Can't SLEEP!

Sometimes I lay here and think about what it would be like to be married to a civilian. I can't see it. I can't see our life outside of the military. It's all I've known since the day I became an adult. I joined the army even before I graduated from high school. Then married him two years later. I gave my life to them 14 years ago. And when I married him, I gave it even more. Even though I am a veteran now, I still have to abide by their rules. I think I have a tiny advantage over some military wives because I did experience soldier life for 5 years. I never deployed, but I do understand that when the Army says pack... there are nooo exceptions. And all I can do is accept it, not ask questions, and wait. No matter how much he loves me, the army will always be his mistress. She will always come first. But I have to believe that what he's doing, he does for us. Because he wants us to have a great life together. He is proud to serve our country and he loves what he does. I love what he does. I may not agree or like everything, but this is what military life is. So forgive me when I roll my eyes because you are upset that your spouse is leaving for 2 days or a month even. Be happy that he is home safe. Because your neighbor is lying in bed at 3am worrying about her husband flying over enemies. Waiting for a phone call that she gets only once every couple of weeks. Hoping for a quick email telling her how much he misses her. And in the ultimate case, actually lost him. This may sound dorky... but Thank a military wife today. They aren't appreciated enough for as much as they give.

Christmas in Hawaii :)

In October, I spontaneously purchased 2 tickets to Hawaii to visit some wonderful friends we met at Ft. Rucker. Suzanne and Chris were our neighbors while John was attending flight school. Suzanne has been there for me ever since. It's funny because we never speak on the phone, and we chat online maybe once or twice a month. But every time we visit, we pick up right where we left off. I can still remember the sadness I had when we moved from Ft Rucker to Ft Campbell. Although we were only stationed there for a little more than a year, we managed to create such wonderful friendships.

Anyways... I needed to take that trip to see them. I was stressed out with work, school, Aidan's school, and this STUPID deployment. I just wanted to get away from everything. I asked John, and he said I deserved it and for us to go and have fun. I love that man for being soo generous and never questioning my requests. And so we were off!!

The flight there was actually better than I expected. We met a really cool guy. It's funny...he could almost be my brother. We kept finding weird similarities between the two of us. Aidan had soo much fun talking and joking with him too. He definitely made that 6 hour flight fly by. Thanks Jon!

When we landed, we met Suzanne at baggage claim and she gave both of us Lei's. She tried to sneak up on us...but we saw her coming...hahaha! We love you Zanne! I already miss her soo much!

Chris and Suzanne had an itinerary all planned out for us! So here's what we did:

Tuesday, Dec 21st...
Went to North shore. Watched the surfers and looked for turtles. Snorkeling at Sharks Cove. Butter Garlic shrimp at Romy's. Shaved Ice at Matsumoto. Stroll through Haleiwa.








Wednesday, Dec 22nd...
Swimming and snorkeling with the fishes and coral at Hanauma Bay. Visit to the Blowhole and Lanai overlook. Dinner at Kona Brewing Co. Visit to the Tripler ER (little Lucy busted her noggin). Frozen Yogurt at Menchies.





Thursday, Dec 23rd...
Hike up to Manoa Falls. Swimming and water trikes at Waikiki. Shopping at the International Marketplace. Dinner and Lava Flows at Lulu's.








Friday, Dec 24th...
Pearl Harbor, Arizona Memorial. Shopping at the Naval Exchange. Christmas Eve Dinner at Seoul Jung.




Saturday, Dec 25th...
Christmas!!! Pali overlook. Lanikai beach.



Sunday, Dec 26th...
Dole Pineapple Plantation. Mall. Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co.



Monday, Dec 27th...
Ko Olina Beach and we saw the Black Pearl.






It was such a great visit. Suzanne and Chris were wonderful tour guides. Hopefully we will see them again this summer back at Rucker!!!!

Changes....

The end of September came with some difficult changes for a few people that I love dearly. It's still painful to talk about, so I won't go into to much detail here. Besides, it's not my story to tell. But things have been different since that day. This deployment has been harder than any we've ever been through. I feel selfish for feeling that way when only weeks from now he will be home. But I can't help myself from still missing him soooo much. John is my life. My honest to God soul-mate. That might sound cheesy...but when I think about him...I feel like I am in highschool all over again. Do you remember that little fluttering feeling you got when a boy you were crushing on talked to you. I still get that with him. Especially when we have our first kiss after a long seperation. I'm not saying we have a perfect marriage. There has to be ups and downs for there to be a balance. So in my eyes...right now...everything seems pretty darn close to perfect "when he's home".

Anyways... back to the changes. Life has changed. School has changed. Work has changed. I was doing a full Fall load at AAU and just couldn't handle it with everything that was going on. So I dropped my worst class (a history class...ugh...I mentioned a few blogs down that I hated history didn't I??) That helped alot. In October, Aidan was having alot of difficulties with his public school. I was getting emails from his teacher saying that he wasn't doing his work. He got in-school suspension for fighting with a bully. He came home every day telling me he was being picked on by the kids at the bus stop. I was fed up! I've toyed with the idea of homeschooling in the past, but this just seemed to be the most obvious answer now. I pulled him out of public school, and we began our homeschooling journey on November 1st!!! What a challenge it is. But at times it is soo rewarding. I am enjoying having him home with me. It does take away time from my schoolwork and from my business. But I think it is worth it. He is doing great! We have a little difficulty with the math, but who likes math!!! He works on the ACE curriculum and completes workbooks. We do go in every 3 weeks to take tests on what he's learned. I love this part because I don't have to be the one testing him. I like having to be accountable to someone higher. And they handle all of the paperwork for us too. I think he enjoys it too. Especially since he doesn't have to get up early in the morning to catch the bus!!!! Ha!!!

Also in November, I made some changes to my appearance. I was introduced to an amazing tattoo artist CJ. I watched her work on a few of my friends and decided she was the one I wanted to do my big project. I have wanted to do this for years, but never quite met the right artist. I just clicked with CJ. Her work is wonderful, her personality is amazing. And most of all she made me comfortable. Sooooo..... the big project...

This outline took 9 HOURS!!!


Here was the first round of color...3 hours.


And I decided to use this concept for my final project in my color photography class. I made an A!!


I actually got A's in all 3 of my classes again. I don't know what I'd do with a B! Hahaha! That's probably why I dropped that class...I knew I wouldn't get an A! The next semster begins on Jan 30th. I decided to only take 2 courses this time since we will be busy with John coming home and homeschooling. But for the most part...I think our changes have made us stronger Aidan and I.

BuzzzzzzzFEST!

More from our summer.



In September, John went back to Afghanistan to finish out the deployment. Booooo! So right away, Reisa and I decided to start operation busy! We heard about Buzzfest in Nashville, and we knew it was a definite MUST! Basically it was a full afternoon of non-stop concerts. We ordered our tickets a few weeks in advance and then found out that rain was in the forecast. A little sprinkle wasn't stopping our fun though!



We saw soo many bands! Sick Puppies, Drowning Pool, Papa Roach, Seether, and Shinedown. I can't remember if there were others...but it was soo amazingly, incredible!




We started off in the center of the field but got pushed back because of a few mosh pits. Hahaha! Don't worry, we were being protected by some generous, big, strong, shirtless dudes. A couple of times I found myself blocking Aidan with my body to keep him safe from the crowd surfers!

Here we are drenched from sweat and rain.



For the final band, the crowd decided that Aidan needed a front row viewing of Shinedown, so we were escorted...yes escorted by another shirtless dude to the front row. The crowd was pleased to let us through! We were soo close to Shinedown, it was ridiculous!



I must say though... Papa Roach stole the show for me. I liked them before...but now I am obsessed!

R&R

Another blog that I started and never posted! Haha!!!!

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Oh...but Wait! That's not the best part of the summer even! End of August rolled around and it was time for something BIG! It was time for R&R! John told us he was coming home sometime at the end of August, but we didn't really know when. I had a round' about date...but with the Army, things can change at the last minute. So I didn't want to get too excited just to be let down. When he called me on a Friday, I was like "OK...see you in a few days". Hmm...maybe see you Tuesday since I'd heard it could take almost 5 days for travel. That Sunday morning we got a call from him saying he was arriving in 2 hours! For Realz?? Holy Cow...we need to get our butts in gear and get ready to go to the airport! It was actually nice to get a phone call a couple hours in advance. You see, the year before, he did not have a layover and I ended up being late to the airport. But this time, I had plenty of time to get there, go to the check in and get our little blank gate passes so that we could meet him immediately after he walked off the plane.

We made it through security and waited at the gate. There was another lady there with a small child. I could tell they were waiting for a soldier too because she was pumping the little girl up. Telling her where her daddy was going to come out from and that she could run up and hug him. They had a video recorder and camera ready to go. The doors opened and people started coming out. I wondered why they didn't let the military people off first. That would be nice dontcha think? I don't think anyone on that plane would oppose to allowing a soldier coming from overseas the privilege of leaving the plane first in order to hug his family he hasn't seen in who knows how many months. But we waited patiently by a Jack Daniels Barrel. Hahaha! I saw a few soldiers come out. Some that didn't have family to great them (which I felt bad for, but then remembered my situation last year). A tall soldier came out...the woman and her friend/whatever squealed in excitement. The small girl ran to him and hugged him. He picked her up and swung her over his shoulder. It brought tears to my eyes. Then I remembered that I was waiting for my soldier too. My focus drew back to the doorway and finally I saw that tall, dark and handsome man of mine. He came over and hugged me. Aidan was not enjoying me being the center of attention so he jumped on his back. What a goob. We walked hand in hand through the airport and back to the Durango (which he thoroughly looked over before we headed out). You know...since I made that purchase on my own.

I thought we'd keep Monday as a resting day, but he wanted to head out to our vacation destination immediately. So Monday afternoon we were headed to Disney World!






Oh what fun we had! We celebrated my 32'nd Birthday with friends who live there. They cooked us dinner and even made homemade cupcakes. It was nice to see them after so many years (4 I think).

We even made a little pit stop at Universal Studios.



The new Harry Potter attraction was amazing! Aidan really loved the butter beer!

After Florida, we just kind of vegged for another week until it was time for him to go back. Seriously...15 days is not enough time. It goes by way too fast. I think they should get 30. Especially since they deploy so often. But I guess I'll have to make do with my 15 days and be happy that I had it. But then again...saying goodbye twice is pure torture! I am one of those people that starts getting upset about a week before. So I really only get a week of happiness before I turn myself into a wreck. It's not something that I can control...it just is. I constantly tell myself...enjoy it while it lasts. But all I can think about is that he is leaving me, yet again for who knows how long because we don't get dates to look forward to.

And that was r&r in a glance :). More disney photos can be viewed over on my facebook page. The countdown is on for our next homecoming!!!

Summer Fun!

I started this blog post back in Sept...but never got around to adding the photos. So now that I'm back...here it is!

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It's been a while since my last update. So to those of you that do like to check in with us every now and then, I apologize. Let's see...where did I leave off? I think it was somewhere around when Aidan was at his big summer campout. I did promise a photo from his trip so here are a couple.

This is a portion of his troop.



And here we have the little thing I like to call my spawn. The guy who can cheer me up in an instant or break me down in one too.


Anyways, he had a great time. But I have to tell you about his very first night there. I had already arrived in Gatlinburg for my girls trip with Reisa and was snuggled into my bed. It wasn't too long before I drifted off and then I hear the phone ring. I looked at the clock and it was 1 in the am. I thought, "who in the world would be calling me at this hour". Several things jumped into mind. Aidan with a severe burn from falling into the campfire? Or hmm...something broken. I answer and say "Aidan"? No answer. "Aidan...are you there"? Finally I hear this tiny little voice on the other end. "This place sucks" (insert sad little boy voice). I asked him where everyone was and he said they were all sleeping. He said it was too hot to sleep and he didn't want to sleep outside of his bag because a spider might get him. Haha! That was enough to worry me for the rest of my week. I tried calling him several times to see if that spider ever got him, but he never answered his phone after that. Come to find out, he had a great time and didn't want to come home!

That was June! What's next? July... nothing wild and crazy for July really. Other than the normal Independence Day festivities. We met up with Reisa and another friend Amy and her son and went out to post to enjoy the fair and the annual fireworks show they put on. And boy do they put on one hell of a show. A small fortune is spent on those fireworks. We parked a spot on the lawn and let the boys run free around the fair. I figured Aidan is old enough that it is time I give him a little responsibility. And it was just too hot to stand around watching him ride that darn sky scraper looking thing over and over. I just told him to be back to our spot when he saw the fireworks starting. Needless to say...the boy was grounded for a week. Oh...and did I mention we all had to have our very own funnel cake!



In August, April and I tackled one more Wedding together. It went well and we got some great photos. But we decided that Weddings were not right for us anymore. They are soo very stressful, and take alot of patience. Maybe it's just me being hard on myself, but there is always that one moment that gets missed and it just makes me feel horrible. I have had the greatest brides though and have been soo lucky thus far. But I don't think I am ready for it quite yet. I still want to improve my skills before I can commit to another one.

Aidan's 11th Birthday was in August also. I didn't want to have a whole bunch of cleanup, so we had a bowling party the weekend before his actual birthday. It was awesome and he had a great turnout! The bowling alley provided food and drinks, and a whole room for his party. I think he had a wonderful time!




In the middle of August, I completed my first semester at Academy of Art University! It was only two classes, but they were compressed into 6 weeks. The regular sessions are almost 4 months. I got both A's! Yay Me!!! The next semester just started last week, and I have a full course load to include a couple of history classes (eek...if there is ever a class that I am horrible at, it's history!). Wish me luck! The writing itself is going to kill me!


Anyway...I think that is enough catching up for now :). But stay tuned for more!!!

What a Whirlwind of a Vacation!!!

I can't believe how quickly this month went by! Aidan and I have been soo busy I didn't even realize it was almost July! At the end of May, April and I shot our very first wedding as a Duo! Having her there by my side made things soo much easier to handle.


That same weekend, I sent Aidan off on another boy scout campout. This time they went up to the Smokey Mountains for a little white water rafting! He was soo excited that he was the only one that didn't fall out of the raft (besides the guide). It was probably because he was soo tiny and slipped to the center of the raft instead. I was a little jealous that he got to enjoy such a fun activity without me!!! Aidan is the little one with the yellow helmet ;)


We had a nice little visit from John's Grandparents...who we call MeeMaw and PeePaw. We explored the base, went bowling, enjoyed Jazz on the lawn, visited the Parthenon in Nashville and had ice cream on the strip! It was a very nice visit and we miss them dearly!


Next we took a 13 day trip to AZ to visit Mom and Dad. While there we visited their lake house at Lake Havasu and saw the London Bridge!


We had such a great time riding on Papa's Boat!


And it wouldn't be a trip to Sedona without visiting Slide Rock Park!


When we returned to Clarksville, the Jetta just stopped running! The mechanics said it was going to cost over $4500 to rebuild the engine. So I had to make a decision without John-o. We now own a gently used Dodge Durango!


We made a quick stop at the Fair! Aidan spent all of his money on the games and I am hoping he learned a little lesson from it...but I guess we will never know!


The Vacationing was not over! Aidan had one more boyscout campout for the summer. This time it was for a whole week! In fact he is still there now. I am headed out there for Parents day this afternoon and will be bringing him home with me. In the mean time, my friend Reisa and I decided to have a girls trip to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. We checked out Dollywood, Splash Country and Cirque de Chine! The Chinese Acrobats were amazing!!!


And finally...My first classes at the Academy of Art University began! The summer semester is very fast paced and I wonder if I can keep up! I already had 4 assignments to work on in the first week! My first one was to take a photo that showed a day in the life of my city. Of course I chose to do something military related and here is what I came up with:


Phew...what a month!!!