Where have I been?!

Wow, I have seriously been SLACKING in my blogging. I suck! I've had such a busy few months though. Here's what I've been up:

I've fully moved in to the new house and have renters at the old one (and they signed a 2 year lease!!!). Of course there's still plenty to do around the new house and it feels never ending. Here's a link to some pics of the new house (they are pics from the listing) http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182971&id=757844115 I absolutely LOVE it and feel so lucky to have such a beautiful home.

August started a string of great vacations all in a row. First up was a girl's weekend in Vegas. I drove up with a friend I've known since HS and reconnected with about a year ago when I found out we both moved to AZ. The rest of the girl's that we met there were friends we were meeting for the first time in person. Sounds kinda crazy I'm sure, but we all met through our love of shoes on a Facebook page and became friends and decided it was finally time to meet up. We all had a blast and got along great! It was like we'd known each other forever and I can't wait to see them again.

Next trip was back home to IL for my 10 yr high school reunion. I almost didn't go, but I hadn't seen my family in awhile and I figured why not?! The only real cost was the plane ticket since I could stay at my moms. I'm soo glad I went. I had way more fun than I expected and there was a really good turnout. I got to hang out with some of my best friends from HS and FINALLY got to meet my friend's adorable little girl. I wish that I lived closer to them still but I'm so happy that I stay in contact with them 10 years later. And that through moves, marriage, kids, etc, we can pick right up where we left off. I also got to spend the day at 6 flags with my niece, nephew and sister.

A few days after I got back from IL, my hubby came home on leave!!!! YAY!!! I hadn't seen him since April so it was a long time coming. It was extra weird for him this time since he was coming home to a new house that he'd only seen once before we'd even found out the offer was approved. He is still here but leaves in about a week. We've been relaxing and doing house stuff (all the things I can't do alone). Oh and playing with our new puppy! (more on that in a second!)

He had almost a week before it was time for our 3rd trip. This time we went to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. My sister lives there and she was celebrating her 40th birthday. We had an amazing rooftop dinner one night and then her big party was an Undead party. Everyone had to be in costume. I went as Miss Argentina from Beetlejuice. It was a blast dressing up and celebrating my sister's bday on the beach. This trip was awesome. One day was spent swimming with whale sharks. OMG it was an amazing experience. These things are HUGE. We also went snorkeling 2 times (got my little brother who is scared of water to go one of the times!). I also taught my brother how to swim!!! He did great considering he learned for the first time at 25. We had tons of amazing food also. Here's a link to some of the pics. There are more that I haven't gotten around to posting yet. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=240044&id=757844115

So, last major new thing is the puppy! I got her on the way back from Vegas. My husband has missed having a dog to come home to each leave. He loves having a running buddy. So, we decided to go for it and I figured I'd do it in time for this leave. She is a beautiful Weimaraner. She is now about 14 weeks old and growing soo quick. During the week we were in Mexico, she lost that puppy face! We named her Zuker, which means Sugar in German (since they are German dogs, they have to have German names IMO). It took a lot of emails back and forth to decide her name (I can only imagine how hard it will be to pick a name when we have a kid!). We narrowed it down to Anka (means graceful) and Zuker. Well within 10 min of meeting her, she'd fallen over about 20 times so obviously Anka was out of the questions. But, she was as sweet as can be so Zuker worked perfectly. She's definitely a handful, like any weim is, but she makes me laugh out loud pretty much every day. It's nice having someone else around when my husband is gone too. Here's a few pics of here. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=201651&id=757844115

Ok, that might be the record for the longest blog ever, but like I said, it's been a busy few months. Now that the house is mostly unpacked and the hubby will be back in Afghanistan soon, I will be better about blogging. I miss my craft room and want to start making stuff! I just knew if I unpacked that first, I'd never get anything done! lol