Watch out for Bullets!

I thought this bullet post would be fitting for tonight to catch you up on what's happenin' in our world lately:

* I bought a ticket for my hubby to come & see me in Texas upon his return to the States & if all goes well & as planned, he should be back in my arms in just a short 29 days from now! Woo-hoo! :) <-- Happy Wife!
* I have my next baby belly appointment on Sept. 4th which is coming up soon! Yay! (I only wish they did another ultrasound so I could see my sweet girl again...:( she's so pretty. )
* My time lately has been filled with 4-hour work spurts & memory book updates. I'm really trying my best to get a hold & control of all that is going on in our lives & man is it tough to keep up! Hah.
* My most recent project to tackle has been our 2-year overdue Wedding Album...IT WILL BE FINISHED BEFORE CHAD GETS HOME...(or at least that's what I'm telling myself :)).
* We are planning on going to a USC Gamecock football game the first weekend in October & hubs is SOOO stoked about it. I've been searching for a maternity Gamecock shirt that I like, but I'm having trouble finding one. Maybe I'll just have to get creative & make one happen on my own! I love that football season has already kicked off again! The fall is fabulous.
* I have officially decided to commit myself to the nearest addiction house to receive help overcoming my habits to eat at Rosa's 3+ times a week. Chad has pointed out to me (from evidence left on our debit card statement) that I may have issues...but I really think it's just him being homesick for some homemade tortillas & yummy frijoles! Ha. If Kenady comes out looking even a slight bit of Mexican, I know exactly what to blame. :)
* I finally figured out by doing a simple Google search last night how to successfully delete 'cookies' off of my computer & like magic, the system works so much faster! It's awesome!
* I am guilty of jumping the gun & getting online to search housing in A-town already, even though we haven't completely received our full & definite orders from there just yet. Haha. But, it's so fun to look! :) Can we tell how excited we are to get back to Tejas, the land of everything wonderful?!
* I have a new great-nephew that is due to pop out of his momma & into this world verrrry soon. He's due Sept. 3rd, but I don't know if he will wait that long. I can't wait to meet little Sutton! :)
* I'm considering doing a super-cute and colorful Beach-themed room for little Kenady. I have some really cute and fun ideas, but may need to make some bedding myself. I guess I should probably get on that while I'm here with my quasi-seamstress of a mommy & her lean, mean sewing machine.
* Hubs is stuck in Africa for another 5 or 6 days where the communication is shotty & calls come rather sparingly & I don't like it. (insert pout face here)
* I can't believe that baby-countdowner to my right is sitting at less that 90 days now. CRAZY, but so extremely exciting! :)

I guess that's all of my ramblish (rambling & gibberish mixed) for now. I hope everyone is having a fantabulous week thus far! :)

Baby Girl Head Bands...

I received one of these sweet little headbands like the one on the precious little baby in the picture at my baby shower and just LOVE IT! Mine is a deep purple headband with a light blue rose on top & is just too cute. I was told that they are selling for $15 each at Rattle Dazzle (which I think is twice what they should be), so I've been doing some research on how I can maybe make them at home to save myself some money. Plus, I think they make very sweet gifts for friends and family & by making them myself, I could customize the colors and flowers to the baby. I found a website that is super-cute called Your Unique Bowtique, Inc. that sells the crocheted headbands for $2.75 & then all I would have to do is glue or clip on a super-cute and color-coordinated flower. The possibilities are endless & I'm really excited to start my headband making business (though I'm not taking money for them :)). Poor Kenady will probably hate me someday for decking her out in these (then outdated I'm sure) crazy little headbands, but oh well. :) That's how life goes, right?!

A Switzerland Wonderland...

Well, I figured either I hurry up and post about our Switzerland trip (which is the final stop on our 'Journey Thru Europe with Kelly & Chad' train, I promise) or it'll never get done...so here it goes...

We decided to, once again, navigate through the streets of Europe & take our own vehicle to Switzerland from Germany...but this time, we rode with friends who had already made the trip before. We're getting smarter, people! :) We went with our friends Adam & Erin & had such a good time. On Thursday, we packed up and headed into Swiss country (which was just how you probably imagine it to be...b-e-a-utiful!) & arrived at our hotel around 7:30 that evening in Lucerne. We stayed in the Hotel Seeburg which was right on the lakeside of Lake Lucerne. The sun was setting behind the mountains so we quickly made our way into the busy part of town to get some dinner and to enjoy the outdoors. We ate in a little indoor/outdoor bistro on the lakeside & it was pretty yummy. I wasn't completely impressed with the food (especially for how much it cost), but it settled our hunger so I guess it at least accomplished that. We then left there and walked around for a bit before arriving at a casino down the road from our hotel. Erin had been itching to play some Blackjack & Chad & I have always enjoyed casinos (though we aren't very big gamblers) so we thought we'd have a good time. What we didn't expect was for yours truly (that'd be ME) to tear up some Swiss Roulette. I started with the equivalent of $120 in chips and walked away with a fat $545. Not too shabby for an honest hour and a half's play. :) I have had good luck playing Roulette before on our cruises and in Vegas, but that is definitely the biggest pot that I have walked away from the table with. Now, I know that there are probably some gamblers out there thinking that's just pocket change to their gambling styles, but that's WINNINGS to me. :) We were so happy. Chad is such a good hubby when I play too. He just sits right beside me at the end of the table and watches me do my thing. I do, believe it or not, have a strategy (kind of) that seems to work out for me, so he's used to the drill. He'll occasionally throw me a good luck kiss, he stays quiet, pulls the big piles of chips to the side to babysit them, and will continue to happily order drinks while I do my thing. It's a fail-proof system. Ha. We have a blast doing it and more than anything, we don't care if we win or lose...but it's always WAY more fun to WIN! :) Duh! Needless to say, our random casino trip was good enough to cover our hotel bill for 2 nights and our train tickets to Interlauken the next day. SCORE! We went to sleep feeling accomplished. Ha.

The next day we woke up to a fancy version of a continental breakfast. All kinds of meats and cheeses, croissants, cereals, muffins, fruit trays, cappuccinos...you get the point. It was delicious. After we stuffed ourselves we headed to the train station & got on our way to a little village called Interlauken. It's at the foothills of the Alps & so stinkin' cute! Initially our idea was to trek to the top of some of the mountains to see the breath-taking views we had all heard so much about, but a $360 cost for 2 people kind of put a damper on that dream, haha. Our train ride was a lot of fun and full of 'ooohs' & 'awwes' as we went passed many little villages, ranches, mountainsides and waterfalls. It was a fun and relaxing 2 hours. When we got to Interlauken, we decided we were hungry so we ate at a little outdoor bistro (again...cuz that's what they do in Europe :)) called Des Alpes & had our first taste of Rosti. It's a potato dish, much like hashbrowns, that they cover in all kinds of meats, onions, cheeses, etc. depending on what you order. It was good, but definitely heavy on the belly! Thanks to Erin we also got to delve into a bit of cheese fondue too. It was also de-lish! After the boys finished their jumbo pitcher of brew, our two couples split to venture off and do our own thing for the afternoon.

There were so many outdoor adventure sports offered in this little town, it was awesome. Unfortunately (but not unfortunately really), all of them meant that prego had to sit out and not participate. They had Tandem Paragliding from the mountainsides (looked so fun!), Canyoning (where they put you in a wetsuit and helmet and you ride down natural waterfalls on your back like slides), Bungy Jumping from 450 feet above a river, a big inflated rolling ball that you get inside of and fly down the side of the mountain in (no thanks), and White Water Rafting, which Adam & Erin decided to do. I was so jealous of them, but Chad & I made the most of our day anyways...cuz we got to go SHOPPING!! :) We spent the whole day looking through shops, finding me a new purse (which is from Spain & is super-cute), eating ice cream, watching the paragliders land in the park, and taking pictures. It really was a great day of chilling & loving on my hubby. The weather was perfect & the mountains were beautiful, so life was goooood. That evening, we trained back to Lucerne, ate some dinner, walked around again, and headed home to bed. We were pooped & our feet were killing us.

The next morning we did the breakfast thing again, found even more shops to check out, took some awesome pictures of the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, & eventually headed back to Germany. We got there in time for me to repack my stuff, call some people, sleep for about 5 hours, and load a plane the next morning...so it was quite a jam-packed and eventful 12 days I had there in Germany. The vacation was awesome, the plane ride home was just as good and comfortable as the plane ride there, & I got to hold my favorite person in the world...during a deployment of all things! It was surreal & quick, but we both loved every minute of it.

I feel so blessed to have gotten to see and spend time with him and the beautiful country we know as Europe. We really hope to get some kind of military orders to there, someday down the line. Not yet, but someday :). Here is a link to our Switzerland pictures if you haven't seen them yet: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041198&id=54100340&l=1066198939 Enjoy!

Good 'Moving' News...

Well, I thought I would take a break from travel posting and fill ya in on some good news we got last week. Though, keep in mind that all that I tell you is still in the works and subject to change, as all things seem to be in the Air Force, but it's still exciting for Chad & I, so come on and be excited with us. Ha. :)

We found out last week that our names have been put on the VML (Vulnerable to Move List) for the spring of 2010 (yay! that's what we were hoping for!). So, Chad took it upon himself to speak with the colonel to remind him of our hopes to go to Dyess AFB in Abilene. The colonel then wrote us an e-mail that said that he has all of that and us on the top of his radar & that he would do some checking for us to see about openings and our chances of getting what we want. We then received word not long after that, again through e-mail, that the people in charge of moves and assignments had reported that Dyess looks very promising for us & that we shouldn't have any trouble getting an assignment there for sometime probably between Feb. & May of this coming year.

What great news that is for us! That puts us a mere 90 miles away from my whole family and back in Texas where my roots (and the roots of our new family) are so excited to grow. That also means that Kenady will only be about 6 months old at the oldest when we pack up and head home to Tejas. Praise God for His great plans & for making this situation a promising one. We can't wait to be back in our homeland! :)

Paris, France Romance...

What a wonderful husband I have, that would take me all the way to the 'most romantic city in the world' for our 2nd Anniversary! I guess it's partly to make up for us not spending our first anniversary together last year (due to another deployment, of course, though that wasn't anything he could have avoided). We left Germany on Monday and decided that we were going to be 'ballas' and get to Paris the old-fashioned way...by renting a car, using a GPS, and driving ourselves there...through foreign countries....for our first time ever. lol. We had the option to take what they call the I.C.E. train, but opted out after we saw the ticket prices. Although, now that we know how much it was to do it the way we did it, we would absolutely be willing to ride the ICE next go-around. It came out to the same expenditures in the end & it would have saved us almost 2 hours of traveling. But seeing the French countryside was beautiful and worth it, so no worries.


We got to 'fly' down that autobahn (which is their equivalent to our Interstate), at a fabulous driving speed of between 85mph and 110mph, if you wanna. I was so surprised at how fast we would be going, but it didn't feel like it at all. Sure made going 65 and 70 feel different & SLOW when I got home though! Ha. It was soooo easy getting to Paris from where we were in Germany, we were really pleasantly surprised. So, we got there on Monday afternoon & got settled into our hotel room at Hotel de Cadran, grabbed a bite to eat at a little corner bistro called La Terrasse, & walked over to see the infamous Eiffel Tower. That evening, we decided to be a part of an American-ran Paris tour offered by the Fat Tire Bike Tour company. So, we met the group at the Tower, walked to their office, loaded onto our bikes, and got to ride through the city streets of Paris in a group of about 25. It was so much fun. We made several stops at places like Notre Dame, The Louvre Museum, the best ice cream shop EVER, & the fair grounds. This was all happening as the sun was setting which was beautiful and when it became dark, we loaded onto a big tour boat & were offered ungodly amounts of wine while we browsed the beautifully lit up buildings from the water and watched the Eiffel Tower do it's sparkle dance (see video below by tilting your head to the left...SORRY, it wouldn't rotate, ha!). We met a lot of really cool people on this tour, some from Australia, Canada, & oddly enough, North & South Carolina. Makes you realize how small this world really is! To finish off the night, we grabbed a bite at the local McDonald's (which was delicious!) with our 3 Aussie girl friends & eventually headed home around 1:30am. We were pooped!

The next day was our anniversary. We walked around the corner from our hotel to an outdoor bakery where we ate chocolate croissants and drank a coke to get our day started off right...SO HEALTHY! :) We then spent the day walking around Paris. We checked out the Eiffel Tower again to get a couple souvenirs, caught a train to the D'Orsey Museum (which we didn't actually go into because of a really long line), ate some lunch at an Asian cafe, walked through the shopping streets, went to Notre Dame again so we could do the internal tour (which was awesome), & eventually headed back to the hotel to get ready for our Anniversary dinner. I believe prego (that'd be me) had to catch a nap after all of that walking & then we headed out to eat. We ate at a super nice restaurant called La Suffren. It was delicious. Then we grabbed a gelato ice cream near our hotel, enjoyed that, & sang-along to some American music inside the cafe. Chad was quite entertaining. I got it on video, but he said he'd kill me if anyone ever saw them....so I can't post them. There are two very important lives at risk at the moment, ha. :) Then, we sat for a tea & Coke in a different bistro before heading back up to the hotel room for the night.

The next morning we revisited that lovely bakery for breakfast and packed things up to head back to Germany. We had a lot of fun hand-holding, loving time to spend together & it was fabulous. He got to catch me up on a lot of the cool places he's been and all of the cool stuff he's gotten to see while he's been there. I can't lie and say I'm not jealous of a lot of it! :) But, I'm glad he's happy and not miserable in the desert like he is on all of the other deployments. And, I'm glad we are blessed enough that I was able to go see him. That was something I never expected I'd ever get to do. Here is the link to our Paris pictures for those who haven't seen them yet: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041193&id=54100340&l=5d4ccfc3f8

Switzerland is yet to come...:) See ya then!

Germany Post Numero Uno...

Well, I was a little nervous about boredom and discomfort when I thought about being stuck on a plane in the same seat for 10 straight hours. It really turned out to not be so bad though. I flew on Lufthansa which is a huge German airline that had a super-big plane with lots of space in it. I got lucky and landed an aisle seat both on the way there and the way back (they must have known I was pregnant and would need out quite a bit :)). That made trips to the potty room and the galley for stretching an easy thing to do. Each seatback had it's own 9 inch tv screen for guests to watch any of 12 movies, 15 tv shows, or to listen to music from about 20 different genres, so the entertainment factor wasn't an issue at all. When I wasn't watching movies, I was eating or sleeping...and we all know I'm good at doing both of those! :) So, the trips there and back were quite uneventful and more comfortable than I had expected, which is always a good thing.


When I first arrived to Frankfurt, I was greeted by our friend Erin who picked me up and drove me to her house in Sembach for a day of napping (since Chad was still on mission) and then she took me out to dinner at a cute German restaurant called Alt Landstuhl. I had a delicious steak there with roasted potatoes and a yummy salad. Then, we were off to the base where hubby was soon-to-be waiting for me. We pulled up right about the time his crew arrived in their silly blue van. After big hugs and unloading my luggage, we headed up to the room and I was given a tour of the bedroom and the base. :) The boys (and me) all went into town to eat around midnight at a place called New York's Doner Kebaps...it was a little place where they shave the meat right off of this huge slab that is hanging on a rod under a heat lamp. And by shaving, I mean with a meat razor. It was one of the weirdest things I've seen, but they all said they were delicious. Had I not been so full from my dinner, I would have tried one too.

The next day was pretty slow-moving. We had decided we would take the day to catch up on some sleep and to start planning some trips. With Erin's help, we ended up spending a day in Frankfurt at the Palmengarten botanical gardens. This place was HUGE! There was no way, even if we had all day, that we could have seen everything there was to see in this place. It was acres and acres of beautiful plants, water, ducklings, flowers, and fountains. We ate lunch & had a dessert at a sweet little restaurant within the park and continued our walk through the jungly parts. We found a cute pond that rented out row boats and decided we had to take advantage of them, so we rowed around for about 30 minutes, dipping and dodging all of the other crazy and untrained rowers. It was therapeutic and stressful at the same time. Turns out I'm a good rower, but we probably already all knew that ;). We got back in the car to drive home right as the rain started coming down. It was a lot of fun & a beautiful day. Here is a silly video of prego doing her 'row thang' :).

We are obviously not professional videographers, but you get what you get. :) And my gum chewing is sooo extremely annoying, I apologize. I think I will work on that from now on. Ha.

The next day we decided to catch a train to a little town about 2 hours away called Heidelberg. Chad had been there before with his crew for a day and saw how many shops and fun things they had to do there, so we knew it would be a good time for wifey. One thing that caught me a little offguard there was that you have to pay 50 Euro cents to use their bathrooms in most public places...like in the train station, for example. It would be so funny because I would walk away from Chad to go in and then come right back out because I didn't have any coin money in my pockets, haha. He'd have to give me some and then I'd have to go in for round 2. I guess they do that to keep hobo's out and the place clean. It was rather annoying though.

We spent the whole day walking through this cute little town and finally came upon their downtown area known as Alstadt. We grabbed some lunch at a super cute little bistro in the center of the shops and then continued on to enjoy some browsing and a little bit of buying. We later came upon a beautiful cathedral that was right in the middle of a courtyard nearby, took some pictures, & got a Starbucks. Ha. Then, we came upon the Schloss Castle up on the hill. Being that my feet were already on fire from walking so much, I didn't have it in me to make the uphill hike to see the castle up close, so we took pictures from afar. That was good enough for me at that point. :) We ended up stopping by to admire a pretty river and a few waterfront properties before getting back on the train to go home.

In the middle of our journey home, Chad freaked out all of a sudden and quickly realized that both of us were without his iPhone. HOLY CRAP. Talk about putting a damper on the day. We couldn't find it anywhere and the last place we remembered having it was at the Starbucks where he was checking the stocks. So many things ran through our minds about where it might be, who it might end up with, and how we were never going to see it again. FRUSTRATING!!! But, a short couple days later we got a call from a German guy who had found it and Chad & him worked everything out to get it back to us. Thankfully, that gentleman and his brother were very upstanding citizens and honest individuals. It makes you realize there really are some pretty great and caring people out there. We (especially Chad) were so happy about how it all worked out. It might have helped touch their softy bone that Chad had Kenady's ultrasound picture as his background on the phone, haha. But, whatever works! Either way, a reward was given and all parties were left happy. :)

If you haven't seen them yet, here is a link to our pictures that we posted of Germany on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041191&id=54100340&l=456ea56e16

That's all I have for the Germany part pretty much. Left to come...our journey through France to Paris and through Switzerland to Lucerne & Interlauken. It was all so beautiful.

Overwhelmed...:)

I am so totally overwhelmed by the idea of trying to catch you all up on the happenings of the past 3 or 4 weeks. Sorry I have been absent so long, but I have to admit that the past month or so has been one of the most fun months of my life. It was super-busy and full of traveling, but it was a great way to end my summer. I am also happy to say that I am officially home...for good. :) I have no other bigs trips planned until Chad returns in mid-September, so time to rest it is! :)

I guess I would have to start with the fabulous baby shower that some of my friends and family threw for mine and Chad's little one on the way. We have decided to officially name her Kenady Baye Sellers and are so excited about it. The shower was wonderful and we got so many really awesome and fun gifts for her. I can't wait for Daddy Chad to get to see it all when he gets home. I will post a couple pictures so it can be like you were there too :).

The wonderful hostesses that made this day possible:

Me after opening a special present known as a 'Humpy Dee' from a good family friend...I had one when I was little too:

Megan, me, & Courtney all expecting and due in October, November, & December, respectively:

And to catch you all up, here is a picture of my current belly bump at 25 weeks:

Little Kena is growing, growing, growing! Ya'll will have to be patient with me as I try to organize my thoughts and try to catch up on my posting! Gotta take it one day at a time, I guess! :) It's good to be back & I have had so much fun catching up on all you have been up to while I've been away! Keep up the fun posting everyone! :)