Dalat Backyard Luau

With school back in full swing I had some anxiety. As the PTO President, I was in charge of 3 big upcoming events at the kids school. I started planning this since last April when Larry Chinn (Dalat's Director of Development) approached me about wanting the PTO to put on 3 divisional parties for the following school year. However, at that point, summer was just arriving and no one on the committee really wanted to put much thought into it. Therefore,  I had received no help from anyone in the early stages. This put me in a hard position. I could not just drop the ball and wait till August to figure out a theme, decorations and food for over 1000 people. So I came up with some ideas of my own to Larry and he liked them and so I ran with it :)

My plan was to go with a Hawaiian Luau theme. 

The food....Hawaiian Haystacks! 

I bought 30 kg of Pork and 20 kg of Chicken for the first party!

One of the many trips we had to take on our elevator as we were setting up.

Some of the cute PTO moms preparing some of the toppings.

The junior class helped serve.

Aaron made me the palm trees out of pineapples :)

Larry had arranged for a roasted pig at each of our events.

More photos of some of the PTO ladies.

The clean up took us several hours to wash and put away everything.....times 3!

Darby had put together a fun playlist of great songs which made the party even better!

I am happy to report that the parties were all a huge success! 

Chiang Mai, Thailand

There is no rest for the weary! We had just arrived back in Malaysia and a few days later Aaron, Jaxon and I had to get back on an airplane to Thailand. Jaxon was attending a special scout initiation called "The Order of the Arrow" with some of his fellow troop members at a camp in Chiang Mai.

As soon as we landed at the airport, a scout leader was there to drive him to the camp. So Aaron and I said our goodbyes and then got checked into our hotel. The weather was rainy so we relaxed in our room a bit and then strolled around the old city center. We were collecting Jaxon the next evening so we had about 24 hours to ourselves.

Old City Wall

We got caught in a downpour so we waited it out a bit

lots of temples within our walking distance

Jaxon had a nice time with his scout friends. They all survived!

Jaxon's friend Tate, coming through the tunnel.

Melynn goes to EFY with Lily.

Melynn flew to Oakland to visit with Lily Hobson and to attend EFY with her at 

Sonoma State University. She flew in on a Friday and was able to spend the 

weekend with Lily's family first.

At Great America Amusement Park!

Monday morning, Marci drove them about an hour north to start EFY. Brittany Armstrong was one of the counselors at this session but not over Melynn's group. It was still great to see her throughout the week though and Brittany kept borrowing Melynn's clothes :)

the entire group (above)

Melynn had a great time and she loved her counselors. Lily and Melynn plan to go 

again next year which will make their third time together!

Utah July, 2016

After our week in Newport, we picked up Melynn and Jaxon and drove to Vegas to see Mom and Ken. The next morning we drove to Layton, Utah to stay with John and Terry. Aaron stayed a week before going back to Malaysia and the kids and I stayed for 3 weeks. During our stay, Darby returned to us from Peru (see previous post) and then left again to visit Ashtyn. Also, Melynn went to EFY in San Francisco with Lily Hobson (see next post). Jaxon also had the opportunity to work with his Uncle Johnny for several days. So as we typically do, we had a full calendar.

 The day after we arrived in Utah was Monday, July 4th. After we all got up that morning, 

Dad took us on a hike not too far from his house. We were gone for several hours. 

It was not an easy hike but I was thankful for the exercise.

That evening, after the hike, we had bbq hamburgers in the back yard (YUMMY) 

and then saw the movie Tarzan. Great Movie!

 The next day, Aaron was meeting up with Jay and they took the kids fishing. 

On Wednesday evening we all gathered at the Keddington's for a BBQ. 

It was wonderful to catch up with so many family members.

Thursday we spent all day at Pineview Lake. 

Jaxon had a blast with his cousins!

After the lake we picked up Costco pizzas and gathered at Karen's house.

On another day we visited with Dave and Kristi and the kids. 

I can't believe how big the boys are getting!

Terry drove us to downtown SLC to visit temple square. We watched two of the new "Meet the Mormon" videos. We also were able to track down Sister Mimi Chua! What a joy it was to see her and give her a big hug. She looked so happy and her english is improving a lot.

On our last day in Utah we were able to meet up with Brittany and Sabrina. Brittany had just landed on a flight from Oakland. Earlier that day Melynn also returned home. See next post for more info about that! We had a wonderful visit at Nielsens Frozen Custard :)