Hsiao House Happenings 蕭家事

May 31, 2023

May 2023

May was another busy month. The last month of school and so much going on. We celebrated Mark's birthday at the beginning of the month and Timmy's at the end. Braza Grill will always be a favorite!

Pizzeria Limone to test out topping for our own pizzas.

I sold the baby goats.

Brian replied to the girl who asked him to prom.

Brian is a little young as a Freshman to go to prom, but it was just a group of track friends and I was going to be there anyway for Student Government, so we we were good with it.

Timmy started playing on a youth tennis league.

I continued learning what I needed to do as the new Student Government advisor and only felt more and more overwhelmed with it all. This was the community night.

We found some time to eat with family and our favorite little guy.

Timmy was convinced by a friend to join the debate club and they ended up winning at District.

Mark started perfecting the pizza with his new pizza oven.

Timmy got some awards at the school awards night.

Brian played in the last high school orchestra concert.

I helped the SBOs with the final assembly.

Apparently Timmy enjoyed some good food.

We got the basement apartment ready to rent again after living in the during the house renovations.

And apparently Timmy enjoyed some Bingsu in Chinatown.

Mark enjoyed the updated house and having guests.

He enjoyed the new kitchen so much he started making more sourdough.

We visited Daniel's burial site to remember him a year after his passing. We miss him.

I moved into my new classroom for next year. It is the Student Government room and very large with lots of storage. There is just a lot of responsibility that comes along with the nice room.

Brian ended his only year at AMES with a 4.0 and other awards.

Apr 30, 2023

April 2023

We returned from our Taiwan trip at the beginning of April to find that winter was in fact still going in Utah.

Pip had stayed at the ranch with Allison and my mom while we were gone and then my mom brought her home along with Allison's dog Marty, so we could watch him while they were on their Spring Break trip. I had a lot of work to catch up on at school, but Marty just wanted to snuggle on my lap, so that's how the work got done. He was on my lap and my laptop was on him.

We came home to find that the contractors had installed some cabinets and painted some of the house. Mark got right to work to keep the remodel going.

They did so much work through the month of April. Mark even taught Brian how to measure and cut the trim pieces.

I came home from school one day to see the BEAUTIFUL counters installed! I absolutely love them! I heard the island slab was the biggest piece the installers had ever done.

We went to the ranch to celebrate Easter. There was so much snow and the kids just ended up playing some funny games the whole time outside. I think they started with a football game that ended in a lot of tackling in the snow.

The ranch is always such a special place for me. Usually Easter weekends in April don't have this much snow!

Back in Salt Lake, the snow had melted. However, April was very cold and wet. Spring sports were trying to get underway despite the weather. Both Timmy and Brian were doing track.

Timmy was also playing team tennis. Some days he would have to leave his track meets early in order to get to his tennis match.

Timmy was very busy during April. Not only was he doing track and tennis, but he was campaigning for an SBO position at the junior high. He won SBO Historian!

Mark was in charge of Trek again this summer, so we had the pre Trek dance in our backyard again. Luckily the weather worked in our favor!

One day in April I came home from school to see Mark's "third child" had arrived from Rome, Italy! The pizza oven was here!

Now all he had to do was install it in that top spot in the fireplace. He and Chad cut out the brick and built a stand for it and did all kinds of crazy things to get that installed and working. It was really cool to watch them figure it all out.