Danny, Seidi, Charlie, Mina

Fall and Toledo Zoo

2011-10-19T18:42:00.001-07:00

I love the fall here in Ann Arbor. Colors are beginning to change and it's just gorgeous. We've done our fair share of apple picking (3 times) and bottled an assortment of yummy foods. Definitely one of my new hobbies that I'm becoming a little overly-obsessed with. The kids are growing and Danny continues to work super hard. We try and take advantage of any time that we have with him. One warm Friday, Danny had it off, so we took off to the Toledo Zoo in Ohio. It was only a 45 minute drive and SOOOOO... worth it. Charlie hadn't been to a zoo since we moved here so he was totally excited. Other than the fact that we had to stop and buy Charlie some new shoes (we forgot his at home), it was a perfect trip to the zoo. Great weather, spam musubi's, and lot's of fun animals to see. Charlie was in heaven. He still asks me almost every day if we are going to the zoo.

Best part of picking apples...eating apples to your heart's content.

Check out Charlie's awesome outfit. Summer hat, shorts, with his sweet new shoes.

Spam Musubi's!!! No comments unless you've tried one. They are our favorite on-the-go lunch. Charlie probably ate 4.

Since Danny's never with us, I never get to take pictures with both of my kids. Gotta take advantage. :)

Baby elephant that's a month younger than Mina.

One of three white lions they have at the zoo. Apparently, they were donated by Siegfried and Roy.

Hike on one of the little nature trails.

Pickin' Apples

Charlie loves his daddy!

I'm 27...NOT

2011-10-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

So Danny and I just had this conversation:

S: I can't believe you're 28.
D: I'm not. I'm 27.
S: No, you're 28. I'm sure.
D: No way. What year is it...October of 2011 (pause)...oh my gosh!!!

He blames it on his lack of sleep and the fact that med school has all blurred into a mass of time. We had this discussion because we were trying to figure out when we were going to be really done. He'll probably be 35 and I'll be 32. That's a long time. We shouldn't have figured that out.

Michigan

2011-08-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

We're here in Ann Arbor with internet, finally. I'm too overwhelmed by the thought of blogging all that has gone on in the past couple months but I'll give you this... We're together as a family in a great place that we already have come to love. Charlie is just happy to see his dad again instead of over skype. We definitely miss Utah but are so glad we made the jump to move to a new place. Here are a few pics.

Danny and Charlie playing at Independence Lake.

Danny enjoying Mina while she's awake. That doesn't happen very often.

Before Charlie's Haircut

After...and after playing in an awesome rainstorm. I miss his hair so much but it was almost child abuse to keep it long. He was a sweaty mess after five minutes of being outside.

Danny mowing his lawn. Definitely one of he and Charlie's fav things to do around here.

Charlie with his new friend Spencer who lives just three houses away.

My little Mina with her cute smile.

And this one's for my mom...Jello Beans!!!! Thanks, Mom. Charlie loves them.

Dr. Daniel Noall Bennett, M.D.

2011-05-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

My husband is a doctor. Do I call him one to his face? No way. I told him he isn't really a doctor until he finishes residency. I'm mean like that. But seriously, I am so proud of Danny and recognize how much time, effort, and just plain ol' hard work he has put into this degree. It is such an accomplishment and definitely the hardest thing he's ever done.

Saturday was Danny's graduation. He spoke at his commencement because he was one of the co-presidents for his class. He did a great job. He spoke on the Hippocratic Oath and how they should all remember why they went into medicine. It's easy to become a little disillusioned and a little self-conceited during medical school. I can't tell you how many people have become so obsessed with becoming the "best" student/doctor and the highest paid one at that. I think for most students, they went into medicine because of the doctors they knew...they were respectable men/women in their communities who served those around them. Danny just encouraged his class to remember those people and to remember the type of person they were striving to be before medical school...that and a bunch of other stuff. :) He really did a great job and we were all so proud of him.

We both can't believe that he's done, that we're moving our family to Michigan, and that we're going to be receiving a real paycheck next month! Kind of crazy. We're excited for this next phase of life, realizing that it's going to be super hard but a wonderful growing experience. We're especially grateful to all of the wonderful people we've met during medical school. Definitely the "cream of the crop" as my mom would say. We've made some great friends and made some wonderful memories. Here's to the next phase!! Thank you to everyone who has made this possible...that's all of you. :)

This is what the whole day felt like...a blur.

Danny's name on the program.

Danny speaking. If you look closely, you'll see his hair sticking up from his hat. :)

Danny and his proud parents.

Danny and my family.

Our little family.

Danny and JJ. We missed a picture with Wayne and Taryn.

The Brimhall's

The Zaugg's

After graduation and our nephew's baptism, we raced down to Provo for Jake and Jess's wedding dinner and reception. Jake is one of Danny's high-school buddies. Their reception was awesome. They had little firepits where you could roast mallows and make smores. Charlie, of course, ran into the river and covered himself in soot. If you look closely at this picture, you will see the soot marks that cover his whole front. He's a little hoodlum! But look at that face...he's so stinkn' cute.

Mina Inouye Bennett

2011-05-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

Our little girl was born on Mother's Day. Yes, definitely the BEST Mother's Day present anyone could ask for. She was 2 1/2 weeks early, which is kind of perfect in my book. She was 6 lbs. 2 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Everything went really well other than the fact that we missed a whole ton of delicious food from all the parties we missed that day. I guess the only sad thing is that I had to eat hospital food on Mother's Day. Oh well. She's beautiful and we couldn't be happier. We just can't get over the fact that we are now a family of four and that we have "kids." Crazy. Wish us luck!

MICHIGAN!!!!

2011-03-17T13:39:00.001-07:00

So, we matched. We're moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan. I can't believe it. I am both happy and sad. I am happy because Danny is so ecstatic to have gotten into his 1st choice and that it should be an awesome city to live in. I am sad because I have to move and leave my family. I can't even talk about it. Danny and I keep asking ourselves, "What did we do?" I can't believe that we have chosen to leave. It will be a good experience, though. Right? So yeah, we're moving. Please come visit me!!!

Important Issue

2011-03-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

Hey friends,

I read this blog post on C. Jane today and it really hit me hard. I just thought I would share it with everyone and anyone. Although I would never diagnose myself as someone who has dealt with a "real" eating disorder, I, too, think about my weight probably way too much and I have had countless numbers of friends who have dealt with serious problems/addictions concerning food. In addition to that, self-confidence is something that EVERYONE deals with. So...read the post. I hope it enlightens you. Love to you all.

Seidi

We're selling our Condo!

2011-03-01T20:49:00.000-08:00

If you know of anyone interested in buying a condo near the University of Utah, please send them our way. Visit our condo blog for more details:

bennettcondo.blogspot.com

It's a great place. I promise.

Traffic school

2011-02-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

So here I am, sitting in the Salt Lake City Justice Court waiting for traffic school to begin. Lamo. Yes, I got a speeding ticket. I like to drive fast. I'm from Gunnison for heaven's sakes! Anyway, I'm pretty proud of the fact that before I met danny I had never gotten a speeding ticket in my life. That's probably because of the fact that i knew all the cops in Gunnison and when they did pull me over, they would just give me a warning or just roll there eyes at me once they saw that it was me. Man, I wish I was in Gunnison again.

For the purpose of journaling, I never wrote down this story of my first pull-over experience so I'm going to do that now. Since I have nothing better to do. I guess i could listen. :)

I think I was just 16. Gunnison main has the speed limit of 45 and then drops down to 30 at one point. I was with one of my BFF's, or partners in crime as my dad would call her, in my silver Volkswagen rabbit. That was an awesome car. We were singing our hearts out and were completely oblivious to the fact that the speed limit had changed. Suddenly, we realized where we were and immediately slowed down, but alas, I was too late. I suddenly saw the blue and red lights flashing and panic set in. The first thought i had was, "oh, my dad is going to KILL me." luckily, the cop that pulled us over was Rud, a friend and a really nice cop. He walked up to the car and I frantically told him that I was sorry and that me and Sara were just singing and totally forgot about slowing down. He literally rolled his eyes, chuckled to himself, and waved us on our way. Just another reason why you all should move to Gunnison.

I got pulled over one more time in that awesome town and i think it was by the same cop. This time I was with both of my BFF's and we were all sitting in the front seat. Actually, now that i think about it, I can't remember if I was driving or not. Maybe Mckell was driving. Either way, one of us was sitting on the middle console and none of us were wearing our seat-belts. Rud comes over, see's that it's us, and starts shaking his head. He then begins telling us that he pulled us over for drunk driving. We were appalled! of course we weren't drunk! He then starts laughing and says something to the effect of, "now that i see that it's you girls, I know that you aren't drunk but just driving like you normally do." we had our laughs and he didn't even mention that one of us were sitting on the console. As he was walking away, he turned, looked back at us and asked, "do you know that you have a big tumbleweed stuck to the bottom of your car?" turns out, we had a tumbleweed the size of our car stuck to the bottom of us. We had just been ba-hawin' through a big field trying to find something from a scavenger hunt. Rud didn't need to know that.

Oh look, class is almost over. Yay.

I'm slow.

2011-02-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

I know this is common knowledge, but apparently I'm not very techy. So turns out that you can make all of your blog entries into a book quite easily. That makes all of the time spent blogging actually kind of worth it. So, in consequence of learning that bit of information, I am going to actually try and be a more consistent blogger and blog about more of our daily (more likely weekly or monthly, let's be honest) lives. I then plan on printing it out so to have a sort of journal of the year. As you can tell, I really stink at journal keeping too. Poor Charlie. He will have no memories of his first two years. Anyway...because of that new plan, I've decided to privatize my blog. Even though I know that nothing is really safe on the internet, it probably will make me feel better knowing that random people can't just click on this link and read about me and my family. Only the crazy, computer genius, and scary people will be able to break in and read about my life. That's much more comforting, don't you think? So yeah, if you want to be able to read about us, leave me your email address. If not, I won't be offended. :) We're not all that interesting anyway.

Here's a little treat for your eyes. Charlie and cousins Hiro and Ai-Chan...all the same age and just 5/6 months apart. I think they are so cute!!!!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T12:56:00.001-08:00

This year is going to be crazy, but we're super excited. There's too much to update on for this quick post, but I wanted to let you all know that we are expecting a new little GIRL on May 25th. Can you believe it!?? The crazy part is, Danny graduates on May 21st and may be speaking. We'll see how that one turns out. :) Wish us luck!

Happy New Year!!!!

Belly Up

2010-10-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Our fish went belly up last night. Charlie still does not know. He is going to freak out once he realizes the "ish, ish, ish" is gone. Danny has now nicknamed me, "The Fish Killer." Mean, huh? I will take the responsibility of his death, though. I was really bad at remembering to feed him.

It happened like this...last night, Danny and I were about to go to bed when Danny looks over at the fish and says, "Seidi, the fish is dead!" I ran over only to find the fish kind of on its side but still moving.

"No he's not! He's still moving," I say.

"When was the last time you fed him?" questions Danny.

Very innocently, I answer, "I don't know."

"Well hurry and feed him. See if he'll eat." So I hurriedly poured some of his food in. The poor fish tried to swim toward it and happened to get a little bite of something. I continued to tap on his tank trying to encourage him up to his food. But, he couldn't make it. We took his tank to the bathroom and scooped him out to clean his water. Danny turned on the water and let it pour onto the fish. I think that's what really made him keel over because shortly thereafter, Danny noticed he was bleeding at the gills. Traumatizing. So sad. I almost started crying. "It's too late, Seids. He's a goner." He was going to make me do the dreaded flushing, but I couldn't. Thankfully, he took the container and poured it into the toilet.

As the fish was swirling down, I quietly said, "Goodbye, fish. Sorry I killed you." And just like that, he was gone.

Danny turns to me and says, "Fish killer. You better buy Charlie a new fish tomorrow before he notices he's gone. Fish killer." Then he starts laughing uncontrollably. Mean boy.

Seriously, I've never seen such a resilient fish. He was given to Charlie by his best friend, Benjamin Sorenson, when he moved to Tuscon. The fish was given to Ben for his 1st birthday in March. What 25 cent goldfish lives for 8 months????? So ridiculous. With that said, I am so sad that I killed the fish. Honestly, he was was not a hard pet to keep and I still managed to kill him off. So sad. Sarah and Ben, so sorry!! You should have taken him with you to Tuscon.

Summer 2010

2010-10-06T20:03:00.001-07:00

Where to even begin? Sometimes I just think I should quit this whole blogging business because I am SO bad at keeping it updated. And then when I want to update it, it takes me SO LONG because I have a bajillion pictures I end up loading. So dumb. Anyway, for those of you who want to see what we've been doing all summer, here's a synopsis with a ton of pictures of Charlie. :)

July-August 2010

First time playing at Liberty Park in the water fountains with Bennett cousins. Kind of sketchy. Super fun.

Charlie and Will. Will's only 4 months older than Charlie, but there is obviously a BIG difference between the two.

Charlie and cousin Jaden. Jaden is so sweet to my little guy so it's so fun to watch them play. Thanks for being such a great cousin, Jaden!!

Charlie and Will "playing."

Danny's adopted sister from Spain came to visit this summer with her family. Since Espana had just won the World Cup, she brought soccer uniforms for the boys. I think it was just about the cutest outfit, EVER!

We spent a bunch of time at our pool with Karen(my sis-in-law) and her kids. Buster and Charlie like to swim but they mostly like our pool days so they can eat snacks.

This picture was taken in June right before our dear friends, the Sorensen's, left for Tuscon. It was our last condo/young couple get together before they left. We miss you guys!!!

Sarah has been my go-to girl for the past 3 years and I am DYING now that she is gone. Charlie and Ben are only 3 weeks apart and had spent almost every day of their life together before they moved away. Needless to say, it was so sad to say goodbye to our dear friends.

Here's a picture of Charlie and Ben during a quick visit while Sarah and Ben were back in Utah. We hope we'll always be able to see them even if it's only for a few minutes! You guys are welcome ANYTIME! Love you!!!

So, one of our biggest adventures of the summer was our Bennett Family Reunion in Glacier, Montana. What a gorgeous place! It was a long drive to get there, but it was a great trip. We hiked a bunch, saw some neat wildlife, and viewed some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen.

Here is our little family on one of our first hikes. Charlie really likes his backpack. :)

At the top of this hike was a freezing lake with four beautiful waterfalls flowing into it. Do you see them?

Even though the water was freezing, Charlie still insisted on playing in it. And by playing, of course he fell in. He didn't mind.

Our next big hike. This hike ended up being about 12 miles. Almost halfway through it, Charlie was getting cold and kind of sad. Danny, being the good dad that he is, decided to turn back and bring up the cars for us at the end. It was a good decision that I have to admit, I wasn't apart of. I'm so obsessive that I can't start a hike and not finish it! It was totally selfish and I'm so grateful Danny is so not like me in some ways. It may have been a good thing I didn't go back with Danny cause I ended up carrying Gonzalo (a little Spanish brother who was 5 years old) pretty much the rest of the way. But that's really my way of justifying that I kept on going when my little boy was not having fun. Well, we all made it in the end, right? Maybe I've learned a lesson. Maybe.

Charlie's first big owie on his head. He was running around in a parking lot up in Glacier, and fell. He had a big rock stuck in his head. So sad. His perfect little face. I almost cried.

The entire family was able to go white-water rafting except those with little kids. That included me. Sad. But that's okay, cause with the company of Kate and Monica, we enjoyed the scenic boat ride down the river. Charlie did not like the life-jacket. Here's us after the fun.

On our way back from Glacier, we went through Yellowstone. We spent the night right outside of Yellowstone in these great little cabins right on the banks of some of the best fishing in all of Wyoming. What the river's name is, I can't remember right now. Sad. Here's us on the banks.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Charlie of all time. He found this stick that was his perfect height and carried it around all night. He looks like a little old man!

After Yellowstone, we stopped in Jackson Hole to see my dear friend, Annalece Boothe, in "Annie Get Your Gun." She was so cute! There ended up being about four additional friends that I hadn't seen in years that were in the show. So it was such a fun surprise! The show was great and Charlie did amazing in it. He literally watched quietly and intensely for the first half. The second half was occupied by treats. He's an amazing little kid.

After Jackson, we went straight to Bear Lake where we got this picture of Charlie's funky hair. I never actually style my little guys hair, but when it's coated in sunscreen, how can I resist. He looks like a little Asian punk.

He also likes to eat sand.

Once getting back from Bear Lake, Danny basically had one week to get his stuff together and get to Portland, Oregon. He spent the entire month of August up there doing an away rotation in Internal Medicine. We missed him sooooooooo...much!!! Thank goodness for Skype. While Danny was gone, Charlie and I tried to stay busy. The first weekend that he was gone, we went back up to Bear Lake for Raspberry Days. We went to the parade and got lots of candy, went to the yummy breakfast, scouted out the craft fair, played on the beach, and went to the rodeo in Laketown.

Charlie loves the tractor that pulls the boat out to the beach. Sadly, our boat sunk that weekend. Another story for another time.

Sara, Logan, and Jack were able to come for a quick visit while we were on the beach. Sara's a BFF from Gunnison and I love her and little Jack Jack. Logan and I are just friends. :)

At the rodeo in Laketown. Charlie and his Papa.

The weekend before Danny came home, Charlie and I headed down to Lake Meade with my family. We had so much fun! We spent an entire day on the Lake and Charlie did great. The water was so nice and warm and Charlie loved swimming, even with his life-jacket. Check out the pictures. The life-jacket that he's wearing is the one I wore as a little kid. Seriously. It's old.

This is one of my favorite pictures. My dad and Charlie have a very special bond. Maybe it's because he's the one who literally brought him into this world. I don't know, but I love seeing them have so much fun together. Charlie loves his Gramps!

Another one of my favorite pictures, EVER. Isn't he the cutest? This was his first experience having a sucker. Oh was he in heaven.

After Lake Meade, we stopped and spent a day or so in Gunnison where Charlie was spoiled even more by his Grandparents. Poh Poh (my mom) let him eat all the watermelon he wanted. Trust me, he can eat a lot.

While in Gunnison, Fatty and I decided we wanted to go fishing...for old times sake. We got Dad to get off work early and we headed up the canyon all together. We ended up at Emerald Lake, probably one of our most favorite places on the planet. We fished, caught enough to eat, grilled it along with some Rib-Eye steaks, and ate a most delicious meal. Of course we brought some rice along. :)

Charlie LOVES the four-wheeler. As soon as we get to Gunnison, he goes and finds it, points to it and makes his four-wheeler sound.

Charlie and Gramps fishing. Another favorite.

Charlie and Poh Poh. He loves his Poh Poh. Maybe more than his own Mama sometimes.

Charlie was a little confused when a fish suddenly appeared, but totally fascinated at the same time. He even touched it and would not stop saying "ish. ish. ish." Translation: fish, fish, fish.

Here's Charlie and Uncle Aaron reeling in the first fish.

One of our last excursions before Danny got home, was visiting our Mitarai cousins up at Snowbird. We got to ride the tram up to the top, played in a fun park, and Charlie cut his foot open on a glass that I knocked over and broke. It was a very eventful day. Luckily, kids heal quickly and no stitches were involved. There was lot of blood, a sad boy, and a freaked out mama though. Thank goodness for calm Auntie Hiroko and Uncle Mark.

Here's Charlie and I at the top of the tram with the Salt Lake Valley in the background.

Charlie with cousins Lizzy and Jono.

I was able to fly up to Portland, see the city for a day, and then drive the 12 hours back to Utah with Danny. Danny lived in a co-op filled with 20 other medical students at OHSU. How odd do you find it that he only hung out with Asian's? I guess I must have that affect on him. :) Here were some of his friends that we were able to go out for sushi on Danny's last night there.

Charlie had his first real haircut just a few weeks ago. August 29th to be exact. It was kind of traumatizing for me. I just did not want to let go of my little baby boy. He's not so much a baby anymore. He has been walking for 8 months. Sigh. Plus, who would want someone to cut off that awesome mullet he had going on!? The answer: Danny. So we did and these are the before and after pictures.

Before

After

Last of all, (I'll be super surprised if any of you are still reading this.) in order to support my husband in his last year of medical school at the University of Utah, we, along with 3 other couples, joined the MUSS (Mighty Utah Student Section). I know...total betrayal. Don't worry though, among the 8 of us, 5 of us are BYU fans and only 3 are true Utah fans. We're just doing it for the experience. :) It's been pretty fun so far, especially because our friend Brynn hooked us up with awesome seats. Thanks, Brynn!!

Even though Danny is a Ute fan and dresses him up like one, doesn't this picture really tell who Charlie supports? That's what I thought.

Have a good night!!!

How am I not invited!!!???

2010-08-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

This message is solely for Megan and Brock Bleazard. I just tried to look at your blog and it looks live I've been dis-invited. You better add me to your list or I'm going to be seriously offended. Not really, but I really want to be invited to your blog! Miss you guys!

Here's my e-mail: seidi.inouye@gmail.com

2010-07-16T20:54:00.001-07:00

The past few months have been busy with Danny finishing his 3rd year of medical school (wahoo!!!), visiting some great friends who live far away, my sister Mei Li getting married, the annual Creative Arts Camp in Gunnison, and the 4th of July.

Danny is now officially a 4th year medical student. We have one more year here at the University of Utah and then we’ll be off to residency who knows where. Danny is pretty much decided on Internal Medicine. I can’t say I’m 100% happy about this decision just because of the fact that we now are not any closer to moving back to Gunnison with this field choice. Even if we don’t move back, I know I’m a true Gunnisonian at heart.

During the month of June, we were able to go down to St. George for a weekend and see our dear friends, the Bleazard’s. Danny and Brock are two peas in a pod and until they got married, were literally inseparable. They took all the same classes in high-school and college, played doubles together in tennis, and now are both in medical school. We had tons of fun just hanging out together. We are so sad we don’t get to see them more often. Mady, Brock and Megan’s little girl, and Charlie are just 1 day apart. I promise, we did not plan that!!! I think it’s so fun for Danny and Brock to see they’re kids together. Mady’s such a little talker and is so darling! We love both her and Krew so much!!! Later in the week, Brock and Megan drove up with their family and we went to the SL Children’s Museum at Gateway and then had dinner with our other great friends, Morgan and Alli. We had so much fun all together!!

The boys, together at last.

Charlie and Mady

Charlie, Mady, and Krew. It's very difficult to get a picture of all three sitting still.

The whole bunch.

On June 26th, my sister Mei Mei got married to a boy named Dave Adams. It was a very festive occasion filled with family, food, lot’s of sun, and pinwheels. ☺ Because it’s been a little while since my own wedding, and the fact that Mei lives in DC, I got a little over involved planning the wedding. Not to gloat on my obsessive personality, I will just say, I made over 400 pinwheels for the occasion. Kind of stupid. My biggest accomplishment of the wedding though, was making my first wedding cake. It was so much fun! I made a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, swiss-meringue buttercream, and wrapped the entire cake in white chocolate. It probably was a little intense for a first-timer, but through a lot of research and planning, I think it turned out okay. I really do enjoy doing these things. ☺

My cake.

Mei and Dave cutting the cake. Yes, Dave has dred-locks (is that how you even spell that?).

Our little fam in the frame that Danny made for our photo booth at the weddin'. The weathered wood was hand pried off an old shack on my grandpa's farm in Gunnison.

We had our 4th annual Creative Arts Camp this year in Gunnison the week after Mei’s wedding. It was fun being in a house filled with over 50 cousins and working with them throughout the week. The camp was a success and everybody came away from it happy…I think.

The 4th of July is definitely one of my favorite holidays in Gunnison. The whole community gathers together for dinner at the park, an auction, fireworks, the flag raising ceremony, breakfast by the Lions Club, the Gunnison parade down Main Street, and the carnival in the park. Every year, because we have so many cousins, we usually head back to our house after the carnival and have our own volleyball tournament. This year though, we gathered up the older cousins and played in the Gunnison tournament. It was super fun even if we didn’t win. Charlie had a ton of fun eating snow cones and popcorn and sliding down the inflatable slide. Later that evening, we had “World Cup Soccer!!” Now that was an intense game. There is nothing like the Gunnison 4th of July. I haven’t been for 3 years! So sad. Best of all, it was fun to see old friends that I went to school with. Nothing takes the place of those people and they will always be so special to me.

Charlie loves his cousin "Buster"

Charlie is now 15 months old. He still only has 5 teeth and I won’t even mention how tall he is and how much he weighs. I’ll just say that Danny is kind of concerned. He’s still the cutest little guy EVER!! He runs everywhere and likes to crawl in small spaces like behind the couch, in between chairs, and anything else that is narrow. He kind of says a few words like, “up, hot, da-da, and fish,” but he refuses to say mama now. I don’t know when the last time was that he said it. Oh well. I’m still his favorite person. ☺ That’s just a glimpse of our summer. Hope all is well!

Charlie has just recently been introduced to the world of PBJ's. He loves them!

He also has discovered is new favorite food, EVER...popcorn. He can't get enough of it.

Charlie's 1st Birthday

2010-04-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

Charlie turned one on April 4. We were in Gunnison for conference and Easter so it definitely brought back a lot of memories of just a year ago when I had him. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. I love my little man so much. He has brought so much joy into mine and Danny's life. We couldn't imagine our life without him.

For his birthday, we had an ice-cream party after conference with my side of the family. Charlie had a major freak out session when Jared(my oldest brother) had the great idea of taking it away from him. I've never heard my little guy scream or throw a fit like that. It unleashed the inner angry child in him.

We waited to have his "official" 1st birthday party till the next weekend, April 10. This made it so Danny's parents and Danny's brother Wayne and his family could come. Mei happened to be in town for a friend's wedding so all of my siblings were there except for Mika and Jordan. Six out of eight, I'll take it! Poh Poh, Aimee and Davey, and Ziggy were others from my family. We also had to invite Charlie's best friend, Ben Sorensen, and his mom and dad, Sarah and Tyler. They are such funny little boys together.

So, for the party I decided to go with a "Little Man" theme. Everybody calls Charlie "little man" because he looks and acts like one. Everything was "little." I made "little" invitations in "little" envelopes, "little" rolls with pulled pork, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, edamame, "little" ham cups with "little" rice balls, "little" cupcakes, "little" sugar cookie lollies, and "little" lemon pies. Can you tell everything was "little." :) Now that word doesn't look right. Anyway, I think everything turned out great and very delicious. It was super fun to put together and I think Charlie enjoyed it. He got to try almost everything and he got his own "little" birthday cake. It was healthy too (no oil, a "little" sugar, applesauce, apples, molasses, whole wheat). :) Danny thinks I'm crazy.

Anyway, it was super fun and I'm glad I did it. I think everybody had a good time eating all of the "little" foods and they really enjoyed being there for Charlie. We are so grateful for such a supportive family. We love you all!

Okinawa, Japan

2010-03-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

Although I always had the intention of doing this sooner, I finally am posting about our AMAZING trip to Okinawa, Japan. Jordan, my brother, and his family live there, so we thought it was about that time to take a vacation. Even after being in Gunnison for a month, as well as having Christmas vacation for 2 weeks, we were not ready to go back to normal life. Danny had his 4 week break, so we decided to take advantage of the situation and head over to Japan. It was honestly one of the best decisions we have ever made.

So Okinawa is definitely not "real" Japan. I understood that and am still super sad that I flew half way across the world and didn't really get to see it, especially our family farm. But...I still am very grateful that I got to go. :) It was amazing! The food was incredible, the island is absolutely gorgeous, snorkeling almost every day was awesome, I loved seeing my family so much, and did I mention that the food was AMAZING?! Oh, to eat like that every day of my life?? It would be absolute heaven! Jordan and Nats were the best hosts and their kids are the cutest kids, ever. I miss them all so much. So does Charlie. So, if you ever have a chance to go over there, DO IT!!! And eat lots of food for me!!!

The best part of the trip was being with Jordan and his family and getting to know them better. Jordan and I are 8 years apart so we've never been able to spend a whole ton of time together. I was only 10 when he left home for BYU, and by the time I got to BYU, he was in med school down in Arizona. I think we've always had a special bond though because we apparently look the most alike. We have more of the "Lew" genes. Jordan is an amazing example to me and I've always looked up to him so much. Funny, I don't think I've ever told him that. I guess I should be telling him these things. We're just kind of an awkward family. :) Anyway, Nats is equally amazing. She is hands down, one of the kindest people I know. I am so grateful to have such wonderful siblings. I love them so much! I cannot wait for them to move back to Utah so we can spend every weekend together!!!! Jordan and Nats, if you read this, I love you!!!

Here are some of the highlights from our trip: (I uploaded a bunch of pictures, so feel free to stop whenever)

Sakura (Japanese Cherry Blossom). We barely missed the Festival. So sad.

My nephew, Yuki. One of the cutest boys, ever! You should hear him speak Japanese!

Me, Charlie(asleep under the blanket), Natsume(my sister-in-law), and my niece, Aisa.

Me, Danny, and Jordan truckin' out to go snorkeling. Please don't look to close at me in that wetsuit. Not the prettiest sight.

Charlie and Aisa eating apples together. They are only 6 months apart and had so much fun together! I'm not going to lie though, Charlie was a little nervous some of the time. Ai-chan is very strong willed.

Tonkatsu with a miso sauce. Oh, so delicious! My mouth is watering at this very moment.

Charlie and Aisa at another beach.

The hunter Danny has finally come home successful!! What kind of fish did he spear???

A beautiful, but nasty, Parrot-fish!

Jordan's family on the Suspension Bridge on our hike to the Falls pictured above.

Eating spam musubi for lunch. Look at these kids. Aren't they the cutest?

We happened to be there for Jordan's 32nd Birthday. Nats and I made the delicious chocolate cake. Yes, it was very delicious.

Danny and Yuki bonding. Yuki loves to watch himself on videos.

Almost 11 Months

2010-02-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

My little guy will be 11 months in just 4 days, which means he'll be a one year old in a month. Why do they have to grow up!!!??? I love my little man. He's grown up so much in this past month. Here are some of the changes:

-FINALLY got his first tooth!!!
-started walking
-got his second tooth
-hung out with cousins and kind of started to play with them
-said Mama and meant to call me (he's already said Dada when he was 9 months old-didn't know what it meant though!!!)
-got freaked out by Totoro (Takasaki's dog) and hasn't recovered
-became super obsessed with animals even though he's terrified of them
-loves to empty the silverware in the dishwasher
-loves to empty out my towel drawer and my little cooking tools drawer
-LOVES to eat paper
-learned how to clap
-learned how to climb stairs
-skinned up Oh-Ya and up to the cornice
-skied for the second time with his Uncle Sambo
-and continues to scream and yelp when he wants anything, especially to get everyone's attention

Charlie's Weigh-In

2010-02-09T21:59:00.000-08:00

So we went down to Gunnison for the weekend to my BFF's baby blessing. Little Jack is a cutie! While we were there, we went to the office to see if Charlie has grown any. His last check-up was at 6 months and he's now 10 months as of last Thursday. Here are the statistics:

6 Month Check-up: Length-25 inches Weight-16 lbs.
10 Month Check-up: Length-27 inches Weight-17 lbs. 12 oz.

As you can see, he's SMALL. Really small. Like less than 3rd percentile small. Almost off the charts small. Get the picture?? I love him all the same though. I just hope he doesn't develop a complex.

My two BFF's from the G-town. Sara, Jack, McKell, me, Charlie

Ethan's Baptism, Visiting John, Charlie's First Ski

2010-02-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

January 2010

So I skipped Christmas and New Year's because for some weird reason, I can't find our pictures!! So sad! They're not on my computer so I don't know where they are.

Ethan's Baptism-January 2, 2010
Ethan is the oldest grandchild on my side of the family. He gets a lot of pressure for it too. He has to be the example and is told that like at EVERY family gathering. Poor kid. I can't believe he is 8 years old. Time flies by so fast! Before I know it, Charlie will be getting baptized. Ethan is a great kid though. He's super talented, smart, and has a very tender heart. I love him and am so proud of him!

The Crew

Visiting John-January 3, 2010
We had the opportunity to go and visit our friend John Jones' resting place at the Nutty Putty Caves. We've been meaning to do it, but it's been hard getting out there. We went out as a little family with Danny and John's other buddy, Jake Jennings. The drive was longer than expected and it got a little crazy on the dirt roads, but in the end, we made it just fine and we were super happy we made the effort to go out. The whole time out there we kept saying, "In the spirit of John, let's go on an adventure!" We all miss John a lot, especially Danny, but we are very grateful for our memories of him. Even though this was an unexpected resting place for him, I think he is super happy with the view. It is truly beautiful out there.

Danny and Jake

Charlie's First Ski-January 5, 2010

A few days after visiting John, we decided to take Jake up to the cabin with Sam and Isaac. If you don't know, Jake is an intense skier and fully appreciates any kind of good powder. Those kind of people are always welcome at our cabin. Anyway, at the cabin, you can either ski/board down the road and have a snowmobile pick you up at the bottom or you can skin up hills(or whole mountains if you're my brothers) and then ski down. After the boys all went on an intense morning run, Sam came back and offered to take me and Charlie up "Oh Ya"(a run next to the cabin). Sam carried Charlie and I just skinned up after him. Some would say we were completely crazy but I think it was justifiably safe. :) Sam's a great skier and I completely trust him. Danny spent the whole time thinking about what he was going to say to Child Protective Services. Total worry wart in my opinion. So, we skinned up and skied down. It was super fun and I think Charlie enjoyed it.

Sam and Charlie skinning up.

Look how happy Charlie is!!

Our supporter and supervisor, Uncle Ziggy.

The First Ski!!!!

Completely Safe and Happy

Pre-Christmas with the Bennett's

2010-02-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

December 2009

We spent the week before Christmas with Danny's family. We went to Hardware Ranch, ate lots of food, and had Christmas a day early. Woo woo!!

Grandpa Noall opening his sa-weet snowshoes. I don't know how cool he actually thought they were. Oh well.

Charlie opening one of his first presents.

Me, Charlie, and Grandpa at Hardware Ranch on our sleigh ride.

One of the largest elk in the herd. Check out his rack!

All boarding up

Gunnison-Family Practice Rotation

2010-02-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

November-December 2009

We were lucky enough to be able to spend almost 4 weeks living with my parents in Gunnison while Danny did an away rotation with my dad. My brother, Sambo Bambo, happened to be doing his at the exact same time so that made it extra fun to be home. Overall, Charlie got super spoiled, I cooked a lot for Christmas with my mom (yes, we start that early), and Danny worked. Not too hard though. It was great to go home and be home for a long period of time. Sadly, I haven't spent that much continuous time at home since I graduated from high-school. I didn't realize then that once I moved out, I was really leaving. So sad! I love Gunnison and I love my parents. They are amazing!
Here are a few pictures from our stay.

The Doctor and the Future Doctors (Charlie included-don't worry, I'm not going to be some crazy pushy mom that say he has to be a doctor)
I bought these baby scrubs at Babinski's up here in Salt Lake. Amazing!! This picture made them totally worth it even though he only wore them this one time.

Charlie and his Gramps

Charlie and his Uncle Sambo Bambo

Charlie and Poh Poh

A Tribute To Our Dear Friend John Jones

2009-12-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

John Jones was one of Danny's best friends from St. George. Danny roomed with John at BYU for about 3 years. He is honestly one of the best people we have ever known and we will miss him dearly. John and Emily have become some of our closest friends as couples. They are some of the greatest examples of those who are truly trying to live the gospel every day. In a way, John was too good for this world. He truly believed in the gospel and truly believed in his Savior. And because of his belief, he lived that way. We will be eternally grateful for the influence John has and will continue to be in our lives. We love him. Our hearts and prayers go out to Emily, Lizzy, and the little one.

We are so grateful that we were able to see John and Emily just 3 days before the caving accident. They called us on Sunday and we were able to visit with them for only a few hours. It was so short, yet those few hours are so precious to us. These pictures are the from that visit.

Charlie with his Uncle John and Auntie Emily. This was his first time meeting them.

John with little Lizzy

Lizzy and Charlie. She's definitely tall for her age and Charlie is a little shrimpie. They are just 5 months apart.

Lizzy and Charlie bonding...eating cheerios together.

We love you John!!!

October 2009

2009-11-09T19:15:00.001-08:00

The Chinese Boy Hiro and His Pet Panda Charlie

Which one is Charlie???

Charlie and Bok Bok at Chuck-A-Rama

Eric Pratt, Danny, Matti, and Cam
Pratt was Danny's mission comp and Matti was someone they baptized. Matti and his family came down to visit from British Columbia so we went and met him in Salina (where Pratt and his family live).

The Pratt Family and Matti's Family
Eric Pratt married my friend Jessica Despain from Gunnison. What are the odds that two mission companions would marry two girls from the same small town! Crazy.

Sakura(Japanese Cherry Blossoms)-made by Danny

Panda and Bamboo(in honor of our Halloween theme)-made by Seidi

Carving Pumpkins with the Brimhall's

Hikes up Millcreek Canyon

Charlie's starting to eat real food. He likes to suck on apples. :)

Gardner Village with Charlie's little friend Ben.
They were fascinated with the straw and ignored me and Sarah(Ben's mom) the whole time.

Charlie sitting on his cousin Lilu and being held by his Auntie Tracy. Tracy had Lilu just a few days ago. She was the funniest looking pregnant person cause she is so TINY!

Charlie sportin' his festive shirt. Don't you think the face he's pulling looks like the skulls on his shirt?

Charlie with his Auntie Aimee. Charlie loves his Auntie Aimee cause she comes to play with him all the time. She bought his this cute little pumpkin outfit complete with little booties and a pumpkin hat. So cute! We're super sad though cause Aimee just tore her Achilles Tendon and can't visit us as much as we would like now. We love her!!

Hilarious Improv Musical!!!

2009-10-20T19:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know that I said my next post would be about Charlie but this is something you have to see. It is so fabulous! It made my whole day. Here's the link:

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/10/20/grocery-store-musical/

(You'll have to copy and paste it. The link thing wouldn't work. Sorry.)

Enjoy!

Food Obsession!!!

2009-10-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Now the food obsession is actually my own trial, not Charlie's.
Although it may appear that Charlie
loves food in this one picture, don't be fooled.
He DOESN'T! Charlie doesn't really have an interest in food yet. Yes, he's
SIX MONTHS
and counting but that doesn't really mean anything to him.
He'd rather drink
milk and just milk.
The following picture is of him eating his
green peas, also the one and only time he actually wanted to eat.
Sadly, the next day he wanted nothing to do with them.
He's pretty cute though, if I do say so myself.

Now for more details on my food obsession.
The other day, Danny and I were just enjoying some of our very few moments together
(3rd year stinks!)
and he asked me what I've been thinking about lately.
I thought for a while and the only thing I could recall thinking
about was food and cooking/baking.
I am obsessed!
I proceeded to tell him that when I have free time,
if I'm not already making something, I'm researching on blogs looking
for the latest and greatest recipes and baking tips.
Thanks to Monica Miles (a pastry chef at the Grand America and my piano student),
I'm learning all the basics.
We do a little swap (piano for baking lessons) and it is the greatest thing ever!!!
Our first lesson she taught me how to make the most
amazing chocolate cake with all the fixings-
ganache, swiss meringue buttercream, and and chocolate filling.
My mouth is already watering.
In addition to the chocolate cake we made angel food cake (from scratch!) and lemon curd.
The next lesson was on custards where we made Creme Caramel/Flan, Creme Brulee, Chocolate Pot de Creme, Coconut Panna Cotta, Creme Anglaise, Eclairs, and Fruit Tarts.
I can't wait for my next lesson!
Long live FOOD!!

The following pictures are some of my creations:

These cookies are definitely not to the level of the desserts that Monica is teaching me to make but they were fun anyway. I made them for my friend Sara Pickett Christenson's baby shower. It was my first attempt with royal icing and "flooding" the cookies. In case you couldn't figure it out, the green ones are umbrella's and the blue ones on the right are clouds.

Apple Pie to celebrate the fall!!

The Amazing Chocolate Cake!!!

Fruit Tarts

Flan

Aren't you hungry now??
I keep telling Danny that one day, I will go to culinary school.

One day (Sigh...).

The next post will solely be about my little man. Get excited!!!

Want these jeans!!!!

2009-08-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I've decided to take the plunge and go skinny...meaning skinny jeans. I'm still physically working on the skinny part for myself. Anyway, I found this link on my friend Jenny's blog where this chicka is having a giveaway. I'll do anything for free stuff! :) Here it is: Two Ellie.

Summer '09

2009-08-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Summer has been crazy and fun-filled. Here is a list of the past few months events:

Seidi and Sarah's Graduate Recital
Sarah's Wedding
Creative Arts Camp in Gunnison, UT
Bear Lake
Hangin' Out with the Cousins
Visit from Kilee and Easton
Danny starting lame Rotations
And much, much more!!

Feel free to browse the overload of pictures!

Just this week, after Danny got off call, we went and hiked up to Mud Lake up Big Cottonwood. We took our favorite picnic food: Spam Musubi. Don't diss it until you've tried it. It is the best!!!
Can you see the resemblance???

Danny PRETENDING to feed Charlie spam musubi. One day little man, one day.

Charlie loves it outside!

Rock climbing up Big Cottonwood with Sam and Aaron, both eligible bachelors. If you know anyone, let me know.

Me and the little man next to a small waterfall near to where we climbed. I actually dropped my phone in the river that day. Still works though!

As the Walker girls would say: Verizon Bars. (Sara, Liz, Emily, Sydney, Abby, and me) They're all going to pass me up one day. Sad.

Charlie being pushed around in a doll stroller by cousin Sara.

Poor Charlie. He's such a little shrimpie and Will is so stinkn' tall!

Rock climbing again with brothers Sam, Aaron, and Danny. I almost repelled with Charlie this time. Probably not the safest thing to do with your kid though. We climbed right at the entrance to Parley's canyon so the freeway was right below us.

Other lunch mates: Jenny, Kilee, and Easton.

Lunch with freshmen floor girlfriends. Michelle, Staci, and little Wesley. Wesley was born just 10 days after Easton and 6 1/2 weeks after Charlie.

Danny started rotations and is officially a 3rd year medical student. He's been on his pediatric rotation for the past 5 weeks and has enjoyed it other than the 30 hour on-call nights. I don't know how he does it. I'm slowly adjusting to the single mom idea.

Charlie and Easton. The tie was actually given to us by Kilee and Soren.

My best friend from college, Kilee, came to visit a couple weeks ago. Her little boy Easton is only 5 weeks younger than Charlie. Crazy that we both have kids!

Charlie with his new best friend that I call Mo Mo.

Jordan and Yuki bowling.

Cute little Wei Wei.

Charlie with cousin Aisa. Aisa is Jordan and Natsume's little girl and is 6 months older than Charlie. She's so smiley and is so sweet! I miss her so much!

Aiyumi loves Charlie and calls him Barley because of my mom. She also loves to play in his car seat. I don't know why. Charlie looks like he is going to squish her though. Bad angle.

Charlie and cousin Will holding hands up at Bear Lake. Will is 4 months older than Charlie.

Charlie having his first bath in a sink at my house in Gunnison. He fit perfectly!

After forgetting an extra outfit and an extremely large poo, Charlie got to wear one of my mom's work t-shirts. He looked like a little homeless kid.

One of the many practice recitals. The little girl is Mika's baby, Aiyumi.

We miss all of you that we haven't seen so far this summer and all those who have already gone home. Love you all and thanks for being a part of our lives!

Charlie's Baby Blessing 06.07.09

2009-06-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

06.14.09

We finally blessed Charlie last Sunday, June 7th, in our ward here in Salt Lake. We are officially bad parents because we didn't take ONE picture the entire day! We blessed him in our ward and then went up to Danny's parents house for an amazing lunch made up of all of our favorite foods from both sides of the family. Yum, yum!!! Charlie was surrounded and blessed by Danny, both grandpas, and seven of his uncles (Jared, Lambert, Sam, Aaron, Trent, Wayne, and JJ). We are so grateful for our families and the support that they give. Because we didn't take any pictures last week, we re-enacted it today. Here are our "fake" blessing pictures.

Charlie-10 weeks old

My two boys.

Me and my little man.

Our Family

Doesn't he have the cutest little smile!

Our Family again.

Thanks JJ for letting us use your camera!!

Easter Weekend

2009-04-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

For Easter weekend, my parents came up to Salt Lake and we had our annual "egg roll (not the food people)." Sadly, there was no sand hill to roll the eggs down so we had to improvise. We ended up going to Sugarhouse Park, finding the biggest hill there, and rolling them down a little ditch that possibly had been dug by a motorcycle trying to climb it when it was wet. Before we rolled our eggs though, we flew kites. I've grown up flying kites. On windy Sunday afternoons, we would pull out all of our kites, including my dad's home-made high-performance ones that we always crashed, and go fly them in our back yard. I guess it's kind of an Asian thing to do. Because kite flying was so normal in my house, imagine my surprise when Danny told me how seldom he flew kites growing up. Sad!! Anyway, I think he was pretty excited to fly one the other day. Here are some pictures of the day:

Rolling eggs down the not so smooth and not so big hill. This photo was taken more towards the end of the egg roll. The most memorable thing about the whole day was the flock of seagulls that attacked our eggs as they were rolling down the hill. They ate every last one of them. Crazy birds.

Some of the fam: Dad, Yuki, Miya, Ethan, Jordan, Aaron

Photo taken at the start of the egg roll (notice there are no seagulls yet).

Ethan and Yuki watching the kite.

Danny flying a kite.

Charlie sleeping at the top of the hill.

Dad and Miya flying the kite.

Grandkids and Grandpa.

So the Story Goes...

2009-04-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

If you’re one of those people who had really horrible pregnancies and deliveries (i.e. nausea, vomiting, morning sickness, bed rest, preeclampsia, 24-hour labors, episiotomies, etc.) you should probably stop reading now. If you’re okay with hearing about “abnormal” pregnancy stories, you may continue.

So it all happened on Saturday morning (it's already been a week!). I woke up feeling my “normal” 5-minute contractions (I’ve been having 5-minute contractions since I was about 26 weeks-not painful but uncomfortable). These were a little different than my normal contractions because it was in the morning and I could also feel them slightly in my back. I didn’t pay any attention to them and eventually told my dad that I was having them and that I had spotted a little bit that morning. I hadn’t had a check up for two weeks because my dad left me and went to Japan to pick up my little brother off his mission. Good thing he was back! So, after a leisurely breakfast we decided we probably should go have my check-up before conference started. This was at 9:30. We got to his office and he checked me for dilation. Well, turns out that I was already dilated to a 5 or a 6. He tells me that we are going to the hospital and that I’m having my baby that day and in 1 or 2 hours. Talk about major freak out session! I just sat on the waiting table and didn’t move. I didn’t believe him. No way I was having a baby that day. I wasn’t in any pain yet! Anyway, he forced me out the door and into the hospital.

Once checked in and dressed, I was dilated to a 7 and had to choose whether or not I wanted the epidural. All during my pregnancy I had debated whether or not I wanted to do this thing naturally or not. I wanted to do it naturally but Danny REALLY did NOT want me to. My dad said that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad because I wasn’t really hurting at that point. So I decided I didn’t want one. My dad broke my water and we were off. The contractions did get continually worse and I really regret not having the time to take a class that would have prepared both Danny and I on how to deal with the pain. I think that was the hardest thing, knowing that the pain was coming and not knowing how to adequately deal with it (breathing!!!!). I would try to force myself to relax and didn’t want anyone to touch me. Danny can verify that. Then at 9 cm. my dad told me that if I still wanted an epidural he would give it to me but that this was my last chance because I was going to have to start pushing in 3 contractions. I caved. I leaned over the side of the bed and he inserted it in. Danny says that he was flying back there. He had to put it in in-between my 2-minute contractions. He is amazing and so is the epidural!! It started to take effect immediately and I was all smiles after that.

I pushed our little boy out in about 6 pushes but we did have a little scare. His delivery was complicated by a nuchal-cord (the umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around his neck). As soon as I pushed his head out, the cord tightened and couldn’t be loosened. His face got all purple and it was really scary. My dad had to quickly clamp both ends off and cut it while he was still in me and then I had to push him out without a contraction so they could get all of the gunk out of his mouth and throat so he could start breathing on his own. It all happened so quickly that I almost missed it completely. Thank heavens he was fine and he was breathing. So, I was checked into the hospital at 10:20 am and Charlie was born at 1:15 pm. And that is how little Charlie was born! I guess he didn't want to share his birthday with his mom and little Madallyn Bleazard. Oh well.

Danny was able to scrub up and assist my dad throughout the whole delivery, which was really neat for him. It was good preparation for rotations next year! This was the first delivery Danny has ever seen. After seeing little Charlie being born, Danny is really considering going back to the idea of rural family practice again. There is nothing like it. There is no way I would have been able to have an epidural at that point if my dad wasn’t the one giving it to me and I am very grateful for that. So yeah, sorry it’s kind of long but that’s how it all happened. Thanks for all of your love and support! I can’t wait for all of you to meet our little Charlie! He is so cute and is such a good baby. I couldn’t be happier and we are so grateful that he is here safe and healthy. Love you all!

Here are some pictures over the past week. Charlie's already a week old!!!

This is his usual sleeping position: hands about his face. He's so cute!

I laughed so hard when I caught this moment on camera. He looks like the Cheshire Cat.

His perfect little face.

Danny's everyday story: Trying to study while holding the little man.

I've decided Charlie looks most like his dad. The other day, I looked at Danny and was super weirded out because I could see Charlie's little face in Danny. I think Charlie looks more and more like Danny everyday. And we thought the Asian genes would be more dominant!

Charlie Came Early!!!!

2009-04-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

Charles "Charlie" Daniel Inouye Bennett (that is kind of a long name!)
Born April 4, 2009. 18.25" long, 6 lbs 1 oz, 2 weeks early.

Bedding Fiasco!

2009-02-24T06:58:00.000-08:00

So I am not the best decorator. Actually, I am just a bad decorator. I don't really know how to coordinate things plus I am not very patient and buy things on impulse. Well, I bought this bedding from pottery barn for our little boy and I can't return it. It's super cute but I made the mistake of buying it before we bought our dresser. Now I really don't think it looks very good together. So.....anyone interested???? Danny says I can't get new bedding unless I can sell the original one first. Blah!!! If you know of anyone looking for baby bedding, send them my way. I'll post some pictures of the bedding in a little bit. Thanks!

Valentines Day 2.14.08

2009-02-17T07:01:00.001-08:00

I love Valentines Day!!! I've loved it even when I was a little girl with no boyfriend or anything like that. I loved making my valentine shoe-box decorated with paper and glitter. So fun. I loved getting valentines for my classes and of course, receiving them back. I love having a day to tell people how much I love them for being part of my life. I especially love my family and I love my Danny.

Valentine's Day is a special day for Danny and I because it kind of was our first date back in college. It's not our "official" first date because he wasn't allowed to ask me out at that point, but we did go to a BYU basketball game that night just the two of us. Of course, we were met up by friends afterwards. But, it was that night that we both knew that we both were interested in each other. I actually had made little Valentine note cards for most of my friends that day and gave them two little dove chocolate hearts with the cards. I was about to give Danny and Brock theirs when I spilled my drink all over them. Sadly, but true, Danny's was the only one that was ruined. He says he was very disappointed, but even more so when I made him another and didn't confess my love to him. :) Yeah right! Anyway, that was 4 years ago. Crazy! Who would have thought that I would marry him and be pregnant with his kid!!!

Well, for Valentine's Day, Danny made me sweet rolls for breakfast and got me this really cool flower tree. We don't know what kind it is but it's really cool. Last year, Danny got me an orchid for Valentine's Day and after that, we are totally sold on potted plants. They last so much longer! My orchid bloomed for at least 6 months after he bought it for me. Anyway, I love this little tree he got me. It's so cute! I told Danny that I would be in charge this year of Valentine's Day. I feel bad that the boy always has to make the plans. So I just made him dinner at home and then we went to the temple afterwards. It was a fun night and a great day that we got to spend together. I love my husby!

Mckell's Home!!!

2009-02-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

So, it's been a long time since I've blogged. It's been quite busy around here but I guess that's normal. Danny's busy studying for school and trying to prepare for the boards. Blah! I'm practicing as much as I can so Sarah and I can get our recital done as soon as the baby comes and before something else happens that I can't say. We're crazy! Oh well. Anyway, about blogging, I didn't want to post anything of non-importance especially because it's been so long. So I waited and look what happened...one of my best friends got home from her mission last week!!! Oh happy day. Her name is McKell Ashton and is hands down, one of the most amazing people I know. I love her to death and am so happy she's home. This is a picture of us at the airport. She wasn't supposed to know that I was pregnant and it was supposed to be a surprise, but of course, she already knew. Bummer.

For those of you waiting to see a pregnant picture, there you go. I'm 29 weeks and counting. It's not a very good one though. I'll have to post a different one. Anyone know how to get pictures off of your phone onto your computer without having to connect to the internet??

2008-11-29T09:24:00.001-08:00

Seidi and I went to Gunnison for Thanksgiving. While we were there, we had our first ultrasound.

Here is a profile:

Feet:

Legs crossed, Seidi's Favorite:

And in case you are wondering . . . (Seidi is really mad about me posting this):

"Missing picture" showing the little boy part. After seeing Bleazard's objectionable blog, I decided to edit ours.

Needless to say, Seidi is relieved. She really wanted a boy. Everyone in her immediate family has had a boy first. We are especially excited for "?" to grow up with Will (my newest nephew, as of two days ago) and Hiro (Seidi's newest nephew, as of a couple of weeks). Congratulations again JJ and Brit. We are so happy for you.

Huh? What? Uh-oh!

2008-11-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

What do you think about Prop 8? Leave a comment.

2008-11-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of the march against Prop 8 in SLC. Do you think we could organize a march for Prop 8?

The Ultimate Accessory

2008-11-16T18:07:00.001-08:00

Halloween has turned into a monster. I (Danny) have dressed up more in the past two years than the previous 10 . . . twice. I do have to say that last year I stole the show from Seidi, but that was all her doing. I dressed up like Harry Potter, and she was Cho. This year Seidi got our idea from her friend Logan C.; she wanted to be Cleopatra. Naturally, I was assigned to be Caesar (or Marc Antony, which was too hard), her ultimate accessory/prop. Halloween means so much to her because of annual cousins party at Auntie Annie’s house. It is always exciting to see the costumes: a pregnant Jen with her Butch, Seaweed and Penny (Hairspray), “Under the Sea,” Gummie Lifesavers, Legos, etc.

When I came home from school on Halloween, Seidi was in tears about my costume. I have hardly seen her so discouraged, but have no fear I came through. I even made my own garland halo thingy. If it didn’t make Seidi so happy, I would never do it. But I love how excited she gets when it comes together.

Halloween 2007

Halloween 2008

Two Posts in One Night!!

2008-11-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

Now this won't be a common occurrence so enjoy it while you can. I just wanted to quickly announce the birth of a new nephew and a new niece. Yay for babies!! My brother Jared and his wife Karen just had their third child and his name is Hiro Chia Inouye. My other brother Jordan and his wife Natsume recently had their second child and her name is Aisa Inagaki Inouye. Her name is pronounced "eye-sah". Please note where the "I" is and do not call her Asia (the continent).

Hiro

Danny makes funny faces at babies.

My buddy Ethan. He's six years old! He's getting so big.

Cute little Miya. I don't know where she came up with this face. That's probably why she get's along with Danny so well.

Aisa!!!!

This is Yuki. He's two and is the cutest little boy. That is his skateboard and he can ride it.

Applesauce

2008-11-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

So a couple weeks ago, my mom gave me two boxes of apples from our neighbors tree in Gunnison. These were some of the tastiest apples we've had all year. They were green/yellow, which I'm not the biggest fan of, but they were so crunchy and had the best apple flavor! Yummy. Anyway, she gave us those two boxes so I could learn how to make applesauce from Jolene, my mother-in-law. So, one Saturday afternoon, Danny and I headed up to his parents house to do some good 'ol homemaking. It's really quite simple to make applesauce if you have the stuff. All we did was cut up the apples, cored them, cooked them till they were soft, and then put them through Jolene's Victoria Strainer. I totally need one of those. It's the same thing we use to make ketchup and it's AMAZING. It separates a smooth pulp from all the peels and the cores. It makes everything so easy! Danny says I can't get one until we have a house to put it in. We already have way too much stuff. Anyway, after we accumulated our sauce, we put it back on the stove. The blasted stove was on too high and we started having applesauce volcanic explosions, hence, the picture of the applesauce remains on Jolene's ceiling. The apples were so sweet that we didn't have to add any sugar at all, but we added less than a 1/2 cup of sugar just for preserving sake. Anyway, it was pretty fun and we ended up with about 20 bottles of applesauce. Just another addition to our food storage, which Danny is completely obsessed about by the way. I guess it's a good thing.

Jolene and I with our apples. :)

This is the Victoria Strainer after being taken apart. It's missing the big funnel that you put the apples in and then push them through while you crank that handle on the left. The orange/metal thing sitting in the tupperware of peels is the strainer itself. We forgot to take a picture while Danny was cranking the thing. Sorry.

Jolene with the sauce. Can you believe two boxes of apples only makes that much applesauce? Don't worry though, most of our apples were wormy. We didn't waste a single one.

Volcanic Applesauce Explosions

Some of the bottles after being filled and waiting to be sealed.

We got a camera!!!!

2008-10-27T20:00:00.001-07:00

So we broke down and finally accepted that our camera is gone forever. Apparently, Danny loses them quite often. Oh well. The good new is, is that we went and bought a new one. We've kind of been picture happy because we've gone so long without one. Enjoy!

On Friday, after Danny finished his big test, we went and had our own fun little outing. Because of Danny's last minute studying and my crazy schedule, we saw each other about 2 hours total last week. We really needed some good quality time together so we could actually remember who we were supposed to be married to. We went and bought our camera and then Danny had planned a little date for us. We packed up our camping stove, water, mugs, and hot chocolate, went to the grocery store to pick up a couple doughnuts and propane (we hadn't used our stove yet, sorry JJ and Britany), and then we headed up Millcreek Canyon. So beautiful by the way, and I had no idea that it was so close. Danny wants me to write that I MADE him take a bunch of stupid pictures. He enjoyed it and he knows it. Anyway, here's what we did:

Here is Danny putting the one part together on our stove. Yay for him!

This is my favorite picture so far. Danny almost fell into the river trying to get there before the camera took the picture. Pretty funny.

Us with our hot chocolate and doughnuts. Yum yum eat 'em up.

Take 1: we obviously didn't know how many beeps to count.

Take 2: No head.

Take 3: Look at Danny's face. :)

Take 4: Finally, perfection.

I am a bad blogger.

2008-10-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I know I'm not good at updating this thing. I guess I could say I have a few excuses of why I haven't but the main one being, we've lost our camera. So sad. We are definitely in the process of getting a new one, but until then, our blog will be pictureless (I know, that's not really a word). So you are definitely welcome to read the following post, but I will warn you, it's long and is full of the details that I want to remember. So read away if you would like, but I won't feel bad if you don't!

Lots of things have happened the past couple months. Some of the highlights that I can remember from the past month are: Elimidate, Dashboard concert, and the Deer Hunt. We will begin with Elimidate. Two weeks ago, we drove down to Provo to help with our cousins first attempt at "Elimidate." So hilarious!!!! Our good friend Stephanie Messick was such a good sport and was our guinea pig "elimidater". Aimee and Davey (cousins) found 4 very willing guys to participate. It was such great group of boys because they were all so different from each other and all stinkn' hilarious. We started out by going to Wendy's for dinner. Me, Danny, Sarah (my sister), Stephen (cousin), Aimee and Davey, and Spencer (friend) all just tagged along with Steve's video camera and recorded the whole thing. It was quite interesting to see 4 guys all trying to impress and take out the same girl at the same time. I'm sure the people around us thought it was just as funny to see a group of Asians and a couple white guys follow them around with a video camera and giggling the whole time. Good times. After dinner, Stephanie had to elimidate one guy. Of course, before each elimination, we spoke with each candidate and had them explain why they should stay in and who they thought should be eliminated. Pretty funny stuff. After the elimination, we went to our sporting activity...Around The World Ping Pong. Not the most athletic game but we were on a time constraint as well as it being so cold outside. After ping pong, another poor guy was elimidated and then we went on to dessert at Smart Cookie. They two boys that were left and Stephanie shared a hot chocolate and sat on the Lovesac all together. Romantic, right? There, they discussed their ideal first date and then the last one was emlimidated. Oddly enough, the boy that Stephanie picked, we all could see them actually getting together and having it maybe work. So funny! Tracy (another cousin and a very talented film person) is going to take all the footage and put it together. I'll have to post some of our video on our blog so you can all see how funny this really was. I have definitely not done it justice. It was definitely a success and we plan to do many more. We are really looking forward to a "Cousin's Elimidate" where we will have some of our boy cousins down in Provo do it together. We shall see.

Last Thursday, we ended up going last minute to a concert at the E Center with one of my best friends from high-school and her husband, Sara and Logan. Sara was able to get the tickets for 75 cents!!! Crazy, I know. The bands that played were: The Cab(a band from Vegas that was not very good), Plain White Tees, Dashboard Confessionals, and Panic at the Disco. Plain White Tees and Dashboard were awesome and super fun to listen to. I was pleasantly surprised at how many songs I did know from both bands and if any of you really know me, you know that I don't know bands and "music from our day." :) Anyway, we left only after a few songs of Panic at the Disco. They didn't do much for any of us. Super fun though, especially cause we were able to get together with Sara and Logan. They're crazy. During the concert though, Danny kept running out in between bands to watch the sad and pathetic BYU game. So sad. Oh well. After the concert, we drove down to Gunnison to visit my parents before we drove down to St. George the next day.

After spending the night and Friday morning with my parents, Danny and I drove down to St. George for the deer hunt. We stayed somewhere close to Pine Valley (I'm not sure whether it was Pine Valley or not). Danny's dad, Wayne and his family, and JJ all came down. I guess they've been doing this for years. We met up with Noall's cousin Tom Packer and his kids at the campground as well. Tom Packer is apparently the ultimate Santa Claus as well as an amazing cook! Saturday night, he cooked us all plum barbequed ribs and the most amazing dutch-oven potatoes. So good!!! We camped at this old ranch and Danny and I shared a tent with JJ and Noall. Wayne decided that he would sleep outside which was totally a crazy idea! He froze the first night. It was pretty cold but thanks to my dad's good camping gear, Danny and I were toasty warm. I love camping! I was sadly not lucky enough to get to go with all of the boys and really actually participate in the deer hunt. Saturday morning, I got up and had to drive to Bloomington and practice piano at the church all day. Pathetic, I know. Danny and the boys had fun though. Wayne was the only one among them that had a deer tag. He came really close to getting one, but didn't. Kind of stinky, but also a relief. Who really wants to clean a deer? We slept over at the campground again Saturday night and then Danny and I woke up to drive to St. George again and get ready for church. It's always a lot of fun to visit his old ward and for him to see all of his childhood ward family. No one can believe that he's married. He's still just a little boy to them. It's fun though, especially because everyone tells me that I am so lucky to have married such a great guy. Everybody loves him down there. Good times, good times.

Murakami Reunion 7.4.08

2008-08-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

The Murakami Reunion is a reunion with all of my family from my Grandma Bessie's side. The Inouye's were in charge of the reunion this year, which basically means Auntie Annie did everything. We had a lot of fun meeting up at Deer Creek Reservoir up by Heber. Only some of the California Murakami's were able to make it out, but we were still so happy to see them. No one is ever going to forget Chi and Linda's teriyaki spam musubi! So good!!! This is my family down below. The only person we are missing is Fatty and he comes home in March!!!! Our family is getting pretty big.

My Fam
Yuki, Jordon, Nats, Aiyumi, Lambert, Mom, Dad, Danny, Karen, Jared, Miya
Trent, Sarah, Land, Mika, Wei Ming, Seidi, Mei, Ethan (hidden behind her), Sam

Some of the Murakami's

Uncle Charles' Family
Auntie Rei, Mie, Leif, Uncle Charles

Uncle Warren's Family
Peter, the Bean, Uncle Warren, Melissa, Joseph, the Sprout, Ben, Beth, Abe, and Tracy

Officially the Cutest Picture of Wei and my Dad!!!

Mika with her little doll-face Wei Wei. I sound like my mom. Weirdy.

Danny with one of his favorite little nieces, Mimi. She loves him too. He's had to earn that love though. Ever since she was a baby, he's been following her around giving her whatever she wants. We are kind of worried to have a little girl because Danny will spoil her too much just like Mimi. Mimi was actually born a few months after we started dating so Danny's been around for her whole life. That's pretty crazy. She's so big now! Time sure does fly.

Summer '08

2008-08-19T19:42:00.001-07:00

Aimee and Davey's Wedding

Aimee is one of the little girl cousins. She married Davey Alleman on July 3, 2008. She looked so beautiful and happy. We are all so happy for them. I actually did her hair for the wedding. It looked pretty good if I do say so myself. Davey's from South Jordan and is freakn' hilarious. We love you guys!!!!!

That's me during our dance party after the reception. It was pretty sweet! Take note, that is a full on action shot. Danny was too embarrassed to dance with me. Sad, huh?

Right: Best buds! My other nephews Ethan and Land.

Left: My sister-in-law Natsume and my cute nephew Yuki having a treat. He's so cute!!!

All of the girls at the wedding. Auntie Annie got us all the same skirt from the Loft. So cute and so Auntie Annie.

Me and Wei Wei!!!

Wei Wei, Miya, and Kimmy staring at Aimee's wedding cake. They found somebody's fingerprint in it and couldn't tear their eye's away after that. They were so cute!!!

Brian's Farewell

Brian Lew is my cousin on my mom's side. He left on his mission like a month ago to Brazil. He is an amazing kid and we are all going to miss him. Good luck Bri!!!!

Left: These are the girls on the couch. Aimee is demonstrating the "no eye-brow" look. She's pretty funny. From left to right it goes: Aims, Jessie, Jen, Sarah, Me, and Beth.
Right: This is supposed to be a picture of Danny and Steve trying to be two tough boys but neither of them really pulled that off. They're still cute though.

Pool Party!!!

Me and Sui Ying at the pool. I don't know why people think we look the same and get us confused. We clearly are not the same person.

So we had a fun little pool party at our condo at the beginning of the summer. Mimi and Ethan are pretty much the cutest kids ever! They are getting so big so fast. That's my dad and Sammy on the left and Jared and Karen in the middle. Karen is having another little boy in October. Yay for babies!!!

Sarah's Graduation 8.14.08

2008-08-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

We went and watched Sarah play today at her commencement. Elder Scott was receiving his Honorary Doctorate and gave a really good talk. It was all about succeeding in life and what we need to do to do so. It was very good advice for all of us new college graduates trying to figure out what to do now and how to stay busy and happy. He is an amazing man. Anyway, Sarah played awesome!! Everybody was thoroughly impressed of course. It was a fun day. Yay for Sarah!!!

The Bennett's have finally started a blog.

2008-08-14T11:44:00.001-07:00

So we finally succumbed to the pressure of starting a blog. Danny and I are both a little nervous but are excited all the same. Hopefully this will keep you all updated in what we are doing now since most of you have moved away. We love you all and miss you guys! Good luck with everything!

White Coat Ceremony 8.07

2008-08-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is at Danny's White Coat Ceremony last year at this same time. I can't believe a year has already passed! All the first years got a stethoscope as a gift from the alumni which was really nice, but I was totally bugged because I had just bought him the same exact one for Christmas. I thought I was so cool. Oh well I guess.