The Lang Family

Joseph Laughing

2010-08-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

This was too cute not to capture and post right away. We just got done celebrating Emma's birthday, and Ariana was playing with Joseph with a party blower. I think towards the end of the film he was too tired to smile. I love my kids!!! They all play so well together!! Anyways...it make me laugh every time I see this video.

Story time at the library

2010-07-28T00:47:00.000-07:00

Today at story time we read about firemen. After storytime we were able to go downstairs and pretend to be firemen.

I would say that Ariana whould have to be the cutest, shortest fireman I have ever seen!!

Random Pictures

2010-07-28T00:40:00.000-07:00

A random picture of me in our room.

Ariana was helping me bake some cookies. She put in the the flour and then turned the machine on. Flour went EVERYWHERE!!!

Emmalee and Joseph

Hill 303

2010-07-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

Hill 303 is right behind our house. During the Korean war, a bunch of Chinese soldiers took a bunch of American soldiers on a death march. They marched them up this hill, then shot and killed all of them.

Emmalee hiding in a foxhole.

This part of the trail was so steep, they had stairs on the side.

The beginning of the hike.

Yongyeonsa Geungnakjeon

2010-07-28T00:20:00.000-07:00

This Buddist Temple was established around 912 in the Silla Dynasty, which is about 57BC~AD935.

1 Week Check-up

2010-07-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

This is Doctor Kim, who delivered Joseph. This is one week after his birth. I felt huge next to him. Koreans are really tiny!!

Joseph Everett Lang

2010-07-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

He was born March 23,2010 8lbs 4oz and 21 inches

I was HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!

35 Weeks

2010-05-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Sweets from our Landlord

2010-05-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

We received these "sweets" from our landlords. They were not sweet at all. Some tasted like rubber with no flavoring. They were nicely decorated though.

33 Weeks

2010-05-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Pictures taken by Ariana and Emmalee

2010-05-27T18:29:00.000-07:00

Ariana and Emmalee swiped our camera, locked themselves in our computer room, and took these pictures.

Pregnant Belly

2009-12-28T01:04:00.000-08:00

Me at 28 weeks.

Christmas Party

2009-12-27T22:12:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Day, we invited a few of our friends over. We had a blast playing games and eatting TONS of food. One of our friends brought over this festive cake.

Everything was edible. YUM yum.

Another one of our friends brought of these beautiful flowers. They smell so good!!

We made this gingerbread man, my first one ever!!

The Night Before Christmas

2009-12-27T22:05:00.000-08:00

Leaving out cookies and milk for Santa Claus.

These girls must have been really good girls to receive so many presents.

Cleaning....A Favorite Pasttime

2009-12-27T21:57:00.000-08:00

Emmalee loves to help with the dishes.

When we asked the girls to clean their room, we were suprised to find that their version of clean, and ours, was different. They are such hard workers and try so hard, I just had to take a picture.

Random Pictures

2009-12-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

Playing with cousins. Look at all those pretty princesses!!

Emmalee drew this picture. It's a picture of her daddy. She was sure to point out that he had two eyes, two hands, and a smiley face.

Riding the train at the airport.

Playing in the yard with Uncle David

2009-12-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

The girls had fun burying Uncle David in a pile of leaves.

Then they picked them up and threw them in the back of the truck.

What a big help!!

Costumes

2009-12-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

Our cute little girls.

The Queen of Hearts.

Our pink kitty cat.

Pumpkin

2009-12-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

They were ready to carve the pumpkin...but once they found out it included taking out all the slimy stuff, they were a little reluctant. I was able to get Emmalee to stick her hand this far in, but that is it!! Ariana didn't even want to get that close.

Our kitty cat.

Dentist Visit

2009-12-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

The Girls were really excited to go to their first dentist appointment.

Cool Emmalee...

Joy Riding In the Mountain

2009-10-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

We went joy riding with Granny and Grandpa while visiting in Colorado. This is an area around Woodland park, which was really beautiful. The girls loved all the bumps and thrills of going through streams and muddy puddles. We had a blast!!
Here we found some snow that the girls were excited to play in.

Resting a the top of the mountain. We rode for over fours hours, and had fun every minute.

Here Ariana is with Granny.

Emma riding with Grandpa. Both the girls were decked out with sunglasses, helmets, and gloves.

Emma with Grandpa again. She liked going with Grandpa because he went fast!!

Ocean time in Busan

2009-09-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

Ariana and Emmalee were a little reluctant to get into the water at first.

Walking on the board walk.

Running from the waves.

Emmalee enjoys getting buried in the sand.

Our little mermaids.

Before long, the girls were running into the ocean, fearless!!

Our Hotel at Busan

2009-09-13T19:03:00.001-07:00

Instead of a big bed, there were two twin size beds, which were really hard.

We got a personal greeting and a bowl of fruit, which had all miniaturized fruit inside. YUMMY!!

I know this is a weird picture, but I though how interesting that your toiletries would include an emery board, comb, and a sewing kit.

Here they have four hot tubs outside. The girls loved playing in them.

Every day this woman came dressed in a beautiful dress. The girls said she was a princess playing a golden harp. Emmalee was extremley fascinated with her.

Our future harpschordist. Sorry it's sideways.

Eatting at Our Hotel in Busan

2009-09-13T18:51:00.001-07:00

We traveled down to Busan and stayed in a 5-star hotel by the beach. Here is some of the food we enjoyed. Emma's favorite color is pink, so that is the color of ice cream she got.

Here is a view from the restaurant looking out on the beach.

Dessert

It was a Korean style buffet. Here are some food that they served.

Brownies are really yummy, but top them with chocolate garnish and a hint of gold dusting, and it really pulls it's weight in gold!!

Emmalee trying to master the art of using chop sticks. One of my favorite quotes by Miss Piggy is "We don't try to sew with forks, so why would we eat with sewing needles".

Emma's Birthday

2009-09-13T18:05:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMALEE!!

Here is a video of the water park.

Ariana loves the water!!

Swimming on Emma's Birthday

2009-09-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

We let Emmalee choose what she wanted to do for her birthday, and with a fun waterpark close by, it's no wonder she wanted to go swimming.

With these little rings, these girls are invincible.

They have a kids area by the pool that the girls love!!

Our cute little 3 year old!!!

The girls are regular fish out water!! Emmalee nick names herself "mermaid".

Lunch with Friends

2009-09-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

We got together with some of the women in the Korean Ward and had lunch. We learned of interesting things about them.

Here is Kwona and Tracey.

Here is some of the food we ate. On the left is Kimchi (which I personally don't like) and on the right is a black bean sauce.

This is a black sauce pasta dish famous here. Not my favorite, but it still tasted good. We all ate out of the same bowl.

Here is another dish we all shared. You take a scoop with the spoon and put some in a small bowl that you have in front of you. It is sweet and sour pork. WAY better than the American version!!!

Here was my table setting. The little bowl on the left was the bowl used to put the pork in, while the bowl on the right (with the chopsticks) was used for the noodles. Just above the noodle bowl is a pepper sauce used to dip the pickled onions and different roots in. Above the peppered sauce bowl is the bowl for the pickled vegetable. Koreans beleive that meals should be balanced, so after having a fried dish, like the sweet and sour pork, they beleive it healthy to eat somthing , well, healthy. I loved the picked vegies (except for the onions, which is why they are still in the bowl). They also give you a wash rag to wash your hands before the meal. We drank some sort of herbal tea and the last bowl, with the spoon upside down, is the black bean sauce, which was also good!!

Here we all are.

New Park

2009-09-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

They recently re-did the park where we live. It took them several months, mostly becasue they did EVERYTHING by hand, and I mean everything!! They were on their hands and knees with irons (the kind of irons that you iron your clothes with) making sure the patterns on the ground were perfect.

Once everything was finished, they held a huge ceremony to dedicate the park and to well wish it.

The men that were dedicating it, bowed down, out of show of respect and was served different fruits. I don't understand the entire meaning of this, however, I do know that twice a year Koreans visit their deceased ancestors places of burials and bring food to show that they still remember them and that they are still part of the family.

After the ceremony was over, all the children released their balloons into the sky. It was really neat.

Count Down to Visit Granny and Grandma

2009-08-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

We made these the other day to count down the days until we leave for the states. The girls LOVE tearing a ring off each morning, knowing that they are another day closer to visiting Granny and Grandma Lang.

Happy Father's Day Jared

2009-08-30T04:09:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day!!

Jared got the king's breakfast. Two eggs over easy, orange cremed cinnamon roll, and sausage links. And breakfast wouldn't be breakfast without a HUGE glass of milk to wash it down with!!

Ariana Turns FOUR

2009-08-30T03:53:00.000-07:00

Better late than never; here are pictures of Ariana's Birthday Party!! We had presents set out for her when she woke up.

My mom sent a box of presents for her, so we set them up in front of the webcam so she could open them.

Ariana LOVES to play dress up. This was one of her favorite gifts!! And since her birthday was on a Sunday, I let her wear this outfit to church. EVERYONE knew it was her birthday!!

This cake was made by yours truly. My first castle cake. They loved it!!

All of our friends squeezed into our livingroom. We had burgers and baked fries for dinner.

Here is another outfit Ariana loves (mostly because it is blue, her favorite color).

Opening more presents.

Beach Time in Pusan

2009-08-20T02:07:00.000-07:00

We went down to Pusan for the day and had a great time at the beach. Usually beach day doesn't start in Korea until the end of June, and Koreans don't go to the beach before beach day. So we had the beach almost to ourselves. The girls loved being buried in the sand. The sand here really sticks to you and almost embeds in your skin.

When Koreans go swimming on the beach, they don't go out that far. Jared is on the left, with one of our friends beside him. They were the ONLY ones in the water. That is a Korean swim saftey person on the jetski. They were not allowed to swim past him.

We got to build lots of sand castles. We all had a great time.

The Seoul Korean LDS Temple

2009-08-03T01:36:00.003-07:00

The temple is hidden in a valley, up a hill, and behind ALOT of buildings.

This is the drive that goes up to the temple. Some people park here, making it a very tight squeeze to get through, especially with our durango. We brushed against all those trees you see to the left.

Here is the wonderful, BIG (said in a very sarcastic tone), parking lot. THIS IS IT!!! YOu can see our gray durango parked in the ONE line of parking available at the temple. The other cars parked to the right, are just parked by the curb.

Jared and Ariana in front of the temple. They had a district primary activity this day, so we got free babysitting.

Emmalee

This is us. The landscaping is really pretty!!

Laundry in Korea

2009-08-03T01:24:00.000-07:00

Before we came to Korea, I thought, "Hmmm....wouldn't it be lovely to lead a slow paced life...you know like...make EVERYTHING from scratch, hanging up the laundry to dry, walking everywhere..." Until I got here, and actually have to do all of those things (or HAD to, for the most part). Since we got our car, we don't ride our bike (we only have one) to the commissary (uphill both ways) with our bike trailor, fill it up with groceries, make our children walk all the way back home, and make who knows how many trips up the elevator to unload it.

The laundry thing is still the issue. We don't have a dryer in our apartment, and they don't have a laundry mat anywhere in our building or anywhere in Korea (unless we wanted to take it on base), so, when in Korea, do as the Koreans. We hang our laundry to dry. We have learned much from this concept, such as, if you need or want to wear something to church, you should wash it three days before so it has enough time to dry completley and on days that it is humid, you need at least four days. And....if you spill something on it, either you wear it anyways, or you find something else. The girls are also learning to help hang the laundry. Here are some pictures of our laundry situation.

Emmalee was given the task of hanging up the socks.I never knew she was so good at tying knots.

Why I Love My Girls

2009-07-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

First of all, sorry for not keeping updated. I will try to catch up in the next couple of weeks.

Okay, so back to the story: My girls, and why I love them. For Ariana's birthday, she received a duplicate item. So we went to the store to return it and exchange it for something of her choosing. Now the store on base isn't very large, which leaves one aisle for the toys. Now this isle has to have toys for boys and girls of all ages, so there are baby toys, boy toys, learning toys, and you catch my drift. So there is maybe a 3 ft by 4 ft area that interests the girls. So we turn in the toy, get a gift card, and head over to this humble isle. Without even thinking twice, Ariana already knows what she wants, and grabs it from the shelf. I tell her she can pick out another toy (since there was more money on the card). Emmalee is so helpful in trying to help Ariana. She grabs a toy, holds it up for Ariana to see, and says "how bout this Ana, it's blue!!! (which is Ana's favorite color). Then, I am filled with this deep love for my children as Ariana turns to Emma, who is holding this toy for Ariana, and says " Emma, you pick out a toy. What do you want?" As she asks this, she gently guides Emma over to the toy shelf and begins to help Emma find a toy. As I explained to Ariana ahead of time that she can pick out toys for herself, she reminds me to share and be compassionate. She loves her sister so much!! So they picked out a toy for Emma, as she is smiling and says "Oh thank you Ana." I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!

Good Things come in Nice Packages

2009-05-27T19:06:00.001-07:00

We had some friends come over for a girls night, and one brought this cake. She brought it in such a nice bag, I thought it was something else. The box is also so nice.

So we opened it, and it is a cake roll. There were two. One had a honey sauce, while the other had more of a fruit sauce. They were delicious.

What surprised me the most, was that it came with it's own knife!! Fancy smancy.

I know this watermelon is the odd picture in the bunch. It has it's own story. Jared and I went to a Korean mart and saw this yummy watermelon. I picked it up and almost had it in my cart, when the Korean guy chased me down and pulled me back to the melon stand. He insisted that the only proper way to carry the melon was by using this holding device. It took two men to put the melon in it, and I must say, it sure does make carrying a melon easier.

The Market Place

2009-05-25T15:54:00.001-07:00

At the market place, they have tons of different foods laid out on the street. As you can see, just behind Jared are plates of fish. When you buy food at the market place, you can't buy just one fish, especially if they are grouped together. They give you whatever is on the plate.

They sell LOTS of seafood, any where from sea urchins, crab legs, to frogs!!!!

Here are some more sea delights.

This is usually the scene wherever we go. The fawn over the kids, pull them close, and then touch their hair. This Korean woman was rapidly talking in Korean to Ariana, when Ariana looks up at me with a huge smile, and asks, "What is she saying?" Her guess was just as good as mine!

Emmalee is very shy towards most people, and she usually begs for us to rescue her. Here, Ariana, decided to help her sister.

They sell many different types of vegetables and lay them out. This particular market place went on for over 2 miles, and during our entire walk, only found one stand that sold any sweets. We found a couple more stands that sell fruits. Most sell vegetables, nuts, and fish.

Another picture we saw over and over again are families working together. Her they are peeling the leaves off a head of lettuce, and then pile them up to sell them.

Driving in Korea

2009-05-22T03:54:00.001-07:00

I remember seeing pictures of bikes and trucks in Mexico and Africa and thinking,"hmmm....I guess I'll never see crazy things like this in real life." Boy was I wrong. Not only do they load up their motorcycles, but also their bikes, trucks, pull wagons, and who knows what else. I have even seen them carry boxes in one hand while driving down the road.

These little vans are everywhere. Jared and I want to buy one and bring it back to the states, but I think they are illegeal there. If we two were to sit in the fron seat together, we would be shoulder to shoulder. They are so cute though.

Here is the Shounguk Expressway. We have to drive this way to get to Daegu.

Off the road you can see the tops of some green houses. These are all along the major roads here in Waegwan. It seems like every piece of land is utilized.

Package from Granny and Grandpa

2009-05-22T03:49:00.001-07:00

Patiently waiting to open the packages.

Ariana got another Ariel!!!

Emma got Sleeping Beauty

They both had so much fun opening these boxes!!

Banana's

2009-05-09T00:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I know this is a little weird to write a post on banana's, but we went shopping at some markets today, and these banana's were so cute, I couldn't help but buy them. These are a lot smaller than in the states, but they taste just the same. I beleive they are grown on minature banana trees.

The bigger ones measure about 5 inches long, while the smaller ones are only about 3 inches long.

Ariana was my demonstrator to show how small the smallest bunch of banana's are.

Hanbit Apartments

2009-05-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

These are the apartments we live in. They are called the Hanbit Apartments, and everyone knows where they are. What I mean by that is, when we get into a taxi we don't give them our address, we just say the Hanbit apartments and they know exactly where that is. There are 6 or so different buildings and most of them have 18 stories. This picture is not our building but the one across from us. I wanted to show how they got our furniture, including our piano, up to the 13th floor.
They load it on a flat piece of plywood board, which has no sides or railings or anything!!Then they elevator it up to the top. When they delivered our furniture, our mattress was a little stuck coming through the window. Without hesitation, the man jumped out of our window, on to the board, and pushed it through, with NO saftey devices connected to him in case he fell off!!! And to top it all off, we are on the 13th floor!!!

This is the view from our back window balcony. When we step out our apartment building, there are mountain hiking trails within 5 feet. Any outdoor enthuisists dream. There are stone memorials along the trails. I'll be sure to take pictures when I can.

Here is the playground, also visible from our back balcony window. Since taking this picture, they have torn out the playground (I think they are replacing it).

Famous in Korea

2009-04-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

Today Jared and I ventured off to Woobyland (a child's amusement park) with Ariana and Emma in the stroller. We had to walk off base, and take the subway, getting off on one station and switch to the other. On the subways they have a special seating area for elderly people, pregnant people, or people with wheelchairs. The oldest person gets to sit down, and if a man and a woman are about the same age, then the man gets to sit down. Pregnant women get first priority. No one sits in these seats unless they fit one of these categories. It's very nice to see the respect.
So, now back to my title. Korean people are fascinated with blonde hair and blue eyes. Everywhere we went we had eyes on us, and the girls were constantly greeted with hand shakes and smiles. We even had a couple of people ask if they could take their picture. What they do with the picture?? Who knows.

By Plane, or Train, or Bus

2009-04-17T04:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought since I updated our blog with pictures (and brief explanations) I thought I would write about some of our experiences here so far. First of all, jet lag is crazy. We are in bed every night by 8:00 and up around 3:00 (5:00 if we are lucky). The girls are having so much fun, but I have to wonder what they are really thinking (like, okay I want to go home now). They are endearing, which is nice. On our way from the airport to the hotel, we took a bus. Now if I can tell you one thing about bus drivers in Korea is that there are no bus drivers. They are more like roller coaster death traps. They are one of the biggest vehicles on the road, and yet drive like they are motorcycles. They weave in and out of traffic, cut of cars left and right, and slam on the brakes just to floor the gas again. So we made it to the hotel alive, and fell asleep almost as soon as we entered our room. The first week in Seoul we played alot!! The hotel is a four star hotel with all the yummy desserts that come with it. There are alot of briefs that they give us here to aclimate us to the culture here. We even had a crash course in the Korean language.
Today we took another bus (this one was way less scary) to the train station. Jared and I have 12 bags altogether that we had to get on and off the bus. Then, when we arrived at the train station, the bus stopped at the bottom of the hill (there are lots of hills here). It took us 2 trips to get all our bags into the train station. As we waited for our train, so many strangers kept touching the girls' face or holding their hand, and kept saying how cute they were. Koreans love blonde hair and blue eyes. Everyone is so nice (and skinny!!). Most of the women here wear high heels and rush around as if they are always in a hurry. We had a KATUSA to help us get to Daegu. A Katusa is a Korean soldier that trains with US soldiers. It is mandatory in Korea that all men serve in the military at least two years. Our escort is one of the few who said that he was going to stay in.
Today we found out that our housing will be available to us on Monday, which is very soon (most people wait at least 30 days). What makes it even more perfect is that our household goods got here yesterday, which means that we will have our stuff in our house by the end of next week, hopefully. I feel so blessed by Heavenly Father.

Train Ride to Daegu from Seoul

2009-04-17T04:35:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of our train ride from Seoul to Daegu. This morning we had to take a bus to the train station and then the train down here to Daegu. It took us an hour and half while the train was going almost 200 miles per hour. I though it was interesting how fast it went from a busy city will tall buildings to country with dirt roads and rice farms.

Korea Pictures

2009-04-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

These mini statues are everywhere. This is a playground at our hotel.

This is a view of the garden from our hotel room window. We are on the 9th floor, so this is a ways down.

Random Kanosh Picutres

2009-04-17T04:18:00.001-07:00

Jared and I took the girls to temple square. Here the girls are on the steps of the Salt Lake City temple.

Here we are as a family in front of the Salt Lake Temple.

The girls loved playing outside at Grandma Lang's house.

Here the girls are with great-great-grandma Dathel.

Jared put too much bubble bath solution in the tub. Here is the result.

Sleep Kanosh

2009-04-17T04:12:00.001-07:00

Ariana and Emmalee kept bringing Grandma toys while she was sleeping. This is their way of saying they love her.
Carinne is obviously Emma's favorite!! She wanted to be with her night and day.

Empty House

2009-03-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Our house is empty. We have packers come to our house Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. As some packers were taking apart the girls' bed, Jared asked them where their bed was. They both stated "in our room", with a look like, where else would it be. So Jared asked them to show him. That's when they discovered that the packers were taking apart and packing up their bed. Then Emma stated in a sweet innocent, and really serious tone "can I have my bed back please. It is mine, please put it back". The packers just laughed while Emma was waiting for them to follow her request. Half of our stuff is in Kanosh while the other half is on it's way to Korea. I was really excited to go, but after looking at my empty house, I felt like crying. I have so many great friends here, so many wonderful memories, and a ward that is so awesome!!! Although I am grateful for the opportunity that we have to remain together as a family, a part of my heart will linger in Colorado. We will also miss our family out in Utah, Jared's parents and his aunts and uncles. We are traveling there in a couple of days and cannot wait to spend time with them. Jared and I have always thought about living in that small town. Every time we go out there we look at the piece of land that we want and make plans on where we would build our house, our barn, what animals we would have, and the different types of fruit trees we would plant. It is so fun to plan our future. Latley we have just been going with the flow, and that is fun too. We never know what is around the corner, but we always try to make the most of it.
A couple of days ago, a friend and I went out to lunch at Red Robins. They gave Ariana and Emmalee balloons. We managed to shove them in the car and drive to Wal-Mart. Then the unimanigable happened. Emma's blue balloon flew away when I tried to retrieve her from the car. She asked me to get it as I tried to explain how only birds can fly. Then she asked a bird to go and get her balloon. When the bird flew away I told her that her balloon flew far far away to Grandma Lang's house. Now, her and Ariana can have a full converstaion about how her balloon is at Grandma Lang's house, and how Grandma has to share the balloon with Emma. It is so cute. So the girls are anticipating the trip to Grandma Lang's house (be ready Grandma Lang [blue balloon]).

Packing Our Bags

2009-02-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to say that we are almost ready for the packers to come and pack our house in 4 days, yikes!!!! I am not sure when the next time I will be able to blog. We are heading to Kanosh in 12 days and stay there for awhile before we (Jared, myself, and the girls, my parents, and Jared's family) heads to Disneyland. We are leaving from there to Korea. I am so excited and sad at the same time. I will miss my friends here, my family, and my home. We love you all and can't wait to see what adventures await us. And as the Koreans would have it, Annyong hi kaseyo or Do poepket ssumnida.

Princesses

2009-02-03T09:21:00.001-08:00

JJ was over visiting, and we wanted to dress up like princesses. So they each picked out their dresses, they got sparkles in their hair, and princess make up was applied (Ariana was the first, and therefore my experiment). We then sat down, or danced, while we watched a princess movie. Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil

Sweet Memories

2009-02-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

I was recently at my parents house, and she gave me these pictures of our wedding reception in Kanosh. Jared and I have never seen these pictures before (except for a couple of days ago). Sweet Memories.

Little did we know that Jared would leave to Afghanistan 12 days later.

We are so silly!!!

The Mustache Gang

2009-01-28T15:33:00.001-08:00

Cute Pictures in Kanosh

2009-01-27T06:08:00.000-08:00

I know this is a little out of order, but I found these pictures and thought they were too cute to not post them. Jared made this soldier when he was in high school.

Emmalee and Ariana loved the snow!! They didn't want to get out of it even when they were freezing.

Ever felt like a bowling ball??

2009-01-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I can tell you exactly how a bowling ball feels. I know what it is like to go down the lane, using the bumpers for support (so you don't go in the gutter), and turn every which way while trying to knock down the pins at the end of the lane.

As most of you know, I start the nursing program this semester (tomorrow, actually), or that was the plan. In previous blogs, I wrote that my plan was to not have a plan, or so I thought was my plan. Things are constantly changing, whirling me in every direction. As I travel down the "alley" of life, I feel as though Heavenly Father "bumps" me back in the lane to prevent me from rolling into the "gutter". Jared got a call a couple of weeks ago informing us that our command sponsership (something that lets me and the girls go with Jared) to Korea has been approved. All my books were already purchased and I was going to my first nursing meeting the next day. I was so confused as to what to do. What would Heavenly Father want me to do? I prayed and found no answer that brought me comfort. Either I stayed home with both our girls for a year and get my LPN while Jared was gone, or, I go with him, throw away all the classes I have been taking for the last couple of years, and scramble to get things ready to go to Korea.

After deciding to do the latter, I swallowed the lump in my throat, cancelled all my classes for this semester, returned all my books, and booked four plane tickets to Korea through the military transportation office. I then scheduled for our household goods to be picked up. That's when I found out that we are only allowed to ship over 2250 lbs with us. Now, if you don't know, a normal room has about 1000 lbs in it. We have a 2100 sq ft house, with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We also have a piano and very heavy bowflex dumbells. So, for the past couple of days, Jared and I have been majorly downsizing.

I am so grateful for all of these experiences that we have had, and I feel so grateful for all that we have. I feel like Heavenly Father is bumping me back on course when I get a little towards the edge. I also feel grateful that Jared and I have the opportunity to be together in Korea for a couple of years.

Jared turns 27

2009-01-25T17:27:00.000-08:00

For Jared's birthday, the girls and I bought a bag full of balloons. I tried blowing them all up by mouth, but that quickly became a chore. Then I remembered that we have an air compressor, and about half an hour later, I was finished.

Jared loves buffalo wings, so that, along with tons of pizza, was the specialty of the night.

Jared loves Spongebob Squarepants, so the girls helped me decorate the cake.

Christmas Eve and Santa

2009-01-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Every year in Kanosh, on Christmas Eve, they have a Primary program. All the kids had to get on the stage and jingle bells to call Santa Claus out. Ariana and Emmalee were both very excited when they saw him.

Sledding in Kanosh

2009-01-25T17:07:00.000-08:00

First of all, I have to apologize for not keeping up. We went to Kanosh for Christmas and had a blast!!!! Here are some pictures of us sledding at Black Rock.

Jared and Emmalee

Jared and I went down a couple of times.

Carinne and I thought it would be cool to slide down the hill on this sled.

Little did we know, it was a death trap. We both feel off and rolled over eachother until the bottom of the hill slowed us down.

This huge inner tube was so much fun. From left to right is Zoie, Me, Ariana, Jared, and Melanni.

The Snake at Sabrina's

2008-11-30T20:05:00.000-08:00

We went to visit my sister for the weekend. She has a bioa constricter snake. These snakes can reach 12 to 13 feet long. At first, Ariana and I were afraid of it, but we both overcame our fears and held the snake. Emmalee and Jared were fearless and went straight for it. This is all the girls talk about now. They love snakes (even before we saw Sabrina's snake)!!!

Halloween Costumes

2008-11-09T06:22:00.000-08:00

Ariana was very happy and excited, as you can depict from her facial expressions. Can anyone guess what Jared was on Halloween?

(I will give you a clue, the color of his clothes is a big indication)

Halloween

2008-11-04T06:26:00.001-08:00

Jared and Emily had a blast getting the pumpkin ready to be carved.She loved getting out the gooey stuff.She called this pumpkin her "happy face pumpkin". When we brought it home, she wanted to sleep with it in her bed. We setteled to putting it to sleep in her kitchen with a blanket.
Here are before and after pictures of the pumpkins we carved. My dad did this one. I carved this one. It reads Happy Halloween on the top.

Jared and Emmalee did this one. Ariana missed out on all the action due to a well needed nap.

Snug as two bugs

2008-10-28T08:02:00.000-07:00

Snug as two bugs in a bed.
Emmalee loves laying in bed with Ariana. Jared and I tried having them sleep together in the same bed one night (becasue they both insisted on it) and they stayed up laughing and talking and playing, so we had to seperate them. They are going to be the best of friends growing up. It is so much fun watching them together.

Ariana Can Fly

2008-10-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Plan of My Life

2008-10-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Where do I start. Okay. Jared and I put our house on the market the beginning of June. We found this house that we were going to buy and fix up once our house sold. It was a fantastic deal, 3,000 sqft in a decent neighborhood for only 137,000. We were so excited. There was holes in the walls the size of a table, electrical problems galore, and I was excited to get to get my hands dirty. We had planned where we were going to put carpet and so forth. I only prayed that we would get this house. Needless to say, we didn't get it. Someone put a bid in. So then Jared got a call. He was going to Korea for a year. We both scrambled to get me to go. We did all the paperwork. Our passports are currently being processed. We had to go into the office a couple days ago to finish paperwork for our visas. We are so close to getting done and should have an answer in a couple of months (who knows with the military). That same day that we had to go in to to sign our visa's, we had a showing on our house. So returning home I checked the mail and then went inside to clean. I opened the letter from the college I am attending. It was an acceptance letter to the Nursing Program. I was planning on attending after we came back from Korea (the normal waitlist was 2 years). I was just put on the waitlist in August so I thought I wouldn't get one of these letters for at least another year. The letter said that I was to attend in Spring 2009. I thought, sure, I can get everything together by August of 2009. I called friends for watching my children, made arrangments for housing. I thought I had it all covered, until I discovered that Spring 2009 was in JANUARY!!!!! I was not expecting this at all. I know people that have been on the waiting list for over two years and have still not gotten in. I had only been on the list for 2 months. So yesterday I had to go to the police department to get finger printed for background checks and I have still so much to do. Before you can enter the nursing program you need to be CPR certified, have all your hep shots up to date, and many other things. So now my life is crazy trying to finsh the classes I am in, while preparing for the nursing program, while trying to sell our house, trying to fulfill my relief society presidency calling, while trying to spend time with Jared before he leaves me for another year, while I try to be a mom and a student all by myself AGAIN!!!! I just have to take a deep breath and know that this will all be worth it in the end. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much. He has done everything to make this all possible. So my future plan is: not to have a plan. If we go through life being flexible, accepting all things, we can overcome anything.

Emmalee's Birthday

2008-10-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

Just a little late in posting these (I am trying to catch up) Emmalee turned 2 on August 26th.
Ariana loves her snakes and dinosaurs. Her favorite dinosaur is a soopersaurus.
Her are the girls and Ariana's raptor.Mmmmmmm......yummy cake!
Emmalee is such a girl. She loves her princess stuff.

Tickle Time

2008-10-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

Need I say more???

Raquetball and Our Father

2008-10-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

Jared and I have a membership to a very large community center/ gym/ family fun center. They have child care where the children can go outside and play, and our girls love it. So recently Jared and I have gotten into raquetball. At first we looked so pathetic. We could barley hit the ball and spent most of our time trying to get the ball. Then we got a little better. We could actually have a game when we could hit the ball consecutively, maybe 3 or 4 times. As we kept getting better, Jared figured out it was harder for me to hit the ball if he bounced it off the side walls. This sent me in several directions as I tried to guess where the ball might bounce to next. As we mutually tested eachother's limits, we got better. Now we can both hit the ball several times no matter what wall it bounces off of. So, last week, we played again. Jared pulled another trick out of the bag. As he served the ball, his muscles, which are very large, put great force behind the ball. I found it almost impossible to hit the ball. As he kept hitting the ball very hard serve after serve, I felt like almost asking him not to. I was unable to hit the balls. It was very hard. Then a thought crossed my mind. We are tested in this life pretty much the same way. We don't get hit with the really hard balls first. We are tempted and tried by little things. As we overcome those we have the opportunity to grow and become better. As we do, trials get a little harder. We become better. If we had "hard ball" trials from the very begining, without our testimony being able to grow, we might give up. Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be better. And who would have thought that this would have come from sweating on a raquetball court.

The Mall and an Escalator

2008-10-12T08:31:00.000-07:00

We went to the mall with my grandparents and my Uncle Michael and Christine (his girlfriend). The girls loved the escalators (normally when I go to the mall they are in the stroller). But since the great-grandparents were there, the girls got whatever they wanted, which was, 10 rides up and down the escalator, in a row.

The North Pole

2008-10-06T20:12:00.000-07:00

When my grandparents (Oma and Opa) visited from Germany this summer, we went to the North Pole. Everything is Christmas themed and there is even a pole of ice. There is lots of wildlife (and semi-domesticated animals). They had goats, tons of deer, and llamas.

Grandpa was brave enough to let Ariana drive.
Jared's handprint is somewhere on that pole of ice.

Garden of the Gods Visit

2008-10-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

This summer we visited Garden of the Gods and walked a couple of the trails there. We also climbed the red rock and had a picnic.

Major Help from Catherine

2008-10-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

Okay...thanks to a highly technical and very smart sister-in-law I was able to figure out my blog and begin posting again. She also helped me get this cute template (thanks a ton!!). So hopefully I will start blogging again. My life, or should I say our lives, have been so hectic. I am taking two classes and trying to still sell our house (stupid economy). Jared, on the other hand, is working himself to the bone. Emma and Ariana are still being cute as ever, and we are having fun watching them grow up. Stay tuned for more to come.

Potty Training, AGAIN!?!?!?!?!

2008-09-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Emmalee, who turned two at the end of August, has decided she wants to be a big girl and use the big girl potty. Almost done with kids in diapers, for now. Whoo hooo.

Lois and Nick

2008-08-10T08:45:00.000-07:00

While we were down in St George staying with Grandma and Grandpa Lang, we visited with Nick and Lois. We had so much fun catching up and the girls loved to play in their yard (especially their trampoline that was dug into the ground).

Our Surprise

2008-08-09T10:07:00.000-07:00

Jared and I recently found out that he has received orders to report to South Korea at the beginning of April. We will probally be living in the south eastern part near Daegu. We are so excited to go and will probally be over there for three years. Jared still has to do alot of paperwork to clear me and the girls to go over, and the girls and I still need to get a physical and tons of shots. We will be sure to keep everyone updated.

Playing at Grandma Lang's

2008-08-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

The girls love to go on rides, whether it be with daddy on the lawn mower or with Uncle Ben on the four wheeler.

New Haircut

2008-08-08T13:13:00.001-07:00

Jared let me get my haircut and I love it!!!! My friend, who usually cuts my hair, moved right before we came back from Kanosh, so I went to a salon.

Cute Cousins

2008-08-06T17:35:00.001-07:00

We had the opportunity to visit with Ben and Catherine and their cute little boys in St. George. While they were out on a date, we played and took pictures.

The Water Hole

2008-08-06T17:06:00.000-07:00

The Water Hole

2008-08-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Our family recently visited Kanosh. We had so much fun. Here we went to the "water hole", which is a stream of FREEZING water flowing from the tops of mountains in Kanosh Canyon.
Carinne was extremley brave to go in with Jared.Ariana didn't like it at all!! (and that is an under statement!)Jared jumped in so many times. We all had a blast.

Our House

2008-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Below is a slide show of our house. We bought this house brand new and had to finish all the landscaping and the basement. We are selling it to find another fixer upper.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-06-29T11:59:00.001-07:00

SGT Lang

2008-06-29T11:18:00.000-07:00

I should have posted these pictures of Jared getting promoted awhile ago, but here it is. Since Jared has been promoted to SGT, he has been to three other boards; Cook of the Quarter (in which he won first place and moved on to Cook of the year), Cook of the Year ( in which he competed against all the cooks in our area and won 2nd place, and then he recently went to Soldier of the Year (in which he competed against all the soldiers on our base [over 50,000 soldiers] and won't know the results until July 11th. However, the winner of the soldier of the year goes to Washington DC.) Jared is amazing!!!!
Here is getting promoted by his Commander. There were 3 other people being promoted, Jared was the highest ranking one.
After Jared got promoted everyone in his company came by and shook his hand (if they were lower ranking) and hit him in the chest (if they were higher ranking). It was fun to watch. I sure am proud of all his accomplishments.

Ariana turns 3

2008-06-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

For her party we invited a couple of friends and went to Chuck E Cheese. She loves riding horses.

Emmalee makes sure the horse tastes good before riding.
Birthday cake wouldn't be the same without dinosaurs on top.
Daddy helped Ariana open her presents.

A Guessing Game (anyone game??)

2008-06-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you give a 3 year old a bag of cat food?

We were visiting with friends in the lower level of our house when we noticed a quiet girl upstairs. We asked her what she was doing and her reply was this, "What!? I am upstairs." The door slammed shortly after her reply. We were curious and thought we would take a look. Thankfully, in this case, curiosity didn't kill the cat.

Okay, now for the guessing game. I am curious to see what you guys come up with. Any clue as how she got the food evenly spread out across the floor? No cat food was found on the bed, but cat food was found under the bed and the dresser.

Our Princesses

2008-06-20T09:27:00.001-07:00

Ariana had a friend over and they played dressup.
Ariana loves dinosaurs and carries them around everywhere.

Books in Bed

2008-06-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

I went to get the girls in the morning, around 7:00, and they both were awake reading books in their beds. It was so cute so I had to snap a shot.

Killer Cook

2008-06-04T09:46:00.000-07:00

Jared took a two week course about cooking, and in the end, ended up cooking for some super high ranking guys.

Quick Update

2008-05-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Jared and I are both done with school for the semester. We are currently packing our house to show (I'll post pictures later) and it just seems like we are always busy.

Ariana is completley potty trained, which is so nice to save on diapers. I never have to ask her, she just always does it herself. Her and Emmalee teamed up and decided to pour finger nail polish all over the bathroom floor. Thank goodness it only got on the bathroom floor and the bathroom rugs!!

Emmalee loves to sing. She knows here ABC's and for family home evening we always sing I Am a Child of God, which she also sings. Her other favorite songs are Once There Was a Snowman and Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam.

Ice skating

2008-04-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

We went ice skating and had a blast. Emmalee and Ariana loved it!!

Fat City

2008-04-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

For my sister's birthday we went up to Denver and spent the day at Fat City. Fat City is a huge play ground/ amusement park/ pure fun, all indoors. We had a blast!!!

Easter

2008-04-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

The weather was so cold here, and there was snow on the ground, so we headed over to Granny's house and hunted Easter eggs there. They were everywhere, in conrners, in plants, even on the bath tub. The girls had so much fun and once Emmalee got the hang of it, she was an egg finding machine.

Potty Time

2008-03-28T09:07:00.001-07:00

We have been potty training Ariana, and she is doing so well!! The first day we started, she went by herself without me asking her to go. At first I was so afraid to start, because of all the horror stories, but I truly think that Ariana is the exception. She is so amazing. Now we are into the fourth day and she goes by herself when ever she needs to. She has only had a couple of accidents. Thank goodness.

Fun in (or out of) the Sun

2008-03-25T19:25:00.001-07:00

We are having so much fun with our kids, when we aren't busy studying for tests. We try to get them out of the house as much as possible and try to get them to be productive. We found this really neat place on the north side of Colorado Springs that has a play area inside with slides, airplanes, and a foam room, which I think is great!! We also go to story time at the library and do art projects afterwards. It is a blast!!