Weekend Update

Hello family and friends,

October has been a busy, busy month!

On Saturday, Brian lead his first Hiking Club excursion. It turned out great, and he did such a great job coordinating the hiking site, permission slips, all of the sponsors, and other details. 20 plus students came for the hike and about 8 sponsors, who were parents and other teachers at Hopwood Jr. High, and it was a great time. Because of the great interest and the support of the administrators at Hopwood, Brian's going to host one Hiking club hike per month... I'm really, really proud of him and the way that he created this all by himself.

This month has flown by with work and school. My tutoring job is going great, and the number of students that I tutor has been growing every couple of weeks, which is a bonus. I've joined a gym with some of my girl friends which has a dance class that I look forward to every week- it's so fun! I've also been looking at lots of medical programs in Oklahoma City (nursing and dental hygienist) trying to narrow down which ones I will apply to. I'm dreading taking Chemistry next semester as a prerequisite!

Love you all and we'll post some October pictures soon, Rachel

My husband...

is THE MOST romantic guy.

Ever since we started dating, 5 and a half years ago, he's always done something to make my birthday week/ weekend really special. This Friday (tomorrow) is my birthday, and all this week he has left little surprises on our kitchen table before he goes to work, for me to wake up and find. All of these are things that we couldn't get in Taiwan last year and that I really missed!

I am so so lucky to have such a wonderful husband, and I can't wait to spend this birthday weekend with him.

Wahoo!

Oh, how I love this.

And OH how I love this....

Put them together and it makes a fabulous Girls Night at Jen's house tonight... can't wait!

It's going by too fast!

Here are some more pics that I wanted to post from Brian's Forbidden Island hike, and also a little hike we did this weekend...

Brian in Forbidden Cave

Many of these pictures, and the ones from the post below "Forbidden Island," were taken by our friend Josh Franklin- he's an awesome photographer!

Hiking down to the Dry Grotto- a huge cave that opens out above the sea, but that you can also get to by land, by climbing down a rope into a cavern... hard to explain but awesome. A big group of us went there this weekend, and ate lunch in the huge cave overlooking the ocean.

At this point, we were hiking directly over the cave that we would eat our lunch in. You had to be careful because their was a big drop off into the water to the right of us.

Here is the cave where we ate- it was huge! It looked over the ocean, and was a nice and cool place to relax
Best spot on the beach- reading in a comfy chair.

Me and two of my favorite girls- Kara and Elizabeth

I just like this picture of Brian

Me and Brian were hanging out at the beach last weekend, and I was reading a book when I kept hearing a weird, squawking/talking sound. I went to find out what it was, and saw this gorgeous pink parrot. A man who works at the Hyatt Beach resort here (we were lounging on their beach) has owned this parrot, Freddy, for 20 years. We got to feed him some peanuts and put him on our shoulders.

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Hike to Forbidden Island

Last week 6 of us hiked down to Forbidden Island. Forbidden Island is a marine sanctuary that is protected from all fishing, boating, etc. I think it is one of the most beautiful places on the island. The hike starts out through the jungle then the steep banks to the water.

The tide was low enough for us to cross over to the island by foot.

It was a really steep and sweet climb to the top.

The view from the top was well worth the climb with Saipan on one side and miles of open ocean on the other.

This is the view from the top of the Forbidden Island

There are so many great places to hike on the island. I have started a hiking club at the Junior High that I work at. I have a ton of students who are very excited about our trips. Next weekend will be our first trip.

Being all crafty

Yesterday, me and some of my girlfriends went to make cards at a Stampin Up party and I loved it! I made ten awesome cards for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Friends and family, please give me your address and I would love to send you a card I made!

Hen piàoliang means "very pretty" in Chinese

This is "Forbidden Island." It looks a lot like Bird Island (from our pictures before), but you can recognize Forbidden by it's flat top.

We love to watch the cloud formations in Saipan. There are always big, white, puffy clouds overhead, the kind that are easy to recognize shapes in. Because we are just a little island out in the middle of the Pacific, the clouds move very fast above us. A rainstorm can blow in, and then blow out to sea again within 10 minutes- it's really amazing to see. Also, you can be standing in a dry spot where it is not raining, but you can see it raining 20 feet away from you, like the cloud is hovering over just that area. The weather in Saipan is really unique and beautiful.

"On your mark.... get set.... go!!"

Hello friends and family,

We miss you all and are really happy that you read our blog!

Brian is still really enjoying his counseling job at Hopwood Jr. High, and I've had my first week of work. I'm tutoring first and second graders three days a week- they are so sweet and I'm really liking it so far. Most of the students at the small tutoring company I work at are Korean students, and they are sometimes only visiting Saipan for a month or two, although some of them live here.

Brian is doing a great job at Hopwood- I think he really fits into the role of a counselor well. I love it how he truly cares about the tough (and sometimes dangerous) situations the kids are facing, and he's able to give good advice, or step in the take care of the situation. He will be having his first school hiking club excursion this month, and there are a lot of faculty/students who want to participate.

The top picture is Brian eating campfire smores. Last weekend, a bunch of the girls on the island got together for a girls night, and our husbands went out to have another bonfire on the beach. They made foil dinners and cooked them in the fire, which is one of Brian's favorite foods. :)

I just LOVE these girls!! Jenn, Laura, and Kara at a movie/chai tea night at Jenn's this weekend.

On Saturday, Brian and I went to Managaha Island for a third time with our friends Grant, Kara, and Jenn. Managaha is a free trip by ferry to a little island next to Saipan, and it's a great way to get off of our tiny island for a day! Tourists have to pay $40 to get there, but if you get your tickets in advance, it's a free ferry ride for us locals- a great deal. We love to go out there and lounge on the beach, snorkel, and explore the small island looking for war artifacts.

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