Cayden's new favorite word is....
NO.



Ahhhhh!!!!!

Rest In Peace

Sweet Grandma Dee, we will miss you so much.. I will forever have all the memories of visiting you and Grandpa in Las Vegas and hugging your soft frail body, I will miss eating your chicken salad sandwiches. I'm sorry that I blamed the sandwich for making me sick that one time, I guarantee it was something else. I will always hear your voice telling Kele to just tell the Army that they can't deploy him, because "his Grandma said so." We will miss your birthday cards that were always on time, and signed so sweet from both of you. I'm sorry that we didn't visit you more while you still lived in Las Vegas. I'm so happy that you and Grandpa are together again, with no more physical pain and rejoicing in the Lord together. Give Grandpa a kiss for all of us.

Snowed in

We were snowed in today! All of us, minus my Dad! What a good chance to make Katie and Drew hang out with us all day! We baked cookies, I shoveled the drive-way (by myself!) along with both the next door neighbors walks. I will definitely sleep well tonight! I am hoping it clears up by tomorrow afternoon because we all are suffering a tad bit of cabin fever by now =)


We officially move in on Wednesday! I have everything set up (movers, cable, internet, phone, utilities, etc), so we are good to go! The movers don't come until Thursday so I am debating staying the night in the empty house or driving back early the next morning..I might just stay the night and paint! But I guess I will base it on what time the movers actually come, which I won't know until the night before. I am really looking forward to seeing Kele on Saturday, pray that the weather clears up enough for him and Wayne (my FIL) and Chopper to have a safe drive back! I am on the hunt for a washer and dryer, a bench for the entry way, and a bed for the spare bedroom. Who wants to come stay the night??

Home?

Kele cleared housing today! As of right now there was $0 in damages.. We are praying it stays that way, but they have 21 days to find something to charge us for. Wish us luck!

Colorado Springs was an adventure! First, we looked at a townhome.. It was very nice and new, but the area was not so good. I don't think I would feel comfortable staying there alone if I had to. The second house was awesome, huge, great garage, painted.. but again, the location was terrible!!! Really, really disapointing. The third townhouse we looked at was IT! It is a little pricier than the rest, but so worth every penny. The neighborhood was new, the house was very spacious, the kitchen is great. It has 3 bedrooms, which means we will be getting an extra bed incase anyone wants to come stay the night! I am already dreaming of paint colors, I already have my covered front porch decorated, and thinking of new pieces of furniture I can get to fill up empty space.. Ahhhhh!!!!! I'm so excited. We will fax in our application first thing in the morning. If somehow it doesn't get accepted, I will be bummed! There were a few others for rent in the neighborhood so will definitely stick around there. It is a short 10 minute drive (in traffic) to base, which I hope Kele will like. We were so spoiled living on Ft. Irwin, everything was a 2 minute drive away! Will keep you posted!

Goodnight

Sorry I have been M.I.A this weekend! It is hard to sit down in the dungeon for too long, let alone thing of anything good to write.
I have 3 home showings set up for Wednesday. One condo, one townhome, and one house. I am hoping to set up at least one more, but am still waiting for a call back. I am so thrilled to be settled again! It is hard to live out of a suitcase, I definitely need to get organized!! It will be weird to live off base, but I am really looking foward to it. Maybe it's just the thought of actually getting to pick where we live.
Our flight in was good. It is always a long day traveling to and from CA, thanks to the long drive to the airport. I am so thankful to say I never have to do it again, unless of corse it's for an enjoyable vacation!! What a feeling, knowing that I don't have to rush to visit everyone, knowing that I don't have to say goodbye again. Cayden is LOVING being spoiled by his Grandparents, what else is better than that?
On a more random note, I have decided that I need new jeans that fit me better! What a fun search, haha! My body has changed in so many ways since I had Cayden (i.e. I am fat). I have lost 2 lbs, lets hope the moving stress brings on more =)
And speaking of moves, the movers come tomorrow!! Kele sounded a little stressed, but I am hoping that we didn't leave him with too much left to do.
Cayden has been SO off schedule, it takes forever to get him to take a nap because he is just too "busy", so that has been fun. He also woke up extra early this morning (imagine that!) so I am pooped! I will let you know how the house-hunt goes on Wednesday!

Tomorrow

It is bizarre to me that we will be leaving this place TOMORROW! 24 hours! We have a ton to do today, but have also gotten a lot done already. I am forever in-debted to my mom! I seriously have no clue how I could've gotten this all done without her. The stress finally hit Kele this morning. I feel like I'm just packing a suitcase to go on vacation again, except this time it is a little different. We aren't coming back! And all our stuff will meet us there, hopefully in 1 piece! Any last minute advice about the move??

I finally got a new camera! I gotta say the ol' Samsung lasted thru a TON! But I love my new one.

Me: Hey Cayden, what's your name?
Cayden: Drew.




Over....and over...and over..

Get ready....

I am slowly, but surely getting things in order to fly out on Saturday! All services are scheduled to shut off, only a few loads of laundry left to do, closets are getting cleaned out and bags to get rid of are being filled up! My pack-rat relatives (cough*cough) would be proud! I'm anxious to see my Mom tomorrow, it is going to be so weird not having to say goodbye to her this time! If you know me, you know I am HORRIBLE at goodbyes. I have always been! I used to sit in the garage with my old dog Gypsy when my Dad left for work and cry! Same with when my Grandparents left to Arizona for the winter. Me and my Mom always ball when we say goodbye at the airport. What can I say? Chels, maybe it's a good thing I missed you because I probably would have made you stay with me, or chased you crying!!!!! :(

Gary

As most moms know, conversations with strangers usually start because they are talking to your child(ren) or making a comment about them.. Today I met a man at the commissary that I will not soon forget. It all started with him saying Hi to Cayden, Cayden getting all shy, a few smiles passed back and forth, and then as I started to walk away he came up to us to talk. A few seconds into our conversation he mentions that he has twins..... that he lost in a car accident.... along with his wife.... while he was deployed.... They wouldn't let him come back in time... he almost killed a guy over it...

I teared up instantly. So did he. It felt like there was no one else around. What can you say to that, other than I'm sorry? He introduced himself, Gary, and said that he just wanted to let me know that Cayden reminded him of his kids, Then he shook my hand, smiled and walked away. Wow. I just felt frozen in my shoes. After we left the store, I immediately wished that I had more to say to him, tell him I'm praying for him, ask him how HE is doing, give him a hug. Can you imagine?? A soldier that is thousands and thousands of miles away fighting for his family and his country and getting that kind of life shattering news?? Here I am worrying about a simple move 2 states away, worrying about where we are going to live, worrying about getting my house ready for the movers,,, and this guy just lost his entire family??
Keep Gary in your prayers, he probably needs quite a few of them right about now.

San Diego

We had a busy weekend away! We stayed in a hotel that was on Shelter Island, and were surrounded by TONS of yachts and boats which was neat. They had a free breakfast (my favorite!!!) that was delicious and a lot of fun to sit by lots of seagulls wanting food. Cayden really enjoyed that. The first day we made our way to the San Diego zoo.. I am not sure what all the hype was about to be honest with you. It was very un-stroller friendly (stairs everywhere) and the layout was very hard to navigate! We missed a lot of animals all because we couldn't figure out how to get to them. It was so huge and spread out. Too huge! If you go there, I highly recommend that you take the tour bus around. Which brings up anything issue, they have these HUGE double-decker buses driving around the same streets that everyone walks on so you have to stay to the side and be careful when crossing. Enough complaining, I'm happy to say we went, Cayden loved the petting zoo.

We ate TONS of delicious food while we were there. We also went to Sea World. I love that place! We saw every show, they had a really super cute pet show (dogs, cats, pigs) which was probably my favorite, followed by the dolphins. They also have a new Sesame Place which was cool. We even met Elmo! It will be really fun to go again when Cayden gets older because they have quite a few rides! Yesterday we drove up north a little further and visited Del Mar and went to the beach and ate some pizza.


We were definitely wishing we had traveled more while we were here, but I am glad we made it out on our last weekend here. Mom comes in on Tuesday (yes!!!!!) and we are busy packing and laundring for our flight out on Saturday. How on earth did this month creep up so fast? Not that I am complaing, but shesh!!

Wordless Wednesday

The very first time I laid eyes on my baby =) I had to wait until I could feel my legs enough to get myself out of bed and walk to the nursery to see him.



----------------------------------
We are off to sunny (hopefully!) San Diego in the morning. Our last weekend here in the sunshine state. We are going to Sea World and the zoo. Pictures coming soon. Have a good weekend!!

Productive Monday

Today, Kele reenlisted and got pinned his E5. Have I mentioned how proud I am of him??

We scheduled the date for the movers to come also.. This is all becoming SO real, and I am SO excited!! It is going to be so nice to live in civilization again! I am going to miss the small community feel of this place tho.. Who doesn't love a new adventure?

Cayden has had a poopy day today (pun intended). I don't know if he has a stomach bug or ate something that didn't agree. He has had a lot of messy diapers, which leads to lots of baths, which leads to one raw bummy.I hope it clears up by tomorrow! Nothing is worse than trying to wipe a sore baby butt.

Has anyone else noticed I talked about Cayden pooping all the time? It's going to be a joy potty-training him. =)