Playing Catch-up

I thought we hadn't done much these past few weeks, nothing "blog-worthy", anyway.  Then I got out my camera and realized there are some pictures I could post.  I'll combine them all in one post to save time.  Lately, uploading pictures onto Blogger has been a huge pain.  Apparently I've maxed out my free storage space in my Picasa Web Album, so everytime I want to add a picture, I have to delete an older one (or two, or three, depending on the quality of the new picture.)  It takes a lot longer to post anything!  Anyway, here's what we've been up to:

Mariko's First Birthday!  Mariko turned one on April 19.  Tif and Tad hosted a birthday party BBQ at my mom's house (too many guests for their house!) Mariko loved opening her presents.  She wasn't quite as enthusiastic with the cake...

She looks like she's not really sure what's going on!

Then she daintily played with the cup-cake for a few minutes.  Such a girl!

Jillian's Band Concert! The end of the year concert was April 28th.  It's really hard to get good pictures in the Sakai gym.  Fortunately Mr. Burton had each row stand up for a photo-op.  They sounded so accomplished.  I'm always amazed at their progress from the beginning of the year to the end.  Even though we've heard the same songs from when Nate and Kylie were in band, I still love it. After the concert, Mr. Burton talked about the budget cuts that are coming to the school district and how they will probably affect the band program at Sakai.  It makes me sad to think that Ben might not have the same opportunity as his older siblings. 

Carla's 40th Birthday! One of Brad's good friends from high school had a birthday party on April 30th at her dad's classic car garage.  Carla (left) and Lisa (right) are two of Brad's closest female friends from high school.  They are both great people and I'm glad he's been able to keep in touch.  I haven't done so well keeping in touch with my high school friends.  I should have taken more pictures of the cars, too!  They're incredible.  Carla's dad has at least a dozen in his garage/museum, all of them impeciably restored.

Visits from family! My Aunt Sandra (my mom's twin sister) and my cousin Lyn and her two kids, Henry and Fern, came to visit on Tuesday.  Aunt Sandra lives in Provo, and Lyn is in Woodinville.  Even though Lyn reallly doesn't live that far away, I haven't seen her since Tifanie's wedding.  That's what living on an island will do to you!  Lyn and I grew up together until we were five.  She lived across the alley from me and we played together almost every day.  She reminded me of the time we took some white-out from my dad's desk and went around the neighborhood making white X marks on everything...telephone poles, rocks, the neighbors stair railings, the sidewalk, fire hydrants...apparently to help us find our way home!  It was great visiting with her.  She's a busy mom: she runs her own sewing business, does the bookkeeping for her husband's landscape business, and homeschools her two kids.  I'm hoping to visit her this summer with Tifanie and Corey.