Twilight Addict!

I have to admit I have been bitten by the Twilight bug and I am now a complete addict to the series. Tyler was dying to see the movie so when it came out we got it and I really liked it to my surprise. I had heard all the hype when the movie came out but since I had never read any of the books I really did not get it. The only reason I considered seeing it is because the lead actor Rob Pattenson played in the Harry Potter movie and I am a big fan of those so I figured I would get around to see it. So after I saw the movie I read the first book which I had but had not read yet. I finished it in about 5 hours. So I went online to the website and I got the storyline for each of the next 3 books. One thing led to another and the next think I knew I had ordered the remaining books from ebay. Luckily Donnie went to TN this past weekend so I read the remaining 3 books in 2 days - obviously I did not do anything else that weekend, but I could not put them down and the fact that I knew the basis of the storyline made me that much more anxious to see how it all happened. So I am now a self proclaimed Twilight addict and have joined the ranks of all the Edward and Bella fans out there!

Officially Pregnant!

I went to the lab yesterday and now the army considers me officially pregnant. They asked me who I wanted to see as a doctor, which threw me for a loop because in the army world you get an appointment with whatever doctor, nurse or midwife is available (hardly ever seeing the same person twice) and when you go into labor the doctor or midwife on call delivers the baby. So there is really no continuity of care. But because Ft. Rucker is so small they don't even have an OB/GYN clinic on base so everyone is referred to civilian care. So my doctor is a woman in the next town over - about 20 miles and I will see her the entire time and she will deliver the baby as well. I even get a private room (which again is not the norm in the army world). Have to say I am a bit excited about this situation. I won't have a first appointment for a while - I have to wait for my referral in the mail which will take about 2 weeks or so and then I can make my first appointment. So more to come....

Baby # 3 is on the way!!

So we just found out that I am pregnant and we are completely excited! It happened really fast - much sooner than I thought as I have only been off the pill since the beginning of March. I took a test on Tuesday and it came out positive so I took another one this morning just to be sure before we told the world. I have not called the DR yet because in the military world you have to take a pregancy test at the lab and then they see you in OB a month or 2 later, but being so newly pregnant I know from experience that my test will come out a "weak positive" and they will make me come back in a few weeks. I checked the due date calculator online and the baby should be here around December 2, but I have a history of late babies so we will see. Poor Donnie - he is the only one in the family with a summer bday - now we have Tyler in October, Vanna in November and me, the new baby and xmas all in december (better start saving our pennies now :). Regardless we are excited and have already started talking about names. Neither of us care what it is since we already have a boy and a girl but if I had my choice I hope it is a boy - they are just easier!

I did not realize it has been so long since I last blogged. We are settled in and doing well. Not too much to report as we have only been here a month. Tyler likes school and is doing really good. Vanna is getting registered for kindergarden next week. I cant believe it. She is now doing homework at the table when Tyler does his homework. She is writing her name, ABC's and numbers. She doesn't have to know them before school but I want her to be ahead of the game. She thinks she is a big girl now. She is in gymnastics and loves it. Tyler is not much of a baseball dude and that is in season now so I think he is going to do karate til football starts in the fall. He is also going to start taking guitar lessons - unfortunately he is being forced (sounds familiar doesn't it) but he will get over it. Vanna actually wants to play the piano and has been asking for a few years now but she has to wait until the fall when school starts. She is also going to be a pee-wee cheerleader for football season. I can't wait.

The weather is great here....of course it is raining today but it is warm. We have been to Pensacola, FL 2x since we have been here to see Donnie's grandma. We also got our fishing licenses since there are 4 lakes on Ft. Rucker. Donnie and I belong to a poker league as well so we have plenty to keep us busy. One of these days I will take some pics and post them.

We Made It!!!

We have finally arrived in Alabama...after 12 days! Our 5 day trip had many unexpected turns along the way, but we made it today and are at a hotel that actually has internet access. First we set off on Jan 29 so we could make it to my mom's by Jan 31 in order to see the superbowl on Sunday. Thursday went fine with the exception of the late start. Friday was smooth as well, although cold as hell in Oregon and Idaho. However around 5pm things took a turn for the worst. We pulled off the highway to get gas and out of nowhere our Chevy 3500 which was towing a 24 foot trailer with everything we own in it began to smoke and smoke bad. We lifted the hood and out poured black smoke everywhere. Looking around we realized we were in the middle of nowhere in Idaho and it was about 7 degrees. A woman stopped and asked if we needed help and of course we did so she called the mechanic of the town and although he was closed, he graciously came to see if he could help us. Before I continue....let me set the scene: the town we broke down in is called Glenn's Ferry, ID. It is one of those towns you see on horror movies where the unsuspecting people break down and all of a sudden they are hunted by cults or crazy townspeople. Everyone in Glenn's Ferry knows everyone and everybody closed at 5pm for the weekend. Well as I am surveying our situation and scoping out the landscape in the event my fears come true, the mechanic arrives. We are able to move the truck and trailer about a block down the road to his garage, which was across the street from the only cafe/motel in town. Turns out the transmission was shot! Great....now what?

Well the stars were in alignment for us because Glenn's Ferry happened to be the best place we could have broken down in. The mechanic contacted his mechanic/towing friends in a city about 30 miles away called Mountain Home and within an hour or so we had a huge tow truck who took the truck and trailer to a mechanic in the bigger city to replace the transmission. Unfortunately that would not be until Monday or Tuesday. As luck would have it in Mt. Home also has an airforce base which was a welcome site from the horror movie town. We tried to get housing but they were booked so we stayed in Glenn's Ferry for the night. We did get a hotel in the city for the remainder of the weekend.

The next day Donnie was able to talk to the mechanic who was going to work on his truck and he said it could be anywhere between $1500-$4500 to fix the transmission! Now we only paid like $2500 for the truck so now we were debating on whether it was worth it to fix the truck. Plan 1) Fix truck? Plan 2) Get a uhall that will pull the trailer and get on the road and worry about getting the truck later; Plan 3) Buy a new truck and get the hell out of dodge! As the day progressed, plan 3 was looking good so we went to the ford dealership and bought a ford F-350 turbo diesel duely (sp?). We did not even test drive it. Apparently we were the talk of the little town. After signing the papers we drove to the blue truck and unloaded it to the new one, hooked up the trailer and were ready to roll. By the way this type of thing is very uncharacteristic for us - we always take forever to purchase anything. So the next morning we left the frozen tundra of Idaho and headed to my mom's. We got there Monday evening.

A sigh of relief overcame us once we got to my mom's, but the stars apparently got confused once in Salina. That night at Walmart someone stole the pin that holds the trailer to the hitch on the back of the Lincoln and the trailer tipped while we were driving. At least we were on my mom's street and about 4 houses away. Then the tires on that trailer lost some tread so now we had to buy 2 more tires. Still things could have been worse.

Thursday arrived and we left for Clarksville to crash with our friends for a day or so. The trip which normally takes 10 hrs started out great (uh oh...sounds like we have been here before). Just as we got to St. Louis we saw signs that the interstate we needed was closed in both directions - WTH!!! So we followed the detours which took us around St. Louis twice on 2 separate highways and then put us right back on I-70 which was the road we were on to begin with. Of course this happened at 5 o'clock traffic so by this time it was almost 8 and we still had 4 more hrs ahead of us so we stopped at another hotel for the night and did not get to TN until Friday afternoon. We were going to leave on Sunday but decided to stay and extra day and we left this morning. Only a 7 hr drive left and this journey is over....haha. So after a full day of driving we get to Montgomery, AL and take an exit that we think is wrong once we are on it. We turn around, get lost and end up on a toll bridge. The lady did not charge us and told us to turn around and directed us to the right spot, but I did not hear her because my dog was barking so loudly at her I missed the most important direction - TURN AROUND! So Donnie turned around and Shelle went on down the road until I realized I was lost!. Finally getting back in the right direction it turns out that once again we were on the right road to begin with! We pulled into the hotel around 8pm which brings me to right now - facebooking, checking email and blogging. And the 75 degree weather was pretty awesome today!

Tomorrow we have to find a place to stay so hopefully it will only take us a day to find a house. At this point I am not picky - just give me 2 bathrooms and a fenced in yard for the dogs - I am tired of being in hotels living out of suitcases. All in all, even with all the mishaps, things could have been much worse so I am thankful that we all arrived in one piece. At least these will be memories that we can tell for a long time - after all not everyone has broken down on the Oregon Trail in 7 degree weather.

Not even sure if I have pics at this point but eventually I will find my camera cord and see what I can post. I appreciate all the shout outs on facebook. Will keep you posted.....

Facebooking Fool!

At the request of my friends here in WA, I have recently become a member of the facebook community. Now I, being the anti-technology person that I am and assuming this was nothing more than an updated version of myspace, figured that I would do it to appease them and call it a day. Well I have to say I rather enjoy the facebook experience. In the past week I have accumulated lots of friends that I had in high school and it is really pretty cool to be able to keep in touch with people in this manner. And I can't believe how many people in high school married each other!! I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised and have spent more time on facebook than I care to admit.

3 Weeks and Counting!

Just checking in.... the countdown is on. We are leaving 3 weeks from today. Hard to believe it has come up that quickly. We got our official orders yesterday so now we can get the ball rolling with all the paperwork etc. that has to be done for us to clear the post. We are going to try to make it to my parents house in 2-3 days. We already got reservations for hotels so we have stopping points. We are actually leaving a few days earlier than we originally planned - we realized that we would be driving on the 1st which is superbowl sunday and that was just not going to work for us seeing as how we are huge NFL fans. So we backed the trip up a few days and should be able to watch the game in the comfort of mom's house on my brother's 6 foot big screen TV. I can not wait. It has been raining here non-stop since the Xmas snow stopped - I think we are going on about 3 weeks now. Everything is so wet and the yards are flooded. It has been in the 40's though which is better than it was but the wind is blowing something terrible. Vanna told us yesterday that she hates it here because she can't go outside and play. At least that problem is almost solved.

I do have pics from the holidays but honestly I have just been lazy about uploading them. My posts will probably be few and far between for the next month or so due to the move, but I will try to update when I can.