Back in Business!

So the app I have been using to type up my blogs has been acting up since I updated my iOS. I tried another, but it was horrible. I'm so happy to be back in business since the surprise update today. So here it goes, my New Year post. I'm going to just go back to some of the ups and downs of the past year. Since I didn't blog much last year, this can kind of fill you in on my journey through 2011. The year started off like any other...hubby gone a lot. He was gone anywhere from 3 days to 6 weeks at a time. I couldn't complain because he loved his job. It was very busy, had long hours, but he was happy for the first time in awhile. Being in Germany, you develop a family you choose. You have people you know you can call no matter what. People that know you well enough to know that even when you say no over and over, they won't take no for an answer. I remember when I was detoxing my meds, a friend wanted to bring me dinner so I wouldn't have to cook. I told her no a lot. She knew I wasn't a morning person, so she called bright and early so I was thrown off. When I said yes finally, she hung up on me before I could change my mind. We had another couple that were great. Hubby sponsored them when they moved to Germany. We got to know them as I took him to the store to get stuff while they didn't have a car. We had dinner often after getting to know them. We would also play Wii, and were glad to have them over for holiday meals. We would even split up and the guys would play video games while the girls would go to girlie movies. The summer was great. I visited home in April with the kids. A few weeks after I returned home, my in-laws came for a summer visit. They had been to Germany, but it was in winter. We were excited to take them on vacation. We went down to Garmisch and then down to Pisa, Italy. While in Garmisch, we split up a few of the days. Our crew had already taken a few tours in the area, so we wanted to see what we could find. We ended up hiking to a couple of towns away, ate a nice lunch, and headed back because Genevieve was tired. We told her when we got home we would rest and then go swimming. Wouldn't you know she found her second wind, and she ran the whole way home (guessing about 5 miles). We also went up on the tallest mountain in Germany, and we went through and over a gorge. Italy was amazing. We spent only 3 days there, but they were great. We went to the beach everyday. We did go to the leaning tower of pizza (Pisa) before we went to the beach one day. We couldn't go all that way and miss that one. After that, we were in full move mode. We had orders, and we were having to get ready for the move. If we weren't going through stuff to get rid of it or sale, we were busy trying to figure out if we were even going to take it. Packing day came, and we were so thankful to end up with amazing packers. They got our stuff to the US in pretty much perfect condition. It wasn't long after we had the van turn in. If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen the picture of our van when it did not pass. To the normal human eye, it was amazingly clean. To the eye of a customs inspector, it was still really dirty. Nine hours total, and the van passed inspection and was loaded on a boat. Remember at the start when I said hubby was gone a lot? Well that turned out to be something that paid off in the end. He had enough frequent flyer miles to upgrade the whole family (for free) to business class. It was so nice being up there. We got our fair share of dirty looks at the first of the flight. They saw our two kids and thought they were in for a noisy ride. They were all surprised when not only did they behave, but they were also quiet. In fact one person told me that they forgot there were even there. I always joked that my kids had more airline miles than most 3 and 5 year olds in the US, and it paid off that day. After getting settled into our new home, we have just been trying to find our places here. I haven't found amazing friends that are like family, and my hubby is kind of bored at work with it being a much slower pace. However, we are adjusting and thankful for all we have. For the first time in 3 years, all grandparents were accounted for at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the kids' birthdays. There was no Skype needed. For the first time in 6 years, the WHOLE family (my parents, my in-laws, and my sister and her family) was together for a holiday. It was a nice feeling. I'm not sure what 2012 will bring, but I'm ready to embrace it with everything I've got. I'm hoping that this year will bring a debt free (we have a van payment and student loan) way of life, and make funds available for things like bigger payments to an IRA and more to the church. I'm also hoping too learn more in the way of cooking. I've been told I'm a good cook, but I don't believe it. I want to expand that and work on cooking. I have several things I've found to try already, and I hope to pick up cake decorating maybe. I hope you all had an amazing holiday, and a great start to the New Year. Now that my app is fixed, I hope to be doing this more often. :)