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!