Returning to Mecca

It's that time of year again...General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...and the LDS Chaplains' Conference! Only this time, there is one small difference for us. For the past 8 years, we've traveled the short distance from Southern California to Salt Lake City, Utah mostly by car...occasionally by air.

This year, it will involve an international flight. I need this conference like oxygen for the coming year, so I know that it will be worth the journey.

Stay tuned and I'll try to give you the play by play!

A Spider the Size of Your Face

Jake spotted the hugest spider I've ever seen at the base of Habu Hill. I guess it's a pretty common spider, but I hadn't seen one in real life before.



Can you spot it up in the trees above Jake?



Probably not...so I'd better zoom in for you.



Trouble is, from this view point, you really can't appreciate the size of it. What do you have to measure the scale?



Let me help you with that. If you can't judge it's size against the branches of the tree, imagine your face right behind the web. Now imagine the legs wrapping around your chin and extending to your forehead. Yep...it's that big. I will NEVER enter Habu hill in darkness. EVER!

Flashback Friday...Camping

After Field Medical School in 1993, I swore I'd never again go camping, if I could help it.

I mean, once you've lived through the misery of sleeping in your clothes for days, in the dirt, and eating cold spaghetti out of a foil pouch at 4 AM...WHY would you do this for FUN?

Well, evidently I softened up a bit, because our family has had MANY fun times while tent camping*. Here's just a couple:


April 2001



May 2005

*Air mattress for mom required.

Long division has the same effect on me...

After completing his math homework, Jacob decided to retire to his room to play. I checked in on him about an hour later and this is what I found:



I'm right there with you, buddy!

More Mr. Hotstuff

Notice anything amusing about this picture? (Besides how much Patrick appears to dig himself?)


We were just goofing around taking pictures of Patrick's rippling muscles and then noticed Jesus standing on Patrick's shoulder, whispering in his ear. I was relieved not to see the devil standing on the other shoulder.


And speaking of rippling muscles...here's Patrick at today's Cross Country meet. He's actually doing quite well.

Go Dragons!

Yoshi's...the sequel

It was Friday and we were all missing Troy and wondering what he was doing and hoping the game was going to go OK and all...so we decided to soothe our anxieties with an outing to Yoshi's...after all, Cliff hadn't been yet!



















I wonder what Troy's eating in Yokota?

Flashback Friday...Where's Jesus?

This is one of my favorite flashback stories, so I'm surprised I haven't blogged it sooner. It took place during our move from Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, CA down to San Diego, CA (a little less than an hour away) back in June of 2001.

Jake was 2 1/2 and attended "Toddler School" down at Children's Hospital in San Diego every weekday afternoon. He happily watched the movers doing their thing in the morning (they were like tornadoes whipping through the house) but just before lunch he and Dad had to head down the road to get Jake to school.

When Jake got home around 6 that night, he came into the living room, looked around and said, "Where's Jesus?" I thought for a second, and then beamed with pride as I thought of Jake remembering our picture of Jesus which had been hanging on the wall. You know the one...



I said to Cliff..."How sweet! Of all the things that have been packed up, it's the picture of Jesus that Jake misses!"

My smugness was short lived, as the movers walked in, having returned from their dinner break. Jake ran up to one of them, pointing and shouted..."There's Jesus!!"

Here's some pics of "Jesus" hard at work:






I know His life was a ministry of service...but I don't think I remember any scriptures about Him helping anyone move.

At least the mover wasn't offended. In fact, he said it was the nicest compliment anyone had ever given him.

Troy's Yokota Trip

One cool thing about playing sports for an American school overseas...away games involve a plane trip and hotel stay. Mostly, we just play the other DoDDS high school on island, but at least twice this season, the Kubasaki football team gets to travel to mainland Japan to play other schools.

I was sick and didn't plan on going to the school to see off the bus to the airport, but Troy forgot a couple of important items, so I had to drag myself out of bed. I'm actually glad though, because I got these great pics...






The head coach letting them know what he expects of them...



Putting their muscles to work loading up the luggage...



Coaches Bales and Geist...these guys are great!



I thought the human chain (viewed through the bus windows) to load the luggage was pretty cute, but don't tell any of them I referred to them as cute, K?



Finally ready to go...



But not before the principal tells them all what he expects, too...and explains the term "international incident".



Look at all those suitcases!



And they are finally on their way...

I made my way back to the van...and promptly broke down sobbing. I was so excited for Troy to have this experience...and it was just 3 1/2 days, for crying out loud. I knew I shouldn't have watched Fiddler on the Roof again (darn those Joneses for lending it to us).

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

I know it sounds cliche' but honestly it seems like just last week I could fit him into my arms. Now I look up to him...literally and figuratively. All I could think about was that in a year or two (depending on where he attends college before his mission) we'll be saying a WAY harder goodbye. I'm SO proud of him and happy for him...but so not ready for this.

I don't remember growing older
When did they?

I pulled myself together and headed back to bed. For now, I guess I can blame it on my illness...next week, I'll just be back to being an ordinary cry baby.

Yo Quiero Geico?

When I said these guys are everywhere...I really wasn't kidding. While waiting to place my order for a late dinner at the drive thru last night...I saw this guy pop into view. It was hard to miss him with the background illumination. I don't know how he got inside, but I'm guessing he was lost.

Flashback Friday...Never Forget

I didn't know what to expect this year as we remember 9/11 in another country, while it was still September 10th back in the USA. Usually, beginning with the Today Show, I would watch as many tributes as possible, maybe even attend a remembrance event in person, if possible. Since it wasn't possible, I had to look up my own tributes on the Internet. The first one I found posted to Facebook by a friend. It was produced by the LDS Church and it pierced my heart. This man is such a testament to the choice that each of us has to make, between bitterness and fear...or faith, hope and joy. You can find it here.

Since I didn't have another story to tell, I decided to go back and FINALLY scan and upload the rest of the photos to last year's September 11th post...which you can read again here.

We spent the evening at Troy's football game...and although nothing was formally mentioned, I'm sure I was not the only one feeling a little more somber and grateful as the JROTC paraded the colors and a beautiful student soloist sang the National Anthem.

I will never, ever, ever forget.

God Bless America!

Cross Country Modesty

Patrick's Cross Country uniform came in...



As soon as I saw it, I was prepared to either offer my sympathies, or tell him it really wasn't TOO bad...you know, offer him some sort of consolation...like, "You'll be running so fast, no one will notice" or "At least everyone else has to wear it, too." Turns out, it wasn't needed...



Patrick's face lit up almost as soon as he walked through the door, as he exclaimed, "I...look...sooo...HOT in this!"

*sigh* I don't even know what else to say...

Breaking Bread and Burying the Hatchet

Some of these faces might look familiar, and you might be asking yourself if the Hatfields really invited the McCoys over for dinner? We did...AND Family Home Evening to boot!


With so many between us, the kids' table was pretty crowded. We had to put in both leaves!



And the adults were relegated to the coffee table!



I had them all captivated during my lesson on gratitude.



And the activity? What else? Karaoke...baby!



The Joneses discovered that Elijah really has been listening to what they play in the car...



And Josh and Patrick make for a pretty studly duo.



I can hear the hearts breaking all over the world!



But their air-guitar...



doesn't even come close to Jake's air-guitar!



We had a major Copacabana jam session (is any evening of karaoke complete without it?)



And Josh and Brenda shared "What they like about you".



At 10:30 (on a school night, no less) it was finally time to go...so I decided to send everyone off with Etta James' "At Last"...which turned out to be a serenade to my Cliffie (it just came naturally). I don't remember who, but one of the Joneses scrawled this sign really quick, and they all started swaying back and forth, American Idol style.

Which brings me to my new nickname, of which I am proud...Carrie-Oki.

We had such a blast, we need to make this a regular event. This is even more fun than toilet paper and popcorn put together. With chopsticks on top.

The way to a man's heart?

I know I've mentioned before, how pathetic the food was where Cliff just spent the last 6 months. For whatever reason, this little base was not on the same contract as the rest of the bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nasty doesn't begin to describe what the food was like. One evening on the phone, Cliff said to me, "I knew when I walked into the mess hall and it smelled like vomit, I should have just turned around and walked out." Instead, he paid and got as far as the food line, let the smell of expired fish overwhelm him, THEN walked back out, getting a refund as he left.

This hurt my heart, as food is such a morale issue, and I knew he was doing a very psychologically taxing job, day and night. Every time the topic of food came up, I told Cliff to keep a list of everything he wanted and I'd make it ALL when he returned. This, coupled with needing to take him to all the great restaurants we had found, explains his 7 pound weight gain since he's returned home.

I didn't take a picture of all of them (missed the chicken enchiladas, the chocolate chip cookies and the brownies, maybe more) but here's some of the highlights.


Apple Pie
(notice it's made with love?)



My world-famous pizza, Hawaiian style


(before and after)



Cardiac Arrest Lasagna with 4 cheeses--ricotta, mozzarella, provolone and parmesan--not to mention fresh herbs, sweet sausage and sauce from scratch.


(inside and out)

And we're still working on the list. I haven't made him a cherry cobbler yet...or homemade rolls... or chicken and dumplings...or tenderloin steak...or shredded beef burritos. This is going to take some time!

Flashback Friday...Defensive Line Destiny?

When Troy was a year old, he was the size of a 3 year old. We used to get all kinds of football comments. Once, on vacation, a man (after staring at Troy for a long while) told us we should just start taping up his foot now. (I know nothing about football, so I just politely chuckled.) Cliff is a big football fan (especially the Chargers), but none of his boys inherited that trait...or so we thought?

I had all but forgotten about this picture. It was Troy's Halloween costume in 1996. We weren't big San Francisco fans or anything...this actually centered around needing a picture to go with an awesome Christmas letter my friend (Auntie Janette) wrote for us that year. It was so fabulous, it actually didn't matter that it contained no actual news of our family happenings of the past year. We did get a couple of complaints (along the lines of, "so now are you going to give us a REAL update?") but it was worth it. I don't know if I have a copy of it here, or if it's in storage back in the States, but if I can find it, I'll share it as a flashback.

At any rate, it's kind of hilarious to contrast this picture with Troy in uniform today. Do you believe in destiny?

The Promised Land

OK...maybe not quite...but Yogurtland, Promised Land...close enough!

This fabulous treat just moved into American Village...and we are now looking for excuses to go as often as we can. There are several choices of frozen yogurt...like 10 or so, and then all kinds of wet and dry toppings, and you pay by the weight. It starts out harmless enough...I'll just get a little each of a couple (or 6) flavors and a few (or 10) toppings. Next thing you know, you've got an $8 creation.



Tonight, we celebrate Troy's football game. Notice I didn't say football "win". Anyhoo, win or lose, there will still be dessert. Yogurtland makes it all worthwhile!

What can we think of to celebrate next?