Korean Cooking Class

So, today some of the ladies in our branch got together at the Relief Society counselor's house for a Korean cooking lesson. Jihyun was a fantastic (and very patient) teacher. She is such a talented and incredibly sweet person. She is so awesome, I just love being around her!

Today's lesson was on how to make Kip Bop (Korean Sushi) and Korean Vegetable Pancake. She first took us to a little market by her house to buy the ingredients, which was so helpful, since not many of us can read Hangul! Once our shopping was done, it was back to her place to start chopping, cooking, steaming, assembling, chatting, laughing, etc., etc.! Here are some pictures from our afternoon!

Jihyun cooking the meat for the Bolgogi & Mint Leaf Kip Bop.

Daniella & Meredith (and Erin, who was also taking pictures at the time I snapped this one) doing some prep work for the Kip Bop.

This type of Kip Bop consists of Spinach, Carrots....

....Korean Radishes (two different kinds), ham, crab....

....and egg!



We also bought the ingredients to make Korean Vegetable Pancakes which you make with a special batter, chives, carrots and onions.

We ran out of time to make it at Jihyun's house, so I attempted to make it at home this evening for dinner. I think I did okay, however, the next time maybe I'll make them a little thinner - it was kind of doughy in the middle. But, everything tasted so yummy!

Saipan?

Okay, so. If you're anything like me Christmas morning, you would have opened one of your presents, looked at the airplane tickets and said, "Where the heck is Sai-p-an?" Hum. Who know such a place existed! And come to find out that the place is a US Commonwealth! Holy Smokes! For those of you who are geography dummies, such as myself, Saipan is an itty-bitty island that is part of the Northern Mariana Islands. Look it up on Wikipedia or something if you want to know more!

So, anyway here are some random pictures of our vacation this last week! We all had a ton of fun. Kami could have spent every waking hour in the pool, if we let her. Unfortunatly, she got the brunt of the sun. In fact, I feel like such a bad mother! She came home with a sunburned head, face, back and arms. I promise you that I put sunscreen on her and reapplied it! Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Me, Drew and Kami going down the Lazy River at the resort we stayed in.

Is Kami's Mommy cool, or what? And, no, Kami's feet aren't on backwards, that's just her shoes!

At the Beach! I LOVE B&W beach photos! They're the best!

Here are a couple of cool sunset photos from our room! It was so beautiful!

A big wave came in and splashed all over Kami. She loved it, of course. Unfortunatly, mom didn't bring a change of clothes!

Here's a sample of what Saipan looks like. The pretty parts anyway. Most of the cities look pretty poor and run-down.

Does anybody else remember their dad's doing this with them?

First golf lesson.

Another picture from our hotel room.

So many times since we've been in Korea, Koreans love taking pictures of Kami. This mom that we ran into was determined to get a good picture of Kami with her daughter. Since she was snapping pictures, I though I'd join in, too. I dunno. This just looks like two mom's forcing our kids to be friends or something. Hmm. Anyway, I hope that mom got the picture she was wanting!

Major Feth!

Yeah! So, as of last month, Drew is now known around the office is 'Major Feth'. Whoa there, Mr. FGO! No really, we are all very proud of Drew and the hard work and dedication he puts into serving his country. He truly loves what he does. Okay, maybe not every day, but the overall picture of what he's a part of makes his job worth it.

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures courtesy of our friend, Eve Robinson. Pictured is Drew and Lt. Col. Jack Stokes. Jack is a friend of ours from church and is the commander of the 25th fighter squadron here at Osan AB. He's also the dad of one of my super cute Mia Maids (soon to be Laurel)! ;^) If you're wondering about his hair-do, it just happened to be 'Flat-top February' for their squadron. For the month of March? You guessed it, he's sporting a mustache! LOL! Those pilots are crazy!

Cute Cousins

So, just before returning to Korea, Kami and I made a stop in Seattle to visit my sister, Rachel and her family! While we were there we hired one of her photographer friends to take pictures of our girls together! They turned out awesome! Here's a sampling of one and the rest you can visit her website at: http://carriestroudphotography.blogspot.com/

Twilight Blog

Hey Twilight Fans! Just thought I'd share a blog that a friend of mine made!

Feel free to check it out!

www.afatalattraction.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Hey Drew! We hope you have a very, very happy birthday! We love you and miss you!

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!!!

Disney

And of course we did Disney! I so thought that Kami would be afraid of all of the characters, but she was quite the opposite! She loved them! Which made waiting in line for nearly an hour all very worth it! And she even learned a new word. "Mou?" Everything she says sounds like a question. Her latest is when she does something naughty and I make her say sorry, she says, "Arey?" That makes everything she says super-cute. Anyway...this days was a lot of fun. She didn't sleep a wink until we were in the car on our way back to Tampa. She was taking in everything she saw around her her at Disney World. Very, very fun!

The Beach

Of course, what would a trip to Florida be if you never went to the beach? That'd be just craziness, I tell you! This was the first time Kami had ever been to the beach and she absolutly loved it! I wish we could have spent more time there, but we started out at a playground and decided to walk to the beach. Little did I realize that it would be a 20 minute walk!! We spent maybe 15 minutes total enjoying the ocean and then we had to turn around and walk back to the car so that we could pick up my sister from school. We'll be back soon, though! There's some warm days coming up this next week and maybe we can bring along one of Kami's new suits!

Where Do I Begin?

Awe, yes. Poor Pats! Okay, so I'm not really a Patriots fan; actually, I'm not really a football fan for that matter. But, my brother-in-law is from Boston and is a HUGE Patriots fan. We went over to his sisters house a few miles away from their house for the big game and had a really, really big Superbowl party. So, here's Kami enjoying the game. Or at least the attention.

Twilight

Okay, for those of you who are just as obsessed about these books as I am, this post is for you!

There's not many times when a book is so good that it captivates my attention enough to read an entire series in one week. Yeah. Obsessed. I am not kidding when I say that this book was glued to my nose and there were a few times when sleep evaded me and I stayed up reading (uninterupted) until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. Crazy, crazy crazy! I usually have a hard time staying up past 10 PM (just ask my husband). Anyway, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the fourth and final installment to the series coming out in August. For those of you who live in Osan, Korea and are also obsessed with these books I am seriously contemplating having a book release party then, so stay tuned! ;^)

Also, for those fans who are, like I said as equally obsess as I am, you'll also be excited to know that there is a movie coming out in December (See, I told you, it's a sickness! Beware!) and they've cast the entire Cullens family. Here's a picture from Stephenie Meyer's website.

Alright. Enough about my latest obsession. I'm truly getting in trouble from my husband because I haven't posted any pictures from Florida on the blog yet. I guess I better get on that today! So. Stay tuned. I'm still here. I'm still well. Just enjoying the sunshine, shopping and lazing around!

I'm Here! I'm Here!

Yikes! Looks like I've been slacking on my blogging lately! Shame on me! Kami and I have been a little busy the last few weeks, well, traveling the world! Last week we traveled from S. Korea with a super short stop in Seattle and visited my sister and her family. Then we were off to Tampa, FL to stay with another sister and family. This weekend, we all took a trip back west to Rexburg, ID to visit my niece at BYU-I and go through the Temple Open House (which was so cool! I've got pictures of us outside the temple, but I've got to pester my brother-in-law for his camera so I can post them for you all to see). We also were able to surprise my parents and brother with mine and Kami's presense when we went out to dinner with them in Salt Lake City.

So today, we're back in Tampa and enjoying the sunshine, catching up on laundry and just chillin' out! I'll try to post more while I'm here now that our long trips are over with until we head back to Korea and I'm *almost* over my jet-lag. Although, one side affect of jet-lag that I'm quite enjoying is having Kami actually "sleep in"! Alright, Kami's demanding my attention, so I'd better get going! I just wanted you all to know that I'm here! Ta-tah!

Youth Conference

So, if you're wondering why I've been MIA the last couple weeks, these pictures should tell you why. I went up to Seoul last week with the Young Women in our Branch for Youth Conference. It was awesome! The theme was "Putting on the Whole Armour of God". They had different workshops that were so neat to listen to, and we made blankets to take to a local orphanage. One of the days, half of the kids (we combined our Youth Conference with one of the Korean Stakes) went to the Orphanage, while the other half went to a home for mentally disabled adults and helped them package chopsticks to sell. The spirit was just so wonderful and so powerful there! I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go!

Christmas & More!

Oh my! So, I'm a little late posting the Christmas photos. Sorry! It was a crazy Christmas (Hahaha, in more ways that one!). Anyway.....here's some of Kami Christmas morning and then a couple days after with some of the gifts she recieved this year.

Super soft blankets are all the rage over here. We didn't get this for her, some good friends of our got it for her before they left for the Christmas holiday! Thanks Rich & Bernie!

We think Kami think's she actually is Dora the Explorer. This is Kami in her 'Dance to the Rescue' dress with her best friend, Boots! Quick! We've got to win one big wish to wish Swiper free from the bottle! (Do I have to admit how may times I've watched that episode?!)

This came a couple days after christmas when we finally got around to getting out to a Korean store, but Kami loves giving her "baba" strolls around the house and taking good care of her by feeding her, giving her lots of kissies and covering her up with a blanket. What a good Mama!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone! We love you and we miss you!