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??

Pray and Amen

Josiah and I have been teaching Kai to pray for last a few months. We would fold arms, pause....and say "Amen". When we say Amen, we would unfold arms like "Banzai!" We thought that way he would get it easier when we say "Amen", it is the end of the prayer. We have tried and tried... he was just not interested at all!

We have this primary songs on DVD, and it has pictures come up with songs. Yesterday he really wanted to watch the DVD and asked me to play! So I put it on! He loves any music that we weren't surprised that is his favorite DVD to watch! Then all the sudden, he saw this little boy on the TV praying and HE FOLDED HIS ARMS!!!!!!!!

Josiah and I were there to watch him and thought "Is he doing "pray... and Amen" ???" He would do again and again.... Yep, he is doing it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We were so happy to see him do that all by himself! One of the bishopric in our old ward says "when you raise your children, you will have times that you feel like what you are doing is just hopeless...or not making any progress. But, just be consistence and one day you will see what you have done means something to them and to you.... It can take time, so be patient and continue what you are doing."
That is so true!

I put him to bed last night and asked him to pray... and he folded his arms as I pray with him. It was such a precious moment! It almost made me cry. Josiah and I decided that we needed to be better at praying with Kai every night. It was a good reminder! It was such a sweet moment that I had to write it down ;0)

Thanks to Logan!!

I am working on the camping trip story... it is taking a bit longer than I expected, so I decided to write something else ;0) hahaha

Logan (Chad and Kenzie's son)was playing with Kai a lot during the camping trip. We've noticed that he just knew so many words for being a little less than 2 years old!!! He would repeat whatever we said! Kai has not been a big repeater yet.... We were wondering when he would start picking up things more. We weren't too worried about him, because mom and dad speaks different languages, I bet Kai is pretty confused now... But, we were just amazed how much Logan knows!

It was towards the end of the trip, I would ask Kai to say "Yuki" and he tried to say it! We were so surprised that he would even try it! It got even better after the trip! At home, he would say "Josey", "Banana", "OK", and even some Japanese words that I have been trying to teach him for months! It surprised me that Kai was trying to sing this song that Kenzie was singing to Logan during the trip (well... Logan was saying the words to the song all the time, so I bet Kai picked that up from him!)

It is so amazing how much kids pick up stuff from each other! I thought Kai was mostly attacking Logan for playing the toys he wanted... but he was also learning a lot from him! It is so fun to listen to him trying say things now! It was just a few days that Kai got to play with Logan, but the influence he got was pretty big!
So far, he says a lot of English words. I'd better teach him more Japanese... I thought I speak Japanese a lot with him, but I just have to be more consistent!

Wish me luck!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

It's a girl!

Some of you may know that we are expecting a baby in Dec. We knew that it will be a girl from the day one ;0) Before we found out that I was pregnant, Josiah once told me that he had this feeling that there is a daughter waiting to come. He doesn't usually say stuff like that! So, I thought that this baby must be a girl! We are very excited when we saw her cute little face on the targeted ultrasound day at the clinic. It always amazes me that we can see baby's face before coming out! It is still hard to see, but she sure has big lips like her big brother!

Kai loves to look at my tummy and give kisses. He points at it and says "baby". He does the same thing to Josiah's tummy also... so he may not be understanding all the way... but it sure is cute when he is kissing ;0) Kai has been loving pushing the stroller lately. I should find a T-shirt saying "big brother in training" or something! He is so cute when he pushes so fast and run like crazy! I am sure he will be a big help for mama next Spring.