Our Date!

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. The last couple of years I would say our anniversary celebrations have not been the best. Last year we both forgot to get money from the bank and had to settle for a cheap dinner at a fast food place. This year we did a little more planning and we had a really nice evening. Lane and I have not been on a date for months. I think that last date was in July or June; too long basically. We had our good Friend the Sasakis baby-sit. Big thanks to them.

For our date we decided to go to Akiu. Akiu is very famous in Japan for their Onsens. Onsens are special mineral fild, from the earth, all natural hot springs. This was my first time to the Onsen, so we rented a private spa. You have to go naked so this is why we rented our own and so we could be together. Men and Women have to go into the Onsens separately.

We ate dinner at a restaurant in the Hotel which served good traditional Japanese food. I had Curry rice and Lane had fried Oysters. It was very good. Then we went and sat in the Onsen. We rented it for an hour and it was such a neat new experience. The water was so hot, but the outside air was so cold, so you quickly get use to the hot water. We were right along the river and we could just look up at the stars. I had really hoped it would snow, but it did not. It was a great date and a fun new experience.

I know what you are thinking- who took that picture? Don't worry we took this picture using the timer on the camera.

The Dance

winter musical

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Winter Musical

On Saturday was Grace’s school winter musical. It was the cutest thing in the whole world. It's amazing what the teachers at Grace’s school can get three and four years to do. Grace did a dance with six other girls and they were dressed as rabbits. Grace did a really good job. I am so proud of her. After the performance we asked her if she had been afraid or scared to dance in front of everyone and she said, “No, it was so fun”. I think we might have a performer on our hands.
After that we had a big luncheon with all the parents and kids at an Italian restaurant, and Grace thought that it was the neatest thing to eat out with all her friends. We had a nice time getting to know more of the parents and other kids in Grace’s class. We even found out the one of the little boys really likes Grace. Our little girl is growing up too fast.

Silly photo with Grace, Akari, and Sophia at the restaurant.
Grace and Takuto. He is that one that likes Grace and she is also like a foot taller.

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?