Baptismal preparation

I would like to start list of what my husband and I can do to prepare our little ones for a special event, Baptism. 

Here is one.

From General Conference, CHERYL A. ESPLIN 

About two months before his children turned eight years old, one father would set aside time each week to prepare them for baptism. His daughter said that when it was her turn, he gave her a journal and they sat together, just the two of them, and discussed and shared feelings about gospel principles. He had her draw a visual aid as they went along. It showed the premortal existence, this earth life, and each step she needed to take to return to live with Heavenly Father. He bore his testimony about each step of the plan of salvation as he taught it to her.

When his daughter recalled this experience after she was grown, she said: “I will never forget the love I felt from my dad as he spent that time with me. … I believe that this experience was a major reason I had a testimony of the gospel when I was baptized.” (See Teaching, No Greater Call, 129.)

Yuna's excitement for baptism over colored a little. Right now, we are happy that she knows about baptism and gets excited about it. 

We are thinking about her cousin, Booker getting baptized tomorrow. Way to go! 

Three playgrounds a day, that's the day we had!

On the way to violin lesson, we discovered a cute park, Big Hollow Park in Springville. It was new and very friendly to little kids. Yuna loved it!!

Not only it was a fun park but it had a great view; the mountain with flakes of snow on top made me feel as if I was in a fairy land with winterly view and springy wind in summer sun.  So here is one thing I like about Utah-unexpected weather, like an unexpected present. 

Yuna started taking violin lessons end of May after long 7 months wait for parent permission. She still loves playing the violin but started getting tired of practicing basics. So I have to be creative. Today was the second time we had a practice session in playground. Don't know how effective it was but she enjoyed swings and slides after the practice, and no throwing tuntlums when it was time to leave for lesson. 

She was then in another playground at Provo Recreation Center, waiting for the tumbling tot class to start. 

For the first time, she voluntarily joined other kids for exercise on her own!! 

After her nap, we headed to a picnic that My husband's work put together. 

Jolley's Ranch, hobble creek canyon in Springville. They had a bouncy castle, two inflable slides, rodeo, and rock climbing wall. 

The summer sun warmed the canyon by the early evening. We had a fantastic day. Yuna said "今日もいーーーーーっぱい楽しい事したね。"we had sooooooo many fun things today."

あきバーの夢の日Garandma Aki's dream day

We have been in Japan since Jan. 10, 2014, living together with my parents and grandpa. Although we see each other everyday, we had not gone out for fun. Finally, yesterday, we managed our self to plan outing. We asked my dad to be with my grandpa so my mom and I can leave the house at the same time.

Here you go,

My mom's dream-come-true date with Yuna. 

Breakfast at the Herbal House. Breakfast plate comes for free with a purchase of a drink in Nagoya area.  This store serves various kinds of herbal teas. The breakfast plate includes fruits, and home-made English scorns and apple jam. Delicious!!
The beautiful garden at the back ground, where we walked after breakfast.










Mina kun, Yuna's friend, joined for the playground.




Yuna loves climbing, sliding,

and running.




We then, visited my father's garden.






We harvested green onions.



We ended the outing with hanabiratake bento lunch at the restaurant, Kurumi.

Thanks Akiba- for fun morning and thanks dad for letting us go!　

初めてのヘアカット the first beauty salon

Yuna and I had been fighting every morning to corm her hair. So we finally agreed cutting her hair would be a good idea. 

She was excited to have a hair style like her boy friends', but once she got there, she was nervous. 

I used all my bribe to make her stay in her seat. The bribe for her are fruit/vegetable juice, use of my phone to look some photos and videos, and sweet snacks. 

There she got a cute hair cut and a lolly pop.

Art project, 2014 winter

Calligraphy for New Years decoration at Kasugai city hall. 

Snowie day in the yard. 

Drawing with a stick. 

Made princesses and princes for Hinamatsuri, on March 3rd for the girl's day celebration. 

Making piles of sand and drawing face on them. 

And, belated Valentine's craft. We went to the near by river, brought some rocks, and made objects with wooden-powder clay wrapped around the rocks. After drying them for a few days, we finally painted them all this afternoon. 

Guess which sports?!

Yuna is excited for Sochi Olympic. So here is one pose from one of the winter Olympic competitions. Which one is it?!

Answer- last pose on figure skating. 

節分２０１４ Setsubun

Last year in Setsubun Feburary 3rd, Yuna learned a feeling of fear.




This year, we threw beans before demons came. So Yuna did not face any demons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_r5MO0EIzs
http://ayaet.blogspot.jp/2013/02/blog-post.html

She also had a nice reunion luncheon with her favorite friends. That should replace the horror of last year's Setsubun.