The Hicken Family

Rice, Rice Baby

2011-12-15T06:03:00.000-08:00

I meant to post this a while back but here goes.

I love rice. So much so that I buy it in bulk. You know, those huge, ginormous 20 lb bags of rice? You know what I'm talking about. In fact, you might even have one of those in your food storage. If so, why don't you go run and pick one up. Just hold it in your arms. It's okay, I'll wait right here while you do it......

Did you do it? Did you go lift it up in your arms? Those are heavy, right? WELL THAT'S HOW MUCH WEIGHT I'VE LOST! Booyah.

Rice, rice, baby!

xoxo

PS. As of today I've actually lost 22 lbs. :)

Balance

2011-09-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have times in your life where you just feel like everything is balanced and good? I feel that way right now. I haven't felt this way in years.

Physical

I have been running 3-4 times a week. This may not be much to others but to me this has been a change in my life. I have spent the last few years being very sedentary. It feels good to be up and moving, which of course is a big part of my weight loss success.

Spiritual

I have not been the best scripture studier over the years. Right now while serving in Young Womens I am attempting to do the personal progress program with the girls, especially since I

never finished it when I was a young woman. Part of the program is reading the Book of Mormon in its entirety. I am trying to get it done before I move into another ward in November when we can move into our new house. This means I am covering several chapters a day, every day. Reading it this way has helped me to not only notice the spiritually uplifting verses here and there but to also remember the story line and the people in the scriptures, their family situations and their struggles against opposition and who is trying to kill them at the moment. It has reignited my love of the Book of Mormon and reconnected me to the wonderful people in the past who stood for truth and righteousness.

Educational

When I was in school, I really enjoyed it. I love to learn. But there is no more school for me, which I'm kind of glad about too. However, I have found joy in teaching! Over the past year we have been doing a great preschool program for Kien. Miss Rebecca wanted to start up a free one where she invited kids from the neighborhood to participate. She taught the class and the parents took turns hosting and providing the snacks. I really got into it and helped out and had fun with it. I even took a couple turns teaching. We covered the entire alphabet and our numbers 1-10. Then Miss Rebecca had a baby and needed a break from teaching. So I stepped up and offered to do a section on ZOOLOGY! Is that a little too much for 3 and 4 year olds??? We had a class on Fish and then yesterday we had a class on Amphibians. It has been so much fun and I am enjoying finding creative outlets that I can share with Kien and his buddies.

I have also had so much fun teaching things to the Young Women on Mutual night. Here are some things I've taught them:

Cooking Vietnamese Egg Rolls
Cake Decorating
Hula Dancing
Self Defense
Next Week: Knitting baby hats for NICU

I am going to brag a little bit right here... After realizing all the skills and talents I could pass onto the Young Women, I've been able to recognize how awesome I am. Haha.... It has just made me recognize that I have valuable and unique talents. Which makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Emotional

I have a good life. I have a good family. I am so thankful for my husband, Bret, and my wonderful children, Kien and Ellie. They are the people who most often put smiles on my face. I don't know why but lately Bret has made more of an effort to compliment my cooking. I appreciate that. He has also given me support and encouragement with me trying to lose weight. He is always willing to watch the kids while I go do what I need to do (except on Saturday mornings, that is his basketball time and NOTHING can interfere with it).

Kien is getting funnier and funnier with his questions and naive logic. The other day he was looking at Ellie and asked me "Mom, where'd we get this baby from?"

I said "Well she grew in my belly but Heavenly Father gave her to us."

He thought about that for a moment then asked, "Heavenly Father was at the hospital?"

So. Cute.

Ellie... *sigh*. She is the sweetest and most precious little lady. She is happiest after waking up from a long sleep. And she sleeps A LOT. All night long, usually about 10-11 hours and then two 2-hour long naps during the day. I love it. She loves to play with Kien in her room with all their toys. She loves to follow him around but if he gets rough she won't take his gruff and she will fight back! She loves baths. She loves her pink fuzzy blanket that Grandma Thulan gave to her. I think it has become her security blanket. She is full of smiles and laughs and cute little noises.

Speaking of which, I hear her calling me from her crib so I am off.

I just wanted to record this, that everything is good and balanced in my life right now. And I love it.

Smaller Jeans

2011-09-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

About a year ago there was an Enrichment night for Relief Society where someone spoke to us about being more organized. She gave great tips on how to get the clutter out of your life. Something she said about clothes was that if you haven't worn it in the past year then get rid of it. She said if you're holding onto clothes that don't fit because you keep telling yourself that you're going to lose weight, to just toss them out. She said that most likely you will not lose the weight and never fit those clothes again.

I thought about that and I didn't like it. So I didn't listen to her.

This week I have pulled out the pants that have been too small for me to wear and now they fit me. I am so happy about that. Not only do I have more pants but it makes me feel good that I can wear them again.

I have now lost 15 lbs. :)

Obsessed with Cupcakes

2011-09-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw the website for The Sweet Tooth Fairy and thought to myself, "Those are ridiculously expensive" and "I could do that", I have been obsessing over making giant (muffin sized) and delicious cupcakes.

These are German Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, then coconut pecan frosting, then topped with a glazed pecan.

These are chocolate cupcakes with melted fudge in the center topped with chocolate frosting and sprinkled with crushed toffee and chocolate bits and then further topped with caramel flavored whipped cream.

These are chocolate cupcakes with melted fudge in the center topped with chocolate frosting and then further topped with mint flavored whipped cream and a refreshing Andes chocolate mint.

I have seen other websites showing cupcakes piled high with buttercream frosting but I can't handle that much frosting, it is too rich for me. So I love the idea of topping it with whipped cream to get that decadent look but still keeping it light and airy. :)

Do you want one?

So excited...

2011-08-05T22:25:00.000-07:00

Bret and I have been working with a home builder and today we just got back our floor plan with all the changes we asked for. I am so thrilled that I am getting the house I want, just the way I want it. My favorite part is the Kitchen! I am going to feel like a star on the Food Network when I am working in there. :) I am also excited about our master bathroom. Anyways, we are so excited to be building a home and I just wanted to share our floor plan.

I had to cut off the garage a bit to make the picture fit. The stairs will lead down to an unfinished basement. I'll keep updating along the process of building.

10 Down, 20 to Go

2011-07-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

I hate to publicly talk about trying to lose weight. What if I fail? Everyone will know. I guess that's why I'm posting in my blog (where I have just a couple of readers) instead of Facebook (where I have 400 friends).

Bret often asks me what my goals are for weightloss but I am afraid to put a number on it. I want to just relish and celebrate each pound lost. If I pick a number too high and I don't reach it, I don't want to feel like a failure. So far I have lost 10 lbs and that makes me super happy (line stolen from Ni Hao Kai Lan). If I lost 20 more then I will be at my mission weight, when I first met Bret. I think I'd be pretty thrilled to be there again. It's a high number but I am going to try for it. That is all. :)

Smoked Salmon Spread Recipe

2011-06-17T14:06:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:
One Smoked Salmon Fillet (roughly 6-8 oz.)
One 8 oz. package of Cream Cheese
1 tablespoon of Lemon Juice
6-8 Chive stalks, thinly sliced

Directions:
Flake the salmon fillet with your fingers and then mix all ingredients well with a fork and serve with your favorite crackers. For a fancy look, garnish with tips of chive stalks.

Chickabaw

2011-06-01T22:03:00.000-07:00

Bret shot this picture of me about a week ago when I was selling Shish-kabobs and Vietnamese Eggrolls on Saturday. Sunset Ridge was having a community yard sale but I didn't have junk to sell so I decided to sell food. It was a success and I sold all my food and made a nice profit. It was a lot of fun even though it did take a lot of time prepping all the food.
In Alaska my mom would sell Shish-kabobs. But in her Vietnamese accent she calls them Chickabaws. So that is what we call them in my little family. :) They are yummy and delicious and I was so happy when I had customers coming back for more or sending their friends my way. Good times had by all. (Especially little Kien who kept running by stealing one eggroll after another! Now I know how my mom felt when I did that to her.)

The Pretty Sister

2011-05-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

There is no denying it. There is always a "Pretty Sister". That is just the way it goes. When I was a kid, Kim was the Pretty Sister. She was captain of the cheer leading team and also Homecoming Queen. Kim was beautiful throughout high school and college.

Then, of course, she got married and started having kids. It was my opportunity to steal the spot light! When I went off to college at BYU-Hawaii I ended up losing weight because I had to walk everywhere in the heat and I also became more active (not huddled up indoors all winter in Alaska). I felt like I had blossomed (yes, I just used that word) into a lovely young woman. It finally happened- I had become the Pretty Sister!

I held onto that self-proclaimed title for quite a while and relished it. I had finally stepped out from Kim's shadow. But then, of course, I got married and started having children as well. I didn't exercise like I used to and I was introduced to an endless supply of fast food in Utah which I'd never had much access to before in Alaska and Hawaii. What a horrible downfall.

The Pretty Sister title was lost in limbo. Kim and I would both have our ups and downs but neither of us out-rightly deserved the title. Until.................. Kim started exercising regularly and eating smaller portions and healthier options. Diet and exercise- who knew, right? Five months and 30 lbs later, she had taken back her title.

I am so very proud of her. She looks amazing. She knew what she had to do and she stuck to it. I am so happy for her because I know that how she is feeling right now is a great thing for her. We all want to be pretty and confident and now she has that all back. She is definitely the Pretty Sister.

But don't get too cozy, Kim. Because now you've got me motivated. So enjoy that title, that little trophy, while it lasts. I'm coming for it!

Family Photoshoot by Erin Fillmore

2011-05-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know we're a great looking bunch anyways (haha) but Bret's sister, Erin, did an amazing job of getting some wonderful shots of our family. :)

Easter

2011-04-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

Kien had a great time hunting for eggs at Grandma's house.

Book Signing

2011-04-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

I recently attended the book signing up in Logan, Utah that had authors Ally Condie, James Dashner, Brandon Mull, Shannon Hale, and Jessica Day George. When I found out that the signing was the same weekend that we planned to go up north to visit family I was thrilled. This would be my first book signing ever! I have read Condie’s Matched and Dashner’s The Maze Runner along with its sequel, The Scorch Trials.

The Day we drove up was the day of the event and we ended up hitting some traffic along the way. We dropped off my family in Syracuse but my sweet mother-in-law came with me because I’d never been to Logan before and she was worried that I would get lost. We were late and I missed the presentations and most of the question and answer session but that didn’t get me down! I was still going to meet my authors when I got my books signed by them! I jumped into Dashner’s line first and when it was my turn I was beaming and blurted “I am a BIG fan!” He smiled and FIST BUMPED me! I went on to tell him that the scene in The Scorch Trials (MAJOR SPOILER HERE) where Thomas and Brenda were underground being chased by the Cranks freaked me out and really had me terrified. He told me that he loved reading Stephen King growing up and this was his first attempt at writing horror so he was glad it worked. We also discussed the character Minho. I asked if he was Asian and he said yes. He went on to tell me that the reason I couldn’t figure out who Minho was named after was because the great historical figure was in our future but in their past. Yeah, a light bulb just exploded in my head at that point. It was so great to get some insight from the author himself on a story that I love and with characters that I am attached to. Here is some fan art I made for his books (I’m a photoshop junkie):

Next was Ally Condie. I actually went to high school with Ally’s sister, Elaine. When I first read matched and saw Elaine’s name mentioned in the back of the book under “Acknowledgements” I immediately friended her on facebook and told her I loved the book. I then went on to ask her if the character Em was Asian (am I obsessed with Asians in literature or what?!) and she asked Ally and it turns out that she was. I had also made some fan art for the book and I showed them to Elaine who went on to show them to Ally. Anyways- when I met Ally to get my book signed I told her I was Elaine’s friend that asked those questions and made that fan art. She was so sweet to me and told me that she actually posted my art on her blog! I didn’t know that so I’m glad she liked it. Here are the banners if you’re curious:

I had one last line to stop in. You see, my neighbor’s daughter, Megan, is a HUGE fan of Brandon Mull. Apparently she stays up all night long reading his books. So before I left Cedar City I told her I would get her book signed by the author and she was thrilled. I went to Mull’s line and felt my heart sink to my stomach when I realized just how long his line was. I hurried and took a place at the end and watched the line continue to grow behind me. An hour went by and then another. There were several times that I contemplated leaving and just telling her ‘sorry’. There were other times where I considered forging the author’s signature and figured she would never know the difference. But then I would know the difference and I would feel bad about being dishonest. So I stuck through it and my good mother-in-law stuck by me, running out to get me food and drinks when I needed it. It had only taken me 30 minutes to get both my books signed by Condie and Dashner together. I ended up waiting in Mull’s line for FOUR HOURS! I guess I had underestimated what a big deal this guy was! When I finally did meet him he was very nice and charismatic. I told him how Megan would stay up all night reading his books and in the front he signed “Go to bed Megan!” Then he flipped to the back of the book and wrote again “Seriously Megan, GO TO BED!” We had a good laugh at that.

We ended up getting home at about 1am and while it had been a long experience I actually had a lot of fun. The people I waited in line with offered great conversation and were just good people in general. Meeting the authors and chatting with them was so much fun. I’m glad I went and would have no reservations about going to another event like this!

The School Bus

2011-02-25T07:24:00.000-08:00

Whenever Kien hears a giant rumbling out on the street he runs to the window to check it out. It is usually either the school bus or the garbage truck. When he sees that school bus with all the kids getting on it or getting off it he is filled with longing to be able to be able to ride the school bus. He often tells me "I want to ride the school bus" and I say "Sorry Kien, you can't go to school until you go potty in the toilet." And even though he wants to go to school very badly- he still isn't willing to go potty in the toilet. But that is beside the point.

The other day after Kien had been playing in his room he came out with his backpack on and his face was scrunched up in a look of determination. He said to me in a very stern voice "Momma! I go to school! Where's the bus?!"

Too cute.

Crafts with Kien

2011-02-11T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well lucky for us, we had a house guest for a couple of weeks that went by the name of RSV. :( Needless to say, he is not welcome back in our home again. During the awful sickness that spread through each of our family members I decided to do some craft projects with Kien to keep us both busy.

First up was our Ni Hao Kai Lan project. It's a cartoon on Nick Jr. that Kien likes. On the Nick Jr. website they have a lot of different craft ideas and this was one that I've been wanting to do for a while. I probably had the page book marked for over a year. We printed out their templates, cut out the paper, then held that against the appropriate colored felt and cut out those pieces and then glued them together with fabric glue. Here is what we got:

It was fun and easy to do. Here's a link to one template, you can look around and find the other templates if you want to:
Ni Hao Kai Lan

Then we did another project where we cut out scrapbook paper to go behind these clear glass pebbles. We used modge podge to seal the paper to the glass and then again to seal the back of the paper. We added magnets to the back and now have these cute magnets on our fridge.
We also made a bunch of Valentines for everyone in our family. I just cut out some scrapbook paper and folded them over in half so that they were cards. Kien added stickers to them and then scribbled some lovely drawings on the inside. I didn't take a picture of those so you'll just have to imagine their cuteness. :)

Eclipse Dinner

2010-12-05T09:30:00.001-08:00

Eclipse came out on DVD yesterday so I had some friends over for Dinner and a Movie. I made PF Changs Ribs:

I forgot to take a picture of us girls but oh well! Here's the ribs recipe if you want it.

PF CHANGS RIBS RECIPE

Sauce:

1 cup ketchup
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or white vinegar)

Other Ingredients:

1 rack pork spare ribs
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon diced green onion

Make the sauce by combining ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, until thick. Cool.

To cook the ribs you will need to first boil them in water. Heat up 12 to 16 cups of water in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Add a couple teaspoons of salt to the water. As water boils, trim the excess fat and meat off the ribs. Slice between the bones of each rib to separate the ribs. When the water is boiling, toss the ribs in, bring the water back to a boil and boil the ribs for 12 to 14 minutes. No pink will show when they are done. Remove ribs to a plate to cool.

Heat up 4 cups of vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. The oil should be about 375 degrees. You can also use a deep fryer for this step, but your fryer will likely require more oil.

When the oil is hot, drop 4 to 6 ribs at a time into the oil. Fry for 2 to 4 minutes or until the meat browns. Drain off the ribs on a rack or paper towels. Fry all the ribs before moving on to the next step.

Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, toss in all the ribs and coat with the sauce. Simmer the ribs in the sauce for about a minute while stirring and dump the ribs onto a serving plate when they are all well-coated with sauce.

Sprinkle the ribs with sesame seeds and about a tablespoon of diced green onion, and serve with a pile of napkins.

Swagbucks!

2010-11-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well if you're friends with me on facebook then you might already know about this and my love for it. Swagbucks is a search engine just like Google but when you do searches you are randomly awarded 'swagbucks' which are just points really. You build up your points and then you can cash them in for prizes, such as gift cards and other things. I always cash in my swagbucks for Amazon gift cards. I've earned about eight $5 giftcards in the last 6 weeks since I've joined. I think it's fun and it isn't much work, just use the search engine instead of other search engines and you usually win about 3 times a day. There are other ways to earn more swagbucks faster but the site explains all of that.

This is what it looks like when you win from a search:
If you're interested in joining, please use my referral link so that I too can benefit from your searches.

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/lynnkieu

If you want to check out the website first then please come back here and click on this link for when you sign up. Otherwise it won't link up our accounts. I love referrals and I'm happy to help any of you that sign up under me if you have any difficulty.

Now here's me and my prizes....

I was really tired and half asleep when I took this picture...
I just got this book in the mail too!

and I preordered this DVD which comes out on December 4th!

Amazon gift cards are awesome! Especially when they're free!

A little late...

2010-11-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

but here are a couple of cute pics.
Kien and Bret made these for Halloween.
Kien has developed an insatiable love for pickles. I caught him like this the other day.
Back when Ellie was smaller and had to wear Kien's premie clothes.

Pro Photos

2010-10-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again to get pictures. They're professional photos but honestly aren't that great in my opinion. That's what you get with free and cheap specials at Walmart though, right? Oh well, my kids are still cute no matter what!

Kien ran out of smiles so we got him to hide his grumpy mouth by giving her a kiss. Too bad the grumpy passed onto her little face.

Choose The Right

2010-09-29T10:57:00.001-07:00

Kien goes to the Fair... etc.

2010-09-12T07:22:00.002-07:00

We took Kien to a fair and he got to go on some pretty cool rides.

Yesterday Kien helped Dad work on the car and he also rode his bike around.

Grandma bought Kien some underwear to help encourage him with potty training. He tried to put them on but forgot to take his shorts off first.
Little Ellie- in her yellow outfit I can't help but sing "You are my Sunshine"!
Two peas in a pod.

And then Kien went to sleep in his dinosaur accessories.
The End.

A Little Blessing

2010-09-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Ellie was blessed on Sunday. Bret did a great job and all of his family came down to visit for the weekend. It was great being together.

Video of Ellie

2010-08-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Ellie Kieu Hicken

2010-08-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

Her name is Ellie Kieu Hicken and this is her story...

Birthing details, so skip if you're squeamish or not interested.

At 12:05 am (5 minutes past midnight) on 8/17/10 we checked into the hospital. At 1:00 am they began to induce labor by using Cytotec to help soften the cervix. In the morning I was checked and dialated to about a 2. Contractions were happening regularly but they were not painful, just minor discomfort. Towards the afternoon the doctor broke my water to try to help things move along. The contractions became more forceful and I eventually dialated to a 4. Because of my high blood pressure the cuff on my arm kept going off every hour to check on me. My blood pressure started to go up so they had to give me magnesium through my IV. This causes my body to feel a hot flush and to also feel nauseous and lethargic. As my contractions became more painful, my blood pressure would go higher. I asked to go ahead and get the epidural but the anesthesiologist was in the next room with another patient. I was asked if I could wait 20 minutes and I said yes. I started to feel pretty miserable with the magnesium making me sick, the contractions being painful, and the blood pressure cuff squeezing my arm so tight that I thought my hand would explode with how much blood had swelled into it. When the anesthesiologist came into the room he expressed concern with my blood pressure going so high and worried that my platelets in my blood might be low. He said that if they were too low then my blood wouldn't clot and if that was the case then he couldn't give me an epidural and that if he did it might end up causing permanent paralysis. (Can you imagine how thrilled I was to hear this?) So they called up a phlebotomist to draw my blood and check my platelets to be sure the count was high enough. While waiting to hear the results Bret asked me if I could handle going through without the epidural. I just said "lets just see what the results are". I couldn't even let myself think about it because I felt so miserable. Luckily my platelets were fine so the anesthesiologist went ahead and gave me the epidural. Bret held my hand and I had a great nurse (Anne) who held me against her shoulder while the epidural was put in. I was so relieved when the pain from the contractions finally started to subside. As a result, my blood pressure started to go down which meant the cuff didn't have to squeeze so tight to get a reading. The magnesium still made me feel hot and tired and I drifted in and out of consciousness. Several hours went by and my doctor was disappointed to see that I was not progressing. It seemed as though I was stuck at that 4 and had been there all afternoon. At about 6pm he told me that he would come back at 8pm to check my cervix and if I still hadn't progressed then he would need to proceed by taking our baby out via c-section.

When he left I turned to Bret and said "Call your mom and ask her to pray because Heavenly Father gives her whatever she wants." (Really it's because she's such a faithful woman and has nothing but righteous desires.) It was hard for me to try to understand why we had just been facing a c-section with her in the breech position, and then to have our prayers answered by her turning, to only come to this point and have to face a c-section again. I prayed that my cervix would dialate more and that we could progress without having to have a c-section but at this point I was so exhausted that I almost didn't care. I felt like giving up.

Bret texted his family and as soon as they had the chance they joined our prayers that I could progress and avoid that c-section. A new nurse (Kristi) started her shift and was determined to get me to progress. She had a few ideas that we tried out including turning me from side to side, increasing the level of Pitocin in my IV, and putting in a catheter to drain my bladder and leave more room in my body. At about 7:30 pm things started to change for the better, but it was minor because I was still at a 4. The doctor showed up at 8pm as promised and he walked in thinking we'd have to do a c-section. He checked me and suddenly I had jumped to a 7. We were all thrilled. Within minutes they were all getting their gear on to deliver the baby and they put an oxygen mask on me to help the baby because with each contraction her heart rate started going down which they told me was actually a good sign. She was moving down the birth canal and suddenly my abdomen was feeling all kinds of painful again. I asked why I was feeling pain since I had the epidural and the nurse said that I was just progressing so fast and that's what happens sometimes. It came time to push and I could feel all sorts of pressure in the lower part of my abdomen. We only had to push through two contractions and she was out.

As she was coming out the doctor called my name and told me to look. I looked down and saw a purple little person covered in white stuff. They hurriedly placed her on my belly in blankets and towels and rubbed her until she turned pink and cleared her airways. I was amazed at being able to be a part of this because when Kien was born they only let me hold him for 1 second until the NICU staff whisked him away from me and I had to wait 24 hours before they'd let me get out of bed to go down and see him. It felt amazing to me to get to hold her right after birth and watch her this whole time. Bret cut the umbilical cord and just stared at her in awe. Just minutes after I gave birth we went ahead and tried breastfeeding. She latched on right away and had a strong suck. I was so impressed because with Kien it had taken a couple of weeks before he had the strength to nurse and originally had to be fed with a feeding tube.

As rough as this labor and delivery went (almost 20 hours) it went a lot smoother than my first time around. I feel so thankful that Heavenly Father was really watching out for us and I felt that my prayers and the prayers of others with our same purpose were heard and answered.

Stats:

Weight: 4 lbs. 15 oz.
Length: 18 inches
Date: 8/17/10
Time: 8:25 pm

She has a full head of dark brown hair and has dark eyes that love to look around. She is tiny and perfect and beautiful. When she finally tired herself out and went to sleep, I knew that I should go to sleep too but I couldn't help staying awake and just staring at her, watching her sleep. Sometimes she would smile in her sleep and its so adorable.

We are both doing just fine and came home today around noon. Kien seems a little undecided about his new little sister. He says she "Too cute" and he likes to touch her very softly but I think he's a little nervous about having someone steal the spot light. In our hospital room when Bret would pick her up Kien would tell him to put her back. Or when Bret was looking at her Kien would ask Bret to come and sit down by him. I'm looking forward to seeing how our family will change and grow with this new addition. I'm thankful that Heavenly Father has entrusted this little soul into our family. She is so precious and we love her.

Her name is Ellie Kieu Hicken. Bret came up with Ellie and Kieu is my middle name. It's a Vietnamese name and pronounced just like the letter "Q". So her name is just like the letters "L-E-Q". If she ever becomes a graffiti artist that can be her tag. Also, if you say it fast- it sounds like "I like you". I sure do like you Ellie Kieu. I sure do.

So Grateful

2010-08-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family that prayed and fasted that our baby would turn out of the breech position. I had an ultrasound this morning and Heavenly Father answered our prayers! When the US tech told me she was "head down" I started crying tears of joy! I was so happy!!!! What a blessing, what an answer to prayer.

Instead of a c-section, we are scheduled to come in tonight just after midnight to induce labor. By tomorrow I will have a beautiful baby girl in my arms that I can kiss and hug. I am so happy and excited!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts! We are so grateful!!!

The Birth Plan

2010-08-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

After an ultrasound it turns out that baby girl is a bit smaller than she should be. I am 35 weeks and she is only 4 lbs. 7 oz. The doctors are concerned that she isn't getting enough nutrition and that is the cause of her small size. They worry that there might be something wrong with the cord attachment since that has something to do with preeclampsia and we know that that is in my history. Because she is small they think that it would be for the best to go ahead and take her out next week (36 weeks). Here's the problem though- she turned BREECH! Because she is in the breech position they will have to do a c-section. I am not thrilled about that at all. They could try an inversion which is where they push on your stomach really hard and try to turn the baby around. At first I thought that this is what I would do but then I found out that it's not only really painful for the mother, it is also painful to the baby. It can also put the baby into stress and that would lead to an emergency c-section. The doctor said that a planned c-section is better than an emergency one because it reduces the chances of something going wrong and also reduces the risks of infection, etc.

After much thought and prayer we came to the decision that we'll schedule a planned c-section on Thursday (8/19) which was as far off as I can put this. Then we'll be praying and hoping our hearts out that between now and then she will just turn on her own so that instead of a c-section we can have an induction. We'd love it if you could mention us in your prayers as well that this stubborn little baby girl will turn and get into the right position!!! Thanks!

Happy Anniversary

2010-08-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary Bret Darling! It's been a wonderful 5 years. We celebrated by going out to eat at a Japanese restaurant in St. George because I had a doctor's appointment down there anyways. The food was delicious! We ordered entrees (Bret got the Teriyaki Steak and I got a steak/chicken combo) and also some sushi. The spider roll is our favorite!It was 7 years ago that we met in the Maryland Baltimore Mission. Towards the end of our mission he was in Severna Park and I was in Annapolis. The Thompson family insisted that they got the chance to feed the elders and sisters at the same time for a fabulous Sushi dinner. It was then that Bret and I discovered our love for.......... well......... Sushi of course!
After the mission, Bret came out to visit me in Hawaii. We had so much fun dating out there and went on lots of adventures.
On August 12, 2005 we were married in the Bountiful Temple for time and all eternity. It was the best day of my life.
Two years later on August 8th, 2007 we had a beautiful baby boy named Kien.
Now we have a baby girl that will be joining our family in just a few more days. I'm so glad I got to marry you. You have been my best friend through thick and thin. I'm so grateful that ours is a marriage that is sealed for eternity. I love you, always and forever.

Kien is THREE!

2010-08-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

My little boy turned 3 yesterday! My, how time flies. He loves Dinosaurs right now so I made him a dinosaur cake with a big volcano. He was VERY interested in helping me make, bake, and decorate the cake. Here he is investigating one my decorating tools:

Here is the cake that we came up with:
We just invited some of Bret's relatives over that live in the area: Grandma Payne, Aunt Jeanne, Cousin LeAnne, and Cousin Brent. They helped us to sing Happy Birthday and ate some cake and ice cream.
This is the face Kien makes when you try to get him to smile for a picture. Silly, silly boy.
Happy Birthday Kien! I love you more than you'll ever know! xoxoxo

Quick Update

2010-08-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know that everything with the pregnancy is fine and dandy. I'm 34 weeks now (Kien was born at 33 weeks) so we're very pleased that I've come along this far and that nothing bad has happened yet. I go to the hospital 2-3 times a week for various testing and each time I go I get nothing but great results. We're very happy and blessed that things are going so well. Who knows- maybe I'll end up having a full term baby after all! Thanks everyone for your continued love and support!

Salmon with a Vietnamese Twist

2010-07-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Bret bought a fishing license so we've been going out fishing. He finally caught something for the first time in Utah since I've known him. It was just a tiny trout that he ended up tossing back.
Anyways, whenever we fish here in Utah I get nostalgic and miss fishing in Alaska where you are always successful and what you catch is usually HUGE. (This is a king salmon that I helped reel in.)

Anyways, Salmon is my favorite fish to eat and I love the way my mom always made it so today I'll be posting her recipe. She's Vietnamese and brought her Asian influences to wild Alaskan food (like Moose Phở). So even though there aren't Salmon in Vietnam, I'll call this dish Vietnamese Salmon!

I also wanted to submit this post for the Delicious Vietnam #3 blogging event. Anh of A Food Lovers’ Journey and Hong and Kim from Ravenous Couple came up with the idea where people all over the world could get together and share their love of Vietnamese food in a combined blog post once a month.

Vietnamese Salmon

Ingredients:
1 Large Salmon Fillet
3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
3 Tbs Oil
1 recipe of Vietnamese Dipping Sauce/Nuoc Cham (At the end of blog post)
approx. 1/2 cup Sugar

Directions:
Cut up your fillet into single sized portions. Heat the oil in a large skillet and add the minced garlic, bring to medium heat. Then add your Salmon portions and cook each side for a few minutes until cooked all the way through.

Pull the Salmon out and set aside. Pour out the excess oil and discard. Now add about 1 cup of the Nuoc Cham liquid into the skillet. Add in the sugar and cook it down until the sauce caramelizes and turns into a syrup consistency. The more sugar you add, the quicker you'll reach your desired thickness. When the sauce is done, pour it over the Salmon and serve it immediately with a side of rice and your favorite vegetables.
This dish is sweet, savory, and has just a little bit of heat to it. The sauce will have a very strong smell as you cook it but the flavor will be amazing! It's also a great way to use up your left over Nuoc Cham when you've made it for other Vietnamese dishes. Enjoy!

Sensitive Vascular Tree

2010-06-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

Sensitive Vascular Tree... Doesn't that sound pretty? Well... I saw the Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist down in St. George yesterday and he did an ultrasound of the cord and said that I have a sensitive vascular tree which means that I WILL be having preeclampsia again with this pregnancy. It is disappointing but on the bright side nothing has gone wrong yet and now that they know this early they can keep a close eye on me. I'm starting a medication for high blood pressure to keep my pressure down and I was also instructed to get plenty of rest. I can't do anything too exciting and I should not lose my temper. Haha- I told Bret he'd better start treating me like a princess so that I don't have a reason to lose my temper! :D According to the ultrasound, the baby looks good and healthy so no problems there which is a blessing. They took my blood and they'll be running tests to see how my internal organs are doing so far. With preeclampsia my organs will start to deteriorate and when that happens they will induce labor to get the baby and the placenta out. The only cure for preeclampsia is to get the placenta out. For some reason, once that happens the mother gets all better. The downside to that is that the baby gets kicked out of her warm uterus a bit too early. The doctor told me that the magic number is 32 weeks. If I can make it to 32 weeks of pregnancy before things go wrong with my body then she will have a 99% chance of survival and a 99% chance of avoiding neurological damage. As of right now (27 weeks) the percentage is only 75% so if we make it to at least 32 weeks then things will be so much better.

Anyways- wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts and prayers if you could. We'd appreciate it!

Pregnancy Update

2010-06-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

I am now 26 weeks along and had another ultrasound this week. The baby is looking good and is right on target for growth- she's estimated to be 1 lb, 14 oz. It was confirmed that she IS a girl. Her sitting position was much more cooperative this time for trying to figure that out.

Names we're debating between:
Esmae Linh
or
Rowan Kieu
Which do you like better?

So as some of you may recall- during my pregnancy with Kien I had preeclampsia (pregnancy induced hypertension) kick in when I was 30 weeks pregnant and I ended up having to deliver Kien at 33 weeks after 3 weeks of strict bed rest in the St. George hospital.

My doctor has been keeping a close eye on me and checks my blood pressure every week to make sure it doesn't sky rocket again like it did last time. I get a nurse named Bree who I really like! She bought one of Willow and Sam's shi-tzu babies from us a long time ago (we called him brown bear and she named him Koda- coincidence? I think not). Anyways- she is usually the one to check my blood pressure and when she does it's always good. However, whenever she is not there and someone else checks it, it always ends up being a lot higher. Weird right? She started to worry that she's not doing it right but she double checks me and says she can hear it and she knows it's right. I don't know- maybe I'm just more comfortable with her???? Anyways- my OB doctor wants me to go see a specialist down in St.George who specializes in High Risk Pregnancies, just to make sure that everything that can be done is being done to make this pregnancy go smoothly. I have an appointment on Monday so we'll see how that goes.

I have really great in-laws who are constantly praying for us and putting our names in the temple so I appreciate that and I know it has made a difference. One of the other signs that preeclampsia was coming when I was pregnant with Kien was that I had MAJOR swelling and the protein in my urine was really high. This time around the swelling has been pretty minimal (compared to my giant bee-stung-looking-face last time) and the protein in the urine has just been "trace" which means trace amounts which is low which is GOOD.

I can laugh at my bloated face now but there was a very long time that this picture was kept in a vault and for good reason!
Anyways- that's the update.

Vietnamese Dinner

2010-06-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

Have I told you lately how much I LOVE Vietnamese food? I found an excellent recipe online for Bun Thit Nuong- One of my all time favorite Vietnamese dishes. I always order it when I get to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant. Here's a LINK to the recipe (Found it at The Ravenous Couple blog-GREAT RECIPES). It is grilled pork with lots of great flavors (lemongrass, shallots, garlic, etc.) laid on top of rice vermicelli with a lot of fresh veggies and herbs like cucumber, basil, mint, cilantro, bean sprouts, and green leaf lettuce. I also made pickled daikon radish and carrots- so yummy!!! Then you pour nuoc cham all over it and you're in heaven. I also made egg rolls that people could cut up into bite size pieces to put in their bowls as well. Here's a LINK to my previous blog post for my egg roll and nuoc cham recipe.

Anyways, our good friends Brian and Amy recently moved to Las Vegas and we wanted to have one last dinner with them and some of the other cousins. So I made the dinner above and it turned out great. Thanks to Amy for taking the pictures!!!Cousin Brent made me so happy when he said that he couldn't stop smiling while he was eating because it was one of the best meals he's had in a long time. Good ole' Brent. We need to feed him more often. (Because I really love to be praised for my food!!!)

After dinner, the boys enjoyed watching some UFC online.
Kien had a great time playing with cousin Hannah. We sure are going to miss them.

It's a Girl... or so they think.

2010-04-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

We had our ultrasound this morning and the little baby kept putting its foot in the way of its nether regions so they weren't 100% sure but for a brief moment little baby Hicken moved her foot and the US tech said she thought it was a girl- that that was her best guess.

So..... It's a Girl!!! How fun. Kien will be an excellent big brother. We're very excited. Here are the pictures from her latest photo shoot:

3-D Pictures:
This sleepy little princess is rubbing her eyes....

The Little One's First Picture

2010-03-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here's a snap shot taken yesterday morning of our little one:

Baby Number Two

2010-03-16T06:50:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am pregnant with baby #2. Bret and I are super excited for a new little family member. I'm 14 weeks along and the baby is due on September 13th. We'll find out next month what we're having. We've tried to explain to Kien about a baby being in my belly a couple of times but I don't think he believes me. :D

The Best Husband

2010-03-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

Last night was enrichment night. They had an "8 Cow Wife" theme that was pretty fun. At the end of the evening they announced that they had a special surprise for each of us. They told us that all of our husbands had written us letters and they were going to pass them out to us.

When they first mentioned the letters my heart clenched up and for a moment I had this terrible feeling- like how you might feel if you knew someone was going to burn you and you just had to wait for it to happen. Let me explain why....

Years ago when I was on my mission all of the missionaries were brought together for a Christmas party. It was a great evening with a lot of fun but also with some really great words from our mission president. We were in a chapel and the spirit in the room was overwhelmingly strong. I felt great. Then President Hyde announced to us that they had contacted all of our parents and that each of us had a letter from them. They proceeded to pass out the letters. I was so ecstatic you wouldn't believe it. Most of you know that my father isn't really a part of my life so I wasn't expecting anything from him- but to know that I had gotten a letter from my mother just made me so happy. The reason? Because at that point in my mission I had never received a letter from her. I love my mother- I think she tries to do her best. But she wasn't all that supportive of me going on a mission- she never understood what it all meant to me. I had accepted the fact that my mother wasn't going to write me on my mission and I took those feelings and shoved them deep and far away so that I didn't have to think about it. But there, in that chapel, with letters being passed out, and a promise from President Hyde that we ALL had letters I felt so hopeful and happy. I waited, and waited as everyone around me got their very own letter from their parents. The room was quiet as people read them except for some who were crying. I waited and my letter never came.

I was so disappointed and even thinking about it now still makes me cry. I went home feeling terrible. My very good day turned into something horrible. Of course I got over it and found renewed reasons of why I should be happy on my mission.

So anyways- back to last night. When they announced that we all had letters from our husbands my initial feelings were of a sickening fear. But then I thought- No, this is my Bret we're talking about here. I KNOW he won't let me down. And I was right.

I got a letter from my wonderful husband telling me wonderful things. It made me so happy and I couldn't stop bawling. I am married to a good man. Before I met him I taught myself not to depend on people because it seemed like they always let me down. Even the people who were supposed to be the pillars of strength- they just weren't there when I needed them to be. But Bret is my rock. I can always count on him. He is dependable, reliable, constant, sturdy. When he says he's going to do something- he does it. He is the best friend you could ever have because he will always help you when you need it. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. I am so very thankful that I have him in my life and that I can depend on him and know that he will never let me down. I love him. I thank Heavenly Father for making him.

Fried Rice Recipe

2010-03-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Fried rice is super easy to make and I usually have all the ingredients I need just laying around the kitchen.

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked Jasmine Rice (You can use long grain if it's all you've got)
1 egg, beaten
2 cups of frozen peas and carrots (or you can use your favorite fresh veggies)
3 links of Chinese Style Sausage (You can use other meats- Beef, Pork, Chicken, etc)
2-3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
Cooking Oil

Cook your Jasmine Rice in your rice cooker or pot according to package instructions.

Pour a tiny bit of oil into a wok, just enough to grease the bottom. Pour in your beaten egg and move your wok around so that the egg spreads out into a thin disc. Once one side cooks, flip it over to cook the other side. Then take it out and cut the disc in half and then slice it.

Set the egg aside in a large mixing bowl. Now dump your frozen peas and carrots into the wok along with 1/2 a cup of water. Cook until the veggies are heated all the way through and all the water is absorbed or evaporated. Dump the veggies into your mixing bowl. Now take your Chinese Style Sausage and cut about 3 links into small slices.
Dump those into the wok next and cook them for a couple minutes until both sides are crispy and browned. Remove from wok and add to the mixing bowl.

Now add about 2 tablespoons of cooking oil to your wok. Drop in your minced garlic and let it brown up a little bit for about 30-45 seconds. Then dump in all of your cooked jasmine rice. Stir it around thoroughly to give the rice a nice coating of the garlic oil. Drizzle the rice with about a tablespoon of soy sauce and continue to mix so that it has a light brown coating. Dump in all the cooked ingredients from your mixing bowl and continue to mix thoroughly. Once it's all mixed serve it and enjoy!
Hint: If you want to serve the rice in the mound shape pictured above, place 6 sausage discs at the bottom of a small bowl and then add the fried rice to the bowl and pack it down tightly. Put a plate upside down on top of the bowl and then flip it over and you'll get a pretty nice mound of fried rice ready to serve.

Vietnamese Egg Roll Recipe

2010-02-26T14:11:00.000-08:00

I've had a couple of requests for my egg roll recipe so I decided to go ahead and blog it. This is how I make it- some other Vietnamese people may make it differently. :D

Ingredients:
Filling
1 lb. Ground Pork
approx. 5 large carrots, peeled and shredded
4 bundles of the bean thread rice noodles (Package is usually wrapped in bright pink netting, 8 bundles per package), cooked, drained, and chopped.

1/2 a bag of dried woodear mushrooms, soaked for 15 minutes and then finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped (optional)
1/8 tsp. Garlic Salt
1/8 tsp. Pepper
1 tbsp. Fish Sauce

Combine all the ingredients to make the filling.

Other Ingredients
1 egg, beaten
1 package of egg roll wrappers
Cooking Oil

Make sure that you buy the thin egg roll wrappers. This is a good brand:Or this one is good too.
I have only found these kind of wrappers in Asian markets, NOT in local grocery stores. The regular ones in the stores are thick and doughy like this:

Do not use these thick wrappers for this recipe because the wrapper will begin to burn while cooking in the oil before the filling has a chance to cook all the way through.

Drop about 2 spoonfuls of the filling into the wrapper and use these instructions to roll them up. The beaten egg is used to seal the outside flap of the wrapper to keep it closed. Just dip your finger in the egg and run it along the edge of the flap to seal it:

Once your egg rolls are wrapped, heat up a pot of cooking oil to medium-high heat. If you want to be healthy, safflower oil is a great choice. Otherwise vegetable or canola oil will do. Make sure there is enough oil in your pot so that your egg rolls will float. Cook for 7-10 minutes or until they become golden brown. Drain them on paper towels and once they cool enjoy eating them!

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)

1/4 cup Fish Sauce
2 cups Water
1 cup Sugar
1 minced Clove of Garlic
1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

Combine ingredients and feel free to alter measurements to taste.

Our Crazy Weekend in Vegas!

2010-02-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

Haha, it actually wasn't crazy at all. Except for when we drove to the gas station to get a slushy and Bret saw a drug deal go down. :D Other than that it was pretty mellow.

We went to the Mandalay Bay Aquarium and Kien was excited to see all the fish. Here's the little guy all ready with his ticket:
What an adorable little angel....

Dad showing Kien how to pet the sting rays:
And Kien not being able to quite make the reach:
We went with Tonia to Bass Pro Shop so the kids could see all the animals. Here's Kien with his cousins Bailey and Sadie:
Me and Bret posing in front of the waterfall.
Tonia captured Kien's new favorite facial expression:
All in all, it was a great weekend.

The Kien Update

2010-01-29T19:52:00.000-08:00

So the in-laws are always asking to see pictures of Kien and its about time I satiated their thirsts. Here are some pictures of my little guy from over the past couple of months:

Christmas Morning- I love the expression on his face, like "CHRISTMAS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!"
One day the little man woke up from his nap and came out to the kitchen to find me looking like this. I pretty much freaked out but was relieved to find that it was just a messy bloody nose.
Kien always looks so handsome on Sundays for church. He gets a lot of compliments on how he dresses (which is really a compliment to me since I dress him ;)
These are my boys. Oh how I love them.

Nomesick, There's No Place Like Nome, Nomegrown, etc.

2010-01-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

Today I am feeling a little homesick for Nome. I grew up in such a unique place and there are just some things that I miss about it like the fishing, Alaskan king crabs, berry picking, the ocean, the aurora borealis, and the people... namely my family. So I've been spending the morning watching videos from Nome and wanted to share them.

This one is an advertisement to increase tourism. I know most the people in this video.

This one follows journalist Steve Lopez on his trip to Nome. (Steve Lopez is the guy who's story got made into the movie "The Soloist". We watched it on Christmas eve at Bret's parents house and we all gave Jan a hard time for picking such a cheerful movie for us to watch.) I know EVERY PERSON that he interviews. I grew up with their kids. :D

And here's a video from 2008 when Bret, Kien, and I visited with my sister's family. Sean (my brother-in-law) shot the video of my nephew Jeremy catching a fish.

Kim (my sister) posted a bunch of video's on YouTube from Nome if you feel like watching more:
http://www.youtube.com/user/fireweedjelly

New Moon Premiere

2009-12-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

Well I said I wouldn't blog about Twilight again until New Moon came out in theaters and that's happened so here we go....

First there was the midnight showing of New Moon that some of my pals went to go see. Understand that I am such a lover of all things Twilight that I made myself wait until the following Monday to see it in hopes that the screaming girls would have had their fill by then and so that when I went to see it- no one would be screaming and drowning out the sound of my Edward's voice. However, I didn't want to miss out on the fun so I went in line and waited with them just to hang out and talk about Twilight. Yes- that is exactly how nerdy I am.

Here are the girls who went opening night. We are standing in front of the "Clock Tower in Volterra" (it was set up in the Theater's lobby) but whoever took the picture didn't realize that we wanted it in the picture (which is why we stood in front of it) so you don't get to see it. Oh well.

Then Monday finally came and I threw a Bella-Themed-Birthday-Party before we went to the movie. Here is the invitation that I made:

In the book Alice has a pink cake for Bella so that is what I made. It was strawberry flavored and delicious.
These are the girls who went Monday night with me. Notice that we're all holding "The Forbidden Fruit" like on the cover of Twilight?
Here we are at the Theater in front of Jacob Black's house. There was even a mailbox with the name "Black" painted on it. Kudos to the theater staff for being so creative!
I thought the movie was really great and much better than Twilight. I think having a new director really improved things and I also thought the acting was better- perhaps the cast took some acting lessons between movies. And I must admit that while I will always love Edward- Jacob Black sure caught my eye in this one. Can you blame me?!?

And that is the end.

My Handsome Boy

2009-11-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

We took Kien's 2-year pictures and I'm a pleased with the results:
This is his sultry GQ pose:

PS- finished reading Life As We Knew It, The Host, and Graceling. All very good books. By far The Host is my favorite. I think I might even like it more than The Twilight Saga! (Yikes! Don't tell Edward!)

Media Musings

2009-10-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

So since my love affair with Twilight I decided that I needed to get back in the saddle in search for a new love. I missed being completely sucked in by a story and it's characters. I saw a trailer for an upcoming movie called "The Time Traveler's Wife" and I remembered seeing the title on a list of books that you should read during your lifetime. So I figured I'd read the book and then watch the movie as a special treat. I actually really liked the book, the style it was written in, and the characters. It was such an interesting love story with it's own unique dilemma's. However, it was like a PG-13 movie that pushed the very limits of its rating- tossing in just enough swear words and that one vulgar scene. So I cannot in good faith, recommend the book to any of my LDS friends. :S However, the movie version was fairly clean and they did without the yucky scene. Of course the movie left out a lot of other things as well but hey- that's what movies do.So I took a little trip down to Barnes and Nobles in St. George and walked through the teen section. I figured if I read a teen book it has to be clean because otherwise parents would be mad. That combined with my weird fascination with Fairies led me to pick up this book: Wicked Lovely. It's about a girl named Aislinn who can see fairies all around us that the rest of us are blind to. I liked all the parts with the fairies but one of the male romantic leads was a human named Seth. Seth was described as having "bars in his face" that made him so hot. He also had pierced nipples. LOL.... I just don't find piercings attractive at all so it was hard for me to like him or see Aislinn's attraction to him. (Not sure if I'll ever find another imaginary character that I will love as much as Edward Cullen.) :P So anyways, this book was part of a series and I stopped at the bookstore and seriously considered buying the second book just to finish the series but when I read the back and saw that it was all about a girl named Leslie who was obsessed with getting this one tattoo I knew it wasn't for me. If the piercings bothered me I'm sure the tattoo's would as well. Sorry Wicked Lovely, thumbs down from me. (It's probably aimed towards the emo's out there.)
Then just two days ago I took Kien to the park next to our house where a bunch of other moms were playing with their kids. I had brought "The Host" with me. I figured if Stephenie Meyer won my heart with Twilight, maybe she could do it again with this book.
I had just started it and was on the first chapter when one of the other moms started talking to me about books and her book club. I was ecstatic! She just lives a couple houses down from me and they are meeting on the 14th for the first time. The book for the month is "Life As We Knew It". She told me where to pick it up to get their book club discount so I did and I'm about 1/2 way through it right now. I LOVE IT! It had me in tears by chapter two! It's about what would happen when an asteroid hits the moon, slightly pushing it closer to the earth. Suddenly the tides are effected and giant tsunamis wipe out all the coastlines. That's why I started crying- because Hawaii was wiped out and the coast of Alaska (where Nome is) was utterly destroyed. If it were a real event, my family and friends would be gone. Anyways, the story follows a families struggle to survive during these hard times. Gas prices sky rocket and food is no longer delivered across the country. It has seriously freaked me out about not having enough food storage. When Bret gets home with the car today I am going to buy more food storage ASAP. Anyways, I totally recommend this book. If anything, it will make you want to make sure you have sufficient food storage! (I will start reading The Host again after I finish this one.)
So anyways, that's what I've been reading lately. Now I will plug my new favorite show- Glee. I love it. Probably because it has all these musical numbers and I've always wished life was a musical. Also because in high school I was a drama club geek just like these kids. Something about performing just makes you feel special. I'm a "Gleek".

Go HERE to watch the first 5 episodes of Season One for FREE.

I Cut Kien's Hair

2009-09-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally did it myself. I cut Kien's hair. When I started I instantly regretted it because his beautiful blond locks were just falling to the floor in bigger heaps than I anticipated. This is his "Before" picture:

And while it's shorter than I originally wanted it to be (I used the biggest setting on Bret's shaving kit- an 8), I don't think it turned out too bad. Besides, it'll grow back.
Here are his "After" shots:
He was so happy just to get a little lolly pop while I cut his hair so he was pretty well behaved. Good job Kien.

Trailer Cake

2009-09-15T13:34:00.001-07:00

I made this for my sister-in-law, Erin's, cake competition:
A tribute, to our old home.......

So Much To Blog, So Little Time: Part C

2009-08-31T06:31:00.000-07:00

During my sister's visit, we went to the Bountiful Temple (Where Bret and I got married) and we did baptisms in proxy for our very own deceased family members. It's the first time I've ever done temple work for my own relatives.

This was my nephew Jeremy's first time to the temple as well.
When I was sitting inside waiting, my sister handed me some cards with names. It really hit me when I recognized those names and knew stories about these people or had even met a few of them. I just felt the spirit confirm how very true this work is and that there really are people on the other side waiting for this.

Among the people was my Grandfather on my Dad's side (He's the grown man):
My Uncle Sumner (The one Driving):
My grandmother on my Dad's side, Mary Viola Munn:
And my Grandpa on my Mom's side. (I was 12 or 13 in this picture):
It was just a really neat experience. I look forward to more.

So Much to Blog, So Little Time: Part B

2009-08-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Kien and I went up to the SLC area because my sister, Kim, and her family came down to visit from Alaska. During our stay up there, we went to Hoogle Zoo with them. It was a lot of fun.

Kien has little zoo animal toys so I let him hold whichever animal he was looking at, at the time. Can you see his Elephant? That is little Braddock by the way, Becca's son. Kim and I grew up with Becca in Nome, Alaska.
Here's Me, Kien, and his cousin Addison on the Merry-Go-Round.
My sister Kim and two of her kids, Addison and Jeremy.
Kien told me that he wished he could be raised by apes.
We took the train ride too! I'm in the back with Kien, then there's Kim with Addison and baby Aiden, then up front is her husband Sean, son Jeremy, and other baby twin Reese.
Kien liked the Train ride.
And all the kids: Kien, Aiden, Reese, Bradock, Jeremy, and Addison.

So Much to Blog, So Little Time: Part A

2009-08-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well shucks, I haven't blogged in a while and a lot of Stuff has happened. So I'll break it down into parts.

Part A

I chopped off 12 inches of hair and donated to Locks of Love. It was weird seeing my hair in a loosely braided pony tail on the counter in front of me while the stylist went to work on what was left on my head. It's probably what an amputee feels like when they see their dismembered body part. Ok, that was a bad joke. I'm sorry to anyone who has lost a body part that may have been offended by my previous comment. It's just that I recently read The Time Traveler's Wife where a man had to have his feet amputated so that's swimming around in my head.

Bret likes my hair cut. It reminds him of the good old days when we dated in Hawaii.

Happy Birthday Kien

2009-08-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning and thought to myself "I can't believe I have a two year old." Time has flown by and that's what they say about having fun. Kien is my little ball of fun and I love him. He is a sweet boy. Yesterday Bret pretended to attack me and Kien FREAKED OUT. He chased after Dad and yelled "No!" He was just trying to protect his momma. To repay him for his heroism I threw him a birthday bash. Enjoy the pictures!

I made this cake for Kien. I love making cakes but you all probably already know that about me.

The Rowley's.
Kristi Barnes with Kien and Bryson.
Cute little miss Brooke Barnes.
Andrew working on his tan.
They decided to use the kiddie pool as a raft!
Kien is just like his dad- being a wallflower at his own party.
He was so excited about the presents that it was all a blur.
Mom sure must love you for making you a "fisss" cake.

UFC/ Play Date

2009-07-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well the boys watched a big UFC event on Monday night so Amy and I took the kids to the park. Thanks Amy for all the wonderful photos!

A Few More Pics from the Hicken Visit

2009-07-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures of Bret's family visiting us.

Kien is slam dunking it!
He's got alfredo sauce on his lips.
Jan and her little boy.
Kien loves his uncle Max. He just can't leave him alone!
Kien had so much fun with Dad, Uncle Max, and Uncle Craig helping him go down the slide. This park is right by our house.

Sunset Ridge

2009-07-05T18:53:00.001-07:00

This week we moved into Sunset Ridge and left our trailer behind. Here are the pictures of our new place:
The Backyard.
The dining room. Pretty plain right now.
Our living room. We got that entertainment center for FREE from Sam and Jill (Bret's boss' at Sunshine Nutrition). So sweet- it really makes the place look nice.

Jan (My mother-in-law) and Grandma Payne did all the decorating. They were so great and bought stuff from The Catholic Thrift Store and D.I. to decorate. I am amazed at Jan's talent to find random things and know how to make it all work. She is amazing. Thanks Jan!

The Master Bedroom. My mom bought us this bed spread set in Hawaii when we were there for graduation. Thanks Mom! Erin (Bret's sister) bought us those bedside lamps for our wedding. We've never had room before for bedside tables to hold lamps. :D Haha... Thanks Erin!
The Master Bathroom. The cool thing on the wall is from Tonia (Thanks!) Then the small beach box on the wall was from Jamie in Hawaii. Thanks Jamie!
We have been so blessed to be able to move into this place and to also have so much help. Bret's parents and his two brothers, Max and Craig, came down to help us move all of our stuff. They worked so hard until everything was done and had us moved so quickly. They also spent time with Kien which he LOVED. I think he really enjoyed his uncles and wishes they could stick around to play with him all the time. Uncle Dave and his son Alan also helped us move a few things. I am just so amazed that everyone was so willing to help us out. I just feel very lucky and blessed.

Just so you know- we never got our digital camera back so I'm afraid my blog posts will be few and far between until we get a new camera or people give me pictures to blog (Thanks again Jan!)

Happy 4th of July....

Lynn's Graduation From BYU-Hawaii

2009-06-14T10:19:00.000-07:00

I'll make another blog post about our Hawaiian Vacation when/if the car rental company sends us our digital camera back (we forgot it in the car!!!). These are pictures that one of my friends took:
These were two of my college roommates, Jamie and Adrian. Jamie lives in Hawaii and Adrian lives in Utah. Adrian kept telling me how sorry she was that she couldn't come out for my graduation. Then when I was there I saw Jamie approach (who I was expecting) but then Adrian snuck up on me from behind! I was so happy to see the two of them that I started crying! Best surprise EVER!
I got a bunch of leis and I was so happy! Do you see the one in the middle at the top? A Polynesian mother made it for her daughter who graduated but her daughter had a ton of leis being put on her. The mother saw me and walked up to me and put it on me. She said her daughter didn't need any more. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? I have missed the Aloha Spirit so much and that was a shining example of it!
Afterwards we went out to eat in Haleiwa at Pizza Bobs. I ordered the Avocado Bacon Cheeseburger and it was the best burger I've ever had! No lie!
On our way back to the condo we stopped at a fruit stand that was also selling jewelry. Mom bought these bracelets for us girls so we could be "bracelet buddies"!
Once Kien warmed up to the water he had a lot of fun in it.

Kien's Words

2009-05-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of videos to make Grandma proud of Kien with the words that he can say now.

There's a Bat in My House!

2009-05-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

No, I don't mean a baseball bat- I mean one of those freaky looking rodents with wings. I was having a nice Sunday nap on the couch when I heard Bret yell "Wake up Lynn, there's a bat! Get off the couch!" The bat had landed on the curtains above the couch where I gently lay... sleeping... unsuspecting...

Bret tried to figure out how to handle the situation. The internet said to use leather gloves but we don't have any. So instead he got a pitcher and trapped it in there. Enjoy the pic and video's.

Model

2009-05-09T07:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I finally got the ensemble complete because I wanted to wear the dress to Erin's wedding (Bret's sister). If you are a member of the family then you can see the wedding pictures on the All Paynes Blog. If not, sorry, but you probably wouldn't be interested in seeing them anyways. Well, here's me with the dress, the chunky jewelry, and the shoes.There's that chunky bracelet to match!
Isn't Bret so handsome with his brothers in their matching ties? My husband hardly gets any blog time so here he is in all his handsomeness. Dan is missing though because he is on his mission. We missed you Danno!

Fun in the Sun

2009-04-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

On Thursdays I watch Sophie and today was so nice that I had the kids play outside in the kiddie pool. They had a lot of fun and I got to work on my tan.

Kien LOVES basketball. I think we're going to have to buy him a hoop.
The poor kid was so tuckered out that he fell asleep on the couch while I played with his hair.
Video's for Grandma Hicken.

Random Recipe

2009-04-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with my old roommate from BYU-Hawaii on facebook. We talked about how we used to sit around and make up recipes and try new things together. We'd look at our cupboards and see what we could possibly combine to make a meal. Stir fry is one of my favorite "throw together" meals. Sometimes all it takes are some spaghetti noodles, a bag of frozen veggies (oriental blend), and some teriyaki sauce. Here is the GOOD recipe for stir fry that I gave my friend online and it's what I made just the other night.Vegetable Stir Fry Recipe

Broccoli
Carrots (Julienne or Matchstick)
Yellow Squash (Sliced)
Zuccini (Sliced)
Red Onion (Sliced)
Mushrooms (Sliced)
Sugar Snap Peas or Snow Peas (Trim ends)
Japanese Noodles
1 bottle of House of Tsang: Korean Teriyaki Stir Fry Sauce

Cook the noodles according to package directions. Again, you can substitute spaghetti noodles but I think Japanese noodles taste better. Drain noodles and set aside. Saute vegetables in olive oil or butter, depending on how healthy you want to be. Once they are cooked through, add noodles and the Korean Stir Fry sauce. Stir until completly mixed. You probably won't use the whole bottle of sauce, maybe half of it (Depends on how many noodles and veggies you cooked). If you want, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Really, you can add whatever veggies you want. That's the wonderful thing about stir fry.
(You can easily add meat to this recipe. If you do, just cut chicken, pork, or beef into stir fry slices and marinade in Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce for 1-2 days. The longer you marinade the better it tastes. Trust me on the brands of sauce I give you, I've tried every teriyaki sauce out there and these are the best. Cook the meat in pan with oil separate from Noodles and Veggies and then combine all with sauce.)

What Happens in Vegas Ends up on Blogspot

2009-04-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

Well Kien and I went to Vegas with Amy, Brian, and their daughter Hannah. We went to Tonia's house and had a delicious dinner with them. Then Tonia took us out to The Melting Pot for dessert. It was so delicious! Kien was crazy though and made a mess. He kept putting his hand in Tonia's drink to take out the ice. He saw everyone using prongs to stab their food so he used Tonia straw to stab at everyone else's food.I think his mouth is full of marshmallow.
Here is Amy and Hannah. She was so well-behaved.
Then we went home and put the kids to bed. Then we watched Twilight since Tonia had not seen it yet. However, Amy and I fell asleep and Tonia braved the movie alone. She said it was not as scary as the book. (She was really afraid of James when she read it.)

The next morning Kien woke me up bright and early. We were the first ones down stairs and we went into the back yard to find that it had been toilet papered. When Tonia came down she thought it was pretty funny. Then she eventually made her way out to the front of the house. The front was also TP'd but in addition, it was also egged along with her son's car. Suddenly Tonia wasn't laughing anymore. Brian was very nice and cleaned a bunch of it up until the kid who was responsible came over to clean up. The kids were outside while we gathered up the TP.

Here is Bailey & Sadie (Tonia's girls), Kien, and Hannah. The girls were so cute in their matching polar fleece bear suits that I was kicking myself for not bringing Kien's blue bear suit to match. Oh well.
Then we went shopping. I was in the market for a dress for graduation this June and the girls helped me out a ton. They told me what to wear and Amy applied all her knowledge that she's picked up from the show "What Not to Wear". I felt like I was on the show as the girls brought back different things for me to try and telling me that I HAD to have a chunky necklace with a chunky bracelet that was a different color from the dress. They were DEAD SERIOUS when they told me I HAD to have a bracelet. I thought they were teasing me but nope- it was a RULE that I was not allowed to break. I had a good time with them.
Here is the dress I bought on a pretty model.
Here is the sweater I bought to go with it. Tonia had an amazing coupon that she let me use. Thanks Tonia!
Here is the chunky jewelry they had me try on. I didn't buy it from this store but I will be on the lookout for good, turquoise, chunky jewelry.
Then we went back to Tonia's since the kids were in Nuclear Meltdown Mode and Brian had had enough of babysitting. Here we are as we were leaving to go back to Cedar. Thanks so much Tonia! You are a wonderful hostess. Thanks for taking all the pictures Amy and Brian!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

Pics of Kien on his little Easter Egg hunt in our yard.
Some had little animals for him to play with. When he got his baby panda and baby lion cub he made sure they could run on the ground.
Some eggs had jelly beans and when he would open the egg a few were bound to fall to the ground. Here he is eating one he picked up plus a piece of grass.
These were not on Easter but he's just so cute I had to add them. Do your kids climb into the Entertainment Center cubby's too?
The boy just likes to chill with his dog and eat lemon cookies.

Say what?

2009-03-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed a new tab on your dashboards called "Monetize"? It explains that you can make money by allowing companies to advertise on your blog. What do you guys think of this?

Random Recipe

2009-03-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

So I like how other people have reoccurring posts on their blogs like Mary's "Colorblind Chronicles" or Chalise's "Flashback Fridays" so I've decided that my reoccurring post will be "Random Recipe". It's the dish that I've made up or found that adds spice to my regular home menu. This month: Lemongrass Shrimp (I made this one up).Why is it random? We don't have it very often because 1)shrimp is expensive and 2)lemongrass is hard to come by. I can only pick it up when I go up North and hit an Asian grocery store. PS- You can use chicken instead of shrimp if you don't like shrimp or don't want to spend the money on it. The lemongrass gives it a fresh citrus kind of flavor. It is used quite often in Vietnamese cooking.

Lemongrass Shrimp Recipe

3 Stalks of Lemongrass
1/2 cup Oil
1 1/2 Tbsp. Fish Sauce
2 Tbsp. Honey
1 Tbsp. Water
1 tsp. Chili Garlic Sauce
1 tsp. or 1 clove of Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. Chopped Cilantro
1 lb. Raw Shrimp

This is what Lemongrass looks like:Clean lemongrass stalks and discard woody tops and bottoms. Then slice the fleshy middle.Combine all ingredients EXCEPT for shrimp into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.Pour mixture over shelled and deveined shrimp. (You can leave the tails on if you want but then you'll just have to pick them out later so I took them off before adding the sauce.) Mix sauce with the shrimp so they are completely covered. Refrigerate and marinate for at least a 1/2 an hour.Heat a skillet to medium heat and cook shrimp including the sauce in the pan for around 10 minutes or until shrimp is opaque. Serve with a side of rice and a vegetable of your choice. Enjoy!

Twilight Party

2009-03-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, this will probably be the last twilight post until November when New Moon comes out. So I got together with some other girls for a twilight party! I was probably more excited about it than the rest of them. We mimicked the dinner that Bella has on her first date with Edward at La Bella Italiana. It was mushroom ravioli, bread sticks, and salad.
Mushroom Ravioli.
Also, I was going to make a layered red velvet cake. It was supposed to be beautiful. Well after the first layer finished baking I was trying to loosen the edges of the pan by giving it a little shake. Silly me, I did this over the sink and I shook the cake right out into a bowl of water sitting in the sink. I was so mad, you have no idea. So I used the batter saved for the second layer to make these little cupcakes instead.
Here's a shot of the DVD we watched, the prizes to our trivia game, party favors (The lotion smells like Freesia which is what Edward tells Bella she smells like), and the cute invitations I made on the right.
The Girls: Amy, Lynn, Arley, Ann, Jennifer, and Jill. What a cool group of girls! It was Amy and Jennifer's first time watching the movie. Amy caught me staring at her multiple times because I wanted to see the reaction on her face.
I just had to include these pictures. This is my sister's, Kim, spread for her twilight party up in Nome, Alaska. They looked like they had a great time too!

Twilight Midnight DVD Release

2009-03-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

Go ahead. I know what you're thinking. "Really Lynn? Another post about Twilight?" Before I went to tonight's DVD release of Twilight at Walmart Bret teased me saying that it was just going to be me and one other girl and I'd feel pretty foolish. This was not the case my friends, and I have the pictures to prove it. Yes, PROOF that I am not the only Twihard in Cedar City, UT.

It's hard to see but the parking lot was FULL when I got there at 11:45pm.
Here is a diagram of Walmart and the line:

When I got in line I was right next to the kids clothes.

The Line in Front of Me.
The Line Behind Me.
Finally making a turn in the line.
The crowd behind me.
The Last Stretch.
I can almost taste Edward.
The Happy Walmart Employees. I know, rare right? What they have in front of them are the last of the 2-Disc special edition DVD's. I'm so glad I got there when I did, 5 minutes later and I would have been out of luck. There is going to be an ANGRY mob behind me pretty soon. I would estimate that there were several hundred people in line for the DVD. Walmart underestimated fan love for Twilight. They are going to miss out on making some serious deniro.
Here it is, my personal copy. Proof because my hand is holding it. Don't worry, I know you're jealous.

PS
The cover sparkles.

Another Spoof

2009-03-14T08:49:00.001-07:00

So I came across this spoof on another friend's blog and had to post it. It was just too funny to pass up. And yes, I am still very obsessed with Twilight.

In Yo' Face Ace of Cakes!

2009-03-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

It was a hit. People even said it tasted good too. People asked me if I did wedding cakes. Hmmm... I want to but don't really know how to go about starting a business at home. I'll have to look into this. The theme was "Give, said the little stream".

Trip to SLC Area

2009-03-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

This week Kien and I went on a little trip up North. First we stopped in Orem for a farewell dinner at the Golden Corral for a missionary leaving from Nome, AK (my home town). It was so fun to meet up with a bunch of people from Nome that I knew. A bunch of LDS Nomites have moved to Utah. It's inevitable. I forgot to take pictures so here is an old picture of the Nome Branch that I grew up in. The little boy on the far right holding another little boy is the one that went on his mission. Am I getting old or what????Then we went up to Grandma and Grandpa Hicken's house in Syracuse. Kien had a great time with them. Then I took Kien down to The Living Planet Aquarium with my mission companion Holly Beecher and her nephew, Anderson. It was a good time.

My mission companion, Holly Beecher and her nephew, Anderson.
For some reason, this was Kien's favorite Exhibit.
It was fun but the place was a lot smaller than I imagined. I think Kien liked it though. On our last day up North I went shopping with my mother-and-sister-in-law. We got some good deals at Savers and Kohls. On our drive back down we stopped in Orem again, this time to have dinner with another mission companion, Shannon Ogden Jensen. We ate at her parents house and her husband was there too. It was so fun to catch up and hang out with them. Again, I didn't take pictures of this so here is an old one of Ogden, Munn (Me), and Kay in the Marlyand Baltimore Mission. We were so cool!It was a really fun trip. It made me want to move up North because that is where so many of my friends are! I like Cedar City but it just seems like every time I make friends they end up moving away. Anyways, that was our week.

Kien at the Park

2009-03-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

This one goes out to G-ma. Bret's mom has been wanting to see new pictures of Kien so I took the camera with us when we went to the park yesterday. These are the results.

Why do I always do dumb things?

2009-02-27T16:10:00.000-08:00

Have you ever volunteered to do something only to find out that there was someone much more qualified than yourself that could have done the job a million times better? In my stake calling we are planning a Relief Society Birthday Party that is coming up in March. We talked about doing a cake and I very desperately wanted to be in charge of it. They ladies were very nice and said I was welcome to the task. The theme is service and the song "Give said the Little Stream" so that cake will go along with that theme. It will be a tiered cake. I've only done two tiered cakes before, one for my own wedding and one for my bosses wedding. (It was his 5th time getting married and he was sick of white cake.)

Well then Sister Edwards in the stake presidency invited me over to her house to see if I wanted to borrow any of her cake stuff. She had a lot of great things and I was even more excited about decorating the cake. Then I went home and looked up her blog and found this picture.
What have I gotten myself into? I'm such a loser. I should not have stuck my big foot in my mouth. I should have let her be in charge of the cake.

Random

2009-02-27T10:24:00.001-08:00

I never have anything really good to blog about. Just a few random things here and there. So here we go.

1. At church one Sunday a girl sat by me in Sacrament and was really helpful and played with Kien. I obviously have to sit alone since Bret is up on the stand so I really appreciate when people help me out. She sat by me again in Relief Society. Kien was cranky and ready for a nap so she took him out and rocked him to sleep. It was so cute. The lesson was on the Temple and temple marriage and at the end of the class I made the comment that marrying Bret in the Temple was the best thing I had ever done in my life. After the closing prayer she came up to me to give me Kien. She asked "So you got married in the temple?" I said "Yes." She looked puzzled and thought for a moment. "But you're in a singles ward." I smiled and said "My husband is in the Bishopric." I had to laugh, either she thought that I was single mother who had made a mistake and was trying to get back on the straight and narrow or she thought I was a widow. I wonder how many other people in the ward think this?

2. I took Kien to the pediatrician's yesterday for his 18 month check up. They are concerned that Kien is not talking yet. We went through a list that checks for early signs of autism. Don't worry, I KNOW he is not autistic. He is very smart. When he sees me picking up laundry, he helps and grabs clothes to throw into the bin. He likes to watch me wash dishes and will pull up a chair to the counter to stand on. He had previously pulled out a drawer and tossed a few spatulas onto the floor in front of where his chair goes. He problem solved and picked up the spatulas, put them in the drawer, and closed it. Then pushed his chair over to the appropriate spot. He touches his nose, eyes, ears, mouth when instructed. He gives kisses when asked. He points to the cabinet that has his snacks when he's hungry. He can communicate just fine, he just doesn't want to talk yet. He loves to play with other kids and is great at sharing. He'll feed me his cheerios when I let him. Apparently Bret's brother Dan didn't speak until he was 3! I hope that doesn't run in the family. Here's a picture of the cutie pie trying to look out the window:
3. Bret's bike got stolen. He wants to kill whoever did it.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-15T07:18:00.000-08:00

I had a good Valentine's day! First, my old roommate from BYU-Hawaii, Adrian, and her husband, Kashif, came down for a wedding but made a stop to come visit with me! We've had so many good times and it is just fun to be reunited with old friends.Here is a picture of us with our other roommates, Jamie and Jane, back in Hawaii. We always did silly things together like braiding each others hair for a dance.
Then when Bret came home from work we dropped Kien off at a friends house to babysit him. They have a little girl named Sophie that is Kien's age and I watch her too so we just trade off when we need to. Bret's boss (the parent's of Sophie) gave us a $40 gift certificate to Ninja's for Bret's Christmas bonus. We saved it for Valentine's day. It was so much fun! It was Hibachi (which I've never done before) and we had a chef cook right in front of us. He made a volcano of onions with fire coming out of it. He also threw shrimp at us to catch in our mouths. Poor Bret missed twice so I just fed him one of my shrimp. (This is not our actual chef but I didn't get a picture so I just ripped this off the internet. Close enough.)Bret and I realized that this was probably the first time that we've gone out just the two of us since Kien was born! I love my little guy but it was really nice to just be alone with Bret. We held hands and I just felt, I dunno, connected I guess. Now I see why people say that parent's should go out on a date alone once a week. Maybe when we're rich and can afford to go out and have a babysitter. I actually forgot our camera for a date so we had to get a picture with Bret's cell phone so sorry for the image quality.
Afterwards we just went and walked around the new Walgreen's. When I went in it felt like I was back in Maryland on my mission. We always went to CVS and Walgreen stores out there. I don't remember why. Maybe to develop pictures. But I hadn't been in one since then. Then we went to pick up Kien from his date with little Sophie.
It was a good day.

Internet, How I Love You...

2009-01-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well.... We gave in. Living without the internet at home is just too hard! That is why I haven't posted anything in forever. Here's how we can justify it: Many years ago when I was going to school in Hawaii I found a wedding ring on the ground. It was right near my bishops house so I brought it to him and thought he could find out who it belonged to. After a couple of months he called me over to his house. He said that they had put up flyers and asked around but no one claimed the ring. He then gave it to me and said it was mine and then teased me for finding a ring before I found a husband. I held onto the ring, it was pretty, a marquis diamond with baguettes on the sides but it was in yellow gold and I'm not a fan of that. Years later I get engaged to Bret and we take the ring to a pawn shop to see how much we could get for it. They offered us $250 but we didn't go for it. So then we took it to a jewlry store and they said they could put it on consignment for us and if they sold it they would give us $725. This was back in 2005. Anyways, every once in a while I would stop in to see if they had sold the ring but they'd always put me off and say they would call me and let me know. Finally Bret got really aggressive with them and wouldn't let them put him off and told them he wanted the ring back. When they couldn't come up with it they finally said "Oh, we must have sold it." But they had to "make sure" so they put Bret off for a couple more days but he was persistent. Finally they cut him a check for the agreed amount. So there, that's how we justify having the internet. The ring paid for it. It will be reinstalled in our home on Feb. 2!!! Yay.

Twerd

2008-12-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

Well now that I've outed myself as a "Twerd" (Twilight Nerd) I came across a freaking hilarious spoof and decided to share it with you good people. Enjoy!

Twilight

2008-12-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

The first time I heard about Twilight I was going for a walk with Aubry Tuttle up the Canyon Park trail. We were pushing our strollers along and she started talking about Stephanie Meyer, an LDS author and this book that she's been reading. I asked her what it was about and she said "Vampires". I thought to myself "Oh boy, how original". I thought that this book was probably on par with the "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites" I had heard about. I didn't think about it again until I went up to Nome, Alaska and visited my sister. She had a copy of the book and was about 1/2 way through. She kept picking it up and reading it and I couldn't figure out why this book could be so interesting that she would turn to it instead of me, her beloved sister that was visiting for only a few short weeks. As you all know, I am pretty awesome. I asked her again what it was about and she summarized how this Vampire boy falls in love with a human girl. I was skeptical and brought to her attention that this storyline had already been played out by Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I read the first chapter searching for things to tease my sister with and her silly obsession with a teenage love story. I didn't enjoy it at all.The movie was coming out and I received invitations to go and watch it with other friends who were also obsessed. I would hear other friends talking about the books and how much they loved it or I'd read about it on their blogs (Emily Alexander). I decided to give twilight one more try but this time with an open mind. I made the commitment that I would read the book before I saw the movie. My birthday was December 9th and Bret got me the copy of Twilight that I asked for. On the morning of December 10th I began reading and I could not stop. I had finished half the book that day and decided that if I finished the other half the next day (December 11th) then I would go to see it in the theater that night. Everything went according to plan.

I liked the movie, I thought they did a good job of staying close to the book as time would allow. I was so giddy in the movie theater. I had to cover my huge smile in case other people around me noticed and started thinking I was some weirdo. Some characters that I did not think were funny in the book came across funny in the movie like Jasper and Jess. I enjoyed that. I liked Edward. No, I love Edward.I had been telling Bret how much I was enjoying the book and the movie. It was all I could think about. In the early morning when Bret was getting ready for work (around 5am) I was still asleep in bed but woke up to someone whispering in my ear "Lynn, it's me, Edward" and then he kissed my neck. In my daze I said "You're not Edward! You're too warm. Edward is cold."

Of course when I was fully awake a few hours later all I could think about was getting my hands on the next book, New Moon. I went to Walmart and my heart just sank when I could only find Twilight and Breaking Dawn. Were there no 2nd and 3rd books in Cedar City? Would I be doomed to have to order it online and WAIT?! I drove to the next closest book store, Deseret Book. I searched for my beloved Twilight Series and started to doubt that this LDS bookstore would carry a novel about Vampires. Finally I found it! New Moon. It was beautiful. I held the book to my face and smelled the pages. Edward, I've found you. I was so happy. I bought the book and brought it home. I am currently reading it now.
It is hard to remember to eat sometimes because I become so involved. Taking showers and going grocery shopping are becoming annoyances that distract me from my life in Forks. I know that an obsession of this magnitude cannot be healthy. So go ahead Mary Sorensen, make fun of me. But I love Edward and I love Twilight and I will until I've finished reading the entire series and a few months go by until I forget and move on with my life. The End.

So Long, Farewell...

2008-12-06T13:13:00.000-08:00

Well some not so great news... Country Homes, the place where I work, is going out of business and I am going to be out of a job at the end of the year. I really enjoyed my job because it was an office job where I could bring Kien with me to work. On top of my hourly wage I would get a commission on the homes I sold. The hours were pretty flexible and my boss has always been accommodating and understanding. It just worked out really well for our situation. I don't think I'll be getting another job because I doubt anyone would let me bring Kien to work with me and I don't want to leave him with a sitter. I just don't think anyone will be as invested in the well-being of my child as I am. The only place I could think of that would let you bring your kids with you is a day care center. But then I wouldn't be able to give Kien all the attention he needs and take him home for naps and stuff. Oh well.

Since we will have less of an income we have had to cut back on our expenses. We cut the internet and reduced our cable. Bret wasn't willing to completely part with the cable with Basketball season just starting. He was bummed that now he will only get to watch a third of the Jazz games but some is better than none. I think that these cut-backs will be good for us and perhaps open our eyes to other opportunities that we could spend our time on.

Here's a happy moment: Kien gave his cousin Hannah a kiss on Thanksgiving. Too cute! Truthfully, I think he was just trying to get her nose in his mouth because he always does that to Daddy.Well if anyone is looking for a cheap manufactured home, all of our lot models have been significantly reduced because the company is trying to dump them before they go out of business. Here is a link to the lot models: http://countryhomesofsu.blogspot.com/

Family Photos

2008-11-18T07:28:00.001-08:00

Well we took some family pictures at the SUU campus. Chalise was so kind and willing to take them for us. I needed them by a certain date so that I could make Christmas cards out of them for free. I love free stuff! My mother-in-law gave me a promo code for Shutterfly.com where I got to make a Free Calendar, 1 free 11x14 Print, and 12 free cards. Plus I got 50 free prints and free shipping on everything. Then of course there was that free snapfish book from Oprah. (Thanks for the Hot Tip, Amy!). It is perfect timing with Christmas around the corner. Anyways, here are some of our pictures beside my favorite that is permanently at the top of our blog.
This would have been cute if Kien hadn't been so upset about sitting in the tree.

The Little Things

2008-11-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

As Kien grows he gets funnier and funnier. He does these little things that make us laugh so hard. When he hears other people laughing he will start to laugh as if he's in on the joke. Our dog, Willow, is always hiding out under furniture. He recently noticed that she will sometimes go under his crib. This is now his new hang out. Here is a picture of him under there with dad poking his head in.
When you go to the bathroom and close the door, Kien misses you and will stick his little hand under the door until you say hello to him. Then he will find some random object to pass you under the door. One time he passed dad a scented wax thing that you melt and it makes the room smell good. Maybe he was giving Dad a hint. Here you can find Kien passing an ice cream scoop. Who wouldn't need an ice cream scoop while using the bathroom?
Here he is peeking under the bathroom door waiting for someone to come back out to play with him.
This behavior is cute at home but sometimes when we are in public places and I need to go to the bathroom, I'll take him in the stall with me but he will crawl out under the stalls and start exploring the bathroom. One time at SUU's gym while Bret was climbing he got away from me while I was washing my hands and he decided to wash his hands too... in the toilet. So gross.

Halloween

2008-11-02T17:58:00.000-08:00

This Halloween was a lot of fun. It was the first time that Kien actually went out and participated and got dressed up. He was Frodo from Lord of the Rings and I was just some Middle Earth woman to fit in the theme. I borrowed the dress from a friend. I made Kien's cape and also his little bag to put his goodies in.
Some people thought he was Robin Hood but then I showed them the ring on his neck and gave them a second guess.
We went to the Trunk-or-Treat at the Institute building and loaded up on candy. Corbin Allred was there performing music. During one of his breaks I approached him and said "I know this is weird but can I get a picture of you holding my baby?" He was very nice and was willing to do it.
You may know him from the movie Saints and Soldiers. I really liked this movie. He's also been on ER, Bones, and CSI. Cool right? It's the first "Celeb" I've ever met.
We also went trick-or-treating at sunset ridge with the Mitchells. That was a lot of fun. Here is all of Kien's loot minus a few that Daddy ate.

Boulder This

2008-10-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well Bret used to be big into bouldering. I mean BIG. He told me that if I wanted to marry him that I would have to accept this as being a huge part of our lives. I bought my own pair of Mad Rock shoes and went with him all the time when we were dating and engaged. He even climbed a V9 which is pretty impressive. For some reason, Bret stopped once we got married. I had nothing to do with it! Anyways, 3 years later SUU announced that they would hold a climbing competition. He decided to give it a shot even though he'd been out of the game for quite a while.
They would take the best of 5 climbs and total your score. Bret climbed in the Intermediate range (100-200 pts per climb) and averaged 175 pts per climb and flashed all 5 of his climbs. (Flashed= got it on his first try= extra 10%). Anyways, he got 5th place. I am really proud of him. He kicked himself though for not trying a little harder and going for climbs worth more points because then he could have ranked in the top 3. Anyways he had fun and got a t-shirt, pizza, and won a folding chair out of it so that's good. He has decided to get back into climbing and will really try to compete next year. Wish him luck!
Here is a picture I took of him climbing in Alaska way back when.

The Singles Ward

2008-10-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you who don't know, Bret got called into the bishopric of a singles ward. He is the second counselor of the ward he used to be in before we got married. It has been a transition but I like it and so does Bret. Kien is the only kid so when he makes any type of noise during sacrament EVERYONE can hear it. He has been pretty well behaved so far though and the girls seem to like him which is nice. Bret was involved in 6 hours of "church" this last Sunday so he is even more busy now than before. I know that we'll be blessed for his service though so I'm grateful for the opportunity.

The Hobbit

2008-10-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

This is Kien's Halloween costume. I found the shirt and vest at D.I., he already had the shorts, and then I made the cape! What an accomplishment.

"Oh no! I think there's a furry Orc behind me!"
"If you ask it of me, I will give you the one ring."
"I think it's time to become invisible so mom will stop taking my picture."

Blast from the Past

2008-10-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you who don't know, I don't have much of a relationship with my father. He divorced my mother when I was about 6 after a long affair with another woman. It's a long messy story but he's just never really been a part of my life. Well, a few weeks ago he gave me a call and asked for my address because he wanted to send me a CD with some pictures on it. I just had a look at the old pictures. A bunch of them were from his childhood and I just thought they were so beautiful. Maybe because I just finished a book (The Stolen Child) about a boy who grew up in the 1950's. Here are some of my favorites:
Beverly and Vaughn (Vaughn is my Dad and Beverly is his sister)Beverly, Vaughn, and Sumner (their older Brother) in their dad's car.
My Absolute Favorite- Vaughn with his Dad (My Grandpa whom I've never met). Something about this picture just reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting.
I don't know a lot about my Dad's life. I do know that his father died when he was young and his mother (Mary Viola Munn) remarried and he did not get along well with his step dad. I've never met anyone on my Dad's side of the family except for a cousin who moved to Nome. My Dad also sent me some pictures that he had of me. Here is one that he took of me at Serpentine Hot Springs up in Alaska. He took me and my brother and sister out here once when we were kids. It is one of the few memories I have of him as a child.
Here is a picture at my sister's wedding reception. Kim (my sister) is in the wedding dress, Thulan (my mom) is to her left, Tommy (my brother) is kneeling in the tux, and I'm next to him. Sean is my sister's husband and that's his family on his side. I was 15 at the time. Look how long my hair was!
Anyways, I thought these pictures were interesting to look at and figured I could share them on here. Who doesn't love old pictures?

Kien is Too Cute!

2008-10-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well here is a video clip of Kien answering some questions with no coaching whatsoever.

On Thursdays a little girl named Sophie comes over and I watch the two of them together. It is so cute to see them play. Her dad, Sam, is actually Bret's boss at Sunshine Nutrition. Sam was teasing Bret saying that he figured out Bret's master plan to have Kien marry Sophie so that Bret could stake his claim in their family business. Pretty funny.
Kien is at the age where he likes to do whatever we are doing. Apparently we spend a lot of time at the computer so he will push the buttons on the keyboard any chance he gets. He is so funny and is always making us laugh. We just love the little guy.

Survey Says...

2008-10-01T09:34:00.000-07:00

I got tagged!!!!!

What is your husbands name? Bret Thomas HickenHow long have you been married? 3 years
How long did you date? 2 years
How old is he? 26
Who eats more sweet? Bret does. I usually only eat sweets once a month when Aunt Flo comes to visit. Then I will consume anything with trace amounts of chocolate.
Who said I love you first? Oh darn, I did. But he said it right back. I knew he was feeling me.
Who is taller? Bret is exactly 1 foot taller than me.
Who is the better singer? I think I am but who knows.
Who is smarter? Bret is very intelligent. But I beat him at scrabble a lot.
Who does the laundry? We both do it.
Who pays the bills? Bret handles all of that. I do all the grocery shopping though.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me! Because it's the closest to the door and when Kien used to wake up in the night I had to go take care of him.
Who mows the lawn? Bret does. I don't think I've ever touched our lawn mower.
Who cooks the dinner? I do for the most part. Although Bret had spaghetti ready for me when I came home from work yesterday so that was very nice of him.
Who drives? When we are together Bret drives. He doesn't trust women drivers.
Who is the first to say they are wrong? We never admit that we're wrong.
Who kissed who first? Bret kissed me. It was in a parking lot in Vegas. He pulled over because he was so tired and thought he read a sign that said "Free Naps" when it was actually "Free Maps". He really thought the place had rooms where you could take a free nap.Who asked who out? We were just really good friends. I don't think there was an official asking out. We met up in Vegas with two other people from our mission (as seen in the photo above) and we ate at a breakfast buffet at Caesars Palace. Bret paid for me so I guess that could be considered our first date. The other couple got married too.
Who wears the pants? I don't know. We're pretty equal.
Tag??? I tag Mary Sorenson, Chalise Mitchell, Amy Payne, Sarah Pittard, Maria Holee, and Sarah Carter.

Sarah Through the Ages

2008-09-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

I just got an email from the Stake RS Prez, Bev Anderson, with this picture. Seeing it made me decide to toss it in the blog. My calling in the ward is Stake Relief Society Representative. It sounds important but basically twice a year I help plan a big event/dinner/party with the Stake RS. This last one was themed "Sarah Through the Ages". I represented Abraham's Sarah or Sarai in the Old Testament. There was also Lehi's Sariah, a Pioneer Sarah, and a Modern day Sarah. An overhead recording was played with the narrative of each of these women and the struggles they faced. Following their husbands through the desert, wilderness, across the plains, and in college! It was neat to see that they all faced similar struggles and that the Lord was there to help them all! I had fun with it.
I was also in charge of the decorations. I decided to make the dinner tables a location (theme) where each of these Sarah's had traveled. It was fun, I made little signs that gave a little bit of insight to their lives. I think my favorite was the Egypt table where I made a pyramid and painted it gold and told the story of how Pharoah wanted to marry Sarai because she was so beautiful but she stayed true to Abram even though he was pretty poor at the time. Anyways, it was a lot of fun for me. I really enjoy serving in callings. I wish we did more than get together twice a year. Oh well!

I Love (Fill in the Blank) Party

2008-09-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

So Bret has two cousin's, Brian and Brent, who are about the same age as him. They grew up together and are Best Friends Forever. Here is Bret and Brent when they were kids.Here is Brian, Chris (not a cousin), Bret, and Brent in High School.
Anyways, every once in a while we all get together, along with Brian's wife Amy and daughter Hannah (about the same age as Kien) and hangout or eat. A couple weeks ago Brian came up with the idea of an "I Love Asians" Party where we'd all bring Asian food and eat it. I made Vietnamese spring rolls. It's rice noodles, shrimp, pork, and lots of fresh veggies wrapped in rice paper and then dipped in peanut sauce or fish sauce. I love the peanut sauce but Bret loves the fish sauce so I usually have both on hand.
Brian and Amy brought Sushi and also a Japanese noodle dish. It was tasty!
Brent brought Garlic Bread and Tortilla Chips with a nacho cheese dip. Something tells me he's never been to Asia. About a week later Bret brought home a bunch of frozen Garden Burgers that he got free from work. He's always bringing home expired goods from the Nutrition Store. That gave me the idea of throwing an "I Love Vegetarians" Party, especially since Brian and Amy are 90% Vegetarian.
So we had free Garden Burgers, free corn on the cob from the ward garden, free zucchini patties made from zucchini given to me by Chalise Mitchell, and bread crumbs I made from the left over croutons from the Stake Relief Society Social that I took home. The lettuce for our burgers was also free from Sunshine Nutrition. I love free stuff. So anyways, I was trying to think of other clever little parties we could throw along the same lines. There's the obvious "I Love Mexicans" and "I Love Italians" but I want to be more clever than that. For example "I love Mermaids" and it would be seafood.
So post a comment with your idea for the next party: "I Love (Insert type of person here)" Party.

Kien's Portraits

2008-09-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Well here are the professional pictures I talked about. Isn't he just a cute little guy? I love him.

Trip to Salt Lake City

2008-09-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

I went to SLC this past weekend for a wedding. It was for Shannon, my mission companion. We had so much fun together in Annapolis, MD. She just made working fun. I was so happy for her when I found out that she was getting married. I know she's been wanting to start a family for a while now and I'm so glad that she gets her chance. When I was in the Temple watching her be sealed to her husband I was reminded of when Bret and I were sealed. All the promise and hopes at the beginning of a marriage just reminded me of what is really important in this life and it helped me to refocus. It was a beautiful ceremony and I got emotional, I think I cried more than she did!
Here is a picture of Shannon at my own wedding along with Erin, Bret's sister.
Afterwards I went to the Olive Garden and met up with one of my roommates from BYU-Hawaii. Her name is Adrian. I hadn't seen her in years and it was so fun to catch up! We relived our old memories and all the boy drama we had to go through during our college days.
After lunch we called a couple of old friends from Hawaii to say hello. They were so thrilled to hear from us. I really do want a reunion of old friends but it's so hard to get everyone together since we are all in different places. This will just have to do for now. Here is Adrian and I in front of the SLC Temple.
Here is a picture of Adrian and I with our other roommate Jamie at Hanauma Bay in Hawaii, 2002.

Black Eyed Baby

2008-09-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

Well Kien got his first black eye on Labor Day. We were in the yard playing when he went to inspect my bike that was leaning against a tree and then he started pulling on it and when he saw that it could move at his will he turned and looked at me and started laughing. I started walking towards him but before I could get to him he gave it one hard jerk and the bike fell on top of him.
Poor thing! On a lighter note, I high-lighted my hair. Get it? Lighter? Haha... I'm such a nerd. I also got it cut.

Scandalous Portraits

2008-08-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

So I took Kien to the Portrait Studio in Walmart today for their $7.99 special. This includes a million copies of one untouched photo. Anyways, there ended up being three really cute pictures of Kien and I wanted to buy an extra couple. HOWEVER, I was shocked to learn that in order to do that I had to purchase one of their packages that ranged from $150 down to their cheapest package $79.99. Wow, so there's a $7.99 package and then a jump to $79.99. No in between? How scandalous is that? The work was already done, all that was left to be done was to click print. Obviously we were too poor to blow that kind of money away so I let the photographer know we would just stick with the cheap special. She ended up getting me to join this membership thing for $10 because I could get an 8x10 portrait with it so I just picked one of the other pictures of Kien. Anyways, that's my rant for today. I'll post the pictures when we get them.

Introduction

2008-08-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hello! We are the Hicken Family. Bret is the man of the house and is enrolled at SUU right now while holding down 2 jobs. He is a very hard worker! He is majoring in accounting and is currently taking the hardest class in his major. Wish him luck! To ease the stress he plays basketball on Tuesday nights at the church which is the highlight of his week. Lynn is mostly a stay-at-home mom but occasionally works at Country Homes of Southern Utah when her boss needs her to fill in. She loves to cook and watch food network to get new ideas (like the bacon wrapped scallops in the picture). She also loves scrap booking and cake decorating. Then there is Kien! He just turned 1 this month and we can't believe it! He is standing on his own and is almost ready to start walking. He loves to eat everything! We are so glad because he was a premie that was almost 2 months early but has completely caught up in weight and height. He is in the 50th percentile of kids his age so he is just perfect! He loves our dog Willow and loves to throw balls for her to chase after. He says "Mom-Mom" and "Dadada". He loves to go grocery shopping with Mom while sitting in the cart and loves going for walks in the park while sitting in the stroller. He is a happy boy and he makes us very happy. Here are some pictures from his birthday party:We will try to keep our blog updated and let you know what is going on in our boring lives!