Goodbye 2006!

Well, this is the last blog of 2006. What a year! We managed to move half way around the world and settle on the island of Guam. We have seen deer, pigs, spiders, geckos, dogs, and a cat -- and all in our back yard! We have been to the beach, been to the beach, and been to the beach. Mark managed to get certified in Advanced Scuba Diving; Courtney earned her Open Water certification; and the little fish Olivia is, she will be diving before you know it! We have become good at Webcamming, and we just about have everyone trained on the time difference between Missouri and Guam. So, how do you spend the last day of 2006? At the beach, of course!!!

What about 2007? Well, on the horizon we are conducting a Marriage Workshop in January. We have a 2nd Birthday party to throw for Miss Olivia, and we have Courtney's parents visiting in February for 2 weeks. March will add another birthday for Courtney and Mark. April may bring a trip back to the States (Vegas). Australia is looking very tempting, and we may try to get down under. Mark will go up for Major in the Fall. Some dear friends will marry in the Summer/Fall (another trip home?). And in between all of this -- going to the beach, going to the beach, and going to the beach! If 2007 goes as quickly as 2006, fasten your seatbelts!




With much love,

Mark, Courtney, & Olivia

A few Christmas Pics

Well, we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas -- island style. We slept until about 8:00 a.m., and we prepared for Olivia to wake up. While waiting, we decided to go ahead and open some of our gifts. Courtney opened her new camera, and the shots below are courtesy of that new toy. It is small enough for Courtney to enjoy and powerful enough for Mark to steal and dive with it! And then we waited some more. Finally, we headed into Olivia's room about 9:30 to wake her up (since Courtney couldn't wait any longer). On Christmas Eve, Olivia said she did not want Santa to come because he is scary. However, she didn't mind the next day when he brought her a shopping basket full of food. We were able to set up the webcam, and family watched us open gifts. Needless to say, it was fun. We have a few shots to share here, and I'll post the rest on the Yahoo site. Enjoy!

I want to be a Rock Star!

Olivia helping Daddy.



Mark's art collection -- Medvedev.

Cheesy smile!
(Note the scuff under her nose from the face-plant she did into a skateboard)

Courtney's new earrings -- girls love sparklies!

Night Out for the Family

This pic is from the Med Group Christmas party and is the closest thing we have had to a "date night" since we arrived on Guam. What used to be a weekly tradition just got lost for a little while in the transition. Now, though, I have been reminded just how much I like being out and about and alone with my handsome husband...not at all to slight our family time with Liv in tow. It was a fun night to get dolled up and spend time with friends and collegues-thankfully we have a lot who are both. Liv tagged along as far as the provided childcare where she played with other kids, ate pizza and jumped on the beds all night. Needless to say, fun was had by all!

Olivia Versus Santa

The Medical Group had its Children's Christmas Party on the 16th, complete with a visit from Santa, who passed on presents to the children. Evidently, through the eyes of a child, this is the scariest mythical creature known to mankind! There were many unhappy kids who will need therapy later in life due to their near-escape from the clutches of the bearded man.

As for Olivia, she will be included in the therapy group. However, knowing Santa gave her a gift helps ease some of the anxiety. Courtney took her up to see Santa, and she may now have permanent strangulation marks around her neck from Olivia's clutch. Once reaching Santa, Olivia attempted to make Santa disappear by repeating "bye, bye," "bye, bye," "bye, bye." Yet, even in her moment of horror, she was able to say "thank you" after receiving her gift.

After opening her gift, Olivia was able to enjoy other fun party games -- eating, putting rings on the elephant's nose, fishing, bing bag toss, and tossing a balloon into the air. Overall, I believed she had a good time. Enjoy the pictures.

Rota Walk

Seeing as how it is always hot and humid on our island home, Andersen AFB has devised a way to help its families feel a little more inspired during the holiday season by hosting what has become known as Rota Walk. This involves decorating all the houses on Rota Drive extravagantly! Then, at 6:00 p.m., come the masses. They admire all the houses and eat all the goodies passed out at each house (from cookies to hot dogs to roasted marshmellows to doughnuts). At one house, a giant model cargo plane flies over the street and dumps candy midway. They make their way down the street, around the corner, and up the road to the live Nativity scene and choir. This lasts until 8:30, then the street is quiet again.

This is very similar to a wedding. There is a lot of planning and preparation. Lots of money is spent on lights and snow globes and candy canes. A lot of time is spent decorating and making goodies. The big event happens, and then everyone goes home.

As for our home, we managed to get our house outlined, a star put on top of the house, a "tree of lights" from our porch made, the palm tree wrapped, and the trees by the parking lot wrapped. But, the icing on the cake was the "Lucy Stand." Borrowing from the Peanuts, we recreated the Psychiatrist Stand (seen below). It turned out quite well, and everyone enjoyed the Peanuts music playing in the background.

Of course, Olivia enjoyed most of it. She was ready to crash in her bed by 7:00, and she was asleep by 7:30. Enjoy a sampling of pictures below. Of course, more can be seen by clicking on Taylor Photos to the right. Merry Christmas!

Where's the Snow?

Training Olivia in the steps of her father.

The Whole Family is "IN"

Courtney and Friends

A National Lampoon Christmas Vacation -- Island Style

Story Time

Pic of the Day

Mermaid

Humpty Dumpty -- Did you know?

One of Olivia's favorite nursery rhymes is Humpty Dumpty. I've questioned when Humpty turned into an egg, because it doesn't say so in the rhyme. I found this today:

The Myth: Humpty Dumpty was a giant egg.

The Facts: Humpty Dumpty was actually the nickname for a large cannon on the wall of St. Mary’s Church in Colchester, England. During the English Civil War (1642–1649), a shot from an enemy cannon damaged the church wall, causing Humpty Dumpty to fall to the ground. Royal sympathizers (“all the king’s men”) tried to perch Humpty Dumpty on another part of the wall. But since the cannon was so heavy, “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” couldn’t get Humpty back atop the wall.

This was courtesy of Page-A-Day Calanders found at www.pageaday.com.

Pacific Island Club

These are pictures from about 1 month ago when we stayed at the Pacific Island Club. Needless to say, we had a fun time swimming, kayaking, and just hanging out. There are more, which you can see by clicking on the Taylor Photos link (to the right). Enjoy!

Scuba Pics as Promised

As promised, here are some of the pics from my scuba adventures.


Me underwater getting ready to be attacked by a giant octopus (action shot).


Finding Nemo extras.



Nature shot.



Fast Turtle swimming away, cursing the paparazzi!

Since it has been over a week since the last update, I thought I'd fill you in on the latest and greatest. Unfortunately, I have no pictures yet, but I'll get those out soon (I hope).

The highlight of my (Mark) week was diving again. I am taking my Advanced Open Water course right now, and we did two dives on Sunday. For each dive, we used enriched air, which means we could stay down longer. We did two wreck dives. I took my underwater camera, but I have not been able to develop the film yet. The first dive took us down about 100 feet, and the second dive was about 60 feet. The first site was the Tokai Maru & Cormoran (two ships sunk next to each other); and the second site was the American Tanker. You can read about each at http://www.letsdiveguam.com/Lets_Dive_Guam_ENG_DiveSiteInfo.html or http://www.mdaguam.com/tanker.htm. We will complete the class next Saturday when we do 3 dives -- a deep dive, a navigation dive, and a night dive. Should be fun!

Of course, Turkey Day is fast approaching, so some coordination took place last week, and it looks like we will be having lunch/dinner with our friends on base -- potluck style. Courtney did a trial run of the Pecan Pie she will make on Thursday. Of course, Thursday here is not Thursday in the States, so no football. Bummer!

On the Olivia radar, she is continuing to add vocabulary to her arsenal of cuteness. She is quite the mocking bird, which is why Courtney has had to give up smoking and cussing. She is also in the midst of potty training. Today she decided the office was more suitable than her toilet though, which fortunately, is tile. She is getting it little by little though. Courtney is most frustrated with Olivia's short naps (instead of a nice, long one), which leaves Olivia a bit grouchy the rest of the afternoon. Any tips?

Courtney returned from a night of shopping tonight. It looks like a lot of the Christmas gifts have been purchased. She also managed to purchase a ton of Christmas lights today for the Rota Walk -- a time when our street goes crazy with Christmas light decorations and the rest of the base walks through the neighborhood to enjoy. Of course, it should be fun to put all those lights on the house.

Well, time for bed. Hope all is well with everyone. Chat soon.

New Links

Just wanted to update everyone on some new links to the right. Taylor Photos and Taylor Videos are both a collection of files stored on Yahoo of us. Enjoy! And, as other friends have blogs and websites, I'll put a link to them.

For those keeping count, there are only 42 days left until Christmas! And, since gift buying/sending logistics are a bit more complicated this year, we thought we would help by posting a wish list online. Here are some general rules though:

1. Of course, we don't expect everything on the list. You may choose one item to not purchase.
2. Except for Courtney's Pampered Chef and Tupperware, the brand names aren't important.
3. The store linked to the item is not important (and may not be the least expensive). For books and videos, www.half.com is a favorite. Of course, www.ebay.com is the ultimate in finding IT, and www.overstock.com is generally a good place to look.
4. Remember, Christmas is not about gifts and lights and trees; it is about the birth of Christ. We are very grateful for a smooth transition to our new home, the new friends we have made, and the support our friends and family have given.

So, hopefully, this helps generate ideas. Now, what about you? What is on your wish list this year? And, have you been a good enough boy/girl to get it!?! :)

42 Days!

What to do with a Day Off

It is Friday night, and we are preparing to call it a day. Mark had the day off for Veteran's Day, so we took advantage of it. We woke up early and headed to the Navy base. Mark got to scuba dive while Courtney and Olivia swam and played on the beach. Hopefully, the pictures taken while scuba diving turn out, including a sea turtle. If not, this will have to do:

After diving, we did a little furniture shopping, but we didn't fall in love with anything in particular. So, no new furniture yet. When we returned home, Courtney and Mark were able to indulge in massages from a therapist at the gym. We are both quite certain we will be sore tomorrow. I (Mark) knew I was in trouble when she jumped on the table and popped my back! But, it was also very nice.

And, to close the day, we enjoyed a birthday party for a friend. So, good food, good company, and a good time was had by all. And that is how a good Day Off is spent.

What about tomorrow? Work, cleaning, studying, etc. Ugh! Time to catch up. Hope to post more pictures soon. Until then . . .

How to Bowl in 9 Easy Steps

Step 1: Pick out your ball.


Step 2: Check out the slope of the alley.


Step 3: Check out your opponent checking out the slope of the alley.



Step 4: Get your hands nice and dry.


Step 5: Give the ball a good push.


Step 6: Watch the ball soar down the lane!


Step 7: Applaud your strike.


Step 8: Check out your score.


Step 9: Make friends with your opponent.

Olivia & Rainbow

We had a fun day of church, a good nap, a bowling birthday party, and a radient rainbow today! I was able to snap some good shots of Olvia, the rainbow, and her mom. Enjoy!