Daddy Came Home

Clint came home yesterday for R&R. We're so excited to have him here! The kids ran right to him and gave him hugs and kisses. It was rough, but I waited my turn. As I suspected, Morgan is attached to his hip. Thanks to my friend Caitlin for taking these pictures for us!

Our Almost-Home

The builder of our home is going to let us move in before closing. So today we unloaded the Penske truck into the garage, and Monday we should be able to move in after they finish touching up the paint and installing blinds. Anyway, I thought it was probably safe to post some pictures.

Our pretty front door with a Texas star.

When you walk in the front door there is an office/extra room immediately to the right.

The living room.

Walk way/hallway to bathroom and kids' rooms.

Hall bathroom.

The kids' rooms are identical.

The dining room. I'm a huge fan all the light that comes in these windows.

The kitchen.

Master Bedroom

Master bath

Master closet

Hope you enjoyed the little tour.

Update On Us

Sorry for the lack of fun/interesting posts with pictures.

After Clint and I found the house we wanted we loaded up the car and headed back to Utah to move our household goods that have been in storage since we moved to Korea. We were able to spend Thanksgiving with our families and it was so great. Our first Thanksgiving with them since 2005!

The night of Thanksgiving I decided, last minute, to armor up and battle the troops at Wal-Mart. I headed over at midnight, then went to Best Buy, stood in line for 2 hours for a washer and dryer that I didn't get, went to Target, got home at 6, left again at 7, went back to Wal Mart, went to the mall and finally got home aroung 1 pm. I think. I had absolutely no intentions of going shopping on Black Friday, but I ended up going and I got all my Christmas shopping done minus 1 or 2 things.

On Saturday after Thanksgiving we loaded up our Penske truck. We were planning on leaving Sunday, but Utah got hit with another snow storm, so we didn't make it out until Monday morning. After 27 hours straight of driving...we made it to Texas and went straight to a meeting with our realator and an inspector.

The builder of our house said we could move in upon loan approval, so we were expecting to move in soon. We hired an inspector to check things out, just to make sure everything was up to code. Unfortunately he found a few minor things that needed to be fixed and we aren't going to move in until they are fixed. We're hoping it will happen by this weekend, but who knows. So for now we are, once again, crashing with family.

I'll continue to keep you posted :) Because I know you're all SOOOOO curious!!!

House Hunters

Have you ever seen the show House Hunters on HGTV? Well, that is NOT how house hunting goes!!

Before arriving to Texas I looked at about 140 houses online. When I got here, I looked at about 32-35 of those houses in person. When Clint got here we looked at about 12 of the houses.

It just so happened that one day, when we were out with the realator, she got a phone call from another agent saying "hey, if your clients are hungry we're having an open house at _____ address." So, since our realator had to meet another couple to close on a house, we stopped by this open house.
We ended up LOVING the house. We put in an offer yesterday and it was accepted today. So, its not actually ours yet, but we're one step closer!!!!

We are leaving Texas tomorrow (Sunday) night and heading back to Utah. We'll be there for Thanksgiving and then the weekend after Thanksgiving we are loading up the Penske truck and heading back to Texas. So we won't be back for long, but at least we'll be there for the holiday.

Our Road Trip

Like I mentioned in a previous post, we left Utah on November 4th and headed to Texas. Just Morgan, Jackson and me. Everyone kept telling me I was "brave" to do it alone (which really just means crazy), but it wasn't too bad. We were blessed with safety and with no car problems. And we only missed one turn the whole way!! Here are some scenic pictures from Southern Utah through New Mexico.

So we left Utah on Thursday morning around 7 am. We made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico at 7pm. The kids were really good. The classical music idea worked (actually I used soft Christmas music lol), unfortunately, it worked well on me too. So I really had to limit its usage. I listened to The Work and The Glory on CD (Thanks Ande). That really helped me stay awake. I ended up buying the kids a portable DVD player which was probably the best thing I could have done.

We left Albuquerque at 8am on Friday and made it to Copperas Cove, Texas shortly after 9pm. The kids were a little more restless on Friday, so it was hard, but they were still really good considering. I'm blessed to have such good babies. They are adjusting to the time change just fine (even with Daylight Savings) and they are getting along with their "new" cousins very well. Morgan and Ambria are only 3 weeks a part and could be twins!

I'm staying with a friend in Copperas Cove for a couple of days. Nikki and I met in Korea. Another friend of ours from Korea recently moved to Copperas Cove, and at church yestereday, I ran into yet ANOTHER friend from Korea. Aviation is a small world (thank heavens!!). We also have some friends from flight school living here and a couple more people that Clint will be working with here, he also worked with in Korea.

Morgan misses her grandparents already and was crying for her cousin, Ellie, on the way down. Oh, and she cried for her cat, Sammy. But she just absolutely LOVES Ambria and Braydon. She calls Braydon "friend". He is 9 years old and takes such great care of his little sister and cousin. He's such a good kid!

I'm starting the house hunt today! Wish me luck!!

Oh goodness

I have so many updates to put on here, but I just haven't been able to find the time to blog lately. Tomorrow morning the kids and I are leaving for Texas. We are driving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, staying overnight, and then continuing on to Fort Hood. I have to admit I'm nervous for the 20+ hour drive. I'm mostly worried about how J will do. I'm sure M will be fine with her DVD player, 3 new Strawberry Shortcake movies, and snacks GALORE. We're going to stay with my good friend, Nikki, who lived near us in Korea. Then we'll go stay with my brother who just PCS'd to Texas in September. Clint will get to Texas in a couple of weeks and then we'll be coming back to Utah for Thanksgiving and to move our stuff from storage to Texas. Our household goods from Korea arrived in Texas a month ago!! If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for LOOOOOOOOONG car rides with little ones, I'd be glad to hear them :)

Its Officially Official Now

We got orders yesterday. We are still going to Ft. Hood, Texas. Our plan at this point is to leave Korea sometime between September 1st and 3rd. We will be going straight to Utah where we will visit with family and friends. Sometime in mid-September Clint will be flying to Ft. Rucker, Alabama for the Instructor Pilot Course, I will stay in Utah. He will graduate mid-November and return to Utah. We will spend a few more weeks with family and then pack up our stuff (99% of our belongings are in storage in Utah) and drive the moving truck to Texas the first week of December. We are so excited to get to the next chapter of our lives. Being back in the States is going to be so wonderful and amazing! We have a newfound appreciation for the life we had, and will have, in the United States. We are very blessed to have the conveinences we have there. To have...I'm not sure what the right word is. To have an easy life. Comfortable life. Convenient life. I don't know, its just different. And we can't wait to be there. We can't wait to see all of our friends and family and catch up with them. A few things I'm REALLY looking forward to:

a yard
dishwasher
carpet
grocery store less than 35 minutes away
wide open space
grass
somewhat clean air to breathe
American outlets to plug my appliances into
driving my Mazda
no traffic
church less than an hour away
sidewalks
being able to understand people over the phone (hopefully I can understand the southern accents in Texas lol)
hobby/craft/fabric stores
tap water
non-cement walls
non-military furniture

I could go on forever. But I won't :)

*Just so everyone knows, we CHOSE Ft. Hood. So please stop telling us that we're going to hate it there, and that its so horrible. It is best for Clint's career at this point and it is the closest we could get to family. Also, your situation is what you make of it. Your attitude about your situation can make or break your experience. We will be very happy there and we will love all 4 years of being there because we are the type of people who can "adapt and overcome" and make the best of the situation we're given. We learned to be happy in Alabama, we've learned to be happy in Korea, and we will do the same in Texas.

We're Moving.....

Details to follow when they are obtained.