Balboa

We were thrilled to hear that my cousin Stephanie and her husband James were going to be in town last weekend. Stephanie grew up in a town near my hometown so we have always been close. It was fun to get to know James before we moved away. They came down to visit her family and have a vacation. We were tickled that they wanted to see us. I actually think James just wanted to see the boys and see if they'd talk about body parts or bodily functions.

We met them at Balboa Beach. It was a ton of fun!

James played Frisbee and badminton with the boys for a while. Well, you cannot actually play the game with them - rather you just hit the ball, they scream with delight, and then you have to go pick the ball back up and hit it again. James was a good sport:


Steph's Mom (my Aunt Cindy) and sister Stacey were there when we first got there. It was fun to get caught up on the whole family:



We couldn't wait to start the campfire though. It was fun to sit around, chat, watch the boys' delight in such simplicity (hot dogs and fire), and enjoy a little bit of nature.

The boys treated us to an original song:


Thanks Steph and James! We had a glorious time!

Another face at Zanzibar!

Recognize those lyrics? Probably not. Eric does though. As he does for ALL Billy Joel songs. We were totally spoiled on Saturday and got to go out to dinner and then to the one-night only Billy Joel concert! My Dad won tickets to the concert and was so excited to send us in his place.

For those of you who don't know Eric and I are both huge Billy Joel fans, with Eric nearing fanaticism. It was an incredible show. We've been as a couple to see him twice (once with Elton John) and Eric has seen him a couple of other times. For Eric, Billy Joel's music is not only a emotional fit, but a religious experience. We always have fun on our date nights, but getting to rock out, watch Eric be overwhelmed by the music, and laugh at Billy Joel's self-deprecating comments was a special treat.

Getting ready to go!

A nice dinner full of adult conversation.

Adult conversation? What's that?

Yes! Adult conversation!
And Billy Joel?!?! It's like Christmas!
Waiting for the show to start!

We didn't take any other pictures inside since I had left my camera in the car and Eric's phone camera wasn't getting good shots. We were in great seats - made even better by the fact that Billy Joel's piano turned to face both directions throughout the night. While Billy Joel looks significantly older the night made me feel like it was 'back in the day'.

So much fun!

Chinese New Year's Party!

We had our annual Chinese New Year's party this past Saturday! We had so much fun. It was great to have some of our friends and family with us to eat good food, talk a lot, and encourage Eric's inner-Chinese man. Plus, as I mentioned to the party-goers, I am hoping that the God of Fortune will smile down on us and send us some place international...soon!

The goods...

Our offering to Buddha

Curry Vegetables
(my personal favorite anytime!)

Sweet & Sour Pork

Lemon Chicken

The boys attempting chopsticks...

The piece de resistance - gluten-free homemade fortune cookies!
Eric and I had a blast making them.

The party begins!

Valentine's Treats

Valentine's Day was so much fun! A lot of people are not interested in Valentine's Day and label it as a Hallmark holiday. They aren't wrong. From the huge chocolate covered hearts to the overpriced cards the holiday, like the rest, has gotten out of hand.

Still I will always be in favor of a holiday that promotes the sharing and verbalization of love. Regardless of what tacky card that love might be written in.

At our house we had an abundance of Valentine's excitement...

The boys and I made gluten-free (GF) orange yogurt breakfast muffins for our friends:

and frosting-free GF M&M cupcakes for Will's class:

Will made this adorable Valentine collector in class
and brought it home filled with cute notes and goodies:

I got a package from my uber-talented friend Susan
with some homemade sugar scrub she made:

and surprised me with this incredibly cute wallet
that she sells through her company, Freshly Picked:

Grandma Steph sent the boys a great package with lots of treats. They carried their heart slinkys around all day and colored with their fan crayons after naptime.

One of the highlights was getting to have a Valentine's Day date with Walker at a local bagel shop. He was thrilled to have a chocolate chip muffin with just his mom. He chatted my ear off the entire time and was utterly charming.

The boys then got to spend the evening with Papa, Goosey (who is in town), Aunt Pat, and Uncle Doug. Eric and I had a unique evening spending the first part in therapy (what better way to say I love you? Really!) and then enjoying a nice dinner together. I got gorgeous flowers but forgot to take an individual picture. (You can see them on the table in my Chinese New Year party post.)

Sweet things...

For my boys:

Chinese New Year Parade

We had such a good time at the Chinese New Year Parade! I had no idea what to expect and it was better than I could imagine! The boys were so excited all week that the kept asking when we were going to Chinatown.

One of the best parts was watching Walker ride the train. He is in a phase where trains are his sun, moon and stars. My Dad took some great shots of him on the train, as well as the parade, so I'll have to post those when I can get a hold of them!!

Here are some of ours:

Walker & Eric watching the parade start...

Will and his Chinese hand fan

Walker's not sure about the dancing dragons:

Will was most enthused by
the confetti and spent the majority of his time
watching it get thrown and then picking it off the ground
to throw it again:

One of the best parts of the parade, as is always the case, was the people watching. This cute man was standing near us with his wife. He was thrilled to greet anyone and everyone on the floats as they came by...but it was a special delight when any of the Chinese New Year royalty came by on their floats. You'll have to turn your head sideways to watch it, but this is what he'd do:

The parade website said that the parade would go from 2:00pm - 5:oopm. I thought there was no way it would go that long, or that they were marking time from the start at one place and the finish...boy was I wrong! At about 4:00pm we decided to walk around Chinatown. It was fun to see ALL of the people out for a good time.

We decided to forgo trying to get Chinese food IN Chinatown given the crowds. In the end we trekked back to the train station and rode back towards G-town.

In what seemed to be a strange move we decided to celebrate the Chinese New Year at a Mexican restaurant! (Chinese food is hard to find gluten-free!)

The boys were famished and exhausted....a great day was had by all! I'm still hoping that next year we can celebrate the real deal :)

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

The Gregorian New Year may have come and gone but that doesn't mean that our house is done celebrating the New Year!

Ever since having lived in Hong Kong Daddy Eric believes he is a little bit Chinese. In fact in Chinese culture they call him an 'egg'. White on the outside but yellow on the inside.

So each year since we've been married (that's almost eight for anyone counting!!) we've celebrated the lunar New Year in the tradition of the Chinese. Some years we had parties and other years we celebrated by going to (now closed, sniff, sniff) Kuong Jou Cafe in Salt Lake.

This year we are keeping our tradition by going to the Chinese New Year's parade on Saturday in Chinatown and having a Chinese New Year's party!

(I made the invitations so I am pretty excited! Here is a web friendly version without our contact info. A gold Chinese coin is going in the upper right hand part with all of the leaves!)


We even went to Chinatown last Sunday to get some of the goodies we need. Plus Eric really wanted to get some Gai Mei Bao.

We also got the boys these cute outfits for both the parade and our party:


Finally, on the official start of the Year of the Rat, lunar year 4706, we gave the boys their lai shi. We taught them how to say 'Gung Hay Fat Choy' and to also ask for their lai shi. This is a Chinese tradition where the married people give red envelopes with an even amount of money inside. When you are hardcore you usually give hundreds of dollars - for the boys it was a dollar. Here they are with their lai shi:

Pearly whites!

(The event depicted in this blog originally occurred on Friday January 6th, 2008. All people in this blog are real.)

We are so fortunate to have a wonderful dental hygienist in our family! Our GreatAunt Patti made it so easy for the boys to have their teeth cleaned for the first time. She let them explore the office, the tools, and even the electrical equipment. In the end it made everyone more comfortable to have their very 1st dental check-up!

Goosey and Walker checking things out:

Will, the big brother, went first:

There is our friend Slurpee:

Check it out Will - it spins like a fan!

Nice and clean:

Walker's not too sure about this:

Getting his teeth flossed:

A drink from the special water hose:

New Year Fairy delivers!

We had no idea that the New Year's Fairy makes special deliveries! The boys were extra delighted to find our lovely postman at the door with a package. Grandma Steph obviously has good connections with all the creatures in fairy-tale land.

The added treat was watching the boys open up their new books.




A colorful favorite for Will called Planting a Rainbow and an apropos choice for Walker in Pancakes for Breakfast.

Thanks New Year's Fairy (wink, wink)!!