Update

Well, I am still trying to catch up on all the pictures we took during leave, but I decided to take a minute to go ahead and give you all an update on our move. So, here it is. We got to Washington on Monday. We were welcomed by pooring down rain and horrible traffic. We made it to post, thanks to our GPS without too much trouble. However, there was no lodging. We were all tired and hungry so we got a room a the first hotel Dave could find at a discounted rate of $150/ night! Well, the military doesn't pay that much, but we were ready to eat and sleep.

Tuesday, we wake up to more rain. Dave spent 3 hours in a housing meeting in an attempt to secure us housing on post. No luck, they offered us a house that would be ready in 3 weeks (military pays for 10 days in a hotel) that was 3 bedrooms and1200 sq ft. The lady was simpathetic to our large family and discouraged Dave from taking it because she siad it would been too small, but because we have 2 boys and 2 girls, that is the best she could do for us. Lame I know. Better yet, you aren't even allowed to look at the house. How insane is that!! Well, they arm him with papers and say good luck finding a place. So instead of looking for a house, we look around for a cheaper hotel. One the army will pay for and that has free WiFi. Well, we found one. So, as the kids settle for bed, we scoure the internet for houses. We find about 6 we like and set up the GPS to take us out the next day.

Wednesday, we wake up to more rain. But we are on a mission, we spend all day and I mean, ALL day, driving around looking for a house. We come across several we like, call about them, just to find out we spent all day looking at houses that have already been rented but not yet taken off the website. How annoying! We found one house and even viewed it. Loved and it and the owner told us that when her husband gets home we can work on the details. When he gets home, he said he told someone else they can have until Saturday to decide on the home. We got discouraged knowing that we can't wait that long to hear back from them. (Secretly, they weren't impressed with how many children we have, even though they can't say that) So, we spend all night looking on the internet for more houses. We come up with 12 more and a game plan for the next day.

Thursday, we wake up to sun. A beautiful ski. It is going to be a good day. We drive around so much. All day in the car again. We are going crazy. The kids are going crazy. But we found a few we liked. Set up appointments to view them on Friday. And call it a day.

Friday, we go to view the first house. Liked it ok, hated the realtor, and were concerned because the neighbor told us all the previous tenents complained that the utilities neared $500 every month there. We took a real nap in the afternoon for once and set out to the next house. Oh we loved it. It is a little small, but is all brand new and in a wonderful neighborhood that I would feel safe in while Dave is gone. It is only about 15 minutes from post. We should move in next week, but the lady doesn't want a lease, she is just doing a month to month thing which makes me a little nervous, but we are happy that we almost have a place.

So that was our week, next week, we are car shopping, signing up for school, checking with transportation for our goods, and Dave reports to work. I am off, but just wanted to elt you all know about our week.

Jan 31

We started saying our goodbyes. We had one final game night with our friends from church at Julies house. It was sad to say goodbye. Here is Lauren (who saved our little laycee) me and Julie. They are two of my closest friends.

And of course we had to work in a family shot! We will miss you guys.

Cheer Camp

Each year the Vicenza High School puts on a cheer camp as a fundraiser. It is a 3 hr clinic where the girls learn a few cheers and some jumps. This is Haylee's second year going and once again, she loved it. Here she is before a big group cheer.

Here is her age groups cheer.
She tries a jump.

She has been cheering over and over since the camp a few weeks ago. She really loved and we are excited to be in the states where she should be old enough to cheer for football now!

Purses and more Purses

Of course, what is one of the last things you do in Italy? It is definitely go purse and shoe shopping. And so, that is what Julie and I did. We loved being able to buy new boots and purses. Laycee also loved purse shopping. So, she of course picked a gold Paris Hilton purse that was so overly priced but super cute for her to try on.

Logan saw that I was taking pictures of Laycee and of course he couldn't resist getting in on it, so he picked out a purse too.

He also really liked Dancing around in the store.

It was so fun shopping and I got 1 purse and 3 new pairs of shoes. We LOVED it.

Burger King

Just before we left, we were out and ran into a few friends. So, we went to burger king. Jaron, Emily, Laycee and Logan totally loved the kids meals and king hats. And Michelle, Julie, Nancy, and I were even more excited to spend some grown up time chatting with one another.

Hospital Visit

As many of you read, Laycee ended up sick (go figure) right before we left. She looked so pitiful.

When they made the decision to send Laycee to the hospital, they gave us a bag of goodies for Laycee to play with that was donated by the Mom's Club. I was so greatful for that.

This was the most content she was while she was there.

We were so happy she ended up really well by the time she was released. She had a UTI which turned into dehydration and in the long run, ended up really sick. Anyway, she turned out ok and is now on a prevention medication to prevent more UTIs since it is fairly common for her. It was such a stressful time right before we were moving out of our house though.

Lasts...

We went to a birthday party for Landyn before we left. He was so excited to have all his friends there and the girls were so excited about dancing around.

And we attended our last linger longer. We were happy to be there and a little sad to bid everyone farewell even though we still had 2 weeks left.

Before We Left

We had a lot of cleaning to do. We cleaned A LOT!! Anyway, I guess Logan decided that cleaning the windows looked like a lot of fun.

He was a little frustrated that he wasn't able to reach the window, so he tried pulling the chair over to the window.
Finally he made it up there and was so happy to clean the windows with daddy.

Okay, so I am finally able to get around to blogging. So, I am starting in the middle of January and working forward. So, be prepared for lots of pictures over the next few days.

Another Update

Ok, so I hope to upload pictures to our laptop and blog them sometime this week, maybe tomorrow after church. But I wanted to stop and tell all of our blog readers that now we made it to AZ. We are so happy to be home and LOVED our trip in DC/Baltimore. More to come.... check back soon

We made it

So, 4 am came around and we are all wide awake. We made it to Dulles with no problems and are loving out time already with Dennis and Lynda. Trent loves that they have a Wii to play, Logan is lovin the ball that they bought for him, Haylee is loving cuddling with Lynda, and Laycee... well she loves her mom and dad. Just wanted to stop in and say we made it to part one of our trip.

Last Day

Tomorrow is our last day here. I can't wait to blog all the fun we had this weekend. But, I just haven't had the means or time really. I had to get my last minute shopping in, shoes and purses, what else can you not leave italy without?!? We are sad to be going, but really, we are ready. Dave is at his last shin dig, a Super Bowl Party rooting for the Cardinals, yes it is 130 am here. We had a small birthday celebration for Laycee and Logan with the same people. How kind they were to think of the twins at their Super Bowl Party. Deven was amazing and bought each of the kids a small gift to carry on the plane with them. Oh how are we going to miss the people we have been blessed to meet, but we are so happy to be heading home to people we love. Dennis and Lynda, and all our family, we Just can't wait to see you all!! What is on my list tomorrow? Everything that I didn't do this week... becuase of the shopping. Mostly, pic up records everywhere, visit the post office, get stuff for the carry ons oh yeah, and PACK! Wish me luck!!!