Talk

today i gave a talk in church!

although michio was there, he didn't speak because he usually works on sundays

so last night keiko's kids spent the night

they stayed up playing video games sometime after 12 which is when i went to sleep

michio had the boys give me back massages... they could use some practice haha

my shoulders are sore from rolling eggrolls!

seriously a workout...

his sister sells eggrolls to fundraise for all of the kids sports...

and last night we made about 25 dozen... only half way done with her order.

so we woke up this morning playing video games,

and i still hadn't written my talk.

i spent most of my morning sitting in the hallway on the laptop getting it done.

we had chocolate chip waffles for breakfast! yummm!!

so anyways my talk was on the holy ghost.

i timed myself and was short about 5 minutes.

so i called up the little bro alo to get some good missionary holy ghost stories, and thats exactly what i got =] (thanks again)

when i was preparing and telling michio i needed more to talk about i said:

"you think i should throw in a fake cry??"

... i was joking of course.

but thats exactly what happened!

except not a fake cry... a real one!!

and it was so silly too... man i hate crying up there lol

since we are new to the ward i was telling about us and our story.

i shared how i thought he was kinda creepy and broke up with him...

and then i told how he moved away...

and on my next sentence i started crying!!

without crying i was supposed to have said "every single day that michio was away he sent me a goodmorning text. he literally never missed a day."

... and for some reason i couldn't get through it...

i guess i really do love the guy

and i have to thank my mom, whom i have inherited the super random crying from...

it was just so weird to me because it wasn't like a spiritual moment or anything... lol

but anyways... the rest of the talk was kind of boring cuz i was just reading.

i shared the stories that alo shared with me,

and i also shared how grandpa changed his life, and because he listened to the promptings of the holy ghost he is now a patriarch and has been able to give all of us grandkids our patriarchal blessing... cuz how many other people can say that!?

and then i told about their example of not being able to drive to the temple that is 3 hours away, so they take the bus.... which is totally awesome!!!! 

they are such great examples =]

love you grandma and grandpa!

and of course i tied in how my dad and all of my uncles and brothers have gone on missions and the blessings i have seen in their lives from following the promptings of the holy ghost...

and that was pretty much it!

in other news... it is supposed to stay in the 100's here until friday!!!!!

what the heck!!!! seriously....

other then that, nothing exciting enough to share on here =]

Healthy Eating

first we just wanted to share this video.

we had a few of michio's sisters kids over

this is robbie

we are always conscious of eating healthy...

and we also make conscious decisions to not eat healthy sometimes.

but yesterday we decided to eat all green!!!

green salad with green cilantro lime dressing

(and meat of course... but not green meat... eew)

and of course green icecream!!!

Come on a Virtual Tour

here is a video tour of the new place!

let us know what you think =]

Short Post

several things happened today

#1. someone stole my bike!

(at least no more dirty butt...)

#2. michio sold the 4 runner

#3. four hours later he bought a 2003 jetta tdi

our 4runner was getting 15-18 mpg... soooo horrible...

but the jetta we got is diesel and stick shift... it gets 45-50 mpg =]

we're just trying to manage and save as much money as we can wherever we can

we got a really good deal on the car so it will definitely help!

School....

lets get the sad news out of the way.....

R.I.P forever to our beloved money

i found out today that i will not get any financial aid for the summer =[

my heart is torn to pieces from this loss...

this is pretty much how it goes here at sac state

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

sac state: "we offer financial aid for summer session!"

me: "yay!!! my other school didn't have that!"

sac state: "yeah, but you only get leftover grant money that you didn't accept from this past fall/spring"

me: "well i already accepted all of my grants for spring/fall"

(grants are 100% free money... so of course i accepted all of it fall/spring!)

sac state: "well then yeah, you get no money... unless you want to qualify for loans! But if you want to try and qualify for loans, you have to sign an agreement form and pay us $318... but it's not guaranteed that you'll get any loans."

and of course i had to go through asking 4 people to get this information

i was pissed for like 10 seconds

and ever since ive just been so sad.... lol

so anyways... i am taking 3 summer school classes

6 units is considered "full time" in summer.

i am taking 8 units... so i'm above full time,

which leaves no time for working.

i wasn't planning on getting a job anyways.

 the program in the fall is said to be mon-fri from 9-6.

so i've been quite busy with school work.

idk if this is sad or not...

but i've realllly been enjoying watering the lawn!!!

school is just so stressful and there is so much reading!!

(im supposed to be reading anywhere from 50-100 pgs a day...

psshhh....like thats gonna happen....)

so watering the lawn gets me out of the house and it completely takes my mind off of school!

before i post pictures of my school

i wanted to post some pictures of one of our last family activities before we left!!!

we went to guppy's and got shaved ice!!!

lailee was so helpful to volunteer herself to compare how big the shaved ice was

and here comes the photos for my school

this is the most beautiful campus i have ever set foot on!!!

but to start off ... 

this is what most of my 45 minute drive to and from school looks like,

with many open fields

and the occasional orchards

and right over this hill is a neighborhood.

in some areas instead of the city paying for someone to mow,

they let farmers herd their sheep to trim for them.

this is one offramp away from where we live

everyday getting off the freeway i get to drive down this beautiful street!

it is pretty close to downtown where they have much bigger houses.

i love how the trees start to swallow the street

michio and i invested in a free bike for me to get around school

i park at the institute, which is across the main street of the campus

what would normally take me 15-20 mins to get to class,

now only takes me around 8 

side note >>>>>>>

(i started riding the bike last week,

and today was the first day i realized that the bike seat makes me look like i pooped my pants!!

ive been walking around the past 4 days with dirty butt...)

as i was saying:

this is the first thing you pass by after you cross the main street

this is such a beautiful thing to see every morning!

then right next to it is this tunnel

the first time i rode the bike i was so excited to ride down the hill into the tunnel!!!

and shortly thereafter i realized i had to ride up the hill after the tunnel too....

that was the only time i rode through the tunnel.

  

and then you get onto campus

this is the front of the library

and they have these wooden structures with plants growing all over them with a bench underneath all over the place

and this is just on the way to the book store

but pretty much everywhere you are walking you are 90% of the time under a tree,

which is really nice since it can get so hot here.

and here is a sneak peak photo of our next blog post

this is the street we live on !!!!!!!!

and for your viewing pleasure....

Not So Lucky

soooo...

we have been having problems with our toilet/tub!

for some reason there was leaking coming from somewhere around the toilet,

which would also lead to the tub filling up from the drain.

this would happen a couple times a day.

we have dedicated 3-4 of our bath towels for mop duty the past couple of days.

one time... i went #2.... then flushed.....

and less than an hour later some of my poo was coming up the tub!!!!

so gross.... lol

but yesterday our landlord finally sent a plumber.

he fixed everything really fast!

so the house we are renting has been vacant for a little over 2 years

(apparently the landlord is suuuuper picky... i guess he liked us)

basically, since no one has been living here for a while,

the poop that was fresh a few years ago was still in the pipes because no one went pee or poo after them.

the poo stayed in the middle of the pipe and got flakey, then dry, then super crusty and hard.

and things started to pile up because it was stuck to the pipes,

just like when dog poop dries up and gets stuck to cement.

have you ever tried to scrape that stuff off !?!?

so now that we've lived here we have gone pee and poo,

it has resulted in fresh poop coming up our tub...

the plumber described it using much nicer words like "bowel movement"...

but i feel that most people are visual learners and need more description

hahhaha

on a more positive note,

we are getting a free oven today

only the stove part of our current oven has been working

we found that out after i made muffin mix and put it in the pan all ready to go...

our oven has pilot lights, which keeps the top of the oven warm and really hot in some spots.

seem pretty unsafe to me

also, michio had his first day at home depot on tuesday

(he hated it)

apparently they only like one person working in the department at a time

so if he has to go to the bathroom he has to find someone in the store to cover for him,

and if he needs to take his break he needs to find someone that can work in the paint department

sounds so stupid.

its not only stupid when taking breaks, but it also creates a long line of customers!

he has worked one other day since then... and he said its a little better

i was talking to my sister in law about it.

she said that we should just call in every few days and complain about how they need more than one person at a time in the department

in other news...

yesterday was sooo freaking hot !!!!!!!!

it got up to 106

and today is gonna be even worse!!!!!!

the high is supposed to get up to 114!!!!!!!

we're gonna dieeeeeeeeee

Church

yesterday was the first sunday in our new ward

we started with sacrament meeting first.

the ward is awesome.

i have never been to a ward where so many of the primary children bear their testimony in sacrament meeting

there was literally 20 children that went up

(i counted)

i asked some members of the ward if it is usually like that

to my surprise that was a "low" day

wow!!!

it is so wonderful to hear the testimonies of children

they are so precious and so brilliant !!!

not to mention the powerful spirit they can bring

here are some of the things i just had to jot down that they said:

>>>>>><<<<<<

"...and i know that it is good to eat good foods..."

"...i know that jesus live in the clouds..."

"...i am grateful that i get to see my family in Oroville (neighboring city) after church..."

"...i know that joseph smith is a hero because he made the bible..."

and our very own fijian/tongan/white nephew decided to start his testimony by saying "ola"

it was such an awesome testimony meeting =]

our niece mele sat with us during sacrament

she asked us "what are you guys doing after this?"

i thought she meant after church... so i said "i dunno"

she went on to say "oh, cuz you guys can go to old mens or old womens!"

HAHHAHAHHAHAHAAAA

she is sooo cute!

right after sacrament we met with the bishop and his counselors

bishop takahashi...aka... michios dad

he just wanted his counselors to get to know us better

so we both told them about ourselves, where we have worked...if we're going to school

and then michio's dad went last and told us about himself

he is soooo sweet!!!!!!!!!!

he told us a little bit about his life

and he ended with how happy he is that michio found me

he called me a "miracle"

and then he started crying and said "ok im done"

then last was elders chorum and relief society

michio said there was a whopping 8 people in class

bishop told us there are about 700 members in the ward

but only a little over 300 attend church

relief society is so funny

after they did their announcements they had time set aside for "good news" moments

so women would share what is going on in their lives,

like "my first grandchild is graduating from high school this friday!"

then the women would say their "ooooohhhhs" and "ahhhhhhs" in perfect unison

another cool thing about our ward is that they have a high hmong population

so in every hour you will see people with headphones.

they have people translating everything for them

in relief society a hmong women sits in the back with a microphone translating everything for the other hmong women.

one of the hmong women also bore their testimony in relief society.

one of the other hmong women translated for her....

but she did say "amen"

so i guess we are liking things here so far =]

and i forgot...
i started school today!!!
not fun...
my class today was 4 hours long.
it is kind of boring and the people in my class are so smart!

Olivehurst

so it's been 4 days since we've moved into our new place

so far we have:

been to walmart 4 times

went to 4 baseball games and 1 softball game (nieces and nephews)

baby sat

met neighbors from 3 different houses

killed spiders, pincher bugs, and nats inside the house several times a day

got a new fridge and new couch

went to a yard sale
had a video game session with a nephew at our place
only lasted one day without espn
took a bath for the first time in over a year and a half
been dieing from the 95 degree avg weather
michio has ran 3 speed and agility practices for the nephews
driven through beautiful country roads

went fishing
(michio caught 3 and kept 0, i caught 8 and kept 5)

and ... we haven't set up a single room in our house yet

i have seen a guy with purple hair and a purple beard

several people with only a few teeth

3 people with missing limbs

dumb tattoes like "love me or hate me"

and more.

its been great !!!

michio worked the day after we arrived with his brother in law to make some extra cash

on monday i start school and michio starts work

since we haven't really come that close to setting up our place i haven't taken any pictures

but there will be pictures sometime in the future!