Our American Idol

Our American Idol- singing his Twinkle remix. Tai would so be the the contestant on American idol that swears he can sing because his mommy and daddy told him he was the bomb.- future William Hung, j/k!

Baby Jimmy turns 2

Baby Jimmy turned 2 today, and we had a little get together at my brothers house. This kid is 9 months younger then Tai, but you can tell they are cousins because they are both very shy. Happy birthday baby Jimmy we luv u!

Draper Temple open house

Yesterday we went to the Draper temple open house, it was a beautiful experience. We were going to go earlier but Utu called and had tickets for us so we ended up going with the Kaili's, Nica, and Tai. I have never been to a Temple open house before but I really wanted to go the Draper open house for a couple of reasons. In the summer when it was being built Vete, Tai, and I would take Sunday drives up there and even though only the yellow boards were up at the time- it was still a breath taking view. I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day saints all my life but unfortunately I was very inactive in my early twenties and still to this day have not gone through the temple yet. But each day I'm preparing and working towards that eternal goal. Before we boarded the bus that would shuttle us to the Temple we watched a short little video clip on the history of Draper, and the meaning of temples. I believe it was Elder Holland I could be wrong because I have a really bad memory but he said, "in the temples we are sealed to our families for eternity- and to him Heaven would not be Heaven without his wife and his children by his side." Of course I know that but the reality of not being sealed at that very moment brought tears to my eyes, because my husband and my son mean everything to me. When we got to the temple and started the tour words cannot describe the feelings that I felt as I walked through the building. I of course started to cry and tried to walk faster then everyone else so they wouldn't notice. I was in awww by everything it was just beautiful. I had a great experience and cannot not wait to be sealed to my family! I love that qoute "it doesn't matter where you begin, but where you end up", it gives me a huge sense of gratitude and hope! Here's a million pictures that I took and just had to post them all!


Tai and some of his favorite cousins Sisi and Moni. Tai held on to this pole so tight, he was too scared to let go even to move his hair from his eyes.



Everyone in the shuttle on our way to the Temple.








Can you tell we love this picture!

Sick Bebe

For the past week Tai has been feeling under the weather. He has been suffering from a cough, running nose, and loss of appetite- among other things! He's better now, his cough has kind gone away but he still has a running nose. Of course Tai wasn't that sick where he had to go see a doctor, I mean it was pretty much a basic cold where something over the counter would do. But this stirred up a couple of arguments between Vete and I over what type of medicine to give him, please help me if you have any suggestions. So we had the triaminic strips which worked good when Tai was younger but now that he is older he refuses to take it because he doesn't like it when the strip sticks to the roof of his mouth. He ends up scratching all of it off and then starts to scream because he scratched his gums too hard. So first Vete went to the grocery store to get medicine for Tai but came home with juice and no medicine- Vete told me they either had infant or childrens cough syrup. I was pretty mad at him because it was 12am and Tai was coughing and I just cannot go to bed comfortably knowing my son doesn't have anything to soothe his throat. But we gave Tai the juice and yes it helped him go to bed, but I was still mad at Vete because any medicine is better then nothing at all. The next day I went to the store to get some medicine and realized what my husband was right- their is no over the counter cough syrup for toddlers; his weight and age was too low or too high for infant or children s medicine. So I ended up getting the children cough syrup because he was 4 pounds away from the recommended age and when I got home I tried to hurry and get Tai to take his medicine before Vete could see what type of medicine I got. Well he was right there looking over my shoulder and picked up the bottle of cough syrup and would not let me give him the medicine because he did not reach the recommended weight. We of course started to argue again, and then came to a compromise of giving him the children s cough syrup but just a little. I started to pour the cough syrup on to a spoon, and a tiny little drop came out and Vete told me to stop and that was enough. Of course I continued to pour the medicine and it covered at least half the spoon and as I gave it to Tai, Vete and I watched Tai closely- like idiots expecting him to fall over and die of an overdose of too much cough syrup! Luckily Tai is ok, but we are still new at parenting so any suggestions of what type of cough syrup to get for a toddler is welcomed. It will be a miracle if this kid survives his parents.

This Christmas

The holidays in the Ho Ching household was spent doing our favorite past-time : eating, sleeping, and watching movies. We would stay up till 2am watching movies- Tai too, and then we would sleep in till 12pm or sometimes 2pm. We didn't do this too often because we only had a handful of days off together, but it was nice. I totally gave in and indulged my sweet tooth during the holidays, but now I'm paying for it. But the thing I have been doing and probably won't be able to do for a while is hit the after Christmas sales. I am a very cheap person it's no secret, I love sales, the clearance rack, garage sales, craigslist, ksl the list goes on. For the past 2 years I have been getting away with hitting the after Christmas sales and stocking up on gifts that I know Tai would enjoy by the Christmas following. I'm usually done with Christmas shopping for Tai by mid-january, then I just worry about his stocking come closer to Christmas. But after this Christmas I don't think I can get away with doing that anymore. Although he had fun opening the gifts I got him, he was only attracted to 1 out 5 of the gifts from me (I meant Santa). But, he especially loved the gifts he got from his aunties and grandparents which are things Tai is totally into right now. It's important to me to teach Tai the true meaning of Christmas, and not get him in the mode of expecting and recieving at Christmas time. But I have to admit it's a beautiful moment to see a child eyes light up when they got something they wanted. So I'm still going the cheap route I guess I'll just have to join the brave and determined crowd on black friday mornings, to find the things Tai totally wants for Christmas that year. Hopefully I'll get the wide-eyed "mom your the bomb" look next Christmas because I totally flopped as santa this year. But the hit this christmas in Tai's mind was his signing/abc's/number dog, doodle board for bathtime, elmo toothbrush and toothbrush holder and everything in his stocking. His favorite though is his Kareoke machine, Tai loves to sing and has been using a bike pump, broom, old karoke mic, and tv remotes as a microphone. But now Tai has his very own micrphone, and knows how to use it. Our poor neighbors probably cringe when they hear him, but you know Vete and I are his biggest fans and we applaud every performance. That pretty much sums up Christmas for us, whatever makes Tai happy is our goal in life- we are such suckers! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas this year!

A great gift!

What a great gift to hear from our missionaries on the mission field. My sister Saolo has less then 3 months left on her mission in Romania and we cannot wait until she gets back. Vete's parents have about a year and a half left on their mission in the Phillipines. Last week we had the opportunity to speak with them, it was good to hear their voices and that they are doing well. All of my siblings and their kids met at our place on Christmas Eve to speak to Aunty Olo and she was suppose to call us at 8:30pm after talking to my parents in Cali. We all waited patiently for her call which came at 11pm instead of 8:30 pm, alas is came and we ended up talking past 12pm midnight. But it was all good the kids were excited to open their gifts as soon as they got home. Speaking to Sora Betham was a gift to us all, she told us of her experiences on the mission and with the country of Romania. She spoke of the countless orpahns that run into on-coming traffic to wash windows for any type of monetray payment if any, and she watched so many of these orphans get hit by cars and die. My sister loves little ones and she and her companion visit many orphanages and it kills her to see all these little babies confined in their metal crib totally isolated by any type of human touch. She told us of her experience where their was a baby that started crying when they got to the orphanage and wouldn't stop crying, she stated that no one did anything and it seemed like a good hour passed by. She went against missionary rules and picked the baby up and cuddled the baby as long as she could. Shortly after that she got yelled at by one of the ladies who ran the orphange, and told my sister that the baby she held is now spoiled and will want to be held again. I personally have never been exposed to situations like these and it makes me so ashamed to continually see how much I take for granted. It was a great reminder to my neices and nephews to be grateful for whatever they get for Christmas- but I bet they forgot it as soon as they got home, lets hope I'm wrong. The day after Christmas we got together at Utu's house with Vete's family and we were able to speak with Vete's parents and Nica(who is visiting them during the holidays) on the webcam. We didn't speak to them very long because they were needed elsewhere, but it was good to see and hear from them. My love goes out to all the missionaries on the mission field who are giving their all in spreading the gospel. It helps me magnify my small but important calling of being a visiting teacher. I miss Sora Betham, and President and Sister Ho Ching- you are great examples to our little family and cannot wait for the day that you all get back. That will definitely be a sad day in the Phillipines and Romania!

BTW Olo and the other missionaries on the mission made a little Christmas video, I have no skills and unable to download it to my blog so here it the link-
http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n8/betham72/?action=view¤t=JingleMovie.flv

Visit from Mamma Mia!

My Mom came to town a week ago, and it was a jam packed 3 days of family get togethers and outings. She brought Gomery's oldest daughter baby Roz with her and seriously Tai treated her like she was his little sister. He would follow her around the house and tell her "Aua baby" when she was not suppose to touch something, and he would give her snacks and toys to play with. It was so cute to see, my son is going to be a great big brother someday. While my Mom was here we took her to get her hair done, and she got a Dora-looking haircut so all the grandkids were calling her Big Dora- she loved it. Then we all went shopping, and bowling, and the day she left we had a little family Christmas party. I have to be honest my siblings and I have our issues with each other but for the sake of the holidays and my Mom's visit we set that aside and enjoyed each others company, it was great. Tai got in a fight with one of his cousins and ended up with a black-eye, although he didn't retaliate or hit back the black-eye made him look like a little scrapper. Of course I felt sorry for my son because he did not deserve it, but what can you do kids will be kids. It was a great weekend and I was very thankful that my Mom was able to get time off and visit us. We really miss her and wish they would move here but as long as it snows in Utah they will remain in Cali.

Mom and some of the grandaughters

The girls modeling their Ofu's

Baby Roz and my mom, first time Baby Roz has seen snow

Mom and all the Utah grandkids

Tai, Drew, and Baby Roz on top

Me with the very spolied Baby Roz

Tai and his fave cuz on my side- she was not the one that gave him his black-eye