Where the Heck Have I Been?

A long long long time overdue. And what really stinks is that i typed up this whole thing a few months ago, and some how it got lost in blogger land between me saving it and me coming back to attach pictures the next morning. But that's how it goes, and now i'm back. I may as well just do a quick recap and then photo bomb of everything and just keep it simple though, because there really is TOO much to catch up on.

SO......Life as Husband and Wife has continued, obviously. Around the time of my last post i was doing a bit of girly crafty stuff as well as getting ready to attended Youth Conference with the kids from our stake. I took pictures while doing some of my crafts, so i still plan to post about them. Soon. I hope. As far as Youth Conference went, it was perfect. It's really great when you realize how truly amazing the youth in your area are. We camped out for a night on the lawn of a spectacular home and property of a member that lends it out to the church for these types of things up in the mountains here. The speakers were absolutely inspiring. The leaders were inspired about the whole thing, and i was blessed to be able to attend.

At the end of September through the middle of October, Husband and i went on vacation. For 4 weeks. F-O-U-R. I know, a month of vacation is ridiculous, but the way Husband accumulates vacation days at work, they were all built up and if we didn't use them they would be lost. Use them or lose them. My little brother was turning 8, my dad wanted us to go elk hunting with him, and we wanted to see Husbands family as well as some of our friends in Utah. Since you can't fit that all into a week, we decided on 4 instead.

The first week was spent in New Mexico visiting Husbands family. We went to the rodeo, went to a marching band competition, and did as much visiting as we could. On our way out of New Mexico we stopped to see his brother Jacob and his wife Natalie. It turned out to be perfect timing because we were there for the International Balloon Fiesta. Since i've been fascinated with hot air balloons for as long as i can remember, like most little girls are, it was almost like heaven for me. We were all up at some ridiculous hour in the cold dark morning completely excited to be there.
  

The whole thing was amazing, such an experience, one of those things everyone should have on their bucket list, and i really hope we go back again one day. On the out of New Mexico Husband let me take a little detour to the Four Corners. I had never been, so i guess that's another thing i can check off my bucket list.

After that, we went to Idaho to see my family. You may remember, a little over a year ago my dad hit his head when he fell and had amnesia. Well, he's doing amazing now. He has about 90% of his memory back i think. We really forget that this has happened to him now until on a rare occasion he gives us a funny look when we say something he doesn't remember. He has trouble being in large crowds now though, and remembering some of his neighbors and friends where he lives has taken the longest time to get back, but amazingly he's regained some of his hearing, so i guess in this situation you just take what you can get and move on. Which he has :]

While we were there we did a little birthday party for Jared since we weren't there for the actual big day. Here are some absolutely ugly pictures of Husband and i with my brother...

And the big reason we made the trip -- Jared all fresh and spotless after his baptism

After his baptism, we went to visit Utah for a few days.

We obviously couldn't go to Utah without stopping to see Temple Square.

We tried to visit as many of our friends and family as we could while we were there, including Husbands sister Hanna and her husband Chris.

We also saw our amazing long time friends, the Vallens. Sorry, no pictures for them this time, i just thought they deserved a shout out.
Then it was back to Idaho for the Elk hunt.

Out at our camp site while camping. 

We didn't see any Elk on the hunt at all, at least not the ones that were legal to shoot at the time, so the hunting turned out to be a bust. But while we were doing some shooting back at the house, Husband decided he wanted to copy me and get a scar between the eyes from the scope of his gun. I got mine when i was 13, so most of you won't notice it now, but next time you see Husband make sure you check out his handy work ;)

While we were on vacation we did a lot of  talking. We had been in the house we were renting for 2 years, but had been contemplating buying a house since we found out we were being stationed here. When we got here every time we found a house to put on offer on we would find out 10 other people were putting offers on it too so things never worked out. In the end we decided to rent a house and just accept it. After talking about it, we decided that since our lease agreement was coming up for renewal, that it wouldn't hurt to take another look into finding a house to buy. A week after we got home from vacation we talked to our agent and were actively looking. It took about a month, but one Saturday night the beginning of November, i was in bed because i had hurt my neck from sleeping on my stomach and couldn't hold my head up, i found some listing online with one that really stood out to me, still in our ward amazingly, so i email our agent to take us to see them Monday. I was hoping my neck would be better by then, but it wasn't. I didn't care though. I REALLY wanted to see the one particular listing. We looked at 5 different listings that morning, all with me and my stiff neck, trying to make sure my head didn't fall off. There were some nice listings, people had done their upgrades, wood floors and granite counters and new carpet and paint and all that. But i really was in love with the one listing. I couldn't get it out of my head. So we talked to our agent and had her put an offer together while i went to the chiropractor to get my neck fixed. It was the only offer we ever got put completely put together and sent over during our whole home search process over the last few years, and it was accepted the next day. On my birthday in fact. It was the best birthday gift a girl could ask for. My very first home of my own. Not rented. Owned.

We moved in over the week before Christmas, which was also a great gift. We didn't have time to put up decorations, and didn't even exchange gifts....but now that i think about it, i'm pretty sure i got Husband some video games. Maybe. I'll have to ask him. I did get him something though. I was just excited to have my new house. He also let me pick out a new couch and chair for my new front room. Yea. And since we weren't renting anymore, i was allowed to have my very own cat :] So yeah, i guess we did do the gift thing. Either way, we ended last year on a happy note.

I've been busy this year as well. Husband went on a deployment to Panama in January.We also added another kitten the other month on top of the one I got for Christmas. So it's the 4 of us now. We painted my front room {yellow!}, which is something i've never been able to do since i've always live in a rented home. And basically we've just been enjoying life together in our new home. I'll be painting some more around the house this summer. I plan to refinish a coffee table too. I've already made a new rug for my front room, and done some stenciling too. We're making new friends all the time. I'm once again getting ready for Girls Camp this summer. Husband will have another deployment next month. My parents will be coming to visit from Idaho in July. And, we're going to Disneyland this month {Husbands first time ever!}.

So there you go. An update :) LONG overdue, but there it is. I'm crossing my fingers that i'll keep this up because there really are SO many things i've been making and doing and plan on doing, and i like to pretend that you all really actually care :) Plus, i think i've missed you all <3




p.s. i still plan to move the blog, but that'll take a little time so you don't need to think about it too much yet