Here's how you know...

...that your husband is missing little old Boise, Idaho... When you find this picture as the desktop background on your computer:

Pig Pickin' and Coming Home

It should be noted that one really sucky thing about making plans to travel home is that once you plan them, you have to then wait for them to come!

For those who have not heard, we now have REAL plans to come home August 10th – 20th (give or take a day or so on each side for travelling through lots of time changes). “Home” being Coeur d’Alene this year. So if you can make it, the Pig Pickin’ (see below if you don’t know what a Pig Pickin’ is…) is the weekend of August 15th and 16th at my parents’ house. Any Boiseans that can come up, we would LOVE to see you!!!

So, a “Pig Pickin’”. First of all, aside from the fact that Pig Pickin’s have been in my family since LONG before I was born, we now live in the land of pigs-are-dirty-and-disgusting-things-and-it’s-much-easier-to-buy-porn-here-than-pork. So this year, pork will be ever the more satisfying and devious. Wahahaha.

Ok, so every year, my whole (and it’s BIG) family, along with plenty of friends, get together at my parents’ house to roast a whole pig on a grill. The pig can weigh anywhere from like 150 to 215 pounds. Each part of the Pig Pickin’ is wrought with tradition. Last year was Stu’s first Pig Pickin’ and he got both the honor going to get the pig AND be a “turner”… big news. Heh.

So, we go get the lucky pig from a local butcher up in Sandpoint, Idaho. You drive up there (one year, all by myself in a torrential down-pour, with a carcass sticking out of my tied-down trunk because it was too big to fit in all the way) and the driveway of this place really starts the tradition. You get to drive between two hanging carcasses (where any typical ranch would display their best antlers). You get your pig, which has been gutted and wrapped in clear plastic so you can see the gunshot wound between its eyes, and the stiff form of the (very alive-looking) 200 pound pig.

Meanwhile, whoever is staying home (usually the women, but this changes yearly) prepares the grill and the ice. Grill prep includes sending an unsuspecting child (usually poor Maddison) into the “grill storage area” to free the grill from a year’s worth of pine needles, pine cones, squirrels, and an array of spiders. When the six-foot grill is free to move, it is wheeled out and into the yard, cleaned out, and ready for the pig.

When the pig arrives, it sits in the lid of the grill, packed with ten bags of ice, until it is time to “put it on”. At this point it gets fun. The men go out to split the pig down the center. It is not nearly as easy as it sounds (see pictures) and it takes both a ratchet and a lot of sweat from some pretty large guys to get the job done. Then the pig is placed cut-side down on the grill to slowly roast over a bed of coals for about 24 hours.

Stu a-swinging the hatchet, trying to split the backbone.

Poor Penelope could have been an advertisement for a varicose vein cream commercial.

Kimo (left), Stu, and my Dad (right), trying to split the backbone so she'll lay flat on the grill.

During the time it cooks, new coals need to be added every hour or two (usually Papa is the one watching and directing the show since he’s done over 200 pigs at this point!), which means that some people are given the honor of staying up all night to drink beer and watch the pig. Papa can tell some horror stories of what happens when pigs aren’t watched, things like exploding pigs… doesn’t sound real good.

So the next day around 2 is the “pig turning” (see below) where four strong men with 2x4’s literally pick up and turn the pig onto its back. Last year, as I mentioned before, Stu got to take part in this. Normally there are two taller men and two shorter men. Kimo has been the resident “tall” AND “strong” man at the past several Pig Pickin’s, but their family just moved to England, so I am not sure who will take his place at this one. (It just won’t be the same with Kimo and Candice…)

Stu and Penelope.

The turn.

Anyway, so once the pig is on its back, it is doused with a “special sauce” that Mimi has created in a milk jug. People take turns getting to splash some of it on the pig (as I said, wrought with tradition). Then it soaks for an hour or so in the sauce and then comes the “pickin’” time! You can go up to the pig and just rip a piece off from wherever and eat it. Mom will put a stop to this soon, especially once lots of little hands (read: grimy, unclean kids’ hands…) have had their “pick”. Mom will pull all of the edible meat off the pig and put it on a huge platter. It is served outside with Hush Puppies, rolls, coleslaw, and an array of dishes that various people have contributed. The eating (and of course, plenty of drinking) continues well into the wee hours of the next morning as we all tell stories and bullshit around a fire pit.

Fat me (four weeks after having Kaden) with the turned pig.

Stu and I.

Kaden's very proud Great Grandparents. (Papa, Nana, and Mimi)


So that is a Pig Pickin’ in a nutshell.

I am more than excited for this particular Pig Pickin’ as Kaden will be older than the four weeks old he was at the last one, and will be able to enjoy it. Plus, being able to see my family and friends, and have a really good time with the people I love, is going to be so great. So, as I said, if you can make it, do.

BUT, now comes the dreaded waiting part. Luckily, Stu and Kaden and I are doing great over here. We've all been really happy and just enjoying watching Kaden advance and spend time as a family. August can't come soon enough though! :)

pre-fight

Since I can’t really post blogs I will just write them in order then post them and it will just be like you haven’t checked my blog in a week or so! Hehe

Last night Stu had his last practice before the fight this weekend. Stu has had prior knee issues from the Air Force and last night he took a blow to the side of his knee and it really messed it up. He could hardly walk last night but he says it feels about 80% today after work so we will see how tomorrow goes. I worry with him fighting with an injury because I don’t want him to get hurt more, but with the physicality of this sport, injuries are pretty much inevitable and sometimes you just have to “play though it”. I took some pictures last night at practice of some of the team and coaches.

Giant inflatable horse! haha... No idea why this is the mascot.

Kaden watching intently... soon he'll be in baby Jiu-Jitsu... under 10 kilos.

Stu shaking hands with his practice partner.

Sid, one of the coaches and some royals who came to watch practice.

Carlos helping Stu perfect an armbar.

Injured Stu with ice.

The coaches at the front, Sid Jacintho, Ricardo Brandao, Carlos Santos, Olavo Abreu, and Marcelo Motta addressing the class at the end of practice.

There was an article about the fight in the paper (see below) with the Lieutenant General Mohammed Hilal Al Kaabi and Carlos Santos, Stu’s coach. The article says there are going to be about 150 competitors there from 30 countries! There are a lot of fighters from the UAE (duh) and other large contingents are said to be the United States, Jordan, and Bahrain. Stu will most likely be wrestling in the “under 77 kgs” category (under 170 lbs.) since I don’t think there is any way he can make the under 72 kgs at weigh-in tonight (He’d have to weigh under 158 tonight and last night he weighed 165… not going to happen, lol).



In light of the fight, we are going to stay in tonight and relax and then get Stu to bed early. I made crepes for dinner with bacon and eggs too and I made the bacon and crepes beforehand which turned out to be really mean since the house smells of bacon (remember, we don’t get to enjoy pork a lot here anyway) and the poor kid hasn’t eaten since noon and can’t until after 6 when he gets weighed. To make matters worse, I sent him off to the grocery store alone since Kaden was napping and we need groceries BADLY since we didn’t go last week. So he gets no food, but gets to look at all the food!

Kaden has been a good boy recently. We FINALLY got his noise maker (my Mom sent a package and it took over 3 weeks to get here, while Marcia and Mimi both sent packages that I got in a week or two). We set up the white noise for him and he slept all by himself in his own bed ALL NIGHT two nights in a row! (Last night he woke up twice however… hot sure what that was about) And he has been taking all of his naps in his own bed! Yay big boy! We were worried because he couldn’t sleep but in his carseat (and half the time only if we “bounced” him to sleep…ugh) and we were worried about travelling back to the States in a couple months and him not being able to sleep on the floor of the airplane (international airlines won’t let you buckle a carseat in to a seat… which sucks and is stupid… but I digress). So now hopefully he’ll be better equipped to deal with flight sleep!

Mimi sent him the cutest hat ever and he actually let me put it on him and he kept it on! Too much fun. I was laughing at him which made him laugh at me, so I laughed harder and we crawled over and attacked me… it was great. Funny baby.


Speaking of which, he is really developing a personality more and more every day. He gets so animated when he “talks” to me, and when he is frustrated he tries to “test” me to see if he can throw himself on the floor and get a good reaction from Mom. If I ignore him he usually gives up and will just be good, but he’s taken to arching his back and flinging himself nearly off the bed mid-diaper change, so I tell him to stop and he growls at me… sigh. I told him he won’t make any friends if he is a brat because nobody likes to play with bratty kids and he just laughed! MY son! Lol. He gave me this “give me a break, Mom!” look. He definitely can be a little shit, but one look with those giant blue eyes and I can’t help but laugh too!

Kaden can stand up by himself now! If I stand him up and then let go, he just stands there until he wants to sit down and then he’s off to whatever toy (or appliance cord) he’s interested in. I’m not ready for him to walk!


It also turns out that he will answer to Katie… sigh. He was wearing this little light green jumper that was SORT OF girly looking and Stu told him he looked like a girl and said, “Isn’t that right, Katie?” Kaden thought it was hilarious.

Happiest baby ever!

Well, I think that is about it from me for now. I will definitely write about tomorrow and let you all know how it goes.

I just had to post this one because he looks exactly like ALL of my siblings with that blank stare, haha. I laughed.

Does anyone actually read this?

It occurs to me that I may just be writing to myself... Does anyone else actually read my posts? Just wondering...

Here are some pictures of Kaden standing up with the help of the coffee table. Yesterday he turned and let go and stood for about 6 seconds on his own before falling to his hands and knees! My big boy! :-)

Happy, Happy!

Ok, I told family several days ago that I would post pictures of our apartment, well here they are finally! :) We are having trouble getting our rechargeable batteries to hold a charge... we bought a converter for our American appliances we brought, but it seems to be touch-and-go as far as how well they will work.

A plus on the side of "beauty"... since there are far fewer regulations here, I got a straightener that could literally set your hair on fire, it works like a champ! :)

Master bedroom, cool duvet, huh? lol

Kaden's bedroom, view one.

Kaden's bedroom, view two.

Most people don't have one of THESE in America, now do they? :)

Another view of the bathroom.... see UNDER the sink? That is our washer/dryer combo... That drains and floods the bathroom... needless to say, these people have very different priorties than I am used to back home. So... I use the washers on the roof. Yep, the roof.

Living room.

The tiniest kitchen known to man... Seriously

This is my stove that I have to light... yeah, like, with a lighter. You turn on the gas, and light it. Mmhmm. And then you get "big flame" or "little flame", that's it. Sigh. The oven also needs to be lit, then you get 5 million degree broiler, or tiny flame, you pick.

I am reminded every day what a different culture we have been submersed in... I walk into our bedrooms and think what a waste of space... they are huge. Then I try to make dinner. haha. We had to turn the fridge sideways because it wouldn't open all the way and hit the stove, lol. Sigh. When in Rome...