Graduation.

It only took 4 schools and 10 years, but I finally finished my bachelor's degree!  Hooray!

28.

Our birthdays this year were fairly uneventful.  But we did manage to surprise each other with a couple little things.  For my birthday, Ben brought me breakfast in bed: a couple of fruit palm trees!  It was so tasty and sweet.  He also, throughout the course of the day, gave me several board games and took me out to dinner.  What a sweet husband!

The next day, I prepared this surprise for Ben while he was at work.  Balloons with 28 pictures and love poems dangling down from the ceiling.  It was like "this is your life" in pictures!  He also got the He-Man Season One and a She-Ra movie from the 80s.  Fun!

So now we're 28!

Hawaii - Sea Turtles.

On our last day in Hawaii, we found a nice hiking trail.

The beautiful panoramic views allowed us to watch whales spouting.  It was amazing!

Then we went back to the same beach on the north shore to see if Isabella was back.  She was, and she brought friends!  She and Kulihi "cuddled" together for quite a while.  We saw them together, then decided to take a walk.  Just a little way down the beach, we sat down and watched several sea turtles swim in the surf.  As we enjoyed the sun and turtles, one came up onto the beach right next to us!  He (or she, I guess) was just a few feet from us and stayed for about 20 minutes before heading back into the ocean.  Ah, Hawaii.  You're just wonderful!

Isabella and Kulihi.



Until next time, Hawaii...

Hawaii - Pearl Harbor, Dole, and North Shore.

Over the next couple days, we saw the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor...

...where we played with the guns...

Then we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  Seriously, the best ice cream in the world!

Then we headed up to the north shore to see some beach.

The water was a bit chilly.

But we got to see a big sea turtle named Isabella!



She was so sweet, just sunbathing on the beach as the sun set.  Ahh...

Hawaii - Polynesian Cultural Center.

On the way home from the states, we took a slight detour through Hawaii.  We stayed for four days and saw most of Oahu - it was amazing!

We spent our first afternoon and evening at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We saw a luau and then a cultural performance.  It was so fun!

Mmm... pineapple smoothie in a pineapple!



Yay!  Hawaii!

Washington Snow.

In January, we got the chance to visit the states for the first time since coming to Korea.  We spent a wonderful week in Utah, visiting most of our family and friends.  Then we spent a few days in Washington state with Ben's sister and her family.  My first visit to Washington was met with the worst snowstorm in 50 years.  We took advantage and spent almost everyday playing in the snow!

First, we visited Mt. Rainier:

Ben got muddy drinking from a mountain spring.  

And, of course, we had to have a snowball fight!

A couple days later, we found a local little hill with some sledding potential.  Uncle Ben worked hard to make it super slick.

We had a wonderful trip, though we don't have many pictures to show for it.  It was great to see our family and friends!

O Christmas Tree.

Since almost all of our Christmas decorations are in storage, this year I decided to make the decorations for our tree.  It was also the first year that we've ever had a real Christmas tree, and it was GIANT!  I had my work cut out for me!

Cranberry, popcorn and felt garlands, and wooden ornaments.



It turned out pretty nice, and I even sang to it like they do on Charlie Brown.  Ha ha!

Friends.

Just a couple of pictures from one of many dinners with the missionaries and friends.