Spoiled?! Not Our Dogs!

Okay, yes they are. Just a lot. Especially when Dad comes home. I don't know who was happier to see who- Ben seeing the dogs or the dogs seeing Ben. They were sleeping when he got home, so naturally they had to "sound the alarm" and went off on him until they realized it was him. Then they got all excited, jumping up on him, tackling him on the floor. I wish I had gotten my camera out faster. But with Dad home, they were able to get away with a little more. Much more than when he's gone.

Like getting on the bed. It drives me crazy to let them up on the bed because of all the dog hair. But Dad lets them up there. Okay, Mom lets them up there too, sometimes. They are actually on the bed now. We'll see how long it lasts before I start saying no again.

They got new pillows too. Even though we got two, they still think they need to share one. They are pretty cute when they are all cuddled up together though.They got all kinds of treats too. Misty loves these bones. She would carry them around with just the end in her mouth, her head tilted so she wouldn't drop it. She'd bring them upstairs to bed too. Silly girl. I would have to throw them outside the door so she wouldn't chew on them all night. Dad bought them stinky canned dog food too. I can't stand the smell of canned dog food, but they love it.

We found out they like whip cream too. Maybe not the healthiest treat, but they sure enjoyed licking out the tub.It was lip licking good. =)

I think one of the cutest things though, was watching them watch the tv. We were watching the movie "Marly & Me" and when the dog started barking on the movie the both sat straight up and started looking for the other dog that was in their house. It's so funny to watch their ears go up and their heads go to the side in that confused look.

So yes, our dogs are spoiled. They are our babies. And even though they can be annoying and overly protective, I don't know what I would do without them. They keep me company in these lonely months and keep me smiling (most of the time). These pups are great!

Redecorating

One of the things I do like about my husband being deployed is the extra money. Granted I would rather have him home with me, but the money has been nice. We've been doing pretty good lately having gotten bills paid off and putting some away in savings. So it was nice when Ben came home and we had some extra to play with. And boy did we play!

We've been looking for a new table for a while and we finally found one! It's nice and tall so it doesn't feel like your plate is in your lap. It's super heavy though. The table top alone is about 120 lbs. Ugh, such a pain putting it together. We love it though. It's a beautiful table. And we got it on sale, which makes it even better. We also got a new entertainment center. Not the most kid friendly one, but it looks really good. I've actually had my eye on it for a while, and showed it to Ben when he got home and he loved it too so we bought it. I'm not sure that I really like it in front of the window, but it's really the only place to put it and leave the front room feeling open and big. But it works, and it's gonna stay there for now because there is no way I could move it by myself.

We also got a surround sound system. Sorry, no pictures of that. It's been super nice though. Ben has wanted one for a while, and we finally found a good deal on one that we liked. It's got an ipod dock too so I can listen to my music while I clean house or whatever which is nice since there's never anything on tv and I like to have the background noise.

So that was our splurging. Ok we did get a few other things like a custom made suit for Ben which he looks way good in (wish I had gotten a picture before he left), and a new blender/mixer for the kitchen, and some games for the wii. Most of it was on sale though, and I was able to use my deployed spouses appreciation discount (which is 10% off at the PX and other various discounts around post). And better yet, we still have money left over!

M&M Bowling

For our youth combined activity this week we met down at the bowling alley and had some fun. I so wish I had a video camera! This wasn't your ordinary bowling game. We had bags of M&M's and before you bowled you had to choose a color. Each color had a different technique assigned to it, which goes as follows:

Blue: Backwards
Orange: Granny Style
Yellow: Eyes Closed (You could walk up to the line with them open, but had to close them before you threw the ball.)
Brown: Heaviest Ball (15 or 16 lbs)
Red: One leg
Green: Bowl with your opposite hand

Needless to say, most of the scores weren't very high. We only bowled the first 5 frames using the crazy styles, and the second 5 we bowled normally. It was fun though. The kids really got into it, and so did the branch president. What an entertaining night!

Little Past Due

I honestly don't know why I didn't write this sooner. I'm so excited I've pretty much told everyone, but Ben comes home in a week and a half!!!! Unfortunately it's just for a couple weeks, and not for good, but it's better than waiting until the end of June to see him. So here's what happened:

We were planning on going back to Idaho for leave the end of June because my brother was supposed to be getting married. Well that's no longer the case, so Ben and I talked about it and decided that he's just going to come back to Japan for his leave and we're going to try and go home around Christmas (hopefully we actually do). And this way with him coming back to Japan, he can see his puppies and we can have more one on one time. We haven't seen each other for over 6 months and if we were to go home we just really wouldn't have that quality time together that we need right now. I know this totally bums out everyone back home, and me too I was looking forward to going back to the states, but this is what we need right now. Anyway, so we were just going to leave R&R in June, but after talking about it I think I made it pretty clear that I wanted him to come home sooner than that if he could. So he checked into it and told me he wasn't going to be able to because his unit is full of a bunch of retards. That didn't really surprise me so I started checking into flights back home around my birthday. We talked about it, he said he'd consider it, and then started telling me no I couldn't go home. That's when the suspicions began. Then he began doing and saying other things that really got me wondering if he was coming home the end of the month. I was even telling one of my friends about it and how I thought he might be planning something. Well, that night sometime around 130 in the morning he calls me and wakes me up. He was like "Do you want me to make your day?" To which I replied "Whatever Dear." (I was still half asleep and not feeling very good) He said "Yes or No?" "Sure." "I'll be home the 25th." "Really?" Let me tell ya, I was awake after that. He was trying to keep it a secret and was just going to surprise me by showing up on the doorstep, but he couldn't wait any longer. So his leave request was approved, it's set in stone and he will be home in less than two weeks. I can't even tell you how excited I am! What a great birthday present! So sometime between the 23rd and the 26th, he will be home and I will be in his arms again. =)

Crazy Kuwaiti Weather

Ben has had to deal with some pretty bad sand storms lately. So bad that they have to close the roads down and they send them home from work. They've had some bad some pretty bad fog that has closed the roads too until it clears up. The sand I can understand, but fog that bad in the middle of the desert?

Just for Fun...

Okay, so I saw this on a friends blog, and I thought I would give it a go around.

You will get a free goodybag full of Japanese treats from me! Here's the rules: The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a goodybag from me sometime in the next few months. When and what will be a surprise. There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? First, you have to post this on your blog. Then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 people to comments will receive a gift.

Tama Zoo

Since it was President's Day today, there was no school so I didn't have to work. So I went to Tama Zoo with some friends. Here's a few of my favorite pics. =)

A Snow Leopard.

Me and Amber (her husband is room mates with Ben in Kuwait) holding a couple guinea pigs.

Orangutan playing with a box.

He looked so lonely. Very cute though.

Chimp playing on the tire swing.

Lioness chewing on a bone.

Elephant, obviously.

Cool zebra pic.

Lunch time for the giraffes.