My First 12 of 12

So I've always wanted to try this but I never got around to it until now.  It's called 12 of 12, basically you take 12 photos throughout the day on the 12th of the month.  Amy, the 12 of 12 creator, is a girl in our neighborhood with a lot of photography experience.  But her photographs aren't just great, they tell stories. She once taught a photography class for our Relief Society (the female organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and it blew me away.  I've always loved taking photos but I've never thought of my photos as being able to tell a story, hence the million of photos just of my kids smiling or crying (I guess there's a semi story there).

Anyways, there are so many things that go into telling the story of a day.  It's fun to see the day, and I get why you only do it once a month now, it actually takes a while to put together the collage, but I think it's worth it.  I also don't take this many photos on a daily basis of so much variety (normally it's just the kids and what I'm eating but none of those photos came out looking very appetizing) so it's fun to go beyond my comfort zone once a month.

01) The kids have been coming home with all sorts of fun Valentine's goodies.  Though I'm not a huge fan of the fake holiday, there's something so spectacular and fun about celebrating with kids.  I love all the hearts, the goodie bags they've come home with full of too much sugar an cute lil punch out cards.  Some parents go all out and there are some pretty cute DIY Valentines that I probably enjoyed more than my kids.  

02) I wanted to take a photo of Dailey Method class, but I couldn't do anything artistically without it being one I took as a reflection in the mirror.  To my left is Kristin, our kids were so excited to be together at childcare, and it was a great way to start the day - thigh work, ab work, and butt work!  

03) A view of Bubba and Dagny having fun at the Dailey Method childcare.  For $10, I wanted to make sure I got a shot of it.  HEHE Can you tell I'm a tad bit bitter?  I knew how hard it was going to be to work out with children, I never knew how expensive it was once you factored paying for childcare and the fact that you can't make it all the time because your kids will get sick, etc. 

04) We went to the bank right after work out class (and class according to Bubba as he pranced his way over to the childcare room) to finish opening Dagny's savings account and of course, no trip to the bank is complete without dum dums.  Two lollipops and a lot of begging for more later, these two left the bank with me happily to swing by Dan's for some quick groceries before we picked Jordan up from school.  

05) Andy only had to work a half day today so he came home and immediately got the boys ready to go skiing.  He got dressed, changed Bubba's poopy diaper, and then headed outside to dispose of some diapers.  We don't have a diaper disposal so they normally amass in a pile before we put it into a bag, but since they were on their way out, we didn't feel like we needed to waste a plastic bag.  

06) We try to vacuum once a week (it's been a while...) and I like to do it on Fridays because then I have a nice clean home to start the weekend off right.  The fresh vacuum lines are my favorite, if you look closely, there are also some cute footsteps from my kids.  

07) Andy and Bubba's skis.  Bubba is still sitting a lot instead of standing upright and "pizza-ing" his skis, but he knows how to scoot along in line and is getting better each time.  He went down twice with Andy today.

08) Jordan on the ski lift.  Jordan is a great little ski bunny now (he's also the year of the bunny.. coincidence?) He fell twice at the same spot, where it looked like there was a larger hill, but he's pretty comfortable and experiencing a bit more with speed than before.  

09) Star Wars toys nearby Dagny's favorite little stool.  Dagny is obsessed with my phone and the BYU Noteworthy's acapella version of a Star Wars mash-up.  Even though she still loves stuffed animals and blankets more than her brothers did, she definitely has an affinity for all things Star Wars and Marvel.  

10) Slouchy me (don't show my mom) and Dagny on a mission to put the pillows where they belong.  It's a futile attempt but oh well.  

11) A view of my office space.  I really don't work here as much as I'd like but it's so light and airy, I really do love it.  I have the perfect view of the backyard and lots of light.  I also put the three birth announcements of my children on my table but kept the rest of it quite clear.  It makes me so happy to see my three biggest fans.  There's another photo of Andy and me on the desk too, but it's not pictured.  

12) Andy and the boys came home famished and I had baked some delicious juicy chicken just in time.  After we finished dinner, I wanted to take a trip to find some shower curtains to use for making my own DIY stroller cover.  Since Bubba took a nap on the way to skiing, we knew he'd be wide awake past bedtime (we start at 7:30 now), so I took him with me on a Mommy and me date.  We went to Kohl's, we failed at finding any clear shower curtains but Bubba had a blast walking through their toy aisles.  

Jordan the Big Bro

I love having three kids.  They keep me on my toes (especially when we're trying to get out the door) but they crack me up everyday.  What I find amusing though is how much Jordan really seems to set the tone for his brother and sister.  They look up to him so much, and if he's being silly, they seem to get the silly bug too.  If he's obedient, SURPRISE, so are they.  I'm grateful Jordan is such a loving older brother.  He loves his little brother and his little sister, and Bubba has imitated his affection for Dagny from time to time.  Andy and I often attribute his awesome older brother behavior to the fact that we have persistently prayed for our kids to be the best of friends.  I hope they never stop loving each other.  

The other day, Jordan had to leave for a playdate without Bubba.  Upon leaving, Jordan walked over to Bubba, gave him a long embrace and said, "Bubba, I'm going to miss you" to which Bubba responded, "yeah, I have to go!" (he was Facetiming with friends).  Whenever we go to pick Jordan up from school, Bubba's face LIGHTS up.  If I put Dagny down for a nap while Bubba's playing and he doesn't notice it, a look of concern comes across him when it hits him that Dagny is missing.  Dagny loves watching her older brothers.  She will sit in the crib content if her brothers happen to be playing in her room, which they frequent often because it's got a nice soft rug in it.  Lately, she will sit peacefully in her PBK chair below the couch as her brothers sit on the couch in theirs (stadium seating above).  I can't wait until Dagny is older and the three of them play together.  

These are some older photos taken in August.  

Free Stuff Tastes Better... Seriously!

For some reason, free food tastes better.  Monday was National Frozen Yogurt Day and Yogurtland was giving away free fro-yo and toppings.  Grandma met us in the parking lot and the line moved surprisingly quick for free yogurt AND toppings! There's definitely joy in the fact that I'm teaching them at a young age to enjoy the finer FREE things in life.  

We celebrated free frozen yogurt with what felt like the rest of Salt Lake City.  The kids were ecstatic that they could have unlimited toppings - we kept asking them if they wanted more popping balls, more gummi bears, more M&Ms, a bit different from our normal approach of "pick one topping" (or they pick a bunch but we only put a few of each kind on).  We were PACKING it on this time!  HEHE

Can you tell.. my kids were elated!

Chinese Mormon

When I first joined the Church, my Asian family was quite skeptical.  "Are there even any Asians in that Church?"  It's a funny question given they all know very well of all the proselyting white missionaries roaming Taiwan.  I think maybe they just think these missionaries have little to no success and henceforth, that is why they're still around.  They don't understand that there's a Temple in Hong Kong and Taiwan and that the Asian Mormon population is growing!  

I am a Chinese Mormon.  I guess it's rare, most Asians are Buddhists or the kind of Christians who rock out to Church worship music (I know, I've been to a lot of these types of functions growing up).  Even though we Mormons consider ourselves Christians, most of the other Christian world does not.  Most of it stems from the fact that we believe there's a living prophet on this Earth today and that God and Jesus Christ are two separate beings.  I don't have any issue with what others believe, and I love the good that all religions do, but regardless of where we are - California, Washington, or Utah, I feel my minority presence at Church as one of two Asians (every single time!).  

I think this realization of my minority presence has made me more gung-ho about declaring my ethnicity and celebrating my culture.  I often have conversations with my BFF about this, we both grew up as immigrant children, going to Chinese/Korean school on the weekends, and eating rice every day.  American food was a delight to us, but also a rarity.  And then, I guess we both married non 100% Korean/Chinese men, whereas growing up, we kinda sorta thought we would end up with people our own ethnicity in the 100% category.  She married a French guy, at least I ended up with a hapa, right?  

And then, all of a sudden, in our 30's... there's this longing to represent.  To identify with my own culture more than I ever would have before.  I never wore Chinese outfits for Chinese New Year's growing up.  In fact, the only time I wore a Chinese outfit was to perform a Chinese dance for my Chinese school when I was seven.  Even though I wore a Chinese qi-pao for my wedding, that was just something I always envisioned as my mom also wore two dresses for her wedding.  

So imagine my own surprise when the thought crossed my mind that I should wear my qi-pao to Church the Sunday before Chinese New Years (Happy belated New Year! gong xi fa tsai!)  Well, luckily for me, my fat Chinese bum wouldn't fit into the dress without it almost ripping when I sat down, it saved me from a mortifying experience because let's face it, I'm Chinese.. but I'm not that Chinese.  I ended up pairing a glitter gold skirt with a chambray top, a gold skinny belt, and some red shoes (because you have to wear red... it's lucky!)  I did however, dress my cute kiddos in their "ninja" (martial arts) outfits and they got such a kick out of wearing soft pants to Church.  Even my husband joined the fun with his Asian tie (there are gold characters on top of the red).  

we tried to get my red shoes in the shot

love Dagny's eyes in this one...

 I even ventured out of my comfort zone this Chinese New Year's, and finally got around to learning how to make Taiwanese oily rice, a staple of every Thanksgiving and Christmas in our family (they make it in place of stuffing for turkey).  As my mom had told me a million times, it was actually REALLY simple and so delicious.  The white and Americanized folk at our friends' Chinese New Year annual soiree thought otherwise, but Andy's Chinese family ate it up, telling me it was amazing!  I still have to work on getting the top of the rice the right texture (Uncle Ike said I should just mix it up halfway through cooking) but it was spectacular and reminded me of my mom's cooking.  I'm glad I took the plunge and made it.  The prep work takes a lot of time, but the art of actual cooking it... such a piece of cake!

Our Uncle Ike's char-sao BBQ pork

Anyway, from this Chinese Mormon to you... Happy belated New Year!  May this year be prosperous, full of luck, wealth, and good fortune.  Yes... Chinese people do love money!

恭喜发财!

monkey see.. monkey do...

hong baos - always popular

look at Jordan's face.. he got $1 but was floored

Have You Heard of Let's Play Music?!

Jordan started music classes this year with Let's Play Music.   He sings songs, plays the xylophone, and learns about notes and learns the very basics of music theory.  Every other week, I attend class with him, and though he's a tad bit weird when I'm around (super hyper and clingy all at once), it's fun to see what he's learning about and be a part of it.  He's full of questions, I have to remind him not to interrupt the teacher, and he also can't sit up when I'm around.  I wish I had a class like this when I was a kid, because learning music theory took me a few years to really get it.  

Jordan's class is just far enough that we can't quite make it home to do anything effective (do you know how long it takes to get kids in and out of the car?), so we normally make a trip to the bank and then make our way back to pick up Jordan.  On occasion, I bring my camera, and snapped some photos of all the kids.  This is what you might call, real life.  

I was a little bummed that Bubba was distracted the whole time on the iPad and that I didn't get any good photos of him.  Upon returning home, I asked him to smile for me.  I got the same "smile" (if you can call it that) on repeat.  I'm not quite sure where the hand came from, but it's his thing.  

Dagny's Cake Smash Fail

I first got the idea of cake smash photos from my sister-in-law.  We had always done a cake smash but we never took photos of it, in fact we only have short video snippets of Jordan and Bubba's cake smash.  There are definitely a lot of perks for being the third child... whereas some people do less with each additional child, I seem to be flipped and do more with each successive child.  

I wanted to make the cake myself, so I actually had a trial run a few months beforehand.  I also made Dagny a small black tutu, and decided to pair her bow with some black tulle also.  Pretty clever on my part, eh?  

We couldn't get Dagny to sit still, so we gave her one of her gifts, a toothbrush so she could join her brothers for morning and nighttime toothbrushing rituals.  It seemed to work for a bit...

 She didn't last very long.  Instead of digging into the cake, as we thought she would given her excellent independent eating habits, she refused to stay still or smash the cake as we had hoped.

Her sitting and slight interest soon turned to anger in the form of tears pleading for us to pick her up.  But with that cute cry on her face, I couldn't help but take a few photos first.

The toothbrush brought her back again and she seemed intrigued again.  But all we got were a few photos of her barely touching the cake.  Oh well.  I'm sure she'll appreciate the photos in the future.  

The LDS Store Giveaway!

Some of you may recall I did a video for the LA LDS Temple's Visitor's Center back in 2010, when I was still "Daisy Chou."  The updates to the Visitor's Center never made it in time for our wedding in June 2010 (which would have been awesome because I have so many non-member family and friends), but when it debuted later that year, we would get to go and see my face in the entry way. It was pretty fun and my first and last moment in the spotlight!

LA LDS Temple, still my favorite!

front view of Visitors Center (across from Temple)

recognize an Asian face anywhere....?

Well, at the time they were also preparing for their huge I Am a Mormon campaign at Mormon.org and so the guys filming my video asked me to tag on some things I am at the end. I said some pretty ridiculous things including, I am a Bar Method gal, I am a lover of purple, symmetry, I am a blogger, I am Chinese, I am a convert, blah blah... but with fine editing, they decided to go with "blogger."  I have no concern with the title because I love blogging but do you know there are actual professional bloggers out there?  People with massive followings and people who link up stuff and get paid millions of dollars for you clicking to buy something they wore?  It's insane, but it really is an occupation now!  What's mind blowing about it is that anyone can become a blogger.  So when I said I was a "blogger," I certainly did not mean one of those types of bloggers who get compensated for it.  I just mean I like to blog, and do it a lot.  But being Asian helped, cuz as the campaign expanded, they used my face more and more.  It was fascinating to have friends call me and ask why I popped up in an ad while they were online shopping or why I was on a double decker bus in the UK.  Like I said, my five seconds of fame!  But the campaign is really neat, all these people have cool stories, a lot are celebrities, and then there's me talking about why I joined the church after learning about it from co-workers.  Like I said, my video was not originally intended for the I Am Mormon campaign, but it's nice that I got added anyway!

Alex Boye with my twin in the background...

spot the Asian! 

I didn't even recognize this one at first...

Well, I guess the editing cut that I am a blogger did some good as the kind folks from http://www.theldsstore.com/ contacted me about doing a giveaway.  What?  Lil ol' me?  A giveaway?  I wouldn't even know where to begin.  How do I even decide on a winner.  But then, I thought... why give up an opportunity for family or friends who actually read our blog to get some store credit towards some awesome LDS goods?!  I feel like everyone's kids are getting baptized, soon we'll all be sending our kids off on missions, we know a ton of missionaries from families, so there's always a purpose for something at this online store.  So I agreed.  Plus, check out all their huge selection of CTR rings here (for my non-LDS friends, CTR is this Mormon slogan that gets said, sung, screamed, and repeated ALL the time, from youth to adulthood, meaning to "choose the right" and lots of Mormons will wear rings that have a CTR shield or just say CTR, it's  a great way to spot a Momo!) - even my lil Jordan has a green shield CTR ring that he loves.

GIVEAWAY RULES: So, here are the official rules for my giveaway with The Lds Store.  The prize is $50 store credit at The Lds Store which is online.  To enter, you just have to be a follower of mine on my Instagram account and leave a comment to enter, or, for another entry, leave a blog comment below. You can enter twice (once on Instagram and once on the blog).

Those are some good chances if you ask me... especially considering we're unsure who will actually respond besides my good family and friends who actually visit this blog from time to time.  Hehe.

The giveaway is open until Sunday, February 7th at 12 AM MTN and I will pick a random winner on Chinese New Year (February 8th!) and announce a winner via my blog and Instagram.   Good luck to all!

So.... to prepare for this "giveaway" moment, I enlisted my kids for a lil photoshoot.  I told them I'd pay them with candy and the boys were on board, Dagny is still too young to know any different than want to do whatever the boys are doing, so off we went!  There were tears.  Sweat.  Some yelling.  Lots of smiling.  Climbing.  Pushing.  Arguing for spots and letters (I tried to do a shot of them all holding a C T and R).  Crazy kids trying to direct how they should hold the three cute pink glitter letters I cut out (freehand!) and even complaints about the props (why is there a fold in my 'C' Mom" ummm cuz I had to make sure it was symmetrical!

don't mind the frames that fell in back...

or the backwards C and T... where's the R?

choose the ... head!

U T R?

here's the R mom!

okay, here's the R for real now...

still cute... even as an outake

oh boys... I think Dagny fell as I took this photo so I caught her, clutch!

what the letters should have looked like...

Afterwards, I told Jordan "modeling is a lot of hard work, eh?"  He asked me what "modeling" is.  I told him, you know when you get paid to look cute or good for a photographer who might use your photo later.  He thought about it for a moment and said, "No Mom, not for me.  I'm pretty good at it."  Bubba, always nearby, chimed in with, "Yeah mom, he pretty good at it!"  Kids.  Can't do a giveaway with them, can't do one without them.