4th of July

Happy 4th! and Happy 1st-tail-gating party for me!!

Bean bagging with Calvin

Waiting for the food
and the football game!

Yeah! we won!!

Leslie and Brandt!

Congrats to the newly engaged couple!
We are super duper excited for ya both...

....and Leslie, we welcome you to join Christmas with us!
Brandt's been with us for all three Christmas' and so we are really excited you can finally be apart of it! ;)

Sienna and Michael

Pictures says it all...

Congratulations Michael and Sienna!!

"...Grasp on Goods..."

Memorial day weekend is in full swing.
It started off with our community yard sale, where Vincent and I went through our spring cleansing. It's such a great feeling to get rid of stuff/junk. I've been getting antsy over the past year, feeling like I had too much. I've been wanting to down size. However, after getting rid of boxes and boxes of materiel objects, I still possess more then enough. Vincent and I are both memorabilia junkies, which doesn't help much. I've also observed that because we were both raised below middle class for parts of our lives, we have a tendency to save, save, save (not money. but junk.). We collect things thinking we'll need it down the road - like they will be our life savers. It's crazy how material objects can control us.

Anyways, back to the cleansing. Yard sale was Saturday. Vincent and I got rid of a lot and it feels good. We are continually learning to let go of earthly things. Coincidentally the sermon yesterday was from Matt 19 - the passage about the young rich man asking how he can get eternal life. Answer: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." And thankfully, Jesus continues to say..."With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." God is good.

God is good. My mother is in town. Woodlawn Block Party is today. I'll hopefully share more on these things later.

And thanks to these little girls, we had customers rolling up to buy our stuff!

spring dresses. beautiful friends.

Michael with the help of Milton...

...and the orchestra (music composed by Covenant Senior Brian)....

....brings in the Spring.

(The video is of Michael's conducting for the first time in front of an audience. Yes, I know Drew Belz took a better video with a better angle....but at least I got something :). I couldn't get the lighting right for my camera so I took a video instead. I just wanted a small clip at first, but thought the music was so amazing and Michael was doing so great I felt, out of respect, I should shoot the whole thing. The music was composed by Brian, a graduating Covenant student. )

My Childhood

My brother forwarded the following pictures awhile ago and I just got around to storing them on my computer. Looking at these photos, I remember the fact that I was never fond of my parents taking pictures of me. Now, I appreciate these photos so much. The life in the tribes were hard for me and I couldn't wait for the day I was back living in civilization. I'm realizing now that I was so busy looking forward into my life, that I didn't think twice about leaving my childhood behind. However, thanks to my parents who were committed to capturing our lives every step of the way, I can look back and see that I had a great childhood, though I may not have known it then. (And recognize the importance of living in the now and not being in such hurry to move on.)

To get here....

...so my parents can work....

...we took this plane...

...and this boat, and a fishing boat and a pearl ship.

In the tribe, we played house like any other children around the world.

Instead of a car, my family owned a dug out canoe.

Take your child to work day

Our home. My Mother.

Dr Yukari Takata in the house!!

So excited! My sister got her financial packet for her doctorate program and it's looking VERY good! So that means, no more Miko at our house and Yukari is coming back to the States!!!!!!!! I'm so proud of you Kan-chan! You are gonna rock!!

Fried Green Tomatoes

Inspired by the movie Fried Green Tomatoes, the boys fix'd us some good ol' Southern cooking. I have traveled the world and hands down, I say that Southern Cooking is the number one kind of comfort food. Okay, besides Nato and fried fish. I love all kinds of food, but there is a different kind of nostalgia that goes with fried foods than any other genre of dishes. It's an experience of guilty pleasures: fatty, salty and over stuffing yourself....mmmmm Yum!

Once upon a time

Oliva was born...

My Dad and Brother

My dad and brother came to visit last weekend.


They rocked us in bowling

(My dad beat us all with 8 strikes)
And they cooked us so Tempura and Soba dinner.

It was a short visit, but was a good one. We miss you guys!

Where's Wally

actually, let's play, Where's Miko.

Can you find her?

Look closer...yes, that is our beloved cat stuck in a tree. The same tree she got stuck in a week ago.

Apparently she hasn't learned her lesson. The first time, I noticed she was missing was when she didn't come back in the evening. The next morning I heard her meowing and started looking around in the bushes...then I looked up, and there she was. Vincent called Brandt to borrow their window washing ladder and proceeded to go after her. Once he got up to her, she freaked and jumped down herself...which makes me believe that she can jump down again. In the process she scratched Vincent by trying to hold on to his back.

This time, same thing. I noticed Miko didn't return in the evening. I didn't think she will be stuck in the same tree, but looked. And there she was!

Poor cat. and poor Vincent who has to go get her.
and poor me, who doesn't have anything better to do then blog about a cat in a tree.

Family Pictures

Family pictures taken before Yukari left - for mommy and daddy.

Family pictures are probably the most common kind of shots taken in this world. If you ask me, they are the most difficult pictures to take. Most occasions, I think the process of taking family pictures brings out the worst in families...which is ironic because the end result makes a family look so 'happy'.

Here, I'm waiting for the peeps to get to their places....it takes about 10 - 15 min.

One of many shots...trial and error. trial and error.

This is not posed. This is a 'true' family shot.
After seeing this picture, we all laughed - which is good b/c we finally were able to take the shot below.
The lighting isn't great, but we take it. We are relaxed and ourselves.
I hate taking family pictures, but I love the memories.

Advanced Style

I was illegally surfing the net at work.
Specifically, I was going through Mary's blog - and found this blog: Advanced Style - Proof from the wizened and silver-haired set that personal style advances with age.

Mary, where did you find this blog? It's awesome! Made my dreary Friday morning!

My predictions:

Micheal Kendall??Bethany??? Or maybe more Emily?

Maybe this is more Bethany??

Matt Laslo???? (I personally think this is my best prediction.)

Sienna???

Maybe, Vincent and I?...maybe not...at least hopefully not the hair.

Vincent?? Maybe too "hot". Maybe minus the glasses and the hat.

Anyways. It's an awesome site. Props to the photographers!!!