Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Does this thing come with an Instruction Manual?

We did it! I survived pregnancy with all of its morning sickness, gestational diabetes, sleepless nights and weird cravings. I powered my way through labor, only spent 6.5 hours in the delivery room before 12 minutes of pushing and then BAM! I was a mother. 
Fresh out of the oven
Not bad for just having delivered

Grandaddy time

The next couple of days were a blur and then all of a sudden they kicked us out of the hospital and we were on our own with a 7lb 3oz adorable little boy. What the heck were they thinking? We knew nothing about what this little person wanted/needed and there was no instruction manual for parenthood! Thankfully that good old natural instinct kicked in and we have officially survived the first seven weeks. We were also lucky to have some family help, my dad and his wife came in for a week and then right after my sister and her husband came to visit. It really does take a village to raise a child! 


Little E is growing so fast, he eats all the time, loves bath time and smiles all day! For a couple that wasn't sure if they ever wanted kids we are totally smitten and could not imagine life without the little dude. 


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Hiking, Horses and a New Adventure!

Wow I have completed failed at blogging… After my last post life started moving at an incredibly fast pace! I started working not one but TWO jobs, meaning I literally worked at least 12 hours a day EVERY single day of the week for three months. Luckily I worked out out a deal with one of my employers that allowed me to have one day off a week (which I mainly spent sleeping). It was hard work but I absolutely loved what I was doing!

Third place at the Aspen Farms Horse Trial
Four days of the week I spent working at eventing training barn. The couple who own the barn are both internationally recognized competitors and trainers, one of them even made the canadian olympic team at age 25 (proving that I have been seriously slacking off!) I leased the cutest little ex racehorse turned advance level event horse who was then retired from upper levels and is now teaching new to eventing riders like me the ropes of the eventing show circuit. The barn has about 10 horses at varying levels of competition/training that required the upper most level of care. I have never worked so hard in my life but it was completely worth it. My first show we took home third place and the second show we took home seventh (would have been second if I hadn't have made a silly mistake). I learned so much, made awesome friends and had a complete blast but then our show season was then cut short because…

Show Jumping
7th place at the Whidbey Island Show
Cross Country


... I AM PREGNANT!! WHAT????? Yes, you read that right somehow, against all odds and multiple forms of prevention I am currently pregnant with a baby boy. I am a little over five months along and despite the two weeks of non stop morning sickness the pregnancy has been easy so far. I did stop riding horses (throwing up in between riding horses is never classy) and I figured that galloping around jumping solid jumps on an ex racehorse maybe wasn't the safest idea for a pregnant lady. I finished up the stable work in September and am currently enjoying the quietness of only one job! The extra time has freed up plenty of time for Justin and I to enjoy new areas around washington such as Mt. Ranier, Downtown Seattle and Olympic National Forest, soaking up all the sun while we can before the gray Seattle weather sets in for the winter. My mom even came up and visited for a couple of weeks!

Strawberry picking
wine tasting (before I knew I was pregnant) 

Pikes Place Market
Seattle Aquarium
The gum wall in Seattle
Space Needle
Space Needle! 
Mt. Rainier
Panorama Point, Skyline trail on Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier, glacier and wildflowers
Hiking with Mom
Spoon Creek Falls
Camping at Olympic National Forest

Fishing Wynoochee Lake
Wild blackberry picking - Yummy!
Our new little country house
Also, we moved out into the country on a little property of about 20 acres. I love finally being out of an apartment and away from all the noise of a city. The dogs are having a blast on the property and I don't think I have ever seen them so happy to run around chasing birds, bothering the cows and eating manure (yuck). Riley looks great and Layla is currently lounging around recovering from surgery to remove a mysterious reoccurring lump. Turns out a foxtail (from tall grass) had somehow lodged itself into her side and then migrated to the muscle over her ribcage and caused an abscess! Poor girl looks very side with her cone of shame but the spot is healing nicely and she will return to her normal crazy self after the stitches come out in two weeks.


My little girl on the way home from her after surgery check up - Love her!
I hope you made it through the long novel of this blog post and I promise to TRY and work harder at keeping all of you guys up to date on the adventure that is my life!

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Washington - The Evergreen State

I am very sorry for the delayed update but things have been quite hectic around here! We did make it to Washington State after a very LONG and stressful full day of flying but we are safe, all of our bags made it and our dogs did great.

United Airlines PetSafe program did a wonderful job with our dogs, they were given water before and after flights, were transported between planes in a climate controlled van (I actually saw them being loaded and unloaded) and on every flight the stewardess personally came over to us to let us know our dogs were confirmed to be on the plane, not that it mattered since I could hear Riley barking from cargo! A few hiccups at the BWI airport made us almost miss our flight but thanks to my smooth talking husband, and the fact that he is a soldier and we were flying on orders on veterans day, we were able to bypass the security line and run to make our plane. We had another slight hiccup at the Seattle airport when Justin's company FORGOT to pick us up but they sent over someone and we finally checked into the hotel at midnight. I was so tired I passed out with both dogs in the bed with me and slept for about 11 hours.
Layla was very tired after flying 
Riley loving the hotel bed 
The next couple of days Justin and I spent looking every where for housing. The cost of living is much higher in Washington than Texas so we settled on a 10 month lease at a nice apartment complex. We have a two bedroom apartment on the second floor overlooking a small forested area. The dogs are loving hanging out on the balcony staring at the squirrels and barking at everyone who dares walk behind our building. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no furniture except a bed until sometime before Christmas, when the rest of our belongings will arrive from Germany.

After the housing was all situated and we had moved out of the hotel the next disaster came when we tried to buy a car. Apparently you are penalized for being a fiscally responsible person! My lack of credit (I live within my means, only use my debit card so I don't have any debt, etc... ) meant that I was denied financing. Seriously?? Apparently a person with 20 credit cards and 8 car loans can get approved but I can't?! Ridiculous. Well after a lengthy talk with the branch manager at the local credit union we got all squared away and actually walked away with an AWESOME deal plus I got a cute little sporty car!
The new to me but still used Mazda
Once we got the housing/car/cell phone/utilities/bed buying all figured out we actually had a couple of days to sit back and explore this beautiful state! We are living south of the base in Lacey, which is a great area. Lots of parks within walking distance and the off leash dog park is just a short drive away. About 10 miles away we also have a state park that backs up to Puget Sound, we took the dogs there one evening and they had a blast running on the beach and playing in the water. On really clear days when it isn't raining we can see Mt. Ranier! We also found the large farmer's market in Olympia, with amazing local produce, meat, honey and jams. It takes place every weekend right by the bay.

Mt. Ranier 
The goofballs playing on the beach 
Mt Ranier from the park next to our apartment
The port in downtown Olympia right across from the Farmer's Market 
Thanksgiving was another experience. Since we are brand new and don't know anybody yet we just planned on going to a restaurant for dinner but when we started calling around we quickly found out that nobody was open (duh) so a quick google search pulled up the only restaurant around that was serving a traditional thanksgiving meal… The local casino. The area we are in is super close to a Native American reservation, so we drove about 7 minutes down the road to the Casino and ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal. I did however lose $10 on the slot machines. It was a very unique Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving at the casino
I'm still on the hunt for a full time job, I've sent out at least 15 applications so far. I do have a pretty awesome part time job starting up this month that I am super excited about but more on that later… In the mean time we got ourselves a real live christmas tree and I'm off to finish decorating it!


XOXO

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Farewell Germany! I will miss the bratwurst and beer.

Our time in Europe is over for now, today is our last day living in Germany. All of our stuff shipped over a week ago and we have spent the last four days hanging out in the Hotel relaxing and drinking mimosas! The dogs are happy in their crates and I am finally starting to feel a little less stressed about another overseas move but then again that is probably in part to the many mimosas being consumed... It's been an interesting year, lots of new experiences (not all good *cough* oktoberfest *cough*) but overall we have learned a lot and I would not have traded this past year for anything!

Please don't forget me Mom
And because my life would not be complete without one total disaster occurring on moving day here's a recap:

Thursday, November 7th snuck up on us. It was the day we had to clear housing and move to the hotel. I woke up EARLY so I could attempt to clean everything and finish up a last minute load of laundry. In the midst of my furious scrubbing of the oven I noticed a running water sound, assuming it was just running through the wash cycles of the washing machine I blew it off and continued to clean. An hour later, after the washing machine was obviously done, I kept hearing the running water. So, I went into our laundry room to move the clothes into the dryer and was greeted by a completely FLOODED laundry room! Apparently the overflow valve wasn't working and I was standing in a good inch of water an hour before the housing inspector was scheduled to arrive. I soaked up as much water as I could and hoped for the best. The inspector arrived early, immediately called the German maintenance crew and within 45 minutes they had fixed our leak and there was no damage! Luckily everything else went smooth.

Now I'm off to run the heck of the dogs in hopes of wearing them out so they sleep the whole plane trip, I will try and update y'all during transit! First stop BWI, then Denver and finally Seattle. It is going to be a LONG day and I am praying that everything runs smoothly.

Trail run with the pups
The trees have changed colors

Monday, October 21, 2013

Less than a month to go now!!

Three weeks, three weeks, three weeks... I kept repeating that to myself after my husband came back from an emergency building meeting where they informed the building tenants that we have had a homeless squatter man living in our basement for who know how long!!! We are now literally living in the "projects". Justin's gone back to working the night shift and I don't feel safe knowing anyone can get access to our building, what if I forgot to lock the door one night?! Hopefully my two beasts will protect me and luckily we fly out in three weeks!

Flights have been booked, the pre housing inspection has been done, our household good pick up has been scheduled, custom inspection takes place tomorrow and on November 7th we move to a hotel for a few days before flying out on the 11th. The puppies are loving their new crates and they will be flying on the same flights as us! As fun as all the traveling has been, I am definitely ready to be back in the States. We did hit our first little hiccup, the housing wait at our next base is 9-12 months... I had been banking on living on base until we got a feel for the area but it looks like it's going to be off base living for us and I have NO idea where to start since I have never even been near the north west.

Almost ready for the next adventure and because no one likes reading a blog without pictures, here are some of the pups. Layla has gotten so big!

She's catching up to Riley in size and she is much faster
She LOVES playing fetch
My little family!