It's been forever!

I know it's been forever since my last post...But I have been so busy lately with school, homework, friends, Clifford the now really big red dog, helping people plan their weddings, figuring out our holiday leave, and trying to figure out everything for when Matt deploys again next year. It's been nothing short of crazy around here, but really good at the same time!

It's hard to believe that last year at this time I was with Cara in Virginia working at the USO and dreaming of the day I would get to hold Matt in my arms again at his homecoming. I am so thankful that I was able to stay with Cara and Shiner for the last 3-4 months of Matt's deployment! It really helped me to get through everyday of missing him and knowing he was in a war zone. We had a ton of fun traveling everywhere, my favorite trip being our trip to New York for Thanksgiving and eating pizza and wine for our Thanksgiving dinner :) It was great to not be alone in experiencing a first deployment, and to have such a sweet friend to share the experience with.

I am SO happy that this year both Matt and Patrick are home and Cara and I get to spend the holidays with them! I just booked our Thanksgiving trip last week, and we have a lot planned! We are going up to Seattle the Saturday before Thanksgiving and will be staying on the Navy base at Whidbey Island for 2 days, and then we have a condo on Puget Sound for the rest of the week. Originally we were going to meet my family at the cabin in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Seattle, but they are so busy with the farm that it ended up being just us two! We are actually really happy that it's just us for Thanksgiving since this will be the first one we've spent together, and can't wait to explore the city and see rain again...Maybe a little too much rain, but that's ok!

I am in the process of figuring out everything for when Mat deploys next year, and the plan so far is for Clifford and I to head up to San Francisco to be with my family on the farm for the 6 month deployment. I always said I would NEVER go back home while Matt was deployed, but this is a great chance for me to hang out with my family and work on the farm without having to go back home! I am excited to work on the farm, spend time with my mom and the family, and explore the city, all while saving 6 months of rent money!!!

When Matt gets back we plan on moving back to the water so we are within walking distance again, and maybe a little more north than we are now. We like our townhouse since it has a yard for Clifford, but we really miss being so close to the ocean and being in more of a laid back beach community. We figure if we get to live in San Diego for a few years, we might as well take advantage of it and live closer to the beach!!!

I am currently finishing up another semester of school and hope to start my internship in the Fall, which means I will be done by the end of the next summer...YAY! I still don't know what I want to do with my degree exactly, but I would like to work with kids or military families and do what I can to help them! This has been a challenging semester since I am now finishing up my upper level classes, but I always like the hardest classes the best...Yes, I know, I'm weird! I have been so fortunate to meet some great friends in my classes, and it's nice to share the whole Master's program experience with some really wonderful people!

We were very happy to welcome home our helicopter squadron friends last week, and are keeping the families who buried their Marines in our prayers. It's been bitter sweet hugging our friends and realizing at the same time that there are wives and children and family members and friends who were not able to do the same, but we are still thankful to have our friends home again!

We were also very happy for our friends James and Stephanie who got engaged last night, and are looking forward to their wedding in February! I am really excited to help Steph with all the wedding plans, and do whatever I can for our sweet friends!

It's just Clifford and I tonight since Matt is out in the desert for work until tomorrow afternoon, but my puppers is keeping me warm here on the couch and I am just happy to have my little family all here in the same country!!!