Lilian's special day

J's sister, Lilian, went through the temple to receive her endowments for the first time the day after Christmas.  It was so nice to be able to be there with her to share her special day.  Since the date was so close to baby Dernick's due date, J had a good chat with baby to make sure he doesn't come before today.  Luckily, baby stayed put and didn't ruin it for us. :)

Inner Loop Group Reunion

A small crowd, but still great to catch up with everyone!

Last Hurrah in NYC

D joined J and her sister for their annual NYC trip to visit the Todds.  It was so fun to see the Todds and to finally meet their newest addition - baby Jacob.  It'll probably be a while before we can enjoy NYC like we used to, hopefully not though.  A few highlights from our trip...

9-11 Memorial and Museum

 Even caught a show

Eating some NY pizza

 Saturday brunch with the Todds.  The wait was long and the walk there was very wet, but the food was delicious!

 Sunday morning shananigans with the kiddos 

 An all adult dinner (no pics) and dessert

 Central Park fun with the kiddos

Poor Pete... just can't catch a break

J has the WORST luck with larger cars not seeing her on the road!  Once again, another mini van driver said he didn't see her driving on the road and drove right out into Pete.  He was in an illegal spot to begin with, so we think he was too focused on getting through the construction cones rather than looking out of oncoming traffic.  It was a little scary since J was almost 6 months pregnant, but both J and baby were fine.  Pete, unfortunately, didn't fare so well... took a whole month to fix him up with all the extensive damage.

This is exactly what the driver was doing when he drove right into me!  

Apparently, people disregard the construction cones as decorative only.  

20 Weeks - Pregnant and Dancing

Once again, J's annual Chinese Dance Gala took place in August.  She felt comfortable enough to continue dancing even though she's about 20 weeks along, so baby boy danced along too.  J was worried she wouldn't be able to fit into her costume, but luckily a few adjustments made it work.

Getting ready in our cramped dressing room

It's a ... BOY!

We had our 20 week ultrasound to find out the baby's gender.  J wore a pink cardigan in hopes of having a girl... even though she knew it was likely a boy.  Well, we're having a baby boy in January 2015! D saw it immediately, but held it to himself until the ultrasound tech announced it.  Quote from D: "it's very obvious that it's a boy."

 Baby boy waving hi to us.

Profile of baby boy Dernick

Surprise!!

We had a fun surprise recently and thought we'd share our surprise with our families.  Baby Dernick is due to arrive Jan 5, 2015.  D and J are excited but very nervous at the same time.  As a friend recently commented, "Welcome to the jungle."  We hope we survive this jungle!

Video of Mama and Papa Kong finding out.

Updates to our wall... baby steps

Yes, we are probably the world's slowest decorators.  Partly because it takes us (more like D) forever to decide how to decorate and partly because we are busy.  But, we finally decided on creating a gallery wall with pictures of our various trips.  Now, we'll see how long it takes to get a rug and curtains...

Before:  Yes, D measured everything so that it's all evenly distributed. 

After:  Just missing a few pictures, which a great reason for a new trip.

Brace Face

Not that the first time wasn't fun enough, but it seems J is reliving her high school days again.  Yes, she is now an official brace face... hopefully not for too long.  The orthodontist says it'll be no more than 12 weeks.  Luckily, it's just the bottom teeth.

BFF fun in Portland

J and her BFF have been talking about going on a trip together for some time.  So, when BFF suggested going to Portland, OR for a quick weekend getaway, we decided to tag along.  We had only two objectives for the trip, try out many of their food trucks/restaurants and view the beautiful scenery.  We accomplished both.

Exploring the city of Portland, it's so green!

First things first, donuts and food trucks. 

Exploring the beautiful scenery around Portland, reminds J of Europe.

Entrance to the Japanese Gardens

 A life-sized Zen Garden!

We also found many amazing restaurants to eat at, thanks to BFF and Gaurav's research.  

Here's just a sample of one of the meals.  Fancy!

Pilot for a day

For D's birthday last year, I bought him a flight school experience where he would learn the basics of flying and then have an opportunity to fly a small plane.  We finally found some time to make it happen and got to view Houston from a different angle.  While he had fun, it doesn't look like he'll be working on a flight license anytime soon.  He still prefers driving over flying.  Phew!

My view of the flight for about an hour.

 We flew right past our house!

 Dan and the flight instructor

Yeehaw... Rodeo Houston!

Everyone knows Houston hosts the world's largest Rodeo!  Seriously, people come to Houston from all over the world, just to attend the rodeo.  And, we make it a point to go every year to show our Texas pride.   This year we went to Lilian and her roommate Angela.  We got to eat yummy food and pet lots of interesting animals.  Well, everyone by J... at least J was willing to walk into the petting zoo area... baby steps.

1st stop: Turkey Legs!

 Made a few friends at the Livestock Show
Angela said it was "the best day of her life" - not for J who wouldn't be
caught dead touching these animals!

 Can't go to the rodeo without eating funnel cake!

 One of our favorite part of the rodeo - Mutton Bustin

 
We ate our first fried Nutella and fried snickers.  Yes, we just shaved off 1 year of our life today.