Hello again.

I had all sorts of great ideas for this blog, and then Dan graduate from Recruiter's School, came home, and the holidays were upon us. While we celebrated the holidays, we also waited for Dan's orders so that we could leave Okinawa and come back to America. Eventually our house was packed up mid-January, and on the 21st we left Okinawa.

 We flew from Naha to Narita, then onto San Francisco and finally Seattle. Once we got to Seattle, Dan had to hop on a bus to go rent a car for us. I had to stay by our mountain of luggage and the dog kennel. I was so concerned with keeping by Evelyn at all times but also worried about stepping too far away from our luggage -- what if someone thought I abandoned it, and they sent the bomb squad in? Anyway, that was my overactive imagination and it did not happen.

What did happen is that Dan rented us a car, we piled everything in, and we began our road trip that night. Due to the extreme cold temperatures, they would not allow Toby (or any animal) to fly as cargo in less than 20 degree weather. Thanks to the polar vortex it was much colder than 20 degrees and while there may've been a day it was at least 20 degrees, it wasn't worth chancing. We drove across Washington, Idaho, and a few other states. Dan drove the whole way because I was scared of driving on the opposite side of the road plus there was snow so I was doubly anxious.

The girls did really well on the road trip. When we were initially going into the mountains Cora's ears popped and she cried and I was concerned it was going to be like that throughout the mountains. Thankfully it was not. Evelyn did very well and acted beyond her age, I think. She saw snow for the first time in Idaho and was very excited. She was not excited, however, when she wiped out on ice. She does not like ice.

We had about two and a half weeks of leave before Dan had to check into his new headquarters. He went to check in there and I stayed back at my mom's for a week. About a week after Dan had started, my step-dad brought us up.

I don't know how frequently I'll update this blog. Good thing blogging is not my job because I'd be fired, ha. I do want to keep up with it at least a little bit, though. I think I will stay away from setting any hard goals about how often I'll write, or how often I'll take pictures. Not only do I let myself down but I feel as if I let down the few people (family and friends) that take the time to check the blog. I haven't even given out the link to this blog yet.

Oops, nap time is done now so I'll end here. We are mostly settled up here in North Dakota and once it warms up, I look forward to seeing what our new town has to offer. I've already become familiar with their Target and their library is awesome. They have a lot of walking and biking trails too that I am excited to go check out.

Until next time... :)