button bunch

I know everyone was worried that something had happened to us, but we are alive, no worries. Things have been somewhat crazy for us lately as far as normal everyday life, routines, our personal belongings. We are finally getting back on track though. Hence, the blog update.

Let me fill you in on some things for anyone who doesn't know what's been going on. We packed up our house in Pittsburgh and left for San Diego at the end of July. We left all of our stuff in our house so the Air Force could come, pick it up and move it to Cali for us. We stayed with my parents in San Diego for nine weeks. (Bless them for their patience!) Ryan left for Officer Training Camp in Alabama at the end of August and was gone for five weeks. While he was away the kids and I stayed with my parents and the kids (Parker, Easton and Creed) started school across the street at Sandberg Elementry School.

Ryan finished his training and came back to San Diego on a Friday at the end of September. His parents flew in the next day for Parkers baptism which was on Sunday. It was an amazing baptism by the way. Shanna Riches gave an awesome talk about the Holy Ghost and the spirit was really strong. The Buttons were able to stay for a few days to play with the grand kids and enjoy San Diego. They left on Wednesday evening. Ryan, me and the two youngest kids drove up to Vandenberg AFB the next day to see if we could find some housing. We drove back to San Diego on Saturday, packed up all of our stuff at my parents house and moved to the bases Temporary Housing Facility (TLF) on Monday. WHEW!

We lived in temporary housing for six weeks. The kids settled right into the school that's here on base and all we had to do was wait for them to finish building the house that we were to move into. It was a long wait, I got pretty sick of not having any of our things but I can't complain too much (we had housekeepers come by every day).

Finally, a week before Thanksgiving we were able to move into our new home. Things are still crazy and unorganized but at least we are in a permanent place. So without any more gabbing, here are some pictures of the house!

The Air Force takes care of our front yard for us. The sprinklers are on a timer and they come by once a week and cut the grass. We are in charge of our back yard but I've heard it's pretty serious. They can ticket you if your grass is too long. Yikes.

The other day I heard male voices right outside my front door so I went to see what was going on. Two men where standing in the garden bent over, weeding. Seriously!?!

Our lovely front door and mat that still has the tag on it. I love the bench. they have a thrift store here on base that I found it at.

As you can see, I only have half of our curtains up. I wanted to make sure they would look the way I wanted before I bought all of them. Now I just have to get them finished before any company comes over!

The kids decorated the Christmas tree all by themselves. I handed them the ornaments and they put them where ever they wanted. That is why half the ornaments are on the bottom branches. I love it.

The main living area is all connected so this is from the front window looking to the back yard. I'm not sure if I like the set up yet but so far it's working okay. At least it's easy to keep an eye on the kids.

We divided the carpeted area into living room (off limits to kids) and family room areas. This is the family room area. (Does it look like Parker and Easton are doing River Dance or what?)

This is the view you would have if you opened the door and walked in. We finally found a bench with cubby holes for the kids shoes, I love it! The computer area is right next to that and then what we are calling the library area.

Our backyard is a good size with a cute little patio. We put our old kitchen table out there so the kids can do homework outside on nice days, messy craft projects etc. The grass hadn't grown hardly at all when we got here so they asked us to stay off of it until it came in more. I've been watering it and it doesn't look much different. Did I mention they can ticket us if we let our grass die too?

You can look down and see the whole streets back yards in either direction. Not the most privacy but. . .

we were lucky to get the running trail behind our house. We have all these trees and wild area for the kids to play in and right after that is a trail that goes a couple of miles to the fitness center. The kids love it back there and in fact, now have three different club houses built.

This is our dining room and kitchen area. It's awesome, the fake wood floor they put down doesn't scratch. I'm so thankful!

This is the view from the kitchen to the dining area. As you can see they put the fire place on the other side of the table. Odd place if you ask me but we turned it into a cozy reading area.

We have a bar now, I love it. The kids can do homework while I'm cooking dinner (theoretically) and the best part about it. . . we found red bar stools! Heck yes!!

Okay so this is the kitchen. I know, it's a crazy mess. I'm still trying to figure out where I want all the food to go so it's kind of been a disaster. But, we have a dishwasher now so who cares what the kitchen looks like! Between the dishwasher and having a garbage disposal, I'm in heaven! (Oddly enough we have lived in places for the past five years that have not had either. I never would have thought that a garbage disposal could be such a plus about a house.)

We have a pantry and then a little walk way to the garage door and opposite the laundry room.

Since the laundry room is no longer in the scary, spider infested basement, I no longer have an excuse not to do it. Is that a plus or minus?

Connected to the laundry room is another little storage room that we are using as a second pantry/food storage room. If you have been watching Glen Beck at all you are probably gathering food storage as well. If not, START!

Okay, lets take a visit to the other side of the house where the bedrooms are.

First bedroom is the master. As you can see, our room has not taken priority in unpacking. Don't worry, we aren't becoming hoarders, I just haven't had time to find a place for anything.

Same with our bathroom so I figured this was the safest view for everyone to see. Haha. That's our shower curtain if you can't tell what you're looking at.

Check it! We have a walk in closet. After the houses that we have been in (especially our Pittsburgh house) these seemingly little things make me slap happy. Check out my shoes on the floor, they are zebra print and my new favorite pair of shoes.

Ryans side of the walk in. I'm so nice, I even shared the shoe rack. And can I just say that my husband looks hot in his uniforms! Woohoo!

Another thing that makes me smile just thinking about, a linen closet. Oh happy day. Beckham likes it too but for other purposes. If you can't find him, he's in there doing his business. I think I'm going to have to get some air fresheners.

Once again, we aren't secret hoarders. This is, or will be someday, my craft room. Right now it's, "anything we can't find a place for or need out of the way put it in here" room.

Boys room. Easton and Creed sleep on the bunk beds and Beckham is supposed to sleep on the toddler bed but lately he's been sneaking up to the top bunk with Easton during the night. It's made my heart jump a couple of times, walking in there and not seeing him in his bed.

Creed wanted to be in all the pictures, can you tell? He "organized" the toys in their toy bins and very proud of it.

Kids bathroom. It's so nice not having to share with them any more. They all mysteriously have to go to the bathroom every time you shower, what's with that?

And finally, at the end of the hall is the girls room.

So there you have it. Nothing extraordinary but we love it. My mom is coming up this week and I'm hoping to get her help in hanging some things on the walls. Then it will feel more like home I think.

I would like to give a special thanks to my parents who made those two months of living with them wonderful, (for me at least) and for everyone who has helped and supported us in getting this job. We feel so blessed to have a job right now and know that the Lord has definitely provided for our family.