My NC Home.

So, basically this is just embarrassing. The last time I blogged was for the birth of Claire who is barreling toward 2 1/2 years old. I lack time... mostly.

Anyway. Another big life change, another reason to finally blog. For posterity's sake, of course...

After spending nearly three wonderful years in Maryland, where we welcomed two beautiful daughters, we moved. Josh was accepted into the Endodontic Residency for the US Army and assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Our report date was June 1st which means that we are finally all unpacked and it is now time for the traditional "We've moved!"-blog.

Without further ado: Pictures!

Master Bedroom. 

If you're friends with me on Facebook, you've already basically seen this one, 

but because I LOVE my bed, you get to see it again... 

Entryway.

 I like it. And I like the bench Josh made for me. 

Front Door/Entryway.

 Is anyone else as obsessed about transom windows as I am?

Dining Room.

 Haven't decided what to do with the silhouettes on the wall yet. 

Still think it looks naked but giving it time to percolate. 

Dining Nook.

 Nothing to explain.

Kitchen 1.

 The water doesn't taste like mold and the dishwasher is super quiet. 

I'm in love.

Kitchen 2. 

A microwave that doesn't pop the breaker every 3rd time I use it and an oven that heats predictably. 

It's really the simple things in life...

Living Room 1. 

Now this is the exciting part. After watching children ravage my sofa for the last 11 years, I got new furniture!! 

If you're in the market, COCOCO Home is great for your custom furniture needs. 

(Save for the ottoman... Josh and I built that.)

Living Room 2.

With a gas fireplace. Seriously, can not wait for winter.

Living Room 3/Kitchen 3.

Kind of unnecessary to have three pictures of my living room, but I am in love with my furniture... 

Apparently my phone takes really blurry pictures. Sorry.

Stairs/Entry Way.

My "Home Is Where the Heart Is"-project finally has a home!

House.

Again, if you're my friend on Facebook then you've already seen this. 

But, yeah, that's my house and I'm pretty excited about it.

The Bunk House.

Or that's what I'm calling the boys' room... 

wonder when they're going to get old enough to want separate bedrooms...?

Well, that's the end of this tour. Things I didn't include:

1) The girl's room. It hasn't been decorated for the two of them yet, 

so (hopefully) that'll be a separate post not too long from now... 

2) Bathrooms. Because.

3) The office. It's ALWAYS Card Season, but... if you look back at "Living Room 1." you can see it. 

It has amazing built-ins. The owner does some pretty awesome custom work...

4) The guest room. We don't have any furniture in it yet. But don't fear, future guests! It's on the to-do list!

5) The Laundry Room. I spend too much time in there as it is.

*Desperately missing the Susquehanna Ward. Just had to add that. Because it's true. 

This just in:

We're moving to Maryland!!

It wasn't the top of our list, but at least it was on it! I'm excited to try out the East Coast! Josh graduates his residency July 13th and we'll have one month for the move before he reports to his new post on August 13th.

How is it possible to be so scared and excited all at the same time?!

Alive!

It's been forever since I blogged. In fact, so long since I really blogged that I've been putting it off longer than I had to because the task of catching up became too daunting.

But today is the day! Or rather, today is the beginning. My posts are going to be overloaded with pictures since it's been so long, I need to break the posts up.

Today we are going to start with a summary of what our summer has been like:

In May Josh graduated Dental School (See multiple posts below...) and we decided to just get our move on sooner than later and ordered a POD for the week after graduation. It was a crazy week, but we were happy to be on our way to see some family.

We started our trip in Fallon, NV to see Josh's parents. After a few fun days there, we headed further north to Boise and stayed just overnight with Josh's sister, Angela. After that, we drove the rest of the way to my home away from home this summer, Seattle, WA! I gotta say, I did enjoy being able to go outside this summer! The last three have been spent hibernating away from the Vegas sun... We did so many fun things, this is the main reason I can't do all my catch up right here! (Stay tuned!!) Mom took such good care of us, maybe too good! My boys keep asking me what else we're going to do! Thank you for a super fun summer, Grandma!

Josh left for BOLC June 8th, and the boys, Grandma, and I were on our own! We had a great visit with Aunt Sami and Andi who came to see us (Stay tuned!!). After one exciting event after another the end of our stay came. The boys and I left Seattle on July 19th, beginning our 33-hour trip to Oklahoma. Of course, this was exciting, too. We started by going down to Boise for more time with Bingham cousins and after a few days took off for Heber, UT for time with all the Gailey and Munson cousins. My boys were ANGELS in the car! I really kid you not. They took a vote at one point and decided that they didn't want to stop for lunch if it meant getting to Heber faster! Too bad mommy's bladder needed a break around Tremonton!

The boys played their little hearts out in Utah for a few days and by Sunday night we were packed and ready to hit the road on Monday morning. Unfortunately, my boys also picked up a little bug that began late Sunday night! Sloan puked all over the guest room around midnight (Sorry again, Janalee!!) and I quickly followed suit. Ethan made it until we were pulling out of the driveway Monday morning (the show must go on!!) when he puked in the Tupperware I had the foresight to provide!! We were quite the traveling circus that day!

Monday night we made it to Colorado Springs, CO to see our good friends, the Liljenquists, (after a 10 hour drive!!) and had a blast at their beautiful new house! Tuesday morning we were on our way to Garden City, KS where we spent the night in a hotel and went swimming and dined on pizza in the hotel room; a much needed relaxed day for Mom!! The drive was only 4 hours!

Wednesday we made the rest of the 6 hours in a straight shot (Thank you, Red Box!!) and pulled into our new driveway around 4:00 pm. Josh had unloaded our POD completely by himself and I was able to unpack the kitchen and make beds before nightfall. The last few days have been a blur of boxes, but I am happy to say that we only have a few things left! I'll post pictures when Josh has time to finish his "Honey Do" list.

The point is this: We have made it safely to Oklahoma! We are loving being home together and now are just trying to prep Ethan and Sloan for the first day of school on August 17th! I've learned that we are where we're supposed to be. (On Thursday my neighbor came to introduce herself and it turns out that she's the YW President here and behind me is the Primary President! The sweetest couple from our Branch brought us cookies last night, and we thoroughly enjoyed church in the Anadarko Branch yesterday!) The Lord works in mysterious ways, and I guess that includes a move to Oklahoma!!

Thank you to all of you who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you to all of you who made our trip/summer the best it could be. We miss you all and hope to see you again soon. Remember, we do have a spare room and an air mattress!! Enticing, I know!

What a Week!

Wednesday:

The Senior Gala. Josh wasn't going to go, but was told by the Associate Dean of Student Affairs that he had to go. Glad we did. Not only was it fun, but he and three of his classmates were chosen by Delta Dental for an award for student leadership. The award came with a significant monetary prize, which made the night even more fun!

Oh, and Josh danced with me. First time since our wedding! I know you wish you could have seen that...

Oh, and notice the stylish accessory on my wrist? That means that Josh forgot to buy us booze passes. Shoot...

Thursday:

Many of you received an invitation to our Open House for Josh. It was a specially-themed dessert bar. You can't read the sign well in this picture, but it says, "Dr. Gailey's Sweet-Tooth Cafe". It wasn't terrifically attended so there were a LOT of leftovers, but we had a good time! Thank you to all who made it out.

We loved sharing Josh's big week with you!

Friday:

Josh's Dental School Commencement where he received his doctoral hood.

In the above picture is Dean Karen West giving him his commemorative medallion.

Family picture after the graduation. The kids were ready to be done, and I'm pretty sure that the picture is smeary because I was using the camera to placate a restless two-year-old.

After the commencement, Josh and I treated all those who came to dinner at BJ's Brewery.

Best pizza in the world!!

(Seriously, if you ever manage to make it there, try "The Great White". You will not be disappointed.)

Needless to say, it was a long week for our boys, and as you can tell, it tuckered out a few of them...

Thank you to all of you that made it, even if only for 24 hours. It was great to see you!

Saturday:

Saturday morning was Josh's military advancement ceremony.

He is now officially a "Captain" in the US Army!

I have no idea what the beaver face is about...

The University of Nevada Las Vegas Graduation.

Baby, you make robes look good!

We were there for four hours, and the crowd was HUGE!

Thank you to Maggie and Jeff for watching the kids for us!

Overall, it was a good week, but much too busy for home-bodies like us. Now we're just looking forward to kicking back and, um, packing?

May be small...

... but at least it's something.

Obviously, it's been a while since I posted anything. I have no good excuse, other than that I have been busy. Lame. I know...

Here's what the Gaileys have been up to:

Contained our excitement over Mom's lunchtime selections.

Wore brother's soccer socks to church because we all know that the devil makes off with your black socks on Saturday night...

Lost a tooth or two...

Had strep throat... twice.

Discovered Ethan's allergy to Amoxicillin...

As well as the other boys' vulnerabilities towards it.

Signed a lease on this little beauty!

Oklahoma, we hope you're ready... 'cause the Gaileys sure are!

Welcome Home

Yep. Don't know much about it, but I reckon' I will soon enough...

"We know we belong to the land

And the land we belong to is grand!

And when we say

Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!

We're only sayin'

You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma O.K."

Oklahoma, O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A!

Shock.

I've been crying all morning. I found out this morning where Josh will be stationed for his 1-year AEGD (Army "Advanced Education in General Dentistry" Residency). I'm not telling, as I am in complete shock and need time to let it sink in. Suffice it to say that I never thought that I would ever live in that state.

It's not that I have a problem with the state, exactly. Actually, on the contrary, I know nothing about it. I hear that it's even a really great place to live, though people may only be trying to console me. It just wasn't supposed to happen this way. How it was supposed to happen, I don't really know, either. Just not this way.

Maybe I'll be excited in a few days and I'll let you know then.

When I'm done crying.