Finally in China, Finally have Internet, Finally got around the filters!

So, where do I begin. We are now in Wuhan China in a seedy little apartment across the street from Wuhan University of Science and Technology. We have some very interesting plumbing situations and it is almost unbearably hot. The temperature is 98-100 degrees during the day with about 80% humidity so it feels like 120! When we go outside we practically melt! We had an entire week all alone in Wuhan without any of the other teachers in town so we spent all of last week just wandering around the city on foot. We found a really cool and really really really really big shopping center about 2 miles down the road from us. At the shopping center we saw some awesome signs on the escalators. When we went back today they had changed them to proper english so I am glad I got some photographic evidence before hand! I can't upload the photo right now because China has all blogs blocked and I am going to great lengths to get on the sight and for some reason adding pictures and videos is NOT and option.

McKay's Turn

I, McKay Abner Young, admittedly hate blogs. I really don't like the idea of random people seeing what I write without my express permission. However, Lindsay and I went and took pictures yesterday and I wanted to show them to various people. Facebook won't allow uploads of that size, so I guess I'll have to use my wife's blog (with her permission). Though, maybe I will like doing this enough that I'll do it again someday.

My Super Husband

Our nephew Benjamin just had his 5th birthday. He really loves spider man and so his mom decided that spider man should come to his birthday party. Well McKay is the only male in the Young family who could even remotely pull off spider man, so he was assigned the task of becoming spider man. When he showed up to the party all of the little kids screamed!!!! They loved it! (well one little girl was afraid of him so i guess she probably didn't love it.) Some of the little girls had a little crush on spiderman and stayed really close the whole time. They followed him around and asked him questions about why spiderman did this or that and then they did their best spiderman poses and played some games. It was so cute and entertaining to watch. McKay was a little embarrased the whole time but I got quite a kick out of watching my super husband.

Our Busy Busy Lives

So, we are back from florida, and i have to say it was absolutely fantastic! We got too see almost every member of the Rogers family while we were out there, we were only missing one uncle. We got to go to the beach every single day that we were there and the beaches were heavenly! We found all kinds of wildlife and McKay go to swim with the dolphin's! We saw dolphins a number of times and McKay caught some action shots of the dolphins catching some fish while we were boating one of the days. We also got to ride around in a golf cart, eat a ginormous brunch at the country club, play around in the pool and play lots of card games with our family. We also got to watch a very entertaining little play that my younger cousins put on.

There is always a little bit of drama when the whole family comes together (like some fighting cousins and grandpa telling his grand kids there was no way they were going to make it to college, Yikes!) but it was really nice despite the drama. It is always nice when my grandparents open up thier home to us, they opened it up so much that they didn't have room to stay in their own home! I was so happy that McKay was able to come with us, because i think he may have had more fun than i did!

When we got back from Florida we had to cram in studying and finals because we were gone for the last days of classes and our reading days. Our finals didn't quite go as well as we had hoped, but it's okay because at least they are over! And lucky McKay is done with finals for a very long time because he graduated on Thursday/Friday!

McKay's graduation was so much fun (kind of). We got to pack into the Marriott center with the 6,700+ graduates and all their friends and families on Thursday for commencement (we could not find McKay in the 6,700+ sea of blue caps and gowns). After commencement we went out to dinner at an Indian Buffet that we absolutely love and then we went to his parents house and played a few rounds of Bang! Then on Friday the whole family went to McKay's convocation which was also in the Marriott center. I had all of our fancy camera equipment and was able to get a couple of fun shots of McKay even though he happened to be sitting on the opposite side of the building. After that we had a big family BBQ and played some more Bang. I think every one had a good time and McKay was able to have a memorable graduation.

We then had Sunday to just relax, go to church and play games. But during all of this we have been packing to move. Our apartment is a complete disaster area! About 3/4 of our belongings are boxed up and piled in our living room where our sofa's and TV used to be. We were able to get rid of our 60 inch big screen television on Saturday and sold it for $30. Isn't that a steal! I have to finish packing everything up this after noon and then tonight we will hopefully have people come over to help us move all of the boxes to our nice big new apartment after we get the keys tonight. I am so excited and overwhelmed with everything that has been going on, especially since i started classes again this morning. If anyone wants to help us move things or help me scrub down walls please please PLEASE feel free to come over and help me. I will be doing moving things for the next 3 days! Ahhhh!

Off to Florida!

We are off to Florida! YAY! I am dying to get to the beach! I'll definitely post some pictures when we get back next week.

Wuhan Here We Come!

So it's official. We are moving to Wuhan China in August. CRAZY! McKay was offered a job teaching at the university last week. Right after he got the job McKay put in an application for me to work there as well. On Monday they offered me a job teaching English at the university as well. We sent them an acceptance letter on Tuesday so it is official. It has all come together in less than a week!So fast and so easy! I guess it must be fate. We have to be checked into our apartment by August 24th so we will be leaving sometime before that. We will be teaching for two semesters with a 3 week break in between that we will use to travel around China (I'm really excited about that part). We don't know when we are coming home for sure yet, but we know it will be the end of may or beginning of June sometime. Hopefully there will be lots of adventures to report while we are there. AHHHHH!!!! I am moving to CHINA! I am so excited and so nervous! Wuhan here we come!

Here are a few pictures of the university and the city.

Gumpaste!

I realize it has been a while since my last post, midterms got in the way of my writing. However, now they are over and i am working on a fun little project in my spare time. I am teaching myself (with the help of some video's on you tube) how to make flowers out of gum paste, which means I am making sugar flowers! I have only finished some roses so far, but I am in the process of making some calla lilies. I don't know why, but for some reason the cake decorating bug has bit me again. I seem to go in cycles. There have been a number of times in my life where I have been really excited about and really into cake decorating, and then periods where i don't even think about it. I am hoping that this most recent decorating bug will stay with me for a while. At the moment I think it would be absolutely amazing to make wedding cakes for a living. Maybe I will end up making my way to culinary school.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

I have made some small buds, as well as some medium sized and large roses. I do not have a cutter to make the right kind of calyx for a rose, so I have just been using a daisy cookie cutter, and I think it is working just fine!