Ali, Troy, Chance and Duke

Our very own piece of the beach

2010-09-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

We are finally pretty much settled into our new home, it is an adorable 2 bedroom, 1 bath house with all hardwood floors and a fireplace, which we used for the first time the other night! Every thing about this place is so fun, its an older home and has a lot of character to it, plus our views are incredible! Out our front windows you can see Mt Baker, which is where we go skiing, The Cascade mountain range, and Mt Rainier! Probably the best part though is that the beach is just a short walk away! Chance and Duke have settled in nicely, Chance enjoys watching the world go by, while Duke has claimed the area in front of our house as his very own playground! It is very peaceful where we live as we only have 8 houses on our block and the closest neighborhood to us is a good walk away. The Navy Lodge is just off to the side by us and is only a short walk across a field, so any visitors can enjoy a stay there or in our guest room! Things are starting to fall more into a routine now and its amazing getting to be together. What a difference it makes when you aren't looking forward to another deployment, we are so very thankful that we get our well deserved break and get to enjoy each others company for a change! Thank you to all who helped us get through all the separation, its definitely been worth the wait!

Duke's Playground
Dining area looking into kitchen
Living room from the front door
Kitchen and off to the right is our laundry room

Our Bedroom

Hallway looking into bathroom
Kind of our project room (spare bedroom)

New Art!

2010-06-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

Just added a set of indie ink drawings that I finished finally.

Have a look! More to come in the next month!

http://sketchbyali.blogspot.com/

On the last leg!

2010-04-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Haven't been on here to update since christmas and figured it's bout time I do an update! We are officially past the half way point of the deployment, after one extension already, so it's time to start gearing up for Troy to come home! FINALLY! And this time he should be home for a little while, as in longer than a few months!!! I'm looking forward to that for sure! We plan on taking our honeymoon (only 2 years late) when he gets home. A wonderful cruise to Baja, Mexico is just what the doctor ordered if you ask me!

I am currently in Boise coaching softball at my old high school, it's been a lot of fun to get to see the game from this perspective. You actually learn a ton! The girls on the team have been a lot of fun and I'm enjoying coaching with my mom. It has been keeping me very busy which is nice for passing the time. Now that the sun is coming out and it's starting to warm up here it's time for bike rides and BBQs! A week from today I turn 22 and can't wait! Since it's my favorite number it almost more exciting than turning 21 :) I plan on doing some golfing this weekend followed by a wonderful pedicure and a yummy sushi dinner with the fam on wednesday! It's going to be a great week!!!!!

Troy is back to being an MA and keeping extremely busy, he has been taking college classes, getting new qualifications, and applying for another MA school for January. We both are ready for the deployment to be over since this is basically our 4th one in 2 and half years :/ yuck! It's definitely stressful spending a lot of time apart and it takes a lot of patience and trust in one another. I have learned quickly that being a military wife is in no way shape or form an easy job, and to those that don't think it's a job I'd love for them to walk a mile in my shoes! Because he is so very prideful of his job it makes it a little easier to go through what we do so others can enjoy their freedom! I am very proud of Troy and all that he does!

We have about 1 year left till our new duty station and I can't wait, 3 or 4 years of no deployments is going to be amazing! We are looking to go overseas somewhere and experience a new culture and new countries. It will be so nice to see different parts of the world, although it will be far from friends and family we know it will be well worth the experience! And where ever we go our door is always open to those who want to visit :)

Busy time of year

2009-12-13T22:56:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! Have lots to update on but no time to do so. Troy is leaving soon and we are trying to just spend every chance we get together, but as soon as I get a chance, probably beginning of January, ill get pics up and what not. Hope everyone has a great time and gets to spend the holidays with the ones they love!

Our newest addition

2009-11-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to introduce our newest addition to our family! We decided Chance needed company so we adopted "Duke" from the pound last week. He is Black lab mix and about 6 months old, and very much a puppy! He loves to play tug o war and is very smart, we were so lucky to find such a good dog. Chance absolutely loves his new buddy!

Navy Birthday Ball 2009

2009-10-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

October 17th, 2009 What a night it was! The theme was 1950's and everything about that night was a blast! Can't wait for next year definitely going again!

First Year Down!

2009-10-26T15:15:00.001-07:00

well everyone says your first year of marriage is the toughest but we made it through! Still can't believe its already been a year! Celebrated our anniversary at the Tulalip Resort, it was so romantic wish we would have gotten a picture of the dinner. They brought us out a chocolate desert and wrote in chocolate sauce on the plate happy 1st anniversary it was so cute, we had a blast!

Just had to take pics of the room, it was incredible, didnt have a chance to take any other pics we were to busy enjoying the casino :)

Even the bathroom was incredible! haha! Had our own personal robes and everything!

Such A Cute Story

2009-09-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible.
I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching???

Through the eyes of a child:
The Children's Bible in a Nutshell
In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.
Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did.
Then God made the world.
He split the Adam and made Eve . Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.
Adam and Eve had a son, Cain , who hated his brother as long as he was Abel .
Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.
One of the next important
people was Noah , who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.
After Noah came Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob . Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau , because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.
Another important Bible guy is Moses , whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't
lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.
Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.
One of Moses ' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.
After Joshua came David . He got to be king by killing
a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.
After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.
There were also some minor
league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.
After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn.
(I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')
During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.
Jesus also had twelve opossums.
The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they named a terrible vegetable after him.
Jesus was a great man. He healed many leopards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.
But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus . He just washed his hands instead.
Anyways, Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum.. His return is foretold in the book of
Revolution.

Weekend In Gig Harbor

2009-08-19T15:33:00.000-07:00

We got a chance to get off the island for the weekend, and it was fabulous. Gig Harbor is about 3 hours south of us by Tacoma. Got to spend some time together just us and see a new place!

Troy trying to get a golf ball on the tee in some snow glob (it never happened hahaha think it was impossible)

The town was doing an oldies festival so everyone brought
out their old cars and dressed up in poodle skirts!

There were some huge houses along the waterline, and tons and tons of sailboats!

Thinks he's so cool :)
Crossing the Tacoma Narrow's Bridge, was kinda creepy after seeing the old pictures in the hotel of it collapsing after a wind storm :/
Downtown Seattle

SAFECO Field

Karaoke At Bachelorette Party

2009-08-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Was a first time for most of us, singing karaoke! That night at Humpin Hannah's we all got up on stage and belted out "Friends In Low Places"! But that wasn't all that night, there was mechanical bull riding, escalator surfing, midnight pant splitting, many silly little games played, and even special guests that more info just cant be shared unless you were there! Never laughed so hard!

Heather's Wedding

2009-08-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends got married on July 25th at Banbury Golf Course in Idaho. It was a beautiful wedding. It was a very fast visit home, sad I didn't get to spend more time with the fam but Troy had just got home and I was very anxious to get home to him! I threw the Bachelorette Party for Heather and we had a blast so many great laughs! Here are some pics from the fun filled weekend!

Kelsey and I hittin the dance floor!
My dad refused to dance, so I stepped in so my mom could get a dance in! I miss her!
Such Goobers!

The flower girl was so cute, and did a great job walking down the aisle!

Just before the ceremony! From left to right: Me, Kelsey, Heather, Kora

Finally Updating!

2009-08-14T10:14:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I've updated our blog, and a lot has gone on. Troy made it home and finally gets a break for awhile, it is really nice having him home every night and finally getting to enjoy married life! This weekend we are going to Gig Harbor to play tourist for a couple days, just us! Here are some photos from the past few months!

It got into the 90's here for a couple weeks, so just before Troy got home Chance and I went to the beach to cool off he loves it there!
Tabitha's dog Charlie at the beach with us!
Sunset from Lakewood, WA
My mom and sister came to visit for a week. We went to Bahama Breeze and had some yummy food and drinks! Hope they can make it up for a visit again soon!

Mom and I with our Bahama Rita's, best drink I've ever had. It had cactus extract in it, and it was so yummy!

Our New Home

2009-05-13T09:37:00.001-07:00

Front Entryway, there is a laundry room, a half bathroom, and a coat closet

Looking in from the front door, We have 3 huge windows in the living room that I love, it lets so much light in!!

Living Room

Kitchen, the garage is attached so its way nice not having to go outside to get to the car.

From the back door, we have so much space don't know what to do with it all. Also have a nice sized yard with patio just perfect for our boy Chance :)

Upstairs we have 4 bedrooms, this is the office, still in the process of unpacking that room!

Guest bathroom at the top of the stairs

Guest Bedroom not much in there but if anyone wants to come visit its there!

The so called "Master Bathroom" hahaha its dinky but can't complain since we do have 3 bathrooms!

Master Bedroom, with his and hers closets!

Finally starting to get it to look like a house, hopefully it will be all unpacked for when troy gets home. The 4th room is his "Man Room" hahaha kinda leaving that one for him to do. Just a bunch of boxes and such in there right now it's a mess, thats why theres no picture of it. I love our new home!

Moving Part 2

2009-05-13T09:17:00.001-07:00

My birthday lunch with Tabs, had some yummy margaritas at Mi Pueblo's

Golfing with Troy was interesting. This is pretty much how it went for me like in Happy Gilmore, Play it where it lays :) it was a lot of fun can't wait to go again!

My new pink golf clubs Troy got me for my bday :)

On the lake in Tacoma, was such a beautiful sunset!

Finally on Whidbey Island, crossing the bridge at Deception Pass

The Tulip Festival was going on when we drove through Mt Vernon, there were fields and fields of all different colored flowers!

Yummy Donuts from Pike's Market in Seattle

Everytime I go there I want to buy some of these flowers they are so gorgeous!!!!

Unfortunately Troy had to leave, April his command is on deployment so he had to go catch up with them but they are supposed to be home soon. If anyone would like his new address please just email me and ill forward it to you!

Birthday Dog!!!

2009-05-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Little late but Chance's Birthday was April 10th He got his own special doggy cake and he was so excited he ate the candle!!!!!!!!!!

Moving!!!! (Part 1)

2009-04-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Troy surprised me at Kahootz, I had no idea he was coming home and when he walked out I couldn't even speak haha it was amazing!
Hehehe Love those Dress Whites, it's so amazing finally having him home!
This is the beginning of our road trip :)
Notice how packed our truck is hahahaha there was no room at all
Kickin some butt at mini golf, Troy hit a hole in one and I still haven't heard the end of that one hahaha
Drastic change from the desert to the mountain

Only person missin is Dadswa, but it was a lot of fun to finally have the fam together
My hubby the gourmet chef, in Oregon cookin dinner. We had Sofrito Mashed Potatoes and really yummy pork chops that he marinated in his own special sauce!
Nik fell asleep watchin cartoons, not the most comfortable position hahaha
Out playin some baseball
Izz and Nik watchin Ice Age together. We are headin up to Washington this weekend and we can't wait to finally get our place. Things are goin fantastic and we are enjoying every second of being together. More to come later! Happy Easter!!!!!!!

Highlight Of The Day!!!!!!!

2009-03-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

Guy Fieri was here today for his show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, so my mom and I went down to Westside Drive Inn and got to meet him! It was so awesome!!!!!!! Def the coolest thing I've done in awhile!

That's his very awesome SS Camero, its even more beautiful in person than it is on tv haha :) O and thats Guy in the background interviewing!

Surprise of the morning!

2009-02-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Flowers from hubby! He always knows how to cheer me up even if he is a million miles away. This time he out did himself!!!

2009-02-22T21:00:00.001-08:00

Janelle The Birthday Princess turned the big 18 today!

And My Grandpa aka "Papa Spear" The Birthday Boy turned 80 on Saturday!

Dad out grillin for the birthday dinner!

Mom, Dad, and The Birthday Girl!!!!!!!

Their cake was pretty fun it was Grasshopper Cake (called that just because u dye the cool whip green) We had a fisherman for Pop and police for Janelle.
Mom and I decorated ourselves hahahaha

Kota sporting his new tiara, complete with twinkle lights!

Chance keeping a very good eye on breakfast
Decorating for the birthday weekend!

Our New Truck!

2009-02-04T21:25:00.000-08:00

It's a Dodge Durango and it's so fun!! So excited we just got it on monday, can't wait till Troy can actually see it! Taking it up skiing tomorrow cant wait!

Keeping Busy!

2009-01-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

Little busy work i've been doing to relax!
This is Mom's Christmas present she just hung it up today! She loves the old vintage ski posters so made here one of her own!

2009-01-08T17:17:00.000-08:00

K so I'm a little behind but it was a busy Christmas for us. We had the Nickel Fam up here to spend it with us and most of the time we spent up on the mountain at Bogus skiing in all the fresh snow.
From Left to Right Back Row: Matt, Steve, Randy, Karen, Cindy, Brendan, Suzy, Me
Front Row: Ean, Delaney, Bobbie, Keeley, & Janelle
Dad's Christmas Present from Troy: A whole Towelhead outfit :)
Chances Christmas present a bone or two!!!! hehehe
Kota thinking hes human
O aint it great! My dad's the happiest guy alive with this outfit. Not many can
say that this is what they got for Christmas! He's goin up skiin in this when Troy
gets home :)
Mom's Arabic singing camel hahaha it sounds like its broken but apparently thats just how they sound over there
The 21st Century Nativity hahaha yes that's a Ken doll playing the roll of Joseph
Every year we make a cake for jesus's birthday! The little kids decorated it!

This basically describes it all my grandma is so proud of her grandchildren :)

Up at Bogus trying to get warm for a bit in the lodge!

Mele Kalikimaka!!!!

2008-12-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

Chance lookin like Max from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas!
Janelle's Dog Kota

Went to look at Christmas lights and it was freezing!!!!
They started putting up Christmas lights the day after Halloween, crazy!!!!
Its been dumping snow here for over a week now
Check out those ears :)

2008-12-10T22:07:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to put Troy's address on here in case anyone wants to send him a Christmas card or something, I'm sure it would make his day. A letter in the mail is always a good pick me up for these guys and right now I think he could really use it! Thanks and hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Troy Gollihar

PSC 451 Box 700

FPO AE 09840-2800

H.P.U.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T23:39:00.001-08:00

It was a very eventful weekend with family and friends, I believe we had enough food to feed an army with a turkey weighing 32 lbs. As usual we ate to much and laughed a lot for Thanksgiving but the fun didn't stop there. My mom and I were fortunate enough to go watch the BSU football game and sit right on the end zone for Ean Johnson's record breaking touchdown! And at the end of the game we hurried down to touch the blue turf and see the WAC Champion trophy! We also went up to McCall for Uncle Steve's birthday to check out the snow and do a lil ice skating or as keeley was doin a lil ice bucketing!

Trip To Louisiana

2008-11-23T18:55:00.001-08:00

To pass some more time before Troy comes home I tagged along with Amanda on her move down to Lafayette, Louisiana. We saw a lot neat places driving across country and the south was beautiful. They had a zoo in Lafayette so that was a lot of fun seeing all the animals. The best part was all the food and the southern sweet tea!!!

Scottish Festival in Boise

2008-10-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

Before Troy left to go back and finish out his deployment we went to a Scottish Festival to watch the Wicked Tinkers and see a lil of our family heritage, we had a blast!

Chance

2008-10-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

This is our doodle bug!

Our Wedding!

2008-10-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

We had a small wedding with close family and friends in Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was amazingly beautiful and we could not have asked for better weather, having our friends and family there to share our day with us made it so memoriable. My very good friend Tabitha and her mom were our photographers they took tons of pics so we will put up our favorites!