Happy 9th Birthday Trent

Nine things about you:
1. You are the "BUG KING". You can and will catch anything.
2. You're quick as lightning.
3. You are obsessed with pocket knives and weapons.
4. You are always drumming on something and I do mean always.
5. People are drawn to you like magnets
6. You never play baseball without hitting a home run.
7. You are a natural comedian with perfect joke timing
8. You love experiments and potions.
9. You cook a mean berry crisp.

Happy Birthday Trent!!!

Beijing Wildlife Park

This summer we went to the Beijing Wildlife Park. It is like a zoo except at the end you get a ride in the back of a truck that has chain link all around and you go into the wild animal cages with meat hung on the outside of the truck. We had grizzly bears and tigers come up and eat just a few inches from where we sat. Our pictures are not the greatest because we were too busy checking out the animals but you get the main idea. This was way cool but it is definitely a Chinese thing. Their safety guidelines are not what ours are in the States. Things are always a little risky here but that is what makes it so fun. We were told that a few months after we were there a little boy got into the lion area and was pretty close to one of the lions before the parents realized. The father panicked (who wouldn't) and ran in front of the lion. This spooked the lion and the father was attacked and killed. Crazy! Anyway, this was neat.

Trip to Datong China

Back in March our family visited Datong, China and we saw some of the coolest stuff! It is about a 5 hour drive from Beijing and all along the way are old villages with house carved out of the dirt. There were also thousands of graves (dirt mounds w/ paper on top) along the road the entire way. We finally stopped at one of the rundown villages to take some pictures and while I was exploring I met an old Chinese man and we started talking (in Chinese of course). He invited me to come and see his home. I went and found Mike, our boys and our friends the Angels who were with us and in we went into this awesome OLD DIRT Chinese home. We love any chance to see real Chinese life. He had a little farm (garden and animals) in his little front court yard and inside the house was very simple. Before we left we took his picture. It was the first time he had ever had his picture taken and he had to be between 60-70 years old.
While in Datong we also visited one of China's Hanging Monasteries. This was built in the year 491 and is built into the side of a huge cliff 50 meters above the ground. We went up inside and were amazed that this ancient structure could still hold people. There was not a lot of room but the monastery did hold 40 small rooms full of Buddist, Toaist and Confusianist carvings and statues. It is very rare for one temple to contain all of these religions. So cool. Finally we visited the Datong Catacombs where we saw big and small caves full of old stone carvings. There were Giant Buddahs, 4 stories high and endless intricate carvings for almost a mile. China is so full of amazing things to see and we love getting out and experiencing this awesome history. (more pictures below)

More Datong pictures

"I can't wait until I'm 8 for then I'll be baptized you see." On November 21st, Trent was baptized. It was done at a club house swimming pool and he had three other friends baptized that same day. Trent along with the other three sang for us in the program and Trent had asked Brother Carl Curtis, a geologist in our branch that Trent is really taken with, to speak at the baptism. It was such a great day and it was really sweet to see Mike and Trent all dressed in white heading into the water. We are so proud of you Trent and we love you forever.

More picture s from Joan and Kirk's visit

This is on the old Xi'an city wall
Mutianyu Great Wall
Joan and Kirk went to church with us. We meet in a high rise office building- 4th floor.
Trent riding Grandma around on our Tuk Tuk. She loved it!

We took them over to the village near our home and you can tell by Kirk's face how much he liked the smell. IT STINKS!!!! But so does most of China.

Joan and Kirk in China

Mike's parents came for a visit in November. We ran them ragged but had a great time. We went to Xi'an to see the Terricotta Warriors. It is AMAZING!!!

To get to Xi'an we took the night train. Each tiny compartment has four small beds. You board the train, go to sleep and when you wake up you are there (give or take an hour). The kids had a great time on the train and we will definitely travel this way again.
We also went and saw a Kong Fu show. Afterwords we had our picture taken with the cast.
We took Joan and Kirk to a few different parts of the great wall so that they could see some of the renovated wall and some of the original crumbling wall.