The house

I have received a few requests for pictures of our new home. I am a little paranoid about divulging too much information about our location, but I would love to show you pictures of the inside. Keep in mind - I need to learn how to decorate.

Here is our downstairs.


To my right is a small room that we are using as a study, but could be considered a bedroom as it has a full size closet. Laundry room is also on this level and it goes out to the garage. Behind me is a powder room.Going up the stairs from the downstairs is the kitchen. It originally had tile counter tops - which I despised! Travis, with the help of our wonderful new neighbor, put in granite counter tops. I love my kitchen, especially all the storage space. I need suggestions for what to do with the top of the cupboards. Please, HELP!


This is the view from the kitchen. We're hoping to get some furniture with our tax return.
And here is the view from our front door. I'm not going to post pictures, but there are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms up the stairs. I have LOVED owning our own home. It has been so fun knowing that we can do what we want with it.

Update #2

A few days after Trav left, my sister Kim and her children came over to keep me company. Usually when Trav leaves - I take off for about a month, but with Lauren in school I wasn't able to do that. Now, we luckily live in the same state as a lot of family. We met up halfway, had lunch, and took them to our house.



The kids loved the ice cream cones.

The week they were at our house helped us transition. I was still really sad when I said goodbye to Kim, even though I was going to see her in 10 days. I feel so touched that I have such wonderful people in my life.

We spent Christmas at Kim's house. I was playing around with a new camera. I had to get a picture - Kim straightened Rachel's hair.

I love Brandon's pose in this picture. He is so macho.
These were just cute pictures of us with our girls.

Kim mentioned on Christmas that it didn't even feel like Christmas, I replied that was just fine with me. Mia was fascinated with the present that Rachel got from Santa and vice versa. Kim and I kept telling each other, "Hey, thanks for getting my kid a present."
Nothing better than beads and legos on Christmas morning.

After Christmas Kim and I (and our posse) took a road trip. We went to Idaho for a few days and saw our good friend Tammi and her family. Lauren got some disposable cameras for Christmas so she has a lot of pictures from our trip. It would be funny to see our trip through the eyes of a 5 year old.

We then went to Utah to visit our families. One day we all met up and went sledding. It was so much fun. I only went down the hill 2 or 3 times because the trek up the hill was killer. My girls had a blast in all the snow. Also, they got to see all but a few of their cousins. That says a lot when you have over 30 cousins.

The highlight of the trip was right at the end. My oldest sister turned 40 in December. We had an adults only dinner, it was nice because 6 of the 7 siblings with spouses were there (minus Kim & my spouses). Everyone, including those who couldn't make it, wrote letters to her that we compiled in a book. We each gave her a little gift that reminded us of her and told funny stories about her. It was a great chance to chat with just the adults. And it was an awesome opportunity to tribute our wonderful sister.

The last day

Our last day with Trav was a Wednesday. Trav wanted the day to be like any other day, the only thing that was a problem with that was me weeping throughout the day. So here's what we did in an effort to be "just any other day."

Lauren loves to watch Trav play Zelda. Its something that she will beg him when he gets home from work to play Zelda. He'll say, "You'll have to read 3 books before hand." or some other task.


We also got Wii Resort for Christmas so here is the girls playing that.We went out to a Japanese steak house with the girls and my in-laws for dinner. The girls loved watching the show as you can tell.
Lauren later referred to the chopsticks as pinchers in asking, "Can we go back to that restaurant with the pinchers?"
No, it wasn't loud in there, Lauren just covers her ears when she gets scared.
Rachel enjoyed the food and entertaining everyone.
At 8 or 9pm we heading on post to the farewell party. They had a room set aside for families to mingle until it was departure time. It wasn't the most relaxing time as little Rachel got into everything she could find. Its hard to stay too upset at a face like this:



At 11:30 pm we finally had to say goodbye. Lauren was (or pretended) to be asleep. Trav carried her out to the car and buckled her in and said his goodbyes.
Rachel was awake and kind of oblivious to what was going on.Trav then said goodbye to his parents and then it was my turn.

I was a wreck. I decided I wasn't going to wear make-up that day because what was the use, I would have cried it all off. Honestly, this is my third time doing this, and it doesn't get any easier. We held each other and said goodbye. The hardest was seeing him walk away.

My in-laws drove us to our house and helped me get the girls in bed. The moment I shut the door behind them, I had a major breakdown. The reality that I was now going to be the sole care giver for our children was overwhelming. The thought of going up to sleep in the bed where he laid just 24 hours before hurt - physically hurt. The thought that the love of my life might be in harms way over took me. I cried myself to sleep thinking, "Tomorrow starts it. Tomorrow I am on my own."

Catch Up

Here's going to be the Reader's Digest version of our life for the past 8 months. I want to catch up so then I can post on the day to day stuff.

August:
School starts early in Arizona, the first week of August. And this year, my baby went to Kindergarten. Lauren was ecstatic and the best part for her each day was riding the bus. Here she is on her first day of school. I didn't cry at all - just a little misty.


I love this picture of the girls. They just looked like good buds.
A day like any other in our household in Arizona. Everyone laying on Daddy.

Rachel and I kept busy during the day while Lauren was at school. We did grocery shopping, swimming, gym and we also had time to straighten her hair. Rachel's hair is naturally curly, one day my curiosity got the best of my and I got out my straightener to do her hair. I just can't believe how long it is.
September:
Trav graduated from Captain's course and we moved back to Washington.

Here are a few of my girlfriends. Its amazing that in such a short period of time you make good friends. Miss you, ladies!
We purchased our first home!!! On our 7th anniversary we signed our papers and 2 days later got the keys. We love it. For the first time in our marriage we can paint walls, (we haven't because I like the color already painted - but we COULD if we wanted to), do repairs and plant anything in our yard. I'm surprised how much I have loved owning our own home.


October: Lauren was Cleopatra for Halloween. Rachel was a Ballerina - but we didn't get a very good picture of it so I'm posting this other picture of her that I think is adorable. The girls went trick or treating at the houses by my in-laws. They had so much fun. Rachel was asking to go trick or treating for days afterward.
Lauren was showing Rachel how to pose.

November: Just a cute picture of Trav and a sleepy Rachel. I love sleeping baby pictures - although she's not much of a baby anymore.
Trav turned the big 3-0. Our friends drove over from the other side of the state to surprise him for his birthday. We had a party and I made some food. He got some fun gifts as well. We gave him a deployment calendar, a shadow box to put all of his coins, and he got a book of nice notes from friends and family. I think it was special for him. He was so lucky though, he got to celebrate twice. His actual birthday was near Thanksgiving so we got to go out to eat with most of his sisters.

I also started couponing, thanks to Kim. here is a picture of one of my purchases. I don't have the exact amount but I think I got all of this for $20 or $25 - but look that included in that is 2 Tides, 9 boxes of Kleenexes, flour, milk, veggies, deoderant, and yogurt. I'm loving couponing and have dropped my food budget significantly.
December: We celebrated Christmas early this year because Travis left on deployment at the beginning of December. We got up and exchanged gifts from each other. Trav got my a big Kitchen Aid mixer. I love it, almost as much as I love him. Its a close tie.