Ringin' in the New Year & Celebrating the 5th

Its been a tradition since my Freshmen Year of College to celebrate Chinese New Year, thanks to my old college roomie. She's been showin' us how its done. This year we spent it with her and the rest of her fam, they've become a second family to us...

The food was so YUMMY! We had dumplings, noodles, orange chicken, and a chinese checkers cake... Bring on the Year of the Tiger!

Valentine's Day was the same weekend. Jeff surprised me with a Massage at one of the Spa's and a homemade 3 Course Dinner, complete with Sparkling Cider (my fav).

He cooked one of his favorites, Chicken Parmesean, and it was SO good!

This V-Day was the 5th Anniversary of our 1st Date.. 5 Years, can you believe it? I can't! I'm grateful I landed him.. He's a definite keeper.

Super Bowl Monday..

According to Jeff, and several others, the Super Bowl is hands down, the biggest, best Sports Spectacle in the WORLD. Last year, we missed it. We're about a day ahead on Guam, which means we get sports, TV, etc. broadcast the next day. So, instead of Super Bowl falling on a Sunday, like it does in the mainland, we get it on a Monday AM. Last year, we were working and missed it.. I think Jeff was pretty devastated.. This year, we were blessed with the Monday off! We decided to have a ridiculous breakfast, instead of the normal game day snacks.

The Breakfast included: Bacon, Sausage, Homemade Donuts, French Toast, Cinnamon Rolls, & a scramble that included onions, peppers, bacon and sausage. It was a "Man's Breakfast", no doubt.

We spent the entire mornin' watchin' the game and chowin'.

The entire afternoon was spent in recovery... The "Man's Breakfast" was not kind to my stomach..

28 Fabulous Years

Jeff is not one for big b-day celebrations... So, we kept it simple this year. Friday night we went to dinner at our favorite italian place with some friends, and then back to the house for a homemade carrot cake. It was my 1st attempt at a carrot cake... the cake didn't make it through the weekend. It was DELISH!

Jeff's b-day fell on a three day weekend... So, we spent Sunday night at one of the hotels. It was nice to sort of escape and just relax..

We didn't do a whole lot.. Nathan joined us as we lounged around, went to the pool and chowed.

All in all, I'd say he had a pretty good b-day... Here's to at least 28 more my dear!

No Place Like Home for the Holidays.

The pure AWESOME-ness that was our Christmas Vacay is impossible to capture in just one blog entry.. and because I'd rather not spend hours in front of a computer updating a blog that only a few family/friends check out, I'm just going to share some of the highlights...

Pre-Christmas... The fam & Jeff's parents went to Blue Man Group. The Gamett's had seen it before, but we were pretty stoked to see it again. Its always a solid show... and it was. The following night the entire family gather to see Nathan set apart as an Elder (or whatever it is officially called...) it was such an awesome experience for us all.. My little bro is growin' up so fast *sniff*

We spent the Christmas Eve in Gamett Tradition... The whole clan came over, we had soup, sandwiches, treats, the annual Talent Show and the gift exchange. LOVE IT!

We spent the next few days in Parker with the Wheatley's. It was SO much fun! The kids were down, and we did LOTS of playing at the park. There was food, and plenty of fun for all!

We made our way back up to Vegas, made a stop in Bullhead for a night to see where Summer and Richard were setting up shop... We LOVED their little condo! Can't wait to have one of our own... We spent New Years Day in Vegas on a Shooting Range. It was SO much fun! David is definitely the best shot in the family, and I'm about the worst...

Our Christmas Vacay got us SO excited to head back, closer to family. We're so blessed to have such an amazing family! We want to be close and can't wait to be soon!!

en route.

We flew back home for Christmas with Jeff's parents and had a lovely 9 hour layover in Narita, the airport just outside of Tokyo. Instead of wasting our lives away in the airport, we decided to venture out and get a little taste of Japan... Def. one of the better ideas we've had! We hopped on a little Trolly/Bus that took us to a Buddhist Temple in Narita, a suburb of Tokyo.

The Temple grounds went on FOREVER. There were stairs, after stairs, after stairs. It was amazing! We were lucky enough to catch some Buddhist Monks perform some type of prayer ceremony. We didn't really have a clue what was going on, but it was fascinating! They were chanting, and praying, and burning things, and banging drums... I want to do more research so I can truly appreciate what was going on.

After walking the Temple grounds for a while, we decided to grab some lunch. The cute little elderly women running the restaurant didn't speak a lick of English, and the very little I knew of Japanese was all food related. Luckily one of the women and I came up with our own way of communicating with one another.. it involved lots of pointing, shaking heads, and bowing... I managed to order us a pretty stellar lunch that included some Ramen, Tempura and Eel. it was DELISH!

After lunch, we braved the serious wind-chill, and wandered the quiet little streets and shops of Narita. It was AWESOME! Before we knew it we were back at the airport and ready to board the plan for HOME! I def want to make an official trip to Japan. I loved what I saw and experience in the short 9 hours we were there.

Grajuashun.

We did it! After a year and a 1/2 of hard work... Long Saturdays... Internships... Exams... Etc. Our Cohort Members, Jeff & I finished the program!

Our cohort became like a second family because we spent SO much time, and shared so much stress... We were 'hooded' at a Convocation Ceremony for the school of education. Our Chamorro brother, David (sitting next to me) opened the ceremony with an AMAZING version of the National Anthem & the Guam Hymn, accompanied by his middle school Ukulele club.

Graduation was held on the following Sunday (December 20th or so....) Jeff's parents were able to come out for the festivities and my bro represented for the Gamett clan.

We figure if we could survive our 1st year of marriage, moving across the world, a masters program, and our 1st year of teaching... and remain friends/husband/wife/etc. We can handle anything else that comes our way!

We were also surprised from some of my old YW & members of the branch.. They came to our graduation, made us leis and a sign, just so show our support... How awesome are the people we've met???

Very awesome.

Who Let the Dogs Out???

Yes, I am referencing a hit from the early 2000's by a forgotten band, the Baha Men. Not because this is popped up on my iTunes shuffle, its not even in my iTunes, but because...

the Okkodo Bulldogs pulled out their 1st win in the school's history today, under the direction of Defensive Coordinator Jeff Wheatley! Exciting? Most def! Especially after their disappointing 1st game loss...

So, CONGRATS to Coach Wheatley (My Husband, jealous much??) & the rest of the Bulldogs!