The One Year Adventure with the In-Laws!?! PART 1

So, we were definitely excited to be home:) Especially in time for the Holidays!!! Having missed that family togetherness the year before...being in China and all. We were perfectly content to hang with the Shurilla in laws from the middle of October to January 2012 :D After that then we would buckle down and find a job and move on with the real world stuff. But oh, it was so good to be home!!!

We actually drove into town the day before my sister in law, Chelsea's, big piano performance. She won a contest and was featured with the Milwaukee Philharmonic Symphony. Huge honor! Congrats:)

Silly Uncle!

Love this picture:D

We also got to see lots of THIS: From the beginning of the season to the end, Keat actually cut his race time by seriously 8 minutes. Awesome job! Lots of hard work, I know. We were there:)

Keaton running Cross Country

We were able to pick out pumpkins with the Fam!

(Some good looking pumpkins:)

Next came carving them:) Father-in-Law, Larry, does a cyclops EVERY year!

Our neighbor down the street gets REALLY  into Halloween. His entire yard is filled with gravestones  and lights, and skulls and pumpkins and spiders and ghosts and FIRE!!! He build these contraptions to blow fire! It's AWESOME!!!

I guess we just skipped Thanksgiving and went straight on to Christmas. Isn't that how it feels sometimes. Forget what you're grateful for because you're too busy thinking of all the things you WANT:( But I do love Christmas! And that means Ward Christmas Party!!!

The Shurilla's volunteered to sing-ish a Christmas classic. Kind of last minute. So it sounded like this (minus the light show:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8aXICQj-m0

Then you have Lars who gets the opportunity to join a band where ever he goes:) They (The Mental Ward:) played some songs too.

Lars is in the white shirt and black tie on the left.
He's such a CUTIE!!!

Then, of course, the New Year celebrations. Us Shurilla's crashed the Chausow's festivities! They sure know how to throw a party. Presents, prizes, games, food, fun, everything you need:) I won the 'guess how many balloons' game! I never win:( I think our pics capture perfectly the atmosphere.

Oh, and how could we forget that following our New Year's Eve frivolities came the SHOCKING Polar Bear Plunge!!! Poor Lars. He really is an amazing husband! Last time we were in Wisconsin for New Year's Day I had wanted to do the Polar Bear Plunge so bad but it just didn't work out:( So I made Lars promise me that if we were ever in WI again on New Year's Day that he would make sure to do it with me. Much to his irritation. So this year...WE DID IT!!! Thanks to Donny and Sissy! Especially grateful for their hot tub afterwards:D

Beautiful Day at Lake Michigan:)

Everyone gathering together...

All bundled up!

Trotting in...

...and RUNNING OUT!

WE DID IT!!!

I don't think Lars completely dunked himself but I'm just grateful he did it at all. Love you!

Next adventure was coaching the Young Women's volleyball team for the Lake Michigan ward. If any of you know me this is a dream come true! I LOVE VOLLEYBALL and the YOUNG WOMEN!!!

Pretty amazing group of YW!

We so TUFF!

Aw, here is the Wisconsin winter we love/hate so much!

Lars also got some fun with the Young Men in the Lake Michigan ward! Check it out HERE:)
Or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRCQMXUTqsM


It was pretty funny. Lars and I got asked to watch a couple family in the ward's children quite a few times. We loved it! There were the Passey's and the Ashby's and later the Currey's. But we absolutely fell in love with the Passey's yard! Very spacious with trees and even a stream! Their kids were pretty cool too:) Lars was trying to capture the rainbow trout that were spawning in the stream in their backyard. Pretty cool! You can hear Elias in the background. He was pretty excited!

Also, they had a super adorable pumpkin named Aurora (I think that's how you spell it.)

Well, definitely by this time we realized that we were going to be here longer than originally intended...so I got a job...

This is our goal chart for the month of April
I thought it was cute. Yay me!

Couple coworkers: Amy and Ashley

Working at a bank was actually pretty stressful! And my branch seemed to have a lot of DRAMA!!! I sure learned A LOT! I hope.


EASTER!!! Lars was having fun dying eggs:

Lars has also been having fun with music. He was working with his brother, Keaton, a lot to learn how to create "Chipmusic" or "Chiptunes". Basically making music on Gameboys like these:

This lead Lars to enter a contest for a radio station which he won! Winning him a spot to play at Summerfest 2012!!! Skip ahead to July 3, 2012:

Check him out at http://thelaohu.com/

He actually just released some new music!
Most likely do a specific post about that in the future:)

...Now back to the winter of 2012 in our One Year Adventure with the In-Laws...

Winter soon melted away into, my favorite season, SPRING!!!

I love Love LOVE Spring Flowers! and my husband:)

(Decided I needed to split up this adventure into two posts so THE END of Part 1:)

Our Adventure between the Adventures:)

Some of you may know that this blog used to be called the "Lars & Spring Chinese Adventure". It was originally created to document our "adventures" in China. Duh.

After we came back to the States in September 2011 we made the rounds of family and friends.

We flew into Utah to watch Lars graduate from Brigham Young University with a Bachelors degree in Chinese and a minor in Political Science. The amazing Steve & Liz Merkley let us stay with them in Provo for a couple of days. Thank you!

My parents, Richard and Verdella Grout came down from Driggs, Idaho to celebrate with us! Also, to help us re-acclimate to American FOOD!!! Yummy:D

Side Note: Go EASY on dairy when you get back:( Or else...

Ma and Pa took us home with them! IDAHO:D Where I was born, by the way. And while there we did, OH so much, besides eat a ton of meat and potatoes:)

We (big breath) :

Visited Shoshone Falls  or "The Niagara Falls of the West"

VERY BEAUTIFUL!!!

Visited Lake Cleveland, where my family would vacation and go fishing when we were little:)

Hiked pretty high to get this shot.

Visited my brother, Alan, who was killed in a car accident while I was in China

Drove by the school where I attended first grade in Declo, ID.

Watched a double feature at The Spud Drive-In Theatre

Captain America and Harry Potter 7 part 2

More hiking on the South Teton Trail

I love NATURE :D

Next, was ELK CAMP!!! An annual ritual where my Dad, Mom and brother, Ryan take their camper into this very remote mountain (seriously, no cell phone reception) for a week-ish to hunt elk.

They got one!
Did you know that elk have two ivory teeth?

While there we also went four wheeling and picked huckleberries

On the way home we stopped for some square ice cream

My nephew, Jonas:)

Fun times in the car:P

So, once we wore out our welcome at my parents we drove back down to Provo, Utah to spend time with the best of friends ...

Awesome girls (Maddy & Emily)
 I used to have in Achievement Days.
All growed up;'( 

Band of Brothers (& Sisters)
We survived Monogram Systems together!

...and run the DIRTY DASH!!!

We were the SPA-TANS! Get it?
We are fierce like the Spartans but ready for our mud baths at the SPA...

Me with my sister in law, Chelsea and my big sister, Kristina - Clean :)

Dirty :D with Lars, Chelsea, Spring, Tami & Kristina

Our robes were not such a bright idea.
Once wet they weighed seriously 50 pounds:(
But we carried them the whole 10 kilometers! 

After we completely exerted ourselves in Utah we thought it time to head to my sister, Kristina's house  in Parker, Colorado...

But on the way we drove through Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. So cool!

You should see this pic on Lars' 3DS.  Amazing!

Double Arches

Balance Rock

Beautiful scenery I'm obsessed with:) 

FINALLY the last leg of our journey:)

Spending a few weeks with the TOLMANS!!!

I'm always amazed at this family. Kris and Rob have been married, what? 16 years? They have a beautiful marriage and a beautiful family of 9 children! You'd think that it would be a mad house but surprisingly enough it isn't...all the time:P Haha!

We had a marvelous time taking part in their lives! We really felt like a part of their family. Very loving and happy! I especially enjoyed all the volleyball and Turbo Jam workouts:D

This was also the time when Lars and I rediscovered Halloween candy...OH, how we missed American candies!!!

But the thing I was looking forward to most was chopping off my "luscious locks" and donating them!

Got rid of my sore neck and all my dyed hair. This is ALL NATURAL:)

So, between having to remember what Fast Food tastes like, the daily food group of Meat and Potatoes at the parents and all the Halloween candy we missed so much, we packed on about 20 pounds in two months after coming home from China:) And it was GOOD!

Now on to the next Adventure: 

Living with the In-Laws for a year!?!

Haha...

For all those Planning on Moving to China:

Was looking over our blog today and came across a couple Drafts of blogposts. This was one of them and since it's been a year since our Chinese adventure (and we are now in Scotland:) thought why not! Though it will add more confusion as to where and what we are doing:

I recently was contacted by a friend of a friend who will be moving to China. They are very overwhelmed about what to expect and how to prepare. I'm including my reply here because I thought it was a pretty good run down for anyone else thinking about living in CHINA:) Oh and there were a couple Beijing specific questions. Enjoy!

"EXCITING!!! Take a deep breath. Does the program coordinate living arrangements for you and help you get setup? Cause that can get a bit overwhelming. Along with not being able to communicate effectively. Do either of you guys speak mandarin? If not I would recommend a little practice on pinyin. I was very surprised by how much English/pinyin there is (instead of characters) but they do pronounce things a bit differently. Which will be helpful to learn when telling cab drivers where to take you.

We lived in Nanjing for 5 months before we came to Beijing and we love it! I think Lars sent Ian a list of things we've done or hope to do here. My recommendations would be The Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square, The Great Wall, Summer Palace/Zhongshan Park, Nanluoguxiang Hutong, Pearl/Silk/Yashou Shopping Markets (depends on what kind of experience you want:) As for places to eat...Are you guys up to date on all your shots? Even if you are you might want to take it easy the first few weeks, meaning not a lot, if any, street food and be picky about restaurants. You may want to try and eat 50% American, 50% Chinese to get your system used to the food. I guess laduzi (diarrhea) is part of the experience but still not fun so take it slow. 

As of right now Lars and I are very available. Lars' internship ended a week ago and our apartment lease is through July so until Lars finds a job we're both just chillin':) 

As for 'any other advice' in general you need to be prepared for ATTENTION. Unless you are living in a big enough city that has their own expat community and you plan to never leave said community you will attract lots of attention in the form of stares. Everyone and their grandmother will stare at you as you pass them on the sidewalks. Some even stop dead in their tracks to watch you walk by. It is definitely a little unnerving at first but you learn to ignore it. I do want to make you aware that even though EVERYONE stares *nobody will get physical with you. Before I came I heard all kinds of stories of foreigners (especially blondes) getting harassed. I've never had anyone grab my hair and I have a lot of hair. Yes, people may yell things at you like, "HELLO" or "PRETTY LADY".

*Okay, honestly I have had two instances of chinese males touching me. One was a handicapped boy on the subway who gave me a hug and the other was an old man who grabbed my hand when I wouldn't stop to talk to him. In each instance I found the phrase, Bu hao (pronounced "boo how") to be of use. It means "not good." The old guy left me alone directly when I yelled it in his face. (I was already in a "not gonna take anyone's crap" kind of mood:) I think the kid thought I was flirting but other people on the subway started yelling at him for me. That's the thing, weird things can happen but I've never felt in danger. There are just so many people around at all times that nobody is gonna try anything really dangerous. Of course you shouldn't go out for a stroll all alone at night through dark alleys either. That's just common sense:)

Other advice would be to bring sturdy clothing. Apparently you are going to want to bring light clothes because it's gonna get HOT outside (and you are outside a lot more than usual) and air conditioning is rare but what I mean is that you will most likely have a washer but dryers are extremely rare. You will be hanging your clothes to dry and wrinkles are easy to come by. You of course can purchase most conveniences like an iron but I've really tried to live simply. The apartments don't usually have much extra space. And what are you gonna do with all the stuff you've purchased when you leave? 

Anywho, if you can't live without things like tampons, deodorant, floss and any other name brand specific products, you need to bring as much as you think you'll need for your stay with you. Yes, you can have family ship things to you but you may run into heavy taxes on health and beauty products. But it you NEED to have something questionable shipped, if your family writes "GIFT" on the label customs may let it alone...MAYBE.

I have really loved my time here in China and I think it's because I've tried to live simply and just go with the flow. It's going to be different and there will be good differences (like how cheap food is: $15 bucks for a weeks worth of groceries which is about 100 RMB) and bad differences (the overall lack of cleanliness: pollution, dirty streets, children going to the bathroom on the sidewalk). 

One of the main reasons why I wanted to come to China was to really understand how blessed I am to be an American citizen. I will never complain about America again!

Well, I hope I've helped. If you think of anything else let me know.

Spring Shurilla"