Kyleigh in Korea
mission update week 33
I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas!! I still can't believe it has already come and gone. I think the biggest Christmas miracle for me was that even though I didn't get to spend Christmas at home with all of you I got to spend it with people that I have come to love here in Korea. The members in the Branch that I am serving in treated me just like family and I got to really focus on Christ this Christmas and his birth. It was definitely a special Christmas. I also had the opportunity to be in a trio companionship for Christmas and the three of us saw so many miracles. It really is true...the more people you talk to, the more you open your mouth, the more miracles you will see. I think something I'm learning as a missionary is that sharing the gospel isn't a scary thing. If people reject you it is their choice. Even as members we shouldn't be afraid of our beliefs and being open about them with people we associate with. The more we share and stand up for our beliefs the deeper our testimonies will become! Thank you all for your love and support! I wish you all a Happy New Year!!!
Bring on 2016!!! :)
xoxo,
Sister Kyleigh Cooper
{more on this in just a bit!}
Christmas Eve with the Cooper fam!
{more on this in just a bit!}
Christmas Eve with the Cooper fam!
Uncle Ryan flew in from Japan for the holiday!
The hubs had his hands covered in shrimp batter during our photo shoot...
He slaved away with g-ma in the kitchen all morn prepping for our Seafood feast that we look forward to all year long.
He's excellent in the kitchen.
Two requirements to be a Cooper.
You gotta love seafood and Disneyland.
It's total acceptance if you like just those two things. haha
I can't tell you how many times this past year Kate talked about how she couldn't wait til Christmas because of the seafood. This kid loves shrimp.... She even went down on some seafood mussels Dad steamed and seasoned a couple of weeks ago. But bless her heart, she woke up Christmas Eve morn a little iffy to her tummy, no puking thank goodness, but she wasn't able to fully indulge on our feast that afternoon.
Brie is becoming pro at crack'in the crab legs....
Our annual Christmas Eve Game!
If you roll a 7 or 11 with the dice..you get to open a gift. Most of the little gifts have a colored sticker on them and you can turn those stickers in at the end of the game for cash or a gift card.
G-ma loses her head every year...she spoils us way too much and we walk away with oodles of fun stuff!
Emmsie had to go to work for a few hours... so our party-ing was put on hold for a bit. She and her co worker were determined to close up shop at 6. Even resulting in crawling on hands and knees and hiding behind the counter when a last minute shopper wanted to enter the store after they had locked up.
The best part of our Christmas Eve...
Was being able to Skype with our missionary at 7 in the evening.
{11 o'clock Christmas morning for her!}
It was wonderful to see her beautiful face, but boy! it was like ripping off a band aid on a wound that has not yet {nor will it til she is home} healed. I knew at the Bell Family party the Sunday prior that just talking about talking with Kyleigh at Christmas made me emotional... I was a little skeptical how I was going to hold up during the call. It wasn't too pretty. haha! There were tears several times on both ends. It was hard. She looked at all of us and said someone is missing. Yep! WE know.
Hoping by the Mother's Day Skype it will be a little easier on all of us. But I doubt it. Ha!
Like seriously, this was the aftermath.
Who wants to be boob'in on Christmas Eve?
The call left many of us in tears.
Even the hubs.
{That cute little piggy neck pillow Kyleigh sent in a package of Korean goodies via Japan for Uncle Ryan to bring home to us.}
We pulled ourselves together and managed to have a very nice Christmas Eve
opening up PJ'S and a new Christmas book.
A Christmas pillow case from great Aunt Jill.
{Grandma's sister, who visits every month and brings fun stuff with her. She's like a 3rd g-ma!}
Have you SEEN this book? DARLING!
Feeding the reindeer sparkly oatmeal.
And for Santa... Mint chocolate cookies.!
All settled in for a long winter's nap...
Emmsie joined the girls in their room on a blow up mattress and was hoping for a better night's sleep than last year's Christmas Eve.
Some slept with their trees lit up throughout the night. Love the site of it.
{AND I love that they get their rooms all super duper clean for Santa's visit.}
With the kiddos in bed the hubs and I produced some magic in the family room.
I'm the mastermind behind it all. He's my sidekick.
If you saw my Christmas notes I think you'd be impressed with Mrs. Claus'
organizational skillz.
I keep track and record everything.
Even down to the stocking stuffers.
3 wants
1 need
something to wear
something to read
seems to work really well for our family. So I stuck to that again this year.
These pictures I take before I crawl into bed on Christmas Eve represent a lot of thought, time and love. Makes my heart smile.
{Except for that lone stocking of Kyleigh's still hanging up. Looking forward to next Christmas already!}
Christmas morning about 7:30 Kate comes in our room about ready to barf.
I've never in all my mommy years had someone with a tummy bug on Christmas morning.
{That I can recall anyway.}
Icky cold. yes. The pukes. NO.
Thankfully we were able to calm her tummy with Sierra Mist and Nauzene.
Which is a great tummy med. btw.
{the next morning we weren't as successful, haha. But it was ok, this mama was just grateful we weren't dealing with throw up on Christmas Eve or Christmas!}
Look at her running out to see what Santa brought.....with her bucket. just in case.
I love when I capture the awe and excitement!
She found out what I had to do to get that darn book for her.
For my Austen lover...
Just too cute for words!
Emmsie gave the best gifts!
I am lov'in my new license plate cover!
So much to look forward to for next football season.
I'm SUPER stoked about the new coaching staff.
Kate's homemade gifts for daddy and I!
Emmsie got a super fun gift from one of her best girlfriends who is an awesome gift giver!
It's a talent.
The loot!
That card right there from the hubs and what he gave me meant more to me than all my gifts combined.
{even my Maroon 5 concert tix! *squeal*}
His words were very thoughtful and sweet.
made me cry.
We had Christmas brunch with the hubs family.
G-ma puts on an amazing spread.
Emmsie was in heaven!
Breakfast foods are her thing!
We woke up Christmas morning to fresh snow! I'm telling you. It's so magical when that happens. Love the fact that we had snow in December this year. One of my favorite memories with the hubs this holiday will be the walk in the dark around the ward late one snowy night.
We were able to play in the snow on the ATV's on Christmas! WE had so much fun!
We spent some time at my parents...
more gift giv'in..
I can not even tell you how many Hallmark Christmas shows I/we have watched this month.
Pretty embarrassing.
They are so predictable and pretty cheesy, and some are definitely better than others, but they are just cute, feel-good shows. AND clean so you can watch with your kiddos.
That will definitely be one of my lasting memories from this holiday is watching the Hallmark channel.
This one was one of my fav's...
Merry Christmas!
Christmas Break Fun!
Hannah night sledding with friends
Get to-gether with long time friends..
Doing legos with Kate!
Took the fam to see The Intern. LOVED IT.
{Went right away on my favorite list.}
Yummy steak dinner with one of our favorite couples.
We have a standing tradition. Same place. Same week. every year.
Do'in more legos with Kate!
Ice skating!
hilarious.
It was Kate's first time ever on the ice.
This pic below just so happened to capture my thoughts on...
the odds of us staying upright
and or moving very far from the wall.
{I'm telling you I don't need to talk much. My face expressions more often than not tell it all.}
Luckily, my friend and her daughter happened to be at the ice rink and came to our rescue.
She was a lifesaver!
We got the hang of it and had a really pleasant time. for reals.
The experience ended up being one of my favorite memories from Christmas break.
Brie tackling her Legos!
So I'm not a huge fan of the church movies, but this one is by far one of the better ones.
Enjoyed watching this with my girls.
Hannah still had drill practice too many mornings during the break. Blah!
They enjoyed a surprise breakfast one of the mornings with their coaches.
Got a pedicure from Kate!
New Years Eve day we went for sushi. Love this little dive!
We spent New Years Eve at my parents with family..
I made the kids "New Year's" watches out of chocolate gold covered coins and a free printable from theidearoom.net HERE
Do you dare to play Bean Boozled?
With jelly beans that taste like barf, grass clippings and rotten eggs I wasn't too sure.
They made me eat a black one...it was either going to be "skunk" or black licorice
Game play'in and hang'in til the clock struck midnight....
I served cookies and milk at midnight..
{cute on-line idea}
There was plenty of bubbly flowing too....!
My cute parents even stayed up to bring in the new year with us.
Fireworks were going off outside. From where, not sure. But it was cool. So was the temperature. As in 7 degrees. When it was time to head home we could not get my car unlocked! Key was not working. Not sure if the frigid temps were causing something weird with the electrical or what, but we were stranded in the wee hour of the morning.
I was trying to blow hot air into the key hole.
As if that would somehow help.
We found ourselves in quite a humorous predicament. The hubs had left a little earlier cuz he was feeling a bit under the weather. When our SOS call went in to him he was dead asleep. haha. We had to borrow a car to get home.
Have you ever had a sock party on New Years Day? It was a family affair.
Not the funnest party I've been too, but really productive. ;)
Brie LOVES the singing group PENTATONIX.
She was lov'in that they actually have a NEW YEARS DAY song.
We took the fam to Pizzeria Limone
They have a new dessert pizza that we tried for the first time.
Holy Cow. Delish!
I WILL be going back for more.
Play'in with cousins who have a ginormous swing in their basement.
Do'in homework over Christmas break.
Makes me mad.
Book report, making a DNA model, quizzes etc etc.
Like seriously?
Even Kate was given homework. She's in freaking Kindergarten.
Sorry, but not gonna do it.
Christmas Break should be a break from school. End of story.
One last hurrah with my favorite guy before reality hits on Monday.
Our church time is changing from 1:00 to 9:00! Lord help me. No more sleeping in on a Sunday morn.
For my cute primary class!
{Printable from www.sisterssuitcaseblog.com}
K so..I'm trying to be brave. The month of January and I are not friends. The thought of a "new year" and passage of time wigs me out a bit. I'm not a fan of too much change or being vulnerable. Who knows what the new year will bring, right? I like my life the way it is thank you very much... {minus the fact that 1/5 of my mothering heart is over in Korea. But that sacrifice is also a blessing too..}
So heck with New Years and post holiday blues.
This is one bright spot in an otherwise bleak week ahead of us. THANK YOU Downton!
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