Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Fat Lady Has Sung... Kim is 40!

As you all know, we went to Hawaii to celebrate Kim's 40th!  Happy Birthday, Kim:)   You are the only 40 year old I know that looks 20:)  That's a good thing.

It was a blast!  I feel like we were busy going the whole time, but I still came home relaxed.  


In the picture above, this is a random picture I took of on our way to Pearl Harbor and Waikiki.  Before we got to those 2 places, we had to stop off below...


Donkey Balls Chocolate!  They sold chocolate covered macadamia nuts in different varieties.  They had "salty balls" which were chocolate covered with sea salt on top.  I may get the other varieties wrong, but i believe they were "dirty balls", "spicy balls", and "nutty balls".  All with different things on top of or mixed in with the chocolate.  

Here we are at the entrance to the Pearl Harbor Museum.  I had been here before in 2002, and had really enjoyed it then.  Since then they have changed it, and it is even better.  I got a bit emotional a few times walking through the museum, seeing the documentary, and being on the Arizona Memorial.   Mom and Dad, you will love it when you go out there on your way home!

Here we are in front of a mural that was painted in the museum.

This is part of the Battleship Arizona that is above water.  You can see most of the length of the ship under the surface of the water while standing on the memorial built right over it.
Another picture of us on the Arizona Memorial with a battleship behind us in the background.

This the flag that flies half mast (sp?) on the Arizona Memorial.  It was such a beautiful day, and Kim thought would be a cool picture, and I agree.  Can I just please add right now that I am very proud to be an American.  I am getting a bit emotional right now just typing this.  Very special place!

After Pearl Harbor, we went to Waikiki.  Kim had 3 places that she had seen on Diners, Drive ins and Dives that she wanted us to try.  They were all in the Honolulu area, so this was our day to do it.  One of the places, the one we were most excited about, was closed b/c they are moving locations.  Here above we are eating at the Rainbow Diner.  Actually gross food, but at least we can say that we tried it.  I guarantee Guy Fieri did not like taping that episode:)  After we ate, we spent the rest of the day in Waikiki, just shopping around.  It was fun!
The next day we went to just relax on the beach at the Turtle Bay Resort, where we were staying.  Unfortunately Kellie did not get to join us b/c she woke up with food poisoning at 4:30 that morning.  Sorry Kell.
The next day we, Kellie, Kim and I, all walked along a beach path from the hotel to Kavela Bay, where we met up with Kath's family to paddle board and hang at the beach.  Along the path, there were many gorgeous little beaches.  We got a nice guy to take this picture of us at one.
Here's Kim getting her paddle board on!  She did awesome, and didn't fall once.  I can't say the same for me.  But to my defense, I fell off b/c as I was standing, I looked down and saw a sea turtle.  It kind of freaked me out, and I lost my balance.

That night, we went to see the night show at the PCC.  It was awesome!  I don't know what was better, the actual performers, or Kim hooting and hollering to the music and dancing!  Later that night, around 10pm, I stated that I wanted a burger, so we hopped in the car and did a late night McDonalds run!
I don't have any more pictures of our trip.  We did go spend a day in Haliewa, and awesome little surf town on the North Shore.  I had to include these pics I took of Izzy and Olie.  They were too cute not to add.  Kath's 2 oldest look like little hawaiian kids running around.  They are so tan!  And that Izzy.  I called her "Busy Izzy" the whole week b/c that is exactly what she is, and I love it:)
Alright, Jenny!  Starting thinking of where you want to go for your 40th!  Just please no Dollywood, Tweetsie Railroad, or Gastonia.  How about the little store in Hamlet instead?  :)

Matt's 36th Birthday





As I like to call it, Matt just had his "much closer to 40 than 30" birthday!  I always stress about his birthday b/c he was cursed to be born the day after Christmas.  I always try to make sure there is nothing Christmas about it.  To celebrate this year, we went to eat dinner at Las Brisas, a yummy seafood restaurant right on the water in Laguna Beach.  We got there an hour before our reservation, so we walked down to the tide pools with the kids.  It was so fun!  we just walked barefoot and looked at all of the crabs, sea urchins, and every other slimy thing that I refuse to touch.  We took some impromptu family pictures there.  It was so pretty that early evening.  (I keep laughing while typing this post because I keep looking at Jax's expression in the last picture.)  

I love Matt, and am thankful for him in my life.  He is a good father to our kids.  He really does have one of the softest hearts of anyone I know.  

Olmstead Christmas







We had a great Christmas!  Sorry that it is taking me so long to post about it.  (Jenny just threatened me today and said I had only 48 hours to post about it or she was going to make us go to Dollywood, Tweetsie Railroad or Gastonia for her 40th birthday!)  The kids loved getting their gifts this year, but what they loved most was giving the gifts.  I'm serious.  They spent Christmas eve going into each other's room, getting their old toys, wrapping them, and putting them under the tree for each other to open the next morning:)  They love their razor scooters, as you can see in the picture.  Molly is also modeling her amazing belt that Santa brought her.  It is silver and hot pink glitter, and she has been eyeing that thing at Walmart for the past year.  Every time we go, we have to go look at the girl belts.  

It was a nice Christmas Sunday for us.  We had 9am sacrament.  I loved it!  The primary children sang some of the regular Christmas songs, but they also sang this really pretty duet with the ward choir.  I was actually in tears by the end of it.  It was amazing.  Molly loves going up and singing at church.  Jaxon is so excited to be a sunbeam and now be able to join her.  Anyways, Christmas was great!  I thought that I would be frazzled in the morning trying to open the gifts, breakfast, and get to church on time.  We did, and it was great!  It was topped off by cheering on the Lakers for their first game of the very delayed NBA season:)  We just layer on the couch, eating our Christmas treats, and watching basketball while the kids played.  


Saturday, January 14, 2012

Ben's Preschool Christmas Program

Is Ben cute? Yes. Is he a pill when he's supposed to be cute and perform well at his preschool Christmas program? Yes. Do I love him anyway? You betcha!











Christmas with the Asays

Merry Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone. All way too fast I might add. I love my family. I could just squeeze my kids. I love them that much. They are so much fun. What a delightful way to wake up Christmas morning. I just had a thought. The word "mas" means "more" in Spanish. What a neat way to define Christmas: "more Christ."













 I love Jacob's expressiveness. I love his eagerness. Ben was just as eager; it just didn't cross over into the pictures. No pics of Marty. He was the cameraman. Notice how he even got shots of Sarah in the background?

SINGAPORE AND SENIOR CONFERENCE

As most of you know, we fly to Singapore every three months to have our visas "chopped". Six months ago, President and Sister Clark(Mission President) arranged for us to have all seniors come in at the same time and have a conference with us, just like he has with the young missionaries in the mission. It has been wonderful!!! We all love seeing each other and sharing "war stories" for our areas that we're assigned. It has been so rewarding and most pleasant to visit, laugh and talk. This mission has more senior couples than any mission in the church!! We have fifteen couples serving. Our mission is so large in area. Our flight from Kota Kinabalu to mission headquarters in Singapore is over 1,000 miles!! When we have senior conference, we fly in one day, have a thirteen-hour conference the next day, and usually fly back to our area on the third day. President Clark is a phenomenal teacher and communicator. When he speaks to you, he looks you straight in the eyes until he is finished speaking. He is decisive and there is no doubt as to where he stands on any issue!!! He knows the scriptures so well and uses them to teach all conferences.

After our thirteen-hour conference on Friday, we all met at Marina Sands and ate at an open restaurant with the most fabulous buffet that I've ever seen. The mission helped subsidize the meal. It was pricey!! Definitely not peanut butter and crackers!!! In this picture, Sis. Kelsey(one of our new single senior sisters in the mission) is in the white sweater across from E. Larson. She is from Cody, Wyoming. She was so cute--saying that she had never been out of Cody and definitely had never believed that she would be eating at a place like this half way around the world!!!



After dinner, we hurried to the theater at Marina Sands to see the musical, "Wicked". I loved it--wonderful, fabulous, mesmerizing, etc. !!!!!!!! Several in our group had already seen the play either in LA or New York. They said that this production was superior. We were not able to all sit together because we each purchased our own tickets, but we were all in the same section. You're not allowed to take pictures, and I wanted something to say that we had seen "Wicked" besides my ticket, so Linda Smith took this picture of E. Larson and me outside the theater where they were selling souvenirs. There is this huge shopping mall in Marina Sands between the theater and the casinos that has all of the shops that you find on Rodeo Drive in LA or New York or Paris, etc. This gal from North Carolina was definitely having a good look!! (Along with Sis. Kelsey from Cody, Wy. and all the others)




One of the most difficult tasks for the mission is to find places for all of the seniors to stay when we all come in at once, so that we do not have to rent hotel rooms. The Pasir Panjang House will only house five extra couples, besides the Garretts(Office couple who stay there). There are extra mattresses for the young missionaries when they come in, but seniors don't bunk together like they do!! President and S. Clark take two couples in their apartment, and E/S Gordhamer stay with their son who lives in Singapore. That leaves six couples who need places to stay. We have been fortunate to have lots of expats who live in Singapore who are willing to house couples in their homes. This is the second trip that E. Larson and I have stayed in some one's home. This time, our great friends, E/S Johnson stayed with us in the home of Br. and Sis. Reed. This is a picture of their little daughter, Emma by part of the pool in their home. Bro. Reed has a three year contract to live in Singapore with his family. He is an engineer with an International Company and his company provides this fabulous four-story home, the furniture in it, international schooling for four of his seven children who are living at home, and his car!!! Cars in Singapore are outrageous. President Clark's mission van cost $168,00!!!! It's a regular Toyota--not a Rolls Royce!!!!!

The Reed's home was so fun. It has a swimming pool that intertwines all through the bottom floor of the home. Some parts have steps from some of the rooms. You can basically get out of bed and take a dive!!! There were four levels to the home and E. Larson and I stayed on the fourth level by ourselves. There were two terraces that looked out at the rest of the neighborhood. Bro. and Sis. Reed said that they are trying really hard not to be seduced by the Singapore lifestyle. S. Reed says that she really misses Wal-Mart and Sam's Club!! Me, too. Their children are learning to read, write, and speak Chinese. Bro Reed is from New Zealand and S. Reed is from Oregon. They met at BYU.







This is the Reeds with their sixteen year old daughter, Rachel. This is their living room downstairs. There's a common living area on each floor!! As you can tell, I was blown away by this house. They made us feel so very comfortable while we were there. In this picture, S. Reed and Rachel had just gotten back from their morning jog.









This picture was taken Sunday morning, right after Sacrament. E. Larson and I had to leave then to catch a taxi to the airport for our flight back to Kotsa Kinabalu. We spent Saturday night at the Pasir House with the Garretts because all of the others went back to their areas on Saturday. We stayed through Saturday to be with the Johnsons. We met them in the MTC in Provo and flew to Malaysia together. Their area is in West Malaysia in Butterworth. We have always been on the same visa run schedule because we came out together and they are also humanitarian missionaries. I have come to truly love them. This was our goodbye picture. Because we extended for two weeks, we will not go home with them. They have decided not to travel, but go straight to Salt Lake City, their home. I so look forward to seeing them again. Oh, what wonderful friendships a person builds on a senior mission!!! Barry and Linda Johnson are the BEST!!!!










We caught a taxi right in front of the Pasir House and headed for the airport. I tried to take some pictures of Singapore on the way. This is their famous Ferris wheel that gives a great view of all of Singapore. The Johnsons and we were going to do this on Saturday but we "ran out of gas" before the day was closing. It was one of the few things that we did not do in Singapore. One can actually have a meal in your compartment on this Ferris wheel!! I takes 45 minutes for it to make one rotation!! Maybe before we leave to go home-----but it would not be so fun without Barry and Linda!!












This is a picture of Marina Sands where we ate the big buffet and saw "Wicked". This was taken out the back window of the taxi.


I like sharing all of these experiences with our children and let you know that "Dorothy is not in Kansas anymore"!!!! It has been a wonderful experience in many ways, and I especially am grateful for the friendships that we have made on the other side of the world!!!


I love all of my family and friends everywhere. What wonderful times we live in these latter days!!! With all of our faults, America is still the greatest place on the face of the earth!! I so look forward to being home with my family. Love you eternally

MOM