Happy Valentines's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Yea, this will be the first Valentine's Day in the past three years that James and I will get to spend together. Even though being so far apart for the other Valentine's Days, James has always made it special, by surprising me with flowers. So we don't have anything special planned for today because our anniversary is only 10 days away, but it's still nice to be together for it. We decided not to do anything big or spend too much money for this holiday and just wait 'til our anniversary to get each other presents.

Here's the Valentine's Day card that I made for him

The beautiful Orchids that James brought me

Rest In Peace

Within in 5 days of each other James and I both lost our Grandfathers. They were both amazing men and they will be missed very much. We know that they are both in a better place and will be looking down on us.

Donald J. Fritz

March 17, 1934 - February 5, 2011

David J. McFadden

December 14, 1927 - February 9, 2011

January . . .

Ahhh... it's January already! Wow 2010 went by fast despite having to wait six of those months for James to come home. Once James got home time just seemed to fly by. Well I'm excited that it's 2011 and I can't wait to see what it has in store. So the beginning of January started with lots of rain, thunderstorms and power outages.


James and I had a day night, we went and saw True Grit. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it at first, but James really wanted to go see it. I was surprised how good it was, I thought it was going to be really serious but it was really funny. The young girl in the movie was a really good actress, I can't believe she was only 14 when they shot the movie.

So James and I went to check out the gym at the community center in our housing. When we got there I noticed they had a really nice pool, but I was very disappointed to find that they close the pool from October to May for the off season. I couldn't believe it, we live in Hawaii where pretty much all the time it's summer weather, except for a few days where it's a little rainy. I thought that was pretty ridiculous.

James and I have a beautiful new niece, her name in Avah May. Born to James' sister Jessica and her husband Michael.

Avah May

1/12/2011

8 lbs 9 oz 21 in long

We went and played poker at our friend's house with a few other couples, and James won the pot. Since James has been talking about going to check out Chinatown, we woke up the next morning and went down there to have some Dim Sum for breakfast. It was good, but not as good as the Dim Sum in Seattle. It was fun, we walked around and looked at all the little shops and bought some fruit.

After Chinatown we went to the beach, the waves have been so big lately. So I've been staying out of the water, but the boys love it.

So to get into nursing school in Hawaii I have to take a pre-nursing exam. When I registered for my test in December, the only spots open were all the way on Maui. My mom bought me a plane ticket so I could fly over and take it. So I get the day off and fly to Maui, and due to all the rain, they were having problems with their Internet connection. So we moved out of one computer lab and into another, by then an hour and a half has gone by. So in this other room they were still having problems with the Internet, so they tell us that they are going to have to reschedule the test for another day. So almost 20 people who flew to Maui are now screwed out of the money that they paid to fly there. I wait in the room while everyone leaves and end up being able to get on to take the test. I flew all the way over so I was determined to take this test. The test has 3 parts to it, so I take the first and second part, but then realize that if I start the third part that I will probably miss my flight home. So I call to change my flight and right when I'm about to pay I find out that they have to close the building and I wont be able to finish the last portion. I just broke into tears, I was so upset because I just spent 2 hours working on this test and I was so close to finishing. I make it to the airport about 20 minutes before my flight was to board, I'm just glad I didn't miss my flight along with all the other trouble I had. I was finally able to take my test back on Oahu, but I had to find someone who could cover my shift for me. But I think I did really good, now I just have to wait 3 weeks to find out my results.

James and I have another new beautiful niece, Cora Belle.

Born to my brother Charles and his wife Faye.

Cora Belle

1/29/2011

7 lbs 15.4 oz 18 in long 

I finished crocheting the baby blankets!

Avah May's blanket

Cora Belle's blanket

2010 Recap!

So here is the top 10 events from 2010! Wow that went by fast . . .

1. Recieved the best Valentine's Day gift ever!

So by great odds James made it home for R&R on Valentine's Day. What a great gift to have him home, he got home and it felt like everything seemed to pick up right where we left off, like he had never even been gone. I'm a lucky lucky girl!

2. We got Engaged!

James took me to dinner at our favorite spot and then we went for a walk at Alki, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. So excited he surprised me big time!

3. We got Married!

Barefoot on the beach at sunset. It was so romantic and such a perfect way to get married. I wouldn't of changed a thing about it.

4. James is Home!

 It finally came, it felt like it would take forever, but looking back the year went by pretty fast. I am so happy to have my husband home and safe. Biggest highlight of the year hands down.

5. Had a second Honeymoon!

Got to spend an amazing weekend together!

6. James bought a Harley!

After much talk about wanting to get one he finally found the one for him. He bought a really nice bike. He looks so hot riding it. So happy that one of his goals of getting a bike came true.

7. Our big move to Hawaii!

So we are back in Hawaii, this time for the next 3 years. Excited about starting our lives together!

8. We finally have a house!

It's nothing too fancy and for right now it is just temporay, but it is our first house together. It's an old officer house, 4 bedrooms, very big and lots of space. (Picture isn't the exact house but it looks similar)

9. We have a new edition to our family!

We rescued this little guy from the pound. His name is Colt and he sure is a handful!

10. Our First Christmas together!

Finally our first Christmas together!

(The first year together James went home to see his family and the second one he was deployed to Afganastan.)

December . . .

December!?! What? It can't be December it's 80 degrees out. It's just weird not having to bundle up and try to stay warm. But it's just weird to see all these houses decorated with lights and hear Christmas music when it looks like summer outside.

My mom came to visit this month and I got a job. The day my mom got here I got a call saying that I got hired. Luckily the first week I didn't have to work too many days so my mom and I still got to do a lot while she was here. It's nice to finally have a job and get out of the house. So while my mom was here we got to do a lot of fun things:

"Turtle Beach"

We got to watch a sea turtle leave the water so it could come sun it's self on the beach, it was pretty cool to watch. They are such amazing creatures.

We went and visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial, what a great tribute to such a horrible tragedy.

We went to the huge swap meet the circles the Aloha Stadium

It was a long walk and it was super hot out that day

We went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

And we spent a few days just relaxing on the beach laying in the sun

Luckily the weather was beautiful the whole week that my mom was here, the week before and after she came was a down pour. So glad that the weather was nice, it would have been such a miserable vacation if it would have been rainy the whole time. It was a lot of fun that she came, I'm glad she got to get away and relax.

Another good read

So I finished another Nicolas Sparks book, The Lucky One. Another great read, a little different from some of his other books. There were some sad parts in the book, but I didn't find it as tragic as some of his others. It had a surprising end to it though. While looking up the book on Google so I could get a picture of the cover to post, I found out that they are making a movie of it and it comes out in 2012. Excited, it's funny cause when ever I read his books I try to picture what the characters might look like. For most of the characters in the movie they look just like how I pictured them, but the main character surprised me. It's Zac Efron, I don't think he's a bad actor (he was actually really good in 17 Again), but I was definitly picturing someone a bit older than him. I'm excited to see the movie, it was a really good book.



So I came home from work to a great surprise. We weren't sure if we were going to get a Christmas tree this year, with the prices of trees being so expensive in Hawaii and money being tight. So we still hadn't decided if we were actually going to get one or not. So James picked me up from work, we get home and I'm just so tired all I can think about is relaxing and changing my clothes. I get in the house set my things down in the living room and James is acting all suspicious, but I can't figure out why and then I notice the beautiful Christmas tree set up in the living room. What a great surprise, it looked so beautiful, James did an amazing job. I couldn't believe that I walked in the living room and didn't even notice. It's a small tree but it's so perfect!

So for Christmas Eve, we went to our family friends' church for their Christmas Eve service. It was really nice, they really take pride in their productions and they treat everyone like family their. During one of their songs, all of a sudden we started hearing this loud noise thinking that it was something outside. Then we looked up and we noticed that they had put in snow machines up on the rafters and there was fake snow falling on us. It was a nice surprise and it definitely made my day. After the service we went over to our friends' house and had an amazing shrimp and prime rib dinner. James dressed up in his uniform and he looked so handsome, but it was so hot he was a little uncomfortable.

New obsession! So our friends got a Kinect and we were over at their house and got a chance to play it, we were supper impressed so we decided to get one as well. Not too big on video games, but I love the dance game Dance Central, it's so much I think I like it so much because I'm actually good at it. Plus it's a great way to work out. It's fun dancing to it and getting to watch everyone else dance to it as well. Can't wait til they come out with a new one with different songs on it and see what other games they come out with.

New Years Eve 2011! It was great even though I had to get up early the next day to work. We had a lot of fun at our friends' house playing Kinect with everyone. Unfortunately we missed the New Years count down, but I still got my New Years kiss from James. All in all the year 2010 was great and full of lots of adventures and change. I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring us! 

November . . .

November didn't seem to be too eventful, starting to get settled into our house but its hard when we don't know how long we will be here. The cat and the dog are not to sure about each other yet. Colt just really wants to play with him, but Shadow wants nothing to do with him. Colt is a handful, a lot more work than I thought he would be and it seems like potty training is going to be a long process.

Colt, he has the craziest personality

We bought Shadow a tower so he would have a place to get away from the dog

For the past 4 years I have been on the Depo shot, I thought it was great, I didn't experience any negative side effects that most people get. But after hearing about the Implanon, I was really interested in it. I did my research and thought it would be a really good option. Instead of having to go into the doctors every 3 months to get an injection, I just get an implant that releases the same hormone to prevent pregnancy. So now I have a small implant in my arm, and no worries of getting a pregnant. Getting it put in didn't hurt too much, but after the lidocaine wore off it hurt pretty bad and it left a pretty bruise.

The implant

My pretty little bruise

Thanksgiving came, but it just didn't feel right the weather was too warm and it just felt like it was just another summer day. We spent the day with some family friends and had some amazing food. For the first time ever for the both of us, we woke up bright and early to go black Friday shopping. We got some pretty good deals but never ever again do I want to deal with that drama. We ended up getting some really great deals. Now we can start to fill our house with furniture.

October . . .

We finished our trip to Ohio at the beginning of October. For my birthday we took a long bike ride and had an amazing lunch with his parents. It was fun getting to spend some good quality time with his parents before we left.

After leaving Ohio, we flew back to Seattle for a day and a half. Since James' and my birthday are 6 days apart and my cousin's is in between, when we got back to Seattle we went out to dinner with our family and friends. After dinner we went to do James' favorite thing, Karaoke! It was so much fun and a lot of laughs and a good way to finish our last day in Seattle.

I love being with James, he makes everything so much fun!

Singing his favorite "Kiss" by Prince

Candace and I, always a blast with her

The boys singing

We took an early morning flight to Hawaii on the 10th, we ended up not sleeping the night before and just focused on getting everything ready for the plane ride. Little Shadow flew underneath the plane in with the cargo, poor thing I don't think he will ever be the same.

Hanauma Bay

We spent the first 9 days of Hawaii living in a hotel. The hotel was a bit shabby and our room smelled gross, so we got a call about a house being available and we jumped at the chance. The house that we got ended up being an old officer's house, that will soon be torn down and then we will be moved into a brand new house. So the house that we are in  with four bedrooms, despite being older, is pretty nice. It's really big and we don't seem to have much to fill it with. Most of the neighbors have already move out, but hopefully we won't be here too long. Since we it took a few days for us to get our house hold goods delivered, we had to borrow furniture from the housing, the bed was nothing like our new bed. Our house looks so empty, we don't have much to fill it with.

We got a new edition to our family, we went to the humane society and adopted a dog. His name is colt and he is 3 months old, but he is so big already. When I thought we were getting a puppy I was imagining that the puppy that we would get would be small enough for me to hold in my arms. Nope this puppy is way too big. After leaving the humane society, poor little guy got car sick twice.

Colt

Our first holiday in our new house was Halloween, I was excited to get trick or treaters. But no one came to our door, so now we are stuck with a huge bag of candy.

Halloween 2010

Our front porch, decorated for Halloween