Just when we were getting bloggy again...

Guest blogger here making a quick entry from the beautiful island city-state of Singapore. You may have noticed that the fabulous Tracey has been posting more lately, but alas, the Great Firewall has struck again and blogger/blogspot.com is now blocked in China. Someone must have used the word "T-I-B-E-T" or something like that in one of their blogs.

So, until further notice, there may not be a lot of new posts coming your way. As they used to say in the good old days of analog VHF over-the-air broadcast television, "please stand by."

And one further note, for those of you who read my recent anniversary tribute to Tracey, I must add that first thing that day SHE presented me with a super-sweet Anniversary Tribute Powerpoint slide set. So though my presentation was more public, hers was the original and done with a bit more advance planning than mine. :) But that's ususally how it goes, isn't it? It's a good thing our family has Tracey or all the holidays and birthdays would be pretty lame with just me in charge.

Grandma and Grandpa come to visit, YEAH!!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Larson came for a visit. As soon as they got here we went to the fabric market to pick out a few things for them to have made. Then that night they went on the overnight train to Beijing with David and Heidi. I will post pictures of that later. While they were here they were going to be gone every weekend so the kids were not going to get to hang out with them much. I decided to take the kids out of school one day and have us go and play. We have always wanted to take one of the little 1 hour riverboat cruises but never had done it yet, so we took grandma and grandpa and all the kids on the one hour cruise. The day was beautiful and the boat ride was fun. It goes down the Huangpu river and describes the buildings on the Bund and tells fun little facts about them and also the buildings on the Pudong side. Then we took them on the "trippy tunnel" or Bund Underground sight-seeing tunnel. We got home with a little bit of time to relax before we were headed off to Meagan's play. "The Sound of Music."

Mother Daughter Luau

Emma is in Girl Scouts and occasionally they have activities where a parent is invited. She already had a Daddy Daughter Masquerade Ball and now she had a luau with the moms. It was lots of fun. When we got there each of the girls received a lei and a skirt and the moms received a lei. Then they taught the girls to do a hula dance. It seemed a little more like belly dancing than hula dancing. The teacher told them to move their hips real sharp. It was really cute watching the girls though. Then they had a hula hoop contest. Emma was pretty good but there were some girls that had to walk and stand on one foot. Then we ate a dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken with fruit, potato salad and pasta salad. Then the girls favorite of all sorts of desserts. By this time the moms were ready to visit but the girls wanted to hang out more so they started a movie. Overall it was a fun time getting to be with just Emma!!!

Hangzhou (Feilai Peak)

Today we got up and tried to see if we could hire a driver after walking so far the day before. We were told there were no drivers available because it was a holiday. We thought the big holiday was the week before so we asked what holiday it was and they told us every Saturday is a holiday in Hangzhou. We could believe it with so many people visiting. We were able to find a 2 taxis to take us to Feilai Peak or Linyin Temple. There were so many people buying incense to take into the temple. We walked over to the peak and were wowed!!! There were all these carvings into the mountain that were a 1000 years old and people were walking all over them and touching them and they still looked great. In America you can't go within several feet of things like this and we don't even have anything 1000 years old. There were lots of caves to go in that also had lots of carvings. Eric was being a scaredy cat and didn't want to go in the caves because they were dark but when we finally got him into one he realized they weren't as scary as he thought. There were just lots of trails to go up and down and caves to go around in and rocks to jump on and tree limbs to swing on. We were surprised to see how many people wanted to take our kids' pictures. This time it wasn't only Emma and Eric but all the kids. We have fun documenting how many times people stop and ask to take a picture and then laugh as others also whip out their cameras to take pictures. This place was beautiful and we had a great time. Eventually when we were ready to leave we found a nice woman taxi driver that was willing to take all 6 of us back to our hotel and wait until we got our luggage and then take us to the train station. She even told us where to get on the train. The Lord definitely sends people to help us. We took the train ride home where we had seats but lots of other people didn't and had to stand the entire time. It made me laugh to see them watching Eric's Scooby Doo cartoons right behind him.

It's May 7th!!

Hi all, guest blogger back for another sneaky entry into the blogosphere. Today is May 7th, which means that 18 years ago, Tracey and I were married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple at around 9:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time. Approximately.

Now, most normal husbands that live in normal circumstances would buy flowers, jewelry, clothes, etc., for their wives for their anniversary. However, our life in Shanghai does not quite fit the American definition of "normal" that we have become accustomed to over the years. So my problem right now is this:

A) We're going to Beijing tonight so no point in enjoying those flowers for 1 hour.

B) She already buys all the clothes she wants at the fabric market.

C) She already buys all the jewelry she wants at the pearl and underground markets.

And so, to publicly honor my wonderful wife on our anniversary, I proudly present this World Wide Web anniversary tribute for all to see how wonderful my T-R-A-C-E-Y really is.

T is for tasty, as in all of the delicious food she makes for our family. Even in China where the ayi cooks for us a lot, we can't wait for "western food night," and her bread, rolls, truffles, and other assorted goods have become famous here amongst our friends in Shanghai.

R is for racy. 'Nuff said.

A is for adventurous. The journey she has taken from "slightly scared American wife plopped down in Shanghai" to "travel veteran/master bargainer/can't wait to go see more" has been wonderful for me to behold this past year and a half. Can't wait for lots more in the years to come.

C is for children. Obviously the four that we have had together, and all of the time and effort and sacrifice she puts forth to make their lives as rewarding as possible. But also for all children who flock to her because she plays, she listens, she teaches, and she understands.

E is for extra, as in the extra "e" in her name that usually gets left out. Thank goodness she found a soulmate in Tracey Butters so that they can celebrate their bonus "e" together. E is also for eternity, which would be a measurement of how long we will be together as husband and wife. And on that note...

Y is for "yes," which is what she said when I asked her to marry me and then again when she was asked if she would formally agree to be my wife forever starting May 7, 1991. I'm so glad she did. I love you my darling, happy anniversary!!