Honey, We're Home

We officially became homeowners this afternoon when we got the keys to the new place! To say we were "excited" or "happy" would be a bit of an understatement... I'm pretty sure we were both giddy on the ride over, smiling from here to here (I'm holding my hands far apart in a demonstration you can't see) the whole way home. Our VERY kind friends helped us bring the stuff over from base--it took 3 cars full and 5 people but we got it all (including the piano) in one trip. Aaron and I are staying on base one last night since we already had to pay for tonight and tomorrow, I get up early, pick up Emily and we head over to the new house to wait for the movers to deliver the first round of our belongings while Aaron goes to work to mission plan for his first flight on Wednesday.

And of course, as promised, here are a few pics of the new place. We'll call these the "before" pics (For some reason they loaded a little funny) And like an idiot, I forgot to take pics of the outside of the house. Until I can get those up, just use your imagination--and include in the picture a white picket fence... because it has one of those :)


When we arrived, the woman who sold us the house had left us a very sweet and informational note--it talked about the flowers we'd see blooming, the grape arbor in the back (that really grows beautiful red seedless grapes!) and our favorite part: she told us about the cool, hole-in-the-wall restaurants in our new neighborhood. She also left us a bottle of wine... it was all a nice surprise.

Pete showing Aaron how excited he is for him!

Me with "the movers"

Our bedroom

The Guest Room

Our kitchen!

Another view of the kitchen





And yet another view of the kitchen... (it's my favorite part of this house)

The Dining room



Some different views of the living room

And a couple of very happy homeowners :)

Getting Closer...

Aaron and I are supposed to be closing on our house this Friday and will take posession of it on the following Monday. We'd really appreciate your prayers that it all comes together... they're pushing our closing up so that we aren't homeless come Monday when we're kicked out of TLF :) We've actually had fun living across the yard from our friends Pete and Emily and being on base has made our lives as a one-car family a little easier than it would've otherwise been... but we're so ready to be "home" and settled. By the time we actually get moved in, we will have moved 4 times in the month that we've been here. Argh... it gets old. My stuff is being delivered Tuesday (which includes our wedding presents!! FINALLY WE GET TO USE THEM!! Who here is excited?) and our beds/sofa, etc are supposed to be delivered two weeks later. Looks like we'll be on an air matress for a bit, but at least we'll be on said air matress under our very own roof. We may not have the furniture essentials, but at least we'll have access to our cute dishes and our coffee pot... I guess it really is the little things in life, eh?

Hopefully I can get up some pics of the house soon. I tried to jack some from the real estate's website but it wouldn't let me... darn rules... :)

PS I went on a bit of a posting frenzy today... 3 in one sitting...woah

A Little Fishy

One of the great things about living so close to The Sound is the seafood. Not that I'm particularly talented at cooking much of anything, but seafood is one thing I definitely am clueless about, so thus far, it's been a learning experience. We took great advantage of the wonderful, vast and tasty array of steaks we were privileged to eat while living in Oklahoma, so while we're here, we want to take advantage of being able to purchase oysters, scallops, etc... for rediculously cheap amounts of money (at least moreso than what we were used to back home). On one of what has become our "routine" trips into Seattle every Saturday (at least the 4 Saturdays since we've lived here), Pete, Emily, Aaron, Tyler and I decided to each purchase a type of seafood and cook it together later that night. So we ventured into Pike's Place Market to make our purchases. Pete and Emily bought salmon. Tyler bought a bunch of oysters. Aaron and I bought a bunch of the largest scallops I've ever seen. We all gathered at our "house" on base (plus Emily's cousin and our friend Brittany) and we cooked. Emily roasted the salmon. Aaron and I made bacon wrapped scallops and we steamed the oysters (and left some of them to eat raw). It was a seafood FEAST. And it was a blast. I would be okay with doing this every single weekend... too bad the boys will have to start actually going on trips and doing their jobs soon.


Here's Pete and me, pretending to be involved in the fabulous cooking that was going on...


Mmmm....bacon wrapped scallops...



Aaron hard at work on the scallops...

Tyler working hard to open an oyster...

Me, watching Emily clean my kitchen... haha

How Do You Say "Impulse Buy?"

In order to get settled into our new home (once we are actually in posession of it), we need a few items. No need would qualify as "desperate"... just a few things we need to improve on. One of those would be a better bed. Another example would be a good over-stuffed chair. Perhaps more art for the walls. And an important one would be a couch. So the other night, Aaron and I decided to peruse Craigslist for a good and inexpensive couch. Instead, we found this.

The family who owned it was moving and needed to get rid of it and they were selling it for only 200 bucks. A piano...for 200 bucks... and more importantly, a piano that actually works. True, it needs to be refinished (which we can do ourselves) and it needs a bit of a tune-up (which shouldn't be too hard to schedule), but we couldn't pass it up. That's pretty typical, right? You go to find a couch and instead come back with a large musical instrument. For now, I'm sure the maid service on base is wondering why in the world we have a piano planted in the middle of our living room... at least for the time being, we can use the bench as coffee table :)

Things I Love About Staying On Base

There are several advantages to being on base. Granted, we're only here temporarily, but I can see why people would want to be here for good. You're close to everything--the BX, the commissary, the medical clinic, the car place, the golf course, there are constantly people in uniform walking around all over the place, which one can't help but think is sorta sweet and that our country is pretty awesome. But my favorite part is the National Anthem.

Everyday at 4:30 pm on the dot, the loud speakers on base play the National Anthem. You can hear it from everywhere on base -- especially when you're outside. And if you're outside, you stop everything you're doing. If you're walking to your car, you stop. If you're walking on the sidewalk, you stop. If you're driving, you stop. If you're in uniform and you can see the flag, you face it and salute. If you're in uniform and you can't see the flag, you face the music and salute. If you're like me, just a little ole civilian walking among these great men and women who serve our nation, you just stand still (and I may or may not sometimes find myself singing along a little... I can't help myself).

When I was leaving the commissary the other day and a sweet older gentleman who works there had bagged my groceries and was helping me to my car, we walked out just in time for the music. Some people think it's annoying... how frustrating to stop what you were doing... especially if you're in a hurry... or if you're standing out in the cold. When I first got to Vance and learned about this tradition, I loved it. I figured it was just because I was new to it. On this day however, I was in shorts and a fleece, having just come from the gym and it was dark and cold outside. I was trying to rush home and actually have dinner cooked before Aaron got home. And literally the very moment we walked out the door, the music began.

As I was standing there, freezing to death in the 20-something degree weather, wishing that this pre-recorded orchestra version of the National Anthem would hurry on along so that I could give this man his tip money and get into my warm car, out of the corner of my eye I could see him standing proudly--literally, his posture changed at the sound of the song--and he threw up his little arthritic hand in salute of the flag. He didn't move a muscle... and he even had a little smirk on his face. And I found myself sort of convicted... and even got a little teary...

I ended up standing beside my car chatting with him for a while--it turned out he was a WWII vet, and after having served his country for years, he was back in WA state, serving these younger military men and women and their families by packing up their groceries at the commissary and working only for tip money. After his many many years of service to our country, he still gets so proud when he hears that song and he has no problem stopping whatever it is he's doing to pay respect to that song and to the country he fought for and continues to serve. There's something very special about that song and I find myself tearing up when I hear it at the beginning of a football game or when I'd hear it at county Republican meetings when I worked for the State Party. I would always get frustrated when I'd hear people chit-chatting during that song and wonder why in the world they couldn't stop talking JUST long enough to cross their hands over their chests and sing along? And I here I was complaining about having to start dinner a minute later than I had planned because of it...

When you think about it, there really is something so neat that on a military base, when these people hear this song over and over and over and over and over again--literally everyday-- they still stop and pay respect when it plays... that it's still special... I hope I never find myself getting frustrated or annoyed again to have to stop what I'm doing to pay my respects to our nation. All things considered, that is the very least I can do...

And don't worry--I'm pretty sure that's the only "sentimental" post I'll ever make on this blog... but I had to :)

Paradise

I think in the insanity of all that's been going lately, we all forgot that Monday was MLK Day and that, among the other important meanings of that day, the boys wouldn't have to go into work. So, the usual crowd--Aaron, me, Pete and Emily-- plus our new friend Brittany decided to take a trip to Paradise, which is in Mt. Ranier National Park just about at the base of the mountain. We had no idea what to expect as far as weather except that it was supposed to be a gorgeous day (finally). Gorgeous it was... the sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and as we got closer to the park, the snow in the fields we passed and along the side of the road got higher and higher and once we were into the park itself, it was up over the speed limit signs.

Once we got to the top and stood face-to-face with this gorgeous mountain that you can see from just about anywhere in Tacoma and Seattle, we didn't even know what to do with ourselves. There were people walking around with skis, snow pants, snow shoes, tubes, etc... And we were in long-sleeve shirts, jeans and hiking boots. Obviously, because of all of the snow they'd recently gotten, there was no hiking to be had that day. So instead, we popped open the tailgate and ate the lunch we'd packed in the parking lot.... and then left. It was about an hour and a half drive there--only to eat lunch in a parking lot, but what a beautiful parking lot it was. And it was better than sitting around in our room all day...

Standing up in the mountains with an even larger one behind us (Mt. Ranier)

Eating lunch in the parking lot...

Me, Emily and Brittany

Some weird angle of Ranier while driving up the mountains...

Almost back to Tacoma, the view of Ranier on one of those rare crystal clear days...

Sleepless In Seattle...(And by "Seattle" I mean "Tacoma")

A lot to catch you up on....Pete, Emily, Aaron and I arrived in Tacoma, got checked in on base only to find out they didn't have room for us in their hotel, so they put us up off base at the Hampton Inn (fine by me... I love Hampton Inns... and this also meant free breakfast everyday). We enjoyed their comfy cozy king sized bed, maid service, free breakfasts and vast cable channels, as well as the in-room wireless internet. And for the first time since we've been married, we finally were getting sleep---we're both pretty tall people... there's not a ton of room for the both of us on a double bed, which is what we had at Vance. Finally, at the Hampton Inn, we had room to move. We were actually getting good night's sleep for the first time in months... .

Then they ended up with room for us on base.

And now, we don't sleep again.

So that's where we are now. No king sized bed... no free breakfast... and an okay selection of television to choose from. But the worst is no wireless internet. So we use the BX for that (it's free). And that's where I am right now. Uploading pictures, editing pictures, catching up on the Drudge Report and eating some sesame chicken from Manchu Wok, all while Aaron plays the video game I got him back in our room. Tomorrow we move into TLF (temporary living facility) which means we'll have a living room (complete with a couch.. .I don't even know how long it's been since I've even sat on an actual couch), an entire kitchen WITH pots and pans (meaning we can stop eating out for every single meal) AND a bedroom--like... a bedroom that's separate from the rest of your living space. We haven't had this the entire time we've been married--which was exactly 3 months ago from today, by the way. We're waiting to close on our house which should be at least within the next month (evidently the VA is backed up a little with this stuff since it's such a great time for military folks to buy...) and I believe the BIGGEST news we have is: we've officially put a deposit on a dog. He's a Bernese Mountain Dog, he's a boy, and he'll be ready to come home with us on March 1st. We are THRILLED to be "expecting" this new bundle of joy, whom we've named Howard Moon Scogin (any of you Old Greg fans will immediately know where we pulled that name from). We'll call him Howard.

Aaron is really starting work this week, which means I'm really starting to look for work this week. I've met a lot of really nice gals who have made me feel really welcomed already and we were formally introduced to our new squadron last Thursday. It's really starting to sink in that this is really our home for the next four or so years but while we're pretty overwhelmed (and one of is maybe a little homesick from time-to-time) we're really excited to get settled. And you know, to not be living in a hotel room for the rest of our lives...

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:

Farva, Aaron and Tyler and I took a trip into Seattle last weekend- here they are walking down to the market place...

We ate lunch at this little lunch counter in the market that served fish sandwichies--I got the salmon sandwich and it was absolutely delicious. And we shared a cup of the best clam chowder I've ever had...

This thing terrified me- and as I was getting close enough to take this picture, it reared up and I screamed. It was dead... but it was tied to a string that the man behind the counter pulled just as I was getting close... sneaky punk....

Biggest most enormous most delicious cream-filled donut....

Yesterday was Pete's birthday so we decided to head into Seattle again for the day--but first, we went by to check out the puppies and meet our new son.

This is Maya, our surrogate mother. She's so pretty...

And all four of her little boys eating...

A little mother/son bonding...

Father and son, planning their hike up Mt. Ranier...

These two little guys fell asleep just like this... so cute...

Then we headed into town and hung out at the waterfront...



Self-portrait at the Market

We went to a wine and cheese tasting....

Then we were lurred into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory by the delicious fumes shooting out into the street... we got a Mudslide Caramel apple....

Aaron and the apple having a staring contest....

Aaron beat the apple, so he got to eat it...

This is the look of bliss after having eaten the best "apple" I've ever had....