Caltagirone

Caltagirone is one of the towns about 40 minutes away from us and had an amazing festival to honor St. James. St. James is the cities patron saint and this festival was first celebrated on July 25, 1090 when Count Roger the Norman liberated Caltagirone's townspeople from the Saracen rule. The light the most elaborate candle displays and shoot off great fireworks! I had the pleasure of going with our friends the Tacey's, the Calahan's, and Hanna and Felicity! We all had a blast! We went pottery/ceramic shopping, watched them light the candles on the famous stairs in Caltagirone and to top everything off we watched the amazing firework show. It was a great night!

Another adventure!

Well, it started out as another normal day at work. I was cleaning the tables that our kids eat at when my back started spasming, very normal for me since my injury about 4 years ago. It didn't seem like a big one so I decided it would be best to just work through it (to which I have done MANY times in the past since I have them all the time). Well needless to say working through it wasn't a bad idea until I stood up and then BAM! I felt like I pulled a muscle in my back! I went over to the mats/cushions we have for our kids to crawl and play on and laid down with the kids thinking once again that I could just work through it and that would be fine. WRONG again! I couldn't get up! They then had to call the paramedics to come and take me, on a stretcher and into an ambulance, to the ER! What a day! I spent about 3 hours in the ER with a wonderful IV hooked up with some pretty relaxing stuff! :) They said I have a lower back strain and I got that day and the next (today) off of work. So here I am all doped up on muscle relaxers and pain killers trying to get ready for work tomorrow. It was kind of funny because my Doctor said that I shouldn't do any heavy lifting or low bending, I work with one year old kids!!! Tell me how in the world that would work! He said he would write me a note so I would be doing desk work and what not until I'm better or feeling up to the task. I'm going to do my best to just get right back into my room with the kids but asking my wonderful co-workers to do the heavy lifting and low bending! We'll see how it all goes! Not to worry about me though! I am already feeling much better than I did yesterday. I was able to walk normally up the stairs just now! That's progress!

Our bags are packed...

...we're ready to go!...You guessed it! We are "leavin' on a jet plane". (So sorry! I have the song stuck in my head!)
We are coming home for a visit!! We will be landing in California on the 18th of August and we leave for Oregon on the 29th of August. We will be in Oregon until the 5th of September so start planning on some quality time! We want to have most of our days planned out so we don't waste any time lolly gagging around. :) Let us know when and where and we can't wait to see all of you! And yes of course Missy is coming home too! I know you are all missing her so. Please pray for safe travels and not to mention easy travels with Missy pooh! We can't wait to see everyone! The countdown has begun!

Just to catch up a bit

Well we have been extremely busy to say the least! I have all of the pictures now for our past events and we are so excited to share them with you all! In our gallery of pictures we have our Hinder concert, the 4th of July and the beach (the second time).

Hinder was a lot of fun! I didn't know a lot of their songs but I did know one! :) It was still fun to go and hang out and listen to a live band. He was moving around too much to get a good picture of him but all in all it was a good show. There were a ton of people that came and trying to get an autograph after was impossible. I guess they are pretty popular. Everybody was mobbing the table and the MA's (security) were yelling at people to "get back!"

I had already posted about the 4th, but just to remind you...there was a Santana cover band, fireworks, and fires!! :)

The beach is always a blast with the Bell's! We went to another fantastic beach out here. It was a windy and there were more waves at this beach. They say that this part of Sicily gets the winds from Africa. Pretty nifty to think that the wind we were feeling on the beach was from Africa! Really it isn't that far away from where we are, again crazy to think! Any way! There were a couple other couples that went with so it was fun meeting new people. Enjoy all the photos!

My birthday!

I had a great birthday (your today, my yesterday)! I got to work and some of the girls had gotten me a beautiful flower arrangement and a couple other people had gotten me cute little gifts! Along with great musical cards! Oh! and a good friend at work made me a batch of cupcakes! It was very exciting! Others were mad I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday! ha!
Zach came and picked me up and brought me back home to a surprise! He had decorated the house with balloons, a "Happy Birthday" sign, candles, and another present! Earlier in the morning, he couldn't wait until the end of the day, he gave me my first present. It is a beautiful new watch! I have been looking for a good new watch for a while now and he is so sweet to get one for me! When we got home from work he had bought me these really cute lamps from the Exchange that I had been harassing him about for about a month! :) It was all very exciting! He had gotten me a yummy ice cream cake and made the whole night about me! It was fun, we sat around ate great food and watched Friends! What a perfect night! Oh! And my baby girls, my nieces, called and sang me happy birthday! It was a top night! :) Here are some pictures of everything.

A new house pet...

...well not quite. Zach and I were up late watching a movie, a.k.a. trying to stay up to watch the UFC fight at 4am!, when Missy ran to our laundry room door and started barking. I looked around the hall to see a mouse running towards me and under our couch!! YIKES! I squealed and shot up! Zach and I grabbed a bowl thinking we could catch it, trap it and set it free outside (they are so cute I didn't want to kill it, I mean haven't you seen Stewart Little?! Or Babe!). Well, we took apart the couch and moved everything only to find nothing. So then I started worrying if the mouse had chewed a hole in the bottom of my brand new couch! He wasn't so cute after that thought went through my head! We tipped one section of the couch over and I looked down to see the mouse by my feet! AHH! I dropped my end of the couch and jumped up onto the other section of the couch to the left of me. When Zach moved the couch we noticed a little streak of blood. :( I dropped the couch on the mouse and killed it! It was so sad to see that little thing laying there and all Missy wanted to do was play with it. We said a few words and off the little guy went to the dumpster to be buried. I felt so bad at the thought of killing that cute little guy! I told Zach I killed Stewart! He assured me that he was the one who killed it when he moved the couch. It's still under debate. Missy wasn't satisfied that SHE didn't get to kill it so she was searching all over for it, or another one, so she could have her own victory. I hope she doesn't find another one!!! Zach's going to be getting little traps for the house now! So that was our crazy little pre UFC fight fight. What a night!

Another great day at the beach!

Well we adventured off to another great Mediterranean beach yesterday (Saturday). This time is was on the other side of the island. We went with our friends the Bell's and a couple of other couples we just had the pleasure of meeting. It was such a fun day! We of course took the football, frisbee and great snacks! I have some great footage of our trip but again I left my camera at the Bell's house! Silly me! I'll put the pictures up as soon as I get the camera. I know you all hear that a lot for me! :) (I promise those Paris pictures are still on the way! There are over 200 of them and it's taking a bit!)

After the beach we headed over to the Bell's house for a wonderful supper and a friendly game of scrunch! We love spending time with them! And of course we played and had a great time with Felicity too! We just can't get enough of them!

Happy 4th!

Happy belated Independence day! Our day started great and got crazy as soon as the breakfast dishes hit the sink. It was a good crazy though! We BBQ'd a bit with some great friends, an American 4th of July tradition, and went to an event the base put on. They had a lot of great family centered activities and we had a Santana cover band. The band was great! We got to rock out and my friend Jenn and I were salsa dancing in the grass! :) After the band they played some great "American" songs (mainly country!ha!) and shot of some crazy fireworks. The fireworks were great except for one little detail, they didn't shoot them high enough and some of the sparks started fires all around the base! I guess they figured that the Italians have so many brush fires any way that we should at least be able to say we started one too! We call it Italian landscaping! I have some pictures of the fireworks and the fires but I left my camera at the Bell's house today. I'll get the pictures up soon though!

We were so blessed to be able to spend our Independence day with true American heroes. We all take for granted all the work our soldiers put into this country, we just want to say "Thank you and God bless America!"

The beach!

We finally went to the beach here in beautiful Sicily, and let me tell you the water is incredible! I've never been in the ocean and it be so warm! I'm lovin' every minute of the Mediterranean! Zach and I went with our good friends the Bell's and we had such a blast. We threw around the frisbee and the old pig skin AND sun bathed! It was a all in all wonderful day and we can't wait to continue our little trips to different gorgeous beaches out here. Hopefully we will come back with some great tans!
It's crazy how many people are on the beach!

Missy

I didn't realize how long it's been since I've updated the blog! I apologize. We had taken Missy pup on a walk a few weekends ago and along came with our trusty camera. We thought we would show everyone how great she's doing over here! She is such a great part of our little family. I think Zach and I treat her more as a human than a dog. Enjoy the fun pictures of our girl! :)(She loves to watch and bark at the sheep that are always around us!)