Ian's Birthday and Baptism

Ian turned 8 years old in December. He's been looking forward to his birthday for many, many months. Not only does he love that his birthday is close to Christmas which means "double the presents" but he was also excited and wanted to be baptized.

To celebrate his birthday, we had a party in our clubhouse with many of his friends. The boys ran around and played, ate homemade chili (Ian's favorite food),

enjoyed Minecraft cupcakes,

and went bowling.

It was fun to watch our friends from England who were bowling for the first time - they had a fantastic time. All the kids had a good time and Ian loved the attention. It was a very happy birthday for our sweet Idoo!

One of the best parts about turning 8 is being old enough to be baptized. 

Ian chose to be have this special ordinance performed in Utah during our holiday vacation so lots of family members could attend, including grandmas and grandpas,

Aunts, Uncles, cousins,

 and especially his favorite cousin and best friend, Zyon.

During the baptismal program, the cousins along with Cade, Abby, and Leah sang Ian's favorite song, The Army of Helaman (We'll Bring the World His Truth). It made Ian very happy. Then he was baptized by his Dad.

Ian received a new set of scriptures with a cool scripture case and some other nice gifts to help him remember this wonderful day.

It was a very special day!

We're so glad Ian is part of our family. He fills our lives with joy and laughter. He has a great imagination, an endless amount of jokes, insightful thoughts and ideas, and a love for life and others. We love our Ian!

Inspiration Lake Homeschool Activity

It was a beautiful sunny day, a perfect day to be at the park with friends.

We met up with many of our homeschool group friends and went to Inspiration Lake.

We rode the Disneyland Express train to get to the park - the girls on one side,

and the boys on the other.

The kids had a great time running around, riding scooters, playing at the playground, riding a surrey bike (a 4-6 person, 4 wheeled carriage with 2 forward facing seats - sorry no pictures), and paddle boating.

With 2 boats, we raced (slow as a snail) around the lake

often using our arms to rest our tired legs.

It was a fun filled day with friends at a beautiful park that we hope to visit again.

Leah's Thoughts on the Philippines

I was excited to go to the Philippines.

It was a fun plane ride.

 I liked Roxas. Going to church and eating the pastries was cool.

A lady wanted a picture with me and her daughter.

 I think it was this cute girl's first time playing with a pen so Abby took a picture of us.

I got to ride on a motorcycle.

 I liked the Jeepney. It was cool.

I even got to ride on top.

Riding in the taxis was cool too. It was fun to look behind us.

My Dad caught a gecko and it climbed all over him, but not on his face. These geckos are on the ceilings and walls of all the houses and buildings.

 I wanted to ride the carabao but I held his tail instead.

Swimming in the river was fun. My friends helped me to swim.

They made 3 big bowls of popcorn. The popcorn was very yummy!

One day they cut down a sugar cane for us. You chew on it and then spit it out. It's very good.

 We made pizza with this plant. We put it in the dough of the pizza. 

 The pizza was very good!

We went to Boracay. The water was crystal clear. The sand was soft and not very hot. I liked playing in the sand. Afterwards, we gave our beach toys to the nice family that we made pizza with.

I liked the Philippines. The people are very nice and I made lots of friends.

Philippines Trip (by Ian)

I was scared to go to the Philippines but then I got braver. It was an ok trip, better than I thought it would be.

The aeroplane was a long trip. 

I liked riding the taxis.

The jeepney was fun too.    

I rode on top and inside.

The Philippine people were kind. 

The Burgos family let us stay at their home. 

The chickens were fun to watch. 

The mall in Roxas is cool. All of the hotels were nice too. 

The distribution of the Liahona Children’s Foundation was cool. Helping people felt good. I liked sorting the food.

Leah and her friends were cute at the party 

and the games were fun.

President Jake was funny and 

the missionaries were nice. 

We helped a cool family make pizza. The pizza was one of the best.

I also liked the beach in Boracay. 

It had  very clear water and soft sand. I liked swimming.

I'm glad I went to the Philippines. It made me really happy to help other people.

Philippines Trip (Abby's perspective)

My Philippines Trip

Day 1:  We flew to Manila then to Roxas. We were picked up in the Jeepney and rode on that to the hotel.  

Day 2: In the morning we went out exploring and found a big chess game in a park. We played one BIG game. It was fun and hot.       

Later we went to a school that Sister Vicky teaches at. 

There were a few boys following us and giggling. It was interesting to see what a big difference in size between them and Ian.

That night went to the Roxas Stake Center. There was a big party with all the primary kids we played games like… 

Musical Chairs,

Maria went to town,

a Philippine piñata

and a few other games.

Day 3: Today we went to the Roxas Stake Center and did the Liahona Children's Foundation (LCF) distributions.   

There were about 20-25 kids. We were trying to play with them but truthfully they were all pretty shy. This adorable little girl is named princess and she is the daughter of the Brother who drove us around.

    

The next place we went to do the distributions was in Pari-an. 

There was a cute old lady in a red dress, who was very friendly. Church is held at her house. I love how kind and friendly people are in the Philippines. 

Next we went to a town called President Roxas. We tried to play a few games with the kids there but they were too shy and we had to play by ourselves.   

Next we went to Estancia.

Leah and this cute little girl were coloring together (more or less). It was cute because when I gave her the pen and paper I had to help her a little bit to use the pen right and make lines.

As usual all the members were a little shy but nice. 

Next up Manoling to stay for the night. We had to stop and buy a few supplies for the ride. While we were waiting we watched the people go by and when they waved we waved back it was funny to see their reactions. 

On the dirt road some people rode on the top but I just went on the back with Audrey.

It was fun on the back. It started to rain but it did not bother me much. Later the rain started to pour down and we all had to go inside. When we got to Manoling, they welcomed us with dinner. Their house had a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom, a family room, and side barn type structure on the side of the house. We slept in one of the bedrooms.

Day 4: I woke up early due to a restless sleep and noisy roosters. A few hours later we went to church. 

The church building is brand new and so nice. 

After church we did some more LCF distributions. Dad had a meeting with some of the leaders. 

While we waited for him to finish we taught the kids how to play "Down by the Banks" It was so fun. 

Later that day, we went to the river to see their new bridge and to swim. It was really cool to swim around, skip rocks, and play with each other. 

Day 5: Monday morning we went to the waterfalls in the pouring rain. I did not like it.

Before we left Manoling, we jumped rope with our new friends and ate popcorn.

We took a few pictures with everyone.

Including one of Leah and her new lola (grandma). 

It was so cute and awesome to see her picking Leah up and hugging her.

We drove to Roxas and had FHE with the stake president, Sister Vicky  and some sister missionaries.

It was really fun. We played games and had treats. 

Day 6: We traveled to another city, called Kalibo. We did another LCF distribution.

It was cool this time because we helped sort the food supplements. There was soya milk powder, peanut butter, and baby cereal.

It was really fun.

Day 7: Today we did our last LCF distribution. Afterwards we helped make pizza. 

Then we drove to the pier to get on a boat to go to Boracay. That night we went to the beach 

and played on the beautiful beach. It was awesome.

Day 8: We went to the beach early.

Poor Cade did not feel good. He got a little food poisoning. Luckily it didn't last long and he soon came to play on one of the best beaches. Not everything goes great.

That afternoon we went back to Kalibo to stay over night because we could not get to Roxas unless it was the middle of the night.

Day 9: We woke up and drove to Roxas and left to catch our plane to Manila and finally back to Hong Kong.

I liked Boracay and Roxas.
My favorite part was Boracay.
I loved the beach because the water was crystal clear and the sand was perfectly white. I was scared to go to Manoling because people told me there were bugs and it was totally black at night but I'm still alive.