a new family

summer is slowly coming to an end. wow. my brothers are gone now and i miss em a lot. i didn't get to spend as much time with them as i would have liked, but it was really good having them here for the summer. i always realize how much i miss em when i come back to an empty house...the house seems so quiet and i have no one to spoil and strain myself over trying to satisfy their every request. it can get tiring, but its so worth it as well...i hope they come again next summer!

before they left, we tried doing all the things they wanted to do in MN that they cant do in MI. one of those things was dave & busters. here are some of pics of us chillin at dave & busters. we always spend so much money there!

me, taying and johan


me and xavna (deal or no deal behind us-funnie!)

on friday, my 2 brothers, me and johan took off for my cousin's wedding in milwaukee. on the way there, taying took a lot of pictures on our camera and here's one of the clouds as we were driving. i think it would be really neat to give a [disposable] camera to a child to take photos with one day and develop it to see wat they took. wouldn't that be fun?


heres the flower girl, hedessa. she was totally adorable and called her flower girl dress her "wedding dress." oh she was so cute! the wedding went well and i got to be the wedding planner. it was beautiful and im so happy for the bride and the groom!!!


heres me and johan on our way to IL. =)


IL was so much fun. man, johan and i dont even remember the last time we visited IL. how sad! i think we were last there during christmas which was too too long ago. *sigh* it was so good seeing the kids and friends and family. i feel bad now for saying "i wouldn't mind living in IL" because the truth is i'd LOVE living there! the more we visit IL, the more i feel at home. its such a wonderful feeling! i hope i continue to get to know everyone better, especially the girls. ive had a chance to get to know the guys over the years a bit because of vern and lig. but ive never really had a chance to know the girls.
the first nite we got to IL, the girls played "what would you wear" when looking thru mai kao's japanese magazines. it was so much fun! hahaha. it was the first time i ever played a game like that and i felt like i was surrounded by a bunch of sisters. isnt it such a wonderful feeling when you find friends that are like family? the next nite we went shopping for dresses and accessories for pheng and nou's wedding which is this saturday. that was also wonderful! my lovely sister-in-law, sam, who was being sneaky, bought me a calvin klein dress when i wasn't looking! awww she's sooooo sweet and thoughtful, i feel so blessed to have such loving people in my life! i had a fantastic time shopping with the girls. it was really fun seeing wat everyone's sense of taste was like and just chatting and watching each other try on clothes. thank you to all the girls (sam, mao, mai kao, lysa, and judy) for inviting me along and chatting it up with me!
afterwards, us girls ate dinner at joy yees. YUM! i tried their new dish: curry beef brisket over udon noodles. OMG, i loved it! take that bruce! (bruce will be so jealous now that he's in thailand and away from joy yees!) hahahaha. the food was mouth-watering and delicious as always. i know johan was really jealous that he didn't get to go hehe.


i love hanging out with IL friends. its the one group of friends that i can guarantee that when we hang out ill laff until my stomach hurts. =D here we are playing random games that we made up to kill time. everyone in the photo is preparing to spin the pool ball as fast as you can to outlast everyone else's. it was hilarious! johan and i were on our way home, but dropped by to pick up something from the guys (which turned out to be the dress sam got me.) we ended up staying an hour just laffing and hanging out! haha. i almost talked johan into staying another nite and going back to sam & geu's for dinner. =) but in the end, johan and i decided to be responsible and come back to MN...


we'll be back in chicago next month for U2's concert. but i hope that we keep coming back because - well - i just have so much fun! and im so glad that johan has so much fun playing magic and poker with his friends because that also means that i get to hang out with the girls. =) i was telling everyone including my mother-in-law that if i cant find work in MN, ill definitely look in IL. the group of friends we have there is so solid that i know if i moved there and missed my family, those friends would make me feel rite at home.

i love you guys!

-p