On a Much Lighter Note...

I figured I should assure everyone that my emotional rollercoaster has come to a complete stop and I did achieve keeping all hands and feet inside the vehicle the whole ride. No injuries ensued. Haha. But, seriously, I'm okay. It was just too late to call anyone that night and instead I ended up turning to my blogger friend which then resulted in my emotional throw-up that all of you were forced to read, haha. Thanks for all of the encouragement though! I love having great friends! :)

I'm very sad we don't have any more baby time with Logan this week. He is just the sweetest little thing and such a good baby. I finally uploaded some of the pics of my baby snuggles while he was sleeping so here they are.

So sweet and innocent. And heavy after a while ;)!

He's so adorable. Aren't they just angelic when they're asleep?! :)

On another fun note, my bro & sister-in-law's baby (a German Shepherd/Red Heeler mix doggy) took her first dip in the lake a couple of weekends ago. They had never given her the chance to swim, so it was her first experience completely submerged underwater. It took quite a bit of coaxing her to get in, but she finally took the plunge. Her name is Layla. She enjoys nightly walks with mommy and to nibble on anything chewy. She is spayed so you boy dogs out there don't get any ideas. :) Here she is in Lake Nasworthy (which by the way, had pretty clean water that day).
Daddy trying to coax her into jumping...
Layla Pants swimming after her plunging jump! She's an on-top-of-the-water swimmer so she makes a splashing mess! :)

The cutest little wet rat you ever saw! :) Until she shakes off beside you!

I joined my sister and her in-laws yesterday at the boat races on Lake Nasworthy. An interestingly redneck activity. It was pretty fun. Don't know if I'd go again, but an experience to have I guess. It was a pretty day and I got a little sun, so I guess it wasn't all that bad! :)

Believe it or not, that boat is going about 150 mph.

And there's it's rooster tail to prove it.

Chillin' in our chairs amongst all of the other redneck friends around us.

Then, last night, my brother played in his band at a bar downtown called The Deadhorse. They did an awesome job. They play a type of metal punk so it's high energy and LOUD! :) The whole family went so it was a good time. Probably one of their best shows yet! Let's hear it for Gunslinger! :)

That was pretty much the weekend plus some, so hope you enjoyed it! Til next time!

Emotional Rollercoaster...

Oh, geez. Let me tell ya. I have been up-&-down, up-&-down all night long with my emotions. I don't know if it's because it's my time of the month, because my hormones are still adjusting from getting off of the pill, or because I just don't know which way to go with life in this moment.

I just go through times where every word regarding this separation makes tears come down my face. He can say he loves me more than anything in the world, and a tear will roll down my face. He can say we are strong enough to do this and do it with optimistic eyes, and a tear will still roll down my face. No matter what he says to me sometimes, I just can't keep those tears away.

I guess it's a mixture of just missing him & not knowing what God wants me to do with this time in my life. Having to go through my days doing 'happy' things without his hand to hold as I do them makes my heart hurt. I sit here knowing his situation is WAY worse than mine, and I'm still being selfish enough to cry over my situation, too. I want to contribute to us again by getting a job, but what job do I want? What would distract me enough and help set the time to a quicker pace so we can get this stupid thing over with?

Sometimes, I feel like all of these deployments make us 'wish' our lives away. In four month chunks, we want time to fly by, life to be put on hold, God to make us stronger, for us to accomplish more of our life goals, while the whole time, our lives are rushing by us. One day we will look back on the past year and realize we spent 8 months of 12 apart, going through heartache and living our lives under somebody else's watch. I just want God to show me what I'M supposed to do right now. Point me in a direction and I will go. Please...show me.

Self-Induced Projects...

I'm busy, busy trying to get a few projects started, but I'm having trouble finding my focus. I really want to make a memory book online (like on Shutterfly, Wal-Mart, or Heritage Makers) showing mine and Chad's pre-marriage journey. We take pictures pretty much everywhere we go, so there's plenty of material for it, I'm just having a hard time putting in all in order, figuring out when the picture took place, etc. We've been so many places already that I want to capture it on paper so we don't forget all of where we've been. I'm already starting to get trips confused, so it's vital to get this done soon. But this project should be second in my mind to the following.

My other project is kind of a secret. It's for someone very special to me and for a very special occasion. I can't say much about it just in case they actually end up reading this, but it's a big deal involving a lot of artsy-fartsy stuff and I just don't know if I am talented enough to make my dreams in my head come into life on paper. Ever have that problem? I see a fabulous final product that will be very sentimental and very special from now until forever, so I really hope I can pull it off! I have a quite tight time schedule on this one, so it's very important for me to make this one my main focus for the next couple of weeks. Wish me luck! It's fun, just overwhelming! Adios!

Shocked & Perturbed...

My husband and I just had TWO fabulous 15 minute calls and in one of them, he decided to inform me of what he thought was a hilarious piece of irony. All of you know how much of a 'fat kid' I am when it comes to donut consumption, right?! Well, my two biggest nemesis(es?)(...nemisi?...whatever...) are the chocolate covered Boston Kreme filled donuts and lemon-filled powder sugar donuts from the one and only, Dunkin' Donuts. He knows this cuz well, he's my husband, he's also a fat kid who loves donuts, and I went crazy when I first spotted a DD when we were in Myrtle Beach my first time. He probably thought I was nuts, but he pulled over for my donuts anyways :).

To add a little bit of a back story, San Angelo used to have a Dunkin' Donuts when I was growing up, but it shut down and moved out of town when I was about 9 years old. This means I had gone 13 years, almost, without a Dunkin' Donut...which were and always have been my FAVORITE (duh)! Needless to say, I was a heartbroken child when they left. My donut eating extravaganzas were just never the same. And still to this day, San Angelo is still not a place that Dunkin' Donuts calls home. *Sad*

Back to the point of this blog.

--> Chad said, "you won't believe what I saw the other day. There's a whole group of barracks with fast food chains like Burger King, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut down the road from my sleeping place. And I bet you can't guess what's right beside them..."

-->My first guess, "Cold Stone"??? haha. (sounded good considering they're in the DESERT)

-->"No, try again."

-->"Oh I don't know, what?"

-->"A Dunkin' Donuts."

-->My exclamation, "Are you freakin' kidding me?!?!"

-->Chad says in a giggly fashion, "Yea, they can get Dunkin' Donuts at a base over here, halfway around the world, but not in San Angelo, TX." (Followed by more laughter)

-->I said, "That's it, I'm writing the corporation itself!" haha.

Ironic, but most of all, saddening. I love donuts. :) Come back DD!!!

Awww...Baby Snuggles

My mom and I have been watching a beautiful little 8-month-old boy these past couple of days and will continue to do so through the rest of this week. His name is Logan (yes Emily, your 'Chunky Monkey' :)) and he is soooo sweet. He is always in a good mood and is busy, busy, busy! We've had a good time playing with him and he fell asleep on me for almost an hour today, which is my favorite thing ever! Baby cuddles when they're asleep and so cute is a gift from God. My sister walked in and said, "looks pretty good on her, huh?!"(referring to me with a sleeping baby in my arms), haha. Yes, it does and thank you for noticing sissy ;)!

He smiles all of the time and he studies you until he knows your face. I think he stared at me for about an hour yesterday trying to get to 'know' me. He's precious and has the cutest chunky legs. I love baby rolls! :)

Ohhhh my, to have one of my own. Hey God, may that day come soon? :-P

So in Love...

Well, to gross you all out in a romantic fashion, I am posting an e-mail I received randomly this morning from my wonderful husband.

To my wife,

I just wanted to take a quick second from my day, to tell the love of my life, the reason for my happiness, the only one that makes me smile, the one who floats my boat, the one who makes me hot, that shares my dreams, the future mother of my children, the one I'll grow old with........I love you!

So...........................I Love You

you know who

Enough said. My day was made.

T-E-X-A-S...

Thank God we are finally home. My mom & I decided to be geniuses after eating at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and shopping 'til noon on Monday morning, and decided to try to make the full trip home all in one day. Fifteen (yes, 15) hours of driving later...we were driving into my parent's driveway. Man, was that a miserable day of driving.

I believe that my body is getting old quickly because riding in that car for so long had me sore from head to toe. Mostly in my neck and back, but seriously, driving more= more pain. We went all of the way from Nashville, TN to San Angelo, TX in one day. Can we say, stupid?! haha. Oh yea, did I mention that I was doing the driving for about 12 1/2 of those hours? Thanks, Mom! haha. About the time Abilene came around, I handed the wheel over (it was about 1:15 am by then) to her to finish us up. My eyes were dry, my body was aching, and I was not a very happy camper...or rider. It took me all of about 3 minutes to fall asleep after that point. I vaguely remember bits and pieces of Abilene to San Angelo. Luckily, God sent us a beautiful lightning storm show that kept us awake and entertained between Weatherford and Abilene. Otherwise, I don't think we would have made it. Never again do I plan on driving that long in one day. Anyways, it's over and done with and now I'm all moved in again at my parent's house (kinda weird this time around too) and ready to enjoy the summer! Bring it on! :)

That's Why I Hang My Hat in Tennessee...for tonight, anyways :)...

My mom & I are currently hanging out watching movies in our Nashville hotel, waiting for the morning to roll around and the doors to one of the best malls I've ever seen to be opened at 10:00am. Full of outlet stores and beautiful architecture, it's exciting!

We watched the end of Ocean's Thirteen (you know, with the three hot musketeers-George, Matt, & Brad) and now we're watching Shrek the Third. What a way to put a 9 hour driving day to bed.

We went to a little, somewhat famous bar called Nashville Palace for dinner tonight. It was cool. About 6 different people went and played country music live on stage. They were all freakin' awesome. In just a 2 hours of sitting there, I heard more talent that on a whole season of American Idol, auditions included. Seriously, it's sad how these people can't catch a 'famous' break. Anyways, we enjoyed ourselves. Turns out there were a couple other Texans right next to us at a neighboring table. Somehow, I knew it just by looking. And then I overheard them saying they were from Austin. It's weird how we are all like a home away from home, in a way.

Well, I bid you goodnight because I drove all 9 hours today and I'm pooped. Wish me shopping luck for tomorrow! :)

The Smell of My Hubby...

I figured since I'm going to be on the road for the next couple of days, and possibly unable to blog, I would bless you all with another entry today, haha. Plus, this was just on my mind.

I know you probably don't want to hear over and over about how much I miss my husband. But, I was laying on top of my bed earlier and during a nap the other day and smelled his smell (you know, how everyone has their own scent) on the sheets. It all of a sudden made me sad. I was reminded that he was there in those sheets with me just a few short days ago, yet it's already felt like forever. And that I've slept 5 days by myself already. Depressing. As much as I like to have space in my bed with me, and as much as I enjoy marking days off of the deployment calendar, I really hate sleeping alone now that I know what it feels like to have someone in bed with me every night.

The sheets don't get warm as fast, there's no cuddling to be done, and I have the ritual of kissing his forehead every night before we fall asleep. And there's no forehead to kiss. Sad, again. And I haven't even gotten to Texas yet, haha. Ohhhh man.

Now Go On, Brush Your Shoulders Off...

I PASSED!!!! Thank the great God Almighty above! I am SOOO glad to be done with that stupid test! It was rather stressful and I was scared at points, but I pulled through and I am officially a North Carolina Real Estate Provisional Broker. WOO-HOO! (too bad I'm not going to use it til November or so, haha. But I HAVE IT! And that's all that really matters I guess!) :)

Now, I can finally have fun again! Lots of packing to do tonight seeing that my mommy and I are heading towards Texas beginning tomorrow morning. We have a reservation set up in Nashville tomorrow night, so it looks like we are gonna get to have some fun there for a little while! I'll be sure to take pictures.

Excuse me while I continue my happy dance and escape to pack my life up! Thanks for all of the prayers! YAY! :)

Ew, I think I just hurled in my mouth a lil bit...

I pretty much want to vomit right now thinking about this test tomorrow. Right now, I feel like I used to in college when I knew there was an accounting test the next day that I was going to bomb. It's not a very nice feeling. I've been studying quite a bit, but I don't know if it will be enough. We shall find out my fate in the NC Real Estate world in about 24 hours, I guess. YUCK! I just want it to be done and over with and PASSED. If I don't pass, I may hurt someone or something, haha. Wish me luck and please throw up a couple prayers for me tonight. I'm SCARED.

Come Back to Texas...

Well, I'm only about 3 days away from being on the road back to the greatest state on earth. And for anybody who doesn't already know my destination from that statement alone, you must not be a Texan. :)

All I have to do is get packed, study, and knock the crap out of this real estate exam on Saturday. Then I will be home free! :)

My hubby called tonight and said that he has officially made it to his destination safe and sound. He's ready to catch up on some sleep and misses his wifey (that's me) a whole lot already. I've been handling it pretty well so far, but I've also had my family here to hang out with and distract me. I'll have them around in TX too so that will be good, but reality is sure to kick in sometime soon. And the reality is, I'm not going to see him again until October. YUCK! It was great to hear his voice though.

The only thing I might miss from NC is the sweet tea and my home. Even though I complain a lot about cleaning it constantly and being bored out of my mind, I really do love the home we have made for ourselves. It's cute, not big enough, but OURS. And that's what I really love about it. Oh yea, and I love my tea kettle. If only I had room to pack it. haha.

Well, I'm done rambling for now. Catch ya on the flip side.

Buckle Down & then Play with Mom...

Well, I am officially registered to take my NC State License exam this coming Saturday which is not far from now. I have quite a bit of studying to do and as usual, I'm SOOOO dreading it! I feel like a little kid that wants to throw a temper tantrum. "I don't wanna!" haha. I really just need to set aside several hours a day to study and then the rest of the time I can be prepping myself to temporarily transfer to Texas and do fun things with my mommy while we're here together. My dad, sister, and niece got on the road this morning, headed back to TX. I hope they had as much fun as I did. I think Taylor definitely did because Laura said she had a tear roll down her face the other day when we had to leave the ocean. So cute! :) I guess that's a little bit of 'visitor insurance' for me! She'll definitely want to come back for more next summer! :)

A short anecdote real fast. Taylor is 8. She's freakin' hilarious. We were in this teacher store downtown yesterday and it had all kinds of little figurine toys and stuff, some being plastic dinosaurs of all different varieties. I said I needed her to teach me the different kinds of dinos and she said (as she picked up a T-Rex with a big horn on it's nose), "Well, I know this one is a horny T-Rex". LOL. As you can imagine, my mom, dad, sister, and myself started cracking up. She has no idea what she has just meant by that statement. And in her infinite wisdom and slightly out of embarrassment she adds, "No, I'm just kidding, it's not really a horny T-Rex". Again, laughter! It was unescapable for her. Hilarious to us.

Alright, I guess I'll go start studying before mommy gets up and going. Wish me luck! :)

Late Pic Post...

I thought I'd share some photos of our super-duper time in Orlando. We had a lot of fun at Sea World and a great time on our Flamingo paddle boat. We named her Bridget. She provided us with a full 30 minutes of sunny and sweaty on-the-water fun. Good stuff! Then we moved on to the Shamu Show which was really cool. Made me want to train whales. Although, that profession is probably completely out of the cards for me, haha. I don't even like fish. But, it's fun to wonder what it would be like. And, I got a pretty sweet picture. Check it out!

Our fellow flamingo friends. Me with the flamingo fleet. Bridget is the one kissing my cheek. :)

Here are a couple pictures to let you see how beautiful it really is in Myrtle Beach, SC. It's in the top 10 beaches to visit in the U.S. It's really nice to swim in an ocean with no sea-weed tickling your legs and a very clean beach with powdery sand. Minus the couple of sharks that came near the beach (not while we were swimming), it was lovely. We got to watch everyone get out of the water one by one all the way down the shoreline. Kind of entertaining from the third story of our condo. We didn't know what was going on at first, but figured it out when we got a glance at two dark 'things' turning over in the water. Interesting sight, then we lost interest.
The view from our bedroom balcony.

Fam to Pull You Through...

Well, the hubby is off and currently in New Foundland, Canada. One leg of four out of the way to get over there. He called me on his cell phone which makes me scared to see what that 'long distance' phone call on roam is gonna cost us! haha. I don't care because I know he's doing good. We're in good spirits, still in a small state of denial that this is really happening, but staying strong overall.

My family & I spent a good amount of time at our pool this afternoon, headed over to the Farmer's Market and bought some groceries for dinner. We then came home and started watching Evan Almighty as we got hit by a random thunderstorm. Coincidence, I think not ;)!

Tomorrow I plan to take them downtown to see some of the cute shops and restaurants, maybe swim again, and eat at a Japanese steakhouse called Miyabi. It's de-lish! Gotta go check on my chicken fajitas. Adios for now!

Dun, Dun, Dun...

Well, in only a sad and short 10 hours or so, my hubby will be on his way across half of the globe. It's sad. At least my fam is here to be sad with me. haha. I just hate being apart. It's not my fault I love him so much. He's my bestest friend in the world. Gotta go so I can spend some good time and soak it in. Until then...

Yay for visitors!

Pieces of my family (including mommy, daddy, sissy, and niece Tay Tay) are all officially on the road to come see Chad & I. They left Texas around noon today and hope to make it to Jackson, Mississippi (a 10 hour drive) by the end of tonight. Then, after a good night's rest, they shall drive another 12 hours to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where we will be anxiously awaiting them! We have reserved an ocean-front condo at the Sandcastle Resorts for Thursday night through Sunday so we are sure to have a great time! Our resort has a lazy river pool and hot tubs abound so that's enough to make me happy for several days! Not to mention all of the surf shops and Dunkin' Donut stores. It's going to be a great weekend. They're staying with us through next Thursday so much fun is to be experienced! I love my family.

Pretty hotel shot from the ocean side.

The pool that's going to call my name for the next 4 days. I love me some vacation!

GPS, a God Provided Service...

Well, Chad & I were talking about some of the things we 'need' for ourselves the other day, one of them being a GPS. We used his little cousin's a couple of weekends ago in Atlanta and decided that we loved it. Chad's dad overheard our conversation and decided that since Chad is going to be gone over his birthday in August that he would get his birthday gift now instead of later. So, we headed down to Best Buy and found exactly what we needed. It's a Magellan which we hear is one of the best brands and so far it has been awesome! We travel so much that this is going to be something that we use OUT! It's very fun to be told where to go and to not have to do any of the thinking yourself. She has a pretty nice voice, not too annoying either so that's good. We have decided to name her Madge. She is the newest member of our family. No more Yahoo! maps for us anymore! Awesome.

Orlando, the world of dreams...

Today has been fantabulous! (not a word, but I'm using it!) From start to finish. Here it goes. Chad & I had one of those nights last night where you start off your 'go to sleep' routine with a cuddle and we usually break apart after about 10 minutes, turn our separate ways, and sleep away the night. Last night on the other hand, we cuddled and ZZZZZZZZZZ. Neither one of us remember falling asleep or anything thereafter. It was a beautiful night of rest on his parent's king size guest bed. That's another thing. Our next bed is definitely going to be a king. Posturepedic king, if I have a say in it (and you all know I will :)). Anyways, we woke up at 9:00, got dressed, and headed out for a quick breakfast. My hubby is obsessed with Smoothie King so we hooked him up with one of those and I got my cold Tazo Black Tea along with a blueberry scone from Starbucks...mmm mmmm.

We then headed to the place where sea life abounds and smiles are made....that would be Sea World. This was my first time at Sea World and I have to admit it was really fun. We rode the big rollercoaster known as Kraken TWICE in a row because it was so early, there was NO LINE. It was awesome! Then we headed over to the other big ride which was called Journey to Atlantis. It was much like Splash Mountain where you're in the 'boat' and fly down into the water to get soaked. We were then cooled off and headed over towards the Shamu Stadium. On our way, we ran into a paddle boat station where you can rent them for 30 minutes of fun. So, we got in our paddle boat, which by the way was in the shape of a huge pink flamingo, and did our thing on the small lake they had there for us. It was a hot one, but lots of fun. We then walked over to the stadium to see the whale show. Man those trainers get to do some really cool stuff with those whales. It's amazing how they train them. We were accidentally sitting in the 'soak zone' and for anyone that has ever been to this show at Sea World, then you know that they aren't kidding! Shamu came around and sent water flying with his tail, all the way around the stadium. Anyone on the bottom 15 rows or so got a nice 50 degree shower! It was fun though, minus the sticky salt water.

We were getting hot so we grabbed some lunch at the Old Spice Mill and we proceeded to buy our gaudy picture frame and get outta there. We came home and decided it was pool time so we went swimming in his parent's backyard and later we grilled out. Some chicken breasts, roasted corn on the cob, and green beans later, we ate dinner and were happy. It was a great day. I'll have pictures to share soon. In the meantime, I'm gonna go see what our plans are for today. Adios for now! :)

GOOOOOO!!!!

We just received the call from the squadron telling us that CHAD WILL BE DEPLOYING. Yay, we know something! We are happy and have coped with it and look forward to being able to spend the holidays together! It's a pretty good day! Thanks for the prayers and keep 'em coming!

Would write more, but we are spending time in Orlando right now and there's a pool and husband combination in the backyard calling my name. Adios for now!