Day 2 ~ Saturday

Saturday we spent the morning at the park. (I love palm trees.) 

This is Emma, she joined us at the park.  They were hot and needed some water to cool off. :)
We then went to a mall for some indoor fun.

This is Adam, Tyler (left), Cheyenne, and Austin.

We then went poolside to cool off.  It was a day of friends and fun.

weekend trip ~ day 1

Wednesday McKinzie got a wild hair and wanted to drive to Mesa, AZ for the weekend to meet some friends.  I didn't want to go since I was gone last weekend (the rest of my kids and Brian weren't exactly thrilled either), but I also knew it was too far of a drive with a baby.  So off we went Friday morning at 5 AM. 

 There really isn't much in west Texas except windmills. 

 We were watching our GPS and realized that we were close to the Mexico border.  Do you see the brown line in the middle of the picture?  It's the border fence.  Kind of cool.

 Mexico

 In El Paso it looks like one large city with a fence dividing it.  I never thought that cities would be so close to each other with a fence to separate.  Not sure what I thought.

We were driving along a highway in Arizona and I saw Moroni up over the trees.  Of course we had to stop and take pictures.  :0)  This is the Gila Valley Arizona Temple.

We arrived in Mesa around 9, central time.  We were tired.  Kinz went out, Adam and I went to bed.

family

I was able to stay a few extra days in Idaho after the wedding to hang out with my family, mostly my Dad.  Sunday happened to by my nephew's mission report.  It was a great sacrament meeting.  I truly enjoyed every part of the meeting.  His Dad also spoke, he's the Bishop of the Ward.  He talked about his travels he's had over the summer.  His trip to Hong Kong. Then his trip to Germany, Israel, and Poland.  He was with a group of teachers learning about the Holocaust.  He explained why he enjoys learning about such a horrible time in history.  He learned about individuals and their stories.  That it's important to know them as individuals, not only as a group of people.  He also talked about how everyone had a choice.  From the victims to the guards.  They all had a choice.  We all have a choice.

My nephew Jake, in the middle, and his friends.

I am very grateful that schedules worked out so I could stay with my Dad for a few days. I'm glad I was able to give my sisters some time off and be the care giver.  I worry about him every day.  Some days are great, then he has a day that he can't be left alone. 

I know you read this Dad...  Thanks for letting me hang out with you.  I love you!!!

Idaho Falls Temple

I was so excited that Ruth and Chad had decided to get married in the Idaho Falls Temple.  This is where Brian and I were married, over 21 years ago.  While I walked through the halls of the temple, it brought back many wonderful memories of our wedding day.  I wish Brian could of been at the temple with me.

After the reception I went back to the temple to take a few pictures.  It was great.  I was able to take my time and enjoy the beautiful evening.

wedding

I want to start with...I got permission to share these pictures. ;) 
It was a beautiful day.  They are a beautiful family.

 This is the only snapshot I got of their family.

 All of the Texas friends that were able to attend. Angela, Morgan and Tiffany, the newlyweds, Sandy and Quinn, Julianna, and Alison.  The two couples live in Utah now.  It was great to visit and catch up a little.

 These three are such amazing women.  I'm blessed to call them my friends.  If I were in need, they would be there. 

HK ~ Ocean Park

On our last day in Hong Kong Brian and I went to Ocean Park.  Kind of like Sea World without the whales but adding pandas.  Does that make since?  ;)

The aquarium was amazing.  The sting rays were huge.

This is a giant spider crab.

The panda was asleep.  I watched him to make sure he was breathing.

This is how Ocean Park stops the birds from begging.  The fruit is nailed onto that log.  Kinda cool.

The park was on the side of an island.  We had to take a tram to get to the rest of the park.  The view of course was beautiful.

They really did serve it like this.  It makes it easy when you only have to hold it with one hand. 
One of the biggest differences from this amusement park and one in the states, is they don't have food vendors everywhere.  They have an area where food is sold, but vendors aren't along all the walkways.  So the park is very clean and we didn't feel the need to snack as much. 

I went and found a seat while Brian got us a drink.  He said it was easy to pick me out in this crowd.  :)

Near the end of the day we went to the dolphin and sea lion show.  Is was great.  But it was kind of hard understanding what was going on.  Part of the show was in Chinese.  Surprise, surprise.