Drey's Birthday Celebration

We have some important events coming up this week, one being Drey's big 3 year mark in life. Due to Troy's tight schedule we decided to have a little celebration tonight in honor of our first offspring. I think the night was a success:

I was running a little low on baking pans (I have two), so I made dirt cups for dessert in place of a birthday cake.

The menu: watermelon, salad, Mexican rice, and the spiciest enchiladas ever!  Enchiladas are a little difficult to make in Vietnam since tortillas are so expensive. However, as luck would have it, I found a guy from California that moved over here to sell Mexican supplies. I ordered fresh flour tortillas and green enchilada sauce from his company Saigon Tacos. Now if only my taste buds could handle the spice. 

Dinner guests: Krystal Taylor (works with Troy and staying with us this month), Johnny and Betsye Park (friends from the Branch). You should know the rest....

Drey and Jack jumping on Drey's bed. Jack is Johnny and Betsye's  little boy. They have become good buds recently and play really well together. It's  been great for Drey to have a little friend.

Drey blowing out the three candles in his dirt cup.

Opening presents. Gifts included marvel comic pens, a new tractor book, a dump truck matchbox and......

a new scooter! Drey was pretty excited to get his new scooter.  I'm hoping he enjoys  doing laps around the 17th floor since we don't have much of a neighborhood.

Enjoying our dirt cups.....Drey, Melissa, me, Betsye, Jack, Troy & Jake

Drey got a special card today from his Bachan. Our friend Thanh flew into HCM this morning and delivered oatmeal (YES!) and birthday cards. Good timing!

My First Custom Clothing Experience

Something BIG is about to happen in Vietnam. In preparation I decided to try a different approach to shopping and instead have my clothes custom made. There are a gazillion tailors in Vietnam that all make custom clothes with often a 24 hour turn around. We decided to try a little shop called Tricia & Verona's.

Verona taking the measurments.
As for Drey...the sun never sets on cool :) 

Giving a verbal description of what I would like made. These ladies can make any clothing item from drawings, photos, magazines, or descriptions,  it's awesome!

Just a small portion of the materials to choose from.

I'll post some pictures of the end result in a few days...

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 :)