What we've been up to

So I must end my blogging hiatus. In the last couple of months we've had lots of visitors and lots of fun, so I better post some pictures before I lose them. Let's see, so after Ben's mom and sister were here in March we got my friend Heidi and her son Jonah. I seem to recall that everyone was feeling under the weather at the beginning of the trip, but we managed to have some fun anyway. (Consider yourself forewarned: there will be a lot of pictures)

Kids playing at the fountains, always fun.

Heidi and Jonah at the bounce place.

We convinced Ben to watch the kids so we could go out to dinner and a movie with my friend Carrie.

A standard for visitors at our house: homemade wontons, yum.

At the end of Heidi's trip my dad come out for a bit. Heidi and I have known eachother since like 4th grade, so it was fun for her and my dad to get to see eachother briefly

When dad was here we had fun going to the beach-and since it's so far after the fact I'll only post one pic.

Sibling love.

Thanks for coming grandpa.

I think it was in May that Ben took Hunter to the father son campout...but I really don't remember. They had fun.

Hailey and I like to go on dates when the boys go camping.

One day I walked in Hunters room to find this...what a rock star.

These pictures don't really go together chronologically, but doesn't this seem like the perfect reaction??

At the end of May mom and Ken were here for a visit. The only picture I have from that trip is when we made Ken slave away helping Ben to refinish the table that has been in our garage for a year.

One day Kelly and I were a bit loopy and were showing off how we can still rock the side pony.

Some time during June my son took cross dressing to a new level. Ben is wondering if he has failed as a father.

We took another trip to the beach, this time with Kelly, Janalyn and their kids.

cute boy

pretty girl

One day the kids matched for church so we tried to take some photos. Someone was fussing for most of them, so here's a decent one.

Ok, I'm done posting pics for today. Stay tuned next time for photos from our San Antonio trip, new baby cousin and my birthday.

Its time

This morning I woke up and really missed my friends Amy and family from Taiwan, so I decided that 4 months after our trip I can finally finish blogging about it! Hold the applause. Okay, so on our 5th day there we ventured out on our own again. We took the MRT over to the Chang Kai Shek memorial and the I was so proud that I was able to find my way over to see the LDS temple with the awesome new chapel they built next door. (Course I managed not to take any pictures while we were there). We wandered around at lunchtime until we found a place that made dao shao mian (shaved noodles--so so good) and just had that with yummy fried rice. So now for pictures from the day...

Ben made me take this picture like a 100 times. You can't see it unless you enlarge the picture, but he is standing down in the middle of gate arch thing to show how huge it is.

You have to be impressed with my skills here. I set the camera up on a curved stair railing and actually got a decent shot with a nice background. Whootwhoot.

I like this picture cause I have one that is almost identical to it that I took 6 yrs ago at the end of my mission.

The buildings are so pretty

Ah, and here's me. I'm cute.

That night Abner took us to the night market. I love night markets. They are so crowded and full of culture and cheap stuff. I think I bought some clothes for the kids and a couple things for myself and only spent like $15.

It's great cause you can barely squeeze down most of the rows

Here we are waiting for the MRT so we can head home. Another thing I love about Taiwan is how safe it feels. Now driving doesn't feel safe cause it appears that if they do have traffic laws no one follows them...but what I mean is that I could walk around at 11/30 at night and not feel too worried. I would be so terrified of a night market in Houston...

The next day (day six perhaps)-Friday-we took the train and ventured up to Jiu Fen again-then on the way home we took the wrong bus or something and took hours to get home.

Some views off the cliff at the restaurant where we ate lunch.

I love all the lanterns lining the stairs.

We spent some time in this little shop picking out the perfect pair of shoes for Hailey. It was impressive watching the lady make them. Hailey loves them so much I think she wears them every week to church.

I bought something from this guy last time I was in Taiwan so it was fun to get Ben a dagon picture for his office from the same guy. He paints characters with the side of his hand and then uses a brush for some finishing touches.

A view of the shops

Well, I didn't finish our trip yet, but there's only 2 more days and not too many pictures, so I shall post the rest very soon.