After the First Salute

One of the greatest things that came out of our time in New England was our AMAZING neighbors.

When they found out we were coming up, they insisted (practically begged) us to stay at their house instead of a hotel.

They didn't have to ask us twice.

Not gonna lie, it was a little weird staying across the street from our old house.

But they were such fabulous hosts, and really made our stay there so amazing.

They threw a BBQ for us on Saturday, and invited some of our old neighbors.

Emilee and her mom also came out, so that was really special too.

So thanks to our amazing former neighbors, Dan & Linda for making our time back in New England so enjoyable (even with the frigid cold temperatures...lol...but for real...it was like in the 50's at some points).

Here's a recap of our trip after 2ndLt Johnson's "first salute"!

Our first night in New England!

Wine, swordfish kabobs (made by Chef Dan), s'mores, and hanging out with these fabulous ladies of "Lanes End".

One of our favorite places to go on Sundays after church was this teeny tiny diner in Natick called "Casey's". 

It's an old railcar turned diner, and it's been around since the late 1800's.

Best New England style dogs around, and my personal fave...tuna fish sandwich with pickles, tomatoes, and mustard.

Posing in front of the newly renovated ping pong table courtesy of Nick and Dan! lol.

On Sunday, we were invited to go to Cape Cod (or "the Cape" as locals call it) to our old neighbor, Bonnie's new beach house that she bought! 

It was an absolutely gorgeous day!

This is the view from her house below...

Another gorgeous view...

AND, I'm representin' the Aggies with my "GIG 'EM" thumb all the way up in New England!

Nick and I swore we would not leave New England without eating a "lobstah roll" and some "chowdah".

If you've ever been up that way, you HAVE to have "lobstah" and "chowdah"!

I haven't had clam chowder or lobster since leaving there...

New England made me a bit of a lobster and chowder snob.

 Dippin' my toes in the Atlantic.

Picking seashells for Dannika...

Me and my handsome guy!

Linda (who we were staying with), Bonnie (owner of the beach house), and me!

I know I complained so much about New England when we lived up there.

The winters were so brutal, and it was tough for this Texas girl to adjust.

I am so thankful for such awesome friends and neighbors that kept me sane!

I swore I'd never go back when we left, but I can't say that anymore. 

I know that as long as the wonderful people we met still live there, there will be plenty more trips up north to see them (as long as it's not in the winter! haha!)

Rainbows and Unicorns

Ever since moving back to CS, people have told me that they've never seen me look so happy.

Is it that obvious????

Does it look like the sunshine just follows me around with rainbows and unicorns all around me?!

I have to pinch myself to believe that this is my life right now.

I am FINALLY living back in Texas...my home state....my home sweet home...my sanctuary.

I am in a place where it isn't snowing and below freezing all winter.

I am in LOVE with our house and most importantly our neighbors.

I am gainfully employed as a full time student, and finally feel a real purpose in my life (since getting out of the Marine Corps).

My marriage is in a great place.

My kids are thriving. 

I can't help but grin from ear to ear thinking about my amazing life here. 

I told Nick that he may have to "geobach" the rest of his time in the Corps, because I'm not gonna want to leave here!

I mean seriously...

There is NO WAY we would be playing outside in February like this in Massachusetts...

I like to add dialogue to Mattis when he's playing since he doesn't really talk yet...

Mattis: Hey man...check out my sweet ride.

Eli: Dude, I know it's your sister's car. You can't even reach the gas.

Guess he ran outta gas...

Or maybe it was a flat...

We went fishing today.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous (and windy)!

Another Gunny that is part of the MECEP program with Nick came out with his kids and his dog (in the picture).

I can't believe the weekend isn't even over yet, because it's been such an amazing weekend so far.

I am truly thankful for the opportunity for us to be here.

I really do believe that some of the hardships we endured as a family in Massachusetts was God's way of getting us out of our comfort zone.

Texas is just are reward....

Happy Saturday, y'all!

Super Bowl Weekend

Did your team win?

My team didn't make it to the Superbowl, but I figured I had a pick a team to root for to win it.

I chose the Seahawks because I have a strong hatred for Tom Brady and the pats. 

When the Seahawks lost (after the worst call in Super Bowl history), I took it extremely personal.

I mean, the Seahawks aren't even MY team, but just the fact that the pats won fueled my anger.

My strong hatred for the team really started with my time in New England.

I left New England with a bad taste in my mouth, and MOST (not ALL) of the Patriots fans I ever met were SO annoying, in my face, and rude.

I once wore my Dallas Cowboys hat to Target, and some random guy in the parking lot started talking crap to me in front of my children.

If my children weren't with me, I'm pretty sure there was no way I could have been the bigger person and just walked away (like I did). 

New England did give me some amazing memories (and delicious "lobstah" and "chowdah")

 I grew a lot as a person both spiritually (thanks to the amazing church we found there) and emotionally, BUT I was the most depressed when I lived there.

Let's face it...I'm not cut out for 6 month long winters, snow, no sunshine, traffic, and Boston sports fans.

I realized that a lot of people who are not patriots fans don't like the patriots for the same reasons I don't...

1. Tom Brady is annoying.

2. The fans (most of them) are rude and downright jerks.

I actually hate the Red Sox too...for the same reasons (well except Brady since he doesn't play baseball).

ANYWAY...

I have calmed down now, and I'm over the Super Bowl.

I'm ready for baseball season (although, I don't keep up with baseball like I do football).

Besides the fact that I had a mini tantrum over the game, my weekend was pretty amazing!

Here's a little recap through my iPhone...

Nick always cooks breakfast on Saturday mornings, lets me sleep in, AND does the dishes.

I don't think there's anything more sexier than that! 

Our neighbors have chickens!

Dannika and her friend that lives down the street from us love to help feed them, clean the coop, and get their eggs!

On Saturday night, we had a "family date night"!

We all went to have some good ole fashioned TEX MEX food at Chuy's!

Nick and I are complete Mexican food snobs.

After living in SoCal and Texas, I refused to eat the atrocious food they called "Mexican" in Massachusetts.

We are planning on completely taking advantage of the delicious Mexican food here in Texas!

Sunday afternoon, I spent my time studying and working on a research paper for school.

After finishing, I had a glass of wine and relaxed while Nick and the kids were outside.

This view from my living room into our dining room made me smile

I am absolutely in love with our home here in Texas...

Our next door neighbors hosted a Superbowl party.

Nick and our neighbors both smoked ribs and they boiled 20 pounds of crawfish!

There was SO MUCH food, and to be honest, no one paid TOO much attention to the game.

It was a true Texas style Superbowl party!

Super Bowl was a blast.

The food was awesome.

The company was amazing.

Besides the outcome of the game, I couldn't have asked for a better time.

I just wish Superbowl was on a Saturday...or Monday was a national holiday....

And lastly...

I got a new Shark (steam mop) today....

D and I were so excited to use it!

You know you're old when you get overly excited about trying out your new steam mop....

Mattis is afraid of it, so he just sat on our coffee table and watched us play with our new toy :)

I hope y'all had a great weekend!

I've been catching up on all y'alls blogs!!!

School has been kicking my butt, so I'm not blogging as much as I would like to, but I've been doing my best to make time!!!

HAPPY FEBRUARY!

New England Apple Picking

A popular New England fall time tradition is apple picking.

Yes, there are apple orchards in California, and yes, there are apple orchards in Texas...

There are probably apple orchards all over the country, but it's more of a "New England" thing.

In fact, I've never been apple picking in my life until I moved here. 

The first time I ever went was last Fall, and it was at that moment that I became an "apple snob".

After tasting a delicious, crisp, sweet, and crunchy apple straight off the tree, you'll never look at or eat a regular "grocery store" apple ever again.

In fact, for several months after apple picking season was over, I refused to buy apples from the store, because "they just didn't taste the same".

It's seriously just amazing.

This weekend (since it's our second to last weekend here), we figured we would go one last time to Belkin Family Lookout Farm in Natick to go apple picking.

Lookout farm is slightly overpriced, and we paid 65 dollars total for 3 people (Mattis was free thank God), and a medium sized bag to hold our apples that cost like 20 bucks.

Honestly, there are a TON of better orchards that charge a LOT less to pick apples than Lookout Farm, but we went there out of convenience.

We picked golden delicous, shizuka, honey crisp, and asian pears.

I've never had a shizuka until yesterday, and they were DELICIOUS (well they're ALL delicious straight off the tree).

Mattis ate an entire apple by himself....

nom nom nom

You can't leave the apple orchard without purchasing some good old New England Apple Cider Donuts!!!

They're serious SOOOOOO good!

We bought just 3 (one for each of us minus the baby of course), and had them with coffee (juice for Dannika) for breakfast this morning.

I probably won't buy another apple for a few months until I forget how delicious a freshly picked apple tastes from the tree.

8 Days and a Wake Up

That's how much longer we have here in New England!!

I feel like I've been the worst blogger ever lately.

I went from posting almost daily to posting every few days.
Truth is, I have a LOT to talk about and blog about, but the excitement of our upcoming move to Texas has totally taken over me.

Today is our last Sunday at our wonderful church.

We'll have movers at our house all day next Sunday, so we won't get to go to church.

It's a little bittersweet.

I've mentioned before on my blog about how awesome our church is, and it's one of the very few things our family will truly miss about New England.

However, our last Sunday with our church family here in Massachusetts also means we're one day closer to getting back to "the promised land"....TEXAS!

I know y'all know we are excited, but I don't think I could ever quite put into words just how excited we actually are. 

We are almost closed on a GORGEOUS home, and I am so excited to redecorate and make it our home.

Can I also just shamelessly add that I am ridiculously excited to be missing the horrific winter that New England is anticipating this year?!

I've already made sure to tell my friends here that I will send them lots of pictures of our "snowless driveway" in Texas.

Looking at the home that we live in now, I realize all the color schemes and decor I choose to put up is conducive to how I felt when I first moved here.

The colors I picked out to paint our walls are dark.

When I moved here, it was so cold already, I wanted colors that would make me "feel warm", but now that I think about it, it was all about my mood....dark and depressed.

I'm sort of "not in love" anymore with this home that we are renting here in Massachusetts.

I picture our new home in Texas to be light, airy, and just full of life....exactly how my mood is as we prepare to leave New England.

As I mentioned before, this last year is when Nick and I finally "chose" to be happy and take advantage of the time that we have living here, and we've been a better couple and happier ever since.

This weekend, we spent time with our neighbors and had a garage sale to get rid of unnecessary "stuff" that I was hanging on to for no reason at all.

When it comes time to move, I always find myself wanting to throw away, get rid of, or donate EVERYTHING.

Friday night, we went over to our neighbor's house to have homemade pizza, wine, and s'mores night.

It's become a bit of a tradition every Friday, and it's something we look forward to every week.

Saturday, we had a garage sale, and managed to get rid of a lot of big items!

We got one last use out of Dannika's "ice cream stand" from her birthday party, and used it as a lemonade stand.

We grilled some ribs, and sat outside in the gorgeous weather to eat.

Like father, like son...

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and I'm looking forward to taking some down time and catching up on y'alls blogs!

Semper Fi Society

The "Semper Fi Society" is a group of Navy ROTC midshipmen who are under Marine option contracts.

(There is no such thing as Marine Corps ROTC since we are a department of the Navy)

Most colleges with an NROTC program have a Semper Fi Society.

The best way I can describe it is comparing it to a fraternity...with slightly more mature college kids with (in my humble opinion) their sights set on a selfless career after college.

The biggest thing that Nick had a hard time adjusting to when he took this assignment is the lack of junior Marines.

Junior Marines give Marine leaders purpose.

It gives leaders someone to mentor and mold.

The closest we got to adopting a group of junior Marines was the Semper Fi society.

Honestly, for the most part, they remind me of junior Marines.

The difference between a LCpl and a regular "civilian" college kid is the level of discipline and maturity that they possess.

However, LCpls are still young, impressionable, slightly less than smart, and have a level of immaturity compared to more senior Marines.

I've always said, however, I'd rather trust my life with a group of 17-19 year old LCpls than with 21-23 year old college kids.

However, the college students that are a part of the NROTC program, and specifically the Semper Fi Society, tend to have a grasp on life moreso than their peers that sit next to them in their classes.

They're just like LCpls....still young and impressionable...but with a slightly higher level of discipline than the average "Joe".

I know Nick enjoyed aspects of working closely with the Semper Fi Society, because to him, it was like mentoring his junior Marines. 

So today, a few of the members from the society threw Nick a small "hail and farewell" at a small pub right next to Boston University called Cornwall's.

We enjoyed food and drinks.

I got to meet Nick's replacement Gy and his wife.

It was a great time, and we were so appreciative that they took time out of their classes and busy schedules to come see us off.

On our way!

The gift from the SFS.

We have an insane amount of challenge coins that Nick and I have collected over the years, and our little challenge coin holder had overflowed, and we had coins just sitting on top of our bookshelf.

Emilee knew this issue we had with our coin storage, and they came up with this awesome challenge coin holder for Nick!

We also got matching BU work out shirts!

All of our coins fit and we have room for more!

The inscription on it.

We're not sad to be leaving Boston, but we are sad to say goodbye to all the wonderful people that have been a part of our lives here!

I'm sure we will run into these guys (and gals) someday in the fleet, so until next time!!!