Sesame Street-

My fun little family had the opportunity to go and see Sesame Street live.

With 800 other people-

They gave us these AWESOME Elmo light spinners and cool USO bandanas.

There was lots of singing and dancing. We did lots of screaming and laughing.

Hunter showing off "The Goods."

Daddy had the most fun with the spinners. He played and played until his battery died. He tried to sneak one of ours, but we wouldn't allow it.

There was more singing and dancing...

...and more smiles and giggling.

This is when the show got a tiny bit long. Daddy and Ryker found ways to entertain themselves though. We had such a great time. It was fun to see Elmo and his friends up there singing and grooving to the music. He even got to shake some wiggles out. Sometimes we have dance parties at home with Mommy so we knew just what to do.

Beevis and Butthead

 I'm not really sure where the twins have picked this up, but they do it ALL the time. It always cracks me up. I love that Hunter's ears are hanging out. lol. What silly little munchkins I have. It's a proud moment for sure. ;)

Bare with me- It's catch up time again!

I can't even begin to tell you how far behind I am on this blog. I am still updating when Thoch was here. I'm going to try and crank a couple new ones out today to try and catch up a little. We'll see if the internet cooperates and will load all my pictures. :)

While Thoch was here we decided a night of family bowling would be fun.

Rhett showing us how it's done!
Carter- Below He is such a poser. lol.

 Tator Tot did fantastic. Please excuse his ultra messy face. I'm not sure why I let him out of the house like that. It must have been one of those days where I was just proud to have everyones shoes on.

He is a pretty good little bowler. He had fun was a lot of fun to watch. He always made the adjustments and carried the ball over. He was always excited whether he knocked down one pin or ten. What a sweet boy!

Ryker- Above- He was a blast to watch. My little Mr. Independent. He would always carry the ball over and roll it himself. He just kept saying, "I do it by myself." He did a good job and had a ball bowling.


Hunter- He would always cover his ears when the ball was about to hit the pins. What a nut. You would have thought it made a loud noise by the way he was constantly doing it.

Carter showing Thoch the proper way to strike a pose for the camera. I don't think I have any "Normal" pictures of this kid. Even when I try to surprise him he is always one step ahead. :)

The babies were standing right in front of each other and I thought it looked so cute. It looks like a mirror.

Thoch-Lighthouse

Next adventure- Taking Thoch to see the lighthouse. It was such a beautiful day and a much needed break from the house.

The kids had a fun time walking and climbing on all the rocks. We also had fun watching the fisherman fishing. I really love this place so much. There is something very peaceful about being out near the water. There was perfect little breeze and it was great to hear the kids playing together nicely.

Showing Thoch Comprehensive Park-

We love the park. We made Thoch try the roller slide, and she had a good time. The babies tried to demonstrate how fun and exciting the drop slide was, but Thoch was a little too scared to try it.

Pictures speak louder than words...so enjoy!

Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

The Dental Team-

For the record- This is a picture of Rhett and Mike, our old neighbor. Rhett came down with the frisbee this time! Way to go babe! :)

 We went to watch Daddy and his dental team rock it up on the frisbee field. They did a really good job and had some awesome time playing together.

The tournament lasted a lot longer than we had anticipated. Several of his team ended up leaving before they were out of the tournament. This made it a lot harder to compete with the great teams. They did well though and ended up getting third.

Thoch watching and entertaining Ryker with her iphone. They loved that Thoch let them play games on it. She was a pretty good sport and they always asked if they could play her bubble game.

Thoch saving Ryker. He climbed onto the other side of the fence and got stuck. She really was a great help with the babies. An extra set of eyes was so nice to have for that week!

Paintball Fun-

Rhett took Thoch paintballing while she was here one evening with a bunch of guys. I was a little worried about how she would hold up. She was so nervous that I thought she may chicken out, but she went through with it and had a good time.

Rhett was hiding behind something and peeked out and got shot right in the bald spot. OUCH! He came home and was covered in blood. Poor guy. He said everyone had a blast though. He hasn't been in so long that it was fun for him to get to play again. He got a couple bruises on his arm and head, but still had a huge grin on his face. I'm glad they had a good time together. I forgot to get a babysitter so I stayed home with the kids. :( Rhett had a really great time though and promised he would take me next time. They had dinner afterwards and had hamburgers. Thoch only got confused once by asking to pass the tomato sauce. She meant ketchup. :) She said some funny words and phrases here. We understood most of what she said, but a couple times it was weird. She did have a very thick accent though and sometimes I had her repeat stuff. By the end of the week I could understand her really good!

Thoch's visit-

The next day we took Thoch to see a few fun spots. We started off heading to the one of the many castle ruins of Okinawa. Thoch seemed impressed and the little ones loved getting out of the house and running around. I really worked her poor calves out. There was a TON of stairs and hills. 

I LOVE this picture of the boys. They were up at the top of these large stairs. Their expressions are priceless. Ryker looked so determined while Hunter looked a little less sure. :)

Thoch was really funny. She felt like she was in America again and she was so excited. I have never seen anyone so excited to go to the shopette with me.

She loved beef jerky, chex mix, and any american lollies. (Candy) She was just amazed at all the different kinds of sweets we had.

She also thought Halloween was such a weird thing. We tried to explain all the funny traditions with it.

Taylor is such a little heartbreaker. He loved leading the way and picking every flower within reach to give to Thoch! :)

Meet Thoch-

As I mentioned in an earlier post we had a visitor come and stay with us for just over a week. Her name is Thoch, pronounced Talk. Rhett and his companion met Thoch 11 years ago while serving his mission in Australia. They have remained friends throughout the years through email and facebook. She actually was really excited to come and meet the family while we were living in Las Vegas. She planned her trip to the states and had a great time, but by the time she made it down to Las Vegas we had already moved to Japan. We missed her by just over 2 weeks. 

When she heard we were living in Japan she decided to come over and see us and meet the whole family. It was a little weird to try and explain who she was to the kids. I sat them down and we talked about missions and where Daddy served his. We talked about baptism and that Rhett baptized Thoch. I then explained that she was coming to stay with us for a week or so. I was feeling pretty proud of myself . I felt like I did such a great job explaining who she was UNTIL Carter pipes up, "Oh so Daddies girlfriend is coming to stay with us." I quickly corrected him and explained that Daddy is married to me and doesn't have any girlfriends but me. :)

Anyway, we were excited to have her come and stay. Rhett had to work the first few days she was here so she got the kid friendly tour of the island with me and the little boys. We started by taking her to the zoo. :) A favorite of the kids. 

 My sweet little poser- Taylor took the tour extremely serious and made sure that Thoch didn't miss anything. They showed her the bats, elephants, monkeys, lions, and giraffes. He was excited to show her the crocodiles, but she wasn't too impressed with them. :) She is from Australia so she has seen many huge crocodiles way too close for comfort. She had some crazy stories to share with us. I sure love my little Taylor. He melts my heart everyday and I dread the day that he goes to school for full days. I will miss my little buddy!

 We even got to show Thoch a couple spiders. She said that Australia has some pretty wicked spiders too. We got to watch them feed the giraffes. It was cool that they were so close. :) We have fed them before, but Thoch was shocked by how close you get to the animals.

We had a fun surprise while we were there and they let us feed the hippos. They gave us some hay to throw into their mouths. It was a cool experience. I can't believe how huge their teeth are. I'm sure they could have eaten a baby whole! :)

We made Thoch stand in front of the emu because that's what she has on her passport. We teased her saying that the Eagle is way cooler!

Watching the giraffes eat. It looks like I was way zoomed in, but nope.... we actually were that close!

We couldn't let Thoch leave Japan without the traditional ride on the Hello Kitty go kart. I put her with Ryker to get the whole effect. He made sure to run her into the wall several times. Good times!