As promised I am writing an update! I know crazy two updates in one week!!!
We are adjusting well out here, my in-laws were here for the past few weeks and we went to Las Vegas!! It was my first time so needless to say we had a great time. I understand why it's called "sin city"-haha!
We still love our house, love our central location to all the hotspots in Cali and Vegas. I am in the midst of trying to start my own business, and getting some great guidance from some people already in the industry.
Lola is getting bigger by the minute and learning to say more and more. We had not mentioned Micheal Jackson around here, but of course it was all over the news and today when I turned MTV on and his music videos were playing she said "Mommy Michael Jackson dancing!" and then starting dancing herself! I couldn't believe she knew his face and name!! Lola loves loves loves to dance! We really need to get her into dance lessons!
Other than that things are just moving along, nothing really huge to update on, promise I will continue to put up new pics!

random pics

shes soo big now I can't believe it!

she loves to take pictures!!

Lola eating Miso soup at a local Japanese restaurant!! The food is actually just like the food in Japan, so needless to say we love it!

all of us in Las Vegas!

ladybug!

I know that everyone still checks this blog and thank you for coming back! I'm still in the Japan mode, thinking that our internet took forever to upload pics! Here are a few random ones that I put up for you all to see and it took me less than five minutes!!whoo hooo! It would have taken me all day in Japan. Anyways I am about to go out and run some errands so I will update later on tonight or tomorrow.

All moved in & loving So Cal

So we made it to California!!! Lola even knows where we live now. If you ask her where she lives she says "califownia". It's the cutest thing!!! We are loving our new house, which we might buy, Chris is busy at work and I am trying to find a job.
We are overwhelmed at how quiet it is out here. Our backyard looks out into wide open space and mountains, the view is breathtaking!! I know you want to see pictures but since our shipments just arrived we are still in the process of unpacking and trying to get everything situated so please check back soon!!!
It was a hard adjustment coming back to the states, but we are used to it now. People are not nearly as respectful or as nice as they are in Japan. When we landed in L.A. we were instantly greeted with the American culture! No one offered to help us with our six bags and huge dog carrier, in fact most people just looked at us like we were crazy.
I will post pictures soon! We miss you Megumi and Noriko!!!

Saying Goodbye to Japan

It's not spring yet here in Iwakuni

My volleyball coach's daughter, my other volleyball coach and his wife who plays with me

Lola, Sophia & Melanie all in mid chew!! Melanie and her family will be moving to 29 palms as well!!!!

Lola and I goofing off

Sakura tattoo (cherry blossom)

It snowed here last Monday!!! I had just dropped Lola off with her senseis and saw this beautiful opportunity for a picture

Lola chowing down on spaghetti!!

I think we know what she's getting for Christmas this year!!

Wow, where does time go?! The beginning of April we will be moving to 29 Palms,California after three years of calling Iwakuni,Japan our home. We have loved it here, but it is time to go back to the states. We have had a lot of firsts here, learned a lot about ourselves and others and made some amazing memories, as well as some lifelong friends. I feel very blessed to have had this once in a lifetime opportunity, and hope one day Lola can come visit the amazing country she was born in.
I have been playing on a 9 man mama-san volleyball team with some wonderful Japanese and American women. I wish I would have gotten involved in the team a bit earlier, but I feel fortunate to be able to play with them at all. I do not have any pictures with the whole team since Chris has been gone, but I will get some before I leave. In the league I play in, the oldest woman is in her 70's!!! Yes I said 70's!!! All the American women were stunned! It is very empowering and encouraging to play with them.
We are having a bit of a rough period right here before we PCS, but we will get through it. All of our things were packed out of our house almost two weeks ago, Chris is away on a training exercise and Lola has been fighting getting sick--oh and we still don't have our flight details worked out! Needless to say it's been a bit crazy around here.
The next few weeks will be filled with sad "see ya later parties"(I never say goodbye, b/c I hope to see all these wonderful people again soon), me finishing up this term in school, preparing to check out of our house and probably a little bit of last minute shopping in Japan;-)
Hope everyone is doing well and hopefully see you all very very soon!

Friends, snowboarding and of course cute pics of Lola

My favorite picture of my friend Jackie(she's going to teach Lola Spanish) and I. She has the cutest little girl that is a little bit younger than Lola.

It was really cold at the top, but the view was breathtaking!!

Chris and I at the top of the mountain...just before going down the steep side!! I was not happy at the bottom!!

Lola's birthday hat Megumi and Noriko gave her!! Sooo cute!

All the wonderful women of CLC-36!! I love you all! Linda you will be greatly missed!

Daddy and Lola picking up chestnuts-October 08

She likes to pretend like shes putting deodorant on, and it always tickles her !!

Santa's little helper!!

Me and Lola before going out to eat in Tokyo

As you can tell from the pictures we have been really busy over the past few months. We have been extremely blessed during this Holiday season, but we have also been sooo busy with unit functions, going away parties, working, school, keeping up with Lola and of course just enjoying time with our great friends here in Iwakuni. This was our last Christmas in Iwakuni, so it was bittersweet.

As you can tell Chris and I went snowboarding. We had a great time, even though I was sore the next day. There are several places close to us to go, so we plan on going a few more times this season. For my birthday Chris bought me a snowboard with boots and bindings, so now we have to go!!!

Although we love Japan and the people of Japan very much, we are looking forward to getting back to the United States. Our base is very small, so it is hard to "escape".

I will keep everyone updated as we receive updates on our PCS.

Some randoms from this summer

Lola and I when I dressed up as geisha in Kyoto

When my cousin Adam was visiting this summer we went to a net fishing festival and this is how the men were dressed. This is just one of my favorite pictures from then.

Wade grandparents sent Lola a coloring book. She loves to draw. She always brings me a marker and crayon and says "draw! draw!"

I played in a few beach volleyball tournaments over the summer and this is a picture from one of them. She played with this boy and his sister and Mom all day. She had so much fun.

One of my best Japanese friends-Megumi. Her, Noriko, Chris, Erwin and I went to the river and watched commorant fishing one night. Commorant fishing is a three hundred year old tradition here in Japan. Men take their birds out on the boats and night with a light hanging off the front of the boat, and the birds catch fish. Once the fish are in their mouth's, the fishermen basically choke them to make them spit the fish out in the boat.
Megumi and I dressed in Yukata(traditional Japanese summer dress) as you can tell from the picture below. The above picture is Megumi on the boat.

Sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I spent three hours uploading these pictures, so as you imagine I get a bit frustrated.
Things here are the same. We are now in our last year here, and I'm very sad about it and will be upset when we leave this beautiful country. Our life here is very easy and for the most part stress free and safe, and we have made some wonderful lifetime friends. Needless to say however we will be very happy to be back in the states and closer to friends and family.

I have taken a part-time job working at Estee Lauder and I think I am going to love working for the company and this is a great place to begin working for them. I think most of the time will be at nights and on weekends(so Chris can be with Lola), but the times when I do work during the day Lola is going to be at wonderful preschool out in town where she learns Japanese and English and has a music teacher come in etc. She loves being around other children and playing, which Chris and I both agreed she needs. She loves to interact with other children and I love to see how she is picking up better communication and interaction skills. I can't believe how fast she is learning new things and how easy she picks up on things.
Other than that we are trying to enjoy and take in all of Japan that we can in our little time that we have left here in Japan. Hope everyone is doing well!

Lola playing with a little Japanese girl in Tokyo tower

Watching the baboon show in front of Tokyo Tower

Us at the top of Tokyo Tower

At the top of Mt. Fuji-a truly enlightening experience

Station 5 with Chris and Lola before I started my hike.

Lola and I in a sushi restaurant in Tokyo

She ate a blue crayon!

A bunch of us after eating nabe at a restaurant a sumo wrestler owns

3 Falls

Sorry its taken me so long to update. Thanks to blogger.com for automatically keeping any updates you are working on, because I have been working on this one for 3 days. Every time I update a photo our internet goes out, so I've just been doing it when I have time.
As you can tell we have all climbed Mt. Fuji now, well except Lola of course! Chris has climbed it twice, and I have climbed it once. There is a saying in Japan... " You are a fool if you never climb Mt. Fuji, and an even bigger fool if you climb it twice"
I think I have to disagree with the second part, I would climb it again in a heartbeat. I basically climbed it by myself, and wouldn't have had it any other way. I got to go at my own pace and just have a nice quiet peaceful climb.
Lola is getting so big and is talking soo much. We think that she believes she is a movie star. Everywhere we go she says hello and bye bye to everyone(as she does her pageant wave), and if they don't speak to her she looks at them like they are crazy! She hasn't said any full sentences yet, but does speak phrases. She says help me, bye bye time, and a few others, and copies (or attempts to) everything we say! She is also coming right along with potty training. She is starting to tell us when we are out places that she needs to go potty, and while we are at home she is usually pretty good about going.
Congratulations to Heather and Roger on your engagement!!!!!
Love and miss everyone!

some Lola pics

Lola in front of the Tori gate to Miya Jima
yay!!!!

me and Chris in Fukuyama-beautiful scenery!!

I like this picture BC you can see how long her ponytail is and shows her chubby cheeks!!

Trying to figure out how to get her car seat belts on

Just hanging out in the bathroom-probably about to get ready for bath time

Big brown eyes & chubby cheeks

Uncle Adam and Lola

Kyoto

Kiyomizudera Temple-

This temple is up in the mountains and has a wonderful view of Kyoto, it's one of the most famous spots to view Kyoto, as well as on the top ten places to see in Kyoto. There is a little spot at the top that has two love rocks, and they say if you can walk from one to the other with your eyes closed you will meet your soul mate. There were a group of school boys at the top who were holding each other's shoulders walking from one rock to the other. Behind the line of boys were two other boys, who we couldn't understand, but got the gist of what they were saying. They began to start the walk, and then stopped shook their heads and seemed to say "no, no we don't need to be in love", and then started laughing and making fun of the other boys. It was very funny!!

Kinkakuji/Golden Palace-

Perhaps the most famous spot in Kyoto. It was rebuilt, I believe in 1955, but was originally constructed in 1397 by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu who was part of the shogun (basically old Japanese government) It was then converted to a Zen temple after his death. His grandson attempted to build a silver palace, but the silver was never actually put on the outside. It's not known if it was lack of money or interest why it was never finished.

Chris, Lola and I in front of the Golden Palace

The second day in Kyoto we went to dress up as Samurai and Geisha. Well technically I dressed up as a Meiko, which is a woman training to be a Geisha. I could not believe how heavy the outfit was, and how many layers it took.

This was the outcome. We had professional pictures done as well, but they allowed us to go outside for ten minutes to take our own pictures. They did a fabulous job!!!

Adam,Me, Lola and Chris

I thought this was a beautiful street. It was located behind on the street behind our hotel.

This was the entrance to one of the Shinto shrines. Not anything specific I just like the picture.




Kyoto was a wonderful trip, and the one place I really wanted to visit in Japan. It's the old capital of Japan and there is so much history and culture to experience there. These are a few of the pictures, but there were many more. The other pictures do not do the city or places justice, and the most amazing places we saw we could not take pictures of. In case anyone wants to look them up on the internet here are some of the wonderful places to see in Kyoto

Nijo Castle-one of my favorites. In order to warn the shogun and his guards of people entering, when the floor is walked on it sounds like birds chirping. It is impossible to walk across the floor without it making a sound. The temple itself was built by the founder of Edo Shogunate in 1603, and the original structures still stand. The artwork from the period can also be viewed on the walls and doors.

Sanjusangendo-I think my second favorite temple. Inside the temple are 1,001 statues of Kannon (the goddess of mercy). The statues are absolutely breathtaking. Here is a link to the history of it, as well as pictures. We could not take pictures inside, and these of course do it no justice!!Take note of when the statues were built!!
http://www.taleofgenji.org/sanjusangendo.html

Ryoanji: is a Zen temple near the golden palace. The famous rock garden was very peaceful. I could have sat there for hours, and can see why philosophers do. We have a picture but again it does it no justice and just looks like dirt!

We went to Gion Corner which is a complete tourist trap, but we had the opportunity to see 5-10 minute shows of the most popular entertainments from old Japan. We got the opportunity to listen to gagaku, see Ikebana made, take part in a very very simple and short tea ceremony, watch No(a play) and watch traditional dances and puppet plays. It was definitely worth going to!!