July update

Our wedding anniversary countdown failed in a major way. There are numerous reasons that we love each other, and they are too many to count.

June was a happy month.

1st-10th - I spent some time with family in Houston, and saw my sister and bro-in-law (who I'd not seen since their wedding over 2 years ago)

17th - We were reunited on the 17th in Ft. Walton Beach, FL, where Marc had been for 6 weeks and where I planned on vacationing for the remaining 2 that he had left. He was in a resort hotel with a pool overlooking the ocean and the beach just below. There were also restaurants and shops on the boardwalk of the hotel. The day I arrived happened to be the first of 6 days Marc had off, so we enjoyed the time together before he had to return to classes. It was a great vacation!

27th - we began the drive back to Portales from Florida. What should have been a 9 hour drive became 12 hours, but we made it to Houston.

28th - Our 1st Anniversary!!! Nothing romantic happened that day because there were other plans, but it was special nonetheless.

30th - We finally arrived in Portales...whew...4 day trek from Florida to New Mexico.

I would be perfectly happy if that trip never took place again, but Florida is where the other squadron of planes that Marc flies happens to be stationed. Therefore, in about 5 years, there is some likelihood that we will be moving there. (I'm not complaining at all!!!) Once we arrived, we went to pick up Pip. It was great to see Marc reunited with Pippin, as it had been 2 months! Pippin was ecstatic :)

Now that we're back, we began looking at houses to buy. Our favorite one was already claimed (although the buyers were taking back-up contracts). We put in an offer for it and the seller decided to go with the original buyer. We were bummed, but this house was the oldest of all that we looked at and had been on the market for almost a year. Seeing as we are going to have to sell in about 5 years, we were looking to find a place that might sell quickly...and this didn't seem to be the one. We subsequently put in an offer on our second choice...a newly constructed home (it's not quite done yet) that is 3 bed/2 bath/2 car garage. It's got a wonderfully big livingroom with granite in the kitchen and a bay window at the sink overlooking the backyard. It's great and we believe this one is probably the better choice in the end for resale. We have put in an offer and received word that the seller likes the offer. He has been out of town this weekend, so we will probably hear back from him tomorrow about signatures or counter-offers. Pictures will be posted of this house if/when it has a signed contract for purchase. We are excited!! We're ready to stop throwing away money on rent and put down some roots (for the next 5 years).

We hope everyone that reads this is doing well and we miss you all!