Winter Fun

Here's a few pics of our fun in the snow. It's really Ryan and the girls...I just ran out to take one pic with frosty. It's Soooo COOOOLD!! I prefer to watch from the window but the girls love being in the snow with dad.

Husted Christmas

We had a fun Christmas Eve & Christmas with the Husted Family!! Ryan hosted Christmas Eve while I was away working Trinity's 3 services but Ryan held down the fort while taking care of 3 kids! He even made it to the last service with the kids and served as an usher. He's a trooper! We opened stockings from Santa Nana. The big kids got the traditional Spartan gear and the grandkids cashed in with the matching pj's!! Yummy ham dinner and lots of treats!

It was so nice to have Nana with us for Christmas!! Soon she'll be in Florida for the winter.

Christmas morning, the kids were so excited! Malia woke half asleep, peeped her eyes open and said, "It's the day before we go to FLORIDA!!!" Riley said, "It's CHRISTMAS!!" When the kids came downstairs, there were no presents under the tree. It was dead quiet until they realized the presents were hidden all over the house. Then it was absolute craziness!! We got it all on videotape. We let the kids open one gift each and then we had cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast while Ryan read the Christmas story. We did face paints and the girls got a set of nail polish. Malia begged and begged until Ryan finally gave in and let her paint his nails. She was on cloud nine!!
At noon, we joined the Husted clan for Christmas over at Kent & Becky's house. Silas read the Christmas story, we had a delicious brunch and then opened presents.

The two youngest...Elijah Bowden & Lucas Husted.

Riley and Malia got their first doll house!! Riley was so excited and begged to leave the party so she could go home and play with her new toys.

When we got home, the girls played for hours! They LOVE their doll house!

We had a wonderful two-day Christmas celebration!! Now we're packing our bags and getting ready to drive 2 days to Florida!!

Driving Myself Crazy!

Growing up in Hawaii, I got my drivers license when I turned 15 with no drivers ed.

My husband informs me that driving is not one of my gifts from God and always insists on taking the wheel.

At age 2, Riley's favorite saying when pulling out of the driveway was, "Watch out for the mailbox!"

Well, I did it again. Not the mailbox this time. I didn't know the rear door was open when pulling out of our garage until I heard a LOUD crash!!

I've been working on reversing slowly but this was not one of those times.

Our car is in the shop and now my kids say, "Are all the doors closed?" when pulling out of the garage. Geezz.....

Trick or Treat!

We started the day by preparing for our fun evening ahead. The girls and I decorated the yard, opened lots of candy bags and cooked a BIG pot of chili. Riley was a cheerleader and Malia wanted to be a football player!

Ryan set up a fire pit to roast smore's, we buried TONS of candy under hay in the pumpkin inflatables and put together smore's gift bags for our visitors.

Everyone arrived early for dinner...The Nickel clan, the Bowdens, Mom Husted, Julie & the kids. Everyone ate quickly so we could get out and enjoy the fun!

Our little ones.The kids are ready to hit the road!! Lucas and I stayed back to pass out candy and keep the fire stoked.

Peyton going house to house.

Feels like 30 or 40 degrees! Thank goodness we have a warm fire!Nana and MaliaMaking smores... Becky, Ryan and Malia

Nana & Lucas

What a fun night to spend with our neighbors, family and those we love!

He's Captured My Heart

Lucas is growing so fast! Everytime I look at him, he melts heart and reminds me how blessed we are to have this little guy in our lives. He reminds me to take time to laugh and play.
It's impossible to have a "bad day" when this little guy is always smiling and giggling. Life is so simple with baby Luc around!!

Muskegon Weekend with the Nickel Family

To celebrate the start of our school year, we did a weekend getaway with the Nickel Family in Muskegon, MI. We had such a fun time together!! The kids all get along so well and we stayed up late playing cards and talking every night. Here's our first night on the beach...

The kids played on the beach playground a few times each day. We were the only ones around and felt like we had the whole place to ourselves!
Lucas, enjoyed watching the sunset with all of us and loved being in the baby swing. He did so well on our weekend away.

We took a walk on the boardwalk on Saturday morning.

Ryan and Mark led our families in devotions each morning. The kids made Smore's to show how families stick together through both good and bad times.

We wish we could have stayed longer....it was such a relaxing and fun time together!

Babies Having Babies!

It seems like yesterday that my brothers and I were building forts in the kiawe forest, shooting bb guns at GI Joe stick figures, and goofing off til the wee hours of the night.

Now we're all grown up with families of our own. This summer, we ALL had babies!!

Jon had his 4th....Aysen Asato.

We had our 3rd...Lucas Husted.

And Davin had his 1st MIRACLE baby....Sophia Asato. A incredibly healthy girl after mommy Marissa survived heart bypass surgery during her pregnancy.

We went from 3 kids to 3 kids, 3 spouses and 8 grandchildren...16 now in the Eddie Asato family. What a blessing from the Lord!

Family Camp!!

We spent Labor Day weekend in Hastings, MI at Trinity's Family Camp!! It was SOOO much fun!! The girls loved living together in our cabin, playing all day with friends, chapel in the morning and evenings and always having something fun to do!

This may be our last warm weekend of the summer!! Sunday morning we celebrated with those being baptized!

This is "granny". The girls absolutely loved her and the funny skits she did everyday!

Kids Schedules!

Today, I took pictures of the kids doing their daily activities like waking up, eating breakfast, getting dressed, etc and posted a visual schedule on the fridge.

We re-arrange the days activities first thing in the morning and put an arrow where we are in our day. The girls love looking ahead to see if they are taking a nap in the afternoon or skipping their nap to go to the pool.

All day long, they move the arrow to the next activity and remind me when we got off schedule. It was fun to see them put their shoes on and load the car without being asked. The girls thrive on schedules and predictability!