Lots of randoms...

Riley wanted to say "What's Up" to all our blog readers!

Two Friday's ago Riley and I got to spend most of the day with Jason...first with breakfast together at the hospital (they have a good cafeteria) and then to shop for necessities for Jason's upcoming TDY which was a practice version of an inspection he and his guys will participate in during October...basically a simulated war environment with all sorts of scenarios thrown at them. In order to make it through our shopping trip she insisted she be decked out in her Daddy's hat and sunglasses...she's a trip!

Jason left last Sunday and was gone all last week...we sure missed him but we tried to have as much fun as we could because I had a feeling this might be one of my last weeks home with Riley...more on that later.

We checked out this new park in the Nut Tree Shopping Village that had a Choo Choo Train, a carousel, and all kinds of fun things for Riley to play on...

Merry go round...

Her favorite...the carousel!

We then had a date at Panera Bread...it was so fun!

On Wednesday we met up with some friends at Children's Wonderland Park in Vallejo for some more fun...

I just love this little face!

Swingin' Away...

What a big girl...

We then had lunch with all of our friends and Riley took a long nap...she was pooped!

We also made Trip #1 to Petco because Hank has had this "wound" on his ear for roughly three weeks that I have been doctoring and just couldn't get it to heal...we figured he had caught it on something but a friend of mine who is a native Californian informed me that it is very common for flies to eat on dog's ears...DISGUSTING. However, that is apparently what happened to Hank so we had to visit Petco to get FlyOff to put on his ear...totally healed in three days...those stinkin' flies! We checked out the fish to make it more fun and Riley loved watching them and making her fish face!

On Thursday we went back to the Nut Tree Village Park with some girls from my Bible study and then had lunch at Panera...that just doesn't get old for me! This time "the Mommies" had cash so we took a Choo-Choo Train ride...Miss Riley had a ball giving her princess wave to all the onlookers!

As we were leaving Panera we came across these incredibly cute puppies and Riley was just tickled to get to pet them and play with them...apparently it's a new experiment for miniature boxers and boy were they cuties!

We had lots of fun!

So I have not blogged much about my job hunt because it has been rather frustrating...let's just say that the "economy" has really hit California and it's just plain hard to find a job...I was definitely not expecting some of the things I have run into. The blessing is that I have gotten to spend the last nearly 6 months with Riley and we have done so many fun things! After months of NOTHING I landed two interviews the week before Jason left...both went well. Wouldn't you know that all of this would happen the week he is gone! The two jobs I interviewed for are different...one a job that I think I will love but that comes with early morning hours and a commute longer than I desired...one close to home and with flexible hours but not a job that I am thrilled about...decisions, decisions. I have spent so much time praying for God to make my path clear but it is still so hard for me. I was offered a job with Bank of America...a job I think I will love but with hours from 6:30-3:30 and a commute longer than I wanted...I should hear this week about the other job but am moving forward with BofA at this point. I got word of the job opportunity on Tuesday and the trip that Jason was on left him "unreachable"...which is great when you have life decisions you would like to discuss with your spouse. They wanted me to start rather soon so I was researching childcare like crazy because it would be a few weeks until Riley's spot opened at the Child Development Center on base and I still had an issue with the CDC hours and the hours of my job for the times when Jason is out of town. In-home providers are VERY common here because the daycare facilities are either national chains and cost the same as college tuition or they are for low-income only...it's weird. So I visited one in-home provider and my motherly gut instinct told me it would not be a good fit for us...I was discouraged but kept researching and found another in-home provider that I felt very comfortable with...all along Jason still didn't even know that I had been offered a job...it was 48 hours before I was able to talk to him and I was overwhelmed having to make all those decisions without his input. Everything fell into place by the end of the week and I will start work next Monday. I will be working in the Global Foreign Exchange division where our job is settling all of the trades for BofA customers...a great transition for me to use my market experience in a non-sales role...I'm really excited about it and hope it's all I am expecting. Just as I finalized all the details of this job Friday morning I felt a huge burden off my shoulders...me and Riley were going to celebrate and I had an entire day of fun planned...until....

we went to leave and I was going to give the dogs their morning dog biscuits and they were GONE...the gate had malfunctioned again and they had escaped!

Not knowing how long they had been gone I had no idea where to start but we canvased the neighborhood asking anyone out if they had seen them and no one had. I went home and printed up tons of posters to put up everywhere and not long after I got a call from a sweet lady that had Hank...he had come up to her and her two boxers on their morning walk and she had been calling him "Happy" because she said he was so happy...she and her husband were the sweetest people...they had already made their own posters, taken him to the vet to be scanned for a micro-chip, and fed him...luckily they got ahold of me and walked him home. I was so glad to have him back but discouraged that they had been seperated and I still had to find Kadie. Hank was so sad...he just sat in the backyard and howled and cried ALL day for her...it was heartbreaking! Knowing where they had found Hank we went out to put up more posters because I assumed Kadie had gotten further than our surrounding neighborhood...my sweet neighbor had driven around to help and talked to a construction worker who saw her earlier in the day. By Friday evening I still had heard NOTHING about Kadie and I was so sad...the dogs have gotten out before but never been gone for a night...was she with someone kind or was she out to fend for herself...I just didn't know. I was up late and I decided to check the shelter website one last time and lo and behold Kadie's picture popped up...she was safe and sound at the shelter...I wanted to go pick her up right then but it was almost into the early hours of Saturday morning so I had to wait until 10 am to get her...at least I could sleep knowing she was safe.

Riley and I got up early Saturday and headed for Trip #2 to Petco...new collars and tags for both dogs. Hank had his tags but Kadie didn't...not sure how that happened...but both of their tags had Jason's cell number which wasn't helpful in this situation because he was unreachable so they now have new tags with my number on them! Riley checked out the birds while were there too!

I couldn't wait to get to the shelter and get Kadie...she was sure happy to see us too! It is their policy to micro-chip animals before they leave the shelter which I think is fabulous so Kadie is now chipped and Hank will be as well very soon!

Hank was crying for joy to have Kadie back!

About an hour after I got home with Kadie I received a call from the sweet lady who had found Kadie and taken her to the shelter...apparently she was moving into a new house and Kadie came right into the house and hung out with them all day...since she had no tags she felt the best thing was to take her to the shelter but she saw one of my signs Saturday morning and called to make sure I had found Kadie at the shelter...she kept saying how sweet and well mannered she was. We are counting our blessings because both of the people that had our dogs were AWESOME and loved on them and took great care of them...we are so thankful and lucky!

So I'm not sure why it seems that everything has to happen when Jason's gone but this trip sure felt like it. I suppose that God's way of toughening me up but it sure had some stressful moments. Jason came home Saturday and we have had a great Labor Day weekend together. We went to our friend Katie's house Saturday night to watch college football...too bad the Aggies weren't televised but they did kick some but...whoop!

Riley and Cooper decided to play in Sophia's crate and had a ball...they were cracking each other up and craking all of us adults up as well...

Sunday we went to church and lunch and then headed home for naps and relaxing time! Jason and Paul played golf while the kiddos and girls hung out here and I cooked Carne Guisada...it was yummy! Jason made breakfast tacos out of it this morning and they were a great start to the morning. We went on a long bike ride after breakfast and then spent the afternoon at the Cameron's for burgers and catching up with friends.

When we got home Riley decided to play with one of the bins I use to organize her toys...she got inside and the first time she accidently tipped over and we all started cracking up...so she decided to recreate the moment over and over and over...

So that's a long post of random stories and all but that's been our life the past week! I am going to savor my last week before work starts! We are leaving for NYC on the red eye Wednesday night so that will be an exciting trip for us! We are hoping Riley sleeps well so we can all get a little shut eye before the madness begins when we set foot in Manhattan early Thursday morning...we can't wait!