So yesterday we worked on Yuki being able to write her own name.
I wrote it first and then told her to copy it.
She'd randomly copied the letters across any part of the page.
So I had to teach her that the letters were there for a purpose and had to be beside each other for them to make sense and say her name.
The letter 'k' is the toughest one for her and for now I'm leaving it, but I'm sure once I teach her a few times it'll be better.
After I took a picture of her first attempt at her name she asked if I'd take a picture of her. She gave me the 'bunny' look so I told her to not show me her teeth like that.
So she gave me the 'no teeth' look and I told her it was ok to show teeth but just a lot of them, not just her front two teeth.
So finally we got a decent picture of her with her big smile.
Then this morning, while doing 'school' with Masaru, Yuki turned to me and said 'Look mum I did my name.....................Yuki'
And this is what she showed me.
I know Nasa's not going to be calling and 3 1/2 year old children are writing their names all over the world, but it's blog worthy and a first and something for me to be happy about.
Then she insisted I take her picture.
First the one of her being cute and the second her more 'academic' look.
LOL
She cracks me up.
Then she wanted to show off her hair for today, which is fine by me and told me to take photo's of her hair................so I did.
Love you bub!!
So Takeshi will find Yuki's hair clips lying around on the floor and insist that I put them in his hair.
So I do.
He's got lots of hair and is due for a cut and so I think it makes life easier for him to have it out of the way.
He'll go and look at himself in the mirror as well.
Maybe I'm encouraging things I shouldn't and maybe it's nothing but I think he's pretty cute. His skin is flawless and his features are perfect, from his button nose to his wonderful brown eyes and cute, pink, full, lips.
Don't you?
Look at that awesome hair! Beautiful and dark and thick and shiny! He should be advertising baby shampoo.
He's kinda over it in these last ones underneath.
He really is all boy and I'm sure he'll question my parenting when he's old enough to be embarrassed by these shots and I'll have to come up with a great answer.
Good thing I've got a few years to think about it.
So for the next three days after our Moab trip all Masaru wanted to write about was Dusty's jeep.
If you watched the video of his jeep going through that massive crack you'd notice his wheels barked like a dog when he couldn't quite make it through.
This is what Masaru is talked about on the second journal entry.
Apparently Dusty's jeep is the fastest, the best, can do the most in Masaru's eyes.
He's like jeeps since he was around 3 years old though and now we wheel with Dusty I think it's sealed the deal.
Dru told me that the older Land Cruisers are shaped more in a 'jeep' style body form and he'd start working on Masaru to get one of those instead.
LOL
So this is just a side note. But these socks are CLEAN!! That's right they've been through the wash and have been dried.
If anyone has a magic trick to get rid of Moab red sand then I'm all ears!!
So we said goodbye to the kids and headed to the bus by 8am.
Dru and I took the back seats and saved some others for our mates.
Everyone showed up and we headed out.
It was a 6 hour bus ride to get to Moscow and so we had brought munchies, pillows and our 'socialize' face on.
Well Dru actually told me 'I'll be sleeping, so you talk all you want with your mates, I'm just gonna sleep'
What a party pooper.
And that's, pretty much what he did more than half of the bus trip.
Oh well he can't help it if he's got a sleep problem.
I sat and chatted to my friends and had a really good time. It was just so nice to sit and talk and not have to worry about kids you know.
It was a breath of fresh air. I loved it.
The bus had a toilet in the back. So that was good.
We stopped once but made it by 1pm like they said we would.
Our mate Jodz picked us up and took us to lunch. We went to this awesome breakfast place they have here in Moscow. It was good food and a great opportunity to catch up with Jodz and see how she's doing in her life and what her plans are.
It was a great visit and I'm glad she came and got us.
Thanks Jodz.
Then our mates 'The Jones Family' {pictured above} let us stay at their place while they were out of town, which was really nice of them.
They have a house and it was nice to have a place to go to to hang out, shower, sleep, get ready, things like that you know.
Thanks Jones' you're the best.
Side note: Lacey has a little business called 'Strawberry Pearl Studios' where she does vinyl cut outs.
If you click HERE you can see her stuff.
So while Dru was talking to his mate at the Jones house I walked down and visited with my mate Krystal.
It was REALLY nice to sit and chat with her and see her 7 week old baby for the first time and talk about life and her love of being a mother and wife.
They brought a house in the last year and you should see it man. It's AWESOME. Cool colours, and design and old antique stuff.
It really impressed me.
She just finds this stuff for cheap and makes things outt've it.
What talent. Now Krystal is my mate who knitted Masaru's kiwi for his 5th birthday if you remember.
Yep, that's how good of a friend she is. Who does that?
She's pretty stunning right?
Then my mate Jade came over and visited with me.
Now Jade is the proud mother of 4 children ages 3 and under.
Yeah I'll wait while you inhale that sentence.
She has 3 boys UNDER TWO.
Yeah I'll wait again for you to inhale that second sentence.
Our visit was brief BUT I'm glad we got to visit and talk for a few minutes. I realize that her life must be chaotic at the moment and am grateful for the visit, short as it was.
It's nice to know she's doing well and coping with her new life and loving it.
I don't know if I was in the same situation that I'd be all smiles like she was.
Then I decided to get ready for the banquet dinner that we actually came up for!!
Here's my mates Tiffany and Chels ready to party and join our husbands who were already there at the building.
Dru had a law review get together to go to but I skipped out on that and just went to the 2011 graduating party. I think it was nice for Dru just to be able to mingle with his old school mates and not have me stand there and be bored.
Here's Dru and I at the dinner.
The keynote speaker was Senator Davis and he did a good job.
They then gave out awards and it went by faster than what I thought, and it was actually a good celebration.
I'm glad I went.
They got all the people together in the back of the room to take their pictures.
I got a couple, but not of the whole group.
Then Dru went off and mingled with his mates while I found my mate Jenny and mingled with her.
It was fantastic to see her and chat.
She's pregnant and is having a little girl which is so exciting.
I'm really glad I got to see her and hang with her and her husband later on in the night and have some laughs and fun together.
Great mate who I miss terribly.
Here's the party group right here.
We all sat on the bus together and hung out for the night and had a blast the whole 24 hours.
I gave Gavin, in the way back, a hard time about this picture cause it looks like he had 'one too many' if you know what I mean!!
Then I got to catch up with my mate Hilgabilga. We weren't even in the same ward in Moscow. We just kinda found each other and stayed in touch.
Now it saddens me that I'm separated from this woman as I think we were meant to be in each others lives more...........a lot more.
But hopefully they'll move to Boise and all my dreams can come true.
Here's the boys together.
Dru looks awfully short in this picture.
Who knew 6ft was short?
I told Gavin to make sure his eyes were open this time.
So this is the face I got.
Thanks Gavin, there's no mistaking they're open now.
Then we headed to the Crandizzles house and hung out till close to 11pm just laughing and talking.
It was really fun and we had a great night.
My mate Sarah {pictured with her hubby above} came over and well and joined in on the fun which I really appreciate cause she's NOT A night girl but stayed up JUST FOR ME.
Love you Sarah.............you're the best.
Then Dru and I headed back to the Jones house and set up beds and slept like logs.
It was a fun but exhausting night.
We woke up and Sarah came and picked us up and took us to the bus.
It was 6 hours back to Boise and it was a fun trip back.
I talked to mates while Dru slept most of the time and we even played a game of 'catch phrase' to pass the time.
It was girls vs boys and we crushed them.
All three guys were law students as well!!
Just goes to show, don't count us girls out man, we took the guys to school and taught them who's boss!!
It was fantastic.
I had the best time.
I'm tired and ready to go to bed though...............
I used to be able to party a lot better.
I guess I'm old and used to my 'other' life now, however and that's just fine with me.
It was great to see the kids and Dru's mum had dinner all ready for us when we got home.
A roast and veges and rolls.
Yep............a true saint.
Thanks Shauna, you're awesome, I knew the kids would be in great hands!!
Great weekend filled with great mates and good time.
It was short, but totally worth it.
So Dru and I are off on the bus that's been chartered for the Boise peeps.
We're going to Moscow for the night to dine with the law students all night then get back on the bus at 8am and get chartered all the way back.
It's only a short trip but Dru's mum is here to look after the kids (very lucky)
So we're off.
I'll try and take pic's and just have some fun with my husband!!
Clarissa Young, one of Brigham Young’s daughters, kept a very detailed journal during the years she lived in the Beehive House in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Beehive House was the name given to Brigham Young’s home. Clarissa not only wrote a detailed description of each room in the house, but included such things as the color of the walls, the furnishings used, and what things were set on the mantles from year to year. She even included an actual piece of the drapery fabric used in the “long hall,” the room where all formal entertaining was done. In 1954, when the Church began restoration of the one-hundred-year-old Beehive House, Clarissa’s journal was invaluable. Even the drapery sample she had kept was sent to a drapery company, and new drapes were woven to look exactly like the original ones.
Takeshi and I had the best time yesterday doing this together.
So I thought I'd take a video of him doing it.
These are the fun things that I think kids should have video's of you know.
Them having fun with simple stuff.
He's not going to remember this and so I figured recording this 'memory' for him was important.
“My journal is one of my most prized possessions. It’s my own personal history and testimony of my life so far, my own personal ‘scripture.’ It’s my record—kind of like Nephi’s record of himself and his family and people.”
Brent Eads
So Dru and I woke up in time for breakfast AND Takeshi was WARM and HAPPY AND Yuki was warm and happy and so was Masaru.
Although Masaru said he woke up once cause 'Uncle Chris' was snoring.
Oh well.
Lucky he's a deep sleeper.
Chris and the girls wanted to go do a hike and so Ryan and our clan went and did the trail 'Pritchet Canyon'
It was short and fun.
We took our niece and headed out.
I only took a couple of shots.
It was fun.
I love this shot of the cruisers.
We got back and I decided to braid one of the girls hair. It was knotty and she just wanted it out of her face.
So I was really happy to do it.
I LOVE doing girls hair, love it, so I jumped at the chance.
Then my niece Tess asked me to do her hair.
She's NEVER asked me before EVER even though I've ALWAYS wanted her to ask me to do her hair.
To be honest I don't think she ever trusted me.
But after seeing the great job I did on her mate she folded and asked me.
I was SO EXCITED to do her hair and when I was finished she got lots of compliments.
I hope this can be the beginning of a new found relationship between Tess and I for camp trips.
I then realized I should've done Yuki's hair like this the WHOLE TIME.
She's MY girl!! It would've kept it outt've her face..........duh!!
Oh well.
I never did get a picture of it.............bummer.
After what seemed like FOREVER we were ready to go.
The kids weren't happy.....................well except Takeshi, but he's always pretty happy.
I know we don't look the best but I'd like to sum it up to a GREAT trip with lots of sand, fun, camp fire smells and dirt.
Here's the captain of our ship.
This was the scene about 10 mins into the trip.
That's right.......................all three of them out cold LOL
Kids always tell you they're not tired and then fall asleep in seconds.
We stopped for dinner and got to Provo when the motorway was CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION.
It was HORRILBE.
It added another HOUR to the trip and we were DONE, DONE, DONE.
I felt really bad for the kids.
They went straight to sleep and Dru and I had a shower and had a really good nights sleep.
So there you have it folks..........a fun filled weekend with all the cars in check and the kids without damage.
Well in saying that............one kid fell out of a tree and got scraped up a bit and a little teary eyed, but he recovered and we were all grateful it wasn't worse.
I'd say that was a success all the way around.
I.LOVE.MOAB.
And we'll be back in the beginning of May to show my brother around who's coming over for 3 weeks.
I'm excited cause I know he's gonna LOVE IT, what guy wouldn't?
And if he plays his cards right Dru might let him drive.
So Day two started off with Dru and I being late for breakfast and Ryan telling us that Takeshi was freezing and crying in the back of his car.
So onto plan B for Takeshi I guess.
We decided to try him in the 3 man tent with us and Yuki. We couldn't think of much else to do that wouldn't disturb others.
This trip we realized that we actually need a 6 man tent.
The Land cruiser just isn't cutting it anymore.
So if anyone has any suggestions of an awesome 6 man tent that they've just loved then Dru and I are open to suggestions.
We packed up and decided to do a trail called 'Golden Spike'
We knew it'd be an 'all day' trail so packed accordingly.
We didn't know it'd be so windy!!
Here's a picture of some of the girls on the trip.
Chris (my other brother in law) brought down 5 girls with him and they traveled with him most of the trail.
We called their cruiser the 'big girl bus'
One of the girls DID NOT like the 4 wheeling and was sick the whole time and worried with fear for her life.
Poor thing. I asked her later on if she'd come again and she said yes however. Go figure.
Here's some of the beautiful scenery from the trail.
Again, Moab is just so beautiful and my pictures don't do it justice.
The trail wasn't marked the best so we went around a little bit trying to keep on the trail.
Between all the 4 men we stayed on track.
A GPS would've been handy or just someone marking the trail a little better.
Here's the obstacle called the 'Golden crack' or something like that. I forget.
It was a big deal for them to try this and they all succeeded and were pleased with themselves.
Here's Ryan going through.
Made it successfully.
Here's Dru attempting it but he didn't have the right bumper so decided against it.
I didn't want him to do it anyway but kept my mouth shut, and it worked out in my favour and I look like the good guy cause I didn't have to put the 'hard word' on Dru and look like the 'lame naggy' wife ;)
Here's Chris doing it.
He did great and afterwards said "That was anticlimactic'
I guess we needed to find more adrenalin rushed obstacles for him ;)
We bent the license plate out but this is what it looked like half way through the trail again.
So we stopped for lunch and Ryan had big plans to cook these sausage/pepper roll sandwiches.
It was windy and so we parked all the cruisers around in a 'circle the wagons' type affair and got the camp chef set up and realized we FORGOT THE PROPANE bottle.
LOL
So we put everything back and had PB and J sandwiches as well as ham on really nice rolls.
There were oranges, grapes and chips too so everyone had something and were full enough. Luckily there were 'other' things brought or there would've been a lot of grumpy kids.
So here are some pic's of the kids.
See they're all in good moods.
Takeshi was pretty good the whole trip, all things considered.
I was pretty proud of him.
He wanted Dru a lot.
Looks like my 'favourite' status is disappearing slowly.
Poor me.
My niece in the orange jacket would find various spots and ask me to take her picture.
A true model.
It helps that she takes such great shots as well though. Very cute.
Chris told me she gets her 'posing' from him. So here he is posing for me.
I told Kate to smile and this is what I got.
LOL
Masaru had fun riding in Dusty's jeep most of the time.
It always amazes me what these cars can climb and drive over.
They're pretty awesome.
Land cruisers are the only cars Australia and New Zealand tour guide people will use in the 'outback' and the rugged NZ terrain to get people around.
Just some side information for everyone.
I love this shot of Takeshi cause he's got a 'glazed' look on his face.
4 wheeling must've taken it outt've him, or knocked him around so much he's semi conscious.
Ryan decided to try to go up this wall but he was dragging his trailer hitch too much as well as half of Moab's sand in the back. So had to back down. It was like trying to drive up with an anchor on the back.
Ryan's car can do a little more as he has lockers on both his front and back axles.
Whereas Dru and Chris just have one locker.
A locker is something you put on that locks your tires in place so they both go at the same time instead of robbing the power from one tire spinning.
It equals things out. So it's a good thing on obstacles.
We only just got lockers in the last few years.
We wheeled for around 4/5 years without them. People were amazed we could do as much as we could, but looking back we had to stack a lot of rocks to make it over some obstacles.
Now we can all go up a little easier.
This trip reminded Dru of how much more he wants to do on the car.
Honestly...............if he has his way this car will be looking a lot more different and by the end be one expensive vehicle!!
Dusty doing his thing.
Masaru's in his favourite spot in the back of the jeep during this obstacle.
This video sums it up quite well really.
The men taking shots and saying things like 'sick dude' and 'awesome shot' and 'look at that clearance'.
You have the kids all watching and some copying their fathers, and some just playing around and wanting some attention.
I can understand why it's a male dominated thing, if you notice I'm the only wife that was there.
But for some reason I just REALLY LOVE IT. In all honesty I think it's fantastic and I like that I like it so I can spend time with the family.
It might've helped that I was in a male dominated family growing up AND that we did nothing but camping together cause it was cheap and we were large in number.
Who knows.
It took us from 10:30/11am till around 7pm to be back at camp.
It was a good 8 hours out on trail.
The kids were REALLY good and a lot of fun.
It's nice to have the car enclosed so they can choose to stay warm inside.
And it's also nice to have obstacles to do so they can get out and run around like mad men and exert some energy.
We got off trail and it was still light, which was fantastic. It's always tougher when it's dark.
Ryan made us lasagna, garlic bread and salad for dinner which cooked quick and feed all the hungry mouths.
The kids also cooked smores which made them happy.
We had a shower tent set up and so I made sure I took a shower every night.
It was great.
After this day we showered the kids as well.
Yuki and Simon had a rough time, I think they were just tired.
When we put our kids to bed they were out in one minute. That's no exaggeration etiher.
We put Takeshi down first.................out like a light. Then Yuki................out cold then Masaru.................out in seconds.
Dru and I sat around the camp fire and talked for a while with Ryan but all the others went to bed early.
I think everyone was dunskie.
It was a FANTASTIC day.
Zero damage, zero fatalities and a lot of fun.
I'd say day two was a big success as well.
Wouldn't you?
