Our Trip to Singapore/Bali

The Day after Christmas, we took McKenzie, Brigham and Tanner and flew to Singapore to visit my mom and dad who are Public Affairs Missionaries for Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It was an amazing trip to meet the people they have grown to love while serving there. We also got to go to Bali for a few days for some welcomed R&R. It was an amazing vacation!This is the church building on Bukit Timah Road.

Touring Singapore and visiting their symbol~ the Merlion

Visiting the Raffles Hotel. It's a landmark in Singapore. It was a former Plantation Home owned by the Raffles family. This doorman is almost as famous as the hotel, and if your not a guest at the hotel, he doesn't let you even enter the posh hotel.

Trying our luck at the "Fountain of Wealth"
Lunch overlooking the Kintamani volcano and Lake Batur

Here McKenzie and I are at the Rice Terraces in Bali. They are beautiful.
The boys and I at Tanah Lot. One of the Holy Temple sights in bali for the Hindu Religion.
Mom and Dad at LeMeridian looking onto Tanah Lot

If you have read 'Eat, Pray, Love' this is the home of Ketut Leyer the Medicine Man

Monkey Forest. Dan had a monkey jump out of a tree and onto his shoulder!
Grandpa coaching Brigham on how to feed a monkey!

Dan got to fulfill the dream of surfing in Bali
This was our beautiful villa in the middle of a rice patty field. It was incredible! We felt so spoiled with a butler, a cook and a staff at our disposal.
It was incredibly HOT in Bali. We were greeted at our Villa with these refreshing drinks and fried bananas every night~ we loved it!

New Years Eve Dinner with Paul and Nicole. Mom and Dad's friends from Rwanda.
Our favorite store in Sigapore became the bangle store in Little India. We loved how Sheila worked her magic and created fun bangles with these beautiful colors!
Mom and Dad took us on a morning walk through the beautiful Botanical Gardens

This trip was amazing. We had so much fun, met so many wonderful people, and had such unique experiences that it will be a vacation our whole family will remember forever. The kids loved it, and although Tanner wasn't a fan of Bali and all the Hindu practices of worshiping idols, masks and burning incense, the people we met truly touched our hearts. We loved them.

Maggie met Santa

Well, we've hit a mile-stone this year. Maggie was so afraid of Santa last year that I couldn't even walk down the wing of the mall where he was because she would scream! 
Jenny Mason called and asked if we could bring Maggie to take photos with Santa for marketing. I was excited for the opportunity to have her photos take with Santa, but also worried that Maggie would repeat last year and be so afraid of him that she wouldn't get near him.
Luckily, we had a week's notice, so I spent the week reminding Maggie how 'nice' Santa is, and that he brought her her pink kitchen last year (she just remembers he took away her binkies to get the kitchen- that also made me more worried she wouldn't like him!) I also told her that if she wasn't afraid of him and took pictures with him on his lap, that he would give her a candy cane and a present!
The things this girl will do for sugar....  at the end of the photo shoot, Santa gave her a purple Barbie, but she asked him for a candy cane! Luckily he had one, she may not have forgiven him if he hadn't had one!! The photo shoot was great, Maggie now has overcome her fear of Santa, and we ended up with these Fabulous photos!!  Thank You Jenny Mason!!

WARNING......

The contents of this post could cause extreme weight gain!!

Dan is gone to Youth Conference, and I get hungry when I'm bored. I also tend to stay up late browsing the webs cooking blogs. The combination could prove deadly this weekend.........

deadly to my scales that is!

Happy Father's Day Hottie!

I just had to wish a Happy Father's Day to my FABULOUS husband, and my Wonderful Dad! I am the luckiest girl to have only had 2 men that I loved in my life!

My Dad was my Hero, my friend, and the smartest person on the planet.

My Husband is every girls DREAM. He's Handsome, he's Smart, he's my Spiritual Rock, he's Fun & he's so good to ME! He's the kind of Dad who WANTS to spend time with his kids. Whether it's taking the boys camping & fishing on the boat, or taking McKenzie to go shopping or to an Angels Game, or sending me away for a weekend so HE can spend more time with Maggie... He truly is the kind of Dad that you would want for your children. He teaches them with love and respect. They know he loves them and that he is there for them.

I feel so blessed to have found the man of my dreams, my best friend, and my Warrior!

Plus, he's a HOTTIE!!

Love You Baby!

School's Out For Summer

We've had a busy year! This year we have a Kindergarten Graduate, a Gradeschool Graduate, and a Middle-School Graduate.

I have to say, I'm not a fan of the whole multi-graduating trend. In my opinion, if your kid DOESN'T graduate from Kindergarten, you've got something to worry about!

My fear is that after going through so many "Graduations", that by the time they actually do GRADUATE from High School, it will have less meaning to them... 'been there, done that'!

Since I am obviously in the minority in my opinions, I grab the camera, and I attend the Graduations for my kids like a Good Mom!

Easter around Here

Logan was thrilled with his haul

McKenzie...model-perfect!

Maggie-licious!

My Easter desserts for the kids... yes, I'm pretty "Martha"!

Easter Duds

So, I'm pretty sure noone knows I have a blog yet, but Dan really wanted me to keep one, so this is for you babe!

Easter was fun. Egg hunt on Saturday with the cousins and Sunday dinner with the whole family. I love Holidays!!

Spring

Today is the first day of Spring Break! The boys are starting if off by heading to the ANGELS opening game tonight.. then it's off to Palm Springs for the week. Should be a fun week!