Nummy Delicious Cookies!

Fall Fiesta! 2009

2009-10-31T11:47:00.004+05:30

I love this photo of McKenna is show's what a typical teenager she can be! We could not find the cameras and things got a little dicy for awhile

The kids had a blast at the school carnival,Chloé loved the jumping catapillar, Robbie the Haunted house and McKenna her many, many friends!

Home sweet home

2009-08-14T15:31:00.001+05:30

She did it!! Now we have to call her Master Megan!

The best part of coming home is seeing those you love!

One our favorite things to do is a cross country road trip... and this year we did it in style!(we loved our gangster car, yeah we were rapping the whole way)

America the Beautiful. Our first visit home in two years!

2009-08-01T14:51:00.000+05:30

We stopped in Utah to see Stephan and Michelle get married!! It was good to see all the Sitton cousins.

Our cousins Emma and Grace. Madeline, McKenna, Robbie and Chloé
We met up with our Stoker cousins in Las Vegas, and went hiking up at the red rocks.

We took a road trip across the west, I love seeing our beautiful country!

Very Nasty! Varanasi A girl trip with Kelly Ernst, Shelly, Megan, and Madeline Stoker

2009-05-19T19:02:00.004+05:30

We spent the day walking around the town. Varanasi is know for its embroidery.

We went up the ganges at night to see the funeral pyres, yes these are burning bodies! (most bodies are burned and ashes put into the sacred ganges, if you are pregnant, under 12, bit by a cobra, or a holy man you are wraped and put into the river).We watched a Puja ( a holy ceremony) and light our Diya'sand let them float down the river.

The city was fascinating.Every where you looked there was color and life

We got up very early ( notice the bags under the eyes) to see the sunrise on the ganges, little did we know what else we would see...yes that is a dead body behind maddie. ( love the look on her face) we saw 8 dead bodies in all some dogs were eating WOW!

This was our hotel, lets just say you get what you pay for...10$ was just about right.

Rishikesh -Rafting the Ganges with the Stoker, Shivley and Lai families

2009-04-20T16:36:00.002+05:30

We finished our ride at the funeral pyres... good thing we did not see the sign till we were leaving!We stopped in town for some yummy Ghee cookies!

We had a blast running the rapids, some were very challenging!

We took a hike up to a local watering hole, Robbie had a blast swinging from the rocks and catching lizards.

We stayed at the snow leopard camp ground, we had great tents with our own private bath ( including a hot shower!) my kind of camping. The food was great and the company was even better!

We took a train to Rishikesh ( note not the first class box). We enjoyed all being together on the four hour train ride.

Egypto

2009-04-10T11:09:00.000+05:30

For easter the Stoker gang (or some of them) decided to go to Egypt! What an experience, pyramids, tombs, scuba, bazars and great food...the perfect Stoker vacation!

We went ATVing through the dessert
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Holi Cow we had fun

2009-03-13T21:11:00.000+05:30

Here in India we celebrate Holi, the color festival. A time to gather as friends ,welcome spring and renew friendships

Night Under the Stars II

2009-02-27T21:26:00.000+05:30

Every year the school puts on it's fundraiser " night under the stars" Everyone dresses up in traditional Indian Attire. Good food, great friends and lots of entertainment.

A Night under the Stars

2009-02-27T20:10:00.000+05:30

Night Under the Stars" is the American Embassy Schools biggest fund raiser. It is the not to be missed event of the year. We had a great time getting dressed up Indian style!!

stacy comes to visit

2009-02-13T22:10:00.000+05:30

My favorite sister and me!!!

2009-02-13T20:30:00.000+05:30

Stacy and her friends Julie and Paula came to visit me in India, we had so much fun. Agra, Goa, Jaipur, Delhi and most of all SHOPPING! It was a whirl wind but, a ton of fun.

Walking thru India! Our favorite friends the Walkers come to visit

2009-02-07T12:40:00.000+05:30

The Monkey Forest of Ubud

2009-01-10T11:45:00.016+05:30

One of our days in Bali we drove up to Ubud, a very Eureka Springs-esque village and went to the Monkey Forest before getting some shopping done. We had tons of fun in the forest, the monkeys would climb right up on top of you annd grab bananas from you. They had no problem just sitting on top of you eating their weight in bananas. The kids loved it, it was so much fun.

McKenna doesn't want to share.

The monkeys loved us...or maybe just the food!

We really felt like we were in some enchanted forest.

Bali December 2008

2009-01-09T19:48:00.027+05:30

We joined up with our backdoor neighbors the Farnsworth family for a tropical Christmas in Bali!

The beaches were perfect, we could walk out forever and still only be knee deep in water.The waves were fun to body surf, the wind great to fly a kite, and the sandwas fun to create snad castles! Robbie would have been happy to never leave the ocean!

The kids had fun making sand castles and burying each other:

Jane thought the Botox made her look like Angelina, but I thought it was a bit much!

Pool-side Fun

2009-01-09T19:42:00.006+05:30

I think the kids loved swimming the best out of all the cool things we did. They sure are easy to

please sometimes:

More Christmas Fun!

2009-01-09T19:28:00.005+05:30

Our second day in KL, Malaysia we took a road trip to Batu caves and beautiful waterfalls. The waterfalls were located in what our driver/guide told us was one of the oldest rainforests in the world! It was so pretty walking around in the jungle and soaking our feet in the rivers. All the locals, of course were staring at us as we splashed around but it was still tons of fun, Chloe and Robbie especially liked it:

Biking through Bali!

2009-01-09T19:27:00.000+05:30

I could not believe how the little piggies just sat there patiently! We loved biking thru all the small villages every where we went the kids stood on the side of the rode and gave us high fives. We started at the volcano and rode down through the rice fields.

Christmas Vacation! 2008

2009-01-09T19:12:00.003+05:30

The highlight of the trip for Robbie was China town where we had little fish nibble the dead skin off our toes!

Christmas Vacation! 2008

2009-01-09T18:49:00.005+05:30

The Stoker gang met up in Kuala lumpur, Megan and Maddie after a 62 hour flight, and the rest of us on a red eye from India. We loved the Petronas towers and all the yummy food choices not available in India... can you say sushi?!

Thanksgiving in Kerela, India 2008

2009-01-09T18:16:00.001+05:30

Thanksgiving in Kerela, India 2008

2009-01-09T17:14:00.018+05:30

We went to Kerela for Thanksgiving, with our friends the Barnes. We loved hiking through the wild animal preserve, visiting the tea and spice plantations, elephant rides , floating down the backwaters on a bamboo boat... but mostly we loved the PRAWNS! Who says you have to eat turkey for thanksgiving!

Family Photogs!

2008-12-25T20:51:00.000+05:30

Maddie did a photo shoot with her new camera I think she did a great job. Cute kids helped too!

Arkansas, Arkansas, I Just Love Ol' Arkansas!

2008-12-12T00:09:00.004+05:30

It appears as if I'm the only one who updates this thing anymore. Oh well, I guess I'll have to admit that mom is a die hard email fan and it'll take her a lot more to break her from that.... Anyway, Megan and I recently got to go back to the beautiful AR over Thanksgiving break for ten days. Let me just say in teen speak that it was totally awesome! We had so much fun, especially with Stephen being back from his mission. We got to hang out a lot, and let's just say he doesn't think of me as the annoying little sister anymore, so things were pretty cool. Here's some pics from our trip to Eureka Springs one day:

Our favorite candy shop. Seriously, they have the best chocolate covered strawberries. Tip: no one thinks there'll be strawberries in the winter since they're out of season, but they have tons, and they last all day, instead of being sold out by 10 in the morning:

P.S. Megan and I started our own blog: www.maddlymegan.blogspot.com. I'll still be posting on here as well, but for more updates on what we're doing and other useless information you can go over there and check it out as well.

October!

2008-11-09T11:27:00.003+05:30

Hello from Utah!

So I realized I hadn't given an update on Megan and me in a loooong time, and decided I should let everyone know what's been going on lately. Becauze everyone is just SOOOO curious, I'm sure.

Anyway, Megan and I had a fun October. On the eighth we got to go to the Anberlin concert (yay!) which is my favorite bands. The venue was out on the Salt Flats so I couldn't resist, I had to take a couple pics. Of course Megan always wants me to pose like a dork when shes in possession of the camera:

Our friend Caleb, who came to visit us in India, had us over for a Halloween party in his cabin. We didn't realize just how FAR Strawberry Reservoir is from Provo though...

Megan was an iPod commercial, and I was a Punk Rock Princess:

And it's just not Halloween if you don't carve pumpkins:

My friend, Natalie, and I went to a party they were having on campus Halloween night. We both dressed up in sarees (Natalie borrowed Megan's):

For my ward party we went up to Thanksgiving Point and played around in the corn mazes and hay rides:

College life is fun! It's not easy, but I'm glad to be here.

Yep, so there's your update from the State-side portion of the Stoker fam.

Kids birthday trip to Jaipur Oct. 3rd 2008

2008-10-09T20:57:00.005+05:30

We stayed in Tents, we even had our own bathroom with a flushing toilet! My kind of camping.
The next day we went on a Safari, that Chloé with the yellow umbrella.
We came for the weekend to play Elephant Polo! When we got there they had camels and a bull cart for the kids to ride. I think they each had about ten rides!
That night we played elephant polo, even Chloé got in on the fun as a referee!

What a fun Birthday! McKenna turns 14, Robbie 11
Here is Bob ready for action.

We took Robbie and McKenna up to Jaipur for there birthdays. We took an elephant ride up to the Amber fort and had a tour. This is where Octupussy was filmed. ( in the hall of mirrors.) Yes Chloé is sitting with live cobras WHAT is her mom thinking!

Chicago August 2008

2008-10-09T20:31:00.002+05:30

I came to the US to take Maddie to school. I stopped in Chicago to meet up with a few friends. Sharon, Kim, Jane, Sheila and Jan. We had such a good time. We had not seen each other for over a year! It was just like old times, shopping, staying up late talking... perfect! We rented a bicycle built for six and rode up lake Michigan,walked through millennium park took an architectural boat tour of the city, did some marathon shopping on the miracle mile and ate some of the best food America has to offer.(portillos, Uno pizza, garetts popcorn) We had the time of our lives.

Girl trip to China Sept 2008

2008-10-09T17:47:00.008+05:30

Sept. 24th -Oct. 2nd .

I had a chance to meet up with a few global friends. Jane- China, Deanne -Hong Kong, and Jan and Sheila from NW Arkansas. I flew into Hong Kong on the tail of a typhoon so it was a bit bumpy. Hong Kong was "freshly washed"and looked beautiful! Jane's grandmother-n-law died so I only got to see her for a day. We were able to squeeze in a head wash and foot massage, Both lasting an hour and a half where they massage every part of your body legally allowed to be massaged... Heaven!! I met up with Deanne on Thursday. For four days we hit all our favorite haunts, some even twice! Four Dragons, a houseware paradise. Luohu for purses, movies, jewelry, a tailor to make you clothes, you name it it is there. Buji, the artist village where you can have a painting custom done. Jiangnan, a village full of funiture and antiques! We did it all plus a foot and head massage every night to sooth our tired bodies. Jan arrived sunday night just in time to enjoy our nightly massage. Monday we did a shopping marathon and even hit our neighborhood Wal-mart! Tuesday we went into Hong Kong and met up with Sheila, Deanne showed us her new city, Jade market, Aberdeen, Victoria Peak etc. We all had such a good time. I had to put this dog in... have you ever seen such a sad thing!

We had a wonderful visit and plan to get together again soon!

New Delhi Immigration

2008-09-10T21:49:00.002+05:30

So tonight I fly into Delhi, from another city in India, Jaipur. The flight continues on to an international destination, so we landed at the International Terminal.

Now here's where living in India gets amusing. After landing at the airport, and on getting ready to disembark, I discarded my boarding pass - remember we just landed - gettin' off the plane -- who needs a boarding pass anymore?

Well, in India, I guess you should hang on to that! I left the plan and at the top of the jet bridge and entering the terminal building, I'm asked by man in uniform #1 to show my boarding card. I replied - "sorry, left it on the plane, I'm getting off here." Man in uniform #1 says, "OK" and nods me on, asking, "You're sure, really this is your final destination?" "Yup" is my reply to man in uniform #1.

We then proceed to the same exit and have to go through the immigration checkpoint as passengers arriving from overseas destinations. (There's another story for another day there). However we are ushered into a special line (mind you there are no barricades to seperate us local passengers from international passengers) and as we are filing past MEN in uniform #s 2-10, I am stopped by Man in uniform #11, who politely requests that I produce my boarding pass. I'm a bit concerned because they are stamping everyones boarding pass at Man # 11's station. Well, I explained I was on a local flight (IC 895) from Jaipur and this is my final destination and that I left the pass on the plane. (I decided against explaining that the boarding pass was an instrument to verify your status as a paying passenger and that such entitled me to BOARD the plane in Jaipur and had nothing to do with me DE-Boarding- if that's what it's called). He didn't like that I told me I had to stop and would not let me go. Then I tried to explain the above, to which he responded with "Wait here" and yelled to men # 2-10 in Hinglish that "something something and something else left his pass on the plane something something and something else".

I then told him I was leaving, and at that point he came to me and said "No, you stay" and then he, I think, repeated the previous statements to men #2-10. One of the guys I was traveling with then thought and asked me, "Hey, do you still have your e-ticket itinerary - show him that".

Great idea, I thought, as I rummaged through my stuff.

I did, in fact, have my itinerary. so I showed that to him and asked, "Here, does this help? It's my itinerary, but not my boarding pass" He looked at it, walked over to his station, reached for his nifty stamp pad and promptly smacked a big blue stamp on my itinerary and said I could go. he didn't keep it, didn't need it, didn't want to put it in a big stack of paper headed for a warehouse file somewhere. He gave me the itinerary back and kept no copy of such event ever having transpired.

He just needed to stamp something! So that's man # 11's job I guess. Stamp stuff. As in, "Hey Sanjay, your job at this station -- Stamp people's papers with this nifty stamper. --- Here's your ink pad. Do NOT let anyone past you without a stamp -- on something" -- And don't keep anything as a record either.

I checked with the other guys I was with. They all got their boarding passes back, too. Then they all threw them in the first garbage can we came across. But we had a good laugh. We decided that if we really had to, to get past man # 11, I could have shown him my driver's license and let him stamp my forehead.

Me? I kept my stamped itinerary. It goes on my wall of fame in a nice picture frame. Another memoir of India.

College?!

2008-09-06T06:03:00.002+05:30

Yeah, I know. It's wierd. I'm in College. I still feel like I should be in middle school. I have, though, officially made it through my first week. (Applause please?) It wasn't as nerve wracking/scary/intimidating/any other word with negative connotations as I thought it would be. In fact it seemed like high school... well except for senior year. But I don't think anything can compare to your senior year spent in India, especially with my mom, who would regularly take me out of school so we could go shopping... yes shopping. She's a pretty cool mom, if I do say so myself. College, though, so far feels like a normal high school. I'm taking interesting classes (and not interesting in the modern dance/art class interesting, which is what I took senior year just to pass the time). It's stuff that I actually want to learn about. So I guess the verdict on college so far is good. Hopefully it'll stay that way for quite a while. Probably not, but atleast I like the classes.

OK, so maybe this didn't make sense, right?

2008-08-23T03:54:00.001+05:30

Bangladesh police say a crocodile killed and ate a 25-year-old after he waded into a pond next to a shrine in an attempt to receive the animal’s blessing, news.com.au reported Friday.

Inspector Humayun Kabir said Rubel Sheikh and his mother traveled to the Muslim Khan Jahan Ali shrine, where hundreds of people visit every day to offer hens and goats to the crocodiles living there.

Part of the shrine ritual involves bathing in the water with the crocodiles, but devotees are very rarely approached by the animals, according to Kabir.

"He went into the pond hoping to be blessed when a crocodile attacked him and dragged him into the deep part of the pond,'' Kabir told the Australian Associated Press.

"This is a very unusual incident. Normally, the crocodiles are very friendly and do not harm people.''

About 25 people dove into the pond to try and rescue Sheikh, but could not find his body. It washed ashore Thursday and had been largely eaten, Kabir said.

Vienna

2008-08-13T06:43:00.004+05:30

So in an effort to stay out of India as long as possible, we decided last minute to stop in Vienna on the way home. Because you know... seeing four countries in one month just wasn't enough for us, we had to even it out at five:

We went to a King Tut exhibit.
One of the oldest theme parks in Vienna:
We found a cool little park by the theme park:
This is what we do when Dad's not around:

Santorini

2008-08-13T02:26:00.002+05:30

Santorini was a beautiful town set right on the cliff side with beautiful white stucco buildings. Unfortunately by the time we actually got UP the cliff we only had an hour to walk around.

Robbie biffed it and skinned his knees, elbows, AND hip. He toughed it up pretty well though, maybe because Garrett was there...

Rodos

2008-08-13T02:15:00.001+05:30

We took donkey rides up to the acropolis of Lindos on the islands of Rodos, or Rhodes:

Eight years ago we came here on a vacation with some family friends and took a icture of us each pretending to be a Greek god. Unfortunately I don't know where the original is, but we thought it would be cool if we took the same picture eight years later:

What summer vacation is complete without hitting the beach?

Patmos and Ephesus

2008-08-13T02:11:00.001+05:30

A beautiful view of the harbor of the island of Patmos:

A basilica dedicated to John on the island where he recieved revelation that woul later become the book of Revelations:

The ancient city of Ephesus. The city was initially ruled by the Amazon warriors before it become Ephesus, which is were Paul preached to the Ephesians:

Istanbul and Mykonos

2008-08-13T02:04:00.001+05:30

At what they think is one of the oldest markets, The Grand Bazaar:

In front of the Hagia Sophia:

Mykonos was one of the more beautiful of the Greek Islands:

Greece

2008-08-13T01:59:00.000+05:30

The Gyro's were delicious:

Dad being as goofy as ever:

We're definitely Olympic material (The Olympic Arena):

The Parthenon is "zat vey" as well:

Indian weddings

2008-07-31T20:24:00.002+05:30

Mom recently sent me this email. I thought it was interesting and since she probably won't post it on here, I decided I'd do it for her. :)

We had a fun experience this week so I though I'd share it with all of
you at home. When we got home from vacation and went to church they
announced before the meeting that Alice was going to marry Deraj,
Alice was sitting on one side of the room, Deraj on the opposite side.
I had never even seen them together! Here is the funny part, after
announcement the bishop says " if anyone objects to this marriage
please come talk to me after church". OK that is odd but hey, I'm in
India. This goes on for the next three weeks. So on sunday I get a
call, sister alice and Deraj, want to know if I can loan them 10,000
rps for the wedding(250$)! I swear I am the church bank! I get phone
calls at least once a month asking for money, they always say they
will pay me back, but honestly they have no money. The hard part is
our church is founded on self reliance, it goes against our teachings
to always borrow. ( we have a welfare program for helping those in
need but not for weddings, baby accessories etc.). I'm a softy so I
finally give them half as a "gift". So the next day someone else
calls wanting me to get her baby clothes when I go to the states, and I ask
if she will be going to Alice's wedding. She then tells me how she was
going to let here borrow her wedding dress but when her step mother
found out she threw a fit and told her she could not get married if
the husband could not even buy her wedding clothes. ( turns out step
mom had a hindu man picked out for an arranged marriage.) She tells me
someone in the ward gave them money and they were able to buy clothes
so the wedding was on! That is when I feel guilty for giving money
with bad feelings. I almost stopped the wedding! Good thing I'm a softy.

So any ways here is the funny part. The day of the wedding Bob gets a
call from the bishop, will you give a talk on marriage at the wedding.
( a talk?) So we get to the wedding an hour late... Delhi traffic...
and Bob is the main attraction!!! Every one is sitting like we are in
church, even the bride and groom. We sing an opening hymn and have a
prayer.Bob gave the talk and then we sing a hymn, then the bishop gets
up again and asks if anyone objects to the marriage ( I think it is a
legal thing in India) and then they say a few thing and they are
married!! No kiss the bride no nothing!! It was like a church meeting
very strange. I guess they just don't know what to do in a love
marriage if you can call it that. I'm sure they never dated. People do
not date they just smile from a far and then agree to get married.
( most arranged marriages they meet just a month or two before the
wedding) Any ways then some people kept saying kiss the bride!! So he
finally nervously leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. They were
so nervous. ( apparently it is illegal to kiss on the mouth in public,
but I was assured it is not enforced!)
It is so weird that people get married here they have no job, no money
and yet they do it all the time and get along just fine.
I got to wear a sari and everyone was so happy that I wore one, even
the men came up and told me how nice a sari looked on me, the girls
said it was tied very nicely... thank you Poonam!!! Bob wore his
Indian suit. All in all it was fun to see, it made me appreciate my
marriage, hopefully it will make you appreciate yours too!

Miss you all, Shelly

Italy

2008-07-22T02:32:00.007+05:30

So I thought we could go back to the beginning of our vacation so I could show you some of our pics. Here's some stuff from Italy:

Mom really liked the fountains around Rome.

A band was playing on the Spanish steps and then a marching band came down the street right after they were finished, which was pretty cool.
This soldier dude really seemed to enjoy the music:
Of course we had to see the Colosseum:
There were fountains all over Rome that you could drink from:
This might be the favorite picture from the vacation:

Trevi Fountain:
St. Peter's Basilica:
At the ruins of Augustus' home:

Funny signs in New Delhi

2008-07-18T21:06:00.000+05:30

Things have a different perspective about late, early, whenever in other countries....

Like here in New Delhi -- you can eat at McD's REALLY early in the morning!
And just think --- EVERY day?!?!?!?

And over in Vienna, they're open late!

All the way until 8pm weekdays....

AND 6 pm on saturdays!!!!!!!

Man, there's all kinds of time to shop!

But not Sunday!

And back here in Delhi, there are no, er...

No What's????????

Local New Delhi elementary school kids on the way home from school.
Thought you'd like to send your own kids to school on the bus?

Um....Not so much.

But junior there looks like quite the smooth operator!! "Hey there... want a ride w'my posse?" "We should hang out!"

Explanations

2008-07-13T15:21:00.000+05:30

So mom wanted me to explain the names behind our blog.
Just about every name we've used on this is from Chloe. She says the funniest things sometimes.

"Nummy Delicious Cookies:" This phrase popped out of her little mouth one day as we were putting her to bed one night. Us, being the sneaky adults we are, tried to hide the fact that we were making some treats in the kitchen. You can tell Chloe is part of the family because as soon as those treats were out of the oven she was by our side, saying: "Do I not get some nummy delicious cookies, too?"

"Piles of Rocks" is also courtesy of the Chlo-meister. We're the kind of family that likes to go see ALL the ruins and ancient sites when we go on vacation, so of course on our last trip to Greece we went to all the sites. One day as we were walking around the ruins of an ancient Greek temple Chloe starts to cry, so dad asks her "Why are you crying, Chloe?" Her response was: "There's nothing to see here. All I ever get to see is piles of rocks!"

Here's some videos from the trip:

नमस्ते

2008-07-13T14:54:00.000+05:30

I know we've already been here for a year now, so this is coming a little late, I know. But seeing as mom always likes to keep her friends posted on what's going on, and of course the family likes to know as well, I figured I would get us started on a blog. Hopefully this will prove to be easier than sending out mass emails to everyone and hoping we didn't leave anyone out as we sent it.

But anyway, I thought I'd post some pictures from our last trip for everyone to see. Hopefully we'll put some on later. Here goes: