school uniforms

All the kids in Thailand wear uniforms to school and they somehow make these little cuties look even more adorable. What was really fun was going back to the school and to different schools on different days and seeing all the different uniforms!




These little pink tykes were sitting three on two chairs pushed together and for some reason it just made me happy, I couldn't stop laughing!
I wonder if the little boys will one day look back and hate that they had pink uniforms.

Asia doesn't mess around when it comes to education- I'm pretty sure they start sending them to school right after they start walking. The smallest kids had nice front pockets in their uniforms perfect for holding their bottles! No joke- we really saw a little girl with a bottle of milk in her pocket!

Boy Scouts of....Thailand?
and proving that the peace sign is still immortal.


Now this little action of the index finger and thumb was new to me. Apparently it means "handsome" so it was a toss-up between that and the peace sign as you can see the dilemma.
These kids were anything but camera shy!






These are some of the Moken kids. They were 'sea gypsies' before the tsunami but were forced to become land dwelling after the tsunami destroyed all their boats and left them with nothing. We brought them flip-flops and hygiene kits. It was like Christmas morning for them getting the kits and flip-flops! (wait, Buddhists don't celebrate Christmas.) It was so fun helping them find shoes for themselves and their kids, and then seeing the new colorful shoes on their dirty little feet!







Instead of seeing cows on the side of the road it was elephants! They are the coolest animals- I could watch them for hours! and they could eat for hours!

Thailand: Part II

and the pictures continue...

We did a fun fair for the kids and a health fair for the kids and their parents at an elementary. The kids LOVED the face painting, I'm pretty sure they've never seen anything like it and were planning on not washing their faces for a week. It was so cute!



It's really pretty there. I mean really really pretty.

















A nice view down a typical street in Phuket. One of the funnest things we did was rent these little mopeds and cruised around Khao Lak, seeing the land the Thailand way.


















This cute little guy in the middle is 27 yrs old and that lovely lady to his right is his momma who still has to lift and carry him everywhere (thank goodness for the mopeds with a large cage attached to the side!) She was telling us about how it's so hard on her and we were able to get them a wheelchair through the rotary club! They were so happy- just look at their smiling faces!












You can't go to Thailand and not take advantages of the wildlife! I fell in-love with elephants!! They're so cool! We went on a long ride through this beautiful jungle trail up to a little waterfall. very nice.



This is a quick shot of the hospital. It actually was a great hospital, functioning better than expected!
The pic under is from the health fair. I taught hand-washing and it was so much fun!

Thailand: Part I

I just returned home from Thailand last week and I must say it's great to be home! It was an awesome two weeks packed full of tons of different projects. The people were so amazing- they've been through so much since the tsunami and they're still so happy and content. Many great lessons to be learned from their humble examples! I loved it! And so I took a million pics. Here's a few for now...and more to come later while I sift through them.



We spent most of our time at Home & Life orphanage. The kids here either lost their parents in the tsunami or their families are too poor to support them. We built a storage house, painted murals on their dorm houses, tiled one of the floors in their main building and taught vocational skills.





These are all the kids at the orphanage. The people who run it are so perfect for the job- they've created a great atmosphere and want to keep it small so they have a family feeling. The kids are all so happy too- it really wasn't a sad place at all.
















Okay, construction Thailand-style means mixing cement from powder, carrying bricks/cinder blocks one-by-one and digging holes only with shovels, all done in the heat and humidity. This also means that we were constantly wet with sweat.



Below we were teaching them sewing on the freshly tiled floor and here's a pic of the mural. The kids loved helping us paint and it was neat that they became a part of it too. (Until they got a little carried away and started painting crazy aliens on the wall. We edited them out a bit so they wouldn't regret it when they're older and realize how freakish they looked- I should've gotten a picture of them though, they were pretty funny!)

45 years and counting.

My parents met in Boston 46 years ago. This is their story (sorta).

Little Miss Lauritzen went lookin' for laughs in the summer of 63'
Bout the same time a studious young feller set off to pursue a degree
With her girlfriend Ida ridin' besida she set off for the east coast
A math degree from Boston "C" seemed to make sense the most
Shopping, Doowapping and occasional work made Boston the place to be
Sexy equations, seductive calculations grabbed his attention effortlessly
The fun had to end eventually and it came time to head back to Salt Lake
He would head back to Utah as soon as he could, but still had a test to take
Her ride fell through, what ever would she do? so knelt down a began to pray
Driving cross country gets lonely at times, be nice to have a little company
Luckily there was Ida cuz' she had an idea, she got on the phone and called Neil
"Sure, I can take her. Does she work well with numbers? If not it's no big deal."
Together they trekked the 2000 miles back to the Beehive State.
It was the first time in history there had ever been a 3 day long first date.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Love you

THANK YOU!!

Random flip-flops and first aid supplies you think? Well, who knew they could make one so happy?!! These are all the things that friends, family and neighbors donated for me to take to Thailand! I'm here now and am so excited to disburse them where they're most needed. So THANK YOU again to everyone for your contributions and support. I officially have the best family and friends and neighbors ever!!
more to come later....

a child is born..

Welcome Carson Scott Bowers!

Born May 28, 2008 @ 2:42 pm

I wish my camera did him justice- he's very handsome!!
Congrats Britt and Rick!