happy, happy!

the goods

christian ready to conquer the cake

christian and heidi's birthdays are two days apart. we combined the celebration.

the mucha's

maggie, tyler and emma

boys will be boys

a man and his pinata

the many faces of olivia - the nose scrunch, and...

the surprised face!

high kicks, and...

bruce lee kicks!

christian just turned 25...or maybe a little older than that. i've lost track. we celebrated for about 3 days. we planned a little cake and ice cream celebration. maggie outdid herself this year. she decided that this party needed a pinata. so, she took it upon herself to find the most amazing pinata in all the world. she filled it with sweet treats...and a beef stick. as you can see from the picks we had a great time. just kickin' it with the family and friends.

and, she cries. again....

amen.

i read this today.

turns out, i cried when i read the last paragraph.

kind of an odd emotional response. i know. it happens sometimes, okay.

i just couldn't help thinking about my experience as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. i thought about how grateful i am that my parents were so willing to pay to send me to a foreign land, to learn the most important of life's lessons.

i also couldn't help thinking about my in-laws, mel and sandy, (president and sister sabey) who have spent the last three years of their lives serving and loving the people of ghana. with that, they have also been instrumental in helping the missionaries in ghana learn the most important of life's lessons.

*confession - i borrowed this article from the blog of rachel sabey, my lovely asian sister-in-law. love me some asians!

ps - for those who don't know, that foreign land served my mission was the land of formosa. it only makes sense that i love asians.

facts of the day

1) christian, our friend charlie, and i went biking on wasatch blvd.

2) the air was brisk...needless to say, i was cold.

2) we rode through an intersection.

3) christian waved at a car in the lane turning right onto wasatch blvd.

4) i thought to myself, "i wonder if he is making sure that older gentleman sees us?"

5) i noticed "that older gentleman" was elder richard g. scott, one of the twelve apostles.

6) i smiled and waved too.

7) i yelled to christian, "that was elder scott!"

8) christian yelled back, "i know! that's why i waved."

9) we watched as elder scott turned into a shopping center on wasatch blvd.

10) we speculated. was he going to dan's to do some grocery shopping or to millcreek bicycles to

purchase a bike?

11) my heart was full of gratitude for the service, elder scott and each of the apostles,

so selflessly give each day of their lives.

12) i was reminded of elder scott's sweet conference talk about the eternal principle of marriage,

and how it helped me want to be a better wife

13) we kept riding our bikes.

14) it didn't get any warmer, so i was basically a popsicle.

15) my feet felt like popsicles at the end of the ride.

16) i like popsicles, so i felt okay about it.

last but not least...

these are the last of the san fran pictures. while we were on our own personal guided tour of the city, we took the bus to the haight ashbury district. we found a grateful dead t-shirt for christian. we found a really cool hat shop where we both found hats. i was also offered drugs for the first time in my life. don't worry. i just said no!

friends in northern cali

by the pier with nate and kim.

keep in mind, kim is behind the lense.

view of tiburon

redwood trees

walk in the woods - john muir forest

stacie!

while spending time in northern cali was delightful, spending time with friends and family while we were there was even more delightful. we spent an evening with nate and kim. we have missed them so, since they moved to san fran. we had fun 1) braving traffic with nate at the wheel (i was so glad i didn't have to drive in that traffic!) 2) clam chowder at boudin's 3)"getting hosed" translation spending $6 on a piece of chocolate for parking validation, then finding out the chocolate shop doesn't validate 4) finding a fun little pier to explore and watching people fish off it5) driving over golden gate bridge 6) eating delectable doughnuts in oakland 7) getting the grand tour of nate and kim's pad

we also spent a day and night with stacie, jj and ozzie. it was SO good to meet the oz man! i can't believe i didn't get a close-up shot of him. we took a little walk in the forest with them, talked and talked and talked, went on a drive to see some amazing houses and even more amazing views and went to dinner. i can't express how much i love the anderson family. they are favorites of the sabey's. "don't ya think?"