Happy Birthday, Kami!

WOW! I can't believe my little baby is not so much a baby anymore! Yesterday we celebrated Kami's 2nd Birthday! She had tons of fun with all of her friends that were able to make it to her birthday party at the park on base. We played on the playground, played 'Pin the Tail on Boots', colored, ate hamburgers and hotdogs, birthday cake, broke open a pinita (sp?) and opened gifts! Whew! We hadn't even made it off the base after we were all done when she fell asleep! We are so greatful to all of the friends that made it out and especially to all of the guys (and gals!) who made it out from Drew's work to have lunch (and help grill and serve!) and celebrate with us, too!

After taking the afternoon to rest, play with some toys and get cleaned from the mid-morning festivities, we went out to eat and then came home and opened gifts from our family! Drew and I got her a little tea set for her birthday, so we had to have a Tea Party before bedtime with all of Kami's "other" friends! :^)

We are so thankful that Kami has come into our lives! She has been an absolute joy! We love you, Kami! Happy Birthday!

A whole lot of nothing...

Okay! I'm blogging! I'm blogging! There's just not much to report as of late. With YW's Camp over, things are winding down for the summer - yet at the same time, they're reving up! It's kind of interesting being here in Korea for nearly a year, and already I'm considered and "oldie". With PCS (aka 'Moving') season for us in the military world upon us, it's a sad time to see friends move on, and then so many new faces move into the community. So, this summer comes with a bunch of mixed feelings. I will truly miss those who I have gotten to know over this year (it seems like we've all known eachother an eternity) and with them all the best of luck where ever the military takes them and I pray that our paths will cross again (and to those awesome Young Women I have had the privilage to get to know over this past year who are moving...you know who you are...keep in touch!)!! And for those who are moving in to the Osan community, I say, "Welcome!" and "You're in for an experience of a lifetime! ;^)" And of course, I look forward to forming friendships with you all!

Anyway, so, as you can see, it's an interesting time of year! Over the last week and a half, my priority has been on my family. It was so nice to come home from camp and the very next day have absolutly nothing to do except play with Kami! So, we've been doing a lot of that. Playing. This is the last summer where it'll just be us and I feel a need to take advantage of that as much as I can! I've also been taking full advantage of date nights! I know that those will also be few and far between over this next year as well. At least with just Drew and I alone. Well, I guess you could say AJ already come along now, but, right now he's not so noisy! ;^) Anyway, it's nice to have people that love to watch Kami! I've babysat a few in my time where I just cringed when the parents called me to watch their child(ren) - caller ID would have been so useful to me back then! Anyway, I'm glad that Kami's not one of those kids that people don't like to be around (at least most of the time!).

I also went in for my 28 week check up yesterday! Other than I've already gained 22 lbs in this pregnacy, things seem to be going really well! I've got one more OB appointment here at Osan before I start going up to Seoul for my appointments. This pregnancy seems to be going by so quickly! It's so crazy! But, I'm excited to have AJ in our lives and can hardly wait until he arrives! I know Drew is counting down the years already to when he'll have a golfing buddy and I'm sure Kami's wondering when this AJ kid is going to come and play with his toys, ride in his carseat and swing in his swing! In the meantime, Kami's been putting his toys, carseat and swing to good use for her own dolls.

Anyway, as you can see, nothing too notable going on here! Sorry. You have to put up with my mindless ramblings! :^) Okay. I'm off! I'll take some picture for you all this week! I haven't done that in a while. I'll take some of Kami, but no laughing at her bangs. Cutting a two year olds bangs is pretty tricky business! :^)

YW Camp Recap!

I'm home from Young Women's Camp! We had a great time, even though it rained for nearly two days straight and we had to pack up and go home a half-day early! We have lots of fun stories and memories to share! Anyway, here's a pictures recap of the week!

More, Coming Soon!

There is more to report my life coming soon! So, I apologize for those who keep checking my blog for updates. I am up to my eyeballs getting ready for Young Women's Camp next week, on top of all that I'm trying to keep up with YW's lessons, Mutual activities, Officer's Spouses Scrapbooks, Doctors appointments and not to mention trying not to neglect my husband and daughter! My house, on the other hand...we'll there are just some things you've got to let go of! You can't do it all, you know what I mean! :^)

YW Lesson 20 "Understanding a Missionary's Responsibility"

Okay! So, here was my handout for yesterday's lesson. I usually try not to stray from the manual when I teach, but, this time, I think I took a little bit different direction than the manual was going. I approached it not as what a current missionary faces, but, what they might face if a mission is an option for them. Here's how the lesson played out:

ATTENTION GETTER
Up on the chalk board I had different time slots (6:30AM-10:30PM) and a piece of 3x12" paper next to the various slots. I asked the girls to give me a typical days schedule and I wrote on the papers what the girls did at the various times.

Next, I read a story talk from the November 1989 Ensign, called "The Value of Preparation" by Elder Ben B. Banks. He talked about he and his sons wanting to take a bike trip from SLC to Southern Utah for a family reunion. Though his sons spent each Saturday, months before the trip preparing, Elder Banks found excuses not to join his sons in the Saturday preparations. So, by the time they were ready to make their 220 mile bike ride, Elder Banks discovered how valuable those prep. Saturdays could have been to him. So, the next year he took it a little more seriously and bought new bikes for him and his sons and spent the time preparing for an even further distance that next year. Then he asked, "If it is important to prepare for a bike ride, my young friends, why is it then so much more important for you in this life to prepare to serve as missionaries?" (This was the first time I revealed that the lesson was about missionaries/missions). I asked them then how many of them and seriously thought about serving a mission. Every single one of them raised their hands. Wow! I was impressed! (This also gave me more of a validation of why I deviated from the manual in the way that I did).

LESSON
Scripture: D&C 18:15 "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father."

We then went through the "5 M's of Missionary Work" that President Monson described in the March 2007 New Era.

1. The Message - discussion
2. The Missionary - What can we do now to prepare for a mission? I then pointed out the 'M&M's Challenge' on the other side of the handout and told them for each day they do one of the challenges, to circle that day. I also encouraged them to bring this paper back with them next Sunday, as we'll continue talking about missionary work.
3. The Member - discussion
4. The Mission - This is where we went back to the chalk board with their typical day's schedule on it. Under the pieces of paper, I had written on the chalk board what a typical missionary's day looks like (thanks to my sister's friend, Gina, who served a mission and help from the manual). It was fun to see if any of their current schedules matched that of a missionary (not many did!).
5. The Mission President - discussion

CONCLUSION
Quote: "Missionary Work is rigorous. It is demanding. It is difficult. It has never been easy, and it never will be. It requires strength of body, strength of mind, strength of spirit." President Gordon B. Hinckley

This was a fun lesson to teach! I just wished I could have been teaching more from experience! A wife of one of the unaccompanied guys in our ward was here for a few weeks and I was actually hoping she'd be around to teach this lesson, since she actually served a mission. But, unfortunately, she and her kiddos left the week before. :^( So, I hope the girls got something from my hear-say!

A Hiking We Will Go!

So, our Young Women have been working on Pre-Certification for YW's Camp, and since we're hiking in an open field at an old Army Post, hiking was one of those requirements. So last night for Mutual we ventured off on our 4-ish mile hike. There are some fantastic trails behind our apartments and our camp director's apartments. I don't know about the rest of the girls, but I am S-O-R-E today! Erin, our camp director took us up these seriously steep hills and said the rest was easy. I should have known "easy" was a reletive term (Erin's the super fit and sporty one with the bright pink pants). Yeah. Me and my big belly were huffing and puffing nearly the whole way! But, it was all good! We had lots of fun and great memories! Here's some before pictures of us all!

Memorial Day Fun

I hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day spent with family and friends! We decided to spend the morning at Everland (the Korean version of Disneyland) and had lots of fun. Although, Kami was in a daze for most of the morning. She fell alseep in the car just as we got there, so most of the time she acted as if all she wanted to do was crawl back into her carseat and go to sleep. She perked up a little bit after we got her an ice cream cone...nothing like waking your kid up by putting sugar in them! Anyway, here's some pictures of our day:

See what I mean? Kinda sleepy looking!

This ride is kind of like the teacups at Disneyland....and Kami didn't like it so much! She learned lots of description words like: fast! around and round! scary! sad!

She did start to enjoy herself a little more in the ball room. Drew had lots of fun trying (and succeeding) at pegging us in the head with these soft balls. We got him back, though! :^)

And finally she really started having fun at the water that spurted out of the ground! Sugar must have kicked in then!

YW Lesson #19, cont.

Okay. So, I'm not so uncreative! As I was studying the lesson more and reading about Lehi and the tree of life, I had the thought of a fruit tray of some kind with the message attached that would say something like: "A Fruit Desirable Above All Others. What Kind of Ancestor Will You Be?". I was wanting to tie the tree of life dream to the point that the greatest tradition you can leave your posterity is a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, after looking around my house, here's the final outcome of my original idea.

As we were talking about the tree of life and were describing the fruit, I took one of the handouts from the middle of the table, and as the girls described it as being very white, I laughed and said, "Yes! So, white in fact, it was purple!" ;^) So, if you want to change the color of your tissue paper to more accurately show the description of the fruit, go ahead!

Potty Training Blues

Okay. I think I must be the worst mom out there when it comes to potty training. I know so many moms I talk to would love to have their two-year old potty trained. But, for some reason I'm the one resisting this next step to toddlerhood. Kami's all sorts of ready to go. At first she would just tell me when she went potty in her diaper. So, I put off any potty training (except for putting her on the potty before a bath) because she couldn't tell me when she had to go potty. Then, she started taking off her diaper. Argh. So, we switched to pull-ups. But, she still would only tell me when she went, and not when she needed to go. NOW, she's not only taking her pull-ups off, I think she's also telling me when she has to go potty. Like today, I put her down for a nap and all of the sudden I hear her say, "N da Toy-et, N da Toy-et" over and over again. I ignored her because I figured she was just telling me that she went potty in her diaper again. A few minutes later, she was still saying "N da Toy-et", so I went to check on her. She had taken her pull-up off and had gone potty in her bed! And again, tonight, she pulled her pull-up off and said, "Sitz Toy-et, Sitz Toy-et"; me, being just lazy, kind of said, "yeah, yeah, yeah" and didn't hurry to help her on the pot. When I finally did, she was standing by the potty and the floor was wet! Poor Kami!!! I think I'm going to have to finally break down and go to the store tomorrow and buy her some big-kid panties. Maybe I'll have a little more energy when Drew's home the end of this week, too. But, either way, I think Kami's ready to be out of her diapers and pull-ups. With or without mommy being ready!

Mary Jane Socks Boy Alternate

So, okay. Are these not the cutest alternate to the Trumpette Mary Jane Socks?? They're called Johnny Golf socks. Yep. I'll be buying these for AJ! Our little future golfer!

YW Lesson #19 - Heritage

Okay, first of all, I have to admit. I'm not as creative as you all think me to be. That's right, the word is finally out; I'm a copycat. I was even telling the Sisters in an Enrichment Lesson that I gave on Scrapbooking a few weeks ago, 90% of the work I do in my scrapbooks I have recieved direct inspiration from sombody else. Sometimes my creations end up looking simalar to those I mark in the magazines, and sometimes they turn out completely different.

So. Okay. A few months ago, I stumbled upon this super-ultra-cool-holy-cow-is-this-lady-creative-blog. She taught YW's in a ward in California and always had the cutest handouts that would sometimes work with what I was wanting to get across to the girls. Unfortunatly for me and I'm sure the many other people who checked out her blog for lesson ideas and inspiration, she moved from her ward and no longer teaches in the YW's. :^( So, for nastalgia's sake, I check her blog now and again (and hoping that her new ward will also call her into the YW's program!). Then I had the thought. Ya know, I'm not too shabby when it comes to computer stuff, I wonder if I can sort of create my own lesson handouts using direct inspiration from her handouts. So, I gave it a shot this week, and it turns out, I think I did a pretty good job of creating something that she might have created herself. For those who want to check out all the other cool projects this sister creates, here's her blogsite: http://www.angbrimwil.blogspot.com/ .There. Now that that's out there, I thought I'd post the lesson handout I created for YW's this week:

I am also notorious for including Personal Progress Worksheets (again, not my idea, but I did spruce up what someone already created quite a bit!), in my lessons. I really love this idea because I feel that it really shows the girls that both what we talk about in church on Sunday and what they are working on on their own really goes hand in hand. I look back at my own Young Women's experience, and as fantastic as what it was, I always felt that the Sunday YW's at the Personal Progress Program were two different things. Sometimes we'd work on PP during weeknight activities, but never do I remember them being talked about in church on Sunday. My goal is for these young women to leave church on Sunday wanting to know more; and more for themselves. In steps the Personal Progress Program. Okay, so I'm not sure if my theory really works, but, it's worth a try! Maybe sometimes, some of them go home and complete a PP Value Experience. :^)

He Did It!

Yay! Drew got his final grades back from his classes this semester and he has now officially graduated with a Masters in Electrical Engineering! I am so incredibly proud of him and all the work he has done these past few years to get to where he's at now. It's not easy meeting the demands at work, deploying overseas for months at a time, moving...twice, taking care of the needs of our family and on top of that making time for attending classes and studying (often times into the wee hours of the morning!). He's back in Colorado right now, taking a break from Korea and his super stressful job. He did get to go down to Arizona and attend his graduation ceremony at ASU (go Sun Devils!), as well as squeeze in some golfing time while he was at it! We miss him lots and look forward to him coming home next week! :^)

Conversations & Things She Says

So, I know I keep saying at each stage in Kami's life that each stage is my favorite (minus the "NO!'s", throwing things and tantrums). But, I think I'm really loving this stage in her life when she is learning so many words (some I didn't even know she knew!) and being able to hold a pretty good (I think) conversation with me. One of my favorites from yesterday went like this:

We were driving home from the base and I started talking about Kami's friends. So I said to her:
Me: Kami, you have so many friends here, let's try and list them all!
Kami: Ha-ee.
Me: Yep. Hailey.
Me: Harley.
Kami: Har-ee.
Me: Let's see. Charlee.
Kami: Cha-ee.
Kami: Pocher.
Me: Chopper?
Kami: Yes.

So, Chopper is our friends dog. Sure! He can be Kami's friend, too, right?

She's also on the verge on potty training (we've had a number of successes), since she's telling us when she's going potty. Here's how that conversation usually goes:

Kami: Phee-you!
Me: Did you go potty?
Kami: Yes! N da toi-yet. (pointing to her diaper)

I'm trying to get her to tell me when she needs to go, instead of when she's going/or went. I'm also working with her on knowing the difference between her diaper and the toilet.

And, I couple of my favorite things she says:
"Mommy ca-ee you?" (aka, Mommy hold/carry me?)
"He fu-nee" (usually says this about Mr. Noodle from Sesame Street)

I never realized what a challange motherhood could be. And after a long, long day it all becomes worth it when for no reason at all, your child come up to you, gives you a great big hug and says, "MOMMY!!" Even after you've kind of been a meanie. I am amazed at the unconditional love Kami has. I feel lessons learned almost every day that I'm around her.

The Burning Question on Everyone's Mind....

Okay, I've gotten so many email from different people, I don't even remember who has asked the question and who I've answered. So, I thought this an appropriate place to reveal how we came up with the name AJ so quickly, does it stand for anything and if so, what.

I think almost every couple before they get married, thinks and talks about having kids (if you are engaged and haven't discussed this.....I really think you should, by the way!), right? Well, when Drew and I were engaged and even years into our marriage, we not only talked about kids, we tossed around name ideas, too. Here's the list of names that both did and did not make the cut: Kamden Renee, Savannah Nicole (anyone seen the movie 'Savannah Smiles'? it was my favorite when I was a kid - that's where this name came from), AJ, Donavan Anton. I also liked Malory Rae (*wink at my sister!*), but Drew wasn't a fan of the name Malory. :^(

How did we decide on AJ so quickly? Drew's best friend in college was named Donavan, but went by Donny. I quickly nixed the 'Donny' idea. No offense to my father and brother who share the name Donald or Don. I've just never been a Donny fan. I would want him called by his full name and no other nicknames. But with a name like Donavan, there's too much temptation for other people to use the nicknames. Anyway...long story there. Sorry. So, AJ it was!

Does AJ stand for anything? It absolutely does! His full name will be Andrew Jerome; after Drew and Drew's dad! So, I was thinking one day of something that would be a cool family tradition. So, Drew's full name is Andrew Peter (Peter after his grandpa), our baby is named Andrew Jerome (Jerome after his grandpa), so, wouldn't it be cool if AJ grew up, got married, had a baby boy and named him *fill-in-the-blank* Andrew (after his grandpa) and so on and so on? I guess it's really not for me to decide that, but I thought it would be cool. Do you hear me future generation???? ;^)

So. There you all go. You are now all the wiser! Now...I'm going to bed, because I'm really starting to do some crazy blogging here! LOL!

Feth Look-alike Meter

Okay, I'll admit it! I was totally snooping around other peoples blogs this evening after Kami went to bed! I found a link from my friend, Ruths' blog to a family that recently visited Korea (they're husband/father is on a one year remote tour here) and I actually met them at church. Anyway, I think they are just fantastic people! So, here's what I found on Veronica's website, that I thought I'd give a try. Alright, I've got to ask. What do you think of this assesment?

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Vintage pics - Roots

Lantern Festival

Sunday was a unique day for me. All but one of my Young Women were out of town, so we only had one girl to teach! So, we decided instead of having a lesson, we'd lend our help to the Primary. Me, on the other hand decided with Drew that we would take a family trip (with some friends from Drew's work) to Seoul to the Lantern Festival in celebration of Buddah's birthday. It was pretty cool. They had a street festival with tons of things for kiddos to do and make. In the evening they had a parade, but we didn't make it that long. Kami and I were both about done by dinnertime. But, we had a really fun time. As you can see, I'm sporting a Buddah belly of my own! I'm not sure how much of this is baby and how much is, for some reason with this pregnancy I cannot stop eating! In another picture, you see just what a crowd Kami can attract. Craziness!

On a seperate note, we have been having some absolutly beautiful days here in Korea! So, today Kami and I met up with a bunch of friends from church and ate lunch in the park! She was nice and worn down for her afternoon nap! Muaah! What a tricky mom I am! ;^) Okay, I'm off to get Kami ready for bed!

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!