Super-Fun!

Ok, so I know parents are ALWAYS saying this about their kids, but I really think Sarah is at the funnest age ever right now! I am so excited that we will be coming home to the U.S. in just about a month so our families will get to experience Sarah at this stage. Every day she is coming up with some new silly thing, and bringing SOOO much joy to our lives. Some of my faves:

• Sarah loves to run up behind you, and then peek around to see your face. If you act surprised, she will laugh the most adorable hearty little belly laugh.
• Just this week, Sarah started miming putting on makeup. If she sees me putting it on in front of the full-length mirror in our bedroom, she will beg me to hand her something from my makeup bag, and I usually give her a blush brush or a tube of something she can't open. Then she will push my legs to squeeze herself in between me and the bottom of the mirror, and begin "applying" her makeup, rubbing whatever is in her hands all over her face!
• She also loves miming talking on the "phone"--sometimes its one of our cell phones, sometimes it is a remote control or something else she pretends is a phone.
• She is beginning to realize her need for snuggles. In the midst of her usual busy-busy-ness, running around the house creating messes, she will run up to me and hug my legs (if I am standing) or crawl into my lap for exactly 3 seconds of snuggles before she wants down to continue her reign of anarchy.

There are so many things I could list! But I thought I might SHOW you a few things too! Like this:



More videos of Sarah having fun:

Sarah playing with my sunglasses. She is very, very into sunglasses these days. I put them on her, she runs around giggling and then takes them off, brings them back to me to help her put them on again. Repeat!

Sarah playing with a shopping bag. No worries, not the old school kind that can suffocate you, but the new kind that you can re-use and is better for the environment, and I am pretty sure can't suffocate you.

Sarah doing some "spring cleaning." She's discovered how to open drawers, and this is just one example of the chaos that ensues. By the time I discovered her doing this, she'd pulled half of the clothes out of the drawer, so I figured I'd just go with it and get the craziness on video. Afterwards, I ended up giving away about half of the contents of the drawer, so I think the net result was actually more organized than before!

First Thing in the Morning

This is what Sarah looks like. Love the hair sticking up. And, fyi, she's in a bit of a growth spurt so thats why she's so crazy skinny these days. She eats a ton, I promise!!
Still sleepy!! That's how momma feels at least. :)

Quadruple Date Night

Andy and Erin Ashley Huffman, David's and my best friends since college, will be moving back home to the U.S. from our city here in Asia this summer. We have had more amazing times with them, from college, to our single days in Asia, to getting married around the same time and having kids around the same time . . . its really impossible to describe what an important role they have played in our lives the last ten or so years. OK, tearing up now! This is not what this post is supposed to be about!

The point is, they are leaving soon, and last Saturday, we and two other couples went out on a quadruple date just to make some more fun memories before they leave our city. And what better way to make memories than to do something just a tad bit scary . . . something like riding this:
This may look like an ordinary ferris wheel to you, but its actually quite a beast. It was really difficult to get a photo of the thing, because its so high it was hard to fit it all in the shot.

And, in case you still don't believe me that this thing is not the tame ferris wheel you've ridden your whole life at the state fair, check out the entrance to the ride:

Not. Even. Kidding. I am just going to show that to you one more time, a little bit closer now . . .

As we were entering the park and approaching the roller coaster, everyone was admitting their fear of heights had them just a tad bit nervous, but I actually think this big guy ironically helped to ease the fears by showing us how ridiculous it was to be afraid of this thing.

Or so it seemed . . . You see, I was one of the only ones who wasn't intimidated by the height of the thing. I was cool as a cucumber as we were walking up. Then we actually got in the little four-person bubble cars. And the operator closed the door. And I realized I was completely closed in to a VERY small tight little space . . . and I may or may not have started hyper-ventilating, and pounding on the door for the operator to let me out. Sigh. The one person without a fear of heights taken down by claustrophobia!!!

Thankfully, the operator opened the door, I got one more breath of fresh air, and I was able to calm down enough to continue with the ride. My pride, of course, was not entirely in tact, but I did continue.

And I actually, enjoyed the views I got of the park and the city. Like this one:
Thankfully, for the sake of my pride at least, everyone found the Ferris Wheel of Doom and Destruction (ok, that's a little dramatic, I admit) a little scary at times. Here are Laura and EA pretending that they are not scared at all as we are making our ascent:

Here are Alisa and I, hearts pounding:

At the very top, we were across from the guys' capsule, and we took a photo of them taking a photo of us taking a photo of them . . .

Afterwards, as we were all recovering our senses and enjoying our increased camaraderie via frightful ferris wheel ride, we walked through the park and found these giant thrones. I am not really sure you are allowed to sit on them, but the park was more or less deserted and no one was around to tell us we couldn't, so . . .

The Huffmans sat in them.

We sat in them.

Matt and Laura Kvernen sat in them.

And John and Alisa Greene OWNED them. :)

After we left the park, we went out for a delicious Japanese teppanyaki meal, and ice cream. Our babysitter was relieved around 11, and we fell into our beds glad to be there instead of entrapped in a tiny capsule at an unreasonably high height!

Messy

Our girl loves to get messy these days. Here she is covered in little bits of banana.
You can't tell from the photos, but her hair is absolutely caked in banana stickiness, and that sippy cup she is holding has this grimy, banana film all over. Yuck!
Crazy how a 14-month-old can make the messiest things also the cutest!!!

Easter

Sarah's Easter Dress:

And her two Easter bunnies (the white one is from last year, and the pink one is this year's bunny):

Sarah wants to share her Easter bunny with you!

I had dreams of getting a good Spring-y photo of all 3 of us outside on Easter morning, but alas there was no one around to take the photo for us, and David said it wasn't worth being late to church (that David, always making sense!), so all I got was a father/daughter photo. Still cute though!

I did get this one photo of the three of us after church, to commemorate our SECOND Easter as a three-some!
God is GOOD and He LIVES!!!