BACK IN THE USA!

April 18, 2014 brought a return trip to the states. These beautiful flowers in Tokyo sent me off on my long flight home.

Rhododendrons.....

and.......

Azaleas......

My first stop was in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to see my dear daughter and her sweet family.

I usually bring Japanese treats home for the grandkids. As you can see, they were excitedly lined up ready to receive the treats from Grandma's box.

It is soon to be Lilly's birthday and the dried seaweed was her favorite birthday treat! Isn't that strange?

Check out the loot!

Lilly's new birthday apron. She looks so cute in it!

I got there just in time for Easter and the festivities with my wonderful grandkids and kids!

 Before the egg coloring activity and.....

after! Check out those beautifully colored eggs!

Easter morning was more excitement than the girls could handle as they searched for eggs.

Check out this egg!! Way Cool!

Little Lucas found his basket! Oooooo! I just want to kiss that face!

The egg finding festivities are over with smiling faces adorning everyone!

I'm pretty sure there aren't 4 more adorable kids in the world!

The Bennett family off to church on a beautiful Easter Sunday.

Watching Evie and Lilly at their dance lessons was the bomb!

Tickling Lucas and making him laugh was music to Grandma's ears!

Until the next time I see them......

To Utah I go for my son-in-law's graduation from MBA school at Brigham Young University. 

Victory!!!

He did it!

 Graduation was a team effort for both Brooke and Carl.

Brooke planned a family and friends celebration at their home afterwards.

Next we went to Drew Miner's reception and saw all of Robby's friends. Robby we all missed you! 

Sean Dunchey, Christian Taylor, Kent, Drew Miner (newly married) and Joe Nelson.

Drew with his bride and us.

Part of the pack of Robby's friends and their wives/girlfriends.

Next, Kent headed back to Asia and I headed to Grand Junction, Colorado to see my sister. Enjoy the pictures!

We went to Colorado National Monument. Check out this incredible area!

Check out the mountain goats.....

The largest plateau in the U.S. is out in the distance.

John Otto discovered this area of the country and developed it.

Some of the tools used to build the roads.

This is how most of the ground looks. 

Wild flowers.

On my way home, I drove through a small town called Helper. I'm pretty sure no one here knows that it is 2014...... I felt like I walked back in time. So fun!

The drive home was so beautiful. Thank you God for the gift of beauty that makes our world a happier place.

On Friday, May 23, Brooke and I went to Idaho to attend my mother's wedding which was to be held on Saturday, May 24. We got there just in time for a surprise shower that my sister, Cheryl, planned for mom. 

Opening gifts with my sister, Cheryl.

Mom and her dear friend.

Mom and my Aunt Donna Mae.

After the wedding on Saturday you couldn't find a straight face on mom or Leland.

Everyone say cheese! We missed quite a few people in our family, but we know they were thinking of us and wanted to be there too.

My daughter, Brooke and my sisters............

Cheryl, Danette, and Diane.

My brothers Brian and Ralph.

Mom and Leland walking off to their car after the wedding ceremony.

My sister-in-law, Danette, worked her magic and turned the cultural hall into a "reception center" for a luncheon after the wedding.

Nice job, Danette!

Cutting the cake...

On the verge of eating it or stuffing it????

He is giving her a hug, so it must have been eating it and not stuffing it.

How did you spend your Mother's Day? Well, here is how I spent my Mother's Day.

Yep! A blowout on I-15 on a cold, rainy early Sunday morning. Not exactly what I planned.......

AAA could not replace the tire, so they had to tow me to Costco where I had to wait and hour for them to open.

I got a new tire......Whew!

After a five hour blowout ordeal, Mom Derricott and I drove together to Scott and Celeste's for Mother's Day Dinner. It was so awesome to be with them. Thank you Hendersens!!

The Hendersen kids, Carson, my grandson and me.

Brooke, Carl, and Lila. What was on the menu? Scott and Celeste's homemade pasta and marinara sauce, salad, and chicken. Yummmm!!! 

Brooke and I brought homemade apple and banana/fruit cream pies for dessert. Brooke makes the BEST apple pie that I have ever tasted.

Me, Sydney, Celeste, Mom Derricott, Brooke and Lila

The following week brought a couple of bike rides with Cindy. The first one was about 50 miles that included bike trails, roads, beauty and beasts!

We got so hungry that we made a pit stop at In and Out Burger. It hit the spot.

A few days later, we headed up Emigration Canyon.

So beautiful!

We ended at dusk and drove by the capital which looked so pretty at that time.

A few days later, I went to the Museum of Paleontology at BYU with Brooke and the kids after Brooke and I did a Yoga class. The class was awesome! I obviously need to do Yoga more often.

Yep, this head is real for all of you dinosaur skeptics! 

Huge!

This is taller than I am.

This is a dinosaur pelvis which is about 7 feet long.

After we looked at the dinosaur bones, we went to the duck pond and had lunch.

There is nothing cuter than seeing a child chase ducks!

We not only saw ducks, but we saw turtles!

We love going to the duck pond!

After the duck pond, we went to the Springville Art Museum. Lila was helping the statue pick up pinecones.

This fun day was near the end of my stay in the U.S. It was back to Japan for me for one day and then off to the Philippines the next day with Kent. 

It was good to see everyone while I was home. I hope this finds you well. Please know that we love each and every one of you.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Grandma and Grandpa

Uncle Kent and Grandma Barb

Kent and Barb

Adventures in Tokyo with the Hansens

We had the opportunity to host the Hansens who are the owners of the company that Kent works for.  What did we do while they were in Tokyo? Kent and the guys had meetings and LeAnn and I explored the city.

Here we are. Kent, me, LeAnn and Jim Hansen, and Andrew Mangeris.

Tokyo is a big place, so where do we start our adventure?

We'll start by walking...... Look who we see! Some way cute school girls wearing their uniforms with their hair cut the same...... Maybe we would be better off implementing that dress code in our schools. With some of the fashions that we have to tolerate in the U.S., who knows, we may be better off?.?.?. We first went to the Tokyo tower to see the vast city and then headed to........ 

Asakusa to see the famous Sensoji temple. This is the entryway to the temple. 

Since I have posted pictures from the Tokyo Tower and the temple previously, I won't show too many now.  This is the main gate going into the temple area.

On our way to the temple, we passed many shops which included sandals for short or tall people. Check these "puppies" out. I think I would break my leg if I bought a pair of those.

For those of us who value our life a little more, the selection is endless.

For those who are rather stiff, these are just your style. Yes, those soles are wooden and they don't move. Once we got our fill of the sandals/flip flops, we kept walking toward the temple and found......

People making all sort of food such as rice balls or mochi balls as it is called in Japanese.

Here they are making rice crackers or senbei. Yumm!!

Cases full of different kinds of freshly made senbei are on display.

This guy is making little cake-like things with sweet bean filling inside. I'm not sure what it is called.

These tasty little morsels have different kinds of filling inside such as custard, cream, sweet bean, pumpkin, etc. So good!

Girls in their kimonos adorned the area.

LeAnn in front of the temple. 

We saw many kinds of people such as priests,

people carrying their dogs in a baby back pack. Seriously......we saw a few people carrying their dogs in a baby back pack! Not joking!

We saw people being carried in a jinrikisha. No, not us...... It would have been fun though.

And we saw older people outside enjoying the beautiful weather.

When we finished our time at the temple, we continued our adventures observing a woman weaving traditional indigo blue fabric on an old mill. So fascinating. 

We had to stop and eat, right? How about a tempura dinner which included various kinds of tempura, miso soup, egg custard, pickles, and rice. So yummy!

We wanted to go to the Imperial Palace via Tokyo Station. Yes, this is the awesome, old but yet functioning Tokyo Station.

Here we are in front of the Imperial Palace. 

On our walk one can't help but observe all of the sidewalks which are conducive for blind people. These bumps are everywhere to help those with walking sticks to know where and when to stop.

One of our stops was at a large hall where the Kyani convention was held. Kent hosted it and

Jim Hansen spoke at it. Nice job guys!

We couldn't help but ask this girl if we could take a picture of her beautiful kimono.

 Here is a view of the back and

a view of the side. It is major work putting on a kimono. Once the kimono is on, you have another difficult task of putting on the obi (the belt). Don't ask me how to tie an obi until I take classes on tying it,....... which probably won't happen.

Here is another beautiful kimono.

Pictures were taken afterwards.

Now that the convention is over, let's go eat!!

What is this? This is a beautiful copper pot for a dish called Shabu Shabu and this is.......

a cast iron plate for a dish called Sukiyaki.

This is preparation for Shabu Shabu and Sukiyaki. Yummm!!

Shabu Shabu is where you cook vegetables and meat in a broth and then dip it in the yellow or red sauce. So good!

Sukiyaki is where you cook meat and veggies in soy sauce, sweet rice wine, and a little water. To die for!!

Once the meat is cooked to medium rare, you dip it in beaten raw egg and yes, people, it is tasty!

Here are the some of the veggies for the Sukiyaki.

Once you have finished cooking the veggies and meat, you add the left over eggs (if any) to the pot, cook it in the sauce and eat with rice. So good!

It was a great few days associating with the Hansens. We hope they enjoyed their stay in Tokyo and we invite them to come again some time.

Sincerely,

Kent and Barb