Update

Just a quick update on our family logistics...

We are all in WA.  Not in Bremerton where we lived for the last 5 years, but in Arlington (north of Seattle and Everett).  Bobby is no longer stationed on the USS John C Stennis, he is now on the USS Abraham Lincoln (which is currently stationed in Everett, WA).  The ship will be leaving at the end of the year to move over to the Norfolk, VA area.  During the move time I will be in AZ (for a few months) then I will meet Bobby and the ship in VA.  We are looking forward to that time when we will be able to live together as a family for longer than six months at a time...

We are renting and living down the street from Bobby's mom and the kids are LOVING having "Gramma Di" so close, they love spending time with her and she has been great to take them and let Bobby and I have quite a few dates since we got here (something that has been in short supply for us since the kids came along).

I am working on being a better housekeeper (I'm still no good at it, but baby steps, you know?).  We live a long way from town and I'm trying to save miles on my new Ford Flex, so me and the boys hang out here a lot.  We don't have a TV, but we do have computers (although the internet can be tricky), the boys are getting acquainted with some of the great kids movies of my time (Punkin fell in love with Sesame Street's "Follow That Bird" just yesterday).

Our new ward (Arlington 2nd Ward) is great.  The people have been very welcoming.  Punk LOVES his nursery class and has a cute little blonde girlfriend there already.  Bobby has been called to work with the young men, and while he feels a little overwhelmed by the calling at times I think it is awesome that he gets to work with the youth.  The ward has an active weekly playgroup (that meets with two other wards in the area) and a monthly "ladies night" that is really NIGHT, we meet at 9:00p.m. for dinner/dessert and fun conversation.  I have really felt welcomed by the women in the ward and already know I will be sad to leave here when the time comes.

Hoping to be a better blogger again.  Not that a ton happens here, but the kids are growing fast, Bug will be walking soon, and Punkin says/does totally cute/funny things everyday and I am doing a lot of cooking and crafting, so maybe I'll get some pics, recipes, etc up at some point.

Day Twenty-Four - Where I Live

Well...vaguely here...


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Bremerton, Washington...for now.

Interesting facts about Bremerton, WA:

Sir Mix A Lot (of Baby Got Back fame) sings a song about the special class of women here in Bremerton occasionally referred to as Bremelos.

MXPX (a punk indy rock group from Bremerton who had some sucesses a couple of years ago) sings a song called "Move to Bremerton"

There are four "mothballed" aircraft carriers here at Naval Base Kitsap Bremerton...it's a very strange sight to see them all parked together and eerily empty...I don't have a picture though...hmmm...I should take one before we leave.

Bremerton is a small town with BIG Navy influences. When the carrier that is stationed here is gone the traffic is lighter and there are a lot more women alone in WalMart at two in the morning (huh, Rachel?).

I haven't always loved living here (and as such have spent much of our time here in Phoenix when the ship is gone), but if I'm honest, it is a beautiful place. The people in the Manette Ward (the ward we attend) are amazing people and have had an amazing influence on my life (and I'd be willing to bet they have NO IDEA the influence they have had), and if we found ourselves here again...that would be okay.

Back in Bremerton - A Grocery Question

We are back in Bremerton after an amazing trip to Phoenix to greet Ryan as he returned home from his mission to Bolivia. I've got to go grocery shopping...after 10 days of being gone it seems like I'm pretty well "starting over" with the grocery situation, what are your grocery shopping "staples"?

The ship is HOME!

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_071009WAB-stennis-homecoming-LJ.2845d319.html?rss

The USS John C Stennis has arrived home in Bremerton, WA. That means that Bobby is home, however, I am not. I am still in Phoenix and Bobby will be joining me here in a few days. We will then enjoy a few (all to short) days here before we put our vehicle hating baby and all of my STUFF into my dad's truck and drive back to WA. I will miss all of my wonderful friends here in Phoenix so much when I leave that I have honestly been sort of in denial about leaving for a few weeks. Luckily we have the internet to help keep us close and I am going to do everything in my power to visit often (I am even hoping to bring Bobby with me sometimes). I don't really want to face leaving today, so I think I'm going back to my regularly scheduled denial...

Something strange from HI

So this pic is the front of the outside of the church that we attended while we were in HI. It is just outside of Waikiki. We don't have paintings of Christ on our churches normally, so Bobby and I thought this was very strange and went back a couple of days later to get a pic of it (this was actually taken by Bobby from the moving car, but it's a pretty good pic considering). I don't travel outside of the contiguous 48 much (although I have been to AK and never saw anything I would consider strange, but I have heard that sometimes outside of the states there are stranger things at churches, have you seen anything strange like this?

Hawaii - From Home

So, HI was great. We discovered that we are NOT beach people and really only spent about 20 minutes total on the beach the whole time we were there...have you seen us, we are WHITE, it took longer to put on the sunscreen than we spent on the beach! Punk is allergic to Hawaii, so he was a little snot-ball (quite literally) pretty much the whole time that we were there. He was totally worse both during our visit to the Temple and during church on Sunday, so some plant they had at both places was probably the biggest culprit. We had a great time at the Dole Plantation, we went to the USS Arizona Memorial which was a sobering experience for me, we walked the streets and shops of Waikiki together every night, but the very best part was watching my Punk and his Daddy interact together and I am so glad that we are swiftly nearing the end of this deployment.

I do have pictures (Bobby just emailed them to me yesterday) and I will be blogging some of them with more specific stories soon.

Waikiki

We are here! Punk was pretty good on the plane rides considering that he was pretty much forced to sit in my lap for 12 hours. I wish he would go to sleep now (it's 10:30 at home he should be completely wiped, but he's crawling around here bonking on everything he can reach and watching Ocean's Eleven. I'm going to try to go to bed soon...hopefully I'll be able to write a little bit about what we are doing everyday.

Hawaii *Woot*

Going to Oahu this week and I'll be there 8 nights, 9 days. Hopefully I'll get a chance while I'm there to blog some amazing food and maybe even some pretty pictures. If you've been and have a food or activity suggestion you should lay it on me and I'm trying to get things partially planned before we leave.

...Jiggity-jig.

I'm back in WA for a few weeks. Bobby and the ship are HOME, even if it is just for a relatively short period of time.

It's cold here but other than that, I'm mostly glad to be here.

Punk has his four month well baby tomorrow, crazy, I can't believe it's been almost four months since he was born, I feel like he's been mine forever. Punk has changed my life drastically, however, it's almost impossible for me to really remember my life before motherhood.

I feel bad, I'm one of those people I never really wanted to be, I have a dog, I loved the dog like a child...until I had a child, now the dog hair in my house is killing me and I am doing enough traveling in the next year that the dog is becoming a huge issue. Bobby loves the dog (I do too, but I'm more realistic than he is I when it comes to him I think) and all I can think about is finding him a new home so I don't have to worry about him and I don't have to clean up after him...never thought I would not want the dog, but I don't want the dog...

I have been trying to clean up a lot of junk in my life since Punk came. It's funny, other things in my life that seemed important before, now, really seem like they might be more stress and trouble than they are worth. Honestly, I feel a real draw towards focusing on being a better wife and a good mother and doing everything in my power to be a better person to be better at both. Things that were important previously that don't help me be a better wife/mother just seem like they need to go in order for me to focus that energy on being the best me for myself and, more importantly, for my family. I never imagined that being a mother would prove to be such a real change in the focus of my everyday life...I couldn't be more happy about the changes that I have made or the changes that are to come.