Favorite image of the day...

Suddenly around 4pm when my boys were sliding into their favorite positions on the couch, right at the same moment that I was wondering how I was going to vacuum, do the dishes, and fold the laundry, all before 5pm, the thought occurred to me that they should be put to work.

While they will never be able to share the stories of vacuuming and scrubbing in their childhood the way the Original Earnests can (their stories of cleaning as children are akin to the, 'i walked five miles to school in the snow' type of stories. I have no way to verify their reality, nor will I ever be able to be the task force organizer that my amazing mother-in-law Lark was). But I have to say, as I walked out of the laundry room and caught sight of my sons busy with domestic duties, I had to snap a picture. After all, someday when they want to tell a tale about the hard labor they had to endure as children, I thought a little pictorial evidence would surely help their cause.


When I'm not busy with my boring domestic duties, the sewing room is getting slightly less dusty as I tried at long last a crazy nine patch quilt. It's nearly done and was thoroughly invigorating. I think there will be more crazy nine patches in my future. If you want to try one, go here, and here.

Here's an idea.

Put a picture of Michael Jackson at the top of your blog, and you are guaranteed to updated 100% sooner than you would, without a picture of Michael Jackson at the top of your blog.

Blogging advice is free of charge.

Here's another good idea, have a day where your kids aren't allowed to play video games, in the middle of summer vacation. I'm just saying, desperate situations sometimes call for desperate measures. The video gaming hours were reaching an all time high.

In the midst of their boredom, George planned us a summer evening picnic, and Henry accomplished several requirements out of his Cub Scout handbook.

One of the requirements was to go grocery shopping with your mom. As if we don't do this three times a week, this time it was with a purpose. We were comparing prices, and I was sending the boys all over the store, with their own list and a basket. I'm not saying it was fun, but it did mean they were not playing video games.

And I got to pick up all the ingredients for a delicious and fresh Salade Nicoise, that I've been craving ever since Bastille Day.



Eating al fresco only made it all the more delicious. The evening ended with freeze tag, and meeting some new neighbors who had just moved into our building. Oh yeah, and eating brownies that Henry made, also part of his Scouting marathon day. I'll tell you what, with five more weeks of summer vacation looming, Henry is going to be a Bear before you know it!

(never mind the grumpy faces, I didn't say it was the most awesome day ever, I just said, we did a few good things)

P.S. Aunt Sarah, how are you doing? All day long yesterday Jane kept talking about you. One time she said, "Mom, is Jesus done making Sarah's baby yet? Is it ready to POP out of her?"

It got me thinking, maybe it is about to pop out of you...

While I slept last night...

I dreamt I was married to Michael Jackson.


It was a very awkward marriage if you can imagine. He kept trying to tell me how much he loved me , and to emphasize his point he would kiss me vehemently. And all the while in our dreamt marriage, I felt so bad for him because I knew it was going to crush him when he found out that I just couldn't return the same kind of love for him. All those declarations of love in one dream had me nearly bored.


Imagine how relieved I was to be awoken by the Major himself at 5:30am, asking for a ride to work, to realized that in fact I was not married to the King of Pop at all. It had only been a dream.




After I took the Major to work dressed in complete chemical warfare gear, I fell back asleep for another little dream. This time my sister Christine had a job at The Children's Place. I remember thinking, in the dream of course, how odd that out of all her choices she had settled with The Children's Place. But since they were having a "monster" sale, and things were marked down to prices like $1.99, I started stocking up. Putting things behind the counter, for her to use her employee discount on to make them only $1.00. And then, when I went up to make my final purchases, in my dream, my mother had sneaked into the store and bought all the clothes that I had been stacking up. And then just like the Good Witch in the Wizard of Oz, she disappeared for the duration of the dream.

You know what? When I woke up, I had an email from The Children's Place announcing their "monster sale". All day long I've been stocking up my virtual shopping bag, half expecting Christine to call me and tell me about her new job that she has just started...

Which brings me to another thing that I've been dreaming about ever since I moved to Korea and discovered that it was a land of fabric. That is for some Heather Bailey fabric to show up at the Happy Quilt store.

You know, it doesn't take much to make a trip to the Happy Quilt a jubilation. So imagine my glee today, after dragging the children there simply for a single yard of white quilting fabric, that there was a ginormous bolt of beautiful fabric that I had never seen before. I probably ran over to that bolt of fabric (the details have all become a blur), and searched for a brand on the selvage edge. I kid you not when I announce that it was in fact a bolt of beautiful Heather Bailey fabric, sitting right there at the Happy Quilt in Korea.

(my camera is hardly doing it justice. I'm quite confident if you saw it in person, it would have made your day gleeful as well.)

It's gotten me thinking that nearly anything is possible if only you dream it to be first.

At least I know these ladies believe that. I have no doubt that in their dream world, the line between what is real and what is make believe is a very blurry designation. They twirled and discussed all afternoon long about life as a cheerleader, and life as Snow White.

I'm just saying, sometimes dreams really do come true.

P.S. but thank goodness I will never be married to the King of Pop. Seriously.

P.P.S. Seriously, what should I dream of making with that fabric? Any suggestions?

Why does it have to be hard?!

Avila Beach Earnest Family Reunion

Lark and Steve Earnest with all 24 of their grandchildren. Number 25 will be born before the end of the year. Talk about multiplying and replenishing!

I'm having a hard time getting motivated around here. Hard time getting motivated to sew, to clean, to do laundry, to make beds, to make kids do productive things. It all just seems so hard. Needless to say the blog seems impossible. But my sister-in-law Chelsea just sent along some photos from our smashingly fun family reunion in Avila Beach, CA. It got me reminiscing. That was some great family fun. I hope we'll do it again. It's so unique to have so many cousins so close in age. My kids are so lucky to be part of such an awesome family. The memories formed with cousins during childhood are the kind of memories that last a lifetime.

Ruby and Jane are only 1 of 4 sets of twins!

The official purpose of our family reunion was to celebrate Lark and Steve's 40th wedding anniversary. Of course we had to attempt family pictures to commemorate such a gathering.

Brooke's kids look like they should be Darin's kids.

Here's how Henry and George entertained themselves during any given moment on our entire vacation...

On Thursday night, June 25th, we went into San Luis Obispo for dinner at the Farmer's Market. The girls were entertained by the street musician in front of Cold Stone for a very long time. He even let them join his band by playing the maracas (how do you spell that?!) at one point in time.

Henry and George got to try rock climbing.

And all the kids got an awesome "back alley" tour of San Luis by their ultra cool aunt Brooke, who also owns the Cold Stone (with husband Joe, of course) where everyone enjoyed free ice cream!

On another day we took the kids to a picturesque farm and petting zoo.

We did actually attempt going out to the beach a few times. But with the water temps being a good 15 degrees cooler than down in San Juan Capistrano (where it is already cold), it was sometimes a hard sell.




Thanks for supplying the abundance of boogie board, Todd and Amber! George sure had a blast with all the boy cousins.


Since one had to first walk right past the beautiful pool and hot tub before getting to the sandy beach, I have to admit that even I was hard pressed to find a reason why I should move past the beautifully inviting yellow lounge chairs.


We loved the cute little beach streets that were right down from the hotel. A late afternoon shaved ice treat became a daily ritual. I'm telling you, life at the beach is really hard to beat. Especially when surrounded by family every where you turn.

Thanks for a great reunion Earnests. We miss you all. I hate feeling so far away...

Are you ready? I'm back.

After seven weeks back in the states surrounded by family and friends, it was sadly time to come back home to Korea. People are asking me now, "How was your trip?". Or when they really want to know, they say, "Are you glad you went?".

It's impossible to put into words just how glad I am that we went. We got to see all 49 members of our immediate family. Plus 3 great-grandparents. I got to have sleepovers with 3 of my oldest and dearest friends. One in Northern California, one in Las Vegas, and one in La Canada.

We drove approximately 4691 miles in order to accomplish it all (but really, who was counting?!). Passing through seven states, Japan, and Guam. Slept in 8 different hotels. Stayed in 9 different houses. Had 3 different rental cars. In short, it was a logistical nightmare. It was not a trip for the squeamish, nor for those who need things mapped out or planned ahead.

But I wouldn't take back any single part of it. Yes, the trek was arduous. Sometimes the distances seemed insurmountable. But to go and do and see, so much and so many. To feel so loved, and blessed, and grateful. To witness an honest to goodness miracle when we got back to Travis Air Force base in California where people notoriously get stuck waiting for a flight back to Korea, just ONE day before a flight was actually going back to Korea. On top of that, being back there in time for Darin to fly with us. And then having our names be the FIRST name on the list to get called, so that even though we stopped in Hawaii and Guam, staying over night both places, the plane never broke down, nor got diverted. And that we landed all together back at Osan Air Base on Saturday evening, July 11th, at 5pm just as though it was exactly what we had planned to do.

It's almost too much to even believe.

But then, remembering just how many of the prayers offered during those seven weeks and 4600 miles by me, and on our behalf by all 49 members of our immediate family (and probably many of our friends), perhaps it isn't miraculous at all. Perhaps I should have known it all along.

Anyway, am I glad we went? ABSOLUTELY.

It it hard to come back. TOTALLY.

Are the 25 loads of laundry waiting for me worth it? YOU BETCHA.

Am I glad I don't have to do it again? YOU HAVE NO IDEA!

Have I ever felt so lucky in all my life? NEVER.


Our first two stops were Liz's house in Atherton, and Sarah's house in Provo, that's when I was still blogging. After we hit the beaches, that's when I quit. I was absolutely too busy living at the beach to blog. Not to mention that Darin had arrived, and he had been a lot of my motivation in keeping the trip documented. But once he was with me, my motivation to stay on top of it wavered. So here are some of my favorites from the Zackrison Family Beach week 2009:





















I think that's all I can do tonight. This is now our third night back in this time zone. We don't take naps. We power through all day long, and operate with the cycle of the sun. But the sun has long since gone down, and now it's time for me to go down as well. But I'm back. I'm determined that right along side of the laundry, the blog will get back up to date. I have a lot to say after being gone for so long, so stay tuned.