{Gavin's last soccer game of the season}

Here is the team, BUT there are two people missing from this picture that we actually know from church.

 They were UNDEFEATED for the season, and they were so proud of it!

  As his coach handed each of the kids their trophy he had something to say about each of the kids. He said about Gavin, "Gavin never stops. He runs until he gets that ball. He is like the energizer battery, he just keeps going and never stops."

 His last game was the first time he played goaly. He didn't like being goaly though.

{A few recents...}

1. We finished reading The Book of Mormon as a family for the second time. I am so proud of us! :)  It took awhile to get through that second time, but we did it. We start all over again tonight, and i hope to incorporate some new things to make it more exciting for the kids. :)

2. Parent teacher conferences were last week. I walked away from the conferences feeling so proud of my boys. They are well above average in all subjects at school, especially reading. And they are both very well loved by classmates and by their teacher. I felt like such a proud mommy that day, and still do. :)

3. Jaydon knows his colors!!! It took awhile for him to get it down! BUT, finally, he got it! :)

4. Thanksgiving day is in ONE week and two days!!!

5. In less than TWO weeks we find out the gender of our baby. Hopefully the baby lets the technician check. I keep thinking the baby is going to hide , like it does when they try to hear the heartbeat.

6. And in less than THREE weeks we leave for christmas in the states! yahoo!

7. I cannot believe it, but Gavin will be 9 years old next month! He is very close to achieving his wolf badge in cub scouts.  He hasn't ever been too excited about attending cub scouts, but we are working at home to get it done so he can get his badge. Maybe once he earns his wolf badge it will motivate him to want to get into scouts a bit more. We will see. One of the things he had to do to earn it was to fix dinner, set the table, and do the dishes. He cooked us dinner last night, and did it all. He was so proud of himself! It was so cute. He learned how to chop vegetables and while he is chopping he says to me, "This is actually kind of fun!" So, i think i have a new helper in the kitchen. PLUS, i think it helps that they have seen the show "Kid chef"....im not sure if that's the right name. But it's a bunch of kids who battle against each other to be the best chef. It's totally awesome, and the boys really got into watching it. I LOVE watching cooking shows, so it was fun that we could all watch a show we each really liked, together.

8. I have to do lots of stretches everyday to help my back. Ive been getting pretty bad back pains, and what feels like braxton hicks contractions, already! Ive been doing good at staying more active than i did with the other three pregnancies. I have a nice set of workout dvd's, with each month having a different work out. I have really enjoyed it. And i try to do yoga right after i do that workout. I have fallen in love with yoga. The stretches feel sooooooooo good to my body, and it is sooooo relaxing.

9. The weather here has been amazing lately....low 70's, high 60's, little humidity. I am in heaven.

10. Gavin has his first Taiko performance Dec. 7th! I can't wait to see him do his drumming! :)

{A Season for Thanks and giving}

I have never really tried the thing where people post everyday of the month of November what they are thankful for. But i did want to try to post a few times this month about what i am thankful for. The first one is, of course, my family. :) Unfortunately, i am not the GREATEST at expressing my feelings. When i feel filled with gratitude for someone, i can easily sit down and write them a letter to let them know how i feel about them. BUT as for expressing it face to face....lets just say that's not my strength in this life. I express myself on paper, not face to face. I mean, i can tell my loved ones "i love you" all day long, but to get much more than that can be hard for me. I know, you probably think "how sad." I have NO CLUE why it's hard for me.... I feel like its sappy, or corny to start spilling out my feelings of love. It's very awkward when i do it, and it becomes awkward for the person receiving it. haha!! I feel that i am good at showing my love through my actions and giving service. Hopefully my family can attest to that. So, while i might no be the greatest at expressing my feelings and emotions, im glad i have blogger so i can write it all down.

I am really grateful for my husband and my boys. They bring me so much joy everyday, even through all the small frustrations and little trivial things we experience throughout our days. Family isn't meant to be perfect. That's what is great about it. All those small frustrations and misunderstandings help us grow and learn together. Just as going through hard times in life helps us learn and grow, the same applies to family. Our family helps us learn and grow, and together we come closer to one another and gain greater joy. I go to bed feeling blessed and wake up feeling blessed that they are all mine. I am in shock sometimes when i look at a picture of all three of our boys together, realizing another sweet child will be joining our family soon. I can't believe all the lifes experiences shane and i have been through together so far. We have been married almost ten years, but i feel like i have known him forever. I am amazed that he is mine forever. Sometimes it seems hard to comprehend that. All i know is that i couldn't have picked anyone more perfect for me.  And i can't believe our three boys are OURS. We get to love them and care for them and teach them about life. And they put their trust in us. That's one of the most beautiful parts of it. They put their trust in us from the beginning.  It makes me want to make sure i do it right and not ruin that trust and love. And most important, we love them and they love us. FAMILY is a great blessing. There is no greater joy i have in this life than the joy i gain from family through making memories together, learning together, growing together, and loving each other. Family is no doubt central in lifes plan. I truly and sincerely feel so much gratitude and love in my heart for my family.

{Only two more games of the season...}

There are only two games left in the soccer season. I will not miss the practices, BUT i will definitely miss the games. I absolutely LOVE watching them play their soccer games.

This year, so far, Tanner's team is undefeated. They all do a really good job. They don't start taking score in any sports games until they reach the 9-10 year old stage. That means next year they will start keeping track of Gavin's games.  They don't keep track, but you can bet that all the kids on the teams keep track of the score. They always tell each other the score at the end.

 

 Trying to steal the ball. He is a pretty good defender. He and Gavin always play soccer in the halls of our house. It's funny.

 This is Tanner (below) about five seconds before he gets a goal! He has made a few goals this season. He doesn't show any reaction when he does it. He is so funny.

 Tanner is number 9. He and the kid next to him are battling for the ball....

{Turkey Trot}

 

Shane and Gavin ran in the turkey trot this morning. Gavin heard about it on the radio a few days ago and said he really wanted to run in it. So, he and Shane woke up this morning at 6:15 and headed over to the Risner Gym to register for it at 6:45. The race started at 7:00. Jaydon, Tanner and I walked to the corner of our street and waited for them to run by us. We were located about 3/4 mile into their run.  Tanner used Gavin's drum to cheer for them and Jaydon held up a sign that said "Go dad and Gavin"...

 

 Here are the two smiling boys. Two peas in a pod... (I do not like the way blogger is making my pictures look. They look fine until i put them in blogger...then they look all blurry. Anyone know why?)

 Here they are about 20 feet from the end of the run.... They had a big long hill to run up in the second half of the run. Shane said Gavin picked up his pace and was trying to pass as many people as he could. Go gavin! :)

 For not having prepared for this run at all, Gavin did a great job. He did it in 27 minutes. He and Shane want to start running together more often. Then about an hour after his run he had a soccer game. Poor kid. He was pooped out after his game.

{Halloween 2013}

This year for halloween the boys decided to be zombies.  They had the chance to dress up twice in one week. It's hard to tell from the picture, but to make their face look a little more yucky i glued toilet paper on and then went over it with concealer. We couldn't find face paint here so i had to search for the lightest looking concealer i could find. This first dress up was for the trunk or treat. They wanted blood on themselves, but decided we wouldn't put blood on them for the trunk or treat. I would do it for halloween though.

 I LOVED that Jaydon's hair is long because i could do crazy zombie hair with it. For tanner's hair i sprayed in some of that dry shampoo. I don't ever use it because it doesn't work well in my hair. Well, it turned tanner's hair a dirty grayish color. Perfect. And i tried to get gavins hair as messy and greasy as i could, but his hair can be very difficult to work with especially when it's short. Here below is a picture of jaydon BEFORE the makeup.I didn't realize i would like it so much, but i loved doing the make up for this! I find myself wanting to try again to see if i can improve on the scary look. haha...

 This picture below was a practice run....a dress rehearsal. :) I had to make sure my idea would work before we did it on the night of the trunk or treat...

My four boys all ready for the trunk or treat. I didn't dress up this year because by the time i got the boys ready i didn't really have time to do my makeup. I was fine with it though.

 Here below are the boys on halloween night, trying to look as zombie-ish as possible. We added blood this time, and i had to forego the glue and toilet paper. The night after the trunk or treat they told me they didn't want the glue and toilet paper again because it hurt to take it off. haha! BUT tanner did decide to do a little on one cheek so i could make it look like a nasty open sore.

 Our pumpkins. I have fun carving pumpkins. I carved every pumpkin except for Tanner's. The other boys wanted me to carve their design for them. Tanner did the cute one in the middle back with the tongue hanging out. So cute! My favorite pumpkin, and the design i chose, is the scariest looking one...i think. :) The big huge mouth with the big scary teeth. I love it. I love having lots of pumpkins. Next year i hope to have more. :) haha!  And we won't be in okinawa so maybe that means they won't rot within 2 days. We really can't carve our pumpkins here until the day before or the day of halloween. By the second day they start molding.

{Just some random pictures}

Some of these pictures are not the greatest. sorry. I feel like i have a lot of catching up to do, and this morning i decided to sit down and just do it! Below this post are our pictures from south korea. And these pictures, on this post, are ones from the same camera that i took months back..... I think this might be on the first day of school.... Gavin's in third grade! I can't believe it. And Tanner is in 1st grade. Jaydon is well and READY for kindergarten, unfortunately he isn't old enough. I just hope when we move back to the states that he is in a full day kindergarten. That's what he needs. Not a half day.... Gavin and Tanner were lucky to be in full day. Aren't they so cute....

 Here we are, below, riding the big huge ferris wheel in American Village.... Jaydon and Gavin look a lot alike. It's funny because i will see adults who know who Gavin is , and i have no clue who they are. This lady at the store the other day overheard something silly jaydon said....she started laughing and said, "He is a little gavin. I don't know his name, but he is definitely a little gavin." Then she walked off. I laughed, but it wasn't until she walked off that i put together what she said. Then i was thinking, "How do i know her?!" haha! OR one day i went to pick up gavin from his firebird drummers club. A whole bunch of parents are waiting, but this lady came up and said, "Are you Gavins mom?!" I told her yes, and was thinking "How did she know?"  Turns out it was because Jaydon looks just like Gavin. I had another time where this mom came up to me and said "Are you a gavin's mom?!" (and of course i don't have gavin with me) By this point i am thinking "How the heck do so many people know gavin and know that i am his mom?!"  She asked if her son could walk with gavin and tanner to school. Turns out her son is in Gavin's class. Gavin is well liked. :) haha...he just has a fun sweet magnetic personality.

 Ummm....pretty sure this picture below is from Tanner's birthday , the morning of his birthday. I ran to dunkin donuts at 6 a.m. to get them all donuts for his birthday. It was a fun surprise for them. Man, i hate donuts, but they are SO good, but they make me sick, and i wish they didn't. I wish they didn't sit so heavy in my stomach and make me feel like crud for the next 8 hrs. :(

Now i need to go get my camera and post the pics that are on that one..... Keep scrolling down to read about our korea trip....

{Seoul, South Korea}

I can't post all the pictures on this post, BUT i did post a lot on this post alone! Picture heavy!  We arrived to South Korea sometime aroun the afternoon. This is part of the airport. By the way, i am about 9 weeks pregnant in all these pictures....

 We boarded the free shuttle provided by the military, and headed to Dragon Hill Lodge, our hotel. It took about 45 minutes to get there.

 Here's a picture shane captured on our way. We noticed a lot of their buildings look exactly the same. In New York, or any city in the states, the big city has a variety of different looking buildings. That wasn't the case here. They were so close together, the same building, and they each were numbered.

 This picture below is from our river boat cruise. Turns out this river separates north seoul from south seoul. You know that song, Gangnam style? Well, in that song he is referring to the south part of seoul, which happens to be the rich and high lifestyle area. He is talking in that song about how south seoul people live and how they party and such. meh.

 Here we are right before our boat left the dock.... I am about 9 weeks pregnant here. We usually were able to get in a taxi where the driver knew some english, but they didn't know english like the okinawans know english. We couldn't even say one word and have them know what it was. We hopped in a taxi, and quikcly hopped out because we realized we were going to get nowhere with him. One night we had a taxi driver, and were stuck in bad traffic with her for like 30 minutes. The first 25 minutes she was falling asleep because the traffic was so slow. And when she wasn't falling asleep she was chomping on her gum louder than i have ever heard anyone chomp on their gum. Finally, Keldon who was sitting in the front seat, turned her music on. She went and turned it off, and i figured she didn't like that he tried messing with her music. But she turned on a CD of greatest hits. As soon as it came on she started belting out the music, singing. It was like a switch turned on with her. It was hilarious. Then a song came on that we all knew, and we all started singing with her. She thought it was hilarious. We did too. :)

 They provided umbrellas on the boat so we could block the sun out. Here in Asia, people use umbrellas more for shade than they do for the rain. In the states you never see people walking around with an umbrella on a sunny day. Here, its very common.I don't know if you can tell, but the umbrella was shaped like a heart.

 Our friends, the Carrolls, came with us....

 Eating at a south korean bbq restaurant. This wasn't really bbq. Here, at this place, you cook it in boiling broth, rather than over a small grill. We couldn't quite figure it out, and the waiters weren't  helpful. We had some girls next to us laugh at us and they helped us on their way out...

 We went to see a show called Fantastick. It was a korean performance that took place in a garage repair shop, but the story goes back to some korean story where this girl and boy fell in love. He became a drummer and she a flute player, but the drum caused a rift in their relationship and he loved the drum playing more than he seemed to love her. So, she broke his drum stick. And then she was doomed to take on a different form until she could find her flute, which she ended up finding in a garage repair shop. It was something like that. It was so weird. And i found myself laughing through half of it...not beause it was funny, but because i was laughing at how dumb it was. :)

 We took a half day tour to see the DMZ and the north korean border. On our drive to the DMZ we drove along side the border for a while.  There was a fence  and on the other side of the fence is a big river, then there was another fence and on the other side of that fence is north korea. So, what you see off in the distance is north korea.  This military hut that you see had korean soldiers in it. It seems there was one of these huts placed every 1/2 mile apart. Everytime i looked for the soldiers they were all watching for anyone trying to defect into south korea OR for anyone trying to escape to North Korea. They were watching with binoculars. People who try to escape to north korea are those who are trying to escape jail time because of something they did.  They just shot and killed someone the day before who tried escaping to the north korean side.

 This was our first stop before we reached the DMZ. It was a spot where a few important historical events ocurred...

 The peace bell...

The freedom bridge....

A fake village on the north korean side....

Here i am , in the picture above, looking across the border of north korea. We were able to see a couple small villages, and i was able to see some north koreans riding their bikes or working in their fields. We also saw the fake villages that north korea set up. It was so interesting!!!

 Here we are at the railroad station. This is where they used to have trains you could take into north korea. They shut it down, not too long ago.

 Eating donuts! yum yum. I hadn't eaten a donut in so long. We grabbed a few and ate them while we walked across the street to the WWII memorial. That memorial was HUGE!!! There was soooooooo much to see and you could spend an entire day in there. I wish we had more time to spend in that place.

 The outside was filled with many ships , tanks, jets, bombers, etc. That were used in the war by various countries.

 The war museum...

 Loved the lashes on this car....

 Brion lives in Busan, the south part of Korea. It's right by the ocean. He has lived there for a few years teaching english. He came up to visit us while we were in Seoul. He stayed with us in our room. We went and ate some korean bbq, and some brazilian food with him. And we went to an old tradtional village, which is where we were in this picture below....

 We took this picture for holly... :)

 This is one of the shopping districts. They have lots and lots of shopping districts here in south korea...some of the best in the world, apparently. I couldn't find anything i wanted though.

 We were in Korea during one of their big holidays. It's their thanksgiving, and its called Chuseok.

Here at this temple(above) they were giving away free songpyeon. It's a quintessential dish they eat on thanksgiving day. It is a rice ball filled with sesame seeds, beans, and other nutritious ingredients. It didn't taste bad. It tasted alright. We had a bowl of them, but could only handle eating two.  All the other people around us are eating all of their songpyeon. I felt bad throwing the rest away.

We also went and visited the royal palace...korea's most famous royal palace,Gyeongbok Palace. Just around the corner from this we saw the Blue House(the Presidents residence).

 While we were there we watched a ceremony happen. I don't remember what it's called, but they came bringing in flags, banging drums, and doing moves while singing. It was very different from Japan. The music wasn't pleasant sounding at all. The way they were dressed was very different. Maybe you can see the two feathers sticking off their hats. It was very unusual, but so interesting to watch.

 One day we went to the trick eye museum. It's where they have paintings on the wall and floor and when you stand in the right position on the painting, take a picture with your camera, it looks REAL. It was tons of fun...

 I know this is totally gross and random, but that was our reaction too. When you first walk into the museum the first thing you see is this statue.....   WEIRD.

 Inside the Trick Eye Museum there was an ice room. It had a slide, and rooms made out of ice. It was really cool.....pun intended. At first i thought it felt great because it took my mind off not feeling good, but after a couple minutes i was freezing to death and it reminded me that i don't like freezing cold weather. :)

 This one cracks me up...hahahaha!

 I am about to fall off the bridge into the water, if you can't tell. :)

 Looks real, eh?

Pretty disgusting huh?! haha....Brion wasn't thrilled about participating in this one...shocking.

 HELP!!!....

 shanes getting swallowed up!!!!

 my brother was thrilled to be pushing all my bags for me...hahaha

 We hopped on over to Italy for a nice relaxing ride...

 For ONCE, i am bigger than shane and can pick on him!!! :)

 come on shane, you can do it!!!...

 Went and did some shopping in the myeong dyeong district and the dongdaemon district. We took a break and got some ice cream... :)

 

In this picture below we were about to go walk down a long tunnel way underground and walk through small tunnels that the north koreans dug to get over to the south side. When we reached the bottom , the tunnels we walked through were small and kind of claustrophobic.  The deeper in we got  the more i felt light headed, like i needed to get out. You had to bend over the whole time so you wouldn't hit your head on the ceiling. It was crazy....

Also, while we were here, there were some very obnoxious asian people in a big group. They were soooooo loud, and when they talk to each other they are like yelling. Our whole tour group was staring and watching them....thats when our tour guide must have felt the need to fill us in on the fact that they weren't koreans. haha! He said, "Aaand that's a group of chinese people over there." haha... Since being here, one thing we have learned from asians, from friends who have been to china, and from our own experience is that the chinese are fairly rude, have no sense of personal space, are loud and very pushy. It's a different world over there. :) Japanese and koreans are quite the opposite. Okinawans are even more so. I love Okinawans. Our trip to south korea was fun. We are glad we did it. It certainly wasn't a Thailand trip(the best trip ever), but it was fun to see a different culture. It's so interesting to me.