Lindsey's Adventures: First Half of September

I am really looking forward to having my Mom, Dad, Bryce, Annie and Wesley here! They'll be here in 3 days! I have been looking forward to then coming since February and it's been so fun to have something like this to look forward to. I was talking to mom telling her that I was already feeling sad because they will have to leave (and they haven't even arrived yet.) She said she had been thinking the very same thing! Haha.

We got to go to Chiang Mai a couple weekends ago. We rented a van with the volunteers and drive up Friday morning. We left around 1:30 am and got to Chiang Mai around 7:00. The girls stayed at a cheap hostel and Tanner and I splurged a little and stayed at a hotel we have stayed in a few times. We knew that on Saturday we were going to be lazy and we wanted to have somewhere a little more comfy than an inexpensive, un air conditioned hostel. We couldn't check into the hotel that early so we sat/napped on the couch in the lobby for a couple hours. At 9:00 the people from the cooking class came and picked us up. We did the 'full day course' with the volunteers. It was our 3rd or 4th time there and we enjoyed it just as much as ever! That's Tanner's favorite thing to do in this country. One of the last times we were there the owner Pot said that he's take us out next time we were there. He invited us to dinner the next night. After the cooking class we went and took a lovely nap. We met up with the girls at the night market and did some shopping with them. I also got some divine gelato that I will be getting again this week :) After we had walked around the market for long enough we were finally hungry enough for dinner at 9:30. We went to La Fontana and had a great Italian dinner. Saturday we slept in. Tanner slept for a few more hours than I did. I got up and read in bed and took it easy. We ate at the salsa kitchen for lunch and that was good. They changed a few things on their menu (and I liked them better before) but it was still really, really good. We walked around for a couple hours. Then we went and took a nap. (It was a lazy vacation! Haha!) Pot and his family came and got us for dinner around 6:00. He treated us to dinner at a restaurant right on the lake. The food was okay and the company was great. Nancy, his wife was there as were their two kids: Peter Pan and Pinky. Apparently their son Peter Pan (about 6) is usually shy, but he wasn't shy with Tanner. They were playing and tickling and doing magic tricks. Tanner would show his a magic trick and then Pater would try it. Sometimes he was more successful than other times. We ate and visited for a couple hours with them. They dropped us off around 10:00. Then we went out for another hour to the market. Sunday we went to sacrament meeting then headed to Chiang Rai. We stopped at some (stinky) natural geysers for a few minutes then went to the white temple. We had been to the white temple before and didn't really care to go again, but we were along for the ride. We got to go inside this time and that was good. We left around 3:30 and made the long drive home. We got home around 9:00. It was a delightful weekend trip. I like Chiang Mai.

This last week was busy. I had to finish my semester exams. I had to make 8 exams for 3rd grade and make some slight changes to the 16 for 1st and 2nd grade that I make last week. I also had to write a student report for each of my 32 students. That ended up being 11 pages long--single spaced! It feels great to have that done! When I take time off of work I have to reschedule my classes for the week to make sure I still get them in. I will be teaching every single class Monday to Wednesday this week since I will be off Thursday and Friday. It's exam week so I'll be giving lots of tests, then working to get them graded in the evenings so I can turn in scores before I am gone.

I have started working out with the volunteers. We work out Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There are 2 different circuits and you set the times for 7 minutes, do as much as you can, rest for a couple minutes, then repeat. So it is 28 minutes of working out with a few minutes resting. I love it and I hate it. It's only been 2 week and I can feel my legs and arms getting stronger :) I hate it while I'm doing it, but I always feel glad I did it afterwards. I fI could cut sugar out of my diet again I would probably get to a really good place. But... I am going on vacation and I just discovered cookie butter (AMAZING)! Maybe when I get back from partying with the family...

I have been feeling content lately and I really love that! I have been trying to be in the present and enjoy it here while I am here instead of counting down the time to go home. That has been going quite well the last few weeks! It is SOOOOOO nice not having to worry about money while we are here! No bills = really delightful! We get to be lazy and sleep lots. We don't have many responsibilities. We have lots of free time. It can get boring, but we are trying to relish the freedom/time/sleep since we know it won't always be like this. The only times I start to feel stressed/overwhelmed/worried is 1) when I think about what Tanner and I will do for work when get home and 2) When I try to make a plan for if/when we do another round of IVF.

And now... On to the pictures!!!

Curry pastes before.

And after

A random lady washing a dish at the open market.

Cutest little ice cream tuk tuk

This guy makes instruments. We have been to his shop before and love the things he makes. This time we saw bamboo saxophones. We bought one and had him tell us all about his he makes them.