Salt Flats Cafe

So last week, on August 18th, I drove Katie back to Utah for school. I can't believe that she is already in her freshman year of college. Katie is attending the University of Utah and will be studying Art. I think she would like to teach art. Her high school art teacher, Mr. McCue, has been a fabulous mentor these past four years. He is a big part of her decision to study art in college. Katie has a passion about art, and I think she will do well.

There were a couple of fast and furious days of packing before we left! We took out the two middle seats of the van and put her bike in with all the others items around it. The trip was nice and uneventful, if you know what I mean. Elizabeth has taught us where there is some great, cheap food just east of Wendover. The Salt Flats Cafe. Take exit 4 on the Utah side and out in the middle of nowhere, you'll see a Sinclair gas station and the cafe is right there.

That day at the Salt Flats, there must have been some kind of driving event. All the cars in the parking lot were caked with salt! It looked like it was snow and there was a snowball fight in the parking lot! Except, it was about 95 degrees.

While we were there, we saw this amazing jeep. See my next post for those photos.

Scott's Apartment in China

So I finally got some photos of Scott's apartment in Wuxi! Now I can put a visual idea of things when he talks about his apartment. He said that the apartment is new and clean. Not the best of neighborhoods, as he and Sean laugh about that. They say it is okay though. When the arrived, they needed to purchase items for the apartment. They have bought a few items and will set things up more as they go along.

I got an email this morning from Scott with the subject title as "saw Maggie at church today"! Yep. He goes to a branch in Shanghai and Maggie, our niece, came over and sat down by Scott! He was very surprised! Because, even though we knew that Maggie was in China, we thought she had been in Bejing all this time~~ Last week when Scott went to the branch, Maggie had gone a small trip and wasn't there. What a small world. How fun to find family members across the globe!

The apartment is furnished by the Chinese government and had some pieces of furniture. Let's take a tour!

Here is one of the bedrooms. It came with a bed, desk, night-stand, and small dresser. Needed to buy: sheets, pillows, blankets. There was also a need to purchase towels.

Here is the kitchen. Quaint space with a bit of working room. . . . You'll notice the small frying pan on the right side of the sink. At the last minute, I gave Scott the pan and a wooden spoon to go into his suitcase. Looks like it is being used. The apartment didn't come with anything in the kitchen. Purchased: bowls, plates,silverware, dish-soap, etc. I see that they have two burners, probably a fridge on the left there, and not sure, but maybe a microwave over the stove? I'll have to ask.

This is the living space. You'll see that these guys have a sofa, TV, table and chairs, air conditioning, and there are curtains in each room.

Scott said that this is their "sun room" just off the kitchen. Provided: washing machine, which is new like everything else, and a wash sink on the side. Looks like an adventure to me!

Scott's Chinese Company

A week ago, Scott left for China to set up his new office and apartment. Scott has formed a company just outside of Shangai in the town of Wuxi. It is about an hour and a half northwest of Shanghai.

He has started a Chinese Consulting company specifically for the Chinese, but will also help foreign companies with Chinese business. This has been in the planning for over a year now and his partner is Sean. Sean was born in China, but moved to the states for school, then stayed for jobs.

The goal of this trip is to set up the apartment and the office. Basic items for the apartment like sheets, dishes, cooking ware, etc. Easier to buy those things there, than to lug them over in a suitcase! Setting up the office needs phone lines, internet, furniture I would guess. Scott hasn't sent photos of the apartment yet, but below are a couple of the business office building. It is a brand new building, so when they got there, discovered that the office isn't quite finished yet. Should take a couple of months. However, the name of their company is on the sign in the lobby. (see photo)

While Scott is in China, he will travel a couple of times to Japan for other business. I really miss him while he is gone and he will be gone for several weeks this time. He is doing a good thing and I support him in his endeavors. When I get photos of his apartment, I will post them.

Scott and Sean in the lobby .

The building looks really nice!

Pie! Jonathan's Birthday! June 18th

Again, it's been a month since Jonathan's 14th birthday! We celebrated the day after, because I had been to Girls Camp, and Jonathan had been to Zion's camp. Jonathan loves pie! So when we asked what he wanted, of course, he said pie. It was a nice day and so we ate outside on the deck. I can't believe that Jonathan is already 14. I can so clearly remember the day that he was born and the experience of having this little boy join our family. What is really scary, is that he will enter high school in the fall. . . . .

The pies hadn't quite cooled yet, so putting the candles in the pie made

them soft. Jonathan is ready to light,

but the wind is too strong and is causing a problem.

Dad and Sarah are waiting. . . .

and so is Katie and Martha.

We sang really fast when they all got lit! The pie was delicious! We had blackberry and cherry.

Girls Camp Crafts - 2010

It's been a month since Girls Camp. I wanted to post photos of what we did. I was really happy that the girls were excited with the craft projects this year! When I knew in January that I was organizing crafts, and then had a wedding to plan for May, I needed to decide early what we were going to do. Originally, it was just the graduations I was planning around. . . . but there was more.

I remembered from the past couple of years, that the girls like to do things with paper. The other thing they always ask if we are doing, is painting. What is it about paint and Girls Camp? I stuck with the paper.

I had some wood pieces left over from last year, so I wanted to use that. My girls checked out a couple of books from the library about that time. It was a book about projects with wallpaper. I was looking through and there was a project for making clocks. "Clocks! That's what we'll do!" I remember saying aloud.

So we cut down the size of the wood to 6" squares. The girls covered the front with printed card stock, then a solid piece on the back. There was a hole drilled in the center and the girls assembled the clock movement. Sounds easier than it was. Putting on those tiny pieces was not easy. Here are a couple of clocks that were made.

The next thing that we made was journals. Again, we used paper and the girls were very creative. We used composition books, only 25 cents at Target this week! We put plain colors on front and back and added a pattern paper for the binding. The finishing touch was a grosgrain ribbon around and fastened with velcro on the front. Some had the ribbon over the binding, some had it under.

The most favorite of all three projects was our CAUTION bag with zipper! No sewing! This bag project was found in another library book about making "bags". I was excited when I found that some projects didn't require a sewing machine.

The CAUTION bag was made out of CAUTION tape, duct tape, staples, zipper. First you make the "fabric" by using 4 strips of the CAUTION tape and duct tape. You over lap the duct tape and work the pieces up the back of the CAUTION. There was stapling, taping, trimming, stapling, taping, more stapling. The girls had so much fun making these. We even had a few leaders that were dying to make them.

With the girls, we used yellow duct tape. You can see on this example that Katie used lime green duct tape. I hadn't found yellow tape yet. However, we liked it with the green.

Girls Camp was very successful this year! I may even go back next year!

Where is Matthew?

I recently posted the photos of Matthew's graduation from UCLA. We were lucky to have him home for a day before he headed off to Singapore to work for a year. Earlier in the year, Matthew called me and asked what I thought about him taking a job overseas after graduation, and before Med School. I thought it was a wonderful idea! No better time for him to do something adventurous like this. The timing is perfect! He is single, therefore, travel easily. I remember when Scott and I moved to Germany for his post doctorate fellowship. It was four months after we were married. Scott was concerned about how I would stay busy while he was at work. I managed fine, and that's another topic. This will be a good time for Matthew! It's kind of like sending him on a mission again, but we can talk to him whenever we connect on Skype! I am borrowing a few photos from his Facebook page to share.

A few days after arriving, he ventured out and caught some of the city.

The Merlion is proof that he made it safely there!

I'm sure he will be happy eating asian food! He might want some

cornbread, or bbq steak when he gets home.

Matthew is living in a complex that is set up just for visiting students/workers. He thought he might have the tiniest room available. And, he does. You can see for yourself that there is just enough room to turn around and sit down on the bed. There is no air conditioning, I would die in Singapore without it, but he says he has a fan. . . . He's young and will adjust.

Along with a tiny bedroom, he gets a tiny bathroom! No surprise there. He's not complaining. He likes his work and the lab he is working in. Matthew is doing medical research. While he is in Singapore, he will be working on his Med School applications. His first level applications were all in before he left the states. Now he will wait for replies, and continue on in the process.

Happy 4th of July!

No photos to upload, no exciting happenings, just wanted to say how grateful I am to live in America! What a blessing it is to have the freedoms that we enjoy! I say, "thank you so much to all those that serve our country". I sleep well at night because of those that defend democracy.

There isn't a perfect way to say thanks!

Happy Birthday America!