Our Family Photos:-)

Tammy & Emily being silly!!

TJ & Elijah pretending to play guitar!!

Elijah, Tammy, Emily & TJ looking so sweet!

They are so cute like this, it shows that they really do love one another!

The whole family!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone...I know that I am 2 days late on getting this posted and I am very sorry for that. We have had a busy week around the Utter house! The kids had school Monday through Wednesday all day:-) Wednesday was the big Thanksgiving feast in Emily's classroom...it was really interesting with 18 1st graders, their teacher and lots of Mom's, Dad's and little brothers and sisters in their little classroom!! All that matters is the kids had a blast! On Thanksgiving day we went to Camp Bonifas, where Tim works, to have Thanksgiving dinner with his unit...it was beautifully decorated but Koreans just can't cook American food like we can:-) It was nice to be able to spend time with the other soldiers and the few other families!

Friday we had the pleasure of being visited by my friend Amber. She is from Syracuse originally and is here in Seoul as a Missionary for her church. She lives about an hour away and she came over to visit us yesterday and had the pleasure of getting to eat American food for the first time in a long while...she loves being here for her job but after a while Korean food gets old. We made some of my Oatmeal Cookies, which I let her take home a bag, and her Korean roommate has discovered that she likes very much! She was so excited to see our regular sized appliances because in Korea everything is tiny!! She was also excited to see American foods like Ranch Dressing...she was very excited when I told her she could have a whole bottle to take back home with her!! I made her some baked chicken in Italian dressing with Cheesy Hashbrown casserole and after her first bite she said her tongue was tingling with excitement!! She is so sweet and I look forward to her visiting us more often now that she knows the bus runs from her apartment to right outside our front gate! She is lucky though because she gets to go home on the 7th until the 21st! We were discussing yesterday some of the amazing things she will get to do while home such as eat a Hoffman hot dog, go to Doug's Fish Fry and be able to buy clothes:-)

Today, Saturday, I cooked a huge Thanksgiving dinner for 3 other families and ourselves!! We had a 27 lb turkey, a huge pot of mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, corn, crescent rolls, deviled eggs, creamsicle salad, apple pie, pumpkin pie and pecan pie!! The men put away some serious food and we still had a ton of leftovers, so I called some other friends to come and get leftovers for their dinner, and I still have a bunch left! My family has taught me to cook for an Army so I did and they loved it:-) We loved it even more! I have realized this week that I am turning into my mom! AAAHHHHH:-)

So anyways in conclusion this Thanksgiving I have realized many things:

1- Family is so very important!

2- No matter how far apart you are from your family they are always just a phone call away!!

3- You can have a family outside of your biological family, my Army family!

4- God never gives you more than I can handle at any given time, I can handle quite a bit thanks to his help!

5- Enjoy every minute you get with your friends and family because you never know when they will be leaving you!

I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving and know that we think of you often!
Lots of love and prayers,
Steph

Crazy October...

Hello all...to say that October was crazy is just a mild explanation of our month!! To be honest I don't really know where the month went for us...
TJ, Emily and Elijah are now fully established in their school routines! They have all adjusted to their new classrooms and teachers quite well! Elijah had a bumpy start but after much "thinking" in the thinking chair in his class has now gone almost 2 weeks without sitting in it! TJ had a couple of exciting field trips and his favorite one by far was the day that they went to K-16(which is the air base here in Seoul for the military)...while there they were able to go in the flight simulator! He has now decided that he wants to go in the Army so he can fly Blackhawks. According to the father, who actually flies them for real, TJ was very good at it! Emily is still doing great at school other than the occasional over running of her lips!
Tammy is still trying to adjust to having Mommy all to herself during the day...we are pretty busy though! Monday I volunteer in Emily's class during the morning so Tammy hangs out with Chelsea. Then Wednesday morning we have PWOC which she goes with me and hangs out in watchcare with her "Korea Grandma" Miss Robin...who will unfortunately be leaving us in a little over a month so Tammy is not happy with me about this!
I was blessed with an amazing opportunity to go to Hawaii for 5 days in October...it was so beautiful and I really want to go there as a family. The one bad part of my trip is that I managed to get a mild case of the flu...but have no fear it didn't stop me. I was swimming in the ocean the day that I was running a fever:-) The water was warm so it was all good:-)
Tim has been busy with work and we are now looking at less than a year before we leave here. His anniversary date of his arrival was October 28th!! Unfortunately we found out this month that he will not be joining us down here for his second year over here as we had anticipated. He is so good at his job that they don't want to let him go...but we are ok with this decision...we have settled into our routines and it works really well! He went to the board this past week and passed so hopefully in the next few months he will be promoted to an E6!! We are really excited about this. He has been back in college for almost a month and really likes his new school. He is working on going from Green to Gold and hopefully we will know more about this soon!!
Fall has finally arrived in Korea...tonight we are supposed to have a low in the mid-30's for the first time since we arrived here! Tomorrow our high is only 40...but it is only lasting 1 day...the temp is supposed to go back up into the 60's for the rest of the week!! We are really enjoying the mild weather! Well I guess this is all for now...time to chase Tammy off to bed so I can finish the laundry and picking up the house. We hope that all of you are doing well! We miss you and love you lots!

Another long weekend...

Hello all! We had another long weekend this weekend do to Chosuk, also known as the Korean version of Thanksgiving! The kids had celebrations in school on Wednesday and Thursday which were fun as some of the parents brought in different Korean foods. It was nice to try but there food can be a little to different our american taste buds!

On Friday we went to visit the Seoul Zoo. We went with some friends and we all had a great time! We haven't seen the whole zoo because it is so big but we just plan to go again real soon! It is really inexpensive and really fun! Here are some pics from our adventure:

Elijah, Tammy, Emily, Grace, Jesse, Chelsea and TJ with their new friends!!
Our munchkins looking at the white rhinocerus'!

TJ and Emily climbing the mountain!

Elijah and Grace hangin' out on the elephants tusks!

A Big Change

Well since the last time I posted Elijah has started school...this week is his first full week!

This is him the first day getting on the bus! He was so excited he ran all the way to the bus! He got on sat down and then waved good-bye and blew me a kiss. It was a tougher day for Mommy than for him. He loves his new teacher Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Julie. He has had to go back to napping as there is a mandatory hour rest time in their day. We just run around on the playground for an hour every afternoon to make up for it.

As for Tammy she is now all alone at home and loves it. On the first day that Elijah went to school I asked her, "What are we gonna do now that Bubby is gone?" Her response was, "You are gonna work out and I am gonna do the laundry!" Needless to say we haven't had a chance to workout yet but she does help with the laundry...she gets the clothes out of the dryer for me and yesterday she discovered that she can match socks!

We have also finally moved to our bigger apartment...Praise the Lord! The day that we came to sign for our new house was the first time that I had seen how big it was and I am glad because I would have been miserable in our old house! The floor plan is awesome, we have lots of open space to breath! No more tripping over each other and the toys! The kids have no more bunk beds and a toy room!! No more toys in the living room!! I have posted lots of pictures of the apartment on Facebook so everyone can check it out! Now we have lots of wall space so everyone please send us some pictures so that we can hang them up on our walls!

We talk about EVERYONE back home daily!! We are making new friends here but will NEVER forget those back home in the states! I hope that this post finds all of you well and know that you are in our prayers daily!

Love and miss you all-Stephanie

Been a long while...

Well it was a long, yet short summer for the Utter clan!! We had a great summer and are very much looking forward to falls arrival so that the temperatures with be more comfortable for us to function in the outdoors:-) Here is a review of where and what is going on with all of us:

• Tim has had a busy summer at work due to various people going home on leave! He was luckily spared of taking part in the "exercise" this August, but became a celebrity of sorts here in Korea:-) During a ceremony at his work which was videotaped for our local news. Tammy gets all excited when she sees him on there! Will post a link as soon as I can. He has also made a change in his school and career plan for the Army. He has transferred to American Military University to a Bachelors program in Religion which could lead to him becoming a Chaplain/Pastor in the future. He starts his first classes on Oct. 5th. With this our intent is for him to become an officer within the next 2-3 years. Here's to hoping and praying:-) At the beginning of November he will be able to move from Camp Bonifas and hopefully it will mean a move to Yongsan with us!


• I was home this summer with the kids of course...currently debating on wether or not I want to go to graduate school through a grant program that the Army has offered to spouses! I am excited that the kids are back in school because it allows us to get on a better routine. I am staying busy by being involved with PWOC and the PTO. Getting very excited about our move to a bigger apartment this coming Friday! Very happy that I packed light which should help our process to go quickly!


• TJ has decided that he now wishes to be called Timothy or Tim at school!! At home it will continue to be TJ! He has started the first week of 3rd grade and it went a bit bumpy to say the least...he didn't listen to the teacher very well which resulted with Mommy getting a phone call from the teacher. But this week promises to be much better! He has finally begun to grow just slightly but still progress! He has also finally learned how to tie his own shoes!! This week he started the bowling league and he is on the bantams which means bowling 3 games with no bumpers...he got 1 strike and a few gutter balls to say the least. We are hoping that it will help to increase his upper body strength. This summer he also started swimming all on his own...he even started jumping off the diving board!!


• Emily had a rough start to 1st grade herself because the first day of school she had to go to the dentist and have a tooth removed due to a bad cavity which led to an absess on the cheek:-( Her teacher was so very nice and helpful with the fact that Emily had a special diet the first week due to the tooth removal. This summer was pretty exciting for her as well...she finally has started enjoying getting her head wet while swimming and likes to try to swim without her life jacket. She's grown a few inches this summer as well...her legs are getting longer and longer! Em started bowling this week also and is in the PeeWee league which is with bumpers but she is learning how to hold the ball correctly. She is the one and only goof!!


• Elijah is patiently waiting for his school to begin...he gets to meet his teacher this coming Wednesday. He has continued to grow this summer as well and has discovered a new found love for the pool. He loves to go down the slide and jump in off the side which includes his head getting wet:-) Elijah is bowling in the PeeWee league as well and he has some power behind his throw!! He made a new friend at bowling this week, whose Dad was helping Elijah to learn how to hold the ball correctly and how to use his arms and legs to control the ball! He went to the optomotrist this week to get his eyes checked and we found out that for right now he is ok but in the future he will need glasses...the Dr. told him that if he stands in front of the TV to watch it he will have to go back to get a shot(cause he hates shots)! We do what we have to do to avoid bad behaviors!
• 
• Tammy is turning into a beautiful little girl...it seems as though just yesterday she was a baby and now she is 3! She's going to finally be home with Mommy on her own and she is very excited about that!! This summer she also learned how to swim on her own in a life jacket. She still doesn't like her head wet but it will come with time! Tammy is also doing PeeWee bowling and is quite entertaining...it takes about 2 minutes for the ball to go down the lane and sometimes loses power and stops halfway down but she is having fun and that is all that matters:-)

I hope to post more soon and plan to do better at keeping up with our posts! Please know that we think of all of you often and miss everyone lots! We have about 14 months left to go here in Korea and look forward to what the Lord has in store for us next!!

What a year!!

As I sit here reflecting over the past year I am continually amazed by the love that our Heavenly Father has shown my family. A year ago this weekend was when Tim went to officially enlist in the Army again! 3 very short weeks later he left us to head to Oklahoma for WTC, then on to Alabama for AIT and in October he came here to Korea. The time has flown but we have had many bumps and bruises along the way.
He missed all of the kids birthdays in that year, which was good because no one could ever come back to say that they got to be with Dad for their birthday when the others did not! TJ & Emily are preparing for the end of another school year. TJ has managed to soar through 2nd grade and excelled the whole way! He is an excellent reader and kicks some math butt:-) Emily has aced kindergarten! She is now reading and doing pretty well in math herself! They truly loved their classes back in Geneva but have adapted well to their new classes here in Korea. They are slowly making new friends but will never forget the ones they left behind. Elijah & Tammy are making new friends all the time but also talk about their friends at home(Aaron, Lily, Vicky, Sophie & Henry) are mentioned on a daily basis!
Mommy is adjusting to all of her changes as well. I am making some new friends while missing my ones back home very much. I am praying for God to show me His will for me during our time here in Korea. I have gotten a new hair do since arriving because my beautiful curly hair and Korea's outrageous humidity do not mix very well:-) I had a few inches chopped off and alot of layers and thinning done! I have found a hair dresser who knows what I need:-)
As for Tim he has been pretty busy this year. Since coming to Korea he has taken 4 college classes! He is now on summer break from school, which came at just the right time since he got a new job at work. He was promoted to E5 or Sargeant at the beginning of March and is now looking to go to the board for his E6 in October. He started a new job with more responsibilities this past week. He has been very busy trying to fix the mess that the last person in the job created. We get to see Tim every weekend, he comes home Friday night and heads back on Sunday or Monday.
This coming week will be very exciting for the Utter's. Emily graduates from Kindergarten on Monday morning and then school ends officially on Thursday at 11am. So summer vacation here we come. Mommy is busy trying to plan out our summer so we don't get bored:-)
We hope that all of you at home are well! We think of everyone often and look forward to hearing from you.
Love and Prayers-Steph