Condo in Oceanside

It SOLD!

We spend many weekends and many hours working on
our home preparing to put it on the market.

After only 3 weeks on the market we were in Escro!
It is a huge relief to be home-free :)

TWENTY TEN

Tons of travels, trials, and transitions.
A tremendous thanks to those terrific, trusted travelers who's time, tears, treats, and thoughtfulness took us through some terrific, tough and trying times.
Treasuring all of you!

New Years: Goodbye Guam

January: Time to Travel

Australia and Palau

February-March: The Great Lakes

Dive School in Chicago
Heath's 30th Birthday: Rubics Surprise

April: On the Move Again

Moving to the Mojave Desert
Thill Family Reunion in Kentucky

May: Rachel Graduating Law School

Ma and Pa made it possible for me to be there to celebrate!

June: Catching Up With My Girlies

Meeting Jada, Holly's sweet little girl
Good times with the Lovely Lisa

July: ALASKA BABY!

Mama Millers gift to us kiddos

I Heart Family!

Hookin up with the Alaskan Crew
Saying goodbye to my biggest buddy :(

August- September I have the COOLEST job ever!

At the grave of "last gunfight of the Wild West"
Heath hiking with his bro Cascade Mountains

October: My Sissy's First Baby!!!

Rachel as beautiful as ever!
Bonding with my new nephew!

November: No Fun at all... BIG time drama with the HOA for our condo in Oceanside (beginning the long treacherous process of preparing to put it on the market)

December: The Holidays

Ended the year with a wonderful visit from the "Other Wilhoit's"

Last Days on Guam

Typhoon Season:

We survived many Typhoons that were headed right for us, they all skirted by. Usually pelting us with some the monsoon tails, pelting us with strong wind and rain. We lived with the Typhoon shutters up for most of our last Typhoon season on Guam.

Rhianon's Job:

I taught middle school science my first year, art my second and did not teach at the school for a third year, as we were scheduled to possibly move in the fall. So, I worked as a ceramics instructor part time at a Historic Inalajan. It was great to stay connected with students as well as be creative with clay.

Preparing to Move:

We received orders in November, sorted and lightened our load throughout December, spent the holidays with our Chamorro family, and packed out our house the first week of January. Leaving six bags of the possible items we would need for the next 6 months. Our plans were to vacation in January to Palau and Australia, travel back to the states, Michigan, Chicago, Florida and then on to San Diego.

Saying Goodbye:

One of the hardest parts of having a job that takes you around the world is falling in love with the people along the way, (who really become family) and then having to say goodbye. Leaving always tears apart and leaves behind pieces of our hearts. We will miss our peeps in Guam immensely and look forward to returning someday!

Typhoon Choi-Wan (15W)

The typhoon is headed for just north of one of our neighbor islands, Saipan. We have power and currently sunshine, but expect to get a lot of rain and wind. Thanks for tuning in. You can keep on storm watch here.

Tropical Storm Headed Right For Us

I know it has been forever since I have posted... Power is out island-wide, I am with Heath at the Naval Hospital, (running on generators) they restrict which sites we can access (no personal email, facebook, etc.) so I will communicate here for now.

There is currently a tropical depression just east of us, headed straight toward Saipan and Tinian, about 100 miles North of us. Right now they say that it could turn into a Typhoon in the next 12-24 hours, just as it hits our island chain. Here on Guam and the fourth of the Mariana islands, Rota, will be under tropical sorm conditions, very strong winds and heavy rain. If the cyclone stays on the projected path, we should expect the worst winds on the west side of the island. (we live on the east coast)

We will still need to be typhoon ready as these storms seem to have minds of thier own. We have a lot to do to be storm ready. Besides putting up the typhoon shutters we need to bring in everything from outside. Being that there is currently no power, we will be unable to wash the laundry and make ice, but worse, we will be unable to gas our cars, mine is on empty (oooopps!) What we will need to do is prepare for power to be out possibly for months, so stock up on food and ice, and tons, I mean TONS of water. Clean out the trash cans and fill them with water. We will need water for the toilets and oh man, can you imagine showering out of a bucket or out in the rain? I am expecting the markets to be packed and shelves empty. I do not know what the phone situation will be like, currently my cell phone and land lines work. We will see after tomorrow evening. Am I missing anything? Maybe I should google typhoon readiness.

What this means for Heath and I, he has to report to the hospital and ride out the storm here until the storm is over. He will then be released, by those who ride out the storm at home, and be available to help me clean up any damage done and strewn debris. I probably could stay with someone durring the storm, but I think I would like to be home, towels in hand and muscles ready to prop up furniture if needed, all by candle light... I know you want to join me.

I am unsure if I will be able to update anytime soon. I will let Heath know he can access this site here and maybe he can give an update durring or after the storm if they still have internet. Otherwise, track our adventure along with us at: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamircolor.html

For more information google guam weather, the first link is the best. If links above don't work go to www.goes.noaa.gov click on satellite along the side and then something like color loop for the best picture of the storm... black inside spinning red is the worst. Pray for us... I am kinda giddy with adrenalin and a bit excited... is that bad?

Sledding on Guam

It is true, we are jealous of all you all who get to play in the snow. But guess what, we make our own fun here too! So there! Bet you all will be jealous of us now. :)

After church our friends hooked us up with this extreme grassy/snorkel/kayaking adventure. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! The boys sledding are way cutter than us, but us ladies sled with the best of them. My favorite is hearing the boys talk about the benefits of our sledding "gear."

(Hope this is more interesting to some of you than wood floors... uh um... Lisa...
But while we are at it here is the video for those of you who are interested in the installing of our new floors and the finished floors)

New Year, New Floors

While the economy is bad and prices are low, and we have amazing tenants in CA we really want to keep, and we could write off our plane ticket home (and more) if we stopped in CA to check on our Condo... we decided to redo our flooring. We had them take out the cracking tile and nasty carpet and put in pergo wood flooring. I think it looks amazing! Our tenants took the pics so I thought I would share them with you all here! I love it!

Our cute little kitchen
The main living space





The Lovely Stairs!

Skydive Surprise

Do I have the coolest wife or what?!

I couldn't have been more surprised with my wifes planning... from scamming with my boss to get out early on a Friday, to dressin up all pretty and pink, to throwing me off by setting up a picnic with a view under a huge tree, my wife planned one of the coolest surprises ever. When she first told me we were going to jump out of a plane it took her the entire drive to convince me we were actually jumping out of a plane that day. In less than an hour later we arrived, had a 5 minute safety briefing, climbed into our gear and we were off enjoying the flight of our lives!

It was an anniversary I will never forget.

Happy Suprise Heath... I love you!
Cheers to 5 more adventurous years!