Last week before the end of the year...

Harold went back to work today. His 10 days have come to an end and we have entered into the last week before his deployment. We've known it was coming and we've slowly been trying to prepare for this departure, but it seems like we aren't making any ground. Yesterday it really hit me that after next week, Harold will be gone until the holidays. We spent Saturday shopping for summer clothes for Aden...and it made me really sad to know that Harold won't be seeing Aden in any of these clothes. By the time he gets back, Aden will be nearly 2 years old.

I know it's not helpful to focus on the negative, but I've been ignoring it for so long that I just can't help but feel a little overwhelmed right now. I know we will make it through this, and I know we will come out on the other side stronger and better off than we are now...but it's the getting there that is a little daunting. This is a lifestyle we chose, but right now it's really difficult to accept that 8 months of our lives will be given up to the needs of the Navy...

But at the end of the day...we will be strong and we will be able to move on to tomorrow and make sure that no matter what, no matter where we are or what we are doing...we are still a family, we are still loved, we are still in God's hands, and we will be just fine.

Washington D.C.

Harold had 10 days off after returning from his Jan/Feb underway, so we decided a long time ago that we would like to go on vacation during those days. We were considering a trip down to Florida, but we decided that we didn't want to spend so many of those precious days driving. So our second choice, a much closer destination, was Washington, D.C.!

From our house, DC is only about a 2.5 hour drive, with light traffic. Fortunately for us, nobody really seemed to be out on the road the morning we left. We packed up on the 25th of February and headed up to our hotel in Camp Springs, Maryland. We chose a hotel outside of DC, because we discovered very quickly that just about everything inside the city limits is 3 times as expensive as it ever should be. Anyway, it wasn't too bad because the Metro was very close to the hotel and it was about a 15 minute ride into the city.

Each day we were there we packed as much as we could into our schedule. That worked out really great because we were able to see just about all the major tourist sites but HOLY MOLY...I never want to walk that much ever again!!

We had a lot of fun touring our Capitol and it ended up being a really great vacation.
We have a few fun photos to share...most of them are on Facbook...Blogger is being difficult this morning and these were all the ones I could get uploaded today. Maybe tomorrow I'll try again. :)

We had planned on making a special trip to the Washington Monument so that we could ride all the way up to the top, but because of the earthquake that hit DC a few months ago, the Monument (as well as many other landmarks) were closed for construction. Harold was pretty bummed because that was the main thing he was looking forward to, but at least we got to see it! Here's Aden with Daddy and then Mommy at the Washington Monument. :)

Aden spent every morning before we left for the Metro (and every evening when we returned) running around the hotel room. He would run from the door to the window across the room and play with anything and everything in between. It was entertaining to watch him getting into everything. We gave him free reign of the room, and he LOVED it! There were two floor length mirrors in the room that he would sit in front of, just to have a little chat with himself. He would look at himself, admiring his cuteness, and then he would lean into the reflection and smile and laugh at the goofy boy he saw. Haha, it was so hilarious!! He is our little ham.

This was at the center of one of the Art museums. It was the COOLEST place we saw, I thought. It was so cold out the day we went here, and when we walked by this area and saw it through the windows, I noticed people sitting in t-shirts reading newspapers. We couldn't believe they were bearing the cold so well!! So we decided to venture out into the square to see what it had to offer...and then we realized that it wasn't actually outdoors. This room was HUGE and so warm. It felt like a greenhouse. And those big rectangle slabs on the ground? Those are fountains! Water was running across the floor! It was definitely one of the neatest things ever.

Here is our sweet boy on the first day we were in DC. He was such a trooper! After all of the traveling he has done in his short life, it's amazing to me that he still behaves so well wherever we are! It's always a little challenging toting a toddler around in big cities, but he sure did make this vacation so much more special!! We are so very blessed!!

Our Home!!

In our 3 years of marriage we have lived in 4 different states!! It's been an exciting and very busy beginning for us, and now we have been given orders to Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia. We are not anywhere near our friends and family, but we are determined to make the most of what God has given us.

Our house is an older home (built in 1959) on the biggest lot we were able to find. We wanted a cozy little home just right for our little family and this house seems to be the perfect fit! Harold likes it for the 2 car garage (and the extra large air compressor that came with it)...Harley & Daisy like it for the giant yard they have all to themselves...Aden likes it for the hard wood floors so he can drive his cars all around the house...and I like it because my family is so happy here, and because I can finally unpack all of what seems like HUNDREDS of boxes!! YAY!! :D

We are located about 9 miles from the Norfolk Naval Station: over a bridge across the bay, through a tunnel, just past the shopping district...we are tucked nicely in a quiet cul-de-sac off of the main road in town. Our neighbors in the court have each been in their homes for 40+ years, and we have felt so welcomed and accepted since moving in!! :)

So here are some photos of our house!! We are all settled and ready for guests!! Trip to Virginia, anyone?? ;)

8 Gregson Ct.
Hampton, VA - 23666

Here's Aden, showing off his whiteboard and his letters. In this little house we have to use whatever space we have! So here is our hallway/Aden's play area :)
To the left there is a linen closet, to the right is the dining room and then the guest room...and then Aden's room!


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Aden's Room

I never thought that I would ever like the reds and blues, but once Aden's personality started to shine through, I couldn't imagine anything but these colors for his room. He loves all things manly, and he's only a toddler...

The previous owners actually had a little boy and this was his room. They had painted it yellow, which was a convenient color for the top half of Aden's room. Since I left the paint color, I didn't bother taking down these two shelves. Now they serve as nice little perches for the teddy bears we'd rather display than play with. :)


This is our dining room. When we moved in, the dining room and kitchen were painted a lemony yellow. I wasn't too fond of the blandness, so we went for bold! Brick red and some bright white accents have turned our bland dining area into a cozy little kitchen. :)


I was looking for some artwork to hang in this spot, but couldn't find anything I really liked that was worth the price. So I decided maybe shelves would be a better choice. Much better fit, I think!

Our kitchen! There are still some areas of trim that need to be painted white...maybe I'll get to that one of these days...For now I don't mind! We have already enjoyed throwing a few dinner parties and our kitchen has become one of my favorite places in the house.


Our room is a work in progress. I have had an idea of a grey scale bedroom with black and white photos since the day we got married. We are getting closer to the final look I would like. :)

This is our living room. It is where we spend most of our time as a family right now. It serves as an office, a den, a play room, a craft area, a cinema as well as an entertaining space. A perfect fit for our little family! :)

Harley and Daisy have a little space of their own in the living room. Here is our 'Office' :) This area is not only Harold's office space, but is also the baby feeding zone.

Well, for now there are our photos of our house. There is also a guest/craft room, a master bath, a guest bath, a laundry room and of course the outdoors. I will get around to taking photos of those too and they should be up here soon! :)

Our Fresh Blog Start

Hi Friends!!

Thanks for stopping by our blog! You may already be a follower, but you may also be visiting after receiving our family photos. :) As you can see, I've been kind of bad at keeping up with this blog...but I've decided it's about time I pay a little more attention to this, especially for our friends and family who may not have Facebook. The last time I updated this, Aden was just starting to eat solids...and now he is running and climbing and jumping off of just about anything!! There are quite a few things that have changed, and most of you are already updated...but just for the sake of our 'fresh blog start', I'm going to give a quick list of all the major happenings in our exciting and busy life...

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Our little family went on quite the roller coaster of emotions and events throughout 2011...Harold was flown out to Bahrain where he joined up with the USS Enterprise to finish out a deployment tour in the Persian gulf. Aden and I stayed back in Idaho to spend time with friends and family until Harold came back. Aden and I packed up and made the trip across the country with Harold's Dad Randy and his Aunt Kim (and of course Harley and Daisy!) just in time for the Enterprise Homecoming.

Once Harold returned home, after spending a few days exploring Norfolk (our new station), we began a search for our first home together. We found our home and started the process of purchasing our first house! Soon after we began that process we found out we were expecting our second baby. As the holiday season came around, we experienced the heartache of a miscarriage of our sweet baby at 10 weeks. It was something we never could have prepared for or dealt with as well as we did without the support and love we felt from our friends and family. So here is a special thanks, in case you haven't heard it from us yet, for your thoughts and prayers. <3

Harold left shortly after that for a short underway (mini-deployment). During the underway our happy little Aden turned 1!! As soon as Daddy returned, we celebrated together with a special red truck cake. We are so thankful for such a healthy and happy little toddler!! Christmas came around a week later and Aden had the best month of his life!! Gifts galore!! :)

We brought in the New Year with hopes of closing on our home, but alas, January came and went and it wasn't until February 3rd that we FINALLY signed the papers for our first home together!! Harold was, however, on yet another underway when the papers were officially signed, and he just returned home to us on the 10th of February.

And so, nearly 3 years since our wedding, we find ourselves living in our first home in Hampton, Virginia sharing our lives with our son, Aden, and our two dogs, Harley & Daisy. It's been a really fun and also very trying journey together and now we are preparing for another new adventure: Deployment 2012.

On March 11th, Harold will board the USS Enterprise to take part in the ship's final scheduled deployment. They are supposed to return sometime in the end of October/beginning of November. This is bound to be a difficult year for us as Harold is heading into the Persian Gulf once again, taking on the task of staring down Iran. But we are determined to make it!! And we know that with God on our side, we can handle this. :)

Between now and then, we will be taking things one day at a time, and for now we have planned an exciting vacation for a week in Washington, D.C. next week! I'm really looking forward to some time with my boys. If there is anything I have learned from this military lifestyle, it's to appreciate every moment I get to share with my husband.

I think I've covered just about all the major life events that there were to tell! Of course we have many photos to share...and I'm still trying to get the hang of this blogger system...so bear with me as I get the photos of our family and our home uploaded to share with you!! :)