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!

In the Beginning...

I just realized that some of you may be out of the loop on the happenings in our little world. My apologies. I really am miserable at keeping up with email. Hopefully, our handy-dandy new blog will help! Anyway, I wanted to share a little history and bring everyone up to speed. Enjoy our "tale"!



Boy meets girl.

















Boy falls for girl.

Boy and girl tie the knot.

(May 25, 2002)

Boy and girl have a baby.

Olivia Grace Taylor February 5, 2005

OK. So those are the highlights. Obviously, some details were left out, like the fact that Mark is a proud officer in the US Air Force, we bought and sold our first home in Warrensburg, MO while Mark was stationed at Whiteman AFB and our greatest joy was expected on Mark's birthday-March 22-but surprised everyone by coming into this world on February 5 at a whopping 4 lbs 6 oz. The pics above are from her first days and were all taken during the three weeks she was at Children's Mercy Hospital in K.C. As you can tell from recent pics, she is now a healthy energetic and -as far as her parents are concerned-too smart for her own good!