Funny Memories

I thought I would post some funny things that happened to us in Hong Kong. It was interesting to me how much the Chinese people loved Damon! I guess they are not used to seeing light haired babies. They would stare, point, laugh, and make funny comments. When we were in Macau, a little girl saw Damon and yelled "Hey, thats a bald baby!" in Chinese. Kyle could not stop laughing long enough to tell me what she said. And then there were the picture takers. I guess they all wanted to have a memory of this small, chubby, lovable white boy. They were not discrete about it either. They would just whip out their camera and snap a few, laughing all the way! :)
On the day we spent with my grandma, we went to dinner at a place called the Spaghetti House (just a side note, the Chinese do not make very good pasta). After the waitress seated us she brought us all some water to drink. If some of you do not know, Asians like to drink boiling water. Well, she brought grandma and I the boiling water and Kyle the cold water, even though Kyle was the only one speaking Chinese to her the entire time. I guess I look Asian enough to them! We gave Kyle the hot stuff and had her bring us something cold.
We also saw many interesting english translations on signs, buildings, and clothing that made us take a second look and at times burst into uncontrollable laughter. One of Kyle's favorites was the shirt that read, "Biten Often More Than I Can Chew".

Life in China

As most of you have discovered, both Kyle and I post on our blog. He did pretty well on the last one but forgot pics of grandma! So I added those and a few more. We had an amazing time in Hong Kong. It was so beautiful! It was so fun to meet people that Kyle had known on his mission. There was lots of shopping, food, and fun times together. It was also very uncomfortable most of the time when we were outside. Kyle was not joking, it feels like a sauna but worse. And it was crazy to me that everyone else seemed to be just fine while I was soaking wet, red faced, fanning myself to death with anything I could grab. I guess they are just used to it. Kyle was also right when he said you could not find any deodorant here, I guess they just get used to their own smell too! (Don't worry, we brought enough for ourselves, not that anyone could tell if we didn't) We had a great week together though. Now we are in Tianjin, China! It is nothing like I would have imagined, the air is so dirty here! You can't see past a few buildings away. I expected things to be more traditional, but all the buildings and roads are so industrial. If someone showed me a picture of where we are right now, I would never guess that it was China. Our new apartment is a little bigger than the last one, but not as clean. I have found a few things on the floors that make me nervous to have Damon crawling or walking around. It does have a small fridge though! Kyle is now working all day at LG in their HR department. He loves it, and expects to have a great experience these next few months. During the day, as far as I know I am the only one who speaks English in our hotel. I am too scared to leave the room. I feel bad for Damon, that because of me we can't go out and do things, but I guess I would not want him out in that air anyway. Now that Kyle is working all day, and we cannot go out together, there is little else to take my mind away from drifting back home. I miss and love you all!

We took this picture on the Star Ferry which travels between TST and Wan Chai.

Damon met this beautiful Chinese girl at the church when we visited there. As you can see he could not keep his hands off her :)

Damon and I at the pier in Macau

Damon at 3 am in our hotel. Still a little jet-lagged

Us when we went to dinner with the Chinese RM's.

Us on our jet boat to Macau

Grandma and Damon

Grandma and us in front of the temple

Us picking grandma up at the MTR

Chineseified

Yes, it has been a little while since you have heard from us, but we've been having way too much fun to worry about family and friends. Just kidding. Our hotel charges for internet and I'm so cheap that I was waiting so that we could just do one big post at once.
Damon did great on the flight and has been so amazing while we've been here. He is such a little attention-mooch. Everyone on the plane loved him. He didn't cry at all, slept well, and did whatever funny thing he could to get peoples attention. He's basically the same way here too. Any time we're on a bus or the subway, he is smiling and laughing trying to get peoples attention.
We arrived Tuesday evening and caught a bus to the Hotel and grabbed some dinner.
The next day we spend the whole day down on Hong Kong Island. We went up to the peak, went to Time Square, Sogo, the World Wide House, and a bunch of other places (Brian will probably be the only one who knows what these places are). That evening we went to the church in Wan Chai and visited with members and missionaries.
On Thursday we spent the day with Grandma Townley. We met her early in the morning at the Kwai Fong MTR station and headed over to the mission home. I was able to see just about every missionary I taught there because it was transfer day. It was a lot of fun seeing them. That day we went to the Hong Kong Natural History Museum, TST, and went shopping in Mong Kok. Grandma had to buy a new purse and I bought myself a totally legit Rolex. Well, that's what they told me anyway.
Yesterday we got up early and caught a ferry to wonderous Macau. It's still a wonderful place, but it sure has changed. We did a little sight seeing, but mostly just spent time with old friends. That has been the best part of this trip. We also had a miracle in Macau. We were walking through downtown and I saw two children that I recognized. I had to stare at them for a minute, but I realized that they were Karen and RJ, the children of Katrina, a member I taught there and had lost contact with. They took us to their house and we were able to visit with Katrina for an hour or so. It was such a miracle that the one day we went to Macau we were able to see Katrina and her wonderful family.
We're not sure what we will do today. We're getting pretty exhausted so we may just take it easy. We have a few wards to attend and visit on Sunday and then monday we're off to Beijing.
We'll try to keep you updated as often as possible.
We love you all and hope all is well.

Family Pictures

Here are a few pics we took a few weeks ago with the Bitter side of the family. The boys did pretty well for a while, but by the end Damon and Jayce were getting a little cranky. They endured well though. We were glad to get family pictures together before our trip around the world. We were so glad Ry could come back home for a little visit before we left too.

Our family...

Bri, Lish, and Jayce...

Our handsome Damon...

Two best buds...

The family (Yes, Damon is the only one not looking at the camera, and yes his chubby little belly is hanging out for everyone to see. Oh well, thats kids and picture taking for you :) )

The boys...

And the overwhelming majority...the girls!

Johnson Family Night

We sure love having family night with the whole Johnson side.  Good food, good people, good times.  There are sixteen grandchildren and still growing!  It makes for a very exciting time.  I had to take like a million pictures to get one with all the kids looking at the camera at the same time, but I think I got it (I did not say they would all be smiling, just looking).  We love them all, they are so fun to be around.  We will miss them.  We are so grateful for all our families, and want them to know we love them very much.  Thanks for the fun family night, we look forward to many more in the future!  

Our Bags Are Packed...

Yesterday was our last day in our dark, spider filled,  American Fork basement apartment. It was also my last day working at the Hospital for awhile.  I got lucky enough to work the last 2 days before we were supposed to be out of our apartment.  Poor Kyle had to pack everything and clean the whole apartment pretty much on his own, with Damon as his main distraction.  He did an amazing job though!  It is hard to believe that our trip to China is coming up so soon!  We are so grateful to our families for all their support, and helping us on our way.  Especially for the Johnson's for letting us intrude and store our whole lives in their basement.  We love you all, and hope to see everyone this week before we take off!  

Our Family Reunion

We sure had a great week when we came up to visit our families.  On tuesday we went to Roy Aquatic Center and had a great time!  It was the first time little Damon and Jayce have gone swimming, and they loved it!  

Here is Damon in his new swimming suit!  What a handsome boy! 

We bought this life jacket for Damon, but he did not like it so much.  He cried until we took it off, but then had a great time the rest of the day in the water.  

Most of the family is very tan now.  They have all been spending lots of time in the sun.  I think Ry takes the cake though.  We sure loved having him home for a little while so we could see him before we leave to China.  We love you Ry!

Damon's Birthday is July 3rd, but we wanted to celebrate with the family.  On tuesday night we had a little party for him at Grandma and Grandpa Bitter's house.  Damon was a bit ornery, but it was fun to have everyone come and see him!  

We made a little cake just for him, and got him naked so he could just go at it (all except his diaper of course).  He squished it all up in his hands, but did not get too much in his mouth.  It was sure fun to watch him try though!

Everyone was so nice to bring him presents, though we will be going to China soon and will need to store most of our things.  He loved playing with all the toys he got, but did not really get the whole opening presents thing.  We sure love our families and friends and their support in everything we do.  We can't imagine our lives without them, and look forward to spending more time together before we leave!