sloth

Continuing Trent's adventures...

While we were still living in New Zealand, we discovered after Trent was twice swarmed by hornets that flying/stinging insects are attracted to my sweet baby.  

Back in the US, we went on a ward camping trip to East Canyon.  Lonnie and Trent were out for a walk and a biker passed.  Lonnie stepped aside on the trail and a few seconds later Trent started screaming.  Lonnie looked down and saw Trent swarmed again.  He grabbed him and ran back to camp.  When I saw him I stripped him down and another bee (wasp) flew out.  Lonnie was bitten at least 5 times and Trent the same.  Thankfully some other ward members had an antihistime and also suggested we put toothpaste on the bites.  Trent was screaming until the toothpaste (non gel) took away the string.   Unfortunately one of the stings was on his eye lid and by morning his eye was swollen shut.  It didn't seem to bother him too much, but he looked terrible so we spent the next couple of days trying to get him to say "Baby Ruth".  

mesquite (in august) with the mercers

The Mercers like to have family time.  There is always a dinner, trip of party coming up.  In August Lonnie's parents scheduled some timeshare condos in Mesquite, Nevada and invited all the kids and grandkids to come all.  Lonnie, and it appears his brothers too, have an amazing ability to tolerate heat.  I love the desert but Mesquite, NV has an average temperature of  High 102 degrees F- Low 70 degrees (38 C- 20C) it too hot for me.   Still it was a nice trip.  The kids loved spending time with their cousins and hours at the pool.

The cost of playing golf and expensive golf courses goes down considerably when the temperature is over 100 degrees.  

Max and Maya brought along their favorite Littlest Petshop toys.  This set up made me laugh because it looked the Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Super.

summer solstice in the desert

There is some that I find deeply purifying about the desert, something clean about the dry dirt.  

“The fire. The odor of burning juniper is the sweetest fragrance on the face of the earth, in my honest judgment; I doubt if all the smoking censers of Dante's paradise could equal it. One breath of juniper smoke, like the perfume of sagebrush after rain, evokes in magical catalysis, like certain music, the space and light and clarity and piercing strangeness of the American West. Long may it burn.” 
― Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

back in the USA

We arrived back in Utah in April.  There was still occasional snowfall, while the kids were excited about it.  They missed the beach.

 We got to spend time with Nana and Papa again.  We lived in their basement, which Lonnie promised he never wanted to do.  But it was actually fun to have 11 people all living in the same big house.

 We received a bit of New Zealand in Utah when Alyssa Stinson spent a day with us before going into the MTC for her mission in Florida.  Just talking with her made me start driving on the wrong side of the road, which I quickly corrected.

 Max and Maya turned 5!  We had a small party at home.

We bought a beautiful home in Bountiful.  My favorite part is watching the sunsetting over The Great Salt Lake with Antelope Island in the distance.  We are now true Mercers.  

We were able to spend a wonderful weekend with our family at my parent's mission farewell.  Spending time with family and longtime friends has been the best part of being back in Utah!

Trent in Rehab:

Trent made my parent's mission farewell party even more exciting by getting into the medicine cupboard in the upstairs bathroom.  Lonnie found him with pills all over the floor.  We called poison control.   They said to keep and eye on him and bring him in if he started acting funny.  About 20 min later he started to wobble while he was walking.  We took him over to Primary Children's hospital.  We were't sure what he had taken so the doctors put in an IV and heart monitors.  He was quite groggy but we kept him awake.  I breastfeed him and shortly after he threw up....licorice and cookies (making me feel like an even better mother).  The doctors did a toxin screen and it came back showing something different than we had assumed so they decided to keep him overnight.  At 10:30 we were finally in a room and I was able to get him to sleep. He was over tired and agitated.   I slept next to him on the bed.  I don't remember ever seeing him look so helpless, even as a newborn.  By the morning he was feeling better and wanted to pull out all his cords.  We convinced the staff that he was annoyed not from the drugs but because we were trying to keep him still.  We took him for a walk in a wagon around the hospital and near noon we were finally able to take him home.  Lessons learned: lock up your meds, nothing is safe around this kid.  Welcome back to US medical system (we were still getting bills six months later),  I love my sweet little Trent.

fiji

We took a magical week long trip to Fiji on our way back to the US.  We arrived in the evening and stayed at a hotel near the airport. We swam in the pool and tried to unwind from the stress of moving.

The next morning we were picked up by a tour bus and drove through Nadi.  Several hours later we reached a river landing where we jumped onto a launch and followed the river out of the estuary to Robison Crusoe Island resort.   The resort was the only thing on the small island.  It wasn't a fancy hotel but was perfect for a relaxed family vacation.

Our room/house was just feet from the water on either side.  The island was only 16 acres and half of it was covered with mangroves.  The kids quickly learned their way around and had their run of the place.

The waters surrounding the island were shallow which helped me feel safe about our wandering Max.  

We spent lots of time sitting in lounge chairs and watching beautiful sunsets.

We enjoyed learning about Fijian culture and meeting the kind and happy people. 

We ate all our meals communally which made the kids happy.  They quickly made lots of new friends.

Lonnie and I went out kayaking while the kids were watched by the island staff.  Trent feel asleep and slept for a couple hours on the floor of the hut were the workers rested.

While were were only a few people staying overnight at the resort several people arrived daily for the shows.  We enjoyed the fire walking.

And loved the fire dancing...

The kids loved the shows and still talk about all that we did there.  The keeping hoping we can go back one day.  

Even though we have now been in Utah for six months the kids keep asking to go to the beach and where the palm trees are.  

one last trip

The Dimayas were basically our family in New Zealand.  They came over for Sunday dinners, celebrated holidays and birthdays.  We miss you!

Our last weekend in New Zealand we convinced the Dimayas to come on one last trip with us.  We finished packing up the house and spent our last few days in Rotoua.    We walked thought the Government Gardens, walked through thermal areas and then bathed in the hot pools.  

 

We wore out our little Trent.

kate, paul and gus

Kate, Paul and Gus were our first friends in New Zealand.  We were lucky enough to move in next door to them after weeks of looking for a place to live.  (more posts about Kate, Paul and Gus)  They taught us how to live in New Zealand and were often our cultural interpreters.  We couldn't have asked for kinder and more genuine friends.