OCS Gradutaion

These are way past due, but better late than never!

Change of Command Ceremony & Hi Moms Dinner


At the Change of Command Ceremony, Matt is in his khakis. He graduated 2nd in his class!! Which means he was in charge of the class flag at the ceremony. That's why he is wearing those silly white gloves.
Matt's OCS class also hosted a Hi Moms Dinner the night before graduation. Matt was recognized as earning the highest grade for physical fitness in his class at the dinner! The Class Drill Instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Jackson, also made the class put on a little show for us! He made them perform some PT (physical training) in their summer white uniform. There are some pictures of them doing push-ups and up-downs. It was really fun to watch!
Rian made a few friends at the dinner too and they spent most of their time out on the dance floor!


Matt's Private Commissioning


Because Matt's Dad is Retired CWO4, he was able to commission Matt in a private ceremony before the actual class commissioning. Matt's Mom, Dad and Grandad presented Matt with an officer's sword. It was really great to be able to celebrate this moment with both sets of parents and Matt's Grandad.


Class 22-08 Commissioning & First Salute


The top 4 in Matt's class had a special part in the ceremony. The top 2 also received a Challenge Coin from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. That was cool that Matt got one! After the commissioning they also held a First Salute. Which means it's the first time their Class Drill Instructor and Class Chief Petty Officer salutes them as officers since the class now out-rank them. It was pretty cool to see in a matter of minutes, how the class now out-ranks the drill instructor, who put them through *$&# the past 12 weeks.

Overall, Matt says of his experience at OCS: It was tough and something I would NEVER want to do again. I'm lucky to have the Class Team that I did (ie instructors). I have much respect for them.

We are so proud of Matt and his accomplishments at Officer Candidate School. His dedication and hard work paid off in the end! We know he will continue to go on in the Navy and accomplish many great things!

Welcome To Paradise AKA Our New Home

We're here! We made it in late last night and ventured out today to see just 2 of the tons of amazing beaches here. Check them out! And, yes, I did take these myself :)

Our travel day started at 320am San Diego time (345am for Rian) on Friday morning the 10th. We took the first plane out of the San Diego airport to LAX at 630am after a very tearful goodbye, of course :( We had about a 2 hour layover where we meant a really nice couple from Guam...I like to call them our new 'local' friends...that's right, they gave me their phone number and bought us a breakfast sandwich...so that makes them our new friends, right??

We loaded onto the plane and got Rian all strapped in her car seat. We were all settled when....they announced they had a problem with the air conditioning unit. Yep, we sat there for 2 hours. Poor Rian, they wouldn't even let her walk around while we waited on board. So our 5.5 hour flight turned into a 7.5 flight. And Rian only napped for 30 minutes while we were still on the tarmac. Lucky us! Well, I should say lucky me since Matt took care of her most of the flight!

We arrived in Honolulu at 140pm local time (1040am SD time) just in time to run to the other gate to make our connecting flight. Rian had absolutely no time to run around-she was back on another plane strapped into her car seat. This was another 7.5 hour flight. I am so amazed how good Rian was. She definitely had her moments :) but considering the fact she was strapped into her car seat for practically 15 hours straight, she was pretty amazing. We had dinner on the flight and then Rian went to sleep around 730pm SD time, which is pretty close to her normal bedtime. She woke up at midnight SD time on her own. And I entertained her for the rest of the flight, so we could start the time adjustment process.

We arrived in Guam at 545pm on Saturday the 12th (1245am SD time). Which is totally crazy because first off we totally missed all of Saturday. And by the time we got our luggage, were cleared through customs, and checked into our home here, we had been up for practically 24 hours. Crazy, especially with a 2 year old!

Matt's Command (the people he'll be working with) greeted us at the airport. I was a little overwhelmed with all the people there. I thought there was going to be one or two people, but instead there were like 15 of them. And they even had a little welcome basket for us, which was really sweet! So we met many people, most whom we don't even remember their name :)

They are putting us up in a temporary home until we find housing here. It is pretty similar to our place in Logan. Two stories, two bedrooms, 1.5 bath, laundry room, garage, cable in every room, internet (the best part!) and housekeeping. It is pretty nice, so I'm pretty happy. We played with Rian and made her stay up until 830pm local time (330am San Diego time) to try to get her used to the time difference. Matt and I woke up about 445am local time Sunday morning (1145am Saturday morning in SD) and Rian slept until about 630am local time. I think she is just about adjusted.....yep in one day.....amazing, huh!!??

The sun was set by the time we got through customs last night, so we didn't see much of the island yesterday. Today we went to two of the beaches here on base. They are amazing. We'll definitely be taking tons and tons of pictures. We are going to watch the sunset right now!!

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to document our trip out here! Now off to see the beautiful sunset!

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.

Skype

Who knows about SKYPE??? It is the coolest thing ever and IF YOU WANT TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH US......YOU BETTER DOWNLOAD IT NOW! We will be freezing our cell phone account while we are in Guam. And with skype, we can talk for FREE! It's like gmail chat and blogger all in one; but even better! I know we have lots of friends and family that read this blog and don't comment who would like to be able to talk to via phone...you know who you are-and this post is for you :)

Packing Day

Today was packing day. They say it will take 60-75 days for our stuff to get to us in Guam. :(

They load our stuff into these wooden crates and load these crates right on to the ship. The movers covered EVERYTHING, except boxes, in this paper and used TONS of tape.

Here's a picture of one of our dining room chairs. I thought everything looked so funny wrapped in this paper.

Our movers were total pros! I can't believe how well they packed (or should I say stuffed) all our household goods into the crates. Not to mention that they were total speedsters....for all those heroes fans out there!

We only filled 6.5 crates. And the best part is that once we get to Guam, the movers there unpack EVERYTHING and even set up our furniture. I could get used to moving like this! We didn't have to lift a finger!

Change of Plans

Turns out we received Matt's orders and are actually moving to Guam in three weeks! Crazy, I know. We have a million things to do and hardly any time to do it. So this is just a heads up that I probably won't be posting for a little bit. We'll see how these next few weeks go!

Matt graduation was awesome and he looked so good in his uniform! We are so proud of him and are all happy to have him back! And I'm sure he is even more happy to be back :) Hopefully we can get pics of it up soon as well as some more pics of our vacation.

2 Days To Go!

I am getting so dang excited, I just had to post about it! We only have 2 days to go until we get to see Matt again! I can't wait to see Rian's reaction when she sees him for the first time! I hope to get it on video :) We are flying into Newark, NJ on Tuesday and then renting a car and driving 4 hours to Newport, RI. And for those of you wondering why we are not flying straight to Rhode Island...well, here is your answer: we will be visiting family in NJ after Matt's graduation! I know our countdown says we have a little more time, but that is counting down the days until graduation....Matt won't really be mine again until graduation day!

We continued to have a blast in FL and managed to make our way to VA. Thank heavens Hanna only turned out to be a tropical storm. We hardly got hit here at all! We are having a great time in Virginia Beach. I probably won't be able to post pics until we get home.

Let's pray these next two days fly by!!!!!

Guess Where We Are Moving......

It's tropical....It's an island in the Pacific Ocean....It's over 5500 miles west of California....Can't figure it out????

WE'RE MOVING TO GUAM!!!!

Yep, you read right....we are moving to Guam. Crazy, I know, because I am still in total shock. We really wanted to go international though, and if we couldn't get international then Hawaii was next on our list. So Guam is just that....it's considered overseas, even though it is a US Territory, and it is very, very tropical. We will be moving there in April or May. I haven't begun my research, so I don't really know anything about Guam, except it is considered to be like "Hawaii for the Japanese". That doesn't sound half bad, huh! If anyone wants to come to visit....american airlines will get you to Guam from Cali in a total travel time of 25 hours for only $1400. Anyone want to come for a visit???

Matt and I are really excited for this adventure. We're sad to be so far from family and friends, but this is a once in a lifetime experience! I guess our parents better start saving up! Because you know I'm not flying back with a toddler on a 25 hour flight :)

Matt is almost finished with OCS. He will be graduating TOP OF HIS CLASS!!! Ranking 2nd!!! A HUGE accomplishment! We are so proud of him! We get to see him a week from this Tuesday! And graduation is on Friday! I can't wait to have my man back home!!! And a Daddy around for Rian!

Florida

We finally left on our east coast trip...which ultimately means.....Matt is almost finished!!! Some really good family friends have made their home in beautiful Gulf Breeze, FL (right outside of Pensacola). So my mom and I began our trip in Florida. Here is a little glimpse of how we have been enjoying the week:

Old Friends! Leigh, Morgan, Cheryl, Sharon, Ryan, Lois, Me, Rian.

We wanted to spend a day at the beach (before this hurricane hits us). Rian met her first hermit crab.

I love this little girl! Look at her little feet in the second picture. So proper :)

Rian and Morgan! What cutie pies!

How stylin' is Rian in her little get-up? Cheryl lives right on the canal that takes us straight to the bay. We took the canoe and kayaks out for the afternoon. Both Rian and I had tons of fun!!! The second picture is of Rian playing in the dog kennel. I know it seems really gross, but the dog is really clean and it was keeping Rian entertained for a good half hour!

Rian blowing her first bubbles! Most of the time the soap just ends up in her mouth, but today she finally conquered the art of bubble blowing!

Rian playing hide and seek at Cheryl's house.

3 generation pic...My Mom, Me, and Rian. Last night, Roy, Cheryl's husband, showed us how the people in the south like to do it....we had a shrimp boil! If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing one, you are missing out! They take a big pot, or in this case a turkey fryer, and add tons of spices and yummy food. It all cooks together and then they dump it on the newspaper covered table. Then you get to pick out what you to eat! We had so much food! I took this picture after 16 of us enjoyed way to much of it! And we still had this much leftover :)

Rosann, Cheryl, My Mom, Sharon.....just like old times!!!

We've also been feeding the turtles who live in the beautiful pond behind Sharon's house everyday! It is truly a highlight, I swear! And I hope to get some pictures of it this afternoon!

Thankfully Gustav is heading more west and we shouldn't be too affected by this hurricane. I really did not want to add surviving a hurricane to our list of things we did on our vacay! We will be here a few more days and then heading to Virginia Beach, Newport, RI (for Matt's graduation), and then to New Jersey to visit more family!

Who Doesn't Love a Man in Uniform!?!

Yep, that's right.....I went to visit my hubby over the weekend! The trip was planned late Thursday night and I flew out on Friday! Nothing like last minute :) Matt's class was granted off base overnight liberty meaning that he was able to spend the entire weekend where ever he wanted to and the night with me at my hotel!!!! And he got to sleep in...he loved not getting up at 0430!

We had an amazing time together! I miss him more than words can express and it was such a blessing that everything worked out and we had this time to spend together! We actually planned another trip for me the weekend of the 22nd; guess he couldn't get enough of me! Or vice versa! HaHa! Unfortunately, Matt will have to wait until graduation (Sept 12th) to see Rian. But I took some video of her on my camera and we enjoyed watching it together over the weekend! He misses her so much :( Thanks to my in-laws who took Rian the entire time :)