homeowners

Oops again. It was my full intention to blog more while we were in New Mexico. I definitely kept busy there and let the blog fall aside. And like I said before, I'm really over my laptop. It takes a solid 10 minutes to turn it on. It's been a true test of patience. It's really hard to justify buying a new laptop when you're not in school and not using it 15 hours a day anymore! Anyway, enough excuses. On to what's been going on since April.

Jeff did get his private pilot's license but we still haven't found time for him to take me up yet. And now that we are in Spokane he has to get checked out at the airport here again before he can take me. So it may be a little while but I'm excited to do that whenever the time finally comes!

Over Memorial Day Weekend we met up with a few friends from Tri-Cities in Las Vegas. We had so much fun on that trip and loved that we were just a day's drive away. Wish we were going to be that close again!

All of us taking a break at the Forum Shops

We saw Blue Man Group--general consensus was not bad but not something we will see twice

The very next weekend I was off to Ireland to be maid of honor in Amanda & Tyler's wedding! We wished Jeff could have gone too but he wasn't allowed to take a week off during training for vacation. We spent a few days in Dublin and took day trips to Wicklow National Park and Kilkenny, and then headed out to the country for their wedding at Roundwood House in Laois. First of all, Ireland is absolutely beautiful. Not to be cliche, but my first thought stepping off the plane was it's so green! I expected that to have been exaggerated in movies and TV. But it's not, at all. It was so green that I couldn't stop looking at it. I could do an entire blog post on that trip alone but I'll just put a few of my favorite photos here.

First night in Dublin, going on about 24 hours without sleep right here! Wish I'd gotten the name of this little pub we ducked into for a quick dinner.

Exploring Glendalough National Park

Glendalough

Kilkenny Castle

Amanda and I failing to pose for a photo in front of Kilkenny Castle

Amanda, Tyler and I at the Guinness Storehouse

Enjoying the complimentary Guinness at the top of the storehouse

Enjoying the peaceful drawing room at Roundwood House in Laois

Wedding day!

So that was the very very condensed version of my week in Ireland. It was a beautiful, wonderful time spent celebrating two dear friends.

The rest of this summer was mainly spent by the pool. Jeff did a lot of hiking and I made sure to see all of the helicopter spouses as often as I could before we all got spread across the country. I love all the ladies that I've been able to meet so far! I'm sure that at each base we are stationed at we will always have at least one friend from this time with us.

Now for the biggest news of all: for 4th of July we booked a last minute trip up to Spokane to house hunt before the big move. We knew that if we wanted to buy we really should get a head start on it unless we wanted to live in a hotel for a few weeks after we got here. We spent two days looking at somewhere around 20 houses. It was a whirlwind but it had to be done. And.... we found one! We placed an offer that weekend and after a few counteroffers from both sides we finally landed our very first house. Homeowners!! We absolutely love it.

Ta da!! This isn't my photo. I haven't taken one yet! Oops. So just imagine green grass right now.

When we came back to Albuquerque Jeff got stuck with just five flights left and then monsoon season hit. Every single night there was a thunderstorm and every single night his flights would get canceled. We started to get nervous that he wouldn't finish in time before we would have to close on the house. We made plans for me to go up to Spokane on my own to close by myself. Then it just all fell into place. He managed to get five flights done in one week which is basically unheard of (in that program). We left Albuquerque on a Sunday and arrived in Spokane on Wednesday after stops in Salt Lake City and Tri-Cities. We were very happy to see our friends Shay and Alex in Salt Lake! Even if it was only for a brief couple of hours. We had our first night in our house just a few days before our 3rd wedding anniversary. Seemed very appropriate for looking back at everything that we've done since then!

And that pretty much leads us up to now! It's been a fun couple of months. We loved Albuquerque but by the end we were ready to be done and get up to Spokane. I can't tell you what a relief it is to finally have a place to settle down in after 3 years of knowing everywhere we'd live was temporary. It was such a fun adventure but it can really be exhausting. I have to keep reminding myself that we will have to do it all over again in another 3 years. Of course, I don't mind though. I love traveling, seeing new places and getting to know all of the quirks and ins and outs of new locations. I especially love meeting new people (never thought I would say those words) and always having friends in far-flung reaches of the world, even though it means I can't see them as often as I'd like. I love this life and all the constant change that it brings with it. But for now, it feels so great to call this place home.