February ? 2012

So...not so great on my monthly blog entry so far :( As far as the other goals: Home improvement project - We moved Peter's clothes back up stairs. Doesn't really seem to be an improvement, but it definitely saves us time and frustration and leads to a cleaner basement, so there you go. I went to a work/dinner activity with Corey. It was fancier than it sounds. I did get to the temple and I did mail several cards in the mail! Hooray for me :)

Here's a little update on our February: Corissa is now enrolled in Driver's Ed. Yay!! She was dumped by her boyfriend (: and is now enjoying the opportunity to mingle with a LOT of other very nice guys who are closer. Ben and Cori both took the ACT and got great scores. I think both kids also intend to take the test again next year. Ben is also taking Driver's Ed. He has been spending more time with his friends lately and I am happy to see him making and strengthening friendships. Jimmy lives in Mountain Home at a facility called Sequel where he is getting more structure and some specific services. He isn't excited about the stricter rules and regimen, but i am and Jimmy is pretty adaptive to all circumstances and is still pretty happy. Brigham has been studying the immigration process in school and has been posing as a German immigrant. His German is terrible, but his assignments have been pretty good. Annie has become a lot more proactive about herself. Her grades are better. Her friendships are stronger and she spends more time hanging around with Mom. She has a job with our neighbor where she helps with housework and we benefit at home from that as well. Noah is completely sick of being home with Mom all day :) He goes to work with Corey at least once a week. Daisy wrote a report about an Australian animal for her class and when she turned it in, she found that the assignment was for Africa!! So she came home and did a second report. I'm so proud of her. Peter and Hannah have fallen in love with Power Rangers. This is a show that I don't appreciate and I discourage them from watching, but that doesn't stop them from striking fighting poses and yelling, "Power Rangers!" And Hannah is potty-trained :) Hooray, hooray for such a happy day :D Corey is busy building his clientele at work and expanding the services that they offer. And I am still in heaven about getting paid to write. It is so awesome!!

Nothing exciting, but we are all happy and healthy and love living in Idaho.

January 2012

It's January and so I've set some goals. Every year, I make a list of pretty much the same goals and continue working on them year after year. They are good goals and sometimes I make more progress on them than other times. But this year, with the understanding that those other goals are always underway, I set some other goals. I've made a collection of things that I will do once a month: one home improvement project, one surprise for Corey - like a note or lunch or a simple service, one blog entry :), one temple trip, one letter in the mail. Also, I am getting rid of more things than I bring into my home. (Now, stay calm and sit down, I have even included books in this category. In these past few weeks of January, I've given away more books than in the five years before that!) Simple, right! I think I'll probably add another goal in February.

Feeling successful makes me more likely to keep to my goals and I feel more inclined to attempt other goals.

Living on a Steadily Decreasing Budget

Of course, we have more than we need... And over the course of Corey's unemployment and subsequent self-employment, I have learned that many of the things that I considered needs are truly wants. The dishwasher broke. We didn't replace it and everyone pitches in doing dishes. Brigham is very adept at fixing things. Pieces of the fridge have broken and we rigged up our own shelves. I think I like it better. The microwave is broken. I have learned to warm things in the oven and on the stove top!

Heat remains on the need list and so do books, but (call me crazy) I think that I prefer not having a dishwasher, or a disposal, or (maybe) even a microwave... I wonder how many other things I wouldn't miss?

1. Family Misadventure

2. Decision to order pizza for dinner

3. Successful order placed

4. Decision to order tickets to movie for Wednesday night

5. Oops! Tickets were ordered for tonight!!

6. Hurry, hurry! Let's go to the movies.

7. Pick up pizza on the way

8. Pull into movie parking and count heads

9. Annie? Annie!?

10. Grrr-

11. Mom takes kids into movie and Dad goes home to pick up Annie

12. 30 minutes into movie, we are all together

13. 35 minutes into movie, Mom is in hall with Peter and Hannah

14. Moral of this story: Count heads BEFORE you leave!

15. Alternate moral: Never order tickets under duress :D

~Berlin~

Tasha, Tine, Irene and Oliver had a great trip planned for us in Berlin. I have only included a tiny amount of the pictures and stories in this blog. In defense of the oversights, the lack of proper nouns and the sketchy history, and this humiliating picture; we had traveled from Korea to Utah to Germany within 48 hours. So, here we go...








Here I have all the necessary stamps to travel from West Berlin to East Berlin. To the far right is a picture of the bricks marking where the Berlin Wall once stood.

There is a gorgeous view of Berlin out of Irene and Oliver's ninth floor apartment balcony. I am (almost) standing on the balcony, enjoying the view and some fresh German bread from the bakery.

I am really standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate!!
This cute guy is made of of Legos!
This is the view looking up...I couldn't get near enough to the edge to show looking down. Did I forget to mention that I'm afraid of heights?
A Berlin pigeon...ein Berliner Taube
The lasting effects of war. History is close in Berlin.




This is a reminder of the book-burning that happened at this spot...to remind us of the emptiness that exists in a space without books.
This is a living person playing a statue.
Here we are in front of Germany's "white house." (I think...I should have waited for Tine to be sitting here with me to make sure I was right. Watch for corrections in a later blog.)
We are listening to the tour. We are all concentrating on the history. The excitement is just not escaping to our faces. The displays were truly awe-inspiring. We could have spent much longer here. But at closing time, we were hustled out of the museum. One museum guard got very angry at us, but Oliver defended us. I wish I could have understood that conversation!


After a wonderful time at the museum, we stopped at a bar for cocktails. We all passed our drinks around to share the fun. Where is Hannah? She was under-age, so we left her parked outside.

Just kidding! She's here somewhere. BTW, this is Irene's sweater I'm wearing. Thanks, Irene! (I have one at home from Tine. My clumsiness really paid off here.)
The atmosphere here was cozy and friendly. I would love to drink here again :)
Oliver spent LOTS of time toting around Hannah.
The pictures do not do this palace justice. The rooms inside were amazing. It is hard to believe that people actually live(d) like this. Although, Irene and Oliver's apartment is pretty close.

This was the servants' quarters. How'd you like be the cook here? The cooking is done in the servants' quarters and then carried over to the palace. Quite a walk trying not to spill the soup all over.

It has been 4 months since we visited Berlin and the memories are still amazing. I hope I did them some justice here on the blog.

감사합니다 한국

At the top of the drive, just right of the bike, at the blue spot, is the door to Grandpa and Grandma's apartment. Then up three flights of marble steps...
I can tell exactly where we are. Let me at those streets!

Hmm, tempted to buy something...Pocari Sweat, anyone?

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the yummy treat Dad bought me, or the fish pastry that Heidi bought. The sweets were filled with a sweet bean filling. I also don't have any pictures of the food that we ate. (Mom, can you include photos of the shabu shabu? Or people can type that in their google window. It was delicious!)
This is a picture of one of the shopping districts. I loved walking up and down the streets, rounding corners into identical streets, into alleyways, into other streets... It's a good thing I was not alone. I would have been hopelessly lost in 30 seconds.
Dad did most of the heavy lifting. I used the excuse that Hannah was entertaining Dad while waiting for us to get our shopping done :) What do you want? Anything can be found in one of these shops...If we just look long and hard enough.
What! Is this heaven?
This is our $12.oo piece of dragonfruit. It was definitely easier to spend in won than it would have been otherwise. I'm glad we tried it. The fruit inside was very delicious. And the outside was just beautiful. Who wouldn't want to eat this?
This is King Sejong the Great who developed the Korean Hangul alphabet. He developed it as the alphabet for the common people. He was very concerned about literacy for his people and even encouraged women to learn to read. I think that he is one of my favorite Koreans. The realization of this alphabet is celebrated every year on October 9. I'll be celebrating myself. What books should I choose? Maybe one of those from that Korean bookstore?
A picture of Korea at night. The rest of Seoul might not sleep, but we were always pretty worn at in the evening. I think we were in bed by 10 every night. I did try to peek out the window one night, but the condensation on the glass made it hard to see out :)
This is the picture of OUR bus. It took us back to Grandpa and Grandma's apartment and picked us up in the morning.

We actually had several buses, some subways, a taxi or two, and some feet :) We got around Korea in style. Hannah even considers herself an expert at bus riding. She liked to reach up and hold onto the bars.
This is one of the turns down one of the alleys to get to our apartment. I was surprised at how safe I felt walking around down dark alleys at night in the middle of Seoul.
Here you can see the enormous TV mounted on the side of the building. BTW, I couldn't understand any of the conversations that were being carried on around us. Heidi and I agreed that it was sort of soothing. I think the sound of people speaking Korean is beautiful.
This is one example of creative architecture. There were really fantastic looking buildings all over Seoul. And I loved how very old buildings were all mixed in with very new buildings. We saw one example
Just a wonderful view of people, tall buildings and Korean writing. I can almost imagine being there again. I wish I had a great picture of the yellow Ginko leaves all over the sidewalks.

Oh, where, oh, where are my photos of the temple in Seoul? Hannah sitting in plants? No pictures here of the Korean folk village? And nothing about the palace that we visited? What about the Korean National Museum? I don't know what to say... I have memories, but no pictures. :(

So sad to be leaving Korea. The sights, the tastes, the smells, the friends...

Well, not sure how this ended up at the end, but here is : The Changing of the Guard. Well, maybe it'll work... Hmm :( It was really neat. The costumes, the music and the great big drum. I loved the flags and the solemn faces. And I loved the restaurant just across the street and down some stairs :)