Byron Southeast Asia, New Zealand & Australia

Byron went to 7 countries in 7 business days - even Byron's boss who travels a lot has never done that.  This means arriving between 10-midnight at the airport, getting to your hotel really late, waking up early to do a training in the office, then heading to the airport between noon-3.  He was in many of these countries less than 24 hours with no time for sightseeing.  Most of these pictures are from the hotel room and airport.

Auckland, New Zealand - Byron had never been here and was really excited to have the opportunity - other than the extremely long airplane flight and also the lack of time:).

Check out these jerky's - Emu, Aussie, Crocodile & Kangaroo

Byron is standing on top of a volcano as he looks out at the city.  Very windy and luscious green all over the volcano - the other side has the crater which is a sacred spot.

From a restaurant they ate dinner at - just a very beautiful seaport - Auckland. 

Type of ice-cream at the same restaurant listed above and some dessert below.

Sydney, Australia - Byron was also very excited to see this country also.  Of course it was such a quick trip he really wasn't able to enjoy it very much.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera house.

Byron says it is the worst having to stay at a Marriott where he is used to such nicer hotels.  Notice the nice shower in the middle of the floor next to the toilet :).

Bangkok, Thailand - Byron has been here a few times, but always fun to go back again. 

This statue is located in the airport - pretty cool looking.

Check out the super corn ice-cream.  Cannot believe they actually have that flavor - wonder if anybody ever buys it:).

Singapore - Fort Canning Hotel - the bathtub was on top of lava rocks.  Byron plugged in his razor to the wrong plug and tripped the breaker.  It went pitch dark as Byron scrambled to get dressed and go tell the hotel.  Pretty stressful couple of minutes.  I couldn't imagine having to be careful what plug I plugged my things into.

Indonesia - This is a typical Indonesian restaurant where the 2 on the right hand side being Muslim ate the rice that was wrapped in banana leaves using their hands.  The Mormon and the Catholic on the left used forks.  It was pretty awesome for him to watch them eat.  They were actually cleaner than those who used forks.

Talk about "mystery meat."  Byron said he thinks one of the pieces was chicken on a stick, but he wasn't sure.  He just eats it all - a pretty crazy eater in my opinion:).

 Malaysia -

Tallest twin towers in the world - Petrona Towers.

The one Saturday he had on his trip was spent in Malaysia.  He went to Batu Cave.  There is a tall statue out front with many stairs to get up to the cave.  Vicious monkeys all along the way.  Byron was so nervous he was running from one side of the stairs to the other to avoid the monkeys.  I love monkeys and think I would have loved being here, but if they looked vicious, maybe that would have been scary. 

Philippines -  Because of a typhoon, the NuSkin office shut down.  The office was on backup power for 2 hours then the entire office shut down.  He called the Manila temple and surprisingly they were one of the only places open in all of Manila - they were even on a backup generator the whole time.  Amazing wind - tree branches everywhere - pretty scary!

In the Philippines airport - real frogs made into purses.  They feel like thin slimy leather.  You could get a full frog like these or half a frog from the stomach down.  I am so glad Byron didn't surprise us with one of these - pictures are all we need:).

Byron brought these cool things back from Indonesia.  This is a traditional relaxed dress for the women there.  He got Camille & I some fun dresses - very comfortable!  The skirts below are so fun with all of the different materials sewn together.  They both go to the feet, so I cut Camille's at the knees and it makes a very fun skirt for her.

Cloth and candy from New Zealand.

The kids all huddled around Byron enjoying all he was pulling out of his suitcase.

There is a Kiwis bird in New Zealand.  This magnet was one that Byron brought back since he tries to collect one from every place he visits.

Traditional shirts from Indonesia - my cute boys - Parker, Bradley & Carter

Some fun jewelry and turtles.

Johnathan was so excited to see what money Byron brought back for his money collection. 

The Sydney magnet

I am looking forward to travelling with Byron some day to all of these exotic places.

September Part 2

State Fair -  Every year we enjoy going as a family to the State Fair.  We usually try to go one of the first days after opening, but this year we didn't have any time until it was almost over.  I couldn't believe how many animals were gone towards the end of the fair - it was sad since this is one of our favorite parts. 

This bird was almost as tall as Carter & Parker (blue - Parker, red - Carter)

My cute bears - Carter, Johnathan & Parker

Bradley, Johnathan & Camille

This cool clown made some balloon creations for each of the kids.  Bradley asked for a sword and got his wish.  The rest told him to make whatever he wanted.  I got a laugh out of what he made for them.  Carter got a cool alien man hat.  Parker got a vacuum.  Johnathan got a straight white balloon that he called a fluorescent light bulb - we all got a good laugh out of this one.  I guess next time they need to be more specific with what he makes them:).

Dinner was a couple of turkey legs - yum!

Tanner Stake Encampment - Tanner participated along with every YM in our stake in a Stake Encampment.  Byron was out of town so he wasn't able to go with them.  Their plan was to spend the night out west of Lehi, but since it was bad weather they ended up just meeting at the Stake Center that night to enjoy some activities and then went out west on Saturday morning to have some fun with guns.  They had a contest with the shotgun shoot.  Whoever could hit the target the most accurate ended up getting a prize.  The following Sunday during Deacons, the Stake Young Men's came and presented Tanner with the winning prize.  He was pretty darn excited about this.  I felt bad that Byron had missed it.  He got two king size hershey's bars, but had one devoured before I could take this picture.

Draper Park -  We needed a break from the house and headed out to a Draper park after church.  It was a gorgeous day and plenty to keep the 5 boys entertained - Camille wanted to stay home.  We got the wiggles out and even had some water fun.

Johnathan

Bradley

Parker

Carter, Johnathan, Parker & Bradley

Tanner playing soccer with Carter & Parker.

Mom Adamson - Mom had surgery that required her to take a long time off of work.  Since the General RS Meeting was during that time, mom decided to come up to Utah for a break and enjoy some time with her two daughters.  Melissa was able to get us some AWESOME seats to see the General RS Meeting.  Mom had never been in the Conference Center for conference or any of the general meetings so it was extra fun to see her excitement.  I met Mom & Allyson at 3300 South's trax station and rode with them downtown.  It was so nice to not have to deal with traffic.   We got seats on the front section right in front of the podium.  It was nice to see the speakers at such a close distance.  The conference was amazing and so spiritual as usual. 

Mom Beck and Melissa were also there with us along with Melissa's good friend, Jenn.  After the conference we were invited to go with Melissa to the General Board's party.  It was pretty amazing to be up close to these amazing women.  It was fun to see Melissa interact with Sister Beck.  Melissa had been at her new job for a couple of months, so this was an awesome reunion to see.

We had fun spending time with Mom.  The kids all enjoyed that one-on-one time with her since it doesn't happen as often as we'd like. 

Mom is talking with Dad - it was fun to see how excited she was to talk to him.

Bradley made these cute feet at primary and was so excited to come home, cut them out and put them on.  He is one cutie!

Cascade Springs -  The last time Mom went to Cascade Springs with us was when Carter & Parker were about 3 mos. old.  We had fun going again.  The weather was gorgeous and we saw quite the beautiful colors with the leaves changing. 

We came across these cool caterpillars and enjoyed watching them.  The black and orange ones were all over the place - we had to keep our eyes out so we didn't step on them.

Camille had fun taking over the camera and having a photo shoot with the kids.

Parker (blue) & Carter (grey)

We never really got a good group shot with all of the kids together - I have some grumpy children who are not very happy to have the camera come out - especially as often as Mom, Grandma & sister were taking pictures.

Byron went on a multiple country trip for about 2 weeks to South East Asia, New Zealand & Australia.  He was so sweet to send me some roses while he was away.  What a pleasant and fun surprise! 

Court of Honor - Byron got back from his trip just in time to come to the Court of Honor - Johnathan's first one.  Both Johnathan & Tanner have such amazing leaders.  They are so lucky!

Brother Slaugh, Brother Lemon & Brother Nelson are Johnathan's leaders.

Byron is the 2nd Counselor in the YM's so he works with the Deacons.  Brother Whitehead is the Scoutmaster - and an amazing one at that!!!  Tanner loves having his dad in scouts with him.