And We Have Arrived!

Hello again guys, here we are getting ready to set off on a "grand adventure" as Pooh would say and I wanted to update you on our new place in Arizona before we head to the Grand Canyon tomorrow! Our move went fairly smoothly, we spent 4 days on the road after leaving Kentucky on October 25th.

 I took this as we prepared to pull out of our driveway and head towards the southwest! The drive was 27 hours/ 1750 miles so we broke it up for easier traveling.

We arrived at Sierra Vista/Fort Huachuca, Arizona last Sunday. The fort is represented by the red star at the bottom of the state, its approximately 15 miles from the Mexico border.
Dave and Erica (our Kentucky friends who moved here several months back) generously let us stay with them and take over their little home until our belongings arrived Tuesday. Yay for good friends wherever we go! We checked our house out on Monday, and on Tuesday at 830 am the movers arrived...and from there, chaos reigned at 118 Madden Street! :) Our home looks pretty cream in these photos but I'm planning to update with the "after" ones once we get it all arranged.

 The kitchen through the doorway leading to our outside enclosed area...it may look small but the cabinet space is well designed, giving me more room than our Kentucky home's kitchen!

 Looking through the kitchen mini "bar"/cookie/dough rolling counter into the dining room.

 Living room...note that there is a LOT of cream and cinderblock! :)

 The never ending hallway that houses the 3 bedrooms and 2 baths....a fort home classic.

 Love this laundry space with built in shelving!

 Bedroom #1- for storage of army gear, tools and unlisted Ebay clothing.

 Bedroom #2- office area, bookshelves, my sewing/calligraphy/scherenschnitte table.

 Bedroom #3- Master bedroom has our furniture and Baby Girl's too.

 We take this picture at every new home! :) Master bathroom...it will make you chuckle as it has a fabulous enclosed 1960s stand in shower with a hole entrance...

 This closet is in the hallway and is amazing, it fits every bit of my 450 Ebay listings with room to spare! I was able to sort them in neat stacks by brand and type and am so pleased with it!

And of course, this fellow at the end of the hallway was more than happy to demonstrate its immense length, at attention, of course. :)
The unpacking went very smoothly considering the change in home size/lack of a garage and general "I am worn out" feelings! We spent the entire day unpacking boxes and finished around 530 that evening. Then we decided to hit the local Home Depot, eat dinner and come back to the house for more task completing. HA! We found this absolutely wonderful Mexican "fast food" place in Sierra Vista, the town outside the gates of the fort. This joint, Rodolfo's Taco Shop, didn't have a swanky atmosphere but the food was amazing, authentic Mexican salsa and homemade chips....Lou had two steak burritos that nearly "done him in" and I had a chicken taco 3x the size of a normal one. I think we will forever view Taco Bell differently now! After a meal like that, just getting to Home Depot was a struggle and once we finished there, we headed back to the Huffmans' and fell in bed at 8pm....to sleep until 6 the next morning! Here we are on Mountain Time but they don't observe Daylight Savings Time in Arizona so we're 3 hours behind the East Coast half the time and 2 hours now that "fall back" has occurred. This week has been a flurry of activity, here tonight marks 1 week of being in Arizona and we are thankful to have much of the house situated, the Ebay business back up and running, and a little leave left to take 4 days to go to the Grand Canyon! I'm so excited! I've been feeling a little winded when I exercise but I'm sure most of it is related to the altitude change. Here we are 5000 feet above sea level, while in Vine Grove we were 500 feet above! Today Lou and I took a 40 minute walk to the top of the little summit on post, we walked there the first night we arrived and the scenery takes your breath away.

I look at it and it brings to mind Psalm 8, "When I consider the works of your hands.......what is man that you are mindful of him?" Truly amazing place to be.
Some interesting tidbits about the area, there is typically a monsoon season in the mid summer-fall and then no rain for the rest of the year. Even on cloudy days the natives say,"Its not going to rain until Feb. and then just a little, you have to wait until monsoon season." The temperature changes are dramatic. I wake up cold and wearing fleece, then change to shorts and a tank around 11am, then back to fleece at 6-7 at night when the sun begins to set.
When we return home to Huachuca on Friday I plan to start the Tricare transfer process and get a referral for the ob/gyn, I'm halfway through my 19th week and feeling better than I have in a while, with more energy and clarity of mind. Its wonderful not to struggle with Kentucky allergies, I think they affected me more than I realized! Baby girl seems to be staying active and keeps me guessing where I will feel her poking next! We have a name picked out for her and the little corner in the master bedroom with all her "goodies" that I love to look through, including the dresser Lou made, now stuffed with baby clothing from generous friends!
Thanks for all your prayers on our move and for safety throughout the process~

Last picture of our little Kentucky home....