Emma's Baptism

We had the privilege of being back at the very beach where Ella was baptized for one of her bestie's baptism!  {San Luis Beach on Naval Base Guam}  Emma was baptized on a beautiful Sunday {24 Jan. 2016} afternoon, and she was surrounded by friends AND family!  Lisa's sister and her husband were visiting!  It's such an amazing thing to have family come to visit here.  It's not easy or cheap, so it's always such a blessing!

And the unique setting of the ocean always takes my breath away.  This is definitely a time we will NEVER forget.  :)

Emma's sister, Isabel put this saying in the frame for her.  So perfect for the setting and the occasion.

I know... not everything is perfectly beautiful.  The potties in the background are a little less than appealing, BUT... it's perfect right here.  In the shade of the ironwood trees, feeling the breeze off the ocean, the beauty of everything else.  Amazing!

Emma and her dad, Seth.  In the background you can see the jetty that is at GabGab, and far beyond that Spanish Steps.

There's something very literal when we say "entering into the waters of baptism."  {And at least these waters are warm!}

Washed clean and ready to keep the covenant she has just made.  

Cute girls, good friends.  :)  LtoR:  Ashton Hunt, Avri Lallatin, Lexi, and Isabel Garcia

While Emma was getting redressed, everyone had the opportunity to write her a little note of love, encouragement, advice, etc.  I do wonder what Ella wrote to her!

Nolan Lafferty found a rather large hermit crab.  Eeek!  ;)

All that were there... except me.  ;)  Liebhardts, Lallatins, Goodrichs, Hunts, Garcias {obviously}, Perrins, Laffertys, Bishop Dana, Bro. Albert, Sister Jenson {Primary President}, and two missionary couples.  Love these people!

Scout Fun!

Braeden is still participating in Cubs, even though he has already turned 11.  There's not an 11 yo scout leader, and he would be the only one participating, so he is waiting until March when at least one other will join him to begin his actual Boy Scout experience.  At which time, he'll also receive his Arrow of Light award!  Yay!  He was able to achieve his goal!  And he went a little above and beyond the minimum requirements.  We had a rough year, doing most of it on our own, while also fulfilling other callings.  But I'm happy to say that we pulled it together.  Yes, WE!  They can't do it all on their own, and family support is absolutely vital in scouting.  I'm totally convinced of that.  And to think when we moved here and I got the calling to be a Cub Scout leader I had NO IDEA what was going on!  I was NOT a good scout mom up to that point!  AT ALL!  But I quickly reformed, and Braeden loves scouts!

This last Tuesday {2 Feb. 2016... yes, the same day as Lexi's game and my LAST YW activity} his Cub Scout pack went to a local police station!  They had a fantastic time, and I heard it all went really well, and they learned a lot... with the exception of having to be given a "warning" because they were having a little too much fun in the interrogating room together!  Hahaha!  I'm not sure I even want to know, but I'm grateful to his leader for taking them all!

He did mention that he NEVER wants to go to jail!  Lovely... set your goals high, Braeden!  Hahaha!

So happy to see this big of a crew again.  For a while I think it was only 4 or 5 of them...

Haha!  Can you just imagine these three in the back of a police cruiser??  I better never have to!  These three have been friends since we moved here, too.  Jared, on the left, moved in a few months after us, and Hayden has been here even longer than we have.  His dad is the bishop.  :)

I'm not sure I know all these boys anymore, but...
Back row LtoR:  Hayden Dana, Redlee and Lamoni Tigilmai, Braeden, Maddax Lallatin, Langston Lafferty
Front row LtoR:  John Tang, ? non-member, but is Jared's neighbor..., TyTy Wieres, and Jared Cuevas/Montelongo

Thanks to Joyce Montelongo, who is currently their leader.  The one and only.  I've been in that spot before here, and it's SO HARD, yet can be so rewarding when you love these young boys!  

Lady Seahawks

McCool Elementary/Middle School doesn't institute "cuts" for sports programs, which means that any given sport's squad can be fairly large.  I think there are 28 girls playing soccer right now for the school.  So... they have split them into an A and a B team.  Similar to Varsity and JV...  The B team gets to play its own separate scrimmage game on Fridays after the A team plays the regular game.  But on other occasions, when the competition doesn't prove to be outstanding, the are rotating the B players in as subs.  {Which is a great thing.  These kids are out getting exercise and having fun doing it with friends!}

The good news:  Lexi and the other 4 LDS girls have been able to secure starting positions on the A team!  SO FUN to watch them!  They are a great group of girls, and to top that, they are good friends, too!

They played their first game on 29 Jan. 2016 and won 2-0.  It was absolutely a team effort.  They did an amazing job, and I'll be THE FIRST to say that you will never win a game without a good defense.  Lexi, however, is playing a forward position.  She is playing either right or center forward... right now I can't totally remember... and she's sleeping so I can't ask her.  ;)  She scored the two goals that secured their victory over St. Francis.  YAY!!  That is huge for her confidence!  She has come quite a long way from her first days playing as a YOUNG 6 year old U8 player in Temecula.  She is strong and has great ball control.  And... she's got abs!  Haha!  That's what her teammates were saying when she took a goal kick to the stomach and was able to flex, control, and then score quickly off it.  :) There weren't very many substitutions this game, and Lexi didn't come out the whole game.  She did great and has much better stamina than I would have ever expected when we started our soccer journey!  They play 30 min. halves with a 10 min. halftime.

These are our FIVE LDS girls on the team.  All starters!  Love them!
LtoR:  Logyn Lallatin, Isabel Garcia, Ashton Hunt, Lexi, and Avri Lallatin

GAME ON!!  Even though she had a hurt quad, she did awesome!
{In fact, both she and Logyn have hurt quads, but they have pushed through and played AMAZING!}

Lexi on the left, and Isabel... friends since the first week we got to Guam.  So fun to see how much they've grown... in soccer and otherwise!

Believe it or not, there was a bigger girl on this opposing team.  And they were actually pretty quick on the field.  A force to be reckoned with.  But

...Lexi prevailed against her and was able to score.  :)  This may be blurry, but it's the closest I got to the actual goal.  

Halftime breather.  This game was a quick moving game for pretty much the whole game.  

The second game, and second win, came just Tuesday, 2 Feb. 2016!!  They played Harvest Christian Academy.  I wasn't able to attend.  I was busy finishing everything for that evening's New Beginnings at church, getting Ella off to regular soccer practice, and getting Braeden to the church early for his scout outing at the police station, BUT I heard it was a good game.  Damian gets photo credit here.  :)  It was low energy due to the heat and then the rain and crazy humidity, but they were able to rotate all the B team players in {which was great practice for all of them, and for a solid defense}, there were quite a few bumps and bruises and Isabel got the wind totally knocked out of her :(, and they were all a bit sore when they cruised into New Beginnings!  {And saying that... we were worried that since they were a ways away for this game that they would be late to the YW activity... so they took great care to leave as quickly as possible, figure out ways to eat and get changed and wiped off before putting on church clothes, AND THEY ALL MADE IT BEFORE most of the other girls.  Sigh.  My mom would FREAK OUT if she had to do Tuesday night activities here.  We are LUCKY if they get started 15 mins. late.  Lucky!  Haha!  Island time is a good and a bad thing!  ;) }

Pre-game  {Lexi is #2}

The clap, cheer, and high-fives after Avri scored the only goal!  It happened within the first 5 mins. or so of the game.  :)

This is pretty risky, if you ask me.  On both parts...

Corner kick!

Fuzzy hair cracks me up... every time!  Love my strawberry blonde.  {Though the red shines through in her attitude more often than not, of late.}

Halftime.  We really are enjoying her coaches.  :)
Alicia Kelly and Ashley Northington

Mid-game downpour.  ;)  #3 on the opposing team is a friend from surf.  She's SO LITTLE!!!  But they're not that much different in age.  I think Lexi's 6 mos. older than her.  

Let's be honest here:  she was not happy with some of the calls made... or lack thereof.  Evident on her face.  ;)

Nice work, girls... though I don't think your opponent shares the same thought.  Haha!  This picture was just funny to me.  

Yay!  Another win!

Love this!

Anyway... GO SEAHAWKS!!  Woot-woot!!

I Can't Remember!

I'll be honest... it's been SO LONG since I've blogged that I can't even remember exactly how to do it, but... let's see if I can figure it out.  I say all the time that I NEED to be better at keeping a journal, whether photo or otherwise, but I also WANT to be better.  I'm just not good at making the time to do it.  And I feel old.  At the end of the day, I'm simply exhausted!

Take for instance last night...  I spent the day prepping and finishing all the details for New Beginnings, cleaning the cultural hall, setting up {both with the awesome help of Damian}, then giving the big lesson on this year's theme:  Press Forward  2 Nephi 31:20, then cleaning up and getting everything home again!  And by the time the activity was over, I was totally spent.  I didn't even do the dishes!  Ugh!  {Though I will admit that for my very LAST YW activity here on Guam, I was very pleased with how it turned out!  What an enjoyable evening!  I was VERY moved at one point in my object lesson!  I'll have to share that all in a separate post.  And I didn't get any pictures.  But I know someone who did.  Maybe she'll be willing to share!}

Then... we talked about how soccer went for Ella, how the game went for Lexi, and how the scout outing at the police station went for Braeden.  Showers, getting ready for bed... a quick read in The Friend, and it's already past bedtime.  When I get into bed and think I'm settled, I get THE WORST leg cramp known to man, I'm pretty sure!  It just would NOT let up.  Boo!  And then my exhaustion totally took over, and I was cooked.  Done.  It was over.

I will say this:  I did feel like I accomplished something.  A lot of things.  And I need to remember all the small victories made throughout the course of my days.  No matter how small and insignificant they may seem, they do make a difference.  If even a dent.  And they do matter.

So...  here's the start {hopefully} of blogging again!  It's small, yet it's a start.  And nothing gets accomplished unless we START, right?!!

Starting now...  I have made a commitment to myself to photographically record the things I love on Guam.  I always enjoy the beauty of the scenery around me, but the realization that I won't be here forever, and that I WILL forget a lot of this over time has started to set in as we prepare ourselves {if even mentally and emotionally right now} to move back to the states this summer.
Here's some of what I found today that I love:

"I Spy" a baby YellowBittern!  {Who squawks at me as I try to get a little closer...  ;) }

Awww!  It hasn't even fledged yet!  It's got fuzz on it's head, along with some little rain droplets!

It's neck is totally craned, and it's up on its legs ready to flee at any second.  I had it totally stressed out... not meaning to, but still.  

Peek-a-boo!  

This is baby bird's brother or sister.  Hope it hatches!  Maybe I can capture it since I know it's likely coming soon!  

The nest isn't as tightly woven together as other nests I've seen.  But... it seems to work. 

Here is the mother.  She came back and landed on my lawn and was eyeing me carefully.  These birds are strange looking, but also beautiful.  They have an almost purple-colored feather under the wings.

Yes... my lawn got mowed later that day, too!  It was getting a little long...

Hibiscus touched with rain.  This from the bush where the bird is nested.

Yeesh!  I do NOT love spiders, but... this is a beautiful thing to see on a drizzly day.

As it drizzled, the clouds hung low on the hilltops.  This is just northwest of where I live.  Hard to believe that just about two years ago a fire ripped over pretty much this entire hillside...  {It was green again only several months later...}

The sun peaking out and gracing the hills.  A beautiful Guam morning.  :)

Double Digits!!

Lexi hit double digits on 27 April 2013!!  It's true!  10!

And speaking of multiples... she lost TWO teeth in ONE day!  That was just on 15 May 2013.  She's been a big deal around here lately!  ;o)

She started her birthday with a soccer game!  Then Ella's game came and I had to leave to go coach that, but by then Damian, Colleen, John, and my mom were there to watch!  Then Braeden's game... {you see the schedule of events EVERY Saturday during sports seasons?}  Then she headed out to lunch with the 2 grandmas.  She chose Souplantation and they all had fun... or so I was told!  ;o)

Then we hung out for a little while until it was time for dinner, and by then SAmberIlliam had come and were ready to party!  So we ate yummy sandwich food and then began the celebration with candles and gifts! 

The girl after my own heart.  She chooses GIANT cookies over cake!

Notice John is trying to protect the candles from being blown out by the wind, but I'm suspecting he wasn't counting on the wind that is coming from BRAEDEN'S MOUTH!  Sheeesh!

The reaction to the first gift from Damian and I.  {Well... actually... she is WEARING the first gift.  When she got to go with just Damian to Disneyland for her birthday date, the shirt just had to be bought!}  It's true... we got her a container of blueberries!  She is always begging for them and eats them like candy!  :o)  She OBVIOUSLY loves it!

Braeden and Ella split most of the cost for this!  She wanted one... they provided!

From Gma Pam!

And when she saw Luke's mom and I building a Money Tree for the Spring Basket at Open House, she BEGGED for one, too!  Though it doesn't have as much money on it as that one did {because parents from Braeden and Luke's class donated money and we ended up with $80 on the living ficus tree} she appears happy anyway!

And she started a fund for a surf board!  That's what she's planning to take up once we're safe and sound on Guam!

And thanks to those Gma's {all 5!} and others who gave her money, she now has over $200 in the fund!  {And I shouldn't leave out Uncle John, Gpa Mike, and Great-Gpa Autrey here, but it's easier to say that all 5 Gma's gave her money!  ;o) }

The crowd... including an old neighbor and her friend!  

Happy #10, Lexi!  You are an amazingly talented little girl!  We love you very much!

The only way William would go with Damian was to bribe him with the great outdoors!  ;o)

And even then he's still contemplating whether it's a good idea or not!  Hee hee!

But his attention was captured enough by yElla making her way up and down the driveway and street on the skitters!

Hmmm... I don't think these are the best accessories, but... they worked, I guess!

Lexi and Alyssa

William wants the fan!

Lexi and Amberie trying to get William to wave!  But with no success!

Aunt Colleen, Gma Pam, and Lexi... with the beloved fan!

And then I finally got to hold William and get him to giggle!  Yay!

The ritual goodbye!  With Sam... 

Spider Monkey!

And then... here's the tooth update.  Looks painful, huh?  It was.  The gum that was left on top just hurt her for SEVERAL days...  :o(

And to top all of this off... she's scheduled for oral surgery on her first day of summer!  June 6th she will be having all four of her permanent bicuspids removed.  Just not enough space in her mouth.  Sigh.