Amanda came to Boise!!!

Friday::
Amanda arrived in Boise at 7:00 am on Friday! KG picked her up on his way home from work. That's really early for us around here so she went and did a temple session. Once the girls and I were awake and ready we just awaited her call to come and get her. We were so excited to see her! She doesn't get to eat out much and doesn't' have any variety in China so we planned to show her all the yumminess we have here the entire weekend! We took her out to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Amigos. After that we all needed naps. Later, while I worked, KG took the girls swimming and Amanda joined us after she woke. She watched Flower swim and Flower loved that! That evening we took her to Texas Roadhouse.
When we were leaving their was this cool motorcycle in the parking lot. Amanda stuck Flower on and I snapped a quick picture. :)
After dinner we were all beat. My boss was so generous in allowing Amanda to stay in our fully furnished executive suite. She said she slept better here than any point on her vacation. That made me happy and I was glad to give her some space and alone time. She said she enjoyed watching HGTV and TLC, things she doesn't get to watch in China.
Saturday::
Amanda came over around 11:00. She and Flower had some girl time. They ate yogurt, which Amanda doesn't get in China and was very excited about, and did their nails.
Amanda brought a very pretty pink color and some flower stickers.
Flower was in heaven!!!


Flower was so excited to show EVERYONE! She was constantly admiring them.
After that they watched Flower's current favorite Princess movie that she's borrowing from Buffalo.
Eventually we were all starving for lunch! We took her to Bangkok Thai. It was yummy as usual.
Pretty nails for some pretty cute girls.
While we ate our food, River had a bottle. I swear she loses more down her chin and neck then makes it into her mouth!

After lunch we took her to our favorite snow shak for a shaved ice. When we got home we were all ready for naps!
I decided I'd take advantage of everyone being asleep and take a bath and read. After my bath I blow dry my hair. Every time I do that River sits in the doorway and just stares!
Saturday evening we had a big BBQ for everyone to come meet Amanda. We were excited to introduce her to people that are in Flower's life. We had a great time and I'm excited about the conversation Kris and I had with her about getting help for the babies and working on some prospective contacts!























Sunday::
Sunday morning we took her to Jim's Coffee shop for breakfast. I really wanted her to meet Joni! We enjoyed ourselves and Joni was hyper as ever. :) After that we went to church. It was so nice to have her at church with us and be able to introduce her to everyone.
After church we made a visit to Brenda who gave her one of her famous blown glass necklaces! It was so pretty and I love that she'll have one to wear just like the rest of the women in our ward.
Then we took her to Fanci Freez. We had to show her the best milk shakes in town. My other friend Amanda, from church, met us there as well. We enjoyed lunch and milkshakes there and had a nice visit.
We came home for some much needed naps!
That evening, because Jerry had been out of town, he and Kris came over for a visit so he could meet her.
I love this photo of Riv cuddling up to Jer.
We talked for a couple of hours and then decided we were hungry so we headed for Delsa's. More yummy ice cream!
As if that wasn't enough for one day we then went to my older brothers house to celebrate Lomad and Zach's birthdays. We had a nice visit there as well.
This is the point in the evening when she should have been getting on the bus for a long ride back to Salt Lake. But Kris and Jer so generously arranged for her to fly on Southwest instead! She didn't have to catch the flight until the next day at 1:30 pm so that gave us more time with her! I was so touched and so grateful for that. My love for them just continues to grow deeper. She was also very grateful!
After saying our goodnights Flower got to work making Amanda a blanket. She loved being able to do it by herself, with a tiny bit of help and was very proud of it.

We hope as she cuddles up with it in China that it will be like a nice hug from Flower!
KG and Flower took her to the airport at 12:30
We can't wait to see her again, which incidentally isn't going to be too long. We are so thankful she made the time to spend with us!
She is an amazing lady and we are so blessed to have her in our lives!

Amanda's in the states!!!

We found out last week that Amanda in China, who raised Flower until she was 21 months old, was in Utah! We were so excited. We were thrilled that KG just happened to have Saturday, Sunday, Monday off. We were overjoyed that Amanda and Flower would get the chance to see each other after two years of being apart.

Saturday morning we packed it up and headed out. We made it to Utah about 4:20 pm and went straight to the hotel. It was brand new and still smelled of new carpet. Loved it! The decor in the room and the colors were just my style and we couldn't have been happier. We had quick baths and were out the door by 4:45. We met Marco and Steph at Fuddruckers for dinner. We talked and talked and finally went to their place to play games and talk some more. It was so nice to finally get to know Stephanie and spend time with the two of them. She is a cute little pregnant lady and I can hardly wait for this baby to be born! Flower loved her. Stephanie bought her ice cream and watched her play video games. Flower dragged her wherever she could.


We had been eating Nerds as evidenced by Stephanie's tongue. :)
Flower absolutely adores Marco. She would just randomly say, "I love you Marco"
I can probably safely say the feelings are mutual.


Sunday we slept in till 10:30! All of us. It was wonderful. We lounged a bit and left for lunch at noon. We went to a really good restaurant, new to us, called Noodles and Company. We liked it a lot. Then we finally went in search of Amanda! She was staying at her friend Stephanie's house. Steph was a gracious host and welcomed us and fed us and we had a great time. We arrived at 1:00 pm and invaded her home until 10:00 pm. We had such a lovely time getting to know them and reconnecting with Amanda. It was really touching that when we pulled up to the house Amanda came to the car. She peaked in the window and Flower turned to me and got the biggest smile and twinkle in her eye and said, "Is that my Manda?!" You could see it in her eyes that she 'knew' who this was. There was an immediate connection there. She always calls her Amanda when we talk about her but when she lived in China she called her Manda so I think it's very cute that she reverted back to that as soon as she saw her. We were so comfortable all day and just really enjoyed everyone's company. Stephanie was very easy to be around and we have lots of stuff in common. Stephanie's sister and her husband were in town from Boise as well so she had a big dinner, also inviting her other sister that lives in Utah. When I found out she had a sister and parents in Boise I asked her what her maiden name was. She said Sipe. I recognized the name but just couldn't place it. It wasn't until her Utah sister came over and she said, "Oh Kristen's here" that it clicked. I went to high school with Kristen so it was really fun to meet her husband and cute daughter. It was just a really great day. I am so grateful that we were able to come and see Amanda and spend time with her like this.She has grown her hair out since last we saw her and it's very flattering on her. I love it.

As we were leaving Amanda put this hat on Flower. She didn't waste anytime turning into a ham. She was pretty pleased with herself and she had us all laughing.
We call this her Chinese face, getting those eyes as squinted as possible without being closed. :)


When we got back to the hotel we went for a swim. It was River's first! She actually loved it. Thankfully the water was a great temperature. KG and I had gone to Target earlier in the day and found this swimsuit. I fell in love with the apples. So cute. She apparently loved it as much as we did! With those eyes I can see why people ask us if she's Asian. :)
Flower loves her Strawberry Shortcake suit that someone gave her as a hand-me-down. It was her first time wearing it and she could hardly wait!
This is probably the funnest time I've had with Flower in a pool. We laughed and laughed and she was more confidant and trusted me so I was able to throw her around and have fun without her screaming and being scared. Lots of fun.

While in the hot tub we met a really nice guy from New York who happened to be LDS. We told him all about Amanda and China and all the things she does there. He was very interested in all of it. Then he and KG got into a great conversation about paintball. He has seven kids and that's one of the things he loves to do with them. He was also a bishop and did that with his ward youth. Super nice and interesting guy.

Monday morning we took it easy. River was sound asleep on the bed as we were getting ready.
We went to the new Draper Temple. I liked it much better in the photos I had seen because it looked white. Although I love how square it is, it's not my favorite color, being grey. The overcast and snow didn't help.


The windows are neat though.
It's also in a neighborhood with castles for homes. Geez.
That is one house in the center and this photo makes it look small. It also wasn't the largest one there, just the easiest to photograph. Nothing like making you feel inadequate right before you go into the temple. :)
From there we went to IKEA. We went with good intentions of getting a new bed for Flower. I will write a separate post on that. However, what we neglected to think about was how we'd get it all home! Once we got out to the car, in a blizzard mind you, we realized we were in trouble! Poor KG was out in the storm loading and unloading the car several times to make things fit. We had to switch River's car seat to behind me so we could put the seat behind him down. The girls were basically in a cave and unable to get out once in.
KG and I couldn't even see each other unless we leaned forward.
But hey, he made it work! The funniest is when he got it all in the first time and then tried to get in his seat. He had put his seat all the way forward not taking into account he would need to sit in it. His head was touching the visor and his gut was hanging over the steering wheel. I could not stop laughing. Dang me for not getting a photo. He had to get out and start all over. No easy feat since there were three boxes, the lightest box being 180 pounds!!! There was also two good sized bins and our luggage. We were jam packed! Through all of that it wasn't even stressful because he's always so calm. I love my big strong man.
After that madness we went to Marco's work for one last visit and chatted for a bit. We were finally on the road by about 4:00 pm. We made it home by 9:30. Not bad!

I am so grateful for this trip. I needed the getaway with my family and it was made even better by those we spent time with. It's so awesome to reconnect with people and feel like no time has passed. We are so lucky to have amazing friends in our lives and especially ones that adore our children! The whole trip really meant a lot to me.