A New Year...a New Job

It's a rule that with the New Year some big change or changes have to come too right? Well - my current position with PepsiCo was meant to be an interim role and my end date was 12/31! I had been waiting for the right opportunity (as instructed by my boss' boss who said there was one coming around the corner) and it finally came last week! I was able to submit my resume for the new position (still with PepsiCo) last Friday. I had three interviews all within the space of Wednesday morning - 9:30, 10:30 and 11 AM...good times! The interviews (if you could really call them that) went great...considering I knew all of the people I interviewed with and have worked with two of them quite a bit. I had a job offer by Thursday morning and an official form sent today. I love it when things work out and work quickly at that!
My old role kind of separated me from the core business side of PepsiCo and placed me full time on an ongoing Project that is occurring in waves. This new position moves me back towards the business where I can have a bigger impact on optimizing current business processes and will be able to get more exposure to the corporate side of life. I haven't decided whether that is a good thing or not...haha. We'll see! The new position is part of a brand new team - so I don't have anyone before me to train me on my tasks - I get to plow my own way through which is at once both exciting and a little scary. Many of the people on the new team are people I have worked with in the past so we get to all help each other feel our way through the learning process. Hopefully it all turns out great!
I can't complain about the new job (yet) - it gave me a significant promotion and better than that allows me to continue working from home the majority of the time and travel when necessary. I officially start my new role 12/28, but I don't have a team meeting until 1/9...that doesn't mean I have free time though. In the mean time I was just in California to support one of the project waves (or releases as we call them) and will be heading to Carlisle, PA and Seattle, WA for the same reason. Good times!
California was great - not only were the people I was training fabulous and easy to train, but I was in Southern California. I didn't realize how much I missed the West until I was driving from Burbank to Ventura and was able to see the mountains again! The weather was uncharacteristically cold, but it was still pleasant weather on all accounts and I could see both the ocean and the mountains from my hotel balcony! Besides my trip to Montana three years ago I haven't been back to the West in almost 10 years! I think I'll have to work up reasons to frequent the west more often...starting with Seattle in January and for sure a trip to Reno, NV in September for our Family Reunion! YAY! I took some pics with my cell phone - so the pics didn't turn out all that great but I thought I would share anyway!

See the ocean back there? See the mountains back there?

She's Alive!

Okay - it's been awhile. A long while since I have posted anything new on my blog. I am posting now only because I haven't posted in so long, not necessarily because I have anything to post about. Though, I am sure I'll find plenty to catch up on!

Starting with September: Devon came home for three weeks - for his R&R. He had been gone for 3 months already. We didn't do a whole lot for those three weeks other than spend time with each other and the boys at home. We did play tennis several times which was a lot of fun. We also won a trip through some contest that I randomly submitted our names for at a mall. We had to drive to Austin and spend some time with the Windham crew while they pitched their not-quite-time-share deal. We had to decline, but in the mean time submitted enough family and friends' names to get some raffle tickets and we won another trip. :) We know we will be using one of those free trips to spend some time in the Reno/Lake Tahoe area before the Family Reunion next year. Devon has never been to the place where I grew up and has yet to meet many of the family that lives there. I am really looking forward to that trip! We did take some family pictures while he was here, but we took them on his camera so I don't have the pictures! I have this one from tennis though! Not the most flattering but it will do.

Devon's Dad also came to visit us with his at the time soon-to-be wife! They are now happily married and living in Arkansas. We have yet to get any pictures of them, but we are happy to have Barbara as a part of our family now! It was great to meet her and see Dev's dad and Molly too. :)

My mom, sister Amber, and her friend Melissa came to Texas for the yearly road trip. Mom and Melissa were happy to be new road trip companions for Amber and I this year. :) We were happy to have them as well! Mom flew into Killeen to see the new house and the new city I live in. I drove her on Post so she can get a small sense of what Army life is like...a very small sense. Then we drove south towards San Antonio - though we made a detour at the San Marcus Outlet Mall....amazing Outlet mall - best I have ever seen. Great stores and amazing prices. :) I look forward to another visit there. From there we headed to San Antonio - checked into the hotel, visited the temple, then picked up Melissa and Amber from the airport. We had an amazing weekend visiting the Alamo, Sea World, and walked the River walk. Mom had to leave Saturday, so we took her to the airport and had a sad farewell-til-Christmas.

We then headed to downtown again, ate dinner, then experienced some of the fun attractions, including a mirror maze, Guinness World Record museum and "the vault" which consisted of us trying to get through laser alarms...very stealthily. :) The next day we slept in really late :) then went to the San Antonio Zoo. The next day we made it to the Waterfall Caverns and then I took Amber and Melissa back to the airport and then headed North home...but stopped at the outlet malls again to pick up some trunks I just couldn't resist! :) Not swim trunks...decor trunks ya know? Anyway! Here are some pics!

In November, Rebekah and I decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner. Neither of us had ever been in charge of the turkey before so we did a practice session two weeks before Thanksgiving. The turkey ended up being the easiest part. Thanksgiving dinner two weeks later turned out to be a lot of fun and all of the food was great! The only thing that would have made it better was if Devon was there.

Did I mention the weather is so nice outside that the boys don't want to come in until they are entirely too exhausted??

Jonas is actually resting his head in the water bowl...this was after he was drinking while laying down...Scout is mid-bark in the picture on the right - Jonas won't let him play with the big ball that wears Jonas out.

Now I have a short span at home - next week I'll be in California for work, home for 2 days, then to Indiana for one week over Christmas, then home 1 day and on to Carlisle, PA for 3 days. Lucky me. I am looking forward to seeing family for the holidays! I am also looking forward to some relaxation after the holidays! Hopefully by that time I also find out what I will be doing with work! I role off my current position December 31st and have yet to figure out what is next in line. Hopefully something great!

Until then - I'll just keep enjoying my boys and looking forward to word from Devon!

OKay - here's the bedroom paint color!

So bright yellow - it wasn't a horrible color, but not the calming, peaceful feeling I want in the bedroom.

Before:

I can't find my camera so I had to use my phone - not the best pictures - almost makes the blue look green...but they'll have to do. :)

So here's the after:

Somehow - Jonas managed to be in both the before and after picture....

Quick Hello

I have painted my bedroom the perfect blue I have decided. I was going to go with a grayish color but decided that was a bit too blah - so I went with a perfect shade of blue (for me). I have yet to take pictures though - so I will try and do that when I find my way home again this weekend.

But anyway - I had to post this picture of my husband looking like a rockstar soldier. He's hot! :) I might be slightly biased on that fact....

But Devon is doing well - he is learning lots and training lots! More exciting than anything is that we found out his 18 day leave begins on September 6th! Well...his flight is 9/6 - but we are not sure if his 18 days begins on the 6th or when he actually gets home because it will take a couple of days for him to get home.

At any rate - he'll be home soon and my work has been amazing! and are letting me take the time off to spend it all with him. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful and brave husband and a job that understands my situation and is willing to be flexible with me!

So here's Devon! :)

VOTE VOTE VOTE

Okay - we have other things coming up to vote for...but I thought this was important too! I am not sure if the results will really get anywhere, but at any rate I think we should make sure our voices are heard!

Here's your chance to let the media know where the people stand on our faith in God, as a nation. NBC is taking a poll on 'In God We Trust' to stay on our American currency.

Poll is still open so you can vote, but I am not sure for how long.

VOTE!!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/

I'm Still Here...Wherever HERE happens to be...

I haven't posted in a while, but there really hasn't been too much going on. Well, nothing new anyway! I have been traveling a lot for work. I am actually traveling more than I am at home. It is a bit rough and I miss my boys so much! Thank goodness for Monica, my pet care provider who stays at my house and watches my boys whenever I am away! THANK YOU MONICA!

I will actually soon have a roommate - or sort of two. Rebekah and Bryan will move in August 1st - they are both in the Army, but Bryan is starting medical school in Houston this fall. They are an amazing couple and the new situation is going to work out great for us both. WELCOME HOME REBEKAH AND BRYAN :)

Besides that - the one week I was home recently I decided to be semi-productive. I have this long long list of things that I want to do to our house or certain things that I want for the house - I can't imagine how long the list would be if we owned the house.....

One thing on the list was to paint the kitchen and breakfast area. The kitchen was painted a light green on one small wall and then about 3 or 4 feet of another wall behind the refrigerator - I'll never understand why the previous tenants or owners painted that bit. The breakfast area was a bright and happy yellow - but not quite what I wanted. So I went with "jovial orange." Devon and I had gone to Wal-Mart before he left and I picked up the first orange I saw - loved it.....of course as I got closer to the time of painting I wasn't sure, but stuck with my first impression. I painted! I painted some of the odd walls back to white to clean up the look a bit...here's the before and after!

Before:

After:

Do you like the color???

I guess I'll just do one thing on my list each time I am home. As long as I do at least one things will start looking pretty good! :)

Oh yeah - that is a new dining room table too! I just bought the table settings and I love having fresh flowers when I get home - Devon used to greet me with them almost every time he'd pick me up from the airport, but now I pick some up when I grocery shop. Either way works, but I bet you can guess which way I prefer getting the flowers. :)

Count down begins...433 days...and 5 days down...

....428 to go... Devon left Tuesday morning. He had to drop his bags off at 06:00. Devon left early so there would be no problems. My dad had traveled to Texas for support and to see Devon off. We got there with a little something to eat and some drinks right around 06:00. And then we waited....

Not long after the soldiers were standing in line to "draw their weapons." They carry M4s. Some M4s had lasers or grenade launchers or sites, but most looked pretty bare. No - they weren't loaded, but they would be carrying them on a commercial airliner. No civilians would be on board.

It must have been around 09:00 that they had everyone walk to the office building down the road a bit so the soldiers could have a sort of 'attendance' taken - pre-manifest.
Then they had everyone walk to the parking lot where the soldiers would be picked up. By now the sun was high and it was hot! The soldiers had to stand in formation for the majority of the remainder of the time. HHC, Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie company. Devon is in HHC (Head Quarter Company - I have no idea why there is a second H and no Q). Don't ask me all the details of what everything he is in...I only know what he's said, but not with much understanding....4th Brigaid and STB (Special Troops Battalion). He is one of the Military Police attached to the 1st Cavalry unit. At any rate, the buses came to pick them up at around 10:30A. Devon had talked me into a few tears earlier in the morning - punk. :) But after he was walking in line to get on the bus I had a short break down...luckily Dad was there. It didn't last long, I didn't want Devon to see my face for the last time in tears. He needed smiles and support - so that's what he got!

...

More than 48 hours I get a call from him. He is calling from Kuwait. The plane from Killeen had flown straight to Germany and from there to Kuwait. He will be there for a couple, few weeks. The soldiers are getting acclimated to the time zone (9 hours ahead - so when we talk I tell him to have a nice day and he says have a good night) and the weather (106 to 110 F dry heat...lately - its only June). They will also do some more training as a whole Battalion. Then they will move on to Iraq for the remainder of the 15 month mission.

I am so proud of Devon and all that he is doing for us and for his country and for the country he is spending time in. I am so impressed by his strength and courage. I am going to miss him, but I know that others have been through this before, that his going means someone else gets their loved one home, and that this is a small moment in time compared to the eternity that we get to spend together.

God Bless America, God Bless the Soldiers that Defend Freedom throughout the World, and God Bless my Hubby. :)

Its been awhile...

I don't have too much to share really, but it has been so long since I have posted that I thought I better post!

I promised pictures of the house, but we don't have any really good ones so I am going to hold off for now. Hope you can handle that! :)

I think the most exciting thing lately has been poor Scout having to wear what I like to call a "dork collar" because he had a bad sore on his foot that needed topical ointment. So to keep him from bothering it.....

Poor kid! He really has been a good sport though....I think he was catching some good tunes with it....

Luckily his sore healed and he had the collar off in no time!

And he and Jonas are back to getting worn out in the backyard!

We made it and we found a house!

YAY! After quite a bit of stress and SOME unsuccessful searching we did find a beautiful home to stay in while we are stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
We were able to get the electric and water turned on the same day we moved in - thank goodness!
That just leaves...phone, dish, internet and are stuff! All of that will be taken care of by the end of the week.
Devon has some time off work to get things in order at home - thank goodness! I couldn't do all of this without him!
A little about the house. It's a 4 bedroom/2 bath home. We have an extra bedroom that we have NO idea what we will do with...I am sure we will find something though. The floors in the living room, kitchen and breakfast nook are tile...not looking forward to cleaning inbetween, but they are beautiful! A little bit of paint in some of the rooms is needed - the master is bright yellow and two of the small bedrooms are a bright blue - but other than that the house is in very good condition. The back yard is larger than our previous one and has a 6 foot wooden privacy fence. YAY for the boys!

More pictures to come when we have our furniture and do some decorating. :)

Indiana to Louisiana to Texas

After a flight delay of 2.5 hours Friday, I arrived back in Indy from Dallas, TX a little after 6 pm. Devon picked me up and we met Mom and Gary for dinner -El Jaripeo! :)
From there we visited the Erekson's and as tired as I was I think I made sense at least part of the conversation. As we left their place after 10 pm, Devon and I knew we would miss the Erekson's a lot! We don't think we got to spend enough time with you guys!
We finally arrived home that night. This was the first time I had seen the house since all of our things were packed up and loaded and hulled off to some mover's head quarters for an undetermined duration of time.
The place was echoing, but I was glad to see the boys and they were glad to see me. :) We had a lot of work to do to prep for our road trip the next day though. We had a few things to pack that we were planning to take with us. It ended up being very late before we actually got to bed.
We woke up at an early enough hour Saturday morning and met my Dad for breakfast at IHOP. Just enough breakfast to make you want to take a morning nap.....and then we got into separate vehicles to drive over 1000 miles over a 2-day span.
We drove about 11 hours to Bastrop, Louisiana where Dev's Dad and some extended family lives. We had a few stops, but all in all we made really good time. If only Scout hadn't got sick THREE times on the way down.... Poor boy! I did get to see an alligator which apparently is a frequent site through Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, but I don't frequently see it - so it was pretty cool.
It was great to see Dev's Dad and Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle and cousins and second cousins ....and their dogs. :) It really was and they fed us well too! We left there late in the morning Sunday and travelled about 6 or 7 hours the rest of the way to Ft. Hood, Texas. We checked into our hotel room. We still had some daylight though so I showed Dev the neighborhoods I had liked when I drove down the previous weekend. He agreed that they looked pretty good. We headed back for the night and made a game plan for the next day.
The house hunting was not all that thrilling Monday morning, but we did end up finding to prospective houses! Hopefully everything goes smoothly this week and we are able to find a house and move in by next week! We have to move fast!
Look for some new pics of the dogs on the road trip in the next couple of days and hopefully some pics of a new house!
We'll keep you posted!