Living Traditions

a couple of weekends ago we headed up to salt lake city to the Living Traditions festival. it was held at the city county building. the festival is a place where people from the area go to share their traditions and customs of other countries. there is different performances from the different countries as well as food that they prepare from the different countries.

one of the reasons we went was because Laiza, a sweet lady from where i work, was performing a couple of dances from the Kanamu Tahitian dance company. we were excited to go see what the festival was all about, but we were happy to go and support Laiza and watch her dance her heart out.

we got to sample some of the yummy food from different countries and i have to say, the baklava was my all time favorite. after i ate it, i told myself that i should of bought 4 more pieces to take home. haha! it was that good. not only did we have baklava but we tried a tamale that was wrapped in a banana peel. it had a totally different flavor, but yet it was still good. we also tried a papusa. it is like a corn tortilla with beans and cheese in the middle and then fried. it was yummy! we also sampled some authentic chinese food. can't go wrong there.

there was a time during the night when the chinese people danced while in costume as a dragon. they do this dance during the chinese new year. i was pretty excited to see this it was really cool.

this is city county building where the festival was held. kind of a cool building.

the yummy food - this is a tamale wrapped in a banana peel. the fried corn tortilla with beans and cheese is the papusa. so good.

authentic chinese food. delish!

this is baklava. oh man i was seriously in heaven! look at all the layers of phyllo dough. it was so so good!

Laiza doing a dance performance from the Kanamu Tahitian dance company. She did an awesome job.

these are some other dancers from the Kanamu dance company.

these are the chinese dragon dancers. this was SOOO cool!!

i am glad we were able to go to the Living Traditions. it was an awesome experience and i look forward to going again soon. thanks Laiza for telling us about it. :]

a letter.

Dear Jacki-
    My name is Kathy Lenau. I believe your nephew, Doug and my daughter Serena were together and had Chloe. My oldest daughter had been emailing Serena but they got into a fight over Serenas lack of being responsible. I am told that Serena no longer has Chloe and I am guessing Dougs mom does. I am raising her other daughter. I have no intention of trying to interfere with what is going on but would like to get in touch with Dougs mom so we can keep in touch for Chloe and Megans sake and exchange pictures etc..
  I would like Chloe to know about us and want her to know about her sister. I have photos of Serena when she was young that I would like to forward.
  If this info is correct could you please pass this info on. Serena has been very distant with us because we won't pay for her to live there. She burned us big time when we tried to help her here. I'm sure the family there knows very little of the truth.
Thanks.
Kathy Lenau

 i got this most random letter in the mail today.

 apparently i have a nephew by the name of Doug.

 Doug was with Serena and had Chloe.

 Serena seems to be quite the trouble child.

 i think whoever sent me this letter may have the wrong person.

 what do you think?

happenings...

i have been such a slacker when it comes to blogging lately, but in my defense i have been so so busy. who would of thought that buying a house would of turned out to be SO much work. don't get me wrong, i absolutely love having the house and wouldn't change it for anything. :)
with spring here (well maybe) and summer just around the corner we have been busy doing yardwork. my brother Kim seems to think that planting an agressive/low maintenance ground cover is the bomb! you don't have to weed it, just basically let it take over everywhere. well, to me it looks like weeds and it is just plain ugly.........so, we are ripping it all out! oh man, what a chore that has been. we have already pulled up the front part by the living room, but now we have the whole south side to pull up as well as some ground cover by the kitchen. we may just have to use something to kill it because it is going to take 4-ever to rip that all out!

last week we planted a few things and are excited to see how things progress. we planted 2 coneflower plants and a rose bush. we also added some solar lights along the walkway that i absolutely love. we would like to plant a small garden, but if we use weed killer for the ground cover, i'm not really sure if we will be able to plant something there. i think we are also going to plant a lilac bush on the south side of the gate that goes into the backyard. it is definetely a work in progress. alot of work to be honest, but the outcome will make the yard look tons better. :)
there is alot of things that i would still like to do inside the house as well. some of the projects that i would like to do are:

1. paint 7-8 doors.
2. get curtain rods and hang curtains.
3. get craft room organized and paint..get blinds .
4. fix and re-paint the wall where big "dead" animals were hanging.
5. fix and re-paint wall in my bedroom.
6. have kim make frames and shelf for the living room
7. hang pictures
8. organize garage so we can park in there. :)

well that is just a few projects i have in mind and i would like to do. i'm going to have to take it one step at a time or it will NEVER get done.
i will try and be better at posting, but with the warmer weather comes added work. i feel like that is all i do.
i would much rather be sewing, scrapbooking, relaxing, reading etc etc...ah well, maybe someday.
anyways, thanks for listening. :)

p.s. i will try and post pictures later. my computer is currently not working. sorry.

walk it challenge

weight watchers is doing a walk it challenge this year on June 5th. it will be a 5k in provo somewhere, i don't have all the details yet but i'm really excited about it. i haven't been as motivated as i should be and i think this is just what i need. i just know a 5k is one of the goals i have had since joining weight watchers and this is an awesome opportunity to achieve it. :)
they gave us a booklet that has a schedule in it that we can use to train for it. we have to walk for 5 days and rest for 2 and each day is a little longer than the day before. i am already walking/jogging for 45 minutes to an hour so i know i can do this.
you don't have to be a runner to do this challenge. you can walk the whole way if you want or run/walk. i just know that whatever i decide to do, it will be for me. let the training begin... :)

so cool!

is this not the coolest thing to put on a wall?

ah. i love it.

it makes me happy.

2's

aren't these 2 just the cutest couple ever?!

i think so!

love her. love them as a couple. :)

this cute little girl turned 2 years old today. i can't believe that time goes by so fast, it seems like just yesterday when she was born. she is so much fun and so stinkin' cute.

love her.

Happy Birthday sweet lil' Abbi!

don't you hate it when.....

- you clean your contacts in the same case that you originally had them in, only to find out later that you don't have an extra case to put them back in afterwards.

- you buy a new sewing machine only to find out that it doesn't work properly, so you have to take it back and get a new one. :/

- you put something off for days that you have been meaning to get to, only to find yourself putting it off longer than anticipated.

- you go to a restraunt and have a wonderful dinner, only to find out later that your waitress misplaced your debit card.

..when it happens, it REALLY happens!!

S.P.R.I.N.G is coming!! :))