August 2010

So I haven't blogged in what feels like a million years, but my good friend April requested an update, so here it is. I have started a few times, but felt somewhat anti-climactic. Moving can be that way. You have the stress and excitement of finding a place to live, reserving the moving company, and all that jazz and then once you get there it's just like, Oh. Well, time to unpack of a bunch of boxes now. Fun. But we are settling in. Slowly. I've actually kind of lost my forward momentum, which I attribute to two things. First, I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of CRAP that we own. I thought I'd gotten rid of a lot, but there is much more work to be done. Second, Aaron has been working almost nonstop the last few weeks, to prepare for a 3-week training mission that he leaves for on Tuesday. Hopefully, after that, we will get to enjoy what I think of as "real" SF Support, which is a lot of long weekends and short days. We like this. So my plan is to put all my boxes in the garage so the area I'm in all the time looks decent and then just unpacking a box a day. Eventually it will become necessary to get some storage bins and shelving for the garage. It'll be slow, but some momentum is better than none.
I love my house, by the way. We have this huge, bright, eat-in kitchen with tons of counterspace and cabinets. We have a living room and a play area, and each of the kids have their own room (even if Jack sleeps with us, haha.) Two full baths, and a half-bath downstairs. It's really nice, but I miss having a yard. Someday soon I hope to live somewhere that doesn't share walls with strangers.
Aaron's doing well in his job. When he first arrived at this unit, he was assigned as a section sergeant, which is pretty cool for a new sergeant. He was told that they thought he'd been an NCO for awhile, which doesn't surprise me. He's a natural-born leader. He's got three soldiers under him, and is responsible for 9 billion dollars worth of equipment. Half of it doesn't work, hence the long long days, but it's still pretty great. He seems to enjoy his colleagues for the most part, and being in the position to him seems to come naturally. I'm very proud of him. He worried, at first, that giving him a leadership position was to set him up, but it doesn't seem that way. They want to send him to WLC in October and then to the board shortly after that. We may see E-6 before long!

I am really enjoying the weather. It's so nice and cool here, and the overcast really doesn't even bother me. It's so cool that most of the homes up here don't have air conditioning. Growing up in Houston and then living the rest of my life in the South, this was completely unbelievable to me, but it's true that you don't really need it. There are so many trees here. The air tastes different. People are really nice, and there's a 10% LDS population, which is the most concentration I've ever experienced. It makes me more aware of myself and helps me to behave. :) I have met a few really nice people at church. I have adopted a practice: when I go to a new ward, I try and leave myself very open to impressions about people. In the past, when I've done this, and then followed the impressions I get, I am not disappointed. If I have the urge to say hello to someone, then I do it. I have a playdate scheduled for this week with a woman I was impressed to talk to. She seems very sweet and I'm excited to get to know her better. I still miss Steven's Creek like you wouldn't believe, but I think that ward will forever be the standard that all other wards are compared to. Steven's Creek felt like home. This ward is very nice, too, though. Also, some friends from Campbell, the Allens, are here. It's really nice to get to hang out with people who are comfortable. They also did us a HUGE service when all the moving BS was going down. Without Travis, this whole situation would have been even worse. Hard to imagine, but it's true. I also need to find my local LLL! Plus, I have several friends I've known online for years but never met that live in this area, so that's really exciting. I'm especially excited about meeting Kaaren in real life. She is this sweet, wonderful person I met online when Aaron and I were dating. We wrote while she was on her mission, been there for each other through a lot of rough times, and I can't wait to hang out with her. A part of me is afraid I won't be what she expected and she'll be disappointed, but I think that's just my insecurity and the fact that I think she's so great.
The kids are doing great. Emily and Libby want to play outside with the neighborhood kids alllll the time, haha. There's a little wooded area near the playground that they love because there are fruit trees and they can do a little exploring. School doesn't start till September 2 and I need to get on top of getting birth certificates and vaccine exemptions which I definitely need to do. I'm excited that they have had such a nice long summer vacation. They love having their own rooms again, and we have lots of decorating plans! Libby wants her room painted purple, and we're going to make Emily's room all polka dots.
Jack has gotten used to the stairs. When he comes down, he kind of slides down on his belly. It's hilarious. He fell down them once, but he was alright. I kind of think that I fall down the stairs sometimes, too. It's just part of having stairs. He's more careful now.

Someday I will post pictures of the house. I thank you all for reading, and I will do my best to get caught up on all your blogs soon. I miss you!