The Life

We went to Valdosta's amusement park & wild life park this past weekend. Its also a Water park but it doesn't open till next month. We went ahead and got ourselves season passes, as it will pay for itself after 2 times. They also have concerts every Saturday starting in April. Toby Mac is first...the one I'm looking forward to is Casting Crowns in June! Anyways, since it was just Nick and I, we had to take turns for the rides...here is Nick.

We only rode this one. Just because we mainly went to the opening day just to scope it out. We saw all the animals though. Watched a tiger show, which was awesome. I'll have to post some pics of them in another post.
Brynlee did ride a carousel for the first time. She didn't know what to think. She didn't cry though, so thats something right?! Nick said she looked like she was getting dizzy..her mothers daughter!
This picture just makes me smile! She looks so grown up here. Funny thing, she wouldn't look at me, and obviously it was very noticeable because this guy walks by and whistles and she looks straight at me and grins. So it was very nice! Great picture, I told Nick wanted to go hug that guy cause it came out so cute.

On another note. Brynlee and I are getting back on an airplane...I really didn't' want to this soon. Haha. Feels like we just got off the ride of our life. Its cheaper this way though. We are flying from Jacksonville FL {almost 2 hrs away} to Memphis TN{30 mins from my mom & grandparents in AR}. My mom is graduating Nursing school {May 11}and its a very awesome accomplishment so I decided what the heck, we'll come for the graduation! Then my friend that I went to school with is getting married in June. So the plan is for B and I to stay in AR till the wedding. So we'll be there a month. Nick and the dogs are going to be driving up {10hrs} May 27th. Then Brynlee and I will ride back with them. I am pretty excited. Nick and I haven't been to a wedding since ours, so it should be fun! Also, since B was born we haven't been with family as a family, so thats cool too! My sister is going to be there as well, so we'll get to see her.

My mom is coming here for her Spring Break. She is hoping to be here Friday evening, and stay the whole week. Again, I am very happy about this. She can help me decorate! I think thats all for now. We are loving our house and the area, we can't wait to really explore it!

Only a month to go....

*11 Months Old*

What are you up to these days B?!

*Well you are getting very close to walking...you love to do it while holding our hands, and just started doing it with only one hand. Since doing that your balance has improved greatly. Makes me think it'll be sooner then we know.

*You love to feed yourself. You have even let me put carrots on a spoon and you would put it in your mouth.

*You get so much attention when we go out. People are either ranting about your gorgeous blue eyes, or how good you are! I am very grateful for how you behave in public I must say!

*You say Dada and Hi, a lot. Mostly though, you grunt. It doesn't help that we think its funny and grunt back, so clearly we aren't helping, ha.

*You LOVE your dogs. Kaci tolerates you more but I think you mess with Kodi just because you know it annoys him. & he just gets up and walks away and you follow right after him.

*Elmo and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is all you'll watch on TV, sometimes Veggie Tales.

*You like to wave HI and BYE with both hands and smile while looking at your hands, as if you don't know how they are moving like that.

*You aren't afraid of the grass. You will crawl in it with bare legs.

*You love to snuggle your blanket, and you aren't picky. You will pull the kitchen towels down and snuggle them as well. Unfortunately we lost 'fluffy' at the Aviano Hotel....we have to replace it.

*You can sign Please & wave ByeBye

*You can stand alone, but you don't realize it. We've caught you doing it without your knowledge, once you realize you are standing you sit or try to reach for something and fall. You've stood for a good 30 seconds before without knowing you were.

*You love to be outside, just like your mama.

I can't believe you will be one in less then a month. It makes me so happy but yet sad all in one. I know you have to grow up but it makes me sad that you won't always be so little. I'm so proud at how smart you are and when you smile and giggle all else doesn't matter. I love you so much and as much as I want to keep you little, I am very eager to see the girl, young lady & woman you will become.

Whats been going on with us?!

First things first, we have a place to call home! An answer to prayer really. Also a big thing about it, we aren't renting it. We own it! Some may think we are crazy but the way it all panned out was all the Lords work. He's incredible really, lol.

Brand New, never lived in. 3bedroom.2bath.On a little more then a half and acre. On a cul de sac.

Lots of yard! The builder is putting a fence up like the neighbors. And our property is all the way to their fence(they put their fence on the line.)

Here is the actual back yard. We have a lot of those trees....

Real wood floors in the living room. I love them!

Tile and granite counter tops in the kitchen. Lots of cabinet space, deep and tall! Realtor is putting a refrigerator in that matches the stove, dishwasher, and microwave for us, we get it today!

Master bathroom. We have his and her sinks and 2 walk in closets! I'm so excited not to have to switch my closets out for each season!

So thats really the big news.

Our move went very smooth! With 6 suitcases, a pack and play, a stroller, 3 carry on's, 2 large kennels and dogs, and a baby....it went so smooth compared to what I was expecting. Granted we had lots of delays with the flight, but we are here now.

My mom and nana picked us up in Atlanta on Thursday and we drove down here to Valdosta. Its a very pretty city and a lot bigger then we expected. Mom was here to help us with house hunting and I was very glad she was! As we've never done this before she was a lot of help.

Now to make this house a home, we just need our house hold goods. We get our car this week, so that will be wonderful to get rid of the rental. We get OUR internet this weekend too, yes I'm stealing this by sitting on our front porch, hehe.

We are all doing great, not much jet lag. We fall a sleep earlier then normal but are able to stay up all day, lol. The dogs are adjusting well, I am just ready for our fence to be installed so they can run free!

We went to a church this past Sunday and are going back this coming Sunday to Sunday school as well this time. We didnt' have much time last Sunday to stay and chat since we had to be back at the hotel by noon, but it worked. I am excited to go back and maybe meet some people!

Thats all I've got for now. Hope everyone else is doing great!

SnowBoarding

I know I've only been twice, but I love snowboarding. Its very tiring and my bum tends to get sore at the end of the day from falling, but all in all. Its a blast. I love being outside for one, and in the winter, there isn't a ton to do unless you do snow sports. Here are 2 pics from the last time we went. We went to Cortina Italy and it was so pretty.

Nick and I taking a breather before we head down the slope...
Holly and I and the gorgeous view of the mountains behind us. One of my favorite pics of us really.

We are planning on going to Nassfeld Austria in the morning to board one last time in Italy. I am really excited as I've heard great things about this place. I am super glad Holly is coming with us and our friend Terri. There are quite of few boys going so it'll be nice to have some girls to go down the slopes with...since the boys usually leave us in the dust.

I am planning in taking a lot more pictures and hopefully some video's tomorrow too. I do wish we were moving somewhere with snow, Georgia isn't really a snowboarding state. One day maybe we'll get orders to Hill Utah, which is where we would love to go. All in all, we'll have a blast in Georgia, so don't get that wrong, maybe I'll learn to surf instead! Haha!

Seriously?!

Happy 10 Months!

Oh my goodness...this last month has flown by so fast. I feel like I just posted that Brynlee was 9 months old and now here we are, at 10 months already. I know time has flown because of all our getting ready to move and stuff. Which is cool, but I'd like it to slow down now. Haha. I know it won't happen. Ever. Now that we have her. Time will always fly.
She is such a ham now. With her giant 2 teethed smile. Speaking of teeth, she has all four top ones right there. You can see the right two, but the left two actually have broke through. Soon it won't be a 2 tooth smile, it'll be 6!

• I honestly don't know how much she weighs, since we don't have our scale currently. I'd guess 17-18lbs. She is 27 and a quarter inches tall, I do know that.
• She eats a lot of table food now. I will make her some mixed veggies for dinner and she'll have peaches or apples or banana's with it. Sometimes she'll eat the Gerber Chicken or Turkey sticks.
• We still only eat real food for breakfast and dinner. Lunch is just a bottle. She loves cheerios when she gets them. We've even tried Gold Fish and she likes those too. So far, she still isn't a picky eater. Still doesn't care for mashed potatoes though. We just tried them again. Oh and she likes pancakes.
• She takes 2/3 naps a day. I think she starting to kick the evening one, which I am glad. Its too close to bedtime. Not that it really matters right now, in 16 days we're totally going to screw her schedule up when we move.
• Loves to walk, but still isn't confident to even try without our help.
• Gives kisses
• Talks on the phone
• Loves her puppies
• Her favorite toy is Violet that Holly got her for Christmas
• We're pretty sure she says Hi now.
• So very curious about everything.
• Loves playing Peek a Boo.

She brightens anyones day with that smile of hers. This age is really so much fun. I am excited to see her grow more and learn more but I'd be cool if we paused here for a while. I think thats about it.

About a week and a half ago...

This is what our house looked like. I am standing at the front door taking this picture. So you are looking at the living room/dining room. Oh what a two days those were. It went very smoothly. There was only on guy that came the first day to pack. He packed the entire house except for the kitchen, the futon and our bed(which was nice of him to leave for us to sleep on that night!). Then the next day him and 2 other guys came to finish and load the crates up. I believe we have 6 crates. Crazy. They were awesome and made a wooden crate specifically for our glass kitchen table. Its a big ole square piece of glass and we now have a crate for it, that we get to keep for our next move which is pretty awesome. (storing it will be more fun, ha)

Now imagine that picture above with absolutely nothing in it. Thats how it is now. Well, my friend Holly lent us a carpet for B to play on and we have an FMO couch and table and chairs. So it works. We spend most our lounging time in our room on our not so soft FMO bed. We'll watch movies and TV on the computer so its more comfortable then the couch!

Brynlee is doing well. Pretty sure she doesn't know whats going on or whats to come either. Whatever she thinks, she's taking it all in great! The dogs, they probably know more then she does. Since they do know what the suitcases mean. Granted this time, they are coming with us and clearly they don't get that. Kodi has been very clingy and Kaci just more spaztastic(yes I think I made that up) then usual. They are much better since the movers have left and nothing has changed much since. The next change for them will be moving into TLF(hotel) on the 11th. Then of course the much too long plane ride over the big water on the 16th. Then the hotel in Baltimore for the night. Then the very short plane ride to Atlanta on the 17th. Then the 3 hr car ride to Valdosta, Moody AFB. Then another hotel and hopefully not too much after that a house to call home for a while.

Whew, when I put it all like that it really seems like a lot! I will say that everything is falling in place and I have way less stress then I did a few weeks ago. The hotel in Balt is going to accommodate us on getting the dogs (not so much them but the huge kennels) to the hotel and back to the airport the next day. Then one of the biggest blessings is my mom is going to pick us up in Atlanta! She lives 8hrs away. We wanted to rent a pickup truck since we have the kennels and not sure if they would fit side by side in a van but since we aren't 25 they won't let us. But we can rent a convertible! Haha. How crazy is that. So my mom is driving my Papa's truck up and then we'll drive down to Moody. That will be Thursday. And she doesn't have school again till Tuesday so she'll be spending the weekend with us!

Our car was shipped on the 18th and its on the Ocean Liner as I type! So it could very well be in ATL when we arrive, which would be a huge blessing! Then we wouldn't have to rent a car till ours got there! Oh that would be wonderful.

We have 3 perspective houses. As long as they are still available we will be going to see them. 2 are totally different and I can't seem to make my mind up as to which one I'd want. From pics anyhow, one looks more suburban and the other looks more country. Both have their perks. Ones old, ones new. One has a huge yard, one has a decent yard. I mean seeing them in person will help for sure. We shall see. I just hope they are available so we can see them.

This is Nicks last week of work here in Aviano. Crazy to think. He is pretty excited to start working on the A-10 though. And be back on the flightline. I am definatly ready to go. Only thing left to do is say our goodbyes, which I am NOT ready to do!

Good till the end..

First time!

Ouch, thats how my muscles feel right now. Quads, biceps, calves, wrists & knees are the majority. Yes, I went snowboarding for the first tome this past Monday. It was a blast. It was just Nick and our friend Chris and me. Nick has gone only once before, but he at least knew what he was doing, Chris has been quite a few times before. So I was the rookie. Nick was awesome. He didn't rush me or push me to do this or that. He just kept encouraging me that I was doing great. Which helped so much. I didn't cry once! If you know me, thats a huge feet right there! Haha.

We went on 6 runs total. We went to the peak as well. That was the last run and by that time I was so tired that I fell a lot because I didn't have enough strength to keep my toes up! I did take 2 huge falls. One was falling on my bum, on more of an icy spot then fluffy and I hit so hard it kinda knocked the wind out of me and make my eyes go fuzzy...yeah. The other, well I wasn't even boarding! Chris and I were on the lift, which is by far the worst part of the whole deal, and I was all ready to get off and my board hit the snow...and stuck (my fault though) and BOOM I went face down. They had to stop the lift and all that fun stuff because I was on the ground in the way. Oh man. Nick was on the lift behind us and he was like " I saw you, and then I didn't!" Chris and Nick were cracking up for quite some time. And I know, according to Chris, I won't live this one down.

We are planning on going this Saturday to another mountain a little ways away hoping for some better snow. I was perfectly fine with just going up the mountain here(30mins away) for my first time. This time my friend Holly is coming with us, and I am super excited. I just need to still find a sitter for Brynlee, haha. Clearly she can't come. So as long as I can get someone to watch her, then we're good to go. Otherwise I think Nick and some boys will just go.

On another note, tomorrow is when our house gets packed up. Nope, I'm not ready for it. I haven't even packed our suitcases yet. I know I know. This morning is full already. We had to meet Nick at the gas station this morning to pick him up because he was dropping the Tracker off to get cleaned for shipment. Then we had to take him to get his car from Pass and ID and then we have to go pick him back up to get the Tracker in an hour and take that to the shipment yard to get it shipped out.

So once we are home for good today, I have to pack. Should be fun. The dogs are staying at Holly's tonight so that they aren't here when all the movers are here. Kodi would love them and Kaci is scared of people, especially Italian's so I'd rather not worry about them. My friend Terri is watching B in the morning so she is outta the way too. Yes yes, busy day! I'm ready for it to be over!

Thats all I have now.

Little Reader

The love I have for books has most definatly been pasted down to Brynlee. She gets so excited and kicks her feet insanely when I take a book out and start to flip the pages. I love it.

For Christmas my dad and sister got her quite a few books. My sister got her 5 hard ones that she can read on her own and my dad got her two Disney storybooks. One of classic Disney tales and the other of all the Princesses. They are longer stories, so her attention span on one page doesn't last long enough just yet, although I am excited to get to read those to her!
She is reading Minnie's Ballet here. Of course my sister got her a bunch of Mickey Mouse books, with her 8 months she spent working at the Disney World Resort, how could she resist!
I just wanted to share how big my baby is getting and her love of books, which I am not complaining about! At least they are less bulky then toys, since soon we'll have to pack up all the toys she got for Christmas, none are small, and pick few to pack in the suit cases with us. Good thing she's easy and will play with a piece of paper! Haha

*Once again, prayers for our upcoming move. Our house hold goods will be getting packed up in 2 weeks and then we'll be living out of a suit case. Our plane leaves Aviano on February 16th. Once we get to Georgia, we'll be living out of a suit case for at least another month, hopefully not much longer then that!

*Say a short prayer for the dogs. I am super nervous about Kodi flying. He HATES his travel kennel. He's great in the metal one that isn't so confining. I wish we could ship him in that. He has bad anxiety and I'm going to be a nervous wreck for that 9 hour plane ride. We plan to dope him up with Benedryl, Calming tablets, and Pepto. Hoping some of that helps him sleep more then anything. I'm not too worried about Kaci .She only freaks out when he freaks out. She is calmer too.

*Then of course say a prayer for me. This has been my life since I was born, but goodbyes never get easier. You think they should, but they most definatly do not. At least we know, the Military is really a small world of people, whom we may very likely see again one day!

GoodBye Venice.

We took our last trip to Venice on December 30th.

It was just Me, Nick and Brynlee. I love Venice. Nicks so so about it. I think it has something to do with the fact we've been there a billion times because its such and easy trip as we are only an hour-ish away.
Here are Brynlee and I, waiting on the train. Since we missed the one we were shooting for. This was her second time to Venice. Clearly she won't remember either trip, thats why we have pictures!
She was such a good girl all day. She loved sitting in her own seat on the train. She also got tons of attention from Italians all day. Of course she loved it.
Here she is at the Hard Rock. It was our main event. We go to a Hard Rock wherever we can and when we got off the train we were starved so we headed straight there. Ironically we had bad service/food at the Phx Hard Rock in Az. So I was always turned off to them.

Being in Europe they are everywhere, and I love to have something to collect from all over. I get a shirt at each one we go to. Although we didn't make it to the HR in Roma so I only have a Venice shirt from the HR's in Italy.
Brynlee sat in the booth with us. The booth was very high and close to the table so it was perfect for her and she couldn't fall through easy at all. Being that the table was so close to the seat..she hiked her leg up there and climbed on the table. AH! That was a first! I let her do it to get a picture but didn't let her do it again!
Me and Brynlee at the Hard Rock waiting on our food. She just sat there and played and talked.
Daddy and Bug. Of course smiling like always.
Daddy and B on the water taxi to San Marco's Square. This was the first time we cheated and took the taxi rather than walking. We said we'd walk back, but by the end of the day we decided since we've walked it numerous times we took the taxi back as well. Haha. Yeah lazy Americans.
Close to the end of our trip. She took a nice nap. She was content the whole day, we are so blessed with such a good baby!
Waiting for the taxi to go back. Daddy stayed up late the night before so he was wanting a nap too!
On the train home. She is such a big girl it almost makes me sad but so happy at the same time. She is such a ham!

And then us. My hair is insane but oh well. Oh and see..Nick shaved his head. I was weirded about it at first, but now I'm used to it and think it looks pretty good. I mean he didn't have a ton of hair in the first place, lol. I love you baby!

Successful last trip. We completed our Venetian Mask collection. We have 3 now. Got a piece of Murano glass.

I think thats our very last trip anywhere here honestly, but we'll see!

3 months to go...

Look how big she is!

Can you believe it?! I sure can't!

My baby girl is 9 months old today!

She is so much fun. I knew this age would be pretty cool with all the things she is learning, but I never expected it to be so much fun! Lol.

Here are her stats:

She is 16 1/2 pounds. We didn't measure her, we need to.

I'd say she is around 27-28 inches long. She is everywhere. She started crawling the beginning of December...we honestly didn't think she would.

She never seemed to have any interest in it. Now we can't stop her. She LOVES to stand and walk. She pulls up on everything now.

Gettin quite good at it too. She can pull up onto the couch, which has nothing to really grasp onto. Took her a few tries to get it but she's got it down to a science now!

She loves apples and banana's. We do cereal in the morning with some banana's that she feeds herself then ending with a 4oz bottle.

Still just a bottle for lunch-6oz.

Then after her afternoon nap she gets another 4oz-er.

Then she eats dinner with us. She'll still eat pureed baby food, but I've been making veggies for her..like peas and carrots so she can feed herself.

Ending the day with a 6oz bottle around 830 before she goes to bed.

She isn't a snacker. She does like cherrios, but I don't give them to her often.

( I am glad I brought some with us to Venice the other day, she was getting antsy on the train ride and those helped!)

She is still in size 3 disposable diaper.

She loves to play Peek-a-Boo and if we ask her how big she is, she'll raise both hands in the air for "sooo big". She tells us when she is 'all done' by raising her hands.

We are working on some Sign Language. Such as Please, Thank You, More, Eat/Food.

She smiles huge, but has yet to do them herself.

I think that is all I have. Well no, there is lots more I can just babble on about, but who couldn't about their own kid!

So I'm leaving with that, and I hope everyone has a great New Year!!

Success

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures at this moment, and can't even snap one of her since she is napping. Anyhow, our first full day of cloth diapering was a success! No leaks. No complaints. And a happy baby!

I love it so far, and I really hope I keep to liking it. Nick hasn't changed her into one yet...so I can't say his thoughts on it so far. Besides that he thinks its good...haha.

I was thinking of reasons why I wanted to go cloth. I think the main reasons are, we will save loads of money. Its known that CDing can help to aid in potty training earlier/faster. They are super duper cute! And all this nasty stuff I didn't know about disposables is a big thing...go HERE and you can read what I am talking about.

The diapers I chose are not pricey at all. They are an off brand you can say. I do have one FuzziBunz..which is nice. BUT they are 20 bucks a pop. I got 24 SunBabyDiapers with 24 inserts for 108 dollars. Depending on how many diapers you have to buy, thats usually cheaper then a months worth of disposables for most people. With 24 dipes, she goes through an average of 5-6 a day. So I will have to do diaper laundry every 3-4 days. Which I don't think is bad at all.

I chose to do PocketDiapers....this is where you don't need a cover...it had a pocket inside it where you stuff it with an insert..HERE you can find all the different cloth diapering systems out there explained. All in Ones seem the easiest because they literally are just like sposies, but Pockets are what I thought would be best for us, and our pocketbooks.

So far so good. Hopefully it'll keep in this direction. I do know that when we move in a month we'll be packing the CD's in the suitcase and using sposies till we have access to a washer and dryer. I'm not crazy enough to try that!

Christmas Tradition

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

They are so easy. I don't make the bread, although I will try sometime...I just get the Rhodes(I think thats the brand) frozen white bread loaves. It comes with 3. Then I knead the dough out...and rolling pin it...till its as flat as I can get it. Then you put butter then brown sugar and cinnamon...then roll and slice! One loaf makes about 16 rolls, so I use half and freeze the other half(un-sliced) Pictured above, is them the night before...before they rose....

Next morning, this is what you get...pop them in the oven for about 12-15 mins..

Make icing with milk and powdered sugar...

Below: and this is what you get! Yummy cheap rolls!

Family Pictures

Here are most of our family pictures that my friend Holly did for us in November. We were blessed to have a beautiful day outside..as it didn't look too promising when we woke up that morning. I think they turned out pretty well if I don't say so myself. Definatly going to be printing a family one to frame...its our first of the 3 of us! (yes we wanted to try it with the dogs too, but since my car was/is broken we all wouldn't fit in Nicks little fiat, haha. \

Enjoy!