family game night

With the busy-ness of life, the blog has taken a bit of a hiatus.  What have I been up to? So much I can't even remember!  One thing I do remember, however... our first family game night!  A friendly (read super competitive) game of Cranium.

 

Guess who won?! The Parks! We won a trophy and bragging rights. We were SO excited, jumping up and down, you'd think we won the Olympics.

We are ultimate nerds and had so much fun. We sisters plan to make this a monthly ordeal; gives us a chance to hang out and be awesome at winning.

Anyone else do game nights?! Or is this ultimate dorky stuff only for nerds like us?

a very merry christmas

Our Christmas celebration started on Sunday with a quick visit to our grandma's house.  Then, we were off to partake in our yearly tradition - a drive thru Sleepy Hollow and some delish Thrifty's ice cream.

On Christmas day, we all gathered at the La Mansion and enjoyed our time together, opened presents, and hung out until everyone started to fall asleep from some major food coma.

 
   


 
My contribution to dinner was hasselback potatoes, which looked better than it tasted, and lemon meringue pie, which started to weep even before I put it in the fridge! Bah!  I also made a gooey pumpkin cake, and John made a cherry crumble cake. I realized that my family is not big on dessert. There was so much left over!  

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas. We Kim/Park/Carriers sure did! I'm so sad it's over.  I am most definitely keeping up the decorations and tree 'til Valentines Day! 

so much to be thankful for

It has been a rough couple of months, but I know I have so much to be thankful for.  I know I should be thankful everyday because of God's amazing mercy to give me breath every morning, but my sinful cranky heart isn't.

A national holiday was a great way to remind me that I have so much to be thankful for and remind myself that I easily forget about God's daily gifts - my husband, sisters and bros, nieces and nephews, momma, church family, and friends.

My family started the Thanksgiving festivities on Wednesday night with Korean snacks, Korean rice wine, and The Proposal (again)!

Then everyone slept over and we all woke up and had breakfast together. Which included waffles made by the lil sis.

Then the "boys" sat around and watched football...

Snacked all day, then had a way early dinner at 3:00!

 
It was our first time hosting a family dinner! We had so much fun and John and I are so glad to be living in "la mansion" where we actually have space to hang out! We're also hosting Christmas dinner! Excited!

We really did have fun! My sisters and bro hung out alllll day and we watched movies and seriously ate so much! 'Twas a great Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving too!

happy birthday, bro

Last weekend we celebrated my bro-in-law's 3_th birthday at the amazing Terranea Resort in Ranchos Palos Verdes.  Well, actually, my sis and bro were there for the weekend and we just crashed their party for a quick lunch and a major photo session.

The resort is, seriously, UH-mazingly beautiful.  Even the drive up to Palos Verdes is gorgeous.  When I was younger, our family called that amazing city our home and I guess I was too young to appreciate it.  But this weekend, as we drove on the windy road overlooking the ocean and cliffs, I was in awe of God's handiwork.

What a great way to spend the weekend, no?! Happy birthday to the best bro in the world!!!!!  He is the kindest, sweetest, most generous brother anybody can ask for.  He is total Gangnam style!  Happy birthday, hyungboo.

a busy sunday

A typical Sunday for me and John is pretty low-key. We usually go to church in the morning, go grocery shopping, and then come home to rest. Today, was not low-key. It was a busy day, filled with some major fun.

It started off at Crossview, listening to God's Word. Then, we went to meet up with my fake cousin, Liz, or as I call her, Lizard Breath. I've called her my cousin for years because we grew up next to each other and always hung out. She came with us on family vacations, hung out at our house all the time and vice versa. As we got older we just started telling teachers and friends we were cousins. People started realizing we weren't related by blood so now she's my fake cousin. With all that said, I love this gal.

We finally got to hang out and chat at Urth Cafe. And just like when you see a close family member you haven't seen in a long time, our time with Liz was so easy and natural.

*Taken by Liz's iPhone.

Can you guess which one is Johnny's cup?! It was the size of my head!

I love my fake cousin! <3

Then off to dinner with my sis and the bro-in-law. My coworker was raving about this BBQ place in Venice, and it's a place my bro-in-law goes to often. It's a hole in the wall-ish place with plastic sports team plates, diner-esque chairs, and dark lighting. But, man, is the food good!

Kicking off my birthweek with a delicious BBQ dinner at Baby Blues BBQ.

As we were eating, John recognized one of the workers. (He has horrible memory, but he has amazing face recognition). She was a character on one of John's favorite shows, Breaking Bad. I have no idea how he recognized her, and she was pretty surprised he recognized her considering the fact that she herself said she was trying to be incognito. This proves that he really is the good at recognizing faces! Thanks to my super outgoing bro-in-law who was bold enough to talk to her first, John was able to chat with her and get a picture with her.

We learned her name was Emily and she was sweet enough to learn our names. Seriously, she was the nicest gal, super grateful, and even gave us some free banana bread pudding! I hope she makes it back to the next season of Breaking Bad!

Today was super busy for us, but what a great way to kick off my birth week! Time to sleep. Too much excitement for one day!