Did You Miss Us?!

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 :(

Rian Turns Three

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.

Happy 4th of July

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!

Kristin & Joel's Wedding

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

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!
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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!

CECOS Graduation

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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!!!!

Last Minute Trip to Utah

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

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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 :)

Double-Date Night

we went out to dinner at benihana's with my bff, nikki and her hubby, anthoni. we had such a great time. the food was awesome, of course, and i loved spending some time with nik before we move. thanks to my parents for taking rian for the night. i can't believe we fly out friday morning. wow, it's coming soooo fast.

Congrats Chris and Lauren!

To The Bride and Groom!

Chris is such a fun guy and Lauren is just the sweetest girl!

Thanks to Grandma Wendy for watching Rian while we enjoyed the wedding!