So the list of things to accomplish...

in the Pacific Northwest goes like this:

1) Eat at Gere-a-Deli's one more time. Dad, I had half a BLT for you. It was amazing. And since Dad doesn't read this, Mom, please tell him. Kenny had a Fresh Mozza (mom, you can start drooling). All eaten at Washington Park... oh the beaut.

2) Go flying around the islands again. We took our friends up in the little plane going around the islands. This time was MUCH smoother since there wasn't so much wind. Hopefully we can continue these little flights in Corpus and take some willing relatives up!

3) Go to Change of Command Dinner. We had a lovely time celebrating the present Skipper and new Skipper-to-be. Of course a major highlight was getting to hang out with all of our good friends here in Whidbey and get a little dolled up!

Below are Jamie, Lara, me, Wendi (New Skipper's wife), and Jill. Photo courtesy of Lara!

This weekend includes: Change of Command Party, Blue Fox Drive In Movie theater, and maybe a little Knead and Feed lunch (that is my hope!)...

Sorry for no other pictures. Our camera battery died. Woops. Will be charged before this weekend's activities!

House is still in the process of being packed, and I am still in the midst of planning the rest of my school year with the kids. It is all going so fast! But we are grateful for our friends and family for being so loving and supportive during this crazy time!

Happy Belated Mother's Day and other news...

So, I kind of feel like a poor daughter/daughter-in-law for not posting about those special ladies in our lives. However, traveling on Mother's Day and you know, making life changing decisions can kind of dampers a girl ability to blog. We did call our mothers though and appropriately loved on them, but a little shout out on the blog is always nice. :)

So thanks for raising us and making us such awesome people ;) No no, in all seriousness, thanks for always cheering us on and supporting us through all of our big decisions. We love you both and appreciate greatly everything you have done for us and sacrificed for us!
Here they are:

And just in case you haven't heard - we bought a house! I seriously cannot believe we have actually bought a house. It is still being finished with important things like A/C, light fixtures, and carpet. It was pretty painless for me since I flew in, looked at 8 homes, narrowed it down to 2, looked at them again, looked at a rental, and put in an offer. Kenny did all of the hard work before I made it down there, so a major thanks to Kenny for the stress and driving!

So here is our beautiful new home without grass and a real front door, but here it is!

The Front of the House:
The formal dining room. (I LOVE the arches!)
The living room (don't mind me looking a little sweaty)Our back patio that will have a fan and outside furniture!

This is the living room looking at the backyard and the breakfast nook/sitting area and wine hutch possibly?
The master bathroom and closet on the left.
The kitchen (and our realtor in the back)
There is the pantry in the middle. We are so excited about a pantry! And the mud room is the open door in the back.
There are three bedrooms, so come on down for a visit! And wow, we bought a house! And just in case anyone is wondering - in one month's time, we will be leaving Whidbey Island for our trek to Corpus! WOW!

Farewell, sort of

Kenny and I got farewelled this past Friday. This basically means that the squadron says good bye and gives Kenny his squadron gifts. Then Kenny gets to speak to the guys there and say his parting words. Since I am not allowed to rave about how awesome Kenny is, let's just say that it was very touching. Kenny then got to go play 9 holes of golf with some of the guys, and the girls and I then prepared for our farewell dinner. It was a lovely evening with friends, steaks, and cookie cakes. Luckily, we still have a month here to get our house packed and move, but it was the start of the farewell...

This weekend we are heading to Corpus Christi, TX to get a look at housing, so hopefully, we will find a home and get even more excited about our move!

Another Cowgirl Babyshower!

So this weekend, my friend Jamie and I showered our friend Kristy since she is having a baby the first week in June (hopefully!). I only took pictures of the set up, but it was pretty cute (if I don't say so myself!) We did it at a local restaurant in Anacortes called Star Bar, and we had about 15 ladies show up including the momma-to-be's momma who flew in all the way from Florida.

The momma-to-be is a real cowgirl. She is the owner of a beautiful horse, Mya, and so Jamie and I decided another cowgirl shower it would be! We used the same decorating ideas from the previous shower we did, but in a different location, they had a different feel.

The cake! (we did not make it, but we can claim we ate it!)
The party favors were homemade cookies from Etsy. Taylor is the baby's name!
This was hanging as the guests walked up - pictures of Kristy as a baby and bandannas.
Jamie got this cute picture frame for the guests to sign.
The decor on the balcony area including the pink boots with roses.
The decor inbetween the balcony and eating area. My favorite onesie said that "My horse is smarter than your honor student."
Favor's table
If I had pictures of the pretty momma-to-be on her evening, I would post them! Hopefully I can add those later, but for now, we are so excited for Kristy, Mark and baby Taylor! They will be such a beautiful little family filled with lots of love and cowgirl boots!

Whistler!

So a dream of Kenny's since he began skiing was to get to go to Whistler, BC and get to ski on the slopes there. After the Winter Olympics were there this year, Kenny had an even bigger desire to get to Whistler!

We arrived Thursday evening to get ourselves acquainted with the area and Whistler Creek.

Behind Kenny is the gondola that we took halfway up the mountain. You can't see the top of the mountain in this picture.

Then it was up at at 'em on Friday morning to hop on the gondola to get to skiing! I could tell you how pretty it was, but really, the pictures can speak for themselves.


This says "Elevation: 6,939 ft." That is really high up.

That night we went to Whistler Village to see the shops and eat dinner. Then it was back to resting at the hotel. Saturday we woke up again early to get on the gondola to ski our last day. Whistler has a Peak to Peak gondola which takes you from Whistler Mountain to Blackcomb Mountain.


We spent the day on Blackcomb until the rain came and the clouds descended on the mountains which made it harder to ski. So after a little souvenir shopping, we headed back to our hotel to head home.

It was a great way to cap off our skiing adventures in the Pacific Northwest, but now it is time to pack the ski gear for the next time we make a trip from our home in TEXAS to ski slopes. Strange.

KENNY IS HOME!

So about midnight last night, I was sitting at a pretty empty terminal on base waiting for a certain somebody to walk off the plane. Since it was so dark, and the glass is pretty reflective, you really can't see them until they are RIGHT there walking into the building. As Kenny walked through the door, I put my arms up and said something to the effect of, "YOU ARE DONE WITH DEPLOYMENTS!" (please read that with a parenthesis of (for now)). It is strange to think that Kenny will be home for around 2 and a half years, but we will welcome the change!

Now for Carol, Christine, Meg, and my Mom, no I did not tell Kenny who won the championship game. We all know I don't keep secrets well, but not only did I keep that secret, I watched the whole game without giving away who won! Okay, so I didn't watch the whole game, but I did stay up until 2am and passed out for the last ten minutes, but let's remember, I already knew who won. Also, I woke up for the last 45 seconds which was the best moment anyway. Kenny literally jumped up off the couch trying not to yell since I could only open one eye to watch and was obviously still very out of it.

So at the Vaughn household we have had a very exciting 24 hours during which Kenny came home from his final deployment (for now) and Duke is National CHAMPS!

KENNY!!!!!No this is not a picture of Kenny coming home, but I thought it could be a little symbolic of packing up and going? A midnight return does not bode well for a welcome home picture, but we will snap some shots soon, I promise. The welcome home boy is still sleeping. :)

GO DUKE!!!!

Now the race is on to pack and get to Texas. WOW.

Some additional Vegas Pictures

The guy didn't know he was getting ready to take our picture AS the fountain show started!
Can you tell in this picture who lives in the Pacific Northwest and was SUPER excited to have the sun on her skin? I will give you a hint - her name starts with M and ends with olly.
We were sooooo excited to be there!

Our last night in the lobby. It was magical!Now go celebrate Easter with your family and get excited over the fact that He is RISEN!



and the fact that Kenny should be home some time MONDAY!