japan roundup

i feel like this is the longest post ever. its taken so long to get the pictures all organized, but i knew i needed to finish up my trip to japan in one post or it would take me forever to actually get done with it. so here we go-

on our flight from lax to narita. we were extremely lucky to get an extra seat so isaac could have a spot. i purposefully booked our seats to have (in the middle row) both isle seats and one middle, leaving another middle seat open... which means a person wouldn't likely book that seat unless the plane was full. luckily it worked.

while we were driving we saw two of my parents sister missionaries talking to a women out on the street.

of course we had to get a purikura = sticker picture. this one automatically makes your eyes bigger... i guess thats a want here in japan.

we had a fun outing with my parents and went and played park golf and then let eli play at the playground that was right next to it.

getting ramen is a must. especially when its in the little shop around the corner from my parents that is so tasty. my vote is for shoyu ramen, others in my fam prefer miso. and i didn't get ready this day... so try not to judge : )

and yes, they have a costco... which saves my mom since she cooks for a ton of missionaries all the time.

for two years in a row i have been able to be in japan for my parents anniversary. how long have they been married you may wonder? a long, and wonderful 30 years. i think its safe to assume their greatest joy in those 30 years was having me as their daughter. right mom and dad?

the missionaries like to go all out for my parents (which i love) so they had a big p-day activity at this park where they played a bunch of different games so we joined in some of the fun (or sat around and watched/chased eli around...)

after the activity all the missionaries surprised my parents with a video of every single missionary on a video wishing them a happy anniversary and some did some funny little bits. they made my parents a cake and had them feed each other a bite of it to relive the moment 30 years ago.

they then left us that night to fend for ourselves so they could go have a romantic evening out. i guess thats understandable. i really feel so blessed to have them as parents and are the greatest examples to me on how to live your life to its fullest.

on our last night there, we went back to these awesome tori gates that lead up to a little shrine. i wish i would have thought to come while tanner was still there so we could get some family pictures... but oh well.

eli trying to pull away from me... sounds about right.

e being weird...and i love it.

poor jet lagged eli. this was when we arrived back in los angeles... just long enough for tanner to pick us up from the airport, take us out to lunch, take some of our bags off our hands, and drop us back off at the airport to continue our journey to utah. (i can't get this underline off)

we passed this in the slc airport after just arriving. thats chester elton, tanners uncle, who co-writes all the employee recognition books (aka the "carrot" books). i of course felt the need to document this.

so thats it. thats the end of our adventure out to visit my family in sapporo, japan. its sad that will be the last time we will go. but its great that the next time we see my parents they will be done with their mission and will be back in the states. can't wait!!