Just Stuff

We spent a lot of days just having fun. Gavin's motorcycle was always a fun thing to ride on. We ended up selling it at the end of the summer but enjoyed it while we had it.
One day I took the girls shopping and in the little girls dressing room in JC Penney's they had these crazy mirrors that Rachel had fun with.

Of course we spent a lot of time shopping since we can't do much of that here in China. Well, we can shop but it is all junk. On one of our shopping sprees Rachel found these pink shoes and just had to have them. Fortunately they were on sale so why not? The problem now is finding something to wear them with. We don't wear these type of shoes here in China because we have to walk so much but they still are fun to have.
Nikki had a nasty planters wart that she didn't tell me about until months later. Fortunately we were in the States and could get it taken care of quickly. I first took her to our normal Pediatrician who really didn't do anything. He put some freezing compound on it and said if it didn't go away then we would have to go see a specialist. Not what I wanted to hear since we only had a few months in Utah.

Our friend Chris, who we were staying with, had a neighbor that was a pediatrician so he came over to the house to look at it. He said he could take care of it. We were able to make an appointment within a week and within a few minutes in the office it was gone. He had to cut it out and it was the size of a large pea. YUCK!!!! We felt so blessed that he was able to do this for us. We probably could have gotten it taken care of in Hong Kong but it would have been a huge hassle.

Tradition.....

Our tradition of walking through Provo Canyon on Sunday evenings quickly resumed. How can you not love Utah? Everything around us was absolutely beautiful. Our walks through the canyon really make us appreciate all that we have and have been blessed with.
Utah really seems to agree with us. We needed makeovers both physically and emotionally and what better place to do it than in Utah.

We were so glad that Jonathan and his family were still able to join us on our walks. We have some great friends in Utah that we always enjoy getting together and catching up.
Vika always is our poser.

How can you beat that scenery?

Our days out in Vernal

July 6, 2010

The girls and I drove out to Vernal to spend a few days with Heidi's family. Gavin was in Seattle for the week and Jonny in Texas so we decided to have a little bit of girl time. Heidi needed someone to watch Deegan and Sy while she had a booth at the Dinasour Days. We left on Tuesday night and enjoyed the beautiful Utah scenery on our drive to Vernal.
During the three hour drive Rachel got a little bored and started just taking random pictures.

Strike a pose......

Originally I was only going to stay one night and leave Rachel and Nikki out there for the week to babysit but they were having so much fun. I didn't want to go back to a lonely house in Provo so I ended up staying most of the week out there with them. One day we had water gun fights and the kids had so much fun just running around the yard getting wet.

They spent a lot of time on the trampoline. Even Sy loved to be on it.

We took the kids to a splash park in Vernal. It was pretty hot so we spent most of the time in the shade.
Vika and Deegan did run through the water a few times then would go chill on the lounge chairs.

Rachel was quite the good little mother for the few days there. I just felt like the Grandma but I have to say, I really enjoyed just playing with the kids for a few days.

Locks of Love

Nikki had talked all year about donating her long beautiful hair for locks of love. They need at least 10 inches of hair to be able to make a wig. Locks of Love is a great organization that makes wigs for cancer victims. Rachel had donated her hair when she was 13 so Nikki wanted to do the same. She was so excited but a little scared.

The braid was pretty cool to play with.
Nikki with her new dew holding her braid before we mailed it off.

4th of July

We love to celebrate the 4th of July in Provo. We have tried to make it a tradition to watch the Provo Freedom Parade. Our friend Chris has a free pancake breakfast and hot dogs in front of his business right on University Ave which is the parade route. Every year there is a long line waiting for the free food while they watch the parade. This year was a little sad because Jonny left early in the morning for Marine Military Camp in Texas. Lots of tears were shed earlier in the morning but it still was a fun day celebrating the 4th.Always fun to Cosmo, BYU's mascot.

Another tradition we try to keep is going to the lawn in front of the Provo Temple with friends to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire show in the BYU Stadium. Each year we say that we wish we were in the stadium but we always have a great time just watching the fireworks.
Vika, Nicole, and Aspen waiting for the show. We take a picnic to eat while we wait for it to get dark.

Los Altos

June 23, 2010

After spending a few days in Redondo Beach with Grandpa, we drove up to Los Altos to spend a few days with our friends from China the Galicia's. While Gavin, Frank, Noah, Jonny, Rachel and Gabbi went surfing, Debbie and I walked down to the pier with Vika, Nikki, and Chelsea. We had the BEST hot chocolate ever. Here it was June and we were having hot chocolate but it can get chilly on the beach here. Vika had the biggest smile on her face after her first slurp. As you can see it was way more than just hot chocolate. It was just a cup of delicious sugary sweet stuff. YUM!!!!!

Chelsea Galicia and Nikki walking along the bay.

Gavin found the perfect hat for him at a surf shop in Morro Bay. He finally has a full head of hair again. We should have bought the hat because it was just way too funny.

Morro Bay

Had the best clam chowder ever at this place on the bay. They had these huge clam shells out front that were just too cute as wings on the girls.
Angel Vika
The ever famous evil eye. Poor Nicole, we were all getting a little irritated at her because she was clueless as to what she wanted to eat.


We happened to park next to this "surf mobile" at the beach. The guy was in the cab with his dog tied to the front bumper. He had the perfect setup with everything he could possibly need. He even had a pirate flag flying at the back.

Our Summer

Our Summer started with us flying out of Hong Kong on June 20. Nearly 20 hours later we were back in Utah. We spent a few days in Utah recovering from jet lag and then were on the road in our suburban headed for Los Angeles. The kids didn't mind the trip because they just relaxed and watched movies. We made our traditional stop at "The Narrows" in St. George and then in Las Vegas to eat at Chipotle. We stayed in Redondo Beach for a few days to visit Grandpa Jim.

Brendon, Alicia, and Dean all came to visit us so of course we all ended up going to Carrow's for lunch. That seems to be Grandpa's favorite place now. It used to be El Pollo Loco which of course we had to go to on another day where we happened to see Ron Artest from the LA Lakers. We heard music and a DJ from a local radio station in the parking lot and had to see what the excitement was all about. Come to find out, Ron Artest was expected to show up for a signing so Jonny and Gavin quickly went to Marshall's to buy a Laker t-shirt then waited for an hour in line to get his autograph. It was pretty cool.
The whole gang at Carrow's.

Grandpa always likes to take the kids to the park. This is his new girlfriend from the Villa where he is living.
Rachel and Grandpa Jim.

Count Down!!!!!

Our time is coming to an end here in China. At least for this school year. We will be back here next year but will be applying to other schools. We have had a great experience here in China but are hoping to see a different part of the world. I'm sitting here with a room full of 12 year olds at school playing games thinking that I can't believe that in less then one week we will be back in Utah. YEAH!!!!!!!! This year has really gone by fast. It has been a good year filled with lots of events that sadly we haven't posted. Unfortunately we lost our camera a few months ago in Macau and decided to just wait until we get back to Utah to buy one so we have been pictureless except for the ones that we were able to get from friends. I'll be posting pictures of Rachels prom later tonight along with other pictures.

Last Saturday Gavin and I went to a furniture market with a group of friends. They have tons of antiques and copies of antiques. We saw lots of beautiful things but got very overwhelmed. We needed to come back and process what we saw before we buy. We did buy some really cool chinese drums. That was our big purchase. It was more a learning experience if anything. We met a young man there who will arrange all the shipping for us, even back to the US. We just need a place to ship it to. Without a home it wouldn't do us any good to buy furniture to ship back. I'll make sure to take a camera next time although some shops don't allow you to take pictures. I guess they are afraid that we might copy their designs.

China does have some really neat things but it will be nice to get back to a normal life for a while. I can't wait to get in my big suburban and drive to Costco and fill up the back with food that I like. I get really tired of having to go shopping daily and carrying it back to our home. Gets really old after awhile.

Our first stop when we get back? TACO BELL!!!!!!! I know that's not the best Mexican food but that's what my kids requested. Believe me Taco Bell will do.