Goodbye 2007! Hello 2008!

How exciting! It's going to be 2008 in less 7 hours!!! I can't believe I'm writing my very last post for the 2007...hahaha

Happy New Year Everybody!!! : )

I don't really have any plans for celebrating the new year tonight. I guess going to Taipei 101 and shouting for the new year countdown with the crowd can be an option.But I'd rather stay home and watch the countdown and fireworks on TV because just thinking for the next 4 or 5 hours after the countdown,you'll be stuck in Taipei with the rest of hundreds of thousands of people there and can't move or go anywhere...that'd suck. And also, I think I'm getting too old for that,too...

I'm going to give Adam and Rainny a big HUG and KISSES tonight when the clock turns 12:00am. I guess that will be my way of celebrating the new year! Hahaha...^0^

Little Rainny Gone Wild...

Last Saturday afternoon, we were taking some family pictures for Christmas outside the restaurant. Rainny was up first. We put her down on the grass (oh,she was so excited to get down)and she started playing and making faces. She was having so much fun! Then...

She started lifting up her dress...like this
Hahaha...Funny Rainny! : )

She put it down..
.
And,she lifted it up again...

And,she put it down again...
She did this for about 10 times I guess...heehee

Later after she got tired of playing with her dress,she moved on to her white boots...

Rainny looks like a Santa's little cheerleader
"Goooooooooo,Santa!"

After the boots,she found a dry leaf she can play with...
I guess Rainny always can find something she can play with : )

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

We're so blessed to have so many good friends and two really wonderful families in both Utah and Taiwan. Thank you so much for all of your love and care and friendship!
We love and miss each and every one of you!

Best wishes for all of you! : )

Heavenly Father gave Adam and I the best Christmas gift this year -Rainny!!!
We couldn't ask for a better gift. We're just so HAPPY and so BLESSED to have her join our little family and to spend this Christmas with her! She is such a joy! I can't imagine doing anything without her now... : )

I found this brand new Christmas outfit that comes with a hat,a dress,a diaper cover and a pair of white boots on the internet for a total of $8 US dollars. What a bargain! But the hat is a little bit too small for Rainny,so I made this Christmas Bow Band for her and it turns out great! It matches Rainny's Christmas outfit! : )

P.S. Let me know if anybody wants one for next year's Christmas! Hahaha...

Rainny's Christmas Gifts from Grandpa & Grandma Hislop! : )

This morning Adam took Rainny outside for a walk. Minutes late, they came back with a BIG package from America! It's our Christmas gifts from Adam's parents! Yeahhhhh!!! We were so excited and can't wait to open the package to see what's in there...hee

Rainny was helping Daddy unwrap the package...

Hmmm...let ms see what gifts Grandpa and Grandma Hislop gave me: some OREO cookies,a stocking full of American snacks,Daddy's favorite sunflower seeds(Daddy was so thrilled to see this one...haha), a greeting card from everyone with Grandpa,Grandma,Angie and Ginger's signatures on it and lots more! Thank you so much for these wonderful gifts and all of your love!

" We miss and love you all so much!!! "

Now Mommy and Daddy finally have some cool gifts they can put under their 4' tall Christmas tree.I can't wait to open mine on Christmas day!!! : )

Funny Rainny clapping her hands!

Rainny understands "clapping hands" in both Chinese and English! She's such a funny and happy baby in this video clip.

One of Rainny's favorite things to do recently is clapping her hands which she's just learned a couple days ago. Last week she started doing that a lot by hitting her two fists together.At first,Adam and I thought maybe she was doing some kind of signing like "ball" or "more" since we've been letting her watch the Signing Time DVDs. But the way she did it doesn't really look like she was doing either of the signs.

Rainny's little brain is like a sponge. I'm really surprised by how quick she learns new things. She is a fast learner! She started saying "Oh, (pause),oh" a month ago when Adam was trying to teach her to say that by saying "oh oh" and repeating that word whenever he dropped something. And she said "oh oh" the next day.

Rainny also understands a lot of the words we say to her now. When we tell her to give daddy or mommy a kiss,she would actually lean forward and open her mouth to give us a kiss. That really makes us laugh a lot! Haha! : )

I'm a GIRL! Not a BOY!

I had lunch in our restaurant with my family today. A new waitress who saw me pushing Rainny in a stroller came up and asked me,"Is it a boy or girl?"... and I was like ???...kinda surprised that she'd still ask me that question when Rainny was wearing PINK from head to toe!!! I mean,Rainny was so PINK that she was PINK all over!!!

I paused for a few seconds before I said "Mmmm...she is a girl!"

Actually, this isn't the first time it happened. There were SO many times in Taiwan that I was asked the same question when Rainny was wearing pink. Some people here even asked me if Rainny was a "boy" when she was wearing a DRESS and a HEADBAND!

The funny thing is that I remembered one time somebody asked me if boys can wear headbands like Rainny's...hahaha! I said,"Probably not! But,if you want him to grow up to be a sissy,maybe you can give it a try...haha"

Sometimes I just don't get these people. Are they color-blinded or just being completely ignorant?...hee...just joking! :p

I guess wearing pink isn't that obvious enough to tell girls apart from boys...
And people would probably still think Rainny is a boy as long as she still has short hair...ha! -__-'''

More pictures of Rainny! : )

Well, since I don't have much to write,I guess I can just put some funny pictures of Rainny on my blog...hahaha!

These pictures were taken over a week ago. One evening I was getting ready to do the laundry while Rainny was playing. As soon as she saw me putting down the laundry basket,she crawled over and wanted to climb up. So she pulled herself up to stand with both hands holding onto the side of the basket. Here she is...As I was watching her thinking what she was going to do next,she slowly let go one of her hands as if she was trying to touch or grab something on the floor...
She looked a little bit scared letting go of her hand. And of course,she wouldn't let go of both hands because she knew she'd fall...haha

Okay,she gave up...she went after Daddy's T-shirt instead! : )

Oh,oh,Rainny! You better not let Daddy find out...hee

" Send me to dry clean! "...hahaha...

I put little Rainny in the basket and she was so HAPPY! Looks like she liked it a lot...

Rainny on Baby & Mother magazine!

More than a month ago, I emailed some pictures of Rainny to a very popular baby magazine in Taiwan called Baby & Mother magazine just for fun. The next day,a lady who writes articles for the magazine called and asked us if we'd be interested in putting Rainny's pictures on her upcoming article featured in the November issue. And of course,we said "Yes!" : )

A couple of days later,we headed to a professional kid's portrait studio in Taipei called "Pandora" for the photo shoot. People there were just as good at making babies laugh as those at Kiddie Kandids in America. Rainny had some fun and got all the attentions she wanted and she seemed to enjoy...well,at least for a little while...haha! She started getting tired and fussy towards the end of the photo shoot.(I'm glad that the photo shoot only lasted 2 hours and not 5 or 6 hours...that'd be really tough for Rainny).We didn't get paid for this photo shoot,but we got some free magazine and FREE family portraits instead! I guess that's a pretty good deal considering how much it'd cost you for a professional family portrait nowadays...hee.

I like this little green chair Rainny was sitting on. They have tons of other cute props in the studio...

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Well,today is Halloween and it also means that I'm one year OLDER...yep,one year older...

We actually celebrated my birthday yesterday because Adam has to go to a church meeting tonight. Adam bought my favorite chocolate cake with hazelnuts on the top. The cake tastes sooooo delicious and yummy! Oh,so much better than those super sugary frosting cakes you buy at Wal-Mart and Albertsons...hee : )

If I can have as many wishes as I want,I'd probably only need one...
that is,"I wish all my dreams come true!"...hahaha! : )
I love my little family : )

Rainny is growing fast!

It still amazes me how fast babies grow and how fast they learn. A month and a half ago when we moved to Taiwan,Rainny could barely sit up by herself and now she's crawling everywhere! And now she can even pull herself up to a standing position while holding onto the furniture!

Sometimes we'd put her in her crib and let her play with her toys,but she seems more interested in checking to see what's going on outside the crib. Adam and I like to watch her standing inside her crib with her little head looking out...we think that's so cute. : )

Adam bought this wig for Halloween.But when I first saw it,I thought it was a skunk.Haha! Adam decided to try it on Rainny and see what Rainny would react.The white hair is supposed to be in the front,but we both felt it looked weird that way.So we turned the wig...

There you go...Rainny with a big afro!!!
HAHAHAHAHA!!!...we both burst into laughter when we saw this picture.The look on Rainny's face is way too FUNNY! : )

Saturday Family Fun

Saturday we went out to lunch at Skylark,one of our favorite restaurants in Taiwan. An average US$12 meal includes: appetizer(salad),soup,main entree, desert and drinks! And what's better? Tax is included and you don't need to give tips,too!! That's probably not something you can have for that price in American restaurants.

After lunch,we went to the Holiday Market and Adam was very excited to see this pirated DVD vender. We walked over there but couldn't find the person who sells the DVDs.We didn't realize it was self-service until we saw this jar in the middle with a couple hundred dollar bills.

Later we found out that there was actually a guy there but he didn't want people to know he was selling these DVDs(Well,as you know he'd be put to jail if he gets caught.)He acts like one of the customers and also to make sure that nobody takes DVD and run without paying...haha...that's clever!

We bought "Chuck & Larry","Shrek The Third","Rush Hour 3" and "Bourne Ultimacy"...but the picture quality of the first two aren't that good.Oh well,they are cheap... : )

As we walked around the market,we saw this guy wearing his "one-of-the-kind lobster" helmet.It's a real lobster! A dead one of course...hee.I can't help but to give him a thumbs-up for his creativity and courage to wear this helmet...hahaha : )

We bought Rainny a balloon and she loves it!!!

Cooking is not in my gene...

Pictures of the restaurant...










I love cooking,but just never got good at it. My mom is a very good cook,but somehow I didn't get that from her...hee.People would always assume that I must be good at cooking since my family owns a restaurant,but they're wrong...haha :p

I haven't cooked once after we moved here.My mom cooks for us most of the time.Sometimes if she doesn't feel like cooking,we'll either eat in our restaurant or eat out.

Running a restaurant in Taiwan is not easy because there are so many competitions(so many restaurants everywhere you go) and Taiwanese people are very picky about what that eat. My dad just fired the whole staff of chefs in September and they'd only worked in our restaurant for one month. I guess they were doing kind of bad and our restaurant had fewer customers coming to eat. Later,he hired new chefs and they're really good at what they do. You can easily lose your customers but so difficult to bring them back.

Our restaurant sells Dim Sum (Hong Kong appetizers) now. They are all made fresh every day!!! The chef is a Taiwanese but he makes very authentic Hong Kong Dim Sum. Yummy!

This is my lunch yesterday in our cafe. My favorite spaghetti with calamari(a little bit spicy but so yummy...) : )

In Loving Memory of Grandma Baugh...

Grandma Baugh, we miss you and will always remember your smile.

This morning Adam made a phone call to his Dad in Logan,wanting to know how everybody is doing there and then he told Adam that Grandma Baugh had just passed away today...

I was watching TV when Adam was on the phone with his Dad.After he hung up the phone,he lay down on the bed being extremely quiet, so I thought maybe he wasn't feeling well. I asked him "Honey,is everything okay?" He just kept silent for a few seconds,and then he told me with tears in his eyes that Grandma Baugh passed away. I was sad to hear that...

We miss Grandma Baugh a lot,but I know that she's in a better place with Heavenly Father now.
We're very glad that we took some pictures of Grandma Baugh and Rainny together when we went to see her in July. Rainny was very happy to meet her great grandma. Rainny probably couldn't remember meeting great Grandma Baugh,but when she grows up,she'll have these pictures to remember her by... : )

Saturday BBQ

Amanda and Benson invited us over to her friend's house for BBQ on Saturday in Chupei(竹北). And since her friend lives on the 8th floor(the highest floor in that apartment building), we get to have our BBQ on the rooftop,which is cool. It feels good overlooking the city and watching the view at night from the top of the building.

We had some fun that night, but Rainny didn't seem to like it as much as we did, so we had to leave early. :p

<-- Here is a picture of Adam enjoying his Popsicle.(Amanda and Benson got these super yummy Popsicles from Costco in Taipei.They taste really good!) Rainny got to taste a little bit,too!...yum... : )

Thank you Amanda and Benson for inviting us over and for your friendship! We want to wish Benson all the best luck with his military service. Hope everything works out for him well there.

Rainny is wearing a Halloween theme bib,a gift Amanda and Benson bought from the Disneyland in Tokyo. The bib looks funny on Rainny. : )
We want to take Rainny to Disneyland someday...I think it'll be much funner for her to go there when she can walk and talk. Ha!