Snow Days

Last Monday was supposed to be the kids' first day back at school, but we woke up to snow. I don't know how long it had been snowing, but when we woke up at 6:30 there was already a blanket of snow covering everything. We called around and found out that there was a delay for school until 10:30. Too bad we were already awake - we could have slept it! Well, at 10:30 it was still snowing, A LOT! School was canceled for the day, as well as work for everyone on base. It didn't stop snowing until about 4:00 in the afternoon. Result - the worse snow storm to hit Seoul in 70 YEARS!!! We got 11 inches. On Tuesday school and work were canceled again. I said before that when it snowed a little bit that Seoul came to a screeching halt, but THIS snow put that other snow day to shame. Seoul just isn't prepared for this kind of weather. They only have a couple of snow plows city-wide. So about 3,600 city workers, and 5,000 soldiers were sent out with shovels to dig Seoul out of the mess. Yes, I'm serious. Here's a picture to prove it.
When they didn't have enough shovels, soldiers used their big plastic shields from their riot gear. When they could get a road clear enough for a vehicle, they would use backhoe's to scoop up the snow, put it in the back of a dump truck, that would then take it to local schools and dump it out on the playing field. The subways were jam-packed, of course. The only ones crazy enough to be out on the street were taxis and city buses. Local store owners, and apartment guards used cardboard, brooms, and whatever else they could find to scoop up, or sweep away the snow Nobody has snow shovels - why would they? Last year it only snowed two times in the winter, and both times it melted by the next day. Here's one of our guards out sweeping our sidwalk.

These outdoor brooms they use are heavy duty plastic bristles. They do the job pretty good. Of course my kids were SO excited - not just to stay home from school for two days, but to play in the snow. I took Cora and JT down for a while and let them stomp around while I took pictures. They had so much fun.

That look is pure joy.

JT was laughing so hard the whole time, especially when he fell down in it.

It was hard to get JT to hold still for a picture. There was a lot of ice on the river. They say it has to be about -15 degrees Celsius (5 degree Fahrenheit) for it to freeze over, and then they can iceskate on it.

Cora loved how deep the snow was.

Other kids were out playing in our parking lot too. I think some of those cars were stuck in there for a few days.

Somebody built these cute mini-snow figures on our stairs, and Cora thought I needed to take a picture.

We didn't built any of our own, or make snow angels, or go sledding (of course we don't have a sled). But you'd be surprised how much fun it is to just stomp around in the snow. I supposed this comes from not having ANY snow to play in for most of their lives.

More joy. So much joy:) Did they even notice that it was cold outside?

Running in the snow is funner than walking in it.

We can't wait to see if it snows again.It's so beautiful!

Back inside where it's warm, they can still enjoy it from the window.

P.S. On our second snow day we decided to brave the subways and go to Lotte World. It was a great day to go there, because hardly anybody else was there. We got to go on a ton of rides because there were no lines. Of course the subway was REALLY packed. On the way there it was the worst that we've ever seen it. We were soooo smashed when we first got on. More and more people just kept pushing their way on. It was hilarious.

Let Me Count the Ways

Man, I LOVE this guy! It's been 10 years. It's easy to remember how many years it's been, because we were married in the year 2000. That was a good year.

I have my own words, but I have to steal somebody else's first....

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach....

I love thee to the level of everyday's most quiet need....

I love thee freely....

I love thee purely....

I love thee with a passion put to use....

I love thee with the breath, smile, tears, of all my life!

And, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Yep, that's meaty. In 2000 I was completey in love with Joe, I really was, head-over-heals. Today, ten years later....well....isn't it crazy how love has an ability to grow indefinitely? I'm sure in another ten years I'll feel the same way. I'll look back and think how much I still had to learn about love. That's how I feel now, looking back at when we first got married.

I love Joe.

I love Joe because he makes me laugh. He makes me laugh every day. Not too long ago he made me spit/spray coke all over the living room. If you think about it, he's the perfect amount of funny, because it didn't come out my nose:)

I love Joe because he makes me use my brain. He's smart and inventive; he's opinionated, but respectful; he processes differently, but remembers everything. He engages me, he listens to me, he cares about what I think.

I love Joe because he makes me want to be a better person. Joe isn't perfect (did I just say that?), but he has Integrity - he Lives what he Believes, out in the open, and behind closed doors. He is just a good person. We have the same values, goals, and desires. We get there together.

I love Joe because he makes me feel loved, appreciated, beautiful, and important. He's obsessed with me. He's got his priorities straight;)

Did I mention that he's hot?

Happy Anniversary Joe. I promise to try really hard to deserve you.

And the Laughs Keep Comin'

I am grateful for laughter. I am grateful for the ability to see humor in not so humorous situations. I am glad that I can laugh at myself. I come from a great family that taught me these things. Here's one of my favorite family stories that my grandma would tell. A couple of years after they completely remodeled their home, they had a house fire. The town they were in had no firetruck, and there was nothing they could do to save it. So with the help of their neighbors, they quickly removed as much as they possibly could out of the house, and then watched it burn to the ground. Horrible, right? But they found a way to laugh. Their stove had been carried out, with a pan of beans that had been cooking on it, and not a drop was spilled. So they laughed because they had a nice dinner of beans that night. Also, one neighbor carried out a very large and heavy wardrobe, by himself. He didn't realize just how big it was (because of all the smoke inside) until he got it outside and set it down. He turned around, looked at it and said, "Hell, I can't carry that alone." My grandma said (from her autobiography), "I don't think I ever did cry outwardly, and my sense of humor came to the rescue enough to help me laugh at the ludicrous things that occurred, such as the snow melting from the heat and dropping off the burning walls into the middle of the mattress where it lay too close to the wall until I dragged it back, and of [the neighbor] with that heavy wardrobe, and the unspilled beans on the range. And when I remembered the sugar in the basement and knew it was too late to salvage it, [another neighbor] remarked, "Gosh, sugar burned up with rations stamps so scarce. If I'd known it was there I think I'd have gone down and made fudge in the fire." Now I have a wonderful husband and four kids who make me laugh every day. And life itself is just....well, it's just funny, ya know? So here are a few things that have kept me laughing lately. Please, do enjoy.

JT said, "Fire and the hole!" (meaning, of course, fire IN the hole). Joe and I laughed and said, "Fire and the hole, huh? Who says that?" JT replied, "Nobody really says it, but somebody does."

We like to dance (in the privacy of our own living room, of course) at the end of the movie when the credits are rolling. Recently, we all jumped up and started jiving after a movie together......all of us, that is, except for Joe. Alex came over to him, tugged at his leg and said, "Daddy, shake your bootie!"

My sister's dog, Marley, passed away a little while ago. He was very old, and very sick, and they had to put him down. My kids loved Marley, and they were sad to hear about his death. Not too long ago, Cora was talking about Marley, and inquired what they had done with his body. I assumed she wanted to know if they had buried him in their back yard or something. He was actually cremated, but I didn't know if I wanted to tell her that, so I just said that I thought that the veterinarian had taken care of the body. She was quiet for a while, and then very softly said, "I have a feeling they might have eaten him." Joe and I almost died laughing, and Cora hurriedly added (as way of explanation), "Well some people here eat dogs!"

Most Koreans don't have dryers, so they don't have built-in dryer vents like most homes in the States. So when we run our dryer, we have to open our window (even in winter) and stick a big, long hose from our dryer out the window, which blows out the exhaust (which looks like smoke). The other day one of the security guards from our apartment came up to our apartment, VERY anxious about something. He does not speak any English. Thankfully Joe was here, but he wasn't really sure what the guard was talking about either when he said (in Korean), "I'm here because of your light." The word for light is also used for fire. He thought our apartment was on fire.

Today (this one's rated PG-13) I was taking down the Christmas tree. In my frustration at finding missing and broken ornaments, I said (half jokingly), "Why did I even have kids?! Somebody give me a reason right now!" Cora's answer was, "Because you had sex." I immediately ran behind the tree so that she wouldn't see me laughing, while Joe explained how that was inappropriate.

Finally, I think Heavenly Father has a good sense of humor too. I think that sometimes he laughs (in a loving way) at our lesser troubles and stumbles and challenges, because he knows we'll be just fine, and it's really not as big of a deal as we think it is......kind of how we laugh at our kids a lot. I think he might have laughed just a little bit at the look on my face yesterday when I was called as the District Primary president. Yep, it's pretty funny.

Goodbye 2009

The Koreans have a lot of traditions associated with the New Year (some celebrate the solar new year, some the lunar new year, and many celebrate both). One tradition is to watch the sunset on New Year's eve and say goodbye to the past year, and then watch the sunrise on New Year's day and make a wish for the new year. Our New Year's eve was pretty lame this year, but I decided that if we did nothing else, we could at least watch the sunset and say goodbye to 2009 together. I got the kids lined up in front of our big windows, and we waved and said, "We love you 2009. Thanks for everything. Goodbye......goodbye" Here was what we saw.
I'm sorry, but the actual sun is behind those tall buildings - it's the best we could do without leaving the house:) Later that night we watched fireworks from our other window (I'm still not exactly sure where they were coming from, maybe Itaewon, but definitely on the other side of base). Joe and I kissed, 'cause you have to, right?;)

Side note: I never make New Year's resolutions. I'm not really sure why. Resolute means bold, steady, determined and faithful. Maybe my New Year's resolution this year will be to be more resolute.

I was too lazy to get up to see the sunrise the next morning, but I'd just like to say, "Hello 2010, it's nice to meet you. I have great expectations for you, so don't go crazy on me."

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Ho Ho Ho and Snow

Here is the beginning of our Christmas day, before the chaos and joyfullness begins.

Looking at this picture of our tree makes me laugh because I can see the workings of Alex. The bottom half of the tree is a little more sparse, because I kept putting the ornaments (that he had taken off) on the top half. The beads and ribbon are also askew. And NONE of the presents went out until he went to sleep on Christmas Eve, for fear that they would be stepped on, thrown, and otherwise destroyed by our cute little two-year-old. This also reminds me of the food we had because....
He picked off all the olives from the 7-layer dip, and....

He had the first fist-full (as opposed to the first slice) of pumpkin pie. But I digress. Here are my kids Christmas morning in the traditional picture with their stockings.

And here is our Christmas carnage picture.

We did not have a white Christmas, but we did have a white Sunday after Christmas. It was the first snow here that actually stuck to the ground, and actually, is STILL out there 3 days later. My kids wanted to play in it so bad. I did not feel like playing in the snow, especially after our 2hr. drive home from church (it usually takes us around 20 minutes), but I told them we could go out for a couple of minutes.

After a couple of minutes....

They were ready to come back in. See in the picture below JT is looking very concerned at his freezing cold hands (no gloves) that he stuck in the snow.

Madelyn was the same, and before I knew it they were both crying. I took them up to the apartment, and then Cora and I went back down to take a few more pictures.

It's cold, but it sure is pretty.

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas, and we wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Can you believe it's going to be 2010? My, how time flies.

'Tis the Season

You would think that since I haven't updated my blog in a while that it might be because we've been so busy this month....but you'd be wrong. This winter weather that we've been enjoying has turned us into hermits. We've just been spending all our time at home, together as a family, watching every Christmas movie known to man, and putting together puzzle after puzzle. And still this month has gone by in a blur, as it does every year. Even though I'm not a fan of stores putting out Christmas stuff in October, I have to admit that ONE month just doesn't seem like enough time to enjoy the wonderful Christmas season. It goes by so fast.

This year we didn't have all of our Christmas decorations (storage), but we did manage to bring our little tree, some ornaments, and our Christmas stockings. The basics are essential. And despite our hermitage, we did get in a few other Christmas activites this month, starting with school programs. Cora and JT both sang with their classes at the Dragon Hill Lodge on base. They were short and sweet, just the way I like them.

In Cora's group was a boy who was doing his own thing, if ya know what I mean. He also happened to be the loudest singer there, so it was.....interesting. I have it on video, but I can't find the cord to hook my video camera up to my computer, so sorry that you dont' get to see it. We also made Santa ornaments for our tree this year.

I wanted to make Rudolph ones too, but didn't have all the materials (like I thought I did), and was too lazy to hunt them down in the city. I thought the Santa ones turned out cute, and the kids had fun making them, even thought they were a little tricky. We've really enjoyed seeing all the Christmas decorations and lights around town, and especially on base. We've never seen a base put up so many lights before, and we really appreciate all the hard work that was put into it. Here are some pictures from around base.

Even the Dragon Hill went all out with their decorations, although some of their Santas were a little.....well, see for yourself.

It makes me laugh every time I walk by it. The church down the street from us is also decorated very pretty.

And they have these scenes of Christ on display that are so nice.

Of course, every year we have to make gingerbread cookies. The kids love decorating them, we all love eating them, and they just smell so dang good.

The other day we went and ate at TGIF's (sometimes it's just nice to get a taste of the States). Anyway, on the front of the kids menus was this picture.

And this is the coloring page that was on back.

I know, I'm confused too. If somebody can make sense of it, please let me know. And finally, here is our Christmas card for the year.

One of these years I'm going to actually send out Christmas cards....in the mail....but not this year:) Tomorrow is Christmas for those of us on this side of the world. We are so grateful for this special day to celebrate with families, and to remember the birth of our Savior. There was a nice little thing in our Sacrament meeting program on Sunday that I'd like to share with you, and then I'll be done.

"When Christ was born, a new star appeared in they sky. It is a beautiful parallel to consider. The star, as a swirling mass of piercing light and energy, was born upon the arrival of Jesus Christ, He who is the embodiment of pure light and energy. Furthermore, stars are born only under circumstances of intense pressure and heat. [During His life], Christ endured circumstances of extreme pressure and adversity, including the Universe's ultimate moment of suffering: The completion of the Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. The fulfillment of Christ's destiny as the light, life, and Savior of all mankind was only possible through such ineffable opposition. The light of Christ also lives within each of us - we harbor the birth of a star. In what ways can you face your afflictions with courage and faith, so as to intensify your inner light during this Christmas season? How are we reverencing Christ and His example when we recognize our trials as opportunities to help fulfill our spiritual destinies?"

Merry Christmas Everyone - We Love You All!!!