A look into the past couple years of our hectic, crazy lives!

I'm a complainer. I complain about everything. I always have been. I want to make it clear that I really do love Little Rock. I've enjoyed my time here better than anywhere since we left Georgia a little less than 2 years ago.

I can't believe it hasn't been 2 years since we left Valdosta!!! These past months have been a whirlwind. Seriously. Except for you other military wives who have just done the same thing, you can't imagine what it's like to just pick up and move. We moved from Valdosta, our home. We loved Valdosta, everything about it. I'd love to move back there someday. We had incredible friends, and the opportunities were endless it seemed like. George was there 2 years before I was but my 3 there were amazing and I made some great memories. (Let's not forget this was also my college experience so, bonus points for Val-Deezy)

Then we packed up and headed out West to the great state of Oklahoma, "where the wind (seriously) comes sweeping down the plains." I don't have any attractive pictures of me outside in Oklahoma because of the wind! Ha! Here's one!


Here's one of Cheyenne trying to escape a doggie fence when she got locked up at a neighbor's house. Hahaha.


And here comes the complaint: The Brown Recluse Spiders. Exhibit A:

This one was found on our back patio. I frantically screamed for George to come get him because it was the biggest spider I had ever seen in my life. (That was not a pet tarantula... and actually... I've never seen one of those!) George didn't believe me, but when he saw him he did. As he approaches with a can of spray, George loses him, LOSES him! He gets a flashlight, guess how he finally sees him? The reflection from his eyes! Seriously.

Another embarrassing thing that happened was when my sister Alison came to visit for my birthday (a SURPRISE visit, mind you) and we were going to get the camping chairs out and a mouse, yes, MOUSE fell out of the bag the chair was stored in. Yuck. Lucky for you, there are no pictures of this.

Fast Forward a few months from July 2008- March 2009 when we moved to Corpus Christi, Texas.

I got an amazing opportunity to work at the CDC there on the base, we got to live at the beach and we got to spend a lot of time with our friends and neighbors Keith and Ashley (who are getting married in less than 2 weeks). We also had visitors! My parents, Uncle Scott and my 85 year old Grandma made the drive (yes, drive) out to Corpus Christi, Texas. We got to explore, rent a boat, eat at local restaurants and spend good quality time with them for the 4th of July. I love when we have visitors! Here is a picture of our visitors!!!


And here is Cheyenne feeling patriotic for Independence Day!


We got a second set of visitors when George got his wings! My sister came to visit (she is the only one who made it to both places we lived) along with her boyfriend Brent, and both George's mom and dad made the trips from Wisconsin and Georgia. Here they all are!


We also had creepy-crawly visitors in Corpus Christi. We had 3 snakes (yes, Snakes!) 1 giant one my mom and I saw, we still aren't sure what kind it was but it was brown and tan and scary. Then George and I saw a little garden snake, and then the mac-daddy snake we saw was a Texas King Coral snake. Yes, very poisonous. Here is that one all chopped up (what? he was poisonous).


So even though the weather was 100 degrees all summer and it only rained 3 times the entire time we lived there, and the mosquitoes the day we moved out were unbearable (literally), and we didn't get our orders in time and had to move out of our home into a hotel, we still enjoyed Corpus. (Well... kind of.) We enjoyed the restaurants (Docs, Padre Pizza, Stinger's coffee), our friends we made there (way too many to name) and the time we got to spend with each other.

So from March-September we were in Texas and from September-May we are here in Little Rock.

Little Rock has been my favorite place yet. We are TDY enroute to Japan so all of our possessions were packed up in Corpus. We have 600lbs of stuff with us. Nightmare. We are more than thankful that Kyle and Lauren took us in. We've lived with roommates. Not only Kyle and Lauren but our friend Chris also (the three of them are the original class 09-13 from Vance, in Enid) so they're lifelong friends that have had the same experiences as us. And toss Chris' girlfriend Beth into the mix, we've had a great time living together. We've had our moments as anyone would in any roommate situation but overall this has been an adventure and such a positive experience.

Chris and Beth are packing as I type and are moving out in the morning, and it really feels like our time in Little Rock is coming to an end. Again, I'll say... how on Earth has the time flown by?! We are also going to a going-away party for our friends Katie (yoga instructor) and Logan who we will miss dearly as they move to New Mexico and then onto the United Kingdom!

Katie and Logan: Halloween 2009.

As roommates we've nicknamed ourselves "Team North Ridge" Here are a few pictures of us as Team NR!





I think the whole point of me writing this blog was to point out that it's 100% what you make of a situation. Even though I have been told all 3 places we've lived in the past 2 years, "Oh Enid? That sucks." "Oh, Corpus Christi? It's really hot there, it's gonna suck." And "Little Rock Arkansas? Why? That's sucks." Well you know what? I've got to spend the first two years of my marriage with a a wonderful husband traveling the US and making tons of friends and learning a lot about each other, and myself. So there. It's been an amazing journey so far. And I can't imagine the new heights Japan is going to take us to.

Happy Friday!

Chelsea