Swim meet #1

Today was sunny enough that we stayed after morning practice to swim for a bit longer, partly so that I could make Phoebe do some things. When I asked her how futures went (I was in the parking lot giving things away to my friends...) she said that it went very well, that she was very "nice" and just said, "No, thank you!" when she was asked to float on her back.

So we had to practice back floats, obviously. 

Because these sweet little coaches are like, "The little lady said no thank you," whereas I am like an auctioneer: "Can you hold a back float for five seconds? One, two, three, four five! Five bid. Five. Do I hear ten seconds? Ten..."

What I mean is...the back float is happening whether you really want to or not. 

Because I'm a meanie. 

Anyway, she held her back float for ten seconds today. 

But we had to get home to move a bunk bed frame, two mattresses, two desks, two monitors, an office chair, some weighted blankets, and a bunch of stuff...into a friend's truck so they can redo their boys' rooms. Win-win. 

We're getting rather tired of moving furniture over here but...we're nearing the finish line.

The afternoon was sunny-ish, with a chance of thunderstorm. The cloud cover was very welcome when it rolled in and covered the sun. And it didn't ever thunder, so that was lovely. 

Here's Phoebe standing in the splash zone:

Future Barracuda!

Phoebe had her first day of "futures" on Tuesday this week (and then thought we moved to Doha on Wednesday—what a waste that would have been)! 

She was very excited, but she's also been rather nervous about the pool. It's still not bathtub-warm (her favourite pool temperature) and she also forgot how to swim between the end of pool season in September and the beginning of pool season this year. And, of course, I wasn't able to take her much the first half of the month since I was out of town. So she didn't feel very well prepared.

Here she is ready to meet her coach: 

From my observations (far away from the action, as requested by those in charge), she was a bit of a stinker and didn't want to try very many things. But her coach told her she did great. So that's what Phoebe's been clinging to. But she didn't do great. She was an absolute stinker.

In all fairness...I was a stinker of a kid (so I know one when I see one). 

Zoë's birthday party (friends edition!)

I have been simply awful about birthday parties the past...several years.

How bad, you might be asking. Quite terrible, honestly.

I don't think I've thrown a party since January 2018 for Miriam's 8th birthday party when she invited two friends over for a party (or, at least, two friends who came). And when did Miriam turn 8?

October 2017. 

But Alexander was born just a few weeks before Miriam turned 8. Postpartum was...rough...and Alexander was going through all his breathing issue stuff...and I was not ready for a birthday party just a couple of weeks later. But we did throw a shindig for their combined baptism/blessing celebration so that almost counts (with a small "sorry I missed your birthday" party four months later). 

Anyway...I...uhhhh...haven't thrown a party since. 

I just...somehow couldn't. It was like the birthday party planning part of my brain just completely fell out of my head.

Oh, we still had family celebrations. But a friend party? In this economy?

I'm not really blaming the economy here...it's a meme. But maybe the economy did contribute to my inability to let loose and have fun a little bit. Who is to say, really?

If I had to put my finger on it, I'd say some major contributors to my lack of ability to pull off a party was a combination of (1) a global pandemic, (2) grad school, and (3) another baby. At the very least. 

Add in kids getting older and engaging in more extracurriculars (swimming every day) and, I mean, we're plum worn out as parents.

When Zoë was 9 she wanted a Harry Potter birthday (and just now I am realizing that 9 was not last year but the year before) so I went so far as to gather decorations and she went so far as to make a blueprint of the cake she wanted. Her guest list was extravagant. We were going to do this!

But then we didn't? For some reason (a wedding, perhaps, and the start of swim season, and a beach trip and...I dunno...there are always a million reasons why, right?). Also, her birthday was on the mock meet day!

Since she wanted a Harry Potter birthday party, though, we decided it would be so fun(ny) to throw her a 9-and-three-quarters party! She could celebrate her birthday in February (I'm good at February birthdays)...but we missed that as well. So then we thought—May! We'll just throw her a Harry Potter party for her 10th birthday.

Ha! Again, I just couldn't. 

So I was quite determined to throw her a party this year—because 11 is the year kids get their letters for Hogwarts!

But do you all remember what's been going on this month? Here's a recap:

Oh, Mister Sun (heavy on the mist part)

This afternoon we got a break from the rainy, rainy, rainy weather we've been having the last week (and a half and then some) and actually saw the sun for a few hot minutes (a complaint I'm sure I won't be making once we're in Doha)!

Global Entry

The kids had their interviews for the Global Entry cards this morning. The younger three missed their swim practices, so we'll be heading to the pool for afternoon practices. But we made it home just in time for Benjamin to make his practice!

Phoebe had a surprisingly difficult time leaving this morning. She cried about a specific Duplo set that she loves and was upset generally that we told the kids to choose a book to read in the car—how would she ever choose one?

Then, as we were driving down the road she goes, "I didn't know we were moving today!"

"Oh, we're not moving today!" we reassured her. "We're just doing an interview at the airport."

"Oh, just an interview..." she echoed, but I'm not sure she really understood what that meant because when we turned into the airport and saw the big "Welcome to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport" sign above the road (which was dividing into a spaghetti bowl of lanes going this way and that) and air traffic towers and airplane hangars and so forth, she gasped and said, "Wow! So this is Doha!? It's so big!"

Again we had to remind her that we were only going to the airport today, that Doha was much farther away (we'd have to actually get on a plane for that trip and it would take many hours, not just one). 

"Who knew that planes were so big!!?!" she wondered next. "They look so small in the sky!"

It has been a long time since any of the kids last flew (aside from Miriam and Rachel). They are going to have so much fun on our trip, I'm sure. Just this short outing to the airport had them all gasping in wonder.

When we approached the escalator, Alexander and Phoebe completely froze. I had to force them onto it and then when it was time to step off, Alexander did a tremendous leap from several stairs above because he was afraid of the teeth at the bottom (with good reason, but the leap was a bit much). 

Anyway, here are the kids waiting for their interviews:

One bed down

I have no idea how much stuff to move with us to Qatar. 

I know how much weight we're allowed now, but I have no idea how much stuff that is. 

Nor do I really know how to prioritize what we take out with us on the plane versus what we ship out to arrive months later versus what we send to Utah to help our grown kids set up house versus what we just get rid of altogether. 

We're trying to get that all ironed out, though...and it's overwhelming. 

By the end of every day I'm suffering from decision overload, which perhaps is an indicator that we simply have too much stuff. So perhaps it's a good thing that we're getting rid of a lot of things.

Mostly I'm using the Buy Nothing Group (BNG) because I trust it more. 

It's a private group. You have to ask to join, your profile must be real, and you have to answer a few questions "proving" you live where you say you do. 

It's a sort of community. Everything is freely given (and I have benefited from a lot of "gives" in the time we've lived here) and people are generally respectful and are either prompt about picking things up or it's all just so flexible that it doesn't even matter (so [whatever item] sits on my porch for a week until [whoever] remembers to stop by and grab it—we'll survive).

We've given away dressers, couches, a table, most of our shelves, an InstantPot, our area rugs...

There are few items, however, that we've chosen to sell for various reasons. Today we finally sold Benjamin's loft bed, which we originally got from the BNG. Now, technically you're not supposed to resell anything that you get from the BNG but we listed the bed on the BNG and no one asked for it. So then we rationalized that because we bought a mattress to go with the bed (and since we only purchased this mattress in August of last year...before even applying for this job) we could list the mattress for sale (loft bed free with purchase). 

And we found a buyer on Facebook Market Place.

That place...

*shudders*

And then there were three

First there was the Raccoon Wrecker. 

Then there was the Copper Popper.

Today...the Chipmunk Masher. 

That is to say, Andrew ran over a chipmunk on our way to clean the church building this morning. 

Miriam is feeling a lot better about her snake incident.

Snakes, Hawks, and Coyotes

Moving can be a stressful time of life (see here, here, here)—an international move perhaps even more so—because moving can cause a cascade of stressful events (not only are you changing houses, but also schools, friends, culture, language, etc). It's a lot to handle. 

So sometimes emotions run high.

This is normal. 

But there are things you can do to cope with those emotions, to help your body lower stress hormones, and feel like you're able to keep on keeping on. The annoying thing about the things you can do to help your body lower stress hormones is that all the things you might need to do to lower your stress hormones feel so annoying. So they can be hard to do. 

Miriam had a difficult morning, so I suggested she try a few things, like write down some thoughts in her journal—not just about what she was worried about, but things she was grateful for, or looking forward to, or just...silly, funny, delightful things that have happened. 

Because it's literally good for you to do this.

I can't remember what else I suggested, but there were other things. 

I do know that she ended up curling up in a weepy ball on her bed. 

So I let her stay like that for a while (because, honestly, a good snooze typically helps me get out of a funk) and then invited her to go for a walk with me. 

Because exercise is annoyingly good at helping you release stress hormones. 

"Come for a walk with me!" I said. "Get some sunshine, some vitamin D, fresh air; generate some endorphins; appreciate nature...come on...it will be fun!"

Readers, this walk was a mental health fail. 

You see, Miriam ran over what she thought was a stick on her way home from the pool this morning (she gracious took Benjamin to his practice; Andrew took the early morning crew before then). But on our walk we discovered that it was not a stick. 

It was a danger noodle.

Life moves pretty fast: Swim meet countdown

The summer swim season has officially begun!

We had our mock meet last night, which means we only have five weeks of swimming left the season (minus the county competition). Swim meets have always marked the passing of summer, but this year their passing (which hasn't even truly begun because we, uh, haven't had an official swim meet yet) feels a bit more ominous because it's also more or less counting down the time we have left here in Georgia. 

We. Have. So. Much. To. Do. 

But last night we just sat for a few hours and watched the kids swim.

Our competition pool (which isn't our pool but is a pool within our cooperative swim team...we take turns practicing at our pool ad at this pool) got a new deck addition this summer, which is nice because the past couple of years they haven't allowed us to put children on that side of the pool so we had to clump all the kids on the other side of the deck and put the other team out on the parking lot...and neither place was particularly suited for this purpose.

We're glad we don't have to do that anymore. The new deck is much nicer. And "I'm kind of liking the jail situation we have going on," Miss Julie, our team manager, joked. 

We call the area the kids hang out the "bull pen" anyway, and it honestly is rather helpful having it be an actual pen rather than having the kids sprawl out all over whatever nook or cranny of the deck they can find!

Atlanta Georgia Temple

Rachel began working on her mission papers shortly before the semester ended. She had decided to maybe go on a mission...in December. After talking about the pros and cons for a long time she decided that she should finish and submit her papers. But then after having made the decision to, yes, go...she felt like waiting until December was silly. 

Waiting is the worst.

So she decided to put her availability date in August (after the summer term ends). That doesn't mean she'll leave in August (she could still leave in December for all we know), but it does at least mean she won't have to wait to know when she'll be leaving and can make plans accordingly. 

She submitted her papers on Monday (after going to the doctor for the third time in a week because the doctor/nurse couldn't figure out how to fill out the form properly) and she went through the temple this morning!

You can read more about the endowment ceremony here, if you're interested!

Spring Recital

Zoë and Miriam had their last spring recital with Ms. Deb's studio on Saturday. It's been so wonderful to be part of the studio for so long, not only to see our own kids improving, but to see the progress the other students have been making. The tiny girls that Miriam used to help teach have all grown into beautiful little pianists (and Zoë's good friends with them since she also used to be in the group lesson with them). 

It's been fun! Miriam at least will continue zoom lessons with Ms. Deb...until we find an organ teacher for her in Doha (which I'm doubtful we'll be able to do) or until she leaves for college). I'm sure we'll be able to find a local piano teacher for Zoë. 

Zoë played Allegro by Alexander Reinagle and Hurry Scurry by Robert Vandall:

Schönbrunn in the morning and Vienna at night (and the trip home)

On Tuesday morning (May 12), Patrick took me out to visit Schönbrunn Palace, the Habsburg family's summer residence (in view of their winter residence, the Hofburg). It is large (but only about a third of the size of Versailles). We didn't get tickets to any of the exclusive tours, but the grounds are free to wander through—we even saw a handful of joggers enjoying the paths. 

Room rotation

Yesterday we gave away all of our area rugs. We moved all the furniture and boxes that were on top, we rolled them up, and carried them outside so they can be picked up and moved to their next home. 

Phoebe had been playing in the basement while we worked with Rachel and Miriam to do this task. 

She came upstairs, walked into the music room, and said, "Huh. This room looks different for some reason. It looks bigger..."

"Yeah," Andrew said. "What happened to it?"

"Uhhhh..." Phoebe said. "You...rotated it?"

Eurovision!

When we found out that we'd be in Vienna for Eurovision we jumped through all the necessary hoops to get tickets. We had to apply to get in the lottery to have the chance to buy tickets at all? Something like that. All I know is that Patrick, Josie, and I all got through the first lottery round (Hadis did not) and then Patrick and I managed to buy a set of four tickets (the maximum number you could buy) while Josie did not. So Patrick sold/transferred his tickets to some friends and we used the tickets that I got. 

All of our tickets were really bad, but not really, really bad, so we felt okay about them. 

It helped (or hurt?) that they were only 15 euro each. 

We attended on Tuesday afternoon. It was cold and drizzly. 

The security for the event was...significant. Each ticket had to be designated for one person and one person only, and the name on the ticket had to match the name on whatever government ID you chose to present to prove your identity. We had to walk through metal detectors and get a pat down. We were allowed to bring only a few things that could fit in our pockets (no bags of any sort were allowed). We had to check our jackets at the counter. People who had brought umbrellas had to throw them away. 

It was pretty intense (but that's the kind of world we live in). 

Here we are, having all found our seats:

Why are we like this in our family?

Jet lag to the west seems easier than jet lag to the east. I'm not sure whether it's because of the time of day that I travelled or simply because I'm coming home (without ever quite having settled into a schedule across the pond) but it was easier to fall back into the everyday happenings at home. 

Thursday we had gardening club and then swim team. Here's Phoebe working in the garden in her swim suit and by "working" I mean eating a bunch of herbs that Miss Mim let her grab—here she's holding dill and stuffing parsley into her mouth.

Vienna's First District (and Better than an Iranian Restaurant)

Patrick had a meeting with his advisor Monday afternoon, so we went into Vienna's First District in the morning. This worked out well because Josie and I still had valid 24-hour passes in the morning and because a tremendous thunderstorm rolled in later in the afternoon (completely shutting down all Eurovision activities for the evening). 

Speaking of which, who's got two thumbs and accidentally planned a trip to Vienna during Eurovision and over Mother's Day? 

It's me! 

Really Josie and I were going off of cheap airfare, which meant that we had to fly as close to the end of the semester as possible, which meant that I flew out the day after my semester ended. That sounded good in theory as well...when we initially made these plans. It felt a little less good when I was in the middle of finishing up all my final projects. 

And we actually managed to get tickets to see Eurovision live (well, a rehearsal anyway) so that's today's activities. 

Anyway, the first district, or the Innere Stadt is the city centre, where all the administrative buildings and things are...and it's also where a big Eurovision village is set up, where the opening ceremonies were on Sunday, and...let's just say it's been bustling!

Andrew and I visited downtown Vienna in April of 2006 while on a 14-hour layover on our way to spend our summer in Jordan (also to secure cheap tickets, I'm sure). I only remembered that we'd shared some fries (and didn't understand how to validate our transport tickets), but apparently we had pizza and ice cream as well (good for us). That is to say, it's been a hot minute since I've been here (20 years, to be precise). A few things were familiar to me, but I was glad to have a knowledgable guide in Patrick. 

I believe Patrick lives in the sixteenth district, which is actually much closer to the first district than you might assume—only the eighth district separates it from the first district. We left his apartment in the morning when Hadis needed to leave for work since we were all going the same direction.

Here's one of his streets with gardens filled with allium blossoms: 

Vienna Central Cemetery

On Sunday we went to Vienna's Central Cemetery, which was not very central according to Vienna residents in 1863 when the cemetery was established. In fact, it was so far removed from city life that hardly anyone cared to visit the graveyard at all...until city authorities began Ehrengräber (honorary graves) and even exhumed and reinterred famous people who died before the cemetery's opening (such as Beethoven and Schubert). 

See—here's Beethoven (who died in 1827)...

Salzburg: The End (and an Iranian restaurant)

We more or less just slept in on Saturday morning. We didn't have to check out of the hotel until 11:00  am, our train wasn't until 1:11 pm, and we didn't have much else on our Salzburg to-do list. It was nice to be unhurried in the morning. 

We went to the Billa (grocery store) to get some breakfast pastries and then went for a walk to St. Sebastian's Cemetery, which was immediately so peaceful compared to the street outside. 

There are some Mozarts buried here (but not the Mozart, who got a pauper's funeral in Vienna).

Salzburg: Hohensalzburg Fortress and more

We made our way up to the Petersfriedhof (cemetery) at the base of Festungsberg and debated whether and how we wanted to get up to Hohensalzburg Fortress. 

Here you can see part of the Salzburg Cathedral at the end of the street: 

Salzburg: from the Sound of Music to Mozart (and a little bit of Mother's Day)

We stayed up way too late on Thursday night and then could hardly sleep because we knew we had to wake up early on Friday morning to catch the train to Salzburg. Optimistically we had told ourselves that we could sleep on the train, but we didn't really do that, either. The views were beautiful—I was surprised by how much countryside there was (that is, there was much less urban sprawl than I would have expected). 

Fortunately, it's a fairly short trip. When we arrived and found our hotel (to ask if we could store our bags while we walked around) the receptionist offered to see if she had any rooms available right then (though our check-in time wasn't until much later in the day). As it turned out she did have two rooms available, so we checked in and had a quick little rest before hitting the town. 

Qatar (with the details)

We have been waiting a long time to share the news that we got this job! 

Andrew was offered the position on March 8 (the day we spoke in church, clearly pining to get the job and move, though we had not yet heard when we gave the talks) and then going through the negotiation process and waiting period, finally hearing back...the middle of the afternoon on Thursday (May 7)?

My timing is fuzzy on that because I'm here (in Austria) and Andrew is there (in Georgia), but we are very excited everything is finally finalized. 

Andrew has been working on making little flags of all the places we've (collectively) lived (he hasn't lived in Russia, I haven't lived in Italy). He actually started with the Qatari flag as...a way to...soothe his anxieties about offers being rescinded (we've had interesting luck in that department)...to manifest his desires. 

To share the news, he posted this picture with the Qatari flag on top:

Qatar without the details

Once upon a time...way back in August...Andrew saw a posting for a job in Qatar. 

It was perfect for him, almost as if they had written the job description with his CV sitting in front of them. He asked if he should apply, and I said that he definitely should. So he did. 

And life went on...and on...and on...

We began to assume we simply wouldn't be hearing back about his application, but they reached out on November 10 for a zoom interview. Andrew responded in a great hurry, saying:

(Hi! I just submitted form. All possible dates/times work great for me so I arbitrarily chose three, but if needed, the other times are also fine too. Thanks!)

He came upstairs and faceplanted onto the bed. 

"I just submitted form!" he mumble-screamed into the mattress.

"What?" I asked. 

"I. Just. Submitted. Form," he repeated and then showed me the email he had sent (which left out the "the" that a native speaker would have used). 

"I'm sure it will be fine..." I said (gracefully not pointing out that he used both also and too in the same sentence, which is completely redundant—he didn't need to worry about that, too!).

Georgia > Turkey > Austria

I survived the semester! 

I turned in all my final papers! 

...and then I hopped on a plane to join Josie in visiting Patrick and Hadis in Austria! 

I flew on Turkish airlines, which boasts ample legroom, but which did not feel ample (perhaps because the man I sat next to was rather large and kept blowing his nose...on his blanket...and perhaps because the seat in front of me was broken and stuck in a recline). It wasn't an unpleasant flight, though! I finished a book (Looking for Palestine) and watched a movie (Nuremberg) and slept. 

After landing in Istanbul, I had time for a quick jog through the airport, hopping in line to board my flight to Vienna just in time. So here is my one picture from Turkey: 

Pool-ar Plunge 2026

We did it! We made it to May! 

Phoebe has been asking "When's it gonna be May?" since the pool closed at the end of September.

The kids have been taking about the upcoming summer swim season nonstop all winter.

But we did it! We're finally here!

So here's our First Day of the Pool Season picture for 2026:

Dean's Blessing and Tennessee Skies

Our main reason for driving up to Tennessee last weekend was because Dean was blessed last Sunday! It was so nice to be able to be there (and for Andrew to participate in the blessing circle). 

We unfortunately missed our opportunity to get a lovely little family picture, arriving too late to manage to get one before church, and then...well...Dean "decorated" his blessing outfit shortly after the event, sending lovely newborn-yellow poop right up his back in the middle of the sacrament.

Rosie took him out to change him and—to her dismay—discovered that she'd left his emergency onesie at home on the kitchen counter...so he went through the rest of the services wearing only his diaper. 

More Tennessee Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of the kids playing together....

So many piggyback rides

Admittedly, this first picture isn't a piggyback ride. It's a picture of Andrew diffusing a temper tantrum. These three little girl cousins—ages 3, 4, and 5—have a lot of fun when they get together, but emotions can sometimes run a little high:

Phoebe, sweet Phoebe

This morning, Phoebe brought me a paper that said: "Phoebe, sweet Phoebe."

Technically it said:

PHOEBE
SOET
PHOEBE

Vanil (no-laa)

Vanilla is a word that will always make me a little bit angry. 

When I was in grade five we had individualized spelling lists (I've told this story before) of misspelled words that were pulled from our writing. I tended to write a lot and also wasn't afraid to use words that I wasn't quite sure of the spelling for, so I had some rather tricky words on my spelling list. Or perhaps I simply felt the words were tricky because they were words that I clearly already found to be tricky (having misspelled them in the first place).

I had this one friend who would purposely write as little as possible and very slowly and carefully so as to select only the words which she knew she knew how to spell. In that way she avoided spelling tests in the first place. 

Clever? Perhaps. 

But I couldn't write that way. I wrote furiously, passionately, filling page after page with copious script, using the most lavish words I could think of. I wrote some very purple passages, I'm sure, and I had a spelling list as extensive as my little vocabulary could muster. 

I took risks. I spelled a lot of things wrong. 

Where my friend would write "yummy" I would try out "delicious" or "scrumptious" and...I'd probably leave out an i or something. Onto the list it would go! 

And that's fine. 

I just then had to learn how to spell those words, which, again, was fine. It's not like it's outlandish to have to learn how to properly spell scrumptious. I was fine. 

But I also was forever telling stories about words. 

Infantilizing and Brachiating

Rachel held Dean for a quite a while at the ward party. He is, as I've mentioned, a rather chill baby and is happy in most any position (as long as he is being held at all times, if you please). So for a while Rachel was walking around with him held vertically, like this:

Granted—this picture is not at the ward party. This picture is from Rosie's house. But you get the picture, right? Dean was held upright, vertically, perpendicular to the ground.