Done!

We started work on the play set on Saturday, June 14 and finished it on Wednesday, June 18. Kong and I did the majority of the project together and we really enjoyed it. I'm really proud of him as his strengths do not include putting things together and/or fixing "stuff".














Between then and now lots has happened.

So on June 20th I turned the big 35. In all my years I have never dreaded or dislike an age but turning 35 was very significant for some reason. I was not looking forward to it. Maybe it's knowing that I've nearly lived half my life or that in five more years I'll be 40. Maybe it's knowing that death is inevitable and approaching slowing but surely. Whatever the case I feel a sense of urgency to enjoy life, change my bad habits and appreciate all that I've been blessed with.

Kong surprised me with a date on my birthday. This is a rarity for us as we have a very difficult time leaving our children with other people. Since we try to spend quality time with each other everyday I guess we never have the need to go out on dates. Anyway, Kong took me out to dinner and a movie. When we arrived at the movie theatre they changed the time of the movie so we ran errands instead. We still had a great time. Ayden's response to us going out on a date was, "I'm coming too, right?"

The day after my birthday Taylor tested for her blue stripe and I tested for my yellow belt. It was a small testing group so PSBN Steffen found a way to make testing excruciating even without small children invoking hundreds of push ups. I felt that this test really pushed me to the limit. Since Taylor was testing for a higher level belt she had to test longer. Watching her push along made me question if I had it in me to keep progressing to higher level belts. I was so proud of her. She even broke a real board. We both received our next belt level. I was also invited into Black Belt club. Yeah!

This past weekend was our 11 year anniversary. It's hard to believe that we've been together for 14 years. It seems like just yesterday we were playing pool at the Memorial Union at UW Madison. We've tried to plan anniversary trips in the past but they've never panned out so we decided not to plan anything this year. We spent the weekend visiting Kong's brother Cheng and his family. Cheng and Stacy made great food and took care of us. The kids played and had a great time. We couldn't ask for a better way to spend our anniversary.

That's it for now. More to come in the next few days as my Mom and Dad are home from their Laos Mission. We'll be having a celebration for his commision as a Probationary Elder in the United Methodist Church and completion of his Masters of Divinity.