Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This past year has been a whirlwind. From moving across the country, purchasing our first home, a half-marathon, a trip to Key West for a family member's wedding, a 1st birthday celebration, and much more. We have so much to be thankful for. I am especially thankful for my wonderful family. Clay and I are so in love with Kaylee. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful baby girl. Even though it's frustrating at times, because we both are ready for Clay to fly, we are thankful for the fact that the Prowler RAG is way backed up and Clay is home a lot more than our friend's who are flying the F/A-18 in CA or VA. He probably won't start flying until March/April (but this day is being pushed back every day so who knows!). It's crazy to think that by the time he actually does get to fly, it'll be over a year since he has last flown anything! It's pretty normal though here in the Prowler community for the year mark to come and go! We are also thankful for my new job....even if at the moment I don't particularly love it. It's going to allow us to save the money (without affecting our other savings from Clay's check!) to get our front yard taken care of! I can't wait for it to be cleared out and have nice grass laid down! The backyard is also on our agenda...but we want the front yard to be taken care of first. We are also thankful for the opportunity for me to go home with Kaylee in December for my brother's wedding. He kind of sprung a wedding date of Dec. 19th on us and we really wouldn't have been able to go if my mom and sister didn't go in together to purchase us a ticket! I am so thankful and excited to finally visit Kentucky after almost a year and a half of not being home! We are thankful for a healthy baby girl! At her 12 month check up she weighed 20 pounds and 10 ozs and is 31 inches long! She dropped from just over the 50th percentile to the 25-50% for weight, but the doctor said that's normal once babies start walking. She just doesn't want her to drop any lower! She is perfectly tall though (the 95th percentile!). She's going to be tall and beautiful! :-) I am also thankful for a wonderful lady, Melonie, watching Kaylee while I work. She runs a CDH in her home and she's great with Kaylee. Even though it breaks my heart to see it, when I pick Kaylee up from her home sometimes she'll run to Melonie after I set her down, BUT...that is a sign that Kaylee truly likes her, so I am blessed to have such a wonderful person taking care of my baby girl while I am working part-time. I am also thankful for a housing market that is on the turnaround here on Whidbey Island. We just got something from our realtor stating that from this date last year the days on market for homes has dropped 50%! That's incredible. I can not lie when I say that I am terrified when it comes time to selling our home (not that this date is in the near future or anyting...but it still scares me). So, I am thankful that the housing market seems to be looking up! I am thankful for our family (parents, siblings) who love us so much. I am thankful for wonderful friends (both here in WA and throughout the globe!). The Navy makes it difficult for spouses to connect with other wives because once you do start to connect, you move. I am thankful, though, that I have made some life-long friendships because of the Navy!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! We miss our friends and family who are not here with us...and we wish we could be celebrating the holidays with you! We love you all.