A Visitor from Japan (August 1st & 4th)

It's not very often that we have family visiting from Japan but we were lucky enough to have my cousin Megumi, and her three adorable kids, Mia, Millie, and Toki out in Utah. We didn't get to host them as she was staying with her in-laws (which was probably much more convenient for her since her sister-in-laws were also out visiting with their kids and everyone in that household speak Japanese). Megumi's English is excellent though, so it is easy to hang out with her.

Emily, Brandon and I were able to take the relatively short drive up to Farmington to visit the Nunokawa household where Megumi was staying with the kids. She had actually been in Utah since the middle of July and her husband, Hiro, had joined her then but had since returned to Japan. We missed him and due to all of our travel back east and to Lake Powell and Wyoming, we weren't able to hang out until a couple of weeks into her stay.Here is a family picture of Megumi's family in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We weren't there with them for the open house because we were out of town, but I'm glad that they got to visit here on their stay.

The Nunokawa family is very similar to the Taura family (which is my aunt's family that Megumi is part of) in that there are seven kids (which is large by American standards but enormous for Japan) and incredibly open, kind, fun, and hospitable. We were served an excellent dinner, with many vegetables straight from the Nunokawa garden (the Japanese cucumbers were amazing!). Of course, although I always have my camera in my purse, I didn't bother to take any pictures but Megumi's sister-in-law, Keiko, took one with her much fancier camera so here it is:

There were kids all over the place and they were giving Lucy so much attention. I still wanted to spend more time with Megumi and the kids and since I'm not working, I invited her, the kids and their cousins over to my house for swimming. With my culinary expertise, I whipped up a menu consisting of frozen pizza, fruit (cut watermelon, strawberries, and blueberries), leftover pasta salad from dinner the night before, and ice cream sandwiches & popsicles for dessert. The kids seemed to have a blast swimming and Megumi and I had a nice chance to chat and catch up and then we followed lunch with a Japanese anime film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

I don't remember the above picture being taken but I guess it was taken right before everyone left my house because that is my couch that the kids are sitting on. Wish I had taken pictures of all the adorable kids but we'll just have to remember next week when we are in Japan. Thanks for visiting, Megumi!