Spring in Provo: 4/25

On our last day in Provo, we started the day with breakfast at Magleby's Fresh with John and Dorothy.

 Then we headed over to Scott and Sarah's.  The kids played while Sarah and I visited.

 

 We all went on a very short bike ride around the corner to the construction site.  I borrowed Sarah's older bike with the baby seat and my other kids sat in the back of Sarah's bucket bike.  Then it was time to say goodbye.  Mei Li was quite sad about it all.

 We then went to eat lunch with Ie Ling, Jonathan, and Blake (Ling's BF) at Zupas.  That place has come a long way since it opened up.  I love my little sibs.  I'm so proud to be their big sister.  I can't wait until we meet again.

We said a final goodbye to John and Dorothy and then we were off to the airport.  I was sad that we didn't visit any friends, but we loved the time we spent with family.  Thank you all for a lovely time.

Spring in Provo: 4/23

Saturday was Oliver's baptism day.  It was an event just for family.  Dorothy spoke to us about baptism.  She had cut out footprints and talked about how baptism was one step on the path back to Heavenly Father.  It was interactive and very clear for the little ones to understand.

Scott, his dad, then baptized him.  I loved seeing all the cousins press up against the glass of the baptismal font to watch.

While Oliver dressed, I led all the cousins in singing, "I Am a Child of God."  It was sweet and simple. I love hearing little voices sing that song.

After Oliver was ready, Annee came up to speak about the gift of the Holy Ghost.  She talked about how before we came to earth, we lived with Heavenly Father.  When we were born, we forgot everything.  At one point she said, "The best part about all of this (meaning this life) is that we get to go back."  Heavenly Father gave us the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us return to live with Him and Jesus again.

The room was filled with love and many, including me, had tears in their eyes.  I got a glimpse of what heaven would be like.  I felt like I was seeing the souls of each person in the room, rather than the personalities.  Stephen was on my lap and I saw his too.  It was perfect and good.  All little children are perfect and good.

Scott then confirmed Oliver a member of the church.  It is in that confirmation that Oliver received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I'm so grateful for the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  It is present everyday in my life, mostly in small ways.  But it's been there for me in many big, life-altering ways too.  Had I not listened to its still small voice in those times, perhaps I would be living a very different life.  And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here with Steve, Mei Li, Stephen, and Mi Na.

Scott then bore his testimony to Oliver and then John, the patriarch of this whole clan.  The closing hymn was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."  When it was all over, I felt overwhelmingly blessed to be a part of such a wonderful, faithful family.

My thoughts turned to my own parents who converted to the church when they were in their twenties.  They started the legacy of faith and now have six faithful children and fourteen grandchildren who are being taught to love and serve the Lord.  We are so blessed to be a part of that too.

That day is a memory that I will always treasure.

Spring in Provo: 4/22

It was a very busy day. We woke up early so we could be at Christine's convocation.

I'm so grateful that it was at the Marriot Center. It's the easiest place to attend graduation with kids. Our kids behaved themselves, though we did a fair amount of walking around after we witnessed Christine receive her diploma.


John and Dorothy have had at least one child at BYU since 1994. Dorothy requested that all her children wear a graduation cap for a picture. I think six BYU graduate children is quite an accomplishment. So congrats to Christine, and congrats to John and Dorothy!


I love this picture for so many reasons: Aunt Rachel looking like a supermodel, holding the hands of two adoring 4-year-old nieces who discovered that they are friends during this trip.


Caps for sale! Oliver is so awesome, AND he knows how to speak Chinese. Now, look behind Oliver at Stephen. Do you see that face?


Now look at this face. He alternated between Stephen the grumpy and Stephen the deliriously happy for much of the day. That boy was very tired.

We all went to lunch at Spark without any kids, except for Mi Na of course.  Ie Ling and Jonathan watched all of the kids at Scott and Sarah's place.  The food was delicious and if I had to describe it another way, "sexy" is the word I would use.

That night we went to The Lower Lights concert. As you know, I'm a huge fan. I loved it. Thanks to Scott and Sarah and the rest for putting on a wonderful event.

After the concert, we went to the BYU Creamery on Ninth for milkshakes. Steve got a peanut butter cup and I got rocky road.  So good.  It was a tiny celebration for a very special 29-year-old birthday boy.


His birthday was overshadowed by lots of other important stuff, but he of course didn't mind a bit.  There's more celebrating coming your way, babe.  I hope you don't mind. :)

Spring in Provo: 4/21

We played at Sarah's house in the morning. I kept waiting for a fight to ensue between Mei Li and June, but it never came.

We ate lunch with my little brother Jonathan, who by the way, was ranked third of all organic chemistry students at BYU. I'm so proud of him. We ate lunch at Station 22 in downtown Provo, which was very delicious.

Everyone was very pleased with their sandwiches, except for the kids. The white cheese on their grilled cheese sandwiches threw them off. They like their cheese yellow. The fries were amazing. Don't you love how I talk about food so much?

I watched the kids at Grandma and Grandpa Z.'s house while Steve went to the BYU commencement. I headed over to Sarah's house before the end of commencement to avoid traffic.

Rachel took orders for Cafe Rio and brought it back for everyone. Cafe Rio is coming to DC! How exciting!

We let our kids just play and play and play until 11 PM. Mei Li and Stephen got bowls of ice cream after dinner and play. Mei Li devoured hers while making "mmmm" sounds. She loves mint chip ice cream. She also loves June. Here are a few of May and June, I mean, Mei and June:




All of our kids zonked out as soon as we got in the car to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. This is what vacation is all about.

Spring in Provo: 4/20

The day started with a 6 AM taxi ride to the airport after three hours of sleep for Steve and me. We calculated that taking a taxi to and from the airport costs the same as parking at the airport for five days. It's nice to get dropped off right at the curb instead of taking a shuttle from long-term parking.

We started to unload our luggage from the taxi. Steve held Mi Na so I could strap on the Ergo baby carrier. Suddenly Steve ran over to a woman and a taxi driver about fifty or so feet away. I was so confused. What was he doing?

Steve later told me that the woman didn't have enough money for the full taxi fare and she started to run. The taxi driver had grabbed her arm and would not let her go. So after Steve learned the situation, he handed the taxi driver $16 and the problem was solved.

I loved my Steve for saving the day, but did spend a minute being secretly annoyed at the woman and taxi driver and lamenting the loss of $16. Something to work on.

We were nearly the last passengers to board the plane. When you board a plane bound for Salt Lake City with three little children, you will likely be met with an entire plane full of sympathetic, smiling faces. Most of the passengers will be Mormon and they'll know you're Mormon too.

As we started down the aisle, one first class man upon seeing Stephen commented, "he's got his mother's eyes."

We walked a little further and another first class man said to me, "that's a cute little army you got there."

We walked a little further and I turned back to Steve and said, "we forgot gum!" I dreaded how painful the descent would be. A young mother then said with a smile, "I have gum, would you like some?" I accepted.

For the rest of our walk down the aisle of the airplane, we received several compliments on the cuteness of our children. It was a nice start to a long flight.

The flight was fine. Steve and I played in-flight trivia while Mei Li and Stephen watched their movies and Mi Na slept. Steve won once, I won once, but neither of us could win when passenger "Dan" in 28F was playing.

We picked up our rental car which had just enough room for our three car seats in the back.

We went straight to Grandma and Grandpa Z.'s house to get settled there. We headed over to Scott and Sarah's place so the cousins could play. Mei Li and June became fast friends. Stephen loved little Huck and Huck loved baby Mi Na.

That night, Mi Na and I went to dinner with my little sis, Ie Ling, while Steve put the other kids to bed. We ate at the Chinese restaurant Shoots in Provo. It was delicious, but mostly I just loved being with Ie Ling. She's kind of amazing. I ordered extra food to take home to Steve.

The plan was to go to the temple after Mi Na went to bed, but she didn't go to bed early enough for us to make it before temple closing.

So we spent the rest of the night visiting with Steve's parents and his sisters, Annee and Christine. It was a great day.

Our Getaway

Over Christmas break, Steve and I celebrated our anniversary with a two-night getaway to Salt Lake City.

We stayed at the Grand America. I hope we get to stay there again. As soon as we walked into the hotel, we could smell these fresh flowers. Beautiful.


Day 1

-slept in

-ate breakfast at the hotel (still dreaming about the pannetone french toast and Steve is still dreaming about the amazing pancakes)

-attended a Salt Lake Temple session


-watched the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and loved it

-walked around Temple Square

-bought some rolls from the Lion House.

-ate steak for dinner.

Day 2

-slept in

-Grand America breakfast buffet

-came home to our angels

We felt very rejuvenated after some alone time together. Steve had to keep telling me that we didn't need to call his mom to see how the kids were doing, and that if something was wrong, she'd let us know. When we saw the kids again, they were happy. Stephen was helping his Grandpa shovel the snow.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Z. for making this trip possible!

More Sledding! 12/29

Here's a video of Mei braving the hill. Please forgive my loud voice. It was very exciting to watch.

Crazy Cousins 12/28

While we were in Utah, Mei Li and Jack played so well together. Most of the time they were down in the basement happily entertaining each other and themselves. One day, I went downstairs to see what they were up to. They were dressing themselves in many layers in preparation to go outside. Mei Li was wearing her Cinderella dress, glass slippers, Jack's cardigan, Ana's scarf, and her own striped hat. Jack was wearing his puffy vest with his turtleneck sweater backwards over it, his scarf and hat. See for yourself.


Aren't they cute?

P.S. Mei Li received her scrapes while walking to church the day before. She had her hands in her pockets and tripped. It was quite sad.

Sledding and Bowling 12/26

We went sledding the day after Christmas. It was perfect because it was just across the street from Grandma and Grandpa's place where we were staying.

Mei Li is a fearless sledder. I love that about her.
She went by herself once, but mostly she went with her dad.

She and her cousin Brenden went down once together. That was cute to watch.

Steve

Grandpa Z.
All together

Stephen was napping. That poor boy misses out on a lot during his naps. Should I feel bad about this?

We went to Costa Vida for dinner and bowling that night with everyone. We had a wonderful time.

I am a horrible bowler, even with the bumpers. Mei Li, however, managed to get a strike.

I thought Mei looked pretty awesome in "the dress," striped tights, and bowling shoes. I love it when Stephen wears his Redskins sweatshirt, a hand-me-down from cousins Jackson and Lance. I wish the picture turned out better.

Adventures in Provo: Dinner with Grandma Z.

Adventures in Provo: BYU Graduation.

Adventures in Provo: The BYU Duck Pond.