On the Blog Again!!

Hi Family!!! I am so excited. We still don't have our internet hooked up, although it was supposed to be connected along with our phone on Wednesday and now they swear it will be Tuesday, but Mike discovered a signal in our bedroom. He had tried other rooms earlier in the week to no avail but tonight he got one in here and up in Jane and Sadie's room. So he is on his laptop upstairs and I am on mine down here. Two laptops you say? His and Hers. It is true and the reason is unfortunate. Mike now has official deployment orders for the end of the summer sometime. He will go spend 15 months "fighting bad guys" in a hot sandy place. We knew this was going to happen since the end of April but it all had to get signed and official before we could write anything on the blog. Really I don't want to dwell on that right now, I'll write more later. We have had so many things going on that we'll talk about all the good stuff first.

First of all, we are finally in our new house and it is a dream. It is a German built home and has so many neat characteristics. The girls absolutely love it. They have friends in both the houses on either side of us AND up and down the street. We have a nice size back yard that is fully fenced with a gate that locks, a basement, a garage, plenty of storage... You know all the things a normal house has except if you are living in military housing (it is still military by the way). Jane and Sadie agreed to share a room in this house (twin beds) because they always end up sleeping together anyway, one of them wants to snuggle or one of them has a bad dream etc... so now we actually have an unoccupied guest room (hint, hint). Ellyn loves this house, she loves the back yard, she'll play out there with her sisters for hours. Mike and I set up the tramp today and the girls were so excited. We finally finished all of the work at the other house- painting, lawn mowing, washing out garbage cans....and we should be completely checked out on Monday- YEAH!!!! I had been trying to tell myself that our other house really was comparable and guess what- it wasn't. It really was worth the five exhausting days it took to move ourselves. Mike and I just walk around with big grins on our faces. Mike just wishes he was here longer to enjoy it and I echo that sentiment.

Besides that, Mike took command on May 10 of H Co. He now has 175 or so soldiers under his command and millions and millions of dollars worth of equipment. He's been a bit stressed, especially with what they are about to go do. I'm just grateful that my husband and consequently all these men will have the Holy Ghost aiding them in what they need to accomplish. The change of command went well, as did the reception. Mike's worried about all the responsibility, inventorying all of the gear, learning about all of his soldiers, and all I could care about was how to feed them all for one lunch. The nacho bar was a huge hit though, I must say.

Okay, I still have more to write but it is just going to have to be in installments. I loved reading all of your blogs. Mom and Moni I am sooo happy you to are on the blog now, it makes it even so much better. I love you all so, so much. I can't wait to see the much talked about pictures. Mom, I am so sorry we completely missed Mother's Day, it was officially postponed at this house as well and I will make it up to you somehow. I love you dearly. Talk to you all soon. Love, Brooke