A Week Packed with Fun

Last week was crazy!  We had so much fun hosting Kosuke from Japan for a week and sharing our traditions and culture with him.  The boys bonded with him instantly and had so much fun learning some origami, playing the Wii, and experiencing a little bit of baseball with him.  It was a bit of a challenge to communicate sometimes, but we learned a lot.  It was hard to say good-bye, and we will sure miss him.

Picking up Kosuke from BYU

We had a blast cleaning out and carving pumpkins for our porch. 

Some thought the slimy guts were cool, some thought it was 
disgusting, and Aubriella wouldn't stop trying to 
lick the inside of the pumpkin (Yuck!)

The next morning we woke up to about  6 inches of snow!

 Halloween Weekend

The weekend was chuck full of Halloween festivities.  I finished everyone's costumes just in time.  Back in September, the boys decided we all needed to be Mario characters.  I think I was inspired to get a good head start on creating our costumes, 'cause I had no idea Matt would be having knee surgery and that we would be hosting a boy from Japan the week of Halloween.  I finished Dax and Kota's overalls and my star late Wednesday night and even threw together a Wario hat for Kosuke.  

Thursday I was able to help at Austin and Bradin's preschool.  Here is my little "Toad" and "Yellow Toad" ready for school.

 Here I am dressed as, I don't know, I guess just a crazy lady with my two little toadstools.

When the kids got home from school on Thursday, we took them to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  Then, that evening we dressed up to head to Nan and Kelly's house for a family Halloween party.

Baby Peach enjoying a bone shaped breadstick. 

Kosuke had a good time and enjoyed speaking Japanese with Devin.  He loved all the food, except the texture of the 7 layer bean dip was a little to strange for him.

Daxton (Mario)

Oh..soooo cute!  Gage and Beckam, my two little nephews. 

Friday morning came and the boys couldn't wait to put those costumes back on for school.  Since Matt can't do a lot of walking yet, we borrowed Devin's golf cart to use for trick-or-treating on Saturday.  Matt thought it would be fun to take the carpool to school on Friday in the golf cart.  I was a hit.

Then Austin, Bradin, and Aubriella got a ride over to the school so we could watch the costume parade.  The kids all looked so cute.  After the parade was over, Matt to the the twins and Aubriella in the golf cart over to McDonald's drive-through for some breakfast.

That night we were able to attend the closing social at BYU for these Japan boys.  We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and an evening of entertainment.

Saturday we slept in and then made a big breakfast with pancakes, bacon, and eggs for Kosuke.  He loved it.  He had been dying to get outside and play some baseball so that afternoon we went to the huge brand new park in Alpine to play.  It was perfect overcast weather.  We played till it looked like the storm was rolling in.  It started to rain as we loaded up.

The rain did not detour the boys from wanting to trick-or-treat, so after dinner we all dressed up and headed out in the rain.  Matt, Aubriella, and I rode in the golf cart while the boys lead Kosuke around the  neighborhood showing him how we trick-or-treat here in America.  Let me tell you, riding from door to door in a golf cart is the way to go (can we borrow it again next year Dev?)

All dressed up......Mario (Dax), Luigi (Kota), Toad (Austin), Yellow Toad (Bradin), Baby Peach (Aubriella), Wario (Kosuke).........and the mario power.......Flying turtle shell (Matt), and Star Power (Holly)

 

Baby Peach ready to hit the road.

The Mario Cart clan and their sweet ride!

Sunday was a crazy day at church with all the kids pumped full of sugar. Matt just got to grin at us from the stand while I was stressed about the kids being a good example for Kosuke (since this was his first experience at church).  I guess it all turned out well, he did not understand one thing, but said he had a good experience.

We ended the day with a big BBQ at my parents house.   It was hard to end the day since we knew Kosuke would be leaving in the morning.  He wanted to play with the kids some more, so we let them stay up till about 10:00 to play.  That night was pretty emotional for Kosuke and we felt really sad that we had to say goodbye.  We will miss him...