Patin à Roues Alignées à Paris.

     Happy Sunday!

     Sorry about last blog! Hahaha! I got so many messages about my "prank." Sorry I really didn't think that it would get that much attention. To clarify, I didn't get a tattoo. Come on, y'all know me better than that. :)

     What a beautiful sunny day we had today in Paris. It was very much needed. The weather has been so back and forth this week that the WHOLE city was excited for the blue sky's and warmth. Really, everyone was outside today. The cafés were packed, ice cream was served, and people were literally dancing in the street. This is where I love Paris the most. When music is played and flowers are in bloom.

Pairs in the Spring. 

     Sara and I walked all over after church today. Just enjoying the weather and atmosphere. Speaking of church, today was the ward conference, and after they hosted a wonderful lunch for the ward. They had hot dogs! Do you know how long it has been since I have had a hot dog? It was so good! It was also really nice to walk around and spend some casual time with the people in our ward. This is one of the many things that I love about the LDS church, we have so many wonderful opportunities to meet new people.

     Anyway, so the weather was beautiful, the company was great, and the kids were so good today! Overall a perfect day. But they have a saving in French that I learned today, En avril, ne te découvre pas d'un fil, which means, Warm weather in April isn't to be trusted. How true that stands. Tomorrow it is going back to the yucky dark clouds and rain. :(

     Other than the excitement with the weather, It's been quiet here.

      I started my new semester of classes. I basically have the same teachers and mostly the same kids. So not much has changed there. Well except, I keep double booking myself on Thursdays. Meaning I have

Last Sunday was my 7th Month in Paris. It's been a great
seven months. 

TWO French classes. 5 non stop hours of French. So by hour 4 1/2 my brain has turned to mush and I can't remember the simplest of phrases. To all you out there who want to learn a language, don't do that.

     The family has had a very trying week. It started with Daniel losing his navigo pass, which is a pain to replace. Then the new family car was broken into, and the windows were smashed. While they were driving Alain's car, the license plate was stolen. It has been a long week of police reports and walking (in the rain).

     Sadly the kids haven't been much help, and added to the hard week. Last Monday, sometime in between the shower and dinner, Aimée said something to Cecile that sent her over the edge and they had a really big argument. It was all in French so I was only able to pick out a little of what it was about. Respect mostly. Alain stayed and worked as a mediator. After some arguing, Daniel ran to watch more tv, Aimée ran to her room, and Cecile looked at me and said "go on and have dinner," and grabbed her keys and walked out the front door. Whoa.

   

Sara and I have been visiting a lot of churches
lately. I am a amazed at the detail that
goes into these buildings. 

Basically it's just me and Alain standing awkwardly in the kitchen. It only took a little to convince the kids to come to dinner, and it wasn't long until Cecile was back. Very calmly she grounded the kids for two weeks. It was all in French so this is what I understood. Both kids have been very rude and spoiled lately, their parents didn't like what they were becoming, and how they were acting when they did their chores. It came down to no T.V., no game boys, no iPad.... Etc.

     Who gets to be in charge of enforcing it? Yours truely. At first I thought it was going to be hard, but the kids responded well to it. They have tried their best to be good the last two weeks. I am so glad that Cecile stepped up and put them in their place, and that Alain backed her up. You don't see that a lot with the Au pair families here in Paris.

     During the last two weeks, whenever we would have a glimpse of good weather I would be itching to get outside. I wanted to play and run, but when I'm not with the kids it can appear a bit strange. I tried running. That flopped. I'm sure I could get used to it after a while, but it just didn't appeal to me. So I had a decision to make. Bike or rollerblades? Everyone I asked said bike. Though to bike around Paris, it means you are in the road a lot. Scary. The problem with rollerblades is that their aren't many places to rollerblade. But I'm stubborn. So I got rollerblades.

     By my house is the Bois de Boulogne. It is SO big. It is very similar to the Jordan Parkway, but bigger

My new Rollerblades! 

and quieter. The paths are great, and I went rollerblading.

     Sigh....

     I guess I should explain. I haven't been on rollerblades in more than three years, and their are some things I forgot. Like how to stop. Oh man. I was bookin it down the paths of the Bois de Boulogne. I only fell twice, and screamed four times. So I would say it was a success! Since them I have only gone twice (the weather), but it gets easier every times. Oh, and don't worry the family bought me an early birthday present, a helmet.

     Paris is really good about rollerbladers. Apparently on Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons they close off some of the streets and have rollerblading parades. I plan on doing that a few times, after I get used to the rollerblades.

     The best part of my adventure? My new app. Its called MapMyRun. It is awesome. I don't need internet. I just push "Start" and it maps my exercise. Where I go and for how long. I can be listening to music and it will give me updates as I go, saying stuff like "Update, you have gone one mile in so much time, your average time per mile is this." It is awesome! So I went four

It was when I came to this in the road
that I really started questioning my decision.

miles yesterday. It was great. Recommended. Five stars.

     How did everyone enjoy Conference? For those who don't know, the Latter-Day Saints had our annual general conference, and it's kind of a big deal for us Mormons. I loved it! I watched all of it! Including priesthood, to which my brother informed that I wasn't suppose to do (oops). I was never really excited about Conference until the last few years, now I get so excited when I know it is coming. One of my favorite talks actually came from the Young Women Meeting from the week before, from Mary N. Cook. Well really all of the Young Women Meeting.Very uplifting for the women of the church.

     I can't get over how powerful Elder Robert D. Hales talk was during Priesthood Session. I have watched it several times now. Same with Holland's talk. I plan on reading that one a few times. And of course, our beloved Prophet. He has always been a wonderful speaker and he has the best stories. I loved how much of the conference talked about family. How important it is to have strong family connections. Especially between the parents, because it will make a difference for generations to come. What a great Conference! Tell me some of your favorites.

The new furby models are sort of scary. 

     Well this weekend, Daniel got a Nerf gun (a big one, like one that grown men collect). And Aimée got a Furby which has been scaring me and won't stop talking. Who remembers furby? Well the new models are freaky! I will never understand this toy. It has been talking so much that I think the parents regret getting it.
Never get a talking toy that doesn't have an off switch.

     Well that's what is happening in Paris. I will keep you all informed of my rollerblading adventures.

     I leave you with my favorite quote from conference,

"All things are possible to them that believe." - Jeffrey r. Holland.

     Love you all, miss you! Until next week!

Faire Quelque Chose D'Imagination

Happy (Late) Easter Everyone!

     It’s so strange for me to be writing every other week, but this way I have a lot more to talk about. First off I decided that I want to get a tattoo. Something in French. A tribute to my time here. "La vie est faite de petites bonheurs." 

View from above a Metro 

     Since I have been back in Paris I have been catching up with friends and talking about our vacations. I am so lucky to have found such great friends who are there for me and talk with me about everything that is happening between family and our au pair jobs. 

     I don't know how I managed it, but I have an awesome Au pair position. The family I work for is absolutely amazing, and I am incredibly lucky to have found them. Working for them makes Au pairing look easy. I should tell anyone that is considering moving to Paris and working as an Au pair, proceed with caution. Not every family is the same or requires the same, and there have been many difficult situations for both Au pairs and the family they work for.

      Despite all that, most Au pairs will tell you that this is the great decision they have ever made. Living, learning, and working in another country is a wonderful experience that few others can compare too. I recommend it to anyone, especially those who know they want a family of their own some day.


     On to my week(s):

     Alain, the father, had surgery on his ankle recently and has been slow for the last few days. There has been a nurse that comes to the house once a week to change the bandages. Talk about service.

I don't know why I thought this looked so cool, but I did. 

     The kids have been really fun lately! I guess they are excited to have me back. I brought back a hex bug (those moving bug toys) for Daniel. He had it for one day, and I didn’t even get to see him play with it before he lost it in the car. He was so disappointed that Cecile ordered him another one online before I could do anything. That seems to happen a lot. I wouldn’t call the kids spoiled, but if something breaks or they lose something (or generally just want a new toy) it’s ordered for them the next day.

     I don't know about anyone else, but when I was growing up (still growing up) I worked for the toys that I wanted, or I waited for a holiday or birthday, and if I was bad I wouldn't get anything.

     Though the kids are still good. They keep their rooms clean, do their homework, and are generally respectable. It just makes me sad that they don't know the value of a dollar, or in this case the value of a euro.

Sometimes the street art in Paris is very thought provoking. 

     Here is something I haven't talked about before, the metric system. Do you know how hard it is to change your brain from thinking in measurements (or whatever) for all your life, then bam! It changes and now everything is different. The only things have been able to understand is miles to kilometers and F* to C*. So lets just say that cooking is a bit of a pain. 

     Anyway, so Daniel is a funny kid. He was trying to finish his dinner (which was Shepard’s pie with purple carrots!) and for some reason he was really slow. The rest of us where finished, with seconds, and the after dinner fruit before he had cleared his plate. It was funny because when he finished he sat all serious like chewing his last bite and slow clapping. I saw it first, and it took a minute for the rest of the family to look up. All the while he had this slow clap going on. You know the kind of applause people do when they are mocking someone. "Oh. Bravo." I was laughing so hard.

     The kids love to play this game that I don’t like. It's called "Oh yeah? My story is better." Aimée is a better player, but Daniel plays it more often. Here is how it works: Someone, anyone, is telling a story or an accomplishment of theirs, and the kids, seeing that the person got attention for said story/accomplishment, decided that they are now in competition with this person and must tell something even better. The goal? To get the attention on them. The reward? No idea.

     

Another panoramic. I know, I know, but I was having a panoramic sort of day. Come on, it's so of cool looking. 

The problem is that Daniel is not very good at one upping someone. He just takes the story and says that he did it too but with more detail. For example: I was talking about my high school swim team and I how I had to swim so many laps in one day. You better believe that he also swam and he swam more laps than I did.

     As cute and as funny as that can be sometimes, most times it is just annoying. It's like both kids are constantly in a competition with each other and everyone around them. It makes me think of that song from Annie Get Your Gun “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better.” These games are mostly played during dinner time, and are followed by an eye roll from Cecile and Alain saying "Come on, don't be silly." So this is what it's like to have kids...


     But its not always a completion, sometimes I do have an advantages since I grew up in the Utah suburbs (what the kids consider the "country"). Last Saturday, I went with Cecile, Aimée, and Daniel to Aimée's horse riding lessons. The plan was for Daniel and I to play in the open field next to the horse track, and then all walk home with Aimée while Sarah and Nicolas ran some errands. Turns out there weren't any lessons that day, so we all played in the field/park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and the grass was so green. The area

You thought I was joking. This place is HUGE!
Bois de Boulogne.

is called the Bois de Boulogne, and its the biggest, greenest park/forest/field/open natural space in Paris. I had so much fun running around with the kids. All the trees in the area were perfect for climbing, and it was something that I would have loved to go play in when I was a kid. Yet the kids were just sitting around telling me they were bored and they wanted to go home. I told them they should go run, climb a tree or do something imaginative.

     What do they say? "We don't know how to climb a tree." I was so shocked! So I took them over to a good climbing tree and helped them climb one. Daniel was better at it than Aimée, but that was only because she was scared to go higher than two feet. I had to teach them how to climb a tree, and make daisy chains. They got used to the day and eventually when it was time they didn't want too. I'm happy I was at least able to show them that. It's hard when the kids don't want to do anything adventuresome like that.

     

     Shout Out to my wonderful cousin Kelsey and her husband. Yesterday morning I got a message that she gave birth to her twin baby boys. I’m so happy for her and her new little family.


   

Just paining my eggs. It's a lot harder then one might think. 

    Friday was quite an adventure. I took the kids to a play date were they were going to decorate Easter eggs. That’s right, decorate not dye. It was a bit strange painting the eggs especially since I am not use to that, but it was great company.

     On the way back me the kids and I had a train mishap. It was a disappointment to me because I thought I was being so cleaver. There are two types of trains in Paris, the Metro, and the RER. The Metro runs more often and has more stops. The RER is faster and bigger. Instead of changing lines on the Metro a few times (like I usually do), I decided to wait for the one RER train that would take us right to the apartment. All the signs said that it was the right train, but it wasn’t, and we ended up heading south. I was told later that sometimes the trains don’t’ always follow the signs. Well great. Imagine towing three bags and two kids through underground stations and hour longer than necessary. That would be strike two for the train system causing me trouble.


     Easter in Paris, What is it like? Well just imagine a more spiritual, more chocolate, less presents sort of celebration. That is how Easter is. I am very impressed that Easter is not as commercialized here, and it is more focused on the true meaning of the holiday. I had a very good day; a lonely day, but very spiritual. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I know that I am blessed to have this

Very creative and cute. 

opportunity to live in Paris, and that I would be nothing without his sacrifice.


     Thank you for reading my blog. It really means a lot to me to know that I have a big support group back home. This week I was lucky to meet with an old family friend and have dinner with her. It was a wonderful night, and I want to say that if anyone is ever on a trip here in Paris I would love to meet you and go to dinner/lunch/afternoon tea, anything.


     Today is April 1st which means APRIL FOOLS! If you made it this far into my blog congrats, that means you now know that I was joking about the tattoo. My body is a temple. I get the feeling that I will have some explaining to do in my next blog for all those who didn't make it this far.


     Hope it was a wonderful Easter everyone! I love you, I miss you.