Chamorro Village

Every Wednesday night at Chamorro Village there are fiestas (i think that's what they call them).  It's set up like a marketplace with different shops full of clothing, home decor, jewelry, and other island stuff.  Food vendors are out selling some delicious bbq, desserts, & other foods. This is where we got our meat sticks...

Our Meat Stick...Sticky & Sweet!!

Aaron enjoying his coconut milk straight from the coconut

Mary & some of the kids (it's great having family here)

Aaron & his cousin Than chillin' at Chamorro Village.

Farrah tasting the meat from the coconut. Her face explains it all! (It cracked me up)

Ahhhhh...Enjoying a refreshing frozen pineapple & strawberry drink. (very hot & sweaty that night)

Also, we recently celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on November 4th. It's hard to believe 3 years already flew by.  Actually, the night we went to Chamarro Village was our Anniversary. We loved being able to do something different we haven't before, tasting the local food, seeing the local entertainment, visiting local shops.  I knew marrying Aaron would lead me to new adventures I would have otherwise never done. I never imagined moving out of the country, but I am so grateful to be on this ride with him. I feel pretty dang lucky! (and of course a million times blessed!).

Talisay Branch

I have never seen a church building like ours before. So I wanted to post pictures because I love how unique it is. We have 3 branches on the island and our building is the only one built this way.  The picture below is our chapel (attached directly behind is the gymnasium). I love hearing the rain on the tin roof during sacrament. (It rains often on Guam)

The next two  pictures are of the baptismal font.

Yup, it is outside. I think it's pretty cool.

I know this isn't a very good picture, but it's of the classrooms. Everything is outside connect by breezeways.

Here is another picture of the front of the building.  If you can't tell this is directly off the side of the chapel, more classrooms & offices.

Notice the beautiful sunset sky in the background?  There is always a breathtaking sunset on Guam. It is my favorite part of the day. Usually, great big fluffy clouds are in the sky, shades of pinks, blues, oranges & yellows dazzle around. I will try to capture a picture of what I'm trying to describe, but it's obvious I'm no professional photographer. It's absolutely amazing though, take my word for it.

Halloween Festivities

The spooky dessert I made when we carved our pumpkins. Ghosts in the Graveyard.

Ooh, scary I know.

At our branch's Trunk or Treat, the youth put a little game of Fear Factor on for adults & kids.

We had to suck baby food out of these cups...

 

With a tiny straw, which made it hard to get everything in one shot...

I believe I heard the flavor was Roast Beef & Vegetables

It was NOT good, but at least my team WON!!

Then we had to fill a bowl up with dog food that had gross earthworms crawling around in it, using a spoon! (kidding, no earthworms were in there)

To end the activities, we finally had the Trunk-or-Treat.  It was a really fun night. We started off by having a chili dinner with the Branch, a costume contest, a cake walk, and so on.  I have never been in a branch before, but I am excited about this new experience.  There are alot of military families (which of course means constant transition) and several local families too. The Talisay Branch has a wonderful family spirit that is comforting to be around. We are happy to be apart of them & grateful we are able to have family in the branch as well.  I hope everyone else had a great Halloween night!!

The Curse of the Egyptian Tomb & More!

Last week we went to a Murder Mystery Dinner, The Curse of the Egyptian Tomb. It was alot fun and my first one. We really enjoyed it and the best part was watching Than & Mary participate in their roles of the play. The lady who put the dinner on did a fantastic job with all of her props!

I also included some pics of us carving pumpkins. Happy Halloween Everybody!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Guam so far...

Sorry I don't have more pictures of Guam. But hey, I've got 3 years here to take plenty of pics. I've just been trying to get settled and so we haven't made it a priority quite yet to venture out around the island. There's a lot of little things with moving, especially overseas. I also think I needed the last 3 weeks to be low key so that I could allow my sanity to return. ( Sadly, Aaron can vouch I haven't been myself lately). These few pictures here are from San Luis Beach on Naval Base Guam. Our family took us out snorkeling this day (I believe we had only been here 3 days at this point). The water is as clear as it looks. I was able to see some fish around the reef we were at. The water here is shallow several feet out because of the reef, & then it drops to deep water. I do plan on getting Scuba certified which I'm a little nervous about, but I don't want that to hold me back from doing it.

Local Cuisine

Pictured here is a local favorite, Red Rice. You can find it at almost any restaurant here (I've heard it's a long process, so I doubt I'll be giving this a whirl in the kitchen).  Simply, it's white rice cooked in water that has been soaked with Achote seeds.  I'm not sure how exactly it's done, but I believe it's somewhat labor intensive. These seeds turn the rice red (obviously) and makes it absolutely delicious! I really enjoyed my meal. We were out to dinner at Jamacain Grill. How Jamacain food ended all the way over here? I have no idea. Yummy, nonetheless! (Not to confuse anyone, everything on my plate is Jamacain, just not the red rice).

It's been way too long

But I've got really good excuses (like 50 of them!). We finally made our move to Guam and things are starting to fall back into place. It's been one heck of a ride getting out here. I only need a little more time to catch my breath, relax, and get back to normal myself (I'm sure I was pretty close to a nervous breakdown at one point!!) I will def post a more detailed blog soon including lots of pictures too! I've missed all of you guys & can't wait to get back into blogging!

XOXO,
Britney

My sweet friend has turned me on to ZUMBA! I went a couple of months ago to a big Zumba festival at the oceanfront & we all danced our little hearts out. I was hooked. It is such a fun aerobic exercise, I highly recommend it. By no means am I a fabulous dancer, but that doesn't even matter. It's about having a fun energetic workout, helping to break up the monotony of the treadmill or elliptical. My friend has worked hard to become certified as a Zumba instructor and her first class was a couple of nights ago! She was wonderful & I know things will only get better for her. Congratulations to her! (We just finished the workout when we took the picture, so please excuse the glistening sweat. Also, please excuse my paleness next to her gorgeous tan skin!)