Thanksgiving

I'm a little late in posting as Thanksgiving was yesterday. I want to express gratitude to my dear husband. I am know that I can be a little trying at times but he loves me in spite of it all. I am thankful for my wonderful children Dillon was trying to find his Nintendo DS and couldn't find it so he decided that he was going to fast and pray to find. He did find it and was able to express gratitude for a loving and helping Heavenly Father. I am awed and amazed by my children and the love that they have for our Savior and those around us.

We had a pretty relaxed Thanksgiving we stayed home and enjoyed each others company. A couple of friends came by and spent some time with us. I am grateful that my family was able to spend this time together.

We bought a real christmas tree this year I am excited to see how it turns out. We had to drive around to find a stand for it but we did. Tomorrow we are going to decorate it the kids are so excited. (So am I) I love Christmas. I am sad that we won't have extended family around to share in the holidays.

We had a ward Thanksgiving dinner with all the missionaries in our area. We had around 20 missionaries. It was wonderful to be around them and to feel of their spirt. One area sung a song for us and another area did a dance. 

We got there around 12:30 thinking we were late but ended up being 30 min. early. We hurried to warm up our sweet potatoes and haul out our pies and cranberries.  On the drive over Spencer turned a corner  and the sweet potatoes on my lamp dumbed over. We tried to catch them but the pan was hot just out of the oven. We did manage to save half of them so we served them up.  During dinner Christina dropped her plate with desert on it, I caught half of it in my hand and the other ended up on the floor. Then she spilled her drink on me. By the time dinner was over I was ready to go home and shower.  It was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners I have been to in a long time. I love the sprit that the missionaries bring everywhere they go.

Tonight Spencer and I went out with the Cox's we went to the new James Bond movie. (all movies at Camp Humpreys is free) Then we went and got Spencer 5 piece suit pictures coming soon.  Then we went to dinner.  Thankfully Bro. Cox speaks korean and was able to order for us. When we left the restaurant the Server/Owner told us that she was Christian and was glade to see that we had prayed over the meal. I am loving Korea and the experience's it has to offer and the friendships that I am building. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving..

home sweet home

Here is a picture of the rice fields that are all around where I live. I love the open fields when I am surrounded by so many people.
                              The Koreans have started to bail their fields at the end of the season instead of burning them. They wrap them up in white plastic. The kids have taken to calling them marshmallows and pretending to eat them. Every time I see them I think this is what all farmers should do with their hay so that it won't get wet.  We have seem them wrapped up in stripped and black plastic. 

                         Christina wanted in on the action to.  She is my little sweet heart. I just couldn't resist taking her picture when she asked. 
                          The nice and open field. 

My Life

I did it I passed my Korean driving test. It seems that all we have been doing in getting things set up I have to get physicals for the kids attend a new spouses brief, LEARN TO DRIVE, and Spencer leaves this weekend for 8-10 days. We just get here and he has to leave again. 

Korea

We left Bakersfield at 5:00 in the morning. We made it to LAX with time to spare.  They were going to let both my parents go through security with us but my Mom didn't bring her purse 

 in so my Dad went with us through security, she waited for him at the check in counter. It was very hard to say good bye to my parents. I am going to miss my family so much. We made it on the plane with out any problems. I had a layover in San Francisco we made it there 15 min early. That's great I thought I only had an hour lay over I could use the extra 15 min. To bad we weren't able to land because of weather. We ended up landing  30 min. late we circled the airport for 45 min. The kids and I ran our hearts out to catch our next flight. We made it to the counter 25 min before departure but they had already shut the gates and wouldn't open them. We missed our flight. I got mad, I cried and then I decided that we weren't suppose to be on that flight for a reason. We tried to get onto a latter flight with out any luck. The airline did comp us a hotel stay and they wouldn't for the other travelers who were stuck with us. The manager said she comped mine because Spencer is military and I was flying with my children.

They put us up in the Embassy Suites. It was a really nice hotel on the bay. The weather was hazy so we didn't go out and enjoy the bay but they did have fish ponds inside and we had fun walking around. The boys wanted to go swimming but wouldn't you know it the swim trunks where 20 a pair. I said sorry I can't afford that and the boys were great and didn't throw a fit about not swimming. We ordered in pizza for dinner. Then I read in there brochure that they not only had a breakfast in the morning but a mangers reception in the evening so we decided to see what goodies they would put it. The place was packed with the mangers reception and there was a wedding reception in one of the big rooms that you can rent. We walked around and found the refreshment table pretzles and gold fish crackers. They had a open bar so we filled up our little bowls and headed back to our room for some more TV. We were all a sleep by 8:30 and ready for our flight in the morning. For breakfast they cooked omelets to order. They also had  pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, muffins, cold cereal and tons of fruit. It was the best hotel breakfast I have ever had. The other people staying at the hotel were awesome, one lady helped me find a table and carry my plates of food over and then she went and filled up cups with apple juice for my kids. Then another lady came over to comment our our family and said I see that you finally got your girl I have a friend with 7 boys and 1 girl. She is a sweet Mormon girl I said so am I and then she got her friends and brought her over so I could meet her. it  was nice to see how many wonderful people around. We each took  a box of cereal and a piece of fruit for in the airport.  Then we headed over to the airport 2 1/2 hours before our flight. We got our tickets and headed over to security we waited in line and when it was our turn the people behind us in line waited until we got all of our stuff up on the belt and went through it takes a while when we have to take out our Nintendo DS and my laptop. We found where we waited to board and then the boys had to use the bathroom so back up the stairs we headed. 30 min. later we were back and waiting to board our plane they ended up boarding early and then we sat on the plane and waited. On the plane they feed us 2 meals and brought around drinks and snacks. The kids did great and enjoyed watching movies and being the boss of what they ate and drank.  Christina took a 4 hour nap which was great. I couldn't seem to relax enough to sleep on the plane. We landed a hour early which was great. We had to wait to taxi in because a plane was at the gate we needed. We finally made it after waking up the kids we were ready to head to custom's. A long walk through the plane. I am so thankful for moving walk ways and escalator's. We had to take a train while on the train we had our picture taken with some Korean women they couldn't believe Dillon's bright red hair and everyone else blond hair and how many kids I had. We made it and customs was a breeze after waiting in line. It seemed that my kids where so tired that every line we got into they all laided down on the floor. We got to baggage claim and sat down to wait for Spencer (remember we landed an hour early) and then I realized that I had to go through another security point so to the gate we headed thankfully there was no line and we were able to go right through. There was Spencer and everything fell in to place he had made us a welcome sign and everything (later I found out that they had all the supplies at the airport to make signs) The kids ran and hugged their Daddy and even Christina would go to him. Then came the drive home the kids all fell asleep in the car and we made ok time. We did see one accident where a bus has side swiped a car. The bigger you are the more right of way people have to give you. We arrived at our house and put the kids to bed thankfully Spencer had those all set up and ready to go. 

We Made It

We made it to Korea safe and sound. Everyone has been nice. I will post more latter. I am very tired from the traveling and the time change.