The Ohrvalls | The Life and Times of

Last night was our first Halloween here in Guam.  We stocked up on the candy because he had been told by multiple people that since there were so many kids in our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods that we would see a lot of trick-or-treaters.  We started with two big bags of candy and then a couple days before Halloween went out and got one more big bag "just in case."  So we felt like we were prepared enough to handle all the kids that we would told we were going to be getting on Halloween night. That brings us to last night.  Matthew and I dressed up in our Halloween costumes (because why should we let the kids have all the fun!?) and put some candles out in our medal pumpkins.  In case you missed a previous post, we did actually carve real pumpkins for Halloween but they lasted all of two days here with the humidity.  So we had our pumpkins out and lit, we had our costumes on and we were ready for the trick-or-treaters!  The time that was...

So I have ranted to Matthew about this a few time but I feel like putting it out there for all to know:  I can NOT find a job here in Guam to save my life!  Not that there aren't any options or that I have not applied...oh no...I have applied for about 10 different jobs here on base since I got here in August!  I am especially upset with the DODEA (department of defense education activity) school system here on Guam because that is the very first job that I applied for within a couple weeks of arriving on Guam and I still have not gotten the "simple background check" e-mail to complete.  Yeah that receptionist said that it would come in about a week .... that was about 2 months ago now.  But I do have to give her some credit, it's not her fault.  Who ever is in charge of doing these background checks has not been doing their job very well because she has called me a couple times now wondering if I have gotten the background check email yet. But anyways, I...

So this weekend we actually got some decent weather for a day!  Matthew and I ventured over to GabGab Beach and went snorkeling on Saturday morning.  The weather had been so wet for so long that we hadn't been out snorkeling in a while!  But we finally got some weather that looked good: Blue skies with very little cloud coverage!  Just the way we like our snorkeling days! So we loaded up all of our gear and a few things to enjoy the sun with and headed into the water. Our new camera can be fully submerged in water for up to 120 minutes at a time so we took it out with us to get some pictures of the life under the surface.  Thought you guys might like to see some of the awesome coral life that we see all over the place out there.  Now granted this is our first time using this camera underwater, some of the pictures might now be of great quality but we will get better with practice.  Some of them actually turned out really well.  ...

Finally after over a month since we received our shipment of goods and I did a blog showing the messy state of our house, I have finally reached a state that I am happy to share with you all. It took a long time and lots of debate but it all finally came together nicely.  I am by no means done with the decorating of the house but I can now officially say that our house is now a home! Here is the living room all picked up and organized! :) Our entertainment center with shelves. I like to think of this as our 'mudroom' space.  It is where Matthew gets ready for work and where we put our things down (like my purse and such) when we first come into the house. The hallway to the bathroom and bedrooms. The kitchen.  I am pretty proud of the mat that I made out of those foam gym mats. Our dining room with the table that we got at a yard sale for $200.00 that can expand to fit 6! My favorite project:  the coffee/tea cente...

Today Pluto shipped out with his adoptive father Chris Coolahan.  Matthew and I took them up to the airport this morning.  So I wanted to so a blog that said goodbye to Matthew and I's first pet.  He was a good dog in that he showed us what it means to be pet owners and the responcibility that comes along with that.  We are going to take some time now without a pet until we can't stand it any longer and want to get our own.  So here is to Pluto:  thanks for teaching us many lessons and giving us some stories to tell in the future, have fun living the civilian dog life in Texas! We will always remember you,  Jennifer and Matthew

So before I tell you what actually happened yesterday on Columbus day, I was to tell you what the plan was so that you can see how easily things can change and we must adapt around here. The Plan:  Matthew was on kennel duty this weekend so he was going to get up and go take care of the dogs at the kennel while I was cooking us a big, sustainable breakfast at home.  When Matthew came home we were going to eat then leave to drive up to Anderson AFB to order the bedroom set that they have.  After Anderson we were going to go to our hike called "Double Reef Beach".  Finally the drive home and relaxing the night away. What Actually Happened:  It started off as planned with the kennel duty and cooking/eating breakfast.  We left to go to Anderson around 8:50 am.  We got to Exchange on Anderson at about 9:20 and discovered that since it was Columbus day they were not opening until 10:00 am.  So we were faced with our first dilemma:  wait for the...