The Barton Family

Blakely has some important news!!

2012-01-14T06:46:00.001+09:00

She is pOTtY TrAinEd!!!!

The Barton house is now diaper free!!! (I'm not braggin- I'm just sayin- and I'm really excited!)

Tastes of Home

2012-01-11T06:12:00.000+09:00

Disclaimer: we are not home sick for the states! We love it here and we love it there too! We are getting our fill of all the sushi, ramen etc we can while counting down until we can eat Chick fil A, (5 months and two weeks) while we are visiting this summer.

Lately we have been getting really excited- more than usual when we come across some familiar American foods! In the past week we have enjoyed:

Krispy Kreme donuts

We rode the train one Saturday with some people in Bryce's office. We got three dozen donuts for about $50 bucks!! We really paid for that craving!! We didn't eat them all, we shared with other friends who love Krispy Kreme here on base!

7-11

They are all over Japan and they have great food. Sound funny? We go there sometimes and just give each kid 500 Y ($5 ish) and tell them to grab some dinner. No one ever leaves disapointed or hungry! This day we stumbled on a nearby 7-11 that carries Slurpee's. My kids had no idea what those were! We went twice that day!! They know now what a Slurpee is!!

McDonald's

These are everywhere too! We don't eat there very often. Why would we when we are surrounded by Japanese food that we LOVE!?!? McDonald's is a fun treat once in a while. What is funny here- the food really looks just like that picture! They make those hamburgers PERFECT!!

A Birthday, Bunches of Japanese People and Brunch

2012-01-08T18:37:00.010+09:00

This weekend we had a birthday! We were celebrating a cute girl who grew from this:

To this in just eight short years:

(She doesn't need glasses, but thinks she looks really cute with them on, so she borrows fake ones from her friend! I think she looks pretty cute too!)

To celebrate we went to Tokyo for the weekend. We had no agenda other than to have a great time! Living over here we have learned that some of our favorite adventures come when we aren't looking for them and we just kinda stumble on them. This weekend was no exception!! We had a great laid back time, ate lots of yummy food and celebrated having Ady in our family.

For the first time this weekend we rode the bus! We always ride the Metro (subway) and the JR line, (above ground) but we have never tried the bus. We gave a try and we ended up where we needed so our experiment proved successful! I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking we are smarter than we are, I have to admit we were staying at the New Sanno hotel in Tokyo which is for people associated with the military. They have an awesome concierge desk that give you very detailed maps and any thing else you might need, we weren't figuring all this out on our own. Anyway, we successfully rode the bus!! You can see Briley was proud and excited:

We found some really big leaves at the bus station:

We were headed to Shibuya to see Hachi. This story was recently made into a movie. It is about a dog that met his master everyday at the train station after work. He continued to return to the same station for years even after his owner passed away. Check out the movie- it is a great family movie! We found the statue of Hachi- all decked out for the New Year:

Shibuya is also known as the busiest intersection in the world!! That's right- the world! It wasn't really busy at 10am on a Saturday, but with four little kids in tow, we were okay with that! We grabbed a quick picture and headed back to the safety of the sidewalk:

Blakley's ride all through town:

funny no one else got a turn. . .

After Shibuya we walked across town to Hirajuku. We took in the Mejii Shrine. The Japanese name a period of time after the Emperor who reigns. Mejii is a temple where the souls of Emperor Mejii and his wife are enshrined. New Year is a big holiday in Japan and everyone is supposed to visit a temple or a shrine within the first part of January to worship, give thanks for the new year and pray etc. Someone told us this is even expected of people who aren't Buddhist or Shintu, but is a Japanese custom for everyone on New Years. There were a lot of people at this shrine.

While we were there Blakely found some priceless rocks that she kept in her pocket all weekend. How could I say no!?!?

These are Sake barrels offered every year to the enshrined deities to show respect. They are offered by Sake brewers from around Japan:

In front of the shrine:

Inside the temple there was a fighting demonstration:

Our girls loved the show:

One of the men posed for a picture with us:

In the temple you buy little tokens that mean different things. You can buy one to help you find love, help you have success in your job, one for prosperity etc. There are lots of different ones, but they all come with a fortune. If you don't like your fortune- no prob!! Just tie it here on your way out! There were a lot of unwanted fortunes, they looked kinda pretty all strung up together.

The girls like this tree with the big funny knot at the bottom. You can see how far the bad, unwanted fortunes go:

Hirijuku is also a popular place for the teenagers to hang out and show off their fashion styles. We were hoping to see more than just this girl, so we'll have to plan to go back!

That night we celebrated at the Japanese steakhouse at the New Sanno for Ady's birthday. She got a big girl meal and they even made her a Shirley Temple! They sang to her and she got a piece of cheesecake for her birthday. It was a special night out for just her and mom and dad.

(Can I blame it on bad lighting?)

Taking a picture with the Chef that cooked our food:

Sunday morning we went to Brunch at the New Sanno. It is one of the things they are known for. We had never been, but kept hearing how great it was. We tried it in September with some friends and since then our kids have been begging to go back. Ady requested it for her birthday!

Blakely was telling us that she liked the music they were playing. She is "cupping" her ear to help her hear! She doesn't really get it. . .

The girls love the make your own Sundae bar!

It was a great weekend! We took lots of great pictures and learned about some Japanese New Years customs, and enjoyed a lot of food! It's kinda sad to be home. . . .

Some sightseeing pictures we loved:

We all made the "nice list"- again!!

2011-12-27T11:43:00.009+09:00

Merry Christmas!!

We had a great Christmas and we hope you all did too!

Grandma came through again this year with really cute dresses.

We made sure to leave Santa some treats! (no new jammies this year- dang you Kohls!! I swear no matter how much I prepare in advance one thing never makes it in time!)

We've been having good dreams all month long with these Christmas pillow cases Aunt Callie and family sent the girls!

Someone sent us the 12 days of Christmas and we opened the last piece of a Nativity on Christmas Eve. The girls have really enjoyed playing with this throughout the month.

We sprinkled some Reindeer dust to help Santa find his way- it worked!

Here's what we woke up to:

We started early Christmas morning and wasted no time getting into what Santa brought! Blakely didn't need any help this year- she told us every 5 seconds!

DOLLS was the theme of the morning. The girls got lots of new dolls to share.

Briley surprised mom with a new apron.

Santa even remembered the hamsters! (not sure how they made the nice list!)

It was a great day! We got lots of new games and videos and spent the rest of the day after church and all day Monday gorging ourselves on leftovers and neighbor treats, playing games, watching videos and just being a family! It was a much needed break!

Piano Recital

2011-12-24T15:07:00.000+09:00

The girls had their first piano recital with our new piano teacher. We went to a studio off base and had the recital with some of her other Japanese and American students. It was a really nice afternoon and both our girls did so good!!

All the the students- I loved this little Japanese girl in the front with the red dress! She reminded me of Briley- really cute and kinda a mess!

The girls with Yuriko, their teacher.

Christmas Lights

2011-12-22T09:00:00.000+09:00

This week for FHE we headed to Showa Park to see their Holiday light display. It was really cold, but we bundled up and braved the cold. I'm glad we did because it was a great night! Our friends the Collins and Mitchells made it extra fun and the hot chocolate in the parking lot helped warm us up!

All the cute kids! Thanks Mitchells and Collins for a great FHE!

A cute little Japanese Santa!

Briley makes me laugh! I kept telling her to cover her ears with her hat and she kept putting the hat over her ears. She sees a hat as more of an accessory than a necessity!

I about died when I downloaded the camera! Who is this!?!?! She looks so old! How can she be so big when I am still so young!? (stop laughing!)

I love this picture of Briley!

Bryce just finished robbing houses- I hate that beanie, he looks like a criminal!

No night out in Japan is complete without a treat on a stick. This time we found our regular fav, dipped bananas and a new fav, covered donuts! Yum!!

Too tired to make it to the car- good thing Dad isn't!

Enjoy some pictures of the lights:

Just for the record, remember that really pretty field of flowers were standing in taking family pictures? (you can see it here http://www.thetexasbartons.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-family-pictures.html) This is it covered in lights!

Birthday Girl- Again!

2011-12-20T12:02:00.006+09:00

A couple of days ago Brinkley turned 11! For some reason every year her birthday seems to come really quickly and I am left thinking "Didn't you just have a birthday!?" But she didn't- she is just getting too big!

This year Brink asked for a surprise party! Her birthday was also the last week the kids were in school and I had culture group, Bryce's office party, teacher gifts, a project with a deadline someone was paying me for . . . and on and on. A surprise party was not in the cards! (Plus, it's not a surprise if you know about it!)

Instead, her friend Lauryn, had a birthday on the 11th, so Lauryn's mom and I surprised the girls with a night out. We took them for pedicures, shopping at the Mall, dinner and the highlight of the evening- the 100 Yen store. (Japanese equivalent of a $1 store)

Enjoying birthday milk shakes at Chili's (I swear I will never set foot in a Chili's when we get back to the States!)

On her birthday the little girls and I took cupcakes to school to share. Briley loved helping to pass them out!

No one could eat theirs till the birthday girl takes a bite.

Brinkley shares a birthday with the little boy who lives behind us, Jayden. They swapped birthday treats on the playground after school!

That night we had our family party with spaghetti and meatballs, her dinner choice every year, and cake and presents. We gave her a digital camera, a decision we might already be regretting! I'm not sure there are enough batteries here on the base to keep her happy. Her photography philosophy seems to be take lots and lots of pictures and maybe 1 in every 3oo will make sense or be worth keeping. For Christmas she might be getting another battery and a bigger memory card.

Another delish cake by Tricia!

Happy Birthday Brinkley! We love you and are praying this last year before Young Women's and Jr High goes by much, much slower!! Please join us in our prayers!

Thnaksgiving

2011-11-28T15:10:00.005+09:00

This year Thanksgiving was perfect! We had. . .

Lots of friends! (We had to our house the Gadlins, Collins, Salmons, Davids and Mitchells)

The Gals: Me, Mikal, Jeanne, Nicole, Tricia and Austin

The Guys: Mike, Jake, Cade, Nate and Bryce

In all we had 19 kids and 11 adults, we were missing Mikal's husband John. He is deployed right now. :(

Some of the kiddos: Brink, Brentlee, Blakely, Mayci, and Myles

The messy kid table!

We had really pretty centerpieces. Tricia helped me make these!

We had lots of yummy pie!

We had a Bouncy House, the weather was perfect and it kept the kids busy all day!

And we had four turkeys. . .

not the kind you eat, but the ones I am thankful for every day!

cHoREs!!

2011-11-12T19:26:00.000+09:00

Briley hates doing chores! Here's proof:

Almost makes me wanna do it myself! Almost. . .

Like Teenagers in Tokyo!

2011-11-09T04:23:00.000+09:00

This past weekend our District was short handed for qualified Adult chaperons and so they asked Bryce and I to come down to Tokyo and help with the Youth Temple Trip and the activity that followed. (Really Bryce volunteered us but we are unqualified, I'm not the one you want to set the example for youth!! ) Our District is really big, there are only five branches. Ours, Yokota is the one that is most in the middle and close to the temple, so we frequently become the hub for activities. Some of the youth that attended this activity had to drive for 12 hours to get here. The kids don't get to see one another very often, so it's neat when they are able to get together, and they squeeze all the fun, service, temple work, dancing etc they can into one weekend. So this time, they had the opportunity to do Baptisms and then a dance, followed by a service project on Saturday morning. We got to help in the temple and it was a neat experience, the youth bring such a reverent attitude and were in awe about being in the temple. They couldn't seem to soak it up enough, it was a good reminder for me to not take the time I get to spend there for granted. Anyway, after the temple and dinner we were supposed to help the 12 and 13 year olds on a photo scavenger hunt in Tokyo. They actually ended up with too many adults- who wants to chaperon the dance when you can run around Tokyo like a crazy person with a camera!? (wait, that sounds like what we do every time we sight see) We ended up creating an adult team to challenge the 6 youth teams. It was Bryce and I, Cade our neighbor(he's made a blog appearance before) and the Skabelunds- Maki and Jeremy. The five of us had so much fun and our pictures turned out so funny! So,this is some of the things we were looking for:

A Car Elevator:

A kid from another team ruined our picture!! But this was supposed to be a Black Cat Truck. You had to have 2 team members in every picture and he blocked Bryce!! Cheaters. . .

A person in a costume, this kid is wearing a soccer uniform, we were a little loose in our translation:

A Squatty Potty:

A person jumping out of a swing: (don't tell but he just jumped and made it look like it was out of the swing)

Our whole team in a tree:

Kids in their school uniform:

A picture menu:

A picture of someone else taking a picture:

A coin on the ground:

A person over 65:

Laundry hanging out to dry. This should of been easy since no one in Japan has a clothes dryer, and so everyone hangs their laundry out to dry, but wouldn't you know when we needed a picture we couldn't find any laundry hanging!

A tori gate Root Beer:

Our entire team on a slide:

So fun!! Best date night in Tokyo!!!

A few Tricks and a lot of Treats!

2011-11-02T16:04:00.004+09:00

We started Halloween this year with our traditional Halloween dinner of Monster foot meatloaf!

Bryce is totally grossed out by this every year, but does a good job making up a story about how he caught a monster and chopped it's foot off and then I cooked it for dinner! The girls love it!

The girls dressed up as a Girl Band this year. They were really cute. Blaklely was so into it, she keep oohhhing and aaahhhing into her microphone. Here they are posing for the Mom paparazzi in the front yard:

Hamming it up with friends at the Trunk or Treat:

And enjoying their stash of candy before the Snitch Witch trades it away!

On Halloween night they trick or treated a little around the neighborhood and then returned home to put on a concert on our front porch. They entertained the Japanese trick or treaters with Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana. It was kind of embarrassing, but funny too! They are already planning on being rock stars next year too! It was a Happy Halloween!

New Family Pictures!

2011-10-11T07:46:00.003+09:00

We had some new family pictures taken this weekend. I'm really happy with how they turned out. Our photographer was one here- Princess Grace Photography.

Keeping the World Safe. . .

2011-10-08T20:46:00.003+09:00

One crosswalk at a time!

Brink is on Safety Patrol this year. A job she takes very seriously!!

I don't want to forget. . .

2011-09-26T10:43:00.010+09:00

The weekend of September 11th Bryce and I had the opportunity to go to Rikuzen Takata Japan, and help with clean up from the March 11th earth quake and tsunami. It was such a mixed experience- it was fun, hard, sad, tiring and so many other things all at once. I don't ever want to forget the things we saw and did, so this post includes lots of pictures. (none of which were taken by me- our District has an awesome photographer and she came along. All of these pictures are hers!)

We left from our church at 9pm on a Friday night. We loaded on two buses that were leaving from this area. They were filled with members and non members of our church here. We drove all night and arrived about 8 ish Saturday morning. We went to a volunteer center that coordinates volunteers from anywhere. We met two more buses from our church there that had come from other areas.

At the Volunteer center we got our cool bright yellow t shirts and our assignment for the day. After that we went to work and I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Driving in we saw lots of devastation, but lots of clean up too.

Notice how the cars are almost all facing the same way. Japanese people always back their cars in where ever they are, at the grocery store etc, it kinda made me laugh that they did it here too!

I LOVE this picture!! I love the flag standing there among the ruins. This was an apartment building.

This was a house that was carried here from somewhere else.

The group we went a worked with! It included members from Yokota, Iwakuni, Yokuska, and Misawa Japan.

Our assignment was to clear this field. It was a rice paddy field by a school. We had to pick up trash and anything else that didn't belong there.

Proof I was working. . .

It was soooo muddy! I kept sinking, I was glad I had those boots. Thanks Mikal!

There were huge pieces of road in the field. Here's Bryce helping to remove them! I was impressed by his buffness!

Some things we found in the field: personal items, clothing, toys, books, a copy machine, lots of wood and car pieces, dishes, balls, shoes, pictures, baskets- I could go on and on. There were lots of things from the school and things you would find in a home.

A clock in the school.

Another pile of trash we pulled out of the field. We did save anything that looked like it was important or could be saved. We took that stuff back to the volunteer center and they try to find who it belongs to.

A chalk board left from March 11th that was untouched on the second floor.

Our shirts: they Mormon Helping Hands in Japanese. I couldn't get the mud out of ours. I tried twice and than decided it's like a "battle scar."

A pile of some of the bags we filled that day. When I saw this I thought maybe we did make a difference.

Bryce headed back to the truck with the Skabelunds. (I won't lie and say I was sad to hear the call to leave! While I wish we could of done more- I was tired and sore!!) Notice the guy Bryce is walking next to is wearing a CLEAN white shirt! This makes me suspicious!

I was amazed at the destruction that could be caused by water!

This was a house.

I was impressed by the amount of clean up already done by the Japanese, and they were so organized about it too. There large piles all over, but the piles were sorted into wood, tires, metal etc.

We left the field about 2 pm. We cleaned up, returned to the Volunteer center and hit the road for a long drive home. And let me say- it was a llooooonnnggg drive home. We were tired and sore from the work! I ended up sleeping on the floor of the bus. It was a good day and I loved that we were able to give something back to this country that we have grown to love. One of my favorite parts of that day was while were working people were driving around with a loudspeaker saying "thank you" to us. They did it several times through out the day. I could feel their gratitude to us for the little bit of work we did. It was a neat experience, we hope to go back!

A cute little Japanese boy up there!

Our Last Weekend of Freedom!

2011-08-29T11:41:00.006+09:00

(I've had this post done for a while and when I got on today I realize it never published!)

We decided to take advantage of our last weekend before school starts a do a little sight seeing. We headed to Odiaba. It is this great area across the bay from Tokyo, so you have to take a ferry out there. There is a little beach to play on, some great shopping and restaurants. We found lots to do!

Enjoying the boat ride:

Playing on the beach: (we went with the Gadlins, those are their kiddos- Lauryn and Miles)

Brinkley found the car she wants when she turns 16:

We rode a really tall Ferris wheel. Brinkley might be afraid of heights. Here's the proof:

These two aren't afraid:

We finally got her to calm down:

The view from the top, they actually stopped the wheel right as we were on the very top and I am not gonna lie- I was a little nervous, but it was a nice view:

Enjoying the view on the Ferry ride home:

Making Friends and Funnel Cakes

2011-08-22T18:07:00.004+09:00

Every year in August the base has big Festival and invite our Japanese neighbors to come and try some yummy American food and see airplanes up close. It's called the Friendship Festival and it is usually pAcKEd!!! This year the Boy Scouts in our branch had a Funnel cake booth and asked for adult volunteers to man the fryer. Funnel cakes? I'm there!! So, I volunteered and had a blast.

We got the whole fam in on the action. Bryce sold hot dogs for the ASMC. (something something Military Comptrollers?) He took the big girls with him, (big girls= Brinkley and Ady) and they helped out too!

Brinkley manned the condiments and Ady made a sign and drew people to their booth with cute grin. It was great way to spend a Saturday and support some great causes and interact with our Japanese hosts.

No Good Excuses!

2011-08-19T14:19:00.000+09:00

I have been wanting to update my blog lately (and have even been hounded by a few of you) but I thought I would wait until I came up with a good excuse for a 4 month break! I have none!! The truth- I'm busy, I'm lazy, I forgot, I was over run with four kids covered in dirt and Popsicle- all seem kinda lame. But here are a few things we have been up to during our long blogging break:

These two really fun people came to visit us:

My mom and dad. They came in May for a visit and we did some great sight seeing. We also spent two days a Tokyo Disneyland. Let me just tell you: grandparents + Disneyland= lots of fun and 4 spoiled kids!! We were sad to see them go and are plotting ways to get them to come back!

Just so you all know, according to Briley- this is the REAL Ariel!

Briley turned four! She wanted an American Girl Doll, like her sisters. She named her Diamond. Hmmmm. . . Diamond? I'm still not sure what to think about that.

I took a trip- without kids!!! Oh, it was as fun as it sounds. I am in a culture group here with 6 Japanese ladies and 6 Americans. We meet once a month a swap doing activities to introduce each other to our customs and activities etc. It is really fun and one of my favorites things I've done since I've been here. These ladies took us down to Pearl Island for an overnight trip. We did some sightseeing and shopping, we ate good food and just enjoyed a break from chores! I bought a salt water pearl! I feel so grown up now that I have a real pearl, I also feel much more comfortable in Relief Society. (kidding)

I'm the tall one in the back! Seriously, if I ever stepped on one of them. . . .

A sad note to our update, Our "beloved" hamster TwinkleBella passed away. I don't mean to be light hearted about this because my girlies were super upset, but they were so cute how they cried, held a memorial service with allllll the neighborhood kids, invited my parents to the funeral. . . it was quite the drama! Anyway, she has passed on to hamster heaven and Brinkley's room smells a lot better- but she is missed! Here is a picture of her final resting place: (I know are dying to sign a rock and add it to the pile!)

We had one more visitor- Uncle Wes came to enjoy the ridiculous hot and sweaty month that we call JULY! We took him to Izu to the beach. We stayed in a little cabin and were only a 3 minute walk to the beach. It was a great vacation, so relaxing!

Ady says she did all the work!

This was exciting! Last week some of the American Idol finalists from season 9 and 10 came and did a free concert on the base. My older girls were dying waiting for August 10th to come. We were lucky we went and friends and had front row seats!! Here are some excited girls waiting for the concert to start so they could see John Wayne Schultz- a cowboy (a pretty cute one might I add) from Texas:

And then (on my gosh!!!) We got to meet him and take a picture after!!! I can't even begin to describe the giggles and jumping around!! It was cute. Do you remember your first concert? Mine was Lee Greenwood in an airplane hanger Christmas day in England! Ah memories! My girls definitely made some that night and now their lives are complete with autographed pictures from all 8 of the Idols that came!

I forgot I had a blog. . .

2011-04-13T09:39:00.008+09:00

we've been having too much fun!! Well, it hasn't all been fun, but we have been having a lot of something! I recently got a new camera and I wasn't sure how to download it. Bryce helped me figure it out last night, so here is an update- with lots of better quality pictures!! First of all we "survived" the earthquake without any damage. We felt blessed to have so many friends and family that called and checked on us. We have said many times how much we love it here and how much we love the Japanese people. Our hearts hurt when we think about and see some of the suffering this has caused them. It has been a neat experience for us to be here and to see the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. This is one example, a few days after the earthquake Australia sent some rescue workers to help. I ran into one and offered to help them with meals. A friend and I, Amy, took them food that they could take with them down on their plane when they went out to Sendai. This was such a blessing for both Amy and I! We were here and feeling so helpless and some how dropping off a batch of cookies and sandwiches made us feel tons better. They were sick of eating fast food and I don't think I have ever seen people so excited to see veggies! It was really neat for us to see how much help came to Japan- and they got here fast. This was the 4th natural disaster these Australians had been on this year! I am so grateful to people like this who rush to the aid of others. They left a few weeks ago when the mission changed from rescue to recovery. I know that they made a big difference while they were here. On a lighter note: The girls polished some toes- these weren't mine!! Seriously- poor Bryce! Blakely baked some cupcakes! We've played outside- a lot!! We've jumped on the trampoline with our neighbors Sadie and Mayci.

Watched some General Conference (or napped through it Bryce!) Blakely looks comfy.

We've been enjoying some beautiful flowers.

The Cherry Blossoms are blooming right now and they are gorgeous!

This is the street we live on. Isn't it beautiful!? We are loving this great weather and the girls are on Spring Break, so we are headed to Tokyo for some radiation, good ramen and fun!! (I was joking about the radiation part)

A Few Random Pictures to Make a Post!

2011-03-10T14:33:00.005+09:00

I had a few random pictures that I wanted to put on the blog, but I hadn't finished the posts. So, let's mash them all together and call them a post!

First of all- This is what we look like on a cookie! Our friends went to a chocolate factory and made this cookie for us. That is not gray in my hair by the way- it is supposed to be highlights. (which I have to say: Highlights!!?! Really Amy, those are natural!)

Then we had snow!! My girls loved it. We didn't get very much, just enough to delay school, make a teeny tiny snow man and produce 3 extra loads of laundry. Really! They were out there about 20 minutes- how did they make such a mess!?

This was fun. Bryce and I got to go down to Tokyo to hear Elder Rasband and Elder Holland speak at a fireside. This was especially cool because Elder Rasband was Bryce's mission president and Bryce hadn't seen him since his mission. While we were there we got to meet an Elder from Japan that served with Bryce. Fun night!

Celebrating Blakely's Birthday

2011-03-08T19:18:00.002+09:00

First of all- Look at this cake!! It was as good as it looks. I wish I could take credit for it, but all I did was write the check and lick the knife! We have a new girl in our ward, Tricia who makes beautiful gourmet cakes, we gave one a try for Blakely's birthday and now I am thinking of reasons to order another- soooo good!

Blakley knew just what to do with those candles!

She loved her yummy cake. She loves strawberries.

Poor girl only had a present from her sisters to open. (Amazon hasn't delivered the one from mom and dad, even though mom placed the order in plenty of time.) I love this picture you can see how excited she is!

A new pony! It hasn't left her sight. (Except when Briley snuck it to school in her back pack- meanie!!)

Bringing in Two with a Bang!!

2011-03-02T07:36:00.005+09:00

Blakely is two today! I had been working on a cute birthday post (in my head) when she woke up this morning I threw it out and decided to go for the truth. Blake is determined to bring new meaning to the word "naughty" and she started early this morning. Her plans for her birthday?

- color on her sister's homework
- use a crayon as chap stick
- polish her own toes and the lid of the toilet and the bathroom floor
- knock over a vase of flowers
- color on the wall
- color on a throw pillow on the couch
She managed to accomplish all this before 8am. Did I mention this was after throwing up ALL night!! I don't know where she gets the energy-I'm tired!

Happy Birthday Blakely! Good luck with your quest to be the naughtiest Barton Two Year Old yet!! I just keep reminding myself of this:

It seems like longer than two years ago!

Too Cute Not to Post

2011-02-15T12:40:00.004+09:00

I found this while downloading my camera.

photo taken by: ???? apparently Bryce and I are not the only ones who can use the camera

Street Food and a Temple

2011-02-10T15:57:00.007+09:00

This weekend we took the girls and headed to Asakusa Temple. We are expecting some company in the next year and so we are scouting places to visit with them! We went on a Saturday and it was SUPER crowded:

We walked around trying different Japanese street food. Bryce and I LOVE trying Japanese street food. He usually likes it more than I do, but I will try anything once. We love just wondering around and finding new things to try. It makes me laugh some of the things they will put on a stick. This day we tried these fruits that were covered in this really sticky taffy like stuff. I'm not sure what to call it. Our neighbor is a dentist and I am sure he calls it "job security." My teeth hurt all day and I only had one bite! What was fun about this booth though was that you paid your yen and then your got to pull this lever and a ball flew out and landed in a numbered hole. The number on the hole told you how many treats you could pick for your money. The girls thought that was fun.

We also tried bananas on a stick dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. Those were a hit all around.

Inside the temple we shook for our fortune. Brinkley got "The Bad Fortune"- that's the reason for the scowl! But that's okay, don't like your fortune!?

Just tie it here and get another!

While I was taking this picture of the girls I realized my camera wasn't the only one clicking! There were several people standing around wanting pictures of these four beautiful blondies!

A great way to spend a Saturday!

Birthday Girl- kinda late!

2011-01-19T14:48:00.005+09:00

Ady had a birthday while I was gone. She turned 7! For her birthday her dad and I gave her a sewing machine. She has been hand sewing Barbie dresses and has let us know that she would like to learn to sew. Immediately after opening her machine it was plugged in and being put to use. Something tells me I will quickly run out of things to teach her since my sewing knowledge is pretty limited. HaPpY bIrTHdAy AdY! Here are 7 of my fav Ady pictures from the past year.

Learning to sew January 2011

Making friends with a Japanese girl at a local school. January 2010

Teaching Briley how to eat snowflakes February 2010

Kissing Monkeys at the Ueno zoo April 2010

Taking a break from raking leaves September 2010

Ady is slightly more dramatic than my other girls! This is her pretending to be washed ashore at the Trick Art Museum November 2010

Taking the controls at the Train Museum December 2010

Party hats required for entry!

2011-01-09T05:34:00.002+09:00

I am in the states for close to two weeks. Blakely has a rash that we can't get cleared up there and so we came home to see a "real" doctor. Remember that ringworm we had in October? Not ringworm, it wouldn't go away and after several wrong diagnosis and lots of incorrect medications we gave up and decided to come to Utah. Turns out she has eczema. Pretty common, not sure how they missed that! Anyway, I left Bryce home with the three big girls and before I left they told me that they had bought party hats and they were required to put them on whenever they came in the house. Why? Because it's a party with mom gone! The night I get home they are going to have a ceremony and burn them. I feel so loved! What else happens without mom? Well, you don't have to eat vegetables, or wear tights to church or comb your hair. Sounds fun! Maybe I will stay here, I don't think I am needed there!!

Christmas

2011-01-03T12:54:00.004+09:00

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a fun and exciting New Years! We enjoyed our break from work and school and although it went quick I was happy to get back to the regular routine and send kids back to school. Here are a few pictures from our break. I was disappointed when I downloaded the camera- we hardly took any pictures!!

The girls in their Christmas dresses. (thanks mom)

Briley asked for a train this year. All her sisters wanted a new doll, but not Briley!

Blakely got a new baby. She loved it!! I am not kidding she has taken this baby with her every where. Good pick Santa!

This was fun. Our girls got American Girl dolls for Christmas. Brinkley got Felicity and Ady got Elizabeth. Our neighbors, Mayci and Sadie got the same dolls from Santa.

Taking Matters into My Own Hands!

2010-12-23T23:37:00.004+09:00

Are you wondering where your Christmas card from us is!?!? Me too! I tried to plan ahead this year and anticipate the extra time it takes for cards to get to me from the US, time I need to address and put them back in the mail to the US. I just know it takes longer! Imagine my frustration when last Saturday I STILL hadn't received the Christmas cards I ordered November 26th! Instead of complaining (or I should say in addition to) I decided to round up a group of friends and help the post office sort mail! I was determined to find my cards! I was convinced that they were hidden away in a dark corner. I was wrong! I didn't find my cards, but I did have a blast with some of my favorite gals and learned a lot about running the base post office. (although I have no intention of putting my wisdom to use) We had a lot of fun and we all left with some packages, we also left fun notes on packages that belonged to our friends, worked the window handing out packages, sorted mail, put packages on shelves, pitched mail and on! It really was fun. We topped it off with lunch at Chili's. It felt good to help out where needed, even if it was a little self serving.

Sorting packages that came in that day! Yay for cheesy pictures! The guys at the Post Office laughed at us a lot and I forgot to say we did make some new friends! You can see the guy on the side smacking his head wondering what we are doing! I don't think they expected us to have so much fun.

The Crew: (R to L) Mikal and John, Tracey- our Post Office buddy, Jeanne, Salinda, Me, another post office buddy and Amy in the front

By the way. . . My cards still aren't here! Maybe I'll try again Valentines Day!?

Our Television Debut!

2010-12-18T22:46:00.003+09:00

A couple of months ago we had the opportunity to do a Holiday Greeting to our family in Utah that would air on their local station some time during the holidays. The military provides this service for free to people stationed overseas. Tonight Bryce's dad called and said that Bryce's Uncle had seen our greeting! We were so excited! I'm linking ours here so that you can all watch it. I don't know how you are but I swear I can not EVER watch these without getting choked up. I even got choked up doing ours! We are so blessed to have this opportunity and live in this beautiful country, but we miss our friends and family! We probably don't tell you all enough, but know that you are always in our thoughts and prayers more often than we tell you.
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13660472

Scroll down to watch us, we're the last family!

A Year of Fun and Freckles!

2010-12-15T20:52:00.010+09:00

Today is Brinkley's birthday! She is TEN years old! Amazing! I often catch Brinkley looking at pictures of herself and looking back over the last year made me realize how much my kids really do grow in a year. So here are some of my favorite pictures of Brinkley and some of her favorites of herself from the past year!

January- Causing some trouble in the neighborhood!

February- She wants her picture taken with any horse she sees. This is at a temple- is it wrong that I don't know!?! They are all starting to look very similar to me!

March- Rope Swing at Obstacle Course Park

April- Field Trip to outdoor Edo Museum

May- Roller Slides in Okutama

June- enjoying a day at Tama Zoo with friend Ainsley. (She loved that hat, she wore it everywhere for about a month. I got it at the 100 yen store ($1 store) and I definitely got my money's worth)

July- playing in a ball pit at Tokyo Tower

August- After her performance as a Dancing Flamingo in a play of the The Frog Prince.

September- wanted a picture with her hair all done for church

October- the Muse of Music for Halloween

November- Trick Art Museum

December- celebrating her birthday with friends at the Bowling Alley.

Happy Birthday Brinkley! We'll keep you around another year!

Sad it's over!

2010-12-07T16:58:00.004+09:00

Last month we did a family project for Thanksgiving. I bought a 12x12 frame and put a piece of paper in it. I taught our family a lesson on gratitude and then told them through out the month as they thought of things that they were grateful for I wanted them to write it on the frame that we had hung up in the kitchen. No rules!! Anything you were grateful for you could add to our list. I love the way it turned out. I love all the cute little illustrations, the misspellings and even the scribbles. It was really neat to see what my kids were grateful for and to focus more on that. This will definitely be an annual tradition. I did it 12x12 so that I can keep them all in an album. I'm sad it's gone- I miss it on the wall.

"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch Heaven."

Thomas S Monson

I fell in love. . .

2010-12-06T10:28:00.003+09:00

At the LAUNDRY MAT!! We have been sick and on Saturday I decided before anyone could play outside we were going to clean- really deep clean and get rid of the germs! I wanted to wash all the bedding but our dryer is really slow because it is an American dryer running on Japanese voltage. (which I'm not sure what that means, but for me it translates into two cycles to dry one load of clothes) I realized I would never get every ones bed washed, dried and remade in a reasonable amount of time so I decided to just try out the Laundry mat. I left Bryce and the girls wiping down toys and door knobs and headed out with a Diet Coke and a book. I had 11 loads in the washer. I used these which are great because with no agitator in the middle I didn't have to worry about it ruining the girls quilts that have ribbons and flowers.

Then the dryer. . . It was 25 cents for 5 minutes of drying time. I put our mattress covers in to see what would happen and how long they would take- they took 5 minutes!! The quilts all took about 20-25, but it felt like they were done super fast.

From the time I started to the time I finished- folding included- I was there an hour and a half. That is why I am in love with the Laundry mat! No kids, super fast and plus I got this little rush when I saw all my bedding folded in a big pile- clean!!

This guy came right as I was finished and commented- that's a lot of pink!

That's a big Buddha!

2010-11-29T09:05:00.010+09:00

We had some fun last week celebrating Thanksgiving and crossing some Japan "must sees" off our list.

We spent Thanksgiving at our house with the Collins. We had the opportunity to have some Elders over too. We had two sets and each set had a Japanese Elder and an American Elder. It was fun to host the Elders. The Japanese ones had never had a Thanksgiving dinner before and the it had been a while since the Americans had eaten American food.

Blakely was afraid of the Turkey!

The Japanese Elder in the front was one that we had at our house in July when we hosted the Fourth of July BBQ. It was fun to see him again.

Friday morning we took off to Mount Takao. We rode this lift to the top of the Mountain and then walked around, enjoyed the views, ate street food, and saw some temples.

Right by Takao was a Trick Art Museum. All of the exhibits in the museum are flat but if you close one eye or look at them at the right angle they pop out at you. We had a lot of fun taking silly pictures.

We'll have to go back and do this one again!

This is a flat painting! Isn't it rad!?! (thanks Amy for helping me find the perfect word to describe that picture!)

While we were there we shrunk Bryce, he is much easier to manage now!

Saturday we drove down to Yokosuka Navy Base and met our friends the Bishops. They took us to Kamakura which has the Great Buddha. It was really crowded! I am amazed at how many Japanese people can cram into a train. While we were walking to the Buddha we couldn't see it at all! Then when you get up to the Shrine you pay to go in and there it is! It is hidden among all the trees so that you have to pay to see it. The Shrine is really only this big Buddha sitting there- nothing else, but there was something really majestic about him.

Yokosuka is along the water and it was really pretty. Our friends daughter is next to Ady- we don't just pick up random kids along the way! We're smarter than that!

Leaves, Blisters and Proof I am turning into my Parents!!

2010-11-15T17:41:00.006+09:00

Leaves: Remember last year when I said that we were happy to have leaves to rake after living in Texas? (where no tree would want to grow because it's so hot) Well, the leaf excitement was contained to our first year only!! This year I want to cry, scream, move or all three depending on the day. The base will give you a notice if you don't keep your yard up to par and so we are trying to avoid "the slip" on our door and keep our leaves raked. This is turning out to be quite a task. The kids provided us with more cute pictures than they did help!

You can see there was plenty of excitement when we first got going!

This was Blakely's contribution to the project- kicking over the piles.

Blisters: I bet I don't need to explain I'm sure. Think: four hours of raking!

Proof I'm turning into my parents!?! We raked on Veterans Day- a holiday! When I was a kid we always had to work on holidays. My dads favorite holiday of all was Labor Day!! He believed that the title was a commandment telling him what to make us kids do all day- Labor! I promised myself that when I was a mom we would enjoy days off and do something fun with my kids, then what do we spend majority of Veterans day doing? Working!! The whole four hours I listened to Ady and Brinkley whisper that they were going to let their kids play on days of school. We'll see! Guess what- it is Monday and I am not kidding when I say there are at least as many leaves out there now- if not more!

Help a Girl Out!

2010-11-11T13:59:00.004+09:00

Poor Blakely!! She's the littlest sister and she has to fend for herself. Good thing she's a climber!!

"Waiting' for dinner- I have been making a veggie tray each week and I just put it out when the kids get home from school, throw some in the kids lunch box and then I serve it most nights along with dinner. It was worked out to be sooo handy to have around. I love having it ready to go! Lately I have been having to refill it several times a week, so I wanted to find a healthy lower fat dip. This is what I came up with. Give it a try! You can see Blake loves it! (she is dipping Cauliflower in it- she loves that too!)
1 1/2 cups low fat small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
1 package of Ranch Dip
3 sliced green onions
Mix it all up, lick the spoon and serve with your veggie tray!

Dear October,

2010-11-08T20:05:00.005+09:00

You're gone already!?! I appreciate you bringing cooler weather and colorful leaves, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful. . . but you were a month filled with a lot of CRAZY! We had a lot of fun attending extra church and base parties. I love how fall weather makes everyone want to celebrate with one last outside party.

I'm glad you brought a close to soccer. The girls had a lot of fun, but 2 practices a week and two games on Saturday sometimes turned out to be a lot of coordinating.

You also brought a lot of extra church responsibility, although I think we can both agree that this year was one of the best Primary programs I've ever participated in!

Next year feel free to spare us of all the yucky diseases. I think 2 kids with ring worm and 3 kids with MRSA infections is enough to last me a lifetime! I can't help but think of all the free time I wasted sitting in the hospital and all the time that could been spent playing outside instead of disinfecting my house!

But you came and went quick! Before we knew it Halloween was here! I always love Halloween!

Bryce was an old man with gas!! Just kidding- I just had to harass him. I snapped a picture of him carrying some propane tanks that our friends who are moving gave us. I look for any chance to embarrass the poor guy!

Blakely was a cow. She had a bad case of mad cow disease whenever we put her ears on her, so for the safety of others we gave up!

Briley was a cow girl. Just a note- see that skeleton hanging on the door? I think that is my favorite seasonal decoration, and just seeing it makes me smile. My mom, sister and I "scammed" my dad into buying us each one. My dad is such a push over for a cute girl! I love hanging it on my door it makes me think of him!

Our big girls we Muses, they joined with these other cute chicks form church and they were all so cute. Pretty clever costume! They have had this planned since about May or June.

Anyway October, I was kinda sad to have you come and go so fast, but I hope November is filled with more free time and more time for blogging!

Love,
The Bartons

Back to School- A Sad Day!

2010-09-13T07:42:00.005+09:00

Not a sad day for mom!! Although I have to say I will miss this sight in the front yard:

Good Bye Care Free Summer Days! Hello Waking up Early, Homework and hurried mornings!

The girls on their first day of school.

Adyson is in First Grade her teacher is Mr Eckert.

Brinkley is in Fourth Grade, her teacher is Mr Hockman.

Briley started going to Preschool two days a week. Her teacher is Mrs Barbra. Briley loves school and asks to go everyday!

Bryce let me out unsupervised!!!

2010-09-08T08:10:00.016+09:00

Julie, my friend from Texas has been over here for the last week and we have been showing her some Japanese style fun! Here are some of the things we have been doing:

Showa Park

We rented bikes and rode around Showa Park. We bounced on the marshmallows, visited the dragons and ate some yummy Yakisoba.

I am a little bit of a vending machine junkie and I got Julie hooked pretty quick too. We both enjoyed trying new drinks out of the vending machine where ever we went. Blakely is enjoying one of my favorites.

Sushi

Julie had never had Sushi before, so we took her to a restaurant where they make it right in front of you! This is our favorite sushi place. We only go here without the kids since it is a little spendy and they appreciate quantity more than quality!

Costco

Okay, not exactly unique to Japan, but I've never seen these cool cart escalators in the states!

Tokyo Temple and Yummy Ramen

Friday night we went down to Tokyo and took Julie to that Ramen house we like and then did a session in the Tokyo Temple.

The Cooking District

All this food is plastic!

This was really fun! Monday we left Bryce home with the girls and went down to Tokyo by ourselves!! Tons of fun and did you know you can see A LOT of sights without four kids in tow!?!? Here we are in the cooking district. They sell a lot of restaurant stuff, cookware, pottery, knives etc down here. It is supossed to be popular with chefs. They also had shops with tons of different plastic food.

Asakusa Sensoji Temple

Shaking for my fortune stick. . .

This explains better than I could how you determine your fortune, plus it's funny!

Julie with her fortune.

This is a five story pagoda.

Along with all the temples and shrines there was tons of shopping. There were lots if touristy type trinkets and tons of yummy food!

Julie with her boyfriend! This was outside an arcade on our way back from the shrines.

We got some luck!

We went down to see the Sumo museum but it was already closed for the day. We did get to rub the belly of this statue for good luck!

Really Crowded Trains

Rush hour on the train! Which can I just brag for a minute: we switched between Subway lines, buses and the regular train several times each day and we never got lost even once!! I was so proud of us. Julie is a great map reader and I can navigate the public transportation good, so we were a great team!

Shibuya

This is known as one of the busiest intersections in the world. It was crazy and I don't think we were here at it's peak time.

What I thought was crazy was how it would be quiet and empty, then all of a sudden the street would be swarmed with people.

Can you find Julie? She's wearing pink.

Tokyo Tower

We had a great clear day with a beautiful view of the city.

It was so clear you could see Mount Fuji. It's right over my shoulder.

The Imperial Palace

You can't go in the Palace, but you can see the roof above my head and this is the main gate.

You can wander through part of the gardens.

Meiji-Jingu Shrine

During WW2 this was completely destroyed, but was then rebuilt with all the original features. It was a really pretty park with a temple.

There is a cleansing ritual you do before you go into the temple to pray. You pour water between your hands and rinse your mouth. They have a specific way that you do it. We also did it at the other temple.

Okay, this might be my favorite part:

While we were at the Shrine there was a traditional Japanese wedding taking place. The bride was so beautiful! It was hot hot hot and I bet she was really sweating in her kimono. When they were done taking pictures they helped her stand in front on this big fan that looked like a big hairdryer. They put it in each of her sleeves and underneath to help her cool off. While we were watching her the grooms father came over and was talking to us and telling us a little about a Japanese wedding. He was really cute and when we went to take our picture with her, he ran over and got in too!

Why do I look so TALL!?!? That poor old man- I'm suprised he was willing to get so close to me. I must seem like Godzilla to him!

We had lots of fun showing Japan what two sassy Texas mommas are all about! Some other fun stuff we did that we didn't or couldn't take picture of:

* We ate some of the yummiest enchiladas while we were in Tokyo. Who knew that you could get good Japanese Mexican food!?

* While we were in Tokyo we ran into some people from our ward-just standing there on the street! We also saw Elder Stevensen. He is the General Authority for our area. He had just been up here and reorganized our District Presidency and we got to have dinner with him Saturday night when he took the old presidency out. It was fun to see him in Tokyo and meet his wife. Also, while we were riding the train we sat down next to this old lady who later realized was reading the Liahona. (a magazine for our church) We started talking to her, it was a lot of fun to just randomly run into another member of the church like that.

* We tried a Japanese Onsen or bath house. The one we went to had a family area along with an area just for men and women. I have never felt so clean and relaxed in my life! No camera allowed here!

Anyone else ready for some Japan fun with the Bartons? Only two years left for us to be your tour guides!!

We miss you already Julie! Thanks for all the fun!

No Power!?!? We're Outta Here!

2010-08-02T13:53:00.002+09:00

About three weeks ago during a storm we lost our power. No big deal- just grab a flashlight right!? Wrong! We spent the rest of that week with power coming off and on, no AC and having to conserve power when we had it. We got our AC back, but we still had to conserve for 2 weeks. (no laundry between 10 am- 2 pm: no tears here) What had happened was a transformer blew, and so Saturday in order to replace that transformer our entire side of the base had to be without power all day. So, what do we do? Head to the River!
What a great day! Mild weather, pizza rolls, great friends, beautiful scenery, sushi for dinner. . .Who wouldn't have fun!?

Brentlee, Blakely and Briley
(On an unrelated note- Bryce and Briley were wrestling this week and Briley fell about five feet, knocked herself out and received her first concussion! It was kind of scary, I say first because I felt like I followed her all week trying to prevent the second. I have finally given up realizing that with her a second head injury is inevitable. We cancelled her college fund. Seen any cute shoes lately anyone!?)

Sadie, Shelby, Sydney, Ady, Briley and Brink

Mikal, Jeanne & Randi, Austin & Nash, Me & Blakely

Blakely could have played all day!

We got some rain for a while and after it was all foggy and pretty.

Oh, What Do We Do In The Summertime?

2010-07-24T21:42:00.003+09:00

We turn ourselves into "Demi Gods" with a little tape, a little trash and A LOT of imagination,
(this is not a Diet Coke endorsement- although it is the "official" beverage of Heaven)

we stay up late reading books,

we eat LOTS of Popsicles, (while wearing little clothing)

we try fun new water parks,

and we spend as much time in the water as we can!

What do YOU do in the summertime!?

Seeing the Sights in Tokyo!

2010-07-12T10:07:00.008+09:00

Every now and then Bryce and I will stop and pinch ourselves- we can't believe we live in Tokyo Japan. You know that really far away foreign place you see sometimes on movies? We live here! It's crazy! Anyway, I had a pinch me moment when I typed that heading.

Last week we headed into Tokyo to do some sightseeing. We have lived here for almost a year now and we haven't even scratched the surface of fun stuff to do in Tokyo. The Navy runs a hotel down there, and it is always booked, but we somehow (months and months ago) got a couple of nights.

The first night we took the girls to our favorite Ramen house. Some friends showed us this when we went to the temple and it is our favorite Ramen. The girls all really liked it too.

Thursday we headed out to Ueno (pronounced Way-no) Park. There are several museums in the park, along with a zoo and a play area. We decided to visit the Science and Nature Museum. We saw a movie in a 360 theatre. We stood on a bridge in the middle of a round shaped room, several feet off the ground, and then we watched a movie about how the earth was formed. It was a little scary at first when the lava was pouring underneath us, but it was really fun! We saw some interesting things in the museum. For example, What's this?

It's what a camel hump looks like. Gross huh?

We spent the rest of the day in the Zoo. We liked the Gorillas the best. On our way out of the park there was a street performer making balloon animals. We stopped and watched him for a while and he gave all the girls a balloon. Briley's hat was really cool! She was sad when it deflated days later.

Friday we went to Tokyo Tower. This isn't as tall as the Eiffel Tower, but we went all the way to the top and the view was amazing!

We are really proud of the fact that we got around on train the whole time and we never got lost! We also returned home with all our stuff, including kids! In fact, next time I don't think I will be nervous about the trains at all!

Celebrating America with Our Own Mini MTC

2010-07-04T21:18:00.006+09:00

Happy Fourth of July! What a fun holiday this is! I love all the barbecuing, fireworks, get togethers, and most important what it stands for! This year was especially emotional for me. As we talked to the girls about the great country that we are from, I couldn't help but think about all the things we miss about living in America. I love it here in Japan and I feel blessed that we can live in a country that allows us freedom to worship how we choose and we are lucky to have the opportunity to experience another culture,but. . . it's just not home!! I feel so blessed to be born in our great country, I am so inspired when I read stories about our forefathers and the founding of our country. You cannot deny the Lord's hand in that process! We had a great time celebrating the USA and our freedom. We hope you all did too! This is what we got to do:

What an impressive sight! We, along with our neighbors, the Salmons, had the opportunity to feed 12 missionaries! We had them over for hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, a football game in the yard and then some fireworks. This was a lot of fun!! Some of these Elders have been out for a long time and hadn't been in an American style home since they left home. They were really funny to listen to. They were impressed by our dryer and took turns sitting in the recliner. Their contact with American food has been limited and they had no problem eating 36 hamburgers, 32 hot dogs, a watermelon, 36 cans of root beer and a crock pot full of baked beans! After dinner they went out and played football with our kids. I don't think my kids have ever had that much fun playing outside. I am so grateful we got to do this! Jeanne and I were a little apprehensive about all those mouths at first but it turned out to be so fun and I don't think I have ever fed anyone more grateful for a hot dog!!

We saw an awesome firework show. I don't think Blakely wiggled the whole time! (until I went to take her picture)

HeFFaLuMPs cReATe hAVoC

2010-06-30T08:24:00.005+09:00

I wish I had more exciting events to post about lately. We are at the start of Japan's rainy season and so we are outside tyring to play and catch some rays every chance we get! I found some funny pictures of Blakely and they just seems to capture her little attitude lately. I thought I would share some the funny things she is up to and it might help explain what I spend my day doing!

-Blakley wakes up everyday with no pants! She doesn't need them, she just takes them off and throws them out of her bed.

- When she is done eating her food she just tosses it off the side. Sometimes after doing this she realizes she isn't really done and screams until she gets one of her sisters to pick it back up for her. Since she is the fourth, I no longer care if food is eaten off the floor!

-She growls and shakes her head several times a day, usually at her sisters.

- Yesterday she cleaned the toilet- with my blush brush. I can't say I appreciated the help.

-She recently learned that dishwasher soap isn't very yummy. She bit into the little pack with her sharp teeth and learned the hard way.

-She washes her hands in the potty. No soap needed if you wash them there!

-She has two little teeth sticking half way out on the top.

- She wears shoes on her hands to crawl around.

- She can blow kisses.

- She loves to watch Bryce do anything on his I touch. She will just sit by him so still and watch whatever he does.

-She spends most of her day rearranging or digging through my cupboards. The BX (a very very mini Wal Mart type store here on base) doesn't have cabinet locks and my sister is supposed to be mailing me some! (Hint Hint Amber!!!) Her favorite thing to get out were the plastic cups, she loved sitting on them and squishing them. I put them all in one drawer for her to play with and she now has a drawer with 50 smashed plastic cups. She loves that drawer.

- She loves to walk all over the neighborhood. She has wandered really far, with me following her of course.

- She fits right in this loud chaos we call a family!

In spite of all the trouble she causes- I love her!! She makes my day squishy and messy! I wouldn't trade her for a nap or a clean floor! (two things I haven't had in a LONG time)

By the way- we are headed into Tokyo to sight see for a few days. We are going to try and navigate our way around on the Trains!! Wish us luck and send out a search party if you don't hear from us next week!!!

Yesterday. . .

2010-06-12T12:00:00.003+09:00

Briley turned three! She had a day full of birthday fun with lots of treats, presents and spoiling. This is my favorite Briley picture of the year. Something about it seems to capture her perfect. We love Briley! She has a fun, energetic, sassy personality that makes me laugh and scream within minutes. Like last year we hope that we can keep her alive for one more year, she seems to be getting more daredevilish as time goes on. Happy Birthday Briley!

WOW!!

2010-06-08T13:17:00.005+09:00

Wow, I haven't gotten on my blog for a while- well over three weeks, and I realized today that I didn't post one single entry in May! It's like we vanished! Life has been a little crazier than normal the last few weeks, I'll spare you the details, since I do not believe I am the only on who can make that statement. It seems like everyone around me has been extra busy. I promised myself today that I would post- so here I am! I have no excuses not to- all the laundry is done, the kids are quite, the house is clean, and there are homemade cookies in the oven. (I'm lying, I was hoping that saying it would make it true- it didn't work!)

So here are some of the things we have been up to:

Bryce turned one year older, but not wiser! That cake was as yummy as it looks!

We went on a field trip with the Kindergartners to the zoo. Little sisters got to come too!

On Memorial Day we went with some friends to some Roller slides that were up in the mountains. It was the prettiest drive, and we had a lot of fun. This slide was a really long walk to the top, but a great ride down.

Enjoying the view after the Roller slides. Have I ever told you guys that Japan is BEAUTIFUL!!

This little Heffalump learned to walk! We decided that Heffalump was a good nickname for her, then the girls shortened it to Heffy, it is so fitting for her. Some of you might remember how small she used to be? She doesn't have that problem anymore!

Briley grew some weird feet. . .

I told you Heffy was a good nickname- look at all that chub!

Brink and I went with her class to the Coca Cola factory. Did you know that over 1 billion cokes are consumed in one day all over the world!?!

I missed all you guys! I can't wait to catch up on your blogs!

Spring Break 2010

2010-04-27T08:25:00.006+09:00

Not last week, but the week before, we had Spring Break! In true Barton Vacation Style our plans were all ruined by rain- except for the two days Bryce had to work, those days were sunny and beautiful! We found a few other activities to fill our days, and the weather didn't dampen our fun!! Here's some of the fun we had:

Monday: Round One
We went to indoor place called Round One. This place is really cool, and we had no problem killings several hours here. You pay a flat rate to get in and then you can do anything you want. They have: bowling, table tennis, darts, a huge slide play area for the kids, karaoke, lots of arcade games, golf, roller blading, a bull you can ride- lots of stuff. There is even a "spa" you can go and get a water massage and other simple little treatments. We killed about 5 hours here, and we still had to drag the kids out.

This is Blake in the kids area. This cage has balloons and they float all over, she had a blast and could remember how to get to this. Every time we would put her down or take her to another activity she would quickly crawl back to this place. She loved the balloons.

Day two: The Tama Zoo
Just a few miles down the road! I'm glad there is a zoo close, we had a family pass in Texas and we would go often. The girls have missed it, and I actually have too. There is something so fun about taking your kids to the zoo!

I love this picture of Blakely- this is the perfect picture to show you what she did all day!! She has recently learned to point and her little pointer finger got a work out that day. At this zoo they have a Sky walk for the Monkeys. They can go back and forth between two areas but they have a walk to tight rope to get there. The rope is high in the air and so they go right over you. We got to see a momma monkey carrying her baby back and forth. The girls thought that was neat.

This was the best part of the zoo. Let's see if I can accurately describe this! This is the Lion bus and it is all windows on both sides. It drives around inside the Lion area. Before you leave they hang chunks of raw meat on hooks outside the bus. When you drive by the Lions come right up to the bus to eat them and so they are really close. It was so cool!!

Inside the Butterfly Garden- it was so pretty!

Day Three- Chores and playing in the neighborhood

Day Four and Five- Tama Hills

This is a little camp area run by the military and isn't too far away. They have cabins and camp sites but we stayed in a room at the lodge. Good thing since it rained all but about 3 hours. We were prepared with some movies and games and still ended up having a great time. When it wasn't raining we. . .

rode some Horses!!

Each of the girls got a ride around a little pen. They thought it was fun, but Brink was ticked off that they led her and wouldn't just let her take off on her own. She is a cowgirl after all! (according to her)

We also did some exploring. We found some bunkers that were used to store ammo in World War 2.

Now the break is over and the kids are all returned to school. I spent last week catching and cleaning since I did none of that while everyone was home. We had a good time and I am missing having them home, but so glad to be back into a routine. It leaves me trying to decide if I am looking forward to or dreading summer break!?!?

This year for Easter we. . .

2010-04-06T09:08:00.006+09:00

hunted for eggs,

enjoyed the Cherry Blossoms, (Can you believe how gorgeous these are!?!?! This is right by our house, I think this is the prettiest street I have ever seen)

and wore cute new dresses from Grandma! (thanks mom!)

This is why I make Cookies. . .

2010-04-02T05:26:00.003+09:00

This is also the reason why we need a garbage disposal on our bath tub!

A Sunny Saturday!

2010-03-27T14:01:00.005+09:00

It rained a lot here this week. Today with a break in the rain we decided to head outside and enjoy the sunshine. We headed out to a park that the Americans call the "Obstacle Course" park. The park is set on a hill and you climb all over it and there are lots of different things to do. We probably only covered about half of it today. We also went to a temple that was near by. Here are (more than) a few pictures from our adventures! I am including a lot to give you a good idea of what the park and shrine were like. Oh, how we wish we could bring you all over here to see this beautiful place!! We are loving it here so much. It is beautiful, the food is yummy and the people are so friendly. What more could you ask for!?!

Spring is defiantly on it's way! The flowers were starting to bloom every where.

Briley insists on doing it "all by myself!"

The Cherry Blossoms will be beautiful in about a week or so!

Briley fell off this bridge the last time she came with Bryce. She was running across and got her foot caught and tumbled off the side into the water. She was completely fine after the fall! I couldn't believe she could be okay after falling off this when I saw it today! She did have bad dreams about her fall for several weeks. She still talks about it now. I was glad she wasn't afraid of it today!! She's one tough chick!

This was part of the temple. I wish I knew more about these. You can see that people have left toys at their feet.

Events

2010-03-18T08:06:00.005+09:00

Remember how a few posts back I said "I can't remember the last time anything unexpected happened that didn't involve an extra load of laundry, a Clorox wipe or both!" Well, we had something unexpected happen this week- no Clorox wipes or laundry involved!

Brinkley. . .

broke her wrist!

I am not winning the mother of the year award for this either! She fell while riding her scooter and came crying over to where I was standing and visiting with the neighbors. One hand was scrapped up and the other one hurt she said. I had her show me that she could bend it and wiggle her fingers- which she could. I proclaimed "Not broken" and sent her on to play after a band aid and some ice. The next morning she said it was hurting again and I noticed that she was favoring it, so I decided I better take her in, and you know the rest. She broke a small bone in her wrist, which I guess is easy since all the bones in your wrist are small and there are quite a few. A bonus- she got a cast, and it was a regular break. Not like Briley's arm last year which happened about this same time. Remember this ordeal?
Even with the purple cast all is well! I was reading a friend's Christmas letter this morning (Becky) and she said "I am grateful amidst all of this change, for the constants of life." Well said! I was thinking about that after I read it and realized I needed to focus less on the craziness of my days and focus on the constants. I am blessed to have a lot of those; a great husband, four really cute little girls that are just so excited about life, supportive family, fun friends, and the gospel. Broken arms are not a constant- just four weeks!

Happy Birthday Blakely!

2010-03-04T15:24:00.003+09:00

We celebrated Blakely's birthday last night! It was just normal birthday stuff: fun new toys, and Blakely got to demo her own cake. She did a good job! I'm proud to say: she knows not to waste the "good stuff"!

Her birthday cake. We let her rip into the little piece.

In Just a Year. . .

2010-03-02T07:50:00.002+09:00

Blakely went from this:

To This:

Can you believe it? Me neither!

Happy First Birthday Blakely!!

It's Crazy, but I Love It!!

2010-02-17T23:12:00.004+09:00

I'm starting to think that my expectations of life are too high. I was pondering this tonight as I went to bed. (after yelling "get back in bed" at my kids, and stepping over a pile of their books by my bed) I thought: after all I did today shouldn't the house sparkle, and be filled with obedient children who desire to please their mom and go right to sleep?

See, maybe I expect way too much!!

So, I just want to check on a few things to see if my family is somewhat "normal" or if we are unique in our craziness.

For example:

1. Does your 2 year old (or any age for that matter) spill their cereal every morning- without fail- no matter what bowl/spoon combo you give them?

2. Do you walk around all day repeating yourself and turning off lights? (even when you are the only one home)

3. Does your family eat their dinner in less than half the time it took you to make it?

4. Have you ever seen the bottom of your clothes hamper?

5. Do you run your vacuum everyday, and have to empty the canister every time?

6. Have you ever worn a clean shirt all day?

7. Does anyone at your house (other than you) flush the toilet?

8. Can you keep a house plant alive?

9. When was the last time you had something "unexpected" happen that didn't involve Clorox wipes or an extra load of laundry? Or both?

10. Does it all drive you crazy, but secretly you love every minute and every dirty surface? (OK, maybe not the last part- about the dirt)

I had to restrain myself and only list 10!

I have a neighbor, I hate walking by her house! I'm always blinded by all her polished furniture, her house smells of fresh baked cookies, and is filled with the sounds of her kids playing the piano, while they all gather round singing. I might be exaggerating, but you get my point.

Is all this craziness just life!?!? And is it limited to me and my family? Please, oh please tell me it's not so! I'm counting on you!

Happy Wednesday by the way. I hope your day is calm, quiet, and uneventful.

What are the pictures for? To prove my kids are all still here and well. I am sure my mom was wondering after reading this post!

Ady brought home Brown Bear Barney form school to spend the night. We took him out for ice cream. They have funny flovors over here. Like: Mango, Green Tea, Sweet Bean and Potato

Blakely had her first ice cream cone, it was hard to get her to share after she had a taste!

Briley loves it whenever we get out the camera. She's our ham! Can't you just hear her saying cheeeeseeee when you look at that picture!?!?

Going Private. . .

2010-02-08T15:30:00.003+09:00

I'm sorry! I hate to do it, I think it is annoying to sign in and read people's private blogs, but I HAVE to do it!! On one of my recent posts I had people make comments that I don't know and it kinda freaked me out!! I never thought about people I don't know looking at my kids and reading about our daily stuff, but I started to and again. . .it freaked me out!! So, the Barton's are going private. I hope that we are interesting enough that it is worth logging in to read about what we are up to. If I don't have your e mail (Tara, Heather etc) please leave it for me! I will invite you and then erase it out of the comments so it isn't floating around out there for all to see. If I have your address already then I will send you an invite. I hope to be able to invite you all. We enjoy having you as our best blogging buddies! See you on the other side!! (I won't do this for a week or so)

What do you do when you haven't seen SNOW for three years?

2010-02-02T08:35:00.003+09:00

You get up at 7 am and PLAY in it! (before school, just to be sure it won't melt while you're at school)

It started snowing last night around dinner time. All hopes of a snow day were dashed when we only got an inch or two. Not enough to miss school, but definitely enough to cause some trouble and have a snowball fight! This morning while I was getting the girls ready we could hear kids outside, we looked out and saw that some of the neighbors had gotten a head start on us! My girls rushed through breakfast and joined their friends outside at 7! They got an hour of good play till school started.

Briley has never played in snow before and she loved it! She was having so much fun she couldn't be troubled to stop, go in and use the bathroom, so she made YELLOW SNOW!

A Train Ride to No Where. . .For No Reason!

2010-01-18T15:10:00.004+09:00

Like most of you we had a three day weekend! I love long weekends. Since living in Japan we haven't ridden the train, which is a major form of transportation here. We kept hoping that maybe someone would show us how, or we would wake up one day suddenly able to read Japanese. It has been 5 months (can you believe it?) and neither of those things have happened- so Bryce and I decided we better suck it up and go figure it out! Today was the day! Now, riding a train might not sound like a big deal, and I don't want to be overly dramatic and make it sound like it is - but it was!! Our knowledge of Japanese covers about 5 phrases- most of which have to do with food and we can read absolutely nothing!! We had to buy our tickets and here you scan your ticket before you enter the station and then again before you leave - that way if you didn't buy your ticket to the right stop the gates will shut on you, not letting you out and you are stuck. Before you buy your ticket you have to know where you are going and get it to the right stop. The train stations are busy, so you don't want to be the Americans that hold up the line and slow things down. (Japanese are very efficient; we usually mess it up somehow) After we bought our tickets and were waiting for the train, Bryce and I wanted to double check we were on the right platform, headed the right way, so we double checked with a young guy standing near us. (most of the younger Japanese people understand and speak a little English) He assured us that we were. Then when we were on the train we got off on the wrong stop and he ran after us to tell us that we had gotten off the wrong stop and that we had one more to go! I was so grateful for him!! He got off the right stop with us and then before taking off made sure that we knew where we were going. Once we got to our stop we walked around a little, had a snack and then decided to head back before we got too lost. It was a fun day, and we accomplished what we set out to do- ride the train!!

I just have to say- we are having a lot of fun here! We get a little braver every time we venture off base. Living in a foreign country gives you a whole different perspective of others and a new appreciation for "home". Do me a favor: try and be a little more patient and helpful to a foreigner you come across. Maybe some one here will do the same for us- we need all the help we can get!

Bryce went on his mission to New York and spent two years riding the Subway. I think he thought he would know how to handle this and would teach us all a thing or two. He was wrong!!! Not even that experience could prepare him for the language difference and having four kids in tow!

I love how Blakely is holding on in this picture.

Neighbors

2010-01-16T09:47:00.004+09:00

We live in a really fun little neighborhood. Here are some of the fun things that go on:

Impromptu Bonfires on the front lawns

The Salmons have a fire pit and will randomly pull it out and invite us to make smores or just sit and visit. This night we grilled hot dogs, guzzled Root Beer and made smores. We did this after playing "Capture the Flag" alllll day- kids and adults. It was a lot of fun. I haven't played that game since I was a kid- and that day I felt like a kid again. (we played boys against girls and the boys whooped on us!)

Our neighbor Cade plays the guitar and will give Brink lessons pretty much whenever she asks. I LOVE this picture. Cade is so good to our kids and you can see how much Brinkley loves him! They get that guitar out and all the kids will run to the porch and sit around singing with him.

And then there are these ladies that make my life easy and my days fun:

Jeanne *Me* Jill *Alicia (Hailley's visiting sister) * Hailley

Just a note in case Hailley sees this: she does live in a house by me, not in the gutter or anything, she is not homeless, she just likes her jammies. Her TinkerBell ones are pretty cute too, this day she choose flannel!
We're also missing Austin and Amy that join us too! They live close and see them lots as well.

We all live really close. We live a building that is four homes joined together, there is a little parking lot between us and then we face four more units. These girls will lend an egg, keep an eye on my house while I run to the school, dry a load of clothes when my dryer breaks- at a moments notice!! After school we stand outside watching kids play and visiting until our hungry husbands chase us inside!

Cade and Jeane *Me and Bryce* Brad and Jill *Hailley and Keith

We have enjoyed hearing from all the friends we have made along our travels. It has been fun to hear your updates and remember the fun we had with you! We feel so blessed for all the friends that we have made- they have made us who we are. I'm reminded of Jenna when I think of Loft, Kristina when I think of OPI, SheriDawn when I scrapbook, Jodi when I make cinnamon rolls, Moe when I make Salsa!! I could go on and on. . . you have all contributed to us in a significant way and we appreciate that, miss you and think of you often!

I'm a Little Behind!!

2010-01-07T08:37:00.004+09:00

Oh how I wish I HAD a little behind instead of being a little behind. I have been ignoring my blog (s) and e mail lately and it has been. . . sorry to say. . . heavenly!! I am not getting more done, and I am not keeping up like I should, but I still have enjoyed being out of the loop and spending time with my family. But now the girls are back to school and Bryce is back to work, and the laundry is taller than me- so back to blogging I go!

I have a few updates! I'll try to be brief!

Our Christmas was great! I am always really sad when this time of year is over. We did some fun activities. Here we are caroling. (we love our neighbors so we didn't go alone- nobody in this house sings that good!)

Christmas Eve: Yummy dinner, new jammies, joined by Austin and Brentlee-fun had by all!

Christmas Day- Santa found his way here. Wii had a great Christmas! I realize we are slow to jump on this band wagon, but we finally did and we are having lots of fun with it! Thanks Santa!

My mom, once again, out did herself with matching dresses for the girls! We love them Mom!

We also had a birthday yesterday! Ady turned 6! Happy Birthday Adyson! She has been dying for a REAL American Girl Doll- meet Alexis! (unless her name changes- again!)

We also wrapped up Cheerleading! Yay- I cheered! The girls did a good job and they loved it, but we need a break for a while.

Don't lie to your kids. . .

2009-12-22T20:59:00.003+09:00

they might catch you!! Ours did! We told our kids that with the language difference and time change Santa doesn't come to Japan. (Mean, I know) The other night we went to a tree lighting ceremony on base and guess who showed up. . .

Yep! They made sure to ask him if he was coming to Japan to bring them presents- he said Yes! When did these kids get so smart?

This wasn't messy!

2009-12-18T20:49:00.003+09:00

I started feeding Blakely the other day, then had to walk away for a minute, this is what I found when I came back. . .

I lied in the title post- It was a mess!! Nice of Briley to help a little sister out!

I fEeL oLD!!!

2009-12-15T12:28:00.003+09:00

I'm sticking to cliches today! I feel OLD! Today is Brinkley's 9th birthday! It seems like yesterday she was a little monkey baby. . . but it wasn't yesterday- it was NINE years ago!! Where oh where does time go and why do I feel old? Enough about me. . .

We celebrated as a family last night- actually it feels like all day we celebrated. Bryce and I took her to lunch for her birthday. She choose Chili's. (we have one of those over here and I can tell you now I probably will never eat there when we move back to the States- I'm already over it) I love that I never have to ask Brinkley what she wants for her birthday dinner- it's always Spaghetti and Meatballs. After dinner we opened presents and had cake. A note about the cake- it is from an ice cream place here called Chateraisse. I am not sure how we will live without Chateraisse!! Ever! It is the best ice cream I have ever had in my life and it is five minutes outside the gate by my house. We walk there, we drive there- we go about twice a week. For Brinkley's birthday we tried a cake from there and we were not disappointed. I wish I could describe it- but I don't dare try. Let's just say- better than Diet Coke with vanilla. (for me anyway)

Anyway- Happy Birthday to Brinkley!!

We gave her a guitar this year. She has been begging for one. She wants to be the next Taylor Swift. Bryce and I call this our "retirement plan."

Counting Our Blessings. . .

2009-11-27T13:58:00.008+09:00

I love this time of year and how we have the opportunity to reflect more on the things we are thankful for. Something about this time of year makes it easier for me to express my love and gratitude to my friends and family.

We are so thankful for our friends here that we are getting to know and have already grown to love so much. We look forward to lots more fun times with you.

We are thankful to the friends we have made everyplace we have gone. We have friends scattered all over and though there are many years and miles between us we still have so many great memories!

We are thankful for our families. We miss them and know that they make lots of sacrifices to include us in their lives and keep in touch! We appreciate that and hope you know how much we love and miss you!

Our first Thanksgiving in Japan was great! We had a house full of people and didn't even have a chance to feel homesick. We invited a few families over to share dinner with us, then joined another group later for pie. Happy Thanksgiving All! We hope you had a great day counting your blessings surrounded by those you love!

Brinkley and Ady thought they could tackle a whole Turkey leg all by themselves. We let them try. They did pretty good! Brink's was all gone, in fact we had to wrestle the bone from her.

The "Pie Gang"- Purple was the color to wear yesterday!

This was about half of our pie table. Brink said she counted 25 pies!

These girls are here with their dad on a three month TDY. They came to dinner with their parents and they were the perfect company! I would have them every year. They came early and set the table, they held the baby and helped with the dishes. What more could you ask for? They have been a lot of fun to have around, I will miss them when they leave next month. We have enjoyed having a babysitter on call whenever and my girls will miss all the attention.

My mom made one of these jumpers for every holiday when Brinkley was a baby. All of my girls have worn them. Yesterday was Blakely's turn! By the way, this little stinker walked along the couch yesterday!

Time to find the Christmas Tree!!!

Saturday Morning Cartoons

2009-11-21T18:14:00.002+09:00

Apparently we need more seating at our house!

By the way- I am doing a give away on my cookie blog. All you have to do is leave a comment, (on that blog) and you will be entered. So, come on over if your feelin lucky!

What are these?

2009-11-16T19:33:00.003+09:00

We are being reintroduced to FALL!! I forgot how much I love Fall! After spending the last three years in Texas, where the weather is only hot or super hot, we are loving the cooler weather, wearing sweaters and jackets. . .all of it! There is one problem- we live in an end unit and so we have several large trees in our yard. For the past few weeks we have all enjoyed the beautiful trees and their stunning display of colors. Then the leaves started to fall. . . Today I was reintroduced to a rake! 12 bags full and three blisters later, I would say the rake and I are well acquainted. So, to answer the question- What are these? Leaves! If you move from Texas or any similar climate it seems like they could of covered that in our orientation!

Bed Bugs

2009-11-10T12:40:00.004+09:00

When we moved we gave Brinkley her own room with the "guest bed". Ady and Briley share a room now and Ady was promoted to the top bunk. All those changes after months of them begging us and this is what we still find most nights. . .

At 5 am you can see. . .

2009-11-07T22:05:00.002+09:00

a snow covered Volcano. Pretty! I took this picture of Mt Fuji on my way home from the gym. We have to climb this before we leave. There is a rumor, that if you don't climb Mt Fuji while you're here, then you'll get sent back. We like it here, but just to be sure we'll climb it before we leave!! Someday. . .

The Japanese love American Candy!!

2009-11-03T16:00:00.005+09:00

How do I know? I went through about 12 bags in 45 minutes!! We were handing it out to groups of about 15-20 at a time! The base allows us to sign Japanese people on so they can come trick or treating on base. They don't celebrate Halloween, but they love to get dressed up and celebrate with us. Our neighbors had warned us about the swarms of kids we would have this year, and although I believed them I still wasn't prepared. It was a lot of fun to see how excited they were to get candy and be dressed up. (Majority of them were dressed as witches) Our girls dressed up as Japanese girls. They honestly had more fun handing out candy to our Japanese friends, in fact when we ran out of candy they ran into get theirs to pass out. The "Snitch Witch" visits our house to trade the candy for a family treat, and this year she was disappointed!!

Our Trick or Treaters:

Note to Kristina- This Kimono was a BIG hit! You should of seen all the little old Japanese ladies taking her picture. I was asked a million times where I got this. Great gift! Plus it was the inspiration for all the other costumes.

Blakely is looking to earn some money for College. . .

2009-10-29T16:32:00.001+09:00

. . . so if you need a handy woman- give her a call! She's pretty good with that screw driver!

Milestones!

2009-10-23T10:44:00.005+09:00

Brinkley:

No goals scored against her! Go Sharks!

Ady:
First missing tooth! She requested that the Tooth Fairy leave "flying dust." She is really disapointed, she says she doesn't want to walk to school anymore, flying sounds better!

Briley:

POTTY TRAINED!!! What to do with that extra money I save on diapers?

Tokyo Temple

2009-10-21T08:49:00.004+09:00

I'm so happy that we live somewhere that a temple "dots the earth." We made our first trip down Friday night with some friends. The temple is tucked back off a busy street and is stuck right between two other buildings, you could easily miss it. It doesn't cover a lot of ground or have a huge parking lot, but it is beautiful! It was so good to go! We feel so blessed to live near a temple and to be part of this church that is the same where ever you go. Even with the language barrier we still felt the spirit, and we are so thankful for the Japanese saints and their willingness to help and include us. It is an important reminder that we are all part of this work and have a special part in it! I love to see the temple. . .

Making Dreams Come True!

2009-10-19T09:28:00.009+09:00

Over Columbus Day weekend we went to Tokyo with our friends the Andrews and

went to:

I had a lot of pictures that I loved! I cut it down to my favorites. I'll let the pictures tell you how much fun we had. . .

First we were so excited that we made it! First time in Tokyo, driving ourselves, can't speak or read Japanese, you get the picture! We had a little celebration in the parking lot. This is the Andrew Family- they are our back yard neighbors and are a lot of fun!

Adyson kept telling us that "all my dreams are coming true." Glad we could make that happen for her!

Teacups! These made me sick, of course they loved them!

We did a two day pass. The first day we did Disneyland and the second day we went to Disney Sea. It's unique to Japan and was our favorite of the two.

Briley got to do few Roller coasters the second day! She loved them.

They had a Mermaid Area, this was at the opening of it. I wish I had taken more pictures of this part. It was really neat, you went into Ariel's castle and it felt like you were underwater, They had shows, rides, a little playground and fountains down there. We could have spent whole time "Under the Sea."

Part of the fun- Lots of treats!

Bryce and I are struggling with Yen- it doesn't feel like "real" money to us so we don't seem to mind spending it. We got home and we were shocked when we realized how much Yen we spent on treats!! Every kid needs a Mickey Mouse Popsicle right!?

We had lots of pictures with characters- these were two of my favorite. I love Briley in this one, she doesn't know what she is doing just that she wants to do it too!

Proof we took Blakely!

We picked the wrong day to go- it was a Japanese Holiday and so it was PACKED!!

This was our favorite part! We ate at a Polynesian restaurant that had a show along with dinner. For part of the show one of the Hula girls came down and got Bryce and made him go on stage with her and dance it was sooooo funny. Who knew Bryce had moves like this!?!?!

Cravings for Home

2009-10-15T14:19:00.003+09:00

I woke up this morning craving Chuy's! Chuy's is a Mexican restaurant in Texas that we ate at 2 0r 3 times a week. It was my favorite, it also happened to be Bryce's fav as well as most of my friends. They have a sauce there that they bring out with their chips, it is called Creamy Jalapeno- it is sooooo yummy and very addictive. If I am craving Chuy's, it is usually the Creamy Jalapeno that I want. My friend Kristina attempted several times to copy the sauce at home and finally one day hit the jackpot! I made me a batch of it this afternoon, it was as good as I was remembering. I ate a good potion of it staring out the window remembering lunches with the girls, Chuychangas, Tiffany the BEST waitress ever, the cool decor, dinner with the Jensen's, running into the Biorn's almost every time etc etc. It's funny to me that we have so many memories wrapped up in that little Mexican restaurant. Here's the recipe: Make yourself a batch and see what I am talking about!! Thanks Kristina for all your hard work getting this just right- you continue to brighten my day, even from so far away! Enjoy!!

1 packet Ranch DIP (NOT dressing)
1/2 C mayo
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C milk (not buttermilk)
1 T lime juice
pinch of garlic salt
pepper
Mix the above in bowl.

Then in a blender, blend:
3/4 C canned jalapenos
1/8 tsp. hot sauce (we use Hot Pete's brand - it's red and it's HOT)
5-6 cilantro stems
1/4 of a white onion

Blend until it has the consistency of a paste; it doesn't make very much. Then add it to the ranch mixture in the bowl and whisk together.

Serve with chips, tacos, any Mexican food. I serve it to Bryce with a straw!!

If you have a minute. . .

2009-10-12T22:30:00.004+09:00

I have lots to post!
We just got back from our first Tokyo trip- Disneyland!
We survived a Typhoon. . .
Bryce embarrassed himself in public. . .
It has been a busy couple of days. I can't wait to share all the details. While you are patiently waiting for the update, I thought I would share with you my new blog!
Not Your Mamas Homemade Cookies
I make a batch of cookies once a week. I am trying to see how long I can go without repeating a recipe or making plain ol Chocolate Chip. (not to be disrespectful- they are great!) So, check out my new blog and get baking!! If you have a great cookie recipe I would love it if you shared. . .
By the way, how long do you think my experiment will last before I run out of ideas and recipes?

Contracts and Critters

2009-10-06T10:46:00.002+09:00

I've LOST my mind y'all! The girls have been asking for Bryce and I to buy them a hamster. We have held firm to "NO" assuming that they would forget and move onto wanting something else. Brinkley has not forgotten. She uses her computer time to research hamsters, checks out books at the library, and has been saving her money. The other night Bryce and I were out on a date (our first since the move) and we decided to get them a hamster as a surprise. I think we were just so excited to be out without the kids, we weren't thinking straight! We made our girls sign a contact saying they will feed it, change the cage etc. We made them come up with a care plan and put that in the contact. We all signed and if the Hamster isn't taken care of we can give it away. I hope they stick to our contract and I don't have to give this thing away!! After all this was settled they were allowed to name "her". Introducing. . . Twinkle Bella. (Doesn't that sound like a stripper name!?!? Maybe this thing can afford to buy it's own food!)

Helping Bryce Fit In. . .

2009-10-01T14:02:00.005+09:00

Bryce is often the only one at our house without sparkly lips and polished toes, and the rest of us smell better more floral than him and have way cuter shoes. The girls found an opportunity to correct this Saturday afternoon. This is what happened when the poor guy took 20 minutes to rest. . .

He looks and smells more like the rest of us now! He'll learn next time! (lucky for him this happened after he had already met a friend to golf- I would of loved to have heard that explanation if it had happened before!)

Living in Japan. . . (Part one)

2009-09-25T21:45:00.009+09:00

Not much to post about lately! We have been busy with soccer, dance, unpacking etc. I do want to be good about recording our life here in Japan and how it is unique. So, I have been making a list and here are a few things we love or that drive us cRAzY!

Love:

#1 The National Anthem

Everyday at 5pm the base plays the Japanese National Anthem, followed by out National Anthem. If you are outside you are supposed to stop and stand still. If you are driving you stop your car. I love this time everyday! I use it to tell me that it is time to go in and start dinner since I am usually outside watching the kids play and chatting with my neighbors. Also, I love that everyday we stop for a few minutes and think about the great country that we are from and all the blessings and freedoms we enjoy because of that. I was thinking that it is funny -in the states I probably only heard the National Anthem 3-4 times a year. Here I hear it everyday, Monday through Friday. "Home" feels really far away everyday at five.

#2 You get your name on your door!

You can't get lost here

This is actually really convenient. I was taking something to a friend the other day, and I knew what building she was in, but not which letter, so I just looked for their name on the door! Sometimes I do have to remind Bryce- just because it says B Barton, doesn't mean that A Barton isn't still really the one in charge!!

Our Bikes:

#3 My Old Lady Bike

We all have bikes here and we ride them a lot! We got mine at a Recycling center off base, and although it looks like an old lady bike, it is soooo comfortable to ride. We are really close to a lot of things, we try to walk or ride to as many of things as possible. We rarely put gas in our cars, we have fun as a family and we are getting lots of exercise. I'm really enjoying having more things close.

#4 AFN Commercials:

We get a few free channels with our house with shows from the US, but there aren't any commercials over here. Instead the military has made their own. They are really funny! They cover all sorts of topics. They remind us to be good "guests" when we go off base, they remind us to recycle, warn us to be suspicious of terrorist activities. I could go on and on. They are really funny, although I don't think they are all supposed to be. Here is a link to one that Bryce and I laughed at the other night so you can get idea of what I mean. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=connRUHZ8r4

There are a lot of fun things over here, but there are a few things driving me CRAZY!!

#1 The Milk:

You can only get 1/2 gallons. We drink so much milk, it feels like we are always out if I only buy a few, but if I buy what we drink in a week I can barely fit anything else in the fridge. So I run to the store twice a week usually just for milk.

#2 The Clock on the Stove:

I am used to this one now but it is still annoying. Apparently over here they work on a different frequency. (???) Because of that most clocks won't work. We had to replace all our alarms, but even the clock on the stove won't keep time. It will be 3 pm and that thing says 8:30 or something weird. A couple of times I have forgotten it doesn't work and it will be close to what time it really is and I will think I am running late etc. I am used to it now and know to ignore it, but somehow it still manages to annoy me.

#3 The bugs:

I meant to get a picture of Brinkley's leg, but it has healed now. The mosquitoes here are really bad. We must be a particularly good feast because we are all usually covered in bites! We need to be better at putting bug spray on. Can I just say- that stuff stinks!?!?!

You can tell the annoying things are all pretty minor. Overall we really like it here and we are having a lot of fun.

Guess What!?!?

2009-09-18T23:11:00.004+09:00

I am 30!!! (I am late posting this- it was Thursday) Let me tell you how I celebrated. . .

First I started by opening about 300 presents that arrived from the states:

I wanted every single thing inside them! Our boxes arrived, and although packing makes for a kinda cruddy birthday activity- I loved it! I am sooooo glad to finally have all our stuff. So far very little damage and all on minor replaceable stuff.

Then we went to a Japanese restaurant that the Americans call "The Greasy Spoon." It was run by the cutest old couple. We got to sit on the floor and eat, using chopsticks and everything. So fun!! The food was great- my fav so far in Japan.

Then we had cake!

My "pod" friends made this cake for me. (pod is what we call this group of houses) It is in the style of these shoes that I wanted so bad. I spent more time than I care to admit searching for them online, they all had to listen to me whine when I couldn't find them, so they made a cake like them for me! So cute!! I think this is the cutest birthday cake I have ever had. And I am over not finding those shoes- eating them was just as good as wearing them.

It was a great birthday. I am not sad at all to be 30! What did you do to celebrate turning 30?

We found a needle in the Haystack!!

2009-09-12T17:31:00.005+09:00

Bryce and I have still been looking for car #2 and had no luck!! Friday a dealer here said he would take us to the auction and we could pick out what we wanted. (by the way, the dealer, George, is an American that retired here and makes his living selling cars to Americans) It turned out to be a really fun (and stressful) experience. First we wandered through three levels of a parking garage to pick out the vans that we were interested in. Our "no- budgers" were captain chairs and not smoked in. Sounds easy enough right? WRONG!!! About 60% of Japanese people smoke and their vans only seat 2 in the back row, where in the US they seat 3. So, people here would rather have a bench seat in the middle, giving the option to seat 7 instead of only 6 with the captain chairs. After we decided what we wanted we waited for their numbers to come up to auction. Here is Bryce sitting at the desk where you bid.

This is what the floor looked like. The cars are on the screen in front and one is being bid on, the screen also shows the one that will be bid on next. You use a little hand clicker connected to a desk and you hold the button down while the price runs up. You let off the button when the price is more than you want to pay, and the last one with their finger off the clicker wins! It is crazy, cuz you can't see who is bidding, and it goes so fast. I was counting and the auction on the cars were lasting any where from 30- 49 seconds.

This was the first van we bid on- a Mazda MPX

We lost it!!

Van #2- a 2000 Honda Odyssey. . .

Bid $3,200 sold to US!!! The highest bidder!

I am so excited to finally have a car. This one has the captain chairs and wasn't smoked in. Mission accomplished. It is at the dealership getting an oil change, carpets cleaned etc. We pick it up on Wednesday. I joined the ranks of "Hot Mini Van Drivin Moms."

We regret to inform you. . .

2009-09-09T20:41:00.008+09:00

The Barton's have been eaten by Dragons!!

We ventured out on Monday with some friends that are also new here and found this fun park- Showa Park. We rented bikes, and rode all around. We were there almost four hours and didn't see even half of it! Here are some of the fun things we found to do. . .

We started by renting bikes. You can see Blakely in the front of my bike in the baby seat and Briley is on Bryce's. We have been riding bikes a lot lately, and our girls did really good keeping up.

Marshmallows aren't for roasting. . . they're for BOUNCING!! These were so fun, way better than a trampoline. There were about 10 of them, all right next to each other.

Then we went down this roller slide. The kids probably could of done this all day. They loved going with Bryce and I, we are a little heavier so we go faster. I was surprised how fast you get going down this slide.

We also got to climb on some dragons.

Thanks Andrews!! We had so much FUN!

"I been waiting for this day my whole life!"

2009-09-08T12:56:00.003+09:00

Ady at her desk!

Briley was sad to say good-bye, she will be lonely without Ady to play with.

Today was Ady's first day of kindergarten. She told me as we were going to school that she "had been waiting for this day her whole life!" That made me really sad that she has spent five years at home with me waiting for the day she could get out!! We will miss her, she makes most of the noise and helps me with my chores. She will be missed by her little sisters too.

Venturing Out!

2009-09-05T21:28:00.010+09:00

We have done some venturing out this week! It is a little scary to go off base. The streets are a lot more narrow and there are a lot of pedestrians and bicyclists to watch for, so driving is SCARY! I went out Thursday with a mom from Ady's ballet class. She took us to a mall with a kids play area. The first thing I noticed was how CLEAN it was!! It was really cute and my girls loved it. Their fav was this tree that turned that had vine hanging down that they could swing on. These pictures don't do it justice. It was really cute and we had a lot of fun. After we went to a few stores. I feel like a giant here! I knew I was tall with big feet, but here I feel more like a giant with skis. We did find some cute clothes, I was excited about that! I was worried about where we were going to shop- I don't only want to shop at the BX for three years!! I really do like the style of clothing I found in the mall here, the prices are decent too. I will not be buying pants- wayyyyy too tall for those!
I love this hairbow that Blakely is wearing. While we were out this cute Japanese lady came up and pointed at me then Blakely and said "Hawaii?" I said "No, Texas." She looked disapointed, but I thought it was funny she saw those flowers and thought Hawaii.
You can't tell by these pictures, but all these toys move. These Rockets go up and down and the cow Blakely is on is a little carousel.

Tonight we went out with some neighbors to a Sushi restaurant. I hope I can describe this good- it was one of the neatest things I have ever seen. (My dad loves Sushi- I can't wait to take him, he will be in heaven!!) You sit down at a table and there is a conveyor belt with tons of different types of sushi going around. You just pick what you want to eat off it and then stack your plate on the table. They charge you by how many plates you have eaten. They also have touch screen menu, so if you want something you haven't seen you just put your order in on the screen and a bullet train delivers it to your table!! It was so cool. My kids were in heaven! We tried all kinds of sushi, I actually lost track of what I was eating. We ate lots of fish, (salmon, tuna etc) but we also tried sushi with egg, hamburger, scallops, veggies. Bryce did get more daring than the rest of us- he had some squid and octopus. We also had these fried chicken cartilages. That wasn't good at all- too chewy. After dinner our friends little girl showed us the bathroom. I am going to have to take a picture of the toilets here. They have heated seats and all these buttons on a handle to the right. The buttons make it so you can wash off your hiney when you are done, you make a flushing noise with the press of a button to disguise any other noises. Then when you are done you can flush a little or a lot- depending on what your "business" was. It was funny, let me just tell you I couldn't figure out how to shut the button off that sprays your hiney- I didn't realize how wet I was until after I pulled up my pants. The whole restaurant knew that was my first
time with a Japanese toilet!!
I am looking at this picture and I promise you Briley hair was combed at some point today. I know I didn't take her out on purpose looking so "wild". It makes me wonder what goes on in the back seat of the car!?This girl belongs to her Grandpa- she will eat any kind of Sushi!! I was impressed- she was the most adventurous.
Behind Ady is the belt with all the food going around- it wraps all the way around the restaurant, above that is where the menu screen is and the train delivers it right below!

I'm taking my wet hiney and heading to bed- it's 10 pm here. How weird is that!? Ya'll have a great Saturday!

i'm so in love. . .

2009-09-02T20:40:00.003+09:00

i love the way you nuzzle into my neck and kiss on my cheek with your slobbery open mouth kisses

i love the way you smile at everyone you meet

i love the way you maul your bunny at nap time

i love the way you growl at your sisters

i love when you get excited, you move your arms so crazy you hit yourself and laugh

i love the way you stare at someone while they're eating, smacking your lips

Happy Six Month Birthday Blakely!!!

Brink's first day of school!

2009-08-31T15:17:00.003+09:00

Brink and Mrs Straub

Brinkley and Ainsley

Check out her shoes, I might want a pair in my size- they are purple with a Butterfly. Am I too old for butterflies?

Brinkley started school today. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Straub. She had a head start on all the other new kids- the girls across the street is also in her class, so she already had a friend!

No peas please!

2009-08-26T22:02:00.002+09:00

Blakely started solid food. You can see how she feels about peas.