Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

happy birfday wifey dear!

~ Etc.

I give Sarah props…she puts up with my nagging, my OCD cleaning, my tightwad budgeter self, and lives to love Mr. Responsible (u can ask her why she calls me that…I still have no clue) Staying at home with the kids all the time in Utah winters is really tough on her. It’s too cold to go outside and play and driving in snow isn’t anything close to fun for her, so driving places is fairly limited. I really appreciate all she does for me and the girls. She spoils us with good food every night and more often than not tops that off with some kind of delicious desert! Sarah originally asked me to write her a card of 26 things I love about her since she just barely broke the quarter century mark plus one, but there’s really not enough room on this blog to write everything I love about my wifey. That might seem like a generic way to get out of writing a list but it’s really true. Sure she’s not perfect and I’m not perfect but despite the chaos of being newlyweds that ended up together based on pure fate, on top of that, you add two young girls to the mix and I think for the most part, we’re pretty happy and doing pretty good thus far.

We always have these little “surprise” get-togethers with close friends and family on each other’s birthdays, but this year I wanted Sarah to have an AWSOME birthday to show her how much I love and appreciate her. I always get stressed because we usually go to Hawaii for Christmas then come back right around New Years and then BOOM its Sarah’s birfday and I feel bad because more often than not, it gets overlooked since it’s so close to Christmas. I was brainstorming and thinking since before we went to Hawaii and was still clueless as what to do since get-togethers are fun, but I wanted this year to be different. We went to my co-worker/good friend/wannabe Japanese geisha’s private sushi party the day we got back from Hawaii and had a blast. Sarah raved about how much she liked not only the atmosphere but the sushi itself and how fun it was to have a sushi chef hand make and roll dozens upon dozens of sushi rolls for everyone. DING DING DING…we have a winner and I called and booked him the next day!

I usually have to work late on the 4th of every month and I told Sarah this month was no different, if not busier since I was gone for the holidays. I acted all bummed and depressed that I wouldn’t be able to be with her on her birthday night and suggested she go out to PF Changs with her cousin Ginny. Ginny and Colby schemed with me the whole time and truth be told, I couldn’t have pulled this off without their help.

I came home from work at about 5:30 to watch the kids while Sarah got ready. Ginny and Colby came over at 6:00 and Cobly was going to watch the kids while Sarah and Ginny went out to eat. Sarah looked sweet is and I kissed her and ran out the door “back to work” but really just parked my car on the side of our place. Sarah and Ginny went to PF Changs to go “eat” and when there was no wait, Ginny delayed and said she wasn’t hungry just yet and would rather go shopping for a stint at forever 21:

Meanwhile Colby and I were busy prepping the house for the big sushi party and then when everyone had shown up including the sushi chef, Colby and I had to make Ana cry while Colby called Sarah. Ana’s been a little sick and so he called Sarah and told her that both girls had massive diarrhea and that Ana kept throwing up. We were trying not to bust a gut as Sarah sounded bummed but said she’d come home real quick to check on the girls. Sarah walked in and had no clue what was going on, but the perma-smile on her face was a great way to celebrate the love of my life’s birthday and start the new year off right! Sushi chef Colby (different guy than Ginny’s Colby) made sushi for 4 hours straight and plated at least 45-50 platters of sushi for us. It was bomb. Everyone had a great night and we all went to bed happy that Sarah was born 26 years ago…

Ana: Dad I was sleeping…Who woke me up???

Sarah all smiles when she eats good sushi!

Sora made these three cheesecake tarts…SCRUMPTIOUS

Some of the party peeps


For anyones birthday, Adi always thinks its her birthday and has to be sung to and also has to blow out the candles


Birthday girls

The get-together setup


Me and Sarah with Colby the Sushi Chef


Some of the 45-50 platters of sushi

Sarah will probably kill me for posting this…but this is just one of the 26 reasons i love her, reason #9 to be exact…”i gotta stretch for my body to roll” 😉 love you babe!

my fav. pictures right now

~ Etc.



I got two of my teeth extracted today. One from each side. It wouldn’t have been that bad if the numbing stayed working on one side while they worked on the other. I raised my hand like they told me to if I had any discomfort but I still had to wait 40 mins. since they were in the middle of an important process. I squirmed in pain every single minute and in fear of how much more it’ll hurt as a second passed by and the numbing working less and less. But the picture mail I got a few mins. prior from Jay of him and Ariana helped me ease the pain. Not a lot but just a little. 😉 Now I look like either an old lady with no teeth or a chipmunk while I chew my food with my front teeth. At least the numbing went away, my face looked all train-wrecked like a train ran only the half side of my face and everytime I passed by the mirror, I couldn’t help but to bust out laughing at my own face and then laugh even harder when I saw my retarded crooked smile.

And I didn’t eat dinner with my family today like we usually do every night. Instead, I asked for permission from Jay to leave the table(I felt like a little girl asking her daddy) and I took my food upstairs and finished it while watching t.v. I just needed to do something little just for me and not worry about taking care of two little ones for just a little bit. (because just prior, my two lovely kids raided the whole kitchen and managed to rearrange all my tupperware, spices, utensils into random places, fought with each other and made each other cry many many times, Adi took off her pants and her diaper and peed in a plastic container but missed most of it, clinged onto my legs as they cried wanting to be held but I couldn’t hold any of them so to be fair, Adalie throwing her 2 yr. old tantrums and rolling on the floor and screaming while Ana did her matrix back-bends when she’s mad- all while I cooked dinner.) This is our daily ritual but today with me all drugged up and fatiqued from the surgery, I didn’t have as much patience.

And after some me-time, I felt much better. And some Jay-time, tapioca pudding, and cheesecake will do me some good right now. So adios~

My New Year Resolution

~ Etc.

-To take more pictures with our Canon.
-To wash my face at night before I go to bed. (guilty…I just go to bed w/o washing my face.)
-To read the scriptures as a family daily.
-To pray sincerely and not rushed or as a routine.
-Be better at keeping in touch with my family.
-Love jay long time (haha jay must’ve typed this while I was away, that punk)
-Keep track of our budget.
-Have better posture.
-Clean more and spend less to make Jay happy.

Our trip to Hawaii is over and we’re back on the snowland. We had a blast. I even jumped off a 30 ft. rock into the water. It wasn’t that high and I didn’t know why people were making a big deal about it but when I jumped, oh man it hurt!!! I didn’t land straight from the feet but on my butt and thighs instead. I got some big bruises from it but it was all worth it. I want to go again!

It did take me a little bit to jump because of all the hype I think and even the tourists were taking pictures esp. since I was the only girl there and after I jumped and looked up, some people were cheering and clapping. So I waved at them and yelled out, “THANK YOU!!!” ^ ^
 

I hope this year you’ll do something fun that you’ve never done before! HAPPY 2010!!!

Sometimes…

~ Etc.

Sometimes more often than not…. it is easier to wish Jay did things differently than he did whenever I get annoyed/bothered/hurt by him.

Sometimes…. it is easier to just get offended and hurt and put a defense mechanism and act cold.

Sometimes…. it is easier to think of all the things I wished my spouse would do/wouldn’t do/do more of/do less of, instead of thinking of all the things I could do/wouldn’t do/should do/shouldn’t do.

Sometimes…. it is easier to pick out at all the little things I don’t like about him instead of focusing on all the big/small and in between things I absolutely ADORE and LOVE about him.

I was Mr(s). Grinch for a day a few days ago. I threw me, myself & I a pity party and had a bawl. Then we talked it out and I felt better and realized it wasn’t even a big deal after all. Then I went to church yesterday and the teacher quoted a scripture which I don’t even remember what or from where but it had the word “charity” in it. Then another scripture came to my mind that says, “Charity never faileth.” It can be found in Moroni and Corinthians for the Book of Mormon and the Bible complement each other. And tears welled up my eyes. Charity never fails. You can’t have charity and lose. Then I thought, “I bet Jesus could marry anybody and be perfectly happy.” Because with his perfect charity and perfect selflessness he’s too busy thinking, “What can I do to make her happy? What can I do more for her? What do I need to change in myself to make her more happy with me?” than to pick and point at all the things he doesn’t like about the other person and wished she would change. Then I realized I need to change myself instead of trying to change him. I get irritated and bothered because I am not perfect. And I need to work on myself to become the bigger person and not react to situations but to act upon it. I choose my happiness. No one can control how I react to things except for myself.

One professor from BYU once said in one of my classes, “If your spouse smacks while eating cereal every morning, and it bugs you and you can’t stand it, pray that you’ll have more patience and charity for your spouse so that the smacking won’t bother you anymore.”

I believe if one always focuses on his/her own happiness and focuses on what the other person could do to make them happy, you will never ever be truly happy because there will always be more that other person could do! It’s like money, if you focus your happiness on money, there will always be something else you want to buy after your previous purchase. So if you focus on the other person’s happiness instead of your own, your spouse will be happier, you’ll be happier, everybody will be happier. And that is our ultimate goal anyway right? It’s a win-win situation!

So that was my epiphany for the day. It’s something you’ve always known but it’s hard to remember it at times. It’s something I’m striving to be better at and I still have a lot to go. But there’s a Korean saying, “Starting is already half way.” 😉 I hope everybody has a Merry Merry Christmas.