Super Family :)

Happy Halloween from the Super Bell family!!

Super Parents!

Weston making his Halloween card

Pumpkin bowling

 BuGs....ewww!

Our Super kids!

 Ashtons school carnival

Ashton and Jackson

 The super family at a halloween party!

Halloween was a big affair this year. We decided to go with a super hero theme and it was fun!

I was able to participate with both boys at each of their halloween parties. Westons was last friday and I was the photographer. I happily followed all of the kids around and snapped away. Weston had so much fun with the preschool and his teachers. His costume got a lot of compliments and laughs :)

Ashtons halloween carnival was yesterday after school. He ran around with his friends in his costume and enjoyed getting into his role as Iron man.

Of course the babies had to be a dynamic duo-Batman and Robin!

Trick or treating on the compound was really fun. There were so many kids and so much candy! We invited some friends over who live off of the compound and the kids had a blast. 

By the end of the night we were all exhausted. 

Ashton and I sat down after his pj's were on and ate too much candy while he did his homework.

Morning came too early today, but we made it on time to school. 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Today I was humbled

Grandma and Grandpa Hunt's (old) house

Shar's name in the cement

Tree swing

Garden and workshop

Shar and my Grandpa and Grandma Hunt's grave

My mom Shar's grave (with her 4 grandsons!)

Great Grandma Fuja's grave

  Yesterday I found myself getting frustrated and discouraged because getting around Tokyo is just plain hard! Ashton and Weston had a modeling shoot about 3 miles away from here. There is often time no parking (or parking is really expensive) so driving is hard The train or subway is our only option. I have a lot of anxiety about them because I don't speak the language here and I'm afraid of getting lost. After we got home I felt sad and upset because I found myself wishing that it was easier for me.Yes, living here is challenging with certain things. I am forced outside of my comfort zone a lot. We live in the middle of a HUGE city and I can't just hop in the car and go. Walking, biking or riding the subway is the most practical way of transportation. But navigating is difficult.  Tomorrow I am going visiting teaching . I am meeting my companion in front of the Australian Embassy. I have no idea where it is, nor how to get there. But I know that I have many options to figuring this out. I am blessed to only have worries about how to get somewhere. It could be a lot worse. We are healthy, happy and content here together as a family. I need to count my blessings.

The following story/post was written about 2 months ago soon after we had arrived in Japan. I was feeling some anxieties then, too. But I was prompted to listen to a talk from President Monson and this morning I found myself re-reading it and feeling better.


Today, we turned on some conference talks to listen to. President Monson's 'Be of Good Cheer' message was playing and one story stood out to me and touched my heart and quickly humbled me. The story was about his Great Grandparents who traveled from Scotland to Zion leaving behind the land they loved, friends and family. They sold all of their possessions and prepared to sail across the Atlantic. They had 5 small children and basically only brought 1 trunkful of belongings. They traveled 8,000 miles which took them 8 weeks. Along the way, their young son got extremely ill and unfortunately died. They had to lay his body to rest in the ocean. It's amazing the faith and determination they had.

It really put into perspective how easy we have it. Throughout the process of this move to Tokyo I have found myself getting discouraged, upset, frustrated and stressed with different situations. But here I am with my 4 healthy beautiful kids, husband and house. We live in a beautiful place with nice things. Our plane ride was only about 13 hours. We were in an air conditions airplane with meals and snacks served to us, tv's and video games to keep us entertained and we were in Japan before we knew it. We were able to bring basically anything and everything we wanted. And we made it here safe and sound-all of us.

Heavenly Father really has ways of reminding us to count our blessings. For some reason, the spirit prompted me to turn on that particular talk from President Monson this morning. And I am so glad that I listened to the prompting. 

The above pictures are of our last night in the states (sorry to everyone and anyone that we didn't visit. This was literally the last evening we were around and we had tons of packing to do. It was a very quick trip to Lehi).

I wanted to take the boys to the Lehi cemetary where my Mom and Grandparents are buried. It was nice to show them and snap some pictures.

We also went to my grandparents old house. I got some pictures of his beautiful yard and garden. Also of the infamous tree/tire swing.
Cooper's middle name is Hunt after my mom's maiden name. I am so glad that I got to make a visit with my children before we left for Japan.

I am truly counting my blessings because we are so fortunate.
I am thankful for family. I am thankful for a hardworking husband who provides more than I could have ever imagined. I am so thankful for my children! They bring us so much joy.
And even though it's sometimes harder than I would like, I am thankful for this foreign  experience. Living in Japan has been exciting. We have already met wonderful friends and the kids are doing so well. We will have a life full of adventure and new beginnings. So I am choosing to be of good cheer.
I am thankful!

Week recap

Westons birthday celebration at school! (even though his b-day is in July!)

Tommy and I's date night with friends

Gyoza with the big boys

Babies got to be with Nana

Family game night

O-daiba

Our drive home/Tokyo tower (less than 5 minutes from home)

 Tuesday morning before school (Ashton has PE, so he has to wear a uniform)

What a fun busy week! I want to quickly recap-

I spent the afternoon at Weston school to help celebrate his birthday. Since he has a summer birthday, we got to pick a day that I could come in, read to the class and bring treats. Weston chose cupcakes with sprinkles and we had a very fun afternoon.

Tommy and I went on a date with friends from the ward. We went to an Italian restaurant (one of the top 3 in Japan) and had a great time. Food was good, company was GREAT! 

We took Ashton and Weston out while the babies stayed home with Nana. We rode the train to a very popular gyoza joint. It was very good food and we had fun hanging out with our big boys. We bumped into some friend on our walk from the train station and got to catch up a bit. We were all excited to see the babies when we got home :)

Since we are a day ahead of the states, our General Conference weekend will be next weekend. So we had fast and testimony meeting this Sunday. Weston gave the scripture in Primary and did an excellent job. After church I got a 3 hour nap with the babies and Ashton and Weston played legos, trains and nerf guns with daddy. After everyone got their pj's on, we had family game night.

Monday was a Japanese and American holiday. Ashton still had school (private schools follow their own calendar) so we spent the day with Weston. We drove to O-daiba and walked around, had lunch at a ramen place and then drove home just in time to see Ashton at the bus stop. I fed the babies quickly and we all hopped back in the car to go get Ashton some new shoes. Of course the boys couldn't pass up a happy meal at McDonalds.

This morning came tooooo early for all of us. We were all a little tired, but quickly got into the routine of making lunches/snacks, getting dressed and backpacks ready. Ashton has PE on tuesdays, so he has to wear a uniform. He asked me to take a picture because he liked his clothes :)

Throw in some playdates, soccer, Karate (Ashton and I started Karate a few weeks ago), and the everyday routines we are keeping busy. But we are happily busy and wouldn't have it any other way!

Friendship day

The boys and their decorated scooters 

The crowded streets 

 Me and the boys

 The boys with their balloon swords

 Virginia and the twins

 Cooper

 Nixon 

 Tommy, the twins, Virginia and Ashton 

Weston exhausted after the events of the day :)

Friendship day happens every August here on the compound. It's a day that they allow anyone (who buys tickets) to come on the compound and spend the day. It's kind of like a big street fair with different activities, food, drinks and performances. It was a really fun but tiring day. It was scorching hot and there were about 5,000 extra people here. As you can see from the pictures it was very crowded. We went to the Daly Hall to decorate the boys' scooters for the parade. I think they still have most of the decorations on their scooters :)

Fun, fun day and memories!