'Pioneer Children' FHE

Since Kami's getting older and understanding so much these days, we decided it was about time to start having Family Home Evening. We've been wanting to do this for a while, but never knew where to start, so this last week, being that we celebrate our Pioneer Ancestors on July 24th, that would be as good a subject as any!

So, the evening went somewhat like this:

Prayer
Song: "Pioneer Children"
Song: "Pioneer Children" (by popular demand)
Song: "Pioneer Children" (again, by popular demand)
Lesson: Just a little 2 minute story about pioneers
Song: "Pioneer Children" (I'm starting to think at this point that I chose a good song to teach Kami! She doesn't want to stop singing it!)
Game: A cute little pioneer game I downloaded from the Finch Family Games website. This was also a success. We played it twice.
Song: "Pioneer Children"
Snack: What FHE wouldn't be complete without a snack?

And here's some pictures of our evening:

Kami singing 'Pioneer Children' (she was in charge of her own little songbook...even though it's not open to the right page, she did a fantastic job at singing along anyway!)

And playing our pioneer game!

And our (my) pretzel log cabin. Yet....something is missing.....

Ah yes! Pioneers are missing! Unfortunatly, after raiding my cupboards, the only thing I could find that would come close were "Go Diego Go" gummies. Oh well, it'll work! ;^)

Pioneer heritage or not, I hope everyone had a wonderful day remembering their ancestors!

Response to YW Handout Questions

Hi YW Leader/Teacher Blog Readers!

I just wanted to say 'Thank You' to all of the comments the super nice comments you've left me this past week! I am so glad that so many people have found some use of my lesson ideas, whether it be using my ideas posted on Sugardoodle or just for inspiration for other lessons, FHE, etc.

To answer a couple questions that some of you had; I will post lesson ideas as often as I teach. I am actually the Yong Women's President in a small Military Branch in South Korea. So, Sunday teach is split between me and my fantastic counselor! I absolutly LOVE the girls in our little branch! This past year we were blessed to have 6 YW in our branch. But, because we are a military branch, the turnaround here is so fast (unless the families reside here in Korea as English Teachers or some other profession, work as school teachers on the military base or are retired here, the longest anyone stays here is three years....most are here for one or two years), we're down to 3 YW this year (two moved away....one graduated and is attending BYU in the fall!). Nonethless, I feel so blessed to know these young women. They teach me so much and I am so greatful for this calling!

Thanks again for all of your comments! :^) Love, Jessica

PS - Also check out the Blog, "A Bushel and a Peck of Fun" (link is on the right side of my page under 'Other Sites I Love To Visit'. I actually got my inspiration for the quote handout from this talented sister in the gospel! :^)

Summer Heat!

"It's so [darn] hot... milk was a bad choice."

~Ron Burgundy

Okay. Who turned switched on the heater here in Korea????!!! So, I've got to find humor in this sweltering heat of Korea! This is my favorite line in this movie and I keep this image and quote on replay in my mind when the heat starts to get unbearable! And then I just have to laugh! So...if you hear me snicker or smile to myself for no reason at all, you now know why!

In the Mail...

Check out how absolutly cute this is! What is it? You wonder. It's a nursing poncho from Busy Baby Nursing Wraps! And I just got one in the mail yesterday!!! It is so cute and I am so excited to use it! Kami would always pull off the blanket I used with her or it would slip off and I always flet like I was smothering her under the blanket. Where were these when I was nursing her??? Anyway, yeah - I'm stoked! I ordered it from a super cool website called The DoupaShop (woohoo! Shout out to my sister whoes a Dula! Check it out, Rach, you'd love this store!). I have to say, their shipping was so fast and the fact that they also threw in a 15% off my next order coupon and two bags of skittles, I'm definetly ordering from them again!

They also carry a product that I used when I was pregnant with Kami called Belli. My super loyal Visiting Teacher from church in Illinois (she came ever single month for three years!) gave me a sample pack when I finally got pregnant with Kami. Her daughter and her daughters husband actually own the company and create/oversee the product line. I would recommend their product to anyone! It is fantastic! And they've expanded quite a bit in the last 2+ years. So. Yay! More stuff to buy! ;^)

Anyway. That's my advertising blurb for three absolutly wonderful companies to all the prego/nursing mommies out there!

YW Lesson 26 - Repentance

ATTENTION GETTER

Give each YW a blank card and a pencil with no eraser and have them copy the quote from Spencer W. Kimball as you write it on the board. Make sure to pause after each statement so that they all have it written down incorrectly! :^)

• "Where is never a day" = "There is never a day"
• "in one man's life" = "in any man's life"
• "when repentance is essential" = "when repentance is not essential"
• "to his well-being or eternal progression." = "to his well-being and eternal progress."

Q: Are you happy with your handout? What would have made copying the quote down easier/better?
A: An eraser would have made copying the quote easier and less messy. Our mistakes in life don't have to be permanent or messy. Because or Heavenly Father loves each of us and wants us to succeed and be happy, He gave us the opportunity of repentance, made possible by our brother, Jesus Christ through his Atonement. By repenting, like using an eraser, our slate can be wiped clean and we can have a clean conscience and a new start.

STORY
Instead of using the story outlined in the manual, I adapted the story, The Girl in the Mirror from the 2005 August 'New Era'.

Sew, That's It!

Alright, for crying out loud, how cute is this?????


I found this blog called Pink Chalk Studio that has the cutest patterns! She has instructions you can purchase and everything. Anyway, this sooo makes me want to learn how to sew! I would totally go out and try to make this today, if only I had a sewing machine!! ;^) Anyway, for those sewing crafters out there who do own sewing machines, I thought you'd enjoy the website!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend! We spent ours at a Branch Picnic on base at the park and had a great time visiting with friends....and Kami especially loved the unlimited access to the slides at the park! Any day she can go on the slide is a good day! By the time we got home, Kami was alseep in her car seat, and slept for about 3 hours that day! Which gave Drew and I some much needed nap time, too! :^) The rest of the day we just relaxed around the house and went out to dinner - Mexican food. That's American, right? ;^)

Okay. A word about the hair. Yes - that is my nautral curl, when the weather is extreamly humid, as it is here (check out my face, you can totally tell I'm sweating!). The first time it was humid and my hair went curly (with the help of a defuser and a little sprunching) was a Sunday a few weeks ago. Drew had meetings all morning, and I had one right after him before church. So, we didn't see each other at all that morning with our crazy schedule. All during church, everyone was complimenting me on my hair and how much they liked it curly. So, on the way home from church, one of our conversations went something like this:

Me: So. Drew. Everybody at church today said that they really liked my hair! But, I've noticed you haven't said anything about it yet. What do you think?
*Pause*
Me: Uh oh. You don't like it.
Drew: I'm more of a straight hair kind of guy. In fact, I wasn't going to say anything, but, thought you forgot to do your hair before your meeting.
Me: *hahahahahahahahaha!*

I'm so glad my husband thinks so highly of me! ;^) Good thing I know he loves me no matter if my hair is straight/curly, done/undone! Love you, too, babe! ;^)

YW's Camp Golden Moment #1

So, this year at YW's Camp, one of the other unofficial District YW Camp Directors suggested the idea of doing at Golden Moment at our camp this year. This would be a little spiritual thought before Lunch/Dinner as we gathered around. So, I was assigned two GM's. Here's the first idea that I had (that I actually did on the last night we were at camp). My thoughts came from that fantastic talk by Sister Susan W. Tanner titled, Daughters of Heavenly Father. If you take the time to read this absolutly wonderful talk, note one of my other favorite quotes she uses in here by C.S. Lewis:

It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be tempted to worship....There are no ordinary people....Your neighbor is the holiest object present to your senses.

("The Weight of Glory," in Screwtape Proposes a Toast and Other Pieces [1974], 109-110)

I think they though that quote was pretty cool, too, because some of them refered back to that quote during the Testimony meeting. Some things just really hit home. Here's the handout that I passed along to the YW! Enjoy!

YW's Camp Golden Moment Idea #2

Here's the second idea I came up with for a Golden Moment at Camp. We played a game that I actually downloaded from Finch Family Games . I came up with some questions from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and divided the girls into two teams. I handed each team a set of scriptures and a FTSOY pamplet. One girl from each team came up and had to find the answer to my question. The first person to come up with the correct response chose a game piece to see which armor they would get to put on (or lose!). After the first team completed their girl the game ended and I bore my testimony about using the guidelines in the FTSOY pamphlet as ways we can put on our armor to protect us from anything that the advisary would throw at us. Our theme for camp was "Superheroes", so I made the analogy that many "superheroes", such as Batman, Iron Man, etc. are mere men under all of their armor. But with their "armor", their powers are unstopable! I love the quote by Elder Boyd K. Packer on the handout that I also passed along to the girls. It's says:

"However out of step we may seem, however much the standards are belittled, however much others yield, we will not, we cannot yield."

I Swear!

Okay. Okay. I have a huge confession to make! First of all, for all those 1st time moms to 2 year-olds.....mouths beware! They will pick up on anything and everything. Even when you think they weren't listening to you....they were!

So. I never thought it would be from my precious lips that my daughter would learn her first bad word (Drew has a much worse potty mouth than I do...sorry babe, but, ya do!). So, anyway last night I was folding laundry as Kami was playing with one of her new toys she got for her birthday, in which, this said toy had some markers inside it that I hadn't yet taken out. Well, Kami beat me to the taking out bit, so when I looked up at the sound of "Uh, oh!", there was Kami sitting on the couch with the inside of the marker in one hand and the color orange dripping from either side of her mouth. Apparently, she had tried the new technique of bitting crayons with the inside of her orange marker. Anyway...my reaction....I'm ashamed to say, was mumbling under my breath, "Oh 'shoot'"; but not so much the 'shoot' part. So. Now randomly through the day. Kami will remember her new phrase and repeat, proudly, what her mommy taught her!

So, for those church going folk, if you hear my daughter curse in the middle of sacrament meeting, know that I apologize now ten-fold! And please. Tell me I'm not the only LDS mom to make this mistake! ;^)

Kami's Party, Cont.

Here's a couple more pictures from Kami's party, that a friend of ours took and sent our way! I especially love the first one!

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!