An old friend

Most of this week we have been sick with colds, taking out splinters, and fighting spider bites. One day was very special though. Tuesday our very first International student came back for a visit. He brought his wife and daughter. It was very nice to meet them both. I feel like we have a very special connection with Swung-mo. He wanted to especially say goodbye to Ada on the way out. It was very sweet. He was living with us when Ada was only 1 years old. I think he liked her a lot. Once he told us that staying with us helped him realize that he wanted a family. Ada doesn't remember him but she was very kind and tried to say goodbye anyway. Ada was especially kind to the daughter. Their daughter is 3 and doesn't speak English very well yet but they went upstairs and played dolls and horses. I love seeing them again.

Family Pictures 2015

So the baby started crying after one pose, so we really only got about 5 minutes of pictures... but at least they're recent and thank you Julie for helping out with them!

The only baby only picture and he wouldn't let me put him down.  You can see my nose in the corner...

Naoki

Naoki came with us to church.  We aren't allowed to try to teach him anything religious, so I sat back ready to answer questions.  It was fun to watch him take a hymn book and his translator and go to work.  I saw him discreetly wipe a tear away, but he had a hard time being there for three hours.  Apparently he doesn't have a church that he attends at home.  After that we packed everyone up and headed up to squaw peak and for a glance at Bridal Veil falls.  It was pretty windy and cold, so we only stayed long enough to take pictures, hike around a little and Julie and Mike Ward came up and we shot each others family pictures again.  The Wards came over for dinner and games after.  Naoki looked a little overwhelmed by all the people, but he had seconds at dinner and enjoyed our game.  We played King of Tokyo and we were laughing that you don't mess with the Japanese when it comes to Tokyo.  Monday I took him to Canyon View to shadow a student for the day and then off to the Scera Shell to play chess and eat donuts. 

Tuesday we played Ping-Pong, exchanged gifts and wished him well for the rest of his trip this morning.  I enjoy hosting these boys, but it's hard to say goodbye.

Evelyn said that she was the horse... I think she watched Harry Potter with Sam or something.

Seth kept carrying these around.  So cute.

Shopping on Saturday

These guys were awesome!  Frying pan and smolder.

Halloween Weekend

Halloween happened the same weekend that we got our new exchange student, Naoki Shitanda from Japan.  I picked him up Thursday night and dragged a very tired 15 year old student to our church Halloween party.  We had chili, watched the YM direct piñatas and I took him home early to sleep.  Friday, I took him to BYU for him to bus up to a class on Native Americans in Salt Lake, then I drove our carpool to school and stayed for the Halloween parade (don't you love Sam on his broomstick?!) and for Sam's Halloween party. 

Sam as Harry Potter.

Ada as Professor McGonagall.

Sam's class.

Baby did not want to sit in the stroller... and he kept getting into the crayons, so I finally just gave him some recycle paper and let him have at it.

Evelyn stuck as close by Sam as she possibly could.  She played the games with him, made the crafts with him, and he gave her the spider hat that he made.

Saturday morning, Ada had a horseback riding lesson.  Naoki said he wanted to come, so the three of us headed out.  I showed him through the stables and showed him how to pet the horses.  He jumped about a mile when one of them whinnied.  Ada's horse, Cupcake, was STUBBORN!  She did not want to follow any of the commands that Ada was giving, and definitely did not want to walk.

They made peace in the end.

Then we went shopping for Naoki to find things for his parents and movie club.  We finally got around to carving pumpkins about 3 pm... on Halloween day.  Yeah, we were late.  Naoki thought it was a hoot.

Heading out to trick-or-treat. Ada and Sam were from Harry Potter.  Evelyn and Seth were from Rainbow Brite.  Naoki wasn't sure what we were doing, but by the time we got around the cul-de-sac Jer had convinced him to dress up in our fencing gear and go trick or treating for the first time in his life.  He told me after that it was very funny.

He's a cute sprite.

Seth didn't want to keep walking, he wanted to open all this candy that people kept giving him.  He'd stop any time he noticed his bucket and dig around in it for a while.  We finally ended up putting him in the stroller and pushing him.

Keith, Ada and Laurel

Down the street, the Pirates of the Caribbean return.... they even had a firecracker cannon that they used.

Naoki

Ada saying, "Nice to meet you." (Though that's usually what Evelyn says....)

This pirate kept telling pirate jokes.  The kids thought it was awesome! 

Evelyn, being her spunky self was telling the pirate off for "threatening" to make her swab the deck or something like that.

These two got in a duel... so Sam decided to duel the pirate with his wand... and instead of just pointing it, his boy and fencing self, hit the pirate sword with it and snapped it in half.

Baby was tired of riding and wanted to push the stroller... so Jer, as a joke, got in and the baby just kept on pushing.  The kids thought that was really funny and gathered around pretty quickly.

The loot was a lot smaller this year, thank goodness.  We only went about 1/3 of the way around the ward, didn't get candy at the ward party or at the Wilcox party, didn't go to Jer's work party, and the Robertsons were gone so there was no party there.  There were a couple from school and a couple from our Ward.... and I'm still all candied out.