At the end of March our water was turned off (routine maintenance, not because we didn't pay our water bill haha) but the pipes in my house were very, very old so when the water was turned off, they relaxed. When the water was turned back on it was a shock to their system and the poor old dears just popped holes everywhere. The next day I could hear water running, searched everywhere, couldn't find it, got busy, and forgot. This cycle happened for about three days (oopsie!) before I finally called maintenance. They came out and worked for two full days before deciding that we needed to move. The job would include knocking out two exterior walls and digging under the house while we still lived in it just for them to *maybe* fix the problem. So after a lot of back and forth with the housing office, Nathaniel's leadership getting involved, and a ton of prayer, we were able to move out of our old house and into a new-to-us house. It's not a brand new house or even a renovated house like we were promised but we're happy with where we are. But before we were able to move we had birthdays and my sister came to visit!
Caden's third birthday was on April 8 and I just cannot believe that he is three. He was just born! How can he be
three?? On his birthday he requested a picnic with friends so that's what we did! He had a good time. He opened a few gifts and we went out to eat with the Gpops at his favorite place, Leal's. He loves their chips and "sauce" (salsa).
The day after Caden's third birthday my sister and niece came to visit!! They stayed for ten days and we had the best time!
We went to Grandma's for lunch after our zoo trip
My parents drove out so that they could be at Caden and Isla's birthday party! We were so happy to have them :) they couldn't stay in our house though...by the time they got there, we were down to ten minutes of hot water a day. My poor old house couldn't handle anymore showers. They stayed with my grandparents.
This girl will eat anything you give her. She destroyed her cake but Caden barely touched his!
They got so many wonderful gifts from their friends. I have pictures of them opening every gift but I won't add them here. It means so much to me that everyone came out to celebrate my babies. Thank you all so much! The gifts are all well loved and so appreciated!
After gymnastics we all went for a picnic at the park with everyone (even the Gpops and Via!) we had a ton of fun together!
The next day they all left and we moved out of our house. Moving myself is not something I ever want to do again. Especially with little kids. We did have help but it was still so hard! My parents helped pack stuff up in the old house, a ton a guys from Nathaniel's unit showed up and moved all of our big stuff, my friend Michelle watched Caden for me, my grandparents took both of them one day, and of course Nathaniel and I stayed very busy. The house still isn't put together! Once I get home I'll work some more on the house. Our new house is much nicer than the old one but the backyard is not nearly as green. It's full of those little pokey plants too. Caden told me he doesn't like the new yard :(
The Saturday after we moved into the new house was Isla's first birthday!! My sweet baby girl turned one. I just can't believe how fast time goes when you're older. It kinda sucks.
We were working in the old house so I snapped one last picture in front of that gorgeous brick wall. Happy birthday sweet girl!! She got a few presents but other than that we didn't do too much. We just played at the park and unpacked more boxes.
I have a ton of pictures of my kids being adorable. Eating bananas, painting, playing outside, sleeping, eating grilled cheese, eating various other foods, playing some more, sleeping some more...I'll save them for later haha I kept them busy while I unpacked and put stuff away. After days of doing all that (the above mentioned activities) we FINALLY found out that Nathaniel made officer!!!!! He applied for Officer Training School in January and the results were supposed to be released March 13. We found out on May 1. I am so proud of him. I've been around for a while and I've witnessed (and been a part of) the changes he's gone through. He's a different person than he was a couple years ago. He just graduated with his Master's degree (which is why we're flying across the country). No one ever would have thought he would do that. I'm so proud of him and who he's become. So he made OTS and leaves in October for it. We don't know where we'll be stationed after that but we do know that we're moving again. I'm excited and sad. Clovis is our home now. There's not much there but it's home. And we'll miss it. We'll miss all our friends and our routine. Caden will miss gymnastics so much. He'll miss Via too. She's his best little friend ever. Military live is a hard life. It's the only life I've ever known though. I desperately want to move somewhere and just stay there. I want my kids to have the same friends from kindergarten to college. I want the church we go to to be our church. Not a church that we just pass through for a year or two. I want to know a town and call it my own. But at the same time I want to see the world. I want to immerse myself in everything that God created and show my children how beautiful this world is and how diverse it's people are. I want to see what man is capable of (Eiffel Tower, pyramids, castles, ect.) and experience new foods and cultures. I want to explore nature at its fullest and marvel at everything it has to offer. Military life can give that to me. My parents did it with us and I can (hopefully) do it with my kids. As a child I saw so much and I'm thankful for the memories. I want to give that to my babies. I'm so thankful for the opportunities that the military has and will give us. I'm so happy that Nathaniel was selected for OTS. I'm sad about the changes that come with it but this is the life I chose and the life I know. Saying good bye sucks but that's what we do.
So onto something a little happier...we drove out to my parent's house in Tucson and dropped our babies off for six whole days while we flew across the country to attend Nathaniel's graduation! Leaving Caden and Isla was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done. I cried for a couple weeks beforehand, I cried the whole night before we actually left, I cried the entire way to the airport, and then a couple of times while we were gone. Funny how two tiny humans have my heart in their hands. I'll blog about our super fun trip later :)
Caden and Isla had so much fun with Mimi, Papa, Aunt Haley, Aunt Courtney, and Brielle! I'm so so so glad that I have a family that I can trust. My family is pretty awesome and Nathaniel's family is equally awesome. I'm one lucky gal :)
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