Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

gym

~ Etc.

i just got back from the gym. i sound so hard core and a regular gym-goer but i assure you i’m sooooo not. my brother who left to rochester a few weeks ago gave me his so that’s the only reason why i own one. the only exercise i usually get is laughing throughout the day and pushing the kids on the swing. the last time i did real exercise? i did pilates for about 10 mins. a few months after i had adalie. adalie is turning 3 in two months. haha. so embarrassing i know.

so tonight was the first time i went with my gym pass. i looked up the class schedule online and saw that they offered power yoga at 9:30 p.m. so after i put ana to sleep(jay puts adi to sleep), i left to the gym. well, turns out the yoga class had just ended, for it started at 8:30(am i dyslexic?) and it was the last class of the day. i came in my pajama shorts, a zipper hoodie and a tank top, and my slippers a.k.a flip flops(jay says since i’m married to a guy from hawaii, it’s a disgrace if i call it flip flops instead of slippers.) and lastly, my hair was down. i think everyone could tell this was my frist time. i awkwardly stood in the middle of the gym and looked around as people were lifting weights and i felt so out of place. i would never dare to even try to use one since i have no idea how it works! i thought about just leaving but then that would make me look more like a fool so i looked around more and saw the elliptical machine and thought to myself, “oh yeah, i forgot gyms have treadmills and elliptical machines! now that i know how to use!” so i went to the very back corner and did 2 miles on level 1. i tried level 2 for a few mins. but my calves started to hurt.
i’m so hard core, i know. oh and the picture above? people always confuse me with her but i assure you she’s not.
*note to self: next time put my hair up, wear tennis shoes, and buy those striped athletic shorts all the girls were wearing.

naptime

~ Etc.


adi waking up from her nap, about 6 months old.
(and she still had more hair than ana right now!)

a few days ago I was putting adalie down for a nap. we always have a routine which is for adi to drink her milk while we cuddle very close(she scoots herself right next to me, so close we’re kinda squished together. i love it.) and she plays with my hair. then she hands me her juice cup when she’s done and she lifts up her minnie mouse pillow and lies it on my chest and then lies on top of me. she scoots up her head until it’s touching my chin and I scratch her back and her head until she falls asleep. and then after i make sure she’s fallen asleep, i fall asleep too.

i treasure our nap times so much. one time a few months ago she told me she didn’t want to lie on my chest to sleep. it made me so sad and i wanted her to lie on my chest so bad that i threatened to leave the room and make her fall asleep by herself if she didn’t lie on my chest. so she lied on top of me and since then, she’s never told me otherwise. i don’t care if i threatened my child, i want her to sleep on my chest forever! 🙂

so the other day after she drank her milk and got her pillow on me and lied on top of me, i whispered to her, “I love you forever, Adi.” then she whispered back to me, “I love you forever too.” and I started crying! I had tears streaming down my face because her voice didn’t sound like a 2 yr. old child, she sounded so grown up and more like a teenager. then i thought about how i only have 15 more yrs. of her until she leaves for college(don’t mention it, i get so sad everytime I think about it), how long she would want to lie on my chest to nap, how long until she wants to spend every waking moment with me right next to her, how long until she stops asking me “why?” on everything because she’ll realize I don’t know everything or simply don’t want my advice or answer, oh man I’m tearing up again! am i pregnant? haha don’t worry, i assure you i’m not.

people say kids this young are the golden years, before they go to school, since you’ll get to spend 24/7 with them. as much as sometimes i wish they would leave me alone and give me a little space, most of the time, I love it. I really love it so much.

mommy loves you adi and ana. forever.

kai and nikki’s wedding

~ Etc.

Last weekend we went to Kai and Nikki’s wedding.
They looked beautiful and so happy.
I love going to weddings and seeing two people so in love.
it makes me so happy.

Adi has the biggest crush on Kyo.
she always gets the biggest grin on her face
when she sees him and gets all shy and bashful.
my friend rachel who is so cute prego!

this is how we keep them quiet.
it works for about 5 mins. but hey i’ll take it.

my handsome stallion. (inside jk)


happy weekend!

Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

~ Etc.

i’ve been a little down the past few days for no apparent reason. nothing but good has happened to me lately but I wasn’t the usual bubbly, happy person 24/7. i didn’t cry or anything remotely big but I knew I was missing something. Then I just realized it. I’ve been lacking spiritually. I’ve been slacking on scripture reading. and praying alone with a sincere heart and a listening ear. I go to church every Sunday but it’s so hard to pay attention while tending to two kids who have an attention span of 10 secs. I try to read them the book of mormon everyday but I’ve been slacking lately on that too. I read the ensign the day it arrives and toss it somewhere and don’t look at it again. I NEED to remember to read the scriptures DAILY, to pray and converse with God instead of saying the ritual prayer and then not listening to him afterwards. I need to have a quiet moment everyday to meditate and ponder instead of being on the phone, watching t.v, use the computer, or even sew any free time/chance I get.

I’m grateful for days like I just had. Because sometimes you don’t realize you’re running low on your spiritual cantene until it’s almost empty. I’m going to do better so that I don’t have to be running on low to realize what I was missing.

many times I get caught up in wordly things and worry/stress/wish about certain things when in the end, none of the things I stress about matters! What matters is my relationship with God, my family, my husband and my darling two little girls, and my progress of becoming a better person. That is the only thing you take with you when you die anyway. Your knowledge, character, and your relationships with others.

From now on, I will make a promise to myself that on my to-do list,
#1 will be praying fervently
#2 reading my scriptures

before I do anything else on my to-do list. or any leisure activity I enjoy.

I love our Heavenly Father for helping me to realize this. He is so caring and wonderful.

here’s a video that made me teary and happy today. Motherhood:-An-Eternal-Partnership

excerpts from my mission letters

~ Etc.

just read the Ensign and read an article about the mission and it made me so mission sick. I LOVED my mission and I can’t wait to serve a mission with Jay later on. when we were in california, we met up with Ron and Karissa and their little boy Blake from my mission. Ron was my very first baptism on my mission so they’ll always hold a special memory in my heart.

they’re the cutest family. sadly, I didn’t get to see their oldest boy Colin who was only 2 yrs. old when I was a missionary. aww. i love them.

they also got us free tickets to disneyland/california adventure since Ron works there. They drove to disneyland just to meet us there and to sign us in. they’re so sweet, thanks so much guys!
And here is an email I wrote on my mission about the day when Ron gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon! missionaries serve and live for days like these.

10/05/05 so can i tell you just how much i love being a missionary? i cannot say it enough! i love it!!!! my whole body feels like it would explode with my love and the happiness of being a missionary. i want to share with you one of my fav. experiences so far. Ron Salagyi who is one of our investigators has been taking discussions from 3 different sets of missionaries when we met them. he told us he just hasn’t received the answer whether it was the right choice to be baprized or not. and he’s been asking for over 2 years. we asked him to take on the challenge of reading the entire BOM by the end of the year. we told him if he did, he would receive the answer by the end of this year. so last week, we prepared the lesson of “how the holy ghost answers prayers” and went over to his house. we said a prayer and right before we were about to start, he says, “as you know, i’ve been reading the BOM about 10 pgs. a day. and i prayed again to ask if this BOM was true. well, last week i read this verse. “and now behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way, and there is none other way nor name give under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. and now behold, this is the doctrine of christ, and the only and true doctrine of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost, which is one god, without end, amen.” (2 nepho 31:21) then he says “I received my answer. I know the BOM is true. I want to be baptized as soon as possible.” WOW!!! my comp and i were speechless. literally. we just stared at each other and back at them over and over and i just started crying! Ron was so surprised by our reaction. later he said, “yeah it was a little awkward, i was like, aren’t they suppose to say something? like that is so great! congrats! we’re so happy for you! but instead, you didn’t say ANYTHING!!!” haha we laughed about it later. but he knew that we were just so stunned and happy that we didn’t know what to say. after a long time, sis. packard said, “well, you just gave us the lesson, so… let’s plan for the baptism!” I was so happy guys! tears just kept on coming and coming! we’ve had other people say they wanted to get baptized, but not like this! i felt the spirit so strongly. and the spirit confirmed to me very strongly, once again, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. it hit every nerve in my body with such great power that when i recall that time, i feel the conviction of the truthfulness of the BOM every time. I know God is the author of the Book of Mormon. I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I know Gordon B. Hinckley is the prophet of God who holds the authority to act in God’s name. I know our church is of Jesus Christ. It’s the same church he set up himself when he was on the earth. i’m so proud of the gospel and our church! we da bomb! Fo sho!!! (that was for you, H ^ ^) i’m so proud of being a missionary! mormons are peculiar enough, but a 21 year old female serving a full time mission is even more peculiar! and how proud i am to be peculiar! i love the person that i’m becoming. everyday i wake up feeling more happy, content, peaceful, smart, grateful, and wise. i’m telling you, i already have anxieties when i think about going home. i still have 14 or so months left but i don’t want to go home! the things i’ve learned and the person i’ve become in the past 3 months are so wonderful and great, that i’m just so excited to see what the next 14 months will be like. I love making the Lord happy. no greater happiness is found than knowing that you made him happy and that he’s proud of you. to have that peace of conscience, knowing that you’re in the right path, doing your best, and that if i were to die right now, i would be happy and content with the life i lived on this earth. the gospel brings such tremendous happiness, it is overwhelming!!! this feeling cannot come from this earth, it has to be from heaven! i love all of you so much. how ’bout president HInckely’s talk about forgiveness? if any of you missed it, it was during the sunday morning session, the very last talk. you can watch it on www. lds.org. watch it, it is sooooooo good. i’ve made a promise to God that if something like that happened to me, i would be like her. she is my hero. take care and i miss you all so much!!! sis. choi

AWWW! I MISS IT SO MUCH!!! 🙁