The Dinner!

We were fortunate enough to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Our church/ward decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner because of our family. They asked me to create the menu and cook the turkey. While I have never cooked a turkey before, I was sure that is was a really simple thing. I called on Sister Karlinsey (she is the half of the senior missionary couple who are in the Sendai, Japan mission) to help me out. After coming up with the menu I decided to just go and get the ingredients myself. So last Monday, Sister Karlinsey and I went to downtown Sendai to do all the shopping. It took us about 3 ½ hours to do, but we did it. I thought we did a great job, seeing how food in Japan can be rather expensive. Between the two of us, we knew which items where a bargain and which items were not. We now had everything we needed for the dinner and we just needed help making all of it. So on Tuesday night during the beads class at the church we passed out all the pie and Jell-O ingredients. Now none of the women helping had ever made a pie before so we had someone translating to one of the women on how to do it. She then wrote it down and gave it to the others. The next morning, the morning of the dinner, we went back to the church to try to hand out more things for people to make. The problem was that no one showed up and we still had the five casseroles to bake. I took one home and the sister missionaries took one home. With three still left at the church we decided to come back at 4pm to finish before the 7 o’clock dinner. I then went back home to check on the Turkey that I was baking and it was still so raw. It took my oven all day to cook mine; which was bad because I still had to bake two pies and a casserole. So I just stove topped my casserole and left the pies to be baked be Lane. When I got back to the church that afternoon we had so much help there to get everything ready. We made the stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, and set up the tables. As stressed out as I felt, everything came together perfectly. The food tasted great (the women did an excellent job on the pies) and everyone loved it. This was the first Thanksgiving for many and the first time they had ever had stuffing, turkey, or pumpkin pie. I am truly thankful for all of my blessings and the opportunity to be here in Japan. Just for the record this is my first and last time that I will ever bake a turkey.
The Turkey that I baked.


Looks can be deceiving, the turkey was still not cooked on the bottom. A good thing people couldn't understand the conversation going on between me and Sister Karlinsey



The dinner in all of it's glory.


Lane and the Missionaries enjoying the meal.

Wig Time

We went to our friends house for dinner a few night ago and she had a white wig that she wore for Halloween. We decided to try it on Grace and Sophia. I think it looked pretty funny. What do you think?

Brilliant colors!

I can’t believe we are almost half way through the month of November and I have not posted anything. About a week and half ago we decided to go and visit a popular spot in the area for checking out the trees as they change colors. This spot is also home to the only 5 story pagoda in Northern Japan.

We invited some friends to come with us and we had a really good day. The air was crisp and fall was everywhere. The leaves on the trees were brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges. It was so beautiful. All the kids had a lot of fun playing together. Our friend Maria who came with us took really great pictures. While I have not been able to locate my camera since, she was able to take hundreds of pictures of the day. So the pictures I have posted are from Maria. I have to give a big thanks to her.
A Happy Sophia!

All the Kids playing in the Koi fish pond.

Rock, Scissor, Paper.

Grace and Her friend Akari jumping. These two girls are best friends at school.

This tree was so beautiful, we just had to take a group photo in front of it.

Just as we thought the day was over, we came across a park with a huge roller slide. These things are so fun. Lane took all three girls down at the same time.

Here is a picture of Mika, me, and Maria. We all had really good time together. I am grateful for the good friends we have here in Japan