Andi's new haircut!

Andi finally got her hair cut today! We had it cut so that she could donate the hair to locks of love. She was so excited and couldn't keep the smile off her face!

Winter in Okinawa?

Anthony and I took some time to create our own winter setting her on our 70 degree Christmas holiday. It was fun putting on our snow hats, even for a few minutes! :)

Our new family!

The dynamics of our family has changed but so far for the better. Honestly, I was a little worried with how the girls would take to Hayden taking up mommy and daddy's time, but I have been truly blessed by God by all my prayers to him about it. The girls had a rough time before he was born, but as soon as he was born, I found them returning to their sweetness and normal behaviors. Now they enjoy every moment with him. Begging to hold and feed him. They kiss him before bed. It just makes me so content to see these kids, siblings, family love each other this way.

Christmas at the Fridley's

Christmas this year was such a blessing. Having Hayden home and mommy healing was a blessing in itself. We would have been happy to have it stop with that. But the tree was stuffed with presents spoiling everyone like crazy. We could barely keep up with the girls ripping the wrapping off. And a pile of paper hid some of the gifts, only found after we cleaned up! Here are the pics.

Hayden Ron Fridley

After the scariest 13 hours of my life that required the my entire life supply of braveness and strength and then finally an emergency c-section, Hayden Ron was born into our world at 10:05 am December 11. He had his cord wrapped around his neck, but once removed, let the world know he was here. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 8.2 oz and 21 1/4 inches long. He has black hair and extremely long toes! We both are recovering, me more slowly than him, but we are so blessed to have came out of all of this. I'm so happy with where we are today, such an amazing family we have become. I watch the girls be content with their new brother, other than they really want him to play. They have welcomed him so much better than I imagined. Daddy is a mess with his son, and they are playing PSP right now together in Daddy's lazy chair. I just can't thank God enough to be where we are!

Family and Pregnancy Pictures

Here are some of the great pictures my friend took for us. Being a little older has made us enjoy some additional things about being pregnant. Maybe we've just slowed down, or not taking it for granted. But they are beautiful!

Halloween

I can't begin to tell you how awesome I felt this Halloween. What a wonderful blessing God has given us to move here and our family finally be together like this. The girls enjoyed dressing up after weeks of asking to go trick or treating every night! HA! But the most important thing I'm so thankful for, is that it was a family outing. After years of missed birthday's, holidays, and events, Anthony and I have both been able to be so involved even in this together. We ran around the neighborhood with our good friends and neighbors and had a great time. Here are some of the pictures of the girls!

Family Game Night

So as young parents, Anthony and I will be the first to admit that we know virtually nothing about raising kids. It's the hardest job ever!!! Sorry mom and dad, because our children aren't the first to test their parents! HAHAHAH! The one thing we both have been blessed with is the drive to keep trying to be better parents. Brush bad days off, and get creative about how to create better days.


This has led us to a family function at the Fridley house, game night. It's not much, and can get pretty tedious and boring for the parents, but has already paid off. The girls got time with their parents full attention. Both of us at once, Wow! And they got to play with games they don't normally get to. They worked as teams and worked on good sportmanship.

The greatest thing was knowing that this small thing, one hour during our week, made a huge impact on the girls. The next morning after game night, Andi got up bright and early and asked daddy to play a game again before he went to work. I think through this the statement that "the family who plays together, stays together!" Why because it gives opportunity to create good memories to help balance out all the mistakes we make everyday as parents!

Here is a creepy picture of a spider we took here on Okinawa. It's just down the road from Andi's school. It's the largest spider in Japan, the Giant Wood Spider. Its known for the strength of the silk it spins. Enjoy! ;0

New Adventure!

So it's about time that we post on here that we are having a baby. Most of you know, but it's nice to get it on here. The due date is December 9th, and it's a boy!!! The girls are so excited, they think there are too many princesses in this family - we need a prince. They are so cute. Talking to my belly and getting to see the ultrasounds. We are naming him Hayden Ron, after Anthony's Poppie Ron. I know that when Hayden grows and learns of the man he's named after he will love his name. Thank you Poppie! Here are some of the ultrasound pictures.

Sierra

RCW Photography

Okinawa and the park

We got out of the house on a rare cool spring day with even daddy in tow. We made it to this park that has a three story roller slide the girls love. It also had a 5 story lookout tower to lookout across the island. So we got some great pictures of the girls enjoying time with their daddy and some great view pics of the island. There is another one I've added of a Japanese style toliet which you will see is a whole in the ground. They are seriously no fun! And....yes...it's the woman's toliet. :)

Praise God for great friends!

I have been so blessed with some really good friends on the island of Okinawa. Ones that even enjoy giving me breaks and hanging doing fun things with my girls. Here are so pics of the girls getting to go to an animal farm/zoo. The peacock is beautiful! And needless to say the girls love all the adventure and mommy loves the peace!

Anthony's learning to scuba dive!

So I can't say that I'm totally thrilled about this. In one way I'm so happy that he gets this experience, but my hysterical fear of being eaten in the ocean makes me a little skittish about this new adventure. Why wouldn't you try it though!? Okinawa is one of the top 10 world dive spots! The coral reefs here pale by some opinion the Great Barrier Reef in Australia! There are species that are here that are no where else. Yes, there are sharks too. But we won't talk about it! :)




I've researched a bit to find out that there are four species of sea turtles that make a huge journey to the China Sea and the Ryukyu Islands (The chain of islands that includes Okinawa). One of them is the Loggerhead sea turtle. Right now is the migration season, and they are making the trip to lay their eggs in the sand, which will hatch later this year. It's a pretty exciting time for the area. I say this because the scuba lessons have came for the reason Anthony has been invited on a long (two tank) dive on another island to see the migrating turtles. It will be an amazing experience. The girls are so happy they want daddy to bring home a picture of Nemo! When his trip is over and we download the pictures I will be posting them!

A good year of pictures!

Gecko Issues

We've been busy as always, Anthony is going to Texas tomorrow for some training for three weeks. It's the first time we've been apart in over a year. It's weird thinking about that. But he has been trying to get so many of our tasks done before he leaves to make it easier on me, so sweet! He put up a fence in the back yard so the girls can run like crazy and not stray into the street. It was a big task, but he did it. Last night we went to pick up a shed for our bikes and lawn mower. When we were breaking it down to fit in the car we found a large gecko. Large I mean, 3 inches long. I took it back to the car to show the girls. Andi petted it which encouraged Sierra to try it herself. But she must have smelled too sweet because the gecko bit her on the finger. I couldn't stop laughing at her reaction. The gecko doesn't have teeth, and it didn't leave a mark, but she was so freaked out. For the rest of the evening she couldn't stop talking about the "ecko" that scared her and bit her on the "fener." I can't imagine the complexes she's going to have later on in life! :P

Domesticated Day!

So today was a glorious and beautiful sunny day! Sierra and I started it with a walk while Andi was enjoying herself at school, then played outside in our new princess house. It was then in the midst of reading a large textbook that I decided to make homemade jam. Here in Okinawa fruit is outrageously priced. For example, apples are $2 a pound, mangos are $8 a pound, and strawberrys are $12 a pound normally. Well right now strawberrys are $3 a pound! I was so excited I bought 3 flats and made freezer jam. I only made it through 1 1/2 before I ran out of pectin, but all in all this is a special treat for us. No more hording the homemade jams from the states that I conned the moving man into hiding in our boxes (food and perishables aren't allowed because if they break on the ship in transit then the rats and birds eat your stuff and ruin your items). My husband will be so excited to come home to this tonight after his long day today. The only bummer was on the way out of the store, Sierra tripped on the sidewalk and ripped open her old scrape wound from before and gashed it bad. She soaked her socks with blood and got quite a bit on her shoes before I got her in her seat an a wipe held on it. Poor thing. :( But she was brave, laughed about it tickling after a while, and Andi helped mommy make Sierra happy by bringing her a toy (she's so thoughtful sometimes). Honestly, there was only a brief moment when I thought I would kill over in the parketlot from the sight of all the blood, but I made it! :)

We have been exploring the island quite a bit lately, taking advantage of the cooler weather. I'm sad to say we are now thin skinned and couldn't make it through an Idaho winter right now. But in defense, not sure you Idahoans could make it through and Okinawa summer right now either.

We have some great friends, one who is Japanese, who let Andi borrow this little Japanese blessing dress with accessories. She loved it, posing prettily for the camera. The girls can speak a little Japanese, but since there are so many Americans on the base they don't get alot of opportunity to use it.

Okinawa is a tropical island, so beach activities are the favorite. We love to go beach combing for seashells and sea glass. Though we are excited for the warm weather to go swimming again. Anthony and I hope to try to go snorkeling and maybe scuba diving this year. The waters around the island are saturated with beautiful corral communities. This place is rated in the top 10 spots to scuba dive in the world. The sea life is truly amazing. Hopefully, I will be able to post that success story later! :P

Baby Love Blankets has it's own Website!!! :P

Finally, in all my spare time, heehee, I managed to create a website for my business. So this blogspot will now be used to show my family and friends what we are up to here in Japan. I've created a link here though for it under my "Family and Friends" just incase you would like to see how my business is doing also. Thank you all for your support!

Our Family

Our family started nearly 10 years ago, when Anthony and I became best friends. Such a blessing the Lord brough in my life with him. Six years later we married, then welcomed a beautiful little girl, Andi, into our lives. A couple years later, Sierra, barreled into our lives. We have yet found a sturdy enough helmet with chin strap for her. Right now we are on the adventure of a lifetime in Okinawa Japan. What an amazing experience so far!

Contact Information

If you want to purchase a blanket or preorder a style please email me at babyloveblankets@gmail.com.