Today Daniel started his new job! Since this past March (after we got back home from Korea) he's been working with Central Garden and Pet as a field rep. working the Home Depots and Lowes from Provo up to Ft. Union in Salt Lake. It's been a good job, it was way flexible so that he could keep studying for the Math GRE and prepare to get back into school and it paid pretty well. Well, just a few weeks ago his uncle who is the CEO of QuicKutz (a paper crafts/scrapbooking company located here in Utah) gave him a heads-up on a new job position that was opening up. QuicKutz is hoping to expand more internationally and they needed another International Sales representative. They're in some Spanish-speaking countries, like Mexico, yet they don't have anyone that can speak Spanish and they hope to get into the Korean market sometime soon and may need someone who can speak Korean. The pay is much better and it is full-time. So after some thought we decided that this would be a great job for Daniel to take. The only thing we are worried about is getting back into school. That is our ultimate goal and we hope that this job doesn't pose too much of an obstacle to that.
Kudos to you, honey!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Things about me you probably didn't know
Ok, this is really weird!!! I posted this a long time ago, but I could never figure out why I couldn't see it on my blog...yet a few people commented on it.... I guess blogger was having problems and it was posted in May according to blogger...so I am posting it again.
This is actually supposed to be 101+1 things about me but I couldn't think of that many things! So, I put down as many as I can think of.
The idea for this post I stole from my friend AnnMarie, who in turn stole it from someone else. She had a lot of interesting things that I had no idea about her and I thought it would be fun to think about me for awhile and try to surprise you all. I might cheat and add some stuff about our family too. Here goes:
1. * I've never had a cavity in my life. Not even a hint of one. I chalk it up to good teeth genes.
2. I used to be a book snob. For some reason I thought that I should just read the classics or the best of world literature instead of popular literature. In fact, I held off reading Harry Potter for a couple of years because of it. Now I know better.
3. Because of #2 I now routinely check the NY Times bestseller's list to see what contemporary novels are out and popular.
4. I absolutely love the color red. I also think that I look pretty good in that color.
5. I have this pair of ralph lauren plaid shorts from my senior year of high school. I love those shorts. I keep them in hopes that one day I will fit in them again. I don't know how many times I have packed and unpacked those shorts. I go through this little sad routine of holding them longingly, sighing, and replacing them back in their place. Sad, I know.
6. Daniel and I settle small arguments by consulting wikipedia or the internet in general. Stuff like where tomatoes really come from, if the phrase is "splittin' image" or "spittin' image," or what the religious makeup of the island of Samoa is (all real topics we've disagreed on). And FYI tomatoes originally come from South America, specifically Peru, the phrase is "spittin' image," and Roughly 98% of Samoans are Christians, divided among many different churches, including: Congregationalist 35.5%, Roman Catholic 19.6%, Methodist 15%, Latter-day Saints 12.7%, Samoan Assemblies of God 10.6%, Seventh-day Adventist 3.5%, Worship Centre 1.3%, unspecified 0.8% (2001 census) (taken from wikipedia).
7. When I was little I honestly thought I was half mentally retarded. I think it must have been that I saw in the mirror this round face with almond-shaped eyes and at that time I had no sense of different ethnicities and that I was half Asian.
8. I Have to read something while in the bathroom. A lot of times I forget to take in some literature and I end up reading whatever is in the medicine cabinet. I think I must have read the back of my deodorant stick at least 10 times.
9. I love to dance and perform in front of people but I hate talking in front of people
10. I love to cook and try out new recipes. I also love to cook for other people. There is something gratifying about preparing a meal for others and having them like it.
11. With that said, I didn't know how to cook (or even take care of myself, for that matter) until after I got married. For the first little while, Daniel did a lot of cooking. I just never did any of that kind of stuff growing up, my mom did it all.
12. I hit the snooze button over and over and over again, it's my husband's biggest pet peeve. It's because the night before I have these grand hopes of getting up early but when the morning rolls around, I am just too tired to wake up with the first ring.
13. As weird as it may sound, I like to smell the insides of books. Not the cheap trade paperbacks though, they always just smell like cheap paper. The older the book, the better they smell. *sniff* .....oh yeah....
14. When it comes to stubble and beards there is a fine line between ruggedly handsome and just plain unkempt. If done right, beards are very sexy.
15. I hate when people make overarching stereotypes of others because of a few bad apples. When I grew up in Utah, I was Catholic (which if you didn't know, is a minority in happy valley) and I used to hear a lot of them when people learned I was Catholic.
16. I've always wanted to write a book and add my ideas and thoughts to the endless sea of the printed page.
17. One of the things I love about Christmas is the smell of wrapping paper and tape. My job growing up was to wrap all the presents for friends and family.
18. I LOVE the smell of coffee its a very nostalgic smell for me. I also secretly love Haagan daz coffee ice cream.
19. I hate when people unfairly judge other people. Big pet peeve #1
20. I hate when people say a food is bad without trying it. Big pet peeve #2. Drives me nuts.
21. I gave birth to my second daughter naturally and am now an advocate of natural birth. I think it's great that there are pain meds to help when things get really difficult and to each her own. I just noticed a significant difference in the way I felt between having baby #1 and baby#2.
22.If I could do my undergrad over again I would pick a different major. This is kind of sad to say. I enjoyed doing linguistics but now that I think over my education, I feel like I didn't make the best choices.
23. I think the kitchen is the most important feature to consider when buying or renting a home. In fact I hope that one day we can build our own home and then I will be able to design the kitchen the way I want.
24. I love baby toes.
25. I really like to play word and logic games.
26. I was a vegetarian for 5 years. I can't remember why I started to be a vegetarian. I think it all stemmed from not wanting clogged arteries and also eating a bad pork steak once. But I stayed fast and true to my the vegetarian lifestyle for all those years. And, I have to admit, I was the most healthiest I had ever been in my life.
27. When Daniel and I got the National Geographic magazine there was always a fight to get to it first. We've done everything from racing to it to hiding it from the other person until we could read it.
28. I am a very very jealous person. Something I am not really proud of.
29. I think it's weird when Daniel says my name. He's called me by pet names for so long that when he says my first name, it sounds...weird.
30. I dread when people mispronounce my name, it started from all of my teachers mispronouncing my name the first day of class. It always makes me wince a little.
31. When I had my first daughter I was actually secretly disappointed that she didn't look anything like me. Not that I think I am the best looking, but that a daughter should look something like her mother.
32. So I was secretly overjoyed when my second daughter came out looking more like me.
33. I truly believe that God made me prone to gain weight so that I wouldn't be such a glutton when it comes to food and be more conscious of what I eat
34. I still remember the sweet thing Daniel told me the first morning of being married even though I am sure he has long forgotten. "I dreamt there was an angel laying beside me and I woke up and there you were."
35. I want to have the kind of home where my girls want to bring their friends around to hang out and where their friends want to come.
36. I always play the devil's advocate in a conversation. I think it stems from this deep-seeded belief in defending the underdog.
37. I believe that some dreams really do tell us things.
38. Daniel and I share a passion for traveling and especially trying different foods together.
39. I love road trips I could drive anywhere as long as the air conditioning and heater are working in the car.
39. I love long hot showers. It's a time for me to really unwind and relax.
40. One of the biggest regrets I have is that I didn't learn Korean and Spanish fluently when I was a child. My parents both speak those languages but I never picked it up.
41. With that said, I have been given the tools to be a fluent speaker of those languages....especially sounding close to a native speaker.
42. I am one of the most forgetful people on the planet according to Daniel (and everyone else in my family).
43. I am the worst when it comes to turning in books on time to the library. I don't know why, but I am always at least a day late with my books. I had this HUGE fine at the BYU library once....but I am not going to say how much it was. It's too embarrassing.
44. My all-time favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip.
45. I really love exercising, especially dancing, even though it doesn't really show.
46. I truly believe that it's never too late to learn something new. And I think that learning should be a life-long pursuit.
47. Crisp, fall mornings are one of my favorite things. I love the cool air and the smell of freshly fallen leaves.
48. I am an incredibly stubborn person. I only realized it after I got married to another incredibly stubborn person. It's really amazing how much you learn about yourself when you live with someone else.
49. My favorite sport is tennis.
50. I wish that at this very moment, I was somewhere else traveling with my family.
* I WAS cavity free until a couple of weeks ago. I found out I had the first 3 cavities of my life!
Wow, this list is a lot shorter than I thought it was. oh well. Tell me what you think.
This is actually supposed to be 101+1 things about me but I couldn't think of that many things! So, I put down as many as I can think of.
The idea for this post I stole from my friend AnnMarie, who in turn stole it from someone else. She had a lot of interesting things that I had no idea about her and I thought it would be fun to think about me for awhile and try to surprise you all. I might cheat and add some stuff about our family too. Here goes:
1. * I've never had a cavity in my life. Not even a hint of one. I chalk it up to good teeth genes.
2. I used to be a book snob. For some reason I thought that I should just read the classics or the best of world literature instead of popular literature. In fact, I held off reading Harry Potter for a couple of years because of it. Now I know better.
3. Because of #2 I now routinely check the NY Times bestseller's list to see what contemporary novels are out and popular.
4. I absolutely love the color red. I also think that I look pretty good in that color.
5. I have this pair of ralph lauren plaid shorts from my senior year of high school. I love those shorts. I keep them in hopes that one day I will fit in them again. I don't know how many times I have packed and unpacked those shorts. I go through this little sad routine of holding them longingly, sighing, and replacing them back in their place. Sad, I know.
6. Daniel and I settle small arguments by consulting wikipedia or the internet in general. Stuff like where tomatoes really come from, if the phrase is "splittin' image" or "spittin' image," or what the religious makeup of the island of Samoa is (all real topics we've disagreed on). And FYI tomatoes originally come from South America, specifically Peru, the phrase is "spittin' image," and Roughly 98% of Samoans are Christians, divided among many different churches, including: Congregationalist 35.5%, Roman Catholic 19.6%, Methodist 15%, Latter-day Saints 12.7%, Samoan Assemblies of God 10.6%, Seventh-day Adventist 3.5%, Worship Centre 1.3%, unspecified 0.8% (2001 census) (taken from wikipedia).
7. When I was little I honestly thought I was half mentally retarded. I think it must have been that I saw in the mirror this round face with almond-shaped eyes and at that time I had no sense of different ethnicities and that I was half Asian.
8. I Have to read something while in the bathroom. A lot of times I forget to take in some literature and I end up reading whatever is in the medicine cabinet. I think I must have read the back of my deodorant stick at least 10 times.
9. I love to dance and perform in front of people but I hate talking in front of people
10. I love to cook and try out new recipes. I also love to cook for other people. There is something gratifying about preparing a meal for others and having them like it.
11. With that said, I didn't know how to cook (or even take care of myself, for that matter) until after I got married. For the first little while, Daniel did a lot of cooking. I just never did any of that kind of stuff growing up, my mom did it all.
12. I hit the snooze button over and over and over again, it's my husband's biggest pet peeve. It's because the night before I have these grand hopes of getting up early but when the morning rolls around, I am just too tired to wake up with the first ring.
13. As weird as it may sound, I like to smell the insides of books. Not the cheap trade paperbacks though, they always just smell like cheap paper. The older the book, the better they smell. *sniff* .....oh yeah....
14. When it comes to stubble and beards there is a fine line between ruggedly handsome and just plain unkempt. If done right, beards are very sexy.
15. I hate when people make overarching stereotypes of others because of a few bad apples. When I grew up in Utah, I was Catholic (which if you didn't know, is a minority in happy valley) and I used to hear a lot of them when people learned I was Catholic.
16. I've always wanted to write a book and add my ideas and thoughts to the endless sea of the printed page.
17. One of the things I love about Christmas is the smell of wrapping paper and tape. My job growing up was to wrap all the presents for friends and family.
18. I LOVE the smell of coffee its a very nostalgic smell for me. I also secretly love Haagan daz coffee ice cream.
19. I hate when people unfairly judge other people. Big pet peeve #1
20. I hate when people say a food is bad without trying it. Big pet peeve #2. Drives me nuts.
21. I gave birth to my second daughter naturally and am now an advocate of natural birth. I think it's great that there are pain meds to help when things get really difficult and to each her own. I just noticed a significant difference in the way I felt between having baby #1 and baby#2.
22.If I could do my undergrad over again I would pick a different major. This is kind of sad to say. I enjoyed doing linguistics but now that I think over my education, I feel like I didn't make the best choices.
23. I think the kitchen is the most important feature to consider when buying or renting a home. In fact I hope that one day we can build our own home and then I will be able to design the kitchen the way I want.
24. I love baby toes.
25. I really like to play word and logic games.
26. I was a vegetarian for 5 years. I can't remember why I started to be a vegetarian. I think it all stemmed from not wanting clogged arteries and also eating a bad pork steak once. But I stayed fast and true to my the vegetarian lifestyle for all those years. And, I have to admit, I was the most healthiest I had ever been in my life.
27. When Daniel and I got the National Geographic magazine there was always a fight to get to it first. We've done everything from racing to it to hiding it from the other person until we could read it.
28. I am a very very jealous person. Something I am not really proud of.
29. I think it's weird when Daniel says my name. He's called me by pet names for so long that when he says my first name, it sounds...weird.
30. I dread when people mispronounce my name, it started from all of my teachers mispronouncing my name the first day of class. It always makes me wince a little.
31. When I had my first daughter I was actually secretly disappointed that she didn't look anything like me. Not that I think I am the best looking, but that a daughter should look something like her mother.
32. So I was secretly overjoyed when my second daughter came out looking more like me.
33. I truly believe that God made me prone to gain weight so that I wouldn't be such a glutton when it comes to food and be more conscious of what I eat
34. I still remember the sweet thing Daniel told me the first morning of being married even though I am sure he has long forgotten. "I dreamt there was an angel laying beside me and I woke up and there you were."
35. I want to have the kind of home where my girls want to bring their friends around to hang out and where their friends want to come.
36. I always play the devil's advocate in a conversation. I think it stems from this deep-seeded belief in defending the underdog.
37. I believe that some dreams really do tell us things.
38. Daniel and I share a passion for traveling and especially trying different foods together.
39. I love road trips I could drive anywhere as long as the air conditioning and heater are working in the car.
39. I love long hot showers. It's a time for me to really unwind and relax.
40. One of the biggest regrets I have is that I didn't learn Korean and Spanish fluently when I was a child. My parents both speak those languages but I never picked it up.
41. With that said, I have been given the tools to be a fluent speaker of those languages....especially sounding close to a native speaker.
42. I am one of the most forgetful people on the planet according to Daniel (and everyone else in my family).
43. I am the worst when it comes to turning in books on time to the library. I don't know why, but I am always at least a day late with my books. I had this HUGE fine at the BYU library once....but I am not going to say how much it was. It's too embarrassing.
44. My all-time favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip.
45. I really love exercising, especially dancing, even though it doesn't really show.
46. I truly believe that it's never too late to learn something new. And I think that learning should be a life-long pursuit.
47. Crisp, fall mornings are one of my favorite things. I love the cool air and the smell of freshly fallen leaves.
48. I am an incredibly stubborn person. I only realized it after I got married to another incredibly stubborn person. It's really amazing how much you learn about yourself when you live with someone else.
49. My favorite sport is tennis.
50. I wish that at this very moment, I was somewhere else traveling with my family.
* I WAS cavity free until a couple of weeks ago. I found out I had the first 3 cavities of my life!
Wow, this list is a lot shorter than I thought it was. oh well. Tell me what you think.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Disappointing Healthcare
I don't know much about the healthcare debates that have been rocking our country but I definitely want to know more especially after what Daniel got told this not too long ago. Here's the story:
For about 1 1/2 to 2 months Daniel has had this sore on his upper gum that started out as what seemed to be a common canker sore. Because I thought it was a canker sore (or maybe something stuck in his gum pocket) I didn't rush to make the needed dentist appointments for the family. Well, it kept growing and irritating Daniel more and more (I know, I'm such a bad wife) that finally after a month or so, I made the appointment. We found out it was a growth on the gum that definitely needed to be cut off and biopsied (just in case it was something serious). The dentist referred us to an oral surgeon who he knew took medicaid (that is what we are on...actually, we're on PCN, but it's a type of medicaid). Daniel made the appointment with the oral surgeon for a consultation. There, they checked the growth out and made a course of action. But, they weren't sure if medicaid covered that kind of dental work. The lady in the office told Daniel that she would check on it and that they could go ahead and make an appointment and when they found out if the surgery was covered they could either keep the appointment or work something else out, since they were SO busy. She told Daniel that the soonest they could work on him was the middle of October.
Well we waited a few days and the lady finally got back to us. Unfortunately, medicaid doesn't cover that kind of surgery. We would have to pay the costs ($300 for the doctor's office and $200 more dollars for the biopsy) out of pocket. What could we do? Daniel definitely needed that growth cut out...it was only getting bigger and more irritated. So he told her that he would go ahead and get the surgery and just pay out of pocket. *Now, here is the whole point of this post* She then told him that she could move up his appointment to the Friday of that week (it was a Tuesday by that point). Daniel was a bit perplexed, didn't you say that the office was busy and full until the middle of October? He asked her that exact question and you know what she told us? She explained that since he would be paying out of pocket they could get him in right away. They only see medicaid patients once a month because they don't make as much money off of them. Daniel and I couldn't believe she just outright said that.
Daniel wasn't as surprised as I was.......he could tell you all the reasons why healthcare sucks these days. But, I was shocked. I was shocked that making money seems more important to them then treating and caring for patients.
Well, Daniel got that growth cut out---a procedure that took all of 10 minutes--- this last Friday ( 9/25/09) and now we are waiting on the biopsy information.
Crazy, huh?
How we almost got SCAMMED
The last few weeks Daniel and I have been on the look out for a new car (we found one! pics on later post). About a week ago on KSL.com I thought I found an unbelievable deal on 2008 Volkswagon Passat. The original listing said it was for only $4,500 in Salt Lake City. Of course, I replied to that listing right away! The email the guy sent me explained in great depth why he was selling it so cheap....his mother has breast cancer and he is in need of fast cash to help pay for the surgery, the car is actually in New York and he's in Canada, and he explained that we will use eBay motors as an escrow service where they will hold the payment for the car until we receive it and approve and then only then will he receive payment. At the time I thought it sounded like a good idea since he was claiming to use a reputable company like eBay motors to watch over the account and guarantee the shipping. Plus, he sent a ton of believable photos of the car along with the email. Daniel on the other-hand was a bit more suspicious. I continued corresponding with the guy asking him questions about shipping and things and was pretty set on getting this car. We gave him our shipping address and he supposedly gave that to eBay motors to open an account for us. I received an "official" eBay motors email (in my spam mail) detailing how we were to send the payment. The email looked all official and eBay-like to me and it said we were to use Western Union to send the initial deposit of $1750 to some David guy who was to be our eBay motors agent. This made Daniel even more suspicious and he did some reading on the official eBay motors website. Well, this is where we KNEW that this was a big scam. According to eBay motors there are a lot of scams out there claiming to use eBay motors. EBay motors never uses Western Union or Money Gram in their money dealings and they never act as an escrow service for their sellers, ever. I was totally bummed, it was a total scam! But the bad thing was that I wanted it to be true so badly and I wanted to trust this guy so much that at the point where we read all of this info on eBay motors I was still giving this guy excuses. I told Daniel maybe he wasn't from the US and was using eBay incorrectly, but that it was still legitimate. Or maybe eBay motors makes some exceptions or something. Daniel finally looked at me and said, "honey, this guy is trying to take our money and hurt our family....do you want to try and trust him and let him do that?"
So Daniel wrote him an email back telling him off and that was that. I had always heard that there were tons of scams all over the online classified ads, but this was the first time I actually encountered one. Well, interestingly enough as I was looking some more on KSL and on craigslist, I found two more scam ads. They were just ads that sounded like a good deal and I emailed them about it. Then I got the same kind of story "oh, the car is in Washington or Illinois and I am trying to get money to pay for my taxes so my house doesn't get taken by the bank and I will ship the car to you if you pay me this...." This time I just emailed them back telling them "no thanks."
Have any of you guys run into scams like this?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
A whole load of pictures
A whole bunch of random pictures of Maya and Vivi and of our camping trip up the Uintahs. Enjoy:) (Summer and Fall 2009)
Ok, so I wasn't going to type a lot, and I'm not, but these require some explanation. Maya has gotten into this thing of "posing" for the camera. Here are some shots of her "posing"
Thursday, August 13, 2009
5 months
Vivi, you are 5 months already! Where has the time gone? You are growing so much I can hardly keep up! First I have to say that you love your big sister! You two are as different as can be, but you love to watch her run around and you love to giggle with her even if you don't know what she's laughing about. I know that down the road there will be differences in opinions and tears shed, but I hope you will remember how much you love one another always.
You've hit so many milestones this past month. You started eating solid foods (cereals) and you kind of liked that. Though you prefer to nurse with mom. Sometimes it seems as if you like to bite the spoon and feel the mushy food in your mouth more than you actually like to eat it. You have two cute little teeth that you got rather early. You are a champion roller. In fact, when left on the ground that is all you like to do! You roll back and forth all day long.
You found your voice and you love to make your opinions known with a myriad of cute squeals, grunts, and giggles. You also love to put everything you can into your mouth. Sometimes I am not quick enough and you already have a piece of paper in your mouth. You especially love to chew on rubber lizards. He never really had a chance, did he?
You're a really laid back baby but you have a quick temper. You love those around you the most and are wary of strange new faces. You're definitely a momma's girl which means I get to lug all 15 pounds of you around for most of the day.
But, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love you.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Flaming Gorge
A couple of weekends ago we took a trip to Flaming Gorge in my parents' sweet new 5th wheel trailer. It was so nice to be able to sleep in comfort with 2 young kids in tow. It was also nice to visit the beautiful gorge. As we were driving through the Sheep Creek geological loop and again when we were looking down at the gorge from the Red Canyon Lodge visitor's center I couldn't help but think about what a beautiful country we live in. That trip I was taken by the immense rock formations that tell a story of millions of years in every bend and twist of its crevices and peaks. God's creations are truly magnificent....just wanted to share that with you all.
Humpty Dump
Me: Maya, what if Humpty Dumpty fell on a hot frying pan on the stove?
Maya: (long pause) he would crack and then he would cook. He would be a cooked Humpty Dump and then we can eat him!
Maya keeps me laughing just about every day now. She says some pretty clever things. Just lately, she's been really into nursery rhymes (thanks to grandma) and she's got a couple of them almost fully memorized. It's also really fun to tell her stories (besides just reading them to her from books). It's amazing how much she understands now. Last night I told her a famous folk tale from Korea about two brothers and magic pumpkins. What else is she up to? She's starting to be a lot more interested in letters and what the letters spell out. She'll ask me what does this say and things like that. She's also starting to understand that each letter makes a sound and we've been practicing sounds together. She's growing so fast!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Sisters
I never had one but I am glad that these two have each other. When I was pregnant with Vivi, I was so worried about how Maya was going to take everything. I've read so many stories of older siblings doing horrible things because of jealousy or reverting back to their baby days. Would Maya know that we love her? How would she react to the new baby? I am blessed. Maya is the best older sister anyone could ask for. She plays with Vivi, she helps me out with Vivi, and most of all she loves Vivi. There are moments of jealousy but mostly she shows it by trying to get the attention back on her (e.g singing louder, being more obnoxious...etc.). The neat thing now is that Vivi is starting to pay a lot of attention to Maya. She watches her when she plays and when she sings and a lot of the time she has a big smile on her face.
Yay for sisters!
Friday, June 26, 2009
Hunt for the Elusive Grayling...over at last.
would you like a fish?
The summer before we left for Korea we just about camped ourselves silly. On one trip up to the Uintahs we were out to find the elusive artic grayling. Well folks, we finally found 'em! (after 2 years...)
Well, I guess Daniel found and caught them. I was technically at home asleep in my bed when Daniel snuck out this morning on an impromptu trip up the Uintahs after his grayling obsession.
The grayling has an awesome dorsal fin! I guess it lost some of its purple hue on the trip home in the icebox.
The others Daniel caught:
I guess now we're on the look out for a good grayling recipe....when we find one I'll let you know.
Summer Fun
Yesterday I was reminded of what summer should be like. Hot sunny days, cooler pleasant nights, best friends, and lots of fun. We had the neighbor kids over to have fun in the kiddie pool and, of course, popsicles!
Here's a picture of Maya and her best friend, Keri, from next door.
Cute, eh? I didn't actually get any pictures of them in action...I was too afraid to get shot with streams of water from the pool. They had fun watering our lawn and our trees.
Here's another picture of them off to more mischief next door:
I did get some pictures of Vivi in the pool, though
Needless to say we'll have the pool up again real soon.
Here's a picture of Maya and her best friend, Keri, from next door.
Cute, eh? I didn't actually get any pictures of them in action...I was too afraid to get shot with streams of water from the pool. They had fun watering our lawn and our trees.Here's another picture of them off to more mischief next door:
I did get some pictures of Vivi in the pool, though
Needless to say we'll have the pool up again real soon.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Creative Culinarian
I just wanted to let you all know that I finally got my food blog up and running. I don't know why I am doing another blog...I barely can keep up with the ones I have. This one though is a little more personal, it's my own little recipe box. I like to try out a lot of different recipes and I want a way to keep track of the ones I tried and liked. I also run into a lot of interesting facts about food that I would like to write down too. You are all more than welcome to visit and try out the things I am trying out and give me some feedback on what worked for you. You can find the link for it under "Our other blogs" on the right-hand side of the page.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Spring Routine
After having two kids my body is......well, not in its best shape. Actually, it's done horrors to itself and since the weather has been getting nicer and the inevitable trip to the pool is coming soon I decided to get my butt back into shape. What was formerly called just the Orem Recreational Center (now the Orem Fitness Center) has a great schedule of aerobic classes that they offer all year. I LOVE aerobic classes. Sounds cheesy, probably is cheesy, I know. But I am not really good at keeping myself motivated enough to get a good enough workout on my own on a treadmill or elliptical machine. I do much better when I am in a room full of people and an instructor watching and pushing me. The same goes with taking independent study classes versus regular classes in college. When no one is watching, I am a quitter....sad, but true. Anyway, I am on my second week of classes and still going strong! What do they say about habit forming/breaking? If you can do it or not do it for two weeks than it becomes a habit...? On Mondays and Wednesdays I do step aerobics and pilates, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do kickboxing and yoga, and on Saturdays I do yoga and an awesome latin dancing class called Zumba. I get Fridays off. Exercising has been really great. Not only do I get all the physical benefits of regular exercise but I also get some time for myself. I love spending the day with Vivi and Maya but I need some "me" time too. Well, maybe since I through this little bit of knowledge out into the blog-o-sphere it will be extra incentive to keep it up...I mean you guys are probably going to ask me about it sometime and I would like to say that I am still going strong and a little closer to my health and weight loss goals.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Innocence
The other evening, while I was changing Vivi's diaper, she turned her head toward me and smiled. This wasn't her first smile (she's been smiling for awhile now), but I was particularly caught off guard by its frank innocence. As I finished putting on her diaper she kept gazing into my face and smiling. I couldn't help but think of how babies come into this world full of trust. They have to...they have no choice but to put their full trust into those whose job it is to care for them. How horrible it would be to abuse that trust. As I picked her up I started to think about the children in the world who aren't taken care of; the ones who are abandoned and neglected, abused and exploited. I think that crushing a child's innocence is probably the worst crime human beings can commit.
I hope that I can continue to love and care for my babies. They (and all the children in this world) deserve at least that.
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