White Sands Army Base

     After picking up the hubby's car from the shipping company, we headed to Chili's for some lunch before we finished our trip to White Sands Missile Range, where we planned on staying at the IHG Army Hotel for the next few days till we closed on our new house and the movers to deliver our stuff.

The base is a pretty long drive back into town, so we made the best of staying on base.  

There was an awesome park that we took Liam to.

We even grilled a few times at the park.  

And saw our first native New Mexican wildlife creature...a TARANTULA!!! 

We checked out the White Sands Heritage Museum.

While we were there, the hubby almost stepped on our 

 second native New Mexican wildlife creature we saw....a BULL SNAKE!!

To keep Liam busy, we took him to the aquatic center, which he loved 

and went down the water slide by himself for the first time, took him to the movie 

theater to see "The Avengers", and busted out the water guns for a water fight.

It was a fun time, but we only lasted a few days there due to 

the drive into and back from town for meals, everyday things 

at Walmart or Target.....So we decided to book another hotel in the city.  

Luckily, we closed on our new house while we were there, so we were able to take

Sparky to the house to stay while we stayed in the hotel. 

Arizona

     We drove all the way to Arizona.  We planned on staying with my aunt in Sun City West and finish up the drive to Las Cruces the next day.  The drive was beautiful through this state.  We stopped to take a few pictures of the beautiful scenery.

There was a lot of cacti, even some taller than us!

Arizona today...New Mexico tomorrow. Ole! 

Goodbye California

     Our goodbyes said, suitcases packed, the car loaded up, Sparky in his cat carrier, snacks and drinks stocked in the cooler, all buckled up.....we officially started our drive to New Mexico on July 11th.

Saying Good Bye to Vandenberg AFB as we drove out the gates....

Liam slept through the L.A. traffic and played games on the Kindle Fire to keep him busy.

It was really neat seeing all the electric windmills.  Liam really enjoyed seeing those.

Almost to Arizona....

Dinner with the Yetters

     On our last night at Vandenberg, our wonderful friends, the Yetters, invited us over for dinner.  I was soooo excited when Kristi told me she was making Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  We have been wanting to make this signature dish together for a long time, but we never got around to it.  Now that I was leaving, it seemed like the perfect goodbye dinner for us to enjoy.  It was simply A-MAZ-ING! So worth the wait!

Then I helped her make home made Crepes with apples for dessert!

We are definitely going to miss our friends and they truly made our last night on base a memorable one.  As a goodbye gift, Kristi painted this beautiful picture for me.  I feel so special and honored to own a one of kind Kristi, The Tipsi Artist,  painting.  

It was the very first picture I hung up in our new home in New Mexico.  I wind up hanging it up in baby Kinley's room.  I love looking at it and remembering all the fun times Kristi and I have shared.

Staying in TLF

    We stayed a few days in TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) on base while our stuff was being packed.  We kept Sparky back at the house so he didn't freak out any more then he already was with all the changes going on.

     There was an old school lopsided electric burner stove/oven, plenty of kitchen ware, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, and coffee maker for us to use.  For our first dinner meal in our temporary mini apartment we made some pasta and veggies.

As for the bedroom, there was a nice size bed for the hubby and I.  

While in the living/kitchen/dining area, the couch pulled out to a bed.  

Which is where Liam slept and played with all his Transformers.

It was a pretty good experience staying there, of course there were a few things we brought to the management's attention.  But other than that, we made the best of it!

Making dinner

     With all our pots, pans, utensils, plates, cups, and all the other kitchen stuff packed, we had to get creative on making dinner.  So we headed to the nearby park and grilled up some chicken while Liam played.  We then headed home to warm up some veggies and tortillas.  We dined with paper plates, plastic utensils and cups for a few days.  Everything turned out great!

This was one of those days we will definitely remember about this move!

Packing Day

     Well, the time finally came and so did the packers to pack up all our stuff.  It took them two days of packing stuff in boxes and one day to load up the truck.  We were surrounded by boxes!

The 1st day.....

Box towers everywhere!

The 2nd day.....more boxes.  

Liam and I had a picnic and watched movies on my laptop.

The 3rd day....

Everything was loaded into the truck and then the house was empty.

It was definitely a whirlwind with everything going on.  Packers grabbing anything 

and everything to be put in boxes and the movers coming in and out loading up the truck!  

We were all glad when it was all said and done!

Next adventure....driving down to New Mexico!

Happy 4th of July....a little late

     Well, I know July 4th has come and gone, but I still wanted to share some of the pictures I took from our celebration.  I dressed Liam in his flag shirt and red pants and even made him a special Red, White, and Blue breakfast.  Later, we headed over to our friends the Grants for a BBQ and some fun.  I brought over some Mini Burger Cookies for dessert.

Liam's patriotic breakfast!

These are the 4th of July Hamburger Cookies that I made for the BBQ.

Some of the yummy food and the adorable decorations 

Tori from Lil' Mrs. Tori made for the celebration.

Tori and I enjoying the last holiday together before we moved.

The hubby enjoying his day off and Liam having a blast playing with Brendan.

Jeremy and Tori playing a round of Corn Hole....

Now Mark and Jeremy's turn...I'm not sure who won either game.

Liam being silly with the balloons.

One of Tori's friend brought some patriotic Jell-o shots...

which I stayed clear of, but heard they were tasty.  

As soon as it started to get dark out, we all headed to the 

front yard to watch the guys play with a "few" firecrackers.

Liam loved helping the guys pick out the next firecracker to light.  

When the last firecracker died out, which was close to midnight...we packed our stuff, said our goodbyes, and headed home.  Overall, it was a great day and I was so glad we got to spend some time with our friends before we finished our packing and start our drive to New Mexico.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

I'm Back!

     Hi everyone!  It has been a long time since I posted anything.  It feels great to get back to blogging and sharing all our family adventures.   So, in the mean time I have been taking tons of pictures and now that our internet is finally hooked up I am ready to share them!  And since I only have 2 weeks left till baby girl is due, I figure I better get started before she makes her big debut!

Taking a break

     Hello all....well, these next two weeks are going to be pretty hectic for me and my family for it is time to pack up the house and move!  We have spent four years here in California, so now the time has come for us to say goodbye to all our friends and start a new adventure in New Mexico.  So, with that, I've decided to take a little break from the blogging world to focus on this move.  We've got the packers coming after the holiday through the weekend, then the movers come on Monday to pick up all our stuff, then we got to clean the house and plan on staying in a hotel for two days before we load up the car and start making our way down south.

     It's going to be a long drive, especially since I'm 7 months preggers now.  Believe me, between me and my 4 year old, there will be lots of potty breaks.  One the hubby's and I's favorite things to do is try new restaurants along the way when we do trips.  So that definitely gives us something to look forward to.  Also, we plan on stopping in Arizona to stay with my aunt and uncle for a little two day visit before we continue our journey.  However, our new house won't be ready for us to move in to till after the 17th...so back in a hotel we will go until then.  I am soooo looking forward to being in our very own home! Can't believe we are almost home owners...a whole new adventure on it's self.  I just hope the movers will be delivering all our stuff around that time so we don't have to wait for it.  Plus, my mom and dad plan on driving out and helping us move everything in that weekend.  We've got a lot of big things happening this year....The move, owning a new home, the hubby starting a new job, Liam starts preschool in August, and Kinley is due in September!

  Here's a picture of our new humble abode...

     Well, until next post, hope everyone has a wonderful couple of weeks.  I will definitely have lots to post soon about our move...