Are you sick of my flower posts??

Because I still have more, sorry! This week it's the orchid festival, in a month is an iris festival I didn't get to last year, as well as the lily festival the month after that. Tis the season for gorgeous flowers in Okinawa. 

Up at the Tropical Dream Center (aka my favorite place on the island), they host the International Orchid Show, and if you thought it was pretty with orchids the last time I posted about it, you have no idea. SO many orchids. So many varieties. So beautiful. These pictures are just a small sampling of what there was. I loved every minute!

 I was wanting to go on Saturday, but Victor wasn't feeling it. Luckily I have these girls who love it just as much as I do to go with. This place is so beautiful.

Happy Monday!

Couples Retreating

This past week, we were able to go on a marriage retreat that is put on by the chaplains for military couples. It was pretty last minute and I was amazed Victor was able to get off work. Normally I don't think I would have cared to go (excluding the fact that it's all completely paid for and takes place at one of the beautiful resorts on the island), but this retreat was led by one of the LDS chaplains and was just for LDS couples, so it was nice to openly discuss gospel principles as it applies to strengthening marriages. 

^^wish I had this view everyday^^

^^Victor getting excited about my baby/fat bump^^

^^at this Japanese resort, they push two beds together to make a giant super bed! I loved it^^

 We had a lot of fun with our friends Anna and Logan. Of course the hotel provided pj's and board games so we had a pajama party jenga playing game night.

So what did I learn at this marriage retreat? Well, I realized yet again from various personality tests that I am strong-willed and stubborn (also "emotionally independent" and "socially selective." hmmm... pretty true) while Victor is peaceful and basically a saint for marrying me ha ha.

But for reals. It really was a good reminder of how lucky I am to have a husband like Victor. We came away with things we can do better, and we talked a lot about our hopes and dreams we have individually, as a couple, and for our future family. It's just such a blessing that we want the same things in life, and that we are willing to support each other in personal hopes and dreams. I'll stop this mushy stuff after I say that I am so happy to have Victor. We are blessed.

And yeah, the free food and hotel stay were pretty sweet too. It was a nice little mini getaway so we're glad we went. We're getting pretty good about getting the gov to pay for our vacations ;)

Our Fist Pumping Baby

Oh hey look! It actually looks like it could be a human! This was our first ultrasound picture, taken at 12 weeks. I was pretty worried it would be one of those experiences where I would be like "that just looks like a blob." But it wasn't, and it's a pretty good picture of this thing growing inside of me.

I was supposed to have this ultrasound at 10 weeks, but since I think I know it all, I put it off, because I was positive I wasn't as far along as they said I was. Well I was wrong. This goes down to that whole "you're pregnant even before the egg is fertilized" thing. Never realized that bit of science.

You want to know some other things I never knew? You always hear about women knowing they're pregnant because of nausea/vomiting, etc. But the dead giveaway is sore boobs. (Sorry for tmi, but this is real life, people.) SO sore. I felt like a pre-teen going through puberty again! How come no one tells you that?

And how come no one tells you that if you spend too long kneeling or something, the lack of circulation can possibly make you pass out?? That information would have saved me a lot of embarrassment before I woke up passed out in the sealing room in the Laie Temple with my vomit on the spotless white carpet. Oh, the joys of pregnancy!

But in all seriousness, I'm feeling really good. I have had a relatively easy first trimester, with no scares or complications, which I am so grateful for. And even though the thought of having children still scares me to death, I'm finding comfort in the fact that this is what I should be doing. I love this quote:

And seeing Victor's excitement and joy in all of this is making it very worth it. So thank you all for your words of happiness and encouragement. Love you!

Beautiful Okinawa Sunflowers

I scoffed at the thought of going to Okinawa's Sunflower Festival again, after spending the summer among the acres and acres of Romanian sunflowers. I shouldn't have been so snobby, because as I arrived with my girlfriends, it was still just as beautiful and as happy, even if it's much smaller here. I just love sunflowers so much, I can't not post these pictures. 

^^sunflowers as big as our heads!^^

^^I should be a glamour shot photographer ha ha.^^

Feeling thankful today for beautiful weather and wonderful people near and far that are in my life. That includes all of you!

2014 Resolutions (a month late)

^^a pretty sunset from last night, just because^^

I'm late in making goals for this year, because I've still been thinking and articulating how I want to improve myself this year. But one thing that I keep thinking of is something I read the other day on this blog. How many times I turn on the tv, or start perusing my phone, when I could choose to read instead, and how much more I could read if I did that. So my goal is to always keep my kindle charged and nearby before I turn on the tv, or to read something on my gospel library app before I start mindlessly perusing social media. To read instead. 

I've also been thinking about the kind of environment I want to surround myself with. I want to be in a positive and uplifting environment. So yes, I need to make sure I myself am being more positive and uplifting, but that includes the things that I am exposed to. So I have been much more nit-picky about the things I see and follow on social media. I've stopped following comedians on twitter who tend to post more crude things than funny things. I've removed things from my facebook feed that may leave me more frustrated than edified (political posts, debbie downer posts, too many celebrity posts, and anti-religion posts {more rare}, I'm talking about you). So far it really has been making a difference. 

I re-read a wonderful talk today, called "No Other Gods." Man, what a good talk. I really really want to always be improving in putting God first in my life. To never let non-essential things distract me from this goal. To me, serving God more devotedly means serving His children more consciously and deliberately. So really, my goal is to be less selfish. To be much more intuitive and proactive about helping others. Too often I think about myself or feel scared to go out my comfort zone. I really want to be better about this. So that's the goal: Serve God by serving my fellow beings. 

My last goal has a deadline for my 27th birthday, in six months. I have six months to get my crap together. To get past my enormous anxiety about things that totally change my life. To try and become someone worthy and qualified to raise another human being. Because it's happening, whether I'm ready or not, so I'd much rather try to be ready. 

Baby Castro July 2014. Man, it's scary. But I feel oh so blessed. 

Happy 2014, everybody!

January Flower Season

It's been pretty chilly here these days. And by chilly, I mean 55 to 60 degrees. It's been so cold in the house I've come pretty close to turning on the heater! Yikes. But, the reason I haven't is because I don't know where the piece of paper is telling me which buttons are which on my Japanese ac/heater units. Ha. So, yeah, it's been chilly, and sometimes I want to complain, but then I remember that it's flower season here and it is so beautiful! 

Sunflowers are in bloom like last year and this year my girlfriends and I explored the beautiful field of cosmos in bloom near our houses. Oh so pretty. 

^^pretty Mickelle^^

And it's cherry blossom season again! So much better than last year, thanks to a very mild typhoon season. I'll probably be heading up to different festivals throughout the week as they come more into their peak bloom. 

Lovely, lovely. 

 Also my winter uniform in Okinawa is that green jacket, as you have seen in all of my recent posts. Helps keep me warm on these "chilly" Okinawa days. Ok, I'll stop, in order to be sensitive to friends and family in snowy Utah and the freezing east coast. Just more reasons to come and visit!

Happy January.
Love, Annie

An Orange Picking Date

It's orange season in Okinawa! Up in the north part of the island there are roadside stands everywhere selling them. Many of them have no people running them, because you are expected to live the honor system and leave your money. Another reason I love this place. 

We pulled over to one of the main orange sellers and asked where we could pick our own oranges (with the help of google translate and pantomiming) and the lady had us follow an old guy in a truck up a long and windy road up the mountain to an orchard ran by the sweetest old lady. We paid a cheap fee and then paid by the kilo for how many oranges we picked. We also were allowed to eat to our heart's content as we picked, so we tried out all the different types of oranges and tangerines. 

 We went on this little date the day before Victor went back to work after a glorious two week leave for Christmas. It was a nice time spent with my sweetheart husband, enjoying this lovely island.

Hope you have a great week!
xoxo Annie