Melany the character

         Melany is such a funny child. I think she gets her quirkiness from her father(or mama?). I don't know but what I do know is she comes up with the funniest things and does the silliest things. Life is never dull with our Melany. She adores books and playing on the church/shapes applications on the ipad. She is such a talker! I've lost count of how many words she can say and sign. She says some words in : Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English of course! She loves to dance and eat(I wonder where she gets that from?)

She continues to be very curious and we started to potty train her a month ago. She initiated the training and we are slowly getting her used to letting us know when she needs to go. We've had our share of "Bleachable" moments as well as joy from seeing our baby go to the restroom. I never thought how happy and proud I would feel over someone using the restroom!

        Melany is such a good example of the gospel. She likes to read  the "Book of Monan"(Mormon) and listen to primary music on the "Saputer"(computer). And she always makes us laugh when she points to her mommy and grandmother on the pictures at church of the Nephites/Lamanites.

Saying "Hi" in her Sunday dress

Trying on the hat Uncle Kevin sent her, and getting in to character!

Showing the before picture of  her couch we got from a garage sale

And the after results- a little bit of fabric can go a long way.

Hiding from us since we try to limit her ipad usage

We caught you sneaky Melany!

Training for a marathon- it's ups and downs

      I've been training for a marathon since March. I got myself back in shape and had planned on running in the Chosen Marathon at the end of this month. But since we had to move to our new house and unpack, my running days got really bad. I've always said my family and home comes first and I kept my word. I put aside the 4 to 5 times a week running during the moving and unpacking time and it affected my running.
    Three weeks ago, I started to get my groove back again but sadly started feeling pain in my left ankle. The pain started at my 7.5 mile run this Saturday and has come and go. I am going to a chiropractor today to see what is wrong with it. If my leg gets better, I will continue to train and run in the Austin marathon coming up in mid December. Training for this marathon is proving to be quite the challenge, both on my body and time that I don't have. The most I have ran on one of my distance day(Saturdays) is 12 miles.
    I am praying, and trying my best to accomplish this goal. The upside is after 3 years of wearing the same running shoes, I made myself get new Brooks running shoes. I am praying this will help my ankle pain as well. I continue to be determined and motivated to keep going!

Melany and mommy's new shoes

My views when I run

I love Melany's face as I put a flower on her head

Our first Air Force ball

Enoch took me to the Air Force ball this past Friday. We had a good time and had fun dressing up. It was nice to finally have a date night with each other. I personally enjoyed how handsome Enoch looked all dressed up. It was special to be a part of this birthday celebration with my Airman. On a side note, it was crazy to get ready after work and even crazier to accept that I FORGOT my mascara/make up bag at work! What a nightmare! I managed to keep my composure and still have a good time:) Oh and thanks to my friend Marissa for giving me the nice dress I wore at the ball:D

Melany fighting me to try on my wedding shoes

what a little diva!

The best part of the night: dessert

Home Tour

Since we've moved to our new house, we have dedicated a lot of our time after work and on weekends to our home. And now for some self-disclosure: Enoch and I are neat freaks, we hate having a messy, disorganized house. When time permits, we try to do what we can to have a clean home and have a "house of order." And believe it or not, Enoch does like to keep our house clean more than I do. Ah! What a dream come true.. A man who likes to organize/clean/work on our home with me!

  We have put away almost everything that was boxed but there is still one room we have to tackle, and that's our office/craft room! For now we are taking a break from organizing/unpacking since we have other things like family history, studying for our classes and training for a marathon :)

We still plan to change things around our house, but below are some pictures of what our home looks like from the inside for now. We plan on changing/adding some decor and possibly painting in the walls in the future. We are very happy with our home. It is a refuge and our happy place.

Our Melany modeling our new dining table

Our entry-way, the french doors lead to our office/craft room

Our living room

The princess's room

The king and queen's room

Memorial Day Walk at Medina River

*This is a late post because we are still organizing, training and working on our house. 

       On Memorial day we wanted to get away for a bit from all the unpacking and organizing for our home. We are workaholics and I felt it would be nice to give us a break from it all. The walk was short and sweet with some hills but overall, it was a very peaceful time to be with each other.

Our strawberry shortcake

Melany wanted to throw herself in the river

Fiesta Texas with Emily and Houston Trip

         We went to Fiesta Texas on Friday 8/23/13. We got there at around 4pm and the park closed at 6. Ah! But luckily, there was almost no one there since it was the last weekend where kids had off for back to school. Emily and I were amazed at how many rides we got on despite the time. It was so much fun and scary at times to get on those crazy rides. But Emily and I had a blast and it was so nice for me to spend some time with Emily.

        The next day we headed to Houston, Texas to visit our grandma, Cecilia. She is staying with my aunt for a while and they wanted to see Emily before she went back to California. We saw our grandma and then headed with my cousin, Mynor and his wife, to Kemah beach. We were exhausted afterwords but happy we could visit with our family whom we usually don't get to see that often.

With my cousin Mynor and his family

Visiting our grandma at work

My 27th Birthday

   
 This 27th birthday was a pretty unique one. One of my dreams in life was to own my first home before age 30. This birthday came six days after we bought our house. What a blessing, and a dream come true. More importantly is that I was able to have my sister, husband and daughter by my side to celebrate it.
    My day started by taking a quick 3 mile run with my hubby, which we don't often get to do as we always have to push Melany on the stroller. When we got back home, Melany woke up and sang "Happy Birthday" to me in the early morning. And for some reason, this made me utterly happy, I felt so much joy and happiness to hear my baby wish me a happy birthday. Her "And  a birthday to you" rendition was one of the highlights of my day. She sang that song over and over to me until I left for work. At work, my co-workers were nice enough to get me a balloon outside my office, and gave me a lovely cake and cards. Even my patients were wishing me a happy birthday.
     After work, the fun started. Emily, Melany, Enoch and I headed to my favorite type of restaurant, a Brazilian steakhouse. We laughed so much and of course, my sweet Melany kept singing "And a birthday to you!"

Posing with the best b-day gift ever!

Don't mind Melany, she was ready to go home

My Coldstone cake, Yummy!(it took us 1 week to finish it:)

Going to bed after a great day with my singing queen