Walking?

Preston has started taking steps, I am not sure you can really call it walking yet. He will stand up and take a few steps before he falls down. I think he has gone 8 steps or so, so he is doing pretty well. David made an interesting observation; he always seems to make it within two steps of his goal and then he falls down just before he reaches his destination. Maybe it is the excitement of getting somewhere that makes him fall? Preston and Allie are having a bit of trouble getting along at the moment. They both want the toy the other one has. Allie is very possessive about her toys and according to her all toys are "her" toys. We'll keep working on that. It is good for them to learn to share at home because our nursery is CRAZY and I don't think they learn much about sharing there. That may be where Allie has learned to be so possessive.

Slacker

OK, I know I have been a slacker lately, but I promise I will never get as bad as Gpa and Pete! I get tired of looking at the same ol' thing on their blog. I finished Eragon a week or so ago. I don't pick up fantasy without good recommendations because it is not my favorite genre, although I usually like it once someone convinces me to try it. I enjoyed Eragon until the very end. I think a more mature author would have wrapped up a few more loose ends at the end of the first book. This author didn't tie up any ends, he just leaves you hanging for the next book. I am not sure I really want to read the next one because I don't want to be left hanging until he gets the third one done. Shane, at least JK Rowling doesn't leave this much undone at the end of her books. I would read Harry Potter over Eragon anytime. I need someone to tell me if Eldest is worth my time or should I wait for the end of the trilogy and read the others at the same time?

All is much better on the homefront here. Ya=ping is still not 100% but she is doing much better. She should be going back to the doctor in the next week or two and they will try to figure out what is making the stones form. Then they will adjust her diet or whatever to help eliminate the problem. David is also supposed to go pick up some blood work results so he can send them off to Paul to peruse. We are so lucky to have such a selfless Dr. in the family to listen to all of our moans and complaints.

New Roof and a name

This has been a busy weekend. The High Priests quorum (aka old men) came and helped us put on a new roof. They worked about 6 hours on Saturday after several hours from Mark, Rick and Steve Moosman (the expert) on Friday. It is done and looks good. It is so nice to have so many people willing to help. It made light work of an otherwise very long project.

The most exciting thing for me this weekend is that Allie finally decided to say Grandma. Everyone else has had a name except me. Ya-ping is still GaGo but everyone else has their real name now.

Ya-ping is not doing too well health wise. Please add her to your prayers. She had another sound wave thing to smash kidney stones and is now passing all those stones. OUCH! Between the pain and the medicine she hasn't been able to keep any food down since Friday. They are planning on going back to Taiwan in December for the nine months before grad school. They are looking into a Visa for Dave so he can work there. It will be hard to have them so far away for so long, but her family has lived with it all this time. David's current plans are to apply to SanDiego, MIT, and Rochester, NY for grad school. All of those are far away, but fun to visit.

Conference

I loved conference last week. It made me feel guilty about not taking the Prophet's challenge to read the Book of Mormon as seriously as I should, so I have vowed to do better. I have been reading 2 or 3 chapters a day in hopes of catching up. Mark and I are just finishing First Nephi together and I am in the middle of Second Nephi by myself. Mark has been reading with me and by himself as well so he is far ahead of me. It is so nice to have children who set a good example for you.

Home Again!

This has taken me a couple of days to post. Tuesday I just didn't have time and everytime I tried yesterday the blogs were down. Ya-ping and Preston came home Monday. Ya-ping was still feeling pretty tired and weak so I flew to LA to help her with that layover. She had to go through customs alone but the airlines were very helpful. I entertained Preston for a little while, we ate at McDonald's in the airport and we came home. Ya-ping and Preston both slept all the way home. It will take a while for them to adjust to Utah time. They both slept most of the day yesterday so it was a long, sleepless night last night. We are just going to have to keep Preston up as much as possible today to help him get rescheduled. The funny part was that he slept 11 hours straight yesterday and he NEVER does that. He doesn't usually sleep more that 3 or 4 hours at a time. Ya-ping feels a little better every day. She went to the doctors yesterday so they can do the follow up. Preston has learned to blow kisses and clap. He can be a very happy, smiley little guy and when he is upset he can be very persistant and loud. He is a delight!

Allie

Allie is all of a sudden talking very well. Her speech is not totally clear but when you really listen you can usually tell what she is saying. She loves her Uncle Mark and says his name about 100 times a day. She sometimes calls her mom Nan, now. Susanne said she didn’t realize how often we call her that. Allie loves Snow White and Belle. When we get the newspaper she goes right for the ads and looks for princess pictures. She will carry papers around with her for days showing us her pictures. Yes, we are buying Cinderella on DVD this week to add to our collection.
Her latest thing is that she knows it all. If she says a color is green and you think it is blue she will argue with you about it. Mark came downstairs the other day and I said, "Here's the Birthday Boy." Allie said, "No, that is Mark." Nan asked Allie the same day if she saw Mark, only she said it without the R like Allie says it. Allie said, "That's not Mak, that's Mak." It is great fun having a two year old around the house.

Ya-ping

Ya-ping had endoscopic surgery on one of her kidneys but the stone moved and so it wasn’t very successful. Then on Friday they did the sound wave bit to break up the stones in both kidneys and sent her home Saturday. She has to go back on Tuesday for a check up and if all is well she will come home ASAP. Preston is having a pretty tough time and quit eating for a time. When Ya-ping came home he latched on to her and wouldn’t let go. It will be so nice to have them both home.

Conference

I have been a slacker and need to add to my blog. But when I logged on it said it was closed for maintenance. I agree that some maintenance is needed because it takes so long to get to the comments sometimes or to navigate between comments and blogs. I digress. I am now typing this on WordPerfect in hopes that I can just cut and paste when the blogger is up and running because otherwise I know I will not get it done.

For those of you who were looking for Mark at conference yesterday.....if you blinked you missed him. He was on the very top row and I only saw him once. Rick and I got to attend the afternoon session to watch him but we couldn’t find him from our vantage point. Yes, that has something to do with the fact that we are old and blind. It was cool being there and seeing the Prophet up close and personal. The choir also sounded better on the final song in person than on the video. The dynamics in the building were awesome, but on the video they weren’t as spectacular.