Ari Sleeping

Ari Sleeping

I went in and checked on Ari tonight and this is how I found her. Do you think she is comfortable?

Valentines Day

Valentines Day was wonderful this year. Bryan spoiled both me and Ari. We had wonderful meals and just enjoyed being together. Here are some cute pictures of Ari.

Virginia Beach Aquarium

Since Bryan is not in class yet we have enjoyed some family time. Last Friday we spent the day at the Aquarium. Ari was a trooper. I don't know if she saw much, but she was a good girl. She even watched the 3D Imax video and loved it. She wouldn't wear her glasses, but she danced to the music. We are looking forward to spending lots of time at the Aquarium with our membership.

Grandma Y.

I use this blog kinda as a journal so if you don't want to read this long post skip to the next.



My grandmother passed away on the 25 of January. Bryan and I were in Southaven, MS when we got the news. I took it pretty hard even though I knew grandma was so much happier. She would no longer be in pain. I was also thankful that we had taken the time to go and visit with her just the week before. My grandmother was my hero. I admired her for her strength and talents. My love for gardening and cleaning come from her. My stubbornness also comes from her. I will always remember the family gatherings, the craft projects, working in the yard, quilting, and just spending time together. I know she loved me because she supported me in scholastic endeavors as well as my extracurricular activities. I love you Grandma Y.

NATSUKO "NAT" ITO YAMASHITA Natsuko "Nat" Ito Yamashita passed away on Monday, January 25, 2010 due to causes incident to age. She was born on August 25, 1925, in Ogden, UT, to Nizaemon and Hana Ito. She married Frank Yamashita on February 13, 1946, in Elko, NV. Frank died on August 10, 1965. Nat grew up on a farm with four brothers and four sisters. She attended Weber County schools graduating from Weber High School. Nat was a homemaker all her life even though she had to work outside the home. She lived in Plain City and Hooper, UT, and Harrisonburg, VA. Nat retired from DEL-MED and Cutter Laboratories, Inc. as a quality assurance technician. She was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since her baptism in 1969. She enjoyed doing arts and crafts, collecting salt and pepper shakers, gardening, and spending time with her family. Her children and their spouses are Wayne and Carleen Yamashita (Vancouver, WA), Janet and Dennis Shiozawa (Palmyra, UT), Dennis and Mitzie Yamashita (Hooper, UT), Nancy and Jeff Smith (West Jordan, UT), Natalie and Richard Shimizu (Springfield, MO), and a baby son, deceased. Nat has 16 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Nat is also survived by her brothers, Sam (Carson City, NV) and Dean (Kissimmee, FL); her sisters, Aki Tokita (Boise, ID) and Toyo Tsuchida (Chicago, IL); brother-in-law, Jim Sumita (Thousand Oaks, CA); and sister-in-law, Elaine Ito (Campbell, CA); and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; one grandson, Frank T Yamashita; brothers, Joseph and Frank and sisters, Grace Nakasone and Miye Sumita. The family expresses sincere thanks to her friends and ward members for their care and concern as well as the staff at Beehive Homes in Clearfield, UT, and Haven and Applegate Home Health. A viewing will be held on Friday, January 29, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Myers Roy Mortuary; 5865 South 1900 West. A private family funeral service will be held on Saturday. Interment will be at the Hooper Cemetery.

Richmond Trip

Last weekend I needed to make a trip to Richmond to get ranked as an official.  I plan on officiating on the weekends to make a little extra money.  Bryan's cousin Crystal and her family moved to Richmond last fall and they were nice enough to allow us to invade their home for the weekend.  We had a really good time.  Sad that we both had to move across the country to spend time together.  Their little boy Solomon is only a month younger than Ari, but Ari looks like she is quite a bit older due to her size.  Ari should be walking any day now.  Thanks Josh and Crystal for a wonderful weekend.

Playing with Grandpa

While I was out in Utah for my grandmothers funeral the girls were able to play with grandpa.  This is the same grandpa who said he didn't want anything to do with them until they were two.  This is also the same man who went out and bought not one set of blocks, but three different sets of blocks because his grand-daughter needed blocks to play with.  Here are some cute pictures of the girls playing with grandpa.

Sandbridge Beach and Wildlife Refuge

We actually had a day of decent weather, meaning no rain or snow. The wind was still strong, but we needed to get out. We decided to go and see the ocean. Seeing as we have been here two weeks and I hadn't been to the Ocean yet. Ari didn't think much of our outing. She slept through the whole trip. The dogs loved it. We are taking advantage of taking the dogs out. As of the 31st of March we can not longer take the dogs to the beach.

New Years 2010

It was nice to be able to spend the holidays with family this year. We went on our annual family snowmobiling trip. Ari was even able to go with us. The day was rather warm. She fell asleep before we could take her out on the sled. Next year.

After snowmobiling we always have our annual tempura dinner. This dinner is a lot of work so it only happens once a year. This year the younger kids joined in to help since Toshi and I may not be able to make it back every year.

Welcome to Virginia Beach

How do you go from this picture to the following video? The picture above is of our apartment complex. This is what the weather was like the day before we moved in. The video shows what the weather was like when Bryan and the kind ward members moved our belongings in. I had left the day before for Utah. So far the weather hasn't been to great here in VA. But we have met some really nice people and are enjoying being together.

Christmas 2009

Well, we made it home from Rhode Island just in time for Christmas. We started by celebrating Christmas Eve at Bryan's sister home. We had a ton of fun. Ari enjoyed frosting her camel for the cookie nativity.
We celebrated Christmas morning with my family. Ari really didn't understand Christmas, but she was fascinated with her little car. We hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas.

OCS Graduation

I know I am a little behind in the posts, but hey I have been busy driving across country the last two months.  As you can see above Bryan graduated and doesn't he just look so handsome?  Graduation was a great experience and I am glad that I didn't miss out.  Rhode Island was beautiful even if we got hit with a blizzard.  Oh, I can't forget to mention how fabulous the food was.