On the Road Again!

For those who haven't heard yet, we're on the move again this summer! I can't believe how quickly our tour here in Korea has gone. Two years used to seem like a long time. And now we're nearly done!

So, we're headed to Washington DC in the summer. Drew will be working for WHCA (White House Communications Agency) and we're super excited! Yeah, go ahead and laugh. I hear my family think's it is extreamly funny that the most Republican branch of the family will be in DC with a Democratic president. Oh well. ;^)

I'm looking forward to getting back to Target, houses with backyards, and yes, even a WalMart will be a welcome sight! ;^) But most of all, we're happy to be closer to family! We will miss our friends here in Korea very much! But, one nice thing about the military is paths tend to cross often.

Washington DC, here we come!

Merry Christmas!

Here's some pictures of our fun Christmas day! Kami had a good time opening presents and enjoyed playing with them all today! Even AJ, who's been so sick with a cold the last few days managed a Christmas smile!

All in all it was a pretty fun day! I actually got to take a nap, and we all spent the entire day in our PJ's.

Kami, however, is in her room right now trying to go to bed, but is super sad. I just went in to ask her what was wrong and she's quite upset that Santa never came. I guess we never explained to her that he was going to come, but only while she was sleeping. Poor baby was probably waiting the whole day for him to make his grand entrance. So. So much for Santa.

In Your Face, October Cakepops!

These turned out so much better than the ones I created back in October, I nearly cried! I think some key factors were:

1. I wasn't trying to do anything fancy.

2. I made these by myself. (although I thoroughly enjoyed the company of my last two attempts!)

3. I got my mom to fill up a USPS Flat Rate box of Chocolate Almond Bark. I like working with that better than I like working with the melting wafers.

Anyway, YAY! Here they are (along with, of course my infamous CCC's (Chocolate Chip Cookies)!

Just a Snowman

This is kind of a random post. But, since I'm catching up, I thougt I'd throw this one in, too! These are some eat-able snowmen that Kami and I made one afternoon a few weeks ago. It was an activity that was on our advent calendar.

YWIE 2008

This year our YW chose the 'Young Women in Excellence' theme and carried out the program (I'm super big into giving the girls as much responsibility as I think they can handle, instead of me and my presidency carrying out an entire program on our own) So, the YW chose the theme "Following in Christs Footsteps". And they asked me to speak. I thought I'd share you all of you blog readers my notes from my talk. I also had a little slideshow going when I was talking about my favorite hike. Anyway, here you go!

Topic: How to draw closer to the Savior and follow in his footsteps. (5-10 minutes)

As a teenager in Southern Utah, I fell in love with hiking! I l fell in love with the beauty and majesty of the mountains around me. Hiking was something me and my friends would get together on a Saturday and do. Inside Zion’s National Park, there are a number of hikes that novice hikers could easily accomplish. The trails aren’t strenuous, the path was clearly marked and most of the hikes inside the park can be completed before lunch!

There are, however, many other hikes to be taken in the backcountry trails. These hikes are a little more advanced, the path isn’t always marked so clearly and takes from sunrise until sundown to complete. One of my favorites of these hikes is called The Subway.

This hike begins hiking over miles and miles of Sandstone, requires rappelling skills (or if you’re really dumb…jumping down into deep pothole waters) and hiking in water. This hike, as are the other backcountry hikes like it, are not marked at all. How did I know how to get where I was going?

I never went alone. I always had someone there who had hiked the trail before, many times over!

BEFORE we chose the path we want to take in this life, we need to look at where that path is taking us.

What are some of your goals in the next ten years?

Once we know where we want to go, we need to look at who is leading the hike! Preferably this would be someone who has been on the trail before…many times over! (or maybe once over, perfectly!)

Just as I would have never attempted a backcountry hike without a knowledgeable friend, I also would not chose a path in life without a Savior who knows the way.

My friends who hiked with me could always tell me approximately how much further we had to hike through the dull Sandstone, or when I would need to change shoes because we were coming up on some water and where the right pothole was that was deep enough to jump in and not break my leg!

Our Savior, too has provided some clearly marked paths to take. And we are reminded of how we are to stay on those paths each Sunday in Young Women’s as we repeat the Young Women’s Theme. And without going into detail about each of the Young Women values, there are two that I would like to talk a little about tonight. Our “bookend” values!

The first of these being….

Faith – Matthew 14: 22-31
Peter ‘tests’ Christ of who he really is.
Peter walks on water because of his faith that it is Christ who called to them.
Peter looses faith when he sees the wind and begins to sink.
Christ asks Peter, “wherefore didst thou doubt?”
Do we ‘test’ Christ? How?
When are times that we lose faith?
Faith in Jesus Christ is the first and largest step we take when following in Christ’s footsteps.

Just as I put my full trust in my hiking-savvy friends to get me home at the end of the day, we also need to put our full trust in our Savior. If we are to draw closer to Him, we need to begin to trust Him.

When we have faith in Christ and follow his example, pretty much everything else falls into place. The other Values are as follows:

Divine Nature = we are daughters of our Heavenly and have a divine inheritance
Individual Worth = we value that said inheritance and act as becoming daughters of our Heavenly Father
Knowledge = because of our divine heritage, we have so much to learn and seek for opportunities continually.
Choice and Accountability = we make choices every day and reap the consequences of those choices whether good or bad.
Good Works = we seek opportunities to serve others, knowing that by doing so, we are not only following the example of the Savior, but we are becoming like Him!
Integrity = we have the courage to stay on the path that the Savior has outlined for us.

And….Virtue. (Talk about the new value and bare testimony)

Here are some pictures from the night. The set-up and, of course some of our super cute girls!

YW Lesson 44 "Avoiding Crisis Living"

Okay, I'm catching up here! I meant to post this eons ago, but between sick kids, sick kids, and sick kids, I'm a little late at updating my YW lessons. I actually didn't even get to give this lesson because of, you guess it, sick kids! Thank goodness for the awesomness of counselors who'll step in at the last minute! Anyway, to see what I had prepared, go to Sugardoodle. It's all there!

Twilight Review

Okay! So, I finally was able to go and see 'Twilight' a few weeks ago (or was it only a week ago? I dunno, the last month has been a blur of coughing, sneezing, throwing up, runny noses and more! FUN!). The base theater held no hope for us here in Korea. So, I got a hold of a website to a movie theater not too far from here and found that it was playing there! So, I emailed out to the ladies at church to see if I had any takers to go with me. Turns out, there were quite a few! Yay! More obsessed fans! I LOVE it! So, here we are:

The company was FANTASTIC! The movie, however.....I dunno. I just. don't. know. I liked it, in it's own artistic right. There were things they added that I really liked (the humor, the baseball scene, the guy the played James and the chick that played Victoria). And of course things that I didn't like (the way it was filmed, the guy that played Edward, the way it was filmed, the guy that played Edward -I guess these two things that bothered me the most). I guess the problem is the same problem that most people experience in watching a book they love made into a movie. It just wasn't what I had imagined in my mind when I was reading it. (The two exceptions to this would be "Pride and Prejudice", the BBC version was right on with what I was envisioning, and "The Notebook", in which I actually liked the movie better than I liked the book).

But, like I said, the company was fantastic and it was all in all a super fun night! Everything from the subway ride, to almost getting lost, to figuring out what to do once we got to the movie theater. And where was AJ, you're asking yourself? Bonding at home with his dad, of course. And by bonding, I mean screaming his head off for about two hours! ;^) Thanks for letting me go anyway, Drew!

Oh yeah! And, thanks Mindy for the photos I took from your blog! ;^)

Hey Sailor!

This post is especially for my dad....just because I've been thinking about him a lot lately!
"No one has done more to prevent conflict - no one has made a greater sacrifice for the cause for Peace - than you, America's proud missile submarine family. You stand tall among our heroes of the Cold War." - General Colin Powell

Random

Sometimes I come up with some pretty random things to blog about.

And then sometimes others come up with pretty random things to blog about for me.

My brother Scott emailed me this picture for no apparent reason at all. Shall I make you guess who it is? It was taken, I believe circa 1986/1987, if that gives you any ideas. ;^)

Seeing Straight

So, I know what you're thinking. AJ needs glasses already?!? (sarcasm)
No, no. As I was pulling my coat on tonight getting ready to head out the door to a friends house for dinner, I turned around and found AJ with Mr. Potato Head's glasses on and Kami laughing and saying, "AJ funny!"

Counting Down

Christmas time is probably one of my most favorite times of the year. I love the atmosphere of almost everywhere I go. The colors, the scents, stores nearly overstocked, Christmas cards, and just the overall feeling of giving and getting. So, I was super excited when I was reading one of the blogs that I "stock" regularly, and checked out her inspirations for a Super Saturday project she did. I loved the idea so much that I did my own version of the project using a kit I purchased from the scrapbook store I used to work for back in St. Louis.

Anyway, I'm super excited about our countdown and the activities that are behind each of these numbers! Fun!

Open House

Our branch held an Open House last week for anyone interested in finding out who we are. So each auxiliary was in charge of decorating a room to tell about that particular organization. Kudos to our Young Women who did a fantastic job with our room!

growing and growing and growing....

I can hardly believe AJ is two months already!!! Where does the time go? I know I still have a few baby years ahead of me with AJ, but already it seems like time is just slipping through my fingers! Each second he grows and each day he's learning something more. You know what I mean? He's awake more often these days, but sleeps pretty well through the night. He's down to waking up once, maybe twice during the night to nurse. He's even starting to smile and chat with us! Drew had him actually laughing the other day! Awe! Melt my heart!

And speaking of growing up.....

We were getting ready to go out and about the other day, so I told Kami to go and get her shoes, while I got AJ in the car seat. She came around the corner with a pair of my heels on! I think she would have actually have worn those shoes out the door, if I would have let her! Honestly. My kids need to stop growing!!

YW Lesson 41 "Being Dependable"

Object Lesson - Display a watch/clock.
Q: How many of you YW depend on a clock like this to get you out of bed in the morning?
Q: What would happen if this clock were to stop working?

A good watch or clock is very valuable when it tells time accurately. But, a watch or clock, no matter how cool it looks is of little use if you cannot depend on it to tell time accurately.

Teacher Presentation
Read: Sleeping Through The Storm
Q: How/Why could the young man sleep through the storm?

-Discuss what it means to be dependable and list the characterstics on the board.

-On a piece of paper, have the girls think back through their day, week, month and/or year and list all of the people who they have depended on. Have them circle one person on that list.

Quotation

“There is a thought from Confucius that touches upon the point of many personal and public problems. ‘A man who lacks reliability is utterly useless,’ he said. In this there is much of what is wrong with the relationships of man to man—not being reliable, not being able to count on people to perform their part, to do what they say they will do when it needs to be done. And so disappointments and disillusionment occur from day to day. Someone says he’ll have something ready at a certain time, and it just isn’t ready. Someone borrows and says he’ll pay back or bring it back at a certain time, and it just isn’t paid back or brought back. Someone signs a contract and agrees to perform certain services, and just doesn’t do it. The list could be endlessly lengthened. Often there are unavoidable reasons, but sometimes it is lack of reliability—and in some situations this could become not only frustrating but frightening. All this could perhaps be compared to a parachute that opens only part of the time, or to brakes on a car that can’t be counted on consistently. … Suppose we couldn’t count on the promises of God. Suppose the astronauts in orbit couldn’t count on the calculations that others have made, or couldn’t count on the universe being run reliably. Suppose we couldn’t count on the tides, or the sun, or the seasons. It isn’t the hit-and-miss performance that makes life possible, but the degree of reliability, dependability, honesty, consistency that can be counted on. ‘A man who lacks reliability is utterly useless’ ” (Richard L. Evans, “Reliable Once in a While,” Ensign, Oct. 1971, p. 9).

Activity

Have the YW think about the person who they circled on their list. What would be the consequence of him/her had they not been dependable?

Quotation
“A man with whom I am associated as a director in a large company and who is also a government official, said to me on one occasion: ‘We asked for applicants who were prepared to accept a certain job in the government. We had many applicants, and we got them down to ten. As we were considering those ten, we noticed that one of them was a member of your church, and we took him just like that.’
“I said, ‘Why did you take him?’
“He said, ‘Because we knew that he wouldn’t be carousing at night; we knew that we could depend upon him, and we knew that he would do the work assigned to him’ ” (“Dependability,” Ensign, Apr. 1974, p. 4).

Q: How do Church members get such a reputation?
Q: WHY is it important to ahve this reputation?

Quotation
“Each day we must stop and ask ourselves: Am I dependable? Am I strong enough and determined to become the kind of person in whom everyone can have confidence? We have examples all around us of people who had every opportunity to make good and had possibilities of promising careers, and of really making a contribution to the world, but failed because they had not made up their minds and were not strong enough to keep themselves above reproach and withstand the temptations placed before them” (N. Eldon Tanner, “Dependability,” p. 4).

Activity
I adapted the story at the end of the lesson into a script form...just my way of trying to get some participation and not have to read another story! ;^)

Days End

At the end of those particularly rough days...

Jacki

About a year ago I posted a blog about a group of Saints from Cameroon who made an incrediably long trip to the Aba Nigeria Temple just two weeks after it's dedication in August 2005. I also mentioned a women in our branch who is from Cameroon. Though it was a couple years after this that Jacki met the missionaries on a subway and joined the church, I still think of Jacki as a pioneer woman of courage, who is forging the way for her family back home in Cameroon, both financially, physically and spiritually. Because of Jacki's efforts and determination for her children to have more of an education that she has, her oldest son is here in Seoul now attending the University and studying Law. Jean Marcel is also being baptized this Sunday.

Jacki is such an inspiration to me in so many ways. I value her friendship and always look forward each week when she comes and helps me out with the house and kids! It makes me smile each Tuesday when the door opens and Kami perks up, runs to the door and says, "Jacki! Jacki!" And Jacki in her thick French accent returns, "Oui! Kami-Kamden!" Here are some pictures of my dear friend and the kids!

Did You?

The Princess and the Peapod

Here's just a recap of today's festivities from over here in Korea!

Just before heading out the door this morning, I decided to take a few pictures of the kids before their costumes and hair got too "played in"....Kami actually did okay with keeping her hair in. She only took one side out once today!

Soon we were off to the Osan Parent Network Playgroup Halloween Party. This picture reminds me of a scene in a movie....wait a minute Princess....who gave you that apple to eat? Well, luckily the apple didn't have a spell that put Princess Kami to sleep, but it must've had some kind of sibling effect because the Princess' little brother slept all through the party and for the majority of the day!
After eating lunch at Burger King and taking care of some laundry, I took Kami Trick-or-Treating. Her first real experience! My friend Tori watched AJ for me while Kami and I went up and down the halls of one of the base housing towers. She caught on pretty quickly that if you knocked on peoples doors tonight, they'd open their doors give you candy. My original plan was to trick-or-treat down just one of the halls, but Kami was having so much fun that we ended up knocking on five floors worth of doors. I love look of realization on Kami's face when my friend Amy showed her the candy.


We also visited our good friends Bernie and Rich....across the hall lives Angela and Vic, who became Kami's friends pretty fast after bringing out bubble wrap to pop and LOADING her up with candy! Thanks a lot, guys! ;^) And here's the Princess, the Pea, and their VERY tired looking Mommy. Three weeks of single parenthood seriously shows in my face more that I thought! *sigh* Drew's home tomorrow! And, yes, I did get my hair cut and I love it! And this is my favorite look AJ gets every once in a while. I call it his "worried" look...he must've gotten that from his dad!
And of course a Birthday shout-out to one of my very best friends....my sister Rachel! Happy 31st Birthday, Sis! We love you and miss you! We hope your days was fantastic!

The Cake Pop: Attempt #2

So, a few months ago I discovered this super cool site called Bakerella that had these absolutely adorable looking things called "Cake Pops", as pictured below:

I have recently got up the courage to try to make them on my own. So last night I had some friends over and we attempted to make some Halloween ones. This is a picture (no laughing...okay, yeah, you can laugh) of last nights finished product (they're supposed to be ghosts, if you couldn't tell)
Okay, so we're not exactly Bakerella, but we had a blast in the process of making them! And at least these ones were eatable (Attempt #1....not so much! LOL!)....in fact, they are quite delicious. So much so in fact, that I'm not yet dis swayed from attempting them again and trying to perfect the "Bakerella" look! More to come from "The Cake Pop" posts!

*sigh!*

So, tonight is our Branch's annual Chili Cookoff/Fall Party.....and for the second year in a row, I didn't make it. Oh, we came so close this year! I was going along in my day, doing my very best to ignore the ever growing mess my daughter was making of our house, the whines, the itchy throat that I'm sure will turn into a full-blown cold in the next day or so, AJ's constant crying from what I assume to be the same itchy throat that I've got going on, and Kami's refusal to take a nap. I was determined to make it tonight. I had been baking all morning (I LOVE the smell of a house that has something baking). Cupcakes for tonight perfect and fluffy with what was supposed to be orange frosting, but actually came out peach (but I was ignoring that fact, too) and I was quite pleased with myself that I heeded friend Sariah's warning that the cornbread that she had dropped off with me has a tendency to burn....but they came out the perfect golden brown.

So, what was the straw that broke the camels back?

Like I said, I was ignoring the whines, but the mess was getting to me. So, I started picking up around the house (while AJ was actually sleeping). And I was trying my best to ignore Kami's plea of "Mommy....I need help!". Thinking she was most likely wanting to get into one of her toys that I would then later have to pick up, I replied half-hearted, "Kami, I can't think of anything that you would need help with, that I'd want to help you with."

On second thought, maybe I should have listened to her. *SIGH!!*

General Conference

Last night I finally got the chance to sit down and watch General Conference via the Internet. I sat through a couple of talks and then looked around the house at all of the toys strewn across the floor and dishes left undone, and decided that I would do some cleaning up while I listened to conference. As I finished up wiping the table down, I heard Kami awake in her bedroom (it was probably about 10:30PM). So, I went in to check on her, expecting her to have fallen back asleep, or thinking maybe she was talking in her sleep. But, when I went to her room, she was standing in her crib and wide awake. Not wanting to fight with her to get her to go back to sleep, I carried her out to the living room, sat on the couch with Kami on my lap and watched conference while enjoying my daughters company. I was so surprised that she just sat on my lap and watched with me. I did break out some M&M's and milk while we watched. But....it was just such a peaceful feeling. It's been a little rough this last month since AJ's birth. Last week we had, what I call a "mass exodus" from our house. My sister and niece who had been here for over a month left for home and Drew left for a 3 week class in Mississippi all on the same day. So, I've been a "single mom" for a little over a week now. So, AJ being so little and monopolizing a lot of my time and energy, I cringe when I'm trying to calm him down or when he's nursing and Kami comes up to me asking to sit on my lap. I hate having to say "no" when there is no one else around that can play with her. Anyway, I enjoyed the opportunity that presented itself last night. It was the best mommy/daughter time Kami and I have had in a while.

We're faring okay here by ourselves, for those wondering how we're doing! ;^) Although, I do happily admit that I've had a lot of help! Friends bringing dinners by, inviting us over to their homes to do laundry, just a couple of days ago, I was in need of some rubbing alcohol for AJ's umbilical cord that hadn't fallen off yet so I sent an email out to the sisters in the branch to see if they had any to spare (the commissary and BX had been out for quite a while) and I was amazed at the emails that poured in and the phone calls I started receiving. Our Branch President and his wife ended up being the ones to bring some over, but not only that, they sat and chatted with me for a little bit! Yay! Adult conversation! How I miss that the most at night when Drew's gone. Yesterday morning I took the kids with me to the church for a Relief Society brunch and to watch the General RS Broadcast. Kami played in the nursery where a couple of my beautiful YW watched the kiddos and AJ came with me. He, however, started to get pretty fussy....and just as I was contemplating packing up and going home, our District President who is also in our Branch came up to me and offered to take AJ while I finished watching the broadcast. AJ cried the entire time, of course, but I cannot begin to tell you how spiritually fed I felt not only from listening to a wonderful messages, but also by being served. It made me think about Cain's comment to the Lord just after slaying his brother and the Lord asked, "Where is Abel thy brother?" and Cain answered with, "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" I guess why I was thinking about this comment is because I think the answer is a resounding "Yes! Yes, you are!!!" We, not only as Latter-day Saints, but as Christians are fully responsible for the well-being of our fellow man. Do we know where our brothers and sisters, our friends, are? Do we know how they need served? If God came to you now and said, "_________(insert your name), where is ___________, thy brother/sister?" Would we know how to answer that??? I think with the amount of service that has been shown to me and my family, I am learning how to serve. My friend Ruth made a comment after the RS broadcast as to how I could stand letting someone else take care of my crying baby. Other than perspective....I get a crying baby all day long (okay, not really, he's actually a pretty good baby), but Pres. Hilton knows that after the hour is up, he can give him back to me and his work is done!.....I guess I could also say that by being served, I am learning how to serve.

ANYWAY....holy smokes this is a long blog post! I'm not sure any of it made sense, but, as you can see, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. My heart is full of gratitude for so many things and so many people! So, if you're reading this and you've brought dinners by or picked something up at the commissary for me or offered to take Kami for me or let me do laundry at your house (or offered) or made me laugh or asked how I was doing or let us eat at your house or came over to mine and chatted, etc. etc. etc. I just wanted to say, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are heaven sent!

Okay. Here's some random pictures that I though I'd share from this weekend. Enjoy!

Monkey see, monkey do. Since AJ was laying on his blanket, Kami decided she had to as well!

My conference watching buddy!

AJ's favorite past time, and how I settle him down if he's super fussy! Also, check out the little fat rolls he's getting on his legs! SO CUTE!