Our trip to beautiful Phuket, Thailand.

We decided to take advantage of the 4-day "Hari Raya" holiday and travel to Phuket, Thailand. (Hari Raya is the Malaysian holiday marking the end of Ramadan.) We arrived in Phuket on Saturday afternoon and took a walk on the grounds of the Sheraton Grande Laguna Hotel. About 25 years ago this area was a played out tin mine. A developer bought the area, made a lagoon, and now there are about 7 hotels on the site. Ours was situated on an island in the middle of the lagoon and about 1/4 mile from the beach on the Andaman Sea. We were having an early dinner at an open air restaurant on the beach and were surprised to see a baby elephant nearby, giving rides to children.

After discovering that the nearest church meetinghouse was in Bangkok, a couple of hundred miles away, we spent Sunday at leisure around the hotel. We had a nice breakfast buffet, spent some quality time at the beach and took a boat ride around the lagoon. We met a really friendly fellow from Belgium named Charles. He moved to Thailand 12 years ago, has married a Thai girl and they have a couple of kids. I asked if he missed Belgium and he said that he did miss his family. When asked if he planned to go back some day, he looked at me as if I were crazy and said that since I was an American and not a European he would give me a pass. "Not a chance," he said, "they have 55% income tax in Belgium."

On Monday we took a boat ride to Phi Phi Island, which had been recommended to us. The brochure had beautiful pictures of Maya Bay, Khai Island, and Phi Phi itself, which looked incredibly beautiful. Maya Bay, the brochure tells us, is where "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. Not having seen the film, that didn't mean anything to me, but with the promise that LD himself would not be there, we thought we could safely chance it.

To say that we were disappointed would be vastly understated. It is truly a spectacular place. You enter the bay through a narrow inlet between two high cliffs and once inside there is incredibly beautiful water, turquoise in color leading up to a talcum powder beach of white sand, about 1/4 mile long and surrounded by high cliffs on all sides. What's not to like, you ask. The fact that they had about 25 tourist boats of all sizes and descriptions, all parallel parked about 15 feet off the beach, and about 2,000 tourists walking around on the beach itself. I actually felt embarrassed that we were contributing to the maelstrom. We sat on the beach in a place we felt we were not likely to be stepped on and waited for our boat to accept us back on board.

We were then taken to Phi Phi Island next (It's pronounced pee pee) where we had a very nice lunch and met some people from the UK.

Our final destination on this little trip was at a beach on Khai Island, where we spent the afternoon reading, sunbathing, and snorkeling. We discovered that there was quite a strong current flowing parallel to the beach and had to swim for about 10 minutes to get back. We nearly lost Tobi. (not really). It was here that I managed to take a picture of a Thai fishing boat that I am really quite proud of. I would love to get it printed and framed. It's the last one in my slide show below, although the slide show doesn't do it justice because you can't see the whole photo at once.

We spent Tuesday on the beach and at poolside. The hotel graciously allowed us to check out at 6pm, so it was almost like having an extra day there. We arrived home at about 1:30 AM on Wednesday morning. Tobi slept in and went to work late. It's good to be back home. Yes, we call this home now. We've been here 6 months. Now we have a great visit with family to look forward to next month. We can't wait.

Our trip to beautiful Phuket, Thailand.

Life's little irritations.

Here is my beautiful bathroom. I love it! But can you see it? The bain of my existence. That's right the shower head that is on the ceiling.

Now this bathroom has two shower heads. I love the one just below. Every morning I turn it towards the bathtub to let the water warm up and then take a nice hot shower. But sometimes, the little knob just below the handle has been popped out which diverts the flow of the water to the ceiling shower and it gets me. It gets me with cold water, it gets my hair wet, it drives me crazy. I have done this multiple times. I think it has something to do with my age and forgetting to check the knob and make sure it hasn't been pulled out.

My bathtub is also in my shower as mentioned above. One morning as I stepped in to take my morning shower, I turned the lower shower on. I had made sure the knob was not pulled out and the lower shower head was turned toward the bathtub. Just then I noticed that my bath mat was on the tub getting soaked. I quickly went to push the handle of the shower down to turn off the flow of water but hit the lower knob instead which changed the flow of water to the upper shower head and soaked myself in cold water, drenching my hair, before I could get the water turned off. Not a good way to start the morning. Boy do I hate that upper shower head!

Actually, now that I think on it, maybe it is not the upper shower head at all that I hate, maybe it is that dang knob!!!!!

Now I don't know for sure if you can tell but those are blinds in the shower which covers a full-length window. WHO in their right minds puts a full-length window in a shower?

Such are the little irritations in my life.

Home

I just read a book that talked about where your home is. It got me thinking about home. I have always thought my family was my home and they are. Each of my children fill a space in my heart reserved just for them. As they have married and given me grandchildren, my heart has increased to include each one.

I also thought a lot about my actual home in Salt Lake City and how much I loved my house. Of course it had so much to do with my children and all the memories that I have of them. It sits in the middle of neighbors and friends and Church that I love so much. As the years have gone by, I have grown to love my home more and more.

But a funny thing happened to me. I left my home, my neighbors, my friends, my church, my children and I moved half way around the world, and I still feel like I am home. My children are still so much a part of my life, my friends still love me and support me. I am experiencing the joy of meeting new friends and neighbors who I am growing to love. The Church has filled an incredible void.

But I have realized the real reason that I feel like I am home is because of Scott. He is here with me, supporting me every day. He is so fun and funny, and we really enjoy each other's company. I am one lucky girl because no matter where I am, if Scott is with me, I am home.