China Experience Closing

What a crazy week this one has been. Almost exactly one week ago, Kyle and I were planning on living in China until next year sometime but things have changed drastically since then. The company that we worked for didn't have as much business as they were hoping for and so they were going to send us to Hong Kong for a few days to renew our visas and our boss gave us the option of heading to Hong Kong and then going home once we were done sight seeing there. We were not expecting that option so soon! Kyle and I decided that it would probably be best to come home and work for a different company where we knew that the business and pay would be more reliable. I was so sad to leave China. We had the best time and greatest experience while living there. I'm sad that we were only able to live there for 3 months, but all good things must come to an end right? So on November 4th, we flew into Hong Kong with about 6 massive suitcases! I am so glad that that day has come and gone because that was pretty much a nightmare! Oh my goodness. If we would've thought how complex it would've been to go to Hong Kong with the amount of luggage we had, I think we would have rethought our plan of coming home.

Waiting for our flight to Hong Kong

I found this interesting and something that you would only see in China airport. Here we have the option of Food & Beverage/Massage?? Massage? How random! Who has time to lay down for a massage at an airport? I don't know about you guys, but I'm always that person who is running to catch their flight! A massage is the last thing on my mind.

Window View

Mason was excited to get his own seat!

We got into the airport and had to take a 45 minute bus ride to the Hong Kong Temple where they provide Temple housing for a really decent price. Just imagine Kyle carrying/rolling 5 suitcases and me pushing Mason in his stroller with the diaper bag strapped on and I had a heavy suitcase behind me, running to catch the bus! WOW it was a mess, I seriously wanted to start crying, sit on the curb and just give up! Well we finally made it to the Temple housing and it was the BEST feeling walking into it! You could feel the spirit immediately! It is amazing what living in a country where you have freedom of religion does to a person. My heart aches for the people who live in China, they have no choice of religion. How sad! We could tell an immediate difference in the people of Hong Kong. They were a lot more willing to help out and overall just nicer people. I know for a fact it's because there is religion in the country!

Mason's bed

Our bed (Sorry for the mess) I felt like I was at EFY again!

The view outside our window

The Temple housing was in the same building as their chapel and the mission office. So this is the front door that heads into the chapel.

The parking lot. You can see the Temple in the background

The whole building. So on the right is the chapel and on the left (the 3rd floor) is the Temple housing. On the first floor was the Distribution Center

One "rule" of staying in the Temple housing is that you have to do 2 sessions per day and then you get to stay there for $10 a night! TOTALLY WORTH IT! The Celestial Room was absolutely gorgeous! I am so grateful to be a member of this church and to be worthy enough to go inside the Lords house! It was an amazing experience and one that I will always cherish.

After we got done with the Temple we were off to Disneyland!! YAY! We had to take the metro to get there, and let me tell you that was so much fun! Once we got the metro system figured out, it was a lot of fun to travel that way! We switched metro's three times and then we got onto a metro owned by Disney, and like usual they always go above and beyond to make the whole experience magical! They had everything from purple seats, to windows shaped like Mickey to music playing throughout the metro. It was so cool!

Disneyland, like always, is a blast! We were told not to waste our time by going to this Disneyland because it is so small and doesn't compare to the one's in the States, but Kyle and I are like kids and could have easily spent 2 days at this one! It was smaller then the ones in the States, but it's Disney!! Who doesn't love Disneyland!? We rode as many rides as we could, which was a ton because there were hardly any lines! There were things that were similar to Disneyland here, like Tomorrowland and It's a Small World (which we rode twice) and then there was a "land" called The Grizzly Gulch and also Toy Story Land. It was a blast! We didn't want to leave, but Mason started getting tired towards the end and we knew that we had to get back so he could get a good nights rest before travelling home.

Sweet little thing!

American Food!!!!!!!

Almost forgot we were still in Asia!

It's A Small World

An awesome ride in Toy Story Land!!

Whinny the Pooh

Dumbo Ride

The castle

We found these drum things and I started playing on them and for some reason Mason thought it was the funniest thing!

 The next day we woke up, did two sessions at the temple and then got ready to head to the airport for our LONG flight home... oh man I have been dreading this flight from the moment that we decided we would head home. We got to the Hong Kong airport around 1 p.m. and checked in our 100 suitcases! By this time I told Kyle that I wouldn't even be mad if he just chucked the luggage in the garbage! We flew from H.K. to Taipei, Taiwan and had a one hour layover and then had a 10 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco (which Mason being the amazing child he is, slept for 9 hours of that flight! Hallelujah). We landed in San Fran at 3 p.m. and then we were suppose to have a 5 hour layover, but our flight got pushed back twice so we ended up having the longest layover possible! Ugh I just wanted to get home! We finally flew out at 10:30 p.m. and arrived in Salt Lake at 1 a.m. It was honestly the best feeling seeing Salt Lake!! I was so excited to be home! My parents were awesome and were there at the airport ready to take us home. Once we got home, Mason was wide awake! I swear... I hate jetlag! We have been home for about 2 days and Mason's schedule is so off! He is wanting to be awake all night and sleep all day, but we are slowly adjusting the 15 hour time difference! We will get back into the swing of things soon. As for right now, we are living in Heber and we are loving it! I have never loved peace and quiet so much in my life! And Timp! Holy cow! We live in such a gorgeous area! So long story short... we're home!!