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
I love having friends. They help to keep me sane and introduce me to new people and new experiences. A “CR” friend arranged a tour to walk China Town in Manila and we would eat at different areas. The Big Binonda Food Wok was well worth the 1,100Php ($26). We ate at 5 different locations, learned about China Town and how it came to be in Manila, and enjoyed spending the afternoon with friends.
China Town in Manila is the 2nd oldest in the world.
This part of Manila has horse pulled carriages.
Inside of an old church. It had some amazing murals on the ceiling.
First food item: LUMPIA. We tried eating it plain, then with peanut sauce, and then with vinegar. We started off with half and then order another half.
2nd stop was at Dong Bei Dumpling where we got 3-5 different items to try.
We went inside this Chinese store to learn more about the culture. We could purchase candles, god statues, paper money to burn, etc.
Can’t remember much about this 3rd food stop, except it is above a bakery and the owner helps support the firefighters…and the food was good.
Most Chinese are Buddhist. Most Filipinos are Catholics. This place or worship intertwines both religions.
4th food stop to try Sio Pao…it reminded me of a Hawaiian food called manapua.
Also on the 4th stop we tried BichoBicho. It is basically 2 churros stuck together.
There were many places to buy vegetables in China Town and they looked pretty good…this place also had some fish you could buy.
Last stop we were able to try Hapia. I was so full buy this point that I couldn’t finish mine.
And we could purchase any snacks at our last stop. So many new types of snacks that I didn’t know were out there.
The friends that went on this Walking/Food Tour with me…plus about 20 other Filipinos that somehow got in on our “private tour”!
