Happy 2012!!!

Look what we made on New Years Eve!  Brian and I decided to test out our camera and try to get some sparkler shots.  We thought they turned out pretty awesome!

On New Years Eve, we joined our friends at one of our very favorite restaurants in Saipan, Wild Bill's, then took our party to the beach to set off a bunch of fireworks.

I love Saipan's US Merchant Marine ships in the background of this shot.

Here's us trying to figure out our letters and numbers backwards.

 Ready...

 Get set...

GO!

We love you in 2012, Saipan!

We spent the turn of the new year at Hyatt Resort watching their awesome firework show.

Happy, happy New Year from our island to you.

For Liz and Josh!

A year ago, our friends Elizabeth and Josh taught us how make tamales, which is a Christmas tradition in their family.  We spent a great evening cooking together... and made this little tutorial.  We miss you, Liz and Josh, and all of our fun Saipan cooking parties!

ps. the tamales turned out so delicious.

Our Navy Hill Compound

Brian and I love the compound that we live on in Saipan.  It is a big compound located on top of Navy Hill and we have lots of shade trees to keep us cool from the year-round Saipan heat.  There are about 7 or 8 other houses on our compound and we have American, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and local neighbors.  It's pretty unique and has been really cool getting to know our neighbors.

This is the view from a field near our house.  It looks out over Garapan, Saipan's tourist district, and onto the ocean.

Living up on a hill equals an ocean breeze, and lately we have been sleeping with our windows open and our air condition off.  It feels a little humid that way, but saves us a lot on our electricity bill (Saipan's electricity costs about twice as much as electricity in the states... we try to leave our air condition off as much as we can.)

Sam loves the land around our house where she can run around.  We have a few other dogs that roam around on the compound that she tries to play with, but they are usually "too cool" for her, and nip at her when she tries to play with them :)  Guess she'll just have to stick with her dog park buddies!

Atulai "Big Eyed Scad"

Every morning for the past few weeks the locals have been gathering at the same place near edge of the reef of Lau Lau Bay.  Just before sunrise, with their throwing nets in hand, they are ready to catch some fish.  I had heard that there was a great ball of Atulai fish that had gathered in the Bay and that some of the net fishermen were pulling in almost 100 pounds of them a day.  Typically, the Atulai spend most of their time in deep waters, but almost every year they migrate in great numbers into some of the island's shallow waters. So with speargun and underwater camera in hand, my friends and I went to see what everyone was talking about.  

Happy Thanksgiving Year 2 in Saipan!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to our friends Laura and Joe's parent's house and enjoyed a day of food and good friends.  Helen Ann and Dave's house in in Papago, and it has a beautiful and enormous front porch, where we all ate.  It still feels a little crazy to eat a Thanksgiving turkey dinner outside with a tropical breeze blowing, but it was delicious!

One of the very best parts of Tgiving this year was our "Extreme Bocce Ball" game.  Almost everyone joined in, throwing coconuts instead of bocce balls, and using the big yard around their house for a playing field.  So much fun!!

The two big squash Brian bought for our potluck meal.

Here are some things I'm very thankful for right now:

2 good jobs in Saipan

Our small house on top of Navy Hill with the cool breeze and great view

A husband who is thoughtful, sincere, respectful, and hardworking

PLL nights with my girls!!! 

Wonderful friends who make the island feel like home

A pup named Sam who cracked us up at the dog park tonight with her doggie pals

The support and love of our families in the states- we love you

The christmas light on our porch right now

Healthy bodies

Our church in Saipan and the family of God we have there

And some tether ball to make the day complete :)

Rachel's Birthday

October 29th was my wife's birthday and has been her third birthday spent out of the country. To make this day special we spent the day doing some of her favorite things. We started off the day with a trip to her favorite coffee shop then dropped her off with her friends for a day at the spa. 

  

Meanwhile...

 While Rachel spent the day at the spa, Sam and I stayed home to do some cleaning at the house.   While I worked, Sam's job was to open this coconut.

My dog after a long days work.  Good work Sam!

Me and Rach at the revolving 360 restaurant for her birthday dinner.

Happy birthday my darling!

Smooshed Doggie Face

These pictures just make me crack up every time I look at them. Poor Sam!