Home for the Holidays (Post #3)

Pretty much every time I have visited Ben's family in Oregon his mom has asked that we all drive up together and visit her sister and family in Washington. EVERY time we don't go because none of the kids want to make the trek. I will admit that I am not innocent. The first time we went up there, when Ben and I were engaged, she wanted to drive up the day after we had arrived. We had just driven like 15 hours overnight from Los Angeles and the last thing I wanted to do was to climb back into a car and drive another 3-4 hours, so I said no. It was actually quite a funny experience because that was the first time Ben actually had to choose between agreeing with his future wife or agreeing with his mother. I remember him saying to me, "but my MOM is saying we have to go."  He made the right choice. Haha. This time, everyone agreed to make the drive up there and I am so glad we did. We spent a few hours in the car driving up to Puyallup Washington. The drive was beautiful and we had time to spend to catch up with Ben's brother, Archie who came in our car. Once we arrived we got to see Elizabeth, her two sons Jonny and Noah, and Jonny's kids. It's been a few years since we had seen these guys so it was fun to just hang out and catch up. The drive back kind of felt like forever, but I was happy when we stopped at Taco Bell and got me a burrito.  I didn't eat much of the Filipino food at Elizabeth's, only because I was "saving" my appetite for the many American places I had on my list.  A Taco Bell burrito tastes pretty good after 5 months of no Mexican food.  This was a really fun day and I am so glad the whole family made the trip!

The family enjoying a good meal

Oh, did I mention Teddy came along for the trip.  He LOVED cuddling with me.  It was adorable.

Anyone want a snack?

Home for the Holidays (Post #2)

Day 2 in the USA we were on our way to Oregon.  I was WAY too excited and also paranoid we would sleep in so I really didn't sleep at all but we made it onto our flight no problem.  I got myself some pink berry yogurt at the LA airport and a nice magazine to read.  We had a short layover in Reno and found ourselves even more cold than the night before.  We had left all of our winter clothes in Utah in our storage unit so we just had to make due with the very few long sleeve shirts and hoodies we had with us.  Once we arrived in Portland we were really starting to feel the excitement of being home and seeing family.  We picked up our rental car, only realizing while in line that we were going to have to purchase the CRAZY expensive insurance from the rental company because we no longer have valid car insurance in the United States.  That put a tiny damper on my excitement because it was a ridiculous amount of money, but I didn't let it get me down for long.  Once we got onto the freeway and on our way, I could barely contain myself.   Oregon is a beautful state and driving on the wide open road was almost shocking to my system.  We hadn't driven above 35 miles per hour in Cebu and therefore 60 felt like we were flying.

Before even going to our hotel we went straight to Ben's parent's house.  We were looking forward to seeing all the family.  Archie and Cowdery had both made the trip home from Hawaii and Utah so the family was all there.  We also got to meet the newest member of the Crisanto family, Teddy.   He is this tiny little dog that nuzzles up and falls asleep on your neck.  How could I not love him?  We greeted everyone, hugs all around and then went off to our hotel to check in and for Ben to get a much needed nap.  While he slept, I made the stupid decision that I would go and get our rental car issue taken care of.  We had been informed that if we rented with American Express they have their own rental car insurance and we could remove some of what we were paying for from the rental.  I made it to the rental car place with no incidents, but got lost on my way back.  It was actually kind of scary because the car was much bigger than the one we drive in Cebu, I didn't know my way around and it was dark.  I was not happy about that experience.  But, I made it to Ben's parents house and they led me back to the hotel.

That night was a ton of fun.  Ben's dad was singing in a church choir at a Christmas festival so the whole family went (minus DJ who was going to be an extra in some movie).  I was very excited that everyone was there to enjoy this night together because in the past I have kind of felt like a nag trying to get them all to participate in the same things together. (and they will tell you, I can be quite a nag).  It ended up being more of a sing along than the choir singing for us, but it definitely got us all in the Christmas spirit.  It felt awesome to be surrounded by family singing the songs of Christmas.  We were home!  Afterwards we went to Ben's favorite restaurant for dinner, Red Robin.  We always go to Red Robin when we are in Salem, but this time it tasted better than I remembered.  I ordered the BLT Crossaint and a peach diet coke and could not have been happier.  This started our two weeks of non-stop eating.  We had missed so many different places that we had to fit them all in.  It was fun to spend the evening with family and get the holiday started right.

Home for the Holidays (Post #1)

We were lucky enough to be able to come "home" from the Philippines for the holidays.  As I am sure you have gathered from some of my posts our first few months here in Cebu were hard.  I have never really experienced culture shock like that and although we had started to really feel settled and more at home, one of the things that got me through was the fact that I knew we would be in the USA for Christmas.  As the days got closer I actually started to worry that I had been so excited about this trip that maybe there was no way it could be as great as I was hoping.  Well, lucky for me, it lived up to and exceeded every expectation I had.  We were home for two weeks and had tonz of fun so I am sure this will be the first of a few posts to share the experience.

We flew out of Cebu on Monday, December 20th at about 7:00 PM and arrived in Los Angeles on Monday, December 20th at about 8 PM. It's such an odd feeling to live the same day twice. We had a very brief layover in Hong Kong, just long enough to walk through the airport and remind me how much I LOVE everything Chinese.  I told Ben...."remind me again why we live in the Philippines and not China".   Obviously, there is a reason, we just haven't figured out exactly what that is yet:).  Even in the HK airport we noticed tiny things that we had kind of forgotten, drinking fountains, clean bathrooms, toilet paper provided in the bathrooms, and so on and so forth.  It made us just that much more excited to be on our way to the US of A.

My first  Hong Kong Christmas experience (hopefully not my last)

Arriving in Los Angeles

We arrived in LA late enough that we just went straight to our hotel.  When we stepped outside into the rainy Los Angeles weather we realized we were in for a "treat".  We were FREEZING!  We had left 90 degree weather.  When we realized we were cold in LA we knew we were in trouble.  What were we going to do in Utah?   We got to our hotel and the first thing I did was draw myself a hot bath.   Bathtubs are pretty rare in Cebu.  The beach house actually did have one, but when you run the water and it comes out rust colored and smelling of sulphur you kind of lose the desire to sit in it.  While I took a bath Ben ordered Papa Johns pizza along with a 2 liter diet coke.  Uh.....YUMM!  We have Pizza Hut and some other pizza places here but nothing that even comes close to Papa Johns.  Also, the soda in Cebu tastes different.  Some people like it more, but I like it a lot less.  One sip of that diet coke and I realized why I was addicted to the stuff for so long.  It was a great welcome back. 

Blogging....sigh!

So, I REALLY want to tell you all about the amazing month we have had. We have done so much, seen so many people and fun things that I want to share.....but I feel like it just takes up so much time and energy.  Blogging is like writing in my journal.  If I go too long without doing it, then I start to feel that there is just too much to write about and I can't get myself to start.  Right now, that's how I feel about blogging.  Also, I go to other people's blogs and their posts seem so well thought out, so impactful.  I feel this pressure to live up to those types of standards.  But, today I am here to tell myself and you that I can't do it so I am not going to.  I want to blog, will blog, and if the pictures are dumb or the things that I say seem random and not well thought out...so be it! Also  I might be posting 10 posts in the next couple of days because it has been a full month.  I don't normally like to do that because I want to give people some time to see that something new has been posted and comment on it (wink wink) but I gotta stop thinking about it like that and just do it!  Enjoy, haha.

Christmas-Shangri La Style

The Knowltons, Rock Star Style at the "Members Only" party at the Shangri La

We were required to wear "flowing white"....not sure what that means.   Ben looks pretty hot in his Barong though, right?

If any of you think this picture is a little inappropriate...I agree:).  His excuse was that this firedancer is also an agent at his call center.  Gotta make a living!

So glad we get to share these fun times with friends.  It was a great night of fire dancers, drumming, good food, Brazilian martial arts and awesome awards (I got a free foot massage at the spa).

"flowing white".  I guess we did pretty good.  Who ever thought we would be in a tropical paradise for a Christmas Party?

Ben LOVES this little boy! While we were home in the US he even said to me, "I miss Beau". 

The little Christmas village was up in the Shangri La lobby the whole month of December.

The Christmas decor made us feel right at home

Back in the U.S.A

We have officially been in the United States for 48 hours and have loved every minute of it.  Some of the little things that we have enjoyed so far:

Public drinking fountains

 

Toilet seat covers, toilet paper provided and even the fact that there is a toilet seat



Being able to drink water from the tap without the worry of getting sick (and in Oregon it tastes great)

Good food that we have missed.  So far we have had Papa John's pizza, Red Robin and Taco Bell and we have a whole list of places we will be visiting.

Dogs as pets.  Some people in Cebu do have dogs, but it is more common to see sad, injured, sick strays.  I love seeing people love their dogs.




Wide open roads with no traffic....and driving above 30mph.

 


Although I have sworn off aspertame for the past 3 months...while on vacation I have to take advantage of my favorite drink ever!  Do the DEW!



 We have also loved spending time with family, but I can't find my chord to download pictures so I will post about that later.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to live in the Philippines, but being home is fun and we are going to take advantage of every second.

Kawasan Falls

A few weekends ago I was lucky enough to take some people from work to a place called Kawasan Falls. The drive was 3.5 hours and we were staying less than 24 hours. I wasn't sure it was going to be worth it.  Boy was I wrong. The house we stayed in was gorgeous, with a huge pool and it's own beachfront. Then, we went to the falls and all I could think the entire time was "I am so lucky! How do I get so lucky to see and experience places like this?"


My team enjoying the water and the view.





The Philippines is very Catholic and their religion is very important to them.  I thought this little alter was gorgeous and in such a beautiful setting.  There is nothing like the seeing amazing natural beauty that reminds me more of my Heavenly Father.  While walking next to the river on the way down from the falls the words to "How Great Thou Art" kept running through my mind. 



PM4 enjoying the "massage" of the 3rd level of falls.  This is a GREAT group.  We all have a blast together.  It was a nice change to be in cold, refreshing water too.

Ben (our team mascot) got to come on the excursion as well.  We are so lucky to be sharing these experiences.

The huge, gorgeous house that we stayed in (right on the beach too)

For more pictures go here