Tis' The Season ...

Well I have not written in a while. What a bad blogger I have been. I went home to California for about two weeks to spend Christmas with family and in-laws. It was a pretty successful trip. I saw some old friends that I have no seen in a long time, since almost high school. So it was great to catch up with them and see where our lives have taken us. I hung out with my family the most. Spent time with my sister, which is always great times. Many laughs and lots of stored memories. I wasted some of my time Christmas shopping, which I know next year I will not make the same mistake. I definitly plan on shopping a whole lot sooner than the last week before Christmas. I should have spent more time relaxing and doing some fun things. I went and saw a couple movies and just really soaked up the family time that Christmas should be about. People tend to make it all about the presents or how much everyone else is spending. It's just one big competition. It's not about that. It is about spending time with your loved ones. Everybody doesn't always get to spend time with their loved ones for holidays. I was definitly missing my Soldier this Christmas, especially when around his family. It always makes it tough but you get through because you are just lucky that he is still safe and doing well. I feel for those who have lost theirs and had to spend their holidays knowing they will not get to see them for a long while. Breaks my heart. My heart and thoughts to you, all of you.  

Christmas Eve is always spent at my Cousin's house. All of my extended family gets together and we have a huge Italian dinner, then do a fun 10$ gift exchange. This year I bought a really cute picture frame with doggie prints all over them. Majority of my family all have dogs and since I was missing mine this holiday season, I thought it was appropriate. It was fun, my Cousin ended up with it and used it immediately. I walked away with three extra scarves. I am a sucker for scarves and it is my favorite accessory to wear besides earrings. So it was perfect for me. I missed two calls from my Soldier on Christmas Eve, but we wrote each other via facebook posts to wish each other a Merry Christmas and tell each other we loved and missed one another. It is better than nothing, right? Christmas day, my sister and her fiance came up to my parents house and we exchanged gifts and just relaxed and talked, then I had to head over to my brother-in-law's house with his fiance and my in-laws to do some more gift exchanges and spend time with them. My Mother-in-law made me cry just for a little bit. She surprised me in my stocking with a picture of my Soldier. I was just so caught off guard and I think held in my emotions so much this holiday season, that I couldn't not let it out. It was very special and I have the small picture attached to my purse alongside his dog tags and wedding ring. He left behind his wedding ring to me because, one he didn't want to lose it and for two he made the promise to come back and get it next year :). He surprised me with a ring tattoo on his ring finger, so he is still able to wear a wedding ring while over there. It was a complete surprise the day before he deployed. He has several tattoos, that I just love :) and that are very meaningful, but he was always the type to get them for this family and I was always very understandable that he wouldn't get one for me. Well, then he came home and showed me and I almost cried. It was very, very special. Then the day he deployed he gave me his ring right before he got on the bus, which just made me cry even more. As expected when watching him board that god-awful white bus. But, I drifted off topic. I do that sometimes.  

All in all, I got some great gifts from all sides of the family. I got another gorgeous new scarf from my Mother and also from my Mother-in-law. My Soldier ordered me a new laptop, which I am using now, my last one was so beaten up and old that it was just due for a new one. Major liked to run all over me when sitting on the couch and his nails clipped some of my keys off the keyboard, so my poor laptop was toothless. But not anymore! I got a new camera which was also needed. I had one that just took such bad pictures, it was horrible. So, I received a newer and upgraded version of the one I already have. My Soldier also ordered me some very special Christmas ornaments. I love collecting and getting new ornaments, and they are two hearts each have red, green, and blue over them and are made out of a very nice China. It will be a very special memory since he sent them while overseas and it will just be nice to look back on. I love the stories behind ornaments! Some can be so fun. I was able to send Soldier a few boxed before I went home for Christmas. I sent him two I made personally that contained all his movies he wanted for Christmas and a ton of Chrismas goodies that I went crazy with. I also baked him a confetti cake in a jar and also a double fuge cake in a jar. I just found out that they turned out great! So I am excited to send him some more in future boxes. They were really easy and fun to do, I have heard of pies in a jar but I am not that talented. I also sent him a package from http://missyourvoice.net/. They decorate and send little goodies that you can request to your service member. They have small and large boxes and are greatly priced. He loved it and they don't put their name on it, so he thought I was the one to decorate the entire box! It was fun, but I told him about the site and how he should be expecting more in the future. So those are some gifts that I received and what I sent to my Soldier, the day after Christmas I went bowling with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. It was a great way to spend the last day before having to pack up and head back home. 

I am currently on my first flight back home. It looks like we are over the Rockies. So beautiful to look out the window and just see all white. I am anxious to be back home, I guess Fort Bragg received at least a foot of snow yesterday. My boys are at their resort and I guess they just had a ball in the snow. Sammy was a bit hesitant as he always is with new things and after he realized that it won't hurt him or anything, he was out having fun with his brother. I wish I could have been there to see it and to have our first snow day in our house, but I guess I will just have to be patient and wait for the next snow day! I am hoping I return home to my house still covered in snow. I am ready to see my boys and to just snuggle up with them. I have two weeks before starting school again, so it will be nice to relax and just gear up for the semester again. And only six more paychecks until my Soldier returns for R&R. I am anxiously and trying to be as patient as I can be for that day to come. It will be so special, I know it. We just want to relax and spend time with one another. I know his parents and brother and his fiance will come out to see him, so it will be nice to be around family and just relax for those two weeks he has. It will be really hard to send him back again, but I am thinking positive and not worrying about that until it gets here. Jumping way too far in the future. Stop that, Sarah. Well I think I will wrap this up and enjoy some music and the amazing view outside my window. I hope ya'll had an amazing and memorable Christmas. Now onto the New Year and many great things that the future holds. Until next time, take care and keep on smiling! 

View of the Rockies from my window :)

View of Dallas/Fort Worth

Just one of those nights ...

Where you play that favorite sad song of yours over and over again, have a box of tissues that you use up all in one night, and snuggle up extra close to your cuddle-bugs (which in this case is my two boys). I don't even know why I am having one of those nights. I was able to talk to my Soldier for a little bit online this morning. I haven't heard his voice for almost two weeks now, so maybe that's it. I know any type of communication is great, but I just don't technically see emailing or instant messaging as really "talking." If that makes any sense in the world. If I can't hear his voice, then I don't think it's a true conversation. I mean, even though half our conversations online only last for like two minutes anyway.

I think it has something to do with reading about the sad story of the Marine, Derek Wyatt, who passed away on December 6, 2010. His wife gave birth to their baby boy the very next day. With death .. Comes a life. Now he will truly always be there with her and her baby boy. It just breaks my heart. So many Marines and Soldiers are dying almost everyday. What makes my life or my Soldiers life any different? He is fighting that same war. Why is that wife and child so unlucky to have that happen to them? It's sad. Completely shatters my heart. I wish words could heal, but I know they don't. "Time heals all wounds" .. Right? Time can be so painfully slow. I wish the best for that family. My thoughts are constantly with them. A brave Marine was taken from this earth and will never be forgotten. Rest in Peace now Marine :(.

It Feels A Lot Like Christmas ...

I am trying to keep the holiday cheer in my house no matter how lonely it feels without my Soldier. Two years ago when he came home from his last deployment for our first Christmas together, I decorated our tiny apartment with an artificial tree since we were heading home for the holidays and some leave time. Well digging through the decorations again, two years later, made me realize that our apartment is teeny-tiny compared to our house! So ... Out I went to Walmart to buy some decorations. I definitly spoiled our tree and house this Christmas :). When I first put up our tree, I used what ornaments and decorations we had (which was nothing) and it looked exactly like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. My mom and sister got a great laugh out of that. (You will see a picture). Once I got my new decorations and added them onto our tree, it definitly looks a lot better and more like what a Milo christmas tree should look like. I bought four stockings for me, my Soldier, and our two dogs. Nothing too special since next year when my Soldier is home again we will go all out and make our own stockings, but just something to bring the holiday cheer into our home while he's away. I bought some basic colored lights to decorate our front porch and some cute little white snowflakes for our pathway. Well ... That didn't go so well. I couldn't find out extension cord and the package of colored lights I bought ended up being too short and same with the snowflakes. So in the middle of attempting to put up the outside decorations in the 20 degree weather, I just felt down. I picked the lights and snowflakes up and put it all away in our decoration tuff box. I figured .. Since I am going home in about a week, at least the inside of our home is decorated. Until next year when he is home, he can help out with the outside lights. I mean, isn't that what husbands are for? To put up Christmas lights right after Thanksgiving! :). It just made me realize that he won't be home for Christmas, or New Years, or our anniversary. Tis the life of an Army wife :). I just have to pick up my head and know that July will be right around the corner. I am missing the whole holiday shopping and cooking with him but I am just continually grateful that he is safe and as of right now, will be heading home safe and soundly to me .. In one piece. I can't ask for anymore than that through the holidays. Santa .. Keep my Soldier safe and spoil him dearly with half-decent baked goodies that will be arriving to him via care package. I appreciate it. :)

It's Like Riding A Bike ...

That's what they told me when I went ice skating for the first time since I was like seven! It was like riding a bike, once you got on the ice it was a little wobbly but once you let go of the edge after a couple skate, you got the hang of it and it was so hard to get me off the ice. It was my friend's daughter's 8th birthday party at the ice skating rink on Fort Bragg. I was able to bring my inner child out to play and she got along with all the little eight and nine year olds there and was skating all over the ice trying to hard to land that one legged stunt. Needless to say, I was still wobbly by the end of the night. I am pretty sure it takes more than one night to become a professional ice skater ;). It was a great night that was spent with some great friends, young and adult. I cannot wait to go again, I mean what is the holiday season without some ice skating! :)

Thanksgiving ...

This Thanksgiving was the first time I've spent it away from family. Luckily, a lot of the other wives weren't planning on going home until Christmas so we decided to do a pot luck and we all made a certain recipe that our family always makes for tradition on Thanksgiving. I made some yummy candied yams which turned out to be super sweet and very delicious. We made a big turkey and sat around a big table, gave a toast to our loved ones who could not be here for this holiday and dug into some yummy and very filling food. We decided since we all were going to go home for Christmas that we would do an early gift exchange. I bought a Military related incense candle that everyone absolutely loved. I was able to walk away with a great bath kit filled with some nice-smelling lotion, shower gel, a new loofa, and a nifty little foot scrub to do my own pedicures. All in all, Thanksgiving was a big success. I was very thankful for being able to spend it with some great friends. I was missing my Soldier very much, but I know that next year we will be able to celebrate properly. I am so thankful for him and all that he does for our country. Words could never express.

Craig Morgan Concert ...

There was a Craig Morgan concert on Pope Air Force Base for all service members, their families, and civilians to come and watch and enjoy all sorts of entertainment. I went along with some of the other wives from our unit and we had a blast! Earlier that day, I went to a special meet and greet with him and got his signature! I had not been to a concert in a long time, and what better way than to go to a country music star who is veteran of the United States Army! (And the fact that I love his music). He used to be assigned to the 101st Airborne division and also one of Fort Bragg's most known units; the 82nd Airborne. We ate way too much funnel cake, rode a mechanical bull (my first time! and I stayed on the longest!), danced, and sang the night away. It was a lot of fun and some good times for all of us to be able to get our minds off the deployment and have some innocent good fun.

Trying new things ...

So I went paintballing for the first time a couple weekends ago. One of the wives in our unit has free passes and all we need to pay for is the ammunition (paintballs). Well we thought it would just be like a two hour thing at most, well when we got there we find out that you play until you are out of paintballs and even if you run out, you can just buy more. So it turned into an ALL day thing. We were there for six hours, played seven games, and our team won all seven! I left with four nice welts but two of them were pretty bad since one of the wives I was with didn't know how to use her gun properly and shot me once on my left back and then again in the middle of a game on my left thigh. It was hilarious. It hurt for a bit but we couldn't help but die laugh when it happened. Then we had to go home and when our husbands called, we had to confess that the only way we shot someone or got hit was by each other. Let's just say, it was really good to hear my husband laugh :). I told him I took his advice that he gave me and tried my best to be as good as he could be. I still need a lot of practice to be up to his level, and that was only with paintballs. All in all, it was such a fun girls day out, I recommend paintballing to anyone who wants to try. You definitly get your workout in there, just prepare for an all day event.

Here are some pictures from that day :). Enjoy!

First Blog Post. :)

Well, hello!

This is my first blog and I just thought I would start by saying a little bit about myself. My names Sarah. I  just turned 21 at the end of October and am currently a full-time student trying to achieve my bachelor's degree in Forensic Science. Yes .. I want to be a CSI like on the TV shows. I am originally from California, born and raised. I miss it at times, but also I am enjoying all my new and fun experiences out here in North Carolina. I have always found the East Coast to be absolutely gorgeous and now I am given the chance to live on this part of the country. It will definitly be hard to go back to California after living here. I have played soccer, pretty much, all my life. It is my one true passion and although I have been out of the game for a while, I am trying to get back into it on a co-ed team or pick up games on the weekend. I miss my Soldier more and more everyday, but keeping myself busy is what gets me through and keeps me strong. I know he loves what he does and I support him fully in all that he does for this country. We will be married for two years this coming May. However, he takes his R&R in March so we will be celebrating alone for this anniversary. Something we both are used to due to our circumstances. There is always time to make up for it when he's home. We have two boys named Major and Sammy. Yes, not actual children.. Just dogs for right now. Until he comes home and we start the baby making process :). We are both very ready to be parents, hopefully to a baby boy .. But we will be happy with whatever comes out healthy! :) Well this is just a little bit about me. I hope ya'll enjoy my blog and I will try to update it as much as I can. I'll try to be entertaining. Wish me luck!