Baby Boy...

Okay...so I know it's been a few days...but just in case you haven't heard, Andy and I will be expecting a baby boy in February. We are sooo excited!. Thursday was the anatomy scan and it was neat to see the baby. They took several pictures of his heart, kidneys, spine, skull, etc. They also took some measurements as well. It was cool to see the arms, legs, feet, hands...the feet and hands were especially fun because you could see the fingers and toes. :) The baby was definitely very active as well and Andy still refers to him as a dinosaur. Anyway, I have started to feel the baby...i think...it's still very subtle so I'm not sure...but I like to think it's baby.

Well...as promised, here is a picture of our little one...it's my favorite one. :)

It's A _______!!!

So we found out what we are having this morning! It was soooo cool seeing the baby move so much. Anyway, any guesses on what we're having? I'll post pics later and let everyone know then. :)

Update on Life

I figured it's about time for me to update my blog...it's been way too long! Anyway, here is a summary of what has been going on the last few months:

May:

My Grandpa passed away. Luckily, Andy and I were both able to fly to Seattle to attend his funeral. The funeral was very nice and it was fun listening to everyone's memory of Grandpa. I will miss my Grandpa but I know he is in a better place.

Andy graduated from his master's program and no longer has to attend classes. YIPPEE! Unfortunately, he still has one independent class to finish before he can actually receive his diploma. But, I am still very proud of what he has accomplished. I know it hasn't been easy for him.

June:

Found out I was pregnant. Andy and I were soo excited. :)

July:

Planned a last minute trip to Duluth over the Fourth of July weekend. It was a lot of fun! The Whetten's and Jaclyn's dad stayed with us Thursday night and we were talking about Duluth. Andy and I had always wanted to go so Andy decided that we would do it. We booked the hotel that night for Friday night. We also learned that the Whetten's were moving to Utah sooner then we expected...we thought they were leaving mid-August but they ended up leaving by the end of July. They will definitely be missed! It was tons of fun hanging out with them. At least we can stay in touch via facebook and our blogs. :)

Duluth was a lot of fun! Our hotel was located downtown so we were in walking distance of the some of the sites. We left Friday after lunch and headed to Split Rock Lighthouse. It was AMAZING! The lighthouse was located on top of a huge cliff. We hiked down to the bottom and that was when we saw how high up the lighthouse was located. Also, the lake was sooo calm. The next day, we were walking around and we saw a huge barge pull into the harbor. That was fun to see as well.

We also had a first ultra sounds of the baby...the first ultra sound the baby was just a "blob" to me...it didn't seem real. This was at the beginning of the month. Near the end of July, we had our second ultrasound. It was amazing at how fast the baby was growing. It went from a blob to actually looking like a baby. AND, it was moving all over the place. Andy refers to the baby as a dinosaur. I was surprised that I couldn't actually feel it.

August:

My parents came to visit! I was sooo excited for my parents to come. It is always good to see family. The whole time my parents were here, they helped us complete a lot of the projects that needed to be done...i.e, re-staining the deck, finish the landscape clean up in the backyard, etc. With their help, Andy was able to get everything done. He is SOOO happy. Before he was very stressed out about it but now he can relax more. All we have to do now is just maintain the yard.

While my mom was cleaning up the back, she found a bunch of gao choi (chinese grass). She had brought some from home but was excited to see it. My mom and dad determined that an asian person used to live in our house. My mom also created a small garden and replanted some of the choi. It will be fun to see them grow. Hopefully, I'll remember how to cook it.

With the pregnancy, I have been feeling much better. During the first trimester, I did not have morning sickness...it was more evening sickness. As I drove home from work, I would feel slightly nauseated. It was almost like my car sickness that occurred when I was younger was coming back. Then, nothing ever sounded good, which Andy kept stating that it didn't matter if it sounded good, I just needed to eat. I of course, had a different opinion. Anyway, now, the nausea is gone but I get a very nasty taste in my mouth after eating. Hopefully that won't last for very long. I can also tell that my tummy is getting bigger because my pants are getting a bit more snug....which I do not like because it just makes me feel very fat. :( Andy keeps telling me that it's baby and not fat..but I still can't help the way that I feel.

Anyway, that's about all that's been going on. I can't believe that August is almost over. Work during the summer was very crazy but it has calmed down now. We are expecting things to get crazy near the end of the year as well. I am hoping it won't be too bad, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Crazy, Silly, Robin.....

For the past few weeks, a bird has been "attacking" our house. During the morning and throughout the day, this robin will keep flying into our window. Andy and I googled this and found that often times, robin's a very territorial and will see their reflection in the window. As a result, they will attack. It then listed suggesstions on how to minimize the reflection to prevent the bird from attacking. The only thing that worked was taping newspaper to the window and it worked. However, it did not look very pretty. Now, we've borrowed our friend's fake owl and that seems to work. But we'll have a better idea when it gets sunny outside. Lately, it has been rainy and overcast. We'll just cross our fingers and hope that it works.

Anyway, I was working from home one day and the bird just kept "attacking." Since it wasn't too bright, I actually got a good video of it. I hope you guys enjoy it. :)

Busy Life

Everyone has a busy life and I feel like my life has definitely gotton a bit busier! Work is definitely been crazy because this summer is full of implementing the new electronic medical records at the different health sites that we work with. So, I have been busy with go-live, training, support, and finishing build for the other sites. The next implementation will be the first week of May. After that, we will be supporting two sites and will be getting ready for the next implementation. Crazy crazy!

Anyway, for school, after this class is done, I will have 5 classes left! YIPPEE!! I can't wait for school to be done. Once I'm done, I'll have lots of time to do my own stuff....:) I think I've probably been spending about between 15-20 hours on homework. Which isn't bad, but it leaves little time to do my own things. I am getting tired of school and sometimes wonder if I should just stop and not get my masters....good thing Andy is there to cheer me on. :)

Other then school and work, we have been slowly getting the yard ready. Andy's done most of the work so far but I've been able to help a little...I started cleaning up the dead plant stuff to let the new stuff grow. It's fun and it's nice to see things clean up. Definitely gives you a sense of achievement. :)

BBQ!!

So...it's been way too long since posting....I don't know if its because we are too busy or if its because I'm too busy..maybe both. :)

Anyway, the weather has finally warmed up and we have already had 2 BBQs at our house. On the 11th, Andy's co-workers came over for a housewarming BBQ party. They had been bugging Andy for a while and next thing I knew, we were having a BBQ. It was a lot of fun getting to know Andy's co-workers. We talked and played the WII and went to the park.

Yesterday, we had our friends come up for a BBQ. The weather was nice and the Massen's took the initiative to organize a get together. It was decided to have a BBQ at our house and play some games. The Whetten's came up and we also invited the McCammon's over. The McCammon's live close by and we are in the same ward. We have actually hung out quite a few times with them.

We all had a great time playing a pictionary taboo game and a game of Pandemic. It was great hanging out with our friends and chatting. We have really missed hanging out with everyone so it was the perfect way to spend the day and enjoy the nice weather. I am just glad that winter is finally over!! :)

Offroading - Green Sands Beach

So, Andy decided to upgrade to a jeep so we could see the areas that the guides said only 4-wheel drive cars could go. Anyway, on the first day, we didn't do anything that needed the 4-wheel drive. The next day, Andy was obsessed about wanting to go offroading so that he would feel that paying for the upgrade would be worth it. Anyway, after speaking with my brother Aaron, we figured out how to use the 4 wheel drive. As we were driving back to Kona, Andy saw several areas on the side of the road that would lead into the desert area....all of a sudden, he slows down and says "I want to do something." Next thing I know we are driving off the freeway into the area on the side of the road. Andy shouts in glee "Yeah! Offroading!!!" I just busted out in laughter. So, knowing that he loved to off-road, I told him we should make the drive down to green sands beach....we weren't going to at first because it would have been a long drive but it ended up being tons of fun! We got down to the area called south point...we were still kind of disappointed because it didn't seem like we really did any off roading. Anyway, we learned that the beach was further in...once we started in, Andy was very excited! It was my first time and I thought it was tons of fun. :) Also, 25 minutes of driving was a lot better than 1 1/2 hour hike. We were both glad that we made the trip! I will also need to make a mental note to tell Aaron to be careful of what he introduces Andy too. :) j/k

Anyway, here are a few pics from that as well....

Volcano

Before meeting up with Andy's parents in Oahu, Andy and I decided to spend two days on the big island. The first day, we spent our time in Hilo to see the volcano. Here are a few pics from that area.

Trip to the ER

Despite being extremely busy (hence the lack in updates on my blog), Andy and I have been looking forward to our trip to Hawaii.  Melanie is graduating on Saturday the 13th and his parents were flying over from Macau so we figured it would be a good family reunion.  Anyway, the day before we were to leave, I got really sick.  Saturday night, my stomach started to not feel well and around 11 pm they turned into really really sharp pains.  Normally, I usually just sleep them off and within a few hours they are gone.  Well...I fell asleep only to wake up every hour or so with really bad stomach pains.  To top it off, everytime I woke up, I was usually in the bathroom.  It definitely was not fun.  Anyway, I thought it would be over by the morning but it wasn't.  So, the same thing continued on.  Finally, about 10 hours later, Andy called the nurse line to speak with a nurse.  She asked me a few questions and said it may be good to head to the ER.  She wasn't quite sure if it was just the flu since the stomach pains were extremely bad.  She was actually more concnerned about it possibly being a kidney stone, or something wrong with my galbladder. Anyway, I was sure the pains would go away soon and I hadn't thrown up for a while...so I decided to sleep it out.  Then I woke up again and the pain was back and I was in the bathroom again.  I decided it would be better to check it out.  So off to the ER we went.  The doctor checked me out and they found that everything was alright and it looked like it was a very bad case of the stomache flu.  Well, by the time I left the ER I was actually feeling okay.  But I still wasn't very much help around the house and ended up sleeping all day while Andy got everything ready for our trip.  I am very grateful for my husband and is hard work.  I am also definitely glad that I was able to recover before our trip.

Life after Leaving Mayo Clinc

I left Mayo Clinic for about a month now. There are so many things that I miss when I worked there. I do believe the patient cares at Mayo are exceptional, and the passion of the employees toward patient are the things that I miss the most. I read this article that summarized what I felt after I left Mayo. I agree that Mayo may pay a little lower; however, the work life-balance and the the holidays are definitely good when one wants to enjoy family life. I don't mind one day that I will go back to work for Mayo.

Anyway, I decided to take this challenge to leave Mayo to explore the business world. During this time, I often question myself about my decision; often, I did feel regret for a little bit. Nevertheless, thank you for my wife for her support and understanding, especially she has been going through a tough time lately too. Lately, all the changes and trials happen in our lives draw us closer to God. We once again remind ourselves the principles of humble and faith. We both are grateful to have the gospel in our lives, and I am especially grateful for my wife in my life.

Yellowstone National Park

So....As you may have noticed, Andy has been doing much of the posting lately. You can say he has "hijacked" my blog. :) Anyway, I am glad he has posted some updates on what we have been doing because I have been very busy. Anyway, here are some pics from our trip to Yellowstone National Park. It was a crazy trip but I had tons of fun! We never expected to drive there anytime soon because it is like an 18 hour drive. However, Andy's co-worker Praveen said that him and his wife were going during Labor Day weekend so Andy decided we would go along. I have never been to Yellowstone before so I was way excited! We left Friday night and drove half-way. The next morning, Andy and I went to visit Mount Rushmore. It was pretty neat and much bigger than I thought it would be. Then we drove the rest of the way to Yellowstone. We saw different types of animals and the scenery was beautiful. The only thing we didn't get to see was a bear. Oh well...we still enjoyed ourselves and the weather was actually pretty nice. Anyway, here are some pics from our trip.

Why should we learn from Warren Buffert ?

Warren Buffet has always been the person whom people look up to when it comes to stock selections. Back in the 1980s, the purchase of the Coca-cola, Wells Fargo, and the American Express proved that he had a sixth sense in choosing stocks. In the last two years, Warren Buffet again proved that his sharp instinct in investment. I still remembered that he sold off all his stakes in China Oil in the peak of year 2007. Then, many people questioned about his action and mocked at him. As the history proved that he was doing the right thing, the stock price of China Oil has dropped significantly since Buffet sold his stakes. Lately, Warren Buffet once again proves himself the unique way in term of investment. With the large amount of cash on hand, he bought many sweet and bargain stocks in Goldman Sachs, GE, Morgan Stanley, and many others. I need to learn from him in my financial investment in the future.

Ready for Great Depression

Tanya and I have been discussing about the rescue plan lately. Although we are not favor for the 700 billion "bail-out" plan, we don't see any other options or measures to prevent this financially disaster happening except to support this plan. Anyway, the House just rejected the plan, and the Dow drops 600 points. So, I guess many American need to be ready for the upcoming job cuts and foreclosures.

Life Update

Usually, Tanya is the one to update about our life in the blog. However, she has been busy with some misc stuff that I don't know what she is doing sometimes.(j/k). So, I decide to help her to update this blog about our lives. Apparently, Tanya's blog has more traffic than my blog. I think people interested about our lives more than my own techie blog.

Both of Tanya's and mine school start in September. Tanya is taking two MBA classes. One is leadership and another one is her MBA core class. I am taking only one quality assurance class for my Master of Software Engineering degree. I hope that I can finish my degree by next June, and Tanya will finish her MBA by the end of next year.

August is a very interesting month. After my mom and brother spent 6 weeks with us for the summer, we were exhaust to entertain them. We thought everything would go back to the normal simple that we used to have. However, things have changed a lot. Apparently, I got couple good job opportunities that extend to me. I took my time and energy to interview couple jobs, and I got couple job offers too. The difficulty part was to decide which jobs that I should take because all of them are pretty good. Finally, we decide that I will take the job at Medtronic located in Minneapolis, and Tanya will still work for Mayo Clinic. Changing job means relocation. We are in the process of finding a home near the Twin cities. At the same time, since we own a townhome, we need to sell our townhome. As everyone knows, the market nowadays is not a good time to sell a property.

Anyway, I think we have a lot of blessings and changes in our lives, especially in the last two months. Tanya and I won 4 free movie tickets, a free chiropractor visit, and an iPod too. We anticipate more changes in the upcoming months. We will keep you guys posted.

Free Debt Tool

I know that Debt is a big problem in US. Especially in the bad economy right now, many people struggle to pay off their debts. I came across an article that talked about an Excel file that can help people to see the different methods to pay off their debt. I think it's pretty cool.

Download the File here

This file contains two worksheets:

1. A debt reduction calculator, which allows you to list your debts, their balances, interest rates, and monthly payments.
2. A payment schedule telling you which bills to pay when.


Thank you for the website Get Rich Slowly for this article.

Financial Planning

After talking about the spending habit, I think it's a good time to talk about saving for retirement. We are not professional financial planner, however, we try to educate ourselves enough to learn the principal of saving. We save 12% of our income toward our 403(b) account, and we will try to max out our Roth IRA contribution limit. Based on our current trend, we should be able to have enough money for our retirement, unless the inflation is more than 10% per year for the next 60 years. Anyway, I found a good quick and easy article to remind some of the basic financial principles.

Quick Retirement Fact

Tool to calculate your current saving goal

Again, the most important thing to reach a financial goal is to develop a saving habit and control spending.

Magic Blanket Challenge

So, a while back, a friend of mine gave a challenge. You can read about the challenge here. She was one of my companions in the mission field and is definitely someone I look up to. She is awesome and a great friend!

Anyway, this post is way overdue. But, one of the things I've accomplished that I'm very proud of is our emergency plan. Our ward has been talking about being prepared for a while and at New Years, when I was home for Christmas, we had put together a 3 day emergency food storage. However, we still didn't have anything for emergency or have a plan. So, finally, I sat down and we bought an emergency pack that was made for 2 people and created our emergency plan. Basically, it just lists what each person is responsible for grabbing and where it is if we need to evacuate the house.

The next step in our emergency preparedness is gather all the important documents and contact information together. Hopefully I can get that done soon. You can never be too prepared.

Well, part of the challenge was suppose to take a before and after picture. However, I think it's okay if I don't post a before picture. Once I take some pictures of our emergency packs, I'll post it.

Thanks Suzanne for the great challenge! Also, it's definitely a fun challenge and you should all do it.

American Spending Habit

Many people probably knows a tradition of American spending habit - spend more than you earn. Church leaders often time remind us to mind our spending and save emergency fund. TV talk shows and books like, i.e. "Finance Dummy 101", try to encourage people to control their spending and the usage of credit card. I always puzzle about this idea and wonder how hard for a person to do this "best practice". I guess it's pretty hard because I think this is a tradition.

Just look at the recent report about the biggest ever deficit in the US government budget - 482 Billion. Also, the mortgage meltdown of the Fannie and Freddie are another good examples of how people like borrowing future money, and the Taxpayers end up paying this big fat, while the people of these two companies enjoying their luxury life and social gathering.

Anyway, I think it's very hard to teach people to control their spending and live within their means while the government doesn't set a good example. Imagine parents teach their kids to clean up their mess while parents themselves also created a mess.

In short, I think changing the American's spending habit like asking a Chinese not to eat rice for his/her lifetime.

July 4th

For July 4th, we went to Wisconsin Dells to meet up with some friends. German and Kitna were visiting Kitna's mom and stepdad there. Since it was only 2 1/2 hours away and they have the largest waterpark in America, we thought it would be fun to meet up. Luckily, Kitna's mom and stepdad were kind enough to let us stay with them. :)

Anyway, Friday night we had a BBQ. Tom (Kitna's stepdad) did a great job BBQing up some hamburgers and brats!

Then Saturday we spent all day at Noah's Ark. It was a lot of fun! The rides were a lot of fun! In fact, Andy, Kenny (Andy's bro), German, and Nick (German's brother) went on a ride called Point of No Return. I was going to go on it too until I saw it. It looked like a straight drop and I knew there was no way I would go on that. However, the boys were brave enough to take it on. Here are a few pics of them: (Right: German and Kenny Left: Andy)

The boys after finishing the ride:

German, Andy, Keona (German and Kitna's daughter), and I:

That night, we went to watch the fireworks in a nearby town. They were really good! Almost as good as the Stadium of Fire in Provo UT. I say this because we were pretty close to the fireworks so it was loud and you could feel the vibration of the fireworks going off! Off course, I don't think anything tops watching Stadium of Fire at Helamen Halls. :)

Sunday we headed home. However, we did stop in Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center. Last time we tried to go there with my parents when they were here but unfortunately it was closed. Luckily, they were open this time and we were able to go in. It was pretty cool and we actually saw two live Bald Eagles. They had been injured and could no longer fly so they are no part of the education system that is set up. At least they are now safe. :)

Anyway, that's basically how our holiday weekend went. It was a lot of fun and went way too fast! It was hard to go back to work on the following Monday. At least Andy's family had fun. :)

Best Places to live ?? - Minnesota

When people heard us about living in Minnesota. The first thing that comes to their mind is cold. Yes. Minnesota is pretty cold. However, I do agree that Minnesota is a pretty nice place to live. You don't believe me? Look at this list. Best places to live 2008 According to the survey, the best place to live is Plymouth, MN, which host our favorite Chinese restaurant. Also, there are three cities from Minnesota that sit on the top 25 list.

So, if you think you can bear the winter in Minnesota, you should come to live in Minnesota.