We Made It!

It has been a long time since I last posted. I haven't been all that busy really. I've just been focused on surviving! Tony being gone has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done! I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't! There is no way you can prepare yourself for your husband to be gone with very little contact at all! It was like he didn't exist for those 2 months. I wrote him a letter everyday, but the most I heard from him was pretty much once a week. I went the last 15 days with no contact at all!

I met a great group of 4 other ladies online who's husbands were graduating the same day as Tony. God brought us together for sure! It was so much help to have someone going through the same thing at the same time! We knew exactly what the other one was going through and how we were feeling. They made these last 2 months so much better. We were able to help each other through the dark days of BMT.

It got a little easier at the end, but that's when everything started going wrong! It was the longest 2 months of my life so far! While he was gone I only got one real phone call, and 5 letters. I got a couple of other "official" calls where he was getting or giving me information, but we didn't get much time to talk on those calls. Not like we had a long time to talk on his 1 "real" call either....only 15 minutes! Well...

WE MADE IT!!!

Tony graduated BMT on September 18th! That is the Air Force's birthday, which was pretty neat. I am sooo proud of Tony! He graduated as an honor graduate! Only up to 10% of the 799 people graduating were handpicked for honor graduate! He also got a perfect score on his final exam! He did awesome, and I am so very proud of him.

I left here on the 10th of September and went to Wichita Falls to see my best friend. I left there the next morning and went to Houston to see my sister and her husband, and then my aunt and uncle. I left Houston on the 16th to go to San Antonio!

We had a blast in Houston, in spite of my car getting towed from the parking lot of my sister's apartment! My aunt took the girls and I to the Houston zoo, and the downtown aquarium. The girls had a blast and they got to ride a train at both places, which they thought was pretty neat. At the aquarium we rode the little train through a tunnel aquarium where dozens of sharks swim all around and above you. I thought that was pretty neat!

When I got to San Antonio I picked up a friend of mine from the airport. Her name is Jennifer, she is one from the group of ladies I met online. Her fiance was graduating the same day as Tony. We finally got to meet the day before graduation, and it felt as if we had always known each other! After we got to town we went and explored the base a little bit, and then we split a hotel room that night. We got up super early the next morning to be on the base by 7:00am.

Thursday was the Airman's run in the morning. It was so neat to see! I couldn't pick Tony out of his flight, so I was a little disappointed about that. Then after what seemed like a very LONG time of waiting it was time for the Coin Ceremony and Retreat. All of this waiting in the hot sun was not fun with two toddlers, let me tell you that!! It was so worth it though!! After the retreat they tell you to go and find your Airman!! They have to stay in formation on the grounds, and all the families get to go and find them. I had managed to finally pick Tony out of the crowd I thought during the ceremony. Well they told us to go find our Airman, so the girls and I took off to where I thought he was standing...but when I got there it wasn't him!! I thought "Oh no! Now what do I do? I don't know where to look!" Then I looked closer at the person that I thought was him...and I read his name tag...and it WAS him!!! I didn't recognize my own husband!! He had lost 20 pounds, which wasn't all that noticeable I don't think. He was so tan! And the way he stood and carried himself, and he had no hair. I guess all of it combined made him look so different. Let me tell you though...he looked goo-OOD!!! :o) (Check out the pictures on the side) We got to hug for the first time in two months! But only for a second. There are very strict rules about any kind of PDA while he is in uniform. Plus we had to hurry to get to the ceremony honoring the Honor Graduates. After all of that he finally got "released" to us. We had some lunch at the mini mall. Natalie would not leave her daddy alone!! She would not let me sit by him, or by her for that matter. That was "for my daddy to sit" We had such a good time being back together! I was able to stay at the hotel on base, so we were able to go back to the hotel and have some family time. I got to get a real hug and kiss! The kiss was better than our first! :o) The weekend went by way to fast though.

Monday morning at 3:30 Tony was on a bus to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo(about 3 1/2 hours from San Antonio) Tx for more training. I met him there that evening to give him some of his personal things that he is now allowed to have. I left the next morning to come home, and left him there. Finally after 12 days and a little over 1400 miles, the girls and I were back home! We were all sick our first few days back. (Big surprise, huh?)

Because his school is so long, the Air Force is moving us to be with him! He will be at that base for 25 weeks. The movers will be here Friday! (Oct 2) I am so very, super excited! It could still be a couple of weeks before he is allowed to live with us, but we will be in the same town and be able to see each other every day starting this weekend! I'm happy with that for now! We have been able to talk everyday since he graduated which makes things a million times better than they were during BMT, but seeing each other everyday will be even better yet! I am working on patience for the next step- him being able to live with us! Each step is better, but I really want to be living in the same house again! Because of the no PDA rule, I am not allowed to even hold his hand in public when he is in uniform. So unless he is able to get permission to come to our house in his free time, there will still be no hugs and kisses for me for a couple of weeks! So will be able to see him everyday...but not touch him! So please pray for favor from his higher-ups, that they will grant him permission to come visit us at the house before he is able to live with us, and that the day that he is able to live with us is very soon!

I better run. Gotta get back to getting things ready for the movers to come pack it up! I don't know when we will have Internet after we move, but I will be in touch as much as possible. We should be finding out our orders for our next location any day! That is very exciting too! These next two weeks have a lot going on, and so much of it is unknown! That is the way my new life will be, so I am trying very hard to get used to it. I am so excited to take this next step! This week has been dragging!

Where Did June Go?!

Wow, this month has gone by so fast for me! I can't believe that it is July already. June seemed even busier than May was, and it definitely went by faster to me!

I want to start by saying hello to my new followers! I now have someone other than family members following my blog, Yay! Now I just need to give them something interesting to read... Hang in there, not all my posts will be about my kids! :o)

We finally got the tubes put in Gabbie's ears. She is doing great.

My parents are in town for awhile, so we are enjoying spending time with them. The girls of course are getting lots of Mimi and Pawpaw time which they love!

Tony's parents came to visit for a few days as well. They lived in South Carolina and came to see us on their way to Japan! Tony's dad is a MGySgt (Master Gunnery Sergeant) in the Marine Corps and they are PCSing (moving) to Okinawa for awhile. It was great to see them. We haven't seen them since March of last year. Gabbie was just a tiny baby last time they saw her! Both girls took to them right away and had so much fun with them. It's hard to believe that Natalie may be 6, and Gabbie will be 4- older than Natalie is now, next time they see them!
Yesterday marked exactly 3 weeks until Tony leaves for BMT! I am only a little nervous so far, but if I think about it too much than I get a lot more nervous! I have plans to visit some of my family while he is gone to help keep me busy, so hopefully those 2 months will go by fast. Right now we are just trying to get everything taken care of that we need to before he leaves. We have a list of stuff we have to get done. Once he leaves, he will not be back here to live! I will be moving everything myself in the fall. That's where things get a little nerve racking!

It seems like I had something on my calender a few days out of every week in June. It was crazy! July so far is pretty empty! That is good though. It will give us a chance to get stuff done and have some family time before Tony leaves. We are leaving on Friday after Tony gets off work to go to Wichita Falls for the weekend. Our good friends moved there several weeks ago, and the guys have days off that line up, so we decided to go! It will be a short trip but I am looking forward to getting out of town. I told Natalie yesterday that we are going to see Katie, her best friend and she is super excited!

Have a happy Fourth of July everyone! Be safe and remember all the men and women that make sacrifices to make this the great country that it is! Thank you!

Back to Blah

Well, we are back home in the heat.
Our trip went great, both girls were great in the car. The weather was so nice. On Saturday it was in the 60's and rainy. The wind didn't blow at all. It was nice to get away and have fun as a family. We went into Red River and looked around at all the little gift shops. We saw deer, fox, turkey, and several birds at our cabin.

The fox came at night, so we were unable to get good pictures of them. Natalie thought they were cats, and meowed at them the whole time she saw them. Not much exciting happened, but that was probably what made it a great trip.

I had a crazy week planned this week, but everybody cancelled on me. So...I'm left with a Dr appointment for the girls to have their ears checked to make sure the infections are gone, and that's it. I'm excited. That leaves me more time for, "Do you want to sit in the potty?"
"NO!" And so the cycle continues....

Here we go...

I am getting ready to leave town tonight when Tony gets off work. We are going to our family's cabin in New Mexico, close to Red River. I am so excited! The weather is supposed to be in the 70's for the highs, and 30's, and 40's for the lows! That is a big difference from the 90's and 100's that we have been having here.
We have never really had much of a family vacation like this, and even though it is only for the weekend, I am very much looking forward to getting away. This will be the longest trip that either of the girls have been on, so I don't know if I am looking forward to that part! We won't be leaving until 7:00 or later, and it is a five hour trip, so they will probably sleep for a big part of it. For now though, I better get back to packing, since Tony is working I have to pack for all four of us. Enjoy your weekend, I think I will!