7 Years

Holy cow, how is it possible that Frank and I have been married for 7 years?! Best 7 years of my life :]

Love this man

Forever and ever and always <3

A little update

Well it's been a little while since I posted something. We have been very busy the last few weeks! This last week feels like it flew by yet the rest of the month felt like eternity. Frank and I both wished it had gone a bit faster.  Speaking of Frank, he is on his way to Lemoore for school. He left yesterday morning and drove to his uncles house which is about 3 hours north of base. He ended up making great time getting there and was very happy to be out of the car for the night. Both of us are happy to be back on schedules after not having one for the last month plus.

I have so much to catch up on i'm not even sure where to start! I guess a good place would be to upload the pictures I have to the computer. We did lots of exploring the northwest! For our anniversary we went to La Conner for a late lunch/early dinner. Then headed over to Deception pass since neither of us had been in years. Then on the whim decided to explore Whidbey Island and the naval base. Drove down to Coupeville then headed home.

A treat to ourselves for paying off our debt (WE'RE DEBT FREE!!) we took a day trip to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands and fell in love!

We FINALLY paid off our debt so we are very happy about that. Now time to work on the savings account before heading to Japan.

We also got our flight info much earlier than we expected. We told them Frank was driving to and from school so they did not have to book him a ticket. We put a request in to do a MAC (military) flight our of Seattle but they weren't able to find us a day that could work with having room for pets. So we are flying commercial out of LA. The issue. They have Frank flying out of Lemoore to LAX and myself flying out of San Diego to LAX. We are working on having the first flights canceled and just flying out of LAX with no connecting flights before hand. I haven't talked to Frank about this yet, and it will all depend on how much money we can save, but I was thinking of driving up to San Francisco for the night after I pick him up from school. It's somewhere i've always wanted to go and we will be 3 hours from it.

As I was writing this blogger shut down on me and didn't save the rest of what I was writing :[ What I do remember... Frank and I are more than ready for it to be December. We are very excited to start our next adventure in Japan!

4 years

I'm a little behind on this but Friday was mine and Frank's 4th anniversary. We celebrated by talking on the phone ha. It's not a big deal to us that we miss birthday's and anniversary's since we only do something big for them every few years. We still have never had a honeymoon since we didn't have the money so I think that should come before anything else :]

It's crazy to think it's been 4 years! Let's see.. 4 years, 3 states, 2 deployments, 1 small DET, tons of traveling the U.S., 2 dogs, and LOTS of moving later.. ha. Love him to pieces. Or as we say, Forever and ever and always.. to infinity and beyooooonnndd! Yup we still act like kids sometimes.

The only wedding picture I have on the computer is the one at the bottom of my page.. but here are some of the oldest I have (the rest are on thumb drives.).

 These first two were taken in the Outer Banks in March of 2009 when Nicole came to visit us. This was after me and her had gone up to DC and NYC.  We of course had to take her down to North Carolina since the Outer Banks is one of our favorite places. Oh how I miss you OBX!!!

 These we the following month (end of April) down in Florida (Panama City Beach, another favorite area for us!) Frank was down there for work for a little while and it was right before my 22nd birthday. I was out of work because of my injuries and we were getting ready to move to San Diego so I went down for a few weeks as a birthday gift from my mom. Really I just asked if she'd pay for a hotel for me as a gift, she said yes so I was able to go! ha. I spent most of my time exploring the area, going out to Destin and driving back through the little coastal towns and fell in love! I also spent A LOT of time at Pier Park.

 Waiting for sting rays ;} ha. We went para sailing while we were there and were able to see all of the sting rays in the water. That was pretty crazy!

So happy be-lated anniversary love!

3 years

Before it's no longer the 16th I would like to wish my husband a VERY happy 3rd anniversary! At times it feels like we've been married forever, but at others it seems like we just got married yesterday. I can't decide if we're still considered to be in the honeymoon faze? Hum...

I had planned a whole post on being mushy about Frank (something I haven't done on here before, I thought it would be a good day to start ;] ) however, our day didn't end how I thought it would either. Thankfully it's all good!

Frank got a special liberty day (a day off that does not use his leave, for any non-military who have no idea what that means) for his birthday last month that is good up until Thanksgiving. He chose to take it for our anniversary, which I thought was odd but he didn't think they'd give it to him on a Friday since that would give him a three day weekend. Anyways, we planned to go up to Cabrillo National Monument since my ticket was still good from when I went with Nick and then eat at Tropical Smoothie since we just love it so much. Unfortunately we had to start the day off dealing with insurance. Never fun. Once we had that all figured out we headed out for lunch then the monument. Of course it's since and sunny, clear skies and warm at our house but once we get to the monument it's a little cooler and overcast. The sun was trying so hard to break through, but I got tired of waiting for it to happen. We still had a nice time since the view rocks regardless.

 As we were leaving I asked Frank if he wanted to stop by the exchange to look at the Macs and how much they were going for there. After about 3 hours we left with a 23" HP TouchSmart desktop and a Nikon coolpix P100. Yup didn't think we'd be doing that ha. They had a great deal going on that we couldn't resist since we were in desperate need of a new computer and a camera. The camera isn't anything fancy, I call it my transition camera. It's a little better than what we had and I am able to learn more about how to use lighting and all that fun stuff. So hopefully in a year or so I'll be able to upgrade to my current crush... a Nikon D90 :) One day I'll be there... for now the P100 will have to do. It's not too shabby though, so I'm not upset with it at all. Now I can start posting pictures again (which I still have some I need to share from last month!)... when I get the time.

I must say this is weird using an up to date computer. There was nothing wrong with my laptop it was just old and not wanting to be used as a main source of Internet connection. We plan to have it stripped of everything on it and keep it as a travel computer to upload pictures, I would have never thought of that! Thankfully my mom mentioned that to me.

Well this has become rambling and most likely may not be making sense... I'm tired... it's almost midnight :/ eck! It's bed time for me. Hopefully now that I have a computer that can keep up with me I will be back to blogging more regularly!?

Happy blog-aversary

So it's been a little while since I've actually written a post.. of any kind really. Hope y'all didn't forget about me :). There really was so reason for the little hiatus, just stepping back from the web for awhile. I still checked blogs here and there and facebook from my phone so I wasn't completely gone. Anyways, I am back now and already have a few posts lined up. The next few weeks/months are going to start getting busy for us then before we know it the holiday's will be here, we'll be back home for the FIRST time during them (wish us luck!) then we'll be planning my birthday. It seems we do more for mine since Frank's is in the middle of our busy time. Not only is it his birthday it's also my mom's as well as a cousins, then shortly after that is our anniversary followed by his moms birthday the next day and a few days later his brothers. And we can't forget his younger sisters birthday a few weeks before Franks. Busy birthday time!

Along with all those birthday... today is my one year blog-aversary!! How exciting!? I can't believe I've been blogging for a whole year. It also means it's been one year since somebody decided to let themselves into our house and go through our things. Ellie still is mean to anyone who comes by our patio. Thankfully they all understand and are nice about it. They know she's a sweetie deep down. I'm still hoping to one day bring a dog trainer to our house to work with her on her behavior issues.

Now onto the real reason for this post. I am very happy to say... we bought a carpet shampooer!! My oh my how much we have needed this. We have been looking around on craigslist for a decent used one for months but had no luck finding anything. With Nick's visit coming up soon and the spare room smelling even worse we were becoming desperate, so we were just going to rent a shampooer from a store. By the grace of the shampooing Gods I found a Bissell ProHeat 2X deep cleaner for $80. It's only a few months old and in great condition still. I'm in love :) I would like to say the spare room smells fantastic now, but this morning while I was gone one of the dogs pooped and I believe peed in there play pen. Such turds! However, this is why we wanted to buy one. They only ever go to the bathroom inside in there play pen if they didn't get it all out before being locked up. I knew it was most likely going to happen since they only peed before I left. I love that I don't have to be upset every time that happens now. I plan to shampoo the area tomorrow since I don't have the time today, and it will be back to smelling good. Yippee!

So far we've done the spare room the hallway and the entry way. I'm going to be doing the dinning area tomorrow and then I hope to have the bedroom and living room done sometime before Nick's visit. Getting Frank to move furniture is the hardest part, I really don't blame him for not wanting to though. But I win this battle because.. well I do ha. He also knows how much I want the carpets done.

**Just a little heads up, none of these pictures were edited since I didn't really have the time. So don't mind how bad they look.**

Had to get a before shot! We've grown so used to seeing a gaping whole in his mouth since he doesn't wear his tooth retainer very often. I tend to forget when taking pictures.

 I love that you can already see a difference in the carpet!!

 Doggie jail! We blocked them off from the back half of the apartment so they wouldn't get in the way. Molly wasn't too happy about that part.

 I'm just that cool, I had to put it on the calendar so everyone knew ha.

 Aw so pretty! I can smell the fresh clean scent :)

A look back at 2009

2009 was a busy year for Frank and I, so I thought a walk down memory lane would be fun...

JANUARY
Well January definitely gave me a painful look into what the year would hold. I quit Bally's after a week of working in the new year.. oh that's a story in it's self ha. Frank and I took our first vacation alone since being married, all our other trips had been with people so it was nice finally going somewhere just the two of us. We headed over to SnowShoe in West Virginia so Frank could snowboard, and his hopes of teaching me. Within a half hour of being there, and within 5 minutes of "learning" to snowboard I fell and slightly fractured my tailbone. Needless to say I came to hate snowboarding and spent most of our vacation in bed. Along with the rest of January and most of February. Can you see the pain in my face? I needed one good picture from our trip.

FEBRUARY
Following the fall from January I spent most my time laying around trying to get comfortable.
We had a nice Valentines Day dinner at The Melting Pot. Man oh man was it good! We had a special menu for the night so we didn't have to worry about deciding what to get, but it wasn't cheap that's for sure. It was worth every penny.

{Sorry for the poor quality it was taken with my phone}

Around this time is when I somewhat starting cooking and baking. I made a heaping amount of sugar cookies and then took them over to our friends house and had there kids decorate them. Leiian had a bast with this, Julyssa slept through most of it.

MARCH

Nicole made her way out to Virginia and what a trip we had in store : ] We headed up to DC for a few days to see Britney Spears in concert {AMAZING!!} and to sight-see around our Nations Capitol. This was Nicole's first time there so I acted as tour guide as best as possible.

I can't get enough of DC! I absolutely love it there. I can't wait to go back with a nice professional type camera that I hope to own one day.. and maybe I'll make it there in the spring rather than the winter, which we managed to do twice. After DC we went up north.. ohh we couldn't wait... NEW YORK HERE WE COME!! This is something both Nicole and I have always wanted to do, so the fact that it was happening was a little surreal to us.

We got a good laugh from this, the captain of the boat was going around having people take pictures like this.

The only thing that we a bummer about our NY trip was that it was overcast about the whole time. I've been planning a week long trip since we left.. now when will we take it? Who knows ha. Before Nicole left we took her down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, we wanted to show her why we love it so much.

APRIL

 After almost 3 months my tailbone was starting to feel better, enough so I could get back into the gym a handful of times. It felt SOOO GOOD to be back! It came at perfect timing. Frank was going to Panama City Beach for 2 1/2 weeks for a yearly mini DET his squadron does. Since it was going to be right before my birthday I headed down a few day's after he left. I spent 2 weeks just relaxing and soaking up the sun :] This trip was a first for both Frank and I and we both came to love Florida. It's somewhere we'd love to be stationed in the future. I have to say for the both of us, our favorite part was when we went para sailing! It was unbelievable. I wish I had a water proof disposable camera so I could have gotten some pictures.

MAY

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! We also added a new member to our family, Ellie, Molly's sister. Our friends Erik and Haysel who had her weren't able to keep her anymore with all the problems she was starting to have {which by the way she has not stopped, she's only added more!} They were moving to Texas while we were in Florida so she spent a few nights with some other friends. Then became a part of the Longley household. Molly and Ellie are inseparable.. and both have been a pain for us, but we love them just as much! May was mostly spent at the beach with the pups. We could easily go everyday.. and we tried. I also started going through all our stuff getting ready for our big move to come. May was also the month I passed out and damaged my sciatic nerve. Unfortunately this is going to be a long long road to recovery. Many more months of pain to come. YAY!

JUNE

Being the beach bums we are we spent as much of June at the beach as we could. We were also full swing into organizing, donating, and packing. With the pain in my leg and back it made packing much more difficult, Frank being the amazing husband he is helped me with quite a bit. We donated at least 3 car loads of stuff to the Salvation Army, it's amazing how much we got rid of considering how much of an anti-pack rat that I am. Since we were moving ourselves I wanted to move as little as possible.

Sisterly love after a long day

JULY

Moving time! My mom came out at the end of June to help us drive across country. We were towing the truck behind the U Haul so we needed another driver for the car. The pain from my sciatica was pure torture so I was grumpy the whole way. I did try driving for a short time to give my mom a break, but after trying to hide the pain for so long I couldn't take it anymore and stayed as a passenger the whole way.

Our new home.. for the next 3 years. We spent a total of 3 days in California before we packed the car back up {the dogs were NOT happy about this!} and drove up to Washington for our yearly visit. Nick threw us a BBQ. This was also the first time we saw Nick since he started losing weight, I had him not put any pictures online so it would be a surprise for us. He looked great at that point I believe he had lost 70 something pounds!

Then the trip we were waiting for.. HAWAII! We were going with Franks parent's, his brother CJ and his girlfriend Kimmie. Cliff and Rocky {the in-laws}have time share so they invited us to join as long as we pay for our flights. We jumped at the chance as soon as possible. We had a great time while there, we were on Oahu so I got to visit with Carlee a friend from high school. One thing I was looking forward to the most was Dole Pineapple farm! We also went to The Polynesian Cultural Center, Hanauma Bay, Pearl Harbor {though we didn't get to go out to the memorial}, the beach! And lots of walking around soaking in our surroundings.

I swear we're not that out of shape, we just had to stand really weird with our guts out so we wouldn't fall over!

AUGUST

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK! Starting August we were exploring San Diego and seeing what our new home had and what it had to offer. Like normal we spent lots of time at the beach, getting used to the Pacific Ocean again. Thankfully we had friends {Ashley and Tony} from back home who have lived here for a few years to show us around and let us know what to do. I went searching online to find places to go and found out about Sunset Cliffs, it's a must see if visiting the area. August is also the month I started this BLOG!

SEPTEMBER

We spent A LOT of time at the dog park this month! Frank started at his new command, and we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary! Since we didn't have money I made us a nice meal and we relaxed at home.

OCTOBER

My favorite memory of October was paying off our personal loan! That was something we really enjoyed. October was also the month of my worlds famous PUMPKIN PIE. We also started going for hikes, I started going for daily morning walks with Molly, Ellie and my friend Mikey and her puppy Willow. I was getting better and better with cooking and baking. You can check out the food HERE.

NOVEMBER
My mom made her second actual visit to San Diego. The first time she has been here on vacation was 30 years early! Our neighbor had told us about Mission Trails so we spent a lot of time checking out the different trails to go on. My mom was visiting during Thanksgiving so we had to cram lots in before places closed for the holiday weekend. We took her too Balboa, The zoo, Hotel Del Coronado, Mission Trails, and Cowles MT.

DECEMBER
While my mom was visiting and we went to Cowles MT. Frank wasn't able to join us since he was working. I knew he'd love it so it was a must see for him! We also went to December Night's at Balboa Park for the holiday festivities, and we decorated our teeny tiny apartment for Christmas.

To check out all the other stuff we've done in the last few months browse through the blog.

2010 should be another fun, busy, exciting year for us. To start our year off we'll be going to Vegas for a few days! Make sure to check back to the blog to keep up with us.