Lost hope...

The summer movie fest seems to be quieting down. Star Wars, Ep.III has fallen off the chart of movies that are a 'must see' at the box office.

In case you missed the movie... don't bother going. It was a great disapointment.

This little short film pretty much sums it all up. [PG-13]

Go see Batman instead... oh, and skip War of the Worlds... it was another huge disapointment.

Settled... at last.

Ok... I most sincerely apologize for the massive gap and delay in posting anything for far too long. I have many excuses, some of which I feel are really good... and some of which... well... you know...

So what have we been up to out here after all this time?

I've had my hands full with school and just managing life in general. Moving from the Canyon place over to here has been a logistical juggle at best.

As far as school is concerned, I have been writing and researching like a madman. I have a really interesting research paper that I compiled on the 2nd Amendment that I feel ties in some fresh ideas on the issue to some old historical situations. Did you realize that many people believe that we fought the American revolution because of taxation from England? I know that was the conclusion I was 'taught' back in school. However, I have to now disagree altogether and would now say that taxation was more of a footnote to why the war actually happened to begin with. No one fired shots in anger over taxes... sure, some tea got dumped overboard... but that wasn't what it was all about. If you want to know more, email me. I'd be glad to send you my research.

Our daily life has been filed up with packing and unpacking... shopping for this and that... getting a list together for this and that... and doing a lot of 'taking it easy.' Now that the new furniture is here, 'taking it easy' should become even easier. ;)

P's belly continues to grow. She now marvels at how her belly-button has all but flattened out across her tummy. Jory is very active, and she moves around all the time now. You can see P's belly twitch and jump from here to there as Jory does flips and rolls and jabs. We play music for her and talk to her a lot. Pregnancy is a wonderful experience. Never in all my life had I ever contemplated how it might be... Every small moment is another wonderful new experience for us both. Our only sadness or regret is being so far from all our family and our friends scattered all over... Being with you all would only add more joy and meaning to this time in our life. We miss you all. Dearly.

Dining room

Well... the table has finally arrived... minus the two end chairs.

So much time has gone by since the day that this table was actually 'given' to us as a wedding present [yeah, I know] and when it actually arrived [this morning, 11am].

Long story...

My parents wanted to get us a really nice dining room set as a wedding gift after we got married. With us being so far away from them at the time, it was agreed that we should shop around and find one that we wanted and call them with the info. They would then have it delivered to us.

Well... this was back when we still lived at the beach house. Our dining room there was rather inadequate to say the least, and so we held off on a set. Then about a year passed... and we found ourselves moved into the canyon condo... as you all know, we were not there for more than a few short months... and we had tons of other things going on... so once again, we put the table set 'on the back burner'...

Everything works out as it should it seems. I'm glad we waited for as long as we did, because we now have a place that has more than enough space to accommodate the set which we really wanted. Thanks Mom and Dad.

After Jory is born, we will be so much more comfortable with this set in our home here than anywhere else that we had lived previously (assuming the two end chairs get shipped soon).

Moral to the story: Patience pays off in ways you never knew it would.

Once upon a time, this part of the living room was refered to as the 'entertainment center'...
However, times have changed. Those who are on the cutting edge of hip and cool now refer to this part of the room as the 'Media Center.'

I am neither cool nor hip, so... here is a pic of our entertainment center.
;)

Our massive, "L" shaped, wrap-around couch.
We love it. Micro-fiber is the way to go.

Arti

Arti is loving the new place. I'm sure he's asking himself... 'Are we going to move again in a month or two?' The answer to that is, 'No. Not likely.'

He is such a good cat and seems to enjoy being amidst chaos. Every time stuff gets moved around, our "Quality Control Agent" explores, inspects and sniffs until he feels satisfied with the arrangement of things.

We're done moving around this town... we've moved 4 times in under 2 years...
For those of you who have had this situation before, you understand. It takes a lot to find that one place where you 'fit' best... especially in a huge city with many areas both good and bad, unbeknownst to a newcomer. When we made the commitment to move to the last place we were not aware that we were having a baby yet... however, once we began to take stock of our life and our old place, we became painfully aware that we needed more space. Much more.

So... we moved again, and as I said.. this is the last time until we are through with the military out here.

Plenty of room in here to cook and entertain.

The kitchen... one thing I love is all the counter top space... as well as the lighting... and the layout.

So yeah... I had to get a lawnmower... Our yard is HUGE!

P and "Jory" in our back yard .

[Back row: Eric and Jeff. Front: Me and P]

Eric is back from his 6 months at sea... and Jeff is deploying on Saturday, so we all met up downtown for dinner to catch up and toast the return of one good friend... and the departure of another.

Jeff

umm...

Jeff and I were just acting goofy... sort of poking fun at P for the way she asked us both where her sunglasses were...

June was a good month for P. She received many flowers from me as well as family and coworkers... she had a promotion ceremony as well as a birthday...

This is a pic left over from P's birthday last month... gifts and flowers from family, friends, and myself...

More flowers...

P had her promotion recently. This is her taking her oath of service again.

A couple weeks ago, H was in town and we decided to get a pizza.
Note* Take care when asking the place, "Gimmie the biggest pie you can make."

I had to fit it in the trunk to get it home... with the seats layed down... because the box would not fit in through any of the car doors.