rahrah RAHRAHRAH! GOOOOOO COUGARS!

Tyler and I treated ourselves this year and bought All Sports passes. This means that we get to go to ALL BYU games. So we get all dressed up in our gear and go join the other thousands of people and cheer on those cougars! We had a ton of fun at all the football games, and saw some pretty exciting action. We had really good seats too--we were at the North end zone just seven rows up.We were happy at the beginning of the game: BYU vs Florida State, September 19th

We were sad when they lost. :(Our friends the Welshes were happy too.Then they were sad too. Not a fun way to start the season.My favorite is Cosmo!BYU vs Colorado and victory! September 26th October 2 BYU vs Utah State and of course we won :)Dominique, Tyler & Ashley. Ashley came to visit us, watch football, and go to General Conference. Three good things!
Tyler & sis Ashley. Ash is a cougar fan at heart.October 24th: BYU vs TCU. We got our bums kicked, but we expected it.The Welshes at the TCU gameESPN even came to watch BYU & TCU play!BYU vs Air Force on November 21st. Another win for the cougs!The BEST victory of ALL!! November 28th BYU beats Utah 26 to 23!! YEAH COUGARS!!!This is all the crazy fans rushing the field. We just watched them be crazy and did not join in for the safety of Baby Quong. However, when BYU scored the winning touchdown, some random lady next to me started whacking my arm. I guess everyone has their own way of celebrating. We just cheered really loud! Yay BYU!!

Just Peachy & Beachy!

Tyler and I were invited by our Jersey friends Kyle and Janet to join them for a week at a beach house in Ocean City, Maryland. We had been looking forward to this vacation for MONTHS. What better way to spend your day than basking in the sun and swimming in the sea?
One whole week of swimming, body surfing, sun bathing (and burning :S), exploring, walking the boardwalk, eating, sleeping, playing cards and Ticket to Ride (one of our favorites!), shopping, gaining skills at ladderball, losing quarters at arcade games, people watching, loving funnel cake and boardwalk fries, mini golfing, making new friends, and a lot of hanging out. We celebrated 3 years of being married too! It was AMAZING. One fabulous vacation.

We made it! On the Ocean City Boardwalk Janet, Kyle, Dominique, Tyler & Meliza on the boardwalkDinner on the boardwalk with the boys......and the girlsAt the very end of the boardwalk (we walked the whole thing! It was about 5 miles round trip from where we stayed)Tyler in the oceanDominique in the ocean (it was a little cold and I'm a little chicken!)A couple in LOVE ♥Boardwalk at nightThis was typical of the whole vaca--just playing cards!

We discovered the game of ladderball while we were there (thanks Kyle & Janet!) and we had a lot of fun playing! The point is to throw the balls that are hooked together and loop it around the bars. Different bars are worth different points, and you can knock each others' balls off and make the other team lose points. It's harder than it looks!We went out to eat at Castaway's for our anniversary. Dinner was served outside, right by the bay. It was beautiful. Hooray for 3 years!Our tans are improving. Ha, well, Tyler's did! I stayed pretty white and then got really burnt.The way to vacation.... Kyle & Janet on the beach.
Janet started reading Twilight while we were there. Yeah, pretty sure she disappeared into that book for awhile. ;)

We played a lot of ladderball. It was so fun! One night after it had rained all day we went to the beach and played until 1 or 2 in the morning. It was a ton of fun, the weather was perfect, and the sand felt so good on our feet because it was still damp. It was really cool to walk out to the ocean and barely be able to make out the waves because it was so dark, but we could hear it and we knew it was there. The beach is way different at night.In case you ever wondered what we look like inside a giant tire

Some mini golfing. That is what you do on vacation. You go mini golfing. I lost by a LOT. I am not a good mini golfer. Tyler did great though! Krista & Matt joined us for the fun.That's the picture story of our trip to Ocean City. As you can tell, we had a blast. Vacations are wonderful things!
After Ocean City, we spent a few days with Tyler's family in New Jersey before heading home. It was great to see them!

How to Use All of Your Luck in One Shot

Tyler won a TV. And not just any old TV, he won a Sony Bravia 40" 1080p flat screen TV. Retail value is around $1000. We $46 for taxes. This is the story of how Tyler won a TV.
July 24th is Pioneer Day in the state of Utah. Tyler had a paid day off while I sadly went to work. He decided to watch the Pioneer Day Parade while he enjoyed his day off. KSL and RC Willey were having a "watch and win" contest and were giving away two TVs and two BBQs. Tyler heard the answers to all the questions and entered online for the drawing. A few days later, he was contacted and found out that he WON a TV! They didn't give him any of the details about how big it was or what kind it was, but said they would mail him the information. We went to RC Willey a few weeks later to pick it up and found out how lucky we were. It's an awesome TV! So we don't think it's really worth it to enter any contests/drawings/etc because we've already used up our luck for the year. Hopefully we didn't use up all our luck for our lifetime! But I'd say winning a TV is pretty lucky!

A Wedding

My sister Alicia got married on August 1! She is now sealed to her honey Colby and they are happy little newlyweds. Hooray for love!

Alicia is very non-traditional and likes to do things her way so of course her wedding followed suite. She had her reception the night before at the American Fork Amphitheatre and it was really pretty. Her colors were green, black and gold. They served potstickers, eggrolls and fortune cookies as treats because Alicia loves Chinese.

The Happy Couple

Nancy & Tim (parents)

My niece Lily adores Tyler!

Alicia thinks she needs to be carried because she's the bride. And yes, those are leopard-print pointy-toed high heels!

The next day, August 1st, they had a wedding breakfast at Kneader's of delicious French Toast. Alicia & Colby were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple that afternoon. The sealing was really cool; the sealer focused on the different ordinances of the temple and how even though we're given blessings in the temple we have to be ready to receive them. It was really interesting and a good lesson.

Just Married!

Nephew Calvin after he told us he was never going to kindergarten.

After we took pictures in the boiling sun and then the new couple went off into the sunset! They spent their honeymoon in San Diego, the lucky ducks!

Jon, Chrissy, Tim, Lily, Nancy, Alicia, Colby, Dominique, Calvin & Tyler

Mother & Daughter

I'm really happy for Alicia and Colby because I think they're quite perfect for each other. It's nice too to have my sister join the married club. ;) Congratulations A&C!

Best Sisters

What to Expect

BECAUSE WE'RE EXPECTING!!!!!

Baby Quong is due to arrive January 6, 2010 and we are thrilled to receive him/her! A friend in my ward commented, "You love babies so much, you deserve one!" and that about sums it up. I love babies and I love this little baby that's coming to our family. January seems very far away, but everyone keeps telling me it will fly by and it kind of has already. I'm 14 weeks right now and our baby is about the size of a lemon--3 1/2 inches long. When we found out, our baby was the size of a poppyseed so that's a lot of progress!

We got to see Baby Quong. It was so incredible and made this little one seem so much more real. I'm posting pictures for your viewing pleasure. We saw its heart beating and it even moved its tiny little arm. I cried; Tyler did not. But we both loved it. If you're familiar with ultrasounds you can probably make it out; if not, I'll help (it's funny how moms can see it but everyone else I have to point it out). Top pic you're looking at baby straight on. The circle on the right is the head and the dark spots are baby's eyes and you can see a little line for a mouth. The circle on the left is the body. Bottom pic is a side view. The right circle is the head and the left circle is the body and the little things poking out are arms and legs! Isn't baby adorable? Okay, it IS a little alien-esque but I'm sure it will grow out of it.

Answers to common pregnancy questions I get asked:

No, I haven't been sick. At all. Don't hate me if you were sick during your entire pregnancy! I am lucky and I got my mom's genes who wasn't sick either. A couple of times I thought I was going to throw up, but I haven't. I know, I'm blessed! And because I'm now in the second trimester, I don't think I will get sick (knock on wood). One lucky duck!

No, I can't feel the baby yet. A few more weeks, so I've read.

I want a girl and Tyler wants a boy (of course). We won't find out until around week 20, but we are going to find out. I'm excited to see Baby Quong again! I said that I would still be happy with a boy, but Tyler said he won't be happy with a girl. I think it's because he secretly knows he'll be wrapped around her itty bitty finger. haha

Am I going back to work? I don't know. There are way too many factors that affect that decision that we just don't know yet. We'll see. But I'm trying my best to save up as much PTO as possible so I can enjoy maternity leave and not worry about it!

We don't know if we're moving either. We've talked about it a lot and looked into it a little. I am dreading the day we have to pack up this place and move it (whether it's across town or across the country), but our apartment is a tiny little one bedroom. It would be nice to have a place for Baby Quong. If you hear of anything, let us know! My requirement is a dishwasher and Tyler's requirement is washer/dryer hookups because we have them but can't use them. And I don't really want to live in a scary basement apartment. We'll see what happens.

Baby names. Another thing we don't know.... Tyler has rejected some of my favorites and his favorite is "Grizzly" for a middle name--I'm sure all the girls can understand the discussions we've had about that one. We have a few ideas for girls but are lacking on boy names. Names that start with "C" or "K" don't sound great with Quong. For example, we really liked Keaton for awhile, but Keaton Quong doesn't sound good so it has been x'ed off. Yesterday we were at Wal-Mart looking for presents for my niece and nephew's birthdays and there was a Cabbage Patch Kid named Macy and, surprisingly, we both kind of like it. The more we talked about it, the more it grew on us. Wouldn't that be hilarious if we named our baby girl after a doll? So if you have suggestions, let us know!

Both Tyler and I are really happy and excited about this new addition to the Quong Dynasty. I can't wait to be a mom! It's what I was made for! ;) We feel really blessed and that the timing was right and that we are being lead the way we should go. And hooray for Baby Quong! We are just so happy to have you!

And independence for all!

I love the 4th of July for two reasons. Well, there are more than two, but primarily two reasons: fireworks and seven-layer bean dip. Those are my favorites. As tradition mandates, my family always goes to the same spot on the edge of BYU campus and has a picnic and rides bikes and plays games and throw Snaps and goes on bathroom trips to the Wilk and watches fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. I love it and look forward to it every year.

This year was a lovely 4th. Tyler and I watched the parade (thanks Morales family for sharing your blanket!) and cheered for the veterans and the missionaries. We clapped politely for the city counsel and other boring parade entries. I really liked the giant balloon Madeline because my mom read those books to me when I was little. There was also a giant balloon eagle. I'd only seen those on TV at the Macy's parade so it was quite exciting.

That afternoon we went to the "spot" and hung out with family. Unfortunately, other people had gotten there early and set up camp before us so our families were separated; we'll have to correct that next year and go at like 7 in the morning to claim our rightful spot. Regardless, it was still fun and we ate seven-layer bean dip heartily.

My niece Lily was terrified by the jets that flew over the stadium and clamped onto Tyler's leg and bawled. It was very sad but very funny. She loves Tyler so much.

My nephew Calvin threw about fifty zillion snaps and thought it was the greatest thing ever. He kept yelling "fire!" when they exploded because they give off light when they break. I guess boys will be boys.

We watched the fireworks, but reportedly they got cut short because there was too much wind and the fire department had to stop them. It was a little disappointing because I had waited all year to see them, but at least we got to see them!

Independence Day is a pretty cool holiday. I like celebrating our country. We are really blessed to live where we live so it's good to have a holiday to celebrate it, especially when you accompany the holiday with fireworks and seven-layer bean dip!