Update: September 2008

Lately we've been kind of boring...and well, busy and tired with everything going on. School started back for the both of us August 25th. My class has a handful of eight-ten year olds and Daniel is enjoying life at Great Basin College (for now). For our anniversary I got us Settlers of Catan...THE GREATEST GAME EVER! And I've been making Daniel and some of our friends play it over and over and over again! I love the game, although I think Daniel is tiring of it. It's fun to win...but he's been doing that more than I have. =( But anyhow, For our Anniversary last month we got to go to LOVE-Cirque Du Solel (spelling?). It was so great! I just LOVE the Beattles! We had a really good time and relaxed in Las Vegas before we took off to Michigan for a week.

When we were in Michigan we went tubing down the Betsy River. It was so beautiful! We ate at interesting places like the "Cherry Hut." We even had the chance to kayak down the Platt River and then see Lake Michigan! It was very overcast and windy that day, but it was SO beautiful! We even searched for Potosky stones in the freezing cold air. We had a great time being away and I've never seen so many trees in my entire life!

Well...besides our trip to Michigan and LOVE, we have been procrastinating our projects at home and now they are piling up in the garage. The other day Daniel took out the trash and saw 7 black widows hanging out by his car! Anyhow, I'm off, Daniel has finally agreed to play Settlers with me! Love ya'll!

Flaming Gorge Trip- July 2008

Fly Fishing Trip

Angelina, my sister, invited me on a fly fishing trip to the Green River in Flaming Gorge National Park. It was so amazing and beautiful!! We went on a boat down the river and our guide, Darren, gave us instructions on where to cast our line, when to knead it, when to let out line, etc. It was soooo amazing!!

The picture of me on the boat really is a picture of both my sister and I, however it keeps cutting my sister off. Anyhow, she has this really great smile (a totally fake one) because she wanted to get going and catch a zillion fish, while people wanted to take pictures. It really is a great shot. =)

The picture with me and the fish is such a funny picture because when I first went fishing in Kelseyville, CA and took a picture with it, it looks very similar to this one.

It was a great trip, my dad caught the biggest fish, I believe it was over 24 inches. My sister caught some big ones...and well...I had caught a big one, but being the inexperienced fisherwoman that I am, when I should have let the beast "run" up river, I didn't and it snapped the sucker off! It took the fly and and ripped my line! It was a big beautiful Brown. I don't know how big it was, but I imagine it was probably comparable to my dad's.

The whole experience of fly fishing on the boat was great!! At first I was really nervous because the FIRST time I cast a fly fishing pole I caught my mom's leg. YIKES! I thought I would hurt someone since we were on a 3 person boat, but shockingly my sister, the pro fisher, was the first to catch anyone--me!! She caught me in the thigh, but later I got her back by accidentally hooking her life jacket. YIKES!

The fishing part of the trip was amazing! I got the hang of casting and could eventually aim my line wherever Darren told me to throw it and I got soo many bites!! I also missed a lot (didn't set them soon enough). I think the fish were at 45 and I was at 23. 45 vs. 23....not bad for a first timer! We didn't keep them though, it was catch and release. It was so much fun, as soon as my fly hit the water it seems like they were biting! And I had on my polarized lenses, so I would see the whole thing! When they would just look at the fly it would drive me crazy!! I was thinking, 'Just bite it already!!'

When I wasn't fishing, my mom and I were hanging out at the Spring Creek Ranch Bed and Breakfast. We hiked around, enjoyed the rain, watched a fire start and end, fed the horses, read, talked, and ate a ton. It was so much fun and so RELAXING!

Anyhow, if you haven't tried fly fishing, you really should. It is AMAZING!!!

What a Day...

Life without Daniel is getting too boring to handle. Today I was going to go to Las Vegas with Eric and Amanda to do some shopping, etc. They decided they wanted to watch Dark Knight while they were there too, so now I'm not going because I told Daniel I'd watch it with him when I go to Elko...So instead I woke-up, went running with Simba, returned home and vacuumed the downstairs for a few hours, cleaned the kitchen, ate a few cookies, stained one layer of the color I didn't want onto the dresser I spent two days sanding, and now I'm sitting here...being bored and disappointed about the stupid dresser. SO NOT FAIR.

Michael is on Photo #3....

...he's by far the most attractive of the 12. Hooray for Michael! He even has a girl writing on his shirt! How funny!!

http://batgwa.com/story.php?id=983

Mr. Hong Kong Contestant #12

Here's another one, only this time he's smiling!! =) He's Contestant #12. He's looking good!

http://batgwa.com/story.php?id=988

Michael In The News!!

The Mr. Hong Kong Contest has begun and Michael is in Hong Kong. This is the first photo I've found of him online!! How exciting!! I just hope he smiles in the next pictures =)

Go here to check him out:
http://www.batgwa.com/story.php?id=980

Catching Up With Daniel

So Daniel read OUR blog the other night and decided it was more of MY blog than ours. So I'll fill you in on what he's up to, since He's not writing. =P

Recently he hurt his back at the fire station. He was looking like a girl with scoliosis for a while because the muscle spasms were so bad that they were pulling his spine to its natural curve. His scoliosis went away, but then he had pain all through his leg! YIKES!!

So after many visits to the doctor, he has been recommended to an orthopedic surgeon. THIS IS NOT A GOOD SIGN!! But he was allowed to see a chiropractor, who helped him feel a LOT better. Things are looking better. Although, He says he might have to go work in dispatch, instead of being out in the field fighting fires. He's sad about that because he really loves to firefight. It seems He loves doing anything dangerous. Hopefully he'll be up and running around and able to be out on the field. Keep him in your prayers and maybe he'll be up and better sooner than later!

So that's the scoop on Daniel. =D I'll keep you better posted about him.

My Favorite Quote!!

Our Greatest Fear

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous?

Actually who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fears,
our presence automatically liberated others.

-Marianna Williamson

Kung Fu Panda and Other Things...

The most recent movie I've seen was Kung Fu Panda. And I LOVED IT! My favorite character had to be Mantis. I mean, he's the size of your hand, maybe smaller and he can hold a rope with five other characters on it! Plus he's just cool! Well, my friend and I have been trying to collect all five from the McDonald's Happy Meals. The only success we've had has been to collect four Master Tigress' figurines. I think my luck might be changing, because I heard that today they now have MANTIS!! :) HOORAY!!!

In all my excitement, I was juicing about a dozen oranges. I didn't pay attention to the amount of juice that had filled the container, because all of a sudden orange juice is pouring all over the counter!! It was a horrible mess, to make things worse, ONE fly sneaked into the house on the tail of my dog and it was BUZZING around my head!

But there is some good news, my home is almost completely clean!!! The summer deep cleaning is nearing the end. I cleaned up the orange juice, and I am now organizing my craft room. Then I have to wipe off the disgusting blinds, assemble our guest bed, and TA-DA! FINISHED! So much has been going on. But for now I'm off, off to run and prepare for the Disney 5k!! :)

Love you all!!

All Cleaned-Out...

SO I've cleaned and cleaned and organized...and now I can't go anymore. It's almost as though I've lost all inspiration to go on and clean-up the rest of it. I have one room and my closet left! But there is so much stuff I need to get rid of...BLACH! I'm going to eat a tasty snack and when I'm done, I'll trudge on. That's what cleaning is all about anyhow, right? Just trudging on.

I'm still a little taken back with the idea that some people out there ACTUALLY LIKE TO CLEAN! Who likes to clean? Who despises it as much as I? I'm going to take a poll...VOTE!

Dog Sitting: Part 2

It was all too simple, now that I think about it. She's been baiting me. Giving me a false sense of security. Then--WAM! She's naughty! That little gray dog may LOOK cute and innocent, but there is NOTHING cute and innocent about her.

At this moment I could care less if Bella choked on the rawhide hanging from her mouth.

I opened the door to take out the trash and check the mail and ZOOM! out she goes. Simba follows after her. Usually Simba is well behaved around our apartment, but when you throw a female dog into the mix of things...you can never be too sure if your dog will listen to you. And that is exactly what happened.

This is what happened next: They were both darting all around the apartments. I was chasing them and screaming for them to come back. Simba came to me, but before I could grab him, Bella took off! I missed and he took off after her. She raced across oncoming traffic! Simba raced acrossed oncoming traffic! And all the while I was screaming who knows what!? Our neighbor, Omar, came outside to see what the commotion was, RIGHT as Simba came flying back across the street....

Then everything went into slow-motion. A navy blue Dodge Durango was slowing...but not slow enough. BAM! The back of Simba was hit! He didn't cry out like I thought he would. He just cowered and looked at the Durango as if it had just sprayed him with a spray bottle (He FEARS, I mean F-E-A-R-S the squirt gun as if it were some person going to hit him). He didn't move, just looked. Another car was coming fast, I called for him at the top of my lungs and he ran across the street before anything else could stop him.

My first impression about Bella was obviously WRONG.

Testing...Testing...1, 2, 3...

I'm just experimenting with our blog.  Did you know that somehow you can email stuff to your blog!!  Well, we will see...if you are reading this now, it's possible! 

Blogger Pro Now.... ;)

So I spent most of the morning erasing my blog completely (accidentally), to figuring out I didn't erase it! (just changed a template and made everything look like it was gone), to feeling so confused and wanting to give up, to figuring out HOW to finally post a slideshow from photobucket.com and not get some HUGE picture on my blog!! Yay, I almost have a real blogspot! Hooray for me!! *pat on back*

Planning My Hong Kong Trip

And the next Mr. Hong Kong is.....Michael Tsu!!! Well...that's what I'm hoping for!

Right now Ang and I are trying to arrange our trip to Hong Kong for my brothers 'Mr. Hong Kong Pageant.' The pageant is Aug. 2, 2008. I am so excited, especially since I was supposed to go to H.K. with my family two summers ago, but couldn't because of school. So now I'm even more stoked about this trip because I haven't been to H.K. since I was 6 or 7!

I am a little scared though...especially since my Cantonese sucks!! I am looking for my Cantonese CD's so I can brush up on my language. I hope I brush up quick! I don't want my family in H.K. to think I'm SUCH a twinkie...even though I am. And I certainly don't want to embarrass my mom, sister, and myself!

This whole trip has really made me reflect on my culture and how much of it I actually lack. I'm going to try to learn more about it and try to get back into Cantonese. Language really is everything to a culture. I really hope that when we have kids my parents will be able to teach them Cantonese...and maybe even I will be able to help in that teaching process.

Anywho, wish me luck!

I'M A FIRST TIME BLOGGER

So for all of you regular bloggers out there, this is confusing! And for everyone like me-good luck to you!

I must say I consider myself pretty tech savy, but when I'm trying to set all this stuff up, trying to add pictures, and figure out where I am on the internet...BOY I AM LOST!

But I'm trying hard and I will succeed!! So all you friends and family, support me in my struggle, and read up on our lives when you can (especially since I'm doing this for you!). I hope this will be a way for us to keep in closer touch. We love you!

Dog Sitting:Part 1

So I am dog-sitting for my dad. He has a CRAZY little Weimaraner. She is very, very cute, but has the STRANGEST personality. She does NOT like people. However, the entire time she has been here she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to be near me! She will even come up to me and paw my leg. When I look at her, her tail wags vigorously from side to side, side to side, waiting for me to pet her. It's been so amusing.

The first night she was dropped off, we left to get something to eat and put the dogs in the backyard. When we came back Bella was running around the house and Erik and Amanda thought I had been killed on a walk with the dogs. Luckily the dog just jumped the fence.

I've been waiting for her to eat something expensive. My parents warned me to put up anything she can chew on. Well, I've been summer cleaning and have huge boxes of things in our living room, for a garage sale, and she hasn't eaten a thing!

She is loving to hang out with Simba (our Rhodesian Ridgeback). They have a dog-rivalry though. She can't eat first, and WAITS for him to eat what he wants, then she will go to the bowls and eat what is left! I tried feeding them both at the same time, at different places, but Simba only intimidates her and the poor dog's ears are so low (this shows that Simba is dominant over her).

All in all, it's been ok, except that Erik, Amanda, and I took them running and Bella couldn't seem to run straight and nearly killed Amanda! Hahaha, who knows what else might happen...we'll see...

Summer Cleaning 2008...

This summer my goal has been to really deep clean our apartment. It's been fun and crazy...and I already knew I had a lot of stuff, but now I'm really learning that I need to GET RID of stuff. I just need to say that I am amazed with all the people who have immaculate homes. And one day I hope to be like them. Wish me luck!