Happy 2014!

Happy New Year Friends and Family! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and your new year is starting off just right! We are all doing great! After a short, but much needed trip back to the States, we are settled back into daily life here in Turkey.

It was nice to be back in the USA after being gone for a year. It was nice to drive down the highway, and no other cars, buses, scooters, horse and buggies, or man pulled carts were trying to share the lane with us. There was also very little honking. I had almost forgotten that driving could actually be a peaceful experience. Of course, it was also great making the rounds and getting to hang out with our families.


This was Brennan's first Christmas in Indiana. He had a blast!


He was apparently a very good boy in 2013, because Santa found him at Grandma Brenda's house, and also left him a letter saying there were presents under the tree back in Turkey, too.


Santa was smart and left the lightsabers in Turkey!


Unfortunately, we did have to leave this little beauty back in Indiana with her parents. And who is this darling girl, you ask? Introducing Miss Paisley Elizabeth, our new grand daughter! We are over-the-top excited! She was born back in early December, and I do believe she was everyone's best Christmas present. :)


The happy parents. :)


Four generations.


I know, it's hard to stand the cuteness! Congratulations Shanny and Logan!

And one more today, just because I had to...

Tammy and Jason. This is Jason's cousin, Tammy, who also has the distinction of being one of the blog's biggest fans! We don't get to see her very often (like in over ten years), but our trips to Indiana overlapped this time, and it was great to see her! I warned her that pictures on my camera were fair game for blogging, so I totally had to follow through with that, right!?

Happy 2014!

Let Me Wipe Away the Dust...

So, hmmm, yeah... Hi. Fancy seeing me here in the blogging world, right?

Since I've haven't written anything in months, I think I'm long overdue for an update!

First of all, we are all doing well here. As you might have seen in my last post, Jason was selected for Master Sergeant. Yay, Honey! We are all excited about that. Now we just have to wait until next year sometime, when he will finally get to put on that stripe.



Brennan is super happy that he will be starting kindergarten in the fall. I am excited and sad. But I guess that is how every Mommy is. We hope to do lots of projects and fun stuff this summer. Oh, and I've already started buying school supplies, I don't know which on of us is more excited about that.



As for me and my ankle, I've been to physical therapy twice now. It has really helped. For the most part, and depending what shoes I have on, I can walk normally. I still have a problem going downstairs without looking all awkward, but it will all come in time. My ankle and foot still swell up everyday, and my scars are quite lovely. The doctor said the swelling will probably be around for a year or so, and scars are scars, they will fade over time.

So, we've been in Turkey for over six months now. A fourth of the time we will be here. Wow.

A few views of Turkey so far...


Sabancı Merkez Camii


Horse drawn wagon on the road.


I love the crosswalk man. You must wear a fedora to walk here, haha.


Dur means stop. (That was your Turkish word for the day.)


Bread from a cart. Yum!


Brennan at the Atatürk Parkı in Mersin.

Obviously, we haven't had much chance to travel around yet. I am sure our next year and a half will be full of Turkish travels.

After being stuck on the couch for months, I am ready!

Christmas and a Brand New Year

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a nice quiet one - family time, friends, lots of food, presents. Fun.

This year Santa got cookies and milk and chocolate covered cherries. We also had to put carrots out for the reindeer, plus a pan of water. Brennan is very thorough. No thirsty reindeer at our house. Christmas Eve we watched Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and the listened to a reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. Brennan said he was "so nervous" when I tucked him in. I don't know if he was nervous because he was excited, or nervous because he was afraid he was going to be on the naughty list. Ha.

As it turned out, he did make it onto the good list. This was right as he realized Santa had left presents under the tree. I love it!



Brennan had a blast opening his presents and helping us open ours. He was just as excited about the presents that weren't his. See my new Keurig on the couch. Yep, awesome! Thanks Santa! ;)





Brennan's new scooter. The scooter that was the stand-in for the skateboard that was on his list. Which prompted a discussion about Santa not always getting you want you want, but what is best for you after Brennan told us Santa "let him down" by not giving him a skateboard. I think all is good now. And for as many times as Brennan has wiped out on this thing, Santa definitely made the right call. :)



Jason got a home beer making kit. He's been wanting one forever, so he is a happy camper, or in this case, Beermaker. Apparently, coffee and beer make the world go 'round in our house. Ha ha!



The rest of the week we spent mostly kicked back relaxing. It was nice. Apparently, I was extra relaxed, because the only other picture on my camera after opening Christmas presents is the cinnamon roll Christmas tree I made for breakfast Christmas day. I know, right, totally not my normal take pictures of everything self. :)



And so that is that. Farewell 2012! I can't say it was a bad year, because it did have lots of good parts, but is was definitely a year of change and being unsettled for us. With Jason's deployment, we were apart for half of it, and then after he got back, most of our time and efforts were focused on getting ready for our big move. So now here we are, in Turkey, (most of) the hard parts are over, and this year we can hopefully just focus on being together, having some fun and adventures, and enjoying this amazing opportunity we have to be part of a different country and culture.

Welcome 2013!



I'm looking forward to it!

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing a Very Merry Christmas from our house to yours!



I usually design and send out Christmas cards every year, but with all of the excitement these past few weeks, it just didn't happen.

I found this card on Shutterfly this morning and thought it was cute. They have some nice New Year's cards too...so maybe I'll try that instead.

For now I'm off to start making some tasty treats for our Christmas dinner tomorrow!

xo,

October

Wait, what...October?! And the end of it no less. How did that happen?

Well, hello everyone! Did you miss me?

So...Let's just ignore for the moment that it was June when I last posted.  I really had intended to, but time just got away from me. We have had some super busy months!

First, Jason got back home safely in July! Yay! We are so glad to have him home!






Next we went on vacation to see Nana and Papaw at the Grand Canyon.


The canyon is awesome!


Angel's Window






The jeep found some mud.








A double rainbow!

And then in September we went to Yellowstone...


Buffalo have the right of way. :)








King of the world!


A very HOT pool.








Yellowstone River











A couple weeks later we drove to Indiana for a visit...


Driving through Colorado


Wii Bowling Tournament


Hanging Out With Grandma Brenda


Aww, brothers sharing their toys. :)


Wrestling Match


Four Wheeling


Cousins


Tie-dying Shirts With the Cousins


Buddies

And of course we had to take some family pictures while we were there.






Whew! As you can see we've done a little travelling. :)

In between all the fun stuff, though, we've also been busy here at home. We only have about a month left before we leave for Turkey! We've had some stressful moments trying to get everything to work out, but it seems like everything is headed on the right track now.

So that's the compact version of our summer/fall. Hopefully next time I'll recap October and not just tease you with a title. :)