And we're off to...

What's a better way to come back to blogging after an almost 6 month break than to see where our little family is off to next....

January we sadly say Sayonara to Japan and hello to....

Our niece :]

Introducing Ms. Makaiya Elizabeth!

Our first niece was born May 27 in a very dramatic way! She was unexpectedly born at home in the bathtub by paramedics, her nurse grandmother and frantic father. All were healthy and now Makaiya and auntie Emily have something in common. Both were born at home :]

Instagram pictures

Woodland Park Zoo

The first Sunday we were home we went on a family trip to the zoo with some of Frank's family. Expect a lot of old posts coming up ha. I wanted to upload a bunch more pictures but they are sideways and I have no idea how to rotate them on my moms computer. Macs are so confusing!! 

This trip was Frank's first time to the Woodland Park Zoo! I couldn't believe it. I grew up going there with family and school so it wasn't a huge deal to me (San Diego zoo is still our favorite. The one thing we love about Woodland is no hills!). Frank and myself had a great time just going at our own pace even if it annoyed certain people ;]

Birthday BBQ

SO SO HAPPY!! I finally am able to get some pictures up! My mom downloaded the pictures from the BBQ but they were on her account. It finally dawned on me today that I needed to get on her account to upload them. Yes I am that slow ha. We only have one on our computer so it's not something I have to think about. 

These pictures are courtesy of my 6 year old godson Robby. I also just realized that I have no pictures of the birthday people. My cousin Nicole has the same birthday as my mom and Frank.

 Frank and auntie Jean :]

 A good family picture! I'm sure this will be my mom's Christmas picture ha.

 Ashley and Lily playing hide-n-seek

Still here

I tried posting my weekly pictures but apparently I'm over my limit and need to buy more space.

Its been a busy... Interesting week. Right now Melanie and I are sitting on my parents deck enjoying some fruit in the warm weather. We're loving how peaceful and quite it is :)
Once zaedan wakes up we have the kiddie pool ready to be played in! Woot.

Hello Washington!

Well we made it to Washington last night. I'm cold. And pretty sure I'm getting sick. It's become normal for me to get a cold once I get here.

After 4 years of visiting and staying for long periods of time the girls are finally being nice to the neighbor dogs. We're able to leave the baby gates down and let them enjoy their freedom (my parents yard isn't fenced). They still don't like two dogs that live up the hill, but one of my parents/brothers dog doesn't like them either.

This morning it was a party at my parents house ha

Goodbye San Diego!

On the road to Washington we go! Our packers were there at 9 and done just after 1. I felt helpless and that I should be doing something. They were nice and told me to just watch. I did remember donuts for them, but forgot water!! That I will remember when our HHGs (household goods) are delivered in Japan.

To all our friends we've made in the 3 years we've been here.. We will miss you! We are beyond blessed to have met you and thanks to awesome technology we can still talk often :)

Lots of memories have been made, but I am more than ready to see what kind of exciting things Japan has planned for us.

Before we left we of course had to make one last stop at better buzz. Better buzz you need to take over for Starbucks and dominate! Ha best drinks EVER!

6 days

Ellie is ready to be packed up for Japan! 6 days until they come and pack us out. 6 days until we hit the road for Washington. 6 days until Franks birthday :) You can also enjoy the many faces of Frank ha.

I love it when others share their favorite apps. Especially photography apps! I've downloaded a few and am loving them! Hopefully later this week I can get around to sharing them. And our juice recap.

Frank the model!

Like every day during the summer, we came down to the pool with the dogs. I asked frank to take the girls potty before we got all comfy and wet from being in the pool. The dog area is right next to the pool. Anyways, there is a guy going around taking pictures of the complex for the website, updating them. Well they had moved from the pool area out to the pet area while frank was there with the dogs.

They lady in charge asked if he would be in the pictures. He was hesitant at first and kept saying I don't know since he was in just his swim trunks. The lady of course told him he looked great (which he does ;]), and I told him he had nothing to worry about since we're leaving the country soon.

Something fun, the lady in charge of the shoot lived in marysville for 12 years!

I they use any of these pictures on the website I will of course let you all know!! Now that I am sweating and my sunscreen has set in, to the pool I go :)

4 weeks

I've been wanting to write up a post all about the process of our move so far.. but keep forgetting. Mostly because it's been easy and uneventful. The biggest thing right now is waiting for Frank's urology appointment next week. His medical approval has been put on hold pending this appointment. Nothing to worry about though it's just his follow up from his kidney stone.

Getting the dogs ready so far has been the easiest thing we've done. Mostly because I started them with their appointments and quarentine right after we got orders. The quarentine time is 180 days and I wanted to have almost all of that finished before we left the states. At the most they will have 2 weeks left once we get to Japan.
If you are PCSing overseas I highly recommend doing all the appointments and such through the military vet. They handle everything and of course are certified and know what they are doing!

What else.... we're waiting on my no-fee passport to come back at the end of this month and then at the begining of next month (september) I will start on my travelers passport.

As soon as we finish with Frank's urology appointment we can finally start my DEA (dependant entry approval) so I can go to Japan! They won't let us start that process until Frank has been cleared by medical.

4 weeks from today is Frank's birthday. As I call it his "special" birthday since he'll be 27 on the 27th. (It's also my mom's and a cousins birthday!)

4 weeks from today our house hold goods should be packed up to be put in storage until they give the okay to have it sent to Japan. Again, waiting for the DEA. Since we have always moved ourselves we're not sure how long it takes to hear from a moving company once you put your request in. Hopefully soon!!

4 weeks from today we should hopefully be on the road heading up the PCH (something i've always wanted to do) for Washington.

Now I just wish we were a month away from Japan!!!

What we've been up to...

I realized today that I hadn't written a real post in quite a while. I thought the reason we were having issues with loading pictures and such onto the blog was the Internet. Turns out it was the computer, we had some big download going on that I didn't notice. All is better now.

Let's see.. We've been BUSY! Dogs have their second appointment next week for being able to go to Japan.

Someone Frank works with bought him Diablo 3.. Many arguments will be coming because of this. I'm not the laid back play video games all the time type of wife. That's what being single is for.

I will be spending much more time with the iPad because of the above. Glad we have this at least!

Tomorrow were going to the safari park (part of the San Diego zoo, I can't add links) with Ricky and Yumi. Best part it's for free : ] Frank and Ricky can use their military ID to get in free and Yumi and myself will use the free tickets we got from Ashley and Tony. I've been wanting to go here since we moved to San Diego. Finally making it 3 years later and 2 months before we move ha.

Shampooed the living room, dinning area, and entry way today with the Kirby for the first time. Love it! So much easier to use then a big bulky shampooer and drys so much faster since its waterless.

Every weekend is pretty much booked with spending time with friends or doing things we've wanted to do before we leave. One thing we want to do is hike El Cajon mountain. Gotta prepare for Mt. fuji next summer : ]

I've decided that when Frank goes to school from October to December I am going to stay in Washington (we'll be there all of September) so that I can get my group X certification while paying off debt. Only two months, I'll be busy studying and training. And of course volunteering at NOAH, so it should fly by.

As mentioned above we plan to leave the states debt free. We have very little left and want to start debt free and working on our savings while in Japan. We know how much we can save a year while there.. So we want to get a head start. Also it will be amazing to see how far we've come while in California with our finances.

I need to make a list of places I want to travel to while in Japan. Hmmm... Frank and I have already talked about this, but if we can we would like to stay overseas after Japan. Italy, Spain, even Guam (yes Guam ha), Germany.. Anywhere really.

Once we get to Washington I'm getting my travelers passport (I will have two, a no-fee military passport that is only good for getting to Japan on orders really). Can't wait to stamp that thing up!

Well that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure within a few minutes of posting this I will think of more stuff that has been going on. Until next time blogland...

The Farm.

A few weeks back Melanie and I headed out to a pumpkin patch for girls day. Yup that's what I was calling it ;] I love going to pumpkin patches during the fall.. I'd just like to be warm when I'm there. We had fun anyways. 

Goals and some Halloween fun

I think I'm with everyone else in saying, I can't believe it's November already! I'm not complaining one bit though because that means it's another month closer to Frank being home (YAY!), and it also means the explorer will be paid off this month!! 4 years early which just makes it even sweeter :]

October Goals

Start the Hawaii Island swim challenge at the gym, swim 3 days a week (at least) [YES! And loving it!! I was even swimming almost 5 days a week for a little while. I can't remember my exact distance but I am close to 10 miles!]

Run outside once a week (weather permitting) [weather permitting yes. Although that wasn't too many days. I got some warm clothing to wear but the running pants ended up not working out, so I'm hoping once I get a new pair we can get out more often.]

Read two books [Total FAIL! The last two months I just haven't been in the reading mood.. I might want to change that if I'm ever going to get through the stack of books on my nightstand.]

Read the book of Joel every day [So I didn't end up reading the book of Joel every day because I realized I got bored far too easy doing that. So instead I just stuck to reading the bible at random every day. Which is why I'm counting this as a win.

Go sugar free [FAIL :( So this was was actually really easy, especially since I don't eat processed foods.. or anything that has added sugars really. What messed me up was Starbucks and their holiday drinks! I was at the mall, cold and the first thing on the board was a chai tea latte... oy. I decided to try this again in January.]

 
Take the dogs for a daily walk (weather permitting) [See above.]

Go to the dog park once a week [Big fat FAIL. It didn't happen once.]

Document one new recipe a week (not sure why I've gotten so lazy about this lately) [I did put up some new recipes but I didn't realize I had said to do one a week. I decided to count this as a win anyways.]

November Goals

Swim 14 miles [at least]

Run the Turkey trot 5k

Run no less than 3 days a week

Post 5 new recipes

Walk the dogs every clear day

Pay off the explorer!

Edit: I found out today how many miles I swam in October... 12 MILES!! I thought I had barely gone 10. It was a nice surprise :] I topped it off with swimming another 47 laps tonight. So that would be 1 mile and... anyone out there want to do the math!? So excited!!
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Every year on Halloween my friend comes by with her son (my godson) to trick-or-treat and show off his costume. Well this year Robby had more fun handing the candy out at my house and playing on the elliptical. He told his mom to go trick-or-treating for him haha. He cracked me up!

Here Robby is as a... um I'm not actually sure what he is. Goes to show how little I know about scary movies.

Sorry in advance about the poor picture quality, I have the worst time getting pictures in this lighting. I'm no pro here, just wishing I was one!

Had to get a picture in with him before they left. I would have liked to gotten more with his mom and such, but CJ and Melanie came over with Zaedan around the same time so it was pretty crazy. Ellie decided to join in our picture as well :]

It was a must (if they were in town) for CJ and Melanie to stop, I wanted to see Zaedan in his first Halloween costume! He was a tiger, and oh so cute. I'm pretty scary to look at in general in these pictures ha. My costume was tired gym lover :] an hour of interval training on the treadmill and lunges and squats then 45 minutes in the pool plus no shower yet=not pretty!

Yup we were having fun! Zaedan thought we were all a little crazy.

Hope everyone had a fun safe Halloween!!