(a totally unrelated picture)

I am already out of things to blog about?  Two posts and I've said everything that needs saying?  I'm digging for something, really.  :)

This year I am attempting to slowly ease myself back into the scrapbooking world.  I used to be quite the avid (or addicted, I guess) scrapbooker.  As the years have passed, I have turned more to digital scrapbooking just out of convenience. (And because, quite frankly, I don't spend a fraction of the time that I used to on crafts in general)  The sad part is that the girls really don't enjoy the digital books nearly as much as they do the "old fashioned" scrapbooks.  They are always pulling out the big and clunky books to look through and they barely touch the new ones.  In an effort to try to make something more personable for them to enjoy, I am attempting to do the Project Life album this year that I already told you guys about.  I say attempting because I've already missed several days.  And it is only January. BUT I have been journaling at least a little every night AND I have found myself taking pictures of everyday goodness instead of just pulling out the camera here and there.  So I might be cheating here and there, not having genuine pictures from everyday of the year, but we will have a much more thorough depiction of this year.  In theory, right?

Lilly's cute quote of the day:  After getting a smiley face on her hand at costco, I reminded her to say thank you to the nice costco lady.  She turns to her and says "Thank you!  I love you!", to which I responded with a reminder that we don't tell strangers that we love them.   She simply said "Mom!  She's the COSTCO LADY!"  Apparently costco ladies are not strangers.  :)

genealogy goodness

I am in the process of scanning in large amounts of family history pictures and it is just so dang fun!  It is slow going as I am scanning in at a pretty large dpi, but I'm just plugging along.  I love that my mom's side of the family has a plethora of pictures that help paint an image of their lives, personalities and their priorities.  I can't help but think that my great great grandmother had a tender heart when I find her sweet notes on pictures of my grandma.  I love the mock letter from Santa that my grandma got.  It tells a story of how he came across her new teddy bear.

This brings me to our lovely package that we received today.  It was like Christmas, but way better.  My Aunt sent us some of her family treasures to enjoy and I don't think she could have prepared me for how cool it was going to be.  Amongst the treasures was a copy of Pollyanna.  Not only do my girls enjoy this as one of their favorites, but this particular copy was my great grandma's.  It was given to her by her grandma (now we're at my 3rd Great grandma) and she gave it to my grandma for Christmas one year.  We love it!!  There are many pictures that I am trying to match up with family, but I think there will be some that will always be a mystery.

I'm back. (for now)

Thanks to a little talkin' to from my dear father, I am blogging.  I have to confess though that I am purely driven by guilt at this point.  In my defense, I have been journaling (for a whole week now!) using the lovely reminders at Ohlife.  To this, my dad responded "Can your family read that?" Well, no...but when I'm dead and have finished my lovely Project Life album for this year, they can.   Ok, so I got his point and decided to give this blogging thing a try. Again. :)

What is filling up our lives at the Kang house these days?  The same stuff that was a year ago.  Church, school and piano.  A few changes?  We have an adopted daughter of sorts this year. (A fabulously sweet exchange student from South Korea)  This results in kimchi always being in our fridge (good think I like it now!) and us having Korean food at least once a week on her dinner night.  It is pretty dang delicious.  Rachel is attending seminary, which means I am getting up much earlier for 5 out of 7 days.  Rachel is lovely type a sort of gal that pulls my blankets off of me (and nags me like a parent until I finally wake up!) each morning so I can get her to seminary 15 minutes early.  I am driving kids around much more than I am used to and, quite frankly, much more than I would like to be. With that being said, I much rather be driving them around than having someone else do the driving.  I firmly believe in being at the crossroads with our kids, especially as they become teenagers.  If this means setting aside nights to drive to church dances, getting up at insane hours in the morning or filling up the gas tank a few extra times, it is 100% worth it.  The conversations that are had, the tidbits of info that are given and (best of all) being there when they are most excited about where they just went or are about to go.  If you hear about a dance the morning after, you hear much less than if you get details right afterwards.


One of my biggest time fillers (it is a joyful time filler, just like the others!) is my calling in Young Womens.  I have to say that it is my favorite calling of all time.  It keeps me from spontaneous trips more than I would prefer, but I *love* our youth.  The young women are just downright incredible and they are so much fun to work with.  To make it even better, our church has an amazingly inspired program to help the young women grow closer to their Heavenly Father.  It is pure joy getting to help implement inspiration AND getting to watch its results.  

 Ok, its been fun.  Now I'm off to do school with the kiddoes.  :)