Summer is here!

Tebben is finally done with his crazy packed schedule of classes, but that also means that he is gone for next month.  He left on Friday morning for Warrior Forge, the first of his 3 officer training courses.  this one is only a month long, the next, Basic Officer Leadership Course I or BOLC I is two months, and BOLC III is over three months.  He has to finish all of them to be deployable, so they are going to want to hurry him through because he is set to deploy in 2011.  I might get to go to BOLC III with him, and it is in Arizona!  That would be way fun.  

The camp he is at now is very similar to Basic training, but with a lot less PT.  He doesn't get his cell phone, but they do have a pay phone that he will get a few chances to use.  I've been mailing him oodles of letters because I love writing about things and it feels kind of like getting to talk to him.  They hardly have any time to write, though.  I'll fill everyone in on what kind of stuff he's been doing from the letters I do get.  I hope he doesn't mind the letters I've been writing, I've been averaging 2 a day, and he's only been gone 4 days.  I've been using some pretty goofy stationary, too, but I figure I'm his wife, and you can't make fun of another guy's wife, right?  I hope not.

I'm up in Libertyville for most of the month, and a very nice cat-loving girl is watching our cat Loretta for free!  She is saving us so much money and taking awesome care of Loretta, which is one less thing I have to be stressing about.  But this girl has a goldfish, and apparently Loretta's new purpose in life is to get the goldfish and eat it.  I know it's bad, but I think it would be kind of funny if she succeeded.  But then we'd have to buy the girl a new goldfish.  Either way we're going to get her a little present when we pick up Loretta.  I'm thinking a Starbuck's giftcard and a lint-roller for all the cat hair.

There's tons to share in the good news department!  As most of you know, I have a gorgeous new cousin and namesake, Julia Katharine Smith (I'm the Katharine part).  She's quite yar and has a fantastic big sister to show her the ropes of the Smith household.  I can't wait until Auntie and I go down to AL to visit the whole crew.  (Did you catch all the nautical words? It's because of the whole Coast Guard thing.)

Also in the good news dept., We have a place to live in Columbus!  This is the floorplan.  It has washe/dryer hookups and a fireplace!  I'm so excited for Christmas now, I've got pretty grand plans for that fireplace.  We're also going to get a grill for the patio!  It's also super close to multiple grocery stores and a Target.  There's a bus stop at the entrance to the complex, which is good for me since I don't drive in the winter.  It's all around great, plus we get to move in the day after Tebben gets back!  Woo Hoo!