Yoya!

We recently had the opportunity to host a Japanese exchange student by the name of Yoya. We really enjoyed his stay, and learned a lot! He was with us for 1 week, and it was our job to keep him fed and show him some sites around the area. During the day he attended various activities with his group, with BYU being the host site. He was not LDS, and didn't share our Christian beliefs, but boy was he a good, kind soul. After he left, I asked the fam what they learned from Yoya's visit with us. Here were some of their replys:

1. We are very blessed! To live where we do, and especially to have the gospel.

2. Japan isn't so far away when you have Google Earth at your fingertips.

3. There are many good people all around the world, and they're not all LDS...:)

4. It's hard to communicate when you speak different languages.

5. We pray a lot!

6. Japanese teens are a lot like American Teens. We had fun seeing what music and movies we all knew.

On Sunday we took him to Temple Square. There was a sister missionary who was from Japan, and spoke his native language..I could have kissed her!

We took Yoya to Cabela's, and the one thing he wanted to do was hold a gun. Later I remembered the one and only rule...the boys are not to touch weapons of any kind...OOOOPS!

Yoya loved sports and wanted to see an "American" football game. BYU played TCU that weekend so we took him to a game...rotten game, but we had fun!

For family night, we made smores in our fire pit, then jumped in a huge pile of leaves that Parker had raked earlier that day. Way fun!

You Had A Bad Day...

Ever had "one of those days" when you just wanted to run away from it all? Well, apparently 5yr. olds feel that way too sometimes. Today Taylor got in trouble and was sent to his room to "think about it", well his thinkin' led him to packin' and he was going to be on his way...away from here. He packed up his things in his duffle bag, grabbed his pillow ('cause he might be needin' that) and set out. Instead of taking the garage door way out, (which is closer to his room) he slowly walked by my bedroom door, where I was laying on my bed. He gave a slow, sad look my direction then proceeded out the front door. I quickly realized my boy was runnin' away, so I followed him out. Vaguely recalling a cute Mormon commercial from the '80's I tried to remember what the mom did when the boy wanted to run away. So I followed her lead.


"Hey Taylor, whatya doin'?"

"I'm leavin' this place."

"Oh I see, well, do you mind if I come with you?"

He didn't protest, even when I gave him a little hug. I took that as a yes. We start to walk down the driveway.

"So, looks like you're running away, huh?"

"yes" (tear is half way down his cute little cheek)

"Hmmm, well how about we go get the mail together?"

He liked that idea, and nodded. I quickly ran into get the key, and my camera. (too good to pass up...)

We started to walk to the corner, and I quickly snapped a shot of him. As we walked, I gave a little glance his way, and he glanced back. Soon a half smile apeared, he was trying to hold back, but within seconds we both broke out laughing. The humor of the situation was too funny to keep in. I then carried his pillow, and we got the mail.


When we returned to his room, we unpacked his stuff together, and I gave him a huge hug, and told him how sad I would've been if he ran away.. that he is one of my most favorite people in the whole wide world. He hugged me back, and we told each other we loved one another, and that was that!!

He actually did a great job packing...his blanket, Scamper his stuffed penguin, 2 pair underwear (yeah) clothes and his slippers!
The duffle bag came in handy after all! :)