Picnic and a riot

One weekend we decided to go downtown to explore and to see more of Korea.  We found McDonalds and got the boys kid's meals because they were so excited to see a McDonals here, and then sat down in a very beautiful green spot.  There is not a lot of grass here, so it was such a wonderful find!

Little did we know that we were sitting in the middle of a huge riot taking place over the sinking of the ferry that happened over a year ago that killed a lot of high school students. Things started getting pretty heated so we quickly made our exit. It was nice while it lasted! :)

General Conference Traditions

I love General Conference and I love the technology that allows church members to watch conference all over the world. Our branch didn't have church the Sunday after conference so we could watch the previous sessions at home.  I found this conference to be so inspiring as they all are.  We have also started the tradition of letting the kids build with legos during conference, and they actually seem to pick up things from time to time.  Its a tradition I hope to continue for years to come!

Just a bunch of sick

Our poor kids have been sick a lot since moving here; especially Kayden.  I think it is just them getting adjusted to the new germs here in Korea, so we are hoping their immune systems start to get stronger.  We have had several visits to the ER, and hope this is not a trend we are setting. :)

This is a picture of Kayden during his most recent ER visit.  He was cute holding his dog and water bottle.  He wouldn't go anywhere without those two things during the stay.  

The one thing that I have learned through out all the sickness is to be grateful for good health when we all have it. :)

Lotte World, Cherry Blossoms and Seoul Tower

We have a list of things that we want to see and do in Korea and have only scratched the surface on this list.  The options are endless of things to do.

Over spring break we were able to go to Lotte World....(Disneylandish type place)

The cherry blossoms...

And Seoul Tower!

Grandpa Akin's Passing

Shortly after we moved into our new apartment, my Grandpa Akin passed away. He had been sick for many years and his quality of life was so poor towards the end, but still losing him was hard.  He was such a great man, and I wish we could have been there for his funeral as I feel that would have brought great closer than I feel now being so far away.  I am grateful for the knowledge that I have of this gospel and that we will see him again.  I'm also grateful to know that he is out of pain and can think clearly again and can walk again.  That brings so much peace and comfort.

I love this picture at the top of the post because its the last time that I saw my grandpa right before Kelly and Karissa were married.  Every time we visited him he would tell us how much he loved us.  He also could never remember our kid's names which was kind of funny. I am grateful for the legacy has left and look forward to that time when we will see him again.

Kayden's 5th Birthday

Shortly after we moved in, Kayden turned 5! He was so excited to turn 5.  He felt so grown up on his birthday, and acted much more independent as well that day.  He went back to wanting me around him 24/7 the next day :) With all the stress of moving, I really wanted to make sure that he had a good day.  He said it was the best day ever, so I will take that as a win! We sure love our sweet Kayden!

High Rise Living

We moved into our apartment on March 11th! That was such a happy and busy day. We actually decided on this place a month prior to moving in, but we couldn't move in until then because the tenant wouldn't be moving out until the beginning of March. It was hard to wait, but in hind sight, the best decision we made. Not only did we get our keys to our place, but all of stuff arrived that day as well. And then next day we got our car! I am grateful that we listened to the promptings of the spirit that guided us to this place at that time because it all worked out perfectly in the end. The Lord always knows best!

Reuniting with old toys

The view from our apartment.  Its even better at night!

I'm not much of a selfie person, but this had to be documented; we got our car!!

Breakfast at our new place with our new table! We have since bought new chairs so we aren't eating off of camping chairs anymore.

This isn't our building, but this is what our place looks like.

The river is a 5 minute walk from our place.  We love it!

There are a couple of really great parks along the trail as well that our boys love.

Catching Up: Finising Hotel Living

I really wanted to keep our blog updated so I could have a history of our time in Korea, but I have been terrible at that. Its been almost 5 months since my last post! Here is what our family has been up to since then:

We ended up living in the hotel on post for almost 2 months before we were able to move into our apartment off post. That was a long and very challenging two months, but we survived!  I think it helped that Deagan and Kayden both started school so it forced us to make a routine of sorts. We also tried to spend as little time as possible in the hotel, so we were able to see a lot of Korea during that time.  It was cold when we moved here, and since we were carless we spent a lot of time outside and feeling the cold.  The boys were so grateful when it warmed up!!

Here are a few pictures from the last month or so of our time in the hotel:

This was a common scene in our room: Deagan would do his homework and then Kayden and him would have some screen time on the IPad while Easton played by their feet.

We were able to go to the Seoul Temple which a little heaven on earth.  We might be in foreign country, but when I am in this temple I feel like I am home.

We had two rooms in the hotel.  Deagan and Kayden were in 1 room and then Easton was in our room.  We like to watch shows at night, and we resorted to watching TV one night in the bathroom so we didn't wake the kids up. :)

When the weather was nice, we would go down to the river trail and play.  We love this trail!

We rode the subway a lot, and some of the stations had the most random statues and things in them.  This statue being one of them.  The boys were picking this guys nose.

Deagan got new glasses and looks pretty sharp in them!

The air quality is very bad here, so the boys each got their own mask to wear on bad air days.  I think this is actually the only time they have worn them since they are now lost somewhere in our apartment.

We also rode the buses a lot.  This was Deagan's favorite way to get around.

Eatson really became quite the busy body while were in the hotel.  He loved climbing into the cupboards.

Nightly bath time! Easton loves taking baths with his brothers. 

Packages from home also made our time there bearable!

Riding the subway in style.  I think we were on our way to church here. That is one thing we don't miss; a 2 hour commute to church!

It started to warm up towards the end of stay in the hotel, so we ventured out a lot to local parks.  Easton has now developed a love for swinging and going down the slide.