Schools out

Woot! Schools out for summer break and we could not be more excited! This has been quite the year of sports, clubs, crazy unnecessary amounts of homework (Emi) and church activities. We'll start with Porter.
He talked Jared into this:

Drove it for several months and sold it recently so he can purchase a fixer upper. He is really talented when it comes to repairing things! I am super proud of his talent and brag to anyone who will listen. He has repaired vehicles for several friends and family and really enjoys it. He also got a job! He is working as a bagger at he commissary and making pretty good money. We are really proud of the kid that he is and starting to feel sad about only having him around for another year. It goes by soooo fast. He also took a culinary class this year and is an amazing chef. Imagine that? He can fix your car or make you dinner. 

Making Sushi at our favorite sushi rest. on island NEWPORT! 

 Porter's biggest accomplishment this year had to be the earning of his Eagle Scout. This is the culmination of many years of hard work, and the dedication of awesome scout leaders and friends. So Proud!

Emi had a busy busy year with student council. She started highschool this year and took it by storm like she does everything else! She immediately ran for Freshman Class President and won. She did a great job with all of her fundraisers and activities that were required of her. She also worked very hard for her grades and did a TON of homework. She is still participating in gymnastics, but wants to do volleyball in the Fall so we are thinking it's time to set gymnastics aside for awhile.  She attended her first high school dance, took honors classes, and turned 15! Ack! 

Sam had a great year in softball this year! She pitched and played third base. She was great at both of course. She has more athletic ability than the rest of us and we really enjoy watching her play. She participated in an advanced literature class and enjoyed it for the most part. So much homework! 

That's my girl working for home plate! Get it Sam!

Cole, well, he's Cole :) He also had a great year in school and surprised us with his reading abilities. He is such a fun kid.  Always smiling and ready to jump into fun. UNLESS, you are asking him to get ready for school. Not his favorite thing to do. He has a funny habit of sitting in the laundry basket (or any other small space he can fit into) when watching T.V. I think it's kinda cute.

I started subbing this year and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.  3rd grade is probably my favorite and I have had some amazing mentors. Cole will be in good hands next year if we are able to stay. I'm hoping this has everyone caught up and filled in! I'll try to be better about keeping it updated. 

Technical Difficulties and a once in a lifetime trip :)

After several attempts to fix our old blog, okifrybreads.blogspot.com, I gave up and moved our blog over to wordpress, which I really was not happy about. I decided to just start anew and move it back to blogspot, under a new name. Hopefully this will go smoothly! I have a lot to catch up on, so bear with me as I give a rundown of the last year or so.

We found out in February that we were going to have to leave the island because we have been here for 5 years, and the government likes to make up rules that adversely affects the efficiency of a well running program, and disrupts peoples lives.  So we have been in 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' mode ever since. Jared has applied for jobs, and we have applied to stay here. We'll see. It's frustrating, but at the same time, we can't do anymore than we have already done so now it's just a waiting game.

Because of the surprise announcement that we would be leaving, we weren't granted our RAT travel that we were counting on. We had a family reunion planned with the Fryars and were extremely disappointed.
Jared found a class he could take in the states and Porter and Emi earned money for a plane ticket so we were able to send three of them. Porter and Emi are headed for EFY this next week. I think they are pretty excited!

Last month Jared and I took a trip to his old mission area. We had such a great time! We started in Kyoto and went to some shrines. My favorite was Fushimi Inari-taisha. It's thousands of Tori gates all lined up the mountain. It was absolutely beautiful weather and the day was just about perfect. 


We then went to Kanazawa and visited the branch where Jared began and ended his mission.  The night we arrived our friend Yoko picked us up at the airport and she and her husband Hiro took us to a famous gyoza restaurant that Jared has been talking about for 20 years!

Hiro and Yoko

GYOZA!

After church on Sunday we visited Kenrokuen Gardens. The flowers there reminded me so much of my Mom and my Grandma. I wish they could have seen them.









The next day Jared and I headed to Osaka and Universal Studios ALL. BY. OURSELVES. It was so much fun! We rode a very scary rollercoaster, took silly pictures, and had an absolute blast. Halfway thru the day it started pouring, but we didn't let that stop us! We donned our ponchos and tried to hit every attraction at the park.

How the Japanese do breakfast. Egg Salad with wasabi and tomato.