The Joy of your Mom & Dad

The Lord has blessed us a lot this year. In February, we visited Michelle and her family in Califronia to witness Taylor's baptism also. She turned 8 and was baptized and confirmed LDS. Your mom and I were so touched by your Ate's testimony after the baptism and it was a great experience for us to see the first of the grandchildren to be baptized.

That night, Taylor also celebrated her birthday and had a big party and their home was filled with children and relatives both young and old. We had a great time.

Gabriel too turned 3 and we always enjoy having him at home every Wednesday and for Sunday dinners. He plays soccer now (we still wait for him to understand what he is suppose to do in the field). It would be nice if Evan and Brady are here for him to play with. He misses Evan. Enoch and Joy are expecting Georgia in July. (That's number 11, guys!)

Then comes a very special spirit to Lysle's family, the son he was waiting for: Joaquin Miyasaki Oliveros. Kaori and Rori sure need a good brother.

And now, here's Lysle, graduating from his Master's Degree in Architecture at Rice University, presently the country's most prestigious school for post graduate course in architecture. It pays to have a good and supportive spouse like Kamiko.

This was a very uplifting day for me and I think everyone who sees my smile here will know that I felt really proud of Lysle. Having all four of them also and my lovely wife, it is very easy to forget all of the other problems in life. It is a BIG thing to get your Master's Degree from Rice University getting ahead of your classmates who came from schools like from Harvard and Yale. Coming from OSU, Lysle did just that.

You do not have any idea how happy I was when taking this picture. Mom and I still think that all of you have remained to be cute and cuddly. Thanks for the 10+1/2 grandchildren and we are looking forward for more!

It's heart-warming to see the four of you play with one another again. Brings back memories of our 5 years in West Africa back in the early '80s. All being married now with families and still playing together is such a great sight.

We are very happy that we have been blessed with great children-in-law with equally great parents and we are doing our very best also to be the very best of in-laws also. Visiting Houston, it is great to see Lysle and Kamiko happy and Lysle is gainfully employed as one of the head designers at Morris Architects even during these hard times. We look forward to more of the Lord's blessing through the years.

We can't wait to visit the Steeds next in Colorado and be with Cache, Brett and Evan and Brady. Be sure that everyone set aside December for our Family Reunion at Michelle's in California with all 11 grandchildren! Don't plan anything else.

The Graduation Celebration

What better way to celebrate than to eat till it hurts? We were all starving after the ceremony, so we went to a Thai buffet. It was pretty good, way better than any of the nasty Thai places here in Denver. Here's a really awkward picture of all of us. Candids usually don't turn out as good as you anticipate.


Then there was a surprise celebration for the graduate at his house. Except I'm sure he saw it coming per his statement when he came home, "Why do I hear everyone going 'Shh, shh'"


Here's a close up on the cake. Ate (Michelle) baked it. It was SO DELICIOUS.
And the kids decorated it.

And of course, we can't see mom without requesting her cooking. And that was SO DELICIOUS TOO

Of course we were all in the kitchen helping her... oops...

That was some good eats. Kaori has the cutest face! And there's Rori's pose.

Then it was cake time. The girls helped blow out the candles. And I won't be ashamed to admit that I had two slices. The cake was so good. It had chocolate pudding injected in it.

Yeah, the Houston trip was a serious binge fest. I probably gained 10 lbs. But it was all for the sake of honoring my brother, so it was worth it. We're all so proud of you!!

Rice Graduation Ceremony

Saturday was all about GRADUATION. Half of us had to get up early so we could save seats (in the shade). Rice is a beautiful campus. And the ceremony and speaker were impressive. But it was HOT. They read every single name of every single graduate, it felt like it dragged on FOREVER. But it was nice getting to see my big bro get recognized.
BTW, Kamiko looked AMAZING for just having a baby less than 3 weeks ago!

The Pre-Procession

Here we all are watching the graduates march out And the moment we all flew out for...

...in detail

Since he was getting his masters, he was one of the first ones recognized. So the kids had to endure the rest of the ceremony. And to be quite honest, I was VERY IMPRESSED. Troy is such a good boy. He was restless just in little spurts, but otherwise, he did such a good job being so well behaved. It made me glad I didn't bring Brady, cause that boy would have been wrecking havoc. And then it made me wonder why my kids are so much naughtier...

This was pretty much how Rori posed for pictures. Why so sad, shy and somber?

Kaori was asking for her dad. Both girls sat patiently through the ceremony. But you could tell it wore on them a little bit.

Then it was finally over, and we got up to find the graduate.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Then the group pictures...

Oliveros Children

Oliveros Family 2009

(Miyasaki) Oliveros Family 2009

All of us

Check out Troy picking his nose. Good times.

Friday in Galveston

Last Friday, during our visit to Houston, we took a drive down to Galveston. The beachfront and city was devastated by Ike in September. It was apparent through washed away stretches of beachfront, abandoned hotels, broken docks and some random pick up truck that will forever be stuck on a disconnected pier.
Nevertheless, it still had a nice beach we got to visit. It was windy, so the waves were really fun to splash around in.

I was absolutely amazed that we could just drive right on the beach. The sand was so compact, it felt like a soft asphalt. Nice ride Kuya.

The girls were so cute playing on the beach. I can't believe how gorgeous they are. They're just like little dolls.

Troy was not down with the sand. Can you believe this blond hair, blue-eyed boy came from Ate's womb? He mostly hung out in the trunk of the van and watched a movie. He eventually broke out and walked around in the sand, and then it was time to leave.

The Oliveros kids reunited. It was so fun! It's been too long since the four of us have been together. We had such a good time playing in the waves. Enoch and Kuya were making us all laugh so hard, then when a wave would hit, we'd drown a little. It was great, but I swallowed so much salt water, it wasn't funny anymore. OK, maybe still a little funny.

Then Kuya busted out with the BBQ. He marinated chicken and made burgers. Very delicious.

The seagulls thought so too.

Thanks for taking us down to Galveston. That was so much fun. I'm also going to post more pictures on my Steed Blog. So for a more unedited version of the beach scenery, come by. I miss everyone already!

Lysle's Graduation from Rice

Congratulations! I'm glad we were all there to celebrate with you. Even if it was in the humid Houston heat. We all know you're headed for greatness!