Merry Christmas and Gledilegt Jol

It Feels like christmas today and I am so happy. It is Christmas Eve. We finished our christmas shopping last night and we are excited. We woke up this morning and Daniel put all kinds of christmas music on and we are cleaning the house and it feels like christmas. We wanted to tell everyone Merry Christmas wherever you are we love you all and we will do another post after christmas and we will make sure to take pictures on christmas morning. I think its the last christmas that we will be able to sleep in so we are going to enjoy it. We are so excited to spend it with Heather Kathryn and Ralph.
Gledilegt Jol or farsaet nytt ar!

I guess

Our family picture in Japan, this is our christmas photo sorry no cards this year, I promise next year.

I guess its time to post. I have been avoiding it because I don't know what to write. I have been sad and glad and mad and blad. We are in Utah. We were relieved before we came because we were coming. Then when we landed Daniel and I both got rather depressed about being here. It was strange we should have been happy because family and christmas is here but its been a rough two months and we miss Guam and its freezing here. I think we are doing better now and that is why I am willing to post today.

We went to Japan for 12 hours and it was great there.

I couldn't find anything to eat but it was just beautiful. We went to a Temple. I am guessing Shinto but I don't know for sure and the gardens were beautiful.

Daniel and I both really enjoyed it. We decided we only got on day trips to these places. One day of daylight in Japan and a night and morning in Hawaii. We are short travelers I guess. The flights were very good the kids behaved the whole time and I was very grateful because that would have been a mess otherwise.

Chicago was freezing and Utah a little warmer. We all had our winter coats for Utah. The day after we arrived snow storms came daily. Anyway we are here in Utah now. We miss the Jimenez family. I am still very sad about that although I shouldn't be because we are good friends and will make it a point to see each other whenever they move back stateside.

Its christmas in 2 days oh just one day in Guam. In two days here and we haven't gone christmas shopping for the kids yet. I figure one stop at toys R us should do it. We can't decide what to get bubba. I hope the New Year brings good things. Wish us luck.

Miriam

Garage Sale

So Daniel and I held our very first garage sale today and it was the everything must go type. We made all these signs last night and printed out flyer's so that we could go early this morning to put signs up. We put an add in the paper on Thursday to advertise it and I was worried no one would come because we didn't advertise very much. Low and behold its 630 am on a Friday morning and someone is banging on the door. We go get the door and there are three "early birds" asking if we are having a garage sale at 7am"Yes we are at 7." Then they wanted an early peek. So we let them and they were really nutty. They got mad at us like we were secretly holding out of them because half the stuff in here was already sold through craigslist and one lady came last night to buy a chest of drawers and ended up buying half my kitchen. So apparently you don't need to advertise for a garage sale here. They can all just sense it. Its been crazy all morning. We did it from 7-2. Too long in my opinion and we were going to do it for 2 days, but there is hardly anything left. People were crazy and buying everything. They kept looking in the house and asking if we had more but we kept having to explain that those things were already bought and paid for. Now I am scared for tomorrow when there are only 20 items out and the people will break the door down to buy more. We didn't even put the signs up!! Not even 1. I made all the signs but there was no need for them and we have hardly anything left. I can't wait until tomorrow when all the garage saleness is over. Who would have thought people would buy all that stuff. We already sold all the big stuff except our TV and mattress before the sale so the sale was more of a you are taking it off my hands so I don't have to worry about it next week. So it has been entertaining. I was a little sad because I specifically overpriced the things I wanted to keep (my osterizer stainless steel blender with all the fancy parts) but a lady still bought it!!!!!
I doubt we will do another garage sale for awhile because they are a little scary but now we know, maybe its just a crazy Guam thing though.

On a crazier note, 4 people kept asking if they could buy the GARBAGE CANS. But apparently Daniel sold them to the nutter early bird people. Oh and they wanted to buy all the plants which are ugly and gross in my opinion but I guess people like plants.

Miriam's History of Reading

Last night I couldn't sleep which has been a regular occurrence for a few weeks now so I decided to update my read books book. I am one of those personalities who loves lists specifically because I love monitoring my own progress. That's not always a good thing though because I am my worst critic. I looked over some of the books I have read and I decided to go through and star all my favorites. I made a pop up on the blog for those. I decided that I haven't truly enjoyed many of the books I have read. I want to start a new chapter of my life where i read one book a week. at least one fun fiction a month and then hopefully one classic and two historically significant books. I was appalled by my reading record. In the last 14 years (from all the books I can remember, I just started logging last year) I have only averaged out 10 books a year! Atrocious. I have the tendency to reread my favorites if life starts to feel mundane but I need to expand my mind. I have been out of school for 16 months now and I don't like it.

As some know my goals are high when it comes to my education. I want to become a history professor and reach tenure. Thus I must read. This new reading schedule will rejuvenate my mind. I am going to start in the new year. The only problem is finding the titles. When I look back on my short life I see different parts of it that were major turning points for the path. I can specifically remember all the crucial decisions that have brought be to this exact spot

If this post is really weird I must say that I wrote this post to clarify my thoughts. I am excited for the move back to the mainland specifically because I am going to start looking into Masters programs. I gave myself (in my mind) a two year break before I would start my masters. So I better get on it.

All this takes me back to a time when I used to thrive on five and ten year plans. I have yet to fail to accomplish anything on these lists. Although in 2003 I made the goal on my 10 year plan to be published within 10 years. Not a book necessarily but an article at least. I don't think this goal is unrealistic I just need to continue to work on it.

When I look back at the books that made me love the escape or reading the specifc title that comes to mind is King Arthur. I must have been a nerd my entire life. I remember as a child I loved everything medevil. It started in second grade when the theme of that year was the medeval era. I remember when we first moved to the United States when I was in fourth grade my obsession for the kind Arthur story started. There were only 5 different stories for king Arthur in that library and I remember I would borrow them over and over again and just reread them. They all had rather drastic differences but I loved it. I think I will start collecting King Arthurs now. How thankful I will always be for king Arthur (that sounds absurd but I don't care).
For those who took the time to read this I would deeply appreciate a list either commented or emails with your top ten or however many you want to put. I loved to read and I believe a persons taste in books is a great indication of their personality. So either comment them or email them to me so I can have some titles I can trust.

Miriam

Twilight coma

So my twilight coma lasted from 10 pm tuesday until 12 pm Friday. Daniel didn't appreciate it but I already warned him. He got to rent two movies every night. They were the ones I don't appreciate. Usually guy guy movies. Then he went golfing for 5 hours Friday morning so I don't think I feel guilty for reading. It didn't help that it was Thanksgiving and we had a lot of church stuff to do and lessons to prepare. I was lucky because Eva and Alexander like to play together now. I mostly read at night instead of sleeping and I didn't eat much. I couldn't put them down. Well I could and I did because I obviously have two children but I didn't get much laundry done. I liked it and thats that. Now I understand all the crazyness around it.

If you aren't a fan of the books this post ends here.

I really enjoyed these books. They are the first in a long time that made me want to reread straight away to get the whole perspective. I must say I loved Twilight but then New Moon put me in a foul mood until the end parts. Then I enjoyed eclipse until the end when she loves them both. GAG I don't believe in two loves sorry. But then after Breaking Dawn it all made so much sense and everything clicked. There were no problems with continuity so I loved it. What a fun bunch of books. Oh and I also read the portion of midnight sun on her website. I enjoyed it so much. I don't know why it was leaked. They should have known that when a ruin an authors mood on a book they wont write more and whats the point of half a book.

I was so stressed reading parts of the books because I was sure someone would get killed and die because most authors love that kind of drama. So in the end I was so happy and in a good mood. Yay for this series. Now I want to go back and watch the movie again. I don't think the movie did Edward justice when it came to his lines but it would have been an 18 hour movie otherwise. I liked the actor they chose. Very handsome and the hint of his British Accent helped convince me of his 1918 life. It would have been difficult with a typical modern American accent. Those are my thoughts. Go read it but only if you have time to enjoy it. I would have been so frustrated if I didn't wait for all 4 books to come out. Especially if I would have had to wait after book 2. I think I will wait until the end of all series before reading them. I waited until book 5 was out with Harry Potter and waiting for the last two was frustrating.

This week so far

This past week has been eventful when it comes to the camera. We went to the beach Tuesday morning. Its probably been over a month since we last went so it was great to go. Just Ritidian again. Then it was Thanksgiving on Thursday. We went to the branch turkey bowl. Luckily no one got hurt which apparently is a first for this branch. Alexander played with Teddy and I think the dogs name is grace. Its the branch presidents dog. Alexander loves Teddy. He just follows him around and Teddy actually plays with him and talks to him so I think Alexander really appreciates it.Our branch actually does a thanksgiving lunch. It was weird to me because it was actually on thanksgiving day so you either had a family thanksgiving or went to this. We obviously went because I have never cooked a turkey and I don't want to cook one for just Daniel and I. We were supposed to bring thanksgiving side dishes. We just brought a big bowl of stuffing. There wasn't much there that I would consider traditional thanksgiving food. Oh well I guess thats just Guam . Oh and Alexander likes playing with Eva now. Especially when she is in her stand up toy. He bounces it and laughs so they both just laugh and laugh. Then she gets overwhelmed and starts crying because he gets too rough. But she just stares at him all day. She loves her brother.

Question

This is specifically for the Reeves side of the Family. Did anyone take any pictures of the wedding? If so will anyone be posting any of these pictures. You don't have to post them all. We just want to see some pictures of the ceremony. The Bride. The Groom. The bride and groom together and some of the reception. I personally want to see pictures of decorations and stuff although I have seen one picture of a flower arrangment so far. We haven't seen ANY PICTURES AT ALL AND WOULD REALLY LIKE TO SEE AT LEAST ONE THAT IS SPECIFICALLY FROM THE WEDDING. Ok thanks. (I know this may be hard to believe but that post was from Miriam)

hmmmm

Is it Christmas yet? It does not feel like the Holidays at all over here. I feel like I am sitting still and time has stopped and its annoying. Tomorrow I should be borrowing the twilight books all four of them at once so I can just get it over with and be done by Saturday so I can prepare my lesson.
Oh a random annoyance again from Guam. We paid lots of money to get Eva's passport expedited. They said they would call us as soon as it got in. So I had Daniel call today. It has been 2 weeks they said 3 but passport people need to be called a lot from my previous experiences with them. So they kept saying call back in 5 minutes. Then they asked the date on the receipt. We told them we dropped off the application and paid on the 10th and they wrote the 12th on the receipt and they yelled at us on the phone for about 5 minutes on how they told us 3 weeks like we shouldn't be bothering them. Well I paid for 2 weeks. ANYWAY so then after all the hassle they say "oh its here we found it, but you can't pick it up until tomorrow because today is a drop off the application day and tomorrow is a pick up passports day" so instead of calling us when it actually got there or just telling us its here get it tomorrow, they yell at us and wow its retarded. What irritated me the most was that they had it so it most likely got there before the weekend and they didn't even tell us. We didn't pay more so we could wait the regular waiting time. Sorry I had to vent that.
Is it Thanksgiving and christmas like over there?
Miriam

Twilight was SOOOO good

Ok I have officially seen Twilight and it was so good! I am already hooked and now I need to figure out how to get the books and when I can read them. I loved it!
Miriam
I would say Edward with the Eward Jacob thing but I have only seen the movie

what's twilight?

I just thought I would do a brag blog for once. So my friend Line called today and told me twilight was showing tonight at midnight :o1 and asked if I wanted to go and I said YES! We both have never read the books so we will be perfect company for each other. I just thought I would brag and say that I am going to go see it in 5 hours because we are a day ahead of all of you (except Australia but they don't get it tonight) so I hope I understand the movie without reading the books but yay I get to have a girls night and its Twilight which I embarrassingly googled and spelled wrong (twighlight). So there is the first perk with Guam and Movies. YAY I am pretty excited not just because its twilight but because its the first movie past midnight in years and I get to go with Line, girls night. Ok keep being jealous.
Miriam

Eva's Passport

Yesterday we just finished all the passport stuff for Eva. Now it just needs to come in the mail in a hurry. We paid alot more to get it here faster so I hope that was not in vain. I took a picture of her pictures so I could post them. I think they look great. The photo guys were great. they told me just to bring a white blanket and her car seat and that seemed to work out very well and she

actually sat still (not usually the case with her) Anyway wish us luck on getting the passport by the 1st when they promised it.

Miriam

Annoying

Sorry this is random and a vent but the most annoying thing in the world to me is members who sit and complain about how their bishop, mission president or whom ever they are dissing is not doing a good job or that "they were supposed to set it up and didn't and the world is over" Or "this is the way they do it in Utah and its wrong here" or "I have been around a long time and that is wrong". Get over yourselves. I just read a blog of this guy here and OH MAN what a loser. Honestly if you don't think your Bishop or Branch Pres is doing a good job you need to check yourself first. Its a rough calling to hold and it doesn't help when people sit and point and do nothing to help. Anyway I am done. I wouldn't care if it was just one guy in the world by negitivity doesn't help anyone. This ones for you Line! Did you read his blog?
Miriam

Us Lately

Alexander's organizational skills

Pumpkins in Guam

Pumkins in Guam are 99 cents a pound and they go bad in 2 days if you don't refridgerate them so for our young women activity I decided to paint coconuts orange and we would paint those instead so every girl could have an "island lantern". Here are some pictures of the process.

their costumes

Alexander was a true viking! He kept running around with his axe all night. He really liked his costume. Eva ended up being a sunflower. After thinking about the votes I went to the material store but they didn't have anything that resembled sheep skin and I thought the spider outfit might be too hot for her over here. So I made her a sunflower.

Oh and Alexander one the award for cutest costume. There he is on the stage trying to be the center of attention

The youth had a Where's waldo competition thing at the mall on Saturday and Daniel was one of the waldo's he bulked up for the part and went as a white gansta. Thats all so far.

Miriam

bubba halloween costume

Halloween costumes

So I haven't been able to find any good costumes that I want my children to wear. So Alexander is going to be a viking. I am working on his tunic and shield. We bought him a fake axe and he already has a viking helmet that he likes to wear all day long anyway. His tunic will be sown by me, the person who has only ever sown pillows and a pair of shorts once. If you have any tips give them to me.

Eva is a whole other story. I have found some cute ideas online but I just don't know yet and I am going to the craft store today to try to buy stuff to help me out. I am going to post the pictures of my options for her costume. If you have any better ideas I am absolutely open to them.

A Butterfly, I would need to modify it for her a bitA fried eggAn electrical outletA spider and I would be the webOr a little sheep

Daniel wants her to be the sheep because they are cute. What do you think?

Grandma and Opa's Visit

Thursday

Ypao beach a lot of snorkeling and relaxing. This was the day EVERYONE got sunburned. We put quite a bit of sunscreen on but it didn't seem to work. Backs, arms, legs and faces.

Just sitting in the ocean relaxing

Daniel, Kathryn and Ralph going out for a snorkel

This is Daniel's first coconut tree that he got to the top of.

He picked two coconuts

As soon as we got home he macheted them open

Friday

We went to this cave a swam a bit, it was weird for me because I have never been in a cave.

It was kind of a bust because all these high school students were there. Apparently its a great skipping school hang out. Then we tried to go to this lookout point at Santa Rosa (an old volcano) and Daniel's truck got stuck in the deep mud.

We had to call a tow. We actually found the point after we were towed.

Then we went home and watched the BYU game over at the Jimenes' house. Great food and company but a bad game.

Saturday

The day we were going to try to save face from the day before so we woke early and went to the swap meet/flea market. It was kind of fun. We bought crocks for Alexander and a new swimsuit for Eva. They had fresh crabs for sale (all still alive) and the fish were still flopping around. Daniel hates flea markets and any kind of shopping so we were out of there fast and decided to try to catch a dolphin tour boat ride. So we went down to Agat. Not too far away about 40 minutes or a half hour. So off we went. It started raining really badly. We got down there and found out we had to charter a boat. We were thinking about it but then it just wouldn't stop raining (when its raining you can't see much in the ocean here, you need the sun out) so we decided not to go and as I was trying to reverse my car (the murano) wouldn't gas. It moved but wouldn't respond to me pushing on the gas. So I went and parked and called Daniel to
come back. He tried to drive the car and turned it off and it wouldn't turn back on. So we called another tow man (30 minutes away) He came and tried to revive the car but forgot his jumper cables (he was the car help person our insurance provides) we found out nothing was working so he had to tow the car to Tamuning (20 minutes away from our house, 30 minutes from Agat). Augustine came and rescued us. We were there for about 2 hours so we looked up and down the marina and saw angel fish and a squid or octopus.

Daniel went to the Mechanic and he said the alternator and battery needed to be replace. 500 dollars. But Augustine has the same car as we do but in black and told me the alternators were recalled back in '05. So as soon as I got home I googled it and sure enough the alternators were all recalled for our car. So I called the Nissan Dealership and sure enough they are going to replace the alternator for free. Our day was all gone by the time all this happened. As soon as we got home Alexander laid on the floor and fell asleep (those are the new crocks he got that morning).

So Daniel and I got home and got ready for Rachel's baptism (I spoke and he said a prayer). We went and got some special brownies (not from that 70's show) and some Hawaiian food but everyone was exhausted at the end of the night. So our last days were not that great but I hope the majority of their stay was fun.

Sunday

The blessing which I already blogged and Kathryn and Ralph left. They are off to Tokyo they should be landing in an hour or so. I hope they see a lot and take pictures.

This is right before we went to the airport.

Alexander is still really sad. He knows they are gone and keeps expecting them to come through the door.

Shes blessed

I haven't blogged in a few days. We said goodbye to Kathryn and Ralph. It was sad and Daniel was and is still really sad but we will see them again in 2 years so that is great. It was so much fun having them and so refreshing. We wanted their last two days on Guam to be memorable and they were. Two tow trucks in two days. Memorable but not so fun. I have pictures from our last few days and I will post them. But yes Eva Sunna is Blessed. The people in the circle were Daniel (Dad), Ralph(Opa), Augustine(Our friend), Eric (our friend Daniel works with), Brother Brown (2nd counselor in District Presidency), Brother Davis (1st counselor in the Mission presidency), Brother West (1st counselor in the Branch presidency) She was a little cutie. Daniel said when they got up there she looked up and saw that they were all looking at her so she was smiling at all of them.

This is Eva in her blessing dress. The dress even had a petticoat in it. I think she felt special today. This is just outside the church by a hibiscus bush with her dad.
There she is posing for the camera again
After church before Ralph and Kathryn left
Alexander was holding her, he wasn't too happy about it but she didn't seem to mind.
Family Portrait at church

Father and son and granddaughter
Grandparent portrait, everybody is happy
Another one

We are really sad they are gone and I will do another post as a tribute to their visit with some more unseen pictures.