Photo update

There's so much to say but I'll be realistic here. If I were to try and talk about it all in detail, this would never get finished. So pictures and a description it is. 

We celebrated our 4th anniversary this year! Steven kept it all a surprise and planned it all. The acutual day of we just went out for dinner with Olivia. But the surprise was a sunset cruise down near Naha. It rained the whole time and so we didn't see the sunset. But it was still a lot of fun! We cooked Korean BBQ style at our individual tables. The food was so good and we had a great time!

This was at Annie's baby shower. We met her when we lived in Virginia. Her husband had gone to school with Steven and they were in our ward. She just had her baby yesterday and he is a 9lb 4 oz cutie! 

Here are a few of our friends from our apartment building. They are seriously amazing and strong women. I'm so grateful to have them as our friends. 

My full of personality little girl! She loves to accessorize! 

We have started a monthly birthday tradition with Steven's platoon. It has been a little chaotic with their ever changing schedules but has been so much fun! Last month, there was a big milestone for one of the guys so we plastered his face on shirts and they read, "it took this guy 30 years to look this good." Everyone had a great laugh over it. Even the CO was a great sport and wore the shirt for the lunch. 

We love to try new places to eat! I'm still not a raw fish sushi girl, but I do love all the other crab and veggie sushi options. At this restaurant, En-raku, you order the food via a screen and it is delivered on a conveyor belt to you. Or you can just pull dishes from the lower belt as they arrive. 

This is one of our favorite beaches, mama san beach. We love to swim and snorkel here! This fish will swim right up to you!

I love this girl! I could watch her sleep all the time. She has so much personality even when she's passed out! 

The pool opener up at the end of June. They have a kid pool there. The water comes up to her waist, so she loves it! She can walk around without help! They also have a little hippo fountain that filters the water. 

One of my favorite hikes so far! We hiked Tadake falls. You hike in the river to get to the falls. We went with the Elders, the Saunders and another friend from church. The water was so refreshing to be in on such a hot day. The footing is unsteady since it's a river, but there were little kids and people of all ages climbing the rocks and wading the waters. The falls at the end were worth it for sure! 

Some of the guys made it to the top of the falls but were sore the next day. 

We went to a Chinese lantern lighting festival. These are actually a lot harder to light than you might think. There was a pretty strong wind which unfortunatly led to several collapsed lanterns that resulted in instant incineration and diving into the crowds or sea water.

In the few moments after we walked into the house- I ran to the bathroom, washed my hands and came out to find this. She's so proud of herself. She went to the pantry and grabbed the napkins and popcorn from the lower shelves and dragged them to the bathroom. Thankfully that popcorn was never opened.

She loves this spot to read her books! 

We went to a new restaurant,Delicious Sushi, and this was our order! The picture doesn't do it justice really. The guy one a one man show during the lunch hour and made all our food on the spot to include the beautifully carved fruit. 

I went to a painting birthday party last week. While my painting is no masterpiece, I had so much fun painting it. I know that as soon as you instantly saw it, you were thinking Mt Fuji with a Torri gate right?! 

There are moments where she just looks like she has grown up to fast! She also refuses apple slices now. Ms Fancy Pants prefers to chew on the whole apple. 

Wandering Okinawa

It's been a while since we posted! So much has been happening! It's been fun to look back and see how Olivia has grown. 

Here is our visit to Shuri castle. It's the only reconstructed castle on the island. Historically, it's not even one of the more significant castles. It is beautiful though. Something we learned going here: bring a pair of socks with you as a regular practice. We had worn sandles and you actually are required to remove your shoes as you walk thru. 

Back in April, just before Olivia's birthday, we flew space a back to Seattle. One of my brothers was getting married. We were so excited to be able to make it for the special day. 

Here she is strapped into a C5! I had to wait for her to fall asleep before being able to get her ear plugs in. 

Congrats Ben and Melissa! I'm so excited because it turns out we will be having our number 2 baby just before their number 1 arrives! 

While we were there for the wedding, we had a birthday party for Olivia, Maddie, and Bella! It was so fun to have the cousins together! The piñata was a huge hit!

This picture was from Easter! Can you tell I have a ton of catching up to do?! Olivia took her first step at 10 months. She was not a kid who ended up walking within a week though. It was a good couple of months before she was able to get a solid hang on doing the whole one step in front of the other. I partially blame our little apartment. It's so easy to jump from one side to the other. She's currently attempting to increase her speed. She finds it beyond hysterical when she is being chased and she feels like she is outrunning you. 

When Steven went to Korea earlier in the year, he was able to play some pick up soccer games. Those guys came back to the island and started playing on their own teams and are now into the tournament season. When they are low on man power, they give Steven a call and ask him to come play. Liv and I love going to watch him play. She loves it even more when snacks are involved. 

Sometimes between games there is a bit of a break. One Saturday, we left to go to Okuma Fest between matches. The water was beautiful and the food stands were amazing. I love how a little sun sand and water can put everyone into such a good mood. 

I sometimes think I need to pinch myself when it's a perfect day out! This place is paradise. 

This picture cracks me up. Just a few more inches and these tables are the perfect size for her! 

Since we picked up annual passes to the aquarium, we decided to venture back that way. It was supposed to be raining but we lucked out with a ton of sun! Thank goodness we keep sunblock in the car. 

We managed to catch the dolphin show this time. It was pretty funny despite the fact we don't have a clue what the MC was saying. 

One of her new favorite things is forts. 

So much so we decided to pull out some of the furniture in the family room in order to accommodate her fort and toys.

So many pictures

We still love it here. The weather is warming up and most days are sunny the majority of the day. 

We recently ran the Mustache Madness 5k on Kadena. It was so much fun! I ran with a couple of our neighbors. I love the community we have here. They are so wonderful! 

She's starting to walk now! Not more than a few steps at a time. But it's so exciting! 

On St Patrick's Day, a little leprechaun visited us. 

We were able to lure them back for a little treat. We didn't catch them this time. But we love that we have little mystery leprechauns here! 

How about these bunny ears! 

We have a really nice beach about 20 minutes walking from our house. We have been down there a couple of times this week. I do believe she is getting a little tan despite her SPF 50 sunscreen.