the big E I G H T

Taylin celebrated a very special 8th birthday this year. She turned 8 and was baptized on the same day, June 7th! It was super special too because of all the great family and friends that came to be apart of it. Ong Noi and Ba Noi (Huy's parents) came from Salt Lake City, Grandma and Grandpa came from Nevada, the Clarks came from Fort Worth, and then her friends the Walkers, the Giles, the Colquitts, the Allens, the Simmons, her Primary teachers Brother Ornales and Brother Kloft, were all there! (All of her aunts and uncles and their families would have loved to have been there too if they didn't live quite so far away.)

At the baptism, she was so beautiful in her white dress and she did so very well. She had practiced how to be baptized in the pool the week before so she knew what to expect and sure enough, she only had to do it one time. Phew. After her baptism, she played her recital piece on the piano for the closing song and I must say, it was the best she had ever played it. She took her time and played with such emotion it made me cry, for like the fifth time that day. We are so proud of her for making the decision to be baptized. She is such a blessing and joy in our family. We love you dearly Taylin. Congratulations!

Family and friends came over for lunch afterwards and then we sang "Happy Birthday" to her before having some cake. She recieved lots of fun presents. She got blendy pens, journals and diaries and paper and pens, a soccer bag, a DS Lite with a Big Brain Academy game, clothes, Crocs, necklaces, and 8 white roses (her first time receiving flowers - she liked that).

Thank you everyone for all the support and help! You're awesome!

my two fast frogs

Check them out. They had a great season this year. They both improved their times on every event they participated in in both meets - Taylin finishing with a5+ second improvement on her freestyle, coming in 5th overall in her age group and improving on her fly by 4+ seconds. She is in the 7-8 year old age group so she swims as a seven year old, but turns 8 during the season which is a great advantage she will have as she keeps swimming.

Tanner moved over to the training pool this year and in the last meet, he swam the Individual Medley which is where you swim one length of the pool in every stroke (fly, back, breast, free) and it was his first time doing it this year and he took first place! Huge accomplishment! He also steadily improved in each of his strokes as well.

They both have been very dedicated to making practice everyday after school until it was out and then every morning at 7:45 am and 8:15 am. It is a big commitment and they have done wonderfully at it! We are proud parents. Can you tell?

Last day of school

Taylin had a great year in 2nd grade. She loved her sweet teacher, Mrs. Young. She made some great friends and learned tons. She is one smart cookie. She grew probably three inches, got glasses and braces, cut her hair and started growing it out again, she's excelled in soccer and basketball, and is one great daughter! So proud of her! On to 3rd grade!!

(This is Taylin with her friend Kassadi and others.)

Tanner has been promoted to the 5th grade. Ahhh. 5th grade. Can't believe it! He had a great year in 4th grade - made some adjustments and learned a lot about responsibility. He was on A Honor Roll several times and A-B a few times. He did awesome on his TAKS test! He is well liked and was happy to have his good friend Connor in his class. He too grew about three inches, went from a shoe size 3 to 6, played flag football for several seasons and basketball. We are proud of him!

(Tanner with his teacher, Mrs. Guthrie.)

(This is Connor!)

Creative Movement

This is our pretty little girl going to her first dance recital, May 24, 2008. She reluctantly let me put make-up on her, but she was excited to wear the costume, as long as it wasn't itchy! She did a great job. It was quite entertaining to watch - she made us laugh as she practically ran off the stage at the end. She knew the dances better than I thought she did - according to what I had seen in class. I was pleased and proud of course. Her ballet dance was to "Candyman" and then the tap dance was to "Stop in the Name of Love." She was so yummy!

Where does the time go???

Oh my, I'm a bit behind in my blogging, but then you know that and of course I know that. And once I get behind, it's hard to get back at it, but I am determined to get caught up before we leave on our family trip to Utah this week! AND catch up on all your posts I've missed!

Huy's SuperBowl Trip

"Okay...this has been way too long coming, but you've heard about it in chat rooms and talked about it around the water cooler at work. Now you can see the footage on your computer and enjoy what my family now talks about with reverence and great laughter."

Aaron Ricks

(Thanks Aaron for getting this available for all too enjoy! And for those of you who don't know what you are looking for... watch very carefully at the end of the video - Huy will be running an obstacle course and then he will "trip" and reappear as he crawls to the finish line!)

"I'm a piranha!"

Remember that scene from the movie Nemo? The dentist's niece, Darla, comes into the office to get her birthday present and says to her Uncle, "I'm a piranha," as she shows her mouth full of braces and then bites down as if she were going to bite something off.

Taylin has blessed us with her acting debut of the above scene as she now has braces so we get the full effect. It is very cute and so is she! She was so excited, and counted down the number of days, until she got her braces. But upon sitting in the chair, she didn't think it was as fun as she thought it would be. She did great though and was super brave.

This is her pretending to NOT want to smile.

And this is her beautiful smile now!

And this is her being silly and Kaylie wanting in on the action!

Cardboard

Setting the scene: big cardboard boxes laying around due to some redecorating going on. Huy and Kimberly on the computer doing work and probably posting some blog updates. Kids busy with markers making spaceships on the cardboard. Kimberly decides to go get a drink.

Passing by the creations, pausing to see the spaceship, glancing over to see Kaylie's to find this instead...

M: Kaylie, who is that?

K: (pointing) Mommy, Daddy, Taylin, me, and Tanner. It's our family! (stated so matter-a-factly)

Tanner and Taylin look over to see themselves.

Dad hears all the "ahhhhhs" and comes for a look.

Big hugs and kisses and more ahhhhs!

(Kaylie usually draws a lot of scribbles, which are precious, but this was the first time we had EVER seen any form of people, let alone people with features and real personality!)

Hail that's big!

Maybe that is a poor choice of wording, but that's my try at humor. Ha!

Anyway, I'm a bit behind in some blogging updates... We had a big storm on the 15th... Biggest hail I've ever seen. If you look closely at the corner of the planter, you can see white stuff that kind of looks like melting snow? No, that's the big hail. There is also a picture of the one Huy braved to get as it was coming down and pelting him. Bigger than a quarter! On the news they showed pictures of ones bigger than baseballs. Tanner woke up during it, but the girls... not a peep until we decided to bring them downstairs with us incase the tornado that was headed our way actually did come our way. It was one crazy storm.

S T E E L E R S win it again!

Playing most of the season as QB, Tanner helped lead his team to be the SuperBowl Champions once again. They had a great season, winning every regular season game and winning all three games in the Championships. He is learning great football fundamentals in flag and he is awaiting the day he gets to play tackle. (A few more years and many more pounds before I'll let that happen!)

The team also played in the Central Texas tournament and were three points away from winning that also. They had some great competition and the games were fun to watch, but in the end, the opposing Patriots (mostly just taller boys) passed the ball over the Steelers heads and came back from a 21 point deficeit to beat them. It was a tough loss, but they definately played their best! Can't ask for much more. And Tanner had an AWESOME over-the-shoulder catch that made Mom proud!

It was a great season regardless. Great job coaching by Huy and Jeff. Those boys are well coached! Congratulations to my boys!!

B L U E T H U N D E R R O C K S

It was her best season yet! Taylin was a HUGE contributor to her team, the Blue Thunder, this spring season. She learned that one must be super aggressive in soccer - it is a must. She went after that ball and gave it her all as she attacked her opponents! It was so much fun to watch her grow into a great player. She was a big scorer on the team as well. She had at least one goal in most games - remember her "hat trick?"

Congratulations on a great season Taylin!

"Merry Mountain Stream"

Taylin's Piano Recital

She brought down the house. Pretty close anyway. I was so proud of her. She had mentioned to me once, earlier in the day, that she was a little nervous, but nothing more was said. She just went up to that baby grand and showed it what to do.

Taylin's friend, Kassidy (on left), was a big support for Taylin as she came and sat through the entire two hours of other performances, just to see Taylin do her 2 minute performance. It was so nice of her to come. Also in the picture is Taylin's other friend, Logan. Logan was in her class for the last two years in school, but recently moved to Dallas, but came back to perform at the recital as well.

Did I mention I played in the recital too? I had the good fortune of playing a duet with Taylin, Colorful Sunset was our song. She has helped me to be a better player and it sure was fun practicing with her and then performing with her.

This is Taylin's teacher, Ms. Stacey. She has been a great teacher for Taylin!

Spoil me rotten day!

Honestly, I love Mother's Day! I don't know if my mother loved it as much as I do when her kids were little, but I sure hope I made her feel as happy as I feel on this day! (Mom?) I woke up to a yummy waffle with strawberries and powedered sugar and whipped cream breakfast. Taylin gave me folder full of wonderful coupons, poems, pictures, and bookmarks. Tanner gave me some coupons as well. Kaylie gave me a poem with a handprint. And all the kids gave me a charm bracelet with cute circle charms that had their names stamped in them - something I've always wanted. It was a great day at church. I didn't do a single dish or fix any meals - thanks sweetie! I took a two hour nap... so nice. The kids tried their best to not argue or fight. My family is just the best! Thanks everyone.

And Mom, I love you!

P.S. The photo is of the little craft the Activity Day girls did for their mothers. They were pretty cute and they did a great job even though it was a little challenging.

Nick Jr.com

Kaylie has a new friend... Nick Jr.com! She is learning that everyone else in the house likes to sit at the computer so she wants to also. She has learned to navigate herself fairly well to all the different games and she knows which ones she wants to play. Sometimes she can't find the ones she wants and when she asks me to help her, I'm not exactly sure what it is she wants either, and that just frustrates her. She can be a pill about it, but we end up figuring it out and she's happy again!

33 YEARS

Saigon Branch Anniversary

The Van Nguyen (Huy's father, pronounced "Tay") emailed the family the following today:

"This Sunday, April 27, will be exactly 33 years since the last Sunday, April 27, 1975 when the Saigon Branch had the last Sacrament and also it was the day Lien (Huy's mother) and the rest of the family, except me and Liem (Huy's uncle), were evacuated by plane."

The following article was written in memory of this event. I thought it was worth sharing and that it might interest some of you. My in-laws have quite a remarkable story (we hope to get Huy's mother to write her side of the story one day) and they are quite remarkable people who have perservered through much adversity. I love them and am proud to be their daughter-in-law. Their amazing experience is captured in The's book titled "When Faith Endures." I've read this touching story and would recommend it to all.

Article from the MormonTimes.com, April 24, 2008.
http://mormontimes.com/WC_aroundChurch.php?id=966

It's here. It's finally here!

Taylin fell and hit her mouth and teeth pretty bad one day in a hotel on vacation when she was 2 years old. When she was 4, the dentist had to pull three of the teeth because they had died (yes, teeth can die). Really, only two teeth needed to be pulled, but she would have been left with one of her two front teeth and a space on each side (often times called a snaggle tooth) and we didn't want that so three teeth were gone...

We wondered how long she would be missing her three teeth...

The two front teeth did come in, somewhere around age 6...

And last week, I noticed the third and final tooth is coming in. Yeah! We have waited a long time for this. She is just shy of turning 8 years old!

Kaylie has peculiar habits.

Habit #1

She has an uncontrollable urge to make pillow beds where ever she goes. If there is something soft and/or puffy, she will turn it into bed, either for her stuffed animals or sometimes herself. Here is just a sampling for about a weeks worth - there is definately, at least, one new bed everyday somewhere in the house!

(Notice stack of books pictured above!)

(Sometimes Tanner and Taylin join in.)

She will also ask to take as many animals as I will allow with her into the car, but she has learned that they will not go into stores, or school, or dance, or where ever we go. Sometimes she will buckle them in her seatbelt "to keep them safe" while she is away and she often asks me to take care of them while she is gone to school.

As noted in the last picture, on occasion, she is also known to tie things up using, again, whatever means have been given her - a rope, an elastic, a string, a slinky, I mean whatever!

Habit #2

We have several Book of Mormons on a shelf (one for each of us for scripture study and then an few extra, one in Vietnamese for Huy's casual reading!) that Kaylie will carry with her around the house. Often times they will belong to the stuffed animals beds (pictured above). I can put them away on the shelf where they belong for a time, but as she "passes by them," she will begin to carry them around again. This is a constant battle with all of the above obessions - she gets it out, she makes a bed for it, I put it away, she forgets about it for a time, she gets reintroduced to it for some reason or another, she makes a bed for it, and I put it away again until the next time, usually a day or two later (if I'm lucky)!

(Reading from the Book of Mormon)

All very peculiar!

Congratulations Linh!

Twilight is the correct answer!
I owe you a candy bar or something big for enjoying my last post and figuring it out! I just had to share my only connection to the book, and soon-to-be-movie.... T W I L I G H T! It almost makes me want to read it myself!

But for those who are interested, they are filming the movie for it in Oregon, my homeland. It's acutally being filmed at that house (previous post) and in areas around the town of St. Helens, which is where my sister lives. She says she passes by that house most days on her way to her daughter's school. There have been crews there for several weeks now and some of my sister's friends have been scoping it out regularly. They actually met (and had pictures taken with) the girl who will be playing Bella and a few others. They were able to walk through the house before any of the actors arrived and saw that decorators had been there setting the house up with pictures and artifacts that pertain to the story (picture of Bella's drawing in previous post).

So for those of you who are fans, I just thought you might want to know these few tidbits!

Do these mean anything to anyone???

Clue #1 Pictures taken in St. Helens, Oregon.

Clue #2 Pictures are from a movie set.

Clue #3 I am not a fan, but you may be.

Let me know if you have answers for me or want in on more details about "my connection!" (Thanks to my sister, Tammy.) Just thought some of you might be interested.

Kaylie Kaylie Bo Baylie

There are a few choice words and phrases that I've been needing to write down before I forget. These are some of our favorites...

"Back and fort"

"Dear Heavenly Fodder"

"But I do."

(This one needs a bit of explanation - She is very quick to say "no" to most everything, and I hope this is because she is four and that it will change, but then sometimes she changes her mind, like girls can, and she says it and drags it out. Gotta hear it to get the full effect.)

"Sheshell"

And I'm sure there have been others, but I can't seem to think of them now. I should know that I need to write them down when she says them! Darn she is cute!