Cullen Shower!

Our good friends Cara and Ali have a precious baby on the way (due to make his or her arrival in less than a month!) and we couldn't leave for our 3.5 weeks in the states without throwing them a party hosting a baby shower for them first. The celebration took place this past Saturday (yes 3 days ago. Dare I say it? I'm caught up on the blog...for now) and it went off without a hitch!

The guests of honor :)

Obviously the 4 of us got the memo about wearing black and white ;)

I had to figure out some way to get all of the men to come to the shower...so I made lots of food...

...and we did lots of eating!

Just to make sure everyone truly had enough to eat, I made them sample baby food too.

...and from the looks on these faces, I'm glad I was the one running the game so I didn't have to taste the food myself! :) Chris and David won guessing 6.5 out of 11 types of baby food correctly.

It's only fair that all of the men should get to experience what it feels like to be 8 months pregnant! Look at all of these willing participants! Some of them appear to have bigger bellies than Cara!

We had two willing female participants too! It's not easy to slip a balloon inside of a dress, but Chris and Karen both managed to get the job done!

Who can tie their shoes the fastest with a big ol' belly in the way?

The Dad-to-be won...he must have picked up on some skills from watching Cara ;)

Gift time!

Ali tested a few of the goods out. Looks like the teething toy will work out just fine for the baby!

Me with the lovely and glowing very-soon-to-be-mom!

We are all so excited to meet Baby Cullen! Congratulations to Cara and Ali! :)

Celebrating six years, Borneo style.

A couple of weeks ago Matt and I decided to take a little trip in celebration of our 6 year anniversary. After a lot of going back and forth over where we should go, we finally settled on Borneo at the recommendation of Chris and David. Borneo is home to Mt. Kinabalu, a popular tourist destination for those who are ambitious and want to climb the mountain. Matt is definitely one of those people, but he's saving his mountain climbing desires for another weekend because this particular weekend was ALL about relaxation and nothing more. I kid you not, we checked into our resort and didn't leave the grounds once until it was time to check out. Though there was some exploring to be done outside of the resort, we just weren't interested this time! What did interest us? The pool, the beach, food and sleep. We did absolutely nothing (wait I'm lying...we did manage to get in a kayak one day and drag ourselves over to the spa for massages the next...that was tough work!) on that trip which honestly made it one of the best trips ever! I truly can't think of a better way to have spent our 6th anniversary! :)

View from the room

The balcony was AMAZING! We spent a lot of time reading and napping out here and even enjoyed watching a major thunderstorm pass by in the evening.

This definitely sums up the weekend!

One of our only moments of true activity :)

Really, does it get better than a delicious lunch on a beautiful beach with perfect weather?

Another gorgeous sunset over southeast Asia

Remember I said we picked Borneo based off a rec from Chris and David? Well, after we booked our trip and told them about it, we found out they were going to be there at the same time. Bonus! (Chris and David were far more ambitious than us and were actually there to climb the mountain).

So when we first arrived in Borneo, we went to the main lobby to check in. However, we were quickly swept away to a private lobby. I didn't realize I had booked us a stay in the luxury Ocean Wing (I thought I had just booked an ocean view room). In any case, we loved it so it didn't matter. When we checked out, the entire staff gathered around and sang us a private farewell song. It was really good, albeit kind of awkward because the song lasted for well over a minute and we weren't exactly sure who to make eye contact with :)

6 Amazing Years!

Today (June 12) is our 6 year wedding anniversary. SIX years and WOW, the time has just flown by! When I think back to the time we started dating until now, I'm just amazed at how much we've grown and how far we've come. I was just barely 19 when I started dating Matt and I remember falling head over heels in love with him in a matter of months. I don't think he'll mind if I share that he felt the same way - in fact, he told me he loved me first - to which I said "Oh...thank you!" and nothing more. Poor guy! I can assure you, I've said it multiple times daily over the last 6+ years to make up for that day :) I LOVE being married to Matt because I truly get to spend every single day with my best friend. He makes me laugh like no one else does, he knows me better than I care to admit and he takes care of me in a way that shows me daily how much he loves me without even having to say it (though he still does, all the time!). If I were to count my life's blessings, meeting and marrying Matt would be right at the top. So here's to an amazing 6 years and many more to come. I can't wait to see what the next 6 years has in store for us!

Run, Matt, Run!

A couple of weeks ago the Passion Run took place here in Singapore and Matt (along with his running/race buddy Jason) ran the 25K which is equivalent to 16 miles. Why anyone would want to run more than a mile in the Singapore heat is beyond me, but since this is the 4th race Matt has participated in since we moved here, I'm guessing there's something he actually likes about it ;) The race was held at East Coast Park (which I once blogged about here) which was a nice change of scenery for the guys. They had a goal time in mind and they made it! Not only that, but they finished in the top 10% of runners for the 25K. I'm tellin' ya, Matt's always giving me reasons to be proud of him! Good job, Matt! You're the best!

Approaching the finish line. Run, Matt, Run!!

Matt was too focused on the finish line to notice me on the sideline, but at least Jason spotted me!

Done and feeling good!

Pulau Ubin

Since I'm a total blog slacker lately I have to admit that this little adventure is a bit out of date...as in we actually did this two months ago. I promise that I'll catch up one of these days...

Pulau Ubin is one of the places that we said early on during our time here that we were going to check out....and 10 months later, we finally made it there! Amanda was kind enough to invite us along on one of their trips over which is what finally motivated us to go. Well, we should have gone over much sooner. It was a really fun day! Pulau Ubin is a little island off Singapore that you can easily access via a 10 minute bumboat ride across the water. The island is not built up at all (though I hear it will be eventually which is really a shame) and its the perfect place to rent a bike (for $2!) and ride around for the day...which is pretty much what everyone goes over there for. You can bike the entire island within a couple of hours and finish your afternoon with a meal at any one of the local restaurants there. We enjoyed black pepper crab and sweet and sour pork when we were done...yum! There's a few fun places to stop along the bike paths - lookouts and a boardwalk with a really pretty view of the water - and we saw lots of wildlife including a huge monitor lizard and monkeys. If you live in Singapore and haven't made it over to Pulau Ubin, I highly recommend you go...and try a tandem bike if you're feeling extra lovey toward your significant other ;)

Entrance to the island...we certainly had our pick of bikes to ride!

Me giving a thumbs up to our tandem bike...Matt insisted we ride one!

This monkey just wandered over to the bikes and nearly stole this guy's hat! He put it back when he realized it wasn't edible :)

Out on the boardwalk

Nothing like a good lunch to fill you up after a bike ride in the sun!

You can't leave Vietnam without eating Pho!

Just as the title suggests, you can't leave Vietnam without eating pho! Pho is a very popular Vietnamese beef noodle soup and if you've never had it, you're really missing out. Unlike my dad and brother who could literally eat pho at least once a day, I myself only crave it a few times a year...but man, when I DO crave it and give in, it's good! Now you certainly don't need to travel to Vietnam to get a bowl of Pho (I know there are several great places to get it in VA and TX), but its definitely the most authentic place to have it :) So, though our final day in Vietnam didn't last more than a couple of hours (Matt and I had a flight back to Singapore at 9 a.m.) we didn't let the time pass us by without indulging in the delicious soup...for breakfast no less (its totally common in Vietnam)!

Matt and Dad ready for a delicious bowl of soup at 7 a.m.!

The perfect meal to say goodbye to the perfect Vietnam vacation :)

Dad is an old pro when it comes to eating pho in the early morning!