Tiny Bubbles

Ty is the master bubble blower.

I tried to act all smart by telling him I figured out how to make this bubble blower ROCK. Yeah. He squashed that arrogance in no time. Just LOOK AT THOSE BUBBLES!

We were certain that the nearby grocery store would think it was raining bubbles. These suckers float forEVER!

Bella thought it was a party.

She grabbed her bubble popper (the ore for the blow up boat) and owned those bubbles!

Our friend Ellie Bean came by to visit with her mommy. She's so adorable!

Ty making them big time.

Bella adoringly looked on. She looks so submissive and heart-meltingly cute here. I love how she looks like she's thinking her daddy is the coolest person EVER for making the coolest bubble party EVER.

It was fun to get some time, what seemed more like quality time, with Ty. He's got a deadline on Monday for his publishers, so he's been feeling pressure to get it ready. He also feels the pressure from home, too though. I'm not letting him slip through our fingers so easily. We are going to work together to make meal times more planned and the time after meals be more intentional. Family time is going to be a more sacred time, when I don't let my interruptions creep in, and same for Ty.

Thai on the Inside?

So about 6 weeks ago, we attended the Kaysville farmers market where I tasted the most delicious Som Tom ever before. See earlier post HERE. There I met two wonderful Thai women who know how to cook! Ever since then, I have been making Som Tom every week from watching them make it.

Well, on Saturday night, I went to the Ogden Harvest Festival on 25th street where I found these same two wonderful Thai women selling their mouth-watering food!!! What a pleasant surprise!!!! The woman on the left is grandma (We call her "Mom". Her name is Gohnkamohn.) and on the right of me is Kanita (She goes by Gah, pronounced Gay).

They happily fed Bella and I what they had left before they closed, while we talked about everything. There seem to be no barriers to their hearts and I loved talking with them!!! They seemed more like old friends than new acquaintances. We talked about Mormons, being an asian minority in Utah, making friends, job searching, and being a mother.

What a fun reunion!!! At my departure, Gah invited me to her daughter's 15th birthday party the next night. OF COURSE I'LL GO, I told her!!! How fun!!! And of course, they didn' t let me leave without taking home their last few spring and egg rolls.

So we went...

And it was a blast.

Herbs and spices blended, then boiled for quality flavor in the dish called "Laab". Lots of mint, ginger, and onion. Good smells all over!

Hacking away at the pork for the Laab.

"Mom" chopping up the bamboo for one of the dishes.

Kanita and her 6 year old daughter Deana, and Deana with her friend.

YUMMY!

Green papaya and carrot...the beginning of making Som Tom!

Kanita showed me how they make Som Tom and I've been doing it all wrong!

Kanita snuck an extra red pepper in my Som Tom and my whole face was perspiring!!!! What a stinker! All the little Thai ladies thought it was hilarious and seemed impressed I kept eating it!

Pringle sandwich anyone? This was what Bella chose to eat and we totally didn't feel like fighting it.

This is called "Laab" and is wonderfully delicious!

Some kind of curry noodle with chicken and veggies...SOO delicious!

All of these wonderful Thai women made me feel so at home! I remember most of their names, like Ad and Took (pronounced Dook), Lue (pron. Lou), Kin (Pron. King), and "Mom" is the adorable short one hugging me. My favorite little old lady was Kin, wearing the aqua/blue color shirt, who talked about her "honey" in Ogden and other hilarious things. We felt a mutual adoration for each other at the end of the night. She's so cute!!

Dream was the birthday girl, and she was super friendly and sounded more american than the others. She only learned English 5 years ago, too!

This is Ad. She was hilarious and spoke English really well for having never been to school!

Bella played in Deanna's very girlie room, and loved playing with "Nong".

Ty was sassing me for taking his picture...and this tree was begging for a picture!

The connection with these wonderful people was instant and I am so grateful for their hospitality and love.

Ad told me she thought I was born into the wrong culture. I think it's true! Maybe I'm Thai on the inside?

Sometimes, I wear stretchy pants. In the mud.

Sometimes it's just nice to play in the mud.

My fabulous neighbor Raquel hooked me up with a free pass to the 2nd annual Dirty Dash this year, and I'm thinking she's pretty awesome for doing that. THANK YOU!!!

We ran a 10k (6.2miles) through tubes of mud, endured gale-force wind pressured water hoses, waded through a swampy channel, dove down a giant slide, climbed over a towering spiderweb rope thing, and the HILLS! Oh the hills. Bless those beautiful hills that made me hammies sing! WHEW!

Gettin' my green energy juice on!!! Power up!

Jenny brought her green smoothie, too!!!

SHOE POWER!!! Mine gave me blisters. And PoWER to the porta-potties! AKA Honey Buckets. Really? Nothing about those things are SWEET.

Spiderman dude made me laugh. Oh, and the bobsledders and the rednecks with MULLETS.

Onlooking the 1-miler for kids. Bowen and Riley were ready to get DIRTY

Behold the beauty of Soldier Hollow.

The post-race peaches were to DIE for. Made in Midvale at some farm. Don't worry, I saved the seed and I'm gonna grow mah OWN! And look at all those shoes. I had never seen such a pile of shoes before. And for such a good cause!

The end-of-race MUD PIT!!!!!!!

We're a little dirty.

It was kind of a fun Saturday. Just kind of.