The Couch

Aaron and I finally received our first big home purchase (other than the house itself): OUR COUCH! We bought it a few weeks ago and it was delivered yesterday. I even convinced the guys who delivered it to move our other (gross) couch out to the garage until the Salvation Army can come pick it up. This "southern" accent (which is not southern AT ALL but people here think so because I say "y'all" alot) really comes in handy out here sometimes :)

And that gracing the back of the couch is our alpaca blanket... Howard loves it ("loves" = chews on it) and it's actually pretty warm. And the chest in front of it is Aaron's great-grandfather's WWII chest... Please pardon the mess around the couch...

What'dya think?

More updated pics of the house to come one of these days for you family and friends far away...

Smile, You're On A Web Cam

I feel like I've officially joined the 21st century with my recent purchase of a web cam (as if Facebook, MySpace, the blog, etc... hadn't already put me more-or-less "up with the times"). Aaron is leaving tomorrow for a 15-day trip and since we are about to purchase a new laptop with a built-in webcam, we figured that we'd get a webcam for this (rather slow) laptop so that he and I can Skype while he's gone. I'm very excited. So if you're on Skype, email me your Skype name and we can chit-chat "in person!" :)

Big Week

I had a VERY busy week last week:

The movers and the ADT installers showed up on Wednesday (the 4th) at the exact same time. It was overwhelming enough to have several people saying "Excuse me, Mrs. Scogin? I have a question..." at the exact same time. But then Aaron, who was supposed to have the "day off" (if there's such a thing for him right now) got called into work to mission plan for a flight the next day, thus leaving me, the movers and the ADT man alone together to get everything installed and moved in and set up by the end of the day because our very first house guests (Rach and Adam) were arriving the next day (also my birthday!). Cue a very stressed Becca. Luckily, my friend Brittany called and offered (OFFERED!) to come help me get everything put away since she remembered we had family coming the next day. I was SO glad. So since I last blogged, we now have furniture, I'm an entire year older, and it's snowed twice.... (and is snowing as we speak...er, type... and both boys--Aaron and Howard--are napping).

We had a blast with Rach and Adam and tried to shove a lot of fun into just a few days. I think we managed okay :) I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Anyone who knows me well knows that one of my favorite things to do at night time is to fall asleep on the couch... well, we haven't had a couch for so long that I haven't been able to. So the very first night we had one, guess what I did... (and lured Howard into doing with me)

Yep, fell right to sleep. Howard took to it nicely. Luckily, the angle from which Aaron took this picture didn't show my mouth GAPING open which it was evidently doing it (I may or may not have woken up with drool falling down my face...)

Rach and Adam got here Thursday and we grabbed lunch, took a tour of the base, had a few impromptu games of bowling and then went out for my birthday dinner. Friday, we went into Seattle...

Even in the Pacific Northwest, some things never change. Here, Adam glued to his Blackberry...just this time, there's a Starbuck's Coffee in his hand (not just any Starbuck's--the first one ever... so we justified it...)

Howard had had a biiiig week and was just plain tuckered out... so he passed out in his new favorite spot--right by the door... and in his new favorite position--flat on his back.

Friday night, we cooked the tuna that we'd gotten at the market that day in Seattle and Tyler came over to hang out...



We decided to do a little "On Demand" Karaoke and included a few instruments we had laying around. Adam had really taken to the mandolin and the organ, while I had made a remote control into a microphone...

Adam and Howard did some bonding...

And Rach and Howard did some bonding...

Saturday, we drove out to Gig Harbor so Rach and Adam could see it and we stopped by Tyler's house. He has a rediculously awesome house right on the Bay. This was taken on one of his decks...

And these down on the beach in front of his house... (anytime you see one of these bands in my hair,, it most likely means I either didn't blow dry my hair OR I didn't wash it...just puttin' that out there... )

We've had a prett snowy few days--yesterday and today anyway... we were excited for Howard to see his first snow, so we took him outside when it started to let him play around.

I tried to get him to take a picture with me, but instead he decided to use my body as a shield from the snow...

We went to the field at the school across the street and kept calling him back and forth between us, and because he's so smart, he's learning his name and kept running to us when we'd call. He knew he did well :)

Howard had his first vet appointment today and he did great- he was quite the hit with the ladies in the office and strutted his stuff the entire time he was there. Wednesday, we get our chimney fixed AND they are delivering our NEW COUCH!!! I never knew I could be so very excited about a couch... but I guess it's just a sign of the new maturity I've reached in my old age :)

Dog Day

Well, he's here. We actually got him yesterday afternoon (a day early) so we've had a full 24 hours with him and so far, we're pleased... and smitten. He's rediculously cute, rediculously fluffy and rediculously cuddly. Who could not like this guy?

Here is sitting beside Aaron like the noble hound he is, while Aaron is touching up our first official home project..

Which was making our pantry cabinet into a chalk board :)

We were finally having a gorgeous day... this is a view of our back yard and garage...

Howard and me

He loves a good belly rub... who doesn't?

Getting comfortable in his new back yard...

Hanging with Aaron

Getting acquainted with the chiminea...

And the new chalkboard cabinet back up in the kitchen... :)

Back Where I Come From

For those of you who don't know, Aaron is currently on his first trip. It came up pretty abruptly, but at the same time, it's been something for which we've been planning for a few years now. By that I mean we knew it was coming--that one of these days, he'd actually be done training and would finally be put to work. Even when we got here, we knew that once he was mission qualified, he could go anywhere at just about any time. Well, on a Wednesday he was officially mission ready and by Thursday he would be going on what was to be a 4 day trip. By Friday, the 4 day trip turned into a 9 day trip. And now, 10 days later, he is "hopefully" getting home sometime late tomorrow night. Guess I should get used to it... It really hasn't been so bad, but that could very well be because I went home for an entire week of it. It was so fun, but busy. I didn't take quite as many pictures as I had hoped, but I did whip out the camera a time or two. Not the best pictures ever but I didn't feel like editing them so here they are in their most pure form...

Monday and Tuesday I was in Charleston visiting Rach and Adam (but they're coming here to visit next week, so let's be honest: I was really going to visit the girls...) Rach had a doctor appointment Tuesday morning and Lucy had school, so Mary Beck and I had a little "catch up" quality time together while I babysat. We watched "Booty" (Sleeping Beauty) and chit-chatted (which for Mary Beck includes words like "Uh huuuuuh" and "thirsty"... the kind of heart-to-heart that a little girl can only have with her very cool Aunt "Becky"), and as you see below, we got all prettied up...

After Rach got home and then picked up Lucy, we went downtown to grab lunch and go to the park. The girls quite literally SQUEALED with delight as we pulled into the parking lot... they knew exactly where we were...

I looooove when Lucy does this facial expression...so concerned and sincere and hard at work playing (an oxymoron? I think not...)

This was after Mary Beck climbed up the side of the jungle gym and was obviously very proud of herself...

Punkin after having conquered the same jungle gym... she's not as proud of herself as Mary Beck was... her look was more of a "What? I've done this a million times... no big deal..."

Me with the girls...

Wednesday and Thursday I was in Atlanta with Mom, Marcus and Marjorie (Emily had to work). Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures... Marcus did, so maybe I will get a few from him.

Friday I was sick, but Saturday, Dad took me down to the pond to go fishing. The final score was 2-0. I won't say who caught all of the fish and who caught none... all I will say is that the fish my dad is holding in the pic below was not one that HE caught.... the hook was caught in its mouth and he had to get it out with the pliers...

And this is another one that I caught. Trying to explain to Dad how to take my picture would've been way too complicated, so I took a little self portrait of me with my tiny little brim... (the second and final catch of the afternoon...)

The end.

Howard Moon, Dog About Town...

We don't get him until this Saturday, but our lovely breeder has been updating us with pictures. Here he is, at 7 weeks old...

We can't wait!!

While The Husband's Away..

...the wife will travel.

Aaron is on his first trip... where, I don't know... when he'll be back, I'm also not sure about... so the day before he left, my mom came up with the idea that I fly home. We don't have our couch. We don't have our bed. We don't have our dog. And I still don't have a job. I thought there was no way I'd find a cheap enough plane ticket but I took a chance anyway and found one! So Aaron left on Valentine's Day morning, I came home and packed, went to the grocery store to rent a couple of movies (girly movies of course), made myself breakfast for dinner to get rid of some eggs we had left, poured myself a glass of wine, and settled in for a Valentine's celebration all alone.

My VERY kind friend Emily picked me up Sunday morning at 4:00am, and after having gotten one hour of sleep the night before (I was a little nervous to stay in the house alone) I was very tired all day. I fell asleep sitting up all over the place that day, the most shocking place being in the plane. Why is this shocking? Because I hate flying. And I mean HATE it. And I had a four and a half hour flight ahead of me. I connected in Atlanta and proceeded onto Charlotte where Mom and Dad picked me up. We grabbed dinner and headed home, I woke up Monday and drove to Charleston, where I spent the night and hung out with Rach, Adam and the girls. Then I drove back through Columbia for dinner with friends and back to the lake house. Mom and I got up Wednesday to drive to Atlanta to hang out with Marcus, Emily and Marjorie and we're still here in Atlanta...

Hopefully there will be pics to come...