4 more years!

Today, I am so proud of my hubby, well I am proud of him every day! But today my Marine reenlisted for another four years with the Marine Corps!

It has been a wild ride these past four years since he joined back in 2008. But I would not change a thing because it has made us grow as individuals and as a couple. I may not like it when he has to go away but I am proud that my man in a Marine and is serving his country.

Alex's blues picture from boot camp.

The military has moved us from Colorado to California to Hawaii where we will stay till 2014. We don't know where the military will send us next but I know that no matter where we go, we will make the most of it and create new memories to last a lifetime.

 Alex at MCT (San Diego, CA)

Alex at DLI (Monterey, CA)

Today's ceremony was wonderful. I could not be more proud of my husband and all he has accomplished during his Marine Coprs career. And as he was called up, my heart swelled with pride and all I could do was smile.

I was very surprised to find out that I would be receiving a certificate of appreciation. I had no idea, but Alex did. I was honored to stand next to my Marine with him during the ceremony.

I can't say it enough: I love my Marine and I am so proud of him and all he has accomplished!

Day 4: Changgyeonggung Palace and Central Museum of Buddhism

I am sorry it has been so long since I have done a post about my trip to Korea so many months ago. But better late than never! So here we go into day four....

On day four Alex and I decided to go out on our own and find our way to one of the two palaces in Seoul. We hopped on the subway and found our way to Insadong. We went to the first palace we could find, the Changgyeonggung palace. I was floored by how beautiful the structure was.

The architecture was stunning. It was all hand painted in vivid and bright colors. Words cannot accurately describe how gorgeous the buildings are.

 
I also couldn't get over the little archways that were all over the palace grounds.

I will never forget what it felt like to walk the palace grounds and learn about the rich history of the palace and about those who lived there. Our next stop was just down the street. Lindsay had told us about a Buddhist temple and I wanted to check it out. Once we found the temple we also decided to take a tour of the Buddhist Museum next door. It was very interesting to learn about Buddhism in South Korea. I was enrolled in a world religions class at the time so I was very intrigued by all the information, documents, and artifacts that the museum had and display.

Once we had finished the tour, which was all in Korean, we went to the temple next door. I had never been into a Buddhist temple before so I was eager to see the monks leading mantras and to see the inside of the temple. Inside, I was greeted by three large gold Buddhas.

All over the ceiling were beautiful lanterns. Also, paintings of Buddha's life were all along the ceiling and walls. The art was amazing. It was an eye opening experience to watch and hear the monks lead mantras while Buddhist followers followed along in their personal prayer books. I am so glad that I was able to get a little peek into the Buddhist religion outside of the classroom.

It was a very educational and fun filled day. I will never forget what I learned, saw, and experienced that day. And I am glad we were able to find the time to go and see these two awe inspiring places.

News News News!

It has been two long months since my last post. I have not been feeling up to snuff to do much of anything. School has started and we are back to our normal schedule. But there have been some new developments in the Kinney house....

We are expecting a little Kinney in April of next year!!! And we couldn't be more excited! 

I am now 12 weeks and 4 days, I have made it through the roughest part with the greatest chance for something to go wrong. It has been a tough three months but I have already started to feel better!

6 Weeks

8 Weeks

12 Weeks

It has been amazing to watch and see how Baby Kinney is growing and developing so fast! And my belly is getting larger and larger by the day.

I plan on finishing up the Korea posts soon...better late than never! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Crafty Birds!

Taking a break from the Korea posts to go over my latest craft project to put the finishing touches on my down stairs bathroom. In my original post Tweet Tweet Birdy Birdy I showed how I decorated my down stairs bath room with birds.

I decided that the wall decals were not enough. I also was thinking about what I will do when we move. I will either have to get a new wall decal (because this one is not reusable) or I would have to find a new way to decorate this room. I chose to find a new way to decorate while following the same theme.

My original idea was to get a white shadow box with glass on both sides. I would rough up the sides a bit to make it look more worn and rustic. I would then place  a birds nest inside with a couple blue eggs inside. I wanted to hang this over the toilet. Well, I went to a couple local craft stores as well as Target and Wal-Mart and I was unable to find a reasonably priced shadow box let alone one with glass on both sides. So I had to change my plans again and this is what I came up with....

I got all my supplies from Ben Franklin, the local craft store. To make these two birds nests cost less than just the shadow box alone.

I got two clay pots and put dry floral foam inside so I wold have a surface to glue the dried grass down to. I then gathered separate strands of the dried grass and glued them around the rim of the clay pot.

Once I had made a circle of grass around the rim, I started to add more grass to fill out the nest. I wold weave grass into the glued down grass or I would cut small strands about six inches long and I would put hot glue on each end and glue them down.

Once the nest looked full I added the birds. I found them by all the dried grass. I originally did not want to add birds to the nests but I just fell in love with them at the store. On the bottom of the bird was a clip that I just pulled out and I shaped the wire into a point to go through the foam.

Next I added the little eggs I made out of foam balls. I cut each ball in half and shaped them in to an egg shape and I panted them blue. I put a tooth pick in to the foam for the egg to sit on.

The final product....

I also found two cute little bird canvas pieces at the Anex on base. My bathroom is finally done! This is the first room I can actually say is complete!

Day 3: Gwangjang Market and Insadong

Day three of our adventure in Seoul took us to Gwangjang Market with Lindsay and her hubby Ryan!

Alex and I made our way to the Swoboda's apartment and met up with them to start our walk to the subway. This was my first day really ridding the subway. It was great to travel with the Swobodas who know their way around the busy city.

I was in for quite a surprise once I got to the market. There was people everywhere! I have never seen so many people crammed into so little space! I would soon learn that this was a common thing in South Korea.

There were booths set up creating isles for us to stroll down. People were selling anything you could think of. My favorite part was all the different kinds of food that were being offered. They were selling seafood, soups, deserts, meats, fruits, vegetables, anything your heart desired. 

We stopped for lunch while we were here as well. We picked a booth that looked good and sat down and ordered a dumpling like soup called mond guk. The soup was pretty spicy but so yummy! We gobbled it up and then started on our potato pancakes. They. Were. AMAZING! 

They make the pancakes right in front of you. It was so interesting to watch them make the yummy cakes!

We strolled around the market for a little after we ate and looked at what people were selling. 

Our next leg of the trip that day was to Insadong. Insadong has to be my favorite market that we went to the entire time I was there. So it was a quick ride on the subway and we were in Insadong. We did a little souvenir shopping and stopped at a unique tea house for a little warming up!

Lindsay wanted to take us to the Bird Tea House but the owner was on vacation so instead we went to the tea shop next door.

It was nice and worm inside, a welcomed change from the chilly weather outside. We all settled into a booth once we were inside. I was not surprised that we needed to take off our shoes to sit in the booth and I was more than happy to take them off and relax and enjoy some tea. I ordered the hot pear tea and Alex ordered the cold lemon tea. 

It was a great way to end a day wondering around Seoul chatting and catching up with good friends. I'm so glad that we had Lindsay and Ryan with us to show us around some very interesting parts of the city.