Daddy's Birthday

Yes, Happy Birthday to Christian...but first, some favorite photos of late.

It is all I can do but hold my gags down while looking at this photo! She is having SUCH a good time I love her expression and hate what she is playing with! What is it with kids and toilets?!?

Yeah, we finally got a picture of Emma and Hillary from the other angle, which shows both of them much better.

Xander discovered how to use the translation equipment at church and last Sunday he was speaking and singing into the microphone and listening to himself in the headphones. You can see his concentration - he is very focused on what he is doing.

And now for the birthday daddy - we had 3 blue candles and 6 white candles on the cake to represent the big 36. We didn't want to create a torch or anything ; ) I made two small cake rounds with the extra cake batter - pictured above. This recipe made a LOT! I ended up taking over half of the big the carrot cake into his work today to share with co-workers.

I made special arrangements at the Halia (a Singaporian restaurant) for dinner. He was embarrassed when the staff came out singing "happy birthday to Mr. Christian" - good! Goal accomplished! We had a wonderful dinner and every bite was culinary perfection - yum!

Meet Secretary Clinton

Hillary Clinton came to Hanoi for the ASEAN Conference today. We got to have a special "meet and greet" with her. We'll post more pics as we receive them. It's kind of hard to smile and say cheese and take a picture at the same time. She gave a nice speech and was very genuine. It was a pleasure to meet her.

She stopped to talk with Emma directly and asked for her name. We don't quite have a good pic of this yet, but you can see the top of Emma's head.

Xander was so excited about seeing "Mary Clinton" - I guess "Hillary" is a little hard to say. Although he was looking forward to the event, I guess waiting in place so long wore him out. By the end, he wanted NOTHING to do with all the photos that were being taken. He's sitting on the stairs to the side of me.

While the Secretary was speaking, he was bit of a pill too. He wanted to go see Daddy, so I let him go through the crowd behind me to get to Christian - standing just 2 people back. When he saw Christian, he took off running and made a loop around the crowd, and ran in front of everyone to get back to me on the front row. I just about died!!! A security nightmare! The Secret Service are SO tight about events like this and monitor every move.

Playing "Go Fish" waiting for the Secretary to arrive.

It was POURING rain on the ride over to the hotel. I told the kids to be prepared to huddle underneath the umbrella as we ran across the street. It was so sweet, a cute Vietnamese woman saw me pulling my kids one by one out of the car and she smiled really big, scooped up Xander, tucked him under her rain poncho and told me that she would help me bring him to the hotel. She was still sitting there after the event when we came back to the car. The sun was shining and she was still smiling. I am very grateful for her kindness. Xander kept asking where her rain poncho was.

Another very funny thing that happened today was that I accidentally got locked into Xander's room tonight with all the kids!!! We were STUCK in there for 5 hours waiting for Christian to come home and open the door. We had finished our bedtime routine and I asked Emma to go get one more book, when we realized that the door was locked! I tried to pick the lock for a long while, I tried to find the key in the closet for a long while, I read stories for a long while, turned off the lights and told make-believe stories for a long while. Xander finally fell asleep after 3 hours, Emma zonked out after 4, and little Anneliese kept trying to nestle down, but couldn't get comfy. She was a trooper though and kept playing with toys in between her times of trying to fall asleep. After I post this entry, I'm going online to learn how to pick a lock! A skill that could be quite useful. We HAD a key in the room, but Xander found it and put it somewhere. Christian was busy with the Secretary's visit and couldn't come home until after the events of the day were finished - quite late. I still can't believe we were locked in there for so long!!!

Apostle, Elder Oaks Visits Hanoi

Above: family photo with Dallin H. Oaks and his wife Kirsten. They came to Hanoi to have government meetings and to speak to our congregation! Elder Oaks is one of the twelve apostles for our church. Yes, I mean an apostle just like the kind of apostles, or disciples that Jesus had when he lived on earth. We believe that God still speaks to his children (meaning, you and I). He had a good system in place with his previous prophets: Abraham, Moses, etc. why would he operate in a different way? So to continue this pattern, he restored his church to a man named Joseph Smith (see more on lds.org) restoring priesthood power and temple ordinances, just like in the days of the ancient prophets. As in times of old, we have a living prophet and twelve apostles who stand at his side to testify of Jesus Christ. That is their main job, they are called as special witnesses of Jesus Christ. It was indeed, very special to have Apostle, Elder Oaks here.

A photo with many of the members of our congregation and Elder and Sister Oaks along with Elder and Sister Pratt in the front.

Xander playing catch with Elder Oaks. Sister Oaks had given the children "testimony gloves" and that is what they are throwing back and forth to each other. Xander commented that Elder Oaks has a "loud voice," when really he has a deep resonant voice that carries well. When he speaks, people listen. His voice is solid and sure.

He was accompanied by Elder and Sister Pratt from Hong Kong, and President and Sister Smedley, the mission president from Cambodia. Christian got to help arrange Elder Oak's meetings, attend a meeting and go to lunch with him and the delegation. Jennie got to take Sister Oaks and her delegation around Hanoi to see some sites, do lunch and do some shopping. Above is a group of Vietnamese children attending the French School in Hanoi.

A favorite memory of Jennie's was walking around with Sister Oaks on our way to see something and her saying "We're making a memory" with a big smile on her face - and she genuinely was making a memory and enjoying herself in the moment, taking in the journey along the way. She stopped at every opportunity to talk with people and appreciated hearing their stories and connecting with them. You could tell that she has a deep appreciation and love for people. The people in this photo had bright yellow t-shirts on that said "Sweet Family." She was impressed and said - that's what it's all about having a sweet family! Below she is talking to a group of girls at The Temple of Literature who had just graduated from school.

It was a such a privilege to welcome Elder and Sister Oaks to Hanoi! This was an event our family will remember for many years to come.

Mexico Pics from Cruise

CABO SAN LUCAS

We used the company Ocean Riders and they were AWESOME!

Perfect for our trip, professional, nice equipment, easy going and nice.

Cruise ship in the background, and all geared up ready to speed across the ocean - literally, we went super fast and it was so much fun!!! We whooped and hollered the whole way.

On Lovers Beach with the engaged lovers, Maile and Michael. Beautiful rock formations, gorgeous water and perfect sunny, but not-so-hot weather! This beach connects with a beach on the other side of the island which faces the open sea and is more violent, hence the name Divorce Beach. We liked Lovers Beach better.

Our gang ready to swim around the rock behind us to go to another beach and caves.

Snorkeling! It was awesome!

They fed the fish from the boat and we saw SO MANY striking and strange fish. We snorkeled in a couple different places and it was beautiful, so peaceful and amazing. Our guide was so good to give us some instruction for the new snorkelers. It made me wish that I would have had known these pointers when we went snorkeling with the dolphins in Zanzibar. Now that I know, I'll be looking for more opportunities to snorkel in the future. I had always shied away from it before.

MAZATLAN

Parasailing, riding horses on the beach, shopping and sunning...

Mom and Briant and The Last Supper made of sand! Now THAT's a winner in the sand castle contest.

Riding our boat out to the play site. On the way we stopped to see some scenic white rocks off the coast, which happened to be white because of the amount of bird poop on them! Then we saw some seals all crowded on top of a big rock. The ride on this boat was SO rocky there were quite a few of us who felt entirely queasy toward the end. I think it didn't help that the guide was loud and kind of obnoxious. He had a megaphone that he talked/yelled into and he was difficult to understand. Plus, he kept saying things like: Who let the dogs out? arf, arf, arf, arf... They did play some fun music later on which was fun and reminded us we were on vacation.

Parasailing! I would have never done this had it not been for Briant first taking the plunge. This was quite thrilling and surprisingly peaceful to be soaring over the ocean. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Riding horses on the beach. Beautiful experience and so funny when the horses decided to trot all of the sudden, and then more horses in the pack decided to follow suit. We loved it!

PUERTA VALLARTA

Riding several zip lines through the rain forest! Vallarta Adventures was the company we used and they were AWESOME! They were extremely professional, safe, fun and we had a great time...until at the very end when they wanted to charge us a million dollars for each photo. That was a downer which dampened the unbelievable experience.

"Shaken, not stirred" is how we arrived to the zip line starting point. We took a safari-like jeep/bus up to the top of the mountain and we were literally only held down by the seat belts we wore.

It was better than a ride at Disneyland!

All geared up and ready to go - a little surprised that all the gear was all wet, but it soon made perfect sense as some of the zip lines ended in pools of water. Our arms were all sore the next day. I didn't realize that you brake with your hand - hence the heavily padded leather gloves. There seemed to be a perfect balance of your hand hovering above the line, ready to break, and actually breaking. It seemed that I needed to 'rest' my hand on the line in order to 'fly' straight. That heated up my glove to a nice and toasty burn.

Riding mules up to the top - we were given instructions on how to ride the mules. Interesting fact, mules are a cross between a horse and a donkey, and they can't reproduce. They are incredibly stubborn and my mule protested the whole way up the trail. I started in the lead and ended in the rear of the pack. This was even despite my best efforts to nudge it into gear - kicking my heels in and making 'smooching' sounds with my mouth. They said it would work, but in the end, my mule went just as fast as it wanted to and my lip muscles were all tuckered out by the time we got to the top.

Yippeee, the exiliration after my fist real zip line! So much fun and what a rush! Mom's got to build a better zip line in the backyard now that we've all done the real thing. At one point, they had two parallel zip lines and I raced my sister Emily. She went flying at the beginning and I was going slow for some reason - I told myself 'no way!' and figured out how to go faster. I felt like a bullet sailing through the air. The speed was awesome! I ended up winning the race, but I also won a fat lip from hitting the end of the line so hard that it flipped me up and hit my face. No regrets.

Rappelling down a waterfall. I thought I was being cautious but quick. My sister Emily schooled me in what quick was : )

The free-fall drop from a ledge down into a pool of water. We had a blast! It was an incredible experience and so memorable. Now that I look back, I can't believe we did so much in a one-week timeframe.

Jennie's Big Trip

So, we've been silent on the blog scene for way too long! In short, Jennie took a 3-week trip to the States for a sibling and spouse reunion on a Mexican Riviera Cruise - Christian and my sister's husband couldn't come, and they were missed! Here are a few of the many activities we did on the ship.

Jennie rock climbing - just about there...and just about out of steam.

Natalie, Emily, mom, Jennie and Micky, step sister, ice skating.

That was an unusual sensation to be skating around while you could see through the windows that the boat was rocking up and down.

I took this photo, so I'm not in it nor is Micky & Briant.

Melissa, Danny & Natalie, Emily, Michael & Maile, Misty & Mark, mom and Briant. So this was our party gang! We had so much fun! ...more to be posted in later blogs.

A week after the cruise, my brother Michael got married to Maile Janiec in the Salt Lake Temple. Yes, this is the cute girl who came to nanny for us in Prague one summer - and saved our lives!!! A year ago, Maile came to Grandma Bitter's house to visit us and see our new baby, Anneliese. Just after she arrived, Michael came over and they met for the first time. They hit it off, dated for a year and got married. They are so good with each other. Here they are exiting the Temple as a newly-married couple. Happy times.

It was great to come home and be with my husband and kids again. I missed them a LOT and was going through serious withdrawls of hugs and kisses from my family. Whenever I was around children, I had to constantly fight the urge to run across the room, scoop them up and smother them with kisses and hugs. Let's just say that I've gotten my fix since coming home!

The Alley

One of my favorite things is to go shopping in the ally next to our house. This morning was a typical Saturday shopping trip, basket on one arm, 2 kids trailing along holding my other hand. I absolutely LOVE it! No matter what the weather, the shops along the alley are bustling with activity, people eating in mini-restaurants, fish and eels flopping around in plastic bins, meat being chopped on wooden blocks, chickens being plucked, fresh tofu floating in plastic buckets. Here is a photo of what we usually eat for breakfast on Saturday morning. It's oatmeal for the kids and I, and bagel sandwiches and fruit for Christian all the other days of the week. Below we have Xoi Gac, Xoi Lac, and Xoi Xeo, wrapped in a banana leaf and a piece of newspaper. Xoi is pronounced "soy" but it means sticky rice...yum!

The Xoi Gac gets its red color from a orange-red spiky fruit that grows here. It tastes sweet and has loads of vitamins in it. It is especially good for children and eyesight. The Xoi Lac is cooked with peanuts and it has dried shredded pork on top and a nice little dipping pile of salty/semi-sweet roasted chopped peanuts and sesame seeds. The Xoi Xeo is yellow sticky rice with slices of dried cooked "mung bean" on top and fried shallots. It's all so fun to eat.

A funny thing that happened this morning was I asked for them to cut the bones and skin off of my chicken. They laughed! Every person around the butcher table laughed too and continued to say - she doesn't want the skin and bones! They humored me and the second the pile of skin hit the "parts tray" (nothing is wasted), someone snatched it up - what a find! I'm sure it will be the talk of at least a few kitchens tonight.

Everyone in the alley watches us come and go. We're regulars there and many people call out, "come buy from me." Many people ask what nationality I am, how old I am, if I like Hanoi, etc. Today a cute white-haired woman with pretty eyes asked me if I spoke French. I replied that I spoke a little and we had a nice little Vietnamese-French conversation. It was cute and it reminds me how lucky I am to live here.

Mom's Musings About Kids

I'm planning on posting some Easter pics, but not yet. Here are some things worth noting that have happened in the past few days.

I explained to Xander today that he could have one piece of candy now and held it up in my hand, or he could have 2 pieces of candy in 15 minutes. I showed him how long 15 minutes would be on my watch and asked him if it was a long time or a short time. He said it was a short time. So, I asked him again what he wanted and he said "One piece of candy in one minute!" I could tell by his answer that he thought he had said the best answer. He turns 4 years old next week, so maybe we'll try this little test again when he's a bit older. The study says that 4 year olds who will grow up to be successful children will choose to delay gratification.

Driving in the car with Xander...

Xander "Mom, does Heavenly Father have a cell phone?"

Mom "No"

Xander "Does Jesus have a cell phone?"

Mom "No, why do you ask?"

Xander "How are we supposed to call them?"

Mom "We say a prayer if we want to talk to them."

Xander "Oh" - didn't seem too impressed that gadgets, flashing lights and beeping noises weren't involved.

Unrelated to this. I asked Xander to say the blessing on the food for dinner.

Xander "My blessings don't work"

Mom "What do you mean?"

Xander (serious face) "They don't work"

Time for another conversation about prayer. He has said this about bedtime prayers that his "prayers doesn't work." Guess we haven't done a very good job resolving this concern yet.

Anneliese is becoming more mobile. She loves roaming from one no-no to the next, which keeps mom constantly on her toes. New no-nos include:

- The toilet, and today she discovered the toilet paper roll - wow! That was a lot of fun.

- The garbage can! Ew! She stands up, reaches over and grabs whatever she can and throws it onto the floor. Then she happily sits down to play with her new toys. Today she was busy shredding a banana peel into tiny bits when I found her (in Vietnam the peels are thinner than in America) - double Ew!

- Mom's purse, primary bag, and bookcases are favorites to empty out.

Emma just started a soccer class in her after-school activities. She was excited, but said that all the boys in her class complained that she had never played before. The coach put her to work kicking and practicing to be a goalie. She was so excited that she was able to stop all of the balls that came her way in practice. Way to go Em!

Tonight at dinner Emma asked if she could have her own iPod.

Mom "What? I don't even have my own iPod! I have a Shuffle that I got when I turned 30."

Emma "Well, at least can I have an iTouch?"

Mom "We're done with this conversation."

I'm thinking what music does she think she's going to listen to? Disney?

Every night before Emma goes to bed she asks me or Christian to tell her a story when we were little. I told all the favorite ones months ago, but she still asks every night and it's forcing me to delve deeper into my past to recover little tidbits of my life. I really should write down what I tell her so that I can remember 20 years from now. It's been a good exercise.