Some Serious Awesomeness.

October is the best month.
Any month that ends up with people giving you candy is amazing.
But I have a lot to share from this month, so brace yourself.... or flip to another blog. Fine. I don't care. I will just put some really important news somewhere in the paragraphs of this insanely long post.

We went to Oriase Gorge- a huge Japanese tourist attraction in the fall. It's beautiful.

We tried taking Christmas photos. Needless to say the above didn't make the cut.

This almost did, Marie is a rockstar. But my "crazy eyes" just weren't happenin'. (Also I feel I look like Ellen Degeneres here).

My birthday was off the wall awesome. I threw myself a party where I told no one it was my birthday. I've always wanted to do that. I guess it's funny in a weird ironic way. But a couple of my friends spoiled me anyways... oh you guys!

But the gift that took center stage was my new cuisinart hand-stick-blender-thingy. I used it at the Iron Chef competition... WHICH WAS AWESOME BYTHEWAY! I didn't win. Or place. But MAN- I was  in my element. It was so fun. My souse chef ending up being one of Brett's paralegals. She's a southern girl with some pretty good taste buds. The secret ingredient? Fresh pumpkin. Predictable, but as long as it wasn't squid I was happy.
We ending up making a chicken breast encrusted with roasted pumpkin seeds, walnuts, an apple pumpkin dish glazed with brown sugar, a green bean casserole that instead of a mushroom sauce, my souse chef whipped up this awesome pureed pumpkin and cream to go with it. They were so good. I wrapped up the rest after the competition and ate almost all of it before brett came home. And for dessert I did a homemade hot chocolate with pumpkin puree to thicken it up and give it a pumpkin pie feel. I served pumpkin biscotti with it.
Wow. So much fun. I can't wait until next year.

Sorry I don't have pictures.... (haha I'm totally not). But I do have bad news for myself. The entire thing was not only being reported on in the local newspaper.... (no big deal... I'll just avoid looking at the paper for 3 months)- it was TELEVISED on Armed Forces Network! YUCK! Seriously people! I would hate that anyway, but I just gained literally 10 lbs in the last 8 weeks so I'm looking pretty plump and not so camera ready. But I wore makeup  and tried to never look mad. However, I really enjoyed myself so I hope I conveyed that to the camera. ...blah.

The month's highlight  was going to the Korea temple with our branch. There is a military space-available hop you can take on a Monday and come back on Tuesday. However the Korean temple is normally closed on a Monday. But my branch was offered the chance for it to be opened if we could get enough people to go. It's pretty awesome that Brett's boss is Mormon at this point, because he got to take time off to be with me. Marie stayed with our friends the Shoafs. They have a little boy her age. They are two peas in a pod. When we came to pick her up, she just said "Hi!" and then ran into his room and didn't want to leave.

Here I am whippin' out the "crazy eyes" again. Poor Brett has to stand next to me.
It was a whirl wind trip. Plane, train, temple, eat, train, hotel, slept for 3 seconds and back at the airport at 4:45 am. Whew! But it was one of the best temple experiences of my life. Mostly, because the Korean Temple workers were so kind. We were all late (b/c of our plane) and they were unfettered. I was so grateful they spoke enough English to help us.  Learning Japanese has been impossible for me. So their effort in bi-lingualism did not go unappreciated.

And lastly I finally got around to going to Hachinohe. The Japanese clinic will give you an ultrasound and 4-D video on VHS for a mere 2000 Yen. That's a steal, even if the dollar is at 79. They said girl. They seemed to say it with surety. There were english signs in every room, however, that said "Gender is not 100% Guaranteed." Ah, I want to believe them though. Especially after I came home today to see Marie's new coat hanging next to the coat she is growing out of. My two little girls.

Now to only think of a name...

Toilet Park

Yes, that is actually a "poo hat" and Brett is sitting in a giant toilet. A couple weeks ago we headed out to what the Americans were calling "The Toilet Park." We weren't sure what it was. I had the idea that it was an outdoor park with some sort of natural drainage that resembled a toilet bowl. Mmmm.... nope. It is a giant children's museum which in one area, has a large toilet that you can sit on, and wear a hat shaped like poop.

Marie thought this was a more flattering picture.

The facility is actually huge. Two large buildings, not to mention several outdoor parks next to them. And it's all free. Japanese love kids. They love my wallet. And I love them.

There really was a lot to see. Marie climbed a 4-story slide. You could pull yourself on a barge across a small pond. There were waterfalls. A million little discovery stations...

but for some reason we left with pictures like these.

(Yes, you stick your hands and pull out the various poops.)

Marie did not want to take part of it.

At all.  

Her favorite part was looking at all these rocks near the parking lot. Rocks are great.

So I can say shame on me for making fun of the Americans who call this the toilet park. I suppose their pictures looked a little like ours.

Good News

Good news everyone- my brother-in-law John is a new dad! It's nice knowing there is one more child born into this crazy world that will be well taken care of. To John and Cassie good luck and Congrats.

Parenthood is awesome.

Iron Chef

EEEEEEEEEEEKK!

Brett! What were you thinking? Seriously?

OK everyone calm down. Just breathe. It's not really that big of a deal. ...but it sort of is.

Brett entered me in the Base Iron Chef: Fit to Fight competition... ok, I bashfully consented. (Me: Oh Brett, I'm not THAT good... I mean, I'm pretty good.. but I don't know! Brett: Yah whatever it's up to you. Me: We'll if you insist! )
They only choose 6 so I figure I wouldn't get picked. Wrong! Ironically 6 is my lucky number so I should have known.

So I know I won't win. Or place. But if I can get 2 compliments, I'll be stoked. Actually if  I don't make anyone barf I'll be happy. That's a good goal right?

But i need your help. I know this competition will be based on a healthy recipe... or at least "Fit to Fight" conveys that idea to me. I would be pretty mad if I made hummus and someone who made cheesecake won.

I think I'm ready for this. Last night I spiced up my Pasta Roni by adding sauted red onions, spinach and cranberries. Brett didn't finish it.... why did he think I would be good for this? Oh well, at least I liked it.


I REALLY WOULD LOVE YOUR HELP HERE NOW. I have 2 weeks to play around with different flavors. If you have a unique -healthy- flavor combination please post it. Especially in seafood or asian food... which i don't do.
I need to make (I think)
An appetizer
Entree
Dessert
In an hour and a half. (Churns my stomach just saying that. I don't do anything in an hour and a half.)
 Ange if you don't post I will be mad. I know you're a gourmet chef.

Now off to find my Sous Chef...

Inconclusive Evidence

We are always asking Marie if the "baby is a  boy or a girl." She has yet to allude to an answer. So I asked her little friend what it would be. He smiled and said "A Boy!" I said, "really? It's not a girl?"  He paused, shrugged and replied, "Could be girl."

That is pretty much how our ultrasound went today. At first the technician seemed to think it was a boy, but she couldn't get a good still picture, so she started thinking it was a girl. Our little pumpkin sat curled up, legs tight together, sucking it's thumb for the entire hour. It seems we were intruding on nap time.

When I got Marie's ultrasound it was super fast. She faced the camera for a picture. She rolled around and they took a picture of her spine. Flipped around so we could watch her dance. Flailed her legs to show off her very obvious feminine side. Did a yawn for a picture and we were out of there in 20 minutes.

This baby has been so different from Marie. Quiet. Little nausea. No acne. Minimal mood swings. Who is this kid inside me? So far we are getting along great, but I would really like to name him/her. Maybe I shall call it Ponyo.

After the ultrasound I went to Popeyes to get a chicken sand and a coke. I've been planning this trip all week. They were out of the regular chicken, tomatoes, mayo, and regular buns. Instead they gave me a chicken strip on a hoagie with two pickles. Today was just not my day.

 Brett made me post the crazy seventh-inning stretch.

A Dietitician, Baseball, And Gender Curiosities

A long time ago I stopped posting Marie's height and weight stats. It's pretty obvious that she is small. Weight-wise she has been off the charts since 9 months old. And technically even at 27 months she is not legally allowed to ride "front facing" in a car seat, bordering a meager 20.4 lbs. But until recently it never bothered me. However over the summer she lost almost 1lb. That bothered me. So we took her to a dietitian. Here is us waiting for our dinner table to come.



Not to be rude, but I wasn't impressed with her advice. At one point she suggested I feed her "Go-gurts." Really, lady? You think I haven't tried that. And I'm no sugar fearing, healthy person, but I try to limit her "crap per day intake." I went into the appointment feeling guilty that Marie likes 2 tablespoons of brown sugar with her 1 cup cooked oatmeal every morning. I was ready to take my lashings. Twas not the case. But I suppose it's the oatmeal that keeps her alive. She isn't really isn't into any other foods on a regular basis. Here's how the dinners usually go, Elmo and Marie fighting tooth and nail over the food.

But it seems now that the weather has cooled down she is eating more and I'm not worried. I don't care what she weighs as long as she is healthy enough to keep up with the other kids.

So to finish our stats she is 50% in height, 0% in weight... and 90% in head size.

However, just because Marie is all brains, doesn't mean she can't enjoy herself a baseball game.

We took a 4 hour... yes 4 hour bus ride to Sendai City to watch the Tohoku Ratugen Golden Eagles (whew, and I thought Energy Solutions Area was a mouthful). They are officially the worst team Japan has seen since the 1950's. However they only lost by 1 run to the Siebu Lions, one of the best in the league.

The ride was fun, but very tiring.

The stadium was smaller than most US major leagues, but the spirit was pretty awesome.

The Japanese love their chants. Everyone gets these mini baseball bats and hits them together while they chant for their favorite players. We had fun mumbling along and whacking the bats together.

You'll see in the above picture the 7th inning tradition. They blow up these balloons and wave them around and at the end of the last pitch they let the balloons go. The kids who collect the most get a prize (or so we are told). We refrained from picking up other people's spitty balloons. Call me crazy. 

Marie, again, did really well. She ate a hot dog and we got her some KFC nuggets. You can't go anywhere in Japan without seeing the Colonel. My brother once told me the Colonel was Asian. Thought he was joking, surely he is from the South.... but after seeing all these KFC's I think he is on to something.

Lastly we find out the gender of the baby on Thursday. I can honestly say I do not care which gender the baby is. It just means I either put Marie's old clothes in long term storage if it's a boy, or I get to keep them out and paint Marie's room lavender if it's a girl.
However, if it's a girl we are not doing so well on the name suggestions.  We've been brainstorming as of late (here comes the part where we list some top choices and then feel a little insecure about whether people like them or not.... oh boy, take a deep breath and here we go)

For a boy it is pretty simple. I've liked the name Ezra since we got married. We can tell him he is named after a Prophet. And if he doesn't turn out so well we will tell him he was named after a 90's grunge band and everybody's better than him.
If there's a second boy I'm thinkin Rockwell. Porter Rockwell ? He's awesome. Norman Rockwell? Classic. Rocky? Awesome, again.

But for the girls in our life...... we are having disagreements.
I love Ariel, and Brett likes Bell. Each finds the other "too Disney" to use. However for the record, Ariel means "Lion of God" and "Victory under God." It also makes me think she could be an awesome gymnast.
"Olive" is still in the running (to some people's dismay). However it's a super cute name and if we used it it would be like, as Brett puts it, "giving everybody the [hand] because we like the name and know that nobody else does." So true.

We will see. Weigh in now. Gender ultrasound comes in 4 days!!!

because it's Friday in Japan