Spring has Sprung

Well, the spring weather in Utah has definitely fallen short of our expectations this year, but we haven't let it stop us from having fun. Joe and I took the kids to California mid-March to get away from the gloomy weather. We had such a fun time with the kids. They have become such delightful, humorous, joyful people!

Disneyland - Fun day but long! Kids loved the rides.
Space Mountain was the favorite.

Spent 2 days in Newport Beach - Chilly but so nice to feel the sun and breeze.

I even think the teenager enjoyed herself. (Just don't tell her that.) (:

Sand, sun and fun

We finished the last day off with whale watching. It was pretty amazing.

Kelsey has been busy at school. She has been in the A.L.L. (Advance Learning Lab) program for the past 2 years. This year the school work has been very demanding, yet also very rewarding. The beginning of April Kelsey participated in Images of Greatness. Kelsey researched the life of William Shakespeare, prepared a tri-fold board, wrote a poem and then got to perform that poem the evening of the program. She was adorable and did a great job.
The end of April, Kelsey's class had a Renaissance Fair. Kelsey had several projects she had to complete to earn her place in society. She worked hard so she wouldn't be a peasant. She earned her spot as a "Lady" and had a fun day feasting and participating in activities. Fox13 News spotlighted her class on the early morning news. Way to work hard sis!

Japan's Earthquake Hit Close to Home

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan was a very sad sight to watch unfold. It was also scary to see since my family had a Japanese foreign exchange student in my home back in the early 1980's. Chikako is living in Japan now with her husband and two sweet boys. I was very worried for their safety. Chikako was very kind to email in their time of crisis to let me know she was okay. I wanted to share her two emails with you as it gives insight to what they were going through. May God bless these brothers and sisters of ours and help them find peace and comfort as they rebuild their lives!

March 12, 2011

Dear Wendy,

Thank you for your mail. Our family members are all safe. We are living in the middle part of Japan. The earthquake this time occurred in Northern part of Japan, and Tokyo area. So nobody injured or died in our area.

But even though we live apart from the seismic, our area also shook so much. It occurred around 14:00 of Tuesday, I was at work, but was ordered to evacuate because my office is near the beach. My son goes to the nursery near the beach, too. I had to rush to pick him up, but, at that time, we are told that the first wave of Tsunami arrived near our area, my son and I had to stay in the nursery's room under the roof. We were permitted to leave nursery right after the arrival of the first wave of Tsunami, but, we had to evacuate before the arrival of the second wave which comes an hour later. Our area, Tsunami was not too high. But still now, we are under the alert, under the order of evacuation. Our area shook a bit today, too. We feel very awful that the epicenter are getting closer to our area, southern part of Japan. Now we are saving the usage of electricity, so that the power station in our area can send surplus electricity to the northern part of Japan where now black out by the earthquake. 　

What we worry now is the nuclear power station damaged by this huge earthquake, now people living around the power station are now evacuating because the core of nuclear station started melting and this afternoon a small explosion occurred, and radioactive substances are already leaked out, cesium and other substances are already measured around the station. We are living in a small country compared with Russia. People in Russia evacuated thousands of miles from Chernobyl, but if we evacuate thousand miles, we will be on the ocean (ーー;)

All the news are tragic so much. The news says that more than 300 dead bodies are piled on the beach. There are so many beaches like that situation. More than thousand of people are died and more than thousand people are missing. A few people can get into the area to help suffered people because now the radioactive substances are leaking. Nobody can figure out how many people died, how much damaged right now.
Today, all the TV channel(all !!) broadcast the news about this earthquake, even though our sons want to watch cartoon（*^_^*）

Lastly we Japanese people are very appreciated Mr Obama and U.S. government and all the countries offers rescue. We also thank your thoughtfulness and all the prayers you sent us.

Love and affections,
Chikako Asakawa


March 15, 2011

It's midnight here. Just now, we had big earthquake in the middle of Japan, too. It shook a lot, and very scary. The seismic center are getting closer and closer. Fortunately, radioactive substances haven't reached our area yet because of the wind direction.

Northern part of Japan, there exist few dry cells, batteries, cassette gas, canned foods, and gasoline...etc....I was sending these to the friends and acquaintances in　Tokyo, but, now, it getting running out in our area, too, because the factories cannot manufacture them, little amount of gasoline for the truck which carry the materials.

Telephone, mobile phone does not work well now. E-mail is OK. Please watch at and pray for Japan.....

Chikako

February Fun

February means one thing in this house....Science Fairs! Some kids excel in sports, my kids excel in academics. It's just their thing. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying, they are little brainiacs.
Miss Kelsey went on to the district fair and was chosen to go on to regional, which is held at BYU the end of March. Way to go sis! Woot, woot.
Morgan and her friend, Taylor, had a group project and they did very well also. Their project was chosen to go on from district to regional also.
The elementary and high school regional science fairs are the same week, but different days. So that means we get to spend 4 days in a row at BYU with science fair. Yay us (said with sarcasm)! I am really proud of the girls working hard and putting effort into their work. I am a lucky mom.
Morgan went to her 9th grade school dance this past week. To quote her on FaceBook, "BEST. NIGHT. EVER! Love my friends (; ♥" I think she enjoyed herself.Morgan has always been such a high achiever and hard worker. She has recently decided to attend a charter high school, UCAS (Utah County Academy of Science), which is an early college high school, on the campus of Utah Valley University. She will be taking high school and college classes at the same time. She will graduate with an Associate's Degree from UVU one month prior to her high school graduation. This was a hard decision for both Morgan and parents. Morgan is making a major commitment since this will be hard work without much time to play. Joe and I are taking a leap of faith as we are NERVOUS to have our cute young daughter attending college classes with men 5-6 years older than her.
We had to register Morgan for UVU last week and it was an emotional thing. She will be taking her college placement tests the end of this month and it seems so strange and surreal. We sure love her but some days it seems like this "growing up business" is happening too fast.

Month of B's...Birthday, Brrrr and Basketball

Our sweet Kelsey turned twelve in January. She had the joy of going to school on her birthday, so we got to celebrate early before school and later after school. It's so strange to have two girls in Young Womens now.
We sure love you Kelsey! You have brought 12 years of joy to our family. Thanks for being such a kind and wonderful daughter.
Our family tried out skiing and snowboarding at the end of January. All in all, it was a fun and exhausting day. I was impressed with the kids' abilities and we are hoping to get them back on the slopes soon.
Jake got some good exercise this month playing on his Junior Jazz team. We had games every Wednesday night for the past 2 months. He had fun but is now excited to move on to baseball in a couple months. Go Jake!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our family and friends! We brought in the new year with laughter and loud noises! Kelsey and Jake decided they would not only blow their horns, but they'd jump up and down on bubble rap to add more excitement. It was just fun watching them!
Morgan and her friend, Taylor, decided to take the more mature approach.
And, as always, I was sappy and emotional. New Years Eve always brings back family memories and thoughts of my dear parents. Tears are good!
Christmas was a joyful day. Santa keeps finding our home, regardless of our behavior, and he had a fun sense of humor this year.
Family tradition....First prayer, then line up from youngest to oldest. (I always enjoyed this tradition since I was the youngest of 5).
Morgan received a life-size cardboard cutout of Edward. This became the "joke of the day" as we kept hiding him in rooms, closets, showers, etc. and scaring each other. How come it's always the random gifts that become the favorites?
Christmas Eve was spent with family and friends. We enjoyed our traditional singing of Christmas hymns, reading the account of Christ's birth from the scriptures, reciting my mother's Christmas poem, singing the rowdy Christmas songs and finishing in unison reciting, "The Night Before Christmas." It is always a wonderful evening.

Holiday Greetings

One of the most beautiful things about having a blog is that I don't even have to write a Christmas Letter recalling all the happenings of the last year. All one has to do to see what's happened is scroll down the page.

We feel blessed this year to be healthy, happy and our needs and wants are met. The older I get, the faster the years seem to pass. The kids are growing, maturing and turning into truly adorable young adults and tweens. I am so proud of the kindness they show others and the good decisions they make.

Thank you to all our friends and family for your friendship and association. We are so lucky to have so many great people in our lives and appreciate your good examples. We pray that you and your families will be blessed this holiday season with health, prosperity and the joy that comes only through Christ. We believe in Christ and are thankful for the opportunity to recall His birth, His life, and His sacrifice for us. He gives us light and hope. May you have the peace and comfort this holiday season, that only He can offer.