LITTLE COUGAR FAN

This girl LOVES BYU! She dreams of going to college there. She gets really excited when we pass by the stadium. She begs us to take her to the BYU games, not to get the yummy brownies or ice cream but because she LOVES BYU! She even does the Rise & Shout and knows most of the words. It is the CUTEST thing!
I think it is genetic and she gets it from this guy:

He beams with pride when she talks about BYU and how much she wants to go there.

A few days ago she was playing at a friend's house on their play set. There were wood chips on the ground and since she wasn't wearing shoes she got a sliver in her foot. We couldn't get it out and it became infected. So today we went to the doctor to get it out. I told her after the doctor's office she would be going to back to school. The doctor came into the exam room wearing a BYU shirt. Abby was SO excited to see he was a Cougar fan.

I said, "Abby do you like his shirt?"

She said, "Yes but if he was wearing a Ute shirt I would kick him!"

We all laughed. Well the sliver was removed but she was SO cute and SO sweet and SO much fun to have home this morning, I asked her if she wanted to come with me to a boutique at my friend's house to see the jewelry she was selling. We went out to lunch and to the boutique.

Thanks for the fun day Abby! Glad your foot is on the mend.

And....GO COUGS!!

MANY SUGARS

Early this morning, Daren dropped Kazuya off at BYU. The Japanese students will continue their trip to Bryce and Zions, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and then back to Japan on Sunday.

For the past week, all we have done is eat, play, hang out with friends, and eat and play some more. One night last week while we were having hot cider with the Japanese students, I was explaining to them to be careful when they drank the cider because it is very hot, like tea. When one of the students drank the cider, he says, "Oh, it has many sugars." It has kind of become a joke this week about how much sugar we have all consumed. I feel SO gross from eating SO horrible. Between the trip to Texas Roadhouse, JCW's for cheeseburgers and cheese fries, Halloween candy and the BYU Brownies last night, it felt really good to go to the gym early this morning and see my trainer. In fact, I saw her yesterday at Wal-Mart. As I was walking into the store I had a sucker in one hand and a bag of chocolate candy in the other. Talk about being caught with your hand in the cookie jar!!! I was returning the bag of chocolate though. She beat me up pretty good this morning and I totally deserved it.

We had a fun week. We have done something every night and every day for fun. We have hung out everyday our fabulous neighbors. It has been so much fun but I am ready to lay off the MANY SUGARS and get back to reality.

FINALE

Tonight was the closing social at BYU. Abby was VERY excited to be going to BYU to have dinner. She had to wear her new BYU shirt to the closing social. We had a nice dinner and a closing program. Earlier in the day, Kazuya went to the Olympic Park in Park City.

Kazuya is VERY FUNNY! We had all laughed at how much fun he is. I think he is VERY popular at school because every where we go, he knows somebody. We found out today that he loves to sleep and his favorite class is PE. He also told us how much he LOVES America because it is "free" and not "strict." I thought he would fit in great in America. We have told him to come back to America and bring his family with him anytime.

The kids are really sad he is leaving, especially Abby. She has been his shadow all week long. Tonight as we were leaving BYU she started to cry because she was going to miss Kazuya.

Thanks for coming to America Kazuya! Have a safe trip home!!

SUNDAY

Today we went to church.
After church, Kazuya made us dinner. He made Daren's FAVORITE Japanese food...hot Udon.

After dinner, Kazuya and Abby played soccer. Kazuya is very talented.

Then we went to our neighbors house. They have a foam pit and a rock wall. The kids had a GREAT time!

Tomorrow Kazuya is going to Park City and will see the Olympic Village. Tomorrow night is the closing social at BYU. I can't believe how fast this week has gone!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Our morning started off here:
We went fishing.

We didn't catch anything.

But it was a lot of fun anyway.

After lunch we went to play Laser Tag.

And then came home to get ready for Halloween.

Camille was a cute cheetah, Abby was a cowgirl and Kazuya was a pirate.

Tanner was a prisoner. Yes, that is a real prisoner jumpsuit. Our neighbor is an ER doctor and when an inmate came into the hospital, he left his jumpsuit. I don't know what he left in but since the hospital was going to throw it out, our neighbor brought it home. Should I be concerned that I think Tanner looks really good in it?

We had a neighborhood party before Trick-Or-Treating. We had soup and breadsticks. Several of my neighbors speak Japanese from living in Japan when they were missionaries for our church. I think Kazuya enjoyed speaking Japanese.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I'm SO glad that tomorrow is Sunday so we can all rest. We are going to sleep in. I am going to make peach crepes for breakfast and we are taking Kazuya to church with us. He told us that he attended a Christian school when he was younger. We are excited to take him, especially since there are several people there who speak Japanese. After church, Kazuya is making us Japanese food for Sunday dinner. We are all excited!!

PUMPKIN CARVING

Tonight was A LOT of fun!! We went to JCW's to get BIG AMERICAN HAMBURGERS! While we were there, Kazuya saw his friend. I can tell these 2 are REALLY good friends. They went to the Utah Jazz game together last night. We didn't know he was going to be at JCW's so we were all surprised to see Kazuya's friend there.
We went with 2 other families to eat.

And we ate A LOT of food. Kazuya got a pineapple milkshake. It was VERY BIG!

After dinner we carved pumpkins.

This was the first time Kazuya has carved a pumpkin.

He did a great job!

Then the boys lifted weights in the weight room to work off all the food we ate at dinner.

And they met a talking deer. That is a funny story the boys will have to tell their parents about.

And, we ate some more food. They really liked the s'mores.

We are all VERY tired. Tomorrow we are taking Kazuya fishing, shopping and to play soccer. Also, tomorrow night is Halloween and Kazuya is going to be a pirate!

SCHOOL, STEAK AND BASKETBALL

Yesterday, Tanner took Kazuya to his junior high. There were quite a few Japanese students at Tanner's school too. All of the Japanese students surprised the American students with T-shirts from their Japanese junior high. Kuzuya seemed to enjoy the American junior high. He ate in the cafeteria with Tanner and his friends at lunch.
The kids made this sign when we picked Kazuya up on Tuesday night. My Japanese neighbor wrote the Japanese for us. Hopefully it says, "Welcome To America" or something like that and not "We are crazy people." Since we don't speak Japanese, I have NO idea what it says under Kazuya's name.

We took Kazuya to Texas Roadhouse for a steak dinner. He really likes steak. He eats Kobe steak in Japan. We were all jealous!

After dinner, Tanner and Kazuya went to the Utah Jazz basketball game. They had a good time and Kazuya thought the arena was VERY BIG!

As I was loading the pictures off my camera, I realized this cute little girl had taken quite a few pictures yesterday with the camera.

How can I get mad at this cute little face!

Photo by Abby

Tonight we are going to get BIG AMERICAN HAMBURGERS for dinner! Yes, this is why Americans look the way we do and the Japanese look how they do because Americans eat BIG HAMBURGERS and GREASY FRENCH FRIES for dinner. I ran extra long today in anticipation of tonight.

After dinner, we are carving pumpkins, having donuts and hot apple cider with 2 other host families.