Playing Catch Up

Hi, everybody! I CANNOT believe I have not posted since January! This move was a crazy one and living out of a suit case for months was no bueno. Maybe if I would have kept up with my blogs and got out my feelings out, my sanity would have been spared  ;) So, we packed up our house and moved in March. Such a bitter sweet moment. I was so excited to start this new chapter, but so sad to end the best chapter (so far) of our lives. We left the house we became a family in :( To see the beautiful room we set up for Leia become empty again, and all that was left was the paint on the walls, and the non-removable wall decal right above where her crib used to sit. It just made my heart feel so heavy!

We made our trip across the U.S all the way to San Diego, while stopping to spend time with family along the way. It was great to have everyone see Leia before we jouneyed so far away. She will practically be a little lady by the time we see everyone again.

Brent was going through some additional training in San Diego. So Leia and I would travel between SD and Arizona quite a bit to spend time with him. It was a very stressful time, since some military stuff got a little twisted up, we ended up staying way longer than we expected and didn't know exactly when we would be able to finally leave. We left Jacksonville, when Leia was 8 months old, and didn't leave for Guam until she was 13 months. Gaahhh! 5 MONTHS bouncing around, out of suitcases would drive anyone batty.

Plus sides to the situation.... We were able to spend Leia's 1st birthday with family. Speaking of  Leia's first birthday. We were supposed to have a party for her. But with the stresses of the move, decided againtst it. On her actual birthday, we were in Arizona (without daddy). So I  just took her to McDonalds with my cousin and her family and had a little fun there. We were leaving for San Diego the next day, so we waited to be with daddy for her birthday cake :) Since everything was so crazy at the time, Brent and I decided to hire a photographer to take 1st birthday pictures of Leia. We let her know what we were looking for and she created the most beautiful birthday picnic for Leia. We bought a cake for Leia to smash, took pictures with family and sang happy birhday at Balboa Park, all while the photographer snapped away. It was wonderful and was even featured in this great baby blog, here!  We were also able to be in San Diego for the birth of my brother and sister-in-law's first born son. I got to be in the room for the delivery and it was A-mazing. He is adorable and  Leia LOVES her little cousin to pieces <3

We arrived in Guam on July 31st after a long 17 hour trip.  Leia was the perfect little jet setter. She was in great spirits the whole time. She sat in her own little seat, watched t.v, ate when the flight attendants brought food, and napped here and there.  When we arrived, it was a HUGE culture shock...let me tell ya! Guam is gorgeous but the ameneties are nothing like the states. No highways, no department stores like in the states, limited restaurants and NO TARGET. They do have a K-mart, that is supposedly the biggest one in the world. But it does leave something to be desired. It is a zoo! We are definitely looking forward to the trips we will be able to take. Australia, Palau (best scuba diving in the world) and China's Great Wall are on the top of our list. Not to mention the great hiking we can do here. Brent and I are now scuba certified. We have a couple of dives under our belt and can't wait to do a lot more.

All in all, everything is great with us. We are all settled....well mostly settled. We have yet to get Shane over here. He is staying with my cousin in AZ until the weather gets cooler and the airline will allow us to ship him. We miss him tremendously and leave his bowls out, anticipating his arrival. We were able to find a nice 4 bedroom, 3 bath home, with a nice size yard for the dog,  not to far from the base. It has plenty of growing room for us over these next 4 years. We have met some amazing friends and have great neighbors on our street. Brent is deploying soon, so Leia and I will be without daddy for a while. I am sure we will manage and do wonderfully. Whew....so that is the update on us folks! I will definitely keep up now and update more often. More fun and exciting things to come and I can't wait to blog all about it! xoxoxo

P.S I had every intention of adding some pics to this blog, buuuttttt in the midst of our move, our hard drive crashed on us! So, we have yet to get all of our pics, since our move off. I will update this, after I get them :)