Thank you..

Santa was very good this year. He told our parents what we wanted and needed and Daniel and I each got a kindle!Yay! We are so excited! We are so grateful for all the thoughtful gifts that family and friends gave us. It has truly been a good Christmas for us. Thank you for those gifts.

Oh, the list...

Have any of you thought about all of the little things you would have to deal with and take care of if you were to leave the country for 18 months? I hadn't. Until now. Besides wrapping up the usual for the year end, we get to plan our Utah end.... so to speak.

Here is a glimpse of what is going on in my head...
House- Rent? Sell? Depends on dogs.... Could we sell, given the market? Probably not. What do we do with our stuff? Most will go into storage.

Then I guess I need to buy rubbermaid bins and garbage sacks to protect my stuff while it's in storage. Books are important - we have a few hundred and they need to be protected.

Depending on who we rent to - what stays, what goes, how much do we charge, do we make it a sweet deal because we are asking them to take the dogs? What if no one will take our dogs for us (I wish they could invent cryogenic freazing successfully....) we can't take them with us... I love my puppies.. will anybody be able to love them like me....?

Then the cars - sell, lend?, what about when we come home... what do we drive... Car insurance - don't need it...

Cell phones - I want to keep my number but I'm not paying full service charges for a phone I can't use... will it port to the internet... like google voice?

Food - what about the 200 pounds of meat in our freezer? Oh gosh - I'm going to miss good beef.

40lbs of rice, 30 lbs of flour, our food storage...

25 quarts of pickles I put up to enjoy can't go with us. oh, the washer and dryer are in there too... will the renters use those? will they be nice to our things... we need to be picky here. How picky can we get...?

Do I need to take kitchen stuff... there are no ovens in China... I guess I won't bake. I love bread. Can I buy bread there? I'm going to lose weight given the foreign food .. but wait, they have rice and noodles. Hello Carbs.

I need to buy a kindle - since I can't get english print books there. We need an external hard drive so we can save our stuff when we give the work laptop back in 2 years... can we get wireless internet in our apartment?

How big will our aparment be? Fully furnished? Can I take my sewing machine? What am I going to do? I could teach English... where? I need a Chinese cell phone. Gosh learing that language is going to be hard - even if I am smart like people say....

No more American TV! AHHHHHHHHHHH! We need to buy the next season of all our favorite shows on DVD so we can catch up when we get home. Are we allowed to get Hulu over there? I know we can't get facebook - stupid Great firewall of china... internet regulations. I'm going to miss America.



Maids? What - we can get cheap maids? and have our laundry done? Sweet. Massage therapy? What? it's only 10$ an hour? I need that. Crap - it's going to be hard to come home. Tailored clothing? cheap? you're kidding! Wow. I need to lose weight and get to be my perfect self. That won't be hard given the food over there. I'm going to miss Mexican food. I don't want to eat Asian food while in the US - I'm going to have that fresh for 18 months. Seafood is yummy. I hear there is tons of great seafood in Xiamen.

Travel... I have always wanted to see the Terracota warriors, and they arein Xi'an and Beijing. I hear Beijing is pretty and has a billion people. I don't like crowded cities! Oh S***! I hate crowded cities and I'm moving to the most crowded country in the world!!!

I hear the Philippines are close... they are pretty. I should research where to go. We need to negotiate for Daniel's time off. I'm so glad he gets to work American hours. We will have Saturday's off. So much to see and do. I wonder how much we can travel. Gosh, we need more money.

Income tax? what? We have to pay Chinese imcome tax while on a working visa? and in the US? We really need more money then. Talk to people about that.

Wow. I need chocolate and a nap. I can't sleep - I have so much to do! Chocolate? how am I going to reach my goals for weight if I keep eatnig junk food! 7 layer dip for lunch was a bad idea. But it was so good. I wonder if they sell cheese over there? I hear they don't use many, if any dairy products.

Good grief. At least my passport application is in and on it's way. I hope that doesn't take too long. I need to get my travel visa and my work visa. I'm going to miss the piano. We can't get one over there. Maybe I'll buy a keyboard. Should I take some music? I understand that there is an app on the ipad that is sheet music... I need an ipad. (see previous post.)

Panic... panic...panic... panic...panic...panic...DEEP BREATH. Remember - you are excited to go. Amazing opportunity. New food, new culture - travel, beauty. A special experience that few will get to have. The Lord said we're supposed to go. This will all work out.

If you read this at a fast pace you now know what ADD is like. At least for me.

If there are any things in here that you have an answer for, let me know. We want to be prepared to have a wonderful experience while we are there.

Dear Santa....

Since we are moving to China, most likely anything you give me will be packed away for 18 months or so while we live there. So how about you get me something useful, something that I can take with me for entertainment or documentation purposes.



Like one of these - because I will need to blog and skype while there.

And I need this because you can't get english print books over there.....

And I need one of these to watch my netflix streaming movies on.

and I have to have this so I can well document all the beautful visuals I will be taking part of whilst living there.

Any one or all of these would greatly appreciated. Or the money to buy them too. Please help me be able to make the most of my experience in China?

And I could also use some pretty and tropical like clothing for living there, since the weather is nice there all the time and all.

Thanks,

A very well behaved Ashley and Daniel.

Our Big Adventure!

Daniel got a new position at work and that job entails us moving to Xiamen, China.




We are very excited. There is so much to think about and prepare for but we know we are supposed to go and that it will be an amazing opportunity and adventure.
This will also help me acheive that dream I have of going to all of the Disney parks. We will probably get annual passes to Disneyland Hong Kong (because they are cheap and Hong Kong is a short flight away) and then when we get the opporunity to go to Japan for the cherry blossoms (for our anniversary/my birthday) we will also visit Disneyland Tokyo and Disney Sea Tokyo.

I am so excited. Because we won't be able to access facebook blogs will be all I have so check back frequently and even become a follower so you can follow our adventure while we are living in China.

I have a dream....

To visit every Disney park . Bored on a Saturday morning I decided to investigate the international Disney parks. Disneyworld has the most stuff. Disneyland is classic. The others? Cool. I can't wait to go to Disneyland Paris. The castle is AMAZING!! Look at this! So there you go. That's what I'm thinking about on a December morning. Anyone want to join me in my international travels?

Winston the Rat Dog

My little Winston dog is a bonafide rat killer. A couple of weeks ago we went to Idaho to visit my aunt and uncle and in their woodpile the morning we left their dog found a rat. So Winston and their dog (Sadie, the crazy white one) kept going for it and once we had dug out deep enough for Winston to get at it - he did. This is what happens when a natural born killing dog gets a hold of what he's supposed to kill. It was crazy. He was so proud of himself.