Next week...

One week from today I will turn 30 AND I will be lying on a beach in Hawaii!
Thirty doesn't seem so scary mostly because around here I'm called the "baby". I'm the youngest in Aaron's family, I'm the youngest of our friends. Maybe if I was home where I grew up, with all my family and friends I would feel more upset about turning the big 3-0 since I would be among the first. As it is I don't feel so bad, I'll definitely miss my 20's, I'm sure it will be one of the most memorable decades in my life. However, I'm told your 30's is where it's at and it gives me a great excuse to do something a little bit more extravagant for my birthday.
Our world 30 years ago (1979):
Average cost of a house- $58,100
Average cost of a gal of gas- $0.86
Margaret Thatcher elected prime minister in UK
USSR invades Afghanistan
Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania
Sony introduces the first walkman for $200 (makes me wonder how much ipods will be 30 years from now).
Snowboard was invented.
Quiz game Trivial Pursuit is launched.
Popular movies- Superman, Alien, Rocky II
Popular music- Blondie "Heart of Glass" Gloria Gaynor "I will Survive"

Me at 8:

Me at 18:

Me at 28:


HMMMM 38???

Most important meal of the day.

Mmmm! Breakfast. I love breakfast. I love big heaping breakfasts and simple sweet breakfasts. I love pancakes, french toast, waffles, muffins, donuts, scones, danish, fruit plates, cereal, hash browns, bacon, sausage, biscuits, toast, and bagels. I love when my bacon falls into my syrup, what an awesome combination. I love when my kids have stuffed themselves so full of pancakes that their faces smell like syrup all day.
One very common breakfast dish that does get in my way is eggs. BLECH! I don't like eggs in any way, shape or form. They are on the top of my worst food list along with peas. Other than that breakfast makes my day. I'll lay in bed some nights thinking about how big of a breakfast I would like to make in the morning-last night was one of those nights, hence this post. I love making breakfast and usually I don't really like to cook. We have breakfast for dinner at least once a month too. The smell of breakfast is especially yummy, sweet and savory at the same time. Not only do I love making breakfast, but I love going out to breakfast. When someone suggests it, I jump all over that opportunity. One of my favorite places for breakfast is Mimi's Cafe. We just discovered a new place called Pilgrims Kitchen & Bakery. It has wonderful danishes, donuts, pies and hot cocoa.
Most mornings I end up with toast and chocolate milk, but I sure do look forward to the weekends when I know I'll have time to make a least a little something extra.

Bad economy?

Sorry, I'm coming up for air the first time in a while. I finished Jane Eyre and LOVED it! I finished Wuthering Heights and I still strongly dislike it. I also read through the Twilight series, 4 books in 4 days. They were very entertaining. While I enjoyed the series, creatively it doesn't hold a candle to Harry Potter.
So anyway, on my mind as of late is this bad economy that's rippling out all over the world. Why is that though, every time I go to Target, the grocery store or to the mall there is no parking and check out lines are really long??? Every time I listen to the news I hear about another store going bankrupt, people spending less, and crashing stock prices. While I hear about it, I'm not necessarily seeing it as much. I know it's not good for me to think this, but I would love to steer my cart freely through a store without having to weave in and out of all the other shoppers or pull right in to a front row spot at the store because people actually are going out less. It's not that I'm really hoping for everything to crash, but just being so overwhelmed by all the bad economical news I don't notice any differences. Do you?

Two year old, 2Day!

One of my greatest life lessons, one of the loves of my life was born two years ago today. Noah Aaron Shong arrived after my longest and most painful labor at 10:13 am on February 5, 2007. Just in case you forgot he was actually named Tanner Aaron until he was one month old. We've known him as nothing but Noah for the past 23 months though, even thinking about calling him Tanner sounds weird. He has given us much joy, a little pain, and a lot of love in two years. This time last year, he couldn't walk, didn't talk, and loved to be held. Now he runs everywhere, he is our best talker to date, however he still LOVES to be held. He loves to cuddle, he has a fun spirit and a little spunk if you try and take anything from him. He has a good soul. Even with all the stuff he gets into, there's just something about him that makes us feel like he is going to be a really good person. He resembles his father greatly which causes Aaron to have a "soft spot" for him. He loves making people laugh and laughing at them in return. The best thing in life for him right now is a game of tag or monster with his brother and sister. We just love him so much! Happy Birthday Noah!!

Noah at two:

Kai at two:

Mia at two:

By the way, people tell me Kai and Noah look alike, and I don't think they could look much different! What do you think?