Jennie and Julia Visit Malaysia

For 12 great days in March, 2011, we had our daughters Jennie and Julia with us. This has been in planning for about 9 months and the anticipation just built as the time got closer.

They arrived on Friday, March 4th and we took the day off to go pick them up at the airport which is about an hour drive from our home in downtown Kuala Lumpur. After getting them settled we went and did some grocery shopping to get ready for the weekend.

Saturday was Julia's birthday and it started out with a trip to the Elephant Sanctuary about an hour and a half drive north of KL. We made some sandwiches and took along a lot of water and soda to drink because it was to be a hot day. We watched a strange documentary video about how Malaysia is trying to save elephants from other countries etc. but ended up making you feel sorry for the elephants. The girls got to feed elephants, ride elephants, and get dumped in the river by an elephant. I don't know if this was Julia's best birthday ever, but it may be the most unique.

That night we continued the celebration with some of our best friends, Graham Doxey and Kim and Trip Baker (Kim is Graham's daughter and is about the same age as our daughters). We played Mexican Train and had brownies and ice cream for dessert and sang Happy Birthday to Julia over the brownies.

On Sunday we took the girls to church at our little branch, although that day we were bursting at the seams with about 140 -150 in attendance. Word is that we may be splitting our branch soon, we are at pretty much max capacity for our little building. Everyone was so nice to the girls. Jennie had colored her hair a very light blonde color while Julia's is her natural blonde (she has never colored her hair, her mother would kill her). Anyway everyone wanted to know if Jennie's hair was "real." She said it was real but not the real color. She was sure to mention that Julia's hair was its natural color.

Early Monday morning we took a taxi to the Subang Airport to catch a one-hour flight to Redang Island off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. It's a long time since any of us has flown in a propeller airplane but it was a short flight. Upon arrival we were driven in a van to the jetty where we got on a boat for a 20-minute ride to our resort, Laguna Redang. It's a beautiful place with a nice white-sand beach and a perfect surf for playing in and occasionally getting knocked down by waves.

We had an all-inclusive package which included 3 meals per day. Breakfast was upstairs at a buffet where we could get a variety of Asian and Western dishes (I use the term Western loosely here; beef bacon will do in a pinch but you can't compare it with good old pig bacon). Lunch and Dinner were in the restaurant. We had the same server for every meal, Hafiz, and he took good care of us. The meals were really good and we tried a variety of different things from steaks to pizza to sandwiches, caesar salads, desserts which included lemon cheesecake, chocolate pudding (cake), etc. Very nice.

We had very good weather for the most part. It was usually overcast but there was plenty of sunshine as well. Tuesday it rained nearly all day, but the rest of the time, with the exception of a few occasional showers, it was very nice. One day we took another boat ride to the "marine park" where Tobi and I went snorkeling and the girls spent their time worshipping the sun. There was a sunken ship about 100 yards off shore that Tobi and I swam out to and explored a little bit. Kind of eerie.

In our family we play Rook. It's a legacy from Tobi's side of the family and we all enjoy it. We must have played a dozen Rook games. We switched up the partners each game. Humility won't allow me to tell you who the overall winner was. Also, at least once each day we practiced our songs for the upcoming Sunday fireside at church. Tobi had requested the girls do a musical fireside while here and Julia put together about 10 songs for us to do.

Our trip to Redang was over too quickly and on Saturday the 12th we returned to KL. On the taxi ride home from the airport I had a chance for about an hour to practice my fledgling Malay with the taxi driver. He was very patient with me.

Sunday was Fast Sunday and we had a very nice meeting. Our fireside was scheduled to take place one hour after the meeting and our friend Karen McKinley, unbeknownst to us, had made food for everyone in the branch as an extra enticement to stay for the fireside. I told you we have some amazing friends here. As it turned out we had about 100 people stay and some came from other branches in the district. We all spoke a little bit and introduced the numbers and bore our testimonies. Julia, Jennie and I sang "Nearer My God to Thee," Jennie and I sang "Lord, Are you There?", Julia sang a couple of the songs that she and her music partner wrote, "She Doesn't Know" and "If You Knew Better." ("She Doesn't Know" was a song that Julia wrote for her mom but it had several moms in the audience in tears.) Tobi and I sang "How Great Thou Art," Julia and I sang "Be Still My Soul," Tobi and Julia sang "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," and the program was closed with Jennie and Julia's rendition of "Come Thou Fount." That one brought a few tears to old dad's eyes, as it always does. If you want to listen to some of these songs performed by Julia see her website, juliasandersmusic.com.

We got some very nice compliments from those in attendance. Julia received some attention from a young man in our branch who was very sad to find out that she was leaving in a few days. Tobi and I really enjoyed singing with our girls. It was its own reward. Sunday night we went over to our friends the Curtises and played "Time's Up." Special moment: "Dude, Kangaroo." (Ask Jennie)

On Monday Tobi took the girls shopping at Chinatown. They came home with some great bargains on Rolex watches, Valentino and Marc Jacobs bags, and Tiffany jewelry. Really great bargains indeed. That evening we had dinner at the McKinleys home and the girls had the chance to meet Scott and Karen, our close friends, and their children, Daniel, Joseph and Rachel.

Tuesday it was back to Chinatown for some last minute items. Tobi and the girls walked over to the embassy in the afternoon and we had fun showing them off to all our co-workers. I must admit a little wicked pride in seeing people's eyes go wide and jaws drop when they see my beautiful girls. And I also enjoyed having them meet some of my close friends at the embassy. That night we went to one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, the very aptly named "Mae Keng Fatt," where we enjoyed the evening with Tobi's co-workers in the Legal Attache Office, Greg and Karyn Gilmartin, Jack and Miranda Liao and their 3 cute kids, and Grace and Adam Everleigh. These are all great people and great friends.

Wednesday morning we were off to the airport to start them off on their long trip home. We miss them so much. I think part of it is that we don't have any more plans to see my side of the family until we go home for good next March. We are so glad they came and experienced the far side of the world with us for a few days, and had the chance to meet some of the best people in the world over here.

Tobi and I are planning to travel to China the first week of April. We'll see the Terracotta Warriors, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, etc. etc. etc. Expect another post following that trip.

Love you all,

Scott and Tobi

December 2010

I keep checking our blog to see what's new with us but Tobi hasn't written anything. I guess it's my turn.........again.........

We had a fantastic trip home in November. We left Kuala Lumpur just after midnight on my birthday, November 10th. It was probably my most memorable (and longest) birthday ever. Between midnight November 9-10, until midnight November 10-11 I spent time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Paris, France; and Salt Lake City, Utah. How many people can say that they spent their birthday on three continents? Or that it lasted 39 hours.

We were greeted at the airport by Dane, Annie and their 3 girls, Leah (6), Bella (4) and Giada (2), and that evening we had a mini-reunion of all of our kids.

On Friday, the 12th we drove down to St. George to visit with Nolan and Treo and little Jaylee (2) and we were introduced to our newest grandson, Kash Christian Sanders, who was born in July. Jennie and Brock and their boys, Jace (5) and Nixon (2) and little Leila (who I also met for the first time) joined us for the trip, as did Julia and my sister, Robyn and her husband Craig. We had a great 3 days in St. George, saw Nolan with his primary class in his ward's Primary program, found the grave of my Great Great Grandfather, Moses Martin Sanders in the St. George cemetery, and climbed around on some of the red hills behind St. George with my grandsons Jace and Nixon and their dad Brock.

For the past several years (say 10 to 15) I have been wanting to rebuild the wooden steps that go down from our back deck to the ground. They weren't built very well originally and have deteriorated over the years to where someone was eventually going to get hurt (most likely me). So when I got back from St. George, I went right out back and tore them out. Being thusly committed to rebuilding them I made several trips to Home Depot to buy materials. (I'm not a one-trip-to-the-hardware-store kind of guy. After I cut the first 2x12 board too short I needed another one, etc.) Anyway, the result before I left the U.S., was a brand new staircase out back that is firm and solid, with perfectly even steps and rails that don't wobble. I invite all of you to go try them out. Dane will finish the job by painting them in the spring when the weather warms up sufficiently.

We had a Sanders Family Thanksgiving Reunion that was very memorable thanks to the hard work and planning of my Sister Robyn. We all met at Aspen Grove, which is located up Provo Canyon near the Sundance Ski Resort. We had an entire floor of a lodge to ourselves with rooms for each family/couple and a great room and kitchen centrally located. When we arrived at around 5pm on November 24th the temperature was already below 0 degrees Fahrenheit and by the time the late arrivals got there it was about 10 below. The next morning was Thanksgiving and my son Justin had planned a traditional Turkey Bowl football game. It had snowed about a foot during the night and so that was a very cold affair.

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous. We had three turkeys and all the stuffing, potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and umpteen kinds of pies to eat. We could have lasted through Saturday just on leftovers, but we didn't.

Robyn and Ron had planned some really fun games and activities for us, including a game in which you had to try to pick up a paper grocery bag with your teeth while standing on one foot. Nearly everyone made a valiant effort, and quite a few succeeded. They were rewarded with the same challenge after cutting 2 inches off the top of the bag. The game proceeded like that until there was literally one centimeter left, and three people actually managed to pick up the bag, thus shortened. Abby Cates (my nephew Brian Cates's wife), my daughter Jennie, and my son Dane. Abby and Jennie are understandable, they being young and lithe, but Dane, although young, is somewhat shy of lithe.

My dad was there overseeing the whole shootin' match. I think he especially enjoyed seeing all the little great-grandkids running around and getting to know one another. I know my granddaughters, Leah and Bella found a soulmate in Whitney Cates.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Robyn's son, Joshua and his fiance Kira were married in the Draper Temple. Many of us left Aspen Grove on Friday night so that we could make it to the ceremony and it was well worth it. They make a very happy and beautiful couple.

Tobi departed on Sunday the 28th of November to fly to Houston to see her sister Candy, who is undergoing chemo treatments for ovarian cancer. She reported back that Candy is doing remarkably well and is very upbeat and lifts everyone's spirits. In other words, Candy is just being Candy, minus the hair. Tobi makes sure that we never miss mentioning her in our prayers.

On December 3rd we got on the plane to head back to Malaysia, our second home. We have people here that we have come to love very deeply. The fact that we only have about another 15 months here causes us to think about how much we will miss it when we leave.

I must have good friends in a lot of countries that I have never been to. Maybe I'll meet them one day.

That's all for now. I'll try to load some pictures later.

Love from the other side of the world,

Scott

October

It seems it's been awhile since we posted a blog. It's actually Tobi's turn, but I'll take another one. As I write, it's only a month until we get to go home for nearly a month. We leave here on November 9th and arrive home on November 10th. That's my birthday and I couldn't think of a better birthday present. Family at home, please don't get me anything, it will be a great day just to see all of you and hug you and have a family get-together. I haven't seen anyone in my family for a year this month. I can't wait to meet Leila for the first time (Jennie's new baby girl), and a couple of days after we arrive, we're heading down to St. George to spend some time with Nolan, Treo, Jaylee and new little boy, Kash. By the way, we've booked a 2 bedroom unit at the Worldmark in St. George, and if anyone would like to go down with us, we'd love the company.

We were really knocked for a loop a couple of months ago when we found out that Tobi's sister, Candy, who is only 13 months younger than Tobi and with whom she is very close, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. When they did the tests it was determined to be Stage IIIC, which, if you read the material online, you get a very dismal prognosis report. She had about 6 hours of surgery during which they removed nearly all of the cancer, which had spread to other locations in her abdomen. She is now undergoing chemotherapy and the trials that that procedure entails.

Tobi went to spend a week with Candy in September just after her return from the hospital after surgery and had a great time talking to Candy and two other sisters, Tami and Vicki who were there during Tobi's stay. Candy, as we who know her have come to expect, was very upbeat and almost seemed like her old self, but with a tendency to get tired which is very uncommon to her.

It's hard to express how much this has affected us. Tobi, as you would expect, has been affected the most, and has been in tears a number of times, but it has hit me pretty hard too. Candy and Craig have been such good friends of mine and Tobi's since before any of us were married. After they were married and Tobi and I were dating, we used to go on double dates and Craig would torment us at the end of the night as we would leave them at their door. Craig would put his arms around Candy and say something like, "Good night you two, guess we'll go to bed now." (with a big smile on his face) Candy would say, "Craig, don't be mean."

Later, when Tobi and I were getting serious, Craig called me to meet him at his little office on campus and when I came in and sat down, Craig said, "So tell me Scott, what are your intentions with Tobi?" I started to hem and haw and stutter, and at that very moment, Candy walked in and said, "Craig, leave Scott alone." I will always be grateful for Candy saving me in that troublesome moment.

The week before we got married we spent on Tobi's family's houseboat on Lake McClure in California. At night we all slept in sleeping bags on the roof, under the stars and, of course, as the protectors of our virtue, Craig and Candy laid their sleeping bags in between mine and Tobi's.

We have had 35 years of memories since then, and through them all, Candy and Craig have been not only family, but among our very best friends as well. I just can't stand the thought of Candy being sick or suffering in any way. It hurts me very deeply and I have shed my share of tears about it as well.

We had thought that we would be here for another 2 and 1/2 years. Tobi had requested a one year extension which would have kept us here until April of 2013, but the wonderful Salt Lake City FBI office denied Tobi's extension request. Seems they need her back, probably to fill the #1 secretary role in the office when the incumbent retires in about a year or so. So, in order to fill that position for one year (Tobi retires in June 2013), they are denying Tobi's wishes to stay here. The only way to foil their plans would be for Tobi to put in for another Legat position in another country, but she would have to choose a country that is a lower tier than Malaysia. So we are thinking that we'll just come home, have Tobi serve out her year and I'll try to find another job in SLC.

We can't wait to see you all. And if we don't get to see you all this time, then we'll be home in April of 2012.

Love from the far side of the world,

Scott

What in the Dickens?

Inspired by my brother Dave's foray into The Old Curiosity Shop I decided to read some Dickens for the first time in probably 30 years or more. Although my high school reading of David Copperfield and Great Expectations were half-hearted efforts at best I decided to read one that I hadn't read before, and finding in Wikipedia that his first novel was The Pickwick Papers (the full title is "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club"), I decided to read that one. At the risk of making you feel less than accomplished like it did me, I found that he wrote it in 1836 when he was 24 years old. It, like Oliver Twist and a few other of his early novels, originally came out serialized in a monthly magazine.

I think that one of the reasons I like Dickens so much is that there is never any doubt about his characters. Their names often give a hint as to their basic character. Think of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Fagin, and Pip. In Pickwick you have characters such as Joe "the fat boy," who can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, the beautiful Arabella Allen, the unscrupulous lawyer, Serjeant Buzfuz.

As in many of his works, in the Pickwick Papers, Dickens weaves some very entertaining story lines and plots with an obvious condemnation of aspects of life in England, and especially in London. You can tell by reading just about any of his books that he held a healthy disrespect for lawyers (sorry Dave). His detailed description of the English debtors prison system in this book made me wonder if he had ever spent any time at "The Fleet" himself. In early 19th century London, if you couldn't pay your bills, they threw you into prison until you could pay them, or until someone else paid them for you. If your family had nowhere else to go, they went to prison with you, kids and all. And, after I finished the book, I looked up Dicken's biography in Google and found that, indeed, his father had spent time in debtor's prison.

Samuel Pickwick is a very likeable character. He is a well-off, past-middle-age, Englishman who has never married and who decides to travel throughout England and write about his adventures with the other members of the Pickwick Club. Along the way he hires Sam Weller as his manservant and the bond of loyalty and friendship that develop between the the naive, gentlemanly and innocent Pickwick and the down-to-earth, streetwise (and very funny) cockney, Weller, is reminiscent of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

I highly recommend the Pickwick Papers, and Dickens in general. If you ever wondered what life was like in pre-Victorian and Victorian England, good and bad, delightful and ugly, sublime and despicable, you'll get a good taste of both sides by reading Charles Dickens.

Thanks for the nudge Dave.

Scott

Kash Christian Sanders

We are happy to announce the arrival of our new grandson, Kash Christian Sanders. He wasn't due for 3 more weeks but the Dr. was concerned that he wasn't getting enough nutrients because he wasn't growing like he should have been. He was born on July 30 around 8:00pm, Utah time, and weighed in at all of 5 lbs. 3 oz. and 17 inches long. Just a little tyke but sure to make it up quickly now that he's on the outside. He's in good hands. Nolan and Treo are wonderful parents and Jaylee will be a terrific big sister. He's a lucky little boy.

Dad, I know you will be proud to know that you have once again been honored with a namesake. I think, unless I've missed one somewhere, that you now have a son, two grandsons, a granddaughter, and now two great grandsons who carry your name as part of their own. I don't know when Nolan and Treo plan to bless their son but I sure hope you can make it. I am very sad that I wasn't able to be at Leila's blessing and now I'll miss this one too. If you could be there it would ease the sorrow a bit. Maybe one of my other kids could make sure that that happens.

One of the things I have thought about a lot and is very meaningful to me is that this is my first grandchild that will carry the Sanders name into the next generation. Not only that, but he is my dad's first great-grandchild that will do so as well. I don't know why that means so much to me, but it does. I am very proud of my ancestry. That a man named Sanders had the courage and adventurous spirit to leave England nearly 400 years ago and come to America, to a new and unknown world. I am proud that a few generations later, my great great great great grandfather fought in the Revolution to cut our ties with England, and that his grandson, my great great grandfather had the courage and strength of conviction to join himself and his family with a fledgling church that was going through a very difficult time in Kirtland, Ohio; to move his growing family at the behest of the young prophet to a place called Far West, Missouri, and from there to Nauvoo, Illinois. That he remained faithful when the prophet was killed and followed a new leader across the prairie to Council Bluffs and from there to the Salt Lake Valley, losing 3 or 4 small children along the way. I am just as proud of my own father and mother who carried the message of the restored gospel with them to Kansas City and was a pioneer in the growth of the church there. I'm sure there will be other Sanders boys, but forgive my pride that Kash is the first.

This in no way diminishes my love for all of my grandchildren. They are the light of my life and each one means the world to me. They all carry an equal portion of "Sanders blood" in their veins and no man could be more proud of his kids and grandkids than I am. My other grandsons, Jace and Nixon, are exactly as much Sanders as Kash is and are equal parts Sanders and Keddington; my granddaughters are every bit as much Sanders as Kash is, but their kids will have another name. I am just as much Haycock as Sanders and am proud of that too, but Sanders is my name. So it's just the name. And knowing that the name Sanders at least has the potential to be passed to yet another in a long line of generations just makes me feel good. I think it's important.

I hope that each one of you feels the same pride in your family name that I do in mine.

Love to you all,

Walking along the paths by the bat caves. I just loved the look of the Mangrove groves. Lots of monkeys were around.

Into the bat caves. We couldn't use a flash inside so couldn't take pictures but there were some spectacular rock formations and lots and lots of bats.

The last thing of the day was to see the Eagles. We turned this corner on the waterway and there were all these eagles just flying. It was amazing. I finally just pointed my camera in the air and got some pretty great pictures.

These eagles would dip into the waterway and get fish to eat.

More eagles just flying around. They would rest in the tops of the trees before flying out some more.

Langkawi One of Our Favorites

Scott took a walk along the sky bridge. He really enjoyed the trek. It gave incredible views.

We took this cable car, the Langkawi Cable Car, located on the south-west coast of Langkawi. It was thrilling. I told Scott that if we survived it, it would be the highlight of the trip. And that turned out to be true.

You could hear the girls in the cable car in front of us scream as they went down. I have to admit that it took everything I had not to do the same thing.

We had lunch at this seafood restaurant. We got to pick out our lobster. The people brought out lobster to him so that we could get up close and personal.

The fresh lobster was yummy.

It was fun to swim with all these fish. They would swim up and brush you. It was a fantastic experience. We were here about 4 hours and I spent most of the time snorkeling

The fish were incredible. I took this picture from the side of the jetty. It look like this from all sides.

We were about a 100 yards to the island. Scott enjoyed swimming to the island. I only went as far as the shoreline where I searched for shells. I got a bunch or really cool ones. I love collecting shells.

This is the boat that took us out to the jetty just off Payar Island. It was really comfortable and I managed a little nap time. It took about an hour to get to the island.

The boat that we took dropped us off at this jetting. It was covered and had tables for us to sit at. There was a wonderful breeze making it so comfortable. Scott enjoying his book after hours of snorkeling.