Justine Turned 18!

Yep, our little Princess Justine turned 18 this month!!

How blessed we are to have her in our Family!

She had a real surprise Birthday Party!!!

With Friends, Family, Presents, Cake and a huge Chick-Fil-A nuget Platter!

August Happenings

In August we stayed home for the most part.

Corentin came and stayed with us for almost 3 weeks.

We went to the pool a lot. 

Stayed cool and had a trip to the beach.

Mike took the kids to the movies and to a Astro Baseball game.
We went to a couple of free concerts in the Woodlands at night.

Justine had to work odd hours throughout the day at different pools teaching swim lessons, 

since we shared a car, I couldn't go very far.

 Mike said when he saw the picture of himself:

How can you do this to me? Posting that picture of me?

Moi:
What do you want me to do?

Mike:
I want you to put Corentin's body on me! :)

Updating

So I've been trying to catch up on my blog postings.

All my dates are off though!

If only I could always be caught up!

Hey, but at least I am trying and keeping a blog for my family!

All the stuff below happened in July not August!

I might fix it, but then again, it might take too much time, so I might not.

Just a little disclaimer for those of us that will argue on when this happened 10 years from now!

I still have more to catch up!!!

I really want to be up to date, I hate being so behind!!!!

Home bound

After being gone for almost a month, we were quite happy to go home...

We had lots of fun on our vacation.

Fortunately, the road trip home went almost without a hitch;

I was afraid to turn of the car! So I kept it running as much as I could...

I would start it and it would die, start it again and it would work! 

Go figure? 

Once home it never did it again!!!

We got delayed for an hour in the middle of nowhere for a helicopter to land on the road. 

A car had a really bad accident. 

I felt bad for that family!
One small moment can change a whole family's life!

My man hoped on a greyhound bus to meet us in Dallas. 

After one day and 11 + hours of driving, 

Justine and I were happy to finish the road trip with Mike at the wheel. 

What a good man!

From what he told us it was quite the experience too!

Polynesian Show 'RA'

We had a fun evening after the Humanitarian Center watching 'RA'

Gave us all a taste of what Justine is going to experience in Hawaii...

What a lucky girl!

LDS Humanitarian Center

On of our Favorite activities in Salt Lake was going to the church Humanitarian Center.

There, we worked for a little over an hour, assembling school kits

 for children around the world less fortunate than us.

We had our own little assembly line.

The boxes in the photo below are all the ones we were able to assemble in that short time! 

(6 kits by in each box)

Everyone wanted to keep going, especially Amelie and Clara.

But we had a schedule to keep, and so did the workers and volunteers there.

Next we were taken for a tour of the premises...

 Bathroom brake with Amelie.

Loved the Mirror!!!! Made us look real skinny!

Humanitarian Service

We were shown and told of how the Church helps people who come form distressed circumstances around the world and how they are given a job here, trained and educated to function in America and help them get a better job. 

I didn't know that this program existed. 

I knew that we help a lot around the world and at home,

 both from our faith and not of our faith alike.

But it really touched me to know and see that donations to our church 

are used in such a way as to bless so many individual lives too...

Temple Square and Memories

We couldn't have Corentin come all the way from France, not go to Temple Square... 

His parents would have been very disappointed...

No one really wanted to go.

Only Justine, Corentin, Danny and I went.

We had a french speaking Sister Missionary tour guide show us around.

Last time I had been there it was during Thanksgiving. 

It was illuminated with Christmass lights.

Here and Here

This time it was full of flowers.

I love visiting this place any season... 

It is Timeless!

It is always peaceful, lovely and beautiful!

I especially loved visiting the new Conference center across the street.

I've only been there twice.

In one of the rooms, there are all the busts of all the prophets since joseph Smith. 

As I was walking past them slowly,

I got to President Hinkley's bust and got all chocked up!

He was a giant man of God.

He was a great support during my early mothering years and into their teenager years...

I miss his sweet strong kind fun loving spirit.

Being in Salt Lake brought back early memories of my coming to America.

Adapting to a new country and people. 

Mike's official proposal to me on Temple square.
Being a newly wife.

The Birth of Alexi and Justine.
My early mothering years.

How time flies...

Crystal Hot Springs

 It's official!!!

When in Utah, some hot spring dipping and soaking is a must!

We went last year here

And will go back every time we go to Utah...

We all love it!

It feels so so good!

This time the slide was open...

It is so fun, relaxing, and good for our spritis, well being and our skin!

This time I read a little bit of what is in the water.

This spring has some of the most minerals and good stuff in the world...

It even has Silver mineral!

Don't ask me what benefit it has to soak in it? 

It just sounds good, I love silver jewelry! :)

Bobby's Cafe

The cousins playing restaurant.

They even had soft romantic music playing...

Meeting family, friends and more car trouble!

We met with Oncle Nephi and Aunt Thanh...

We also saw Dave Trujillo and played cards with him one evening.

Oh, by the way,

as Danny washed my car the day after we to Salt Lake, 

he noticed a huge thorn in my tire at a spot that could not be repaired!!!

Unbelievable!

Once again I had to go deal with the car! 

I got 2 new tires, one to replace to flat and one to replace the thorn punctured one!

MOPPED RIDE

Everyone got a ride on Thanh's mopped!

Amelie thought it was awesome!!!!!

Car Nightmare in Panguitch UTAH

As we left our Camp Ground in Brice, my car's AC stopped working!

NOT A GOOD SIGN...

Especially in 100 degree desert weather!

After 20mn, Danny decided to stop at a gas station for an ice-cream, in the little town of Panguitch.

My car totally stopped working as I pulled in!

Since my car was not going any further,

 Danny and Aude carried on toward home with as many kids as they could.

(over a 4 hour drive)

Justine and Emric stayed with me. 

(I had to beg Emric who wanted to go with them.) 

Justine was again, in time of crises, a strong support.

We went across the street to Thomas Repair Shop.

After waiting for an hour and a half, for the car to cool down from overheating,

the car was taken there.

The owner said he would take care of us.

That turned out to be a lie!

To make a long story short, 

He kept my car for 3 hours without doing a thing!

Oh, he told me the worst case senario, that I could be stuck in Panguitch for 4 to 5 days...

He wanted to give me a $600 tow to Salt Lake 

The thermostat was kaput and may have damaged the motor!

Mike had to call around to find the part we needed: a thermostat.

He also arranged for a rental car for me to go get it in Cedar.

By the time I was going to be back with it, it was going to be past 5pm.

The owner of the Auto Shop said that he would be closed!

Nothing he could do today!

I lost it then!

I just went in the street and cried...

I vowed not to go on such a trip without Mike again!

But even though Mike was not there he was still able to be of help to his family.

He made some phone calls and got a shop that would stay open until I got back!

The guys from the rental car.

Mike told him to look for distressed woman walking down the street...

The owner came to find me and told me to follow him to his shop down the street.

He was so nice! He couldn't stay himself, he had a 'meeting' to go to on a Wednesday night...

I totally felt like a damsel in distress and someone had a heart to help...

(I saw a Book of Mormon in his office, no wonder!)

I cried again of emotional relief...

So off we went, with a minivan to Cedar, a 2h and 30mn drive round trip!

Justine helped me drive, I took a nap exhausted from the days events...

What an awesome girl she is!

I also have an awesome Man... 

In case we would have had to stay, 

Mike had found his best friend from Elementary school who lived there.

He would have picked us up and taken care of us! 

Amazing!

I'm glad we didn't need his help afterall though!

I am grateful for good helpful people...

The one fast food place in the village: Arbys

I laid out a blanket in this little Park where we hung out a bit until it rained... 

The I-will-never-go-there-again Auto-Shop. 

I'm thinking of putting a bad review for 'Thomas's Auto Repair' on google.

And an excellent one for The U-haul shop.

The beautiful skies as we got on our way towards Salt Lake City after our car was fixed.

The repair guy made sure that it would not overheat again, we were good to go!!!

We had broken down around 1pm in Panguitch and arrived in Salt Lake around 11pm.

An Amazing Sky!!!!