Happy Pioneer Day....a little late

The 24th of July came and went like any other day here in Vietnam. However, on the 25th of July I thought all day about home and the fun traditions I was missing; watching the Days of 47 parade in the morning on TV while making breakfast, going to a parade in the afternoon, dinner with the family and fireworks at night...good times. So when Troy told me the HCM Branch was doing a Pioneer Day Party on the 28th, I was all for it! It was a crazy day and the rain almost prevented us from scootering over to the church, but we made it and I'm glad we did. Here's how Pioneer Day is celebrated in Vietnam by the church members:

 Pioneer Bonnets

Enzo's first Pioneer Day

The Primary President teaching the boys Pioneer games.

The Young Single Adults square dancing in the Chapel :)

I loved watching this. How great is it to see Vietnamese youth square dancing with country music in the background? And how great is it that the church members in Vietnam are celebrating the Pioneers crossing the plains in America and discovering Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The primary children did a short Pioneer trek to find the footprints of the Pioneers. They walked around the block holding a string while searching for the hidden footprints.  Each footprint had a fun little fact about the Pioneers written on it.

Drey had a double fisted grip on the string and would not let go.  I think he was fearful that the kid in front of him would bite him...haha

The train of Pioneer walkers

After the trek the kids made homemade ice cream. When I first heard about this, in all seriousness I thought "How in the world did they find ice cream machines in Vietnam?" Oh no, we're talking ziploc baggies and a whole lot of shaking.....my bad. 

Preparing the orange ice cream....

Troy and Drey giving it a good shake.

TA DA! Drey made ice cream. He loved it!

One of the Primary ladies loading Drey's pockets up with rice cookies.

We ended up at KFC for dinner. 

I'm not sure how or why we ended up at KFC tonight for dinner, but it for sure was not planned.  I  laugh about it now because as a child growing up,  I remember eating KFC every 24th of July on a blanket while waiting for the Liberty Park fireworks to begin. How ironic that I'm now living in Vietnam and still eating KFC on "Pioneer Day"...who would have thought?

Fried chicken, chocolate dipped ice cream cones, Pioneer festivities.....can't get more American than that!

Dear Jane....

I did it. I have left the comforts of getting my hair done by my mother-in-law, Jane, and made the risky decision to get my hair colored here in Vietnam. I must say this was actually a HUGE concern when moving over here...how would I maintain my hair? I'm not sure what I was thinking....do Vietnam women color their hair? Rest assured I can dye the grey right out of my hair in Vietnam also! (oops did I just disclose that I have grey hair?...not my favorite thing in the world.)

This girl spent 45 minutes giving me a scalp massage and lemon/honey facial. I tried to tell them that I only needed my hair colored, but they almost get offended if you don't let them pamper you...I promise I had to do it :)

I'm a big fan of the full reclining chairs

End result. Same color and length with a few shorter layers.

A Much Needed Break

Troy finally made it home from Hanoi and luckily the boys and I were still alive....honestly. By Tuesday I had all the dialogue ready in my head for my conversation with Troy on why I'm at the airport ready to leave Vietnam. I was going CRAZY being alone in a city of 10 million! Thankfully Troy has spent the past 5 years trying to figure me out and is now aware that after a week of his absence from the family, I need a serious break. This usually just means him holding Enzo while I make dinner or playing with the kids to burn their energy and grouchiness.  But Troy pulled through big time and surprised me (us) with an overnight getaway to the Riverside Renaissance Hotel. This is a 5 star hotel in the city and even though it was only a 7 minute drive from our place, it felt like a nice little escape.

This is the boys way of making sure Troy doesn't leave them behind with mom again !!!

Whoever put wheels on luggage...thank you! This is hours of fun being rolled around in a suitcase.

2 little monkeys jumping on the bed.

Going swimming. The pool is on the roof of the hotel. 

This little boy is a fish, totally opposite of Drey. Enzo loves the water and has the instinct to kick and paddle right when he gets in. He floats on his back while being completely relaxed. Drey on the other hand will barely get his toes wet. It takes about an hour for him to fully get in the water, all the while he is clingling onto us for dear life. Usually Drey's nice and warmed up to the idea of swimming right about the time we need to leave the pool. Then we start the process all over again the next time.

Now that's just a cute picture :)

The hotel gave us a nice little wedding anniversary gift of flowers and chocolates.

Wait...What?...I've been married 50 years? We're looking good for being 50 years married...Thank you NuSkin :)

And to top off the festivities we went DVD shopping for some $.50 movies.

The next morning we ate probably one of the best breakfasts ever! I love breakfast and unfortunately in Vietnam they don't follow Western style meals. Breakfast here is hot beef soup and rice. So to actually eat a waffle, pancakes, french toast, danishes, omelets, smoothies, and croissants with chocolate in the middle....I was seriously in heaven and I don't say that lightly :)  It was the perfect end to a nice little break.

5 Years of Fun, Love, and Craziness

This happened 5 years ago:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=1496355&nid=481

and it's been an adventure ever since.

I love you Troy Holzer.

(and Happy 15 years to my brother Derrick and his lovely wife Kylie...Congratulations!)

If You Are Bored.....

There will be no awards won here for filming and narration :)

                           

                           

Happy Birthday Mom & Nana

Happy Birthday to my beautiful mother:

Here's your birthday card:

Say A Prayer

Troy is leaving tomorrow for Hanoi and I will be left a lone woman in Ho Chi Minh City. He will be gone until next Tuesday.
         
             In the meantime I will be praying for A LOT less of this.....

......and A LOT more of this:

What is wrong with this picture ???

Oh so much, so, so much is wrong here:

A white board on a scooter is what's wrong here....

Yes, we really did this today. Even the other scooter driving Viets were giving us weird looks and shaking their heads...now that's sayin' something! ( Enzo did survive and actually fell asleep with his head planted into the chips).

Mexican food cooked by an American in Vietnam

Here's how our Sunday looked:

Leaving church. There is nothing graceful or classy about riding on a scooter in a skirt. I'm sure I'm breaking all kinds of Vietnamese customs since most women here ride side saddle when wearing skirts. Not quite that advanced in my scooter skills yet. Drey calls himself a ninja when he's all geared up to ride.

Fight night (or afternoon). If you know Troy, you know what this means....it's not to be missed!

We had the Sister missionaries over for dinner tonight. They loved the boys. The Sister holding Enzo was a nanny in Cambodia before leaving on her mission. I kept telling her that I'm bringing her back to America with me to nanny. Enzo loved her and she was so good with him....fed him dinner without me even having to ask . Loved these sweet sisters. They are the only church members in their family and work so hard here. Both have parents who sell rice and seafood in the markets or street,  so it is a huge sacrifice for them to be serving a mission. 

Fajitas! Tortillas are ridiculously expensive here and I've missed them sorely. No quesadillas, no honey/lime enchiladas...mmmm. So I finally found uncooked Indian Naan (ish) bread in the store and decided to use that in place of tortillas and make fajitas. Not too shabby of a meal.

The spread...burnt rice included.

Enzo ate about half a watermelon....

....the other half landed here. This happens three times a day every day. 

What do you mean we don't have a garbage disposal in the sink?  Good thing I married a handy man with lots of plumbing experience. Take good notes Drey!

First Vietnam Wedding

Troy and I attended our first Vietnamese wedding this weekend. To be honest,  I absolutely love weddings and would be a wedding crasher if I had the guts. So to have been invited to a Vietnamese wedding was very exciting for me.  This is the wedding of a guy named Van who is working with Troy.

Wedding Invitation. The wedding invitation is sent in an envelope with your name on it as seen to the left. In place of a gift, you put money in the envelope and return it to the couple at the reception. Not a bad idea eh?

Our assigned table.....just calling it as it is...nothing cutesy or creative here.

This is the welcoming table where you drop off your red envelope.

I know,  David and Goliath comes to mind :)

The bride and groom being announced into the reception. 

Pouring the champagne fountain. All of the significant reception traditions are done at the very beginning (cutting the cake, etc.) before the dinner is served. 

Appetizers of fried calamari and something else chewy.....check please...I was out at this point.  This was followed by soup, 3 main courses, and dessert.  Troy and Drey ate the food and I went to dinner afterwards.

Drey enjoying a little fried calamari...surprisingly!  (I think the only reason he ate it is because Troy told him it was chicken)

I guess this is what you do when trying to look tough...like throwing gang signs or something? A cowboy wannabe? I don't know?

Second dress for the bride. In Vietnam the women wear 3 - 4 wedding dresses. The wedding pictures showed the bride in at least three different dresses and this red dress was made just  for the reception. There are wedding dress shops everywhere in Vietnam. Custom made wedding dress for cheap...sure I'll take 3 or 4 also.

The bride and groom go around each table and do "cheers" with all of their guests. Please don't judge me on how I look in this picture, I was just wrestling two kids in a room with blaring loud music. Loud room +  not so good food = me leaving with Enzo who was having a bad reaction to it all.

Another Vietnamese wedding tradition.....candy in ears.....actually it's how you keep a two year old entertained after a long night.

Confetti cannons went off a couple times during the program. Drey was all about making sure he got to play in it.  And yes, that's a wall size picture of the couple in the background. It makes the traditional bridal photo we do seem a little chinsy.