Back to Korea

Where to begin? As I sit here at 5am on a Saturday trying to figure out everything that has happened in the past 2 weeks, I find that its hard. One because it is WAY too early, but my children are awake and two because a LOT has happened. Let me TRY to get it all out. Sorry - this WILL be sketchy.

After all the funeral stuff for my father, we kept trying to help my mom figure out life without Dad. We helped pay the few bills she had lying around, we cleaned up the house, Jake worked his BUTT off in the front and back yards, and Gramma got her much wanted "grandkid time". I found the boxes of slides that my father had from his mission to "the Western States" (hahaha, shows you how OLD he is), from his Navy tour to Iceland, his visit to Spain, and old family pictures. We took those slides with us when we went to UT and used Jake's father's slide converter (I guess that is what it would be called) and put them all on the computer as "digital copies". That was so awesome to see all the pictures of things my dad has done and how he grew up.

We went to UT on Wed and drove back Sun night. We really planned on staying another day, but as we were driving up there, we had this feeling that we should have stayed back in LV to help mom more. But she also insisted (whether she really meant it or not) that we go and see Jake's family too while we were there. We had a good time with his family. We got to see the Salt Lake Christmas concert, visit with the family, and just let the kids play. It was nice.

Back in LV, myself, my oldest sister, and a kid that my dad had working with him, went through 90% of my dad's electronics. He has SO much. We took pictures of everything, wrote down what it was, and now have the HORRIBLE task of trying to figure out how much everything is worth so that my mom can sell it and get rid of it all. It does her no good just sitting in storage and she could really use the money to pay towards her home.

Just lots of fast food eating (since there isnt that much in Korea), shopping (we brought back 3 trunks FULL of stuff), and family time while we were there. The flights were long and stressful because of the kids and the plane being WAY uncomfy, but what are you going to do? That is what the Army got us and I suppose we should be thankful for that.

Here are a few pictures. One is my sisters and I at the viewing for my dad. One is James showing that he drew a LOT of H's all by himself! And one is Sam with Jake's hat on. :-)

Dec 4, 2011 will not be forgotten

4 Dec 2011 - I learned that the man that I love almost as much as my husband has passed away. My father, Danny Leavitt, passed away from a heart attack at the age of 64 while asleep in his bed. He didn't feel a thing. Simply just didn't wake up one morning.

My dad is an amazing guy. He has always been there for us, to help with science projects, to help with homework, to go to a band concert, or to just tell us his latest joke-however lame it was. My dad wanted to have a good time in life. He was always trying to hang out with me and my friends on a Friday night, or show us a "fun" game if I was having a party at the house. He helped me buy my first car and taught me that you need to do good not for praise, but for the simple reason of doing good.

Almost anyone in music in Las Vegas knows my dad. The entire school district knows him, almost all the church members know him, and everyone in between. You mention Danny Leavitt and they talk to you like you are a movie star. He is a genius, he is a wonderful person, he is so giving, he has the perfect ear for things - that is just a few of the things people say about my dad.

When I learned that my father passed away, Jake was away (about 3 hours north of where we are in Korea) for a week. He had just left the night before and was going to be in a field sanitation class for a week, without coming home. When I called to tell him what had happened, he didnt think he would be able to come home and I was going to try and find a way to get to LV by myself. But he was able to leave his class, drive back to our home, and be with me in this hard time. His superiors were nothing but helpful, doing paperwork for us, getting anything we needed. They did great. We got plane tickets right away and were on the plane to LV by 6p on Tues night.

The flight was good and we got here. It was really hard to see my mother so sad and not have any words of comfort for her, but I know she understands what is going on with Dad now and she knows he is in a better place and resting. I didnt get to see my dad until Friday at the viewing. That was a simple thing and just a good time for me to look at him and see how happy he looked.

Saturday was the funeral. You would not BELIEVE how many people were there. I would estimate (between the number of signatures and the fact that the gym was full behind the overflow in the chapel) that there were easily 500 people. My dad touched MANY lives and everyone wanted to be there for it. It was an hour and a half and had a TON of music, which only makes sense because of my fathers life.

Monday, we got to see him be buried in the veterans cemetery in Boulder City, NV where he was born and raised. Again, a simple service for a man who never asked for anything. He wanted to be buried in a pine box, but we got him a beautiful silver and black casket.

My father is an extraordinary man and will be missed. But having the gospel in my life and knowing that I am going to be with him and that he is up with his parents having a great time, makes this a wonderful experience. He now can rest and not work so hard. Maybe he is tweaking the sound system up in heaven or having the angels show him the ways around. Who knows. But I do know that he will live in me forever and I will share his legacy with my children.

(side note - my mother's father passed away in 2000 also on Dec 4 - crazy day)

Sapgyopo?

There is a place about 20 minutes south of us called Sapgyopo? I think. From what we saw (since we couldnt read any of the signs) its just a couple ships that you get to walk through. Don't really know what they are doing there or what they were once used for. But it was cool.

Me and the boys - as Sam trys to walk away.

Jake with the boys - as Sam walks away again.

Can you see Sammy in the top of the tank??

This is what it looks like from the front.

It was real interesting to go through the ships and see how life would be HORRIBLE being there for any prolonged period of time. But we wont be going back until Sam is able to walk. He was just too heavy to try and carry through there. My goodness.

Seoul War Memorial Museum

Veteran's Day, November 2011, Seoul War Memorial Museum

We decided to go up to Seoul for the Veteran's Day this month. It was a great idea, but traffic thought otherwise. We did get there and had an interesting time. There was a bunch of different uniformed Koreans there doing a demonstration of something. It was cool to watch. Then we walked around outside to let James see the planes, helicopters, tanks, and ships. He enjoyed that the most. When we went inside, we thought it was going to be awesome. But since we didnt want to read EVERYTHING and the kids were wired, we went through pretty quick and didn't care for it too much. But here are some pics...

This is the memorial from the side.

Koreans.

The front.

Me and Sam with some character people.

James on a ship with Dad.

These Japanese girls were LOVING Sam. There were three different groups of them that stopped and wanted to touch him, take his picture, say hello... they just LOVE white American babies, I guess.

Jake was drinking the water... in a bag! Can you see his awesome little paper bag??

The fam with the people from the demonstration.


We had a good time and are glad that we went. Maybe next time, we will take the train?

Oh boys...

Ok.. here are a couple fun pictures of some things that I will explain in each...

It gets real cold here and Sam's current hat was getting too small. So we ended up getting him a new one this weekend. It came with mittens, too. Its pretty cute. He obviously will get more hats since red and black only match so much. But he was diggin' it for now.


Remember when I told you that James and Sam both got fever rashes? Well, I wanted to take a picture of Sam to show you how bad he got. If you can see it throw the flash, there are a TON of little red dots on his face. It was like this ALL over his body. Poor kid. Even now, about 2 weeks later, you can still feel his back and its a little rough. Lots more lotion needed.


Today, James wanted to hold Sam's hand in the car. There was no way for them to actually REACH each other, but they tried and this is what it looked like.


Oh Korea... how I love the way you spell. Look and see if you can see the misspelled word.

If you didnt find it, maybe you need to go back to a "univerdsity" and see how to spell properly.

Things here are good. We are getting more and more friends since people keep moving in and out of here. We are trying to visit more places and see more things throughout Korea. Sam is walking like crazy! He can walk about 20 feet already. James is just a big brother. Cant really say too much there. Last week, the boys were eating me out of house and home. This week, they aren't touching a thing I give them. Oh well... guess the growing week is over. :-)

Family Pictures

About 2 weeks ago, we got family pictures done. Here are a few of my favorites.













James got sick yesterday. He was fine and dandy. Then after he took his nap, he woke up with a temp of 102.5. I gave him Tylenol and put cold compresses all over him. He didnt seem to mind, when he normally hates that. But it didnt do anything. After Jake got home an hour later, we decided to take him to the after hours clinic since the fever wasnt moving. They took us back and said that he had an ear infection and probably something else and thats why his fever is so high. The dr said that its ok for him to have a high fever because its fighting something and just to keep giving Tylenol and Motrin (alternate between the two) and the antibiotic for the ear infection. If he isnt at least acting better by Friday to take him back in. As long as we stay on top of the fever reducers, James seems to be fine. He eats a little and drinks a lot, so he is still hydrated. Poor guy.

Its odd to have James sick because SAM is the one who just had the 5 shots!! Anyways... nothing has changed in the past few days. Jake is going to be flying this weekend, so we are just going to take it easy here at the house. Watch a lot of Disney movies so James doesnt play too hard and lets his body rest. You can also go to YOUTUBE and watch some cute videos of the boys. www.youtube.com - search for jakobandstepha

Oh birthday weekends...

Oh the birthday weekend for the kids. Good times. Lets start with Saturday.

Saturday - we had some friends over that night for some cake and ice cream. Each of the boys for their own small cake so that they could blow out the candle. James tried, but he ended up spitting more than blowing. Sam, he had no idea what to do, so I gave him a little help. They both got to eat their own cake and share with friends. As the kids played, you can see in the picture with Sam in his room, that they destroyed their room. It was no big deal. They had a great time. It was an easy clean. A great time was had by all. AND that was the first time that Sam took more than one step! He took about 5-6 in a row. You can see this if you go to YOUTUBE.com and type in the search bar "jakobandstepha". Its cute.

Sunday - I had Jake stay home with the boys since they were still coughing and had runny noses. I had to go to church because we had our Primary Program. That went great. They children did an AMAZING job and I couldnt have been prouder. Then they got to eat cupcakes during Primary. When I got home, my boys took a nap and I got to rest some.

Monday - Poor Sam. He got to go to his 1year well baby check up. He had to have blood drawn out of his finger, a TB shot in his arm for daycare (if we ever need to take him in the next year), and FIVE shots (two in his left leg and three in his right leg). He didnt cry with the blood, but the shots made him cry for about four minutes in all. He did real well then slept for about 2.5 hours!!! After he and James rested, we went to post and ran some errands. Then we had a friend over, ate, and went for a walk. Tonight, after the boys go to bed, Jake and I are going to start looking for things to buy them for Christmas. We need to start getting their presents shipped out here.

That was our boys birthday weekend. Hope you enjoy the blog and the cute pictures.