...leinan...

birthday shout-outs have not been my forte this past year. so i figure i should attempt to do so again starting with my bccffe Lei-nan.

she's 20!! watch out boys and girls!
buns and i used to write poetry via email at work when she worked at apx. in honor of the good old days...here is my attempt to wish her some birthday wishes through some verse.

dear bestest friend leinan,

you're twenty and and your hair is still long.

thanks for laying in the grass,

while leaving prints of your bum.

cruisin' at the park,

and singing luther in the car.

for the late night runs to good old del

where our eyes like to spout and we like to tell

all of our stories of woes and of boys

of school and desires or a lame-sauce choice.

life has been so great with you,

nah seriously, koo-koo-ka-choo!

all of the days when i needed a friend,

you were always there, there til the end.

i could not have been more blessed to have you,

so happy birthday baby girl! i love you!

...kickin it wit ollie...

one of the things that i love about little oliver is that he is so animated! he came over the other night and we were just taking pictures and laughing. he's so sweet! i just love him.

...hectic, hectic, hectic...

it's been a while since i have posted and i have picture and all that jazz calling my name, life however has been a little bit crazy between school and the new job at work. just wanted to let y'all know that i'm still alive and kickin, but things have just been a little hectic. hope all is well!

...i heart halloween...

so...this post is slightly late...but enjoy!

for those of you that don't know, halloween is my favorite holiday! i love it for various reasons, but mostly because when i was little i loved going over to aunty erynn's house, eating chili, going trick or treating with the cousins and just running around good ol' orem, utah. the memories from my childhood halloweens are irreplacable.

this halloween, the first part of the day, i worked and ran errands and actually had to head to school. justin leavitt and i went and ran errands in the slc and even grabbed a bite to eat. we went to dodo's at the gateway mall and it was super yummy. we even ordered pumpkin buttermilk cake with cream cheese frosting. it was so tasty! below is justin with his mexi-stache ready to eat the cake. i love pumpkin stuff. pumpkin cake, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice muffins...mmmmm...
later on in the day hiro, rach, yuds, soapy, kuni, and ollie stopped by to eat some chili and hangout. ollie was optimus prime for the majority of the week but when halloween rolled around he wanted to be something different. I think kuni said that he was "devil may cry" a cartoon character...maybe? ha ha...i'm not sure. Yuri-bug was a snow princess.

sophie was a mouse i think...hiro and rachel...i think hiro was a warrior and rachel was also a mouse...or a cat maybe?

after eating chili and having rootbeer floats with the family, they bounced and i got ready to go out with the cousins. we went to a dance which actually was ridiculously lame but hey it happens. i didn't really have an outfit so i was just throwing stuff on...and this was the result.

scary i know. ha ha. nah i look like an anime character...below is sarah, buns, and i. i stole this picture off of sarah's facebook. i think the caption said something like "two mechanics and an asian...no really!!" ha ha...i really am asian for those of you wondering.

happy halloween!!

...pumpkin carving festivities...

i should be studying right now but instead i'm blogging. don't worry about it...

anywho...on wednesay i had some friends come over and carve pumpkins. it was so much fun! i love to carve pumpkins!! we all just hungout and ate treats and carved pumpkins. here's are some pictures from the festivities. i didn't get a picture of all the pumpkins because everyone left at a different time and i just didn't think about it. also i love how i usually forget to take pictures of myself. someone had to remind me yesterday to take a picture of myself. so there is one...with my friend nicole stoos. she's the bomb dot com. i gotta get back to studying. enjoy!

...so smooth...

this past saturday the frousins and some friends went up the american fork ampitheatre across from the Timpanogos temple to a beneifit luau and concert for an organization called vivakids. needless to say it was quite the enjoyable time. the food was good even though i dropped half my haupia cake...sad day...here is me, deina, and nani freezing our butts off...the fire dancer during the luau/dance portion of the show. they were a lot of fun to watch.but my favorite part of the night was the jam session/concert. Pati, the Fiji twins, and Junior Maile got together and played. There's nothing like good local music. And can i just say that Junior Maile's voice is like butter. I'll say it right now...if i ever find a guy that has a voice like him, i'm pretty sure i'll ask him to marry me right there on the spot no questions asked. ha ha...nani too, so we better not find the guy at the same time or that will be ridiculously awkward. the twins just got back from a mission in the Domican Republic and sang some spanish songs. made me miss texas...oh my friend brandon came too (the tall haole one) and was skankin it up. he actually served in samoa with Kai. small world.

...bonneville shoreline trail...

my friend alex and I went on a hike last wednesday. i've been thoroughly enjoying the autumn time. we were going to go up and hike up dry canyon but some construction was going on and some workers yelled at us to not park there...scary. so we went to the bonneville shoreline trail instead. it's a really steep hike. I was a little surprised. I think it might have been a horsetrail but it was so pretty. of course...here are some pictures... overlooking the valley, but mostly enjoying the colors of the fall...

alex blending in with the trail...

on the way down...the sun coming throught the trees...

yellow in some yellow...

and of course i found this little flower. so cute. it's currently my backgroud and that's why it says "enjoy" in the corner. just a little reminder to enjoy :)

...enjoying the fall...

this last week i had fall break. didn't really vacation much due to work, but i did take a day off to hangout in the mountains. i definitely needed some sachiyo time 'cause i feel like i can't take one breath without having another body around me (and i'm not a momma) so i went hiking up rock canyon to clear my head and enjoy the beautiful fall weather.
the whole hike i just smiled and took picture of the beautiful fall colors...
the sounds of the leaves on the path crunching beneath my feet...and the water flowing down the mountain side... made everthing was so serene and calm...it made me forget about all the craziness of the world. i couldn't have had a better day. here i am walking along the trail all nice gross but ridiculously content.
oh and there were drinking fountains. the water was deliciouso! i forgot that these were even there 'cause i hadn't been hiking up here for a while. i sat next to the river and just took in everything around me. ate some dried fruit, wrote in my journal, read a book. it was beautiful. my gluts are sore. ha ha...i'm going to go hiking again this week, this time with a friends. i'm excited! i'll remember to post pictures :)

...conference weekend...

something that i really look forward to twice a year. without fail i walk away with words to continue to press on and soothe my soul for the trials that i face or am currently facing. i'm always happier and more content with what i already have that the Lord has blessed me with. i already think that my life is pretty dang good (amazing family, loyal friends, good health, ability to work and go to school, etc) but after conference i realize that my life is more than pretty dang good...it's practically perfect.

this past conference weekend i was lucky enough to go to two sessions with two difference sets of friends. I went to the saturday morning session as well as the sunday afternoon. oddly enough i sat in the same section at both. one set of tickets was from west virginia, the other from tennessee. what are the odds? pretty cool. this is the only picture i have from conference.

before the sunday afternoon session. it's me, d. scott, chelsea, and aaron (whose head is cut off). I've known d. scott since the summer i lived at the glenwood in provo, he's from tennessee. d. scott and aaron are currently roommates (aaron is a hoot btw) and chelsea is aaron's friend.

saturday morning i went with my friend dustin and some of his friends from back home (west virginia). it was raining saturday morning and i was sooooo happy. it was a start to a perfect conference weekend :) i LOVE the rain. everyone around us was walking with umbrellas and hoods on, and there i was walking back getting wet and enjoying every moment of it. ha ha...maybe one day i'll post why i love the rain so much...

..sweet toy...

so kuni and ollie came over the other day and they had just gone to the toy store. ollie got some swords and what not (he's such a little boy) and kuni came home with this sweet toy. so basically it blows air (on the bottom you can open and close it to control the instream of the air) and there are these little weapons you put in the balls and they fight each other. it doesn't sound that entertaining but it's a heck of a lot of fun! i think kuni and i had more fun playing than ollie :)

...new do...

notice anything different? i would hope so 'cause i cut of like 12+ inches and put some browns and caramels in my hair. enjoy. i sure love it :)

...duck pond adventures...

does anyone know what this new hair-do i see on our lovely feathered friend is? i love it!so while rosie and aidyn were here we went to the duck pond down by the provo river. when leilani (rosie's oldest girl) was a baby, rosie used to take her here after their runs together along the trail. it was only appropriate to take a picture of miss ai and her...btw...it bothers me that there are sunspots on their chins...too bad their not smiling in the other pictures i have of them.the little cousins had a lot of fun feeding the ducks. yuri kept eating the bread. ha ha...such a takahashi. i love this picture of ollie. i think that he looks more and more like kuni. especially when he smiles. they're so fun to have around. after feeding the ducks we went to park that was just a little walk away.
yuri...it was so bright that day! she's so cute and getting so big. i love it.
i also was having a fantastic time (to say the least) at the park. most of the time when i swing now i get really bad motion sickness and feel nauseated but the day we went to feed the ducks i was feeling superb. i was having so much fun, i couldn't stop laughing because i was so happy! ha ha...i think rosie thought that i was on drugs or something.. you should try swinging if you haven't for a while. so much fun...after playing at the park for a while isa came and brought us ernie's for lunch! here everyone has food in their mouth and is not smiling...well they're trying to at least without playing the seafood game.on our way back the kids wanted to say bye to the ducks, so we did. i love this pic too. the three (aidyn, yuriya, and oliver) are all really close in age. i think all within eight months of each other. they're great friends and really love being together. i love being with them too!! i'm sad rosie and ai have left back to houston...

...proud to be an american...

last wednesday the fam bam drove up to the capitol theatre in salt lake city for mom's citizenship inauguration. it was an awesome event to participate in. i took the day off from work, rosie flew in from houston with aidyn, and we all gathered for the patriotic occassion. it was a bit rainy that day, but i sure loved it. after we stood in line for little while...
we enter the theatre and were seated. we did not become very prepared because we thought we would not be there for very long. little did we know. the kids did really well for sitting down for two hours. they shared treats and car and played games. they really helped each other out. here is sophie sharing her lollipop with Oliver due to a lack of snacks...some of the kiddos and rosie just cruisin. look how cute they all look. Ollie was cracking me up. he wouldn't even say anything to sophie, he would just open his mouth like this...more please? sister rosie and i. i think this is closer to when we first go there rather than later...here is mom with her citizenship certificate! it's so awesome!!

and most of the family. after waiting for two hours isa had to go to class right as the ceremony began. poor kid. he waited all that time and he had to drive back for school. hiro was also at school and papa was going to get the van for the little ones so they didn't have to walk

after we went to happy sumo to grub. it was tasty. everyone was so tired and the kiddos were a bit grumpy by the time we went to eat. ha ha...but it was a beautiful day! we are all so proud of you mom! we love you so much! and are so grateful for the hard work and sacrifice you have put in for us to have the best lives possible. congratulations on your new american citizenship!

...nan and the slc...

so leinan came to school with me last tuesday. it was funny. apparently we have thing for trees...we all know that i love plants, but i had no idea nan was so one with nature. here she is next to this tree of awkwardness... large tree across from the library downtown...here is one side...

...and here is the other. ha ha...my face is b-e-a-utiful in this picture. i'm really hugging that trunk.
also when we were up at school we bought treats from the bowling alley, sat on the lawn (one of my favorite past times), nan was shocked by the longboarders and bikers cruising down the hills (people could die, but they don't 'cause they are skilld apparently), thought about studying but went to chili's to eat instead, and nan being a creeper...then when we were picking up some hamburgers for rosie and aidyn before we picked them up from the airport this was what was in front of us.

I SEE YOU!! well i see you too...creepy...