Halloween

We attended a party hosted by the Key's family who has since moved away to Bangkok. We also held a primary Halloween party at our home where we did doughnuts on a string, a cake walk, a beanbag toss into plastic pumpkins, and a spider craft out of egg cartons.

Tanjung Lesung

We took a trip to the coast for 4 days when our boat trip to Krakatao (yes, the volcano) got cancelled due to bad weather. We had planned the boat trip with our friends the Prendergast's and we were all so disappointed that we came up with this plan very last minute. A teacher friend told us about it, and we booked it on the spot and left the very next morning. It was EXCELLENT!! The beaches around the island of Java are not wonderful but the water is fairly warm and there are shells everywhere which makes loads of fun for our little girls. It was a lovely get-away from the bussle of the city.

Behind Emma and Marion you can see a bit of the villa we stayed in, it had a pool and deck in the back then a huge yard space right down to our own private beach.

Children's Day

Every year, Chevron sponsors a large festival celebrating children. This year, our children participated by singing and performing a few songs on stage. It was a really hot day! Dallin was a trooper, though didn't relish the idea of singing songs on stage with a huge crowd of mostly unfamiliar indonesians. Eden, got heat exhaustion and was only able to participate for the first song. She was really out of sorts on stage. And when she came off stage she felt very pale and clammy...kind of freaky. Marion was a great performer, and she not only sang the big group number "We are the World" by Michael jackson, but she also did the Twist with her classmates. It was an interesting afternoon, we didn't stay long. My favorite was the imitation Mickey and Minnie mouse...AWESOME!!

Bintan Island

With Mike's job posting here in Sumatera, we get 2 R&R's a year, which means that we must take a week long vacation away from here in the fall and spring of each year. This past fall, we went to Bintan Island, where we stayed in a villa near the ocean at a resort called Nirwana Gardens. What a wonderful trip! We took an elephant ride through the jungle, rode the flying fox (huge zipline), archery, snorkeling, sailing, and played at the beach every day. Dallin and I spent one day in Singapore for an eye appointment. I miscalculated the timing on our return ferry so we had to spend the night there and wait for the morning ferry. While we were gone, Mike and the girls spent that day at the beach and got burned crispy. But other than those minor mishaps, it was heavenly!

Date Night

Bowling with Tanner and Cherylyn Neilson! Super Fun! Tanner kicked all our butts. But since the stakes were on couples...Mike and I pulled through as the ultimate team winners! Oh ya!!
Tanner and Cherylyn...we'll be waiting for the movie date...mwahaha!

Interesting thoughts

I was reading the first chapter of the book of Alma today in the Book of Mormon, during this part in the book, the Nephites (ancient inhabitants of Central America) have just lost their King, a just and holy man, greatly loved by his people named King Mosiah. When he died, none of his sons wanted the throne, they wanted to spend their lives bringing the souls of men unto God, preaching His word, so King Mosiah left the people with judges, higher judges, and a chief judge, chosen by the people. Sound kind of familiar? Anyway, just 2 years after the establishment of judges, there began to be much wickedness among the people and this is the verse that I read today that made me ponder: "Nevertheless, they (wicked men) durst not lie, if it were known, for fear of the law, for liars were punished; therefore they pretended to preach according to their belief; and now the law could have no power on any man for his belief." We, in our world today, have reached a point similar to that of the Nephites, where those deceived by Satan use the word "beliefs" to spread lies, wickedness, and untruth. Where right and wrong (as far as the laws of the land) have become contingent upon wicked and lying people, claiming beliefs in choice for abortion and gay marriage. And, as in this book of history, the law can have to claim on what deceivers claim are 'beliefs'. I'm grateful to know that yes, we are given agency, the ability to make our own choices, but we are not free to choose the consequences. And that their must be a right and wrong, a good and evil, just as there is light and dark, sweet and sour. You cannot appreciate one without the other. And without them, there would be no agency or justice.

I hope that my thoughts here are clear. As I reread this, I don't know that what I felt today and thought about have come across in the writing of it. I was thinking so much of the gay/lesbian issue that is plaguing the USA right now and how people are being led into thinking this is a matter of beliefs versus what is truth and lies. The truth is, man and woman were put on this earth to create families, to learn and to grow, to prove that we would follow God's plan, to experience joy and sadness, that through this we could become more like our Father, and prepared for what is to come after this life. This is truth. And unfortunately our laws today can have no claim on those who lie and deceive calling it 'beliefs', though they lead many astray with their cunning and seemingly educated words.

Maybe no one else will understand this as I did today, but I love when I feel real personal revelation, when the scriptures of old reach out to me, written for our day to speak to me of troubles we face now, that they knew would come. May we hold fast to that which is true.

Water Bom!

We had a 5 day weekend and we went with a bunch of friends to a water park called Water Bom. We had a really great time with our friends, and watching our kids play together. Poor Eden was not feeling well while we were there and didn't participate much, in fact she took a nice long nap in the middle of the day on some pool mats. Below is a picture of Neil Prendergast and Tanner Neilson with Andrew, the Neilson's son. Also Marion and Emma sliding, we couldn't keep them away from the water slides.

Below left, Maria Rosa's family with children Ian and Zoe, center picture is all the children minus 4 that left earlier in the day. Marion playing with Grace and Kathlyn Prendergast.

The last picture below is the Keys family, Sam, Christy, Ella, and Cooper. And I'm ready to throw this laptop into the swimming pool after trying to make my text and pictures line up right and being completely unsuccessful!! Arghh! So, it's a mess, but it's here, now you can see us and our new friends.

The Tooth Fairy

At 7 1/2 years, and in the 2nd grade, Eden finally lost her first tooth!! About 3 weeks ago, Eden told me that her front teeth really hurt. Turns out all of her front teeth are lose at the same time! So just 6 days ago her first tooth came out during school (it was the big excitement in her class that day). I don't know who was more excited, Eden or me! In our house, the tooth fairy leaves a small gift for the very first tooth and for every other tooth she leaves a dollar (or in our case 10,000 rupiah). For her first tooth, Eden received a very pretty fairy necklace that she absolutely loves!

Only 2 days later, Eden's 2nd tooth pops out at a water park during a birthday party. Chowin' on pizza, the crust will getcha everytime! Give her another month and all 4 front teeth will be gone...maybe I should start thinking about our annual family picture sooner rather than later!