I Added a New Skill to My Resume

Well, we are officially back in California. We said farewell to the beautiful city of Charlottesville, VA mid June and made the drive back across the country with about four days of actual driving. Along the way, we were able to stop and see dear friends in Tennessee

and Arizona

and then finished up at my parents new house in La Quinta. We arrived just before Madison's 8th birthday, which we were able to celebrate with my parents, my aunt and uncle (who also have a place near my parents' new house), my mother-in-law and brother-in-law by going out to dinner.

Quick aside: So before we even had any hint that we might be back in the 29 Palms desert, my parents had decided earlier in the year that this was the year they were going to retire...it was originally planned to take place next year. Also, they had already bough their retirement house in La Quinta, CA. Why is this important you ask? Well, now that we have been stationed back in 29 Palms we are the closest we've lived to my parents since having Madison. It's great. We have had more meals together, game nights, and pool parties in the last three weeks than we have in the last year....maybe even two! Okay, end of aside. :)

We were at my parents house for about a week, maybe a tad longer, before officially receiving the keys to our new ONE STORY house. Am I excited about a one story house? Why, yes I am! These are few and far between in 29 Palms and they just make EVERYTHING so much easier and they make keeping the house cool much less expensive $$$ as well. We are on a cute little cul-de-sac and have an end unit....winning! God is so good! The kids are in heaven! The freedom that comes from them being able to just ride their bikes in the street and run around without the fear of being run over by a car is glorious....you see we've always lived on a main road and for the first time we don't! Again....glorious!

The kids are signed up and officially set to go to their new school, which we are super excited about. They will be at the same school this year. Hudson will be in Pre-Kindergarten three days a week and Madison will be in 3rd grade. She took her entrance exam and did really well. We were super impressed with the principal and the other staff we met the day we were there and look forward to our orientation and Back to School Night in a few weeks. The only bummer about this amazing school is that it's about 40 minutes from our house, but have no fear...did you hear? I have a new skill on my resume. I am officially a taxi driver. So, this will come in handy for driving the kids to and from school. :)

Madison has already jumped feet first into her new gym. She was placed on the Level 3 Girls Competitive Team. This will officially be her first year of competition as a gymnast. To say she's excited is an understatement. She misses her old team dearly and talks about them often, as well as her beloved coaches, but thankfully several of them have already been writing to her so an official pen pal system has started and it's so fun to watch her excitement as she gets mail. Madison's competition season (to my knowledge) will start at the beginning of September (possibly the end of August). We will have her official schedule at the end of the month. We really love Madison's gym and it seems to be a perfect fit, and once again...it will allow me to put my new skill to good use. Madison has practice 12 hours a week and her gym is an hour and 6 minutes from our door to the gym door. However, during the school year her school is the half way point, so we'll only have about a 35 minute drive to her practice, but the drive home will be long. I know it sounds crazy, but when you have a daughter who LOVES gymnastics and you are stationed in the middle of nowhere, you do have you have to in order to make it work.

Anyway, that about sums us up right now. We are just about done making our house a home. The walls have been painted  (I've included a sneak peak at one of the walls in Madison's room), most of the pictures have been hung, we've had our first home cooked meal, and we've had our first family movie night. The main thing we have left to do is to have a garage sale to try to get rid of some of the stuff that either didn't fit or that we just don't use anymore. Oh and we're already back in the swing of things. Since being in our new home, Alex has already had two business trips. Last year spoiled us with Alex's flexible schedule that had very little travel, but 29 Palms doesn't mess around. Thankfully, Alex is not on a deployment, but this is the longest chunk of time he'll have been gone since returning from deployment.



PS...if you'd like our new address please email me or message me on fb. I had a hard time this time around when I was trying to add my contacts to the email I made b/c I was having to do it from my phone and it was acting funny while trying to scroll through. All that being said, please don't hesitate to reach out if somehow you did not receive the email...I had a lot bounced back to me as well, so I have a lot of old emails still floating around in my contacts that I'd love to update. :)