Our New Home

We arrived here in Arizona last week after some terrific flights back to America (no delays or lost luggage) and no snags with the cats. I will tell you though, it has taken a full week for the cats to want to snuggle with us again--I think they hated us there for the first 3 days. Poor babies. A 10 hour flight with at least one hour's worth of strong turbulence is no fun for pets!

Although we were planning on living on-base, the housing the Army base offered us was unfortunately very small (1400 sq ft) and very dated--1950s to be exact, with no character to the lawn or any other part of the house. And, the house on base did not come with a W/D--only the hookups! Jared was actually the one who first wanted to decline it, if that tells you anything (and we all know he is not picky). We could have been wait-listed for new(er) base housing, but it would have been a 6 month wait or longer, so we signed a rental agreement on Friday for a 1800 sq ft 4 bedroom home out on town.

It is a nice corner property about one-quarter mile walk to the mall. Since we moved in on Halloween, we were able to hand out candy and meet a few of our friendly neighbors and their kids, though a few of the neighbors teased us about not having any furniture in the house yet! The gas is supposed to be turned on today and I can't wait--we have been taking cold showers and haven't had use of the dryer or the rangetop in the kitchen.


I love the backyard--it even has an orange and a lime tree! Rock garden all the way! I am going to miss my green-thumbin'!

I am glad we bought those gorgeous pots back in Okinawa so we can use them for water accents here--they will fit right in!

The property has a 2 car garage, W/D in the home, and is only 5 years old. We were lucky to come upon it and grateful it is below our BAH rate so we have some extra money to contribute towards utilities.

This picture is the view we see when we look out one of the two front bedrooms. In the background are the Huachuca Mountains, and technically, the Mexican border. The base is located in that general direction. Also, the sun sets in that direction, so it actually goes down fairly early--530 or so--because the mountains block it from view rather quickly. The sunset is beautiful!

Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers. Everything is working out great!