Hearts Full of Joy

The Simple Life For Me

:Laundry hanging out to dry in our neighborhood, beind our apartment complex (in the background to the right):

One of the things that I am enjoying most about our life here in Korea is the opportunity for us to simplify. We moved here in our suitcases - 5 large suitcases, 5 carry-ons, and 5 large suitcase-sized boxes. So we didn't bring much with us. We have a simple apartment without a dryer, which is typical for Korea. We have a small kitchen with a tiny oven, not much bigger than the typical American microwave overn. And we don't have a car. We may get one. We haven't decided yet. In some ways not having a car makes life more complicated. But not having a car helps us get more exercise. We walk much more, and carry out groceries home from the store. And a lack of car also keeps life simple by not needing to worry about car insurance, car registration, drivers licenses, keeping gas in the car, repairs and maintenance of the car, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:Our laundry - mostly hapkido uniforms - hanging to dry on our veranda. I love hanging my laundry out to dry at home in Nauvoo too. But I am used to the option of using the dryer on cold, rainy days and when in a hurry:

I am truly loving it. Having fewer belongings frees up so much mental space, time, and energy that can be directed in so many different ways. It also helps me to focus on the basics and what is truly most important. We value each other more as a family and are less distracted, pulled in fewer directions. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We lived the simple life almost 20 years ago in Japan, when our family was just starting, and I have missed it ever since. How lucky we are to do it again with a new crop of children. I'm so glad that they can experience it too.

:our apartment:

And speaking of those children, after more than two years of having no teenagers in our family, today we officially have a teenager again. Mia came into this world 13 years ago today on a beautiful Easter Sunday. We didn't know about it until 3 days later, but throughout that Sunday I had a joyous feeling that something wonderful and significant was happening. I just didn't know what it was.

I'm making her request, our favorite dark chocolate cake, today, and grinding up my own powdered sugar in the blender, since I haven't been able to find any here. I'm also making gyoza and simmered kabocha (Japanese foods) at her request. I love that girl.

senior pics

i finally took senior pics of my gorgeous girl yesterday. we've only been trying to get this done since last fall. but she is more of a springtime girl, so i think this did work out for the best. so fun to have such a lovely subject and live in such beautiful surroundings for photo backdrops.

this is the cabin at the jospeh smith homestead, built for his parents to live in.

the back of the Nauvoo House

the foundation of the ruined half of the Mansion House

the nauvoo grove

 

the Graduation to-do list:

announcements - ready to go, just need photos

photos - taken, need to be ordered

party - planned, invitations partly distributed, need to plan the food

awards assembly - last night, tashi received two local scholarships, and lot of awards

high school music concert - tonight - tashi has a solo with the chorus, and plays piano for the jazz band.

baccalaureate - tashi is speaking

seminary graduation - tashi is speaking

high school graduation - tashi is speaking

 

....i won't start on the wedding to-do list for her older sister (the wedding is 13 days after graduation), it will make me cry.

 

and a senior pic of the older sister (this year's bride) from last year (gloria took these for us, because i wasn't brave enough). so sad & happy to have my two big girls grown up.

 

 

she is a stinker

this mother's day card from lexi made me laugh ....

 

first: it is undeniably true!

second: this little skunk looks exactly like lexi would have drawn it, if she had drawn it herself.

too funny!

....i love you too lex!

growing up

it was a full day. lexi went to early church because baccalaureate conflicted with our church meetings. we went to the first half of sacrament meeting (where noah waxed wise - see previous post), then baccalaureate. afterwards, i ran back to relief society, and lexi suprsied me by joining me a few moments later (she had already sat through 3 hours of church,  rehearsals, and then baccalaureate. and then she and tashi stayed at church for a sunday evening discussion with susan easton black. they zipped home for a bite to eat, and then back to seminary graduation.

lex gave the opening prayer at seminary graduation, and both she and tashi recieived highest honors and "lettered" in seminary - this involves 90% attendance (at 6 a.m.), 200 days minimum of daily scripture reading, memorizing all the scripture mastery scriptures, and memorizing more like the first presidency and quorum of the twelve in order.

it hit me as we sat there, what amazing girls i have, and how incredibly grateful i am. we don't get up in the  morning until after they have left for seminary (so grateful they can drive). they do this all by themselves. and i give them very little credit for it. they amaze me.

next sunday lexi will graduate. and next year at this time we will do it all again with tashi. so many thoughts and emotions (mainly denial), but sotly too busy to stop and think or feel them...... i somehow missed the memo about how incredibly busy you life is with a graduation senior.

11 years ago, when lex and tash were 7 and 6, i was going through a rough patch. i found myself a very young stay at home mom, with both kids in school all day in japan. and a hoped for pregnancy hadn't happened. i missed my girls everyday, although i enjoyed my alone time (and got so much done!) everyone told me how lucky i was and to enjoy my time. and it was exciting to get to do all the things i hadn't been able to do since becoming a mother: to work out for an hour everyday, to take the train and meet brock near his work for lunch, to study japanese in depth, to go to the temple at least twice a month, etc, etc,. but i discovered that as wonderful as those things were, they weren't anywhere nearly as fulfilling as being a mother, and i was panicked about what would happen when my girls actually left home. the thought was too much to bear. i asked a friend who has seven children, and whose oldest was a senior, and youngest were twins that were tashi's age at the time, how it felt for her to be losing her oldest. she smiled and said that it was difficult, but that teenageers had a way of preparing you for their departure.

i do understand her feelings now. i can see that lexi is ready to go, and i am excited to see her spread her wings and fly. but i'm sure that sorrow will hit me when she is gone. i'm so grateful for the younger children that finally joined our family. because i would be falling apart right now, if they weren't here with us.... if tashi would leave next year, and that would be it. of course i would be in better shape (more time to exercise and eat right), i would be more sane, i would be more accomplished, more relaxed, and have a MUCH cleaner house. but i wouldn't take any  of those things if i had to give up my children to get them.

i do love being a mother.

prom 2010

the girls had a wonderful prom group this year.

we took photos at the same place as last year, because we like it so much. i don't even know what this building is, but i love it!

lexi and quentin

 

tashi & eli

the girls

the boys

 

 

 

at the promenade, where the young ladies and their escorts were presented before the dance. tashi (who was prom royalty this year) and her date in front, with lexi and her date being presented behind.....

they and the other girls in their group were the only ones wearing dresses that didn't show way, way  too much of the young ladies, and these girls and their dresses are all so lovely!

nauvoo in the spring

tashi took the littles to the temple grounds for a photo shoot in early april.

i love her photo skills.

 

redbud ready to bloom

 

 

magnolias

 

the typical state of susie-q's shoes - on the wrong feet.

 

more redbud

 

and a photo by mia, show is showing some surprising photo skills.

high school musical....thoroughly modern millie!

the musical was a delight! so fun to have lexi and tashi in the same role. on each of their "on-nights" as dorothy the other was having an "off-night" in the ensemble. they were actually on stage, singing and dancing more on their "off-nights", and it was so fun to watch them in each of their many roles.

i made these two dorothy dresses:

mrs meers gives dorothy (tashi on right) a poisoned california apple

dorothy (lexi on left) and millie meet.

from these patterns, originally published in the 1920s:

it was a fascinating learning experience to sew with these 20s patterns - they assumed so much general sewing knowledge. for example: "you can finish the neckline with a facing, or with a bias binding, or any other method you choose." but no patterns or further instructions were given for the facings or bias bindings.

i also unexpectedly organized the relief society women from church to sew the 19 purple dresses for the "stenogs" in the office scenes.

 

2 days of sewing for 10 hours each, plus a little more, with friends was surprisingly fun! 

a few more of my favorite photos:

 

lexi as a stenog

 

puttin' on the ritz - tashi second from leftabove, lexi in center below 

trevor grayden trying to get to dorothy, who has realized that she is truly in love with ching-ho


dancing at the speakeasy.

my first born

the time that our oldest will fly the nest is fast approaching. this is the sweet valentine she made for me. she is in the throes of settling on a university. you can read about her dilema on her blog.

when i was the age she is now i was approaching the end of my second semester at byu. i started young  because of a funky deadline in the school district where i entered kindergarten. i enjoyed graduating from high school and starting college young, and wanted that for her too. but she wasn't born in time for the school deadline, although she'd been threatening to come early for months and doctors promised that it was impossible for me to carry her full term (she was actually 8 days late). i always planned to have her skip a year, but she first entered american school as a sophomore, after 12 years in japan, and it didn't seem helpful or wise to move her ahead at that point. and it turns out that i am very grateful that we've had this last year with her at home because she has been most enjoyable (after several years of not being so enjoyable), and i'm grateful for the happy memories and improved relationships that we've forged this year.

here is one of her many quilt projects (she has almost as many in progress as i do), the "kansas twister", a repro pattern by judie rothermel, which she is hand piecing.

 

Southern Virginia

brock and the girls got home from their road trip at 6:30 this a.m. they visited SVU for an openhouse and lexi auditioned for an additional scholarship (she has quite a good scholarship already, but this is expensive private school tuition) in voice/choir. we think this is a great option for lex, and she even applied last fall without our knowledge. but she is still holding out for BYU - which would be less money, even without a scholarship. i need to be careful not to let her know how much i like SVU, so she isn't tempted to run the other way :)

 

they didn't take these photos, these are file photos pulled off the internet.... virginia was having the worst winter weather in 100 years while they were there. 

 

i want to go.

thoroughly modern millie!

The results of the auditions for our high school's spring musical are in, and Lexi and Tashi are double cast as Miss Dorothy!

Lexi was hoping for Millie, and she would have been great, but Millie is the only role that wasn't double cast. They will both be wonderful as Dorothy. It's a good fit for them both. (And it's a smart financial move for the theater department - good way to get us to buy two sets of tickets as a family!)

The musical will run March 18, 19, and 20th.