Getaway trip...

I so wish I could end the title with "to Hawai'i", but I can't. Fi Dan and I however, did get a semi-getaway trip to Utah last week! Fi Dan was scheduled to defend his Master's project on Tuesday, April 12, 2011. Initially, Fi Dan was going to fly to Utah and do his defense by himself, but I just couldn't let that happen. I really felt that I needed to be there to support him. So off we flew to Utah last Monday. We ended up flying most of the day on Monday, which I didn't mind, especially since we didn't have the kids with us. As many of you may know, I LOVE Cafe Rio, and I wanted that for dinner, but Fi Dan suggested Indian food at one of our FAVORITE restaurants in Provo, so we had that instead.

So glad to have had this time alone with Fi Dan!

I'll never get over the mountains! Probably

one of my favorite things about Utah. :)

Monday night was wonderful...for me anyway. I had dinner with the love of my life and watched a movie on T.V. and just RELAXED! I haven't done that for over 2 years! My poor Fi Dan, on the other hand,was doing last minute preparations for his presentation and rehearsing. And if any of you know Fi Dan, public speaking is not his forte, so he was worried all night. I called and checked on the kids several times while we were there, and they did great! Nenji cried for us the first half of the day, but then he was okay after that. Oh, and may I add that I have the most amazing mom who took time off of work to watch Nenji and Rylan. Also, Kashia, Max, and my dad were also wonderful with the kids. :)

( **and everyone kept telling us that they cry more when we're home than when we were away. This makes me want to take mini-trips with Fi Dan more often, since I know they're perfectly fine when we're away. :D)

Another reason why this trip was so great was because we got to meet up with our good friends, Cami and Josue & of course their sweet little Kaleb! We met them at Denny's for breakfast. We had a few hours of free time and so we went to hang out at Cami's place. It was so nice to chat with Cami, it always is!!!

The Rivas Family!

Aren't they such a cute little family? :)

Fi Dan gave his presentation in front of his committee that worked with him through out the semester, me, his friend Alex, Cami, Josue, Kaleb and a 1st year MPH student. He did so good! I was so proud of him. I must say that he's come a long way with speaking in public, and I loved it that his passion for working in the Hmong community showed. I love my husband, he's amazing in so many ways. So after the deliberation, he passed with some recommendations. That means that he has to make some corrections to his paper and then submit it in. :)

Fi Dan giving his presentation.

*pictures courtesy of Cami Wright Rivas!

Thanks Cami.

His committee.

We had dinner at Cami's and flew home to our wild children. It was such a memorable trip. One, because Fi Dan got his master's!!! Two, because we got to hang out with such good friends. :)