International Travelers

So I thought that I would post some pictures up of my little international travelers. On our plane trip to the Philippines we flew China Air and it was not fun at all! The food was gross and the plane didn't have tv screens for entertainment. The airline did play a movie but I couldn't see the screen but you could plug your headset in but they played dumb movies. Plus I didn't think the movies they did play were appropriate for children. So needless to say it was a long 14 hr flight. When we left the Philippines we flew Cathay Pacific and it was awesome. They had children meals and they gave the kids a cute little activity bag and we had tv screens so that we could watch movies. Brock had soo much fun pulling the remote off and putting it back in the holder. Needless to say having a tv screen to watch didn't interest Brock whatsoever. He was more interested in making a mess and going up and down the aisle.

This picture above is at the Cebu airport. Brock was playing on the ramp while we were saying goodbye to our friends. Jake's family wanted to go to the airport to say goodbye to us along with Joseph and Marvin. I had a hard time saying bye to NiCole. We got to know each other  while in the Philippines and spent many nights just talking it was nice to be able to have someone to talk to while we were going through some tough times.

Marvin, Brandon and Joseph. These two guys became really good friends with Brandon. He still talk to them on the phone to see how they are doing.

So NiCole and I learned that this little gesture has a meaning in the Philippines. Once we found out what it meant we just laughed and thought it was a little odd. Pulling your eye down in the Philippines is like saying that's annoying, loser and I even heard kind of like flippin the bird. There's a funny story to this little eye thing that NiCole did. She was in a taxi and someone on the streets came up to the window. She shook her head no 3 times and he wouldn't leave so finally she just pulled down her eye and the guy walked away. Our friend Gypsy started laughing when I asked her what that meant and she told me that it's common for the kids to pull their eye at their parents. What a silly thing to do.

 This is NiCole's daughter, Lexus. My kids loved her especially my girls. I am glad that she is back because now I have a babysitter for the kids when my neighbor girl can't babysit.

Jazmin, Taylor, Mariah, Lexus and Brock saying goodbye.

Brock playing with the remote. This is his cheese face.

Standing in front of some art type thing at the Hong Kong Airport.

We decided to walk around the Hong Kong airport, since we had a long layover, and found the Disney Store. The store had Toy Story at the front of the store and the store employee was having fun with Brock with this buzz lightyear remote car. Brock had fun chasing after it.

Having fun at the kids play place.

Took a picture of Brandon. I'm sure he will be really happy with me that I've posted it up. Hehehe

I thought this sign was funny. Instead of saying watch your head it says mind your head. Asians are funny.

Last Day

So we lived in a very nice house with Jeremy and Kelly. This house also housed our friends the Petersen's, so in all there were 14 people living in this house. Yes I know that's a lot but I never felt crammed. It was a pretty decent size house with very very nice help. The house included a maid, her name was Lilibeth, and the boy or househelp and his name was Rodello. Jeremy needed another maid because Lilibeth would go home once a month for a week and so he hired Cathy. All 3 of them were super nice. Cathy and Lilibeth would play with my kids and they treated them good. I felt so comfortable with them that it was nice to leave the kids every now and then and know that they were ok and having fun. Cathy and Lilibeth were also amazing cooks. I don't think I remember ever having a horrible meal. When I told Cathy we were leaving I started to cry and I remember our family and Jake's family were swimming one afternoon and Cathy came out to watch us and I looked over and I could tell that Cathy was starting to tear up a bit. It is so hard not to get attached to the help when they so good to your little family. I had fun talking to Cathy and Lilibeth and learning some Cebuano. I also helped Cathy in the kitchen when Lilibeth went home. I will always hold a special place in my heart for these 3 people. Thank you Cathy, Lilibeth and Rodello for all that you did for my little family. Rodello was just really nice. He was a very quiet man but I would go and talk to him here and there. Brandon and I also gave him a Utah Jazz t-shirt and a Notre Dame t-shirt. He was very appreciative of it too.

Rodello. He helped carry all 15 of our bags outside by the gate. When we would go out in our rental car you honk the horn and Rodello, Cathy or Lilibeth would come running out to open the gate to let you in. They would open the gate to let you out and if we called a taxi they would stand outside and let us know when the taxi arrived. I know spoiled huh. It was soo nice to be able not to do laundry. Laundry was done everyday and by the end of the day it was all folded and in our room in the basket.

This is Lilibeth with the kids. My girls adored her and Brock warmed up to her. He was soo cute because in the mornings he would go downstairs and call her name looking for her. She would play so cute with Brock.

Cathy and the kids. Oh how I will miss Cathy and I'm sure she will miss us too. I was able to talk to her on the phone and she was soo excited to talk to me. Jazmin was such a big help to both of these ladies.

We left in tow with 3 taxi because of all of our luggage. It was hard to look at the back window of the taxi and wave bye to Cathy Lilibeth and Rodello. I will always remember them and the beautiful birthday present they gave me, a flower arrangement.

Mandaue

On Mother's Day Brandon's friend Joseph wanted to take Brandon and Jake to a cock fight. I asked Brandon if I could go cause I just want to be able to say that I've been to a cock fight. So Joseph met us at Brandon's office (kids were left with NiCole's daughter Lexus) and we were off to a cock fight. Turns out there were no cock fights that night. We were thinking it was probably because the presidential elections were the next day. So instead we decided to walk the streets of Manduae. There were so many little shops along the street that it was fun to walk and see what people were selling. Brandon wasn't too pumped about wanting to walk since it was a billion degrees outside at 7 pm. It was so freaking humid and we were sweating soo bad.  Below is a picture of what the streets looked like. They were narrow and full of people and these little trike like taxis. We didn't get to ride in one but we did take some pictures in one.

So I love love the brooms that the Philippines use. When I first saw them I was like what they heck is it broken. Even though they are short they are really really good. I told Brandon that I wanted to buy one for my mom so we found one and bargained down on the price. I can't remember  how much we paid for it but it wasn't that expensive. Here is a picture of Brandon holding my mom's broom with Joseph and Jake.

So I wanted to see Brandon ride in the little trike like taxi because he is soo big and they are small that it would be pretty funny to see him ride in one. Instead our friend Joseph talked to one of the drivers and asked if we could take some pictures of us in it. We paid him 20 pesos and he was nice enough to let us all take as many pictures as we wanted to.

 The Filipino love to get their pictures taken. Once our camera went out these little kids came running to get in the picture. It was cute. After we were done taking pictures Jake gave these little kids American gum. They loved getting anything that was American. Don't you love how dressed up I got? Seriously this was my wardrobe that I would wear the majority of the time, t-shirts and raggy capris with hair up in a bun. I stopped doing my hair because it was just sooo hot so what was the point of doing it, right.

Here are some pictures of a catholic church. The main religion is Catholicism so there were lots of churches. I wanted to get a picture of one so that I could show my mom. They were beautiful and full of people.

 

 We had lots of fun walking around even though we weren't able to go to a cock fight. Our friend Joseph was a great tour guide and he would take us wherever we wanted to go. Thank you Joseph.

Back on our feet

Yay, Brandon found a job! He has been going to Salt Lake and Utah County the past couple of days to find a job. After going to meetings and negotiating things he has finally made his decision. He is happy with his decision and feels really good about it so I'm happy. I'm not going to lie this has been extremely difficult for me. I've been very moody and grumpy and down right depressed that this whole situation has put us back a bit. I feel really bad because I haven't been too nice to Brandon and I've put pressure on him to find a job quick even though it was good that he took his time to decided what direction he wanted to go. I told Brandon that I've been bummed because we sold somethings but then I have to be happy because at least we have our house and our cars.

In other news I'm excited because the girls our home just in time to try out for the competition team for the fall. I asked Mariah if she wanted to try out and she does so we will see how that turns out. Try outs will be June 8th or 9th so I will let you all know how the girls did. I e-mailed their dance teacher and told her what happened and she was so excited that Jazmin is back. Jazmin's little team have done awesome this season that they earned a pizza party and Misty told me to have Jazmin show up. I think it's this Wednesday (today) and we are still up North so she won't be able to go. As soon as we get home I am enrolling the girls in summer gymnastics. They loved when they did gymnastics last summer and it's something for them to do over the summer.

I'm considering running a full marathon this September! I know crazy huh. My friend just ran a 1/2 last weekend and she told me we should run a full. I have said no no because it takes up so much time with training and my kids are little and I wouldn't have time to run. I pulled up a training schedule for a full marathon and it wasn't that bad. Yes, it will be horrible on the weekends when the long runs are anything past 13 miles, but I think I can do it. I told my friend that I will start training now and in a month we will see where I am at. I told her that when we hit the 20 mile mark I am coming up North to run that with her cause there is no way I can run 20 miles by myself. I have started training and I am sooo out of shape. I got new shoes, thanks Brandon, and I ran 3 miles last weekend and I ran hard and I am soo sore! I ran 3 miles this morning and I was still sore from 3 days ago. Like I said I am just considering a full not set thing. I told my dad if I do run this full marathon that he needs to be there and ride his bike and cheer me on. I hope that my dad will come see me because when my mom and grandparents saw me run the Peach Days 10K it made me happy.

Well once we get all settled in our house I will put pictures up. Goodbye everyone.

Home Sweet Home

So we finally arrived yesterday afternoon and after a horrible horrible flight it was good to be home. We headed out the door to the airport at 10 am and had to take 3 taxis to the airport. Our friends the Petersen's wanted to go with us to the airport and Joseph and Marvin were also there to say bye to us. As we were headed to the airport I started to cry. Driving to the airport was soo sad because it meant we were leaving Cebu and aren't really sure if we are coming back again. When it was time for us to go and say bye to everyone I started to cry when I gave Nicole a hug. I've gotten to know Nicole and it was hard to say bye to her. I know that Brandon had a hard time saying bye to Jake, Jospeh, and Marvin. I'm glad that I was able to spend a couple of days with Joseph and Marvin because they are really nice and I am pretty thankful that they were nice enough to take us to different places in Cebu. Thank you Joseph for taking us to see a cock fight and even though there wasn't any fights that day he was nice enough to walk down the streets of Manduae with us to look at the different shops. Thank you Marvin for taking us to Park Mall and taking us on our first Jeepney ride my girls will always treasure that. Anyways we were going to Hong Kong and had a 7 hour layover there! It was awful because there was really nothing to do but walk around and sit. The food at the Hong Kong airport was expensive, but then again it is an airport and things are more expensive in a airport. We finally left Hong Kong around 11 pm and the kids did awesome. They slept for a long time on the plane ride. We stopped at LAX airport and we had to sleep over night at the airport. We got there at 9 pm and our flight for Utah didn't get out til 7 am so we found a spot and tried to sleep. I only got like an hour of sleep and Jazmin didn't sleep at all cause she was coughing the whole time. When it was 4:30 am we walked to the terminal to check in and go through security and get to our gate to realize that our flight was canceled! I was so sad cause I wanted to get home sooo bad. The lady told us there was no direct flight to Utah until later on the day and it was a full flight. She told us the next flight to Utah was to Oakland and then to Utah but we had to wait another 2 hours before that flight left so we took it. We finallyl arrived in Utah at 1 pm and I was so excited to be back but wasn't too thrilled about the weather. It was so cold! We had a rough couple of days trying to adjust to the time change but I think we now are back on track. It wasn't fun when the kids would go to be at 6 pm and then be wide wake at 3 am. We've been at my parents house since we've been home while we figure out what we are going to do. Brandon has been going to Salt Lake to try to find a job. I'm am glad that we still have our house but bummed that we sold some things like a t.v. our couches, lawn mower, kid's bikes but we can always replace those. I know my husband and he will be able to find a job where we can start rolling in the dough, enough to buy new couches and a new t.v., I'm sad that we had to leave the Philippines but brought back a new sense of appreciation for the things that I have. I know that we will be ok and I am so thankful for family and for how much they've helped us out in this time of need. Once I get home and set up our computer I will post pictures of our last couple of days in the Philippines.

It's been fun

Well I am sad to say that we are leaving the Philippines. I know we have only been here a month but we've decided we need to go back home. Our heart is here in the Philippines but things happened and we've got to go down a different path. Brandon sees us coming back, and I would totally love that, but this time it will be a thought out process. I seen a lot of things and I am going back to the states with a greater appreciation of the things we have. I've seen the little shacks that people call their home and they are happy. I would have never thought that I would have loved living here in the Philippines, but I did and I am going to miss it tremendously. I've loved the people and the friends, the few friends, that I have made here. People probably ask what's to love about living in a 3rd World Country but you have to be here and experience it yourself. Today is our last day here for we leave tomorrow morning and I am having a hard time leaving. As we were walking around the mall today it hit me that I won't be walking around the SM mall or the Ayala mall or the Country mall anymore. No more taxi rides or the Filipinos talking to me Cebuano because they think I'm Filipino. I am excited to go back to the states though to have my Dr. Pepper and yummmy milk. The first day home I am going to sit on the couch and watch as much t.v. as I possibly can! I told my mom to make sure that she has like 5 gallons of milk and a 12 pack of cold Dr. Peppers in the fridge for me. We are going to be up north for a bit so that's why I mentioned my mom having milk and dp ready for me. I have no regrets but I feel bad that I've wasted school time and dance time for the kids. They will be out of school for 4 months! Looks like I will need to put them in something over the summer.  The kids have had fun and I'm glad that they learned how to swim so the next post you will read will be us home on American soil. As Ozzy Osbourne said "Mama I'm coming home."

Birthday

I feel so old. I turned 29 on Sunday. My sweet husband took me out to dinner and then later on he took me to get a couples massage. I actually really loved the massage and I was able to relax this time during my massage. I have been so stress the last couple of days and that massage was the best present my hubby has ever given me. He took me out a day early because he had to work late that night and he didn't come home until 7 a.m. on my birthday. I let him sleep. In the morning the girls came in my room and served me breakfast in bed. I got a cup of water, pineapple and  yogurt. They were soo excited to do that for me and it was sweet of them. The next thing I know Jazmin comes in with a beautiful flower arrangement. It came with a card and I automatically thought it was Brandon until I read the card and it was from the 2 maids and Rodello, who is the house help. I was really surprised that they would do that for me because they don't make that much money and for them to spend it on a gift for me, amazed me. I gave Cathy a hug and thanked her, Lilibeth and Rodello had Sunday off.  I had a wonderful birthday and I can't have asked to spend it with my family here in Cebu and my friends. Next year is the big 30! Yikes!