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 :(

Graduation 2008

I am so PROUD of Matt! On May 3rd he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Electrical Engineering! Those of you who may not know, Magna Cum Laude means he graduated with a GPA of 3.80 or higher. Considering the fact that this is an incredibly difficult degree and that he was also helping me raise a baby the last two years of school, this is a HUGE accomplishment! I cannot express the love and appreciation I have for this amazing man.

Many came to help celebrate this wonderful occasion. Both sets of parents flew in from San Diego, his Grandad flew in from Alabama, and his sister came all the way from Norway (well actually she has been out here visiting the states for a little while now, but hey, she is living in Norway, and did come, so that counts right!!!) Not to mention many of his extended family living in Utah or nearby. His cousin Whitney also graduated on Saturday, so unfortunately their extended family had to split between the two ceremonies. Thank you to everyone who joined us in this celebration!

PS Unfortunately we were unable to get a picture of Matt actually accepting his diploma being that this jerk stood up in front of us just as Matt was walking. We were very disappointed and this jerk could have cared less. How rude! But we didn't let that ruin our day and instead headed to old main for some beautiful shots :)

Weekend With Grandma & Grandpa

My parents came to Logan for a long weekend! It was so
nice to have them here and it was so sad to see them go
but they needed to get back to San Diego and the fires.
I tried to keep my camera close by, so here is a little storyline
of our FUN weekend together!


Let me vent for a minute....Why aren't there any REAL
pumpkin patches in Cache Valley??? I really don't understand
how we can have real pumpkin patches in San Diego, but not
in Logan, UT. I mean SD is so metropolitan and Logan is so
rural, it just doesn't make sense.

So after looking all over this county for a pumpkin patch, we
end up at Smith's Marketplace (a local grocery store). Not
quite what I had in mind, but I guess it worked. We put Rian
in the middle of the pumpkins to take her pictures. She didn't
really like it as you can see. Oh well :)



So we headed home to carve our pumpkin. It was so fun
to see Rian's reaction to this. I love the look on her face in
this first picture...What is this yucky stuff inside? Then
she is gives her Grandma Lois the cutest face!

Wow it's all clean inside!

As I was separating the pumpkin seeds (so we could bake

them!), Rian was so interested in what I was doing. I think

she like the mushy feeling on her little hand and fingers.

Then she decided to take a bit. Sick! I wish I would have

snapped a picture of her face after this taste test!

The next night we took my parents to the local "Pumpkin

Walk". This was the first time for all of us and it was really

cool, but exceptionally cold...like in the high 30's. But my

Mom and I really wanted to go, so we dragged Matt and my

Dad along :)

I know this is really cheesy, but we had to do it! Click on the

individual pics to enlarge it, so you can see Rian's face in both

of them. She is such a little pistol! She is so happy and has the

cutest smile ever! We love her so much! I also made Matt

pose for the Clifford picture, but come on, that's what you do

when you are a Daddy, right???

For those of you who don't live in Logan, this is what they

do at the "Pumpkin Walk". Members of the community

make these awesome scenes out of pumpkins. There are

about 20 or so scenes throughout the park. I loved

the Sesame Street one! Click on it to see all the details!

After freezing our booties off at the Pumpkin Walk, I dragged

everyone to get some Aggie Ice Cream. Who doesn't want

ice cream when it's 30 degrees outside??? It's something

you have to experience here in Logan no matter what time of

year. We all enjoyed a huge scoop of Aggie Blue Mint. And

Grandma offered to share with Rian. Yummy! By the looks

of it, I think Rian enjoyed it!