Happy Birthday Jenny!

eating dinner at Stoneground

hanging out at D'Bolla like the good old times

Yesterday we had a great time celebrating Jenny's birthday at Stoneground, which is one of our favorite restaurants. It's located downtown right across from the Salt Lake City Library and in the same building as Cafe D' Bolla. They have great pizzas, pastas, salads, and soups. Well, pretty much anything on their menu is good! We haven't had anything bad there. John and I usually get their bruschetta and their spicy chipotle barbeque chicken pizza. Besides the great food there, I also love the ambience and the chill atmosphere. It's a perfect place to hang out with friends. 

After a great dinner, we headed downstairs to D'Bolla but before then, we made a short stop to the record store right by D'Bolla. We checked out their music and their turntables while Alex had a serious conversation with the owner about investing in turntables and records. He's considering buying a turntable in the near future. Afterwards we headed to D'Bolla for some boba drinks. Cafe D' Bolla is a sweet little coffee shop that sells coffee, lattes, boba drinks, gelato, and some delicate pastries. We ended the night at D'Bolla playing Take Two while sipping our drinks and talking.  Well, Happy Birthday, Jenny and we hope you had a great one! Thanks for letting us celebrate it with you!!! We had a great night!

Italian Cultural Festival

 You can tell from my hair blowing all over the place that it was a very windy day!

John, me, Lansia, and Jenny

in front of the cute little rides

Okay, so yesterday I went with John, Jenny, and Lansia to the Italian Cultural Festival which was located about a block away from the Gateway Mall. Yeah, apparently I saw signs for this event like months ago and I was interested in checking it out. So we went and it turned out to be okay. There were food vendors selling yummy pizzas, pastas, and lasagnas. Too bad I can't have cheese! Yes, I'm lactose intolerant! There were also some really delicious gelato and italian ice from a place called Dolcetti which is right by our house in Sugarhouse and I've heard their gelato is awesome. We live so close to that place and yet we've never gone to check it out. Hmmm....I don't know why. Well, I ended up helping myself to a serving of some refreshing strawberry lemon italian ice since I can't have gelato. It was great! As we walked around, we saw vendors selling unique looking bags, clothes, and some fun collectable items. Of course, there were some entertainment for the kids where you could put them on these cute little rides. Too bad I don't have any kids! Well, the funniest thing was probably the karaoke because there were quite a few people singing karaoke and as we were walking past them I was like, wait isn't karaoke an Asian thing? Anyways, it looked like they were having a great time singing away so I'm glad they had that there. Well, overall I had an enjoyable night! Thanks guys for a great night!

Yay for the Olympics in Beijing!

Holly, me, Jen, Honey, Jenny

Last night, we had a little dinner with some of my girlfriends to celebrate the start of the olympics in Beijing! We had Jenny, Holly, Lansia, Jen, and Honey over our house to watch the opening ceremonies and we seemed to have enjoyed it from start to end. I was thoroughly impressed with the performances and thought they did a great job putting everything together. I'm excited to watch the rest of the olympics and I'm sure it will be just as entertaining. It got me really excited to go to China. John and I really want to visit China someday and of course visit all the sites there like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City! I'm surprised how much China has changed through the recent years to a much more modern China and I've just heard it has grown so much economically. One of these days though, you'll see me on the Great Wall! Thanks for a great night, girls!

Happy Baby News!

Today my sister, Eveline, gave birth to her second baby at 2:30 p.m. and this time it's a boy! Yay! I'm an auntie yet again! Kenji weighed in at 7lbs. 3 oz. He's such a cutie with thick black hair and a very adorable face! The mom and baby are both healthy and doing great! Congratulations to Eveline and Kelii on their second baby!!  Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I had a doctor's appointment in the same exact hospital and building where my sister gave birth. My appointment happened to be scheduled at the exact time Kenji was born but I was of course running a little late to my appointment but isn't that kind of funny? I mean, I didn't really mean to plan it out that way but it just happened and we had no idea. My appointment was on the third floor and my sister was on the second floor so anyways, after my appointment, John and I went down to see Kenji. How convenient, huh? It's kind of weird how things come together. Well, I took a quick picture of Kenji with my little camera at the hospital and it didn't turn out that great so as of right now I don't have a picture of Kenji that I can post but as soon as I get some cute pictures of him, I will for sure post them! Here are a few pictures of my cute little niece Emi and me!

Sary's Housewarming

This past Sunday, John and I were invited to Sary and Thang's housewarming party. They finally finished moving into their newly built townhouse and their place looks so cute. It is such an exciting time for them because not only did they move into their new place but they welcomed their baby girl, Kaysia, into their family in May. I'm really happy for them and I hope them the best! It was really nice seeing Kaysia for the first time. She is such a gorgeous baby! I love her dark skin and thick hair! I'm glad Sary and Thang are doing well and it was nice catching up with them!

at the Rivercenter

boat ride on the Riverwalk

in front of the Alamo

shopping at the North Star Mall

on a bridge at the Riverwalk

small fountain by the Alamo

John and I in front of the Alamo

dinner at Thai Lao Restaurant

Here are some more pictures from our trip to Texas. There were a lot to choose from so I just picked out the ones I liked.

Trip to Texas

      grandparents' house in Lago Vista

Aaron, Jamon, and Jennifer

Trevor and Kristine

my niece Eva

the Rivercenter in San Antonio

From July 25-29 John and I spent some time in Austin, Texas visiting John's grandparents. It was the first time that I've ever been to Texas and overall I enjoyed the trip except for the heat. John's whole family ended up going so it was nice to have some quality time with the in-laws. We spent most of our time on Saturday visiting with family at the reunion and then we headed for the lake that was right by John's grandparents' house. Then on Sunday we had lunch at grandpa's favorite restaurant called Luby's. This place is so popular in Texas. It's like an upgraded buffet style restaurant. Then we spent some more time on the lake. It was a blast. Then on Monday, John and I went to San Antonio by ourselves because everyone else already went on Friday. We checked out the Alamo which was pretty neat and then we went on a boat ride on the Riverwalk.  San Antonio is such a great city! After all that we headed for the mall and then we went to dinner at a place called Thai Lao. We filled up on amazing Thai/Vietnamese food. I ordered pad si ew and John had a vietnamese omelet. It was delicious.  We spent our last night at John's grandparents' house then we left on Tuesday morning. Thanks everyone for such a great trip!

Over the 24th of July, John and I spent some time with some of my really good friends. We went to dinner at Z-Tejas with Vanessa and her husband Cole, Holly, Jenna, Moira, and Bernie. I had a delicious salmon salad and John had a huge burrito. After dinner we all headed to Liberty Park for some fireworks.  The fireworks were amazing to watch and it was great to catch up with such wonderful friends! John and I are very lucky to have such sweet friends to hang out with! Thanks guys for such a great night!

Here are some pictures of John and I this summer.  We've just been all over town this summer from the Cheesecake Factory to Liberty Park. We also love places like Lunaberry for some refreshing frozen yogurt topped with your choice of fruits or other toppings!