Homecoming, holidays and what's been happening

Have I really not blogged since November?! Bad girl. Sorry for the break in the blogging. I feel like I blinked and months have gone by. I have so much to catch you all up on. If you're still there, thank you for sticking around! Life's been busy!

After 6.5 months apart my husband is HOME from Afghanistan! I will totally blame him on why I've been sucked into a black hole since December. In a good way. His homecoming was pretty high stress for me, even though I was so happy he was coming home. I was really nervous standing in the hanger watching his plane come in for landing. Seeing those wheels hit the ground gave me such a feeling of relief and then seeing him walk towards me was a whole new emotion that is really hard to describe. When he was back in my arms all was right in the world again. He said something funny like "Hi, remember me? I'm your husband."

Then, a few days after Brad got home my sister Mary flew in for a 3.5 week visit for Christmas and New Years. My sister is my best friend and having her here was amazing. We went around and did a ton of touristy stuff around the island, ate a ton of yummy food, and laughed a lot. I absolutely loved having her here. Time went too fast.
We celebrated our first Christmas on Okinawa (last year we celebrated in Australia). Mary was here making it extra special. On Christmas Eve we went to huge Christmas light display and show at the zoo. Christmas morning we all opened up presents, we had a big breakfast of my moms baked french toast and we spent the day making a big Christmas dinner, watching movies and drinking wine. It was lovely.



Even the kitten and hedgie had a great Christmas!


For NYE, Brad, my sister and I celebrated with a bunch of friends up at the O-Club. We went to a big dinner then moved over to the bar for drinks and dancing. (Unfortunately the duck-face-peace sign was out in force that night.)Fun night to kick of 2012!



Brad and I celebrated our 4 year marriage anniversary Jan 5!



Brad and I took a post deployment/anniversary trip up to Nagano in mainland Japan. Separate post on this soon!

So on top of all this stuff, I've been working a crap-ton. I'm working on an upcoming show and all the workshops that come before it. I love my job! And I've been doing some really great work with Makoto these days. I started him in the double dressage bridle and he is going great in it. Fancy-shmancy. My friend and co-worker Alexis also started Sky in the double too. Makoto and Sky happen to be best buds. Cute.



My kitten is doing great! After skin infections, ear infections and eye infections she finally got a clear bill of health a few weeks ago. Yay! She's getting big. I kinda miss her being coffee cup size. 4 months old already.


Remember Lucy, the adorable baby piglet? She is HUGE now. But still as adorable and sweet as ever.
And, I'm blogging on my new MacBook Pro! I am kind of obsessed with it. And, if you couldn't tell from the pictures above, I have brown hair now! See ya, bleach.

So, there is 2 months in summary. I'll try not to be such a stranger around here in the future!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving flew by at the speed I should be used to by now. Everything is going by so fast! I celebrated with my barn friends and about 30 people total at my girlfriends house this year. She made 2 delish turkeys and a ham and we all brought the sides and desserts. I wish I had taken a picture of my apple pie, it was a beauty this year. I spent the morning cooking, afternoon napping and snuggling my new kitten, Jade (I finally named her), and generally being homesick and feeling a bit lonely, despite the good kitten company. That all disappeared the moment I walked into Alexis's packed house and suddenly it felt like Thanksgiving. I cannot thank her enough for inviting us all into her home, she is such a gracious hostess. It was the first year I ever saw sushi and Okinawan foods included in the Thanksgiving spread. It was so fun to share our Thanksgiving celebrations with Japanese neighbors and friends. I spent most of the evening on the rooftop next to a fire holding my friend Madie's newborn baby laughing until my cheeks hurt. The food was amazing, but for me Addison stole the show. She was the highlight of my night. So in love with that little angel!

It was a wonderful Okinawa Thanksgiving and it made me very thankful that I have horses, horse friends and a newborn baby girl in my Okinawa life. I missed Brad for sure and I really missed my family. Brad is still deployed, but the days are quickly winding down. He and a lot of the guys out there participated in Movember. Check out that stash. Awesome. Not. I hate it, but it was for a good cause and as long as it's gone before he comes home, whatever! Also, the group Brad's with made this lil video to say Happy Holidays. I don't see Brad in it, but maybe I just don't recognize him with that horrible mustache.

Hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby Kitten

So, this is a bit of an add on to the last post. Yet another baby girl has come into my life! On Monday during a lesson the rider told me she could hear a cat meowing, but couldn't see it. I walked over and saw a tiny ball of fluff crying her head off practically right under the horses feet. I scooped her up and knew I was instantly in love. She stopped crying and would purr and fall asleep as I carried her around an taught the rest of my lessons that day.

I took her to the vet that night to have her checked out. Other than a minor eye infection requiring eye drops and medicine for any possible parasites I was told I don't have to worry and that she's in pretty good shape. She is about a month old. She weighs almost nothing at all. The vet told me she was probably dumped, not a stray because she didn't have any mites, fleas or ticks. Who could dump this adorable little girl?!

So, she came home with me. She is such a sweet little kitten and she loves to snuggle. I hope she stays that way. I don't think my husband (who is still deployed) was too happy with this at first, but I know that he will fall in love with her too. And if she turns out to be a total terror she can always become a barn cat. We could use a good mouser. But for now, she is just loving her new life I think. She is eating and sleeping a ton. She is great about using her litter box and hasn't had any accidents. The worst thing she does is wake me up at night wanting to play. Fortunately playing only lasts about 5 minutes before she's tired again. She thinks my fingers and her tail are great toys.

So I guess I have a cat now. I'm not exactly a cat person, but I didn't exactly go out looking for a cat either. She just walked into my life and I can't turn her away. I'm very glad my apartment changed the rules and lets us have cats now. Because I'm in love!

I have still yet to find the perfect name for her. I just can't decide. I need to just pick one. She is starting to think her name is Kitty or Mowser. My life is so full of babies right now. What is going on?!

New Baby Girls

I love rainy mornings. I'm currently listening to Edith Piaf, enjoying pumpkin spice coffee with my spiced pumpkin candle lit beside me and I just made pumpkin spice pancakes for breakfast. This gray, rainy day makes it almost feel kind of chilly and Fall-ish. And I got an unexpected morning off from work since most moms don't want their kids riding around in the pouring down rain. So I get to enjoy a nice, slow morning and I get to share my latest news with you ... which is...

Addison!

aaaaaand

Lucy!

Two beautiful baby girls came into my life last week. My co-worker and good friend Madie had Addison on Friday. I got to go visit them in the hospital on Saturday and I have to say that Addison is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! She is so little, soft and warm. I could just cuddle her all day. So very happy for Madie and her husband, Justin!

This was also my first big shoot using my fancy camera. I totally love it. Glad I got to capture some Addison on her first day of her life.




I got Addison that headband along with a matching zebra print with hot pink trim tutu and zebra print shoes with the same hot pink poof on them. Adorable. It will be a while before she fits into them though. "Aunt Eve" plans on many future photo shoots involving Addison in pink, fluffy outfits.

And now Lucy:

On Sunday the barn owner delivered a very special bundle to the barn. We got a 2 month old baby piglet who I promptly named Lucy. I have wanted a pig for a very long time and I am overjoyed! She is pink, playful and curious. I spend most of my free time with her now! She will grow up to be a very large piggie. I'm not exactly sure if the owner plans on eating her... I sure hope not because I'm overly attached already. I don't eat pork, haven't in a long time, and pretty sure after this I never will.




When she first got to the barn the owner put her in this awful little wire cage. She had to sit on the metal and had no room to move and I felt so bad for her. I knew there was no way I would sleep at night knowing she was in that cage, so I moved her into the back of the barn to an unused stall. She now has room to move and play and sleep comfortably on the stall mats and shavings. Like most babies, she sleeps a lot! I'm going to get her a harness and so I can walk her around and let her get out into the grass and sunshine.



I'm having fun bringing her food and treats. She has tried watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, peanuts, raisins and apricots. She is a fan of watermelon for sure. Check out the video:





I'm totally in love with these new baby girls in my life!

Happy Halloween!

Makoto and I want to wish you all a very Happy Halloween!
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I don't know why he puts up with me. Probably because of days like this when I let him do his favorite thing, jump! This horse would be an amazing eventer in the States. He is so stinkin' talented I just can't believe it. He is coming back from an injury however, so this was one of his first days back to jumping some actual height and not just cavalettis. Yay Makoto!

My eventer friend Alexis has turned this horse, Sky around. He's like a different horse. A really springy and talented jumper horse. I had a blast jumping some pretty big jumps on him yesterday with Alexis.

Baby!

Last Thursday we got a special delivery. Meet our new 7 month old baby pony!! He is the cutest, softest and most adorable lil baby. He is curious and playful and smart. Today we decided on his name. Kokopelli. Koka for short. I am totally in love!



Check out this little cutie playing and running around:

The owner is in the video and he doesn't speak much English, but he says "Bambi" which is really funny because so many people have said he looks like a baby deer or reindeer. Love it!

We are going to have a lot of fun with this little colt. He will be so showered with love, that's for sure.