The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

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Link from: barnesandnoble.com
Price: Paperback, $8.66

I stumbled upon this book at a drug store. I had never heard of it before (or the author for that matter) but, by the brief summary on the back, I was intrigued.

It is a book written in flashback about an old woman who was abandoned on a boat as a young child and ended up in Australia. She is given the name "Nell" by the new family that finds her and she doesn't find out for a while that she isn't her parents biological daughter. Her past is a complete mystery and when she passes, her grandaughter makes it her mission to find out what happened in her grandmother's past.

This book will definitely keep you on your toes and it is very hard to put down! I was trying to figure out what the outcome would be the whole time and I can guarantee that you will be taken by surprise.

The only thing about this book is that like I said it is written in flashback. So, the events of one chapter will have taken place in 1976, the next in 1913, and the next will be set in 2005 (ex. chapters 5-7) It isn't that hard to follow, but I admit that I did flip back to other chapters a couple of times to keep track of everything. It will make you use your brain a little bit. :) If you pay attention, you will not have a problem at all.

Overall, I think this book is very well written and I highly recommend it. I enjoyed it so much, that I am now reading another book by the same author (keep a look out for that review). It's Definitely worth your time!  If you read it, or have read it, let me know what you think!

Settling In

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Hello, Just wanted to stop by and let you all know that we are still here! :) Everything is going fine. We are just trying to settle into our new home. We have already found a church that we REALLY like. We haven't joined yet, but will probably be joining soon. We still like living in our apartments. I think they are very nice! The only complaint that I have is that our upstairs neighbors are really loud. While I think ours are a little louder than most, I know you have to deal with that in every apartment complex, so I will just get used to it.

Zach still likes his job. He got to get underway the other day for the first time since before A school so he was pretty excited about that. As for me, I am still trying to decide what I want to do. I am thinking about taking online classes to be an ultrasound sonographer and/or get a job or volunteer somewhere. I am pretty sure that I am going to go back to school for something and then I will decide whether I want to do something outside of school or just concentrate on my studies. Pray for me about that!

This weekend has been pretty interesting so far. Zach took me to Applebee's yesterday because I just wasn't having a good day at all. We got a Wii about a week ago so we have been playing that a lot. Today, we put some of our stuff into a smaller storage unit, went to the library, and checked out some other places around town. I am trying to make homemade spaghetti (from the homemade pasta recipe you can find under the recipe tab of this blog) and one of the batches didn't work for me so I had to throw it away and send my hubby to get a box of pasta from the store. I was am SOO aggrivated because this is the first time he would have had homemade spaghetti so I wanted it to be really good. Needless to say, my weekend hasn't been exactly good, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. I am really looking forward to church tomorrow. One good thing that did happen this weekend, we discovered gamefly!!!! I am excited as you can tell!!

I am thinking about adding a section on my blog where I give my opinions on books that I have read. I want to know what you think about this idea and how many of you would be interested in it. Please let me know by replying to this post here or on facebook. Also, if you have any other ideas about how I can approve my blog let me know! Any thoughts would be grealty appreciated! Have a great week!!!

Makeover!!!

Hey guys!

Just wanted to make a short appearance to bring attention to the new look of my blog. It has gotten a makeover and I absolutely LOVE it. I want to thank my awesome brother-in-law for doing this for me. It turned out great! I hope you all like the new look. Let me know what you think!

Getting Into The Groove

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So, we are COMPLETELY moved in!!!!!! (Enter thunderous applause here) The picture above is what our favorite hobby is so far. Those aren't my feet if you were wondering, but we love to lay out and swim at the pool. I am even getting a tan! Yes! Me! The redheaded pale skinned girl is getting a tan!!! :)  As far as our apartment goes, We I have everything where I want it and I think the house looks great. Zach isn't a very big fan of decorating items. If you would imagine Ben Stiller's character in Along Came Polly in the scene where he takes a knife to all the pillows and then insert Zach's face over Ben's...it would look something like this...

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.......you will get a picture of exactly what he would like to do to our decorative pillows. Needless to say, I think they look nice and he puts up with it. Needless to say, we are settling in nicely.

Zach had his first day of work Monday and he is really enjoying it. They have a pretty nice schedule and he is home every single afternoon!!! With his old schedule, he would be gone for 2-3 days at a time, come home for that same amount of time, and then be gone again. So, this schedule is A LOT better. First things first, he will work on getting his qualifications done so he can start to get the hang of things at his new unit.

Like I have said in previous posts, we are living near a couple of our friends now. We are having a couple that we knew in Montgomery over tomorrow. I'm excited to host my first "dinner" (it's really just pizza and cookies, don't be fooled into thinking it's some fancy shin-dig)  in our new apartment. Then, Saturday, we are going to see someone I knew in middle school/freshman year of high school in Jacksonville. It's going to be really nice catching up with everyone.

As far as I go, I am taking my role as house wife up again and LOVING it!!! I have come up with a cleaning routine for myself each day so that I'm not cleaning the whole house in one day and so I can keep things clean. I also get the car a couple days a week to run errands. It has been really busy so far and I hope to stay busy while Zach is at work. The errand I would like to highlight, that I actually did today is that we took our dog Cadence to the groomers. This was her first time going and she got her hair cut, teeth cleaned, a bath, fingernails clipped, etc. Basically, she got a spa day and if I said I wasn't jealous I would be lying! So....without anything further... I present Miss Cadence!!

And yes, Zach did INSIST that we take the bandana and bow off. Of course, I had to take a picture of her before he did.

You might have noticed that my blog looks a little different. The new look isn't completely done, so I will let you know when it is, but didn't my brother-in-law do a great job so far!!!

So, that's all from our little corner of the U.S. for now. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Moving In

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Hello!

I decided to drop by today! :) We are in Georgia!!!! We drove down to Jacksonville Thursday and stayed with family for the night. On Friday, we drove to Georgia, signed the lease and other various paperwork, went on our first grocery trip here, and moved a few items into the apartment. My parents got in that afternoon and we all moved our stuff in yesterday.

We got a pretty good bit of stuff in its place already. It's not quite as organized as I would like it to be yet, but I am glad the majority of the stuff is out of boxes and somewhat were it's supposed to go. I am hoping that everything is done by mid-week at the very latest.

Today, we will be going to Jacksonville because my scatterbrained self left a couple of things there when we stayed with family thursday night. We will probably look around at stores there for a while and then head back here to unpack some more! Monday, we will be having a cookout and swimming in the pool at our apartment. I think they have fireworks downtown, so we will probably check those out, too. I will try not to unpack and just relax that day, but I'm not making any promises!

As everyone in the military knows, moving is stressful. But, I am enjoying decorating our new apartment and exploring this town we will call home for at least the next 3 years. We absolutely LOVE this place so far and are looking foward to getting to know people and finding a church home. Have a safe fourth of July, everyone!!

On The Road Again......

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Just wanted to check in with everyone!! We have been in Alabama these past couple of weeks, but we will be hitting the road again tomorrow. We will be visiting with Zach's brother again and then we will be getting ready to move in on Friday. We will sign the lease and all other paperwork on that day along with other errands such as the first grocery trip. (I am actually looking forward to that!) My parents will come into town that afternoon and we will move a few small things into our apartment then. After that, we will probably spend some much needed relaxation time by the pool. Saturday, we will move everything else in and work on getting settled. We will also be having a 4th of July cookout with my parents and I am really looking forward to that down time after the craziness that will be this weekend.

Sorry that this post is so short, but I still haven't finished packing yet! Please keep us in your prayers this next week and a half as we will have to get all the errands and stuff taken care of before Zach reports into work the next Monday. Hopefully, my next post will be coming from our new apartment!!!!  Have a great weekend and Happy 4th!!!!

Together Again!

Hello Everyone!

I know I haven't been on here in FOREVER!!! We have been really busy these past couple of weeks and I haven't found the time to get back on until now. Many of you are probably pretty much up-to-date with us, but I will update you anyway so that I know everyone is caught up.

First of, I am SO glad that I don't have to write seperate updates for Zach and I. :)
He graduated from school on June 10th and I am so glad that long three month seperation is over. We had such a great time hanging out with family and friends at his graduation and are really grateful for those of you who could make it.

The day after his graduation, My parents helped us pack up all of our stuff into a u-haul and drive it down to Georgia. It was a two day trip, but it was a lot of fun. Zach and I then stayed with his brother and sister-in-law. They only live about an hour away from us now. We are really excited that we will be able to spend more time with them! Their dog is just as hyper-active as ours and I think ours didn't know what to think about that.

We have already found a place to live!!! That Monday after his graduation, we went house hunting and found an apartment in a really cute complex. It is only about 5 minutes from where Zach works and I think we will really enjoy it there. They have get-togethers every few weeks that bring together everyone in the complex so I am really looking forward to getting to know our neighbors.

We are now in Alabama spending time with family. We will be here until July 1st when we move in. We had a cookout yesterday to celebrate Zach's graduation and it was a lot of fun hanging out with the people who came. I am so glad that I get to be around my husband again. I missed him SOOO much and it really nice to spend time with everyone with him around! I will try to get on here more often than I have the past few weeks.

To all the Father's out there, Happy Father's Day! I hope you have a wonderful time with your family. We will be enjoying some steaks that my brother-in-law is making for dinner. (There Justin, I put you in here haha) To everyone else, Have a great week!!