Jacob's Birthday in Boise

So, Mike had to go to a "Kettle Bell" training in Boise, so we all decided to tag along. While he was in boring meetings all day, we got to hang out with the Bells. It happened to be Jacob's birthday, so we decided it would be fun if we all went to the Boise Zoo. It wouldn't be a true zoo trip if we didn't feed the goats:

We always have to ride the carousel too:

Jacob and Mia lookin' at some animals:

Checkin' out the murky slough that you can pay to ride a boat across:

Ridin' the cute little tiger:
After the zoo, it was naptime. So the babies took naps, the older kids watched a movie in Jason and Mandy's theater room (so cool), and the mommies made birthday cupcakes. After naps we went swimming in the nieghborhood pool (also soo cool!) and then got ready to go to dinner. Since there is a Chuck E Cheese in Boise and since that is Jacob's most favoritest place in the whole world, that is where we went to eat and play.

So first, scarf down some pizza so I can play:
Then get a big hug from Chuck himself:


Then off to play. Jacob was old enough this time to get his own tokens and just use them at his will. Mia liked to ride the little rides. Barney was one of her favorites:

Then it was time for cupcakes. Jacob couldn't wait to dig into them. But first, he had to blow out his candles:And then he was in heaven, eating his cupcake:

We love our little Jacob! He is such a cute little guy and so loving and loveable. He always says, "I love you Mom," or "Mom, you're my best friend, " without being prompted. When someone says sorry to him, he says, "Sanks for saying sorry" with his cute little lisp. He has the biggest, brownest eyes that make you melt when you look into them. He loves to read books, especially ones about nature and natural disasters. His favorite book right now is about hurricanes. He also loves Toy Story and the Cars movies. Whenever someone gets hurt or is crying, he is the first to go over and ask "What's wong?" and see if he can fix your problem. We are so grateful for our little Jacob and love him so much! Happy 3rd birthday buddy!

August Adventures

I love August! I love the hot weather, the playing in the sprinkler, the swimming, the harvesting of the garden, and of course, the going back to school! Every August, Idaho Falls hosts the Roaring Youth Jam. We try to go to it every year because we have so much fun! They have awesome FREE things for the kids to do and fun, cool, FREE shows to watch on stage. The kids want to do everything and we try to get everything in. Here's Ethan trying to hula a huge hula hoop: Jacob making his clay creation:
Ethan and Asia making clay stuff:
Mia figuring out what to do with her clay:

Racing their homemade boats:

Painting the giant dragon:
It was all very fun, except for the part when Jacob got lost... I think it was the scariest moment of my life! I feel yucky right now just writing about it. We all took a break from the activities to take a potty break. We all finished up and started walking to the next activity. I went to get Jacob to sit him up to the table and he was nowhere to be found! I started to walk up and down the walkway where we were and he was gone! I started to panic because the river was right there, rushing along really fast and I figured he had drowned in the river trying to catch the ducks or something. So many nasty things were going through my head! It had only been about 2 or 3 minutes, but it seemed like hours! I finally talked to this woman at an information booth and she told me that they had found him, just wandering around aimlessly, trying to find us. Sooo scary! He was so scared too! I burst into tears when they brought him to me and then we left! That was enough adventure for me!

Another exciting thing that happened in August was I was able to get 2 braids in Mia's hair! She actually sat still after bribing her with treats and T.V.! Her hair is a lot different than Asia's. Asia's hair is very thick and started coming in a lot sooner than Mia's did. Mia still has a cute little baby mullet, so we do the best that we can with what we got!

More July Happenings

So, I turned 32 this year. Yippee! (sarcasm) I try to say to myself that age is just a number or that I just get better with age. But let's face it, getting older is so not fun! My body isn't the same, my mind isn't the same, and life in general is not the same. I usually only feel this way on my actual bithday and then things just go on their merry way until my next birthday. This year the feelings are lingering. It might be because my ankle still hurts after spraining it over 5 months ago, or because I can't get rid of the belly fat from having my last kid (2 years ago), or maybe it's because I really need a vacation!! Something's gotta change, so tell me what I need to do to get out of this funk. In the meantime, the vacation planning is in full swing!
In other July news, our strawberries really took off this year. So much so that I was actually getting sick of picking them! We made a bunch of jam and ate a bunch with ice cream and cereal. They're my favorite summer fruit. I don't know what we'll do with them all next year. This is one of our first pickins':
Now, I just thought I would post some pics of one of our zoo trips. We love the zoo, especially the petting zoo part. This was Mia's first time petting and brushing the goats. It wasn't her favorite thing! The goats were all bigger than her and a bit intimidating I think:

And the last thing in July I want to blog about was Ethan's first pinewood derby. He was so excited to make it with his dad. It was a very fun experience for the both of them. Ethan planned out the design, helped carve out his design, spray painted it, and glued on his weights. He did a really great job!
His car won some and lost some. We actually found out, near the middle of the races, that his car went faster backwards! We must've weighted it wrong or something. So from that time on, he put his car on the starting line backwards and he won a bunch more races!

Yamada Family Reunion 2010

So, we had a Yamada family reunion this past summer with all of my dad's siblings and their kids. It was so fun to see people that I hadn't seen for a long time and some people that I hadn't even met. The first day we drove to Spokane and spent the night with Mike's sister's brother-in-law. Here are the kids sportin their super cool sunglasses. They were pretty good for the whole drive. Thanks goodness for DVD players!

The next day we drove the rest of the way to Harrison Hot Springs in British Columbia. The drive was beautiful! Everything was so green and fresh! The weather was pretty good almost the entire time too. There was a lake and beach area just outside our hotel, so we spent a whole day there playing in the water and catching minnows:

See my dead minnow!

The rest of the time was spent lounging in and by our hotel pool, eating wonderful food, and visiting with amazing people. It was a very fun, relaxing vacation for the most part.
Here's my whole family minus my sisters Naomi and Christina. We missed them!

Here's a teeny picture of the whole Yamada clan. You can't really make-out who anyone is, but this is about how many people were at the reunion!

On our way back home we decided to spend a night with my friend Kamille and her family. It was nice to catch up on the good ole days with her. She has an amazing memory and helps me remember things about our childhood that I have either forgotten or have buried down deap! Ha Ha! She has a wonderful family and it was so nice of her to have us stay the night. Especially being 8 or so months pregnant! Thank you so much!

Next it was off to Seattle to spend the day. We checked out the Space Needle and said instead of all of us going to the top, we'd spend our money on the cheap carnival rides next to it! I think the kids had more fun doing that anyway.

We had to spend a little bit of time in downtown Seattle. I love it there! My fave is Pike's Place. I just love all the fresh stuff you can buy there everyday. Nothin like that around here. We like this Japanese restaurant down by the market. It's always good and not very expensive (for Japanese food anyway). And we always have to buy something from the bakery there at Pikes Place. Sooo yummy! Here we are, enjoying our pastries with all of the homeless people drooling over them!
That was our big family trip for the summer. Hopefully we can do something like that again next year!