The wind is howling so loud right now it sounds like I'm inside a tornado or something, not the most comfortable and relaxing sound. But life is good as I sit here with my puppy on my lap next to my Charlie Brown Christmas tree and my old man of a husband who is already asleep at 9:15 on a Saturday night :-) So perfect time to get a little blogging in. This week has flown by and I survived this week a heck of a lot better than last week. I'm still a little homesick but I'm starting to really get attached to my little Olive and I really do enjoy having her around now as opposed to last week when I was about ready to hand her over to my mom as an early Christmas present. She is a really great puppy and sure does love to cuddle.
Olive loves everyone. This is our friend, Paul.
Olive was chilly so she climbed in Paul's jacket.
Here she is playing dead.
This week Jarrett and I decided it was time to get a tree. We were set on getting a real tree but when we thought about little Olive and the possibility of her trying to eat the tree and also because of our lack of space in the apartment we decided on a little 4 foot pre-lit fake tree that we just set on one of our end tables. It's pretty pathetic but it works. I tried to spruce it up by adding some ornaments which helped.
Here's our little tree.
Here are my socks my Grandma gave me. Gotta love festive reindeer socks, bells and all.
Last Sunday, Jarrett and I tried out a church that a friend suggested and we ended up really liking it. So on Thursday, Jarrett and I met with the associate pastor and his wife over coffee and chatted and learned more about the church. It sounds like it's going to be a good fit and Jarrett and I are excited to go back tomorrow. Tonight, the women's ministry at the church was putting on their annual Women's Christmas dinner, so last Sunday, with a lot of pushing from Jarrett, I purchased a ticket so I could go. I have to admit that I am pretty proud of myself for deciding to go because as a pretty shy person, i really don't enjoy going places where I don't know anyone, especially places where everyone knows everyone else. But I'm so anxious and well I'll be honest pretty desperate to meet people, that I got up the guts and went by myself. It was a little awkward and at times very uncomfortable but I really enjoyed being surrounded by a bunch of other women who just wanted to have fun and worship the Lord. And I came away with a sense of confidence, yes cheesy but true, and also some new friends. I met a few other military wives around my age which I was really excited about because I haven't met anyone my age here yet, only women who are older, and most of them with children. So all around, it was a successful night.
Update on school. After a few stressful weeks of overnighting transcripts, making phone calls, and meeting with counselors a few times, I am set and ready to register for classes on Tuesday at the local junior college. I find it odd that it was a lot more difficult to get everything ready at this college than it was for Cal Poly. I'm thankful that I have gotten to know a really wonderful counselor who actually called me personally to help me with everything and then gave me her cell number in case I had problems or questions. She also helped to get me cleared to sign up for a few classes that I needed my high school transcript for, but I didn't have, but she cleared them based on my gpa at Cal Poly which they don't normally do. This whole school situation has really been stressing me out but the Lord has really worked things out, like He always does... I should know this by now you would think. I also have a meeting with a guy from Davis on Monday to discuss what else I need to do in order to get into Davis in the next few semesters.
So no word yet about getting a house on base and no words yet about Jarrett deploying. Hopefully we will hear a yay about housing soon and a definite nay on the deployment! As for Christmas, since Jarrett can't travel more than 3 hours away from base, my family is coming up to my aunt's house in Modesto and Jarrett and I will drive down there to meet them for Christmas. Modesto is only an hour and a half away so we're good to go. And then after Christmas, Jarrett's parents are going to drive up for a weekend which I am excited about. I'm thankful that I will still be able to see family even if it's not at home in beautiful SLO. Sidenote...a lady at the church dinner asked where I was from. I said San Luis Obispo. The lady next to her said "Oh is it nice there?" and the other lady went "oh yes, it's beautiful, very posh." I thought that was funny. I just think of it as home! And what does posh mean? I just know it's a spice girl.
Anyway, enjoy the pictures and for all my wonderful friends from Cal Poly who are going home to their homes up by me, Call me!!
~Kate
Jarrett and I went to his squadron's Christmas party a few weeks back. We had a great time and I finally got to meet most of the guys that Jarrett works with everyday. 
Last week some friends from Cal Poly and I went to San Francisco for the day. I had such a wonderful time catching up with my lovely friends and getting some good ol' shopping in. San Francisco was absolutely beautiful and Union Square was a sight to be seen with it's humongous Christmas tree and all the surrounding buildings lit up with twinkling Christmas lights. I love my girlfriends and only wish I could see them more often. 
On Saturday, Jarrett and I finally got the opportunity to explore little downtown Vacaville. We had lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant and then walked around, although not for long because it was a chilly 29 degrees. 
On Sunday, Jarrett and I packed up and drove to Modesto where my aunt livesto spend Christmas. My family drove up and brought along with them their new puppy, Dewey. We spent a lot of time playing with the puppies and just chatting and hanging out. Jarrett got to spend a lot of time with my brothers going to a movie with them, playing monopoly, and golfing. Christmas Eve we went to Church and then enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by my mom. And on Christmas, we woke up early and opened presents and just enjoyed spending time with eachother. Jarrett and I had a wonderful first Christmas as a married couple. Unfortunately, my cousins both had bad colds, and then my family started to come down with something and then this morning I woke up with a bad sore throat. Jarrett's family is coming up for the weekend, so I've spent the day drinking airborne, drinking tea, and just taking it easy with the hope that it will subside by the time the Boyd's arrive. Also on Friday, Leighanne, Paul's wife is leaving California to move back home while Paul is gone on deployment for the next 6 months. Paul leaves on the 2nd. Jarrett and I are both really bummed because the Wheeler's have become good friends and the couple that we spend a lot of our time with. I can't wait for them to be back in 6 months! Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and hopefully a wonderful new years!
