Thanksgiving

A friend of mine decided to put on her blog what she is thankful for and it made me think of what I'm thankful for.

I'm thankful to have a husband that works really hard and loves to be funny

I'm thankful for a son who loves to cuddle, is really witty and treats his sister like an angel

I'm thankful for a daughter who loves to smile and brightens my day

I'm thankful to have such a big family that includes so many personalities and talents.  I love them all.  They bring great joy in my life and the more the merrier.  Currently 4 sisters, 3 brothers, 10 sisters-in-law, 8 brothers-in-law, 18 nieces, 18 nephews, 3 great nephews and 2 great nieces. 

I'm thankful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and to know that: Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, that Jesus Christ died for our sins and we can repent and return to live with him again, that The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ,  Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and restored the gospel and that there is life after death

I'm thankful for wonderful friends who are great examples to me and love to have fun

I'm thankful for this beautiful world and having the opportunity to see new places

I'm thankful for parents and in-laws that have strived to live the gospel and have been great examples to us of the blessings that living righteously can bring

I'm thankful for the talents I've been given and to be able to share them

I'm thankful to be an American citizen and the freedoms we enjoy

I have so much to be thankful for.  I am thankful for my life. 

Tayson's Tooth

All I want for Christmas is my 1 front tooth 

(soon to be 2 the one next to it is loose as well)

Tayson lost his first tooth yesterday.  I cannot believe it!

Is he really that old?  He was a little bit scared, but when

all was said and done he thought he was pretty cool and took 

his tooth outside to show all his friends.

The Tooth Fairy came last night and Tayson is anxious to 

lose some more teeth.

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.