Mustached...

 

Here's an old picture from last year while Glenn was on deployment. The ward room decided to all grow mustaches. It's pretty sick in my opinion. They then decided to take pictures of just their mustaches and send a "Name that 'stache" game to the spouses club. A whole page of just mustaches? Even sicker.

The Christmas that lasted 3 days

It all started with this little one. She showed up at the house puking and it was all downhill from there.

We had all of these presents to open (Connor is waiting patiently in his Buzz Lightyear snuggie)

And all of our family members ready to go...

So we started opening a few. It's ok if Christmas was 2 weeks late, at least everyone was here now!

Then Laura disappeared...she was sleep deprived and getting sicker...we lost one, but pressed on.

Smiles and bets from the non-sick family members ensued...

And then the Outbreak Monkey also known as Brooke struck her second victim...Grandma...

And then Christmas was brought to a halt. To be continued the next day, but then Glenn and Adam were sick. Now we've had to send a few family members home...just 5 of us left and we finally finished opening Christmas presents!

All started from you, you little bugger! Good thing you're so cute!

Wedding fun!

One of my best friends from high school is getting married in September and the other is having a baby in July! 2011 is going to be a big year for them. While I was home, Emily's wedding dress came in so we got to go with her to the store and help her play dress up. Makes me want to get married again! Then we did some shopping and finally met Chris and Glenn for dinner. I miss these girls!

Laura flew up from Florida just to see me while I was home. What a wonderful friend she is. And a wonderful mommy she is going to be!

Only a few more months til the wedding you two! I can't wait and so happy we'll (maybe I'll) be back for the wedding!

Show times?

I was going to make this photo a Wordless Wednesday, but I think it requires some explanation. When Glenn and I went to the Yunessen back in December, we noticed that next to the pools there were signs listing the "Show Times." Since there is no Shamu here, we were rather curious what the show time really meant. I made Glenn hang out in the wine bath for at least 45 minutes since the show time was approaching. As it got closer and closer, more and more people literally crammed in to the water. Right at 2:30 pm, a Yunessen staff worker came out carrying a large bottle of wine. He explained something in Japanese and then began to give people's cupped hands with wine. They didn't drink the wine, they rubbed in on their face and bodies! Then, at the end, the staff showered the pool with more wine which you can see in this picture. Huh? What? We were confused as well.

Wordless Wednesday: Yes!

Brooke & Connor

One of the reasons I wanted to make the trip home this holiday was to see my niece and nephew. I have talked to them many times on Skype, but I had never met B.

She seemed to know who I was so that was a good sign. Miss you two already! I'm so glad we got to spend so much time together since we stayed at your house.

Besties

Glenn and I had a busy schedule while we were home of meeting friends and family for brunch/lunch/coffee/dinner/drinks. After the first few days, I was tired of eating out! I didn't think I would say that about dining in America!

We met Annie, Jeff and Megan for some Mexican food a few nights after we arrived. Sorry, we missed you Nate (he locked his keys in his running car and didn't make it in time)!

 I miss these girls so much! We wish you could have been there Ali!

See you all in the fall again! Can't wait!

Cake!

Happy Birthday Brooke! Thanks for taking lots of pictures, Jen!

Happy Birthday Brooke!

My niece's first birthday party is this weekend! I wish I could be there to help her celebrate.
Happy Birthday Brooke! I can't believe I just met you for the first time three weeks ago and you are already one. I love you!

Smith Family Christmas

Glenn and spent the night at Blair's house and the next morning we finally got to meet Mike, Blair's fiance. They are getting married in November and we had never met him. Lucky for him, he seems like a pretty cool guy and we're excited for their wedding.

Glenn's dad arrived on the afternoon of the first and we enjoyed a late Christmas with the whole family. Apparently, I didn't take any other pictures besides Blair's little family- Blair, Mike, Oscar and Larry.

And cake balls. Blair ordered these from the bakery that is making her wedding cake. They were yummy!

We relaxed, watched football, ate dinner and opened Christmas presents. Cheryl got me the cutest shoes that I can't wait to arrive in the mail! It was nice to see the whole family.

We spent the next day relaxing and picking out dresses and tuxes for the wedding in November! It's going to be here quickly!

Happy New Year #2!

Glenn and I landed in Minneapolis right on time even after a 45 minute delay out of Chicago. Cheryl was at the airport waiting for us! Home at last! How did we forget how cold MN is?! We dropped our bags off at Glenn's sisters, brushed our teeth and got back in the car for Glenn's friend's house.

 We were barely there for a bit before it was midnight...again! This time change thing really messes with your body. I was exhausted, but not sleepy. It was mid-morning Japan time.

So even though we had flown 14+ hours and traveled ~7000 miles we were ready to party longer than some of our friends! It was great to catch up with Glenn's friends/wives/girlfriends. Some of which we hadn't seen since our wedding in 2007!

It was great to see you all! I wish I had gotten a picture of all the boys together! Who knows when that will happen again. Hopefully less than 3 years this time!

Happy New Year from 32,000 feet...

Glenn and I seriously spoiled ourselves on this trip home. We upgraded ourselves to business class. OMG, it was the greatest thing we've done in awhile. Access to the Admiral's Club (which has a self serve open bar in Japan!), champagne before take off, real meals that aren't served in boxes. It was pretty amazing and for those of you that are wondering, worth every bit of the 50,000 miles and $700.

 Happy New Year #1 (aka Japan time)!

Lastly, I would have paid extra just for the noise canceling Bose headphones. How did I not know about these?! I think I need some for every time I fly. I loved the horizontal bed/chair as well. I think I got 6 or 7 hours of sleep on the flight.

I think we might have to upgrade ourselves on our last flight home from Japan as well. It made getting home and heading straight to a NYE party pretty easy!

We're back....again

After only 1 night at home and less than 18 hours, we hit the road again. This time we weren't headed too far though. We headed north to Nagano for our annual squadron ski trip. It snowed the entire time we were there...it never stopped so by the time we left, some of the cars were covered with more than 3 feet of snow. It was a great trip and excellent snow conditions. I wish I hadn't been so tired from our jet lag, but it was nice to get back on the slopes especially since we are headed to Hokkaido in just a couple weeks.

I've been slacking on my blogging this month so far, but hopefully after this week, I can get my schedule back to normal. I'm pretty exhausted!

More posts coming soon! Lots of pictures from America and Nagano!

And we're back...

So it was a wonderful trip. I'm so happy I got to see all of my friends and family while we were home with the exception of my grandma and grandpa. They were scheduled to come up to Minnesota, but my grandma was diagnosed with brain cancer while we were home and she will start treatment soon. Another reason I was so happy to be with my family.

We met the newest members of our families- Blair's fiance, Mike, and my almost one-year old niece, Brooke.

We had 3+ Christmases with our families.

Most of my family shared a flu that spread at Outbreak speed thanks to baby Brooke. Seven family members caught it with the exception of my father, Jen, me and my nephew. So happy I was able to escape that family bonding!

I got to see two of my friends who are pregnant and will be mothers before we return to the States.

We got to spend an extra night in Chicago and delay our trip home thanks to the snow, but I got to catch up with my oldest friend over dinner. An unexpected perk.

So a trip of ups and downs, but together with family and friends and that's all that counts. Thank you to many of you for making the trip to see us while we were home. We can't wait to repay the favor when we get back to America in the fall.

What's for Dinner? Cosmopolitan Chicken Salad

I had a leftover can of jelly cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving and wanted to use it up. I found this recipe on my favorite Allrecipes.com. It was pretty easy to make. I already had everything in the pantry/fridge. I made the dressing/marinade one day and put it in the fridge overnight and then had salad for dinner the next night. Oh and I used apricot jelly instead of orange marmalade...close enough.

I still have half a can of cranberry jelly to use though....what to make next?

2010 Highlights

January: Tim & Cheryl visit Japan

January: Baby Brooke is born!

February: Dave and Jen visit Japan!

February: Lady Gaga concert from the 8th row!

March: Trip to Guam

 March: Visit Hillary in Fukui, Japan.

April: Anniversary trip to Singapore

July: Amazing trip to Bali

 July: Continuing amazing trip to Lombok and Singapore

 August: Climb to the top of Mount Fuji!

 October: Trip to Thailand

 November: Glenn returns from deployment!