Makin' Mo Proud

I hope you all had a delicious Thanksgiving, too!

It's a Sho Thing

So here you go. I have not sat in front of a computer for more than a couple minutes in weeks, and i apologize. i know i have annoyed and alienated many people, most of all my sisters, by not keeping everyone up to date. forgive me.

in the words of a spainiard "let me explain... no there is too much. let me sum up..."

by now you have all at least seen a picture of sho and i. i went to hawaii and after about three days called her parents in japan and asked for their permission/blessing for us to marry. it was my first time ever speaking to them so i was kinda funny. sho's mom seemed very excited and almost giggly, although sho finds that hard to believe. sho's father asked if i planned on taking her to the temple and i said of coarse, he then replied in english "Ok, that is all that I ask." the next day was sunday and that evening sho, aaron, ai (sho's sister) decided to go visit the temple grounds before going to see some friends. i was very nervous but finally walked her up to the top of the walkway which leads to right in front of the temple itself. we stood on a stone bench talking about wedding plans when i tried my best to smoothly propose like a man. it went somthing like this:


me- well, gosh, ya know i havent even proposed yet huh?
sho- well, thats ok, we can still...
me- would you have any requests?
sho- for what?
me- ya know, for how i should propose?
sho- um.... no....
me- well, i guess i'll just do it normal then
(i get down on one knee)
sho-.................... eh?! what? here? now?
(i pull out the ring box and open it to her)
me- will you marry me?
sho-................................
me- kekkon shite kuremasu ka?
sho- ................................ what should i say?
me- um, 'yes' or 'hai' or anything in the affirmative would be preferable...
sho- ok,.... yes, hai... whatever!
me- thanks!

we felt kinda akward for a while but it soon wore off. it wasnt like super "oh my GOSH !!!! we're ENGAGED!!!!!!!" kinda thing so it didnt really feel too different. i was having panicy feelings for a couple hours but later that night finally received the confirmation from Heavenly Father i had been hopeing to feel for over two years. so thats it. the date is set, Jan 21 at the Laie, Hawaii temple at 11am. sho would really like to hear from ya'll, if you would like. get he email from ML or me or mo if you like. i thnk starting through emails would be a nice way of softening the blow of meeting all of ya'll at once. we really tried to do this all in texas or even utah, but please just trust me when i say, after LONG deliberation, Hawaii is the only GOOD choice. again, i am so sorry i have been to non-reportive with the whole thing. ive been busier than im somtimes given credit for since getting engaged. i promise to be better. i love getting calls from family too. my phone is always on. um... i dont know what else to say so you'll all have to ask questions and i'll answer them with another post... thanks!!! IM ENGAGED!!!!! 

Ok, so Halloween wasn't ALL bad...

...after all, the kids were cuter than ever

...the candy was abundant

(even though 2 of our neighbors were Halloween Scrooges...or Jehovas Witnesses... I'm not really sure...)


But my most favorite part was watching Superman struggle under the excrutiating weight of the candy bucket

She's Official!

Mia Lovisa Scharman is now an official member of the church.

She was an angel through the blessing until she was almost dropped toward the end. Then she cried. We were lucky to have mucho family there to support (and by support I mean the emotional kind...as I mentioned above, they weren't great at the physical "support"). We are glad that so many people could be there. Thank you--it was wonderful!!