Tiger Girl 虎妞

The idea of becoming a mother hasn't hit me until I heard the strong heart-beat of the baby today! OMG, we are REALLY going to have a baby!! The ultrasound shows that the baby is about 1cm long from head to butt, really healthy. One centimeter! That's about the size of my finger nail. This little thing has turned her healthy, active mother into a sick, inactive blob.

The doctor called this phase "the Blah Phrase", which is a very true reflection of my life right now.

-"Honey, you wanna go out?"
-"Blah..."

-"You wanna eat something?"
-"Blah..."

-"You wanna dress up and go for a walk?"
-"Blah..."

-"You wanna do the dishes?"
-"Blah..."

-"You wanna cook?"
-"Blah..."

All the bad feelings aside, I am grateful for the signals the baby's sending me. It's her way to let me know she's there, she is growing, and she needs some attention.

Bring it on, Tiger Girl~~

New haircut

I got so tired of my long hair that I decided to get a cut. Believe it or not, I've never actually got a haircut in America for the past 5 years I've been here. American hair stylists just don't know how to deal with the thick, stiff Asian hair, and the strange shape of an Asian skull :-)

I remember when my American brother Cody tried to cut my hair (he's a very good stylist), he struggled with it until I came back from China with a videotape for him from a salon. He learned that he actually COULD just thin out 2/3 of my hair and still not make me bald :-)

Anyways, I heard about this salon in Provo run by a Latin lady. All the hairdressers there are from Latin America. I thought they had similar hair to Asian's. So I decided to try it out. If it didn't turn out, it's okay because I have one month to grow it out before school starts again.

It turns out to be a very nice surprise. I wouldn't say it's the best haircut I've ever had, but I would definitely go back again. It's cheap ($15.00) and the Colombian lady that cut my hair was very friendly.

So here's the new look.Ta-dah...

This shot is for Naisi, who brought me back this beautiful dress all the way from NYC! Love you!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This is a special Thanksgiving. There are too many things to be thankful for: family, friends, jobs, future plans, all the comforts in life, food, callings, and many more. Oh and John officially allows me to play Christmas music in the house now. He has this thing of not starting Christmas before Thanksgiving is over :-)

My Thanksgiving started with the Selnate dinner on Tuesday!
All the teachers at Selante. Between all of us, we put on a great Thanksgiving dinner!
We went down to Mom and Paul's for the holiday. We enjoyed nice weather and great company!
John put up the BYU flag on Thanksgiving morning to cheer the Cougars!We went for some little shooting.


John and Neil sawed some wood.

A Pakistanian-Chinese Wedding

I have known Jessie for at least 6 years. We met when we were going to school in China. We would both come to Max and Deanna's place to practice our English, and we became friends very soon.

Yesterday was her BIG day. She found her sweetheart Sohil and decided to get hitched. Sohil and his family immigrated to Utah from Pakistan when he was 16 (I think). So he's more American than Pakistanian.

They had a fancy wedding. It was fun to dress up and share their happy moment. The best part is Megan caught the bouquet!!!! Ta-da :-)

@ the Rehearsal Dinner. I love her dress.
Millennial Falls, Draper, UT
Jessie's dad walking her down the isle. It was COLD, but beautiful.
the Happy couple


The next BRIDE!!!

John and I had some fun (well at least me) taking pictures :-)
I love the Pakistanian costumes, very bright colors!

Bye bye, my 20s!

It didn't hit me until I saw on my new housing contract the BIG 30 in the space where an age was needed . I screamed for a total of 5 seconds before John stopped me. To be honest, I don't feel any older mentally or physically, but the sight of 30 somehow freaks me out.

I ask myself, "Have I completed my mission in life so far? Am I happy with my life right now?" The answer is a definite YES, well, with one small flaw. With one and a half master's degree in hand, I have finished my education; I have a job that I love; I have enough friends to keep me company; I have a comfortable apartment where I can cook and relax and be away from the noisy world; I have a great calling in church; I have a nice car (and a driver); I have healthy parents (including in-laws); I have family (cousins) close to me.

But MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have a HUSBAND who's loving, spiritual, fun, smart, , considerate, goal-oriented, hard-working, cuddling (sometimes :P), and HANDSOME like nobody else!!

ALSO I know a plan that will take me safely back home to my Heavenly Father!

All I need right now is....................................... a BABY!! So baby project starts............RIGHT NOW :-)

p.s. Birthday keywords: red lobster, Victoria's Secret, Scrapbooking, flowers, cake, family, friends, AND lots of LOVE!!!

the Rest of Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. The reason is simple: Neither John nor I am very creative. We never could come up with original ideas about costumes or pumpkin patterns. Besides, I don't have time to make costumes even if I do have ideas.

I'm totally fine with not going to any Halloween parties. But as an ESL teacher, I'm obligated to go for the sake of my students. They need to have a REAL Halloween experience!. So this year, we dressed up in costumes my friend Kate made a couple years ago. It was silly, but my students loved it :-) We had fun escorting them go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. They had their fun FIRST Halloween!



And these are our pumpkins for this year~~
The characters say DEAD GHOST! In China, it is a mean nickname for the husband. We did it just because they are easy characters to carve and they are Halloweeny :-) Told ya, I'm not creative~~

Neil's Big Day

Neil is my cousin Megan's boyfriend. He came over in August to study English and go to BYU. Soon after he got here, he attended Megan's baptism. Then he started taking missionary discussions at our apt twice a week. He is a very humble and spiritual kid, funny as well. Chinese guys never impress John, but Neil is an exception, together with my brother and my dad :-) Basically my family is cool, haha :-)

In late September, the missionaries challenged him to be baptized. He prayed and thought about it for a week and showed his desire to be baptized. We were thrilled for him. John baptized him on Saturday, Oct 24, in the Chinese ward. Mom and Paul came up to support him.

I am grateful for the Gospel in my life, for the blessings it has brought to people I love!

Congrats, Neil! We love you!

We tried out a new Chinese restaurant called Munchies. The food is OK. A couple dishes are worth going back for.