Running Army Wife

James has only been active with the Army for two years, but in those two years we've learned something very important. When he finally has time off, milk it for all it's worth. Since my last update, we've had family visit for 2 weeks and then we went off on a cruise together for a week after that. At the top of Crystal Mountain for our 3 year anniversary! Crystal Mountain had a military appreciation day on our anniversary so we got to ski for half price! That's one awesome thing about living in Washington. We are about an hour and a half away from really great skiing. We went two different days with James' family that came to visit us. I love skiing.  Then the day after his family went back home to Chicago, we left for our cruise. Let me just say this... a cruise is wonderful for a post-deployment vacation. We had no phones or internet (well.. we could have but it was really expensive), which was amazing after being attached at the hip to my phone for th...

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. James is still in "redeployment mode," which means he goes to work early for PT and then is home somewhere between 12 and 2pm. It's amazing. I could seriously get used to this. He's got a few more days before leave starts for Christmas and we have a whole bunch of family coming. So we've been trying really hard to get the house ready. I did get Christmas cards done though. I just love shutterfly. Although, I did have to edit it a little so I could post it on the blog. I really wanted to have a family picture with Roxy too (I seriously love MrsMollyP's family Christmas photo ), but our puppy was a little too crazy. I'm not gonna be too awesome about updating for a while. So here's our Christmas card to you. In case I don't check back before Christmas, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! <3 Amy

I'm sure you are familiar with Murphy's Law. Anything that can do wrong, will go wrong. This is especially true for deployments and you'll hear it confirmed by any military significant other that you talk to. I thought I would share with you the story of my car and the deployment. This is my Honda CR-V.  After James left for Afghanistan last December, my mom flew out to Seattle to drive back home to Illinois with me. On the way to pick her up from the airport (James had been gone only a few days), a truck kicked up a rock and hit my windshield. I ended up having to get my windshield replaced.  On our drive home to Illinois, my engine light mysteriously turned on. We stopped to check the oil. It was empty. No oil. My engine was actually burning oil so badly that we had to add a quart of oil every time we stopped for gas. And it's not like it's a super-old car, since it's a 2005.  I got it back and they had to replace a gasket. The problem came b...

Happy 4th of July! And of course, a special thanks for all our troops (past and present) and their families. We live in the Land of the Free because of the brave.. and I'm so so proud that my husband is one of those brave!  Also.. I know you can't see but I'm wearing a stars and stripes bikini in this picture. I just thought the one with my hubby was happier than the one that shows off the stars and stripes by myself. :)  FYI: In case you're just stumbling across this and don't know.. I am posting a "Happy Picture" (almost) every week on Wednesday during the hub's deployment to help keep things positive despite the separation. And we're over half way there, so less than 26 pictures to go! <3 Amy

My husband's picture was in the troops prayer bulletin at our church yesterday. They post actively serving soldiers so that people can pray for them. Was so proud to have his picture there! The only thing is that I was just kind of annoyed with myself for not letting them know that he got promoted. So the rank should have said "1LT." Oh well.  Still so very proud of my soldier! I'm so thankful for all the men and women that have sacrificed so much for our freedom. Happy Memorial Day! 

My hubby and I both love Star Wars. For my birthday this year, my in-laws got me these sweet cookie cutters. Sadly, I got them *just* after I sent James his Star Wars themed Valentine's Day box. I found Star Wars valentines. My favorite is the one with C-3PO that says "Be my counterpart!" Boxes take at least 6 days to get there if the weather is good.. so I haven't sent cookies because I figured they would be kind of old by the time they got there. I might make an exception for these star wars ones though. This is our second Valentine's Day in a row apart. Last year, he was away at IBOLC. Oh well. I've decided to not be bitter about it. We normally weren't much into celebrating it anyway but we decided today online that next year (assuming that we are together!) we will. Happy Valentine's Day and may the force be with you! -Amy

Here is one of my Christmas presents to my hubby. Since we celebrated Christmas early, I can safely post this. I spotted this project on pinterest a couple months ago and I thought it was the cutest idea. Then I started thinking... my hubby is going to be gone on his deployment for a year. 1 Year= 52 weeks. 52 cards in a deck. How perfect! So yeah, he missed the change over to 9 month deployments and that sucks BUT at least the year-long 52 weeks works perfectly for this little project. Gotta count the little positives! But I put my own little spin on it.  On the outside, it looks the same:  I still printed out 52 reasons why I love my hubby. Some silly, some a little more serious, some I wouldn't post online ;). And attached the little slips of paper with packing tap since we've got plenty of that laying around recently. NOTE: You MUST put packing tape or contact paper over the regular paper. Otherwise, the ink will get scratched off with the paint and...

Oh man. It was a good weekend. We celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and our Anniversary all in a few days. We visited Bainbridge Island, ran a Turkey Trot, made Thanksgiving Dinner, exchanged presents, and then ran the Seattle Half Marathon. Whew! I didn't take any pictures at the Oly Trot because it was rainy and we were both racing, but we did get these fun arm warmers instead of a shirt. I have plenty of race shirts, so it's kinda fun to have something different.  We then made Thanksgiving dinner together. The hubby made soft pretzels instead of dinner rolls. They were amazing.  I also made roasted green beans with cranberries. And a little sweet potato casserole, made with two potatoes.  And here's our complete little dinner for two!  We then exchanged presents. We then finished up the weekend with the Seattle Half Marathon. Hubby was my photographer and sherpa. :) So thankful to have a hubby that loves me so much....

We attended the brigade's deployment ceremony this week (these are normally held about a couple weeks before deployments). It was held outside, and the weather was absolutely miserable. James's Aunt and Uncle attended with us. I was proud that we were one of the few that braved the weather. They had a small number of soldiers stand in formation to represent each battalion within the brigade. Then the brigade commander and the commander of the base gave some really inspiring speeches. It made me so proud of my solider. Later, there were a lot more family that made it to the battalion farewell ceremony, which was indoor.  Of course, James looked absolutely dashing in his multicam uniform. I saw that one of the ladies was wearing a little lapel pin with the brigade's crest. I asked her where she got it and she told me to go talk to the commander's wife, who was also wearing one. I did, and she gave me the one she was wearing! I guess she has a bunch of them so she didn...

The weather outside is frightful.  Well, maybe not  frightful , but certainly gray and rainy. But the fire is so delightful.  Oh yes. I'm loving my electric insta-fireplace.  I was going through some things today and I found these Christmas CDs. No, I don't actually still use a CD player, but I saw them and thought "Okay.. maybe I will just jump on the bandwagon." But, "What is this mysterious blank CD? Maybe it's a Christmas Mix I forgot about." So I popped it into my laptop and low and behold it is my wedding recording that has been misplaced forever. Okay, not forever. But I cried a little bit when I found it (I've been a bit of a basketcase lately, don't judge). For some reason I never put it on my itunes. Or even labeled the CD for the matter, apparently. I knew it was somewhere but I was beginning to worry about it. So I listened to my half-hour long wedding this mornin...