King Kong?!

Quick catch-up for this week:


Today, we volunteered in Koriyama teaching English to high school students who were strongly affected by last year's earthquake/tsunami/radiation. These students will be doing a three-week trip to San Francisco in the summer, so we spent a few hours today preparing them with the English they will need for their trip. The students were very energetic and excited to learn, so it made for a really fun day. We didn't get any pictures, which was so silly, but my favorite moment of the day was while my class was playing Pictionary with city vocabulary (post office, hospital, school, etc.). I gave the two "artists" the word "bank." One "artist" didn't know what the word meant, so I translated it for her - "ginkou." Her face lit up like she understood, so I said, "ready - go!" Apparently, my Japanese needs a little bit more help because she started drawing a strange animal on the board. When we asked her what she was doing, she said, "I thought you said King Kong!" Ha!


Ok, a few events where we actually did take pictures:

James had a guys'-night-out with the elders quorum in the branch. They went out for ramen and had a fun time.

On Saturday, we ran to one of James's elementary schools, where they were having a sports event. This event is mandatory for all the students and looked like a fun activity. 

We are training for a half marathon in the fall and have found some really beautiful places to run. One of my favorite places is through the newly-planted rice fields like this one.

Until next week! Love to all of our family and friends!

A Happy Mother's Day in Japan

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! It was nice this last week to get back into a routine with things. We had missed three Sundays of church here in Aizu Wakamatsu, so today everyone kept saying, "we thought you died..." We did tell them that we were going to be gone. Anyways, Emily and I noticed that people here in Japan seem to celebrate Mother's Day differently. For example, usually the speakers at church are male and they speak on a theme around mothers, but today, most of the speakers were women and they spoke about the blessings of the Priesthood; have to admit it was a little funny. Women get no breaks here in Japan.


Like I mentioned, it is nice to get back into a routine here at our apartment; also our routine of posting every week. Last weekend we went to Yamagata Prefecture and stayed with a missionary couple that I served with, the Niwa's. It was fun to spend the night with them and then go to the branch we served together in the next morning for church services in Tsuruoka (the couple served in the neighboring branch, about two hours from their house at the same time I served there about six years ago). It was a lot of fun to reminisce in the experience and was surprised at both how many people I remembered, and how many people remembered me. The most common thing said to me was in reference to Emily, "bijin da ne. Yokatta desu ne," which interprets, "she's so beautiful, good for you." So much fun! 

I don't remember the sister on the left, but next to her moving left is Sister Niwa, Emily, me, Sister Chiaki, and Brother Niwa,

We have some pictures of some of the other highlights of the week as well.

We got to tour a famous pottery place in Aizu Misato yesterday. We visited a girl's family that Emily had taught at one of her high schools. Consequently, after she graduated, she went to college at the place that I teach. It's pretty funny. This is a room where the do the sculpting of cups and dishes and what not.

This was in a locked room,  a kiln that was made 400 years ago. 

The kiln was amazing to see, but it was locked up because it got pretty messed up in the 3.11 earthquake last year. There are plans to restore it, but nothing has happened yet.

The kiln was pretty impressive. They explained that this place makes really famous pottery. When I asked why the pottery made there was so famous and ridiculously expensive, they told me that the materials were taken from a nearby mountain and when combined with the 8th generation pottery maker family that owns the place and the large kiln, it makes for some rather unique colored pottery. 

After our tour, we went over to our student's house, played card games, relaxed, and had yakiniku for dinner. The easiest way to explain yakiniku is to say Korean bbq. Pretty much it's different kinds of meat and veggies cooked on a hotplate in which you dip in yummy special sauce. It was awesome!

We really had a fun time with the family. From left to right; mom, Wako (front, youngest sister), Yuka (back, currently one of Emily's students), Kana (Emily's previous student and my current student), Emily, and me.

Other than that, Emily has been hard at work on applying for graduate positions at University of Oregon. We hope everyone is doing well! Much love and again, Happy Mother's Day!

It just doesn't get better than this...

This week was packed with fun stuff. Usually we would post a bunch of pictures from all the different activities that have taken place this week, but we had too much fun and forgot to take pictures. Well, we didn't forget entirely, so I do have a few photos to share.


This was my last week of teaching for the school year. I was asked at one of my schools to prepare speeches for each of the three classes I was teaching that day. I thought to myself, what part of my sagacity could I possibly share with people who were maybe only 10 years younger than me. I thought back to a quote that I have always kept close to me, a sort of motto. "It's choice - not chance - that determines your future." Instead of "future," the real quote by Jean Nidetch, uses "destiny." However, I like using future better. I don't want to bore anyone with the details, so I'll sum it up as this... I used this quote as a basis for my speech to simply explain that the things we choose to do in this life shape our own future. 

Right before I left, the teachers had a special meeting where they gave me this bouquet of flowers to take home on the bus. Unfortunately, I will not be going back to this school to teach. I had such a blast at the Aizu Bange 2nd Junior High School!

On Tuesday, we had another holiday (I really love Japan for the amount of holidays we have), and took a branch trip down to the Tokyo Temple. It was our first time to do baptisms for the dead there and had a very nice time. We went home with the Takahashi family in our branch and stopped at Costco on the way. Although we had the usual fun of looking around at everything, but the most enjoyable part was sitting down and eating Costco pizza and ice cream. Yummy!!! 

This is a picture of some of the boys I taught after their graduation celebration. Once again, I found myself with a few tears despite trying to quell my emotions. So sad to see them go, but they can't stay in 6th grade forever!

Now that the school year is over and kids have started their spring breaks, Emily and I get to start our spring breaks too. Well, actually, Emily still has to go to work every day. I have to keep myself busy by finding fun things to do for the next 3 weeks. :D It's actually time for me start studying for reals for the GRE. Exciting? I suppose. After spring break ends, then we'll be taking our vacation down south to Fukuoka, so I'll be doing some planning for that as well.

Emily went to a Relief Society activity at church where they made these cute little key chains. Emily said although it was fun, it was a LOT of work and her fingers are still sore.

This is the Relief Society after church holding a party to celebrate the Relief Society's 70th birthday.

All in all, the week was a lot of fun, mostly because of the trip down to the temple and Costco. Now it's time for me to kick back, relax, and enjoy the next few weeks off... And of course by that I mean, time to start studying! We love you lots and wish you the best of weeks!

Japanese HS student + English class = Hilarity.

A few Japanese funnies worthy of a midweek post.


James and I have recently finished up the academic school year here in Japan. James received TONS of thank-you notes and cards from his classes and I did a final evaluation with some of my students. Some of the notes/responses we received were written in typical hilarious Japanglish, so I have documented a few below (unchanged from their original state) for your reading pleasure.


From my final class...

What does Emily sensei want to study in graduate school? (FYI, the correct answer is either mediation or conflict resolution.)

*Merition (close, but not quite)
*Teauch is English. Emily want to study in conflict and mediation.
*Meditional confict and resolution.
*Mediation conflict
*I want to mediation. (Meaning you want to study that also?! Or you need to go to mediation?)
*Conflict resellution and career
*She study conflict in graduate school. (Ha! Just conflict...how to make it, not resolve it!)
*He want to study conflict resolution. (Right field, but try again on the gender.)
*resolution
*She studied Japanese every day. but she thinks kanji is difficult. (That is very true, however...)
*TESOL = Teaching English to Speakiers off Other Languages (Confict Rezorution) (Hooked on phonics worked for me!)
*Japanise (Amazing answer, but no.)

What activities or lessons with Emily sensei did you enjoy most this year?

*I enjoyed the different games with Mr. Emily and classmate. (Again, we have some gender confusion...I'm starting to get worried. I'm definitely growing my hair out this year.)
*I went to go Hawai with her. (No, we did not take any field trips this year.)
*I enjoyed "Do you love neiver game!! (FYI, neiver = neighbor)
*I did enjoy all resson.
*All lessons enjoy!
*Your neighbor (This sounds like a bad "Yo Momma" joke.)
*Last speach (Like a peach?)
*I could enjoy learning English everytime with everyone and Emily sensei
*I enjoy most a school hours
*It's a this class.
*Valentain's speach.
*I always fun your activities and lessons.
*circle play game (heart) very interesting :D
*Rob chair.
*I enjoyed activities that my classmeat hide sharp. (No, none of our class activities involved sharp objects...just shapes.)
*Show me Emily sensei family picture.
*Finding mess takes
*Making ice cream. (I can only assume she is referring to our English club activity that went horribly wrong. We tried to make homemade ice cream in Ziplock bags, but it was an epic fail.After about an hour of freezing their hands off, all the English club girls had for a reward was cold sweet milk. Thank heaven for 7-11 and my hubby who provided us with some real ice cream.)

In your opinion, how can Emily sensei become a better teacher in the future?

*get more experience (ummm...I'm working on it.)
*keep now.
*smile and vigor!
*Rome was not built in a day. (Wow, maybe I'm doing better than I thought at this whole English-teaching business.)
*The important thing I think is never spares any effort.
*Don't shy!!
*You are enough good.
*Yes, I think so much. 
*Yes. Emily sensei can become a better teacher. (Then again, maybe not. Your vote of confidence is so assuring, but did you understand the question?)
*I think you talk with many people.
*You will become a beautiful teacher. (Why, thank you.)
*I think Mrs. Emily should go to Aspen Snowmass, CO. to ski best place!
*No cange in now
*Sure!! Because you're powerful and cute!! (kanji - laughing) Thank you!! (Powerful and cute at the same time, huh?)
*I think that now is better, so I don't went you to change.
*I think she masters various thing.
*Your smile is very cute. (Irrelevant, but nice.)
*Please keep the never give up mind
*Sorry. I can't Answer. (I plead the fifth!)
*Your teach is very interesting!!
*Yes!!
*You have to know        scolding. (That big space was in the original answer...maybe a dramatic pause?)
*You can.
*Keep as you are. I LOVE YOU 
*Emily sensei can become cute teacher!
*Maybe, you have to eat "plain yogurt". (I told my students that the only Japanese food I really hate is plain yogurt. I think this student is implying that it may not be possible for me to become a better teacher.)
*I like Emily sensei's smile. Your smile make us happy. You always keep smile.
*I think Emily sensei more many Japanese people to speak.
*I don't know. It's yourself. (Is this like, "It's your life. Do with it what you want." or "Figure it out for yourself."?)
*I think that you keep what you is.


That, in short, is why I love my job.

I Hate It When This Happens...

It's too hard to decide where to start for this week's adventures, but I guess the beginning would make sense. I had my last class with my other elementary school this week and it was sad. The school system in Japan is slightly different than the school system in America. First of all, the school year starts in April and finishes in March; that's why I'm finishing a lot of my schools right now. There is a pre-school/kindergarten type school that kids can go to followed by six years of elementary school (grades 1-6). After elementary school, there are three years in junior high school (they call them junior high 1, 2, and 3) and three years in high school (they call them high school 1, 2, and 3). In Japanese it's pretty easy to follow, but I still like the whole K-12 names a lot better. Anyways, the last grade of each school has a special graduation; Emily spoke about how they do things in high school in last week's post. I'll speak about some of the other graduations as I experience them. Just before the school year ends, the last grade hosts a meeting called a "shionkai," which is a special meeting where the last grade students (elementary sixth year, junior high third year, and high school third year students) give thanks to all of the teachers at the school. I had the opportunity to go to one of these shionkais at one of my elementary schools because I taught the sixth year students. Here are some highlights...

Each class prepared a game or activity. This video has the losers (5 teachers) and some students (to make the teachers feel better) dancing and lip-syncing to a famous girl band's song. It was pretty funny to watch, and I'm glad I didn't lose.

The first thing we did was eat. It may not look very appetizing because it's all still wrapped up in saran wrap, but it was awesome! We had fried chicken, oinari sushi, melon flavored bread (melon pan), fried potatoes, fried shrimp, yummy salad, fruit salad, and some other stuff. My table was the only table that ate all of their food including all of the parsley. We had a kid at our table that loved parsley... and it wasn't me. :P

These are some of my kids. They are so cute! Anyways, part of the game this class did was hold up a picture of the back of someone's head and we had to guess who's head it was out of two kids. One of the teachers who was almost bald stood up to answer and said, "that was me when I was in elementary school!"

Every Friday the missionaries hold a Family Home Evening at the Church for anyone that wants to come (members, investigators, etc.). We would go every week, but sometimes it conflicts with date night. :) Anyways, this past Friday they held a special Musical Family Home Evening which ended up being a musical talent show. Emily and I were asked to perform something. We played a really short song that was pretty goofy. Although our gig wasn't that great, Emily accompanied two of the other performances. It was a really fun night!

This is Emily accompanying Papa Haga. He played "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" on the sax. 

This is Emily accompanying a quartet singing "Nearer My God to Thee."

This was the last act in the Musical Talent Show. Steve played conductor and split up the crowd into three parts; the drums (clickity-clack-clack), the sopranos (m'm-toot-toot), and the basses (m'm-beef-stew). If you watch the video, you'll understand. ;)

We had some spare time on Saturday, so we decided to go window shopping. One of the shops we went to was a pet shop. We were walking around and I heard a voice say "ohaio" (means good morning). I looked around and the only person around was Emily and I know she didn't say anything. I told Emily, "I think this bird just said ohaio to me." She came over and we tried talking to it. It eventually responded "arigato." Emily was cracking up. (Emily's note: I swear that bird spoke better Japanese than I do...ridiculous.) We should have taken a video of it, but for some reason it escaped our minds. How cool would it be to own a bird that speaks Japanese?

This has nothing to do with our window shopping adventures, but I'm going to put it here anyways. This is March's bulletin board that Emily put together. She changes it every month at school. So pretty!

Today marks a year from the time Japan had the major earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku area of Japan. Since we live in the Tohoku area, we are constantly hearing about it. Today we were invited to a special Hawaiian and Hula Concert that was put on to help ease people's minds and hearts. As the concert started, we had a minute of silence for those that had passed on from the disaster a year ago. Here are some pictures and videos from the concert (sorry for the poor quality).

No, this is not Emily with an awesome tan. Just outside the concert hall were a bunch of booths set up with Hawaiian gear. This was one of the dresses that Emily really liked. 

The concert was about 2.5 hours long and featured local hula groups as well as some people from Hawaii like Makaha Sons, Jeri-Lynn Koko, Shadow Koko, and Anthony Kawenaulaokala Mann.

Short video of almost all the pros performing together. It's hard to see, but the Makaha Sons are singing and playing while Shadow and Jeri-Lynn Koko are dancing.

On the way home, it started hailing/sleeting/raining pretty heavily. We decided to bike home anyways holding our umbrellas in one hand. Although we were still getting a little wet and getting really cold, we hung in there... until... the wind destroyed Emily's beautiful umbrella. I tried offering my umbrella, but she said she was already soaked. By the time she answered, I was already soaked too, so we just rode home in the sleet and got drenched. I would say that it was fun, but it wasn't... :P We did make it home safely and all of our clothes are hanging up in front of the heater trying to dry.

I hate it when this happens... 

We love you all very much and hope that you will have a good week! Stay tuned for our upcoming adventures at the slopes!

Singing Ourselves Silly...or Sick

On Monday for Family Home Evening this week, James and I tried karaoke for the first time together. Wow, we have been missing out.

The karaoke bar we went to was in the basement of a very dingy, somewhat smelly, building and (thanks to my mother's germ phobia), I kept telling James, "Don't touch anything! There is disease everywhere here!" Turns out I was right, but I'll expound on that later. When I learned that there was all-you-can-drink hot chocolate for only 100yen, I forgot all about germs.

We had a blast serenading each other on what ironically was our year-and-a-half anniversary. (Yes, we are still newlyweds and can celebrate things like that.)

It took us about 20 minutes to figure out how to use the machine (all in Japanese) and to find the English songs. But once we did, there was no stopping us.

Hot chocolate!

Sorry, bad quality. Does it adequately capture his excitement? James was such a good sport. And a rather good singer, too.

Well, apparently the excitement of karaoke was too much for poor James (either that or he didn't obey my orders not to touch anything) because he came down with the flu a couple days later. It was...violent. I will spare you the gruesome details, but I have never seen my poor hubby so sick. I did think it was noble of him to cut down on our grocery bill by eating only applesauce for a couple days. Fortunately, he is feeling much better now.

This week was graduation at my base school. Graduation in Japan is an extremely solemn ceremony. There is a lot of standing up, bowing, sitting down. And the gym was FREEZING! Cheese whiz, sometimes I really wish there was such a thing as central heating...or any kind of heating. Anyway, below is a picture of one of my favorite students, Kana. She graduated this week. I will miss her a lot, but James will be teaching at her college, so hopefully we will stay in touch.

And a bit of random baking. These look really foul, but I promise they aren't too bad. They are called butterscotch haystacks. Chow mein noodles, peanuts, raisins, and chocolate chips coated with melted butterscotch chips and peanut butter. James says, "They're all right." Of course, if you asked James how he feels about his wife, he would probably say, "She's all right." I never really know what he means with that phrase...that's probably his tactic.

Anyway, here's wishing you a happy week. Love to all our family and friends!

Almost Cried...

Lots of things have been happening here this week and the days seem to be getting shorter and shorter. We managed to make it down to the Tokyo Temple this week, Emily had a fun sushi making Relief Society activity, I finished the school year with half of the college students I teach, and I gave a talk at Church on Sunday. Where to begin...


On Friday's I have been team-teaching at Aizu Techno Academy. This past Friday was my last class with the students who will be graduating. In class, we took time to write messages for everyone as we passed around cards with each person's name on it. It was a lot of fun to read some of the comments. As I was leaving class, the students had prepared a separate card ahead of time with comments on it and it almost made me cry... When I looked over at Troy, the lady I teach with, she was covering her face so that no one would see her crying. Seeing her made me want to cry even more. I'm sure as the school year wraps up here in Japan, I'll be shedding some tears. Luckily, I just found out that I will be teaching at the same schools next year until Emily and I decide to go back to the States.

This was the card they surprised me with it. Sorry that it isn't the best quality.

This is my card that we passed around class. Sorry that it is upside down, couldn't figure out how to make it the other way. To highlight a few since it might be hard to read, we have, "Glasses very much!! Thank you!", "Thank you! hope and confidence", and my favorite "You are very wonderful men!! nice men :)". We didn't concentrate on writing at all... :P

Whenever I saw boots lined up at the schools I teach at, I always wanted to take a picture... I finally did. Even at schools people take off their outdoor shoes and put on their clean indoor shoes. 

Here are all the participants at the Relief Society activity. I came just in time to take the picture... and eat tons of food. :)

They made these rice balls with different stuff at the activity for a festival called Hina Matsuri which is pretty much Girl's Festival. This is one of the ones Emily made.

This is the guy Emily made.

This is the happy couple... So cute! The body is the rice ball, the head is a quail egg, the yellow stuff (egg I think) are the clothes, the orange stuff (carrot) for a hat?, the black stuff (seaweed) was for hair, and sesame seeds for the eyes.

The following are some of the ones that other people made. Some of them are really good. As I was looking at some of them, I was trying to figure out why some of them looked more Asian than others... 

This is some kind of somen noodle soup. It was super yummy! It may look like ramen noodles, but somen noodles are a lot thinner. Other things inside the soup were seaweed, boiled egg, corn, bamboo, some kind of mushrooms, rice cake, and crab. Some of those things might not sound that great together, but like I said, it was yummy!

I'm sure all of you wished you could have heard me speak on Sunday, but all I will write is a story that I shared. My talk was on the Holy Ghost. One of the stories that I shared, is very special to me. It is a story that demonstrates how the Holy Ghost prompts us to do things sometimes even if we don't understand why. I know that when we always follow the feelings we get from the Holy Ghost (even when we don't understand), we will always receive blessings that Heavenly Father has prepared for us. 


Back in November 2009, I started dating this girl named Emily. We had known each other for almost a year at this point and had worked together as resident advisers in the dormitories at BYU-Hawaii and also worked together in the BYUH Student Association. Anyways, I started liking her after our first date and starting thinking about what was going to happen if we started to date seriously. I was graduating a month later (December 2009) and already had plane tickets back to California. I prayed to Heavenly Father many times asking Him what I should do - Should I come back to Hawaii? Should I try to marry this girl? Should I give up? - All these questions where in my prayers. Just before I left Hawaii, I received my answer. I felt the Holy Ghost whisper to my heart that I should come back to Hawaii. I didn't get any impression that I was to marry Emily or not at that time, but I did know that Heavenly Father wanted me to come back to Hawaii. I was so confused! I had no job lined up, I had no place to live, and actually, I had no girlfriend. Logically, there was no reason to go back to Hawaii except for the nice beaches, sunny weather, and that there may be a chance that things could work out with Emily. I really wanted Emily to be the reason for going back to Hawaii... Since we all know the end of the story, we know that it was for Emily. Yay! This is a great story that illustrates a time when I was directed by the Holy Ghost even though I didn't understand why, and how I was blessed for obeying that prompting. I know that Heavenly Father has given us the Holy Ghost so that we can have extra help and direction in our lives and that when we follow that direction, we can become even more happy.


I hope that everyone has a great week and that the weather is warming up like it is here! Much love!

Valentine's Surprises Continued...

On Valentine's Day morning, I opened my closet to grab a pair of socks and found a present from my cute hubby instead. The present turned out to be, ironically, some new warm socks, chocolate, and gift certificates to go skiing, to an onsen (Japanese hot springs), and out for dinner. He also surprised me with these beautiful flowers. Can you say spoiled?

We were both lucky enough to have shortened work schedules on Tuesday, so we were able to spend most of Valentine's Day together. I used my gift certificate for a romantic dinner and we ate sauce katsudon, one of our favorite Japanese dishes. James was obviously very thrilled about his dinner (see face below).

During work that day, I made my first visit to a special education school in our city. I only taught four students, but it was definitely one of the best days of teaching yet. The students were so eager to learn and to practice their English.


I stayed and ate lunch with the whole class (below). The lunch period in Japan (especially at this school) is different from most schools in America. Before lunch, every student washed their hands and put on an apron, a bandana, and a face mask. Then a few students grabbed the food and utensils from the cafeteria and brought them back to the classroom where other students prepared the trays and arranged the desks into a big table. Everyone sat down to eat, but no one touched their food until everyone had been served, seated, and said, "Itadakimasu!" (a phrase they use before eating; literally, "I will partake."). To me, the lunch period was a microcosm of Japanese society as a whole - harmonious unity and hard work without complaint.

Last night, Kana, one of my students, and her mom came to our house for dinner. Kana has been the most diligent member of our high school English club and she and I have gotten to know each other well over the last six months. We introduced them to tacos with homemade tortillas. Even though eating the tacos was a bit tricky for them, they seemed to enjoy the food. Kana's mom is a dental hygienist, so we had some funny conversations after dinner as she quizzed us about our brushing and flossing habits and inspected our teeth. She then presented us with a gift - two new toothbrushes!

We hope you all had a fun Valentine's Day. Love to all of our family and friends!!!

The Festival of Candles and Surprises

We had a blast with date night this week. This past weekend was the Festival of Candles at Tsurugajo, our local castle. We decided it would be fun to go with some other people, so we had a little double date with our friends Steve and LaNae. We weren't quite sure what to expect when we first arrived. The entrance was lined with candles in little huts in the snow. As we approached the inner grounds of the castle, we were amazed at the images that flashed across the side of the castle. There was a projector displaying all sorts of designs. We took a few pictures of them trying to figure out what the display was for. Although we never found out, Aizu is famous for candle making/painting, and we guessed that the designs were those of candles made in Aizu. We followed the rest of the people there to the other side of the castle where many more candles were lit. We took a walk around and were about ready to head out when LaNae suggested we take a different exit. As we continued to new areas, we discovered copper cans that had holes punched into them so that the candles inside of them would glow fancy designs. Although they were made by junior high school students, some of them were pretty extravagant. We had a fun time and were glad we got to experience something unique to the Aizu area.

Thought this one  was pretty interesting. Looks like the head of  a characterized chicken or duck.

Some of our favorite designs of the copper lanterns.

I think the snow flake one was our favorite.

Although you can only see about 20 here, there must have been  close to 200 of them.

As for the rest of the week, I'll highlight a few of the other things that happened with pictures.

This week Emily received a present from one of her students...  Erasers disguised as sushi!

In preparation for Valentine's Day, Emily did a special lesson with her high schoolers and made some valentines. She then sent the 250 valentines her students made to the Kapiolani Medical Center in Hawaii. One of the reasons I love her ; always service oriented. :)

When I got home from meetings today, I came home to a surprise. In Emily's words, Valentine's Day had come early. This was probably the only way she could surprise me with decorations because I usually leave the house after her and get home before her.

The picture doesn't really do it justice... but she had cut out a bunch of hearts and had letters on the back of them to form a secret message. The message led me to the closet where my beloved 6-pack of Dr. Pepper and 2 packs of Tim Tams awaited me. So awesome!

Not only did she surprise me with decorations and Dr. Pepper, but she surprised me with my favorite meal, clam chowder. 

We went over to our Branch President's house the other week and his wife had made this yummy apple pie like dessert. Emily for the recipe and made it with LaNae earlier this week. It was sooo good!

We love getting out and going for walks, even though it can be quite cold sometimes. 

We love you all very much and hope that you are doing well. Have a good Sunday and a Happy Valentine's Day on Tuesday!!!