cousin love

This blog entry is long overdue. I can't believe summer is already over, and the new school year is going onto day 7!  Looking back on my pictures and realized I never blogged about having my cousin in town.

My dear cousin came from Korea to study at Berkeley for the summer session. She was able to come play in LA for the 4th of July weekend and experience a good ol' American 4th of July.  Her vacation was sandwiched by the baby sisters knee surgery and older sister's delivery date. We had to make some adjustments to our plans to accommodate those two, but we still had some major fun.

We picked her up from LAX and went straight to In 'n Out. Oh yeah! After a late lunch, we went to visit our grammy's burial site. It was her first time there, and for us, we just love just chillin' on the grass. And of course, we had to have a photo sesh.

The next day, we went out to the Santa Monica area and did some major eating (again), and she got to do some major shopping.

 

 

   
 

The day after that, we ventured out to the Getty sans momma. She was majorly tired by day 3. But the pregnant lady, and crutches girl trekked on! We had a low key picnic with (brown rice) kimbap, made by the momma, in the Getty garden.

 

 

I love spending time with my family. So bummed she couldn't stay longer. Miss her so much!  Love you, Sujin! Come back!!!!!

mommy & me time

As I spend more time with my momma, I can tell she's getting old, which makes me want to spend even more time with her!  It's often hard to be patient with her because I am her "go to" person for everything, since we live 2 minutes away. But there are days when I just want to hang with her.

With my last week of freedom, before being engulfed in getting my classroom ready, I wanted to go visit my grams!  We don't go as often as we like, since we know she lives in heaven with our heavenly Father!  But once in a while, it's nice to sit next to her tombstone, remember her, and think about meeting her again in the new heavens and the new earth!

I tried to work on my tan but it was so ridiculously hot, we only could handle it for about 5 minutes.  We decided to just leave her flowers and skid-addle.

Our next stop, Home Depot! My mom's favorite place ever. She kept on saying, "This place is better than Disneyland!"  She has wanted a power saw for a while.  I know nothing about power saws, but I helped her pick one out for her crazy gardening needs.

She's seriously hardcore, no?

one year later

I've been meaning to write this post for several days now, but it's very hard to write about my grandma without shedding tears. I miss her mucho mucho and as I look at pictures of her, it make me miss her even more!

It has been a year since my grandma went home to be with the Lord.

February 23, 2009 - She was rushed to the emergency room. That was probably the longest day of my life. That would be the first of many trips to the ER and thankfully I lived and worked close enough that I made sure I was there anytime of day. I'd leave work during my lunch hour and drive to check up on her, then go back after school until they kicked me out of her room at night.

For 2 years, I worried about my grandma on a daily basis. Every time the phone rang I'd get anxious thinking it'd be a nurse calling about her. I had to make sure every nurse knew me or someone in my family so they'd know that we don't mess around when it comes to grams!

I once caught a nurse feeding my grandma ALL the things on her tray mixed together to speed up the feeding process. Oh hellz no. I was there every night at dinner time to make sure that didn't happen again. NO MESSIN' AROUND WHEN IT COMES TO GRAMS!

February 23, the day she was rushed to the ER, changed our family's life. From surgeries to ICU visits to moving her into a nursing home to what seemed like a gazillion more ER visits. Exactly 2 years later, the Lord took her home.

Now a year later, I can't even think of the words to express how much I miss her. But thankfully, I can see glimpses of her in my mom!

It's really crazy how much my mom is looking like my grandma these days... It's even crazier how much I'm starting to look like both of them!

February 23, 2012 - My mom rounded up the aunts and uncles and we spent a beautiful afternoon remembering grandma. My mom led us in a hymn and Bible reading. That was, of course, after our photo session.

Here's the Omega watch my grandmother bequeathed to me along with a ring bequeathed to my lil sis. If my house were to ever burn down, that watch and my grandma's hand-written Bible would be the first things I'd grab. Yes... hand-written Bible.

I can't wait to see her again in the new heavens and the new earth!

happy new year!

The hubz and I said goodbye to 2011 with a movie marathon in our pj's at home. We said hello to 2012 by going to sleep! It's so much harder staying up as you get older, no?! Johnny and I were tired even before 10 pm, it's pretty amazing that we stayed up til midnight.

New Year's Day was spent with our new church family for our Sunday morning gathering. From there, we had to jet off to the mountain to go see my in-laws, where my MIL prepared the Korean traditional new year celebratory food, dduk gook. Yum! We couldn't stay there too long because we had to go to our next stop - my uncles house.

I don't get to see my extended very often, but New Year's Day seems to be a pretty big deal for our family. I got to see my little cousins... I guess, not so little anymore since they all look older than me now!

We sae bae (or bow) to my uncles and aunts to show respect and wish them lots of good and new fortune. As kids, we were given some words of wisdom and then some casholla! Now that I'm "older and married" no more cash. :(

My momma with 2 of her brothers.

Then, off to grandma's house! This year, we didn't get to see my dad's side of the family, but of course we had to see my grandma! We picked her up, then off to get a late night snack!

Our family spent the rest of the night playing a traditional Korean game, that's usually played on New Year's Day called yootnori. My mom was going nuts and I think it scared the hubz a lil bit, to be honest. She was seriously having the time of her life.

My older sister cleaned us out and won both tournament style games. Next year, IT'S ON! I'm gonna have to practice throwing the sticks in the air!

While playing this game til midnight with my family, I realized that I missed my other grandma. She really loved this game. My mom shared with us yesterday as we were playing that she remembers being a little girl in Korea and watching her mom (a.k.a., my grandma) playing this game with all her aunts and uncles into the wee hours of the night.

It was a busy day for us, but I spent it the perfect way. With my church family, with my in-law family, and my extended family. A great, great, great way to start 2012.

새해 복 많이 받으세요 - (Sae hae bok, mah he bad duh sae yo). - Just in case you want to impress someone with your Korean skillz.

quick sister time

It was a pretty busy weekend for us as there was a baby shower and a wedding we had to attend. When things are busy and kind of crazy, its nice just to stop and chill somewhere peaceful for a little while.

After church, John and I made an impromptu stop to visit my grams. We decided to text my sisters to come join us. And about 30 minutes later, we were chilling on the grass, enjoying the view, getting some sun, and laughing our heads off about nothing.

Sister time = good times, per usual. John says that when the "Kim sisters" get together, he gets the biggest headache because we're so loud, jumping from subject to subject, and laughing about everything... he says that but he's always laughing right along with us! He's been hanging out with us for over 10 years; he should be used to it by now!

Side note: Do you recognize the colorful dress I'm wearing?! :) Pictures from the shower and wedding to come later.

a weekend of remembering

The past 6 days were spent with family, remembering our grandma. We opened up her old box filled with old letters and pictures. Flipping through all her pictures, you could see how much she loved her grandchildren. 90% of the pictures were of my sisters and me, or our 7 cousins. My mom picked out a few pictures she liked and a slide show was made. Here are a few of my favorites.

Don't I look exactly like her?! It's crazy how similar we are. Same body aches, same love for sweet potatoes, same hatred for doing dishes, just to name a few. It's crazy I tell you!

Circa 1990-ish, I'm guessing from their stylish clothing...? My paternal grandma (left) and my maternal grandma (right) were buddies! 2 years ago, before my grandma slipped into coma, she made one last phone call to her buddy (my paternal grandma) before going to bed to thank her for the delish food she sent over. I love them both soooo much!

This is one of my favorite pictures of her! This was taken by the lil sis in my mom's backyard.

Another great picture of my grams! She wore a lot of pink! This was taken when she went to visit my aunt and uncle (her youngest son) in Korea.

Over the years this picture was crinkled, folded, and scribbled on, but you can still see how pretty my grandma was. I can't imagine my grandma as a young lady! She was probably no older than 21 in this picture, considering this was taken with her 2nd child, my oldest uncle.


I saved the best picture for last!

I have no idea where this was taken, (probably in the country side of Korea somewhere), and I have no idea why no one is smiling (probably because this was in the country side of Korea somewhere!) The gentleman sitting down with the hat is my grandpa; he passed away when my mom was a teenager. On his lap is my uncle. Next to him on the right is my mom! Look at her cute bowl cut and her tiny hanbok! Right above my mom is my grandma. I wanna hug whoever took this picture. It is so perfect! I tried asking my uncle who the other people are in this photo and he said "Oh, you know him. That man." No clue who he's talking about. Whatever. It's still perfect.

Here's to a weekend of remembering!

grammy

I have been preparing myself for this day for the last 2 years. I thought I'd be ready... but you can never be ready for something like this.

She is finally at home with the Lord.