Guess...........

 Yesterday Masaru made these masks for the kids.
They love them.

 Now it's your job to let me know what they are................

Notice how all of them have yellow around the mouth part?  There's a little clue.
They've got white heads................
If you can guess, you're my hero.

Dad's way

I got this card for Dru's Dad for Father's Day.  It had this on the card and the same magnet for the fridge.  I'm not sure if he'll use it, but I got a laugh out of it.
Masaru was drawing a picture for his Grandpa on the inside of the card and read the front.
He says to himself "Dad's way or the highway................I'd rather go Dad's way"
So cute.
Going Dad's way is usually the best option, especially when you have an awesome father.

Ironically last night we were eating dinner and I said to Masaru "So did you have fun yesterday at your mates place?"
'Yes'
"See aren't you glad I MADE you go?"
'Yes'
"When will you learn Masaru that mum is ALWAYS right?  Dad learned pretty early right Dad?
Dru "Yep, it's true Masaru, Mum is always right"
LOL

If Masaru can always take Dad's way and remember Mum's always right............he should be good right?
;)

Dru

So we had a family over for dinner the other night and the mother proceeded to tell us a story about the recent 1st grade zoo field trip she was on with her son.
She said that she was talking with some women and they brought up Masaru's Dad and how good looking he is.
She said she knew him and they said something along the lines of "Have you seen him?  He's a good looking father"
And more stuff which I can't really remember to tell you the truth.
More of how he's a looker and all that.
I was cracking up.
I said to Dru later on "Does that make you secretly big headed to know you're hot to mum's out there?"
He said he didn't care in the slightest.
LOL
Typical Dru.
I wonder if women around these parts just aren't used to dark men?
I bet if he still had his dreads they might think twice.....................most if not all women I talk to loathe dreads.
I think with no glasses and his short modern hair style and little facial hair and his metro dressing matched with his grey hat he sometimes wears or his white sun glasses he probably looks all that and a bag of chips to some mothers.
It's funny you know cause if I thought a guy looked nice I certainly wouldn't tell anyone let alone a bunch of mothers at a field trip about a father who I know to be married with kids.
Would you?
Anyway my mate wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know myself and have always known.....................Dru's one good looking guy and now I guess the secret's out in Boise.

This and that

 I don't have anything witty to say or to post about really except for the fact that I had these pic's of my kids I knew I needed to get onto my blog.
I think Yuki is so beautiful it amazes me sometimes.

 All a little sun kissed from their week in Utah as well as just summer fun in general.

 Our next door neighbours have a pool they fill up every year.
It's not a 'real' pool but it might as well be.
It's big enough for the kids to have tons of fun and at the end of the summer they take it down again for the winter.
I love the fact they have this here because I was thinking about getting a pool pass for our family and realized that I might not be ready to tackle the pools on my own while breast feeding and having 3 other kids to watch out for.
This way the kids get to swim and I get to watch while Emiko has been fed or is sleeping peacefully in her bed.
They have a swing patio type chair which I sit and swing in while reading my scriptures.
It's a little piece of perfect if you ask me.
And if you ask the kids................................well you can just see from the pic's they think it's pretty awesome as well.
And Dru and I don't have to look after it, bonus.

 Takeshi stole the camera and took some shots.........................

 Although I don't know how he took this one..............

 Wanted us to see his teeth and overbite and nose maybe?

He's cheeky man but Dru and I love him to bits that's for sure.
He's a great kid.

On a side note I'm desperately trying to love my body for what it is.
I read an article HERE and it really struck home with me.
I was at such a good place this time last year that it makes me a little sad to sometimes see my body.
But I'm trying hard not to get down on myself and even harder not to put myself down in front of my children in particular Yuki.
I'm doing my best in the situation I'm in.
My main goal is to be able to breast feed and so far so good.
I'm trying to eat more healthy and exersize when I can but not at the expense of my much needed sleep.
So it works out I"m working out around 4 times a week and eating mainly good and not really dropping any weight.
If I don't catch myself it makes me sad.
But I'm trying REALLY HARD to not let it get me down.
I'm doing my best.
That's all I can do and I need to be ok with that and not get down about it.
Easier said than done but at least I'm trying.
My body is great, I love it, I'm able to birth children (sort of) and breast feed, play with my kids, bike, run, life weights, cook, clean, read, walk, play, get up and down when I need to and sleep when I need to.
I'm blessed, I know it and I"m going to keep exersizing and eating healthy and being ok with what I have.
New goal...................wish me luck and read that article, it might just change your life as well.

4 months

So this little gem is four months old and GUESS WHAT...........................I'm still breast feeding!!!
It's a miracle to say the least.
I haven't successfully breast fed any of my kids for this long and have them look like this {above}
Does she look starving to you?
She's got little boobs man.............such a great sign right?
Look at those cute rolly polly arms.............love it.
She's still sleeping between 11 and 12 hours at night which is fantastic for me.
It's means I can have my nights to do whatever and know I don't have just one more feed to stay up for.
Who knows, maybe Dru and I might actually get to date again right?  Late night dates at least.
I've busted her sucking her thumb a couple of times.
She'll still take the binky though.
Like I've said in previous posts she's a blessing in our lives and we're really glad she's a part of the family.
I wouldn't change a thing.
Love you bub.

Fun week

So we just got back from having the most fun week we've had all summer with the cuzzies down in Utah.
We started on Sunday night and left Friday morning and it was a blast.
They had A LOT of fun things to do and the kids really enjoyed themselves as well as myself.
Masaru and his cousin who's almost the same age as him got along really well, no problems.
Yuki and her cuzzie who's around the same age as her got along MOSTLY fine with a few hiccups.
Really it surprizes me that they get along as well as they do since both of them are the queen bees in their house holds.
Takeshi and his cuzzie who's around the same age as him got along pretty well for the most part as well.
Considering they're both just two years old I think they were great.
There was LOTS OF swimming involved and dry skin by the end of the week and a couple of mild sun burns.
Nothing to stop the fun though.
Luckily our kids are quite tanned and so I think that helps out a ton.
The cousin Masaru's age though gets the award for the DARKEST skin for a 1/4 japanese girl.  Honestly man it's AMAZING.
Here they are playing at the 'beach'
They also have a local swimming pool we went to a couple of times.
They went and saw Madagascar 3 at the movies with their other cousins as well as their grandma.
Here they are playing on the trampoline with their cuzzies having a blast.   Giggling away without  a care in the world.  Oh to be a kid again.
Here they are at the splash pad having a blast as well with each other. And here's Takeshi with his cuzzie below pretending they're riding on their motorcycles like their Uncle/father who just got a motorcyle or 'moto moto' as well called it, a couple of weeks ago and so is driving around on it all the time. They wanna be just like him. I got to see a few friends in the visit which was fantastic, hang out and talk with my SIL who I love to be around.
Emiko was held and loved a ton and I did better than what I thought I would on my 'own' with the four kids. Really Masaru just looks after himself, so he doesn't count.
Yuki was quite hard at nights, but Takeshi went to sleep in seconds most nights and Emiko was a dream at nights.
 Sure we had to play musical beds most nights but everyone was pretty patient with us.
 We also had great food, so that worked out nicely. I just had a good time and so did my kids.
By Friday though Dru was hanging out to see us poor guy. I think it's easier when HE'S leaving US and not the other way around.
Nice to know we're missed, but secretly I think my kids wish they were still down at their cuzzies house.
We can't push our luck though, four and a half days is pretty award worthy for the Johnsons. Thanks guys. We love you.

Day break

So I'm out here with Dru's sister for the next few days and if today's anything to go by it should be a fun week. Daybreak is an area in Utah where you can live but it's like a little community. It's amazing. The houses are beautiful and if you don't have a yard then you can plant a garden at the common garen area. They have a pool, and not a crap one but a really nice one that is open in the mornings for laps and swim lessons and then free play. They have a 'beach'. It's pretty sweet. Today we went swimming. Tomorrow we'll go to the 'beach' and Wed we'll go to the movies with the other cuzzies. I miss Dru, but my kids are having a blast and I'm glad we're here.

Fathers Day

It's fathers day here in the USA and I'm in Utah with Dru's family.
I chose not to go to church today due to the fact that I'm here in Utah and to be honest to the world out there don't really enjoy father's day and church is a reminder of that.
Judge how you'd like, but loosing my father still hurts and father's day is a reminder of what I don't have anymore.
It's nobody's fault and people should be allowed to celebrate and talk about it at church and I wouldn't expect anything less, but it's easier on my heart not to be a part of it.
I know what you're thinking 'But Dru's a father, relish in that, celebrate that, focus on that'
It sounds so simple doesn't it?
I do do all of those things.
We talked about Dru for family home evening on Monday night and how he's the best Dad we could ever ask for.
Dru was touched.
We sang, we watched a video of another inspiring father, we had treats, it was awesome.
I got him a shirt and tie, I know risky considering his taste, but he loved it, score for Milz.
I whispered to him this morning in bed about how much we love him and are so blessed to have him in our lives and how much the kids and I appreciate all he does for us.
I think Dru doesn't feel ripped off in his fathers day you know.
But to be honest with you fathers day is always a little heart breaking to me and I quietly weep during day at random times.
I'd rather not do it infront of 150 at church as well.
It's embarassing and I don't want to explain my emotion, or explain my 'situation' to people who don't know.  I feel bad when people feel bad for me, which is a natural reaction and a circular situation really.
In short it's just easier to do fathers day alone with as little people as possible.
Dru's mother is having around 1.2 million people over tonight in her extended family and I'm dreading it.
It has nothing to do with her, or her extended family and everything to do with me and 'woe is me' attitude you know.
So I hope I can put on a happy face and forget for a little while how much I miss my father.
How I wish I could have just ONE more hug.....just one.
How I wish I could just smell him and whisper how I miss him terribly, introduce him to my kids, listen to him telling them random made up EMELLISHED stories about his childhood.
I miss him so much it hurts.
It doesn't get easier, you just learn to box it up better.
But when the box gets opened it hurts, just as much, every time.
And this is why I'd rather be alone on fathers day.
Cause I'm not very 'happy' to be around.

{It wasn't our intention to be here this weekend, but due to our rental house needing to be worked on we came up early so father's day this year ended up being in Utah}

Mud

 The kids decided to play outside yesterday while I was watering the front yard.
They had a great time playing in the muddy puddles with their rocks and cars and feet, hands, clothes.
I made sure I tried really hard NOT to comment and just let them PLAY.
Here's Emiko being a part of the party.
The weekend that our family was up for the Ironman I decided to feed Emiko at 8:30pm and just see how she does.
I told Dru "I'll get up in the night if she needs it"
He's like "Good luck"
The next morning I went to get her and it was 8:30am.
She just slept 12 hours for me!!!
I couldn't believe it.
So I tried it again, and again, and now it's the new normal.
She's such a blessing in my life it's amazing.
What a sweet girl.
She makes my life that much easier with the chaos that it really is.
I love her.
Here they are with the puddle I was telling you about.
Pretty awesome right?
LOL

 Takeshi got the muddiest.

 He's pretty cute man.
At the moment he also seems to be my most disobedient.
He really pushes the limits with Dru and I.
The problem is what he does is funny, but it's not appropriate to laugh while telling him off, so Dru and I have to maintain a stern face whilst disciplining and then turn around and crack up when he's not watching.
It's pretty hard.

 These feet and shoes got a good hose down before either of them came inside.

 He's getting a haircut today.
I said to Dru 'How about we give him a short boys cut?'
To which he replied 'No'
Dru really likes his hair long.
I think it might be cute shorter.
But sometimes it's easier to keep Dru happy.

 We had baths last night..............

 Masaru's getting his hair cut as well today.
He goes back and forth between liking his long hair then saying he's fine with cutting it.
I'd like him just to buzz it.
We'll see.
Masaru got just as wet, just not as muddy.
I love having him home with me and the kids.

Yuki had fun too but she struggles with 'free play' and no one else around to entertain her.
If she has a friend she's entertained all day, but by herself she's hovering around asking me what she can do, to which I ALWAYS reply "I'll tell you what you can't do.............play the wii, my ipad or watch a movie, you can do WHATEVER ELSE YOU WANT, see you later"
She'll draw and go through her toys, but then hovers a little more............
She peed her pants around 7 times yesterday as well.
I ran out of punishments.  I was making up stupid punishments like "You can't have a bath tonight"
I mean what's up with that?
I knew it was a stupid one after it came out of my mouth.
She's the one who needs the bath the MOST and I took it away from her?
Honestly though........I banned her from the ipad, banned her from playing with the neighbour kid, banned her from the wii, banned her from watching movies, banned her to her bedroom till dinner, then she was excited about having a bath so in desperation banned her from that as well.
I hope today goes better.
I'm not sure what to do about it.
It drives me nuts.
She's such a smart girl I"m not sure why this is happening with her.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.....................

Boise Ironman

So this is the third year that Dru's brother has come up to do the Boise half Iron man.
Dru and I have happened to be living here for two of them.
So they come up and stay with us and it makes my children VERY happy to have them here.
We had two tents set up out the back with all the boys plus Yuki out there for the night.
I think they were in heaven.............well I know Masaru was.
Takeshi only lasted an hour or so then he was inside and truth be told we would've gotten him anyway once he fell asleep.
On the second night Yuki came in cold and slept on the ground beside us.
The morning of the race was HORRIBLE.
There was wind and rain...........it didn't look promising at all.
I felt bad for Ryan.
I mean an Iron man is hard enough without the weather not co-operating.
Then Ryan was lifting the trailer and he pulled his back out and came limping into the house......
WHAT THE.............
He was trying to stretch on the ground and work the kink out I guess.
I'm not sure if it could've gotten much worse to tell you the truth.
So Dru gave him a blessing.
I wasn't there for it, I was off doing other things, it was just Ryan and Dru......
When Dru came out I said 'Did you ask for a miracle?'
Dru said 'Nope, just said that he'd be able to do the race'
That seemed impossible if you'd seen him limping around here like some 90 year old man.
I then said 'So did you guys hug and tell each other how much you love each other after the blessing?'
Dru laughed and said 'No we didn't do that either'
Truth be told I think Ryan is one of if not Dru's best mate which I think is really awesome.  They're always on the same page about things while Les and I just roll our eyes with all the plans and stories and youtube videos they watch and come up with together.
I asked them the other night 'So did you guys fight much?'  To which they both looked at each other and replied 'I can't remember ever having a fight'
CRAZY.
They're like two peas in a pod really.
I know Dru would like to live closer to Ryan.  I'd like them to move up here COME ON GUYS THE HOUSES ARE CHEAP................
But I can't see it happening any time soon.  So I need to make sure I'm sensitive to the fact that every time I'm in Utah he spends half if not more of the time hanging out with his brother doing whatever it is that they like to do together.
Well that was a nice tangent wasn't it?
*Ahem* back to the race.........................
So they cut the bike ride down from 56 miles to 15 miles due to horrendous winds.
Some Iron man people are tough and have a lot of training and drive behind them and would do the race no matter WHAT the conditions and the detriment to their health, so I think the Boise decision makers had to make a tough call and that's the call they made.
Ryan did great.
He did the whole thing and was fine.
I guess he got his miracle.
Everyone apart from Emiko and I biked downtown to meet Ryan at the finish line.
I'm still bummed I couldn't be there to tell you the truth.........I was planning on taking the car with the baby downtown but had decided earlier on to make cinnamon rolls which I forgot needed to be finished.
So I finished those then strapped Emiko into her car seat then the phone rang and it was Dru saying they were coming home.......
Awwwwwwwwww
But due to the race being cut so short Ryan was home at a decent time and we all had a relaxing night eating good food and enjoying each others company.
It was a really nice weekend to tell you the truth.
I'm glad we had it together.
Love you guys.
Milz x

End of 2 years

Bevin's in the back row {above} 4th in from the left

So yesterday, which also happened to be Bevin's birthday, Bevin got home from his mission.
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS?
I can't.
I think it's flown by and I'm sure he feels the same way.
Bevin was in Perth Australia if you don't remember, serving his heart out, to the Lord for the LDS church.
It's been awesome to get his emails every week about how his week had gone and who he was with and what was happening for him and his companion.
I'll miss those emails man.
He wasn't getting home till around 8pm NZ time which is 2am here Boise time.
So I didn't get to talk to him.
Now I'm up he's totally asleep so still can't talk to him.
Sometime it's sucks being here.....................like right now.
Dru and I were maybe planning on being over for when he gets home but then decided to wait for a bit.
I dont' want to begin to tell you how much money we need for THE WHOLE FAMILY to be in NZ now we have 4 kids, 3 of which would need tickets.
We need to be richer...........
Anyway I hope he continues to do well with this next phase of his life and all the tough decisions he has to make in the near future.
It'll be interesting to sit back and see what life unfolds for this guy.
Hopefully I'll get to talk to him today sometime and get a sense of how he's feeling.
That's the last of my family to serve.
He's the youngest.
No more Wrights out in the world to serve.
Well no more right now I guess.
We have a few more in the Wright side who's KIDS might serve and that'll be awesome.
I'm really proud of Bevin for serving faithfully for 2 years and doing so well.
Love you Bevin.

Rental make over

 Ok so Memorial weekend we decided 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'
We were sick of looking at our white trash front yard that our landlord's don't care about.
We've sent them pictures, pleaded, begged, reasoned and volunteered but they are simply NOT INTERESTED IN THIS HOUSE in any financial way at all.
So we had to make a decision.........
Were we willing to spend money on someone else's house AND someone who didn't even care about their house?
The answer after a year and a half almost two years was finally yes.
So we did.
Here's a picture {above} of what it looked like.
Just a weedy patch of crap.

 So we decided to start weeding, and weeding, and weeding and weeding.
The kids helped and it was a fun family project.
Fortunately that day was nice weather.

The end of the weeding looking all clean.  Man even just weeded it looks 100 times better right?

 The neighbours came out and lent us some fertilizer etc.
Poor neighbours.
They were probably just grateful a renter cared enough to make it look somewhat decent.
We found these plants at home depot for $3 each apart from the boxwoods.
They were $14 each.
We got the potted flower plants at Costco for around $15 each as well.

We then added the black paper down so we could control those weeds that love to come up.  Dru did a great job of cutting and stapling the special stuff down.  I sat and watched.

Then it stayed that way for a few days as we were planning on putting gravel down.  But by the time we found a gravel place we realized Dru wouldn't be a part of it.  The gravel place was only open Mon-Fri 8-4pm.  All hours that Dru was at work.  So we had to figure out how on earth I could do this.  Dru left his truck with me and took the van to work and I organized babysitters and went up to get the gravel.  The gravel guys were REALLY nice and helpful and great.  So they filled the truck up and I came home and emptied it onto the black paper around the plants.  Girl power indeed.

Here's the empty truck after I used my awesome muscles emptying it.  The first load only did the sides {above} So I needed two more loads.  That had to wait till the next day however.

 And here's the finished results with all the gravel down.
All of this was me.  With only the tiniest help from the neighbour and Dru.
I'd say I did around 95% of the gravel.
Dru was grateful and I was pretty pleased with myself.

 Then we had to wait around for a couple of weeks for Dru's brother to come up to do the Boise half ironman and bring up these brackets so we could hang our potted plants up.
But it was totally worth the wait.
It looks pretty awesome.

 And I love it.
The kids help water the plants and now we don't have to hang our heads in shame everytime we have people over or even look into our front yard.

There's 5 pine trees that are killing the grass and there's not much we can do about that since we're not willing to completely re sod SOMEONE ELSE'S place you know.
We'd love to cut down 3 of those trees but it's VERY EXPENSIVE.
We've already looked into it and the landlord's aren't willing to pay anything to do anything.
So the grass is slowly dying and dirt is taking it's place.
The kids love playing in the dirt pile so whatever I guess.
We spent a grand total of $150 on this little make over and feel pleased with our efforts.

I've said it once and I'll say it again WE'RE AWESOME TENANTS.............................;)

Absent tooth fairy

 So Masaru lost his 6th tooth yesterday.
I guess I was napping when it happened.

 Lucky man cause look at the big tooth growing through behind it.
I mean where is it even going to fit?
*sigh*  Am I really going to have to do spacers?
2k my sister in law said, just like that.
Who's got 2k in their pocket just hanging around?
The English and Japanese walk around with crooked teeth all the time and it's not so bad right?

Anyway he put his tooth under his pillow last night for the tooth fairy right?
Well this morning he came in with his tooth and was really upset that SHE DIDN'T COME.
What's up with that?
I fumbled through excuses for this lame toothfairy and then Masaru said "Hey maybe she doesn't work on a Sunday cause of church, I mean everyone needs a day off right?"
I said "Good thinking Masaru, I bet that's totally it.  See you've got nothing to worry about.  She'll come tonight FOR SURE"
Phew................dodged a bullet there man.
Innocence in tact (check)
Tooth fairy still real (check)
No harm done (check)
Belief still there (check)
Mum and Dad still on the parents of the year list (uncheck)
4 out of 5 isn't too shabby though right?
LOL

Good wifey

 So here's our wardrobe.

 Here's all my clothes in the wardrobe.

 Here's all of Dru's........but wait.........

there's more of Dru's...........
Basically our wardrobe had 3 hooks so let's say that it's split into 3rds for arguments sake shall we?
Dru owns 2/3'rds and I own 1/3rd.
Is there any other woman out there who has this same thing?
Or is it just me and Dru?
I"m not really a clothing person...................Dru is.
If we ever build a house I can only imagine his walk in wardrobe which I'll be banned from.
I'll be fine with just one like this.
He's so lucky he has me right?
We're like 2 peas in a pod.............and that pod has mostly Dru's stuff in it and that's fine with me......

After 8 years.............

I have a cell phone.
I WAS with cricket a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago.
But I was sorting something out with them and they weren't very nice to me.
I threatened to leave them after this episode and they didn't care.
So I left them and never went back.............................
I haven't had a cell phone since.

Well yesterday Dru got an iphone from work.
He talks to it and it talks back.............it's a little weird...........should I be worried?
Anyway he's way excited about it and was playing around with it and then turned to me and gave me HIS OLD cell phone and said 'She's all yours now'
I don't quite know how I feel about it all to be honest.
There's a few things I take pride in and not having a cell phone is one of them.
But let's all get serious..............it was bound to happen at some stage and since we're in a 2 year contract with T-Mobile and works paying for Dru's phone what else was to be done?
It's all so sudden.................
The number is Dru's cell number of course if you have that.
So next time you plan on ringing Dru.....................I'm going to answer and you'll have to pretend you MEANT to talk to me and make up some random conversation and casually ask if Dru's around to which I'll give you his new number..........
But if you wanna talk to ME and happen to ALREADY have Dru's old cell number then switch the name from Dru to Milz and you'll be all good.

I'm going to have to get a purse............there's too many things for me to carry around now, keys, shopping list, pen, sunglasses, wallet and now a phone..................another thing I took pride in was NOT having a purse.......................
Anyone have a SMALL purse I could have?

Knox

Welcome to the world my little nephew, Knox.
He was born yesterday lunch time.
I talked to my sis and she seemed in good spirits.
He was 7lbs 15oz.
I talked to her 3 hours after her c-section so she was still a little groggy but things were going well
I'm so happy for them.
I can't wait to watch him grow up.
I think he looks like his father BIG TIME.
Time will tell I guess.
One more cuzzie to add to the mix.
Lovin it.