Taipei, Taiwan

As part of Jonathan's training for his upcoming job in Shanghai, he gets a full year of advanced Mandarin training in Taipei, Taiwan. I was excited to learn that they open the training up for spouses if they qualify, so I will be able to join him! I served a mission for our church in southern Taiwan back in '97-'98, so I am excited to return and see how things have changed.  We will be living on the north side of Taipei near Yangmingshan National Park. The U.S. built housing for military dependents there back in the 50's, so we'll be living in an "American" neighborhood in a little ranch-style house with a fenced backyard (a first for us!!) You can follow more details of our life this coming year by clicking on the Taipei link above.

Aspen Grove

Our last week in the U.S. was spent with my side of the family at Aspen Grove, BYU's alumni family camp near Sundance. It was an ideal family reunion!  In fact, we are already planning on going back in two years. Here's what we loved about it:

-We stayed in a big lodge with enough bedrooms for all six families (and Great Grandma Clontz), so there was lots of intersection of the families and together time.

-The alpine setting was out of this world.  Plus no commercialism, no Internet or TV in the cabins, no video games in the game room--just nature, recreation and family.

-All meals provided in the dining hall--no prep or clean-up--yay!

-We basically checked our kids into day camp every day where they were with their age group with two BYU student camp counselors.  They had tons of fun and so did the adults!  We hiked, swam, went to lectures, slept, read, played sports, went to the temple, talked, etc., etc. all while our kids were taken care of.

-They had lots of organized activities for families that you could participate in or not.  Every person in our group from age 2 to 89 had a great time.

San Jose

This was our 10th roommate reunion since we graduated from BYU!  I love these gals. This time we spent the weekend in the San Jose area: at the beach, shopping at Santana Row and roaming Los Gatos.  We worked in some chick flicks and Shakespeare plays, too. These are inspiring women, and I'm so grateful we have stayed a part of each other's lives. L-R Lindsay, Stacey, Kellie, me and Mamie

Boise

This is the summer of reunions. We drove up to Boise, stopping at Shoshone Falls, and I got to spend the weekend with two high school friends, Carrie (on the left) and Jeneanne (on the far right), and a college roommate Sarah (in red). We really haven't changed a bit and spent a joyful evening doubled over in laughs and sharing tears.

Utah

While J is in training, he can't take vacation, so he had quite a bit stored up that we needed to use before we head to Taipei. After packing out in D.C., we decided to spend the month in Utah. We both have some family here and friends we haven't seen in a while. I feel like the kids are getting a "real" summer with road trips, swimming pools, running around in backyards, summer reading program at the library and Otter Pops, of course.  See more photos by clicking on the Photo Gallery above.

Bentonville

Since we decided to drive from D.C. to Utah this summer, we had to break up the trip. We stopped at my parents' in IN for two days and then in Bentonville, AR to see J's sister's family. Without Wal-Mart's presence, we're not sure it would be on the map, but with Wal-Mart, it boasts an amazing American art museum, a cute town square and beautiful trails. The highlight was the 3rd of July when the local (meaning neighborhood) fireworks display rivaled many municipal shows, followed on the 4th by personal fireworks shows, almost equally impressive. We loved catching up with Kim & Brian and spent lots of quality cousin time. See more photos by clicking on the Photo Gallery above.

Indiana

Indiana (where my parents and three sisters live) is only a day's drive from D.C.  It is a LONG day, but we just felt so relatively (no pun intended) close that we had to make the trip this year...five times!  We spent home leave there in July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break and another quick stop on our cross-country road trip.  Could you pass up my mom's dinners, my sisters' awesome activities or cousin time at the country's best children's museum?

Washington, DC 2012-13

We spent the 2012-2013 school year in Washington, DC.  Jonathan was learning Mandarin for our upcoming assignment to Shanghai and the girls were able to attend a charter school that had Chinese immersion. We lived in the Brookland area of D.C. to be close to the school, so we made new friends and had new experiences but were happy to reconnect with a lot of old friends, too. See more posts by clicking on the link at the top of the page.

At the Arboretum, one of our favorite places.  Can you see the Washington monument and U.S. Capitol in the background?