we're not in san diego anymore

i've rewritten this post about 10 times now. and keep deleting it because i don't want to come across as whiney. but shoot, maybe that's exactly what i'm being...just plain ole whiney. and if that's the case, let me apologize in advance and warn you to read at your own risk. we're almost completely settled now and the chaos is coming to a close. just some paperwork to file and a few pictures left to hang (oh...and a fence to build, an unfinished room to finish and a yard to landscape). but i've determined that the chaos was good for me. during all the move crap, i didn't really have to think...just do. and now that the moving chaos has parted--for the most part--and the thinking has resumed, i'm really missing my friends. i'm really missing san diego.  i could go on and on about the things that i miss...but i won't.  i think i'm already whining enough.

i keep trying to convince myself of the joys of this one-year adventure...here in KS. some days, i need no real convincing at all. other days, i can't seem to find much joy in this place...and feel rather lonely. i guess that's what naturally happens when one moves but...we do it so often (every 18-24 months). and then of course, in the back of my mind is the fact that we're only here for 11 months. and frankly, that's just damn hard.

but! but! but!

whining aside, i have to say...i'm so thankful for my friend gwenn. having she and her family here has made this transition a million times easier and that's really why i feel i have no right to be whiney or ever feel lonely. i absolutely adore gwenn and her family! our kids have a blast together and...they only live five miles away.

gwenn and i were air force nurses together back in 1998-99. we were besties back then and have always kept in touch through the years. not in our wildest dreams (okay, maybe in our wildest) did we ever think we'd be stationed together again (her dh is an air force pilot and steve is an explosive ordnance disposal officer). but somehow--here we are, together at an army assignment (ft leavenworth's command and staff college). how meant to be is that? yep, kind of crazy how it all worked out and i tell ya, i'm so fricken thankful. i often wonder how different--how lonely-- things would have been without gwenn being here.

through the many assignments, across many miles, i have some of the most amazing friends a girl could dream for--and i am so incredibly thankful for my friends!

i close with some photos from this past weekend--a day spent together, my family and gwenn's, at lake perry, kansas.

love ya gwenn. truly, i don't know what i'd do without you.

p.s. can you tell that our kids play hard! p.s.s. i lied--we still have an entire basement to organize, to include kiele's room (she returns from being with her dad for the summer, on august 9th). still not quite chaos though.