New Year, New Entry

Kimber's first snow!

I know it's been a while since my last entry. Trust me, I've gotten and heard every email, Facebook message, or phone call that has told me so. This year I decided to try and give up Facebook for Lent even though I don't usually do anything special for it. I'll still use it for messages if I need to get in touch with someone or if I need some information quickly, but I'm trying to give up the hours I spend on it doing nothing but wasting time. The up side to this is that I'm going to try to be better about writing here to keep everyone else up to date with us. Here are several little mini-entries to get you up to date on things.

Australian Santa

Christmas

Our second Christmas in Japan came and fortunately we got to spend it together again. It was Kimber's first Christmas and even though we really missed our family back home, we had a great time. Santa came and brought her a bunch of presents that she promptly ignored while having so much fun chewing on the wrapping paper. She also got a basketball goal from her Mimi and is already showing signs of being a star player. Her cousin Morgan is going to have to start coaching her soon! Spending Christmas here so far away from my home and my family is really hard for me, but having her around really helped put me in the Christmas spirit. I had so much fun finding gifts for her and couldn't wait for her to open them! She saw both Australian Santa (in board shorts and carrying a surf board) and the Traditional Santa at the Commissary. We took her to the Christmas Eve service at church and she was pretty good considering it started right around bedtime. Overall it was a blast and I can't wait until next year when she's a little older and might understand what's going on a bit more.

HAC
DH was busy preparing for his HAC (Helicopter Aircraft Commander) board, so he didn't end up getting any time off and spent a ton of time at the BOQ studying. Honestly he was gone so often, that at times it felt just as hard as having him deployed. He would usually come home from work around 5:30 or 6, change clothes, eat dinner, and leave again to go study until 10 or 11. On the weekends, he would hang around the house long enough for me to go get a long run in, and then head out.  He certainly didn't enjoy it any more than I did.  I think he will look back on this as one of his largest accomplishments to date. Thankfully he passed his board on the first attempt.  Supposedly, talking to others who have all gone through the same process, things get easier and more 'normal' from here on out.  I think we certainly both look forward to that!

The smiling face that greets me every day!

Halfway
January 14th was our halfway point here in Japan, which was huge for me. While we certainly don't know the exact day we'll leave or where we're going or anything like that, it was exactly a year and a half since we had moved to Japan, and getting over that midway hump was a huge boost mentally. Before then, on hard days I would get upset thinking, "Oh wow, we're not even halfway through our time here," but now I can say to myself that it's all downhill from here.

Half-Marathon
On January 15th, I ran my 3rd half marathon at Yokota Air Force Base. With a name like the "Frostbite Half-Marathon," you'd think I would be prepared for cold weather, but not so much. Even though it's not that far away (only about 30 miles, or in Japan terms 2+ hours driving), the temperature difference was surprising. Still, my friend Kelly was a great motivator and helped me finish with a 9 minute PR! 2 hours and 18 minutes. A long way from my first finish in 2 hours and 47 minutes! And that's even considering the fact that we had to shuffle along at a walk for the first few minutes past the start line because in true Japanese fashion, it was insanely crowded and there was a bit of a traffic jam. The course was a sort of out-and-in around their flight line, and we laughed because while it was different than our usual run around the Atsugi flight line, it was still exactly the same. It even had the weird farm smell over near one side. At one point I was really struggling and she slowed down a bit and started going through everything she was going to order at Chili's once we finished. As usual, talking about food cheered me right up and kept me going. I couldn't wait for my Chili's queso and ranch! There's another race coming up in April that I'd like to try and do. I'm not sure that I have another PR in me, but I figure finishing two half-marathons less than a year after having a baby is pretty good.

Baby
Kimber is now 10 months old and I can't believe how much she has grown. While to me this seems like a difficult age, it really is a lot of fun. She has so much personality and really is the sweetest little girl you can imagine. She was sick this week and other than the obvious runny nose and horrible cough, you never would have known it. She was just as sweet and loving as ever. She's also very mischievous and gets into EVERYTHING! She loves to chase Bosley around, laughing as he runs away growling. She's eaten more of his dog food than I really care to think about and loves emptying out things, like my diaper bag or the laundry basket or our bookshelves. She's starting to know when she shouldn't do something too. She'll crawl off towards the room Bosley's food is in and I will call her name. She'll stop, look over her shoulder at me and grin before taking off as quickly as she can to try and beat me there. When I pick her up and tell her no, she just laughs like it's the most fun game in the world.  She will occasionally say "Mama" and "Dada" but I don't think she really knows what they mean yet. So far she likes absolutely every food I've given her which makes me really proud. She even loves guacamole!

She reminds me of her cousin Shalayne, going through my purse :)

She loves her Bosley

Pigtails 

Well that's about it for now. Hope it was enough to make you all happy! :) I'll try to write again soon.