A long good trip

`What a long, but good trip it has been this far. IT started with a 12 hour plane flight, that went surprisingly well for having an 11 month old. They had a cute little baby bassinet that clipped into the wall. Lucy slept well in it. She slept the first six hours, was up for a few and then slept another two. I guess that is what happens when you leave at 1:30 a.m. You get a tired baby! Isn't this little airplane bassinet cute!

Lucy loved listening to the music on the flight as well.
6:30 a.m. and here we are with our luggage waiting for the bus (which was another 2 hour ride to Ansan)
I loved this Asian tree at the airport. It just seemed very Asian and I was anxious to feel like it was really real. We are in Korea!
After the two hour bus ride we had to take a taxi to the real estate agent. We crammed all of our stuff in and then had to wait outside the office for an hour until it opened. So here we are just chilling on this little corner in Korea with all of our stuff

We finally made it to our place and crashed. Look at Lucy's cute new Korean bed. Later that day we headed to E mart (Korean Wal Mart) for some groceries and supplies. Lucy was pretty much attacked by adoring Koreans. THey loved her blonde hair. It took us sooooo long to do our shopping. Everyone wanted to hold her and one girl even took a picture with us. I really do feel famous here. It was fun at first, but after at least 50 people stopped us, I was getting a little tired!

THere is so much to tell, but I don't have much time. OUr apartment is great and I am really enjoying it here. We have great parks near our apartment. Everyone has been very friendly and I am trying to learn more Korean so I can speak with them. Overall, I really like it here. I will tell much more later and post pictures of our place! Miss you all!

I'm Gonna Miss this...

Our last moments in America were spent visiting my family in San Diego. The best way to explain this weekend was perfect. We did all of my favorite things: played beach volleyball, swiming, Moonlight Theater, birthday party...it just doesn't get any better. It was the first time in 3 years my whole family was home during the summer time and it was even better than I remember. The best way to describe my feelings is with that one country song (I dont know the artist because I just never know who sings the songs) "Your gonna miss this. Your gonna want this back. Your gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast." And I know I will. There were times when I had to ask myself "why are you leaving again?" Maybe we should reconsider and just be beach bums the rest of our life!

I was sad not to have my camera at the beach or at the birthday/holiday family party, but I will try to relive the joy. We had a wonderful party to celebrate all the birthdays and holidays we would be missing. We sang happy unbirthday to everyone and then sang some Christmas carols for Christmas, and some spring songs, and some beatles songs just for fun. The real key is, if it is with my family there is definitely going to be some singing. Then we decorated gingerbread houses and I fell asleep while putting Lucy to sleep, so we had to wait until the morning to open presents, but I guess that is kind of like Christmas anyway!

We watched a wonderful play at the Moonlight Amphitheater, one of my favorite summer family traditions My Dad and Lucy during the intermission of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Lani and Heidi enjoy our Moonlight family tradition

And here we are swiming (this was Lucy's first time swiming if you don't count the waterpark, normal pool swiming I guess)What a fun Dad she hasHere are her aunties watching Lucy swim from the deckOn our way to the volleyball tournament my Dad was outside waiting for us. We thought it was pretty funny when we saw him waiting near these other two guys. THey all look so much alike (my Dad didn't know why I was taking this picture...he thought it was just to take one of him and Lucy, but really I was trying to capture the humor of the spot he had chosen to wait)
Ah, picturesque San Diego

Carousel Ride at Belmont Park
Visiting Great Grandma Barbara (my Mom's Mom) in Los Angeles before our flight out of LAXJust two hours after this photo we were in the Security check line, waving goodbye to my parents with tears in my eyes as I imagined my life without these wonderful people for the next year. And we are on to a new adventure.

Moving Out: Part II

Here are our last Provo Moments to remember as we said our goodbyes and packed up:

We went to say goodbye to the Perry's our good friends. Here is there adorable little girl Savanna. We caught her and Lucy holding hands. What a precious little moment as we say goodbye to all our dear friends who we will miss. (Savanna is 3 months younger and is one of the only babies I have ever met who tops Lucy in size. You just gotta love those chubby little cheeks!) A smiling moment with Uncle Nick. We finally got a picture with him and Lucy. One last family picture with our beloved house that we have lived in through the first 3 wonderful years of our marriage.
My cousin Olivia came to help me clean and watch Lucy while I was at the end of my rope with so much to do! Thank you Thank you!

Lucy hardly ever falls asleep in my arms, but while sitting on the pianoman's (AKA my brother Brian) lap while he played the piano she fell asleep. He then transferred to the couch and slept another hour, allowing me to get some more packing done. What a charmer! Ladies lookout!

And again, she enjoys some tunes with her uncle brian. She even learned to clap along with the guitar. Two musical geniuses side by side.
A tired little puppy fell asleep in the bath. Here is her Dad taking her out to go tuck her in bed.

A tuckered little baby, sleeping on our makeshift bed as we sold our bed and all our furniture. I love what a classic lazy position she has assumed.


It has been a tiring week for all of us, especially the little one as you can tell by the number of sleeping pictures. These were our last great moments in Provo. You have been good to us Utah. We will miss you, but it is time to move on.

Moving Out!

We had a crazy two day yard sale last weekend! Luckiy, my parents and Dave's parents were around to help out. On Friday (a week ago Friday) I couldn't resist some pictures of Lucy with both of her Grandmothers. They happened to all being wearing yellow which they all look great in. My favorite part about the pictures is you really can't tell who Lucy looks more like. Our families are definitely coming together.


Sweet Face...

Nana Lisa and Lu...
Livin the life with Grandma. Wow looking at this picture you have to wonder: "Was there anyway Lucy could have avoided being so beautiful with such good looking Grandmas?"
Ewwww...too much love!
One big happy family! Lucy with the girls who love her most!
Lucy and her only cousin Dominic. Sweet little shot!

Here is me just being the usual show off that I am. After Lucy wiped her sweet peas on me (serves me right for not using a high chair) I figured I might as well put it all over my face for a matching Mother-Daughter shot. Dave thought it was pretty gross, but I just can't resist doing things for a little attention! I actually really liked these sweet peas.

Lucy is one messy eater and I will tell you one thing...she doesn't get it from David! I can never make it through a meal without at least something on my clothes!

Thank you family for all of your help with the move! We couldn't have done it without you! We love you and will miss you all so much while we are in Korea! (And a special thanks to Renee Pendergrass who took all these pictures because I had misplaced my camera in all the comotion! One thing among many we definitely have in common is a love for taking pictures... And I mean lots of pictures!)

One little tooth

Okay, not the best picture I have of my little Lu, but definitely the best shot of her one little tooth. It poked through about a month and a half ago, but now you can finally really see it! (These pictures are actually from about 2 weeks ago so you can see it even better now. I have been a little behind with the move and all).

My bro, Brian told me an appropriate joke to go along with this post just the other day.

He served his mission in South Carolina. So he asks me "How do you know that toothbrushes were invented in South Carolina?"

"Of course, I don't know"

"...because anywhere else it would have been named a teethbrush."

Brian always marvels how he wanted to serve in a foreign country, and was surprised to find that the South practically was.

Anyway, yeah for teeth!

Salt Lake City

...And when I say Salt Lake City, I mean lots of Salt Lake City! Last week we traveled there 5 times! For people like me and Dave who think a trip to Wal Mart is a road trip, that is a lot of driving. It has just taken a lot of State stuff to get our Visas for Korea. First we had to both get criminal background checks, take those to the state capitol to get the Lt. Governor to put an official seal and call it an Apostille. We didn't realize what a short time line we were on so we ordered it to come in a few days (the least expensive way of course!) then that night we realized that we needed it sooner, so we drove back up the next day to pick it up (Luckily they didn't charge us extra because they had already finished it). We rushed that document to Korea which was very expensive, to say the least. Then I dragged Dave back up that Saturday for an important reception I wouldn't miss for the world. Then we hear back from our employer that the Korean government didn't accept our Apostille. After some frantic phone calls we found out that they had given us the wrong document at the Capitol, so we drove back up, got the right document, and rushed it to Korea (which was another expensive rush documents to Korea!) Wow, 4 times in 5 days and we thought we were on a roll... luckily last minute my Dad flew me home instead of me and Lucy having to drive through the night to California with Dave, and so I was overjoyed as our wonderful friends drove me to the Salt Lake one last time, for a total of 5 trips to Salt Lake in a 7 day period!

Of course, I had never truly enjoyed the Capitol (I went to a dance there once as a Freshmen at BYU, but other than that I didn't really know what went on there) so it was fun to spend some quality time there.

Our Capitol is gorgeous...

Lucy liked it too.
hey, who are these good looking people?Look at the beautiful architecture. Lucy agrees by the raising of the right hand. It is so ancient looking, but all the murals are of Pioneers. The one portrayed behind me and Lucy especially impressed me. You can't really see it in this picture, but in the covered wagon is a lady nursing her baby. As hard as it is being a Mother and how I am dreading a 12 hour flight with our little one, if the pioneers could nurse in covered wagons as they crossed the planes, I really shouldn't be a half day plane flight!
More Pioneers.
I keep getting pictures of this good looking pair...We met a little puppy inside who was training to be a seeing eye dog. I think that topped the whole experience for Lucy. She sure cried when we had to stop petting her. What a sweet little puppy.
And here is our second trip to Salt Lake. Lucy and I visited City Hall while Dave finished mailing off the documents, and I couldn't resist a photo sesh!
I just noticed how the flower on her shirt matches the flowers in the picture. Cute!

We will miss you Utah! Thanks for all the good times!

I love Presents!!!

So....A few days ago David got this really cute looking package in the mail. He brought it to me and said "I know you love opening presents, so you can open my present if you want to." What a sweetheart! He really knows me. I would never let someone else open one of my presents.

Here is a cute picture of the surprise package. Looks cute. I open it and am surprised to find that inside are samples of Kotex Tampons and Pads. What?!!! Why was this addressed to Dave. Not only was it addressed to Dave, but it was addressed to "Mr. David Pendergrass." When you put "Mr." on the package, how obvious does it get? I think advertising is getting a little lazy and forgetting to check their demographics. Since when did Caucasian married male, father of one, resident of Utah get on the list for feminine product?!! Anyway we laughed over it for a while and I thought you would too!

Land of the Morning Calm

Don't be too shocked...be honest with yourself...you already knew we were crazy! David and I have always wanted to go on adventures. When Lucy was born we tried to live like two normal people with a baby, but we just couldn't hold out any longer and figured 10 months was old enough to to take Lucy along to see the world. (As David explained to some people the other day: "Wendy has always wanted to go on adventures. I mean, the poor girl wanted to go on a mission her whole life and then some hunky man came along, who she couldn't resist so she settled down and got married. It is time to take the girl on her adventures"). So, after some thought and prayer, David accepted a job teaching English in Korea, in one of the areas from his mission called Ansan. We leave in a little over two weeks! Crazy, huh? I told you! He signed a year long contract, so we won't be seeing you all for a while (but I can bet they have the internet and I will probably be obsessively blogging everything, so no worries!). Our apartment will be one room, no not one bedroom, just one room. We will sleep altogether on padding on the floor in the living room and put it away in the closet during the day (that is the way the Koreans do it) . I had to share that great part of our situation, because I am really excited to live the real Korean culture. It just seems so foreign, but I guess we will be the foreign ones (that will be a fun change!). I am also excited to eat like Koreans because they hardly ever eat wheat or milk (both of which Lucy is very sensitive to and I can't eat or else she gets it through her milk and breaks out with Eczema). It will be nice to feel normal. Okay, I guess with blond hair, I won't completely fit in, but at least if we are out somewhere I won't have to watch people downing bread and ice cream without participating! Dave's last day of work is today, and then we are just packing, and getting ready for a massive yard sale! Dave and I love going to yard sales...I guess it is our time to give back! And then a long long trip with a baby. I was starting to gripe a little about how long and hard the trip over there with a baby will be, but once you think of all the immigrants crossing to America on ships, and the pioneers crossing America in Covered Wagons, I guess 24 hours of travel with some layovers and long bus rides isn't much to complain about! Wish us luck! We are off to the Land of the Morning Calm (as Korea is also known)...

Seven Peaks Surprise

Yesterday, Dave called me while working at the BYU track camps and asked if we could be ready to go to the waterpark in an hour. We knew he was going to get free tickets to the park for working at the BYU Track Camps, but didn't realize we had to go at a certain time. What a fun surprise! I had no idea that we would be having such a fun evening!


Lucy was a little bit wary at first. The slightest splash or going just a little bit deeper made her cry. I half expected this because Lucy's one great fear is going through sprinklers. It always makes her cry. I was worried I had a wimpy child...


...but after some time in the wave pool and some laps in the lazy river she was right at home and had truly found her element! I think the key is to take things slowly with Lucy. She is quite an observer and doesn't really enjoy being caught off guard. (She definitely got that from her Dad, and not me. My Mom said I rarely thought twice about taking risks as a baby.) She would have stayed all day, but alas the night had to come to an end!
So we quickly bundled her up and changed her 5 lb soaked diaper. Next time I think we will buy some swim diapers! Yuck!
And just because we happened to have a cute little baby robe , I thought now would be a good time to use it! We call her our little Jedi when she's dressed like this!

Dave and I marveled on the way home that the time in our lives had come where the reason we enjoyed things was watching our child experience and enjoy them. There was a time I would have been thrilled to go down every water-slide, but you know you are a parent when you are perfectly content to just soak in the lazy river while watching your child splash. Just when you start growing out of things like theme parks and roller coasters, you have children who bring a whole new excitement and reason for going to them!