Andrew's Graduation and WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

I completely forgot to update about Andrew's graduation. It was definitely a good time for all. We went and saw the unveiling of the website. It was a joint project between the video and photo guys. (You check it out Picture Health). Then we had TWO cocktail hours, one at the school where we could view the website, video projects, and photos. Basically a sampling of everyone's work. The second cocktail hour was at the hotel before dinner. I really think we all could have done without the 3 hour break before dinner. lol. Dinner was good, the guest speaker was not. He gave a 45 minute speech that really could have been cut down to about 15-20. The sad thing is we found out later this was the 4th time he'd given the same speech and he had cut it down by 45 minutes already. I really don't think I could have sat through 1.5 hours of that speech! After graduation we all went out to Limericks for one last get together. Which turned out to be our 3rd to last get together with some of the guys since we also went out to breakfast at Stellas and dinner at Dino BBQ the next day. Overall we miss our friends, but are happy to be moving on to the next chapter in our lives.

At cocktail hour at Newhouse

The Marines in the photo class plus two Marine guests

Mary, Me, and Shannon

All the girls
Michelle, Laura, Tiffany, Kailey, Janell, Me, Mary, and Shannon

Andrew getting his diploma!

Andrew and I

Mary, Me, and Shannon at Limericks

The new chapter in our life started off a little differently then we anticipated. When we arrived in Jacksonville we were looking for a rental property. A cute single family home for us to make our lives in for the brief time we're supposed to be here (3ish years). Well evidently God had a different plan for us. We were unable to find a rental and actually got laughed at and called insane by a few realty companies when we informed them how many pets we had and how big our puppy is. Luckily we have some good friends who recommended a realtor and a mortgage broker who have been nothing but great to us! Because of them we were able to find and put in offer in on a beautiful house. 3 bed, 2 bath, and they will be adding a 2 car garage. We were lucky enough to hear yesterday that our offer was accepted. In approximately 14 days we'll be moving in to this brand new house. Then over the course of the next 30 days they will build our garage. When the garage is finished we will be able to close on the house and it will be all ours! While this step in live is definitely nerve wracking (even more so since we weren't planning on it), we're so excited to have a place to call our own. They're also going to sod all of it, cement our driveway up to the garage, and landscape the front.

Our first home!

We're leaving on a jet plane in a freakin car boo!

Andrew and I have been on the road for one day and only one more to go. The upside to PCS moves that are close NO LONG ROAD TRIPS!!!! Trust me 5-6 days in a car with a dog and 2 cats is NOT FUN! So, last night Andrew and I packed up the cars, being over achievers we also took down all of our curtains to pack, including the black out curtains in our bedroom (dumb move). We get lots of morning sun in our room. So, we were up and out of bed by 6am. Which meant we got on the road way earlier than we intended to. Not a big deal you say, HUGE DEAL we were running so ahead of time we were going to arrive at the hotel 2 hours before check in. So we did what any sane person would do, we took the long "short-cut". We stopped in Gettysburg. It was neat to see the battlefield and the cemetery. Unfortunately the cemetery wasn't pet friendly so we only got to see it from afar. Hopefully we will make a trip back someday without the dog and truly experience everything Gettysburg has to offer. We're now at our hotel in Frederick, MD just relaxing after a nice dinner and walk around the mall. We'll be on the road again bright and early tomorrow morning after our breakfast here at the hotel. Hopefully we'll be in Jacksonville around 3:30 and then onto viewing rental properties and finding a place to live!!!

Andrew and Tango

Me and Tango

Gettysburg National Cemetery

Gettysburg

Sue, Happy to be out of the box

Munchkin enjoying the window

Tango and Andrew napping after a long car ride

Sue discovered the dresser drawers

Living with nothing

About two days before TMO came to pack our stuff I wasn't feeling to hot. So, I laid on the sofa with Tango. When I did I threw the blanket over my legs and Tango. Sushi too that as an invite to lay down. I'm so proud that my puppy and cat can finally get along.

Hey I think there's a dog under this blanket!

Yup it just moved definitely a dog

Then TMO came and we began living with nothing. The phrase of those two weeks was definitely, "I have that oh wait TMO took it!" lol. With little to do the animals were forced to entertain each other (and us!).

(No idea why this is upside down) Tango trying to convince Munch to play.

Our little set up (2 camping chairs 3 totes and a laptop)

Tango proving she is too a lap dog (My chair broke shortly after this)

I crawled in to snuggle with Tango and Andrew locked the gate (what a mean husband!!)

Let the stress fun begin

So, Life has been crazy around here. I had my last day of work on Friday and now I'm trying to get the house ready for the packers and movers. They'll be here Thursday and Friday. That'll be a ton of fun. So far I have gone through the house and sorted everything. Now I just need to go to Salvation Army and the recycle center. Then, pack everything that is coming in the car with us so it doesn't get packed when the movers come!

A ton of stuff has happened since the last time I found my way to this blog. My sister had my second beautiful nephew and I was lucky enough to be able to go home and see him shortly after he was born. I hated having to come back to Syracuse, but I missed the hubby man. Hopefully we'll make it to LA in June sometime to see our families again.

Jacob

I brought Peyton "snow" when I came home!

We also hosted an Easter dinner at our home. It was nice to get everyone together. We were lucky that the day was beautiful because there were some many of us there was no way we would have all fit in the apartment for dinner.

Holy Snow Batman

Syracuse got 18.25 inches of snow between 7am yesterday and 7am today. It was crazy! Tango loved it, Andrew and I went out and played in it. We really just had a great time. I took yesterday and today off of work because we can't get out/in the apt. complex. Luckily my co-workers are very understanding. Right now Andrew is outside trying to help one of our neighbors dig his car out of the snow. He got it into the complex last night, but the snow was so deep he couldn't get it into a parking spot. Well in order for the guy to plow we have to move the cars. Hopefully they'll get it moved before the plow gets here.

Andrew and I building a snowman

This is how deep it was this morning 2-26. Over my knees.

Yesterday was also Andrew's re-enlistment ceremony. It was small and quick because there was a ton of snow on the ground and a ton more coming. I'm just glad we finally got to do it. I mean it's been postponed like 3 times prior to this. One of the guys in the program with Andrew came and took some photos. He said he would get me a disk of the photos sometime next week. So, we'll have some nice ones soon.
Tango had such a great time in the snow. She loves it! I love how she bunny hops everywhere in the snow. It's so cute. She loves to chase the snowballs and icicles that Andrew and I throw for her. She'll track them down and try to dig them out. It's amazing how much focus she has trying to pick them up or even find the snowballs in all this snow.


I also took Sushi and Munchkin out in the snow. I put their feet in it and neither of them were a fan. Munchkin took it way better than Sue did which is amazing. I truly thought that Sue would be all for it and Munchkin would hate it. Although the upside is that Sue probably won't try to run away again anytime soon.

10 on Tuesday for mom

1. My mommy is forcing me to update my blog. (well not really forcing as much as complaining that I don't update often enough.)

2. We celebrated Andrew's birthday at the end of January with a fabulous Quadruple chocolate cake that I baked.
3. A picture of the inside. Doesn't it look yummy!4. I recently finished the cutest knit project for a friend who is having a baby right around Easter.
5. Andrew and I had a very low key Valentine's Day at home with each other. I made swordfish, rice pilaf and mixed veggies. He got me some beautiful gerber daisies.6. Lizzie was nice enough to send us a king cake since we were gonna miss Mardi Gras and the whole carnival season. It came unassembled, so Andrew and I had a good time putting it together.
7. Missy was also nice enough to send me flowers for Valentine's Day. They were gorgeous!
8. The animals are doing good and are as cute as ever! Tango has learned how to get on my nerves and some days I think she does it on purpose, but we still love her!

9. Andrew had fun this weekend. he went hunting out at Liberty Lodge which is about 45 minutes south of here. He managed to get himself a Ram. Now I have a freezer full of ram meat and no idea how to cook it.
10. Last, but not least, I'm coming home! I'm so excited to get to visit everyone. I've been needing to get out of this snow covered city for a while. The lack of sunshine and presence of so much snow can just be mood damper. I can't wait to come home. I'll be there March 16-24!!!!

Ten on Tuesday!

Ten on Tuesday on Tuesday this time!!! Lots has been going on around here lately and I thought I would do a quick catch up for everyone.

1. Andrew and I learned to snowboard this weekend. It was fun, but painful the next day. We're hoping to get to go back.

2. Andrew put in his re-enlistment packet. We're still waiting on it to be accepted and him sworn in.

3. The animals have gone crazy! Tango is loving the snow, Sue tried to run away, but came back when her paws hit the snow. Munchkin has decided she should be loud and obnoxious again.

4. Andrew and I are hoping to get to go on a snowboarding weekend this coming weekend with the guys/girls in his class.

5. I started knitting my first sweater this week. I had to frog it and start again.

6. I'm missing home like crazy and hating the cold, but making it work

7. Andrew is still on winter break so he's just been hanging around the house helping me out.

8. Andrew and I got our orders to our next duty station we report between May and June (fun stuff)

9. We're not excited about where we're going, it's not any of our 3 choices.

10. Without further ado, we're going to Camp Lejune North Carolina! (UGH)