President's Day Weekend

We all or I have to say most of us had a great three day President's Day weekend. On Friday night, Ali and I had to chaperone the 9th grade dance and Ali was not shy about showing off his dance moves for the N.C. students. It was fun! Then Saturday, we drove up to Pocatello to visit my aunt and uncle. It was very relaxing for me! The kids were excited to play with the dogs and my aunt and I cooked a big Indian meal and invited more family members over to enjoy it! It was really fun to visit with all of them and catch up! However, Ali was not feeling so great, he had two very large and deep fillings from the dentist so his tooth was killing him and he also got a very high fever. So his weekend was not so great so... he got the priviledge of getting a root canal on that tooth on Monday afternoon and hopefully he will be feeling better soon!

Happy Birthday Alisha and Sohil!

HAPPY BIRTHAY ALISH AND SOHIL!!

Alisha and Sohil with Grandma Terri and cousins!

With their goods!


We get presents!
It was really funny because they were very shocked to get gifts
for their birthdays....they thought we were suppose to give gifts
to the guests that came to the party.

This week is a big week for birthdays at our house! Alisha will turn 9 today Jan. 25 and Sohil will be 11 tomorrow! So this past Sunday we had a big birthday bash to celebrate! We invited family and friends over for cake and ice cream and fun was had by all! It was so wonderful to have everyone come and celebrate their first birthdays in America!

America or Bust!

Here we come....Dreams do come true! Ali and the kids got their immigrant visas yesterday and to say the very least we are super excited! What a great Christmas present for our family! It took amost 4 years to make this dream a reality and we feel so lucky because there were times when we thought this would never happen. We are so happy that finally our family will be living on the same continent and can't wait to see all of our friends and family!

Manali

Addie dressed in traditional Manali clothes!

Ali and Addie in the nature reserve in Manali

At the River

This summer we also visited Manali which is a town in the Himalaya mountains. It was beautiful and we had a great time exploring the waterfalls, going to the natural hot springs, visiting the old temples, and enjoying the natural beauty.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar India

In July, we went for a short trip to the Northern part of India. Our first stop was Amritsar, which is home to the Sikh Golden Temple. This is a pilgrimage site for Sikhs. They come here to bathe in the holy water.

Saif is 12!

The birthday boy with his grandma Ali. We all call her Ma!

Happy Birthday Saif!

In July, our son Saif turned 12! Saif is a very high-spirited, active boy and he was excited to celebrate his birthday. For this special day we took him to lunch at Pizza Hut and then had cake and ice cream at their house in the evening. He was so happy to get money from Grandma Holmstead and Grandpa Speth! He wants to buy a cd player and new shoes.

Swimming Fun

It is very hot here in India and the hotel we stayed at for the first month had a swimming pool so we went for a swim everyday. It was fantastic! It was a sad day when we had to change hotels. We miss those daily dips.