Happy Birthday 2 William!!!

William is officially 2 today!

Oh the excitement - I LOVE 2 year olds.  They are my favorite!

 We had such a fun day.

I didn't really know how fun a summer birthday could be.  

William is the only one in our family with a summer birthday,

so the whole idea of being outside for a party was a novelty.

The kids blew many bubbles.

Or attempted many times to blow bubbles.

Wesley was very curious about them.

 The only way I could get William away from the bubbles way to 

bribe him with cake and ice cream.

The kids had a blast jumping on the new trampoline.

It was a present from Soungsik and I for Williams birthday,

but in truth we have wanted one for a long time and it

was a great way to kill 2 birds with one giant stone.

 

 

 The manufacturer recommends only 1 child at a time.

Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen.

8 isn't that much more than 1 anyways!

Here are the girls playing 

"Break the Aunt Erica" game!

None of them actually weigh enough to break anything.

You must have yummy food at a party.

(If you don't guests probably won't show up :))

Here's the boy table.

Nice hat Jee Hoon!

And the girl table.

 

Wait a minute.

One of these things doesn't look like the others,

one of these things doesn't belong.

William had a haul - literally - with his presents.

All of his toys had a transportation theme.

This was not planned.

Everyone just really knows William well!

Here's a train from his Noona (Big Sister).

 

Some kids just know how to go after it and get the job done.

Here's a Toy Story car from Jee Hoon.

He bought this with his own money,

what a sweet cousin!

He got some pool toy boats from Nathaniel & Jenny's family.

Those will be put to good use in the tub tomorrow morning!

 

William was getting frustrated with us because every time

he would open a present, we would take it away from him so that he could open the next one.

Leave it to Daniel & Erica's family to bring in the heavy machinery.

 

It makes noise and moves.

William loved it.

Wesley had to check it out too.

 

Grandma & Grandpa got William the all important

Tonka dump truck

A boy just wouldn't be a boy without one.

Well in our family anyways!

And a birthday wouldn't be a birthday without a cake.

Aren't I getting just slightly creative in my old age?

 

I wonder what his wish was?

It's exciting to think of the year ahead of us.

Soon he'll be talking and we'll know what's 

going on inside that head of his.

 William, we are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Happy Birthday big guy!

We love you!

Christmas In July

The kids had Christmas early this year!

Actually our friend Doo Il ordered a Cadillac 

Power Wheels for the kids (Thank you, thank you).

It finally arrived last night.

We had to let the battery charge all night. 

It also needed to be assembled.

 

The kids were a big help with that!

After the assembly was complete and after Isabelle had asked us 

4,000 times if the battery was charged, it was ready to roll.

Soungsik gave a brief tutorial to the excited driver. 

Possibly too brief, because she ran into our neighbors shrub twice.

And she may or may not have run into Grandma's flower bed and the neighbors flower bed, 

and she may or may not have broken 2 sprinklers!

 

Have no fear, after those minor mishaps she got the hang of it!

Of course toys are funner when you share with friends.

 

Many of our little neighbors came to drive too.

I quickly decided that no matter how much I love my neighbors,

it would probably be best if we didn't all live by each other when 

our kids turn 16 at the same time!

 

What little yuppies with their puppy!

The kids had a blast with this today and I am sure they will for many years to come.

I do have to admit that I have a small amount of 

black Cadillac SUV envy because of my children!

Some kids get all the fun!

BOOK REVIEW: THE LAST BATTLE

Title: The Last Battle

Book 7 in the Narnia Series

Author: C.S. Lewis

Number of Pages: 211

Number of Stars I'm Giving: 5

I really loved this book! I think this may even be my favorite book of the series.

I was beginning to lose hope after "Prince Caspian" & "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  This book brought me back to being a Narnia fan.  The story in this book moved fast and was interesting from the first few pages.  The ending is not at all what you would expect, and also unlike all of the other books.  This book really makes you think about life, God, and the afterlife.  I think people that don't believe in God would hate this book.  It takes on the unpopular topic of there only being 1 true God.  

This book brought together the lives of all of the previous heroes and heroins.

The ending should have been heartbreaking, but it was really happy.

I knew I didn't like Susan during the rest of the series and now I know why!

Jill and Eustace had matured and this was the 1st book where the little

Earthlings didn't bother me to a certain extent.

I think this was a book written well ahead of its time.

If you are reading this series and get stuck in the middle on some of the more boring books, don't give up.

Or, at the very least, just skip to the last one.  It's entirely worth your time.

 

FYI: This book was awarded the Carnegie Medal.

Extra FYI: C.S. Lewis was friends with J.R. Tolken.

They were even in a writer's club together - who knew?

I'm sure a lot of people knew that, but I didn't.

Learn something new every day!

Cell Phone Envy

We received a package from Doo Il today.

Among other things it had a memory card 

with pictures from his cell phone.

I have cell phone envy.

His phone takes better pictures and videos than my camera :(.

Thankfully he was kind enough to share what he got with us.

It was a nice surprise and a great way to remember the fun we had over the last couple of months.

 

Doo Il is the new president of Isabelle's fan club, I think!

They miss each other like crazy.

The Korean picnic.

A pair of hooligans.

TKD stuff.

Soungsik loved taking his friend to work with him.

This is one tough cookie.

A cookie with NO FEAR!

My hard working, good looking hubby.

Doo Il enjoys a good prank.

 

William and I enjoying the great outdoors.

I am a bit of a tough cookie too.

Out to lunch.  

I can't get over what cute kids these are.

And they are great friends to boot!

Taking in the views in Vegas.

The Grand Canyon.

Zions.

 Even though his camera is better,

it still doesn't make you look tanner or skinnier.

For shame.

 

Out by the buffaloes.

 

Thank you Doo Il.

Not many people are as cool and thoughtful as he is.

Days of '47 Float Preview

This morning we went to the Days of '47 Float Preview.  

It was so fun!  This was definitely the way to see the parade.

We were in an air conditioned building and we didn't have to wait for hours for the parade to start!

There were so many cool floats, 

so I couldn't get pictures of them all.

A BYU float, the donkeys looked almost real.

 This one was made by a Methodist church.

It had little houses all of the way around,

too cute!

This float was especially cool from the front, 

but my picture keeps loading sideways.

What is a technologically challenged girl to do?

I like big boots and I can not lie,

you other brothers can't deny...

Ducks and swings...

I don't know what it means, but I still like it! 

I thought this one was cool.

They had missionary penguins! 

 This one ended up being Soungsiks favorite, for obvious reasons!

Wilford Woodruff fly fishing.

This float was made by a youth group, not bad!

This one ended up being Isabelle's favorite - for obvious reasons!

 Kung Fu Panda baby!

Balloons puppies and swords - oh my!

 I can't believe how still the kids were when she did this!

A beautiful butterfly for her.

A slippery slimy snake for him.

William's favorite part were the marching bands. 

He was mesmerized by the drums.

Soungsik doesn't understand why I don't want to buy him a set,

seriously he doesn't know why?!?

We may have to make this an annual tradition!