The rest of our trip

Dru decided to stay one more day and take Wednesday off of work. This meant that we had all of Tuesday to hang out and be together.  Brooke was going to another family's place for the day so we were on our own. We started slowly packing up a little and blogging and catching up with that.

We also decided we were going to watch the movie 'Sing' together and invited Grandma to come with us.

We went down to see it and it was sold out, so we bought tickets for the next showing and then headed home to hang out for a while.

Masaru decided to hang out with his cuzzies instead. It was a tough decision for him but I assured him he'd get to see the movie at some stage, but playing with his cuzzies was a one time offer for this moment. He seemed happy with that answer and stayed and played board games.

I thought this movie was pretty good man. Dru and the kids liked it. I thought it was slightly slow but loved the end performance. My favourite performance was the gorilla's one. He did an Elton John song that knocked my socks off and made me remember how much I loved that song and Elton John, whom I was brought up with.

Grandpa had made us dinner, which was super nice of him, so we came home to home made chicken noodle soup and rolls. What a great gift.

We hung out together and played for the night.

Later on Emiko got up, however, and decided she didn't feel well and so for the rest of the night threw up, periodically. So I slept out on the couch with her and Dru stayed up to help her as well then finally went into bed exhausted, poor guy.

The next day we cleaned up, packed up and got everything organized to go home. Dru's sister came out to hang out with us for the time we were here, which was really nice of her. It's a 40 min drive and so kind've a big deal. The kids were sure happy about it as well. They love their cuzzies and this trip they all got along perfectly. I didn't witness to many fights at all amongst them. It was awesome. Surely a Christmas miracle hahah

We had to say our goodbye's and probably left a bunch of stuff but were grateful for the kindness of everyone but especially Dru's parents who put up with it all.

The ride home was quick and we ate dinner when we were almost home to Boise.

When we got home we came home to a driveway full of snow. So Dru had to send us up the road to hang out for a while, while we waited for Dru to shovel it enough for us to get into our own driveway. It took him about 10 mins to make us a path and a good 45 mins to get most of it done. Masaru helped as well which was really nice of him.

The rest of us unpacked all our gears together and got the house warm and sorted.

What a great trip.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is always pretty good too though, cause no one's at work and you get another day to hang out and play with your gifts and be together, sort of.
Here's Dru with his 'bed head'. Pretty funny man. Love this guy.


Grandma and Grandpa get a ton of food and we get together and organize it together to give to the charity of Grandma's choice. This is for the underprivileged children to have food on the weekends. During the week the children get breakfast and lunch, but on the weekends they're on their own. This charity, which I forget what it's called, will give these children packets to survive in the weekends which I think is sad and good.
The kids all get together and form a 'train' of sorts and have their own 'jobs' to do and add to the bag.
It goes pretty well and hopefully helps the kids to realize how blessed they are to be so 'rich' both monetary and in their parents care and love for them.
Thanks to Grandma for organizing it and for Grandpa who drops it off the next day.

Then we decided to go up to an old highschool buddy of Dru's, Matt Grimm's father's house and go sledding.
We hadn't seen Matt in a while and it was great to catch up with him and his beautiful wife and three kids.
Matt's Dad has the best house that has been hung out at by Dru and his buddies since 1995. His Dad will probably sell it this coming year and so Dru hopes they have one final 'party' to say goodbye to the good old days together.

I mean how beautiful is this sledding area on the side of his house right?
It was all powder so it was super tough to trail out to begin with, but with a little effort we got it sorted.
We figured out which sleds were the best and the kids got tired of waiting for the good sleds and so it was time to head inside.

We went inside and had some lunch and the kids watched a movie and played in the awesome basement/games room.
It was nice to sit and talk with Matt and his wife and his father and catch up with what's been going on and how things have been since their mother/wife died earlier on this year of cancer. Super sad.
It's always nice to meet up with long time friends and pick up where you left off.

We went home and Dru and I quickly went out and got me a jacket that covers my butt. Dru's mother gives us money each Christmas and this year I really wanted a jacket that covers my butt. So I got one and I LOOOOOVE it to pieces.

We then headed out to our yearly 'adults only' dinner at Kyoto. It's always nice to be together and be out for a while with no kids and just us. The food was really good and we were all happy.

We then headed out to watch the movie 'Collateral beauty' with a bunch of really good actors in it.
I really liked it and need to watch it again since it has a couple of twists. I cried in it a couple of times as I'm sure others did. I'm happy we went.
We all them came home and chilled out on the couch until we fell into bed.

Christmas Day part Two

That last post was getting a little long so I figured I'd do the other two kids and the rest of the day on this one.

Yuki is in love with Totoro right now and so we got her a couple of posters. We'll mat and frame them for her and put them up on her wall. We'll take her out on a one on one date and do this with her. She'll love it.

Loving it.



Cute poster.

Then we got her a paint by numbers Totoro canvas. It's a little complex so we'll see if she'll do it.



Then here is a paint sprayer from crayola. She loves this and used it all up almost.

Some elbow and knee pads.



A glow in the dark soccer ball.

Shoe attachable roller shoe things.

Gel pens.
Yuki is always a little tougher to buy for since she doesn't really get into too much. But she said she wanted Japanese stuff so it made it a little easier.

Then Masaru started opening his. He got some gloves for mtb.



Some goggles.

Here's Brooke and her family opening their gifts.

Then he also got some knee pads. Since he maybe racing this autumn, we figured it'd be a good idea to get him geared up.







A snowboarding helmet that ended up being too small for his head.





Then we got him a fullface mtb helmet with the detachable jaw option.





He was pretty excited.



Meanwhile Yuki made us this thank you note with her sprayer machine. Pretty cool aye.

Opening his gift from my mother in NZ.





Mum made them a pillowcase and a square pillow case as well so they can match on their beds.

Here's Yuki opening her gifts from my mother in NZ as well. Some earrings.



Takeshi was loving his crane from his Grandma in Utah.

We took a peek outside and it'd snowed a TON over the night and our cars were getting more and more burried. So church was canceled.

Here's Emiko  opening her gift from my mother in NZ.







And lastly Takeshi opening his gift from NZ.






I opened my gifts from Dru. I got mostly mtb stuff. Some clothes and a new long handlebar. I'm excited to use it. I also got some blue tooth headphones so I can talk to my family a little better. He did a great job and always does. He's a good gift giver and is very thoughtful. I'm lucky.

Then he opened his gifts from me. I did pretty well this year, with the help of some of our friends, and succeeded in getting him some nice bike tools. He loved it. I also got him some oldschool Toyota sticker and patches as well as a blackhawks cap, which he loves and a mtb top.

We were both happy about our Christmas morning together as a family. I love it and always have. Christmas morning is the best man.

We went upstairs and had some breakfast made by Dru's parents and sister. It was nice.
We then hung out and ate and talked.
Dru's Dad and brother and his boys and Masaru all went outside and helped shovel and plow all the streets driveways as well as the widow and widowers. Such a nice thing to do and I'm sure everyone is very appreciative of that help. It was snowing so hard though, that it only lasted a little while. But everything helps right?

We just hung out and enjoyed each others company until Dru's brothers family came over and his sister's family came over and we had dinner together.

It was nice to hang out together and eat and talk. I pulled out our games from Haydn and Jessie and some of us played it.
Here's a video of me participating.



Talk about hilarious man. It was a ton of fun. What a winner of a game.
We also played our other game called 'Code Names' but next time we need to use the timer cause it kinda went on and on and Dru's brother was over it. I think we put him off the game forever. When we played it at Pug's cabin it was super fun. So hopefully he'll give it another go.

The kids all had a blast together and their Johnson cuzzies stayed the night which was really nice. They all got along, no one fought and it was really, really good.
We eventually had to put them in bed and separated them all into their own family groups. That seemed to work out perfectly.

Dru went over and watched a movie with his brother and I stayed back and talked to Brooke, Leslie and Shauna for the rest of the night. It was nice.

Dru eventually came back and we had to call it a night.
It's always bittersweet going to bed on Christmas night cause the day has gone SO WELL you know and you NEVER want it to end. But it always ends and time keeps ticking on and you have to call it a day.

Christmas always makes me very aware of how much love I have for others and how much love people have for me. It can be quite overwhelming and very joyous. I sit and look around at either my or Dru's family, depending on where we are, and soak it all in. I love, love, love, being with family on Christmas the most. It fills my heart and if there were no presents and just family time I would love it just as much. We have so much fun and there's so much love that it humbles me and makes me love my family more and more. Everyone brings a joy in my life in a different way and I'm super grateful that everyone is willing to all come together and be together. It's a true gift to spend time with family and feel the love.
I can't word it properly so I hope that makes sense.

Merry Christmas my few blog readers that are still hanging on.
I love you.
Thanks for still hanging in there and being a part of my journaling of my life.