Happy, happy, joy, joy!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about some heartbreak amongst my extended family. Since that time I have been praying both morning and night that both parties would have the Spirit of the Lord with them to comfort them and to give them guidance. I also attended the Temple and put their names on the prayer roll. I have a testimony that prayers are heard and answered! They are back together again! My heart is full with gratitude and love. Families are forever!

Best Friends

Kaleb and Noe just love Julia and Minji and today they both came over to play. The silly kids got into my lipstick and were jumping on my bed while I was feeding Gavin. I told them for their 'time-out' they had to let me take pictures of them =). What could be more fun than playing with your friends?


Living in Taiwan they've all adopted the "peace sign" pose for pictures. However, Julia's kind of looks like another sign- lol!


They all wanted to take a funny face picture too, it seems more crazy to me!


This was actually the first picture I took of them. It's not good quality, but they were all caught in the act. Silly monkeys jumping on the bed, don't break your heads!

Oh Feathers!

Today was Gavin's & my last day of Kindermusik this year. Last semester we enjoyed Cock-A-Doodle-Moo and Dew Drops. This semester we loved Do-Si-Do and Feathers. Gavin has had so much fun each week moving to the music and being with his classmates. This year we were in the Village classes, but next year we will move on to the Our Time classes.


Gavin loves playing all the fun instruments Ms. Julia brings each week.


Gavin likes to say hello to and kiss the cute baby in the mirror.


We've had lots of fun parties in class this year too- Halloween, Christmas, Chinese New Year, and today we had a Mother's Day party. The kids made cute necklaces for their moms with paper heart pendants that said "Best Mom" and had fruit loop beads on each side. We also had fun "kid" treats. Gavin went over to share his peanut-butter crackers with the cute baby in the mirror again.


At the end of each class, the kids love to get their stickers from their sweet teacher!

All I Want Is YOU23D

Yesterday Leonard and I celebrated 11 years of wedded bliss! Yukino babysat for us and we went out on the town. First, we asked the kids to take pictures of us. Kaleb took the shot on the left, and Noe took the one on the right. Not bad for 6 year olds.


We went to Lawry's and had their delicious prime rib and lobster tail dinner. They also brought us out a complimentary piece of their yummy trifle in honor of our anniversary. Len & I made the same wish before we blew out the candle. I'll share when it comes true!


My honey is quite the romantic. On our wedding day we danced to U2's "All I Want is You." He found out their 3-D movie was playing here and took me to it. It was a GREAT concert! We are both huge U2 fans- not only of their music, but for their humanitarian work as well. I hope they keep up the good work for many years to come.


I just had to take a picture of us in our snazzy 3-D glasses. We're such dorks, but I'm so glad we have each other. I love you Leonard!

Sunkissed

I ADORE Sunkist navel oranges! However, eating them used to be a bit of a challenge for me. For my kids, I would cut them in wedges and have them eat them off of the rind. This kind of creeped me out though (does that make me a bad mother?) Anyway, for myself I would peel the thick rind off and all the extra big white chunks left behind. Next I would divide the orange into segments. I would proceed to de-skin each segment. Finally, I would eat the juicy jewels inside. This was a very time-consuming process and you may have guessed I didn't eat oranges very often. My husband just came up with a neat trick and afterwards I was thinking, 'duh, why haven't I done this all my life?' He cut the orange into quarters and then peeled the rind off of each little piece. I love this new technique and thought I would share! It's time efficient and it doesn't creep me out!

Fairy Tales

Robin McKinley can spin a good fairy tale! Back in my BYU days I read "Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast" for my Children's Literature class and I loved it. Recently, my friends Robin & Camille lent me "Spindle's End" and "The Hero and the Crown." They are both great books. Spindle's End is a retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty, but with unexpected twists. The Hero and the Crown is a great coming of age story of a Princess who becomes a Dragon-Killer. It also won the Newbery Medal in 1985. Even though I'm a "grown-up" now I still love reading a good fairy tale that has a great happily ever after!

Shoes AKA Glass Slippers

I'm a big girl (5'11") and I have big feet (size 10) so I have generally worn conservative, comfy shoes. However, when I turned 30 I decided I wanted to wear cute, flashy shoes regardless of my size or my husband's (he's 6' even). For most of the spring & summer I wear my comfy black leather flip-flops, and for most of the fall & winter I wear my comfy brown leather loafers. However, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pairs I wear on Sundays or on special occasions. I also wanted to share these Persian-style shoes I bought in WuLai last year to use as a decoration in our home.


I think these lavender faux-reptile skin sling back heels are so fun. The long toes remind me of Poulaines.


I feel like a Cheetah girl in these fun mules.

These sexy gold strappy stiletto's with tie ankle straps were my bride's maids shoes from my sister Amanda's wedding. I have to admit I haven't worn these since the wedding but I still think they're gorgeous.

These are flirty black heeled sandals.

These are casual clogs, but I love that they're turquoise.

Noe is in love with shoes, but she refers to them as glass slippers. She even has the book "Shoes- A Celebration of Pumps, Sandals, Slippers & More" by Linda O'Keeffe that she loves to study. We both even have a pair of our own ruby slippers!

Heartbreak

So, what's the glory in living
Doesn't anybody ever stay together anymore
And if love never lasts forever
Tell me what's forever for

These lyrics from "What's Forever For" by Michael Murphy keep running through my head today. I'm so very sad!

The Theater, The Theater

Our family loves the theater! This weekend we had our parent-child dates. Len took Noe out on Friday night, and I took Kaleb out on Saturday night to see the Middle School's production of "Oz." It was absolutely amazing! The acting, singing, and dancing talent in these 11-13 year olds was phenomenal. The pit orchestra was wonderful too, along with the gorgeous costumes and sets. When I was growing up we didn't even have plays until High School. Back then I loved watching the shows, but was too shy to ever audition. However, Len was in several plays while growing up. I want to encourage our children to try anything that they want to, and not let their shyness get in the way of it. I asked Noe which character she would like to be: Dorothy, Glinda the Good Witch, or the Wicked Witch of the West? She said she would like to be Dorothy because she wears ruby slippers. I asked Kaleb if he would like to be: Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion, Toto, or Oz? He said he wants to be Toto because he got to karate chop all of the fighting trees. Good thing Kaleb is going to take Kung Fu next year. Seeing this musical made me want to see "Wicked" even more now!


Last year the Middle School did "No Strings Attached- The Story of Pinocchio." Cricket and Blues Fairy (who was the Wicked Witch this year) were outstanding. I still have the chorus "Hey boy, hey boy get your feet off the floor don't act so coy. Hey boy, hey boy get your feet off the floor let's go!" stuck in my head!

Another Spring Fair?

It seems like we just went to the Spring Fair. Oh wait, that was last year already. Where does the time go? Saturday morning we joined 7,500 people and attended the 28th annual Spring Fair at the kids' school.



The bouncy castle is always a must-do!




Eating strawberry flavored Tutti-Frutti ice cream is too!

We actually didn't spend long at the fair this year. Kaleb & Len had a basketball game and we had several errands to run afterwards, but we did have fun during our brief time there.

Snuggle Bugs

The other night I thought I would try and put Gavin to bed at the same time I put Kaleb to bed. Gavin didn't agree. I thought maybe if Kaleb snuggled him that would help him agree. Kaleb was willing to give it a try, although Gavin only cooperated long enough for me to take this cute picture of them. Kaleb climbed back in his own bed and Gavin hung out in the living room for another couple of hours. Why don't my babies like to go to bed? Kaleb and Noe grew into it though, so hopefully Gavin will too!


I went to check on Noe and she was already fast asleep. I love that she snuggles 2 teddy bears to sleep each night!

gods on parade

The Chinese gods get bored sitting in their temples all day, so every now and then their worshippers will take them out on parade.


Sometimes they'll sit in their shrines on the back of trucks and drive all over the island.


Other times, they get out for a walk to stretch their legs.

We were downtown shopping at the bead market, when we ran into a traffic jam. We didn't know the gods would be taking a stroll that day, but it was great to see them up-close and personal! I love how they have white, black, red, and green faces.