Holy cow! I just realized that my last post was in October.. and its already the end of November!! That must mean we have been busy doing something right??
Well.. as many of you know... well actually probably all of you that read this.. we have had an intensely busy November. We started off the month by packing up our entire home and putting it into the storage rooms of two of Everett's buddies (THANK YOU!!) while we went home for a couple of weeks!
LUCKILY everything worked out that I was able to take SpaceA (military flight) back home on Monday, November 8th. I almost didn't think it was going to happen because when I walked in, the terminal was PACKED and they generally only let 10 people go. Well as luck would have it, there was not 1 but 2 jets going to Wichita that day so I got a seat! It was a pretty long flight home, but I hadn't slept the night before, so I slept the entire flight back home. My dad got to pick me up off the flight line.. not gunna lie I kind of felt like I was getting back from a deployment... weird feeling!! Everett finally arrive on a commercial flight on Thursday.. the goofus accidentally bought a plane ticket for that Wednesday, and missed that flight (because he didn't want that one.. he wanted a Thursday flight), but luckily the company gave him a full reimbursement and then upgraded him to 1st class on his second flight home, but that was because it was Veteran's Day!
We had a great visit home and I felt like I got to see almost everyone! There were a few friends that I did not get to see, but I'm hoping I will when I come back in January!! Everett spent most of his days back hunting with family and friends. I was very lucky to be able to go to my friend Mikki's wedding reception and see all my close high school friends! Oh and I got to go on my family's yearly shopping trip.. so overall a very successful trip back home!!
Now you might be wondering.. where were your dogs at this whole time?! Once again, God came through and some friends of ours offered to dog sit while we were gone... I don't think they realized what they got themselves into! HAHA!! We were soooo thankful that they were the best dog sitters EVER!! Not only did they save us from having to kennel the dogs, but they also trained them into well behaved dogs while we were gone! I was so surprised at how much they had grown while we were gone.. I barely recognized them! Not only that, but they now know how to sit and shake, and they go right to the kennel when we have to leave or its bed time! I told you--best dog sitters EVER!! Thanks again Jami and Travis! We owe you!!
So we sadly had to end our visit back to Wichita on Monday, November 22nd. Everett was planning on flying back commercially as he came, and I was going to go SpaceA, but Everett decided to just fly back with me. This almost became a decision he regretted when we walked into the passenger terminal at McConnell... Once again filled with at least 30 people... and only 1 jet leaving this time. Shortly after we arrived we found out that the only people on the jet will be crew members which means they will have more space for passengers. This made us feel a little better, but then we ended up being numbers 5 and 6 on the list to go home, so we didn't have anything to worry about in the first place! In the end, all 26 of us got to go back to Mildenhall on a VERY packed jet!
I forgot to mention that on my flight back to Wichita, I rode with a nice older couple who's last name was also Marshall (side note: the guy sounded like Christopher Walken and it always made me giggle when he talked). This was really confusing for the crew and for the customs lady because they kept wanting to put us in the same family. Well they ended up being on the same flight back to England with us too! Once again.. they got us all mixed up!
So after yet another long flight, this time not sleeping as well as the first flight, we landed in Mildenhall early Tuesday morning, UK time. Our car was waiting for us in the parking lot, and after a brief freak out because everett thought he left the keys to this car in Cambridge about an hour drive away, we found the keys and made our way straight over to the Realtor office to sign the last papers and pick up the keys to our new house! We stopped for Everett to eat a little something and then headed "home". That's where the insanity began... from the time we arrived at the house, around noon, until 6am the next morning we were very busy moving our stuff from its various storage places and into our new home, only stopping to eat and pick up our puppies. By the time our heads hit the pillows we were out cold until the next afternoon, where we did it all over again!
On Wednesday, we had visits from the cable/internet guy and from the movers! MY MOVERS!!! I was so excited to see my stuff that had been in storage for months now--including our wedding gifts! Once the movers left, I began unpacking all of that stuff.. and it was like unwrapping the gifts for a second time! Ha!
The movers back in Wichita were some strange ones though.. instead of packing all of my stuff in boxes, they wrapped it up in a brown wrapping paper.. So for two hours straight, I sat up in a bedroom unwrapping things.. it was like some sort of Christmas Morning from Hell... I was so tired of unwrapping things by the time I was finished! On top of that.. there was so much wrapping paper that I was able to make a column from the floor to the ceiling.. I'm not even exaggerating! I wish I would have taken a picture of it, but the dogs made a makeshift leaf pile out of it and spread it all over the landing. I definitely felt like I should be planting a small forest of trees somewhere to make up for the wasted paper! But I did get to recycle all of it so that made me feel better!!
Needless to say, by Thursday, TURKEY DAY!!, we were ready for a break from the unpacking. We spent our holiday with some of Everett's work friends. I got to play a little wii with one of his friend's daughter. We ate, talked, and drank delicious margaritas!! My fav!! Then we came home and began cooking our own Thanksgiving feast which we have been feasting on since then!! See we were not very smart and went to the Commissary (our on base grocery store) on Wednesday... yes.. the day before Thanksgiving..... As I'm sure you have already assumed or possibly witnessed.. it was pretty chaotic! They were running out of everything!! Luckily we got all of our necessities, but Everett had to get the last turkey that they had left.. which just so happened to be 24 pounds.. just for the two of us.... Haha.. So we will be eating on it for a while!! Tomorrow's dinner... Turkey and Noodles! Tuesday... Turkey Enchiladas! Wednesday... Turkey Surprise! I think you get the idea...
After Thanksgiving, we were slowly losing our motivation to unpack things... I decided it would be a great time to start on the Christmas decorations, so I did that.. and Everett decided it would be a great idea to get the entertainment room set up.. so he did! Saturday we bought our Christmas tree and put that up.. no lights on it yet.. haven't found the motivation for it! We also have been playing a little too much of our PlayStation3 Move!! It is SO much fun... we LOVE sand volleyball!! But my arms are extremely sore from it!
That leads us on to today.. in which we got one more load in from Cambridge storage, and put away all of the boxes that were sitting in our dining room.. So NOW it looks more like a house and less like tornado valley! I plan on cleaning it up tomorrow.. and then we will be ready for guests! And I can do more than just unpack all day!! Maybe then I will find the motivation to put up Christmas lights?? We shall see...
I know many of you are asking for pictures... I haven't taken any yet because it was a huge mess.. but as soon as it looks picture worthy.. I will be sure to post!!
Until then.. Cheers!
