when you take a cali girl out of cali

well folks, this is it.

the big news.

we officially accepted the offer at


Loomis Chaffee Boarding School 
in Windsor, Connecticut

never thought i would never go back home. i mean, california people!  duck dong is taking me FURTHER away from the warm weather!
just look at my cute, naive face.. i had no idea what was about to happen in just a few years. i was just living the life in hawaii.

but, that's how it rolls.
Just proud of Long for working so hard and accepting an offer that includes free housing and food

best part of it all
we are only 2 hours away from Boston [the Nguyen family]
2 hours away from NYC
there are more interracial couples on the east coast to bond with


and oh yes,
they offered me a part time teaching position.

from an alternative high school to a boarding school
i don't think i'll be having to poke my kids to wake up in class anymore

so long Utah. forever goodbye California :( and Welcome to the frost bitten winters on the East Coast
ahhh! seriously! i'm going to diiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Long will be graduating April 19th/20th
and then it will be Dr. Nguyen

wish us luck! and we will miss our utah family.
and i will miss my lovely friends in cali :( but summer vacations will totes be in cali living like a beach bum

i'll try my best not to come back a east coast snob

but pretty please come visit us! our home is always open. and everyone should know that by now.

Glass

first of all,

Long has a smart asian brain
he's graduating in april
and he's turning
3 0
in 13 days (and he hates that i am counting down)

to celebrate all this?
i bought him new glasses

long said i have completely transformed him
he was a lil sad he had to give up the sweet AZN glasses
but he was ready for the change esp for all the new changes that will be happening

come a long with me through this journey and see how long has become into a beautiful butterfly :)

drummmm rolll pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

my beautiful butterfly :)

ready to take on the world am i right??

is it weird he totally looks like his little brother now??  oh well :)

NYC NYC NYC NYC

boston didn't have any direct flights to utah
instead, long and i took a bus into NYC and flew out that night

mean while we carried
1 duffle bag, 2 suitcases, 2 backpacks

when we first stepped out of the bus
i felt winter like i never have before
and i hope i will never have to experience that bitterness ever again

we were overwhelmed, lost, freezing, loaded with bags, and just plain confused

so we took the train to the main part of the city (taking the same stairs 3 or 4 times to find the exit) and stepped out into the city of NEW YORK along with the rest of the other tourists

i couldn't help but catch a picture of long's face as soon as we stepped out
just priceless i tell you

in the middle of the nation's hugest city with suitcases and hardly any clothing
i forced long to buy us an all day bus tour until it was time to catch the airplane

and so we hopped off and on for 5 hours luggage and all

in any situation, long and i can make it ghetto. in fact, i was sooooo freezing that as we were visiting ground zero, i picked up a lost beanie and stuck it on my head.
until you have felt the winter of new york, you can not even begin to judge.

from ground zero, to dunkin donuts, to the statue of liberty, to rockefeller center
we enjoyed soaking up the NYC life

we had a blast, used beanies, luggage and all!
long and i really grew up in that little experience alone
we relied on each other to find our way to the airport all by ourselves!
even though we had to get off the train, switch, up the stairs, and hop back on

we never got cranky with each other
pretty sure we were just glad we weren't alone in this big city

are we new yorkers now????
you bet

Boston, the wanna be NYC

this past christmas break, long and i were able to visit his momma and brothers.
we arrived on christmas day and when i heard the news that his mom would not be home til the next day
... i was not too happy...

but when she came HOME we enjoyed eating pho, pho, pho, vermacelli, and pho
did i mention we ate pho?
everyone's dream

i wanted to make sure long spent as much time as he could with his mom esp since we weren't really sure where we would be the next year since long would be graduating

long was so sneaky planning many events out in boston

he took me to the Nutcracker

a crazy insane rich restaurant at "Top of the Hub" where you take an elevator to the highest part of the building and pay $100 for a meal. we celebrated our 1 year of being engaged? didn't matter, we just wanted to celebrate. i won't even begin to tell you how amateur we looked but we loved playing the part :)

 1year ago. before i knew what i was getting myself into :) haha i love my longie!

still happy a year later!

walked around china town (but all the chinese were sleeping)

we even spent time with the bro hungyy. we mostly just made long make us pho, baked browines, and drank boba.

but the most special part of the whole thing was new years eve. long wanted to take me out and see the sculptures in the city, eat dinner and count down
but i knew the one thing that would the most special to him would to stay home and be with his mom

so hung and i (oh yah and long) walked to a store, bought birthday streamers, balloons, frozen pizza, fries
came home decorated heated up the food and got dressed up
momma xit thought we were cray cray but she joined the fun

and i can't even tell you how happy we made her heart

i guess when it was time to leave, she couldn't stand to look at the balloons any longer :(
all i can say is, i am so happy to have married a man with such a wonderful mother who loves me even though i can't speak a lick of vietnamese other than pho.

we had so much fun and can't wait to make more memories and share our asian babies with the nguyen side!

caliente springz

before utah, i had never gone/seen a hot spring..
however i was given the opportunity to
splish splash
in some hot springs
in the winter season
and it was totes
worth it...

During thanksgiving, my WHOLE family came from orange county, redlands, and sacramento
to come visit me and mr. nugy!

it was so awesome to have my family here visiting. long and i were able to be tourists for the few days they were here..

this included watching TWILIGHT (with our blood lippy sticky),

Eating at Chuck-A-RAMA (scones & old people please!)

 And visiting Temple Square!

and of course doing the family duties like cooking 10 different sides for the turkey! (with a large amount of cream cheese! heart attack)

if anyone knows the Avalos family, they will know that we have every breathing second planned (and we all got it from our mother)

that included our 2 hour drive to the hot springs

i guess the weather couldn't really be considered as "winter" since there was no snow on the ground, the temperature was about 40 degrees, and the sun was shining brighter than everrrrr

however, the hotsprings was fabulous.
no hike.
no skinny dippers.
and totes made for babies.

we spent 2 hours as a family soaking up the sun, joking, and betting who will get preggy next
(cross your fingers its serene!!!!)

it was so fun and i highly recommend going if you just wanna relax and have a quick road trip!


A few weeks after, my good friends also known as the hubble/fuqua cool kids, invited long and i to another hot spring!

a lot closer, but a hike involved

this time, we left at 9pm with no clouds in sight and a full moon with snow on the ground.
it had to have been 20 degrees.

once we made it, there weren't many pools
we jumped in one that was empty, we stripped down, got in the water and it was luke warm.
2 seconds after we all jumped in the water, the water was draining into another pool. there was a shirt blocking the hole so that the water wouldn't suck out, however one too many butts pulled it out.

and there we were. in bathing suits. soaking wet. in 20 degree weather. (the water was draining at this point and long had no idea as he was pulling off his clothing, about to jump into... no water)

luckily a couple had just left another hot spring a little further up and said the had to leave it was so hot.
and at that point we wanted hot.
the girls jumped out barefoot, ran over the snow in bathing suits and made it.

frost bitten toes + dipping foot in 100 degree water = no bueno

eventually we made it in. with half our bodies in the water. it was too hot to bare.
it was definitely the experience. changing was unpleasant.

frozen hair. naked. frost bitten toes.

long was VERY excited to get back to the car.. so excited he slipped and fell..

spraining his ankle.



in all, caliente springz = freezing your butt off the whole hike back if you go at night!