Big Buddha, Big Belly

If there is one thing I'll remember from our Taiwan adventures, it is the people we were blessed to associate with.

Every step of the way we were the receivers of SO much goodness.

After a day in Taipei, we headed to Taichung. Lucky for us, so did the Bowens! It was SO fun to be with them.

Mister would start off every day like this if he could. Mmm. 

We took a walk to find the Big Buddha. When we entered the courtyard, this is what we found. I was expecting something a little bigger...

That's more like it!

Family pic in the courtyard.

For lunch we went to the famous Japanese BBQ!

All-you-can-eat meat that you cook on your own=fantastic. We probably didn't eat this much beef combined while in China.

These wonderful people drove us around, took care of our babies, and made sure we had a place to sleep at night! 

                        Octopus salad

What a sweet way to start out our day. :)

Hello, Taiwan

We had to take one more trip before heading back to the homeland.

It was THE perfect end to our adventures in Asia.

Shanghai Airport--headed to Taiwan!

After landing, we headed straight to the temple in Taipei. This might have been the thing I was most excited for. There is no temple in China (only one in Hong Kong) and it was so good to be home. It was raining and peaceful and beautiful--surrounded by the busy city streets.

There is something a temple does to a place. I could just feel it.

That night, our good friends showed us how to do a night market. They were experts.

Oyster omelet, shrimp, whole fried fish, and...snails

I wasn't very adventurous with food in China (no dog or stinky tofu for this girl), but we were on vacation, now! Little did I know the whole fish and snail would be nothing.

Miss A LOVED the market and her new best friend.

Taiwan had us at hello.

China, We Won't Forget You

We have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves for the past month. In between LOTS of traveling we have spent our days in beautiful places and with our most favorite people.

I've been struggling to answer the "How was China?" question.
Either I feel like I'm living a dream in this wonderful place called America or I'm already forgetting how good it was.

Either way, I hope we don't forget.


Dear Miss A and Brother,

You lived in China.

Don't Forget.

There isn't just one "way" things should be.

Maybe marshmallow layers are just right sometimes.

Keep an open mind.


We have so much.

Life can be spectacular without it.

You can do hard things.

Like learn to walk on bumpy streets

or be born in China

or overcome your fears

Keep doing them.

You are loved immensely.

 Love back.



You have a built-in best friend.

Stay like that.

There are billions of people on the earth.

Heavenly Father loves each one.


When I say you lived in China, you sure lived.

Love, Mommy.

Best Friends

What a pair these two are. The one mothering (aka smothering) and the other taking it it like a champ (and actually loving it most of the time).

Tonight we sat at the kitchen table watching them laugh and laugh at each other. There sure is a lot of love there.

Sometimes they're a handful and I have to find inventive ways to entertain...but then they play like this:

Lately Miss A has been "helping" Brother a lot. She helps him hold things, tries to feed him, helps him hold his arms, and tells him how to say the prayer. 

4 1/2 months old!

She shares her favorite blanket and he shares his adoration for her.

If you ask me, 17 months is the perfect age gap. ;)

The Great Wall

Sometimes, we're kind of crazy.

By crazy I mean we live in China, we travel to Beijing on a whim, we bring two children and a stroller and a suitcase to the Great Wall.

It wasn't our plan (the suitcase on the wall part), but you do what you've gotta do.

We took a two hour bus ride to the closest wall site. Then we waited in line. When I say line I really mean huge mass. The Chinese don't do lines. We were getting passed right and left until we blocked the way with ourselves, the stroller, and the suitcase (blessed suitcase). 

It only took an hour.

We squeezed in to a moving lift, and off we went!

Every person that passed us said something about our cute polka-dot suitcase. There were a lot of people.

With 6 hours of travel (there and back) we didn't have much time on the actual wall,

but those 10 minutes were oh, so fun!

"Woohoo!"

Sometimes crazy is pretty worth it.