Wow it's been a while.....

Been sick for about 2 weeks and not quite over it yet, but I'm getting better. Juanpablo was able to take off for a day and Sam was at school most of the time so it wasn't so bad. I've been told that coughs last forever here because of the coral in the air...I'm not happy about that. They put coral in everything here, it's even in the asphalt! We have to be extra careful during rain because it is slicker from the coral in the road. Since we aren't used to it when we get sick it makes it worse. But, it's almost gone and so that is good.

We had a great Christmas! We were able to talk to our families on Christmas day and that was great! We made everyone open their presents early so we could see them. hahaha...I'm sure they didn't mind. Since we are 14 hours ahead of most of our family it was Christmas Day for us but Christmas Eve for all of them. It's still so weird to be a day ahead of everyone.

A few days before Christmas I was talking to Bella and I asked her what we celebrate at Christmas. She said Santa. I asked her what else? And she said...Jesus. I thought that we so cool! We had been trying to teach her about Jesus but since she is only 19months old we didn't know how much she was actually learning. It was so cool that she is understanding. We were reading in the Book of Mormon, the one for LDS families with pictures and quotes, and Bella saw a picture of Christ healing the sick and she got all excited and started pointing and saying Jesus! It was pretty cool...of course then she started pointing to everyone else in the picture and saying Jesus! So, I guess we still have some teaching to do...hahaha...

Bella is getting so big. She loves babies now. She got her stroller the other day and was pushing her babies around in it. Then she went into her room and got a diaper and tried to change the babies diaper! It was so very funny! She was trying to make it fit the baby and of course it wouldn't, but she was determined.

She couldn't do it herself and so she enlisted her brothers help to make it work! She is just so funny!

Bella also seems to have gotten her Dad's luck. At Juanpablo's work Christmas party they had raffles and Bella won a Build-A-Bear and a huge Barbie Castle. She is such a lucky girl!

The other day Bella was tired...she was eating some pizza and then all of a sudden she was asleep....she is so funny! She can fall asleep anywhere!

Here is a cute picture of Sam since this blog seems to have just pictures of Bella. She has just been doing some crazy stuff this month!

This is Sam with just a small amount of his superhero collection. He has like 5 times more than are shown in this picture! He is a big superhero fan. Lately he likes Spiderman the best of the traditional superheros. His favorite of all right now is still Ben 10. He was very excited that he got a Ben 10 Omnitrix (it's like a watch) and Santa brought him a Ben 10 game for the Wii. It was a Ben 10 Christmas for Sam. I think all but like 3 gifts were Ben 10 related! So, he was very happy!

There's nothing like camping to make you grateful...

We had a great weekend. We started out the holiday weekend with a district wide Thanksgiving dinner. That was really cool! It is a tradition here in Okinawa since we are all pretty far from our families. The church district provides the meat and whoever wants to come can come and bring either a side or a dessert. We had it at one of the schools on the Air Force base and there were a lot of people that showed up. Then after getting full on turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pies of every flavor and so much more, the kids got to run around and play in the gym for a little while. Then we left and drove about 2 hours to the very top of the island for some camping at the beach resort that is up there. It was already getting dark when we left and we were following friends that had been there before. If we hadn't been following them I just know we would have gotten lost! It was kinda hard to find in the dark. We got there and it was fully dark and had begun to rain. We had to get the tents set up and Juanpablo and I had never set up our tent, we had just bought it the day before! But, it was really pretty quick to get it set up. The Cook's tent was bigger than ours and took a little while longer to get up, but in not too much time we had both tents up and the kiddos were ready for bed. We didn't do anything that night but attempt to sleep. The rain never got that bad, just sprinkling mostly. But oh my goodness, the wind was insane! It was seriously blowing the tent down on top of us most of the night! It was like a hurricane was going on outside! It was so loud! And then we were practically on the beach, just a little bit of grass was between our campsite and the sand, so we could hear the waves really well also.

This is our view and our new tent.

I wasn't able to sleep most of the night due to the wind, I was sure that it was gonna pull all the stakes out of our tent, luckily it didn't. The kids slept great though! It was like nothing was going on outside! Samuel woke up before Bella and Juanpablo took him down to the beach. A little while later they came back and Sam was soaked from about the knees down. The water had come up quickly on him and he hadn't run fast enough to not get wet. Well, we had him change clothes and then he walked around in Juanpablo's shower shoes because his were soaked. We made breakfast and ate and then Leeanne and I drove out to get into the near by town to get Samuel some new shoes. While we were gone Juanpablo, Blake and the kids went to explore and play miniature golf.

Bella tried to kiss Dopey...how cute!

Here is Sam playing miniature golf in Juanpablo's shower shoes!

Samuel loves miniature golf and you just don't see to many places for it anymore. The resort is called Okuma and it has campsites, cabins and like hotel rooms. The campsites are the best because they are actually on the beach and you can see the water while laying in your tent! They also have go-karts, these jumping things for the kids, miniature golf, boats you can rent, water bikes, buggies to tour the resort, jet skis, scuba gear all this stuff for rent at really low prices and we are really excited about going back when it's warmer and the water isn't freezing! It is a Air Force resort and it is really nice. When Leeanne and I got back from shopping we ate lunch and then Juanpablo, the kiddos and I went for a walk on the beach.

It is just so beautiful there.

We found a blowfish on the beach and we weren't sure if it was alive, Juanpablo tried to turn it over and it tried to take a breath! We knew that we had to save the blowfish! So, Juanpablo got some bark that was on the beach and picked it up and got it back into the water. We don't know if it survived, but I like to think that it did!

The water is better than anywhere I've seen. It is this beautiful turquoise color. The pictures just don't do it justice.
We made hobo dinners and ate s'mores while waiting for them to cook. And just hung out. The guys played basketball and the little girls just ran around playing. Then we got the kids to bed and the adults had fun hanging out by the fire til it was really late and we were all ready to go to bed. It didn't rain and it wasn't very windy, so Friday night was much better than Thursday night! On Saturday we packed up camp and then went to play at the beach and then Juanpablo, the kids and I went and did a tour of the resort on a buggy.

Then we went to the go karts and Sam was to short so he had to ride as a passenger with Juanpablo and they raced Blake.

Then Sam rode with me and we raced Leeanne.

Bella slept through all that. She actually didn't nap on Friday which was shocking! But she made up for it on Saturday! Then it was getting late so we went to eat at the restaurant there on the resort, it was really good and very, very reasonably priced. Then we headed home. The camping trip really made me grateful for this beautiful island that we are living on now, for the beautiful world that the Lord made for us, for family and good friends. It really was a great weekend!

Iron Chef Melissa

Did you know that I'm an Iron Chef winner! O.k. so not from the show Iron Chef. Our Branch had a ward activity and there was an Iron Chef competition. We had 3 different secret ingredients to choose from and then it was either side, main or dessert. Our choices were apples, cranberries or pumpkin. I chose to do an apple side dish. I made Salpicao, it's a Brazilian dish. It is shredded chicken with ham strips, peas, carrots, palm hearts and apples mixed with mayo and topped with potato sticks. It is probably my favorite Brazilian dish. It is typically eaten as a side at bbq's but can be for any time. Well, there were several other dishes in my category, but I was the Iron Chef winner for apple side dish! I was so proud! Everyone loved it and I had none left over to bring home. Yeah me! Just thought I'd share.

She didn't even care!

Today was a big day at church for our family. Samuel had the Primary Program and he actually went up and did his part this year! That was a big step for him. Last year he refused to go and do it. He was a little reluctant to go and Juanpablo had to walk with him up to the front. But he stayed up there and didn't cry. He almost cried, but then he was with the other kids in his class and his teacher and he was fine. He did a really good job! He sang the songs and did his part which he had memorized. He didn't get up and play around, he just sat there and did so good! We are very proud of him!

Today was also Bella's first time at Nursery! I was a little worried because Sam didn't want anything to do with Nursery! We took her in and she was grabbing hold of my leg and I had flashbacks to Sam's entire Nursery experience. I was worried! Then Juanpablo got her a puzzle, she wouldn't go get any toys on her own. And she started playing with the puzzle and Juanpablo left. Then as she was still looking to see if I was there I stayed a little longer. I started backing for the door and was worried how she would do when I left. She turned around and looked at me as I was backing out the door. She didn't cry. She just watched me leave and then I waited outside the door to see if she would start crying and after a few minutes someone opened the door and I peeked in and she was still happily playing with the puzzle. I left and went to class happy but strangely sad at the same time. I was happy because she didn't have a melt down, but part of me was sad that she didn't have a melt down! Do you know what I mean? Well, I was in the hall between classes and one of the nursery workers was carrying Arabella to take the older nursery kids to their other class and I thought oh no she's gonna see me and that's it. Well, I tried to not let her see me, but it didn't work. She looked right at me and said Mama! But the nursery worker kept walking and Bella watched me but didn't cry at all. So, I went on to Relief Society and it was so weird to not have Bella in there with me. I'm used to having her sleeping on my lap throughout Relief Society or trying to get her to stay quiet so I can hear the lesson. It was nice to be able to pay attention to the lesson without having to worry about a little one. So, it was a great day! Everyone is happy and everything worked out great!

For all you Austen fans....

There is a great book that I kinda just finished, but actually I can keep going back and reading it again and it's a whole different story. Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books that they had when we were little? It's a book like that but it takes you through all of Jane Austen's most popular books, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, and Sense and Sensibility. You are Elizabeth Bennett and it starts out in Pride and Prejudice. But then you have to make choices as you are going about the story. And you might just end up with Mr. Knightly from Emma instead of Mr. Darcy. Or maybe you believe Mr. Wickham and never learn the truth about him and end up with him. Or what if you said yes to Mr. Collins! Or maybe you meet Edward Ferrars or Henry Tilney. It's so much fun! If you don't like Jane Austen or have never read her novels, then you just won't get it. But, if you are like me and love them, it's a must read! It's just a fun adventure in Jane Austen's make believe world. You may even get to run into Mr. Lefroy from Jane's own life. I highly recommend it! I got it at Amazon.com and it was only $3.99! So, go get it and enjoy! It's called Lost in Austen: Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure by Emma Campbell Webster.

Crazy Day...but fun....

On Saturday we had a fun crazy day! We went to a baptism at the beach in the morning. Sam is excited about the fact that we will be here when he turns 8 so he can be baptised at the beach. Then we came home and got ready to head out to another beach to try snorkeling for the first time. It was so much fun! Bella wasn't as unhappy at the beach this time. She hated standing in the sand and she wouldn't let go of Juanpablo or I when in the water. We found this really cool swimsuit for her. It has was looks like a tire attached to it! So, she floats in the water. But it's kinda hard holding her and stuff. We had to blow it up with a bicycle pump, like a real tire.

She even played in the sand a little, but only as long as it didn't get on her feet! She didn't mind it on her hands, she just couldn't stand it if it was on her feet! She is so funny! Sam really enjoyed the snorkeling! He has a superman swimsuit with a built in life jacket. So, that helped him to float and he would kick his feet and hold our hand so that he could follow us. Juanpablo and I took turns snorkeling with Sam or trying to help Bella enjoy the water and sand. She has changed her complete hatred for the beach, so that's good! I think she really did enjoy it some this time!

Here Sam and Juanpablo are snorkeling. You can see Sam the best in the picture. Juanpablo is behind Sam and you can pretty much just see the top of his head and his snorkel.
Bella and I enjoyed playing on the beach while Juanpablo and Samuel were snorkeling.

The water here is so beautiful! It's so clear! We decided that we are gonna have to get an underwater camera!

After spending a couple of hours at the beach we went to the Air Force Base and went to the Chilli's Festival. Sam had fun playing games and winning stuff. It was a long but fun day! We'll definitely be going snorkeling again!

Halloween!

Well, it was a fun halloween! The kids had a blast. We went around the base and trick or treated. Bella walked for a good amount of time but then she got tired and was just done with trick or treating. She wouldn't go to any more houses. So then she got to ride on Daddy's shoulders or in his arms. Then she was happy and let Sam keep going. Arabella was Tinkerbell, that's probably not a surpise to anyone who has seen her room...there's Tink and her fairy friends all over Bella's room! Samuel has a ton of costumes and couldn't decide who he wanted to be. We just figured that he would pick one of the many costumes that he already had. Then about 4 days ago he decided that he just had to be Ben 10! So, we had to figure out something because we didn't have time for anything to be mailed here. So, I got a white shirt and sewed the black on the front and then used a fabric pen to do the neck and arms, I just didn't have time to do everything. Then we had to find some green pants, luckily we found some at the base thrift store that were perfect! Except that they were size 8, so we just stuck a belt on him and they actually weren't that long with the shoes on and so it worked out. I was surprised that so many of the kids that we passed by knew that Sam was Ben 10. I didn't realize how popular it was. One girl even knew that Sam was Ben 10 from behind! They had so much fun and now Sam is handing out candy when trick or treaters come to the door and he is having just as much fun, if not more, giving the candy away then he did getting his own! He is so cute! Here are some pictures.

Our Pretty little Tinkerbell!

Ben 10 becoming one of the monsters he changes into.

Tinkerbell Trick or Treating

Ben 10 getting ready to change. (that's what Sam told me was happening when I took the picture)