We're Surrounded!

We were working in the office, when we had another visitor!!







This breed of Tree Frog is known as the Pacific Tree Frog. This is the loudest frog in the area. It sings when it rains. They call it a Rain Song.

Louise's Flowering Trees

If you click on the pictures they get bigger.



Trees in the front of the house.



Bamboo in the backyard.



Trees in the front yard.

NY Photos

These pictures were taken in Battery Park at the southern tip of the Manhattan island.



This was part of a sculpture that used to reside at the WTC.



Monument to the Merchant Marines - look closely in the water.



For those of you that have known me for a long time, do you remember the picture of me that was taken in this very spot many years ago? I was 60 lbs heavier then!



Matt's new Call of Duty picture!

NY Photos

We took these pictures from the Ferry while riding from Manhattan to Hoboken, NJ. It's about a 15 minute ride accross the Hudson River.


NJ skyline with sunset.



Statue of Liberty.



Sweaty, Smelly, Exhausted Tourist.

NY Photos

From the Observatory Deck of the Empire State Building (86th floor).




We are smiling, but we are also extremely HOT!!!!



That little thing out in the middle of the water is the Statue of Liberty. Just to the right of her, before the water line of the Hudson river is where the The World Trade Center used to stand.



The building with the funky top in the middle is the Chrystler building.



All that green stuff is Central Park.



Our hotel was accross the river in Jersey City. We used subways and ferry boats to get around.



Here's the famous corner building you see in movies all the time.

Look what we found!

I went out to re-fill the bird feeders in the back yard. One of them is hung pretty high up, so I have to stand on a bucket to get it down. I went to grab the bucket that we keep on the back patio, and I had a surprise waiting for me inside!



Isn't he cute!!! After I took his picture, I let him go among the flower beds.

We Sold the House in LV & We're in NY!

Well, OK, we got an offer and have accepted it. We have to wait the standard 14 days to make sure everything goes through, but so far everything looks good!

We are in NY right now. Matt is taking Salesforce.com training, and I've been working from my hotel room. We went to the Empire State Building on Monday. Last night we attended a Salesforce.com event. Tonight we might go see the Statue of Liberty.

NY is extremely hot right now - hotter then Houston, in fact. On Monday it was 100 degrees and very high humidity. In a city with tall buildings, no breeze and a population of approximately 8 million people, you can almost see the B.O. in the air. We can't walk anywhere without sweating profusely, and the subways are quite literally like kilns. When we were in the Empire State Building we had to wait in a line to go up to the observatory deck, and then in another line to go back down. In order to go up or down, they take you to the 80th floor first, then you have to change elavators to go the last 6 floors. The 80th floor had no air conditioning. It was so stiffling hot that I actually had a little panic attack because I felt as though I could not catch my breath. What made it worse was knowing that it was going to be at least 15 more minutes before I could get to "fresh air." I was able to keep calm - no one knew I was flipping out - but it took some serious strength to remain calm.

I will post pictures of our trip soon!

Pictures of Mom & Dad's House

First, we owe Matt's Parents a HUGE thank you for putting us up for the next... who knows how long. But the most amazing thing is, look at this gorgeous house!!!

Here is the front of the house from the drive way. The house extends another 20 feet to the right.

Here is a portion of the back yard. The house sits on a full acre. There is lots of wild life here. Much of it in the form of things with more then 4 legs!

This is a picture of the living room taken from the Kitchen.

This is a picture of the living room taken from the front door.

Here's the Kitchen. The stairs to the right lead up to our Bonus Suite complete with full bathroom and huge walk-in closet with tons of built in shelving for storage.

We hope to use their layout for our home, but on the outside we plan to use flag stone and wood over the Brick. We're going for a Mountain Home feel.

Y'all will never guess what has happened now!

Matt will not be taking the job we moved out to Texas for. Long story short, he met with them, and did not feel it was a good fit. He was not comfortable taking a position he wasn't sure he could or wanted to do. He would still have taken it, but the company I work for - CoreMatrix - has offered him a permanent position with them instead. He will be in NY for training July 17 - 21st. This works out best for our situation. With as much as I travel, he can be home with Kayleigh.
The funniest part about all this is, when Matt met the head guy in the department, he teased the guy about hitting pueberty because he had heard that this guy did not like facial hair on any of the employees in the department. After the meeting, he was informed by his cousin that he too would need to shave before he could start. When Matt decided not to take the job, he jokingly told them, "I'm not shaving! I quit!" Ha ha ha!
Although it's been an exhausting week, we are happy to be here and getting settled. This is the calm before the storm for me so the timing was excellent. Next week I will be in Los Angeles, then the week after in Toronto, then New Jersey for a few days. The week after that I will be hanging out in NY with Matt while he's in training, then jetting off to Santa Barbara for a few days as well.

Here are some pictures of Bender's Landing where we will be building our home soon:







This photo was taken Monday afternoon after we had just pulled into town and were separating what needed to stay at the house, and what needed to go into storage.



Here is a picture of my new temporary office space - at least until Mom and Dad come home from their trip! This is the back yard.

Leavin' Las Vegas!!!

Well, we did it! We recieved a call on Wednesday, June 21st at 12:00 pm offering Matt a job in Houston. Thursday was Kayleigh's last day at school. Here are some pictures of her with her teacher, Mrs. Rochelle, classmates and friends from school. They were all so nice, and even bought her some going-away presents.

Madison, Kayleigh & Victoria

After 2 exhausting days of packing, and several freak incidents... Like accidentally locking the keys in the Uhaul, by Saturday morning, with lots of help from friends and family, we had packed up our entire home, and hit the road.

We stopped in Laughlin for Gas and a short break before traveling through Arizona and into New Mexico. We were a little nervous because we have a plasma screen TV, and apparently, they design the gas chambers in them to withstand certain elevations. Ours is set to go no higher then 5,000 feet above sea level. In New Mexico, we hit 6,000 feet. We have not yet pulled the TV out to check it yet. Thank God for Moving Insurance!!!

When we crossed the Texas State line, we were greeted by a friendly local.

OK, so it was only Kayleigh's stuffed Armadillo, but he's cute anyway!!! Crossing the boarder, we immediately began seeing oil pumps. I had NO idea how many of them there are here, particularly in West Texas. Terry and Barbara (Matt's Cousin and his wife) says here in Texas, if you have a oil pump on your property, they call it "Mailbox Money."

Even more amazing, is the farther south you travel, the more lush and colorful it becomes. Many people have told us that driving in Texas is boring. We did not agree... There are Wild flowers everywhere - even in places you wouldn't expect to see them.

Here are some more pictures we took along the way!

Kayleigh & I somewhere between Dallas and Houston.

Matt in the band new Uhaul - with only 2200 miles on it when we got it!

Cowgirl Kayle!

Father's Day

For Father's Day, it was 103 degrees in Las Vegas. We took advantage of the heat and had a water balloon fight. We also got Matt an electric scooter similar to Kayleigh's! The two of them had races, and we had a great time!

My Travels

Since I only just started Blogging, I'm way behind on documenting my travels. I'm going to try to get caught up right here and now, then keep up as I go.

In September of last year, I started working for a company called "CoreMatrix." This is a great company! The people are wonderful, and we get to telecommute, which seriously... totally rocks. I don't think I could ever go back to an office environment again. With CoreMatrix, I get the opportunity to travel to different client locations and help them with implementing Salesforce.com. In some cases, I might travel just to do training sessions.

Here's a list of all the cities I've been to since November of last year:

SanDiego, CA
Pasedena, CA
Tampa, FL (Twice)
Orlando, FL (4 times)
Nashville, TN (Twice)
Altoona, PA (Twice... unfortunately)
New York, NY
Trenton, NJ
Newark, NJ
Denver, CO (Twice)
Dallas, TX (3 times)
Livingston, NJ
Chicago, IL (4 times)
St. Louis, MO (I got to see Steve, Jeff, Kelly, Jeremy & Cameron!)
Houston, TX (Twice - once at Christmas)

On my last trip to IL, I was able to see Steve, Sara, Chan, Dave, Ellison, Rebecca, Pam, Ray & Rachael. I had an awesome time! Thanks Chan and Dave for putting me up (again), and picking me up from the airport and taking me to the train the next morning. I need to get some pictures put in of Chan and Dave and Ellison.




After my training class downtown, I took the train out to Pam's house, and Ray and Rachael picked me up - thanks guys! We hung out and did Nerd things, then went for Indian food. Pam and Rachael took me to the airport, and I think it was one of the most fun rides I've ever had! Turns out, Rachael is an avid country music fan! We totally jammed in the car, and had a blast! Here's a picture I took with Rachael. It's a little disturbing how much we look a like! Lucky Kid.... HA! HA! HA!



When you add up all my travel, it equals a lot of time away from my family, but I've been fortunate to have mostly good travel experiences, I get to see friends and family along the way, and I get to buy them dinner! Stay tuned for my next trip - who knows where I'll be!

Father/Daughter Breakfast

Matt and Kayleigh went for a special Breakfast at her school on Friday for Father's day.

More Pictures from a Busy Week!

We celebrated Kayleigh's Birthday as a family on Tuesday. Here is a photo of Kayleigh and I together just before she made her wish.

Gareth and Irma

Gareth called from Itally to wish Kayleigh a Happy Birthday! He sent me some wonderful pictures he's taken over the past few months. I am pasting in the descriptions he gave me from each photo. These photos are amazing!!!



IRMA AND I SEE EACH OTHER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 8 MONTHS (THIS WHEN I CAME BACK FROM AFGHANISTAN THIS LAST TIME).




THIS WAS AT THE END OF LAST AUG THE ELEVATION WAS WAS ABOUT 8400 FT ABOVE SEA LEVEL WE STAYED ON THE TOP OF THIS MOUNTAIN AND SPYED OF THE ENEMY FOR 5 DAYS AND 5 NIGHTS.




THIS MYSELF AND ONE OF MY SOLDIERS AFTER WE INTERVIEWED FOR AN APPT AS AN AVIATION WARRENT OFFICER THEY LIKED WHAT WE HAD TO SAY SO THEY GAVE US AN IN DEPTH TOUR OF THE AH-64 APACHE ATTACK HELICOPTER.




IRMA AND I AT WORMS HEAD IN WALES VERY BEAUTIFUL




IRMA AND I IN GREECE WE HAD LUCH ON THIS BEACH WHILE WE WERE VISITING HER FAMILY THIS IS ABOUT 2HRS AWAY FROM ATHENS THE WATER WAS SO CLEAN AND CLEAR.

You can reach Gareth and Irma on email at: ingburkinshaw@yahoo.com . He had an exciting story to tell too! He's turned into an avid cyclist. A couple weeks ago, he was on a 105 mile ride and was hit by a car in the 97th mile! Luckily he did not break any bones, but did get a serious case of road rash and whiplash. It was great to talk to them. He's applied for flight school in Alabama. I hope he gets there!!!