Dinner tonight
The only other time I remember this happening was when Rick and I were dating and I dropped a steak I was cooking for him on the floor. This lasagna hit the floor and sprayed all over my white cupboards. It was a fun mess to clean up, reminiscent of the day Andrew made chocolate pudding in the blender and forgot to put the lid on.
So…do you think we ate it?
Nicole and McCall at Porcupine Grill
Presley and McCall at Gardner Village
In June I traveled to the US and spent a few days in Utah with my sister Susan, my niece Nicole and her family. We talked and ate and shopped and even did a little biking. Obviously, I didn’t use my camera much.
Rick and I met in Kingwood to spend the next week with our family living there and to attend Lainey’s baptism.
Super swimmer
The Birthday Girl
The big sister
Don't take my picture
My Rosie Girl
Papa
Holli
Leigh and Rorey
Ready to be baptized
Refreshments
The uncles
The Crazy Aunts
Trying to get a cousins photo
We had a great time! Rick left for Japan and I went to San Antonio to spend a few days with Alex, Stacey and Jan.
At the children's museum
Milking the cow at the museum
Jan loves baking and eating what she bakes
Last summer when I was visiting Boone, NC Andrew asked me if I would like the “honor” of making his Fish Camp t-shirt quilt. Rick carried the shirts back to Japan in a duffle bag and I began to search for fabric. I had the idea that I would like to use Dr Seuss fabric with the fish theme. I searched everywhere and there was none to be found. I reluctantly settled on a variety of maroon and white fabrics with Texas A & M logos. My reluctance to use them delayed the start of the quilt and that paid off because in late February I found Dr Seuss fish fabric online. I completed the quilt this week and I am taking it to Houston to give to Andrew.
Front
Back
Near midnight Friday, Rick and I boarded one of three buses traveling north to Higashi Matsushima. We were on a youth trip planned by leaders in our district (Rick is the district YM’s president). Higashi Matsushima is an area that was hit very hard by the earthquake and tsunami because it’s right on the coast.
Yellow Shirts= Mormon Helping Hands
Boarding the buses
Higashi Matsushima
Arrival
Getting Ready to Work
We divided up into 12 teams. Our team ended up being quite small, but we had hard workers. The assignment given to everyone at the volunteer center on Saturday was the same, to clean the sludge out of the gutters. The gutters were covered with concrete slabs that were pried out with a crowbar on the smaller narrower gutters. The wider deeper gutters require a jack to lift the heavy concrete slabs.
This was labor intensive work and yet the youth and adults were cheerful and grateful to be able to help.
At one point he was using two baggers
Rick tying off the bags
Knee deep in sludge
After the days work we changed, ate curry rice in the parking lot and got back on the bus for the 6 hour return trip. Before leaving the area, we went to see some of the devastation nearer the coast. It seems like it would have been impossible for anyone to have survived in the community we went to see. I was told that they only had a few minutes warning before the tsunami and the escape route was across a bridge to the other side of the river. There isn’t any higher ground nearby. Cars were everywhere, including the cemetery. Visiting here was a very emotional experience. I felt like I was an intruder. It will take a long time for this area to recover. It will be a long time before rice will grow in the fields again. Trees are dying because of the salt water. It was hard to control my tears and impossible to imagine the horror of that day.
Rick and I traveled to Boone, NC most likely for the last time ever. I will miss the “mountain retreat.” We spent time relaxing with Andrew, Leigh, Rorey and the dogs. Rick spent a day in Andrew’s office consulting and helping him complete a financial report that a student had failed to do. The funny thing was another student came in to meet him hoping that Rick would do some pro-bono work for him, too. Then at the end of the week we went to Andrew’s graduation. We loved the time there and are so amazed at how fast Rorey is growing up. She is just adorable and talks nonstop. My favorite was teaching her to say oh-oh! Here are the photos.
I don't like this grass.
Dad????!!!!
I can stand!
Formula to Diet Sunkist-Yum
They took us to Charlotte and we flew out the next day; Rick to Tokyo and me to Kingwood. I went to James and Ruth’s and stayed with their 7 children while they had a little vacation in San Francisco. I had a wonderful time with my darling grandchildren, Ruth and James, Kristina and Brian and Alex and Jan.
Last month we had a great visit from Ally, Luke, Maddie and Izzie. Ally and the girls arrived one Saturday and Luke arrived the following Saturday. Our days involved shopping, swimming, bowling, the zoo and a little sightseeing. It was so good to have them here. We had so much fun.
Sunday afternoons in my favorite park
Fearless Maddie
Spinning Izzie
Izzie Slides
Spinning Maddie
Robot Park
Izzie and Zoe slide
Robot Riding
Panda Watching
Udon Eating
Easter preparations
We love you!
Early this week I heard about another project to help in Sendai—tesage kaban (school bags). Monday we shopped for fabric and on Tuesday we started sewing the school bags for pre-school and elementary school children. Relief Society sisters throughout Japan have committed to make 500 bags this week. We only have 3 days to complete the project and our district is quite small. We completed over 70 bags, but that was because the wonderful Chikako from 3rd branch made 30! The flat bags are made from quilted fabric with webbing handles and an iron on name label. I was able to sew 7 and stitched around many name labels. We were able to finish all the bags in time to send them to Sendai yesterday with our public affairs missionaries who will be up there for the next 4 days. It was a great project working with wonderful women. Here are a few photos of some of them busy at work.
Last fall I posted photo after photo of the changing autumn leaves. The changing leaves go on for quite awhile and so did the posts. I have already posted several photos of cherry blossoms, but they will be gone soon. The cherry blossoms disappear much quicker than the autumn leaves. Yesterday when I was out I noticed that the green leaves are already starting to take over and it started “snowing” petals on Sunday.
Here are a few photos from yesterday at my favorite spot in Aoyama Cemetery.
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