3rd Grader...

 Well, I'm not sure how this happened but my first born started 3rd grade today!!! I'm not sure if I'm more freaked out at how big he is getting or how OLD I'm getting!! I think they both freak me out!! Kayston was super excited to start 3rd grade! He has an awesome teacher that just happens to be our ward (so I can keep extra close tabs on him) plus, she tutored him over the Summer so she knows which areas he needs help in. She is great and I can tell she really cares about Kayston and wants him to do well! It's such a relief to me you don't even know!! Kayston is a little bummed his best buddy isn't in his class but at least they still get to walk to school together and play at recess. I have a good feeling about 3rd grade and I'm excited to see how things go! Our little guy is changing so much and is really starting to grow up!! It makes me sad and happy all at the same time!! 

Best buds! 

Love you Kayston!! Keep up the good work! Mommy & Daddy are so proud of you!!

The finale of...2 weeks we'll never forget!!

 One of the things Takahito wanted to do while he was here was go camping. Well, since half of our mountains had fires in them and it's not very fun to take a baby camping, we didn't make it. But, we were able to have a fire and roast marshmallows with him. It's pretty close to camping, right?

 Did you know that not a lot of people from Japan have ever jumped on a trampoline? This was Takahito's first time ever on a Trampoline and he loved it!

He even learned some tricks!

 Since the trampoline was such a big hit, we decided to take him and the kids to "Jump on It". They all had a blast!!

 Out of all the yummy dinner's I made while he was here, his very favorite thing was Macaroni and Cheese. So, Preston taught him how to make it so we could send him home with a few boxes.

 Our good friends offered to take us boating while he was here. He had never been on a boat either so I was super excited to take him.

 Look at how happy he is!!

Awww, the beautiful waters of Utah Lake!! =)

 He was brave and wanted to give water skiing a shot...it wasn't as easy as he had thought and never made it up!!

 But, he didn't give up and decided to try the knee board. He did AWESOME!!!

 Way to go!! He was pretty stoked!

 His very favorite though, was the tube!! He stayed on the entire time while we were switching riders. He loved it!

 Kayston even tried the kid water ski's...

 Even though he didn't get up, he tried a couple of times and we were so proud of him!

Thanks Reed and Kat for the fun day! That was Takahito's very favorite thing he did while he was in Utah!!

Before he came to Utah, he mentioned in one of his emails that he would like to make us  "okonomiyaki", one of his favorite Japanese meals. So, he brought all of the ingredients he needed from home and cooked us up some lunch.

 

It was kind of like a pancake batter but then he chopped up lettuce and put it in the batter.

 

It was definitely a different taste than we're used to but it was pretty good. We just thought it was super thoughtful of him to want to cook for us!! Thanks Takahito!

 

On the Friday before they left, the school that they came with put on a farewell show for all of the host families as a thank you. It was super cute and someone (me) may or may not have cried at the end! 

 

On his last day with us I wanted to something super fun. I gave him lots of ideas like going to Seven Peaks, hiking Timp cave, swimming, floating down Provo River...but all he wanted to do was stay home and play basketball with Kayston. I'm pretty sure we wore him out while he was here.

Later that night, we took him to Teppanyaki  for some good old Japanese food. Well, come to find out, it's pretty much American food to him! Ha ha! He still liked it though!

 

We sure did do lots of fun things while he was here but the things we will miss the most are times like these...

 

Please don't judge how homely Kenley looks. She had just woken up from her nap.

 We sure do love that kid and miss him tons!! We hope to see him again someday but we plan on keeping in touch until then!

 

 This will definitely be an experience that we will never forget and we will for sure be doing it every year!! We love you Takahito and consider you part of our family!

2 weeks we'll never forget...part 2!

As soon as we got home and talked with Takahito for a little bit, we got a little worried about the language barrier. I guess we were expecting him to be able to speak more English than he did. I even had to pull out "google translate" a few times. But, after a few days and learning what words he knew, it got better.
The morning after Takahito arrived, he was excited to give us all presents from Japan. The kids LOVED their presents from him and he even brought me some of my very favorite candy from Japan. Hi-Chew! YUMMM!

He couldn't have picked a better gift for Kayston. He's worn it everyday since he got it.

 

I think I like Japanese candy better than American candy. 

 

Kayston was in heaven with his new "big brother"

Later that day, Kayston wanted to introduce him to tether-ball. Takahito thought it was pretty strange at first but it didn't take long for him to really like it! I think by the end of his stay, he was even able to be Kayston a few times.

 The Monday after he got here, the school had a big "welcome party" for all of the students and teachers. They had some yummy food and lots of fun games. We liked watching the kids play soccer the best.

 Later that week, we were able to have 3 of the teachers over for dinner. I was super nervous but it ended up being so much fun. They loved the dinner and even took some back to the hotel with them. Such a relief for me!

  Of course we had to introduce them to tether-ball.

I thought this guy was going to hurt himself! Ha ha!

 The girls were sad to see them go.

Funny story, there were some things that Takahito just didn't understand so while the teachers were here I had them ask him a few things for us. One of things we asked was..."was there anything he thought was weird?" The teacher asked him and he said that he didn't know when we took showers. When we showed him around the house, I kind of just pointed to where our room was but didn't take him in. Well, he had no idea that we had a bathroom in our room and he NEVER saw us go into the hall bathroom. Poor kid thought we never took showers! Ha ha! I loved it! I took him in our room and showed him our bathroom and the look on his face was priceless. He seemed so relieved that we showered! 

We tried to plan a lot of fun things to do while he was here but since he was in school most of the day, it was hard to get everything in that we wanted. But, we still managed to do some fun things. Here are some of the things we did...

We took him out of school early one day and went to Lagoon.

 

He LOVED Wicked!!! 

 It looks like he's having fun! I think Cami had fun, too!

 We went to the American Fork parade...it was probably pretty lame compared to the parades they have in Japan.

 

 Kayston even got to break a bored when the Karate people came by! He was SO happy since he's obsessed with karate right now!

  That same day we went to foam day...he thought this was pretty weird!

Love my girls! 

 Meaguls did NOT like the foam!

 Later that SAME night, we went to the AF Carnival. Takahito and Kayston went on all the spinny rides! I was grateful cause even though I hate to admit it, I'm getting too old for those rides. Sad!

 Bry can't ride a ride without having her arms up!

 Kenley LOVED the carousel and cried when it was time to get off.

 We did a few more things but this post is getting to be way too long. So, again...to be continued! =)