ONE

We moved to Guam when Kaylena was four months old. She in now is 1 years old! Kaylena is definately the baby of the bunch. She screams and I give her what she wants. She crys and her sisters do whatever it takes to make her happy. She claps her hands and smiles when daddy comes home and he wants to give her the world! Kaylena is named after my first cousin Kaufoou and Agustine's sister Elena. I think that she is more Kaufoou than Elena. Kaufoou is hard on the outside but super mushy on the inside. She has a big heart. My Kaylena is the same. A couple nights ago, Eva fell and hurt her head. As Agustine was holding Eva and comforting her, Kaylena crawled over and hugged Agustine. He looked over at me and said "Kay is crying". There were no sounds just big tears rolling down her face and quivering lips. She picked her head up and laid it next to Eva. Eva of course is screaming and crying like she just got run over by a car but poor Kaylena just hugs her and silently crys for her. Kaylena is a joy and we are grateful that she is ours!

FIESTA

One of my favorite things about living on Guam is the many fiestas that happen island wide all year long. Everyone knows what a fiesta is but just in case a fiesta is a party. Polynesians know how to throw a party and they are serious when it comes to food but the Chamorro people are the best hosts! We've been to a couple of fiestas since moving here but the last one we attended last weekend was something else. My Samoan friend, Rachel is married to a Chamorro. His family hosted the fiesta down in Merizo. There was plenty of food and even with the number of people in attendance there was still food left over. This is also after everyone packed food to take home! Merizo is located in the Southern side of the island. It's quiet and exactly how I imagined Guam. I love all the Southern villages! We got to the fiesta late but nothing to worry about because there was lots of food. Mostly local food. Local food is breadfruit, taro, fish, roasted pig, chicken kalaguen and all the other yummy stuff. I was in food heaven!

This fiesta was different from the others we have attended because there was plenty to do besides eat, talk story and listen to music. After lunch, the local men got the roosters out and had a cock fight. No lie! No worries, no need to call PETA because cock fighting is legal in Guam. Im not down for that kind of stuff but my girls were front row for the event. I made them sit with me when the fight started! Then there was the carabao or water buffalo. The girls, especially Eva, had a blast riding it! Thank you Champaco family and Rachel and Albert for your hospitality.

Spring Break Madness

Spring Break is over and Maysa is back in school. First day back at school was so tough for her. Mostly because we had so much fun during spring break that she didn't want to go back to school. I was really dreading spring break and having all the kids home plus one more (we are watching Rachel) for an entire week but it turned out to be a fun time. Im still recovering from our non stop week but it was so worth it!

We started the break with Eva's birthday on the 3rd. We celebrated with a Mexican style BBQ and cupcakes. Chris Montanano and his family came to celebrate Eva's day. Eva sang happy birthday to herself all day long. She was totally festive and so happy to have her friends and family celebrating HER! Rachel asked her "Are you happy that your friends are here for your birthday" Eva said "Yeah, but just my Grandma and Papa are not here because they are far away." Maybe on her next birthday her Grandma and Papa will be here.

Saturday the girls had soccer but we missed the game because they changed the time. No problem! We just drove over to Mt. Lam Lam and had some shave iced and frosty freezes. Next we went home and got ready to attended a birthday party in the afternoon, followed by a fiesta and baptism in the evening!! We started the next week with swimming at the Hilton Pool on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we rode the Easter train at Micronesia Mall, then had dinner at Chamorro Village. Thursday we celebrated Maysa's birthday. She wanted to go out to dinner. We headed to CPK in Tumon and partied with our friends the Montananos. Maysa loves to dress up and go out.

Friday we took all the girls including Rachel and Paige to watch Hannah Montana the Movie. Then that evening we went out to dinner to celebrate another birthday. It was Aaron's 23 rd birthday and we celebrated at Tony Romas in Tumon.
Saturday was soccer but we still squeeze in a visit with our friends Chris and Joleen and managed to finish up Maysa's Science Fair project before having dinner at the Hopoates. Elder Hopoate prepared an umu for his daughter, Keauhea, who is visiting from Utah with her 5 children. We had so much fun at the Hopoate's home. The food was so yummy. All traditional Tongan food. I L.O.V.E. 'd it!!



Easter Sunday was spent watching Conference. Conference messages are always so timely! Easter lunch was in Latte Heights with our friends. The girls even got into a tug of war match against the boys and they won!! The boys better watch out. My girls got muscles...LOL And because we had promised to have dinner with Rachel's family, we headed to Barrigada for Easter dinner with the Warner kids. We seriously had been eating the whole week and just could not eat another morsel. It was fun to hang out with Rachel's siblings and the McKenzie family from our branch.

As if the past week wasn't enough, on Monday when school resumed, we headed to Rittidan Point after Maysa got out of school and played at the beach. The kids were reminded of Alexander and Eva, since we always use to only go with them to Rittidan. I love how close the beaches are and being able to run out for a couple of hours to play on the sand, swim, snorkle or just sit.

In all this madness, the best part was getting birthday presents in the mail from Grandma and Papa. The girls loved their presents and missed their grandparents all the more.