Simple Joys of Life

The girls are so funny. Since they can't have real pets (not because we don't like animals but our life style does not lend itself to caring for animals the way they need) so they have acquired two inset pets. The grasshopper belongs to Ayden and the dragon fly to Taylor. The thrill of catching bugs and jailing them in glass pickle jars. What a simple joy. This reminds me of the time Kong went to Newport Beach, CA for work and the girls asked him to bring them something back. He bought them each fun t-shirts (that were too expensive) and Taylor's comment to Kong was, "Oh, we were hoping for something like a seashell from the beach." They just wanted something simple. Nothing fancy. Anyway, see if you can identify where the insects are.

I had to include these pictures because they are hilarious. Last weekend Taylor was at Girl Scout camp so Ayden had nothing else to do but play by herself. She decided she was going to be Wonder Woman. To my surprise I found her outside sitting at the top of the front stair. I asked what she was doing and she said that she was waiting for a big gust of wind to blow her cape so that she would really look like Wonder Woman. She insisted on the hands on the hip pose as it was more realistic. I have no idea how long she had been out there or what people passing by were thinking but here is a series of pictures of her waiting for the wind gust. She finally gets the gust she's been waiting for.

Lastly, want to share that Ayden tested for yellow belt and she passed. She's been working really hard to remember her Ki Cho Hyung and techniques. We are really proud of her

Hallelujah!!!!

Kong just found out today that he passed his CFA Level II exam. I guess the fourth or fifth (we've lost count) time is a charm. The important thing is that Kong didn't give up. Maybe more importantly, I didn't give up on him.

Kong begins to study for this test in February and takes it in early June. He studies every night after the girls go to bed until mid-night then he generally studies all day Saturday and Sunday. Let me remind you that we've been doing this every February-June for the last few years. His test is a big commitment for our entire family. I will be the first to say that there were times where I wanted to give up, I wanted him to give up and I gave him ultimatums. I'm so proud of Kong and his persistence. Now...just one more CFA test next year and if he passes he'll be a Charter Financial Analyst which apparently is extremely important and prestigious in the Investments world.

As for me, the LSAT prep test class is going well. Lot's of improvements already from my original test. I'll be taking another full length exam on Wednesday so I'll have a better idea of how much I've improved. It's amazing how you don't feel old until you are in a room filled with young kids. Most of the kids in the LSAT class are either going to be Seniors in college or just graduated. I've always been the youngest in class, sports, job, etc...so it's hard now to participate in something where I'm literally the oldest. It's been quite the unique experience.

I don't know if between Kong, the girls and me if we'll ever be done with studying and going to school. Kong's plan for after I finish law school (my hope is to get my MBA at the same time-wishful thinking) is to get his PhD in Economics or Finance. He met with the head of the Economics PhD program at the U a few weeks back and is really exited about it.

Anyway, enough about us. This past weekend we took one last mini trip to Jellystone Park in Warren, Wisconsin before Mom and Dad head back to Laos to resume their missionary work. It was nice having them home. We will miss them. Especially the grand kids since Mom and Dad love and care for them so much. Below are some pictures from our trip. Everyone had a great time. We stayed in a really big cabin that accommodated our entire family.

On our way to go fishing. The pond was really choked with weeds so we did not have a lot of luck. Ayden caught the only fish of the day.


Yawm Yawm (Grandpa) helping Gabe with his bobber and worm.
Yawm Yawm fishing with Roan.
Tom and Ethan getting Ethan's line all ready for casting.
Tais Tais (Grandma) joins in on the fun and helps Gabe cast.
Gabe and Roan enjoying some quite fishing time.


Tais Tais and Ayden on their walk
Smiles all around for Yawm Yawm and the boys on their stroll.
Getting ready to go to the water park. Well...at least Aleah was. Everyone else was just laying around. Ayden riding a leaf wave with Tais Nee (Aunt Stephanie) supervising.
Aleah braving the slide.
Aleah still smiling after the slide.
Yawm Yawm making water balloons for Ethan and Gabe so that they could play the water balloon games. Can't forget Ethan at the bottom of the picture looking fierce. Gabe eyeing his target.
Dlaab Phil (Uncle Philip) splashing around with Taylor and Adyen. After this shot he tossed Taylor into a backward flip. Hope they didn't get in trouble. Nice hair Dlaab Phil.
Ethan sounding off after a safe landing.
Taylor and Ethan getting doust with water.Here are pictures from another time we took the girls fishing. We caught a ton of fish. This is a picture of Taylor with the grubs. An important ingredient to catching a ton of fish! Just a funny video from our fishing trip.

Amazing Weekend: MMA & UFC

(Who is this guy? For the non MMA-Mixed Martial Art fan, read on and you'll find out.)

Just to clarify, it was an amazing weekend for Kong and his older brother Cheng.

Cheng, Logan and Julia arrived at our house on Friday night. Saturday the three of them, Kong, Taylor and Ayden went to the Science Museum to visit the Star War exhibit. They had a great time at the Omini Theatre, meeting the characters and seeing all of the Star War artifacts. After the exhausting day they made their way to Mickey's diner (an actual box car diner). It was a nice experience for everyone. I did not join the weekend festivities because I was at my LSAT class. That's right, I said LSAT.

The day was topped off with the UFC 87 fight which actually took place at the Target Center. The guys decided that for the seats they could get they would have a better view watching it on Pay Per View. It was better that way. Kong and Cheng had the evening all planned out; A gazillion wings from Buffalo Wild Wings, beer and a tub of celery sticks and Blue Cheese. The fights were amazing. The guys were so bummed that Roger Heurta, a local Mix Martial artist who went to school at Augsburg College here in the Twin Cities lost his fight. They went on and on about what an amazing martial artist Heurta is and the adversities he had to over come. He was abandoned as a child, hustled on the streets to feed himself, and joined a gang early on in life to survive. Just an amazing story. Anyway, it was fun to see all of the stars and athletes from other sports at the area. When the cameras panned over to "Donna" from That 70's Show, we were all like, "What's she doing there?"

Our plan for Sunday was to have Dim Sum at Mai Village. As we made our way to brunch I realized I lost Kong and Cheng who were driving behind me. I waited in the restaurant parking lot with the kids thinking they were getting gas. About 10 minutes later the guys pulled in, rolled down their window and shouted, "We just met Roger Huerta!" They sounded like two excited school girls. Apparently, as we drove down a local road close to our house they spotted someone who had similar tattoos as Huerta. They didn't want to miss the chance to meet him so they whipped a U turn in the middle of the street, Kong jumped out of the car, Cheng double parked and they ran to confirm if it was him.

It turns out it was Huerta and he was stepping out (probably to have brunch) with no one else but Laura Prepon (Donna) from That 70's Show. They had a conversation with Huerta who was so apologetic that he let down his fans. He was kind, gracious, smart, articulate and so appreciative of his fans. It's funny because when they realized it was Donna standing next to Huerta, Kong said, "Hey, aren't you that girl from, um...um..." and Laura sweetly said, "Yeah, I am." They were so star struck by Huert that they completely ignored this attrative and tall figure standing next to them.

It was an amazing chance meeting. They guys could hardly focus during brunch. For anyone who knows the Hers, there is nothing that stands between them and their food. Kong and Cheng couldn't get over that they didn't take a picture to capture the moment. They rationalized and rationalized until they came to the conclusion that it was for the best that they didn't. After losing the fight to become the number one contender for the belt, the most respectful thing they could do was not hassle him for a photo when he's feeling down.

For Kong and Cheng this could not have been a more perfect weekend.

The kids with Darth Vader.

The kids with a storm trooper. That's what you call them, right?

Cheng, the kids and I think that's Chewy.

Jumping on the trampoline after returning from the Science Museum.Dinner after swimming. Yum - brats, hamburger and fruit.

Ayden's B-Day

My boo-boo turned 5 on July 12. This was the first year she was excited to celebrate her birthday. She also talked about it months before hand and was very active in planning her birthday party. She let us know where she wanted it and who she wanted to invite. A few months before her birthday she said to me, "Mommy, when I turned 4 it was so fast but I have been waiting a really long time to turn 5. Why is it taking so long this year?"

We had Ayden's birthday at the Great Rivers Water Park. It was a great deal of fun. We had over 30 kids attend and 20 adults. Surprisingly it was not overwhelming to have so many kids. Thanks to all of our friends and family who attended and helped out with the party and the food. Most of the delicious food was prepared by an Aunt or Uncle. We are truly blessed to have so many people around us who care and support us.

Ayden with her Friends and family. The majority of people are in the kitchen or still jumping on the trampoline. Of course we only had one person jumping at a time ; )

Sweet Ayden turns 5. Is that a peace sign or is she giving bunny ears to the ball?

Ayden and friends

Can't forget the big sister. Taylor also had friends attend.

This is really funny. The first video we took in the morning. Ayden couldn't be more excited about celebrating her birthday.


This is a clip of the birthday song. There is something about that song that makes the birthday person really embarrassed. I'm sure you all know what I mean because you've felt it too : )

Lastly, I wanted to share this picture of my parents with all of their grandchildren. We took the kids to an indoor play area in Woodbury a few weeks ago. We had a great time. It's nice that most of the kids are big enough to enjoy a setting like this. Great times!

Diving

Swimming has been coming along so well for the girls and I. Unlike her big sister Ayden has always been more reserved in the water. The swimming lessons have been so wonderful for her. She has learned to dunk her head into the water, swim under water, play with confidence and she's even jumped off the diving board with a life jacket. This is huge for Ayden considering she would cry if water was splashed in her face just a few weeks prior.

Taylor is doing great also. We started working on diving yesterday. Like the fish that Taylor is she had no problems with diving head first into the water. As for me, I was extremely hesitant. Just a week ago I learned how to jump into the deep end of the pool so the transition was much harder. By the end of the evening Taylor was diving head first off of the diving board and I was diving off the diving board from a kneel. After I over came my fear it was actually fun diving. We both suffered minor injuries (Taylor a bloody nose and a scraped foot for me) but we greatly enjoyed our lesson yesterday.

Here are some pictures my sister took while she was home two weeks ago. She asked Ayden for a fierce look and this was the result. The second photo is of Taylor and her cousin Ethan.

Whew! Got it off

After visiting Cheng and Stacy I gained eight pounds. Cheng is a great cook so needless to say I ate too much. Hard to believe that even when food is healthy you can still gain weight if you eat too much. Go figure!

Anyway I can't blame it all on Cheng and Stacy. The few days leading up to our visit I had been eating more and less healthy. With Kong in CA for a week I was not able to cook so we either ate out or ate something I could make quickly at home. Last Thursday I ate three hot dogs with three servings of real Lays potato chips. It tasted good going down but I felt unusual after consuming all that food.

Routine is very important in our household. It keeps us on track for eating right and exercising. It was hard to keep things going without Kong. I forget how important his role is in allowing me to be the kind of mom I want to be. I couldn't do all of the things I currently do if it wasn't for him.

Upon our return from LaCrosse I attended Kuk Sool work out class which helped me shed four pounds and with last nights Kuk Sool (regular class) and then swimming afterwards I was able to get rid of the rest of the weight. It wasn't just the exercising, I also had to watch what I ate too. Thank goodness I'm back down to my "normal" weight. We'll see what happens after this weekend with Mom and Dad's celebration and having family up for the Holiday.

By the way, Kong was not pleased when he saw the Father's Day entry. He felt that with the title, "Father's Day Weekend" I should have had a picture of him and not Kuk Sa Nim posted. In honor of my loving and supportive husband I'm posting this special photo collage for him : )

Lastly, here is a recent photo of Ayden. She was thrilled we found a lady bug rain coat to match her lady bug umbrella.

And a small clip of Taylor in her Spring Concert.

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.