Tagged!

My friend Allison tagged me. I've never been tagged. And I'm not absolutely certain what the rules are - do I answer the same things?

Four random things about my husband:
- He's funnier than he looks.
- He does not cook. At all. (But he does make me breakfast in bed on Mother's Day.)
- He loves chocolate more than I do.
- He likes really nice tires on cars (but at the moment has neither a nice car nor nice tires.)

Movies I could watch more than once (and have):
- Cool Runnings
- Beaches
- Steel Magnolias
- Any Disney animated film

TV Shows I watch:
- Law and Order reruns
- A lot of HGTV
- Some of Food Network
- Reruns of police drama shows (Without a Trace, Cold Case, CSI: Miami, etc.)

Places I have been:
- Yuma
- Chicago
- Kansas
- Utah
- Korea
- Hawaii

People who email me regularly:
- My mother-in-law
- My husband
- My Primary President
- Do clothing stores count as "people"?

Favorite meals/ foods:
- Mom's Korean cooking
- Pasta
- Mexican food
- Seafood

Places I would like to visit:
- More Hawaii
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Paris

Things I am looking forward to:
- Being with our families for the holidays
- Weather that's neither too cold nor too hot
- Baby Em talking
- Hanging out at home, just my little family

Some of the best books I've ever read:
- The Book of Mormon
- Latter Days
- The Book of Virtues
- Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (only because it helped me get a perspective on baby's sleep)

Random! Now I tag whomever you are....

Happy birthday to my hubby

Today was Curtis' birthday. That's him blowing out his make-shift (votive) birthday candle. It's his "enjoy this next year because it's the last one in your thirties" birthday. Curtis' mom went into labor while they were at a U of A basketball game. He was born at 11:11 pm, weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz., my father-in-law says.

We celebrated with his parents and youngest brother Matt's family after work. My in-laws surprised him by driving up two hours each way from Tucson, just for the dinner. I'm so glad they were able to make it because this birthday dinner almost didn't happen with Curtis' busy work schedule. My father-in-law thought Curtis "deserved a surprise or two in his lifetime" and I agree with him. Curtis is a wonderful son, father, husband, brother, and friend. He's an inspiring person to live with, and I'm glad he picked me.

We had appetizer and entrees from Buca di Beppo and salad, sides, and dessert a la moi. We had brownie pudding cake with peppermint ice cream from Baskin-Robbins, Curtis' favorite ice cream. (Thank you, JJ, for sharing your family's brownie pudding recipe in our cookbook! It was yummy and very easy to make.)

Longer than in the womb....

Emma is eight months old, which means she has spent more time with us out of the womb (35 weeks) than she did in the womb (33 1/2 weeks). She is 27 inches long and weighs about 16 pounds. She still has no desire to crawl, but is now able to sit by herself, which means she can actually sit and play even if I'm not holding her! She is a champion sleeper, sleeping about 12 hours each night with two naps during the day, and loves her strained veggies and fruits.

Emma does have a personality. She grabs for anything within her reach, and if I take something away from her, she throws a tantrum. It's quite cute, actually, but I probably shouldn't be entertained by it - I'm sure someday (like when she's 16), it won't be so cute anymore. The best part of the day is when Daddy comes home. Emma just lights up, gets very excited, and reaches for Curtis. I know it's the favorite part of Curtis' day.

She's outgrowing her baby-ness way too fast, and even though I'm excited at the prospect of her talking and walking, I secretly miss and crave her littleness of months past. Don't grow up too fast.

Anniversary #2

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary today. It seems like just yesterday we were married, yet it feels like we've been married for a long time, too. This one is special because it isn't just the two of us anymore; we have Emma!

I remember our last anniversary celebration as a very sleepy one. We had a nice dinner at Elements Restaurant at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort, watching the sun set, and I couldn't keep my eyes open! It was not quite two weeks after we found out we were expecting, and during those days I couldn't stay awake for very many hours of the day. And after working a full day, I was wiped out. I fell asleep on the way home in the car.

This year, we decided we would have take-out at home after Emma went to bed. Dinner time is when Emma goes to sleep, and we really want to let her have her sleep. Eating in a restaurant while we take turns holding her isn't that much fun. When Curtis came home, I ordered dinner from Romano's Macaroni Grill, and bathed Emma, while Curtis went to pick up our dinner. By the time I had put Emma to sleep at 7:00, Curtis had two dozen white roses on the dining room table with our dinner.

We dated longer than we have been married, and Curtis has apologized to me numerous times - too many times to count, actually - for not marrying me sooner. I'm just grateful we were in tune enough to be together through our challenges. I couldn't have asked for a better companion in life. I knew he was a wonderful person when I married him, but he has made my life so much better than I ever expected. He fills the shortcomings I have and supports me completely in all that I do. And he continues to inspire me to be a better person each and every day. Happy anniversary!

Windy City Fun

We made a second visit to Chicago, this time for baby Naomi's blessing on Sunday. It was also supposed to be our one week of Bang family vacation, but since Curtis took a ton of time off when Emma was born, we had to cut it down to just a 3-day visit. Curtis actually had to cut it super short because he had to attend a mediation in Las Vegas on Monday, so he flew into Chicago with me on Friday night, flew to Vegas on Sunday night, flew back to Chicago on Monday night, and then flew back to Arizona with me on Tuesday. Whew!

Naomi is starting to chunk up a bit - she still looks pretty slim everywhere, except in her face. She has little cheeks. She has so much hair on her head, opposite of my near-bald Emma. Sophia commented to her mom that Naomi has a lot of hair. Then pensively, she asked, "What happened to Emma's hair?" Ha-ha.

On Saturday, we all took a trip to H-Mart. It's a huge grocery store/mall for Koreans. I'm always sad I can't buy more stuff to take back with me because it's hard to find the same stuff here in Arizona. Saturday evening, my parents drove in from Kansas. And in between playing and eating, we watched the Olympics on TV. My sister's Dish Network has two foreign channels dedicated to the Olympics - one in Mandarin Chinese and one in Korean! Without commercials! We watched sports NBC does not broadcast - archery, handball, shooting.

On Sunday, we went to church for Naomi's blessing and had a nice dinner afterwards with Greg's parents. Naomi had a blessing dress that matched her mother's wedding dress, like Emma's that matched mine. So pretty.

On Monday, we went to pick raspberries and peaches in Michigan. Raspberries were pretty well picked over, but the peaches were fabulous! We picked 110 pounds. We tasted peaches while we were in the orchards, but now I wish I had eaten more! Since we left the very next day, we didn't get to eat as many peaches as we would have liked and have been craving them ever since. Yummy!
Tuesday was our last day before we flew back home. In the afternoon, we drove up the road to Millenial Park to see the new "bean" sculpture and water play feature. The water play feature has two huge brick-like walls on either side with digital image of faces. From time to time, the faces will pucker up, and then big streams of water shoot out from where their mouths are, as if they’re spitting! Kind of neat. We left Nicholas' and Sophia's swimsuits in the car, so rather than going all the way back for them, we let them run around in their underwear. Ah, to be young and near-naked in public...

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