Update from the crew in Guam.

My dad always tells me, life is change. And I'm coming to understand that. Everything is entirely different here. But it has been a great adventure so far and gets better with each day. When we first got here I had a hard time. By the third day I was sitting next to my dad crying. But of course, he reminded me that things will change. And he was right. I have started making new friends and meeting new people. Even meeting new horses. 

We haven't exactly found a long term place to stay yet, but we are in a condo for now. 

I've started going to seminary, and those of us that are old enough go to mutual. 

We have also been enjoying the beaches here. 

And today, my family went to some cool pond/water hole type things. They had a lot of fun. 

You can barely see Harrison in this picture. 

They said there were shrimp in these. Crazy right? 

Mom and I also went to a horse stable.

And the name of the horse stable is Rock  n' Rail. This woman has five horses that she teaches English riding lessons on. 

This here is Sienna. She is a buckskin mare. Very sweet. She's tall and has nice large feet. ;) 

Learning how to saddle English style!

My first time riding English. Very different way of riding than what I'm use to! It was neat though. 

Everything so far so good on this side of the world! Miss and love you all. :)

December 7, 1941

There's a first time for everything right? Well I'm coming to understand that better now! I can now say I have ridden in a taxi, been on a boat, and visited somewhere famous. We stopped in Hawaii for two days! The first day I was just lazy. I slept a lot, and went to the beach. Our rental house was really nice! It had three bedrooms, one bathroom indoor and one outdoor. Have you ever heard of an outdoor bathroom? I never would have even guessed they exist! 

Right outside the back door was a concrete patio. At the edge of the patio was a rock path that led to a private beach! It was so cool! We had a beach in our back yard. Come on how cool is that?! 

Seriously, this was our back yard. 

I wrote this and sent it to everyone back home. It took me a couple times to write it because the waves would wash it away! 

The water scared me, so I didn't go in it much. But I love being on the beach in the sand. The waves were pretty big. Not too far from shore they were getting up to around 15 feet! 

For most the time we were in Hawaii it was cloudy. So the ocean was a gray color. But Porter and I wanted to take a selfie with the beach and the sun decided to show up just for that! I was honored. :)

I absolutely loved all the colors on this island! Mom and I "modeled" for each other. I just love how beautiful it is here. 

This is the front door of our house. Not too interesting. Just showng you.

This is our front yard. See all the colors?! 

I'm not entirely sure where this is.... Mom took this picture of Nicole somewhere around the house. 

Before we went to the airport, we stopped by Pearl Harbor. What an experience! If you haven't been, I would strongly suggest you go. I love history. Hearing stories of our American history, history of my ancestors, any kind of story from 100 years ago or more. So this was a really neat experience for me. Thinking of all the men still in that boat. I wonder, how do those men feel about what we are doing with their remains? Their spirits are somewhere, waiting. How do they feel about millions of people remembering them and what they did. Coming to their grave everyday to be reminded of that tragic event. 

"May God make his face to shine down upon them and grant them peace"

Goodbye for now.

My life is crazy. The craziness grows with each day that flies by. Three months ago, my life was very routine. Now everything I know, is gone from my eyes for a year! Although I'm leaving a lot behind, I'm looking forward to what I'm going to! 

So the journey begins...

And it begins with goodbyes. For the past 3 weeks I haven't been able to be around my friends without crying! 

But I was tired of crying so I threw a party! A pool party more specifically. 

Yes you are probably thinking I'm insane, considering it's the middle of the winter!

But, it was an indoor pool. 

I only invited a few friends to that but it was way fun! 

Since I only invited a few people, I decided to have another party. I called it my "going away party." I wanted to say goodbye to every one I could. So I asked my friend Becka, if we could have it at her house. Because well, we kinda didn't have a place to live. She provided games and beverages. I asked a couple of my other friends to bring snacks. Cookies, chips, crackers, etc. I brought scarfs and sunglasses and hats to dress up and take pictures! It was a fun time and no one cried. :) 

Two of the girls that were there.

We started with a game of truth or dare. I ate a spoonful of mustard! It wasn't that bad.... 

Then we got all dressed up and danced and sang! 

We all had a lot of fun. It was good to have my last time with them (for a year) be so fun! 

That was my first goodbye. The next day at church, I had all the youth from our ward take pictures with me. 

This is my Sunday school class.

And these are my favoritest people! I got a lot of hugs that day. 

This was our last meal in Star valley. It was delicious!

The big move

So, in August, we put our house up for sale. We had a few offers, then a closing date. On November 5th we closed, and were completely out of our house. We have decided, to make the move to Guam.
For the past few years dad has been wanting to go over there and see how we like it. Now, he's making that dream come true! We have bought our tickets and are flying out on December 2nd!

Why Guam? Well, my mom is originally from there. So most all her family lives there. We've only ever met a few of our family members from moms side. Now we get to meet all of them!

Guam is located between Japan, and Hawaii. On the flight there (a 18 hour flight) we will be stopping in Hawaii. How cool is that?! We will get to see Pearl Harbor. I'm so excited. :)

This trip will be bittersweet. But what makes it a little easier is knowing that we will be coming back.
That's right we are only going for a year! So, thank heavens I don't have to sell my animals. We did get rid of the chickens, but the dog will be staying with my aunt in Utah while I'm gone. And for my horse, she will be going back to Cheyenne to my dad's uncle. She and Dog will be in great hands for the time I'm gone.

Dog was sleeping at work. 

She's so cute. I'm going to miss her so much!

Selfies with my horse! ;)

**HILARIOUS**

The horse I have been waiting for my whole life!

I finally got a horse! The week of 4th of July I went to stay with my dads cousin in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I stayed there and just rode my new horse for a week! On the 4th, my horse and I arrived home.

She is a paint mare. She is pregnant and her due date is the 1st of April! She is only about 13 hands so not very big. I named her January, because I was born in January. She does not like to lope (run), but is otherwise the perfect horse for me. She is about 5 years old and has a lot of spunk. She is a quick learner. I have been teaching her to neck rein and she is doing wonderfully! She does not like apples, but loves carrots.  She loves being scratched behind her ears, and loves talking.

 This is what she does when you find her itchy spot. ;)

 I love her blaze.

She is so beautiful!

 Mom decided to take my horse for a walk.

Harris enjoying the sun.

 Coming home from the fair grounds.

  

Yet Another Trip to California

My mom, my sister, Nicole, and I drove to California! We left on Thursday the 16th. We left just before 10:00 am. We drove to Logan, Utah, where we met my cousin, Kaia, who came from Dayton Nevada. We had lunch with her at Sizzler's. Then we went to the LDS Temple and did baptisms for the dead. It was great to see her again. Then, after we said our goodbyes to her we drove to Harrisville, Utah, to see my oldest sister, Shanelle. We stayed there for an hour or two then went to Lehi, Utah and spent the night there. Around 9:00 on Friday morning we were on the road again to get to Hesperia, California. On the freeway we saw a lot of semi-trucks. While we passed one of them, I stuck my arm out the window and motioned for him to honk. He did. It was really, really loud. Especially since my window was open. We laughed and waved thank you to him.
When we got to Hesperia, it was 8:30 pm. It was a really long drive! We checked into our hotel and took our bags in. The room was really nice. The carpet in the hotel had beautiful flowers on it with all kinds of colors; red, green, blue, orange, ect.  I want that carpet in my bedroom!

We put our bags in our room and went to miss Stacy's. Her daughter Darby, her son Bob, and her mom were there when we got there. Her oldest daughter, Tashina, lives just ten minutes away, and her other daughter Mally, would be there the next morning. We visited for a while and helped with a few things for the funeral of her husband, Dan, which was the next day. He had passed the previous Saturday, and that is why we made this trip.

The funeral started at 11:00 so we went early to help get everything ready. There were a lot of people there. Darby spoke about her dad. She did a wonderful job. Tashina's daughter, Mercie, read a letter she had written about her grandpa. It was very sweet and I'm very sure her grandmother appreciated it very much.

The next day, Sunday, we went to church at 9:30. I enjoyed the talks given in sacrament meeting, and the lessons given in Sunday school and Young Women's. After church, we said goodbye to every one and headed to Hurricane, Utah, to spend the night there. Monday, we finished our trip and came home. It was a lot of driving, but I had a wonderful time, and I was glad to be there to help.

Me, my cousin, Kaia, and Nicole in front of the LDS temple.

Me, miss Stacy's son, Bob, and Nicole at the funeral.

Dan's urn (miss Stacy's husband).

Mom and miss Stacy.

A trip to California

On the 2nd day of January,  my mom and I went to the Idaho falls airport. We were flying to Las Vegas. There, mom's good friend Stacy Kosinski, had a 3 hour drive from Hesperia, California, to come pick us up and take us back to Hesperia.

The first few days we were really busy. We got to her house just as it was starting to get dark. We made dinner and ate. Then we all went to bed. In the morning, at 4:00 every one piled into the car to drive for an hour to the air port to drop off Sister Kosinski's son Bob. He is in the army and he was home for Christmas. After we dropped him off we drove to Anaheim.  That is where two of  her daughters, Darby and Mally, live. We stayed there Friday night, then Saturday morning Mom, Darby, Sister Kosinski, and Sister Dunn, (Sister Kosinski's mom) went to the Temple for Darby to receive her Endowment. Mally and I went to the temple grounds to support her but we couldn't go in with them. When they came out we went out to eat. After we ate, Sister Kosinski, Sister Dunn, mom, and I drove back to Hesperia. The rest of the week we just slowed down and relaxed. we went to church on Sunday, and On Tuesday I went to mutual. But that was pretty much all I did after we got back to Hesperia. Mutual was really fun. We went laser tagging. I stayed with a girl named Devin the whole time. She took good care of me.

The trip was a great experience. I did lot's of firsts. Like, I flew on a plane for the first time. Which, by the way, I LOVED! I love flying! And, I got a pedicure for the first time. It was so relaxing. My toes are blue, with white zebra stripes.

Here are pictures from the trip. We were gone a whole week and I am so glad to be home!

This is mom and I in the airport.

This is from Darby and Mally's apartment balcony. These are the Disney land Fire works.

More fire works.

Mom and I in front of the Temple.

 From left to right: Sister Dunn, Mally, Me, Sister Kosinski, and Darby.

 

The Newport Beach Temple.

 This is the Temple's fountain. I love fountains.

This is me cleaning the kitchen with Sister Kosinski's grand kids Bubba, and his sister Mercie.