I can only post every 5 months...

Well. Well then. 5 months. That's awesome.

We've had some minor changes since January...when I posted last! My mom came and stayed for 2 months and it was so completely amazing that I have a hard time waking up each day to the realization that she's back in Utah. Just imagine...your mom living with you and letting you pretend that you're a teenager again. She cleaned my house, took care of the kids, prepared all the meals...AND rubbed lotion on my feet whenever I asked! It was seriously so amazing that I'm thinking of abducting her and hiding her here in Texas for the rest of her life. I know for the less fortunate out there, the ones that have crappy moms, this whole scenario doesn't appeal to you, but I just happen to have the best mom in the whole entire universe, so it works out pretty great for me! I want my mom back! And I'm getting her back, at least for a month. She'll be here in July :) My stress free life is about to be revisited!

I work on Fort Hood now. I quit the crappy school because I wanted to beat myself and some peoples children every time I walked through the doors. That's never a good thing. Really, it's not. I got a job on post that pays about 3 times more than the school did...and I LOVE it. If I could marry this job, I would. Unfortunately, the unit I work for is moving to El Paso in September, and my job goes with them. Crap.

The girls are out of school for the summer. Both are geniuses, and we couldn't be more proud :)  Mar was on the A Honor Roll all year, and Ry is already reading! She isn't even in Kindergarten yet! They will be attending a brand new school next year right by our house. I can't believe I almost have a 3rd grader.

I love Texas, and I love our house. It's good to be home. We revived the front lawn that the renters killed and it's the best on the block!  Life is good at the Hurd house :)

No pics....but a post none the less

I'm at work, and obviously hardly working. I don't have any pics to add to this, but because I am so insanely bored, I'll update this thing regardless.

My last post was after we got back to Texas in August. The summer was great...it was hard to leave Utah but we did it. Me, mom, the girls, and Lola drove the Jeep and made it in record time. Our house was pretty much as we left it, except for the dead front lawn.

Donnie's a recruiter in Harker Heights and he loves it. I teach the CEI Reading class at an elementary school here in Killeen. I can't say I love it. Mar is in 2nd grade and Ry is in Pre-K. It works out that I work here because we all go home together and there's no need for a sitter!

We lost our sweet little nephew and cousin Logan the first part of December and made the trip back to Utah. It was horrifying and completely devastating. I've never experienced anything so sad in my entire life. What I wasn't expecting though, was the amount of people that cared. Tracy and Rod are amazing parents and apparently amazing friends because here it is, almost 2 months later, and they are still being shown incredible acts of compassion and generosity. Our little Logey will be missed...and our hearts won't heal completely, but the fact that he won't ever have to experience pain here on Earth or deal with struggles that he would have otherwise gives me peace.

My mom is coming to stay with us next Friday until MARCH. It's pretty much all my wildest dreams come true. I can't even begin to fathom how awesome it will be to have that much time with my mom. I left home 11 years ago, and I've missed my mother!

Me and Donnie have the Recruiter Conference to go to on the 27th-30th. It'll be fun :) It's in Dallas and they're putting us up in a swanky hotel and even paying us TDY to go. I'm all for it.

ALSO...on the 22nd we're going to the UFC fight on Fort Hood...so watch that on Spike and look for us!

That's all. Stinkin kids are here. Later.

This is for YOU! (Aunt Shirley and all you other complainers)

I'm home! We're back in Texas. It's so nice to be here! My house was exactly the way I left it, which is so strange, because the people who lived here had boys, and the girls rooms are pink and purple...but whatever. So I don't have much to say, so I thought I'd share some random pics that span between May and now.....here ya go:

This is Donnie's cousin Chris. He lives in Atlanta. If he was bald him and Donnie would be twins! We stayed at his house for about a week after leaving NC. They were so good to us! We had a great time!

This is at a lake there by Chris and Brandi's house...Brandi and Tyler took us there for a picnic. It was a good time :)

This is Donnie trying to be a big man and dunk on an 7 foot basket.

Ladies and Gentleman...I give you my secret lovers locker. YES! That is Chipper Jones'. I got a tour of Turner Field on Mothers Day. Best Mothers Day present EVER!

Here we are in the dugout. It was crazy to actually be there.

My mom and Tracy at Tracy's house. I think this was for Emily's birthday party.

Mar, my mom, and Donnie....doing what we Cartwrights do best...EAT!

Ry and Logan at Hogle Zoo. We made it there twice...and I'm not sure why, because Hogle Zoo pretty much always sucks. There were about 3 animals total there.

Emily, Josh, Kyler, Mar, Logan, and Rylee. I can't believe it was cool enough to wear jackets!

This is at Tracy's on Emily's birthday. That's Ry, Emily, my dad, Mar, Lynnzie, and Kassie

Ry, Emily, and Dad

Miss Em...believe me, she IS queen!

Mom and Emily

This was at Kyler's graduation. It was a blast. You just had to be there.

Ry, Mar, Kenadee, and Karson at grandpa Jim's 80th Birthday party

Ashlee and Jared

Grandpa and Kyler

At the cabin. I'm having this printed out for my bedroom :)

Heaven.

Lola chillin' in the stream at the cabin

Josh and Lola having a standoff. She wouldn't let anybody through on a 4-wheeler!

Rod being a stud and entertaining all the kids!

Kellie, Kassie, and Lynnzie at Uncle Ace's funeral luncheon

Our beach cottage in Hawaii. It was beyond fabulous. BEYOND!

Another shot of our cabin at Barber's Point

This is by far the best picture ever taken! We laughed so hard at eachother when we put these on the first itme. Mom and Ashlee were laughing at us laughing at ourselves. Dang, it was funny. The best was right after when we got on the beach. I put my flippers on and tried to WALK into the waves. I'm here to tell you that doesn't work. I so wish I had that on video. It was hillarious.

This is at Shark's Cove. We're out there snorkeling somewhere.

Too much to blog about!

Change of plans at the last minute (seriously, like we were headed to Midland and they called and said "Wait! Go to Fort Hood instead!" So, we're back in our home in Killeen.
Me and the girls are actually in Utah, waiting for our renters to move out of our house. Since we left North Carolina in May I have:

Spent 2 weeks in Hawaii
Went to the cabin
Stayed a week in Atlanta, GA
Toured Turner Stadium
Toured the World of Coke
Got a sunburn
Spent 3 days in the hospital with Rylee
Stayed in Mesquite
Stayed in Beaver
Drove across the country
Fed the missionaries
Got a fake tattoo
Went to Richfield and Monroe
Catered a wedding reception
Attended 9 birthday parties
Saw Eclipse
Threw a baby shower
Saw Letters To Juliet
Painted and redecorated Tracy's entire house
Celebrated because of Donnie's promotion
Hauled the entire contents of my moms basement to Monroe
Attended 2 different zoo's, 3 times
Ate lunch at 2 different lakes
Painted all my nieces and nephews fingernails and toenails
Roasted marshmallows
Played with my BFF Jill
Rode in a submarine to the bottom of the ocean to look at sunken ships and airplanes
Completed the girls school shopping
Turned 31
Got glitter toes
Attended a funeral
Visited Las Vegas
Helped plan and pull off a Bohn family reunion
Bought a new car
Snorkeled
Had dinner with my favorite ex-missionary
Learned how to make bruschetta
and many other things that I'm sure I will recall later!
Someday I will download the 1500+ photos I have and blog a little more in depth about at least the Hawaii trip and Atlanta.
I cant wait to get back to Texas and relax!

The North Carolina chapter of our lives is coming to an end....

And we're so excited to start a new one in Midland, TX!

Donnie graduates from Recruiter school this Friday. I'm so proud of him! He did REALLY well. He's gonna make a great recruiter!

We had our renters in Killeen move out, but lucky us had someone new move right in! That's one worry out of our way. Now we're just waiting for THIS house to sell. It's a great house...wanna buy it?

We'll be spending Easter weekend in Tennessee! Probably the last time we'll be there in a LoooooonG time! On the bright side....Utah will only be a 13 hour drive! That's NOTHING! We can do that easy! Cake! Woooo!

That is all. Goodnight.

Donnie's 30!

On March 3rd (OK, so I'm just a couple weeks late) Donnie turned the big 3-0 :) It's so wierd that neither one of us is in our 20's anymore, but I honestly just *feel* too old to be in my 20's. I still think like a 20 year old, but I guess maybe it's more like I've had too many life experiences and major happenings to be in my 20's. Don't get me wrong, I'm still as immature as ever, but yeah, 30's good for us.

Donnie is also at the US Army Recruiting and Retention School right now learning to be an Army Recruiter! When he calls you on the phone don't hang up...he just wants you to sign your life away to Uncle Sam :) We will be moving to Midland Texas next month to start this 3 year journey. We're pretty excited about it...if only this dang house would sell!

Rylee is a big girl now and in Sunbeams. She loves to sing "Follow the Chocolate". We all sing "Follow the Prophet", but Ry must hear it differently than the rest of us do.

Mar is excited to move and be the new girl in school, but I'm sure she'll miss her friends. She's pretty confident though that she'll be just as dazzling in Texas as she is in North Carolina though.

We have Lola back at our house. She's been in Tennessee since Christmas and we have missed her! She's ginormous (63 lbs!) and she takes up the WHOLE bed. Me and Donnie were clinging to one side Saturday night as she was sprawled out over more than half of our king size bed! What a turd she is.

So anyway, that's the latest update....OH WAIT! No it's not! My mom bought 5 tickets last week for her and all 4 of us girls to go to HAWAII in June! How fun is that? We've never gone on any sort of mother/daughter trip before, and this is the ULTIMATE!!!

The stars at night...are big and bright...

We were 100% sure the Army was sending us to Tennessee to recruit. We were 100% wrong. The Hurd's are headed back to Texas! Yeah!