Wednesday, April 29, 2009

He's Almost Here!

I would say within about 72 hours I should be looking at my husband's face, holding his hand and remembering how it feels to be 100% complete.

This doesn't even seem real y'all. We have been apart for so long and I have gotten so use to the distance and not being together that it kind of feels like a trick that the Army is playing on me.....they are telling me he is going to come home for two weeks...but I just can't believe it!

I am anxious, a little nervous, crazy excited and super emotional about it all. Every time I really think about what it will be like to see him for the first time in over 6 months I get choked up and teary. I always cry when I see stories on the news or in the paper about soldiers coming home and it shows couples and families reuniting (I'm tearing up right this second, oh my goodness) and now it is my reality!

Life is going to be exactly as it should be. And then we'll say goodbye again and Ranger through another 6 months of this crap. Such is life in the Army!

Everyone has asked me what we have planned for his two weeks home. And you know what? We don't really have any plans. We are going to lay in bed for as long we want and then do whatever we want to do....TOGETHER!! We had talked about going on a cruise but he said he didn't really want to vacation anywhere that was going to be HOT and SANDY. Duh Amanda, your husband is in Iraq - clue in!! Then we tossed around the idea of going away to a log cabin in the mountains for four or five days and we quickly decided against that too. We were afraid that if we took an actual trip, it would make our time together go by so much quicker.

We are going to go up to Charleston for a night and enjoy the Long Grey Line Parade at The Citadel since it's graduation weekend there. We have dinner reservations at a fancy restaurant and we're staying at the hotel downtown that we stayed at on our wedding night. Don't tell him, but I've requested the exact room from our wedding night and there will be our 1 year wedding anniversary cake (since we weren't together in February) and a bottle of champagne waiting for us! :)

He is actually down at the flight line now getting his departure time. From Iraq, he'll go to Kuwait for several, several hours and receive the rest of his itinerary. It could very well be Friday evening, but I'm thinking it will be Saturday sometime before he arrives in Savannah. I just can't hardly stand it I'm so excited. I wish it would hurry up and get here, I'm running out of patience!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Quelf & Sisters Weekend

Raise your hand if you've heard of the game Quelf. I'm a newbie to the Quelf world...but I am loving it! My cousin introduced me to the game and I've never looked back! I think you have to have a certain personality and sense of humor to truly find this game as enjoyable as I do, so if you like this game....we could totally be friends in real life.



My sisters and I recently had a "sisters weekend" in Savannah at my house and we had so much fun. Friday night we played Quelf...and man, did we have fun! There was lots of laughing going on...the kind where you aren't even making a noise you are laughing so hard!

It is the most random game I've ever played but will provide hours of laughter and enjoyment. You basically draw cards (after rolling the die and moving spaces) which will prompt you to do some random, crazy act. For example, I had to go to the bathroom and wrap my head in toilet paper to become a mummy for the rest of the game.


My sister had to sing a nursery rhyme like a grizzlied old man....hilarious I tell you. My other sister had to rap a song to her fellow "inmates" while her knees were glued together, she had no top lip and she was covered in tar and feathers. Like I said....RANDOM!!!

I come from a big family, so get-togethers, family vacations and holidays are spent usually playing cards or board games. Those are some of the fondest memories I have of growing up because we were all together as a family. I still love it today when we can get together and laugh. And I don't mean giggling....I mean laughing till you cry!



So anyways, check out the game. I hope you love it as much as I do and make some awesome memories in the process!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Deployment and Johnny Update

Johnny is doing awesome. We've hit the 6 month mark and y'all, I'm about out of patience with this deployment and I know Johnny is too. The weather has primarily been fairly chilly there and out of nowhere, it turned HOT one day last week and he's been sweating every since. All Johnny can do is laugh right now because he knows that it is just a taste of what is yet to come...say...mid-July. OH MAN. Let's just say there is a good possibility that 90 degrees will seem cool compared to the temperatures they'll be living in.

He is staying extremely busy with work which is a good thing because it doesn't give him much down time to be homesick or realize how crappy the circumstances really are, yet it keeps him pretty stressed out and annoyed most of the time as well.

His biggest complaint is really just that he can't get away from everyone. He is completely surrounded all of the time 24/7 with the same people. He tries to take a break from work and goes to the gym to work out and the same people are there, he goes and eats and there they all are again, he takes a shower and it's the same people in the bath area....you get the idea. Besides locking himself in his room all day, which typically just leaves him homesick and lonely and he never really has the opportunity to do that anyways, he is always surrounded by the same people. He tried to get me to understand the feeling by making me imagine going into work in the morning and then NEVER LEAVING for a year. Thinking about that literally makes my chest tighten up immediately. SO - I think besides that one aspect....he is doing awesome....and even with that he is handling it all really well.

He has remained an amazing husband even while halfway across the world at war. He makes every effort to call every day if he can, even if it is just to say hi and I love you. We're not naive to think that this distance, the stress of being at war and the amount of time he's gone couldn't affect our marriage....but we are doing everything we can to stay connected, and committed to keeping our marriage strong and focused on God, and remain crazy, madly, deeply in love.

He should hopefully be heading home around the first part of May for his 2-week R&R. We couldn't be more excited! The thought of seeing him for the first time in 7 months literally brings tears to my eyes. I hope our two weeks together will renew us enough to make it through the remaining 5 months. I just want this deployment to be over. Enough is enough already!

Here are a few pictures of my studly soldier...Enjoy!

This picture was pre-promotion to Captain!


The white stuff on the ground is C4...they packed it in
there by hand and are getting ready to blow stuff up!


Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Remember Me?!

I'M BAAACCCCKKK!!!! :)

Well, I have officially been MIA for a month and 2 days. How rude of me. Seriously, I feel rotten about it, so I have decided instead of just deleting the blog all together, I will give it another go!

Y'all - I have so much to tell you about....so much has happened and so much awesomeness is about to happen, so y'all better stay tuned! I realize I have probably lost 99% of my readers (with that 1% being my Mom) due to my unannounced leave of absence, so if you're still checking me out on here, would you leave me a little comment love every once in a while? :) I love comments...it makes this blog interactive and reassures me that I'm not just babbling into an empty hole in cyberspace....which I guess wouldn't be that bad, it would be like a virtual diary...but no, still, comments are much more fun!!

So I have been super busy with company for about 4 weekends in a row and new projects and new recipes and just lots of fun stuff. And the best part is that my most favorite person in the world (Johnny...DUH!) will be coming home in about a month for his 2 week R&R!!!! I am just bubbling over with excitement! I'll fill everyone in soon....but now I must get my beauty sleep!

It's good to be back guys!

HUGS!