happy new year! have a virus!

We're back from LA where we were enjoying a family reunion (my Mom's side of the family). I've been working HARD since October and staying up late the last 3 weeks prior to the reunion to put together a family history book in time, so it was great to finally get everything complied and printed and delivered just in time for the reunion and be DONE!
It was a rough road getting things organized and complied and formated and translated from english to chinese and chinese to english and designed and last of all printed. I was on the phone with the printers in LA while still in VA trying to get this 120 page book printed just right, and delivered on the 28th of Dec. I'm so grateful for the people at the printers working extra hard to push my order through, especially over christmas and keeping it all within budget. It was so great to hand them out to everyone and see that they really loved the book. Of course, I just did the manual work, the contents of the book is what really matters. It's got bios of both grandma and grandpa. Grandpa passed away when my mother was just 16. My grandma and mother worked to raise my 6 other aunts and uncles, all ranging in age down to age 5. My uncle was away at college, but sacraficed to send money home to the family. It was so wonderful for me to read eveyrone's tributes to grandma as well as their personal rememberances of grandpa. I've always wanted to know what he was like, and never got what I was looking for until I read these essays from what my aunts and uncles remember of him. So I'm really glad I was able to be the catalyst to get this book made. It turned out better than I thought.
So the reunion was great. I love our reunions, and I was excited for Evan to join in this year. The last reunion I announced that we were expecting, so it was great to have Evan be 1 yrs old and able to play and really interact with the relatives. I was surprised that one of my cousins really loved playing with Evan. She's in high school and doesn't have younger siblings so she was hesitant at first at what do you do with a 1 yr old. But as soon as Evan started learning how to roll an orange back and forth on the table from her they were so cute together!
We went to the Getty Museum (I was excited to go cause the last time I got sick and puked at the museum and spent the rest of the day in the car), we went to the Regan Library, the Nixon Library, LA Temple, NewPort Temple, New Port beach, Huntington Gardens, and the best Mayalsian resturant ever.
Half way through our reunion we were scheduled to have a 81st birthday banquet for grandma at Empress Harbor Seafood Resturant. It was a nicer chinese restaurant and a bit pricey. We even had karaoke. However, the next 3 days, one by one the cousins started droping like flies. Then the aunts, then the uncles, then a phone call from extended family that were also at the banquet, that they were also sick. 2 of my cousins fainted from dehydration. The cousin that loved playing with Evan fainted at the airport just before boarding the plane to return back home to Hawaii. We thought it was food posioning, but it's pretty clear that it was something like the Nora virus, that causes diarrhea, vomitting, and severe stomach pains. We lucked out, I only had to vomit once the last night, and just felt nauseous on the flight home. Mark and Evan are fine cause they didn't eat too much at the restaurant. Evan caught something else. He's got a runny nose and cough which I'd rather him have. I feel bad for my sister. She tried so hard to avoid getting sick, but once she felt stomach pains coming on she was down for the rest of the trip and she's recouperating at home in Seattle. My mom said she had a rough time getting to and through the airport with her stomach pains and weakened state. I think almost everyone caught some of the symptoms. Its such a downer on what's supposed to be a gathering, everyone is just spending time in bed and waiting for the bathrooms to be available. I guess that's just something to add to the family history book.
Overall, we had a good time. Mark, my sister, sick cousin, and I spent New Years night playing a game where the loser has to take a shot of nasty tasting Holiday Jones Soda. Flavors like peas, dinner roll, turkey and gravy, sweet potato, and antiacid. Just thinking about the turkey and gravy flavored one gives me a headache. I'm glad we only paid 2.50 for all of them. nasty.
So that's about it for now. I'll post pics later tonight. I've got to go pick up Lucy from a friend house and get us some groceries...