Tia's 1st Dance Class

Tia recently started a dance class and absolutely loves it! I love watching her get so excited.

Let me warn you...there are a lot of videos of her dancing. I apologize, but this is our journal and we want to have all of these memories, so I have to post them all :) Plus, I thought her girl cousins in Utah would love to see her dancing...these are for you girls (and all the aunts, uncles, cousins, & grandparents of course).

Our little dancer.

This is what we call the "SHHH" dance. Tia's legs are spread out so wide that she can't even do the dance, but it doesn't stop her.

Look at Tia's face in the mirror...she's so excited!

"Naughty Toes"

We love this one because Tia will randomly practice it in her car seat while we are driving.

She tries so hard to do what the teacher is doing.

"Walking the line"

"Galloping"

Tia's dance class and their favorite stuffed animals.

Tia and her teacher Ms. Helen.

Okutama Roller Slide

For Memorial Day a few families from our branch drove for 2 hours (about 35 miles) to go to this Roller Slide in Okutama. The roads were tight, and very curvy, but it was SO beautiful and worth it.

We thought this was a neat looking temple at the top of a hill, but it was actually the starting point for the roller slide we went on (see the white slide coming out the right side of it-that is about 1/3 of the slide). We had to hike up the hill each time we wanted to go down it. We definitely got our exercise that day!

Here are the 5 families and the missionaries that went.

The beginning of the slide.

The Elder's and their friend at the beginning. These 3 were nuts!! They probably went down 100 times. We would all wait and let them go before us because they would get the roller pins going really fast.

Shane and Tia half way down the slide.

Adyson, Tia, and I.

Our family at the end of the slide.

Jayden modeling the gloves we all had to wear.

And here's the video Shane and Jayden took. Enjoy!

We stopped at Lake Okutama afterwards. It was extremely peaceful and beautiful.

We will definitely be returning to this place.

Tokyo Trip 2 - Shibuya & Harajuku

For Mother's Day Shane reserved a few nights at our military hotel in Tokyo. We had a really good time as a family, besides the fact that the kids CRIED practically the WHOLE time. They weren't feeling well (so it wasn't really their fault this time). Our luck was just not with us on this trip...oh well...we still managed to have a good experience.

New Sanno Hotel

The kids get SO excited every time we go to this hotel.

Shibuya

We made a quick stop at the Shibuya train station. It is well known as the Times Square of Tokyo (I wasn't able to get a really good picture of how crazy it was).

While there we had to get a picture with Hachi...

If you haven't seen Hachi yet, it's a really cute, true story that took place at the Shibuya train station here in Tokyo. It's a good, clean movie.

Harajuku

Visiting Meiji Shrine.

Takeshita Street.

This is where teenagers go to see the new hip fashions and other crazy stuff. It's almost impossible to walk down with a stroller. We didn't quite fit in :)

While walking down this street we saw many girls that looked like this...

...I have no idea why (borrowed this picture from Wikipedia)!

Near the New Sanno hotel

(and Tokyo LDS Temple)

We found this fun little ice cream shop that I really like. We went there both nights we were in Tokyo just because I love it. I also love that they have a non-dairy Mango ice cream for Jayden. He was pretty excited to be able to eat the whole thing and not get a belly ache.

Yummy Yummy!

Children's Hall Museum

We went back to Shibuya on the second day because it was raining and we had to find something in doors to do. We found this great Museum that was FREE and we all absolutely LOVED it!

There is a wood working shop in the basement where each kid made 1 craft.

The kids each picked this cool "hooey stick" to make (watch video below).

The kids went fishing.

Played on lots of toys.

Made origami with a cute little Japanese man.

And my favorite part of the day was...

...the Human BODY Maze

Can you see the eyes? You climb up through the "big mouth" to get inside. I'm not sure where the nose is???

You can see the uvula up front after you climb up the mouth. And then you have this little hole near the back of the BODY which is called the "poo poo hole" :)

And...here is my favorite part....

...you exit the whole maze, between the two feet, through the "BUTT TUNNEL" which even has little flaps on it! I just love the Japanese!

The kids had a blast playing in the music room.

And when we left we had to pay an arm and a leg (about $18 for 2 hours) to get our car out of this parking garage. They don't even need your car keys to take your car. Don't ask us where it goes...all we know is that it came back to us when we put our ticket in the machine and punched return. It was awesome!

(skip forward to 0:45 )

Monkey Bars

Every since Jayden was an infant he has loved hanging from the monkey bars. After years of practicing (and being too little) he finally accomplished HIS goal a few weeks ago of going across all by himself. He is SOOOOOOOO excited! I'm a little sad though because his sweet, soft hands are getting ripped to pieces as they are trying to build callus'. I'll miss those baby hands.

Good job Jayden...we are proud of you!

Modeling in Japan

I'm learning a lot about Japan in a way that I never thought of! Apparently Japanese modeling agencies LOVE Americans. It is not uncommon around here to have your kids model. People have been telling me about it for months, but I had absolutely NO interest. We are just normal ol' people--not models.

Well, a few months ago my friend Michelle was telling me more about it and how much fun she and her kids have had doing it. She was going to an audition and asked if I wanted to come along and check it out. I asked the kids and Jayden said he wanted to do it, but Tia wasn't sure. So we went...Tia came and cried her head off, so she ended up not auditioning (oh well), but Jayden did and he was one of the kids that was picked for the job. I figured we'd at least give it a shot and see if he liked it.

We LOVED it! Jayden had an absolute BLAST! It's nothing like I thought. You don't need to have amazing modeling skills...they just want the kids to be kids. I was so happy! Tia even liked it and wanted to do it. They had people there entertaining the kids, making them laugh, blowing balloons up and letting them go, and just being silly. When we left (after 4 hours of 9-10 photo shoots) Jayden said "Mom, that was fun...can we do it again?"

Here are a few pictures from Jayden's first modeling job!

The company he modeled for is called COMBI MINI. They are connected to the same company that make Combi strollers. Here are 2 pictures they have on their website:

You can see more pictures of him in the catalog here.

(pages 14, 15, 16, 26, 28, 29)

Check out the boy with the long hair. He is amazing and hilarious! He's been modeling since he was 1 1/2 years old and was a blast to work with. He lives just down the street from us. It was fun to get to know him.

Here are some pictures from the photo shoot:

When we arrived we realized that one of the other kids that was picked was Jayden's friend from our church. This made Jayden really happy!

Isn't that hilarious...a tank top with a hoodie on it (Uncle Byron-it's a true "thangler"). I must admit...most of the clothes were pretty crazy!

Getting ready for his shoot.

Just a quick video

The staff fixing their clothes.

The funny guy to the left was the one entertaining them. The kids loved him!

They would come out and play with them so that they were happy and having fun.

Tia was awesome the whole 4 hours. I brought a million things to entertain her...surprisingly they worked!

The catalog that Jayden is in.

He and his friends are on the back cover.

I never imagined we'd be experiencing Japan this way, but it has been a lot of fun. It's taught us how to ride the trains (without our Japanese interpreter--AKA--DAD), go to new places (his last photo shoot was near Mt. Fuji), and we've met some really nice Japanese people.

We don't do it much (which is just perfect for me)...only about every 2-3 months. This is enough so that the kids (and I) still enjoy it. Jayden has done 2 jobs....I'm really excited to post the second one, but I can't until his pictures are published in August. It's for a company called MIKI HOUSE. All I'll say is that it was really fun and in one of the photo shoots he was wearing a black leather jacket and had a fohawk :) ...he loved it! However, in his other photo shoot he was wearing a turtle neck and clothes with teddy bears all over them...he didn't like that too much...I'll post a picture later to prove it...this kid cracks me up!

Tia told me one day that she was ready to model, so we took her and she got her first job for COMBI MINI also. The catalog should be out in a month or two.

Who would have thought that we would being doing this here. I love that just any normal kid can do it....and that they are still just normal kids when they are done. It's been a fun experience.

As long as the kids and I are still having fun, we'll keep doing it. Hopefully I'll be able to post the other pictures soon!

"I'm Japanese"

(Just a random picture of Jayden-I couldn't make a post without a picture :)

The other day I overheard Jayden telling Tia that HE was Japanese. I started laughing and moved into the front room so that I could hear what made him Japanese.

Jayden: "Tia, I'm Japanese...I watch Japanese, I eat Japanese Otter Pops, and I speak Japanese"

Mom: "Really??, what do you watch that is Japanese?"

Jayden: Pausing for a moment and thinking..."ummm"

Tia: "Astro Boy mom, we watch Astro Boy....he Japanese"

Laughing I asked the next question...

Mom: "What Japanese do you speak"

Jayden: In a really drawn out..."duh mom" voice he said... "Ko-- knee-- chi-- wa"

And the Japanese Otter pops is my fault. I found some Otter Pops at the Dollar store off base and told the kids they were Japanese Otter Pops...oops...so now my picky little kids actually think they each Japanese food :/

I'm so grateful for moments like this that make me laugh...I love these crazy kids!

"Tia, put some pants on"

One night awhile back I was having a really tough time with the kids. Shane was gone and I was really frustrated and exhausted from a long day. Somehow Tia ruined her pants (which made me even more frustrated) so I quickly and impatiently told her to go upstairs and get some other pants on. I continued to be really frustrated and was busy doing who knows what. I few minutes later Tia came down the stairs and was so proud of herself for getting her pants on all by herself. When I turned around this is what I saw....

At first I was a little confused how her pants had 3 legs until I realized it was her pajama top. I then said "Tia...go get some pants on". In the sweetest little voice she said..."mom, I did". As frustrated as I was I couldn't help but bust up laughing. Thanks for being you Tia!