Corey's Birthday

We celebrated Corey's 39th Birthday this month! A kind family from our branch invited us over to their home for dinner and birthday cake. We had a lovely time!

Preparing the dinner table

Making homemade Dosa

The Birthday Boy enjoying his feast!


Since Eric was at a school dance, Paige invited her best friend.
I was so proud of them for their good manners and tasting most of the food.

Chocolate Birthday Cake.

They even took the trouble to find the candled numbers "39"

Our Friends

Weddings

Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to attend 2 weddings. I wanted to share a few pictures from each.

The first wedding was an arranged marriage of one of our security guards. When we arrived, we were immediately taken to the front of the ceremony and given chairs to sit in (everyone else was on the floor). It was an awkward and embarrassing moment for me. Luckily, my good friend was there - who is experienced in this sort of thing - so I followed her lead and stayed calm and smiled.


This is the reception hall. We planned it so we would arrive for the reception only, but they were running 2 hours behind so no one was there. We jumped back in the car and drove to the ceremony.


Me and Paige



Now we are at the ceremony where the bride and groom are receiving advice and blessings I guess. It was all in Tamil so not quite sure. The minister had a bible out so that was a good sign.



As you can see, I was so far up front that I was practically facing the bride and groom.

They had a small band that would play music in between the talking. Sounded very much like polka music.

The vocalist

It is official! They are married. Don't they look so happy? This was the expression on their faces the whole time. My friend and I were waiting for one of them to pass out or lose their lunch, if you know what I mean.

A group shot at the receiving line. Since everything ran so late, and it was a school night, we opted to go home instead of back to the reception.

Three friends!

The second wedding was also arranged. The groom was a co-worker of Corey's. The ceremony for this one was at 4:30am - customary for Hindu weddings. We opted to go to the reception which took place in the evening. It took 1 1/2 hours to get there - we waited in line to say hi to the happy couple - ate some food for a few minutes - then 1 1/2 hours back home. I think our total time at the reception hall was 30 minutes.

The bride and groom. Why the long faces again? I really don't know.

A traditional Indian wedding dinner. Little piles of food and bread on a large banana leaf. To be eaten with your right hand. The kids ate a little bread and the ice cream. I actually ate all of my food (while quietly praying inside that I wouldn't regret it the next day). I was hungry.

Family shot.

What you don't see are the two guys directly in front of us that "babysat" us while we ate. I think they were assigned to "the Americans" to make sure we knew what we were doing. It was very thoughtful of them but awkward to be stared at the whole time. You'd think I would be used to it by now.....not yet.

TIP: Did You Know......

Did you know that if you......DOUBLE CLICK ON ANY PHOTO IN THIS BLOG IT WILL GET SUPER BIG and you'll be able to see it much better? Try it!

Back to Real Life

The First Day of School:







The kids have been back to school for almost a month now. I thought I would let you know what a "routine" week is like for our family.



I wake up at 5:15am to DRAG Eric out of bed for swim practice. He is out the door by 5:50am and insists on not brushing his hair because the kids on the swim team have a contest on who has the best "bed head". He practices from 6:15am - 8:00am. School starts at 8:30am so he has time to shower and grab a snack before he is due in class.



Now that I'm the only one awake, I take this precious quiet time to eat breakfast and read the scriptures before I wake Paige up at 6:45am. And SHE TAKES SO LONG TO GET UP!!!!!! She doesn't get downstairs until 7:30am and all she's done is showered and dressed! So now we are in a rush to get her fed, packed, and out the door by 7:55am. So wake her up earlier you say? It doesn't work. Some subconscious something tells her she can't be downstairs until 7:30am.

In the midst of the morning, Corey is bustling around getting ready for work and leaves anywhere between 6:30am and 8:00am.

Okay, so it's 8:00am, everyone is gone, what do I do? Well, I keep myself busy by:

• doing household chores
• exercising
• emailing, blogging
• FamilySearch Indexing (very fun)
• scrapbooking
• shopping for food, clothes, or other
• going out to lunch with friends
• planning Sunday lesson
• taking care of projects around the house
• reading
• socializing with friends at the school
• and more shopping : )

School is out by 3:15pm for Paige and she usually has an after school activity that lasts until 4:30pm. This quarter she is taking yoga, jewelry making, and an "environment saving" class. Eric is out by 3:45pm and he hangs around with friends until we FINALLY make our way out of the school and home by 5:15pm.

We jump right in to homework, practicing piano (lessons on Tuesdays), dinner, family scripture study, and in bed by 8:30am with lights out at 9:00pm! Corey gets home at all different times of the evening. He really tries to make it home for dinner, but then usually has meetings via telephone in the evening with people in the U.S.

And then there are the special things that pop up. Such as this week, we have 2 weddings to go, plus Paige and Corey's birthdays. Friday night we are going to celebrate with friends who are Indian and Saturday night we are celebrating with our expat friends.

AND we've had a wrench thrown into things...........it is believed that our landlord has sold the house so now we are back to house hunting. We will be spending most of this Saturday doing that lovely task. So I think there is yet another move in the near future.

So it's a simple life, maybe even boring at times, but our family is together and having fun. We have been truly blessed with many spiritual and material things of which we are so grateful so you'll hear no complaints here!