I turn 44, plus some fun the kids are having.

 

Emiko played soccer in the spring of 2021. She's with the same coach she was the year before. At the end of the season she told us she didn't want to play again because she hated that they lost every game. We tried to talk a little about winning not being everything, but I also don't think soccer is in her heart. So I guess our family is done with soccer now. 

Thanks for the memories soccer. Here's a video of her playing.

Here's a video of Takeshi and Emiko playing with Carter on the Tramp.

Masaru started hanging out with some new friends after he lost his other ones. Here they are being stupid. He hung out with them and got a girlfriend for the rest of the summer but by August had broken up with his girlfriend and moved onto some other friends. I'm glad he had their company for the summer, but they weren't the best friends either. I guess sometimes friends are harder to find than you would think.

So for my birthday every year I get to mtb with friends. Here I am with Teresa and Kim going on a mtb ride. It was a great time. Love biking with them.

For my birthday we all went out to dinner at the Reef. It was really nice to all be together.

Masaru put this picture up on his Instagram and put the following underneath:

'You're such a special person. You've put up with so much of my crap and have been there with me through everything. I love you so much mum. Happy birthday.'

Then Jo took the day off of work and we went out for a ride together, as per tradition. I love it. And I love her.

I love to take pictures with my kids. I don't do it often enough and am actually really bad at taking pictures of my family period and of myself. Here's my sweet Emikokopops.

Here's my sweet Yuki to keeps me in line with the world and what is fair and unfair.

Here's my son Masaru who'd taught me the true meaning of parenthood and has shown me all my weaknesses and has helped me draw closer to the Lord.

Here's my amazingly sassy and wonderfully himself son Takeshi who makes me feel loved and appreciated at every turn. He reminds me to be present and that I have a temper to work on.

I'm so grateful to be 44 and alive and happily  married with four wonderful children. I"m beyond blessed and am looking forward to my 44th year. So far it's been pretty amazing wrapped up in hard. 

Dru and Masaru's Moab trip

 

 

Masaru and Dru went down to Utah for a mtb trip down to Moab. Ryan (Dru's brother) had invited Masaru and Dru. Masaru is such great friends with Seth and Tate and their mates, plus he's great at mtbing, so it seemed like a no brainer to be invited to their trip. I guess it was a senior mates trip? So it was really nice of Ryan and the twins to invite Dru and Masaru. 

They had an amazing time biking and eating and talking and camping in mates RV's that were put side by side.

The mtbing was a lot of fun plus hanging out together was amazing. Messing around and taking the pictures by the train was fun for Masaru as well. It was a highlight of Masaru's year to be honest. Dru always loves being with his brother as well. So I'm glad they had the opportunity to go together.

Awesome quote, notes from friends and more rugby.

 

Masaru enjoys playing rugby for his Capital team. He likes the coaches and the players. He had a wonderful season. Here's some video's of him playing.

I got this beautiful message from my sister. This is around the time that Masaru was going through some bullying from his really good friend. It was really tough on our family and we had to cut ties for a while with a family we love because of it. Masaru changed classes from this boy and it was quite stressful and a disaster really. Masaru had to find new friends and change groups. I felt bad for him and angry plus hurt. Masaru has his faults but he doesn't deserve to be yelled and sworn at no matter what. So now for the first time in four years he has to be with another group. The group sided with his buddy and now he's got no one for a little bit. I told Sarah and she shared this with me. My family was really supportive towards Masaru through all of this and his seminary friends were supportive to him as well, which was nice. He needed friends.

Yuki played bball for Stacey in a YMCA team. It was supposed to be at the beginning of the year but ended up being pushed forward due to covid. So she's  now playing bball and volleyball at the same time. Anyway it's a good team but Stacey favours her daughter and her daughters friend. So it's hard to watch. While Yuki learned a little from being on this team, I feel like she'd do better with a more neutral team coach rather than a mother who's bias. I'm glad she got to play however.

Jobecka sent me this text as well. I never told her anything about what happened to Masaru. She knows nothing, but I must've been vulnerable in another way and she sent me this. It's nice to have nice friends.

I think the world is slowly changing, but messages like this have to be heard more. People who comment on people's bodies have their own stuff. We don't have to take that on board. It's their thing, not ours.

I went to a PTSD course because of volunteering with the safe house girls at House of Shalom. It was AMAZING. I learned so much. Here are some of the notes that they gave us.

This is an exercise you can do to help you with your anxiety and thoughts.

Yoga seems to do this for me.

They said sleep is the hardest so they practice this with people. Pretty interesting right?

More clues of how to help yourself if you can't sleep.

Wonderful notes.

I found this tree diagram to be fascinating. We have our roots and our soil. This is where our foundation of our behaviour comes from. The branches are what happens when we don't work on our roots. 

Honestly man it was an amazing day and I'm really glad I got to go.

Awesome hike and Takeshi's rugby games.

 

There's this really tough hike that I did with Jobecka, then Natalie and now Nawang and her mate. It's a really tough hike. It's straight up the whole way. But it is so so beautiful. I usually do it once a year. I should make it more. Maybe I will this year 2022. We'll see. Nawang took these amazing pictures.

This is a great shot of me asking them to stop so I can rest hahahahaha

I love being outside though and doing things like this. Doing it with people always gets me out though. Who can I torture with me this year and ask to come do this with me? hahahahaha

Takeshi is athletic and competitive. This makes for a kid to tries hard, gets upset, and knows the game. His mind works really well when it comes to figuring out problems. He's very analytical and it's a great thing. It also stresses him out and gives him anxiety when he thinks something is being done wrong. We're working on helping make that happen for him and it be a good thing.

This means he understands the rules and how games work and what he needs to do to be good at them. He's aggressive and that's also a good thing. It means he's willing to put his whole person out there to win for himself and the team. It also means if he feels frustrated it can cause him to shut down.

I have to yell out at him from the sidelines not to get down and to keep fighting even it he knows they'll loose. It's hard for him but he's key to the team. If Takeshi's in a good mood and is fighting he'll help the team fight. If he's not in a good mood and wants to give up the team looks to him for that too. I don't think he quite knows that yet, but the coaches see it and they know. Usually they put him as captain and the kids listen to him. Even when he's not captain the kids listen to him cause he calls the play because of the position he's in as the scrum half.

It's awesome watching him play. I look forward to a new season watching him.

Supportive mates, rugby and volleyball

 

Mr Herron came to watch Yuki play volleyball. I don't go to her away games, I only go to her home games. Dru tries to go to her away games, but this day Mr. Herron came to her away game since it was close to his house. We sure love Mr. Herron. He's the only teacher who's had all of the Nakaya kids, and we couldn't ask for a better teacher. Teacher's are everything.

Here she is playing.

They totally destroyed one of my most ridden trails. They're building houses up there and they're messing around with the trails and it sucks big time. It's totally unfair because they make a mess for houses but won't build us new trails to save the animals. It's really weird and doesn't make sense. I'd think trails are way less intrusive than houses and people right? Money talks homies. There's no money in free trails.

Emiko had a play date with my friend Carly's girl. They had a great time and did this awesome chalk activity. 

Pretty fun right?

Then the kids went to the race speedway show with their mates the Bleazards. It was nice of Nat to suggest it and take them. Love those guys.

How cute are these two right?!?

Then we got these good friends as well. Super cute.