26 Ain't So Bad...

Thank you to everyone who sent me some birthday love...I had a great birthday and don't feel a day older! I decided on my birthday to give myself no to-do list...I thrive on to-do lists so this was big for me! It was a pretty relaxing day playing with Riley and catching up on the phone with lots of family and friends. My parents sent me these beautiful flowers!

Jason took me to lunch at a great little Italian restaurant we found called Strings...it was so yummy that I wasn't even that hungry for dinner. Do you even want to guess what I ended up having for dinner? Cereal and a cupcake...oh yeah! I rented "New In Town" and we watched a movie and I stayed awake through the entire thing! It was sorta cheesy but cute...a great ending to a good day!

My birthday present from Jason and Riley consisted of a few different things...first off I got an afternoon at the spa yesterday which I spent with Jenn as she celebrated her birthday last week too. The boys sent us off to get pampered and have dinner while they watched the kiddos...we had a blast!

Here we are at the spa after our massages, manis, and pedis!

As we were leaving the spa we witnessed a hit and run accident! A young kid was backing out of a parking space in a huge SUV and completely smashed into the minivan next to him...here's the sad/crazy part...his mom was in the passenger seat and when he loudly and obviously dented and scratched the minivan they bothed laughed as he gunned it and sped off...we couldn't believe it! We got as much of the license plate as possible and found the owner of the minivan to let her know...she would have never known what happened because the dent was on the passenger side and we caught her getting in to drive off...I sure hope she is able to find out who did it...justice should be served!

After the spa we went for a nice dinner at BJ's Brewhouse and just cracked ourselves up the whole time!

Apparently the dads and kiddos had a blast too while we were gone! Cooper and Riley played in the pool and sprinklers and crammed a lot of pizza in their little mouths!

Nothing cuter than a diaper sticking out of a bikini!

While Riley has mad dancing skills perhaps we need to work on her modeling skills...check out this belly! A girl has to stop for some lemonade every now and then and let it all hang out!

The other presents from Jason and Riley consist of a new watch which we are going to shop for together and a night out in San Francisco...we are thinking we might let Riley spend the night at Cooper's house and make a night out of it...hopefully next weekend!

While I was getting the pictures off of Jason's phone I found this one he took this past Saturday when he took Riley to ride on her favorite carousel...her face is just so cute I had to put it on here! Love this girl!

Lauren is 312 months old...

I can't believe I am 312 months old...how time flies! Cupcakes have been made and had...

.. and here's what I'm up to these days...

Now for reals...sorry for the 10 day hiatus...I was scolded by my mother yesterday so here I am being the obedient child that I am and blogging! I have had intentions to blog many nights this past week but have been working like crazy trying to get our house all put together that when I get in bed I immediately pass out...thus the blog has been abandoned! I am happy to report that only a little over 2 weeks after being in this house we are pretty much set up....whew! There are still a few minor things to hang and a few small projects (sewing curtains and refinishing a dresser)...but all in all we have a home and we are loving it. There are no more piles of cardboard, trash, or donations! Yeah for that!

Here's a sneak peak of our living room to prove that normalcy is going on around here!

Now for what else we have been up to this past week other than unpacking and getting settled!


Last weekend Cooper came over a few times to play while his mommy got ready for his daddy to come home from his deployment! These two are having more fun together each time they see each other...Cooper just cracks up at everything Riley says and does...it's so funny!

Here's Riley giving Coops a hug...he looks like he could care less!

Riley shows him how to make a mess in the playroom!

Dilemma: It's lunch time...two kiddos...one highchair...what to do?

Make my child eat on the floor!

Sunday we made a trip to Emoryville to go crazy at Ikea...and crazy we were! We got a glimpse of "the city" on our way and came back with a truck FULL of stuff...it was so much fun! I sent Jason and Riley back today for a few more things...it's so nice having one so close!

And here's a decent shot of the hills I have been mentioning!

After we stocked up at Ikea, Cooper and Riley had more fun toys to play with! We got Riley lots of kitchen utensils and they loved banging them! Riley likes to take a utensil and pretend like she's cooking in a pan and then she gives me bites of her concoction...it's so fun to see her adventure into the world of pretend!

Riley also got the cutest table and chairs thus solving my dilemma of feeding two kids with one highchair and providing a great place for coloring and crafty things!

During the week Riley and I spent some time checking out the local parks and I got my butt back in gear and started running in the mornings...we have lots of trails all around our house and people are always out so it makes it really nice! She has been consistently taking 3 hour naps all week so that was my time to get some things done around the house! We have been cooking some really good meals and that has been fun too!

This past weekend Jason had a 4 day weekend! Friday he spent the day putting together all of our Ikea purchases and I had lunch with some of the spouses from his squadron. Their were lots of kids so Riley had fun too!

Saturday we decided to just have a fun family day so we decided to head to Napa for lunch! It is so stinkin' close it's crazy...we just have to head up I-80 a few exits and once we exit it's only 11 miles! It was a little cloudy that morning which is the closest to "bad" weather we have had so far so these pictures don't do justice...no worries...the sun was out in it's glory within a few hours!

We had lunch at a Cal-Mex restaurant that sat on the Napa River...the food was very different than what we were used to but really good!

After lunch we decided to stroll around downtown Napa and we stumbled upon this cute little bakery called Sweetie Pies and Riley just had to have something sweet so she dragged us in there! It was the cutest place...mini cakes, tea, coffee...yum yum yum! We eyed this magnificent cupcake that was topped with marshmallow creme and a chocolate shell and Riley did not take her eyes off of it until she was able to dig in and eat it!

We had to stroll around some more after that dessert because it was so sweet and we were so full...had to burn some calories! Riley got to ride on her daddy's shoulders which is one of her favorite places to be!

There was this little outdoor amphitheatre and a local jazz band playing so we stopped and listened for a bit! We figured Riley would enjoy dancing to the music, but we had no idea she would eventually take center stage, woo the crowd, and manage to be filmed and have her picture taken by so many strangers! We may have the next "So you think you can dance" contestant on our hands!

Here's some video of Riley's dance moves...this was while we were still in the grass but after a while she literally got herself down right in front of the band and danced for everybody...it was hilarious!

After Riley's dance performance we made our way back to the car and found some really pretty flowers on the way that Riley had to smell!

On our short but leisurely drive home we came upon I-80 and this is what we found...grid lock traffic!

Saturday evening we went over to Paul and Jenn's to celebrate her almost 30th birthday and we met lots of great people!

Sunday morning I took Riley out for a mother-daughter date for her first taste of donuts! She loved it! I got her a cake doughnut with sprinkles on top and she managed to pick each and every sprinkle off and eat them first...we were there for a while! It was so cute!

To celebrate Memorial Day the Cameron's came over "Meals on Wheels" style and they brought dinner...baked spaghetti and boy was it good! I provided the cupcakes as mentioned earlier and we had a great meal outside!

We put the kiddos at their little table and at first they did well sitting and eating...

but after the dads were tired of getting up and corralling them back to the table this is what ended up happening...

That lasted for a short while until they both figured it out and weren't happy...so we gave them red velvet cupcakes and that held them over a little longer!

Finally we let them loose and they tried to escape the backyard!

Here are Jenn and I...

Cooper is glad to have his daddy home!

Last but not least a cute pic of Riley in her new outfit from DiDi and Doc...gotta love those flip flops!

Whew...that was a long post! We have had a lot of fun this past week but we have also had some things happen to those close to us that have put life in check. Cooper had a seizure just an hour before his dad was to come home...what should have been a happy reunion for their family ended up with Jenn and Cooper in the ER and Jason greeting Paul home...not fair. Cooper is doing much better and getting back to himself but it is so sad to see little ones so sick. The same morning of Cooper's seizure I found out that Sue, my previous boss, who means so much to me lost her son tragically 3 days shy of his 22nd birthday...not fair. She and her son had just finished up a mother-son trip in Africa where they successfully climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and ended their trip with a safari...the morning they were to leave she could not wake him and he passed away in a Tanzanian hospital after they could no longer revive him. He died of heart failure and apparently had been living with an enlarged heart to which they had no knowledge. She was alone in a foreign country grieving the loss of her son and my heart has hurt so much for her. It's times like these that sometimes I wonder what God is thinking, but I know His plan is the best. All I can do is pray for Sue and her family as they deal with this tragedy and I ask that you keep them in your prayers too. Life is short and we have to take advantage of each day we share with our loved ones.

17 Months Old...

Riley turned 17 months old yesterday and she is just gobs of fun! I am so enjoying this time off work hanging with this little girl all day...it's a challenge to try and get our house all set up with all the energy she has but we have ALL our boxes unpacked and we have only been in the house 10 days...not too shabby! We still have LOTS of work to do but we'll get there! Back to sweet Riley...I feel like she has really learned a TON this month...she's understanding more, talking more, and becoming more and more independent! Here's what Riley is up to these days:

• Sleeping...this month has definitely been the most abnormal month for Riley considering we moved out of our house into Jason's parents for a few weeks, took a week long road trip out here and lived in hotels, lived in TLF for a week, and finally moved into our house...not to mention a 2 hour time change. All things considered she has done GREAT...she's just not quite as consistent as she used to be...lately she's been pulling some 3 hour naps and sleeping anywhere from 10-12 hours at night. She's been waking up a little earlier than I would like...around 6-6:30 but I don't have curtains up in her room (long story for another post) and the sun comes blaring through so once I get that resolved...hopefully tomorrow...perhaps she can sleep until at least 7 or so!


• Eating...we have a little piggy on our hands!!! She must be going through a growth spurt because she has been eating insane amounts of food the past week or so...her belly gets so big after she eats...but I suppose she's a healthy girl and we won't be depriving her anytime soon! She would eat fruit all day if I let her...her favorite is pears but she eats lots of bananas, strawberries, kiwi, mango, and grapes as well! We also took the tray off her high chair and got her some cute plates and utensils so she is eating like a big girl! We just pull her high chair up to the table and she's learning to feed herself...she's doing really well so far. This change involves more cleanup afterwards, but it's so fun to see her learn and try new things!


• Talking ALL the time!!! She will take a stab at repeating anything you challenge her to say and she's learning all of her animal voices which is so fun. She loves to sing and we can tell which song she is singing...my favorite is when we say "Old McDonald had a farm" she follows up with "EEEIII EEEIIII" but she forgets the "O"...it's so stinkin' cute! Here are some videos of her talking and dancing as well...she's an animated little gal! My favorite is her saying "I yuv u"
  
  
  
  
  
* Note that in the last video her daddy asks her to say "poo poo"...he thought it would be so fun to teach her that word...such a dude! However, she says it so sweetly that you can't help but crack up. Since she picked up on the word I decided to try and attach it to the action so when she does the deed I ask her if she has gone and she now says "poo poo...uh oh" so she's at least getting the idea...now she could care less about having her diaper changed right away and would play for hours if I let her but at least she knows what she's doing and how to tell me...it's so cute!

• Discipline...we have begun! Since we are well aware of how much she understands now is the time to start setting the guidelines for disciplining her! We are currently trying the "time out" method and considering we're only a few weeks into it I would say it's going pretty well. If Riley deliberately disobeys I make her stand in the corner and of course she screams. I ask her if she's all done and she holds her hands up and sobbingly says "awww dun awww dun" and then I make her say sorry and give mommy a hug...sometimes my last request for the hug and an apology starts the entire process over again but most of the time she does it the first time. I can threaten with standing in the corner now and she shakes her head no that she doesn't want to go, but sometimes she just continues on with the bad behavior anyway so she hasn't connected all the dots yet! My biggest issue of late has been getting her to sit in a shopping cart...geez! What used to be so fun and exciting for both of us has all of a sudden become horrible although I have used some tactics the last few days that have worked well. I had to leave the grocery store several nights ago and just leave my basket because I had lost all patience and my child was screaming as if I was beating her...slightly embarassing! I had tried everything...even letting her sit in the big part of the cart if she stayed on her bottom...which she didn't...and when I told her she had to sit in the front part and get buckled she arched her back so hard and screamed and flailed that I thought I was going to drop her on the floor...uuggghhh! My only saving grace is if wherever we are has fun carts with steering wheels...which the commissary does thank goodness! I received some advice from a friend to bring toys which I always had and she would just throw them on the floor...that's a fun game! She also mentioned to bring snacks and as I mentioned earlier we have a piggy on our hands and food does the trick! If she's eating she's happy so I just make sure to have raisins or a cheesestick or something she can snack on...I'm learning! This could be the beginning of the terrible two's...but really, other than a handful of moments, she's still very well behaved!


• Baths...for now she's enjoying them and all things water! As you can see from my last post she loves her pool as well! She plays for a while if we have time and then hates being pulled away from the tub! I'm working on getting her into swim lessons this summer since we can have a pool to go to!


• Riley LOVES reading books...this is a newfound love! We have always read to her and she's been entertained by it but now she runs to her basket of books and has favorites...it's so fun! Her favorite is Dr. Seuss' "Hop on Pop" but since the edition we have was also Jason's she has ripped half the pages out now...we might have to invest in a new edition! She will shake her head "no" if she doesn't want you to read a certain book and she now reads books while riding in the car! Tonight she was reunited with her bumbo chair as I unpacked it from a mismarked box and she wanted to sit in her dad's lap in her bumbo as he read "Where the Wild Things Are"...his favorite book! I can't believe she still fits in the bumbo but she does!
• Crayons...for the past few months Riley has played with crayons only at restaurants that give them to the kiddos. She can draw with them but mostly she has just wanted to put them in her mouth. Since we got her a fun table and chairs at Ikea I decided to let her try drawing with crayons this afternoon while I finished up dinner! She was having fun dropping the crayons, picking them up, and getting on and off the chair...and she even drew a little! I kept her binky in her mouth to reduce the temptation but lo and behold I turned my back for a few seconds and turned back around to see a blue mouth...she had taken a nice bite out of the crayon...aaahhh! I quickly grabbed a paper towel and cleaned out her mouth and hands...I know she's not the first one to try and eat a crayon! After that we moved onto the colored pencils...haha! We'll have to keep working on the crayon thing...hopefully now that she's had a taste she's done with them...I can't imagine they taste good!

We just love this little girl to pieces!

You know you live in California when...

So we have been in Cali for a little over 2 weeks and have decided that we really love it out here! We have been really surprised by how nice everyone is...we had heard to expect people not to be as friendly as they are in the South...they were wrong! I suppose it's the same for kids that thought we rode horses to school in Texas...it's all about assumptions! We have also encountered several non-military individuals who are rather conservative in their view...our sweet landlords being two of them...which is SO nice! We have noticed different things about California as would be expected and here are a few!

1. Electrical Charging Stations...these are for cars! Driving along the highway there are signs for these stations so people who need to charge up their vehicle can pull of and do so...this could become commonplace everywhere before we know it but we chuckled as we drove our gas guzzling Tahoe down Interstate 80!

2. You can only find California King bedsheets...OK this was so frustrating for me! We have a new king size bed for our bedroom and last Friday (our first night in the house) I set out to get us a new pair of sheets for the bed. I started out at Target and found the nicely organized row of sheets in this order...twin, full, queen, California king...what? Finally I find the most expensive sheets you can buy in king and snatch them up as I fear that this may be our only option. Still confused I set out to Bed Bath and Beyond sure that they will have their stuff together and have "regular" king sheets...lo and behold I set my eyes on the same lineup of sheets...twin, full, queen, California king...what? I find the shunned section of "European king" sheets which consists of white semi-descent sheets yet they are cheaper than the ones I just bought at Target so I snatch those up as well. I thought people bought California king beds because they were tall not because they lived in California...are you kidding me? I even asked the manager at BBB and he laughed and noted that they did need to change their selection because he was having more and more people looking for "regular" king sheets...apparently they are coming around! I had to run through Walmart...which is like no big deal here by the way...and I thought I would skim their sheet section and found the cheapest king sheets, but the right color and the softest by far which is what we like...I came home with 3 pairs of king sheets and we ended up both liking the ones from Wally World...what do ya know?

But like I said we have been overwhelmed by the friendliness we've experienced so far and we even saw this bumper sticker on a car while we were in Tahoe!

Isn't that great...and I cropped out the license plate but it was California plates just so you know!

Now for a pic of Riley...

We spent several hours outside yesterday afternoon playing in her pool...basically it was me trying to keep the dogs from drinking her water and stealing her toys and trying to keep Riley from trying to drink from the dogs water bowl just like a dog...it was so cute but so gross at the same time! Riley had a blast outside and screamed at the idea of having to come inside.

We have such a fabulous backyard...in fact I'm sitting at our patio table right now blogging and drinking my coffee...and we eat out here every night. My biggest problem now is that it feels a little bit too much like we're on vacation and I want to sit outside every night and have a glass of wine...we NEVER drank at home before...I guess one glass can't hurt anyone right? HeHe!

The dogs love it too...occasionally they will bark if a golfer gets really close to the fence but in actuality if they hit the ball close to our fence it means they kind of stink so I think they should get barked out...haha! Several days ago we were inside and I heard a noise that I could only assume was a golf ball hitting the roof of the house..hmmm...and then yesterday when we went outside to play I found what used to be that golf ball...Hank and Kadie had their way with the ball! Here are the two culprits and the ball...in two pieces!

I'm back...with lots to update!

Well we are finally settled in our house and have wi-fi...we are back in touch with reality! I started this post as I was laying in bed yesterday morning enjoying a morning off for Mother's Day waiting on my Starbucks and am just now finishing it up a day later...we've been so busy!

I'll rewind over a week to finish up our trip out here. When I left off last time we had made it to Salt Lake City and spent the night. We both though Salt Lake City was beautiful...as we left the next morning the view of snow covered mountains on every side was so neat and downtown Salt Lake is nestled right in the mountains...very cool! We had a long day of driving and contemplated driving straight through to California which would have been a REALLY long day...the moving in and out of a hotel room was becoming burdensome and the lack of sleep we were getting was catching up with us. We called the base and they didn't have a room available for us so we decided to spend a relaxing evening in Lake Tahoe...neither of us had been but had heard how gorgeous it was...this was a GREAT decision! So we made our way through Salt Lake seeing the salt lake...

we drove across the entire state of Nevada...

and started climbing the mountain to Lake Tahoe!

We had a good day of driving...we did stop in one town in Nevada where gas was $2.79 a gallon and were fearful of what kind of gas prices we would be paying in Cali but this station must have been set out to rip off road trippers because we are only paying $2.19 a gallon here on base...not too bad!

We had to drive through a VERY windy valley on our way to Tahoe where Jason was technically supposed to not even drive with the U-Haul...but he did anyway...and it all turned out ok! I don't know how he did it though because my little car was ALL over the road...the gusts had to have been around 50 mph! Once we made it through the valley we began to drive the roads that are all too familiar when we have gone on ski trips in the past...these were not scary roads though...they just had lots of twists and turns and our ears were popping! This was our first sight of the lake...it was sooooooooooooooo big, blue, and breathtaking!

We stayed in South Lake Tahoe which is just a few miles inside the California border so we had officially made it to Cali! We had a comfy hotel room on the lake and it was just so surreal to see such a pretty view! We ventured out to the beach area, met a few locals on the pier, and made our way to a restaurant they recommended...The Chart House!

The Chart House was a GREAT restaurant nestled up on the mountains with an awesome view of the lake...we totally splurged, but Riley decided to pick up the tab...what a sweet girl!
The next morning we drove around, did some shopping, and checked out the ski resorts...I can't believe we only live an hour and a half away from Tahoe...we hope to make lots of ski trips while we are in Cali! We would have loved to ride the gondola but ski season had literally just ended so they were closed as well as all of the ski slopes!

After all of our sight seeing we got in our cars and drove our last leg to Fairfield...we drove through the Eldorado National Forest...beautiful trees EVERYWHERE!

It is such an indescribable feeling driving for the first time to a place you are about to start your life in...so many thought running through our heads! The terrain here is beautiful...we are surrounded by rolling hills like I have never seen...I will get pics for you soon! We were blown away with how nice everything is. Notoriously areas right around air force bases tend to not be the nicest areas, but we have yet to come across any area that we find "run down". It is just beautiful here...that's all I can say...you'll have to just come see for yourself!

Riley was a happy girl once we arrived...she was glad to be out of the car and roaming all around!

Once we arrived we unloaded the u-haul into a storage unit, unloaded our things into TLF (temporary lodging on base) and tried to hit the ground running trying to find a house! We looked at 3 houses and knew the one we are in was the right house for us from the get go...it's just right for us! We were somewhat discouraged as we began our hunt because many of the houses we had seen online were already gone and there just wasn't too large of a selection! We spent all day Thursday just driving around...we found areas that we would consider living in and just hunted for "for lease" signs hoping to find something...and we did! We drove by this house in Paradise Valley which is a golf course community and saw a great ONE story house and called...the lady that answered put me through the ringer at first and then said we could come look at the house right then because her and her husband owned the house and happened to live next door! At first we weren't sure if having landlords next door would be a good or bad thing...it turns out they are the sweetest couple! They have 4 daughters and 14 grandchildren so they loved Riley...we spent over an hour with them both at the house looking and chatting. They were convinced they wanted us as tenants when our sweet girl decided to show them her newest trick as she checked out the kitchen cabinets...pulling her shirt over her head and running around topless...so ladylike!Deep inside we both loved the house but were afraid to jump the gun...they had another family VERY close to renting but they told us they would rather have us in the house so they said they would give us 24 hours to make a decision. We looked at another house the following day and did some more driving and we knew it was time to seal the deal! Here's our new house!!!

Not only are one story houses hard to come by but spacious backyards are as well. With our two puppies we really needed a place that they would love too and this backyard is just perfect for them! We are right on the fairway of the golf course and have a great view of the greenbelt behind the course as well as the rolling hills!

Another perk is that we have use of the pool and tennis courts as part of our homeowners association...I think I need to get on the ball and get Riley signed up for swim lessons!

So once we signed the lease we spent part of the weekend relaxing because we had been going going going ever since we pulled into town! Life in TLF was not bad but having to kennel the dogs and take them out to walk was not fun for any of us! The room itself was very spacious as we had two bedrooms, a full kitchen, living room, and washer/dryer...but no fenced in area! Jason took care of the dogs and I took care of Riley in the mornings...we had a system down! Riley loved playing on the couch because it was short enough for her to climb up herself...here she is trying to tickle her own belly button with a pen...don't worry we had removed the ink!We were anxious to get into the house but didn't think we would be able to have our household goods delivered for a week or two...lo and behold Jason went in Monday morning to request delivery and they said they could deliver everything Friday...WHAT? I forgot to mention that we had agreed with the owners on repainting pretty much the whole house...and we wanted to get the painting done before our goods arrived...we started painting Monday night and finished up Thursday night at about 11 pm....it was pure craziness and I honestly can't believe we did all that we did but we are so glad we decided to take the plunge! One of us would play parent during the day...Riley would nap at the house while we both painted...then we would put her down for bed at the house and paint until the wee hours of the morning...scoop her out of one pack 'n play, drive back to base, and put her down in another pack 'n play...and wake up early and start all over...12 gallons of paint later, many sore muscles, and pure exhaustion...we finished! Thank goodness Riley adapts well to gypsy life...she's such a trooper! While one of us was painting the other would often take Riley to the mall to ride the carousel and play...she loved riding this same bunny each time!

We have also been hanging out with Jenn and Cooper...Jenn and Paul are friends of our from Texas A&M...Paul and Jason were in the corps together...and they have a little boy Cooper that is three days younger than Riley! They have played together, fought together, and shared many meals so far! Paul is deployed but comes home VERY soon!

Our household goods were delivered Friday...luckily I was able to get Riley into childcare on base for the day...I'm not sure how we would have gotten everything done if I hadn't! Jason loaded up our storage unit and unloaded all of our stuff at the house and then went and loaded up all our belongings at TLF and brought them to the house...meanwhile I was checking off the boxes and furniture as it was being delivered at the house! Technically the movers are required to do as much unpacking as I choose and last time we moved I opted to just let them put the boxes in the rooms and I did all of the unpacking! This time I had them unpack most of the kitchen boxes but requested that they just stack everything on my counters and not put it into cabinets...this eliminated many boxes and lots of packing material for us to mess with! I left to pick up Riley when they were getting ready to start unpacking and this is what I came home to later!!!!!!!!!!

At first glance I began to regret my decision to have them unpack anything because it was quite overwhelming, but in retrospect it was a good decision and I will do it again in the future! It was hard to decide where to start, but I could pretty much see everything and didn't have to wonder what box something might be in!

Luckily we have had some help since DiDi flew in Saturday afternoon to help unpack/watch Riley! She leaves in the morning and in a few short days we have completely unpacked the kitchen, Riley's room, our closet, and most of my decorations! We have been working pretty much non-stop and have gotten so much done! Jason went back to work today and DiDi leaves tomorrow so the rest is up to me and Riley to take care of! She's a big help...you can see she helped her Daddy put our bed together!

We have had some fun while DiDi was here too...eating lots of good food on our patio! We have a big dining room and no dining room furniture...yet! I have been joking though that we don't even need dining room furniture because we will be eating on our patio all the time...it's just too nice to pass up eating a meal outside with this weather! We had a few days of rain when we first arrived, but now the days are very sunny, warm during the afternoon, and cool in the evenings! We miss all of our friends VERY much and wish they would all just move out here with us...so far we are loving it here!