The Mass Defeat...

"The attack came in the early evening. The troops were just getting comfortable in their dinners, when we were HIT! We scattered as the strokes came down, sometimes killing two or three of us at a time. We tried to seek shelter, but we've never been keen on the concept. We would land here or there trying to confuse or disorient our attacker, but any attempt to distract her failed. We could not dissuade her, all was hopeless. The few of us who flew out of reach, soon unwittingly, drifted back and landed right in the attacker's path. Even as I write this she swings her fierce death stick with force and precision. We are no match for her anger towards our kind. My only solace is that I have escaped from her wrath. Things seem to have grown quiet. I can't hide forever. I must soon seek new refuge. But before I do, I should return to see what is left of my kin..."   **SMACK!**

The final address of D. P. Tera from "The Mass Defeat: A Fly's Tale"

Family Times

Keeping up with a blog hasn't always been the most consistent endeavor that I've attempted. The last time I posted something was because the thought or idea had been invading my thoughts for several days with a nagging "get this down on paper!" so living in the digital age, I wrote a blog post about it and quickly felt relief.

Now, almost 3 years later and having never felt the same dramatic impression to “write something down!” I wonder if I am coming out of some void that I didn’t even know I was in, because today, I feel like I need to blog again!

I wonder if I dare to attribute my recent “blog void” to my newly acquired title of “mother” which has come with a fair few more responsibilities and downright terrifying emotional changes that have made me feel like a completely changed woman, and yet the change is exactly who I’ve been all along. Clear as mud?

Ohhhhh, I remember being young and childless (it almost seems like an entirely separate lifetime ago). Back then I just felt lucky to have essentially dodged a child-bullet (is that a pun?) and actually achieve things! Finishing my education, pursuits in different careers, traveling the world and honestly doing whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it! Not that I hated kids or anything, I have nieces! And plenty of my good friends jumped on board the baby-train in their early twenties, so it’s not that I don’t respect the calling of motherhood. Honestly, I just never worried about whether or not I’d have kids. I would go as far to say that I was more worried about my chances of becoming a mother than not.

I would vomit a little when I would hear women (younger or older than me) say, “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a mother.” It was/is especially annoying when I heard it from girls younger than me…tho recently I've noticed, even though they are younger than me, they are (much to my surprise!) not that young anymore! Being raised in the Mormon faith, my gut (but silent) reaction would be, “were you even taught there was more to life than motherhood?” Again, not knocking mothers (geez it sure sounds like it tho!) I just felt/feel like if you really WANT to be a mother, I have a few requirements for my generation (or younger) that I feel you need to do to qualify for the position.

#1 Get your education!

I’m not saying take a few college courses, I’m saying graduate with a degree or license! And no (sorry) Associate degrees do not count in my book, they are glorified high school diplomas. We live in a progressing world with state of the art technology and children graduating from High Schools with reading comprehension of an 8^th grader or less. Now more than ever you (the mother!) need to be educated. You need to read and sight to reputable sources and you need to KNOW firsthand how to teach your children to keep up and rise above the struggles.

Getting my education has directly impacted my career choices and it leaves doors open to me that would never be available without my degrees. That being said, I am also SO grateful I am DONE! I don't have to worry about working and going to school at the same time (any more, because I worked that the whole time I was in school!)

#2 You need to freakin’ work a legit job.

I’m talking full-time employment. You know, where the employer takes taxes out of your check kind of employment. You need to see what it’s like supporting yourself and your lifestyle. You need to do things like pay your bills, travel, buy appliances, save for retirement (yes you need to do that too), pay taxes. This (to me) goes hand in hand with your education.

Tell me, in all your grand schemes of motherhood have you considered what would happen if your spouse gets super sick and can’t work to support your family? What would happen if your spouse died? What happens to after school sports programs, dance classes, pottery or art classes, daycare because you have to work now? Who pays for these things? No one plans for the worst to happen, but I will tell you that sad things happen to EVERYONE. Will you be prepared? Will you be able to get a job that can support your family, with a HS diploma and part-time work experience? I guess you’ll have to decide.

#3 Learn about yourself before you bring little people into the world!

Man, I can’t tell you how grateful I am that when Thomas and I met we knew who we were. Our pasts were filled with the good and the bad that made us who we are. We grew up, we learned how to communicate, we knew what we liked/disliked in those we dated. We accepted the reality that neither one of us were perfect, but we knew what our foundation was made of, so we knew if we could build on it.

Fast forward to now, we’ve thrown a child into the mix and it’s like buying a ticket for a new adventure. We have continued to grow our family, have fun, get through rough times, support each through job changes and promotions, the list goes on. All because we knew the foundation we had was good. We knew this BECAUSE we knew who we were. We are comfortable with parenting, it’s just the next thing. It’s not bigger than we are, it’s just a change to who we were. I know we are better parents because we knew more about ourselves before we had kids.

…hm…where was I even going with all of this?...

I guess, that was a long-winded vent session for, “I want to get back into writing again!” I have a beautiful little family, we’ve kept the travel bug alive even with a baby, and we’re having fun watching our Sweets explore and learn about the world around her.

More to come!

Inspired Thought of Today

'Frodo, Mr. Frodo!' he called. 'Don't leave me here alone! It's your Sam calling. Don't go where I can't follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!'

If you have read Lord of the Rings you know that at this part in the Two Towers when Sam makes this exclamation he and Frodo have already been through quite a lot. By this point they have made lots of decisions and trusted several characters in the book, each to their own level of aid or disappointment. The particular decision to trust Gollum was against Sam's better judgement, but instead of forcing Frodo to not accept help from Gollum, Sam faithfully follows, cares for, and helps Frodo to the best he can. Sam never leaves Frodo's side except for this moment when Frodo appears to go somewhere Sam cannot follow. 

When the above quote came to me today I instantly thought of my parents calling out to my brother who has made decisions that have found him in a place where they cannot follow. Then I thought about other parents who call out to their children who have gone astray. I felt an overwhelming understanding of the kind of pain and love parents feel when a child makes a decision that takes them away from their presence. Then almost just as instantly I thought of common questions people face when bad things happen to the people they love, "Why did God let this happen? Why are bad things allowed to happen to good people?" I feel inspired to testify of the importance of an eternal truth: freedom of choice. 

People good and bad are entitled to an eternal truth or a heavenly law which is the freedom to make their own choices. Take the complicated decisions we make in life and all the people we trust. Now think of children as they grow and necessarily make their own choices. Parents watch from afar as kids make their own decisions. Do we sometimes hold our breath? Instinctively reach out to help and get told they don't need help. Do we call to them only to realize they are too far away {spiritually or emotionally} to hear? Or do we even close our eyes tight when things get too scary? It's a painfully beautiful experience to be a parent, right?

Now think how it must be for Heavenly Father to deal with OUR imperfect decisions. All He asks is that we put our trust in Him, "For my yoke is easy and my burden light" (Mathew 11:30), yet how many others take His place? How often do we make decisions that lead us away from Heavenly Father's guiding hand? How often do our choices make Him cry out, "It's your Father in Heaven calling. Don't go where I can't follow!" 

God is the ultimate example of a perfect parent. He is always there for us when we call on Him, He will advise against certain choices, but always lets us make our own decisions; and regardless of how we resist, complain, or completely ignore His help - He NEVER looks away.

Freedom of choice is a beautiful blessing - remember who gave it to you and always strive to use it in a way that will find you {one day} back in Heavenly Father's out stretched arms. 

Front Yard Project

Thomas and I started the front yard project right after Easter. Every year we do a family Easter egg hunt (because life is too short to grow up all at once) - and my mom does something fun, instead of putting candy in the eggs, she puts numbers and those numbers are tied to a list of "gifts" some are monetary gifts, some are "nights out with mom and dad" and others are service based. This year Thomas and I got like 2 family service projects. So we wasted no time in recruiting our family to help us break-up the foundation pieces on our cinder block wall and take it to the dump {which was my first trip ever and definitely worth another blog post...if I get around to it}. 

Early morning family service

 Well, now that we had the block wall out of the way, we felt like it was time to work on our yard. I mean, we had like 3 other projects going, and 1 in particular that is super important to finish...buuuuuuut this new idea was taking hold...and the block wall was gone, so...

Well, for starters: grass/sod is expensive, so we were looking at just seed, but birds are annoying...and then my dad called soon after we had made some designs and plans and said one of his neighbors landscaped their yard and had a few leftover pieces of sod and do we want it? We hmmm and haaah'd because we were concerned about our water bill {seriously? the whole yard will be grass eventually what's a few square feet to get started}, we finally agreed and Thomas went with our truck and picked up the scraps.

After some serious doodles during sacrament meeting and consulting with each other on our lunch breaks, we came up with a beautiful front yard oasis. Complete with climbing roses, a gazebo, paver patio, and 6ft hedges. The scraps of sod were a good start and we picked up our climbing roses next.

After we installed the roses we got some fishing line and using concrete screws we attached the fishing line to the block wall so the roses had something to cling to. The far left climber still hasn't bloomed, but all the other climbers have these beautiful multicolored roses. They are so pretty.

Wide shot of the bland yard.

I guess I forgot to mention that the sod was pretty much dead. So Thomas got up early each morning and proceeded to water our little patch every morning and every night.

Soon it turned green!! We kind of joked that we had our own putting green...but we knew it would be a matter of time before we had more grass...not sure exactly where we were going to get it though, my parents don't have THAT many neighbors.

We added oleanders!

 Welcome 6ft hedge! Well. It will be 6ft eventually.

 Things were really coming together...so we figured since our grass patch was doing well we started looking at pavers...but if we thought grass was expensive! Pavers are SUPER pricey. That didn't stop us from going to Home Depot and wandering around the gardening section and pricing and re-pricing the different varieties of stones. Then on a random Monday, our neighbor two doors down came over while Thomas was watering the yard and explained that he was foreclosing on his house and he had a whole bunch of gardening stuff that we could have, along with some pavers! So Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we moved 3 truck fulls of pavers and a whole bunch of gardening and Halloween stuff.

Path pavers

 Thomas kept up the watering and if you look closely you can see the pavers for our patio space.

Thomas watering the grass

 Everything was growing great! Our roses were getting bigger.

 We spent a lot of time at Home Depot, wandering around and one day Thomas saw that the sod they were selling was pretty dried out, so Thomas talked to the manager to see if we could get a discount and he just gave us the rest of the grass!! So we got it free! 

Free!!

Free-99

Well, Thomas got to thinking that if one Home Depot had dead grass, maybe another would...so we went to another Home Depot and they had 3 pallets full of grass and they gave it to us because they were getting a new shipment the next day and were just throwing away this stuff! So bam! we got more grass!

Keep on watering...

Thomas has been so dedicated with watering the yard, we just got some sprinkler things that we used to play in as kids so he doesn't have to stand out there and water it all by hand. We got some black tarp stuff from Costco and we're going to re-purpose the rock we scrapped off before we put the grass down, and use it to have a path. We are also going to plant grass or clovers between the pavers and eventually we will extend the roof line out to create an over hang. So it's still a work in progress, but we have accomplished A LOT in just about 2 months.

Yay! Coming together!

House of Cards

We have 5 dogs...many of you know this, but let me state their names and comment on their personalities real quick:  

D.O.G. - he is our 5lb Maltese. He really is more cat than dog (hence the name-I really needed the whole 'dog' concept sink in to his little brain). He was born of champion show dogs and still has a little prance in his step, even though he's never entered an arena. He prefers the finer things that life has to offer and works his way into your heart with his head tilts and playful jumps when he gets excited.

Bleeker on left, Cortez on the right. 

Bleeker - He is our pack leader. He watches mostly as the other dogs interact, but will get involved if activity is too rambunctious or if he feels one of the other dogs needs to be reminded who's in-charge. I think he still prefers me to Thomas because he will follow me around everywhere I go and stand by me when we are outside like he's guarding me, and he still pretends to not hear Thomas when asked to do certain things or looks to me like "do I really need to listen to that?"

Cortez and Harvey (yes there are two dogs :))

Harvey - Very sensitive and probably the most intuitive of the dogs. On trails he wonders ahead to scope out the area and then comes back to check in report. He LOVES to play catch, but doesn't share too well. Harvey had to take a backseat to Bleeker when we combined families and there was a "changing of the pecking-order" a few months after they had been together. Harvey skirted by with just a cut ear and a new found respect for Bleeker, but since Bleeker doesn't get involved in the day-to-day socializing Harvey still feels empowered most the time.

Zeus

Zeus - This is a one of a kind dog. We joke that he will probably be able to survive nuclear war because he is a survivor. He does not belong to any pack. I feel like this line from You're a Good Man Charlie Brown fits him perfectly: Charlie: "Snoopy likes me!" Lucy: "No, he only PRETENDS to like you because you feed him....that doesn't count." At the sight of a BB Gun he will start searching the air for birds and if he sees birds he keep will keep shooting his eyes from the birds to us with this expression of, "come on! They're going to get away!!!" If he hears the gun go off, he's running around trying to find {we assume} the fallen bird. He's our digger and when the other dogs are playing catch, he will randomly leap out of nowhere, grab the ball {most times in mid-air} and take off to the other side of the yard.

Cortez - Our large puppy. He is just under 2 years old and a bit of a spaz still. He is SO EXCITED for EVERYTHING. Time to go outside? He DARTS through the door {sometimes taking out D.O.G. or Harvey in the process}; time to play? He BOUNDS around the yard and pounces on Harvey when trying to get the ball or he runs back and forth waiting for you to throw something; time to eat? He will BARREL through the house and slam into his crate which then slams into the wall, and he looks around like "where's the food?", then sits because he knows he needs to do that before he can eat, but then stands because he's SO excited and then sits again because he remembers {again} that he needs to do that. I thought Bleeker snuggled, until Cortez came around. Cortez will snuggle, let you adjust and then snuggle once you've gotten comfortable.

On Valentines Day we decided (because we're crazy!) to adopt a cat for Thomas. We went to a few places and found two brothers at Petco. Fittingly enough they are Maine Coons, which if you don't know anything about cats they can easily get to be 20-25lbs (Google some of these cats-it gets pretty crazy). We have been slowly introducing the dogs to the cats, one at a time so they could get used to seeing and smelling them around.

Sunday March 2nd we went to the morning session of the Gilbert Temple dedication. It was maybe an hour and a half, but this is what we came home to:

Luckily Bleeker's nose wasn't as bad as the picture lends itself 

Dog blood and cat pee

Thomas gave Dirty Hairy a shower, check out those claws...Bleeker didn't have a chance.

We're just grateful the dedication was as short as it was or it could've been a lot worse.

3 Months!

Thomas and I are enjoying our 3-month anniversary today!! I typically don't make such a big deal about little things like this, but I received some good advise from my brother Ben a few weeks ago. He told me to celebrate everything. Celebrate little anniversaries, celebrate normal days, be grateful and be present in the relationship. I thought it was great advise and I know it comes from a very sweet place in my brother's heart. So today I got up and made him a breakfast drink, I have been sending him sweet nothings, also highlighting my cleverness {more than usual, because hello he's also as lucky as me to have someone so amazing for the last 3-months} and of course, reminding him why I love him. I am also going to swing by the store, get a nice card, maybe get him some soup from AJ's {because he loves it}, and top it off with a little carrot cake.

Every day is awesome with Thomas but it has been fun going a little over the top today.

On the way home from yoga

Suddenly I saw the hint of paws and then bam! 1...{oh please pass} 2....{come on please just slide under} 3...{please not be there} 4..thud-ump! - {no no no} my heart is pulsing in my ears, I don't feel my hands, am I still breathing? I take a breath. It was under the truck ahead before, do they know? We find a side road to pull into. We fall out of our cars, 'what just happened? Are you okay? The dog...? Did you see...?' One guy is crying, the other is grabbing his phone, we abandon our cars and run to the spot. {Please be dead, please don't be alive...what if it's alive?} A kid is standing on the side walk staring at the spot, soon family rush to his side. That is their dog. The street is three lanes deep, busy with traffic, cars fly by, then one truck stops, then another and soon we can safely pick up the limp body.

The traffic moves, we carry her to a tree and softly lay her down. Is that her heart - or just my pulse in my fingers? 'We're so sorry, is there anything we can do?' I gently hand the blood stained collar over. 'No, no there's nothing to be done. Thank you for stopping to help.' Walking slowing back, shaking from the shock, the truck that initially stopped had come back, and the lady wants to know if the dog is still alive because she will take it to the vet hospital. 'No.' Her face is set, her eyes full of strength and sadness. She walks to the owner.

What can you say for the people in this world who care enough to stop? In that moment 4 people, complete strangers to each other and the family, stopped to help. Life is a beautiful and fragile thing. I am grateful for the people who stopped to help for teaching me and reminding me how beautiful genuine love is in the hearts of others. I hope life is never too busy for me to stop and help. Don't pass the opportunity to witness first hand the charity of others.

Us or Them

So maybe I'm a little late in putting this on my blog, but I'm married! Thomas and I were talking about the big M-word for a while, but whenever we talked about it, we would STOP talking about it because the logistics for all his New York family, and the financials for the reception would start to overwhelm us. Then after this last general conference {October 2013} we got real with each other and asked a more simple question: Are we waiting because of us or are we waiting for them {meaning everything else}? And it really boiled down to everything else. 

Once we got that out into the universe it happened in no time at all. We got the license, set a date, invited the grandparents to be our witnesses, invited our parents because we're not good at being sneaky, and had the sweetest, simplest little ceremony any one could ask for. And it was perfect. 

With rings exchanged and promises made, we happily start our little trek in life together. 

We have started the long and tedious party plans for the family and friends - and while I am super excited that we are doing it, I am easily overwhelmed by the thought of how much work it's going to take. I feel like Scarlet from Gone with the Wind because I'm like "I'm not gonna think about that right now" - but now that the holidays are over, it's time to get organized. We did us, now it's time to do them. :}

Goodbye 2013

I'm glad to see 2013 close its doors! It was a great year, full of exciting travel {China}, special events {we eloped} and new beginnings {Thomas got baptized}. It was also a terrible year, cancer {my mom, Thomas' aunt, Thomas' grandpa}, worries about Ben, and bathroom still not finished! At the end of the year, even though we did a lot I'm feeling like there were a lot of things left un-did and that's not going to happen in 2014 if I can help it.

So bring on the new year, bring on the finished projects, bring on the treatments, bring on the mercy and bring on the fun!

Love you all and Happy New Year!

China!!

So Thomas and I went to China for ten (10) days! China was amazing and I figured it would be a good time to write all this down before I start forgeting the subtle details.

Day 1: Travel
We pretty much traveled this day. Thomas and I were the first people to the airport (of course) so we waited around in the terminal for my parents and the DeTemples. All of us packed light, which made the entire journey MUCH easier, but Thomas and I were the only ones doing it in a backpack. The flight from Phoenix to Seattle was pretty uneventful and we had just a few hours in the Sea-Tac airport before we started boarding for our 11 hour flight to Beijing.

We planned on Thomas getting nervous/sick for the long flight so I brought my last 4 Xanax pills from 2 years ago for him (two for the flight to China and two for the flight home - they were definitely needed and used). The best part about the flight to China was that we got to sit together and watch tons of TV. The airplane wasn't the largest aircraft, but I never got up to walk around (though I probably should have). Airplane food has definitely improved and I actually enjoyed my 'western style' dinner (chicken with veggies) and all the in flight snacks.

Dad and mom across the aisle 

Airplane delirium 

When we got into Beijing at midnight and got off the airplane we were tire and sore; but also greeted by hot, muggy air and the most horrible smell of backed up toilet sewage I've ever smelt - so gross that I almost got sick as we navigated our way through customs (which was completely empty at that time of day) and found the first bathroom.

Welcome to squatters! I knew after my first experience with squatters, that they were not built for someone with my body structure, but at least the airport bathroom had soap, water and paper towels.

Once we got through all the gates and exchanged a few bucks into Yuan, we made our way to the taxi cabs. Of course we could've waited in line with all the other Chinese people that were waiting in line for the standard taxis, but dad needed to get sucked into all the 'deal-makers' that spotted us. One taxi cab took us to a completely empty part of the airport before telling us that it would be 800 Yuan ($133) to go a mile and a half.

Pretty soon I was telling everyone no before they even opened their mouth, but mostly I was just directing those nos to my dad. We did end up getting a good size van to take all 6 of us to our hotel and it was still probably too much, but it's 12:30am, and who really cares about anything at that time of day?

Day 2: Beijing/Train

We got up in the morning and went on a stroll with my mom and dad. They stopped at a store front and bought a meat pocket thing, that smelled incredible, but both Thomas and I let my parents test it out first. When they didn't drop dead, we both took a bite, YUM!

Walking down the street

Morning Tai Chi - this was the biggest group but they had a few groups in the area

Beautiful flowers next to some shady looking apartment buildings and a huge road way

The walk was very nice, and the blatant stares from locals were fun too

It was so nice to get out and walk around. The weather was misty/hazy but not cold. It actually reminded me a lot of Washington state. I will confess, I have never used so much hand sanitizer in my life. Normally, I'm completely against any such thing because it kills all the natural defenses your body creates, but I had it handy wherever we went (trust me, you would too).

....Well, it's been a few months since I've tried to finish this post, and I have a lot of pictures, can I just write under them  for now?

Too much hand sanitizer

Hotel lobby, waiting for the shuttle to take us to the train station

Airport/subway port

Walking down to the subway terminal

It's all in Chinese! ;} 

On the subway

Beijing train station

We grabbed some food before we entered the station

Thomas and mom, just inside the station

Inside the station

I wouldn't put my backpack down

Bruce Lee, he's China's Col. Sanders

Eating just so we had a place to sit

Yes, we brought Monopoly the card game - we're so fun :}

The bunks were easily 6 feet high, and stiff as a board

It wasn't easy, but Thomas was able to get some sleep

 Day 3: Xian/Terracotta Warriors/Ancient city/

Mom was under Thomas

Are we there yet?

Xian

Pouting rain, but we're still smiling

Warren's van

Our hotel

Out to explore Xi'an

Museum

Museum with a stuffed rodent

Deer in the headlights...? :}

Blaaaaah - okay I'm going to just post this and come back to it later and finish my labeling....maybe.

The next two pictures are from this restaurant that we went to in the late morning...looking back, we're not even sure they were open, but none of us could communicate with each other, so yeah. They seated us, brought us hot water and gave us menus. About 10 minutes later the girl came up to take our order and we had to point at pictures and use hand signals to order our food. Dave, myself ordered things with french fries on the side, and they came first. So we shared them with every one while we waited. It was quite some time before anything else came. Thomas, dad and Elaine got their soups with a sunny side up egg in it. But Elaine didn't like the look of the egg so she gave her soup to Thomas. Dave, mom and me NEVER got anything else. It was actually pretty funny because English and Chinese are SO COMPLETELY different that there is no common ground for any word ever. So while the waitress and we tried to slow down our speech, or use bigger hand gestures, there just nothing any of us could do, but smile and laugh in a sheepish way when we just couldn't understand :}After spending probably 2 hours at the restaurant, we paid our bill and left hungry and worn out.

Oh so rich, ha!

More Yuans!

China. Most of these high rises are abandoned and unfinished. They can be kinda creepy when the ratted tarps are waving in the wind. We asked around and the building projects usually go bankrupt 90% into the job. When they do finish the buildings people don't like living in them because China doesn't regulate their elevator codes so the elevators hardly ever work and the tenants end up having to walk up the stairs...can you imagine being on the 25th floor?!

We found an elementary school! It was so cute and colorful :}

Mom and Thomas standing next to the outer wall of the elementary school.

Mom went into an eye store to see if she could get something repaired so Thomas and I waited outside because the store smelled like an ashtray. There are a lot of cars parked on the side walks, and they have these HUGE bridges that go over road ways (you can see the stairs for one just behind Thomas on the right). Mostly the stores are electronic stores or small markets, but they have clothing and camping stores too. The grocery shopping was {of course} the funnest part of the trip for me. 

Dad mentioned to Warren that we read about these dumplings Xi'an is famous for, so Warren took us to this ballet performance that depicted the more influential dynasties in their culture. They served the dumplings the performances or acts. We could tell immediately that it was for tourists because the whole room was full of tour groups, mostly from Europe they gave you a small drink of soda at the beginning of the show and then charged you over 15 Yuan for a bottled water (which would normally be 1 Yuan) and more if you wanted soda or tea or something else. We had an amazing tour guide who went and got us free water when we were concerned we would have to stay through the whole performance with nothing to drink. The dumplings were fun, they came in all shapes and flavors. The performance was beautiful and while this was probably the most 'touristy' thing we did during our trip, I'm glad we did it.

Thomas outside the Big Goose Pagoda walls

Outside the Pagoda walls

The Asian picture pose

Big Goose Pagoda - one of the largest active Buddhist temples in Asia it had some BEAUTIFUL gardens and courtyards within the outer walls. 

Burning incense in outside the Pagoda - it was cloudy and misty all day. So you can't really see the city in the background, but this was a tiny slice of serenity in a large bustling city

Outside the Pagoda people and monks would light their red candles and stick them in a candle holder, and the whole thing reminded me a lot of this Greek Orthodox church Thomas and I went to for the Greek Festival in Mesa.