A big time

The week in Colorado was pretty overwhelming and exhilarating--there was almost no time to stand back for a breather. However, it was so uplifting that when we said good-bye to most people Monday night it left behind a sunken and almost lonely feeling. It was a treat to have my cousins Phuong and Que stay in Aunt Be and Uncle Peter's house with us because it gave us lots of time to catch up. It was also wonderful to see my little cousins and my aunts and uncles. I didn't appreciate this when I was younger, but everyone is generally happy, honest, and seems to have a great perspective on things. I hope it isn't so many years before I get to see them all again.

Here are a few more highlights from the trip...

Aunt Lieu whipped up a gigantic pot of Vietnamese curry for the ~40 of us Friday night. The pot is bigger than she is!

Visiting hours Saturday

We spent the afternoon meeting with Andrew and Adrienne Clay one more time at a mall between Lakewood and Longmont

Saturday night, a few of us crammed into a minivan and went downtown to see the City and County building spruced up with colorful Christmas lights

Uncle Peter couldn't wait to dress the boys up in matching outfits. Child exploitation? I don't think so! It was fun for all!

Sunday, Andrew, Jennifer, Carter and I went to run some errands. We couldn't resist taking advantage of the awesome Mexican food in Denver, so using a GPS, we drove 20min looking for an El Pollo Loco but it took us to El Rico Pollo instead. Good and spicy, it was better than El Pollo Loco! We also stopped by Bronco Stadium. I really like the statues of the horses running up the steps, and there was also a great view of the Denver skyline.

Sunday evening my cousin, Christina, whom I had not seen in nearly seven years, drove in from Colorado Springs (if you couldn't tell, Christina is the blondie, from Dad's side). She joined us for dinner at Uncle Tan's house, but I wish she could have stayed longer!


We also happened to be celebrating Tammie's 12th birthday (we were with Tammie and her family in Vietnam).

Temple on Monday, after the graveside service

Saying goodbye to Phuong and Que

On Tuesday Aunt Be took Mom and me to the largest Asian grocery store I have seen outside Asia. In the freezer department they have a huge stock of vegetarian meat--Mom is holding a bag of veggie bacon and veggie beef balls. Funky.


Ignoring the strip malls, I could look at the mountains all day!