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Spent the morning in Futian, went to an Australian dentist. Not sure if he's a real dentist though, he wouldn't even take an x-ray of my problem, asked me what I wanted him to do and ended up telling me I needed to use two types of sensitive toothpaste and a water pik instead of regular floss.  Two other friends have used him and said the same thing...it's as if he's afraid to do any work.  Strange.  The office was nearby Todd's work, so I walked the streets a bit, checking out the area until lunchtime. I then headed to the tailor and he went back to work.  The boys had basketball practice, President Cox came and gave Todd an additional calling, had Family Home Evening and tried to go to bed early.  The sounds of Ally's emails coming in woke me about two hours into my sleep.  I'm sure I sent some doozy emails back to her being half asleep.  

Tuesday: Yao Feng came to help. We did laundry and cleaned up the kitchen sink and had new silicone put around the whole thing. It looks much better.  The kids had their Mandarin tutor and right after I went to my Mandarin class, today it was held at the German bakery.    Chase and Todd are off home teaching, kids are doing school between taking breaks.  

Wednesday: Home teachers came. Tennis. Mutual. 

Thursday: Brynn and I rode the subway to a couple malls searching for birthday gifts for Sophie. 

Friday: Happy Birthday to Sophie! Opened a few presents and requested POPS! for breakfast.  Sophie, Brynn and I left early for our flights to Beijing via taxi. Todd and the older kids went with the youth via hired drivers.  Tonight we will see the Chaoyang Acrobatic show. We sat in the plane for an hour or so before finally taking off. This made us rush for our show. We were in stopped traffic when the show started so we missed a few acts. What a great show! They hardly made any mistakes and had the audience gasping in sync multiple times. Our favorites were the hat trick wheat shaft guys and the bicycle girls. We also loved the flexible balancing acts. It was raining when we left the theatre and walked back to our hotel. Sophie chose Pizza Hut for her birthday dinner. We sang quietly to her over mango mousse cake and then got soaked as we walked back to the hotel. Saturday: we had big plans to get up at 6:30 am. Actual time we left our room was 7:20 am leaving us under 10 minutes to grab breakfast and meet our driver. We were a few minutes late but hopped in the car with Shu and commenced the 2 hour drive to mutianyu to see he Great Wall. The girls slept. We walked up a path lined with vendors then rode a cable car up to a tower to begin our hike on the wall. We went up first two towers and then down and back up the other way. We stopped and climbed up the watch tower. There were names signed on the bricks-so many there was barely any blank space. One man said he was going to just write "USA" so I asked him which state he was from. Brynn turned her head and the next thing I saw was Brynn bouncing down the ladder through a hole in the floor. In my mind she broke every bone in her legs. Luckily, she stood up, though the wind was knocked out of her. We finished the hike before the soreness really set in, she was a trooper. Parts of the stairs were super slanted. Some were very steep, most did not have a uniform size and were crumbly. Such an undertaking! Not much planning from the lack of uniformity, but the uniqueness added to the awesomeness of the whole thing. 

We went to the pearl market (way less smoky than Luohu) and the Forbidden City also. People watching was the best there. The girls had lemonade popsicles which are sold everywhere for super cheap. We met back up with the kids and Todd for an hour or so today. The buildings and waterways were impressive. Cotton floating everywhere makes it look like snow flurries at times. We are now on the plane headed for Xi'an. Todd stayed in Beijing for work but will join us Wednesday. Our friend Shane will join us Tuesday night. We are also traveling with our friends, the Tovars, for the week. They have two children, Carina who will go to byu Idaho in the fall, and Ernesto, who is Brigham's age. I'll have the kids do a write up about youth conference and stick it in next week's update. They are super tired. Initial reports are that it was a great event. 

There were police checkpoints set up today, asking Chinese citizens for their id cards. They have been doing this at our local subway stop in Shenzhen as well. They aren't allowed to roam freely even within their own country. It was interesting to walk around the political sites, Tiananmen  Square and the Forbidden City. The best way to describe it was unsettling. I think all that it represents, the control and lack of freedom was disturbing down to my core. I'll leave it at that, but I'm thankful to have grown up in the land of the free, in a nation under God. 

Ok, it's late and rambling. Until next week...

As always, 

Love from China, 

Taylor fam