Recap of vacation

So it's been a while... I looked at the date today and realized that I haven't blogged since before Christmas, so I figured I should give anyone who reads this an update on how my vacation went.

Well for starters, thing here are good. I'm back in Texas. I was pretty sad to leave everyone back in Idaho, but I was also kind of ready to come home, but now that I'm here, I'm ready to move home closer to Idaho. (if only...) 

Anyways Christmas/my birthday were really good. I got some pretty good things. I got a screwdriver that has the extension that can twist, I don't really know how to describe it, but it's pretty cool, but I got that from the family Christmas party. My mom gave me some piano books, one was some church songs, and the other one was the forgotten carols story and music. Ricky's family got me quite a few things. Most of it was bath stuff but I guess that's what brothers get sister in-laws. :) I also got a sweet watch, an awesome shirt, a hat/glove/scarf set (which I used in the -9 degree weather that I enjoyed most of the time I was there), and I wanna say there was one more thing, but I can't remember for sure. For my birthday Nikki, my sister in-law, got me some of those note paper things that you hang on your fridge. I was running low so I was glad to get those. Troy and his family got me two of those huge candy bars which I ate all of in about 2 days. :) Robert's family, and Grandma gave me birthday money, always a great present! Tammi and Ken got me a sweater. Tony gave me a flag that flew on a mission over seas. Daryl gave me this awesome cook ware stuff, its silicone and is high quality and most of it was his that he has already used and was damaged in some way (most had cuts) but they still work as good as new and I must say I really like them. And finally Ricky sent me flowers. I got a dozen roses! I love it when he does stuff like that, even though he's in another country he still was able to get me something! 

But yeah that was my Christmas and birthday fun. Oh wait my birthday present to myself was a new drivers license because I am officially and adult! Boo Yeah! 

I didn't do much after that, I think I was watching a movie when new years came. I enjoyed the joys of fries sauce while there. Oh how I've missed fry sauce. I'm going to try to make some here so that it tastes just like it does at home.  we'll see how that goes though. I also got to go see some friends that I haven't seen since before I got married. I realized I'm getting older. I got to bake and cook and get closer to two of my families and it was nice. Oh and I almost forgot I got to hold my brand new baby niece! Nikki had her baby while I was there! She is gorgeous! And of course seeing her has brought back all of my baby craziness that I have been suppressing. Oh well... eventually I'll have one of my own. But for now I'm just going to keep on surviving until Ricky gets back. 

Family Christmas Party

Spending time with family is always the best part of Christmas. I was lucky enough to get time off from work to be able to come home for the holidays. Yesterday was the Kent family Christmas party. It was chaotic but still tons of fun. We first went caroling to a few families near the house. After that we all got together to eat and do a gift exchange. It was tons of fun. I got a few good pictures, but it was easier to just enjoy myself. But I'll share what I got.

These first ones are what I got of everyone getting ready to go caroling.

 This is McKinley (I'm not sure that's how you spell her name). She's a little ball of energy and is always entertaining to watch.

 Riley, he's cute and sweet and fun to play with.

 This is Ella. She's actually a very happy baby, but she wasn't liking my camera. I couldn't get her to smile long enough to take a picture.

Almost everyone. It's almost impossible to get everyone into one picture anymore because it's grown so much.

The rest of these are after caroling. I didn't get any of the actual caroling or the five vehicles it took to get us all around. Oh well... 

 I was only in picture, but I figured I should share it, cause I hardly am in my blog. This is me and my brother Andrew. He likes to cuddle. 

 McKinley again, almost every time I took out my camera she wanted a picture.

Hudson was another one to always want his picture taken when I brought my camera out.

 Travis and Cara, his wife, enjoying their meal.

 All the kids eating at the table, along with my mom and Allen, her new husband.

 Alicia, Andrew's wife. She's expecting a new little girl in the next few months.

 Travis and Dillan (also not sure if I spelled his name right either), his baby boy. He's super cute!

 Grandma Kent, still alive and kicking! She didn't realize I was taking a picture and was about to say something.

 Rick, my brother, not really posing, but kind of posing for a picture.

 One of the gifts came in a big box and of course all the young kids flocked to it and wanted to play in it. I just had to get a picture. The kids from left to right are Cynthia (once again with the spelling), McKinley, Saylor, (below her is Nick) then Ella, Riley, and finally Dillan.

 After all the presents were open and the party was beginning to wind down. I was once again trying to get everyone in the picture, and once again failing.

Troy, my brother, always good for some sort of crazy face to make you smile. 

I'm excited to be home for Christmas. The only thing that would make this better was if Ricky was here with me. I miss you and love you Ricky!

Christmas tree

This year I wont be home, in Texas, for Christmas. I'm going home to Idaho to be with family. But even though I wont be here I still wanted to put up a Christmas tree, to help me get in the Christmas spirit, since it isn't snowing here, or even coming close to being cold enough to snow here.

I know that it looks kind of goofy from this picture, but I was playing around with my editing stuff, and well, I like it. I still feel like we could use more ornaments, but those will come with the years. 

Things and happenings...

So life has finally gotten back to semi-normal. It's still crazy as ever but I no longer feel stressed out about it. 

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving. I spent it with some friends and their family. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. I also made it through Black Friday. Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sure it was constantly busy but I did miss the 2:30 am rush. I was one of the lucky ones chosen to come from 5am - 5pm. But 12 hour shifts still makes for a long day. Luckily I didn't have to be on the registers the whole time either! That really helped. (I don't like being on registers but I'm just so good at it, they can't really keep me off them.)

Anyways I'm still trying to recover from Black Friday, since I haven't had a day off yet, but one is coming, just not fast enough.

In other news, Ricky is doing really good. He's missing home and family, especially with the holidays coming. He is still working hard and has gotten Airman of his squadron and Airman of the month. And because he got those he has been put into a group that they will choose Airman for the base! He's excited and is hoping that he gets it. I am too.

In completely random news, I got a letter from Santa saying that since Ricky and I don't have kids we have to buy our own Christmas presents this year but still say they are from him. It's kind of lame, but I got the list and I know what we're getting for Christmas! I've even been able to get most of it already. I actually only have a few more things to get. :)

Sorry for no pictures, but they will come. I promise. 

Oh one more thing... 22 more days till I get to go home!!!!

Parvo, not fun

This last week has been crazy. I know I probably say that every time I blog, but they all seem to be so crazy, and hectic and stressful. This last week was especially so because Chester, my puppy, got the parvovirus. For those who don't know what that is, it is basically a flu virus that usually only affects young puppies and can really harm, or even kill them (usually from dehydration or secondary infection). Like only 20% of dogs actually make it through this disease. I had to call in to work and get the week off because I couldn't afford the $700 plus it would have taken to get Chester admitted into the vet's care. I barely had enough money to get his medications. Luckily I have some friends here on base that had just gone through this with their 3 puppies, so they were able to help me know what to do and actually gave me some supplies that I didn't get, that turned out to be the saving grace from me and Chester.

Chester at the vet. He was just starting to come down with parvo. 

This was what I got from the vet, well most of it is from the vet. the pepto I bought. This is what is left over, I had another syringe and some pedia lite that I had to inject into Chester in order to keep him hydrated. I wont go into more detail about that just know I had to do it every 1-2 hours throughout this week (and no I didn't get alot of sleep). 

 Chester from earlier this week. He actually doesn't look to bad. I didn't get any pictures of when He was really down, but just know that he looked 10 times worse then this.

 This was taken yesterday I think. He was finally starting to feel better, but I think you can see that he lost a lot of weight.

 Today, He's finally eating and drinking on his own! 

 You can kind of see just how skinny he looks now, but in all honesty he's not that bad. Now I just need to get some more fat on him.

 So this week with all the stress and time off I had, I decided to escape reality by reading the series that I bought earlier this year. I really liked theses books. So much so that I am actually finished with all of them. :)

 Finally, I just wanted to show off a bit and say that I got my Christmas/Birthday present early this year. I'm really excited to start using it. No more fuzzy pictures from my phone.

I am really glad to have made it through this last week, and still be sane! It was so stressful dealing with sick things, but I did get a small insight into how to deal with sick children. Surprisingly I still want kids.

Now I just have to make it through black Friday, and I'll be golden! Life should get alot less crazy after that. I hope...

It's done!

So I finished that project today! I'm pretty excited about how well it went.

I was going to blog about each different stage, but I finished it too fast to really want to do that. So I'll just show all the stages now.

 This was after I got every thing cut out and sanded. 

 This is after I finished painting them. (the black blob in the corner is chester trying to get in the picture)

And the finally, on the wall and everything. The picture makes them look a little crooked but they're not. So what do you all think? Was it worth my time? I enjoyed doing it. Plus it kept me busy for 3-4 days. 

Speaking of time passing I can't believe it's almost been a month since Ricky left. (it will be 4 weeks on Wednesday) I feel like it's been longer but then again I'm not keeping track of days very well so it also feels like he left a week or two ago. Crazy crazy... 

Well now I need to find something else to occupy my time. Any suggestions are welcome, especially if they are cheap, I'm trying to save money.

Deployment dilemma and new projects

So Ricky's computer died. Usually this wouldn't be a problem, but his charger is broken so he's unable to charge his computer. That means that we cant talk on skype till I get the new one to him. I wont be able to send it out till tomorrow so that means in about 2-3 weeks we can start talking regularly again. For now we're using our phones to communicate but that is going to get expensive. Other then that the deployment is going really well. I'm doing great. I've been super busy with work and friends and everything. I had a 12 hour shift yesterday (not something I want to do again anytime soon) and I've been out with friends most every day this week. Ricky is doing great. He's being his usual wonderful self and getting complimented for. He's fixing planes by himself and even helping other shops and feels so accomplished all the time. 

So in attempt to make sure most every minute of every day is filled I've taken on another project, with more to come but I'll be doing one at a time so that I might actually finish everything that I want to.

This is what I'm working on now.

I know it looks like a board with lines on it but eventually it's going to be an awesome decor for my house. I can't wait till it's done!