North Carolina

This past October our little family went to North Carolina to visit some of Chris's old stomping grounds. We stayed with one of Chris's best friends (Dave) and his amazing wife and cute kids (Erin, Joshua and Leah); they showed us a great time by taking us to the State fair (Amazing fun and Amazing Food), Late Night with Roy (Incredible!), and UNC Campus (Beautiful!).

We were also able to get together with our dear friend Amber! It was nice to catch up with her and feel of her sweet spirit.

Oh, I almost forgot! We were stopped by Chris's Aunt and Uncles Home in Williamsburg. They live on a beautiful little peninsula (a childrens' play land). So fun to see them for a little while.

I don't think I could have had more fun in one weekend!

Joshua, Jeremiah & Leah

Chris's Home in Chapel Hill NC.

The Old Well on UNC campus. 

We love Amber.

                   

View of Hocker's backyard.

Love on the lover's swing!

Time

I never realized how special and valuable time is; it comes and it goes so quickly, passing by without return. (I often wish that I could push a pause button and just linger in a moment for a while.) 

Being in Utah with my family gave me the desire to live more happily and participate in as much as I can while I can. Because I'm pregnant I often feel too tired to want to play or be with Jeremiah. But, I know that if I sacrifice my comfort for the time I can spend with Jeremiah I will never regret it.  I might say to myself in the the future, "I wish I had spent more time doing things with Jeremiah." But, I will NEVER say, "I wish I hadn't spent so much time doing things with Jeremiah." I think most of you agree that you would say something similar. So, Let's spend more time with our loved ones and use our time to do wonderful things! We can never get our time back.

4th of July

It was a wonderful 4th of July yesterday!!

We had a ward activity in the morning and Jeremiah was able to ride his trike around the church parking lot behind a police car for the kids' parade. He had such a blast and it was fun to be with our ward friends. So many of them have served or are currently serving in many military positions. I am so grateful for those who serve us and continue to make this country a place of refuge.
In the evening we celebrated by going downtown DC to watch the fireworks and enjoy the atmosphere. It was 97 degrees and extremely humid but, being on the National Mall for the 4th is well worth the discomfort.
Jeremiah couldn't get enough of the music and people. He ran around and round looking at everyone and giggling. 

While we were dancing at the concert I looked around at all of the many diverse faces surrounding me. As I watched, I also listened to their voices with accents from all over the world singing in unison to the music. The words were:

"We got to give a little love 
have a little hope
make this country better 
try a little more, harder than before
lets do what we can do together
Oh oh
we can really make it better
oh oh
only if we try"

WOW! :)  It was so touching to be among such a large plethora of people who had gathered together to celebrate a country that has given us all so much. Isn't that so cool!? And Isn't it so true? We can make this world better by just trying,  having faith, hope and love. I believe that we can make a difference and that our founding father's set up our government the way that they did so that we 
would and could make a difference.

After the concert was nearly over we walked back to our camping chairs to watch the fireworks together. Jeremiah loved the fireworks and kept saying, "boom boom, wow wow." It was really cute and such a fun experience for him.

I don't know that I've ever seen such an amazing firework show anywhere else in my life. It was a treat to sit with my family under bursting flames of light and just enjoy the night. I take for granted the freedoms and luxuries that I have just because I live in the United States of America. There are so many around the world who can't sit down or even sleep at night without worrying about how they are going to survive the day. 
We have so much to be thankful for.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and got to spend time with your loved ones.

Maui

Jeremiah and I were able to return to Maui for my grandma Honda's funeral. It was a beautiful service and ended up being a wonderful time to spend with relatives. Even though funerals are often difficult to attend I have always loved the fact that they bring family and friends together again. Of course there were moments of tears but most of the moments were filled with joy in remembering the sweet life of my grandmother. 

My Grandmother was many things but, most importantly, she was a disciple of Christ. She left behind a legacy of faith for her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We all know of her testimony and are guided by the lessons she taught us while she was alive. 

I am so blessed to know that families can be together forever and that my grandmother is reunited with her sweet husband once again.

One of the best parts of being able to go back to Maui was being able to see my sweet mother. I love and miss her very much. She exemplifies the kind of person I want to be and strive to become.

Jeremiah's First time to the Beach!

Animals

Jeremiah LOVES animals. Lately, he has been finding all kinds of animals around outside. He loves them, hugs them and carries them around with him. The only thing he has a hard time with is being gentle. Jeremiah doesn't know his own strength yet.
On Easter Sunday Jeremiah was on the back deck throwing a garden snake by it's tale, last week Jeremiah excitedly brought me a snapping turtle and the day after that had fun playing with a frog.

Jeremiah loved his turtle. He carried it around in a white ice cream bucket and loved to hold him. I think he held the turtle a bit too tight because every time Jeremiah picked the turtle up it would urinate. Jeremiah thought it was funny that the "water" came out of the turtle; he liked using his turtle as a water gun.
 Jeremiah has shown me an appreciation for all living things. I'm so glad that Heavenly Father gave us such a beautiful world full of all kinds of animals.

I wanna be like you!

Jeremiah is at a stage right now where he wants to do everything like everyone else. His favorite person to mimic right now is his uncle Sam. Jeremiah makes sure that he always has his rugby ball for all of Sam's rugby games. He also screams loudly and tries to run on the field to play with all of the big boys.

Because Sam is so good at a wide variety of things, he has a huge opportunity to be an example to his peers. We are so proud of him for always living his standards and being a missionary in the way that he lives. Because of his example, one of Sam's friend's, Joon, is learning about the gospel. Joon is a wonderful guy who is full of faith and has many Christ-like attributes. We feel like Joon is part of our family and enjoy having him around so much. I have been blessed to witness Sam teaching his friend Joon and Joon learning gospel principles.

Both Sam and Joon have been Jeremiah's buddies. They are so sweet with him and even though they could just ignore him and do their own thing, they play with him and make him feel happy. No wonder Jeremiah wants to be like them.

(Sam's friends: Joon and Caitlyn)

  

There is Beauty All Around

 I don't have a lot of time to write but pictures are more fun anyway. Enjoy!

These are pictures taken from behind the house. Everything is in blossom and beautiful. We love going for walks on the trails outside and seeing all of the wonderful things Heavenly Father created for us. Jeremiah loves the wildlife around here. There are always bunnies, dear, giant squirrels or other critters around the house

 For Easter our wonderful Neighbors and ward friends threw a party. All of the little ones were able to play games and hunt for easter eggs. It was so cute to watch all of the babies and toddlers. They didn't quite get the whole easter egg thing but they loves running around and taking eggs out of and putting eggs in each others baskets. 

Jeremiah thought that the eggs were fun all by themselves. He thew them, rolled them and just laughed and laughed. But, once he found out there was candy inside of the eggs he was even more pleased!

We went to Belle Isle for spring break and had a fantastic time. Bell Isle was beautiful and relaxing. Most days were spent playing games in the sun room/dinning room and going canoeing. Jeremiah loved playing in the water but didn't like getting bumped around by the waves.

Chris and I went out canoeing at sunset and enjoyed the beautiful colors.