And then two months pass...

Well, March happened. Not sure what we did, but then April John and I took a 3 week vacation to Thailand and Cambodia. :) First, we drove to California to drop our girls off with their Grandma and Grandpa Riley who were so kind to watch (and spoil) them for us. Then we were off. Here's what we did-

April 3-4: Chased the sun in the plane. We caught it but lost 14 hrs. It took us about 24 hours or so to get there. Also, joined a club in the air. ;)
April 5-9 Phuket, Thailand

April 5: Shopping (we did lots of this throughout the trip). I also took a Thai Cooking Class this day. I learned how to cook Tom Yum Goon, Kao Put Gai, and Chicken Satay. Then, we swam at the beach.

April 6: Caught a bus to Phuket City where we saw their Butterfly Garden and Insect World and also went to the mall. We tried going to a club this night, but clubbing in Thailand is a bit different than in America. So we went expecting to dance and people are just drinking with really loud music in the background. So we didn't stay long.

April 7: We woke up with a little bit of a scare this morning. All the hotel staff had left because there was an earthquake in Indonesia. Last time this happened the Tsunami happened in Thailand and so everyone left without warning any of the guests. Sad, but true. "Every man for himself." Since no one actually knew if a tsunami would happen we were basically waiting for word to evacuate with our stuff packed. After a few hours, everything was fine so we went with our original plans of the day which were to go on an Amazing Canoeing Day Trip. They took us kayaking and to lots of different islands. It was nice, but John got burnt and therefore...

April 8: John was sick due to second degree burns on his skin. He didn't put lotion on...or very little. So we rested a lot this day and got massages and then saw "Date Night" at the movies.

April 9: Travel day... took a flight to Bangkok and then went to the train station so we could get a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. We spent 5-6 hrs at the train station waiting for our train, so we were a little bored, but we met "Brock." Brock was from England and was spending his time backpacking Southeast Asia. He kept us entertained for a few hours. We call him Brock because we never actually exchanged names. At some point during our conversation we decided we would give each other fake names because it sounded fun. We named him Brock and he named us Simon and Petunia. lol.
The sleeper train was actually pretty nice. We slept in a bed on the train as we traveled to Chiang Mai and didn't have to pay for a hotel for the night. Plus, it wasn't very expensive.

April 10-16 Chiang Mai, Thailand

April 10: Arrived in Chiang Mai and spent the rest of the day relaxing and then shopping.

April 11: Went to the mall, then swimming at hotel pool, and finally shopping at the night bazaar.

April 12: This day we went on a zipline tour throughout the Jungle. It was called Jungle Flight and it was pretty cool. Ended the day with shopping again...shocking.

April 13: First day of Song Kran. If you don't know what this is then I'm sorry to hear it, but this really should be an international thing. Song Kran is how Asia celebrates their new year. It originally began as a "ceremony" where the elders would pour water on the younger as a symbol of passing on to the younger generation (or something like that), but over time it became a large national water fight! Basically, the entire country shuts down and everyone has an enormous water fight. Seriously. Not kidding. It is the coolest thing ever.

April 14: Water battle continues.

April 15: Last day of Song Kran. Watched concert and got wet, of course.

April 16: Travel day...flight to Bangkok, bus to Cambodia border, taxi to Siem Reap.

April 17-19 Siem Reap, Cambodia

April 17: Angkor Wat Day Trip. This is our tuk tuk driver that drove us around all day to see Angkor Wat.This is John at one of the temples.

April 18: Shopped, Swam, Ate.

April 19: Caught bus to Sihanoukville. Checked in to new hotel and swam.
April 20-22 Sihanoukville, Cambodia

April 20: Entire day at the beach, lounging and what not. Many people walk around with stuff or services when you're on the beach. I got a pedicure for $3, while on the beach. Awesome. John also got his nails trimmed (thank goodness).

April 21: Spent another day at the beach. Dinner on the beach at night was very nice. Also, another must...coconut shakes.

April 22: Basically, everything in Sihanoukville was beach so yes, another day relaxing at the beach.

April 23-34 Phnom Penh, Cambodia

April23: Caught bus to Phnom Penh. Last time to shop or get anything else we wanted...so that's what we did.

April 24: Caught plane back to San Francisco :( but we got to see our kids again :)

So that was our trip. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed ourselves. It was much needed. Hopefully, we'll be making another trip like this soon. Maybe even with our kids next time.

Videos of my Squids

First video is of Mikayla taking her second step. I got it on my camera phone so the quality is not that great, but it's what I could grab the quickest. She learned to walk by dancing. :)

This is Victoria at the hardware store. Looks like John's not the only one that gets excited to go. And I must say, we find this hilarious. Our kids LOVE to dance.

Mikayla Broke Her Arm

It's true. Mikayla is not as resilient as Victoria. A few weeks ago we went to California to welcome home John's younger brother from his mission. We flew in Friday evening and they took us all out to Round Table Pizza. Mikayla was cranky because it was actually an hour past her bedtime so when she walked off the bench and started crying I assumed that was why. After all, Victoria falls ALL the time and she's always been fine. Plus, she's a stick. If she falls you would think she would break. So naturally, Mikayla is fine. We all went back to the house and Mikayla went to bed...still crying, but like I said she was tired.
The next morning we all get up and as I'm changing Mikayla for the day I notice that she's not using her left arm. Then it dawns on me...she WAS crying more than the usual cranky cry, everytime we touch her arm she starts crying, and she wouldn't even hold a toy in it. So I took Mikayla to the ER and sure enough the X-rays reveal two fractures in her left arm. Some vacation huh? However, she's adjusting quite well and is recovering in her lovely green cast.One thing that I've noticed about the ER's that I like is that both times I've had to bring in Mikayla to the ER (the first being when I found out she was allergic to penicillin) they have seen her immediately. So if you ever have to go to the ER just hope that you're a baby. As well it should be that babies go first, it was just a broken arm...we could have waited. And in fact I was expecting to, but I guess nobody can deny helping a cutie like her.

Christmas 2009...I know I'm late

This year we were graced by my family who drove all the way to Utah from NC to visit us for Christmas! It was great to see them especially since it's been a few years. We got to play games together, catch up on life, and just generally have a good time...after all, that is what the holidays are about eh? From left to right: my dad, my mom, and my sister Marisa.
My (little, or maybe just younger) brother Michael and I.We received lots of great fun stuff this year as usual. The tangible gifts were great, but the memories were better. For example, my older brother Daniel and my sister-in-law Kristen gifted us all a trip to Brighton Ski Resort to go snowboarding. This was my second time going snowboarding and it was way more fun than my first because I fell less. And it was nice to have that memory to share with my family.
Mikayla didn't get much this year because she's only one, but we don't think she minded. Victoria is really good at sharing things with her also and so she assumes that whatever Victoria gets is hers as well...which is kind of true.
For Victoria this year, we got her one of those motorized cars that cost like $300 in the store. But, of course, if you know anything about us Rileys you know that of course we did not pay that ridiculous price! John used his good bargain hunting skills and found one at DI for $25. It needed a new battery which costs us around $50. We then cleaned it up and made it look new. It used to have these stickers that I called "moo stickers" because it looked like cow print, but now the car is totally cool. Victoria's reaction? Just what we had hoped for (see video)...

Victoria's Birthday

Victoria's 3! Time's flying by with this crazy one. We held a small celebration for her at our place with friends and family. She loved all her presents and exclaimed "Cool!" every time she opened one of her gifts.
The next day we took her to "Jump On It," which turns out it all the way in Lindon (I didn't realize it was so far away from us). It is basically a place with a bunch of trampolines right next to each other and a few blow-up slides. Victoria had a lot of fun there and I'm glad we were able to take her.

A Random Mixture of Updates...

John is still busy.

Katrina is still busy.

Victoria will be turning 3 tomorrow! We'll be taking her to "Jump On It" this Saturday.

Mikayla can officially walk, although she mostly chooses to crawl because that mode of transportation is still faster for her.

We're still trying to sell our Provo Duplex. No luck. We fear this means we'll be landlords forever.

And, we're still blessed and have much to be thankful for...including all those that read our blog! So thanks to all our friends!

Just in case you were wondering...

Mikayla says "Mama, Dada, Hey, and Uh-oh!" She also says, "Ah!" Which usually means she's screaming at us to look at her. She can now stand on her own (without holding onto furniture or people). We are waiting for her to take her first step. Should be any day now. So there's Mikayla's update.
Victoria will be 3 December 4. I've been wanting to take her to this place called "Jump on it" because she LOVES to jump and climb everything so we'll probably take her there as the day gets closer. She doesn't do much new, except learn new words and she's getting really funny. The other day we were "knocking on her head" and she looked at us and said "Come on in!" For more of Victoria's funny jokes check out our quote board to the left. We try to keep it updated.