Tropical Christmas.

When Tim and I were talking about future plans of what we wanted to do after he graduated one of mine was to someday go somewhere tropical for Christmas. Have a tropical tree for our tree, send a "warmest wishes" card and spend the holidays on a beach. Lucky for me we'll be getting that for at least two Christmas's in a row! We stopped at the grocery store on Christmas Eve and a group of elementary kids were singing AND dancing to christmas songs that they had remade with an island twist. I was honestly ready to commit to living here for the rest of my life. SO cool. I think I actually cried, it made me so happy.

Christmas Eve we opened our pajamas and our "family gifts" from the Wood family since we draw names. It's family tradition to all get together the night before Christmas and exchange gifts with the names we drew so we could see their reactions. We got some great stuff.

(I love making lists and have been doing this since I was kid so bear with me)

SaraLyn had me and made me a canvas photo print of our favorite restaurant, Red Iguana. I LOVE it. Anything Red Iguana and I will giddy every time I see it.

Tim got a funny t-shirt from Todd that uses the periodic table to spell, "Ge Ni U S" So fitting because they are both HUGE nerds.

Owen got a cool preschool learning computer game from his cousin Maddie and we were shocked to see how fast he caught on and how well he navigates the computer with a touch pad. He can't even say triangle but we learned he obviously knows them!

June got a BEAUTIFUL dress from her cousin Oscar (one I'd actually been eyeing for months!), some adorably cute bows for her hair and a music toy that she and Owen have been fighting over.

Christmas Eve Pjs.

Christina got us this Saipan-da doll and everyone loves it. Owen cuddled with it on the couch before bedtime.

None of us slept well Christmas Eve. Perhaps the excitement keeps us up. Owen (who NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night) woke up at 1:30am and we had to coax him back to sleep. Tim and I stayed up late watching the original "Die Hard" movie (it's set on Christmas Eve) and woke up through the night as well.

Our real stockings are in our storage unit so Tim offered up his socks for our stockings.

Christmas morning tree glow.

Owen woke us up at 6am and wanted to watch "Finding Nemo." It kept him occupied til his sister woke up.

Trying to take a picture of the both of us with the Christmas tree is what occupied OUR time.

June woke around 7 and we finally got started. Neither of the kids really understand Christmas yet so we opened most of their gifts for them. We actually had forgotten about a few we had purchased in advanced and hidden so we just brought them out as we remembered--totally unwrapped. Whoops!

Christina also got Owen "High School Musical" because of his love for dancing and musicals.

We've watched it twice already.

June was funny. She mostly followed Owen around.

Owen was so funny with his harmonica. We kept showing him how to blow into it so he would take a deep breath and then just make the sound on his own. :-)

christmas chaos

Owen and his loot.

glow in the dark saipanda shirt

mickey mouse shirt and shorts

4 movies: the smurfs, ice age, despicable me and HSM

sunglasses

harmonica

kids tent 

snow globe

light saber 

a bag of 100 soft balls for a pall pit in the pack and play

(unfortunately i really needed at least 300 to make it a real ball pit but they didn't seem to care)

and yes, we're THOSE parents. We got him a toliet seat. Come new years this kid is going to be potty trained-- so help me!

Trying on Dad's backpack. We didn't get great pictures of Tim's presents so I will just list them.

Patagonia backpack --his favorite one was stolen when he was on his mission and we've been trying to find it since. He found this one while looking and liked it better.

Teva shoes-- poor Tim stands more than 10 hrs a day at his job and his feet and calves were really hurting. These shoes are incredibly comfortable.

a Real razor! 

shaving cream

gum that won't melt in the heat/humidity

June's stash.

2 dresses from this amazing seamstress we found.

a dress from cousin oscar

another dress from ate tin tin

LOTS of hair bows. (I think in all she got about 12)

Link Beads

Baby stroller

snow globe

sunglasses

shoes

saipanda onesie

two silver bracelets from Dad

by the way-- bugsy has been taking steps!

Tim totally spoiled me. I got an ipod touch AND skullcandy dock speakers. I'm SO excited!

I also got a ring from one of my favorite local jewelry places

A custom made dress from our new favorite seamstress

The tent was a favorite.

After we all got showered and were playing with our toys Tim told me he had one more surprise gift for me. I thought he was pulling my leg and was going to plant a big kiss on me but he grabbed something behind the couch and handed me this....

I actually CRIED when I figured out what it was. I had been wanting this tapestry for months. I had no idea he went back and got it for me. Isn't it beautiful? They HAND STITCHED it. It's so much more beautiful in real life, I'll have to take a better picture once it's hung.

my new ring

June and I in our Christmas dresses.

Merry Christmas---

Maligyan Pasko!

Our Saipan Tree

Our Christmas tropical tree in all it's glowing glory.

We have had a difficult time remembering it's Christmas here. All of our natural cues for the season aren't here. By the time we got serious about Christmas it was too late to order things from the states and we're MUCH to cheap to buy them at the prices here. We loved the idea of getting a tropical tree that we could decorate and keep alive for next Christmas so we bought this one at the Saipan Garage Sale a few weekends ago. It's beautiful. The leaves are a deep red color and with the golden glow of the lights it looks heavenly. We don't really have a great spot for the tree so it's on an end table in the dining room (hence the reflection). We left all of our Christmas things at home in the states in storage so we didn't have our stocking or decorations. Instead of buying new things we made our own and hung some Christmas church socks for stockings. :-) The sun may be shining but it's Christmas time here at the Wood home.

1 Year.

Our little June Bug is ONE.

I just can't believe it.
We got a little festive and put her in a Saipan traditional skirt and our good friend Bernie made her a mini maur maur headdress. 

I really feel so blessed to have this child in our lives. We were so surprised to learn we were pregnant out of nowhere and though I shocked and scared I knew this girl was special. She has a very close bond with her namesake (and looks stunningly like her) and though I didn't know it then, she came at the right time. 

Now that she's getting older her personality is really coming out. This girls got attitude and she's not afraid to let you know! She is so curious and is doing everything she sees her brother (and us) do. She LOVES music and totally jams if any kind of music is on. It's hilarious to watch her reggae jam--she moves her head alllll around and tries to move her entire body with it. So funny. She's also very sweet and such a cuddler. She is such a good hugger and her slobbery kisses are the cutest thing ever. She has broken 5 teeth through this month and boy does she look older. She can stand on her own and cruises like a champ. She loves books and will sit and "read" with you forever if you let her. She loves to have conversations with you. It's the cutest little thing to hear her go on and on as if she knows she's saying something legitimate. Sometimes she talks in a whisper like she's telling a secret--melts my heart. She still LOVES her mommy. Call me narcissistic but I love to hear her say, "mom, mom, mom, mom." We get stopped by tourists and locals all the time wanting to take her picture or just talk to her. She hams it up for the places we frequent and they just die over her. Her newest love? Headbands. She puts them on herself and looks so proud. So sticking adorable. She loves her brother and really pays attention when he is doing his ABC's and preschool songs. One day in the car after completing the ABC song she proclaimed,"ABC!" We couldn't believe our ears! She and Owen both do the hand motions for wheels on the bus together. Cutest thing in the world.

Oh bugsy boo--how we love you.

From Salt Lake to Saipan.

Tim's mom braved the 26 hr trip to come and visit us recently. It was SUCH a treat to have her here and see a family face from back home. We had such a good time showing her sites and spending time with her. The day she left poor Owen ran into her room and was so sad she was gone. He's been having a hard time ever since! Poor boy loves his grandma!

Bird Island Lookout
(apparently Tim was too tall for this picture)

Bonzai Cliffs. It was so beautiful that day.
The crashing waves were the best I'd ever seen and we go to this spot a lot.

The Saipanda Bus!

Wing Beach.
We all had a great time collecting sea glass and shells for Grandma. She even tried snorkeling and saw a few fish! Way to go Grandma!

We celebrated June's 1st birthday (twice actually! She had a pool party the weekend before and then we took her to a McDonald's lunch as a family on her real birthday) We were so thrilled Maureen could be there for her birthday. There is something very special between Maureen, Great-Grandma June and baby June.

A trip to Managaha! (The neighboring resort island--supposedly one of the 20 most beautiful beaches in the WORLD) A friend took us over in his speed boat (a 10 minute ride) and it was fantastic! 

We got "Christmas" manicures and pedicures. :-)

We just loved having Grandma Wood with us the past 2 weeks. She is such a special lady.
Missing you already!

Late night talks with Grandma. I love talking with her. 

She tried lots of new things!

Owen LOVES his grandma.

McDonald's birthday lunch

She and I spent an entire afternoon making paper snowflakes and gingerbread men. 

Managaha Beach.

June's 1st birthday party

We threw June an "Under the Sea," pool party for her 1st birthday. How cool is it that she has a birthday in December and we can throw her an outdoor pool party? I figured we better take advantage of it since the majority of her birthday will be in the snow.

I made purple and turquoise chocolate cupcakes with tiki umbrella tops.

 Decorated with sea shells, pearls, shark fins, turtles and fish. And of course, food.
We reserved the pool at our "community" (the group of houses, condos and apartments we live in) and thought that the management had put up tables and tents for us. Come to find out, our neighbors (who mostly only speak Chinese) did it for us! They were so sweet, they even brought a huge cooler full of drinks and took polaroids for us. They are such good neighbors and they LOVE the kids. In fact, there is a little boy June's age and they want them to marry when they grow up. So funny.

Christina and I had put balloons with marbles in the water but they immediately shrunk from the water being cool and then popped when they hit the sides because it was hot. Bummer. It looked pretty cool for about 5 minutes. I guess people were better decoration choices anyway. :-)

June was not that interested in the candle. She just wanted to get to that cupcake!

Our honored guest! We were so glad Grandma Wood was there for her birthday!

June and her gifts. She actually LOVED opening her presents and showing them to me while I snapped away. So hilarious. What a doll. We sure love our June bug. I can't believe she is one! She still seems so small to me  (I guess she always will be if I keep comparing her to Owen!) and sometimes I still treat her like a baby. Oh how we love this silly girl!

11 Months

Can't believe she'll be one in 3 weeks!