Rachel's Birthday

Our baby Rachel turned 17 on August 24. She wanted to have a party which started out as just a few of her friends coming over to a house of 20+ teenagers. Her friends were nice enough to bring mocktails for the party. Fortunately she has some great friends here that totally respect her values.
We had plenty of pizza, soda, chips, cookies, all the junk food that teenagers want.
The one thing she really wanted for her birthday was Honey Bunches of Oats. Sounds crazy but they are a treat for us here. Fortunately the local expat store carried it and she ended up with three boxes for her birthday. Quite the easy girl to shop for I guess.




We had to have the traditional cake with candles. Again, not the easiest thing to find here. I had to bake it myself and luckily I remembered to bring back birthday candles from the US this summer.
Most of the cake got eaten but some frosting somehow got misplaced on a few faces.

Nancy even got a little frosting to the face.
Rachel and Blair Bear....It was a fun party for Rachel. I can't believe that next year she will be off in college somewhere celebrating her 18th birthday.

20th Anniversary

Yes, it's been 20 years. August 18, 1990 we were married in Mesa Arizona. We celebrated our anniversary sitting in meetings at school preparing for the new year but the following Saturday we headed off to Hong Kong. Just the two of us. We started the day by going to the Hong Kong temple followed by lunch at an Italian Restaurant. We decided to just spend the rest of the day sight seeing in Hong Kong and went up the tram to the mall at the top of the mountain. The tram is the famous tram that was built in the early 1900's that goes up a very steep hill. The line was long and it was steaming hot waiting but we endured it anyway. It was fun just being together.

At the top of the mountain is a mall and we were dying of thirst so we quickly found McDonald's to get a drink. We were pleasantly surprised at the view. I don't think I have ever been at a McDonald's that has a terrace over looking the bay below. It was rather nice to just sit and enjoy the view....until....some rather obnoxious kids sat down next to us.

By Gavin's expression you can tell that this wasn't a good scene. The boy in the background sitting next to us was the biggest porker we had ever seen. He had a hamburger in one hand, chicken sandwich in the other and still was able to shove hand fulls of french fries in his mouth which drinking two different sodas. What was his mother thinking? Obviously nothing. She was clueless and it was pretty clear that this boy got to do WHATEVER he wanted. No rules, nothing.
We tried to get a picture but didn't want to be rude...
This is the view from the top of the tram. It was a clear beautiful day, just a little hot.


It was hard to get a picture of the tram that showed how steep it had to go coming up the mountain. While riding the tram you literally had to hang on if you were standing or you would slide backwards.

It was a great day just hanging out together in Hong Kong. Wonder where we will be next year to celebrate our anniversary!!!!

Beach Day in China

We returned to China on August 11 and were glad to be home. Strange to say that but this has become our home. After a few days of getting over our jetlag, we headed off to the beach with the Galicia's and some of Rachel's friends. It was a very HOT sunny day but the water and scenery made up for it. The Chinese people don't like being out in the sun much so we usually have the beach pretty much to ourselves. At least this beach.

It looks so tropical that you would think this would be a popular vacation spot. They have a few little bungalows you can rent for the night or you can just pitch a tent anywhere. Gavin brings his scout troop here for their campouts. Maybe someday the Chinese will catch on and make this more of a vacation spot but for now we will enjoy this little hideaway.

Since it was so hot, we spent a lot of time in the shade under the umbrella or in the water. Vika of course always seems to make any situation fun.

Mahika and Nancy are ready for a game of football.
Always fun when Frank Galicia is around. These goof balls hijacked Mahika's camera to take these silly pictures.
It was boiling hot and the sand would burn your feet but of course there were Chinese vendors walking all along the beach. This guy is selling fruit, not the fruit we would want to eat, but Chinese fruit. I haven't figured out why they eat some of this stuff. It usually is a pain to eat and not worth the effort. He had these small fuzzy grape looking things that you peel and eat the slimy stuff inside that has a huge seed in the middle. It just is never worth the effort because the amount of fruit you actually eat is really tiny and they have no taste what so ever.
Is that actually a volleyball in his arms and not a basketball? Doesn't matter what the sport is, Gavin is always willing to play.

Blair and Rachel being their cute little selves. Blair has become our other daughter because she fits right in with us, looks and all.

As hot as it was, it was still fun to play in the sand. Of course we had to make sure we were covered with sunblock, rash guards, and hats. Last year we made the mistake of not covering up enough and came back red lobsters. We weren't about to make the same mistake twice.
A book is always good to read anywhere. Boy I'm getting old. The glasses don't help much but good thing I only have to where them when I read.
Beautiful Rachel
At one point we all scrambled out of the water when Frank noticed little jelly fish floating around. He is quite the biologist (being the IB Biology teacher) and loves to explore any type of marine life, animal, plant, you name it. We all got out of the water while he gave us a mini lesson on jelly fish.

This is the little culprit to our mass exit of the water. Some of the Chinese were playing with them in their hands until they got stung a little.

Mt. Timp Hike

Every year Gavin climbs Mt. Timp with his friend Chris. This year it happened to be the day before we left Utah for China. They woke up at 4:30 in the morning to start their hike and were back by 1:00 in the afternoon. They didn't take skis this time to ski down the glacier because their wasn't much left of it this time of year but they had a few tales about their sliding on their bottoms to get down the glacier.
Chris trying to warm up before they headed back down.
Every year Gavin writes this message up in the post at the top of the peak.

The Last Picnic

A few days before we flew back to China on August 11, we had one last family time together up in Provo Canyon. Ranell and Mike rode the bikes out, Heidi and Josh with their two kids drove out, and Oma and Opa joined our family along with Chris Burton, Marsi, and Ryley. We were even surprised to see Lars and Lauren there. It was a great way to end our summer in Utah. We started off with a fun game of Frisbee Football followed by a short hike to the falls and of course food.
I was so glad to be able to spend one last time with the family. I didn't feel like we did much with all of us together so this last picnic was much enjoyed by all.
We couldn't be in Provo Canyon with hiking up to the falls. Even Heidi's little dog enjoyed it.

Condo

After 6 weeks of up and down emotions and finagling with the bank, we finally got our condo but a week before we were leaving for China. Our plans of fixing it up and living in it during the summer didn't happen. We were able to paint but that was quite the ordeal as it was. We couldn't decide on a paint color. We ended up with about 12 different splotches of color before we decided on one.

Since it's on the third floor we have a great view from our balcony and master bedroom. We can actually see our friend Chris's house. It's the farthest one on the left. Time to get binoculars and start spying...hahaha. Chris is a great friend that we will enjoy living by when we are in Utah.
The red wall was already painted that way when we bought the condo, so we decided to just leave it for now. It goes well with our decor so it'll be fine.
This is how it ended up looking when we left. The furniture all stayed with the place since it was a BYU approved rental. Gavin's sister Marci and her son Riley moved in just before we left. She has already started redecorating the place by putting in new flooring, toilets, water heater, appliances, and removing the furniture. It's going to look entirely different when we get back there next summer. Marci plans to stay for a few years so she wants it fit her style which is totally fine with us.

Texas Bound

On July 3 we put Jonny on a plane to Harlingen, TX all alone. It was a very difficult day for me because I knew how hard it was for Jonny to leave. I cried the entire night before he left and had random outbursts of tears all day on Saturday. We had sent him to Marine Military Camp for a month with the hopes that he would come back a more responsible person. He left with just the clothes he had on and his backpack with few personal hygiene items. No cell phone, no ipod, no computer...nothing.

I was a little nervous about him flying alone but with his experience traveling abroad, I knew he would be fine. Gavin took him to the airport early Saturday morning for his 7:00 flight out. I didn't go because I didn't want to be crying the whole time so I hugged him goodbye at the house. At 1:00 in the afternoon my cell phone rang and it was Jonny calling to say he made it. I tried not to cry and be positive. I asked what he was doing and he said they were about to cut his hair. I heard someone in the background yell "Say Goodbye and hang up". Which Jonny did immediately. Of course I started crying again. My little boy was hundreds of miles away and I wouldn't get to see or talk to him for a month.

On July 28, Gavin and I flew to Texas to get our boy...or should we say or boy who became a man.
We flew into Harlingen, Texas a day early. They had a field event on Friday night for the parents to attend so during the day Gavin and I had time to explore. We drove out to South Padre Island to the beach. The beaches went on forever. It was very hot with the water as warm as a bathtub. We took a few pictures. Swam a little in the water and that was enough. Not much else you could really do.

After spending time at the beach we were determined to find a good Mexican Restaurant. When we were back in our hotel in Harlingen we saw an add for a place called "The Blue Donkey" (something like that). We easily found the place and headed in. It was some of the best Mexican Food that we had had for a long time.

I ordered fish tacos and with my large Diet Coke with lots of ice...I was in heaven.
On our way back to Harlingen we passed this crazy looking place. Not sure exactly what it was but it had the crazy sculptures all around the outside. I'm thinking it was some type of gift shop all decorated crazy to capture peoples attention to stop. We stopped but only to get pictures, not to go inside.

Our Military Boy

Friday night we were able to go to the Marine Military Academy to finally see our boy. The field events took place on the football field. Parents filled the stands and around the fence watching for their boy. I stood near the entrance to the field because the platoons were marching onto the field in formation. I was looking for Jonny so that I could signal Gavin who was standing a few yards away with the camera. All the boys were dressed the same with shaved heads so it was very difficult to find him. A platoon marched in and I saw Jonny. He was only a few yards away from me but he couldn't look at us. They had to march in with their eyes forward. I kept saying "There he is and pointing" but Gavin didn't see him at all. We missed the photo opportunity because Gavin didn't recognize him. We found out later that they were told that if they looked to the side at their parents or the people they would have to do extra work.

Our first real look at Jonny was when they announced for the 100 yd dash runners to come forward for the race. Jonny was the fastest in his platoon so he was chosen to race against the other platoons. We couldn't believe how grown up he looked and it had only been a month.
Jonny took second in the race.