Wandering Browns

We spent a significant portion of our time in California getting over jet lag and doing all of the things that we miss when we're traveling- baking, cooking, eating awesome American and Mexican food, and spending tons of time with family. I am so happy that we were able to introduce Landon to some of my favorite family traditions. Landon and I made lemony sugar cookies with different colors of buttercream frosting. Landon helped by taking way too many tastes and manning the decoration/sprinkles station.  Our time in California flew by and was filled with tons of activities! Turns out my parents are pretty busy even with just one kid at home. Austin and I celebrated our anniversary with dinner at McClintock's in Pismo Beach- a cowboy-type steak house overlooking the ocean, and outdoor mineral springs hot tub. It was a very relaxing date! We attended Claire's piano recital (with my piano teacher from high school!) and band concert. We did some temple work for my ma...

When we arrived in Vietnam, we anticipated being there for quite a long time- at least until early 2017. When we were released to return to the United States in early December, we decided to surprise my family in California for an early Christmas. The last time we Skyped with my family from Vietnam, we had to keep the secret that we were leaving soon. Landon did a great job, and even hushed me up a few times when he felt like I was going to give it away. They had mentioned they didn't have a Christmas tree yet, and I was so hoping that they would still not have one when we arrived, so Landon could help pick it out. Well, my wish came true! My mom was going to break tradition and buy a tree from the grocery store, but since we appeared, we went to the Christmas tree lot that we have gone to every year since I was a little girl! I love Landon's California winter outfit here- shorts and a sweatshirt Our hunt for the perfect Christmas tree was a little more tricky this...

Pension mother was THE ABSOLUTE BEST, if you haven't already deduced that. Although she spoke limited English, she was always thinking of ways to make our lives better, and things to entertain the boys. During harvest time in early October, she asked me using a mixture of words and hand gestures if I wanted to go sweet potato picking. I was not sure what to expect, but at the appointed day and time, house mother and grandmother piled into our car with the boys and we drove inland for a few miles. When I was putting the boys in their car seats, both mother and grandmother wanted to just hold Owen, but I made sure to put him in his car seat even though he was screaming like crazy. Beloved house mother! House grandmother sat in the front seat, pointing the way I should go. It was a little nerve-wracking trying to figure out the way, but we made it. When we got there, house grandmother's husband was in the field digging, but they soon left us to our digging. In order to g...

How can my little baby Owen possibly be one?! Here he is as a brand-new little baby. His hair was so thick and dark for a newborn. It started to lighten up in Chicago, but it really lightened up in Korea to be a very improbable shade of strawberry blonde/auburn by his birthday. Since he looks so different from Landon, I thought that he looked just like a Livengood baby. Now, looking back, at pictures from his first year of life, I see both Livengood and Brown features. It will be interesting to see how he looks as he loses his baby fat and grows up. Owen never lost his hair completely, just had some bald patches along the way. I did not cut his hair until two days before his first birthday. I was not planning on having it cut, but Landon asked for a haircut and I at least wanted Owen's evened out a little. He had hair, at that point, that was long enough to get in his eyes and get caught in his eyelashes. Koreans thought he was a girl. So it was time. Owen's eyes are still mo...

 Going into the month of November, I had no idea where we were going to be for Owen's birthday. For awhile, it was looking like we were going to be back in California, and then as we got further into the month, that we would still be in Samgilpo, Korea, but leaving shortly thereafter to go back to the United States. Then, we got staffed to go straight to Vietnam, and we had to be all packed up and ready to leave Korea two days after Owen's birthday. Needless to say, it was a hectic time and I'm just happy we did SOMETHING for his birthday.  First off, though, we took a bunch of passport-style photos to try to get one acceptable enough for our visas to Vietnam. It was a process, and we took way too many pictures. The website for visas kept saying our photos were unacceptable, but not telling us why. Very frustrating, but we got some really cute documentation of Owen's funny faces, so enjoy: Pre-hair cut bangs in his face... Cute, happy boy! Look over...