A FUN DAY

This morning, Tanner and Tomoya went fishing. Tomoya had never been fishing before. Tanner LOVES to fish and was excited to teach Tomoya how. It was really cold and nobody was able to catch a fish.
But everyone had fun trying. Tanner found a cat and was disappointed that I told him the cat was NOT coming home with us.

We told Tomoya he should take the cat back to Japan for a souvenir. He laughed and said he can't take pets home.

After fishing, we went souvenir shopping at the mall. Then the boys went to Jump On It. They had a great time.

Tanner loves the rock wall.

And Tomoya loved the trampolines.

Tomoya wanted to eat hamburger and cola while he was in America. So we went to the best hamburger joint around...JCW's. Abby is going to be VERY sad when Tomoya leaves on Monday. She follows him around EVERYWHERE!

While we were at the restaurant, Tomoya saw some of his friends.

We had a lot of fun eating.

THE BEST ENGLISH TEACHER IN JAPAN

Today Tomoya went to school with Tanner. Tomoya said that the junior high school reminded him of a university in Japan because it is so large.
Our family was chosen for the Japanese teachers to come visit. There are over 200 students here and they chose 5 families for the teachers to come meet. We were honored that they came to our home. We assured Tomoya that he wasn't in trouble because all of his teachers came to our house. However, when one of the teachers came in, we recognized him from when he came with Sotaro. He was Sotaro's English teacher and is Tomoya's English teacher.

We think he is an amazing teacher because both Sotaro and Tomoya speak excellent English. He remembered coming to our house several years ago. It was fun to see him again.

HERE COMES THE COLD

It is COLD here in Utah!

Tonight we went to Abby's last soccer game. Tomoya and Tanner played lacrosse.
Tanner loves to play lacrosse and plays on his school's team. He was excited to show Tomoya how to play lacrosse.

We froze during the soccer game. Even Jack had to be under a blanket.

Abby's team won 7-1 and Abby scored one of the goals. She was VERY happy!

Camille enjoys watching her sister play, even if it is cold.

After the soccer game, we went to Sub Zero Ice Cream. This is how they make the ice cream.

Tomoya loves cola and they usually have cola ice cream but they were out of that flavor tonight. So Tomoya got lime ice cream with peaches.

Tomorrow Tomoya will go to school with Tanner. This is an exciting day for both of the boys. I am amazed that Tomoya travels 1 1/2 hours to school each way. Tomoya is going to be surpirsed to see how close Tanner's school is to our house.

DAY 2

Today we asked Tomoya what he wanted for dinner. He said he loves Sushi. My kids were SO EXCITED because they all LOVE SUSHI!
After dinner, Tomoya played soccer with Abby.

And jumped on the trampoline.

Tomoya is so kind to our girls. He seems to enjoy playing and hanging out with them.

Tanner took Tomoya to our church tonight. Every Tuesday night, our church has an activity for teenagers 12-18 years old. Tonight the boys that are ages 14-15 played night games in the park and then came back to our church for peach cobbler. Tomoya said he had never been to a church before. We were excited to take him.

He is a great young man and we enjoy having him in our home.

A MOTHERS HEART

One of our favorite family traditions is being a host family for 1 week for a Japanese student. We look forward to this each year.

This year, Tomoya Kimura is staying with us.
In keeping with tradition, after we pick him up at BYU we go eat pizza at Brick Oven. We had Tomoya taste rootbeer. Like all of our other students, he did not like it and said it tasted like medicine. We always love watching their face when they taste it for the first time.

Several of our neighbors are host families as well. They came to eat pizza with us with their Japanese student.

After dinner, Tomoya gave us some awesome souvenirs. The kids were so excited!

Tomoya brought Abby a book of how to do origami. He is a good teacher.

Each year when the students come, I always think of their mothers and how scary it would be to send your teenage son to a foreign country to live with strangers for 1 week. I hope to update this blog each day from a mother to a mother. Because no matter where in the world you live, a mother's heart always worries about her children.

When Tomoya called home tonight, it was fun to talk to his mother on the phone. I can tell she is an amazing mother and I admire women who love to be mothers.

FALL

It's Fall in Utah and it is BEAUTIFUL!
I'm starting to blog again. We are having a Japanese student come stay with us next week. I need to get in the habit of updating my blog daily so his family in Japan can see what we are doing while he is staying with us.

Last night for family night we went fishing. The weather was PERFECT and we all had a great time.
Daren spent most of the time casting for these 2. Even Jack enjoyed fishing.

Tanner is awesome at fishing and helped the girls too. He got his braces off yesterday.

In the end, Abby caught a fish.

And Tanner did too.

While Camille spent most of her time doing cartwheels, handstands, and various other dance moves. Perhaps that is why she didn't catch a fish.

THE LAWN MOWER

I woke up yesterday morning to the sound of a lawn mower. I looked out the window and saw this:
SERIOUSLY....she's 8! She started the mower all by herself and mowed the entire front lawn.

She even thought boots with her soccer uniform was the perfect attire to wear!

Tanner had foot surgery on Friday and lucky for him, he is out of commission for yard work for a few weeks. Daren beamed with pride as he watched Abby mow the yard. He loves having 2 kids that can mow the lawn.

The third child mowing the lawn...not so much.

When I asked Abby if she thought Camille would want to mow the lawn, she replied..."No, yard work isn't her thing." Well neither is any type of work her thing because Camille was VERY UNHAPPY to learn that since Abby was working outside, she was now responsible for cleaning their room ALL BY HERSELF. She wants a maid!

Abby worked all day yesterday helping Daren in the yard. They mowed, pulled weeds, planted the garden. I think she has a green thumb!

BEEN A WHILE

Its been a long time since I have blogged. We have had a VERY BUSY spring.

We had a great Easter but Abby was not very excited that I forgot to buy carrots for the Easter bunny. She left this note (click on picture to read):

I had to share it cause I thought it was so cute!

RELIEF

I've always dreaded the day that I would turn on the TV and see that there was an earthquake in Japan.

WHY?

Because my dear friends, The Iinuma Family who live in Japan, have been through many earthquakes including the Kobe earthquake in the 1990's. In fact, Sotaro was just a baby when the Kobe quake occurred. Toshiya grabbed him from his crib and shielded his body against Sotaro's tiny body the way only a father would do.

As I was going to bed last night and heard of the 8.9 quake in Japan, my heart sunk with worry about my dear friends. I immediately picked up the phone and called Sachiko. It was music to my ears to hear her answer the telephone and know they were safe.

What impressed me the most was to hear Sachiko tell me that she is prepared for an earthquake. She has stored extra food and water for her family in case of a major earthquake. It warmed my heart to hear of her preparations because my church teaches us to be prepared for such disasters. I am so happy to know that they are as prepared as they can be for an earthquake.

We love you, Iinuma Family. SO happy that you are all safe!

JIMMER FEVER

We totally have JIMMER FEVER around here! BYU Basketball has been so much fun to watch, especially Jimmer Fredette. I have had March Madness Fever since last month! We have so much fun watching every BYU basketball game.

Recently we went to a home game at The Marriott Center and Abby made this sign:

GO COUGARS!!

PROUD MAMA

It's been a while since I've blogged. I hate when I get out of the habit of blogging because I miss so many little things to write about.

In February, each of the 3 kids had really exciting things happen to them!

Tanner was inducted into the National Honor Society for the 2nd year in a row. To qualify, the student must have a 3.7 or higher gpa. He is a smart student and we are so proud of him earning this award 2 years in a row!

The girls started taking piano lessons last August. Their teacher is classically trained and is amazing. Expensive and amazing. The girls were able to compete in a piano festival in February.

As you can see, Camille was less than thrilled about this opportunity.

Abby was a little more excited. They were both very nervous to play in front of a judge and get a score. But then the next day. their teacher called and said Camille won in her age division. We are all shocked! Camille was the only one who placed at the festival out of all her teacher's students. She was VERY excited to learn that she won $10! She wanted to know if that would be a check or cash. I think she was thinking it would be one of those really big checks, like the ones they give to the Publisher's Clearing House winners. She was happy to get cash.

My dilemma came in telling the girls that one of them placed and the other didn't. From the time they were babies, I have always tried to teach them that sometimes one of them will win and the other will lose. Sometimes one of them will get invited to do something and the other won't. And, that's okay. That doesn't mean that one is better than the other. So, I said a prayer that I would know what to tell them. We all sat down at the kitchen table and I told them that one had placed and the other didn't. I told them that we need to be happy for the one who did well and be a good sport and not cry if we didn't place. They both agreed and when I told them that Camille had won, Abby gave Camille a HUGE hug and told her CONGRATULATIONS! It melted my heart to see her be a good sport. Abby did great at the festival too.

Abby was able to be baptized in February. She is such a sweet, tender-hearted little girl. I am so proud of her decision to be baptized.

I am so proud of all my children!

A WONDERFUL DAY

Today was Abby's Baptism!! She has waited a long time for this day. She watched with jealousy when Camille was baptized a year ago.

Unlike her HIGH-MAINTENANCE sister who wanted a pink limo to drive her to the baptism and an ice sculpture of herself, Abby's only request was a cake with her picture on it.

It was a wonderful day. Congratulations Abby! We are so proud of you!