February Recap

February actually had some pretty good weather making it possible to go on a few outings.  One of those outings was a trip to Heritage Park.  The boys had fun playing around and seeing a few animals.  At one point they were hanging out near the blue door in the pictures above.  I thought it looked like a nice place to take a few pictures of them.  Remember, I lost my camera a few weeks ago so every picture is now with my phone.  If you look at Timmy's pants you will notice they are soaking wet because he decided to jump right into a ditch 2 seconds after I told him not to get his feet wet.  Then afterward he whined and whined about cold feet and we had a hard time getting him to smile for me in the pictures.  Luckily Brian is really good at getting him to laugh so we got a few cute pictures.  His feet dried and he enjoyed the rest of the visit.

The boys were interested in the oxen until they got a whiff of the corral they were in.  This is how Timmy felt about it.

It must have been the month of farms, because we also got in a great Wheeler Farm visit as well.

 We always love feeding the geese and the ducks, but because there are not very many people feeding them in the winter, we got mobbed when they noticed the kids had food.  It was actually a little overwhelming until I got the boys up on this tree stump so they weren't eye to eye with the hungry aggressive geese.

 Come on now, would you want that guy right up in your face begging for food? Once on the stump it was all fun throwing out grain for the birds.

 The sheep welcomed visitors as well.

And of course the tractors were the biggest hit, again.

 The kids spent so long playing on the tractor that I ended up hanging out with this sweetheart of a horse while I watched Brian and Timmy in the background.  There is something about standing near and touching a horse that brings so much peace to my soul.  Horses are truly special animals.

The rest of February was fabulous.  I really got sucked into the Olympics this time around and I watched it every single evening.  It became a big part of my February.

Valentine's Day was fun with class parties and candy for everyone!  We even decorated cookies at home this year and took them to people in the ward who needed a little Valentine's love.

During February Timmy finally decided to be completely potty trained and he earned his remote control tractor that he has been working towards for at least six months now.  It was a happy day and he's been fine in underwear since.

Also this month, we found out that Brian got into the Chinese Language Immersion Program at his school!  We are so excited for next year to start.  He will be doing half his day at school in Chinese and half in English.  

Little Sahara Trip

Since we couldn't visit the real Sahara Desert, we decided to visit the Little Sahara a few hours South of us.  We had one night and two days to try out our RV for the first time, so we decided to go to the closest destination that had the most sand.

It was a fun trip that started with a bit of an unfortunate event.  Just after we arrived we were playing in the sand up on top of the dunes in the OHV free area.  Out of nowhere a huge wild wind came sweeping in creating the craziest sand storm I have ever and probably will ever witness in my life.  The kids could not even keep themselves upright without help and we could barely see through all the blowing sand which stung our faces and ripped at our clothes. During our frantic flight back to the RV, our camera must have fallen out of my jacket pocket.  I didn't realize it was gone until about a half hour later.  By that time the wind had moved entire sand dunes around the place. We searched and searched in that sand for the camera, but it was a completely futile effort.  Talk about dropping your camera in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I am pretty sure it was buried under about three feet of sand within 20 minutes or so.  We searched and searched the next day as well.  So sad.  I loved that camera.  The funny thing is that it is in an almost indestructible waterproof (and sandproof) case.  I can imagine someone playing in that sand one day, in like ten years, and finding our camera still in near perfect condition.  I wonder what they will do with it.  Maybe they will try to find us by posting our pictures on the news or something.  For now, all I have is my phone for taking pictures, and I tell you, I am working really hard to make sure it does not fall out of my pocket during the sandstorm of the century.

We were definitely sad about the camera, but made the best of the trip without it.  The kids loved all that sand.

They had just as much fun back at the campground as well.  This tree became the "good guy ship" with super cannon blasters big enough to sit on. . .

. . .and this pile of branches became the "bad guy ship" with lots of smaller blasters.

For some reason the boys thought the tumbleweeds were hilarious and they would chase them down laughing and screaming until they caught one.  Then they would bring it back to camp with the biggest proud grins on their faces.

Mark enjoyed some wood carving as the kids were playing.  I'm not surprised he's a natural at that in addition to everything else he does.

We climbed the hill/mountain behind our campsite to get a good view of the surrounding area.  It was actually a really steep climb and Brian did awesome!  Timmy on the other hand made Mark carry him the whole way up and the whole way down, but at least we went.

Back at camp we enjoyed a delightful fire and roasted hot dog after hot dog.  Those boys were hungry and just kept on eating.  Then we enjoyed a warm comfortable night in the RV.  Besides losing the camera, it turned out to be a very successful maiden voyage for the RV.

The next day after breakfast, playing the sand, and watching the OHVers climb the 700 foot sand mountain, we headed home.  We had some time, so we stopped in Provo to visit Mark's brother.  He was studying on campus so we got to take a little trip down memory lane.  I hadn't been back to BYU campus for years and years.  We walked around and showed the boys a few things.  I had a massive smile plastered on my face the whole time.  I have so many fond memories of my time at BYU.  To top it all off, we stopped and ate at Carrabba's Italian Grill on the way home.  Mark and I consider this our special restaurant because it is where we went on our first date and we celebrated our birthdays and anniversaries there while we lived in Provo.  It was so fun to remember those days in Provo and share a little bit of it with Brian and Timmy.

Mark Gets LASIKS

Finally Mark decided it was time to get LASIKS eye surgery.  He said goodbye to his glasses and hello to perfect vision!  Everything went really well.  I think the hardest thing for him was not being able to wear contacts for a few weeks before surgery, which made sports like basketball and swimming difficult, and then not being able to participate in those sports for a few weeks after the surgery to let his eyes heal.  He can't wait to get back in the pool!  I might miss seeing him in his glasses just a tiny bit, but I'm so glad that he doesn't have to deal with glasses and contacts anymore after having them for almost his entire life!

Chinese New Year

Once again Mark's parents threw a fantastic Chinese New Year party!

We ate plate after plate of delicious homemade dumplings!  Brian was particularly excited this year to find the different things Nai Nai hides inside of some of those dumplings.  A peanut signifies longevity, a date represents good luck for the coming year, a penny equals wealth, and a piece of red bean cake means a promotion to come.

The kids were spoiled as always with a pile of red envelopes from their relatives with money inside.

Although Timmy is not a huge fan of dumplings, he did get his giant bowl of edemame that Nai Nai makes for him every single time we visit.  He's not satisfied eating there now without it.

After all the food we spent a great time just being with family.  This year we had the honor of celebrating with Mark's grandmother.

Somehow the kids convinced Uncle Tony to read them all a story before they ate their dessert (a Chinese mango jello-like treat that comes in individual containers).  Can you see that each child has one ready to eat when the story is over?  This picture also shows that red was the color of the day!

I love this holiday every year.  Thank you Daniel and Alice for throwing such a great celebration!

Joyful January

Where did January go?  It went so quickly and ended up being a wonderful month full of exciting new things and joyful happenings.  Here are a few Hsiao House Happenings during January 2014.

Mark's New Job

The biggest thing that happened in January is that Mark started a new job!  A new opportunity came about that he just could not pass up.  He was recruited to work for an IP management software company as a software client consultant.  So far it seems like a great fit!

A New RV

The next biggest thing that happened in January is that we purchased a Toyota RV.  Unlike the other RV purchase back in November, I think we'll keep this one to actually use as a family!  It is perfect!  I've scrubbed it all down and Mark has already worked his magic and fixed everything that needs fixing and made some significant improvements like adding a TV.

Downtown Visits

During January I was able to take Brian and Timmy downtown to visit my Grandma at her house and my parents at their condo.  We had popcorn at Grandma Joycie's, played with he fun toys, and I played my cello for her.

 After lunch at City Creek Center, we played at the condo, ate all of Grandma and Grandpa's nuts and went swimming in their pool.

Brian Started Piano Lessons

Brian's piano lessons and practicing have gotten off to a good start.  He is doing great and working hard.  I think we found a good teacher.  So far so good!  He practices about 20-30 minutes 5 days a week with my help for now. 

Other Happenings

The boys have made one elaborate train set after another as well as numerous forts.  This is winter play at our house.  I'm so glad they enjoy playing together so much.  The days go pretty quickly these days with school, piano and playing together!  We try to get outside when the air is clean.

On January 6th we celebrated Three Kings Day at Melanie's house.  The kids loved finding the baby inside the king cake and then Grandma Melissa gave them a prize.

Brian has finally started trying to write/spell his own words.  The following was a picture he drew early one morning all by himself.  There is an ambulance boat, a race boat, a police boat, and a fire boat.  It is so interesting to me to see how he decided to write the words.

I made about 45 CD's for our Primary kids.  Hopefully it will help them learn the songs for the program this year.  I am starting to enjoy my calling as Primary Music Leader and love the simple truths we learn through the Primary songs.  My love for sacred good music and the primary children grows every week.