Happy Moon Festival!

Happy Moon Festival, everyone!  The girls and Sterling get a few days off to celebrate, but I'm still not sure what we are celebrating, so I had to look it up.  

The Mid-Autumn Festival: The festival is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with full moon at night, corresponding to late September to early October of the Gregorian calendar with full moon at night.

So, yeah.  There's a holiday and we'll take it!  Apparently, people BBQ, eat mooncakes and pommeloes, and spend time as a family.  We still need to find someone with a BBQ...

Not my choice of dessert, but apparently millions of people like these mooncakes.  It's like a pastry filled with different flavored pastes like red bean, pineapple and nut, and some even have egg yolks in them (like the moon--get it?).

Pomelo

I am so glad the typhoon missed us, but pray for all those who were affected by it!  Fortunately, we just had some heavy rains and wind, but nothing crazy.  I had to pick up Cora when it was really windy out, but the girls just though it was hilarious being blown around.  

We are feeling a bit more settled.  I probably say that every blog post, but it's true.  I organized Edith's room and found storage places for all of the things that don't work in our little apartment.  I don't know why this has taken me 3 months to do!  (Oh, wait, maybe I do.)

Sterling and I are really loving the ward here.  He just recently got called to be in the Bishopric and I was called to be the 1st Counselor in the Primary Presidency.  We are keeping busy and glad that we can serve in this ward and associate with so many wonderful people.  Keeping the girls somewhat contained and reverent (ha!) during Sacrament Meeting is no easy thing, but there have been so many women who help me!  Most of them say that they are glad they are out of this phase with young kids :)  It's nice to watch these seasoned families with now older kids and see that kids DO learn to use the bathroom by themselves.  I'm told that the kids grow up and one day I can look on young moms with sympathy and help them out, too. 

 Our parking space is on B5 which means you have to wind down this narrow corkscrew of a driveway for 5 floors to get to our van.  (Eek!)  This week after church, Sterling let me know that he needed to stay after church for more than 1 1/2 hours.  The girls were melting down and starving, so I braved up and drove home from church by myself!  This may not sound like that big of a deal, but it was the first time I had driven by myself here in Taiwan.  With Sterling being in the Bishopric now, I doubt it will be my last!

Cora got this shot.  Thanks, Cora.  You'll understand Sunday naps when you are older!

The other night Sterling asked me what I think the reason we moved to Taiwan is.  I had to tell him that I believe we moved here to meet certain people.  I know that I have already been blessed knowing so many people here and really believe that we will have the friends we make here will be life-long friends.  It seems ironic that some of our favorite people here are from Utah, Virginia, and DC and we had to move across the world to meet them!  We will do what it takes :)  The Belnaps are one of our "faves".  

Our friends, the Belnap's, invited us over for dinner recently. Xiaoyu is from mainland China (and married a guy from UT) and is an incredible cook!  She grew up making homemade noodles and insisted on making them for us.  I'm so glad she did!   Sterling and I ate more than our share of her beef noodle soup and she has promised to teach me how to make them.  I don't expect to be able to make them even close to the way she can, but I will atlas try!  She has some serious cooking talent.  We love the Belnaps!  They also have three kids (7, 4, and 1) and recently moved from Taylorsville, UT.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my "rest days."  Both Cora and Mabel are at school from 8:30-2:30 so it's just me and Edith.  It feels pretty overwhelming to take all three of them out by myself most days, so I've made a special point to make Tuesdays and Thursdays my exploring days when Edith and I fall in love with the city.  

Edith and I went to a little park.  It's down a super steep hill (which means the walk home is exciting), but I think this might be "our" park.  It nestled in these trees with beautiful roots.  

On our outing, Edith and I checked out the Mitsukoshi department store.  Swanky, panky!  This is the view from their glass elevator.  

Okay, the real reason we went to the mall is to get lunch.  This bibimbap less than $5 and so delicious!  I am still in the "point and nod" phase of my Chinese language skills, but I can usually order food--and that's what is important.  Just today Sterling called the Chinese tutor and got me all set-up for a personal tutoring session once a week for 100 minutes/session.  This will be on Thursdays while Edith naps--hopefully!  I'm so excited (and a bit nervous).  I guess the tutor doesn't speak any English.  I also realized that I haven't been in school for over 6 years, so my brain will need some time to wake up!  It'll push me but I am eager to learn some of this language!

Edith was a fan of the Korean food, too!

We had a lesson on King Benjamin for FHE and made towers!

Cerear???  Actaully, we did buy these.

Cora's preschool teacher sends us lots of photos from class time.  Love it.

Where's Cora?  Just kidding.

I can only assume they were doing a lesson on the 5 senses?  

Mabel insisted on the shoe combination.  How could I resist?

Off to the grocery store!

Our little neighborhood.

Black sesame ice cream?  I may have to go back and try some...

Cora's new thing is baby-wearing.  She is so aware of what people do that it cracks me up!  Here in Taiwan most parents use baby carriers instead of strollers.  She also insists on wearing a hat or using an umbrella when it is sunny, because that's what a lot of people here do.  Sterling and I joke that she is going to have a face mask phase next (like the one's doctors wear) to keep out germs and pollution.  We will know that she is pretty much Taiwanese when she starts wearing pull-on sleeves to protect her arms from the sun when she rides her scooter :)

The entourage.

On Saturday there was a ward social and Chili Cook-Off.  Because of traffic we were over an hour late and we were stuck with my huge pot of chili.  Fortunately, we were able to share it with another family the next night who wasn't able to go to the social and had a lovely time with them.  This photo was taken after the social when all of the kids were running WILD around the church!  This had to be one of the most hilarious ward socials ever.  The organizers planned games that involved cracking raw eggs on your own head and throwing Cheetos on shaving cream-covered shower caps.  Whaaaaat??? The kids (and adults) were in heaven!

Swimming at our Apartment Complex

At our pool

I love it that this is our backyard.  It reminds me that we are living on a tropical island!

Our "backyard" pool area.  Visitors welcome (hint, hint).

Collecting plumeria

Sterling and I try to go out once a week on a little date.  Oh, it is such a game changer!  We love having a few hours a week to just talk and explore Taipei.  This week we went to this clothing market.  There were stalls and stalls of clothes piled in bags and boxes, strewn everywhere!  Clothes ranged from about $3-$30.  For some reason, we didn't buy anything, but we totally could have spent a million dollars.  We plan on going back for sure.

At the clothing market.

We couldn't capture the unimaginable amount of cheap clothing available, but believe me, it was out of control!

There was also some great Chinglish!

Huh?

While Sterling and I were on our date, Cora and Mabel dressed up and posed for the babysitter!

For Moon Festival the girls got two days off of school, giving us a great 4-day weekend.  Today we went to the Children's Amusement Park and had so much fun!  There were little rides, a sand pit, and a Burger King.  (Sterling loved that last part.)  We went with our friends, the Belnaps and had a wonderful time!

This made me sick just watching!  Cora and her friends loved it so much though and giggled the whole time!

In October, Sterling's cousin, Sherrie, is coming to visit us and we couldn't be more excited.  I mean, we get to show her things like the Hello Kitty tile store.  (Just kidding, Sherrie.  We won't waste your time here :)  

Hello Kitty tile shop, anyone?

Looking through our photos, I realize that they are all of our girls.  Here's a token touristy shot for you historical/site-seeing folk.  

The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial 

(Sterling took the girls for a long drive past this memorial while I cooked dinner before we had friends over.  Win-win.)

Love you all.