Well, here we are on winter number two in Western Kansas ;) Do you want to know how I know winter is here? Because my feet are FREEZING!! So I am going to spend the next two months cuddled up under my blanket with my hot chocolate. I might venture out to see Christmas lights, however, because they are the best things man ever created! I really wish more people would decorate their houses for Christmas (coming from someone whose house is never decorated) so that I could drive around for hours and look at them. My mom's neighbor has the best decorated house and I told my mom I am going to set up a blanket and chair and camp out on her lawn to look at the lights....with hot chocolate, and if anyone cares to join me, I will share :) So, while all of you are enjoying your Christmas festivities.....you know where to find me :)

Good friends

I love that I have a friend that can hack into my blog and change it up for me...no really, I am being serious....I LOVE IT!
(because we all know I have no clue what I am doing....now if I could just get her to blog for me haha)

Deployments

Everyone knows deployment just stinks so I was trying to think of the good things we have experienced during deployments...

*During our first deployment, we were able to become debt free, now the extra money makes for some great family vacations.

*Even though Damon has been gone multiple years, he has never missed our kids birthdays. We were always able to schedule R&R around their birthdays (he did leave once on the morning of Cody's birthday for the field, but we celebrated the day before)

*I have learned that I am pretty strong and can handle almost anything (through God's strength) but I will admit, I do put some things off until he gets home.

*Being apart allows my husband to write me sweet letters (hint, hint, Damon)

There are also things that I enjoy that I usually don't do when Damon is home but I would trade them in a heartbeat to have him here.

*sleeping with my kids in my bed
*hanging out in the front yard until 9 at night with friends watching the kids play
*going down to the neighbor's house to borrow something and coming back two hours later...oh wait, I did that while he was home, too, OOPS!
*making sandwiches or cereal for dinner

Although I hate Damon being gone, and I know he hates it probably even more, I feel like we have this under control (somewhat) We have gotten to where we are in a routine and we do what needs to be done on both ends and wait for the day he will be home. Until then, we will just keep trucking along! Btw, we are well into the downhill portion of this deployment...happy dance for us!

PS Magic Jack and Verizon's friends and family have been my best friends...so much better than the MWR phone calls!

How I Really Feel...

Dear Army,

I feel like I have been pretty patient with you. In fact, I feel like we have gotten along until now. I have quite enjoyed moving around with you for the most part. I have been places I never would have gotten to go. I have walked on glaciers and had moose in my front yard. I have watched my husband catch fish that weigh three times the weight of my children. I have met some of my best friends through you....
BUT...you are really starting to get on my nerves now. I am getting tired of it always being about you. In the last 30 months, you have had my husband for 22 of them. I am not okay with that. Did no one teach you how to share? I mean, seriously? It would be nice to have my husband home. I am done with this deployment and all future ones. My kiddos are ready to have their daddy home to play with them. I am ready to hang out with my husband without a deployment hanging over my head. I would like to have more than a few months at a time with my husband...just sayin'. So, all this to say, I am going to have to sever this friendship with you. I will be civil, but the love is gone. When you decide to let us be a family again...all together in the same state, then I will reassess our friendship. Until then, you are on the outs with me.

Sincerely,

Me

Dr. Cody

Cody's first day in Medical School!!!!

I bought a new CD today. I have been listening to Amy Grant ever since I can remember. I grew up memorizing all the lyrics and idolizing her. Anyways, she came out with a new CD recently and it had a song on it that I really liked called "Better Than a Hallelujah". It talks about how God just wants us to be real, how He doesn't want us to just go through the motions of singing praise songs, but to really worship Him from deep down and be open and raw with Him...it is a really thought provoking song. God can handle whatever we throw His way, our anger, our hurt, our confusion, and also our love, our praise, our adoration...all of it!
So back to the CD...I picked it up today and was listening to it on the way home and another one of her songs just hit me. Yep, it smacked me right upside the head. The lyrics said,
"If it all just happened overnight, you wouldn't know how much it means.
If it all just happened overnight, you would never believe what you
cannot see."
Wow..I know this is common sense for most people, but it is so hard for me to remember in my daily life. I want everything to be good, to be okay, and to be fixed, and I want it now. I am fully willing to admit that. I don't like to wait when it comes to having things turn out okay. I don't like hurting, and I don't like to see others hurt. But you know what? If it happened overnight, I don't think I would appreciate it. If my marriage was perfect overnight, we wouldn't grow closer through the trials. If my kids became little angelsovernight, I wouldn't be able to work through life with them and see how far they have come. If people were healed overnight, if friendships and marriages were built overnight, I really think we would miss out on so much. Not all of it would be good, but all of it would build us into the person God wants us to be. Along the way, we would hurt, laugh, cry and celebrate with the people we love, and at the end, we could look back at the memories and the growth that took place.
Life may stink sometimes, but the process of living is what God uses to mold us to what He wants us to be....deep thoughts for a simple lyric :)

Five Girls and a Coffee Shop

I went out to dinner and coffee with some friends the other night. It was sort of an impromtu dinner with a secret plan to celebrate a special little boy. It is good to get out with friends and just laugh, and boy, did we do a lot of that! There were presents for baby and some for mom....which we won't mention here, but it was absolutely a fun time.
After dinner, we walked across the parking lot to Borders to get some coffee. Now, mind you, Borders has some weird closing hour of 9, and we didn't get over there until 8:40. As we walk into the little coffee shop, the girl behind the counter used a word that I only use when speaking of spiritual matters and then proceeded to mutter under her breath something to the effect of "you have got to be kidding me" Really? Was that necessary? Anyways, being the nice people we are, we didn't say anything and just proceeded to order our drinks.
We got our drinks and went outside to sit, since she obviously wanted us out there...yes, I do think you holding the door shut as soon as it closed and locking it as it was still shutting was a bit much, but that's just me.
So, here we are, five stay at home moms, with two babies, sitting on the curb outside borders. It was well lit, but I do have to say, I was glancing around occasionally at the "interesting" people walking around.
All my fears were laid to rest when we realized the skills we possessed collectively to ward off any attacks. Between the five of us, we had a mean, intimidating woman with some lip gloss (which she says is more than just lip gloss), someone in possession of foul smelling diapers, a person who had mace, a cup of hot coffee, and someone who had mad ninja skills....all in all, we were pretty well off should anyone decide to take us on.
We drank coffee, laughed some more, mean coffee lady came out and said "You are still here?", prayed for a little girl, laughed some more and decided we might just need new friends...NOT!
Thanks for the evening and the friendships...I couldn't ask for a better group of friends to be stuck in Kansas with!! ;)

Btw, I know someone looking for a new friend, so if anyone in Colorado Springs...ahem, Kansas, needs a friend, give me a call and I will hook you up!

Life at the Beach

So it is day three of our beach trip...we have 7 adults, 8 children (4 which are under the age of 5) and six people, wait, make that seven, that are on antibiotics...Jess just joined the crowd of drug takers. Does this sound like fun?
In all actuality, it has been a fun trip. The kids are getting along, the laughs are plentiful, and we are on absolutely no schedule whatsoever, which is wonderful.
As far as the oil, the first day, the beach looked great and we let the kids wade in the ocean. Last night there was a storm, and now we are truly at Orange Beach :( There is oil all over the sand and in the water and it is just not a pretty site.
We decided to head over to Pensacola today to find some sunshine after we woke up to a rain storm. We got there and the storm came with us. Nobody can say we didn't try. By the time we got back, it had pretty much cleared up and we put the kids in the pool until dinner. We have to make sure they are nice and tired! I have decided that we need to do this every year :)

Random Thoughts

I have tried to think of something to blog about for the last few days...I got nothing. So here are some random thoughts, to you, from me :)

I walked in the backyard today to find my daughter lying on a lounge chair with her towel and sunglasses reading a book...she looked like a little teenager. Somebody please help me or make her stop growing up.

The pool on post opened today and I informed my children that they HAVE to go to the pool every day for one hour until we leave for AL. I am determined to get them some color so they don't fry at the beach.

I just got the greatest delivery at my door. My friend brought me a cupcake all the way from Oregon. Best cupcake I ever had, and there is still some left for breakfast, or to share with the kids. I will see how I feel about sharing in the morning.

I went shopping today and it didn't kill me...enough said.

It is Friday night and I am doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms, what could be more fun? Hey, at least my house will be clean for this weekend!

Well, obviously, I don't have very many random thoughts tonight either, so I think I will go upstairs and grade the mound of school papers so we can truly be done with school!

Colorado or not?

I came to a conclusion a few days ago, one that was only strengthened today...

Colorado Springs is not really a part of the state of Colorado!

It is true. I am sorry to break it to all of you, but I have thought that for quite a while and this spring has been the icing on the cake.

Now before you argue, just bear with me. If you ask anyone what they think of when they think of CO, chances are the answer is going to be something to the effect of snow, mountains, hiking, rafting, etc. I grew up in CO (well after we left CA when I was 14) and we lived in true CO. We lived in a small town in the middle of the mountains, had gorgeous days, lots of snow in the winter, short 10 minute rain showers each afternoon in the summer...exactly what CO should be.

So although I REALLY didn't want to leave my friends, I was somewhat excited to move back to "gorgeous" CO. Then we moved to the Springs. First of all, these are not mountains. Don't get me wrong, we have Pikes Peak and mountains right outside of town and Garden of the Gods (which is beautiful) but it is kind of flat and dry looking here. Still, it was okay, because like I said, we can see mountains.

Then came winter...

Need I say more?

If it is going to be bone chilling cold, then there should be snow! Not ice, SNOW! How can a place that is truly CO be so incredibly cold, and not have snow? Someone please tell me! The weatherman would tease us with snow, but he was wrong..he should be fired.

It finally started to warm up in March, and then froze, and then got warm, and then froze, and then..you get the picture. But wait! Along with the warmth came the wind. I know spring can be windy, after all, that is the best time to fly kites, but seriously? Must the wind blow you over every time you walk outside? I saw grown men today struggling to walk down the street and children being held on to by the hood of their coats so they wouldn't blow into the next neighborhood. And this is not a one time thing, this wind occurs quite frequently, as least once or twice a week. I have been in tornado weather that is not that strong. My basketball hoop, which is filled with water, can now be shot at from my front porch because the wind decided that we need a basketball hoop on the porch!

So, I hate to say it, but I think we have an imposter. I think Kansas is trying to overtake Colorado and is doing it under the name of Colorado Springs! I think we all need to move west into the mountains and let Kansas have it...just sayin'!!

The Spa

So I have caved...Who says peer pressure ends in high school? Some friends of mine keep telling me I need to start a blog, and I have finally given in. Why? I am not sure yet, because I don't tend to have a very interesting life, but then again, maybe boring is the new thing, so in honor of Susan and Chris, here goes nothing.

drum roll please *****

I went to the spa today for the very first time. My friend's husband, in cahoots with my husband, planned this day for us for Mothers Day. So off to the spa I went. I have never been to a spa before; I think I have only had three manicures in my life, so I was excited but a little nervous.

I learned a few things from my day at the spa, however...

1. Touch is definitely not my love language--pretty much already knew this. Don't get me wrong, I love being touched somewhat, but I am not touchy feely. At all. So getting a massage was a little uncomfortable for me, out of my comfort zone. Then the lady said "You're a little tense." All I could think was "Really? You are rubbing all over my body and it is kind of awkward" Of course, I didn't say that out loud...well, not exactly. She then proceeded to explain that when she works out the knots, she is bursting little bubbles of toxins in my body so I should make sure I drink a lot of water to flush them out. Then I am, lying there imagining toxins flowing through my body, kind of like the little green bacteria that are in all the commercials...yep those, just running through my body. In fact, this thought has crossed my mind more than once today...not a pretty thought, but made me drink my water, so all is good.

2. Peppermint scent + steam room + 90 degrees + tightly enclosed space = panic?
We then went into a steam room, it started out ok, loved the smell of peppermint...thought to myself, "this should be fun". We were in close quarters which was fine because I love my friend and we were not touching (not my love language) but the longer I sat in there, the harder it was to breathe. I felt like I was going to suffocate at some points. I don't mind humidity, but WOW! Peppermint is not so good when you can't breathe. We had to open the door and let some actual oxygen in a few times, but it made for some good laughs.

3. I have anger issues
I never knew this. Sure, I have been angry at times, but I learned the difference between being mad and being angry. After much examination, ok, laughing and talking over lunch, I realize there might be some areas in my life that I have anger about. Guess that is something else I need to work on...

Overall, it was a wonderful day, and I am much more relaxed. I did enjoy it, awkward moments and all, and it gave me a good idea...I think I should take Megan to a spa for her thirteenth birthday for an introduction to being a woman. She would love it!

Disclaimer*** I am not an angry person, I think I worried my husband and my mom. It was just kind of a joke because we were talking about how anger affects the way you act towards people and feel about people. So, yes, I have times of anger, but it was more of one of those things "Hey, how was the spa?" "Good...I learned I have anger issues...who knew?" Well, anyways, it was funny while we were sitting there talking about it, maybe not so much now :)