People Eating Tasty Animals

Ok this blog isn't about eating animals, I just saw that on a bumper sticker and thought it was worth repeating (sorry to any animal rights activists I may offend).
Ally and I took a last-minute trip to Minneapolis this weekend, tagging along with Josh on his first TDY. The drive was uneventful but the weekend was awesome! We went to the zoo;

Ally pet a goat

and LOVED the prairie dogs (one of her favorite words is "dog" so she had fun yelling that at the little furry guys who would stand up and chitter).

*One of my major pet peeves is when parents deliberately teach their children incorrect things. If an animal is in a cage with a large sign identifying it, don't call it something else! I seriously watched a mom tell her older children to look at the 8 foot tall "duck" in the ostrich cage. Ok it's one thing to call a bison "buffalo" but everything with antlers is not a deer!

We of course also went to the Mall of America, which is HUGE!

This is the middle of the mall, I think I counted 4 roller coasters as well as lots of other cool rides. All the stores (4 floors) surround this central area. It took me about half an hour to walk around each floor, so we spent a good part of the day inside the mall.

MMM Cinnabon. My first job was actually at a Cinnabon. Funny story, I was "let go" because I had an "unacceptable rolling technique" which means I rolled them counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. I still eat them though.

It was nice to get away, I feel somewhat secluded here now that I can't drive out to visit family in one day anymore. I am slowly finding my place here in the ward and on base. The base here actually has some really great programs and facilities that I intend to take advantage of.

New life in ND

Ok... I finally feel like I live in a house, instead of walls held up by boxes. After a one week wait in TLF (not quite the 1-3 months we were told) we were given the keys to our house. It is a refurbished (old) house but with a spacious yard and basement. Not too bad considering our last house had zero storage space.

We had originally decided to rent a house off base but apparently heating bills range from $500-700 per month to combat the regular -50 temps, and the city of Grand Forks is quite a commute from the base. Also, trying to find a house to rent with 2 large dogs is a struggle all by itself. We will definitely be buying a home at our next station, but this one will do for now.

Lately my life has consisted of unpacking, playing with Ally, and building...

Here is my latest project. With a little help from Josh (and some materials from the Self-Help store, Ha, Ha!) I constructed a shelving unit to hold my growing stockpile of food! (P.S. Don't attempt this without a nail gun, it would have taken forever!)

Ally has settled in quite nicely and is very mobile. She now has a vocabulary of 10+ words, including "more" and of course "dog". She loves following the dogs around and poking at them. Thank goodness I have been training them since they were puppies to put up with abuse because they sure get a lot from her! I try to teach her to pet softly, but she just repeats "soft" and pokes them in the eye...

My ward has been very friendly, about half military, the other half are college students. At church today I counted 10 pregnant women and 8 babies younger than Ally. Definitely a family ward. My only complaint was the lack of a book club, so I started one.

For the most part, I think we can be happy here. Josh is enjoying his new job and I have met some nice people. Oh and the gym on base is awesome! Now I just need a new gym buddy to keep me motivated.

Ally-gator

Look at those teeth!
Thanks Kira for the cute hat!

We finally got our orders 2 weeks before we are scheduled to arrive in Grand Forks. We have no choice now but to move ourselves because of the late notice, so we have been packing, cleaning, and trying to schedule everything that needs to happen between now and then, including vet appointments for the dogs, inspections for the house, reservations in TLF here and there, a moving truck, packing supplies, repairs, and people to help! Also because of the late notice, we have to kennel our dogs (at $42 per day!) until we get into a house, which could take up to 3 months since we were just put on the waiting list when we received our orders. Poor Josh has been running around like crazy trying to do everything in 2 weeks that he should have had 2 months to do.

We also recently learned that someone in MPF (the people in charge) wiped clean Josh's dream sheet (a list of places we would like to live) without his knowledge, just prior to assignments being given out at his school. So basically it looked like we had no preference where we wanted to live, so we were given North Dakota. Gotta love the Air Force. The worst part is, Josh has priority over most of the guys in his class because of his time in service, time in rank, and time on post, so he would most likely have gotten his top choice. I hope that someday I can look back on this time and laugh because right now I am just very frustrated.

I threw a baby shower for a friend today and only 2 people besides her family showed up. I really wanted her to have a good turn-out since this is her first baby and I know they could use some help getting everything. I put a lot of effort into her shower and invited lots of people and now I feel that it was basically a waste of time. I was very disappointed not to receive a shower from the people in my ward before I had Ally so I was trying to make sure the same thing didn't happen to her.

As I prepare to leave this area, I have been reflecting on my time here. I moved every 3-4 years growing up so I didn't think I would have any problems with the military lifestyle. I have now lived here for 6.5 years; the longest I have ever lived anywhere my whole life. As much as I disliked this area at first, I have grown to love it and now I hate to leave. So many big changes in my life have happened here and I have found some of the best friends I have ever had. This is where I spent the first few years of my married life, where I graduated from college, and where my daughter was born. This is where I learned what it truly means to be a military spouse by surviving 4 deployments and 11 TDY's. I will miss all my friends here who have helped me through those life changes and trying times.

Cruisin'

Ally and I flew out to Florida for Josh's graduation, then we celebrated by going on a cruise! Josh's brother and his wife joined us and we all had a great time!

Here is our little family, finally reunited!

This was the beautiful beach at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. Our cruise ship is in the background. It was so big it had a few pools and a waterslide up on the deck. There were also over 200 cabins on my floor alone. We spent 2 days on the ship and 2 in the tropical paradise.

Every day we had a different towel animal. Ally liked to destroy them but I managed to get a picture before she ate this one's head. Ally made lots of friends on the ship. I had so many random people just stop me to say how cute she was. (I have to agree...)

Here is me getting my hair braided. It hurt a little but was totally worth it! Between swimming, sunning, snorkeling and just walking around in general, it was so nice not to have hair everywhere.

Josh and I fed sting rays. After I fed mine, the guy picked up the ray by his fins and it spit water in my face!

I just loved all the beautiful fragrant flowers all over the island. It was definitely a VACATION!

Yay for Yard Sales!

Friday and Saturday were the days of the annual Dakota Ridge yard sale. My good friend Heather =) offered her garage for me to sell some of my furniture before we move (in one month!!!) So I recruited some men (thanks men!) and loaded 2 TRUCKLOADS of things to sell. Now my house is empty and I have an extra $500 to play with, Yay! I only had 2 things to bring back home, even with Juli trying to sell them to every person who walked or drove past the driveway. Seriously she was taking things to people in their cars and pitching sales. Thanks Juli! p.s. do you want my credenza...?
On a sad note, my friend Sarah who has been here with me for 5 years, is moving tomorrow. She has been my gym buddy, my visiting teaching partner, my travel companion, my friend and my person I call when I need to talk. Thanks Sarah for all the good times and good luck in Colorado!
Happier topic: on Thursday I leave for Florida, my husband and my cruise! I can't wait for him to see Ally and how much she has grown since he left. I am so excited to go on an actual vacation and also to not be a single parent any more! Although, Josh coming home means that the countdown begins until we move and it makes me sad to think of all the good friends we will be leaving.
We have decided to move ourselves so I have been packing and cleaning all week. Ally is not much help. So many things to do!

baby pics

While I was in Utah, a friend of the family took some pictures of Ally for her website and advertising purposes. Check out her blog for some examples:

http://mysecondmile.squarespace.com/blog/2009/4/8/ah-little-girls.html

(Ally is the second set...)

You can also check out her website http://www.littledreamerstudio.com/ Go to view your session and the password is allison for the whole group of pictures. Heather, you might recognize some of your awesome head wear...

Home again, but not for long...

Happy Easter!

Ally having an allergic reaction (I still don't know what caused it) at Hogle Zoo.

Ally's first ride in a swing.

visiting friends in Utah (do you recognize any of these people?)

Stout family

Ally with cousins.

Ally with her great-grandpa

and her other great-grandpa

My sister Susan and her friend the donkey at Custer State Park.

She (the sister, not the donkey) came out to stay for two weeks. We had a great time visting the local sights and playing with Ally. For the first time since Josh left in January I was able to shower alone, go out with friends, and have an adult (if an 18-year-old counts as adult) to talk to on a regular basis. Basically I had a wonderful 2 weeks. I then spent 3 weeks in Utah visiting family and friends. My entire clan of in-laws (minus Josh of course) was in town for Conference so they decided to get family pictures taken. I realised that Josh was the only one of 9 siblings missing from the pictures, even all 23 grand children made it, and started to cry. I will be the one with red eyes in all the family pictures =(.

I was able to go watch Conference in the Conference Center, which was very exciting. My sister Susan again stepped in and watched Ally so I could attend. It has been so nice to have someone that comfortable with my daughter that I can leave her for hours on end without worrying. Too bad she doesn't live closer...

My wonderful mother-in-law took me out to my favorite restaurant: Macaroni Grill! for a fabulous dinner before I left. The drive home was long but familiar. I have made that trek at least 20 times while living here. Ally was a great traveler and slept most of the day. It is nice to be home but lonely with no one around. I was saturated with family in Utah.

In ONE MONTH I head out to Georgia for Josh's graduation, followed by a cruise leaving the next day! After that, we will be packing, cleaning, and moving to North Dakota in June. The good news is that Josh will be stationary for ONE WHOLE YEAR. In the 6 years we have been married, he has never been home for a whole year in a row before. He is looking forward to spending time with his daughter and starting his new job, even if it is in North Dakota =)