Our Korean Bulgogi Party

We have been so blessed to get to know and befriend one of the most awesome girls I've ever met, Hana K. We met her through our friend Stephanie at Bible study and just adored her from the start. Hana is from Korea and has been in Washington for a year studying at the local college. Sadly, she had to fly home to Korea today, and we miss her already! She was sweet enough to fix a Korean feast for us over the weekend before she had to leave. I can't remember the names of all of the food, but I will do my best =)


A table of Korean appetizers


The dish to the right is Bulgogi and the dish in the middle is Hea-mule Pah Juyne (seafood pancakes) These were Derek's favorite!


Specialty noodles and Kimchi fried rice, yum!


Special dessert number one...friend sweet potatoes


...and special dessert number two, rice cakes w/syrup


Our sweet friend Hana =)

Happy Birthday Again Derek!

So, in the last post I mentioned that I would have to do some updating. The reason for that is because Derek had a surprise birthday dinner at Red Robin Burgers, which didn't take place until after his birthday. I don't pull off surprises too often, so I was really glad this one went smoothly.


Here's the group who helped me surprise the birthday boy =)


After our fabulous meal, we invited everyone back to our place for more cake and ice cream!


A few days after all the original birthday cake disappeared, Derek had a special request for this homemade cake, and I just couldn't say no....


...so I made the cake and sang "Happy Birthday" again =)

And I should also mentioned that Derek's Maw Maw Gen and Aunt Tanya came in for a visit today and wanted to take us out to celebrate a belated birthday with Derek. Guess where we went? Red Robin =)

Happy Birthday Derek!

It's a couple of hours early, but tomorrow Derek is celebrating birthday #23! If we were still living in central time, it would already be his birthday so it's okay to go ahead and say it

"Happy Birthday Derek!"

Derek and I became friends around the time he turned 13 and joined the youth group at church, and I am so so so incredibly blessed to have celebrated a decade of birthdays with the man who is still today my very best friend and partner in life. I love you Derek Thomas!!

We started the celebration a little early by having some cake and ice cream with our friends at Bible study tonight...a little surprise for the birthday boy. We still have some more celebration to come, so I'll be updating this post a little later on. For now, here's a little bit of celebration for you to enjoy...



Why red and black? Well, for anyone who knows Derek,
he's a huge Michael Jordan fan...what better way to celebrate
birthday #23? =)