Happy 4th Birthday!  Here are a few facts and photos of Mason.

Cute, fun, sensitive, loving, destructive little boy

He learned how to swim without flotation devices and is now a “fish” in water

He got mad and threw a control at our TV and we had to get it replaced

He got mad and threw the iPad on the ground and we had to get it fixed

He has more countries stamped in his passport (added Philippines, Cambodia & Thailand)

We love having Mason in our family

4 Facts about Mason

-He still loves dinosaurs

-He loves being around babies

-He loves to cuddle

-He loves to play Lego Video games…as well as Skylander

Back in March Kalani turned 9 years old.

Our beautiful little girl is growing up

She loves to help take care of babies and can’t wait to babysit in a few years

This is the first year for her to NOT be homeschooled

Her classmates on “International Day”

9 Fun Facts About Kalani:

-She is following her father’s footsteps and is pretty good on the computer

-She normally wears flip flops everyday…but recently started to wear tennis shoes so she can play soccer at recess

-She now attends an International school and has 22 classmates

-She rides a super nice bus to school

-She has been to 10 different countries…and more are planned

-In Texas she would wake up between 8-9am…in the Philippines she wakes up by 6am

-She likes to make people laugh

-She loves meat

-She is honest, truthful and obedient

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has one of the oldest and largest women’s organization in the world.  Every March there is a celebration for the anniversary (March 17, 1842) of this women’s organization within the church.  And in the Philippines there was also a celebration, but it was a bit different from what I have done in the past.  The stake/area that I reside in decided to celebrate “Women of Asia” for this anniversary celebration.  The 6-8 wards/groups were asked to represent a different country by doing a dance and and singing the country’s national anthem.

Our ward was assigned the Philippines.  So we learned the Filipino National Anthem, did a traditional (ifugao) dance and provided traditional food.  Our whole performance was only about 5 minutes, but other groups where 10-15 minutes.  Another difference in how things are done in the Philippines compared to the states is that these Relief Society activities are for the women of the church ages 18 and above.  So, in the states only the women attend.  However, for this celebration in the Philippines whole families came to support and watch the show.  So, Matt and the kids came to watch me and the other members of our ward perform.

Our relief society sisters who sang and performed

Another group of relief society sisters that performed…I think this was China

These women represented Saudi Arabia

Doing our dance…yep I’m front row

Matt has a best friend since he was about 12-13 years old.  They went through the teenage years together, prepared and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, went through the dating scene, went on a cruise together and now are both married and with kids.  And when they get together it as if no time as past since they were last together, and they act like they acted when they were half their age!  Ryan’s wife served a mission for the LDS church in Taiwan and with us now living in Manila, the end of February was a perfect opportunity for them to visit her mission and visit us in the Philippines.

“Sawyer and Farley” about age 14

The four of us had fun eating out and just being together

Enjoying a PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) game

Sawyer family ready for Pagsanjan Falls. It rained heavily the day before, so we were only able to go 1/3 of the way, but it was still an enjoyable trip.

Lounging around at a hotel; the boys wanted to be comfortable!

View of Taal Volcano. We weren’t able to go to the volcano because of the rains, but it was still a nice view once the raining stopped

Spent the day on Corrigedor Island. On the way back our ferry rescued a fisherman that was treading water for a few hours.

The boys went scuba diving at Eagle’s Point

We hung out at home talking a lot and catching up. Mason really liked hanging out with the Sawyer family and continues to pray for them

When we first arrived in the Philippines I was told about a women’s conference that is held in Hong Kong for women in Asia that are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I knew right away that I wanted to go; any chance to travel to more parts of Asia is right up my alley.  I looked into airfare and hotels and then asked for friends to join me!  Lucky for me 2 other ladies here in Manila also wanted to go.  So we all bought our tickets, sat by each other on the 2 hour plane flight to Hong Kong and shared hotel rooms.  Both of my friends had attended the previous year, so I was relying on them on how to get around Hong Kong.  We had a fabulous time exploring Hong Kong and listening to speakers at the conference.

This Associated Sister In Asia (A.S.I.A) conference was started about 6 years ago.  A couple of ladies thought that it was good idea to have a gathering of Latter-Day Saint sisters in Asia meet together yearly like they do in the states for “Time Out For Women” or “Education Week.”  The area authorities thought it was also a good idea, so A.S.I.A conference was formed.  This year there were over 200 women in attendance.  We had marvelous speakers: Elder Gerrit W. Gong (1st counselor Asia Area Presidency) his wife Susan, Elder Larry Y. Wilson (2nd counselor Asia Area Presidency), his wife Lynda,  Lesa Stevenson (wife of the Presiding Bishop), and Julie B. Beck (Former General Relief Society President ).  We also attended 5 different “breakout sessions/classes” with a total of 18 classes offered.  And we tied over 85 fleece blankets to be given to the “Crossroads Foundation”.  It was a fabulous “get-away” to recharge our spiritual batteries.

Hong Kong has blue, green and red taxis to choose from at the airport. Each color determines which part of Hong Kong you want to be driven to.

Drivers and cars are on the “opposite” side. And all of the taxis had some kind of tablet for the passengers to use.

After we checked into our hotel we had some time to walk around. Hong Kong is very clean and orderly…at least in comparison to Manila.

We needed to eat after we checked in and walked the streets near the hotel. We saw this street food, and did NOT partake since I’m sure they were frying up some intestines.

The conference was held at this building. There are at least 2 chapels and cultural halls, a bunch of class rooms and maybe a mission office in this church building.

Tying fleece blankets for the Crossroads Foundation and making new friends.

Julie B. Beck (in the pink blazer) and other visitors from the United States that spoke/helped out during the conference.

Glutenous rice balls in a mango/coconut juice was like a meal within itself….sounds weird, but it is pretty good.

Both of my travel buddies had their birthday the weekend of the conference. So we celebrated by having “Baked Alaska.”

We had fun eating different types of food…this is a Vietnamese restaurant.

Walking along Avenue of Stars and trying to be like Bruce Lee.

Hong Kong harbor. The conference was held on “Hong Kong Island” so you either have to take a ferry, the underground, or a taxi over a bridge to cross the water to the other parts of Hong Kong.

Skyline of Hong Kong. Every night at 8pm there is a light show where many of these building participate.

The view of Hong Kong as seen from Victoria Peak

Now that we have been spiritually uplifted and had a fun girls weekend, we are ready to go back to our families!

More photos of our Hong Kong conference weekend here.