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 :(

Counting Our Blessings

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

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

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

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....

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 :)

Biba Guam!

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!!!

Could This Really Work Out So Perfectly?!

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!!!

An Experience??? To Say The Least...

This post is really long, but if I want to come back and visit family in the states, this is what I have to do....

Pay $3000 to fly both Rian and myself home or take military flight (space a) for practically no money at all.
At first the answer would be easy, right? Fly for free, but there is much more to it then just a plane ride home.
For starters, here is a picture of some of the planes we might be on. Not quite your commercial airliner huh?

We knew when we first moved out here that Matt was going to have more training in California and the Navy would only pay for him to fly back stateside. We figured no biggy, we would all fly back space a. Well, it turns out that Matt is not allowed to fly space a this time because he is coming back for training. If it was for a vacation, he could, but this time, he can't. So Rian and I are doing this alone.



We have absolutely no clue when we might be able to catch a flight back to the states. I'll only have 24 hours or less notice that a flight to California is available. So our bags are already packed. I have to call the terminal several times a day to see what flights are available, if any. Once we learn there is a flight, that does NOT mean that we will be on it. We have to be at the terminal for 'roll call' which is usually before 6 am and bring ALL our luggage, carry ons, carseat, and stroller.

Then we sit and wait to see if Rian and I make the flight. They only have a number of seats available and we are in category 5 out of 6, which basically means the bottom of the list. If we were flying with Matt, we would be category 3, but so much for that.

So if we do not make the flight, we load all our luggage back into the car, strap the carseat in and try again, and again, and again. Sometimes it can take weeks. Hopefully for us, it won't take long. Once we are told we made the flight, we go through security and are bused to these loving planes pictured above. I have no idea what type of military aircraft we will be on, but they all look like this. I have some descriptions of the planes we may be on and...well let's just say all I can do at this point is laugh and say "are you serious?"!

This is what I have learned about them so far: I do know it will be cold, some planes have the seats facing the rear, some aircrafts have a reputation for always breaking down, all are very noisy (they actually issue ear plugs to all passengers), some have basically a porta potty behind a screen, some have sidewall seats kind of similar to a hammock. They mostly all will be carrying cargo as well. But I have also learned that most of the time, they let you lay out a blanket on the floor to sleep or play on. They also let the kids run around a bit, so they don't have to be strapped in for 8 straight hours.

Our first layover will be in Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. We will most likely be there overnight, but they can't really tell me that information yet. So I will have to try to get lodging at the base hotel last minute because I can't make any reservations since I have no idea what day we'll be there. I cross my fingers we will have a room to stay in because staying overnight in the terminal with all my bags and a 2 year old does not sound like fun. But I guess it is do-able if it comes down to it.

Then we leave again, very early in the morning, to Travis Air Force Base, California. After another 8 hour flight, we will have to catch a shuttle to Oakland Airport about 1.5 hours away. Then we will have to purchase our tickets, go through security, and wait to catch another 1.5 hour flight to San Diego.

All this by myself, with a 2 year old. We could seriously be traveling for 48 hours! My carry on is so packed full of food, number one and lots of it, and toys, books, markers, anything to keep Rian entertained for so long.

Sometimes they do have flights that go directly from Guam to San Diego or Riverside (about an hour north of San Diego). They are few and far between, but we are praying for one of those. How awesome would that be to eliminate the entire Oakland Airport leg! Your prayers are welcomed too :)

I am grateful that this flight is basically free, but I do feel like I deserve some kudos for doing this. We'll see how it goes this time, I'm sure I'll be blogging about it. The Navy has already given us so many 'experiences' that we would have never had if Matt had not joined. And we've only been in it for such a short time. When I think about this trip ahead, some days I am more optimistic than others, but in the end I have to keep telling myself that like anything else in life....it is what you make of it.

Are you exhausted yet, because I totally am and I haven't even travelled yet!

Branch Christmas Party...Island Style

Our Church Branch held a Christmas Party unlike any Church Christmas Party we've been to. I was pretty much in shock when the curtains were parted and the Elders Quorum sat on stage with ukuleles, several different types of drums, and a conga! It was awesome! And something we would never have seen stateside

Pictures from top to bottom, left to right: The Elders Quorum performing.

Ukulele's and Hula Dancers....Rian dancing along in video below :)
The Missionaries sang also. Can you believe how many we have in our Branch?And lastly, the ukulele performers.

Sorry this video is from behind and sideways, but I uploaded it anyways because it is so dang cute. Rian tried to copy all the moves of the Hula Dancers. She did a pretty good job considering she is 2! Everyone around her was getting a kick out of her dancing!

Okay...it was the cutest video ever, but I can't upload it.

CAN ANYONE HELP ME??

The only way I can upload pics or videos now on my blog is by using picasa. Any time I try to upload directly from blogger I get kicked off the Internet completely. What the heck is going on??? Anyone have any ideas? Please help me!

I am trying to upload the video at the moment to youtube so I will post the link when it is done uploading. Nevermind, I can't even upload to youtube. What is going on? It kicks me off whenever I try to browse through My Pictures. The same thing with blogger. Any help is appreciated!!!

Chamorro Village

Every Wednesday Chamorro Village is the happening place to go. We decided to try it out this week. We tried some local food. Corn, macaroni salad, red rice, pancit (a traditional filipino dish almost like lo mein), lumpia, chicken kelaguen (a local favorite) and chicken and pork on a stick. Our favorite was the chicken on a stick, but Rian loved the red rice too.

After dinner, we explored the village and did some shopping.

Rian also had her first carabao ride! She loved it and is still talking about it today. This carabao's name is Do'ak, which means one eyed. He lost an eye while in a fight with another carabao. Nice story to tell me while my child is riding it!! :) But he was very friendly. None of us were scared!

We also saw a gigantic ayuyu (coconut crab). Apparently his pinchers can rip off your finger, so we didn't get too close. But he had a hint of blue to his shell and was pretty cool looking! Don't forget you can click on the collages to make them bigger!

'Tis the Season

Matt and I returned to the Hilton Resort this time with Rian to enjoy some of the Christmas decorations.

She absolutely LOVED the trains! I imagined my Dad and her sitting there for hours just enjoying it together. Maybe one day he'll be visiting during Christmas and they will be able to do that!

Sorry about the face Rian is making in these pictures. Lately she does not want to smile for the camera. I swear she really had a good time, eventhough her face tells another story :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday, I decided to bake some Thanksgiving cookies with Rian. She had a blast! We made some dough, rolled it out, and made a huge mess with the flour before cutting out the Thanksgiving shapes and putting them in the oven!



Here they are ready to go into the oven!
Rian waited patiently as the cookies baked. She was really excited to decorate them and would keep the sprinkles within her reach at all times :)

I gave Rian a little kiddie knife and she loved spreading the frosting. Here is the final product. Not bad for her first time!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! This is my favorite holiday of the year and although I'm sad we won't be celebrating it with family, I'm excited to be with our new friends here. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Tumon Beach

We ventured out on Saturday and explored some of the island. Mainly in the area of Tumon, the more touristy part of Guam. It was so pretty. I could just sit and stare out into the water forever. The pictures hardly do it justice. There are so many shades of beautiful greens and blues, it's just amazing.

Remember you can click on the collages to make them bigger!

The beach has a long strip of sand that we walked up and down. We collected sea shells, and watched some hermit crabs. I was completely fascinated by all the rocks covered in this green mossy stuff. We had an awesome time besides of the 90 degree plus high humidity weather. What were we thinking not wearing our bathing suits???

Two Lovers Point

After a nice ride in our air conditioned car, we enjoyed the beautiful views from Two Lovers Point. It's a lookout located high on the cliffs above the water. Legend has it that two forbidden lovers jumped off the cliff to proclaim their love for each other many moons ago.

We went too late in the day though. The sun was reflecting off the water, so you can't really see the true beauty of the water...at least in the first collage. It was still an amazing view, just next time we'll go in the am.

Two Lovers Point at Sunset

We came back to Two Lovers Point to watch the sunset. I took some pictures while Rian made some friends.....but I'll post about that another time :)

It was kind of hazy that night and there was a marine layer. It wasn't the best night for a sunset, but it was still pretty. After the sunset, we went out for a nice, yet expensive dinner. You know when the kids meal alone is $9 you're in trouble, but we still had a great time and Rian got a balloon out of it!

care packages are the BEST

My mom made my day today :) She sent us two care packages.....one for Rian and one for us! There are a few things that I have not been able to get here at the commissary (grocery store on base), so my Mom came to the rescue and sent us a box full of goodies!!!

First and foremost, we CANNOT live without cholula. It's the first thing we requested. Seriously like the first day we got here I called and asked for it to be sent. It's this yummy hot sauce and if you know Matt and I at all, you know we love mexican food. So how can I cook mexican food if I don't have any hot sauce to go with it, right?? We are so excited for taco night now!

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Then I got my favorite candy: cherry twizzler bites....and it's a family size bag! I love these so much thanks to my Mom! I actually brought some with me, but have since eaten them all. So these came just in time!

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A variety of Luna Bars. I love these as a quick, on-the-go lunch. And I can only get one flavor here. So having other flavors to choose from is great!

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Uncle Bens Rice. I seriously have not cooked rice in a pot/pan or rice cooker in years. 90 seconds and it's done. How could I ever go back to cooking rice on the stove top? Plus, I love the sante fe flavored one especially.

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Magazines! I haven't changes my address yet for my magazines and have been dying ever since I saw this months' cover of Good Housekeeping on the stands. I LOVE Jon and Kate Plus 8, so as you can imagine, was super excited to finally get it!

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I know this is a long and silly post. But Rian is napping and Matt is working and I am way too excited for these goodies to keep it to myself.

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When Rian wakes up, she will be happy to see that Grandma Lois sent her a box too. It's full of some fun dress up toys, clothes, books, Thanksgiving decor, a height chart, and other fun stuff too.

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Thanks, Mom! You are the best! You seriously made my day; what a perfect way to start my weekend :)

Yesterday

I just felt like blogging this morning.

Yesterday was a pretty productive day. I spent the morning emptying our "loaner" dressers once again and repacking our clothes into our suitcases. This packing, unpacking, re-packing, unpacking again cycle is getting incredibly old! But the end is near!

I organized all rooms, closets, and bathrooms to get ready for our stuff to arrive. All this while also taking the time to dance, sing, read, and play with Rian.

The process was long and tiring. You see, we carried a lot of suitcases and bags with us on the airplane. About 11 of them :)

Our "loaner" furniture was picked up...meaning we had absolutely no furniture in the house but a pack-n-play and hi-chair for Rian and a few kitchen items. After Ri's nap, we lathered up with sunscreen and ventured outside our complex with Dora bubbles, water, and camera in hand. Rian LOVES bubbles and had fun playing on the playground.







I was hoping to meet some other moms outside, but no luck there. We played outside til dinner. We went back upstairs to make dinner and while I was cooking Rian decided she would pick up our phone and call Daddy. It was so cute listening to her imaginary conversation to her dad.



Rian enjoyed her dinner in her hi-chair, as Matt and I sat on the floor and ate. It was quite humorous. Luckily Matt's co-worker let us borrow us an air mattress so we didn't have to sleep on the floor.

We ended the day opening up a package from my mom!!! A huge highlight for us!! I love her packages! It was Halloween themed for Rian!

The movers are delivering our stuff in about an hour! I can't wait to have my kitchen back! First agenda in MY kitchen.....making Halloween cookies and a pumpkin pie!!!

These last two pics are for you Dave (my father-in-law). It's a picture of the back our building from the pool/playground area. I'm not so good at picture taking. But I know you would love being here with your camera.

Nothing Like An Early Delivery

We received a call yesterday informing us that all our stuff is here. All of it!!! Our original delivery date was the middle of Nov, so this was a great surprise! Our loaner furniture is going to be picked up this afternoon and our stuff will be delivered tomorrow morning!

This will officially be moving day #7 and #8. Seriously, we have already had 6 moving days associated with this move to Guam. Crazy, huh?


I have been asked to post a few pics of Rian, so I thought I would add them to this post. She loves stickers, and putting them on her body and especially her face in particular is one of her favorite pastimes. She too is very excited to have her room set up. We will be moving her into her toddler bed. And she can't wait for all her toys to arrive!

This is how our entire family will feel after this week is over with. It will be an exhausting one, but exciting one! We can't wait to make this home really feel like our home!