An Update

Our cute baby will soon be eleven months old!

The kids proudly wearing their preschool T-shirts

Working hard on Mommy's birthday cakes (yes, I HAD to have two. I mean, should a person really have to choose between chocolate and vanilla?!?)

Expressions...

I had a tooth pulled last Tuesday and it didn't go so well. I've been in sort of a "coma" all week. To put it mildly, I've been in pain. It has been he**, if you know what I mean. In the midst of all of that, I celebrated my 35th birthday, which was fun despite the tooth issues. I'm still coming out of the "pain coma" so my excitment isn't in full force yet, but I expect good things this year. 35 is a good number, at least to me. I don't want to jinx anything, but I have high hopes for this year. I'm preparing to tackle some of the burdens I've been struggling with for way too long and I'm preparing to actually BE who I already AM. Hope that makes sense to you---if not, I guess I'll explain it throughout the year.



Well, let's see. Last night I was thinking of all the tasks I need to accomplish in the next few days. I've got a bunch of stuff to cut out for the kids' preschool. I'm subbing as the primary music director (insert laugh here) in another ward on Sunday and need to prepare for that. I've got another Relief Society lesson in our Mandarin group the following week, which I need to get cracking on. I start work next week and I haven't begun to put together a syllabus for the course I'm teaching. There was the writer's bureau assignment I promised I'd finish before my birthday (oops!) and...oh ya, get some boxes to start PACKING!



As crazy as it sounds, and it will be crazy, I'm so excited! We found another rental (yes, as we live in the Bay area and are not rich, we are in the "rental" world") and we'll be moving in about a month. We found a cute house right down the street and for the first time, we'll be living in an actual house---unattached, with a yard. It will be good for us on a number of levels and I'm looking forward to getting settled in.



So, with work, family, church, and life, we add moving into the mix. I told William, "Hey, at least we can say I've had lots of practice packing us up" :) So, the whole process will be very familiar.


In other news, William had the privilege of speaking at our church's stake conference last week-end. It was a really wonderful experience for both of us, even though he was the one preparing and giving the talk. Putting your focus and energy into something so worthwhile brings blessings of peace. I think we both learned a lot.

I will keep you posted on life. I love looking at other people's blogs and love seeing your comments on mine. Stay in touch!

Our Beloved Prophet has Died

President Gordon B. Hinckley died yesterday at age 97. For my LDS readers and friends, William and I join our hearts to yours in honoring this amazing man of God. For our friends reading this entry who are not of our faith, thank you for giving me the chance to tell you a little bit of who this person was.

To us, he was our prophet. We believe---members of the LDS faith all over the world---that he was truly a prophet of God. Just as Abraham, Moses, and others spoke for God, we believe that President Hinckley also held that role. He prophesied of so many things. He did so much good in this world. He loved everyone, truly believing that we are all brothers and sisters regardless of our beliefs. He showed his love in word and deed, and the man never sat still!

He traveled, he served, he led, he taught, he read, he studied, he learned. He was a humble servant. He was one of the most optimistic, pragmatic, intellient, and one of the wisest people I'd ever been in the presence of. He made the most of life, living it to the fullest, and encouraging others to do the same. He loved the Savior, Jesus Christ. He lived his beliefs.

He helped me. We never met, but he helped me so much. His presence, his spirit, his testimony of God the Father, of Jesus Christ, and of the restoration of the gospel strengthened me. He attitude, his wise words and counsel, and his very actions and example literally changed my life.

I loved him. I will always honor him. I respect him. I know he was more than just an incredible man. I know he was a prophet of God. I am thankful for that knowledge. To any of my friends who would like more information on him or about anything related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please ask me. Post any questions you'd like. I welcome them. And if not, that's okay too! I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this and to share in honoring someone so important to me, our beloved President Hinckley.

The following websites have more details on his life and work. http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=e419fb40e21cef00VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD

A Morning in the Life of a Mother

Our Precious, Amazing, Sweet, Smart Babes!!!

Warning: "Graphic" Post involving childrens' bodily Functions.

So, I got up this morning and weighed myself. I have gained 2 pounds in the last week. Bummer. Wait, make that a BIG bummer. I'm not surprised, but I was still disappointed.

Then, I got the baby and changed his diaper, got him dressed, and brought him downstairs for breakfast. Yikes! Ants! Ants! All over the counter, the sink. Aaaaggghhhh!!!! Wanting to scream, but not screaming, I calmly made the baby a bottle and put him in the living room. I cleaned up the ants, sprayed, opened the windows for ventilation....This went on for awhile.

Abraham got up. Got him breakfast, dressed, etc.

Kept going on the clean-up process while doing some other pick-up tasks.

I heard Annabelle waking up, just as I was going to put the baby down for his nap. The timing on this could not have been better. As I walked into her room, I smelled something. Something bad. Something I haven't smelled from her room in a long time. It was poop.

She had pooped her pants at some point during the night and the poor girl slept in it. It had oozed out of her pull-up onto her mattress. I'll stop the description here. Okay, deep breath. I carried her to the tub, peeled off the layers, and cleaned her sad, red, little bum. Once everything was washed off, she had a nice bubble bath.

I hand-washed as much as I could and then started a load of laundry. Cleaned up all I could. Then I tackled her mattress. It's a smaller-than-normal mattress, so I just dragged it downstairs. I tried to take the cover off, but the zipper was stuck. I tried for quite awhile, but it wouldn't budge. I found the pliers and tried again, but it still wouldn't budge. I knew I only had a window of time before she would be ready to get out of the tub, followed by the baby waking up.

I grabbed the scissors and just cut the cover off. I took it out to the trash. Scrubbed the mattress and set it ouside to "air out". The thought occurred to me that I should just throw it away, go to IKEA, and get another one. Didn't do that yet---better talk to William first.

Got her out of the tub, dressed, worked on the laundry mess. Eventually, the baby woke up. Went and got him, changed his diaper, and put him in his high chair. The kids wanted to make eggs so we did. As I was cooking the eggs, the kids were talking to the baby.

Abraham: "Hi Baby. Did you have a good nap?"

Annabelle: "He's happy."

Abraham: "You're cute, baby."

Annabelle: "And you're sooo smart, baby".

Abraham: "Mom, I love the baby."

Annabelle: "Me too."

Me, silently. "Thank you, God. That makes it all worthwhile."

Happy 2008?

That's me on the slopes in Tahoe. This was our latest date. Pretty fun, huh?

Sweet, Gorgeous, Ski-Slope Babe of a Husband!

Okay, his shirt is filthy, but he just looks so cute here, running at me!

Using one of their favorite Christmas presents.

"Hey Abraham, give me a ride!"

"Um...I don't think this is working quite right..."

Okay, no we haven't officially made our blog private yet, but we're keeping that option open. I know it's easier for everyone to take a quick look without logging on, so for the moment we'll leave it public. I was just sort of annoyed by people (okay, one person) whom I don't know making a comment. I'm sure he was just innocently advertising but still. I do put a LOT of personal information about the kids on here and I worry sometimes that maybe that's not so wise. I'm also thinking of starting another blog to get out my "real thoughts", and make that public. That way, this family-update blog could just be for friends and family. Still thinking about this...bear with us.

Um, happy new year? I don't know. I'm in a funk, for lack of a better word. I could list all kinds of wonderful things about my life---tremendous blessings, fun experiences, and goals for the upcoming year---but I'd rather just say "eh, another year for me to dwell on all the things that bug me, hurt me, annoy me, hinder me, etc." Sounds pretty negative, right? I agree! But you know what? It's the truth about how I feel sometimes. I'm pretty good at putting on a happy face, but "dang it" (as my four-year-old says now) I'm just not going to today. I'll wear my Eyore, woe is me face instead.

Okay, what I should be doing right now, rather than sharing my "negative Nellie"-ness is preparing my lesson for Sunday. I'm teaching Relief Society (the class for women at my church) and um...ya...it's in Mandarin. I have not prepared at all because (insert list of excuses here) and Sunday is fast approaching. My sweetheart babe of a husband just walked in and I'm thinking he's going to be a tremendous help in this area.

More about 2008 coming...

Joining the "Going Private" Bandwagon

Hey All!

As the title suggests, we'll be making our blog private this week. We'd like to make sure that only our friends and family are reading about our personal information. So, please send me your email addresses so that I can add you to the "invited readers" list. Thanks, and we hope you'll keep reading. It's not too big a hassle to sign-in each time, and then there are no worries about who "else" is reading our blog. So send me those email addresses soon!

Looking Back at Christmas and New Years!

WARNING: LOTS OF PICS AHEAD! (I'm putting 'em all on at once too, so be sure to look at older posts).

Okay, my chronology is sort of backwards but I wanted to go back and share a few Christmas pictures. We had a fun Christmas. My sisters and niece came and all attention was on the kids. They really went all out and spoiled the kids rotten! Between Abraham’s birthday, the Christmas goodies, and then Annabelle’s birthday, they think opening presents is the new “norm”. We’re trying to explain otherwise! Anyway, we made yummy food, played games, reminisced, and enjoyed watching the kids get into Christmas. We agreed that the adults wouldn’t buy any presents for each other, but instead just focus on the kids. The kids definitely made out and none of us missed a thing. There is nothing more fun than watching excited kids rip into presents and then play with them. I’m so glad the girls could come for Christmas!

Games, games, and more games on Christmas eve. Christmas Bingo!

Shaleen got the kids finger paints and they loved it! This is the "mild" painting, as opposed to the "wild painting" seen below.

We had carolers on Christmas eve as well. The missionaries and some friends from our Chinese branch sang us carols in Mandarin. So beautiful!

Mei Mei's first Barbie. From Auntie Barbie :)

Alexander is sort of dazed and confused here, and ready for a nap.

There's the real Alex! Laughing with Baba. Truly a Daddy's boy, this kid!

GO FOR IT!!

This was fun. We told a condensed version of the Christmas story and the kids arranged the Nativity scene as we told it. Annabelle is the expert on Mary and here she is instructing Abraham to be very careful with baby Jesus "cause he's very, very breakable".

Shaleen is being attacked by parrots and flamingos!

Baby Alexander takes his new ride out for a test drive!

William wants Abraham to be very clear that his sweatshirt is from BYU!

Chrissy and I enjoying the view of San Fran on a beautiful day.

NEW YEARS DAY

We love New Years. Last January 1, we took BART (the train to the city) into San Francisco. We walked around China town, the wharf, and rode the trolley cars all over the city. This year, we drove to Monterray Bay and visited the aquarium. The kids had so much fun seeing the sharks and sea otters. We also visited the Discovery Children's Museum in San Jose, the day before. William took his vacation time during that week so we got to spend lots of time with Baba and really enjoyed all our little mini-trips. Happy New Year!

Our future scientist---conducting experiments with light.

C

Alexander is just a happy, happy kid!

More experiments from a budding young scientiest.

You can't see it here, but Will and the kids are in awe of the sharks.

Trying to catch a glimpse of the sea otters.

And that's it! All those pics at once is the result of getting behind on my posts. Too much happened in a short amount of time. Our holidays were peaceful, though, and fun. We hope yours were too!

Our Princess is Three!

Rock -n- Roll Princess!

The serious musician...

"I need a quick drink before my next show. "

Well, Princess Annabelle had a very fun party. She loved every second of being a princess and took her role very seriously. William and I could be expert party-throwers now, as things went much more smoothly for her party than they did for Abraham's. His was fun too, but more chaotic. With hers, we had our rythmn down! She had fourteen friends there--some from church, others from school, and a few from the neighborhood. For many of the kids who came, this was their first birthday party, which made it even more fun for everyone. It was very cute watching all those kids gathered around, enjoying the party. Annabelle is a precious, funny, smart little girl ,and is truly a princess. Happy Birthday, Mei Mei!





A cupcake in each hand and a crown on my head...what could be better?


Cheesin' it up near her half-eaten princess cake

Getting ready to blow out her candles.

Our wonderful friend (and the kids' babysitter), Chun Fen. She has been a miracle for our family. My friend Amy is sitting next to Chun Fen and baby Alexander

We borrowed tables and chairs from the four corners of the earth and crammed them in our garage to accomodate all her friends!

Annabelle and some of her friends playing in her room.

Sampling the frosting before she was supposed to!