January 4th

I was still pretty sick today, but I managed to take this picture while Evie was in the bath. She loves to get a Mohawk after the soap is in her hair. She requests it every time. It's a little grainy and dark cause the ISO setting and the WB weren't great, but I was sick, so whatever.

January 3rd

I've been sick in bed all day today, so I snapped this picture with my phone. Hate sick days. Thank goodness for my husband and all his help, or my kids would have starved I'm pretty sure.

January 2nd

 This first picture is actually from New Years Day, but I wanted to post it anyways cause it was cute. We took the subway downtown to the underground mall and got some waffles. They're delicious. You seriously need to come visit me.

I was experimenting with action shots and then Evie just hopped over the ottoman and gave Emmett a hug. Talk about luck. I love these two to the moon and back.

this is a just a bonus picture cause he's so cute, and he's finally smiling in a picture!

January 1st. So it begins

 To start the year, I am trying out catch lights, which is when you see the light in a person's eyes. It makes a gorgeous picture and everyone looks better. In my opinion. So here is my attempt at this new technique. One day down. 364 to go!

365 or 52

For Christmas this year Dan got me this amazing new camera. I mentioned to him a couple months ago that I needed a hobby, and then I casually mentioned that I thought photography might be a good one and I could get into that, and then I forgot about the whole thing. Dan most certainly did not forget about it and spent a pretty penny buying me this great camera, so my goal is to get really good at using my camera and photography in general. And so, I am giving myself a challenge this year. It's either going to be 365 days of pictures, or 52 weeks of pictures. I haven't decided. I'll either have to take one great picture a day or one great picture a week, either way, I'll be learning new things and stretching my abilities. That's my goal! Hopefully I don't give up halfway through. I'll document my progress on here in the hope that I can get some support not to give up!

Okay, here are some pictures I've taken over the last few days. Please don't judge cause I'm very much a beginner. These are all from me messing around with aperture and depth of field. I hope to get better with time.

Fun date

Dan and I went on a date tonight, and our plan was to just go downtown and find somewhere that has English on the menu and eat there. So after probably 15 minutes of wandering around, we found this little park type place in the middle of a crowded street and decided to stop. We heard music and saw all this pretty scenery and wanted to investigate further. 

At first we thought we stumbled into a little concert and patted ourselves on the backs for being so lucky. There were a bunch of singers singing lots of popular songs, like the sound of music and rent, in Korean, which was super fun to listen to. This one lady sang I will always love you by Whitney Houston, in English I might add, and did a fantastic job. Whoever was running this shindig gave both Dan and I these blinking light lanterns and little flags to wave around, so bonus right? And then the concert stopped and they started talking instead. 

We have no idea what they were saying, obviously, but all the sudden people were waving flags and chanting things, so we decided it was time to bolt. The only problem was that we are American. Which means everyone around us noticed us. No blending in there. And to add insult to injury, the 4-5 tv cameras that were there filming this event kept flashing over to us for our reactions. Um.... Yay? 

Eventually the crowd started to break up and we thought, "this is our chance", so we turn to leave, only to find out that the group has turned into a march/parade and now we are in the front. We are pretty confused about we stumbled on at this point and would just like to be gone, but there's no clear exit strategy. Especially when you have a lit up, blinking lantern with you. We did eventually find another exit from that park down a little alley and we bolted. After a couple blocks, we dropped our lanterns and flags contraband and took off at a run. Never know if they're following you. Did we just join a cult? Not sure. We gotta stop doing that on dates (jk obviously). 

After a lot more walking, we stopped at dos tacos to eat. Who would've thought there was a little Mexican joint in downtown daegu, South Korea? And it was actually pretty darn good, except it had super small portions. So after we ate our wee Mexican dinner, we walked around even more trying to find a subway entrance. And that's when we found heaven. On one of the streets there was a little crepes shop where they make these seriously enormous crepes and fill them with whip cream, chocolate syrup, fruit, and ice cream. They even had some that they put a whole piece of cheesecake inside of. What!? Then they fold it and roll it so it looks like your eating a ice cream cone. But you're not! It's a crepe filled with ice cream and fruit. Let me tell you, it was delicious! I'm going to have dreams about that crepe. Then we took the subway home and bought some fish shaped, deep fried, donut like, cream and bean paste filled goodies that we ate on the walk back to base. All in all, it was a seriously fun night. 

Emmett: 6 months

Emmett, are you really 6 months old already? I'm late writing this, so you're actually almost 7 months old now. You are such a happy, smiley, beautiful baby and we can never get enough of you.You eat a TON, so that takes up most of my day. You now love oatmeal, but you're less of a fan of baby food, so I have to mix the two together so you'll eat it. You can sit up by yourself, but I have to stay close by because you will inevitably lunge for something and fall over. Emmett, you are oh so close to crawling now and it makes me so sad! I can't bear that you're growing up. I wish you would just stop!

You are such a happy and content little baby. You came into this world with a "let's just roll with it" attitude and I love it. It's been such a blessing because 2 months after you were born, we carted you around the United States and then moved you to Korea. I was so worried about all that flying with two little ones, but you were a champ.

 I really thought having two kids was going to be impossible, and sometimes it still feels that way, but even on those no good, terrible, bad days, you are my ray of sunshine. One little smile from you makes my whole world brighter and I don't know how I lived without it for so long.

You have dark black hair, though it's barely there, and beautiful dark blue eyes. Boy, I hope you keep those cause they're gorgeous.

You have CHEEKS! Cheeks, cheeks, and more cheeks! It's seriously impossible for everyone and anyone not to kiss you because you have a perfectly round face and cheeks that never end.

And, hate to tell you, but you have a huge head. Just like your sister did. 99 percentile, baby!

 You love, love your sister and think that she is the most entertaining thing on the planet. Your whole face lights up whenever she comes into the room and it's a lot of fun to see. Every single time.

You're also kind of a huge fan of people in general. Let me tell you, the Koreans love you little man. They start talking to you and you flash them the biggest, cheesiest grin, and they are hooked for life. Emmett, you are a social butterfly. You don't mind being held by other people and are totally content as long as SOMEONE is paying attention to you.

You are also a huge flirt. Man, you love the ladies.

Your first tooth came in the other day on the bottom, and the one next to it will soon follow.

 I can't imagine life without you, little boy, now that I've met you. You are sweet and cuddly. Sometimes boisterous and loud. Always happy and curious. And I love you more than words could ever express.

 Emmett Merrill Christensen. 6 (almost 7) months old and you're already one of the two best things that has ever happened to me.