We went to New Jersey! We were able to stay for 10 days and it was oh so fun!
We went to NJ for a Bean reunion. Logan grew up in Farmington, UT, and then in middle school his family moved to Annandale, NJ where they have been ever since. Logan's parents were called into the temple presidency and have been temple workers at the Manhattan temple since November. They will have the calling for three years, after which they plan to move west to follow their kids. None of Logan's siblings live back east anymore so we don't get out there very often because Logan's parents, David and Natalie, come out so often. Last time we went out there was when Elsy was 8 months old. We realized this was our last time going to New Jersey while Logan's parents still owned the house so we knew we wanted to take lots of pictures and videos.
I was sad to discover, on the very last day we were there, that my phone was in a bag full of water and was never to turn on again. We lost a lot of photos and videos and I was devastated to have lost all the documentation of our last trip to Logan's home he grew so much in. I have never been so grateful for my blog, because I have been updating my photos every week onto my blog so those, at least, were not lost for the last three months (which was when I last backed up my phone). So we lost a lot of videos from the last three months which was sad, but I was mostly sad about our NJ trip. Thankfully, Logan took lots of pictures and some videos from his phone and Logan's family has shared a lot of photos that they took as well. So we were blessed in that way.
Here are the photos we do have of the trip! It was so fun, so HOT, so humid, so exciting, and just so nice to be with family!
Our family had the worst experience trying to buy flights to NJ. We knew it was going to be expensive since we would have to buy four tickets so we planned, at the beginning of the year, to sign up for the Alaska credit card which allows you one companion fare of $99. We both signed up for a card separately in order to ensure our kids both got that $99 companion fare. Well, once we met the required spending amounts (which I was very careful and mindful of) we went online and bought Logan and Tommy each a ticket. Then we signed out and signed into my account only to discover that I had not qualified for the companion fare and would have to pay full price for Elsy's ticket as well! Yuck! That was like $700 and I was like, oh no way. So we contacted Alaska and the lady said I did qualify for it and she would send me a new card, but I would have to start all over spending wise I think is what she said and it would take about a month to update my account? Ugh. So we waited and things just didn't work out. By the time we finally bought mine and Elsy's tickets the prices had gone up to about $850/ticket and we had to pay full price for both of them! Ew! Logan and I were just sick about it for days. I was pretty upset because flights through other airlines were a ton cheaper by like $200 a ticket but we couldn't switch and blah blah blah it was yucky and we spent so much money on flights it was insane. All right before Tommy broke his arm. I think we wouldn't have gone to NJ if we hadn't bought the tickets before that. So I guess that was a tender mercy that we bought them when we did. Yikes.
But once we had the tickets we did our best to just throw the thoughts of med bills and what nots under the rug and just have a fun vacation. And we did! The kids were amazing on the flight. Because of storms in NJ we had a 3.5 hour delay which had me stressed about bed times and things. Thankfully both of the kids played for a while on the flight and then both fell asleep! It was amazing. Logan and I took turns playing Breath of the Wild on the switch and reading a book he got me for my birthday called "Understanding Temple Symbols through Scripture, History, and Art" by Jack M. Lyon. We both really loved it and it has opened my eyes to a lot of really cool things about the temple. I highly recommend getting it, I might be giving it to everyone on my Christmas list. Hehe!
We finally crawled into our beds around 4am NJ time. It was a long day but we all got to sleep in! It took a few days for everyone to feel settled on the new time zone (3 hours different than our own) but it all worked out!
The very first morning I saw these guys sitting on the back porch. I am so grateful I took this picture with Logan's phone and not mine or it would have been lost. It is so special to me because I have a picture of Logan and I sitting in that very spot from when I came out to visit him when we first started dating. Haha, he was even wearing that same shirt in the picture, only that shirt has graduated to just a pj shirt now. It was so special for me to see these two little humans I love so much sitting in a spot where we did way before they were even a thought in my mind.
For the reunion Logan's dad rented a big 15 passenger van for us all to ride in. Every one of us fit in the van except for Gordon's family. The van was in pristine condition when we got it at the beginning of the week and by then end I had to laugh as we cleaned it out to return it. It was full of sand, goldfish, wrappers, little socks, books, water bottles, and more. It served it's purpose very well I would say.
On our first day we did a major Costco trip. Since Logan's parents are mostly living in an apartment in Manhattan, we needed lots of food for the Annandale house.
Elsy and Ella giggled non-stop. In fact, that whole first day my kids were just big, spazmatic crazies. I think it was the lack of sleep and the time change. The second day they were both pretty cranky and then by the third day things were pretty normal.
We got a family photo in on one of the first days. I am so glad we did. I personally am not a fan of taking family photos, although I do understand it's importance and it is fun figuring out outfits. It has just gotten more and more complicated as we all have more and more kids. We did family photos with my family in June and then with Logan's on the trip. It was nice to get it out of the way in the beginning! And the pictures turned out fantastic. We took them at the Clinton Town historic mill and we all agreed it was the perfect spot for the last 'hurrah' in New Jersey. It is a place that we have all loved to go visit and see out there so it is perfect to have it memorialized in the photo.
Later that night, since the kids were still on Washington time, we stayed up late to go and see the fireflies down by the river. It was so beautiful and the kids loved them. It was fun going back to all the places Logan took me when we first started dating. This was my fourth trip out to NJ and there have been so many fun and adventurous outings there.
We went back to the river in the day time for a walk. Grandpa Bean warned us all of the poison ivy and we were careful to keep the kids on the trails. We caught a little frog and all the kids thought that was really neat. Little Dallin grabbed it up so fast!
And of course when we saw a snake I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch it. :) When my dad was young he wanted to be a herpetologist, someone who studies reptiles and amphibians. He used to take us kids out frog and snake catching in the evenings on Snively Road when I was little. We always had frogs and snakes and lizards that we would catch and keep in the ice chest. Then we would release them about a week later. My poor mom hated it all but she finally gave in to my begging and let me get a California mountain king snake for my birthday. He was beautifully ringed in red, black, and yellow and I used to let it crawl through my hair while I did my homework. I fondly named him Fluffy and we would trick the missionaries when they came to visit by asking them if they wanted to hold our pet Fluffy. I still remember one elder who ran straight out of the house, but by the end of his transfer finally took a picture of himself holding it with big work gloves on so he didn't have to touch it.
I didn't know what kind of snake this was so we looked it up before I caught it, I didn't know the native snakes to the area. It turned out to be a harmless rat snake so I grabbed him up. Logan's dad was the only one who would touch the tail but nobody else seemed interested.... hmmm. Haha! Logan told me I was taking unnecessary risks. And we had a good laugh. I don't care if he doesn't like snakes, they are a part of my heritage. :P
We had a lot of down time at the house where the kids got to just spend time with their cousins, grandparents, and aunts and uncles that they don't always get to see that often.
Most of the days they played in the front room like this. They all got along so well!
Logan's parents had bought an inflatable pool for the kids and they played in it almost every single day, sometimes several times a day. It was so hot there! I kept thinking, "Man, I stink!" But no matter how many showers or how much deodorant I used I just couldn't beat the humidity.
Gordon and Sarah brought water balloons and the kids had a blast running through the hose.
We spent an afternoon going through all Logan's and his sibling's storage boxes of memories and decided on the things we wanted to take home. That was a lot of fun! Logan found some old memory cards and we watched some old videos from when he was in high school and we even found an old binder with homework in it.
Let me just say that one of the things I may miss most about NJ is the Fudge Shope. Seriously. I have yet to find better chocolate anywhere. Their chocolate covered fresh fruit is unparalleled by any other. We also always get chocolate covered gummy bears there. Oh yum. We just ate the last one today. So sad. I told the kids they could have any piece of chocolate in the whole store that they wanted. Guess what they decided on? A bag of gummy worms.
I always forget until I hear the first train, but behind Logan's house, on the very edge of their property is a railroad track that is frequented by trains several times a day. There is an intersection close by so they always blast their horn when they are directly behind the house. Some could say it is annoying but it just becomes part of the house and I kind of like it. The kids had a hard time the first night but after a while they thought it was so exciting every time they heard a train clickity-clacking down the rails.
Natalie showed Elsy all kinds of fun things. One day I couldn't find Elsy and I found her in the master bedroom with Grandma. Natalie had a little drawer with old and cherished baby toys from when her kids were babies and she and Elsy were looking through them together. Elsy was having so much fun! I hope she is able to remember this trip. I know Tommy wont really, but I hope Elsy does.
And of course the kids had a lot of fun with Grandpa as well! He took them on lawn mower rides and they went out and picked blackberries and winesap berries (soooo sour! I had never had them before!) I am bummed because all my pictures and videos of them on the lawn mower were all lost.
Logan found his old ukulele. Something I love about that house is there are all kinds of instruments in it. The kids especially loved the drums they have in the living room.
While we were there I found a book called "The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom". Natalie has asked me on a few different occasions if I have read the book, which I haven't. I had started to think I wasn't truly a Bean unless I read the book haha! - which is one of Natalie's favorites. So when I saw it and realized I finally had time to read a book I just devoured it. And you know what, it could possibly be one of my new favorites as well. What an amazing story of a woman and her family's work to help save Jews during WWII. It was a very powerful story and got me thinking a lot about how I can better be of service to those in my community. I am still researching opportunities in my area, but if you have any suggestions, I would be glad to hear them!
Each of the cousins took a turn with a 12 hour fever, except maybe little Dallin. Both of my kiddos woke up from naps on Wednesday with fevers. As always Elsy had 102 but Tommy just had a 99. He has a way better immune system I think. Lukily it only lasted a few hours and they were totally fine the next morning (which was good because that was our New York day!).
While we were there we had some yummy food! Logan's dad went to Spain on his mission and he always makes us the yummiest paella! Pair that with Logan's cottage loaf bread and you have a perfect meal.
On Thursday we did a New York day trip. We all piled into the big white van and drove about an hour into the big city.
Oh my, it was hot there too. We drove straight in to see Logan's parent's apartment, which is a high rise connected to the temple there. It was such a sweet and quaint little place. Lucky for them it is right next to Central Park so we headed over there and let the kids climb on the rocks and then we headed to the carousel.
Again, I am so sad I lost my photos. But we do have one of Logan and Tommy!
And Jen, Hiatt's fiance, took a few pictures as well. Elsy still tells me her favorite part of the whole trip was getting to ride the merry-go-round.
Elsy wanted to hold Jen's hand the whole trip. We are heading to Utah for Hiatt and Jen's wedding next weekend. We are so excited to have her be a part of our family and get to know her better!
After the carousel we stopped at a splash pad and let the kids get cooled off! Us adults ended up sticking our legs in as well though because dang, it was so hot and humid!
After the splash pad we went to the apartment to have lunch and put the kids down for naps. The real reason we came to NYC was to do a temple sealing session together as a family in the temple where David and Natalie spend so much of their time now. It was so special to get to do that with everyone. The temple was so quiet that day and I felt like we had almost the whole temple to ourselves. After the session we all were able to sit in the celestial room as a family alone. I thought that was so special. Sadly Gordon and Sarah couldn't make it because of scheduling problems and we couldn't have missed them more!
After the temple we all changed back into our street clothes and headed off to our last outing, which was the Natural History Museum. I just absolutely love museums and I could probably have spent a week in there. Tommy was amazed at the elephants and the kids loved seeing the bugs and especially the ocean animals. Elsy and Tommy are super into Octonauts and they know so much about ocean creatures now. Elsy was especially excited to see red urchins and a kelp forest (which was just a window display) I was pretty proud of her for know what they were without me telling her. But of course, their absolute favorite part was the dinosaurs.
Before we left, David took us to the top of the apartment building, which is like 36 or 38 floors (I can't remember) up and we could see what felt like all of New York City. It was a huge view! And from one side we could look down on the angel Moroni on the temple, which was kind of a fun perspective on the temple. No, I did not let the kids go up there! I am so so SO afraid of heights and I got dizzy looking over the edge and had to stay in the middle after that.
Here we are, walking to the car at the end of the day. Logan was being dramatic for the photo but I think it is safe to say after all we crammed in that day we all felt like that.
Friday was a nice, quiet, and restful day. We went to the Amish market to get the yummiest pretzels I have ever had before. So I guess I will miss that place to, besides the Fudge Shope. Tommy's face says it all. They were absolutely delightful.
At the market there are so many fun and wonderful things to eat and try. There is also a gift shop type section full of handmade things. I was on the lookout to find something we could bring home as a keepsake from the Amish market since that too was a family tradition. We ended up finding a candy cane jingle bell for Christmas time. :)
Gordon and Sarah flew out Friday evening and right before they left we did a pinata! We were celebrating Gordon's birthday that week so we finished it off with a fun activity. The poor little kids could barely put a dent in it so Aunt Rachel stepped in and gave it some good wallops.
Saturday was our last day in NJ so we headed to the Jersey Shore! Oh it was so wonderful. I grew up my whole life going to the Oregon Coast, which has a much more scenic coast line, but it is way to cold to really enjoy the beach the way a beach should be enjoyed. The weather was hot, the water was cool, and the mix of the two was perfect. I wish I had a picture of Logan and all his siblings out in the waves! I finally went out there, but lets be honest, I have watched way to much Shark Week in my lifetime and my anxious tendencies do not go well with deep water. Not long after I came back, Holly came in too claiming something quite large swam between her legs. So that was the end of that for her and I! Haha!
I was content to sit in a low beach chair in a big puddle of water. Logan, Holly, and Jacob dug a little kiddie pool for the kids and they spent a long time gathering clam shells. Elsy also spent a long time with Marshall building a sand castle, but that photo was also lost. :(
Thankfully I sent this picture, and the next one to my family (to brag about our great day at the beach). So these two photos were the only photos I personally took of the day at the beach and I was glad I was able to pull them from from the conversation later. Oh how I love those two little babies of mine. My heart could just burst.
And I sure do love this guy too. We are such good friends. In three days it is our 6th Anniversary. Wow, we have done and gone through so much together.
So, the downside to the Jersey Shore is the horse flys. Oh my, those are painful! We all got bit more than once I would think. And poor Elsy, we forgot to spray her back! And if you look right under her eyes and on the right of her nose we missed a few spots. Poor girl! The next day when we flew she couldn't wear her backpack because it hurt to much. :(
Goodbyes were hard! We were so sad to go. The one thing really driving me home was getting to sleep in our cozy bed with our new sheets instead of an air mattress. Thankfully, we get to see everyone again next week for the wedding. I am so grateful the world is smaller now, that we can travel farther, see people through technology, that sort of thing. I just can't imagine how hard it must have been back in the day when goodbye really was forever.
Our flight was again un-eventful. The kids again slept on the airplane and I did a little too. Flying is so uncomfortable guys.
And here we are! We made it to our destination, home! The one thing that was just so nice walking off the airplane was the complete lack of humidity. I felt like I could breath real, true fresh air again.
So here is a little something I learned after my trip. I always hear about people who travel sharing the gospel with the person they sit next to on the airplane or giving away a Book of Mormon. I have been wanting to be better at sharing my testimony with others so I packed a BOM in my flight bag and carried it with me all week and on the flight home.
I ended up sitting next to this really kind Korean fellow who was so polite when Elsy had to go to the bathroom like 3 times in an hour. The whole time I though, "I should talk to him!" but he had his headphones in and I didn't want to like, pull them out and say "Hi!!!" So, I did what everyone does and that is not talk to him until we are on final decent and you can talk because it is only going to have to be about a 10 min conversation and that isn't to bad or awkward, right? So in those last few minutes I discovered he was going to Issaquah, which is where we live, on a bushiness trip to Costco Headquarters, which is like 5 min from us! He told me how long he would be in town and even showed me the address of where he was going.
After I got off the plane I couldn't get over how coincidental it was with out of how many thousands of places for him to be going in Seattle, he was actually going exactly where we were going. So I thought about it for a few days and I just couldn't help but think it must have been meant to be. So I skipped playgroup and dragged my kids to the church book store a few days after we landed, got him a BOM (I looked for a Korean BOM but the didn't have one) and a chocolate (just in case he didn't like the BOM), wrote him what I thought was a really nice little letter, and drove up to Costco Headquarters (which is actually like a campus really). I was really nervous at first but once I started my mission I was dead set and I knew that if I was willing to sacrifice my entire morning and be willing to do this, then God would provide a way for me to find him. I felt like a real missionary, doing things way out of my comfort zone but doing it in the name of God.
I marched into the main entrance with my kids in tow and walked up to the receptionist fellow and said something like, "This may sound like a weird request, but I met a kind fellow on a flight and he said he was going on a business trip here. He was a really kind guy so I bought him a book for his flight home, the only problem is I didn't catch his name. Could you help me out?" Okay, guys, I am so naive. It didn't even once cross my mind that I might come across as a stalker lady that fell in love with a Korean fellow I sat next to on the plane, but the receptionist didn't miss a beat. "He must have been some guy!" he said. My face got really hot and I tried to laugh it off. I said, "Oh no, I'm married, he was just a nice guy." but that, too, came out wrong I think. The receptionist smiled and gave me a look like, that doesn't mean anything, you totally have a crush and are looking for some excitement. I thought, "Buddy, if that were the case I would not have shown up with two children wearing the grunge hair and outfit of the century." Which I should have said but was just to embarrassed and felt like I couldn't say anything anymore. He sent me to a lady who tried to help me track down a "New Jersey Korean who was there on business from Samsung" but she too, seemed to think I wanted to get a hold of the fellow, not just hand him a book. Ugh. I left absolutely humiliated.
I took the kids out back of the campus (where there is a man made lake with a walkway all around) and let them ride their bikes while I kind of stormed around the lake feeling embarrassed and upset. For one, why can't people just be kind to someone without it seeming like infidelity?! But also, hadn't I acted in faith and been willing to do so much? How come I wasn't successful? It took me a while of walking to finally figure out what I think I was supposed to figure out. And that was this:
I realized, 'Look how much you were willing to do to anonymously give someone a Book of Mormon so that you wouldn't actually have to have a conversation!" I realized I could have just reached down and handed him a BOM on the airplane! So simple! So easy! But I was to worried about what he would think of me or how it would come across. (I also didn't want it to come across insincere and preachy) Instead, I gave up an entire morning to do something so I didn't have a face. I realized this was a lesson I needed to learn. That I need to have courage in the moment, and not regrets that drive me to do things out of guilt rather than a spiritual prompting.
Later that day I told my mom and sisters over the phone and we all laughed and laughed at how it all played out and it felt good to laugh about it, oh I was so embarrassed. And then when Logan got home I told him about it and cried and cried and it felt good to cry about it. I was grateful that I have people in my life who can help me laugh about things but also let me cry about things. I am grateful I feel safe enough with Logan to be able to share those experiences with him and that he lets me feel what I need to feel.
I kept my Book of Mormon, wrapped in brown paper and string, in my diaper bag. Hopefully I will find someone someday that I can have the courage to say to them, "Here is something that makes me happy. I want to share my happiness with you and this is the best way I know how. Here is a Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ".
