A New Year brings new rooms...

Zach is now officially a teenager! He has his own room in the basement! I think he was happy upstairs with a great view to outside, but now that he's moved downstairs, he loves it!

Most importantly, we now have another room for the girls. I really needed more space for their clothes and for their beds. I'm so glad to be rid of the bunk bed that Olivia and Eliza had outgrown. I sold the bunk to a family who really needed it and turned around and found a great set for the girls that was the same price. A fresh coat of paint on the walls and carpet will make it look like new! When we decided on a light blue for the walls, the girls wanted to have some type of "undersea" theme. I found the cute wall decorations at Target for a great price and they love them! It's going to look better when we get the new carpet and finish a few last details.

Grace is so happy to have her own room now but is still very much involved with her sisters. They all use the bookshelf in her room and enjoy playing in the extra space she has now. I think it has been a great change for everyone!

Top 10's of 2010!

This has been another exciting year for our family!

1. 
   Top 10 Fun Vacations and Activities:
   
   10. Camping in the mountains (Mom and Grace at girls camp and boys with the Scouts)
   9. Ice skating (Olivia and Eliza took lessons and the rest of us went for fun)
   8. Swimming in the pool and BBQ's in the backyard
   7. Kirk, Zach and Grace went on the trek in Wyoming with the church youth
   6. Grandma's 80th Birthday Party (We loved having the Washington cousin's come and stay)
   5. Kirk and Zach were buddies for the Chinese students in July
   4. Hosted our Japanese student, Kenshin (We have new friends in Japan)
   3. Steph and the kids visit to Missouri (We visited the grandparents, and Uncle Scott and family)
   2. Mike and Steph's Anniversary trip to Europe (From Copenhagen to a Baltic cruise, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia and Poland)
   1. Family Vacation to Disneyland in California ( We felt the earthquake on Easter Sunday)
   
   Top 10 Family Milestones
   
   10. Zach got an iTouch for Christmas and has joined the world of texting! Plus, the really big news is Zach's height...right after his birthday (Dec.) he was actually taller than mom!!
   9. Kirk has an iPhone so he will ALWAYS take a phone with him!
   8. Mike got an iPhone 4 and made all the Danish teens jealous!
   7. Grace got braces and went to Young Women's at church
   6. Eliza went to kindergarten and now has more "boy"friends; she also learned to read
   5. Olivia turned 10 and learned to ice skate
   4. Kirk got his driver's license and hasn't hit anything major, except the van :)
   3. Steph lost 2 phones to the pool but now has an iPhone4, it will be kept inside during swimming lessons!
   2. Mike got a new Toyota Camry and is madly in love with it!
   1. Mike and Steph celebrated our 20th anniversary!

Happy New Year to all our family and friends!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Silent Night, Holy Night...

Posing for a Christmas picture after the ward/neighborhood party

Tonight we went to our ward (church) Christmas party. We had a nice dinner followed by entertainment, one of which was me and Zach, Grace, Olivia and Eliza singing "Silent Night". We were asked to sing our favorite Christmas song and knew it had to be "Silent Night". Zach was a good sport and sang a duet with me on the first verse (him in German and me in English). Olivia sang a solo on the second verse and we all sang together for the third verse. Kirk introduced us and told the story of the WWI battle where both sides stopped on Christmas Eve and sang the only song they both knew...Silent Night.

Do you know how hard it is to get a really good picture of five kids? Well, I will tell you that it is not easy! Poor things, they had to sit still for several minutes while we tried to get one picture with everyone's eyes open AND smiling. Zach was having an especially hard time since he has an expander in his mouth that has suddenly given him a huge gap between his front teeth! I don't know why, but Eliza wouldn't smile at all, something about being too embarassed. They are so cute and looked very nice anyway!

I love parties that are more than just the gifts and Santa, but are focused on the true meaning of Christmas...Jesus' birth.

Happy Birthday Eliza!

I can't believe she is 6 years old! The last 4 years have been such a joy. Eliza has tons of personality! She makes friends wherever she goes whether they are young or old! She is such a delight to me and all of our family.

At church on Sunday, she was called up in Primary (the children's Sunday School) to be recognized for her birthday. The children fill out a card earlier in the year to receive on their birthday. I'm the pianist, so I get to be there too. Our chorister read her card for her before we all sang a birthday song. She started to choke up when she read "I know Jesus loves me because...He gave me a family". Of course, I felt like crying to as she read Eliza's own words. Even now, as I think about what she wrote it touches me.

I don't think a day goes by that she doesn't tell me "Mom, I love you!", "Mom, you are beautiful" or "You are the best mom in the whole wide world!" I think the thing she says that really makes me feel glad about is "Mom, you are always nice to me!" When I hear that, I feel good about myself as a mother and realize that even if I don't look perfect or keep the house spotless every day, I'm doing the things that really matter and that's what counts to her!

About four years ago, I felt the prompting that she was supposed to in our family. It was an amazing string of events that led to our going to China for our Yang Yi Hong. I'm so grateful to be the mother of this special little girl. She has truly blessed our lives and many others!
(I will add pictures later. For some reason it won't let me put any on today.)

Lights on Temple Square

Ice skating , birthdays and more!

Olivia's Student of the Week poster at class

Her favorite purchase at class store


Olivia outside after her first ice skating lesson. She loved it!

Zach trying to remember how to skate from several years ago. He was zooming around in no time and learned a few things he didn't know before.


Olivia has taken several lessons now. This was from her first lesson. She is having a wonderful time and is learning so much. I'm very impressed with the teachers at the arena.

Kirk helping Eliza get the hang of skating. She started lessons the week after Olivia did because she thought it looked fun too. She's really doing great!

Olivia and Eliza were able to get a few autographed postcards from Surya Bonaly an actual Olympic skater!

I just had to add this picture of Voodoo. He was sleeping like this on the couch one day. He is so weird!!

Doctor's visits:

Besides starting ice skating, we have had some other events to add to our busy schedule. Grace had a doctor's check-up and their was some concern from her doctor about one of the tests. She had to have several urine samples done and blood drawn. She had a higher level of protein than normal and they had to make sure there are no kidney problems.

Meanwhile, Mike's mom had a kidney problem that caused her enough pain that she had to go to the ER. I also took her to a couple of appointments to see what was going on and why. This worked out though as I was able to take in Grace's tests and also get her lab work done while I was picking up Renee's results. Renee was able to get through her problem and didn't need anything major done, so that was good.

Grace seemed fine but her doctor was still concerned after the lab work and had us do more testing during her checkup at SLC that was already scheduled. No problems showed up and her kidney's are fine. Thank goodness! We were very relieved.

We also had another appointment the week before at an eye specialist for Grace. Yes, at this point I was getting tired of all the trips to hospitals and doctor's offices! We found out her vision is pretty good straight ahead, but that's about it. No wonder she has trouble tripping on stuff! She's made up for this pretty well though and doesn't have too many problems really. I'm just grateful she sees as well as she does.

The girls loved the decoraions at the eye doctor's building.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!!

Yesterday Olivia had a FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY! Her class had the class store and she came home with lots of great stuff. Eliza and I were there helping out, so we were able to spend some time in class with Olivia. It was fun to be there with her on her birthday. (We also ate lunch at school for the Thanksgiving meal. It's a tradition I've made for years to come for the special meal for Thanksgiving. They like it when I come and of course Eliza loved being included too.)

The boys:

Kirk and Zach have loved going ice skating too. They haven't skated for several years and have been wanting to go again. No lessons for them but they come for the free skating sessions. Both boys made it on the honor roll for school. Great work guys! Kirk has been driving to school more and has been helping drive for me when I need him. (Like when I was sick the other day and he drove Olivia to piano. ) He also tutors Chinese and volunteers once a week at the local library.

Zach has been cooking more and enjoying learning new recipes from his class at school. I think he's a great cook and love to have him fix dinner once in a while. (Now if he would clean up after, it would be even better!) He had a choir festival this week and enjoyed being gone for most of the school day to sing. He didn't enjoy his trip to the orthodontist though, it was not nearly as fun. Soon he will have braces and have to say goodbye to his favorite snack, popcorn, for a while. Sorry Zach!

There has been so much happening lately and unfortunately I've been unable to post anything for a while. I've tried but it wasn't letting me for some reason. I'll try to add some more and update on Olivia's birthday party and the weekend later.

More pictures from Kenshin's visit...

I have so many great pictures and I'm still trying to look through them all!

Butterfly case at the BYU museum

Enjoying the view at BYU

Playing air hockey with Kirk

This is one of the songs the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is famous for: "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again"

Kenshin's favorite food of his visit...

This is the perfect hamburger! Kenshin said he liked hamburgers more than anything else he had while he was here. We decided to go after the school awards meeting we went to tonight. (I had coupons for the girls to each get a free meal that expired today.) Of course, Kirk and I were both thinking "Last week we were here with Kenshin!" It seemed like much more than a week ago.

The buns are made fresh at the restaurant and are delicious as are the seasoned french fries!

Kenshin's room...the Mickey and Minnie room or Kirk's room if we don't have visitors. He even made his bed before he left!

Olivia won a trophy today for a story she wrote for a school art contest.

Great job Olivia! (She is in the long floral dress with the jean jacket.)

Kenshin Leaves for Las Vegas

Saying goodbye at the bus

This was the hardest part of Kenshin's visit: saying goodbye! All the children and me drove him down to BYU to catch his bus. We tried to be happy and think of all the fun he is going to have in Disneyland, but it is still a sad occasion. After having Kenshin with us these last few days, it's like one of our own family leaving! Eliza is still his little sister after all!! We hope that he remembers us fondly and will keep in touch. The boys set him up on Facebook so they can be a friend on the computer. Hopefully when he gets home, he will let us know how the rest of his trip went.

Gathering all his bags before heading off

Kenshin looking over a few gifts we had for him to take home. (He brought some gifts for us that he gave us the very first night he was here. All the kids loved the presents and Mike really liked the Tokyo Olympic coin he was given. I thought the papers and purses were beautiful. We appreciated all the nice gifts and Kenshin was very good to bring them out as soon as we were home last Monday. )

Relaxing with Voodoo last night before going to bed

Playing with Voodoo and Copper last night

Last night:

The rest of our evening last night was spent playing games on the Wii and watching AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos) show on television. The boys looked up some things on the computer together and played DS games too.

I made a banana cake and we had some ice cream to go with it. It was a nice night to be at home and relax before Kenshin had to leave today. He had to get up really early but we hated to go to bed before we all had enough time to visit. The boys and myself stayed up and visited with him for a while after the girls went to bed.

I don't have more time now, but will try to add a few more pictures later or tomorrow that we've missed.

Sunday in Salt Lake

Last Pictures of the Day:

We had a beautiful sunset tonight!
Eliza watching her best buddy play a game.

Earlier today:

"Music and the Spoken Word"

Kenshin and Seinosuke in the Tabernacle with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the background. The whole group of students was invited by the spokesperson for this program and the spokesman had them all stand up as we clapped. His family has been a host family to the students as well which is why he invited them to come as special visitors. It was recorded while we watched. It was a beautiful performance and it was interesting to be there in person. Many people watch this weekly program on television or listen on the radio.

Outside of the Salt Lake Temple




Waiting for the train in Salt Lake City

After we got off the train, I noticed we could see the Kennecot Copper Mine from the parking lot. It's a huge copper mine and can be seen from space!

Ready for a lunch of soup and rolls. We will be relaxing and playing games in the afternoon and evening. If we take any more pictures, I'll post them later. (See first two pictures.)

Games, Tricks and Treats!

Kenshin carved the Jack-O-Lantern this morning. (Right after a game of "Sorry" with Eliza and a quick breakfast. ) He did a great job and was pretty proud of it I think!
I needed to pick up Kirk and Zachary after a Boy Scout meeting at BYU this morning, so the rest of us went to the BYU Science museum. There was hardly anyone there so it was like we had the whole museum to ourselves!

We met up with the boys and took this picture on the rocks at a lovely hillside garden on campus.

We couldn't pass up ice cream at the BYU creamery! Even though it was before we ate our hamburgers. I really wanted to let Kenshin try some of the best ice cream around, so they had a small cone while we were there.

A very quick stop at a park on the way home from lunch.

All the boys in their costumes for Halloween. The cousins and their student, Sinoske came to our house to trick-or-treat.(They are a little old to be going trick or treating but they all went with Seth, who is still young enough this year to go and of course for the students to have a real Halloween experience.)

Playing games with all their treats close by. They didn't eat too much but they had a few goodies.


It was a fun day with plenty of time to just relax and not have to hurry anywhere! Tomorrow we take the boys up to Salt Lake City for "Music and the Spoken Word" at Temple Square. It is a broadcast with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and has some beautiful music. Hopefully we all sleep well tonight and can get up on time in the morning!

BYU Day and Dinner

BYU Day:

Today Kenshin spent the day at BYU (Brigham Yound University in Provo). They had some interesting science classes and other activities at the school followed by the big social (dinner and entertainment). All the host families and the students were together for a very nice meal and some fun. We all especially enjoyed seeing the students perform some songs and dances. Some of them are very talented! Kenshin seemed a little embarassed by some of the silly groups but he really like seeing it I think. I bet he knew the dances but didn't want to be up in front of everyone. I can understand that! Here are some pictures from tonight...

Grandmother Rene, Aunt Cheryl and Cousin Andrew at the banquet

Seinosuke and Kenshin at the banquet

Kenshin and some of his good friends having fun

All the students singing the school song

Some of the students performed a "girl group" song that was hilarious! They had skirts and hair barrettes and one boy had "pony tails".

Jr. High Day and the Corn Maze

Kenshin with 2 other students after their day at the school. He actually had fun! The school pairs them up with an American buddy from the school. Then they stay with their buddy and go to all their classes with them. Kenshin's buddy was a girl and he said he went to science and music. Lunch was pizza, so that wasn't too exciting. He had a good day at the school.
Eliza and Olivia at the corn maze tonight. It was so much fun, Eliza didn't want to leave.

We met the cousins family and had a great time at the corn maze. They couldn't resist sitting in the princess carriage!

Kenshin with our cousin's student at the corn maze. The corn maze had wagon rides, hay bale stacks with slides, 2 big corn mazes and a big inflatable monster you walk through. Some of it was spooky and some was just fun!

Tomorrow is BYU day and should be a good day too.