And so we meet again!

To say that it's been a long time since I've last blogged is an understatement. I initially started this blog to be able to share our life while we lived on the beautiful island of Okinawa, but looking back at my posts, is easy to see that it didn't work out as intended. But, now that we have a precious baby boy in our lives, I hope to keep up more on this! So where to begin... hrm...

We left Okinawa in September of 2009. It was definitely a bittersweet day for us. We loved the island, and really didn't want to leave, but we were excited to be coming back to the States, and being closer to family and friends. I was also anxious to see a fertility specialist and hopefully start a family! The three years we spent on Okinawa were amazing, and given the opportunity, we'd gladly go back in a heartbeat! Beautiful photo courtesy of Kaptured by Kristi Photography and the ever fabulous, Kristi Hammack!
Once we got to Seattle, we had a whole day to kill, so of COURSE we meet up with some great friends! Myki and Dylan live in Portland, OR with their roomies, Lori and Orion, but were kind enough to make the drive to Seattle, pick us up, and take us back to their place to stay before needing to head back to Seattle the next day for our flight out. We had a blast, and always love seeing them! We just don't get to see them enough! This was actually the first time Ethan had met everyone! I was lucky enough to have them bestow the same hospitality to me on a previous solo trip. Also, Sachi and Pookah did GREAT on the flights! I was a little concerned about the 13 hour flight from Tokyo to Seattle with Pookah, given her age, but she managed. I think she was more nervous about the separation from us than anything. But BOY were they happy to be out of their kennels!

L-R: Ethan, Dylan, Orion, Myki is sitting on the chair holding Cora [Lori and Orion's little girl], and that's the back of Lori's head. Unfortunately, I didn't get a better picture of all of us while we were there!


Myki feeding Cora some tasties!


Cameron, Myki and Dylan's youngest. Such a serious look on his face, but don't let it fool ya! That boy throws one liners out there like a pro!


Aidan, Myki and Dylan's oldest. He is such a sweetie, and loved on Pookah the whole time! She hated it, can you tell? ;)


We decided to take this opportunity and go home for two weeks before heading to our new duty station in Louisiana. This worked out GREAT and we loved being able to spend so much time with family and friends!

I don't remember exactly why Troy, my brother-in-law, was unable to be there, but aside from him missing, here was the whole family at the time! We have had two additions since this picture was taken =] Russ and Angela welcomed Sam on January 17th, 2010, and of course, we welcomed Dominic a year later on January 24th, 2011!


Someone else who was SUPER excited to see Ethan especially was his little sister, Desiree. She's so proud of him, and just absolutely ADORES him!


All things come to an end sooner or later, so we said our goodbyes and off we went to Louisiana! We were excited to be going to a new base and city, and getting settled into a house. It was also a little nerve wracking, to be honest, considering we'd also be getting used to living in the States again. Either way, we packed up the car, Pookah the dog, and Sachi the cat, and a-road tripping we went! Pookah had a rough time the whole ride down, if you didn't notice.


Welcome to Barksdale Air Force Base!


And welcome to our house!