Well . . . sorry that it has been nearly a month since the last time I posted. We had some visitors from the States . . . our close friends, Kevin and Meredith Carter. They kept us rather busy and now we are trying to play catch up on our tasks. So sorry that we have been out of the loop, . . . but as you will see from the following pictures we had a great time showing them around Malaysia . . . Our New Home! This first one is Gabby with the Malaysian flag, this month (August 31st) Malaysia celebrates 50 years of freedom . . . needless to say, everyone here is very excited and patriotic!!Here is a picture of Kevin and Andy, such manly men in the Butterfly park . . . I like the poses guys!
Gabs immediately remembered and connected with Uncle Kevin and Aunt Meredith . . . she had an awesome time being with them and being loved by them.
Here is Eli and I playing in the water at the Petronas Towers . . . he looks so stylish in his new swim suit from his Grandma Jackson =+)!!
Kevin and Andy in front of the Petronas Towers . . . such an amazing sight, especially at night!
All four of us . . . we set the timer on the camera . . . we miss you guys!
Here they are, this pic is definitly a keepsake!
We have never shown you all a picture of our apartment building. Well here it is. It is the one on the left. We live about half way up it.

This is the view from in front of our building, in the parking lot.
Bedtime stories with Kevin and Meredith. Gabs loved it!!
Here's the girls at the butterfly park . . . such a fun place.
This is the restaurant on the fifth floor of our building, one of our favorite places to eat.
Some cool pictures in front of the Menara KL (Kuala Lumpur Tower).

Here we are arriving in Langkawi . . . a vacation island in the north of Malaysia.
We took some cable cars to the top of a mountain there . . . some amazing views.

Eli got an eye infection while we were there . . . this was his attitude the whole time we were there. Poor kid!
This is another picture on the top of mountain.
This is Andy's favorite picture of Kevin and Meredith's time with us . . . Kev and Gabs were best buddies.
While we were on the island, Kevin wanted a chance to drive on the "wrong" side of the road. Look at the crazed look in his eyes. =+)
More and more cute pictures=+) It was so nice to get away from the city and have some time to vacation!!

Here is Kev and Mer at the Seven Wells . . . such a beautiful view and a fun place to play too.
Dinner on the beach . . . Yum! And a great view!
Another pic from the top of the mountain. These pictures are a bit out of order, sorry.
Kevin looking at the view on the way up in the cable car. It was so high!!
Ahhh, on the beach chillin'!!!


Meredith and I . . . dinner on the beach, while the sun sets . . . need I say more?!

Thanks for coming guys!! It was amazing, can't wait till the next time. SO sorry about the rash!! Love you both! Thanks everyone for checking out the blog, we miss you all.

THE CAR!!
Introducing the newest member of our family . . . our 1989 Volvo 240 GL. It is really working great for us so far and we are really grateful for it!! It is a great family car . . . so big and really safe, it is built like a tank!


Gabby rocking it out on her Daddy's playstation game.

We just got back from a week in Penang . . . mostly meetings but some fun too. Here is Gabs and I checking out a bird that they had at a restaraunt on the beach. We are still not sure what kind of bird it was.
Eli and his new shoes, they have all sorts of knock off crocs here. . . they are great for the kids.
The best part of the trip was that there was a real bath tub!!! The kids had a ball!

The beach was great too, the kids love the sand, sun and water!!

Daddy and his boy.
The stroller didn't work very well on the sand we figured out a little too late. =+)
Some nice walks on the beach. Just watch out for landing parasailors, they were everywhere!
There was a Macdonalds with a play place, we had to make a stop there.

Here is the view from the condo that we stayed in for the week. It was a lot of fun. Thanks so much for checking out the blog, we miss you all!

Well . . . our baby boy is one year old!! His birthday was this past Wednesday and we had a fun party for him. Here is Eli and his Daddy on his big day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!! =+)Here he is with the present from Uncle Tim and Aunt Shana (and grant and garrison). You will see that he has his pj's on with this one . . . he had to take a nap in between some of the present opening, it is hard work you know!!
This is him opening the present above.

Here's Eli with his new Thomas the train book from Grandma and Papa Jackson. Thanks guys!
Eli loves his new cars from Papa and Grandma Jackson too, he didn't want to go on to any other presents after he opened them. =+)

5 cool cars all together, and they are made out of teething material, which is perfect . . he is working on a tooth right now.
He has to concentrate really hard aparently to play with these cars . . . very serious face =+)
We got blues clues party hats, there were pink ones and blue ones. Gabby felt it necessary to put a pink one on her brother.
Here is Eli and our Nanny, she is so in love with our kids. It is so great to have someone we trust, she is great with them and they adore her.
Daddy and his boy again.
Eli and his new teddy bear from Uncle Dave and Aunt Bethany, it is Mr. Bean's teddy . . . Eli loves snuggly things. He is such a cuddler, totally opposite from his big sister. We are loving all the cuddles and kisses he gives all the time!!
Big One Year Old!!
Such a great smile on our little man!
And for the highlight of the party, the cake eating!! I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles and he loved it . . . from head to toe =+)!



Here is Gabby the day after the party . . . still enjoying the balloons.
She is such a little mama . . . putting bottles together, she is growing up way too fast!
She wanted to wear some of my lipstick . . . little princess.


Gabby is really a great big sister, always wanting to help her brother.
He is almost the same size as her now, she has about 6 inches of height on him still though. Not for long probably.
"huh . . . who, me?"
Playing together in Gab's room.
Our little poser =+)
Daddy and his kiddos, playing computer game after bath time.
Don't squeeze too tight =+) Thanks for checking out the blog, keep us posted on how you all are doing too. We love you all, and miss you too!

PS . . . if you sent a present and there is not a picture of him opening it here, that is because some of the pics are on another memory stick. I will post those as soon as I can. He loves the cement truck Kev and Mary. =+)