Category: family history

State Fair

N and I took the kids to the Utah State Fair on Saturday.  We’ve gone for the last three years and are well on our way to to establishing a family tradition.  It’s easy to support a family tradition that is all about cotton candy and rides and cute baby animals and the best Mexican food in the state.

It’s become tradition that before we go to the fair we have lunch at Red Iguana 2 which is just a few blocks from the fair grounds.  It’s the same food as at the original Red Iguana just in a more spacious (and kid-friendly) atmosphere.  Seriously, if you want good Mexican food, try their moles.  Widely-known to be awesome.

Thus fortified by deliciousness we looked at the folk art, photography, and fine art exhibits and then walked through the livestock barns and pet the animals.  And then E went on a few rides, which he loved.

We took Mimi on her first carnival ride–the Wiggle Worm–and at first she loved it but the operator let us ride for an especially long time and after a few minutes she started to get nervous.  I think she’ll be more into rides next year.  After the rides we got a few treats (cotton candy for the kids, a funnel cake for N and I) and then headed home.

Visiting the fair is one of my favorite family traditions.  How about you?  Have you gone to a fair lately?  The Utah State Fair runs through September 16th so if you’re local, there’s still time to go.

Uncle David

My older brother David lives in Omaha so we don’t get to see him that often. But luckily he was in SLC on business earlier this week so we got together at my sister Jan’s house and stuffed our faces with Korean food and caught up.


When I was little I thought he was the coolest ever. While his fashion sense has changed a bit since then he’s still pretty awesome.

Me and My Dad

Yesterday the high temp was 80 degrees! I’m enjoying the spring weather but both E and I are sneezing like crazy. Allergies aside, spring and fall are my favorite seasons here in Utah because summer is too darn hot and I hate shoveling snow in the winter (I’m afraid growing up in in WA state has made me somewhat of a delicate flower when it comes to extreme weather). So I guess I better man up, double my dosage of Claritin, and enjoy spring while it lasts.

I’m still going through the last batch of old family photos I scanned. Here’s a picture of me and my dad that I had never seen up until now.

This picture cracks me up. Don’t try and tell me we aren’t both rocking our respective hats because I WILL NOT BELIEVE YOU.

My Parents Were Awesome

I am getting seriously addicted to scanning in old family photos. The only problem is that most of them are still in a cardboard box at my parents’ house in WA. I’m trying to get my Mom to bring them down in batches when she comes to visit but she’s kind of hesitant to travel with them which I understand.

Have you guys seen My Parents Were Awesome? It’s pretty great. Once I finish going through these photos I might submit a couple of them.

Their wedding portrait.

I love their expressions in this one.

Family History

The weekend was kind of a mixed bag. Saturday was great: N and I took E to a dim sum restaurant we had heard about and it was really good. I love dim sum! While we were there two grandmas sitting next to us who made a point of complimenting us on how well E was behaving and how cute he was. We assured them that it was entirely the luck of the draw (as it usually is with two year-olds; sometimes E can really be a monster at restaurants) but it still felt nice to have strangers go out of their way to compliment E. Then the grandmas asked us about dim sum and how ordering it worked and we explained it to them and then basked in a parents-of-a-perfect-child/cosmopolitan-foodie glow which lasted all of about one minute until E started yelping and I couldn’t bring myself to order the chicken feet even though I was kind of curious. But then that evening we went to visit some good friends and stayed until entirely too late talking and laughing and watching our sons play together.

Sunday was okay except that I woke up feeling under the weather AND we totally spaced the time change so we showed up for church an hour late. (I know, I know–we felt like morons.)

At chuch N and I are attending a Sunday School class on family history. My church is very big on family history because our doctrine teaches that family members can be sealed together for eternity though covenants we make with God inside temples. So the church is working on an online database system that helps people find their ancestors.

Participating in this Sunday School class has sparked an interest in family history in me. When I was at my parents’ house I took the opportunity to scan some old photos. Are these great?

My mom with my grandmother.

My grandmother (Halmoni) at her house in Korea.
My aunt and her husband on their wedding day.

I really enjoy looking at old pictures. My mom has all our family pictures in a cardboard box but I would love to get them all scanned and put together in a book.