Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was wierd. It's just really hard to get in the holiday spirit when it's 90 degrees outside. And I found out that this is the cool season. Though I am loving the warm weather, it is really trying my testimony of wearing g's...Anyways, we celebrated by eating at our American neighbors' BBQ. I'm not gonna lie, I really really missed my grandma's fudge and Christine's rolls. I got so momentarily homesick that I bought a plane ticket for me and Avery to go home for a week at Christmas.

We also went to the zoo on Turkey Day. I guess this is a new family tradition.

The zoo was definitly a different experience being in another country. For example, this picture shows how close we were to the tigers.

Yes, you are looking at a two foot high wooden fence protecting the spectators. To their credit, there was a little moat between the tiger and us. And this sturdy looking string in the moat, I guess to prevent the tiger from crossing it.

We bought a scooter this week which cuts travel time in half because you can scoot between all the cars stuck in traffic. Jonny has made me promise to never drive it by myself, which actually I think is a smart idea because I'm learning that the right of way is always determined by who is in the bigger vehicle. Which is nice because our car is huge so I can just pull out into crazy busy intersections and everyone stops.

We had our first visitors this week from the States - Davis and Melissa. We took them out to see the Red Light District. It was a Monday night, so it wasn't as hopping as we'd hoped. Actually, I really thought that Vegas was much dirtier and trashier than here. Not that I don't still love Vegas. I guess what's different here is they are just more open about the prostitution. Inside all of the bars/clubs, there were Thai women with numbers pinned on. So that the guys could order them. Also as we walked around, people kept showing us menus of the different things you could order to watch. Which are much to graphic to describe on here.

The thing that really disturbed all of us though was the disgusting fat middle aged men looking for a nice Thai treat. They just looked so pathetic and dead inside.

Look at this guy's face as some poor woman is giving him a massage. I bet his grandkids and wife back in the States are proud.

In continuing my documentary, I'd like to talk for a minute about how much I respect the Thai people. I was talking to my brother the other day, telling him about my maid. After talking about how she lives with us, and the different things she does, he said that it sounded kind of sad. And that surprised me because she doesn't seem sad at all. She seems very grateful to have a job. And she really takes pride in her work. Like all of the Thai people I've met. From the woman who sweeps our street every day to the parking guys in every single tiny parking lot who help you back into your spot. They work so hard and take their jobs very seriously. There are lots of things I miss about America - the infrastructure, the order, Chilis - but I definitely don't miss the sense of entitlement.

Finally Settling In

So we've been here now for 2 and half weeks, and I finally feel like I'm starting to get my bearings. I've ventured out once solo to the grocery store, and I was able to tell the taxi driver how to get me home. Ok maybe I was only a mile from my house, but still...I also drove with the girls but without Jonny last week, and we all survived. I seriously drove 5 mph on some of the streets and there was a huge line of cars behind me. Of course no one got angry or honked. A few patient drivers passed me while giving me an understanding nod as they drove by. I can't get over how polite everyone here is. I've learned that the key to driving on these ultra skinny roads is to drive as much as possible in the middle of both lanes when no one is coming at you, and to hit this wonderful little button that the cars here are built with that makes your side mirrors fold in. Yes, you are often driving so close to other cars and huge cement poles and trees in the road, that those little mirrors will hit things if they're sticking out like normal. Side note - Jonny and I's favorite Thai so far is this tiny old man who works as the guard to the front of our neighborhood. He always looks to happy to see us when we drive in, and he is just the perfect little neighborhood greeter. I think he's 85 years old and weighs about 60 pounds, and this is a fairly accurate guess since half the time, he's shirts off in his little post. Yesterday we drove by and his pants were hanging from the guard rail, so he must have been super hot. I'll have to try to sneak a picture of him. Here are some pictures I have taken:

Baby AJ (as Maggie calls her) learned how to sit up.

It really rained for the first time since we've been here. Our front yard turned into a pool.

I ventured out with some friends we met in the ward to go celebrate our first Thai holiday, that I can't pronounce. Everyone buys these candle flower arrangement thingies and put them in the water to recieve forgiveness for their sins and for polluting the water so much. Jonny was off having the greatest day ever getting a two hour massage with some friends that just came in town from Utah, so I decided to take the girls without him. Very. Bad. Choice. It started off ok, but then Mags decided she was hot and miserable, and she went into meltdown mode. Which is shocking to people out here because I haven't seen a single Thai child melt down yet. As we left, everyone stared at the screaming white child as I plowed the double stroller through basically a mosh pit. Making friends everywhere we went. The only pictures I took are pre-meltdown, but I am not going to forget her behavior, and I told her she's never leaving the house again.

This is Jhoi, our maid. Having a maid is just as great as it sounds. And you get used to it much quicker than you would think. She cleans, does laundry, makes dinner. I am very concerned about how I am going to be able to live in the real world whenever we move back home. Ok, well I don't want to go on about the maid too much, because I'm afraid that you guys will hate me. One funny thing did happen though. I went into our closet and found that Jhoi had folded and organized everything nice and neat. Then I looked in my "goody" drawer and found that those outfits were also folded nice and neat. She had even found my "nurse" outfit, and had folded my little nurse hat perfectly and had pulled out the nurse dress and hung it up with my church dresses. Um...embarrassing.

Hello Thailand!

We're finally here. Well, we got here about 10 days ago, but my internet has been having serious issues. Which I was angrily blaming Thailand for, but I'm beginning to suspect is my computer's fault.

Anyways, here we are at the Atlanta airport about to leave. Tina and my mom both had to drive to get all our stuff here.
A true miracle happened, and the flights went great. We had a 5 hour one to LA, and then a monster 18 hour one to Bangkok. Once Maggie figured out the headphones, she watched TV and slept the ENTIRE time. TV is a true blessing from God. We had bought about 20 new toys and jammed them in a carry-on, and we only pulled out one of them for the last 30 minutes of the second flight. Aves just made squeaks and slept, happy as can be that she got to be held so much. The only kink we had traveling was with the d word pugs. For some reason they were dropped off at baggage claim in LA instead of being taken straight to the second flight. And no one was even going to tell us. The second miracle of the trip occured when we picked the absolute slowest line for the Thai Airways ticket counter. We were only the fourth group in line, and we probably waited over 45 minutes. Well, lucky for us, this put us at the counter at the exact same moment that one of the workers a couple counters over from us said something to another worker about the Wood pets being stranded at baggage claim. After a huge fuss, Jonny had to walk literally half a mile to the baggage claim and haul the howling pugs back to the ticket counter to recheck them. And since the little stinkers have decided that they are no longer house-trained, I'm pretty sure Jonny now wishes we hadn't overheard and just accidentally left them in LA..
This was during our first flight when the guy next to me got completely hammered after seeing who he was flying next to.
Here's our house! It's surrounded by a wall, so it feels like we live in a fortress.

This is the view behind our house. Back there is a rooster that wakes up every morning at 4:30 and begins crowing his head off. Hopefully I'll get a picture of him soon.

Every day I feel a little less disoriented here, but I still feel like I'm living in the twilight zone. The Thai people so far seem very polite, reserved, and pretty much opposite of Americans. The traffic here is bananas, and everyone is constantly cutting everyone else off, but no one seems to mind or get angry. I've only heard one car honk so far in anger, and it was at us :) I drove for the first time today, and it was so scary because they drive on the left hand side of the road and the streets are sooooo skinny, and there are scooters zipping around everywhere. I kept drifting to the left since it's opposite, and I accidentally bumped someone on their scooter, but luckily we were both going like 5mph, so it didn't seem to phaze him. Of course he didn't honk or even look mad. Also, Thai people are in excellent shape. I've only seen two Thais so far that even looked a little chubby. Which reminds me, the biggest adjustment I've had is the food. The first real Thai food I tried was so so so spicy that I could only eat one bite. The first couple of days here I just lived on a loaf of bread. We have found some stores that sell American food, but it is crazy expensive. I'm now surviving on pizza which is what we've eaten the last two nights. But today we interviewed a woman who I think we're going to hire to be our maid, and this decision is 99% based on the fact that she said she can cook American food. EVERYONE here has a maid, and I think the neighborhood thinks we're white trash since we don't have one yet. Ok, we'll I've gone on and on and nobody has probably read this far, so I'll continue my Thai documentary later.

Goodbye USA

I have been terrible at blogging, but am committing to do better since now that I've moved out of my parents' basement, hopefully I'll have more to write about. So I'm just going to do a quick catch-up post about our last few weeks in the States.
Yellow River Game Ranch with Grandpa. My dad is seriously the best grandpa, and my girls already miss him like crazy. Maggie talks about him all the time. I love you dad.


Maggie's first haircut. It was a team effort by me and Jonny.

Lots of playtime with friends in the parents' basement. This picture captures the essence of Maggie and Drake's relationship. She's always bugging him, but he secretly loves it.

Trip up to Kentucky to see Holly and the boys.

Ok, this picture is in the wrong place, but it's too late at night to fix. This was the day before Halloween, and we were at TGIFridays for lunch and saw a sign that said free appetizers would be given to anyone in costume. So Avery suddenly dressed up like a diaper head and scored us free food. The manager came over to our table to see if we were serious, and we were.

Aves had her first bite of cereal.

Logan and Christine came to visit.

Maggie misses you too, mom.

Surprise birthday weekend up at a cabin for Kristina.

Things got crazy.

This is me warming up the lake for everyone before they jumped in.

Halloween. The girls dressed up as the princess and the pea.

Maggie had a wardrobe malfunction after wearing her costume for about five minutes. Her cute little belly just didn't quite fit. And yes, that is a thong around her neck.

I am so in love with this little pea pod, even if she has forgotten how to sleep through the night and is now demanding to be held all day long. Look at that face.