2 years later...

Jennie brought to my attention last night that it is almost exactly 2 years since we came home from Chile. It seems like forever ago and just yesterday at the same time. I decided I should start keeping our family blog again. I've been occupied during the last 2 years keeping up Stephen's cancer blog. That is most of what our lives rotated around. Here is what else has happened in the last 2 years. For Jeff, we will call them the 'Consulting Years.' About 2 years ago he started consulting for Anglo-American. Anglo is a large mining company that had operations in Chile. He completed a 6 month contract with them while the rest of us moved back to the USA. He joined us when the contract finished. From there, he did consulting with a couple other small consulting companies in Utah, and finally for E-bay. February 4th he began working again as an 'employee' for EMC, a large consulting firm that has an office in Draper, UT. For me, we will call the last 2 years the 'Teaching Years.' Upon returning from Chile, I began teaching at Sylvan in American Fork, from there,I taught math at Heritage Schools, a psychiatric residential treatment center for youth in Provo. As Stephen needed more care, I quit working full time and went part time for Alpine School District, teaching 7th grade Math at Mountain Ridge Junior High. I've really enjoyed being a teacher. I've gained greater respect for teachers and greater understanding of the skills my own children need to have. These teaching jobs blessed us with health insurance during the time Jeff was working as an independent consultant. I have made hundred of thousands of dollars teaching the last 2 years! Jared and MJ (Maria Jose) - For Jared, the last two years he has worked on becoming the top salesman for his company. He sells energy efficiency solutions to home owners in California. For MJ, we will call her last two years the 'English years.' She has worked really hard and has become an excellent speaker of English. We could also call them the 'running years' as she has picked up the hobby of running. Both she and Jared are going to run a marathon this June. Sarah has focused on schooling and health care. She finished her bachelor degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. She helped in many ways with Stephen's treatments and care. They went on 'field trips' all over Salt Lake City after radiation and other treatments. She started her first 'full time' job and is loving it. We could call her years the 'Entry to Adulthood.' Not sure she will like that title but I think it fits. She took on Adult problems and handled them with grace. Stephen - we all know the last 2 years as the 'cancer years.' They are well documented in the blog: www.supportstephen.wordpress.com Jennie - School has been the focus. The 'Education Years.' She finished high school at Lone Peak and entered college at UVU. Friends and social activities rounded out any free time she had. She also spent much of the last 2 years becoming best friends with her brother Stephen. So maybe she should call her last two years the 'BFF years' The things those two talked about and the trouble they got into! Stephen was really fun at sporting events when he was on steroids! Nate - we'll call his the 'growing years.' He went from being a foot shorter than Jeff to being a half an inch taller than Jeff. He entered Junior High, became an Aaronic priesthood holder and ate lots of food! 'Becoming a Teen' is what he's been up to. Now he brushes his teeth, puts on deodorant, and makes sure his hair looks perfect before I even ask! He's gone from being able to do 1 push up to doing more than I can count. Sounds like a teen age boy! Josh - Spent the last 2 years 'becoming a hero.' First he was heroic about moving around and changing schools, then he was heroic about the was he became a voracious reader, and finally he was heroic by become a stem cell donor to help Stephen with his cancer treatments. It's got to be exhausting doing all that hero work. Besides all of that, he two has grown like crazy! I'm not sure how tall he is but he wears size 8 1/2 shoes and so he is perfect for all of Stephen's shoes (size 9) that all the other boys in the family are too big for. He loves wearing them and we love seeing those shoes kicking around. So there you have it...we are all caught up. I should add that we gained one more family member 'Perlita' Stephen's 'little pearl'. She is about 5 months old and has brought our house so much joy and happiness in the last 5 months. She is the perfect little dog for us. What will the next 2 years bring? Who knows. It is amazing what can happen in a couple years time. I will end this post with some advice from Stephen...There is something good about every day. Find it and enjoy the day.

The 'Visa Run' to Mendoza

This last weekend we took a trip commonly know in Chile as the ‘visa run.’ Tourist visas are only valid for 90 days. To renew your visa you can pay the government of Chile $100 per person or you can leave the country and then when you re-enter, you will receive a new tourist visa. We opted to spend our $600 (actually much less than that) by traveling to Mendoza, Argentina to visit.
We went by bus. On Saturday morning we left the house at 6 am to be at the bus station by 7 am. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 7:30 am. We left a couple hours after that but we were just happy we had a bus to go on. Our bus had been hit by a car so originally they were going to put us all in vans. We were happy when they showed up with a bus! The trip to the top of the Andes was an interesting one. The landscape changed as we went. Near the top there was a series of about 30 switchbacks! The top was all rocks and sand. The rocks were smooth and shiny from the wear of snow and rain. They had big gorges in the filled with sand that spread out into what I think is called an alluvial fan. The whole time I was watching the rocks I kept thinking of Dale and how much he would enjoy seeing it. The pictures just don’t do it justice. (for those who don’t know, my brother in law, Dale, is a geology major)







Just after crossing the Chilean/Argentine border there is a border patrol station. The bus pulled in and we got in line to leave Chile. Then we stepped to the side 3 feet and got in line to enter Argentina. After getting our visas, we went through customs. They got the bags off the bus and unzipped each one and looked around a little. Then they peeked inside everyone’s purses or backpacks. After that we got back in the bus and headed downhill to Mendoza.










The Argentinian side was not as steep a slope and it opened into a big plain like area in Mendoza. One interesting thing was watching the brown river that flowed down out of the mountains. It was filled with dirt and sand from the mountainside. Then it entered a reservoir and you can see in the picture that the sand settled and the water turned from brown to a beautiful color of blue.
Sarah found us a great hotel in Mendoza. The Hotel Ritz. It was right off the main street where all the restaurants and stores were. It was an older building but it had nice, clean rooms and very soft beds! The customer service in Argentina was excellent. That evening we walked around the streets. We could have chosen from about 100 restaurants it seemed. They all offered lots of beef and wine. Those are the main products of the area. When we were seated at our tables and were looking over the menu, the waiter brought Jeff and I a wine menu. When Jeff told him we didn’t drink wine we just want to enjoy the ‘carne’ (meat) you should have seen the look on the waiters face. You could have just as well told him we were from Mars! The steak was delicious! The following week was to be a big wine festival in the city. Everyone was setting up booths and getting ready for it. Many of the booths were already set up and people walked up and down the street with a wine glass in hand. They would stop at each booth and sample their wine. They had water jugs at each booth as well so you could rinse out your glass.







The next day we got up and packed our bags. Our hotel included a very nice breakfast. Argentinian breakfast was very similar to Chiles. Sliced ham and cheese, bread, yogurt (very runny), cereal (mostly served for kids and gringos) juice and coffee. Most people put yogurt on their cereal, not milk. They also had some jam filled rolls that were good. I haven’t seen them in Chile. Chile has much better bread in my opinion. Their bread seemed very mediocre. I noticed this at the grocery store as well.

We walked about 10 minutes away to attend the Mendoza ward for sacrament meeting. It was nice. The building was a great big stake center. The ward could have fit in ¼ of it. It didn’t have air conditioning and everyone enjoyed a fan that I keep in my purse all the time now. After church we went back to the hotel. They were storing our bags for us. We changed in the bathroom there and then left our bags again. We walked all over town looking at parks, plazas and buildings. We walked and walked and walked. We were really worn out! We found a park by a grocery store so Jeff and I went in and bought some sandwiches and apples and chips and we had lunch in the park. Then we just relaxed and rested. Sarah and Josh had planned up a trip to the aquarium and the zoo. However, when we arrived in the area it looked so sad and scary we decided to leave! Josh was disappointed but he made up for it by running around in the parks.













At 10:30 that night we got on our bus and headed home. We slept until 2:00 am when we arrived at the border. We waited in a line of busses for an hour. About 3 am we got off the bus and got in line to turn in our visa’s to Argentina and get new visa’s into Chile. It was the same as before, one line for Argentina and 3 steps away, another line for Chile. After getting our visas we went through customs. Chile is much more serious about protecting what comes into their country. First all the luggage from the bus went through a security scanner. If they saw anything suspicious they would ask who owns the bag and have them come up and open it. After than we all lined up in a room with a long 2 foot wide table in front of us. Out came the search dog. He was having a great time doing his work. They put him up on the table and he ran along the table smelling each of us. He would flinch a bit if someone had cookies in their bag but he would keep going. He got to one kid and he wouldn’t leave him. He sniffed and sniffed until they took the kid out of the line and into another room. Then we all went and got back on the bus. Pretty soon, here came the dog on the bus. They let him run around and he went straight to the seat that the kid had been sitting in and wouldn’t leave that spot. Then the police came in and searched all through the seat and cushions etc. Finally they left and about 30 minutes later the kid got back on the bus and we left. He must not have had drugs with him but he surely had been using them or carrying them with him at some point.

We arrived in Santiago about 7:30 am and after riding the metro and a bus we arrived home at 8:30. We slept quite a bit that day to catch up on our sleep. All in all it was a fun experience and we are really glad we went.

February 22, 2011

Monday Jared and Kote left to return to the United States. They had a nice trip. It was unfortunate that Jared was so sick while they were with us in Santiago but we still enjoyed their company. This week I did some work for Movie Mouth, Corey Wride’s company. I’m working on some pictures and content for his website and doing some testing of the software. Wednesday night we had a nice meeting here at our apartment. We did some training and helped some of our people. Work has been very slow this month with everyone on vacation before school begins again. It is starting to settle down and we should have some good meetings this week. Thursday was Young Women’s. Jennie and Lindsey Sorensen(a YW) taught the girls how to make friendship bracelets using embroidery floss. They had a fun time. Lindsey Mangum, the YW president has had her mother-in-law visiting with her for the last couple of weeks. Her mother-in-law is Shannon’s next door neighbor! She brought us down some of our mail and Shannon put in a few treats and some activity books. The kids (all ages) have had fun this week doing crossword puzzles and other games. Saturday we ventured out on a little site seeing expedition. First I went and got my hair cut. A few ladies in the ward recommended a woman to me who speaks English. Her name is Veronica. She did a great job but – wow- she isn’t shy with the scissors! She lived in the US for several years. Her family moved there when she was 16. She later married a man who was in the Air Force so she lived several places in the US. They divorced and she moved back to Chile 15 years ago. After the hair CUT, we visited some Lapiz Lasuli shops. Sarah has friends who she wants to take a nice ring home to. Then we went to San Cristobal. It is a big hill in the middle of Santiago. At the top there is a Catholic Church and a large white statue of the Virgin Mary. It is quite a sight from the top. It was a bit smoggy that day but still impressive. To get to the top you ride a Funicular. I have no idea if the name means anything but it is 3 open boxcars and it pulls to the top of the hill by a big cable. Another 3 box cars is the counter-weight and they always pass each other in the middle as they carry people up and down the hill. We had an empanada and mote con huesillo at a little food court at the top. Mote con Huesillo is a traditional drink here that is popular during the summertime. It is made by cooking whole dried peaches until they are soft. Then the water, now peach juice, is chilled. They fill a glass about 1/3 full with cooked barley, then they put in one or two of the now plump and juicy peaches and then they fill the rest of the glass with the peach juice. It sounds weird but it is actually very tasty. It reminds me of having cold bottled peaches and the barley reminds me of eating milk and rice only peach juice and rice. Similar in texture. I took this picture to show how much progress the kids have made. This is Nate buying a cup of kettle corn - all by himself! Early morning seminary started this week for Jennie. She is excited to go because it is in English. It is nice to study the gospel in your native language. It is a bit of a trip to get there. First Jeff, Jennie and I walk for about 15 minutes to get to the Mission Home. A driver then picks up the mission president’s daughter, Sarah May, and Jennie. Then Jeff and I walk home. Class is held from 6:15 to 7:15 Monday through Thursday. As soon as it ends, Sister Sorensen leaves to take her kids to school and she takes Jennie with her and drops her off at a bus stop. Then Jennie rides the bus home. She gets back about 8:30, just in time for breakfast. It is a good outing for her and a great way to start the day. As much as we hate it, Jeff and I have to admit that it has been good for us to get up that early and get a brisk walk in. Josh has waited for a long time to have a birthday in Chile because the tradition here is for the birthday boy to take a big bite of cake by putting their face right in it! He did it.

The Big Trip...an essay

The Big Trip

Our ‘Summer’ vacation began on February 4th. Jeff and I met Jared at the airport in Santiago to pick up a box he brought us. It was very exciting. Filled with things we wanted and some presents for Josh’s birthday. He then continued on the Concepcion. Jeff picked up a 12 passenger van and we drove home in it. It was so great to be driving in a car. The car received the name the ‘Papa Plata’ which means ‘Silver Potato’. That should tell you what it looked like!



The next morning we all packed up and headed out about noon. We drove to Concepcion and arrived about 6 pm. Everyone was excited to meet Jennie, Nathan, and Josh for the first time. They all got to know everyone quickly and were off playing with the cousins.

The next morning we went to church. Carlos, Angelica’s husband blessed Makarena’s baby. Her name is Martina Florencia. It was very nice. I went to primary with Josh and Jeff went to Young Men’s with Nate. Jennie was on her own and Sarah went to the Young single adult class. After church we had a nice dinner . I made a watermelon baby carriage salad (thanks to Kate’s ideas) and we made chocolate chip and no-bake cookies. Momita made delicious baked chicken, potato salad, rice with vegis, and green been salad. All vegetables are eaten cold and considered a salad. The green beans were delicious. They were sliced French cut, cooked, chilled and had lemon juice on them. Sounds weird but it tasted really good. They thought it was very strange that I mixed all the fruit together and that it was supposed to be a salad not a dessert.







Sunday night we drove around Concepcion so the kids could see the buildings that fell down during the earth quake. They have finished studying them now and plan to start demolishing them this week. We also stopped at the beach and went for a walk. Josh and Nate had fun collecting sea shells.




Monday morning we headed out to Caburgua. It is next to a more well known town called Pucon. It was at the base of a large smoking volcano named Villarica. There are 2 large lakes and lots of rivers and streams around.



Jared and Kote had found a cabin that slept 12. It was perfect for all of us.









We did a little fishing, swimming and canoeing in the lake, site seeing etc. Jared and Kote and the college girls went dancing one night in Pucon. It was beautiful and really fun. When we drove back the car Jared was driving had a leak in the coolant system so we had to stop and get it repaired. Luckily we were right by the lake so we just had a picnic and played some more. We got home a little late so we had to cut out plans to visit a few people but it wasn’t a big problem.






The next morning(the 10th) we got up and drove back to Santiago. On the way back we stopped in a little town call Chillan. They had been hit hard with the earth quake. They have a fun artisan market and vega (fruit/vegis). We bought a few things for Kote’s birthday and some fruit. The high light of the shopping trip was a man running past us with a dead pig on his back. Nearly scared Sarah to death when he bumped into her. It looked like it weighed a ton! The poor kid carrying it!
We cleaned up and did laundry on the 11th. In Concepcion that day there was another earthquake of 6.8. Nothing bad happened but it was enough to shake everyone up and knock a few things off the shelves. I was having a nap and didn’t feel it but Josh came running in and told me about it. He said that he heard a rumble and then the apartment moved. That was the same report I got from other friends around town too.
Saturday the 12th was Josh’s 9th birthday! I can’t believe it has been that long. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was in the hospital watching the 2002 winter Olympics! He chose to have boxed macaroni and cheese for his birthday dinner. Jared had brought us some. Yum (not). I made him his favorite chocolate cake with pudding and whipping cream. It turned out great. Whipping cream tastes much better than cool whip. For his birthday he got a pair of headphones, a movie and some games. Chess, Checkers and pick-up sticks. He and Nate need more things to do around here. They have been having fun with them. That night Jared and Kote got here. Corey Wride (a friend) took us to the airport to pick them up. Jared had the flu. He has been sick the entire time they have been here. He is feeling a little better today so Kote, Jared, Sarah and Jennie have gone out sight seeing for a little bit. They leave to go home tonight. Then we all have to get back to work and school! It was a fun week and a really nice diversion.