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!

Swimming.

It's still hot here and a/c is expensive so we went to the pool.

We traumatized this poor kid the last time by trying to teach him how to swim so he worked on his tan a lot of the time.

June and Christina doing "water taxi"

We love Christina! 

Sight Seeing Again.

We went driving around one day and happened upon this site by the airport. It amazing how much was left here from the war. It's everywhere and not really marked so you never know when you'll find one.

Owen always enjoys exploring. :-)

halloween.

Halloween really snuck up on us this year. I had zero of the normal cues to get my butt into gear (ie: colder weather, leaves changing, the smell of cinnamon...) so I ended up sewing the kids costumes the day before our ward's Halloween Carnival.

Tim and I were shocked to find that halloween buckets were $5 at stores! I grabbed a few for $2 on sale and still felt ripped off. I'm still getting used to the weird pricing out here. Things that were expensive in the states (like organic baby food) are super cheap and cheap stuff is at least twice as much. (We went to buy a rice cooker and it was $135! Luckily, I found one somewhere else on sale for $25.)

Ever since June was born I wanted them to be Pebbles & Bam Bam because of the vast differences between them. I didn't know that by the time Halloween came around Owen would be thinning out and June would finally be chubbing up! 

They crack me up.

Our wards carnival was fun but I wanted to get more use out of their costumes so we took them to a the Trunk or Treat at American Memorial Park. (I say "the" trunk or treat because it's the only one here. Trick or treating is non-existent here)

Owen has recently gotten this fear of masks (snorkel masks especially) and gloves so he was a little nervous to let go of Tim's hand but he was excited about all the candy.

It was so hot that I was actually glad we got rained on during the trunk or treat! The kids didn't seem to mind. :-)