April and May 2015

April and May flew by.  Here are some pictures.  :)

Caleb.  Sea shell.

Marbo Cave.  The cave was sweet although not enough light to get decent pictures.  We need to go back again to swim there but we are nervous because when we got back to our car our mirror was broken off and five other cars vandalized too.  Dumb people.  :(

Near Marbo Cave.  We got to see a sea turtle come up out of the water for one of their rare breaths of air.  Such an awesome place!

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet Caleb.  He is still so cuddly and easy going.  We are very blessed to have him in our family.

Sunday naps are the best, especially when cuddling with Caleb.

Jacky (Michael's cousin) and her family came to visit - but I don't have the picture with her...  So fun to see them!

Carter shoes.

Grammie sent bubbles!  Thanks Grammie!

I have a spaghetti squash addiction.  :)  Carter and I loved making Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti with turban squash in our homemade veggie sauce!  Yum.

Love seeing these guys play together.  Carter loves telling Caleb how to build everything and Caleb is just excited to have some track to run trains on!

Forts around the couch with pillows and blankets and dressing up are an almost daily occurrence at our house.  My living room is rarely clean....  :)

"Daddy can you carry me?"

Ritidian.  Seriously the most pretty beach on Guam.  It is so pristine and scenic.  When it is high tide it is also breathtaking because the waves are so dangerous and beautiful.

Carter hides in the jungle at Ritidian while Michael, Caleb, and I take a picture.  Who has time for pictures when there are pirates in the jungle!?

At the marina in Hagatna.  "Carter, show us your pirate face."  This kid was in pirate heaven.  :)

We loved coming to see all the boats.

"Aye Aye Mom!"  - Carter

This kid has so many friends in the ocean.

Discoveries under the water.

Evening walk out to the edge of the reef at low tide.  Such a pretty evening.

This picture shows where the "drop off" is, where the waves break.  We were quite safe but if you go near the waves it is very dangerous.  Lots of fishermen go out at this time despite the danger.

Carter commanding the waves.  He cracks us up.

Rainbow over our village of Asan.

Lots of mangoes fell down after the typhoon so we had a lot of mangoes to eat for a few days.  I found Caleb like this.  He loves mangoes.  Also, the turban squash in the pic.

Cute boys.

Love the cuddles.

Found this huge hermit crab at gun beach.

Hiking up near Leo Palace.  The view was amazing.

Memorial Day.  This is at Asan beach across from where we live.  It was neat to see and at night each flag had a light so the view was great then too!

Caleb loves to eat.  He made his own set up in the pantry.  So efficient!  I love him!

Guam Perks (March 2015)

It has been pretty dry here.  The grass is brownish and reminds me of grass at the end of summer in Idaho, dry and not very appealing.  The dry weather has a perk though; it seems it has been dry enough for our pumpkins to grow.  They normally don't but we have enjoyed harvesting March pumpkins.  Because Jack-O-Lanterns are a bit out of season we opted to eat our pumpkins, and wow, we were in for a surprise.  I haven't ever cooked pumpkin before but it was really, really good.  We ate it plain and in soups and loved it.  I think I will have to try making a pie with what we have left just because I have never made one from scratch and think it would be worth the try.  We have loved our yummy pumpkin soup, which Carter affectionately calls Dip Soup - because we dip bread in it.

We have also loved eating coconuts that we find at the beach and bananas that we grew in our yard.  There is also a "sour pickle" tree.  At least that is what our neighbor boy calls it.  The sour pickles are extremely sour but fun to see and take a few bites from.

(Continuation June 2015):
We also had neighbors that shared papaya and mangoes and lots of turban squash!  I have never cooked turban squash but ended up making "pumpkin" pie, "pumpkin" pudding, Dip Soup, muffins, and smoothies with it.  We enjoyed it so much!  The year round gardening here is great.  Food is pretty expensive - especially produce - so free produce is always awesome.  I haven't ever been good at gardening but it has been fun to do it.  I hope to plant more.

Bananas!

Every day is Enchanting (March 2015)

I never know what adventure we will have each day - but an adventure is always sure.  My 4-year-old Carter has quite the imagination and adores dramatic characters.  When he gets up in the morning and gets dress I find out who I will be addressing until the next curtain call and costume change.  :) 

I am so blessed to have this sweet boy as my son.  He always reminds me that life is exciting and that we can live adventures all day long. 

Not sure who he is dressed up as here...

Is this what you go to the beach in?  Sweater (a size small and backwards), black slacks, camo boots, hat, and gloves.  Um, Carter???

Captain Jack Sparrow, of course.

Maleficent.  Daddy made the wings.  His smile says it all.

Normal beach clothing here, but with an oreo pirate eye patch.  :)

Vampire sans cape and teeth with St. Patrick's day green cookies in the background.  (No leprechauns and rainbows - just villains this March).  "Church" clothes make very versatile, everyday dress up clothes.

Pirate.  White shirts are Carter's favorite.

Megamind pirate.

And he wears all of this clothing in crazy Guam heat and humidity.  I still don't get that.  Not shown is his scrooge outfit.  And yes, that is a tupperware bowl. 

Megamind Pirate again.

Same day - Megamind Pirate with a sidekick Caleb.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Guam!

Merry Christmas!  This year was so different from Christmas in the past because we are far from family and in a tropical place.  I was afraid of Christmas coming because I knew it wouldn't have so many of the joys I loved in Idaho, such as family and snow.  I knew I had to make an extra effort so that Christmas would be a time of joy and not sorrow for what I miss.  It turned out better than I hoped.  I am grateful for Michael and his support to make it special for our little family.  I am grateful for Jesus Christ and this time of year to celebrate his birth and ministry.  He is the reason for the season and the reason to make it special.  I was glad we got to skype my family and make and eat all of the foods I love at Christmas time.  I am grateful my mom taught me to cook so I could share what tastes I associate with Christmas with others around us.  We enjoyed taking treats to new friends and neighbors and hosted our very first Christmas Eve dinner.  During the weeks prior to Christmas we repeatedly watched and shared the short video put out by the church to remind us to look to the Savior at this time.  I embedded the video below because I love it so much.  Christmas morning we opened presents, ate Christmas breakfast, and watched movies.  In the afternoon we went to the beach and over the next few days we enjoyed not having to work and eating yummy leftovers.

Celebrating the New Year was different too.  Michael grew up celebrating Christmas on December 31 in Pohnpei.  The party goes throughout the night and is the biggest celebration of the year.  This Christmas Eve we had barbeque ribs and turkey tail with potato salad, green mangoes with vinegar, Martinelli's, and a tapioca desert called cassava cake - yum!  We got to skype with Michael's family and see Trishia and Kiari sing Christmas songs.  Afterwards we watched Maleficient and at midnight Michael went to party with cousins for a few hours.  We are setting our New Year's resolutions and excited for what 2015 will bring.  Happy New Year!

We got to go see the lights at the governor's house in Hagatna.  It was quite the display.  Carter's favorite was, of course, the train, which had a bell that he loved to ring.

Largest real gingerbread house on Guam.

Christmas tree with nutcrackers and Christmas trains.  The boys really loved it.

Caleb's first candy cane!  He loved it.

Grammie sent tons of goodies to make a gingerbread house!!  Carter was so excited!

Daddy seating Caleb before starting Christmas dinner.  We loved using baskets that Michael made for our Christmas dinner.  The Call family in our ward and Brother Bailey came over.  We loved having company for Christmas Eve!

Carter on Christmas morning.

Carter and Caleb Christmas morning!  It was so fun to see Carter get so much more excited for Christmas this year.

I was quite proud of myself for baking orange rolls, Christmas breakfast casserole, and Christmas dinner.  Although, it made me miss my mom and sisters so much because I usually do all of the fun Christmas food prep with them.  I played Manheim Steamroller and the Carpenters Christmas music to make it feel like Christmas at home.

We finally made our Gingerbread house a few days after Christmas!  It was Irene's first time and she loved it.  Her and  Carter spent a long time making it perfect!

November & some December 2014

Irene came to stay with us November 4th!  We have had lots of fun having her with us this holiday season.  We got to carve pumpkins, have Thanksgiving baking and dinner with our ward, and lots of trips to the beach.  Here are some pictures of our fun times in this very warm winter.

Carter was so excited to finally carve pumpkins.  It was November before we actually did it.

Sad face pumpkin and Irene.  This was her first time carving pumpkins!

Dededo beach.

Caleb loves his blanket so much.

Such a Carter face.

Boys.

All of us in Merizo.  Carter is drinking Coconut juice.  Yum.

Bri and Carter at a Merizo lookout.

Irene, Carter, and Caleb at the Inarajan pools.

We had to climb up this sketchy ladder and steep stairs to get to the lookout point at Inarajan pools.  It was worth it though!

View at the Inarajan pools.  So cool!  It has several cool swimming spots.  We will go swimming there one of these days.

Our family at the Inarajan pools on a Sunday afternoon.

Michael and Caleb at the Inarajan pools.  We really enjoyed the view there.

Happy Caleb at the Inarajan pools.

Michael, Carter, and Caleb at the Inarajan pools.  What a cool place to visit!

Carter and Caleb exploring the jungle on the edge of our yard.

Carter next to the chicken's nest in our front yard.  He scared the chicken away and we took the picture.  A few days later they hatched.  We have loved watching all of the baby chicks that have hatched lately.  The baby chicks and our newly planted garden make it feel a bit like spring.

Carter and Caleb love their train set from Grammie.

Carter playing with his new train set from Grammie.  Caleb is poking his head in to check on it.  :)

Michael with Sid and his dad and little Kiatrish.

Grandpa, Nohno, Sid, Leah, Trishia, Kiari, Kiatrish, Irene, Michael, Carter, and Caleb.  It was so good to see family as they passed through Guam coming home from the temple in the Philippines.

Nohno and Grandpa when they came to visit on December 7th.

Caleb at Asan beach with a faint rainbow.

Carter with our squash seedlings that were planted on Saturday, December 13 and the picture was taken Wednesday, December 17.  They popped up very quickly! The sticks around it are to keep the chickens from digging them up.