I am Off to CHINA!!!

SO, those of you that know me understand I have a love for the Asian culture and people. I taught English in China 6 years ago and that just triggered a deeper love and I ended up serving a Chinese speaking mission in Taiwan. 3 years ago after I returned home from my mission my Dad invited me on a business trip with him to China. We found a company to partner up with and he has been doing business there ever since.

It was funny... About a month ago my Dad called me up and invited me out of the blue to a business dinner with the head lady who runs his facility over in China. It was her first time to Utah. She speaks no English and that is why my dad invited me along, to speak with this Mrs. Dai. Anyway, by the end of dinner Mrs. Dai made my dad promise that he would bring me along on the next business trip. They pinky swore on it! :)

SO, lucky me... I get to go to CHINA again!! I leave on Saturday. This will be my 3rd time. I can hardly wait!!! I am going by myself a few days earlier than everyone so I can have time to have fun, shop and sight-see a bit. (Shanghai) Another silly but exciting part of it... usually when I travel I stay in some cheap youth hostel or 2 star hotel, but I was lucky enough to have the company put me up in a 4 star! I dont think I am going to know what to do with myself...

The icing on the cake... I have never been to Hong Kong and my dad and I have been talking about going. We talked about it 3 years ago on my last trip with him. Anyway, we are working it into this trip!!! I hear its a fabulous city full of great food and shopping.

Hear I come CHINA... and HONG KONG!

this is my cute little adopted family from Taiwan taken there in October 2006! Oh, how I love them!!!

I'm Engaged!

Yup, its true... I am getting married. Brandon proposed to me on Valentines Day at Ensigns Peak in SLC! It was very romantic. We are getting married June 24th and couldn't be more excited :)

Sacramento

We ate at this Mexican Restaraunt for my birthday and it made me sick!

Me with Sweetpea and Valerie at Maggie's house
On a nice walk in Davis with Maggs and her girls
Maggie, me and Caitlyn! Sweetpea ran into the photo
In Old Sacramento with Maggs!
Me and Sweetpea with silly hats on!

For my 26th Birthday I decided to make a weekend trip up to Sacramento to visit my best friend I met my freshman year in college. My other really good friend also lives there and the 3 of us were great friends in college. Brandon also flew into Sacramento for an interview at the hospital there which is what motivated me to make this trip. It was so great to see Maggie and her 2 cute kids Sweetpea and Valeri as well as Caitlyn and her cute little girl Jocelyn. Its strange to think that not too long ago the 3 of us were single and in college together! The weather was wonderful and the sun even came out! It was a breathe of fresh air to get away from the snow for a few days.

Brad Paisley, Birthday and More!

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to go to the Brad Paisley concert with my mom and 2 sisters. Over the last few years we have made it a tradition to go to at least one country concert a year. We are also concert snobs and have to sit on the floor! (Thanks to Stubhub.com). December 2006 was the first time seeing Brad in concert and that is when I fell in love with his music!! (The real reason back then for going to his concert was that Carrie Underwood opened for him). Anyway, this time around we were really excited. My little sister Katie and I walked right up to the front of the stage when Brad came out and got to stay there the entire concert! It was a lot of fun and I probably took way to many photos. Katie and I both got high fives from Brad Paisley too! He is an amazing performer and can play the guitar like no other. :)

Frustrations

I have not been this frustrated in a very long time. Let me explain. First of all, today my family went to the MTC and dropped my little brother Ben off. I took my new camera with me and got some amazing priceless photos. As I came home later today, I tried to upload the pictures from my memory card. For some reason, it wouldnt work. I spend 2 hours on it very frustrated trying to get it to work. After that long, I decided to go upstairs and use my old laptop to upload the photos. For some reason, the computer couldnt read that any photos had been taken. It said the memory card was empty. The only option it gave me was to format the card. Not wanting to take that risk, I went back downstairs and put the card back into the camera. I "supossedly" put a lock on the pictures so they couldnt get deleted, but the disk ended up getting formatted and now ALL of my PRICELESS PHOTOS of my brother are gone, and I wont see him again for 2 years.
Lesson learned???? If you get a new memory card, FORMAT IT FIRST before taking photos :****(

A New Year

Christmas ended up being really great. It was different this year spending it between 2 families, but ended up working out really well. Christmas Eve Brandon and I slept at his parents house. His family celebrates each year with German traditions, such as lighting candles on the tree, a traditional dinner, singing songs and lots of games! The fun ended around 1:30AM just in time to get a little sleep before waking up early to drive up to Logan. Luckily, Brandon's twin and his wife were leaving the next morning so the 4 of us got up early and left. I was happy we made it in time to my parents house to open presents. The greatest part about everything was actually being able to spend time with Brandon! With his extremely busy schedule during a typical week we only get to see each other a few times for an hour here and an hour there. So, two full days was great!!! New Years he worked of course, but I was able to drive up to my parents cabin in Bear Lake and spend the night with my family. It was great because we all went skiing New Years Day!!

LAST weekend was also wonderful. Brandon and I got to go up to Logan and spend some time with my family. My little brother Ben went through the temple for the first time because next week he will be entering the MTC and leaving to serve a 2 year mission to Paraguay. We spent Friday and Saturday night at my parents house which was great!! I brought the Wii up and we ended up playing that thing for hours. ALSO, I got a new camera for my birthday!! Brandon and I picked it out at Best Buy. I am really excited about it because my old camera was 3 years old and kind of out of date. Technically, my BDAY isnt for another week, by my mom let me have it early :) Here are a few photos from it. I need to figure out how to use the red eye reduction. This camera is way more high tech than my last one, so it will take some learning. Of course my cute nephews were with us. Brandon taught Carter how to play Wii sports!

Cookie Decorating and More!

So, I was really bummed that my family decided to take off to Sun Valley, Idaho for the weekend because my plan was to come home and spend time with them!! Brandon and I had already decided to do Christmas Eve at his house which leaves a quick drive up to Logan Christmas day to see my family.
Anyway, I decided even though my parents took the kids up to Idaho, I would drive up to Hyrum and spend time with my sister and her family. I always love to see my nephews!!! They are so cute and I love spending time with them. I drove up Saturday morning and when I got to Kimber's house we made Christmas cookies! It was so much fun! Another simple fun tradition that makes the holiday meaningful. Carter had fun cutting shapes out and playing in the dough and I got to hold Caden a lot!!! Can't complain :) :) A bit later we went to a wedding reception and then met my little brother Matt for dinner at Cafe Sabor. Yummy mexican food.
During the holiday season I have realized how important family is!!!!! I am so thankful for my family and for the love and support they give me. How LUCKY I am! Wishing I was with them now~ Guess I will have to wait until Christmas day :) ~Kristin~