Thailand.

When you're in Korea and Thailand is only a short flight away...you go. It's been on my bucket list for quite awhile. The husband has been there 10+ times and this was my first, so we decided to break me in and head straight to koh samui. it was rainy season, but we lucked out and it only rained a couple of times our last two days. yippee.  

It is always an adventure to fly with the river monster. This was by far his best traveling and flying trip yet...and by best, I mean he slept most of the time;) And I guess it helps to fly business class too. He doesn't know how good he has it;) 

We stayed at the le meridien which I would recommend to anyone. I would also recommend bug spray. Lots of it.  The beaches were amazing. The water was warm. The greenest mountains. It really is a tropical paradise. We opted out on the scooter since we had River and rented our awesome 1986 jeep. And if anyone knows River, he was in heaven because the jeep had a tire on the back. Such a little weirdo. 

I love them. And also Thai pants in Thailand are a must. 

Probably;) 

Big Buddha 

I don't know how anyone could mistreat these beautiful animals. Any animals really. Next time I go to Thailand, I will volunteer at the elephant nature park. If you have to go to Thailand to ride elephants, I suggest you go to this place instead and have a much more humane and beautiful elephant experience. Since we weren't close to the sanctuary, I found the closest elephants, bought bags of bananas, and spent the day feeding them. It wasn't much, but I wanted to do something for these amazing souls. River loved it and we all had an amazing moment with each other:) I may have also taught River to tell all the tourists coming in, "don't ride elephants, just feed them". I was proud. 

Made it to the top of namuang waterfall. 

Yogis

This photo makes me laugh. Our kayaking adventures. Oh man. 

Brown eyed boy. 

Lantern party every night at our hotel. Sending off our goals and dreams. 

Thailand. You were amazing. Beaches every day. Messages every day (maybe twice a day). Authentic Thai food every day. I will be back. You can count on that. 

Xo

River Monster

the terrible two's have hit full throttle these past few weeks, and i thought i was ready, but i guess i have a lot more patience to gain. i need to write this down so i will remember that it's not all good times, but to see that we made it through the hard times, and that's what counts;) 

if you will only go outside with your coat on backwards, then yes! i'll take it. 

we didn't leave the house once yesterday, and if anyone knows me, that's literally like cutting off my leg. i need outside. need need it. you wouldn't put on your diaper... or clothes for that matter. after about an hour, i eventually ended up wrestling you (like full on wrestling a two year old) to get your diaper on. the day before, you had a full on melt down when papa made you put your coat on before we left the restaurant, because it was now dark and very cold outside. you didn't stop for 30 minutes and ended up bonking your head on the ground so hard it left a goose egg. the day befor that, i wiped your face before going into Costco and you acted as if you just broke your arm or something. it's kind of amazing how quickly this can all happen. but...if there are only a few things i have learned, is that me getting upset or frustrated does not help. at all. and, this too shall pass;) 

kids are so smart.

i try and help you through your frustrations. i acknowledge your feelings, and let you know i am here and that i love you, but we can't do anything until you've calmed down. at first, it sucked because it didn't seem like that was working. nothing seemed to be working. then i noticed you would try and take deep breaths to help you calm down. or whisper, "ok ok ok". i could see you were trying. and this is why you are so smart my love. a week later, i could already see your brain understanding. your tantrums are shorter. when you start to go into that whiney mode, i ask you to change your voice, and you immediately say, yes!, in a happy tone. which always makes me smile:) it's really cool for me to see these small changes. you are developing so quickly, and i know your emotions are hard to deal with at this age, but you are doing so so good. so good. i had to document this day, because it was kind of a first no tantrum throwing day, and that's always a day for celebrating:) 

hello Central Park. hello pretty leaves. 

thank you cool outdoor library. 

found my new favorite book about "eat the hunter" ;)))

because graveyards go well right next to parks;) running away. haha. 

Xo

Halloween 2015

so we had two options to dress river up, either a devil or a witch. Korea doesn't really celebrate Halloween the way we do. unfortunately i am not crafty enough to make one from scratch. fortunately we had a friend help us out and let us borrow one of her boy's costumes. a dinosaur. it was perfect because river is obsessed with dinos right now. he had to try it on every day the week leading up to Halloween and check himself out in the mirror. he would laugh and tell me he was a nice dinosaur. i don't know how or why, but he tells me when something is scary or nice. pretty much everything Halloween was scary to him, and i ended up carrying him the whole time trick-or-treating. i don't even know. 

the husband and i lucked out and found this awesome half mask skeleton and i found kitty ears. so it was settled. And the husband did his own face paint. ha.

so we ended up trick-or-treating on the army base. it was really our only option. it was awesome though. it was full, and i mean FULL of kids. the army base is like its own little city. we only went to one section of the base and it was perfect for river. he got more candy than he could ever eat, and all the houses were really close so we weren't trekking around all night. win/win. Happy Halloween! we missed all of our family back in the states. it's hard being away from home over the holidays. now on to November. let the holiday festivities continue. i love this time of year!

xo

Busan. Pronounced Poo-san.

We got to tag along with our papa on a quick work trip down to busan (it's like driving from orem to st george). It is all the way south and borders right along the Sea of Japan. It has a beach town, but still city vibe. River and I could walk right from our hotel to the beach. It was amazing. We kicked our shoes off and ran straight for the waves. Our happy place. Sorry you had to work husband ;) it must have been junior high girls day at the beach, because there had to have been over 100 jr high girls there too. At one point about 25 of them swarmed around River and were talking in their high pitched voices, "so cute. a prince. so cute". And were touching his hair. I didn't interfere to see what River would do. He just layed down and pretended to be asleep or dead or something. It was the funniest thing. I wish I had my camera to film it. Dang. 

We also went to the aquarium. River is now into hiding his face with his hands when he is scared, so every time we saw a shark River would hide behind his hands, but still be peaking through his fingers. He loves being a shark at home. He lays on the floor and 'swims' and says, 'dun dun dun dun dun' (jaws theme song). 

If there is a stage, he'll probably be on it. He's not my son;)

we also spent a morning at the beomeosa temple. So cool to listen to the munks chant and feel the energy in those mountains. 

ending our weekend with a firework show over the Sea of Japan. Not bad busan. Not bad. 

Here's to our first Korean road trip. Success.

Xo

two.

How the heck have two years gone by so fast? My little baby is officially two years old and it's stressing me out. Although I miss his tiny little baby chub, I am loving each new stage this growing up thing is bringing. River is so funny right now, and also very demanding. He is such a sensitive and aware little boy. He is still a mommys boy hard core, and is very shy until he gets to know you. This kid amazes me every day at how smart he is. He remembers everything and associated things I didn't think he could quite understand yet. He blows me away daily. He is creative and brave, and a little bit cautious with a lot of wild. I am so grateful i get to be his mama. It's the most amazing thing I will ever be. 

Some funny things River is saying/doing:

"R is for riv" and points to himself

"Coco wa" =coconut water

If something is small it is a "babyyy" and if something is large it is a "pa" 

I asked him why he is so cute, and he said "pa"

I ask him where he lives and he says "koreee"

He is so good with names and knows all his cousins and friends and dog friends names, and that they live far way on a plane. 

Although the husband and I try really hard not to use the word no a lot with River, he loves telling us "no no" 

"Mo leeee" for mowgli

He loves to tease and pretend to be scared or scare me. 

He knows his colors and my favorite that he says are "lelello" and "puple"

He loves to dance dance and run run. 

He now makes me ride my bike and wants to run behind it (just like mowgli). It's pretty funny and amazing that he can run so fast and for so long. Just yesterday we "ran him" from Central Park almost all the way home. And if we say " good puppy, c'mon puppy dog" he will run even faster. Haha. 

Admist all the chaos of trying to move we wanted to throw a quick pumpkin party get together before we left the states. We celebrated River and Mowgli's birthday with family and friends up the beautiful provo canyon (same spot as last year;)) and we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather with the perfect scenery. I have about 400 pictures and I wish I could post them all. I'll try to keep it under 100. you've been warned. 

Thank you for all those that came to celebrate. We love each and everyone of you to the moon and back! 

Happy birthday River and Mowgli. We love you to infinity and beyond, and beyond that. 

Love, 

mom + dad

Xo