The Ohrvalls | The Life and Times of

This weekend has been a packed weekend for outdoor activities.  About time too since we haven't been able to get outside and enjoy the weather with all the raining that we had last week.  On Saturday morning we woke up early and went to a community yard sale that was being held in the gym on base.  Found a blender, small food processor and some picture frames. After the yard sale we came back to the house to eat a big breakfast and get ready for our first official hike on Guam!  We decided that we were going to tackle the Priest Pools Hike first because it is labeled as an easy hike in our "Best Tracks on Guam" book.  We packed up our hiking gear and put on our boots to head out but first we had to go to the exchange to get a camera more suited for the type of terrain we were going to be encountering.  We have a nice canon camera but it is much to big and breakable to go on hikes.  We got a military bundle deal on a camera that is not only shock proof and shatter proof

I know it has been a long time since I last put up a post but there really hasn't been much going on here besides a rain storm.  The Typhoon that hit China on Sunday left a tail end that is came over us and kept us in the rain for 5 days.  We ended up mostly watching movies and shopping around without actually buying much. Then we got the news:  Our shipment of household goods would come in on Monday!  We were so excited to see that truck pull up in front of our house!  That excitement soon turned into a sense of being overwhelmed with all the boxes that were being somewhat strategically placed throughout our house. It is now day 2 of the unpacking process and I can proudly say that all of the boxes have been unpacked (even if the stuff isn't all put away yet).  Day one consisted of mostly kitchen duty.  A friend of mine (Jackie) came over and helped me get through all the cleaning and organizing of the kitchen.  I think I ended up running the dish washer 5 times.  I also d

A rainy day here is nothing like a rainy day at home.  When it rains here all day you end up with rivers for roads and flooding in your backyard.  It has been raining non stop since I woke up this morning at 8:30 am.  And it was even raining before I woke up so I have no idea how many hours straight it has been raining.  But it is now 4pm and there is still no end in sight to the wet madness!  Here is a video of just how crazy it is out there: Matthew and I spent the morning getting some good shopping in.  We went to Kmart, Ross, and the Commissary for food.  We did really well too and only got what we put on our shopping list.  Well, except for a couple to Halloween decorations!  But that is only because we know that we don't have any at all and we want to participate in Halloween this year.  We are going to give out candy to the little kiddies in our neighborhood.  We have been told that the tick-or-treaters are serious out here so we are getting prepared! This week we als

Today Matthew and I took our first hike on Guam.  We had been waiting for my hiking boots to come in but got tired of waiting and just went for one!  So Matthew told me that we could go to the Spanish Steps today and walk to the beach.  I though, 'hey yeah that sounds like fun'.  Little did I know what I was in for.  It was not really a walk as much as a climb, through the jungle!  Literally, we were in the jungle.  With palm trees and little visibility due to all the vegetation. There were points where there were nice clear trails that we could follow easily.  Other times the only way you could tell that you were still on the right path was when you found a pink marker around a tree. But it was literally a climb at the beginning and coming back.  This picture was taken on the walk back to the car.  These are the 'Spanish Steps' that were built by the Spanish (surprise surprise) in order to bring in goods from the water port at the bottom. This Matth

This past weekend Matthew and I finally got up the nerve to venture out into the island and search out a new church.  The church on base is a nice church but not a good fit for us.  When we went to the base church we saw mostly single moms with children and older couples.  We decided that we needed to search out another church to better fit our needs and lifestyle. While driving around the island we spotted a church named Marianas Christian Fellowship.  This was the first church that we have seen on island that is not Catholic, Baptist or Protestant in denomination.  Thus, we figured we might as well check it out.  This is a big step outside of our comfort zones but we got up enough courage and went through with it.  And God is good!  (All the time!)  He showed us a great small church that is very much like the type of church that we would attend at home.  And there are all different types of people that attend this church.  There were other Navy people, Army people, Air force, Wives

Isn't it interesting how I set the car off at the end of the month in July and I sent the household goods off in the middle of July but yet the car got here first! Oh well...THE CAR IS HERE!  With no scratches of anything damaged.  Praise God!  We had to get a new bulb for the tail light and a high beam light bulb but it passes the safety inspection that we had to have done in order to register it in Guam. So now I do not have to wake up at 6:45 to take Matthew to work on the days when I know that I will need a vehicle.  BUT... and here is the new news:  Matthew started working the night shift this week so I don't even have to wake up early anyway!  Funny how that works out. Now that Matthew works night shifts he is here with me during the majority of the afternoon.  It is a pretty cool change for now but we are not sure how long he will be staying on the night shift.  I'm hoping that it is long enough so that he can help me unpack our goods when the shipment finally

This weekend Matthew and I had the privilege to attend a Marriage Retreat sponsored by the military and an organization called CREDO.  We weren't really sure what to expect from the weekend because all that we were told was where to meet and at what time.  We got to the hotel (The Westin Resort Guam) at 4pm and  they gave us our room keys and told us to meet back at the conference room at 6pm for dinner.  So far so good!  We were pretty excited to be able to utilize the resort over the course of the weekend. Our room was awesome!  Sorry no pictures of that because we kinda ruined it as soon as we got there cause we like to unpack and everything.  So basically I didn't want everyone seeing what a mess we made the room! lol.  The bathroom had a double headed stand up shower and a large jacuzzi style tub.  I definitely used that over the weekend!  :) Here is the view from our 15th floor balcony.  They had a large freshwater pool and a smaller waterfall pool with a hot