SEB Christmas Lunch!

Today we had our Seoul English Branch Christmas lunch! It was so much fun! After church, we went to the gym and enjoyed a wonderful nativity put on by the primary kids! They sang so many songs and even accompanied some with bells (Very brave of the primary chorister)!

After the program we ate a delicious meal! Spencer took his favorite...MAC SALAD! We had ham, salads, pastas, rolls, desserts galore!, mashed potatoes, burritos, chips & salsa and so much more! It was a great meal! It filled us quite nicely and got us all ready to go home and take a nap!

The Simons are officially in Utah for the weddings so we sat with the Nites! They are such a great family. We're so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people here in Korea! Surprisingly, our ward is still pretty big! We were supposed to shrink significantly at the end of the summer with the Seoul army base closing but we've still got lots of families around which we're grateful for! We will be so sad to leave in March! 💙

Coming Soon: Baby Burhoe!

December 13, 2018

Today was the best day our married life so far! Spencer and I found out after months of having to wait for insurance that we are going to be parents! We will be welcoming a little baby boy or girl into our family at the end of August next year! We couldn't be more grateful for our little bundle that's on the way! It's bee an emotional few days. The first pregnancy test that I took was negative. I knew it was still pretty early and that it might not be accurate, but I was still disappointed when I saw the results. This morning when I woke up, I just had a feeling that I should take another one. Something in me knew it was going to be positive. Spencer was at work and I considered waiting until he got home, but then decided not to just in case I was wrong. I took the test, and this time it was positive! The next few hours before Spencer came home were filled with all the emotions. Spencer came home and I'll never forget the look on his face when he found out. It wasn't until I was with him that it started to sink in and I think for the first time in my life, I felt pure joy.

Happy Halloween! 🎃

I can't believe it's already Halloween! Spencer and I decided to dress up last minute and as a result got our costume idea from google and all the supplies at Daiso (the Japanese dollar store)! We decided Spencer would dress up as a lighting bolt, and I would dress up as person who was struck by lighting! It ended up being a really easy and fun costume! We got a cheap t-shirt for me and burned holes in it and made a big lightning bolt for Spencer to wear on his chest! Then we did my hair all crazy and frizzy and tore up one of our cheap-o umbrellas for me to carry around! It was a success! We went to our branch Halloween party and enjoyed some yummy chili and dessert! The youth put on carnival type games for the primary kids which was fun! Then we went trick or treating with the Nites! We went with Kainoa and Misako and their two youngest kids! We had so much fun! Little Evie wanted to take Spencer up to every door with her which was cute! After we went trick or treating we went through the haunted house at the embassy housing! It was pretty decent but the line was so long and it was freeeezing outside! We were happy to be heading home back to where it was warm! 

Seoraksan National Park

We just hiked ALL day long!! We had the best time hiking over in Sokcho! It's a couple hour drive over to the east of the peninsula. We left at 5 am to begin the long drive over to get there and arrived at about 7:45. This place was PACKED! It seems like it is the only thing to do here. There were so many people there that we had to park two miles away and huff it just to get to the entrance of the park! It is technically a national park. And it seemed like Disneyland! The line to get tickets for the park was super long, and the line for the women's bathroom outside of the park was apparently crazy too. There were people everywhere! All over the place! Soooo many people!

Parenting Practice!

This week we got our first taste of parenting! We spent the week at the Simons house with the 4 kids while Brian and Jessica were in Hawaii! We had SO much fun! Since Brian is also the seminary teacher, we got to fill in at early morning seminary! The kids are in school so we sent them off each morning around 7:30 AM. Then we had until about 3:00PM before they would start coming home in intervals! We played splendor with Giselle almost every afternoon! Then we would watch movies in the evenings after kids had finished homework. The best part was having an oven and a commissary with all the ingredients I could possibly need for my favorite recipes! We made chicken rolls, enchiladas, lasagna, white bean chili, grilled cheese with tomato soup, and chicken tenders with mashed potatoes! We got to go watch Diamond play volleyball and watch Florence cheer at the high school which was really fun! Diamond also had a flag football game that we went to on Saturday! On Saturday morning I made cinnamon rolls! They were sooo yummy! That evening we went out to southern BBQ in Itaewon with the kids and to a Korean Noraebang (Kareoke room!) We had a BLAST! On Sunday we took the kids to church and then spent the afternoon hanging out. We made homemade taffy! We had so much fun hanging out with the Simons!

We Beat Wisconsin!!

We woke up at 4:30 to watch BYU beat Wisconsin! What a time to be alive! We went over to the Simons' the night before and had a sleepover so that we could wake up super early to watch the game! 100% worth it! Everyone thought that BYU was going to lose, except for Amy. She called it since like Monday! She kept saying how she actually thought that we were going to win! No one believed her, until we did! We really like watching the games with Brian and Diamond, and sometimes Giselle. It seems that waffles and football is going to be kind of a tradition this season!

Labor Day!

On Labor Day we went to Seoul Forrest with the Simons! We had so much fun! We got to see some cute little bunnies so after that Spencer was sold. We also fed some deer and got to pet them a little. We sat down under a little pavilion for some snacks when out of nowhere it started pouring rain! We were next to a park that had a big metal slide. It had two drops separated by a small flat section. The slide was probably about 25 feet long and with rain making it wet it became an exciting attraction! We all took turns going down. By the time we made it to the second drop we were flying! There was a huge puddle of water we were all trying to avoid at the bottom of the slide so the landing was a bit sketchy! Let's just say, I think Spencer and Florence were the only ones who didn't fall at least once on the landing! Since it was pouring rain I don't have any pictures. Jessica got some videos so maybe I can get those from her and upload them later!

            

Football and Waffles!

BYU Football season has begun! We are lucky enough to have found some fellow fans in the Simons! Brian is a bigger fan than Amy, and Diamond loves it too! The girls, well, we don't really know what they think... But after waiting forever it seems, we got to see the first game of the season!

We bolted home from church to get to the Simons' house! In Brian's words, "The van is leaving five minutes after church is over. Amy, Diamond, Spencer and I at least will be driving home. I don't know about the rest of you!" Jessica was the one we were worried about, always having Relief Society sisters to talk to. Despite all the rush, we still weren't able to make it for kickoff... This is probably going to be a thing this year. With 9am church, and the 15 hour time difference, it is going to be hard to have a game that we will be able to watch live from start to finish... But it is ok!

We had so much fun watching BYU beat Arizona 30-3 in a great opening game! It really makes us excited and hopeful for this season! But we are most excited that we have people to watch it with!! And, Brian made some of the best waffles during half-time! They do waffles the right way! Big waffles with peanut butter, nutella, bananas, ice cream, and syrup! They were so delicious! A great complement to the win!

Later in the evening we went to the Nite's for dinner! They invited us over the week before, but we were in Hong Kong, so we weren't able to go. They have the cutest family! He is Hawaiian and she is Japanese, so they have the cuuuuuutest little half-Japanese babies! They are adorable. I was obviously in heaven, being able to speak Japanese with some cute little kids! We had just a nice evening with some great Hawaiian food! A perfect ending to a great day!

Hong Kong Day 8

Well, today was my last day in Hong Kong! We had a very fun day! We started the morning heading to a place called Monkey Mountain because apparently, there are a lot of monkeys. And since the girls got so excited seeing the monkeys on the hike the other day, naturally, a chance for more monkeys would not be met with any sort of opposition. We decided to bring along some bananas to give them, even though we heard that if you bring food, or what seems like food, in a baggy it can be dangerous because the monkeys will get a bit aggressive and attack people to get at it! We were okay though, no attacks.

Hong Kong Day 7

Today was temple day!! We woke up first thing and went to the temple! Getting off the subway we saw a guy we thought might be going, and sure enough, he ended up being in the session! It is a gorgeous temple! It's like the New York temple in that you go in and first thing go up an elevator! We ended up being the witness couple because we were too early and they asked me since no one else in the men's waiting room had a wife with them. The session was in English! Lucky for us! The celestial room was beautiful! They had so many very Chinese things there. Two glass Asian trees, two big Asian plates and then vases everywhere! It was beautiful! Afterward we took a bunch of pictures outside for all your enjoyment! (Side note: Amy forgot to pack church shoes, so we had to wear our tennis shoes to the temple 😂)

Hong Kong Day 5

Happy Sabbath from Hong Kong! Today we went to church out in Ngau Tau Kok and attended the ward that mom did as a missionary! The building has been renovate a little bit but it's the same one that mom went to each Sunday for 9 about months of her mission! It was so cool to be there! The missionaries translated Sacrament Meeting for us which was helpful because our collective cantonese ability doesn't extend beyond "hello" and counting to 10.

Hong Kong Day 4

Today was the day I had been waiting for all trip! Dragon's Back!! It had been described as a gorgeous hike with the best view and I was excited! We knew it was a long hike, and it was pretty far away, so we tried to get up early to get at it in good time! Of course, McDonald's again for breakfast, stupid McDonald's, if only there were another option, and we began the trek to Dragon's Back!

It took around an hour to get there! We took the subway to Hong Kong Island and then found the bus to take us there. There was a huge line for the bus, so we figured we were in the right place cuz everyone would be hiking the peak! Well we were right about the bus, but wrong about the people! When we got to our stop no one got off the bus, so we second guessed ourselves and didn't get off, but it definitely had been our stop.. So we ended up two stops past where we needed to be.... So we began the walk back to the beginning of the hike, Amy and I are walking in front and we see a taxi, we start to muse out loud, "Maybe we should just take a taxi?" And Corbin from the back says, "Don't worry guys, I already got him!" We look back and sure enough, she had her arm up and the taxi stopped for us! Haha we got to ride in one of those cool old-school looking taxis with the steering wheel on the opposite side! Good 'ole Corbin!

Hong Kong Day 3

Today we decided to hike Kowloon Peak! It's about a 7 mile round trip hike to a beautiful rock cliff that overlooks Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side! We were so excited for this hike! The first 3-4 miles of the hike took FOREVER! It felt really long and it was sooo miserably hot! We were all dripping and soaked through to the skin! I always sweat and get a really red face (thanks mom) but Spencer and Corbin never do! So when they're both dripping sweat you know it's bad! It was like hiking in a sauna. No joke!

Hong Kong Day 2

Today was our first full day in Hong Kong and it couldn't have been better! We woke up to a little bit of rain, but were hopeful that it would clear up and that we would still get to do everything we had planned...and it did! I was so grateful! We headed over to Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island first! We took a bus all the way to the top of the peak and then did the Peak Circle Walk which is about a 2.5 mile walk around Victoria Peak! It gave us gorgeous views of Hong Kong, Victoria Harbor, and Hong Kong Island! It's also through a bunch of thick trees and we saw some pretty huge spiders hanging out on their webs. I'm talking the size of my hand huge! I tried really hard not to think about it but I kept seeing them and it grossed me out a bit. It was a hot and humid day! Much more humid than Seoul!

Hong Kong Day 1

We're in HONG KONG! Is this real life?! I'm so excited that we're finally here! We've been looking forward to this trip for SO LONG. Well, it's actually only been about a month but it feels like longer! We left Seoul at 5:30AM and landed in Hong Kong right around 8:00AM. We pulled some money out of the ATM at the airport and we were off! We took a bus to Central on Hong Kong Island. Spencer dropped his passport and visa renewal application off at the South Korean Embassy (the official reason we're in Hong Kong), and then we hopped on the subway and took it across the harbor to the Kowloon side and up to our Airbnb in Mong Kok!

The first thing we noticed was the really bad smelling street food on the corner of our apartment building. The second thing we noticed was the insane amount of people! We're on floor 9 of our apartment building but unfortunately no windows, so no good views! We left our luggage, but we were too early for check in so we had a couple of hours to kill before we could come back. We went to the Wong Tai Sin Temple first. It's a famous Taoist temple in Kowloon. As it turns out, mom went there during Chinese New Year on her mission! The temple itself was really pretty and despite being structurally similar to temples we've been to in Seoul, it was really different! There were statues of the Chinese Zodiac characters and they also had a really pretty "Good Wishes" garden. We couldn't see the inside of the temple itself because we couldn't get close enough, plus there was so much incense being burned by people worshiping outside the temple that the air was a little smokey!

Dragon Hill Resort & Spa

Not many pictures to show for today! We spent most of the day at Namdaemun market. We walked along part of the Seoul City Wall for a bit which was also really fun!

Bukchon, Dr. Fish, Temples, and Itaewon!

Today was the one day that Spencer didn't have to work during Corbin's trip so he got to spend the whole day with him! Per his request, we arranged to take Corbin to some places that neither of us had been! We started the day at Bukchon Hanok Village and then we went to Dr. Fish for some pedicures! In the afternoon we went to a couple of Buddhist temples! We ended the evening in Itaewon!

Bukchon Hanok Village was pretty cool! It's an area in Seoul that still has all the traditional houses! It's really cute! We had a really fun time! The pictures pretty much show everything there is to tell!

Seoul Mates 💘

Corbin landed in Seoul last night and we couldn't be more excited to have her here! Since I've already written about the places we are taking Corbin, I'm just going to post some pictures of her stay in Seoul!

On Day 1, we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Blue House! Then we went to street food in the evening!

A Couple of Jobs

So I did a couple of fun sportswear jobs for Puma and Reebok where they had me jump around! I thought I'd share a few pics. Just for fun!

Naksansa Buddhist Temple & Beach

(Happy Birthday DAD!!! 💙)

Today was such a fun day! We drove all the way up to the northeast corner of the country and spent the day on the beach with the Simons Family.  It took us almost 4 hours to get there because of traffic (despite leaving at 5:30AM). Summer school just ended so today is the first official day of summer for the Koreans. One of the craziest things you'll ever see in Korea are the rest stops. Rest stops here are kind of like mini street malls, so there's lots of food and some shopping places. Kind of cool, but nothing super extravagant, right? I mean, it's still a rest stop. But driving by, it's almost as if the rest stop is the final destination for the Koreans. Literally PACKED. Sometimes there's even a backup on the interstate from cars trying to get off at a rest stop. Why? Who knows. On the way to Gangwon, we passed the turn off to Pyeongchang where the 2018 Winter Olympics were held. South Korea built tunnels through the mountains in preparation for the games to make it easy for people to get to the venues. One of the tunnels is 11 km long and in the middle they put grooves in the road that sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" as you drive over it. It's pretty neat. To get to the beach today, we drove through 40 km of tunnels.