{The past month}

We have been in America for the past month. We visited my family for 2 weeks and then shane's family for 2 weeks. We had tons of fun and we were so sad to have to say goodbye to them. We were certainly very excited to see shane again, which made saying goodbye a little bit easier than it would have otherwise been. It had been a year and a half since we had been back to America.

All i can say is that my brain was overstimulated by all the options available in America. I was on overdrive. I got so excited everytime i saw a familiar store(and that was often). I got extremely excited when going into the grocery stores and into organic stores. That was the most exciting thing for me. They have such a great selection of produce, organic foods, and they have everything i can't seem to find here because they don't carry it. I kept feeling sooooo irritated that i don't have a good selection here in okinawa. I have forgotten how lucky and blessed people in America are!!! :) YOU ARE SO LUCKY!! You have everything right at your hands that you can ever need! :) I am jealous. One day we will be back. I don't know if that's a good thing though. I might get so excited about having so many things at my hands that i might go overboard with buying. I will just have to prep my mind before we move back. :) I am certainly excited to move back to America.

We had tons of fun. The flying was extremely long. It took 24 hours to get to Minnesota. It took us about 36 hours of travel on our way home to okinawa. That was sooooooo long. The boys did really well considering the situation. Really well. Shane wasn't able to come with us, and he won't be flying with us in december either. arrrrggggg.... :) He has to come out a few days after we arrive and leave a few days before we do in December. We are certainly excited to see family again in December, BUT 8 months seems way to soon to fly again. Alone. Just me. And the boys................................
 Anyway, We had one puking incidence and one pee incidence. Other than that, it went great. :)

The boys got along with their cousins sooooooo well. It made me sad we can't be closer to them because of how much fun they all had together.

While there we went shopping, went swimming, rode on 4 wheelers, had a bonfire, and the boys played in the snow in Minnesota. We went to bouncy houses and a trampoline place where the kids could jump and jump to their heart's content. We went and watched movies at the theater. It was fun. At the Denver airport jaydon looked out the window, pointed to the snow and said "Whats that mom?!" At first i was thinking "You know what that is." And i quickly realized that was his first time seeing snow falling from the sky! So crazy!!!

Here are some things that Jaydon has been saying lately that i don't want to forget...

"I just don't understand it"

"This is so complicated mom"

Jaydon's response when i asked him what we should do with Tanner after Tanner was mean to him...."Maybe we can get rid of him"

"Don't you think about it?! huh?!" He says this if someone doesn't know what to do in a certain situation.

"I am a big boy now"

"Let me do it mom" He says this ALL the time.

"Scratch my arm mom" He says this every sunday during sacrament.

"But i will be sad" He says this if he foresees a situation that will make him sad.

"See, i told you" He says this to his brothers often.

After he got dressed for church he came to me and said "Do i look beautiful mom?" I said "yes, you look beautiful" and i just giggled inside. :) Then he looks and tanner and says "SEE, i DO look beautiful." hahaha!

And he is just good at directing people to do exactly what he wants. He will tell you what you should be doing and where you should be, etc.