Merry Christmas - May All Our Hearts Be Joyful!

Hello Everyone!

Thought I would take some time to update the blog while Josh and Dad wind down on Christmas Day watching a movie. It's been a while since I posted, so this one is rather long - I think they always end up that way!

Josh and I have been celebrating Christmas with my dad. He flew in on Sunday and will be flying home tomorrow. It has truly been a blessing to spend time with him. Even though my days have been long with training for my new job, I have enjoyed being able to spend time with him in the evenings. I was able to get off work early yesterday, so I had yesterday and all day today to spend time with him and celebrate Christmas with him and Josh. God is good!

Josh and I have been pretty busy lately. We've been working on some projects around the house...and we have lots more projects yet to do! So far, we've painted the downstairs bathroom and Josh put up crown molding after we painted. Here is the end result...




Although we thought we were being smart when we decided to start our painting projects with the smallest room in the house, we soon realized our mistake! Painting around cabinets, shower stalls, mirrors, etc. is no small task...needless to say, we had lots of touch up!




Josh did such a great job with the crown molding...he's such a handy man to have around!






We also received our family coat of arms and were able to install them in our formerly bare niche! Turns out both of us are of English descent!






We celebrated Thanksgiving with our friend Nadia. Her husband was training, so she and I cooked up a grand feast...we had LOTS of leftovers!




Even though it was only the three of us, I decorated the entire dining room table...couldn't help myself :-)

Getting ready to eat!!! Yum! Yum!

Josh, Nadia and I

Nadia and Liam

Nadia and one of her dogs...Noble




We also had the Marine Corps Ball on November 20th. I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked because we were so busy meeting all of the men and women from Josh's new squadron. We had a blast! And I actually received a call that night telling me that I had been selected to work for Chase Bank. I will be working as a Licensed Personal Banker...right now I am studying for my Series 6 license which will allow me to sell mutual funds. After taking the Series 6 exam, I will then take the Series 63 exam and the Life Insurance exam. The studying has been tough, but it will all be worth it in the end!

Getting ready to head out for a night of dancing and USMC birthday celebration!

Me and Josh with CWO Buckner - this guy is awesome!

The ball took place at the Catamaran Resort in Del Mar. It is located along the bay, so we had a beautiful view from the deck.


Josh's squadron also had their annual Christmas party. Again, we were too busy socializing to get many pictures, but here is one of us by the Christmas tree.

And of course, we decorated the house for Christmas! Josh decided he wanted a nice big Christmas tree this year since we had so much room. I think next year we will be downsizing...that thing is HUGE!

Yes, Josh had to get out his 8 foot ladder to get the netting off the tree! And we had to use the ladder to finish decorating the tree!

Liam decided he wanted "Eau De Pine" breath...

Vega: "Mama, what's Daddy doing under the tree?"

Me: "I think the tree is eating Daddy!"

We had to buy more lights!

And it's finally decorated! YEAH!

Garfunkle: "Mama, can I keep him?"

Outdoor decorations

Indoor decorations

Since we had the tree in the library, we decided to have the stockings close to the tree instead of hanging from the fireplace.

This is the wreath that my friend Bridget made for us a couple years ago...isn't it BEAUTIFUL!?!

And finally, the Santa quilt that I found at a thrift store for $2.50...what a deal!

Josh (Santa) brought me a fantastic camera for Christmas, and ONCE I LEARN HOW TO USE IT (haha!) I will be posting more pictures from our Christmas celebration. We hope that all of you have a wonderfully Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with love, laughter and many blessings! We love you all!

"Eternal God, this joyful day is radiant with the brilliance of your one true light. May that light illuminate our hearts and shine in our words and deeds. May the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love represented by the birth in Bethlehem fill our lives and become part of all that we say and do. May we share the divine life of your son Jesus Christ, even as he humbled himself to share our humanity. Bless us and let us be thankful for the true gift of Christmas, your son."

Second post - pictures of the house

I decided to post a separate blog with pictures of the house since we've moved in. It's gets a little difficult when a post gets really long to work in additional pictures. There aren't any pictures of our office because we still have some pictures to hang. We also plan on painting several areas over the next few weeks - family room, kitchen, office and downstairs bathroom - so I will get updated pictures on here once we've finished. Lots of love to everyone!!!











Formal living room and dining room. We are using the formal living room as a library. We plan to install built-in bookshelves where the current bookshelf is sitting.














The built-in bookshelves will extend between the two windows you see on the far wall. This picture is taken from the upstairs landing.












Our sad little niche. We've actually ordered our embroidered Coat of Arms and Family Histories for Edmondson and Smith. We will be receiving it in the next couple weeks and it will go in the niche.








An example of what our Coat of Arms and Family Histories will look like.





Hallway off the foyer entrance leading to the office.





Kitchen

Thought I would take some additional pictures since Josh added the new cabinet hardware.

Family room

Leather art above the fireplace - it's a piece of leather with a scene of a horse and a hunting dog burned into the leather

In-law suite...in other words, this is where we'll stow all the in-laws who come to visit!

Guest bathroom

Master Bedroom

"The Bunkhouse"

We're using the third garage bay for our gym area. I finally got back on my eliptical machine this morning...needless to say, I have a love/hate relationship with that thing!

Western view from the deck off our master bedroom. This mountain range forms the western "wall" of Wildomar and it sits right behind our neighborhood! There is also a riding trail surrounding the neighborhood (if you click on the picture, you can see a larger image and can see the riding trail)

Eastern view from the deck off our master bedroom

The back yard - Mom, Josh and I laid all of the sod...

4200 square feet of sod!!! Whew!

It's been a while...so it's a long one!

We hope that everyone is doing well! Josh and I have been keeping ourselves quite busy!



Josh was assigned to his new squadron in October. He's now with HMM 268 - The Red Dragons!





The rest of HMM-268 returned from deployment to Iraq on October 11th and they've been taking some much-deserved leave time, so Josh has been standing duty quite a bit over the last month. He finally finished up his duty schedule last week, so now we've been focusing on projects around the house. We still have quite a bit we want to do around the house, but we're making progress!

I've had several interviews over the last few weeks with great results. One bank I interviewed with said I did great through the first round of interviews and want to bring me back in for the "bankers assessment" they conduct with potential employees. Since we're heading into the holiday season, the next assessment won't be until sometime in January, so we'll have to see what happens. I also interviewed with another bank last week and should hear from them within the next couple weeks - I'm very excited about this prospect because they will pay for me to get my Series 6 licensing so I can offer annuities! That would be so great for my career path!

Of course, Josh says he wants me to stay home...I think he's beginning to enjoy having a fresh-cooked meal almost every night of the week! His grandmother, Mimi, will be so happy to know that I'm "putting some meat on his bones!" But since we're wanting to try to have a baby again, I really like the thought of having the additional income...I've heard a rumor that it's quite expensive to raise kids...hahaha!

I have also started volunteering at the church we've joined - Cornerstone Community Church. I'm working for about four hours each Monday in the Music Ministry department. I just started this past week, but I already love it! And Betty, the office administrator is wonderful! I am really enjoying myself!

The dogs and cats are doing well - today is Liam's 4th Birthday! Here he is trying to get a birthday kiss this morning from Vega...





"Just one smooch, please, Vega?"

They just love having a larger back yard to run and play in! They're back to their usual routine...20 minutes of wrestling & chasing each other around the yard in the morning and another 10-15 minutes of wrestling in the evening! And the cats love to sit by the doors leading out to the deck off our master bedroom...they get lots of "sunbathing" time!





"Look at all this grass!"


We've also been spending time with our friends Nathen & Nadia. With all of the duty Josh had these past four weeks, they were so kind to have me over for dinner a few times. And Nadia has me hooked on Army Wives, so we usually end the evening with a few episodes so I can get caught up on the show. Josh & I had Nadia over this past weekend for dinner because Nathen had duty! And we plan to have her here quite a bit over the next few weeks since Nathen will be in training. Here are some pictures we took when we all went to the Corn Maze in Temecula the weekend before Halloween:






This is the layout of the corn maze - such a nice way to honor our Marines!






The huge Clydesdale that greeted us at the entrance to the ranch. He was so beautiful!







Nathen was our navigator! He's taking his job very seriously!








And Josh was the pilot, of course!








Such a cute couple! We love these guys!








To Serve and Protect...and help if you get lost in the corn maze!








LOTS AND LOTS OF CORN!

Waiting to go on the hayride...




On the hayride...




Some lingering pumpkins waiting to go to the pumpkin patch.


We also have our Marine Corps Birthday ball coming up this Friday, November 20th. Josh already attended the MAG-39 Birthday Ball back on November 6th, but I decided I only wanted to attend the squadron ball since it is a smaller, more intimate occasion. I'll be sure to post some pictures!

We will sure miss having our traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Mimi's this year! But we won't be alone...we're having some friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Nadia will be joining us, along with Kristen & Shawn and their two children. Josh is also planning to invite those from his squadron who may not have the opportunity to travel home for the holidays. It's so nice to know that, even though we're far from home, we will have some of our Marine Corps family to join us in giving thanks for all of our blessings!

We wish all of you a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving! Please stay in touch! We love you all very much!

PS - Thanks again to Mumsy for helping with the move! You're the best!!!

Happy Veterans Day! To all those who have served and those who are currently serving, we honor your sacrifice for our country!

"This country will remain the land of the free so long as it is the home of the brave."
-Elmer Davis

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY 234TH BIRTHDAY US MARINE CORPS! SEMPER FIDELIS!

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." President Ronald Reagan

http://www.marines.com/main/index/winning_battles/history/missions/founding_of_the_marine_co