The Pinery

HAWAII AND HELP

2010-02-28T16:26:00.005+10:00

I need your help with any info or advice you can give us about Oahu. Matt and I are thinking that we might take a mini vaycay to Hawaii in just a few weeks!!!

We don't have much time to plan the trip and we have never been to Hawaii before, so any advice or tips or info would be so helpful! Even if you have never left me comments before, I don't care, any info would be much appreciated!

We are thinking of staying in Waikiki. There are TONS of hotels there so how do you choose one? And it seems like they all make you pay for parking....what's up with that?

We need help deciding on a hotel. What hotels have you stayed at that you liked/disliked and why? And what kid-friendly activities do you recommend or not recommend? What are some good restaurants that we HAVE to try? Of course we want to spend some time on the beach, but really, we have gorgeous beaches here too. So I think we are more interested in lounging by the pool, so there is shade for Miles, and sightseeing. Where are some spots that we have to see? Or if you know of any websites that are helpful or give reviews. I was on tripadvisor.com and got so tired of reading reviews over and over again. So I am done with that website! Instead, I am asking you for help :) So readers, it's up to you now!!

PS This is not a picture of Hawaii. It's a picture of the beautiful island we live on :)

FHE

2010-02-01T19:09:00.004+10:00

Yes, Rian is playing dress up and totally posing for the picture :)

In our Church we do something called Family Home Evening (FHE). It's usually done every Monday night and it is an opportunity to spend time together as a family and enjoy one another. Many times we use it to learn a lesson or gospel principle and have an activity and treat, but sometimes we can take that opportunity to do other fun things like go bowling or something, as long as it is done as a family.

So tonight, I had the lesson. Rian is OBSESSED with marriage, brides, wedding dresses, etc. She has been asking to watch our wedding DVD. So I thought I could incorporate that into my lesson on temple marriage. We were telling Rian that not everybody gets married in the temple. And the difference between a temple marriage and a civil marriage. If a couple is married in the temple, they are married for now and forever. But in a civil marriage, they are married for this life only, once they die, they are no longer married.

After the lesson, we watched the DVD. When it was over, I asked Rian what she learned tonight. This was her answer: "If you get married in the temple, you will be a family forever. If you don't get married in the temple, you die." Not quite....but at least we got half of it right?! I mean she is only 3 :) Looks like we will be going over this one again tomorrow!

Bowling

2010-01-20T14:14:00.013+10:00

Yes, we are all still alive! We've just been busy enjoying our little baby and when he is sleeping, we are either giving Rian tons of attention or spending time together just Matt and me.....oh yeah, or sleeping too!!

But everyone has been begging me to update the blog. I'll start with our fun night out last night. And go backwards from there. Matt is the Scout Master and 1st Counselor in Young Mens at our Church. For the mutual activity this week, they planned a bowling night. Matt invited us to go with! Rian was so excited, if you can't tell from the picture! And Miles was such a good boy!

I loved watching Matt and Rian bowl together! It warmed my heart!

She is my little model! I love her!

Yep, they got a STRIKE!!!

Miles did wake up, but was content in his carseat. Matt scored a 194. Not an all time high, but pretty impressive none-the-less! I think bowling might be our new popular FHE!

I.Heart.Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T19:15:00.009+10:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love all the food! I love being around family and friends! I love that it's the official start of the holiday season! And it means our anniversary is right around the corner!

Since we always spend this holiday with family, Matt and I have never our very own Thanksgiving. This year was our very first attempt and I think it's safe to say...it was a total success! We decided that in order to free up our oven, that we would rotisserie our turkey breast outside on the grill. It was the juiciest, yummiest turkey we have ever had! I totally recommend this cooking style to everyone! Matt was in charge of the turkey, which turned out fab. And I took care of the rest of the spread. I made apple pie, pumpkin pie, and parker house rolls completely from scratch! I also made stuffing (my mother-in-law's recipe), mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. My mom made the yummy yams! She let me take charge, since she knows how much I love to cook. This Thanksgiving was awesome!

While I was busy in the kitchen, my mom had all sorts of goodies to entertain Rian. They colored placemats for all 4 of us. And they made these apple and candy turkeys. When I was younger, those turkeys were always my job, so it was fun to have Rian take on that tradition. Aren't they cute!

Rian tried on of the turkey feathers (candy fruit slice). She took one bit and said "it's too sweet", and then spit it out :) What a good kid, huh?!

Rian loves to hold her baby brother! And she loves to play computer games with Bama Lois!

Miles turned one week old today. We bought him the cute little "First Thanksgiving" outfit hoping he would be here in time! So glad that he is! I love how the feet say little turkey!

I love this time of year and the way it gets me thinking about all of my many blessings. I truly am blessed and i am so grateful for all that i have. I'm going to attempt to make a list, but honestly it could go on and on.....so just to name a few in no particular order.....that our prayers have been answered and that miles arrived here happy and healthy. my loving, hard-working, caring, supportive husband whom I just adore! the opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to bear children and witness the miracle of delivery. my smart, beautiful, out-going daughter and my new baby boy who is so good. all my friends and family back home. the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. all the friends we have made here on guam. my calling as first counselor in relief society and the opportunity I have to serve the sisters here. matt's job and the fact that it gives me the chance to stay at home with my little ones. the priesthood and it's presence in our home. our health and happiness. the Spirit and my Savior Jesus Christ. our home. my parents who would do anything for me and constantly do. the temple and our sealing. skype. the power of fast and prayer. for my freedom. the holidays and the time it allows us to reflect and remember our many blessings and the birth of our Redeemer...these are just a few :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

BLISS

2009-11-25T21:58:00.015+10:00

BLISS = supreme happiness; utter joy or contentment....this is how I feel!!!

Miles is one week old today. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by already!

Matt was burping Miles and my mom captured this on her camera. It's our favorite pic so far :)

Big Sister and Bama Lois holding Miles at the hospital

Rian has been adjusting pretty well considering the circumstances. At night, she gets a little more feisty and wants more attention, but for the most part, she is doing really great. She loves her baby brother and especially loves feeding him!

Helping feed again!

Daddy giving Miles his bath. The first bath (which I didn't capture on film) he didn't like so much. This time, he enjoyed it much more...although his face may not show it in this shot :)

The bath exhausted him!

Check out this calic....gotta love it!

Bama Lois and Miles. They just love each other! I am so grateful my mom is here. She is so awesome and I am so lucky to have her as my mom! About 2.5 weeks til my dad gets here :) Rian can't wait to see him....and neither can I!

Everyone thinks Miles looks just like Rian did as a baby. Here they are in the same outfit. She is about 5 days older than him in these pics. Rian is on the left, Miles on the right.

Miles is such a good baby. We really lucked out! All he does is sleep, sleep, feed, and sleep! Occasionally he will wake up and enjoys walking around the house. His bilirubin levels were higher than the Dr wanted, so we had to go in the day after we were discharged to check the numbers. He had lost quite a bit of weight and was not filling up his diaper like he should have been. He was dehydrated. Apparently, I wasn't producing much milk yet.....surprise, surprise...my milk never came in with Rian. I was so worried. But we went in the following day and his weight went way back up and his bilirubin numbers were great. Now all he does is fill up his diaper! In fact, last night before bed, Matt and I were laughing hysterically because Miles pooped and we seriously went through 4 diapers in just that one diaper change. He just kept going and going. It was quite comical! I love having a newborn in our home again. He sleeps so well at night and I'm getting enough sleep to function throughout the day. At least for now, maybe it will hit me in a few days.

Rian is doing pretty well considering. She really wants to be involved with Miles and she wants her own time with both Matt and I too. Totally understandable. It's a little bit of an adjustment for me, but I am trying to make her feel very special too. Any advice on what has worked for you is totally welcomed! She has her first dance recital coming up and I can't wait for it! She really loves her dance class and her teacher. She also loves her weekly tumbles class! She has been going on lots of playdates with her friends too. It's so fun to watch her play with her friends! Thank heavens my mom is here to help out with all of Rian's outings! Rian has also been doing so well with recognizing letters and learning how to write her letters too. She can even spell some words. She also loves to type names/words on the computer, as well as play educational games on the computer and ipod touch. She is such a good girl and I am grateful to have her in my life! Seriously, how did I get so lucky! :)

Introducing.....

2009-11-21T17:25:00.012+10:00

the newest member of our family....Miles Matthew Pine!!!
Born on November 19th at 8:08pm local date/time, 7 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches long.
Both stats are almost the exact same as Rian, she was 7 lbs 14 oz and 20.5 inches long.
The birth story is at the bottom of this post, if you are interested.

His first picture taken just minutes after his birth.

He is absolutely gorgeous and just as perfect as can be!

Just minutes old

With his eyes open

A very proud Mommy with her beautiful new baby boy!

How precious is he?!

Beautiful flowers from my mom and my whole family....thanks guys, I love them!

In his bassinet with his stats above his head.

I loved this "property of" shirt :)

Look how long and skinny he is :)

I went to the Dr on Monday for my 38 week appt. I was dilated to a 4/5 and the Dr stripped my membranes and swore I was going to be having the baby that night. I started contractions about 3 hours after my appt. They were kind of all over the place. 4 mins apart, 7 mins, 15 mins, 3 mins, 4 mins, 8 mins, etc. We put Rian to bed and told her that when she woke up in the morning her baby brother would be here.....we were way wrong! My contractions slowed way down around 9 and I suddenly became exhausted. Soon I was sound asleep. When Rian woke in the morning, she asked if Baby Miles was here, we sadly had to tell her no :)

Tuesday I woke up with a few small contractions, so we were thinking that soon they would become more regular and therefore Matt stayed home from work. We decided to get a few errands done and by 230 I was starting to have painful contractions about 2-3 mins apart for 40 mins straight. We decided it was time and we went home to get our hospital bags. A few minutes after I sat down in the car, the contractions slowed down and once again exhaustion took over. I fell asleep on the way home. Needless to say, it wasn't time.

Wednesday I sent Matt back to work. I figured once my contractions decided to stay regular, I would call him to come home. I had contractions off and on all day.

Thursday morning I decided to call the Dr again. I knew these contractions had to have made me dilate more. She told me to come in. Matt happened to be at his physical therapy appt at the hospital when she wanted me to come in. So he joined me for the appt. I was now dilated to a 6 and she said that I needed to go to MBU (mother baby unit) now. We headed home for our bags and we were admitted to MBU at 2 pm. After some blood work and monitoring, I was given my epidural at 345 pm. I was hardly having any contractions and when I did they were hardly regular, so they broke my water and started pitocin at 445 pm. I was still a 6, 90% effaced, and at a -3 station.

My mom and Rian showed up at the hospital at 7. At 740 we asked my mom to take Rian to the store to get Matt some cold medicine (great time to be getting sick, huh?). At 755, the Dr came in to check me. I was dilated to a 10, 100% effaced, and a +2 station. I was ready to push. My contractions were still irregular at this point. I had a contraction while he was checking me so he asked me to push to see where the baby was. I pushed the baby's head half way out! He shockingly said STOP! And quickly called his team to get ready for this baby and told me whatever I do, DO NOT PUSH!! I asked Matt if he had hair and Matt said yes! Within mins they were all ready to go, but I wasn't having any contractions. Finally after a few mins of everyone waiting on me, I had a small contraction at 805 and I pushed one time. We then lost baby's heartbeat (this had been happening all night because he was moving all over the place). The RN tried moving the monitor to find it and after about a min, the Dr said lets just push since he is right there. So without a contraction, I pushed one more time and Baby Miles was out at 808 pm.

My mom and Rian returned to the hospital and came walking into the room to a sound of a crying baby just a couple mins after he was born. Rian said look at him, he is so little. She was smiling so big! Unfortunately, she is also a little under the weather, so she can't get too close to Miles. Soon we'll have pics of big sister Rian holding her baby brother!

We are so grateful for all your thoughts and prayers. Miles is absolutely beautiful and perfect! I know Heavenly Father answered our prayers! We were discharged from the hospital today and are adjusting to life at home with 2 :)

Pregnancy Update

2009-11-18T23:40:00.006+10:00

I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone by! I love being pregnant and especially feeling our little guy move inside of me! But I am so excited to finally meet him! As are Matt and Rian! Here is a little progression collage again.

I wanted to do a Maternity Photo Shoot this pregnancy and my friend, Kjirsti, offered to do it for us. She just got a camera for Christmas so it was fun for her to play with it and take our pictures. For some reason, when I put the pics in the collages, it made them lower quality, but I am posting them anyways. I don't want to redo it! So here are a few of the pics...

I went in Monday at 1 for a routine appt. I was dilated to a 3/4 and my Dr stripped my membranes (sorry if it's TMI). Then another Dr came in to check me (apparently I had a really good cervix according to my Dr and she wanted the other Dr to check it out). She told me that I already progressed to a 4/5. And I've been feeling contractions on and off since ever since! But they won't stay regular....and it's frustrating. I keep thinking maybe this is it, but then it's not! I know he will come when he is ready and I really hope it's before Thanksgiving! I would love to be home with him before the holiday!

We had a little scare a few weeks ago....I've been consistantly measuring small since 29 weeks. Before the Dr would schedule an ultrasound, Matt and I went to our Branch President to help assist Matt in a Priesthood Blessing. (For those of you who aren't LDS or don't know what a Priesthood Blessing is, click here) Let's just say that the blessing wasn't too reassuring, and basically said things that you would never want to hear or expect in a blessing. Luckily one of the doctors I see is LDS and he got me into an ultrasound asap. The ultrasound showed everything was okay. I am still a little worried though and ask for you to remember us in your prayers. Only 9 days to go.....

Did You Miss Us?!

2009-11-18T20:39:00.012+10:00

WE ARE BACK!!! I know you all missed us :) Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Life has been so crazy. Here is a little glimpse of what we have been up to the past 6 weeks. Warning: It's a long post!

Rian has been busy with lots of birthday parties. This is a collage of Joah's party. They roasted a pig, had a blow up waterslide, had a fairy come to paint faces and make balloon animals, had this awesome Yo Gabba Gabba cake, and played lots of games. We had a good time!

My mom flew in at the end of September and the first weekend she was here, we had another b-day party to go to. It was a tea party themed party for Kylie. It was such a cute idea!!! The girls had tea (lemonade) and little cookies and tea sandwiches! After the tea party, it was swim time! Rian had a lot of fun!

The party was at this amazing house!! Not only was the location perfect (right on the beach), but it had the most amazing features. I could seriously live on Guam forever, if I lived here! It was a fun day for all of us and I was excited to finally meet Kylie's parents, who are very cool!

We attended another birthday party the next weekend. Emma, a friend from church, had a Halloween themed party. This was also a very cute party! All the kids had fun painting pumpkins and making caramel apples! I loved how Rian ate her ice cream after dinner. It was so frozen, she stabbed it with her fork and picked the entire scoop up.

Next up was Halloween. We went to our Church's Trunk-Or-Treat on Friday, the night before Halloween. We had a potluck dinner and then the little ones played a few games. Then we all went outside and the kids went trick-or-treating from trunk to trunk. Rian was wanted to be a princess, of course, does that really surprise any of you?! Her favorite one at the moment is "Cinderbrella". I just love how she says that :)

On Halloween, I made these mummy hot dogs for lunch. Rian loved them :) Then we went trick-or-treating with the Vines, who are our friends from church. Kenzie dressed up as Dora and it was such a cute idea for a costume. The Vines had a wagon so we could pull the girls around the neighborhood. I loved how 'Dora' ran from door to door, and 'Cinderella' always came back to her Royal Carriage (ie: wagon) and had her dad pull her from door to door. Very typical of each of their personalities!

We met up with more friends from church as we walked around the neighborhood. I just loved this little boy in his superman costume, it was awesome!! As we were walking from door to door, Rian told me "Mom, I just love, love, love Halloween"! What three year old doesn't?! When we finished that neighborhood, we drove over to our other friend's house for a BBQ. I was excited for my mom to get a taste of what the locals and their BBQ's are all about! Rian passed out on the way over to the house. Once we got there, Matt took her trick-or-treating around that neighborhood. There were so many mobs of at least 20-30 kids all over the neighborhood. It was pretty crazy. We left the party at 930 pm and those mobs were still out in full force! I think it's safe to say that Rian had a very, very fun Halloween and the best part is that she seriously has no desire to break into her candy bag. What a good girl!

We took my Mom to Chamorro Village of course! It's a must when you come to island. I was excited to have her get a feel for it and sample a few of the local foods. And of course, Rian's favorite part of Chamorro Village is the carabao ride.

Something we have never done at Chamorro Village is take Rian on the little rides. Bama was happy to let Rian experience them for the first time! Rian loved the rides and then my mom and her played a very silly carnival game. They won a wannabe barbie doll named Julia.

Here are a few random pics. Rian loves to play mommy and we caught her in the nursery rocking her pooh bear and feeding him a bottle. I think she is going to be a great big sister! We got a package in the mail full of these peanuts. Rian loved playing in them. She immediately pretended it was snow. She is constantly telling us that it doesn't snow on Guam, so I think she had fun frolicking in her version of it :) She even made snow angels!

On Veteran's Day, we went to a party with Matt's co-workers and their families. It was a fun day and very nice for Matt to have the day off work. This group of people got together for a softball game. It was fun to watch them play, nothing's better than a fun, competitive softball game!

We also took my Mom to Jeff's Pirate Cove. The view is beautiful and the burger was pretty good too! We will definitely be taking my Dad back here when he comes onto island.

We have also been busy with my Mom exploring the island, swimming, going to the beach, shopping (as much as you can on this island), getting ready for the baby and the baby shower (which was on the 7th), playdates, tumbles, dance class. The time has flown by. I wish it would slow down a little bit...the thought of my mom leaving makes me so sad :(

Tummy Shots

2009-10-04T21:23:00.006+10:00

I can't believe I am 32 weeks already. The time has just flown by! This pregnancy has definitely been a lot different than my first. I've had a lot more pain, but it is kind of hit and miss. I passed my glucose tests and am happy to report I do not have gestational diabetes this pregnancy! I'm a lot smaller this time around too (some of that probably due to the fact that I am not diabetic). In fact at my 32 week appt, I was only measuring 29 centimeters, which is only one centimeter bigger than my last appt at 28 weeks. But I seriously feel like I am growing bigger every day!!! Don't I look more than a centimeter bigger on that collage?? Our little guy is pretty dang active, just like Rian was, but he moves differently than she did. I love feeling his movements, even if they are uncomfortable sometimes. It's my favorite part of pregnancy :) Oh, and my cravings are definitely not the same this time!
We are getting anxious to meet our little guy! Rian is definitely ready to be a big sister and seems excited for his arrival too! She always mentions her baby brother in her prayers and is excited to be our little helper! I'm glad she is at the age where she understands what's going on. She can see and feel the baby move, and already loves to talk and sing to him. It's so cute!

Counting Our Blessings

2009-10-04T20:43:00.003+10:00

Once again, our prayers were answered and we are incredibly grateful! The typhoon continued heading north through Friday night and Saturday morning. When we woke up Saturday morning, we were still on a Tropical Storm watch, but by 10 am that watch was cancelled. At that point, we knew we were in the clear! It was a little windy on Saturday, but I don't even think we even got rain to be honest.

My heart is so full of gratitude! And my testimony strengthened! This is obviously our first typhoon season, and we have had many close calls. We have had quite a few storms coming straight towards Guam, that have changed course. I'm sure this is how it will be every season we are here. And the only thing we can do is prepare ourselves and let mother nature take its course. How grateful am I for the Gospel! For the wonderful counsel of our Leaders on preparation. And the scriptures too. Modern day revelation is such a huge blessing and I have been reminded this past week how lucky we are to have it in our lives! I couldn't help but think of many versus on being prepared this past week....here is one that stuck out to me this evening:
"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing..." Doctrine and Covenants 88:119

Typhoon Melor

2009-10-02T20:54:00.005+10:00

It's 930 pm Friday night. By tomorrow morning, this is what the entire island should look like. All the windows covered with storm shutters or wooden boards, so the wind/flying debris won't break them. It's kind of an eerie feeling driving around town and seeing everything boarded up.

Typhoon Melor is expected to intensify over night and become a Super Typhoon, which means winds will be exceeding 150 mph. Melor is expected to hit Saipan, which is a smaller island just north of Guam. We are not on a typhoon watch, but on a tropical storm watch because we are far enough south of the eye of the storm, so we should expect winds to not exceed 73 mph.

We've been told to prepare for heavy rain and damaging winds starting tomorrow morning and continuing on into the evening. Hopefully the typhoon will continue heading west northwest and not southwest towards us!

We feel very lucky to be out of the eye of this storm. However, we aren't in the clear quite yet. We continue to ask for your prayers for all of us here in the Marianas Islands. Many smaller islands will be hit much harder than us. Thank you for all your prayers, care and concern over the past week. As long as we have power and internet connection we will continue to update our blog. It seems like every time we have gone to bed the past few days, we have woken up to news that this typhoon has intensified. I am nervous to see what we will wake up to tomorrow morning. We'll let you know...

Pop Tarts: A Disaster Necessity

2009-09-30T11:03:00.003+10:00

So I sent Matt to the store again yesterday for some last minute disaster necessities. Guess what he comes home with........a Costco size box of Pop Tarts, NO JOKE!!! In his defense, they are a shelf stable food, right? Wait can you even consider Pop Tarts a food?!?!

Storm Watch Update

2009-09-30T10:12:00.004+10:00

Wow, this morning has been quite the rollercoaster ride. I woke up this morning to the news that Guam has been put on a Tsunami Watch. I seriously had to laugh at this point. Really, a tsunami too, is this a joke or what??? American Somoa was hit with a huge 8.0 earthquake which triggered a massive tsunami. Many islands here in the Pacific were put on Tsunami Watch, but luckily the Tsunami watch has now been lifted for Guam!!! Yay, one less thing to worry about!!!

Now on to Tropical Storm 18W. It is still considered a tropical storm with winds expected to hit at 40 mph. The storm will be hitting the southern part of the island coming in from the east. We are located in the middle of the island on the east coast, just so you know.....not that this island is by any means big or anything :) Anyways, it is expected to hit us around 4 pm local time (it is 1030 am right now) but the military is going on today with "business as usual". I'm am definitely not worried about 18W. We have been through a tropical depression back in Dec, and 40 mph winds aren't too bad. We might lose power, but we have a generator and I am almost positive the power will be restored before our building's generator is out of juice.

Now on to more serious news! We have another HUGE storm coming! The next tropical storm 20W, named MELOR, will be approaching over the weekend with typhoon strength winds of up to 100 MPH. Holy crap, this is the one to be scared about!!! Although the current forecast is for a Saipan impact on Sunday morning (Saipan is located north of Guam), computer models are not in agreement on the track and the forecast may change over the next 48 hours.

As I learned from 18W, conditions are constantly changing. In fact, I could have updated this blog 5 times yesterday, but decided to hold off until this morning because I knew the conditions would be changing yet once again. We will expecting to hear more about 20W on Friday morning local time. That will be Thursday afternoon for you all who are stateside. We will be praying that this storm slows down just like 18W did!

I do have to say though, that I think I have been handling all this stress/anxiety over these storms and tsunami warnings pretty dang well. So I am pretty darn happy with myself. I tend to get anxiety attacks pretty easily, but I have been really trying to stay calm and not freak out too much through all of this. Especially since the conditions are constantly changing, so what's the point? Am I nervous about 20W, heck yes!!! But I need to stay calm for me and the baby and for Rian too. So that is what I am doing for the time being. :)

It's Coming....

2009-09-29T07:14:00.009+10:00

I am scared. There is a big storm heading towards Guam. I've never been through anything like this before. We are just waiting for it to hit us and just sitting here waiting is not a fun thing.

Tropical Depression: winds less than 38 mph
Tropical Storm: winds between 39-73 mph
Typhoon: winds over 74 mph
Super Typhoon: winds over 150 mph

Over here in the pacific, we get typhoons. They are just like hurricanes. Yesterday we were informed that Tropical Depression 18W has formed and was gaining speed. It was heading straight towards Guam and would most likely become a Tropical Storm by the time it directly hit us Tuesday evening. Luckily, it slowed down and moved south yesterday afternoon and now will actually hit just south of Guam. This is great news!

As of this morning (it is 9am Tuesday right now) 18W is 625 miles east, southeast of Guam. Damaging winds will most likely hit us starting around 5am Thurs. Since it will hit south of us, we will most likely just encounter a Tropical Depression on Thursday, however a Topical Storm watch is still in effect for Guam at this time. Hopefully it won't be too damaging. However, the speed of the storm can change at any time, so we still need to prepare for the worst.

One problem with these storms is that it affects the power and water. Losing power is a very common thing here and we actually lose it during almost every thunderstorm. However, losing power means losing internet access and phone (we have digital phone), which then means, we lose all communication to all of you who are stateside. I do not like that! I have been stocking up on water and non-perishable food ever since we got back to the island in May. But I keep asking myself, do we have enough?? I can't seem to answer that question. And this is one of the reasons why....

...There is another storm following behind Tropical Depression 18W and possibly another storm (yes, that's #3) behind that one. Since this first storm won't be too damaging (hopefully), I am pretty sure we can survive that; even if we were out of power for a few days or so. But what happens when this next storm hits. The next one has yet to be named, but has been rumored to be much more intense than 18W. Will we have enough to get us through another major hit? Because you know we won't have a chance to restock after each storm, especially since we live on a island and there are limited supply of everything to begin with. And sometimes the power and/or water can be out for weeks. The next storm is projected to hit us Sat morning.

I just feel have that motherly instinct to protect my family, and I am worried that I won't be prepared enough to do that. We have food, water, gas in our vehicles, flashlights, batteries, hurricane lamps, candles, clean clothes, clean towels, clean dishes, toilet paper, paper products (plates and stuff), clean bath tubs to fill with water before the storm hits, charged electronics, etc. I've gone over the list several times and I think we are prepared in that aspect. But this is still a scary thing.

Matt just sent me this link: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamir.html If you want to see satellite images of the storms. I'm going to try to keep you all updated with this information as it comes to us. Please remember all of us here on Guam in your prayers :)

Beijing: Day Three: The Great Wall

2009-09-21T21:48:00.004+10:00

This was the last day of our trip. It was BY FAR the BEST day of the entire vacation! Here is a picture of Matt and I in our hotel before we headed downstairs for breakfast and then our long car ride to the Great Wall!

Unfortunately, it was so hazy :( Of course, the visibility was the worst today out of all the days we were in Beijing. But we still took tons of pics!

If you didn't want to walk up the steps on the steep mountain, you could opt to be carried up. Some of the group tried talking me into it, because they were worried I wouldn't be able to hang.

But I was up for the challenge and wanted to be able to say that "I climbed the Great Wall while I was seven months pregnant!!"!

As you can see, the visibility was horrible. But this picture was taken from the parking lot looking up the first set of stairs. I love how you can see all the people climbing up and down.

Here is the group before our big hike up the Great Wall! We were all so excited!

Once we got through the entrance, we stopped to take a few pics. Here is looking back at the entrance.

Looking up the wall. We made it all the way to the far tower on the right.

Matt and I at the bottom.

Percy at the bottom.

The little village to the right of the beginning of the Great Wall.

A little bit of a clearer view of the first set of stairs.

Another pic of us before we started climbing up the stairs.

Can you tell how steep it was from these two pictures??

It was totally nuts!

Looking down after we stopped for our first break.

I loved this picture. Look how high we climbed and that was only the first tower.

And look at how steep it is!

We still walked up to two more towers after this.

Taking another break!

I had to pull my hair back into a ponytail at this point :)

Looking down from half way up the second set of stairs.

Lora and I. We were almost to the top of the next tower!

The boys.

Action shot of me and Lora.

You could climb up the into the towers.

This picture was taken from the top of one of the towers.

At the third tower!

Another view to the fourth tower.

Another view looking down.

Peek-a-boo!

Can you see us?!

We only had a short time to climb up the wall. I wanted to go up further since I felt totally fine (Lora wasn't feeling so hot at this point). But we only had a few more mins before we needed to head back down, so Seth and Matt practically ran up this next set of stairs to the fourth tower. I would have taken too long, so I sat back and enjoyed the view instead! I still wish I had gone up further, but I'm pretty dang proud of what I did accomplish being so pregnant. Everyone on the wall was given me the thumbs up and then rubbing their tummies. I think they were trying to me that they were pretty impressed with me considering I was so preggers and all.

Matt took this picture looking down to the third tower. He stopped before a bend in the stairs. He was trying to get a picture of the three of us waiting down there.

Same picture, just zoomed in.

Can you see us now??

Another picture of the third tower. This one was taken a little further up on the set of stairs.

Zoomed in again.

Can you see us again?!

At the fourth tower, looking down at the third tower.

Zoomed in again.

A centipede on the Great Wall.

On our way down the Wall.

Matt was right by my side the entire time, making sure I wasn't in too much pain from my SPD (symphysis pubic dysfunction). I was 'diagnosed' with it back at 20-something weeks, and with all the walking on this trip, I was pretty sore the entire time. But I hung in there, didn't complain about it, and didn't let it get in the way of this amazing opportunity we had to climb up the Great Wall of China! Although, I was feeling it the next morning, for sure :)

What a gentleman, huh?!

As we were walking down the Wall hand-in-hand, we were enjoying this little bit of alone time and were talking about how awesome this is that we are actually on the Great Wall.

I told Matt that there was nobody I would rather be doing this with than him, my bestfriend.

I love this guy!!!

How many people actually get to say that they climbed the Great Wall? Seriously!!!

At the bottom again. Looking up at another view.

We actually made it down the Wall in record time, so we did a little exploring. When we walked in the entrance we took a right to head up the wall. This pass was to the left.

This is the Juyong Guan Pass. There were cannons built here to help defend themselves.

Here is one of the cannons.

And that is the Great Wall in the background on the opposite side (the part we didn't walk to).

The wall actually was all alond the ridge, but the visibility was so bad, so it's hard to see in the pictures :(

Zoomed in with the flag.

Another view from where the cannons were.

These little things on the roofs again.

I think they are so cute!

After the Great Wall we went to have lunch. We were all starving after that huge hike!!

Ming Tombs

2009-09-21T20:29:00.001+10:00

We headed to the Ming Tombs after lunch. This is the resting place for 13 of the 16 Ming Dynasty Emperors. This dynasty reigned from 1368-1644. The tombs are spread out over 15 square miles and it is absolutely amazing to see the architecture and effort put forth for the tombs of these men. This land was actually chosen because of the feng shui element. It has mountains surrounding the tombs on three sides which is believed to protect the tombs from the evil spirits carried with the north wind.

The entrance of one of the tombs.

Hair Pins

Belts made of jade.

Emperess Crown

Gate to Heaven. It is believed that once we cross through that gate that we have left earth and entered into heaven.

We couldn't go to the actual tomb, it is closed to the public. But we were told that it is somewhere behind this fence among the trees.

These trees were seriously growing out of the wall. It was so cool!

Have you ever seen anything like this before?

So awesome!

Random Pics of Beijing

2009-09-21T19:38:00.002+10:00

They called the restrooms "toilets" in China. I've been told that they are called toilets in many other countries too.

This is what the local toilets look like. Luckily they had western toilets in almost every bathroom I used. Because you know I needed to use the bathroom all the time!!!

I only had to use this kind of toilet once. But it was fun to experience it.

This is the amazing spa in our hotel. The only way I can describe it is almost like it was a huge spa separated into different sections, each one focusing on a different body part.

You lay on your stomach on the ground and let this high pressure waterfall massage your back!

Foot massagers.

Can you see the little feet shapes in the bottom of the spa...so funny!

Full body massager

Butt massager??? I'm not quite sure :)

Another view of part of the spa.

After the Ming Tombs, we drove past some of the Olympic Buildings on our way to the Silk Factory. Unfortunately, we only had the chance to drive past them and not walk around them. But it was still cool seeing them!

Olympic Village

Water Cube

With the Birds Nest in the background.

The Birds Nest.

What an amazing building!

Two buildings that just looked cool!

After the Silk Factory, we were FINALLY able to convince our tour guide to take us to a good market to shop. He kept taking us to the expensive places that wouldn't let us haggle very much...probably because he was making a commission off of these places. We only had about 40 minutes to shop, but those 40 minutes ranked second on my favorite parts of the trip...the Great Wall being first!!

The shopping almost reminded Matt and I of Mexico. It was almost like shopping in the little markets there, if any of you have ever been, you can imagine. We seriously could have shopped in there for hours! I'm sad we didn't have the chance to buy more stuff for friends and family. Oh well. At least we got to experience a little bit of it, right?!

We had such an amazing vacation! A huge THANKS to the Calls for watching Rian while Matt and I enjoyed a little vacation together! You guys are awesome!!

Beijing: Day Two

2009-09-14T23:59:00.002+10:00

We were so happy to get back to our hotel room the first night, take a nice shower and hit the sack. However, it turns out the sack was as hard as a rock. Our hotel was actually pretty nice, but sleeping on that bed felt like we were sleeping on a box spring. Nonetheless, we were so exhausted, so it didn't bother us too much :)

Day two started with a quick skype with Rian :) And then breakfast at the hotel. Soon we were off for our long day of sightseeing!!!

I'm still so amazed at how grand these sights are. The pictures do not to it justice. These landmarks cover miles upon miles of land. We walked, and walked, and walked. It was just amazing!!!

Summer Palace

2009-09-14T23:30:00.006+10:00

I was really excited to go to the Summer Palace. The pictures we saw of it before we went there were amazing. But of course, the visibility was horrible, so it wasn't quite as nice as the pictures we saw in our book. But it was still fun to see!

The Summer Palace was a retreat for the Emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties during the hot summer months. It's located on a private lake.

The view when we first walked in the entrance.

The group at the entrance.

Guardian Lion. One of the many we saw. You can tell this one is the female because of the little cub under her left paw.

Guardian Lions again.

The visibility was bad (surprise, surprise!) but there are some pretty cool buildings across the lake.

Zoomed in.

A large group gathered together for some Tai Chi. Our tour guide says they meet there all the time.

This grass was collected from the bottom of the lake. They use it to feed the pigs.

There were tons of people who would dip their large paint brushes into water and write on the grounds. These are not Chinese characters. I forget what language it is, but I absolutely loved it! I just think it looks so cool!

This is where on of the Emperors was held prisoner during his rein.

Oh and the guy in yellow is our tour guide, Stanley :)

A view through the window into the living quarters of the 'prisoner'.

His bed.

If you look closely, you can see the outline of the door that used to exist before they turned the building into the Emperor's Prison.

We loved the details on the beams!

Big bonsai tree.

Entrance to the Long Corridor.

This hallway went on for so long. The beams and ceilings have over 14,000 paintings!

It was kind of crowded that day!

Here I am in the hallway :)

Pretty

Part of the beams and the bottom half of the ceiling. So cool!

This guy asked to take a picture with Matt. I was cracking up! I can imagine this guy saying to his friend, 'Look a tall white guy! I want a picture with him!' Ha Ha!

Tower of the Fragrance of the Buddha. We didn't climb up there.

A very decorative gate. That's the lake behind it.

The decorative gate with me under it and the tower in the background.

I loved this picture because it shows the curve in the Long Corridor.

How awesome does this look?!

The group in the Long Corridor.

The Marble Boat.

Here is Percy next to the dragon boat we took across the lake.

I was so happy when I found out we would be riding this! It even has a tail on the back of the boat :)

View from the boat.

Another view from the boat.

Pearl House

2009-09-14T23:00:00.002+10:00

We headed to the Pearl House after the Summer Palace. They collect oysters from the lake at Summer Palace and collect the pearls out of them.

Here she is showing us how to open the oysters.

There were 14 pearls in that oysters. We were each given one to take home.

Then they feed the oyster meat to these turtles. I loved the little baby! Too cute!

Tian'an Men Square and Forbidden City

2009-09-14T22:38:00.003+10:00

Tian'an Men Square is where the People's Republic of China was founded. Mao founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 from the Ming Dynasty.

This tall hall is where the embalmed body of Mao rests. It is encased in a crystal casket and draped in a red flag. It is raised twice a day for public viewing. We did not view it.

Us at Tian'an Men Square.

The group

There is a picture of Mao, but this is a bad angle.

Forbidden City entrance. This palace was the domain of 24 Emperors. It was completed in 1420 and the last Emperor was forced to abdicate at the beginning of the 20th century.

Five marble bridges allow access over the moat. It blows my mind how grand this palace is. Well actually not just the palace but everything the Emperors used.

Gate of Supreme Harmony.

The Guardian Lions again. They symbolize power and dignity.

The outer court. It was huge!

Cool picture of the doorway. You can count 9 rows and 9 knobs per row again here.

Check out this detail!

This building had not been restored yet.

Awesome ramp!

I loved this. I just think it looks so cool!

This ramp is sculpted with dragons and clouds and was made from a single piece of marble weighing more than 200 tons. The servants would carry the Emperor up this ramp.

Empress' bed

Imperial Garden. One of several gardens on the grounds.

The trees were pretty spectacular!

See what I mean about the trees?!

Again!

Can you spot the gorilla head?

Walking out.

Matt liked this sign that was on the street outside of the Forbidden City.

And I really liked this homemade broom this lady was using to clean the streets!

Street Vendors on Wangfujing West St

2009-09-14T22:00:00.002+10:00

After the Forbidden City, we went to see some Traditional Chinese Medicine Doctors. I really loved this part! The doctors felt our pulse while looking at our tongues in order to tell us what they thought was wrong with us. Matt and I looked great they said :) Then they offered everyone a 5 minute massage for 3 US dollars. What a deal!! Except, they wouldn't give me one since I'm preggers. Even though the did the massage in a normal chair, I guess they didn't feel comfortable massaging me. So Matt made it up to me afterwards :)

This is WangFuJing West St. Here is a view from the front doors of the TCM Doctors offices. These are a bunch of street vendors set up with tons of yummy food!!

Be sure to click on the pics to enlarge them. Then you can really tell what you are looking at!!

Little sea horses-on-a-stick....so sad :(

Snake-on-a-stick

Stomach....yuck!

Fear Factor anyone?

But instead of getting paid for eating this stuff like on fear factor.....

They eat it for the fun of it!

Scorpions-on-a-stick

More crunchy bugs

Some more.

And more

Intestines

I seriously was holding my breath for the entire time we were here. The smell was awful!!!

Yep, that says Sheep Penis!

When this vendor saw us trying to take a picture of it, it took away the sign (next pic). But on the way back through, the sign was put back and we got a shot of it!!

Can you read these signs??

Yes, people were actually eating this stuff!

Starfish, shark, and sea urchins...all on a stick.

Our tour guide told us not to eat anything...not like Matt or I would have anyways. But our friends Lora and Seth would have if he didn't warn us beforehand. I actually would have liked to see them try something. So gross!!

More Shopping and Dinner

2009-09-14T21:15:00.001+10:00

WangFuJing West Street also had some great, but expensive shopping!

They call the restrooms "toilet" here. So here is a picture of the extra cute kids toilet in the mall. How adorable is this???

I knew the clean mall would be a great place for a toilet break! Not all of the toilets were this clean :)

The New China Children's Store was also located on this street. We bought Rian a few souvenirs from there!

That night we had an authentic Peking Duck Dinner. They sliced the duck right at our table and showed us how to make the 'roll' (or burrito-type thing) with our chopsticks. Percy was pretty dang good at it!

Everyone said that this was their favorite meal thus far on the trip!

Beijing: Day One

2009-09-06T22:39:00.007+10:00

Matt and I decided to take a trip with a group of friends to Beijing. With me, being 7 months pregnant, did not stop us from having a once-in-a-lifetime experience! We left Rian with some friends and we ventured out to China for a short vacay.

Here we are waiting in the South Korea airport during our layover. We were so excited to get this vacation started! Our flight left at 3 am, so by the end of Day 1, we were exhausted!

Some of the things we were warned about before we headed out: Don't drink the water, or brush your teeth with it even. Which also means no eating fresh fruit/veggies because they were probably washed in the nasty water.

The city is heavily polluted......a complete understatement!
The toilets are basically porcelain holes in the ground.....pic to come in another post.

No toilet paper and/or soap in most of the public restrooms.

The crazy drivers! We have a video we will upload in another post and I will explain more there.

It was fun to experience it all :)

After we checked into our hotel (more on that in another post) we headed to lunch. This is where we ate.

Maybe I should mention that we had personal tour guide/translator and a driver everyday. So our itinerary was pretty much planned out and our tour guide picked out all of our restaurants and dishes.

This is the only picture I got of our food. Crispy shrimp, cabbage in some kind of soy sauce, a whole fish, green bean dish with what looked like hot dogs, a rice noodle dish, soup, and of course, rice.

At every meal, we were guaranteed to have rice (of course), a cabbage dish, and soup. Since I'm preggers, I was pretty cautious with the food. I did try many dishes, but I also packed some protein bars, peanut butter, and other snacks, just in case I needed them.

Those of you who know me would be pretty amazed at how easy-going I was on this trip, especially being in my third trimester. The food, all the walking especially with my SPD (we're talking over 5 miles a day), the toilet situation (which I obviously had to use often), etc. It all could have taken it's toll, I mean this isn't the place to go for the prissy, but Matt was pretty proud of how I handled it :) Kudos to me!!

Temple of Heaven

2009-09-06T21:19:00.022+10:00

The Temple of Heaven is where the Emperor would make sacrifices and pray to heaven and his ancestors at the winter solstice. He would pray for a good harvest. Like all the places we saw on our visit, the Temple of Heaven was off limits to the common people during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Here we are posing in front of the entrance.

The raised walkway made of marble and stone runs exactly down the center of the complex.

This altar was made of marble slabs. Nine seems to be the magic number for the Ming and Qing Dynasties, so there were nine steps between each level and nine circular rows of stone on each level. Most of the time, there were nine of everything.

We are standing at the center of the altar on the top level. It represents the center of the world and is where the Emperor carried out his sacrifices.

View from the top of the round altar looking farther into the Temple of Heaven.

If you were observant, you could see that the number nine was seen everywhere. If you look closely at the red doors, each door has nine rows of gold knobs, and each row has nine knobs also.

This is the Imperial Vault of Heaven.

The detail is amazing!

A picture of the inside of the vault. This vault once held the wooden spirit tablets that were used in the ceremonies that took place on the nearby Round Altar.

How cool is this??

Posing with Percy and his ever famous tourist peace sign :) In Guam, all the Japanese tourists hold up a peace sign when they pose. I guess Percy has picked up on it.

Walking further into the Temple of Heaven. Did I mention we walked miles upon miles on this vacay?!

The Red Step Bridge with the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the background.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

It was constructed without the use of a single nail.

It sits atop three tiers of marble.

It was built in 1420 and rebuilt in 1889.

Many consider it to be the most beautiful building in Beijing.

The Group.

It was quite beautiful! The colors were awesome!

The altar and ceiling. We couldn't believe the detail!

Rickshaw Ride

2009-09-06T20:33:00.015+10:00

After the Temple of Heaven, we toured some of the local neighborhoods while riding in the back of a bicycle rickshaw. It was really interesting to see what real life Chinese living is all about. For some fun reason, Matt and I got the 'honeymoon' rickshaw (named by me)! It was the only one decorated like this :)

Once we got in and our tour guide started pedaling, I began to hear tons and tons of chirping noises. As I looked around the rickshaw, I noticed that we were surrounded by at least 10 mini cages that were attached to the inside of the rickshaw. The cages had cicadas inside of them. It kind of freaked me out at first, but they are harmless, so I quickly got over it :) They had tiny bits of carrots inside their cages to snack on.

Bicycle Rickshaws were once a very common mode of transportation in Beijing, but they are now relegated to this part of the city. Now they are used to show tourists the old hutongs, or alleys, in the old neighborhoods of Beijing.

We passed by many doorways leading into peoples homes.

The neighborhood.

Another alley.

Children playing Pogs outside of their home. Do you remember playing pogs when you were little??? Matt and I do!

Bicycles are a very common mode of transportation around the city. They are everywhere! We saw many like this one. One seriously looked like a moving van, it was packed so full of someones belongings. Too bad we didn't get a picture of that one.

Now these little guys are cool! In one of our videos, we have one making a u-turn right in front of our van. It makes me laugh every time I see someone driving it.

After our rickshaw ride, we were taken into this store to watch how locals make some of the beautiful handmade souvenirs. The ceramics and tea sets, the hand-painted silk scrolls, and the hand-painted porcelain were all so beautiful and it was very hard to walk away without any in our possession....we shopped later in our trip!

Kung Fu Show

2009-09-06T20:01:00.007+10:00

After dinner, we enjoyed a little evening entertainment. We went to the Red Theater to watch a Kung Fu Show. It was pretty cool! I really liked the music and the moves were pretty amazing. There were these three little boys who did back head-springs. That's right, head-springs, not hand-springs. They just flipped their little bodies over and landed right on the top of their little bald heads. It was pretty impressive!

At the end of the show, they allowed us to take pictures of the cast. I didn't want to get any closer to the stage, though, because we wanted to beat the crowds out of there. By the time the show was over, we were definitely ready to hit the sack! We were totally exhausted from traveling all night to Beijing and then walking and sightseeing all day long!

I loved the third guy from the left. He had the longest white beard and it was awesome! The entire cast looked pretty much the same. They all had big round heads that were completely bald. It was pretty fun to watch all their Kung Fu moves and acrobatics!

Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience

2009-08-28T09:13:00.002+10:00

Nihao!!! Which means hello in Mandarin Chinese! Yes, that's right, we are about to embark on an once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are headed to Beijing for a week! We are so excited for this amazing opportunity to live here in Guam and travel, travel, travel!!! This is our first trip (besides going back to the States) since we moved here! And we can't wait!
This is a collage of a few of the sights we will see. I think I am still in shock that I am going to China, though. Maybe it will hit me when we get off the airplane in Beijing :) China wasn't really on my list of places to visit, since there are so many opportunities to travel from this island. But it was on Matt's list and once he started talking to me about all the amazing things to see there, well, let's just say I jumped on the opportunity. When will we ever be able to go to China again? This will be quite the trip! Expect tons of pictures!!!

New Calling Update

2009-08-18T09:32:00.002+10:00

Thank you so much for all your wonderful words of wisdom on my last post! I'm grateful for all the encouragement and great ideas. I should have clarified this in my last post, since I have many friend and family who aren't members of my Church and who do not know what a CTR 8 teacher is. Primary in our Church goes basically from ages 3-11. CTR 8 are the kids who have or will be turning 8 yrs old this calendar year. This is such an awesome age in our Church because it is the age that a child is baptized! So basically I will be teaching lessons to 7 and 8 year olds. I am so excited to be working with this age specifically! I have 5 boys in my class and hopefully 2 baptisms next month :)
I'm not sure what I was so worried about honestly. I feel like Sunday went amazingly well! In fact, last minute they combined the CTR 7 and 8 class (the other teacher did not show up to church) and I was very scared to take 8 very rowdy boys and 1 girl on my first day of class, but I stepped up and did it. All I had to do was lay down the law, and they basically behaved from then on. Matt says that primary here is just a little different from stateside; they seem to be very wild here! And that I just need to teach them how and when to be reverent. Easy enough, right?!
The kids are really great and I am already starting to love each one of them. Amazing how quickly that works, huh :) They were participating and pretty interested the whole time, so I feel really confidant!
Matt (who I made stay with my on Sunday, even though I didn't even need him!) said I was a natural! I mean, I have worked with elementary age kids since I was 16 yrs old. He said he was pretty impressed with me, my lesson, and the kids behavior and participation! Last week they were pretty rowdy in class, so I am feeling really good!
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who commented and let you know how I did on my first day of teaching primary!

New Calling

2009-08-14T09:19:00.003+10:00

So I had this feeling that I was going to be called as the CTR 8 Teacher, when the Primary Presidency called last week and asked if I could substitute until a new teacher was called. When we were asked to meet with the Branch Pres last Sunday, I knew for sure it was happening. I am so embarrassed to admit this, and I will blame most of it on my pregnancy hormones, but I cried when he called me. I converted to the Church when I was 21 and have never even attend primary, let alone know anything about it. I didn't want to say no to the calling or anything, and I totally accepted the calling without hesitation, however, I was sick to my stomach with nerves and uncertainty.
After attending last Sunday's classes, I feel a little more comfortable with the idea, but I am still really nervous about the whole thing. How do I keep 5 boys interested and engaged in my lesson for an hour? The manual is very helpful, but at the same time, some of the lesson ideas just won't work in our group setting. Anyone have any good websites or ideas on lesson planning? Or just words of wisdom in general?
I haven't held a calling in over a year and I know that is part of why I am so nervous. Ever since Matt graduated and we left Logan, we have been floating from home to home and ward to ward. Now that we are finally settled down for longer than 3 months, and our records are finally in our home ward (or branch in our situation), of course, I am going to get a calling. I know I'm not alone when it comes to getting nervous about a new calling. But I can't help and think that every Sunday these boys' parents are going to ask them after church "what did you learn in primary?" and it is up to me to make sure that they can answer that question. As I type this, though, it doesn't seem like it is that hard of a question to answer or a task for me to deliver. They are basic gospel principles and I know that I will honestly learn a lot from these kiddos and the lessons. I can do this!!! Right?!?! :)

My Growing Tummy Part 2

2009-08-09T16:15:00.002+10:00

When we were talking on Skype this past week, both my sister and my mom asked to see my tummy. I thought I would post another progression chart. So, enjoy!

You can click on the collages to enlarge them. although I wouldn't recommend it considering they are pictures of me. Who knows how much longer I'll agree to this picture taking?!?! :)

DC Shoes

2009-08-09T15:01:00.001+10:00

Auntie Jen (Matt's sister) and her family gave Rian these DC Shoes last year for her birthday! She can finally fit into them and we think they are the cutest little shoes ever!

I asked Matt to get some pics of her wearing them. It turned out to be a pretty good photo shoot! I love her little poses. Is she a natural model or what?!

More Birthday Fun

2009-08-09T14:23:00.000+10:00

We started the morning by skyping both my sister and her family. They even had a piece of cake with a lit candle and sang Happy Birthday to Rian. It was really cute!
Rian has been asking to go to Underwater World ever since we came back to the island. When our friends asked us to go with them on Tuesday, I thought that would be a perfect way to spend Rian's actual birthday. Unfortunately Matt had to work, but we will have many more chances to go with him in the future. This aquarium consists of mostly a huge walk-through aquarium...almost like a really long shark encounter at Sea World. We saw tons of different fish, sharks, sea turtles, and sting rays. Rian was expecting to see Shamu, since there was a huge statue of him outside of the aquarium, but I had to explain to her that this was not going to be anything like Sea World. She asked to see the penguins, polar bears, and dolphins too. Of course, we didn't see any of those animals either, but she had a great time anyways!
After the aquarium, we were invited to the USO. I had never been to one, but was very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. How can I explain it to those of you who aren't sure what that is....it's basically a place to hang out for military and their dependants. They are almost always located at airports, and this one was in a hotel close to the Underwater World. The volunteers were so incredibly friendly and gave Rian 3 DVD's since it was her birthday. They popped some popcorn for the three kiddos and then the three of them snuggled into the home theater section and watched a Disney Princess Sing Along while munching on popcorn. The mom's sat around and chatted and were served some yummy chili that the volunteers had prepared in the crockpot. They didn't even charge us for any of the food, snacks, or sodas! They run off of donations, which we were happy to give:)
When we got home we skyped my Dad, so he could see Rian open a few gifts and he read some of Ri's favorite books to her. It was so cute to watch! When my Mom got home from a night out with the girls, we skyped her too, so she could also watch Ri open some gifts. When Matt came home from work we had dinner, ate more cake and opened more presents! Sadly, a big box my mom sent out to Rian was mysteriously 'lost' in the mail even though it was supposed to be tracked. Don't even get me started on how irritating that is! But luckily, some of her presents did make it to us. She loved opening up her gifts....again! And we've been happily playing her games ever since! I think Rian really enjoyed her birthday celebrations this year and is really eager to celebrate my birthday in a few weeks. She can't wait for more cake and ice cream!!

Rian Turns Three

2009-08-04T00:01:00.000+10:00

Today is Rian's Birthday! I cannot believe our little girl is turning three years old already. She is definitely no longer our baby girl (which is kind of sad), but now our big girl (which is so fun)! The time has just flown by and we have loved every minute we've had with her!
Rian hasn't made too many friends out here yet, but we still wanted to have a birthday party for her. So, Matt and I asked some of our friends to come to Rian's party and they agreed to play along! Rian picked out invitations, princess invites of course, and we decorated them together. Rian and I baked a cake from scratch together and made our own frosting, then we decorated it together too.
She was so excited for her birthday party to start Saturday night! When the doorbell rang, she jumped up and down several times screaming "they're here, they're here"!

We bought these princess party favors and Rian handed them out to everyone! Then she climbed into her booster seat and said "Can everyone please come over here?" She was ready for her cake!

Everyone gathered around the table and sang Happy Birthday. She enjoyed the singing and did really well blowing out her candles! Then she blew her party favor once more...it was really funny and cute! The best part is when she asked everyone to please sit down once we were done singing....she was such a cute hostess :)

Rian of course requested a pink cake and pink frosting. I figured I would try baking a red velvet cake. But once I saw how much food coloring the recipe called for, I omitted it completely and just added a few drops to the cream cheese frosting. She loved it!

Rian loves all of her presents. She would say "Oh-My-Gosh!!" every time she opened a new present, it was pretty funny. She is quite the character! We only had her open a few gifts because I wanted to save most of them for her actual birthday. She got a few really cute church dresses and two of them had matching dresses for her doll! She also got a new baby doll and a princess book. Bama Wendy and Papa Dave got her a church dress and a cute tutu for dance. Unfortunately, most of Bama Lois and Papa Fred's gifts were lost in the mail :( But she still had quite a few from them, so she opened a Dora puzzle and a princess hopper ball (see video below) from them. Of course, the biggest hit of the night was Hungry, Hungry Hippo! Matt and I bought it for her....we wanted to focus on games this birthday....and I knew when she opened it all the adults would totally want to play.....and they did!! It was a really fun night and I'm so grateful for our wonderful friends here who didn't think twice about coming to a three year old's birthday party!!

I tried to get a group picture, but Rian was pretty tired by that time and wasn't really in the mood. But I still had to post it.

I also finally got another family picture! Rian's smile is pretty silly, but I love how Matt had her do a little "3" sign! Too cute!

Today we finally inflated her Hopper Ball. She absolutely LOVES it! I wanted to get a video of her playing on it for my mom. She is really getting the hang of it now, but you can't help but laugh when she bounces right off the thing! Check out the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9n-l4CkuXU

Things I want to remember:

She can count to 10 in spanish. And knows a quite a few other words in spanish too!

She can count to 20 and sometimes more in english.

She loves, loves, loves to read!

She loves music and is constantly asking us to turn up the stereo in the car.

She has memorized tons of songs from our Itunes...her memory is absolutely amazing! Listening to her sing The Fray or All American Rejects is hilarious!

Her imagination is growing everyday!

She loves to play tea party. She sets up her table and seats her stuffed animals and babies in the chairs. She offers them food and lemonade. And always says a prayer before they start eating :)

She loves to dance! And will even get out her microphone and sing and dance all around the room!

She is such a good eater! She loves her veggies and hard boiled eggs, but peanut butter is her favorite!

Her little prayers are adorable! She is always praying for "Mommy and the baby in her tummy, Daddy, and Rian". She also prays for Joseph Smith, temples, and the Prophet!

Yesterday after church, we put her down for nap and a few minutes later we heard her singing 'I am a Child of God'...it melted my heart!

She loves going to Nursery (at Church).

She loves shoes and is willing to sacrifice pain for beauty when it comes to them...yes, already!!

She is easy-peasy to put to bed/nap. She never fights us. We are lucky!

She loves to be in the kitchen with us. It's fun to have a little chef around :)

She is very affectionate and is always kissing and hugging us and holding our hands.

She likes to email Daddy during the day and loves talking on the phone to friends and family.

RIAV

2009-07-29T08:35:00.002+10:00

This is a great story! Those of you who know Rian well, know that she is absolutely obsessed with the color PINK! About six weeks ago, she was playing with these magnets and she was trying to spell out her name. We have been practicing her letters and numbers a lot lately, so I was excited to see what she was going to come up with.

So, there she starts picking out the letters for her name. She gets the R-I-A and then starts searching for the last letter. She moves the N closer to the other 3 letters, but then continues searching. Intrigued, I keep watching. She picks up the pink V. I simply explain that her name is not RIAV. She starts throwing a fit. She throws herself onto the floor and starts crying really loud....did I mention she is quite the actress?! :)

Then the phone rings, it's my mom. She immediately asks why Rian is crying. I said, "I don't know, let's ask her". Even though I did know why, I like Rian to explain her feelings to me. Rian explained that she wanted the pink letter in her name. I told her that we didn't have a pink R-I-A or N, but she was not happy with my explanation. So my mom and I continue to talk and a few minutes later, Rian comes running over to me with the biggest smile on her face. "Mommy," she says, "I spelled RIAN!!!" I walk over to the kitchen and find this (look up at picture). She says "See Mommy, I do have a pink A". I was in complete shock. I was so proud of my little girl! She never seizes to amaze me!

Biba Guam!

2009-07-26T16:22:00.003+10:00

July 21st is Liberation Day and it is probably the most widely celebrated holiday on Guam. Here is a little background info: Japanese forces landed on the Micronesian island just days after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, occupying it until U.S. troops recaptured it in July of 1944. July 21 — Guam's official Liberation Day holiday — marks the day American troops began the battle that proved a major turning point for the war in the Pacific. Guam celebrates this holiday to honor those who fought for the liberation of this westernmost U.S. Territory.

We decided to take part in all the festivities, especially since Matt was given the day off of work (it was a Tuesday)!! We headed down to the 1 (one of the main roads) to watch the parade. Although it was incredibly hot, we managed to stay for 2 hours of the 4 hour parade. Here are a few pictures!

Locals made many floats to honor Liberation Day. Check out their outfits...awesome, huh?! Of course, we had to get a picture of the carabao too! Rian just loves carabaos :) I also took a great picture of the F-22's (Air Force) flying overhead!

The military took a HUGE part in the parade and I just loved that! The Marines even flew in from Japan to participate! We also have to give a shout out to the Seabees! NMCB 40, a Seabee Battalion, participated in parade too (they are the ones with the hard hats)!

Matt took this picture of a Military Helicopter flying directly under the sun. Here are more pictures of all the Military that took part in the parade. Check out their fire power!

Some of the floats were so cool! Here is another local in a little loincloth :) Rian loved when the cheerleaders went by too....she is such a mini me!

After we couldn't stand the heat anymore, we had a little lunch and then headed to the beach to cool down! It was a really fun family day! Long Live Guam!!!

We Are EXCITED

2009-07-23T21:42:00.001+10:00

We are having a BOY! And we couldn't be more thrilled!

The ultrasound lasted over an hour. The hospital was very thorough, taking about 60 sonogram pictures. We did get a disk with the pictures, however, we cannot save them to our computer :(

The baby weighed approximately 1 lbs 2 oz. He was breach and facing my back. So the tech had a hard time getting a profile picture.

We were only given two actual pictures, one of the spine and this one!

The tech said the measurements looked great, but that is all he told us. I have my appointment with my Dr next Thursday. She will go over the ultrasound at that time. Apparently they are very strict at this hospital and they tell the to tech kept his lips sealed, even about the gender. We got him to peak at the gender, but that's it.

I still can't believe it's a boy! Even though it's my second pregnancy, it feels like a whole new adventure knowing that it will be a completely different experience. Thanks for participating in our poll....looks like the majority of you were right :)

Beach Day Fun

2009-07-20T16:10:00.000+10:00

Our friend invited us to celebrate her birthday with her at her other friend's beach house. We had a great time! This beach actually had good sand that we could build sandcastles with! Usually it's full of coral. And the water was so shallow for what seemed like a fourth mile. If you look closely at the pictures, you can see the water is really light and then turns really blue way far back. That's where the waves broke. So we didn't have to worry about waves taking Rian out or anything. It was so fun to just sit down in the warm (and I mean warm!) water and have Rian play all around me! I have a feeling we will be back to this beach in the near future :)

Potty Training Update

2009-07-20T16:00:00.000+10:00

First off, I need to say THANK YOU to everyone who posted comments on my previous post about potty training. I was in a huge rut and I really need the boost you all gave me to continue on the potty training journey! I am really happy to announce that Rian has been doing awesome since my last post!

I took Auntie Lauren's advice about not asking Rian if she needed to go, but instead just taking her. That way she wouldn't have the chance to tell me no. Most times I would just say something like can you come with me? and we would walk hand in hand to the potty. That worked extremely well!

I also decided that I did not want to 'reward' Rian, but instead 'chart' her progress. As all of you probably know, Rian is absolutely obsessed with anything princess. So I found a free sticker chart on the internet, printed it out, and taped in up on the wall in Rian's bathroom. I just happen to have some princess stickers too. I crossed my fingers that this would be the key to her success.....and thus far it has been! She loves to put her stickers on her chart whenever she has gone on the potty! She has already filled up one chart and is doing very well on her second!

I also read on the internet to add food coloring to the potty water. Supposedly, if you use blue dye, it will change to green once the child goes in the potty. Well, we tried that experiment and I guess Rian's pee isn't concentrated enough (which is a good thing!), but she still loves to add food coloring every time she tries to go on the potty!

We've moved on to Princess Pull-ups instead of diapers! Sometimes she will tell me when she has to go, but that isn't too often. I wonder how to get to that next step? However, over the past three days she has told Matt and I probably 5 or 6 times that she needs to go. So I guess that is improvement, right?! We are just so proud of her! In fact, yesterday she told me she needed to go and asked if she could try it by herself. Of course we encouraged it! So I secretly watched her from around the corner :) She did so good! We are so proud of our little girl and hope that we can continue making progress!!

'D' Day Preview

2009-07-20T15:37:00.000+10:00

Yes, 'D' as in Delivery Day!!
A few weeks ago, I started noticing that my lower abdominal would hurt when I lifted one leg to get dressed or shave, or wash my legs/feet. I said to Matt, I don't remember feeling pain like this this early in my pregnancy with Rian. I took out my pregnancy books to research pain in lower abdominal and only found stuff regarding the stretching of ligaments....all normal stuff. Fast forward to two weeks ago. Matt and I decided to do a leg workout together. I was definitely sore for a few days after the workout, so I took a few days off from working out and waited for my body to recover. In the meantime, I continued looking up soreness in lower abdomen....no success. A week later I felt fine. I would still feel weird when getting dressed and showering, but I didn't feel sore or anything so I figured I could workout.
Wednesday morning I was doing an leg and arm workout at home. Right after I finished a friend called and asked if I wanted to meet her at the gym after Rian's dance class. I decided walking on the treadmill would be a good cardio workout after doing arms and legs in the morning and since Rian's class is at the gym anyways, I should take advantage of being there. So I did. Big mistake!
That night, I was in the worst pain of my life. I couldn't walk or get up from a sitting position without my lower abdomen killing me. I knew something wasn't right. There had to be something in my books about this kind of pain. I started looking in the index for anything that could relate to my symptoms....soreness, pain, tightness, abdominal, but I found nothing. At that point I just started reading the index knowing there had to be something in my books, I just couldn't find the right word myself. Finally I got to P. Pubic Symphsis Dysfunction. I read about it in my book and then researched it on the internet. I think this is what I have and decide since it isn't harmful to the baby I would wait it out for the night and I would call the Dr in the morning.
I couldn't get in to see my regular Dr the next day, but decided it didn't matter who I was seen by, my pain was too intense and I needed to be seen. I didn't want to walk in the office claiming I knew exactly what was wrong with me, so I let the Dr do her exam and then told her about my findings. She didn't really like my suggestion. She said that my cervix was already dilated to a one and, therefore, thought is was either a bladder infection or contractions. However, it didn't hurt when I pee'd and I know for sure I wasn't feeling contractions, I wasn't cramping at all, I was just sore and tight and I only felt pain when I moved around. But I went along for the ride, because I would rather have a concerned Dr than one who didn't want to take the time to worry. While my labs were being processed they admitted me to the Mother/Baby Unit to hook me up and make sure I wasn't having contractions. Man, laying in that hospital bed brought back many memories! I just hope this next labor/delivery goes as smoothly as my first did!
I wasn't having contractions! And my labs came back normal. The Dr still did not want to diagnosis me with Pubic Symphisis Dysfunction. She told me to take it easy and re-visit this issue with my Dr at my next appt (in two weeks). So that's where we stand at this point. The pain level has definitely gone down since taking it easy the entire weekend, but it still isn't completely gone with certain movements.

JW Tumbles

2009-07-20T15:00:00.000+10:00

We signed Rian up for a 5 week session at JW Tumbles. It's an indoor children's gym and Rian loves going! It's rainy season here, so it's nice to have a place to go to where Rian can run free and stay dry! She has a one hour class each week and we can take advantage of their free play every afternoon, if we want!

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-05T15:44:00.006+10:00

I think the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays (although Thanksgiving still ranks number one)! I just love it! It's all about warm weather, the beach, BBQ's, friends, family, summertime, good food, fireworks...I mean who wouldn't love it!

Our festivities began on Thursday when my friend, Lynleigh, invited us to the Air Force Base for the Freedom Festival. I decked Rian out in one of her four "4th of July outfits", this particular one courtesy of Bama Wendy, and off we went. When we first got there they were just starting the 'military police dog show'. We enthusiastically watched as the dogs continued time and time again to tackle the 'bad guy'. Then we enjoyed some free grub! I tried to take Rian to the bounce house, but there were too many older kids and she climbed out just as quickly as she climbed in! After the bounce house was a no-go, I tried to get her to stand in line for the clown, so she could get a balloon animal and her face painted. That was a no-go also :) Rian finally agreed to try another astro jump obstacle course thing, so we walked over to the line for that. This is where the picture was taken. She met a really nice girl in line, they even had their arms around each other at one point...too cute!! But seconds after I took this picture, the torrential downpour started and we ran for cover! The rain was coming down hard and our car was too far away, so we just waited it out (for a long time). Eventually it stopped, but it was too late, they were taking down the astro jumps. But even with all the rain, and Rian not really wanted to do any of the fun stuff, we still had a great time!

Matt had the day off on Friday, so we made some plans with our friends to head to the beach! We haven't been to the beach since we arrived back on the island, so Rian and I were very excited for this. We packed a picnic lunch and all our beach gear and headed out the door. I took this picture in the car on the way down. But as we drove further south, the sky turned dark and the downpour began again. However, Guam is known to have rainstorms one minute and blue skies the next, so we decided to continue on. It was still raining when we got to the beach so we backed our jeep up to our friend's SUV, and everyone hung out in the back of the two cars, which was actually kind of fun! We ate lunch and chit-chatted until the rain eventually stopped. Rian and I enjoyed the warm water while Daddy took a nap on the beach. Then, as promised, Daddy built sandcastles with Rian. Soon after they started though, the rain clouds returned and we packed up and left just in the knick of time! We were only able to hang out at the beach for probably two hours due to the rain and half of that time was spent in the car. But regardless of how long we were there, we still had a great time! We came home, showered, and cleaned up nicely so we could join a few friends for dinner at Proa. It was delicious! Good friends and good food, how could you go wrong?

On Saturday, I decked Rian out in another 'outfit' (this one courtesy of Bama Lois) and we had some friends over during the day for a BBQ, games, and Root Beer Floats and Red, White, and Blue Sundaes. We had a lot of fun, once again! Then we decided to take our chances and meet some other friends to watch the fireworks. Of course the downpour started once again as soon as we got into the car. The torrential downpour lasted about an hour so we waited it out in our car once again. When it finally let up, we had about an hour before the fireworks started. Luckily, we stayed dry the rest of the night!

I number the photo collage: 1-Our family waiting for the fireworks to begin.

2-Rian blowing her Fourth of July pinwheel. Bama Lois sent it out here and Rian loved it!

3-Rian jumping around.

4-Rian using her red, white, and blue wand (aka glowstick) to cast spells on everyone :)

5-Rian swinging her glowstick around in circles as the adults chat.

6-Rian smiling for the camera. Bama Lois (my mom) sent Rian some 4th of July jewelry along with the glowsticks and light up necklaces. Rian was all decked out!

7-Rian and Seth swinging the glowsticks! What fun!

8-The girls!

Potty Training Woes

2009-07-01T08:23:00.003+10:00

I seriously need your help! I am almost embarrassed to even blog about this, but I just don't know what to do at this point. We started potty training Rian when we were in California just a few months ago. She was doing amazing and she actually liked the idea of going on a big girl potty. I thought she would be fully trained quickly.
Then our lives started to get hectic. It was our last 6 weeks in the States and we were traveling here, there, and everywhere. We brought her potty and encouraged her to go, but not having a routine or any kind of consistency in our daily lives did not help the situation. At one point, while we were still in CA, I was putting Rian on the potty and she was screaming bloody murder. My mom asked me why was I pushing her if she clearly did not like the idea anymore. My response: She is 2 1/2 and she needs to be potty trained. But obviously she regressed and both Matt and I decided that maybe we should hold off on the training until we got back to Guam and into a normal routine again.
So here we are. We've been here for a month and have made no progress :( Rian is a very smart girl (we have full on conversations) and I know she could totally do this if she wanted to, but that's the problem, she doesn't want to. She said she will give the baby her diapers, but the baby isn't here yet, so that isn't really working at the moment. I've put her in big girl panties, but she peed right through them. She loves the idea of being a big girl, but when it comes to the potty she'll say she is still a baby. I've tried pull ups, but obviously the 'cool sensation' doesn't bug her the least. We've rewarded, but she just told me yesterday "I'm fine, I don't need that".
I hate to just give up again and say she is not ready. I know she can do this! But I am started to think again, maybe she just isn't ready. But that feels like an excuse, and that bothers me. She turns 3 in Aug, how can she not be ready yet? And I feel like it reflects on me as a mom. I don't want to push it too hard. If she tells me she doesn't want to go, I shouldn't force her, right? And they say not to get upset if she goes in her diaper, but I can't encourage that either, so what do I say at that point? I am seriously contemplating just leaving her naked for a day and waiting to see what happens. Please, tell me I'm not the only one with a 2.5-3 yr old in diapers and PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!!

Sonogram Pics

2009-06-25T20:56:00.004+10:00

Today I had a nice little surprise when I went to the Dr. I was a little concerned last Monday when I went in for my 16 week appt. The Dr had a really difficult time finding the baby's heartbeat. He kept finding mine, but really struggled to find the baby's. When I showed my concern, he blew me off. So you could say I left the appt very unhappy.
I really wanted to know that the baby was okay, so I switched doctors and asked for another appt. My new Dr rocks! It took a few minutes, but the nurse found the baby's heartbeat and then told me to wait for the Dr. While I was waiting, the nurse wheeled in the ultrasound machine! I was very surprised. My new Dr explained to me that normally she would not do an ultrasound at 17 weeks, but since I was concerned with my last appt, she wanted to reassure me that everything was okay with the little baby.
She put Rian up on the table with me and pointed out everything to Rian and me. Everything, but the sex :) Rian saw the baby move his/her feet, and open and close his/her mouth! She was so excited! I left the office feeling so comforted. And most importantly, feeling like my Dr actually cared about me and my concerns. The first picture is a shot of the head. You can see the huge forehead, eye sockets, and the mouth opened. The second picture is of the spine. Our next ultrasound is scheduled for July 23rd. I put up a poll for you to guess the sex, so we expect everyone who reads this to vote!

Dance Class

2009-06-19T15:26:00.019+10:00

We signed Rian up for Ballet/Tap Dance. Wednesday was her first day and she absolutely LOVED it! She did so good! She listened and did all the moves, well kinda, she still has a lot to learn! So lets say she tried to do all the moves! She liked ballet, but really enjoyed tap. What child doesn't like to make tons of noise, right? All the little girls looked so cute in their leotards, tights, and tutu's!

At the bottom of the post are 3 links to videos of the class on youtube. I had a really hard time uploading them directly to blogger. Some of you may not be interested in them, but I know our families will want to see them for sure! Hope you enjoy!

Butterfly stretch. Flapping the butterfly wings.

More stretching. Stretch arms up.....and stretch over to the right!

This is where she tried! First Position. Second Position. Third Position. Too cute!

Twirling around on tippy toes! Plies at the barre...Eleves (tippy toes) at the barre.

It's tap time! Following the teacher's instructions.

Here are the links to the videos of Rian dancing.

First video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO85U_yI7O8

Second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC0bfJE9c4E

Third video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO5owTzRpmk

My Growing Tummy

2009-06-14T18:11:00.002+10:00

From the week we found out to today! Click to enlarge. There's more posts....scroll down!

Grillin' & Chillin'

2009-06-14T15:28:00.004+10:00

We actually bought this grill the day after Thanksgiving, but haven't used it until now (because we didn't want it sitting out on the lanai for the five months we were away). We were so excited to use it for the first time! We love to grill and we expect to spend a lot of time out on our new lanai grillin' and chillin' (yes, we moved to a bigger place with a bigger lanai in the same building)!!!

Representin'

2009-06-14T15:13:00.007+10:00

We can't get enough of her! We just got out of the shower and while I was getting ready, Rian started playing with my hat. We thought she was so dang cute, we had to post these!

Kristin & Joel's Wedding

2009-06-14T15:04:00.002+10:00

My friend, Kristin, got married on May 16th. That's really why I stayed back in California while Matt went back to Guam....and I am sure glad I did. I had the BEST time! It was so fun to see Katie and Luke! And of course, I always love to hang out with Marissa and her hubby, Andrew! Kristin made such a beautiful bride and I know her and Joel are so happy together! Congrats! Oh yeah, and I had to post a picture of the cute 'kiddie' plate the caterers brought out for me. I was feeling a little nauseous, so I was munching on some saltines. The caterers noticed and asked if I needed anything. I declined and just explained it was the morning sickness. Five minutes later they bring me a plate with fruit, yogurt, crackers, and bread. It was a really kind gesture and everyone at the table got a kick out of it!

Trip to Utah

2009-06-03T20:20:00.006+10:00

While we were in the states, we wanted to take the opportunity to see Matt's family and our friends up in Utah. We had such an awesome time! We started off the trip with a trip up to good 'ole Logan to visit our very good friends The Rubens! I totally felt like we were home the minute we drove up the canyon. Logan will always hold a special place in our hearts! When we lived there we would meet up with Matt's cousins at Firehouse Pizzeria every once in a while, so of course we had to do that the first night we were there. We also walked around campus for a bit and took some pics. We enjoyed some Aggie Blue Mint....a must! And of course had a blast spending time with Eric and Andrea and their adorable new baby, Maci! We love you guys and we had so much fun hanging out! Thanks for letting us crash at your place!
**click to enlarge**
We left Logan and drove straight to The Carrolls! I still remember the first time we met April and Markham. It was our first Sunday at church and the ward was having Linger Longer. We sat at the same table as them and when we mentioned that we were from San Diego, Markham spoke up that he was too. We instantly connected with them, especially once Matt learned that Markham played ice hockey too! April quickly became my hockey watching buddy and we went through our first pregnancies together! Now we are both pregnant again :) We even brought our new babies to USU Hockey Games together....remember that?! We love the Carrolls and are so happy that we had the chance to hang out with them again!

Rian and Kaity had so much fun playing together! It was so cute to watch them interact!

We also spend some time with Matt's Grandparents. Grandma enjoyed reading to Rian and even gave us some Dr Suess books to take back to Guam. Rian absolutely loves Dr Suess, so they were the perfect gift! We are so happy that we were able to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa before we left the country for 3 years. It was so nice living so close to them (actually all of Matt's extended family) while we were up in Utah. I loved spending holidays and Sundays with them and getting to know them better! I've really grown fond of all of them.

Matt's Aunt Patty and Uncle Jeff graciously offered their home to us for the remainder of the week. Rian loves her best friend, Aunt Patty! Whenever you are around Aunt Patty, you are bound to have a great time! Rian helped her plant her spring flower pots. Patty asked Rian to make a hole in the soil for the flowers and Rian would poke her pointer finger in the dirt.....it was too funny! But hey, at least she tried! They also baked some cookies together! Aunt Patty even let Rian crack her very first egg....video below! We love you guys! Thanks for the wonderful hospitality! We really enjoyed ourselves :)

I feel the need to explain this picture of myself. Matt took it and said "Of course, this is how Tracy gardens. No matter what she is doing, she always has a hand on the phone"! My sister called while I was breaking up the soil for Aunt Patty. She had some news and I really hadn't had the chance to talk to her all week. But anyone who knows me, will get a kick out of this picture....because it is Typical Tracy:)

Here is a video of Rian cracking her first egg. Aunt Patty was very brave to let a 2 year old crack it. Now every time we use eggs, she asks if she can break them! Enjoy!

PQ Fiesta and Dad's Concert

2009-06-02T08:36:00.002+10:00

The community our parents live in holds an annual Fiesta! Basically they close down part of the street and set up carnival rides, carnival food booths, and a bunch of local vendors set up booths too. I was excited to be in town for it this year. Rian was at an age where she could actually enjoy it and she sure did!

We bought a few tickets for Rian to use on the rides. She loved them! Then we had some frozen yogurt for lunch, since it was a really hot day. Yum! Of course we saw a lot of people too. Especially considering my parents have lived here for over 25 years. We had a good time at the Fiesta. Then it was time to walk home and get ready for my Dad's Concert.

My Dad plays the tuba and has been performing with the Poway Community Band for over 10 years now. I've always enjoyed going to his concerts! And this concert is by far my favorite one, besides the Christmas concert of course! The best part??? Rian loves going to his concerts too....and she always has, ever since she was a newborn.

I love this concert so much because it's outside at the Old Poway Park. Everyone brings picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs and it's such a nice and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. Rian spent most of her time dancing along to the music! They even played some songs from West Side Story, one of my favorite musicals. I loved it! And I know Rian did too! I also love going because I get to see my Dad do something that he really enjoys! He loves playing in the band, and I love that he loves it! We love you Dad :)

CECOS Graduation

2009-05-29T07:36:00.003+10:00

**click pic to make bigger**

Congratulations to Matt for graduating in CECOS Class 243! We are so proud of you! And thank you for all you do for Rian and me! We had a fun 12 weeks with this group and have made friends to last a lifetime. Don't the guys look SO GOOD in there service blues?? I think this is one of my favorite uniforms, besides the cami's of course ;) Way to go, Matt!!!!

Easter Festivities

2009-05-29T07:25:00.002+10:00

I know that Easter was so long ago, but life has been hectic for us lately. At least I am taking the time to upload them now! Matt graduated from CECOS over Easter weekend, so my parents came up to Port Hueneme to celebrate the weekend with us. On Saturday, we went to a command sponsored Easter Egg Hunt. Rian got her face painted, searched for eggs, opened the candy filled eggs, and participated in a carrying-an-egg-on-a-spoon race (which she finished last)! She was by far the youngest contestant in the race and I made her carry a plastic egg because I didn't want to deal with raw egg all over her clothes. But she didn't know better and had a blast anyways!

On Sunday, my mom gave Rian an Easter basket filled with goodies. I got a few good pics of her face when she opened all her presents. We also dyed some eggs. Rian loved eating the colored eggs....especially the pink ones! The next weekend we had dinner with my brother Fred. He explained to Rian that the Easter Bunny also came to his house to leave candy for her. He knows how I do not like to give her lots of candy, so he wanted to make sure I was going to let her eat it. Therefore I took a few pictures of her enjoying her chocolate bunnies as evidence.

Santa Barbara

2009-05-29T07:13:00.002+10:00

Way back in April, while Matt was doing training in Ventura County, we decided to head up to Santa Barbara one weekend. We started our morning by eating at this really cute restaurant Summerland Beach Cafe. It's a really old 3 story house that has been converted into a little cafe. Then we rented a surrey bike and rode up and down the beach. We had a really fun time!

rian and her big girl bed

2009-05-28T07:03:00.002+10:00

We decided to start fresh when we got back home and move Rian into a big girl bed, so the crib will be ready for the baby. So she has now moved into a queen size pillow top bed. I know, that's huge for a 2 year old, but it was my comfy bed before we got married and I refuse to buy another one.

So we were watching Kung Fu Panda last night as a family and, of course, I fall asleep on the couch before 8 pm (darn pregnancy). So Matt puts Rian to bed as usual. She has been sleeping in her new bed for 5 days.....no problem. We wake up at 130 to a little pleading voice through the baby monitor saying "help me, help me. my big girl bed is too big'! How cute is that. So Matt, being the wonderful husband he is, gets up to see what is wrong, so his pregnant wife doesn't have to (although now I wish I did with a camera in hand too). He said she was twisted up in her covers and those were the only things holding her little body on the bed as her top half of her body hung over the bottom of the bed...of course, the only side without a guard rail. My poor baby almost fell onto her head. And I'm talking from like 3 feet in the air. How sad would that have been?

I just wanted to document it. Rian says the cutest sayings and I never document them, so I am really going to try hard to start. I still have so many pics to post, hopefully I will get to the soon.

back to island life

2009-05-24T04:33:00.002+10:00

that's right...rian and i are currently in hawaii waiting to board our next leg to guam! it's been a long night. we left northern california about 8 pm last night and got into hawaii around 2 am local time. our next flight should leave around 5 pm local time. so for the time being we are just hanging out in the terminal. we can't wait to see matt again!

A BABY PINE HAS SPROUTED!

2009-05-08T14:16:00.006+10:00

We are so excited to announce that THE PINERY IS GROWING!!! I found out on March 25th that I was pregnant while I was visiting with my sister in San Diego and Matt was in Ventura County. I didn't want to share the news with him over the phone because I wanted to be able to see his reaction and share in hugs and kisses. So, as hard as it was, I kept it a secret from Wed morning until we saw him on Fri afternoon. I bought Rian a "Big Sister" t-shirt and had him dress her. His reaction was awesome! I knew he would be super excited! We all are! And the best part, I got it on video!

I had my first ultrasound on Monday. Here is one of the pictures we got. Can you see his/her two little arms and two little feet? The arms and feet were wiggling around like crazy! It was so cute! Unfortunately, Matt couldn't' be there since he has already left for Guam. But that's okay, he'll be there for the next ultrasound! I am due on Nov 27th....the day after Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) and two days before our 6th wedding anniversary! I'm 11 weeks, but can't hide it anymore! You know the saying 'you show earlier with your second'? Well, it's totally true in my case. I mean, I'm only 11 weeks and showing....Crazy!! Yet, so exciting too :)

Legoland

2009-05-05T13:33:00.004+10:00

**I just uploaded several posts! Click on the collages to make them bigger**

Nancee, TJ, and Brea (my sister and her kids) came out for one last visit before our big move (again!). It was really important for us to get our kids together since it'll be three years before they see each other again.

First stop on the list......Legoland California!

This was my first time there and I loved it! Partly because we only paid $10/person, but also because it is the perfect park for little ones. And the lego masterpieces were amazing!

Feeding the Ducks

2009-05-05T13:20:00.001+10:00

We went to Poway Lake to feed the ducks. But these weren't just any ducks, they looked so weird and ugly! On the way to the park, we stopped to get some bread. But Big Lots doesn't sell bread, so my mom bought each kid a bag of multi-colored captain crunch instead. At first Rian was so disappointed. She said "but Grandma, ducks eat bread not cereal". So cute!

After we fed the ducks, we let the kids play at the park.

Birthday Celebration

2009-05-05T13:15:00.001+10:00

It was my Mom's birthday on March 24th. (I know it's sad I am this far behind on blogging). We couldn't have a birthday celebration without some cake and ice cream, right?! The kids loved singing 'Happy Birthday" and loved the cheesecake and ice cream even more!

Beach Day

2009-05-05T13:05:00.000+10:00

My sister couldn't come to San Diego for spring break without hitting the beach. Even though I thought it was cold, coming from the snow covered mountains of Idaho, Nancee and her kids were soaking it up! It was such a fun day!

Sea World...Twice!

2009-05-05T13:00:00.002+10:00

We love Sea World! We had so much fun the first time, we decided to go again before we took my sister to the airport! Rian was pretty scared of Elmo, but then warmed up a little bit when we saw Zoe.

Having Fun

2009-05-05T12:50:00.000+10:00

When we weren't gallivanting around town, we were swimming in the pool, playing at the park or at the house, shopping, having an early Easter Egg Hunt and just having fun and enjoying our time together!

When it was time to say goodbye at the airport, Brea and Rian started crying. Probably because they saw Nanc and I crying, but it was too funny. It was so nice to be able to spend time with them. I already miss them so much....thank heavens for skype!

Yes, We Are Still Alive!

2009-05-05T01:33:00.003+10:00

We have been so incredibly busy ever since the Seabee Ball. I have SO many pictures to post from the past 2 months and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the task ahead. It was our last 2 months as a family here in the States, so it's been jam packed of stuff to do! Now Matt is back in Guam and I am still in San Diego trying to spend as much time with friends and family before Rian and I head back too. But this week I am setting a goal.....to go through my pictures and start posting! I know you are all dying to see what we have been up to!!! So check back soon :)

Seabee Ball 2009

2009-03-28T14:15:00.014+10:00

The Seabee Ball was on March 14th at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley.

The view was amazing! This helicopter is Reagan's "Marine One"...aka the helicopter that flew the President around.

This is Reagan's "Air Force One". They retired the plane and we actually got to tour it! That was so much fun!

This dress was backless, but we modified it. I loved the way it turned out!

I love this picture of us laughing together! We had such a fun time!

Matt and some CECOS classmates.

More classmates. This is a pretty cool picture of "Air Force One"!

Haircut

2009-03-23T09:10:00.003+10:00

Rian desperately needed another haircut. So it went from this.....

to this.....

We are so happy with the results! We kept going back and forth, do we want to cut bangs or not, but we decided to do it and we like it so far!!

Missing Our Little Girl...

2009-03-16T06:03:00.001+10:00

It just made sense to leave Rian down in San Diego for the week after we returned from Utah. Although we really didn't need a babysitter until Saturday, Matt's mom, dad and sister, Lauren, watched her during the week and my parents from Friday night on. Although we missed her tremendously, we figured that we will be living out of the country for the next 3 years and it would be good for all of them to spend some quality time with Rian before we move in 2 months.

So how did I spend the week while Matt was at work and I was home, alone, with no little girl to keep me busy......well, I tried to stay as busy as possible!

Tuesday afternoon-drove up from SD by myself. It was so weird not having Rian in the backseat! Gym with Matt. Made and ate a nice dinner together...weird again not getting Rian's food ready before mine :)

Wednesday-recruited some of the other wives to drive to the cliffs of Malibu and dolphin watch! We saw some...see pics below!!! Then we ate at the most yummy frozen yogurt place in Malibu (I'm still dreaming of it)! Went bowling with Matt's Command (co-workers). Went grocery shopping and made some of the best street tacos I have ever had!!

Thursday-the sun was out that day, so another wife and I went to the beaches of Malibu again. This time we saw a sea lion...see pics below!!! Then went out to dinner with a group of friends.

Friday-went with some of the ladies to the nail salon! Something I never get to do when I have Rian with me. Then Matt got off work early so we went to an early movie and then to a nice dinner!

Saturday-got all dolled up for the Ball!!!!!! Had a blast at the Seabee Ball.....post to come ;)

Sunday-spent morning blogging. And now just anxiously waiting for my mom and Rian to drive up here!

I'm not going to lie, it was nice to have some alone time just Matt and I, but gosh, we missed our little girl so so much! 5 days is a loooong time! But we talked to her everyday, several times a day on the phone and she has no idea how many hugs and kisses are coming her way once she gets here!!! Thanks to everyone who helped watch her for the week, we really appreciate your help!

Last Minute Trip to Utah

2009-03-16T03:49:00.004+10:00

Matt's Great-Grandma, Stella Canfield Beutler, born September 15, 1907, passed away on Tuesday, March 3, 2009, at age 101. We were lucky enough to be in the States at this time so we could attend her funeral services.
Great-Grandma was very strong in her faith and had such a sweet spirit about her. I feel very lucky to have lived in Utah for the 3 years we did and really get to know her and listen to her amazing stories. Although her body was failing her, her mind was still very much there and she even had eye surgery done in her 90's so she could continue to read her scriptures and the Ensign. We truly enjoyed our time with her and, most of all, the opportunity Rian had to meet her Great-Great-Grandma :)
Here is a collage of some of her prosperity.

This just amazes me.....to this day, Eden and Stella Beutler had 4 children, 17 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren, and 23 great-great-grandchildren. It puts a smile on my face to know that Stella and Eden are now reunited :)

Although we were only in Utah for a day and a half, we HAD to take the opportunity to see our very, very, good friends, Eric and Andrea, and their new little baby, adorable Maci Jane!

Hollywood Sign

2009-03-13T09:06:00.001+10:00

...click on collage to enlarge...

Two weekends ago, we decided to head down to South Pasadena to visit our friends Drew and Lorraine. It was such a beautiful day and we had so much fun! We walked around Downtown South Pasadena, did some shopping, and ate at the Cheesecake Factory! Then they took us to the Hollywood Sign! Both Matt and I had never been there before so we had a lot of fun! We didn't actually get that close to it because it's quite a hike, but we got close enough! This was also the first time we met their adorable little boy, Warren! He is so cute and has the most amazing blue eyes! Thank you so much Drew and Lorraine! Lunch was wonderful and we had an awesome time catching up with you guys!

One more thing...while driving home we passed by a KFC. I had to get a picture of it. It is the most modern KFC I have ever seen in my life :)

Texting at Two

2009-02-25T07:01:00.000+10:00

Yes, this is my two year old pretending to text the Disney Princesses on her Disney cell phone :)

Translation:

Rian: I'm texting Belle.

Me: You're texting Belle?

Rian: Uh-huh.....just one minute. I'm texting Aurora.

Me: Now you're texting Aurora?

Rian: Uh-huh. I'm not texting Belle, I'm texting Aurora!

Me: K, I'll let you concentrate then.

Then she snapped the phone closed and said "I'm all done!". It was so funny. Too bad I stopped taping already.

Am I Reading This Right???

2009-02-24T05:35:00.001+10:00

Does this pizza sauce really say that it expires in the year 3009?

Click on the image on see it better.

We Hire Her Out!

2009-02-19T08:28:00.002+10:00

Seriously, we do! So if you need help in your kitchen, don't hesitate to call me and I'll send Rian your way!

Here is a picture of Rian helping Auntie Lauren make her very yummy, 100% homemade, green bean casserole! I love how she is holding the handle of the pan while stirring so the pan doesn't move. Is she a natural or what?! And the dish tasted wonderful!

This age is so much fun, don't you think!

PS Lauren, I want that recipe...email me it :)

two and a half

2009-02-12T08:43:00.004+10:00

click collage to enlarge

We just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our little girl....who just turned 2 1/2. Where does the time go?

We Love Auntie Lauren!

2009-02-08T02:52:00.002+10:00

Timing couldn't have been any better! Lauren, Matt's sister, who lives in Norway, came out to Cali for a month so she could be here for Joseph's birth. Which just happened to be the same time we came back to Cali!

I didn't bring out my camera as much as I should have, but I was able to snap a few shots of Rian and Auntie Lauren together.

Rian always has so much fun with Lauren, as do I :) It's sad that she lives so far away :( We're grateful for the chance we had to spend some time with her, though, and meet her fiance, Karl! We love you Auntie! Have a safe flight back to Oslo!

Welcome Joseph!

2009-02-08T02:36:00.001+10:00

Welcome our newest nephew, Joseph Aaron Quantrell, born on Christmas Eve 2008.

Mom and Baby are doing great and Baby JoeJoe is growing like a weed!

We are so lucky to be back in the states so we could meet him! Rian loves him and it's so cute to hear her say "Baby JoeJoe"!

I was hesitant to have Rian hold the baby, but she really wanted to, so we gave it a try. Auntie Lauren supervised while I took some pictures. Good thing Auntie was there because as soon as Rian's cousin, Logan, came walking in holding the cat, Rian pushed the baby away and said "I want to hold the cat!". Lauren was able to scoop up the baby right out of Rian's arms before she jetted off the couch to the cat.

Congrats Noah, Jen, Aurora, and Logan on your newest addition!

Hanging with the Q's

2009-02-08T02:23:00.002+10:00

We have had so much fun spending time with Matt's family! We went to the zoo a few weeks ago and Grandma Wendy treated the kids to a face painting. Rian's first! She wanted butterflies, Logan had a dragon, and Aurora had two swans. So cute!

Welcome Apl!

2009-02-08T02:01:00.002+10:00

Our newest niece, Apl Ina Trinette Pine, was born on her due date, February 2nd, at 7:46:57 am weighing 8 lbs 4 oz. Everybody is doing well and Apl is already started to smile :)

Congrats Chris, Katy, C and Ruby! Too bad it will be a while before we get to meet this beautiful bundle of joy....they live in Norway :( So we expect lots of pics, Chris and Katy, she'll be growing so fast.

I Love My Seabee

2009-01-30T07:43:00.002+10:00

I absolutely LOVE this uniform!! Matt was issued it earlier this week and it has been the uniform of the day since. Don't you just love it too???

When I was taking his picture this afternoon, Rian asked to be in the picture too. I swear we did not pose her! She wanted to stand there just like Daddy :)

300 Square Feet

2009-01-27T09:53:00.004+10:00

Matt has begun his training in Cali and luckily Rian and I are able to join him this time. The Navy is putting us up in the BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters), in the 'family suite'....if you even dare to call it that! It is TINY, but at least we are here with him, that's what that counts!!!

I swear I am not complaining. I'm just saying that I could never live in NY or anywhere where the apartments are as tiny as this. Welcome to our 'living room/Rian's bedroom'. It is a itty-bitty room filled to the brim with all this furniture. I asked if they could remove some of it, but they told me no. There is no door to the bedroom, so it looks like Matt and I will be going to bed a 8pm too ;)

Welcome to the kitchen and bedroom! Yes, this is our kitchen for the next 3 months. How in the world am I suppose to cook in this thing? Do you see the mini fridge? And the zero counter tops? It is seriously like 4 feet by 4 feet. Looks like Rian and I will be taking a daily trip to the grocery store :) Thanks heavens this is only temporary!

This is our bed-room. Even though there is not a door to the room, so I wouldn't really call it a room. It is so small that it can only fit a bed and a dresser that is blocking half the closet! Nice, huh?!

Lucky for us...we are a tight-nit family! So these living arrangements might just work...for a few months at least!

Our Little Monkey

2009-01-27T09:22:00.003+10:00

I was unpacking our bags last night in our 'bedroom', when I heard a big THUMP. I peek my head around the corner to see Rian in her pack-n-play. That's weird, I thought, she was just in here helping me. So I pull her out of there and ask her to show mommy how she got in there. Sure enough, this is what she did!

This was the video I was originally trying to upload last post. Sorry about all the video posts :)

Rian's Workouts

2009-01-27T08:30:00.004+10:00

Thanks to our new Wii Fit and my new Jillian video (thanks Kim for that suggestion!), Rian has been really taking an interest to working out too. Here she is doing push-ups with Daddy.....and just fyi, no, this is not his usual form :)

Now she is doing sit-ups!

I actually meant to upload a different video, but I accidentally uploaded this one and so I decided to post it anyways!

so much for child safety lids

2009-01-12T09:32:00.003+10:00

since we are visiting my parent's for a few weeks, we are basically living out of our suitcases. so of course, her gummy vites are in her suitcase...like everything else. after giving rian a bath last night, i got her all ready for bed and walked out of her room so i could hang her towel up in the bathroom.

i never thought twice about it because there is a child safety lid on her vitamins. but when i walked back into her room (after being gone for like 30 seconds), she already had the cap off and was eating one. i put the cap back on and gave it back to her. i wanted to see if she really opened it, or if i accidentally didn't close it all the way the night before.

so much for child safety lids, huh! i'll be putting these vitamins up high from now on. i am seriously amazed at how quickly my little girl is growing up!!!

Our 1st Space A Experience

2009-01-09T15:47:00.021+10:00

Warning: This is a long post!

We found out on Sunday, Jan 3rd, that there was a flight from Guam to Hawaii to San Diego! I was so excited, but I knew I needed to contain myself until I actually boarded the aircraft, since we all know we could be turned away and what an disappointment that would be.

When we checked in we found out that we would be flying on a C-17 Globemaster III, which is a gigantic cargo plane....see pics below! I don't even know if these pics do the plane justice. I mean it was so big, it was carrying two military helicopters. Yes, I am dead, serious. We flew home on an airplane with two helicopters strapped down next to us. It was just crazy!

Do you see how tiny the stairs and door look in the first picture? And that is like 13 or so stairs we had to climb up. This aircraft was gigantic. In the next picture, I wanted to show how big the back door is so the cargo can be loaded. The third picture shows how tall this aircraft is. Those are people standing inside of it...do you see them? And last is a picture of the plane taking off. It was just so big, it was incredible!

Since this is a cargo plane, the seats are lined up along the sides of the aircraft. I opted not to bring Rian's carseat onboard because I knew majority of the time she would be allowed to run around. She looked so tiny in the seats. I bought a boxed lunch on both legs for only $4.25 each and they included a sandwich and bunch of goodies and drinks. Not to mention they had free all-you-can-eat/drink soda, bottled water, and cookies once we boarded the plane. So here is a picture of Rian digging through the box of goodies!

Since our seats were lined up against the walls of the aircraft, one would think that your view would be the other passengers on the opposite side of the plane, right? Um, no! Instead this was our view: a gigantic medical helicopter! If you click on the picture, you can see some stairs to the right of the front of the helicopter. Those stairs lead up to the cockpit. That's how tall this plane is!

The first picture is another view from our seats, but this time towards the back of the plane. This contraption was holding the propellers in place while we were flying, so they didn't bounce around. Can you see the second helicopter too? The second picture was taken while I was standing next to the second helicopter in the back of the aircraft facing the first helicopter.

Here is a picture of the back of the aircraft. I was trying to show how tall it is.

Our flight left at 5 pm island time, so it was nice that we were flying mostly throughout the night. But of course, I still had to entertain my little girl for many, many hours. They only had the fasten seat belt sign on for takeoff and landings, so we were allowed to walk around the plane. In fact they handed out blankets (because it was absolutely freezing) and pillows for everyone too.

A generous passenger offered his foam mat to us so Rian could use it while laying on the floor of the aircraft. I love these pictures because it shows how close we are to these helicopters. Rian also made a friend on the flight, who nicely shared her Nintendo DS with Rian. Even though Rian had no clue how to play it, I liked this picture because here she is on our layover in Hawaii chillin in her chair, legs crossed, looking like she knows exactly what she is doing!

Overall, we were traveling probably 18-20 hours. We only had a few hour layover in Hawaii, but we got to see the sunrise there, so that was cool. I am very grateful that this trip back to California worked out so nicely. Instead of spending $3000 and flying on a commerical plane, we spend $8.50 and had the most incredible experience on a military aircraft. Seriously, I will remember this forever!!!

Sea World with Nik and Sofie

2009-01-09T15:45:00.002+10:00

We went to Sea World with one of my bestfriends', Nik, and the little girl she watches, Sofie. We had such an awesome time. I was really cold, but that didn't stop us from having a blast!

Click on collage to enlarge

The killer whales were so active and the little girls loved watching them through the glass. We also spent quite a bit of time at the Sesame Street Bay of Play. Auntie Nikki and Rian had fun on the rides there and Rian was tall enough to finally go down the slide there too! Yay Rian!! We had such a great time! I love spending time with Nik and Rian loved being around other kids :)

Christmas

2009-01-09T15:26:00.002+10:00

I know this is a little late, but I wanted to post about Christmas this year. Rian was so much fun :) She now loves Santa since he brought her all those toys and even thanks Heavenly Father for him every night when we say our bedtime prayers.....how cute is that!! Although she should be thanking Grandma Lois for the presents instead :)

We started a little family tradition this year. I decided that we would let Rian open two presents from us on Christmas Eve; a pair of jammies and a Christmas book. She absolutely loved the book because it was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Christmas book and she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so it was perfect! But her reaction the the jammies were the best. They were actually hand-me-downs from my sister and Rian has worn them several times before I decided to wrap them for this new tradition. But she was still so happy to receive them as a gift, so funny!

We baked some cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. But we didn't have any carrots so we left out green peppers for his reindeer instead. As you can see, the goodies were gone in the morning! We video taped the gift opening Christmas morning, so we don't have any pics of that. But she loves all her gifts , and we had a wonderful day, just the three of us.

It's a Miracle

2009-01-07T09:34:00.003+10:00

Rian and I got onto that flight I wrote about in the last post!!! I am so grateful for the power of prayer and I wanted to thank those who remembered us in your prayers :)

I was allowed to take some pictures of the HUGE aircraft we flew on. It was such a crazy experience. But a really good one too! I will upload some of the pics I took when I have more time. We are now off to my in-laws :)

Could This Really Work Out So Perfectly?!

2009-01-03T13:50:00.003+10:00

All I can say is I sure hope so!!! There is a possibility that Rian and I can get on a flight leaving Guam on Monday and landing in Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Then only after a 3 hour layover, catching another flight straight to San Diego. This would be an absolute miracle if we can get on it. And I am so praying we do.

It would relieve so many stress: Not having to worry about staying overnight in Hawaii, not having to get a shuttle from Travis Air Force Base, Northern California to the Oakland Airport, and not having to add a third leg to our already loooong and exhausting trip.

If you feel the need to remember us in our prayers or even to just cross your fingers for us, I would be forever grateful! We'll keep you updated!!!