The Best Surprises Ever!!

To say the least Friday was a very emotional day for me.

I was out of my mind excited to hear the news

that Abigail Kristine was on her way and

extremely saddened that I couldn't be there to

give my BFFAE a huge hug and welcome Abby

into the world. However, I know God is watching

over me because just when I thought I was

going to melt down he sent me three wonderful

surprises! Lisa, Jamie and Lorissa devised a plan with

Mike to surprise me this last weekend. They totally

pulled it off, I had NO idea that they were coming

out to visit. In fact, I thought Jaime and Mike

(my sister and brother in law) were coming to visit and

Jaime even played a huge role in the surprise. I was sitting

at Bin 119 (a wine bar) sipping wine with Mike

expecting Jaime and Mike to show up and all

of the sudden Lisa appears out of nowhere saying

"What are we drinking?"

And then I see Jamie and then Lorissa!!! I burst

into tears and couldn't control them because I was

so happy. I was in shock (seriously) for a long time.

These gals couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks

friends for coming out, it meant the world to me. It

was fun having you here and the laughs were endless.

I do have to give a shout out to my hubby...he's had

a great listening ear and sholder to cry on. Even

knowing these gals were on their way out, he didn't

let the cat out of the bag.Mike's artistic flare. I actually love this picture.

What you don't see is Desiree taking a shot of

us from the front. And, to top it off Val's girlfriend Desiree

was able to pop in for lunch on Sunday.

She is from Montana and was on a

road trip visiting family. What a treat!Thank you everyone for making this

such a special weekend!

Abigail Kristine is on her way!!

I don't have some of your email addresses so I thought I would try to reach you with the news. Kimberly's water broke this morning, she and Zach are in the hospital right now!! She's not having contractions yet but thinks petosin is on it's way. Also, the doc hasn't seen her yet so she doesn't know at what point she is dilated to. She is hooked up to the heart monitor and they are watching closely. It's a Thanksgiving miracle!!!!!!! If you would like me to keep you posted, email me your email address and I'll put you on the update.

Woooohoooo!!

Finally, some pictures!

I am thrilled to finally have a computer

to upload pictures on! Here is a photo gallery

of my journey since making the move in August.

Time flies and I can't believe it's already November.

I will keep up on blogging now that I have the

tools to do so. Happy late Halloween everybody! Our front door...welcome! This is a shot of the kitchen from
our steps. Our first Halloween as husband and wife! Going left to right. Meet Becca, John

and Courtney...Billings Public School Posse!

I landed in MT from my visit to WA, to this... I cried. My BFFAE's shower. Oh hey Abby! A local resident.Front view. Back side view. Mike, helping me with an apple pie. My new mug from Mike. It's my weekend coffee cup! That wraps it up! More adventures to come!

Saturday morning conversations

So I'm sitting here (sorry, still no pictures) on my in-law's couch sipping coffee and watching Mike (whose been up since 7am) watch football.  I'm checking out blogs and getting ideas about life.  Here's the one that happened while looking at Kimberly's blog; "Mike, I want a baby now." His response; "Um, you can't have one RIGHT now unless you steal one." And then he said, "Let's get settled and be married for a little while."  My response, "okay, then maybe sooner then next summer?"  Mike said, "probably why don't we get settled and be married for a little while."  Hmmm, didn't get very far on that one. :)

Then, here's what happened while looking at Laura's blog; "Okay Mike since we're gonna wait on babies when do we get to have kitties?"  Mike response; "we're not even living in our house yet, let's get there first."  My response; "then next weekend."  

So with this, I better get over to my house and continue the on-going process of getting unpacked so I can adopt my fur babies that will hold me over until it's time for no fur babies. BTW why didn't anybody tell me the hours spent unpacking a place?  

Just a note...

I'm sure you've noticed that the past few entries have not had pictures. Unfortunately, I don't have a computer. I mean I have a laptop at work but we are strongly adviced to not put personal stuff on it and Hank/Kim have a desktop that won't let me download pictures onto my blog. Boo! Anyway, with that Mike and I are waiting to win the lottery so we can put that on our list of "things we need/want." Until then, it'll be a few pictureless entries.

What's new:
1. My toenail from the toe I broke is about ready to fall off.
2. Mike has helped me bake a few apple pies, he's a great help in the kitchen. I love it!
3. People in MT have AMAZING gardens. I've made four apple pies since school started...so fun!
4. It's 80 degrees tomorrow. The weather is quite bi-bolar in that it's freezing in the morning and warm in the afternoon.
5. I'm concerned about the time between cold weather kicking in and getting moved into the house. All my Fall/Winter clothes are in storage.
6. The shoe market here is awful!
7. The beer market is awesome!
8. I'm heading home here in a few days...I can hardly wait!
9. Mike and I have purchased our tickets to come home for Christmas. Dec. 22nd- 31st! "I'll be home for Christmas!" I can relate to Jinx when she would post all those years about the longing for the holidays. "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas" just came to mind; "Faithful friends who are dear to us, travel near to us once more." I can't wait! Not to rush it though...
10. Billings, MT is as beautiful during the Fall as WA.

I think I'll stop there and continue on another time.
Cheers!

"Our house is a very very very fine house,

with two cats in the yard."  -a song, I think it's Cat Stevens

Well, maybe not the two cats yet but soon we will!  

Anyway, Mike and I are on our way to a happy home.  Check out the details here...

http://www.century21hometown.com/site/detail/residential/193974

I can't wait to get in there and love it up!

September 11 and he leaves for his 3rd deployment...

Yep, that's right my brother Val ships out tomorrow for his 3rd deployment. Apparently he is being sent over to bring the troops back. There is a small chance he will be there for only six months but there is talk he will then be moved to Afghanistan.

While I support whole heartily our men and women fighting I can't imagine what it's like for a soldier to be going back to a war zone for the third time. Ironic that Val was sworn in to the military one week before the September 11th attack and eight years later he's on his third tour to Iraq one day after September 11th. It's time for me to dig out my "Godspeed CPT. Moro" bracelet for another year. Please keep him (and our men and women) in your thoughts and prayers...Godspeed to them all.

And please take a minute to remember what happened 8 years ago...