families

I want to take a moment to talk about family.

This weekend we drove to Flower Mound for a funeral. Grandma passed from this world June 29th. She wasn't my Grandma, but she was family.

I stood by Jeni as guests started to enter the church and offer condolences for her loss. They'd then turn to me and introduce myself, expecting to me to say I was a cousin or maybe an in-law of some kind.

"I'm Analee and I'm Navy family."

My Grammy always talks about Air Force families they still keep in contact with 40 years later and I never understood. When David and I were dating, his first deployment was so isolating. It was more than long distance. It was 9 months without a phone call, a few lines of email every 3 days saying he was safe and missed me. I was in it alone.

Moving to Washington was my first experience in a military community. We knew each other just a few days before we started helping plan weddings, drive sick kids to the emergency room in the middle of the night or spend the night in each others beds when the loneliness grew too great.

Navy family had to be best friends from back home, mom's, sisters, substitutes for husbands. You come together because there is no one else.
And you bond together.
We can not simply lose touch or drift apart.
You show up and hug and cry and love.

Because we are family.

baby weekend

Theme of the Weekend -- babies babies babies
two weekends ago)

Thursday night David and I picked up his brother and SIL and nephew Andrew at the airport. They live in Philly and we haden't met little Andrew yet. He was a sweet little baby.

Friday night dp's cousins came into town to meet Andrew. It was also a big celebration for Gil and Mary's 40th wedding anniversary. With Mary's failing health this was an esspecially important celebration.

Hugo's --When I daydream, I'm dreaming of Hugo's. Delicious.

I made the programs for my wedding, and regretted it. Messing around with a printer is always a pain. It is the one thing I would change. And I did it again. I thought, Oh I'll just whip somethign up, no big deal. 8 hours later the little placecards looked like junk. Luckily, dp's family isn't detail oriented people and thought they looked great.

I also made flower arrangements. Notice the "rubies" in the vase for their 40th.



Saturday morning we drove to DFW to find out the gender of my new nephew! Jeni, my Navy Sister, is pregnant with her second. I don't know how they can have another cuter than Logan. He is my buddy. He kills me.

Two words - Hulk Smash. :)


And then the reveal....

Another BOY!!!


2011 Baby Boom has arrived.

pep-less

There is a woman in my office who is always in a good mood, if she had a ponytail it would swing back and forth that is how bouncy her walk is. She works hard and plays hard, the woman even works out on her lunch break. That annoys me.

I have no energy to move. I am so tired and definately have no pep in my step. That can sum up September- which was heavy laden with my health problems, family struggles, school, work, "fall cleaning" and a quick trip to Abilene. And last Saturday we met Logan, Jeni and Chris in Waco and went to the zoo.

The good parts...

Maybe I am just getting old and there will not be anymore days where you spring out of bed refreshed.

ps- in case you were wondering what should accompany stewed bush meat please refer to the Bush Meat Cookbook. Side dish-Plantains. "Plantains are like bananas with machismo."

le tired- it pours

The last several months have been an overload, the good, the bad, the hot, the heartbreaking, the joyful, the peaceful, the whirlwind, the sweet and cuddly, the cold and painful, blurry and sleepy.

I guess the summers filled with Family Feud, sleeping till 1, vacations to Grammy’s are long gone. Summer… gulp… is business as usual. Sadly. Am I a grown up? We have been so busy.

:: MeeMaw bought a new pair of pants this week. I love this. When my heart gets heavy at the thought of the future, she reminds me that life goes on.

:: I used to be able to say I am a fairly healthy person. These last few months have shaken me to realize that I might not be as healthy as I thought nor want to be. Sometimes you just have to accept the path you are on even if you never saw it coming. And yes, another MRI. I just can’t stay out of those things.
:: If you have been caged for many many years, when you are freed will you know to fly out the open door? I am getting ready to take my first flight out of darkness into the blinding light. And this will go down in history that sometimes you CAN win, sometimes they will tell you no, tell you it is impossible, but you can never stop fighting. Someone will hear you, someone will stand up for you, this time I did win the war.

“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.”
- Margaret Drabble

And now after an abstruse post...

A photo essay of the previous weeks.

we stopped by

I think we visited everyone we knew in the DFW area this weekend. I can not believe we crammed it all in.

The goal was to go up for my best friend Jeni's mom's wedding, see Logan before his 1 year b-day, Grandaddy's 80th birthday, meet our new twin cousins.


Friday
Spent the morning/afternoon at the dr's. (long story)
Left Houston at 330ish.
Got to Lewisville in time to meet people at the rehearsal dinner.
Jeni and I got froyo and David and Chris played video games... you can almost hear dp's happy gargle in the distance


Saturday
Woke up, went to the church, got the ladies dressed.
Had a wedding!
Left Lewisville at 330ish (a trend this weekend) to head toward Ft. Worth.
Played pear pickin' outside, wagon rides, slide all before dinner.
Grammy icecream! oh wow.
Talked with the cousins, and played with the boys.


Sunday
Woke up, played with the boys and went on the where is the red truck hunt.
David realised he left all his clothes in Lewisville.
930 we head back to Lewisville, pick up clothes, and watch Logan open his birthday present.
Onward to Dallas!
Met Elizabeth and Isabella, David's cousin's new twins.
Had lunch with Aunt Marilyn, Lisa, Lori, Voung and Miles the doggie.
330 left for Houston


Goals achieved!

Of course I didn't get pictures of the important stuff, like granddaddy blowing out the candles, or the wedding, or the new twins... But here is the good stuff!

you know the feeling...

Last week was a sucky week. (so sucky that no other word can describe it other than sucky)

lowlights:

Stupid headaches. I found my secret cure to my headaches, Bendaryl. Magic relief for me. At work I am trying to combat drugged with caffeine iv which equals = looney. (ie trying to drink from a stapler...)

I burnt my hand. (eyeroll) I have never been scalded before and hope to never be scalded ever again. Thanks to David's first aid training, no blister as of yet.
Western Washington? My old nemesis? Has Houston been the most gloomy city in the world lately or what? Dear Sun, It's me Analee. Come Back.
Ok, so maybe it doesn't sound sucky on paper. But it was.
Midtone
I also planned a baby shower for my friend Melissa at work. It was on Friday, the snow day. Thursday night I was trying to bake brownies and cupcakes with my wounded hand. It was the blind leading the blind trying to get David to frost cupcakes. (men and women think differently...)
Luckily I had finished my diaper cake on Wednesday night. I think for the budget I was allotted it turned out fairly cute.

This week is shaping up to follow suit...
The dreaded party is this week. Thursday I work 730am- 9..10pm... who knows. sigh
Wouldn't it be nice for my big monthly project to be due on the same day as this party? Lovely.
Gloom. The gloom is still here. I need Vitamin D or I am going to be grumpy forever.

Snow Day

Friday was a bright spot. I got to leave early because of the snow.

ketchup...

Have you felt it?

Have you noticed it is fall?

Have you realised how fast time is moving?

Seriously, two months till Christmas.

Right about this time things get so busy around the office, and in life. So let me see if I have anything to report.

:: MichMansion

Still waiting on GI Bill money to come in so we can finish... well anything. We did try to hang our own light fixture in the dining room. It works. It is not level, and I will be honest there is an argument in our house about whether to swag or not. Really looking forward to being able to buy more paint to finish painting, and hire the electrician to fix our bathroom light (still using a lamp). Our list is so long.

We finally got rid of our old bathtub and other such junk. thank you heavy trash pick up!

:: GI Bill

I guess since I just mentioned it I could say a little something more. No, they have not paid David's tuition. It has been 11 weeks when the waiting period is 6-8 wks. And they have lost David's paperwork twice, yes twice, emphatically denying they have received it. This is nuts considering one day we call they are processing our payment, then the server crashes, they get Columbus Day off (WHAT? oh yeah workin' overtime alright) and then our paperwork is missing. Sure. Sure VA we didn't send it in. grrrrrrr

Ok. I'm done.

::Fun Stuff

It wasn't even last weekend, it was two weekends ok, I am behind. My company had an employee day at the Downtown Aquarium. We got all the attractions for $5! And I could bring as many people as I wanted. So Christi's birthday was Oct. 1st, I said I was behind, so we brought her as a birthday present.

First we met Melissa, her mom and her grandma at Zoe's for lunch. Sheesh I love this place. I just can't stand it.

Then on to $5 fun.

We went through the aquarium first. I was really impressed with how big it was.

There was also a tank where you could pet sharks and sting rays. It was a little intimidating at first. The rays were so excited they try to climb out of their tank! ps- linking to Melissa's blog and some of her awesome pics! Basically if you see *great pictures* they are hers.

Also there was a bubble you could crawl into to see the rays from underneath. Oh yeah. I totally crawled on the ground.
They even have 2 white tigers. One of them saw Christi and charged the glass. We were asked to back away and not look at him anymore. She must look pretty tasty.

So then the main event for me, The Shark Train! You can ride their train through a shark tank tunnel. Me and Christi got to be in the caboose! And I don't want to ruin it for you guys out there, but it was maybe the most fun of my life. Cheese-tastic!
I was laughing so hard I nearly peed my pants. Seriously. Melissa may think twice about bring me and Christi anywhere funny, we are notorious for being the loudest laughers in a room.

We rounded out the day with the Ferris Wheel, I watch it everyday at lunch I just had to do it. Ok warning, it is FAST! And finished up on the Carousel. Too much fun. Too much.


There you go. Your ketchup.

work is totally getting in the way of my blogging...

Why do we have to work again?

:: Nemo, our rescued fishy, has passed. He has being floating funny for the last month and had stopped dancing for food. Farewell little fishy. Have a great vacation.

:: In other animal news, Maverick aka Mav, Leah and Michael's kitty has moved to Houston. The doctor thinks Brody's respiratory problems might be that he is allergic to cats. So Leah packed him up and met us in Ft. Worth. He was a very good passenger. And, I am happy to say, has settled in nicely with my mom. Although he misses his family, he wants Brody to feel his best. (yet another reason not to have children. in our house furries come first!)

:: Ok, so here are the pictures from Jeni's baby shower. I was representin' the Navy at this one.

The cute favors.

Ashley, Jeni's sister-in-law made this cute cake!!!

Licking the poopy diaper... ok it was Butterfinger.

The toilet paper game.... she was 12 squares around.

:: I can't get over this little booger. I just love him. And I love that he lets me take pictures of him. Getting a pretty one of Abbey... there is a thrill to the chase.

I am definately going to need a monicle for this....

GEOCACHING!!

So this was our first try at Geocaching, which is like a treasure hunt with a GPS. It was super fun. Although we ran into some problems finding like the last 4. :/

Christi- Navigator and musical accompaniment

Analee-Director of Technology and Historian

David- Sherpa

Wow I look so rough here.

The beard was awesome!
Our first chache!!!

Snickity snack bloggety black...

I promise to get to the boys birthday blog soon... real soon. But in case you are dying to see the cutest 1st birthday party ever, yes be prepared to be assaulted with cute, then check out this facebook album of Dylan and Brody's 1st Birthday Party.

Blog Snacks:: So yesterday on my morning commute I was behind a Brinks document destruction truck. Fun. But what was leaking out of it, unsecured I might add? Document confetti. Ironic much?

:: I was talking with my friend Melissa today about the by gone days of coloring books. They just aren't good anymore. They usually involve stickers or have simple large pictures. I remember the best coloring book of all time. Now I am not a huge Barbie fan but as far as coloring book quality goes, they were the finest!
I did a little research to see if it was still available. And alas it is not. But here is a nod to the good old coloring books.

Hooray Hooray Hooray!

Jeni wrote a get excited for the cruise song. I think it is pretty fabulous:

The Cruise Hooray Song (sung to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat)We are going on a cruise so soon
Hooray Hooray Hooray
We'll shop and eat and drink all day
Hooray Hooray Hooray (here I would and an eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

See. Much better than my song which is to a made up tune

Muy Excited
Excited
I am excited
So excited I could do a little daaaaaaaaaaance. (and here I do a little tap or box step or something)

Don't you think it is about time for a vacation?

So I am going on a cruise! Uh huh. A nice 8 day cruise to the Caribbean. I have never been on cruise before and this of course makes me a tad nervous and a lot excited.

I am going with Jeni, another navy wife, and I say that like she is just a navy wife but she isn't. She was my closest friend in Washington and we became really close. David and I were long distance for a long time and never had couple friends. And Jeni and her husband Chris are our first couple that we get along with really well. Jeni is TONS of fun and a great listener and we have such a good time together. We haven't seen each other since January so it will be such a blast to get to spend a whole week with her.



So we leave from Glaveston and go to Montego Bay, then Grand Cayman and lastly Cozumel, and then they drop us off back in Galveston. So it sounds like a lot of fun. We are going snorkeling in Jamaica. (and yes I am terrified BEYOND words, but I have decided that I only live once and I get a life jacket so I am just going to do it) And we are going a tour/shopping excursion in Cozumel, and we are free range in Grand Cayman. Have I said I am excited about the whole thing? Cause I am!