Back to Routine...

After a nice 4 day weekend its now back to the routine, just like everyone else. We had a great Thanksgiving and I had a wonderful time cooking for a big group. I didn't burn my kitchen down! I started early that morning and stayed highly busy preparing all the food. Josh was a big help, getting the place ready and taking care of Anistyn so I could handle all the food. By the time everyone arrived I was pooped! I didn't take many pictures...I wish I had, but I was busy hanging out with everyone and getting to know some of Josh's friends. I did snap a few pictures though. Here is how my food turned out!

I had turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese casserole, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and rolls. I have to give credit to Josh because I think he would want everyone to know that HE made the deviled eggs....

There were still a lot of leftovers so we've been eating the rest all weekend! I didn't get any pictures of all the guys and I wish I had. However, I will let you know what they did the entire time...they played some military war game on xbox. Yes...so  very exciting for me;) So, just imagine 6 guys around a TV and three game controllers...and there ya have it!

We also got our Christmas tree put up:

Anistyn did a wonderful job of decorating! I can't wait for the next few weeks until Christmas!

Thankful

Since I will be highly busy tomorrow I wanted to go ahead and post what I am thankful for! Josh has invited some guys from base over for Thanksgiving since they weren't able to make it home. I have been VERY busy getting everything together! I am really excited to have a group of people to cook for now...but nervous at the same time! Lets hope I can pull it off!

On to what I am thankful for:

These two people:

I am forever thankful for my husband. Words cannot express how much I love, admire, and respect him. He is my own hero. I adore him and love how easily our lives have meshed together to create a beautiful family. He was definitely worth the wait.

I am thankful for my beautiful little girl who has been the key to my happiness these past 4 years. Through her I've learned what love, and princesses, are all about.

I am thankful for my parents who taught me all about life.

I am thankful for my sisters and brother. I love how different we all are, and at the same time...so extremely close.

I am thankful for my aunts...I have looked up to them since I was little. I still do.

I am thankful for my uncles...who love God and their families.

I am thankful for Nana...the leader of the Lamb family. Where would any of us be without her?

I am thankful for my MB and Paw Paw...some of the most loving people I know.

I am thankful for all of my cousins...they all inspire me.

I am thankful for my new family that I have happily joined. It was easy to love them immediately.

I am thankful for my friends. Somehow, in all his business...God knew I would need those exact people in my life.

I am thankful for the life that I am living, the air that I breath!

I am thankful for the military, who keep us all safe!

Most of all, I am eternally grateful for God. Through him, all of this is possible. A life without Him is meaningless!

I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!!

Updates!!

Wow, what a weekend! I would have posted earlier, since a lot of things happened, but the weekend was so busy that I never had a chance.

Friday was my birthday so I spent the day with Anistyn. She refused to tell me happy birthday though because I did NOT have a cake! But, that afternoon the doorbell rang and there stood Josh with a birthday cake all lit up for me. So we had a fun Friday night just relaxing at the house.

Bright and early Saturday morning our furniture came!!! FINALLY!!!

We spent the morning trying to organize as much as possible since we had plans for that night. Here is a picture of our living room! Ignore the boxes that are still there. We filled up the apartment garbage posts with boxes already...so we have to wait for it to be emptied so we can take the rest out!

I will have to post some more pictures of it later! Saturday night I got to do a little shopping for my birthday, then we dropped Anistyn off at 'Parents Night Out' at her school. They do it once a month on a weekend night from 6pm-11pm. I had signed Anistyn up, but was worried. I didn't want her to be the only child there...but she definitely wasn't! I guess thats the only chance a lot of parents around here get to go out by themselves so I was glad to see that Ani had plenty of children to play with! They served them dinner and had all kinds of games and movies for the kids. So Josh and I were able to have a little date! Soooo....what did we do???

We went to see New Moon!!! Here we are on the way to the movie!!! Can't you tell how excited we both were!!!

Okay, so maybe I was a little more excited....this picture cracks me up. Josh was a trooper though! Notice how we're matching...this seems to happen a lot when we go places! We get ready seperately and when we're finally ready to leave we notice that we're always wearing the same color shirt! Its happened three times...we've worn blue, yellow, and black. Maybe lame, but I just thought it was cute.

So, we got to see the movie I have been DYING to see! We had to endure some preteen screams...and we were sitting next to some guys that were making fun of the movie through the whole thing. Which I thought was pretty funny considering they came to the movie by themselves...they didn't have any girlfriends or anything to MAKE them watch the movie. They came willingly, yet they made fun it....hmmm

After the movie we went and picked up Ani who had a great time at school. The next day we finished off clearing up the apartment and getting everything organized. Its great to have a handy man around! He even figured out a way to hang up our robes:

Please note the towel rack because I need some decorating help! Josh and I are having a "disagreement" with it. Obviously we are going for a brown and blue theme. Now, I had originally planned to have two big brown towels and then two little blue towels sitting on top, just like the towels on the right. Josh thinks that that we should keep the big blue towel up there, and get a little brown one...so please post your input! It won't hurt my feelings if you think Josh's way is better...but I just need some help with it!

Now to just get ready for our first Thanksgiving together! Josh and I are going to cook a small Thanksgiving meal together. I can't wait to see what traditions we can come up with!

Also, last night I went to check on Anistyn to make sure she was asleep since she had been getting out of bed a lot. As soon as I opened my bedroom door, this is what I found:

I love my life!

Growing...

Today, my big girl started pre-k! Granted, its only 2 mornings a week....but its still a big deal to us! Its the first time we've been away from each other in a very long time! Also, I've always taught where Ani went to school, so its a big adjustment.

We had to wake up and take Josh to school. I had packed a bag for her just in case we weren't able to make it back home to change and thank goodness I did. We made a quick stop at Burger King for a biscuit:

Once she was all ready we headed into her class!

This picture makes me almost cry. I just can't believe how big she has gotten. Holding her hand and walking her into the building with her little backpack on was just too bittersweet. I am such a sap and you wouldn't think her going to school for 2 mornings a week would be a big deal...but she's my only baby! She did great, she was a little hesitant at first, but once the teachers got involved she happily went with them. She is SO excited about Thursday...she gets to go on her very first field trip! The teachers are taking the kids to a Whole Foods market and she gets to ride on a bus...well actually, its a van but she calls it a bus and thinks it is the coolest thing in the world!

Also....I have to post these pictures I snapped last night. Josh was laying on the floor watching TV while I was cooking dinner last night and he dozed off for a bit. Anistyn made him nice and comfy though.

Isn't she sweet. I think its so funny seeing him in his army pants and boots...then with a little afghan...and Tookie of course!

I love how Tookie was sharing the pillow with Josh...

I love little moments like these!

Coupon World....here I come...

I am finally attempting to become a "coupon queen."

I have vowed to myself that once I was in California and settled, I was going to start trying to save money by using coupons. I have so many friends that swear by it, that I figured it would be dumb not to at least TRY...

See...I'm already a little bit prepared. Bethany gave me a little binder to put all my coupons in...and I have a lot of websites that I can print coupons off of too....as soon as Josh hooks the printer up and we get some paper. Must do this weekend.

I really hope I can be as good as my best friend Michelle. That girl is rediculous when it comes to coupons...and I completely mean that as a compliment. She has a family of four and is always calling me, telling me how much money she saves...I am completely in awe. Of course, I think she eats, sleeps, and breaths coupons...note our conversation we had earlier today:

Michelle: So, are you pregnant yet?

Me: Um, no...I highly doubt that will be happening anytime soon. Why?

Michelle: Well I just saw  these coupons for pregnancy tests. They were half off. I was just thinking if you thought you might be, you might want to go get those.

Me: Yes...thank you. I'm sure if I thought I was pregnant the first thing on my mind would be saving money on the pregnancy test. For sure.

That conversation seriously cracked me up!

Anyways, I went grocery shopping 2 weeks ago and spent $120 with no coupons. I didn't even attempt to use them then, because we didn't have ANYTHING in our apartment for one. Also, I had to REALLY think about what I could cook...seeing as we don't have a lot of things to cook with. We finally got a microwave, but before that I could only cook on the stove. Which seems easy, right? But I didn't have mixing bowls, casserole dishes...and I'm not an amazing cook yet either. SO, I did my best. I still had nights where I thought I had really found something to cook that could just be cooked on the stove, only to find out that there was SOME item that I needed (I made sphagetti and didn't have a strainer...so I had to run out and get one.)

Now though, bit by bit, our kitchen is getting a little fuller. So this weekend I will be attempting my coupons. Wish me luck!

Why little girls are fun...

Today, while Anistyn and I were at home I was busy trying to figure out coupons (I have not succeeded yet...but its a work in progress). There's only so much I can do to keep her occupied...tomorrow we are going to register her for some pre-k classes! In the meantime, I am glad that she has an extraordinary imagination.

Anistyn decided that she would teach "school" to all of her stuffed animals. I saw a glimpse of my older sister in her...of course back in those days, Tiffany always used me as one of her students...and she was a very strict teacher;)

Anistyn was nice enough to let me come in and teach the class their ABC's while she planned their "activity." And yes...those were her words. I didn't know she knew the word activity, let alone how to use it in a sentence! She is always surprising me with how smart she is!

Here is a picture of Ms. Anistyn with her class:

I love her pose!

Tookie, however, was not able to participate in the activity that Ms. Anistyn had planned. He had hit Kitty and therefore, was placed in time out.

That'll teach Tookie to behave next time;)

Salinas

I thought I would share a few pictures of the town that we live in. Salinas is right outside of Monterey, so it takes us about ten minutes to get to the beach. I know my way around Salinas pretty well...I just still get confused in Monterey. I haven't really driven out there by myself though, which is how I learn my way around. Almost everytime I've been, Josh is driving...therefore I am much more interested in the radio rather than street signs;)

Salinas is a cute little town. If you turn right out of our apartment complex, you hit a whole bunch of stores and restaurants. However, if you turn left....

You hit a whole bunch of fields that are growing cabbage a strawberries. They might be planting more...but I've SEEN the strawberries and you can SMELL the cabbage!

Its beautiful though, because there are miles and miles of fields, then these gorgeous mountains in the distance.

If you drive by at certain times of the day you will see all these cars parked along the fields. Then you'll see all these people all over the fields, picking the fruit. I told Josh I thought it would be fun to take Anistyn out there to pick strawberries. He said that he doubted other people would like that...seeing as they were picking the fruit for money, not fun;)

And yes, I was taking these pictures while I was driving and/or parked. Governor Arnold has passed the law prohibiting California citizens from talking on cell phones while driving...but he didn't say anything about taking pictures now did he? ;)

An award...

My sister in law Bethany sent me this award with instructions to fill out the questions and send it to 5 other bloggers. I'm only supposed to give one worded answers so I'll try my best!
1. Where is your cell phone? Counter
2. Your hair? straight
3. Your mother? loving
4. Your father? funny
5. Your favorite food? chocolate
6. Your dream last night? nothing
7. Your favorite drink? sweet tea
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. What room are you in? living
10. Your hobby? reading
11. Your fear? unimportant
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren't? selfish
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. Wish list item? furniture?
17. Where did you grow up? Georgia
18. Last thing you did? errands
19. What are you wearing? sweatshirt
20. Your TV? cartoons
21. Your Pets? husband....ha
22. Friends? sanity
23. Your life? full
24. Your mood? content
25. Missing Someone? always
26. Vehicle? blazer
27. Something your not wearing? hairband
28. Your favorite store? childrens
29. Your favorite color? purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? now
31. Last time you cried? yesterday
32. Your best friend? Josh
33. One place that I go to over and over? base
34. Facebook? lovely
35. Favorite place to eat? home

I'm supposed to send this to five people, but I don't follow too many blogs yet, so I'll pick two:

Tiffany http://tiffanyball.blogspot.com/

Kelly http://kellyandcaleb.blogspot.com/

First Weekend in Cali

Last weekend was a very busy one for us since it was our first few days in the apartment together. We did a little shopping Friday night for some necessities. Saturday morning we had to take my mom to the airport, which was bittersweet. I had to wake my sweet little girl up from her big girl bed in her big girl room:

What a happy smile to wake up to! We had a lot of errands to run on Saturday, but managed to pick up an outfit for Anistyn to wear Saturday night. We had bought it Friday night while we were out shopping, so she insisted on wearing it all day Saturday:

Such a pretty little cowgirl...with a little bit of attitude! Saturday night we took Anistyn to Monterey to the harbor. They have cute little shops there and they were all handing out candy. Anistyn had fallen asleep on the way there so she was a little grouchy once we made it there, but we were able to get her some treats.

Oh I love these two! On Sunday Josh took us back to the bay so that we could see the beach in the daytime and also see some seals!

The views there are so beautiful! If you look closely at the rocks, you can see a seal laying on one beside the rocks that the two birds are sitting on.

Anistyn and Josh had some fun digging in the sand:

I attempted to take Anistyn down to the water to touch the freezing cold Pacific Ocean:

However, when I went in to just barely touch the water, a wave came and took one of my sandals! Josh was about to go in and get it, when the nice guy to the left of this picture went and got it, since he was already in the water! For awhile I had to walk around with sandy wet shoes and soaking pants!

We saw a few more sights:

Anistyn insisted on having her picture taken with this statue of a butterfly:

Then we ate a great seafood lunch in the harbor where all the boats dock. Its a very cool little place, there are a lot of little restaurants and they all have people standing outside giving out samples of clam chowder. I guess they love clam chowder there which is fine, because I love it too! We were sitting next to a window and right out the window, on the dock were a lot of seals that were sunbathing.

I had to take a picture of my food for my mom...because we both love shrimp! I had crab stuffed shrimp...the food here is amazing!

Apartment!

While I was in Alabama waiting for everything to go through so I could get out here, my amazing husband was busy trying to juggle school, paperwork, and finding a place for us to live. I have to commend him for his work...because I LOVE the apartment! Its about ten minutes away from Monterey, which is where the beach and Josh's base is.

We're still waiting on all of our furniture to come in. It was picked up TODAY from Josh's parents house and is now on its way! So, we've been making do with air mattresses and plastic ware.

When you walk in the front door and look to your right, there is the living room...

I can't wait to decorate once it has furniture in it...oh, and I can't wait for Josh's filing cabinet which is where all those lovely papers will live...

Then when you're standing IN the living room, this is the view of the kitchen:

I LOVE the kitchen...it has a lot of counter space which you don't normally find in apartments! Notice Josh's handiman work...he hung the F up. I had gotten that as a wedding present from a friend at church. Josh insisted we put it in the kitchen because the F stands for food....such a kid.

Here is another view from in the kitchen:

I do have a dishwasher...I'm just handwashing them because everytime I go to the store I forget to get dishwashing soap!

From the living room down the hall:

The first door to the left is Anistyn's bathroom:

And to the right is her room...and yes, she was currently sleeping in her bed when I took this picture!

Then straight down the hallway is mine and Josh's room. Pretty sad right now, but once we get the furniture it will look better!

There is a cute little balcony out from our room too. There's one in Anistyn's room as well.
Here is our bathroom looking in from the bedroom:

And the inside of the bathroom..with a wedding frame in it. That is NOT me in the picture frame...ha.

And thats it! I will have to post more pictures once it has furniture in it!

Yay for Internet!!!

Its been awhile since I last posted and I have a LOT to update everyone on! I'll probably need to spread it out into a few blogs...so I will apologize ahead of time! We've just now got out internet and I've been dying to share everything! The short version is that I am now in Cali with my darling little family and loving every minute of it! But...who likes the short version anyways...


So, I'll start with the trip.

My mom, Ani and I left Alabama at 2 in the morning on Oct. 28th. We had an amazing trip! We thought we would eventually get those "AAAHHHH!!!! Are we there yet???" feelings, but we really were having too much fun to notice the rediculously long drive.


After going through Mississippi, we had to drive straight through Oklahoma. Which, in case you were wondering...is about the most boring state. Nothing exciting going on there...so of course we got excited when we made it to Oklahoma City and saw a little bit of life there...





Once we made it into Texas....






The scenery started looking up. At one point there were a lot of gorgeous fields...




And out in the middle of it was this enormous cross


We stopped in Amarillo, Texas the first night. We had enough time to eat and unwind before bed. In Amarillo they have this restaurant that serves 72 ounce steaks...they have a webcam where you can watch people try to eat the huge steaks at anytime. We didn't eat there, but we did stop and snap a few pics:






After a good night's rest we were up again and made it into New Mexico the next morning.

(It was still dark...but you can make out the sign...I hope!)

New Mexico is by far the most surprising state. When I pictured it, all I thought of was desert. I was very much mistaken. Every turn we took, I was taken aback by all of gorgeous scenery. Its amazing to see what God has created! He's an amazing artist! When you first enter, there are flat fields and in the distance there are these breathtaking mountains with snow on top:

We stopped in Albuquerque to eat breakfast with my Uncle Dominic and cousin Kirsten. My uncle is retired from the Air Force (although he still works there on base) and was stationed in New Mexico many years ago. Now they've just stayed...and for obvious reasons! The scenery!

From there we kept driving, running into the historic route 66...which my mother swears she didn't think was "real"....too funny.


Seeing more beautiful scenery...


Then we ran into snow! We also passed an indian reservation and stopped so we could have a little fun in the snow.





Then we made it into Arizona...



And we drove straight through before making it to Bullhead City, CA. I was so excited to actually be in the same time zone as Josh! The next morning we got up and started on the last leg of our trip.

Here's where Anistyn made us stop, pull over, and take a picture of a cactus. Although it really didn't look like a cactus to me...but it satisfied her...



My little indian did amazing on the trip thanks to coloring books that friends had given her, her little leapster game, and a big thanks to Aunt Bethany and Uncle Andy for the dvd player!

Mimi bought her this little getup at the indian reservation...



I never knew California was so full of mountains and hills! I guess this would explain the "Hollywood Hills"...yes...I am hitting myself now for not putting two and two together...

But they were beautiful!






Then FINALLY we made it!!!!






Anistyn and I were SO HAPPY to finally be with Josh!!!


And now my little family is together and starting our life together! There's much more to come!