Wendover Fun Bus....Vietnam Style

I would say the majority of this blog has been focused on our family life here in Vietnam. You may be asking yourself "How is Troy doing with business?" "What is his business life like in Vietnam?" Let me just share a glimpse of Troy's life in Vietnam with you....

Last weekend Troy traveled up North to Ha Noi for a quick weekend "camping" trip with a group of Nu Skin colleagues. Below are some short clips filmed by Troy that I thought were pretty awesome, in a funny kind of way :)

Playing games for $$$$

 Troy said the traveling distance would be comparable to driving from Bountiful to Provo and it took 5 hours!

I am instantly car sick when I watch this video!

The gold urn is full of incense sticks.

The entertainment

Keeping up with tradition....

It is a Holzer tradition that once the grandchildren turn one year old they have their picture taken in the traditional German lederhosen or dirndl outfit. These 8 x 11 pictures sit in a row of 6 across the top of  Jane & Herb's grand piano. There is a likeness to them all (minus the one granddaughter picture), the boys are all standing, the background in dark blue or black, and they are all smiling.

Today we took Enzo for this traditional one year photo. Our first obstacle has been to get Enzo to stand on his own. He is now 13 months old and not quite free standing or even walking. He can scale our furniture and apartment like crazy, but when it comes to letting go and standing on his own, he prefers to take a knee. Our second obstacle is to get Enzo to smile. He is a happy baby but he prefers to keep that a secret and not let you know with any smiles....that's a total give-away. And lastly, how to replicate the blue / black studio background. You would think that this would not be a problem since it's really the basic studio photo background, but we're talking about Vietnam here and pictures tend to get a little creative with photoshop.

Here's a view of the photo shoot:

Can you tell Enzo looks a little concerned about this? He is finding comfort in a plastic banana, which may need to be photoshopped from a couple pictures.

This is the photo team. They worked really, really, hard to get this child to smile. I have never heard such professional bird sounds and clacks of the mouth from a cameraman...seriously!

This room had every toy and prop imaginable. They are prepared for any type of picture  request, except a blue background. All of Enzo's pictures were taken with this white background and we are going to photoshop in the blue. It will be a memory in itself.

After our lederhosen session they offered to take Drey & Enzo's pictures in the traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai's.  Again, this place had it ALL. 

Trying to make magic happen, getting two kids to smile and look at the camera at the same time...

impossible! Enzo would not have anything to do with wearing the hat.

This was the hit of the day, a remote control car that Drey and Enzo could ride inside. Drey has asked me no less than 20 time this afternoon if we can go back to the picture taking place. I'm pretty sure this car has everything to do with that request.

Scootermania!

So my life has become pretty routine here in Vietnam. I do have to admit that I tend to stay in my comfort zone while somehow being completely out of my comfort zone.....ya know, the whole living in a foreign country thing.  There is not much I dare to venture out and see with a 1 year old and 3 year old, by myself, in a country that I do not speak the language.  Can you blame me? To keep my mother calm and let her know that I am still alive and do see the outdoors from time to time, I have started taking pictures of other scooters while I am riding on the back of ours. This was Tuesday's view while scootering to Troy's YM activity at the Vietnam History Museum:

Vietnam, cleanest place ever! I own one of these brooms and they are awesome, especially with sticky rice and noodles on the floor.

Delivery man

Notice the shadow.  Those are a bunch of aluminum bars that are hanging 10' off the front AND back of this guys scooter!  That is one skilled balancing act.

Four jugs in the trunk and two in the passenger seat....

One hand on the wheel....one hand holding a printer...no sweat!

The parking lot. Imagine forgetting where you parked?  Scooters are light weight so it's a pretty common practice to have your scooter moved around after you park it to make room for more scooters. 

And a few pics from the Museum:

Troy has this same picture taken from 2000 when he first visited Vietnam. 

This is Giang Young. The Young family moved from Utah to Vietnam two months before we arrived and their older boys are the only two boys in YM.  She has an amazing story about leaving Vietnam after the War on a boat and fleeing to Australia. She spent 9 days at sea on a small boat with no drinking water and only eating the fish from the ocean. She gives all credit to the Lord that no one in their group died.

Enzo and Drey say it all in this picture.   It was REALLY HOT in the Museum.

Sorry, camera battery died after this pic.....We ended with lunch at Two for One Tuesday at Dominoes Pizza :)

I was born October 13, 1977....

To celebrate October 13, 2012:  

Buffet lunch at the Sheraton Hotel

DELICIOUS!!

Followed with a little cake and singing

                                                     
                                     ps...my Vietnamese name is Vy :)

Then to really indulge on my birthday I opened a bag of my almond M&M's.... it was glorious!

                                               

Cats & Dogs!

It has been raining cats & dogs here in Vietnam! (don't really get that statement, but I'll use it). Because of the heavy rain we have had an uneventful week and a lot of apartment time....really fun! There have also been multiple power outages and crazy lightning and thunder storms (not my favorite). In Utah, as I remember it, it rains for about an hour (+ or -) and then the skies will clear and become blue again and maybe even a rainbow will peek out. In Vietnam it downpours until the streets are flooded and then the skies remain grey and gloomy.

How many people can you get under one rain poncho??

At least 4, a diaper bag, backpack and computer!
  Nothing stops us from scootering home from church.

I'm thinking that the power outages have something to do with this electrical wiring....

....or maybe this one.

Here's what happens when we're stuck in the apartment:

Enzo has discovered climbing on the TV console....Drey has discovered he likes pulling him down, big surprise.

We watch lots of cartoons....THANK GOODNESS for the Disney Asia station that plays Phineas and Ferb a million times a day. 

And I put Enzo right to work scrubbing my toilets....with his hands!

Can't wait for rainy season to be over....I'm really missing the Fall weather in Utah.