5 years!

Josh and I just celebrated our five year anniversary  April 5th was the day. We both admitted that it has felt even longer, not because time has dragged. But because we have actually been together straight since Summer 05. So this summer will make it 8 years! :)

Seems like just yesterday we were just dating long distance. Time defiantly flies.

So 5 years ago we got married. We got married at my hometown church in AZ. Then we had a mini honeymoon. Mini as in a few days at a local nice resort. Then we packed the car and Josh headed to our new future to South Dakota our first military assignment.

I stayed behind, since I had one month left of college. Finished my last exam, got my degree. And headed out with my friend Laura to South Dakota. The start of our adventure. That has lead us through living in a new state, going through snow storms, having our son, two deployments and then our recent move to a whole new country.

I cant imagine having anyone else by my side than my best friend. Im so greatful for my husband. And also for the life he has made for us. I know he works hard for the things he provides. He makes me laugh every day and always makes me smile. He is a good dad. And Ethan loves hanging out with him. I could go on and on. But I know I am very lucky to have my husband. I am excited to see what new chapters will come our way. As time passes Im glad I will have my best friend there by my side.

Spring has come!

FINALLY we have gotten some amazing sun here in Italy. Its been so gloomy, rainy and cloudy these past weeks. Saturday we were awoken with SUN! :)

This weekend we spent a lot of time outside. Sunday we went to the Spring Festival. It was very nice. And I wish I was able to take some pics but didnt grab the camera. And Joshs phone was charging at home. But there was tons and tons of flowers, plants, veggies, fruits, fruit trees. This went on for more than a mile.

We walked around and tried to plan out our garden. We bought some red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes, strawberry, and raspberry plants. All the plants were healthy and had some tiny fruits already on them.

We also got 8 cartons of strawberries for 5 euro. And they are amazing.

Then later Sunday Josh, Ethan and I got the garden ready. It had a ton of weeds and growth in it. We even found some planted plants from the last people. We got it all under control. And now they are all planted in the garden. Looks good. So wish us luck! LOL

It was a great sunny weekend. :) And its all fun and games outside, until a big nasty black wasp looking thing comes flying into your hair LOL!

Also we have been looking for a metal swing set for Ethan for our yard. We have tons of space and wanted something for him to do. So I been posting a wanted ad in our military base classifieds. And a neighbor man ended up giving us thiers for free. Josh touched it up and painted it some. And Ethan loves it. :)

Verona

About 2 weeks ago now, we headed to Verona for a day trip. They were having their Love Festival. So we headed to go check out what Verona was about. It took about 2 hours. We walked around an old stadium, and walked around the city, bought some chocolate, Ethan got a free balloon. It was a good day!

It very beautiful here in Italy. Sometimes it hard to take all in! Still cant believe we live over here. 

Ethan and Josh being goofy

Also this past Sunday, the 24th was Joshs 26th b-day! We had a nice day relaxing. And I made him

a cheese cake which I accidently burnt. So it looked like chocolate cheese cake LOL! He recieved some nice gifts. It was a good day. 

Ethan thought it was his b-day and he was very bummed that he had no presents to open. Sorry buddy!

Spring is coming!

So Im excited that spring is around the corner. As along with new changes around here.

I got a job at one of the Child centers on base. It was a lot of paperwork and waiting since they use a 2nd party for thier hiring. But I found out I start tomorrow  It worked out because they had one spot left in the 3 year old room. So that was good.

Im anxious to see how this will pan out. But at my interview the manager lady said that they would be hiring for a front desk position soon. So the plan is to float around the daycare and then apply/hopefully get the front desk job. Which will be more my cup of tea hehe.

So Josh is currently trying to find us a second car. If you didnt know our new used Murano died. UGH its hard to even talk about. But moving on lol.. we think we found a good car but Josh has to set up a time to meet. Its hard with Josh working swings so we will see maybe this weekend.

Not much else is going on here. Josh is still working swings. Cant wait for the day he goes back to days it just so much nicer having him home at nighttime. Also on a regular schedual. :)

Ethan is doing great potty training. He stayed dried all the time when we did the volunteer day care center. His newest phrase is "Whats that for?"  He says the funniest things. And he rems everything! It fun now too because he will tell you about his day.

We got him a Tball and he was out hitting it with Josh and I for a little while this weekend. It was nice and sunny this weekend.

Update on Ethan

Wow where has time gone! This past year flew by and now 2013 Ethan will be turning 4! FOUR! Thats just nuts!

Ethan is doing great. We started potty training about 1.5 weeks ago. He will be 3 years and 4 mths next week, and I think its the perfect time. I see soo many parents start wayy too soon and its just a mess. I have a friend that told me the best advice she had for a boy is to wait until 3 to potty train.

Which thats what I did. And its good advice! He def was not ready anytime before.

He also has been talking away. He is defiantly caught up. If you dont rem Ethan started speech therapy at 18mths. At age 2 he still was only saying about 3 words. He just started exploding sentences after we moved here. I just cant believe how much he says. Also how much he picks up on. 

Not much else is new going on here. Just potty training. But its going well. He even stays dry when we go out. 

2012 The Review

As each year comes to an end its almost natural to look back to see what happened that year. Time always seems to fly by, but this year seemed to go much faster than any other year. 

                            

          The End of January, Josh came home from

              an almost 7mth deployment. 

Ethan got his first bike

We went to Deadwood for our b-days

February we got orders to Italy 

to be there by June 

April Josh and I went to Kauai! And we celebrated

4 years of marriage! :)

We went to the beach and on a scary zip line!

June we headed out to visit family. Our first stop was in Oklahoma.

We were in Joshs mom and dads wedding renewal. 

We then went from Oklahoma to Arizona

to visit more family.

On Fathers day we got Ethan dedicated in our church in AZ

We enjoyed the summer in SD together

We enjoyed the summer with good friends

Had to say good bye :(

We really are leaving!

Packed up our house and we headed to Missouri to

drop off our car and fly to Italy. 

We flew to Italy, stayed in the hotel on base for TOO LONG, found a nice house,

got my Italian drivers license. 

Ethan turned 3!

Josh made Staff Sargent! He started ALS (airman leadership school) it was

a long weeks and he worked really hard! We are very proud of him!

We traveled from the mountains to the beach. We tried yummy foods. We had

family time.

Phew! This year has defiantly been full of life changing events! I am so grateful and blessed with the friends and family I have. Looking forward to see what 2013 brings!

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2013

Cant believe Christmas has come and gone. Im so grateful that Josh was able to be home this year. And also that he is no longer gearing up to go on a long deployment right after Christmas. Which always seems to be the case. 

Joshs Mom, Dad and sister Erin came down to Italy to visit! It was a great time. It was nice having family here. 

We played card games, my all time new favorite was trivial pursuit card game, which I picked up from the BX for less than two dollars lol. We blew through pretty much all the trivia cards LOL. 

We also ate pizza, went to a market, and the last big thing we did was go to Venice. 

Venice is a very beautiful city. Felt like a huge maze with bridges and stone floors. Josh took a lot of great pictures. Its hard to take in a lot of the beautiful sites here. Its still crazy to me that yes Im standing here in Italy. Just nuts!

Ethan enjoyed his Christmas and opening presents  All of them even if they werent for him lol. 

We took the train for the first time. Not as hard as people

make it out to be.

Venice!

(this pic is going in my Christmas book for this years pic)

Gondola Ride 

Capicino