Wandering Browns

Traveling to India has taken more preparation than I originally thought. My travel nurse and Austin's travel nurse just prescribed malaria meds and antibiotics for the inevitable traveler's diarrhea and we were done. For Landon, I had to set up an appointment with a special travel company that specializes in children (I guess the average toddler is not taking malaria meds these days!)  This is the stuff I used to soak Landon's clothes The travel nurse there made it her special mission to scare me into taking very good care of my son. Along with malaria, dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis are also mosquito-borne illnesses that are common there, and so insect repellent is a must. They said we needed one with DEET, but she sold me a special family formula that will ensure that Landon doesn't absorb too much DEET and get poisoned that way. We also got some Permethrin solution and soaked Landon’s clothes in them so the mosquitoes will stay far away!  Oh, and

The weather was gorgeous during our trip, and we spent a morning at the beach! Landon took a nosedive in the freezing cold water early on, so he spent the rest of our time staying far away from the water. He loved throwing sand and socializing with all the other beachgoers. Hannah, my dad and I caught some waves in the 55 degree water. The air temperature was around 80, so that made it bearable to go in for a little while. Sadly, both my parents and I forgot our cameras, so we did not capture the beautiful day. Sometimes I think that when we are super focused on getting good pictures, we miss fully enjoying the experience. At least that's what I will tell myself to make me feel better. I took mental snapshots that I will cherish forever. Chicken encounter! Aunt Net has chickens, and Landon got to pet one! He loved raking the yard, chasing chickens, and trying to feed them lettuce. He did not quite get the idea, because he started eating an overripe banana that was meant for t

2 weeks ago we flew to California for a last "goodbye" trip to see my family before heading out for India. We had every intention of visiting both California and Denver prior to our date of April 18th, but with everything moved up, we just got the California trip in. That said, I am thankful I have family in CA! It was gorgeous, like 70-80 degrees at the beach gorgeous, and the one rainstorm they had left the earth partially renewed and little buds of grass were coming up everywhere. We were able to wear shorts and T-shirts, and spent as much time as we could outdoors in the warmth. Head First! The first day, we went to the park with Landon. I do not have a sun hat that fits him (just beanies for Chicago artic cold!) and so I sunscreened his scalp, leaving him with wild boy hair. He enjoyed the big kid play structure the most, climbing up to the very top to go down the big slide. This kid is fearless right now.  We also walked down to the lake, which is really lo

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We FINALLY found out where we are going for the first 5-6 weeks of our traveling assignment- a refinery near Jamnagar, India . It is in the north west part of India, in the state of Gujarat. Austin reports there the first part of April, so we may have to leave March 30th or 31st in order to get there in time. Most likely we will be flying from Chicago to Newark, to London, to Mumbai, to Jamnagar. This whole process will most likely take 2-3 days. Landon better get comfy on the airplane! It is nicknamed Oil City of India. The refinery has a guesthouse, gym, cinema, mart and other amenities that Landon and I will be enjoying while Austin works his butt off at the refinery. Average temperature in April- 95 degrees. Oddly, that sounds REALLY good right now as Chicago's average temperature has been about 30-35 for the last little while. Break out the shorts! Jamnagar and surrounding areas with a sideways map of India Jamnagar is near the coast and there is a Marine National Park

The weather has NOT improved here in Chicago area. It goes from cold to AHHH!!!! COLD!!!!!! to cold, to snowing and  back to cold. Repeat and repeat and repeat. So we have not done too many noteworthy things, because we are too busy being cold. However, Grandpa Jim came to town and it was great to have him! Friday, we visited downtown Chicago to go to Eataly. There are many little counters and restaurants within the big open floor plan 2 story eating place, and it was fun looking through all the imported Italian goods. We ended up purchasing some sheep cheese, pasta, and red pesto, with which we made dinner.  Grandpa came to visit... and we visited Eataly! Grandpa was up for the task of corralling Landon in this building full of tempting things. Here they were watching someone make fresh mozzarella. YUM!  We ordered authentic Neapolitan pizzas- very thin crust and baked quickly in a very hot pizza oven. We each loved our pizzas, and Lando loved the bread! After lunch, we head

I finally finished enough pages to put my quiet book together! Landon already had a store bought Bible quiet book, so I focused on a Book of Mormon/Church History/LDS general theme. For materials I used a heavy weight Pellon for the pages. It is much easier to work with vs. felt, and lasts a long time. I used a combination of stiff and soft felt for everything that goes on the page. I would have used all stiff felt, but Hancock Fabrics did not have all the colors of stiff felt that I wanted. Instead of stitching on the lettering, I wrote on the Pellon with sharpie. SO much easier. I used many different blogs for ideas, and tweaked the designs here and there to make it work for me. Here are the pages:  The first page I did was Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life found in 1 Nephi 8. The iron rod is a silver ribbon, and Nephi can move along it. The fruit snaps on and off and the tree and Lehi's hand. The great and spacious building is off to the left. I got this template from  h