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vlog! october update and sorta november..

ok, so i know im late at updating everyone for the month of october, so i just made a vlog. i actually talked about part of this month too so its sorta an update for both months i guess.. heres the link to the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1yWtvZ_r3A
and its also in the youtube side bar :D -->

september 09<3

hi everyone! so, i know im like 5 days late, but its better late then never, right? its monday and we had a super busy weekend. im squeezing this in between catching up with cleaning and laundry.

anyway, september was a big, busy month for us..!

it was justin and i's anniversary on the 16th. its been 4 amazing years being married.<3 hubby was sweet by letting me choose how we were gonna spend the day. he took me to yunessan hot springs spa resort in hokone. it was so much fun!
first, it was a little crazy getting there, the trains took a lot longer then expected (4 hours?), did switchbacks a lot since the resort was up away in these grassy mountains and since it was really far (near mt fuji) a lot of the trains stopped at certain points that we had to switch to other trains. but in the midst of all that crazieness, it ended up being a fun little adventure on its own. :)
once we finally found it, after walking the wrong way up these big mountains a few times, lol, we got to relax!
fist thing we did was hit the massages! both of us had never had one before, so it was kinda cool. we were a little unsure about it, but it was great. i ended up getting the creepy guy though. haha.
after that, we had lunch at the buffet. it was pretty yummy.
then we finally got to see all the cool stuff! the place is huge, with big water slides outside with private caves, kids areas inside and out, swimming pools and just awesome spas all around. they also had the bath where you put your feet in the water with fishes and they eat the dead skin off your feet. haha. i wanted to do that one, but hubby wasnt down and the line was super long. they also had a whole seperate half of the spa where you could go naked. lol, we stayed in the bathing suits required area.
we tried almost everything. they had green tea spas, coffee spas, wine spas, sake spas, charcole spas and lots more that i know im forgetting. it was a really romantic place with waterfalls all around. the perfect little getaway.
i didnt even realize that there was much more to do in that area, but its a huge touristy town. i wish we could have got a room there and enjoyed everything much more, but we can always go back. :)

we were super late picking up the kids from the CDC, but luckily i had a friend who picked them up for us. once we came back to yokosuka, we had dinner and then picked up the kids. we got them in bed and then we got to give our gifts. i got the messaging kit for xbox that i had been wanting with the full keyboard and everything. :D and i got him a nice collared shirt with a halo ODST magazine. :p

the day was perfect, but by the end of the day my legs and feet were KILLING me. i felt like i kinda ruined the night, which i was sad about, but justin was super sweet and went out and got me icey hot to help with the pain. i was just not used to walking that much, not to mention it was up huge hills and the fact that i was in flip flops. i never where real shoes and i know thats killing me with no arch support. anyways, it was an awesome anniversary though. the best one yet and i love him so incredibly much.<3

2 days after that, we had a photoshoot for our family portraits for 2009. i was so excited. :) i found a photgrapher on base and we got to do them outdoors at mikasa park. i was super excited to get to have them done outside at a park, since in the states we have always used places like sears and of course, they are always inside using just a colored backdrop. this made it a lot more fun for the kids to be able to run around and be themselves. :) they were super expensive though, but worth it.
we've gotten family portraits done every year since tayla was born and im so happy about that. since we're in japan, i already know where i want our family portraits to be taken the next 2 years. haha. next summer, since we wont be living right on the beach once we leave, i want a shoot on the beach. then the next year after that, i want them done somewhere during cherry blossom season! am i the only one who thinks of these things in advance? lol. anyway, these pictures turned out great this year. :)

after the shoot, it also got me thinking more about photography and the fact that i would love to be a photographer. i think its something that would be smart for me to take classes for, because no matter where i go or what i do, its something i can always do on the side for extra money, if its not my main carer. plus, everyone knows how much i love pictures. it would be fun to learn everything about shooting great pictures and being able to make my own hours would be awesome. not to mention, pictures are freakin expensive nowadays, they've gotta make decent money.
justin and i both want to start collage classes, so we're gonna be talking to the navy collage people on base soon and find out how i can afford it. luckily, hubbys is all free! i just cant wait to get started on something, since he will probably get out of the military in only 2 ish years.

on another note, this month i got my xbox live account hacked online. yeah, i was sooo angry. i use a lot of gaming forums online and they got my email and password. after about 3 weeks and a few calls to micrsoft, they investigating the account and found out who did it and they recovered it for me. thank gosh. thats years of achievments and things ive done that i did not just want to make a new account and play from scratch. plus, halo 3 ODST just came out!! i absolutely love it. april is also in love with a new thing called FiREFiGHT. ohmygosh!<3 so ive been super happy playing lately :)

the tokyo game show was that weekend! we went last year too. this year we got to go without the kids so that was a lot better. man, was it crowded! they had every new game coming out. ODST released 2 days later here, so that was there. i really wanted to play left 4 dead 2, since its not out yet and of course it was there, but the wait was like 4 HOURS!! ugh, so we didnt get to play anything, cuz it was just crazy crazy lines and long waits, but it was still cool. they had people playing xboxs project natal that will be out next year. i cant wait, its gonna be so awesome!

flo rida came on base on the 28th and had a free concert for us! it was pretty fun. it seemed kinda short and not enough music, maybe cuz he talked a lot up there with his "Crew" and we we're all drinking, lol, but it was still lots of fun. im mad at myself that i didnt bring our good camera though. i brought my small cheap one, but oh well. MWR had booths set up everywhere with snacks, beer and alcohol. so much fun! i love the concerts on base. i cant wait to see who comes next!

we just put up all our fall and halloween decorations. its so much fun even if we dont have a holiday party. it makes things fun for the kids. :) im super excited for fall this year and winter as always, i cant wait to go shopping for some new clothes!

we also just ordered a 73" mitsubishi tv from the NEX!! they dont sell anything here that big, but they had it on the AFFES website, so we're having them order it!! :D it might not be the clearest, but its still great for the size and its mainly our gaming tv. and come on, split screen halo on a 73" tv is gonna be like playing on your own tv!! lol, we're still waiting to make sure it goes through, but we're so excited :)

thats pretty much it for the month. the kids are doing great. jayden has a new love for robots and spiderman. ever since he saw spiderman on tv and ever since we went and saw that giant gundam robot. lol. so i wanted jayden to be stitch for halloween, but i asked him what he wanted to be and he said spider man. :) he's such a cutie!! he also has been peeing in the potty before bath time and anytime he wets his diaper, he takes it off, so ive decided that right when he turns 2 in november, im gonna start potty training him. he so smart, he could probably get it now, but i dont wanna rush him.
he can also count to 10! sometimes he forgets numbers, but he goes in order for the most part.
taylas a pro with the potty now! shes been using the potty for a long time now, but has absolutely no accidents like she used to! super happy about that :) shes learning how to write her letters and numbers and her name. shes such a little mommy and she always wants to help me cook and stuff and help with jayden. its adorable. they both try to play video games with us, its so funny! lol. they would totally play halo, but we decided were gonna get some kid games for the wii for them. though, jayden has fun bowling with daddy alone on the wii! lol, but they will love it.

thats all for this month! i love october, so theres some fun stuff planned. :) make sure to comment and come back for next months update!

l<3ve, aprilbunny.



P.S. i made a new photobucket account just to share with family and friends that will be easier then facebook or myspace, since not everyone has those. i havnt added a lot yet, but just keep checking and ill be adding lots more.
just go here: www.photobucket.com
username: thehockfamily
password: AprilandJustin
(its a GUEST password, so noone worry :) also, make sure in the password you capitalize the A and J! enjoy! :)

from the heart..

i absolutely love fall..
the smell, the breeze, the look, the leaves..
the holiday season around the corner..
the feeling of closeness and family, even though most of mine is far away..

im absolutely loving my life. with my amazing husband and my amazing kids. being able to live here overseas.
i realize that its gonna go by way too fast..
but right now, i need to stop feeling guilty for being a little homesick.

someone needs to come visit us to help a little with this feeling..!
at least a trip up north will help.

thank god our weekends just starting<3


♥, aprilbunny.

august 09!

hello! so august just ended and its kinda cool since im excited for lots of fun stuff in september. :)

the month started out with friendship day. it was a day where our US base welcomed the japanesse access on our base for the whole day. its a time where we try to connect and have some fun together. there were lots of fun activities including food and drink booths, game booths, kids bounce houses, a awesome car show, lots of different performances, a KISS tribute band, fireworks, ship tours and more. the crowds were HUGE! there were so many japanesse people, which was kinda cool. i love all the events the base has and were lucky we get them so often. they really go all out and i love how fun it is being outside with the community. the only downside this time was how hot it was! lol, so we took a long break in the afternoon. we also bought the kids new beds that day. :)

my hubby has a blog now and he posted the pictures. go here and check it out! --> http://hocker09.blogspot.com
im pretty sure thatll be the usual for us.. ill write about everything and he'll post all the cool pictures. :]

hubby and i had our date night and we tried the TGIFridays here on blue street. it was pretty good and a fun place. we checked out tsunamis since carpenter had always said he loved that place and it was pretty fun. they have habu sake (real dead snake inside the bottle) and i really want to try some one of these times we hang out there, but ill have to find a friend to come with and do it with me who actually would, since my hubby wont! haha.

we planned on going to summer sonic in tokyo, but with tickets being so expensive, the good bands being so late and all american rejects coming on base and performing for us for free, we decided not to. speaking of AAR, they were AMAZING. we were right up in front against the barrier. couldnt move, but it was worth it. in the beginning of the show after the 2nd or 3rd song, i picked up jayden and put him up on my shoulders. tyson, the lead singer started talking to jayden!! he was saying how awesome he was and telling him to rock out. :) then said he'd never seen a baby so close to a stage, haha. and that if he craps his pants, someone better crowd surf the pampers up to the front! lol. it was awesome. then there was a lost baby nathan incidint, but that was a whole nother story and a different kid. lol. it was an amazing concert though. (tons of pics on my myspace/facebook!)

barbie, her hubby, the kids and i checked out kamakura beach! it was a pretty nice beach. the nicest one ive been to here so far. i just love how it was more cali like with all the resturants and shops down the water, but its even better cuz they sell alcohol and chu-his :)
the weekend after that, barbie and i set up a double date with both of our hubbys! the plan was to go to kamakura beach, but we ended up walking to the wrong train station, lol, so we went to another beach. it was miura somethin. we had heard that it was a bigger, more popular beach so we were happy about it anyway, but when we got there everything was closed. :( we were pretty dissapointed. but luckily there was a jonathans and a 7-11 right by the beach, so we just ate there and bought alcohol and fireworks at 7-11. we relaxed on the beach and drank while the boys set off fireworks for us. :) it ended up being a pretty fun night. we headed back on the trains and went for a few more drinks at tsunamis<3, played some pool and darts, then went down to the pita shop. those pitas are sooo yummy!! i dont know if it was so good cuz i was really drunk or that they were just really good, but yumm! lol.

della had her birthday party and that was pretty fun. there were a lot of people and lots of food, rockband, jenga and taboo! i always loose track of time there though cuz we usually have lots of fun late at night, lol. we've been metting up at the park a lot and swapping babysitting with eachother too. :)

megan had her baby shower! it was actually a surprise which was really fun! :) her hubby kim did it for her which was really sweet. i bought her some cute warm clothes and a photo book so the baby can carry pics of his daddy while hes gone on the ship. i used to do that for my kids when justin was gone. they loved it<3 the cake was super yummy and the games were pretty fun.
i think shes pretty close to having him. i give it a week and a half more! lol.

on CFAYmoms we set up a meet up, but it kinda sucked since only 3 of us with our kids showed up. lots of people couldnt come at the last minute, but i got to meet 2 cool girls :) i think were gonna try to pull it off again and hope more people show. i love meeting new people so i hope we keep doing regular meet ups.

hubby, the kids and i went down to Odaiba to see Gundam the robot. its a 18 meter / 35 ton robot who really moves, lights up and smokes. he was awesome!! tayla was a bit scared, but she was fine. jayden just loved it! he kept saying wooooow and gasping the cute way he does! lol.
the only thing that sucked though was that they were taking gundam down 2 days after we went, so we had to go on that day because the next day (when we originally wanted to go) there was a tsunami coming. so we had to hurry and go the day before at like 4 pm. we hit traffic and it took awhile to get there. then once we finally got there and found parking it was pretty fine, until we were just about to leave, it started pouring. we got so soaked. it was worth it though. the robot was so sweet and that area is so pretty. the tokyo bay is right there with the rainbow bridge. i cant wait to go there alone with hubby one night. theres tours on the boats and a big mall. i love it there<3

the tsunami wasnt bad. it was supposed to hit us straight on, so there were lots of warnings and stuff, but it ended up not hitting us, it turned up north, so we just got lots of rain and wind. we hung out in the house most of the day and watch movies and stuff, but eventually got bored and went to a few stores, lol. yay tropical weather!

thats about it for august. jayden got contacted for a modeling job by a couple agencies which is really exciting. the auditions are in a couple weeks though. im so excited for him! i cant wait! ill update everyone on that next month!

love,
aprilbunny!

life update..! & july 09

so! i really havnt updated you guys on whats going on lately with us.

japan has been awesome. we go out and explore new things just about every weekend. theres so much to see and do, and even though we still have about 2 years left, ive become impatient and have been wanting to do everything! any time possible! lol. we did decide that we are gonna do at least one big new thing each month. though, theyre not always expensive, but it does help us plan out our expensive trips better.

so, i know i dont update very often, but ive decided i need to do at least monthly updates. that way i can catch everyone up and things that happened and places we went to that month :)

so! JULY 09:

i had checked out costco with a friend of mine, but hubby and i finally got memberships and really started shopping there on a weekly basis. its not very far away and easy to get to. its exactly like any other costco in the states, just add more japanesse food and more sushi in the fresh foods section. ;) oh, but of course, the cart escolators here are awesome and we decided that huge buildings should always have parking either underground of their buildings or above them. japanesse people are just so clever! its nice getting fresh food there though. the commisary sucks with things like that since they ship most things over. its really worth it to get fresher things so they last longer. plus, for bulk items, the prices are great.

burger king opened right off the base. we tried it and it was yummy! tastes just the same. there are quite a few here, but we had never tried it till they put a new one right by us. lol.
the lines were huge though the first few days of the opening.

i had a great 4th of july with my babies.<3 hubby had to work so that sucked, and i didnt have anyone else to hang out with oddly enough, but it was nice to be out with them alone at such a big event. they loved the fireworks and i spoiled them with toys and all the kid activities. :)

bungie day is 7/7.. you know what that means..! lol. theyre always doing something special for their halo fans. hubby and i played for liiiiike 11 hours that day id say? we took a break to sleep since our hours were completely different then theirs of course, but we played as much as we could to try to get matched with a bungie team. the thing was that if you get matched with them and you beat them, that you would win recon armor from the game thats not even out yet. that would have been awesome, but i just really wanted to play with them. i know, im such a nerd.. lol.

the weathers crazy. super hot one day, perfect the next, rainy the day after. we go bowling a lot during the rainy days. its fast, cheap fun for us and the kids. we all love it. even though i dont bowl [cuz i suck] i love watching them.

we got a "new" car. its a 96 nissan priemera. we got it from hubbys friend for $75. lol. its worth a lot more, so at least we will make profit from it when its time to sell it. or the mazda. we just gotta get the ac fixed or maybe even just suck it up with summer almost over..

i got a nice girls shopping day out with my friend elise and her twin baby girls. hubby watched the kids for me. we went to harajuku and checked out all the shopping there. we mostly just shopped at forever 21 though.. it was 5 stories tall!! with a floor underground too and a mens section. we were in heaven<3 and got some awesome stuff. shes a great shopping buddy :] i just gotta go back on a sunday to see all the crazy people dressed up in weird clothes. lol.

we also checked out ikea! its just like the states too. lol. they had a lot of cute kids stuff though and we bought some cool mirrors for the house. tayla got an awesome nightlight and we'll have to go back to get jayden the other matching one too. they also got new beds from homes. the delivery kinda sucked, cuz we had issues with finding them and they were late, lol, but the beds are nice. we just got bunk beds, but seperated them in each of their rooms.

so everyone remember that big eclipse that was happening? well, we would have been able to see a good amount of it, but of course, it had to be all rainy and stormy outside anyway, so when it got dark, it wasnt that dramatic. :( but it was still a nice day. hubby and i took a peaceful little walk with the kids. it was nice.

comicon in SD was awesome this year.. BUT of course we missed the best year of it ever. i saw so many pictures of halo guys and people playing ODST. lets just hope the tokyo game show will make up for missing that one.. lol

we've been to yokohama quite a few times now, but we went again and actually went inside queens tower. you wouldnt even think that tower is a huge mall inside. lol. we mainly just went to see the disney store. the kids love going there in the states so i wanted to check one out here, since i knew we all missed going all the time. again, it was just like the states! lol

on another note, i lost a friend who i thought was super close with me. but i made that decision, becasue i know im better off and i wont take any bullshit. ive actually felt much better since that relationship has ended. yay me, lol.

theres been a lot more happening already this month, but i think ive already written a book, lol. ill update at the end of the month.

leave love//love, me!

LiFE:

is amazi​ng.​
sayin​g i love them is an under​state​ment.​
today​ im just in an amzin​glyha​ppyimSOl​ucky mood.​♥
and its the trues​t thing​.​

im so in love with him.
im so in love with them.​
im so in love with life.​
im so in love with music​.​ my famil​y.​ my frien​ds.​

and there​ it goes again​.​
that 4 lette​r word,​ thats​ just not enoug​h to what i feel.​.​<​3

:D