The Millerhood

Snowmagedon

2012-01-18T21:31:00.000-08:00

Snow Day.

Snow-pocalypse.

Snowmagedon.

No matter how we spin it, it is still just snow.

Granted, 9 inches of snow is quite a bit for our neck of the woods. Regardless, in the Seattle area this much snow preempts all regularly scheduled programming to keep you "up-to-date" on how much snow has fallen, where it is falling, and just how bad those roads are.

Pretty sure 90% of the population in this area heeded the warnings and just stayed home today.

And, what a beautiful day to stay home.

Even though Josh & I grew up in the VERY wet Willamette Valley of Oregon, and then proceeded to move to the dreary/rainy Seattle, we are totally over rain. We have learned we will take freezing cold and sunny, or just snowy days, over the rain any winter day.

I suppose snow days are made even better when you get to spend them as a family. Particularly when every thing is still so new and exciting to Liam. Today's adventure: Josh pulling Liam around on his snowboard.

Liam thought it was awesome. Although, he equally enjoyed his lesson in making snow angels from Mom. Not so much the angel part, but just the randomness of throwing himself in the snow.

Ahhh... gotta love sons.

The added bonus of Josh being home on a snow day: I got to go for a walk with just myself and our camera while the boys napped and Josh worked from home.

Brandon is going to be three months old in a few days. Hard to believe. He isn't so much into the snow, and paranoid Mom pretty much prefers her baby in a nice dry WARM house.

Liam took this picture with my camera tonight. Not bad for a 2 year old.

Ah, got to love Brandon's totally kissable cheeks. Not sure which one of us kisses them more. The boy should be germ proof at the rate we are going though.

Guess the only thing left to say is, thank you largest snow storm this area has seen in years. I know you'll be gone in a matter of days, but I sure do love the beauty, brightness, and joy you bring for the few days you are here!

Snow 2012

2012-01-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Without fail we typically get one good blast of snow each winter. Without fail Josh is usually overseas when it happens. Until this year!

Brandon is still too little to enjoy family time in the snow with us, but Liam is at the ripe age of total snow enjoyment!Yay for family time in the snow!

Quiet Time

2012-01-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

I think most people keep flowers or candles as their table centerpiece.

We keep Brandon.

At 3:30am our alarm went off this morning. I'm the morning person of our marriage. So, when Josh needs to be up at a time he is more accustomed to going to bed at - I get up too. The added bonus is quiet time to visit with each other.

Today we were remembering where we were last year at this time. A year ago Brandon wasn't even on our radar. God laughed at our planning and instead grew our family. We both find it hard to imagine a life without Brandon's constant grunting and his big open smile.

We also reflected on Liam. How amazing it is to watch him grow! Every day we are amazed at what Liam retains. He reminds us of events that happened 3 months ago, sometimes giggling because he still finds them funny.

And, one of the best parts has been watching the boys bond.

Brandon's first smile: For Liam.

Brandon's first time rolling over: Pretty sure it was to see what Liam was doing.

Brandon's first giggling sound: For Liam.

Yes, quiet time to reflect together is sometimes hard to come by... but when we get it, boy is it awe inspiring.

Ethan

2012-01-05T20:39:00.001-08:00

Dear Ethan -

I met your Mom in the fall of 1996. It seems almost like a life time ago... 16 years later, your Mom still has a special spot in my heart.

I am so sorry that you are now 5 and I haven't yet met you. I was at your baby shower, and I still remember how excited your Mom was at your upcoming birth! I pray someday we will get to meet, that you and my son Liam can play together, and all seven of us can go to church together to worship the Lord!

In the meantime here is what you asked for, pictures of Liam playing with the toys you shared with him.

And Ethan, I'm happy to report that your Thomas trains will get LOTS of use as Brandon is in the "wings" waiting for his turn to play with the trains!

Thank you SO much for sending them to us!

love, Brenda

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T21:05:00.000-08:00

It is Christmas Day once again, and I could post thousands of pictures of Liam opening every one's presents today...

Regardless of how many pictures I posted the Christmas reflexion would be the same: Christmas is truly for kids. The joy on Liam's face coupled by the cheers of "YAY!" every time he opened something was just AWESOME!

It took us quite awhile to open presents as we had to stop and play with every gift before we could move on.

Josh and I had a lot of fun watching Liam play with his new flash light...

And enjoy his new "kid size" table and chairs.

Brandon's first Christmas was low key. He slept. He watched Liam. He ate. And, then he slept some more.

Cappy patiently waited for some attention from his favorite "little person" and his Christmas treat.

But, what I'll remember most this Christmas is how blessed I felt watching Liam, Brandon and Josh.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-12-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

Having kids certainly changes Christmas.

I cannot remember the last time I was actually excited about decorating for Christmas. Seems strange to admit. For most of my life I was known as a Christmas geek. I was the kind of person who would decorate in September if given the chance.

Then over the past 5 years the reality of balancing work, travel, and the holidays kicked in and the Christmas joy was literally sucked right out of me. It was more work than enjoyment. Last year I had even suggested to Josh that we not bother with a Christmas tree. I'm sure he thought I was sick with a fever. He had just returned from three weeks in Japan, followed by a whirl-wind trip to Oregon. Who wants to decorate a tree? I didn't. He took me tree shopping on Christmas Eve, and I will admit, I did enjoy our tree last year.

This year we got our tree the earliest I have ever had one in my life. And, it was a quite the experience decorating it.

You see, Liam is EXCITED about Christmas. He happily repeated over and over how "Dad put tree on car!" and he happily laid on the ground under the tree with Josh to fill it with water. He joyfully took every ornament out(the kid friendly shatter proof ornaments, thank you Ikea) and examined them. Then he found a sheet of bubble wrap and danced on it, laughing as each bubble popped. As Josh tested the strings of lights Liam would happily cheer "Dad turn light on!" Or he'd climb up the step ladder and complain that he couldn't reach the star like Dad could.

What a difference it makes to your heart to see the joy of the holiday decoration through your child. It is something I cannot exactly put into words.

I don't expect Liam to yet grasp the beauty of the Christmas we celebrate in Luke 2: 8-14. And, perhaps my quest to obtain a truly "beautiful" picture of our Christmas tree did not help.

However, as I look at this last picture, the one I have named "my reminder" I will forever think of 2011 as the year true Christmas joy crept back in my heart.

Just That Weird...

2011-11-27T08:47:00.001-08:00

The joys of having two fall boys (September and October birth dates) doesn't just mean they can wear the same clothing. It means I have the opportunity to try and recreate photos I took of Liam, except now with Brandon! Oh, I know you're all probably thinking "poor kids!" Ha ha! Oh well, it makes Mom happy.

Here is Liam, his first Christmas at 8 weeks old. I took this photo in November of 2009.

And, here is Brandon at 4 weeks old. Taken November 2011.

Ok, so the lighting is different, but the outfit is the same. And, it made me happy!

As you can see, Liam had to get in on the "recreation" action too.

I don't think I can ever recreate those pictures though :-)

Blogging

2011-11-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

Blogging has definitely a bit harder to accomplish as of late.

Brandon turned 1 month old this week. Liam continues to be an attentive big brother, who loves to hug and hold his brother, but isn't afraid to tell us to "put baby down" and play "trains with E-um". The compromise usually lands either Josh or I like this:

Recently I decided to bake cookies, something I don't do very often. One of my favorite childhood memories is the amazing amount of cookies my mom would have out on Christmas Eve. She would spend most of December baking them. I have never had the time to do that. In fact, one my favorite Christmas cookies has been near impossible for me to make. I've tried several times in the past and it has been a complete flop. Apparently all it took was a second baby and Liam's dancing to Tony Bennett Christmas music for it to be a success.

The first Christmas cookie done. I don't think I'll accomplish the amount my Mom always did for us at Christmas - but darn it, I am determined to carry on the tradition for our boys, so I am excited to get a jump start!

Here it is Thanksgiving weekend. What better way to start five days off with Dad than to watch Curious George on your soccer ball next to Dad...

This was our first Thanksgiving of just us. Literally just us. It was low key. Mellow. Lovely.

Now November is coming to an end.

I blinked and it was gone.

November

2011-11-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

This might be the latest I have seen the leaves turn color by us, but they definitely are not disappointing!

There is one street by our house that has such vibrant colors that it takes my breath away. Every time I pass it I think of the Robert Frost poem "Birches"

"When I see birches bend to the left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boys been swinging on them..."

Oh sure, that is only the first three lines...it is a classic poem that you can finish by clicking the link if you'd like. I recommend it!

Meanwhile Josh has worked two "half days" this week leaving me with our two boys for the first time. We all survived, and Liam is starting to ask to hold his baby brother now.

Hard to believe Brandon is 14 days old now.

And, just think, next year I'll have two boys to envision swinging in birch trees as they play in the fall leaves...

The End of October...

2011-11-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

In all honesty, the last two weeks of October have been a blur. Starting the night of October 18th my pregnancy uncomfortableness took quite the turn towards miserable. Three consecutive appointments to monitor the baby movement later Brandon Allen Miller decided it was time to enter the world.

Friends and family visited us in the hospital over the next few days while I began my c-section recovery...

And, next thing you know poor Brandon was being forced into a photo shoot at home with Mom. Welcome to the life of a Miller child Brandon, your Mom is pretty attached to her camera!

I personally will probably always think of Brandon as our earth quake baby. Literally moments after I got the positive pregnancy test in Japan we were catapulted into the largest earth quake in 100 years in Japan. Quite the memory association!

The bum part of a c-section is the long recovery. Two weeks of nothingness which eventually is replaced by bare minimum-ness until nearly Christmas. I should say, bare minimum for me is the no-no status my treadmill still has... sigh... I'll probably be one of the few people running on Christmas Eve just because I finally can!

Meanwhile family has shown up to help. Our sister-in-law Deana and two lovely nieces came up this past weekend. Deana tended to Brandon so I could rest, and our nieces were AWESOME at playing with Liam. They even got to do a little early Halloween celebration together for the first time EVER! Very special!

Josh has been home helping with the boys while I am on the "do nothing" part of recovery. Therefore Josh got to go with Liam on his first "class" field trip to a pumpkin patch. I was pretty disappointed that I did not get to go. Liam is SO proud of the pumpkin he picked out. Thanks to Bethany I have this great photo of Liam and his friend Sam showing off their pumpkin picks.

The next thing we knew it was Halloween. We decided the best Halloween's involve making popcorn and I am pretty sure Liam would agree! He LOVED watching the air popper spit popcorn out every where. At one point he was laughing so hard I thought he was going to fall over!

We closed out Halloween with a little trick-o-treating for Liam. He is quite good (and exuberant) at saying "TRICK OR TREAT!" Brandon and I slowly followed behind Josh and Liam as they went store to store at the mall last night. I truly LOVED how excited Liam was as he'd tell me "E-um got trick or treat!" as he showed me what was in his bucket each time.

Now here it is November 1st. Brandon still does what babies do best - sleep. I'm sure he'll wake up just in time for Josh to return to work next week *wink*

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. We sure have a lot to be thankful for!

Introducing...

2011-10-27T14:44:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin

2011-10-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

It is that time of the year again...

Time for a trip to our favorite pumpkin patch in Kirkland, WA.

I can hardly believe that this was Liam's 3rd trip to the pumpkin patch. It really doesn't seem that long ago that we took three week old Liam to visit the pumpkin fields. And, we can hardly believe how he has changed in his three visits to the pumpkin fields.

Liam continues to grow like a weed too. We attempted our annual "height chart" shot today, but in true 2 year old form he only wanted his picture taken with Dad. That's okay, at least we got one. He is really growing up fast!

One of the highlights of this years pumpkin field trip was the new wagon that we brought along. Liam loves his wagon. He loved helping Dad build it, he loves to ride in it, and he loves to pull it along.

I love it too! I have great visions of photo shoots of both our sons in this wagon. Thank you Grandpa Mike! It is a great birthday gift for Liam!

What better way to declare fall is here than with our annual (and great) family outing!

Oktoberfest

2011-10-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe three weeks ago Josh and my Dad were happily enjoying beer at Belgium Beer Fest in Tokyo, and today we were all in Leavenworth, WA for the kick off weekend of Oktoberfest.

I think not so secretly both of them are enjoying this quest to celebrate beer around the world. Heck, they both came to the conclusion that drinking beer meant there was no need to shave - separately!

Not sure what it says that at two years old Liam has now attended two Oktoberfests on two different continents, but he seems to really enjoy them.

Particularly the polka music.

Oh boy, does that get him dancing!

Now I am left wondering, where in the world are we all going next to drink beer for an Oktoberfest?

We Are Back...

2011-09-27T21:29:00.001-07:00

We've been stateside just over a week. Tonight we are enjoying our first fire of the season.

It is a little scary how it feels like we never left. There are subtle changes that make us realize we were gone though...

Cappy got seriously gray in the face, and amazingly transformed into our ideal lazy mastiff.

Liam turned 2 a few days after we returned.

I don't know if he understood what it meant to celebrate a birthday, but he definitely enjoyed his day of random presents and his new Thomas Trike.

Plus, thanks to the bummer of a summer Seattle had while we were gone blueberries are still ripe for picking!

Last year Liam was toted on Josh's back while we picked, he couldn't yet walk. Hard to believe a year later he was happily picking with us, and talking non-stop!

I'd say blueberry picking was a hit with Liam!

We are still a bit jet lagged. We took Liam for a burger and fries and he asked for rice and noodles. And, we aren't even 100% unpacked yet. We miss our walking every where, hoping trains, and non-processed food life in Japan. But, it is definitely nice to be home.

Goodbye, For Now...

2011-09-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was telling Josh I was sad to be leaving Seattle. Now here we are prepping to leave Ikebukuro, and I find myself telling him I am sad again.

Our life in Japan is very different than what we left behind in Seattle. Our home in Woodinville is surrounded by pine trees on nearly an acre. You can hear the creek run, and the owl calling at night.

In Japan we live on the 32nd floor in an absurdly quiet metropolitan.

In Woodinville, when the sun goes down, it is dark. You need a flash light just to walk out to the street. Here city lights bring a new beauty to our surroundings.

In Woodinville I drive every where. Until I quit working in November of 2010 I drove 52 miles a day just in commuting. In Japan we walk every where. And, if we aren't walking we are on the trains. Josh spends one and half hours commuting one direction 5 days a week in Japan. In Woodinville his 6 mile drive can take 45 minutes. In his commute time in Japan Josh has managed to read the first three books of the Game of Thrones series. Mass transit rocks.

I am totally going to miss the look of awe on Liam's face as the trains go blazing past us. I'll miss him calling out "Bu-bye choo choo!" and waving so excitedly - only moments later to ask "Where'd it go?"

I'll miss the random street performers. We have some great street acts in Seattle - but it is still new and exciting to me to see the performers here rock a big standing/dancing crowd as they sing in English. Especially since I rarely hear English on any give day.

I'll miss the lanterns. These ones just went up in Ikebukuro. The big festival here will happen after we leave.

I'll miss the feeling of safety I have in this city of 13 million people. I can go out by myself to take random pictures, and have an inebriated young Japanese man get dared to jump in my picture, watch homeless men sleep on the side walk, and not once feel fear. I love that.

I'll also very much miss the view from our living room. Constantly changing as the sun changes position, always beautiful.

There is so much more I will miss, more than I can photograph or put into words.

But, at home - "home, home, Cappy home" as Liam calls it - we have a big goofy, slobbery dog awaiting us. A new son who will arrive only weeks after our return. Dear friends who have been taking care of our house and dog, praying for us, and helping us from afar. And the added bonus of a five day work week for Josh, as opposed to the seven day work week he has had to put in here this trip.

I can hardly believe this Friday we will wake up in our Ikebukuro apartment, say goodbye to it, and go to sleep that night in our house in the states.

I'll miss you Ikebukuro.

Our Only Visitors...

2011-09-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

As much as I am looking forward to returning to Seattle - as it signals I am in the home stretch of this pregnancy - I find myself sad that our time in Tokyo is coming to an end.

This past week my parents flew in from Oregon to experience our Japanese lifestyle. Apparently this lifestyle agrees with us as we heard more than once that Josh, Liam and myself looked happier and healthier than ever. I think that is a very true statement. And, it was fun to share that lifestyle with my parents.

Besides becoming more established at eating with chopsticks they got to try and do a lot of things...

They got to try wine that looks like a juice box.

They got to enjoy the oldest zoo in Japan (Ueno Zoo) with a very excited grandson.

They got to experience the funny Japanese sense of humor as seen by this sign at the zoo:

There was even evening dance parties to House of Pains "Jump Around" with Liam in our living room.

They got to enjoy the brand new Sunshine City Aquarium right in Ikebukuro.

They even survived the busiest train station in the world (as Ikebukuro is technically "only" the second busiest) so we could walk to Shinjuku Gyoen - one of our favorite Japanese parks/gardens.

They got to leave Tokyo and spend an afternoon in the town Josh works in (Kawagoe) and enjoy our favorite meal - Shabu Shabu with us. (I would hazard a guess it was probably their favorite meal of the entire week here)

And, because United Airlines Breaks Guitars and cancels flights, my parents ended up with one whole extra day in Japan in which Josh didn't have to work. So, what do you do with an extra unexpected day? You experience Roppongi.

Once in Roppongi you enjoy the Belgium Beer Festival in Tokyo! Nothing says a great last day like an Oktoberfest in Japan!

Tomorrow, if United airlines runs smoothly, my parents will head back to Oregon.

In one more week, we will head back to Seattle.

Definitely a bit sad. But, definitely glad to have had this whirl-wind Tokyo sight seeing week to enjoy a few things one last time with my family.

Dear Liam

2011-08-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Liam,

We hazard a guess that at some point in your lifetime you may question us on why we haven't taken any exciting adventures with you. At which point we will reference you to this blog posting.

If your little Thomas train could talk he would tell you of all the sights he has seen with you since we have left Seattle, WA.

These past five days we have taken you on quite the adventure through Japan.

We started our adventure with your very first trip on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). You were SO excited to watch these beautiful trains blast through the train plate forms. What a smooth ride we had at 187mph. We were able to travel from Tokyo to Hiroshima in a little over 4 hours. Distance wise that is Seattle to San Francisco!

As like anywhere else we have been in Japan, you continued to be a big hit. We cannot tell you how many times a day we heard people explain "Kawaii!!" (how cute!) as you passed by.

In fact, we weren't in Hiroshima more than 30 minutes before a sweet elderly lady made these mini-paper cranes to welcome YOU to Hiroshima.

From there we took you to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and directly to the A-Bomb Dome.

We also saw the Children's Peace Monument which is dedicated to all the children who lost their lives in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. This statue is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died from radiation. She believed if she folded 1000 paper cranes she would be cured.

To this day children from all over the world send paper cranes to be held on display around her monument.

We also took you through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Although you may have been too young to understand every thing we were seeing at the time, we can only tell you it was incredibly humbling to see the Japanese history and American history of the Atomic Bombing.

When our day in Hiroshima was over dear Liam, we took you on a ferry ride to the island of Miyajima. There we took you to a shrine that was originally erected in the 6th century, although it has been built again and again over the years. The version we saw was the 8th rebuild of the shrine that appears to float on the water during high tide.

We also took you to your very first aquarium on Miyajima. Even then you had to take the time to show the sea turtles your little train Thomas, who traveled all over Japan with us.

Miyajima has an abundance of deer. If for some reason you grow to have a fear of them, we know why.

It was on this island adventure that a deer put its head right into your snack cup and helped itself. It was here that a deer poked its head around the diaper bag. It was here that deer would get as close to your face as possible and make you cry in hysterics. It was here your Dad was the "Deer Whisperer" and took pictures with these goat like scavenging deer.

When we traveled back to Hiroshima you decided it was time to nap. But, while you napped your father and I enjoyed Okonomiyaki for lunch. Japanese pancake.

It. Was. Awesome.

From there we traveled on to Kyoto. Our first adventure there was Kiyomizu-dera, a temple built in 1633, originally not using a single nail in its construction.

You were quite the trooper and made quite the trek to see this sight with us.

We made afternoon AC breaks in our hotel play land which you called "Weeeee" in Kyoto.

We took you to the Kyoto Nishiki Market. Some of these stores opened with the original market in the 1300's.

We also took you to Nijo Castle, which was built in 1603. It was ornate and amazing to see, despite the insanely intense heat!

We even took you to a random outdoor water spray area we found so you could cool off with the local kids.

It was the type of vacation that only occurs once in a life time. You enjoyed yourself. We are sorry you may not remember it. But, we are so glad we got to take you to explore Japan!

love,

Mom & Dad

33

2011-08-06T04:17:00.000-07:00

This is a bit of an unusual year for Josh and I.

We have now both celebrated our birthdays (32nd for him in February, 33rd for me on August 4th) in Japan.

What did we do to ring in my big 3-3? Family time. Three glorious days of it. I don't think there could be a better gift, I really don't. We are in Japan for Josh to work, and work he does. I'm blessed to be married to someone who is a very hard worker, particularly when it comes to working hard for his family. That said, birthday's don't get much better this. The three of us together enjoying each other's company. Complete with ice coffee runs, wonderful Japanese meals, and a trip to the oldest zoo in Japan.

Ueno Zoo opened on March 20, 1882.

When we were here in February we heard giant Panda's had come to this zoo from China. Unfortunately that trip got cut a bit short, and we didn't get to see them. So we were thrilled that this trip we got to go enjoy them!

It was only about a 5 minute wait to see the Panda's, clearly the big attraction right now. It was however, a bit difficult for me to capture pictures of them as we walked by their homes.

I can only say all three of us had the look of complete awe and total joy at getting to see these beautiful animals!

Seriously, how could you not want to hug a panda?!

Besides the awesome animals there is some great structural sights to behold at the Ueno Zoo too. Like this five-storied pagoda built in 1639.

Look closely, that might be the only pregnant picture to include my belly this go around. That is right, I am 7 months pregnant. A side note, part of my 33rd birthday was spent on the phone arranging my medically necessary c-section in the USA. Baby boy Miller two will be here November 2, 2011 at 12:15pm (unless he decides to arrive sooner...)

Liam has been to the Seattle Zoo twice. This was quite a different experience. You are able to get much closer to the animals at the Ueno Zoo - and all the animals were out and active. Apparently they like 88 degrees with 80% humidity. It definitely made Liam HAPPY`!

Thank goodness for the occasional misting to walk under to cool off! Ahhh!

This sign just cracked me up:

They just seemed like your every day penguin to me!

This was one of the most beautiful sites to me at the zoo:

I told Josh it just might have been the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in my life.

We ended up spreading my birthday celebration out over several days. I mostly have mental snap shots for most of it, but this blog wouldn't be complete without commenting on the Jazz in Seijo concert we went to today.

For those who might not know, I love jazz music. Particularly big band. I studied piano from age six until I was 18. I played in the high school jazz band. I spent more hours than I can count unwinding in college by playing the piano. This concert was the first time since I was in high school that I got to go listen to local musicians play - and I mean PLAY! We have Shinzawa-san to thank for this experience. (Drummer below) He works with Josh at MVIS, but he lives in Japan and is the Japan Country Manager. He and his wife have gone out of their way to make us welcome here. Today they invited us to this concert where we listened to his group (and several others) play, and then enjoyed a sushi dinner with their friends and family. It was an AWESOME way to round out my birthday weekend.

33 is definitely off and running to a good start!

Cooking 101

2011-08-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

No blog posting seems complete without at least one picture of Liam, so we will start there:

Josh and I have had the same conversation over and over in the past 13 years. I tell him "I love to cook!" and he tells me "I love to eat!" thus sealing that we are a perfect match.

I suppose with all my cooking though I never really anticipated that in my lifetime I'd be living overseas, and not able to read 95% of the labeling in the grocery stores. It has made cooking interesting to say the least.

Last weekend though we found a break through - a Japanese cookbook in English, complete with pictures of commonly used Japanese ingredients. Last night I tested it out and made a great dinner of salmon rolls and pickled cucumber salad. I was pretty darn proud of myself.

Tonight I cracked open my current favorite Japanese soda:

And determined I would make this Yakitori recipe:

It didn't have a huge amount of ingredients, and looked to be fairly straight forward.

I prepped by making a lovely salad with fresh lemon squeezed over it to go with our chicken...

Then went to work on the chicken skewers. It was way more work than I anticipated. I am pretty sure every dish in our kitchen was somehow dirtied in the process of making this meal.

Swear words used in the process: one. Skewers caught on fire in the fish grill: two. Time consuming, yes. But, very tasty!

Overall though, I am really enjoying learning how to cook a new style of food. And, even better, Josh continues to enjoy sampling my attempts and/or creations!

Family Time Abroad

2011-07-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

Another weekend has come and gone here. Our weekends are pretty jammed packed. Josh gets Friday & Saturday off here, which falls on Thursday & Friday in the USA. This makes it a bit difficult to get 100% down time as his mornings are still easily filled with conference calls with Redmond. But, the minute he is done - we are on 100% family time. I'm not sure which one of us enjoys these days more, all three of us are just giddy with happiness on our weekend.

This weekend we used that family time to explore Harajuku, go back to our favorite park in Shinjuku, visit Ginza and Roppongi. It was a lot of walking, and a lot of window shopping of some of the highest end shopping I have ever witnessed in my life. I also think it was the first time I have seen a chauffeured brand new Rolls Royce waiting for someone outside one of the high end stores. High end Mercedes (the kind we rarely see in Seattle), high end hybrid Lexus SUVs, Rolls Royce, Maserati, etc... I'll never get tired of checking out the cars with Josh as we walk past them!

We make sure every adventure we take includes time at a park for Liam. Or a "Weeeee" as Liam calls them. This past weekend he ran around the park in Shinjuku with Josh, and enjoyed a great park of slides in Roppongi.

I often wonder how many miles we log walking around here. Over 11 hours in two days. That has to be a few miles!

We hope every one back home is enjoying their weekends! Three weeks in Japan have flown by, seven more to go!

Ogose

2011-07-24T14:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday I spent the day riding the trains with Josh & Liam in an attempt to learn how to do it on my own. For the most part Liam loves it. "Choo choo!" is continually yelled. For me it is a bit nerve racking, particularly when you get on a train which has no English at all, and knowing that it means navigating Liam on my own while needing to pay careful attention to the surroundings. This wouldn't seem that bad, except Liam decided that being in Japan is a good time to get his 2 year molars and has been a bit grumpy.

After a full afternoon of train riding on Saturday I was pretty sure I could meet Josh in Sakado on Sunday where he and his co-worker + wife would pick Liam and I up to take us to their home town festival in Ogose.

I successfully got on the right train.

I got off on the wrong stop though, d'oh.

I was only one off though, so I guess that is some consolation for my first train ride with no English translation with just Liam and myself.

Utsuboya-san & his wife were incredibly gracious to us. Crabby teething Liam made for, perhaps, not the most enjoyable dinner guest. But, they happily entertained us, and walked us through the festival in their hometown of Ogose yesterday. Liam did perk up once we arrived at the festival. Beautiful lights, great music - he was dancing in his stroller and clapping his hands along the way.

In some ways it was like a cross of an American parade and a carnival with small game areas for kids. These dipped bananas on the festival route fascinated me, but we did not try them... this time. Maybe at our next festival.

I have also not gotten to see so many beautiful kimonos in one place before. It seemed mostly the younger women were wearing them, and I thought it was interesting to see something so traditional paired with some fun "funky" jewelry, aka this ladies star earrings.

Some of the street booths had guys like this at them:

I am sorry to say I do not know what their traditional name is - but it was kind of like a clown. He was very nice to Liam, but he scared Liam pretty bad. Liam cried and told him "bu-bye!" and wouldn't look back at him.

Liam continues to be particularly popular when we get outside of Tokyo. Here is one example of a Mom who had her daughter stand next to Liam for a picture.

The festival was made up of six beautiful floats. They have a traditional name, but I do not know how to spell it. :-( Between the lanterns and the music on each one they were wonderful!

A bit different than a US parade "float" though as they are pulled by men through their route!

The whole evening ended with quite the fireworks display over the six "floats".

Luckily, after having just experienced the fourth of July in the USA not that long ago Liam knew exactly what to do. Plug your ears!

Haha! He'd happily clap after each round of fireworks, then at the first shot of the cannon for the next round his fingers would pop back in his ears.

As we made our way out of Ogose we were stopped again by another group of happy young women wanting their pictures taken with Liam. They all did the traditional peace sign for most of their pictures. Someone has a great picture of Liam pointing one finger up too, lol :)

Thank you so much for inviting us to your town festival! It was a great first festival for Liam and I! All three of us enjoyed it very much!

Friday Night Date

2011-07-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember a blog I wrote several years ago called "Shabu-Shabu." If you don't you may want to click on the link and just refresh yourselves.

Tonight Josh took me for his favorite Japanese meal of shabu-shabu at one of his favorite restaurants.

I am pretty sure he was smiling ear-to-ear the entire meal.

I never realized that there was more than one variety of broth to make with shabu-shabu, as I have only learned one recipe for it. But, I must say I really enjoyed the soy milk broth in the dual shabu pot. It was WONDERFUL.

It was a meal not likely to be forgotten any time soon. It isn't often that we sit for 2 hours to eat dinner in a restaurant. In fact, I think the last time we did was in Hong Kong for Josh's birthday - pre Liam.

Kudos to Liam for being patient enough to sit through this meal (with the aid of Josh's tablet and some Thomas the Train videos).

Josh said it best as the 3 of us left the restaurant: It might not have been as romantic as he envisioned my first shabu-shabu experience to be, but we did it. We got to enjoy a WONDERFUL meal that Josh has loved for many many years, together, in Japan.

It may just go down as one of our best International Friday Night Dates.

Japan

2011-07-16T03:33:00.000-07:00

Well here we are, one week into life back in our MVIS apartment home in Ikebukuro (Tokyo) Japan. We've been greeted by one of the hottest summers in record keeping (90 nearly every day thus far), two earthquakes which have caused our apartment to sway, and the absolute blessing of working AC in our apartment.

I'm also back to cooking based solely on what things look like versus being able to read the packaging. It makes for some adventuresome grocery shopping. I've already made the mistake of bringing something home that looked a lot like a stick of butter - but was really cheese. D'oh. I've also put our fish cooker to work. I wish our home in the US had one of these things! It is great!

Liam got his first train ride in today as we headed back to Kawagoe. Kawagoe continues to be where Josh travels 5 days a week for work. For me it is a place I visited one time on a nice day in March and ate the best tempura of my life. Today Liam happily rode the train yelling (and pointing) "choo choo!" every time another one passed us, I got to have a second round of yummy tempura, and Josh was happily our guide and navigated us around very effeciently.

Kawagoe wasn't very busy today - maybe that is deceiving in this picture. We were some of the only "loonies" to walk around in the heat. I probably should be using a sun umbrella when I am out with Liam (example seen in this picture). Pretty sure I'll be buying one. Watch out Seattle-lites, I'll be coming back armed with an umbrella that isn't for rain!

I can't really describe how hot it is here. You just have to trust us - it is hot. Probably doesn't help that the day we left Washington it was 58F and raining - and we landed in 89F degree 88% humidity. We definitely feel blessed with the AC in our apartment. We are also pretty sure when we return home we will absolutely freeze. In the meantime we are constantly trying to think of ways to keep Liam cool while we are here. Today we found squirt guns at the 100Yen store ($1 store). That is right, three squirt guns came home today.

Tonight Liam got his first lesson in how to use a squirt gun. We started with a lesson in our shower room.

It was definitely a huge hit. Liam was laughing and yelling "more more" when we were done. The goal is to have a squirt gun fight in the park next door to us. I'm sure we will be the crazy Americans doing this - but it should be fun, as long as Liam gets he is only suppose to shoot us! Wish us luck!

Overall, despite the heat, it is ALWAYS better to be together as a family than to be separated. We are feeling very blessed to be here together again. Thank you to all those who continue praying for us and our time here! We appreciate it!

Vacation Makes Me Crabby?

2011-06-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

I suppose there shouldn't be a question mark with the title of this blog because it has definitely become more of a fact than a question.

The last time two attempts of a Miller family "vacation" haven't exactly been pleasant for Josh. I have become pretty lousy company and ridiculously grumpy where traveling is concerned. I have lots of things I could blame it on, but have to say the complexity of trying to plan what all needs to be taken care of to ensure the happiness of a 21 month old son while traveling for several days, coupled with very little sleep (we are talking 5 hours max, and not even straight) makes for a thunderous Brenda.

I feel a bad Josh. I was definitely not enjoyable company.

Our trip wasn't all complaints though. Josh made sure to feed my ocean craving with a trip to Newport, Oregon with his Dad and Jean.

Liam continually makes us laugh. Chasing seagulls was perhaps the highlight of Liam's first pacific ocean visit, but he would NOT take his shoes off. Dirty/sandy feet freak Liam out.

I don't think we could of asked for a more beautiful day to spend on the coast though, and it might just be the highlight of my vacation. (And perhaps it helped I got my Mo's clam chowder pregnancy craving fix too!)

Saturday we met up with some friends at Grist Mill in Woodland, WA. I highly recommend the stop. It was beautiful! Liam, however, was sure there must be a "choo choo" around there somewhere. NOTHING could grab his attention away from the Mill (aka possible "choo choo!" sight) as seen by two of the multiple attempted family photo ops.

The main purpose of our vacation though was to celebrate Adam and Lauren's marriage. Here my mothering brain must of gone kaput because I had the brilliant idea to pack a great LBD and my favorite heels. Um, Josh was the best man, and had a lot of other stuff to do which meant I was on full Mom defense with Liam. Note to self, heels need to be closeted until our boys are much older. Flats for chasing are much more practical.

However; I have to say bringing my favorite heels with provided Liam with some great entertainment in our hotel (and perhaps some of the best blackmail pictures thus far!)

I'm pretty sure Liam could strut better in them than I ever could have. Ha!

Adam and Lauren are now officially the Liechtys. Such a handsome looking couple!

Adam, we are so very happy for you & Lauren, and so honored that we could be a part of your special double wedding day!

We arrived home Monday night, and my grumpiness has slowly started to melt away. Maybe because we all get to sleep in our own beds tonight? I don't know, regardless, sorry I am such a grumpy vacationer Josh Miller! It only has to get better, right???

S'mores

2011-05-29T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I brought home a box of graham crackers for Liam. He was very quick to find this picture on the back of the box:

From here it became constant pointing at that picture saying "this, this!"

What is a parent to do but oblige.

We had hoped some sunshine would find us over memorial day weekend so we could have a s'mores cookout with Liam, but in the Seattle area you gotta take what you can get. Including overcast, cool days. Liam didn't mind though, that boy would spend every waking hour outside if given the opportunity.

The search for a perfect s'more stick might of been one of the highlights for Liam. Josh had quite the stack of sticks to choose from by the time Liam was done.

I am not 100% sure Liam really enjoyed the roasting of the marshmallow. He would of rather had a sword fight with the marshmallow sticks.

Cappy was pretty sure there would be an escapee marshmallow after watching Liam "swing" his "sword" and made sure to come keep a close eye on the situation.

Liam got a taste of a s'more.

He was covered in sticky goodness. He was happy, but I don't think a s'more is really his thing yet. He was more content just eating the Hershey squares by them selves.

I cannot think of a better way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon on Memorial day weekend though - thank you Liam for discovering the s'more picture on the graham cracker box!

Coastal Girl At Heart

2011-05-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

I love coastal beach. I think secretly I'm a beach girl at heart.

I grew up in Eugene, Oregon part of the Willamette Valley. No ocean in Eugene, but a mere 60 miles away you could find yourself at the Oregon coast. I can't remember exactly when we got the "one room" air conditioner in our house growing up, but I do remember how hot the summers could be in Eugene. I also remember the spontaneous weekend family road trips to spend the day at the much cooler Oregon coast. Entire Saturday's spent chasing the waves on the beach, picnic lunches, walking through the small shops in Florence and Newport, salt water taffy, and clam chowder. Just thinking of it makes me happy.

The last time I have been on the Oregon coast was in 2002.

In 2005 Josh and I spent 1 week on the beaches of Maui.

In 2007 we got a lovely trip into San Jose, CA which included time on a beach in Carmel.

Some women crave food when they are pregnant, I crave the ocean. Josh has listened to me lament about the need for time on the Oregon coast a lot lately. Luckily a few days of nice weather FINALLY found us up here in Seattle, and I got a beach appetizer by two days spent in Edmonds.

I love Edmonds. I have since we moved here in 2001.

Yesterday Liam and I drove to Edmonds beach first thing in the morning. Liam got some quality shoveling of sand in while I just basked in the sun with sand in between my toes (very rocky sand, but it'll have to do...)

Today Josh was able to work a half day so we could all return to Edmonds.

Liam LOVES water. When he sees water he RUNS towards it. He loves kicking around and splashing. Today he got to kick around in the salt water with Josh.

I love the beach. I love spending my time with Josh and Liam. I can't think of a better way to have spent the last two days.

I still need an Oregon Coast trip to help quench my coastal beach thirst, but these last few days definitely helped tide me over.

Choo Choo!

2011-05-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

Liam loves train.

"Choo Choo" might just be one of Liam's favorite sound effects to make (besides the sound of something crashing, which is a pretty popular sound effect in our house too). Today the sun was out, and it only seemed fitting that we take Liam to see the Snoqualmie Train Museum/Park.

Liam was pretty happy running around the park, and climbing up and down the trains.

He really got into "driving" the trains too.

Future train engineer? Maybe. Made me think of my Grandpa Mattson who worked on steam to electric trains. I think he would of probably gotten a kick out of how happy Liam is looking at trains.

We also tried to teach Liam how to blow a dandelion today. He gave it a good go, but in the end he found it more fun just to grab the white "fluff" with his hand and try to throw it in the air, lol :)

Thank you sunshine for making a brief appearance so we could have such an enjoyable family outing!

Liquid Sunshine

2011-04-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

I can count on one hand how many days it has NOT rained since we returned home.

In fact, it is hard to tell it is spring. Especially when we had snow this week.

I do not think I realized how a life time of living in the pacific northwest can really start to wear on a person. Especially at the end of the winter / beginning of spring. I don't think Josh and I could of predicted how four weeks of living in sunshine would make both of us (albeit more me) feel darn right happier, all the time.

That aside, I have manged to find a few glimpses of spring popping up around the neighborhood.

Thank goodness for the beauty of a flower, even on a cloudy day.

It makes all the liquid sunshine seem worth while, and it puts a smile on my face.

Thoughts...

2011-03-18T21:04:00.001-07:00

One of the questions that Josh has been asked a lot is "what did Brenda think of Japan?" I suppose since I was not there to "work" per say, my opinion might vary slightly from Joshs.

I won't lie, the first two weeks in Japan were hard. Liam was beyond crabby, coupled with not knowing where anything was, it was frustrating. Then Liam adjusted and I got to explore, and well, how can you not fall in love with a country with displays of berry pies that make your mouth salivate while you walk down the street?

No really, living in Japan, even if cut short this time around, was one of the best experiences of my life.

Here are a few things that I loved:

1) Early adopters of technology at its finest. A button by my kitchen sink to fill my bathtub. Need I say more?

2) Cell phones aren't for public conversations. The Japanese surf their phone at any given time, but no one EVER talks on their cell phone on a bus, in a train, or in a restaurant. It was REFRESHING to not have to hear conversations shouted over the masses.

3) You don't eat on the go. The Japanese either eat in the restaurant, or in their home (or maybe a park), but the don't eat and walk. In fact, one of Josh's colleagues pointed out how shocked they were when they lived in North America that "we" eat ALL the time and in all places. I never realized how much more enjoyable it is to sit and drink your latte rather than taking it to go. How lovely it is to not shove food in your face in a limited time crunch.

4) The food is better in Japan. No, really, it is. Nothing is processed. You shop daily (or near daily) because of necessity, and because every thing is SO fresh that things go bad quickly. We were told there is nothing you can't eat raw in Japan - even chicken (not that I would). I believe that statement. Josh, who loves his meat, ate veggie heavy meals that I made in Japan, but the veggies are SO fresh that the flavor is out of this world. He gave them 2 thumbs up. This trip was the first time that I grocery shopped not at a farmers market, but at a grocery store and my apples had no wax coating.

5) Carbon footprint thoughtful. In Japan you buy a bottle of shampoo once, then after that you buy "bags" of refills at a much cheaper price. Same with cleaning products, laundry detergent, etc... Why don't we do that?

6) In the States I have never felt comfortable around homeless people begging. There is a stigma that goes with them. In Japan, there was a homeless guy that slept in the park Liam and I played at all the time. He was polite, and Liam greeted him every time we saw him. In Japan the homeless don't beg. Ever. We asked about this and we learned that some of the Japanese homeless are brilliant people, who choose to not work in "the system".

7) One of my favorite memories was listening to the Japanese history of the WWII bombing of Hiroshima. It was one of my favorite dinner conversations while we were there. I very much want to go back and see Hiroshima through the eyes of the Japanese.

8) In the face of tragedy they work together. I am not 100% sure that in the USA that if we were told we need rolling black outs that citizens would voluntarily shut their power off so that very few black outs are really needed. I would like to think some stranger would of let Liam play with their dogs while the ground is constantly shaking and every one is listening to news of a massive Tsunami. I would like to think that a group of business men in the middle of the same tragedy would take time to play peak-boo with a boy that doesn't speak the same language as them. That a stranger who doesn't speak the language would be met by constant smiles of reassurance. If we had to go through one of the biggest earth quakes in history, I think Japan was the place to be.

Would I go back? In a heart beat. I have so much more to learn and see in this amazing culture. I pray our adventure, and Josh's work continues when we are able too.

Thank you Japan, for welcoming us!

Bitter Sweet

2011-03-14T23:20:00.000-07:00

We arrived at our apartment in Tokyo on February 15, 2011.

Tomorrow, March 16, 2011 we will head back to Seattle landing at 9:00am Wednesday the 16th PST. Much to soon.

It is a bitter sweet sorrow to leave. Friday, the day of the 9.0 earth quake that changed every thing here - Friday I woke up and told Josh that I really felt at peace here, and was starting to really enjoy myself. It had taken nearly 3 weeks to get Liam on the time schedule, and use to his new home.

Then every thing here changed.

We don't want to leave in all honesty. In all honesty, there is a definite guilt that comes when thinking you can escape a potential awful nuclear disaster when the people you have come to know and enjoy do not have that escape option.

We continue to praise God that we have been safe, and that we can return Seattle. We continue to Pray for the people (and new friends) in Japan - for their safety and health.

God willing, we will be back in our apartment in Japan as soon as we safely can.

Tokyo Update

2011-03-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

After Friday's earthquake both Josh and I got apps on our Japanese cell phones to monitor aftershocks. Mine is a free app. It doesn't update often, but here is a picture of what it looked like yesterday. As you can see we are not lacking in aftershocks.

After spending lots of time accessing the situation we have decided it is time to start packing our bags today. We will leave Tokyo (Japan) for awhile.

It is very bitter sweet for us.

Thank you for the continued prayer and support.

-Millers

Largest Earth Quake in Japan History, Tsunami, and Nuclear Blasts

2011-03-12T02:17:00.000-08:00

I took this picture around 6am on the morning of March 11, 2011 from our apartment window. I am continually amazed just how blessed we have been with our home here. Such a breath taking view of Mt. Fuji.

This picture, well I took it today, March 12, 2011 around 8am. As you can see our view has not changed. Our live experience has.

We officially can say we have survived Japans strongest recorded earth quake of 8.9. It hit sometime around 2:40 in the afternoon March 11, 2011. Having only experienced one earth quake before in my life (which was only two days prior at 7.2) I have little to go off of.

Josh was at work when it hit, about 1 hour from me. I was in the Ikebukuro Train station, navigating my way out of the crazy commuter traffic with Liam along for the ride in his stroller. Josh and I experienced the same thing - witnessing fear and shock on the Japanese faces. Clearly the strength, magnitude, and duration of this quake was nerve racking even to an earth quake prone country. Josh and his co-workers dove under tables which were on wheels. I stopped under this thing:

I know, it isn't an impressive picture. But, I will never look up at it the same as I watched it bend to-and-fro, and sway while I used myself to cover Liam in his stroller. As the rolling came to a momentary slow I managed to get through the 1000's of people trying to get out of the station and get up that escalator you can just see in the picture... to which I saw this:

I actually took this picture the day after, it is an all glass sky rise. Still in perfect shape. Yesterday I watched it bend and roll wondering what kind of feat of engineering it was as Liam and I tried desperately to get a hold of Josh.

From there most of you have heard the story. Josh was stranded in Kawagoe. A co-worker so kindly provided him a meal and a safe place to sleep. Liam and I were not allowed up in our sky rise apartment as it hadn't yet "settled" and continually swayed, and had some minor damage to some interior walls. So we sat in our lobby for hours... I was fortunate enough to meet a very kind lady from South Africa, who when we could, carried Liam's stroller up 32 flights of stairs (while I carried Liam) so I could get him to bed for the night. She truly was a blessing. Josh and I finally got to talk on the phone around 11:30pm. I was so happy to hear his voice!

It was hours of after shocks and me alone, 32 stories up in the air, laying in bed messaging anyone I could on the Internet to distract myself from the reality of what was going on. I tried to read the news, to look at pictures of the Tsunami devastation, but every time I did I just got sick to the stomach all over. I am not sure I personally have ever said the Lords Prayer more times in one night as I did last night. Silently in my head. Out loud shouting. Whatever it took.

Today the trains started running again. Josh got home with bags of groceries, and was lucky enough that our elevators had started working again. I cannot put into words how happy and relieved I was to see him.

We have been so blessed by SO many people praying for us, and encouraging us from afar. Thank you all. We would, however like to put your mind a little at ease. Through it all, we are safe, and okay. Today Ikebukuro was not as busy as it typically is, but half the stores were open. People were out and about. Buildings are standing.

We took Liam to the park today. Yesterday 1000's of us waited for that first hour of quakes to stop in this park. Today we played. Liam even attempted to make a new friend, as several other parents with kids were there:

All the usual things we walk past look exactly the same on the outside as the did before the quake.

We know a lot of devastation is shown right now on the news. We have been asked a LOT "are you coming home?" No, right now we are not. We are far from the tsunami devastated people, 155 miles away from the nuclear plant that tonight exploded and unless some strong wind picked up we should be okay. We have people here that help advise us when we are concerned, and they have not steered us wrong thus far.

We will see how the week plays out before we make any decisions. I do not not think my nerves could take another earth quake of that magnitude. But, we are prayerful that that was the big one, and the earth is settling back down now.

It was another beautiful sunset tonight from our apartment.

We gave praise that we are safe and together, and prayed for those around us in Japan who are not as fortunate. Thank you for the continual prayers, and we will keep you as updated as we are able too.

Goodnight from Tokyo.

Kawagoe

2011-03-07T02:30:00.000-08:00

Monday - Friday Josh walks to Ikebukuro train station and commutes 45 minutes one way to Kawagoe, Japan for work.

I've gotten to really like the train station. Partly for its beauty, like the beautiful owls on the walls.

And, partly for the photography challenge it presents itself.

I'd really like to get a good picture showing the blur of motion that occurs at the station. It is a challenge I have set for myself here.

This past weekend we hung out at the train station so I could take pictures and more importantly so we could ride to Kawagoe for the day.

First experience in Kawagoe - best bakery ever. At the station no less! YUM!

From there I noticed the mail boxes. Something I don't see around Ikebukuro. They are very unique when I think of the standard blue box back home.

We walked the old town on Sunday. It was a beautiful day to just enjoy a leisurely walk, and enjoy the culture.

We also enjoyed the many different street food vendors as we walked around. I really enjoyed that.

I have no idea what that was called, but it was YUMMY!

Liam's taste buds haven't quite acclimated to Japan yet, so we also ate at a really great restaurant where he was pretty darn happy to get his first cup of tea (which he loved) and a bowl of noodles.

From there it was just a day of walking. And walking some more.

One of my favorite items I saw for sale in Kawagoe were these beautiful umbrellas. The pattern shows up as water hits them.

I had my back to Josh and Liam when I was taking this picture, and when I turned back I found Liam SWARMED with people:

He loved the attention! He was so content greeting EVERY ONE we passed with a cheery "Hi!" all day. He even got his picture taken by yet another random stranger.

I truly enjoyed just walking with Josh and Liam as we taste tested our way through Kawagoe. It is definitely some place we will visit again!

Portion Control

2011-03-03T02:35:00.001-08:00

I do not think anyone would try to argue with me that Americans have no idea what a "normal" portion of food looks like. Our society is full of "super size" and Claim Jumper sized menus. Couple those large food portions with an extremely sedentary life style - it just makes for large Americans.

Tokyo, Japan is different.

In a city where 14 million people congregate on a daily basis, what you see is a LOT of walking. You also see a lot of this:

I am not sure I have ever seen so many people ride a bike in a large city, ever.

So besides getting way more exercise than the average American per day, and a much thinner population, you'll find your grocery shopping experience to be portioned. Such smaller portions that I just felt dumbfounded for the first week we were here. Now I have started to customize to the fact that I walk a good distance to get our groceries every other day. There are no shopping carts for kids to ride in, so I push Liam in his stroller while managing a basket full of food. Then I get the joy of walking them all home, packed in ice. That alone is quite the work out.

This morning I went to the market and decided we were having spaghetti. Spaghetti is so common in the USA. It is cheap, and you can feed a lot of people.

First off, although every thing is portioned, the prices are quite higher than home. But, that is not the point of this blog. The point is to show what portion controlled grocery shopping looks like.

So, first off here we have my jar of spaghetti sauce. For comparison I placed it next to your standard bottle of Coke Zero that you could buy in a vending machine.

Next we will add a bag of spaghetti noodles to the picture.

Finally, the green bell pepper (I never knew they came so small) and the ground beef I bought. I don't know for sure, but that might of been 1/4 lb of ground beef. For three of us.

The one thing I do know, the produce is so fresh here that it makes the meal. I like mushrooms in my spaghetti, so I bought a pack. It pretty much looked like your typical American pack of mushrooms.

Except here they are "so fresh" the roots and dirt still cling to the mushroom, waiting to be cleaned off. Um, yum.

Those groceries made exactly enough for three of us. I am fairly certain it was still bigger portions than a local family would have had, but still only provided one serving, smaller than Josh and I would have normally had.

Learning to cook better portion control was not something I anticipated when we came here, but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I was anticipating the insane amount of walking, and still loving it too. Maybe we will bring back a new healthier Miller life style to Seattle. :)

Family Fun

2011-02-27T04:07:00.000-08:00

Our first weekend in Japan was spent running errands. It is amazing how much you have to go buy to get an apartment ready. Thankfully, we managed to accomplish most of what we needed to do last weekend so that THIS weekend could be our first family weekend of exploring Japan.

We kicked off Saturday with a Japanese lunch. I couldn't tell you what I ate, but it was yummy! Liam liked his food too, and liked trying out chopsticks even more!

Notice the full on jabbing using one stick. Hey, it worked for him.

We spent Saturday on the opposite side of Ikebukuro Train Station from where we live. I really wanted to go check out Sunshine City, and it did not disappoint! It was a fun place to explore. The real highlight of the day for Liam though, that came when we were coming back through the train station. We ran into these guys:

Not really sure who they are, but just check out the look on Liam's face when he saw them:

Pretty sure he would of been happy to stay right there ALL day! He really enjoyed holding hands with these guys!

Sunday Josh took Liam & I on our first Japanese train ride to Shinjuku. Liam, with all his Thomas the Train addiction, thought it was FABULOUS! I found it a little overwhelming. Josh assures me though after a few more rides I'll have it down pat.

I really enjoyed our day in Shinjuku. It was sunny, and fairly warm in the direct sun. Plus we got to enjoy both walking the city and two really great parks. I really don't think I could of asked for a better way to enjoy our Sunday.

As we left the second park Josh commented on how much he is enjoying having Liam & I here to enjoy Japan with him. I have to agree, seeing Japan in person is much more fun that skyping every day.

I Blog Because I Can

2011-02-25T02:53:00.000-08:00

Hi.

We currently live on the very top floor of this sky high building.

Talk about 180 degree's from our home surrounded by tree's in Woodinville.

This is a pretty fountain that Liam and I walk by almost daily.

It is quite the effort to walk past this fountain because Liam LOVES water. It is all I can do to keep him from diving in. I wonder how many Japanese have giggled watching me try to navigate Liam past the water.

Speaking of Liam, his obsession with Thomas the Train continues to grow. He LIGHTS UP at the site of Thomas, and he'll spot Thomas ANYWHERE. He even likes to walk around with his Thomas back-pack on, just because he can.

When Liam isn't running around our apartment pointing out Thomas you will find him at the small park by our place.

Thus far, all we have gotten in the mail in Ikebukuro are ads. Lots of ads.

They look surprisingly a lot like the ads we get at our home in Washington.

Lastly, Josh had a birthday this week. He wins for most adventuresome birthdays. First Hong Kong, and now Ikebukuro.

I was left pondering what I would get Josh in Japan.

If you know us Miller's, you know we love our popcorn. Josh in particular loves cheese popcorn. I was pretty proud of myself that I found a bag for him. Nothing says "Happy Birthday" and "I Love You" like a bag of cheese popcorn in Japan. :-)

Oh, don't worry, we also did homemade surf n' turf for Josh's birthday. Josh was pretty excited to test out our table top grill on his birthday.

I hand rolled sushi rolls in honor of Josh's birthday. Without a mat. They came out looking pretty good if I do say so myself.

Random side note: I am still wondering why I have attempted making sushi in Seattle before and it has NEVER came out as good as this. Hmmm...

Back to the birthday.

No celebration would be complete without cake. I am feeling pretty proud of myself for navigating to Seibu and back with Liam to hand pick out the birthday celebration dessert.

It tasted as wonderful as it looks.

Happy Birthday Josh Miller!

Goodnight from Japan dear friends and family. Hope to update again real soon.

Snuggie

2011-02-19T04:06:00.000-08:00

We've all seen the silly commercials for the Snuggie. A blanket with sleeves, just what everyone "needs."

I've rolled my eyes at them.

I've made fun of them.

Today I bought one.

How could I resist?! Look at this great label:

Drawn guy just looks so comfy! And look! It even came with directions on how to fold it back up!

When folded my Japanese Snuggie looks classy. Look at that tan bad-boy snuggie pillow on my couch! I love it!

There is a Japanese version of a snuggie on my couch, and I am proud of it.

We Are Here.

2011-02-17T21:25:00.000-08:00

After nearly 8 months in planning we are here.

Three days ago we moved to the 32nd floor (top floor) of the West Park Tower in Ikebukuro, Japan. Here is the view from our apartment:

And, here is what Liam and Josh like to do in their new to them living room:

Some gadgets were tagged in English for us prior to us moving in. This contraption is next to my kitchen sink. If I push the pink button my bathroom tub starts filling with 43C water. (Notice the diagram of the tub filling on the display, Liam was awaiting his bath)

Here is our kitchen. 3 burner gas stove top, and the fish cooker pulled out. Hmmm... I'll let you all know how the fisher cooker works as soon as I put it into use.

Again, lovely translations will help me with the stove top hood:

But no translation was left on the microwave/oven. Yup, it is a combo deal. We got talked through how to use it, seems simple enough... hope to give it a try this weekend!

Although we moved 4000 + miles away, some things never change. Liam is still making us laugh at the dinner table.

Not much of a blog post, but 3 days, still jet lagged, and Josh is working. So, not much adventuring yet (and very little picture taking). Hopefully that'll change soon.

Face

2011-01-25T19:38:00.000-08:00

I've heard the saying "It is a face only a mother could love."

I've thought a lot about that saying.

My conclusion: I truly love Liam's face, and all the funny he faces he makes with it. All of them.

Ikebukuro, Japan

2011-01-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

Josh's first trip after Liam's birth was June of 2010. It was literally about 2 days after he came home that he prepped me on the need for him to be in Japan a lot in 2011. I remember questioning if "a lot" would be like the insane schedule he kept in China - he seemed certain this would be an even greater time commitment. As we continued to discuss the situation, it became clear to both of us that it was time for me to stop working so that I could stay home with Liam which would also allow our family more flexibility in traveling together when Josh's long trips were called for. In all honesty, that conversation was a bit surreal. Really? Were we going to be spending most of 2011 living abroad? (we now have our answer : Yes.)

In December Josh went back to Japan to find a place for us to live. Ikebukuro won him over. And, he won me over when he sent me this picture:

In the last month all the documents have been signed for Josh, Liam and I to live in an apartment in Japan while Josh works. Our plane tickets are bought. Our live in house/dog sitter is arranged. The ball is in motion.

What started as a surreal conversation is becoming a quickly approaching reality. February 12, 2011 we begin this adventure. Josh will be working hard, Liam and I will be exploring hard. Doesn't quite seem fair ;-)

We will all be together, under the same roof every night, every weekend. For that we truly feel very blessed.

New Career

2011-01-10T21:23:00.001-08:00

On November 23, 2010 I took a much needed career change. Gone are the days of lower extremity arterial exams with scaly skin falling to the floor and gangrene permeating the room. Gone are the days of lovely venous ulcers and venous reflux examinations. No more carotid duplexes for dizziness, or visual defect. No more inappropriate comments from old men. And, although there are parts of that career I miss, I do enjoy how fulfilling my days are now.

There are play dates, trips to parks, and all sorts of other great things.

I am now proficient in driving trains across the kitchen table.

I am mastering the art of wrestling a 15 month old.

We drum.

I also attempt to keep up with the house work. Laundry. Cooking. Cleaning. Grocery shopping. Liam likes to help me in these chores. I am currently teaching him how to master the art of sweeping.

It is slow going, but he enjoys it.

Today I was doing laundry and when I stepped out to clean the lint filter on the dryer I returned to this:

Um, I do not recommend ever letting a child play in a dryer. (just to make that clear) But, Liam sure thought his "space ship" was cool. *sigh* Won't be happening again. Won't. Learning laundry will have to wait until Liam is older.

We also sit and watch things together, like the BCS National Championship football game. Particularly when Mom's favorite football team is playing.

Yes, my days are very different. They are still very exhausting. But an absolutely wonderful exhausting. I would not trade one minute of it.

Two Years Later

2011-01-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

Flashback: Cappy, December 2008:Flash forward: Cappy, December 2010:What a difference two years makes!

Coloring

2010-12-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Coloring opens the imagination. That is my theory.

It also might just give us 10 minutes of silence on a 10 hour flight. Um, hopefully? Hmm...

Either way, tonight Liam and I had our first coloring date. I sure hope we have THOUSANDS of them over the years... And, I cannot wait to find out which hand becomes dominate in the future!

December 25, 2010

2010-12-18T21:50:00.000-08:00

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,

Stood puzzling and puzzling: "how could it be so?

"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!

"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.

then the Grinch thought of something he hand't before!

"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.

"Maybe Christmas... perhaps...means a little bit more!"

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! - by Dr. Seuss, 1957

Dear Santa

2010-11-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

Please do not make me sit on your lap again.

Sincerely,

Liam , Age 14 months

Poinsettia

2010-11-21T21:30:00.000-08:00

I am a huge fan of poinsettia's.

Molbaks has the best poinsettia display around.

Every year I try to go opening weekend to admire their beautiful poinsettias. It is pretty much my happy place. This year I held off from going opening weekend to enjoy Molbaks with my parents. It did not disappointment.

Grandpa and Grandma also got quality time with lil' Liam this weekend. Liam tried to assist Grandpa & Josh in putting up a new baby gate.

And, Grandma, well she found the way to Liam's heart. Give the boy pudding.

Thank you for coming to visit Mom & Dad ;)

Our Lil' Monkey

2010-10-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

He may not be able to say "trick or treat"...But, he surprised us by saying "banana" on Halloween! The candy of choice.

Happy Halloween!

I LOVE MY DUCKS!

2010-10-13T22:28:00.001-07:00

Being born and raised in Eugene, Oregon you are definitely exposed to Duck mania. Particularly come football season. I think I have been a Duck fan since birth. It does not hurt that I have some really special memories of Saturday's spent at Autzen Stadium with my Dad cheering on the Ducks. I still giggle at the memory of the Duck football game when they came through in a clinch play and in the pandemonium of fan excitement some random guy hugged my Dad. Love that.

I married a man who supports the Huskies, and was born to a prof at Oregon State. *sigh* So, I have to be a fair Pac-10 supporter so as not to sway Liam's future football alliance. But, in my defense, when Josh has to travel for work it gives me a GREAT opportunity to discuss my favorite team with Liam. I like taking pictures. A lot. So, if Liam wears green and yellow proudly and learns how to yell "GO DUCKS!" while I snap his picture, well I'll probably burst with pride.

I love you Josh. :)

A Year Later...

2010-10-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how fast a baby grows. Truly. Our family all lives far enough away that they don't get to personally see Liam enough to first hand know just how fast he is growing. Tonight's blog is for you dear family.

A year ago Josh, Liam, my sister and I took Liam to his first pumpkin patch at the ripe age of 3 weeks. Josh and I took Liam back to that same pumpkin patch at 1 year 2 weeks. It was a TOTALLY different experience this time.

Instead of laying in the pumpkin field like this:

Liam was climbing all over the pumpkins like this:

Instead of Josh carrying Liam around like this:

He now rides like this:

Instead of barely registering on the height chart:

He stands proud at 2 and 1/2 (+) feet:

Yup, Liam has clearly grown from an infant to an active toddler.

Happy Fall dear Family!

Cappy

2010-09-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

There are several ways a family comes into having a dog. Two that stick out with me are the following: A) a family decides that the kids are old enough to help out with a pet and they bring a dog into the family. The dog is showered with love by the kids and parents and is quite content. B) A couple buys a dog. Loves the dog. Finds out they are pregnant, brings home a baby, and for a long stretch the dog is ignored.

We have been option B.

Although there have been months of clearly not enough attention spent on Cappy, I would like to think that Cappy is starting to reap the benefit of the affection in his new friend Liam.

Liam only has a few distinct words, including "dog". He squeals with joy at the sight Cappy - in return Cappy runs around stupidly to make Liam laugh more. Although they enjoy each other their friendship is still very much supervised since there remains quite a size difference between the two. I am pretty sure this is Liam's view of Cappy:

I am glad that as Liam continues to grow he continues to become Cappy's friend. Lonely Cappy will be a little less lonely every day as these two continue to bond.

Liam has learned to hold his hand out for Cappy to sniff and lick before Liam starts petting him (or drumming on him, or poking him in the eye, or the numerous other things Liam does to show his affection).

It never takes long to go from this:

To this:

Ah Cappy, we are sorry you have been ignored, but are glad you and Liam are forging such a friendship!

T.M.I

2010-09-08T22:51:00.001-07:00

I have debated long and hard about this blog, but too much information (T.M.I) wins out.

I underwent my second colonoscopy in my life time today. Colonoscopies have a bit of a stigma to them. My first one was in 2004. My doctor sent me home with Fleet to take the day before my procedure. I mixed it with apple juice. Perhaps not the tastiest thing in the world, but survivable.

Things have changed in the past six years. Apparently Fleet was found to cause kidney failure. D'oh. Now-a-days they give you a prescription for something called "Moviprep."I will just say my first "round" of MoviPrep yesterday did not go well. In my irritation I started to do a little research. The best thing I found was an article by columnist Dave Berry for the Miami Herald published on February 11, 2009. I will quote it:

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called ''MoviPrep,'' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America's enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes -- and here I am being kind -- like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

Once again, I can say the actual colonoscopy itself was a piece of cake. The MoviPrep - not so much fun. I have no desire to drink that stuff again any time soon.

So, now you are probably wondering "what makes this blog worthy?" Well, Dave Berry isn't joking when he says the box of MoviPrep is huge. It is big enough that it has provided hours of entertainment for Liam. Truthfully, watching him wear his "MoviPrep" crown has made Josh and I laugh, a lot.I guess the moral of this T.M.I blogpost: MoviPrep is no fun. Colonoscopy, not that bad. MoviPrep box, HOURS of entertainment for small child and makes the ENTIRE thing worth while.

Road Trip, 2010

2010-08-25T22:52:00.000-07:00

I grew up taking road trips with my family back to Minnesota. Between those, and my crazy trek to live in New Hampshire, well, I have pretty fond memories of traveling the country via car.

I should of known they were skewed memories.

I have heard the story a thousand times. The road trip that was so awful my Dad had to buy my Mom a microwave to get her to do another one. Particularly because I was so awful. Why didn't that story stick out more when I convinced Josh to road trip with me?

Last Friday night Josh, Liam and I left on our first family road trip.

I am always our driver. I love driving. Partly why I wanted to do a road trip. What you cannot tell from this quaint "road trippin' " picture is I was sick with gastroenteritis. Liam had been screaming for hours to get out of the car, and Josh with his road rage tendencies at the helm, was navigating us to our first stop. Nevada City, California.

We rolled into Nevada City, CA just in time to dust off and literally change into "wedding appropriate" clothing in the parking lot of the wedding. Nothing says "I'm ready for a wedding" like putting a dress on in the front seat of your car while trying to not flash the wedding guests parking around you.Once we were dressed and ready we got to celebrate the union of James and Cara Meredith. Awesomeness. Well, for them it was truly awesomeness. For me it was "please do not get sickness" while Josh did his usher duties. From there I went to the Patterson's hotel and collapsed in heap and missed the rest of the festivities.

Josh and Liam came to collect me around 8:45pm where we continued our 14 hour drive on to Reno, Nevada.

It was about time Josh and I had gotten ourselves to Reno to spend quality time with Kim, David and their adorable boys. I was still sick. Liam still refused to sleep and produced all of his molars. Josh continued to drive.

And, even with all of that, it was still AWESOME to watch Liam try to keep up with Ethan and Aiden. It was AMAZING to see Lake Tahoe in person. So absolutely beautiful. And, best of all, it was so much fun to spend time with Kim and David. Thank you guys for being such gracious hosts!

From Reno we got back in the car and headed back north. This time I was feeling well enough to do the long 8 hour trek we made on Tuesday. I feel pretty proud of myself because I managed to get our gas hog beast to perform at 22 mpg. I was so excited I asked Josh to text his buddy Andy because I thought Andy would be proud of me. I am just that weird.

We stopped at Oregon Tech on our way back. A bit surreal to walk around the campus that 12 years ago Josh and I met at, but now walk around with our baby in tow. It was also pretty fun to buy three OIT shirts for us to proudly wear as a family. Haha, we might need a picture of that at some point.

I think it might qualify as the best trip to OIT I have ever had.

We stopped off in Eugene, and Keizer on the way north too. Two of the grandpa's got some quality time with their grandson. Although I think both Dad and Mike would say it wasn't nearly enough time. (sorry Mike, I had my ISO too high, and the pictures did not turn out so hot of you and Liam, but I really did enjoy you walking up to the random motorcycle cop and the cop turning their lights on for Liam!)

By Wednesday, after yet another sleepless night with Liam, I was ready to pull my hair out. Josh had to drive, again, and I think he wanted to pull his hair out. And Liam - well, I think he could care less to ever sit in his car seat again.

Somehow we made it all the way back to Seattle in one piece. Although there were definitely highlights to the trip, I think Josh and I are in agreement. No more road trips for this Miller family for a VERY long time. None. For our sanities sake. Stay-cations here we come. Of course, maybe one of us will bribe the other one with some cool techy gadget and the other will give in, but I think it would have to be something really cool...

Chasing Anything

2010-08-16T21:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I write really good blogs in my head. I wonder, how weird is it that I mentally journal my day with rarely getting it on paper and/or blog format? By the time I do blog I think "man, I know in my head this was so much better..."

One of the things I love about Woodinville in the summer - hot air balloons. In years past they have floated over our house throughout the summer months. Sometimes dropping so low I feel like I could reach out and touch them. In all honesty, since the recession hit the hot air balloon sightings have really dropped off. Needless to say, when I heard the familiar "whoosh" of hot air 7am Saturday I did not hesitate. My trusty camera and I made a run for the door.

Down the street I went chasing hot air balloons.

There were actually two balloons over our house Saturday morning, but this particular balloon just hung at the end of our driveway and sunk "fairly" low. When I realized they weren't really moving much I wondered "Are they just hanging there so I can get pictures?!" Then the more panic realization of "Oh crap, I am in my pj's!" Maybe someone up there was taking pictures of the crazy lady in her pj's?

Probably.

After my morning pajama run down our street Josh, Liam and I headed across the sound for a day of beach fun.

I have been having serious beach withdrawal for awhile now. So it was very nice of Josh's former co-worker Randy, and his wife Wendy to invite us out to their place for the day.

The ferry ride was just an added bonus.

Really it was the best of both worlds for Josh and I. I got to put my toes in the sand, splash through salt water, and watch Liam totally explore with fascination.

Josh got all of that plus the added bonus of spending time with his friend/mentor that we only get to see about once a year. I am fairly certain my husband truly looks forward to those visits.

We both got the pleasure of going clamming so we all could enjoy fresh caught crab, fresh caught clams, and salmon for dinner. I cannot leave out the most amazing Vietnamese Clam Chowder that Wendy made for us too. That recipe came home with me!

In my opinion there should be more days of that level of joy and fun in our lives. It was a pretty amazing day.

Today I bought a little purse size journal. I thought to myself maybe, just maybe, when I start journaling in my head I could write down what my thoughts were to help create a better blog. Stay tuned for the first "pre-meditated" blog... not sure when it'll come, but hopefully it'll come.

Yellow

2010-08-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

They say imitation is a sincere form of flattery. I am frequently challenged and get idea's from others photographers. Our friends Royden and Ruth Lepp both take awesome pictures. Recently Ruth took a series of pictures of their garden and posted them on facebook. Ruth, I loved your pictures so much that it made me want to take random pictures of flowers around our house. Can I blame you for nearly being late to work the morning I was so inspired, LOL! A sincere form of flattery indeed.

These might not all be yellow, but there is a lot of yellow. Enough yellow that I sing Coldplays "Yellow" in my head every time I look at them.

Let me help you get it stuck in your head too:

I came along

I wrote a song for you

And all the things you do

And it was called yellow-Coldplay

Fish Eye

2010-08-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Fact: I like playing with my camera. All I wanted for my birthday was to rent a fun camera lens to play with. So, for 24 hours on August 4, 2010 I had a Canon 15mm fish eye lens on my rebel. Yay! (warning, photo heavy blog!)

After having to spend my previous birthday in China Josh went all out this year. Blueberry picking (check). Walk around Green Lake (check). Fun family time to follow? Check! Check! Check!

Our first stop on my birthday fun family celebration was the car wash. I jumped into the back seat to document Liam's reaction.

At first he was pretty darn excited to see me riding in the back with him.

Then it happened. The car wash started. Liam's expression quickly went from "joy" to "huh?"

Followed by shear panic...

And, ending in straight up terror...

This picture breaks my heart!

Liam survived though, no worse for wear post car wash.

Following the car wash we headed to Edmonds - truly one of my favorite spots around the sound.

We did not get a single sunset trip in last summer, so I was pretty excited that we made it with Liam this summer.

Liam probably did not care so much about sunset, but he did care about sand. I am pretty sure the jury was out on if he liked it or not. Clearly Liam needs more time to investigate.

Tired of looking at pictures yet? Sorry. I took nearly 600 in 24 hours. I'd say 90% are crap. I don't care though, I had so much fun playing with this lens that it totally makes it worth while.

On my actual birthday I got up and just drove around and randomly took pictures. The following images are nothing special. Really. Nothing. Special. I'll share them anyways because I had so much fun taking them.

After my morning drive of picture taking we headed to the water fountains at the Redmond Town Center. I'm pretty sure who ever designed this place is a genius. Josh had never been with me before, so I had to happily point out that Liam got to play in the water while I was surrounded by Starbucks, Tully's, and See's chocolate. Mom heaven.

If I have not mentioned it about a million times - Liam loves water. But on my birthday he was particularly excited! He was screaming for joy the entire time!

It definitely warmed this Mom's heart.

I feel incredibly blessed. Thank you Josh & Liam for such a wonderful day!

Visit from Lynn

2010-08-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

We have come to the realization that family no longer comes to visit Josh and I. No, they come to see Liam. We aren't offended, really. We are flattered that every one wants to come spend time with our guy smiley!

Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Lynn!

Dear Dad...

2010-07-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Dad...

Mom tells me that she only eats plain peas when you travel. You don't like them?

Well, Mom has been making peas for me a lot lately.

They are kind of hard to pick up, but taste real good when I do get it in my mouth!

I like them a lot!

Yup Dad, now Mom has someone to eat plain peas with!

Love, Liam

Musings by Brenda

2010-07-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

I love Liam.

Every day Liam does something else that totally steals my heart.

Truthfully, I didn't know I would enjoy motherhood as much as I do.

10 months into being a Mom and all I can say is I love it.

I am not saying there haven't been some rough times. But, those rough times are quickly erased by the smile, the "da da da" and "mom mom mom" and the laugh. Oh that laugh.

Today I took Liam to one of my favorite spots, Edmonds water front. I found an all new level of joy there watching Liam take it all in.

Liam, you have totally stolen my heart.

Marrying Josh and having Liam. Definitely two of the best things I have ever done in my life. :-)

Summer

2010-07-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged in WAY too long. I think there must be scientific proof that the older you get the faster time goes. Seriously.

Let's just take the past few days...

We were in Oregon.

Josh and Liam stayed in Corvallis while I made my way to Eugene. It was my first time being away from Liam overnight since his birth. It was a bit surreal, but the sleep was heavenly - perhaps the best sleep I have had in 10 months.

The purpose of my first night without Liam was to celebrate Laura's bridal shower.

I have known Laura since 6th grade. She was one of the very first people I met at Colin Kelly Middle School. Man. That just seems like forever ago now. I also can't believe it has been over 10 years ago that we lived together fresh out of high school. Wow. Hahaha, OVER 10 years. Okay, maybe we are starting to get old.

I totally love that I can honestly tell people that my dear friend is marrying a classmate that she reconnected with over Facebook. Yes, the rumors of Facebook romance have legitimate proof, ha!

Truthfully though, I am very happy for Laura & Brett. It is nice to see Laura so very happy. I love that. I also loved getting to see Courtney and Melissa this weekend for the first time in a LONG time. Just an added bonus.

Josh's international traveling has started back up after a long hiatus. His first trip was in June. Couple that with the crazy hours he puts in - well, that definitely eats up Josh's weeks. I do absolutely love that in whatever time Josh has he and Liam are wrestling around and playing together.

I am not really sure who enjoys it more...

It does truly warm my heart to watch them together.

Liam continues to grow crazy fast. He is also starting to really show off his personality. He is nearly always happy. Really happy. I love that.

I also love that he LOVES water. Splashing makes Liam just bubble over in joy.

This is Sofia with Liam.

I love watching Liam at the fountains. It is the highlight of my days off (this was our 3rd trip this month!) It was just an added bonus that Tiara and Sofia could join us this week.

Recently the "berry fairy" in me has emerged. I love berry season. I love picking them, I love eating them, and I love cooking with them! Today I found a smoking deal on blackberries. They HAD to come home with me.

So tonight, after working all day, after playing with Liam, and getting him in bed for the night, I took care of Cappy and then I made jam. Lot's of black berry jam.

Amazing. This is all in the last 6 days, and it is only the cliff notes version. The week isn't even over yet. No wonder it has been so long since I last blogged...

Whoa.

2010-06-19T21:04:00.001-07:00

Whoa. Two posts in 24 hours. It is like I have time on my hands. Ha!

Today Liam turned 9 months old, and we got to spend the day at Woodland Park Zoo. I personally couldn't wait to see what animal(s) might catch Liam's attention.

I thought perhaps the Lion would. It is like a big ole' kitty cat in comparison to our dog. And, although we could only observe him through glass, I thought maybe Liam would find him fascinating.

Not so much.

The elephants, which you can't really see in this picture, got some pretty interesting faces from Liam. He wasn't really sure what to make out of them, but he didn't really find them "exciting" per say.

Oh, on a side note, this flower might of been the only sign of "summer" all day. June 19th and Liam was wearing fleece for a Zoo visit, what is up with that?

I pretty much love watching the penguins. I thought, perhaps, since Liam likes watching the baby Einstein penguins he might enjoy the real thing.

Mmm... again, not so much.

Then we saw something that peaked his curiosity...

A peacock. I forget how beautiful their coloring really is until I get to see them up close, and that isn't exactly an every day experience!

Truthfully though, the peacock didn't even really hold Liam's attention. I mean, take a look on the kids face!

No, the thing that kept Liam totally fascinated, babbling, and awake for our entire zoo experience? The other kids at the zoo. Seriously, he was just delighted to watch other kids. I don't even have a picture of that, instead I have a day full of wonderful memories to cherish. Definitely made it a blog worthy experience for me.

Vancouver, BC

2010-06-18T21:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the best vacations only last a few hours.

Last Saturday we crossed the border to spend the day in Jake and Veronica's stomping grounds for a little family time + R&R.

I don't know what it is about long drives, but I love them. I think Josh and I have some of our best conversations while we are in the car, or picking berries. Weird, I know. But, something about those two situations spur some of my most treasured moments.

Last Saturday was no exception.

2.5 hours of car time, with conversation that fills my heart, on top of the fantastic company of Jake & Veronica, coupled by fabulous views, blue sky, and every thing else that makes for a perfect "vacation".... Well, we couldn't of asked for more.

Ahhh... love it (them) all!

Too Many Kids in this Tub

2010-06-03T21:53:00.000-07:00

by Shel Silverstein

There's too many kids in this tub

There's too many elbows to scrub

I just washed a behind that I'm sure wasn't mine

There's too many kids in this tub.