Summer Fun

Here's what we've been up to this summer:

{Hiking with friends}

(Check out that waterfall!)

{Playing in the sprinklers & eating popsicles}

{Having tea parties}

{Swimming & swim lessons}

{And taking lots of fun pics!}

What have you been up to?

More fall pics

Last Sunday morning, we decided to go for another drive up the mountain and listen to conference on the way. To our surprise, it had snowed on top! So I got a couple nice pics before my camera died :)

A nice, snowy river

Leaves on a quaking aspen - my favorite trees!

Highlights from my trip to China Part 1

Well, I'm back from my adventures in China! It was an amazing trip, I'm definitely glad I went. I love learning about new cultures and seeing the way people live. I've posted a lot of pics to show you just a little of what I saw on my adventure. I do have to say that I NEVER want to be away from my family for that long again - 9 days is WAY too long!!! I was ready to come home and see my baby and husband!

We started in Beijing, then went to Suzhou, Hangzhou and ended in Shanghai. I didn't like Beijing that much, but the rest was awesome.


Here is a picture journal of what I did and saw:

All the Chinese people thought my sis and I were twins there. What do you think?

The Temple of Heaven. It is a circular building built with no nails.

The architecture there is so awesome. They have so many beautiful colors and I love the roof lines.

Another awesome roof line. They would build animal statues on their roofs to keep evil spirits away.

This is the Olympic arena where the 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing this summer.
Lingering Garden - there are more pic's of Lingering Garden in the next post.
They need help translating, I think . . .
The entrance to The Forbidden City, where emperors lived for many, many years.

Inside the Forbidden City. They have these grotesques everywhere to keep evil spirits away.
Garden area inside the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was seriously huge. It just kept going and going, courtyard after building after courtyard.
Rickshaw ride - a guy rode his bike w/ us in this little carriage behind him
We ate in a Chinese person's home. He cooked us lunch and it was soooooo good! I was a little scared about what we would have to eat but it was the best meal of the trip, by far.

Highlights from my trip to China Part 2

Summer Palace. Where the Dragon Lady used to go for the summer. It was really cold and overcast again this day so the pic's didn't turn out too well.

Trying to translate into English - there were many signs like this! It was hillarious!
The Great Wall - it snowed while we were there! That's why the pics are not very clear. But we still climbed the wall. It was amazing! And it was really steep. And cold.

We were seriously frozen! We didn't know it would be snowing so we didn't bring any coats, just wind breakers.

See how steep? And cold?
A ton of Chinese people wanted to get pic's with me! Usually one by one. So I decided to get a pic w/ a group that wanted pic's w/ me. I guess because I'm tall and white :)

Lingering Garden. It was so beautiful!

Turtles for sale in a market. They are not pets, they eat them - yuck!!!!

Notice that the child is wearing split pants w/ his diaper sitcking out. All babies wear these there. When they get a little older, they don't wear a diaper underneath so you just see their bum. When they have to go potty, they just squat wherever they are and go!

So cold! In front of Tiger Hill

Tiger Hill. It's a 7-story leaning pagoda on top of a hill that is over 1,000 years old.

This is a neighborhood where people live. All the houses are at least 2-5 stories high. They don't have enough land to build out so they have to build up.

The Oriental Pearl Tower - it's a tv tower. Cool, huh? At night it's all lit up and pretty.
People working hard in the tea fields, that's right, tea fields. Those are all tea bushes.
In Suzhou, they call this area the Venice of the Orient - there are bridges going across and people live right on the water, just like in Venice
There were so many BeAuTiFuL gardens
You can always count on McD's to be wherever you are!