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!

My baby sis is a MISSIONARY!

Some people should always be little. It just seems that way. Typically, these little people are younger than you so you always picture them that way. I think this is a common occurence with siblings. And now my littlest sister is 21 and serving a mission! Now how did that happen?

Emily (aka Soeur Sudar) entered the MTC on Wednesday, April 22, 2009. She will soon be moving onto the Geneva, Switzerland mission French speaking. I can't even tell you how thrilled she is to serve French speaking. Like sister, like sister, we both love French! She's already fluent so picking up the language shouldn't be too hard for her.

I was a pretty bad sister when my older brother Jon went on a mission. I think I wrote him twice. I was very busy being a teenager. But we're friends now though, so that's good. And I promise to be a better sister to the Sister.

Currently Emily is in Maryland waiting for her Visa before she heads to Europe. I have to share one experience she's had because I think it's funny. You have to know that my sis Emily is super shy and talks so quietly--she's just a little tiny thing (5'2 maybe?) and is not the outgoing type. This is from her email:

The other night it was hot so we had the windows down as we were driving home. The people in the car next to us also had their windows down. We were sitting at a red light and Sister Folk dared me to give them a Book of Mormon, so I did. It was a huge black man and his girlfriend or wife and I just leaned out the window and offered it to them. He was unsure at first, but then he took it and we told him that we are missionaries and that it's another testament of Jesus Christ. It was awesome!

Maybe it won't strike anyone else as funny, but my sis is just so little and shy I just laugh when I think of her leaning out the window to share the gospel. But good for her!

We went to Jump On It right before Emily was set apart as a missionary. We had a blast! I never knew jumping on tramps could be that fun. Some of the pictures are blurry, but that's because we were always in motion!

Benson (the boyfriend) and Emily (the soon-to-be missionary)

Tyler and DominiqueJon (my brother) and Chrissy (his wife)

Alicia (my sister) and Colby (her boyfriend)

Sister Sudar

Best Sisters

Goodbye at the MTC: Tim (my step-dad) and Nancy (my mom)

Gary (my dad) and Wendy (my step-mom)

If you know Emily and want to keep in touch, you can email her: sisteremilysudar@myldsmail.net Anyone can write her but she can only write to family. If you want to send her real mail, I can give you her address but it will soon be changing. Just let me know! :)

How the Economy Affected the Quongs

So the economy stinks. It's been spiraling downhill for awhile and things are pretty bad. But really the only effect on us was that I lost some money in my 401K. Nothing huge. Obviously there are a lot of people out there suffering much more than we are. I didn't really feel like we'd really been affected. Until this.
Tyler's restaurant, La Vigna, closed. Without warning. Not even kidding, we found out on facebook. After the shift one Saturday night they said, "That's it. We're closing our doors". And that was it! No one had preparation or warning or time to look for another job. Not even the general manager knew it was coming. The owner just shut up shop.
We knew that La Vigna was having a hard time making it and they were struggling. They'd made as many cut backs as they could, but we didn't think they'd close for at least another few months. They'd been barely hanging on for awhile. BUT STILL. La Vigna just closed. Done, gone, no warning, and they didn't even call their employees to tell them. I'm just glad we found out before Tyler drove over to work his Monday night shift.
Thank goodness I have a good job and we'll be alright. But what craziness. Tyler is currently job hunting so if you hear of any awesome design jobs, let us know!

One solution to the problem....

Well, you could just cut it all off.

Kyle & Janet

Our friends Kyle & Janet came to visit us in Utah and try out snowboarding. They were here for a weekend trip and stayed with us. We had a fun time--introduced them to BYU's campus, went out to eat to the best Mexican place we know (Maria Bonita's!), went boarding at The Canyons, then went hot tubbing to recover from snowboarding, got a flat tire (not the highlight of the trip), showed them the scenerey of Utah's mountains, and had a good time just hanging out.

Kyle & Janet on the lift up from the parking lot.

Tyler & Dominique on the lift.

Tyler just chilling.

Dominique taking a picture of herself so she can be included. (I'm always the photographer so there's pictures of everyone else but not me....so I had to take one! ;)

That's Kyle with the blue board! I was right under him!
That's him in real life.

Janet making her way down the mountain.

Tyler twirling his gloves for me.

Kyle showing off his moves.

Tyler on his board. There's a lot of pics of us sitting down because that's when I'd pull out my camera.

What an awesome day on the mountain!

So I'm a dork....

I read on a friend of a friend's blog about changing the date of when your post is posted....and I thought it was GREAT! Because usually I have one chunk of time--not two or three--to update my blog. So I thought I would write TWO posts and then they would post at different times and it would look like I took care of my blog.
Well, it backfired.
Because I started writing another post yesterday and finished today just shortly before my other post was scheduled to post. And I forgot, and then the old/new posted, and then I tried to change it which is why the old/new post now says Friday. So I still have two posts on the same day, even though the dates say they are different.
Sheesh.