Kazuki....part 1

After having such a great experience last year with Takahito, we were looking forward to having another student stay with us this year!

We were originally planning on getting another boy but when a couple of friends showed interest in getting a student as well but would have to get girls (their husbands traveled and worked at night) we signed up for a girl. Well, when my friends both decided that this year wouldn't work, I knew I wanted to switch back to a boy. Not even a few days later I got an email saying that our students have been chosen and their profiles were already in the mail. I hadn't had the chance to email them and switch my preference from a girl to a boy so as soon as I got that email, I replied and asked if it was too late to change. They said it was and that we were most likely getting a girl. I was super bummed and told them that if there were any boys that still needed placing that I would love to switch.

Well, a couple days later we got the envelope and to our surprise we were getting another boy! We were ecstatic!! Just like last year, I totally felt like we were meant to have a boy! (nothing against girls but we just had such a good time last year and Kayston LOVED having an "older brother")

His name was Kazuki Fujime and he was adorable! He listed that he liked to eat, his favorite food was meat and that he wanted to try many American foods while he was here! =)

We were all so excited for him to get here and started counting down the days!!

They arrived around 6:00 on Saturday and as soon as we met him we immediately loved him!

 

 We stopped and grabbed a pizza and headed home! We were all excited to start trying to get to know him!! (dang language barrier!)

Just like Takahito, he brought us tons of gifts from Japan!

 This is my favorite candy EVER!! It's similar to Hi-Chews but 100 times better!! Takahito brought us some last year and I was hooked! I asked Kazuki if he could bring me some and he definitely didn't disappoint! =) 

  And guess what?? Sweet Takahito even sent some gifts for us with him!! He seriously is the sweetest!!!

The kids are obsessed with their new cups!!

  His first night he got settled in and then it didn't take Kayston long to introduce him to tether-ball and the trampoline! 

 The next day was Sunday so he was able to join us at Church!! Man would I love to be able to know what is going on in their heads while there!! He didn't seem too bored and I don't think he even fell asleep once! Pretty impressive considering he had been traveling for 18 hours and it was 2 a.m in Japan! 

I was fully expecting him to take a 5 hour nap when we got home but instead he came right out and started playing with the kids!!! Moments like these are what make this experience totally worth it! 

 And then we introduced him to this...

 I'm pretty sure he liked it! I know we do! We had it packed away for probably 6 years so we were super excited to get our jam on again!! ;)

The next day he had school and after I dropped him off, Kenley cried! She didn't want him to go to school! She did that almost everyday the first week! She was a little obsessed with him to say the least! I can't blame her though!! He was so cute with her! 

 

That Monday night we had the "welcome party". It's a party the teacher guides throw for them to welcome them all here! We eat dinner with all the other host families and students and play games.

 Later that week we had the teachers over to our house for dinner! We did this last year and loved it so we signed up again! 

They are so sweet and of course came with gifts!! I was happy/relieved that they like my dinner and one of them even had 4ths! Haha! Yes, 4ths! 

After dinner we showed them around our house and then also introduced them to some guitar hero!! They loved it and caught on super fast! 

Later we walked over to the basketball court to play a little b-ball! One of the teachers loves Utah Jazz so he thought it was pretty cool that out court was given to us by the Jazz!! 

 

 

We love having the teachers over and if they'll let us, we'll have them over every year!!

To be continued......