The Attack of the Crickets

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in central Texas. I (Laura) have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised by the weather. I think it was to my advantage that I expected such extreme heat because it hasn't been that bad.

This morning we woke up to housekeeping banging on the door to wake us up.. at 8:30! Am I crazy or is that really early for housekeeping to be coming to your room? The advantage to that was allowing us to feel the beautiful cool breeze outside and bringing about the idea of venturing out to Lake Belton. Lake Belton is a very large lake right at the border of the Fort Hood Reservation and there is a road right from main post all the way to the lake. It's about a 10 mile drive to what they call "BLORA" Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area. They have paintball, horseback riding, waterslides, cottages, boat rentals, a beach, mountain biking and tons of places to hike and walk. As you drive the 10 miles to the beach you will notice cows... everywhere. We passed a large bull hanging out on the side of the road chewin' on some grass. Lily had her first brush with cows and she was quite freaked out. Her barking was quite possibly the most intense/ uncertain I've maybe ever seen. She basically had no idea what they were but decided she should bark. Here are some pictures from the lake.

This one is from the observation tower at the highest point of the park right when you drive in. It is beautiful and gives you a chance to take it all in. It goes on forever!

Little Lily girl tuckered out from her playful excursion. She had a field day!

He really does like Theo... He's all talk. (I also have no idea why this is underlined... man this is going to take me awhile to figure out!)

Having a cute moment :)

We did a lot of running today with the puppies... it was so fun to see them doing what makes them so happy! Their ears flopping in the wind, getting to sniff everything, and pee on everything in Theo's case.. it was just wonderful

This is one of the pictures of the lake. It's a beautiful greenish blue color.

And another one. All the way to the right is where the beach is and the waterslides.

and this is the opposite end of the lake. It actually curves around even more but I just couldn't catch all of it on camera.

action shot :)

I loved bringing the pups here. It made me so happy to see them so happy!

More lake

We loved it. We love having a place like this so close to us. We will definitely be here often.

Ok, so the shutter speed on the camera was set for too long without me realizing so some of the photos are really bright. BUT, I HAD to keep some of them because they were just too priceless and the moments were too perfect. Thomas and Lily were off somewhere and I was taking some pictures. I turned around and saw Theo sitting off in the distance, by himself, with this little smile and his ears flapping in the wind... just in pure bliss. It was so precious!

And then also turning around and seeing these two, just hanging out. It was just so cute!

All in all we had a fantastic morning! And cannot wait for our family and friends to come visit so they can see all that this wonderfully cool place has to offer.

Also, today we went to the housing office to get on to the waiting list for a house. We were anticipating the wait to be about a month to two months for a house if that. Long story short we were pleasantly surprised when she told us that she had a house for us that will be available on September 21st (which just so happens to be the very same day that the movers are packing up all of our other stuff in MN and sending it down... God is pretty humorous in the way he plans things :) )

Those are the highlights of our day. Oh, and I almost forgot... There are crickets EVERYWHERE here... We came back to the hotel room to find about 2-3 on the floor, one on the BED (ahhh!! I was freaking out!) and about 5 alive and 3 dead behind the end table next to my side of the bed. We think they are coming in from underneath the door so we are using towels to block them... doubt it will work. At night, the ground is crawling with them... and they jump all over the place as you walk by. SO gross...

Alright, well thats all I have for you. I will leave you with a very funny video of Thomas and Theo man. He was trying to get him to sit up. Enjoy. (The video is in the post above this one.)

First Full Day... In The Bag

Well today I (Laura) had my first real brush with fire ants... really early in the morning... when I was already not in the best of moods. It was not fun at all. I came rushing back into the room asking Thomas (very shamefully I might add) if there was anything I could put in my legs and feet to make them stop burning. Such a wuss, I know.

Also, Lily proved to be quite a sneaky little lady when she managed to get out of our little bathroom "kennel" while we were gone. On two different occasions we pulled up outside of our hotel room (that is ground level) to a little dog greeting us with her smiling, alert face peeking out from behind curtains. Here is a video of how she managed her escape.

Also, through a long, and very humorous story, I have solidified the reality that my husband (whom I love very very very much (; ) has a tendency to nod in agreement or even voice his understanding of what someone is saying and, in fact, not have the slightest clue as to what they have said. I have officially become his translator of any and every accent. Long story short, instead of taking a seat and waiting to be called (as he was told to do) he proceeded to walk out the door of the housing office because "thats what those other people did". He makes me laugh.

We are pleasantly surprised by the weather thus far. It might be due to the clouds, but the heat it not as stifling and we'd imagined. But Thomas did get his sweat on earlier today while he was out trying to process in. Let's just say that boys can be bullies :p Apparently they can all tell he is a newbie and were yelling at him to run here, and run there, and not giving very clear directions to the building he was looking for. You have to laugh though... for 2 reasons. Because you know that happened to those people when they first got here, and because it was expected... so it's just sort of going along with what was anticipated.

Killeen is a fairly large city. Bigger than Fort Benning where he did his training. The post is nice, and shouldn't take too long to learn our way around it.

I am in heaven because my favorite little deli with the best sweet tea ever is here! McAlister's! And there is a Boston Pizza here to satisfy Thomas' Canada craving (and I don't mind either because they have gluten free pizza crust). All in all it's turning out to be a pretty decent town.

Well, the 4 of us are off to bed. We get to sleep in tomorrow! Joyous day!

Love you all.

Laura

Blogging Again... Just For You.

Hello family. Friends. Moms. Dads.

We figured that during this new time in our lives there will be lots of little and big things that you might want to hear about and that we might want to share... so what better way than to start using this bad boy again.

So save this page to your bookmarks and check it out every now and again to see what we've been up to on this entertaining, humorous, exciting adventure of becoming not only Army people, but Texans as well.

Will post a recap of events tonight. Love you guys.

Deuces,

Thomas and Laura

Summer Time Blues

ok people lets talk music. because I cant decide on anything else.
Thomas's Top 10 Albums that he can not stop listening to. Starting from 10 and then working its way down till the best album aka oneness.

10. Taking Back Sunday's album New Again.
These dudes have been out on tour for far to long so its good to see some new tunes from the guys. If you liked Taking Back Sunday's last album Louder Now, you will have no problem eating up New Again. To be honest I was kind of hoping they would take a new direction and get more away from the pop punk but it is still a great album if you like memorizing the lyrics and singing along with friends.

9. Octahedron by The Mars Volta.
OK! The Mars Volta continues to amaze me with the depth of lyrics and unreal songs that they keep putting out. It seems like every song has a mind melting moment where you just have to stop what your doing and let that jaw drop to the floor as you listen to these psychedelic melodies of heart pounding chorus's filled with soft easy tunes that suddenly erupt into a dance off between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (Grease 1978). Everyone should have a song by The Mars Volta on their playlists!

8. Old Crows / Young Cardinals by Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire continues to build there sound better and better every album. Why I remember when Alexisonfire was young and Dallas was skinny.. they where the band you went to see if you wanted crazy riffs and head exploding screaming. Now you can expect to hear soft piano in the bridge followed by Dallas's soft voice... sigh... sooo dreamy!

7. A State of Trance 2009 by Armin Van Buuren
I dont know what it is but there is just something about turning on the dance tunes way up and dancing all night long! Armin Van Buuren pours out another compilation of tracks recorded for one purpose. The purpose of letting go of everything around you and just groovin to the music! Trance music is all about having a good time. And trust me, with A State of Trance 2009 you will have a great time relaxing to some beats that make your mojo flow.

6. The Glass Passenger by Jack's Mannequin
It seems that everytime I turn my ipod on to listen to some tunes, I always end up clicking on Jack's Mannequin. There is something in the music that makes me want to hit the replay button after each song. I love every moment when Jack and I meet in the speakers. Plus this is Laura and I's fav band! So it makes me think of her which always puts a smile on my face.

5. Redeemer by Norma Jean
Finally we get to the good ol sreaming makes you want to throw down, thrashing the floor with your jumping. Always hard, always fast, always gets you pumped on everything! Norma Jean will forever remain first on my hardcore playlist because you can never grow tired of the bang.

4. Geuro by Beck
Oh Beck! You continue to play in our heads and make us long to listen to your white rap/rock/folk/noise tunes that make us giggle with delight. E-pro will forever be cemented into my cranium for all round good times. Beck's lyrics and melodies are all fantastic. Oh Beck! You can do no harm when it comes to making music! You are and will remain one of the greats.

3. Fantasies by Metric
Metric is by far one of my favourite bands ever in the history of music, Metric constantly puts out dynamic tracks that just blow your mind. Live in concert they are brillant. Emily Hanes proves time and time again that she can write drool producing lyrics and along with the rest of the band they come together to create sheer bliss in music.

2. Forever the Sickest Kids album Underdog Alma Mater
Whether your dancing in the shower pretending your a star or bouncing along in your car to the tunes. FTSK will always provide the umffft to do anything. The catchy tunes produced by the band are complete with all the nessesary ingredients for life and fun. They can take anyone who is in a bad mood and make them smile with there girl drama filled songs. FTSK will always be playing in my house.

1. Yes! by K-OS
I bought the album as soon as it came out and I cant stop listening to it. K-OS again just blows my mind with his in depth lyrics and his spell bounding songs. I would even say that K-OS is one of the underground scenes best preformer in what he does. He has been blessed greatly with his musical skills and shows them all in his newest album Yes! Which captivates audiences and motivates them in all aspects. K-OS is my number one. And it seems I will keep him up here for a long time still.

thanks everyone
fist pump
thomas

Raccoons and their razor sharp claws

Last night I accompanied two of my lovely friends to an evening of Leslie Blodgett and QVC (Leslie being the famous face to our makeup brand/employer, and QVC being one of the many avenue of which they make millions of dollars... and by "they" I mean Leslie). The evening started out somewhat boring but exciting all at the same time because when you are watching Leslie and all these QVC nutties, you never know whats going to happen next that will cause you to break out in laughter. We laughed quite a bit... in between rants about how they do not do things correctly, and how the packaging they choose is obsurd, and how Sarah cannot stand when everything is not uniform... all the while Amanda did her part to dispense of a half a bottle of wine and I did what I could to stay comfortable on Gloria's (Sarah's grandma) wicker-like chair... Once we reached the 12:00 hour, we were ready to wrap things up... Now, let me explain where we were each sitting at this point.. Well, Sarah was down stair asleep, but Amanda was on the north side of the kitchen table, and there is a sliding glass door leading out to the small deck on the south side of the kitchen table. I am currently located on the west side of the table, facing the window outside. Amanda is going on about something that I don't remember, and I was staring aimlessly out the windown at the pitch blackness... and I noticed something on the deck, right along side the sliding glass door, heading east from the wester direction... and my initial thought (mind you, all of these thoughts took place in a matter of miliseconds) was that it was a cat, because random cats roam around neighborhoods, right? And so I didn't think anything of it... Amanda is talking and talking and I'm sitting and dazing, and all of a sudden I realize that the "cat" I see outside of the door has a cute little black stripe over it's eyes, and a pointy little nose and a round head, and just so happens to look NOTHING like a cat, but a LOT like a freaking raccoon! I didn't even have words.. I didn't know what to say but I didn't want Amanda to miss this, so I reached over and slapped her arm a few times and just pointed out the window. She stopped talking, looked out, and we both just had a stare down with this raccoon... He literally stared at us for at least 4 seconds... and all that stood between us whas a small pane of glass... out of fear and gut reaction, I pulled my legs up off the floor so it couldn't eat my feet (yep, even through the window... it's totally possible) and then we laughed so hard we could barely breath as this little death monster trotted away.

Needless to say, Amanda had to walk me to my car...

-Laura

facebook is gone like the chickens in the dream i had

well I did it! I got rid of facebook! I am now no longer trapt to the face of the books in the internet thing with the books... ok so now the dealio is that I, Thomas William Ferguson Esq, am going to start bloggering.

STORY TIME!

The time eludes me as my phone is stuck far in my pocket right next to my crotch and people are giving me weird looks while I try to get it out.. Stupid phone. I get into my car and crank up some melodies from the great master mind Elton John. I drive into winnipeg. Today is beach day and I am supposed to be meeting up with some friends to enjoy the sun and water and sand and the excuse to be half nude. I get to one of my buds houses. I walk in to notice that my friend is not ready to go but he is in fact waiting to watch himself on tv. Sooo predictable! We finally get to the beach. The sun was out. The heat was on. Who brought sunscreen? We all forgot. Crap. No worries we are men. We laugh at the sun because we can. We say to the sun, Do your worst you dumb fire star thing! We then spend the next few hours running around playing volleyball, swimming, fighting fire breathing sharks named Jack and Bary... not realizing that while doing all this the sun, that stupid fire star, had slowly started cooking us. I am a tomato. A red fruit.
You win this battle fire star! But I will prevail!

k. thats all.
fist pump
Thomas

Stupid

This is Laura...

I am super mad at North Korea... why do they have to threaten to send missiles over when myself and the love of my life have plans to honeymoon in the very place they plan to send them... what the crap! ahhh!

Don't plan a honeymoon.. they are too hard to plan.