At the start of 2016 we were still living in the Philippines and we had to say good-bye to our helpers.

We had a long flight to get back to the states. This was Blake’s first time to the USA.

I was able to be reunited with my two sisters and aunt. It is so nice that we all live near each other.

Kalani sprained her ankle at a friend’s house while jumping on the trampoline. Now she sprains it often.

Matt and I flew back to the Philippines to attend his co-worker’s wedding.

We got a black-headed python for a pet.

Limary parents came to visit in March.

9 weeks after our belongings were packed up in the Philippines, we received them at our home in the US.

Farley parents came to visit in April.

In May we were able to attend the University of Southern California graduation for my brother.

After the graduation, we spent a day at Disneyland.

Kalani was in the play “Suessical Jr.” She has since been in “Annie jr.” where she played Ms. Hanigan and “Elf jr.” where she was a police officer.

In June while my brother was visiting, we took a trip to Waco to visit the Magnolia Silos.

In June Kalani was able to attend Girls Camp for our church and she loved it.

In July we had a family reunion for my mom’s side of the family in Utah.

In August we went to Turkey for a few days.

After Turkey we flew down to South Africa to visit friends.

In September we got a cat.

Kalani played 3 seasons of volleyball at the YMCA.

The kids had a great time dressing up for Halloween and going Trick-or-Treating with their cousins through the neighborhood.

Kalani plays the trombone in a homeschool orchestra.

We ended the year visiting family in California for Christmas. It is an added bonus when your uncle is Santa!

We made it to Turkey and because of a terrorist attack that happened 7 weeks prior, there weren’t many tourists and that meant no long lines!

Making our way to Hagia Sophia

After hundreds of years of people walking on this step, it shows the wear.

Hagia Sophia was first a Christian cathedral. Then a Muslim mosque. And now it is a museum and under renovation.

We got to see Gli, the famous cat that stays at Hagia Sophia

The Blue Mosque

In order to enter The Blue Mosque, the girls had to cover their heads

Just outside The Blue Mosque is the Istanbul Hippodrome where the Obelisk of Theodosius is found.

We got to visit the Topkapi Palace

We ended our first day by visiting the Grand Bazaar where we bought some souvenirs

We took a day trip to the city of Ephesus, home of the biblical Ephesians

This is the library in the ancient city of Ephesus

We paid the extra fee to visit the “house on the slopes” where they are uncovering old homes. It also gave us some relief from the sun

We had a fantastic lunch at a home where the family makes traditional Turkish rugs and we got to see the whole process

All of the rugs here are made by hand and takes months to complete

We were able to experience the displaying of rugs and there were many beautiful rugs that we wanted to take home

We visited the house of the Virgin Mary where it is believed that she spent her final years

Our final tourist destination in Ephesus was to the temple of Artemis where not much is left

Our last day started by going up the Galata Tower to get a good view of the city and later we took a ferry boat ride to get a different experience to look at the city

Walking around the streets of Istanbul we felt safe and the people were very kind

We came upon this old trolley that still runs

We walked through a spice market and bought us some “Turkish Delights” from this shop owner who thought Kalani looked Turkish

We got to visit the largest cistern in Istanbul

Inside the cistern there are two “medusa head stones“

We stopped by a pottery shop and watched a master potter create a vase that he then turned into a water pitcher within minutes

Some of the pottery in the shop glows in the dark since they used some special crushed material in the clay

As we were walking back to the car we walked through a park and the kids had a great time playing and running around

Everyday we would visit the hammam in our hotel and fill up these sinks with warm water and throw bowls of water on each other or ourselves

We had a wonderful experience exploring Istanbul and our tour guide, Emine, was a big reason why we had such a great time.