30 and I watch her son Cristiano on Thursdays. Our first week was a success! I took them both to Croc's Playcentre. It was my first taste of what it would be like to have twins. It didn't help that Sakura was off her rocker and super sensitive that day. Nevertheless, I count it as a happy time because there were still lots of cute moments and they had fun.

A friend had a baby blessing on Sunday and we got to have some fun in the park afterwards with friends. Sakura spent about 80% of the time on the swing, but then she learned how to play a little soccer for the first time!

Despite still being sick I got to help a friend pack up part of his house. I was slow, but it felt good to help them get things prepped and ready for their move at the end of the month.

Health issues still ablaze, I decided Sakura and I needed to get up and out of the house. We went to the Caboolture Show (basically like a local fair), where there were cows, horses, sheep, shows, rides, and more. They even had an aquarium/fish section and a horticulture section that was judged. Who knew? Sakura had a blast! The animal farm was her favourite and this time I decided to even pay some money for the pony ride. Unfortunately, she was over the moon to see the pony, pet the pony, and talk to the pony, but riding it was another matter entirely. The best part for me was that she had a good sleep in the car when we arrived so I could rest, and again when we got home.

We also went to the city Sunday afternoon for a stroll around the botannical gardens. Sakura had a blast and it was a great place for me to relax as well as she could run around wherever and I could still see her. The best part was when she fell asleep and I stopped to take a nap as well on the blanket I had brought. I love Queensland!

Not so Happy Times:

After all my joint pain and temperature issues subsided I started to get pains in my mouth near the farthest back molar. This happens from time to time as food gets stuck and then the gums get inflamed and start to swell up and over the tooth. Years ago I had this happen and saw a dentist who referred me to a specialist to help prevent this gum problem from re-occurring. I don't remember the particulars, but he couldn't do anything. So I flossed like crazy and did not seem to find anything stuck there. Suddenly the gums started swelling on my other side of the mouth. The third day all of my gums were swollen and very painful. I was already taking extra vitamin c, doing hydrogen peroxide rinses, and trying to eat only soft food, etc. At that point I booked an appointment with the dentist. I was diagnosed with severe gingivitis, or periodontitis, with mouth ulcers. As I am usually very regular with brushing my teeth this seemed like just another example of how my immune system was struggling. She prescribed antibiotics, an antiseptic mouthwash, and a steroid cream for the mouth ulcers. I DID NOT want to take antibiotics. Our rule is only in emergencies. I contacted a naturopath and followed what she advised. Unfortunately, the issue only worsened overnight. I felt so defeated and worried Matt would not approve if I took the antibiotics and blame me if my health worsened later (this sentence is cognitive distortion loaded by the way). Anyway, I got a blessing and felt that my immune system just couldn't do the job fast enough and so I needed the antibiotics to help. Since then, the issue has improved a little every day. My mouth still hurts, especially in the two back spots, but I can eat almost normal again. I did go nearly a day and a half without any food hoping it would help - it didn't.

It seemed Sakura had this problem as well because her mouth seemed very sensitive, her gums bled, she had sores on her mouth, and even struggled to eat. For her, not eating is a BIG deal. After just a few days though everything seemed to get better. I am hoping things will stay better for her because I do not know there is a good way to put her through the same regimen I am going through.

Overall, It has been a busy and hectic month and a half. Lots of good and not so good times. I saw a doctor today and realised that I need to get back to seeing a psychologist and maybe even get antidepressants this time. I thought I was getting a whole lot better, but all of this has been a clear message that I am not CONSISTENTLY improving and therein lies the problem. I am frequently angry with Sakura, Matt, or myself and I have regular mild panic attacks over seemingly small things. I think it is putting my body into such a high stress mode that it is struggling to handle anything at this point. You may agree or disagree with this, but I definitely feel that if you can't find joy and happiness on a regular basis in your life (despite negative experiences on occasion), something needs to change. In this case, it's me.

More Sakura CUTENESS!

A Reunion and a Wedding

 Matt returned from his trip to Oregon and we spent the week before my trip trying to get things done around the house. More accurately, I got things done since Matt had lots of work to catch up on. I was still recovering from my cold, but I was completely better by the time I had to leave. We did get updates of Sakura's fun with family.

Carina took her to the Discovery Children's Museum

It was really odd being home together without Sakura. Instead of it being an opportunity for some quality time, we spent more of it organising, cleaning, or anything else we do on a regular basis. We did go out to dinner and watch Captain Marvel in the theater one night. Another night we went rock climbing with friends, so we did do a few fun things.

A representation of what I was going to in Utah...

On my trip to Utah I enjoyed being able to fly by myself, especially because the planes were quite full. Unfortunately, I still did not get much sleep on the long flight to LAX and arrived with only about 3-4 hours of sleep throughout the journey. Everyone was sick when I arrived, including Sakura, so Chuck picked me up from the airport. Sakura was napping so I proceeded to take a nap as well. When we were both awake I finally got to see her, but as you can see in the below video - it wasn't that great of a reaction.

It seemed like chaos because my sister Serisa had been moving her stuff out into her new apartment and there was stuff EVERYWHERE (or so it seemed to me). My mom was so sick she couldn't help and Sakura and her basically hung out and slept most of the time. This left me free to pack up Serisa's stuff for her and do some cleaning. Occasionally Sakura helped when she was feeling good. I also had to do some needed grocery shopping as there were lots of things in the fridge, but few things to make an actual meal with. There also wasn't much gluten and dairy free food. A trip to Sprouts solved that problem and I was so sad and jealous there isn't a store like that in Australia!

Saturday afternoon I went to Serisa's bridal shower that her mother in law was hosting for her family. It was a Harry Potter themed shower and she did a fantastic job! Serisa almost couldn't make it because she was supposed to work, but they let her take a long break so she could go. We had fun guessing the number of socks in a bag, drinking butter beer, and playing other shower games. The highlight was when we tried different flavoured jelly beans that could be either a good or a bad flavour. One person got moldy cheese instead of popcorn that resulted in them promptly spitting it out into the rubbish bin. We discovered at the end that they were just normal jelly beans so there weren't any bad flavours.

Sunday I made a big pulled pork dinner for everyone and discovered that my sisters don't like pulled pork. Needless to say, there were lots of leftovers and after a few days of various pork dishes we decided to freeze the rest. That night I took Serisa and her cat Whisper to her apartment with her remaining items. Since Serisa has fibromyalgia and wasn't feeling well I had to carry up all her stuff to the 3rd floor of her apartment. I strapped Sakura to my back in the carrier and took it all up in multiple trips. It's no wonder I had horrible back pain after all that. Nevertheless, it was good Serisa was finally all moved in to her new place and I had cleared her old room so Sakura and I could sleep in there on mattresses instead of a futon.

The rest of that week was spent getting wedding stuff done like organising a wedding cake, as well as preparing things for the bridal shower I was hosting on Saturday. We also went dress shopping and Serisa was able to find some dresses she liked to wear to the temple on her wedding day. Sakura even enjoyed shopping for the most part.

If you are wondering how my diet was going on the trip - it wasn't. I tried to just limit my gluten and dairy to one or two meals per day maximum and made sure I ALWAYS took my digestive enzymes. Sakura was a bit more difficult and we typically gave her fries and grilled chicken at most restaurants. Wingers was her absolute favourite and I caved and let her have buttered popcorn. She loved it so much that Carina had some gluten and dairy free popcorn that we started carrying around with us all the time.

I was happy to find that a lot of places had gluten free options at least. Noodles & Co had zuchini noodles, which I thought was really cool. We also ate at Cafe Zupas which had amazing soup and salad. Red Robin even had a gluten free bun that was really tasty!

Zuppa's

Red Robin burger and sweet potato fries (GF bun)

Purple Lemonade - prickly pear lemonade

On Friday night I went to dinner with my brother Destin, my dad, and his wife Liliana to a pizza place called Mellow Mushroom that had gluten free pizza with vegan cheese. It was a struggle for Sakura at the beginning because she was hungry and wanted some of the breadsticks others were eating. I had to walk around until the pizza was done. She didn't even care it was hot and just dug in.

Carina and I worked on getting everything ready for the bridal shower like cutting out the banner and putting together the game books. While there we also got to see her feed her bird Zeta, which was kind of disturbing to see her take a recently caught sparrow and let it go for her predatory bird to catch and kill. Falconry is definitely not my kind of thing.

We didn't get time to do the shopping for the shower the day before so we went to do it the morning of. Although the shower was in the afternoon, things did not happen fast enough that morning. Carina and I got all the food at Costco, but I had to go to Smith's Marketplace for the Price is Right game items by myself. This did not work out well. I was trying to buy spices in bulk which took too much time and I abandoned the plot and bought the jars. Then Sakura was being really fussy and I couldn't find the home items like dish towels and measuring cups. I was going to call Carina and realised I didn't have my phone and had left it with the spices at the other end of the store. After finding it and asking someone where the home section was (it is hidden in a separate section of the store) I had to relinquish any plans of being there when the shower was supposed to start. Additionally Serisa wasn't feeling well at all and "blacking out" she said. This led to my mom taking her to quickly get a smoothie and being about 30 minutes late to the shower.

Despite the very late start to the shower, having to use people who arrived on time to help set up and decorate, and having the bride to be arrive late, the shower went well. We had fun and my only regret is that I felt it went a bit long. Some stayed late to chat anyway so it must not have been too bad. My favourite part was the guess the spices game where despite my mom's very stuffy nose she managed to win the game. Even more ironic was the gift for that was an Orchid flower and she is prone to killing plants not growing them.

Can you guess which one was mine? 

Sunday I had a nice day at church with my mom and we read the Come Follow Me lesson together before dinner. As she is a lot like me, it was a really good discussion with a lot of thoughts about our testimonies of the Saviour and if we have faith like the Apostle Peter. To finish off our night we watched Mary Poppins Returns and had chocolate cake. I wish all Sundays were relaxing like that.

I got this toy vacuum for $2 at Deseret Industries

The mornings people were usually busy so I put on a show for Sakura and did some cleaning. I managed to clean out bathroom cupboards that still had stuff in there from when I lived at home with my mom. I also organised my mom's linen cupboard. I wish I had taken some before and after photos. I went to Carina's one day to try on all the clothes she was getting rid of and was happy to find a lot that I like that fit me. What was the best is that Sakura napped the whole time I tried on clothes.

My cousin's wife, Janea, is a makeup artist in Florida (see J&A Makeup Artistry) and my mom flew her out for the wedding to do Serisa's makeup. While she was here we got to spend some time together as well. We went to Winger's for my mom's birthday, shopped for garments at Deseret Book, bought some makeup at her recommendation and met some friends of hers. It was so much fun to have her around. It has been 14+ years since I lived in Florida and had spent time with her. I thought we would be too different now, but we still had lots in common and had similar humour.

The day before the wedding was a mad rush to get items for the wedding. My aunt Cherrin came for the wedding and so we went and shopped for the guest book and sourced flowers for the cake and bouquet. Gavin is Scottish and apparently it is a tradition for the bride to have white heather in the bouquet. It took us three stores to find some fake white heather, but I ordered some online at Joann's and had Carina pick them up. Phew!

That night was a catered dinner for family members at a country club in Herriman. It was nice and gave us lots of opportunities to chat with everyone before the wedding. Unfortunately, the Hawaiian haystacks weren't great for Sakura so I just filled her up with rice and pineapple. She had lots of fun later and was happily giglling while playing with my cousins outside.

All weddings must have some drama of course. The bridesmaid dresses were ordered from a Chinese supplier weeks before the wedding and my mom was stressed they hadn't arrived the week before. She finally got a hold of them and on the Monday before the wedding when it was confirmed they were still in China, but would be sending them express. We all thought there was no way they would arrive in time, but to our surprise they showed up the day before the wedding. So, after the dinner all the bridesmaids showed up to try on their dresses. One dress had an odd bead work design right where the nipple area would be. That bridesmaid was able to get it removed and found there was a small white dot underneath that the company had likely tried to hide. Another bridesmaid needed alterations at the shoulder so my mom and I worked to alter it together that night while Serisa watched Sakura, and her maid of honor finished making Serisa's leather shoes for the wedding. It was chaos. I also had to spend the night at Serisa's so someone could watch and feed her cat Whisper.

Despite my late night, I was able to make it early to my mom's in the morning where Serisa was getting her makeup done. Carina had ordered french toast from Kneader's Bakery which was a great way to start the day! Serisa was having a hard time with rushing out the door to the temple - her hair wasn't completely done, we discovered she didn't have the right shoes or nylons for her outfit, and the makeup made her feel like she didn't look like herself. Well, what wedding goes perfectly to plan? I got my makeup done after Serisa left and the rest of us headed out to the temple. Carina stopped at the store on the way to get Serisa some shoes, nylons, and some silicone rings. The ring is a funny story - procrastination on the groom's part at its best. Luckily, we all made it in time.

The temple sealing took place at the Provo City Centre Temple. I don't know anything about it really, but apparently it is an old building converted to a temple. My main complaint was that there was NO parking! They have an outdoor section and an underground section and I had to go around multiple times until someone left. Due to spring break, hundreds of youth had gone to the temple that day so the parking area was not sufficient for the onslaught of people. Other than that, the building was beautiful and I was happy to see my sister get married and sealed to her eternal companion. She seemed happy and near tears. I'm so happy for her.

lds.org

After the sealing we got pictures on the temple grounds with family. I hadn't time to do my hair so I was just glad that my hair still looked ok from when I braided it two days before. My mom and siblings stayed the whole time while Serisa had more pictures taken and then all went to Brick Oven for lunch. It was a great place! To our surprise my dad and all of his family were eating there as well! I guess we could have coordinated that more, but I think it was a spur of the moment decision for everyone. They arrived a lot earlier than us as well.

 

Next up was the wedding reception! The location was magnificent. It is called Wadley Farms and the venue is basically a castle. It was so beautiful I could understand why Serisa was determined to do her reception there. Two grand staircases lead up to the second floor where there is a large open room and a large room on each side for the groom and bride to get ready. The rooms were spacious enough for all the bridesmaids to get ready so it worked out perfectly. And it was nice that there was a huge upstairs space for people to wait until it was time to come down the stairs in dramatic fashion.

We headed straight there to set up and get ready. I handed off Sakura in her pram to Chuck to walk her around so I could help. Time flew by! I went to set up the guest book and Polaroid camera and before I was done people were arriving! I had to just take charge and had one of Serisa's friends looking up what table people were on and I took polaroids of the people for the guest book. I still feel bad I didn't do it right. I didn't know the polaroids were stickers on the back so I just started stacking them up in the order they signed the guest book and figured they would have to be coordinated later. The poor guy doing the tables also mixed up our alphabetical list so that didn't work out as well. Destin took over with the camera so I could help out with the bride and other things. During the night the guest book had the page order mixed up as well so in the end Serisa and Gavin will have to play a game of matching the photo to the name. Oh well.

There was drama with the playlist, drama with the bridesmaid dress we altered that still needed altering (thank you safety pins), drama with the Polaroid camera, drama with flowers and more that I probably wasn't aware of. Finally, with everyone seated and watching, the bridal party came down the stairs and lined up in front of everyone where Serisa and Gavin gave a short speech to start off the night. (Side note...this is where Sakura decided to wake up from her nap during all the preparation). Next we all went outside where we chatted until Gavin's friends showed off his favourite sport, armored combat. Just imagine two nights in full armour batting at each other with weapons. It was impressive and went perfectly with the castle setting. Next we got food from the caterers. With around 180 people in attendance the line for food was very long and I was one of the very last because Sakura was not going to handle the line. The food was worth it and Sakura really enjoyed her freshly carved meats. I got to eat in peace because my dad and Liliana watched her for me and they had already eaten. It seemed the night was winding down, but then the dance party started! This was my favourite part of the night because Sakura really got in the groove. To me, she was the highlight. She was jumping, twirling, moving her hips, and having the best time. We were one of the last to stay and clean up and Sakura happily pushed around her pram until we had to leave. It was a long day and I was glad to stay at Serisa's that night because it was so much closer.

Steph's Cake Creations made the BEST German Chocolate Cake
(even the Wadley Farms staff agreed)

More photos to come once someone sends me copies...

When I got up I tried to clean their apartment the best I could so it would be ready for them when they return from their honeymoon in Midway, UT. To my surprise they showed up! Lacking in warm clothes and not having money to do much they just came to get some things, including their Nintendo Switch. I informed my family and we all pitched in to help them have a fancy dinner and go horseback riding to enjoy their honeymoon.

That afternoon my dad watched Sakura while Carina and I got a wonderful massage at her chiropractor clinic. I think it was the best massage I've ever had so thank you Carina! Later that night my dad watched Sakura again while I went with Carina, Janea, and her friends to the Old Spaghetti Factory and a comedy show. It was nice that I could eat and not have to worry about eating something Sakura couldn't have. The best part was the Wiseguys Comedy Show in Taylorsville. Everything is clean so no swearing or crude humour. I believe in this show all of the comedians were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints so there was definitely some Utah humour in there. The main comedian of the night is someone that Janea's friend goes to church with. Our favourite was when he said the reason he became a comedian was because of "open mic Sunday." That's one term for a fast and testimony meeting I doubt I'll forget. It was so good to laugh so hard your face and sides hurt.

The following day we dropped off the wedding gifts to Serisa's apartment before she got back. On the way I got to visit my grandparent's graves. It was odd. I feel like because I know their spirits aren't there, it just felt weird visiting where their bodies lay. Still, I'm glad I could visit. Unfortunately, upon leaving Carina and I were swinging Sakura and somehow her wrist or hand got hurt. She would barely move it for hours. Carina felt so bad, but I knew it wasn't broken and we would just have to wait and see if it got better. To everyone's relief she seemed fine by night time when my mom was babysitting.

That night was our much awaited Instant Pot dinner with Destin! It was Destin, Janea, Carina, and I. We played video games while Destin prepared his meatloaf dinner complete with steamed vegetables and roasted potatoes. After dinner we watched a cheesy, low budget, fantasy film called Mythica. It was a great night.

I did Janea's hair too!

The best part of that night though was that I finally found my bank card! The night of the bridal shower I noticed I didn't have my bank card. I thought when I was at Smith's and Sakura was playing with the stuff in my wallet it must have fallen out. We checked with Smith's and it was nowhere to be found. I tried to note it as lost via my bank website, but it wouldn't let me because I had to verify my identity by mobile number. I gave up. Now I feel like I was prevented from marking it as lost because God knew I would find it again. I love it when things work out like that!

Sunday April 7th I got up early to pick up Janea so we could attend General Conference in downtown Salt Lake City. It was a lot of fun being there, but I'm sad to say my heart wasn't in it. I hadn't been sleeping well and sitting for such a long time was hard for me. I took notes, but only half-heartedly listened and spent most of my time drawing up dress patterns for outfits I had seen.

Afterwards we walked around temple square. I was so hungry and we couldn't find an open place to eat so I ended up getting Arby's. The mozzarella sticks were still yummy. When I got home, my mom, Carina and I packed up Sakura and lots of warm clothing to play in the snow up the canyon. Sakura loved it!! I was so glad I finished making her beanie for the occasion.

That night was our first family dinner and games night with the newlyweds! My original plan was to do breakfast for dinner, but apparently the last few times Gavin had been there they had eaten pancakes. So, thank to Carina's supplies we had sweet and sour chicken. After dinner we played five crowns and, to no one's surprise, I lost miserably.

The following day was Janea's last day. I hung out with her and my aunt Cherrin in the morning running errands. I decided we would eat healthy this time so I found a restaurant that served acai bowls. I was glad that they had lots of other options so everyone was able to get something they liked. I now know Pulp Lifestyle Kitchen exists and after seeing their menu I think I might make it on my list of places to visit whenever I am in Utah.

After saying goodbye to Janea, Cherrin and I met up with my mom and Carina at the Loveland Aquarium. Sakura didn't seem very excited about the animals at the beginning. She was more interested in pushing her pram. Eventually, we finally got to see her classic "Wow!" She had a great time.

The next morning I went to the temple with my mom. I had brought two Japanese names from a missionary back home. I forgot they hadn't done the initiatory ordinance yet so my mom managed to do that while I got clothes for the endowment ordinance. It worked out perfectly and I loved sitting in the Celestial room with my mom afterwards.

That night was the much awaited Texas Roadhouse dinner with my siblings, including my new brother in law, and my dad and Liliana. It was a lot of fun. Sakura got to meet her first black guy (I think). Carina told me the whole story, but I could see she liked him because he came to visit our table after finishing his shift and I saw the smile she gave him. We used menus to block her view of the rolls and things she couldn't eat. Carina was the real hero because she took Sakura out and about while the rest of us finished eating.

We planned to do games after the dinner but only Destin and Carina were available and Sakura was very tired. So we opted to play a game at Mom's house in the basement so Sakura could watch a show and we could play Evolution. It was fun. Moments like that make me wish I was closer to family, but I still love living in Australia and I'm happy with where I am.

My final day I had a big breakfast with Serisa and Carina at Penny Ann's cafe. It was a nice meal, but I think it was too much food. It was my final big meal before leaving though so might as well go out with a bang.

I was really stressed about my flight back to Australia with Sakura. During my time with family she had three teeth pop out and I could see two more. We had a lot of really rough nights even after she was over her sickness. I packed as much food as I could and just hoped for the best. Luckily, my mom was there when I checked in and I was happy to discover all my checked bags would go all the way to Brisbane. So, I headed to security with Sakura in the pram, diaper bag on my roller carry-on, and my backpack.

The first flight to LAX was so full she had to be on my lap the whole time. Unfortunately, the lady next to me must not have liked kids because she ignored Sakura. When the woman first sat down Sakura was happily eating cheerios and then she tried to say hello to the lady. This woman refused to look at her. Sakura was fascinated with this woman's pants and was stroking her fuzzy pants, still no reaction. I tried to just not let Sakura interact or touch her. Upon take off and landing was the worst. She was over sitting and did not want to be held for anything. No food was sufficient. During landing I'm pretty sure her ears were hurting too.

The LAX airport wasn't too bad and I had four hours to kill. I had to take a bus to the right terminal which was difficult with the pram and all my stuff. Once we got to the kids play area though things were great. She loved playing on everything and then spent some time pushing her pram around. I wasn't sure the time so I packed her up and headed to the gate. I managed to have them change me to a better seat that had a spare seat next to it. She fell asleep in the pram shortly after that and I just waited till boarding. I realised on the plane I had a bassinet seat which I don't like because you have no foot storage. It turns out it was a blessing. The lady next to us was lovely and told me not to worry if Sakura kept her up. To my surprise she fussed for only a few minutes and then I put her to sleep in the bassinet. This allowed me to rest laying down using the spare seat next to me. She got up crying a few times but quickly went back to sleep. She got up around 5:30am Utah time and someone had to tap me on the head to wake me up. I was surprised she was awake and happy. Total we both got something like 5 hours of sleep so we were fine. We watched movies and walked around the rest of the time. The landing was again her fussiest time, but I survived! I was so grateful for all the help and that we both had slept well.

Matt didn't have work for the few days on my return so we could take things easy getting back into a normal schedule. Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference. Again, I really struggled to focus on the messages so I think I will have to really focus and read the talks as part of my regular personal study. My favourite was how Sakura got so tired she suddenly laid down and fell asleep. On Sunday we took a break before the afternoon session and went to Lake Eden in North Lakes. It was so awesome just walking around and talking about things I think we might make it a regular thing.

Sunday night we decided to play Yoshi's World. Sakura was mesmerised and happily watched while we played. Monday Matt still didn't have work. I started my search for an instant pot only to find it doesn't exist in Australia. My main motivation for getting one is the following: easier, quicker meals that I could start and walk away from, I hate my rice cooker, we need to have yogurt maker to make our own yogurt to help Sakura's digestive issues. My options were: 1. Buy from Amazon.co.uk and have it sent to Australia, 2. Buy in US, ship to Australia, and buy a transformer for the voltage difference, 3. Buy and alternative all in one cooker in Australia, 4. Buy just a yogurt maker. We decided to just get the yogurt maker for now, but after spending some time at the shops we gave up on that and decided to get an all in one cooker, oh and a waffle maker so I could use my paleo waffle mix I brought from Utah. Yumm! My Philips All in One Cooker just arrived so I'll have to update on how that goes next time. I'm hoping it is worth it!

 

Last night I convinced Matt to be productive and we finally installed our garage door opener. There were several complications that required some creativity on Matt's part. Apparently our house just wasn't designed the same as the DIY videos and so it was far from a simple installation. We did it though and it works!

Something else Matt and I started was the Wim Hof Method. This was what he wanted for his birthday so we waited until I got back to do it together. I'm not going into details about it, but it is a special breathing technique that helps alkalize the body and part of it involves taking cold showers. I'll update more as we go. It's so good to be back and have a normal schedule again!

I made a video of her entire trip, but it's too big to post so I made it an unlisted YouTube video as it seemed the best solution.