Year in review 2012

What a wonderful year this has been!

I have gotten to travel to more places in the world (Dubai, Barcelona, and India).  I even got to take my wonderful wife, Camille, with me to Barcelona this past May.  That was so much fun, especially for her.  She has never traveled outside of the country before.

My kids are growing up so fast.

Genika is 10 YEARS OLD now, what?  Wow time goes by too fast.  She is loving the 5th grade and her new twin baby niece and nephew.  She is such a great help with others and trying to please people.  She loves to help out her teacher and keep the class room and desks neat and clean.  Her teacher loves that!  She is also a big help around the house.

Shay is 8 and was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She LOVES to sing and she is so good at it.  We really think that she has a god given natural talent for it.  She is getting better at singing in front of people.   Shay is good at making friends and thinks that she always needs to have a friend over.

Kayla is 4 now and such a energetic child.  We love it when she wakes up in the morning she gives everyone that is around a hug.  She always hugs the girls when they get home from school.  She goes non-stop.  She always has the cutest expressions on her face.  She love to tell stories and adores her big sisters.

Tristan is 2.  He is such a smart two year old.  He can count to 15, well he says twelve, thirteen, thirteen, thirteen.  He can carry on a conversation with you.  He says things sometimes that just blow your mind that a "2" year old just said that.  I turned him onto the super heros and now almost everyday he think that he is the "Hulk".  Spiderman, Batman and now Superman are also his favorites.  He is such a boy.

I got to take the family on a trip to Disneyland this summer.  I was going to Anaheim for a business trip and brought the family along for the ride.  We had a lot of fun.  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and Tristan discovered Goofy.  He loves Goofy.  The kids got to meet a lot of the disney characters.  Buzz came out for an appearance and when Tristan did not get to go up to him he kept yelling, "I want Buzz".  Genika loves the coasters. She is an adrenaline junkie like her dad.  She even went on one that went up to 85 miles per hour on take off.  The kids all loved the fireworks that they got to see every night, either from the park or from the hotel room window.

They knew that when the fireworks were done, it was bedtime.  Kayla LOVED the Winnie the Pooh ride and the shopping.  Shay really liked the Parade, especially when Tinkerbell came by.

On my adventure to Dubai, I got to see and go into the worlds tallest building, the Burj Kalifa.  I also got to go the Ferrari World, where they have the worlds fastest roller coster.  It reaches a speed of 149MPH in 4 seconds.  It was awesome.  I went on it twice.

Burj Kalifa in the middle

Burj Kalifa

Here is a video showing the worlds fastest roller coaster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khRTNdEgZqg


Cant wait to see what 2013 brings us.

My ventures over the big blue!

So far this year I have been to India, Japan, China, and Spain.

That was in the first half of the year.

Now for the next half of the year. I get to go Dubai, Spain, Houston, and San Diego.

I am going to Dubai in September, for a two-day conference where we can demo our simulator software for Nuclear Power Plants.

Then it is off to Barcelona, Spain for a another two-day simulator show.  Where again we get to demo our software.

Then I will attend two conference here in the US.  One in San Diego and one in Houston.

It sure has been a great experience working for my dad.  Since 2009 I have been to China, Japan, India, Spain and soon to have been to United Arab Emirates and the UK.  Leaving the US sure gives you a new look on how goo we have it here.  After being to China and India, you get to see what true poverty is like.  I feel so bad for those that are homeless or have families and struggle every day to provide for them.  Some of the cities that i have been to have the largest populations in the world.  Shanghai, China is over 23 million people.  Tokyo, Japan has the largest population in the world with almost 35 million people.  Mumbai, India has about 20 million people and the city is not much bigger than Salt Lake City, UT.

How I loath you, oh India!

So after going to India, at the end of September and then returning home with an illness that haunted me for almost three weeks, swearing that I would never go back there, I am returning on February 6th, for a one day workshop....
....OK, I will explain!
At the end of September, I went to India for a business trip.  I was there for 10 days, 10 worst days of my life.  The airline lost my luggage and I did not get it for three more days.  I had no internet access for 4 days. I ate the same food, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  The only two times that I did not eat the same meal was McDonalds for a lunch and then Dominos for a dinner.  My flights were miserable, except for the fact that on my return flight home, I was in Frankfort, Germany for 7 hrs.  I got to catch up with my old exchange student, Sebastian.  It was so great to see him.  That was the best part of the whole trip.  I had not see him since 2000.

Sebastian and I at the Airport restaurant in Frankfort, Germany

Upon returning home, I discovered that 8000 Rupees had been stolen from me, that is about $146.  Not a lot of money, but to them 8000 Rupees is a lot.  At best I figure the Hotel Help, helped themselves to my money.  When ever I had to leave the room, I was required to leave my room key at the front desk.

The help!

So after saying that I would never go back, I was suckered into returning for a 1 day workshop, paid for by our contact in India.  If we had to pay for it, I would not be going.  I leave on the 6th, arrive on the 8th, teach the workshop on the 9th, leave on the 10th, and arrive home on the 10th.  I am going to be so exhausted.  At least this time, I get to stay in a very nice hotel.
I pray that this trip will be better.