*i was a model once*

We had a conference in Okutama. Can you believe that this is still Tokyo? Well, it is. An hour and a half from our house, still in the city, lies this little countryside. :D

The fall leaves were nothing less than amazing. I was so happy. Okutama is also in the mountains... Kyle said he felt like he was in Colorado Springs. The leaves were beeeeutiful!!
The little log cabin where we had out meetings.
The Tokyo crew.

left to right: Norio, Stephen, Kie, Mary, Megumi, Jennifer, Joanna, Mark and KyleI had to include this one as well. I laugh so hard at how ridiculous we all look but Kie is the CUTEST one. She looks like a puppet. :D (She's wearing the khaki colored jacket) The Navigator Mid-term Staff. Last year it was just THREE of us!! Wow! WOW! Now we have tripled in size. Kyle and Jennifer came last January and just five weeks ago Mandy and Elbert came to Shizuoka. I am so excited for this group of people. They are like my little family. We are going to be celebrating Christmas together. :D Yatta!!

Sisters... Mary is like my older sister and after this weekend I have officially adopted Mandy Balcom as my little sister. Wow, my sister family is growing... Mandy is hilarious. I really like her and I feel like I can share my heart with her. I was being super open with Mandy and I shared that I felt I could tell her exactly my heart because of an email I had received sharing very deeply with me last August. After a minute Mandy looks at me and says, "I actually sent that to you accidently. I meant to send it to my other friend Joanna." She was being serious. But out of that hilarity a friendship has been born. Click on her name here: MANDY BALCOM to reach her blog.
The Tokyo crew

Front to back:

Me, Megumi, Kie, Jennifer, Mary, Mark, Norio, Stephen and Kyle!!

The outside was so beautiful I was inspired to take A TON of pictures... thanks Kyle for letting me snap this one of you...
Oh, my beautiful roommate and friend. Mary, I love you.
Mary snapped this one of me without me knowing it.

Jennifer and I decided to teach Megumi how to do "senior pose" shots. :D
Then we tried to teach Mark and Stephen who have never had senior pictures. Crazy!?!?!Ha ha! I've been watching too much "America's Next Top Model"... I never watched it until Mary introduced me to it and now she and I tune in whenever we can to watch it.
This is Megumi teasing me cause whenever I get excited I clap my hands. :D She's soooo cute.