CHINA-WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!

As most of you know I recently returned from a trip to China with my sisters and sister-in-law. We had a great time, it was so interesting and lots of fun, but I will never go back. It is SOOOO far away and the food wasn't that great and quite a few of us got bad colds and, well, there is no place like home (except for the fabulous shopping of course). I'm posting some pictures so you can get an idea of how cool it was.


We started out in Shanghai, where we met up with Cameron and Julie Brown (Peri's son and daughter-in-law). They are living in China where Cam is in a special program from BYU. He served a mission in Taiwan and speaks fluent Chinese. It was so fun to walk into our hotel after 23 hours of travel and see a very handsome (but bald) young man come flying towards us yelling and screaming and jumping up and down. We loved being with them!!!

Here are Cam and Julie in Shanghai. They are so cute! Here we are on the Bund looking back across the river towards the new part of Shanghai. It is amazing!


This is a really cool part of Shanghai where you can shop. We went into a side street to get Lori a good deal on a purse/back-pack. It was fun, but we were glad we had Cam to speak their language. We did get pretty confident and good at bartering by the end of the trip, however. It was fun to compare and see who could get the best deal on the same stuff. The pagodas are really cool and you can see them everywhere.

This was a park in the city of Hangzhou. It was absolutely the most beautiful city and the park was gorgeous!

Their English signage was hysterical. We were constantly laughing at how they translated, or attempted to translate things. We were surprised at how many people spoke English or at least tried to.

We took a three day cruise down the Yangtze River and one of our excursions was a ride up a tributary in a Sanpan. The Chinese guy looking at the camera in front of Bonnie Comstock, was our country guide, Edward. He was so awesome! He really took good care of us.

The people were very friendly and they loved to have you take pictures of their children who were so adorable and very fat.

The children were beautiful and so friendly. They loved to be fussed over and to have their pictures taken.


Just a sampling of what delectables were available in the markets where the people shop.

Despite the grossness of their meat and such, they did have nice looking produce and seemed to know how to display it attractively.

What's a trip to China without seeing the pandas. They are really big and cute.

This is us in Xian with one of our cute city guides, Louisa. All our guides had given themselves English names. Louisa was one of our favorites. She would sing to us on the bus.

This is the "Bird's Nest". It will be the sight of the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics in Bejing. China is such a country of contrasts. Don read that more than 2/3 of the cranes used for building are in China and believeme, it is true, as they are building everywhere we went. It is amazing.

As I mentioned, it is a country of contrasts. This is an "apartment" building in the middle of Xian, a very prosperous city in most respects.

Julie was able to meet us in Bejing (Cam had to work), and this is the Forbidden City, where many of the Emperors and royalty lived. It was huge and very interesting. Sherri and I had just read an historical novel about this place, so it was so interesting to see it first hand.

One of my favorite things was the Great Wall. It was an incredible feat and just enormous. We were so lucky to have had such a beautiful day to visit.


After all was said and done I am so glad I had the opportunity to visit such an exotic and mysterious place. It is definitely a country of contrasts. We really loved the people and whenever I travel I am amazed at how much people are alike. Cultures, customs, traditions are diferent, but hopes, dreams and desires are the same. It was a wonderful trip and I was so grateful to share it with my sisters!

CHRISTMAS TRAVELS-WHEW! WHAT A BUSY TIME!

BYU LAS VEGAS BOWL - On December 21, Don and I began our Christmas travels by flying to Las Vegas for the BYU/Oregan football game. It was fantastic since we won 38-8 and we had Ryan, Nicole, Justin, Marilee, Spencer, Annie, Greg and MarJane with us. It was a close call getting Marilee and the kids out of Denver before the airport closed because of the blizzard, but they made it and were able to join us for the game. We all had such a great time attending the tailgate party and running into old friends and even some relatives. Following are some pictures taken at the game.

Here are Mar, Nic and kids all decked out in their BYU stuff.

The kids with Cosmo, a must-have picture for any true BYU fan!

Annie wrapped in a blanket. It was so COLD!!

Spencer and Grandad enjoying a hot chocolate.

The Ryan Miller Family enjoying the game.

Nana and Grandad trying to stay warm.

Last, but certainly never least, we have Grandma and Papa snuggling Annie.

CHRISTMAS IN "CAGO" WITH THE BRINKS - Our next stop was Chicago where we spent a "brown" Christmas with Julie, TJ and the kids. It was such a nice time. Julie sang in church on Christrmas Eve day and Don and I both were pleased that our investment in voice lessons for her truly has paid off, as she has such a lovely voice. The kids were so excited and we had a nice turkey dinner with our family and some friends of Julie and TJ's. Steve and Brooke Van Koman are a nice couple with four cute kids. We felt we had known them forever. Steve served his mission in Haiti, so what else do we need to say. Christmas morning was so nice and I must say that Heather and Julie really surprised us with an edited, bound, copy of our Haiti letters. It was such a labor of love and I cried all morning whenever I looked at it. Thank you so much girls!

Jackson with his new bike. It is really cool and with no snow he was able to give it a try.

Natalie surrounded by her stuff. She got some cool stuff!

Brady trying out his new tricycle. He feels like quite a big boy on his big boy trike.



PHOENIX HERE WE COME - On Christmas night we all flew to Phoenix to spend a few "warm" days over the Holidays. Although it wasn't swimming weather, the kids were able to feed the ducks and we had a fun time.

Nanny Rae Rae with her bread.

Walking to the duck pond.

SEATTLE HERE WE COME - On December 28th, Don, Julie and I left for Seattle to attend the wedding of our niece, Leslie Scadlock, in the Seattle Temple. TJ stayed in Phoenix with the kids and we so appreciated his willingness to do so, so Julie could come with us to the wedding. It was such a nice affair and we are so happy for the Scadlock family and especially for Leslie. She has had a rough couple of years with a new baby and then a divorce. Her new husband seems like a wonderful young man and he loves her little boy, Aidan, who is 15 months old and just the most adorable little guy you've ever seen. Anyway, it was a quick trip, but well worth the effort. Congrats and best wishes Leslie and Lee. We love you!!

The new little Rushton family. Leslie just glowed and even Aidan seemed to know what what happening.

Jim and Sherri with the thumbs up sign. A happy, happy occasion for the parents!

Here we are, the world, or at least the North American travelers.

Don, Me, Lori, Sherri, Jim and Mom (with her eyes closed). Sorry Mom!

Darrin, looking handsome in his Marine dress uniform, and his proud Aunties.

And, of course, the proud grandma with her handsome Marine grandson!

CLASS REUNION!

O.K., so it's been awhile since I last updated my blog and since so many of you have complained I figured what better way to start than with my 40 year high school reuinion. Yep, it's been 40 years. Even though we went to high school in California the reunion was held in Las Vegas. A classmate, Steve Singer, and his wife have a lovely home in Henderson and they were able to accomodate all 60-65 of us with a wonderful catered dinner and lots of visiting. We had over 500 in our graduating class, so the turn-out was quite small, but lots of those I wanted to see were there, so it was so much fun. I've included a few pictures so you can see how old everyone is. So this is me with some of my classmates. It was amazing, but alot of these folks I went to sixth, seventh and eighth grade with. In the photo with me are Shirley Way, Malcom Slack and Claudia Butler.

This is a picture of Betty Dabbs in the middle. She helped plan the reunion and did a great job. My old boyfriend, Bill Shinen and his wife Sherrie are on the left and a friend, Bob Myer and his wife, Sherrie are on the right. Both couples are so nice and we had a great time catching up. Bill and I dated for about 31/2 years and Bob lived just down the street from me and was a good friend. Bill lives in Huntington Beach, California and Bob lives in Austin, Texas. He wants Ryan to get in touch with him when he moves to Austin.

My best friend from high school, Candy Cartter Lehman, is in the middle, with some good friends, Robin Wakshull and Sally Kerr on the left and right. Candy and I stayed together and we had the best time catching up. Her husband passed away almost 6 years ago and she was able to share with me what she and her two kids went through. She's a great person and we have stayed in touch for all these years. She lives in Irvine, so I have seen her a couple of times when I was down visiting Ryan, Nicole and the kids.

MORE PICTURES FROM "CAGO"

For some reason when I try to post more than three or four pictures per blog, it won't work. Oh, well, here is a picture of Brady playing with his train table that he got for his birthday. He LOVED it and didn't want to open any more presents after he saw the table. He is certainly "two" all of a sudden except that he won't talk much, but then why would he need to when we all know what he wants when he grunts and points. If you don't understand him you just start lisiting all of the things it could be and when you get to the right one he says in the sweetest little voice "kay".
Last, but certainly not least is Natalie Rae, a girly-girl through and through. She tried to convince me she was old enough to wear make-up because her friend did. I don't think so Nanny! But nice try.

BACK FROM "CAGO" - FOR A MINUTE

Well, I am finally able to blog again and as promised here are some pictures of our trip to Chicago. We had a great time with lots of activities. One of the highlights was going to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Although the
Cubs lost it was great fun with the added bonus of an airshow over the stadium. They were actually practicing for an airshow the next day, but the Blue Angles were flying right over the stadium and it was quite a thrill. Granddad felt like he was living one of those (Master Card) "priceless" moments when he could take his grandkids to their first pro baseball game. It was so much fun! On Saturday wewent to the PGA Championship, but there were np pictures as cameras were not allowed. We were just a few feet away from all the greats, including Tiger, Phil, Davis, Ernie, Davis and many others. What fun!
Here are some pictures of Jackson before and after his hair cut. I offered him ten bucks to get his hair cut before school started and he was more than willing to accept my offer. LouAnn said I should have just offered five and he probably would have taken it. He looks so handsome and like our old Jack, so the ten dollars was worth every penny. Bribery is one of the privileges of being a grandparent.

I HATE IT!!

Well, everyone is gone and it just sucks!! Heather and the kids left yesterday and boy was the house quiet after we got home from Church. We invited our Haitian friends that just moved to Calgary over for dinner so at least we had that to look forward to. The Dorilas family was in Haiti when we were there and they are just wonderful. Trufley (the dad) was a big help to us with maintaining the house, finding property and apartments to rent and basically just anything we needed him for he was willing to do. Yolette was the Relief Society President in our home ward and since she spoke English we could visit when we attended that ward (not that often). They had two adorable little kids, Joannie and Mackly and since moving to Canada five years ago have added Jonathan. The children are 9, 7 and 4, so they had fun with the toys and the trampoline when they were here. Trufley works for Colin Steele and Yolette will start to work for him as a bookkeeper in the fall. Yolette's sister who was my dear, dear friend and our Stake RS President in Haiti is also moving here with her husband and little girl. They will all live in Rockyview Ward, so it looks like a little Haitian contigent will be in our Stake. We just love these wonderful people so we are excited.
On Thursday Don and I are off to "Cago" to visit Julie and TJ. We will attend a Cubs game at Wrigley Field on Friday and then on Saturday we go to the PGA tournament at Medina. We're excited and I'll take lots of pictures since blogs with pictures are more exciting. D & J

MORE PICTURES

This is Joshua asleep in the high chair. this baby is an angel. We hardly know we have him and when he is awake he smiles constantly.

Annie just loves babies and loved holding Joshie.

Here's a picture of Amber and the long haired Spencer at Calaway Park. We surprised everyone by bringing Amber up to Calgary to be with her cousins.

MY FIRST ATTEMPT

So, Marilee set up my blog for me so I guess I'd better get busy and post somethings. My girls tell me this is very addictive, but what a great way to keep a journal. Lots more fun than a boring green book. Marilee, Adam, Spencer, Annie, Garett, Logan, Steve (Heather's husband), and Amber (Ryan's oldest) just left on Sunday after a fun couple of weeks. I'm posting some pictures of our day at Calaway Park with Mar's kids and Amber. This one is of Garett with Annie in the back seat and the long haired guy bending over is Spencer.

Here'sLogan with his usual smiley face. He loved his granddad and followed him everywhere saying, "Dad-Dad, Dad-Dad, Hi!

Brooklynn had fun on the boat, but wasn't too interested in tubing after she tried it once with Heather.

Spencer and Tyler are both little fish and they were game for anything.

Tyler loved the wake surfer and with a little help from Uncle Adam (the one getting drowned) he stood up by himself.

Not to be outdone by the young guys, Granddad took a turn on the wake surfer. He did great!