Merry Christmas

Hello everyone,

Merry, merry Christmas to all of you!

It's been a long while since I last wrote something on our blog.

Matt moved back to Utah after working on contract in California for close to 5 months. When he came back, he started working at Dugway Proving Grounds in Tooele County. He is currently doing a 2-hour trip each way Mondays to Thursdays.

That is about to change next year. We have found renters for our house in Layton and we will move to housing inside the base as we continue to look for a permanent place to live in.

Things have been quite hectic on our end as we prepare for this move. I'll try to keep you posted but in the meantime, ...

We wish you Peace and Happiness this Christmas!

We miss you all !

"We ♥ Tooshies"

I ♥ Faces Photo Challenge for the week is "We ♥ Tooshies"
Here is my entry.




That's my son Ben, my daughter Angie and their cousin Lily racing towards the opening of the Bouncy Inflatable House in my aunt's yard.

Goodbye Mom/Nana. We love you!

Monday, October 26, 2009 4:05 PM, PDT - Entry at the CaringBridge Site for Mom by my sister-in-law Kelly :

Our loving, caring, beautiful, wonderful mother, nana and friend passed away today at 12:38 p.m. Our grief is great, but we know she is now at peace.

Mom fought a long, hard battle and won in the end. She was surrounded by her loving family and friends in her final days and left us on her terms.



Below are some pictures of Mom. We remember her fondly and we are so grateful for all the love and care she has given us. We will miss you, Mom.

I ♥ Faces - Contemplative

I ♥ Faces Photo Challenge for the week is Contemplative.





This is a picture of my daughter Angela. We were at the park and I had told her that it was time to go home. She wasn't happy about it so she cried and protested. I took this shot after she had calmed down (see dried tears and runny nose). She's a feisty and strong-willed 2 year old so I am sure she was contemplating on what to do next to delay us leaving the park.

I have been a fan of I ♥ Faces for a long time but this is the first time I am entering the weekly contest. Thanks for stopping by.

New Pictures - Angela

New Pictures - Ben

Visit with Nana and Papa

Hello!

It's been too long. Hope all of you are doing well.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our visit with Nana and Papa. The kids and I visited Matt in Sacramento. He's working there on a contract job. We were there for 1 week and mid-week, we drove to Novato to visit with Nana and Papa.

It was a very good visit. Ben and Angela loved visiting with Nana and Papa. We were also able to see Aunt Petey. We're hoping we could do another visit before school starts.

Enjoy the pictures!

Talent Show, Mother's Day, Daddy's Birthday

Still catching up on updating our blog so doing a batch update here of 3 events we've had so far in May.


Talent Show at Ben's school (May 1)

The Talent Show was a school year-end event at Ben's school. Ben's Toddler class sang the 'Continent Song' for this event. They were requested to wear the costume from any of the continents. Ben wore the Chinese shirt and pants that we bought in Taiwan in 2007.

Unlike in the Christmas show, this time Ben went up the stage with the rest of his class. We let Angie join him so she can give moral support to Ben. As you can see from the pictures, Ben did not join in the singing. He decided that it was more fun to jump and stomp his feet on the stage. Pretty soon, his other classmates joined him while a small group continued to sing the Continent song.


Mother's Day and Matt's Birthday (May 10)

It was such a nice sunny spring day so we decided to go for a walk on a trail near where we live. It was a nice way to work up an apetite before we go out for lunch. I brought my camera to take pictures of Ben and Angela.

Here are the pictures from these events. Enjoy and till the next update !

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben (April 15)

I am doing catch up here, updating our blog, so excuse me if this post is out of sequence.

Anyway, we celebrated Ben's 3rd birthday last April 15. It was just a simple celebration at home. We had noodles (of course) for long life and we got an ice cream cake for him. He got to blow his candles and open his cards and gifts. Angie also got to open her gift from Nana and Papa.

A day before his birthday, he went to the potty by himself. He has since been going to the potty either to pee or poo. Way to go Ben. We are so proud of you and we love you! You're really a big boy now.

Here are some pictures of his birthday celebration.

Pictures from Chicago Trip - April 2009

We were in Chicago for 4 days in April. We flew there the day after Ben's birthday. Here are the pictures. It was lots of fun spending time with my mom, sister and her family, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and their families. Wish we could do this more often!

Easter Egg Hunt 2009

Happy Easter everybody!

Here are pictures from the Easter Egg Hunt that was held at our parish church. Since the Education Center is being built, the Knight of Columbus (who sponsors this event), held the hunt at the park across from the church.

It was a cloudy day but attendance was great as usual. Angie was at the 0-2 year olds while Ben was at the 3-4 year olds. Both did very well in getting their bag full of eggs. They even got special gifts.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and till the next update!

Take care always!

Angela's Baptism

Hello everybody!

We had Angela's baptism last Saturday, March 7. Just like Ben's baptism, it was a very small, intimate affair. Nana and Papa were not able to come this time, but Mama flew in from Toronto for this event. Godparents were Matt's Uncle Paul and my cousin Jean. Jean was not able to join us so Mama stood in for her. Uncle Paul's friend Sue was also there to celebrate this special event with us.

Here are some pictures from this very special day.

Happy 2nd Birthday !

February 3, 2009: Angela turned 2 years old today.

It's amazing how fast she has grown over the few months she's been with us. Our little girl is now officially in her 'Terrible Twos'!

She talks a lot, still has a ready smile on her face, has a love/hate relationship with Ben especially during playtime or car rides and her current fave word is 'NO'. (As an aside - Ben's current fave word now is 'WHY')

We celebrated her birthday at the daycare the Friday prior to her birthday. Ben did not have a class then and Matt and I took the afternoon off from work. We had a birthday cake and apple juice. We had the children from the Toddler class and also the 2year old class (she will be moving into this class in the next few days).

The following day - Saturday, we went to watch Disney Playhouse Live at the Energy Solutions center. We were all tired so we essentially took our afternoon nap while watching the show. We paid for 4 seats but as it turned out, Angela slept on Matt's lap and I had Ben on my lap. What an expensive way to have our afternoon nap! We keep telling ourselves that Ben and Angela are still too young for these shows but we get an email promotion with discounted tickets and we go ahead and buy.

On the day of her birthday, we got her from day care and all of us went to the open house of a school we are thinking of sending Ben and Angela next school year. Since it was getting late, we only managed to get a quick bite at Arctic Circle. We did buy her a cake. We didn't get to eat the cake and open the gifts until Wednesday, though.

Here are some pictures from her birthday party at the daycare. Enjoy!