Jay's Big Weekend

Jay had his birthday party on Friday after school. He invited 14 boys his age. They all came over, and we went to the pool to swim for an hour. I just kept counting over and over to make sure they were all above water! Then we went to the bowling ally and everyone played a game of bowling. Mike showed up after that with pizza, and they all came down in front of our houses and played soccer, and ate pizza. It was quite an event! I think he had lots of fun. I'm so glad he has such a fun group of boys to be with. Here are a couple of pictures of the party...





On Sunday morning, we had Jay's baptism. It was such a special day. He was so excited about it, and I feel he was very ready. The other members from our branch who are here right now came at 9:00am to our Dongjiao pool. We had asked the hotel if we could use the pool for about 30 minutes. We went inside, and Jay and Mike changed into their white clothes. Jay wore judo pants that I had found, and a white t-shirt. We stood around the pool and had a short meeting. We sang I am a Child of God. It was so sweet to hear, and it echoed in room. I gave a short talk about baptism, and Mike helped Jay into the pool. Jay says it was really cold, but I don't think he knows how a lake might have been! It was so neat to see Michael baptise Jay. We sang hymns while we waited for them to change, and then Rachel gave a really good talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. We then ended the meeting, and went to our house for sacrament meeting. During the meeting Mike and the other priesthood holders confirmed Jay a member of the Church. Jay is the first baptism for the Nanjing Branch. I think it will be a special memory for him. While in our little meeting, we were singing acapella because nobody can play the piano. It took us three different songs to figure out a tune we could remember well enough to sing without music! After the meeting, we had surprise visitors. One of the teacher couples from BYU came and didn't know how to get to their University. They called President Yu, and he had a taxi bring them to our house. They were a lovely Hawaiian couple, who were so much fun. They joined all of us in our brunch, and Brother Panoke played his ukulele and taught us songs and dances. It was so much fun. They will be such a fun addition to our branch, and I know the Chinese students will love them! We had a wonderful day, and I really feel that Jay will have something special to remember his entire life. We all wished so much that we could have shared this day with our family. But we are happy to share the photos and grateful for the internet!

Our branch. The single brother, Darrin, forgot until President Yu called and woke him up. It's a good thing, because we wouldn't have had two witnesses! My camera lense was all fogged up from the humidity.

Summer Fun in Utah

We had such an amazingly great summer with our family in Utah! Caitlin, Jay, Eli, and I arrived on June 27th. Rachel and Nicole were still with their Tibet trip, and Mike was working. They came July 9th. We had so much fun with our family. We are so grateful to them for letting us mooch off of them for the whole summer, and making us feel so welcome. It means so much to Mike and I that our children feel so loved and accepted when they go home to family. We did so many fun things, it's hard to name them all. There were pool parties, and ice-blocking, picnics, four-wheeling, kick-ball games, movies, raging waters, Lagoon, Lake Powell, shopping, eating and more eating, and most of all...playing with cousins, sisters and brothers! We loved every minute. I'm sure I've forgotten some of the fun things we did, but there were too many to count. Here are just a few pictures of some fun times we had...

Here are the kids all making a train while ice-blocking.


After ice-blocking, all of the kids threw sponges at Grandpa Russon's face. It was a high-light of the day! Here is Karlyn giving it her best shot!



A fun trip to Hill Air force Base to see the Air Museum. The kids really enjoyed this. And the husbands were all jealous we went!


One special tradition is Grandpa Russon taking us to eat hamburgers, fries, and fry sauce at Paces' when we arrive. Here the kids enjoy their meal.


We love to go swimming at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill's pool. Here is Jenny-Ruth (Mike's cousin) at our family party. She loves to get everyone wet!



We spent a week in Lake Powell. It was so much fun. Here are a couple of pictures of the trip...the center one of Nicole water-skiing! She and Jay both learned how to ski this trip. Rachel and Caitlin were so close! Next year!

Rachel's Summer...

This summer was way fun for me. It was also really busy...

First thing we did this summer, was me and Nicole went on out trip to Tibet for Biking. It was way fun. We spent 3 weeks in Tibet and 15 days biking. The biking days were up to 75 miles long. We went to the base camp of Mt. Everest by bike, which was awesome to see. While we were there, about a week and a half in, I got really sick. Luckily, though, i was able to get to a hospital, and three days, and 14 I.V. drips later, i was okay. We were able to have a fun time with all of the people involved and got really close to all of them. I was able to see how hard it is to do things like this that involve extreme sport. My favorite thing about the trip was going to all of the places in Nepal and Tibet to go site seeing and look at all of the monasteries and national monuments. It was fun to be in another country and see their culture. While we were doing the biking, we camped all of the way. It was hard at first, because me and Nicole weren't used to the conditions, but it ended up being fun, and I even learned how to pitch my own tent! ha ha. It was a way fun experience, and I am so glad I went on the trip.
I'm grateful we are given all of these fun opportunities!


After Tibet I went back to Utah to see all of my Family and stuff, and the first thing me and Nicole did was go to Girl's Camp. It was way fun, I always like girls camp. Since we don't have a ward, we went to Becky's (our cousin who is Nicole's age) ward.

After girls camp I went to E.F.Y at Utah state in Logan, which was WAY fun. I had sooo much fun. I met some great people and had a fun time!

Then, when we got home we went to Lake Powell for a week, which was fun because we don't get the chance to go there very often. I tried to learn how to ski, and ALMOST succeeded ( i got up on slalom but my back foot fell out) and had fun bumper tubing and knee boarding!

Then, after that it was pretty low-key getting stuff like shopping done and getting ready to go home. We went to Lagoon which was way fun and we did lots of fun things with our family.

All together my summer was awesome and I had alot of fun!!

Tibet: How Nicole saw it...

Nicole and Rachel spent 3 weeks cycling through Tibet this summer. I have borrowed Nicole's journal and will copy a few things here:

Wednesday, June 21
We have been in Lhasa for 3 days now, and it is just beautiful! The train ride was a bit long, but it all come out great! Yesterday we went to 2 monasteries. It was really cool to see! The sky is unbelievably blue, and everyone has really unique features. The people have kept their heritage close to them. They have painting of history and Buddhas on every wall almost. Today we got to shop. I bout some cool jewelry, 2 shirts, and 1 skirt. Today I went to Pateka Palace. It has 1000 rooms and was built for Dahlie Llama the leader of Buddhism. It is beautiful with white and red walls. I am excited to bike tomorrow. I think it will be a challenge!

June 28th
Over 5000 kilometers from Beijing! Wow! On the third day Rachel had bad altitude sickness. I stayed up with her all night then went in the truck the next day. Then, after that truck day, I biked 100 kilometers to a town called Shigatzay. The biking wasn't hard because Katherina biked with me.

July 6th ( a compilation of different parts of her trip)

Mount Everest: Mount Everest is so beautiful! OK so we get there, right? And all of the sudden my camera runs out of battery and I can't take a picture of Everest! So, I just use Rachel's camera. At base camp there was really nothing, but it was still cool! At the top of every mountain and pass they have prayer flags. They are really cool! It's always nice to see them when you are biking up a pass on a mountain!

The Crew: OK, so we have this crew of Nepalese and Tibetan men that set up our tents. First there is the land cruiser driver. He is nuts, and isn't very nice. One time we had to wake up early, because the road would be closed from 8:00am to 9:00pm and he was too drunk to drive. He drove the support vehicle for those of us who couldn't bike and longer. Then there is "Cookie" That is the nickname for the cook. He is super short and has a gold tooth. He is a really great cook, and is hilarious! I love him! Today we lost him! He was just wandering around and finally we found him. Then there is Mila Cookie's helper. He looks like Uncle Jared, but Asian. He carries stuff and sets up tents. He is nice from what I've noticed. Then there is Shirpa. He is really nice and has good English. OK, so one night the crew was getting a gas lamp ready for the tent so that we could see, while me, Rachel, Devon, Keri, and JJ played cards. It was about 10:15pm when we saw orange everywhere outside the tent. Me and Keri go out and see tons of stuff on fire! It was crazy! We were so stupid because it could explode, so we ran. I saw Shirpa pick up the burning gas tank with flames all over it and throw it in the river. He was really brave, he is OK though. We ended up waiting like 20 minutes for the gas to run out. It was freezing outside!

All Downhill: OK, So yesterday was the best day of the whole trip! So, first we wake up at like 3:30am and start biking. The mountains are beautiful and they all look very mystical like something you would see in Lord of the Rings. It is really blue in the sky and green on the ground but no trees. Then all of the sudden we are going downhill and all you see is trees. It is like the rain forest. It was soo beautiful! They had tons of waterfalls with rainbows shining through, and little rivers every which way. The whole biking part of that day was going downhill on gravel. It had rained the night before so there were lots of puddles and it was very muddy! I was covered with dirt! It was soo fun! It was so relaxing because instead of peddling the bike did it all for you! I was so grateful for everything God has given us! I felt soo blessed! It was like walking in to one of the pages of a National Geographic magazine! It made me think how wonderful heaven must be!

Nicole wrote a really fun journal that she will always be glad she has. I just copied a few entries here. I think that the girls had such a wonderful experience, and I'm so grateful they were able to go on this trip!

Here Comes the Summer!

Some great news! I somehow, accidentally, found the spot for changing everything on my blog to English! Now I can read all of the buttons, and I know what I'm doing! Just another part of the whole China experience. We daily have things happen that we just remind ourselves...We're in China. It really helps us to become more flexible, to look on the bright side of things.

Wow, it's been a big week and a half. Last week was the last week of school. It seems that the school wanted to fit everything in that last week! Between award evenings, good-bye dinners, and packing for the girls, we stayed pretty busy. Monday, we all went over to Jay's film festival. Each person in his class made their own movie on the computer using video clips and photos. They even served popcorn and gave us tickets. It was lots of fun, and Jay had a great time making his movie. Mike took the older girls to their award ceremony night, where students received certificates for participation and out-standing accomplishments. On Thursday, I went over to the school to play with Eli at his end of school party. It was supposed to be a water fun day, but it was a little too cold for getting wet. IT's been unusually cool here this June, which we are not complaining about. It's starting to warm-up now, and we hope it stays coolish for just another week! Friday, I went to see the end-of-school assembly, which was fun. Many of the teachers over at the school joke about the Wadley family taking over the school. When you have five involved children in a small school, they get seen a lot in the assemblies and activities. I am proud of the kids and their willingness to jump in and try new things. I have watched them grow and develop new talents, and I feel grateful that they have so many opportunities.

On Friday, I took Rachel to the doctor for her final check-up to be able to go to Tibet after last week's incident. She was just fine, and given the OK to head off to Tibet. Friday night we took the kids to get Pizza, and found Pirates of the Caribbean playing in English, for a celebration of the end of school. It was also the last family dinner before the family all split in different directions for the summer. We finished packing Rachel and Nicole for Tibet on Saturday, along with all of the other places they will be going after that...girls camp, EFY, and a visit with Utah family. We dropped them off to the train station on Saturday night at 9:45 for their 48 hour ride. Mom and Dad Nichols know exactly what that was like! I think they had a good time, and feel like the group is a fun one. Rachel called us Monday night right after they arrived, to tell us they were OK. She said it's amazing and beautiful there, and they sounded excited for the trip.

We actually got to spend Father's Day with Michael this year, which is a first in a few years now. It was great to be with him. He got an outdoor lounge-chair for father's day and was able to have a nice nap out on the balcony guilt-free as he put it (that makes it sound like I never let him rest! Not true, but maybe he would guilty if he sat there while I make dinner :-) Today, Michael left for Japan on business, and won't be back before we leave for Utah. We miss him already, but I'm excited that he will get to be there over a weekend and might get to actually see some things there. We will all look forward to meeting up in a couple of weeks in Utah for a couple of weeks of fun with our family.
Here is Eli with his good friend Domonik at the end-of-school party.


Rachel and her friends Katerina and Maria at the Award Night.

Nicole and friends Maggie and Isabella at the Award Night.

Caitlin graduated from the 5th grade this year and will head off to middle-school (upstairs) next year. Here she is with her friend Pauline.

I was walking down the hall, and saw this poster. I was surprised to see that Jay was the artist. I guess there are lots of frogs around the schoolyard, and some unfortunate endings for many...


Rachel and Nicole ready to head to the train station.

Wow, all of the instructions for this web sight are in Chinese, so you can imagine how difficult it is to navigate my way around! Apparently, I lost my password, and couldn't read anything, so I just spent 25 minutes trying to get on here! At least I'm here now! We've had an eventful week. On Wednesday morning, Caitlin had her open-house for a big fifth-grade project, along with a great assembly in which she acted, sang, and danced about preventing pollution. She did a lot of work, and a great job. She and her team had some fun things at their booth. Here is a photo of her in the skit about a family with great recycling skills, and next she shares the craft of recycling paper into...PAPER! She was also on the design team for the cute t-shirt she is wearing.







On Thursday, and Friday, we went to see the school Production. It was called In The Zone. Rachel and Nicole were both in it, and did a terrific job! We are so proud of them. Nicole had a huge monologue to memorize, and Rachel had a big part, and two songs. It was a fun play, very colorful as you can see, and there was fun dancing and costumes. They worked so hard on it, and I think, had a great time.










On Saturday things got a little crazy. We had a bit of a scare. We met Saturday afternoon to pack up the bikes to send to Tibet. Afterward, we had lots of extra bubble-wrap, so the kids going on the trip thought it would be fun to wrap themselves up in it and sort of wrestle. Of course they had no arms, cause they were wrapped in. Well, one boy dived at Rachel, and knocked her over, and she hit her head on the ground. She was unconscious. We thought everything was OK, but then she couldn't remember anything and was FREAKING out. She couldn't remember anything several days before, and nothing of that day. The strangest thing was she had the shortest memory ever. She would ask what was wrong with her, and we would tell her, then she would proceed to ask about 20 questions about it. About 15 seconds later she would start again with all of the questions. Lots of things would make her start crying, like when she would remember that she was Pio (yes, a weird name) in the play and she would ask when is her play? We said last night, and she would start crying...I missed my play? Then we would tell her no, you did really well, etc. Pretty soon we just started telling her everything after she asked the first question. She did this for about 4 hours, until she finally went to bed. Anyway, we were at the doctor office, and hospital for a ct scan. She doesn't have any swelling or bleeding in the brain, so that is good. She had a level 3 concussion out of 3, though of course there are different levels of 3, she wasn't unconscious for a really long time. The good news is she is remembering things today, and last night and this morning she had all of her motor skills. The doctor was happy with her progress, on Sunday, and especially today. She still doesn't remember it happening, or for about 4 hours after, but she remembers most everything else. She just has a huge headache now and slept all Sunday afternoon. We are very hopeful that she can go on her trip, and he will check her on Friday to give the go-ahead. She needs to rest lots this week. On the way home from the hospital she threw-up in the car, but I think it may have been because of the Tylenol they had given her. It was pretty scary, and I was glad Michael was with me. She has recovered really well so far, and the doctor says if she takes it easy and continues to do this well, she should be OK with her trip, but HAS to wear her helmet at all times! We are really grateful that things are working out so well, and are really praying for her to be well enough for this trip she has been training so hard for. She is so mad to miss school today because it is the last week of school. Here are some photos of packing up the bikes to put on the train, and some of the "bubble-wrap sumo-wrestling" as they called it. It all seemed like such a cute, innocent game! Next time we'll insist on a bubble-wrap helmet, or maybe leave the arms free???

What a great and busy few weeks!

Wow, it's been so long since I've written on the blog! We have had wonderful visitors, and moved house, along with all of the things life brings. Starting the end of April, Mike's Mother and Father visited us. They first went to Beijing, and then rode a train to Tibet. The train was 48 hours, after which they stayed in Lhasa for a day. They then flew to Xian for one day before coming to Nanjing! I think they were probably worn right out by the time they got here. But we were so happy to see them, and really enjoyed showing them around Nanjing, and just spending time with them. The kids took turns showing-off everything they've been doing, and of course, Grandma and Grandpa were appropriately impressed! We had a fun trip to Suzhou to show them the beautiful gardens and the water canals. I think that they may have been traumatized by the driving here. Dad's knuckles were pretty white. He didn't want to take a taxi, as he was just getting used to our driver. Then, we ended up needing to take a taxi to a BBQ last minute while our driver was off. It was the May holiday, which means Purple Mountain was crazy-busy with Chinese tourists. The only thing we could find was a small, beat-up, Changan van. I swear they are smaller than a Volkswagen bug! Anyway, all nine of us shoved in and spent 60 horrifying minutes getting to the BBQ. We were only 2 hours late! They were good sports about it all. We had a wonderful celebration of Nicole's 13th Birthday! She has grown-up so much this year. We had a fun day and even tried out big blow-up balls you climb into and roll around in on the water. Then we got stuck on a malfunctioning mini tidal-wave, and got really dizzy! It was a fun day, and great to have Grandma and Grandpa here for it. We loved every minute with them, and are so grateful they came. Here are a few pictures from their visit.

Here is Nicole's family party at the Japanese Tympanyaki restaurant. YUMMY!



This side-ways picture is of Mom on the over 500 long stair case that she climbed with me one morning! It's way more steep than it looks in this photo. Way to go Mom!

This is QiXia Mountain, where there is a Buddhist temple and monks.



Here we are in ZhouZhuang, the water-town.




I guess the next big thing this month was our move. Yes, we finally moved to the house we plan on STAYING in until we leave Nanjing! We moved 2 days after Mom and Dad left. It was crazy! But, I was so grateful to Mike for taking a personal day. I don't think I could have done that again on my own! Moving is just plain work! You would think we are pros by now, and maybe we are, but it just takes so long to unpack!!!! Now that we are here, we really love this house. We've actually got pictures on the walls, so we are feeling pretty settled. We have the best view in our backyard to the bamboo forest, with a small patio and a BBQ.

Here is the moving crew that moved us both times. They are called the Ant House Moving Company, and it's amazing what these little guys can do!


In the mean-time, the kids have been busy. Eli had is last swim-lesson for the year, and Jay is finishing up his Kungfu lessons. He is now working on the rope. This makes nunchucks (how do you spell that?) the bamboo staff, and now the rope. He should be ready to protect us all, or maybe just be in a kungfu movie? Caitlin gave a wonderful performance of her tap routine in the school cultural assembly, and Rachel did a great job with a modern dance. Rachel and Nicole have been training for 6 months now for their big bike-trip to Tibet in two weeks. They will stay for 22 days, cycling for 15. They will camp at the base of Mount Everest! We are so excited for them! What a great summer they have planned, with this trip, and girls camp, and then Rachel to EFY. Then, they get to hang out in Bountiful with family. What lucky girls! They are both working very hard on the School Production that will be this week.
Here is a picture of Caitlin with her friends that did the tap routine with her.


On May 19th, I had the awesome opportunity of traveling to Beijing with a group of people from Nanjing (we were from 11 different countries) to run in the Great Wall Marathon. What a fantastic experience it was! I have never run more than a 10k, so Last fall, when I decided to train for it, I wasn't sure if I would be able to do the whole thing. I've been training since January, and it's been such a good growing experience for me. With this race, the first part is on a steep portion of the Great Wall, in a beautiful location, and then it goes through small farm villages, finishing with another big wall section. It was SO HARD!!! But so much fun. At the 1/2-way point, I wondered why I had not done the 1/2 marathon, and didn't know if I could do another half! It was a terrific feeling when I called Mike, who was at home taking care of the kids, to tell him I actually finished! Some of the high-lights of the race were the view on the wall, the village people lined-up to cheer me as I ran by, the children who all wanted high-fives and gave me wild flowers, seeing goats, pack-mules, and beautiful gardens, 4 from our group who waited for me after their half-marathon so I wouldn't be alone at the end after all of that training, and the amazing support and congratulations I received from the Nanjing Group, and other friends back here in Nanjing! Not to mention great family support. I think the most special thing about the race, was the miracle of no pain in my hip. I haven't run without pain since last August, and I didn't feel any pain during the run. I know it was a blessing, and not the only one of the day! It was truly an awesome experience for me, and I'm so glad I did it. The two people who got me through all of that training, were my awesome husband, who believes I can do anything, and then encourages me to do everything...And my sister Lori, who was my e-mail coach! And now that this has turned into a note of thanks...I guess I need to thank my IPOD...who ran with me every step of the way!!!

The day after the Race, my cousin Misha met me in Beijing. It was so fun to see her! We stayed for 2 1/2 days in Beijing, and had a great time! We stayed in a really cute Hutong hotel with a nice garden, and explored the city. The day we went to the Great-Wall poured rain. It was pretty, but extremely wet! We then came back to Nanjing where I showed her around the city, and we took lots of walks around Purple Mountain seeing the historical sights, pagodas, the city wall, and some really pretty gardens. She discovered she enjoyed the back and foot massages, so we were sure to fit in some of those. We went to a relief society Chinese cooking class, which was lots of fun. We then made Chinese food at home, and got a little carried away, making enough food for days! We had lots of fun on a day-trip to Suzhou and took some great pictures of the canals, and lots of crazy signs. Misha left this morning, and I miss her already. I tried to talk her into staying longer, but she seemed to think she needs to work or something! Well, now I have to get back to real life for at least a couple of weeks, until I get to go to Utah with the kids and play for the summer!

Here, Misha is posing with one of the many people who asked for a picture with her:-)Actually, there were quite a few real people who did ask!

The Suzhou canal is so interesting, it's hard to pick photos to share.

I don't know about you, but I would personally rather retire somewhere sunny, rather than to a closet! I wonder what the age of retirement is here?




Sorry for the incredibly large entry! It's been far too long!

April 22, 2007

April has been such a beautiful month. We are loving the weather, and the green we enjoy here on the mountain. Every time I drive home from downtown, I feel like I'm going to a clean, peaceful place. We have all stayed busy doing all sorts of different things. Mike has been working hard, like always. I have been running lots. Rachel and Nicole have been trining on their bikes, working on their production, and working hard in school (we hope). They went to a youth conference for church last weekend in Shanghai. They really had a great time. I can't believe all of the stuff they fit into the conference in 2 evenings and one day! Caitlin is getting ready for a tap-dance she will do for the school in a couple of weeks. She is also doing a little play-school on Saturday mornings for the kids in the neighborhood. Right up her ally! Jay and Eli are playing hard, and suffering through homework. They are also living in a starwars world right now. That is all that they think about! I've included a few pictures of some pictures I took on a walk around town, and a couple of Eli's swimming lessons. We are looking forward to having Mom and Dad Nichols come on Wednesday for a visit! We can't wait to show them around and play with them! We will be moving into our house the second week of May. We look forward to that, but are doing fine in our apartments.