Time just flys. I can't believe it's been almost a year since we've come to this tropical island. It's been a fun year, and I'm sad to think that there're only two more years left....
Anyway, we went to Tokyo last week. We had so much fun there. My parents really got to know Aisa. When we visited them in December, she was barely walking and was more like a baby. But now, she is an independent little girl with strong will. She is always running everywhere and getting into everything. They were so surprised to see how active and energetic she was. This is Yuki and Aisa playing Sumo with Jiji. It was so nice to have "live-in nannies" so that I can take a break.

We went to Tsukiji fish market for some breakfast-one of my favorite things to do in Tokyo. There is no better way to start a day than to have some fresh sushi for breakfast. So divine :)

We wento Disneyland. It was better than the last time. Yuki actually enjoyed the rides this time. He tried his first roller coaster. At age 2, he has gone on big water slides at Seven Peaks, so I thought kiddie roller coaster wouldn't scare him. But I think it frightend him a lot. He screamed at first, but later on I think he was too scared to scream. He much prefered bumper cars and train rides. Maybe in a few years, he'll like those scary rides more...

Jordan and I also got to go to the temple. We actually couldn't do the endowment (the time posted on the website was wrong!), but we got to do other thing. Since we don't have a temple on our island, it was such a blessing/luxury to be able to attend the temple.

Well, this is not from our Tokyo trip, but I had to post this picture. This is the BIGGEST fish Jordan has ever caught. It was almost as big as Aisa. Amazing! It was great tasting, too. Well done, Jordan!

Seven year itch?

We've been married for seven years, and I've never had to worry about Jordan's infidelity. Lately though, I kind of wonder about him... I see him flirting with this one girl quite often. She is fun, super cute, and very young. I see why he would be attracted to her. Sometimes I can't get my eyes off of her, either. I've been keeping my mouth shut about this, but today they crossed the line!

Jordan and I were sitting next to each other, talking and giggling. Then, she came into our room and walked straight to Jordan. He held her and started to sweet talk with her saying, "You cought me cheating on you. Sorry, Sweetie. How can I make it up to you?" Excuse me? I'M YOUR WIFE!!! You are cheating on ME with HER! I couldn't listen to them any more, so I left the room. Then she closed the door behind me. I peeked in to see what was going on and that's when I saw the girl putting her little arms around Jordan's neck and giving him a big kiss on the cheek!!! They are so in love with one another, and there's nothing I can do to stop them...

If anyone has suggestions/advice on how to win my husband heart back, I'll appreciate it ;)

Lately

There are tons of things I want to write like Christmas, all the fun places we've visited, kids' milestones to mention a few. But, I'll just write something that happened today and maybe a few more recent happenings.

Today at 8:00am, I received a phone call from Jordan. "I have a bad news," he said. I was thinking he probably couldn't take leave while his siblings would be visiting in May. I was completely wrong. The bad news was that either he or his co-worker would be deployed from June for 6 months! My heart sank, but at the same time I felt very optimistic. I didn't think Jordan would have to go. I waited till lunch time to call Jordan to see if they had decided who was going, but they didn't know yet. I wondered all day who would be deployed. Long story short, in the end, they flipped a coin to decide who would be deployed. I don't think that's a normal military procedure, but that's what they did. And the coin had determined that Jordan would be the one. I couldn't believe it. It didn't seem real to me. It didn't sink in till I heard myself saying to my dad that Jordan was leaving and that I may come to stay with them for a few months. I got teary, sad, and worried about the future and uncertainties...


Then about a half hour later at 5:00pm, Jordan received a phone call. It was his co-worker, and he told Jordan that he may not have to go after all because they wanted a higher ranking personnel. But the possibility still remained, so we weren't going to get out hopes up. We decided to enjoy nice family time together so we went out. When we came back around 8:00pm, there was a message on our phone from Jordan's boss. He called her, and she confirmed that someone else was going so he didn't have to go! We couldn't have been happier to hear the news!!! My day started out as a normal day, but within the 12 hours it went from normal to bad to worst and all the way up to a pretty good day. I feel very grateful for the time and opportunities I'm given to enjoy Jordan's presence in our home.


Recently, we had some visitors, Seidi, Danny, and Baby Charlie. We had so much fun with them. We enjoyed the beaches, hiking, and eating lots of good foods. I enjoyed getting to know them better and having private cooking/baking lessons from Seidi. But, I must say that the best part about their visit was to see Yuki and Aisa getting to know them and enjoying their companies. First few days, they were shy and wouldn't get near them. By the end of their stay, Aisa would jump on Danny to play, and Yuki would beg me to take him outside to play soccer with Seidi and Danny.

Aisa become a good friend with Charlie as well (but as for Charlie, I think he was scared of her more than enjoying her friendship). She was fascinated with him and chased him eveywhere he went. She was especially fascinated with his binky. She would pull it out of his mouth and push it back in over and over again. Charlie was such a good sport! We miss them a lot and hope they'll come to visit us again!



Another special recent event was Jordan's birthday. He turned 32!!! Seidi taught me how to make this supper delicious chocolate cake. It was labor intensive, but it was fun to bake with seidi and the cake is so worth it! It's out of this world good! I've made different cakes/pies/desserts for Jordan's birthdays in the past, but I may have to make this cake every year from now!
This is my latest favorite picture of the kids. They are eating onigiri (rice ball) together after a short hike. I love Aisa's big smile-enjoying Yuki's company and the food. Also, check out Yuki's fashion statement, wearing his hat sideways. He is getting very opiniated with his clothes/fashion nowadays.
Speaking of fashion, one of the first clothes I bought in Japan is the black shirt I'm wearing in Jordan's birthday picture. I thought it was cute, but nobody else did. Jordan didn't like it. My sisters and mom didn't like it, either. My mom even told me that the shirt looked like something an old lady would wear. But, I didn't care. I liked it anyway. But the other day, I was at a park wearing the shirt, and an woman in her 60s told me that she's wearing the same shirt. She unzipped her hoodie, and there it was the same shirt! I was like, "cool!" but all I could think was "please zip up your jacket so that no one else sees that we are wearing the same shirt." My mother was right after all....maybe that shirt was meant for an older person...

It's about time

But, I don't know where to start....so many things have happened in the last couple of months... We moved from O! town, spent fun 2 weeks with Jordan's family in G, went on a trip to Jackson Hole with Jordan, and moved to the amazing O island, just to mention a few. I want to write all about the fun experiences we've had here so far, but I'm thinkng I should write a post about O! town to wrap things up.

So, here's top 10 reasons why I loved living in O! town so much:

10. Having no traffic jam---I always thought it was funny that they would even have a traffic reports in the morning. Bad traffic in O! town is like going 40 mph on highways.

9. Furniture Mart---It's the most amazing furniture store ever! The Zoo and the furniture mart should be the top 2 tourist destinations in O! town.

8. Med Center---If I have a baby, I would love to go back there to have it! The rooms are big, and nurses are very nice. But the best thing about the hospital is the 24-hour room service. I kind of looked forward to 3am feeding so that I could order a parfait or muffin to snack on while I fed Yuki or Aisa.

7. Vising Winter Quarters and other church history sites---It was nice to be able to visit Independence, Nauvoo, and WQ to learn more about pioneers. Their faith and testimonies are so inspiring.

6. Living so close to everything---and I mean everything. Temple, botanical garden, zoo, children's museum, concert venues, theaters, etc. The farthest place you have to drive is 20 minutes max. I loved how we could go to a concert at a big arena and to be able to come home in 5 min. I also loved having temple only 20 min. away. Such a big blessing.

5. Steak!!!---I've never eaten so much good steak in my life. During the last three years, I have come to realize that I LOVE LOVE LOVE steak and it's IMPOSSIBLE for me to ever be a vegetarian.

4. People---I was impressed with what a good hearted people they are in Midwest region. A lot of people are christians with great values. It was so refreshing to see non-LDS people attending churches on Sundays and participating in different church activities during the weekdays.

3. Having forrest as our back yard---We had quite many "visitors" in our backyard, and Yuki loved it! Every morning it was fun for us to open the blinds to see if there were any animals like deer, turkeys, squirrels and sometimes even peacocks and owls. I also loved seeing how it gets greener every day in the spring time and seeing leaves changing colors in the fall time.

Sometimes, we would see 10+ turkeys roaming around just outside out our window. Crazy!

2. Zoo---Greatest zoo ever! We loved going there and seeing seeing penguins, monkeys in the jungle, and bears swimming in the pool. It was so nice that we only lived 5 min. away from it, too.

1. Wondeful friends and neighbors---Oh, how I miss them... Yuki's playmates. Girls Night Out. Sharing moments of glee and despair. "Jeep rides". Crafting. Hanging out. Music time... I sure miss having instant playdates everyday out in the front yard. There were so many children in the neighborhood, and they were all good kids. Usually no hitting or fighting. And those kids' moms are just superb women-righteous, talented, and kind. Being surrounded by those friends was one of the big blessings we recieved in O! town. I could never thank them enough for being what amazing examples, help and friends they were to us.

Graduation and Lucky 7

Yay! Jordan graduated from his Family Medicine Residency!!! He has worked SO SO SOOOO hard for the last 3 years. The intern year was especially hard. He often had 30 hour shift and worked 80+ hours a week. He would come home sleep deprived and exhausted, but he still made sure that he bathed Yuki every night and spent as much time with him. He would help me with dinner and cleaning up as well. He didn't really have any time for himself. He is so unselfish and devoted to his family. He truly is an amazing person, father and husband, and I couldn't think of more perfect man than Jordan.The same day we celebrated his graduation from the residency, we celebrated our 7th anniversary. Jordan has always been in school/training for the last 7 years, but we sure had a lot of fun. During the 4 years in Arizona, we were able to strengthen our friendship with each other. The last 3 years in O! town, we were blessed to have our little angels and enjoyed parenting together. I'm very grateful that Jordan always tries his best to make me happy, and I feel so lucky to be married to such a thoughtful person!

Happy campers

When we first moved here, we lived in an apartment for 2 months. There, we had less than bear minimum to live-2 chairs, a card table, and a cot. I was 7 month pregnant and was sleeping on a little cot. So crazy! Fist couple of days, we didn't even have chairs and table, so we sat on the carpet using styrofoam box as our dinner table. I sometimes can't believe how insane we were...

Now, we are back to "camping out" in our place again. The mover came to pack our stuff last Tuesday. It hasn't been too bad. Jordan has been grilling Omaha Steak, cheese-stuffed hamburger, and other yummy meals for dinner. Yuki, even though we don't have much toys and books, has been adapting to this living situation pretty well. It'll be so nice to have a home and sleep in my own bed again!