Whenever we are in Utah, it is time for family reunions.
This time wasn’t an exception either. The reunion was held in the basement of
Zions Bank in Payson, and we had a lot of fun. First of all a couple of days before the party the girls helped Oma to bake a lot of
cookies for the reunion. It is our Christmas family tradition to bake candy cane sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, so we kind of combined it with the
necessity to feed the crowds during the family party.
The girls in full action.
Oma didn't have any red coloring, so the girls opted for purple.
The party started with making Christmas cards for the
disabled veterans (we delivered those together with Mican’s family on Christmas
Eve), and then continued with food and entertainment provided by the kids.
All gathered for the talent show.
Karlie playing Silent Night
Samuel performing his piece.
Luke was doing a stand-up comedy! He was really funny! His brother Liam played the violin but he didn't want to be seen, so I respected his wishes and didn't take a picture of him.
Our crew gave the same concert they gave earlier in the week for the 4th graders,
Romance is in the making! Tess doesn't know yet that a little less than a month later she will be engaged to Nate!
The next day most of us came to Oma’s house after church to play games, watch a
movie and just visit. The cousins had a blast as always, and so did we. The next day was Christmas, and everybody was very excited!
A week after we got
back from our trip to Barcelona, we went to Almaty for the country
conference for our church (LDS church- we're Mormons). Normally just about
everywhere else in the world they have stake or district conferences
but here we have neither stake nor district, so the leadership
improvised and did a country conference instead. :) For the first
time the members from the entire country of Kazakhstan got together.
We had people from Astana, Almaty, Atarau, Aktau and even from
Bishkek, Kyrgystan. Spencer and I were both translating there as well
as giving talks. Our girls were doing two musical numbers for the
talent show there, so we all had important parts in the conference
and needed to be there however we had quite an adventure getting
there.
Every single time we
come to Kazakhstan from anywhere outside of the country, we need to
register with the police department. We have at least 2 weeks to do
it but we usually register as soon as we get in. It is a simple
process: we just submit our passports and in about 5 business days we
get them back with the registration. We submitted our passports after
coming back from our trip to Spain forgetting that we'll need them in
5 days to travel to Almaty. We turned our passports in on Monday and
were leaving on Friday night. Thankfully we got them back on
Thursday.
We were taking an
overnight business train. Normally it takes anywhere between 17 and
24 hours to get to Almaty from Astana if traveling by train. It just
depends on how many stops that train makes in between. Flying our
whole family plus my mom who was visiting us was out of the question:
too expensive for a two-day trip. So we decided to take a business
train that is more expensive than a regular train but a lot cheaper
than a plane. It makes only a couple of stops on the way and so it
only takes 12 hours over night. Very handy!
We ordered two taxis
to the train station. It normally takes 15-20 minutes to get there, I
planned an hour. Well, that night we had a snowstorm, and so the
traffic was unusually slow. One taxi was late. When the first taxi
showed up, my mom, the twins and I took it leaving Spencer and the
older girls wait for the second taxi. Their taxi was 20 minutes late.
Traffic was impossible. We were in a real pickle. Spencer had all of
our tickets, and I had all of our passports. We told our driver the
time our train was supposed to leave. He said he will try to get
there on time through the back roads. But even if we got there just
in time, we couldn't leave without the second half of our crew. The
kids and I prayed so hard! We arrived at the train station with 10
minutes to spare and ran to the platform. The train was supposed to
leave in 5 minutes. And there it was … our miracle: the business
train that's never late didn't even get to the platform yet. It
arrived 20 minutes late, and so Spencer and the girls were able to
get there just in time. It was really a miracle! He also said that
their driver drove like a maniac breaking all of the rules.
Our train ride was
very unadventurous the rest of the way. We had nice 2-people
compartments with bunk beds and personal sinks in each one of them.
The girls love traveling by trains, and we've been on a lot of trains
before, and this one was the nicest of them all.
On the train
Nika and Lina were in the compartment next to ours that was connected through this door.
Babushka and Sophie were roommates for the ride.
We booked three
rooms at a hotel near the church building. The other expat families
that came there for the conference were staying at the same hotel as
well. So we got together with our friends, the Stices and the
Hessenauers and went out to a little Korean restaurant for lunch. We
had a great time visiting there. Then we broke up: some of us had to
go to the leadership meeting, and some went up to the mountains with
the youth.
Lunch at the Korean restaurant. It is fun visiting with friends!
Later that evening
all members got together for a dinner and a talent show. The dinner
was catered from somewhere. It was fine but a bit greasy for my
taste. The talent show was great. There was poetry, dances, singing,
guitar, dombra and piano playing. It was fun! Our girls performed two musical
numbers on a guitar, one of which was a song by a very popular Russian rock star from the 80s who was killed in a car wreck in 1990.
Apparently, he was very famous in Kazakhstan because a movie staring
him was filmed right there in Almaty. So, needless to say that the
girls got a standing ovation when they performed that song.
People arriving before the talent show
These girls from Almaty are performing Kazakh folk dance.
Our girls getting ready to sing a song by Viktor Tsoy.
It was a great day
that was dampened a little by the fact that just about everybody got food
poisoning from the dinner. At least we got our systems cleared! :)
Playing in the snow with Mimi and Taraz Stice on our way back to the hotel.
The next day was the
actual conference. It was a wonderful conference, most talks were
concentrated on building unity. And then it was time to say our
goodbyes and go home.
With the Andersons from Ephraim. Spencer went to school with their daughter.
We were taking the same business train
overnight back to Astana. On our way to the train station we stopped
to eat at KFC (we didn't want to risk eating anywhere unknown after
the previous night's adventures). Our train ride back home was
uneventful which is the way we like it! It is always nice to get
home!
Lina won her
classroom Miss Ocharovashka (Miss Enchanting) contest and went on to the school one which they did in honor of the International Women's Day. It
is a pretty big deal because it is turned into a big show, and so
they spent two hours at school after their classes ended every day
for the next two weeks just practicing for the event. It was really
crazy at times but Lina did it, and we were very proud of her. It was
amazing to me how much talent the kids have. We had singers, dancers,
gymnastics, a guitar player, a flute player, magic show, puppet show.
It was fun! Lina didn't win the contest but she got the title “Miss
Elegance”, which is the exact title Nika got last year! Sisters!
Lina waiting for her turn to go on stage.
On stage
All of the contestants did a little dance together.
Doing her introductions.
She was pretty pleased that high school kids were serving her!
Playing her piece on the guitar
Getting ready for the talent show.
Happy Kid
About to go on a stage again
Doing the fashion run
These are some of the costumes that other contestants made. These two are out of crepe paper and plastic cups.
Wrapping paper and foil
More crepe paper
Garbage bags and napkins on the left and groceries bags and napkins on the right
Lina had the loudest cheering group! Those are her classmates that came to cheer for her.
