Good Morning from Batman

So, what's for breakfast mom? eh hem... I mean, Alfred...yes, Madeline picked out a Batman mask the other day at the store, it should go nicely with her usual outfit of pepto bismol pink and princess clothes.

Pictures!!

We spent an hour or so with my good friend, Lesley, the other day. Lesley is an amazing photographer as you can see-- I was doing a "shadow" of her since I took her photography class--which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone who is in Utah. She turned her camera on us and took some pictures, which we were delighted to have taken! And they turned out so LOVELY!! I am so glad too, because we haven't had pictures taken of Madeline in a while. And she totally captured Madeline's personality even though she was quite a difficult model.

I am only going to post this picture because my internet is taking FOREVER. But please visit Lesley's blog to see more... honestly, the girl is amazing... (can you name that movie?)

Logan Pumpkin Walk

On our way back from our trip to Utah, we stopped at the Logan Pumpkin walk (yes this was before Halloween!). It was so much fun and perfect for Madeline. She loved seeing all the pumpkins painted as different people and things. And we saw lots of famous people there, in Logan! take a look...

Harry Potter!!
The Prophet!!
Ariel!!
Some pioneers...
And the "lego my eggo" add. See the m&m pumpkin hidden under the breakfast table? The m&m pumpkins were hidden in each display, which was kind of fun too.

It was a great Halloween activity!

I'm back!

Hi! I'm back from our long hiatus. Yeah!! We have been cleaning, packing, unpacking and getting adjusted up here in our new home town! Adam loves his new job and we are getting used to things. Get this--it snowed today! It's OCTOBER 4th!! I walked out to the car to take Adam his lunch and it was hailing! Yes, not just rain anymore, or snow, but hail! So much for that grass seed I was supposed to put down! The season went from summer to winter here. Fall? What's fall? You know the nice long sleeve shirt month? Where you're a bit nippy but not too cold? We are into heavy sweaters, coats and boots here. It's all out. I shouldn't have even bothered putting them in the basement!

Anyway, here are some highlights since we've been away, enjoy! ( My sewing project blog post is coming up next so stay tuned, I just HAVE to finish my skirt first!)

Hello? My glasses are upside down? WHat?
This was at MJ's second birthday party at my mom's house we had the cutest little tea party for her!!

MJ as a My-little-pony!
Madeline and her Nana. Isn't this the sweetest picture!! I love it!
Madeline's first piggy tails!! She adores them!
Sunbathing with her baby in the bathroom. Hmmm... maybe we should talk about modesty? oh wait, that's my top! lol.
Adam and MJ playing in Jenny lake at Jackson Hole, WY.
The four girls, doing what we love best, playing and singing old show tunes and duets! Nana plays the piano, Susan and I play and my mom sings, it's always so fun and it always ends too soon.
MJ and friends: Haley, Kendal, MJ and Lincoln at our last get together with the law school gang. We already miss them tons!
Madeline as a princess. Yes I made this dress, I know, you want one too. I mean look at that twirl!

Ok, I still haven't learned how to rotate my pictures. I am what they call "technilogically lazy" I just don't care enough to rotate my pictures. Oh well. You'll just have to tilt your head 90 degrees. But isn't this the cutest picture. The caption should be "good dad".

One last thing to leave you with... Madeline's new phrase. It kills me everytime! I know everyone thinks there kid is the cutest, but really, is there any contest? Just watch this video...

Hiatus

All of you ardent followers of my blog have probably noticed that I am on hiatus from my blog. Adam is taking the bar next week and then we are packing up and moving-- so please join me back here in September!!! Here are a few cute pics to tide y'all over...

Happy 5 years BABY!

   This picture was taken last month at Silver Lake the place where we had our very first kiss.  We have tried to go back there several times, but never could because of snow, road construction--one time a semi got jack knifed on the road and we were stuck behind it-- and so it just seemed so fatalistic that we had had this one perfect night there and were destined to never go back again.  When some of our friends invited us up there last month, we decided to try our luck again.  Five years after our first kiss, we posed for this picture in the exact same spot where we kissed the first time, never having been back there before.  

  This isn't very romantic, but like I told my friend this morning, "you know you're with the right person when you're still not sick of them after 5 years."  I could probably phrase that better, but you get the drift.  Adam still makes me laugh at the same jokes I've been laughing at for the past 6 years, he still makes me smile when he winks at me, and he can still get me to cry by writing me a love note.  Still not sick of it!! 

 Happy Anniversary Adam!  I love you! 

Create

Can anyone find me in this video?  I'm there for appx. 1 second!  My 5 seconds of fame--or 1 second rather!  If you guys haven't seen these yet, they're called "Mormon Messages" and their part of the Church's new media campaigns.  My friend, Rachel's husband Travis makes these for the church, and their kids are all the cute little kids in this video. He asked me and Madeline to come pose for some pics, it was fun to be a part of it.  Prize to the one who can find me, and yes, the prize will be something I CREATE.  haha. 

Korea!

Adam and I took a trip back to our mission, Korea, a few weeks ago. These pictures are horribly out of order and unfortunately our camera died when we got to Seoul, but here's our itinerary: We first went to Jeonju, one of Adam's area's.  We had a great first day, we went around to the old city's cultural sites and then went to a traditional opera concert, but it was honestly really hard to relax.  We felt like we were in a time warp- that we had finished our missions, college and had a baby and were now back to serve a mission again!  It was weird, every apartment building we saw, we just tensed up, expecting to have to knock 500+ doors.  We also kept looking for the missionaries everywhere we went, and since it was Friday, we wanted to crash their district meetings!!!  We had to get a grip! So that night we decided that we had to get out of our mission boundaries.  We went kapjagee, to Kwangju to see Kim Du Ree and go to church, which was the turning point of our trip.  Words cannot express how wonderful it was to see the Korean saints from our mission thriving and doing well.  We were so touched by the spirit.  We ran (literally) to hop on a boat to Chejudo, an island off of Korea's Southern border.  We spent a few days there, hiking and laying on the beach and then took an airplane to Seoul.  We stayed at the temple and had a GREAT Korean meal.  The best of the trip.  And then we came home.  Unfortunately I got pretty sick half way through our trip, but luckily I was able to enjoy the rest of the trip and we honestly had such a great time, and recommend going to anyone who is a returned missionary from Korea, it is totally worth it!  

A palace in Seoul.  
Hiking Ma ee san in Jeonju.
There are a MILLION churches in Korea; this being the nicest one I have ever seen.  Jeonju.  
We went to a little Tea House in Jeonju after we went to a Pansori (traditional opera)concert.  Don't worry, we had Citrus Tea.  I drank mine and Adam's, as he was too busy talking.  hahaha.  

The Buddist Temple at Ma EE San (see below).

A typical Korean street.  KDM's if that isn't Korea, I don't know what is.  Jeonju.
A beautiful pagoda where a Monk was singing his daily chants.  It was such a surreal asian experience.  Chejudo.
This was a beach on an island which wasn't in our mission.  It's basically the Hawaii of Korea.  We weren't planning on going there, but we just decided to hop on a boat on Sunday after church. I don't know what we were thinking not planning this beautiful island into our vacation. You can't have a vacation without a beach after all!  This beach was similar to a california beach- chilly.  But Adam coaxed me into the water as he always does, and we had so much fun playing in the waves.  Oh yeah, we didn't have a towel on us, so we just had to drip dry in the chilly air!
This was one of my favorite missionaries.  Kim Du Ree.  We were never companions but we got along really well.  We made a special trip to Kwangju just to see her.  Adam knew her too, she was especially famous in our mission for her extra whiney voice!!  She is married and has this cute little boy.  She is going back to school to get a degree in English. Her husband is so nice and they picked us up for church the next day so we wouldn't have to take a bus.  

  While I was at her house, I spoke to my mission trainer, Sis. Jo, who is 5 months pregnant with her first child! I spoke to them both about how when I first came to Korea I was in a house with Kim Du Ree, Ha hee sun and my trainer, all of whom were Korean.  It was complete culture shock!  The very next morning, 6:30, wake up time, they told me it was my turn to make breakfast.  In my head, I was like "You have got to be kidding me!"  But I just pulled out some mashed potato packets my mom had wisely stuffed in my luggage, and we ate mashed potatoes for breakfast with chopsticks!!    

  Even when I talked to them this trip, they said to me "You were so weird, you just slept all the time"  and my response was "Next time you travel all the way to America, and live with 3 Americans, and have to start doing chores and missionary work the next day, you let me know, then we'll talk".  ;)
Shoes outside of a Buddist Temple.  Such a symbol of Asia.
We went to church in Kwangju, Nongsung ward, where Adam served.  It was fast Sunday so Adam got up and bore his testimony.  It was so wonderful, we are both total cry babies so ofcourse we were bawling our eyes out.  Adam served in this ward eight years ago, and he baptised this man. Who then married this woman (sorry I don't remember their names) and they had a son shortly there after.  They live in Seoul, but just happened to be attending the Nongsung ward while we were there.  It was a joyous reunion and they told Adam that their son is about to turn eight and be baptised.  This is the sweet joy the gospel brings.
A little restaurant outside of Jeonju university.  We got Adam's favorite meal Ja jang myung and Tang Su Yuk.  (Which we had 3 times that trip!!  I am so mad, he totally dominated our eating experience!)  We both LOVE that yellow moo!  Take a bite and them wash it down with cool water!!!  There is nothing more refreshing!  Gatorade needs to visit Korea.
In front of the Seoul Temple.  We stayed here our last night in Korea.  We were able to do a session before we went home.  It was truly spiritual is all I can say.  To be in the Lord's house, doing the Lord's work for a people that you have given up so much to serve is inarticulable.  We both cried again.
As we walked up to the temple, we saw this Sister, You Me Hee with some of her kids.  She lived in both of our greenie area's in Cheongju.  She recognized both of us immediately, and even said, "Do you remember when you came to my house and made us purple cows?"  Honestly, we didn't expect a soul to remember us from our mission, it was six years ago, and there are missionaries in and out of areas about every 10 weeks or so.  But we were astounded at the people who just walked up to us, and said "Hey Sis McArthur, Elder Heder, how's it going?" Like no time had even passed.  We were so touched.  This sister's husband is now the bishop of their ward.  It's just amazing to see people who not only remember you but you've touched and they've touched you in some way and for you both to go your own ways and progress and then meet up again later is so profound.  
Ma-ee-san.  A mountain with a buddist temple at the top, we hiked on Budda's birthday.  Some monk built up huge stone piles without mortar that have survived wind and rain for 150+ years.
Golden Budda's lined the inside of the temple.
Kimchi Pots.
Ajushi.
Seeing the cultural sights around Jeonju.
South gate to Jeonju's ancient city.  Yes, Adam was very sad we didn't get a picture of him in front of the Geksa. 

Congratulations Adam, my Juris Doctor!!

Madeline's Stories

Madeline loves reading to her babies. I just had to share, it really is too cute.

Happy Birthday to "Mishy"!!

That would be "Aunt Melissa" in regular talk, not toddler talk. My brother Jared gave me the best way to remember his wife's birthday and that is that it is on EARTH DAY! When I turned on the radio this morning, to NPR of course--I can't betray my nerdy talk radio--and they were talking about Earth Day, I scrambled to find the phone in my car careful not to swerve into oncoming traffic and called "Mishy". So Happy B-day once again! We love you!!

Happy Easter

We had a great easter sunday, as I hope all of you did. I finally finished Madeline's dress. It was super easy until I decided 1/2 way through to add a Tulle underskirt and a lining--this is so my way of sewing and it drives most people I know NUTS-- but the dress came out beautiful in the end. Of course I couldn't pass up letting Grandma "Mimi" buy Madeline the cutest pink accessories--a hat and a purse-- essentials for any respectable girls' easter debut!
I played "find the eggs" all week with Madeline to get her ready for the big day...she did smashing on Easter Morn when the pressure was on. And you should have seen her face when she discovered CANDY was in the eggs!!! There could not have been a happier child. We made sure to put a candy necklace on Grammy Helen's bunny so she got her portion of deserved attention as well! We were of course late to church (9 a.m.) but still had a great day at church and a delicious Easter dinner at my parents house (thanks mom!).

Adam's and Matthew's Winter Camp 2009

I haven't posted on the blog before, but I figured mine and Matthew's winter camp in the Grand Tetons would give me an impressive entrance.

About a month ago, Matthew, myself, and one friend of mine took off at about 5 in the morning to make up to the Grand Tetons National Park in Wyoming. We cross country skied in across a frozen lake and literally had to scale the side of the island. We set up camp right at the southern most point of the island so that when we woke up in the morning, the sun was casting a wicked light on the Grand Tetons themselves. At night it got anywhere from -10 to -20. But our many winter camp outings had us prepared. You'll also see that we took ice fishing gear with us, but sadly didn't catch a thing. During the days when the sun was out, it was beautiful and quite warm. At any rate, it was an awesome trip, and to all who didn't make it...Maybe next time dudes...

I should also add that my wonderful wife was extremely accommodating and had no problem with letting me take the weekend off to go camping and ice fishing in Wyoming. I invited her along, but for some odd reason she wasn't interested in sleeping in -20 degree weather...