Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast! Ally was kind enough to host over 30 people over at her place for Thanksgiving. I don't think I have seen so much food for one meal before. It was sad not being with my family for the 3rd Thanksgiving in a row, but it was a great afternoon spent with our friends out here in Guam. They definitely become your family since we are half way across the world from ours. All the people out here are awesome and I can't wait to get to know them more!

Elizabeth was awesome. She didn't have any fussy moments at dinner! I think she was just sad that she had a bottle instead of turkey. As you can see in the bottom picture she is eyeing my plate, wishing she could eat that. You can also tell from all the pictures that is hot and humid out here! Doesn't feel like holiday season when it is 80 and 100% humidity. I hope I get used to the weather soon!

Hope you all had a wonderful time with your friends and family for Thanksgiving. We miss all of you guys and can't wait to spend the holidays with you in a couple years

First Couple Weeks in Guam

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, but life is busy on the Island. We arrived about 2 weeks ago and are loving every minute so far. Everyone is super nice and I feel like there are always people getting together to do stuff. We had a Welcome dinner at a place down in Tumon. The food was good and the best part was the buffet price included unlimited beer:) Andrew was kind enough to be the DD, so I could drink. What a great husband I have.

The first weekend we were here, we hiked down to a Haputo Beach. The hike was not bad. It was interesting having a baby strapped to the front of us, it made it more entertaining. Elizabeth was perfect on the hike and down at the beach. She is already becoming a little beach bum. We just cover her up as much as we can, since we can't put sunscreen on her yet... too young.

On the hike we found lots of little critters. The huge spider you see in the picture. There were many little lizards and we were able to see one Monstrous hermit crab. So cool. No snakes or frogs on this adventure. I am glad. I think I can go all 3 years without them.

Haputo Beach. I know you all are very very jealous right now. It is starting to get cold and may be snowing where some of you all live and here we are enjoying not only warm tropical weather, but gorgeous beaches too!! Come visit anytime, especially once Andrew deploys I will need some visitors.

The view from the Westin down in Tumon. Can't get much better then this. Once we are settled in our house we will be sure to post some pictures. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

SERE Hawaii

So I would tell you everything I did, but then I would be in jail for a long time... but as you can see, they don't let us shave, eat, or give us t.p. (where do you think the sleeve went?) Yes, this is what I look like 20 pounds lighter and short a good 15 hours of sleep. I can still remember exactly what I ate after SERE. That night I had a bowl of homemade chicken-rice soup, a pork taco with avocado and sour cream, small steak, muffin, two slices of zucchini bread, and three cookies. The next day was steak and eggs with cheese, a bagel with cream cheese, another bagel, two slices of pizza, and then a double bacon cheeseburger with a monster order of fries, then we went to dinner at outback, splitting cheese fries, bloomin' onion, buffalo wings, and then the 9 oz sirloin with baked potato and salad. Then.... well that was only the first two days after SERE (search evasion resistance and escape). There was still plenty of food on saturday and sunday. Surprised?

Someone was ready for trick-or-treating. Kate, Elizabeth, and I went to a Halloween party. We decided Elizabeth was the tallest albeit youngest baby at the party (who would've imagined that?)

Our first full day in Hawaii, it was raining off and on. So it was only me who went out onto the Arizona memorial. It was certainly a moving monument. The National Park Service shows a thirty minute video before you go out to see the monument reminding you of the importance of these men's sacrifice. I wish I could show the water better than the couple pictures I have. You could still see the forward and aft turrets under the water, rusting away. The water was still stained with dark grease smudges and oil spots shimmering on the surface, looking as if the ship itself was still bleeding for the 900 men aboard.

Here is the view you get approach- ing the monument. The saddest part of the this whole experience is how you are only able to get about 30 minutes with your group at the monument. In my mind that is no where near enough time to take it all in.

And, because I can not leave the post on a non-lighthearted thought, this picture was from Kate and I driving around Oahu. This picture was taken from Bellows beach on the North East side of the island. I thought the mountains were gorgeous. The whole time we were driving around the island, the rain clouds were obscuring the peaks in the center of the island, making the mountain peaks look like Mount Olympus (because if I was a greek god, I would choose to live in Hawaii instead of Greece). And, I would stop underlining this last paragraph, but Kate's computer decided it wants to keep it underlined and there is nothing I can do to stop that.

October up to SERE

Everyone loves a happy baby. Especially mom and dad.

Now these two are best buds. (we almost had to force them into this pose). But seriously, Buzz is the dominant male, and Buck is the happy blond.

One word to describe Elizabeth's impression on Aunt Megan: Birth-control.

Yes, I took this picture, and, yes, I love both their faces.

My cousin's son Ty was trying very hard to make Elizabeth feel better. He gave her toys, he danced for her, and he even sang for her. But the best part about visiting with him was when he shouted, "YAY!" when we un-"stuck" Elizabeth (got her out of the seat).

Saying goodbye to my best best friend. There may have been a few tears shed... I was told that once Kate returned from the airport without me Buck waited at the door for me for a good ten minutes after she came in.

Backlogging some posts

While Kate and I were in Annapolis, we managed to catch the last crabs in the creek. Seven large crabs went into an awesome crab dip appetizer that week.

Both dogs really wanted to get some, they didn't get pinched, but of course I did. (because I was smart and pulled them out with my bare hands).

Everyone loves a happy great grandma and her great granddaughter. This was during our visit to g(reat)grandma and ggrandpa richards' house during the week.

And Elizabeth with some of her cousins. Camden was totally into Elizabeth, trying to get Elizabeth to play with her. And Cross was just a ham for the camera, so he managed to work himself into the picture.

That look of concen- tration is Elizabeth trying to say, "Go Navy! Beat Air Force!" Which of course did happen, in typical Navy fasion. In overtime... Navy kicking a field goal... And Air Force missed their field goal.

After beating Air Force (pronounced Chair Force) Kate, Sean, Lauren, and I went out to down town Annapolis, to relive the glory days... That lasted all of about an hour and a half until Lauren almost got thrown up on... And then we all decided to go to bed.

There isn't any better way to take a bottle then with Daddy's Aviators on!!

6 weeks

Sorry it has been so long since we have updated the blog. Life has become very busy. Who knew that such a little baby could consume so much time and energy in a day. Elizabeth is growing by the day, as you can tell from the pictures. She has started smiling at us, which make waking up in the middle of the night totally worth it. We weighed her the other day and she is around 11lbs. We are impressed she weighs so much, since it seems she spits up after every meal. Andrew and I love being parents. We could not ask for a better baby.

Don't know what it is, but she loves her changing table. We put her on there and she just smiles and giggles. I don't know if she like staring out the window or just the fact that her diaper is about to get changed.
She has started to use her tummy/playtime mat. She is infatuated with the penguin attached to it. Her eyes just follow him all over the place.
Elizabeth and Buck are best of buds. It is sad that he won't be coming with us to Guam. He is so attentive to Elizabeth. If she starts to cry, Buck will go over to her to try and comfort her, then come get us. It is precious.