Kindergarten Pictures

Tayson just got his school pictures back and he is such a handsome little man.  He's definitely going through the "I don't remember how to smile" phase, but I love it anyway.  A friend of mine added her school picture too and I thought it was great.  So I'm sharing our kindergarten pictures as well.  Hope you enjoy!

Jay is such a cutie.  He looks so innocent and sweet (what a great actor).  Just kidding.  I know he was quite the handful though.  

I'm obviously having hair issues.  My mom always liked to tease our hair huge and then shape it.  I guess I must have not rebelled yet against the big hair.  That was probably the next year.

Forest Adventure

Last Friday, Jay and I were lucky enough to be able to help out with Youth Conference.  We went with the kids to Forest Adventure and it was a blast.  It's a park were you do zip lines and obstacle courses, stuff like that.  This video is of Jay doing the Tarzan jump.  We both really had fun doing this one.  I didn't post the videos of me because I just look like a big dork.  We were able to go through it twice too and all the kids were jealous.  They had a rule about 1 adult per 2 kids.  One of the greatest things about this place is they don't have the restrictions like in the states.  There are no nets and at one point you are 60 feet above the ground, so there is a little more excitement and thrill to it all, but don't worry they take every precaution to keep us safe.  Thanks to Candace for watching our kids and letting us go have some crazy fun.  I am all bruised up but it was worth it.  

Halloween

We had a great Halloween.  I dressed up as a witch because I couldn't pass up that sweet broom that only cost 200 yen (about $2).  Jay made a perfect "Ugly Step Sister".  I thoroughly enjoy doing his makeup any chance I get.  We couldn't find a wig because Halloween isn't celebrated in Japan, so we were kind of limited since we procrastinated.  The mop head worked quite well though.   Tatum made a cute little kitten.  She was so afraid of Jay.  She cried so hard that there was no sound coming out just the breaths in between.  So in this picture she still trying to warm up to the idea.  Tayson wanted to be Indiana Jones and we got creative.  He had an old cowboy had that was red and we spray painted it brown.  Then we got some rope off-base and for some reason we couldn't find brown, so we spray painted it too.  He had some old church clothes we were going to take to the thrift store and just decided to spray paint some dirt on those too.I think I was looking for any opportunity to spray paint something.  The last touch was his bag (he said he needed one) from the 100 yen store (dollar store).  I think we did pretty good.  We had such a great time at our branch trunk-r-treat and Jay and I decorated the back of our van.  We made it spooky and played scary sounds.  I really like to make things scary.  I think I enjoy seeing kids get scared or something.  That's kind of sick, I know.  On Halloween, Jay stayed home with Tatum and our friend Chris, while Tayson, Allison (Chris's wife) and I went Trick-or-treating.  It was a lot of fun and Tayson enjoyed seeing all the scary people dressed-up.  A lot different from last year.  Tayson has been so great to share all his chocolate and other candies with us.   

2008 Family Pics-photos by Abby Izor

We had our family pictures taken at Maeda Point, a great scuba and snorkeling bay.  Abby Izor did a great job and we love our pictures.  We were so glad she captured how beautiful the island is and I love the interactive photos.  Sorry the slideshow doesn't quite do the pictures justice.

Okinawan Memory Quilt

A bunch of my friends got together to work on a memory quilt project.  We each picked a subject and we would create 20 of the same square then swap with the 19 other women.  The squares turned out wonderful and I'm excited to put my quilt together.  Here is a picture of us and all the fun squares that the ladies did.  I tried to type info on each square, but I was having issues with the pictures shifting and disappearing and it was driving me mad, so no descriptions.  I made the red geta shoes the kind that are worn with a kimono.   Hope you like them.

Tayson needs a lawyer!

Our neighborhood is full of kids ranging from 5-10, so as you can imagine a lot of tattle-telling goes on.  I was weeding out front and Tayson comes bookin' it up to the front door and says, "Someone is coming to tattle-tell on me and I didn't do anything.  I need a lawyer."  Of course I laughed and thought isn't it the people who need a lawyer right away the ones who are usually guilty?  

2008 Vacation

Sorry no slideshow.  I have been having issues trying to post it to my blog because there are way too many pictures to post.  If anyone has any answers to my problem let me know.

On June 15th we headed for the states.  We were taking space-available travel, so it was quite the adventure.  On Space-A you never know what kind of plain you'll end up on, so it was kind of fun to fly on the KC-135 which is the same jet Jay works on.  I actually didn't mind that we were sitting in jump seats because we had a lot more room to move around.  We first flew to Guam and spent the night in the terminal.  Then the next morning we flew to Hawaii and were there for a few days.  It has been such a blessing that Justin & Sharamie Henley are stationed there.  They have been great friends to let us pop-in on them and spend a few days on the way to the states and the way back.  We then flew to Travis AFB in California.  Jay's sister, Sarah, was wonderful to come and pick us up.  We spent a few days with her having a great time, as always, playing games, going to the beach, and more. Then all of us headed up camping to Fort Bragg in northern California to meet up with Jay's family.  The drive to Fort Bragg is a dreaded one.  Tayson and I have thrown up every time and several times.  Sarah was so prepared with some meds for us that I slept through most of the drive and Tayson did great.  Thanks Sara! We had fun with everyone.  Tayson loved playing with all his cousins and friends and Tatum was a pretty good sport considering the cold and only being about 4 mos. old.  It was so great to see everyone.  Even though it had been a year since we had seen them, it seemed like we were back in the groove like no time had passed.  Jo, Jay's sister, planned some great meals and we enjoyed sitting around the fire talking and laughing.  We then flew to Utah to spend 4th of July with my family and to see our friends.  It was such a blast being able to see my family and talk with my sisters and my girlfriends.  It had been a year and there was a lot to talk about.  I was blown away by how much all the kids had grown and that a lot of them were taller than me now.  It was great to meet my new niece, Capri, and nephew, Leif.  4th of July is always great with the fam.  We went to the parade and then to the park and hung out and had a picnic then at night we watched the fire works at PG high school.  We were able to spend time with friends too.  We went to dinner and then went to the club house to hang out.  I loved hearing what everyone had been up to and seeing all the kids.  My dad set up a barbecue/swimming party at the clubhouse too.  We all had such a great time.  We were also able to see Jay's sister, Debie, and her family.  They invited us for dinner and then we all watched, "Escanaba in Da Moonlight".  A crazy movie, that of course Jay picked out.  We then started our adventure back home.  We flew to California and Sarah drove us to Travis AFB.  We found out a flight back to Okinawa wouldn't be leaving for a few days so we hung out with Sarah and had a great time playing card games, sleeping in the terminal,  almost starting a fire in Sarah's car, going to the movies,  all sorts of crazy stuff.  We finally got a flight out and ended up in Hawaii for a couple of days.  Justin and Sharamie graciously let us stay with them again and we went to dinner to a really cool aquarium restaurant.  Then we were headed for home.  It had been such a great month and we were worn out and ready to be back to everyday life.  We are really going to miss everyone and can't wait for the next time we'll see you again.