Vacation Over

Well, our vacation is coming up to an end....Jeremy went back to work with his unit on Friday and I am looking for a job. No more house wife for me :o( Even though it is awesome staying at home, I do feel like there is so much I could do out there so yeah...its back to work and maybe even school for me....Keep us in your prayers as we start getting real busy again....and pray that God lead me to the job that is right for me. And that I wont cry when I got to leave Baloo home alone such a long time. ;)

**we love and miss you**

Seattle

This past weekend Jeremy and I got to take our first look at Seattle. The reason we decided to go over to Seattle was because we had our first visitors come and see us. We had a real nice time with Jeremy's mom and Rachel and its definitely nice getting a visit from family. Baloo was also very excited...the little spoiled pup got lots of presents and attention.
Seattle is a nice place and there is so much to see we are definitely going to have to go back. Good thing we discovered it is only about a 40 minute drive. And after living in Cove, TX where we had to drive about 20-30 minutes just to get to the mall and movies, 40 minutes is not too big a deal.
So I'm really hoping you guys come visit us so we can take you to Seattle too. Baloo says you can even take his room.

**we love and miss you**Somewhere in Seattle with Jeremy and his mom....I was just happy we stopped walking for a minute and took a break.

Apparently this is a famous sign....so I thought I would take a picture of it ;)

Rachel, Jeremy, and his mom being silly at the Space Needle

My Birthday :o)

Thank you Lord for letting me live another year and make it to my 24th birthday!
This was the first birthday I spent away from my family (well except for that time they dropped me off at the UCSD camp) I missed my momma playing the usual birthday song to wake me up and all the hugs. It's really hard to be away from family on such special days but thankfully they are always just a phone call away. My favorite part of the day was when my momma called and to my surprise the birthday song was playing over the phone .

It was a fun day...A friend treated us to an early breakfast, Jeremy took me to lunch, the mall, the base, as well as a tour of Killeen/Copperas Cove as he stalled for everyone to get to my little surprise party. We also went to the arcade, played laser tag, watched Transformers, and ate dinner (all in the same theater) . At the end of the day Jeremy introduced me to the wonderful world of G.I. parties. A G.I party is another term soldiers use to describe lots and lots of cleaning :( We had to get the apartment in perfect order since we were leaving the next day.
Overall, it was a great day. It was the first birthday I got to spend with Jeremy in 4 years since we first became friends. I just wish the rest of my family could have been there.
Maybe next year.... when I turn a quarter of a century old. Start planning my party family!

Me at my Surprise Birthday Party getting some awesome 4th of July socks!At my birthday lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.

*we love and miss you*

What's been happening with the Gonzales Family...

Well we finally made it to Washington and though we aren't completely settled, I just wanted to give you all an update of what's been going on with our family the past few weeks...

Leaving Fort Hood

Never thought I would be sad to leave Texas, but strangely enough I got used to and actually enjoyed living in the giant state.

Life was pretty good there. We lived in a really nice complex and were surrounded by so many friendly neighbors. I felt safe enough to go out and walk Baloo even after ten. Don't worry Mami, nomas lo hice unas cuantas veces :o)

It's also so slow paced over there. Rarely any traffic and people were so polite.

Of course there were downfalls to living in Texas. Like the lack of options in where to shop and what to do as well as the ridiculous humidity and 100+ temperatures, but overall Texas definitely grew on us.

Not to mention we made such great friends. I guess that is the part I will miss the most. I know I shouldn't feel too bad since most of them were leaving us anyways but I will always remember our awesome friends.

And in case you were ever wondering who I was talking about when I mentioned my friends to you over the phone here are some pictures of our awesome buddies...

Benji-Jeremy has known Ben since his first day in the army back at basic training and was the first friend I met too. We love Benji....he volunteered to go and is currently serving in South Korea.

Wilson and Chrisinda-(I wish I had a better picture of them) Such a sweet couple...Wilson is a medic and helped Jeremy a few times over in Iraq. I met Chrisinda when they got back. He is getting out in January. They helped Jeremy in throwing me a surprise birthday party. I am going to miss them so much.

Real Army Wives-Me, Bonnisue, and Jamie at the Troop's welcome home cocktail party.

and their husbands-Noffsinger, Facundo and my Jeremy

Jamie is married to Noffsinger (that's his last name-but as hard as I tried to call them by their first name, I ended up knowing everyone by their last name-thanks Army) and they have two cutie little boys, and two little dogs. Their Rottweiler, Scout , was Baloo's best friend. Jamie is the strongest most patient sweetest army wife ever. The Noffsingers are now in KY.

Bonnisue (I love her name) and Facundo (Tomas) were great friends too. Bonnisue was my first buddy at Hood and because of her, I came out of my shell and began making friends. She also is so motivated and does a million things a day.She is my prayer buddy and I miss her a lot. They are in Louisiana now.

Philbin, Kyle-Some of the guys who go out there and serve our country. They worked with Jeremy on the same vehicle over in Iraq. They are awesome guys and though they can be a little rough around the edges, I love them and will truly miss them. They were all really sweet and kind to me. It is my prayer that God touch their lives, bless them and keep them safe always.

Me and Michael hanging out by the pool. Michelle is taking the picture and Jeremy is hiding in the back getting ready to put bunny ears on me.

Emily (Michelle's sister), Michelle and I in Corpus Christi

The Crouses (Michelle, Michael, Cocoa, Pugsly, and Daisy May)-The best neighbors ever! We all ended up being real good friends to the point where we would sometimes just walk into each other's apartment without waiting for the answer to the knock.

Baloo also loved his neighbors, Cocoa, Pugsly and his girlfriend Daisy May. They were itty bitty compared to him but they taught him how to be gentle with dogs of all sizes. I don't know if any neighbors will ever compare to the Crouses but I thank God He blessed us with such awesome friends.

Our incredible journey

Jeremy and me thought the trip to Washington wouldn’t be too bad since we had made a couple of road trips before but we were very wrong. Thank God we made it here without too big an incident. We left Friday the 26^th at around 5:0

0 PM and got to Monterey, CA at about 1:00 PM on Sunday. Then we left Monterey at around 1 PM on Tuesday and got to Washington on Wednesday at around 3 PM. I think we drove most of the trip feeling sleepy, something I know we shouldn’t ever do but again thank God He was helping us along the way.

Baloo slept almost all the way.

Baloo popping up, looking confused when we came to a stop.

Finally made it to Washington

Our new duty station

I can’t really call this place home yet but I will admit that it is a pretty nice place. I was scared at first when we got here because we saw the ugly places first, but thank God He helped us find a nice place to live in. I cried for about the first 2 days we were here but I was reminded to trust in the power of God and He has been helping me feel peace and not panic. I know it’s lonely here for the time being but in time it will feel more like home. I can’t wait for you all to visit us. They supposedly have this great fair in September that is said to be one of the best in the US. And Seattle is just a 30 minute train ride away. Anyone interested? We got an extra room.....

*We love and miss you*

Baloo Bear

Little Baloo Bear is 7 months old. He is getting so huge....about 60 pounds and I can barely pick him up anymore. It's a good thing he has learned to jump up into the truck. He loves truck rides and slept most of the way to Washington.

He is so hard to walk cuz he gets distracted so easily and will try to get whatever it is (like a small piece of fuzz) that he is seeing but we are working on it. Well we are working on a lot of things. He is getting a little more hyper. Actually, I think it is just a little more than before but just seems like more of a problem since he is so big and strong, making it harder to control. :) A few days ago we had a Marley and Me moment....a dog came out of his house and Baloo took off after it. I didn't see it coming so the leash flew out of my hand. And so there I was chasing Baloo down the street as he chased a little dog that looked like my Joey Cheerio.

But no matter what, we love Baloo.....crazy little puppy that he is.

Kali and her chocolate puppy cousin.
Kali (la hija de el hermano de Jeremy) y su primo perrito

Baloo at Carmel Beach in Monterey, California giving Jeremy a hard time chasing other dogs.
Baloo tratando de correr atras de otros perros y frustrando a Jeremy en la playa

Baloo eating sand. He is a big scavenger and acts like we never feed him.
Baloo comiendose la arena en la playa. Se pone todo en la boca y actua como si nunca le dieramos de comer.