{Not ready for this}

I am really struggling with the fact that my baby could be in all day japanese preschool starting this fall.  He is so ready for school. He will THRIVE in it. It will be really good for him. He will make friends easily. BUT I feel scared to send him off. It makes me want to cry. In fact, i am tearing up right now. I am trying to come to grips with the fact he will be heading off to school, and the fact that he is my baby and there will be no more. It makes me so sad. :',(  He isn't officially in any preschool yet, but i am searching for a good japanese preschool, and i would love it if he has a friend he knows to go on this journey with him.
I might possibly try a co-op with some friends, but i really feel like he is ready for a preschool off base, something that's more than just a couple hours for a couple days a week. He is just so busy, energetic, and extremely independent. Looking into all this makes me realize i am passing that stage of my life where i have my little toddlers at home with me. Oh it really makes me sad. I wasn't expecting this.

I know he is ready. I was noticing all the kids in Tanner's kindergarten class as they were walking out. Jaydon says HI to all the kids, and starts instantly playing with them even though he doesn't have a clue who they are. He will make friends with ease. AND he seemed like he would already fit right in with Tanner's kindergarten class. He was the same size as half of Tanner's class...and he is only three! He is beyond his years.

Jaydon is so thoughtful. And boy oh boy is he a charmer with any girl. He loves to charm. And he loves to take care of girls. Anyway, he is always picking flowers for me. Literally, everyday. He always gives me kisses and hugs. I don't have to ask. He will just come up to me randomly and give me a big ole kiss and hug and tell me he likes me. The other night he said "I really like you mom." I said "I love you too" because i thought he said "love"...Then he said "No, i said i really like you mom." I said, "I really like you too." Then he said, "I really love you too mom." I said "I really love you too." So sweet. I love the sweet things my boys do for me. At church on Sunday gavin passed me a note that said "I love you mom!" With a picture of me that he drew underneath his note. Those feelings i get from those precious moments are pieces of heaven. They are reminders of what life is about.

Jaydon sure is different than his brothers. He is extremely bossy(more with his family), very independent, knows what he wants, has a purpose to everything he does, has TONS of energy, and notices EVERYTHING and wants to tell me about EVERYTHING he notices. He likes to talk a lot more than his other two brothers did. Lately he is really trying to boss me around A LOT. He is trying to tell me how i should clean, how i should walk, what i should do, demanding my attention exactly when he wants it, etc. Really, it's getting exhausting. "Mom, shut my door." "Mom, don't do that!"  "Mom, why did you do that?!"  "Mom, look at this. Mom! Why didn't you look?!?!?!"  "Mom, stop saying that to me!" "Mom, i really want to do this." His bossing is nothing i experienced with the other two. He is like an untamed version of Shane. On and on he goes. If he doesn't get what he wants he gets very upset. I know he is only 3, but sometimes i feel like i am talking to a much older person. And i often find myself saying to him "Stop bossing me around. I know what i am doing."  OR "Jaydon, just calm down. It's ok. I will do it."  OR "Jaydon i know how to be a mom, stop telling me what to do all the time."  haha! He is getting bored during the days, always wanting a friend to play with every single day of every single hour. He is ready to fly a little, and i know i need to give it to him, but i'm having a hard time wanting to send him off to preschool. I need to get over it and just let go. I am sure by the time it comes to start preschool in a few months that i will be so ready to send him off...6 more months of his bossing and i might be saying BYE with excitement. Who knows. :)haha! All i know is that i love him. I love my boys. I wish i could keep them this age forever. Minus the bossing.

{Baptism Pictures}

 One of the YW in our branch took these pictures for us. She is really trying to get into photography and i think she did a great job capturing some great moments. I love these....

 

Going in...

Just out of the water...

Coming out.... i love this one

 

Gavin with one of his good friends, Levi...

 Mommy getting ready to speak on the Holy Ghost...

 aaahhh, i love this one....

 President Sego welcoming him in....

 

Our family...on the exact spot where he was baptized

This is the same beach, just a different spot.... It was very very windy that day, but down where we baptized him it was nice and quiet. Perfect.

{Our last Day of vacation}

Our last day was spent traveling. We arrived at the airport in the evening and flew all through the night and didn't arrive home until about 5:30 p.m. It was a long traveling time. holy moly.

BUT it certainly was easy since we didn't have the kids. :)

Our flights in Asia were certainly good flights, better than any American flight. Why is that?!?!
Our biggest plane we flew on sat 10 seats across. Four in the center and three on each side. It was a large, double decker plane.

I am going to post random pictures now from our whole vacation that didn't get put on my other posts for one reason or another....
oh, just a side note...someone suggested that for all our pics in thailand we smile with OPEN mouths. It started becoming this thing to see who had the best open mouth smile after we took each picture. I NEVER once WON the best open  mouth smile!! Never! I just wanted ONE! :) gosh! hahahaha...so, as i was going through all these pictures and noticed all our open mouth smiles i started cracking up. i seriously love these pictures. And i would say that i had a pretty good open mouth smile in some of these. :) Maybe even winners. ? hahaha...read on

 We rode on a tuk tuk...pronounced took took.

 hahaha...

 sick, i had to smell the poo and then squeeze the moisture out of the poo. yuck

 Our awesome tribal wear for the elephant ride. The elephants hair is pretty rough and prickly, so its a good thing we had to wear these pants.

 yummmmmmm....

 the babies raiding our food...

 Here's our elephants open mouth smile... she wins

 

 hahhaha...shane's cracks me up

 I am really trying to make sure i get my face in this picture...do you see me?!

 bahahahaha....

 oh yeah....

What a FUN FUN vacation we all had together. seriously. Such good memories. We are talking of doing another one next February. I know we want to make it happen. So far, the options getting thrown around are Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. My vote is New Zealand and Australia. We will see what happens. :) crossing my fingers. I have a serious love and passion for traveling. I desire so badly to see the world. I just love learning the way others live, and what they believe and their culture, etc. It's amazing to me. What is the deal?!

A few things to mention before i forget...

1. The bathrooms in Thailand were squatty potties.  Just like here in  Okinawa. The only difference is that they don't provide toilet paper in a lot of them, and a lot of them don't flush(in thailand)...you have to scoop water out of a big water bucket and poor it into the toilet to help the pee or poo move down out of sight. I had an interesting experience of being able to go inside a Thai person's home to use the bathroom. That was interesting and terrifying all at once.

2. The chinese are very pushy people. We were only in the Shanghai airport and i got this impression quickly. Not only that, but they have this thing with hacking up loogeys all the time. Over and over i heard men hacking , and then would walk over to the garbage can and spit in it. It was gross. I even heard a woman in the bathroom doing it. What's with the hacking?!

3. My favorite thing to eat was mango and sticky rice. I will learn how to make sticky rice, and as soon as mangoes come into season here, i will be making it every single day. oh yes.

4. The Thai people are worked to the bone. Our guy who made our suits said that he doesn't get to bed until about 12:30-1:00 a.m. and rises around 5:00 or 6:00 to start all over again. Plus they don't get days off, like Saturdays and Sundays or Holidays. Can you imagine. From what it sounded like, that's the way all Thai people work...to the bone.

{Thailand Day 5, Chiang Mai}

 

 

Today we went to Doi Suthep, the famous temple on the mountain. The drive was a little unnerving. It was constant twisting and turning, and the taxi driver doesn't stay in her own lane. On the turns she is going into the oncoming traffic lane, and sometimes she is weaving back and forth in the two lanes on our side. A few of us were sick to our stomachs by the time we reached the top. It certainly was a beautiful view though.
Here are the steps leading up to the temple. A long climb and a good workout...

 Inside the temple grounds. Anytime you go inside temples here you ALWAYS take off your shoes before entering...

 They had these oil lamps and people would go down the line using the ladle to put more oil in each lamp....

 Tons of gold buddha's in this temple. Along with lots of bells.

 People would walk around the temple holding a paper and flower saying something...probably some type of prayer....

 Candles were all over being lit constantly....

 A green buddha... Lots of people were bowing to many of the buddha's up there...

 Donations, im guessing....

Our view up top...

 After that adventure we went and ate at a Babylonian restaurant. It was pretty good. I really liked the seating..... We had to pull a table up because some people didn't want to sit  in the babylonian style sitting because of their comfort level. It worked out well...

A random picture. The monk is splashing the people with holy water. You are supposed to pay for it, but the monk decided to splash shane with some of the holy water. He must have felt some kind of connection from one baldy to another....

After we ate dinner, we headed to pick up the men's suits.  Here's the guy that made these strapping young men's suits. They all looked great in their new suits!!...