Justin and Jessica

This past weekend, we were lucky to have Justin and Jessica come visit!! They came to Minnesota to attend Devin's baby blessing. It was a short visit but we had fun. They arrived on Friday and that night, we played a few rounds of mahjong...it's been a long time since I've played so I thought it was a lot of fun. On Saturday, we were able to go to the Mall of America and also to a small waterfall. One day we'll have to go visit them in Wisconsin. :)

Devin's Smile

It is soo fun to see Devin's smile. :) I love it when he smiles. Fortunately, my dad has been able to catch a few pictures of it. Here are two pics that he took yesterday of Devin's smile.

My Little Devin

These are pictures that my sister Julia took when Devin was just a week old...She did such a great job! I wish I could take pictures that were just as good..:)

Here are pics that Andy and I took. Andy took the ones with Devin wearing the shirt with the train and I took the ones with him in the little hoodie...as you can tell, I have a lot to learn when it comes to taking pictures. But at least you can see how much he's grown. I can't believe he's already a month old!! Time sure does fly.

Family

I am so glad that my parents and two sisters were able to come stay with us and help with Devin. Fortunately, my parents were here before he came. My two sisters came shortly after. I'm glad they were able to come and meet Devin as well. Now, we just need the rest of the family to meet him. :)

While we were here, we just hung out at home. Dorothy and Julia worked on some crafts and we had a great time just chatting. It was also nice to have them around while I finished my last two MBA classes!! I don't think I could have done it without them here.

Anyway, here are a few pics... :)

~Pregnancy Pictures~

I've been meaning to post pics of myself each month but never got around to doing it until now. I've been really good in at taking a least one picture of myself each month...unfortunately, I didn't start doing this until my 4th month. Anyways, at least people should really be able to tell that I'm pregnant now. :) I hope you enjoy the pics....

Christmas Day!!!

Despite not being able to be with any family during Christmas, Andy and I had a lot of fun spending the day with our friends the McCammons. They were kind enough to invite us over to watch their kids open gifts and to just hang out.

They were planning on opening gifts around 9 am so Andy and I decided to open gifts on Christmas Eve. Here are the items that we got.... Andy had gotten me a settler's expansion game (Traders and Barbarians) and my Mom got me a pair of nice slippers. :) I also received a very nice scarf from my sister Julia. I got Andy a book and also a nice pair of slippers and Dorothy got him an ergonomic mouse...that way his wrist won't hurt anymore. He really likes the mouse but it will definitely take time to get use to it. He also got a new camera bag (Lowpro Slingshot) and another controller for our PS3. We were pretty excited to finally be able to put our camera in a protective case. :) Anyway, for baby Sio, I had gotten a gift from my friend Melissa when we were in Provo and decided to put it under the Christmas tree. It was a little book with a finger puppet that went along with it. It was soo cute! I can't wait to be able to use it.

Anyway, Christmas morning we headed over to the McCammons. It was fun to watch their kids open the gifts. They were especially excited for the little indoor trampoline. They each took turns jumping in it. We then spent time playing with their new toys with them and then I helped Jen begin to prepare the Christmas Dinner...we ate around 2 o'clock...after Ryan's parents arrived...and then they opened the remaining gifts. One of the big items they got was a WII so we watched them do some boxing. It's always fun to see people boxing...it makes me laugh every time.

We then headed home. I got to speak to my family a little bit and Tim decided to turn on his web cam so we could see what was going on. It was fun to see my family open gifts (even if it was just the last 2 gifts.) Then, Andy decided he wanted to go watch a movie...so we decided to watch Avatar in 3D. I didn't think I would like it but it was actually really good. I really enjoyed the 3D effects...it was worth it...at least compared to watching UP in 3D.

Afterwards, we came home and got ready for bed. Christmas was nice and relaxing and I feel lucky to have such good friends...especially when family isn't near by. Anyway, here are a few pics of our holiday. :)

Our Christmas Tree....yes, a cheap one from Wal-Mart. But at least it works. :)

Pictures from Christmas Day....

Sio Christmas Letter 2009

I just emailed out our Christmas Letter for this year and I know I would have missed people...so I am posting our letter here. :) Hopefully we would have gotten all of our friends and family.

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.