Ombre

I know, I know, I am so ADD about my hair color.  I have been brown or blonde I swear at least 3 times in the last year. So on Saturday my friend Joslin asked me if I could take her to her hair appointment and I was happy to do so.  I went with zero intentions of getting my own hair done.  It was at a wonderful womans home in Sandy and her name is Stephanie Ewell (if you live in Utah, you HAVE to go to her.) So Joslin is getting her hair done and I fell so in love with it (and in love with Stephanie, she is so awesome!) that I wanted to get it done myself! My reasoning is that I can never decide between blonde and brown, so why not best of both worlds?? And I won't have to touch up my roots every month. I love it!! 

Before, during and after:

Please ignore the poor quality of the cell phone pics!


What do you guys think??!

Puerto Princesa, Manila and the Underground River

Nathan again! To finish off our trip we took a small plane to the island of Palawan. We stayed in some awesome beach shacks and finally got to relax a bit!

 When we got tired of having too much sand in our cracks we jumped in the pool and had some yummy smoothies. The place really was paradise.

We all had fun playing in the sand and making castles. Leah was probably giggling about something here.

One of the cool little excursions on the island took us to an underground river. It is one of the new 7 wonders of the natural world.

 Inside the cave we saw some pretty cool formations. The place was filled with bats; some that were sleeping and others darting around catching bugs.

Our last night on the island we got to have a great dinner on the beach. It was such a fun way to wind down the trip.

Ali and I spent an extra day in Manila and we got to spend our anniversary there! Happy 1 year! I took her to a Philippino restaurant with traditional dancing. The last day of the trip we took a carriage tour of the old colonial Spanish town of Manila, most of which was destroyed during WWII. We have no pictures from New Years because we were pooped and went to bed at 10pm. We also got a little worried about trying to catch a cab back at 1am. We were awaken at midnight to what sounded like hundreds of car bombs going off, but eventually made it back to sleep before catching our flights for the long journey home! All in all it was a pretty amazing trip. I can definitely say it ranks in my top 4!

Christmas in the Philippines

Christmas in the Philippines certainly was one to remember! On Christmas Eve we got to go to Patsy's ward party. It was too fun.

1. Nathan and the girls in a "taxi" 2. Christmas photo op 3. At the party they had a pot full of candy that the children had to break (kind of like a pinata) 4. This little boy was so nice and would not stop talking to us!

 Then on Christmas day we had the AMAZING opportunity to go to an orphanage. 1. When we first walked in this little girl just walked up to Dani with her arms wide open wanting to be held. Later we found out that she is new to the orphanage and that her Grandmother and Mother used to tie her up because they did not want to chase her around :( 2. Some cool kids and I. 3. The kids sang and danced to some songs. 4. One of the songs was all about Christ and how he was crucified for us. We all started balling during this song.

1. This little boy was my favorite, his name is Rubin. 2. We gave all the kids star ornaments to draw on and Rubin drew me and him on his. 3. Claire and I playing with their puppy. 4. The kids loved Nathan.

On almost every ornament the children wrote something about God or Jesus. Such amazing kids!

The next day we went to lunch with Rivka's friend. Rivka went to elementary school with her in Jerusalem and they haven't seen each other since! Oh, and Claire LOVES karaoke :)

Next up, one of the seven natural wonders of the world!

Zip Lining

We had the awesome opportunity to go zip lining! I had never been before so I was way stoked.  

Here we are all getting suited up.

In the back of the truck to head to the first zip line.

The first zip line was my favorite. We got to go superman style and you legitimately felt like you were flying! It was so awesome. And Claire even went! She was so brave!

Green, Green, Green

At one point Claire got stuck (because she is so light) and someone had to go out and get her!

The whole gang (including the bishop and his first counselor, don't they look young?!)

It was so much fun! Next up, Christmas at the orphanage :)

Dagupan, Philippines

We are now in the Philippines! Nathan's Grandma is serving a mission in Dagupan and we had the opportunity to go visit her! It was so nice to see her, especially since we haven't seen her since we got married!

1. A lot of the Philippines is just small little shacks :( 2. Grandma Patsy and the gang at her office.

People ride "jeepnees" instead of buses in Dagupan

WARNING

This is going to be pretty nasty... Towards the end of our stay in Thailand I started to get a small rash like shown in picture one.  I thought nothing of it and continued through life. Then the rash started to turn into nasty little pussy things. So we got some cream from the pharmacy and it turned into purple things. Do not worry. I am still alive.  I went to the doctor when I came home and he said, "oh, it's probably just a staph infection." JUST A STAPH INFECTION?! But don't worry again, it is almost gone. Hopefully no scars!!

1. Everyone is the Philippines is CRAZY about Angry Birds, so Kevin bought a shirt.  2. Our Jeepnee broke down for a bit, but Kevin came to the rescue. 3. Some real Suns fans in the Philippines. 4. Some random man with a gun came over to help up with our Jeepnee...what a nice man.

Next up, zip lining over the Philippines!

Snakes, Monkeys and Birds

Now it's time for the Snake Show! There were all kinds of snakes and my personal favorite was the cobras! These guys would do crazy things and these snakes seemed pretty ticked about it!!

And we got to hold a boa! Man, those things are HEAVY!!

Now off to Malaysia for a day! We went to Bird World which is the worlds largest free flight walk in aviary.  Before we even walked into the park we saw a little monkey in the tree. As we got closer to the monkey literally thirty other monkeys came over to us! It was crazy but awesome :)

*My camera died in Malaysia and I forgot my charger... So these pictures are from Rivkas camera. But don't worry, I bought a charger!*

Some super sweet birds with claire!!

Petronas Towers, beautiful buildings!

Now we are off to the Philippines!!

Tigers in Chiang Mai

Now that we've ridden elephants, it's time to play with tigers! We got to go to Tiger Kingdom and play with tigers of all sizes! It was a very fun day. My favorite was playing with the babies, they were only two months old!

This little guy just fell right asleep on Kevin's lap! And we got up to leave it started to cry!! Too cute.

The whole gang

Play time

They are such beautiful animals!! But check out those teeth! Eek!

But all these tigers really want are some snuggles and love! They're basically like house pets!!

Overall, a very fun day in Tiger Kingdom :)

Next up, SNAKES!!!

Elephants in Chiang Mai

Hi this is Nathan! I am a guest blogger for today! My mom found a place outside of Chiang Mai for us to go and ride elephants for the day. We got suited up in our trendy denim jumpers and learned a little about the elephants first, some Thai commands the elephants understand, and a little about the preserve's conservation efforts.

I am convinced elephants are direct descendants of the dinosaurs. They are the weirdest looking animals. We fed them some sugar cane for dessert and then got acquainted with our new pets. 

Leah was a little scared at first, but finally got used to it! Claire didn't let go of her dad the entire ride. She eventually fell asleep on top of an elephant.

We used our command, "MAPLONG!" which means "get down" and then hopped on board. Ali's elephant enjoyed squirting me while we crossed the river.

The Elephant Queen

The guide's sister made us Pad Thai, and it was the best we had all trip. They wrapped it in banana leaves which are waterproof and helped keep the food warm!

Ali's elephant got a little frisky with her (an elephant kiss).

We rode our elephants to a mud spa that is supposedly loaded with minerals that are good for your skin and we gave the elephants a massage as they rolled around.

Then it was time for a bath and we washed the mud off!

After a long day, we got to do some Thai reflexology that is supposed to cure all types of ailments...but Ali's celiac didn't go away :-(

Ali said that after our wedding day, this was the best day of her life. Next up...TIGERS!!!