We haven't posted in MONTHS! Here are some photos of our time in the USA. We have had such a blast so far, and we are SO excited to see Tay this week. 

Will loves the snow! 

 June and her 2nd cousin, born 3 days apart. June and Ariella both have German blood running in their veins, but June was born with her Dad's olive coloring, and Ariella was born with her mothers South African coloring. June and Ariella became fast friends.

 I was so excited to take the kids to Temple Square. Will was excited that 'his' temple was the same as the one on his pass-along card. 

This is such a beautiful temple. It was pretty darn neat to hop in the car and drive a short 20 minutes to this beautiful place. They were setting up the Nativity that day on the grassy green as we were walking around, so we got an up close view of this peaceful scene.

 Halloween with Jaime and her kids, and my dad. Buzz Lightyear's favorite was the can of soda someone gave as a treat. He sipped that can the entire trick-or-treat walk. He didn't seem to care much about the actual candy he was so involved in that soda. 

"To Infinity, and Beyond!"

Papa B. with June Bug

Will helping June get her final touches on her costume. 

 Since we landed in SL, and for the first 2 weeks we were here, Will was obsessed with the mountains. I still am. After not having mountains for so long, flying into Utah was nothing short of spectacular. Will kept asking me to take him to the mountains. We finally went with a friend to lunch in the mountains in a cute, little secret cafe we found. This didn't fill his mountain craving, so after we went on a short hike up Olympus. We climbed until he was done. He's one strong hiker.

We went to the Red Barn in Santaquin with my sister the first week we were here. We took a tractor ride to a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, huge slides, kids sandbox, etc. Being out in this crisp, fall weather was just the Utah welcome I had wanted.

Bill and June

Will is thinking, "Where is everyone?" He's used to seeing crowds of people, and high-rises instead of empty fields.

While we are having our UT fun, this is what Taylor is doing...Look at that focus in his eyes. 

Lookin' good! And fast!

At our home, reading to Will. Will loves to be read to. There are some books in our home, like these, that can only be read by Taylor or our nanny, Xiao Wang. I don't read Chinese.

 This October our family was really fortunate to be able to travel to Taiwan. The lady pictured below runs this rice shop. When Taylor served his mission in this area, he would get his rice lunch every day from this sweet lady and while eating he would run through his Chinese flash cards. Her shop is called Peng Ge. On our way back to the airport we stopped here for lunch, and of course, to say hi. I was outside taking a picture of her stall when Taylor walked in. All I could hear was her screaming inside she was so surprised and excited to see her good foreigner friend again.

In the pumpkin patch.

In Taiwan, on the beach. Will LOVES the beach. No surprise since he loves water.

Will and June, relaxing on the beach together. I kinda chuckle at these couple photos. They look like an old married couple enjoying the warm sunny weather, shaded by the umbrella. June's namesake comes from Taylor's grandma, and Tay's grandpa's name was William (Bill). I never met either of them, but I can picture them together on the beach just like this.

Lookin' good, as always :)

When we first got to our hotel we hurried out the door for a quick walk on the beach. We should have changed into our swimwear, but didn't think we'd swim. Will had to get in, of course. We didn't mind letting him swim in his undies, this is common in this part of the world.

View from our hotel. You can see the pool where I would swim laps, and then just beyond you can see the ocean. There is a road running between these two bodies of water where Taylor would pass every morning on his early morning bike ride. If you were to drive 10 min. south you would hit the Southern tip of Taiwan. 

Here are the kids in front of the Grand Hotel, Taipei. The Taiwan mission was re-dedicated at this same hotel when I taught English here in 2006. Taylor was also visiting me in Taiwan at that time, so we attended the dedication together.

The Taipei city view from our balcony at the Grand. You can see Taipei 101 in the distance. Isn't it a beautiful place?

Wills birthday gift. Specialized was able to help Taylor get a Will sized jersey to match his Dad's. Will is proud to look just like Dad.

Will-3 years old.

Will and I on a bike ride. We live in the 'suburbs'. There is space to run, bike, and swim! Through pretty landscapes too, but as you can see, still lots and lots of buildings, and high-rises in the distance.

This past summer-heading to our pool for a quick swim.

Quick Update

I'm in the Hong Kong airport and have about ten minutes before I board my flight.  Here are a few pictures.  

Will and friends in their Batman costumes.

Jen did a triathlon last weekend in Shanghai.  She got 2nd place!!!  awesome!  great job Jen.  She was very excited to get back to competition after a few years of having babies.  

June somehow strategically got a Cheerio on each cheek.

Me and Will in Taiwan.  You can see that he has two full hands of french fries.

June on the phone in Taiwan.

We visited the home of Elder Ruan (8th quorum of Seventy).  I taught and baptized his nephew Roger during my mission.  Many of you have met Roger.  In the photo is also Roger's mom.  Was great to see them again.

Will and June in front of the Grand Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan

I got 3rd place in the final Shanghai series race Individual Time Trial.  The winner was a pro from France, not sure why he was there but he was only a few seconds ahead of me and my teammate Simon!  I finished the Shanghai series overall in 4th place after 8 races.

The was the "iGrow" machine that I saw in a store in Hong Kong.  It is supposed to make your hair grow.  It's been a couple of weeks and none grew...

Jen and the kids head back to Utah tomorrow for six weeks.  Will miss them dearly but so glad we have Skype and phones.  It will be great for the kids to experience their first Halloween and first Thanksgiving.  We are all REALLY looking forward to Thanksgiving in the US.  We've talked about coming out to it for a couple of years and finally this year it worked out and we are thrilled about it.

Sri Lanka, Thailand and more

I'm sitting in the Bangkok airport right now watching Bill Clinton's speech at the DNC.  He sure gives a good speech but....on to more important things.  We've been busy recently.  Last week I made my first trip to Sri Lanka for a few days.  Very interesting.  I've been in Thailand this week and both trips have been a big success.  

Below is Will on his bike wearing his Tour de France shirt.  He loves his bike.

Jen signed Will up for gymnastics and soccer.  Below is a picture from Will's first gymnastics class.  

This is a picture from the bike race I did in northern China a few weeks ago.  It was about an hour from the Russian boarder!  it was a 50km race around a lake.  The winning prize for the race was a $3,200 new bike and the team classification prize was a $300 helmet.  I had a good day and won the overall and our team won the team classification!  Perfect timing as we had just started looking at bikes for Jen.  Because the bike was provided by Specialized they were nice enough to let me change the style and size to fit Jen.  Now Jen is all set with all the gear :)

Here is June just being happy!

Will showing off his new hat!

Jen's new bike!  black and pink!

Jen and her new biking gang.  They all just got their bikes and are ready to tackle this new sport.

Here is a picture in Shanghai from last weekend.  We went to this cool rooftop place on the Bund for a friend's 50th birthday.  

 This is a picture of the coast of the capital city of Sri Lanka.

This is Miss Sri Lanka at our Nordictrack brand launch there.  She is our new brand ambassador in Sri Lanka.

Things have been going well for us.  June is starting to speak a few simple words and running all over. We are now getting ready for Will's 3rd birthday next week.  Not sure yet what we will do but it's hard to believe that he's 3!