The main lesson I have learned about military life so far...

Military life has its ups and downs, pros and cons, moments where you smile and moments where you are abusing your bed pillow and screaming absurd things into it. Military life has a way of taking you out of everything that is comfortable and familiar and sticking you in new surroundings where things are so different you feel as if you are the one with a neon sign on your head saying "Look at me! I'm new here!!"

Most of you that know me, know that I have always liked to stick out a little. I have never enjoyed being behind the scenes making the lights and curtains move....No no no! I am the one on the stage tap dancing when I have never taken a single lesson!! I am laughing at myself for I don't care who is thinking that I look like a complete dork; because not only are they thinking it but so am I! But I didn't care, I was just laughing and having fun. Yeah....so who would have ever thought that putting me in a new environment would put a damper on my dancin style! But it did, it was difficult to adapt to a new area and put all my worries aside and start a new life. The military offers a tough lifestyle. You have to be resilient and quick on your feet. Flexibility should be in a contract you have to sign and while "Be patience and love always" may have been in your vows, those theories are being tested to their stretching points. You deal with your spouse being gone months at a time, long hours in training exercises, and oh my the moves!!! Did you know that President Eisenhower and his wife moved thirty five times in his thirty seven years in the service? Jiminy Crickets!! And as if that all wasn't enough, although you get stretched to the limit with the silent demands of being army wife, you are also expected to bounce back like a rubber band, showing no tension or weakness. For the first few months moving here, I felt as if everything had to be perfect. I had to always look my best, cook my husband meals every night to bring to the hospital and not only feed him but the entire laboratory, and show up to participate in every meeting ever held. I was quite the busy bee!! And Exhausted at that! One day, in all the madness of rushing to the ACS building afraid of being late to a meeting, running from my car and praying not to trip in my heels I was wearing, I stopped and looked around me at those new army wives doing the same things I was. I opened my eyes up to something I never saw before. Once I took a look around me, not only was I feeling like my neon sign was BRIGHT orange today, but there were military wives all around me who thought their neon sign colors were green...and yellow...and pink!! At that moment, I promised myself that I was going to TRY and stop trying to be Mrs. Cleaver(although this persona still gets the best of me at times....) and learn to just try to be the best wife I could be to Julian, and not a wife to the whole Army itself. Although I still cook dinners for Julian and bring them to the hospital...I have learned to relax and become the unexperienced tap dancer again, and ENJOY IT!

Ok....so back to the wives I met earlier......over time I developed a friendship with many of these women. I became a "velcro" aunt to their children. I fell in love with them all and treated them as if they were a part of my own family.

Now as I am lying in my own bed with my husband at 10:40 at night, a new thought dawned on me. The military is tough yes. But, if you are willing to allow it to, it can provide you with a "military family." My military family only consists of about 15 families or so...(maybe more, its late now and my counting isn't up to par...) but they all know each other, know each others strengths and weaknesses. We help hold each other up and share in each others great and joyous moments. They disappoint you at times, you drive them crazy at times. But when push comes to shove, they are always there for you. They know what you are going through when your own family maybe doesn't, because they have never experienced what we have. And Sadly, when the time comes, part of our family will leave to another duty station. But just as our family back home, you never forget about them, you keep in touch and plan vacations to see each other from time to time. Soon enough, you have family, not just all over the country, but all over the world! Military life may be tough, but it teaches you lessons that you don't always get to learn in a civilian life. Just in the short months that I have been an Army Wife, I have grown and changed so much. I have learned things about myself I never knew. I have learned about my own inner strength and the strength of our Lord. I have learned to lean on Him more than I ever have. I love my life as a military wife, and I LOVE my new military family.

21ST BIRTHDAY!!!

HELLO!! So I know it has been forever since I wrote and this will not be an extremely long post for two reasons: 1 being I want to go to bed and 2...well not a whole lot of interesting has occured. Well ok that maybe a lie BUT I'll start with the two major things that have happened. K? Hold on...its gonna be a bumpy ride!! (sorry Harry Potter randomly just went through my head. haha)
Well as 99% of you know I just turned the big 21!! I was blessed with the oppurtunity to go home and spend the weekend with the family. Sadly, my husband was not able to join us because...well...someone has to work. lol So I went back home for the weekend with my friend Abby from El Paso!! We decided that what defines a good road trip and a GREAT road trip is the amount of food aboard. So we had fruit, doritos, trail mix, oreos, capri sun, water etc. It was a blast and we pretty much just pigged out and talked all the way home! Once we got there we went to Joes Crab Shack to have my birthday dinner. The amazing Courtney was our server and it was SO MUCH FUN!!And then of course, In the Joes Crab Shack classic way, when it is your birthday, they have to embarress you!! And being that I worked there for a period of time, they weren't letting me go easy !!


Oh my goodness I am pretty sure I am a horrible friend. I totally skipped what happened the day of my birthday!! My amazing friends here in El Paso threw me a birthday party. Abby even made me a cake!! It was great. I had a great time having everyone in one area.

My first drink ever as 21!!

Ok back to Arizona! So Saturday night was the night I went out with ALL the family. It was everything I could have asked for, for my birthday! I loved it. Here are a couple pictures from the trip :)
Well I had every intention on writing about Carlsbad Caverns but I am exhausted and sick of uploading pictures so I will write about that later :) GOOD NIGHT ALL!!

Going Home....

Wow...I never realized how much i missed home....until I went home for a weekend. Last weekend Julian and I decided that we would visit Phoenix for his birthday. So we left on Friday, the 30 of July and came home August 2. Lets start at the beginning.

Julian and I started our drive at 6 pm to Phoenix. So not only was most of our drive at night but Julian was going on little sleep (so guess who did most of the driving...) and it was POURING rain! It was so bad at times that we could not se

e three feet in front of

the car. Lots of prayers were said in that drive....At one point we hit something that took of the front bumper of the car. And we also witnessed a semi truck accident. Don't worry, no one was hurt...besides the semi truck. lol So we finally made it safe to Phoenix at 12:30 at night. We were so tired that we were just ready to sleep. Julian and I then discovered another secret that the electricity was shut off at the apartment

. I don't know how many of you have tried to sleep in an 87 degree house but its MISERABLE! Julian...being Julian, was able to sleep through it but I managed about 45 minutes of sleep.

We then woke up and began the second half of our journey up to our home town, Holbrook. We were so happy once we finally made it. and I didn't think i would ever say this about Holbrook, but it was BEAUTIFUL up there!! It rained every single day while we were there. This thus led to GREEN in Holbrook! Who knew green was even possible in Holbrook!

Saturday was one of the greatest days I have witnessed in my best friends life. Her, now fiance, proposed to her!! And I got to help!!! Ben planned an entire scavenger hunt for her, which eventually led her to Taco Bell. Now taco bell has always been Alix's and I's spot. So the last clue led her to Taco Bell where I was waiting. Of course, by now Alix is on to me(or so she thinks...) and thinks thatI have planned this entire scavenger hunt. So I played it off. I acted as if I planned this entire thing for us and we were going on a day trip. I took her to a hiking trail that Ben had picked and it was beautiful!! It was just outside Sedona. We get to this beautiful bridge and Alix LOVES bridges. So of course she goes skipping to the bridge but stops a couple of seconds later. She had spotted Ben at the end of the bridge. So he proposed and everything was great but was about to get much better! She turned around again and her mom and sister along with my mom-in law. They were there for her proposal and got it all on tape!!! It was perfect and I am so happy for her.

For the past couple months, I have slowly been falling in love with photography. So in light of this beautiful weekend, I asked Ben and Alix if I could take their first engagement pictures. They agreed and I was so excited.

The pictures turned out beautifully and I have fallen farther in love with it. So it may be something I continue to pursue. :)

Anyway the rest of the weekend was spent at church on Sunday which was also wonderful. It was great to see everyone at the church! Then Monday we drove home. So that was Julian and I's eventful trip home fo

r his birthday. Happy Birthday hubby!!!

The little things make for the best holiday celebrations!

Well i just got done folding four loads of laundry and Julian just got done beating his video game so i figured this is a good time to update our blog. Our fourth of July weekend was pretty nice. Julian had two days off of WLC for the holiday and trust me, those were two needed days off for the both of us!!

Yesterday, as i said was a pretty chill day. We got the chance to sleep in (instead of waking up at four thirty AM!!!) and woke up around eleven. We then spent a wonderful afternoon at Sara Carranza's house with some of her friends and her son, Kaine. We got a chance to BBQ and talk as the kids ran around. It was hilarious because we were all just talking and out of nowhere, here comes Kaine, completely soaking wet (not sure exactly how he got wet....lol) and covered head to toe in sand. It was the funniest thing ever. He just came over like it was no big deal to be a sand monstor and grabbed some watermelon and just started chomping down, through the sand in his mouth and everything. It was really funny!

Once we got back from Sara's house, we came back to the house and went for a run, that was interesting. To be completely honest, we both kind of forgot about fire works. It worked out though because as we ran up McKelligon Canyon and got up over the hill, you could look over El Paso and see all the different fireworks going off in multiple areas. Now that was a site to see!!

Once we got back to the apartment, i made the mistake of showing Julian the yahoo game, Typer Shark. During the summers in Holbrook, i was addicted to that game, all growing up. So I was playing it and Julian got curious. So i showed him how and we both started playing it. For almost two hours he and I played that game. He would play a level and I would play a level. It was a lot of fun but now he is just as addicted to it as I am!!

We didn't do a whole lot this fourth of July, but we had fun nevertheless. It is the little things that make the best memories!

Well its official. I cannot sleep and its three in the morning. Currently, there is something dying somewhere outside and i can't find it!! It sounds something between a sheep/chicken/cat thing. Whatever it is has been making horrible noises all night and twice now I have gone out and searched for it but with no luck. So i'm stuck wide awake, bored and thought to myself, "I should update my blog!" So here I am. Here is how married life has been so far!!

The first week was interesting. I was mainly busy unpacking and arranging our new home! oh how mightly lovely it has all come together! I absolutely love the home we are starting together. Julian was working second shifts so things were great! We would have all morning to spend together to do random things until 3:30 when he had to work.I would then spend a while driving myself around El Paso trying to convince myself i wasn't lost...(I was just going to the grocery store, but it took me two and a half hours!! lol) I would make dinner around 7:30 and bring it to the hospital where we would eat dinner together(and with anyone else who was working in the lab. I always made plenty!) I would then do my own thing until midnight when he would come home and we would go to bed together! (one of my favorite things by the way!)

The second week was when things got tougher. They put him on third shift so he was working from midnight to 8:00 in the morning. This shift was tougher because i was alone all night without him. Those nights were spent with me sleeping on the couch normally. This was also the week that I started to miss everyone horribly! It had really hit me that I was not ten minutes from my family and in a city that I still did not trust. It was tougher but we got through it :)

By week three, i was settling in and pretty happy. I got back on a regular routine and kept myself busy. This was a good thing for the fact that Julian started WLC training and is gone from 4:30 in the morning to 8:30 at night. By the time he got off work and home, he was exhausted and I was full of energy! haha So the next hour would be spent with him trying to sleep and me bugging him to play! lol I would finally give up and grab my book to read until i also fell asleep.

And this puts us into week 4. Nothing too exciting has happened yet, but we have just been working on falling into a routine. Things are going great and I absolutely love married life. Julian is still in WLC training and will be until the 12th of July but as I said earlier, I am keeping myself busy! We have gotten out of the house a couple times for dinner and that was awesome! We also just had our first guests over to the house tonight too!! We just celebrated a month of being married and I would have to say, there have been a couple bumps in the road but so far, married life is amazing! I love my husband more than words can say.

Wedding stories!!

Ok i have been promising a new post for a while but with the wedding, honeymoon and then move, life has been a little crazy. And now i am really sick and trying to convince my stomach that self-combusting would not be in the best interest for the rest of my body. so lets see how far this post gets...

Lets start with the wedding. As you all know (and most of you were there) I married my best friend under God and in front of about 250 guests, and it was absolutely amazing. I could not have asked for a more beautiful ceremony. The night before, most of my bridesmaids and I stayed at kari's house and had a fun girls night. We all had a glass of champagne and enjoyed just being together :)

We then all headed to bed and got up at six the next morning. We were all pretty tired but excited to get the day started. From there, we went to starbucks and headed to the salon. Now let me tell you the result of just coffee in my system and being really excited. i was super duper ridicously HYPER!! I was prancin around in the salon saying, i'm getting married today!!! Anytime anyone walked into the salon I was greeting them and I even answered the salon phone once. I was CRAZY HYPER! but it was a blast!! I had my first minor crisis (i look back and laugh now at all my minor crisises that day because at the time they didn't seem so minor. But we get to the salon and it totally hit me that i didn't have my veil and tiara and Shelly needed it to do my hair. The day before the wedding, i thought i was being all clever leaving my dress and everything at the church to have it all ready, but totally spaced the fact that i neeeded it for that morning. So I called my nana and asked her if she could bring it, and although papa wasn't too happy with me, he got it :D thank you papa! haha. So we all had our hair done at the salon and my mom started my makeup there. By the time we left i was IN LOVE with my hair and felt like a princess. hehe.

Now once we got to the church, we were on a time crunch and I was freaking out a little. i knew I was about an hour from getting married to the love of my life so that excited me but on the other hand, my mom was running late, my sister was driving me crazy, my dad was MIA with hi and my brothers tuxes and it was chaotic. but i look back on it all now and just laugh. I don't have any pictures after that that i took, mainly because i was pretty pre-occupied. lol. But everything went perfectly at the ceremony. My daddy gave me away, my husband was there waiting (with the biggest grin on his face may i add hehe) and everything was amazing.

Then afterwards we took a few pictures at the church and then got in the limo to head to the reception where the party (and a few minor funny now, but not then...events happened. lol)

Well i have the whole reception to talk about but to be completely honest, i am really sick and wanting to lay down. so i am going to have to finish later. but hope you enjoyed!

You only get married once...

Who knew wedding planning was such tough stuff! I mean, from the time your two feet tall, you dream about your wedding. You think about what you want your dress to look like (although that vision has changed over the years). You imagine walking down the aisle with your daddy. You dream about what the first time you fiance sees you in your dress. You love that you are marrying your best friend and starting this new path of life without any cares in the world.

What you don't think about is al the stress of making sure everything is ready and planned for that marvelous day. I have spent the past two hours just working on a slideshow that i don't see an end to any tme soon. I have a thousand buttermints to make and endless amount of flowers that will need to be arranged the day before the wedding. I have music that still needs to be assembled. pew bows that need to be made. table number cards that need to be designed. thank you cards that need to be written. wow.

All I have to say is although I am very excited to marry my best friend and spend the rest of my life with the man that God has placed by my side, I am also glad that you only get married once. :D