Jenie and Frank dot com slash blog

We are so excited to share our happy news!  We found out on August 29th that Baby Chang is on the way!  We are 24 weeks pregnant with our first baby and we found out just before Christmas that we are having a girl!

I was very lucky in that I didn’t experience much morning sickness during the first trimester.  I started to feel the baby moving at about 16 weeks, and Frank was able to feel her kicks and punches a few weeks after that.  She is super active now–she bounces around and likes to let me know when she’s awake! 

Baby Chang is expected to arrive on May 7th and we are eagerly awaiting to welcome her into the world!  We can’t wait to meet her!

After watching our house ‘grow’ for 8 months, construction was completed in May and we were finally able to move in June! Hooray! It was so much fun being a part of the whole process, seeing the progress week to week.

We are now spending our time unpacking and “making our house a home.” From window coverings to installing ceiling fans and building new furniture, we are very busy but enjoying the experience of home ownership! We love it here and are so looking forward to making new memories in our new place!

Construction progress in pictures:

Over the last year or so, we’ve spent weekends here and there researching online and driving around the tri-city area, looking in neighborhoods for “For Sale” signs (so I could jump out of the car and grab flyers to see features and pricing) and checking out new developments.  To our disappointment, almost every new development featured 3 story homes and no backyards due to the lack of space, and to our dismay, pre-existing homes were just as pricey, if not more so, than the new homes we were finding.  We were discouraged, and began considering moving out of the Fremont area.

Then one day in October, as we were driving home from the grocery store, I saw a sign on the side of the road advertising a new development in Fremont.  Once we got home, we googled it, looked at the floorplans, and saw one that was absolutely perfect for us!  We had pretty much figured out what features were important to us over the past year, and this floorplan had both what Frank really wanted (a loft upstairs) and what I really wanted (a bedroom downstairs for visitors).  We headed out to take a look that same day.

The rest is history–3 days later, we put down a deposit;  about 2 weeks after that, we wrote contract.  So far we’ve selected our options/upgrades, and we’ve chosen our counter tops, tile, and carpet.  The foundation is poured and they are about to start framing the house.

Now we just have to wait…until about March, when they say construction should be complete!  We are so excited (and a little nervous) to be buying our first home together, and having the chance to be a part of the whole build-out process is amazing!  3 months to go…Yippee!

The Butternut model home–this is what our home will look like, with the exception of the exterior colors.

We just had to take a picture of the community map with the ’sold’ sign on our lot–lot 13.

The foundation was poured at the end of October.

There is a park across the street from our lot, which will be perfect for when we have kids!

They’re ready to start framing our home this week, but it doesn’t look like the weather’s going to be cooperative!

Frank and I took a cruise to Alaska to celebrate our one year wedding anniversary.  Frank wasn’t too fond of cruising up to this point, but he said he would gladly cruise to Alaska because he wanted to see glaciers.  So, we sailed on Princess Cruise Line’s Golden Princess to three ports in Alaska (Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan) and to Victoria, B.C.  We had a fantastic time, despite the cloudy, sometimes rainy weather, and we were so blown away by the beautiful sights and clean, fresh air that Alaska had to offer!

Juneau  It was rainy in Juneau the day we visited, and our excursion at this port was Summer Camp dog-sledding.  After a long, wet drive up slippery dirt roads (scary!), we arrived at the camp and were greeted by 100+ Alaskan huskies!  They are such beautiful dogs–so cute, calm, sweet, and even shy.  Seeing them all made me miss Kiya even more!

12 of the huskies were harnessed up to our sled–a converted VW bug–and after some howling, jumping, and barking, off we went!  These dogs LOVE to run!  It was so amazing to us how fast they were able to pick up speed and keep it up.  There were 2 break times on the run, and at each break, after they felt they had enough rest, the dogs would look back toward the musher and start howling and barking to let him know they were ready to take off again!  So cute!  It was so much fun getting to experience dog-sledding, and we even got to meet 5 week old husky puppies!  But by the end of our excursion, both Frank and I were soaking wet from all the rain, even with our hooded jackets!

Our huskies running on the trail

Our converted VW sled

Frank and a husky puppy…we wanted to take one home.

Skagway  We basically wandered around this tiny town on our own.  We visited local shops, watched salmon attempting to swim upstream, and bought Frank some reindeer sausage.  (Ewww, I know!)  We went to a bar and grill where Frank enjoyed beer–Alaskan Amber– and fish and chips.

After arriving in Skagway

Skagway’s little harbor

Cruising Tracy Arm Fjord/Sawyer Glacier  One word:  AMAZING!  We sailed through 26 miles of fresh air and beautiful Alaskan mountains, canyons, forests, and waterfalls, and at the end of it all, was the majestic sight of Sawyer Glacier.  It was so blue and looked gigantic.  Pictures don’t do it justice, and we are so glad to have been able to see a glacier in person (”before they all disappear” says Frank.).

Cruising through Tracy Arm Fjord

Passing by our sister ship, the Star Princess

Sawyer Glacier…an amazing sight to see in person.

Photos really don’t do it justice–it was so blue!

Frank, me, and Sawyer Glacier

Beautiful scenery

Ketchikian  We went zip-lining in Tongass National Forest, the second largest rainforest on the planet!  Our zip-lining excursion is what Frank was looking forward to the most, I think.  And boy, it did not disappoint!

Neither of us had ever zip-lined before, and it was quite an exhilerating experience!  We zipped across 8 lines–the longest being 745 feet across, and the highest point being 135 feet in the air–and walked across 3 suspension bridges that seemed a little too wobbly!  I think the hardest part was waiting on the platforms that were built high into the trees.  We had at least 9 people hanging out on those platforms at times, and some of them were literally trying to hug the trees to calm their nerves.

While high up in the trees, Frank saw a family of black bears and some eagles.  All I saw were trees, the cable I was zipping on, and our guide on the platform that we were zipping towards.  I was too nervous to enjoy the scenery!

All geared-up

Ready to go

That’s me zipping!

Frank was so excited and happy!

One of the wobbly suspension bridges we crossed

We got gold medals for completing the course!

A view of Ketchikan from our ship

Victoria, B.C.  We didn’t have much time at this port, so we decided to wander around this cute little city on our own.  We walked through the famous Empress Hotel, found a gelato place (reminded us of our time in Italy), and walked through the shops downtown.  Nice and relaxing…

In front of the Empress Hotel

The parliament building

Onboard the Golden Princess  There was so much we wanted to do onboard, but we had limited time!  Besides the 24/7 food, there was golf, shuffleboard (Frank entered the tournament and won a silver medal), ping pong (no medal in this tournament), bingo (I won a round and got some $), the casino, the spa (treated myself to a massage and facial), trivia games (we now realize we’re not too good at trivia games), Movies Under the Stars (sooo cool!  The ship had a big screen outside on Lido Deck and they showed movies in the evening), evening entertainment (a comedian, an impressionist, The Newlywed Game)…the list goes on.  There were so many other things we wanted to do…maybe next time!

While wandering onboard

The staff helped us celebrate our anniversary, though belated, all day on our second day onboard.  The first thing they did for us was decorate our cabin with balloons.  We were also serenaded at dinner and served an anniversary cake!

On one of the formal dinner nights

Watching Star Trek at “Movies Under the Stars” on a gorgeous night!  They even served popcorn!

On another night of “Movies Under the Stars”

We had a blast!  And Frank’s even looking forward to another cruise!  He wants to cruise in Asia, and I’m thinking the Mediterranean…Until next time!

We celebrated one year of being husband and wife today!  We have such wonderful memories of our wedding day–family, friends, laughter, tears, pure joy.  And that’s what we’ve experienced over the last year.  We are lucky to have each other to experience this life with!

To celebrate our special day, we returned to where our marriage began–Wente Vineyards!  We had brunch at the restaurant–Frank had his favorite pork chops, while I had a chorizo (yes, I ate sausage!) and potato omelet.  For dessert, Frank was so sweet!  He ordered a cake from Wente’s pastry department so we could have our wedding cake all over again!  We got to enjoy a fresh cake with our wedding cake flavor–creme brulee chiffon with strawberries!  Wente is always yummy!

Ready for our appetizers–caesar salad and sweet foccacia

My omelet

Frank’s beloved double-cut pork chop

We didn’t do the traditional wedding gift to each other when we got married, but we made up for it on our anniversary!

Frank and his Canon zoom lens–perfect to capture the glaciers when we’re in Alaska!

Frank’s gift to me was a multi-function/baby bag from Coach!  LOVE it!  It will be great to use when I need to carry around more stuff!  And now I’m extra prepared for when it’s time for a baby!

The cake that Frank had made so we could enjoy our wedding cake all over again!  

Creme brulee chiffon with strawberries…mmmm!

We capped off our anniversary by watching Wicked in San Francisco.  What an amazing show!  The performers are just phenomenal!  I’m so glad we got to see it!  While we were waiting for the show to start, I realized that this was the first show we’d seen together.  Odd, because we’ve done so much in the last 5 years, but never a Broadway show, until today!

We’ve had a wonderful first year of marriage, and we look forward to what this next year will bring.

We had a very busy weekend last week.  After finishing up the work day on Friday, Frank, Kiya, and I headed to Turlock for the evening.  We spent some time with my family and spent the night there.  On Saturday morning, we woke up early, said goodbye to Kiya (hoping she wouldn’t dig in my parents’ backyard), and began our trip to L.A. for Alisa and Albert’s wedding.

We had a great drive and thought we’d have plenty of time to relax at the hotel for a few hours before getting ready for the wedding, but of course, we arrived in L.A. just in time to hit traffic on the 5.  Fun!

After a very long, slow crawl on the 5, we finally made it to our hotel.  And guess what?  As we pulled up to it, Frank was like “Hey!  We’ve stayed here before!”  Turns out the hotel that I booked online was the same one that we stayed at years ago on our very first trip away together!  The hotel had since changed names, so I didn’t realize it when I booked it.  But it indeed was the same place we stayed at in 2005 when we went to L.A for a Lakers game and a day at Disneyland.

Alisa and Albert’s wedding was at Inner City Arts, a children’s art museum, in downtown Los Angeles.  As teachers, the two of them had taken their students there when they taught in L.A.  What a fitting venue!  And it was the very first wedding held there too!  How awesome!

Alisa did a wonderful job planning what was a beautiful wedding!  She designed and made the invitations and the programs, and planned a shaved ice station during cocktail hour, as well as an ice cream sundae bar and taco bar after the buffet dinner and wedding cake!  We didn’t leave hungry!   She was a beautiful  bride and we were so happy to be celebrating with her and her new hubby!

During the reception

On Sunday, we woke up early and planned to get out of L.A. before lunch time, but as is typical for us, we ended up staying until after lunch!  We headed into downtown, did some shopping, and stopped by The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  It was our first time trying it out, and we LOVED it!  I had heard great things from friends, and boy were they right!  The caramel ice blended was so yummy!  It totally beats out Starbucks’ caramel frap!  And Frank loved his vanilla ice blended so much that we bought the ice blended powder and coffee extract to make them at home!

We hit the road after eating at the Panini Cafe in downtown (which was really good by the way) and swung by Turlock to pick up Kiya.  Thanks again to my parents and sister for dog-sitting, and sorry again for her digging!  (She can’t seem to help herself!  She always digs in the same spot–where the pool filter is.  I think it’s because she hears the noises and wants to know what’s going on!)

After picking up Kiya, we headed back up to Fremont, gave Kiya a bath, and headed out to dinner with Frank’s family for his dad’s birthday.  It was an extremely busy, fun, tiring weekend!  And on a side note, we whipped out the blender that we had gotten as a wedding gift, and we’ve put it to good use making our own ice blended drinks!  They are YUMMY!

Where does the time go?  It’s been two months since I’ve blogged, and I’m not even sure where to start!  May is just a blur now, with the exception of STAR testing and Mother’s Day.

And then June came along… A field trip to the park, report cards, end-of-the-year pizza parties, packing up my classroom for summer cleaning, 2 family birthdays, Father’s Day, and then the start of summer school–June has been exhausting so far!

This is my 6th consecutive year of teaching summer school.  Teaching summer school is always a challenge because classes are loaded with over 20 kids who usually need a lot of attention.  Every summer, I think “This will be the last time I do this.”  And then the next year rolls around and I think “Gosh, the extra money would be nice.  And it’s only half days.  What would I do with myself otherwise?”

So here I am, teaching summer school once again.  One of my co-workers asked me if I’m trying to set a record!  No, I’m not trying.  But, I may, in fact, own that record.  I’m not sure what to think of that.

We spent the last few weeks researching vacation spots for our 1 year wedding anniversary, and we just finalized our plans this week.  We’ll be celebrating our anniversary with a cruise to Alaska!  While Frank isn’t big on cruises, he said the one cruise he’d happily take is one to Alaska, so off to the glaciers we go!   Everyone we’ve talked to says that Alaska is just beautiful, and we can’t wait to soak it all in!  He’s looking forward to ziplining (which I’m really nervous about, but hey, I can’t pass up the birds-eye view of the Alaskan rain forests, can I?) and I’m really excited about meeting some sled dogs.  And then there’s the 24/7 food!  We really can’t go wrong!

Also coming up this summer:  a wedding in Los Angeles, the end of summer school on July 24th (can’t wait!!!), and another wedding here in Fremont.  Then it’s off to Alaska to celebrate!  Yippee!

We were very busy over the week of Spring Break.  We were so glad to have some time off, but needless to say, the week went by so quickly!

Squaw Valley USA:  We didn’t get a chance to go skiing/boarding last season, so we hoped that there would be some snow left from the rain we had gotten a few weeks back.  My parents had given us lift tickets to Squaw Valley, so we headed up on a day that was supposed to be sunny.  Squaw had 14 lifts open, and it started out as a great day!

Sunny skies

By about 3pm though, the wind kicked up and we noticed tiny little flakes of snow falling.  We decided to take one last run from the top of the mountain to the base and then leave for Reno, where we were going to stay for 2 days.  We didn’t want to have to put chains on.

The weather was definitely changing before our last run

During our last run down, it got really windy and the snow was really falling.  By the time we got to the car, it looked like we were in for a little blizzard!

Reno:  We usually stay at the Atlantis when we go to Reno, but this time, we decided to try the Grand Sierra Resort.  We got a great deal on a suite, and we spent time eating at our usual all-you-can-eat sushi places, getting gelato, losing some money gambling (not me, just Frank), and getting massages.  On our last night there, we went to Charlie Palmer Steak, where Frank had a great ribeye that even I enjoyed!

Smoked salmon and caesar salad for appetizers

Frank’s ribeye.  It was good! =)

Pebble Beach Food and Wine:  We got an invitation to Pebble Beach Food and Wine from Lexus, and of course couldn’t turn it down.  I have to say, we are very pleased with some of the little extra perks that we’ve received from Lexus over the past 2 years.

Pebble Beach Food and Wine showcased some talented local chefs and many California wineries.  We got to sample some yummy food and drink lots of wine.  Fun times!  I searched high and low for Wente, and found it toward the end of the event.  Yay!

Lexus showcased their new RX, HS (their all-new hybrid), and IS-C (their IS convertible).  Here’s a picture that we had taken while sitting in the IS-C:

Over break, we also went up to Sacramento to have dinner with my parents at a business function.  We got all dressed up and everything, but we forgot to take pictures.  =(  And since Kiya had spent time at PetSmart’s hotel while we were in Reno, we took her to Lake Elizabeth for a day of fun.  We hadn’t ever taken her there, and boy did she love it!

Spring Break 2009…fun, tiring, too short!

We’ve been Mr. and Mrs. for 8 months now!  How quickly time flies!  I finally got around to enlarging one of our wedding photos–I found a great deal on a canvas print–and we hung it up this past weekend.  I have a favorite wall of the house now!

We are looking forward to Spring Break, which is coming up in about a week.  We’ll be spending a few days away to relax and recharge!  Can’t wait!

Yes, that is the badminton trophy that Frank won with Alan!  =)

I celebrated my 29.2 birthday on March 10th (ok, really it was my 31st, but Diane and I are just going to stay 29 for a while.  For my 30th, it was 29.1, and for my 31st, it’s 29.2) with a yummy dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Frank and my mom.  My mom was kind enough to drive all the way to Pleasanton just to join us for dinner.  Unfortunately, my dad was out of the country on a business trip, so we didn’t get to celebrate with him.

With my cheesecake birthday cake…yum!

Earlier in the day, Frank stopped by school to personally deliver flowers.  What a thoughtful hubby!  After dinner, he presented me with a talking Hoops and Yo Yo greeting card–I love those two characters because they’re just hilarious.  Then, he surprised me with a perfectly lovely gift from–where else–Coach!  HOORAY!  I have been seriously suffering from Coach withdrawal for the last year, and when I saw the pretty pink box in the shiny gold shopping bag, I literally jumped on him.

Frank had obviously paid good attention when I had been clicking around on the Coach website just for fun, because he picked out exactly what I had deemed my favorite one from the spring collection.   Double HOORAY!  I have to give him props!

The pretty pink box in the shiny gold shopping bag and our pup Kiya

Testing out my new bag!

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Today marks the 1 year anniversary of our Dream Dinners store!  We opened the store one year ago today, and boy, we have come a long way!  It’s been frustrating, exciting, challenging, scary, fulfilling…all rolled into one!  Frank has done an amazing job with the store, and we are looking forward to our second year, hoping that it will be very prosperous!

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I spent the early part of the week working on 2nd trimester report cards.  They went home with the kids today, and we officially have 1 more trimester of the school year.  Though day by day seems to go slowly, the year has quickly flown by!

Today was also ‘Pink Friday,’ the last day that school districts can issue pink slips to teachers who may be laid off at the end of the school year.  An overwhelming number of pink slips was handed out due to the state’s budget crisis–more than 26,500 teachers across the state received them as of this morning.  It was so frustrating to hear that 14 dedicated colleagues at my school received them.

Teachers, programs, materials…all of these cuts to education will certainly impact an entire generation of children for years to come.  We need to support education, students, and educators.  So what can we do?  We must contact our local legislators and let them know that we need to invest in education for the future of our country!  Let’s stand up for our schools!