Bad Week Cure

Thomas and I had a bad week and needed something to improve our mood, so we headed to one of our favorite spots in the UK - Hunstanton Beach. We'd been to this beach once before without the dogs, but we knew they would be a huge help in cheering us up so we took them with us this time. We went on a weekday so there weren't many other dogs around (which is great because Max likes to chase and nip at other dogs ha). We let them off their leashes on the beach and they were in heaven! Zo was a little beach bum and looked a drowned rat within 2 minutes, and Max played fetch in the water until he was just exhausted. 

I used to laugh at those people who were so in love with their dogs, and treated them like another person in the family - but I am totally one of those people now. I really don't know what I'd do without our dogs, they are such amazing companions, and have such unique personalities. They always help to cheer me up and are a lifesaver when Thomas is deployed. I don't want to be one of those people who always talks about their pets...but actually I don't care because we love them so much. :) 

Drowned rat ;)

Zo hauling butt to the water!

Playing fetch in the water

<3

Tired after a fun beach day pick-me-upper :)

Snow Dogs

We have had an unusual amount of snow here in England lately, but I have to say that I'm loving it, and so are the dogs! The first night we got about 4-5 inches, and they weren't sure what to do with the white stuff, but they came around and were soon in seventh heaven frolicking around in the backyard. I woke up with no running water yesterday morning, presumably due to frozen pipes. This Arizona girl didn't quite know what to do with herself! :) Luckily I have some amazing friends here, one let me shower at their house, and another friend/neighbor gave me a tip to fix the problem last night, which thankfully worked! I had a little spill on the ice outside my house, where I ended up laying in the middle of the road for about 2 minutes before I could get up and carry on...hopefully the neighbors didn't see me! Another friend took me out for some retail therapy to get over my embarrassment. :) It's pretty icy now, so I'm glad I don't have to venture out today - I love snow days!

Max and Zoe don't know what to do with the snow!

Our street

She likes to try and eat it :)

Don't eat the yellow snow!

He loves the snow

Thomas' Birthday

Thomas turned 24 a couple of weeks ago, and boy did we party. Actually we went to bed at 8pm because he had to get up at 4am the next morning, but we'll pretend :) We carried his birthday into the next weekend (I learned how to drag out birthday celebrations from my Grandpa Keith!) and went into Cambridge to try a new restaurant that we both had heard good things about. It was a Portuguese Chicken place called Nando's, and we really liked it! We were really excited because there was a soda fountain where you get your own refills - yeah we're nerds, but it's rare to find unlimited refills around here! 

Cute beer candles for his brownies (husband doesn't like cake much)


My homemade decorations :)

the loot


Thomas' nephew signed his birthday card - Thomas loved it!

The DVD I ordered him didn't arrive in time, so I had to improvise :)

Max likes to help Thomas blow out candles

I love these two.

Dover

Thanksgiving weekend we road-tripped to the White Cliffs of Dover. It's about 2.5 hours from our house, but the drive went by fast and the scenery was beautiful - much prettier than the drive from Tucson to Phoenix ;) Once we got to the cliffs we hiked along the tops of them, explored the town a little, and found tons of stuff we want to do next time we go there :)

First time I've had to scrape ice off my car!!

The beautiful drive

The port

Castle

Thomas and the dogs on top of the cliffs

I think France is out there somewhere!

On the drive home we thought our GPS was taking us the way with no toll roads, but...we were wrong. We ended up in central London in line for a toll booth, with no British money. Well, we had 1 pound and 20 pence, and the toll was 1 pound and 50 pence. We had Euros, U.S. money, British checks, and all our cards, but we were 30 pence short and they wouldn't let us through. We didn't know what to do, we would have turned around if we could and found another way but apparently that wasn't an option. The supervisor came over and said they take Euro bills, but not coins (we only had coins of course), but he eventually let us through for only 1 pound and 20 pence :) Lesson learned: Always have 5 pounds in the car, just in case! 

Reunited and it feels so good!

After all the preparation, vet appointments, blood tests, and USDA meetings, Max and Zoe are officially in the U.K!!! I realize most people aren't as crazy about their pets as we are, but our dogs have so much character that we can't help but love them to death! Plus they're just so cute :) We are so thrilled to finally have them back with us, and we can't wait to get settled into our new house next week and introduce them to their new backyard! Today we had a great time with them in this wide open space, I think they are going to love it in England.  P.S. Sorry for the poor quality pictures, all I had with me was my phone camera!

Is it beautiful here, or what?!

Adios, Tucson

Although Thomas and I are excited to start our new adventure, we know we are going to miss some things about Tucson (I will not miss the traffic. At all).

Mount Lemmon: We always had a great time hiking or camping on Mt. Lemmon with our dogs or friends. Plus, if we went to the top it was 30 degrees cooler than Tucson - such a nice break from the heat!

        

University of Arizona: UofA had a beautiful campus and was a fun place for me to go to college. Plus, if I hadn't gone there I wouldn't have reconnected with Thomas!

Davis Monthan Air Force Base: Being on base always showed me that chivalry is not dead! Some nice airman will always open the door for a lady, and I've never heard so many please/thank you/sir/ma'ams in my life :) I know Thomas didn't want to get sent right back to Arizona after boot camp, but I will always be grateful that he got sent to Davis Monthan!

OUR FRIENDS: The hardest thing about leaving Tucson was leaving the friends we've made the last 4 years. I guess that's part of being married to the Air Force, but it still pretty much sucks.

Krystina, Jess, & Me at Thomas' going away party

The boys at Seven Falls

Thomas' MPOY ceremony

Danni goofing off on our 50's night out :)