Dragon fruit!

My adventure for the week was trying dragon fruit. The inner texture is like a kiwi with the little seeds, but it's not as sweet. I really liked it. 

The kids said it was kind of good.

I thought the inside was so different from the outside that I was a little shocked when we cut it open. It's fun to try new things though. 

Merril's 41st birthday!

After our trip to Japan, our whole family fell in love with Japanese toilets. The seats were warm and had so many features that are awesome. As Merril's birthday approached, I was talking about it with my neighbor, whose husband is a plumber. She told me she bought a Toto washlet but that it didn't work out for them and so she still had it at her house. I decided to buy it from her and install it so that I can give it to Merril for his birthday. He's always talked about the Japanese toilets and how nice they were. It took a trip to Japan to convince me.

He was gone to Mexico on a motorcycling trip and so it gave me the perfect window of opportunity to install it without him knowing! He came home late at night to a warm toilet seat.

Merril went with Ryan and Owen.

They took a boat ride out to the arch of Cabo San Lucas, or the El Arco.

On his actual birthday, we had cheesecake and dinner together as a family.

Update: it was Easter weekend and spring recess for Merril birthday weekend. We decided to have a get-together with Friends the following Friday night. Merril invited people via text and then we both completely forgot about it! I made dinner on Friday, we ate together as a family, Merril went to the bathroom, came out at 6:23 p.m. and said, "We are supposed to be eating dinner at Cappelettis at 6:30!" We had forgotten to make reservations and they were totally booked. I had to take Jack to a movie theater that I had previously promised him and Merril took off into St George, calling friends quickly.  

We ended up at Viva Chicken and had a great time, even though we didn't actually eat. We all laughed about it and thought it was hilarious that Merril threw his own surprise 41st birthday party! I was so frazzled I didn't snap a single picture. 

Easter 2019!

Yo it was Easter! Winchester as usual.

Jack graduated to the big kids field, where the eggs are hard to find!

Julie still has one more year of the easy stuff.

Mark wasn't in the mood and wouldn't walk onto the grass to pick up eggs so he didn't get any. Then bawled later because he didn't have any eggs. No effort, no reward bucko. I'm trying not to baby him as much.

By the Sunday morning egg hunt, Mark was ready to rock it.

I never remember to take a Sunday dress Easter picture until it's too late. Whatever.

Rolling through April...

With the new age changes that the church made this year, Juliet was able to do baptisms in January of 2019. She's only 11 and a half but was super excited to go. Our Ward is still new and trying to get things organized, so she's only been once with Maxine. So I took her to go again because she was wanting to go.

Other than that there was a bike/walk to school day and we participated in it. Since we live too far away to walk or ride our bikes, we drove in the expedition to a drop-off point and biked from there.

And we got this new outfit for Juliet for Easter, and I just can't believe how old it makes her look!

Wow! Gunlock Falls!

To say this is a waterfall would be misleading. Out at Gunlock reservoir, there is a spillway that leads to these rocks. We have received so much moisture this year that the reservoir is overflowing. This is a rarity and so Gunlock Falls was flowing this year. I have never seen it, but wanted to.

At first I told Merril I wanted to go during the summer, and he told me that wouldn't be possible. It only happens during the spring when we've had a ton of moisture.

So we seized the day and went to play in the water. It was freezing!

It was not disappointing!

Maxine wasn't even posing for this picture, I just snagged it while she wasn't looking.

The kids were making me nervous, there's a huge drop-off right below them.

I didn't get any pictures of Mark but he was running around somewhere and of course got all wet even though we weren't in swimsuits.

Mountain biking and 6 hours of Frog Hollow!

These kids have been mountain biking a lot lately. They are training for a race: 6 Hours of Frog Hollow! Jack with Connor and Mark.

There were some cool waterfalls out by Jem trail.

Race day came and they did great! In the parent/child division, Merril and Jack won 3rd place and got a little trophy! Logan and Collin won 1st! Yay!

Twinsies...

Jack is job shadowing Merril today. He wanted to dress in the company uniform.

Family Trip to Japan: Day 7 Thursday

 Time to go home! We took one last picture with everyone!

Then we road the train to the airport. We were supposed to get on the express but ended up getting on the wrong train. It still went to the airport but made a bunch of stops. We were fine, plenty of time.

Loaded up and off we went.

The flight went smoothly. We ate and watched movies and slept. Back in the US, we went through immigration and a machine took our photos. Mark and Merril's were the absolute best.

Merril left us with the luggage to go get the car and we got flagged by a Immigration Dog and had to go in a separate and much slower line. I was given a banana on the flight and put it in my backpack. I'm not supposed to bring fresh fruit into America. That was silly of me, if I had left it on the plane, I would've been fine. We finally got through and met up with Merril. Someone had keyed out car while it was in the parking garage and that was a bit of a bummer. Oh well.

First matter of business when back in the US, CHEESEBURGERS!!!!

Observations about Japan: Vending machines are EVERYWHERE! Cold drinks and hot drinks could be had on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere because there would be a vending machine. CC Lemon was our favorite drink, a lot like Sprite. I got a few hot chocolates. It came in an aluminum can, but warm. I don't like true Japanese food as much as I like Japanese/American food. It's very fishy. Toilet seat technology is far superior in Japan than in America. Seriously America, get with it! I want a heated toilet seat! Everyone was super polite to us. I loved the bowing and the way they indicate direction with an open palm, Vanna White style. Fantastic adventure. Shota was an amazing tour guide!

Family Trip to Japan: Day 6 Wednesday

We kind of had a chill day. We went to Gunji's preschool and played with the Japanese children. The kids wear a uniform, the yellow smock, and had to take off their shoes inside and wear slipper-type inside shoes. We played for about an hour. Right as we were about to leave I stopped and said, "I didn't get a picture!" I pulled out my phone for a selfie and all the kids crowded around without even being asked. They were the cutest!

We went back to Shota and Aya's house and played Mario Cart with Gunji. We ordered pizza for lunch and Merril and Shota left to show him where he worked. After lunch, we drove into Toyohashi city center to ride the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) to Nagoya.

It was super fast! Bucket list item for me!

In Nagoya, we rode the subway to a Buddhist temple, Oosukan nome. Jack chased the pigeons.  We went to a 300 yen shop. Then we rode the subway to the regular train back to Toyohashi.

Engrish is the best! These were bags at the 300 yen shop.

Bullet train ticket.

In Toyohashi, we went to a 100 yen shop and bought little presents and snacks to bring home. I bought a few more melamine bowls and Maxine bought some chopsticks. Then we went to an all you can eat Shabu Shabu place for dinner. I ate so much. Once Mikayla was full, she was out!

Then we came back to Shota's house and put the little kids to bed and went with Shota and Aya to a karaoke bar. The place was empty except for us so we sang song after song. Shota and Aya wouldn't sing except for We Are the World by Michael Jackson. Aya didn't know it very well and we didn't know it either. We had a good time and Merril and I felt like the sound system was pretty good.

We came back to Shota's house and Ren and Gunji we're still awake with Maxine. It was our last night in Japan!