Sayonara, Japan!

Den's final flight at Misawa

Tomorrow we leave Japan after being here for 3 years. It is definitely a bittersweet feeling since we loved our time here but are ready to move on to our next adventure. It's been an amazing journey, with incredible people, and unforgettable adventures. We were skeptical at first about this assignment being so remote and being forced to live on base. But we slowly warmed up to it and found out that this base is a little hidden gem of the AF. We have traveled like crazy and had so many incredible experiences that we wouldn't have had back stateside. We have visited 5 different countries while stationed here and got to explore all over Japan. Our little lady, Heidi was born here and it will always be a truly special place in our hearts for that reason alone. But one of the best things about Misawa is all the friendships we have made over the past 3 years. Specials bonds were formed over pregnancies, play dates, baby wifi, TDYs, and a deployment. We are really going to miss and already miss some of the people we have met here in Japan. Thank you for being a part of our lives these past three years. We are looking forward to our little Misawa reunions throughout the years.

And who knows?!? We could always come back ;) 

Here are some picture memories....

A Heavenly Birthday

Early this February the world lost an extraordinary woman, my Grammy, Alice Muller. Grammy was like a second mom to me and my sister. She watched us everyday while my Mom and Dad were working and picked us up from pre-school and elementary school. We had countless sleep overs with her and never wanted to leave her house. She spoiled us and documented every moment of our lives with her camera. She was the best person to talk to about anything. Listening with love and no judgement. Even when I wasn't living close to her later in life she would brighten my day up with her loving facebook messages. She was famous among my friends for those. I can attribute my shopping addiction to her, my love for coke, and consuming an excessive amount of McDonald's chicken nuggets in my youth. I am so lucky that she got to meet her only Great Grandchild, Heidi Alice and that the days leading up to her death we got to say talk via Skype. It was her last good day and she got to sing to Heidi. It was God who was allowing us to have one last goodbye. We were so blessed to have that special moment.

Grammy with her Great Granddaughter

Grammy was someone I strive to be and live like. She taught me to love life, my family, and most of all God. She was like a real life Angel. She could see the good in any situation and would help out anyone in need. Her legacy will live on in all the people she touched and her family. We all have a little of Grammy in us. And if she taught us anything it would be to fill the world with more love.

Today would of been her 73rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Grammy. I think I will celebrate with a trip to McDonald's, a cold coke, and to buy something pretty online.

Trip to PA with Grammy

Disney Trip! I am sure Grammy bought our matching Ariel rainbow outfits. 

Grammy and I at Aunt Linda's Wedding

Swimming at the boca house 

Lake Worth Beach with Grammy

Beautiful Inside and out. 

Winter is here...that means we need to go on a vacation!

Heidi playing in the snow. 

Our small town in Northern Japan has officially turned into it's own little snow globe. We have about a foot of snow on the ground and more on the way. The first time Heidi ventured out in the snow she did not enjoy her little sledding adventure. I thought she might be traumatized but we have been out there since then and she seems to be warming up to it more and more. If we get some more snow soon I was thinking about taking her snow shoeing with Dennis. It could be a family adventure with Heidi on Dennis' back and he can consider it his workout for the day. 

First time sledding. Fail. 

Second time sledding. Loved it. 

Soon we will be escaping the snow to take a 3 week vacation down under to Australia and New Zealand. Visiting the city of Cairns first to enjoy some beach time and snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. Then we will get a camper van and explore the south island of New Zealand for about 10 days. We end the trip in the big city of Sydney. It's going to be an amazing vacation that we are so blessed to take. I am sure I will be posting lots of pictures in the near future.

Now an update on the little girl.....Heidi went in for her 15 month appointment and our little lady is 29.2 pounds and 33.2 inches long. She is now in the 99 percentile not only for height but weight too. Her vocabulary is starting to expand. "No" has become a favorite word of hers lately...I am sure she learned it from imitating her mommy but "ball" and "dog" are still her go to's. And speaking of favorites her Daddy has become her favorite now. She gets so excited when he comes home and constantly wants to be held by him. It just melts my heart. She has started coloring but needs to be reminded a lot not to eat the crayons. Definitely a future artist in the works. Her favorite song is the itsy bitsy spider and she loves to do the motions with it. Elmo and Mickey are in competition for her favorite TV character at breakfast. Elmo's voice is pretty awesome to her but Mickey's songs mean she can get her dance on. We will see who the will win Heidi's love once she can start making requests in the near future. This little lady is beginning to pick up on more and more and it's exciting to see her learn new things. One thing that is not so exciting is she has also started to have opinions about things now and will occasionally throw a tantrum. This has been all sorts of fun but I am trying my best to be ahead of the tantrums by distracting her with something else. As my Grammy said to my mom and my mom tells me....it's all a phase. Hopefully, not a long one.

My Movie Star! 

I can't believe we only have about 6 months left in Japan. This assignment has been amazing and it will be so hard to leave but our 3 years are coming to a close. We have put in for our next assignment and will find out in less than two months. All we can do now is prayer to the assignment gods that we will get one of our top picks.

Thank you to everyone who sent presents and cards this Christmas. We are so thankful for all of your generosity and thoughtfulness. Please don't be offended if you did not get a card from us....we did not send any out. It's one of my goals for this new year.

Welcoming Homes and Walking!

It was a long 7 months but Dennis is finally back home! Our family is whole again and it is the most wonderful feeling in the world. Heidi has taken to him like he never was gone. I am sure it's just the start to her being a little daddy's girl. We love having him back home and are so proud of his service to our country.

Re-united! 

Another great thing that happened this month is that Heidi is officially a walker. I guess she wanted to wait until her Daddy came home to really get on it. Everyday she keeps on getting better and better and of course, faster. I am sure soon we will be running after her. She also got her second front tooth this month and was not very happy about it. Now I think her canine's are wanting to break through. Her favorite activity lately has been dancing especially to Taylor Swift's Shake it off.  Her and I have a dance party in the living room and Dennis just looks at us like we are crazy. She loves reading books but is becoming more opinionated on the ones she wants you to read. She started to imitate me when I tell her nicely "No, no, no" and shake my head when she is touching something she shouldn't. She looks back up at me shakes her head and says "No, no, no." It's adorable...for now. Her little personality is shining through more and more each day and we are just falling even more in love with our little lady.

Heidi and her Daddy reading. 

Thanksgiving 2014

We had a wonderful Turkey day and are so thankful for our Misawa family. We would of loved to be at both of our families Thanksgivings but it was just too much with Dennis just getting back from his deployment. So we had a nice evening with some of our closet friends here in Misawa and it was wonderful. We feel so blessed and are just so thankful that we are a family again.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We can't wait until next year when we can hopefully go back to our homes to celebrate the holidays.

One year!

Heidi is one! This little lady has grown up so fast right in front of my eyes. We celebrated her first birthday on September 26th in style. Cupcakes and Champagne with some of our close Misawa friends. We did miss having Dennis here to celebrate but thank goodness for skype. He got to sing his little lady a Happy Birthday song. We just can't wait to celebrate his safe return in the coming month.

Don't let this picture fool you...she had a great time at her birthday! 

At one Heidi is in the 99 percentile for height and the 94 percentile for weight. This girl continues to get bigger and bigger. I swear she looks like she could fit in with the 2 year olds. She has still yet to walk, only one step, but I feel she is SO close. She can go into a standing position from the floor and squat down to get things and go back into a standing position and hold it for over a minute at a time. So the balance aspect is there now she just needs to work up the courage. I know she will figure it out in her own time and then be running before I know it.

Heidi has started swim lessons this month and loves them. She is my little fishy and we are working on blowing bubbles so we can start practicing going under water. She still only has her two bottom teeth but it seems like she might be getting some of her top ones soon. Her favorite foods are cheese, blueberries, peas, peaches, and boiled eggs. She loves to go on runs with mommy, play in the park, feed Kendall, and be chased around. She loves other children and is always wanting to talk to them when we are out and about. Her first word is Dog and I think she might actually be calling me Mama now. Not 100 percent sure on that one but I know it seems to happen most when she is upset about something. She began stacking blocks last month and can give me a high five...when she wants to, of course. This little lady is my pride and joy.

Thank you to everyone who attended her party, that has sent us gifts, and wished Heidi a Happy Birthday on facebook. We really appreciate all the love especially since her Daddy is away.

Below are some pictures where you can watch her transition from birth to present day. My has she grown....

I'm one! 

Little Lady and Half Birthdays!

I forgot to publish a blog for Heidi for 5 months so I am combining both months into this one. There have been so many neat changes for our little lady over the past months and she continues to amaze us with how much she learns and grows. We just love her to pieces.

Heidi at 5 months old weighed 18.5 pounds and was 26.5 inches long. A very solid little girl. She loves to smile, stick out her tongue, and is really started to giggle a lot lately.  Especially at Kendall when he comes to sniff or lick her and it is just adorable. She can sit up leaning forward on her hands for a good amount of time. She is great from going from her back to her tummy but for some reason hasn't seem to roll over the other way...which should probably be easier. She is still grabbing onto everything and wants to put everything in her mouth. She has found her toes a lot more this month and even is putting them in her mouth. Her eyes have really started to turn more brown this month...kind of a hazel color which is really pretty. She will probably end up being a brown eyed girl like her mamma. Speaking of that, everyone seems to think she looks like my little twin.






















Heidi at 6 months weighs 19.3 pounds and is 27 inches long. She loves to talk. She has really started to use some consonants like ga, ba, and da.  Her sitting up has gotten even better and she can sit by herself for long periods of time. She has been rolling over like crazy on her tummy and wants to scoot herself forward. She has got the leg and butt part down but can't seem to figure out the arms. We have started some real foods this month after she was pretty much staring us down as we ate ours. She has tried carrots and butternut squash so far. She didn't like carrots too much but loved the butternut squash. We plan to add some other variety as the month goes on. She has started to sleep in her crib this month and it's definitely been a struggle. We have finally found out that she likes to sleep on her tummy best and that has helped a bit. We are hoping about after two weeks she will go back to her usual of sleeping through the night again....hopefully ;)




Heidi also got baptized this month. It was a very special occasion for her and as usual, she looked her best and behaved like a lady. We are so happy for Heidi to be welcomed into the community of Christ.