The exhaustion of the holidays in normal, but...

add to it dealing with a toddler who is completely out of her routine and it multiplies! I'm enjoying being back in KC. But Lydia is so mixed-up! She doesn't have her toys, her room, or even her bedtime!!! And all of that combines for a grumpy girl in the making. I'm not sure if that's her or me somedays! =)

Christmas was great!!! Lydia got way too much especially considering we now have to get it all back home. (But that's what UPS is for I guess!) We enjoyed time with our family. We even got a Christmas surprise-My aunt and uncle (aka Grammy and Papa Ray to Lydia) surprised us all be showing up on Christmas Eve. Instead of mailing gifts and yummy Christmas cookies from Colorado, they decided at the last minute to deliver them in person. We were all definitely shocked and enjoyed having a Christmas with them again.

Lydia is enjoying getting spoiled by everyone. We've enjoyed visiting with family and a few friends. We have lots more friends we would like to see more of...hint, hint (to any of you who are reading this that we haven't seen)! Our schedule is open and we love to play!!!

I promise to post photos soon. I forgot the cable to download them so I'm going to Wal-Mart to make a CD of them. (Hopefully they don't destroy my photo card this time!) And I'll get them uploaded in the next couple days. Because we all know that the pictures are what everyone wants to see anyway!

We're finally "home"!!!

And by home, I mean KC. We've only been gone a few months, but I think we'll always call it home. It's where most of our friends and family are, where I'm from, and where we met and started our lives together.

So after almost 18 HOURS, 3 delays, and a 60 degree drop in temperature we finally arrived in KC on Tuesday. Lydia actually did very well considering the amount of time we spent on planes and in airports and taking into account she is only two (for a couple more months!) We left Honolulu late Monday night and arrived in KC on Tuesday evening. Hats off to whoever thought enough to put a play area in the Salt Lake City airport. I know it must have been a mom!!! It provided some much needed energy release.

We entered the airport with 75 degree weather and exited with 15 degree weather. My poor munchkin is so confused by it all. When she first felt the cold chill, she said "Mommy, I'm hot!" I guess last winter is a long distance memory in her short life. And of course when she saw the snow on the hill, she thought it was sand. But she has adjusted well to the cold. She's enjoying the snow and especially the new Dora snow boots that Mom bought!

We've been enjoying seeing family and a few friends and look forward to seeing more. We'll be here until mid-February so there will be lots of time for visiting! I'll try to post pics soon. I'm used to my laptop with the built in card reader. But I'm at my dad's on the OLD PC. At least I got him started on internet!!!

Merry Christmas to anyone who stumbles across this! Have a great holiday and enjoy every memory making opportunity with those you love!

Play hard, sleep hard!

It's exhausting work to play so much and be so cute. I guess she was just ready to drop...literally! At least she thought ahead enough to bring her pillow into the kitchen before crashing for her afternoon nap. (I know I've said we are still unpacking, but she does have a bed!)

Rain, rain go away!!!

Ok, so I know we live in a tropical climate and it is rainy season....BUT this is just ridiculous. It typically rains every day or so, but it's usually short lived. Unfortunately, that is not the case today! It has been raining for a little over 36 hours now. And I don't mean a sprinkle or a light shower, it's been more like a power-washing of our island. Last night it rained at 3-4 inches an hour for awhile. Obviously we're now dealing with flooding. Jon did make it onto base this morning, but very few others did. So we ended up with our equivalent to a Missouri snow day. Everything pretty much shut down. Unfortunately, during the hour or so Jon was at work the heavy rain continued and BOTH routes home got flooded out. So after about two hours of lighter rain, he was able to make it home...barely. (Our housing area only has one road leading in and out and of course it floods easily!) Now I am one of those who likes an occasionally rainy day, but with a two-year old begging to go outside ALL day, even I want it to stop.

(By the way, I do have a "catch-up" post or two that I'm working on since it took me so long to get this blog started once we got here. But I don't want to get any further behind so I'll just start from now--for now!!)

Welcome!!!

I figured I would try to start this blog as a way to keep our friends and family up on what's going on in our lives. I will...promise!...add photos as often as possible.

As of today, we're still in limbo mode. Jon is already in Hawaii and hopefully we will find out this week when we will be leaving. For those who know us well, this is a dramatic change in our lives. But we are up for the challenge. We have asked God to direct our path and are confident in the fact that He is providing for our needs above and beyond what we could ask or think. It is definitely a step of faith, especially for me...I tend to want to know every detail and step and have it all planned, but that doesn't exactly mesh well with the Army lifestyle. I'm learning to give up, in a good way, on some of my planning.

I'll update this blog as soon as I know more. Thanks for stopping by!!!