Family Time

Okay, so I'm sorry for the long delay! I'm thinking the three people who read this didn't even notice but there was something wrong with my blog settings, something that I did apparently, and I had no idea how to fix it! I am fairly savy with computers, and I've blogged before, but there is so much computer jargon I don't understand...html, scripts, tags, encoding, etc. OY. It gives me a headache. I finally fixed it so let's get to it.

The last week has been great. Nothing but pure FAMILY TIME with Greg, Gumata, and me. We're coveting every little minute we have together. We took our little girl to the beach last weekend and although she was really timid and shy around other people, we think she enjoyed it! If she is anything like her father, she will learn to love it! After the beach, we took her to play with some other doggies but she wanted to hang with us instead! We got Gumata from a Mastiff Rescue organization, which may explain why she is so timid around people. For the first six months of her life, she lived in five different homes! She is very comfortable around us, but she's still super shy around others. We're working on it though! We take her everywhere we go....and yes, it's Dad who deals with most of her doggy doo! Okay so that will be the only poo picture I post on here. Sorry about that but I didn't want to waste that picture by not sharing it with everyone!!!

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY HUBBY!

I bet you all didn't know that I am rocking the cradle with Greg, did you? Well, I am....I've got a good 15 1/2 months on my man. On July 2nd, he turned the big 3-0. We didn't really do anything but chill at the house and have cake with LD and Paul. It was a good time had by all.

Oh, I bet you are wondering what GUMATA means. Well, Greg is very proud of his Italian heritage and as some of you may know, when an Italian man has a mistress or "a girl on the side", she is known as their GUMATA. So, we named her GUMATA since she is the only woman besides me and the women in his family that he is allowed to love! I know it's weird but we love it!

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. We had a great time in Costa Mesa with our friends Michelle and Steve for the 4th of July. I am praying I will be back by this time next year so we can do it again because we had a blast! I hope everyone remembers all the sacrifices people are making to maintain our independence and freedom, not just on patriotic holidays. Somehow I feel most people just think of BBQ's, fireworks, and vacations on Independence Day. Hopefully that will change. We're so lucky; I just hope people remind themselves of that on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, I don't have any more updates about when I am leaving for Iraq. It's very frustrating but there is a lot of paperwork to process in order to get one soldier out and another soldier in. I imagine Greg and I will be heading back East to visit family in about two weeks. When we get back from there, I'll probably have just a few days before I have to leave. It still makes me sad - especially when I look at Greg and Gumata and think about how much I'll miss them - but it's getting easier to accept as the days go on. Plus, I have an incredibly strong support system and that makes me feel great!

I know how depressing talking about Iraq can be so I'll end this post with a few more cute pictures to make you smile. Isn't Gumata the cutest!!?? Have a great week and I'll keep you posted on developments from beautiful and sunny California.