IT'S A....

BOY!!!!

(Humph! Take that Chinese Birth Calendar!). No really, it was a fun way to "predict" the baby's gender. But, I like what my mom says, "it's as good of a guess as any". So, I thought you'd all enjoy the very first picture of baby AJ. Check out his feet in the upper right hand corner! So fun! The ultrasound tech said he mostly just stayed in this position the whole time, but he must been mad from all the prodding she did to try and get him to move, because he's be non-stop moving around all day since! Sheesh! Anyway, we couldn't be more excited about having a boy in our family! And here's a shout out to AJ's cousin Clavin - now visits from us won't be so boring with all the girls and such! :^) Yay!!!

Visiting the North

Saturday we took Drew's parents (minus Kami...too dangerous) on a tour of the DMZ. That was one of the most amazing and frightening tours I think I've ever been on. You know how when you go to a place where you know good things happened? Or even when you visit say, Gettysburg, you know at least something good came from the fighting there? Yeah, there was absolutely none that that feeling here. After 50+ years of standing at a truce, the tension between the Korea's is so thick and so serious. There's nothing like the feeling of being watched by the bad guys.

This is the 'Bridge of No Return' that was used to exchange POW's. The Koreans were allowed to choose whether they wanted to live in the North or South, but whatever they chose, they would never be allowed to return to the other country.

This is the best picture we could take with our telephoto lens of one of the villages known as "Propaganda Village". The only people that actually live in these houses are a few of the North Korean military members and their families. And on a side note: for those that I've talked to on the phone that say it sounds like I have a cold and I keep saying it's "Yellow Dust" or polution coming over from China...this is what I mean . All that foggy-ness, that's polution! Yuck! These three pictures are of some pretty tough South Korean guards that you do not want to mess with! According to the US Military Police who was giving us the tour, they are all in a ready to kick your butt stance of taekwondo. The third guard by the blue door is actually guarding the door that leads into North Korea. Craziness.


And finally, this is a picture of a North Korean guard; if you also look closely in the window on the other side of the pillar, you can make out another guard who is watching us with binoculars.
An interesting side note...Drew just showed me an article on CNN that says that a North Korean officer defected to the South the day after we were there. Very interesting!

Sometimes...

...there's no better way to describe how you feel when you gotta go!

Jeju Island

Drew's parents were in town this week (they just left yesterday), so we took them to a really cool resort Island here in Korea called Jeju. It was a little chilly, but you can tell that it usually is pretty tropical. Anyway, we spent a couple days there and toured ourselves around. We found a cool waterfall, a lava cave and a Teddy Bear Museum. We arrived at the Teddy Bear Museum nearly as soon as it opened and thought we had totally avoided the crazy tour buses of Korean teenagers that seemed to be all around the island. Unfortunately, no more than 10 minutes after we arrived a huge group of teenagers came bounding down the steps. Knowing Kami sticks out like a sore thumb here in Korea, I knew all of there attention would immediately be on her and I was so bummed out because I wanted her to be able to enjoy the Teddy Bears instead of posing for pictures and having these cute, well-meaning teens in her face. So, I had to be a big meanie and step in between many cameras and Kami and stand so close to Kami that the girl's knew that their hovering advances were not welcome. Awe well. A mom's gotta do what a mom's got to do for her babies, right? Anyway...here's some pictures of what we saw!

Flower Market Photos

Oh my goodness! I am so behind at blogging! I truly apologize to those who regularly check my blog looking for updates into our lives! It's been a crazy few weeks, and hopefully bound to settle down here shortly! Anyway....here are the long promised Flower Market pictures I was telling you would come! These pictures kind of give you a glimpse of what the market is like. So, when you see these pictures, also picture in your mind row after row of these flowers and plants on two floors of a large building and two huge greenhouses. Amazing! The first picture is of Kami and her BFF, Charlee. If you want a better picture of them, check out either my friend Karen's blog or my friend Bernie's blog. The link is under my "Family and Friends" (Karen and Joel or Bernie and Rich).

New Beginnings

We had the most amazing Young Women 'New Beginnings' last night! The two oldest Young Women in our branch organized everything for it and I am so increadably impressed with the work that they put into taking on this huge responsibility! Each one of the girls presented a value and explained how that value brought out the beauty within themselves, which was the theme for the night "Beauty Within". They also invited a super cute sister in our ward as a guest speaker (actually, it was my friend, Erin who spoke) and she gave the most awesome talk! And one of the members of the Branch Presidency, who happens to be one of the girls dads, also spoke. I am so impressed with the spirit that was there at the chapel last night and am so greatful for the opportunity I have to serve in the Young Women's.

So, I was in charge of the decorations last night. I had made these super cool triange flags, each one holding the YW's pictures. I made two for each girl. One smiley pose and another, goofy. I had also gone up to the Flower Market on Monday in Seoul (pictures of that coming soon!) and bought vases and a bouquet of gerber daisy's for each of the Young Women. Each boquet was a different color with the exception of one, which was different color than all the rest in the boquet and stood higher than the rest and had a ribbon attached to it that said, "Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful". I brought my camera to New Beginnings last night with every intention of taking pictures of the event. By the end of the night, I realized that my camera went untouched! Opportunity totally past! Awe well.

But, I wanted to show you some of the pictures that were inside the triangle flags. So, I hope my Young Women (and counselors) don't totally hate me for this, but, here are six of the most awesome, most beautiful, most spiritual Young Women I know:


And the most amazing and wonderful women I know:

Chinese Birth Calendar

Okay, so my friend Bernie sent me a link to this website that 99% accurately predicts your baby's gender. I'm super curious. If you have kiddos, check out this website and see how accurately it predicted your children's gender. It was accurate with Kami, and if it's accurate with this baby, Drew and I are going to have to battle out girls names. :^) Let me know what your results are!

http://www.webwomb.com/chinesechart.htm

And Tagged Again!

Alright. This one is coming in from my friend, Ruth. For some crazy reason she loves to hear me ramble. Maybe that's because, unless you really get me going, I don't do a whole lot of rambling. Maybe she thinks it's out of character for me and she likes it. Either way, I can get on a rambling streak. See? Already done! I'm on one. So. Okay here's what she's got for me:

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Hmm. Ten years ago would put us in April 1998, yes? Then that would place me at not quite a year out of high school. I had gone to Snow College for a semester and loved it. But, decided college wasn't the place for me. I had just spent the last 13 years of my life in school and now since I was paying for it, it just wasn't that worth it to me. I didn't know what kind of education I wanted to pursue and I wasn't taking school serious enough. This decision has later since caused lots of mixed feelings. Not finishing school has been one of my biggest regrets in life. Yet, had it not been for the decisions I made then, that very year, (1998 was a year of serious turning points and decision makings for me) I would not be where I am today and with who I am with today. So, instead of returning Spring semester to Snow College, I flew over to stay with my sister, Mindy for a few months while she and her family were stationed in Japan with the US Navy. I had a fantastic time there and came to easily love the people and culture. Upon returning home, I applied for and was accepted into a training program for Medical Administrative Assistants (aka - Medical Secretary). I loved it! The first job I took after completing the program was in a place I had interned for while I was in the program. The office that I had interned for liked me so much, that when their secretary decided to take another job, they hired me in her place. I was also dutifully and faithfully waiting for a missionary that year. He was a friend from High School who asked me on a date the summer after we graduated and then one date turned into another and then another and another. He was and I'm sure still is a fantastic person. And I didn't understand why, when even after he came home from his mission a year and a half later, and I had prayed about continuing our relationship (yeah, we're talking marriage, that's how serious we were) my answer kept coming up "No." Now, having met Drew and having a knowledge of promises and blessings from Heavenly Father, I think I understand why. Anyway....that's what I was doing 10 years ago. Sheesh! That seems like a decade ago! Oh wait! IT WAS!!! LOL!

2. 5 Things on my "to-do" list.
1. Finish the bookshelf laying in my living room.
2. Put clean linens on my bed.
3. Drive up to Seoul and get some flowers from the Flower Market before New Beginnings.
4. Keep working on the OOSC Scrapbook.
5. Send a Wedding card to my brother who is getting married in a couple of weeks.

3. Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire.
Okay, isn't it funny how inflation works? I'm sure if this question were posed 10 years ago, we would have been talking mere millions. Crazy world. But, if I were suddenly a billionaire, I would make sure my children had enough for a good education, make sure my parents were taken care of and then give the rest away. Totally a Brad and Angelina thing to do, right?

4. Three bad habits.
1. I procrastinate. Big time.
2. I'm on the computer WAY too much.
3. I forget things all the time.

5. Places I have lived.
1. Riverton, ID
2. Groton, CT
3. Ogden, UT
4. Bremerton, WA
5. Layton, UT
6. Quilcene, WA
7. Edmonds, WA
8. Auburn, WA
9. Cedar City, UT
10. SLC, UT
11. Clearfield, UT
12. Ramstein, Germany
13. Shiloh, IL
14. Oklahoma City, OK
15. Songtan, S. Korea
*Just to name a few*

6. Things most people don't know about me.
Well, I think question #1 took care of a lot of that. But, just for the questions sake, I am not as book smart as most people tend to think I am. I hate to study. I would rather be doing anything else than reading and studying a text book.

7. Jobs I've had in my life.
1. Worked for my mom when she owned a church book store in Washington. But, I only got paid in books.
2. WorkMed, VVMC, Cedar City, UT - Medical Secretary
3. NICU, Primary Children's Medical Center, SLC, UT - Medical Secretary/Equipment Tech
4. Boyd's Framing and Art, Landstuhl, Germany - Sales Person
5. Scrapbook Factory, O'Fallon, IL - Sales Person/Instructor
6. SAHM

Book Tag

Okay, I've been tagged again. Let's see:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

Alright then. I've got a big stack of books right by my feet waiting to go on a bookshelf that I bought yesterday that is half-way put together (we ran into lunch time/nap time, so I didn't finish it yet!). So, the book on top is a digital photography how-to book called "The Digital Photography Book" (hmm, go figure!) by Scott Kelby. So. Here you go!

Just find a place you'd normally go to get out of the sun on a hot day, and you're ready to get portraits where your subject isn't squinting, and the light is soft and flattering.

So. There you go! Now. Who to tag? Who to tag? Okay. Let's see. Ruth, Erin, Bernie, Pamela and Karen. Have fun ladies!

Blog Background

I've had a couple comments on my new background - thanks! I love it, too! I wish I were talented and patient enough to learn HTML on my own (maybe one day), so kuddos goes to:

http://www.matiekay.blogspot.com/

for the awesome background. She's got some backgrounds she does for free (such as the one you see on my site) and she'll also do custom work for a fee. If any of you are interested, check out her site!

Gyeongju Trip

Hey Everyone! Here's a quick post from mine and Kami's trip this past week to Gyeongju. It's a beautiful town in Southern Korea, near the coast. We went with a bunch of people from our church (13 kids, 5 teenagers, 7 adults) and had a wonderful time at some Buddist Temples, the Beach, riding bikes through the town (which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do when you're pregnant....but....it was too much fun to pass up!) and enjoying the cherry blossoms which are now in full bloom! I'm so excited for spring in Korea! This is when things start to get totally beautiful with the trees getting some green on them and the farmers planting barley and rice. I am so ready for the yucky brown-ness to go away! :^)

Hair, Cravings, Koreans and more!

Okay, so I've been officially "gotten" after by a fellow blog stalker/friend of mine, that I must have absolutely nothing to blog about. And to be totally honest, I didn't and really still don't. So, I've decided to blog about the randomness that is my mind (you asked for it, Ruth!).

So, today I woke up and decided to actually do something with Kami's hair! She's got a lot of it and has had for quite some time, so I thought today is the day I play with my daughters hair! This is what I came up with:

Not too bad for my first try, right? Up until 2:00 PM today when I dropped Kami off at "school" (aka, CDC or Day Care) she hadn't taken them out. We'll see how it looks when I pick her up in a couple of hours.

And here's a random picture of Kami doing a dance. We have a little kitchen set for her in her playroom here and it spontaneously started playing music! So, Kami jumped up and started doing a little jig! I thought it was pretty cute. She dances like her mom. Awe!

On a totally separate note, I just drove home from the base and....I've said it before and I'll say it again. When it comes to driving, Koreans are stupid, stupid, stupid. I don't even know how to explain what I saw today. Let's just say there could have been a MAJOR accident (times 10) right in front of my eyes (not involving me, but I'd be a very close eye witness). Why? Because people here put themselves in very stupid positions when it comes to driving and safety. I was cringing every time someone would come up behind this stupid guy waiting for him to be hit full on speed. Crazy. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I wish all of you back home could see and understand what I'm talking about. I seriously want to bring my camcorder along and just have it running one day while we're driving. Oh! Maybe I'll do that! We're driving up to Seoul on Saturday to go to the temple and that would be all too perfect to show you the craziness it is to drive here! Stay tuned!

So, speaking of stupid, what is up with totally losing all brain power when you're pregnant??? I cannot tell you how many times I've dropped stuff for no reason at all, continuously run into walls while walking, and totally say random things that don't even make sense. Like, for example, I was talking with a friend of mine who teaches French & Spanish at the high school here and I was asking her how her summer was and if she was liking the break from school. Yeah. You heard me right. Summer. It's not even spring break for these guys!!!! Sheesh. Oh my goodness. I wish I could tell you more things that I've said and done, but, well, that would require me actually remembering these things!

Let's see. What else random? Oh yes. Cravings. My big craving for this pregnancy has been fruit. Isn't that cool? I just can't get enough fresh fruit. So, I was talking about cravings the other day with my friend, Clarissa and she mentioned that with one of her kiddos, she craved tacos. Then I remembered that with Kami I craved chips and salsa (Chevy's chips and salsa to be specific). So, I got to thinking about that and now I'm starting to really want fresh salsa (thanks alot, Claris!). So....I'm headed to the commissary now to get all of the ingredients for Ben Lomeli's Family recipe for fresh salsa! Does fresh salsa sound good to you? Here's the recipe:

• 5 tomatoes, minced
• 1 onion, minced
• 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped (no stems)
• 2 cans (8-oz) tomato sauce
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 jalapenos (keep the seeds in, you chickens!!!)
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin

Mix first three ingredients in large bowl. Blend remaining ingredients in blender or food processor; then mix together with tomatoes, onions and cilantro. Store in refrigerator. Yummy!

Okay! I'm off! Enjoy your day!