He knows!

Today was my first Dr's appointment here in Sandy! I wish I didn't have to change my Dr in the middle of the pregnancy, but there was no way for me to drive up there when the appointments get every other week or every week....

Anyways, so for the first time, I decided to get a baby sitter so that I could meet the Dr and have a good conversation instead of chasing Kai ;0)

My neighbor grandma just loves Kai and she offered to watch Kai when I go to Dr's appointments! Her grandson lives right next to her house, and he is also Kai's favorite friend! So she called him to play with Kai and offered to watch two kids for a few hours! What a nice neighbor!!
She is just really sweet grandma! I am so lucky to have good neighbors here! Everyone around us are just so nice! They are bit older, so they take care of us like their kids or grand kids!

When I came home to pick Kai up, the grandma told me that she was very touched that he knew who Jesus was. She said he pointed at the picture on the fridge and said "Jesus". Our FHE theme for this month was Jesus and Prayer! Some FHE I see Kai understanding what I am teaching, some... he just wonders around too much that I feel like and am just talking to myself. But to know that he knows who Jesus is when I am not around made me feel very happy and I too was touched.

Kai does spontaneous sweet things.... He doesn't hesitate to pray before lunch in front of all the Japanese kids. He prayed once when he got hurt. It is so great to have this little boy! He teaches me simple but important things!

Mmm... yummy....

Josiah thought that we are ready to eat when I rolled it! No no... we have to let it sit in the freezer for 30 min!!!


I couldn't wait that long... so we took it out after 15 min ;0)

One of my hobbies is cooking ;0) Especially desserts are really fun to make! I have been craving this "Roll Cake" (that is how we call it in Japan...) with strawberries that I had at my friend's house! I finally found out who made it, and got the recipe from her!!! I was sooooo excited! I made it last Sunday, and IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!! I tried so many recipes over years.... and I've never been able to make it this soft and moist!!! The lady that gave me the recipe told me that this can be used for normal cakes, so I am thinking to make birthday cake for Kai this year!

Crafty Friend

It is less than 3 months till our little baby Lily comes to our family!
I have been shopping here and there to prepare for our daughter's arrival.
It is so fun to shop for dresses and accessories for the baby girls, but oh my goodness... they can be really expensive!!! Some of them look easy enough for me to make at home! (not the dresses...! the head band and hair stuff ;0) so I've been asking my friends if they know how to make them!
Then, one of my friends told me that she always makes them herself and told me not to buy them because they are soooooooo easy to make! You can make them even cuter and the way you want!!!!
So we got together today and made some head bands with cute flowers! It was so easy to make! It is my kind of craft! EASY, FAST, and CUTE! (oh, and lots of fun to make!)
She is so good that she made a few of those head bands while I was making one and talking.... They are so cute that I want to put them on Lily soon ;0)
Thanks to her, I don't have to spend $ and $ to accessorize my baby girl ;0)
I will try to put pictures here when I make some again!

Governer's Day

Last Saturday was Governor's Day in Utah. Not very many people know what that is.... unless your family is in the military. It is the day that Governor reviews all the units (ARMY and Air Force) in Utah, and they all get together and march in front of the Governor. It is pretty amazing to see all the soldiers get together in their uniforms and march! I can't say how many soldiers, but there were a lot of them!!! It is usually held at Camp Williams, but the road construction is pretty bad, so they have decided to have it at U of U stadium this year.
We took a train to SLC to avoid the traffic. The trax was filled with soldiers! It was really cool to see so many of them, but some people who didn't know about that day seemed to wonder what was going on!

I think doing this at U of U was a great idea! There were lots of things to see other than the parade! The military band was playing out side of the stadium, blow up toys for the kids, BBQ for lunch, whole bunch of vendors selling things to support the units in Iraq.

I am so proud of Josiah for being in ARMY. I can't say that I fully support, because I am scared that he will be called to serve in a war somewhere again....
But watching him wearing his uniform and him being proud of being a soldier to serve this country, I am very grateful.

Looking at the huge crowd of soldiers, each soldier can seem to be one of many.... but as I look at families there that were supporting and cheering for their loved ones, I do know that each of them has a family, a wife, a husband, kids and friends that love them and care about them very very much! Each soldier there is so important and their lives are so precious!!! Every year I come to this parade and I wish world peace!

Dog Walk and Swim

I've never heard this kind of event before, but whoever thought about this is so awesome!!! The event is called "Dog walk and swim". Draper pool opens the last day for the dogs! It is a pretty big event! It started with a walk. I think I saw more than 100 dogs there. There were all kinds of dogs, really huge ones, tall ones, really small ones... I don't know the names of breeds, but you name it! It was there!

We walked for about 20-30 min, there were people standing on the trail to direct which way to go... (just like 5k or 10k with humans ;0) They had trash cans for boo-boos and buckets with water on the trail ;0) Pete was doing pretty good even though many other dogs were walking along with him! Kai did good with walk also! He got a little slow, so dogs behind him were sniffing him and giving kisses too much.... I had to get him in the stroller ;0)

After the walk, all the dogs went free in the pool area! It is an outdoor pool, and thank goodness it is the last day! I wouldn't swim there after seeing so many dogs in the pool! hahahaha It was crazy... you see dogs running, sniffing, peeing on the poles, jumping in the pool, swimming... it was a mad house!!!!

It was so fun to see so many dogs swimming together! They were going nuts in the water to get the tennis balls that thier mom and dad threw! Pete was so busy chasing after other dogs to play for 30-40 min... didn't even care about swimming!!!
Josiah finally grabbed him and threw in the pool! (We thought Pete was a little scared that he couldn't touch the bottom of the pool when we was trying to get out!) He didn't want to go back in for a while... But he also wanted the tennis balls, so he finally jumped into the pool with other dogs around him! After that, he kept playing fetch in the pool for a while!

We got this nice leash from the ruffle!!! It was so cool! Since we found out that we have lost Pete's this morning... Josiah had to alternate with rope for walk today. So lucky US!

Kai enjoyed seeing dogs there also! I think it kind of scared him or overwhelmed him at first! He wouldn't get out of the stroller forever and just sat there and watching dogs run and swim. We had such a fun time there! We would love to go next year again!

If there is anyone wants to adopt a dog, that will be a good place to find your puppy! There were dogs with "Adopt me" sign. They were such cute dogs and made me really sad how much fun they were having with other dogs and how innocent they were... yet, they don't have someone that loves them like we love Pete.... I hope they will find a good home!

One night at Park City

I've been waiting for this day!!! Since Josiah has served in Iraq, all the veterans that served in Iraq and Afghanistan get to go to these hotels and condos for two nights a year for free. So we have decided that we would stay at one of the condo during the labor day weekend! Just 2 of us! Josiah and I didn't do much together this Summer since I got back from Japan... We have been busy moving and organizing which was pretty important to us this Summer.... The camp that we went was the only trip we made! (Well, except my Japan trip.... but that is going home... it doesn't count as a family trip, right?? hee hee)

Josiah's parents watched Kai for us while we are gone. We thought that Kai would miss us... but he knew that they have Thomas the train at their house, so he didn't even care we were there or not!

It was kind of weird not having Kai around... especially with me, this was my first time not having him around me for more than 3-4 hours! Josiah's mom said that it may be harder for me than for Kai! and that was true! Although it was kind of sad not having him around, it was pretty nice to have alone time with Josiah. I think we were both a little shy and didn't know what to talk or what to do sometimes ;0)
It made me think how it is gonna be when we are retired and old.. just 2 of us in the future.

We had fun shopping, eating out, and watching movies with treats without any interruption till midnight! We haven't done that forever.... Sleeping has been more important than playing till mid-night. We knew that we could sleep in as long as we wanted!

The weather wasn't very good up in Park City last weekend... It was rainy and very cold! We weren't dressed for it at all... so we ended up leaving there early. But we had a lot of fun together.

Josiah's mom said Kai was doing just fine! Slept well, played well and ate well! He didn't cry or look for us. He was just fine with grandpa and grandma! (oh, and Thomas the train)
We are planning another night stay next month, but this one is with the whole Halverson family for Kai's birthday! Thanks to Josiah for his service in Iraq! and we are totally taking advantage of it ;0)

Does anyone know good activities up there that don't cost too much??