February started out with a yummy dinner at our favorite restaurant, Thaisen, with a new friend, Bob the taxi driver and his family.
Kent finds himself traveling all over Asia including India. These are some pictures from one of the times he spent there.
I'd hate to do the dishes after this meal!
But I would really like to eat this food. Yum!
March 3rd is Girls' Day in Japan where little girls wear their kimonos and have parties with their friends and family in celebration of them.
A sweet woman who works at the temple with me had me come over to her apartment and make these Girls' Day dolls. I made four sets, one for each of my granddaughters.
Mt. Fuji is in all it's glory!
One of the many things we like to do in Japan is host the missionaries for dinner. They are awesome to have in our home. The elder on the far left is Elder Winegar from Rexburg, Idaho and he knows my niece, Taleesa Downey. So fun!
The next few pictures are pictures of what we see out of our windows from our building. The next few pictures are the view out of the workout room in our building.
Tokyo lights up in the winter at night.
We went to Yoko's boyfriend's restaurant for dinner one night and had some of the most fantastic traditional Japanese food. (Yoko works at our building and we love her!)
We were the first ones at the restaurant.
It is a very nice restaurant.
Our first dish was something wonderful called Chawanmushi. It's a savory egg custard.
The next dish was beautifully placed veggies and sashimi.
This was my first experience that I remember eating abalone. It was very good.
This is clear soup with clam and veggies.
Deep fried? Of course anything that is deep fried is delicious. What is it? It's fish and squid.
This was the most incredible beef cheeks.
This is rice with veggies and little fish. It may sound odd, but it honestly was very good.
For dessert we had a strawberry and a portion of an orange. Who needs a huge piece of pie after that meal?
These flowers were delivered to me from my sweetheart, Kent, for Valentine's Day.
So beautiful! Thank you honey.
Surprise! Another set of Girls' Day dolls!
I enjoy exploring Tokyo with my friends Lori Boss and Corina Clark.
Lori and I out causing problems! Ha! Ha!
This is a common Indian lunch in Tokyo. So yummy!
Tokyo is full of beautiful buildings, stores, and restaurants.
This is a picture of Tokyo Station.....one of the many, many train stations in Tokyo, but it is the oldest.
I have never seen a banana vending machine in the states! Wow! This is cool!
Lori Boss has been my genealogy helper! Thank you so much Lori!
It's fun working in the mission home together!
Working in the kitchen at the mission home allows me to reconnect with friends and meet new people. The Stevensons were the Asia area president a few years ago and were accompanying Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband and their families in an Asian tour.
This is President Wada of the Tokyo South mission and his wife whose back is turned. The man at the end of the table is traveling with Elder Ballard and his wife.
Elder Rasband is on the far left and he is sitting across from Elder and Sister Whiting, counselor in the Asia Area Presidency. The couple next to Elder Rasband is Elder Ballard's daughter and her husband. Across from them is Elder Stevenson and his wife Lisa.
On the far left is Sister Ballard sitting next to Elder Ballard and across from them is Lori Budge and Dan Budge.
Todd Budge, president of the Tokyo Mission, is standing in the far back.
Elder Aoyagi and his wife are on the left and Elder Ringwood and his wife, Rosalie, are on the right. Elder Ringwood is the area president and Elder Aoyagi is a counselor in the area presidency.
The Budges with Elder Ballard and his wife and Elder Rasband and Elder Aoyagi are in the foreground.
Rosalie Ringwood is Brenda Miles', my dear friend from Bountiful, sister. It has been so fun to get to know her while we have been in Tokyo.
My dear friends President Todd and Lori Budge. We've known each other for about 30 years.
The kitchen crew!
This is at one of our favorite bakeries in Tokyo.
This bakery is in the Tokyo Prince Park Tower Hotel. There are so many yummy kinds of breads that one could get fat eating it all!
One of our favorite kinds of bread, Maple.
These fruit custard tarts are to die for.
Need I say anything? All of this is legit. It's not just a bunch of Dream Whip and fake fruit.
If only we could just reach in this picture and try them!
