Randy & Jolene's House

So in this post, I will try and walk you through the villa as best as I can.
First of all, here is what the outside of the villa looks like. Most villas actually don't really look like this on the outside - the colors and style is a little bit too modern-looking in comparison to most other villas in Abu Dhabi.






Here is the front room and back porch. (Yes, Jenae, I included pictures of the piano just for you. ;)










These are pictures of our "suite". King-sized bed, beautiful bathroom and even a bidet! We feel like we are living like royalty! (No, I have not yet used the bidet, but I plan to use it before we leave. I have just been too scared to use it so far. Although, I have been very tempted to use it as a foot bath - it's the perfect size! ha ha)








Here is the boys' room. Grandma Jolene was sure to stock this room with TONS of toys, so Greyson never gets bored & always makes a huge mess. There is also a picture of the view outside their window - apparently that street used to be a two-way street when Randy and Jolene first moved here!








Randy's office.


Kitchen.






Dining Room.



Well, that's about it. Until next time.

The Sabbath in Abu Dhabi

I had such an amazing day this past Friday! Matt and I are visiting Matt's parents, Randy and Jolene, in Abu Dhabi for 7 weeks. We have been here for about 2.5 weeks so far, and yesterday was our third Sabbath here. I say Sabbath because the Sabbath is observed on Fridays here in the U.A.E., as well as throughout the Middle East. Anyway, the Abu Dhabi 2nd ward church starts at 9 am, so we got the boys out and rushed out the door, like we are always doing these days with having two boys to get ready. Jolene is the music chorister, so we got to the church villa with minutes to spare before the meeting started.

DESCRIPTION OF CHURCH VILLA There is a raised portion in the middle of the villa, that acts well as a stage, or raised platform for the chorister, the bishopric, and the "organ" player (the "organ" is a setting on the Clavinova that works well to help set the feeling of being right at home.) This raised portion has a half-wall that is shared with one side of the congregation, and the two steps down from the raised portion leads into the congregation straight in front of the bishopric and the podium. They can fit close to 10 rows of chairs in the front congregational area, and about 6 rows in the side congregational area. Yesterday there were 129 people in attendance. The chapel portion of the villa is right as you walk in the door. Then there is a bathroom further back, a kitchen that is used as a classroom, and another classroom. If you go in the kitchen, there is a small classroom off of the kitchen, and a maids' quarters off of that classroom that is even smaller, and is used as the Young Women's classroom. If you go outside and cross the driveway, there is a small (driver's quarters) Primary classroom. You go upstairs to the second level and there is a master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom that is used for the Relief Society/Seminary room. (By the way, unless I specify otherwise, just assume that all these rooms have tile flooring.) There is a wet bar area that is used as a library, an area immediately outside of the Relief Society room that is basically a sitting area/Mother's Lounge (it is out in the open, not behind a closed door). This sitting area has a sectional and two other full size couches. There is a stand-alone bathroom right next to the Primary room, the Nursery room has an ensuite bathroom, and there is another Primary classroom with an ensuite bathroom. Upstairs on the third level, there is a Bishop's office (shared by Randy and the Abu Dhabi 1st ward bishop) with an ensuite bathroom and a bookshelf) END OF DESCRIPTION

We had fast and testimony meeting yesterday. The Spirit was amazing. The members are gracious and welcoming. They know the responsibility they have while they are here to do missionary work. But they have to be patient. Proselyting is not allowed here - it is prohibited. The Filipinos are allowed to attend church and be baptized, but if an Emirati (native of Abu Dhabi) some how finds the church villa (the address is not publicized) & wants to participate in church services, the members have to turn them away. The only way for it to be ok for an Emirati to join the church is if they learn about it and get baptized outside of the U.A.E., but even then it puts them in danger, so it is not necessarily a good idea. In Sunday School, we discussed Mosiah 18-24. Those are some of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. In Mosiah 18:8, it talks about being "willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light." Alma goes on to ask the people if they are "willing to mourn with those who mourn", and "comfort those who stand in need of comfort". While we were talking about serving others, I felt an overwhelming feeling that it was time for me to be serving others. I felt that my sole focus had been on getting a degree while I was in school and that I had forgotten to serve others. Heavenly Father impressed upon me that it was time that I give back. I felt that we would have a small time period (I assume while Matt is in school) where I would need to be doing what I can to serve others, but that after that small time period, I needed to be giving my all to Heavenly Father. I need to serve others with all that I have and not worry at all about my family. The funny thing about serving others is that in losing yourself in the work, your family is taken care of. I know that if we focus on serving others, the Lord will not forget our family's needs. I do not know when that small time period will end, or where the Lord will take us, but all I know is that He needs us and we need to be willing to do exactly what He wants us to do for a change.
At the baptism, the man who performed the baptism was a recent convert (within the last month) and had been ordained a priest, only the week before, in order to be able to baptize his friend, who he had started taking the discussions with 3 months ago. This man also bore his testimony at the end of the service and it was very powerful and humbling. Another recent convert, a woman in her twenties, bore her testimony and sang "How Great Thou Art", while Jolene accompanied her on the piano. It was the most beautiful version of the song that I have ever heard. The woman paused at parts that choked her up, and you could see her envisioning the Savior in front of her. She was singing it for Him. Never before have I heard such sincerity and faith. My heart is full, and I am finally satisfied with what I have included in this written memory.

Email from Abu Dhabi

the following is a crosspost from an emial Lauren sent to her family (except the pictures which I added later): Hello All! So I am writing to you guys at 9:42 AM Thursday in Abu Dhabi (11:42 PM Wednesday MST). How are you all doing? We are doing good, a little tired, but we are doing okay. I wanted to let you guys know how our trip went. We started out at DIA, departing for JFK (in New York) at 11:30 AM MST. We had 4 suitcases, 3 backpacks, a diaper bag, and an umbrella stroller.

We had planned to only check one of the suitcases because of costs, but thankfully, we were able to check all 4 suitcases for free! :D We were able to do this because of on our international flight, we are allowed up to 2 free checked bags per person, except for Ari is only allowed one free checked bag, because his ticket was not the full ticket price since he is considered an "infant in arms". So after we parted ways with Dad at DIA, we were down to 3 backpacks, a diaper bag, and a stroller, (and 2 kids and 2 adults) to get through security. We had lots of liquid baby food and tons of snacks and some little toiletries, as well as a few technology items that we had to get through security, so we were pretty nervous. only thing that they were skeptical about was the clear ziploc full of formula powder, because they thought that it was a liquid, but they double-checked that, and all was well. It took us a good 10 minutes to get all put back together and shoes re-laced on everyones' feet, but now we were off to find the gate. Greyson LOVED riding the train at DIA and didn't want to get off the "choo-choo", but there were many elevator buttons to push, so he was okay. Ari was being amazing this whole time in the "infantino" baby carrier. We finally got to the gate at around 11:00 AM, planning on all taking bathroom breaks, changing diapers, and filling up bottles and sippy-cups with water, but it looked like most everyone had already boarded the plane, so we barely had time to fill a few bottles with water for the baby before we boarded the plane. Ari had fallen asleep in transit, but once we got on the airplane, he woke back up. Thankfully, Greyson was nice enough to get sleepy-eyes when we sat him down by the window, and he ended up falling asleep before the plane even took off! He slept for probably about half of the 4 hour long flight and he was pretty good, but got ancy after we had landed, but before we had gotten up to the gate. Ari was awake most of the flight, but he was a good kid, as always. Matt and I didn't get any sleep on this flight between diaper changes and feeding kids, but we were just so happy that the boys did so well. At JFK, we had to get out of the terminal to be able to go check-in for our international flight (it wouldn't allow us to check-in online.) So this meant that we had to go through security again (DANG!) But it looks like we would have had to go through security anyway, just because we were going on an international flight. So we got into JFK at 5:30 PM New York time, and we discovered (after going through many trains and elevators to get to the right place, much to Greyson's delight), that Etihad (the name of the airline that we were using to get to Abu Dhabi) does not open to allow check-ins until 7 PM. We were trying to find a way to kill time and keep Greyson from falling asleep (so that he could sleep a lot on the flight to Abu Dhabi), so we went and got some food, and changed diapers, and by the time we were done, it was time to go back upstairs to get checked-in. It was 6:50 PM, so we thought that we would be pretty close to the front of the line... we were wrong! Such a long and SLOW-MOVING line just to check in! Thankfully, our checked bags had been checked all the way through to Abu Dhabi, so that made the wait a little shorter for us. Once we got our tickets (from the slowest man alive), we made our way back downstairs, to go through an even LONGER line for security. (The line started down around many of the airport shops and finally made its way to the actual roped off line for security.) All the while, we had our passports and boarding passes checked by about 10 different people, and I was a nervous wreck whenever anyone even touched our passports, for fear that we would lose them. When we finally made it through security, we had about 2 hours to kill before the flight, so Matt walked "around and around and around" with Greyson on the moving walkways. Greyson was OBSESSED! Everyone around the walkways thought that he was the cutest thing since sliced bread. Matt did that for about 45 minutes and then he said that it was my turn. So Greyson and I had some more fun and we thought that we had sufficiently run Greyson around enough that he would fall asleep almost as soon as we got on the plane. While I was walking Greyson around, apparently the flight started boarding (again) without us. So by the time we got back, we were packing everything up fast and weren't able to change diapers or fill water bottles. We got onto the plane and sat in our seats at the bulkhead of a GIANT plane! (Josh, I will try to figure out what we flew in and send you a picture later.) Randy must have been thinking when he booked our flights because we had extra leg room, a baby bassinet to lay Ari in, and it was a great time to start a 12 hour flight (8:40 PM MST) -right around the boys' bed time.

There were 4 seats in the bulkhead, so one was occupied by another man, but all of our seats were together. The rules for the baby bassinet were that it was not set up until we were in the air, and we could put the baby in it as long as the "fasten seatbelt" light was off, but if that turned on at all during the flight, we were to immediately get the baby out and put him on my lap in his attached infant seat belt. I was nervous that that was going to happen all the time because of turbulence, but it only happened once! They gave us a menu at the beginning of the flight, and we were trying to figure out what we wanted to eat. Little did we know that you get offered all that is on the menu because they serve you food so often. If I counted correctly, I believe that they offered us some type of food 5 separate times during the flight.

In case you are curious what we ate: we first got a choice of "chicken, lamb, or vegetarian". I chose chicken and Matt chose lamb. He got Indian-style meatballs (lamb) with bazmati rice. I got chicken with roasted potatoes in a mustard-seed sauce. We both also got a chickpea and lima bean salad that came with the food that actually was QUITE good (surprisingly!) Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't eaten real food all day and so I was famished. By the way, they serve it to you in this little platter with real utensils and a hard(ish) plastic cup. Next we got dessert that was in a tiny little cup like a ghetto apple crisp. (All the food was good.) In the wee hours of the morning (when there weren't many people awake) I was fortunate enough to open my eyes when the stewardess was giving out Klondike bars! Matt however, was about 5 seconds too late, so I gave him mine after taking a bite. A few hours later (when it was basically breakfast time, but not according to Abu Dhabi) we had a choice of a grilled vegetable tiny bun or a chicken salad tiny bun... Ok I take back what I said earlier, the chicken salad was not very good. The last thing they served us was basically manicotti with another weird salad made from chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese and vinegar, and a tiny packaged baguette. I took a few pictures, so when I get a chance, I will send them.

The rest of the flight was good. The boys and I slept most of the time (not very comfortably, but that's life) while Matt checked out what was on the free T.V./movie package at his chair. Greyson was able to watch Dora at his chair, so that was fun. :)

Not much happened through customs and getting our visas (they didn't even take our apples and bananas!) They are less anal than California customs! Well, we are off to Dubai, so I will write again later! Love ya! Lauren, Matt and the munchkins! Sent from my iPad

Disney World

I think for this post, I'm going to take Heather's (my sister-in-law's) advice and keep this post shorter than I would plan to, just so that I can finish it! Ha ha!

Anyway, we just got back from Disney World about a week ago. It was a quick, and intense vacation, but we packed about all the Disney we could into 5 days. :) It was pretty awesome!


The Epcot Globe

We went to Animal Kingdom, Disney Quest, Blizzard Beach, Magic Kingdom (where Cinderella's Castle is located), Hollywood Studios, and Epcot. It was so much fun! It was also ridiculously hot! We'd wake up around 7 am everyday and go to bed around midnight, so they were long, very hot days - but totally worth it. People might say that Greyson was not old enough to enjoy it, but he really did have fun! Although he was too little for most of the rides (we would switch off watching kids so that the adults got to ride the rides), he still loved it.


This was Greyson's facial expression for most of the trip! :)

Greyson was able to go on a "Jungle Safari" (Animal Kingdom) in a off-road jeep, where we got to see lots of real animals (hippos, giraffes, ostriches, lions, tigers, and no bears... oh my!) Matt and I went on the "Kali River Rapids" ride where we wanted to get soaked (because it was so hot!) but unfortunately, only Heather and Brandon got soaked! Matt and I also went on "Expedition Everest" - twice! - it was an exciting roller coaster ride that took you into a mountain where you could see the Yeti who had torn apart some of the track - oh no! One of the last things we did was watch a shortened "Finding Nemo" show that was a lot of fun for the kids (and parents since it was air-conditioned!)


In the "Safari" jeep


Rhinoceros


Hippo


Lioness


Sleeping Tiger

He played on some fun, creative computer games at Disney Quest (basically is a 5 story building stuffed with all the video games you'd ever want to play for free.)

At Blizzard Beach, Greyson went down "Teamboat Springs", which is a long water slide where you sit in a raft with 5 other people - he was pretty scared at first, but then just annoyed that we brought him down it again the second time. ;)

At Magic Kingdom, he rode "Pirate's of the Caribbean", (was asleep while riding "Haunted Mansion" and "It's a Small World") and "Peter Pan's Flight" and "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin" (twice). Matt and I also rode "Splash Mountain" and "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" in Magic Kingdom and LOVED them! :D

Since Hollywood Studios is more about the shows and less about the rides, Greyson saw "Muppet Vision 3-D", "Voyage of the Little Mermaid", and "Fantasmic". Matt and I rode on two rides there - "Rock n' Roller Coaster" where you are speeding (literally - the ride goes from 0-60 mph in about 3-5 secs - little crazy on a pregnant lady) through the streets of New York to get to an Aerosmith concert (the music is blaring in your ear the whole ride.) The other ride we rode was "Tower of Terror" from The Twilight Zone. I originally thought that you get dropped 13 stories at a time, but I guess the most is like 8 or 10 stories, lol. They drop you like 4 times - definitely scary, but I'm glad I can say I've gone on it! :D "Fantasmic" was an awesome special effects show that is shown at night, very loosely based on Disney's "Fantasia" starring Mickey Mouse, but you get to see a ton of Disney characters throughout the whole show. They light the lake/moat (between the audience and actors) on fire and there are all sorts of lights and "gun fights". It was a little much for Greyson, but we loved it.


Right before Heather, Ellie, and I went on "Star Tours" at Hollywood Studios


"Voyage of The Little Mermaid" special effects show


"Fantasmic" special effects show - this boat was holding lots of Disney characters!

Last but not least, we went to Epcot which is mostly about the "World Showcase" of countries that you can walk around to. We visited all the countries: Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. At each country there is of course gift shops, and cafes and sit-down restaurants. All of the Disney workers in each "country" are authentic, so there are real Japanese in Japan and etc. Because of this, we wanted to experience some authentic cuisine from a few of the places. We ended up having an AMAZING sushi and tempura Japanese lunch, and an Italian gelato for dessert later.


Greyson and Matt using an infamous UK red telephone booth at Epcot "World Showcase"


Morocco was gorgeous!


Statue of Japanese Samurai on a horse


Cute Italian Disney Attendants at the "Kidspot" in Little Italy (We went around to each country and got a stamp on a cardboard cut-out bear to remember where we had visited with Greyson)


Greyson learned how to use chopsticks for lunch in Japan ;)


Matt kissed a troll in Norway!

When all was said and done, we were exhausted, but never wanted to leave Disney World - as corny as it sounds, it really is a magical place! Matt and I tried to come up with a plan for living in Epcot, but then we decided that we should graduate first! So maybe we'll do that later, who knows? ;D

Til next time...

P.S. If you have the time and the desire to look at more pictures from our trip, here is the Disney Photopass Website with all the pictures we DIDN'T take. (Warning: there are a LOT, but you can stop the slideshow whenever you feel the need to.)

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/photoshareslides.aspx?ex_cid=UntaggedShare&photolist=6a0eee6a-b7ee-484e-b934-e181a363e5f8

Update (LOTS of pictures)

Wow every time I get on my blog... (so that I can go look at other friends' blogs) I keep thinking to myself, should I wait a full YEAR before writing another blog, because I'm so close! Who knows, I might never finish this blog & then I'll have another chance at waiting the full year. Well, here I am trying to not be THAT pathetic! ;)
Just as a quick catch up, Matt and I are both still going to school at BYU, planning on graduating this December (a semester earlier than we expected!:). We are both taking classes this Spring term, as well as Summer term, and then we'll have a 2 week break before we start our final semester of school in the fall! We are so excited to be less than a year away from saying good-bye for good to our little undergraduate degrees! Right now they don't seem like they're gonna get us anywhere, but we're hoping it ends up being the first (and hardest) step to more education and more fun to come along with that. (YES, I'm being serious, not sarcastic. We love school!)
Matt took his first LSAT (this past February) and we were happy to hear that he earned a 159, which is in the 78th percentile!

Way to go MATT!!!

We are so proud of our Matthew for working hard! According to this website:
https://officialguide.lsac.org/Release/UGPALSAT/UGPALSAT.aspx

Matt has a 70%-90% likelihood of getting into Samford University - the law school that we are most interested in him going to. It is 1 1/2 hours away from my parents in Alabama, so it would be nice to have the support of grandparents close by! My parents also might be a little excited to have us much closer since Greyson is their only grandchild so far!

Greyson is growing up so quickly, it just blows our minds! He is 17 months old and tries to figure everything out all day. He is so smart! He is 25 lbs and is due for his 18 month check up pretty soon - at the beginning of July, so we look forward to seeing how he compares to other kids.
He runs around now and acts so much like a little boy, it makes us laugh! He goes down easily for a nap each day around 12:30pm or 1pm. I just have to say, "Greyson, it's sleepy-time," and he immediately walks over to his room and starts pointing to the iPod so that he can turn on his music before he goes in his crib. I love my little 1 1/2 year old! He brightens our day with his smiles and babbling.
He has started to say words spontaneously, but not predictably yet. He says "go", "dip", "I love you", "Daddy", and he gives out kisses on command as well as spontaneously (real kisses - he has perfected the lip pucker and "mwah!" sound.) We are trying to wean him off his binky, but ever since he figured that out, he has become a little partial to it - but thankfully he doesn't have melt downs because of it. He can feed himself, but he still makes a huge mess, and it takes longer (of course) than when I just feed him. He loves PB&Js, Velveeta Shells & Cheese, fruits, and pizza. We are working on introducting new, healthy foods, and we are starting to break down his pickiness. YAY!

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure (roughly in chronological order; Sept. 2010 - May 2011):







































Alright, so there you have it - my catch up since last August. Just to explain the pictures, at the beginning we have pictures from September and October of last year. The first picture is Greyson learning to drive, and the second is when we went to Greyson's first BYU football game with a bunch of friends. He was a little overwhelmed by all the noise. ;)

Next we have pictures from Greyson's 1st birthday. I'm proud to say that I made the "You are Special" plate just in time for his birthday. As you can see he got pretty messy. (Thank-you Aynsley! Those chocolate peanut-butter cupcakes were DELICIOUS!)He loves playing with his new toys! (STILL!)

The video is when Greyson was starting to take his first steps. He was stubborn at first...

Next we have two pictures from visiting my parents in Alabama for Christmas 2010. We celebrated Greyson's birthday AGAIN there with a little party and Greyson got spoiled again! Here he is playing with new toys. The next picture shows how much luckier we were in AL than those in Utah - we got a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! :D

The next two pictures were taken in January 2011. As Greyson was building up his confidence after he started walking, he loved to work out those newly found muscles by pushing around everybody's grocery carts. These pictures were taken up in Logan at Costco and Lee's. :)

Next comes the monkey suit and the penguin suit. I just thought he was adorable! In the penguin picture, you can see that Greyson likes to copy movies he has recently seen. He found a frying pan quite handy as a weapon, like in "Tangled".

The next picture shows Greyson, Mckenzi (in the middle far background), and Sarah. These are all kids born a little bit after Greyson. Mckenzi is my old roommate Tori's daughter and Sarah is my old roommate Aynsley's daughter. We were over at Aynsley's house to watch the Superbowl & we always have so much fun with them!

The next three pictures show our new firearms and gun safe. We just recently got our Concealed Firearms Permit and we have been able to practice in a shooting range several times. It is really fun! First is Matt's Rock Island Officer 1911 .45 ACP gun, next is my S&W M&P 9mm and last is our gun safe.

Next picture: Greyson turned a little western on us and picked out some adorable cowboy boots.

Last two pictures: I've recently had a little bit of extra time at home, so I have started enjoying baking and cooking some more. Here is some homemade honey wheat bread and amazing belgian waffles.

That's all folks!