To say it was a humbling experience would be an understatement. It’s amazing to see what the body and mind could do. The most amazing thing for me is the unconditional support from my amazing husband. I would be a fool if I said I haven’t noticed how awesome he is until now, but when you’ve been running for hours, you can’t help but think. Even he was thinking. Around mile 10 (the last 3 miles were definitely the hardest), Mike asked me, “Did you ever think we would do this together when we were in high school?” I just laughed, “I didn’t think we’d date or get married or HAVE TWINS!” Looking at everything we’ve accomplished together, I have to say I couldn’t have done it or enjoyed as much as I have if it wasn’t with you. Thank you for always believing in me, in us. I love you.

Will we be doing it again? I hope so. Right now I’m still recovering from the soreness of Sunday’s race but ideally I’d like to do it again and beat our time!

The pathetic results:

5 Km:	42:44 Pace: 13:46
10 Km:	1:29:55 Pace: 14:29
7.5 Mi:	1:51:55 Pace: 14:56

13.1 Mi Finish: 3:33:22 Pace: 16:17

(At least there’s no where to go but up! LOL)

Several weeks ago, Mike told me, Tina and Bao not to buy any merchandise and that he will be planning an evening for us to all go watch Hunger Games together. This made all three of us pretty giddy.

On the day we were going, Mike took the day off work to surprise us. When the three of us got home, we walked into a beautiful dinner of lamb stew (straight from the book) and parachutes he made with gifts from our sponsors. LOL. The best part is as he served us food/drinks, he would read an excerpt from the book that gave him the idea for our meal. I love my husband. LOL.

We dropped the kids off at Grandma’s and went to the theater WAY too early and ended up order drinks, oyster shots and calamari. And he paid for everything. What a good date.

The move was great – book was better of course but I was not disappointed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPio99x6jLA[/youtube]

Me: “Brooke, can I help you with that?”
Brooke: “NO! I want Daddy to help me!”
Me: “Why? Why can’t I help you?”
Brooke: Angrily she yells at me, “Because he’s my BEST FRIEND!”

Um, okay. I’m not going to get in the way of BFFs. So I told Mike to come help her.

BTW, he LOVES this. He is always referring to himself as Brooke’s best friend now.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrzvJ7pImWc[/youtube]

The kids wanted to visit YY and Nana on Thursday night, so I took them after school. Nana made us homemade com ga (chicken with rice), thit kho tau (braised pork) and pho ga (chicken noodle soup). She packed some for us and I brought it home. When I asked Mike what he wanted to do, he said, “PACK IT!” Hahaha. It turned out to be an awesome idea because it was delicious up there in the snow.

Friday, February 24 2012

We packed that night and woke up bright and early. We planned on leaving at 5am but in true Lam fashion, we didn’t leave until 5:45am. On our way through the 241 toll road, Aidan kept saying, “It’s so smokey.” I had to explain to him what fog was.

We were getting pretty close to Vegas when Brooke announced, “Daddy, I need to go potty.” Mike told her to wait. I’m starting to get very stressed and tried to explain to Mike that Brooke is not good at holding it. In the middle of me talking to Mike, Brooke yelled out, “Daddy, I need to go NOW.” Mike pulled over into South Pointe and we knew that a walk into the casino to a bathroom is going to be too late. He took out the portable training potty we took for emergencies like this, lined it with an old diaper and had her sit on it in the parking lot! She went instantly. We wrapped up the diaper and threw it away. Genius. No mess, no fuss.

We made it to Paris to try their buffet since Mike had a $25 gift card to any Harrah’s establishment and it was recommended by Mike’s coworker, Karen. After brunch, we took the kids over to M&M world. This is the highlight of their trip. Being a true Asian mom, I packed small bags of M&Ms from home to give them so we didn’t have to pay the inflated prices of M&M world and to use as bait to get them OUT of M&M world. Worked like a charm!

We stopped by Wal-mart near St. George, Utah to pick up remaining groceries before hiding away in our Brianhead condo. Nothing eventful happened here…except the lady giving me kudos for teaching Brooke to wash her hands before she pointed out the lady that just left did not wash hers. Ew.

Once we arrived at the condo, we joined the Meisters for dinner where the kids played while the parents ate and talked. The Meisters’ condo had bunk beds, which the twins have never seen before, and they had a great time playing hide n seek as well as climbing up and down the bunk beds. An unfortunate incident that happened lead to a very long night for Mike when Aidan slipped off the stairs and fell off the bunk bed. Poor kid kept us up all night worried since he would throw up every 2 hours. So many variables here when it comes to Aidan! #1. Aidan’s very sensitive, so it could be altitude sickness #2. Aidan ate his share and Brooke’s share in brownies and he usually does not eat that much sweets #3. Aidan has a concussion from his fall and this is what we were trying to prepare for. Poor Dad got the nearest hospital mapped on his phone and just kept watching him all night…this is after waking up at 5am and driving to Utah. It was a long night.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Aidan woke up normal, happy and himself. Looks like it was either #1 or #2 on our list of possible ailments. Poor Mike and I were of course exhausted. Brooke was super excited because we told her the night before that when she wakes up, she gets to play in the snow. She woke up, look at me (since we shared a bed) and says, “Play in snow now?!” So after breakfast, we geared them up and pulled them to the general store where I had to buy the Brianhead Berry Pie…the last one…hallelujah! We played with them for a good 3 hours and got in and got our fat on…snacks, snacks, snacks! Mike discovered that he really liked to eat s’mores cooked under the broiler. Haha. Because of how tired we were and the fact that our condo came with Freedom passes, we did not go boarding this day. We just hung out and spent a lot of quality family time together. We taught the kids how to build domino structures as well as showing them the Domino effect. Mike read the Steve Jobs book with passion by summarizing each chapter as he finishes. The kids enjoy things they never could at home. A flat screen in their room, popcorn in bed, etc. They decided they wanted to share a bed that night and that’s find with us! It was a good night’s sleep.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

We woke up, got geared up and played in the snow again. This time, I wore the freedom pass and reluctantly went snowboarding by myself. I just had to do it. I could not rationalize the shame of having to tell people that I did not go. So I went and it took a lot of courage but I’m glad to say that I did it and I did not fall or hurt myself. Yay. I don’t think I enjoy it that much anymore and told Mike that I’m up for ski lessons next year. Those skiers look a lot less stressed than I do. Mike went and boarded for a couple of hours while I hung out with the kids. We spent another peaceful evening full of quality time and food, thanks to packing some pho my mom made on Thursday night. Woohoo.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Ready to go home! As we were packing to leave, the must ridiculous thing happened. Mike could not unlock the closet with our snowboards in it! I was so frustrated and just said, “Stick a credit card in there.” not thinking it would work…but surprisingly, IT DID! Woohoo! We can go home. We made less stops on the way back and made it home in record time. The kids were amazing there and back. We didn’t even need to break out the DVD player. They sang songs, talked, pointed out things as they saw them from the car. It was pretty much the roadtrip I imagined I’d have with my kids.

Another successful and fun family trip done!

I can easily come up with excuses about how busy life has been and how little free time I have had, but nothing excuses me for losing sight of the most important things in my life; the ones that I love. You are the ones who have been there for me to make me laugh when I was sad, to lift me up when I fell down, and to stand by me when no one else would. To love me unconditionally and that is all one man can ever ask for.

Starting a family, managing a household, and dealing with tight work schedules are all part of everyone’s life. We stand on stage running from scene to scene trying not to forget our lines and making sure we hit our cues, but we often neglect the people backstage who support us. Behind the scenes, our loved ones have always made sure the play went on and all too often, they never see the applauds they so deserved.

I don’t know all the lessons my children will learn in life, but I hope the one lesson that they will keep close to their heart is that one should never take their loved ones for granted. Your loved ones will be the light that guides you through the darkest times and the blanket that keeps you warm through the coldest nights. Always appreciate the great gift that you have been given no matter what else happens around you because they will always be there for you.

On this Valentine’s Day,
A person who has lost track of his priorities

Let me start off with: I love Pinterest. I got this idea from Pinterest and knew I had to make them for the kids to give out on Valentine’s day. The Montessori they go to have a very strict sugar rule…as in, no sugar on school property. I found these to be perfect and decided to make them for the kids.

I also played around with colors to make a “boy version” for Aidan:

Here they are ready for school! (20 for each classroom):