A week with Mom

 I went to Denver by myself for a week (June 22-29th) to spend some time with just me and my Mom  before everyone else arrived for our annual big family reunion. 

Mommmmm!!!! (This picture was taken a week later during the family reunion--that's why Jay's face is between our heads in the background.)

This was our 3rd annual Mom-and-Shaina week, and it was everything I hoped it would be. I don't have a ton to say about it except that we did all of our favorite things together and spent a quiet week of quality time. We didn't go anywhere big or boisterous or impressive or far. We didn't do anything huge. We just spent the week together. On my own, I went on a few runs in the mile-high Denver altitude and played my Mom's large decadent Steinway piano. Together, we went on a walk, ate various forms of Asian noodles, re-watched our favorite K-drama, shopped for socks, went to the temple, and created artwork (pen drawings for me and watercolor paintings for Mom). I didn't want the week to end! We took commemorative selfies to remember everything we did together. I treasure this mother-daughter time, and I feel so blessed and lucky to have such a top-notch Mom and to be such good friends with her as an adult. It's the best. I love my Mom! I miss her already.

A pristine Rocky Mountain morning view from one of my favorite running routes near my parents' house.

Art is so much more fun when we can laugh about our very amateur skills together.

Ramen lunch on a tray, all ready to watch a lunch episode (or three) of Crash Landing on You.

Walking and talking in the bright morning sunshine.

During our walk, I used Google Lens to look up what the name of this wildflower is: Google said it's an Indian Blanket flower, and in spite of the politically incorrectness of that name, there was no alternative name listed. 

This big bright purple thistle had a bee hovering perfectly nearby. Portrait mode on a cell phone camera works wonders.

We went to a dumpling restaurant for an very tasty lunch. Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) are so good!

The view from another section of my favorite running path in Greenwood Village. 

Another ramen-and-episode lunch: we wore aprons as bibs to avoid splashing ramen broth on our clothes, haha.

Sock shopping at REI. We found some seriously good socks.

Dinner at the kitchen counter with Dad. Even though this was my third year in a row coming to visit my parents all by myself, it still felt surreal and special to eat dinner at home with just me and them.

An afternoon in the temple: my Mom works a 3 hour shift in the baptistry at the Denver Temple, so I tagged along and did an endowment session and a round of initiatories. In between the two, I even had time to hang out in the baptistry with my Mom. It was a very peaceful afternoon. Usually when I go to the temple it's all about efficiency: go in, do the session, come out. This time I had time to linger, admire paintings, think, and wait. That extra time soaked extra peace deep into my soul. 

We had an early dinner/late lunch at a Korean cafeteria after our temple time. These kimchi pancakes were our favorite.

More art.

We set a new PR watching our favorite K-drama, Crash Landing on You. We watched all 16 episodes in just 4 days! We stayed up super late to finish the last episode, and then laughed our heads off attempting to take our traditional finisher's selfie with the last scene of the show on the screen behind us.

We spent a lot of time in these chairs watching our show.

Fist bump! K-drama extreme marathon finishers! We were cracking ourselves up.

Finger hearts! Saranghae!