Happy New Year-2012!

Happy 2012!
We started school back up on the 3rd of January after a 2 week break. We enjoyed our break immensely! It was full of visits from Grant's parents and my friend Megan. We also spent a lot of time hiking, going to the beach, and relaxing. The time just seemed to fly by!
 For New Years Eve, we did exactly the same plan as last year. We started the evening off with going to one of our favorite restaurants Wild Bills and had their free buffet. It is the only day of the year they have a free buffet. It was full of Thai food so it was fun to try different kinds of food. They also had an entire pig to eat. It was a fun way to start off the night of fun!

The girls.

The pig.

Most of the group. (Photo Credit: Brian & Rachel Morris)

From there we headed back to our place and went to shoot off fireworks at the beach. In Saipan fireworks are not common on the 4th of July but on New Years it is quite the spectacle! I am hoping to make this a new tradition for Grant and I when we get back to the states. We bought fireworks during the day and Matt and Amy brought fireworks too. For some of you who may not know me as well, I turn into a pyro during firework time. I had the best time shooting off fireworks. The funniest part of the night was I bought a ton of "flowers" which I thought where the flower spinners but no they just go boom really loud, so that was quite the surprise!!!! It was the inside joke of the night. The best one that I bought was the Twitter Glitter because it was very pretty and went high up. Here are some pictures from our fireworks!

The group hanging out and watching the fireworks!

Me going out to light more fireworks. Matt and I did the majority of the pyrotechnics!

We also did sparklers together and my friend Rachel had the idea of  taking pictures of us while we spell out something with the sparklers. It was a ton of fun and the pictures are awesome!!!!

The girls making 2012 with the sparklers. (Photo Credit: Brian & Rachel Morris)

From there we came back to play the Game of Things at our place. It is one of our favorite games to play as a group. If you have not played it before you should play it sometime. Then at 20 till midnight we decided to stop playing so we could drive down to the Hyatt Resort to watch fireworks on the beach. We got there in the nick of time and watched the large display. It was amazing to be able to lay in the sand and to watch the show!

Girl Picture.

Fireworks at the Hyatt.

After that Megan and I stayed up till one doing snapper fireworks and talking!

Megan and I.

Grant and I are really excited/nervous about 2012! We are excited about having 5 more months in Saipan, getting to move back to the states in June, and seeing our family and friends after 2 years abroad. I dream about this moment sometimes and I can't wait for it to be true! We are nervous and would love prayer for this next chapter in our lives. We both need to find jobs in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, find a church, and need to figure out financial aid for grad school. We are trusting God to lead us in this next area of our married life!