Survival is Sweet.

But an excellent vacation is sweeter! We are back from Taiwan. It was a hard trip with the kids, but that didn't stop us from having a great time.

First thing was the flight. From LAX to Taiwan, it turned out to be 14 hours!! The worst moment was when I realized after 5 hours that we weren't even halfway. . . but somehow we made it.

We played,

we slept,

and we made it!

This is how I look at the beginning of the journey 9am MST.

This is how I look with only 30 minutes until landing in Taiwan, or 6am MST. For almost 24 hours of travel, I look pretty good!

This blog is not a travel log, so I will only share a few pictures. (and please, no using these photos...)

We saw things that made bored,

then scared.

We played and got messy,

 We saw beautiful things,

And, of course, spent time with Jake's 99-year-old Nai Nai.

For a reference, I'm about 5'7".

I have some sewing/crafting related stuff in conjunction with my trip, but I just wanted to let you all know that I'm home and had a great time. The stuff I made for the trip was awesome and all of it was useful. Thanks for the well wishes, they certainly helped.

Taiwan Trip To Do List Status

With all the craziness going on at my house lately, I'm surprised that I was able to get all of my project list completed. . . Well, except for the neck pillow that my awesome sister, Audrey, made for me. . . and the luggage tags that I hopefully will make today. I tried yesterday, but my printer wouldn't feed the fabric through all the way and kept getting jammed. I'm just going to use a normal heat transfer and do it that way.

First off, here's the fabric high chair for Pretty. I used the dimensions listed on Homemade by Jill here, with the adjustment to the suggested smaller length around the waist strap.

We tested it out at the Chinese New Year dinner celebration last week.

Pretty liked it and I do too!

Next is the "Bib-Maker Clip" (I just made that name up). I used an elastic clip normally used to hold women's shirts in at the back, cut it in half and added fabric in between. I'll make up a mini tutorial for it when I get back.

Now I can add any rag, napkin, or washcloth and have a bib for her.

Hero's car caddy. I followed the tutorial from Homemade by Jill and love it! It was simple and it's going to be great.

We packed it with 6 new cars for him.

This next project I decided on last minute and it was so easy, I'm glad I thought of it. We are bringing a portable DVD player we borrowed from my sister. At first, I thought I could only bring a few movies because of how much space they would take up. Then I remembered something I had seen a year or more ago. With a tutorial here, I turned this pile:

into this!

12 movies!! Wahoo for options!

We are all packed and ready to go!! On today's agenda: clean the house so I don't have to come home to a mess. Wish me luck! (on the cleaning and the trip. I'll need it for both.)

After playing in the "fridge" I had to convince Hero that he can't ride in the luggage to Taiwan...

The Worst Week Ever.

I haven't posted in a week. It has been a long, long week. We have been dealing with a broken bone (Pretty), a totaled car (Jake), an ear infection (Pretty again) and general unhappiness. Not sleeping much, stressing about insurance, and more crying than has been heard in a long time (and not all of it was Pretty!).

I have been sewing, but mostly just to keep from going crazy, to have something I can completely control. Plus, I'm trying to get everything taken care of before we leave for our trip in one week!

I have a feeling this next week is going to be much better. Things are looking up. But when you're at the bottom, most things are up by default.

I'll share pictures and projects later, but for right now, I'm just going to breath deeply and smile. We are alive, not entirely healthy, but not especially sick either. I think I need to take some of my own advice and live my life with more confidence. When things go wrong with my family, and especially with the kids, it's easy to fall into the habit of doubting myself. Doubting I was really ready for kids. Doubting I know what's best for them and the family. Doubting my decision to not pursue being a ballerina and buying a unicorn like I wanted to when I was 4. Ok, I never really wanted either of those things. But when everything happened this last week, I wanted it badly then.

I need more confidence. Having never picked a theme word for this year (like a lot of people do), I think that will be mine. CONFIDENCE.  Trust myself. I can do this.



*added: Pretty broke her left tibia (big bone in the lower leg) with a buckle fracture, which is a more minor type of break. It was separate from the car accident. Jake was alone in the car on his way home from work and has no injuries.